Putting Down the Dog Days of Summer

As sad as I will be to see the beautiful, lackadaisical days of summer pass, it is with bright eyes that I bid farewell to Hollywood’s summer fare, and welcome to a new season of finer films.

Summer was largely a disappointment in theaters, per usual. Only Little Miss Sunshine inspired, as one of the most endearing, quirky, darkly comedic perfections in recent memory.

The Illusionist, which goes into wide release tomorrow, is not bad – it’s shot beautifully, keeps you in deep suspense, and Paul Giamatti delivers a fantastic performance (which makes up for Edward Norton’s okay-but-nothing-to-write-home-about effort, and Jessica Biel’s I-might-as-well-be-an-attractive-wax-statue bit). Still, I can’t help but think of this piece as a tantalizing precursor to the previously mentioned The Prestige, a potential masterpiece if a film is to be judged by its trailer.

Brian de Palma’s telling of the mystifying Black Dahlia tale looks great, as well. His breathtaking camera moves and Hansel & Gretel expository style will no doubt benefit from the bloody material (which he oh so loves), and the cast is tops: Hartnett, Johansson, Swank.

Speaking of classically violent directors, Scorsese is back with The Departed, another chapter in his lifelong mob series - this time cast in Irish, with a bunch of cops thrown in. He hasn’t made a great film in a while, but this slate of acting giants can’t hurt: Nicholson, DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen star.

Wahlberg, of course, is front and center in The Invincible, a true-life, average-Joe-comes-from-behind-and-conquers-all feel good story. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the rapper-turned-actor-turned-executive producer in a bad film, so I don’t see how he can miss with this formulaic cinch piece.

The Transporter, Jason Stratharm, is back with more brain-numbing, guilty pleasure action junk in Crank, this time co-starring extremely doable Amy Smart.

Zach Braff returns with another round of Gen-Y-boy’s-in-love-but-is-scared-and-doesn’t-know-what-to-do-about-it. In The Last Kiss, he scores with not one, but two super cute co-stars. Seems he again nailed down a great indie-pop soundtrack, too.

Jude Law and Sean Penn co-star in a retelling of the classic political novel, All the King’s Men. I picked up this book just a month ago and tried yet again to get into it – seems that will no longer be necessary now that two of my favorite actors will be tackling the material in my place.

Jet Li features in what is billed as his swan song, Fearless – he is rumored to have retired and become a monk. Seriously. Hopefully, the tale is false and the the whisperings of his collaborating in a new film opposite Jackie Chan are legit.

Finally, those who have caught early preview showings of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat movie - entitled Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - are heralding it as one of the funniest films in ages. I don’t doubt it, given Kazakhstan’s real-life outcry at its content.

The list goes on and on, but those are the highlights for the next couple of months. Good thing I like popcorn.

Conan the Hilarian

For those, like I, with better things to do than watch the Emmys, you missed Conan O'Brien's hilarious opening montage. Don't make the same mistake twice.

Sibling Rivalry

The documentary 5 Days depicts the high drama that was the bloodless 2005 Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Because of the filmmaker’s unique connection to both sides of the conflict – he is a retired IDF colonel with familial ties to the settler movement - the work, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, contains exclusive access to the even-tempered, yet unrelenting IDF general in charge of the evacuation, as well as an inside look at the dogged settlers who felt betrayed in being forced to give up their homes.

It is an incredible glimpse into the patchwork nature of Israeli society, and the way in which it, albeit through hardship and disagreement, emerges as a unified brotherhood in the end.

Repeats on the Sundance Channel this coming Thursday morning at 10:45am (EST).

Adieu, Andre

It was nearly 20 years ago that I was a squat, green ball boy and Andre Agassi was the up-and-coming rebel kid of tennis, but I knew then that the man whose match I was working would be a star. What I didn’t realize that day at UCLA’s Volvo tourney was that he grow to become a legend.

An era is coming to a close, as Agassi will play out this U.S. Open and exit the pro court for the last time. One of only five players to ever achieve the career Gland Slam, he says he’s looking forward to the next phase in his life. I guess the image as an athlete he’s built over the last 20 years isn’t everything.

Rare Instance of Palestinian Public Self-Criticism

You don't see this every day: a senior Palestinian official publicly challenging his people to put an end to self-destructive behavior and embrace reform...

From Hamas Figure, an Unusual Self-Criticism

By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: August 28, 2006

NY Times

JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 — In an unusual piece of self-criticism, a well-known Hamas official has decried the collapse of Gazan life into chaos, and said that much of the blame belonged to Palestinians themselves.

“Gaza is suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs,” wrote Ghazi Hamad, a former Hamas newspaper editor and spokesman for the current Hamas government, in an article published on Sunday in the Palestinian newspaper Al Ayyam.

After so much optimism when Israelis pulled out of Gaza a year ago, he wrote, “life became a nightmare and an intolerable burden.”

He urged Palestinians to look to themselves, not to Israel, for the causes. In particular, he said the chaos in the Gaza Strip was the fault of the various armed militant groups operating there, most of them affiliated with Fatah, Hamas’s rival for political power and influence.

“We’ve all been attacked by the bacteria of stupidity,” Mr. Hamad wrote. “We have lost our sense of direction.” He asked the armed groups: “Please have mercy on Gaza. Have mercy on us from your demagogy, chaos, guns, thugs, infighting. Let Gaza breathe a bit. Let it live.”

