Tag: film

Don’t call them trailer trash

In my part of Orange County, affordable housing is rare. One of the disappearing features of the landscape is the trailer park. We used to have quite a few around here but one by one they’re disappearing to be replaced with more familiar suburban things like parking lots and office buildings. The one down the street from me exists solely because the land is owned by a family that is resistant to change and has lots of money already, for example.

Until recently there was a trailer park on the campus of UC Irvine, where my father was charter faculty in 1965. The University, being college administrators, needed a new parking lot, so off it went. But not after some spirited student resistance from ornery and inventive graduate students!

A film has been made of the last days of Irvine Meadows West: http://trailerparkfilm.com/

I recommend seeing the trailer. It’s a bit hippiebongoburningman but gives a good idea of the scene. One of my college friends from the 80s, Maggie Sullivan, was involved in this scene but I don’t see her in the trailer. I mean the movie trailer, not the actual trailers in the movie about trailers.

For vegemitelover and other artistical types

http://www.sonyclassics.com/artschoolconfidential/

comix

This looks like the This Is Spinal Tap of art school. To quote the Fluxblog review:

Art School Confidential – This film is pretty much guaranteed to become a cult classic for most anyone who has ever been to art school, or has been involved with the art world. Set at a fictionalized version of Pratt , Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff build a thoughtful, highly critical movie about art and artists from the comedic blueprint of the art class scenes in the Ghost World film and the original four-page “Art School Confidential” strip from Eightball. Art school is such a largely untapped comedic oilwell that it never seems like a retread for Clowes, especially when the archetypes of the art world are rendered so accurately that they often inspire cringing recognition along with giggles and guffaws.

URGH.

I managed to bittorrent a Beta videotape rip of the classic 1981 concert film URGH! A Music War.

Locals who want a DVD, let me know.

Others who are patient, the bittorrent is on demonoid.com here. I’m leaving my seed running for a while.

The film is an amazing document of early 80s new wave. XTC, Oingo Boingo, Wall of Voodoo, an amazing version of Devo’s “Uncontrollable Urge”, etc etc. It’s not on DVD and only available on ratty old overpriced VHS or Beta (!) tapes.