happy new year's eve!

livin' large

better than a body fountain and more practical than a day-shift stripper, i bring you the champagne exstinguisher. we shall never go thirsty again!

you won't need me where i'm going

How To Dress Well - You Won't Need Me Where I'm Goin' from MAGIC CHILL on Vimeo.

a classic education: live in prima serata

one of my very favorite bands of 2010 busts out some very cool italian web-tv magic.

Sonoinlista: A Classic Education live in prima serata - What My Life Could Have Been from prontialpeggio on Vimeo.

Sonoinlista: A Classic Education live in prima serata - I Lost Time from prontialpeggio on Vimeo.

Sonoinlista: A Classic Education live in prima serata - Wonderful World (Sam Cooke cover) from prontialpeggio on Vimeo.

Sonoinlista: A Classic Education live in prima serata - Toi (Gilbert Bécaud cover) from prontialpeggio on Vimeo.

under the radar

vivian maier (1926-2009) was a french-born amateur photographer who spent most of her life in chicago working as a nanny and takin' pictures of "the streets." she wore men's jackets, men's shoes, large hats and pretty much all of her photographs remained unknown and undeveloped until some rich bro bought 100,000 negatives at an auction. she died two years later and now she's famous.

rabbit hole: i love aaron eckhart

it's not a snooze-fest, but it is slowly paced, which is met evenly with funny dialogue. the filmmaking's not anything to write about, but the story is tender and the performances are good. RABBIT HOLE catches two parents in the uneasy wake of the loss of their four-year-old son.

ice queen nicole kidman does well here, but i'm obsessed with aaron eckhart. his performance is immediate and honest, the kind that can bring an audience toward feeling and understanding the pain and confusion that parents can go through in such a sad situation.

all in all, the film is not life changing, but because it feels like a theatre play (and was adapted to the screen from the play of its same name) it fits a film crowd that also likes theatre. the script showcases some relative, anti-traditionalist tones and dialogue, but in the end it is a portrait of a confused contemporary american couple just trying to get on.

jeff bridges has true grit, and other things

i'm glad i haven't seen the john wayne edition. critics have been overly comparing of the two TRUE GRITs, even when the poor director duo claims to have not seen the original. this production clearly stands on its own, and anyone walking out of the movie theatre would agree.

this has brought up something, though, that i feel a need to address. i've long considered film to be the newest liberal art. it's an interesting cross between drama (or theatre--whatever you choose to call it) and literature. it's storytelling, but through a strange, updated, and easily accessible medium.

in theatre, plays are constantly and consistently reproduced. different people want to tell the glass menagerie or a midsummer night's dream different ways, and it's generally accepted that this is what you do in theatre.

in literature, however, it's much more daring to re-write a story (with the exception of translations and re-writing for young or dumb people). once it's printed, it can last forever-ish. on the flip side, in theatre, a patron's opportunity to experience the storytelling from this specific point of view is gone once the show wraps its last performance.

and then we have film, which rests in a strange limbo between. one can both go to the theatre and own a copy to watch in the comfort of his own home. like theatre, actors perform for a limited time, but like literature, it is captured forever. at the helm of both rests the author / auteur / director, which in this case is ethan and joel coen. the brothers knew about the old TRUE GRIT, but they decided to make a new one anyway, namely because they had a different way to tell the story. this has met with interesting reaction--some people are even upset that a classic was being re-made. in theatre, this is normal. in literature, it isn't.

after seeing jeff bridges tear this shit up so fine and meeting the newcomer hailee steinfeld, i only wish that competent filmmakers like the coens dared to remake classics. this 2010 edition of TRUE GRIT was so much fun to watch, and i imagine the first would not have been as accessible to twenty-first century moviegoers.

but let's not pull some michael haenke funny games and remake your own movie (austria's 1997 FUNNY GAMES and america's 2007 FUNNY GAMES) with the same effing shot list. bitch just wanted to make it rain.

top ten songs of '10

10. Soda Shop - Farewell

Soda Shop - Farewell from Drew Diver on Vimeo.

09. Dylan Fox - Find Out What You've Got

Dylan Fox - "Find What You've Got" from The Tearist on Vimeo.

08. His Clancyness - Summer Majestic

His Clancyness – "Summer Majestic" from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.

07. Dirty Gold - California Sunrise

Dirty Gold - California Sunrise from Panaframe ▲ on Vimeo.

06. Seapony - Dreaming

Seapony - Dreaming from Anabel Navarro on Vimeo.

05. Best Coast - Boyfriend

Best Coast - Boyfriend from Kevin Little on Vimeo.

04. Still Corners - Eyes

Still Corners - Eyes from MAGIC CHILL on Vimeo.

03. Wild Nothing - Chinatown

Wild Nothing - Chinatown from Jack Tatum on Vimeo.