But Mr. Hamad did not assign blame to Hamas or Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, one of the group’s leading figures.

Mr. Hamad also questioned the utility of firing rockets into Israel, attacks that cause few Israeli casualties directly but that lead to many Palestinian deaths when the Israelis retaliate. He seemed to be arguing for other armed groups to follow Hamas’s own decision to halt rocket fire into Israel.

His article was first described in English in the Jerusalem Post today....

...Mr. Hamad said that his article, published in a newspaper normally associated with Fatah, was a personal comment. Despite the digs at Fatah, it was noteworthy for its criticism of the habit among Palestinians of blaming Israel and its long occupation of Palestinian lands for every ill — even after Israeli troops and settlers had left Gaza.

“I’m not interested in discussing the ugliness and brutality of the occupation, because it is not a secret,” Mr. Hamad wrote. “Instead, I prefer self-criticism and self-evaluation. We’re used to blaming our mistakes on others.”

Palestinian joy after the Israeli departure “made us forget the most important question — what is our next step?” he wrote.

“When you walk in the streets of Gaza City,” Mr. Hamad continued, “you cannot but close your eyes because of what you see there: unimaginable chaos, careless policemen, young men carrying guns and strutting with pride, and families receiving condolences for their dead in the middle of the street.”

He asked: “What is the relationship between the chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, indiscriminate murders, theft of land, family rivalries, transgression on public lands and unorganized traffic, and the occupation? We are still trapped by the mentality of conspiracy theories — one that has limited our capability to think.”

He wrote that those who saw themselves as fighting Israel were working at cross-purposes: “It is strange that, when a big effort is taken to reopen Rafah crossing to ease the suffering of the people, you see others who go to shell rockets towards the crossing. Or when someone talks about cease-fire and its importance, you find those who go and shell more rockets. Of course, I do not deny that the occupation committed massacres that cannot be justified. But I support negotiations over what can be fixed.”

Some Palestinians will agree with him and others disagree, Mr. Hamad wrote. “But running away from self-confrontation will only cause us more pain.”

Laptop Love?

Technology has been chasing us down in all aspects of our lives in recent years, and now it seems it's firmly found its way into our most intimate of spaces: the bed. The N.Y. Times looks under the covers and discovers not only the strain a laptop in the bedroom can cause a couple, but also the bridge it can create between lovers.

Read Laptop Slides Into Bed in Love Triangle.

Say Hello to My Little Friends

I thought this post from PostSecret was kinda cute:

Who, Me? Never!

TIME Magazine explores the numerous potential disasters that loom large over Americans - natural and otherwise - and the reasons people either don't take them seriously, or do, but neglect to prepare anyway:

...91% of Americans live in places at a moderate-to-high risk of earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, high-wind damage or terrorism, according to an estimate calculated for TIME by the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina. But Americans have a tendency to be die-hard optimists, literally. It is part of what makes the country great--and vincible. "There are four stages of denial," says Eric Holdeman, director of emergency management for Seattle's King County, which faces a significant earthquake threat. "One is, it won't happen. Two is, if it does happen, it won't happen to me. Three: if it does happen to me, it won't be that bad. And four: if it happens to me and it's bad, there's nothing I can do to stop it anyway."

Read Floods, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Wildfires, Earthquakes ... Why We Don't Prepare.

News Tidbits

• The FDA finally greenlighted the day-after pill. It's been a long time coming, and there's still a ways to go (right now the sanctioning only covers women of 18+ years), but it's a huge leap forward in what appeared to be a stalled battle in the abortion wars. It will even be available over-the-counter. Amazing.

• Apple is the latest party caught in the web of Sony's faulty battery scandal, forced to recall 1.8 million laptop batteries due to overheating concerns. Dell last month got things started by initiating their own recall of Sony-produced batteries - the largest recall in the history of the PC industry. Of course, Dell only admitted to the problem once cornered by damning photos of one of their units instantaneously and undeniably combusting ("exploding" in geekspeak). For information on whether you and your Apple laptop need battery help, read on. For general tips on how to prolong the life of your laptop battery - and other rechargeable units - click here.

• I told you Pluto was in trouble, it just wasn't the sort of trouble we'd expected. Instead of finding itself awash in a sea of equally-recognized, but lesser-in-stature heavenly bodies, the icey guy way out there suddenly finds himself left out in the cold: he's been demoted from "planet" to the strange title of "dwarf planet". One astronomical commentator posited that "planetoid" would be a more fair - and scientific - name. Agreed.

Lee Loves You

It's official: after a year plus of rampant rumors, speculation and false hope, L.A.-based promotion outfit Giant has finally jumped ship from Avalon and will soon kick off a new Saturday night party at Vanguard:

giant launches at Vanguard at 6021 Hollywood Boulevard on Saturday, September 9 with Lee Burridge . This event not only marks the grand opening of giant Saturdays at Vanguard presented with Insomniac, but also the first of four monthly residency dates for Lee's “365” concept this fall. Joining Lee Burridge on the big Funktion One rig will be Basic's John Do and Justin Gourley while the Architects of Sound and special guest Mark Tabberner hold down the second room… stay tuned for more details.

This is exciting for a few of reasons: Avalon has increasingly become a drug-infested, stripper/meathead haven; Vanguard is a fine-looking venue with the best sound system in the city; and Lee Burridge is the man.

