Up until now the only way one could see Metropolis — Fritz Lang’s cinematic masterpiece — in its original, uncut form was to build a time machine and travel back to Berlin between January and May, 1927. When it was released in America, Paramount edited it considerably, leaving us with the beautiful, yet confusing, version we have today. All this has changed recently with the discovery of the previously lost footage in the film archives of Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires by the current curator Paula Félix-Didier.
Among the footage that has now been discovered, according to the unanimous opinion of the three experts that ZEITmagazin asked to appraise the pictures, there are several scenes which are essential in order to understand the film: The role played by the actor Fritz Rasp in the film for instance, can finally be understood. Other scenes, such as for instance the saving of the children from the worker’s underworld, are considerably more dramatic.
ZEITmagazin has a number of stills from the newly found footage available to peruse and one can see that they show a fair degree of wear. This does little to diminish my excitement. Metropolis has always been a movie that I have loved and the opportunity to see Lang’s original vision is simply fantastic.
Left:The Girl with the Faberge AssRight:Appetite for Destruction
Robert Williams, founder of Juxtapoz and contemporary of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Also, possibly, a madman. Looking at what he unleashes onto a canvass one can only wonder about what he may still be repressing. We’re probably better off not knowing.
I can’t help but think that, were these mechanical cops to have been produced, they would have immediately been drafted into service by private entities. Indeed, the inset in the upper left of this illustration brings to my mind, not of the police sedating a mob — something that, along with “war purposes”, it is well suited for, according to the numerous mentions of each in the write-up — but of the private security forces of the Ford Motor Co., tearing through the picket lines of striking employees. The idea of, say, John Pierpont Morgan, his rhinophyma riddled visage contorted in murderous glee, controlling an army of unstoppable automatons, chills me to the bone. At the very least it would keep the machines from helping those in who are truly in need of robotic justice, like the young lady being harassed by this floating Rape-Bot. Maybe it’s just me, but I wonder just who was looking forward to the future of 1924.
BLU’s Muto: animation on a public wall. Beautiful surely, but I couldn’t help but think about all the artwork he covered up to make it (I know, it’s a public wall, it comes with the territory.) Thanks to Ry-Tron and everyone else who sent this in!
Don’t you fucking dare post knitting patterns for Dr. Who characters. So sayeth the BBC, though most likely it was worded in a far more politely threatening manner filled with words contain superfluous “u”s. Thanks, August Moon!
Festo, a robotics company who has previouslydesigned robots based upon the mechanics of sea creatures, has released video of their newest creations. Based on jellyfish the AquaJelly and Air Jelly are sea and air based, respectively. They are extraordinarily graceful and almost perfectly mimic the movements of their living counterparts. The AquaJelly in particular is especially interesting. The idea is that these autonomous robots can communicate with each other and with aquatic charging stations using LEDs , allowing them to replenish their batteries and work in groups, making it much easier for them to wipe out our naval forces once they achieve self awareness.
Are you drawing comics for Marvel? Do you need reference for someone being attacked by a tentacle demon? Swipe it from an adult magazine! Thanks, bela!
I don’t care much for babies. Oh, sure, they have their uses: they propagate the species, they make excellent door stops, and its always good to have a few around to toss at attacking zombies. And philosophically, they are interesting: secreting loaves of swollen bologna that will one day pupate into only vaguely balogna-tasting human beings. But as far as neotenous fetishes are concerned, I prefer kittens and baby hedgehogs, which also can be hurled dramatically at a zombie in a pinch, although not without the tinge of self-loathing entirely absent in watching a human neonate be devoured by the undead.
That said, I’m tempted to get in contact with one of my Cambodian child brides and make a baby work. It never really occurred to me before that shopping for babies could be fun, that there were actual baby gifts that wasn’t just pastoral fairy tale crap, but designed with hypnotic patterns that could be used — barely out of utero — to actually help transform an infant into an adult that I’d actually want to have a conversation with.
Cue Baby Leo Designs, who make the most wonderful baby blankets, “security lovees” (?) and ominously-named-”Burpees” with designs ranging from vintage tattoos, Japanese prostitutes, retro robots and even a blanket covered in baby skulls… the perfect way to remind a new member of the family what happened to his misbehaving older siblings!
I have said it before but it seems that it bears repeating: our time left on this planet is short and one day — no doubt sooner rather than later — mechanized monstrosities will cleanse us from this sapphire spheroid in a wave of robotic fury, probably with lasers in their eyes. That said it is disheartening to watch this clip of someone’s dachshund, named Jerry, playing fetch with a ball tossing robot. To know that we’ve already let them into our homes to entertain our pets is just…I mean…they’re man’s best friends for God’s sake. MAN’S!
I fear for our future, dear readers, for while Jerry seems to be having a wonderful time I can just as easily see him returning the ball to this evil little device and waiting eagerly for the sound that lets him know another throw is imminent. No sound this time though, as the ball falls from its perch and bounces — once, twice — when suddenly, Jerry is scooped up and flung through the air with incredible velocity, his skull dashed upon the wall as he collides with it. You may think me morbid but I’m just being realistic. Do you think I want this to happen to Jerry? Certainly not, but it will if we don’t do something about this mechanical cancer. It’s time to ask yourself whose side you are on, theirs…or Jerry’s
Recently we featured the work of artist Brian Despain, whose robot series (which Despain has revealed will be collected in a coffee table style book) I am absolutely enthralled with. The pieces in the robot series have an air of tragic childlike innocence, tugging at heartstrings for no immediately obvious reason other than the irreverent questioning nature each automaton seems to exude.
Apparently I’m not the only one fascinated by Mr. Despain’s works, as each piece at his show had already been snapped before I arrived. Not that I could afford any of his work anyway, that is until now.
Roq La Rue, a gallery in Seattle, has begun selling select prints from Despain’s robot series. Currently only three are available, one of which is the piece featured above, and they are a bit pricey, but in Ectomo’s opinion having pieces like these in your home is well worth the price.
Years in the future, at the Uncanny Valley Museum of Robotic History, stands OhNoYouDi’int Ver. 1.0; the first AI to display genuine human emotion. Who could have foreseen the unlikely event of the first truly sentient robot taking on the personality of a 15 year old girl from an inner city ghetto? In the sage words of OhNoYouDi’int, “Bitch, please!”
In the future the old portrait artists will tell their grandchildren about how they used to work feverishly in Times Square back in the day. Now though, all those jobs are long gone. They got robots doin’ ‘em now.
In sheer defiance of the World Wide Web Consortium's will, Ectomo was designed using a non-web-standard font. Luckily, it is included in the excellent font pack released by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, which can be freely downloaded in Mac and PC formats here. Ectomo should still look fine without it, though.
