freeNIKES!

What Community?

2010-10-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

As friends or readers of mine know, I do not make this move: that of supporting or promoting something highly critical of an artist, especially a novelist. But this is not about just Franzen, it is about us. We are a problematic generation. One with gaping, transmission sized defects and no tools nor hands to operate the tools even if we had the tools, to fix them. I am presently compiling the struggles of living with a specific sect of our generation, an awful and unworthy-of-life group, into a paper no one will read. I will post it nonetheless, very soon. In the meantime, as an epigraph, this is from B.R. Myers' "Smaller Than Life." It is a review and a critique of the popular novelist Jonathan Franzen and his latest work, Freedom. (From the 0ctober 2010 the Atlantic)

Franzen does not take his story very seriously, but the irony is indiscriminate and directionless; he hints at no frame of reference from which we are to judge his prose critically. Nor are we to imagine that a fool or semiliterate is addressing us. The same narrator who gives us "sucked" and "very into" also deploys compound adjectives, bursts of journalese, and long if syntactically crude sentences. An idiosyncratic mix? Far from it. We find the same insecure style on The Daily Show and in the blogosphere; we overhear it on the subway. It is the style of all who think highly enough of their own brains to worry about being thought "elitist," not one of the gang. The reassuring vulgarity follows the flight of pseudo-eloquence as the night the day. Like the rest of these people, Franzen should relax.

Ice Cream Terrorism

2010-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Stealing a page from my long lost cohorts, an excerpt from a chat last night that had my sides splitting. FYI/BTW: I was imagining Wonder Breads, not a baguette.

12:17 AM America: i'm spilling ice cream all over myself

12:18 AM Thailand: haha

tight

haven't had good ice cream in a minue

minute

12:19 AM America: i shld ship u some of this

http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/our-flavors/#product_id=108

12:20 AM Thailand: oh yeah

the colbert one

America: hella good

Thailand: yeah

you know what the preferred vehicle for ice cream is here?

bread

America: hahahaha

12:21 AM Thailand: yeah

a literal ice cream sandwich

its bizarre

America: hahaha

lol

Thailand: in a culture that doesn't even really have bread, they put their ice cream on it

12:22 AM America: amazing

i'm still lol

Thailand: yeah

i still laugh when i see it

i'll find you a pic

12:23 AM America: k

12:24 AM Thailand: http://www.mybkk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/bkkthaiicecreamsandwich.jpg

i dunno maybe its good

12:26 AM America: hahaha

12:27 AM that looks AWFUL

Thailand: yeah

it doesnt' look great

maybe if it was like french toast or something

12:28 AM then i'd be down

12:29 AM America: yea, you shld try it

and write a bit about it

Thailand: yeah i will

12:30 AM i've been meaning to try it for a while

but whenever i see it i can't bring myself to do it

12:31 AM America e: i honestly dont blame you

Thailand: yeah

theres a lot of shit i still gotta try

12:32 AM weird shit

America: i cant get over the fact that the chocolate in that picture looks like shit

like real shit

12:33 AM Thailand: yeah thats the thing too

is the ice cream here is never good

chocolates never good

unless its from somewhere else

America: looks like bad soft serve

12:34 AM Thailand: basically anything thats not traditionally thai is done badly

America: such blanket statements only make me lol

Thailand: i guess thats how it always is

haha

i'm for real

America: i never use "lol" but there's no other way for me to say it right now

12:35 AM Thailand: thai made chocolate is just bad

America: i believe you!

