Encounter #110: Morvern Callar

Rewatched this because of an exchange I saw on a friend's facebook wall reminded me of that post Glenn threw up a while back which I thought was going to be the reason for a rediscovery. I dunno. This thing is just too good. And, again, I wonder where Lynne Ramsay's gotten to, what she's been up to, if she'll make another film soon. Once again shows why things like this silly project don't make sense -- as of right now I think this is better than each of the other three films I've listed before it on that 2002 list. But then I think, is it, really? Then, why not? Stupid sentimental attachments keepin those other three ahead of it? The way I rationalize it is that, yes, PDL is more of a "favorite" than Morvern Callar. Although, to be perfectly honest: who the fuck knows? If not me, nobody, I guess, since it's my favorites, but what I'm really trying to say is that maybe this time next year Morvern Callar will once again rise in my estimation and I'll rank it just behind The New World on that Ten Favorites of the 2000s list. This is a mess of gobbledygook. But I needed to spew because I need to go drink some water and finish writing something else, something more, um, serious. ATTN: CB, watch this movie. Then tell me things. Please. --RWK

Encounter #109: Fast Andy, funny guy

A media day mess of BS from the Warriors' youtube page. Funny to see him talk about going to the club with "Buke", and, of course, Jax fooling on his hair gel. Not to mention that hug between him and Nellie. --RWK

Encounter #108: Reach back a little bit.

He looks great here, sounds like a real person, and smart. Listen to his new album. As Carlton said, there's not a great sad song (even "Sometimes" feels good), but the flip side of that is the album just vibes hard until the end. It loves life. I love it. So I'm'a shill it a bit. --RWK

Genius Marketing #34: Hunger

In a way, I'm mad I missed the Telluride opportunity. This looks fantastic, unremitting, scary. But I'm also thankful I missed it because this looks scary, unremitting and dangerous. Also, there's the fact that I got to drink beer in the sun with people I now miss a ton more than I can ever miss missing a movie. --RWK

What Community? #53: Have fun your own way, Juggalos.

me: mike said it was just a really good vibe
lots of dancing
not really thrashing
goofy fun
awk just wanted people to get big
(diff words but you get the idea)
Willie: yeah i understand that, the music is just terible tho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOvnbCtnVQ
a little over the juggalos' heads
me: mike saw him at great american back in the day
Willie: "do your thing have fun your own way"
me: he looks thinner
less of a meat head
maybe more and more blow
Willie: i could see that
i wonder who he rolls w in nyc
me: it's pretty amazing how much shit he withstands
Willie: from ICP fans no less
--RWK

Live from London: "Electric Kiss"

Kissed a Girl is bigger here than back home for sure. Its on any given radio station at least 10x a day. But, we also have BBC sessions, or in this case BBC2 quick session. Shes unreal hot and even through her horrible hit, Katy Perry's vocal talent can be heard. Here's a sexy rendition of an already unbelievably sexy song.
Katy Perry does Electric Feel

(also, tell she doesnt look like Zooey Deschanel)

Genius Marketing #33: Making tacos pop.

Get it? It's a joke. Somebody smart got her to read that copy. Somebody less smart got her to read it so flat. Or maybe -- maybe -- that's just how excited she gets when her tacos pop. Which, let's be honest, isn't that excited. At the least: it's not as excited as every sweaty blogger's getting right about now as this thing makes the rounds. --RWK [via, nsfw site]

Genius Marketing #32: I'm a PC.

Good one, Bill. And Tony and Eva and Pharrell and Hot French Law Student and all you others. I'm still a Mac. But, you know, I dig this vibe. They hired right. --RWK [via]

Songs #25: Show me the way to go home.

One of the best minutes in movies. Also, hang overs suck a lot of balls. But they're funny, too, like when you reach for the towel on the rack and you fall out of the tub onto your hands and face and you can't stop laughing. Too bad there's not a youtube of that. Next time, next time. --RWK

Live from London: "Stretch a Canvas"

As this fucking city is somehow eons behind in broadcasting american TV shows and films, I've gone and done some searching for their local brand of awesomeness. This, so far takes gold. He;s called the Fonejacker and he's on point.

Canvas Stretcher


Internet Providings


Hilarious African character, "George"


"Doovde"


and Terry Tibbs


Sorry for not posting in ages, all you readers out there! ha.

>> cB

Encounter #107: What I'm working with.

