Written by Juniper September 2, 2024
Friendly Reminders:
We moved! our new address is Malaspina Printmakers Society, 1555 Duranleau St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3S3
Keep spreading the word we’re looking to expand the OOTS family!
Take some time for yourself during our break before the grand opening take a nap, do a puzzle, watch a movie, whatever you freaks do in your spare time
What’s NOOTS?
A lot actually
Moving day is Sunday, September 1st packing up August 30th if you still want to help please sign up by the day before so we can have the most stress-free smooth move we can please report to the current OOTS space at UBC on the day check out announcements for the sign-up sheet
We will be spending the next weekend after the move setting up the new space and the week after that on trainings which will be held Tuesday, September 10 from 4-5 pm, Thursday, September 12 at 10-11 am and Sunday September 15 at 12-1 pm,
Whether you are a new or returning volunteer it would be great to see you at the training to learn the new space as there will be some changes
One thing for sure we will need to be more strict about making your shifts given that the new space is more public-facing and it’s going to be more important to stay open as much as possible
New policies will be written for the new space hopefully we will be able to have a draft to share around the week of September 16th or so for feedback
At this point, we do not have a solid reopening date but based on the timeline we have now it will likely be late September
Book returns will be carried out at the new location. There will be a grace period while we are closed for set up
Queer Creator Spotlight: Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. was born May 27th 1911 in St. Louis Missouri son of the president of the National Candy Company and grandson of the guy who invented Cream of Tartar (the white stuff that goes in snickerdoodles and apparently nothing else at least that I know of). In 1935 he made his professional debut on stage in Chicago the play which would eventually be adapted into the now iconic musical. Three years later his career as a film character actor began in Service de Luxe. A year after that he would do his first horror film likely not expecting that his name would soon become nearly synonymous with the genre. That film was Tower of London in which he starred alongside Boris Karloff made famous by his portrayal of Frankenstein in 1931 and who Price would go on to work with again on several more films including a personal favorite of mine, Roger Corman’s The Raven (1963) in which the two would engage in an epic technicolor wizard battle that would send poor Edgar Allen Poe spinning in his grave at this campy adaptation of his mournful poem (its free on tubi, go watch it, its awesome). Continuing his work with the Universal Monsters Price would portray such characters as the Invisible Man in The Invisible Man Returns (1940). In the 1950s Price would make House of Wax (1953), The Fly (1959) and House on Haunted Hill (1959) all of which have been remade in subsequent years. House of Wax was the first major motion picture to be screened in 3D. The last film, House on Haunted Hill, began his work with William Castle, a director famous for theater gimmicks such as the giant skeleton that would swoop over the audience in House on Haunted Hill and buzzing theater seats indicating the presence of the terrifying The Tingler (1959) also starring Price in which the audience must scream for their lives to stop a bug from killing them in their seats.
In the 1960s Price began one of the most important partnerships in his career and the horror genre as a whole with Roger Corman and his independent studio American International Pictures. Together they would make a series of Edgar Allen Poe adaptations in the campy, bright and exuberant style that Corman had become known for beginning with House of Usher in 1960. My personal favorites are The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) in which Price gets to star alongside the mesmerizing Barbara Steele and play both the fainting victim and the sadistic maniac, The Masque of the Red Death (1964) a perfect example of Price at his cuntiest and The Raven (1963) for the aforementioned wizard battle (obviously). In these films he would establish his skill at playing deliciously evil villains and the occasional sweet gay uncle type. In 1964 he would also star in The Last Man on Earth, the first adaptation of Richard Matheson’s sci-fi Vampire apocalypse novella I Am Legend (1954) and The Conquerer Worm known as The Witchfinder General in the US which would later be lauded as one of the unholy trilogy of films alongside The Wicker Man (1973) and The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) defining the English folk horror boom of the 60s and 70s. Whether he knew it at the time or not Price had become a part of horror history across genres through his work with these milestone movies. At this time he also worked on several comedies and portrayed the dastardly Eggman on the Batman tv series at which he allegedly once started an egg throwing fight on set (watch the included compilation I think you’ll find it quite eggsellent).
Nobody loves a good egg pun as much as Egghead himself!
honestly you gotta watch these things for the hats alone
In the 1970s Price became host of BBC Radio’s horror and mystery series The Price of Fear (geddit) the first of several horror hosting gigs. In 1973 he would do one of his favorites of his films Theater of Blood in which he finally got to do Shakespeare playing a disgraced and aging actor killing off his theater critics through performances of iconic Shakespearean death scenes (its fabulous). On the set of this movie he would meet the woman who would become his third wife Coral Browne as he electrocuted her with a curling iron for a scene. He also worked with Alice Cooper and appeared on an episode of The Muppet Show in 1977. In 1975 he would attend the first production of Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Picture Show. In a surprising connection to a previous spotlight Price would also begin performing a one-man stage play called Diversions and Delights wherein he portrayed Oscar Wilde.
