I tumble now, for you. I tumble for you!
http://dougkeller.tumblr.com/
Go there if you like me at all.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Truer Words...
“We are such spendthrifts with our lives. The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.” -- Paul Newman, RIP.
Friday, September 26, 2008
DFW on Political Discourse
"My own belief, perhaps starry-eyed, is that since fictionists or literary-type writers are supposed to have some special interest in empathy, in trying to imagine what it’s like to be the other guy, they might have some useful part to play in a political conversation that’s having the problems ours is. Failing that, maybe at least we can help elevate some professional political journalists who are (1) polite, and (2) willing to entertain the possibility that intelligent, well-meaning people can disagree, and (3) able to countenance the fact that some problems are simply beyond the ability of a single ideology to represent accurately.
Implicit in this brief, shrill answer, though, is obviously the idea that at least some political writing should be Platonically disinterested, should rise above the fray, etc.; and in my own present case this is impossible (and so I am a hypocrite, an ideological opponent could say). In doing the McCain piece you mentioned, I saw some stuff (more accurately: I believe that I saw some stuff) about our current president, his inner circle, and the primary campaign they ran that prompted certain reactions inside me that make it impossible to rise above the fray. I am, at present, partisan. Worse than that: I feel such deep, visceral antipathy that I can’t seem to think or speak or write in any kind of fair or nuanced way about the current administration. Writing-wise, I think this kind of interior state is dangerous. It is when one feels most strongly, most personally, that it’s most tempting to speak up (“speak out” is the current verb phrase of choice, rhetorically freighted as it is). But it’s also when it’s the least productive, or at any rate it seems that way to me—there are plenty of writers and journalists “speaking out” and writing pieces about oligarchy and neofascism and mendacity and appalling short-sightedness in definitions of “national security” and “national interest,” etc., and very few of these writers seem to me to be generating helpful or powerful pieces, or really even being persuasive to anyone who doesn’t already share the writer’s views.
My own plan for the coming fourteen months is to knock on doors and stuff envelopes. Maybe even to wear a button. To try to accrete with others into a demographically significant mass. To try extra hard to exercise patience, politeness, and imagination on those with whom I disagree. Also to floss more."
-- David Foster Wallace from a 2003 interview with The Believer.
Implicit in this brief, shrill answer, though, is obviously the idea that at least some political writing should be Platonically disinterested, should rise above the fray, etc.; and in my own present case this is impossible (and so I am a hypocrite, an ideological opponent could say). In doing the McCain piece you mentioned, I saw some stuff (more accurately: I believe that I saw some stuff) about our current president, his inner circle, and the primary campaign they ran that prompted certain reactions inside me that make it impossible to rise above the fray. I am, at present, partisan. Worse than that: I feel such deep, visceral antipathy that I can’t seem to think or speak or write in any kind of fair or nuanced way about the current administration. Writing-wise, I think this kind of interior state is dangerous. It is when one feels most strongly, most personally, that it’s most tempting to speak up (“speak out” is the current verb phrase of choice, rhetorically freighted as it is). But it’s also when it’s the least productive, or at any rate it seems that way to me—there are plenty of writers and journalists “speaking out” and writing pieces about oligarchy and neofascism and mendacity and appalling short-sightedness in definitions of “national security” and “national interest,” etc., and very few of these writers seem to me to be generating helpful or powerful pieces, or really even being persuasive to anyone who doesn’t already share the writer’s views.
My own plan for the coming fourteen months is to knock on doors and stuff envelopes. Maybe even to wear a button. To try to accrete with others into a demographically significant mass. To try extra hard to exercise patience, politeness, and imagination on those with whom I disagree. Also to floss more."
-- David Foster Wallace from a 2003 interview with The Believer.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
David Foster Wallace
"The project that's worth trying is to do stuff that has some of the richness and challenge and emotional and intellectual difficulty of avant-garde literary stuff, stuff that makes the reader confront things rather than ignore them, but to do that in such a way that it's also pleasurable to read. The reader feels like someone is talking to him rather than striking a number of poses.
Part of it has to do with living in an era when there's so much entertainment available, genuine entertainment, and figuring out how fiction is going to stake out its territory in that sort of era. You can try to confront what it is that makes fiction magical in a way that other kinds of art and entertainment aren't. And to figure out how fiction can engage a reader, much of whose sensibility has been formed by pop culture, without simply becoming more shit in the pop culture machine. It's unbelievably difficult and confusing and scary, but it's neat. There's so much mass commercial entertainment that's so good and so slick, this is something that I don't think any other generation has confronted. That's what it's like to be a writer now. I think it's the best time to be alive ever and it's probably the best time to be a writer. I'm not sure it's the easiest time."
--Rest in peace Mr. Wallace.
