1.24.2004
dean yelling
so, i posted the howard dean techno remix in my new "stuff to look at" section (look in my column). and i did so because it's totally hilarious. and while i don't regret it, i keep reading about how these waves-of-the-future called "blogs" (kidding) have made his overly-energetic speech infamous.
in the opposite spirit, i'd like to point you all to this article from tompaine.com, about the myth of dean's downfall. i read something on john kerry today, and i think i'm still convinced that dean is a better front runner (kerry voted for the patriot act !@#!@???).
besides, isn't emotion a good thing in a candidate??? and not just in a candidate either. i think i oppose statesman-like calm in most of its manifestations. there's nothing more suspicious or condescending to me than people who never show emotion. in a certain sense, i can see the recent "news entertainment" phenomenon in a slightly positve light because of this. with al franken on one end and bill o'reilly on the other, i think people are beginning to abandon a very treasured-- and very false-- concept of "neutrality." sure, there's something terribly simplistic about how this is playing out, but i wonder if some understanding of this indeterminancy could eventually be reached, and if our relationship to media will be the better for it.
so hoot and holler, howard... just bear in mind we're gonna get creative with you.
in the opposite spirit, i'd like to point you all to this article from tompaine.com, about the myth of dean's downfall. i read something on john kerry today, and i think i'm still convinced that dean is a better front runner (kerry voted for the patriot act !@#!@???).
besides, isn't emotion a good thing in a candidate??? and not just in a candidate either. i think i oppose statesman-like calm in most of its manifestations. there's nothing more suspicious or condescending to me than people who never show emotion. in a certain sense, i can see the recent "news entertainment" phenomenon in a slightly positve light because of this. with al franken on one end and bill o'reilly on the other, i think people are beginning to abandon a very treasured-- and very false-- concept of "neutrality." sure, there's something terribly simplistic about how this is playing out, but i wonder if some understanding of this indeterminancy could eventually be reached, and if our relationship to media will be the better for it.
so hoot and holler, howard... just bear in mind we're gonna get creative with you.
1.22.2004
l'atalante
"papa jules" is my new favorite movie character. that's the name of the sailor who assists the traveling newlyweds of jean vigo's amazing l'atalante, a recommendation from erin f. (who is always reliable when it comes to recommendations). papa jules sings and plays accordian, has weirdly explicit tatoos for a film from the thirties, collects wind up toys, is adorned with kitties, and repairs phonographs. he is an absolute sight to behold. i could think up a million "clever" ways to categorize l'atalante (tom waits directs breakfast at tiffanies!, a dada honeymoon!), but you know what? fuck that. just see it. see it to renew your faith in the effortless charisma of a work of art. see it for one of the most strangely erotic love scenes i've ever witnessed (involving two people who aren't even in the same bed). or just see it for papa jules. you'll know what i mean.
1.21.2004
a sentimental best of will oldham
will oldham, indie folk eccentric, has a really good idea for his next album. he's putting out a sort of "best of" record-- with a catch. he's re-recording all of the songs. you can find out all about it at pitchforkmedia.
(by the way, i must confess that i think pitchfork is a great site, even if that does make me a smug little indie nerd... it's eliminated my need for music magazines for the most part.)
anyway, by clicking on the link on mr. oldham's name (above), you can view his entire discography from beginning to end. personally, i was stunned by A: how much there is and B: how much of it i actually own. anyhow, with all of this on the brain, the following is what an impromtu "best of" disc might look like according to yours truly:
* "valentine's day" (from lost blues)
* "untitled" (hope e.p., you know-- the song about cake)
* "king at night" (from ease down the road..."in india/ there's the taj/ on good times/ there was raj"... so great! even if rog was actually on what's happening)
* "you will miss me when i burn" (days in the wake, and an obvious choice-- sort of the stairway to heaven of will oldham songs)
* "you have cum in your hair and your dick is hanging out" (arise therefore)
* "we all, us three, will ride" (viva last blues)
* "i send my love to you" (days in the wake)
* "knockturne" (from i see a darkness-- also has my favorite will oldham lyrics)
* "west palm beach" (lost blues)
* "raining in darling" (darkness)
* "i see a darkness" (duh)
...whenever i think of oldham/palace, i'm immediately reminded of listening to viva last blues in my first ever apartment, during my sophomore year of college. it's a great memory. those songs are forever linked with that great, liberating feeling of your first real space. early, exploratory adulthood. i had a fairly decent childhood and i love my family and all (by the way, katie is a fellow blogger) but i always felt a little out of place or something in the context of a family. it's hard for me to relate to people in that sort of a way, i guess. all those family functions and group dynamics and all that. so getting my own apartment was a really important moment, i guess, and viva last blues is kind of my memory-soundtrack to that event (hehehehe)... anyway, this post goes out to my good friend cameo, who-- being computerless-- will probably never read it. oh well.
