Insane Bollywood VFX

Physics, schmysics. But impressive as hell once you see the work involved.

The Crew sits down once again to react to some of Bollywood’s zestiest CGi moments: What makes a visual effect bad? What makes one great?

Hornsey Road?

A new stage show produced by Beatle expert Mark Lewisohn sheds some light on a story we thought we knew. From The Guardian

They’ve wrapped up the recording of Abbey Road, which would turn out to be their last studio album, and are awaiting its release in two weeks’ time. Ringo Starr is in hospital, undergoing tests for an intestinal complaint. In his absence, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison convene at Apple’s HQ in Savile Row. John has brought a portable tape recorder. He puts it on the table, switches it on and says: “Ringo – you can’t be here, but this is so you can hear what we’re discussing.”

What they talk about is the plan to make another album – and perhaps a single for release in time for Christmas, a commercial strategy going back to the earliest days of Beatlemania. “It’s a revelation,” Lewisohn says. “The books have always told us that they knew Abbey Road was their last album and they wanted to go out on an artistic high. But no – they’re discussing the next album. And you think that John is the one who wanted to break them up but, when you hear this, he isn’t. Doesn’t that rewrite pretty much everything we thought we knew?”

Full article here, including a link to tour dates for a show I would kill to see.

Good Girl Says Dirty Things

Surprise! Liz Phair has a new memoir coming out in October called Horror Stories. In the meantime, here’s a fan-fucking-tastic Vulture interview.

So when your indie record Guyville became a phenomenon, was that difficult?

Yes. If I’d only had success in the indie world, my music would have been contextualized more accurately. They would have understood a little more of the art project behind it. Rather than thinking that I was literally saying I wanted to be your blow-job queen, you know?

Once you’re in a wider world, and People magazine picks it up, the nuance is gone. And of course, Matador was like, “Keep going! We’re doing great!”

Full article here.

Get In My Eyes

In space no one can hear you squeal like a little girl.

Take an in depth voyage into the sci-fi masterpiece ALIEN with the visionary filmmakers who created it. See how one of the most terrifying movies of all time burst to life 40 years ago, inspired by ancient mythology and our universal fears.

Available in some theaters and OnDemand starting October 4!

Uh Oh!

As heard on Underground Garage this morning. Good stuff!

The Coolies are a new collaboration between Muffs frontwoman Kim Shattuck, former Friggs guitarist Palmyra Delran and Muffs / White Flag member Melanie Vammen. This supergroup of sorts has released their debut 6 song EP on Wicked Cool Records. Some amazing guest musicians are along for the ride.

How William Gibson’s Long-Lost Alien 3 Script Became 2019’s Most Intriguing Audio Drama

I’m intrigued enough that I will be making a purchase very shortly. From The Verge

Audible Studios’ new audio drama Alien III by William Gibson offers one of those alternate paths for the Alien series. Gibson, the author of Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, has his own vision of what happened after Ripley, Hicks, Bishop, and Newt nuked LV-426 from orbit in Aliens. What was once a discarded draft has, in the hands of writer and director Dirk Maggs, become a fleshed-out audio production featuring Aliens stars Michael Biehn (as Hicks, the Marine who showed Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley how to fire a high-powered gun in Aliens) and Lance Henriksen (as Bishop, the “artificial person” who changes Ripley’s mind about working with synthetic life forms). Close your eyes, and it’s like slipping into an alternate universe in which this is the third Alien film, rather than the one we know.

You can pick it up here.

Comic-Con 2019 Walking Tour

If there’s an afterlife, I want it to look like this.

San Diego Comic-Con is unfathomably massive, and we walk through the entire show floor to give you a sense of the exhibit hall’s scope and scale. Norm and Kishore take us to some of their favorite booths in one continous walk, navigating through the crowds, cosplay, and collectibles of Comic-Con 2019.