Part of it has to do with living in an era when there's so much entertainment available, genuine entertainment, and figuring out how fiction is going to stake out its territory in that sort of era. You can try to confront what it is that makes fiction magical in a way that other kinds of art and entertainment aren't. And to figure out how fiction can engage a reader, much of whose sensibility has been formed by pop culture, without simply becoming more shit in the pop culture machine. It's unbelievably difficult and confusing and scary, but it's neat. There's so much mass commercial entertainment that's so good and so slick, this is something that I don't think any other generation has confronted. That's what it's like to be a writer now. I think it's the best time to be alive ever and it's probably the best time to be a writer. I'm not sure it's the easiest time."
--Rest in peace Mr. Wallace.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Where I'm Calling From
"Three times a week from some bar, supermarket, or tire-and-tool cluttered service station, I put calls through to New York and reestablished my identity in time and space. For three or four minutes I had a name, and the duties and joys and frustrations a man carries with him like a comet's tail. It was like dodging back and forth from one dimension to another, a silent explosion of breaking through a sound barrier, a curious experience, like a quick dip into a known but alien water." --John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
What We Should Be Talking About
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/5247/obama-targets-bin-laden-defends-constitution-and-shames-palin
Sunday, September 7, 2008
It Goes On
...but I’m not persuaded that it means all that much for true independents, those who have never worked inside the studios, never wanted to and probably couldn’t if they tried. I don’t think it means much for Kelly Reichardt, who made the lovely independent film “Wendy and Lucy,” and is unlikely to direct the next comic book blowout, because her aesthetic sensibility and worldview are of no economic use and interest to the studios or to most audiences either. That’s not a bad thing, not even remotely, especially for those who think films have worth beyond their box office returns.
As long as there’s been a Hollywood, there has been an off-Hollywood, outsiders and mavericks who show their movies any which way they can, at film societies, art houses and ethnic theaters. There was always overlap between these worlds, but it wasn’t until the 1990s and the ascendancy of Miramax Films that that the two became so interdependent as to be, at times. nearly indistinguishable. History was on Miramax’s side: In the 1980s, while Hollywood was bingeing on blockbusters, the sleepy independent film world was jolted awake by Jim Jarmusch’s downtown cool, Spike Lee’s urban style and the provocations of other D.I.Y. free-thinkers offering something new, different, electric. They were punks with cameras, and they shook the dust off a moribund scene.
--Manohla Dargis's wonderfully encouraging article reminds us of the simple truth that is far too often glossed over, the truth right in front of our noses that sometimes seems impossible to see: that people will always need to make movies. I am no snob, and I know how much it hurts me and lots of other people whose work I care about deeply that Warner Independent and Picturehouse are gone, Paramount Vantage is smaller, etc. But all the greats (not to mention all the merely interesting) have one thing in common: they have to make movies. And so they will, no matter what. In spite of panic, the pursuit of truth and depth of feeling will always find their way.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
"I'm not gonna give 'em hell. I'm going to tell them the truth and they're gonna think it's hell."
Please mean it this time. Thank you.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Karl Rove's Head
The Daily Show has been absolutely indispensable this entire election, but especially these last two weeks. This was, for me, the apex so far:
Real Corruption
I guess there are some things I need to write down today...
The RNC has my nerves rattled. I spent all last night yelling at the TV until I was red, after being reminded why I started following this stuff and hating the lies and distortions that are delivered with a straight face. Liberals have almost built a shield up to this stuff, maybe gone into denial that it ever happened in the first place because it was that horrible. But last night that strategy to submit an onslaught of pithy lies was on display again, and I felt helpless again because to retort them with facts sounds long-winded and dull. I just want to throw my hands in the air and just say "why don't you see all this America?" "Can't you see you're being sold indefensible spin once again?' I feel sick.
My two favorite "pundits" this election have been MSNBC and Air America's Rachel Maddow and Andrew Sullivan, who are both refreshing in their clear-eyed passion for the real point of following politics and even-handed in their disarming of the noise machine. For example, Sullivan on his great blog today, in reference to the ridiculous line in Palin's speech that "Listening to [Obama] speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the state senate.":
I don't even want to talk about this stuff. I want to talk about movies and books and music and love and trees and my new sneakers. This whole thing has become so overblown, bloated to the point where we can no longer identify democracy within any of it. The point of this country was to get away from kings and queens and figureheads and saviors. At least that's what I had been led to believe in grade school. As much as I am thrilled by Obama, I have to check myself constantly. We have senators and congressmen and judges and mayors and governors that begin to make up our government, and a president is just another cog. This country is too big, and our politics have gotten too ridiculous. Obama is a conformist from time to time too, because he has to be. As much as he rises above the system (and it is admirable), the system still dictates that he pander.
When we are constantly told how important this election is, how the very fate of our society is at risk, sometimes I fall for it. I think that we will have more wars, more rights will be taken away from me and people I care about, our schools will continue to crumble, etc etc. And yes, it is important. These things are obviously important. And I do believe the country will be headed to far better heights with Barack Obama as the face of our government.
