Saturday, June 05, 2010

The impossibly funky Cashiers du Cinemart book is headed your way!


A decade ago, when I was a regular contributor to Shock Cinema and Fangoria and still had pipe dreams of becoming a professional writer, I pitched ideas for articles to a handful of the small press magazines I admired, and one of the editors who responded enthusiastically was Mike White of Cashiers du Cinemart. I wrote a piece on PETS which appeared in CdC #10 (and can be read here), and although I quickly lost interest in free-lance magazine writing I remained a faithful reader of CdC. I'm very happy to report that Mike has a book coming out titled Impossibly Funky (named after the record company owned by John Daniels in GETTING OVER) which collects the very best articles from the 15-year history of Cashiers du Cinemart and contains sections dedicated to BLACK SHAMPOO (another John Daniels classic, and Mike's favorite movie), unproduced screenplays, celebrity interviews, STAR WARS, Quentin Tarantino (Mike made the short films WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FOOLING? and YOU'RE STILL NOT FOOLING ANYBODY) and much, much more. This isn't just a collection of reprints from the magazine either; there are several new articles included here ("13.2% all new stuff" claims the advertising) and many of the older ones have been updated and expanded, so even if you have all of the original issues of CdC there will still be plenty of reasons to pick up this greatest hits package. Or as Mike puts it, "Everything has been refreshed, polished, and improved for this volume of movie mayhem." In fact, I'm gonna turn this post over to Mike in a second, right after I mention that he's offering several options that will enable you to pre-order a signed copy and help pay for the book's advertising at the same time.

Okey-doke, Mike, you can take it from here...


Here's a rough swipe at the table of contents. Still pending. I made some notes about some of the changes included, though every piece has been proofed and edited for clarity and re-fact-checked. My proofreader, Lori Hubbard Higgins, did an amazing job combing through my abhorrent prose. -- Mike White

IMPOSSIBLY FUNKY: A CASHIERS DU CINEMART COLLECTION

Introduction by Herschell Gordon Lewis

Foreword by Chris Gore

Features:

- A Dynamite Double Feature - CdC favorite Rich Osmond looks at some explosive '70s cinema
- Psycho Vixens - Rich Osmond examines two flicks about girls gone wild.
- Tragically Obscure: John Paizs’s (The Big) Crime Wave - Combination of two articles about Paizs by Skizz Cyzyk from CdC 9 & 10
- The Four and a Half Worlds of Parker - Updated piece (formerly "Three and a Half Worlds") which has been edited and expanded. Includes some insight from the creator of Parker, Donald Westlake
- Madness in the 20th Century - This article about Charles Willeford has been updated and tightened up
- The Serious Moonlight: The Cinematic World of David Goodis - Updated to include discussion of "Goodiscon" as well as expansion of the "Goodis on TV" section
- The Dark Places of James Ellroy - Updated to include discussion of Street Kings and L.A. Sheriff's Homicide
- The Cashiers du Cinemart Manifesto - So perfectly written, nothing could make it better
- All The Good Guys and the Bad Guys that I've Been - One of my favorite pieces from Cashiers du Cinemart, this is an appreciation of Paul Williams by Leon Chase
- The Prize is Your Life - I expanded this article to include several other "people hunting people" movies
-Oedipal Ketchip - A terrific discussion of Shuji Terayama's films by Andrew Grant
- The Highlander returns! - Two rants from Mike Thompson about the wonder of the Highlander films. This was updated to include cuts of the films that have been made available since the early days of Cashiers du Cinemart
- Double Impact: The Duplicity of Jean-Claude Van Damme - Brand new piece that has never been published
- Lone Wolf & Cub - Edited and updated for clarity


Tarantino:

- Tale of the Tape - The whole epic story of WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FOOLING? and the controversy surrounding it. Updated and severely rewritten
- Ironic Press Release - My facetious discussion of YOU'RE STILL NOT FOOLING ANYBODY
- Attention Enemy - Following up with the YOU'RE STILL NOT FOOLING ANYBODY fun
- Tarantino in a Can - A look at Tarantino's obsession with the bathroom in his early works


Star Wars:

-The Lost Cut - Discussing the early version of STAR WARS that will never see the light of day again
- Jar Jar Done Gone - How THE PHANTOM MENACE put heat behind the Fan Editing movement
- Triumph of the Whills - This piece now combines three different rants about the madness of King George Lucas


Scripts:

- 8mm - Mike Thompson compares what we saw to what Andrew Kevin Walker wrote
- The Uncredible Hulk - Another great Thompson rant, updated to include the latest incarnation of Hulk and the Ang Lee version, too
- CAT WOMAN - Thompson declaws this kitty
- Digging up the Bones of Indy Jones - Severely rewritten and updated version of "Jonesing for the New Indy Film" from CdC 9 that traces the trajectory of Jones through several proposed sequels
- Travis McGee & The Lonely Silver Screen - Combination of the CdC 14 and 15 articles
- Return to the Planet of the Apes - Combining observations about the POTA remake from CdC 10 and 13
- Superman: Grounded - Updated to include Superman: Doomsday and the reaction to Singer's reboot of Superman
- The Metamorphoses of ALIEN III - Includes additional content
- GREMLINS - A thorough look at an early draft of this classic flick by Chris Cummins


Black Shampoo:

- Interview: John Daniels - Edited and updated
- Interview: Greydon Clark - Edited and updated
- Interview: Tanya Boyd - Edited and updated
- Interview: Skip E Lowe - Edited and updated
- A Few Notes on BLACK SHAMPOO - Edited and updated
- Can You Feel the Love? - Edited and updated
- DVD release - Edited and updated
- Interview: Gerald and Gary Lee - Brand new interview with the men who made the music for my favorite film


Interviews:

- Crispin Glover - Brand new, never published
- James Ellroy - Edited and updated
- Guy Maddin - Updated / Additional Content
- Monte Hellman - Edited and updated
- Richard Crawford - Edited and updated
- Taylor Negron - Edited and updated
- Svengoolie - Edited and updated
- Bruce Campbell - Edited and updated
- Keith Gordon - Edited and updated
- Dr. Demento - Edited and updated


Life:

- Theater Work Story - Highly edited and rewritten
- Fish out of Water - Andrea's reaction to the UPC in Bowling Green
- Mike & Andrea go to Breakfast - Never before published tale of woe from Andrea White
- Brendan Fraser + Monkey = Fun! - A new party game from Skizz Cyzyk

Preorder the book now. Enter in the amount you want to pay and your "VIP perk."

1 comment:

Thomas Duke said...

I actually got a postcard about the book (from some mailing list). This looks great, but I'm broke, so it'll have to go on ye olde wish list.