Sir Roger Moore, 1927-2017

Roger Moore, famous for his portrayals of master spy James Bond and master criminal Simon Templar, is dead at 89, reports the BBC.

One man's incredible plan for humanity to migrate into space

from Boing Boing




In the early 1970s, Princeton University physicist Gerard O’Neill became a space activist touting plans to build human colonies in outer space. He argued that humans could escape (while helping alleviate) the environmental damage we are causing on Earth by migrating to space habitats housed in cylinders that would be suspended 250,000 miles from Earth at LaGrange Point 5, a spot where the gravitational forces enable objects to just hang there. O'Neill's ideas, while controversial, were mostly sound from a scientific and engineering perspective.

After the New York Times published a front page article about O'Neill, he became a media sensation and quickly developed a very vocal following of space geeks, (some) environmentalists, heads, and future-minded scientists. NASA even jumped in, supporting studies based on O'Neill's research and commissioning the incredible illustrations seen here. O'Neill's specific concepts influenced countless science fiction books and movies and were the seed of bOING bOING patron saint Timothy Leary's plan for humanity's future, SMI2LE (Space Migration, Intelligence Increase, Life Extension.)

His book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space is still in-print and captures the wonder and sense of possibility that permeated our culture after the first moon landing and into the 1970s. It's my hope that today's myriad private efforts to make space accessible will re-ignite that desire in everyone to explore and experience what lies beyond our home planet.

The fantastic podcast 99% Invisible told O'Neill's story in an episode titled "Home on Lagrange":

SUPERFLY One Last Deal A mini documentary on the 1972 classic film

Why Not Tuesday? Check this DOPEBill Withers Live from 1973

thanks, InsidePlaya and Beats1 music

Flyin' Cut Sleeves Full Documentary A teachers look at the 70's gangs of New York

“Flyin’ Cut Sleeves” presents alternating portrayals, from the past and the present, of former street gang presidents in the Bronx. The project grew out of the experiences of Rita Fecher, the film’s co-producer, who taught in a South Bronx school in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, became intimately involved with the gangs, their leaders, and the leaders’ families and began to document their lives.

Yes, there's footage of Prince Charles skateboarding in a double-breasted suit, 1970s"

from Dangerous Minds:

According to the YouTube uploader, this is very rare footage of a young Prince Charles skating in a double-breasted suit and dress shoes. Now since it’s on the Internet, it ain’t that rare anymore. I’ve never seen Prince Charles showing off his stellar skate moves before, but that doesn’t mean diddly-squat. (It’s an excerpt from a short doc about Charles visiting an inner city youth organization.)

But here he is in all of his future-King-of-England glory at a skatepark showing all the kiddies how it’s done. (Not really.) His feeble attempts at conversation are amusing (“So you’re an expert on that? Ah, yes. What about looping the loop?”) He claims that had he known in advance that there would be skateboarding, he’d have brought along a helmet and “the other protective paraphernalia.” Because all royals are big on safety. At least he might’ve left the wing tips at home.

 

via The World’s Best Ever

A new Evel Knievel documentary premiering at Sundance

Dope poster! with Matt hoffman on board as well as Johnny Knoxville, i've got high hopes for this one.

from EW:



Sundance exclusive: Johnny Knoxville promises 'big revelations' in Evel Knievel doc

Evel Knievel is synonymous with daredevil, but unless you saw him at his heights in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it’s difficult to imagine how he built that reputation into something millions of people actually cared about. Beginning with Knievel’s disastrous attempt to jump the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in 1967—which made him a star once it aired on ABC’s Wide World of Sports—millions tuned into his stunts to see if he could defy death one more time.

In Being Evel, the documentary that debuts on Jan. 25 at the Sundance Film Festival, director Daniel Junge (They Killed Sister Dorothy) tells the real story of Robert Craig Knievel, the charismatic showman who discovered the most lucrative way to support his family was to risk life and limb in highly orchestrated and heavily promoted motorcycle leaps.

