This has not been a good month here at home as the recent laws that Human Septic Tank and his MAGA minions have also created a law in which thousands of undocumented people from Honduras and Nicaragua are to be deported within months. Among them are relatives of my mother as one of my aunts who had been living in Minnesota for more than a decade is being forced to leave as she had been at my mother’s house for a few days as I am surprised that she has not been given a residency. It is shit like this that has made me very angry over what is happening right now though I am glad that my mother is now a U.S. citizen though we are now unsure what will happen. There is too much uncertainty about what is happening as our dictator wants to deport those who defy him as there is too many. What a fucking sham this has all become as I am working on a list on Letterboxd that I hope to complete by July 4, 2026, in a list of films that is all about the American Nightmare. There is no such thing as the American Dream as I am trying to find 250 films that dispels the myth of the American Dream. So far, I have 31 films on the list.
For those that have followed this blog for years know that I am a fan of pro wrestling as the big news this month and for the rest of the year is the passing of Terry Bollea aka Hulk Hogan. Honestly, my feeling about his passing is complicated due to the legacy he left behind. If it were not for him, I would not be watching, nor will I ever talk about pro wrestling as I used to have a Hulk Hogan lunchbox as a kid. Yet, he was not the person that got me into pro wrestling. That is Bret “the Hitman” Hart along with many others that would follow. There is no question about Hogan’s place in history in terms of what he has done for pro wrestling and in popular culture. Unfortunately, he has also done a lot of horrible things both as a wrestler and as a person that has made his recent passing hard to digest. From ratting out Jesse Ventura to Meekmahan before WrestleMania II, trying to sabotage the Undertaker’s career by faking a neck injury at Survivor Series 1991, backstage politicking, and his refusal to put anyone over in both his time in WWE and WCW has been a blemish on his legacy. Yet, that is nothing compared to the jailhouse recordings in his conversation with his son Nick after the car accident that left Nick’s friend John Graziano paralyzed and brain damaged as well as the racist remarks he said on a sex tape with Bubba the Love Sponge’s wife.
The fact that he never formally apologized for the things he said while also having no interest in taking Mark Henry’s offer to visit Black colleges shows someone who never really made the effort to redeem himself. He continues to play this persona in political events supporting our dictator as well as say some racist things about Kamala Harris last year. There are also the constant lies he told over the years, claiming he wrestled 400 days a year, auditioning to play bass for Metallica in 1986, and all those other things added to the stench of his tarnished legacy. The last image of him at a WWE event was the first episode of Monday Night Raw on Netflix where he was booed out of the building is a damning moment that showed how far he had fallen. Even as he tried to sell his Real American Beer to the public along with other things, it is clear people got tired of the bullshit he is selling. In the end, he went out with a whimper, and I am not sad about it. I am just disappointed that he never became the hero that everyone wanted him to be only to be an example of never meeting their heroes in public.
1. The Brutalist
At Land
One of two short films by Maya Deren that I found on YouTube that features original music by Feona Lee Jones is this avant-garde short film about a woman who has been washed ashore as she finds herself on an island where she encounters strange things around her. Even as there is a shot of two women playing chess as it is a short with no plot and nothing makes sense but that is the point of it. It is all about the visuals as it proves how ahead of her time Deren is as a filmmaker with Jones’ score adding dramatic tension as it is something film buffs need to see.
In the Mood for Love Day One
In the Beginning Was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution
The band Devo is about to go on tour with the B-52s as they have been restoring some of their older music videos as well as this short film they released in 1976 with Chuck Statler. The short film features performances of two songs the band would do that would appear in their 1978 debut album as the short said a lot about the idea of de-evolution in relation to what was happening in the 1970s. Yet, it feels relevant to what is happening right now which proves that Devo were ahead of their time.
A Study of Choreography for Camera
The second short by Maya Deren that I watched is a two-minute and 13-second experimental short featuring Talley Beatty dancing as it plays into how dancing could be captured in film. Especially in the diligence of how dancing could be presented step-by-step as it is something anyone interested in dance and film should see.
Pierre and Sonny Jim
A 3-minute short from David Lynch in collaboration with Eli Roth is another of his experimental short films that he did in the early 2000s. This involved inflatable hand-balloons just argue over some dumb shit though the dialogue is unintelligible. Maybe they were arguing about what happened in Mulholland Dr.
Sing
World of Glory
Stellar
The first of 2 short films by Stan Brakhage I saw on YouTube as this is another discovery that I hope to go into more. Notably as Brakhage is this avant-garde visual artist that does not use music or sound to highlight his work as he and collaborator Sam Bush would create collages based on Brakhage’s own imagination. Notably as this short is his idea of what he sees in outer space as it is a kaleidoscopic short that is truly out of this world.
Black Ice
The second short by Brakhage that I saw on YouTube is based on Brakhage’s own thoughts of what he saw after he slipped on ice and nearly damaged his eye. What he would imagine with Bush’s help is colorful images of what he saw through ice as it is just astonishing in its imagery.
Beth’s Farm
From Yorgos Lanthimos is a music video for composer Jerskin Fendrix who composed the score music for Lanthimos’ 2023 film Poor Things. The video is pure Lanthimos in terms of its visuals as it also stars Emma Stone as a mysterious woman who appears to help Fendrix whose animals in his farm have disappeared. It is an odd short but the sight of Fendrix and Stone dancing around a bonfire feels very wholesome as it is music video fans of the trio should see.
Top 6 Re-Watches 1. Queen Live at Live Aid
Before I bid adieu, this month did see the passing of someone far more revered in Ozzy Osbourne who passed away on July 21, 2025, just seventeen days after he gave his farewell performance at the Back to the Beginning benefit show that would also feature a final performance with his band Black Sabbath. Osbourne’s legacy in what he has done for heavy metal music and popular culture is set in stone while the fact that he chose to have his final concert in his hometown of Birmingham in front 45,000 showed that he man never strayed from his roots. The fact that he got a great sendoff with a funeral procession that saw an entire city pay their respects to him shows a man that is beloved beyond description. Whether it is with his work with Black Sabbath, his illustrious solo career, and his work on reality TV with his family. Osbourne has always been a figure that always brought joy in the darkest of times while singing songs that played into the world of darkness but always with a glimmer of hope. Thank you, Ozzy. We will miss you.
Also who passed away this month and will be missed include Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Adriana Asti, original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Mario Day, Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs, Tom Leher, film editor Don Zimmerman, British actor Tony Peers, George Kooymans of Golden Earring, actor Tom Troupe, songwriter Alan Bergman, Connie Francis, Eileen Fulton, Dave Cousins of the Strawbs, David Kaff from Spinal Tap, Rene Kirby, music composer Mark Snow, Julian McMahon, and Michael Madsen. We will miss you all. Oh, and Jimmy Swaggart died as well but in all honesty. Fuck him and fuck you too Cunt Hogan. This is thevoid99 signing off…
© thevoid99 2025
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