02. Beach House - Silver Soul

Beach House "Silver Soul" from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

01. Shimmering Stars - I'm Gonna Try

Shimmering Stars - I'm Gonna Try from Salazar on Vimeo.

drunk santa

santa celebrates after a busy christmas season. this year he just went a little far.

talk about cool mischief. thanks, banksy!

tron (lives up to its flashy, but mediocre) legacy

the visuals and production design were awesome. it had potential and a kick-a$$$$$$ marketing campaign, but history repeated itself.



but there were some really cool focus shifts in some of the shots!

might is right

punk girl slow rock.

swimming in my money

few things impacted my childhood (and shape my extended, past due adolescence) more than scrooge mcduck taking a dip in his vault of coins. i've kept this memory closer to my heart than a first kiss or my last blackout. this is happiness to me. those gold coins look warmer than my cold bed anyway.

run like hell for leather

Dominant Legs - "Run Like Hell For Leather" from The Tearist on Vimeo.

hanna

highly anticipated.



joe wright is MY FAVORITE DIRECTOR.

pull yourself together and fall in love with me

Cold Mailman - "Pull Yourself Together And Fall In Love With Me" from The Tearist on Vimeo.

2 cool 4 school

Sutcliffe Catering Co. - Ponderosa White from Panaframe ▲ on Vimeo.

the king's speech: epic friendship

the script's good, the direction fine, and the casting superb (colin firth is perfect), but it really is the story here that exercises your heart, which for some reason has caught me off guard in an amazing way. the events and characters are factual. a group of intrigued story tellers have assembled a skilled team to tell this story of rare friendship amidst admittedly bizarre social conditions, one strange enough for a cinematic double-take and important enough for the whole world to see and hear. THE KING'S SPEECH doesn't call too much attention to how it's telling itself, but instead lets it play out with a strangely-arched string of wonderful moments, and with history and tradition as its support.

the only glaring missteps here are in cinematography, in which someone thought it a good idea to make overly artsy choices that read as visual stoopidity to this reviewer. and to tell the truth, i could have gone for an even harder emotional tug (i like to try to resist as hard as possible to retain my emotional manliness in the movie theatre) in the final moments of the film, but i assume that's just my taste.

after leaving my seat after the end credits, the idea that a humble friendship can influence the history of a nation and culture rings true. although not royalty, our friendships can be epic--are epic--with appropriate vulnerability, humor, and love. go see it.

cool mischief

definition of a hipster image?

nyt: fourteen actors acting

click here.

which one do you like best?

brian eno says...

"I am not only a mind. I like dancing and having sex and things like that - connected with rock and roll."

sex for breakfast

mornings are better with slow jams, especially when it's a solo jam. myth has it that darondo was a san francisco p.i.m.p. back the 70s. then he recorded three singles and gigged four times opening for james brown. when he was finished, he hopped in his rolls royce and went home. later he became the king of the bay area by becoming a physical therapist and helping people walk again.

how much soul is too much soul is like asking how wet is too wet.

washing my hands of attachments

Still Corners - Eyes from MAGIC CHILL on Vimeo.

trailer jam

my favorite trailer of 2010, even though i'm almost positive it will be better than the movie itself.

fun and spooky places no. 17

i can still smell the carpeted walls and burnt nachos. i never got to make out in a dark corner. missed out on "so, can i feel you up or what?" too.

rainmaker: kong edition

"yeah, it's that EZ, bitch!"

this city falls asleep

unouomedude - Buildings from MAGIC CHILL on Vimeo.

"yer my bitch!"

1906. the historical ziegfield group. death and the lady. 

precious moments

cozy daydream. fall turning into winter. finding lost time.

the black swan: art or artsy?

darren aronofsky’s THE BLACK SWAN is a well-stylized tour de force with natalie portman at its helm. some critics have labeled it as schizophrenic low-camp, while others have praised it as art. both points of view are valid; the two-hour swan song falls into a couple traps on its journey to subconsciously investigate america’s contemporary struggle with identity and self-worth.

aronofsky uses mirrors and reflection at first as a visual motif before they become a cliché part of the film storyline. our protagonist, in a perfect and inspired performance by portman, is required to look at herself often and critically as a ballet dancer. one can imagine she views herself through the perspective of her own mother, a damaged, proud, and lonely individual, and one can safely understand the young ballerina's goals: not to simply dance, but to be recognized for it and gain a role of notoriety in her company. when given the role of the swan queen, we see her begin to explore a newfound identity and acknowledge the existence of her own worth perhaps beyond those of her own mother's goals (she surpasses her mother's own career accomplishments). although this previous act of the movie was necessary to build the audiences vision of aronofsky's nina sayers, the meat of the movie starts here. although nina's personality resists, she ends in succumbing to what is more than a dream role, resulting in her own debatably untimely death.

while the story’s structure is uneven, aronofsky covers this up brilliantly due to expert pacing and story arch placement. one thing remains certain to this audience member: if you don’t mind a crazy trip, you’ll eat up almost every second of this. we are not led to think, “OMG she’s crazy,” and simply leave it at that, but are asked to consider her experience phenomonologically. the result is the best movie experience i’ve had in 2010.

when it's cold i think of summer

Unouomedude - "Teens" from The Tearist on Vimeo.

original hipster: dylan edition

dylan was a hipster. exhibit: the cat in his clutch. as for the recumbant lady in red? the crying game.

aristocats! thanks, walter potter!

yeah, i'm into animalia. and so was walter potter. this musuem is a classy creature jam. the work of a victorian taxidermist, walter potter was a man among animals. makes me wish i had an attic and a lot of time alone.