Greatest Hits

Culture / /

The Mob is an American business institution. Killing people is just part of the business, but it’s a very costly part. Cops look the other way for burglary or hijacking, but not for murder. The press and the public don’t generally tolerate this sort of thing, and yet, those very murders that bring the most powerful wrath of law enforcement and public scrutiny down on the Mob are responsible for their greatest cultural legacy. [Warning: graphic images ahead – proceed at your own risk] Who can forget the picture of Carmine Gallante sprawled on a restaurant floor, cigar in his mouth? Or the bloody picture of Ben “Bugsy” Siegal, his face pretty much blown off? These infamous Mafia hits stick in our consciousness longer than any degree of bootlegging or hijacking ever could

Update: Removed links to images because Google images was acting funny.

NIN Naming Conventions

Music / /

While rifling through one of my old backup cds, I found the following image which describes the rather humorous way in which Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) names his numerous hard drives, filenames, and programs:

NIN naming conventions

American Writing Today

Arts & Letters / /

A Diagnosis of the Disease by William T. Vollmann : An interesting article about the woes of humanity, and how best to set things right (through art). A bit remeniscent of Orwell’s Politics and the English Language, Vollman puts forth some good rules on how to write with a sense of purpose. He also touches on people’s tendency to treat the symptoms instead of the actual causes. As a country we have become reactionary to specific events, but not wide trends, blaming miniscule influences for major catastrophies. Does anyone really think something like Columbine happens solely because of the music two kids listened to? Its something I’ve been noticing a lot lately, and it really suprises me how pervasive the idea is. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to pick up one of Vollman’s books, but its pretty low down in the book queue and my spare time is dwindling, so it probably won’t happen anytime soon. I hear he’s a… strange… fellow.

If U.S. education was a horse, it would be taken out back and shot

Politics / /

A total recall on schools by Arianna Huffington : “If it were a product, it would have been recalled. If it were a politician, it would have been impeached. If it were a horse, it would have been taken behind the barn and shot.” She cites a few examples, including the story of Nancy Goldberg and Curt Mortenson, who are being punished for making their high school’s AP English program too successful. This isn’t very comforting, though I don’t think the majority of schools are in trouble. It comes down to the poor, inner-city schools that are really in trouble. Some reform is definitely needed, but perhaps a recall is a bit harsh… [via wood s lot]

The Holy Filament

Uncategorized / /

Some assorted links for your enjoyment:

  • Bill Hicks – A comedian who tried to make people laugh, but usually ended up pissing them off, or drawing blank stares.Born in 1961, Hicks died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 32, just as he was peaking. His thoughts on advertising: “By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. No, this is not a joke: kill yourself . . . I know what the marketing people are thinking now too: ‘Oh. He’s going for that anti-marketing dollar. That’s a good market.’ Oh man, I am not doing that, you fucking evil scumbags.” He’s funny.
  • Lego: a Machine for Living – Interesting article proposing a lego-like, modular system for building houses. It makes sense, too. Can a modular system give you more freedom than something that is totally custom (considering limited resources)?
  • The Eye of Argon – Reputedly the worst science fiction story ever written. I concur. Check out this page to see if the story got any better when translated back and forth by a language translation system
  • Just who WAS Dr. Strangelove, really? – “Strangelove is such a potent character – twisted, coldly rational, his mechanical arm likely to spring into a SEIG HEIL at the slightest provocation – that many people have speculated on who Strangelove might be ‘based’ on.”

Its getting harder and harder to find good links. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’ve also been getting more and more picky when selecting what to post. That, in addition to many happenings in my personal life, is why the updates have slowed considerably in the recent past. Just so you know, I think posting good entries is more important than posting every day, so don’t be suprised if I go a week without updating or something…

Cerebus the Aardvark

Arts & Letters / /

The Man Behind the Aardvark: Dave Sim created an influential and prolific comic book series called Cerebus the Aardvark. “When I started Cerebus in 1977, uppermost in my mind was the thought that i wanted to produce 300 issues if a comic book series the way i thought it should be done; as one continuous story documenting the ups and downs of a character’s life.” Few comic book series ever reach the 300-issue mark, and those that do are usually backed by big publishers, star big-name superheroes, and are written and drawn by scores of different artists over the years. Cerebus, a black & white comic, is written, penciled and inked by Sim (with some help from a friend named Gerhard). Its also self-published, giving him complete control over his creation. In the past few decades, the character of Cerebus has gone from being a barbarian to a politician to a pope. During one story arc, Cerebus became a supporting character; in fact, nearly a year went by in which the title character didn’t appear in his own comic book! These are the sort of things you can do when you have publishing freedom and 300 issues with which to tell a story.

Say what you will about the man’s thoughts or philosophy (he’s regarded as somewhat of an infamous misogynist), but you have to admire the man’s initiative, dedication and resolve. He hasn’t reached the crucial 300th issue just yet (the series is planned to end sometime in 2004), but the final story arc has begun and shows no signs of slowing down.

