Stumbling Toward Cinema Since 2006…
- Top 10 Albums of the Year
Hey guys,
Sorry this took so long… but here you go, a top ten listed matched in its arbitrary nature by its extraordinary narrow focus. I hope you enjoy!
- Young and Writing About Movies
The Spirit (2008). Real talk.
Some friends of mine - as well as a few people I don’t know but whose writing I’ve admired for a while - were mentioned in Friday’s Variety in an article about young film critics and the lack of money in reviewing. Since I think getting a writeup in Variety is a big deal, I offer a round of congratulations to Michael, Kristi, Nick, Keith, and the others mentioned in the article, all of whom are among the most passionate voices on film I know.
My thesis advisor Amy Lawrence once advised my friend Tim that he had a better shot at making a living as a filmmaker than as a film critic, and she’s right: in an age of declining interest in serious film writing, there’s little-to-no money to be made in being able to write competently on movies. To pursue writing critically to the extent that these four and others like them do is an act of courage, and though I’ve taken a bit of a leave from writing critically lately to focus on my creative pursuits, I hope to be able to return to it at some point.
Relaunching this blog should help.
- 90,000 New Friends?!
Times are rough for destination resort countries whose primary source of cash flow is tourism: it’s a recession! Consumers are tightening their belts. And times are especially tough if you’re Aruba, whose image in the United States took a massive beating when a sociopathic Dutch kid decided to sell an Alabaman girl into sexual slavery. Aruba’s got a new, cheesy ad campaign trying to make everyone forget about Natalee Holloway, though: come vacation in Aruba, where you’ll meet… uh… er… white people!
Archuleta or Cook? Which David do you like better?
80% of Arubans are mestizo Arawaks, and though no full-blooded Arawaks exist in the year 2008, the population of Aruba is decidedly non-Utahan in coloration. Yet the majority of your new Aruban friends will apparently look like cover-models for reprints of The Turner Diaries:
Isn’t Two and a Half Men hilarious? Let’s discuss!
To be fair, Aruba’s campaign isn’t markedly dissimilar to those presented by any number of American advertisers, who utilize ‘familiar’ faces to approach a perceived white audience, and whose use of token non-white models often minimizes difference by using models whose color and facial structure strongly suggest traditional Caucasian features.
But I want to examine the one component of the campaign that’s a bit different. Let’s focus for a bit on the only subjects in the ad campaign whose ethnicity is more than a little off-white: Quincy and Wesley Connor, a pair of young windsurfers.
Text from ad campaign:
Whether it’s windsurfing, skim boarding, surfing or kite surfing, we love every minute we spend on the water. We spend almost 4 to 5 hours each day at the beach because the weather is so perfect. How cool is that? Yesterday a woman asked us if we had any new tricks to teach her husband. We showed them a few of our secrets and made it to our steel drum practice just in time.
Isn’t that fucking rich? These two little magical surfing negroes are going to help you silly white folks learn how to harness the power of wind and wave, show you some of their ‘tricks,’ then g’wan shuttle demselves off to innocuous ethnic music practice. But don’t worry, they’re not gonna fuck your wife or anything - they’re preteens!
(This ad copy’s even more offensive in the subway ads, tarted up with faux-tropical ‘handwritten’ typeface).
Because of the way all-inclusive packages are set up and the way resort communities are founded to shelter tourists from economically ravaged areas, many American tourists will encounter uncannily high numbers of whites while touring the Caribbean (see the extraordinarily depressing view on globalization Life and Debt, co-edited by my friend Neal, for a cogent and devastating discussion of Tourist Jamaica vs. Actual Jamaica). So maybe the Aruba campaign is truth in advertising.
- Top 16 Albums of 2008, Part 1
Just fifteen (or sixteen) this year, guys… 2008 wasn’t the greatest year for music and I simply didn’t find enough stuff to champion. But I figured I’d get my return to blogging to start off with a bang, so why not an end-of-year list? Here goes…
15. tie - Jack Rose - Dr. Ragtime and Pals / James Blackshaw – Litany of Echoes
Sample songs: “Linden Ave. Stomp” / “Infinite Circle”The Renaissance of New Guitar Music continues: following on the heels of epochal releases by Sir Richard Bishop and Glenn Jones, Jack Rose and James Blackshaw release a pair of extraordinary new albums, each a remarkable exploration of the possibilities of their instrument: Rose’s Dr. Ragtime is a gorgeous, earnest chunk of Americana, equally drawing on the 60s/70s experiments of Robbie Basho and James Fahey and the traditions of early 20th century popular musics.