But that doesn't change the fact that the system doesn't really work, that it is fueled by figureheads and a need to appeal to very different people in a very big place. That we use government as a crutch, we hate each other over who we vote for and what we fall for. That we spin the discussion of spin in our journalism (the self-reflexiveness is gross), and destroy any chance at unity in the process. It is constantly constantly disheartening.
What's between people is what matters and that is what's off. Maybe that's why Obama is exciting. Maybe those of us who understand that a President shouldn't have as much power as Bush understand that the biggest wreckage he left behind is the way he drew that line between our political parties to make it personal. That's why we're excited now, and why last night gave me such a head ache. Yes, it's the same old government corruption story, but with the twist of corrupting our spirits.
This is one of my favorite things I've ever read about this mess, back in 2006 at the height of Presidential disaster. I can try to invent my own version of this, but Garrison Keillor did it too well (Wall-E said the same thing just as beautifully but in movie form):
The RNC has my nerves rattled. I spent all last night yelling at the TV until I was red, after being reminded why I started following this stuff and hating the lies and distortions that are delivered with a straight face. Liberals have almost built a shield up to this stuff, maybe gone into denial that it ever happened in the first place because it was that horrible. But last night that strategy to submit an onslaught of pithy lies was on display again, and I felt helpless again because to retort them with facts sounds long-winded and dull. I just want to throw my hands in the air and just say "why don't you see all this America?" "Can't you see you're being sold indefensible spin once again?' I feel sick.
My two favorite "pundits" this election have been MSNBC and Air America's Rachel Maddow and Andrew Sullivan, who are both refreshing in their clear-eyed passion for the real point of following politics and even-handed in their disarming of the noise machine. For example, Sullivan on his great blog today, in reference to the ridiculous line in Palin's speech that "Listening to [Obama] speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the state senate.":
You can go look at Obama's State Senate legislative record here. And his US Senate record here. At last count, sponsorship of 820 laws in Illinois, and authorship of 152 bills and co-sponsorship of 427 in Washington. The 2007 Ethics Reform bill alone cannot be dismissed as simply non-existent. And since part of Palin's own claim to substance is an ethics reform bill, it seems extremely weird that she should believe that Obama's record is a total zero.
At her first press conference, why not ask her why she said that Obama has never passed a single reform, when he passed the 2007 Ethics Reform, described by many as the most sweeping package of its kind since Watergate. Of course, she doesn't know. She was given this speech. But she should be asked to respond to the question of why she said something patently untrue to the entire country.
But you can see the idea here: to keep equating Palin's experience with Obama's. At one point, Rudy Giuliani claimed that after her first day as governor of Alaska, Palin had more executive experience than Joe Biden and Barack Obama combined. So there's your standard. It's fatuous and stupid. But if you repeat it often enough, it might just work.
I don't even want to talk about this stuff. I want to talk about movies and books and music and love and trees and my new sneakers. This whole thing has become so overblown, bloated to the point where we can no longer identify democracy within any of it. The point of this country was to get away from kings and queens and figureheads and saviors. At least that's what I had been led to believe in grade school. As much as I am thrilled by Obama, I have to check myself constantly. We have senators and congressmen and judges and mayors and governors that begin to make up our government, and a president is just another cog. This country is too big, and our politics have gotten too ridiculous. Obama is a conformist from time to time too, because he has to be. As much as he rises above the system (and it is admirable), the system still dictates that he pander.
When we are constantly told how important this election is, how the very fate of our society is at risk, sometimes I fall for it. I think that we will have more wars, more rights will be taken away from me and people I care about, our schools will continue to crumble, etc etc. And yes, it is important. These things are obviously important. And I do believe the country will be headed to far better heights with Barack Obama as the face of our government.
But that doesn't change the fact that the system doesn't really work, that it is fueled by figureheads and a need to appeal to very different people in a very big place. That we use government as a crutch, we hate each other over who we vote for and what we fall for. That we spin the discussion of spin in our journalism (the self-reflexiveness is gross), and destroy any chance at unity in the process. It is constantly constantly disheartening.
What's between people is what matters and that is what's off. Maybe that's why Obama is exciting. Maybe those of us who understand that a President shouldn't have as much power as Bush understand that the biggest wreckage he left behind is the way he drew that line between our political parties to make it personal. That's why we're excited now, and why last night gave me such a head ache. Yes, it's the same old government corruption story, but with the twist of corrupting our spirits.
This is one of my favorite things I've ever read about this mess, back in 2006 at the height of Presidential disaster. I can try to invent my own version of this, but Garrison Keillor did it too well (Wall-E said the same thing just as beautifully but in movie form):
Politics is a slough, and maybe we should let the weasels have it for now. Even if two more Republicans follow the Current Occupant into office, this country will still be around in some form or other. Cities may crumble and we may be forced to reside in walled compounds and hire security men to escort us to Wal-Mart and back, but much will remain, such as love, for example, and the quickening one feels in the spring. Flowers will bloom in whatever wreckage we make. Somewhere, someone will sing the old songs about love walking in and driving the shadows away.