Thailand: i don't blame them

its a relatively new thing

same with ice cream

bread

cheese

America: hahaha

12:36 AM Thailand: anyway

i gotta get going

me: ok

thanks for the laughs

Thailand: yeah

me: i shld probly sleep too

Thailand: the laffs are on me

Throw a neg? #6: Funny People

2009-08-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Judd Apatow sure does love his family. Every shot of Leslie Mann gleams, every shot of daughters Maude and/or Iris Apatow holds just too long. It's not like hiring Janusz Kaminski to light his pictures into "pretty" makes Apatow any better a filmmaker. But the problem isn't directing, per se, it's scope; which points to writing, which points to editing, which of course points to directing, too (we're after harmony after all, aren't we?). Endless coverage and endless post-production work shouldn't really be a problem, in theory, because you'd hope that editing was actually editing, or trimming--cutting off some fat. Hell, it's a recurring joke that Seth Rogen's gotten skinnier since the last time he was on screen. More, Apatow's trying to tell two too many stories at once, and each one is so moral. Granted, I felt good walking to the car; and, I suppose, self-reliance is a about as good a thing to preach as any. But, for every dick joke and for all the let's-get-serious talk, there's still a gauze on mess. It's a satisfied picture, no doubt, happy to know what it knows. It's Hollywood; it's fantasy. Solutions seem easy. After watching so much Hawks recently (a terrible and unfair comparison, I realize, but what are standards for?), I get that, for all his assurance of how the world works, Hawks is more about letting things play--or following a course as it leads. Despite the bloat of the running time, you can feel Syd Field all over Apatow's screenplays/outlines. Bottom line: gimme more movies about competition and more Aubrey Plaza telling our dummy boy-man Rogen she can fuck whoever she wants. --RWK

Candles #7: I see a new earth

2009-07-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

Candles #6: There are smart people

2009-07-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Say what you will. This makes me feel great. He's such a real person, it's amazing. Biggest sign, clearly, is his commitment to work, and girls. --RWK [via carlton, via filmdrunk]

Bag Raiders "Shooting Stars" Music Video

2009-07-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

Instead of making some crap video of the two guys in the band taking a faggy walk down some Lawnmower Man/Miami Strip re-creation, they should have just filmed a young, beautiful multi-ethnic group of friends driving around in a convertible (slightly drunk) in LA because that's all anyone thinks when they hear this song.

Design Poach #19: Hitchclock

2009-07-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

What: Hitchcock Chromotography
Stolen from: Hitchcock Wiki Blog via @dwhtwit.

Be sure to click through and look at the big versions. This kind of obssesive project is what the internet was made for. --RWK

Just an Average Relaxing Sunday

2009-07-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Throw a neg! #5: Harry Potter 6

2009-07-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

As soon as he says that line, you know it's over. Or, I did. I got up premature and beat it the hell out of the parking lot. No need to soak credits. For a film that long, with that much "plot," it's pretty damned minor. Yates seems to have a few good ideas about lighting, and jostling the screen sometimes, but there's a certain embalming patina over most things in the movie. It's definitely a movie of things, too, as all these Potter books/movies are, except for when Cuaron really turned the central thing into a theme in his picture. Now, this one cannot be deemed a nadir by any means, but it certainly doesn't mean much to state that. Nor does it mean much by itself, as all the things are just things, attached to very little. A film/story this reliant on "memory" should be a little bit more about the mind, don't you think? (Something Yates' #5 got, kind of.) No, this one's just a different kind of faithful to the book, exclusively a plot delivery machine, even though the color and consequence of the final confrontation/s has been transposed down, dampened or muted, and, quite honestly, smoothed over. We (or I, or other dummies like me who've read the books) know that the series won't deliver on all its mythological possibilities, but there's still hope, maybe, that the next two films (of one book! money! cash! greed!) will at least be loud. God knows there won't be any less exposition. Even without Gambon asking, in just about every scene, "You must be wondering why I've brought you here." My query is why I want to be lead, or why I keep on following.

Quick Lit Shit #25: Eyes Wide Shut [BFI monograff]

2009-07-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

A fine elucidation that pays strict attention to the film itself and hardly interprets away from what we're given. I wish I was as rigorous to stay within the film as Chion. This isn't to say he doesn't talk of associations, or of the filmmakers and their process, but that all his interpretation is grounded, firmly, in details from the film. Also: I dig its simple, intuitive structure. The best film criticism reorganizes the film in a particularly non-linear way that activates the film again and again in flashes for the reader; this does that. --RWK

Quick Lit Shit #24: Vulgar Modernism

2009-07-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

Wish I had more free time to spend with this but from my thumbing (no, didn't read it cover-to-cover) it proves, again, how talented and sharp and well rounded Hoberman's criticism reads. Also cool to see what was happening in the NYC film world before VHS and Laserdiscs and DVD changed (devalued?) rep and foreign programming. --RWK

Quick Lit Shit #23: Hitchcock's Films Revisited

2009-07-16T14:28:00.001-07:00

Wood's is a fine primer. And a thoughtful guide for the familiar, too. Still a few things I'd challenge, though, like all that talk of identification solely in terms of a equals b techniques without further investigation. --RWK

Design Poach #18: Heights

2009-07-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

What: A cover of Wuthering Heights, which I've never read, but want to for the number of film adaptations there are, including one by our man of the moment, Mr Manipulator himself, Rivette.
Stolen from: An article in the Independent about the art of book covers, of course. Found via this recent 3:AM link dump.

