Issue 15, April 2015

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Issue 15, April 2015

Editor Talk

Con season is upon us! We had a great time at the Calgary Expo

last weekend and met plenty of local artists, creators, and

cosplayers who we’re looking forward to showcasing in upcoming

issues.

If you happened to miss it, the Northern Nerd Network did a great

job covering the cosplayers and interviewing vendors for a video

you can find on their YouTube channel. We’ve been partnered with

the NNN for a while, so we also figured it was about time we sat

down with them to chat (p. 19).

If you hate crowds and prefer getting your nerdy paraphernalia

delivered straight to your home, there’s always the Four Five Club.

Russ went to a preview of the new store and wrote a piece about

their subscription service (p. 9)—business-geek casual, anyone?

As always, we have some great film coverage in this issue, with

Matt’s persuasive reasoning for why you should watch Phantom of

the Paradise (p. 16) alongside Allan’s assurances that Rock ‘n’ Roll

High School Forever didn’t quite make the same impact as its

predecessor (p. 12).

Finally, I chatted with Edmonton author Axl Barnes to discuss his

upcoming novel, Odin Rising, and the philosophical and

psychological influences he turned to while writing his book (p. 4).

Enjoy this month’s issue of The Pulp!

Cheryl

Editor-in-Chief

thepulppress.com

Cover image: Five Four Club Suit by Russ Dobler

Back cover image: Trina Shessel and Chip Zdarsky

The People of the Hour!

Cheryl Cottrell-Smith, Editor-in-Chief

Cosplayer, gamer, comic collector, anime lover, and bookworm. Enjoys all of these things more if there’s wine involved. @CottrellSmithC

Matt Bowes, Arts + Film Editor

A self-proclaimed cultural commentator of good taste, Matt enjoys movies and books, and writes about them at thisnerdinglife.com. @matt_bowes

Russ Dobler, Game/Science Columnist

Known as "Dog" to friends and weirdos, Russ is a wannabe scientist and beer lover. He can be found blogging at thoughtfulconduit.com/whatdoesthismean.

Allan Mott, Lit + Film Columnist

Film enthusiast and blogger at vanityfear.com. Allan can be found giving opinions on films and other cultural paraphernalia @HouseofGlib.

magazine

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Issue 15, April 2015

CONTENTS

lit + film

4 An interview with local author

Axl Barnes – Cheryl Cottrell-

Smith

12 One Too Many: Rock ‘n’ Roll

High School Forever (1991) –

Allan Mott

16 Why Haven’t You Watched

This Yet? Phantom of the

Paradise (1974) – Matt Bowes

9

12

19

nerd culture

9 Five Four Club brings

fandoms to the office – Russ

Dobler

19 Meet the Northern Nerd

Network – Cheryl Cottrell-

Smith

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Issue 15, April 2015

An interview with local author Axl Barnes

Written by / as told to Cheryl

Cottrell-Smith | Images

courtesy of Axl Barnes

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Issue 15, April 2015

Our generation loves gore. Horror and the horrific. Sordid tales and

psychological mindfucks. We address our

need for the weird and spooky through video

games, movies, and novels. The latter has

been around for the longest, but there are

writers putting a new spin on the

traditional—taking the basics from Stephen

King and making them relate more to our

generation, how we respond to society, and

how our worldview is warped by the way in

which we live.

Axl Barnes,* a local author and

philosopher, addresses all of these issues

from the perspective of rebellious teenage

youths in his upcoming novel, Odin Rising.

Author of the novella Ich Will, Barnes

incorporates his impressive background

with philosophy into fiction that attempts to

deal with the oppression of social systems,

youthful narcissism, existentialism,

psychological horror, and more. Although

difficult to categorize, Barnes’ writing tends

to build on his own experiences as a

teenager in Romania and the meaning of

ethics, life, and death to those too young to

fully understand.

We caught up with Barnes to ask him a

few questions about his upcoming novel, his

influences, and the difficulties of writing

outside of one particular genre.

---

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Issue 15, April 2015

What's your background? How did you get into writing fiction?

I'm a philosophy and fiction lover. I had my first attempts at writing

fiction when in high-school in the late 90s. Afterwards, I only wrote

sporadically while studying for my undergraduate and graduate

degrees in philosophy. Once I got my Ph.D. in Philosophy in 2011 from

the University of Alberta, I started focusing exclusively on writing

fiction and finally tackling some projects which have been shelved for

too long.

In 2012, I published a novella, Ich Will, which is about a poor,

misanthropic philosophy student who's unable to pay for his

undergraduate degree and whose hatred for society takes an

unexpected, bloody turn. Since then, I've been working on my first

full-length novel, Odin Rising.

