Hands and Feet

Joy Division movie Control will affect fashion, again.

The new movie Control chronicles the rise of Joy Division and the demise of Ian Curtis the lead singer of the band. This film features full frontal epilepsy. Its black and white photography and stark but beautiful images match the raw music in the soundtrack.

Ian Curtis suffered and if you look at the claustrophobic tiny apartment in which he
grew up with his family it isn't hard to see how and why he felt like he did. And lets also remember he had epilepsy and was forced to take all kinds of crazy medication.

 

The film is by Anton Corbijn, who was the band's photographer and has lensed some of the most iconic images in rock. He shot the Joshua Tree album cover for a little band out of Ireland called U2 in the 1980's and has directed many videos and such... The movie Control is based on a book by Deborah Curtis. (The woman in the photo left) Touching from a Distance describes Curtis's life from his early teenage years to his premature death on the eve of Joy Division's first American tour. It tells how, with a wife, child and impending international fame, he was seduced by the glory of an early grave. What were the reasons for his fascination with death? Were his dark, brooding lyrics an artistic exorcism? In Touching from a Distance Curtis's widow, Deborah, explains the drama of his life and the tragedy of his death.

Roberrific was moved by a beautiful scene in which John Cooper Clarke performs his own poems on stage to an approving post punk audience in dirty Manchester performance hall as Joy Division waits nervously backstage - and the crowd was roaring when he finished. Wow, it was poetry in action. Spoken word! Here's the portion of John Cooper Clarke's Evidently Chickentown that was heard in 'Control'.

Evidently Chickentown

 

the bloody pies are bloody old
the bloody chips are bloody cold
the bloody beer is bloody flat
the bloody flats have bloody rats
the bloody clocks are bloody wrong
the bloody days are bloody long
it bloody gets you bloody down
evidently chicken town

the bloody train is bloody late
you bloody wait you bloody wait
you're bloody lost and bloody found
stuck in fucking chicken town

Other bloggers with better blogs on Control can be found on Taylor's Entertainment blog, Swanktrendz, SEO is for Girls, FunisDead, and musicvlog.

The Medieval Foam Smith

Yesterday I worked as a grip on Britain’s Dark Age Warriors, which is a documentary series being filmed for the History Network (Both Canada and US History Channels, and BBC in England). During the course of the filming I was absolutely blown away by the Properties Dept. The props master on that production has absolutely mastered the art of illusion when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Have you ever wondered how moviemakers choreograph pitched battles where hundreds of heavy set guys fight each other with swords and spears and nobody actually gets hurt? Well it’s easy when every weapon on set is made entirely out of rubber and foam! These main actors were dressed from head to toe in polyurethane foam suits – cardboard helmets were painted metallic silver, and their shoes were Holey Soles, which is a Canadian company that makes foam footwear. The barbarians had faux fur hot glued to the tops of their shoes, while their Anglo Saxons adversaries had their Holey Soles painted to look like leather sandals with leggings.

 
At lunch I wandered over and introduced myself to the resident armourer, a modern day foam smith. His job was to make each re enactor a soft, light weight and very comfortable breastplate and back plate. I told him that I wanted a suit of armour and after paying one hundred and thirty dollars (in cash) he took my measurements and promised me two pieces with which I might ‘gird my loins’ in the upcoming battle.

First he sketched the armour he was about to create on cardboard. Then he drew the outline on a plastic sheet from the pattern. Next he cut fiberglass cloth pieces to fit the pattern – this would give my breastplate some rigidity he explained as he set the fiberglass pieces inside the template. Working quickly he modeled flexible clay bars all around the edges to form the sides of the mold.

I had to hold my nose when this craftsman uncorked a big jug of SWD 957 Castable Polyurethane Elastomer. I watched from a distance as he poured about seven ounces of Part A liquid into a ceramic bowl containing the same amount of Part B liquid. I felt sorry for him when he mixed these stinky components together with a paint stick for about forty seconds. Then he poured the blend into the mold and stamped down the fiberglass screen, taking care to ensure there were no air bubbles underneath the mesh.
 
After only ten minutes he carefully separated the clay strips away from the edges of the mold and called me back into the tent. The armour was very malleable at that point and he took the opportunity to press the pieces around my chest and back. When he was satisfied with the fit, he poked two holes in the top corner of each piece and told me that I could affix any style of shoulder strap I desired, at which point I selected leather shoulder cups that had some padding underneath.

I left my hand crafted foam armour to harden in his tent for the rest of the afternoon. When I returned in the evening it was already painted and I was ready for battle.