IMO IMO IMO IMO

Open Letter to Richard Kelly

2008-07-22T00:14:00.003-04:00

Dear Mr. Kelly,

I didn't think it was possible. I don't know how you did it. But you did.

You did one better than Donnie Darko.

A lot of people will read this and guffaw. They will think something along the lines of, "Donnie Darko sucked! And Southland Tales was even worse!" Those people don't know what they're talking about, and I feel sorry for them.

First of all, Southland Tales was way bigger than Darko. It had a huge cast lineup, the locations were staggeringly more numerous and, presumably, more costly, and the music was unbelievably well chosen, or well written where applicable.

And the concept. My GOD. I can't help but wonder how you are able to sleep if those are the kinds of thoughts and ideas that spend their days swimming around in the viscous fluid of your psyche. Your metaphors, though oblique, all landed on the mark. The comedy, the farcical moments were equally on-point. You made me laugh one moment, and then metaphorically shit my pants the next. And there wasn't a moment that my interest or attention wavered.

And that's the crazy part. You managed to go even more balls-to-the-wall than you did in Donnie Darko which, god help us all, was your FIRST FEATURE(!?!?!), and it only ended up yielding you better results. You are the ultimate chemist filmmaker.

I have no idea how you managed to get such a mass of people behind you with the support, either financially or in spirit, that you managed to elicit, but you sir, are a lucky man. Their support paid off in spades. While I laughed at the thought of Southland Tales, in all of the absurdity that was presented to me, I lay my doubts humbly at your feet. I would follow you to the depths of hell to make a movie about tap-dancing if you told me it was going to be amazing.

You have officially made the greatest movie in the history of all mankind. My hat is off to you, sir.

Sincerely,

Sam

Cormack McCarthy's "The Road"

2008-07-15T18:47:00.000-04:00

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

My review

This book was great, and worth all of the recommendations and accolades it is getting from people. I'm a little nervous about the movie, but that's beside the point.

First, I was totally engulfed by and invested in the story from the beginning. Sometimes I have a hard time getting into books, getting into the flow, but the writing is so easy and the elements of the story so few at first that there is no struggle to latch on. McCarthy does a great job of hooking you into a story that you would probably rather not hear, because it's one that doesn't seem all that implausible. Many post-apocalyptic stories seem far-fetched and alien, but this one was different. The characters seemed too much like people I might know now, dealing with the immediate aftermath of a peril that doesn't seem like it is that far in the future, based on the way he describes life before the catastrophe.

What this book did, which no story before has ever done for me, was make me feel grateful for every single thing that I have. Every meal I am able to cook and eat, every night I sleep in my own bed, in my own apartment, all of the things that make my life so easy and let me focus on inconsequential privileges like art, friends, and careless fun. It also made me remind myself just how fragile our way of life is, and make me confront the grim reality of how the world could be in the not-so-distant future if we're not careful.

A great read.

View all my reviews.

Downfall

2008-07-02T12:09:00.002-04:00

(Spoilers)

The other night I finally watched Downfall, the story of the last 12 days of the Third Reich, based on the book of the same title (both are actually originally in German, titled "Der Untergang"). I'd been looking forward to this quite a bit, actually, after watching this video, of all things. I had no idea this movie even existed, so when I saw it I knew I had to see it. So much time gets spent on the concentration camps, the POWs, all of the mayhem and carnage of WWII, but very little mainstream cinema deals with trying to paint an ACCURATE picture of Hitler, his strengths and weaknesses, his humanity. The fact that it was taken on by an entirely German cast and crew is also great.

The film clocks in at about two hours and forty minutes. The amazing part is, at no point in that time span was I bored. Never. I was always trying to see more, trying to know more. So, the fact that I wasn't totally enthralled by this thing is pretty surprising to me. I think one of the big problems for it was that they tried to stay true to the book's wider scope. It's about the whole country at the very end of the war, not just about Hitler and his closest cabinet. As a result, their are sidepocket parallel narratives that, for me, were a total waste of time, such as the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) Peter and his family. Completely irrelevant and uninteresting to me. In fact, I almost think I could have lost Traudl Junge, his secretary, too. I wanted to see what was going on with Hitler and those immediately surrounding him: those closest to him.

Here's another problem: only 12 days. The movie starts around 1942 when Hitler hires Frau Junge to be his secretary. It immediately fast-forwards to the last 12 days of the war. So all the intense relationships that Hilter has have already long been forged, and all we watch is the aftermath of the decline as these people finally see the end and most of them commit suicide. While the events are often startling, you feel no compassion for these characters. This may be a surprising thing to even want to feel for them given that we're talking about the top Nazis. But since we're dealing with a film that is NOT a documentary (and maybe even if we were), I think we need to find something in these people to at least empathize with, which makes their beliefs and downfall that much more gripping and visceral. Granted, there are plenty of emotional and sympathetic moments between characters, but it is at a point where they have already decided their feelings for one another. It is basically watching people unravel, which has its merits, but allows for a lot of distancing. It is a real skill to create a film about a villain, and make that villain somehow worthy of sympathy, but this is not really something that happened here.

Of course, the film has its merits. For one, the sense of claustrophobia is palpable, as a great deal of the film takes place within Hitler's bunker. The space is small, the lights flicker from time to time with the falling of heavy artillery, and the camera is often hand-held. The cinematography is great, too. And I think each actor inhabited his or her character quite well. They were very visibly affected (scenes of note: Frau Goebbels giving her children poison, Mr. Goebbels confiding for a moment his intense unhappiness about being sent away by the Führer, and crying about it, any of Hitler's outbursts, the two Hitlerjugend suicides).

The problems that I've laid out are not, I believe, problems in the eyes of the makers. After watching the making-of documentary I have come to realize that they had no desire to just talk about Hilter, no desire to make him a sympathetic or tragic figure. They wanted to make him REAL and ACCURATE, but not sympathetic, I don't think. And these other, seemingly superfluous narratives were also important to them, because I can only assume they were in the book. However, in my opinion, if they were able to hold my attention seemingly quite easily for almost three hours, that time could have been slightly better spent.

Say Anything...

2008-06-27T23:35:00.004-04:00

Let's put aside for a moment my great appreciation for John Cusack and Peter Gabriel, and the fact that Ione Skye looks like my fabulous friend Kristy Koopman. I just watched Say Anything... for the first time (yeah, I know, thanks), and this movie is unbelievable. Is it an amazing romantic movie? Yes. But the best part is that it's not a traditional one. Granted, it steps in a couple of the mud-puddles that others have, and perhaps the irony is that it may have set up those puddles to begin with, but this is a romantic film of honesty.

One thing that immediately struck me, once it got past it's starry-eyed first-love butterflies is the clarity to their conversations. The way that they deal with their problems is really rather extraordinary. The way that the two protagonists in most romantic comedies get over their issues is always terribly superficial, and often involves some outside source coming in at the last minute to save the day, or perhaps some simple moment of courage that sets everything right.

The beauty of Say Anything... is that it doesn't all work out. Romantic films like to parade themselves as windows of truth into the way romance can really happen, if we believe enough. And while this one might not be the posterchild for that mantra, it does something extraordinary. It tests our patience, and it reminds us that we don't always win. Everything doesn't always go "to plan."

The fact that the film ends with Diane's father incarcerated is a big choice. But there is an even bigger choice - the last shot of the film. If this is a spoiler for you, I'm sorry, but you, like me, have had just shy of twenty years to see this one so I'm going to spoil away. The final shot, of the young couple on a plane to England, fearfully awaiting the ding, which will come "any second now," that means everything is OK. That last shot lasts 23 seconds. Yes, it doesn't take a degree in much of anything to figure out that this shot is about anticipation, and puts us in their shoes. But it's twenty-three seconds. While that's not much for some (my favorite director is Apitchatpong Weerasethakul, for crissakes), that is a pretty bold move for a popular romantic comedy. The shot is completely static, and the frame contains virtually no movement and only one line of dialog. This is fabulous.

I have the tendency to talk things to death, to analyze things, and it feels crude and almost inhumane for me to try to theorize a late-80's romantic comedy, so I won't keep going any further than I have. But I will say this; this movie is a classic for a reason. Yes, it has some thrills, but it deals with the realities of a young relationship in a very mature and realistic way. There are always some movie-magic moments in those relationships, and then there are the moments of painful honesty where we don't know how to deal with the thing that we have to deal with. There is no such thing as a total happy ending. As Diane says, "good things always happen with bad things." You don't get to have your cake and eat it too. And at the end of it all, sometimes we just have to wait longer than we'd like for the "ding" sound that means everything is OK.

The Sky is Falling, but where will it hit?

2008-06-26T18:46:00.004-04:00

I'm reading "Yes, the Sky Really is Falling," the speech Mark Gill gave to the LAFF almost a week ago. In it, he discusses the very real approach of a heavy death-toll in the indie film community. The film-making community in general, perhaps, but especially the indies. I agree with a lot of what he says, but of course like anyone of firm opinion, I also disagree with some of his points.

One particular thing that he says is, "the digital revolution is here, and boy does it suck." Well, I disagree with you, Mark. Here's the thing: the digital revolution is a DEMOCRATIZING process (which Mark points out). What this means is, thus, everyone gets a turn. The problem isn't that the revolution sucks, it's that it points out how much more sucky material there is wanting to be, or being, made. It's highlighting all the stupid and uninventive people. Those people have always existed, it just didn't used to be that easy for them to make movies, and to submit those movies to film festivals. That's why Sundance sucked.

The problem here, I think, is that we need a new form of filtering. YouTube, bless it's feeble, racist, childish heart, has a great model for this: number of views, star rating, and viral sharing. People are really, REALLY good at only watching good stuff on YouTube, because a lot of the parsing has already been done. And then they just open up the blog they read, or their e-mail inbox, and the best stuff is right there waiting for them. Maybe the rules and the JUDGING need to be a little more stringent at Sundance. Or maybe it needs to be a more democratic decision who gets IN. Why not push forward the submission deadline, then let everyone who submitted (hell, maybe set up a membership process where any members can do it) vote on what films get in. Yeah, they'll vote for their film, but they'll also vote for the other films they actually LIKE.

OK, maybe it's a bad idea, because maybe people won't want to sit through films twice. Maybe they will. The point is that we need a new model all across the board as the digital revolution pokes its slobbery head out. We're seeing this necessity not just in the film festivals, but everywhere: the big movies, the music industry, computer software, everyone is feeling the crunch. Because when all this stuff is available for free, you can criminalize it all you want, but it's still going to be free and people love free stuff. So, the RIAA and MPAA and all the record labels and software companies need a new business model, a new plan to make a profit off of ALLOWING their digital stuff to be free. I will return to my old argument, if you have something infinitely reproduceable for FREE, then you don't have a commodity, and there is no such thing as supply and demand anymore.

Likewise, if anyone can pick up a video camera and get a free copy of iMovie, or hell, even a free copy of Final Cut Studio for crissakes, then you need a NEW PLAN for how you figure out who's making good stuff.

Also, Gill says: "if you decide to make a movie budgeted under $10 million on your own tomorrow, you have a 99.9% chance of failure."

Well, I'll go back to what I said before. The money trail ran out, folks. Wall Street stopped paying Hollywood, and the 14-year-old next door with the dreams of "porno and Grand Theft Auto" can see any movie he damn well pleases for zero cash, just the cost of his Mom buying FiOS.

Gill says, and I firmly agree, that there is basically no money to be made in movie making anymore, except for people on the very top tier of the ladder (and these people, he says, will continue to see a profit). Or at least for right now.

He then argues that what needs to happen is all the bad movies and bad movie-makers will suffocate each other. There will be a drastic decrease in production, and in the amount that those in production will make. But there will ALWAYS be a movie-going community, as there will always be a movie-making community. What will simply happen is we will revert to the way it used to be, where only the good stuff got through.

Now, a lot of times the arguments that I made before come off sounding as socialistic when I start spouting off about them. And to fair degree, I have a socialist streak in me. However, here's something to ponder: The Canadian Government has financial support specifically for filmmakers. The American Government does not. The American Government doesn't really give much money to anything. Except the Army and Other Countries. But, if the socio-economic infrastructure of entertainment consumption shifts largely to a free method of distribution(this excludes cinema-going and concert attendance, which will continue because people love to see stuff BIG), then I believe there will [have to] be government subsidies for the creation of this kind of art. Realizing the necessity for this consumption, and hopefully a shift away from funding international conflict, will result in government sponsorship, essentially, of the arts. What happens is that people end up paying circularly, as we always have, but through a larger circle. Rather than paying the distributors directly for the product, we will be paying the government, who will pay the filmmakers, who will create, and who will distribute their work to the public for free, who will consume it and end up paying back to the government. We do this all the time. It's called taxes.

Ultimately, this concept of a bottom line is where people are getting tripped up, and it's the reason for a lot of my disagreements with other things Gill has to say (in a speech that I think is absolutely fantastic, spot-on, and necessary to read). While I agree that films should be globally watchable and appreciable, should be memorable, and should be somehow provocative, I think that likewise films can and should be specific to a generation, or to a place, and should take their time. They do not need to be explosive, or easily condensible other than into cliché phrases like "meditative" that automatically, and immediately, result in the loss of the message. Human experience will always be exactly that. And because of that, it is possible for it to transcend all borders. It's why we watch Soviet cinema, or films from the 3rd world. There is always a story to be told. The bottom line, which I think is also Mr. Gill's bottom line, is that we should simply strive for greatness. Get great performances from actors. Make images that are beautiful, not necessarily because they're perfectly lit for 35mm, but because the framing is good, or because we're looking at something important, or because we're being forced to NOT look at something that we want to see, and we ask "Why?" You can make a beautiful movie on a cellphone, and that challenge is STILL being posed to anyone (take a hike, Spike Lee). If we strive to make good cinema (and we will never know what "good" is until we see it), we will have fulfilled our duty. It is now our responsibility to determine how to find the good work being made, reward its makers, and provide the means for them to continue to do so, however that may be.

NYC Waterfalls

2008-06-26T10:56:00.003-04:00

Whether the rain currently falling on Brooklyn and New York is an effort to praise or to challenge them, the NYC Waterfalls open today. Olafur Eliasson, one of my favorite contemporary artists, has constructed five waterfalls which cascade infinitely along the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the most exciting of which (to me) is the one underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

If you're going to be in New York this summer (and if you're not, you should probably come check this out because all of Eliasson's large work is historical), come check out the waterfalls. There are many vantage points, and there is a (free?) boat tour to show you around.

Learn more about the waterfalls here. Although a word of caution, the website sucks a little.

UPDATE:

So, it turns out that all of the waterfalls except the Brooklyn Bridge one suck BIG TIME. I looked at photos on the web and have begun reading the reviews on the blogs, and it turns out that Eliasson really phoned this sucker in. As I say, I'm holding out hope that the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall will not totally suck balls because it's the only one that actually looks like it's built into its surroundings, rather than "rainy scaffolding."

Neave Television

2008-06-24T19:27:00.002-04:00

It's slogan is "telly without content," but Neave Television is anything but.

When you start watching, there's no telling where along its programming you will begin, but Neave takes you on a hilarious ride through a variety of spoofs, funny B-movie clips, various internet-based content, and other stuff. Some of it is recognizable (for instance, a 2001: A Space Odyssey spoof), some of it is completely inscrutable (giant foofy-dog monster), and there's plenty in between.

What's most exciting to me about this is the fact that its "lack of content" is strikingly engaging. Because the viewer has no idea what will come next (and because most of what the viewer has probably seen already is funny), one may find oneself completely glued to the screen. For me, this was a hundred times more engaging than just about anything I catch on TV when I turn one on.

The only downside? It looks like there's only a set amount of clips. And, while it does go on for ten minutes or so, if you're like me, you'll find yourself disappointed when you see a clip you've already seen.

This plays brilliant host to commentary on both TV and internet content, and does nothing short of entertain along the way.

Where the Hell is Matt?

2008-06-24T00:16:00.001-04:00

I like talking. I'm good at it. You've noticed that if you read this thing. And, as much as I really want to talk about this video, and how awesome, but also super important, it is, I'm just going to let the thing speak for itself.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Sigur Rós

2008-06-21T22:08:00.004-04:00

Frustrated that I woke up early the other day for the fall tour dates ticket presale and didn't get a damn thing, I started poking around the Sigur sites. Also, I found a poster today reminding me that their new album is coming out on the 23rd!

