Millenium Balkan: Buzludzha

Last summer I took a trip to Bulgaria but somehow failed to find out about Buzludzha, an incredible abandoned Communist monument in the Stara Planina mountain range in Central Bulgaria. Fortunately for me, intrepid photographer Timothy Allen made the trek in the dead of winter and posted some incredible photos on his blog.

Buzludha is Bulgaria’s largest ideological monument to Communism. Designed by architect Guéorguy Stoilov, more than 6000 workers were involved in its 7 year construction including 20 leading Bulgarian artists who worked for 18 months on the interior decoration. A small, universally expected donation from every citizen in the country formed a large portion of the funds required to build this impressive structure that was finally unveiled in 1981 on what was the 1300th anniversary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state.

View Timothy Allen’s photos here »

Posted by Dissentertainer on March 11th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Category: Places of Interest | Tags: Bulgaria, Communism, Eastern Europe, Travel | Subscribe to comments RSS feed for this post.

PES “Fresh Guacamole”

Internet sensation PES returns with another brilliant creation, this time funded by Showtime. Somebody give this guy money to make a feature.

Posted by Dissentertainer on March 11th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Category: Video | Tags: animation | Subscribe to comments RSS feed for this post.

Why are the former Soviet republics so good at making theater?

Seriously. Derevo. Belarus Free Theatre. And this amazing version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest from Georgia. More of these companies should come to the U.S.

Posted by Dissentertainer on May 24th, 2011 at 12:25 am
Category: Live Art, Video | Tags: georgia, shakespeare, soviet union, the tempest, theater | Subscribe to comments RSS feed for this post.

Life Is Flashing Before Your Eyes

A real gem of 1970s animation courtesy of inimitable psychedelic animator Vincent Collins. This piece was collected as part of Tony Vegas’ compilation Acidburn Flashback Tabu, which is sadly only available on VHS, though a good soul over at rhizome.org did the world a service by posting some great excerpts. Or you can go down the rabbithole and read Timothy Leary’s review for Entertainment Weekly.

Posted by Dissentertainer on July 15th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Category: Video | Tags: 1970s, animation, psychedelia, Video, Vincent Collins | Subscribe to comments RSS feed for this post.

Music for Stoners vol. 2: Devin the Dude – “What I Be On”

Happy holidays, stoners. No matter what tools YOU use to get you in a good mood, this track from Houston rapper Devin the Dude’s new album Suite 420will give you a smooth head start.

Devin the Dude – “What I Be On” | Buy Album

Posted by Dissentertainer on April 20th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Category: Music | Tags: Devin the Dude, drugs, free, Houston, marijuana, mp3, Music, music for stoners, rap, Suite 420, What I Be On | Subscribe to comments RSS feed for this post.