See The Prids, Buy Their Albums

Friday night I saw the band that has now become the band I've seen more times than any other, Portland's The Prids. It was, as usual, an excellent show. If you consider yourself anything of a post punk fan, and you've never seen The Prids perform live, you should be ashamed. They are one of the best live bands around, not because of any spectacular on stage antics, but simply by virtue of musicianship, stage presence, and honest (post) punk energy.

If you've never heard The Prids, their sound is centered around the juxtaposition of angry energy (nearly hardcore drumming, punk guitar and bass lines) with slower, more emotional elements (synth pads, poppier/gothier guitar and bass lines). But I'm not talking emo, screamo, emocore or any of that sort of nonsense. No, The Prids are a real post punk band influenced by real post punk pioneers like The Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure, The Chameleons, etc. This puts them roughly in the same genre as Interpol, She Wants Revenge, The Lovemakers, The Faint, Arcade Fire, and the whole Retro Post Punk scene.

The thing is, The Prids predate the next oldest of this current wave of post post punk / newer wave bands by at least two years -- and they are at least as good as the best of their competitors (and much better than the average of them). This is no weekend garage band. David Frederickson and Mistina Kieth, the songwriting core of the band, have been at this nonstop for over a decade -- since before The Prids were formally a band. The Prids work hard, tour often, and with two albums and three EPs, put out material as fast as the small labels they've so far attracted can afford it. All this comes through in the maturity, consistency, and originality of their work. I befriended The Prids when they were first touring (in support of their Duracraft CD EP), and from an already strong start they've only gotten better.

I can think of no underappreciated band more deserving of widespread attention than The Prids. This band deserves to be big. Their sound and aesthetic meshes perfectly with both generations of post punk, they are relentless hard workers, and their live shows are awesome even on a shoestring budget. If you've never heard The Prids, I recommend checking them out immediately -- and if they're playing in your area, definitely treat yourself to seeing them rock out a smaller local venue while you still can. (Other worthy, but lesser known, bands in this genre are Green Circles, Veil Veil Vanish and Red Voice Choir, all bands that have opened for The Prids).

A Must See Film: Young@Heart

I just saw a preview screening at work of a documentary called "Young @ Heart." Titled after the chorus of the same name, this film perfectly personifies the catchphrase of "Down By Law," the one uttered over and over by Roberto: "It is a sad and beautiful world."

The Young @ Heart chorus is comprised entirely of people over 73 years of age, but focuses on singing contemporary (often quite contemporary) music. Taking a six week rehearsal period as its back drop, the film tells the story of the chorus through the lives of several chorus members and the observations of their Director, Bob Cilman. There is a bit of talk about how music performance is good for keeping people active, challenging their minds and bodies, ad so on -- but this isn't a music therapy promotional piece. This is a beautiful film about wonderful people making inspiring (and yes, amusing) music. You will immediately get drawn into the stories of these extraordinary people, and only the stone hearted can leave the theater not caring about them.




Director Stephen Walker does a great job of keeping things honest, with very little vamping for the camera by the participants, or "knowing" asides by the filmmakers. At first blush, I expected the film to be hip and ironic -- perhaps even sarcastic. After all, what about the elderly singing Sonic Youth and The Ramones isn't some kind of trendy, retro-kitsch parody ripe for a moment of cynical embrace by the legions of cool -- only to be discarded during the next moment's fad? Well, the film gives you that answer in copious quantities. This is a film about people, not pop culture, and it is quite an emotional ride. I don't want to give away too much because you absolutely must see this film. If the story of the Young @ Heart choir doesn't empower you to say, without a hint of irony: "I laughed, I cried, I danced in the aisles" -- well, then, you probably should just adjust your horn-rimmed glasses and calmly, aloofly hurry back to the oxygen bar next door so you won't miss your live-blogging gossip about Project Runway session (soulless freak).



Young @ Heart opens April 9th in limited, phased roll-out release. If it comes to your area, see it. If not, see it on DVD. And if the Young @ Heart choir comes to your area sprint, don't run, to get ticket before they nearly instantly sell out (as they are sure to do).

Something Positive to Contemplate: Philippe Petit

My friend Mark Andrews turned me on to the book To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers by Philippe Petit. It is an amazing adventure tale of a life-loving funambulist who took on the World Trade Center, preparing for years before finally performing a dazzling, illegal high wire dance between the twin towers. His book, like the project it details, is part poetry and part crime caper.

