Art and Poetry

We're adding a little class to the joint with art and poetry...

'The Session' is worth attending

The Session (2012)
Starring: Alice Bristow and Niloo Ravaei
Director: Emelie Claxton

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A girl (Bristow) undergoes hypno-therapy with disturbing results.

 
"The Session" is another student film I came across while trawling through YouTube for things to watch and write about in this space. It was made primarily to show its creator's competency with three-point lighting--which she demonstrates that she had--but it is also a very interesting, very creepy silent film that's well worth the few minutes of your time it takes to watch. I hope she got a good grade for it!

I admit that I don't know what to make of the patient's mindscape... but she probably has many more therapy sessions in her future.



Note: The creator of this film graduated from film school in 2015, and she has gone onto be a working director-for-hire. You can visit her website by clicking here.

Felix Goes to War!

Felix Turns the Tide (aka "The Inventor") (1922)
Director: Otto Messmer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When the rats and cats go to war, Felix does his patriotic duty, joins the military, and faces the enemy on the front lines.

"Felix Turns the Tide" is a fast-moving cartoon from the silent era as Felix the Cat was reaching the height of popularity. It starts out violently whacky (with rats and cats blowing each other smithereens on a WWI-type battle field) and ends up in the area of the completely insane as Felix brings in some highly unusual reinforcements for the cats. The craziness is bookended by some cute and amusing scenes, as Felix saying goodbye to his friends on the home-front and then as he returns from the war. 

If you enjoy the early Felix the Cat cartoons, I am certain you will love this one. In addition to being firmly set in that crazy world where intelligent, tool-using cats live and work along side humans, it's one of those relatively rare tales where Felix is a straight-up hero in every way. (Just beware--after watching this, you may find yourself thinking twice before you eat sausages again

The version embedded below (for your convenience, easy viewing, and a guaranteed seven minutes of fun weirdness and cartoon violence) was retitled for distribution to television stations in Australia.

(This is the second Monday in a row where we've posted something with a war theme. We didn't really plan this, but maybe we need to start Military Mondays, to go along with Wonder Woman Wednesdays and Firearms Fridays?)

Bones Coffee: Jamaican Me Crazy

Bones Coffee Company continues to entertain me with fabulous flavors. Here's my take on the latest I've sampled from them!

Bob Marley is wondering why he's here...

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: JAMAICAN ME CRAZY
As with most of Bones Coffee's flavored offerings, the starting point for Jamaican Me Crazy is a medium roast. Although Army of Dark Chocolate showed they are perfectly capable of turning a dark roast into something magical, starting with the mellower, sweeter coffee as a foundation makes it easier to layer flavors on top of the bite of the coffee.

With Jamaican Me Crazy, Bones delivered another aromatic blend that, although not giving off quite as strong a scent as some other blends, gave a preview of what was to come as it brewed. This is a coffee that has a very strong flavor of spiced rum, with an emphasis on the spice. In fact, I was even reminded a bit of Chai as I drank this blend. 

Whether I consumed Jamaican Me Crazy black or with Unsweetened Almond Milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream added, the spices were the dominant flavor in this blend, lingering in your mouth and mixing delightfully with the taste of rum and coffee. This was a blend that I could drink without needing to add anything, and which remained steady in its flavors even as I added the almond milk and creamer. In fact, the spicy nature of the drink seemed to be enhanced with the added liquids.

At room temperature, the flavors were pretty much as they were when the blend was hot. In fact, I think I may prefer this blend after its cooled. (I will have to try a few more mugfuls to know for sure, but I only had a 4-oz sample pack to write this article from.)

Interestingly, when this blend is consumed iced, the coffee flavor all but disappears. A saltiness that mixes nicely with the spice flavor emerges strongly, but the coffee taste is pushed to the background. The salty taste is something I've found happens with a number of Bones blends if you drink them iced, but it seems especially powerful with the Jamaican Me Crazy blend. It also tended to linger on your lips and toungue more than with most, to the point where it almost becomes too much if you don't drink the coffee slowly. Adding Unsweetened Almond Milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer did nothing to cut down on the saltiness, and it barely reduced the spicy flavor--it just make the last vestiges coffee disappear.

I was curious what other people thought, given the flavor shifts when the blend goes through when iced. To my surprise, it appears that everyone appears to be drinking something completely different than what I did, as they talked about the caramel and vanilla flavors. Some of them talked about the caramel and vanilla, others seemed to think it was sweet. While I could perhaps taste a little vanilla in there, I don't know where they got the caramel from... and sweet? Where? When? Of course, those reviews reflect what Bones Coffee themselves say about Jamaican Me Crazy on their website (caramel, , so maybe I got a bad batch? Or maybe I was supposed to drink it after smoking a join or two to unlock hidden flavor profiles? (Heck, maybe that makes this the perfect coffee to drink as you celebrate 4/20 Day next month...)

While I can't explain why my mugs of Jamaican Me Crazy apparently tasted so differently from what everyone has consumed, I think if you liked the Coconut Rum and Highlands Grog blends, you'll enjoy this, too. And then you can let me know if you tasted caramel or not....

Important announcement from Slaughter Valley

The citizens are dancing in the streets in response to the news.

 
There are changes coming to Slaughter Valley (where the Shades of Gray offices are located). We want to make sure all our readers and visitors are made aware, because we don't want our friends to run afoul of the authorities.

Wonder Woman Wednesday

On this Wonder Woman Wednesday, we're focusing on classic images of everyone's favorite Amazon by the great Jose Luis Garcia Lopez!

 

The feeling of 'love at first sight' captured on film

Nuit Blanche (2009)
Starring: Michael Coughlan and Megan Lindley
Director: Arev Manoukian
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Stray glances during a chance encounter leads to love at first sight between a man (Coughlan) and a woman (Lindley) in the Big City.

"Nuit Blanche" is a film that's equal parts romantic, spooky, and startling. It's also the most beautiful and moving short film you're likely to see today, this week, or perhaps even the rest of this year. The music, the cinematography, and the astonishing amounts of visual effects are all perfect... and the only reason I'm not giving this great film a rating of Ten is that I feel like they didn't quite pull off the ending. Still--I am giving it the highest Nine Rating possible.

Click below to watch this mini masterpiece... and feel free to sound off in the comments if you think I steered you wrong. (Or, better yet, add your own praise for the film)

Trivia: The film's title is a French idiom that means "Sleepless Night", although a literal translation is "White Night" so the title could also be a pun on this being a black and white film.

Musical Monday with Sting

"Russians" is anti-war song recorded by Sting at the height of his solo career, which coincided with the final stages of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and its allies and the United States of America and its allies. It's a great song, with a great video... and it seems like it's got a theme that's coming back around.


Russians (1985)

Starring: Sting

Director: Jean-Baptiste Mondino

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Bones Coffee's Chocolate Orange

Sunday mornings are for relaxing in bed, drinking coffee,
and seeing what coffee Steve recommends for future Sundays!

I tried another wacky coffee flavor, and I wrote down some thoughts. 

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: CHOCOLATE ORANGE

This is one of those Bones Coffee offerings I didn't know what to expect from. Coffee and orange; those aren't exactly flavors I think offhand would go well together... and I'm a guy who likes mixing orange juice and Diet Cherry Coke. But, they've surprised and delighted me before, so I hoped they'd do so again.  

(The packaging on this one is another of their film-based cartoons, although it wasn't until I was looking at while the first pot was brewing that I recognized the reference to the chocolate river and Oompa Loompas, and Charlie from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".)

The Chocolate Orange blend is a medium roast, so that already provides a smooth foundation upon which to build... and one which the Bones roasters have shown time and again that they are capable of. Like most of the blends from them that I've reviewed (and will be reviewing), I brewed the coffee from a 4-oz. sample pack of pre-ground coffee.

The aroma from the bag when I opened it was a pleasing mix of coffee and orange and a hint of chocolate. As the coffee brewed, I thought I could smell a faint hint of orange in the kitchen, but the smell was not as strong as it had been with certain other Bones Coffee blends.

When I drank the first hot cup, there was no disearnable aroma from it, but there was a chocolaty taste from and center immediately. It was not overwhelming and it blended perfectly with the coffee flavor. I've previously spoken of my wimpy palate and how I more-often-than-not must cut the coffee I drink with almond milk or creamer. The Chocolate Orange blend has a coffee flavor that is just intense enough that I had to add some Unsweetened Almond Milk after a few sips, and that seemed to bring out the chocolate flavor more strongly while dialing back the coffee. The orange was present as as slight twang, barely noticeable. I didn't try it with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream, because I was out and the grocery store was out of stock on the day I ordered by groceries.

The tastes remained essentially the same when I tried this cold and over ice, but they were slightly more muted. I think this is a blend that is most enjoyable when it is hot.

 

It's a Sala Saturday!

Here's another early one-page comic from the great Richard Sala. Created in 1985, it's another prime example of how how easily Sala mixed the creepy and strange with the comedic. (Click on any panel for a larger, more readable version.)