No Capes #16: Pialat

2009-07-13T16:14:00.001-07:00

Candles #5: Best Death Metal Elevator From London

2009-07-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Pretty amazing. Pretty damned amazing, Carlton. Imagine I'm yelling, imagine I'm John Darnielle:

Let's save our pennies and dimes! Let's get along real well!
Let's go ahead, let's book a flight, let's find things to sell!
Oh I want to slide dow that tube; oh I want it, I want it oh so bad.
OH I can't find my right mood, oh I want, I want to never be mad!
Jump into that chute!
Jump into that chute!
Let's jump intooOOOooo that chute.

More pix over here. --RWK

Freaks Flock Together

2009-07-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

The Hunger, 1983, Tony Scott

Utterly bewildered to find this "vampire lesbo" movie is actually a stately, gorgeous piece of movie making, and it's directed by Tony Scott. It's like Dan Brown coming out with The Road and then he goes onto Oprah and says "I just wanted to write this quick, fun little apocalypse novel while I was researching the next Da Vinci Code sequel." Fuck you.

Chain Gang

2009-07-09T11:28:00.001-07:00

(via hrstudioplus)

Two Goths, The Desert & Karl Lagerfeld

2009-07-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

Teasers from the new Jonathan Glazer-directed DEAD WEATHER video. Did anyone see BIRTH? I mean, come on, it was the fucking shit wasn't it??

Enjoy the Fireworks, my Young Comrades

2009-07-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

San Francisco has a nice way of dulling the 4th of July, not intentionally of course, but atmospherically. Who can get in the spirit of things American, such as explosions, if fog guards their glory? This year, the forecast is the same, and to tell you the truth, this time around, this particular summer, so varied and abstract for me, I would prefer a deep and disguised rumbling of the clouds to just about anything else. For all seven of you though, if any of you barbeque and party the night away tomorrow, I wish you the best, on our sweet collective birthday. In other words Blow (it) Up.

Encounter #145: Watermelon in Spain

2009-07-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Seeds spring life. I've never been to Spain. I'd like to go there. Everybody I know says it's the best. --RWK

Candles #4: Oh Three, Twenty One

2009-07-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

Why dont the Warriors draft this BadBoy?

2009-06-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

What Community? #92: Vervet blitz - UPDATED

2009-06-29T14:12:00.001-07:00

Vervet monkeys steal alcohol (and other drinks) from "unaware" tourists at some kind of "resort" and get real wasty, falling and tripping and making a racket. Parallel lines. Except, I've not had a single drink in a week, and I feel fine, though the thirst is there. I haven't seen any bikinis here, either, for the record. --RWK

UPDATE: Whoops, forgot the [via Carlton] tag... as this tweet will tell you.

Throw a neg! #4: Transformers 2

2009-06-27T20:32:00.001-07:00

I'm happy this was the first flick I saw in the Green Country Cinemas. And I'm happy the crowd was talkative. I'm happy I could point out who was an Autobot and who was a Decepticon in some of the "fight scenes" to the kid on my right. Maybe I'm just worn out, or maybe I just have way less invested in getting riled up at windmills, but I couldn't muster the kind of anger this idiotic mess warrants on an ideological level for the simple fact that Michael Bay makes images that swoon and pop, burn and thud, go bang and lazy, and all at once, as it's true spectacle: always in motion, always useless beyond aesthetics and the pleasure of light and color. But there is a soundtrack, and dialogue, and, as many have griped, some really fucking terrible attempts at comedy -- plus, of course, all the obnoxious hate one can expect from a lame-brain adolescent -- not to mention it's 150 minutes without previews. And, while we're at it, we might as well mention how terrible Ms Fox is (and how crazy Bay's idea of sexuality is; ditto "love") despite, somehow, in the midst of the wooden line readings and anime posturing, she's still pretty sexy in a middle school fantasy way. The most dispiriting thing about the enterprise is just how much fucking money this will make, and how much fun that is for those involved, since I don't get paid to do what I love, and since I think this thing is genuinely cancerous for culture. Still, I had a fine time. Orange is a good color. --RWK

