Shadow Wolves May 2022
The boyz discuss what they're watching/reading, answer some calls from the ABZ phone line, and talk about Crumb (1994)!
Comments (74)
Hell yeah
Worst
RIP Ray Liotta. Hopefully he took a diagonal course to heaven.
Speaking of “The Umbrella Man”, I worked on an indie movie in Pittsburgh by the same name about the same thing about a decade ago. I’m not sure it ever saw the light of day, but it may have been on Prime at some point. In it, I’m a lawyer in one scene that takes place in 1982, and when I explain to people what my wardrobe was like, I describe my look as “The guy from Goodfellas that fucked up and spent the money”.
I'm NOT making a film suggestion, but just thought you should know of the existence of 1976's "Lifeguard" starring Sam Elliott. According to the Sauna summary, "Rick, still in his 30's, works full-time as a lifeguard on the beaches of Los Angeles. When he meets his divorced high school girlfriend and her five-year-old son after fifteen years, he considers switching to a more "serious" job."
A movie that has been referenced many times on the show.
I'd love to hear the expanded version of Stanger Writes Down the Cursewords & How His Parents Found Out
Huh
I know I always talk about WTF but he put the Liotta ep back up and it’s a dang ass treat RIP
Near Dark is up on AMC and Shudder, think it’s been off streaming for a while?
Holy shit crumb was great. I rewatched the second half the next day after I watched it, it’s truly fascinating. For art documentaries, I’d have to recommend exit through the gift shop. It’s a enjoyable watch and they explore what the value of art is, and whether or not an artist is separate from their persona.
Banksy is the Sensitive Bro of the contemporary art world.
Not necessary to have seen the show, and its difficult to find at the moment anyway, but I really like this interview on fair use in media by the guys behind Nirvanna the Band the Show. They do a lot of cool editing and stuff I've never really seen before and their whole thing is really inspiring to me. https://youtu.be/FQXxw6PUu_4
The mention of the Daylight hat inspired me to search film crew hats on ebay and have a good laugh. Would love to roll through town in my "Frost/Nixon" or "The Astronaut Farmer" hat. I almost bought a Speed one though. Or a Bosch Season 5 one.
creatively inspiring doc suggestion: STYLE WARS (1983)
This book on Michael Cimino looks right up the ActionBoyz alley. I plan to read it soon: https://www.amazon.com/Cimino-Hunter-Heavens-Price-Vision/dp/1419747118
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I'm stretching the definition of artist documentary here, but anyone ever see a short one about Jeff Krulik (heavy metal parking lot, Mr. Blassie goes to Washington, etc) about his time working Baltimore/DC area public access? Lost the tape years ago, believe it was called Jeff Krulik and Friends and was a gold mine. Worth seeking out for the pre-internet public access performance of the Elvis super fan with savant-like lyrical recollection
Anvil: The Story of Anvil.
FUGAZI: Instrument is my art/inspiration/doing things on your own terms documentary recommendation. Used to throw it on right before I went on every tour I ever did with a band.
Love this one. First ever documentary I spent weeks tracking down a physical copy of. Favorite band of all time
We Own this City is so fucking good, and a desperately needed palate cleanser to all the copaganda I consume lol.
There is a pretty cool illustration museum in Newport, RI.
re: art docs. I'm always surprised when talking Lynch with people that haven't seen David Lynch: The Art Life. It's great and explains a lot. Still up on Criterion https://www.criterionchannel.com/david-lynch-the-art-life
Yeah, this rules. I love it.
What did you guys think about Crumb’s buttered noodles?
Have you guys seen the documentary “Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made”? Pretty interesting.
Fun movie. Total commitment to the craft. 5 rolling forced perspective boulders.
Shout out to the other trans Action Boyz fan. Can’t believe others exist!
That makes at least three of us :)
Damn how have I never seen American Gigolo?! Stanger mentioned it and it was in the TCM section scrolling through HBO Max, Gere is a blind spot for me for some reason. Had no idea this was a Schrader joint, fuckin Moroder.. what a picture. Phone number on the forehead 🤌
Memory: The Origins of Alien is another great documentary the centers around Dan O’Bannon.
Wow Crumb, Clowes and Chick Tracks. It’s like a convergence of Cartoonist kayfabe and Action Boyz. Big fan.
Cartoonist Kayfabe got me drawing a lot more the past 3mo or so since I started watching it. It's great for any fan of comic books and they have so much content to sift through.
Just in case anyone couldn't find the cold open video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPTt6MgsOt8
I had an art teacher in college who played "Crumb" for the class halfway through the semester. He told us he used play it in the first class but said when he did that half the students wouldn't return.
Since Ben mentioned the new Adrian Lyne movie (Deep Water), here's a blog I wrote giving an in-depth comparison between Lyne's film and the Patricia Highsmith novel on which it's based: https://www.weirdgeometry.com/blog/deepwater TLDR is the Highsmith novel is genius but the movie is a mixed bag
i heard somewhere that we love superhero movies now as a reaction to 9/11, we like our good guys/bad guys clearly defined and everything is black and white morally. I don't know exactly what the link is but I sense that puritanical drive is why our movies are sexless now.
But aren't we talking about summer blockbusters and weren't they always pretty sexless?
Little wild that Ben went right to "I wonder if he said that about method acting if he was accused of sexual assault or something". Pretty big jump there out of nowhere.
yeah that didn't make sense, I just figured it was a knee jerk reaction since anybody who seems cool ends up being revealed as a scumbag eventually I dunno. I think Stang eluded to it but if you listen to his WTF he talks about his approach to acting, studying in Russia etc. until I hear otherwise I'm riding with Bernthal. He's basically the anti-Wahlberg
I got my "fuck off Gabrus" in several incidents at once. I went on my 100th auditions and hadnt booked one. My agent fired me. My big stunt scene was cut from a Pacino film and I got hurt in a wrestling ring. All in the span of a month or so. It was time for me to accept I was not gonna make it in showbiz.
