riding the echo down

there are a lot of unexpectedly striking shots, but this rare vantage point of habitat 67 is a real winner.
everyone say thank you to lawrence dane for contributing to preserving a visual record of this brutalist masterpiece

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 5/5

but first, a quick note: this is a dreamwidth exclusive for 3weeks! often i liveblog these reviews elsewhere but i kept heatwave mostly to myself because. well. you'll see.

the plot: gordon pinsent plays a tv reporter prone to the classic male vices of the 1970s: booze, young women, and oversized gold chain necklaces.  he's not necessarily ambitious but won't hesitate to seize an opportunity when it arises. there's an escaped drug runner on the loose, played by lawrence dane, and pinsent learns that he inadvertently filmed the guy while trying to do a puff piece on girls in swimsuits at the local beach. lawrence dane offers money so the footage won't air and blow his cover, which pinsent agrees to and then tries to up the ante as an easy way to make a tidy profit on the side. dane's situation is more complicated than just a prison break, though, and before long it's clear that pinsent has gotten himself in over his head.

the movie itself is just as much of a fascinating time capsule as the fashion and interior decor it presents, since it was intended as both entertainment and an educational film for english-as-second-language students (adult ones, presumably). this isn't apparent in the cut that circulates on sites like rarefilmm or that i received from the NFB when i contacted them for a copy back in 2023, but the transcript that the NFB staff kindly shared with me makes it clear since it says "classroom version" on some pages. (the transcript itself was not clear, lol, so it was a welcome surprise when i learned that vinegar syndrome's canadian-specific imprint released the film on blu-ray quite recently with full-fledged closed captioning.)

this is a solid movie, especially for a made-for-tv production. the character development does suffer a bit from its truncated run-time, but the pacing is breezy and the performances are convincing. as one moderately positive review from the time put it, "the story is a bit thin and doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, but so are all the stories in these 90-minute TV films." i might be biased but dane's a bit of a scene-stealer here, with pinsent playing his everyman character laid back enough that dane has plenty of space to take up breathing room in their shared moments without smothering the scene. the female actors do well with the little they're given, though i would have liked some more screentime for joan blackman as pinsent's wife. looks like she isn't credited for much else on imdb, which is a shame. at least it was fun seeing ken james (abel in rituals) even if i didn't recognize him at first without the glasses!

my partner (unbiased third party) says that the movie would probably rate a 3/5 overall: adequately average. my 5/5 is specifically because dane is a co-star here, for all intents and purposes, and does a believable job. not as finely nuanced as his turn in rituals (the peak of his career, lbr) but still well worth the watch. also, the visuals, my god. i can count on one (maybe two) hands the films i've seen that are this aggressively 1970s. i adore it.

one of the more amusing reviews i found for this was someone claiming with confidence that lawrence dane must be italian because he does a good job as jerry cuozzo (??? i mean, according to the italians i know he does a convincing job speaking the language in the misfire titled "only god knows", but...). can he not just be a decent actor? i think he can, and is. do give this a try if you're at all curious.

as i mentioned above, this is on blu-ray now! if you're interested, please consider buying a copy to support an indie film distributor. it comes with multiple versions of the film (regular tv release, slightly longer release, and the version that would have been used in classrooms with intertitles) and a commentary track. alas, the commentary track is not subtitled so i cannot speak to the quality or entertainment value of it, but it's there for those who can enjoy it. (if you check it out, please do let me know what fun info it has!) tbh i do think it says something that lawrence dane is more prominent than gordon pinsent on their unique cover for the home media release. they know what's up.

highlight: foaming at the mouth. gnashing my teeth. you get the idea

( i'll buy stock in HIS dairy if yuo kn )

i mentioned this idea on fedi but wanted to jot down an outline somewhere it'd be easier to format while still being open to public comment. if there's anything you think isn't already addressed here but would be helpful to see discussed pls lmk! there are no stupid questions, but i don't have the bandwidth to do the live q&a now lol.

alternatively, if anyone has fannish horror stories about storage they want to share i'm happy to include them in the presentation and discuss how they might've been avoided.

archival storage for fans on a budget (workshop the title, i'm terrible at these) - individual-scale solutions framed in a way that's accessible/relevant to fen rather than normie grannies

INTRO

• dammit jim i'm an archivist not a conservator, not giving professional advice, some of this will be out of your control and that's ok. some of the solutions may be out of your current budget but let's take ibuprofen together and make informed decisions
• basics of agents of deterioration, inherent vice

