AV Geeks Lunch with Lars Nilsen

[Music] [Music] [Music] the majority of the men in our fire department or coal miners it's a pet peeve of mine and the majority the coal miners whether they're continuous miner operator shuttle for operators ruff boulders that every time you turn on television radio and see or hear an interview with a coal miner he's always in a bar or in a courthouse step for some sort of demonstration and that just doesn't depict the image of the coal miners he actually is he's not that type of guy but we've always said the reputation of being a dumb coal miner okay every time I hear it it kind of rubs my fur no miner likes to be put down he's proud of who he is and what he is these people in my opinion doesn't know what they're talking about they haven't met the new coal miner today [Music] this this is a good view of coal miner this is what coal miners do their interests they're interested in community action they go to churches they belong to civic groups civic organizations of course I realize that doesn't make such a good news story a Meijer today is very similar to just any other individual minor today once what everyone else wants we want new homes we want new cars we want education for our children we want what all other Americans want we simply want what might be the American dream of everyone oh boy sign already we just want a place in America same as anybody else we're no different than any other group of people what gets me as people goes away from these mountain but they always gonna end up right back here so evidently it's not so good away from here I don't know why they think coal miners don't have nice homes I I guess they think they were dirty from the time they go into the mines until they die I don't know but we've worked for what we have I just think it's time that coal miners were seen in the light that they should be seen as human beings there's people who go to work who have families who have interests this is our roots this is home city's on prep [Music] Oh Craig that you bless each and every one of us and father we pray that you bless this food that we're about to eat [Music] thanks be cooking this attorney this morning so let's eat it nobody eat up I've come from a long line of coal miners from all the way back to my great-grandfather's both of them and I didn't think I would go in the coal mine now I've heard all my life about how hard it was for a man to make a living it really stuck to me know that somebody spent that much time of their life feeding the family and my dad said seems how we were coal money family that's what we were in for stars coal mining so I went into the coal industry and ended up working where my father worked in the depression days a miner sometimes you just went in the mines with just water in his bucket but I remember lots of times my dad didn't have anything in a bucket and when you come home you would have a meal like this it was really rough paddy the potatoes you grew on the garden yeah the corn is too my father told us how to get bread on the table and to be the right kind of man so that he wouldn't have these problems so I've heard it for my life to go into coal fields and make the best of it I could that there was a great life if a man was a man and could handle the work and stand the hours to make the money to feed his family when my father was in the coal mines he was well respected he was a hard worker he was a go-getter and then that's what exactly what I did I fell Rhines his footsteps Mary and Jackie Joe has really been an experience through his family they're all really close and I enjoy having them here and then we get together if they get together no doubt about it we really enjoy ourselves we have a real strong bond there's nothing that we couldn't talk to each other about I can't say that I enjoy thinking about the risk and the dangers that are involved I was a little bit nervous when we first married you know when you're first married you don't want anything to mess that up my husband has a lot of common sense and I trust him when he brings home stories telling me about the safety that they have now and the way that they do safeguard something happening and stuff so it's it's something you have to adjust to I've adjusted to it or thank you both studies monitor is a completely different type of man and what it was 2530 years ago from what I've got from my background my relatives my grandfather's my father back in the old days man all he had was his work today a miner has his education his family and everything else that goes along with being a man I think it's a great life and a great tradition for myself to be in the coal fields and to know that my family had spent their life in the coal field and I'm gonna spend mine there too [Music] I don't have to have three of you guys running into jeeps down there to rescue guys get in here first thing when you go into mine you make sure you have all your men with you count your min you ride a man trip then you head for the working section traveling in a coal mine is just like traveling interstate well I want you to be forty clovers you have to know which solution to take to get to where some Minds like Arman Arman is well lit up when you catch a certain switch tell you where you're at it's just like looking to a highway you know exactly what road you're gonna take and everything else it's just like getting out in your car and going to town eight men on a section to modern man to buggy man to Boulder man into utility man and we mind the cold we've got a couple new man up here we want to keep our eyes on these ribs up here we had a lot of fluffing and other two heading we'll make sure we watch those same with the roof and I want to read you a couple rules here on this roof and rib control plan they're our roof and rib plans made up by the company by the state laws federal laws you have to read these to the men make sure with me and understand your roof control plan and every man has a responsibility that is different from another man's Brad fireballs right saw the second you got a operator on the monitor his job is different from the shuttle carburetor so each man has a different safety precaution that he has to watch himself and nobody else can watch it for him [Music] yep yep the gallon on the modern fighter setup hey go to get a set out we'll move it down in there okay I'll give you guys I went into the coal industry and in the death working where my father worked and found out how well he was thought of and as myself when I went in I had a competition right there because I had to be as good as my father did where I was nobody and I ended up doing as good as my father and I hope continue to do as good as my father Harry because there's always somebody around and they said that your dad would do a better job than that and I had to come over and do as good as he did [Music] 20 years ago my father when he merged 20 Montcoal he used a cutting machine and they cut and shot I'm solid continues miner it wasn't in operation when he was working he's not seen this it's all new equipment with hydraulics electricity all masters said in the seat and push buttons and pull leavers he still doesn't understand I'll talk to him about mining coal was continuous miner he does can't believe that a coal was loaded as fast as is as much of it as it is on the running section 20 years ago it took 25 or 30 men today on a section that takes six or seven men to run a section so right there you can see it was a lot slower and a lot harder work and now today you know all you have to do is run in a place and clean it up in a half hour 45 minutes to go to another place and a boat machine comes in and boats this here is old this has all been mined out right here we're moving to section this way this is solid coal right here a box of gold back in the old days you had men that mime the coal themselves with picking shovel and this I think is what everybody in the country still believes that it's still being done but pick and shovel today everything is done by modern