Rays From the Capstone: The Story of the Psychotronic Generator of the Pi-ray and the Incredible Coffer

Vanity press parapsychology published by the "University of the Trees." The psychotronic generator appears to be a humidifier of some sort.

Mathoms

Leptirica

Nice snowy weekend here. Catching up on a few scary movies, including Đorđe Kadijević's Leptirica ("The Moth"), which might appeal to Valerieholics. Leptirica is a Serbian made-for-TV horror movie from 1973, loosely adapted from Milovan Glišić's 1880 novel. One of those magical soft focus vampire films with a sylvan setting and flaxen-haired beauty, all resting on an ancient bed of Slavic folklore. Kinda silly film, but there's a great plot twist involving a butterfly and some memorable Valerie-esque details; I love the owls who "speak" to the main character through the trees... Watch here.

Play Orbit

Jasia Reichardt, Play Orbit (1969). I've taken this one out of general circulation and added it to my box of shiny things. Sponsored by the Welsh Arts Council and the ICA, Play Orbit was an "exhibition of toys, games and playables by people who are not professionally involved with the design of playthings, but who work in the field of visual arts." There are some very unusual contributions, including teddy bears with John Betjeman masks??!! If you look at the text accompanying the images, each artist also seems to attempt a definition of the "toy."

Nuestra Música

From the lost-and-found file: some really nice Wendy & Bonnie moves on this song from Spanish group Nuestra Música. Loving these band photos.

Uploaded with love.

Also see * and # for more British TV.

Public Collectors

In Chicago I picked up Self-Reliance Library, a booklet put out by the Temporary Services collective. It's a great resource that assembles both older and more recent reference materials for creative living, including a lot of instructional manuals for Ant Farm-style environmental sculptures. I was curious and did a little sleuthing, which led me to the related site Public Collectors. WOW. Make sure to take a look at the amazing PDF catalog for cover-to-cover scans of many of the publications mentioned in the booklet. Here are a few samples drawn from a book called Working Big and a dymaxion how-to pamphlet called Domebook (all images from Public Collectors).

The Brotherhood of Satan

Happy new year everybody. Chicagoans, I had a good time in your fair city and ate many of your tacos and pancakes. Such a great place to visit.

While I was away I watched The Brotherhood of Satan from 1971, which doesn't sound like uplifting Christmas viewing but actually is. If you like covens and vengeful dolls possessed by spirits and psychedelic dream sequences then this one is for you. Really beautiful film, and beautiful music by Jaime Mendoza-Nava.