Dolph Lundgren - Ultimate human?


Lets get this straight right from the start, I think Dolph is great. Not in an ironic way, but  in a purely I think this dude rocks kinda way. Don't believe me, fine, but before you discard  this a ranting of a lunatic let me explain why. 

Eons ago, in a time before man, before dinosaurs, before god there was Dolph Lundgren. Since the dawn of time Dolph has walked among humans and protected us from great evils. when giant  aliens invaded earth in 542 B.C. it was Dolph who turned their own weapons against them and drove them away. Dolph Lundgren is not super-human as he is actually not human. Dolph is the personification of pure masculinity. if Dolph Lundgren were a sound, he'd sound like Metal. 
Okay that bit is a little bit bullshit, however I really do believe that Dolph is a truly remarkable individual and here are the real reason why.

First of all we all know Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester StalloneArnold SchwarzeneggerBruce WillisChuck NorrisSteven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. 

His breakthrough came when he starred in Rocky IV in 1985 as the imposing Russian boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, he has starred in more than 40 movies, almost all of them in the action film genre. He has  portrayed He-Man in the 1987 film Masters of the Universe, and Frank Castle in the 1989 film The Punisher. In the early 1990s, he also appeared in films such as Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), alongside Brandon LeeUniversal Soldier (1992), opposite Jean-Claude Van DammeJoshua Tree (1993), opposite Kristian Alfonso and George SegalJohnny Mnemonic (1995), opposite Keanu Reeves and Ice-T; and Blackjack (1998), directed by John Woo. 

We also know that after a long spell performing in direct-to-video films, 2010 marked his return to theatres with The Expendables, an on-screen reunion with Sylvester Stallone, alongside an all-action star cast which included, among others, Jason StathamJet LiStone Cold Steve Austin, and Mickey Rourke. 


But did you know that Dolph  holds a rank of 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin Karate and was European champion in 1980 and 1981, and Australian Heavy Weight Karate champion in 1983. Dolph is also well known for his tall stature and A1 level of fitness, at peak, he stands around 195 centimetres and weighes110 kg, and continues to be an influence in the world of fitness and bodybuilding. 
Albert Einstein
How about that he is a director, producer and screen writer and that  in 2004, Dolph directed his first picture, The Defender, and subsequently helmed The Mechanik (2005), Missionary Man (2007), Command Performance (2009), and Icarus- the Killing Machine (2010), in which he also starred. 

And if this is not  enough,  did you know that Dolph  In 1982, graduated 
with a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney, finishing with the highest results in his class, in fact our Dolph's reported IQ is 160 and actually has the exact IQ as Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawkins and Bill Gates. He also Plays the drums, Speaks Swedish, English and some German, Japanese and Spanish as well as personally Maintaining his own personal website for his fans. 

So there you have it Dolph Lundgren thespian, Dolph Lundgren Super Athlete, Dolph Lundgren Academic   Dolph Lundgren Ultimate human so Bow before the feet of mighty Dolph Lundgren, though he wouldn't ask you to cause he's really a pretty nice guy.  BOW!



Rock N Roll Nightmare


Have you ever come across something so head scathingly bizarre, you just can help wanting more; this is the kinda of experience I relish. I love setting out to find as much info as I can on my new discovery. Uncovering titbits on the internet or at the library, discovering a whole new world that has been hiding away and only known by a select few. 

My most recent said experience was the discovery of Jon Mikl Thor, JMT is a bodybuilding champion, actor, songwriter, screenwriter, historian, 80’s big hair cock metal musician and. vocalist. But more on that later.

It was purely by accident I stumbled across a record at my local vinyl store Backbeat Records, Recruits (Wild in the streets) is the third album by Canadian heavy metal band Thor. It is also the soundtrack for the 1986 film Recruits. Flipping over the record to look a the back I was instantly sold, big hair, medieval props and a girl band member named Pantera. All for the princely some of $7, Hilarious.

So I grabbed the album and hurriedly went back to my Studio to play it, I wasn’t disappointed it was everything the cover promises soaring guitars, screechy vocals solid bass riffs and more cock than a hen house. That’s when I decided I needed to find out more about this mysterious Canadian heavy metal bodybuilding historian, and what I found out you would never had guessed. 