People have been falling in love through every dismal era of history and through every war ever fought. Enormous black headlines in the newspapers and agitated talk in the cafes and yet she waited for him on the corner by the hotel where they had agreed to meet, and as traffic streamed past she watched the buses pulling up to the curb, looking for his familiar shape, his beautiful face, his slight smile. Under her arm, a newspaper, and inside it a columnist shaking his tiny fist at corruption, but it isn't worth two cents compared to what's in her heart. When her lover steps down, the air will be filled with bright purple blossoms and they will embrace and turn and go into the hotel, and on this, the future of the world depends.
Take the day off, dear reader, and ignore the world and let the president play his fiddle. Find the one who means the most to you and make yourselves happy. If that be ignorance, make the most of it.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Biden.
I have known that Biden is Obama's running mate for all of an hour and have already gone from tremendously excited to exceedingly frustrated. Because this is a fresh wound, this undercutting of my enthusiasm by the hacks hacking away at government by making it all political, and because Biden's my guy- I was mostly between him and Obama in the primaries, I think I have settled in with a proper thesis about one of the quintessential problems with this whole darn system.
Everyone is focused on this being a show of a "lack of confidence" on Obama's part, a panic pick to balance the ticket and all that nonsense. The reason I've been on board with Barack for the last few months is the very idea that he is the type of guy who would pick a guy like Biden to work with. One of the oft-ignored realities of Obama is that he's a nuanced thinker who, for all his talk of Washington revolution, understands and respects divergent viewpoints, especially those that are time tested. Biden is the perfect balance with Obama, the guy who can get in Obama's ear and have his respect and argue him down from his pedestal with measured intelligence. Enough with the nonsense that is campaigning, especially the idea of choosing a vice president for the purposes of winning states or constituencies. This choice was made with an eye towards governance, and that is what actually matters in all this. We seem to forget about that. I will vote for this ticket because these are the two people I want in charge of my country. And that makes this my dream ticket. That makes this the change I've been waiting for.
Everyone is focused on this being a show of a "lack of confidence" on Obama's part, a panic pick to balance the ticket and all that nonsense. The reason I've been on board with Barack for the last few months is the very idea that he is the type of guy who would pick a guy like Biden to work with. One of the oft-ignored realities of Obama is that he's a nuanced thinker who, for all his talk of Washington revolution, understands and respects divergent viewpoints, especially those that are time tested. Biden is the perfect balance with Obama, the guy who can get in Obama's ear and have his respect and argue him down from his pedestal with measured intelligence. Enough with the nonsense that is campaigning, especially the idea of choosing a vice president for the purposes of winning states or constituencies. This choice was made with an eye towards governance, and that is what actually matters in all this. We seem to forget about that. I will vote for this ticket because these are the two people I want in charge of my country. And that makes this my dream ticket. That makes this the change I've been waiting for.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Chip 'n Dale
I loved this cartoon when I was young (can you believe YouTube? I mean c'mon...), but now as a wizened old man, I find the possibilities of its ending to be endlessly fascinating...
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Have you seen this? Have you heard this?
http://snagfilms.com/
This site hosts a number of documentaries for free. And not just little ones. Big ones! Ones you have heard of and want to see because the things you hear are mostly good! They even have Super Size Me! But seriously, what a great resource. I had been desperately waiting for Summer Camp! to come out on DVD, and here it is, for free on the internet! Sometimes the internet is perfect.
This site hosts a number of documentaries for free. And not just little ones. Big ones! Ones you have heard of and want to see because the things you hear are mostly good! They even have Super Size Me! But seriously, what a great resource. I had been desperately waiting for Summer Camp! to come out on DVD, and here it is, for free on the internet! Sometimes the internet is perfect.
Old Man
"Old man... old man... old man... You are an old man. A foolish old man. I am young; my hair and skin are proof. In the past, you have displayed a fear of my hair and skin and subsequently the rest of me. Yet you brush it off and let me stand close. Because you are not so blind as to not fear me. But you had no choice but to brush it off. Wrong move old man. You will select me as your vice president because I am the only way you will win. This country knows you are old, old man. They will not bat an eyelash when you die so soon after your election (a winner only because of me). And then the man they really want, the one who was on his way and foiled by the system, the one who was born for it, to avenge his father's loss, the one who was born with the hair and the skin to be president, will be in charge. And then he will marry all the women he wants. And devote resources to drilling for a fountain of youth. And fund the production of more robot versions of himself. Go ahead old man. Good. Good. Tire yourself out with this... Barack character. It is only a matter of time now old man... old man... old man..."
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Ron Artest
"I understand what Yao said, but I'm still ghetto. That's not going to change. I'm never going to change my culture. Yao has played with a lot of black players, but I don't think he's ever played with a black player that really represents his culture as much as I represent my culture. Once Yao Ming gets to know me, he'll understand what I'm about."