machinery everything is everything is done by levers and hydraulics and a man's not really breaking his back and killing himself in the coal mine then I believe that's exactly why 3/4 of the young man in the coal field countries want to go in their coal mines in this region that's all you hear about is kobani and I think if a man he's been in a coal mine his dad's been in a coal mine he's a grandfather we've been a coal mine his son has initiative to go in a coal mine it's just something that it's just a way of life of course I could have been somebody that I'm not have been to law your doctor or whatever but if I want to be a coal miner and it tickle me definitely made for me Jackie Jo become a performer I always did time he was gonna follow in my footsteps I didn't quite make it I had to stroke the day before and he's gonna put me on salary my father and I are closer right now then we were before he had his stroke you go through a stage where you you don't need your parents you think you don't need him you do without him and about that time is when my father had his illness and now I see how important my father is to me and how important he could have been to me back then if I'd have paid attention to him and listen to him and treat him as a father instead of like somebody yeah I can't get along so now we take him with us fishing we take him with us honey and we take him anywhere did any other man we go and we have a real close relationship there was always a closeness in the family where there wasn't so much is telling each other you loved each other there was a way of going about helping one another but now that look at my father in our ages and everything then I wish I had him told me more that I loved him the very first rango ever to be seen as far as having what we've got is from the coalfields i forgot this from being a coal miner csa there's poverty in the coal field but there's not do people make to poverty themselves if a man takes care of what he's got these guys having poverty it's just a matter of being able to take care of what you do make I couldn't have it no other way okay you ready for bed now [Music] I think the classification that TV shows and movies have given the coal miners wives is rather depressing the wives of miners are individuals they have their own interests some have their own jobs their own careers and activities and I think it's very unfair to put across this rugged idea of what a miner's wife is [Music] I feel my job is here with the family and I feel that I am special for my husband and I want to be here when he needs me I'm a helpmate for him I'm very proud of him he's worked hard and I'm sure when his children get old enough to understand his job I'm sure then that they'll still be proud to say I'm proud of my daddy the coal miner [Music] there is a great future in the coal industry because let's face it that's what our energy is all about because we know the day the coal mines is it's what's making moral move right now mining has a lot more Skills to it than people realize because it's not everybody can just walk in there and get on a piece of equipment and run it the journey in a minute today in the coal mines have got a high school education sometimes got to some college everybody can't be a B president there because you've got to have Labor's to have industry and that's my chosen profession it's just a fascinating industry you have to go into the coal mines realize how different it is from anything else sure it's dirty but it's getting more modern every day and every day and it just seemed like that's all I ever wanted to do I went to the service come over through service and begged by counting in the mine I liked it I never leave it our unit would I work on it I consider it a family [Music] I would say the average coalminer horse plays around [Music] it's just a common thing among a bunch of men you know if you work together daily and if you just went to work and just done your job and went home and get off a boring [Music] well I think for the most part majority of the miners they seem to go at things with a feeling of ease perhaps due to the danger factor it may be sort of an expression of you know why rush why not stop you know to smell the roses or something well I think everybody calls everybody hey buddy in the mind because they know that that's what they really mean they mean that a buddy was woken up I first went to mine and I thought weren't a hell am i dark there's no windows I was very scared then we start working with different people in the mind and you find out that mine is pretty safe it's as safe as you make it and everybody else looks out for water everybody knows that when they go in there if they skimp on safety and don't do their job not only does it affect them but it affects their brothers that are in the mine with him and their sisters so everybody's sort of watches after the other I've been online rescue team for three or four years now the reason I joined it was because if that family who works in the coal mines and I always thought one of these days it might be my brother that I might have to go after her Uncle Matt my brother's order mine rescue team too so I know some will have to make you'd be willing to come try to get you on the track getting if you see anything better top or anything like it make sure you mark it on your map if anybody feels sick ballsier let us know and we'll come back okay [Music] [Applause] we practice once a month on a training session for the modern rescue we train in rock dust and smoke to get used to working in dust and foggy and cloudy areas so if we actually go to an actual four will be used to the dust and smoke and cloudiness [Music] the other around right here will show you company now the ground holds it was in this hole probably still in here asleep now they hibernate for the winter the female will have their babies while they're hibernating when I wake up in the spring they've already had their yard what you'll do is you'll carry she'll come out and should take Tufts of grass you know and she'll carry her mouth she'll take it into the hole and she'll get down in a hole and she'll build ourselves on this when she gets this cavity she'll take this grass and they'll be you know a lot of great amounts of it and it'll just be like a big nest there of this grass and that helps her it helps to keep her warm and like say she digs her tunnel in and it's something like coal mining she goes in under the ground and there's often different directions like Mike the coal mines the gold mine goes in one main one main heading they call it then they'll beer off one side off another and make different going different directions to get the coal in all the areas she does the same thing One Direction makes a small [Music] welcome everybody hi this is a skipped Alzheimer of 80 geeks thanks for joining us for lunch I'd like to welcome a special guest this is Lars Nielsen coming to us from Austin Texas say hi Lars all right I skip hi everybody who's watching this 55 people I think so thank you for joining us um so I invited Lars because he and I go way back and he actually remembers going even further back than I do I remember meeting Lars in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse do you remember what show we met at I don't remember what show I mean it was certainly at the original Colorado Street Jack house when you came into the show which those shows were great but with film strip and everybody would have to read the film strip so people would show up and they would have to relive some of that public speaking anxiety that they had felt where because you're chill and not enough people now know what a film strip is but yeah I've got a couple here online I haven't figured out how to get them to online read the film strip I've been kind of workshopping that but yeah anyway but that's interesting but in school they would show a film strip and it would just be literally just a reel of 35 millimeter film positive film that they would show a frame of and then to be words on the