What I discovered when I got to SigurRos.com is that you can already listen to the album, streaming, for free!! I'm doing that right now. So far, I have to say, this is a real transformation for Sigur Rós. This metamorphosis was evident in gobbledigook, whose energy was as young and vibrant as the actors in its video.

This light, youthful abandon carries into the second track, and it becomes clear that Sigur Rós is not just about the long, dramatic epic anymore. They are also capable of calling in quick songs that pack a flowery punch to the ears. In and out.

Track three is a quiet ballad, soft and sweet. If Jónsi didn't have such a distinctly sweet voice, you would easily forget that for three tracks you've been listening to the band that brought you albums like Ágætis byrjun.

These tunes are almost pop. ALMOST. There is still a quiet sense of importance, of the impending arrival of something great, something bigger than us.

Then comes track five. As it begins, "festival" is cavernous and echoing, the song's lyrics remind one of "e-bow" from (), as though the original track had been stripped down and sung by Jónsi alone in the dark. The song serves as a reminder that the somber tones that have made the band the tearjerker that it is are still incredibly relevant to the band. By the end, the sound is big and bold, pompous and seemingly in fanfare. Hoorah! So beautiful.

The choir and strings on track seven are delightful and cinematic, and still somehow Sigur Rós. Yet another track that proves just how flexible this band really is.

On "All Right," the last track, Jónsi sports English lyrics. Almost every Sigur Rós song to date has been in Icelandic, the exception being all of (), the lyrics of which were all in the made-up language of Hopelandic. But don't get your hopes up about finally being able to understand the words in a Sigur Rós song. Despite the vocals being featured, the words are surprisingly indistinguishable. They bleed into the song like dye in fabric, taking their time to fill the space. And while that means losing definite form and content, it also means a beautiful layer that operates just the same as the vocals always have. This track is maudlin, sober, like a funeral march - a fitting end, perhaps, for the end of the album. It ends silently and sparsely, sneaking out the back door before you can realize it's gone.

Overall, the album is pretty great. It lacks some of the things that have made me adore Sigur Rós, but provides new ones. This band is extraordinary and sensational, and they have begun to sweep the music world anew of late. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

Also, if you finish listening to the stream of the whole album, you get lots of fun behind-the-scenes video clips to enjoy as well.

Mumblecore I

2008-06-19T22:01:00.004-04:00

I've been starting to immerse myself in the world of "mumblecore," a contemporary American film movement fronted by, among others, Andrew Bujalski, the Duplass brothers, and Joe Swanberg, and I have to say, I'm rather elated by it.

Now, not every moment of this stuff is great. In fact, sometimes it's hard to watch. But it's only because it reminds me so much of myself - my own boredom, my own anxieties and lack of direction. It is the stuff of my life. In particular, tonight I watched Mutual Appreciation, and when the credits came on, I had a huge grin on my face.

Bujalski, himself a rather awkward fellow (or at least he plays one in this and Funny Ha Ha, the other of his I've seen), somehow manages to have an extraordinary knack for dialog. The most impressive part of all is that this dialog, for all its natural presentation and realistic flow, is largely scripted. This is a phenomenal feat in and of itself. Throw in the fact that he uses non-actors (Justin Rice is the lead singer of Brooklyn band Bishop Allen, Bill Morrison is the experimental filmmaker behind the awesomely gorgeous Decasia, and others) and his films are an absolute wonder.

Mutual Appreciation manages to tap into the real conflicts of day-to-day life without the fanfare that often accompanies the popularized indie flick. No one is crying, there are no grand gestures. Everything is very well-contained within the canon of realistic poses. These performances seem so vividly real, and so easy to relate to, that you almost hate Bujalski for making these people so real. And at the end of the film, you don't even realize you've been taken for a ride. Like life, the thing seems to simply be one big plateau. But then you realize you've developed attachments, and you have your own motives, your own desires for the future of the characters and their relationships.

One thing that makes Mutual Appreciation really exciting is its lo-fi, but 16mm, picture. This truly embodies the Cassavettes style, and makes Bujalski most worthy of the mumblecore syno-moniker "Slackavettes." What I found so hard to relate to in Cassavettes, though, somehow becomes my raison d'etre in Bujalski - people talking. Obviously the talking heads approach is not a new one, nor is it specific to these kinds of film movements. The mumblecore predecessors, like Richard Linklater, have mastered this talent as well. But somehow, the awkward charm in Andrew Bujalski's films, embedded in a real desire to portray the culture of which I am a part, is something truly magical. And at the end of both of his films that I've seen thus far, I have laughed. Not because of the moment, but because of my moment after the last moment. His films are, in short, endearing.

As I say, I've been on quite the kick. So far, of the "mumblecore" movement, I've seen:

The Puffy Chair - The Duplass Brothers
Funny Ha Ha - Andrew Bujalski
Mutual Appreciation - Andrew Bujalski
Kissing on the Mouth - Joe Swanberg
Young American Bodies - an internet series by Joe Swanberg

And, as a bonus for me, I'll tell you that you can see me in a single frame of the Bishop Allen music video for Click Click Click Click, which they shot just outside my apartment here in Williamsburg. I'm at the 1:44 mark in the white t-shirt, trimmed beard and hair. Woot!

Sound of Ebay

2008-06-11T19:50:00.003-04:00

I like to share things, relatively personal things, with you when I can. I don't mean personal stuff like when I lose my virginity (soon!) or how many eggs I like in my omelet. I mean like stuff I make. Or stuff similar to that. It can be tough to do though, since I don't really have webspace of my own just yet. Nowhere to host stuff, ya dig.

I didn't exactly MAKE this, but it was made for/about ME. The folks over at The Sound of eBay have a super fascinating tool that turns your eBay user data (all statistical stuff, not like your credit card number or something) into a musical sensation. So even if you're not musical, now you've got a song that's sort of by you. Take it on the road!

Here's mine.

George W. Bush - Articles of Impeachment

2008-06-10T11:13:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich presented to the House Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush. The articles, totaling 35, were presented largely uninterrupted. You can watch the beginning of his address here (with plenty of other videos to choose from at the end of it):

The question that I wish to pose is the following: Is it too little too late?

I would argue that justice is justice, no matter when served. This sends a positive message to both the people of the United States of America and the citizens of the world that we wish to enact change. We are ready for change. Furthermore, impeachment of the President would prevent him from enacting any kind of scenario wherein he could impose martial law and procure and indefinite termination of his stay in office, in violation of the two consecutive terms limit to the office of the Presidency.

On the other hand, one might argue that this is nothing more than a charade, and political theater. Being so close to Bush's departure from office, it will not truly hasten the process of regime change, but rather is a half-hearted attempt at appeasing and pandering to the masses who feel long-overdue for this kind of action.

What do you think? I am curious to hear how other people feel about this.

Oldy and a Newy

2008-06-08T13:00:00.004-04:00

OK so it's been a little while since I just posted links like a blombie (blog zombie), and I'm pretty glad about it. But I have two links I feel like sharing with you right now, and then hopefully in the next couple of days I'll have a review of the following:

"Playing the Building" by David Byrne
The Telectroscope

In the meantime:

First, I wanted to share (in the words of Austin Eustice) an Olde but a Sam Goode: The always fuzzy and sometimes creepy A Softer World. Kristy Koopman introduced me to this one ages ago, and I just rediscovered its majesty. I linked you to page 1, so all you gotta do is keep clicking "next" until your eyes bleed from the amazingness of their photos and captions.

Also, just found out about my friend Odessa's Website. It's under construction right now, so you can only see some of the older stuff. It's all drawings and stuff, plus a link to her blog, where she talks about food and stuffs. It's all cool so check it. Out.

UPDATE:

Also, I forgot to mention that Rooftop Films started their summer programming this weekend! If you live in New York City and like movies, rooftops, and music, you HAVE to go to at least one event. Perhaps Fourth of July!

Mister Lonely. Seen it!

2008-06-03T22:18:00.004-04:00

Well, I finally got myself out to see Mister Lonely this evening at the IFC Center. Even after seeing Harmony Korine talk about the movie, and watching clips and the trailer, I still had no idea what to expect with this thing. One descriptor I've read about this film is "dream-like." And while that word gets thrown around a lot, I also think that it's incredibly useful here.

Two separate parallel narratives are the subject matter of the film - in one, Werner Herzog plays a priest living in a small village in Panama, and while doing a food-drop with a few of his nuns, one of the nuns inadvertently falls out of the plane. As she falls, she prays to God for the ability to not fall, but fly. Or, at least, land unharmed. Miraculously, she indeed lands unharmed. The other narrative focuses on a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna), who indeed goes by the name Michael, living in Paris. He befriends a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton), who takes him to a commune of impersonators that includes the likes of Abe Lincoln, the Pope, and Marilyn's husband Charlie Chaplain and their daughter Shirley Temple (to name a few).

First, the performances. For me, the best performance comes from Samantha Morton. With the exception of her first few moments, every word out of her mouth rings brazenly true. Her emotion is raw, and she feels nothing short of consistently present. She packed the most emotional punch for me as a viewer. However, no one really put in a "bad" performance. Some of them were a bit two-dimensional, but everyone was very certain of his or her character. Everyone was in it to win it, and that definitely includes Werner Herzog. My only complaint about Herzog's performance is that by the end it feels a bit like he is parodying his own character, not taking the role seriously.

As for the film itself: I swung very wildly during this one. On the one hand, there are some moments so pure and gorgeous (if occasionally painful or heavy) that they are poster-children for the transcendent power of film. On the other hand, there are cheap moments shooting for cheap laughs, and moments that strive for greatness but can't quite make it. Those good moments, though, feel truly effortless as good film often does. And the music selection is absolutely flawless. Moody, occasionally funny, and always splendid, the music did nothing short of bolster the film very well.

Overall, it's a decent one. One thing that I was afraid of was that the film would be a high-budget mockery of Korine's style, and make me feel as though my time and respect had been completely squandered. And though there were moments that, had they lingered, would have made me feel that, I do not remotely regret seeing the film. I laughed, I cried, and occasionally was unimpressed. Not a bad showing for someone as unpredictable as Harmony Korine.

Murakami/LV commercial

2008-06-02T09:34:00.003-04:00

I have to say, although I'm a little unhappy about the context of this creation (a Louis Vuitton commercial... blech. I can't really be surprised though. These two have been butt-buddies for a little while now), I am still super excited about it. It's beautiful, fun, decidedly Japanese, and ultimately sentimental. So, enjoy.

Flashing Lights... III

2008-05-30T12:17:00.002-04:00

Really? Another one? OK K-dawg.

While video number three is, thankfully, better than number two (if you missed number two, here's a quick recap: all photos, gratuitous "sexy," and rape). A return to the element of mystery, some fantastic camera work. But seriously, why is Kanye putting out MULTIPLE VIDEOS for this song? Yeah, it's a good song, Kanye, we get it. Nothing is going to remotely compare to the excitement that the first one generated - short, sweet, out of nowhere, slightly self-effacing/tongue-in-cheek. When that thing came out, I was glued from start to finish, and when the song ended early, I was wide-eyed with "Dang" on my lips. Now I'm just kind of bored.

Tag Galaxy

2008-05-29T12:08:00.003-04:00

From Photojojo:

"Finding photos on the internet is like being a tiny spacecraft adrift in a vast, starry galaxy. How will you ever find what you’re looking for in that cosmos of tags?

What you need, weary traveler, is a guide."

Well, I think they've found a really perfect one.

Welcome to Tag Galaxy. A beautifully, but simply animated tool to help whittle the gigantic ocean we call the Flickr Pool down into a tiny puddle with only the photos you're looking for. Navigate galaxies to specific planets and their satellites until finally you land on just the right celestial body of images. Boom! Done.

Kind of makes me want to play Katamari Damacy...

Gobbledigook

2008-05-28T22:50:00.005-04:00

There are two things I've been recently rather excited about: Sigur Rós and Ryan McGinley. And those two things just made sweet sweet love and had a baby. It's name is Gobbledigook.

In a delicious, supermarket-cheese-table-style sample of the new record, Sigur Rós has made available the audio and music video for the new single, "Gobbledigook." The song and video are VERY noteworthy for several reasons (other than the obvious, which is that they are awesome). First, this marks a distinct change in the song style of Sigur Rós, whose lackadaisical, contemplative melodies could best be described as sweet, heartrending lullabies. Where once tranquility was a dominant effect (if not a dose of melancholy), reckless, youthful abandon has taken its place. And the video follows suit. Traditionally, SR videos have been rife with slow motion, and cuts that take their sweet time. And while a lot of the green-toned color temperature remains from that style, this new video is light on its feet with rapid cuts, and motion that is never slower than a-little-faster-than-reality.

Also, of course, the video is exciting because it is inspired by Ryan McGinley's work, in particular the recent show he had at Team Gallery. These photos, and thus the video, share the same youthful abandon that this new style of song comes in. It is particularly exciting to feel as though these photos have come to life.

In a way, this marks a step in the same direction for both Sigur Rós AND McGinley. Looking at McGinley's photos, one gets the impression of watching someone at play in slow motion. The subjects in some cases are so vivacious and energetic, that even the still frame seems to beg to move. On the other side of the same coin, SR videos feel so slow and magnificent, each frame perfect, that they seem to almost freeze in time and become brilliant still images. Add to that similar color tones, and an interest in youth, and it starts to become apparent why these artists have come together to MOVE FAST together.

This song (which is available for free download at the Sigur Rós website) bears a lot of similarity to the Animal Collective, and it has indeed been drawing that comparison. True, the beat reminds one of the pseudo-tribal rhythm of "The Purple Bottle" (off of "Feels"), and the playfully almost childlike vocals seem indelibly referential as well. But what, I think, gives Sigur Rós some cred in this case is how disparate this sound is from where they've been only recently. Context is the key word here.

All in all, I'm really thrilled about this video. I'm also thrilled that the band is continuing in its path of making things exceedingly free and easy to access on the internet, and in high quality! They are helping to pave the way toward massively free and outstanding-grade media.

Enjoy the video! And, is it me, or is Jónsi channeling Ziggy Stardust with that makeup?

2001. Brando. Neely? Awesome.

2008-05-26T00:31:00.001-04:00

Flashing Lights... II

2008-05-24T17:34:00.003-04:00

How do you go from this:

to this:

?

I mean, seriously. The first video was unbelievable. Everyone was totally surprised by it. Such an amazing concept, beautifully shot. Then, you get this second video: terrible concept (oh, yeah, it's SUCH an amazing idea to watch a girl virtually naked get dressed, go out, then get raped, while Kanye chills out with some random girl in some strange room, all touchin' her and watching her dance), not all that original to do it in stills. And what the hell is this thing saying about rape?

Here are my two specific problems with the inclusion of the rape scene: First of all, the black-and-white inserts. If you'll recall, earlier in the video these B+W cutaways were meant to glamorize - they were pinup poses, hyper-sexualized for the camera. The fact that the same style is then incorporated for the rape sequence seems to imply some kind of glamor, or at least SEXUALITY to the rape. The B+W shots during her rape compare it to her sexiness getting dressed. Uncool.

Secondly, all that happens to this girl in the video is the following: She wakes up, has a cigarette and a mimosa, makes breakfast, and then tries on clothes for a while. When she presumably picks the right outfit, she goes out dancing and getting drunk. She walks home in the dark and gets raped. There are only two significant events in this timeline: she gets dressed, she gets raped. The getting dressed is significant because we spend the most time with it. The rape is significant for obvious reasons. I can't help but think of the old adage that girls are "asking for it" because of the way they dress...

Now, is this video trying to imply that when we objectify the woman at the beginning by viewing her as a sex object, we are committing a form of rape? While this is not a horrible argument, and an absurdly old one, if it is Kanye's (or whomever directed it) intent, it is completely misguided. It includes Kanye looking cool as he likes to do, which immediately discounts any serious intent. Also, the woman hams it up for the camera, which makes her complicit (eye contact, people). In fact, there is nothing about the video that directly portrays objectification as a negative thing at all. If anything, it is heralded.

The bottom line? The new video sucks. And it's completely insensitive.