While my interest in EDM has indeed waned these last few years - I find the sound sadly stale, stuck in a rut - Burridge has single-handedly delivered infusions of hope, putting forth the two most exciting sonic adventures in recent memory: his tagteam "Fundacion" set with Sasha in Jan. '05, and his Love Lee party at SF's Mezzanine last year which launched Love Parade weekend.

Sept. 9th promises to be a night to remember.

Tom Cruise is a Supernova

Tom Cruise's sudden and public ouster from Paramount may have taken Hollywood by surprise, but it has all the makings of the inevitable and gradual implosion of a giant star. His increasingly erratic behaviour over the last year reeks of an insular, self-obsessed individual whose poison proved to be his own Kool-Aid (see George W. Bush). Beginning with the 2004 ouster of his career-building publicist Pat Kingsley and her replacement with his sister, Cruise has come apart at the hinges right before our eyes. You have to wonder whether the high-placed Scientology member thought it best to start airing his laundry, or whether the Church pushed him over the ledge.

Viacom to Break Ties With Cruise

By Kim Christensen and Claire Hoffman, Times Staff Writers
August 23, 2006

Paramount Pictures is severing its lucrative 14-year relationship with Tom Cruise, whose recent off-screen behavior proved to be too much for Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone, who disclosed the superstar's termination Tuesday.

"His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount," Redstone said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Paramount is Viacom's moviemaking arm.

The unceremonious dismissal of one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars stunned the entertainment industry...

Continue reading Viacom to Break Ties With Cruise.

The Next Next-Gen Phone

A pairing of companies is kicking around ideas for a next-gen phone device, complete with touchscreen capability and synced PDA/GPS/MP3 player functionality:

The mobile phones of the future may not be anything like the phones of today, and one of the biggest differences may be the elimination of mechanical keys. A next generation mobile phone concept by Synaptics (a mobile interface developer) and Pilotfish (an industrial design firm) does just that.

The phone, called the Onyx, uses Synaptics' ClearPad in the place of keys. The ClearPad is a touchscreen solution that is--surprise!--optically clear. The touchscreen detects not only points and taps but proximity, gestures, and shapes as well.

The Onyx looks like something you'd see in "Star Trek" or some other kind of Sci-Fi show, yet it is technically possible and may open the mind of many OEMs to produce cellphones that push the envelope far beyond the models of today. Plus it's just cool looking.

I'd have to agree with that last bit. Read on for more info.

Yogi Life

The L.A. Times takes a look at the rock star lives of the rich and famous yogis of Los Angeles.

When the Levees Broke...

I’m not a huge Spike Lee fan, but his four-hour documentary exposing the failure of the federal response to Katrina strikes me as both real and important. "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” kicks off tonight on HBO from 9pm to 11pm, and concludes tomorrow night at the same time.

Dems Do the Shuffle

The Democratic Party voted this weekend to tweak their 2008 Presidential election primary schedule, throwing Nevada and South Carolina into the early mix so as to temper the influence of Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go I’m thinking…as is the National Association of Secretaries of State.

"Pigs Don't Fly..."

Good for K-Fed, ignoring popular convention and fighting the good fight, talented or not.

• Hip-hop mag XXL: "I just think we ignore him. He's a joke, basically."
• Defamer.com: "K-Fed finally shows the world he's earned his ridicule all by himself."
• Rollingstone.com: "Pigs Don't Fly, and Kevin Federline Does Indeed Suck."

See for yourself...

Osama Saving All His Love for Whitney

This is just plain WTF:

Osama bin Laden has more on his mind than just the destruction of the United States - the world's most wanted terrorist is obsessed with Whitney Houston, so much so that he's even mulled a hit on her hubby, Bobby Brown.

Kola Boof, 37, the Sudanese poet and novelist who claims to have once been bin Laden's sex slave, writes in her autobiography, Diary of a Lost Girl, which is excerpted in the September Harper's: "He told me Whitney Houston was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen."

Boof - who wrote for the soap opera "The Days of Our Lives" until she was axed last month - continues, "He said that he had a paramount desire for [Houston] and although he claimed music was evil, he spoke of someday spending vast amounts of money to go to America and try to arrange a meeting."

Boof says bin Laden couldn't stop talking about his favorite singer and had lofty plans for her. "He said he wanted to give [her] a mansion that he owned in a suburb of Khartoum. He explained to me that to possess Whitney, he would be willing to break his color rule and make her one of his wives."

But bin Laden's murderous side also emerged in his fantasies about the pop superstar.

"[He would say] how beautiful she is," Boof claims, "what a nice smile she has, how truly Islamic she is but is just brainwashed by American culture and by her husband - Bobby Brown, whom Osama talked about having killed, as if it were normal to have womens' husbands killed.

"In his briefcase, I would come across photographs of the Star [magazine], as well as copies of Playboy. It would soon come to the point where I was sick of hearing Whitney Houston's name," Boof writes.

But as much as bin Laden adored Houston, he was also dismissive of black women. "African women are only good for a man's lower pleasures," bin Laden supposedly said. "What need do you have for a womb?"

And Boof writes that the 9/11 terror mastermind detested her hairstyle. "Why do you wear your hair braided?" he fumed, telling her that "only monkeys" did that.

Rock It, Girlfriend!

There are a number of things I could say about this video, but really, you just have to watch it. (For reference, the band is Metal Skool, an L.A.-based 80s hair metal tribute band.)

Black Days

The Economist hit it on the head this week with their cover story. An excerpt:

When will they ever learn?

