What Community? #36: The Weiner Circle

Stolen from DLIC's rant. Also, I'm pretty much 100 percent behind Shoals' newest, too. --RWK

Encounter #86: Laura Denton

You've seen it. It's mostly boring. But kind of hilarious, kind of great. At least it's hilarious that something like this can set the interwebs afire. It's a girl in a t-shirt and panties shaking her butt in bad light with some annoying soundtrack. Still, she's on the verge of 2 million youtube views. We've got a star...on...wait...uh...our hands(?). Oh, and, yeah, the bf is a douche, right? --RWK

Encounter #85: 35 feet

This is old news but, well, shit. I put it up because I read this. Here's a quote: "He is as charitable as a Rockefeller, unfailingly kind to his fans and has a quality you almost never find in a professional athlete anymore: He's playful." Word up. Also, I dig that it's a lady sportswriter. --RWK

UPDATE: Here's a hilarious (and awesome) fan tribute video:

(Kinda) Genius Marketing #21: NBA on NBC

With the Finals to start on Thursday, on ABC, I thought I'd harken back to the glory days of Josh Tesh via this super nerdy, violin-playing, NES enthusiast's rendition of the old theme that got adrenaline running way better than all those stupid hick-rock intros and ESPN mega-graphics. As for the video on hand: yea, it's cheesy, and he's no David Sides, but c'mon... it's kinda tight. That's a true fan, or something. (Here's the real Tesh greatness, if that's what you really want; if you really want genius marketing; if you really want almost three minutes of synthesized theme song inanity.) --RWK

What Community? #35: Muppets take "Manhattan"

I've never had the wrong kind, either. I can't imagine Kermit having any kind, though, which is why, I guess, this is funny. --RWK [via]

What Community? #34: ...in this club

Gotta love Monta cheering him on, with a good sweat going. Is this why they slowed down at the end? Shoals thinks it may be a bigger reason than weed why a lot of ballers don't always bring their A game. Pic stolen from drunkathlete.com, Carlton's new favorite website. --RWK

(NOT) Genius Marketing #20: North Texas Nissan

Avery Johnson is one of my least favorite players and/or coaches of all time. It's mostly an irrational thing, but I think he was a big, um, help to the disintegration of the Mavs over the past two seasons. And, you know, not that he can help it, really, but that accent is silly. --RWK

It's a lot to ask...

..but when are we going to be wowed like this again? I don't need two amazing shots but I'd like one game-winner. Granted, I haven't watched every game this post-season. But, you know what? Not much point in the second round given all those home-court wins. For instance: why did the Cavs/Celts even get to game 7? (For that matter, how did the Hawks push it that far?) And, when it gets down to it, I only watched the last quarter -- and even that only had one amazing play:

But even that, with all that excitement, it was -- again -- another instance of LeBron-as-team: the Cavs are, for the most part, past their prime (which was never that good to begin with; except the weird, anomalic career/talent/work ethic of Ben Wallace and the hindered-by-being-white-and-enormous Big Z; I'm looking at you, Joe Smith) or just plain boring and one-note (Devin Brown? Sasha Pavlovic? "Boobie"? Damon "asshole" Jones?), with the sole exception being Delonte and his too-crazy-to-suck style. Or is it a routine?

Carlton thinks, whatever it is, it's gross; I think it's kind of great.
Some of my displeasure with this round has been the home-team-wins mentality, but I'd be lying if it wasn't also simply a lack of in-game drama, no matter the arena. And of course, my bias would have loved to have seen the W-men take it to the Lakers for at least one win in the first round. There wasn't really a chance of Baron and Monta and Jax repeating their wild and crazy ways this year (these Lakers are led by Kobe, not Dirk, and have more all-around talent than last year's Mavs), but at least we might have seen something like this dagger-shot, which I got to see live and in person,

or, another favorite highlight from The Best Regular Season Ever (tm):

I haven't seen amazing happen like that in the playoffs yet. But we can hope that a Kobe-Paul or Kobe-Manu conference finals -- hey, who am I kidding? it's gotta be Kobe-Paul -- will give us some heroics. I mean, Kobe-Deron has given us the greatest game of this playoffs so far --

and the best shot I've seen in the playoffs so far --

-- I mean, right? And, if Kobe keeps playing, and maybe even wins the Finals this year, his legend will be cemented and people can stop talking about that and move on to how hilarious his self-parody has become, or will become, what with all that tree-shaking and Aston Martin-jumping and rape-beating (uh, beating a rape rap?) and back-spasming and no-Shaqing and all that adds to his already large ego. Cuz, if you're not laughing at (and, to a lesser extent, with) the man, you're probably hating the man, which means you're probably unhappy -- and you don't need to be unhappy because this man is supremely talented, lucky and a beauty to watch on the court. He makes magic happen in a special way. I just hope he makes some magic happen in the next two rounds. Should be easy when flanked by Lamar and Pau -- when Lamar and Pau are playing like they've been playing. I mean, Odom was the real reason Game 4 was so awesome. --RWK

