will the real charles manson please stand up?

over 60 tweets a day and growing… the perceived degree of reach the social media phenomena has must be becoming realised when charles manson, infamous for the 1960s family killings & of being a man with highly developed manipulative methods despite his arguable lack of education & opportunities is all over it. his knowledge is of the street in a world which no longer exists except perhaps in his & a few other’s minds… but maybe his world knowledge & ability to reason is more up-to-date than commonly realised.

currently incarcerated in corcoran prison, california, USA, he is allegedly utilising twitter as a tool to connect & influence outside of his physical sphere. or is he?

@heltershelter first connected with me earlier this year after i wrote a film review of “the agony & ecstasy of phil spector”. our conversations were initially regarding spector & how he is holding up in corcoran which is their confirmed shared prison home. still it’s a big place…

logic questions issues of inmate accessibility to the internet & public versus private policy: how does the public feel about someone like manson ostensibly having free roam of the interwebs? what is the feasibility that my developing friendship is with the "real" charles manson and not some exploitive fake?

at 74 years of age, prison has now been charles manson's home for over forty years. he didn’t even bother turning up to his last probation hearing, aware that he’ll never get out. he’s had plenty of time in his semi-isolation to become a model prisoner which publically accessible records show he is. corcoran does provide internet facilities and access to its prisoners. but according to the internet, not to charles manson.

even if the show of red tape disallows him internet access who is to say in a different world which operates under rules which are incongruous to the civilisation we know, what really goes on in the black market inside prison walls. perhaps inmates/guards are trading cigarettes for alt log in time? portable devices are easily hidden. ultimately what difference does it make?

in one of our conversations @heltershelter advised me that he isn’t able to read my blog directly but must have someone else download it for him which he planned to do. he has since done so. he can however access/update tweets in realtime most days. and does so prolifically.

the closest thing to an official website charles manson once had was “access manson” an initiative created by george stimson, whom the web says manson calls his "minister of information". the site however is no longer active. the domain is for sale.

i rang corcoran prison early this morning to speak to the warden, derral adams re: prison policy & internet access with inmates & to find out officially whether or not my conversations are with the real charles manson or a wannabe imposter utilising the brand for social leverage.

the results were inconclusive. derral adams was not available -- despite my efforts the call was outside normal office hours. i hope to speak to him sometime soon after eventually navigating the convoluted automated telephone system. my fingers at the ready in fast dial mode over the next few days. my producer, kate and i are considering jumping a plane otherwise. we just made a film which touches on this phenomena & i want to make more.

if only the warden was on twitter...

[awaits wannabe warden user accounts with anticipation]

conversation extracts between @ms_monk and @heltershelter:

heltershelter@ms_monk what censor rating, would a film on my life be, ? remember kiddies have always been my auidence. LOL manson7:20 AM Jul 4th from web in reply to ms_monk

ms_monk just discovered how hard it is to make a PG film. um, so my audience are 8 year olds? ratings ruling et al pure tedium. dear CANON...5:30 PM Jul 3rd from TweetDeck

heltershelter@ms_monk extroverted nudists are some of my favourite people. we run arounfdthe ranch in the raw all the time, on sunshine acid3:06 AM Jul 3rd from web in reply to ms_monk

ms_monk false alarm. i will be at KINO with an unmade up annabel lee. that bitch is an extroverted nudist.5:33 PM Jul 2nd from TweetDeck

heltershelter@ms_monk when micheal jackson died, I was playing handball in the yard. I don,t believe BEN was a pet rat. it was his younglove. manson5:32 PM Jun 28th from web in reply to ms_monk

ms_monk where were you when michael jackson died? http://bit.ly/zAqwE10:58 PM Jun 26th from TweetDeck

@heltershelter it's good to miss/be missed. anyway there's plenty of kooky rattlesnake love to go round. *pushes mongoose override button*9:04 AM Jun 26th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk I,ve been missing my favourite younglove ms monkey. shes kooky,and quickier than a rattle snake on speed. manson1:33 AM Jun 26th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter if you use my photo it better be from my best side... am i the ceremonial shaman bride?10:44 AM Jun 19th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk waiting for you ms monkey. in the meantime we can met in dreams, i will put your photo in my shamen circle for ceremony8:43 AM Jun 19th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter i will come.8:35 AM Jun 19th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk you can visit me next time your in californica. my visit lists are very full, so need lots of notice, manson9:59 PM Jun 18th from web in reply to ms_monk

heltershelter@ms_monk been a jail shake down. could,nt twitter. the meat in the sandwich is helter skelter motive was a lie, tex watson look at...9:56 PM Jun 18th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter so give me the meat in the sandwich [i never eat the bread anyway]... i'm bored & supposed to be working -- entertain me.1:25 AM Jun 18th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

