Rampant Egomania Beckons.

It seems that for the first time thus far in my weblogging career, I have been nominated by receive one of those chain blog award thingys – a ‘Kreativ Blogger’ award, courtesy of Hans, whose excellent blog Quiet Cool would be getting one right back from me, were it not for the fact that would start some sort of mutual appreciation feedback loop. Anyway, many thanks to Hans, and needless to say, his writing on film is really excellent and has helped bring more than a few previously unknown classics to my attention over the past few months. I particularly appreciate the way in which Quiet Cool recognises art and exploitation cinema as flipsides of the same coin and treats both with equal respect – an idea close to my heart, and one that I’d like to see more film fans/writers take on board.

Here’s the deal:

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

For the seven blogs I’m nominating, I should point out firstly that since the award has been given to this, my film/books/weirdness blog, rather than my music blog, I’ll thus highlight some of the blogs I follow in that general area, rather than the many great music blogs I also enjoy.

Thinking about it, I guess that many of my favourite non-music crit blogs – If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, Final Girl, A Journey Round My Skull, Monster Movie Music etc. – are already extremely popular, and probably don’t need any cheerleading from the likes of me. Also, much of my favourite film-writing is to be found on sites that, in addition to being equally well-known, aren’t blogs at all (crazy stuff, huh?). In particular, Keith Allison and his comrades at Teleport City are at least partially responsible for helping to revive my enthusiasm for cult film, as is Joseph A. Ziemba at the hopefully-soon-to-be-resurrected Bleeding Skull.

So, with that in mind, I thought it might be interesting to venture beyond the realm of movie blogs and give a shout out to some of the more unusual sites that may be found on the blogroll to your right – blogs that, in one way or another, have helped expand my horizons and regularly planted thoughts in my head that I otherwise would never have thunk. Here goes;


SEVEN BLOGS (in alphabetical order):

Another Nickel In The Machine

From the birth of the cocaine trade in the Chinatown underworld of Billy ‘Brilliant’ Chang, to the Ku-Klux Klan marching through Battersea, to the jazz age outrages of Elvira Blarney and ‘Snakehips’ Johnson, to Keith Moon’s memorable last words, “Another Nickel”s meticulously researched and copiously illustrated posting reveal astounding hidden histories lurking behind the façade of the city I call home that would make the most lurid pulp novelists go weak at the knees.

Beyond the Implode

Ok, so I suppose this one is sort-of a music blog, in that most of the posts use music as a jumping off point, but in reading Beyond The Implode you’re liable to learn a lot less about music and a lot more about…. well, I’m not sure to be honest – this and that. But whatever Mr. Beyond The Implode sees fit to bang on about, he does so in a style that’s the very embodiment of the kind of effortlessly entertaining guttersnipe gonzo ranting that used to make the British music press the envy of the world, before it all went to shit and they decided to sack anyone who was any good. Or something like that. Anyway, the continued existence of this kind of discourse, roaming free unshackled from the niceties of word counts or editorial direction, makes me happy.

Carrie White Burns In Hell

I like the anonymity of this video blog’s presentation, and the complete lack of commentary. It seems to be run by a guy called Joe, but beyond that…. just take a deep breath, press play, and enter another world. Visit every few days and repeat. Enough in the archives to keep you going for months, assuming the great Youtube purge of ’09 hasn’t claimed back too much ground.

Caustic Cover Critic

For anyone with even the faintest interest in the aesthetics of book design, JRSM runs just about the best one-stop-shop for such things imaginable, with content ranging from praise for the genuinely good to scorn for the lazy and bad to general ‘?!?!?!’ for the unspeakable oddities of the Print-On-Demand sector, and plenty of nice vintage design and eye-boggling pulp covers to enjoy too – so fun for all the family really, assuming your family all like looking at books. Oh, and in addition to that, JRSM’s recent end of year book round up actually managed to pique my interest in some contemporary authors with whom I was unfamiliar – quite an achievement, as I’m usually pretty curmudgeonly when it comes to people trying to persuade me to read any literary fiction published after about 1976.

Cotton Candy Truant

Dusty S. says of her blog: “COTTON CANDY TRUANT is a blog for fiends of quivering pop culture of the past, exploitation flicks, and deep fried fun.” What more can I add? It’s a rolling parade of awesome from an era when American pop culture was really something worth digging, and I dig it.

Freedom School Records

I only found this neat pulps/comix focused blog over the xmas holidays, so it’s a bit of a new one to me. In fact, I didn’t even notice until today that it’s the work of Mike Hunchback, of Norton Records fame! Sadly the blog is pretty sparsely updated, but we’re talking quality over quantity here, and every post is a veritable eye-gasm (if you will) of ‘60s underground comix, Weird Tales, EC horror titles, some totally killer sleaze and horror paperbacks and, well, All The Good Stuff basically. Clearly Mike Hunchback’s position as a man of impeccable aesthetic taste isn’t limited to just putting out all those killer Sonics and Hasil Adkins reissues.

The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

Grant Balfour is a great and noble man, and such qualities are naturally reflected in his current venture, The Guild of Scientific Troubadours, delivering a steady diet of news flashes from the laboratories, observatories and research expeditions of the world, presented with an eye to the more humanistic and artistic aspects of science, not to mention a healthy love of weirdness, that even a science illiterate swine like me can appreciate. Distant galaxies! Strange and frightening sea creatures! Frozen Viking DNA! It’s all here. AND ALSO: songs – wonderful, dreamy psychedelic pop songs – inspired by it all, one a month, and commended to your attention.

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As to “Seven things about yourself that people might find interesting”? Are you kidding? Strip away my various cultural obsessions and hobby-horses and I’m probably as dull an individual as you could ever have the misfortune to meet, having spent my life thus far studiously avoiding the possibility of doing anything noteworthy.

I enjoyed Hans’ run-down of cinema-related life anecdotes though, and thinking about it, I’ve got some good ones, so I’ll try to put something together for a future post.