If a deal is done, what lesson will Israel take from this war? Probably something long the lines of: more infantry, fewer tanks. Those who preach sagaciously from afar that Israel should learn something bigger—the necessity of making peace instead of relying on force—have not been paying attention.

The hubris that blinded Israel after its great victory of 1967 cleared decades ago. Since the 1980s at least two prime ministers, Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak, gave their all in the search for peace. The first paid with his life and the second with his job. Even the hawkish Ariel Sharon budged. He pulled Israel out of Gaza and knocked the legs from under Israel's settler movement. The trouble for Israel is that in peacemaking, as well as in war, the enemy gets a vote. What the well-meaning protesters who have been marching in Europe in praise of Hizbullah refuse to acknowledge is that today, as in the 1940s, Israel still has some neighbours who continue to deny its very right to exist as a Jewish state.

This is not to say that Israel is blameless. It has made mistakes aplenty down the years. This war was probably just that: a mistake after a provocation and not a plot cooked up either by Israel and America against Iran, or by Iran against Israel and America, as the rival conspiracy theories go. It followed a bigger blunder: Israel's failure after Yasser Arafat's death to work seriously with his moderate successor, Mahmoud Abbas.

But peace does not depend only on Israel. Six years ago Israel withdrew from Lebanon to a border painstakingly demarcated by the UN. Hizbullah fought on anyway. Like Iran, it says its aim is Israel's destruction. Though an authentic political movement with a domestic agenda in Lebanon, it is also blatantly anti-Semitic. Mr Nasrallah once reflected that collecting the Jews in Palestine made them easier to wipe out. Its al-Manar TV station is a beacon of hate: one series purported to show Jews murdering Christian children to use their blood for Passover bread. Whether Hizbullah and Iran seriously propose to destroy Israel is hard to tell, but it is what they keep saying—and they have imitators. The Palestinians' ruling Hamas movement has not yet dared to say out loud that it accepts even the principle of sharing Palestine with a Jewish state.

Following Mr Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza, Mr Olmert hoped to follow his example by uprooting Israeli settlements from much of the West Bank. Hizbullah has now killed stone dead the idea of Israel giving up territory again without cast-iron security assurances. So there will be no leaving any of the West Bank until there is a deal. Israel must find some way to re-engage with the Palestinians. But right now it is not even talking to Hamas—and Hamas, after the Lebanon war, is in danger of subscribing anew to the old illusion that Palestine can be liberated by force. Black days ahead for the Middle East.

Poor Pluto

As touched upon previously, the fine folks in the world of astronomy are considering whether to redefine what constitutes a "planet". A draft proposal is now on the table, and it seems assured the classification will be altered significantly, one way or the other.

Zero (+1)

So what if Iha and D'Arcy don't want to have anything to do with them? The Pumpkins are back, and I for one cannot wait to hear some new material from one of my favorite songwriters of all-time. From Billy Corgan's website:

The Smashing Pumpkins are currently in the recording studio with legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars, The Darkness), at work on their first new album since 1999.

TV Tidbits

• Tonight at 10pm, HBO’s Real Sports investigates the phenomenon of the legendary Honus Wagner baseball card.

• Speaking of HBO, I caught up on Entourage last night and was beside myself with Martin Landau’s depiction of the out-of-touch, over-the-hill film producer. I am absolutely positive the character was a parody of Robert Evans, youngest ever head of a studio and producer of Chinatown, The Godfather and a number of other smashes in the late 60s/early 70s. His memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture is an outrageous insider’s look at Hollywood, and the business, sexual & drug-laden exploits of one of its legends.

• Details are slowly emerging with regard to 24’s next season. Jack’s back (although a little worse for wear), there’s another President Palmer in the White House, and a new bad guy is cast (terrifically, imo):

"TV Guide’s tireless Michael Ausiello reports Eric Balfour will return to his pre-Chloe season-one role of computer geek Milo Pressman on “24” - reminding us all of those early days of Nina Myers, Jamey Farrell, Alan York and a bat-wielding senator David Palmer.

"Chloe’s foreigner ex-husband will return from last season, according to Ausiello, who also says “Deep Space Nine’s” Alexander Siddig will play a bad guy.

"The current print edition of TV Guide, meanwhile, offers some plot points. Producer-director John Cassar tells the magazine the season begins in the aftermath of a successful terrorist act that will likely remind viewers of the early hours of Sept. 11, 2001. Jack Bauer, apparently, couldn’t prevent the attack because he’s been a mess, having undergone two months of torture at the hands of the Chinese.

"If Jack was in Chinese hands only two months, this suggests he’s probably been back in the states for quite a while as season six begins. For those who haven’t heard, the White House of season six is in the hands of the Democrats, with David Palmer’s brother Wayne the commander-in-chief.

"Fox begins broadcasting new episodes of "24" in early January."

News Tidbits

• Jill Carroll recounts her harrowing ordeal in the hands of Iraqi kidnappers. This is apparently the first in a ten-part series. It’s way too early to tell, but I predict they’ll give her the Pulitzer for this: a token of appreciation for her sacrifice.

• Pluto is finally up for final deliberation as to it’s status: is it a planet, an asteroid, or just a big rock? I personally believe the rule should go as follows: anything with enough mass and gravity to squeeze itself into a near sphere, and with an orbit in the same plane as that of the main solar disc, should get the nod of planetdom. Of course, this could open the field to countless new objects– a crisis in sentimentality for sure. Maybe the answer is to award the original nine a special designation and consider them first among equals, but I leave that to smarter and more dedicated individuals than I.

