Thursday, December 30, 2010

Everyone Else



Everyone Else (2010) - Maren Ade

"While on a Mediterranean vacation, a seemingly happy husband and wife find their connection to one another tested as they bond with another couple."

This movie looks like my vibe.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

DAFT PUNK X TRON: LEGACY



Best Soundtrack of the Year x Best Club Scene in a movie in years!

Monday, December 27, 2010

FEATURE: Animal Collective Interview with Aziz Ansari

Dancing: a few weeks go, Paul Scheer from Human Giant got married, and I gotta say, I’m pretty sure “Poison” by Bell Bev Devoe fucking rocked it at that wedding too. Any wedding DJs reading this, if you don’t have BBD in the crate, you’re failing at your job.
-Aziz

It was the most awesome wedding ever, but I guess I’m biased. It’s good to finally relax, but I’m sad it’s over. It was really sweet to have so many people we love all in one place for a few days. The AC crew came through big time with the costumes, as did many of our other friends. Dave as Raggedy Andy (if that’s what it was) ruled. My parents went as Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy for a Halloween party sometime in the early ‘80s. I remember them dressing up. Josh as the Fall Guy also ruled and got a lot of compliments, though he should have titled his costume “Must Be Treeman.” [Our manager] Brian DeRan must have lost serious pounds in sweat in the yeti costume. Best group costume award went to the Biospherians.
“Poison” was actually the only song my wife requested during the wedding. She had a feeling people needed a jammer to get things to another level so she went and asked the DJ to play it. He already had it cued up on the turntable as the next song. As Josh mentioned, some of us covered it at a high school talent show, so we have a special place for it in our hearts. I think just Dave and Guy and I did that cover though. Didn’t guy do the rap? Wait, there are two raps—I think he did one and Dave did the other. One did the “Yo slick, blow” rap, and the other did the “Me and the crew used to do her” rap. I can’t remember which was which.
I feel you on the Back to the Future interaction. I sometimes can be a bit ageist, but I try really hard to get over it. A few years back I had a friend who was 28 and dating a 20-year-old and they came to my house for dinner. It was one of the first times I was hanging with him and I wanted us to get along. But then something came up about Ghostbusters and he said he’d never seen it, and without even thinking I said, “Get out of my house.”
Favorite piece of furniture: record shelves that my father-in-law built. (Can you tell how much I’m into using the post-wedding lingo?) I wish I had a comfortable piece of furniture that was my favorite in the house but I’m super attached to any chairs, couches or tables right now. We just got my family piano moved to our house a few weeks ago and that could eventually be my favorite item too. It’s been in the family for over 50 years but I haven’t had access to it since the mid ’90s. I like family heirlooms.
Wedding jams: I think “Thriller” was another big hit—obviously. It was definitely the one I was most looking forward to and I said if I only dance to one song all night, it has to be “Thriller.” But me and my wife were at the bar getting more champagne and got sucked into conversations with guests and just as we pulled ourselves away and rushed out to the dancefloor, the song ended.
Last great meal: We cook a lot of awesome meals in my house, and we love cooking so they’re pretty much all our favorite, but for the last truly great meal, I have to go with an eight-course meal we ate in San Sebastian, Spain, while we were on tour there last summer. It actually got to a point where we were getting worried about performing because it is hard to play on a full stomach of rich food. We started telling the waiters not to bring us anymore food but they insisted since it was a set menu. I actually think when they went back to the kitchen for the dessert Dave or Noah just snuck out of the restaurant.
Random AC fan: there have been a lot. My brother showed me a review of Merriweather on ESPN.com. That was pretty random. The dude wasn’t a fan though.
Last thing I should tell you to track down is Forbidden Transmissions. They are internet compilations of weird media stuff. Scott Colburn has a lot of them on his computer and burned us some DVDs that we watched during the recording of Strawberry Jam. From the stuff you’ve sent us, I think you’ll enjoy it. You can find a lot of the individual stuff on YouTube or Ebaum’s World, but it’s really funny to watch them all together in these half-hour shows.
Take care,
Brian