Hilter going to Burning Man

2008-05-21T22:38:00.003-04:00

This video is unglaublich (unbelievable). It's terrifying, and yet simultaneously hysterical.

I saw a LOT of photography yesterday and have a lot to say about it. That should come tomorrow or so.

Slowdays

2008-05-14T19:03:00.003-04:00

If you've been keeping up with the 'copter in the past couple of weeks, you've noticed it's been pretty slim pickins. Things have been rather hectic for me with work and my personal life, and what few things I've wanted to post about I just haven't had the time for. I want to check in though, so here are a couple of quick check-ins from the art world.

- Olafur Eliasson / WACK! -

In order to get myself pumped up for Eliasson's New York City Waterfalls this summer, I went to see his first American retrospective at P.S. 1 in Long Island City, Queens, entitled "Take Your Time." (There is also an exhibit at MoMA that I hope to catch) It was a delight to see his photographic work in person, and partake in the joys of his early, simple models. Also, I got to see "Beauty" for the second time, this time more intimately. If you have a chance, check it out. Also, check out the WACK! exhibition if it's still up. While I found a lot of it to be contrived (ironically, most of it probably spurred the kind of feminist art that has led me to feel that it is contrived at all), there was some really good stuff in there, including a relic of Marina Abramovic's "Rhythm 0."

- Cai Guo-Qiang -

Guo-Qiang's "I Want to Believe" at the Guggenheim is a STELLAR arrangement. I went for his exciting new piece "Inopportune - Stage One," but left with a thorough appreciation for his entire body of work. This includes life-sized packs of wolves, a bamboo raft ride, and the extraordinary new method of "painting" with gunpowder. While I went on Friday evening for "pay what you want," this exhibit is well worth paying full entrance price. If you haven't yet, SEE IT.

- The Day There Was No News -

What an exciting little video. I wish this thing were twice as long as it is. It's surreal. On the one hand, it seems to point out how two-dimensional, fictitious, and superficial the television news medium is. On the other hand, when considered with the title, this video has a startling sense of calm to it, that seems to tap into what we might feel if there were actually a day where nothing bad happened and there was nothing to report.

Young American Bodies

2008-05-09T21:18:00.003-04:00

I've just finished watching the two seasons (so far) of Young American Bodies, a short-form Internet TV show by Joe Swanberg (director of Kissing on the Mouth, LOL, and others).

I'm so excited about this show. It's engaging, it's low budget, the acting (while not decidedly dramatic) is very realistic. It is the perfect, honest show about sex. Every character has a flaw, no one is "good" or "bad." It just kind of feels like life.

While not perfect by any means, the show does a great job of proving that it is possible to make enjoyable, engaging media with virtually no money, that it is not necessary to adhere to Hollywood standards, that we have reached a point that cheap media is so ubiquitous that we accept simple sound and image recording. Our minds don't need the pristine work of Hollywood, they just go straight for the content. This is HUGE. The internet is becoming an increasingly relevant arena for burgeoning, free media, and it is a great pleasure to see that some people are taking it upon themselves to create media worth watching, not just more Television.

Bill Henson

2008-05-08T21:45:00.003-04:00

I've just discovered the work of Australian Photographer Bill Henson. I was directed to his Paris Opera series, but have begun perusing his other works, which are positively stunning. His use of light is haunting in its expression of only the most necessary details, and in a vague sense reminds me of my personal favorite Gregory Crewdson. The difference here, though, is that Henson is incredibly tangible, visceral. Where Crewdson sculpts and toils and slaves, Henson seems to catch human beings and scenery at their most natural, their most raw. There is something unrestrained about it. His engagement in light and dark, dirty and clean, and any other binary spectres one might be wont to exhume, is spectacular.

200 Comics in 12 Hours

2008-04-28T14:54:00.002-04:00

Louisa has shown me something hilarious: 200 comics done over the course of 12 (discontinuous) hours by Nedroid, via Cracked.

One I like:

Towelhead

2008-04-28T12:02:00.003-04:00

First things first. I'm a HUGE Alan Ball fan. Six Feet Under is my favorite show of all time, and American Beauty is an astounding film. So, I'm maybe a little biased.

Be that as it may, the trailer for Towelhead (formerly called Nothing is Private) has me confused about the maelstrom of hell that this film has gotten from critics who have indicated their desire to bludgeon Alan Ball to death, not to mention the film.

I mean, the trailer looks pretty decent. This doesn't look like totally typical Alan Ball fodder (OK, so the adult male seducing the young girl reeks a little of American Beauty, but still). It seems way more fast-paced and less visually sparse with lighting. I don't know. All I know is that I intend to see it.

Ultimate Reality

2008-04-23T21:13:00.003-04:00

Words escape me tonight. I know that you know that's pretty unfathomable, because alas I not only like to talk, I like to use lots of words when I do it. But Jimmy Joe Roche and Dan Deacon have changed that, and tonight I will be silent. I let their work speak for them. I need only say that whether you are a fan of Schwarzenegger or not, your mind will be sufficiently blown if you watch all six parts of this thing.

May I present you with Chapters 1-6 of 40-minute-epic Ultimate Reality. (Watch it as soon as you can. It's only up for a week, and I don't know how long it's been up. Then again, you could always buy it on DVD.)

Internet Privacy Rights victory

2008-04-22T17:55:00.003-04:00

Today is one of those rare days when I get to sit in my underwear and actually feel PRIDE in my home state of New Jersey. The NJ Supreme Court ruled that internet surfers can expect a reasonable degree of privacy on the internet, and that in order to get users' information, law enforcement agents need a grand jury warrant.

Hooray!

"to hold a future body so close to one's own"

2008-04-22T12:01:00.009-04:00

I went to college with experimental film/video maker Evan Meaney, whose work has continually surprised and inspired me. His most recent endeavors have been contained in the large body of work entitled "Ceibas," which is an exploration of myth: the myth of the Ceiba tree, as well as the myth of digital video. In the series, Meaney has been exploring the infrastructure of digital video, and the ways in which it breaks down both naturally and forcibly by hacking the hexadecimal and ASCII coding. His images are stunning and visceral despite often feeling incredibly passive, which is a testament to Meaney as both a maker and an editor. The work is also largely devoid of text (minus "prologue – How Mayan Lovers Might Find the Next Life" (2007)), which has previously been a signature of his work.

The newest installation in the Ceibas cycle is "to hold a future body so close to one's own," an online-gallery-based work that seeks to explore the passage of time. Time degrades all things, and it is no secret that digital media are vulnerable to this decay. However, where previously this decay and glitching has been transparent, written off just as simply as hairs or dust on a film print, here the decay is not only forced, it is the focus. These video portraits of 27 people have been dutifully hacked, but the differences between them are astounding.

This difference is possible because each video was originally compressed with a different video codec. What Meaney brings out in this simple, face-to-face examination is how startlingly differently each codec handles the synthesis of digital imagery through the web of pixelation. While different film stocks have always rendered different styles of images, they have all maintained the same basic physical infrastructure of silver hallide crystals on a celluloid emulsion. However, what Meaney makes clear is that the underlying structures of digital codecs are not subtle in their differences, and it is far from inconsequential what codec one uses. The result is staggering. What is equally exciting is that some codecs that might not be preferable initially to those concerned with as much image fidelity as possible become the ones that yield the most starkly beautiful decay, reminding the viewer that things are never as they seem, and of an overwhelming sense of transience.

Also, Meaney's choice to use portraits of people, rather than any kind of stagnant scene or simple color backdrop, is integral. Besides the obvious metaphor that "all people are different," the use of different faces becomes integral to the advancement of the Ceibas myth exploration. The subjects of these portraits become endeared, and the forced-decay of their visages invokes the lament of past lovers, lost to the sands of time and the breakdown of memory. Thought of in this light, the work yields startlingly fruitful emotional territory that rests complimetarily against its more somber predecessors of the series. As Meaney thinks of his codecs and decayed videos as children, so too do the subjects become our own wards, to whose faces we feel a sense of responsibility.

Evan Meaney's choices in exhibition method are crucial. The reason it exists on the internet rather than in a physical gallery, Meaney says, is that "these works wish to inhabit screens; as many as they can." And he has made good on this promise by including downloadable versions of every single clip for mobile devices. Which is part of the reason why this work is so important. One of today's most crucial discourses is happening between the old powers and the new, the copyright and the copyleft. The internet allows all digital media to be infinitely available to every person on the planet, which is a harrowing prospect to some. But others in the new generation understand that the desire to possess and control properties (intellectual or otherwise) is passé and unfashionable. The new face of distribution is limitless, and "to hold a future body" is a recognition of this fact.

Since its inception, digital video has largely been accepted as a transparent medium due to its pervasiveness in society and internet culture, its availability to the masses with terrifying ease. Its foundation, its structure, however, has hardly been explored or addressed in any forum outside of the technical community. While many past works have sought to utilize and exploit the medium for its lo-fi feel, the realism that it falsely professes due to its faster frame rate, and other reasons, no one has gone to the lengths that Meaney has in deconstructing the medium into its parts like an atom-smashing particle physicist. And, in doing so, he has revealed the medium to be a much more vibrant and beautiful one than previously believed. It is this previous lack of exploration that makes Meaney's work so timely and necessary.

Ultimately, this work is a confrontation. It is a confrontation with faces, a confrontation with history, and a confrontation with a thoroughly, and now revealed to be unjustly unexplored medium. And ultimately, it poses a question: What does "archival" really mean, and who will wait for us until we, too, are gone?

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

2008-04-22T11:25:00.004-04:00

Saw this one a few nights ago. What a treat! This movie takes its cue from the standard break up, meet someone new who's so much better for you when you weren't trying to meet anyone, but it adds its own flavor. The Apatow-buddy supporting players add some great comedic moments (Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill doing some legwork). Jason Segel carries his weight, as well. He is hilariously awkward, executes the deadpan stuff perfectly, and the chemistry between he and Mila Kunis is surprisingly genuine.

Despite the fact that it looks like a pretty standard romantic comedy, I feel like Nicholas Stoller, Judd Apatow and Segel were trying to do something new. The first time I realized this was in the beginning breakup scene, which includes THREE SHOTS, albeit brief, of Segel's junk. Seeing this movie in the suburbs of New Jersey, where NO ONE expects to see dick on screen, made these moments even more hilarious. The audience was shocked, maybe even a little repulsed, but I think they still found it hilarious (though I could hear murmurs of old people asking why they kept showing his penis). And they made sure they got one more full frontal on Segel before the end.

Also, the moments between the main character Peter Bretter and ex Sarah Marshall are startlingly real. They talk about genuine things related to their prior relationship in a very adult, uncinematic way. These moments are combined with personal flashbacks to moments that illustrate a feeling they express, or directly counter something that they express. These flashbacks are not handled in the typical way: no sound effect with a fade to white, or some kind of transition, just hard cuts, employing some good old Soviet montage, and putting a little faith in the intelligence of the audience. And, after the flashbacks, there were no violent head-shakes trying to clear away the thoughts, or any other acknowledgments that what was just seen was a flashback. It just continues on, and we see the looks on the characters' faces in a new light. The audience does the work, here, which is a pleasure to see.

All throughout, discussion of sex is very frank. There is no holding back of profanity, no indirect reference (other than a line where Peter's step-brother says "You don't need to put your P in some girl's V," and Peter says, "No, I need to B my L on some girl's T's). When promiscuous new boyfriend to Sarah Marshall Aldous Snow advises a stranger on good sex, he makes no effort to avoid talking about Deep Penetration and Stimulating the Clitoris.

Basically, it looks like the ensemble came together to put a real and comedic twist on a tried-and-true genre, and I think it paid off in spades. While it's not the funniest movie I've seen in a while, it beats out plenty of others. It maintained my attention the whole way through, had me laughing, and I came away feeling some genuine affection for the Mila Kunis/Jason Segel couple.

Oh, and extra points for using Jason Bateman in a clip during the credits.

Earth Day

2008-04-21T16:46:00.000-04:00

Hell yeah!! Earth Day never felt so goooood!

New UNIQLO Line/Campaign

2008-04-21T16:16:00.010-04:00

Wandering the streets of this fair city today, I discovered a very fun new campaign for UNIQLO.

In honor of the arrival of spring, UNIQLO has released its new UT (UNIQLO T-shirt) line featuring work by well-known artists, photographers, etc. What caught my eye about the campaign were the photos of Chloe Sevigny. I had to do a double take to make sure it was her, but it certainly is. While some of the photos simply splotlight the attractive models, many are pretty funny in their absurdity; Sevigny's and her partner in crime Tadanobu Asano's poses and expressions are often hilarious or awkward, all wrapped up in the always-taken-with-a-grain-of-salt style of fashion photography. And they all pop nicely against the plain grey gradient backdrop.

The photographs themselves are taken by Dan Jackson (not to be confused with one of my favorite contemporary painters, Daniel Jackson). I went to his site, and I have to say from what little I've seen, I think his work is terrible. It's uninteresting, kitschy, and seems largely unconcerned with any kind of intelligent discourse. But, he's obviously done something right to land the UNIQLO campaign, and I like what he did with it, so I guess that says something.

All in all, I'm psyched about this campaign. I love UNIQLO, I think the photos are fun, and it's great exposure for Asano, as well as Sevigny, who has proven time and again the versatility of her look and her capabilities as an actress and as a model.

Recount

2008-04-17T12:41:00.002-04:00

Here's something interesting to put in your pipe.

We all remember the 2000 election. We all remember how much it sucked. And we all lament about it daily when we remind ourselves that George W. Bush is still the god damned president of this shithole of a country. So I'm curious to see what HBO's done with this real event in its dramatization that seems to be helmed by one of my favorite male actors, Kevin Spacey.

But what I find really curious is that this is an event that happened less than eight years ago. EIGHT YEARS. The only fictionalized films about more immediately real historical events are the ones they did about September 11th, 2001's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

We've ushered in this bizarre age, where we think about history as it's happening. It used to be that people looked back on history in film, at past events. Now, we're talking about the shit that's still happening. And technology is the same way. Technology is evolving so fast that it's updating by the day! We're in the middle of a bizarre compression wave where everything is this sort of instantaneous fulfillment or analysis. There's no buffer zone anymore.

Before you know it, we'll be talking about the future before it happens.

Pinhole Camera

2008-04-17T11:00:00.002-04:00

A pinhole camera is a very simple device. You poke a very small pinhole into the outside of some light-safe object, sometimes round and sometimes flat-backed. Inside, you place film, with a cover over the hole. Then, close the case, open the hole to expose the film, and cover the hole again. Then process the film!

This works on a simple principle. Narrow, small holes will function as a lens by inverting light and then projecting it forward. Even old keyholes do this! Because the hole is so small, it functions as a very small aperture, allowing for maximum depth of field so that almost everything will be in focus. As a result, it works best in very bright conditions. Otherwise, you would need extremely long exposures.

This property of small holes was first exploited in the Camera Obscura (which is where the name "camera" comes from.) Camera means "room" and obscura means "dark." So, a camera obscura is a "dark room." Even a small camera that you might hold in your hand is still a "camera obscura." It's just too small for you to fit in it!

OK. So, now that I've explained that, hopefully you're excited about the possibility of making one of these suckers yourself! A pinhole camera, that is. Well, Photojojo has supplied a few super cool designs for free pinhole cameras! OK, the thing does require materials which will somehow cost you something, but the idea and designs won't cost you a cent!

Make Pinhole Pictures! Then, find the right Flickr Group to post your magnificent images.

Noise-Rock vs....

2008-04-16T23:00:00.005-04:00

OK, I'd like to take a moment to talk about Noise-rock of any kind. This is a genre that really, really confuses me. My introduction to noise-rock occurred about two years ago not by being introduced to the music itself, but by being introduced to Kip.

Kip's head was in the right place - art, film, and music, across the board he had good taste. Kip was a sweetheart, too. True, he lived a bit on an island that could make him a bit difficult to access. But he was nice. Kip had a noise-rock band in Syracuse whose name had something to do with Skeletons and Closets. Kip told me stories about throwing around large sheets of metal to make noise, and the gashes it cut in him and others. Injuries in general, he informed me, were commonplace when his Skeletons and Closets namesake band performed. This gave Kip a weird street-cred that didn't really seem all that earned, and yet he had it.