No Capes #15: Seberg

2009-06-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Candles #3: Entertain good dreams, and live here

2009-06-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

It is part of our understanding of our world, and of what constitutes an historical event for this world, that Luther redefined the world in getting married, and Henry the Eighth—one of the last figures Shakespeare was moved to write about—in getting divorced. It has since then been a more or less open secret in our world that we do not know what legitimizes either divorce or marriage. Our genre [of the comedies of remarriage] emphasizes the mystery of marriage by finding that neither law nor sexuality (nor, by implication, progeny) is sufficient to ensure true marriage and suggesting that what provides legitimacy is the mutual willingness for remarriage, for a sort of continuous reaffirmation, and one in which the couple's isolation from the rest of society is generally marked; they form as it were a world elsewhere. The spirit of comedy in these films depends on our willingness to entertain the possibility of such a world, one in which good dreams come true.

—Stanley Cavell, of course, from the chapter in Pursuits of Happiness about that flick up top

A Sunny, Shitty, Pithy, Pretty, fucking Awesome Birthday

2009-06-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

Q-tip, Vibrant Thang

Rep Tie

2009-06-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Via A Continuous Lean. TAKE IVY (love the weird title) is an extremely rare, influential Japanese book documenting late sixties Ivy League style. What a great day to be white!

Candles #2: Don't need a smile to light

2009-06-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

Trolling, laying, trolling in bed in the half-light, I realized that my list of favorite movies on some sidebar "application" on facebook was, surprising to me, rather accurate despite missing a few here and there. Then, after I added a new favorite to the end to make it an "even" 15, I thought I'd share it here. But rather than just some list, how about some pictures? Images celebrate better than words. --RWK

ZION I AGAINST I

2009-06-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

My friends Priya & Dan (collectively M.A.Y.O.) directed this insanely good video for Zion I. The track production is pretty commercial (I have no problem with that). Maybe he wants to live in Marin County real bad, who the hell knows??

What up London

2009-06-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Its odd how blogging can literally be intimate. Who the fuck am i talking to anyway? Where is everybody?./

Encounter #144: Stupidities

2009-06-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

Trying to figure out how to reckon and rise above my own stupid stupidities over here, it helps to have a beacon like this dude. Definitely my favorite Herzog. --RWK

Goats #7

2009-06-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

I wrote, directed and Star in this mini-drama

2009-06-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Obviously, I didnt do any those things. But this came out today and all 17 of you faithful followers will enjoy it.

Encounter #143: Why don't you open your eyes?

2009-06-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

Move like this. But, really, open your eyes if you're gonna feel this love thing. --RWK [via bale]

One for the Family

2009-06-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

does anyone think the trailer for Year One is pretty funny?? i think i do.

Always Sunny ...

2009-06-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

... B/c its perpetually foggy here in SF. This is a rare glimpse into something I truly value, readers.

GayFI

2009-05-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

(Click to enlarge)

Thanks to my various friends (you know who you are) who came up with the gems for this little list. I have far too much free time at work in the company of Photoshop.

Post 500: CRUSHIN

2009-05-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Can't embed the vid, so, click away and dream back. Dream back and groove. Groove and freak. Freak and funk. Perfect for a early summer breeze through the open window. Wish there was more straight RAP music these daze. (Then again, I do dig that thing Bill sent us, too, like, a lot.) --RWK

Omar S - via Bill - "Id like to Thank my own blogging abilities for this post"

2009-05-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Finally, heres the track you donkeyfucks

What Community? #91: I am nowhere near here

2009-05-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

Some dude I don't know tagged some dude I do know (and miss) on the old FB in this video. If you ignore the time stamp (I thought only dads left that shit on in 1999), you can kind of pretend that one of the dudes in the video is the dude I know (and miss). I can't think of anything apt to joke about the whole FEMQUEEN side of things other than they sure know how to vogue and pop, hug and twirl. Not my scene, clearly, but it looks fun. Even early on Sunday after whiskey gifts. --RWK

S.C.O.R.E.S.