I turns out that JMT was a very successful athlete, As a bodybuilder, he was the first Canadian to win both the Mr. Canada and Mr. USA titles. During his bodybuilding career, he has achieved over 40 titles around the world. 

If this wasn’t weird enough As a musician, he is the front man for the heavy metal band Thor, billing himself as "The Legendary Rock Warrior". JMT started touring as front man for the band THOR in 1973. The band was first known as "Mikl Body Rock" and "Thor and the Imps" before deciding on the name THOR. He combined strength feats, props, costumes and showmanship with music such as bending solid steel bars in his teeth and having solid concrete blocks smashed off his chest with a sledgehammer. THOR toured Canada and the USA throughout the 1970s and 1980s. 

If the idea of a bodybuilding metal lord Still isn’t enough for you,  In 1986 Jon Mikl Thor retired from live performances and started to write and produce films. His career in acting amounting to starring roles in such films as Zombie Nightmare, and Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare..

So what was my next move you ask?, Well dear reader it isn’t obvious, my sole mission of the next day and a half was to track down JMT 80’s video nasties. So after some more net research believe it or not I found them (thank you eBay and Amazon) and three weeks later I had in my hot hands copies of Zombie Nightmare, Rock n Roll Night Mare and the 2005 RnR Nightmare squeal Intercessor: Another Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare.

So what were the flicks like? Well let’s start with Zombie Nightmare, after a promising opening credit sequence, featuring the strains of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades", it seems the film can do no wrong. The overall result is a film that's never as good as it wants to be and ends up falling extremely short of it's early promise. 

Our favourite steel-bending rock god thespian, Jon Mikl Thor, plays a dork in a hooded sweatshirt who becomes victim to a hit-and-run by Tia Carrere and Co. His mother calls upon the neighbourhood voodoo priestess, played by Manuska Rigaud (think Karen Black and Tina Turner's lovechild on PCP), to resurrect her dead son, so he can wreak revenge on the tire-squealing Punks. One by one, the no-good teenagers meet their end by the hands of the zombified dork in the hooded sweatshirt.

ADAM WEST IN ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE
Halfway into the film, Adam West makes a welcome appearance, playing the local police chief who may have something to do with the intricate proceedings.
For those who may ponder Adam West's involvement in such a film, allow me to put it into perspective, how many actors can say they've worked with The Three Stooges AND Jon Mikl Thor? I rest my case.


Thor went on to star in a whole another nightmare, "ROCK 'N' ROLL NIGHTMARE" In Rock n Roll Nightmare an 80's metal band go to an old house to record an album. It's possessed, and demons start killing people. In between death scenes the band rocks out. Thor himself wrote and produced the film and soundtrack. That's really all you need to know, because nothing else in the movie makes a lick of sense. The direction, acting, special effects, and script???, are absolute pieces of trash. 
That's what allows Thor's stage presence to really shine. It's really just a long music-video that has a horror story thrown in. The music is classic, if you like that style, and if you don't you shouldn't be watching it in the first place.. If you love comic books, glam metal, and mythology and your movies with more cheese than a triple cheese hamburger pizza this is the crown-jewel of entertainment. An absurd good time!!

So what about the last one you mentioned? Well let me tell you this, It's BAD. This is hallucinatorily bad. This is so much further down the scale than Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare that you'll laugh hysterically rereading all the one-star Comments on IMDb for the original-poor fools! You think this is bad? Wait till the sequel comes out twenty years later, then you'll REALLY see something that you will bring up your lunch!
 
Jon Mikl Thor 1985


Jon Mikl Thor in 2005

However If you believe, really believe, in the healing power of bad film, this is a can't-miss. No hints, no clues as to what you'll be exposed to-OK, just one: the magic scene in which Jon-Mikl, now pushing three hundred pounds, in floppy rubber armour, is attacked in a park by a SINGLE STRAND of Swedish ivy. Does he defeat it with his mighty broadsword? You'll never know till you see The Original Rock Warrior .




So there you have it Brothers and Sisters of Rock and Roll!! Hear my words!! Go forth and find these these masterpieces of trash cinema!! You too can bask in the glory of Jon Mikl Thor the inventor of Muscle-rock.

