Jillian Lyons Designs: 2013

Petra Szilagyi Shows New Haven What She's Made Of

1:42:00 PM

Through the powers that be of local New Haven moviedom, I was once again allowed to pre-screen a film before it's public release. I just got back from a late night showing of Machete Kills, Robert Rodriguez's second installment to his camp action flick Machete.

I am a fan of Robert Rodriguez. I don't always love his films. Spy Kids wasn't my cup of tea. However, I find the man himself very inspiring. Back in the mid 90's I watched as four indie directors took Hollywood by storm. Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith and Jim Jarmusch all struck me as these fiercely talented dudes who I could relate to. Rodriguez made El Mariachi which lead to Desperado. I read his book Rebel Without a Crew back then and was just floored. This guy was doing things I'd done! Difference being I was too scared to do anything with the results. He took it a step further by funding his film El Mariachi by being a test subject for long medical trials. He sold his body to science to fund his art. This is a guy I could get behind.
* I believe there is a revised version of this book that now also includes insight from Kevin Smith as well!

Regular readers of my blog may know that I love a good fucked up movie. I mean there are varying degrees of fucked up: so bad it's good, campy, cult, art house, gore, shock and schlock are some of my specialties. Machete was kind enough to combine a little of all of the above plus over the top action and special effects. Fans of bad cinema and bad action sang it's praises.

I would say spoiler alert, but the opening of the film is pretty much spoiler. So suck it up bitch pants I'm just saying it, Machete Part 3 will soon follow. Machete Kills Again... In Space! You get a preview of this awesomeness right off the bat. Boom! One part Star Wars, one part Star Trek sprinkle in tones of Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla add Machete and stir!
So this film's existence as a part 2 is merely to bring it's viewer from point A to point B. You need to see this to go into the next story ark.of Machete in fucking space.

Now here's what you get with the sequel: You still get Machete - Mexican James Bond, loving up the ladies. You still get ridiculous tongue in cheek jokes. Lots of fun explosions and cheesy hilarious fights and deaths. You still get the old 70's exploitation look and feel. You get injustice and most importantly, action and vengeance. But there is a different tone. My fellow theater goers say this was still good, but not as over the top as the original. I agree, it was not. Still good in it's own right.

I don't want to give away the whole movie. But a few things I'd like to touch on.
The return of Michelle Rodriguez and (sorta) Jessica Alba. Awesome! I love when sequels give you details and even closure on a character.
Kudos to Mel Gibson - the villain, and his first ever role as such. He should always be a villain. I couldn't see him as anything else now. (As in real life - haha, zing!) He was very entertaining as Voz, the visionary high tech millionaire bad guy.
El Camaleon - an awesome cheesetastic semi brilliant idea. One character played by four actors: Walton Goggins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lady Gaga and Antonio Banderas. A comic bookesque villain who kills anyone who sees it and then changes it's face... I am a Gaga fan, so very cool to see her on the screen. I only wish she'd had more lines.
Machete does in fact now embrace texting! But Machete don't tweet.
Carlos Estevez = Charlie Sheen using his real name. Well played Carlos, well played...
Sofia Vergara is a psycho villainess Madame, Desdemona. I LOVE a good female villain. She even kind of freaked me out a little in the scene pictured below. I would love to see her play some more deep dark crazy bitch roles. She has carved out a new category for me in types as well, I have discussed sexy/ugly, zombie/pretty. Now Vergara brings sexy/please stay on your half of the room.

What I honestly felt this film was lacking in was the gratuitous sex. I know that's kind of a what- the- who- now thing to say. But this is like making a grilled cheese - hold the cheese. Then you just have fried bread. There were some fun bow chicka bowbow moments, but no wear near enough nakedness. Perhaps that is waiting for the unrated BlueRay version...

What you will get from this is still an attention holding ridiculous exploitation flick so chock full of stars that if you blink you will miss someone. (Actually while I am thinking of it, I am pretty sure Paul Mitchell of hair care fame made a weird cameo..) Perfect for a fun night out.

art

The JLD Zombie Invasion!

1:32:00 PM

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! Like to a ridiculous degree. It is my favorite holiday. My kitchen is decorated for Halloween pretty much year round. (The only time it comes down is for Christmas!) Really I love everything about just the month of October. It's Fall in Connecticut and the leaves have started to turn those dazzling shades of red, orange and gold. This is also my birthday month. So the whole month is filled with horror movies, fun events and birthday celebrations!