2009-05-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Great suit, great tie, great sunglasses and, weirdly, great hair. 10/10.

Design Poach #17: Ice Cream Paint Job

2009-05-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

First, get over me being "late." This blog is not about timeliness. Next: Love how low-tech this "video" is... and with roughly 400,000 views. Why "Design Poach"? Cuz my next 4-wheeler will defo have baby blue walls. I'm talkin Nuggets colorways. Cuz I ride hard like all them tatt'd up boyz. Take it to Kobe, make him do work; make him earn his Finals. Or, you know, clean him up and take it to Bron yourselves. Either way, you know the entire locker room of the Nuggets loves this song. --RWK

--many months later: derr, guess i had the wrong vid after (before) all...........

Quick Lit Shit #22: Figures Traced in Light

2009-05-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

When he's not trying to settle some score or grinding some battleaxe blunt, Bordwell can perform some serious, and valuable, formal investigations. However, he's still a know-it-all, and kinda pompus, even here. As much as I know he must love movies, I don't know if his projects (now? ever? always have been?) aren't just a way to pump up his rep and not an honest interest in pedagogy, or plain enthusiasm. Take that, eminent writer! haha... --RWK

A Note: I'm humbled, some 10 months after dashing this off, by seeing the very end of this particular post at Bordwell's blog where he praises something I've written.

Quick Lit Shit #21: Leaves of Grass

2009-05-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YwEMxYggoKQ --RWK

On The Grind

2009-05-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Shit, this beat will pull us out of two economic crises. This one goes out to my mami Cassandra, you my girl boo, I know we r goin thru some tuff times but thru the grace of God we will get through this 2gether. Love U.

RWK UPDATE: click here for the song!

Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat

2009-05-11T15:06:00.001-07:00

God and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are in Heaven watching this on God's Macbook Air (duh) and then He leans over and whispers into Mozart's ear:

"Your team."

Via.

Encounter #142: Géraldine Pailhas in a doorway.

2009-05-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

From Maurice Pialat's Le Garçu, his final film, which I saw Friday night at BAM with a number of Brooklyn film nerds before watching the Rockets break down. This shot is, as Dave put it, really cinematic on top of, as we boys may put it, really sexy. And that turn on is really cool, too. I may write something more coherent about its more safe-for-work qualities later. But it's late now and I should pass out. Got plenty to do tomorrow. --RWK

A little NBA Action ... Artest and Rafer

2009-05-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

I don't hate the Lakers ... I like them, I guess. Mostly bc its fun to watch a great player be great. That being said, Ron Artest (haircut and all) is so cool and Kobe is so easily put into his place as an LA brat. have you seen his face when he's winning??? ewww. much less losing. Fuck a Lebron/Kobe matchup. it wont be close. I hope a more passionate "team" goes on to play the Cavs, who very much deserve to beat anybody they end up against. The Rafer thing is weird. If he did it to anyone but a Celtic, id probably be more skeptical of him now. but i sympathize with him. fuck you Doc, fuck you Ed House.

Also, I wasnt able to extract the one post on its own, but on free Darko (a blog I go back and forth on), today's post about Dirk was really great. Its called "What's Safe, Sound and Vulgar." It has to do with Dirk specifically and race relations in the NBA generally. I highly rec'd it. thanks, sincerely, cuyler.

Youtube Chopped & Screwed

2009-05-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.yooouuutuuube.com

Fake Criterion Discs

2009-05-06T12:10:00.001-07:00

Found these fake Criterion Discs on The Auteurs. If someone could pull off a Little Giants 2-disc box set, I would pay a hundred bucks. Below are some of the ones I think look pretty legit.

Candles #1: Burn your cell, burn your self.

2009-05-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ewwww! If you like this pic/man/team, you hate sports

2009-05-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

Summer of No Shame '09

2009-05-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

In only a few short weeks it will be hot/crazy/sexy/cool and I will be consuming a quantity of dry white wine that would probably kill Elton John in his prime.

