I recently thought of a “what if ” situation of what if I was able to pick what movies should be part of the Criterion Collection library. I thought  I would share some of my picks on here:

And of course in NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

FREAKS (1932) directed by  Tod Browning

I used to watch this movie as much I would be watch Disney’s The Little Mermaid when I was little. Such an interesting cast of actors and actresses in this film and it taught me an early lesson in life to not take everyone at face value.

Heavy Metal (1981) directed by Gerald Potterton 

Fritz the Cat (1972) directed by Ralph Bakshi

I would love to see more adult cartoons in the Criterion Collection library. There is hardly any in their collection and any of these would be awesome!

The Elephant Man (1980) directed by David Lynch 

When I was little  I would go visit my family in Guatemala. There was not a lot of channels to watch. From what I can remember there was about 15 channels in total. From the few movies channels there was they would always show the same movie almost every other day  for about a month during the late evening time. The Elephant Man was one of those movies. I remember that the first time I watched it I cried I was beyond emphatic for the elephant man because no one understood the pain and frustration he went through.

The Shining (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick  

This was the other movie they would show when  weren’t showing The Elephant Man. I remember always trying to have my evenings free from my family so I can watched this movie even though it was probably the tenth or twentieth time I have seen it at the point.

A lot of the movies I picked for this  Criterion Collection wish list round  stemmed from my childhood. For me the better I associate personally with a movie the better it is. It may have now won any awards or critical acclaim but in my book they rate pretty high. I hope in the future the Criterion Collection expands it’s library to include these movies!

Until next time!!!

Today artist’s spotlight is on @Bad_buzz

1. What is your art aesthetic?                                                                                                ” I’ve heard my art called Trash style. I like to think that you can recognize my work as it has a particular style no matter what the media. People always tag me on Instagram asking if the work is mine. “
2. What are you five top cartoons and why?
   “The Simpsons – To create something funny, that looks amazing and appeals to a Worldwide audience is an impossible task. And they managed it. I preferred how it used to look in The Shorts and the first few seasons.
   
   He-Man – Amazing characters, morals 🙂 stories, it had everything. My Bros, friends and me all collected the figures and played for hours with them. Sticker books etc The look of the cartoon and the books still look amazing now. Still obsessed with He-Man.
   
   Thundercats – Same comments as He-Man.
   Dungeons & Dragons – Was a D&D Geek as a kid, watched the cartoons recently and still holds up today. Cartoons were so much better back then as they had more time and less technology. You got to know the characters and they all had different strengths, clever.
   Apollo Gauntlet – Its very rare to find something decent that is new, but If you haven’t seen this you need to check it out, taken from the original you tube series. It still has that homemade feel even though they have used loads of new tech to speed up the process. Funny, stupid, great characters, Inspires me to create something like this. maybe in 2019? You can watch over and over again, still makes me cry. Hard to beat.”
   3. What is your favorite piece you made and why?                                                            “I liked the artwork I did recently of Orko in The Simpsons Living Room. Coloured in Pencils. Most of my drawings have meanings behind them, some people get it and others maybe just like the art.

   Im trying to say that its hard to fit in, anywhere in life, Work, School, New cities. Some of us arn’t as confident as others, or have stuff going on you dont know about. So its just to be aware of that.

   Bring people into the group no matter what they look like or are into, you may be surprised. “

   4.Can you talk  a bit about the online store: Why you start it and what is the most popular item on it?

   “Ive been working on my own Bad Buzz clothing brand for a few years now, as it just something that I always wanted to do. Sometimes its hard to find simple clothes to ware, so decided to make my own.

   The most popular items were the Wu-tang Bart Cap, Bart Bumbag and the Smoking Bart Cap. Can you see theres a theme going here ? Nearly all sold out so take a look:

    My shop:

   BadBuzz 

   5. Do you have any exciting news, shows, events coming up in terms of your art? ”

   “It’s the last few days of my Buzztallica `Master of Knock-offs’ exhibition at the Staalplaat Store in Berlin (Germany). The opening was 21st May 2018 and ran for a month.

   

   The subjects I drew were mostly from my past memories of TV shows, cartoons, Computer games, D&D, Action figures, Films, and tried and incorporate them into whats happening in the world right now.

   I’m in the process of organising another Exhibition for the end of this year but this time in Barcelona (Spain)

   I have loads of new stuff coming out this year, Toy Figures, Skateboards, magazines, pins, patches, and more Apparel. Follow my instagram to keep up to date.