Since then, my experiences of noise-rock have been few and far between. But when I watched this video of Ptv live performance by Health, a noise-punk band, I felt like I wanted to try to "talk it out:"

Watching this makes me think two things:

1) This is ridiculous for me, as a spectator, in the pejorative sense.
2) This reminds me of jambands, where the disparity between the experience of producing the music and listening to it seems massive.

Now, I can appreciate what's happening here. There's something exhilarating and important about reductionism, not in the sense of tonality or rhythm or anything like that, but in the reduction of the self - the stripping away of the ego and superego. Noise-rock seems clearly driven toward exposing a raw sense of self through the exploration of sound as it comes out of the body, in a feral way. As Dr. Arthur Janov will certainly vouch, there is a therapeutic benefit to accessing deep, primal sounds and noises. Others, too, would agree that there's plenty to be gotten out of a combination of childish and animalistic freedoms of behavior. And I think it's something everyone should consider.

Also, on an intellectual level, I get it. Music sometimes seems to have hit a wall, and there's the desire to break through the wall. Rock 'n' roll, punk, noise. These were all primal desires to break through the wall of staleness. To do something new. To appeal to the inner flame of innovation against stasis. So I get it there, too.

But who wants to watch this? I mean that not sarcastically. I mean, obviously people want to watch these kinds of bands perform because otherwise there would be no bands, much less bands playing on Pitchfork TV. But why not just do this stuff yourself? It seems that all the thrashing around and screaming that the crowd might be doing are so close to what the band is doing, that it's kind of just like an orgy.

Maybe therein lies the rub. The counter-point could be that like with an orgy, where one could choose to just have sex alone or with one other person but chooses to have it with many partners, the orgiastic primalism of noise-rock concerts beg the throngs of the masses to achieve something that can't be achieved just thrashing and screaming at home.

And hell, this is actually kind of pretty to listen to (also Health):

Thoughts?

Horseballs

2008-04-14T15:05:00.001-04:00

How can anyone be so blissfully ignorant? This video is positively infectious. It's even adorable. And its about horseballs.

Jens

2008-04-14T14:54:00.001-04:00

This is an old find, and yet, three to four months in the bowels of the internet haven't rendered Jens Lekman a dollop less charming, adorable, or delightful.

#SPLIT - Jens Lekman - Shirin
by lablogotheque

Kanye Kar-Wai

2008-04-14T11:20:00.002-04:00

OK, so I stole the title of my post from BSLS, but it's so right on that I had to.

In yet another superduper move from the Kanye team, "Flashing Lights" a make-over. I've already blogged about how awesome the original video is, but this one kicks things up a notch. Combining the visuals of Wong Kar-Wai's film 2046, and the song by Kanye, the video below is a sensational blend of styles and culture. And there are plenty more videos in a similar vein.

BOOM.

2008-04-14T10:53:00.004-04:00

The place is 54th St., just west of 10th Ave., and right next door to The Colbert Report's studio. It is a small, but elegant, theater called Ars Nova.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the closing night performance of Boom, a show I'd been eagerly looking forward to seeing since it opened a month or so ago. This was one of those rare cases of judging a book by its cover, and its cover alone. We've all made those impulsive purchases because we like how something looks, and we all know that sometimes those purchases pay off in spades.

This was one of those times.

I went alone, which was not a bad thing in my mind. I was eager to see how my hunches were faring these days, and was relieved that I didn't have to be concerned about whether my company was having a good time. The theater was small, but nice, with a dynamic light design to keep me mildly interested for the half hour or more before the show began. The curtain was a brazen red.

With no fanfare, the "narrator" walked down the aisle and began the performance. She made a little bit of noise on a drum, accompanied by quirky facial gestures and a rigid posture. A cheap laugh, perhaps, but the audience seemed to appreciate it (though I was skeptical).

When the curtain was pulled back, it revealed the scene that would remain the milieu for the duration - a meek laboratory with cabinetry, a futon, a small countertop, a table, and a fish aquarium with four fish swimming within it.

The plot is simple. According to the site:

"In Peter Sinn Nachtreib’s BOOM, something is about to explode and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. When Jo answers Jules’ casual- encounters ad seeking ‘intensely significant coupling’, she has no idea what she is in for. Stuck in his makeshift lab-turned-shelter and surrounded by cabinets full of bourbon, a lifetime supply of tampons and only a tank of fish for company, they’re in for one hell of a blind date."

Jo answers Jules's craigslist "casual encounters" ad for, among other things, "intense coupling."

To add a bit of my own detailed information: Jules is a homosexual biologist who has calculated the imminent arrival of a comet that will wipe out all of civilization. Jo is a twenty-two-year-old college girl studying journalism and looking for a story of genuine hope that doesn't include an array of restricted topics such as the homeless, the disabled, etc. So she has answered Jules's ad in hopes that it is in the fleeting moments of random sexual passion that she will find that hope.

I'll summarize so I can get to the meat: yes, the two lock themselves in. Yes Jo is pissed. Yes, the comet does indeed land and destroy all of civilization and most life on earth. Yes, the two manage to help propagate life on earth (but no, not in the way you think).

This play was fantastic and entertaining, despite the premise being so ludicrous (every time I re-read the description online, I got slightly more skeptical.) It doesn't seem like it would make for good drama, but it does. There are actually two narratives running at once: Jules and Jo, but also the slowly unfurling story of the quirky, passionate narrator herself. It turns out this show is actually an exhibit in the far future that shows how life came to (continue to) exist on Earth, and this narrator is the one who is in charge of the display. Her story contributes a very interesting element of self-awareness, and her passion yields surprisingly fruitful emotional territory.

To return a moment to Jules and Jo... It is a well-worn structure, at its heart. A man and a woman, who hate each other from the outset (well, minus when Jo still thinks Jules is straight and that he wants to have sex with her) suddenly come to appreciate and love each other despite all odds, or rather as a result of them. The two reveal insecurities and vulnerabilities to one another despite their inclinations, and when their perspectives finally come about face, it is a glorious moment. There are a precious few minutes where they actually get to relish in their feelings for one another before their plot comes to its exciting, dramatic denoument. But it is magical, dear readers. Make no mistake.

What makes this show really beautiful is the narrator's desperate, noble desire to save this "show," a show of which she has been orchestrator since its inception, but which her superiors have deemed to be ineffectual and expendable. "Tonight is the last night I get to do this," she says with great conviction and lament.

Boom is a curiosity of fits and starts. For a while, when the story of Jo and Jules reaches some kind of head, it is frozen in time by the narrator so that she can tell a joke, or some kind of story. There are times when these interruptions are a nuisance, but only just enough to make one realize how much one is invested in the main story. By the end, this woman's interjections do not freeze the main narrative, but rather run tandem to and coincide with it - meld with it. The two become one story. The emotional peaks and intensities of the two collide and compliment each other: two narratives separated by massive amounts of time, one commenting on the other, but together creating a whole larger than the sum of its parts. On several occasions I found myself teary-eyed by its profundity.

While I am always thrown off by theater acting at first (the strangeness of the reality that I am watching performances, and that they know they are performing, and that we mutually recognize that we're there at a specific moment for each other, always puts me in my head, whereas film tends to convince me that I am a voyeur looking upon an already-documented event), I was able to settle in and accept the peculiarities that I don't always like about the style. Each actor gave his or her role the fervor required to make a believable character. No one hesitated or held back, and I believe that as a result, the show is a success. Such a bizarre performance could easily be gimmicky, slapstick, or otherwise falsified, but enough risk was taken that the show was not relegated to such half-witted atrocities.

Another huge success of Boom is its execution of climax through the cunning exploitation of effects. The crashing of the comet is brilliantly invoked through relatively simple means. Gradually, the light outside the door gets brighter and brighter. Then, the room goes absolutely silent, and the lights go out. In the tension of this moment comes the ever-so-slightly-delayed "crash," and light landing on a cascade of smoke pouring from the ceiling. Nothing is visible on stage. When the lights come back on, the set is in total disarray. The characters lay unconscious on the floor, the shelves have all come somewhat loose from the walls and opened, spilling out contents. The lights are out save for two lights running on a backup battery. It is a stellar use of relatively simple toys and tricks, running on a small budget that creates all the magnitude of a giant rock hitting the surface of the Earth. Like the scene in Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited," wherein Adrien Brody and the boy he tries to save are pummeled under the surface of the water, or in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" when the helicopter crashes, the impact is visceral and startling: enhanced, surprisingly, by the lack of sound.

Likewise, the final scene when the door is opened at last is also bolstered by effects. A blinding light, the rise in the volume of everything, the particles blowing in from outside, and the urgency of the characters' love for each other and need to leave all come together brilliantly to enhance the ultimate climax of the entire play. No special effects needed, just a decent light and good acting.

As any good work of literature, film, or theater does, the play reminded me of the beauty of storytelling (in much the same way that "Paris, Je T'aime" did for me with filmmaking only a few weeks ago) and acting. The actors were not simply acting, they were truly invested in what they were doing. When they returned for curtain call, the lead actress was crying. It was closing night, and she had given it everything. It was clear that she was attached to this project, those people, that character. And I found, when the lights came on, and everyone was leaving, that I, too, was sad. The source of the emotion was a sudden sense of loss. I had grown attached to these characters, even if they were a little over the top, and the story, even if it was a little outlandish. I was stunned by the fact that something that, in pieces, looks nothing but comical, was able to come together in such a real, vibrant, and stunning show of what it means to be human, to be alive. It tapped into something very real, and very necessary. It succeeded in being a good drama.

Magic doesn't just happen in the movies.

BOOM starred:
Megan Ferguson - "Jo"
Lucas Near-Verbrugghe - "Jules"
Susan Wands - "Barbara" ("narrator")

Written by:
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

Directed by:
Alex Timbers

Blindness Teaser

2008-04-14T10:21:00.000-04:00

(Sorry, I wrote this post way back on the 6th, but forgot to finish writing the draft, so it's a little late)

It is with at least a little bit of relief that I share with you, today, the teaser trailer for Fernando Mereilles's Blindness. Why it was released on MSN, I have no idea.

A few good things:

The trailer seems very concerned with the visuals, i.e. simulating some of the "white blindness" that afflicts its characters. I have hopes that they might have some extended scenes of pure white, or white with minimal detail. It has a phenomenal cast, and doesn't seem to take place in any recognizable country, which was one of the exciting and off-putting things about the book.

A few bad things:

The narration in the trailer is horrible. Affected and uninspiring, it doesn't bode well for either the content or the people it tries to appeal to. Furthermore, it is cut like a horror film. Bad choice, since it's not a horror story in the sense of the film genre.

Obviously it's just a trailer, but who likes speculating with as little information as possible more than film people

(Answer: The US Government. If you answered right, send us your UPC plus shipping and handling for a free "I <3 Freedom" mug!)

Firenze! Andiamo!

2008-04-14T10:17:00.007-04:00

My good friend Zach is in the process of visiting the beautiful land of vino, cheese, pasta, and hot hot sex: Italia. In particular, he's staying in Firenze (Florence), where I spent a good month one summer a few years back, so I took it upon myself to send him an e-mail with some suggested places to visit. Here is that e-mail, tailored slightly for the blogotron, in the event that you find yourself in Florence!

There are so many places I went in Florence, and some of them were just cafes or lunch joints, so I can't give you everything. But here's a few stuffs. It's enough to keep you busy for a couple days.

Figure 1

A) Via dei conti 5 (cinque - "ching-kwei") - my old abode. Drink it in... while you can't get into my place to see the high ceilings and beautiful stairwell, you can have a nice espresso at the corner cafe, and linger on the thought that on one side of you is my old apartment, and on the other side is the apartment of the girl with multiple piercings and tattoos who became the second girl with whom i had sex. Watch for the smartcar sportscar/convertible.

B) Head northeast only a block and you're at San Lorenzo. A lovely little church. Enjoy some lunch on its stairs, head inside for the Da Vinci museum, or walk around it on a warm afternoon and you might catch the open air market that springs up, selling cheap belts, t-shirts, sunglasses, etc. It's like Chinatown! But fewer Chinese! Also, you'll notice a large amount of African men trying to sell their own wares. You're close to Africa.

C) From there, you can head further north and a little west to the Mercato Centrale (Central Market, if you didn't pick that up). You can get anything fresh here, and it'll make you wonder why you haven't been living here your whole life. Meats, cheeses, fruits, candy, the works. I suggest coming here around lunchtime: In the back corner (Northeast corner?), there's a little stall near the lunch tables. The stall will hopefully have a long line, so you can get a feel for what's going on. When you get to the front of the queue, ask for "il panini" (the sandwich) and when he asks you if you want such-and-such on it, say, "Si." What you will receive is a godsend of a sandwich. Fresh bread piled high with meat, and slathered in an oily, pesto sort of sauce. Have a seat. Enjoy. Don't get up too quickly if you have a weak heart.

D) Head back down southeast for the Duomo. This thing is a tourist trap from hell, so bring hand grenades. I never went inside because I didn't have the patience to wait in the line. But if you're not like me, it would be worth it to head all the way to the top for a view of the entire city fit for a god. Outside on the street in front and to the right, feel free to imagine a mob that has stopped traffic, a couple of buses, and me standing on top of one chanting some kind of victory song when Firenze won a soccer game that kicked it up to a higher division that it had previously been in. Then imagine me getting sprayed in the face/eyes by a fire extinguisher as someone tries to break up the crowd.

E) By now, it is probably dinner time, so hit up Il Latini at Via dei Palchetti 6 (that ch is a hard "k" sound) for the most amazing meal of your life. Don't forget to make a reservation ahead of time, and get there early anyway. You'll be met by a crowd of people and a closed restaurant. When they finally open, hope they call your name, then head in for a five or so course meal for a fixed price. Buon Apetito.

F) After you leave Il Latini you'll be really drunk, seeing as all the wine and dessert liquor is free with your meal. Walk through this lovely little square, complete with a carousel, to feel like maybe you're in some French New Wave film (not Italian Neorealism... there's no happiness in that movement, and no night adventures, in comparison to French new wave). The warm glow will make you feel like you never want to leave.

G) If it's still open, check out the huge Gelato joint around here. There's one on Via Roma itself, and there's one on a side-street to the right (if you're coming from the south).

If you've still got the energy head back north to the Duomo's square. The moment you get out into the open space of it, hook around to your right for the obscene foreigner-friendly bar with a balcony whose name escapes me.

After a nice night's sleep,

H) Head over to the train station and buy a ticket to Viareggio for a day at the beach! Or,

Figure 2

I) Hit up the small square of vendor stalls in the old city here, where it's laid out like a grid the way god intended cities to be.

J) Then head south and enjoy the sexy view of the Ponte Vecchio. Bring some Gelato and watch the boats.

K) Once across the Ponte Vecchio, continue on the same road, which has become Via Guicciardini. When you reach the huge open space of Piazza de' Pitti and its massive stairs, climb up the stairs to the entrance of Boboli Gardens. Meander around this massive backyard all afternoon observing sculptures, greenery, and some great secluded make-out spots.

L) Head back up across the bridge, down along the Uffizi Gallery, and into the Piazza della Signoria. There's a great statue/fountain here, and it's just another great place to people-watch and enjoy the fact that you're in Florence. In the windy back-alleys to the north of that are some stores, but if memory serves me they're rather overpriced.

Figure 3

M) By now you've worked up quite a sweat and have hopefully eaten a small lunch, but it's probably about time to be thinking of dinner. So, head virtually straight north and walk past the park at Piazza dell'Indipenza. Continue northeast on Via di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria. Cross the busy road of Viale Spartaco Lavagnini. Keep heading north and slightly west along Via Fratelli Ruffini. When you hit the park, cut through it to the northwest corner and go left onto Via della Cernaia. Coming up shortly is a small pizzeria. I can't remember the name, but this place was voted to have made the best pizza pie in the WORLD only a few years back (and perhaps again since). So, there's that. Mange that down, and head back down south. Or venture north. Or east. Granted, this area of town is a bit quieter, and perhaps not as nice or maybe even not as safe. I don't really know. I doubt there's too much of a ghetto, though, so find yourself a nice bar either here or elsewhere more familiar.

Now go get drunk.

