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Radio On sounds really interesting.
I hope it stops by Portland, I'd love to see it on the big screen.

The Guardian published quite an interesting short piece on Radio On a couple of years ago.

Anyone seen The Electric Conclusion: Guided by Voices: The Final Concert yet?

I got this e-mail yesterday:

Plexifilm is celebrating our 5th Anniversary. Amazing, isn't it?
As a thank you for seeing us through an amazing first 5 years, we are running a special one-week-only promotion by giving 50% off all DVDs to our loyal customers.
Use this coupon code when you check out and it will automatically make all DVDs 50% Off: "anniversary"
http://www.plexifilm.com/store
The coupon expires next Wednesday, Nov 1st at Midnight (EST).
It's that simple. Thank you again.
- plexifolk
(*This promotion is only good on the Plexifilm webstore and will not work in conjunction with any other coupons or promotions.)

That's a good deal. Thanks.

Edit: Looks like it's only giving me 37.5%. It also says "all DVDs through October 25th". Looks like the coupon might not have taken effect yet.

The sale is 50% off the full retail price. The prices on the site are already 20% off, so the coupon takes another 37.5% off the already reduced prices to bring them down to half price.
Depending on shipping, it might be just slightly cheaper to wait for the DDD sale next month, but I'll probably order We Jam Econo from Plexifilm anyway in order to throw a little money their way.

According to the latest e-mail newsletter, Space is the Place is going out of print. Anyone who's ever longed to fulfill their alter-destiny by following Sun Ra into outer space (or wondered what Bergman's The Seventh Seal might have been like if it had featured an evil pimp named The Overseer) should get a copy of this while the getting's good.
Secondly, they're having a holiday sale: 30% off everything through the end of the year, no coupon necessary.

Glory be... two new titles coming from Plexifilm in the near future:

"Wasted Orient"

"Helvetica"

I'm actually curious about "Helvetica," ever since a friend of mine who works at MOMA mentioned it to me. It's opening at the IFC Center next month, so I'll try to check it out then.

-BJ

I normally wouldn't ask and just read reviews but I wondered what DVD's from Plexifilm are the best in some posters eyes here.

I recently bought the Galaxie 500 Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste 2 DVD which was an impressive set and I own the 2 disc set of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.

Has anyone here bought Kill The Moonlight or Friends Forever?

It kind of depends on what your musical tastes are, doesn't it? I would steer clear of Made in Sheffield unless you're a rabid Artery fan. It's a very superficial film and not very well made. The classic Warp-esque Designer's Republic cover is the best thing about it.

Decasia is something every film fan should see, but I don't know how often you'll go back to it.

I really enjoyed Hell House, but that's mostly because I grew up in a church exactly like the one featured in it. It's still a fun (and slightly scary) film.

Benjamin Smoke is pretty good, but maybe just a rental unless you're a fan of the music.

Mysterious Object at Noon is interesting, but not Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul's best film, not by a long shot. Still, if you're a fan, a definite must-watch.

Helvetica is the first release from them in a long time that I am interested in seeing, but as an aging hipster I am obviously squarely in their target demographic.

Floyd wrote:Has anyone here bought Kill The Moonlight or Friends Forever?

I've seen (and own) Friends Forever, and it is awesome.

Friends Forever is incredible, nowadays every band seems to have their own documentary but this is one of the few worth watching whether you care about noise/performance art or not.

I'm looking forward to seeing Helvetica, and I've also been interested in seeing High Tech Soul. Any reviews on that one?

Wilco questions the need for I Am Trying To Break Your Heart on BluRay.

Antoine Doinel wrote:Wilco questions the need for I Am Trying To Break Your Heart on BluRay.

I appreciate the band's honesty in airing their doubts as to the project's worthiness, but 16mm film is still a hell of a lot higher-res than SD, so what's the problem? Assuming it's a genuine HD transfer, it should look closer to the original. The added bitrate of Blu-Ray will be particularly useful for a grainy film, no?