Back in July I was already thinking about All Hallow's Eve. Sara Kenny, a friend and sometimes model ha an amazing idea for a photo shoot. I had said I wanted to do something period themed. Like Pride and Prejudice. Sara said she wanted to do period piece zombies. That was it. I was in, we had a plan and a photo shoot was born! Sara orchestrated the entire project. A huge team was assembled to take on this shoot. Sara brought in her best friend and friend to Jillian Lyons Designs, Shelby Threloff. Shelby brought in her mother, super dress maker Beth Threloff who also makes costumes for Wallingford's Trail of Terror! Shelby's boyfriend also joined in as our male model, Duke Davis, another alumni of the Trail of Terror. I added in Caity Taylor, a very natural model who has a regency look to her ala Pride and Prejudice to round out our modeling team. Having just graduated from UConn and about to start spending most of her time in NYC, I was lucky to book her! But I had an in - she's also my cousin!

This shoot took weeks to plan. We all messaged each other regularly. I designed pieces around the concept of period piece zombies. So for me the key ingredient was going to be the photographers and the make up. I wanted nice close ups I could use to promote my business for the Fall! Sara and Shelby were no strangers to the world of prosthetic make up. Being fans of cosplay and conventions of all kinds they jumped head first into this task. They brought on Deidre Deth for all of our prosthetics. Her work took about 2 hours, and so completely rocked my socks off! To add a touch of glamour make up artist Sarah Mrazik came in and applied a beauty to the zombies. Pretty zombies! Glamorous, period piece pretty zombies!

Deidre Deth and Sara Kenny.

Shelby Threloff is one adorable zombie!

Sarah Mrazik with model Caity Taylor.

Caity is ready for her close up now Ms. Lyons.

Deidre Deth creating a nasty bite wound for Duke Davis.

There was a serious buzz in the air the day of our shoot. Everyone dove head first into this project. Photographers Brooke Cadett and Shawn Baskum were brought in. We all met at a beautiful location chosen by Sara in the woods of Wallingford. It was perfect. Then the magic happened. Matt and I sat back and relaxed in the summer sun while Brooke captured some amazing shots.

All photos below are courtesy of B.Cadett Photography.

An amazing shot of Caity Taylor.

The best picture of the day!

You can find many of these items pictures in my Etsy shop! Thanks for reading!

art

Was This a RAW Deal?

2:41:00 PM

My business and my blog has been associated with RAW Artists for about a year now. Last September I participated in my first RAW show. The director at the time was really enthusiastic and dedicated to what she did and it reflected in the show. As I am seeing in my current research, she kind of went above and beyond her call of duty for RAW. My experience was very positive and it was what kept me coming back and going to events.

These events are typically pay to play. Something that really never bothered me. As a crafter or artisan, I generally pay a fee to do most events I take part in. They can run anywhere from $15 to $400 depending on the length of time it runs and how established it is. And there is never a guarantee that your particular medium or set up will draw a crowd or make you any money.

So when RAW initially told me it would cost $200 for the event, I didn't think much of it, except can I come up with that. When I was informed that I could reduce my cost by selling tickets at $10 each and that money would directly reflect in my fee cost, I thought, ok. Not too bad. I have never done an event that says we'll help you bring the cost down. I will be completely upfront here, I don't make a lot of money. I live paycheck to paycheck and am very much so a "starving artist" by choice. So the less I have to put in, the better. The previous director even went as far as to give me an extention to pay off my fee when I couldn't come up with it all in time. Something that is apparently not so typical from what I have been reading from other artist experiences in and out of Connecticut.

However, things have changed since that show and my RAWard nomination. The previous director resigned. A new one stepped in and the look and feel of the Connecticut shows changed to reflect this new presence. Something I felt was a positive change. Other changes taking place I had mixed emotions about. The $200 fee went up to a $300 fee. Tickets were now $15 or $20 at the door. A big difference to someone like me! I struggled with $200, $300 was a little scary. I still committed to the show based on my previous track record with them. This time around I spared no expense promoting. I made fliers, I posted Facebook ads, paid for a 30 second video advertisement and fellow tweeters to tweet the event as well! I bought supplies, I designed, I hired a make up artist, I booked 5 models. I wrote 2 different press releases - one already sent out to some of my local contacts and a few national ones that were niche for me such as Cancer Today. In June I started making a plan to make this event the centerpiece of my Fall line of Halloween themed pieces and costume accessories. My runway was going to be Halloweeny epic! I did a photo shoot in July to help me promote all of this. I was putting out a lot of dollars and time, but it was a labor of love and I wanted people to walk away saying WOW what a show!

To my surprise, I suddenly receive an email from the regional director of RAW. In a nutshell it says that the current director has made the decision to leave RAW CT. That the organization was shutting down RAW CT until further notice. That IF they start up again it will be in January or February. My response... what the fuck?

Like I am sure many artists did, I had a billion questions. Mainly why does one person leaving mean the shut down for the rest of the year. Frankly speaking, I work two day jobs. One as an internet sales consultant for 2 car dealerships. I have worked for them for 3 years. The second as an assistant, press contact and Etsy shop manager for a small mobile start up business. And rule one for most business, the show must go on! I have seen people quit on the spot, I have seen managers leave in the middle of a busy day for personal emergencies. These things happen. But you don't just say oh, too bad. We better close for 3 months. You take the next person in line and say ok, this is now your job until we find a suitable replacement and you KEEP GOING. I started to see some of the reactions of other artists and people affiliated with RAW. I saw postings and personal messages like the venue has pulled out of the shows as well and RAW may not come back to Connecticut at all, I started wondering what was up.