(by the way, i must confess that i think pitchfork is a great site, even if that does make me a smug little indie nerd... it's eliminated my need for music magazines for the most part.)
anyway, by clicking on the link on mr. oldham's name (above), you can view his entire discography from beginning to end. personally, i was stunned by A: how much there is and B: how much of it i actually own. anyhow, with all of this on the brain, the following is what an impromtu "best of" disc might look like according to yours truly:
* "valentine's day" (from lost blues)
* "untitled" (hope e.p., you know-- the song about cake)
* "king at night" (from ease down the road..."in india/ there's the taj/ on good times/ there was raj"... so great! even if rog was actually on what's happening)
* "you will miss me when i burn" (days in the wake, and an obvious choice-- sort of the stairway to heaven of will oldham songs)
* "you have cum in your hair and your dick is hanging out" (arise therefore)
* "we all, us three, will ride" (viva last blues)
* "i send my love to you" (days in the wake)
* "knockturne" (from i see a darkness-- also has my favorite will oldham lyrics)
* "west palm beach" (lost blues)
* "raining in darling" (darkness)
* "i see a darkness" (duh)
...whenever i think of oldham/palace, i'm immediately reminded of listening to viva last blues in my first ever apartment, during my sophomore year of college. it's a great memory. those songs are forever linked with that great, liberating feeling of your first real space. early, exploratory adulthood. i had a fairly decent childhood and i love my family and all (by the way, katie is a fellow blogger) but i always felt a little out of place or something in the context of a family. it's hard for me to relate to people in that sort of a way, i guess. all those family functions and group dynamics and all that. so getting my own apartment was a really important moment, i guess, and viva last blues is kind of my memory-soundtrack to that event (hehehehe)... anyway, this post goes out to my good friend cameo, who-- being computerless-- will probably never read it. oh well.
1.20.2004
moveon.org's superbowl ad
there's been lots of disappointing political news of late. i was geniunely saddened to see kerry win the iowa caucus, with dean coming in THIRD. ugh. i mean, i have my reservations about dean and all, but i'm gonna be a lot more grumpy come november if i have to vote for fucking john kerry (or edwards, who also beat dean). also, moveon.org got some bad news too. cbs is refusing to air their anti-bush ad during the super bowl. this ad was the result of a contest to create your own 30 second statement about the current administration and its wrongdoings. you can watch the ad here. and when you're done (if you'd like), you can use the following cbs contact information to voice your reaction to their decision:
CBS Television Network
51 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10019
Main Number:
212-975-4321
National CBS Television advertising sales:
newmediasales@cbs.com
* sidenote: i found this contact info on an interesting blog called abstract dynamics, which also contains an insightful analysis of why dean's campaign has hit a stumbling block with the caucuses. am i spelling caucuses correctly? what a weird word...
CBS Television Network
51 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10019
Main Number:
212-975-4321
National CBS Television advertising sales:
newmediasales@cbs.com
* sidenote: i found this contact info on an interesting blog called abstract dynamics, which also contains an insightful analysis of why dean's campaign has hit a stumbling block with the caucuses. am i spelling caucuses correctly? what a weird word...
1.19.2004
late night movies
i can't sleep. so i guess i'll post a bit about the movies i watched this weekend:
* wild zero was first on the list. this is a japanese zombie movie starring the garage band guitar wolf. sort of a mixture of the wackier moments of dawn of the dead (think tom savini, armed with pie and seltzer) and rock and roll high school, with an ample dose of the video for "thriller." as a horror movie, it's pretty standard fare beyond the rock-band-as-superheroes gimmick. but it's a loveable gimmick. and it's a pretty fun movie. reminded me a bit of the recent spiderman movie, in its ability to be totally corny and totally aware of itself simultaneously, and to be sort of indifferent to that very awareness. both are films about the joys of being dumb. and both are, eh, joyful...