Blackshaw – a Brit, and astonishingly young for his accomplishments – builds upon the extraordinary The Cloud of Unknowing and offers six compositions – four for guitar, two for piano – which reveal him as much as a minimalist composer as a guitar virtuoso. That these moving, clear-headed pieces emerged the same year as two (2!) terrific albums by Blackshaw’s Brethren of the Free Spirit project (wherein he composes works with luteist Josef von Wissem) and the expertly curated Garden of Forking Paths compilation reveals the depth of this prolific artist’s talent.
14. Matt Bauer - The Island Moved in the Storm
Song: “Don’t Let Me Out”How could I not like this? Beardy St. John’s wort folk about death in Appalachia and small-town despair. Please ignore that awful cover for a moment – it’s not appropriate to the music, as Bauer isn’t arrogant enough to believe that his music in any way resurrects or salvages Barbara Taylor, the dead ‘tent girl’ of Georgetown, KY. Instead, his album explores the way a small, impoverished town’s psyche is devastated by a tragic mystery. Strong stuff, and incredibly ambitious, but the songwriting chops match the material, and though not every track hits, Bauer’s got an incredible sense for the macabre underbelly of American life.
13. Girls Aloud - Out of Control
Song: “The Loving Kind”What do you want to hear? Yeah, it’s more of the same – trashy, overproduced British pop, and only two of them can sing without autotuners. But it’s starting to mature: “Live in the Country,” which sounds like Light Years-era Kylie, is an anthem about idealizing the rural idyll. “Untouchable,” a sort of Robert Miles Eurotrance anthem that’s nonetheless the most melancholy thing the Girls have ever recorded. Nothing here hits quite as huge as “Biology” or “Can’t Speak French,” but “The Promise” offers Abba-esque piano tinkling and “Miss You Bow Wow” alternates between beautifully idiotic nonse and awesome 80s power pop styling.
12. Keziah Jones - Nigerian Wood
Song: “Nigerian Wood”Talk of ambition – Keziah Jones’ 2xCD Nigerian Wood is no less an attempt to chronicle the soul of the modern African emigre, torn between Lagos, Paris, London, and New York. To these ends he employs explosive fretless bass, propulsive guitar, and refulgent horns. Perhaps it’s too easy – representing the fragmented identity of an African through a blend of western rock and African Soweto/highlife – but the results are pretty terrific.
11. Windy & Carl - Songs for the Broken Hearted
Song: “The Same Moon and Stars”Kranky Records – hello! It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you! Sorry to see that Godspeed still isn’t recording, but at least you’ve got this going for you. Well, this is here, and I don’t really have much of an explanation, save that I’ve been listening to it a lot lately and I rather like it. Drony, expansive shoegaze/formless post-rock noodling, but it’s just a great record to put on when you’re writing or cleaning up the apartment. Nothing more inspired to say, here – I don’t pretend to know a lot about rock and roll, but this just does it for me.
- McDonalds, Starbucks, and Sarah Palin
I’ve hestitated to write more on the subject of Sarah Palin, because her presence in this campaign makes me so angry, but I wanted to share a link to a post on one of my absolute favorite blogs, Sociological Images, which sheds a light on what I think is the true story of the Sarah Palin candidacy, the attempt by some in America to reject specialized knowledge. It’s a subject some people have written about with regard to Palin before (including my girlfriend Alex), but I think it’s important to share my thoughts on it.
That’s right, specialized knowledge: the idea that some people know better. That some people are better qualified for a position, and it has nothing to do with their race, gender, political persuasion - that some people should be making movies, that others should be swimming in the Olympics, and that others still should be governing national policy. That these people have a natural talent for the craft of their chosen field - they are artisans of cinema, athletics, policy.
