Wow – so there’s a few things to mention here, since I haven’t been keeping up.
First off, last week we noticed that we got a nice mention in Buzzsaw Magazine, a student-run alternative monthly in Ithaca, NY!
Read the article here at Buzzsaw’s website. We’re written about near the end. For the record, though, it’s still the case that most of what we show has not been rated by the MPAA and most haven’t been in “the main theater circuit” or received “mainstream attention.” But it’s really neat to get recognition in a magazine like Buzzsaw!
Next bit of news: we changed around the website a tiny bit. Now, when you click on “Archives,” you’ll get a page with the prior screenings for the current year. Near the top of the page, up to the left, you can download prior years’ schedules in pdf format. Soon we’ll be adding a couple of pages that spotlight certain titles we’ve run over the years.
Last, but certainly not least – meet Raechel!
There she is after Crappy Christmas: Santa vs. Satan holding up the crappy candy cane sign! She’s the newest MOBS helper and will be doing all kinds of stuff: promotion, research, maybe helping to get us a bit more organized and other stuff that we haven’t even really figured out yet! We’re excited!!
That’s about all we got for right now… but we’re promising to post to the blog more regularly. Ahem.
Hey – look what we noticed yesterday! “Still Bill,” which we showed in Dec 2009, was the number one most popular movie on the NY Times website!
Also, we’re changing the way the archive works on the main MOBS site. Soon, there will be a couple of pages of highlights of titles we’ve shown, and eventually, our full schedules for each year will be available in pdf format. That pdf thing is going to take a bit, though…
Yeah – we know we let the blog go fallow for a month, but will be posting more soon!
Well – before we take a little photographic journey back over the second Crappy Christmas show, there’s one more pic from the first Crappy Christmas show to include – I stole this from MOBS stalwart ADQ (and a helluva better photographer than I’ll EVER be, but I did say I’d steal it with attribution):
Alrighty. On to the night of Santa vs. Satan, which nationally syndicated late night horror host, Cinema Insomnia’s Mr. Lobo dropped by to oversee! The whole thing started off pretty serene…
However, we wisely realized that the movie was SO crappy, we’d better cover ourselves:
We still weren’t sure just how many people would come, and then, like something out of a horribly crappy Christmas story, people actually showed up! Lots of ‘em, too! All with $5 in their hands to – to – to see Santa vs. Satan? Did they understand what they were doing, we wondered? Were they of sound mind? Well, OK… We did have that sign warning people… Well, they weren’t all $5 bills. There was this, too:
This might be an appropriate time to mention that we think this is a really good idea for all of you to adopt – it ensures you don’t accidentally spend the money you’ve set aside to see a movie at MOBS. So keep this handy tip in mind, folks.
While there was no dancing Dragon Claus this week, folks seemed to be in pretty good spirits (keep in mind, this was BEFORE seeing the movie), and so it seemed time to start fixin’ that. Mr. Lobo did an intro, most of which I missed, then it came time for him to hand out the 20 or so Crappy Christmas presents we’d brought! There were socks, and an inhumanely ugly and scratchy sweater vest:
(it’s pretty hard to see, but this is the gal who got the sweater vest. And she actually wore it! That’s taking “being a good sport” to a whole new level). There was a book of generic life savers, doggy diapers for excitable urination, a toilet brush, a really “pretty” and nice shower cap:
(again, hard to tell, but that’s Mr. Lobo displaying the wondrous shower cap for all to enjoy). And so many more things you really don’t want to see under that wrapping paper when you’re opening gifts. Oh, and I nearly forgot this:
After the mayhem from the Crappy presents, it was time for the movie. DeeAnn and I braced ourselves for the near-certain mad rush for the exits! And then… nothing. The movie played and I’ll be danged but everyone stayed! And there were even sounds of merriment! Leaving us with nothing to do but shrug. And wait out the hour and a half, knowing that for those watching this holiday atrocity, it would seem more like a day and a half.
And then it ended! And people came out! And Mandi actually drew us a super-cool picture – does this mean there’s MOBS fan art, now?!?
Yes, I think it does! For those who weren’t there, that’s a quote from the movie.
And then I posed for a pic with Mallin, who was oddly affected by the crappiness of the movie – we really didn’t think people’s limbs would begin to blur from sitting through it, but here’s proof:
I sure hope that’s cleared up by now.
Ah – and then the requisite all-male group shot happened (I’m pretty sure we were all glad to get that over with):
But in the end, all holiday cheer was crushed from the souls of those in attendance:
So here’s a look back at the first Crappy Christmas show of 2009, just 24 hours after it ended.