Yes, I wrote that. Look at more of my kitchen in all its grime, and the little space I'm afforded, by clicking this link. It's been time to move for a while. --RWK

Encounter #106: T-Pain on drums.

Dude's got some skill, too. However, as with most live rap events, the sound is shit. So this video is at its best when Faheem solos over an instrumental. He's the boss, not Ross. --RWK [via the supervillian]

Songs #24: Swagger Like Us

The M.I.A. sample (already?!) is actually pretty dope, altho they ride it too much, and everybody's coming pretty hard to match that bassline. But Kanye's on some new autotune tip that I can quite endorse (it's no surprise that Wayne's version works a lot better) but I get the whole syntheti-chic thing their going for. And, is it really that shocking that T.I. does the best? He rides these cinematic beats better than most current rappers; plus, his bluster is micro compared to his track mates, which is appreciated. Understated mugging? Is that possible? It's something about his voice, and how he actually sounds angry. By contrast: Kanye sounds like he phoned that verse in from the mansion of insularity that his life is, that you can see on full display on his blog; Jay's funny, at least, with his opener about skinny jeans, but his singing is, well, hilarious for a different reason; Wayne is pretty gorgeous on most tracks, and this breezy "just playin" style is typical, great, slight. It boils down to this, though, for me: T.I. talks about his dad! --RWK [via Discobelle]

T.I. feat Kanye, Jay, Wayne - Swagger Like Us (zshare)

[Pix from a "hip-hop" movie that can probably stand in as some kind of "black all star" flick. But I probably shouldn't go and say things like that for obvious reasons, like, sweeping generalizations are dumb.]

Genius Marketing #31: CineMetal

The other day I realized I've successfully eliminated all band shirts from my wardrobe. Then I thought, well, I could see wearing a Rain Dogs shirt. Then cinetrix posted this, and I scoffed. Today she posted a follow up with links and I actually dug the look of this Béla Tarr T. Especially dig the tag line: "Long slow takes. Short fast songs." I can't say I ever, or ever will again, listen to Black Flag, but I probably won't watch Satantango again, either, when it comes down to it. However, I would quite possibly sport this shirt. See more at CineFile Video. Get ur nerd on. --RWK

What Community? #52: Little League MGMT

This is one of those things I wish I'd've posted before the post just below this because this is a trifle and that one is kinda serious. But, hey, this is just for fun. And the fact that whoever made this video likes little league baseball and MGMT is pretty great. Or, you could assume that person just has a crush on Karl Ravech from his earlier BBTN hall of fame personality. I do. Those were the days, when Harold and PG flanked Ravy, not lumberjack idiots like Kruk and this fool, Orestes Destrade. Altho, to be fair, Orestes can probably throw down hard in the club. All along the Western front... --RWK [via Tirico Suave]

What Community? #51: Paradise?

Bill sent along this link with this sentiment: "I want to change people's lives." It's a pretty awesome documentary about the roots of Larry Levan and Paradise Garage and the whole beginnings of dance culture. Yes, it began as a haven for (primarily black and Latino) gay dudes. But it was more about feeling free than anything. What's weird about the dance scene now, or at least the SF dance scene, is the emphasis away from that communal spirit towards supreme partying and fucking and money. Not that that didn't happen then. And maybe it's just a sign of the world's changes. But I get a way different vibe at joints like Blow Up or Lights Down Low. Everything's become packaged, a sign of cool, instead of just something cool. The cool kids are probably the biggest posers/actors, too. Bill and I were talking about that a bit, too, the other day: we don't dress hip, nor do we only dress like bums, nor do we take a simplicity stance towards hipness; we definitely exist in the middle ground, which works against you in a place like SF, and fits the East Bay a lot better. Something about a holdover punk ethos. And, you know, neither of us has a job. Although that will be changing quite significantly soon enough. Both of us need jobs now more than ever (in the past two years). The point of all this is that Larry Levan changed people. Dance music can change people. And with a little luck Bill and Carlton and Stevie Fresh will change the East Bay and its (mostly stupid) perception of dance music. Berkeley house parties were the first step. Look for the Husky Boys brand to expand to Oakland (and beyond, like Thailand) through the fall. We may not be able to start the next Garage but we can definitely start something. And we can always dance. I hope I can take some pictures. More later, soon. --RWK [To watch the full doc, just follow the links; I know you can do it.]

Encounter #105: Kobe's just like you, nerd. (Not!)