Subjective Objectivity

Movies / /

There’s No Such Thing as a Bad Movie. “While the title of this piece mentions movies, it really applies to any medium of expression. Artworks are not good or bad. They simply are what they are, and you have a personal, subjective reaction when exposed to them.” The author makes some interesting points, many of which parallel my views on criticism. However, I also think there is a certain degree of objectivity one can achieve when reviewing a film; ironically, this is achieved through subjectivity. Much like the Reflexive school of documentary filmmaking, a critic exposes their own bias, thus making the reader aware of the review’s subjective nature. This makes it easier for a reader to judge whether or not they will like the movie. After all, as the author points out, disliking a film doesn’t necessarily make it an invalid experience. Still, it is a subjective process, but keeping that in mind helps a lot (after all, is it even possible to be completely objective?). Regardless, I think I may be revisiting some of my reviews in the future…

Meesa No Watch

Movies / /

The Man Who Knew Too Much About Jar Jar, a videofilm by Chris Mich : Directing and starring in the feature is Chris Mich (director of another good short, Bathroom Boardroom) alongside Josh Taback (writer for The Simpsons). The film is a bit slow at first, but it moves towards an unexpected, unforgettable and moving climax (make sure you watch the whole thing!) An avid Star Wars fan irritates his friend with excessive knowledge and love of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Drastic measures are taken to silence him. A hilarious and brilliant homage to both Star Wars and Francis Ford Coppola, this videofilm illustrates some of the points in the below post (namely, the poor conditions under which it must be viewed: a tiny, realplayer screen).

Blurred boundaries

Movies / /

Beyond Miramax by Jesse Walker : Due to the ease with which one can now edit their own videos, the boundaries between the home movie and the independent film have blurred.

Many articles have been written about one sort of indie-film success story: the “young,” “scrappy” “maverick” whose Internet short or ultra-low-budget tape gets viewed by the right Hollywood exec, allowing the fresh-faced filmmaker to vault over those barriers and land a job assembling dream-widgets. This is not such a piece. This is about the moviemakers who don�t want Hollywood jobs, or at least don�t want them on Hollywood terms — about people trying to find ways around the distribution bottleneck, and the audiences that are tentatively coalescing around them.

Not suprisingly, the internet contains a vibrant virtual community of filmmakers and a horde of online movies. The most successful filmmakers are pornographers, but if alternative cinema consisted only of porn, it wouldn�t be worth writing about. Some net flicks even star well-known actors or are helmed by well-known directors. (Tim Burton, for example, has made a series of online animated shorts called Stainboy.) There are also a huge volume of fan communities devoted to Star Wars, Doctor Who, and other movies and TV series that put out spoofs, sequels, and tributes (not to mention infamous edits). The biggest problem with these internet films is the quality of the picture and the conditions under which it must be viewed (a tiny screen within a screen, huge bandwith requirements, etc…) Other available avenues are equally problematic, but these filmmakers have little or no interest in reaching a mass market, so its limited distribution isn’t as big a deal…

The Dune You’ll Never See

Best Entries, Movies / /

Dune: The Movie You Will Never See by Alejandro Jodorowsky : The cult filmmaker’s personal recollection of the failed production. The circumstances of Jodorowsky’s planned 1970s production of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune are inherently fascinating, if only because of the sheer creative power of the collaborators Jodorowsky was able to assemble. Pink Floyd offered to write the score at the peak of their creativity. Salvador Dali, Gloria Swanson, and Orson Welles were cast. Dan O’Bannon (fresh off of Dark Star) was hired to supervize special effects; illustrator Chris Foss to design spacecraft; H.R. Giger to design the world of Geidi Prime and the Harkonnens; artist Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud drew thousands of sketches. The project eventually collapsed in 1977, subsequently being passed onto Ridley Scott, and then to David Lynch, whose 1984 film was panned by audience and critics alike.

Interestingly enough, this failed production has been suprisingly influential. “…the visual aspect of Star Wars strangely resembled our style. To make Alien, they called Moebius, Foss, Giger, O’Bannon, etc. The project signalled to Americans the possibility of making a big show of science-fiction films, outside of the scientific rigour of 2001: A Space Odyssey.”

In reading his account of the failed production, it becomes readily apparent that Jodorowsky’s Dune would only bear a slight resemblance to Herbert’s novel. “I feel fervent admiration towards Herbert and at the same time conflict […] I did everything to keep him away from the project… I had received a version of Dune and I wanted to transit it: the myth had to abandon the literary form and become image…” In all fairness, this is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in the case of Dune, which many considered to be unfilmable (Lynch, it is said, tried to keep his story as close to the novel as possible – and look what happened there). Film and literature are two very different forms, and, as such, they use different tools to accomplish the same tasks. Movies must use a different “language” to express the same ideas.

I find the prospect of Jodorowsky’s Dune to be fascinationg, but I must also admit that I, like many others, would have also been aprehensive about his vision. Would Jodorowsky’s Dune have been able to live up to his ambition? Some think not:

Theory and retrospect are fine and in theory Jodorowsky’s DUNE sounds too good to be true. But then again, anyone that reads his desrription and explanation of El Topo and then actually watches the thing is going to feel slightly conned. They might then come to the conclusion that Jodorowsky says lots, but means little.

Having seen El Topo, I can understand where this guy’s coming from. I lack the ability to adequately describe the oddity; the disturbing phenomenon that is El Topo. I can only say that it is the wierdest movie that I have ever seen (nay, experienced). But for all its disquieting peculiarity, I think it contains a certain raw power that really affects the viewer. Its that sort of thing, I think, that might have made Dune great.

In case you couldn’t tell, Alejandro Jodorowsky is a strange, if fascinating, fellow. He wrote the script and soundtrack, handled direction, and starred in the previously mentioned El Topo, which was hailed by John Lennon as a masterpiece (thus securing his cult status). His followup, The Holy Mountain, continued along the same lines of thought. It was at this point that the director took the oportunity to work on Dune, which, as we have already found out, was a failure. Nevertheless, Jodorowsky plunges on, still making his own brand of bizzare films. As he says at the end of his account of the Dune debacle, “I have triumphed because I have learned to fail.”