‘Imps*’ (1983 – 1988, Immoral Minority Picture Show – Scott Mansfield)
A series of comedy sketches spoofing different aspects of popular culture.
The scattershot compendium ‘Imps*’ was shelved for over 20 years and appears to have been constructed from individual segments shot throughout the 1980s. Some skits work better than others but there’s plenty of laughs to be had. The cast is filled with talent.
Linda Blair in 'Don't Scream On My Face'
‘Amazing Journey : The Story Of The Who’ (2007, Documentary – Paul Crowder & Murray Lerner)
A tribute to The Who, one of England’s fiercest musical units who were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio in 1990.
Singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend and drummer Kenney Jones recall their years in The Who for this epic retelling of the band’s tumultuous tour through the world of entertainment. They discuss incredible highs like the reception that greeted their concept albums ‘Tommy’ (1969) and ‘Quadrophenia’ (1973), as well as terrible lows like the ritualistic trend they developed for smashing expensive assets, musical instruments and technical equipment. They also touch upon the tragic events of December 3rd, 1979 when 11 fans died and many more were injured at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio. Joining the band members are rock titans Sting, Steve Jones, The Edge, Eddie Vedder and Noel Gallagher.
‘Climb It, Tarzan!’ (2011 – Jared Masters)
Aspiring models try to escape the clutches of phantom photographer Paula (Jennicka Andersson).
The sketch comedy ‘Climb It, Tarzan!’ offers a series of vignettes involving figure models. There’s a loose connector involving the work of deadly shutterbug Paula but for the most part it’s forged from a series of random encounters. It might have begun life as an open casting call for Jared Masters’ independent genre pictures. Cool soundtrack from Shadow Sky.
‘David Bowie & The Story Of Ziggy Stardust’ (2012, Documentary – James Hale)
A breakdown of David Bowie’s seminal storybook album ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders Of Mars’ (1972) which was selected by the Library of Congress to become part of the National Recording Registry in 2017.
‘David Bowie & The Story Of Ziggy Stardust’ is a virtual celebration of David Bowie’s famous fantasy character Ziggy Stardust with narration from Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. It includes footage from a 1973 concert film directed by D. A. Pennebaker and interviews with musicians John Cambridge, John Hutchinson, Trevor Bolder, Woody Woodmansey, Dana Gillespie, Mike Garson, Elton John, Cherry Vanilla, Steve Harley, Peter Hook, Marc Almond, Cherie Currie, Holly Johnson and Gary Kemp.
‘Voyager : To The Final Frontier’ (2012, Documentary – Christopher Riley)
Scientists evaluate the impact of the Voyager Project thirty-five years on from launch, with Voyager 1 having been catapulted out of the solar system on an upward trajectory and Voyager 2 about to enter interstellar space.
‘Voyager : To The Final Frontier’ offers a concise overview of the journeys undertaken so far by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts. Mathematician Michael Minovitch created theoretical space missions with the help of the world’s fastest computer at UCLA (the University of California, Los Angeles) and these formed the basis for journeys that would be navigated by practical spacecraft. Minovitch is among those interviewed here, part of an all-star science community line-up that includes Saturn specialist Carolyn Porco and Io lynchpin Linda Morabito.
"Californian tools have transformed our lives - from personal computers and laptops to smart phones and social media. Most of those things were created in Silicon Valley or at least popularised there. When people come to the show they will find that impact documented - there's a lot to excite people who love technology and computers. But we also look at the history of an idea: California has specialised in democratising those tools. It put design and technology in our hands that used to belong only in the realm of the military and the corporation. We carry computers and microchips in our pockets in a way that has empowered us all."
- Justin McGuirk, co-curator at The Design Museum in London
McGetrick also likes the Captain America Chopper, which has gone down in pop history as the drop-handled motorbike famous from the 1969 film Easy Rider.
"Take the Captain America Chopper from ‘Easy Rider’. Part of the influence of California has been the emphasis on customisation. The motorcycle had its wheelbase extended and other work done: it suggested anti-authoritarian or anti-establishment sentiment which is why it was so effective on screen. As a definition of freedom it's very Californian: two wheels and an open road and being able to project your own identity. Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag's an important product of San Francisco Bay Area culture and Silicon Valley is a big chunk of that area."
- Brendan McGetrick, co-curator at The Design Museum in London
“I believe the next encounter with the closest star is something like 40,000 years from now.”
- Suzanne Dodd, key engineer behind the “goodbye” Voyager 2 parting shot to Earth & the solar system
'Interstellar Overdrive' - Pink Floyd
‘The Cleveland Orchestra : Violins Of Hope’ (2015, Documentary – Mike Vendeland)
The Cleveland Orchestra, led by Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst, perform a concert using instruments that once belonged to Jewish musicians who lost their lives during the holocaust.