The Internet - and its ability to put discourse in the hands of anyone willing to wrest control of it - has changed a lot of things about America’s relationship to speciality, and while it has led to a democratizing of discourse that’s been the cause of very positive changes in this country, it’s also been part of the anti-intellectual movement that minimizes the importance of specialized knowledge and talent. Specialized knowledge has been assaulted in the past decade in the form of amateurism: the idea that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it.
No, they can’t.
The film Ratatouille is instructive in this regard: Brad Bird’s masterpiece of mature anti-bullshit tells us that talent and genius can come from anywhere, but it cannot come from anyone. Everyone can cook, but not everyone can be great, and no amount of rah-rah spirit can turn an able short-order cook into Thomas Keller.
Some examples:
The Rogue’s Gallery of Hacks on Fox’s dearly-departed parade of delusion On the Lot will never be great filmmakers. They lack the talent. They have dreams, and they have experience - many of them have worked in and around the film industry for years. They can point and shoot, but no amount of good-natured verve can turn Kenny Luby into Martin Scorsese.
No, he can’t.
Eric Moussambani was the toast of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, an Equatorial Guinean swimmer who skated by to the finals in the 100m freestyle on technicality after technicality - competitor false starts, a wildcard draw system developed to encourage developing nations to enter the Olympics. Moussambani, who had the nickname ‘Eric the Eel,’ had only begun swimming competitively eight months before the Olympics. And predictably enough, when technicalities could no longer carry him, he swam horribly, finishing the 100m freestyle in twice the time as his fastest competitor. He did not have the specialized knowledge or talent to compete, and it was only through ridiculous circumstances that he got to the finals in the first place. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but even if we love his indefatigable spirit, Eric the Eel cannot win Olympic medals.
No, he can’t.
Sarah Palin’s spent less than two years as the governor of a state with a population smaller than that of Indianapolis. Prior to that, she had spent six years as the mayor of a town with 4,500 constituents. 4,500. That’s half the size as Hanover, New Hampshire. That would fill 1/4 of San Antonio’s AT&T Center when fully set up for a basketball game. That is less than many American high schools.
Moreover, she seems disinterested in the specialized knowledge one requires of a major political leader: her ignorance of the Bush Doctrine, her lack of diplomatic understanding about the precarious situation in Eastern Europe. It’s been clear from the beginning that Palin was a purely strategic choice on John McCain’s part - a desperate grab to solidify his base and reach out toward women - but with her interviews with Charlie Gibson and new light being shed on her dealings in Alaska - book-banning, pork-loving, bridge-supporting (uh, before she was against it!), personally-motivated firings - coming forth, it’s apparent just how dangerous and thoughtless a strategic choice it was. By choosing Palin as a running mate, John McCain demonstrates his reckless willingness to potentially damage his country, if only to get elected. Horrifying.
If McCain wanted to shore up his campaign with a conservative woman, he could have done so in myriad ways. Some of the talented Republican women he passed over for Palin: Elizabeth Dole, Kay Bailey Hutchison, M. Jodi Rell, Linda Lingle, Christine Todd Whitman, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe. So why Palin? Because Palin had the right narrative: the hockey-mom (a made-up demographic if I’ve ever heard one) turned politician. A bullshit label for a bullshit era in American discourse. McCain delivered to America what a country weaned on reality television could appreciate: an amateur politician.
And yet, there seems to be some sort of idea that Sarah Palin is legitimately qualified to be the vice president - or, if the actuarial tables are to be believed, to have a one-in-three shot of becoming the president in her first term. That her lack of experience, lack of specialized knowledge in politics are somehow advantages. The ultimate horseshit, deftly called out by Matt Damon in a terrific interview: that by utilizing her knowledge of small-town politics and being a parent, she could become a great leader.
No, she can’t.
Ultimately, I set myself up with a post like this to an easy criticism: I’m a blogger, one who specializes in writing on film. What qualifications or specialized knowledge do I have to say Sarah Palin is unqualified for president?
The answer: I’m a voter. I don’t make any claims to specialized political knowledge. I probably couldn’t engage you in a nuanced discussion of the Bush Doctrine, but I know what it is. I’m no foreign policy expert, but I’m aware that sabre-rattling with a power-mad Russia that has submarines with nuclear ICBMs off both our coasts is terrifyingly stupid. I’m not a politician, and neither should be Sarah Palin.