bottom and then different people in the class as they went across and have to read it out loud and you have brought that fear and anxiety to modern audiences yeah movie theaters where they're not expecting to have to do that and it's a really fascinating thing because the ones that you would choose would often have I don't know sort of meet double meanings that would be very apparent to people as it's one of the most fun parts and then you show you know four or five 16-millimeter educational films and give it these erudite introductions so it was great but the first one of those that I remember seeing was I was in Durham I lived in Chapel Hill 92 maybe 93 and saw that you were doing one in Durham at as I recall it seems like I was in a church and went and saw that and that may have been one of I don't know one of your first shows that you did I didn't meet you then but I enjoyed the show and it made an impression so nice I've been watching it now for 28 years I think Wow and so what are you doing now currently I'm sitting on my couch I work for Austin Film Society as head programmer and we have a cinema and right now the cinema is closed despite the fact the governor said we can reopen and we're doing virtual cinema and then also I've been doing a lot of sort of blogging and social media and stuff that I often don't have time to do when I'm actually our programming is Wilma yeah I mean the reason I reached out to you is because you do you write a lot about the films that you program and that you have programmed and you're a big champion not only of a/v geeks but also the other things that you program in Texas in Austin so and what I decided to do is let you pick three films that you remember from when either I came to Austin and showed films or you are also a big customer you bought a bunch of DVDs for me that you kind of cut into pre shows at the Alamo so we wanted to I wanted you to kind of chime in with which films you remembered sure yeah so some of these are ones that I remembered and some of them just just I don't even remember exactly necessarily the ones that you showed at your shows all the time I don't know which which of these I even saw it shows except for the first one that we're going to show which is an obvious one because this was a big deal Alamo Drafthouse AV geeks collaboration which was the ultimate school bus experience I believe it was called and this was a bus safety film shown on a bus on an actual school bus I'm moving school month a moving school bus and I remember Tim leave my boss at the time bought a school bus and actually had the school bus for last time I was behind the draft a South Lamar a bus was parked they which I assumed was the same bus I don't know it might not be I don't know how but Tim bought a bus the bus became almost sort of like a jock for everybody as it was parked behind South Lamar for a long time employees would have parties would throw up on the bus at one point because there was a bus Tim wanted to have another bus experience where we drove up to a drive-in in the bus and I was running that I was captaining that and got so ahead of myself in terms of my fun seeking responsibilities that I put graffiti on the side of the bus that actually said it's a long story but I painted the words karate Pete on the side of the bus while that bag I was like aw tim is gonna love it and then I was at the office all day and Tim hadn't mentioned it he hadn't mentioned it he hadn't mentioned it and finally I was like did you see the bus uh and he said yeah I thought that was very poor judgement on you that's like as well I would say that the whole adventure was a little bit of poor judgment the these were years of poor judgment yes put that aside I mean it was it was an amazing experience and one thing I remember is when we did a tech check because we actually had in the back of the bus was the 16 millimeter projector that was strapped down to like a stand then in the front of the bus there there was this makeshift screen that would go up like kind of where the you would come in on the bus and so it'd be directly behind the bus driver and so we did that first tech check in the parking lot of South Lamar and I was in the back running the projector and there was all these speed bumps in South Omar yeah parking lot and we hit a speed bump and immediately I bounced up and hit my head I thought I could got a concussion so for the first time that we did that that show I wore a motorcycle helmet because I was afraid I wasn't gonna get knocked out riding around in the bus because the back of the bus is you know the suspension is not the best so let's watch this film this is called bust nut and for those of you that tuned in last Friday I showed Ghost Rider Ghost Rider was made by the same people that made bust nut but this is a different audience and a different message so let's watch bust nut 15 past the hour we'll have news coming up on the half-hour weather in just a few minutes you're on the morning show with Jay Graham here's some more music to help start off your day [Music] [Music] what's more coffee no thank you good morning bus not hmm time to go have a nice day you too goodbye everybody see you tonight baby [Music] that's your army old enough is going school and I'll get to ride this go back to Robby's sure now drink your milk Bobby you watching super I'm never miss its best part of the day I love to sit up front so I can watch mrs. Harris dry mostly sunny day today temperatures hanging around the mid-40s nice day to be outside [Music] someday I would be best drummer just like mrs. Harris be careful walking to the bus stop Bobby I love the best to be right on time this morning miss Harris extra careful on the days when there's bad weather but today it's really nice she uncle has to watch out for all the kids sometimes you do silly things which can be dangerous but I don't be any better I respond to you get to sit up front of the bus and you're bigger than all the cars I can't wait till I'm old enough to be a bus driver or maybe even though the truck he's always running he's always the last one here Hey look at Billy he ran right into the road without even looking if a car had been coming he might have got hit [Music] boy Billy that sure wasn't dumb God even those who are coming [Applause] good morning Bobby I sure wish all the kids were as careful as you are when they get on the bus hey morning Billy hi mrs. Harris [Music] mrs. Harris is right I still have the booth I got when Billy pushed me from behind Amy should remember - she got hurt one nip bread shut down what's the hurry hey where's Julie Billy's Hey look out joy there's a car coming [Music] [Applause] Joey Adams you could have been killed never ever run in front of bus without checking the road first the cars are supposed to stop but sometimes they don't [Applause] yeah [Music] this is a hard job she has to buy this big bus and she has to look out for us too I should hope I can be a good driver like Lisa's hair someday [Music] you okay so Lars tell me about bust nut um I love the film I love the fact that this conceit about this kid who loves buses ended up making the cut kind of but obviously it went through a pitch meetings where people were like a listing that you know and I think it's such a sweet movie everything about this guy I mean I love the family I love the kid and I love the fact that they made it a black family which is great because that must have been a choice somewhere along the lines and I don't think it was specifically designed to address the sort of freight 'add relationship between black people and buses at the time going back to Rosa Parks and then the sort of busing policies that were going on but I think it's it's a choice you know because it may have just been the best family but they found to do it but I think it gives it so much more sort of sociological interest and also kind of heft because like here's a weird kid who's black so here's an identity here's people who are allowed to have an identity other than just being black which is a thing