Once again even Guam’s politics are cleaner–less corrupt–than those of the city officials!
What are things coming to?
April 27, 2012
Access Denied at the Buzz Killton
April 22, 2012
Equal Stripping For All
After Joanna Angel’s zombie strip tease was shut down at last weekend’s Shock Stock, the dinos decided to take action. Especially after hearing London’s bylaw officer suggest that he does his job based on class. If you’re upset too, contact the mayor or municipal law enforcement services to complain about the double standard by which London, Ontario enforces its laws.
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April 16, 2012
Shock Stock 2012
Our booth at Shock Stock, presented by Vagrancy Films and Grimbrothers Entertainment. The weekend was a blast, full of good friends and monsters, including my favourite, Toxie Terry! We got so much free stuff from our fellow vendors; Guam spent the better part of the weekend bragging about her buttons from Joanna Angel.
One of my first B movies ever was Toxic Avenger, so of course I had to fawn all over Troma.
The Vagrancy Kids Kickin’ the Burger… and some shoes.
More Burger Kickin’ and various reactions.
There were constant costume changes via Scary Larry and much megaphone abuse provided by James, the master of ceremonies.
And finally the Stay Puft guy gave us the finger, so Guam tried her best to eat him.
It was a pretty good time. Don’t miss 2013!
March 24, 2012
Catnip-Filled Eyeballs!
Tired of cutesy mice and feather wands that your kitty-cat ignores? Try an eyeball instead! These gruesome cat toys will be available at our booth at Shock Stock, Canada’s only convention devoted completely to horror and exploitation; April 13-15, London, Ontario. For more information visit Shock Stock Part II.
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March 13, 2012
It’s Coming… Shock Stock 2012!
Meet Guam in person! Great deals on books, toys, buttons, and cards!
Canada’s newest and best horror convention, SHOCK STOCK.
February 19, 2012
Guam “Helps” Feed the Whales
These books are for Shock Stock 2012! Free! Also we’ll be taking a bunch out east this summer and then more down to Florida next winter. So many whales, so many places to feed! Blub blub, my friends.
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October 31, 2011
October 26, 2011
October 15, 2011
Occupy Everywhere
Today is Occupy Everywhere.
We stand in solidarity against corruption.
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October 11, 2011
The Mutation Continues
Barnum has had mutations before, but never like this... We noticed that an anxious tip had unfurled before the rest of the leaf, tearing itself in a rush to freedom. The rest of the leaf followed suit, tearing identically on the other side. That has happened before; that is not new. This time, however, the outer edges sought to repair the damage, fusing the leaf together. For several days now this leaf has grown larger, stronger, still connected in the centre, circular fibres flowing. I love this plant.
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October 9, 2011
The Price of Human Life
I am re-posting some links and adding a few more in hopes of inspiring you to get involved. Know your rights. Demand equal treatment regardless of race, religion, class, gender, or sexual orientation. Don’t be intimidated because you are not alone.
Dear Occupiers, a letter from anarchists
An Open Letter to the Toronto Police Service
Occupy Wall Street Library
My favourite portrait of myself, taken by Sweater Eyes, feels strangely appropriate. Thousands of people are risking their jobs and livelihoods to be in lower Manhattan–and it’s spreading. It has been spreading for a long time, and to occupy now is a huge opportunity. Continue to protest and to demand new ideas and policies that better suit the needs of all of a country’s citizens, not just the rich ones.
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October 6, 2011
September 25, 2011
Guam with the Pope & Vagrancy Films’s 6 Year Show
Last night Vagrancy Films hosted their 6th year show at Rainbow Cinemas, screening Duke Mitchell’s long-lost classic “Gone with the Pope” and featuring over 20 minutes of mind-altering trailers. One of the best shows I’ve ever attended: a crowded theatre (we need these shows packed, people!); lots of Vagrancy Virgins (call James a “scumbag” and you get in half-price); an early broken reel (o the joys of real film!); trailers that push the limits of black, child, and whale exploitation; heckling from the usual vagrants and Big Poppa Dump himself; plus a fresh print of a fucking fantastic movie (great music and editing, hilarious one-liners, one after the other, all the exaggerated racism and misogyny you’d expect from true 1970′s Grindhouse, and surprisingly sensitive slower-paced scenes–adding a real sense of holiness to the film). What an exceptionally profound religious experience (and I’m not just saying that because I won an Ilsa press sheet).