If it sounds hokey in hindsight, it wasn’t so at the time—and a generation of kids eagerly inhaled the danger and the glamour. One of those was Johnny Knoxville, who brought Knievel’s rebellious and thrill-seeking spirit to the Jackass stunts that made his crew famous. “I think we’re hovering right somewhere in between bravery and stupidity,” Knoxville admits, describing the thin line that he and his idol straddled. “Possibly more on the stupidity side.”

Knoxville teamed up with Junge, and producer pals Jeff Tremaine and Mat Hoffman to reexamine Knievel’s life—not just the showstopping highlights everyone remembers, but the tough behind-the-scenes events and relationships that were kept mostly out of the spotlight. “We take a very honest look back on his life,” says Knoxville. “He lived a certain way and we talk about that. We worked a lot with [Evel’s son] Kelly Knievel and the family and couldn’t have made it without the family being involved.”

Knoxville, who’s currently playing Elvis’s bodyguard Sonny West in Elvis & Nixon, with Kevin Spacey and Michael Shannon, spoke to EW about his hero in advance of the doc’s Sundance premiere. And EW also has the exclusive poster for Being Evel, which demonstrates how he liked to live close to the edge.

EW: When I was a kid, I had this awesome Evel Knievel crank-up motorcycle doll that would rev up and fly across the wooden floors in my house. It was the best. I didn’t really understand who or what he was in real life, but he was this super-sized personality—almost this indestructible human doll because of the things he did.

JOHNNY KNOXVILLE: He was a superhero, a real living superhero. That doll is probably my favorite toy of all time. I think a lot of guys who grew up in the time we did feel the same exact way about it. I bought a couple—one for my son when he got old enough and another for me last year. I got the vintage one, still in the original box. My kid loves it, and I love it as much as I did when I was little.

EW: The great thing about it was that it wasn’t perfect; it would go for only so far before wiping out. But hey, that’s exactly what Evel did too.

JK: Exactly. Evel didn’t land it every time. [Laughs]

EW: It’s not difficult to see how Evel’s DNA is sprinkled into what you’ve done with the Jackass crew over the years.

JK: [Evel’s] spirit hangs over Jackass and inspired all of us, and we teamed up with Mat Hoffman, who’s our generation’s Evel Knievel and who has a friendship with the Knievel family. So we all did this together out of our love for Evel. The doc focuses on all of his immense accomplishments, but also what his life has spawned. You know, there would not be an X Games without Evel. No one ever went for it, laid it all on the line, like Evel Knievel. You watch the X Games, and they are laying it all on the line. And that spirit came from Evel, I believe.

read the rest of the interview HERE.

here's a short talk with the director

No Doubt Looking Forward to this!!

Space Colonies: A look via the 1970's

from BoingBoing:

In the 1970s, NASA's Ames Research Center gathered artists and tasked them with designing space colonies able to accommodate 10,000 people. Some forty years later, the dream of suburbs in space remains just that—but their influence on science fiction and the public imagination only grows.

"No-No A Dock-umentary" premiering at Sundance Film Festival this week

For those of you who have been following me or this blog for a while you should be familiar with my connection to the one and only, Dock Ellis. If not you can go back and read some of my previous Dock related posts.



So the film I have been consulting on finally went public night before last and is playing a few more times this week out at The 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The 1st review that came in gave it a 9 out of 10! Also got a nice mention in Esquire magazine as one of the top films to see at Sundance this year, as well as a nod in Entertainment Weekly... So it's off to a good start. A cool film that does some justice to the story of an old friend who inspired me greatly before I was even a teenager. Check it out if you can and let us know what you think.

- GEF

please download these images and spread 'em around (art by Ernesto Yerena)

The story of the pitcher who threw a no-hitter while tripping on acid—known by fans and nonfans alike—has become emblematic of professional baseball’s excess in the 1970s. However, that pitcher, Dock Ellis, had a career and a life that transcended one use of LSD.