that you didn't see so much it was like it's something if you did see a black person in media at the time it was kind of like oh that's their thing they're black you know but in this case it's like oh that's this kid's thing you know being obsessed with buses so all of that kind of stuff I think is so interesting and I love the fact that it's um that this is a film that was commissioned obviously by you know the state for making for bus safety but then there are only sort of creative people who use this as a chance to make something special and that's that's a big part of what I like about so many of the films that you present out of your archive is that some creative people like looked at this and said well let's let's do something cool and fun with it and something that sort of you know has a little bit of something to do with our values right so that's what I really like about bus nuns a couple of the other films that will show later won't be the other two films were going to show today aren't as fun as bus logical entries I would be proud if I have been a part of making bless them yes so there's another film that's part of that same series it's called rescue man and it features an act a little African American boy who kind of imagines that he is a superhero and he helps kids exit the bus through the emergency exit in the back yeah so the these were wonderful films that you know kind of I think intentionally had African American actors because they were trying to address different audiences and and there's a whole interesting spectrum of all these films that were made so Ghost Rider was also about using the emergency exit but it was aimed at an older at middle school high school there's a film called old 23 which is about vandalism about like not messing up your bus there's one called one lousy second which is actually for bus drivers and is about you know the importance of keeping our eyes on the road so it's it's a really fascinating kind of group of films that kind of came out around that time and all very thoughtful so let's talk about this next film that you want him to see keep off the grass keep off the grass is um well it's a Sid Davis film it's a scare film this guy said Davis had been producing films for by the time he made this he must been making films for 30 plus years and his films are really notable for providing a lot of anxiety like using anxiety is really sort of a pride of social responsibility as seen by the people who commissioned Sid Davis's movies they're very conservative films their films that are sort of designed to rope people into kind of rope the herd in and keep them all going in the same direction what I think is really intersting like keep off the grass which is a film that I watched in a classroom in Rocky Mountain North Carolina and I'm not sure if that's this this might be the same print that you got I don't you remember where you got your yeah and I got mine from it was from the State Department of Human Resources so it's possible that they could have gotten it it's totally possible who knows who knows I don't know um it's a film that will fill you with anxiety what I find is interesting about it and also it's too long this is a fine let's let's address the elephant in the room with some of these films it's like there's five minutes of real fun and interest in this movie but it's not a five minute movie so that's just the thing we should address that sometimes and when I would cut some of these movies into pre-show stuff oh boy would I chop them up yeah but anyway that's that's neither here nor there just just to note that but I did watch this in probably 1984 I don't know in that school classroom and then it was only a few years later that you were started doing what you were doing and you were kind of you had sort of seized upon the obsolescence of all of this to just drive around and grab a ton of sixteen millimeter films that school districts were just tossing out because I guess they needed room or something to they had to get rid of all their old 60 millimeter projectors and sixteen millimeter stuff and of course VCRs would come around and kids were watching you know videotapes in schools and you were just you were picking that stuff up at that time so I'm really interested it's really fascinating to me and an honor really to know that I was one of the last generation to have watched a 16 millimeter Syd Davis scare film in a classroom nice but the film another really interesting thing about this film is that it's not when you watch it you might think oh it's going to be like how you smoke marijuana and then you drive off a cliff or it's gonna be about how you smoke marijuana and you set yourself on fire but it's not about any of that kind of stuff it had suddenly it's it's for 1970 and it had very subtly sort of it's subtle is not a word we often used with them Syd Davis but it it was reflecting the new messaging and the new approach of the establishment towards marijuana which is that it makes you a motivational which is that it takes away your drive to succeed in life which is that it will make you this total outcast and you'll be a total disappointment to your family in your community and but film even like references like a life magazine article which is sort of like a social keynote right about where the messaging was going so you might if you would tuned in to keep off the grass expecting all this will be this hilarious scare film it's not exactly that no God knows it's ham-handed yes um it's not realistic at all it's very much in the sort of Syd Davis and this is a guy who had been whose films were scare films and who had made some terrifying driver's ed and don't talk to strangers scare films but it's also what it's trying to scare you about is that you're gonna be useless to success to society this little thing that you're going through is going to [ __ ] you in terms of your suitability for marriage for being a part of the family unit it's so it's pretty frightening along a line that maybe we hadn't seen fright deployed before right so let's let's watch keep off the grass and then I will share with you an email conversation that I had with Tom the main character he found me and we had a back-and-forth talking about him his involvement with the film and what he was currently working on at the time this is back in 2006 so let's watch keep off the grass and I should caution this this print is is super spicy at the beginning but it it gets good real real quick so enjoy [Music] I'm these these are yours yeah Oh Tom how could you like all too many of his contemporaries Tom is experimenting with something he knows little about about which too little is known by anyone marijuana it's a scene which must've Eames in countless ways all equally heartbreaking the father-son confrontation mom smokes like a chimney and you have a drink every day it's smoked too it's not the same why not it's easy for you to stand there with a cigarette in one hand and then drinking another and tell us not to blow pop have you really considered all the consequences there's not a shred of evidence that marijuana is any worse than nicotine or alcohol you can get cancer your liver can rot away look you're right you rather look down on my generation for getting hung up on smoking and drinking knowing it's bad for us you think we're stupid maybe you're right but does that make your generation so all-fired smart for getting hung up on grass you can be harmed by that too or do you have double standards when it comes to our smoking and drinking and you're blowing pot pot isn't bad for you oh isn't it how do you know studies concerning marijuana's possibly harmful effects have been made although they're not yet conclusive but some facts are known some effects have been established there are apparently few physical manifestations a reddening of the eyes lowered body temperature and a certain inability to coordinate movement but there are other effects psychological effects marijuana user generally experiences an uncontrollable feeling of hilarity quite