What will Odin Rising be about?

It's about a group of teenage metal-heads in a small Romanian town

in the mid 90s. Alex and Tudor, the group's leaders, egg each other

on to progressively more extreme, anti-social actions, from breaking

windows and cutting car tires to desecrating graves and sacrificing

animals to Satan. Their gruesome competition leads to killing an

innocent older man, who just happened to challenge them at the

wrong place at the wrong time. The death prompts a conflict between

Alex and Tudor, a conflict between their views of what is extreme and

the purpose of violence. While Alex is a Neo-Nazi who idolizes Hitler

and the Aryan race, Tudor is a self-proclaimed nihilist who hates all

races equally and only loves his knife, death-metal, and horror

movies. Despite their differences, both youngsters think that they are

possessed by Odin, the Norse god of storm and battle frenzy, and

who's awakening in Europe after centuries of slumber. Which one of

two will prove himself a hero and join Odin in Valhalla?

two will prove himself a hero and join Odin in Valhalla?

When do you aim to have the book finished?

By the end of the year. I hope to publish it sometime next year.

What were your influences in writing this book?

The book is rooted in personal experience and focused on two real-

life events, both centered on the river that passes through my

hometown. During summer in high school, my grandmother had asked

me to take away a cat and drop it into someone's back yard, as far

as possible from her house. She handed me the cat in a sack, stating

it was lazy and wouldn't catch mice. I was with a few friends on that

day and, youthful victims of boredom, we decided to take the cat to

the nearby river and drown it. I'll spare the sordid details, but suffice

it to say that it's true that cats have nine lives.

The second event occurred on another empty summer day: two

friends, Vali and Lucian, and I got drunk and broke the windows of an

abandoned service station. Then we went by the side of the river to

drink some more and smoke cigarettes (that was the coolest thing,

as we didn't know of weed or other drugs). An older guy chased us

down on his bike to lecture us, threatening to tell Vali’s dad about his

vandalism. I remember asking Lucian why we couldn’t just drown the

stranger into the river just like we had done with the cat? Lucian

didn't go for it, but what if he had? Or what if I had been drunk enough

to just do it myself?

An additional impetus toward writing the book came from reading

Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise Of The Satanic Metal Underground, a

journalistic account of the Norwegian 90s rash of crimes connected

with the black-metal scene. Varg Vikernes, a.k.a. Count Grishnackh, a

central figure, was involved in many church-burnings as well as the

murder of another leader of the movement. In his interviews, Varg

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Issue 15, April 2015

with the black-metal scene. Varg Vikernes, a.k.a. Count Grishnackh, a

central figure, was involved in many church-burnings as well as the

murder of another leader of the movement. In his interviews, Varg

argues fervently that his arson wasn't part of a Satanic ritual, but

part of reviving local Nordic pagan religion, and worshiping warrior

gods like Odin and Thor, instead of the Jewish Jehovah. In my story,

Alex and Tudor are aware and inspired by the events in Norway.

Hence also the name of the book, Odin Rising.

What other fiction would you

compare Odin Rising to and why?

Mainly Albert Camus' The Stranger.

Meursault, the main character of the novel, is

a misfit who commits an apparently absurd

crime. The deed puts him in jail, where he has

a chance to reflect on the insurmountable gap

between him and the rest of society, and to

make explicit the meaning of his rebellion.

The first four chapters of Odin Rising are

written in a realist, minimalist style, but in the

last two chapters the boundary between

reality and mythical dreams becomes

blurred. In this respect, I was inspired by

classic authors like Edgar Allan Poe and Franz

Kafka, as well as contemporaries like Clive

Barker.

My fiction is also very much indebted to popular horror writers like

Stephen King, Richard Laymon, and Brian Keene.

Are there any controversial themes in the book? If so, how and

why did you approach them?

Teenage rebellion is the main theme of the book. It's such a

Are there any controversial themes in the book? If so, how and

why did you approach them?

Teenage rebellion is the main theme of the book. It's such a

widespread phenomenon, ranging from petty vandalism to more

serious crimes like school shootings, arson, and suicide. This novel

is an attempt to uncover the source of this violence. Why do

teenagers think that the adult world is lame

and disgusting? Why do they want to mock

or destroy it? I tried to see things from

their perspective, which also used to be my

own perspective, and make explicit their

brutal judgment of the adult world.