In 1979 Price would perform the play in the Tabor Opera House in Leadville Colorado where 96 years prior Wilde had addressed the minors of Leadville on his American tour. Talk about history repeating itself. In 1982 Price would perform the voiceover on Micheal Jackson’s Thriller what most people would recognize his iconic voice from. As an aging icon he appeared in such spoofs and farces as Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984) and House of the Long Shadows (1983) the first time Christopher Lee (Hammer Horror’s Dracula), Peter Cushing (Hammer Horror’s Van Helsing) and John Carradine (a Universal Monsters Dracula) would all come together for a movie and watching them bitch off one another is a rare treat. In 1986 he would do another one of his favorite roles as Professor Rattigan in a little film called The Great Mouse Detective. He would also voice the Mysterious Vincent Van Ghoul in Scooby Doo and the 13 Ghosts in an homage to our old friend William Castle’s film 13 Ghosts (1960) in 1985. In 1989 Price was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and did his last film role as the creator of Edward Scissorhands. His performance as an aging doctor lovingly building the next generation and dying before its completion feels poetic as if the horror icon were handing the baton to his successors trusting them to complete the work for themselves. Price died at 82 of lung cancer 1993. His ashes were scattered on the Californian Coast of Malibu along with his favorite gardening hat.
what a meet-cute
Price was also an avid art collector, donating a large portion of his collection to the Vincent Price Art Museum in Monterey Park California. In particular he did a lot of work to support and showcase Indigenous art being made part of the “Indian Arts and Crafts Board.” (yeah not a great name or great that it was probably largely white guys) He was also a gourmet cook who authored several cookbooks with his second wife Mary Grant. Price was not afraid to speak out against fascism so much that he was greylisted under McCarthyism in the 1950s for for having been a “premature anti-nazi” before the beginning of the Second World War when Americans kinda loved those guys (in fairness he was also one of those Americans at first but he was dispossessed of those notions a lot earlier than most and some still, looking at you neo-nazis). He was a staunch Democrat for the rest of his life who spoke out explicitly against the “poison” of prejudice. When his daughter came out as a lesbian he joined the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) as an honorary board member. He also spoke against Anita Bryant’s anti-gay ‘save the children’ campaign in the 1970s and became one fo the first celebrities to speak in a public service announcement to allay anxieties about HIV/AIDS in 1985 when no one wanted to publicly acknowledge the epidemic.
Now you might be wondering why I’m talking about Vincent Price of all people, in September of all months. Well we’ll be celebrating bisexual awareness week soon and Price was more than just a great ally. In her biography of her father published in 1999 Victoria Price revealed that after she came out to her father he confided in her that he had had romantic relationships with both men and women. Watching Price’s performances one cannot help but see something a little queer in the way he portrays monstrously deviant characters with a sly wink and mincing manner. I’ve never loved him more than when he’s playing an obviously queer man trying to kill his wife as in House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler and Comedy of Terrors to name a few (it sounds bad but trust me it’s oddly delightful). The way he delivers his tongue-in-cheek horror has a uniquely queer camp sensibility making the viewer feel that he knows he’s bad and he loves it, he makes social deviancy and deliberate shirking of the laws of nature and morality look fun and what queer can’t relate to that. If you haven’t watched any of his work I would strongly recommend checking out a few movies most of them are free to watch on Tubi and they are essential to the horror geek and camp fan alike. Price has been a fixture of horror history and used his wealth and fame to uplift those like him who walked outside the norm. We miss you Vincent!
Ok last thing, if you know Vincent Price or even if you don’t know it’s him you’ll be familiar with his iconic voice, he’s the kinda guy I’d let read me HTML code, Bill Hader can do a truly uncanny Vincent Price impression which he has brought onto a couple of SNL Halloween specials.
The Queer Agenda:
Celebrate Bisexuality Awareness Week September 16-23
Head on down the Queer Film Festival with Out On Screen from September 11-22 they might still be taking volunteers as well if you’d like to be part of the program https://outonscreen.com/vqff/
Join the Makerlabs community for a queer maker meetup on Tuesday September 17th https://www.makerlabs.com/events
Celebrate the launch of Cris Hererra’s new book The Path To Nowhere and Everywhere – a little book of poetry, short stories, self-discovery and a whole lot of queer sh*t with a night of queer poetry on September 7th https://ca.trip.com/events/book-launch-party–queer-poetry-night-20240820/
See our vary own co-coordinators in the premiere of Dandyland: The Series in which a local gay socialite explores the queer corners of Vancouver including our very own library on September 17th at the Rio Theater https://riotheatretickets.ca/events/32450-dandyland
Queer Story Recommendation:
Also in honor of bisexual awareness week we’re looking at a recent bisexual icon in Wu Zetian the protagonist of Xiran Jay Zhao’s break out novel Iron Widow (2021). Have you been reading one of those YA love triangles wherein the heroine has to choose between the bad boy and the best friend and just thought everything would be a lot simpler if they just all kissed each other? Boy do I have the book for you. Iron Widow is a mecha/kaiju alternate history about the rise of China’s first female emperor Wu Zetian. Huaxia, Zhao’s cyberpunk version of medieval China is menaced by terrifying beasts known as Hunduns. Only the Chrysalids giant mechas piloted by a male-female pair of pilots stand against the alien threat. Traditionally a male pilot will use a female concubine for her qi which usually costs her her life. When the woman survives this process the rare Balanced Match is produced similar to the drift compatible pairs of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim. When Wu Zetian’s older sister parishes as a concubine, she enlists to avenge her sister’s death and destroy the pilot system from the inside. Along the way she meets unlikely allies and unliklier loves as she battles giant aliens, interpersonal politics and her own public image in Zhao’s vibrant and intricate world.
Iron Widow combines elements of many familiar genres including the aforementioned mecha genre, dystopian fiction like The Hunger Games and the teen love triangle book to create a new and fresh story that plays with its reader’s expectations in interesting and satisfying ways that will leave you punching the air as Wu Zetian ruthlessly destroys her enemies. This book is for anyone who wants to watch the world burn. The ending will leave you salivating for a sequel! Xiran Jay Zhao is certainly one to watch in the YA scene and I can’t wait to see what they do next!