without reason he exhibits a marked carelessness his senses and time perception are distorted he becomes confused and he displays irresponsibility and poor judgment and prolonged use may result in a loss of am Bishop respect the induced couldn't care less attitude but grass is not a dangerous drug light later when you don't become an addict may not be physically addictive but it is obituaries you can come too deep but it read as it is expand your mind makes you see things more clearly makes you more creative really it does all the painters and and writers they all say so yeah maybe they do anyway Tommen is illegal every time you blow a marijuana cigarette you take a chance on blowing your future oh come on oh oh my friend smoke pot they're not criminals because they haven't been caught yet two viewpoints two opinions but the relationship between Tom and his father is basically a good one Tom's father believes in his son and he challenges him find out the actual facts about smoking grass the pros and cons fair and square don't hear only what you want to hear and then if tom is still honestly convinced there's no harm in doing it nothing further will be said Tom agrees he's only smoked pot occasionally for a few weeks he's really new to the scene oh come on establishment propaganda read it anyway yeah sure later but I've got a better source of information Tom seeks the help of his friend Mac a couple of years his senior the boy who first introduced him to pot Mac thinks Tom's project is real square but he agrees to get him all the dope no pun intended he knows just where to start Tom's education at a garden pot party held by one of Mac's friends smoking grass is a private affair and doesn't harm anybody he's told it's a groovy way of relaxing opening your senses tom is most interested in what he sees these people most of them college students are bright and well-adjusted very sure of themselves and their ability to handle anything obviously they are all able to blow part occasionally without ill effects well almost all of them Clark doesn't have the toxic effects of cigarettes he's told and it doesn't lead to the excesses of behavior that alcohol does the negative effects of smoking grass are exaggerated all it is is a neat way to dispel the problems of the day for a little while uncontrollable hilarity without reason Mac has managed to get himself stoned he has a great idea he'll take time to see someone who can give him the real lowdown a true expert on the grass scene [Music] [Music] irresponsibility and poor judgment [Music] where's your head [ __ ] you [Music] [Music] Mack takes pom to a psychedelic shop ahead shop the place is something else out of sight a pot smokers supermarket a psychedelic intestine it's run by a man named Harry Harry is a real veteran of the grass scene and he gives Tom the word he's very persuasive hey everyone but everyone's on grass all the big ones of course the best writers the best musicians the bestest it's definitely the scene tom is impressed with the imaginative creative posters displayed on the wall and he asks Harry about the artist but it's Mack again who has the answer he knows the artist man he painted those posters a couple of years ago his pads nearby why not go over and meet him why not indeed hey man got any spare change sure here loss of self-respect waco the artist is pleased and flattered at the visit and light up a joint in honor of his visitors sharee blow spot has been for years it's great man enhances the senses opens your mind stimulates real creativity those conventional posters of the old days were just so much junk waco tells them his real inspirations come to him now when he's stoned on grass this new work now that's out of sight [Music] they only think Waco insists grass is the greatest that's where real expansion of your mind and talents can be found turn on tune out of the rat race in its square problems and tune in on real self knowledge and creative power Bunning is Waco's wife there's trouble big trouble the man is busting your younger brother [Music] it's grass all right bunnies brother Jim had been observed getting it from a known dealer the officers caught up with him and placed him under arrest it's still illegal you take a chance of blowing your whole future bunny wants to know what the officers are going to do with their brother the officer explains the Jim and the evidence found will be taken to the police station she can get all further information there tom is impressed with the comma fishin C of the officers and the compassion they show for bunny they never lose their cool even in the face of verbal abuse hurled at them by some of the onlookers [Music] bunny and Wako want to go to the police station and Mack and Tom decide to tag along [Music] at the police station while Waco's talking to the desk sergeant Bunny's worrying about her brother he knew he was taking a chance on that pickup she says but he just had to have his grass not physically addictive depend on it psychologically Tom wants to think so many thoughts are crowding his mind marijuana cannabis sativa or Indian hemp weed grass pot it can become a stimulant or a depressive or an hallucinatory agent which affects the central nervous system and reacts differently and unpredictably on each individual user occasionally with disastrous results Tom has company a police officer has noticed his interest in the display does he have any questions well Tom is out after information pro and con what are the facts he asks easily with friendly and formality the officer speaks to Tom know lecturing no sermonizing hot smoking quite apart from being illegal is a problem the psychological dependency generated by pot is probably its greatest danger plus the fact that so many young smokers who can't cope with the everyday problems of growing up seeking air SATs maturity through it kids who get high repeatedly don't want to come down there's a wholesome abandonment of goals and ambitions they found a world where they seemingly have no problems that's the cruelest hoax of all smoking marijuana all too often leads to the use of more dangerous stuff take it from one who runs into the young victims of just that everyday users tend to stick with other users and addicts who can easily get them on harder stuff every user is a potential dealer some 95% of all heroin addicts started with pot not every pot smoker goes on to heroin of course the personality factor is undoubtedly largely responsible for that step very like the same personality factor which turned the user onto pot yes organized crime is involved in pushing marijuana after all it may well be a first step to real addiction where the big money is that every pot smoker indirectly supports big-time narcotics dealers and criminals these dealers sometimes even get cute they've been known to mix other drugs in the grass hoping for a quick and dependable push towards addiction not to mention all the other junk and impurities mixed in with the average cut of marijuana may be smoking pot isn't physically harmful to the young occasional user although this is far from certain as recently as 1914 heroine was sold over-the-counter is harmless because it's deadly properties were not fully known but consider this both alcohol used in excess and marijuana are equally capable of producing erratic behavior and dependency maybe there is a similarity between the social drinker and the pot smoker yet it's not quite the same the daily drink may not be the best thing in the world but a man who takes a drink after his day is gone has worth he is achieved he is coke and he wants to relax not so the teenage user he deliberately seeks to tune out cop-out he uses his grass as a mental crutch because he fears to stand on his own he may never learn to cope with the inevitable everyday problems of living he may well become one of the left behind generation does smoking grass lead to crime it can quite easily ask an any driving need when the one possessed by it is without the means to satisfy it and legalizing the use of marijuana is