One thing about the teenage psyche that

struck me was the fact that the prefrontal

cortex, the area responsible for decision-

making, practical deliberation, and

planning, isn't fully formed. So, while their

intelligence, memory, creativity, and other

brain functions are normal, teens don't

care about the future. For an adolescent,

everything is here and now—there's no

tomorrow, no career, no insurance of this

and that, no pension plans, no happily ever

after. And that's partly why teens are so

emotional and restless, because for them everything is at stake all

the time. But this psychological condition allows them a deep insight

into the nature of the world around them and the nature of society. I

think expressing that insight has both artistic and philosophical value.

If you had to describe Odin Rising in an elevator pitch of 10

words or less, what would you say?

It's an artistic and philosophical exploration of teenage rebellion.

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Issue 15, April 2015

If you had to describe Odin Rising in an elevator pitch of 10

words or less, what would you say?

It's an artistic and philosophical exploration of teenage rebellion.

What difficulties have you faced in writing and publishing Ich

Will and in the upcoming publication of Odin Rising?

Marketing is the main challenge, especially since my fiction doesn't

fit a specific genre. Both Ich Will and Odin Rising are close to

psychological horror, in the sense that the horror is triggered by an

abnormality of the main characters' psychology. However, this

categorization misses something essential: my characters end up

doing horrible things because they're in the grips of some

philosophical ideas. And those ideas are critically discussed in the

context of those stories. So, in a sense, my writing appeals to both

readers who enjoy Socratic dialogues, but also to those who like

graphic horror and violence. If I were forced to put a label on it, I'd

call this genre philosophical horror or existentialist horror.

Paradigmatic examples of this are Clive Barker's chilling short story

“Dread," and its movie adaptation, as well as Scott Bakker's horrific

thriller Neuropath. Still, I hope that a consistent marketing effort

through social media and websites like Goodreads will help my fiction

reach the right audience.

Odin Rising may still be in progress, but do you have any plans

for future work?

I have developed ideas for two more novels. The first one has the

working title This Town Must Burn! and features Canadian analogs of

Tudor and Alex from Odin Rising. The action is set in a small Western

Canadian town in the early 2000s. The youngsters are now in their

early twenties and face the overwhelming pressures of adult life. Will

they adapt and become domesticated, or will they continue to rebel

and burn everything to the ground?

Canadian town in the early 2000s. The youngsters are now in their

early twenties and face the overwhelming pressures of adult life. Will

they adapt and become domesticated, or will they continue to rebel

and burn everything to the ground?

The second novel has the tentative title Defective, and it's my take on

zombies. Jack, the main character, is a young, obese warehouse

worker who starts rotting alive: his mind stays fully functional while

his body starts decomposing. The story is an account of Jack's

actions, decisions, and psychology in his transition from life to bodily

death. While still philosophical, this book will fit well into the genre of

body horror.

Both these projected novels will feature one theme that I've

approached in Ich Will: alienated labour in capitalism. One of the main

weapons capitalist society uses to break down and dehumanize its

members is meaningless work, or wage slavery. So, in the spirit of

George A. Romero's zombie movies, this will be horror with a political

edge.

Visit Axl Barnes’ Blog: http://axlbarnes.blogspot.ca/

*Please note that Axl Barnes is a pseudonym.

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Issue 15, April 2015

Five Four Club

brings fandoms to

the office

Words and images by Russ Dobler

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Issue 15, April 2015

Do you want to rep your inner comic book geek while still maintaining your secret identity as a mild-mannered, working adult? The Five Four Club may have your superhero solution.

The clothing monthly subscription service – think of a business casual Loot Crate – held a pop-up exhibition at Manhattan’s Openhouse Gallery on the weekend of March 28, and The Pulp was there to chat with Five Four executive assistant Quinn Mason about their new Marvel-inspired collection and to snap some exclusive photos.

“Everyone seems so excited about it because all the pieces are things you can wear to work or during the day,” Mason says. That even includes people who work in Marvel’s New York office, who Mason says stopped by on the 27th to preview the wares.

Available exclusively to club members in the month of April, David Appel’s Avengers-themed creations emphasize “design through discretion,” so you can blend in with the normals. Imagine a jacket with comic book panels in the lining, or a pocket with an image of Captain America’s shield inside.

“They’re pretty casual but there’s just little, subtle hints,” Mason says.

Many of the items are reversible, though, for when you want to let your freak flag fly, and there are enough secret pouches to make Deadpool proud.

The Five Four Club began as the label Five Four Clothing, before shifting focus to the now-trendy monthly subscription model in 2012.

“It’s $60 a month, and we’ll send you a package with, usually, two to three items,” Mason explains. “You pick your style profile – fill out a questionnaire – and you get matched with a stylist who picks your clothes each month.”

