Jonny over at Lovelockandload has made yet another Euro-Cult inspired T-Shirt. His design is inspired by the Euro-Cult film
Top Sensation and features Euro starlet Edwige Fenech. Great quality as usual.

Thanks to Simon for bringing this to my attention.  Italian artist Frederico Mancosu has designed a number of 'minimalist' posters for a number of classic Euro-Cult films, and other cult films.  These minimalist posters draw on the iconography of the films, offering some unique interpretations.  Some of them are very nice indeed.  Some of his designs can be found below.  His designs can be purchased from Imagekind and Thrauma.  I would love to see some of these designs printed on t-shirts.

When I turned thirty last month, I decided to have my Locandina poster for my favourite film Profondo Rosso (Dario Argento, 1975) restored and framed.  When I purchased it off of eBay I was a bit disappointed to find that it had more damage than I had antipated; the seller's vague description and low resolution pictures being mostly to blame.  Intially I had decided to locate a Locandina that was in better quality but all that turned up on eBay were of a similar condition; unsurprising for a film that is now 35 years old.

So, I decided to use the services of London based poster restorer Alain Bourgouin.  Alain is regularly recommended on discussion fora and by those in the poster collecting community.  I asked Alain to linen-back the poster and restore it to the best quality possible.  This was done for a lower price than I had expected.  After a few weeks wait, I recieved the poster and was stunned by the quality of the restoration.  Gone were the tears and the creases were minimised to such an extent that they are pretty much unnoticeable.  The biggest difference, however, is that made by the deacidification process.  The colours are now much more vibrant and the poster looks brand new.  It is easy to see why Alain is regarded as one of the best poster restorers in the country.

I took the poster to the ever reliable Birmingham company The Framers who are based in the Custard Factory and they have perfectly framed the poster and used a high quality 'museum glass' to protect the poster from UV light and help to preserve the poster.  Their prices are unbeatable. 

The restored, framed Locandina now hangs proudly on my home office wall.  Before and after pictures can be found below.

I thought the ending could have been tighter but the presentation went well.  Watch at your own peril.

Tim, Paul, Matt, Rob, Sam and I went to the Sights and Sounds Conference which was held at Salford University last Thursday and Friday.  I presented a paper with Sam that reflected on a David Bowie documentary he produced to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Bowie's visit to New Zealand the online fan response to the documentary.  The PowerPoint slides can be viewed below.  Our presentation went well, surprisingly it was the only presentation to focus on radio documentary.  I am hoping that we will find the time to finish writing the paper over the next few months and that it can be included in a forthcoming text on music documentary. 

It was also good to talk Euro-Cult cinema with Benjamin Halligan, author of a very well researched text on Michael Reeves, and spend an evening chatting with the director of the excellent documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2006), Jeff Feuerzeig.  His upcoming film on Tiny Tim sounds fascinating, providing that he secures funding.  Other conference delegates were very warm and friendly, and the conference meal at the Turkish Restaurant, Cafe Istanbul was outstanding. On the Friday morning we found time to fulfill Sam's request and travel along Coronation Street to Salford Lad's Club, which was famously featured in the music video for There is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths.  A group picture was a must.  I do not usually enjoy conferences but thought this was the best one that I participated in so far. 

I couldn't resist.  I have ordered a four-pack from the UK HBO store and with a bit of luck they will arrive in time for the weekend.  Hyperreal or what?

Nope, not one of mine, this shirt is from the Rabbit in Red Lounge.  They specialise in made to order shirts using full colour prints taken from original poster artwork.  I had my reservations about the quality of print but it appears to be very high.  You can have your chosen print be digitally worn.  There are three levels of grubbiness you can  request, I opted for the lightest level of wear.  The choice of prints is endless.  All of the well known cult horror films are available as well as little known obscurities.  The cult film fan could waste a lot of money here.  After a long deliberation I decided to opt for the New York Ripper design.  This was the first imported VHS video I purchased back in the mid-nineties.  This Scandinavian release of the film on the Professional Cine Media label used artwork taken from the original Italian poster.  I have always liked this poster design and thought it would be a suitable choice.  The only problem is that the size I ordered is just slightly too big for me; I should have ordered a small instead of a medium.  I might order the Zombie Flesh Eaters design which uses the excellent artwork taken from the British quad poster a bit later in the year.  Once thing to be aware of is that it can take a while for your order to be fulfilled as the shirts are made to order. 

Summer must be on its way as several of my recent posts have been about Euro-Cult inspired T-Shirts.  Actually, it has more to do with my doctoral research but it is nice to think that Summer is finally on the way.

On Friday I received The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1969) T-Shirt I ordered from Ellen over at www.giallo-tshirts.com.  I love the design and the print quality is very high.  The yellow (giallo!) bag it arrived in was a nice touch too.  Check out the site for the other great designs.  I look forward to Ellen's next design.

I have added a few new designs to my T-Shirt store. 

One of the chapters of my PhD thesis investigates t-shirt production in the Euro-Cult cinema fan community.  Having being inspired by Jonny's excellent T-Shirt designs over at the lovelockandload and the more unusual designs over at Giallo T-Shirts I have opened my own Spreadshirt shop in order to better understand the production process.   With some help from Jonny, I produced my first design: the logo for Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso (1975).  I have always wanted a T-Shirt inspired by this film and not having ever come across a decent one I decide to design my own.  I ordered the T-Shirt from Spreadshirt on Thursday and it arrived today.  I have ordered from Spreadshirt before and have always been impressed with their quality.  I chose to use the flock print method with gives the lettering a felt effect.  Though the design is somewhat basic it looks better than I had hoped.  If anyone reading this would like one you can order it through my Spreadshirt shop.  If all goes well, I will be uploading some more Euro-Cult inspired designs over the coming weeks.