Read more: http://www.thefader.com/2010/01/07/feature-animal-collective-interview-with-aziz-ansari/#ixzz19NSlu8Lj

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Fuck Yeah Comedians in Plaid

These are the things that keep me amused - Fuck Yeah Comedians in Plaid

20 Untranslatable Words from Around the World

20 Untranslatable Words from Around the World:
1. Toska

RussianVladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”

2. Mamihlapinatapei

Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start” (Altalang.com)

3. Jayus

Indonesian – “A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh” (Altalang.com)

4. Iktsuarpok

Inuit – “To go outside to check if anyone is coming.” (Altalang.com)

5. Litost

Czech – Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, remarked that “As for the meaning of this word, I have looked in vain in other languages for an equivalent, though I find it difficult to imagine how anyone can understand the human soul without it.” The closest definition is a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.

6. Kyoikumama

Japanese – “A mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement” (Altalang.com)

7. Tartle

Scottish – The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name. (Altalang.com)

8. Ilunga

Tshiluba (Southwest Congo) – A word famous for its untranslatability, most professional translators pinpoint it as the stature of a person “who is ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate on the third offense.” (Altalang.com)

9. Prozvonit

Czech – This word means to call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money. In Spanish, the phrase for this is “Dar un toque,” or, “To give a touch.” (Altalang.com)

10. Cafuné

Brazilian Portuguese – “The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.” (Altalang.com)

11. Schadenfreude

German – Quite famous for its meaning that somehow other languages neglected to recognize, this refers to the feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune. I guess “America’s Funniest Moments of Schadenfreude” just didn’t have the same ring to it.

12. Torschlusspanik

German – Translated literally, this word means “gate-closing panic,” but its contextual meaning refers to “the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.” (Altalang.com)

13. Wabi-Sabi

Japanese – Much has been written on this Japanese concept, but in a sentence, one might be able to understand it as “a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.” (Altalang.com)

14. Dépaysement

French – The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country.

15. Tingo

Pascuense (Easter Island) – Hopefully this isn’t a word you’d need often: “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.” (Altalang.com)

16. Hyggelig

Danish – Its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cozy demeanor, but it’s unlikely that these words truly capture the essence of a hyggelig; it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known. I think of good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire. (Altalang.com)

17. L’appel du vide

French – “The call of the void” is this French expression’s literal translation, but more significantly it’s used to describe the instinctive urge to jump from high places.

18. Ya’aburnee

Arabic – Both morbid and beautiful at once, this incantatory word means “You bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.

19. Duende

Spanish – While originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.” There’s actually a nightclub in the town of La Linea de la Concepcion, where I teach, named after this word. (Altalang.com)

20. Saudade

Portuguese – One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” Fado music, a type of mournful singing, relates to saudade. (Altalang.com)

Portlandia!



I've really got to get to Portland soon

Thursday, December 16, 2010

A Girl Like You

Smith Westerns - Weekend from Fat Possum Records on Vimeo.



Smith Westerns really got that modern Ramones look and the art of the simple lyrics like down-pat! The video is all lumberjacking adventures x 90s sit around eatin' junk food trying to pick up girls sounds like my kinda weekend.

Monday, December 13, 2010

If Only Joseph Cornell Had Lived This Long - by Denver Butson

if only Joseph Cornell had lived this long

he would have been able to fall in love

with Christina Ricci

in Buffalo 66

and he would have fallen in love with her

and made a box

or dozens of boxes for her

perhaps collaging images

someone had printed for him

off the internet

if he had only lived this long

and he would have ridden the bus

and thought he had seen her

on every street corner

talking on every cell phone

to someone he could only hope

was not Vincent Gallo

but better yet

the ghost of Cary Grant

whose character in North by Northwest

Vincent Gallo’s character

in Arizona Dream imitates

running away from an airplane

if only Joseph Cornell had lived this long


Bang bang, tu spari a me



Since I'm vibing that 'Heartbeats' by Xavier Dolan is going to be my film of the year (and 'Bang Bang' the song of my Summer) it looks like I should totally check out Francois Ozon's 'Summer Dress' which is on the love triangle x Nancy Sinatra tip.




