2001 "SPEEDRUN" NOW ONLINE!

Straight out of Russia, those hilarious Speedrun guys have pointed their (admittedly lowbrow) satirical talons towards Stanley Kubrick's notoriously leisurely-paced sci-fi epic/classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, with eminently watchable results.

STANSPOTTING #00006 - IMAGINE DRAGONS VIDEO FOR ON TOP OF THE WORLD

There very well may be too many Kubrick references to count in the Imagine Dragons video for their catchy, bouncy alt-pop tune On Top of the World... but we can still have fun trying, can't we? Join me after the jump for an attempt to catalog them all!

Here's my count, anyway...

1. Kid on a Big Wheels tricycle references The Shining.
2. The store where they're all staring through the window is called "Stan and Brick". Stanley. Kubrick. Duh.
3. The tinfoil hat that the trike kid is wearing references the "Kubrick shot the fake moon landing for NASA" theories so prevalent of late.
4. The vintage TV in the store window is a MONOLITH brand TV.
5. At 0:17, the pattern on the wall behind the be-turtle-necked singer is one of the infamous carpet patterns from The Shining.
6. The street number on turtle-neck's house is 2001.
7. The hippie character drives a yellow VW Bug, just like Jack drives in The Shining.
8. On the wood paneled wall of the aesthete's home, we see a bust of Beethoven (a la Clockwork Orange), as well as a distinctly Barry Lyndon-esque dueling pistol, as well as a bird of prey in flight. Significant, perhaps, that most of Kubrick's production companies have been named after flying raptors (Hawk Films, Peregrine Productions and Harrier Films)? When the shot becomes wider, we can also see a Freemasonic G in T-square plaque, not to mention a couple of creepy blonde twins.
9. At 0:51, we can see a sign for Route 237 (Room 237), which takes one on a scenic "overlook" (as in the hotel from The Shining).
10. At the 1:00 mark, we get a really clever and subtle one. The licence plate on the yellow VW Bug reads V1I707. Not ringing a bell? Try looking at it upside down and in a mirror, in which case it looks a hell of a lot like LOLITA!
11. The "BEN IS DEAD" plate on the other vehicle doesn't appear to be a Kubrick reference, per se, but I do remember a pretty good independent magazine by that name which came out in the 90's.
12. The red-eyed 0009LAH machine is a pretty obvious HAL9000 rip.
13. After a bunch of pretty standard astronaut stuff, we get a glimpse of some very Clockwork Orange-looking furniture at the 1:40 mark. There's even an orange dot on a sleek, white, retro-futuristic lamp.
14. Dare I try to pass off the Native Indian head that appears on the TV test pattern at the 2:00 mark as a particularly subtle reference to the Calumet Baking Powder cans that are such an important part of the urban mythology that has risen up around The Shining? Nah...
15. The Fake Moon Landing scenario, complete with heavies in dark sunglasses and an anorak-sporting Kubrick stand-in and a sinister, delighted Nixon, takes up a big chunk of the video from hereon out.

And that about does it for me! Let me know down in the comments section if you spot any more!

SPOKE ART TRIBUTE DECONSTRUCTS KUBRICK

There is a wonderful collection of Kubrick-related images over at the Spoke Art Gallery website! Check out the samples below, then head on over to the link above to see a great deal more. And then, if you're in the neighborhood, why not stroll on over to Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco and see the artwork in all its real-world glory? Maybe even pick up a beautiful piece of original Kubrick-related artwork for your home! You'll be glad you did!

There are so many more beautiful pieces, all relating to Kubrick and his films, that I can't stress strongly enough that any Kubrick fan owes it to themselves to check out this link. So what are you waiting for? Go! Go NOW!

STANSPOTTING #00005 - DRUDGE REPORT 2001 HAT-TIP

Today's edition of the right-wing propaganda vector website The Drudge Report (September 11, 2014) features a Kubrick reference by way of an image from 2001: A Space Odyssey used to illustrate a Yahoo News story about stem cells being "reset" in order to study the very beginnings of humans' evolutionary development. The image in question does not appear in the Yahoo News story.

