April 27 movie: AV Geeks: Schooladelic. I like these Hillsborough AV Geeks performances. Well, to be honest I could have lived without the noisy, restless, chair-kicking, floor-crawling, running-back-and-forth child who sat right behind me. But the show was about educational films for kids, so I can't be too resentful that kids came to the performance.
The theme was trippy educational films from the late 60s and early 70s. Not movies about drugs, but movies that appeared to have been made by people on drugs. It really lived up to that description. Some of the movies were so weird that I couldn't imagine how they were considered educational.
I recognized one: a Claymation animated short about two kids who change themselves into bean bags and travel to a magical land where they solve everyone's problems. It's every bit as weird as it sounds. I also enjoyed "Toes Tell," a wordless look at a girl who does everything with her feet, which reminded me very much of "You Need Feet" from the Rutles. Georg and I agreed that our favorite short was the first. I can't remember what it was called but it was a psychadelic animation (again, no words) for the Bicentennial. Skip said the animator was well-known and it looked a lot like XTC's Oranges and Lemons album cover. The best part was when the "American Gothic" couple showed up in the cartoon, and the man's eyeglasses were flashing white and red. Trippy, man!
ETA: Kevin identified the trippy bicentennial cartoon as "200" by Vincent Collins and found it online: 200
Also on the AV Geeks website I found the one about the children who turn themselves into beanbags: Malakapalakadoo Skip Two
They've also posted their very best short film ever, "Shake Hands with Danger." But maybe I just think it's the best because it was shown at the first AV Geeks performance I ever went to: Shake Hands with Danger
3 Comments
The animation is "200" by Vincent Collins, inspired by the style of Peter Max. There's a copy of it at Archive.org:
http://www.archive.org/details/200
I LOVE the cornucopia spewing hamburgers and televisions!
awesome that you found it on that brief description! Had you seen it before?
I hope you get a chance to see AV Geeks next time they're in New York. The shows are always great. And even though you can see many of the shorts online now, it's more fun to see them as a collection & in a group.
I had a vague memory of the flashing eyes of Mr. American Gothic, but I got it from your description. I just googled on '"Peter Max" Bicentennial' and it was very easy to find from there.