Searching for more info about Mr. Petit, I found an interview in Psychology Today which has some good quotes, including this one about the WTC site: "I think they should be rebuilt exactly the same, or maybe even a little bit higher—as a rebellion against doom." This Guardian article is also interesting, but I suggest reading his book, as it is much more detailed. His devotion to art, life, dreams, and a spirited, positive rebellion against conformity really comes through int he book. The style may rankle some readers (at first it bothered me, but I quickly found it rather charming), but even so the story is quite compelling. I found the book well worth the read, especially in a time of much sadness.

More Sad News: Anthony Minghella has also died

Too many interesting folks passing away lately, and I'm starting to suffer from tribute exhaustion. Anthony Minghella, the writer-director responsible for such fine films as "The English Patient" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" died from surgical complications.

Minghella's work was very poetic, both textually and visually, and yet at the same time accessible to a wider audience. His films were very emotionally engaging, and he was able to coax amazing performances from his actors. I never had an opportunity to meet him, but his reputation as a nice guy is confirmed by folks at work who had. He died much too young, and he will be missed.

Arthur C. Clarke Has Died

Frankly, I'm quite depressed at having to write about the death of yet another childhood hero so soon after the death of Gary Gygax. Arthur C. Clarke, prolific sci-fi author and futurist, passed away today. At 90, this was less of a blow than Gygax's untimely departure, but it is still a tragic loss.

Clarke and Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey" was a major influence, one that inspired me both in my work in computing and artificial intelligence, and my work in filmmaking. I read a number of Clarke's books in my youth, and works like Childhood's End, Rendezvous With Rama, and The Songs Of Distant Earth influenced me greatly. His idea for geosynchronous satellites, published in a 1945 issue of Wireless World, has influenced all of global society greatly. Clarke's works were integral in helping to form my life as a philosopher, a gamer (and game developer), a writer, and an engineer. With Clarke's passing, an era of Sci-Fi comes a giant step closer to closure. Not many of his generation remain, and with them will pass a less cynical era of Sci-Fi than much of contemporary fare. Sure, I also enjoy cynical cyberpunk material as well, but writers like Clarke had takes on our future -- with an interesting mix of both positive and negative possibilities -- that are still worth contemplating.

Clarke, through 2001 in particular, was hugely influential on Sci-Fi in popular culture. Generations of filmmakers, writers, and video game designers all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Clarke (and Kubrick) for bringing cerebral Sci-Fi to a mass market. Rubber Monsters and Rayguns schlock may be fun, but Clarke and his contemporaries helped open doors for a more intelligent kind of Sci-Fi. Anyone working in AI, telecommunications, general computing, video games, and sci-fi filmmaking, comics or writing should take a moment to give thanks to Arthur C. Clarke for all he has done for the world.

Gogol Bordello World Strike

Gogol Bordello at San Francisco's Warfield last night (03/13/08) was an excellent show, despite the Warfield's bad sound (terrible mixing being a San Francisco live venue staple). My lovely wife and I both enjoyed the show immensely. Unrelenting energy burst forth from this Eugene Hutz fronted, nine piece band for nearly two hours as they played through what seemed like the entire Super Taranta album, and then some. It's not every day that a punk band is anchored by violin and accordion, but violinist Sergey Ryabtsev and accordionist Yury Lemeshev do an amazing job of bringing both punk energy and traditional sounds into the Gogol Bordello Mix (and both have great stage presence, even in the shadow of the unrelentingly frenetic Hutz).

Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello are one of my favorite bands, and are the leading ethnic-punk fusion band, thanks to Hutz' stardom from the film Everything Is Illuminated, and the band's subsequent "adoption" by Madonna as her latest pet project. While openers Skindred were decent enough, it would have been much more exciting had a kindred band such as World/Inferno Friendship Society (a long-running accordion-punk act who also deserve recognition), Slavic Soul Party, Leningrad, Yat-Kha, or Balkan Beat Box been along for the tour.

Gogol Bordello lifted from their seats nearly an entire Warfield crowd of punks, hipsters, hippies, goths, ren-faire acolytes, middle aged music nerds, and the occasional actual Roma. There was definitely more dancing (and less stupidity) at this show than at your average Warfield/Fillmore show. Songs like Start Wearing Purple, Supertheory of Supereverything, Zina-Marina, 60 Revolutions, Sally, Not A Crime, I Would Never Want To Be Young Again, and Harem in Tuscany got the crowd hopping. While I wish the show had been an hour longer so they could play more of their older stuff such as Immigrant Punk, Avenue B, Dogs Were Barking, Underdog World Strike, Strange Uncles From Abroad, Voi-La Intruder, Letter To Mother, and Passport, the songs they did play were all excellent and there were enough of my other favorites that I certainly didn't leave feeling disappointed. All in all a great show, and I hope to see Gogol Bordello in San Francisco again some time soon.