New members signing up before the end of April can still get in on the Avengers collection, but if you miss out, have no fear, True Believers – Five Four has a two-year licensing deal with Marvel, and a new batch of subversive super-duds will drop this fall. Mason says she’s actually more looking forward to that group, as it will have a greater focus on her personal favorite character, the Hulk.

The Five Four Club is open to membership in both Canada and the United States.

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Issue 15, April 2015

One Too Many:

Rock ‘n’ Roll High

School Forever (1991)

Written by Allan Mott | Images

courtesy of Concorde Pictures

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Issue 15, April 2015

him as a sequel rather than an original

work.

In its way Deborah Brock’s Slumber

Party Massacre II is as unique a beast as

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. It’s the first

slasher film to ever be made with an

explicitly female point of view (one can

read the entire film as a fantasy

occurring inside the mind of a young

woman traumatized by the events of the

first Slumber Party Massacre), and it

literalizes many of the genre’s clichés in

surreal and postmodern contexts,

including a scene where the film’s killer—

a rockabilly hoodlum with a drill-

equipped guitar—breaks out into a song

and dance number in the middle of the

movie. It’s a love it or hate it kind of film,

and I’m firmly in the love it camp. To the

point that (brag alert) an old online

essay I wrote about the film ended up

being mentioned in the liner notes of

Shout Factory’s Slumber Party Massacre

trilogy DVD set and Brock herself

mentioned me in an interview as

someone who caused her to realize how

she had been subconsciously inspired by

the surrealist masters while making the

movie.

That is all to say, she was as good a

pick as any to try and resurrect the

special cinematic unicorn that is Rock

‘n’ Roll High School and even if she

didn’t quite succeed, the result isn’t

quite as easy to dismiss as one might

assume. Rock ‘n’ Roll High School

Forever never hits the heights of its

predecessor, but—once you get over

the natural inclination to compare

them—there’s no denying that it

possesses its own unique charms that put

it on the same guilty pleasure level of

something like 1989’s Teen Witch (which

stars Robyn Lively, whose brother, Jason,

plays one of the bad guys in RnRHSF).

RnRHSF stars Corey Feldman, a

couple of years after his infamous off-

screen behaviour sent him from

mainstream studio efforts like License to

Drive, Dream a Little Dream and The

‘Burbs to the world of Corman pictures.

He plays Jessie Davis, the lead singer of

The Eradicators—a nominally talented

band, whose biggest weakness is they’re

fronted by the same dude who gave us

this.

Beyond music, though, the group is

He plays Jessie Davis, the lead singer of

The Eradicators—a nominally talented

band, whose biggest weakness is they’re

fronted by the same dude who gave us

this.

Beyond music, though, the group is

mostly dedicated to (fairly) harmless

mischief. In one scene, they go to a

woman’s house and convince her

they’re a religious cult willing to pay her

to worship the old refrigerator in her

basement. In another they flush all the

school’s toilets at once in celebration of

“Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Day”, which

honours the date in the first film where

the students blew up Vince Lombardi

High.

Though the film establishes that their

school is the one rebuilt in its place, the

new building apparently also came with

a new name, since it’s now Ronald

Reagan High (a joke that might have felt

more pointed three years after the end

of his administration, but that now falls

flat when you can easily imagine dozens

of such schools actually existing in each

state across the U.S.). But this change

makes sense in the context of the film,

which embraces the slobs vs. snobs

model that the original film eschewed,

but which became a standard trope in

the teen films of the period.

In this case, The Eradicators’

enemies come in the shape of young

Christian Republican students (dubbed

the “yuppies”, although their status as

such is clearly honorary at this point) and

Dr. Vader, played by a returning Mary

Woronov. Though Vader is apparently a

different person than Miss Togar (the

character Woronov played in the first

film), her M.O. of enforcing strict

discipline with the aid of two moronic

assistants is virtually identical.

On Jessie’s side is the mostly

ineffectual Principal McGee (M*A*S*H’s

Larry Linville apparently taking over the

character Paul Bartel played in the first

film—a connection I was only able to

make thanks to IMDb, since the film fails

to spell it out) and the school’s behind-

the-scenes puppetmaster, Eaglebauer

(Michael Cerveris, who is about as

physically different as the original’s Curt

Howard as two performers could be), as

well as the very young and pretty

substitute teacher played by Sarah

Buxton (given an “introducing” credit,

In 1979, Allan Arkush had been

working with Roger Corman for several

years. He started with his friend, Joe

Dante, editing trailers before moving on

to direct Hollywood Boulevard in 1976

and the Death Race 2000 sequel (and

inevitable future One Too Many subject)

Deathsport in 1978. Following that last

film, the famed B-movie producer

proposed to Arkush that their next

collaboration should be a teen movie

with lots of soundtrack-ready music

called Disco High.