I wish Yao Ming nothing but luck on his continued studied of American culture. This year, professor emeritus Ron Artest will turn everything Yao has learned about good old American tolerance on its head by showing him someone who really represents his culture. That apparently means being unrepentant about violence! Texas racists are going to love this guy! Happy learning Yao! Good luck Rockets!!!
I wish Yao Ming nothing but luck on his continued studied of American culture. This year, professor emeritus Ron Artest will turn everything Yao has learned about good old American tolerance on its head by showing him someone who really represents his culture. That apparently means being unrepentant about violence! Texas racists are going to love this guy! Happy learning Yao! Good luck Rockets!!!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
The Problem With Education ALSO A Great Story
First, the great story from this video, if you don't care to watch it even though it comes with my highest recommendation.
A six-year-old girl was in a drawing lesson in school. This little girl hardly ever paid attention but was very attentive during this particular lesson. So the teacher went over to her and asked her "what are you drawing?"
"I'm drawing a picture of God," said the girl.
"But nobody knows what God looks like," replied the teacher.
"They will in a minute."
Apparently this video is hopelessly old, but what Ken Robinson has to say is, to me anyway, profoundly true. It is one of my greatest wishes that these sort of ideas are widely accepted and implemented. The great Billy Wilder once said about screenwriting: "If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act." The problems of this world have been well documented and I won't bore you with them here. But to go about fixing them- the real crap, the emotional dysfunction, the fear of expression, the social boundaries that we ignorantly create- we need to fix the fundamentally flawed educational thought that molds us. And the way to do that is to nourish our innate creativity.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html (I had trouble embedding it. Sorry. Like you care. If there is a you.)
A six-year-old girl was in a drawing lesson in school. This little girl hardly ever paid attention but was very attentive during this particular lesson. So the teacher went over to her and asked her "what are you drawing?"
"I'm drawing a picture of God," said the girl.
"But nobody knows what God looks like," replied the teacher.
"They will in a minute."
Apparently this video is hopelessly old, but what Ken Robinson has to say is, to me anyway, profoundly true. It is one of my greatest wishes that these sort of ideas are widely accepted and implemented. The great Billy Wilder once said about screenwriting: "If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act." The problems of this world have been well documented and I won't bore you with them here. But to go about fixing them- the real crap, the emotional dysfunction, the fear of expression, the social boundaries that we ignorantly create- we need to fix the fundamentally flawed educational thought that molds us. And the way to do that is to nourish our innate creativity.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html (I had trouble embedding it. Sorry. Like you care. If there is a you.)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Self-Awareness
"That won a Grammy? That won a Grammy. That's... that's unbelievable. That makes me want to give my Grammys back."-- Amy Lee of Grammy award-winning recording artists Evanescence disrespects the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out" on VH1's I Love the New Millennium.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
McDonalds has an amazing sense of humor.
It ends with a blonde skateboarding dude in a vaguely urban environment holding up the sandwich and declaring "let's hear it for non-conformity." Off of "non-conformity' they cut straight to the logo. I'm lovin' it.
In this mixed up, uncertain world, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that says "now" more concisely, that portrays the unique moment of our generation with more defiant clarity, than a new McDonalds sandwich that has the ingenuity, the nerve, the sheer gumption to combine a slab of fried chicken and a biscuit into a wondrous culinary miracle.
In this mixed up, uncertain world, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that says "now" more concisely, that portrays the unique moment of our generation with more defiant clarity, than a new McDonalds sandwich that has the ingenuity, the nerve, the sheer gumption to combine a slab of fried chicken and a biscuit into a wondrous culinary miracle.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
One Sentence Record Review: She & Him Volume One [Merge; 2008] 10.0
She & Him's Volume One sounds just like my crush on Zooey Deschanel.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The State: Cookie Puss
This was quite possibly the best sketch from The State's reunion show at UCB that I was fortunate enough to witness. Behold, comedic brilliance:
Monday, May 5, 2008
Finally, a trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua!
This isn't real, right? My window-less apartment has finally put me over the edge, and I shot a trailler and constructed this web site based on a surreal idea for a movie I had, forgot about it, and then found this link, right? Right? Please tell me I'm right because that would be a whole lot more palpable than this being a movie sane people came up with that Disney decided to make.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/beverlyhillschihuahua/index.html
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/beverlyhillschihuahua/index.html
Friday, May 2, 2008
A reflection on the trailer for The Happening
My historical relationship with girls is not unlike my historical relationship with M. Night Shyamalan's movies: the first few got me really excited, but ever since then I have built up great expectations over each on the basis of brief encounters and then, when people told me bad things, I ended up not seeing them. Is that a stretch? It might be.
This one isn't like that. Although the involvement of Zooey Deschanel is always a plus (I just saw her play with M. Ward on Tuesday and it was magical), the movie seems like it might be too obsessed with Mark Wahlberg's throbbing forehead and I'm not digging the 9/11 imagery/overtures. So maybe the opposite will be true? The trailer leaves me cold but the movie will be good? And then my love life will follow this pattern? And then I will be happy? Only time...