Missing Vonnegut

2008-04-10T14:55:00.002-04:00

It's tough when important, good people die. I myself began reading and loving Kurt Vonnegut only a year or so before he died. For better or worse, the guy was always true to himself. He acted like every word was a throwaway, but he meant everything he said, even if it seemed off-hand. When he died, despite the fact that I'd "known" him for a lot shorter of a time than others, I was bummed.

So my first inclination when I saw a review for "Armageddon in Retrospect" on the AV Club was to be excited with a tinge of mournfulness. It's clear that the reviewer had the same feeling when he first was aware of the book. But his review expresses the same inconsolable truth that comes when someone dies: "He'll never come back." I can't help but grimace when reviewer Zack Handlen says, "there's something uncomfortable in reading a son trying so hard to emulate his father. When Mark Vonnegut fumbles a joke early in, it's impossible not to feel that his dad would've handled it better."

Sad, but perhaps true.

If you've never read any Vonnegut, get out there and do it! My first experience with him was Cat's Cradle, and still arguably my best.

Michel and Olivier Music Video

2008-04-10T14:43:00.002-04:00

I don't have much to say about this, other than to report it. The idea is not bad, its execution is (expectedly) flawless, the song is decent, and I love New York and LA.

Team Gallery and Ippudo

2008-04-10T13:58:00.004-04:00

Yesterday had two fantastic, new experiences in it that are well worth talking about (and neither one of them was doodoo freakin' everywhere)

The first was the new Ryan McGinley show at Team Gallery. The photos are the result of a massive cross-country trip taken by McGinley with a group of models. Entitled "I Know Where the Summer Goes," (named for an old Belle and Sebastian tune) the show stays true to its name. Part fashion photography (minus the fashion... the models are all nakey), part reportage, and part portraiture/fine-art, the series is a magnificent crystallization and localization of the construct of what it means to be "young."

While the nudity in the photos lends a sexuality to it, this sexuality is kept in check by the seeming naivete and fleeting interests of the models. Whether they confront the camera's gaze or engage themselves in their surroundings, there is a consistent honesty to the models' faces that gives the illusion that the photos are all candid.

And yet none of them are. Each day, McGinley would talk at length with the models about what mood or style he aimed to capture that day. The locations are all his choosing. And yet while some images like "Question Mark," or "Highway" bear the distinct impression of staginess, the raw truths of "Ann (Windy Truck)" and "Coley (Injured)" and countless others far outweigh any reservations one might have.

The photos run the gamut in both size and style. Some come as single or dual color schemes, others are vibrant. Some are tiny, almost 4x5, and others span an entire wall. All in all, the only place that McGinley seems to fail is in his staged surrealities. The most glaring of these is "Dusk Flip Smoke Trip." This photo is a stark departure from the rest of the series, approaching a somewhat contrived fine-art approach to human form and the element of time that is so often confronted by uninspired works. And while images like "Fireworks Hysteric" occasionally reek of the same posed unnecessary special effects budget," they at least attempt poke through the veneer of youth consciousness to get at something honest and bare, and the bodies of naked women flinching in the face of sparks that, presumably, probably kind of hurt at some point, combined with the sprightly, fleeting points of fire dancing in the visual space, cannot be completely discounted.

Small miscalculations aside, "I Know Where the Summer Goes" is a fantastic approach to making static something that is inherently fleeting, in a way that is simultaneously accessible and exciting. I intend to go back for a second viewing.

------

Following my trip to Team Gallery, I met with Rose for dinner at the brand new Ramen-ya, "Ippudo." The new American location for Tokyo Ramen mogul Shigemi Kawahara, Ippudo is great from the moment you spot its facade on its otherwise thoroughly bland block of 4th Ave. The outside is beautiful, crisp, and darkly alluring, like any good Tokyo Izakaya or Ramen-ya. A blend of glass, wood, and calligraphic signage, the facade is nothing short of alluring.

When you step in, you are greeted by the traditional Japanese, "Irrashaimasse!" and a friendly staff waiting to take your name for what is already a long wait. At 6:30, when I went to put my name down, it was a one-hour-and-twenty-minute wait. And that guess turned out to only be a three minute overestimation. At the bar I had a beer (I was early, waiting for Rose, and was now realizing it would be a while before I could put food in my hungry stomach. So beer seemed the logical choice). There were only two taps - Kirin and Sapporo. But the Sapporo, when I ordered it, turned out to be shot. So I got a Kirin. Halfway through it, the bartender (a sweet young Japanese girl) told me that she'd gotten more Sapporo, and that if I wanted one, it was on her. Ah, the kindness of strangers. Rose arrived, and there was still more waiting to be done, so I eventually took the bartender up on the free beer. Not a moment after saying "I wonder if they called my name already?" did the host yell my name in a beautiful Japanese accent.

Escorted through the dark, mirrored interior by our Japanese speaking guide, Rose and I marveled as the narrow walkway opened up into what could have been the interior of a wooden hut that had been renovated by some contemporary interior designer. It had a blend of Japanese classicism and homey New York cosmopolitan freshness. The chairs we sat at were low, a bare white, more like sofas. My chair only had an armrest on the right, and Rose's only had one on the left, as if they'd taken a small Ikea sofa and cut it in half. The table was a nice, semi-finished wood, and the smell of the place was nothing short of enticing.

I asked the girls next to me what they were attempting to eat (a spicy tofu noodle bowl appetizer) and ordered one for the two of us, as well as the NY special dish, based on the Kawahara/Ippudo special blend from Tokyo. The food came out hot and in perfect installations. We were never out of something to be putting in our mouths, and likewise never overwhelmed by having too many plates at once. The dishes bore the right amount of spices and flavor, the noodles were cooked well, and despite the large serving of the main course, every morsel was eaten gladly and gratefully.

On top of everything, the service is sensational. Everyone who works there is at your service, with no concern for who your "waitor" is. When I asked one woman where the bathroom was, she told me. Another man, the one who had seated us (and who seemed to enjoy my ability to speak a little Japanese), overheard the conversation and guided me to the stairs I needed to take. At our seats, the woman who took our order was different from the man who served us was different from the woman who took our dessert order was different from the guy who took the money for the check was different from the person who gave me my change. Every one of them had a genuine smile plastered on their face, and half of them touched my shoulder gently upon any inquiry. These people are, clearly, there to help.

Nothing is perfect. The music reflected a comical understanding of what music is considered "cool" that seems to be a Japanese tradition. Rage Against the Machine and some post-pop-punk sensation were among the bands played. But, it was low enough (or the house was loud enough with the sounds of happy diners, cooks, and servers) that it wasn't remotely detractive - more a momentary novelty to be commented upon. The dessert we ordered, while elegant, was a bland concoction that combined the matcha flavor of Green Tea ice-cream and creme brulee. Each spoonful (and my God, the spoons were so tiny, they were adorable) posed the same question: "Is this good?"

However, I shouldn't be cynical or snarky. This restaurant is delicious, the environment is fantastic, and the service is excellent. And to top it all off, I walked away totally stuffed, and this fancy feast totaled only $44 dollars between the two of us!

This place has my full endorsement.

Explosions in the Sky

2008-04-09T00:56:00.005-04:00

Tonight I had the privilege of seeing Texas instrumental post-rockers Explosions in the Sky.

Wow, what a show. First of all, the guy in the band who actually says anything into the mic at all is about as sweet as the day is long (so about 24 hours worth of sweet... but packed into every word). He graciously pointed out at the beginning that it was the largest show they'd played on their own (meaning a headliner and not a festival), and when the crowd begged for an encore, he came back out to express his genuine gratitude, saying how much it meant to the whole band to have such a positive response, and that it was his regret to have to say that they wouldn't come on for said encore (for the record, they've only done like three in their entire career). You could tell he meant every word he said. Which is awesome.

As for the music... I compared it to hearing their album for the first time. When you first hear "Greet Death," for instance, opening "Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever," it's hard to express the awe you will feel if you enjoy it. It is incendiary shit. After listening to them for years, it doesn't dull down how rapturous the music is for you, but it's more familiar. But then, seeing them live, it is comparatively the same experience. This was the first time I'd ever seen them live, and every moment was nothing short of sensational. I used the word "rapturous" a moment ago in a literal sense. I would imagine that if Jesus Christ exists, and one day he returns to Earth to judge our souls in a time of both incredible suffering and incredible bliss, it would sound and feel like seeing Explosions in the Sky live. Never in my entire life have I wanted to hear something so painfully loud for so incredibly long and want to bathe myself in every decibel.

The band members themselves, you can tell, are into it. Each has his own signature move, which he does for the entire duration of the concert. Whether it be standing, leaned slightly back, with arms locked in an extended fashion, or rocking out, or looking like you intend to, on the count of three, launch your guitar into orbit using nothing but centripetal force and bliss, he does it from beginning to end. And in the last gutwrenching moments of their performance, every note on every guitar is played with arm and fist slamming. Every guy on stage looked like he wanted to KILL HIS GUITAR in the ultimate expression of an undying love, and I grinned like a fucking idiot to see it.

Frat boys and other misplaced idiots aside, their was nothing about this concert that I didn't like. There were a few minutes perhaps where I felt like it was long, or had a headache from the sheer volume and the thrashing of my head and body that I was engaged in, but at no point did I feel like I was having a bad time. All in all, it was perhaps one of the (if not THE) best concert experiences of my entire life. They played everything I wanted to hear, the concert was exactly like I'd imagined and hoped it would be except more real and even better than I could have purported, and my ears, somehow, aren't painfully ringing. If you get to see them live, you'd be a fool to turn it down.

Bad Choice, Mr. Hipster!

2008-04-08T17:46:00.003-04:00

If you moved to Williamsburg/Greenpoint twenty years ago, you weren't moving into a nice neighborhood. There was a chance you would be injured or killed on your way... anywhere. And there was nothing to look at, besides the view of Manhattan, that anyone would want to. But, if you did move out here back in the eighties, you had some CHEAP ASS RENT.

Now the condos are springing up everywhere. It's a "boom town." People live here, make art here, raise FAMILIES here, and not just the lower class. The word "gentrification" comes to mind (and conversation) often when talking about this area of Brooklyn.

However, what few people seem to understand and realize is that Williamsburg is a toxic cesspool. The air is completely unfit to breath, the soil contains oil that seeps into the home, and there's a nuclear waste facility that would kill everyone if it exploded.

Don't believe me? Watch this:

Best Game Ever

2008-04-07T17:11:00.003-04:00

If you play a sport as a kid, especially when you do it because you like it, it's easy to entertain pipe dreams of making it to the big leagues, being a super-athlete with screaming fans and big paychecks. Sometimes, just being on the field and making a big play is enough to feel like you've already made it.

Of course, it helps to have all those screaming fans, and a jumbotron with NBC sports doing the announcing. That's why Improv Everywhere decided to take it to the fields in their most recent stunt, selecting a random Little League game to make two teams worth of ten year olds feel like they're in the majors.

Improv Everywhere strikes again.

What Time is it There?

2008-04-06T18:00:00.003-04:00

I just finished watching "What Time is it There?" by Tsai Ming-Liang. As a general response, I thought the movie was pretty good. I was engaged and invested the whole way. There are a few things in particular that I am excited about in it, that I wish to discuss:

First of all, the film features stellar performances from non-actors. The woman who plays the mother in the film is the owner and operator of a small cafe in Taiwan, and has played the mother in all of Ming-Liang's films. There wasn't a single crack in the veneer of her character or performance, and her emotional moments were nothing shy of amazingly real. In particular, one scene struck me as ringing extremely true, and yet it was thoroughly simple. In the scene, she harps on a fish in a tank, finally talking to it as if it were her dead husband. Her words are few, and the emotion is exorbitantly powerful. Her simple line, "It's so hard," is heartbreaking.

Another key feature of this film is its lack of dialog. Long stints of verbal silence govern the film, regardless of what is happening. Sexual explorations, experimentations, and indiscretions, as well as eating, resetting giant clocks in city squares to the wrong time, and a chubby naked stranger in a bathroom stall holding a clock over his penis: these are all occurrences that are unaccompanied by dialog, which is stunning. What is even more stunning is that the level of engagement I had with the film was completely unimpacted by the fact that no one was talking for easily an hour, save perhaps for a line or two. This is a true testament for any filmmaker. In my own filmmaking I consistently explore things like this; how little can I show, how little can I give, how long can I look at something (Ming-Liang also features very long takes), and not lose my audience? So it is always gratifying for me to see feature films tackling the same issues, and tackling them successfully (another filmmaker who pursues these interests is my personal favorite: Apitchatpong Weerasethakul) Ming-Liang describes himself as an observer, and the actors as NOT performing. I share and respect these views which make themselves pleasurably apparent in the film

Finally, more as a point of novelty than anything else, the film features a cameo by Jean-Pierre Leaud, who plays the main character of Truffaut's "400 Blows," a film featured in "What Time is it There," becoming a point of both irony and intrigue.

Ultimately, Tsai Ming-Liang appears to display no pretensions whatsoever but, rather, appears a humble man interested in watching actors and characters live truthfully in the simple realities of the worlds he does little to create or affect. Despite the weight of the issues and concerns it tackles or addresses, the film seems light as air and, like a wisp of smoke, lifts easily when the film ends.

Ptv preview

2008-04-06T13:23:00.003-04:00

The d-bags over at Pitchfork released a behind-the-scenes "audition tape" as a preview for Ptv, as well as to test their video player. They've encouraged everyone to put the embedding code on their sites to test out to see if it works, and I wanted to oblige them. While not all that funny, the clip does poke some self-deprecating fun at Pitchfork and its elitist nonsense, which I definitely appreciate vis-a-vis my last post about their douche-baggery.

Anyway, here's the player. Let me know if you have any problems with it:

Clayton James

2008-04-04T14:53:00.003-04:00

Over at Kitsune Noir yesterday, I discovered the Tumblr blog of Clayton James Cubitt, a well-known fashion/fine art photographer. The blog is called "The Constant Siege." His blog is fairly simple - a place to put things. Words, thoughts, images, all his own. He calls it his "working notebook."

I had seen Cubitt's series "Damaged Doll," photographs of a porn star, but didn't know his name. Today I looked through the rest of the galleries section of his website called "Art" (he also has a complete other gallery of what he calls "work," which is primarily fashion-related photography) on his site. I have to say, his work is startling and immediate. I found it impossible to go through any single photo series without some kind of physical and/or emotional reaction. His portrayals of genitalia and sex acts oscillate between viscerally sexual and inquisitively disembodied. He manages to explore the female vagina with the kind of painstaking completeness of an eager, but diligent, lover, and considers no sexual interest or endeavor to be taboo or not worthy of inquisition.

His portraits are equally stark, purported purveyors of truth and meaning. Shy is clearly a foreign word to Cubitt, his camera, and the subjects that they examine together.

Pitchfork can suck it.

2008-04-04T12:58:00.003-04:00

God, Pitchfork hates freedom.

The thing about Pitchfork Media is that it is a great resource. I hear about new albums, singles, music videos, all kinds of stuff. For someone like me who's not always the best at finding blogs and alternative sites to this kind of thing, it's the perfect one-stop-shop for me.

But here's what I hate about it: Pitchfork is full of cynical hipster fascists, who are so certain that their own opinion is right that they just go balls to the wall insulting people. This is nothing new for them, alas. Their sarcasm grows more and more with each passing year, and while I have found that sometimes this yields hilarious news tidbits, headlines, and the like (making for fun reading alongside news that's important to me), it has equal potential to just plain infuriate me.

Today, Pitchfork posted about the announcement that Natalie Portman will be in an upcoming Devendra Banhart music video. I don't like Devendra or his music (although I have a greater appreciation after I saw a recent documentary on the freak-folk movement). Recently, I have come to appreciate Portman as an actress, facilitated by her performance in Closer and her small role in Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier. I believe Chevalier, along with The Darjeeling Limited, is Anderson's best work today because it is flawed. He took a chance on exploring (new) emotional territory, and tried to break out of his repetitive style, and for that he earns commendation in my book. Hotel Chevalier in particular was very exciting for me, in part due to its release on iTunes for free.

Enter Paul Thompson of Pitchfork:

[L]ate last month, Nat and Big D collaborated on a video for "Carmensita" from Devendra's three-songs-too-long-player Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. No word on just when we'll get an eyeful of these two frolicking to the strains of D's chugging cut, but, shit, it's a far better Portman + facial hair guy equation than that thing that came on before The Darjeeling Limited.