Arkush blanched at the title. He

hated disco. He convinced Corman that

the then-popular music was a dying fad

and that the movie would make a lot

more money as Rock ‘n’ Roll High School

instead. He pitched it as a return to films

like A Hard Day’s Night, Mrs. Brown,

You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter and

Catch Us If You Can, which were all

crafted around the popularity of bands

like The Beatles, Herman’s Hermits and

The Dave Clark Five. And to fill the role of

the film’s band he looked to his own

record collection and proposed one of

the greatest (and ugliest) of all time—

The Ramones.

The result was an instant cult

classic—an anarchic ode to the joy of

youthful rebellion and the tyranny of

adult cluelessness wrapped up in a

gleefully cartoonish package that

presented us with human-sized talking

mice, Paul Bartel in a beret and—most

bizarrely—the idea that someone as

cute as P.J. Soles could honestly believe

human scarecrow Joey Ramone was

the most desirable man on the planet.

There’s no other film quite like it in

cinema, much less Roger Corman’s

production history, but that’s not for lack

of effort. Twelve years after the release

of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, the director

of a slasher-musical hybrid so ahead of

its time that it took decades for it to

become a cult classic of its own

decided she wanted to make a high

school comedy and—knowing how

Corman’s mind worked—pitched it to

him as a sequel rather than an original

work.

In its way Deborah Brock’s Slumber

Party Massacre II is as unique a beast as

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. It’s the first

slasher film to ever be made with an

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Issue 15, April 2015

the-scenes puppetmaster, Eaglebauer

(Michael Cerveris, who is about as

physically different as the original’s Curt

Howard as two performers could be), as

well as the very young and pretty

substitute teacher played by Sarah

Buxton (given an “introducing” credit,

even though this was at least her

seventh film), who serves as Feldman’s

love interest in a subplot that would very

much prove controversial if the film were

made today.

Like the original, RnRHSF largely

avoids plot in favour of antics, giving it an

episodic feeling whose success ebbs

and flows scene by scene. Brock

populates the film with appealing

performers who manage to make you

want to keep watching even when

they’re not given a lot to do (in particular

Liane Curtis, as The Eradicators’ crush-

worthy guitarist and Brynne Horracks as a

cute, but deeply eccentric girl who may

or may not be a witch). Some scenes

feel truly inventive, while other moments

seem shamelessly borrowed from other

sources (I couldn’t help but notice a

Troma influence in the use of

Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald

Mountain”—à la the transformation

scene in The Toxic Avenger—and the

foaming Alka-Seltzer in the mouth trick

that Lloyd Kaufman famously employed

throughout his work).

In place of The Ramones, the film

gives a half-hearted effort to play up The

Pursuit of Happiness, the Canadian

band who recorded the film’s title theme

(giving it an unexpected #yeg

connection via TPoH’s

frontman/songwriter Moe Berg). But

despite being given a “special

appearance by” credit at the end of the

film, their actual screen time is limited to

us seeing the first low-budget music

video for “I’m An Adult Now” playing on

a TV screen. That said, it is fun to think

about an alternate universe where

Berg’s band apparently had a greater

cultural impact than Nirvana.

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever is

the kind of sequel that never really had

a chance. Its budget was too low. The

original was too unique to be

successfully copied (the only film to ever

come close being Arkush’s Get Crazy

from 1983, which has never been

the kind of sequel that never really had

a chance. Its budget was too low. The

original was too unique to be

successfully copied (the only film to ever

come close being Arkush’s Get Crazy

from 1983, which has never been

digitally released because apparently

the original sound elements have been

lost). And it stars a heroin-era Corey

Feldman in a performance in which he

not only sings, but also delivers many of

his lines like he’s imitating Christian Slater

in Heathers imitating Jack Nicholson.

(Feldman’s thoughts regarding the film

somehow didn’t make it into the finished

version of Coreyography, his memoir,

which I have in fact read.)

But despite this it almost works. While

nowhere near as polished as the Hughes

films of the era, its shaggy dog charm

easily makes it as watchable as License

to Drive. At its best it’s actually more

reminiscent of the classic Ferris Bueller’s

Day Off TV rip off “Parker Lewis Can’t

Lose” (that was famously superior in all

ways to the short-lived “Ferris Bueller”

sitcom), than Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,

which isn’t anything to be embarrassed

about.

