Michael James Ness is an American musician and producer who is the lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978.
Bulletproof Monk is a 2003 American superhero comedy film directed by Paul Hunter in his directorial debut, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Seann William Scott, and Jaime King. The film is loosely based on the comic book written by Brett Lewis with art by Michael Avon Oeming. The film was shot in Toronto and Hamilton, Canada, and other locations that resemble New York City.
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost forty works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped together as the "Magick Lantern Cycle". His films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing "elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle". Anger himself has been described as "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers, and certainly the first whose work addressed homosexuality in an undisguised, self-implicating manner", and his "role in rendering gay culture visible within American cinema, commercial or otherwise, is impossible to overestimate", with several being released prior to the legalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults in the United States. He has also focused upon occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the English gnostic mage and poet Aleister Crowley, and is an adherent of Thelema, the religion Crowley founded.
George Barris was an American designer and builder of many famous Hollywood custom cars, most notably the Munster Koach. Barris did not style the 1966 Batmobile, although his company built it.
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot rod movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.
Kustom Kulture is a neologism used to describe the artworks, vehicles, hairstyles, and fashions of those who drove and built custom cars and motorcycles in the United States of America from the 1950s through today. It was born out of the hot rod culture of Southern California of the 1960s.
Kitchen sink realism is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" who were disillusioned with modern society. It used a style of social realism which depicted the domestic situations of working-class Britons, living in cramped rented accommodation and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pubs, to explore controversial social and political issues ranging from abortion to homelessness. The harsh, realistic style contrasted sharply with the escapism of the previous generation's so-called "well-made plays".
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome is a 38-minute short film by Kenneth Anger, filmed in 1954. Anger created two other versions of this film in 1966 and the late 1970s. According to him, the film takes the name "pleasure dome" from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's atmospheric poem "Kubla Khan". Anger was inspired to make the film after attending a Halloween party called "Come as your Madness". The film has gained cult film status.
Andrew Lau Wai-Keung is a Hong Kong film director, producer, and cinematographer. Lau began his career in the 1980s and 1990s, serving as a cinematographer to filmmakers such as Ringo Lam, Wong Jing and Wong Kar-wai. In the 1990s, Lau decided to have more creative freedom as a cinematographer by becoming a film director and producer. Apart from making films in his native Hong Kong, Lau has also made films in China, Korea and the United States. A highly prolific filmmaker, Lau has made films in a variety of genres, and is most notable in the West for his action and crime films which include the Young and Dangerous film series, the Infernal Affairs trilogy, and Revenge of the Green Dragons.
Fireworks (1947) is a homoerotic experimental film by Kenneth Anger. Filmed in his parents' home in Beverly Hills, California, over a long weekend while they were away, the film stars Anger and explicitly explores themes of homosexuality and sado-masochism. It is the earliest of his works to survive. Fireworks is known for being the first gay narrative film in the United States.
Antony Rayns is a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter. He wrote for the underground publication Cinema Rising before contributing to the Monthly Film Bulletin from the December 1970 issue until its demise in 1991. He has written for the British Film Institute's magazine Sight & Sound since the 1970s, and also contributed extensively to Time Out and to Melody Maker in the late 1970s.
The Sun Shines Bright is a 1953 American drama film directed by John Ford, based on material taken from a series of Irvin S. Cobb "Judge Priest" short stories featured in The Saturday Evening Post in the 1910s, specifically "The Sun Shines Bright", "The Mob from Massac", and "The Lord Provides".
Puce Moment is a short 6-minute film by Kenneth Anger. Filmed in 1949, Puce Moment resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s-style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the dark green gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise longue which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.
Dick Dean, born Richard Dean Sawitskas [Sa-wits-kas], was an American automobile designer and builder of custom cars.
Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) is an 11-minute film directed, edited, and photographed by Kenneth Anger. The music was composed by Mick Jagger playing a Moog synthesizer. It was filmed in San Francisco at the Straight Theater on Haight Street and the William Westerfeld House.
Mod Fuck Explosion is a 1994 film by Jon Moritsugu about a young girl named London who is trying to find meaning in the world, or a leather jacket of her very own. Unaccepted by the Mods or the bikers, she tries to find her own path through life. Meanwhile, the Mods and the bikers have a vendetta against each other that is sure to erupt in a smorgasbord of violence. The film was written by Moritsugu and stars his wife Amy Davis as the angst ridden London.
Gene Winfield is an American automotive customizer and fabricator. In the mid-1960s, his designs caught the attention of the film community, resulting in a large body of his work appearing on screen, including in the iconic 1982 film Blade Runner.
Counting Cars is an American reality television series, shown on History, and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series, which is the third spinoff of Pawn Stars, is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at Count's Kustoms, an automobile restoration and customization company owned and operated by legendary Danny Koker a.k.a. The Count, who previously appeared as a recurring expert on Pawn Stars. In a format similar to another Pawn Stars spinoff, American Restoration, the series follows Koker and his staff as they restore and modify classic automobiles and motorcycles. Counting Cars debuted on August 13, 2012. Guest appearances in the series have been made by Rick, Corey, and Richard Benjamin Harrison, and Austin "Chumlee" Russell of Pawn Stars, Ziggy Marley, Cassandra Peterson, aka, "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark", and Dee Snider.
Ross Lipman is an American restorationist, independent filmmaker and essayist. He is best known for his 2015 documentary Notfilm, his work with the Bruce Conner Family Trust and as Senior Film Restorationist at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, where he restored numerous independent and avant-garde works.
Bill Leroy Cushenbery was an American car customizer, show car builder, and model kit designer. Cushenbery was a major influence on the look of custom cars and the customizing industry in general. In addition to building his own designs, he is noted for having helped George Barris create the Batmobile car featured in the 1966–1968 Batman television series.