He's been around since the early seventies, He still tours and releases albums. And bands such as Manowar, Iron Maiden, Wasp, even Kiss cannot deny being influenced by him. In short, I think JMT sums it up best  when he plays Jon Triton in Rock n roll Nightmare and I quote:

You've overstepped your line again, Bub. There's a creator's highest law that keeps you in your dark place and yet you and your brethren still insist on coming into this world and trying to steal a place in the world of the living. When will you ever learn? - I think there is a little something in that for all of us really.






OUTPOST PROJECT Art from the Streets



This years sees one of the most significant street art events occur in Australia happen in Sydney. OUTPOST PROJECT Art from the Streets. is running from the 4 November to the 11th of December and takes over Cockatoo Island.

I will be heading down to check this awesome event out as well as attend the announcement of the winner of the 2011 Australian Stencil Art Prize of which I am a Finalist with my piece Steam Punksnot Dead

Expect to see crap loads of images and interview posted in the next couple of weeks as well as features in our new Magazine Blank Canvas (Clock the link to the right)

So anyways below is some info on the OUTPOST PROJECT and some highlights. 

Ad


Cockatoo Island's vast abandoned factories and intriguing forgotten alleyways are the perfect backdrop for projects showcasing the energy and diversity of Street Art. With OUTPOST PROJECT, visitors will be able to see a huge range of Street Art in one location. And because of its dynamic and live nature, the art will change and evolve, giving visitors something different to see throughout the course of the festival.

 


Cockatoo Island
Here are the two events at Outpost that I am participating in. For more Awesome Exhibitions and info on featured artists go to the the website www.cockatooisland.gov.au  and join the mailing list to get regular what's on updates, news and special offers.


Australia Stencil Art Prize  2011 Finalist - Steam Punksnot Dead by Obscene 
Now in its 3rd year, the Australian Stencil Art Prize aims to recognise and reward Australian stencil artists. The Prize grew out of discussions about the calibre of stencil art in Sydney's Innerwest and a desire to see more of it. 
The Australian Stencil Art Prize attracts emerging and established stencil artists and receives international attention. The winner takes home a $2000 cash prize. For more information visit: http://www.australianstencilartprize.com


Paste Modernism 3 Flyer

PASTE MODERNISM 3

Paste Modernism is the largest celebration of the medium of 'paste-ups' in Australia, and is now presented again for the 3rd time at OUTPOST PROJECT on Cockatoo Island. Throughout its inception it has found residence in staples of the Sydney art scene, starting initially with the artist run residence Hibernia House in a guerilla exhibition, and finally graduating to the heritage walls of Cockatoo Island. Every available inch of over 300 square meters of wall space will be covered with the pasted artworks of over 100 local and international artists.
Obscene SkullEelz for Paste Modernism 3





The 'Paste-Up' is an ever-expanding and innovative form of street art, that involves an artist making their work onto varying sizes of paper and then applying it to walls and surfaces within their urban environment using wheat-paste or wallpaper glue. Whether as black and white multiplied photocopies, colourful hand painted murals or thought provoking text pieces, the 'Paste-Up' is an immediate and bold contemporary art-form. 


Paste Modernism Progress shots
Obscene muscleman Paste Up
The medium explores not only aesthetic values, but is often politically and socially motivated - which allows experimentation both by accomplished artists as well as people with little or no artistic training. With all other street art genres, a hierarchy is in place based usually on the skill and years of training and practice of each artist (aerosol-can control/complexity of a stencil etc). Most 'Paste-Up' artists also have years of experience, creating intricate and well-planned artworks - however anybody right now, could find a photograph or jpeg that resonates with them, take it to a digital printer and with relatively little expense, print it out in wallpaper width paper sheets and put it up on the streets.


Paste Modernism Progress
Curated by Ben Frost, Paste Modernism 3 includes artists such as: Pure Evil, Copyright, Dan Baldwin, Anthony Lister, Drab, Urban Cake Lady, Heesco, Bei Badgirl, Houl, Creon, John Doe, Simon Lovelace, RJ, Mats?!, Bridge Stehli, Esjay, Anton Benois, Numskull, Bennett, Vexta, Tez, Bunkwaa, Jumbo, Zap, Skel, HA-HA, SMC, 1337, Obscene, Felix, Konsume Terror, Pigeonboy, Vars, Aelhra, Qwux and more.

For more info go to www.pastemodernism.com