Yup, it’s a fishing pole. But why?
I’m still walking, now with legs.
New York, NY (September 23, 2011)—New Yorkers can now celebrate Halloween a few days early. The Museum of Arts and Design hosts the 3rd edition of the short film fest Daggers, featuring 12 exquisitely creepy films that will share the spotlight on October 20, 2011, at 7:00 pm, and on October 22 at 3:00 pm in the Theater at MAD. Curated by noted critic Peter Gutiérrez, the all-shorts Daggers showcases work by up-and-coming talents, as well as contemporary classics by renowned filmmakers such as Denis Villeneuve and Jason Eisener. This mini-fest sports a macabre mix that is sure to please horror-hounds of all stripes.
“Horror is a much richer and more diverse genre than it is often given credit for,” observes Gutiérrez, who founded Daggers in 2008. “With Daggers we get to show off that range of artistry. In this year’s lineup, for example, we have surrealism, gothic mystery, psychological horror, a silent film, a musical, Cronenberg-style body horror, stop-motion animation, an experimental dance piece, and even gore-comedy. The goal is to represent the unsettling, the poetic, the thought-provoking, and yes, the stomaching-turning.”
Unspooling its dozen films in about two hours, Daggers will screen some of the best short-form horror from around the world, giving local audiences a chance to enjoy titles that are typically accessible only via major film festivals. Shot on the streets of Prague, “Prahands” recalls classic avant-garde cinema while “New Born” is an early effort of Israel’s Navot Papushado, co-writer and co-director of this year’s Tribeca favorite “Rabies” (“Kalevet”). Tasmania is represented by Briony Kidd‘s “The Room at The Top of The Stairs,” which makes its New York premiere. And of course there will be films by American, Canadian, and British filmmakers.
These include the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation “The Other Gods,” Matthew Garrett‘s “Beating Hearts,” Firas Momani‘s Fantasia-winning “The Adder’s Bite,” and the world premiere of “(Baby) It’s You,” a fun twist on the archetypal “mad scientist” film. Also making its New York premiere is Jerome Sable‘s acclaimed Sundance hit, “The Legend of Beaver Dam.” As always, the programming strategy seeks to combine fresh titles, many of which are new to Big Apple audiences, with ones that are well worthy of encores. Faye Jackson‘s “Lump” was shown directly before “Pan’s Labyrinth” at 2006′s New York Film Festival, and Jason (“Hobo with a Shotgun”) Eisener‘s “Treevenge” won the audience award for best short at the 2008 edition of the New York City Horror Film Festival. Moviegoers will know “Next Floor”‘s Denis Villeneuve as the director behind the Oscar-nominated “Incendies,” but may not have been able to catch this short, a prize-winner at TIFF, Sitges, and Cannes, not to mention a recipient of the Genie, Canada’s highest filmmaking award. The lineup also happens to boast another Genie-winner, Pedro Pires‘s unforgettable “Danse Macabre.”
“From last year’s Zombo Italiano and Jodorowsky series to this fall’s Sion Sono retro, MAD is proving itself to be a force in bold yet offbeat genre programming,” explains Gutiérrez. “That’s an approach that appeals to New York’s cinephiles and horror fans alike. It also happens to be very close to Daggers‘ sensibility, so I couldn’t be happier that this unique event has found such a great venue.”
ABOUT THE SERIES
Daggers will screen in the Theater at MAD on October 20, 2011 at 7:00 pm and on October 22, 2011 at 3:00 pm.
Both screenings $10 General
$7 MAD Members and Students.
Daggers is curated by film critic Peter Gutiérrez, frequent contributor to Rue Morgue and TribecaFilm.Com.
For more information, or to order tickets, please visit: http://www.madmuseum.org/
THE 2011 DAGGERS LINEUP
All films will be projected digitally.
The Adder’s Bite (2010)
Dir. Firas Momani
9 min
(Baby) It’s You (2011)
Dir. David Cowles, Jeremy Galante, and Brad Pattullo
3 min
Beating Hearts (2010)
Dir. Matthew Garrett
11 min
Danse Macabre (2009)
Dir. Pedro Pires
9 min
The Legend of Beaver Dam (2010)
Dir. Jerome Sable
12 min
Lump (2006)
Dir. Faye Jackson
12 min
New Born (2006)
Dir. Navot Papsushado
14 min
Next Floor (2008)
Dir. Denis Villeneuve
11 min
The Other Gods (2006)
Dir. Mike Boas
6 min
Prahands (2007)
Dir. Charles Pieper
5 min
The Room at the Top of the Stairs (2011)
Dir. Briony Kidd
15 min
Treevenge (2008)
Dir. Jason Eisener
16 min
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN
The Museum of Arts and Design explores the blur zone that characterizes so much of art, design, and craft today. The Museum focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the artisanal to digital. The Museum’s exhibition program explores and illuminates issues and ideas, highlights creativity and craftsmanship, and celebrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by gifted and innovative artists. MAD’s permanent collection is global in scope and focuses on art, craft, and design from 1950 to the present day. At the center of the Museum’s mission is education. The Museum’s dynamic new facility features classrooms and studios for master classes, seminars, and workshops for students, families, and adults. Three open artist studios engage visitors in the creative processes of artists at work and enhance the exhibition programs. Lectures, films, performances, and symposia related to the Museum’s collection and topical subjects affecting the world of contemporary art, craft, and design are held in a renovated 144-seat auditorium.
