Dumb it down. Hell yeah!

New Lupe / Old DP


Talk about some RHETORIC. --RWK

Encounter #10

Encounter #9: Shake Ya Ass

You better believe I used to adore this song. I immediately thought of it after watching that 50 video below in Cuy's post. "I'm buyin if you got nice curves" is a maxim to live by, I guess. The ethos of The Neptunes is astonishing. Why aren't they still popular. Are they? Do they even make beats for anybody besides Clipse at this point? I don't even know. I'm out of the loop. --RWK

Encounter #8: 50 and Kan

9/1 today, 10 days till the albums drop and we see who will or will not be rappin anymore.
pay no attention to the Kanye video, just listen. I have been predicting (to my associates) a guaranteed Kanye victory in this heated 9/11 battle, but AYO Technology kills it. Tim and Jt cant be fucked with right now. 50 could have rapped about the inet and ipods as the new "technologies" and it would have still been dope. But he stayed true and stuck to what he knows- bitches. Good boy Curtis.

As for Kan- he nabbed T-Pain, the instant hit maker, and made a hit. The song debuted at the end of Entourage last weekend, and not surprisingly, its hot, like Vinnie Chase (but the song isnt empty and without talent).
The track opens with T-Pain's electronic voice singing: "Im a gunna get on this TV momma, Im a Im a, Im a put this shit down"

and he do.









JT: You got me saying... AYO, Im tired of using technology, why dont you sit on top of me.?!


NOTE: I only cited JT and T-Pain, for this is the age of the hook in rap, something both Kanye and Tim know (and well knew when producing these tracks). The rappin is standard, mumblin 50 and the cocky Kan, but both tracks hit the spot, Im saying.

oh and one further note: listen carefully at about 1:20 into Kanye's Good Life. whats that? was that? um. wait, wait a second, was that a 50 reference? yup. I think it was.

>>CB

Encounter #7

A dial tone. Michael Cera is pretty adorable. But Jonah Hill is actually even better in the movie. More on that later, in other webspaces. Also, I forgot how Conan will only ham it up, always, and still be funny. That is, not ingratiating. Dude is on point. Bring on the laughs. --RWK

HIS eyes are closed under there

"I get hotter by the tic- 'fore i sizzle to death/ I jus tell the clock to give me a sec/ I'm in the middle of the wall where my enemies at/ I runnin like Eric, Eric Bieniemy back, huh, ha"
thanks weezy >> cb

In the dark of the night,

and you're all I can see, you sure look like a star to me.
"L'il Star" - Cee-lo and Kelis (Linus Loves remix)
[Thank you Palms Out. Hope you don't mind.]--RWK

Late night discussion board post. 103B was big. Sublimity is not rest / like a wave it will crest / and fall / into itself, but forward.

Repeated here:

Sublimity is not rest
like a wave it will crest
and fall
into itself, but forward.

Elucidated here:

Derr says there is violence implied in any of our subscriptions to the practice of language. Or he writes that. (I'm not even going to cite him.) When we use language we agree to arrogate to the rules that govern the language, and enforce its consequences -- which fall, sometimes, with violent force upon the individual. So one might read my questions of violence as redundant, right? Undoubtedly proscriptive, right? Or is there still doubt? What is this skepticism that nags me?

Perhaps that's what is at stake in the subliming of logic: to abstract oneself from consequences (as of the law, as of violence).

Do any of you watch John From Cincinnati? Or Deadwood? David Milch created both and acts/acted as head writer for both series. David Milch is a philanthropist. That is, he loves human beings. (He spreads his wealth, too, but that's besides the point of invoking the word's "original" definition. But then, there we are, again, questioning what a specific word means in a specific situation, or context, and how I can make it mean that in said situation, or context.) Milch writes fabulous dialogue. He understands iterability, and language as a social enterprise. If you haven't seen either show I really recommend you watch them. And they're great for different reasons so it's impossible to pick a favorite. But I will say that John starts yet slower, or it takes a little longer to, uh, "get" (at first glance).

