April 22, 1870 - Birthday of Comrade V.I. Lenin, founder of the Bolshevik Party, leader of Russia’s socialist revolution and the Soviet Union, great teacher of the world’s working class and oppressed peoples.
Cavity Colors has released a Pumpkinhead design by Sam Coyne on T-shirts ($27) and zip-up hoodies as well as sweatpants designed by Hillary White ($40; pictured below).
On this day, 22 April 1944, 200 young Black people, mostly students at Howard University, held a sit-in demonstration at Thompson’s, a segregated restaurant in Washington DC – where Jim Crow laws were not in effect but segregation by custom existed. After effectively slashing the number of paying customers, the restaurant was ordered by its headquarters to begin serving Black customers.
The University, in fear of losing federal grants, subsequently directed its students to cease direct action and Thompson’s promptly restored segregation.
One of the key organisers of the action was Pauli Murray, pictured, a young student and activist, who identified as part male and part female, and whose romantic relationships were with women. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1700242993494177/?type=3
Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made will be published in hardcover and e-book on May 25 via Abrams. Presented by PosterSpy, the 256-page book is written by screenwriter Joshua Hull.
It chronicles 50 movies that never reached the screen, including Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, Steven Spielberg’s Oldboy remake starring Will Smith, Stanley Kubrick’s take on The Lord of the Rings with The Beatles, and Neill Blomkamp’s direct sequel to Aliens.
Each essay is accompanied by an original poster from artists such as Scott Saslow, Matt Talbot, Liza Shumskaya, Sam Coyle, Tom Coupland, Ben Turner, Mark Levy, Bella Grace, Julien Rico Jr, Si Heard, and more.
Filmmaker Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps) provides a foreword. The synopsis is below.