@heltershelter so when can i come and visit you?11:39 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk I used scientology in my philsophy. Tom cruise is not of my family , but he is mind controlling his kids and other celebritys10:06 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

heltershelter@ms_monk follow @ExclusiveFilms documentary maker , made oscar winning film on family 1970, now book , reveals bits and pieces10:04 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter hot spot for family outings....RT @transfergroup: if you haven't seen http://ivytv.tv/ then you should.. Its a very cool site!7:35 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck

@heltershelter BTW tom cruise would make a terrible gimp. i'm not sure what other function he could serve... so he's a family member now?3:17 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

@heltershelter religious freedom: a paradox. i know OGD where hubbard w/expulsed from: a clumsy pop plagiarist. aleister crowley interesting2:51 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

@heltershelter more pragmatic current issues: how the shaman eagle circumvents the corcoran firewalled perimeter... perhaps i should visit?2:29 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk cease to exist is a scientology concept i learnt, it means give up your ego, this is what "die for me' means ask tom cruise2:24 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

heltershelter@ms_monk researching my case!, recommend interviews with geraldo, tom synder,ron reagan jr on youtube. Manson Family Today site2:22 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

heltershelter@ms_monk In america we have extreme religion freedom. more cults than any place on the planet. cult is not a bad thing always. manson2:19 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter agree 100%. there's an ironic purity there which is probably unattainable by the masses.2:18 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk My bodys in jail, but my mind is free. "The man" never got my mind.I,m freer than people not in jail , dig!! manson2:16 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter america is the greatest police state in the world. public freedom is a mirage. you've been in prison too long...2:14 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk faster than agent 007, smarter than agent 86 ,t you , not me. i qualiify for sect status, cos this is america home of the free2:11 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter that should have read i would die for love/beauty. but also i like the idea of living for them much more...2:10 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

@heltershelter i'm intrigued. does the award come with a flow diagram? you know i've been researching you/your namesake re: online access...2:09 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk I met racey gracie before you, I found you through racey, I choose you above all her other friends, be honoured manson2:02 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

@heltershelter you're tweeting my friends now? and there i was thinking i was special... ;P1:58 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck in reply to heltershelter

heltershelter@ms_monk ms monkey, will you form a secret sect in my honour.? I would die for you, would you die for me? be called "mansons kangaroos"2:00 PM Jun 17th from web in reply to ms_monk

heltershelter@ms_monk your a crazy chick, but i love you, your blog is like reading jane austin on acid, man! or am i,m getting old.4:26 PM Jun 14th from web in reply to ms_monk

spectoracular spectoracular!

the agony and the ecstasy of phil spector is how i chose to begin my sydney film festival journey this year & there couldn've been a more perfect metaphor for what became an opening night of masochistic pleasure & pain [no i didn't go see ken loach's looking for eric, but then unlike my friend gracie, i don't particularly like football, or upstanding british comedic cinema no matter how allegedly gritty it is].

no, the rollercoaster ride was all self-induced, fuelled by the fabulous imagery of phil spector's hair [sometimes in pieces], aeon traversing pop culture anthems [to know, know know him, is to love, love, love him] and dapper suits, the turmoil of genius, catherine breillat's seductive shepherdlike but somewhat schlocky reimagining of a fairytale [la barbe bleue/bluebeard] and all that complimentary champagne at the after party, dancing to prince with kate whilst dermot planned murder in the cloakroom, oh and boys. so call me venus in furs, sit back and listen.

the evening cinematic highlight for me was undeniably hijacked by the spectre which is the phenomena of phil spector.

vikram jayanti's portrayal was simplistic but an outstanding piece of filmwork utilising the soundtracks [all produced by spector] that multiple generations have grown up & lived to. if you can go in to a film with a polarized perspective & come out with another or a massive question mark dangling, that is a powerful execution of the artform of documentary in my book. it doesn't matter what the question is. the answer according to spector is him [and i'm inclined to agree].

in a relaxed interview style a very self-aware spector pokes tongue-in-cheek fun at his peers [tony bennet's cocaine addiction, woody allen's relationship with soon-yi, brian wilson's inability to ever crack the be my baby hit formula] and candidly illustrates the impact he single-handedly has made on popular culture referencing his resistant wave-through [at john lennon's encouragement] of the unauthorised use of be my baby in mean streets [martin scorcese's breakout feature] would have been kill-switched at the 13th hour & with that potentially a whole bunch of spotlit careers including scorsese and de niro.