* second-- and totally different-- was amores perros, which was disappointing. not bad, per se, but nothing too memorable. it's a shame, cause the acting is really good for the most part and the first 45 minutes or so are pretty well orchestrated. but it drags on and on, making a bit of a mess out of its subplots. it's one of those overlapping-story type movies that are so popular lately. think magnolia, only not nearly as miserable.
my biggest problem with the film is a more general one, which is that it seems intently aimed at hollywood. this is one of my biggest gripes with stuff that gets released as "independent" lately-- this sense that a young director plays intramurals with an art flick before heading to the big leagues. amores perros is slick and funky, but in a decidedly conformist manner... cool-guy-grey lighting and hand held camera work (a la NYPD blue)... "gritty," violent storytelling with occasional soapy pleas to the heart... sweeping orchestration that ends up a little drunk on its own hyperboles (a la donnie darko). all familiar, and all potentially headed down the same boring lane as steven soderberg or gus van sant (although i must note that i haven't seen either gerry or elephant, which are both rumored to contradict my argument... let's hope they do). i wish there were more films being released with a fundamental indifference to this kind of lukewarm, hollywood hipster shit. but i guess when cold mountain and mystic river are playing in the art houses (???), there aint much room for that. looks like anything that doesn't involve vin diesel escaping intergalactic terrorists atop a pegasus fleeing an avalanche consitutes an "art" movie lately...
(deep breath)
* on a brighter note, the best of the bunch was rififi, jules dassin's 1954 crime caper, made in a kind of exile in france following the notorious mc carthy-ear hollywood blacklist. totally fun, and proof that planning and calculations are underrated devices in movie-making. the near thirty minutes of silence as our heroes rob a jewelry store is every bit as enjoyable as i'd hoped it would be. you get a sense that the director and co. had a lot of fun constructing it too, and the interview with dassin included in the dvd gets into how it came about a little. there's also a weird exploitation element to the film, where more or less each female character breaks some sexy (sexist) taboo of one sort or another. the s&m between the main character and his ex is as inexplicable as it is a bummer, but the nippy tart that runs with one of the sidekicks is silly enough fun. granted, it's all pretty misogynistic, but there's something interesting about watching taboos that aren't really taboo any more in a film that seems to assume its audience will be shocked. just a little sign of the times, i guess. but don't rent it for that. rent it because it's top notch film noir. hot shit.
* wild zero was first on the list. this is a japanese zombie movie starring the garage band guitar wolf. sort of a mixture of the wackier moments of dawn of the dead (think tom savini, armed with pie and seltzer) and rock and roll high school, with an ample dose of the video for "thriller." as a horror movie, it's pretty standard fare beyond the rock-band-as-superheroes gimmick. but it's a loveable gimmick. and it's a pretty fun movie. reminded me a bit of the recent spiderman movie, in its ability to be totally corny and totally aware of itself simultaneously, and to be sort of indifferent to that very awareness. both are films about the joys of being dumb. and both are, eh, joyful...
* second-- and totally different-- was amores perros, which was disappointing. not bad, per se, but nothing too memorable. it's a shame, cause the acting is really good for the most part and the first 45 minutes or so are pretty well orchestrated. but it drags on and on, making a bit of a mess out of its subplots. it's one of those overlapping-story type movies that are so popular lately. think magnolia, only not nearly as miserable.
my biggest problem with the film is a more general one, which is that it seems intently aimed at hollywood. this is one of my biggest gripes with stuff that gets released as "independent" lately-- this sense that a young director plays intramurals with an art flick before heading to the big leagues. amores perros is slick and funky, but in a decidedly conformist manner... cool-guy-grey lighting and hand held camera work (a la NYPD blue)... "gritty," violent storytelling with occasional soapy pleas to the heart... sweeping orchestration that ends up a little drunk on its own hyperboles (a la donnie darko). all familiar, and all potentially headed down the same boring lane as steven soderberg or gus van sant (although i must note that i haven't seen either gerry or elephant, which are both rumored to contradict my argument... let's hope they do). i wish there were more films being released with a fundamental indifference to this kind of lukewarm, hollywood hipster shit. but i guess when cold mountain and mystic river are playing in the art houses (???), there aint much room for that. looks like anything that doesn't involve vin diesel escaping intergalactic terrorists atop a pegasus fleeing an avalanche consitutes an "art" movie lately...
(deep breath)
* on a brighter note, the best of the bunch was rififi, jules dassin's 1954 crime caper, made in a kind of exile in france following the notorious mc carthy-ear hollywood blacklist. totally fun, and proof that planning and calculations are underrated devices in movie-making. the near thirty minutes of silence as our heroes rob a jewelry store is every bit as enjoyable as i'd hoped it would be. you get a sense that the director and co. had a lot of fun constructing it too, and the interview with dassin included in the dvd gets into how it came about a little. there's also a weird exploitation element to the film, where more or less each female character breaks some sexy (sexist) taboo of one sort or another. the s&m between the main character and his ex is as inexplicable as it is a bummer, but the nippy tart that runs with one of the sidekicks is silly enough fun. granted, it's all pretty misogynistic, but there's something interesting about watching taboos that aren't really taboo any more in a film that seems to assume its audience will be shocked. just a little sign of the times, i guess. but don't rent it for that. rent it because it's top notch film noir. hot shit.