not the answer of the over 130 member nations of the World Health Organization not one is for such a step one nation did try it with such dire results - its societal welfare within a few years that the permissive stand was diametrically reversed and today the death penalty is imposed for mere possession in the United States a less harsh more realistic legal attitude than exists might be the answer but in the end smoking marijuana to blow your mind is like throwing sand in a delicate machine and hoping nothing goes wrong Mac has had enough of the gloomy scene he's itching to split it's getting late Tom still got to see where it's at [Music] it may be a first step [Music] the left-behind generation [Music] [Music] [Music] it can lead to crime you look like you've got bread man give [Music] there's nothing wrong with smoking marijuana it's no worse than taking a drink a 20 years study of marijuana smokers in Greece showed a frank personality change and permanent brain deterioration there are still too many unanswered questions about the effects of smoking marijuana exhaustive tests are being made let's wait and see man you look uptight you need a little crap no I'm the house no thanks he's just a kid he's old enough to have a buck he's old enough to blow pot easy money man Tom's impressed with what he is experienced nobody of the establishment lectured him just gave him straight facts only the pot smokers seemed obsessed with the idea of turning others on one afternoon Tom again has a talk with his father he's looked at both the pros and cons of blowing pot he's not convinced that grass is all that harmful but there is room for a lot of doubt why don't we wait and see there's a lot of testing to be done before we'll know all the facts we've already got our hang-ups with smoking and drinking we know the consequences we face doing it why add another hang-up by blowing pot especially since the full consequences of that are not known Tom has decided what he'll do it would be stupid to take a chance after all he's no psychological [ __ ] unable to cope who needs a grass crutch much better to keep off the grass and we are back we had a lot to talk about during this film but let me share the email that I got some time ago back in 2006 I got actually a threatening email from Joe Richards the guy who played Tom he said I guess you sold the clip to Annie and I just think that this is not right that you're using my likeness without consent he said but if you sent me a DVD then of of the film then we'll be ok and I said hey hey no problem you know I'll send you a DVD and I did it wasn't me that actually sold that clip so I didn't do that but anyways so I asked him about like so what was your experiences with the film like tell me about Sid Davis like and he said skip I love sim Davis he cast me for this film at Santa Monica College I was in the theater arch Department I was on the GI Bill he took me out on trips so we would hang out and talk he found out I had never been to Palm Springs so he took me there and not only that but I also got to ride on the tram for the first time not sure what that is he knew I came from a tough background he became like a father figure to me I was raised in a boys home in Brooklyn and he asked me what I needed job money etc I guess the drug culture got me now and this was back in 2006 he is a Jack Nicholson impersonator as well as a writer and an anti-war poet and he gave me some URLs but none of them exist anymore which is unfortunate then I asked him I said do you remember any anecdotes about it and do you feel the film was effective in warning folks about the dangers of marijuana he said we all thought this film was it joke to put it nicely I'm sorry to say a lot of them went off the deep end to begin with I wouldn't trade my life with no one and even the big guy Jack saying that him being Jack Nicholson I went back to Hawaii and got busted for pot and I'm still smoking this stuff it's like a dream watching this film I someone on to harder drugs it stopped my film career but I'm a singer and dancer too I have a CD out of Hawaiian tunes so yeah then he asked me if I ever smoked pot and I said no not really hey I'll send you some okay exactly but anyways so it's it this is a story that I've heard many times is the people that appear in these films don't they think it's a joke like you know right there they're the ones that you know tom is learned a hard lesson about the dangers of marijuana and yet he hasn't learned hard lesson in real life he hasn't made a compelling enough argument for himself and most people that have talked to me about the drug films that they were in had that same story was and so Sid Davis the producer of this film was trolling theater departments in like local community colleges for talent which i think is that's a really interesting sort of insight into the way it works but then also clearly if you're at Santa Monica Community College in 1970 and you have sort of longest hair and you're sort of mod then were the chances that you're not a marijuana smoke exactly yeah I mean I guess I didn't ask the question like well did Sid Davis know that you you know smoke pot I think that you Sid was very thrifty in his film productions like that's why most of this is actually voiceover narration and not sync sound and he would reuse scenes he would reuse scripts so I'm not surprised that he reached out to Stu it's to do the acting and you can kind of tell that in a lot of films the acting is not very good yeah but that's his part of his charm I think is that he I mean I don't know if you know his backstory so Sid Davis was actually a stand-in for John Wayne and around that time is when there was this publicized case where this girl was murdered by a neighbor and so he talked to his daughter to see you know how what was her how would she deal with a stranger and he was surprised to find out that that she did not have the stranger danger and instilled in her and so he made dangerous stranger as a way to kind of alert kids to the fact that there were bad people out there and it was actually financed by John Wayne who he borrowed money from and I think he doesn't know there yet and so he he basically made that movie over and over and over again made new versions of it but then also made different versions of different titles but all talking about stranger danger and so I you know he's when you talked about the the anxiety and the fears I mean he's pulling from urban legends he's pulling from kind of this this theory and actually it was kind of funny well not funny but when he passed away the New York Times is this obituary and they compared him to that book that German book I think it's tales of shock head Peter which is basically all these cautionary tales for children about what happens if they you know don't wash their hands or don't behave or don't cut their nails or you know all these amazing things that happen that were designed to get kids to freak out and to behave yeah yeah that's the that's the one thing that runs through all this work and even though while you may see differences in the rationale for why you should stick with the establishment line the it's basically that's the one thing that runs through all of these is like do what you're told behaved it's for your own good and what I think is so fascinating about this movie is that it has found this sort of much more sort of an abstract way to sort of put that across in the fact that this this our young protagonist is reading widely and exploring and thinking about this stuff that's not a thing that you would have seen in a movie from 1964 instance right when he would not have been searcher and it the fact that it is the same it's the same sort of methodology of the previous films that you'd be making with all those decades earlier applied to a searching generation and basically saying you can stop searching okay you can stop with your little hypocrisy narrative about dad smoking and drinking you know because we've done the work for you you did all right so we've got one last