The next Vagrancy event is Lucio Fulci’s HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY – FULL UNCUT 35mm 30th Anniversary, playing Saturday, October 22 at 11:30 pm, Rainbow Cinemas, London, Ontario. Don’t be a snobby fool; show up and support local grindhouse.
August 13, 2011
The Myth of Pornography: An Open Letter Regarding Statements Made by Megan Walker
Censorship of any kind concerns me, in particular when relied upon as a blanket argument: “Mainstream pornography sexualizes and normalizes incest, sexual violence against children, and the rape and torture of women” (Megan Walker, The Truth About Pornography).
I do not know Megan Walker, so please do not misunderstand this as a personal attack. I am writing this because, as an artist, her remarks of late worry me very much. By overstating the obvious (“pornography sexualizes… incest”) and using the same arguments against pornography as could be said for any middle-of-the-afternoon television commercial (“Although the women in these pornographic videos are indeed over the age of 18, they are presented in childlike ways: petite, with small breasts, childish expressions, and hair in braids or pony tails”), Walker suggests that all pornography is violence-related and only for men: “While pornography is often discussed as a women’s issue, it is largely about men. It is made primarily by men for men. Men profit from selling it to the men who masturbate to it. Pornography is, at its core, an issue for men.” I believe that Walker’s six-page array of sensational descriptions and accounts from “porn users” as a means to ban any type of pornography is the wrong message to send to our youth, to our artists, to visitors of London—and to all the women and men who live here. As a recent graduate trying to establish myself in the London community and getting to know my peers, my focus is on censorship because that is what affects my friends, my family, and me the most. I am saddened Walker’s recent anti-pornography calls amongst the community, as well as the recent ban of the Everything To Do With Sex Show at the Western Fair District; it is strangely disarming to discover how conservative a city this truly is, especially one that prides itself on being neighbours with arts-oriented Stratford.
Not all pornography is violent, perverted, paedophiliac, non-consensual, or in some way bad. That is the myth about pornography. True, there is that which crosses the line, whether legally, emotionally, physically, or morally (incest, pedophilia, non-consensual, trafficking), but what I really wish to stress is that pornography cannot all be described by, and therefore judged by, one set of standards. If we blanket-censor pornography and access to it, we will begin censoring a lot of sexually-related texts and works of art or media that aren’t actually pornographic. Censoring all pornography sends the message that sex is bad and that we shouldn’t discuss it in any safe, public situation, like in a demonstration or in a library.
There are many things throughout Walker’s letter that worry me—not just the suggested prohibition of “any directly or indirectly city funded boards, commissions and departments from leasing or renting space to any pornography industry sponsored events” or the recommended “immediate filter [of] all London Public Library computers against access to pornography;” not just these newly-proposed policies but the “facts,” statistics, and often far-fetched conclusions Walker uses to defend them. Briefly I want to mention some of the absurd points in her anti-porn statement:
Firstly Walker blatantly ignores the female sex workers who willingly participate in and even enjoy the violent aspects of sex and pornography; they aren’t all sexual deviants who were abused as children. In fact, there are probably many sex workers who would be quite offended by the idea that their work supports “rape-culture” and pedophilia; what they do is for consenting, legal adults, and whether their work is misconstrued and misused is not by their choice or in their control.
Secondly accusing the average healthy adult male who enjoys pornography of supporting rape culture is an awfully lot of guilt to assign to an individual who is, more often than not, far from the original source of said “rape culture”; aren’t these men becoming a little bit like victims themselves? I understand that Walker is trying to explain that not all sex is consensual and that a lot of women are taken advantage of by men, however I feel that she is taking advantage of men in general as a scapegoat for larger problems, specifically, as Jon Stewart says, the mass media’s “bias towards sensationalism and laziness” (Fox News Sunday). Mainstream pop culture uses scare tactics and phrases to overtly focus on deviancy in easy targets rather than actually attempting to build a better social structure though more effective means such as education.
