2007 : music + videos.

Digitalism - "Pogo"
Dir. Daniel Askill.

Still compiling the full list but check out what's made it so far.


Bat For Lashes - "What's a Girl To Do?"
Dir. Dougal Wilson


Eleni Mandell - "Girls"


Battles - "Tonto"
Collaboration with UVA (United Visual Artists)


Blonde Redhead - "23"
Dir. Melodie McDaniel


Blonde Redhead - "Silently"
+ Five interpretations by Mike Mills


Justice - "D.A.N.C.E."
Dir. Jonas&François


Some live performances...

Radiohead - "Ceremony (Joy Division Cover)"
Thumbs Down Webcast


Justice - "D.A.N.C.E."
Live on "Jimmy Kimmel"


Feist - "I Feel It All"
Live on "Jimmy Kimmel"

control (anton corbijn. 2007.)

Sex, drugs, and rock & roll. At least that's what's standard in Hollywood biopic's these days. The only thing missing from Corbijn's biopic about Joy Division would be the dance numbers.

Writing this, Ian Curtis sings the lines "Where would it end?" which strikes a funny chord. If there's anything left for a mystery, it would be the death of whom the film is about. Curtis's fate was sealed early on in the film; his depression, failing health, sudden success & fame and deteriorating marriage. Corbijn's spends a good part of the movie speculating on the factors that lead to his suicide.

The obsessive "Why?" plagues Control as much as they do for any film. The answers to these questions are subjective and complicated; never really a subject that lends itself well to the space of film. It's hard enough to make a good action flick, but to sum a person's life in two hours just seems like injustice to the subject.

-nms

Another review of Control by Natalie Curtis (linky: Gaurdian).

aka. Cig #4
Rating: 3/5

The Next of Hollywood Franchise?

Bloodthirsty New Book Incites a Bidding War

By ROBERT ITO
Published: August 11, 2007

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10 — The item up for bidding was, at first blush, unremarkable. It was an unfinished manuscript, 397 pages long, less than half of the planned book, as well as an outline detailing story arcs and plot points to come. The writer? Someone named Jordan Ainsley, whom no one had ever heard of — not readers, not book editors, certainly not anyone in Hollywood. Yet the biggest movie studios were being asked to pony up seven figures for the privilege of committing the book, sight half-unseen, to film.

Full New York Times Article

Post 80s Blockbuster, Post 90s SFX Movies, and Post 2000 Return of the Franchise Sequels, Hollywood scrambles for the next big thing with the close of Harry Potter/Spider Man/X-Men/Pirates/Resident Evil... (how did that ever become a franchise?).

Other than the revival of campy horror films (Splat Pack Films ie. Saw/Hostel), Hollywood has been feeding off franchise films to fill in their coffers. More specifically are the fantasy/comic genre films tailored for multiple merchandise deals (video games/novelizations/fast food deals/you name it) on release.

Some franchises are fun (Oceans/Bourne/and.. thats it) but what worries me are rumors like a new Fast and the Furious being planned. All I can hope is that we'll sit this through and wait for something better... or make our own movies!

r.i.p. antonioni (1912-2007) & bergman (1918-2007)

Some respect for two filmmakers who passed away last week. BTW: The New York Times articles will require registration (well worth it IMO!).

LINKS:
Antonioni
New York Times's Antonioni Obit.
Via R. Ebert. "In Memory: Antonioni."
UK Gaurdian: Antonioni's Best Scenes.

Bergman
New York Times's Bergman Obit.
Via R. Ebert. "In Memory: Bergman."
Via R. Ebert. "Artists Paying Tribute to Bergman."
UK Gaurdian: Bergman's Greatest Scenes.
UK Gaurdian: "How the Muppets made us all Bergman experts"


And now for some discourse...
J. Rosenbaum's "Scenes From an Overrated Career." A full on Op-Ed debunking of Bergman's work and importance?

Leading on to a response from R. Ebert Defending Ingmar Bergman.

Via Guardian Unlimited.
A look back at the differences between the filmmakers.

I also think that Antonioni has somehow aged less well than Bergman. Perhaps it is the fate of all "modernists" to eventually turn antique, or even retro. Through no fault of his own, Antonioni seems to have been almost too fashionable, too much an index of his age. For many contemporary viewers his cool inquiries can now look a little too mannered and clinical.

Update 8/14: Rosenbaum responds to Ebert in another article.

Woody Allen and Marty Scorsese both chime in for Bergman and Antonioni respectively with articles for the New York Times.

On other news:
Oldest Living Directors

1911
Jules Dassin, December 18, Circle of Two (1980)

1915
Kon Ichikawa, 20 November, The Inugamis (2006)

1920
Eric Rohmer, 4 April, Les amours d’Astree et de Celadon (2007)

1921
Chris Marker, 29 July, The Case of the Grinning Cat (2004)

1922
Alain Resnais, 3 June, Private Fears In Public Places (2006)
Jonas Mekas, 24 September, Elvis (2001)

1923
Seijun Suzuki, 24 May, Princess Raccoon (2005)

1924
Stanley Donen, 13 April, Love Letters (1999)
Sidney Lumet, 25 June, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

1925
D. A. Pennebaker, 15 July, Addiction (2007)

(Via Movie City Indie)

patti smith "covers"

"I always wanted to do a covers album, but I didn't really feel I had the range to do the kind of album I wanted to do," Smith told Spinner. "As the project evolved, a lot of the songs on the [original] list didn't make the final cut, and a lot of songs that I didn't plan on doing wound up being the ones I chose. They're all special to me for different reasons. But Nirvana was the most emotional experience."

Video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" directed by Jem Cohen.

(Via spinner.com)

chapas!

blog co-started by my friend paz in argentina right now.

Well when Paz first arrived she said ¨Tracy, did you notice how all the guys in Argentina have the same hair cut? Kind of like the mullet?¨

No in fact, I had not noticed this phenomenom. But how right she was... here are some examples of the many mullets Buenos Aires has to offer. It is quite an array. They call them chapas. Please keep in mind, these are only a few examples of the vast expansion of south american mulletism I have bestowed upon my camera. I hope to upload the rest soon.

linky: the mullets project

red, white, and blue: the conservapedia

"We have certain principles that we adhere to, and we are up-front about them," Schlafly writes in his mission statement. "Beyond that we welcome the facts."

Conservapedia defines environmentalists as "people who profess concern about the environment" and notes that some would want to impose legal limits on the use of toilet paper.

Femininity? The quality of being "childlike, gentle, pretty, willowy, submissive."

A hike in minimum wage is referred to as "a controversial manoeuvre that increases the incentive for young people to drop out of school."

And the state of the economy under President Bush? Much better than the "liberal media" would have you think: "For example, during his term Exxon Mobile has posted the largest profit of any company in a single year, and executive salaries have greatly increased as well."

Hurray for freedom of speech?

link: la times story
link: www.conservapedia.com
link: www.rationalwiki.com

teaser art.

location, location, location.