A Sad Day For Nerds The World Over

Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has died. At only 69, he died too young. It is a sad day indeed (personally, I cried).

For me, Gary's passing is much more personal than the recent passing of William F. Buckley. Though I respected Mr. Buckley's writing abilities, my own personal development has been influenced far more by D&D than by conservativism. Much of my earliest writing came in the form of writing adventures, and creating extensive histories for my characters, for D&D (and then AD&D, and then all manner of non-Gygax games like Twilight 2000, Traveller, GURPS, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Paranoia, etc.) Text-based role playing games were the first large computer programs I wrote, on my trusty Commodore 64 (a machine that is as nostalgic to me as a box of dusty AD&D manuals).

Back in those days a role playing campaign could span a year of weekends, all of us hunkered down in one of our parents' living rooms, and it wasn't uncommon to own the same computer for five years. We committed to our gaming for the long term, and as such we evolved rich stories and complex characters. In college, much of my first couple years were spent playtesting the homebrewed gaming system that became a college friend's undergraduate thesis project.

I not only learned a lot about creative thinking, and writing, from role playing games -- but also about data management, the psychology of rule adherence, and negotiation. D&D was full of arcane rules and tables of data (which, honestly, most players learned to ignore after trying them out a couple times). Understanding how and why rules came to be abrogated, annulled, or redefined during innumerable role playing sessions -- and taking part in many negotiations regarding these issues -- has given me a deep, functional understanding of the psychology of rules. This has been very useful both in my management roles, as well as helping me better understand the nuanced pragmatics of politics and the legal system.

Though I haven't played a AD&D (or any other non-computer RPG) in years, role playing games were a huge part of my formative years. I can honestly say I learned far more about creative thinking from playing role playing games than from any class I took in school. Like John August, I have also been unable to separate from my box of D&D books over all these years. Occasionally, in a fit of nostalgia, I buy one of the rare ones I "always wanted" on eBay. I still harbor some notion that I may play again someday, and while I doubt that will ever come to pass, there is as much nostalgia-for-my-youth comfort in knowing that I could if I wanted to as there is in eating New York Pizza, listening to Pink Floyd, or watching A Christmas Story.

Gary Gygax, and the industry he helped create, really did help foster the imaginations, and encourage the development of valuable writing and negotiating skills, of generations of nerds all around the world. I also believe D&D helped pave the way for the success of things like Harry Potter, World of Warcraft, and even the resurgence of The Lord Of The Rings.

But even that's not the whole story, as D&D and things like it have an even greater impact. Fantasy and Science Fiction stories, and games, aren't just an escape from reality but also a clarion call to try to make reality a better place. Not only writers and artists, but also astronauts, scientists, engineers, etc. frequently cite Star Trek, D&D, and similar F&SF fare as inspirations for their quests to make the world a better place.

And Gary Gygax did indeed inspire legions of nerds in their quest to make the world a better place. He will be missed.

The Unbearable Crappiness of Being Trendy

Conveniently located less than a half block from the Bowery Mission, ensuring your entrance and exit takes place on litter-strewn streets where you'll be accosted by one or more of the Bowery's colorfully authentic crazy, drunken vagrants, New York's imaginatively named New Museum is the latest in a series of art venues recently built or refurbished in a desperate attempt by the benefactors of American culture to prove that the American people can still build buildings. With the latest in trendy retro-minimalist design, sporting a "new"-themed coffee shop, and nestled between a pair of fully functional and therefore ironically chic restaurant supply stores, the New Museum is the logical conclusion of the last decade's best funded cultural memes. Somewhere in the mix, there's something about art -- or so I was told.

The New Museum

New Museum's building architecture is engaging when viewed from the outside, but one trend the venue does buck is the recent trend of museums whose interior architecture completely overwhelms the art inside. The lighting could be better, as the flood of over-bright fluorescence is more K-Mart than Guggenheim, but otherwise the interior is relatively art friendly. Inside each gallery, I found myself able to completely focus on the artwork rather than the architectural details. Unfortunately, this situation wasn't permanent.

For the inaugural show, the New Museum decided to curate a four-part extravaganza focused on contemporary object recontextualization art: sculptural collage, two-dimensional montage, sound manipulations, and digital works. This ambitious undertaking is compelling in idea and scope, and based on the crowds, is clearly achieving the goal of drawing visitors to the recently opened venue.