CORE

• focus on paper-based (doujinshi, etc) but touch on things like pins, figurines, and other physical media (itabags!)
• most important things to avoid if possible (touch on off-gassing, etc. eta: including plastic sleeves, thanks tabby)
• what can you do on a budget? you do not need museum-grade environmental monitors.
  • location in some ways more crucial than the containers
  • give irl examples: larry archive, arcv doujins, hellsing merch?
  • binders&c for display purposes? paging through lobby cards etc.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

• cataloging as you go
  • easy DIY collection management solutions
• unbinding bound media: when is it a good idea? how to do it safely, how to label pages if needed (pencils, erasers to recommend)
• address ipm? unlikely to be a concern for most fans (hopefully) but share a resource
• not to be a corpo shill but... recommended vendors for officially archival-grade supplies

he plays such a dumb character in this movie. (ariel needs legs voice) i can't not fuck him

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 3/5

the plot: remember the cop characters from "it seemed like a good idea at the time"? no? that's ok, it doesn't matter, there's no continuity here other than some reheated gags. john candy's dumb pizza-loving cop kopek and his superior officer, lawrence dane's sergeant broom, end up responsible for investigating a sexy woman's kidnapping. except there's a second kidnapping note for her, then a third. she's supposed to be making an opera debut even though she can't sing and would rather do burlesque at her boyfriend's club, but her rich guardian (played by peter cook phoning it in) is having her kidnapped for an insurance scam and she tries to kidnap herself so she doesn't have to debut. so who's responsible for the third and real kidnapping? broom and kopek do not find out. not on purpose, anyway.

like its predecessor, this is not a good movie. that said, there's a charm to it that the first movie doesn't have at all and it's mainly due to dane and candy. richard monette as a drag queen trying to help strippers with their choreography is an absolute scene-stealer and an instant highlight of the movie. i expect he and dane already knew each other since monette was part of the stratford shakespeare festival in 1965, around the same time dane was getting his start there as larry zahab, before monette went on to become its artistic director in 1994. wish i knew what their interactions were like.... this one is also complicated since it's got some period-typical anti-asian racism and other racisms as well, technically? except they're all typical examples of jokesters trying to have it both ways since every time the point seems to be that the white people are dumb/incompetent compared to the non-whites. arguably more tolerable than something like "sixteen candles" which full disclosure i never finished because of that one character. i don't know what dane would have thought, especially with his experience of being pigeonholed into roles as ethnic stereotypes when he was first starting out versus being treated as white here. the joke where dane's character thinks he needs a spanish translator for someone speaking italian is pretty funny to me tho.

he is also Very Physical With Other Men in this. sure, some of it seems like it's supposed to be along the lines of "ha ha the homophobe is made to look gay and the idea of being gay is hilarious", but i will take it. i will take his unquestioning acceptance of monette's female impersonation and his nervous attraction to the same. a fascinating follow-up to the arguably best and definitely most controversial scene from the previous movie where broom and kopek are dropping anti-gay slurs like there's no tomorrow.

this is pretty easy to find online since it's now marketed as a john candy movie which, yeah, technically. it was one of the very first movies he did, which is still notable even if he wasn't given many chances to shine. (he had a little more energy in his first movie as kopek, versus the writers now seeming more interested in emphasizing his weight and candy seems a little checked out as a result.) the recent john candy documentary included a couple clips from these two movies but didn't discuss either at all, which seemed a little strange to me. (the documentary also completely omitted any mention of the clown murders, which is a shame because it's one of the first roles where he was given something a little meatier.) the documentary didn't really get into his beginnings as a film actor even though it was focused a lot on his feelings as an actor, so i was a little disappointed in that but otherwise it's a fine feature and you should consider watching it. should you consider watching find the lady? i mean, i guess? for dane, sure. he's in it enough that a dane cut isn't warranted, and it's not unfunny imo. mickey rooney as one of the criminals gives a mildly amusing performance in the dane-less scenes. watching it under some kind of influence might get you the best results tbh.

highlight: there was a bit where he was combing his hair while looking in the rearview mirror. very sexy of him

