Caught in a Netflix

[vovat]

Between work and our attendance of various events, bethje and I haven't had much time to watch Netflix movies as of late. The last two that we received were sitting around for some time before we got around to viewing them, but we've finally done so.

The first was Mind Meld, which basically consisted of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy sitting around and talking to each other about Star Trek and other matters. It was interesting, and I appreciated the minimalist nature. I think some people might have liked Gigantic better if it had just been the Johns talking to each other in that same manner. Especially if they hugged each other, like Shatner and Nimoy did at the end.

The other one was Mondo Bizarro/Mondo Freudo, a set of B-grade pseudo-documentaries. Mondo Bizarro was supposed to be an exploration of bizarre stuff around the world, including:

• Girls trying on underwear in a dressing room. The narrator insisted that there was a hidden camera, but the women posed a little too much for people who didn't know they were being filmed. Unless that's just how women always are when trying on underwear. I'll admit to not having looked into too many ladies' dressing rooms.
  
• An American businessman getting a "special" massage at a parlor in Kyoto, which turns out to consist of a topless chick cracking eggs on him.
  
• Gay prostitutes who don't actually do anything.
  
• Some voodoo ritual that involves sacrificing a chicken. According to the narrator, they used to use a white baby instead of a chicken. I think that's also what they do at Marilyn Manson concerts. :P
  
• Frederick's of Hollywood. Apparently the very fact that they sell revealing underwear is supposed to be bizarre. Oh, what an innocent time the mid-sixties were! {g}
  
• Some guy lying on a bed of nails and sticking a needle through his cheek. There was also someone else who ate broken glass.
  
• Protesting hippies, who spark a counter-protest, which in turn sparks a counter-counter-protest.
  
• A drugged-up guy who photographs naked ladies.
  
• Beach bums spending spring break on Balboa Island. I joked that it was the precursor to Girls Gone Wild, but none of these people actually went particularly wild. They mostly just talked about how they managed to live there with practically no money.
  
• Germans watching a play about Nazi sadism.
  
• A Lebanese slave market. The majority of this segment seemed to consist of the crew trying to get their equipment over a mountain.
  

Mondo Freudo was narrower in focus, dealing mainly with ways people get around laws regarding nudity and prostitution. There was also a guy who painted naked women. And I don't mean PICTURES of naked women. He actually spread the paint on their bodies.

Overall, very uneven, but what would you expect of campy films that throw underwear and Nazis into the same stew? Quite a few nekkid breasts, though. {g}

Oh, and if anyone else wants to participate in the lyric guessing game, hurry up and do it. I'm probably going to reveal the answers within the next few days.

EDIT: I'd forgotten one of the segments from Mondo Bizarro, so I added it in.

Comments

[travspence.livejournal.com]

Huh. The Mondo movies sound like a precursor to this gay film from 1970 I once rented:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206152/

Rocco was apparently a big deal in gay movement of the time. I'm pretty sure he was one of the earliest out filmmakers. I wonder if he took his inspiration from these movies.

Gay prostitutes who don't actually do anything.

Could you elaborate? Do they get paid for doing nothing or did the film just not show them doing anything? I've read a lot of accounts from women prostitutes who say many of their clients just want company and someone to talk to. I'm not aware of a gay equivalent of that.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

From what I remember, there were two male prostitutes hanging around on a street corner, and one of them propositioned a guy in a car who apparently wasn't interested. And that was pretty much the entire segment.

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

Especially if they hugged each other


Mmmmmmm john slash.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think Kirk/Spock fanfiction was actually the first slash to ever become popular (as well as the source of the term).

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Wow, J and I were just discussing Netflix just a few hours ago. Actually we were discussing how most of the video rental stores 'round us seem to buy lots of copies of new releases and then sell them all, so that they don't actually have much of a back-catalog, "which is yet another reason I suppose people like things like Netflix instead" or some junk. Honestly, the conversation had a point that was somewhat relevant to this entry.

Protesting hippies, who spark a counter-protest, which in turn sparks a counter-counter-protest

This is very amusing to me. But is so the truth about human nature, is it not?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Netflix is a good value, really. The only problem is that they'll sometimes send scratched or cracked discs, but they'll generally replace them for free. They definitely have stuff that you'd never find at video stores.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

The guy who ate the glass wasn't the same as the nailbed guy. The nailbed guy was also the guy who stuck a needle through his cheek and wiggled it around.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. I couldn't quite remember. I'll edit accordingly.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

You don't have to edit at all. Relaxxxx, man.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Oh, but I already HAVE!