Mathmos (...or: Beneath the City of Sogo...) by Chipka
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Description
Though recognized as a British company, specializing in lighting products, the idea of mathmos goes a bit farther back into the 20th Century.
It isn’t surprising that the original mathmos has something to do with the current-day Mathmos company’s current manufacturing focus: lamps…and in particular, the waxy interior of the world famous lava lamp. Mathmos in its original form, made its appearance as a lurid special effect in the lurid—though classic—film, Barbarella. Mathmos, in its original form was…well…um…a closeup of a lava lamp doing its thing and serving to move Barbarella’s hair-thin plot along. Apparently, mathmos (or “the mathmos”) was an ill defined…um…psychedelic something that existed underground: beneath the city of Sogo, for those of you who want to know such things; it was apparently evil, but all it really did was make globby shapes in front of a camera. Apparently, the exciting, working bits of a lava lamp are what could potentially destroy cities on distant planets in pschedellic sex-romps, starring Jane Fonda. In all honesty, I can’t even remember what mathmos was supposed to be, other than “evil” but I thought of it, while washing a frying pan that Corey and I had put to good use (in the preparation of chicken.) I suppose, if I were to remake Barbarella (a project that various directors toy around with,) I’d probably make numerous references to the original film, and of course…during the film’s climax, the city of Sogo will be destroyed by…um…well…an admixture of chicken grease, water, and soap in a dinged and battered frying pan. Lava lamps are expensive, these days, which is what one might expect from an oh-so-trendy company actually named after the lava lamp stuff that Jane Fonda dealt with in a movie full of Jane Fonda’s jiggly-bits.
The beauty of lava lamps relies on the motion and interactions of various liquids (and semi-liquids) in the presence of heat; and after watching the swirl of water, oil, and soap in a skillet, I wondered if I might construct my own lava lamp with food-prep leavings, a skillet, and a flashlight. I abandoned that idea, however, but not before taking a picture of it. And now that I’ve written this, I suspect it’s high time to go trolling on eBay to see if I can get a decent copy of Barbarella on DVD.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
Comments (17)
Faemike55
hmmmmm just did a search of Mathmos and now looking at a site, Mathmos UK. yeh! okayfine! I think you'd do better
NefariousDrO
I love your photo, the colors and patterns are a bit sensual, while the grittiness carries a nice undertone of the evil that Mathmos was supposed to represent in the movie. I watched it courtesy of Netflicks a few months ago, it is a cheesy classic to be sure. I for one would love to see your take on the classic Lavalamp, if this is anything to judge by, Faemike55's totally right that you'd do something much cooler.
CoreyBlack
It's amazing what you can do with chicken grease. Hey, this kind of ingenuity is where special effects came from. Still, it is weirdly fascinating to see art made out of food byproducts. Particularly food byproducts I helped create. It's not everyday you stop to make photos of a dirty skillet you're washing. Well, scratch that. Around here this IS every day. Nice catch, and I love the Barbarella references.
KatesFriend
Well I wouldn't call 'Barbarella' lurid. It is deliciously silly - especially for anyone who has ever studied the sciences. Angels have no memory indeed. But I really like the 'leather men', the soul-less killers that guarded Sogo and the nifty air ships that they flew. This an interesting take on the Mathmos. Lots of little blobs of protoplasm all going about doing their evilness. A curious life form whose ravenous reputation was less than chilling. I remember how the evil (well more like kinky, my pretty-pretty) Queen of Sogo survived after being consumed by the Mathmos with Barbarella. Apparently Barbarella's "innocence" was too indigestible for the poor Mathmos. Thus it formed a bubble around Barbarella and everything near her including the Queen. This in order to not corrupt its evil. I might have taken up knitting otherwise. The film was re-released in the late 70's to try and capitalize on the 'Star Wars' craze. By the way, I thought Jane Fond tried to buy and subsequently destroy all the copies of 'Barbarella'.
fabian.twist
Looks like it was a tasty piece of chicken. I need to think outside the box and in future pay more attention whilst slaving over the sink and turn a chore into creative opportunity. Thanks for sharing the insight.
Kinchie
Inspiring greasy mess photo and thanks for the interesting Film discussion. Hope you get the pan cleaned up before the grease assumes the status of new a life form and oozes out of your kitchen to take over the world in a B-rated, poorly scripted, evil way!
durleybeachbum
Fascinating. I don't think I ever saw Bararella, but I used to admire Lava lamps belonging to other people.
beachzz
looks like a galaxy--far, far away!!
fallen21 Online Now!
Stunning shot!
vis151
Cool, I did not know that.
flavia49
excellent
MrsRatbag
LOL!!! You know, I never actually watched Barbarella; I think I decided early on that it was too silly to even acknowledge, and somehow it stayed behind that barrier in my mind. I may have to give it a go one of these days. Love the lava lamp ingredients here, Chip! How was the chicken?
kgb224
Amazing work and writing my friend. This past the lava lamp test. God Bless.
sandra46
EXCELLENT IMAGE! GREAT WORK!
photosynthesis
I have to say that this is the finest chicken grease abstract I've ever seen, bar none. Barbarella was an incredibly silly movie whose primary virtue was as an excuse to display Jane Fonda in various states of undress, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. And speaking of silly movies, I just read that PBS will be broadcasting the Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" this week & I don't think I've ever seen the whole thing from start to finish...
auntietk
Wonderfully amorphous blobness! You see the most amazing things in the ordinariness of daily life. :)
helanker
HA!! I KNEW IT!! It was something from the frying pan :) Love this shot alot. I love taking such shots myself, so I guessed right here. BEAUTIFUL and so much fun :)