The Cleveland Orchestra was ranked as the world’s 7th greatest orchestra by Gramophone Magazine in 2012, reaffirming this musical collective’s proud history since being the last to form of America’s original Big 5 (the New York Philharmonic – founded 1842, the Boston Symphony Orchestra – founded 1881, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – founded 1891, the Philadelphia Orchestra – founded 1900). The Cleveland Orchestra was founded in 1918 by pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes and stands today among scores of impressive symphony orchestras who light up all forms of music from state to state. The orchestra has provided music for the city’s major sports teams (former NBA Champions the Cleveland Cavaliers, 2-time World Series Champions the Cleveland Indians, 4-time AAFC Champions & 4-time NFL Champions the Cleveland Browns) and countless film and art projects. This concert film captures the musicians in full flight as they undertake another historic project.
‘Boulez’ (2016, Documentary – The Cleveland Orchestra & The Heritage Society)
A tribute to composer Pierre Boulez put together by members of the Cleveland Orchestra.
French composer Pierre Boulez died on January 5th, 2016. This heartfelt video letter was published online by the Cleveland Orchestra on January 6th, 2016.
‘Lights Out’ (2016 – David F. Sandberg)
Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) investigates a strange presence at the house of her mentally disturbed mother Sophie (Maria Bello) that emerges after lights out.
‘Lights Out’ is an uncomfortably stretched enlargement of director David Sandberg’s enjoyable horror short ‘Lights Out’ (2013) which clocked in at just three minutes. A family melodrama has been added that’s painfully unconvincing and the expanded running time invites a raft of cheap jolts and loud jump scares. The production values are reasonably strong (it’s co-produced by horror filmmaker James Wan) but ‘Lights Out’ is a recursive, elongated horror dirge that flickers like a dim bulb.
‘Quartet For The End Of Time’ (2016, Documentary - Quatuor pour la fin du temps – H. Paul Moon)
A deconstruction of the chamber piece ‘Quartet For The End Of Time’ which was composed by Olivier Messiaen while he was a prisoner of war. Messiaen used the only instruments that were available to him at the time (cello, clarinet, piano & violin).
This invigorating verbal text on the musical work ‘Quartet Of The End Of Time’ is put together by The President’s Own United States Marine Band Ensemble, the oldest active military band in the United States of America, established by act of Congress on July 11th, 1798. Director H. Paul Moon uses concert audio recorded in Washington D.C. on November 8th, 2015.
‘Active Socialism : Street By Street’ (2017, Documentary – Geezer Breeze)
A wry look at the life of a political campaigner, going house to house distributing leaflets.
The mini-documentary ‘Active Socialism : Street By Street’ pays tribute to the work of politicians who seek to fully represent their communities. They perform surgeries, hold events and attend town hall meetings, but nothing beats old-fashioned door-to-door contact.
"I build no system. I ask an end to privilege, the abolition of slavery, equality of rights, and the reign of law. Justice, nothing else; that is the alpha and omega of my argument: to others I leave the business of governing the world."
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
‘Bill Cosby : An American Scandal’ (2017, Documentary – Steven Wesley Miller)
Disgraced comedy titan Bill Cosby has been standing trial on charges of sexual assault but he also stands accused of numerous other crimes including rape.
More than 50 women are said to have accused Bill Cosby of sex crimes. It’s alleged that he drugged women with Quaaludes for decades, committing numerous crimes that went largely undetected. He’s now on trial for one set of offences and there’s an existing police report that’s been made public. Hopefully justice will be served.
‘Buddy Holly : Rave On’ (2017, Documentary – George Scott)
A personalised portrait of singer-songwriter Buddy Holly who achieved great success with his band the Crickets over a short period in time.
The documentary ‘Buddy Holly : Rave On’ celebrates the legacy of Buddy Holly, an adventurous performer from Lubbock, Texas who pushed his talent and technique to the limits. The Crickets recorded a couple of songs penned by Norman Petty and Roy Orbison on their album ‘The "Chirping" Crickets’ (1957), Orbison hailing from Vernon, Texas. Holly’s style and image has been adopted by countless performers in the decades since his death but he remains an inimitable force in rock n roll. With contributions from Jerry Allison, Sonny Curtis, Larry Welborn, Sonny West, Paul Anka, Don Everly, Dion DiMucci, Duane Eddy, Hank Marvin, Albert Lee, Robert Wyatt, Don McLean and Brian May.
‘Jo Cox : Death Of An MP’ (2017, Documentary – Toby Paton)
An account of the murder of Labour politician Helen Joanne Cox and the trial of white supremacist Thomas Mair.