   If you like to learn more about @bad_buzz his contact information is:

Link to buy framed orginals from the Berlin Exhibit:

Staalplaat  (search for Bad Buzz)

With summer upon us I am excited about some of my favorite shows returning! Some have already premiere while I am still patiently waiting for others to return. Here are my top four awaiting shows:

In no order:

Netflix’s Glow Season 2 (June 29th): 

Starring Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin and Sydelle Noel. The show is based off of a 1980’s all female wrestling show and it is a comedy drama. What I like about the show is that it is a full force 1980’s flashback!

CLAWS (June 10th):

Starring Niecy Nash, Carrie Preston and Karrueche Tran. It is about a nail salon that centers around the five women that work there by day and there mob lifestyle at night.  There two worlds collide when there secret of money laundering is found out and causes a total avalanche of misfortune to the women. This show is a fantastic mix of Florida, crime drama, comedy and fabulous fashion and nails!

The toys that made Us (May 25th):

This is an eight part documentary on some favorite toys and season two talks about Star Wars, Tranformers, Legos and Hello Kitty! I love history and I love toys so when these two themes come together it is a definite must watch for me!!

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (May 30th) 

Starring Ellie Kemper. Titus Burgess and Jane Krakowski. Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) was part of a doomsday like cult and had spent fifteenth years of her life in an underground bunker and starts to live her life as a free woman in New York City.  This is the show’s final season and I am excited to see if Kimmy is finally able to adjust and function to life outside the bunker.

Until Next time!!!

Some time ago I posted on my Instagram feed a giphy of a 1-900-9099-CRY commercial and everyone kept asking me if it was real or not.

Well it is a real commercial and at one point a workable number! Back in the 80’s 1-900 numbers were massively popular. I remember that there was a number for almost anything that was popular! You could call Bill and Ted and talk about their excellent adventures or He-Man about the land of Enternia even Freddy Krueger had a 1-900 number! 

Yes the 1-900-9099-CRY commercial is a bit different and out of place for a regular infomercial. Mainly because the opening of the commercial you see a woman clutching to the phone bailing her eyes out with no explanation or reason until you hear a very monotone voice over was posing a question as to “why do people across America cry like this?” 

Then the 1-900 number flashes on the screen while the voice over to “find out for yourself.”With the addition caveats of additional costs and exclusions.

Here is the full commercial below. Although watching there will be a two dollar charge for each additional viewing!

Has anyone called it? If so what did you hear? Sad stories or things that would potential make sob as much as that lady over the sink in the opening shot?

Until next time!

This month I would like to introduce you all to one of my favorite books EVER: 

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann!

It was first published in 1966 and it quickly became a best selling hit of that year. 

In the same accord of Peyton’s Place (also a favorite book of mine!) this book was steamy!  Jacqueline Susann had a humble beginning as an actress but she was not the best actress. However was the the best as hearing the Hollywood behind the scenes gossip.  She turned and based most of her character in Valley of the dolls on real life actress of that decade.

Even though critics bashed harshly on the novel the world seemed to love the book. Even to this day this novel is one of the top best selling books in history. Valley of the Dolls celebrated it’s 50th anniversary and surpassed sales of 31 million and have been translated in more then 20 languages. 

I found out about this book thanks to going into Urban Outfitters and looking at their clearance home section about a decade ago. This was the copy I found: 

It was wedge between a shoe box and a George Washington bust in candle form! The cover looked interesting and at the sale price of $3.99 I decided to try it out! Then I brought home and put the book down in my room only to forget about it!

Then about a month later my sister asked me if I wouldn’t mind coming over to her house and babysitting in about 30 minutes from when she called. I said yes and grabbed a few things and saw something pink from the place I was grabbing my things from. It was the book and I thought I could read it when my niece sleeps. Which was almost as soon as I got there. I cracked open the book and was a couple of pages in when I became completely absorbed in it! So much so that when I got back home I read the book straight thru!

I enjoyed it so much that after I finished it I started reading it again a week later! I enjoyed reading it a second time that I started researching more about the book and learned there was a film version of it made in 1967. It stared Sharon Tate, Patty Duke and Barbara Perkins. Omg I was totally obsessed with the movie as well! I have watched it at least 20 times! ( I will probably do a separate write up on the movie at a later time)

After reading the  book  twice I decided to start reading more of Jacqueline Susann’s books and apart from Valley of the Dolls my second favorite book of hers is 

Jacquline Susann will forever be one of my favorite authors mostly because she write about glamour, fame and love all has a price to pay.

Valley of the Dolls has forever changed my reading habits because now my go to reads  are in the clearance sections. Because you never now where you new book crush will be!

UNTIL NEXT TIME!!!