The result is a completely inessential

sequel, but one that’s still worth

checking out. Just make sure to fast

forward whenever Corey starts singing.

But despite this it almost works. While

nowhere near as polished as the Hughes

films of the era, its shaggy dog charm

easily makes it as watchable as License

to Drive. At its best it’s actually more

reminiscent of the classic Ferris Bueller’s

Day Off TV rip off “Parker Lewis Can’t

Lose” (that was famously superior in all

ways to the short-lived “Ferris Bueller”

sitcom), than Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,

which isn’t anything to be embarrassed

about.

The result is a completely inessential

sequel, but one that’s still worth

checking out. Just make sure to fast

forward whenever Corey starts singing.

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Issue 15, April 2015

issuu.com/thepulp

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Issue 15, April 2015

Why Haven’t

You Watched

This Yet?

Phantom of the

Paradise (1974)

Written by Matt Bowes | Images

courtesy of Harbor Productions

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Issue 15, April 2015

It was recently announced that Fox plans to remake the

cult musical film The Rocky Horror Picture Show this year as

a TV special, as part of a 40th anniversary celebration. Rocky

Horror is a beloved classic among theatre nerds, Tim Curry

fans and corset enthusiasts (in addition to being the bane of

many a theatre employee’s existence), this is true. But what’s

also true is that another film has always existed

in Rocky Horror’s shadow, plotting away while it struts

around in what has admittedly always been a somewhat

diminished spotlight. I’m talking of course about my favourite

gender-bending, revolutionary, violent, youth-oriented

musical extravaganza from the mid-Seventies, Brian de

Palma’s first work of genius, Phantom of the Paradise.

If like most people you probably haven’t seen it, Phantom

of the Paradise is a retelling of The Phantom of the

Opera story, which was originally written by Gaston Leroux

at the turn of the century. Seeing as how it was made in the

mid-Seventies, the story has been updated (some might say

improved—like me, I say improved) with the addition of glam

rock and disco trappings, in addition to myriad literary

references to Oscar Wilde, Goethe and Christopher Marlowe.

The story opens with a description of Swan (Paul

Williams), the coolest man in this morally bankrupt world.

He’s a Svengali, a genius musician, producer and ladies’ man,

whose next step is going to be big: the opening of The

Paradise, the ultimate rock palace and final testament to his

image. One of the mere mortals who vies for his attention is

his ultimate foe, Winslow Leach, played by William Finley

(and with songs sung by Williams). We meet Winslow after a

concert by Swan’s latest find, a ‘50s revival outfit known as

the Juicy Fruits, who the forward-thinking mogul knows are

already on the way out even before they’ve really begun. When

the nerdy, overly-earnest Winslow plays his “cantata”, his

life’s work, the vampiric Swan knows he must have it. What

follows is a twisted rivalry/partnership between Swan and

Winslow, as the weedy folk singer finds himself set up, sent to

jail, disfigured, and ultimately transformed into the Phantom,

the auto-tuned instrument of justice and revenge. Adding

further complication to the mix is Phoenix (Jessica Harper),

a beautiful young singer who immediately steals Winslow’s

heart upon meeting. She too falls prey to the machinations of

Swan, and the twisted love triangle that results ends in

tragedy for all involved.

Right away, you can start to see Phantom pulling ahead

of Rocky Horror, with the casting of Paul Williams. Don’t get

me wrong, I like a lot of the songs in Rocky Horror, but the

combination of Paul Williams’ undeniable talent as a

songwriter and singer with his unusual presence as an actor

Right away, you can start to see Phantom pulling ahead

of Rocky Horror, with the casting of Paul Williams. Don’t get

me wrong, I like a lot of the songs in Rocky Horror, but the

combination of Paul Williams’ undeniable talent as a

songwriter and singer with his unusual presence as an actor

really makes this movie special. In crafting the songs

for Phantom, Williams takes the viewers on a tour of the

world of rock music over the last twenty years, which he

effortlessly imitates via the Grease-esque Juicy Fruits, the

Sixties surfer pastiche Beach Bums, and the forward-looking

combo of Beef (Gerrit Graham, singing voice by Raymond

Louis Kennedy) and the Undeads, the eventual inheritors of

Winslow’s cantata. The Undeads recall shock rocker Alice

Cooper, KISS and even The Misfits, at least visually, and

their Cabinet of Dr. Caligari-themed stage show, which

involves putting together Beef’s body from component parts

before bringing him to life Frankenstein-style, is one of the

film’s highlights.