( acab but also. yknow )

long time no post, but who cares. i'm alive and kicking and that's what matters. yesterday i saw that letterboxd posted a recommendation list of lesser-known summer horror movies and it included rituals! i was so proud and excited (even though i did nothing to make that happen lol) that i just had to watch it again. didn't get to do my yearly re-watch in april because i was in the middle of a big move and job change, all for the better so far, and i'm going camping this weekend so what better choice for a last-night-in-civilization movie than one about a camping trip gone horribly wrong??

it's not as texture-rich a movie as some others i've rewatched, sure, but i still feel as though there's something new for me to chew on every time. it's like a piece of gum that never loses its flavor, with all the pros and cons that implies (microplastics, etc).

this time i came away really wanting to watch picnic at hanging rock (i know, way overdue!) because the sag in energy once jesse is introduced was practically palpable and it reminded me of how the screenwriter hadn't wanted to take that direction originally, but also because that movie sounds like it's more about the relationships and dynamics between a group of younger women than any horror just like how the focus of rituals feels more locked in on the relationships and dynamics between these middle-aged men than the gritty details of their suffering.

( musings on trauma and isolation as themes )

the way his handwriting stands out, the height difference, the playing with his suspenders, the hhggrAAAGH

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 2.5/5

the plot: a small-town lumberjack gets injured in a lumberjack competition with money riding on it, and our doggy hero smells sabotage. also there's hockey-related posters wherever possible. could this be any more canadian? it's very much a children's show and it shows in the writing and overall lack of imagination in the direction, though at least unlike wishbone there's no annoying children (not in this episode anyway).

that said, dane's acting is more than decent given the context and he has so much screentime. so so much. i wanted to rate this more highly because he's in this a lot and he's still in the era where to me he is in peak physical form (roughly speaking my preference is for 1967-1987, 1990 at the latest, though of course he's devastatingly handsome prior to 1967 too) but i showed this to an objective yet still supportive second party and they said that in their opinion it'd merit a 2 at most because, well, it's a children's tv show episode. nothing especially artistic about it, and even from a cultural studies angle there's not a lot going on that'd be interesting to analyze. which isn't to say there's nothing--i do find myself curious about the way they styled the appearances of the "bad guys" and the hint of a backstory for one of them that goes completely unexplored--but if i take off my horny goggles i'm compelled to agree with the lower rating since you wouldn't be missing much by not watching this, so the 2.5 is my compromise between id and ego.

this is pretty easy to find online with autocaptions at the moment, though it seems that the only version available is one specific vhs rip of a tv recording since i've yet to see any uploads with better quality. here's the episode on youtube, and here it is on the internet archive (episode 5x08).

highlight: those eyes......

( there is so much in this children's tv show episode that can be taken out of context it makes me feel ill )

a while back i intended to write an updated review of HBTM reflecting my newer position of "ok it wasn't that bad, i was just expecting something different, so it could have a higher rating" but now i'm getting 'round to it.

so:

the "is this worth watching for lawrence dane" rating: 3/5
dane's not in this a ton but his part is reasonably substantial and he's very cute in each of his scenes and when he's finally hamming it up at the end he's so fun to watch. he's very handsy and god i wish that girl were me, etc. it's a pretty bad movie but charmingly bad for the most part, as opposed to just boring. certainly more entertaining than some of the other bad movies he's been in. i might make/link a dane cut later.

the plot: whenever people talk about this movie they talk about how the twist ending was written at the last minute after they'd filmed like half the story. there's no way to avoid talking about that because the plot is a mess and executed in a bizarre way with all these comically ominous attempts at making everyone a red herring. is it a good movie? no. but it's a fascinating one. there was something at its core that could have been really good, and the wildly uneven acting skills just drive that home. dane and his character's wife are the best actors in this movie, plus one of the "high school" guys. there's a threat about keeping them out of harvard so i assume they're not college age? but they all look way too old for high school, every last one of them. very confusing. anyway, i stand by my original conclusion that "if you get drunk/high you'll probably have a great time watching this".

note to self for website version/later: find those reviews mocking how often dane said ginny lol.

yes i made this my icon a while back, just look at that absolutely adorable face

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 1/5

it looks like my original rating for this episode was 0.5/5, but i rewatched it recently in order to write this post and would have given it a 1.5, maybe a 2, so i'll split the difference by giving it a one. i was prompted to put this together because i was reminded that dec 10 was the anniversary air date of this episode, though the post itself was delayed because i've been fighting covid.... maybe that's why i was feeling more generous with my rating this time around. but burr debenning is good as the sleazy Bad Guy du jour and anne helm gives a solid performance, so it's not a drag watching the dane-less parts.