• Exploring the move toward casual dress in the workplace.

• Poor Boy George.

Zune Becomes More Real

As confirmed reports of Zune’s details and pending release trickle in, I’m reminded of this video from last year. It’s old – prior to the swirling rumors of all things Zune – but it’s good for a laugh each and every time. Pee Wee would be proud.

Gold Takes the Gold

For those of you who care about such things, Jamie Gold took down the competition at the World Series of Poker, walking away with the ridiculous payday of $12 million. It doesn’t hurt to have cards at the final table, and boy did he. Check out how he did it.

Lily is Laughing at Me

The amazingly talented - and adorable - Brit sensation Lily Allen is dropping by for a gig at the Troubadour, Saturday, October 14th. Please do me a favor and check out her sailor-filth rhymes, as I’ll be out of town that weekend (self-flagellating).

Tix went on sale this morning.

Thom Yorke Wants to Sleep with the Phishes

This is something I’d never thought I’d hear: Radiohead’s Thom Yorke holding a candle to Phish and their style of touring. That other fun quotes (and my commentary) from his recent Pitchfork interview:

TY: When we played Bonnaroo we got such a nice vibe, a genuine good feeling from the first beat. Things like Bonnaroo give you the hope that you can do it the other way. I met Phish-- most of their people are involved in Bonnaroo. And it's great. I dream to take some of that vibe and take it around the country...and then Clear Channel trying to fucking shut the gate down.

I recently caught Phish’s Trey Anastasio on the telly in a documentary of 2004’s Bonnaroo offering. He had written full orchestration for some his work, and the segment showed him working with the symphony, learning to conduct, dealing with the nerves of doing something new in front of so many people. This man, who’s played in front of millions over the last 20 years, was honestly nervous about letting down both his fans and these new musicians he’d corralled to help him with the project. His humility and enthusiasm were inspiring. When he finally got on stage, with a full symphony behind him and lightning & thunder above, he and his music hit it out of the park.

Pitchfork: Some newer songs seem a little warmer: "Down Is the New Up", "House of Cards"...

TY: I'd guess one doesn't really need reminding of the ice outside at the moment, do you? It's maybe a good thing to try to make music that feels reassuring in some ways-- something that's got a good feeling, a good vibe about it.

I believe it was with the very first post on this blog that I distinctly noted “Down Is the New Up” as new territory for Radiohead – a more positive chord struck. I’m glad he’s aware of the turn. And, yes, sometimes, no matter how grey it is outside, it’s important to remain bright and all rainbow-ish within. As he says elsewhere in the interview: “I have to remain positive otherwise I’d go fucking crazy.”

Pitchfork: And of course most of the bands that've taken cues from you have done so from things like "High and Dry". Was it ever disappointing that when your peers looked to you guys they ignored Kid A and Amnesiac and took the simpler, more well-traveled road?

TY: But that's the majors all over. "Oh, uh, shit, we need to find something else that looks like it." They spent loads of money and crap and they were right, so I can't argue with them I guess. It's business.

But it upset me a lot, yes. I was really, really upset about it, and I tried my absolute best not to be, but yeah, it was kind of like-- that sort of thing of missing the point completely. When we put Kid A out, I specifically remember saying, "Copy that, you
fucking..."

Whatever. We've ripped off R.E.M. blind for years, you know-- amongst other people. Everybody does. It's how you rip them off, as John Lennon said.

Nice.

Pitchfork: It's difficult gearing up to again be a public figure, feeling like a personality or a commodity in a way? Or having to deal with demands like this interview?

TY: No. And it's fun to play new stuff all the time. But you got all this dread, all this sort of like, "Well, should we really be doing this?" Like, basically, a complete lack of confidence. But you get over that.

Pitchfork: And you think that sort of came back because there was a moment where you guys stopped and uncertainty kind of settled in?

TY: Yeah, which is natural I think. It's a pathological criticism about absolutely everything we ever do.

Pitchfork: That comes from yourself? Because it'd seem difficult for most people to believe that you lack confidence in what you guys are doing.

TY: From me personally, especially. Sometimes it's just fucking ridiculous. If I'm left to my own devices, then simply nothing would happen.

Wow, see?! Even the most talented and acclaimed artists are victims to their own self-critical neuroses. Gives hope to the rest of us.

CAFAM Highlights Asian-Latino Fusion

The gf's museum is given the spotlight treatment in today's L.A. Times. Check it out, both the article and the exhibit.

Visual blend of two cultures

Local artists fuse Asian and Latino influences in "Tigers and Jaguars" exhibit.

By Cynthia Dea
Times Staff Writer

August 10, 2006

Japanese American artist Clement Hanami compares his experience growing up in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights to Bruce Lee's role as the sidekick Kato in "The Green Hornet."

"Having most of my neighbors being Latino, I was the token, and people called me 'Chinito,' " says Hanami, 44. "It's kind of good and bad, but after a while it doesn't faze you."

Hanami's upbringing is hardly an anomaly but rather another component to a city in which one can find a Chinese market, Mexican bakery, Thai restaurant and taco truck within two blocks of one another. This intersection of cultures is the subject of the exhibition "Tigers and Jaguars: L.A.'s Asian-Latino Art Phenomenon," on display at the Craft and Folk Art Museum and in collaboration with the Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture. The show, which runs through Oct. 29, looks at how 13 local artists have fused the two in their work.