Lastly, “In the world of pornography, women do not exist as human beings with a sense of privacy, boundaries or authentic desire. No part of the female body is off limits to male inspection, evaluation, use and abuse. In this world, women are f**k objects.” In other words, no woman could ever appreciate, enjoy, create, or support pornography. I and my friends prove otherwise. I view pornography—certain types, of course—as art, as do many of my fellow artists, academics, and, I believe, fellow Londoners. And even if it isn’t high art, I should still have access to it and the right to partake in it if I so choose.
Walker writes, “No one claims that all men who use pornography become rapists, or that rape would disappear if there were no pornography,” however the rest of her letter, the Conference on Pornography that took place in June, and the growing anti-pornography mob screams otherwise; the movement to ban all city-funded access to pornography and its industry suggests that censorship is where we begin to “cure” sexual abuse. As a concerned citizen I hope that my city doesn’t fall for the old censorship trick: that all is either good or bad, and that everything will be better if we ban what’s taboo. Let us not require another sexual revolution in 30 years because we’ve gone too far in the wrong direction.
Read Megan Walker’s full anti-porn letter here.
July 15, 2011
catattack
Above, about as much attention as Maggie ever showed me: hesitation, a quick sniff, and then just beyond my reach. Getting older now and finally gaining some weight, the skinny calico I had as a teenager still comes yowling down the hallway when I visit home, but rarely does she let me pet her. Maggie was named after Bach’s wife, Anna Magdalena; Bach, himself, lived on in spirit in my mother’s once-darling pet, a cockatoo named J.S. Bird. Despite all the baroque, mother successfully taught it to whistle the opening bars to Beethoven’s 5th symphony. I wonder if Maggie would be impressed.
And speaking of catattacks, have you been to Sweater Eyes’s official website? There are too many cats to count on the homepage alone. Photos, plushies, and philosophy from the biggest cat lady of them all.
June 21, 2011
May 3, 2011
Shock Stock 2011
This past weekend Vagrancy Films and Grimbrothers Entertainment hosted Shock Stock, a celebration of horror and exploitation subculture. Guests included Dyanne Thorne and Howard Mauer; Betsy Baker, Ellen Sandweiss, Theresa Tilly, and Hal Delrich from The Evil Dead; Linnea Quigley; Thor; Molly Dunsworth and Nick Bateman from Hobo With a Shotgun; and Robert Skipper, as well as a variety of vendors: Troma, Twisted T’s, The Butcher Shop, AAH! Altered Arte & Handicrafts, City Lights Bookshop, Suspect Video, and many more.
Sunflower Skins and Sweater Eyes made their collaborative public debut with great success, sending off Catopuses and Bulimic Belugas into the world and being, without a doubt, the most adorable table at the convention.
Thanks to James Bialkowski, Jake Grimbrother, Dr. Duke, and Sonny Baker for a fantastic time; special thanks to Scotty for buying the very first comic book; and extraordinary love to my cohorts and family for pulling it off. This is only the beginning.
April 21, 2011
The Party Pixies
Tuesday, April 19, 2011: Thom and I go to Toronto to see the Pixies, reunited for a Doolittle tour. Guam and Jekyll sneak into Massey Hall in our backpack and protect our swag, of course.
The show begins with a high-speed version of Un Chien Andalou:
and then the band appears, dressed in street clothes and looking for a good time.
“We had to learn some of these b-sides sides,” Kim says.
Highlights include Frank hoisting his pants in nearly every song, the girl in the left balcony shaking her booty and generally going crazy, Dave’s show-stealing humility during “La La Love You,” …
… Into the White…
After two amazing encores–unexpected Pilgrim songs–Kim says goodnight to each member of the band and then to the audience.
Special thanks to our friend Sean K. Robb for letting us happy punks crash at his place.
April 10, 2011
Final & Future Days
Final Days of university. Five years later.
Have we been celebrating? Yes, we have.
And what have we been making?
Sunflower Skins at Shock Stock, London Ontario, April 29 – May 1, 2011.
Visit here for expo information; visit here for Sweater Eyes, who will be sharing our table; and visit here for the FaceBook event page.
March 23, 2011
plagiarism/freedom
Feed the Whales & Exhale with Pleasure (no religion): Sunflower Skins and Sweater Eyes buttons available at Shock Stock, April 29th - May 1st, 2011.
