I can’t make up my mind about David Lynch’s Interview Project. On the one hand, I find the concept irritating and full of shit (the idea of the road trip and meeting and interviewing “real” people along the way, in search for the heart and soul of America snore blah snore) — to top it all, Lynch’s video intro is rather lifeless and awkward. One the other hand, I could as easily imagine Alvin Straight at the helm of this project as he tours the country riding his John Deere lawn mower, and that, my friend, is and idea I’d find much more appealing all of a sudden.
Well, If anyone finds an interesting interview in there, give me a shout, as I haven’t found one yet (not having browsed the site for very long it has to be said).
…To be revisited.
The Cove (2009) by Louie Psihoyos
Powerful documentary following a team of marine activists and filmmakers as they put together a black op to infiltrate the heavily guarded cove of Taiji, a remote village in Japan, where more than 20,000 dolphins get slaughtered every year. It’s a blood bath and the footage they snatched of the entire cove turning red is disturbing.
Now I really want to free Willy.
Ironically, I went to see this film right after devouring my own weight in sushi at Ten Ten Tei, my favourite Japanese caf in London. Anyway, remember folks: chose the safest fish to eat.
The Dream House, Rutland, Vermont
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Tilda Swinton
Dylan Baker
Dylan Baker
Jullianne Moore
William H Macy
Tilda Swinton
William H Macy
Gregory Crewdson’s Dream House portfolio for the New York Times, 2002.
“The catalyst for these pictures was an empty ranch-style house in Rutland Vermont. The furniture, lamps, even the hand-towels in the bathrooms, were exactly as the owners had left them ten years earlier when they passed away. It was an eerie and beautiful place, painted with memories. Absence was one of the furnishings.”
— Kathy Ryan, photo editor of The New York Times Magazine.
“…I just brought two unrelated ideas to the table. One was that I had always wanted to photograph Tilda Swinton and the other was that I also wanted to make a series of photographs in a particular uninhabited ranch house in Vermont. […] We amassed an additional list of actors, who I felt could inhabit the world of my pictures. […] We had mapped out a concept: to spend the entire month of August, with a production crew, in the house, separately photographing these actors. My parameters were that I would have complete artistic control and that the actors must come alone, unaccompanied by assistants or entourage. What ensued was a magical adventure, strange, enchanting and totally unique magical adventure.
— Gregory Crewdson
Japanese ad scored by RAC
No idea what’s going there, but who cares, I find Japanese ads endlessly entertaining.
“I said no photos, you little shit!” — angry Michael Angelakos bashes a fan’s camera with his mic at a recent Passion Pit gig.
….Ok, so, that’s not exactly what happened. Angelakos is too sweet a guy to be doing that. But his mic did collide with my camera. The collision was very minor and totally accidental, I am sure of it. Now, I wish I could say the same of the tiny girl standing next to me: she suddenly disappeared under Michael’s weight and when she resurfaced a minute later she looked somewhat damaged by that unexpected encounter. Ouch.
Flickr set: Passion Pit at Koko, London, 27 Oct 09
My Private Screening with Pauline Kael — by Wes Anderson (via thisrecording)
“Her Parkinson’s makes it difficult for her to write. That’s why she quit The New Yorker. I asked her if she’d ever dictated a review, and she said, ‘I think I wrote more with my hand than with my brain.’ She said she would never write again.” — Wes Anderson
I find the piece rather moving, I must say.
11 Plays • Download
The Middle East - Blood
(This, actually, is a reblog from vivapedro via veronique)
One listen of “Blood” is all it took to get me highly excited about this Australian band (admittedly, I get excited easily).
The song is available as a free download on TheirSpace but I strongly recommend giving their entire 5-song EP a listen: if “Blood”, “The Darkest Side” and “Fool’s Gold” have a folky vibe, “Lonely” and “Beleriand” have more of a post-rock sound with the type of trippy instrumental build ups I particularly like. A truly wonderful selection of songs.
31 Plays • Download
Mates of State - My Only Offer
via auhasardrobert:
“Bought a home we bartered right.
Two kids, Two car delight.
Posed pictures on the walls.
Small talk in the bedroom halls.”
— Mates of State, My Only Offer
……
Some are quick to criticize the happy-silver-lining that seems to prevail in most of their songs, but as Karen Schoemer pointed out in an excellent NY Magazine feature, “it dawns on me that perhaps Gardner and Hammel aren’t immune to the struggles and pains of ordinary existence—they just choose not to dwell on them. “Overall, we’re positive people,” Gardner says. “We’ve always looked on the bright side.”
I only know their music in passing but always enjoy what I hear when I hear it. I really should check them out properly. This particular song has the knack to get stuck in my head every time and to stir up the horrifying urge to sing along.
Auhasardrobert has also posted here another very catchy tune of theirs.
Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) by Wes Anderson
Not once, since Rushmore, has my loyalty to Wes Anderson wavered. And while I could see my peers starting to lose interest with The Life Aquatic and then The Darjeeling Limited, my devotion remained intact and I never failed to come out of the cinema with a big grin across my face.
I did however feel a tiny hint of doubt and apprehension about Fantastic Mr Fox as I bought my ticket earlier today. I’m not sure why; it could be that I feared this one would mark the beginning of a new phase of Streep fatigue or that I wasn’t sure if Clooney’s cocky fox would annoy me. Plus, really, Chicken Run had always felt like cold turkey to me, which I took as a bad sign…
Well, I needn’t have worried. This film is tons of fun. Fun fun fun all around. And everybody’s great in it, with Clooney, Streep and Schwartzman leading a pack of super furry animals. And that’s really all there is to say about this. As a sidenote, I was glad to see chicken relegated to mere extras whose sole purpose was to get strangled, plucked and eaten.
Here’s another great piece by This American Life, or when life is stranger and more exciting than fiction. But really, what I love about this show is how each piece is produced and edited (the rhythm of the narration, the subtle musical dressing and the clever editing of the interviews, particularly how the producers juggle with the many voices and points of view being heard without ever confusing the listener)…To me, and so far, it’s just perfect story telling.
Fuck Buttons’ “The Lisbon Maru” makes a perfect soundtrack to this Codehunters animation clip. Those anime characters are total bad-asses.
92 Plays • Download
Fuck Buttons - Olympians
hungryghoast:
“like Kraftwerk firing pink noise at the inside of Vangelis’ skull as he composes “Chariots Of Fire.” In Goa.” - Warren Ellis
Oh look! Isn’t that me standing on that very crowded platform at Pitchfork station, trying to jump on the Fuck Buttons band wagon? Yes, it is. And I can see that the peeps already on board are looking rather irritated by that sudden influx of button fuckers. Tough shit, I say, they’ll just have to make room.
