Videodrome

“The battle for the mind of North America will be fought in the video arena: the Videodrome. The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television.”

The above quote from Videodrome is the inspiration for this blog. I want it to deal with television, movies, internet, books, fashion, and any other media that I overstimulate my mind with. So I think it’s fitting that the title and the first post should both honor Canadian director David Cronenberg’s (greatest?) film. They call him the King of Venereal Horror, and Videodrome is somewhat that. But it’s all about paranoia that by oversaturating our lives with electronic media, we’ll drive ourselves crazy. I had to watch this movie four times, because I kept internetting and stuff while I was watching it, and, frighteningly, I may be an example of the validity of such paranoia. Anyway, once I actually watched the whole thing without multitasking, it was pretty awesome. The usual trailer doesn’t really match the film, but here’s kind of a teaser trailer:

Pretty wild, eh?

Though not actually a pic from the film, this is what Debbie Harry looks like in it:

Not bad as a brunette, eh?

If you want more pictures of Debbie Harry in awesome clothes, go here. She talks about her style (while wearing a disgusting ripped t-shirt) here.

For other stuff like Videodrome that involves the blurred line between reality and fantasy, I recommend Mark Twain’s late dream writings. A friend gave The Devil’s Race-Track a good review, and I was reading (and luvvving) that around the same time that I was watching all this weird David Cronenberg shit.