This one isn't like that. Although the involvement of Zooey Deschanel is always a plus (I just saw her play with M. Ward on Tuesday and it was magical), the movie seems like it might be too obsessed with Mark Wahlberg's throbbing forehead and I'm not digging the 9/11 imagery/overtures. So maybe the opposite will be true? The trailer leaves me cold but the movie will be good? And then my love life will follow this pattern? And then I will be happy? Only time...
Monday, April 28, 2008
There Can Only Be One
Time Magazine has resorted to co-opting NBA playoff ad campaigns as quasi-SNL sketches for their covers. And I have to say, it's such an awesome idea.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
My Cousin on High School
I found this old disc of files from the computer I had in high school: pictures, rap songs I made (yikes), and sub Dawson's Creek IM conversations I had. It left me nostalgic, in the bad way: oddly unclean and uncomfortable. So I decided to solicit an expert's advice, as a way to sort out my deja vu. My 15 year old cousin Emily, a high schooler herself, dispensed this wisdom:
me: high school's a weird time man
emily: oh jesus
me: how are you dealing with it
emily: idk lol fine ig
emily: idk idk
emily: lol w/e
me: high school's a weird time man
emily: oh jesus
me: how are you dealing with it
emily: idk lol fine ig
emily: idk idk
emily: lol w/e
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Russert-Depp
I am pretty confident that an unacknowledged influence on Johnny Depp's terrifying performance as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was Tim Russert. Just in terms of gleefully creepy and pompous facial expressions.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Just Like Us!
It's so good to know that Garth Brooks and Dakota Fanning care just as much as we do. And can you believe Joaquin Phoenix does his dishes with his own two hands? Or that Ben Affleck builds doll houses? Really, Ben Affleck builds doll houses.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Best YouTube Clip Ever?
This is certainly a contender. It has everything I could ever want from a YouTube clip: gee-whiz behind the scenes magic, funny retro people in funny retro clothing, cheesy 80s jingles, embarrassing marketing choices, genuine "whoa" analog handmade factor that characterizes the best of YouTube, etc.
I remember watching the HBO promo that this clip is about and it was one of those things that gave an impressionable kid way too much to think about. What's beyond the city? The suburbs. What's beyond the suburbs? Only the sky. The world ends there. All that's left is HBO, followed by nothingness. In this promo, the five year old-ish version of me saw the smallness and mortality of humanity. So, to see how it was made, and then to consider that those feelings it gave me are partially a result of the limits of creation in the "primitive" years of highfalutin special effects, was somewhat eye-opening. As great as the promo ended up being, and as impressive as the ingenuity behind it is, when the camera flies through this unmoving world, after the happy couple settles down for a night of HBO watching and caviar, you can't help but notice that there are no moving people or cars in the city. It's like something out of a David Lynch movie- the world stops working when our brains are lost to pay cable. Obviously, this wasn't what HBO was going for, but hey, someone has to read too much into it, right? So much painstaking craft and creative though went into this damn thing (and it's fun to watch this behind the scenes of it because of that), but the ultimate result left me with that creepy 80s vortex feeling that is never desirable. Or maybe it's just disconcerting that the "typical HBO viewers" are painfully white people living in the big city, grinning and wearing the latest in Cape Cod fashions. Everyone I know who watches HBO tends to dress down for TV time.
But more importantly are the songs. The credits read "Illusions" and additional music composed and performed by Jonathan L. Segal. It is my determination that this man is a genius. What does his middle initial stand for? Ludwig? As in Ludwig van Beethoven? When he starts singing "paying closer attention to details" when they're detailing the buildings, I almost died; it was so beautiful. I wrote down some of the lyrics, that so subtly underlines what's really going on in this clip:
Illusion,
keep your eyelids open wide
because the truth may not be what you suppose could be right under your nose,
it's illusion not life!
Thanks Jonathan Ludwig Segal, for showing me the way to understanding this post-modern world.
The Simpsons: E Pluribus Wiggum
One of the better recent episodes. A choice exchange:
Lisa: Ralph can't be president. He's the dumbest person in the slowest reading group
Homer: Lisa, being president is easy; you just point the army and shoot.
Lisa: And Ralph is only 8 years old. It says in the constitution you have to be 35.
Bart: The constitution? I'm pretty sure the Patriot Act killed it to ensure our freedoms.
Homer: Ooo, the patriot act is so terrible, the government might find out what books I take out. What's next? Finding out what operas I go to?
(Homer high-fives Bart.)
Lisa: Ralph can't be president. He's the dumbest person in the slowest reading group
Homer: Lisa, being president is easy; you just point the army and shoot.
Lisa: And Ralph is only 8 years old. It says in the constitution you have to be 35.
Bart: The constitution? I'm pretty sure the Patriot Act killed it to ensure our freedoms.
Homer: Ooo, the patriot act is so terrible, the government might find out what books I take out. What's next? Finding out what operas I go to?