Though it has received accolades from a number of art critics who apparently haven't been in a university dorm room within the last twenty years, Unmonumental would in fact have been better titled Uninspiring. During my grueling two hour attempt to separate the "what?" from the crap, Unbearable is a word that also sprang to mind. As an onslaught of works ranging from the mediocre to the Double-Plus Ungood assaulted my senses, I soon found myself checking out the museum's stylishly cracked coated-concrete floors and exposed ceiling details.

A tour through Unmonumental is like a tour through a college dormitory. Far too many of the works seem taken straight from the aftermath of a marathon session of dropping acid and listening to Rage Against The Machine. Some works resemble the cut-up porno and Tiger Beat magazine collages, dripped-wax constructs, and Pop Tarts box "sculpture" such collegiate inspiration produces, while others merely resemble the floors and walls of the dorm after the participants have passed-out.



"Huffy Howler" by Rachel Harrison, coming soon to a dorm near you


Given the size of the show, it was inevitable that even with what seems like a curatorial mandate of "bore and/or irritate the patrons," a few genuinely compelling, professional grade works could be found hiding in the psychic shadows cast by the literal piles of rubbish surrounding them. Works such as Marc Andre Robinson's "Myth Monolith," John Stezaker's headshot cut-ups, and Kim Jones' ink drawings on photos all starkly set themselves apart from the bulk of the show by betraying the fact that those artists actually have skills. The stand out works in the show looked well thought out, planned, and (gasp) finished, unlike far too many of the surrounding works.


"Myth Monolith" by Marc Andre Robinson, flaunting its coherence

Found objects and imagery, even trash, are used in assemblage and collage work as a matter of course. The material is not the issue with this show. Rather, the problem with many of the pieces in the show is that they come off as not only Unmonumental, but also uninspired, unskilled, and undeserving of the laurels accompanying their inclusion in the first show of a new major museum. The actual piles of trash on the street in front of the museum were more thoughtfully and thought provokingly arranged than some of the work inside.

"Naive" work by "hip" artists is a trying proposition at best, but this show is not even the best of that dubious style, rather it's an insultingly "hipper than thou" collection of utterly hackneyed attempts. While some may revel in the "refreshingly unsophisticated" lack of cohesive thought reflected in many of these works, I found it frustrating that such predominantly thoughtless work is being held up as the pinnacle of contemporary assemblage work when there is so much better work out there.

Missing from the show are (as the NY Times also noticed) many of the usual suspects, including Bill Viola, Jeff Koons, and Matthew Barney. The bigger name draw is instead provided by lesser works from Thomas Hirschhorn and Martha Rosler, both of whose works in Unmonumental fall squarely into the "not bad, but they could do better" category. But never mind the usual suspects, if it's fresh talent the art world is hungry for there are a number of less well known artists whose superior works could have been included, such as: Winston Smith, Ala Ebtekar, Hank Willis Thomas, Chris Kuksi, Elizabeth McGrath, Jill Miller, Saira Wasim, Banker White (whose garbage sculpture at the Headlands Center for the Arts "Close Calls" show blows away any pile of trash in Unmonumental), James Gouldthorpe, and a host of others.

The audio portion of the show seemed tacked-on. Presented as ambient sound in the galleries, it reduced the contributions of the sound works to a background role at best. Like the rest of the show, most of the works were forgettable, and I have no idea who composed the ones I liked (they didn't make it very easy to find out). Noticably absent was Christian Marclay, and, less surprisingly but still ridiculous to me was the lack of any work by: The Evolution Control Committee, Masami Akita (Merzbow), G.X. Jupitter-Larsen (The Haters), Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, R/Y/B/N, Andrew McKenzie (The Hafler Trio), or any one of a number of contemporary composers working with found and manipulated sound.

There is also an Internet Art component to the show, shown on computers in the gallery and also hosted online by Rhizome. All of the digital work, except for Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung's amusing political mash-up, ran the gamut from irrelevant to annoying. Admittedly, there is very little good Internet Art to choose from, but in that case why not open it up to all digital, media, and machine art works and be able to include very good works from the likes of Jim Campbell, Gary Hill, Ken Goldberg, Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin, Alan Rath, Mark Pauline, Matt Heckert, Chico MacMurtrie, John Maeda, Paul DeMarinis, Jordan Crandall, Raqs Media Collective, Futurefarmers, eToy, Builders' Association, and so on?

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, "Black on White, Gray Ascending"

On the digital art front, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries has a work being shown on the ground floor. This piece, called "Black on White, Gray Ascending," is not technically part of Unmonumental. But, despite being nothing but text and sound, it is a great piece, substantially better than ninety-five percent of the work in the main show -- digital or otherwise. Even if there weren't other pieces in Unmonumental that deserve to be seen, and there are, it would still be worth going down to the Bowery just to experience the Young-Hae Chang piece.