They also mentioned in both statements that it's black-and-white, which is irrelevant. Not that they were necessarily saying so, but it's funny how often you hear people generally question the value of B&W films on Blu-Ray. It seems like this view might be widespread enough to hurt the marketability of many B&W films from the 1930s-50s on the new format.
They also point out that the price is almost twice as high as the standard-def release. That's true now, but whereas the SRP of the Blu-Ray is $35, the original release had an SRP of $27. The only reason the latter is now cheaper is that its been out long enough to have a price drop, or a cheaper second printing or whatever. I'm sure a lot of people who bought the DVD several years ago paid $27 or close to it.
I have seen bands say "You (probably) shouldn't buy x, it's a waste of money," but never in a situation anything like this.
It's nice that Plexifilm is taking the time to convince the band, but this is sure to cost them some sales in the holiday season (Overstock.com lists the release date as 1/20/09).

What astonishes me is Plexifilm capitulating to Wilco's rather dopey, clearly uninformed statements. Maybe they don't want to risk the negative press from the band themselves, but it's sad that such a situation could occur.

Warhol's Screen Tests (with soundtracks by Dean & Britta) coming in February.

Wow, a very surprising release!

This has been touched upon in both the Warhol and experimental threads, but here's a look at the $250 Limited Edition of 13 Most Beautiful...



Specs: 60 minutes + 20 minutes of extras. Original films are 16mm, silent, 1.33:1. All Region.
Special Features: Behind-the-scenes documentary on the live production of the 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests performances, and a video interview with Dean & Britta about Andy Warhol, the music, and the project. The accompanying booklet includes biographies of the Screen Test subjects, liner notes from the Warhol Museum's Thomas Sokolowski, Geralyn Huxley, and Ben Harrison and notes on the music from Dean Wareham.
From Plexi: The limited edition DVD is presented in a deluxe gatefold LP-style package with an exclusive poster and booklet. In addition, one frame from each of the 13 Screen Tests has been hand-printed as an archival gelatin-silver 8" x 10" photograph in an edition of 100 on Ilford Multigrade fiber paper. One of these individual prints is included in each package, you can choose which print you receive (Edie Sedgwick print shown below). $250.

Finally after a many month delay and then yet another month long delay I finally received this set from a most incompetent Plexifilm. I had to call innumerable times to find out what the delays were all about as they did not send any e-mail updates. For $250 one would expect better service.

Finally some nice guy personally packed mine up from the Plexifilm office (where he said all the $250 versions were being "assembled" (as opposed to the company that usually ships their regularly priced films). And to think when they began their company they wanted to rival CC. Don't know whatever possessed me to want to buy the special edition except that I once sat entranced and immovable at MOMA watching the screen tests. That will teach me! And yes, the DVD itself does plug its 5 inch self into a 12 inch folded album-like cover. More is less!

I did, however, get a free copy of "Helvecta" for my persistence.

well mine took a hell of a long time too, no Helvect though!
i'll try posting some screen grabs if so lightly here doesn't beat me to it

How is that Andy Warhol package and DVD?

Tableau wrote:How is that Andy Warhol package and DVD?

It's great, provided you watch the films without the musical accompaniment. Caps:

Plexifilm finally has a new disc coming, something called ODDSAC by something called the Animal Collective:

ODDSAC is a feature film collaboration between the band Animal Collective and filmmaker Danny Perez, a dense and surreal layering of audio and visual elements that eschews conventional narrative to create a visceral viewing experience. DVD release date: August 10, 2010.

Donald Brown wrote:Plexifilm finally has a new disc coming, something called ODDSAC by something called the Animal Collective:

ODDSAC is a feature film collaboration between the band Animal Collective and filmmaker Danny Perez, a dense and surreal layering of audio and visual elements that eschews conventional narrative to create a visceral viewing experience. DVD release date: August 10, 2010.

Was part of this shown during the Animal Collective performance art piece at the Guggenheim earlier this year? I seem to recall that the New York Times review described images similar to the ones featured in the trailer.

Animal Collective, by the way, are a very successful experimental indie rock band.