GAPPA GAPPA HEY

 

In Gappa (1967), a scientific expedition goes to a remote tropical island in order to assess its value as a holiday resort. While there, they find a massive egg in a cave. When what they think is a previously unknown lizard hatches out of it, they take the baby creature back to Japan for study. 

The stolen infant's parents (actually more bird than lizard, and with the ability to breathe out blue fire) are understandably furious, and fly to Tokyo to regain custody. What follow is brutal, costly (the Gappa seemingly destroy half of the Japanese air force) and totally deserved, and although there is time for a happy ending, it's a close run thing. The moral of the story: don't nick other people / animals / species kids. It's astonishing how obvious that is, of course, but we're talking about humans. so it still needs saying.

DNANGER!

 

From 2020: Texas Gladiators, a post-apocalyptic science film made in 1983. It's easy to scoff at this obvious spelling mistake, but if English is your first language, try writing 'explosives' in Italian without Googling it first*.

* It's 'esplozivo'.

HBTM

 

It's my birthday. I'm 58. Please see above.

Not really, I want nothing but light and love for all of you who read this. Everyone else can take their chances.

UNSWEET DREAMS

All of the above.

BAZOOKA FOR DUMMIES

 

In Italian crime thriller Killer Versus Killers (1985), hard-bitten hired assassin Henry Silva's weapon of choice is a rocket propelled grenade launcher. No hastily substituted mannequin is safe, no matter how nattily dressed.

FAIR WARNING

From Planet Of The Female Invaders (1966), a Mexican film in which stunningly beautiful space women come to Earth to kidnap some fat, jug-eared blokes in order to further the plan to quit their own planet, which is bathed in burning daylight all the time. None of it makes much sense, but it's hugely entertaining, which is very much a win, or la victoria, as they say en Espanol.

DANCE AWAY

 

A couple of collages from the archive, originally created for the front and back cover of an album I made called 'ASMR' which I ultimately realised was just a load of formless noise and so was abandoned before anyone else could hear it and come to the same conclusion.

PUT IT ON - GO NUTS - KILL! (II)

The Mask, d. Julian Roffman (1961)

Eleven years ago, I posted some shots from one of the incredible 3D sequences of this overlooked Canadian horror film. I still like it, so here's some more.

DIGITAL CAVE PAINTING

 

Poemfield No. 5. d. Stan VanDerBeek (1968)

One of a series of nine films made by VanDerBeek during a residency at Bell Labs, Poemfield No.5 (also known as 'Free Fall') combines footage of  skydivers and computer code by Ken Knowlton to demonstrate the possibilities of computer animation. It was made with with a state of the art resolution of 252 x 184 pixels - with 4k now becoming the standard, and with up to 24k available, this makes the Poemfield series look like the digital equivalent of cave paintings: crude but miraculous. 

UNIDENTIFIED THINGS

 

'How To Make Flying Things', by Michael Bond (Studio Vista, 1975)

It is estimated that around 70% of all UFO sightings can be attributed to use /misuse of this book. Was the author inadvertently irresponsible or being deliberately subversive? Either way, you'd expect more from the bloke who came up with Paddington.