Goats #6

2009-04-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

No Capes #15: Vitti

2009-04-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

No Capes #14: Gould

2009-04-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday in New York

2009-04-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Couple Songs on a Friday Morning

2009-04-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

Other than Rick Ross' Deeper than Rap album, I have a couple rec's this morning.
Julian and I agree, after hearing this, Mos Def needs to cover 808's. Live at some incredible place in Manhattan Im sure, Say You Will (kanye West).
And this dj/producer duo that made the previous post, has some other shit out there. this one specifically, is unreal. R kells.

A Lexus, Some Justice, A Dream or Some Substance

2009-04-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

OH SHIIIIIT DROP KICK YOU IN THE FACE

Edit: Ok, they took the video down. You can listen here. More at THE HOOD INTERNET.

Terrible Marketing #57: Reasons to not go see the play

2009-04-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

This came on during the NBA Playoffs here in NYC. Fuck. This. --RWK

AIDS in THR33 Dimensions

2009-04-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

I never blog past 9PM (bad for the erection) but I thought I'd share a very special website with all y'all. AIDS-3D is another one of those random-image sites like Jjjjound or Ffffound or fucking Michelle Obama's flickr account or whatever, but far, far, FAR more sinister.

I know this sounds fucking crazy, but this website is possibly the closest graphical representation of what was going through my mind when I was fourteen and just got the Internet like a week ago.

I am dead serious about this. Go. Now.

G.O.A.T.

2009-04-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Boy, oh boy, I do love a good sports film and TYSON is right up there with Tokyo Olympiad and Cool Runnings in my mind. When you hear some of the insane shit that comes out of his mouth (sample: "I'll fuck you till you love me faggot") you can really see why a lot of guys lost before they even set foot in the ring with him.

Encounter #141: This is brief

2009-04-21T05:08:00.000-07:00

I must remember this and try to control myself. --RWK

What Community? #90: I hear it's HOT in SF.

2009-04-21T05:03:00.001-07:00

Click here to read Marker's text. I wish this movie had been shipped here already. I miss it. --RWK

What Community? #89: Doin rails

2009-04-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

America's gonna do some rails. Or, Prezman made a proposal, which you can more about over here. I think it would be a great thing. Might help me sell that train novel, too, since trains will be so hip in this new network. --RWK [click pic for slightly bigger image]

This is a party

2009-04-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

Nyle "Let The Beat Build" from Nyle on Vimeo.
I want to hang out with this guy and his crew. Its all one take, you can tell. the levels are fucked, he slurs a little, he smiles, everyone is goin nuts. Thats a good time.
Here's the original. Wayne over a Kanye beat off tha Carter III.

Sorry to so quickly overshadow the Busta Rhymes post, his verse is amazing.

Dangerous

2009-04-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Jesus, this is one dirty, scary rap and I, for one, am glad that Busta Rhymes is getting his big-dick-on-campus comeback. Game's verse too ... fuck ... wow. "I rock step Polo / them Ralph Lauren shades / Can't nobody live wit me / like full blown AIDS"

I've often wondered why rappers can just totally fuck up for three or four years, then come back with the hottest shit since sliced bread. Not so for rock music, where you either die, fade away into obscurity or become critically respected (but no young people give a shit).

Look at Snoop. The guy is petrified wood in terms of music years and I will put money that my future kids will probably be dancing like idiots in their room to his 2022 club banger.

Marketing #56: Where the price is the brand is (on) your body

2009-04-16T14:50:00.001-07:00

Or, where sex is recession proof. I'm sure you've seen this already, but, well, I think the ad work for this film is great. Of course I'm gonna see it. Not only does the whole pornstar crossover thing appeal to me (duh), I want to see what Manohla called, in its Sundance rough cut, a Godardian take on commidification or some crap. I also want to see Glenn. --RWK

Quick Lit Shit #20: The Road

2009-04-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

If not the best thing I've read of McCarthy, it's my favorite. It's brisk. It refuses to wallow because it cannot indulge self-pity. A simply gorgeous final paragraph. --RWK

Encounter #140: One among many.