The night started off peacefully, in opposition to the theme of the evening, as DeeAnn and Robert were setting up the theater for what was to come. The projector was set up, the movie prepped, the concessions arranged, the Crappy Candy Canes carelessly dumped, the Crappy Christmas tree balanced in the mason jar, along with a “Do Not Fondle” warning sign, and a picture was taken with our crappy camera whose batteries were nearly dead (ack! Why don’t I check these things! But at least there was enough power for two pretty lousy quality pics…)
And then some people actually started to show up! And then more!! And then… a crappy polar bear (one of the “stars” of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians aka. MOBS advocate, Mandi), a Christmas tree (? maybe? aka, MOBS advocate, Mallin), and a Christmas dragon/lizard-thing (not exactly sure who was under that head – wait, there’s no dragon/lizard thing in the movie!). So far, this all seemed pretty much normal… (another pic from our Crappy camera follows):
But then, things got weird, as some kind of impromptu dragon/lizard performance occurred, while we were still selling tickets and candy:
And here’s some fairly dark video that Mallin shot! Sorry about that – we didn’t have the place lit for this kind of thing… For those who were there, you can now reflect back. For those who weren’t, you can kick yerself for missing it!
And then, after the “movie,” things ended the way they started. Sort of…
All in all, it was a great way to kick off the Crappy Christmas season! Now if we can get some Satan costumes (and maybe some Crappy Santas) at Santa vs. Satan… But if you missed Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, you might want to think twice about missing Santa vs. Satan on 12/27…
You can also purchase digital downloads of the movies, too! But that’s not all that Cory McAbee has done. Oh no… The soundtrack to The American Astronaut has been re-released, and the soundtrack to Stingray Sam is also available, and there’s premium packs for both movies, too! Plus T-shirts, posters, stickers and more! Get over and check out all the glorious scifi musical western goodness at http://corymcabee.com/store/store.php
We showed this one a little over a year ago, and it’s another one definitely worth owning as it demands repeat viewing! The more you watch it, the more you get from it!! That’s at OCD – http://www.othercinemadvd.com/mu.html and is only $24.99! It includes a commentary by director Craig Baldwin and other cool stuff!
(from the Abel Raises Cain website):
The soundtrack from Abel Raises Cain features all original music by Alan Abel and spans five decades. Included in this unprecedented collection are rare audio tracks, novelty songs and previously unheard of gems that were all composed, arranged and/or performed by Alan Abel himself. Several tracks also feature Jeanne Abel as Yetta Bronstein. Rest assured that the music by Alan is as quirky, unpredictable and interesting as Abel himself.
About Stingray Sam:
A dangerous mission reuinites Stingray Sam with his long lost accomplice, The Quasar Kid. Follow these two space-convicts as they earn their freedom in exchange for the rescue of a young girl who is being held captive by the genetically designed figurehead of a very wealthy planet. Narrated by David Hyde Pierce.
About The American Astronaut:
Space travel has become a dirty way of life dominated by derelicts, grease monkeys, and hard-boiled interplanetary traders such as Samuel Curtis. Written, directed, and starring Cory McAbee of the legendary cult band The Billy Nayer Show, this sci-fi, musical-western uses flinty black and white photography, rugged Lo-Fi sets and the spirit of the final frontier. We follow Curtis on his Homeric journey to provide the all-female planet of Venus with a suitable male, while pursued by an enigmatic killer, Professor Hess. The film features music by The Billy Nayer Show and some of the most original rock n’ roll scenes ever committed to film.
About Mock Up on Mu:
A radical hybrid of spy, sci-fi, Western, and even horror genres, Craig Baldwin’s Mock Up On Mu cobbles together a feature-length “collage-narrative” based on (mostly) true stories of California’s post-War sub-cultures of rocket pioneers, alternative religions, and Beat lifestyles. Pulp-serial snippets, industrial-film imagery, and B- (and Z-) fiction clips are intercut with newly shot live-action material, powering a playful, allegorical trajectory through the now-mythic occult matrix of Jack Parsons (Crowleyite founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab), L.Ron Hubbard (sci-fi author turned cult-leader), and Marjorie Cameron (bohemian artist and “mother of the New Age movement”). Their intertwined tales spin out into a speculative farce on the militarization of space, and the corporate take-over of spiritual fulfillment and leisure-time.
About Abel Raises Cain: Abel Raises Cain is an unprecedented glimpse into the life and bizarre career of infamous underground media prankster, Alan Abel. Over the past half-century, Abel has made a name for himself several times over with stunts that are just ridiculous enough to be believable, especially to a media that feeds on salacious, far-fetched stories. Alan’s daughter, Jenny, tells her firsthand account of what it was like growing up with this lovable but slightly demented prankster for a father. Abel Raises Cain takes the audience on a roller coaster ride through the myriad of elaborate hoaxes and schemes that Abel pulled off over the years, all of which were designed to provoke and amuse…while at the same time, make people question everything that they see, hear and read.