During a time when the insular world of baseball was clashing with the world outside, Ellis was widely known as one of the most unabashedly black baseball players ever. Nearly suspended for wearing curlers in his hair and refusing to apologize for or moderate his aggressive behavior, Ellis used drugs to hide his crippling fear of failure.

No No: A Dockumentary provides the backstory to an outrageous anecdote by presenting the full life—warts and all—of a unique baseball player and human being. From Jackie Robinson to Donald Hall, Ron Howard, and others, Dock Ellis touched the lives of many people, as told in this surprising story of redemption.

Cast and Credits
Director: Jeffrey Radice
Producers: Mike Blizzard, Christopher Cortez, Jeffrey Radice
Cinematographer: John Fiege
Editor: Sam Wainwright Douglas
Music Supervisor: Randall Poster
Composer: Adam Horovitz [YES! our boy AdRock!]
Animators: Jen Piper, Jake Mendez, Scott Calonico
Contact: Sara Sampson / Sara Sampson PR / sarasampsonpr@gmail.com

Inspiring "GO FOR IT!" Movie Trailer from the mid-70's

BONUS:

BLONDIE "One Way or Another"cool mini BBC doc

I was never a Blondie fan at all in any way, but looking back, they did have a few good songs and Debbie Harry was a bit of a Bad Ass you gotta admit... and this is a pretty cool doc, i am sure some of you will enjoy.



from DangerousMinds:

Blondie: One Way or Another (2006) is a terrific BBC documentary full of energy and groovy interviews from the likes of Iggy Pop, Shirley Manson, Tommy Ramone, Roberta Bayley, Mike Chapman and Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads.

Blondie’s self-titled debut album never left my turntable for the first few weeks that it was released (1976). I was living in a hotel and had very few possessions. The Blondie album along with The Ramones and Patti Smith’s first lps were among the handful of stuff I owned - vinyl treasures that were soon joined by Television and Mink DeVille.

Spend a pleasurable 71 minutes with some of New York’s finest alumni of CBGB: Debbie, Chris, Jimmy and Clem.

And today, a look way back at skateboarding

Compared with yesterdays post we've come a long way, huh?

This was a sequence in the film Five Summer Stories...

1970's L.A. Street Gangs Documentary

On YouTube the person who posted this says:

This is an amazing little documentary! I bought it on eBay as a 16mm film and have had it converted to DVD. I'll bet you've not seen it before!

Have Yourself a "Soul Train" Sunday

From DangerousMinds:



 
And why the hell not? Here are some classic clips from Soul Train that are guaranteed to make you feel good, and maybe even get up and shake your ass!

You know, with all the Seventies-related posts here on DM, it’s good to remember that the decade was not all about white boys with guitars (though some of the clips below are from the early 80s too). These dancers are hot as hell - without resorting to showing acres of flesh - and isn’t it nice to see people actually interacting with each other when they dance.

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes “Bad Luck”


Kool & The Gang “Jungle Boogie”
(this clip is one of the coolest things I have ever seen)


Rufus & Chaka Khan “Once You Get Started”
(featuring lots of bumping)


Marvin Gaye “Got To Give It Up (Parts 1 & 2)
(in part 2 Marvin joins the audience for some groovin’)


Trussell “Love Injection”
(moving into the 80s with a boogie classic)


Yellow Magic Orchestra “Firecracker”
(two different cultures in perfect tandem)

Best of the Soul Train line Dances

from DangerousMinds



Someone points out in the YouTube comments that Americans are too fat to dance like this anymore.




(via Nerdcore)

Ultra groovy Parliament-Funkadelic promotional videos and TV commercials

A collection of videos and commercials from the 1970’s promoting PF's "Cosmic Slop", "Dr. Funkenstein", "The Motor Booty Affair", "Funkentelechy".

"Dr. Funkenstein unveils his bop-gun."

Climb aboard the mothership.


 

 

 


from DangerousMinds