So yeah, here’s that post, from Sociological Images: it’s about the way a McDonalds commercial underlines a distrust of intellectual knowledge and anyone with intellectual interests. It’s about the rejection of specialized knowledge in favor of talented amateurs, and as much as phrases like ‘latte liberals’ get thrown around by conservative commentators, it borders dangerously on McDonald’s part on engaging in some extremely mean-spirited culture-war horseshit. It’s good stuff, from a greater blog than my own.
- You Ignorant Piece of Shit
“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”
Fuck you for being willfully, patronizingly ignorant of the great history of community organizing in America: the legacies of Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Addams, Cesar Chavez, Uriah Smith Stevens, William Lloyd Garrison, Samuel Gompers, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Dolores Huerta, Dorothy Day, Harvey Milk, Frederick Douglass, Frank Little, Mother Jones, Saul Alinsky, Fred Ross, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, Ginger Goodwin, Sojourner Truth, Asa Philip Randolph, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, the American Friends Service Committee, the PTA, the AFL-CIO, and every American citizen who has cared enough about a problem to seek out solution on a grassroots level. Community organizing is about fighting for change when your government has failed you and it is an inexorable element of modern democracy. Community organizers and non-profit volunteers have been some of the most tireless, extraordinary forces for change in American history, and whether or not you like Obama’s politics or personality, I cannot fathom a rational human being having any respect for Sarah Palin after making a statement like this.
Also: fuck you for your self-aggrandizing, masturbatory tooting of your own past as the mayor of an Anchorage suburb. You won your mayoral election 617-413. The average high school president has to answer to about two to three times more voting constituents than that.
- Manny Farber (1917-2008)
The greatest of all film critics has died. Let’s celebrate some of his wit and wisdom:
“Masterpiece art, reminiscent of the enameled tobacco humidors and wooden lawn ponies bought at white elephant auctions decades ago, has come to dominate the overpopulated arts of TV and movies. The three sins of white elephant art (1) frame the action with an overall pattern, (2) install every event, character, situation in a frieze of continuities, and (3) treat every inch of the screen and film as potential area for prizeworthy creativity.”
- from “White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art”
“While Widmark’s Skip character goes to work in crowded subway car, there is this light touch and satisfying balance between build-up and attention to the moment. Bresson in his own Pickpocket film doesn’t get close this directness or the freshness: the ability to keep a scene going without cuts or camera tricks, fastening on enormously pungent faces, Widmark’s fine-boned and tight-skinned youthfulness, the way he moves through the car, approaching the victim, Jean Peters, and, in one of the most unexpected detail shots, his hand becomes like a seal’s sensitive flipper, dropping down below a newspaper and into a pocketbook.”
- from “Samuel Fuller,” writing about Pickup on South Street.
“One reason for the brightness of Merrie Melodies and for their superiority over Disney’s product is that Jones is out to make you laugh, bluntly, and, as it turns out, cold-bloodedly. This runs him against the grain of the sever well-worked grooves down which the animated cartoon has traveled under the belief these grooves will never wear through. However it no longer seems funny to see animals who talk and act like human beings, who do all sorts of ingenious tricks - most of them superhuman - who go through lives of the highest excitement and reward, but have no inner, or mental, life. The complex emotional life and three-dimensional nature of Jones-McKimson characters allow their makers to poke fun at everything in sight, or out of sight - especially if its is something familiar and well loved, like McKimson’s Hiawatha, a kind person, or any bad actress’s great moments. It is an illusion of most cartoon-makers that they must have a moral, or do good, if it means only killing the villain; Warner’s crew isn’t under this illusion. The masterpiece, Inki and the Lion, is also a masterpiece of amorality - so far the other side of goodness that is is a parody of Bambi. In this version of forest life, man is the likable spear-thrower, preyed on by animals, and the king of the forest is a supernatural horror called the Myna bird, who hates man and beast alike.”
-from “Short and Happy”
RIP, Manny.
- Holy Crap
This is old news for many of you, probably (it’s from a paper that was published last year) and a few years away from having any impact on low-budget filmmakers, but I just came across the most mindblowing video:
Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene from pro on Vimeo.The project’s website is here.