(Homer high-fives Bart.)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Yes yes yes
http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/03/25/rev_jeremiah_wright/
This just about sums it up.
This just about sums it up.
Yauch Doc
Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys has directed a documentary about the top high school basketball prospects coming together for an all star game at the historic Rucker Park in Harlem. It's all the guys who are starring in college right now and will probably make the leap to the pros next year (Michael Beasley, Jerryd Bayless, etc.). It will be interesting to see how Kevin Love, the prototypical white basketball player and cousin of Beach Boy Mike Love, will fit into all of this...
The 13 year old in me, who was obsessed with the Beastie Boys and basketball and intoxicated by all the extensions of those things (old school hip hop in general, the legends of street ball, New York City) and the vibe where all those things met, is VERY excited for this movie. I'm gonna go play NBA Street and listen to Kurtis Blow.
http://gunninmovie.com/
The 13 year old in me, who was obsessed with the Beastie Boys and basketball and intoxicated by all the extensions of those things (old school hip hop in general, the legends of street ball, New York City) and the vibe where all those things met, is VERY excited for this movie. I'm gonna go play NBA Street and listen to Kurtis Blow.
http://gunninmovie.com/
Saturday, March 22, 2008
How to Make a Button
Yeah, so what? Miranda July is as "quirky" and "twee" as they come. I get it. That doesn't mean I can't have a crush on her. Or that this video isn't strangely hilarious.
Also, I really like the design of vbs.tv.
Also, I really like the design of vbs.tv.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Bicycle
I've been in the market for a bicycle. Something cheap. I found one at Target I took a liking to, but wanted to do some good old fashioned consumer research. So, I read the Amazon user comments for the bike in question. And I found this one:
"Today I bought a Schwinn Danger Ranger (as I like to call it) from a SuperTarget near my work. I rode it home about 8 miles. I am slender but not not very active and falling out of shape. I have not ridden a bike to any consequence since I was a child until today. I selected this vehicle based on its aesthetics and price point. Upon closer inspection I found the presence of numbered gear shifts on the handle bars, front suspension, sporty handle bar things, and the like. I would have expected a bicycle of this caliber to cost more than $140.00. It seems to be assembled correctly as it is functional. They had a silver Schwinn helmet for $15 that I am consuming as well. The ride home inspired me to ride to work on Monday as the ride home took about the same time as the bus I usually take. About thirty seconds into it I didn't think there was a high enough gear, but as I said, I haven't ridden a bike for a while. Even though it's a mountain bike, the gears are plenty high for me and I can't see needing higher unless I am trying to beat traffic downhill. About four fifths of the way home I didn't care what gear I was in because my system shut down and I was working on brain stem functions only. I was having fun, but I was thirsty and I had not had any water. I forgot to buy a bike lock. I also wanted to make choices which would not cause the shiny new Silver Danger Ranger to be stolen. I kept on riding and the brain stem feeling passed as the euphoria kicked in that I was already home. I hope this review helps you choose the right bicycle"
This review did help me choose the right bicycle. Thanks fella.
"Today I bought a Schwinn Danger Ranger (as I like to call it) from a SuperTarget near my work. I rode it home about 8 miles. I am slender but not not very active and falling out of shape. I have not ridden a bike to any consequence since I was a child until today. I selected this vehicle based on its aesthetics and price point. Upon closer inspection I found the presence of numbered gear shifts on the handle bars, front suspension, sporty handle bar things, and the like. I would have expected a bicycle of this caliber to cost more than $140.00. It seems to be assembled correctly as it is functional. They had a silver Schwinn helmet for $15 that I am consuming as well. The ride home inspired me to ride to work on Monday as the ride home took about the same time as the bus I usually take. About thirty seconds into it I didn't think there was a high enough gear, but as I said, I haven't ridden a bike for a while. Even though it's a mountain bike, the gears are plenty high for me and I can't see needing higher unless I am trying to beat traffic downhill. About four fifths of the way home I didn't care what gear I was in because my system shut down and I was working on brain stem functions only. I was having fun, but I was thirsty and I had not had any water. I forgot to buy a bike lock. I also wanted to make choices which would not cause the shiny new Silver Danger Ranger to be stolen. I kept on riding and the brain stem feeling passed as the euphoria kicked in that I was already home. I hope this review helps you choose the right bicycle"
This review did help me choose the right bicycle. Thanks fella.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thornton Wilder
"The response we make when we "believe" a work of the imagination is that of saying: 'This is the way things are. I have always known it without being fully aware that I knew it. Now in the presence of this play or novel or poem (or picture or piece of music) i know that i know it.'"
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Rockets Win 20 Straight
According to ESPN, ancient stone African statue and sometimes Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo made a startling announcement to "nobody in particular" after last night's win against the Hawks: "The Rockets have won 20 games straight. ... All the critics can kiss my black ass." I wasn't aware the Rockets, especially Mutombo (regarded as one of the most open-hearted and loved players in the league) had critics, unless by critics he means "basketball writers who are puzzled that the Rockets can win 20 straight without Yao Ming." Of most concern, however, is Mutombo bringing attention to his "black ass." May this be the only time in my life or yours that anyone acknowledges that Dikembe Mutombo does, indeed, have an ass.