Phantom of the Paradise also benefits from being the

passion project of a young director just coming into his own.

Brian de Palma fills the screen with the visual flair that would

go on to define his subsequent projects, like Carrie, The

Fury and Dressed to Kill. Two scenes are especially

interesting in this respect: the Phantom’s split-screen

assassination attempt on the Beach Bums (which also does

some interesting stuff with audio as two separate soundtracks

rise and recede against one another, a theme he returned to

later on in Blow Out), and the film’s finale, which uses a hand-

held camera and an orgiastic, uncaring room full of revelers

for what is still a pretty unsettling effect.

The film was a box office failure, which only received

awards attention for its score, which admittedly is awesome.

I think the reasons for this are two-fold. First, the trailer,

found here.

Okay, so for someone who watches a lot of trailers, like

myself, this is an excellent example of something I like to call

Seventies Syndrome (another great example of this is the

exceedingly weird trailer for Rollerball, which you’ll

remember from my highly informative article about sports

from a few months back). This kind of trailer, while

attempting to make sense of what, when you come down to it,

is not a very complicated story, adds untold complication of

its own by being way too indulgent. The film’s called a Gothic

horror story, a beautiful love story, and a “cinematic odyssey

through the rock universe”. This isn’t wrong, per se, but it’s

maybe a bit much to start off with. So then it moves on to sort

of introducing all the characters in the movie, complete with

title cards and a shout-out to Paul Williams in particular. He’s

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Issue 15, April 2015

horror story, a beautiful love story, and a “cinematic odyssey

through the rock universe”. This isn’t wrong, per se, but it’s

maybe a bit much to start off with. So then it moves on to sort

of introducing all the characters in the movie, complete with

title cards and a shout-out to Paul Williams in particular. He’s

probably the most well-known person in the movie, apart

from maybe de Palma himself, which as you’d expect didn’t

do the box office any favours and is probably the second

aspect of its failure.

While Phantom tanked almost everywhere, there were

two unlikely enclaves that accepted it in all its weird glory.

Paris, where it was beloved by two young men who eventually

became masked musicians themselves as Daft Punk, and

Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the movie played continuously

for four months, and off and on for the following two years.

The Canadian Phantom fan page has a great examination of

why this weird little movie captured the hearts of one of our

most eccentric cities, but the short version is that it probably

appealed to most children, who were on winter break when it

started, and became hooked on the weird intersection of pop

music, celebrity and over-the-top love story at the film’s core.

So why haven’t you watched Phantom of the

most eccentric cities, but the short version is that it probably

appealed to most children, who were on winter break when it

started, and became hooked on the weird intersection of pop

music, celebrity and over-the-top love story at the film’s core.

So why haven’t you watched Phantom of the

Paradise yet? Well, it never really reached anything other

than cult status, and even then nothing near to that held

by Rocky Horror, unless you lived in Winnipeg. I think Brian

de Palma’s star has somewhat fallen in recent years, and apart

from attracting Paul Williams fans, there wasn’t really much

in the way of star power in the film to hold onto peoples’

hearts. But the cult yet lives. When the Metro Cinema

programmed Phantom of the Paradise as the second film in

its Metro Bizarro series in 2012, there was a very healthy

crowd of fans, old and new. The movie has just been released

in a beautiful Blu-ray/DVD combo set, so there’s nothing else

standing in your way.

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Issue 15, April 2015

Meet

the

Northern

Nerd

Network

Written by / as told to Cheryl

Cottrell-Smith | Images courtesy

of Dan and Trina Shessel

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Issue 15, April 2015

The Northern Nerd Network. You may have seen the logo

before. Come across the husband-and-wife duo at one of our local

cons. Watched their podcast videos on The Pulp. But who are they,

exactly, and what do they do?

As one of The Pulp’s partners, we’re huge fans of the NNN. Dan and

Trina Shessel are the driving force behind the Northern Nerd Network

YouTube channel, which showcases videos that cover nerd/geek

culture-related events in and around Edmonton. They also run a

frequent podcast filled with topical discussion on the pop culture

industry—you can find that on their website.

The Pulp magazine had the pleasure of sharing a booth with the

Northern Nerd Network at last year’s inaugural Eek Fest (which is

coming up soon, by the way) and we figured it was about time we

chatted with them to see what’s coming up next for NNN and what

they’re into these days.

---

What is the Northern Nerd Network?

Trina: It’s a YouTube channel that showcases the nerdy/geeky people,

places and events in and around the Edmonton area. Our goal is to

bring the geek/nerd community in Edmonton closer together.