'The first invention which gave rise to a radical change in the state of the English workers was the
jenny, invented in the year 1764 by a weaver, James Hargreaves, of Stanhill, near Blackburn, in
North Lancashire. This machine was the rough beginning of the later invented mule, and was
moved by hand. Instead of one spindle like the ordinary spinning-wheel, it carried sixteen or
eighteen manipulated by a single workman. This invention made it possible to deliver more yarn
than heretofore. Whereas, though one weaver had employed three spinners, there had never been
enough yarn, and the weaver had often been obliged to wait for it, there was now more yarn to be
had than could be woven by the available workers. The demand for woven goods, already
increasing, rose yet more in consequence of the cheapness of these goods, which cheapness, in
turn, was the outcome of the diminished cost of producing the yarn. More weavers were needed,
and weavers' wages rose. Now that the weaver could earn more at his loom, he gradually
abandoned his farming, and gave his whole time to weaving. At that time a family of four grown
persons and two children (who were set to spooling) could earn, with eight hours' daily work,
four pounds sterling in a week, and often more if trade was good and work pressed. It happened
often enough that a single weaver earned two pounds a week at his loom. By degrees the class of
farming weavers wholly disappeared, and was merged in the newly arising class of weavers who
lived wholly upon wages, had no property whatever, not even the pretended property of a
holding, and so became workingmen, proletarians. Moreover, the old relation between spinner
and weaver was destroyed. Hitherto, so far as this had been possible, yarn had been spun and
woven under one roof. Now that the jenny as well as the loom required a strong hand, men began
to spin, and whole families lived by spinning, while others laid the antiquated, superseded
spinning-wheel aside; and, if they had not means of purchasing a jenny, were forced to live upon
the wages of the father alone. Thus began with spinning and weaving that division of labour
which has since been so infinitely perfected.
While the industrial proletariat was thus developing with the first still very imperfect machine,
the same machine gave rise to the agricultural proletariat. There had, hitherto, been a vast number
of small landowners, yeomen, who had vegetated in the same unthinking quiet as their
neighbours, the farming weavers. They cultivated their scraps of land quite after the ancient and
inefficient fashion of their ancestors, and opposed every change with the obstinacy peculiar to
such creatures of habit, after remaining stationary from generation to generation. Among them
were many small holders also, not tenants in the present sense of the word, but people who had
their land handed down from their fathers, either by hereditary lease, or by force of ancient
custom, and had hitherto held it as securely as if it had actually been their own property. When
the industrial workers withdrew from agriculture, a great number of small holdings fell idle, and
upon these the new class of large tenants established themselves, tenants-at-will, holding fifty,
one hundred, two hundred or more acres, liable to be turned out at the end of the year, but able by
improved tillage and larger farming to increase the yield of the land. They could sell their
produce more cheaply than the yeoman, for whom nothing remained when his farm no longer
supported him but to sell it, procure a jenny or a loom, or take service as an agricultural labourer
in the employ of a large farmer. His inherited slowness and the inefficient methods of cultivation
bequeathed by his ancestors, and above which he could not rise, left him no alternative when
forced to compete with men who managed their holdings on sounder principles and with all the
advantages bestowed by farming on a large scale and the investment of capital for the
improvement of the soil.
Meanwhile, the industrial movement did not stop here. Single capitalists began to set up spinning
jennies in great buildings and to use water-power for driving them, so placing themselves in a
position to diminish the number of workers, and sell their yarn more cheaply than single spinners
could do who moved their own machines by hand. There were constant improvements in the
jenny, so that machines continually became antiquated, and must be altered or even laid aside;
and though the capitalists could hold out by the application of water-power even with the old
machinery, for the single spinner this was impossible. And the factory system, the beginning of
which was thus made, received a fresh extension in 1767, through the spinning throstle invented
by Richard Arkwright, a barber, in Preston, in North Lancashire. After the steam-engine, this is
the most important mechanical invention of the 18th century. It was calculated from the
beginning for mechanical motive power, and was based upon wholly new principles. By the
combination of the peculiarities of the jenny and throstle, Samuel Crompton, of Firwood,
Lancashire, contrived the mule in 1785, and as Arkwright invented the carding engine, and
preparatory ("slubbing and roving") frames about the same time, the factory system became the
prevailing one for the spinning of cotton. By means of trifling modifications these machines were
gradually adapted to the spinning of flax, and so to the superseding of handwork here, too. But
even then, the end was not yet. In the closing years of the last century, Dr. Cartwright, a country
parson, had invented the power-loom, and about 1804 had so far perfected it, that it could
successfully compete with the hand-weaver; and all this machinery was made doubly important
by James Watt's steam-engine, invented in 1764 and used for supplying motive power for
spinning since 1785.
With these inventions, since improved from year to year, the victory of machine-work over hand-
work in the chief branches of English industry was won; and the history of the latter from that
time forward simply relates how the hand-workers have been driven by machinery from one
position after another.'
- Friedrich Engels, 'Condition Of The Working Class In England'
"We have a crisis in our NHS, a crisis made in Downing Street. We have schools laying off teachers, with headteachers sending begging letters to parents pleading for help. Asking a sliver of people who are paid salaries most people could only dream of to contribute a little more to our society, and the public services we all rely on, is the responsible and reasonable thing to do. The Tories, who have spent seven years cutting taxes for the rich and cutting services for the rest, are refusing to match our commitment, and you have to ask yourself why. The fact is, Labour is the low-tax party for people on middle and low incomes and the Tories are the low-tax party for big business. The Conservatives pretend to care about working people and about building a fair society. But what was fair about the bedroom tax, about trebling students’ tuition fees, about taking benefits away from people with disabilities, and about closing Sure Start centres? What is fair about handing tens of billions of pounds to the richest in our society in tax giveaways, while lecturing the rest of us about tightening our belts?"
- Rebecca Long-Bailey, The Guardian
Rebecca Long-Bailey in Wigan
Owen Jones meets Angela Rayner