2009-04-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

MJ in the middle there had this little visual ditty made for himself, apparently. It's a good joke. Or, terrifying. Keep those gloves on, dude, and get back in the studio. Sing something fun again, maybe? That'd be cool. Cooler than this. --RWK [via Carlton]

Steve McQueen's HUNGER

2009-04-15T07:37:00.001-07:00

My top 5 favorite film genres:
1. Movie by Terrence Malick
2. French, With a Little or a Lot of Violence
3. "Erotic Thriller"
4. Dreamy Film Set in Hong Kong, With Lots of Nat King Cole on the Soundtrack, Inexplicably
5. Films about the Irish Struggle For Independence

I'd like to talk about number 5, for a minute. HUNGER is the new film about Bobby Sands, the IRA prisoner who led the 1981 Irish Hunger Strikes at the infamous Maze prison near Belfast. To bring attention to the prisoners' demand to be treated as political prisoners, Sands starves himself to death over the course of 66 days.

God damn, if I wasn't blown away by this movie. It's a new kind of film -- the kind that only shows up once in a great while and truly annihilates you with its clarity of vision and purpose. It's also only 90 minutes which I think is an incredible feat -- it will give any film nerd a big hard on, with none of the calories.

HUNGER trailer:

Also:

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY

Effective Marketing #55: Anti

2009-04-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Lars Von Trier is a weirdo. I have never been set on where I stand with him. At certain points in my past I thought he was some kind of genius. Then I hated him. Hard. Now somebody I love thinks he's kinda great, and thinks Dogville in particular is defo great. Dogville was the last movie of his that I saw, and it made me mad. Not quite sure whether I'll see this one, either, but it's an effective trailer nonetheless. Just seems like another exercise, a point to prove, rather than a "real film." But what do I know? I've only seen the trailer... --RWK

Take it Easy this Holiday Weekend

2009-04-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Tell Satan "What Up"

2009-04-10T14:24:00.001-07:00

Can you believe this shit?

La Beauté Sauvage

2009-04-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is the most terrifying thing I have seen in a long time.

Design Poach #16: Inglorious ads

2009-04-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yea, it's gonna be pulpy. I'm sure it will look pretty, too, based on the track record. But who knows how "good" that means it'll turn out. --RWK

OutKast (not) Featuring UGK: Intl Player!

2009-04-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Music to drink black coffee to: hear

No Capes #13: Truffaut

2009-04-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Jihad On All Y'all

2009-04-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Fuck it. I'm hungover and I want everyone to share my pain. I did have fun though.

Via: johnnyr.com

Butt Copy

2009-04-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not a particularly strong guy but I could probably break the lead singer of this popular Australian band in half *GAHHH* (like a fucking breadstick). That being said, I am quite gay for their music.

S.A.I.G.O.N. D.I.S.C.O.T.H.E.Q.U.E.

2009-04-07T10:18:00.001-07:00

I found these pictures on Facebook this morning of some random person's Vietnam trip. Holy Christ, I have never wanted to wear linen pants so bad.

And you know what? I realized that I am not impressed by girls with their French accents scribbling cursive shit into journals in some café on the St. Germain des Prés.

This is what I want.

(I guess this is the photog's website: http://www.sebastiankim.com/)

The bay bridge in the fog

2009-04-06T13:38:00.001-07:00

JJJJound is BBBBallin

2009-04-06T12:28:00.001-07:00

I don't really know how to describe the blog JJJJound except that it has no words -- just pictures of "stuff." Basically it goes something like this: picture of a girl's tits, picture of a nice dress shirt, picture of nice sneakers, black and white picture of Prague ... on and on for literally hundreds of images per blog post. If you think that's gay go fuck yourself because this blog is essentially Cliff Notes on how to look, talk, dress, think and fuck like a man.

My dad used to give me this big, rambling speech when I was younger about "getting into fights", "having your heart broken", and "breaking someone else's heart" and some other thing about "learning to drive stick shift" but I would have much rather he showed me JJJJound. Enjoy.