Let's take John From Cincinnati. The eponymous character is named John. He says he comes from Cincinnati. His last name is Monad. John Monad says he is form Cincinnati. He points at the sky when he says, "Cincinnati." There's some things John knows and there's some things John doesn't know: "Some things I know and some things I don't." He takes others words and uses them through his mouth, for his own purposes. Exact phrases. When John's new friend, Butchie, tells John it's annoying when he says, "Some things I know and some things I don't," Butchie proffers, "Say, 'I don't know, Butchie,' instead." From then on in the show, when in doubt, John says, "I don't know Butchie instead." And it works. Sometimes, though, it costs John some blood. He gets in a van with some "vatos" (as it were) and after he repeats their words back to them they think it an insult and they stab him in the stomach, repeatedly. He lives, as he always does, but for a second you can see that some contexts are not as welcome as others and iterability can fail communication. The consequences of that failure is death. But, being a Monad, to say a being of time and space, he lives on, as he always does. An episode later he delivers a speech to the entire cast, but none of the characters seem to hear him, nor see him, nor register how his speech affects them. It simply does by being out there, by performing without being heard, without a "proper" context. I'm still grappling with it, and all it means. But it takes a certain amount of visual literacy as well as literary literacy so that's what's complicating things, beyond just the words heard by me, by you, by the true audience of the show, and of John, which now includes you, if you've made it this far in the post:

If my words are yours, can you hear my Father? Can Bill know my Father, keeping his eye on me? Can I bone Kai and Butchie know my Father instead? My Father's shy doing his business. Kai helps my Father dump out. Bill takes a shot. Shaunie is much improved. Joe is a Doubting Thomas. Joe will save Not-Aleman. Joe will bring his buddies home. This is how Freddy relaxes. Cup-o'joe, and Winchell's variety dozen. Mitch catches a good wave. Mitch wipes out. Mitch wipes out Cissy. Cissy shows Butchie how to do that. Cissy wipes Butchie out. Butchie hurts Barry's head. Mister Rollins comes in Barry's face. My Father runs the Mega-Millions. Fur is big. Mud is big. The stick is big. The word is big. Fire is huge. The wheel is huge. The line and circle are big. On the wall, the line and circle are huge. On the wall, the man at the wall makes a man from the circle and line. The man at the wall makes a Word on the wall from the circle and line. The Word on the wall hears my Father. The zeroes and ones make the Word in Cass's camera. In the Word on the wall that hears my-Father-in-Cass's-camera, the good one Mitch catches doesn't wipe Cissy out. In the-Word-that-hears-my-Father, Cissy shows Butchie something else. In-my-Father's-Word, Cissy shows Butchie in Shaun. In-my-Father's-Word, Tina raises Shaun at lunch. In Cass's-camera, Butchie lays the court out for Barry, and Mister Rollins watches, and he doesn't come on Barry's face. In Cass's-camera, Butchie knows Kai kept the faith. In-my-Father's-Word, the Wave lifts them up. In Cass's camera, Bill doesn't bump his head on the stairs. In Cass's-camera, as long as he's being stupid, Bill gives Lois a kiss. In His-Word-in-Cass's-camera, the Internet is big. Nine-Eleven is big, but not every towel-head is eradicated. In His-Word, We are coming Nine-Eleven-Fourteen. In my-Father's-Word, Bill sees how Freddy relaxes. In Cass's-camera, Ramon wants to know who's hungry, in the courtyard and Room Forty-Five. In my-Father's-Word-to-come-in-Cass's-camera, Doctor Smith calls Ocean Properties. In Cass's-camera-to-come, my Father stares Not Aleman down, and Freddy sees Bill much-improved. You will not note my-Father's-Word, nor remember Cass's-camera, but you will not forget what we did here.

I'll just let that sit for a second while you re-read it, whomever "you" are, my fictive (perlocutionary) locutor. "You" read it a second time?

Shit is big, right?

It means more when you've heard each of the phrases from somewhere else in the show but it still gives me shivers to simply read its rhythms there. And you know what Milch does in the season finale that just aired tonight? He has John say everything in the speech again, directly to another character. And the character reads him perfectly. Or so it would seem. (In this regard, Luke Perry's Linc Stark is almost analogous to Ian McShane's Al Swearengen of Deadwood, but I've not the time; I mean, look at this shit!)