"We know of this fusion in food, a little in music, but there's no documentation of this fusion in the visual arts," says exhibition curator Kathy Mas-Gallegos. A discussion she had with Stan Sosa of the Latino Museum about the large Asian presence in the Southland piqued her interest in curating the show.

"We have so many artists living and working in L.A. who are consciously or unconsciously using cross influences in their work."

To convey a sense of how both cultures reflect a strong presence within the local art scene, Mas-Gallegos invited taggers, manga illustrators, conceptual artists and painters to join the show.

One of them is Charles "Chaz" Bojorquez, 57, referred to by many street artists as the godfather of West Coast graffiti art. Latino and Asian cultures have influenced his work since he started tagging in the 1960s. His serigraph "Chino Latino" depicts a Chinese dragon with the names of fellow local artists written in the "cholo style" of Old English script.

Bojorquez knows firsthand about the interaction between the two ethnicities. Born on the edge of Chinatown, he listened to jazz at the Grand Star with his mother, partied at the punk club Madame Wong's in the early '80s and revisited Grand Star when the club Firecracker opened in the '90s — venues frequented mostly by young Asians and Latinos.

"There was always music, there was always art. There was always a connection between the two communities," Bojorquez says. This mixing of cultures is "an experience we've had all the time, but it's something we've only begun to put in our work in the last 10 years."

Hanami's work emphasizes this cross-cultural exchange within a social context. His investigations on identity have been informed by his experience growing up in the Eastside. His "Rice Rocket" on display is a working rickshaw tricked out with lowrider-style wire-spoked rims and white-walled tires. Speakers are attached below the seat and play the tunes of War and the Stylistics.

"As an artist, I look at what it is about this experience that is unique and how it impacts being Japanese American or being a minority within a minority," Hanami says.

"So you have a rickshaw, something I'm not even familiar with. Lowriders are more familiar to me — even my Japanese American friends had them, because it's part of L.A."

In "Tigers and Jaguars," the majority of the 13 participating artists were born and raised in L.A. But this is also a city of transplants, and Felipe Smith, the 28-year-old creator of the graphic novel "MBG" whose illustrations are on display, is one of them.

"This is a very interesting city," the Argentine-born artist says. "People are from all parts of the world, but they all in some way relate to L.A. and the urban life."

Asian culture has been relevant to Smith since he moved to L.A. six years ago, after graduating from art school in Chicago. To adapt to the adult-oriented market of Japanese manga, he worked at the now-defunct Peppermint karaoke bar on Olympic and Sawtelle boulevards for three years. As the only non-Japanese employee, he learned how to speak, read and write Japanese.

Smith thinks that a show dedicated to artistic fusion is possible only in a city with large and fast-growing Asian and Latino populations. "People here know a little bit more about cultures and have an interest in other cultures."

Despite the special role L.A. may have in "Tigers and Jaguars," the show strives to reveal how art can act as a bridge between cultures within any community.

"We retain certain aspects that we feel are valuable, but we adopt aspects from other cultures because they hold significant meanings," Hanami says. "There's a mixing that happens that's serendipitous."

Hanami, like the other artists, embraces this melding of cultures in the world of visual arts, but he finds referring to it as a "melting pot" to be an inaccurate description. And, of course, leave it to an artist to point out how aesthetically unpleasing the mental image can be.

"America isn't a big bucket of mud," he says with a long giggle. "It's a mosaic."

*

'Tigers and Jaguars: L.A.'s Asian-Latino Art Phenomenon'

Where: Craft and Folk Art Museum, 5814 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays; noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays

Ends: Oct. 29

Price: $3 to $5; 11 and younger, free

Info: (323) 937-4230; http://cafam.org/

MoM: Music of the Moment

Who knew someone out there was still making music like this? Jurassic 5’s new album “The Feedback” reminds me of everything I loved about old school rap, before the gangstas stepped in and mucked up the whole thing: it’s light, it’s fun, it has a positive message. Saw these guys open for Fiona back in 2000 at SF’s Warfield – they were fun then, and they’re fun now. Give it a listen.

Hump Day Miscellany

• An astute NPR commentator today pointed out that Joe Lieberman’s defeat in Connecticut’s Democratic primary yesterday reflects the fact that while we live within a two-party system, three schools of thought actually reign large in America’s current political landscape: the radical-leftist Dems, the radical-rightist Reps, and that of the rest of us, the Forgotten Middle. He suggested it might be time for a new party: the McCain-Lieberman party. I couldn't agree more.

• TIME Magazine’s cover story this week is a frighteningly vivid - albeit sobering - first-person account of life in Baghdad, as told by Indian journalist Aparism Ghosh.

• Following up on one of the posted pieces from yesterday, there is this priceless quote from CNN’s Anderson Cooper re: Hizballah’s manipulation of news coverage in Lebanon:

  They had six ambulances lined up in a row and said, OK, you know, they brought reporters there, they said you can talk to the ambulance drivers. And then one by one, they told the ambulances to turn on their sirens and to zoom off, and people taking that picture would be reporting, I guess, the idea that these ambulances were zooming off to treat civilian casualties, when in fact, these ambulances were literally going back and forth down the street just for people to take pictures of them.

The Sixth War

As the war in Israel – called “The Sixth War” by the Arab world, successor to the ’48, ’56, ’67, ’73 & ’82 conflicts – nears it’s one-month birthday, some reflections:

• Bernard-Henri Lévy, French philosopher and writer, recounts his observations of the current Israeli psyche, as seen through the lens of his many old friends in the land.