"

When I read that, I was infuriated. As I said, I'm of the opinion that Hotel Chevalier is a good film. It seems to have become a trend that slandering and debasing respectable work and people in a casual, off-hand manner is considered "funny." And, well, I don't buy it. It doesn't make someone more intelligent, more knowledgeable of a topic or field, and, with the exception of K.R., I like to think that I never insult people or work on this site unless I feel they deserve it, and back up why. Granted I am guilty of this behavior in my conversational speech, but that is only amongst friends who share similar opinions and senses of humor. Not in a massively public forum.

And let me just say, for all of the K.R. lovers out there who are so certain that I don't see the other side of things, that I do recognize that Pitchfork can (and, dare I say, should) express their opinions to the max. For one thing, it is the expression of their opinions coupled with their ability to be on top of information that got them to where they are in the first place. As someone who runs his own opinion-oriented site, yeah, I get it. But also as someone running an opinion-oriented site, I get to say: Pitchfork writers, you suck. You're full of yourselves, and completely entrenched in your indie-hipster superiority complex. If I could I'd knock you down a couple of notches, I would.

Mister Lonely

2008-04-03T10:46:00.003-04:00

If you like Harmony Korine, or even if you don't, I'm excited to find a trailer for his new film, "Mister Lonely," on Kitsune Noir today. Another bizarre film for sure... but it looks like it might be a great drama nonetheless, driven by great character acting.

Also in the vein of movies, Dave has pointed me in the direction of Hollywood Elsewhere, another opinion-oriented blog, that looks like it's coming from someone with both a lot of knowledge and a lot of access to the inner workings of Hollywood. I like some of what he has to say, and will continue to familiarize myself with his blog, and post any nice tidbits here.

Yesterday's Roundup

2008-04-02T12:42:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was an incredibly busy day for this pilot, so this morning (AFTERNOON!) is a roundup for yesterday.

- Ptv -

OH MY GOD. Less than a week left in the countdown to Pitchfork TV. Admittedly, I wasn't excited about it at all. I figured it'd be a great way to see some new music videos, nothing all that different from the Forkcast.

I have been so wrong.

The first week opens with the full length documentary about the Pixies, "loudQUIETloud," various documentations of shows, interviews, my God, who is going to have the time to WATCH this fucking thing?!?!?!?!?! I, for one, intend to just abandon all responsibilities to watch nearly full-time. Mark your calendars: April 7.

- Architecture -

Another beautiful Stumble find, this site of badass architecture needs no further introduction or description... which is lucky, because I know ZERO about architecture.

- Space Collective Gallery -

Still trying to wrap my head around what "Space Collective" is exactly... but this gallery of lots of things Space-Collective is sure to keep you busy for quite some time. Art, philosophy, design, and tons more, it's like wading through translucent mud and then deciding to put on a snorkel and stick your head under.

- M83 -

Just got their new album, which is fairly enjoyable, but seems to cop off of the previous two (similar vocal lines, story-telling clips). But regardless, I really like them because of their ability to project and propel me into a headspace that feels like I'm running away from some mecha-beast 100 years in the future.

Sorry, I don't know where I was going with that. If you like skateboarding, M83, and/or explosions, you're gonna LOVE this:

Google Strikes Again!

2008-04-01T13:03:00.002-04:00

Google is constantly making your life easier. You can spy on your neighbors, you can make calendars for other people, you can chat and e-mail at the same time, and you can search the entire internet for ANYTHING.

And now, you can render time meaningless.

Thanks to Google Custom Time, now you can send an e-mail an hour ago, a day ago, even YEARS ago! The next time somebody tells you you didn't send them that report that you owed, or you forgot their birthday, or there's NO WAY you've met before, now you can prove them wrong! Just send an e-mail and date it back to whenever you need, and tell them, "Uh uh, check your mail again!" Thanks Gmail!!

Another thing Google is good at is April Fools.

Before and After

2008-04-01T12:21:00.002-04:00

Death is a concept frequently addressed in all forms of art: in painting, skulls and other ephemeris were placed into still-lifes, film addresses both the philosophies and realities of death. Photography, too, has been no stranger to death. BoinBoing posted a beautiful, but sobering, series of photos by Walter Schels and his partner, Beate Lakotta. Accompanied by brief exerpts of interviews and summaries of the people, these photos serve as testament to the fleeting enigma that is life.

Stumble - Milk

2008-04-01T10:20:00.002-04:00

Boredom led me to the StumbleUpon site, a service I was aware of but had never really used. If you don't know how it works, you put a plug-in on your browser and hit "stumble" and you end up at a random site. End of story. But they're sites that people post to the service, and it tries to cater your stumbling to your previous tastes. But you can also just use the site to find random stuff.

Enter "Milk." If you've ever wanted to have sex with sleek design (think the last few years of Mac design), you're going to need some time alone with a tissue box on this one. The Milk is a fantastic solution to a desktop catering to your computing and badass needs.

Keep your pants on.

Video Juegos

2008-03-31T20:42:00.002-04:00

I've played this game, and it is the awesomest. You have one objective main objective, and when you reach that objective at the end of the only path you're able to follow, strange shit happens, dude.

Check check it.

Saatchi Online

2008-03-31T18:15:00.004-04:00

As an artist, it's important for me to make sure the rest of the world is seeing my work. As you know, I've already joined Flickr.

I was told today about Saatchi Online, but my exploration of the site makes me wary. It is poorly designed (i.e. bland) and the buttons to chat with those artists who are online are cheese to the max. Anyone have experience with this? I've heard a big success story with this, and the side panel on the site (if you scroll down... another huge design flaw) seems to indicate that there are many, so this is something I'll keep in mind. If you have some positive experiences with this site, please let me know!

Hypnotic Journaling

2008-03-31T18:12:00.003-04:00

I find that when I write down dreams, or thoughts, or stories in a flow-of-consciousness style, I become very relaxed, and equally focused on what I'm writing. The rest of the world seems to melt away, and the words on the page become the only real thing. Time begins to disappear as a thing to be kept track of. Sometimes I'll realize I've been writing for a full hour, and it feels like only ten minutes have gone by.

One woman is calling this "Hypnotic Journaling." There's a bit about it on Moleskinerie, which has a link to her site.

What was the last thing you wrote that you're proud of?

Three Places

2008-03-31T08:44:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, as I mentioned in the Sunday Roundup, I went to the Strand Bookstore at the corner of Broadway and 12th St. in Manhattan. Outside was a huge selection of hardcover and paperback books, all for a dollar each. Picked up three from that, including Dave Eggers's "You Shall Know Our Velocity." A steal.

The inside is beautifully packed with books. I was so overwhelmed by the amount of books I wanted to buy. I bought Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger, and a selection of Tolstoy plays.

Wringing with a headache and having been for hours, I decided against going home because it would only mean staring at a computer screen. So, I walked a couple of blocks to Wok to Walk, where I'd eaten once with my friend Zach, which is around the corner from Cinema Village. I began reading "Redemption" by Tolstoy over my curry rice with tofu, veggies, and pineapple.

After I was finished, I went to the Blackbird Cafe, a personal favorite of mine on Bedford Ave., in Brooklyn. I've only been there a few of times but I've been going more frequently lately. I was just there last week, and my friend Sarah and I sat in silence listening to mixes we'd made each other (if I can, I hope to post both the cover art and tracks that were on mine to the site here for your listening pleasure). Last night I sat and drank tea, read the rest of the Tolstoy play (which was awesome), and made small talk with my server, a very nice girl. She offered up a favorite pastry of hers, a Melomakarona. It was my first, and it was delicious (and free!!) I've vowed to go back every night that I can.

So, there you have three great new places to visit when next you're in New York City!!

Moving barns

2008-03-31T08:21:00.003-04:00

There's a fella in California who thinks he's cracked the Stonehenge question. That question, if you're not aware, is, "How the f-bomb did they make that thing by hand?!?!" No cranes, no lifts, no machinery of any kind, just pure human strength would have had to have made the glyphs, and they're several tons per stone.

But this California native is moving blocks that big (and things even bigger, like an entire barn) by hand. By himself. He's using nothing but gravity and wood, and forgotten technique. Maybe Sufjan should rewrite his song about Flint, MI to include this dude!

Weekend Roundup

2008-03-30T15:05:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been a busy week for this blogger, but while Sunday might be a day of rest for others, it is a day of catching up for me! Here are a few of the things I've stumbled upon in the recent past, an opinion or two, and hopefully in the midst of it all will be something perfect for you!

- Au Clair de la Lune -

http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/1860-Scott-Au-Clair-de-la-Lune.mp3

If you're having trouble figuring out what that sound is, let me help you: It is what is now being called the oldest recording of a human voice. According to Wikipedia, the recording by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville "was a ten-second snippet of a singer, probably a daughter of the inventor, performing the French folk song 'Au Clair de la Lune.' This phonautograph recording is now the earliest known recording of a human voice and the earliest known recording of music in existence, predating the longest surviving Edison phonographic recording of a Handel chorus, made in 1888 twenty-eight years later."

Exciting news for the worlds of both music and science! You can read about the event at these sites, among others:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23835160/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard-L%C3%A9on_Scott_de_Martinville

- The Face of CGI -

It's hard to look at this face and not feel confused. It is so lifelike in appearance, and yet so unnatural in its movement. It is, according to BoingBoing, CGI. If that's true and from start to finish, this thing was made by a computer, that's pretty exciting and creepy. The link for more information links to a site that is in Brazilian, so I can't figure out anything more than what I've said here.

The comments on the aforementioned BoingBoing post seem to share some of the incredulity that I have. But the thing is cool either way.

- Earth Hour -

Yesterday was an historic day, as the first annual "Earth Hour" took place all across the world. In recognition of the huge impact that the use of electricity has on global climate change, from the hours of eight to nine p.m. people all over the world turned off their electrical appliances and lights to call attention to the need for change. What a fantastic event! If you missed it, don't worry, because I have two bits of great news:

1) EVERY time you turn off electrical appliances, whether they're being used or not, you are helping to cut down on your environmental impact!

2) There will be another Earth Hour at the same time and date next year! The site even has a handy-dandy counter to keep you informed on how much time there is until the next one.

So keep on saving the planet, people, because we kind of don't have a choice!

- Strand -

In my search for used books in New York, I have stumbled upon Strand Bookstore, the only remaining bookstore on New York City's former "Book Row." It's 15,000 square feet of used and cheaply-new books!! I will be going there this afternoon to wallow in its excellence and to pick up a book to turn into a gift for a friend's approaching birthday.

- K.R. -

If you really keep up with things here at the 'Copter, you watched a mini battle royale this past week over remarks made about world famous lead actor from (among other films) The Matrix, K.R. In fact, March 25 saw a record 13 VIEWERS! The most ever in one day

"But wait, you just said his initials. Why, Sam, why aren't you saying his full name? Especially if he got so many more people to look at your fantastic blog?!"

Well, these are great questions. As you may have noted in the previous posts, I think his acting is funny at best, but funny in that "I'm not supposed to be funny, I'm being serious" kind of way. I love the Matrix, but in general his performances are phoned in from a parallel universe - a badass one, perhaps, but one nonetheless. What you may ALSO have noticed in the past week is that a few funny comments made about K.R.'s acting and his newest film, "S. K.," got me into some deep doodoo with the K.R. occult. It seems his minions patrol the internet 24/7 looking for bad press of any kind, even from a "nobody" like me, and shoot it down, hard (their tactics seem similar to those of Scientology, in that respect). They even went as far as posting on another site's comment board and use my site as an "example" of what could happen if that blogger didn't watch his lip (you can read his post and the dastardly comment-in-question here.)

At any rate, I've picked up a lot of flack from all this K.R. junk, and defending myself only forced more oil down my throat. So, it is the official proclamation of the IMOCOPTER blog that the name "K. R." shall never be spoken again. The ill-conceived sludge-fest that has been my comments board in past days has caused anguish and anger that is completely unnecessary. So, while I may continue to fling doodoo back at K.R. and his clearly insane followers, I will never speak his name here again, largely because this has ceased to have anything to do with the actor himself. The "K.R.-be-gone!" spell has been cast upon this fair blog!!

Photoshop Xpress

2008-03-28T11:14:00.003-04:00

Another element has been added to the Adobe periodic table: Px.

Adobe announced the beta release of Photoshop Express, a photo-editing tool that runs directly through script on the internet. The clincher? It's FREE. High School and College students can rejoice that now they can perform necessary photo adjustments without the pesky costs of buying Photoshop or the inconvenience of tracking down cracked copies of it.

To use the product, you've got to become a member of the service, which entitles you to 2GB of online storage space for your photos to be posted and publicly viewed, should you so choose. Based on reading the Terms of Use, it seems that one downside of this sharing service is that other people can link to, absorb, and print your work through the service, which is definitely a downside for artists.

While I'm excited by the ability to do photo editing online (this can be great for laziness and being abroad), I'm hesitant to join. The discussion of rights allocations is absent from the Terms of Use, and I am always hesitant about putting WORK on the internet through someone else's service. We've seen companies try to assume the rights to their users' work simply by slying it up in their Terms or EULAs. Also, this business of other people being able to save and print full-quality versions of my images is scary. Then again, it should be the same concern with sites like Flickr. I guess the difference with Flickr is that on Flickr I get to specify what kind of licensing agreement I hold to the work, and I'm not sure if you can do that on Px.

At any rate, one should perhaps ignore my fervent paranoia and check out the service, as I intend to do. I simply won't be publishing any sensitive material that I consider to be "my work."

As a final word of clarification, it would be prudent of me to note that Px is nowhere CLOSE to Photoshop CS in its ability. No masking, no layers, none of the things that make Photoshop the magnificent and omnipotent creature that it is. It's just a tool for simple fixing of the majority of photos in terms of color correction and the like.

This

2008-03-28T00:15:00.001-04:00

...is an awareness test.

The End

2008-03-26T19:26:00.002-04:00

It's been a long 24 hours or so. I'm done. This has been both infuriating and upsetting. Something that I wrote in about 30 seconds to be nothing more than amusing has resulted in so many miscommunications, flaming hit-and-runs, and wastes of everyone's time (mine and the people commenting), and that's just unnecessary.

A quote from the comments board:

"Let me give you a very simple reason all this happened:
You said this:

'(and let me be clear here, if I wasn't before: Keanu Reeves is NOT talented as an actor)'

And there are people who simply disagree, who probably also think you're a douche for stating it as if it were fact, and being unreceptive to alternate opinions."

Between my two posts and a variety of comments posted (as someone so gracefully, eloquently, and kindly pointed out, more comments than any other post has ever received on my blog), the above comment comes from the ONLY person (myself INCLUDED) who has considered this from both perspectives, without regard for who may actually be "right" about anything. And I think that it's a good place to end this fiasco. The end.

I swear to BLOG...!

2008-03-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

~~Instead of responding to the comment just left on my previous post, I thought I'd share this (slightly old) video with you instead, because it's not trite or boring; it's HILARIOUS.~~

My previous comment about Street Kings is instigating a bit of controversy, so I thought I'd briefly address the issue here (and finish this post with the video that was originally in it, when I only had one post that I was trying to sidestep because I thought it was a random bullet).

I'm hesitant to even be responding, because I have absolutely no idea the kinds of people who are commenting. Expressing positive emotion anonymously is humble, but expressing negative emotion, or just plain calling me a jackass, and doing so anonymously, is cowardly and helps no one.

That being said, I'll talk about why I am appalled by the trailer for Street Kings. First of all, I don't think that getting "good reviews" or being considered for an Oscar means anything. The Oscars are a long way away, and they are not without their fair share of swill every year. People are constantly passed up for Oscars despite giving better performances or turning out better products than the winners they butt up against. It's politics, people.

Also, I think it goes without saying that making a lot of money does not implicitly make you good at anything other than making money. I am always incredulous when people who are not talented (and let me be clear here, if I wasn't before: Keanu Reeves is NOT talented as an actor) at particular trades or skills are heralded, or well paid in those fields, when they rise above the heads of those more deserving. And I am not saying that because I *secretly* believe that I am more deserving of that money than Keanu Reeves. I'm saying it because I can think of tons of people, from nobodies in community theaters, to people working hard getting bit parts in large films, to people who deliver monster performances in the independent and international film markets, who are more deserving of the recognition, if not the money.

