Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
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!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
a classic education: live in prima serata
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
Monday, December 27, 2010
rabbit hole: i love aaron eckhart
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
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.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
drunk santa
talk about cool mischief. thanks, banksy!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
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!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
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.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
the king's speech: epic friendship
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.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
brian eno says...
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.
Friday, December 10, 2010
trailer jam
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
fun and spooky places no. 17
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
the black swan: art or artsy?
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.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
original hipster: dylan edition
dylan was a hipster. exhibit: the cat in his clutch. as for the recumbant lady in red? the crying game.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
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.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
beer happy
Monday, November 29, 2010
blackjam plague
mekka lekka hi mekka hiney ho
i've been asking jambi for shit since i was 5 years old. he's only made me toil like a bitch, but i think that's how he works.
perfect christmas
Friday, November 26, 2010
i am partially in love
trailers can sometimes tell the story better than the movie itself. in I AM LOVE (io sono l'amore), director luca guadagnino gets lost in beautiful cinematography instead of remembering his self-helmed story.
andy's magic time machine
andy warhol kept time in boxes. i like the word ephemera. andy liked boring things.
i was thinking about andy's boxes, my hands in my pockets. the sun had set and it was cold and all i had was one tube of lip balm, a movie ticket stub, and a receipt for tacos.