you can’t tell me what to do!
March 6th, 2008several times during this video art piece by artist Paul Slocum I thought I was losing my mind. Enjoy "You’re Not My Father."
I’m going to throw myself on a cactus
March 6th, 2008
The Believer has a really cool article with Errol Morris (his new film is about Abu Ghraib!) and Werner Herzog interviewing each other. These guys are titans of doc, and they are so imaginative and smart, it’s a blast to read them (I found the article via). I really like this part:
EM: I was talking with Ron Rosenbaum, a friend of mine, who had just finished a book on Shakespeare. We were talking about the meaning of meaninglessness. Is there such a thing? And I would say: yes. Werner’s work could be considered an extended essay on the meaning of meaninglessness.
WH: Thank you, yes. It feels good to hear that. [Laughter]
(also the illustration at the top of the article is by Maakies’ Tony Millionaire! Blog-chronicity!)
In the article, Herzog and Morris are talking like they’ve known each other for ages, because they have. From imdb:
Herzog once promised to eat his shoe if a young American film student went out and actually made the film he was always only talking about. The young student was Errol Morris , who met the challenge with his off-beat 1978 pet cemetery documentary Gates of Heaven. Herzog makes good on his promise in the short doc Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.
Apparently after that, Morris sees Herzog’s move as grandstanding or something and it becomes this 30-year-long feud.
Herzog Eats His Shoe is one of those short films that I heard about in film class at college and sort of figured, well I’ll never get to see that because short docs never screen anywhere. But now thanks to the magic of google video, it’s available right here! It’s 20 minutes long, and you could watch it right now!
The film is really really good, and Herzog is incredibly inspiring. I love the bit in there where he’s talking about making the film "Even Dwarves Started Small":
"One little guy caught fire when we watered the plants with gasoline and so I extinguished him with my body, I threw myself on him, and when he was extinguished I told him ‘I’m going to throw myself on a cactus if you all survive.’"
So he did it and there’s still cactus needles sticking in his knee! Also there’s that great bit recently where Herzog got shot by an air rifle while doing an interview and said "it’s not a significant bullet." What a badass.
Do you think Herzog would like The Snow Of Truth?
the sound of Dre in 87
March 5th, 2008
What the heck is this going to sound like? It’s a mix done by Dr. Dre from back in 1987:
"Dr Dre mixtape from 1987 (which was exclusively sold at The Roadium Swap Meet) that mixes over 300 bits and pieces of songs into a 60 minute mega mix. With a little assistance from Sir Jinx (who at the time was Ice Cube’s partner in the rap group C.I.A.) Dre delivers a classic. Listening to the mix, "Boyz In Da Hood" had already been recorded so this period represents the beginning of NWA."
(via DJSoulNYC)
[audio:Dre_86_side_a.mp3] [audio:Dre_86_side_b.mp3]Damn that sounds solid! I mean, the man was obviously a solid DJ. I don’t think I’ll listen to it too much, but that was fun.
americano gangstah
March 5th, 2008 
American Gangster – B
I just saw this again for the second time and I liked it a lot better this time. I think the first time I saw it I had just watched Crowe, Denzel and Ridley Scott on Charlie Rose and they were so freaking serious and full of themselves about how hard-core and amazing this film was. And then I saw the film and was like "ho hum, o.k." And yeah, it’s solidly done, entertaining from a cop/villain standpoint, fun to see how Denzel rises and Crowe brings him down. Not to mention the actor-of-the-moment Josh Brolin as an evil thug cop…
And a lot of the CRIME = CAPITALISM stuff was kind of hitting me over the head, and I wanted to scream "I get it!" when Denzel’s boss/father figure is telling him about cutting out the middle man, and so on. Denzel is badass as usual, but it came across a little like Scarface lite. And even Scarface wasn’t as good as it thought it was, you know?
delicious pigeon
March 5th, 2008
Did I ever tell you about the best meal I ever had?
I’m reminded of this meal because I came across this article…
Matt D and I were heading off to Chicago for TLC to do a ridiculously expensive shoot with a production company there. Everything was pretty well set as far as the shoot, hotel, etc., but I wanted to try and find somewhere great to go eat. TLC would give us a per diem for food, and on shoot days the set would be catered, so breakfast and lunch would be provided for and you could blow the whole per diem on dinner. Both Matt and I would have $100, so we would start with $200 between us. Then if we each put up $60-$70 we’d be on our way to an exemplary meal.
I asked my friend Zanna, who is definitely a gourmand (reads cookbooks for fun, stays up to date on the cool places to eat in major cities) if she could recommend somewhere in Chicago. She says Charlie Trotter’s. It’s wednesday, and the shoot is Friday, so the likelihood of getting a reservation is slim, but I decide to call anyway and see if there were any cancellations. For some reason I feel like I might have better luck if I call and ask in this super deep bass voice that annunciates…every…word…like…this… Turns out they’ve had a cancellation and we get a table for two.
how many licks does it take to get to the center of the multiverse?
March 4th, 2008
Matt M clued me in to the world of Melvyn Bragg, a writer and sort of intellectual character in the UK who gets to seemingly do whatever he wants on his radio show "In Our Time"…he explores history, religion, science — whatever he wants! And he gets in all these smart people who are experts in whatever he’s discussing and they go at it. The podcasts are available on his website, and they can be pretty mindblowing. There was a great one on The Nicene Creed, The Charge of The Light Brigade, and this mindbuggler posted below on The Multiverse.
I can’t explain it very well, but there’s a great idea in there…
much like early people thought they were the center of the universe, only to learn that we go around the sun;
and then thought the SUN was the center of the universe, only to learn that our solar system is one of many in our galaxy;
and then thought our GALAXY was the center of the universe, only to learn there are lots of galaxies….
so too will we one day learn that we were wrong when we thought THERE WAS ONLY ONE UNIVERSE…
Whoa.
This podcast is about 50 minutes, so I recommend downloading and listening later, though you’re welcome to listen to it here too. If you dig it, subscribe to his podcast, it’s a blast…
[audio:IOT_ The Multiverse.mp3]maaaaaaaaaaakies
March 3rd, 2008Tony Millionaire’s Maakies. I always see Tony Millionaire’s collections in the comic store, but I’ve never gotten one. But now that they’re showing up in cartoon form (on SNL and Adult Swim), I may have to take the plunge. I love TM’s description of the series:
"Maakies focuses on the darkly comic misadventures of Uncle Gabby (a drunken Irish monkey) and Drinky Crow (a crow who likes to drink), two antiheroes with a propensity for drunkenness, violence, suicide, and venereal disease."
Nice. Check his animations here, or check his site here. Full of good dark stuff. I love this one (thanks Bill D)…