C-MONSTER.net.

After reading an interview in which Murakami discussed the influence that Star Wars (and other sci fi) has had on his work, I thought a visual pairing might be of interest:

Tan Tan Bo, 2001 by Takashi Murakami.

A TIE fighter gets it from the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars.

Plus: A time lapse video of Murakami sculptures going up at the Brooklyn Museum. (This link will only be available for the duration of the show…because lord knows what could happen if people could access this sort of information once the pieces come down.)

Posted by C-Monster.

DVD: Desert Utopia: Mid-Century Architecture in Palm Springs.

Minute 69: “Architecture is a terrible mistress. It demands all your time and just goes on and on and on and on… I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.” —E. Stewart Williams, architect who designed Frank Sinatra’s house in Palm Springs, on his chosen profession.

Posted by C-Monster.

We heart moody white people who fight aliens.

The staff here at C-Monster.net is covetous of many things. Fine books. Cheap beer. And a good carne asada burrito. But nothing gets us salivating like a little X-Files. Today, the second trailer for the upcoming X-Files movie hit the web. Thankfully, we were prepared. Yvonne Connasse, expert in film (and casting calls) reports on the whole mess, right from her perch at the bar at the Paris Ritz:

For those of you still out there, looking for the truth – good news! Some variant of the truth will arrive in your local movie theatre this July 25th. Till then, all conspiracy theorists are directed to go here for the latest panel discussion from the celebrated creators, or here for the stunningly amateur video replete with fanboy squeals and heavy breathing every time David Duchovny opens his mouth, or here for a particularly grainy and skewed sneak peek of a potential trailer. We pray it’s just the camera-phone and not the look of the feature film, unless they’re trying to win an Independent Spirit Award. Sorry, boys and girls – the trailer offers no glimpses of Black Oil, bald daddy types, recovered cancer victims, blond mules, September 11 conspiracy theorists or humpy double agents. Not to fear, we too “want to believe.”

Posted by C-Monster.

The Uchuraccay Eight: A group of opposition journalists in Peru who were assassinated in the Andes in 1983. Some people believe that their murders were orchestrated by the military.

In the summer of 1983, eight Peruvian opposition journalists traveled to Uchuraccay, a remote corner of the high Andes to investigate rumors of extrajudicial killings related to the fight against the Shining Path. Shortly after arriving in Uchuraccay, all eight men—and their guide—were grotesquely and brutally murdered.

Who committed the crime has long been up for debate. The government commission looking into the crime (led by novelist Mario Vargas Llosa) declared that the reporters were lynched by villagers who confused them with terrorists. At the time, the commission—in all seriousness—reported that the Indian villagers were unable to tell the difference between weapons and camera equipment.

The more likely suspect in the assassinations is the Peruvian military. Families of the journalists and their supporters believe that the murders were staged to prevent any unsavory stories about illegal military tactics from getting into the press. As with most things involving the Peruvian military, the investigation into their deaths was riddled with ineptitude and inconsistency—not to mention tragedy: a number of witnesses died under suspicious circumstances themselves. Moreover, local military personnel never cooperated with investigators.

Twenty-three years later, Oscar Retto, the father of one of the slain men, and a documentary crew travelled to the scene to ask the questions that should have been asked 25 years ago. His journey is covered in Uchuraccay, an upcoming documentary from independent film director Carmen Valdivieso, who knew a number of the men personally. The film has been shot and partially edited (there’s a trailer online), but a lack of funding has prevented the work from being completed. Please consider making a donation, however small, to support this important documentary. Journalism in Peru is a tenuous thing. The families of the slain men will be deeply appreciative.

(Via Least Wanted.)

Posted by C-Monster.