film here and it is a Lulu I have shown over these last couple of weeks and this is the week the end of week seven I've been doing this for a while I've been showing some internal salesmen films I showed one call drugs to riches that featured Jonathan winners kind of being goofy and there's some other ones that I've shown over the last couple of weeks this one you picked and I've been I was kind of saving it and so tell tell me why you picked Friesen um well there were a couple of others that I wanted to choose what other people had chosen already I'm freezin for me is really fascinating because of the sort of cultural and sub cultural implications of it so first of all it's a take off of a show called laugh-in that maybe people here have seen or maybe they haven't seen it was a comedy variety show and the name laugh-in was a take-off of like the lovin or the BN that was sort of like a 60s trope but laughs Ben was a show that just black out comedy sketches sort of punctuated by the regulars that were on the show by Gary Owens the announcer doing funny deep voice guy announcer bits and Artie Johnson and Judy carne and don't be pond just doing little blackout comedy but sometimes they were kind of non sequiturs big loud like laugh track throughout and it was very popular for a few years yeah I mean it was number one it was number one in in television ratings huge but but what it was was this very sort of mainstream way to kind of co-opted in a way the sort of hippy anarchy sort of fun thing that kids were doing at the time and so what this movie is called Friesen is it's for Sears it's for Sears right I said what is for it yeah it is yeah yeah it's been the message of our show bleeker's for Sears salesman selling like refrigeration equipment specifically until our freezers right and more freezers which is the store brand from Sears and it was designed to be shown at like obviously like a sales rally sales convention or for like the regional sales rep to show it to his guys so they were all get sort of pumped up get rallied if they're talking points at the same time there's kind of like a boys club sort of atmosphere to these that you might have had it like a convention so there's a very sort of almost like I don't say like Mad Men because that was a way different level but like the minor minor minor league Mad Men kind of world of these guys would get together these conventions they would drink scotch they would maybe go for a massage by the highway I don't know what they would do but it would be like far down below like the antics of Mad Men but the same kind of guys you know the same kind of guys but in like wilkes-barre PA you know so so you see all of that and it's the culture and the way that it's sort of reinforced there's not only a culture of like sales not only a culture of like let's say capitalism and selling and commodification and credit payment like that whole world of like post for capitalism but it's specifically the subculture of the people that are on the ground selling that myth selling that lifestyle who are the sales people and so I think it's kind of cult ish in a way that there's almost like a it's almost kind of like a maintenance of the cult of the boundaries of the cult of the lingo of the cult of the values of the cults and it's all put forward in this sort of dizzying echo-chamber way white mainstream culture which in fact is kind of co-opting the subculture or the anti culture or the counter culture so all of that to me just makes it fascinating yes the other two are done it's so known [Laughter] it's really like laughs in from me is annoying I think that you're a bigger fan of laughing than I am I and I have a bit watched a lot of black men but um but imagine laughs in only instead of having like this you know a cast of seventeen people you've got just the two people from laughing in and then a different announcer and then that's the way that they're trying to put these gags over it's it doesn't work as well as I've been nor would you expect it to well it is interesting so I think so it's made by Calvin communications which made actually made funny internal corporate spoofs so they know what's funny and its feature this is featuring Artie Johnson and Judy carne who were you know key people on laugh-in like while laughing was still on television they got hired so there was a bunch of money spent on this and this is supposed to be funny but it is not no it's not I mean it's sort of like it kind of lamps itself in a way and sort of becomes funny it's not one funny it is yes that's why I like this film because it is such humor train wreck let's go ahead and watch it then we can talk an order don't expect to be funny on the terms that it intends to be funny it's expected to be funny kind of in a way and alike this is the way that these people wanted to reach you know salesmen in Albemarle I did this album around North Carolina Sears Roebuck you know or the rocky mountain with Carolina Sears Roebuck like this is what they thought that these guys were just going to be rolling on the floor about right all right here we go I'm just gonna go ahead and say I'm sorry and you're welcome here is freezin [Music] very simple a year for inconsequential [Music] and now the Seas will darken can't be freezing take a look at Frieza sailing past present and future here's a look at how freezers were sold thirty years ago [Music] good morning man I see you're interested in a freezer oh you undoubtedly saw our head on this little jewel we call it our jewel box it's the most reason you can get for the money right here look you could put a whole side of beef right here and everything and over here there's room for all the kinds of things I'll bet you're a nut on fresh strawberries aren't you all you have to do is buy him by the bushel even I bet you could put a whole bushel of fresh strawberries right here and look at these new features look [Music] well that was Beijing's look at the past here's freezing's look at the present that seems as they are now [Music] good morning men I see you're interested in a freezer you are undoubtedly have seen our ad for this little jewel here in fact we call it our jewel box this is the biggest freezer you can get for this price okay you can get a whole side of beef right here everything over here there's all kinds of things I'll bet you're not over fresh strawberries aren't you all you have to do is buy them by the bushel even I could just see a whole bushel of fresh strawberries right there and look at these other wonderful conveniences [Music] and now pleasingly takes a look at the future that's 30 years from now [Music] good morning madam I can see you're interested in a freezer you undoubtedly saw our ad I missed you will in fact we call it our jewel box this is the biggest reason you can get at this price and right here you can get a whole side of beep right here everything and over here you can put all sorts of things that you're kind of a nut over fresh strawberries aren't you all you have to do is buy them by the bushel even a bit you could put a whole bushel of strawberries right here and look at all these other features [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm not folks it gives me time [Music] the point to this ladies and gentlemen is that freezers haven't been selling very well 20 years ago we were pushing the cold dark holes to farm families as a cheap place to put stuff we're still doing it today but if we keep doing it tomorrow we're going to miss a lot of customers after all that economy model freezer is [Music] what he's trying to say is that this batiment aligned freezer is not that we should be selling the hardest at all it's just a cold dark hole inconvenient and nothing but a [ __ ] interesting yes the lady is right it's time for Sears to quit pushing those cold dark coffins onto everybody who comes into the store customers have changed we need to talk to the millions of young married couples who have more money to spend than ever before what these housewives want is convenience not cubic feet