No Capes #12: Thompson

2009-04-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Encounter #139: Worst come-down ever

2009-04-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

Drunk man robs liquor store, or tries to, and destroys it. Perfect. I watched this without the sound the first time because I had some tunes blaring and, yup, that's the way to watch it. If you watch it with its own audio, there's some dude talking the whole time, "narrating" or some such, over a cheezy synth bubble soundtrack. Cuz it's from a cops-n-robbers type of program for the television. Those are the worst. --RWK

A ladY to Drink with: Mary Wells

2009-04-03T13:20:00.001-07:00

What Community? #88: Texas in my necklace

2009-04-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Stephen Jackson, no beat, doubtfully fresh no rehearsal. Defo no homo. --RWK [via Shoals]

Considerable linear extent in space #7: Not exactly

2009-04-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

How low is that hoop? Woody is not long, but very white. Somehow he lays a brown lady in this movie. And somehow, through the magic of movies, he jumps. I will never dunk and I'm okay with that. --RWK [via]

Encounter #138: Unheard of.

2009-04-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty tired of white people talking about Wayne (as I know Cuy is as well) but allow me this: Wayne knows some hoops. He drops some names you probably don't even want to pay attention to, like Spencer Hawes, noted seven-foot Pacific Northwest redneck Republican. Also, it's unclear who his "we"s refer to, even though "we" all know he's from Nola, not Sacto, and I'm sure he drinks clear alcohol with CP3. He's a genuine weirdo. Related: Maybe my horned rim glasses (yup) should be bigger? --RWK [via]

All My Churren

2009-04-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

When my friend showed this to me, I immediately chastised him "to turn that fucking shit off, it's RACIST" (Chiwetl Ejiofor was sleeping in the next room, so scary). Anyway, I enjoy this in private now, especially after a hard day of yelling in the phone.

On another note, I'd like to thank Cuy and Ryland for allowing me to be a complete degenerate on their esteemed blog. Congratulations motherfuckers, none of you will be able to find gainful employment with the U.S. government.

-- Alfonso Ribeiero, Esq.

Design Poached Eggs

2009-04-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Design Poach #15: WiiSpray

2009-04-01T16:22:00.001-07:00

Yet another reason to get a Wii. Some German dude programmed this as a thesis. More about it here. --RWK [via ANIMAL]

Genius Marketing #54: Girlfriend Design Poach #14

2009-04-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

Soderbergh, for all his silliness, is a smart guy. Also, um, great mouth. And while we're at it: did you see this one? --RWK

Music to eAt With: New UGK and Method Man returns on the radio

2009-03-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

Also some more of datnewnew here.

Design Poach #13: Face Tapes

2009-03-31T09:36:00.001-07:00

Here we have repurposed nostalgia making pretty, and reminding that patience is a virtue. Serious: how long do these take? You can see more by clicking here. --RWK [via BoingBoing]

Design Poach #12: Business cards

2009-03-31T09:23:00.001-07:00

Apparently this is how LEGO does their business cards. I don't think I'd want it that way, actually. Though, to be fair, I've never been that obsessed with stuff like that; just curious. I mean, I could, understandably, within reason, print up some cards, I guess, if I wanted to, but, you know, like, that would be like, um, a life choice? --RWK [via the guardian]

No Capes #11: Dreyer

2009-03-25T20:37:00.001-07:00

What Community? #87: 2 to 2.50 is 81 to X

2009-03-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well, shit. Fare hikes are official. Really need to get a bike or a skateboard. Really need a hood I like to hang in. Really need a steady job, too, while we're at this low point. Read more at CityRoom. --RWK

Throw a neg! #3: Rachel Getting Married

2009-03-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

This won't be bilious like the last "neg" thrown. In fact, I think this movie is relatively worthy of attention. It's just not that good, or maybe not even "good" at that. For starters, the screenplay is thick. For another, Anne Hathaway can't carry her eyeliner that well. For more, there's this whole multiculti bit of nonsense that seems genuinely celebrated, not investigated, by Demme's (dare I say it?) indulgent running time. Yep: this thing should have been--or at least could have been--30 minutes shorter. There was too much pageant, somehow too little Bill Irwin (defo too lil Winger), and way too many Serious Dramatic Clichés. That, or I'm just not interested. No amount of docu-hijinks can get me into thinking all that pomp was knowingly dumb; not when I'm forced to watch it for so long from a camera giddy to see smiles dancing. --RWK