THE MARK OF CAIN Alix Lambert (2001); DVD Rare as shit 'Russian Prison Tattoos Documentary' DVD Sailing ships, stars, angels and executioners, The Mark of Cain chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian Criminal Tattoos. Captured in some of Russia's most notorious prisons, including the fabled White Swan, the film traces the animus of the flowers of this carnal art by way of the brutality of it's origins: the penitentiary and the criminal environment. Incisive interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists reveal the secret language of The Zone and The Code of Thieves of the vory v zakone.

REST IN PIECES - A Portrait of Joe Coleman (1997); DVD Art/Doco DVD, Used With the fervor of an evangelist, New York painter and performance artist Joe Coleman preaches an apocalyptic message about the necessity of disease, deviation, destruction and corruption in controlling human populations. His paintings explore death in its most graphic and ugly forms in hopes of helping him transcend it and ultimately become its master. His art is similarly gruesome and disturbing. One of his more famous pieces has him wired with explosives and biting the heads off live mice. This documentary from Austrian filmmaker Robert-Adrian Pejo paints a fascinating, intimate portrait of this complex man.

EAT THE SCHOOLGIRL: OSAKA TELEPHONE CLUB (1997), DVD-r (RARE) DVD-r Region free, Japanese with English sub-titles Includes case and insert Directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu,"Eat the Schoolgirl" concerns two young adults who made a dirty work for a yakuza gang by making sadistic rape/snuff films. Both of them are sexually obsessed; one is addicted to telephone sex whilst the other can only function sexually, whilst seeing mutilated female corpses.  Just when you thought you have seen everything demented and disgusting in a movie comes along eat the schoolgirl.  There is something in this movie to just about offend anyone.  A complete underground treasure.  Definitely not for everyone.

DIY OR DIE: BURN THIS DVD; DVD (2006) Art/Music/Independent DVD It’s a strange thing to say in the title, ‘burn this dvd,’ but it does plug in to the anti establishment ethos at play throughout this 55 minute doco. So fuck the establishment, don’t wait to be discovered, just get your art out there however you can and if they don’t like it, well fuck them too because someone somewhere surely will. With minimum production values filmmaker Michael W Dean armed with a video camera and a bunch of questions seeks out some of his favourite independent American artists to ponder some of the difficulties in creating art outside of the mainstream. Hooking up with counter culture heroes like Lydia Lunch, bassist Mike Watt (Pornos For Pyros/ Minutemen), Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), producer and musician Steve Albini (Shellac), nudie art photographer Richard Kern, Ron Ashton (Stooges) and even Jim Rose (Of Jim Rose Circus Sideshow), Dean not only discusses their motivations for staying outside the mainstream, but some of the nuts and bolts that drive their financial (in) security. As a self help motivational tool for budding artists this film really serves as reality check as many of the artists presented here are working incredibly hard just to keep their heads above water. The message seems to be that if you want cocaine and blowjobs sign to a major label. Just understand that you’ll be made to pick up the soap on repeated occasions, your art will be diluted and you’ll wind up hating yourself in the morning. The artists presented here are incredibly driven though they believe their toils are more than compensated by the fact that they can focus on creating their art and not have to in the most part bother with crappy 9-5 jobs to make ends meet.