per Donner's and only Sears can give them true convenience in a freezer that's right today's freezer customers are young better educated housewives intelligent gracious more sophisticated and these housewives are mainly interested in convenience that is what we have to sell them and now folks it's [ __ ] to me time [Music] good afternoon know what what my husband shot an elk well I see that's why I need to feed you see oh boy now can i refrigerator no but once I try to go to an odd fellow oh well mrs. mrs. ha can think Oh mrs. boffin t-talking tinkle well mrs. Finkle peddler park and think oh I see yes well this this is big enough to hold an elk all right but may I suggest you see the gold spot time bank it's really much more than just a that's the idea of the time bank when you make one pizza or anything else just make an extra two or three at the same time and put them in the freezer it just takes a few minutes more to make extra servings of a meal so when you store them in the freezer you're actually storing up time see this is a withdrawal slip I'd like to draw 2045 minutes in the time bank very interesting we tried it in Camelot and it worked with Chamberlain coal spot time banks have four things that make them more convenient than any other freezer you can buy today findability accessibility flexibility and visibility yes cold spot time banks have findability that means you can always find what you're looking for easily [Music] [Music] my time bank gives me complete findability I always know where things are it's like a filing system my husband [Music] now folks it's [ __ ] to me time [Music] why is this time bank the most convenient freezer on the market oh that's very easy for for big reasons first there's pineapple then flexibility because you can arrange the shelves to fit any food you have then of course accessibility because you can reach in and take anything out then visibility because you can see everything very easily in bility invisibility I want to put one in my living room and if it doesn't have visibility and it must have invisibility and other babies are saying it [Music] with time bank flexibility the housewife can design her own freezer to fit whatever she wants to keep handy Thanks [Music] Pizza my favorite dish since I've had my time bank I've been making up extra pieces 73 of your favorite kind what is my favorite kind pomegranate of course [Music] miRNA little dirty [ __ ] cub anything you want is in the freezer [Music] then the diversity eating habits but but you don't put pigs in a piggy bank do you he's gonna be so proud of me when he finds out I've stored in year supply salami sandwiches in my new time she serves me another salami sandwich today I may be food and so with the cold spot time Bank you can eat better save money and above all save yourself lots of time I don't really need one but why why not remember the elk all right well Bible we're gonna pay for it just take your cheque to the cashier [Music] [Music] what you might say about all this is that you haven't really lived until you thousand or one could say one can't really freeze conveniently until you've frozen in a cool spot time bank [Music] you got to keep moving in here to keep warm very interesting but who's watching the store [Music] of the weirdest if wggg perform EIG decosta my voice here is the robot yeah there you go frisian again I'm sorry and you're welcome and this guy this guy wanted to see it so it's his fault here's the thing that I often share with film programmers it's like a lot of times you have an idea but you don't really think through it in real time like I was like oh you gotta do this double feature you got to do this marathon i'm like think through this in real time okay and so for like free Zaman's I go I'm really interested in all in this sort of fascinating aspects of reason but then it's like X 16 minutes that feels like it was like 16 years you know yes and the key to this is is is it supposed to be funny and so when I compare it to laugh-in it's the editing like they didn't edit it as tightly as laughing if they edited it as tightly as laughing and didn't linger then it could potentially be funnier but no I feel like this is my theory I was talking to Lars about this during the film is I think they paid a lot of money to Judy carne and Artie Johnson because this was airing while they were still on the show serious like fifty fifty million dollars yeah sure fifty million dollars and so they were probably like you know what we spent so much money on this we're gonna use every single frame every single thing they shot we're gonna use and I know that Calvin knows how to make a funny film like they have done some amazing spoof industrial films you can check them out on Internet Archive one is call your name your name here which is just hilarious you know that's a good one but this one is just I call it like watching an X Shaylee slow train wreck but you all endured it which is great I'm amazed that people are still watching and still commenting the fact that you could comment out loud I think made a big deal difference anytime I've shown it in a theater people there's groaning there's audible groaning and at least one time I showed it at this conference that we did called the bastard film encounter and I we showed it and somebody stood up and said I have seen this movie three times I never ever ever want to see this movie again well I've seen at one time I think and I never want to see it again just watch it now what do you think I'm some kind of sucker that would watch that no way well Lars it was great having you as a guest I enjoy your your comments and wittiness I put over here on the under on the screen the Austin Film Society and you where do you publish at your blogs and where do you talk about films where out people the AFS beaut finders blog which I call a fun culture site not a blog but it seems like it's a blog so whatever is where I publish an article you know three four times a week so there's usually some interesting stuff in there for people and then when did it get shared on our social stuff so AFS new finders Facebook group is where all that goes our Austin Film Society Instagram and all that we're a little bit of place Austin Film Society is easy to find right great and supposedly you are working on something it's it's in it's in the future but it's about you want to tell us a little bit about what that is I'm working on a book which I don't know that I can share a catch about it okay I don't know if it's been public yet okay all right working with another recent guest on your yes on your lunchtime show yeah I be compelling because it's yeah anyways I'll stop being so mysterious um anyways when it comes out you'll you'll mention it on the viewfinders saying correct I'll mention it everywhere that I can mention things excellent yes um I found that Lars has a good eye a keen eye and whatever he writes about and talks about is something that you should check out and since we're all yeah since we have the time that was a great place to kind of go and do the research and and find the things that you are recommending and use that as a as a base for maybe the next thing to watch when you're when it's midnight and you're bored yeah that sounds good I'm also if you ever feel like giving money to awesome Film Society it goes towards metal exhibition program but artists Boston studios to just general general generally keeping this town a great place for film yes yes and I'm looking forward to when the theaters open back up and that we can go out and see movies again and next time I'm in Austin I would love to do screening at Austin Film Society maybe I will show all the films that are related to laughing that I have in my collection except for freezing okay alright excellent um thanks everybody Thank You Lars everybody have a good weekend and I will be back next Monday and we'll watch some more films I had some lined up just in case we ran short but we didn't and so have a good weekend and we will see you soon take care [Music] [Music] [Music]