For fans of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series, check out John D MacDonald's Travis McGee books. It's the character that inspired Magnum, p.i.'s creation. Of the 21 books in the series, I thought only two were disappointing.
Looked up the trailer to Crumb because I have never heard of it before and the first recommended video is Jordan Peterson talking about it as his favorite doc. Wonder if JP is a shadow wolf. Wouldn’t be surprised.
Are you truly an Action Boy if the YouTube algorithm hasn’t been actively trying to turn you alt-right for the past 3 years?
Action Boys Library: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/162873.The_Action_Boyz_Library
That is so cool!
Another art documentary, less "inspiring" and more "this guy is a freak, but he's talented and interesting" is Art and Craft, from 2014, about Mark Landis the art forger.
The Wayne White documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing is a very good, inspiring art documentary.
As for inspiring art documentaries i really liked The Devil and Daniel Johnston. The prompt from the episode first made me think of Til The Wheels Off, the new HBO max doc on Tony Hawk. As a life long skateboarder and huge fan of its history it was a blast seeing all the guys from the late 80s/early 90s discuss the first big rise and fall of the "sport" and watch them, no matter what happened to them, find ways to keep skating. Lance Mountain talking near the end about how hes made peace with the fact that he'll probably die skating made me start to cry and then Rodney Mullen's big salvo at the end where he mentions the phrase in the tile absolutely destroyed me. I can't ever stop skateboarding-- and i assume thats very similar to how a lot of artists feel about their medium.
Mullen is an interesting character because's hes always been this like weird outlier in skating. Almost like ascetic. In this recent Thrasher Jerry Hsu has a blurb about him basically saying how Jerry and Rodney were roomates on a tour and he absolutely killed it at the demo and then that night Jerry woke at like 3 am to piss and Rodney wasnt there-- he looked out the window and there was Rodney in the parking lot doing all those same tricks he was doing at the demo 10 hours earlier
I've listened to that Cronenberg novel 4-5 years ago. Can't remember the plot at all, besides that it was pretty convoluted, but it had a few very good scenes that stood out. William Hurt did a decent job reading if I remember right.
have yall checked out Dori Seda? Dori Stories is a prized possession art book over here
The guy with Chelsea at the beginning gives off big Stanger energy
Oh shit man, was The Northman guy me? I think I called it amazing, i thought it was beautiful. He went off on me? Wow, that's a huge bummer, just my opinion on his take of the movie. That sucks, I love the guy. Anyone have the episode where he "goes off on me"? Didnt mean to offend, Rodgers. Always try to leave positive comments on twitter and instagram for the boyz. That might've been the only comment I've ever left any of you that had any negativity in it hah. Live and learn I guess. Apologies.
Alright, deleted the comment. Been a listener since the Banshee days. Nothin but love.
Seven minutes in and I am here to say Chelsea, that does NOT look like “dry snow”.
Someone should of told them about ice under fresh snow is very dangerous. Wear your grippers people.
Yeah that intro to Anya Taylor-Joy's character sets it up like they're going to be fighting together(like in Conan) but in the end she's just a vessel for dude's babies. It's an insane jump for a director in their third movie, kinda like Lynch going from Eraserhead and Elephant Man to Dune. Humongous jump up to an epic with big studio money/expectations
Big agree on Northman. I liked it, but as a big fan of The Witch and The Lighthouse, it did not grab me at all. Rodgers hit it, that it's caught in no man's land. It's not an action movie, it's not an art movie, it's not really an epic, and it's not an interesting combination of them. Eggers' stuff has been so bold, but The Northman is ultimately kinda bland.
I like the name Freevee because it sounds like a made up tv channel in a corny futuristic movie. We are living our worst lives.
Corncob TV
Picture Gabrus in an expensive ass Hercules costume haha
There should be a video of Gabrus vs Tiff spear throwing contest
Being in Portland, I have seen a number of richie rich couples in the grocery store, 2 carts, one just holding the top end cross country skiing gear they have used to get to the store in a few inches of snow
The fact that this was from KOIN makes it a little extra funny. Who watches KOIN? For the longest time they were a distant third behind KGW and KATU News.
Massive Talent didn't get hyped up for me so it was a good surprise. Immediately thought of the boyz when he sent that hilarious text (Donnie Brasco situation)
Sex in movies: it’s fine if it’s part of the story, though I’ve found myself becoming more prudish about nudity and sex purely for titillation (which is weird considering half of the action movies we love). The fall of the erotic thriller is sad, but removing the violence/sex element from horror is good. Mainly though if a film isn’t about a relationship I don’t want to see a romance anyway: I want my heroes saving the day, not fucking.
Agreed. Most of the sexuality in these old movies was misogynistic as fuck. Women were just trophies awarded to men. I wanna watch action for the adventure. Who wants to get a boner in the middle of karate fights?
Ryan from Jeopardy is my brother in law 🤷. I've heard him do that Arnold impression pre ABZ
Well is he part of the Action Faction?
Love the cold open, she falls so hard in the video.
Watch every time it snows in pdx, lol
The Herzog / Errol Morris story wasn't "I'll eat my shoe if an American makes a good documentary". Morris was having a hard time getting his first movie Gates of Heaven off the ground, and the two were talking, and Herzog told him he'd eat his shoe if Morris ever finished and released his movie. Then at the premiere he cooked the shoes he claimed he was wearing at the time at a nearby restaurant and ate one on stage while doing a Q&A. Les Blank was there and made a short doc about it, it's fun if you enjoy 70s Werner Herzog being a giant weirdo. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl61of