• Ben Caspit, of the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, conjures the words he’d like to hear his Prime Minister proclaim to the world.

• Tom Gross, former correspondent for the London Sunday Telegraph, exposes the direct influence Hizballah wields over international news organizations’ reporting of the conflict, as admitted to by the organizations themselves.

Tuesday’s Tidbits

• A frolicsome generation discovers a frolicsome wine: Rosé.

• Not your daddy’s television: the death of the picture tube telly.

• It’s lost that lovin’ feelin’: so long, Tomcat.

The Cult of Personality

Sometimes there are those figures whose mere presence lifts everyone around them: last night at the L.A. Coliseum, soccer star Ronaldhino showed what it is to be a living legend. Playing in a friendly match for his club team, defending European champions FC Barcelona, against a determined Chivas Guadalajara squad, the Brazilian dazzled 92,000 in attendance, all of whom arguably came to see him sport his magic. Each time he touched the ball, the entire stadium erupted in shear mania, thousands of bulbs flashing in unison. He didn’t take over the game, but he did exhibit the creativity, nimble dribbling, and point-guard-like, no-look passing for which he is celebrated – and all with a smile. Even Kobe Bryant, in attendance, had to have been impressed. His star power was undeniable. Suddenly, $30 million a year didn’t seem so outlandish.

Boys Will Be Boys Will Be Dicks

An inside look at the man behind "Girls Gone Wild". The piece starts out fun, turns shocking, then downright disgustingly scandalous.

'Baby, Give Me a Kiss'

The man behind the 'Girls Gone Wild' soft-porn empire lets Claire Hoffman into his world, for better or worse

By Claire Hoffman
LA Times Staff Writer
August 6, 2006

Joe Francis, the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" empire, is humiliating me. He has my face pressed against the hood of a car, my arms twisted hard behind my back. He's pushing himself against me, shouting: "This is what they did to me in Panama City!"

It's after 3 a.m. and we're in a parking lot on the outskirts of Chicago. Electronic music is buzzing from the nightclub across the street, mixing easily with the laughter of the guys who are watching this, this me-pinned-and-helpless thing.

Francis isn't laughing.

He has turned on me, and I don't know why. He's going on and on about Panama City Beach, the spring break spot in northern Florida where Bay County sheriff's deputies arrested him three years ago on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and promoting the sexual performance of a child. As he yells, I wonder if this is a flashback, or if he's punishing me for being the only blond in sight who's not wearing a thong. This much is certain: He's got at least 80 pounds on me and I'm thinking he's about to break my left arm. My eyes start to stream tears.

This is not what I anticipated when I signed up for a tour of Joe Francis' world. I've been with him nonstop since early afternoon, listening as he teases employees, flying on his private jet, eating fast food and watching young women hurl themselves against his 6-foot-2-inch frame, declaring, "We want to go wild!"

Continue reading 'Baby, Give Me a Kiss'.

Schneider Goes Animal on Gibson

This full-page ad appeared today in the Hollywood trade paper, The Daily Variety (click here for better image):

The Cutest Girl Ever

Super busy today, so I haven't had a chance to really do any reading or writing, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish a happy belated birthday to Su Lin, the panda cub at the San Diego Zoo. She turned one yesterday, and it is with great pleasure that I present to you a picture of her and her birthday popsicle:

For those of you not yet acquainted with this little princess, she’s down in S.D. and a must-see. When the gf first started going on and on about her day and night, I thought she was crazy. But then one day, I found myself hopelessly won over.

If you’re into such furry and cute things, do yourself a favor and visit before it’s too late – ie when she grows up and slides from a 10 on the cute scale to a 7.

The Famous Sushi Pants Story

I know someone like this. I won't mention him by name, but he makes me proud.

I used to think that Red Bull was the most destructive invention of the past 50 years. I was wrong. Red Bull has been usurped by the portable alcohol breathalyzer. The same device that cops have been using for 10 years to conduct field sobriety tests is now offered by the Sharper Image for $99. It is the size and shape of a small cell phone with a clear round tube sticking up from the top, almost like an antenna. One blows into the tube, and a few seconds later a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) reading is given. Though not as accurate as a blood test, they are accurate to within .01, which is good enough for my purposes.

I was living in Boca Raton, Florida, when I bought one to take out with me on a Saturday night. This is the story:

9:00pm: Arrive at the restaurant. I am the first one of the group there, even though our reservations are for 9pm. The restaurant is crowded full of the abysmal type of people that infest South Florida. Already depressed, I order a vodka and club soda.

9:08: No one else has arrived. I order another vodka and club. I consider checking my BAC, but doubt that it would show anything thus far.

9:10: Two 30+ year-old Jewish women on my left keep eyeing me. Both have fake breasts. One has exceptionally large fake breasts. They are beckoning me from her shirt. She is not highly attractive. I begin drinking faster.

9:15: No one else has arrived. I order my third vodka and club. While I wait for it, I try out my portable breathalyzer. I blow a .02. This is the greatest invention ever made. I am giddy. I show the breathalyzer to the fake-breasted Jewish women next to me. We begin a conversation.

9:16: They both have thick Long Island accents. I summon the bartender over and change my order to a tall double vodka on the rocks, splash of club.

9:23: Four people at the bar have tried my breathalyzer, both of the fake-breasted women included. Everyone wants to know their BAC. I am the center of attention. I am happy.

