Happy New Year!

2007 is over. Good,bad it's done and gone.

I wish you all a Great 08.

Later,

Paul Parducci

Merry Christmas

Peace Everybody.

We are all in this together.

Let's have a Great 08!

Later,

Paul Parducci

Hans Richter's Dreams That Money Can Buy

Links:
Hans Richter

International DADA Archive

Artnet

Later,
Paul Parducci

Proof That Santa Exists

There has been a disturbing trend recently to dismiss as "Imaginary" the individual known to us in North America as "Santa Claus." Some children have of course been disturbed by this incorrect and scientifically invalid position.

For those of you who have children that simply want the hard facts, here they are:

1) Santa has been granted a special privilege of eternal life.

2) He lives at the North Pole in a secret complex shielded from any type of radar or satelite imaging. The various Nations of the world know this but have determined after thirty -seven different Top Secret closed-door UN meetings that he poses no threat. (Check the records on this)

3) He possesses technology that enables him to slow/stop time.(This is why it has been virtually impossible to photograph him or capture him on video.

4) He does in fact keep detailed behavior records(ie: The List) but word has it that he is notoriously lax in this regard and has never left coal. (The 1930's Kentucky incident has been proven to be false.)

5) He is in fact helped in his work by a virtual army of what we call "Elves."(Who are actually smaller statured denzens from a planet (They pronounce it "Xylpho") in the next solar-system-considered by over Two hundred and six advanced civilizations to be the most brilliant Toy and Amusement designers and builders in the universe. (Unfortunately this information will not become public knowledge until the year 2346.)

Here are some other links that prove his existence:

Live Science

Five Ways to Prove Santa

Does Santa Exist?

Yes Virginia...

I hope this settles this question once and for all.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Paul Parducci

Thank You For Your Support of "Monday, Wednesday, Friday"

All of a sudden my film "Monday Wednesday, Friday" became a Featured Film on YouTube-
Thank you all for watching and all your kind and supportive comments for this decidedly less than kind character.
Later,
Paul Parducci

Why Do I Have To Create What I Have to Create?

Or maybe the question is: Why am I an Artist? Or more particularly why am I a Filmmaker?

After two decades of professional creative endeavor I am still both energized and vexed by the constant drive to do certain things: to make films, to write screenplays and to learn more about presenting my ideas and stories visually.

I was walking through a bookstore last night and I wondered, why don't I want to write books but I want to make films? Why this type of Storytelling and not others? Why do it at all? It would be better and certainly "easier" not to make them. I could focus on acting alone, an area I have done pretty well in.)

This drive to create Cinema has been called the "Silver Addiction,"(because of the silver salts on film stock) and I can understand why. Sometimes it feels like one. But it's no different I suspect from other Artists driven to create what they have to create.

In many respects Creativity itself is still a mystery, here is an excellent overview of the subject.

Later,

Paul Parducci

PS: The pictures from Tod Browning's silent classic The Unholy Three.

Henry Levin's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth"

I absolutely loved this movie as a kid-the dinosaur, the crystal cave!
It seemed to play on local television at least twice a year in the Tri-state area and I watched it almost every time.
Fox Movie Channel just ran it and it brought back great memories.
Later,
Paul Parducci

Jacques Tourneur's I Walked With A Zombie

Made for Val Lewton's B- Unit at RKO from what I can gather "I Walked With a Zombie" was Jacques Tourneur's personal favorite.

If you are a fan of Psychological Horror this should be on your list.

Later,

Paul Parducci

Once Again A Holiday At The Table

Risk was invented by Albert Lamorisse who also directed that award-winning short film you saw in grammer school "The Red Balloon."
Later,
Paul Parducci

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish all the best for you and yours.

And please excuse these suggestions: do your best to refrain from discussing politics or religion at the table.(You know that no matter what the people at your table believe or follow they would be there for you if you needed them.) And take a secret moment to look around at all your family and friends. I don't have to tell you why.

God Bless,

Paul Parducci

Charles Bukowski's "Death Wants More Death"

death wants more death, and its webs are full:

I remember my father's garage,

how child-like I would brush the corpses of flies from the windows they thought were escape-

their sticky, ugly, vibrant bodies shouting like dumb crazy dogs

against the glass

only to spin and flit in that second larger than hell or heaven

onto the edge of the ledge,

and then the spider from his dank hole nervous and exposed the puff of body swelling

hanging there not really quite knowing, and then knowing-something

sending it down its string,

the wet web, toward the weak shield of buzzing,

the pulsing; a last desperate moving hair-leg there against the glass

there alive in the sun, spun in white; and almost like love: the closing over,

the first hushed spider-sucking: filling its sack upon this thing that lived;

crouching there upon its back drawing its certain blood as the world goes by outside

and my temples scream and I hurl the broom against them:

the spider dull with spider-anger still thinking of its prey

and waving an amazed broken leg;

the fly very still, a dirty speck stranded to straw;

I shake the killer loose and he walks lame and peeved towards some dark corner but I intercept his dawdling his crawling like some broken hero,

and the straws smash his legs now waving above his head and looking

looking for the enemy and somewhat valiant, dying without apparent pain

simply crawling backward piece by piece

leaving nothing there until at last the red gut sack splashes its secrets,

and I run child-like with God's anger a step behind,

back to simple sunlight,

wondering as the world goes by with curled smile

if anyone else saw or sensed my crime

----------------------------------

Later,

Paul Parducci

Today We Honor our Veterans

Thank you.
Paul Parducci

PS: This is a photo of Revolutionary War veteran Manual Downing taken in 1864. He was born in 1751.

Strike.

Fair is Fair.
Later,
Paul Parducci

Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour

I am a Film Noir fan. From "Kiss Me Deadly" to "The Spiral Staircase" on to "Gun Crazy" and beyond. But I recently caught a corner of Black-hearted brilliance called Detour Filmed by the Poverty Row Auteur Edgar G. Ulmer (Before he was sent away from mainstream Hollywood, he made The Black Cat) it is definitely something to put on your queue. Here is Robert Weston's excellent piece on both the man and his movie.

Later,

Paul Parducci

Val Lewton

Val Lewton was a genuinely Creative Producer and Screenwriter who made eleven innovative films for RKO's B-Unit in the 1940's working with such outstanding Director's as Jacques Tourneau, Robert Wise and Mark Robson.

His RKO Films:

Cat People (1942)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
The Leopard Man (1943)
The Seventh Victim (1943)
The Ghost Ship (1943)
The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)
Youth Runs Wild (1944)
The Body Snatcher (1945)
Isle of the Dead (1945)
Bedlam (1946)

Here is Mark Viera's excellent article on the man and his work.

Okay, it's time to watch Cat People.

Later,

Paul Parducci

Ed"Big Daddy" Roth, Rat Fink and the Center of the Livingroom

I have a clear memory of seeing an image of Rat Fink Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's seminal creation on American Bandstand as a toddler sitting in the center of the livingroom floor. It came and went quickly but that fiendishly cool-looking rat stayed in my head to this day. Ed Roth American designer and artist has had a profound effect on all aspects of the visual arts, from skateboards to Chrysler. Ed has gone to the big garage in the sky but here are some excellent links to get you up to speed on this amazing creator.

Detroit News Obit

Ratfink.org

Mr.Gasser.com

Tribute Page

Peterson Automotive Museum

and about Ron Mann's excellent movie: "Tales of the Rat Fink"
Later,

Paul Parducci

Robert Fuest's "The Abominable Dr. Phibes"

Robert Fuest's Over-the Top Deco Horror Masterpiece "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" is a must see during the Halloween season. It stars the always solid Joseph Cotton and Vincent Price ( at his tearing up the screen best) delightfully disturbed revenge sequences and a clockwork band.
Later,
Paul Parducci

Original Photograph: "Please Mary"

Here is my photograph entitled "Please Mary."
Later,
Paul Parducci

Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend and My Lost Week

I haven't had a chance to post lately as I've been involved in directing a new project.

But here is a must see movie, Billy Wilder's "The Lost Weekend."

It's worth it for the Delerium Tremens sequence alone and Ray Milland has never been better.

Later,

Paul Parduci

Malachi Martin and his In-depth Study of Exorcism

Malachi Martin was a Jesuit who was involved in and made a study of the Exorcism of demons.
His book Hostage to the Devil is a chilling look at five cases of Demonic Possession in the modern era.



By the way,"Hostage" is best read during the day.
Later,
Paul Parducci