the plot: a visibly young-looking guy who i guess was a new series regular or something is sent to take care of business instead of the main character, since the main character has to deal with something more urgent. he suffers some frankly comical prejudice from older men who are skeptical of him due to his age, then proceeds to basically prove them right when he gets scammed by a man and woman who make off with a shitload of money meant for a business deal. he tracks them to the canadian border where lawrence dane is helping them hide out.

you don't need to know anything about the series to watch this one, really, since all the important facts are communicated pretty well early on. the pacing is slow - the episode is about 75 minutes long and dane shows up for the last third of it - but if you think of it as a short film then the pacing works better. the acting isn't terrible, though dane's character as written is kinda cartoonish (still cute tho) and the plot twist during the climax felt a little like an ass-pull. also, the conflict in the second half was kind of incomprehensible to me: baby-face man is mad at the female half of the con artist team because she took "his" money, but she points out multiple times that it's not his but rather his boss's money and it's money that was gonna go to yet another rich asshole so it's not worth risking getting murdered for, and he simply has no argument for this. he just goes "you don't understand" and that's the end of that? lmao. he'd probably report desperate walmart shoplifters to the police.

at least dane's character is less morally confused - he'll help whoever pays him best but he's not gonna risk actually getting arrested. is he a "good" guy? no, but honestly i respect him more than the guy who seems like he'd defend shitty landlords. and the man knows how to cook omelettes! i can ignore the attempt at a french-sounding accent because at least he tried and he's still a delight to watch. such an easy physicality....

dane cut is here, no autocaptions, sorry, but this season 8 episode isn't hard to find online with captions if you're willing to sit through ads or watch a low-res vhs rip (or pirate it, but it's been difficult for me to locate english subtitle files). if you're just curious about dane, then skip to about 47 minutes in.


highlight: *screaming white cat gif* *disney stitch licking glass gif*

( he sure looked good in westerns )

i'm posting fic or treat responses early because it turns out that i'll be busy on october 31, but feel free to request them whenever!! click on that link and see if anything tickles your fancy :3

also, i managed to extract some more pictures from lawrence dane's old website so now i gotta decide whether to update that post or just make a follow-up post. very exciting!

slowly getting lawrencedane.com together - i went with liberato.io for my host and it's been a steep learning curve going from neocities' handholding to having to do literally everything from scratch. (i guess i don't have to do it from scratch since it's possible to do a wordpress plug-in thing? but when i tried installing it, it seemed like more trouble than it was worth lol.) but their customer support has been very patient with me which i really appreciate.

i decided on liberato after reading tempural's post about site hosting resources - the post is from about a year ago now but their tos still distinguishes between fictional content and irl harmful content in a way that gives me optimism that they won't suddenly decide to be weird about it, even though there won't be anything on the fansite dealing with (for example) fictional sexual material with underage characters. i did email them before signing up to ask about nazi iconography, since they say no hate symbols are allowed, and they responded promptly to clarify that discussions of/screenshots from media like dane's jericho episode would pose no problems. i do also like that they make it very clear that live-action sexual material is allowed as long as it's consensual, since i'm well aware of how hostile most of the internet has become towards sex workers.

i know neocities can be loosey-goosey with what kind of content they allow to be hosted, for better or worse, but i also know they have no customer support and it was absolutely a given that i would need it.

now that i've started to understand how the directories/subdirectories work in liberato's interface, including linking to images, i think my next step is going to be using a static site generator to help me with the css lol. much easier to tweak a template than code a page from nothing. i don't know if i need to be concerned about disabling hotlinking to images? it's something i thought about since one of my inspirations, the phantom of the paradise fansite the swan archives, has right-click completely disabled so you can't look at the source code for the pages or anything. i'm sure it's a bandwidth-control tactic but possibly also a copyright thing, which may be a factor i need to be thinking about in the long run...? trying to understand how to implement that kind of thing has been pretty confusing to me though, so for now my priority is just to get the site functional and reasonably attractive. then i might go back to customer support and ask them to walk me through implementing that function like i'm a five-year-old.

( thinking out loud about image hosting and site organization )

when you visit fansites/fanpages what are the first things you look for, as a fan or just someone who's curious? what kind of organization have you found helpful for navigating the sites/pages?