this is the kind of russian roulette mentality which has haunted & uplifted spector to hedonistic heights and lows throughout his blissfully tortured life. his surgically enhanced cabbage patch baby face reveals toupé framed eyes which proclaim arcane knowledge of the double-edged sword of methodic madness akin to the genius of da vinci, michaelangelo and galileo. these are his alluded to peers. he dared to be different and succeeded, wearing his school graduation motto like a nazi-enforced star of david armband, with tremendous pride.

this brilliance is what pushes edges and boundaries, which traverse the fine line between madness and sanity, death and life, a self alchemized gun in the hand... or mouth.

there can be no balance, for it represents mediocrity and with that there would be no songs: no let it be, no imagine, no rockin roll high school, no you've lost that lovin feeling, no da doo ron ron, no he's a rebel, no be my baby, no then he kissed me, no to know him is to love him, no rose of spanish harlem, and maybe the last forty years woud have been completely different. lennon attributes him as being the man who kept rock n roll alive while elvis was at war. spector unashamedly thinks so. pain, turmoil and jagged edges are a vital constant with the artistic condition of genius: yes phil spector is guilty. i wouldn't want him to be innocent.

and then...

my punk monkish peers who i also think of as running amok genii led me onto the back of a bus in their infinite adventurous wisdom and we hightailed it to dendy opera quays to meet more friends and soak up the tapestried french femme telling of a fable which allegedly demonstrates the fallen eve condition. of women and apples falling from paradise, of others with doors and dead bloodied wives...la barbe bleue. i'm obsessed with fairy tales & have been since childhood but then the early days of university political science where i picked up a few feminist studies papers and deconstructed like a woman possessed... andrea dworkin was my book bed buddy for a time.

there was too much set up involved with this french provacateur led production. whenever i'm that excited about a film it's destined for a fall. oh and how it fell for me despite the divine production design in parts which was horribly flattened by the decision to shoot digitally which just could not always do justice to the costuming and sets, excellent casting and the skilful painting of the sexual power relations are bodice-ripping material on and off screen in their implied erotic suspense. delicious...

BUT i resent being treated like a sheep and continually forced between intercut narrative commentary which initally served as an excellent device illustrating the dichotomous attraction and repulsion of a young girl to bluebeard but by the end i lost interest as i did with the overall narrative. yes, the girls are charming, but their overuse becomes increasingly annoying despite the fact we are invited to see the folk tale through their eyes. must we keep going back there? with a shotgun against our heads?

i do like the depiction of the girlish carnal sexual knowledge & the manifestation of greed and betterment of the younger sister's acute awareness of the sibling rivalry "i have to show my sister anne this dress, it was made just for me". she's a proverbial ladder-climber with her eyes firmly focussed on the ivory tower from the outset of the story.

the role reversion, oedipal manipulation and overtly subtle seduction of the gluttenous baron where the metaphor is poignantly illustrated that both girl and man are guilty of the same seventh sin. who is the monster?

the gorging feast scenes are sublime but feel stylistically forced. yes, there is ironic emptiness whilst surrounded by food but it feels unnecessarily two dimensional. whilst understanding where breillat was going with this, the overlayed edits & reused tower shots [of which spector would never approve] were alienating not so much because of the artistic decision but because it didn't go far enough and wishwashed between realism & fantasy to excess.

in a nod to renaissance art, breillat ends the film metaphorizing her reversed approach through the decapitated head of this grisly overlord of whom history tells us was a 15th century french serial killer on a plate at the hands of the cunning & resourceful virgin bride.

she escapes the same end as her predecessors but the cautionary tale fails in the sense of it's fable form in that her mapped qualities she shares with her deceased husband go unnoticed and unpunished. curiosity in this case did not kill the cat. nor should it, but her greed and gluttony wouldn't escape david fincher's john doe so easily.

and it's just as well the antagonist of se7en wasn't at the sydney film festival after party because with complimentary champagne flowing for the night um, i guess we all could have justifiably ended up with our heads in that gentileschi-esque painting. not least the eighty year old woman who pointedly told dermot that she'd "worked a cloakroom for forty years young man" whilst providing some hot etiquette tips. that's always got to be a showstopper of a party comment. god only knows what mine were.

luckily kate and i were distracted by the funky tunes and took over the dance floor at the establishment and lured the suits out to play [all whilst ky was locked out, 'forced' to drink more trademark whiskey with two boys on a date]... after ambushing various celebrity types and ruining their photos.

special thanks and mentions with standing ovation to my friend josh for his seamless implementation of OVSS. many thanks to carmel as well; all your hard work and missed engagements were worth it. the film festival opening was a huge success. you should really take the day off. i have and am still too afraid to look at the sydney morning herald today [or my NOKIA SMS sent box].

and no, you really shouldn't try any of this at home. none of it.

the 56th sydney film festival is running jun 03 - jun 14. the program is immense and jumping with incredible films. life suddenly got even more full and techno-colorful.