Epson-Projection by Shane Acker

Here is a virally distributed clip re: 9 by Shane Acker.

9

So . . . usually I do NOT blog about movies. I leave that up to Jong. This movie, however, is going to be worth covering from all sides. This short film by Shane Acker spawned a full length feature film due out 9-9-09. The basic plot being humans are gone extinct in a war against evil machines and tiny sack punks are all that remain of life. Not only are they cute in a grotesque Scarecrow type of way which I love, but for small creatures, they have big personality. If only that Bai Ling could show the range of emotion of these burlap creatures. There's vengeance! There's genuine affection! There's self-sacrifice! All without saying a word in this original short.

As I was watching the Transformers 2 film, I realized that my favorite part of the Transformers 2 experience was watching the trailer for 9. Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and the upcoming Alice in Wonderland) produces, Timur Bekmambetov directs this film based on the digital artistry of Acker. Finally the music is by Danny Elfman (Nightmare Before Christmas, and numerous Oingo Boingo diddies)

The original is a fantastic post apocalyptic, dark and haunting film. You die a little inside to see 5 in the clutches of that robot.

Original:

And the trailer for the feature length:

Jordan Says

Jordan Says I . . ..

should update more often. Update complete.

Asobi Seksu

Last night I saw Asobi Seksu at the Troubador. 

 

Admittedly, I’ve only heard their tracks on KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic, the late Indie 103’s ethereal dream pop show, and recently on MPR (Montana public radio) song of the day which you can download as a podcast. 

 

To my great surprise, Asobi Seksu is  a lot more poppy and percussion driven  than I had anticipated.  This gives a lot more dance-ability and life to the music while played live.  However, LA crowds are too cool to dance.  It was also very crowded to our credit, so dancing may have been a slight impossibility. 

 

As a technical matter, I kinda felt that the sound was miscalibrated and the drums were too heavy and the vocals were too quiet.  My friends were complaining about not being able to hear. 

 

I say, it’s not the vocals substance that are important with shoegaze.  

Noone is really focusing on Lush’s Rupert the Bear’s lyrical content.  It’s really 

the nostalgic and contemplative feeling that you get

 while listening to shoegaze that you come to know and love- and that you come to the rock show for.   To add to the ethereal dreamy pop-ness, some of the songs are in Japanese, a language which lends itself to be romantic and avant garde.  

 

There are a number of good tracks on the new album entitled Hush.  Some of my favorites include “New Years” a song evoking an important Japanese holiday where you eat special osechi foods and celebrate new beginnings.  My language proficiency is not that great, but what I picked up was a nostalgic feeling that fills one’s heart with memories of childhood or being small- and thinking of them and listening for your memories now. 

I also enjoyed Me& Mary, the single released from the new album entitled "Hush."  

 

Having just thrown a shin nen kai, or new years celebration, man I have some good memories.    

 

 

http://www.myspace.com/asobiseksu  (Check out the CSS remix of "Thursday")  My favorite!

 

 

New Years

“chisai toki no koto
omoi dashite goran
sono me o sotto ake
natsukashii futari ga mieteta
candy says
chisai omoide mo
wasurenai de ite kureta
kokoro no oku kara
tsukuri dashita kino no memory
setsunai to sakende temo
anata wa kiete iku
dakedo, kakete iku
itsumade mo
omoide no ato o”

Am I Wearing Too Much Blue?

While watching an episode of Top Chef: New York, I noted one of Padma Lakshmi's outfits as being stylish. She was wearing blue pants and a loose fitting blue top of a different shade of blue. When up for debate, she was either wearing too much blue or very casual but stylish. Here is proof of the latter. Lucky Magazine.

Lucky says that a multi-tonal outfit can be incredibly chic when using different tones of the same color, a neutral belt, and/or a shoe of a completely different color family.   There you have it.  Confirmation from the experts.  It's a talent to translate runway looks to something approachable.  Thanks to BravoTV.com and LuckyMag.com for providing photos.

Loosers Unite!

Today I discovered a website called "they banned me.com" which is a self proclaimed home for those who have been banned from every other corner of the internet and share a hatred for web forum moderators and administrators who delete their offensive comments.

But isn't it by definition a website of their own with very loose moderation and administration? Anyway I felt that a number of the stories they had on the site were funny and offensive. This includes this graphic approach to sexism. I love these fake inspirational posters  Thankyou to theybanned me for providing it.