My opinions about the film or Keanu Reeves or ANYTHING on this website have absolutely nothing to do with who I am in terms of my successes as a person. I'm incredibly young, and it would be absurd to expect me to be a filmmaking genius recognized in any major circle. My age and lack of success does not mean I can't have intelligent thoughts about filmmaking, a specific film, or a specific actor. I think that studying film for years academically, on top of the lifetime I've spent studying them, at least entitles me to that. I'll admit that my post was facetious, sarcastic, and dry, but the opinions in it were not just my own. They are shared by many people. Intelligent people.

The film stars many people who are poor actors, or are not actors at all. The Game is a rapper. While he may have good acting chops, I have yet to see those chops. Meanwhile, I have seen several rappers (P. Diddy among them) who decide to go into acting and fall on their faces, but the swill gets made anyway because they have DRAW. Most of the actors starring in Street Kings have DRAW, not necessarily acting talent.

And as a side note, Street Kings is clearly an action film. Traditionally, action flicks are not exactly in the business of delivering powerful emotion or valuable social/cultural statement. They are in the business of giving people a lot of bang for their buck: a 72-minute adrenaline rush with lots of fast, bright, pretty pictures. And on top of that, they are popular among, but not limited to, the poorly educated people in this country. And when things are directed toward the poorly-educated and contain lines like "We are the police. We can do whatever the hell we want," I get worried. Because the police CAN'T do whatever they want, and if most of the country thinks they can (which they seem to, because we wouldn't be approaching the police state we're headed toward if they didn't), then one day we'll find ourselves in quite a pickle.

I gave the trailer the slop review and brushoff that I gave it because it has every ingredient that makes it not worth my time. Not because I'm cocky, not because I'm a "jackass," not because I am jealous of these people getting to be in SUCH A SUPER FUN MOVIE MAN I WISH I WERE IN IT BUT DANG, I'M A NOBODY. I KNOW, I'LL GIVE IT A BAD REVIEW!! Not because of any of those things. I gave it the 30 second crap acknowledgment that I gave it because I can see it will foster absolutely nothing in the people who will watch it other than a thrill and pulling down the notches of one's expectation in filmmaking and acting quality. Which is a worthless endeavor.

And if the movie is actually as bad as I think it's going to be, then I feel really, really bad for Forest Whitaker. Because he's a good actor. And good actors don't deserve to be in shitty popcorn movies once they've proven themselves to be above them.

Now, enjoy a funny video. Everyone who posted comments on the previous post about me being a jackass or a jealous nobody probably won't find this funny, or even get the reference, so they should probably just skip the video and go straight to the comments to start flaming. Here are some great names to call me.

Death of Cinema

2008-03-25T18:25:00.003-04:00

Reasons I will never ever see the movie below:

- Hearing Keanu Reeves say "We're the police. We can do whatever the hell we want," may have been the single most terrifying moment of my adult life.

- The Game

- Seeing Forest Whitaker in a role that is clearly so far beneath him that I'm surprised the script reached him at all

- Cedric the Entertainer

- Cedric the Entertainer in a red track suit

- Anyone offering Keanu Reeves money to act

- Keanu Reeves accepting money to act

- Keanu Reeves having enough money for food, from acting

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1125869268/bctid1415631237

Facts

2008-03-19T19:31:00.004-04:00

Get yo facts straight, homeys. Whatchu know about the economic collapse, and whatchu know about the history of our Iraq status?

Check it.

By a Canadian student:

Kid Does His War on Terror School Project using Porn (Clean) from Arman Noory on Vimeo.

Dolla dolla goin DOOOWWWWWWWWWN, son:

Photographer's Rights

2008-03-18T10:13:00.002-04:00

If you take photos, you need to know what your rights are. These days, the police, private owners, and people in general have become wont to tell you that you can't take pictures of stuff. They'll even try to take away your camera or film.

Now, you can know when to tell them "No."

Photojojo, a great photographer's resource site that I recently discovered, has "The Ten Legal Commandments of Photography," as well as links to complete listings of your rights vis-a-vis the law. Granted, if you tell someone "no" when they don't want to hear it, you're gonna be in a pickle. But at least you can know that the law is on your side if you want to see things through to the end, legal recourse and all.

Previous P-jo (yeah, I already made up a nickname for it. What.) posts of interest include:

How to love Polaroid film in these, its last days
Faking Cross-Processing with digital, and loving it

Videozz

2008-03-17T19:05:00.005-04:00

Today's a video day, people! I've scoured the bowels of the internetz, and found some great videos for you to enjoy.

--BigDog--

There is something unsettling about BigDog. It's not how much he weighs, it's not how much he can carry, and it's not even the fact that he's a machine. What made me feel sick to my stomach watching him move is how realistically he handles treacherous terrain, getting kicked in the side, and slipping on ice. Maybe it's the noise he makes, too, but the absurdly life-like mannerisms of this incredible machine are staggering. And of course, BigDog NEVER goes down.

--Clapton Shredzz!!--

This video from artist Santeri Ojala is hilarious. Using real footage of Eric Clapton playing a guitar solo with his band on-stage, Ojala overdubbed crappy guitar lines that are strikingly accurate in their attacks, if not in tone, so the illusion is almost completely seamless. And the result is something pretty entertaining. I laughed out loud a couple of times. Can you believe people like Clapton wouldn't want this stuff on the internet? Come on guys, you're talented and famous. Let people have a little fun with you.

--TAKE--

As Dave Burnes pointed out to me, the New York Times knows how to handle the arts, fashion, media, and other right-brained miscellanea. Recently they launched T Magazine, seemingly for that very reason. Now, T Magazine online has begun "TAKE," a series of short short films (12, to be exact) starring "Hollywood’s bright young things" that, as a whole, lay out a single narrative. "Shot by the emerging New York writer and director Brody Baker during the recent Sundance festival, these 12 improvised vignettes were conceived to be viewed sequentially. Each episode, starring a different actor, will build on the previous one." The first one stars Josh Hartnett in arguably his best minute on-screen ever. What excites me most of all (yes, even more than the Band of Horses track in the teaser/trailer) about this is that what appears to be smart, invested, quality drama has been created SPECIFICALLY for the internet. And that's no small news bit. The future is the internet, people.

TAKE - Episode 1

--Hulu--

"The future is the internet," someone wise once said. Whomever it was, they were smart. Welcome to TV on the Internet. No, it's not some Brooklyn indie-band. It's Hulu, where you can watch a bunch of your favorite shows AND movies, streaming, for free, with limited advertising interruption. What distinguish this site from Peekvid, a predecessor, are great design value and big-name advertisers, including 20th Century Fox. That's right, their shows are on there for free and they're bout it bout it. While Hulu has some holes (for instance, not much in the "Scrubs" department), there is a wide and phenomenal breadth of media available, and I don't see this thing going under anytime soon with all of the corporate backing it already has. We may very well be witnessing the beginning of free media.

HULU

--Goldfrapp--

I just got the new album from Goldfrapp, entitled "Seventh Tree," and I can't stop listening to it. Nonstop for days, this album has been playing on repeat in my computer. Apparently more mellow than their earlier stuff, Seventh Tree is a haven of honey-sweet vocals, lush soundscapes, and a heartbreaking lightness. The video for A&E, a personal favorite, is bizarre and slightly disturbing, but does not manage to detract from the heavenly vocal arrangement. And if you've got three minutes that you never want back, you can also check out the Rex The Dog

--Pitchfork.tv--

Pitchfork has been advertising the unveiling of Pitchfork.tv lately, which goes live on April 7. Promising to be a phenomenal source of indie music video splendor, there is little information available about the format, but the site sports a lovely wash. I guess we'll just have to wait a few more weeks.

Pitchfork.tv

That oughtta keep you busy.

PILLOWFIGHT!

2008-03-16T14:18:00.002-04:00

Want to watch the feathers fly and the smiles spread? Go to Union Square in Manhattan at 3pm on Saturday, March 22nd 2008 with a pillow and prepare for the greatest pillow fight of your life!

This is a yearly event that I've heard about before. Looks like some fun is there to be had. The official website:

http://www.newmindspace.com/nycpillowfight.php

Apollo Pony

2008-03-14T15:23:00.003-04:00

I had completely forgotten about this site until I was cleaning up my Bookmarks... Apollo Pony is a great, though rarely updated, site that is chock full of interesting video-based art, film, music videos, etc. Enjoy this little tidbit!

Roundup

2008-03-14T14:37:00.002-04:00

I owe apologies to 'copter readers for the lull in posts. Things in New York have been a bit hectic and I've been missing out on things like sleep and food, so it only follows that the blog has suffered. So, below are a few things I've been discovering over the past few days that I've been meaning to share with you.

--Don't Tase Me, Bro!--
I talk about civil liberties now and again on the IMOcopter, but now there's a great blog all about civil liberties violations across the country. Named for a previously-blogged video of a Tasing at University of Florida, Don't Tase Me Bro! is a compendium of the falicies that are slowly turning this country into an Orwellian shenanigan.

--FUNCLUB--
I had a lovely, random encounter with an old acquaintance from high school, and she directed me to the fantastic children's show that she and her friends have created and are pitching to PBS and other children's television programming sources. The show is called Fun Club. The music is fantastic, the show is entertaining and nostalgic, and the clothes are all-too-familiar if you live in Brooklyn, NY. Tons of fun to watch. Best of luck to the Fun Club.

--Kitsune Noir--
If you love desktop backgrounds, then have I got a treat for you. Kitsune Noir is a great site that offers up music, photography, and art in a cozy and tasteful forum. In particular, there is a section of desktop backgrounds, entitled The Desktop Wallpaper Project. Some of these patterns are astounding. So, drink it up, people, and make your drab desktop exciting to look at again, making all of your friends who come over say, "Whoa, cool desktop dude!" Which is important.

--Yelp!--
Got something to say, some opinion about a restaurant? A dentist's office? A club, or bar? Or basically anything, in any city? Well then check out YELP, a site where you and everyone else gets to review just about any place in any city, so that you can see exactly how real people feel about the place you are taking your next date, or getting your next cup of coffee, or next root canal, or... you get the picture.

Prince Rupert's Drop

2008-03-11T16:47:00.002-04:00

Physics is something that has always amazed and intrigued me. So when I see videos on the internet displaying physical properties, especially ones I didn't know about, I'm like a giddy kid at a candy shop where they make candy in front of your face. This video displays a peculiar property of glass: if you drop it in water and let it solidify, the bulbous droplet part is virtually indestructible. But if you snap off the frail little end, the thing explodes! SO cOOL!

Usual Suspects

2008-03-11T08:10:00.002-04:00

A classic film moment... this is a personal favorite of mine. Two things of note: One, the laughter is real. Benicio was fooling around with this character, who was supposed to be a bit part, and making everyone laugh during the take. The character ended up getting more screen time because he was so great with it. Two, you can't see it in this YouTube clip, but in the original cut you can see a boom mic coming in from the top.

Enjoy. NSFW if you've got speakers on.

Possessed

2008-03-10T20:38:00.003-04:00

An intriguing, short documentary about "hoarders," people who can't help but collect many possessions, "Possessed" is an anxiety-inducing document of a disorder that, in extreme cases, poses physical danger, and can even cause death. It's only twenty minutes or so; a very striking vignette. Worth your time.

I'd like to embed it, but it's better if you go to the site and read the blurb. Plus, the video would probably cross over onto the sidebar which would just look silly.

POSSESSED.

Mystery Jets

2008-03-10T20:17:00.001-04:00

OOooo, here's a fun video from Mystery Jets. Cool concept, not a bad song. Very enjoyable.

Sigur Ros

2008-03-09T14:25:00.003-04:00

I'm a little behind on this post, but it's exciting to announce that Sigur Ros has put their entire film, "Heima," on YouTube! I scrambled to get the DVD in december, but didn't even get the special edition that I wanted. Regardless of my own pettiness, now everyone gets to enjoy this film for free! Freeculture, hurrah!

Also, they had a contest called "Minn Heima," or "My Home," where people could remix and re-edit footage from the feature into their own film. Below is the a thank you from the band themselves, and the winner of the contest for best "Minn Heima."

If you've been living under a rock, then you might not be aware that Sigur Ros has made some of the most beautiful music and music videos around. Here are a couple of memorable music videos that match their music so well that sometimes you want to cry, they're so beautiful.

Sigur Rós - Glósóli

Sigur Rós - untitled #1 (vaka)

Once

2008-03-05T21:55:00.004-05:00

I had a lot of backstory going into my movie tonight, and I hadn't seen it yet.

First, a while back I can distinctly remember seeing the trailer for "Once" and being committed to seeing it. I had to see it, and I had to like it. I knew I would. It was as simple as that. But the title along the way was lost to me and I had no means of tracing it. Not that I had taken the time. I always know that these movies have a way of finding their way back to you.

This movie found its way back to me. It was nominated for an Academy Award and, against all odds (three nominations for Enchanted, for Spaghetti Monster's sake), WON.

What had struck me about the trailer was the brilliantly, instantly emotional song "Falling Slowly." I had never heard it, I simply knew it was attached to this fictionalized love story for which all music had been originally written/composed by the actors themselves. But already I felt it tug at my heartstrings. And then, at the Academy Awards, watching them perform the song, the strings were pulled harder, even despite jeers coming from my hipster friends behind me. If it was true, and it really was cheez, then I was sold on cheez for once. It was a beautiful song, sung beautifully and passionately by two normal people (who may be beautiful, but not exceptionally so).

So to position number one on my Netflix cue it went. Straight to the front, I said, apologizing to the hundreds of movies that may just have to diligently wait until I watch everything ahead of them.

And tonight, I watched it.

I can do nothing but applaud this film. The music is elegant (and after all of these crosses with "Falling Slowly" I was brought to tears by both of its appearances), and the story is well assembled. While the acting occasionally falters, I was not remotely turned off by it. My attention was held from the first note of the first song of the first minute of the film until the surprising end, an ending which left me full of emotion - not because of any kind of resolution, but because of the lack thereof. I was still full of all the things I had been feeling until that moment, they were still at the core of me, as they are with the characters in the story's conclusion: unresolved, to be dealt with in my own time in my own way and to my own recipe.

I am so delighted that this film was an amateur endeavor from start to finish, that it has received the accolades it has, and that I have gotten to see it. I recommend it for anyone. It is inappropriate for no one. There are no cheesy love scenes, no poorly written climaxes, only a few curse words, and all of the themes that make us remember what it means to be a person. All within the context of the exciting things that really, truly, do happen in our mundane lives.

I suggest watching it.

Post-Script: I will try to tell you this more often, but I love you.

DIY clothing

2008-03-05T21:38:00.002-05:00

DIY is a powerful acronym - DO IT YOURSELF.

No, this is not an angry acronym, it's a loving one. The DIY movement is alive and strong in all of us, and it fosters a community of artists, creative minds, or just the generally handy and inquisitive to create wonderful, one-of-a-kind things.

Two people I know are a part of this fantastic blob of creative phlegm, and it gives me great pleasure to share their wares with you in the hopes that you will find something magical in their work. They have spent time, money, and imagination petrol on these things with no promises of financial gain; they do it because they love to do it. If you love it, too, and want a piece of it, there's a price to satisfy the both of you.

Aki Hayden - assembled.

Michael Belcher - Belcher/Lovestruck Kitty

The Eternal Children

2008-03-04T18:55:00.003-05:00

Just watched a documentary on YouTube about the sort of freak folk movement... specifically, it interviews and follows Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), CoCoRosie, Devendra Banhart, and Vashti Bunyan (considered the Matriarch of the "freak folk" movement). I have to say it seemed to clarify a lot of everyone - both the people and their music. It gave an emotional floor to Devendra and Antony that I had previously not known. Music from both of them, in particular, has found no place to sit in me, but I find myself now very much in tune with Antony and eager to hear more of his music.