Obama Campaign Becomes Snarky Blogger
http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2008/03/obama_campaign_skewers_clinton.html
Monday, March 3, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Huckabee: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Evangelicals
It is not just for laughs and electoral bumps that Mike Huckabee and Stephen Colbert have been in cahoots. Here's my theory: Huckabee is just the latest in the recent comedic tradition of brilliant comedic actors masquerading as clueless fools exploring and penetrating our country in seemingly real, uncontrived situations. Only he's doing what Colbert couldn't: somewhat legitimately (I use the term loosely) running for president. His public tweaking of American values, in his frying of squirrels, his rock band called Capitol Offense, and, of course, his brilliant melding of Bugs Bunny AND Elmer Fudd in his pursuit of John McCain is satire of the highest level. This is all complemented by incisive dialogue that is both knee-jerk funny and cuts under the surface. "You'll see it—one of the things that gets me in trouble is my love of metaphors," he said in response to a "controversy" with the Anti-Defamation league over his comparing his massive weight loss to the experience of a concentration camp. "I use hyperbole in the course of trying to paint a word picture. I pay a dear price for it." Huckabee plays an all-encompassing character a goofy magnetic force with hard core conservative "beliefs." The made up name Huckabee is clearly a play on huckster, that old term for a salesman. Only he’s selling a unique brand of madcap comedy.
The aforementioned comparisons to cartoon characters also applies to his face; those big brown eyes could have been drawn by Tex Avery, his jowls flapping as he smiles and spins his word pictures. These are features that lure you in, like Borat's baggy blue suit, only to subvert that immediate appeal. When Rick Santorum compares homosexuality to bestiality, you know he means business. When Mike Huckabee makes the same connection, it’s with a skip in his step and a smile in his heart. It's non-threatening in a way that could make a liberal consider that not all people who believe these things are evil and leaves the door open for them to come in and change his mind. "No no Mike!" you'd say. "That's very wrong and silly and offensive," and he'd consider it, because in his not being open, he seems to be so open.
His biggest goal, it seems, is to sabotage that idea of the evangelical conservative as a scary nutcase. Instead, he is a jolly nutcase. He’s open to Jews- he just doesn’t believe they’re going to be saved when the apocalypse comes. And people wonder why he’s staying on the campaign trail… when Comedy Central or Fox News picks up a Huckabee talk show next month, there will finally be a great satirist to rival Colbert. Good thing they get along, or Huckabee would demolish him.
The aforementioned comparisons to cartoon characters also applies to his face; those big brown eyes could have been drawn by Tex Avery, his jowls flapping as he smiles and spins his word pictures. These are features that lure you in, like Borat's baggy blue suit, only to subvert that immediate appeal. When Rick Santorum compares homosexuality to bestiality, you know he means business. When Mike Huckabee makes the same connection, it’s with a skip in his step and a smile in his heart. It's non-threatening in a way that could make a liberal consider that not all people who believe these things are evil and leaves the door open for them to come in and change his mind. "No no Mike!" you'd say. "That's very wrong and silly and offensive," and he'd consider it, because in his not being open, he seems to be so open.
His biggest goal, it seems, is to sabotage that idea of the evangelical conservative as a scary nutcase. Instead, he is a jolly nutcase. He’s open to Jews- he just doesn’t believe they’re going to be saved when the apocalypse comes. And people wonder why he’s staying on the campaign trail… when Comedy Central or Fox News picks up a Huckabee talk show next month, there will finally be a great satirist to rival Colbert. Good thing they get along, or Huckabee would demolish him.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Playlist- Ralphs on Sunset 2/1 8:09-8:42
Aerosmith- I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing
Janet Jackson- Together Again
Coldplay- The Scientist (several unfortunate PA interuptions on this )
A commercial for John Grisham's new thrilling law thriller "The Appeal"
Huey Lewis and The News- Hip to Be Square
Unknown- I Will Love Again (I refuse to so much as google sang this song)
Madonna- Beautiful Stranger
Unidentified
Celine Dion- I'll Be Waiting For You (possibly not the title of the song but, once again, not google-worthy)
Janet Jackson- Together Again
Coldplay- The Scientist (several unfortunate PA interuptions on this )
A commercial for John Grisham's new thrilling law thriller "The Appeal"
Huey Lewis and The News- Hip to Be Square
Unknown- I Will Love Again (I refuse to so much as google sang this song)
Madonna- Beautiful Stranger
Unidentified
Celine Dion- I'll Be Waiting For You (possibly not the title of the song but, once again, not google-worthy)
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Product Review: Diet Dr Pepper Cherry Chocolate
I tried this product. It was not satisfying. It was not delicious. It was gross.
(Available for a limited time only!)
(Available for a limited time only!)
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