9:25: The first member of my group arrives. I show him the breathalyzer. He is enthralled. He buys a round. The fake-breasted women loudly inform us they would like drinks. My friend buys them drinks. I order a double vodka on the rocks. No splash.

9:29: I blow again, a .04. I've been drinking for half an hour, and am on my forth drink. My wheels of intellect begin grinding through the vodka haze that is already forming...four drinks...a .04...that must mean that each drink only adds .01 to my BAC. I begin to think that I can drink a lot. I tell one of the fake-breasted women that she is very interesting.

9:38: Six of the eight are here. I lie to the hostesses, and they seat our incomplete party. Everyone is talking about my breathalyzer. I am the focus of adulation. I forgive everyone for sucking so bad. I think this night may go OK after all.

9:40: I blow again, a .05. This confuses me. I haven't ordered another drink since I blew a .04. I have a vague memory from a long distant D.A.R.E. class about the rate of alcohol absorption being constant, regardless of speed of drinking. This memory quickly fades when two hot girls at the table next to me inquire about my portable breathalyzer.

9:42: Hot girl #2 is into me. She begins telling me a story about how she got pulled over once for DUI, and had to blow into something like this, and the cop let her off. She tells me that she always wanted to be a cop, but couldn't pass the entrance exam to the police academy, even though she took it twice. I tell her that she must be really smart. She stops paying attention to me. Hot girl #2 is apparently smart enough to detect thinly veiled sarcasm.

10:04: The novelty of the portable breathalyzer has passed. The table has moved on. I am no longer the center of attention. I am not happy with my table.

Continue reading The Famous Sushi Pants Story.

The Law of Natural Selection

It would seem even staunch creationists are not immune to the cold and stern hand of evolution: the loons on the Kansas School Board have lost their majority. Sanity prevails…

Evolution Opponents Lose Kansas Board Majority

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 2, 2006

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Conservative Republicans who pushed anti-evolution standards back into Kansas schools last year have lost control of the state Board of Education once again.

The most closely watched race was in western Kansas, where incumbent conservative Connie Morris lost her GOP primary Tuesday. The former teacher had described evolution as ''an age-old fairy tale'' and ''a nice bedtime story'' unsupported by science.

As a result of Tuesday's vote, board members and candidates who believe evolution is well-supported by evidence will have a 6-4 majority. Evolution skeptics had entered the election with a 6-4 majority.

Continue reading Evolution Opponents Lose Kansas Board Majority.

Of course, anyone with an once of sense knows that Truth lies with the Flying Spaghetti Monster, peace be upon the Great Jiggly One.

Two Birds with One Stone

MTV at 25

It’s been ages since I gave a hoot about MTV - thank you very much TRL, Jackass, Real World et al ad nauseam – but it’s noteworthy that the network has reached a quarter century. A look back at 25 milestones in MTV history:

1. THE DEBUT: August 1, 1981. The first video? The slyly prophetic "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. Only a few thousand people on a single cable system in northern New Jersey could see it. Sometimes the screen would go black when someone at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR. Within a few years, millions of kids demanded their parents buy cable so they could see MTV. Along with CNN, it led TV's transition out of the three-channel world. "This was the fuse that lit the cable explosion," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.

2. "BEAT IT": March 31, 1983. MTV had ignored black artists from its introduction, despite the spectacular contemporary success of Michael Jackson's 1982 "Thriller" album and its early singles, "Billie Jean" and "Beat It." By the time MTV got in the habit of showing Jackson -- and others -- "Thriller" had been No. 1 for months and was on its way to becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. ("Beat It" cemented Jackson's broad-based popularity, partly thanks to Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo and the gang-meeting video.) The segregation was MTV's early shame, ironic considering its later role in popularizing rap. And the early snub wasn't forgotten: "You don't have all of music television when you are leaving things out," says Los Lonely Boys singer Henry Garza.

3. "THRILLER": December 2, 1983. Less a video than a 14-minute mini-movie with Vincent Price, ghouls and goblins, the premiere of Jackson's "Thriller" was an event. MTV gave it a set time on the schedule -- several, even. It was the apotheosis of the idea of music videos as an art form. With director John Landis involved, it also was proof that Hollywood's finest weren't looking down upon what are essentially promo clips.

Continue reading MTV won't say how old it is (but it's 25).

The Oscar, please…

The Gibson affair keeps getting stranger. First there was this statement from him today:

There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God's child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It's about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

What’s most striking to me is the panic in his voice. I completely doubt the authenticity of his remorse here, but I don’t doubt for a second his fear as to what may befall him thanks to his showing his true colors. The L.A. Times pointed out yesterday just how tough it would be for Gibson to go it alone professionally in this town, regardless of the purported several hundred mil payday he walked away from “Passion” with.

Disney’s already pulled the plug on his Holocaust-era miniseries, and it may very well do the same with its distribution deal of his upcoming feature “Apocalypto”.

Still, in this town (and nation) in which any and all celebrities have unlimited get-out-of-jail-for-free cards, his time may yet be long from over. Hollywood execs have yet to speak out against Gibson, fearing a reverse black-listing by the star himself.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, he was offered today the keynote speaker slot at the Temple of the Performing Arts’ Yom Kippur service (a spot filled by Hillary Rodham Clinton last year). I hope my mother and girlfriend enjoy, as there’s no way in Hell I’d sit through this hypocrite’s atonement act. The Oscar, puh-lease…