As for the documentary itself, it's subtle and largely passive. I didn't feel as though anyone was digging around trying to find something except during a couple of the interviews. For the most part, it just felt like I was watching things unfold from a single vantage point. At times I wanted to stop watching, others I wanted to press forward. It is neither good nor bad. It just seems to "be." Let me know what you think. Below, all six parts of "The Eternal Children" by David Kleijwegt:

Scattered Images

2008-03-03T22:24:00.001-05:00

I found a great photoset on Flickr. These photos all appear to be constructed out of many smaller photos, almost seamlessly. Is this perhaps only a digital effect, or is someone out there actually diligent and thickheaded enough to make something so time consuming and visually satisfying?

Surveillance and Camouflage

2008-03-02T19:04:00.004-05:00

A lot of today's world is about hiding, about covering up, and about trying to find the things that people hide and cover up. Some people believe they have a right to privacy, others believe that privacy means lack of safety.

Desiree Palmen is doing some very appealing work about camouflage, about hiding in spaces. Hiding in private spaces, and hiding in public. Her work, much of which involves people wearing full-body clothing that is painted to look like exactly what is behind the subject, is thoroughly interesting as well as enjoyable to marvel at, and can be found here. It is my firm opinion that you should look at it all.

DVNO

2008-03-02T14:10:00.002-05:00

Don't know what it stands for, but as far as I'm concerned it stands for AWESOME:

Justice - DVNO

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Can you figure out all of the logos they're referencing?

Twin Peaks

2008-02-28T23:53:00.003-05:00

Oh, David Lynch. I could kiss you.

I just finished watching, for the second time (and despite my fury at the release of an entire BOX SET IMMEDIATELY AFTER the release of the long-awaited Season II DVD), Twin Peaks. I am confounded once more by the fact that in the not so distant past, a prominent television broadcast company funded this show. And rightfully so! It is brilliant. Masterfully crafted, deftly acted (albeit sometimes "canny" was what they were going for).

The last episode, in particular, is startling. The last twenty minutes or so have some truly terrifying imagery - it doesn't hold back. Characters screaming with blanked out eyes, little people dancing backwards and laughing maniacally, Doppelgangers soul stealing, screaming, strobe lighting at crucial moments to simultaneously show and obscure, and all done modestly. The images are stark and undoctored. I would have screamed if I hadn't been smiling, out of my unadulterated love for this show and this man. This show is, IMO, one of the top three television shows ever created (treated HBO as "TV," despite their claims to the contrary).

Analytics

2008-02-28T18:39:00.003-05:00

I'm very excited today. Dedicated readers of both this site and The Dead Chinchilla know that I often refer to the "one reader" that I have. Well, in recent days it has come to my attention that I may have a couple more than that. This is, of course, delightful news. So, like the self-centered, egotistical, narcissist (and self-deprecator!) that I am, I decided I'd love to know exactly everything that I can about these visitors, including their numbers, where they've come from/how they managed to find me (I thought I had found such a good hiding spot. Dang!), and things they might like. Capitalism tells me that these things are important! And when Capitalism speaks, I listen!

How am I going to do all of these things, you ask? Google Analytics.

I don't know much about this tool, but if it turns up anything good (or anything bad!) I promise to let you know. Thanks, as always, for reading! Now I'm going to know everything about you, so that I can be a better friend.

<3

Free stuffs

2008-02-27T16:07:00.005-05:00

Hey dudes and dudettes. The world is a terrible place for creativity these days. Intellectual Property laws are tough (especially when you consider that "Intellectual Property" makes no sense). If you're like me, you believe the future is FREE!! Since a popular music download site was taken down back in October, I have found myself completely devoid of new music to listen to, with rare exception. Today by happenstance I stumbled across some free music by Benn Jordan (The Flashbulbs), and I wanted to share it with you! The music is very moody and contemplative, with a rock feel, and it's free! If you are going to download it, please read this official release from Benn Jordan and his record label.

Other great links related to free culture:

Just for the Love of it - a site that promotes freeconomy, the concept of giving people services and knowledge in exchange for the same

Gutenberg - an online resource for audiobooks and text transcriptions of tons of popular titles

Internet Archive - tons and tons of free media to sample and observe

Creative Commons - a new kind of copyright, this website has links to a lot of free stuff, everything from art to software licenses!

Know another good site? Post it in the comments!! Share the love of free.

Garfield

2008-02-27T00:00:00.002-05:00

If you're like me, you enjoy a good Garfield comic every now and again. Usually when you're pooping. And, like, 30 Garfield comics...

At any rate, Ronald has hooked me up with a pretty funny site where they Photoshopped Garfield out of a bunch of panels to create a more hysterical (in both senses of the word) version of the comic. Pretty danged funny.

Sick

2008-02-26T23:45:00.002-05:00

That's how I was today. I had a horrible day of work, and it was compounded by the fact that I was so sick I felt a little drunk.

Needless to say, when I got home with achy joints and a chill from the (February?!) rain, I needed some chicken soup. There were two problems:

1) I had no chicken
2) I had no idea how to make chicken soup.

The first could not be helped. I am completely vegetarian at home now... the only meats I'm consuming are when I go out places, and usually only if the food costs midrange or higher because then I can at least convince myself that it's decent meat.

But, I had bullion and a ton of vegetables!! So I knew that something could be done.

I checked out a site called Startcooking.com, and found these lovely instructions on making the stuff. They were simple instructions, easy to follow, and while I wasn't following it by the book, I couldn't have made the soup without it! So I hope you'll take a minute the next time it's chilly and you're feeling a little under the weather to check out the directions and make yourself some Chicken Noodle Soup! In My Opinion, it's just what the doctor ordered.

All cheez aside, I have heard and read about the burgeoning health benefit discoveries made about chicken soup, particularly something in the fact that the chicken is boiled.

TSA GANGSTAZ

2008-02-26T08:45:00.001-05:00

Just TRY to get that water bottle through, mothafucka.

Metacontext

2008-02-24T17:36:00.003-05:00

For days now, I've been thinking about an internet curiosity that I wanted to share with you, because hey, you've got nothing better to do right? Right.

The thing I want to talk about is links. Not just any links, but unannounced links. You've no doubt noticed on my site, as I'm sure you have on others, that sometimes I'll make a word a link without indicating to you in the sentence that it is a link (i.e., click "here.") For instance, a few posts ago (Curiosities), I made the actor Kevin Corrigan's name be a link, without telling you I'd do so. The sentence made no reference to the fact that one word was a link to something else. This has been popularized by Wikipedia.

What I find so interesting about this is that it is a whole new way of communication. Imagine this:

You and I are sitting in a cafe in Brooklyn. Why not, right? We're young, we're hip, we like tea and coffee. So we're in this cafe. I'm talking to you about the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Your mind immediately recalls the meaning of "Tiananmen Square," a place in China about which you learned in high school. I make mention of the recent film entitled Summer Palace. You haven't seen this film. You haven't even heard of it. But here's the exciting part: Your brain gives you the option of learning about it immediately, before the conversation continues any further. Sounds like some Matrix shit, right? But that's EXACTLY the way blogs are structured when they have these metalinks inscribed in the text. It is a way of allowing you to instantaneously find out what a word or person or concept is before you proceed any further.

Now, you're probably saying, "Well, that's not new. Anytime I read an article, if I don't know what something is, I can look it up before I keep reading." And I'd say yes, that's true. But the fact is that you have to look elsewhere for that information. It is not instantaneously accessible to you. That can be a deterrent for people. But regardless of whether it is a deterrent or not, it lacks the excitement of immediacy.

I could make every single word in a post be a link to something else. I could write only one sentence of seven words, and link to something with each word. If you were to click each link before continuing on, it would take you forever to read that sentence. In a way, that's something our brains are doing all of the time. Constantly referencing what each word means to us - emotionally, mentally, physically, the whole deal. It's why mention of a single person's name can evoke intense emotion, distraction, excitement, anything. If and when we find a way to merge man with machine (as some argue is the next step of human evolution), we could one day expect this instantaneous learning, this burying of "links" within human speech and thought, to be a commonplace aspect of life. Wouldn't that be exciting?

That's what I've been thinking about. Do with it what you will.

Higgs

2008-02-24T17:26:00.002-05:00

What do pretty pictures, humongous machines, and slightly witty reportage writing have in common?

They are the subject of a very neat article by National Geographic concerning the world's brand new particle accelerator. What are the Europeans (nay, all physicists) looking for with this giant, 17-mile-wide ring underground, smashing bits of invisible stuff against other bits of invisible stuff? A little thing that the press likes to call "The God Particle." Also known as the Higgs Particle, it is believed that this particle is the base particle, the single ingredient out of which the entire universe is constructed.

If your interest is piqued, then I suggest you read this article, which does a fantastic job of explaining how all this junk works, while throwing in a couple of snickery jokes here and there. Worth your time to read, like I say, if you're into that kind of thing.

Subways, Guns, and Kevlar (PROTEST)

2008-02-24T11:42:00.003-05:00

Today, I was reading on BoingBoing about Amtrack's decision to employ random bag checks on its trains, something I knew about from being in Penn Station in Manhattan and hearing the announcements. I read through all of the comments, and responded to the last one, with which I disagreed. You can read the entire post and comments here. In my comment (my handle is "realisateur"), I made reference to a particular article from the New York Times that cites the patrol teams that will begin roaming the NYC subways in March with automatic rifles, Kevlar and bullet-resistant vests, and bomb sniffing dogs. This move is terrifying. There is nothing scarier than having a man six feet in front of you fully prepared for war, with gun in hand, and he believes he's already in the warzone, so to speak.

My opinions about this are stated a bit more clearly in my comment on the BB website, so I'm going to include that comment at the end of this post. However, I am issuing a formal invitation to the citizens of New York City to come protest with me on Friday, February 29th, against this fear-monger tactic, the most recent in a long line of them on behalf of the government. I am sick of being told I am living in a terror state. If you or anyone you know is, too, then I would like you/them to join me in exercising our right to tell everyone that we're fed up. You may contact me by e-mail or post here, and I will let you know the details. If you have any suggestions for time, day, or method, I'm more than open to those as well.

Below, my comment on BoingBoing:

MattyD-

I'd like to disagree with you here, on several of your points. First of all, I think New Yorkers and those in nearby areas DO wring their hands in fear. In particular, people who already have anxieties about traveling, be it by plane or by train, are at this point paranoid. The government has not done a good job of responding to 9-11, it has done a good job of implementing measures that have a) the appearance of security and b) the only real value of inconveniencing, making "brown" people afraid, and now even making any civilian scared of crossing police or other law enforcement, for fear of their Constitutional rights being suspended.

In response to the government maybe not having done enough, I would like to point out a New York Times article from February 2nd:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/nyregion/02machinegun.html?_r=1&bl&&st=cse&sq=new+york+automatic+rifles&scp=1&oref=slogin

Putting officers on all subway trains, all day long, who are carrying military-grade automatic rifles and bomb dogs only increases security so much. Anyone who wants to come down and blow up the subway can still do it, because they're not afraid of dying. What this does in a larger sense is inspire fear in all those people riding the subway. For instance, I have the right to refuse the search of my bag by the police. However, if the man who is asking me to open my bag has a machine gun, I am going to be disinclined to refuse his request. In fact, I think I might not want to refuse ANY request! And that fear is a real and immoral one.

As for your citation of the loved-ones in London and Madrid, I agree that those people have suffered an unconscionable and irreconcilable loss. However, loss of life never justifies excessive ANYTHING. If we asked them what they thought, their perspective would be severely colored by their experience. This is the same kind of problem we run into when we talk about the Death Penalty and whether it should still exist (and while I'm bringing out that can of worms for reference, I'm NOT opening it. So just put it back in the cupboard, anyone reading this! And I say that with a smile). As for your insistence on pointing out that those attacks were done by "Muslim (yes, Muslim)" people, I think it's important to point out that there is a BIG difference between Muslims and Islamic Fundamentalists. The attacks were perpetrated by Islamic Fundamentalists, not run-of-the-mill Muslims. That kind of pigeon-holing based on rudimentary categorization is what has led us to the racial profiling issues that we're running into today.

I'd imagine there's more I want to say here, and more would be said if this were an actual conversation, and I'm probably missing a point or two that I wanted to make, but I just wanted to make sure I gave my two cents. I really hope you won't look at this as flaming, because I mean my words sincerely and humbly, not as an attack at all. Lucky for us, we get to have this conversation at all.

And if I'm wrong about anything, by all means anyone, feel free to point it out with the same candor I think I've used here.

Curiosities

2008-02-23T11:21:00.003-05:00

New York City is an interesting place. Despite it's moderate size and EXPANSIVE population, I consistently run into people I haven't seen in ages in random places on the street. For instance, one day I watched a train go past and in a frontward car, saw a guy I hadn't seen since my Freshman or Sophomore year of college. When I actually got onto that subway train, I walked headlong into a man I'd just met weeks prior in Los Angeles on a film shoot... he had just moved to New York that day.

Even weirder is when one encounters such a phenomenon with strangers. For instance, one night in Midtown I was waiting for the subway and noticed a very pretty and probably drunk Asian woman. I observed her weaving around a bit, aimlessly, and thought nothing of her when I got on the train. The following night, down in Soho, I crossed paths with her on the street. I didn't say anything, wouldn't have had anything to say, but I was stunned by the freak nature of it.

And, my favorite one of all, (and all of these seems to orient themselves around the subway, but I have had others that are completely out of that context), a week or so ago I was waiting for the train in TriBeCa, leaving work, and I encountered an actor I recognized from Buffalo 66. I didn't know his name, but I thought it was fun to see him. Then, two nights ago at the cinema in TriBeCa, the Angelika, he sat DIRECTLY BEHIND ME for the screening of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I did some research. His name is Kevin Corrigan and he's actually done a bunch of work, some of which I've seen.

The fact is, there is something in this universe, some energy we are all constantly projecting, and I think that sometimes those energies become entangled and like satellites and binary stars, we get caught in each other's gravity, and bump into each other at random on the street, or even several times in different places. It's a peculiar and wonderful phenomenon.

Dems are your best friends

2008-02-23T11:14:00.001-05:00

Barack totally loves me.

Hillary's a good gal.

Horrible People

2008-02-22T17:31:00.003-05:00

At most, I've been feeling rather tepid about these internet serials on such sites as My Damn Channel and Super Deluxe. They all fall short of the comedy mark (although I read in the New York Times that for Super Deluxe, the goal is not straight-up comedy so much as odd-ball pursuit of personal interests on behalf of the creators, with which I can't take issue). While this one doesn't have me laughing out loud, I think the new Fauxp Opera "Horrible People" on My Damn Channel is, at the very least, worth checking out for a chuckle or two. It takes the curiously hyper-responsive attitude of Stella or Wainy Days characters and supplants it into the schema of Soap Opera language. In Soap Operas, this sense of comedy seems very much at home, as these two are not really distant cousins, but more like brothers.

Cuteness.

2008-02-22T10:18:00.003-05:00

Dang. You know, the world is really going to shit. I read about it every day and it confuses and disheartens me. But then I see this, and the world seems alright:

(if this one isn't enough, be sure to watch the other videos of his that are linked after the video is over)

Phillip Roebuck

2008-02-22T01:05:00.001-05:00

I saw this fella last night on the subway, and I tell you what, I didn't even want to catch my train. Tons of people swarmed around him, mesmerized by his one-man-band performance. When he broke a string, people took the opportunity to throw money in his little box. When a song was over, they paid him. When the trains arrived, they paid him. I have never seen a street/subway performer make nearly as much as he did in the ten or so minutes that I watched him play. The videos on his site don't do him much justice, although I do like this one.

Say it, Frenchie

2008-02-21T21:19:00.002-05:00

Here's a dose of French people doing stuff. Or, at least, French music. It's all pretty sweet.

-Yelle-

-Awesome YouTube video for "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"-

Mario vs. Quantum Physics

2008-02-18T12:03:00.003-05:00

I think it's no surprise that videogames can be considered in philosophical terms. In fact, anyone who plays videogames, I think, has some kind of philosophical thought process going on in the background, directly related to the game(s) being played. So, when I found this video and accompanying explanation of Many-Worlds Interpretation, the concept of many different worlds existing, branching off of a single moment of quantum decision so to speak, I thought it was a fun and simple way to be introduced to the concept. Enjoy!

And, as a bonus, this video reminded me of a video I'd watched a year or so ago that was, luckily, linked in the related-videos section, so it's included here: