The Snoot Letter #11 – Hungarian Posters
The Snoot Letter
Issue #11 – April 7, 2020
Two weeks in a row! I think I’m getting the hang of this weekly newsletter thing. I still haven’t figured out a publishing schedule that works for me, but for now let’s just say that issues will land somewhere between Tuesday and Thursday.
I collect movie posters. Not a massive collection like this guy, but enough that I have a special filing cabinet just for posters. It’s mostly American one-sheets for my favorite movies, but I also have two drawers dedicated to old Polish movie posters, which are often considered the most creative and outlandish designs. I wrote about Polish movie posters a few years ago on my old blog, and it’s a well covered topic online. But I feel like I don’t see enough love for the equally brilliant posters from Hungary. I’m interspersing a few Hungarian posters through this week’s newsletter, with a focus on some propaganda art that I find fascinating.
If you like them, they’re all from a currently active online auction for Hungarian posters put on by the Budapest Poster Gallery.
Like many of you, I devoured “Tiger King” on Netflix. If you have a taste for big cat insanity, I recommend checking out the major motion picture ROAR. It’s like if one of the bizarro tiger owners from “Tiger King” was married to Tippi Hedren, and decide to write/produce/direct a movie starring his family and his collection of incredibly dangerous wild animals. Also it’s shot by Jan de Bont.
ROAR was mostly forgotten until Drafthouse Films re-released it in 2015. I had a chance to see it in Vancouver while we were prepping a film, and it’s honestly one of the strangest filmgoing experiences I’ve ever had. It’s not exactly a good movie, but it’s a hugely compelling movie. Every shot feels more dangerous than Tom Cruise hanging out of an airplane. Dozens of crew members were injured over the process of shooting the movie. Jan de Bont was scalped by a lion, and received 220 stitches. And then he returned to keep shooting!
If this sounds up your alley, then you’re in luck. The Alamo Drafthouse are hosting a virtual screening of ROAR on Wednesday April 15th.
I’m still figuring out the shape of this newsletter. I like the idea of an intro message, a few longer items, an outro message, and then a list of recommendations. This week’s issue feels a little short to me, but I’m curious what you think? Let me know if this feels like the right amount of content for a weekly newsletter, or if you’re looking for something more than this.
~ Keith Calder
This Week’s Recommendations
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🎬 John Krasinski has started a weekly online show called Some Good News. It is remarkably good, and yes I did cry while watching the second episode.
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👩🏽💻 Scripto has launched to the public! Collaborate on screenplays online with your writing partner, writing staff, or whoever else needs to work with scripts. Full disclosure: I’m an enthusiastic investor in Scripto.
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🎵 The original score for “Halt and Catch Fire” by Paul Haslinger from Tangerine Dream.
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😻 My obsession with CATS continues to grow. Apparently there were several VFX shots where they attempted to give the CG cats realistic cat buttholes.
wash your hands