It’s time once again for a Mad Dog Movies re-design. Lately, I’ve been a bit tired of the Sliding Door effect for my top links… plus it doesn’t behave well with the latest WordPress iterations. So… on with the new!
How has my site changed over the years? Here’s a brief history.
2001: THE HAND
Before I ever bought maddogmovies.com or even mikeboas.com, I had a free site hosted on Tripod. I was trying to share my resume, so to that end I created a Flash “interactive resume.” Cute, eh? The Animation Scoop was a cartoon news blog idea that I never did more than a dozen posts for.
2004: MIKE BOAS SITE
After getting fed up with pop-up ads at Tripod, I moved over to another free host. Not surprisingly, service there was intermittent. Eventually, I moved my personal site to Cyberpixels.com, where I bought legit domain names. The site itself had a spooky sci-fi theme, with sounds and music borrowed from The Outer Limits and The Creature From the Black Lagoon. The design of these bio pages went unchanged until I re-organized the site in 2009. (This snapshot is from 2007.)
2004: THE LANDING PAGE
At this point, Mad Dog Movies was the name I gave to my network of sites. The bio site stood on its own, and the Mad Dog Blog was a third entity.
2005: THE SMORGASBORD
As I created more websites and cartoons, the landing page became more and more crowded. I won’t get into it here, but Almost A Movie, Subterranea, and Ominous Events also went through a few versions over the years. Oh, and those references to the Cinematic Almanac? That site encompassed a half dozen articles I felt (at the time) should stand on their own. I later moved them into the blog.
2006: EL BLOGGO DEL PERRO LOCO
Meanwhile, the blog continued. Cyberpixels became unreliable in 2005, so I moved everything over to Hostgator, where I continue to reside today. Early on, I chose the B2Evolution blog software. A sort of competitor to WordPress, Blogger, and Moveable Type, it later made me crazy.
2008: Brightcove
At some point, I wanted to put more video on the landing page. Brightcove was a cool Flash player that allowed me to do that. Until they discontinued their free service, that is. After that, I made due with a Youtube playlist for a while.
2008-2009: CHANGING HAIR
Over on the B2Evolution blog, I made some significant changes. Unfortunately, I don’t have screen caps from that time, but I do have this selection of vanity headers showcasing my various haircuts.
2009: WordPress
In December of 2009, I bit the bullet and migrated from B2Evolution to WordPress. There was some angst involved, as I didn’t want to lose all my old posts, but I managed to keep everything intact. I also took this opportunity to combine the bio site, the blog, and the Mad Dog Movies identity all into one. The Atahualpa theme lasted a week or two, and then I created something crazy…
2009: DARK RED SLIDING DOORS
There was something about the “Sliding Doors” theme I liked. It had javascript-powered sliding banner links at the top of the page. But there were other design elements in the “Dark Red” theme that I wanted, also. So I combined the two — which was fine for a year or so. Eventually, WordPress updates (and the lack of updates in both Sliding Doors and Dark Red) necessitated another change.
2011: PAGELINES IN PROGRESS
I burned through a ton of test themes in the last few days. I landed on one called “Platform” from Pagelines which has a great interface for making changes. I rarely want something straight out of the box, and I need to make changes to colors, fonts, backgrounds, and column widths. Platform lets me do most of that without hard coding. Here’s what it looked like yesterday.
2011: CURRENT
And today I’ve brought in my current logo and scratchy paper look. I’d like to tighten the spacing a bit (mostly in the sidebar) but it’s pretty satisfactory. Pagelines offers pro versions of their themes, so I might consider upgrading.
Lesia Vincent’s first novel, “Paradigm,” is now available through Createspace and Amazon.
It is about modern day Stregheria (Italian witchcraft). If that catches your interest, why not support a Rochester writer and buy a copy?
Oh, and here’s the cover, done by yours truly (and inspired by John William Waterhouse’s The Magic Circle).
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