The list is a little brief this week, but that’s all that was out there. However, the first three items thrill me so much, it sort of makes up for the overall brevity.

1. I have to say that I’m really thrilled to see Jack Sargeant blogging more lately, both re-printing older articles he’s written for others and new stuff. Sargeant is one of the most vital writers and historians of underground film we have today. And he has some great ones this week. First, there’s this fascinating profile of Samantha Sweeting, whose films sound so strange and lovely. And he has a nice overview / defense of UbuWeb, which originally appeared in FilmInk.
2. A couple weeks ago, I publicly admitted my love of looking at old underground film flyers, posters, brochures, etc. To add to that jones, Landscape Suicide posted up an old flyer for a two-day Ron Rice retrospective screening that got me very excited. Also, here’s some absolutely lovely, misty photos of an indoor garden.
3. This item is actually six years old, but I just discovered it this week doing some research: Watch an excellent video profile of amazing Portland filmmaker Vanessa Renwick that has a fun sit-down interview with her and clips from her films.
4. Film-News.co.uk reports that Mr. Young broke a British TV record by having three of his films — East 3, Poco Wants to Go and The Moon, The Eye — air within the space of 8 days. I’ve seen 2 of the 3 and I’m glad they’re getting a wider audience.
5. Maybe it’s just me, but I found Roger Ebert’s recent review of The Human Centipede strikingly similar to his review of the ’97 re-release of John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, especially in his justification for giving neither film any stars. I totally understand his reasoning in both cases, but I’m not sure if I agree that they don’t deserve stars just for being the type of films that they are.
6. Inside Film profiles Australian hearing-impaired filmmaker David King, whose film Purge recently screened at the Melbourne Underground and the B-Movie Underground and Trash film festivals. I haven’t seen the film, but his story is pretty incredible. Troma is putting it out later this year.
7. Meanwhile, Senses of Cinema interviews the overlooked filmmaker Leo Berkeley, whom I’m completely unfamiliar with.
8. Making Light of It has finally returned from wherever the heck it went and has posted up a neat sequence of stills from Jean Epstein’s 1929 film Finis Terrae.
9. Phantom of Pulp reviewed a couple movies last week. First up, he suggests that perhaps having a huge budget spoiled Gasper Noe for the unsatisfying Enter the Void. Then, the Phantom discusses the 1951 movie Repast by one of his favorite directors, Naruse Mikio. And, he enjoyed the Ricky Gervais film Cemetary Junction.
10. Bob Moricz gushes on his crush, the lovely Mary Woronov, star of Death Race 2000, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and the sadly mostly forgotten Night of the Comet. Plus, Moricz reminds us that Kodachrome’s days are almost final. Get those rolls shot, people!
11. J.J. Murphy is in love with Kelly Reichardt’s newest feature, Meek’s Cutoff, which he caught at the New York Film Festival.
12. Bill Plympton has been too busy with self-releasing his new film to blog much lately — well, I’m assuming that’s the reason for the absence — but he did get out to see Zach Snyder’s Legends of the Guardians, which stunk.
13. Jay Hollinsworth gives a brief update on his animated short film Yellow and Red Make Orange.
14. Who is this Views From the Avant-Garde mystery man?
15. Attention artists: Andrea Grover has one of the most unique call for works I’ve ever read about. Design something to sit on her desk at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry!
16. No, The Social Network is not an underground film, but I really enjoyed Chuck Tryon’s take on it. Plus, Professor Tryon is going to Columbia to speak — the country, not the school.