Author Archives: Jedadiah Leland

Music Video of the Day: People Are Still Having Sex by LaTour (1991, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

You can probably already guess that this video and song were both controversial back in the day.  Not only was the video’s symbolism blatant but the song was released at a time when the AIDS epidemic was very much on everyone’s mind.  This was the type of video that MTV would have banned in its early days but, by the time the 90s rolled around, the video was considered safe for viewing by none other than Beavis and Butthead, neither one of whom was ever having sex.

This video was produced by H-Guns Labs, the same studio that was responsible for many of Nine Inch Nails’s early videos.

LaTour was a disc jockey from Jack Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.  Despite the urban legend to the contrary, he never recorded a follow-up called People Are Still Having Lunch.

Enjoy!

Night Explorers: The Asylum (2023, directed by John K. Webster)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Eight “urban explorers,” who have the own streaming show where they film themselves in haunted locations across Britain, try to spend the night at the long abandoned Pelosi Asylum.  Pelosi Asylum (and it’s a British film so don’t read too much into the name, as tempting as it may be to do so) is supposed to be one of the most haunted locations in the UK.  It’s scheduled to be demolished and the explorers plan to be the last people to spend the night at the Asylum.

None of the supernatural explorers actually believe in the supernatural.  Before entering the Asylum, they joke about how everything that they do is just for show and how all of the “supernatural” things that they’ve filmed have actually been created through clever editing.  They don’t even plan to actually spend the entire night at the Asylum.  Once they do enter the Asylum, they decide to split up to explore and get as much footage as they need to edit something together.  That’s when they discover that they are not alone.  The Asylum is full of former patients who consider the building to be their home and who did not welcome uninvited guests.

Night Explorers: The Asylum starts out as a found footage film but it quickly abandons that and instead becomes a standard slasher film where people split up for no good reason and get picked off one-by-one.  There’s nothing new or surprising about Night Explorers but there are some effective jump scares and fans of gore will find a lot to look at here.  The film’s killers are frighteningly ruthless and the violence is not for the squeamish.  For the most part, the cast is hampered by undeveloped characters but everyone is convincing enough as the type of moron who would think breaking into an abandoned asylum was a good idea.  I’ve definitely seen better than this film but I’ve also seen much worse movies that cost considerably more money to make.  What Night Explorers lack in originality, it makes up for in blood and atmosphere.

Music Video of the Day: Karla The Strange by Maddy Ellwanger (2014, directed by Maddy Ellwanger)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

“K is for Karla

Who likes to play dead”

Both this song and this artist were unknown to me until I searched YouTube for “scary music video.”  This video was one of the first that came up and I decided to go with it.  It’s a video that captures the spirit of Halloween and the importance of doing it all yourself.  Maddy Ellwanger not only wrote and performs the song but she also directed, produced, animated, filmed, and edited this video.

The video features Karla Partida in plenty of strange situations, whether she’s playing with an oversized brain or posing like Vampira.  According to the description of the video on YouTube, Karla Partida is not only Karla The Strange but also Miss Black Lagoon.

Enjoy!

Do Not Disturb (2010, directed by BC Furtney)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

A film that gives new meaning to the word pointless, Do Not Disturb is about a screenwriter (Stephen Geoffreys) living in a run-down motel.  He hasn’t written anything in two years and is haunted by the murder of his girlfriend.  When a crass producer comes by to demand that the writer get to work, the writer decides to kidnap the producer, bound him in a bathtub, and remove his body parts one-at-a-time.  This gives him the inspiration to write again, which makes his agent (Tiffany Shepis) happy even if she is not always happy about the method he’s using to regain his creativity.

This talky movie is about living in a crapsack world.  Everyone is greedy, unlikable, and depressed.  Stephen Geoffreys and Tiffany Shepis both give good performances, showing they have more talent than their films usually allowed them to show.  But the movie itself feels pointless, a slow-moving and meandering slog through a world that just isn’t that interesting.