Not posting much at the moment as I'm on tropical vacay but goddamn if all this relaxing by the pool and slamming Franzen like its going outta style ain't making my hungry.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Crumple Maps



When it is a beautiful starry night Mr Palomar says, "I must go and look at the stars". That is exactly what he says- "I must"- because he hates waste and believes it is wrong to waste the great quantity of stars that it is put at his disposal. - "Mr Palomar" by Italo Calvino

Buy me one from here

I love the Paris Review

808 A.D.
Damion Searls

After Po Chü-i and Burton Watson

Not too old, not young anymore,
almost three dozen years gone by.
Not a failure, not a success—
my first real job, a job to grow old in.
Some potential, too lazy to use it:
I’d watch TV but I like the window more.
My money gets spent when I have it;
cheap food tastes good too, and a small room’s enough.
Even a smaller room would be fine,
a shelf of old books, guitar with no amp.
The books I just flip through and don’t worry about too much,
the guitar is for noodling around on my own.
Mornings on the bus; I get to the office late.
Evenings it’s back home, go to bed early.
Working out’s too much trouble, and my body’s all right,
some belly to keep me company.
So there you have it, day by day, month after month.
Rereading this poem taped to the wall—
that’s the only reason I wrote it.
No genius, not stupid either.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Soundtrack my life...



Dalida - Bang Bang

This is my new theme music

Thanks Xavier Dolan.

Catch Feelings



To fall in love with someone at an inappropriate time or mistake a repeated hookup for a serious relationship.

"The instant they start to catch feelings
I start to stealin they shit
Then I'm out just like a thief in the night
I sink my teeth in to bite
You thinkin life, I'm thinkin more like - whassup tonight?"
-DMX

Everything comes back to Louis CK



Two of my new favourite words - one is a disease and one is a world view - make of that what you will:

Anhedonia: Loss of the capacity to experience pleasure. The inability to gain pleasure from normally pleasurable experiences. Anhedonia is a core clinical feature of depression, schizophrenia, and some other mental illnesses.

An anhedonic mother finds no joy from playing with her baby. An anhedonic football fan is not excited when his team wins. An anhedonic teenager feels no pleasure from passing the driving test.

"Anhedonia" is derived from the Greek "a-" (without) "hedone" (pleasure, delight). Other words derived from "hedone" include hedonism (a philosophy that emphasizes pleasure as the main aim of life), hedonist (a pleasure-seeker), and hedonophobia (an excessive and persistent fear of pleasure).

AND

Manichean: adjective: Of or relating to a dualistic view of the world, dividing things into either good or evil, light or dark, black or white, involving no shades of gray.

I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With



'I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With' is one of my all time favourite titles. Apparently it makes Larry David uncomfortable because it ends with a preposition - 'with' (just in case you were wondering) - which is amazing to know because Larry David uncomfortable is about as unfathomable to me as time travel.

This movie contains a lot of my favourite things like Second City and stars both Jeff Garlin (of 'Curbed') and Sarah Silverman (of awesome-town).

If you in anyway doubt Sarah Silverman's devotion to cheese please watch the below.



Also she recently published a novel(!) called 'The Bedwetter' which is about well, pee from what I can gather - you can read the first chapter here.

ALSO she recently got dissed on via Twitter by the TED/AOL crew for her TED talk (which no one will ever see I guess but you can get the lowdown here). Peep the Twitter back and forth - kinda shows why you don't get into a pissing contest with a former bedwetter right?