These Tiktoks/YouTube shorts are quick and basic however they garner so many more views than a carefully thought out poem with hours of editing video which no one seems to care about. As much as I wish it wasn't so, the market drives the content. A sad indictment on art, and where we're at.
I'll be scaling back my video poems, there's a few ready to go and then stopping altogether. Sadly.
You'll be laughing too, except at them, not with. (That's Pia Zadora in the middle)
Even the blockhead Droppo can't beleive how bad the script is. (Ironically, one of the few actors to actually go on and have a career).
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. 1964
(Also known as Santa Claus Versus the Martians)
I've watched it every year (at least once) for twenty years straight. Absolutely hilarious! Always finding something new to laugh at. A classic!
'Oh me, on my!' Mrs Claus and the elves are 'frozen' by the Martians, just before Santa is kidnapped. The performance by Mrs Claus alone is worth watching. Her laughter is insane!
The children of Mars are without humour or fun, programmed with too much tech (a premonition for today), and so a group of Martians decided to set off for Earth to kidnap Santa to bring some joy back home.
It is a kid's film so some of it is supposed to be funny but it's funny in all the wrong places. The humour is so terrible that it has to be seen to be beleived. Some terrible one liners. Shocking acting. Terrible sets and action (the polar bear and Robot are particularly bad), but the whole thing just has so many terrible moments that it's actually extremely entertaining. If you can laugh your way through a film, it's worth every second.
Torg, the scariest man in a cardboard box Robot ever depicted on screen!
It's a staple film in our household and has been played every Christmas since first 'discovering' it on SBS around 2005. So that means I've seen it at least twenty times as some years we played it twice! I swear every time I watch it, I discover some other hilarious moment.
Frighteningly realistic North Pole set, along with a frighteningly realistic robot!
Do yourself a favour and make it a must watch. It's only 80 mins and is seriously some of the best entertainment you'll ever see. It's harmless of course so you can't hate on it but instead, find it endearing in its own unique, terrible way.
Ah, they'll never find us in the Radar Box!
Worth noting it stars a young Pia Zadora who, twenty years later would be starring in some fairly bad risque films, like Butterfly (1981) and The Lonely Lady (1983) thanks to her rich husband who funded the films. Unlike her clothes in these films, her career never took off.
The entire film was shot in just 4 days at Michael Myerberg Studios, a converted aircraft hangar at Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York. It's now a shopping mall. Explains some of the terrible staging. 4 days is actually quite remarkable!
End Credits Theme Song, Also a Classic! Look at those inventive lyrics!
In-between '98 and 2000, Sally and I created some silly and sometimes awesome60 Second Theatre videos. Little skits that were meant for friends and family in the days before the internet. (Before video hit the internet anyway).
One of them was lost to time. The edited version being on VHS. Somehow it was misplaced and forgotten about, for over twenty years.
After Sally passed away, I began getting old tapes transferred and came across the original footage. I had to put it back together again.
So, here it is. Unfortunate that Sal couldn't see it but she did see it at the time.