So maybe all I have to ask is this, again: "Shit is big, right?" Mull it over: "Take a second. Mattera fact -- take four, B -- and think before you fuck little skateboard P." Which is, of course, followed by: "When the pimps in the crib, ma, drop it like it's hot -- drop it like it's hot. When the pigs try to get at you, park it likes it hot -- park it likes it hot. And if a Nga get a attitude, pop it like it's hot, pop it like it's hot. I got the rolly on my arm and I'm pourin Champ-Dom and I roll the best weed cuz I got it goin on."

LeChaim, shug booty. I know one of you made some sense of this shit.

I'm off to Tahlequah, Oklahoma in a mere 10 hours where weather.com tells me it will be 99 degrees Fahrenheit when I land -- in Tulsa, but who cares? -- : SHIT WILL BE HOT. Luckily, there will be a river or three to jump into. As long as there's a river, I'm good. Cuz, really, fuck a lake! There could be monsters waiting in the silt, ready to snap my foot off and keep chewing up my leg from the bloody ankle all the way to my tender inner thigh. All I fear in rivers are the rocks:

We saw sun on your rocks, in the white
churn across lips and tumbling runs
down past that hole on the left
you----yeah, that big fucker, that one
ready to chomp your rig, lover, the one
we're trying to avoid--placed
too close but far enough for a thrill.
----The cam straps are tight; hold on

--RWK

Encounter #6

You are going down, brother. --RWK

Encounter #5

Anybody can take a reservation. --RWK

Encounter #4

Ricky Gervais meets Garry Shandling. --RWK

Encounter #3

Drawing as speaking. Cocksucker as the best noun ever. "Yeah, I'm glad I taught you that fucking word." --RWK

Community #3Deadwood's first season, elsewheres.

Over at Vinyl Is Heavy I wrote up some initial reactions to Deadwood's first season. I'm thinking we will try to continue the DeCal in Spring 2008, replacing Seinfeld with Deadwood for the semester. I wrote this in an email to Cuyler earlier today:

by starting with 'seinfeld' we can show these people as completely divorced from the community, living with their heads up their asses in new york city. in continuing with 'deadwood' we can show a set of people who are building a community literally one plank at a time, each highly motivated by individual needs. the idea of community in 'deadwood' is the proactive rewrite of the non-community in 'seinfeld'. except, it hates laws, even if it thinks them necessary. it says, you build your own covenant one plank, one word, one body, one bloodletting, one beating, one fucking, one day at a time -- and it's bound to change, as ever. nobody is resolutely good or bad or right or wrong. the ostensible hero of the show is the angriest man ever who tries his damnedest to reject the law, until he sees how he thinks he can make it right, in his own way. the real hero of the show is a fucking cold-blooded knife-man saloon keep who runs whores and sells booze and murders and deals out murder in every show, every day. he's despicable but he's also heroic: he's always shifting terms. it's not really selfish, either. you gotta watch the show. i can't wait to see where it goes.

Here's the link to the essay. Final note: Brad Dourif is the best. --RWK

Community #2

It's okay to laugh. I promise. You wouldn't think so, given this is a video about child abuse and finding Jesus Christ through jump-roping. And I don't want any of you to think I take such topics lightly. It's just ... well, look at the video. I want to promise you that you will laugh, and maybe cry, but, as I understand it, this is a touchy subject. The real lesson to be learned here is this: in crossing the Pacific Ocean, always hide your gold under your tongue -- yup, in your mouth -- and that way the pirates cannot rob you. If you didn't laugh, tell us why, please. --RWK

Encounter #2

I really have nothing to offer in explanation at this point. But I think this should be the first item discussed in the course. I think it's an Aussie advertisement for a TGIF-style family restaurant, but it's also an Aussie advertisement for busy working moms. Oh, my bad, busy moms working as strippers. Right. Right? Right. View and discuss. --RWK