Point of interest: Matt Drudge has a long history of interest in Stanley Kubrick. Some of his earliest stories, back when he was still a celebrity gossip sheet operating via email and Usenet, were Kubrick-related. In fact, I recall personally contacting Drudge over a story he ran back in 1995 insinuating that Kubrick was at death's door. When I emailed him to see if he would part with more information "off the record", he sent me a one-word reply: "Cancer." Of course, Kubrick would die four years later due to heart failure at age 70.

This is how today's visual hat-tip looked in context...

DOUGLAS TRUMBULL SAYS KUBRICK "DIDN'T DESERVE" 2001 OSCAR

Special effects maven Douglas Trumbull tells The Guardian (UK) via The Hollywood Reporter that Stanley Kubrick - his boss on 2001: A Space Odyssey - did not deserve the Special Effects Oscar he won for that film, although...

Trumbull made it clear he felt the UK-based film-maker should have won many more garlands from the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his writing and directing work over five decades. But he said Kubrick had not been involved in creating the effects for 2001, one of his best-known films.

Considering the quality of the work Trumbull produced after working with Kubrick, on films as diverse and occasionally wonderful as Silent Running and Blade Runner (perhaps the only science-fiction film to ever "top" 2001 in visual terms),  I consider his opinion to carry substantial weight on this particular subject. For all his many great qualities, it can also be said of Kubrick that he was something of a glory hog, always far too eager to take sole and singular credit for the work produced by his employees.

HAIR BY LEONARD!

Before I settled on KubrickU.blogspot.com for the name of this blog, I went through a number of different potential titles, some better than others. First there was AgainstNature.blogspot.com, but seeing as that's a callback to late-19th century "decadent" novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans, I decided to save that one for a blog dedicated to my fiction writing. One of my favorites, however, turned out to be a touch too goofy in the end, and that was HairByLeonard.blogspot.com. This, based on a credit that runs at the end of a great many Stanley Kubrick films. Army of Dave has a funny story about this credit, in which he relates an experience he had whilst watching Full Metal Jacket, which I found to be all too familiar.

Oh, and just FYI, "Leonard" also took care of "Hair" for Kubrick in Barry Lyndon and The Shining.

Another point of interest: when credited for his work in other movies - such as Ragtime, Rollerball and The Bounty - Leonard apparently prefers to be referred to as Leonard of London.

And yet anther Further point of interest: Leonard's first film credit is as wig provider for the very strange, 2001-inspired Hammer Studios Western/Sci-Fi pastiche Moon Zero Two, which isn't too bad a flick in its own right, and is downright magnificent as the subject of a mighty, early riffing by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys.

Here's a review of the film, and here's one of the Misting.

STANSPOTTING #00004 - UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE

From the fifth episode of the third season of Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade sketch-improv series, we get a rare Eyes Wide Shut reference during a scene featuring Amy Poehler's character in a relationship with a "Mole Man" played by Matt Walsh. The sketch begins at the 9:25 mark, and the reference comes at 10:44, when Amy and the Mole Man are in bed together. 

The Mole Man wakes up in a huff, and the following argument ensues...

MOLE MAN: Aargh!

AMY: What's wrong, Mole Man?

MOLE MAN: I can't do this anymore!

AMY: Is this about Eyes Wide Shut?

MOLE MAN: Itchy! Itchy!

AMY: I just didn't think it was among Kubrick's better movies, baby! I'll see it again if you want to!

HOJO'S 2001-THEMED KIDS MENU MINI-COMIC!

Our fellow Kubrick-obsessives over at Dangerous Minds have given us a wonderful gift! In their own words...

Only the most observant of Kubrick-aholics will even remember the Howard Johnson’s reference in his landmark 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it’s right there, around the 30th minute. ... As the beneficiary of a truly special promotional opportunity, Howard Johnson’s did their part, releasing a combined comic book/children’s menu depicting a visit to the premiere of the movie by two youngsters—well, the title actually tells it pretty well: “Debbie and Robin Go to a Movie Premiere with Their Parents.” Neat-O!

There's more info at the link, but now, here are the scans...