I'm waiting for the day when we hear about how Zen Master got Kobe to read something goofy like Alan Watts or how when he retires he plans to sit down (maybe treadmill it?) and really read Truth and Method. (He loves the Continent, right?) Until then, here's a story about Kobe buying comics after hours for his plane ride to China. (Yup: this is timely shit.) In any event, since my basketball blogging is strictly parasitic for the time being (and probably will remain so), I should again announce that I'm of the camp that, asshole or no, Kobe is fucking fascinating; singular in a way no other superstar has been. It's kind of similar to what makes Chris Bosh so cool (on the surface: they have personalities!) but Bosh's youthful enthusiasms are charming whereas Kobe's odd trajectory to now makes him more enigma than a known entity, a mamba with all kinds of crazy fighting inside that only shows up in how ferocious he plays. Here's where the Gadamer comes in: what is play for this dude? I've seen him laugh, I've seen him jump over things on youtube with a smile, I've seen him arm in arm with teammates and trophies; I've rarely seen him smile on the court, in a game, and when I have it was during some broadcast-muted trash talk with the other team's luminary. I guess plenty of athletes are intense and fierce competitors. But, and here comes that cliché, there's something else in how Kobe attacks, and how Kobe walks away from, the basket -- even a fade away is cut-throat for him -- that makes him so good and so ruthless and so compelling. I mean, he said, "I like that dark shit," when asked what comics he likes, and I think there's other stuff going on there, too. The idea of Preacher appealed to him. And apparently he's a big fan of 100 Bullets, too. That's some down right abject mess. Maybe Kobe will read Georges Bataille instead of Gadamer. Hyuck, hyuck. --RWK

[Pic 1, stolen from the original post, of Kobe with Lee's Comics' intrepid reporter slash employee Taio Iwado; Pic 2 stolen from Tirico Suave]

Encounter #104: This is fandom. Or something. (Mostly? A waste of time.)

Remember when Nicole Richie was kinda fat? Yeah, I forgot about it, too. It's a laugh. She's a weirdo, all skinny now, and apparently pregnant again (because we want to turn this into a celeb gossip site, clearly), despite not looking like she can support her own weight, much less the life of yet another parasitic embryo; oops, I mean baby. In any case, through the power of internets, I found this awkward, stupid video -- from when I don't know, for what reason I don't know -- that gets cut short by Tool Type 1A just when things start to get interesting. First reaction? I dig how she just says what a lot girls (and some guys) at sporting events are thinking: these guys are primal, buff, macho meat on next to full bodily display. This isn't beach volleyball, of course, nor swimming, but there's plenty of guns (and calves? collar bones? what's the focal point?) to relish. Plus, you know, ballers are tall, with big feet. Makes sense why she'd marry (and spawn twice with) a lame white wannabe punk rock douche with no neck, right? All kinds of different ideas of funny and gross and right-on apply. --RWK

Encounter #103: "One ugly muddafucka."

The Ratatat shtick is getting a little tired but this video is pretty good, even if it falls into the same traps that cripple their music. Repetition is all well and good in a pop song but when shit's this synthetic it only gets grating. They make their point and then hammer at it, hammer at it, drive it deep. Except it's not that deep, just kinda cool. I like how goofy their whole deal is but after a while I want something new (or newer): they should do more hip hop remixes. Selfish, I know. While we're here: Predator is awesome, by the way. A real gem of trashy 80s action cinema; it revels in tacky color-characters with such self-awareness that it's hard to take seriously, or get turned off, and real easy to enjoy. --RWK

Genius Marketing #30: Tiger 2.0, or Tiger is really from Nazareth

Look at Tiger (or Team Woods, or EA, or whatever firm): he's not just Jesus, walking on water, he's all Web 2.0, too. His new EA ad riffs on youtube and you can watch the add on youtube, setting up a dizzy turtles-all-the-way effect. I can't wait for the time when somebody just keeps filming themselves watching themselves on youtube to the point where it's just a long line of deferrals inside frame after frame after frame, a jagged line of shrinking perspective. But I'm way too lazy to do that. I'd rather just think about it. Maybe I'll search for it. In any event, it starts here. Somebody's got to film themselves watching Tiger's ad, which watches another clip, and then keep layering. It should resist sense, the sound clamoring and clipping and fighting itself. Somebody, do it. Please. --RWK [via all kinds of sports blogs, which I seem to be reading more and more; meaning, of course, that I'm reading less and less film blogs]