web log (late 20th c. – early 21st c.)
I was rewatching Billy Elliot last night. It’s one of my favorites. Michael’s call to Billy as he tries to catch him before Billy goes off to dancing school, “Oy! Dancin’ boy!” might be the most romatic line in the history of cinema.
Which probably says more about me than the history of cinema. Also, I love that the above image of Michael is from http://www.joyofcrossdressing.com.
I cannot possibly express how entertaining this interview is. It’s a Hollywood Reporter roundtable between Nicolas Cage, Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Peter Sarsgard, and Christopher Waltz. Highlights include Nicolas Cage bitching about how direcors won’t leave him alone when he snorts baby powder to get himself into the zone to play a drug addict.
Here’s Glenn Branca saying that nothing new has been done in music for the last 50 years. Chris Milam thinks that Garden State has irrevocably damaged American culture.
Yawn. I won’t even bother, their commenters have done the work for me.
Ad campaigns like this one, public service ads directed at “youth” financed by LG about the dangers of inappropriate text messaging, make me wonder about the people making the decision to go ahead with this (ad website here).
First, the print ads that reference the gag in the videos don’t make any sense without that context. Warden Gentle’s beard is not a pop culture icon that people recognize apart from its owner (but it is amusing to think of some that people do: Elvis’ hair? Jay Leno’s chin? Pamela Anderson’s hooters? Robin Williams’ arm pelts?) and I can’t imagine being anything more than confused if I saw those posters out and about.
Second, I guess it’s something that they are playing lip service to the existence of the internet with a dedicated twitter account. I would imagine that they hoped their videos go viral, but there’s a reason why they wont. And it’s the same reason that they need better methodology or data about what their target audience finds appealing. It’s lame.
I’m guessing that they chose James Lipton as an “ironic” choice; maybe they thought that the juxtoposition of his distinguished diction with the mundane and un-James Lipton-like subject matter would be enough to be funny. It seems a little too bizzare to be the usual “pick someone the kids will look up to” model of PSAs. If that is the case, then they didn’t push it far enough. It comes across as awkward and disturbing.
I really wonder if they road-test these with real people. It doesn’t seem like it.
For those of you out there who have even a casual interest in classical music, I reccomend the free bi-weekly downloads from Alexander Street Press, an online subscription classical music database. The recordings are always one complete piece, and range from short chamber pieces for solo instrument to full symphonies. Their blog has RSS and there is an e-mailing list if you want to be updated when new recordings become available.
hammer & jack 