Dan: I used to find all these amazing things that happened all around

the city and I would sometimes get a chance to talk to some of my

friends who might be interested in it. More often than not no one would

care, but I would tell them anyways. Now we get a chance to find the

different people around this city who have similar passions as we do

and we get to share it with them. To me, that's super exciting!

What is the Northern Nerd Network?

Trina: It’s a YouTube channel that showcases the nerdy/geeky people, places

and events in and around the Edmonton area. Our goal is to bring the

geek/nerd community in Edmonton closer together.

Dan: I used to find all these amazing things that happened all around the city

and I would sometimes get a chance to talk to some of my friends who might

be interested in it. More often than not no one would care, but I would tell

them anyways. Now we get a chance to find the different people around this

city who have similar passions as we do and we get to share it with them. To

me, that's super exciting!

How do you select events for coverage?

Trina: We find events that we're interested in going to. [We have some]

people contacting us and inviting us to their events and we also try to find

events that appeal to a variety of geeks/nerds.

Dan: If it interests me, I'll reach out try to open a dialog with them. More

often than not, people love to talk about their projects. There have been a

few times when someone comes out and wants to talk with us and as long as

it fits within [our overall theme], we're usually more than willing to go and

talk with them.

Why do you think it’s important to cover these events?

Dan: There are so many talented, passionate, amazing people in this city and

so many exciting things to see and do that we feel that we just want to share

that with as many people as we can. I love attending these events and seeing

the various people who come up with some amazingly creative stuff around

the city. The more we promote the things we like, the more we will see these

types of events. I want to see all these events and various projects that

people work on succeed simply because I want to see more.

Trina: We like to find events that are less known as well because we feel it's

important to get the word out and support locally run events in the Edmonton

area.

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Issue 15, April 2015

it fits within [our overall theme], we're usually more than willing to go and

talk with them.

Why do you think it’s important to cover these events?

Dan: There are so many talented, passionate, amazing people in this city and

so many exciting things to see and do that we feel that we just want to share

that with as many people as we can. I love attending these events and seeing

the various people who come up with some amazingly creative stuff around

the city. The more we promote the things we like, the more we will see these

types of events. I want to see all these events and various projects that

people work on succeed simply because I want to see more.

Trina: We like to

find events that

are less known as

well because we

feel it's important

to get the word

out and support

locally run events

in the Edmonton

area.

How has the

Northern Nerd

Network given

you insight into

the other side (artists/vendors) of cons?

Trina: I think it's allowed us to see just how much work and planning goes

into the events that happen. It's given me a greater appreciation for all the

people that work and volunteer behind the scenes at various events that we

attend.

What are your top three recommendations for great nerdy hangouts

in the city?

Trina: Hexagon Cafe, Table Top Cafe, and the Lightsaber Class in Churchill

Square.

Dan: When I get a chance, I enjoy hanging out at Mission Fun and Games on

Saturday afternoons for X-Wing. Another place would be at one of the board

game cafes because I like board games, or at one of the many events around

the city.

What three events do you look forward to the most every year?

game cafes because I like board games, or at one of the many events around the

city.

What three events do you look forward to the most every year?

Dan: Every year I always look forward to Free Comic Book Day because I get free

comics. How can you say no to free comics? Of course, I love attending the

Calgary and Edmonton Expos--mostly for the environment. There’s something

about all the cosplayers and the various panels. It's such a celebration of all

things geek and it's such an accepting environment.

Trina: Edmonton Expo, GOBFest, and Table Top Day.

What’s your

favourite tabletop

game right now?

Trina: My favourite

game right now

would be Pandemic,

although I did have

fun playing life-sized

Dutch Blitz at

GOBFest.

Dan: Number one is

Star Wars X-Wing. I

love Star Wars and

the miniatures are

amazing. Number two is Dicemasters, mostly because I love superheroes and I

love custom dice, so that's just a given.

What are your three favourite video games right now?

Dan: I guess at the moment, I still play a ton of Destiny (please don't ask me why,

because I'm not really sure why). I’m still making my way through Dragon Age,

which is such an amazing game, and Lego Batman is a ton of fun. If you were to

ask what my favourite game of all time was, then that's easy—the Mass Effect

series. But if you were to narrow it down a bit more, Mass Effect 2 is the best

from the series, in my opinion. Other classic favourites include Maniac Mansion

and Metal Gear Solid.

Trina: Does Candy Crush count? I don't have a lot of time for video games lately,

but when I do, I enjoy playing the Lego games and old school Mario.

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Issue 15, April 2015