While RAW Artists is a national organization and not an LLC, it should have the same need for sustainability and ethics as any other business. Someone in the chain of command is clearly making a profit. Your reputation is a key part of those profits. I think to just up and say no we can't do this is a complete cop out. And BAD BUSINESS. I noticed today when I went to reference some of the posts about this in the RAW Connecticut Facebook group that anything telling more then it should or close to a negative response had been removed.

New Haven has a very active art community and scene. People talk. Word on the street is that a lot of New Haven feels like RAW is nothing more then a creative Ponzi Scheme. I have been receiving private messages all day from fellow artisans saying they felt something was horribly wrong, or participated in a show and felt ripped off or exploited.

So I asked the great and powerful Google what it knew. It told me RAW Artists lost it's not for profit status last year. Not that they decided to start taking a profit of it's own accord, but that it's not for profit title was revoked.This was emailed to me a s a new direction. Leaves me wonder which is spin and which is what really happened. I was eager to be a part of this group that was by artists for artists. They touted that yeah, you spend this money, but we are giving back to the artists. And I did receive a very nice press kit and photos. I did make great connections. Well now it's just nothing more then a pay to play for a 4 hour event. This was something I believed in. Maybe I am being a Negative Nancy or a complainer. but I am mad. I can't recoup what I already put in. The remedy after I sent this complaint to the Regional Director was that they would give me an out of state show to compensate... but I'd still need to pay. SO, I can pay out the same amount to have a harder time selling tickets, spend even MORE money for new fliers, press releases and add in travel for myself and 6 - 8 other people and just take the loss> NO THANKS.

So, at this point, I am removing myself from RAW. It makes the most sense for me and my business. While I know this post may ruffle some feathers, I am sticking to my guns. No one is offering me any money back. Or even any apologies at this matter. If they had maintained the non-profit thing, I probably would just suck it up for a good cause. But that is not the case. I still maintain that I met amazing people and had an initally positive experience, but this really fucked me and I didn't even get dinner first. My voice is my own and I have to do what's best for my own business, image and sustainability. This treatment after being so devoted is kind of... bullshit.

from LA Weekly - Controversial Promoters RAW Put Bands in Front of Audience - For a FEE
Why I Disagree With RAW
Connecticut RAW Artist Retaliates

action movies

The Comeuppance of Ty

9:38:00 AM

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away Ty Bargar, his brother Brett and myself worked at a little place called Best Video. We had a lot of good time there. Most movie rentals were free, patrons frequently asked for our opinions on flicks - some actually excited to hear our reviews, and if you worked there long enough you got immortalized in Best Video history with a staff pics sticker that hosted your name and likeness. Movie geek Nirvana I tell ya! But good times don't last forever. Video stores have gone the way of the laser disc since then. Best Video still stands - but is now partly a coffee shop and performance space that has some movies.

The Bargars and I all left Best of our own accord. Ty went renegade and took his movie reviews to the world wide web. Perhaps you've seen his site with Brett, Comeuppance Reviews. Or his previous work with Moe Porne on the podcast Drunk on VHS. He's my friend and a pretty kick ass dude!

I posted this pic of Ty on Facebook once and his Dad got mad. I assured him it was just a pellet gun. Also Ty has lost a lot of weight since this one. But still bad ass!

Ty, do you know any Karate yet?

Haha, no, but we should know Karate by now! We have seen so many martial arts movies!
A long time ago, at a birthday party, my sister and I all took a Karate class...the Sensei asked us to say "Kee-yaaaah!" a lot. True story!

How did you and Brett decide to start Comeuppance Reviews?

We noticed there were so many ridiculous action movies like Karate Cop or Shootfighter that no one has seen and thought we can review these with a sense of humor...never serious.

What has been your favorite movie review for the site?

Good question. We have a couple favorites: Death Ring, American Kickboxer 2, Night Of The Kickfighters, Ring Of Steel, and Project Eliminator.

How do you guys pick the movies to review? Is there a process?

It definitely has to be off-beat action from the 80s or 90s...where everything was still silly and not politically correct.

Who are some of your favorite stars of the screen?

Dolph Lundgren, Cynthia Rothrock, Lorenzo Lamas, Gary Daniels, and Billy Blanks. They always deliver the goods.

Do you consider most of what you review to be camp or serious action and why?

Camp would probably be Night Of The Kickfighters, it is a riot to watch. Adam West at his best. Straight Action: there is a killer flick called Action U.S.A. From beginning to end it is non-stop action.