Encounter #1

Same idea as the "Community" series, except more positive. These are models of excellent encounters. This first one is a Looney Tune called Rabbit Seasoning. You may have seen it before. If not, please enjoy: it's pure dope. (Also, this idea was stolen from the model of Tom Supten's excellent blog, if charlie parker was a gunslinger there'd be a whole lot of dead copycats, which, as you can see, kills me. Just like this amazing, delectable encounter I simply cannot believe I'm now privy to here, at least, in a glimpsed capture. Guess I'll just have to see The Magus (1968)) --RWK

Community #1

As we hope to investigate the idea of communities, we will offer a series of models that show what it is we find so scary and silly and problematic about how the idea of community (and responsibility within the community) is perceived. This is our first example, the trailer for Robocop 3 (1993), a movie I barely remember but get the sense of as completely misreading what made the first Robocop good: at bottom it did not trust the community. --RWK

Mostly ridiculous but... looks like Carter III isn't droppin' in '07

I guess confronting the problem of arguably talented and clever rappers putting out terrible videos is quite the task. Maybe all the "Kanye shouldnt rap" rap is off slightly. I mean his "Throws some D's" remix is great, the video is better and he didnt have to steal a 10 year old Daft song. The attempt at making fun of itself is still hopeless because no matter how moral The Game wants to be and how much of a slut Kanye jokes to be, they still cant get away from the mirror. Check it out.


Plus, Kanye's D's

I dont think Fincher is comin back to music unless 3000 convinces him to. And Gondry should stick with Chapelle. Maybe Gore Verbinski ??? It could work. --CB

Kanye is not Stronger than Daft Punk, Madonna, or even Diddy, and especially not Kels.

I first heard about the possibility of this over at Palms Out. It's as annoying in reality as it was in theory. Not only is he "sampling" Daft Punk but he's "sampling" one of their biggest hits (from years past) and barely changing it. The production is cool, sure, but I'd rather listen to "Gold digger" to be honest.

And now this video? How many ideas are you trying to cram into this piece of shit? Just the other day a friend of mine asked, "What ever happened to the concept video?" Well, this is it. I mean, I'm not against appropriating old art for new art (d'uh) but I'm against lazy theft. Even a Madonna video like "Express Yourself" (dir. David Fincher, see below) made sense in its marriage of performance and storyline: everything worked together. Here, it's just one idea stumbling into another, which I think is why the song is so annoying, too. Kanye heard some hot new French electro shit and decided to thieve that for his next big thang. That's all well and cool as long as it's actually positioned as a remix, or it's using some new artist like the ever-accumulating avalanche that is Justice. At this level, "Stronger" is no better than everybody's least favorite tribute song, "I'll Be Missing You". But then, at least that video was kind of amusing in its fish eyed late-90s candy visuals. And, well, it was about Biggie. What is Kanye's song about? How he's the best, yet again. Get over yourself and actually make me believe it but actually making a song I like. Or, stop being so earnest about how much you love yourself. Take a lesson from these guys:


She was hot, and David Fincher's visual style is kind of great despite being because it's mostly ingratiating and ostentatious and plain silly.


I miss Biggie, too. And 112, kinda.


So unsexy it's unbelievably awesome.

Here's a Diplo remix of Kanye's song that is undoubtedly sloppy, as usual, and better than Kanye's because, well, Kanye isn't allowed an appearance: mofo's muted. --RWK

Kanye West - Stronger (Diplo's Work Is Never Over remix)

5 A community

see the blurb is perfect. the titles, while yes we find them hilarious, we may be demanding a bit much from a, yes curious, but more than often stoned de-cal searcher. we may need to agree on a title for suckin em in, then a quick change.

actually, i take that back. the last one is just right!!!!! what community? that may have to be the first episode shown anyway. Its the rental car one. With the definition of a "reservation." Elaine's 60ish boyfriend has a stroke when she is about to break up with him. George starts parking cars on Jerry's street while the regular is on vacation. Kramer gets a small part in a Woody Allen film which he of course blows. maybe a perfect introduction. classic Elaine. --CB