PS -- Yes, I was inspired by BS

Hey Hey Cee-Lo What's Going On?

feelin IT

Songs #19: The Boys Are Back In Town (cover)

Inspired by the most recent post at Glenn Kenny's new blog, Some Came Running (love the blog name), I've uploaded another cover I dig. It may not be to everybody's liking as homeboy is rather nasal-y and can be quite irritating sometimes. But the thing I dig about him is how earnest he is; you can tell he really digs Kels as much as Thin Lizzy. Kels? Yeah, he takes this cover into a cover of "Ignition (remix)" at the end. I guess that's another reason I like this so much. --RWK [Big ups to Evan for giving me this song a while ago.]

The Mountain Goats - The Boys Are Back In Town (cover) (zshare)

[Pic: here's some boys about to leave town.]

Genius Marketing #19: Take it to the next level.

Nike hires the right people. That old Will Farrell joke: I hate your guts but I respect the hell out of you. (I dig their products, too; just not their company.) --RWK [via Carlton]

Rap Songs: Put On (a different song?)

I post this only to be a hater. A terrible song. Kanye can actually sing (Really he can) he doesnt need to use the vocoder, and doesnt need to be waxing sentimental about ho's he aint fucked yet right before he says he misses the fiancee he just dumped. Im starting to love the guy, I am. This is just a shit song though. Why post it? Ive listened to it 10 fucking times, someone else needs to as well.

Young Jeezy ft. Kanye West: Put On (via Z-share)

What Community? #33: I love the energy and the spirit here.

Since I fancy myself some kind of critic, lemme pledge solidarity with AO here, judging only by what I will post below.

Roeper is such a hater. So, I guess as part of the promo for John M Chu's Step Up 2: The Streets, or maybe just for fun, really, he and his star, Adam Sevani, challenge Miley and Mandy to "The Biggest Online Dance Battle in the History of Man Kind"...

Yea, that was dope. Right? Right. Okay, so how do them (idiotic? obnoxious?) jailbaiters respond? Pretty well. It's a better video for that Madonna single than the one she made with JT and Timmy...

Damn, that Channing Tatum guy is kinda tight. But, wait, the next response from the Adam / Chu Dance Crew has even more celebrity cameos. Spot 'em all! (They help you out.)

I'm fucking sold. When I saw TWBB last January there was a trailer for How She Move and I really wanted to see it then. Of course, I didn't remember it, or make time for it. But now I might start watching dance clips all the time on youtube. Also, I just want to see where this goes from here. The energy and the spirit -- both of them -- are fucking dope. The internet is a wonderous tool, platform, theatre and audience. --RWK

Encounter #84: Stress / Burnin' What Community? #32

This is rather unsettling. I don't know if Gaspard and Xavier really see themselves as banlieue bullies but this video certainly says their idea of "and justice pour tous" is anarchic (just like Metallica), their idea of faith is ironic (they believe in themselves, for sure) and their understanding of how to market themselves is pretty smart: only provide provocative art, and shift moods with each offering (see how different all their videos are), and never explain it -- just do it. (Oh snap!) Romain-Gavras directed this video, and a comment on his myspace page says he's the son of Costas-Gavras, which kind of makes sense, considering I've never seen a film by the elder Gavras, since I hear that Costa's style is a similar brand of immersive polemical. The scary thing is this clip's verité style looks so verité that I began to worry: how much are these boys acting? is the banlieue really this terrible? what are the moral implications of all this? how does this compare to Simon's B-more? how does it compare to West Oakland? East Oakland? Richmond? Hunter's Point? I really know nothing about the world. I live in such a safe bubble that my biggest worry right now is whether I'll ever get a job I like, not "Will I ever get a job?" So what's the value of this brand of art, really? Is it supposed to sell the song? It definitely performs an amplified stress with its parade of hate. Is it supposed to provoke me to take stock of ghetto life? I clearly have, at least superficially. Is it just an affective clip, plain and simple? I think it's a good selling technique to say you're not even a part of the world, that you're somehow above the law and that you're here to cause a little ruckus while you can. Sure. But that can be done with a little more joy, right? I'll grant that this could be read as an affirmation of the world in that there is pain in the world, but maybe I just want my music to be more fun. Clearly these boys like Daft Punk a lot, and they're modeling their career/s after the OG French robots, but what Daft Punk did with their robot rock was funnier and cooler and less pompous in a way. Their third single off Homework was "Burnin'." Here it is:

See, this one is definitely about being so cool you set the world ablaze, and want to see it, so long as it's a good time. The firefighter and the kid aren't who Daft Punk are aligned with: it's the Chicago house DJs making cameos next to those French robots at that table. Maybe I'm a wuss, but I appreciate the spirit of this video more. I just don't need to see kids beating strangers up any more. (I like the Burgess version of Clockwork better than the Kubrick version.) But if you do, here's a high quality Quicktime version of stress for you to download and get nervous with in the safety of your home. --RWK

Encounter #83: Wave yo face all you want.

I know this is old hat but this video is pretty well edited. Also, I didn't catch that thing right at the beginning: "Hey, nigga I was in Oakland; Oakland like Brooklyn." Skippy. Also, tomorrow's game is big. I'm torn. I really dig Caron Butler, and I'm happy for Antawn Jaminson in a way, but I do loathe the tactless, classless DeShawn Stevenson... and as Team America said, the longer I get to watch LeBron play (ahem, slash and explode and rise higher than the rim) the better. Or, you know, force a Game 7; prove you don't need Gil. That way Agent Zero can opt out and go to Toronto with D'antoni and Calderon and Bosh for the next high flying Seven Seconds or Less team. --RWK [via Fear The Beard]

What Community? #31: Seven seconds or less.

Bill Simmons has just written what could be termed the definitive history of the Suns from when they were THE SUNS! to now when we know them only as the suns. You should read it. It's just too bad he had to go and make a reference to how great the Celtics are there at the end. It's predictable, Bill. However, I will say, I'm glad I didn't grow up a Suns fan. No matter how good the Diamondbacks franchise has turned out to be, I don't think I could live through the kind of pain this remembrance must stir up in a die-hard SUNS! fan. Especially after that "Joe Johnson Owns The Fourth Quarter" game last week. Even if Boris Diaw played the best of any Suns player in games 4 and 5, I'd rather have Joe Johnson, Amare, and any number of the Suns' former draft picks. For instance, they once drafted a player named Rajon Rondo and traded him to Boston for some money. How would you like him backing up Nash right now? --RWK

[Pix: Then and now.]

Title sequences #9: Vertigo

It's just gonna turn into a series on Saul Bass if I keep this up. But this one really is great. As is the Bernard Hermann score. No fronting: I would listen to that right now instead of Glenn Gould. --RWK

What Community? #30: Obama AND1, son!

I didn't know Obama was a lefty. Makes his game that much more tantalizing, doesn't it? Apparently he played ball with the Tar Heels Tuesday morning at 7:15AM (EST). Tuesday morning at 7:15AM (PST) I was asleep and loving it. How come he's 20 years older than me and is in such better shape? Oh, right, he's driven to succeed, a politician and former lawyer, a Harvard graduate, a possible future for our country, and he balled as a kid. Big surprise. I'm sure he'd be a dope pick-up partner. Gotta love that take at the end of the clip. Still: how do you guard Barak Obama with grace? I'm sure that idiot hard worker Tyler Hansborough could have stuffed him in his grill but here he is, always playing the game "the right way." Well, there's this telling scrimmage stat: zero points. Maybe playing the right way did work. Me? I'd probably get caught up in the competition, forget who he was and Bruce Bowen his ass without realizing it, annoying the piss out of him. --RWK [via]

Encounter #82: Caminito del Rey

Some fearless fool walking the Caminito del Rey. Bear with the music, or even turn it off: this is awesome. I want to do it even though just watching this video scares me whiter than I already am. And this dude is doing it one-handed. --RWK [via Rob Davis]

Cure & Family Game: Japanese Cinema is Amazingly Strange and Wonderful

Been watching a string of violent Japanese films from the end of last century. The fifteen years or so after WWII is said to have produced some of the most overtly angry and violent films in Japanese history (fucking makes sense!) but somehow I dont agree. There is something to be said for violent movies with a positive outlook on life, which i'd argue, Cure is. Although, Family Game (rather Kazoku gêmu) is not positive. It is amazing though. Funny, playful, grim and while, purely theatre, completely real.

(You wouldnt believe the difficulty in finding a good pic or trailer for this movie. Jesus!)