Do  Not Disturb (which was originally titled New Terminal Hotel) got some attention in 2010 as the last film that Corey Haim completed before his own death at the age of 38.  Haim was dating Shepis at the time and was visiting her on set when he asked if there was any part that he could play in the movie.  A role was invented on the spot and Haim plays a jaded rock star that the screenwriter meets at a bar.  It’s an extended cameo and a pointless one at that, with Haim playing the role with an accent that I think was supposed to be Australian.

There is a twist at the end of the movie but it’s not worth the trouble that it takes to reach it.  Some people may want to see this film just because of the cast.  To many people, Stephen Geoffreys will always be Evil Ed and Corey Haim will always be Sam Emerson.  Those people will have more fun rewatching Fright Night and The Lost Boys than sitting through this movie.

Music Video of the Day: Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie (1980, directed by David Bowie and David Mallet)

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David Bowie was one of the first artists to truly understand the potential power of a good music video and, as can be seen in this video for Ashes to Ashes, he was an early pioneer of the form.  At a time when most music videos were just performance clips, Bowie put together a narrative that offered an artistic interpretation of the song’s lyrics and themes and which invited viewers to interpret the song on their own.

The video was largely shot on two beaches in the UK, at Beachy Head and Hastings.  Interior scenes were filmed on the set of the Kenny Everett Show.  Bowie’s followers were played by the Blitz kids, who were known for frequenting the Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden.

Bowie said that the video was meant to combine the past and the future, which is why Bowie not only appears as an astronaut but also as an Edwardian clown.  The scenes with Bowie as an astronaut are, as the lyrics make clear, a reference to Major Tom.  The look of the scenes was heavily influenced by H.R. Giger’s work on Alien.

David Mallet would go on to become one of busiest directors of music videos of the 80s, directing videos for Queen, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, and others.  David Bowie would also go on to play a huge role in MTV’s history, due to both his videos and his willingness to call out that station’s initial refusal to feature videos from black artists.

Enjoy!

Artwork of the Day: Bachelor Party (Artist Unknown)

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Artist Unknown

I don’t know who designed the poster for Bachelor Party.  That name has been lost to history.  And it’s not even that good of a movie, though it’s easy to understand why Tom Hanks would give up every other woman on Earth for the chance to marry Tawny Kitaen.  But this poster has done more to establish my opinion of the ideal bachelor party than any of the real bachelor parties that I’ve ever attended.  Bravo, unknown artist.

Music Video of the Day: Slow An’ Easy by Whitesnake (1984, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Slow an’ Easy was Whitesnake’s first big hit in the United States and the video, which featured the band, a car crash, and an act of strangulation, was Whitensake’s first big video on MTV.  It’s certainly much darker than the video for Here I Go Again.

Slow an’ Easy, by the way, appeared on an album called Slide It In.  Whitesnake was never particularly subtle but they still rocked.

Enjoy!

Rest In Peace, Bob Newhart

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Rest in Peace, the great Bob Newhart.

For my money, he was the funniest man to ever tell a joke.  People who worked with him said he was one of the nicest and most downright decent people they ever met.

He lived 94 years and starred in two of the best sitcoms ever made.  He was devoted to his wife.  His best friend was none other than Don Rickles.

And again, he was the funniest man who ever lived.

My favorite Bob Newhart joke was one he told on himself.  After saying that he had starred in sitcoms entitled “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Bob Newhart Show,” “Newhart,” and “Bob,” Newhart said that his next show would simply be called “The.”

Bob Newhart, RIP.

Music Video of the Day: Remember The Heroes by Sammy Hagar (1982, directed by ????)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This video, which was taken at a 1982 concert in St. Louis, is as close as we have for a music video for Remember the Heroes.  Co-written by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain, this song is Sammy Hagar’s tribute to the men and women who have served this country, many of whom have made the ultimate sacrifice.

There aren’t many Memorial Day rock song out there.  Trust Sammy Hagar to do the day and it meaning justice.