New Year, New T-shirts

Nine new designs have been added to the Custom T-shirts collection. You can check them out via the tab at the top of the screen, or roll your eyeballs downwards towards these low resolution images here:

 

 

You could also join my six non-bot followers on Instagram and be among the first to see each new design as it drops. I hear it's what all the cool kids are doing these days.

Custom T-shirts Now Available

For those of us living outside of the UK or US, purchasing custom t-shirts from websites like Etsy and Redbubble can be an expensive endeavour. To circumvent costly shipping charges, I design and print my own t-shirts.

A variety of designs can be found by clicking on the Custom T-shirt tab, with more designs being uploaded in the very near future.

The Parallelism of Kubrick and Kate

Stanley Kubrick and Kate Bush are two of the most important and influential artists of the 20th Century. Despite this, Kubrick is not renowned for his singing or dancing. Similarly, having recently laboured through Bush’s 1993 self proclaimed ‘load of bollocks’, The Line, The Cross and the Curve, it’s safe to say that she is not synonymous with film making. Yet both of these artists have so much in common it’s astonishing that everyone isn’t talking about it, like, all of the time. According to comedian Michelle Wolf, ‘Blogs are a conversation that no one wanted to have with you’. That observation has never been more applicable than to this red hot topic.

How To Make A Belated Sequel

It has become common practice for filmmakers to strip-mine the past for pre-existing IP with a ready made fan base. This has resulted in a slew of new 'first' sequels to movies from the 80s and 90s – movies that we never thought required a second outing. In 2020, sequels that may or may not be coming your way include:

• Top Gun: Maverick (Top Gun 2)
• Beetlejuice 2
• The Rocketeers (The Rocketeer 2)
• Coming 2 America (Coming to America 2)
• Triplets (Twins 2)
• Space Jam 2

I love a good dot-point list, so here's another one of belated releases from the past few years:

• Split (Unbreakable 2)
• Doctor Sleep (The Shining 2)
• T2 Trainspotting (Trainspotting 2)
• Blade Runner 2049 (Blade Runner 2)

The fear of alienating those who are unfamiliar with the original has also precipitated the rise of the ‘soft reboot’ - films that are more remake than sequel. These films rarely adhere to a numbering system (for example, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV) but instead try to hide their numerical position in a larger franchise (Rocky Balboa, Creed). Every so often, though, a belated sequel will appear that proudly flaunts its sequelness. But does that always make for compelling viewing? Let's compare two recent examples...

Eyes Wide Shut: Masterpiece Or Meh?

I’m rarely confounded by a film, yet Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut confounds me. In the twenty years since its release, I’ve watched it a thousand times; not because I like it, but because I still don’t know if I like it. Is it a work of genius, the culmination of a lifetime of obsessive research by history’s greatest film-maker? Is it a rumination on the masks we wear, itself masquerading its meaning behind layers and layers of inscrutable detail? Or is it the last ditch effort of a pervey old man to stare at some boobs? 

We've heard it all before: Eyes Wide Shut set the Guinness World Record for the longest film shoot of all time. Stanley Kubrick required his actors to perform take after take of inconsequential actions, so much so that Harvey Keitel quit and Tom Cruise developed a stomach ulcer.* Kubrick literally worked himself to death, suffering a major heart attack only days after completing his final cut of the film. Considering the time, money and energy that went into the making of Eyes Wide Shut, it's impossible to watch the film without regularly pondering the following question: What the hell is going on?

Other questions might include:
- How come no-one in this film seems to know how to act? 

- Why does New York City look so fake?
- Is the orgy supposed to be erotic, suspenseful or lame?

Let’s discuss.

The Shining, Animated: WIP

Stanley Kubrick's The Shining: Now Available in 3D!

Long before James Cameron reinvigorated the film and panel van airbrushing industry with his 2009 Sam Worthington vehicle Avatar, kids could hold a chunk of carcinogenic red plastic to their eyeballs and experience exactly what it must be like if everything was cut out of cardboard and positioned slightly apart from everything else. 

The View-Master was introduced in 1939, to a pre-war general populace who were clambering for stereoscopic images of tourist attractions. By 1981, it was standard fare in every child's toy box, with a variety of film and television licensed products available for purchase. These included you're typical 80s blockbusters, such as E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Jaws 3D, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. A complete list of all available titles can be found at The View-Master Ultimate Reel List.

Although View-Master reels had, for many years, been designed specifically for an adult market, by the early 80s the target audience was predominately children - which is why we never saw the films of Stanley Kubrick released as a View-Master reel set. I am slowly rectifying this oversight with the first of a series of adult-centric View-Master mock-ups, beginning with the 1980 horror classic, The Shining.