All in all, the best way to describe Unmonumental is to say it lives up to its name, and then some.

Oscars 08 Upon Reflection

The 2008 Academy Awards are now completed, so here are my thoughts on the categories where I've seen more than half of the entrants.

Short Animated Film: Given all the pre-Oscar buzz about the beautifully executed Madame Tutli-Putli, I was quite surprised that it didn't win despite the fact that it has a rather opaque plot. I Met the Walrus is also very much worth seeing, and I say that as someone who is not at all interested in John Lennon. The illustration and animation style in that piece is quite compelling (and in some ways echoes Terry Gilliam's work with Monty Python). Moya Lyubov was absolutely gorgeous, and very boring. I liked Peter and the Wolf well enough, but though the much longer Peter is far more ambitious, I probably would have picked the far more independent I Met The Walrus. The fifth entry wasn't even worth considering.

Best Foreign Language Film: I would have picked Katyn, but at the same time, the The Counterfeiters was the right choice to win.

Animated Feature: Having worked many hours on Ratatouille, I am quite pleased it won. I am glad Persepolis and Surfs Up were nominated, as both were also very good.

Visual Effects: The buzz amongst my friends and colleagues has mostly been about this choice. As a Visual Effects Society nominating judge for the '07 VES Awards, I saw quite a bit of the work done on all three '07 Oscar contenders. Of the three, many of my colleagues and I feel Golden Compass was the least successful by almost all specifically VFX criteria. It is still good work, but both Transformers and Pirates contain work that easily surpasses Golden Compass. At VES, it was only nominated in the "Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture" category (basically the top honor for film at VES, an award which it lost to Transformers), and not in any of the individual achievement categories. The prevailing opinion seems to be the one I share: Golden Compass was awarded based on the overall film and not the technical achievement. Of the three, it is most actor-driven, and the VFX play more of a supporting role (a category for which there is an award given at VES, but Golden Compass is not a "supporting VFX" film by VES criteria, it is just a wee bit more so than Transformers or Pirates). This seems to have made it more appealing to the Academy, which is comprised mostly of actors. This particular win was a pretty big surprise for many of us in the industry who were thinking about it entirely in terms of technique and visual artistry.

Sound Editing and Achievement In Sound: None of the sound in these films truly blew me away (they were all very good, but none stood out as far more compelling than the others), but I still wish both had gone to Ratatouille. That said, I think that the Academy felt compelled to give Bourne some craft recognition.

Original Song: Three nominations for Menken and Schwartz (Enchanted), only to lose? Ouch. Disturbingly, my favorite was "Happy Working Song." I found the songs in Once to be even more annoyingly precious than your typical fairy tale musical fare. Clearly there's something wrong with me.

Original Score: There Will Be Blood (Johnny Greenwood) wasn't even nominated? Are you kidding me? That's a crime. Otherwise, Michael Giacchino should have won -- he's a musical genius. Michael Clayton, surprisingly, also had a pretty good score.

Makeup: This was an echo of Cotillard's acting win. The make-up was great work, but mostly it won because looking at her is very pleasant indeed. The work in Pirates was also very worthy. I am sorry that Rick Baker had to work on Norbit. His work is good, but that film just plain rubbish.

Costume Design: Sweeney Todd was robbed.

Art Direction: A well deserved win for Sweeney Todd.

Editing: I actually think There Will Be Blood should have won this, but Bourne was also a good choice.

Cinematography: Roger Deakins gets nominated twice in one year and, like Menken and Schwartz, he gets robbed. Don't get me wrong here, Elswit's work was genius as well, but the seven-time nominated Deakins (also a genius, and a really nice guy to boot) deserves to actually win an Oscar, damn it. Until Deakins wins one, the Cinematography Oscar is diminished.

Original Screenplay: And Ellen Page's Oscar goes to... Diablo Cody. Page (and Reitman) made this script look great. Regardless of what one thinks of the script (I think it's good -- much better than its many detractors claim, but not the pure, unmitigated genius that others seem to believe), I think this was a safe bet because this award is quickly becoming the award which should be titled as such: "Best indie film distributed, and heavily promoted, by a major distributor, which the Academy liked, but isn't going to honestly consider giving Best Acting, Best Picture or Best Director, so since nobody cares about writers all that much anyway, let's just give it Best Screenplay and be done with it already Award." Michael Clayton should have perhaps won, in my opinion, because buried within its core is a non-satirical reinterpretation of Network (an observation which I consider high praise). I'd really have liked this award to go to Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco -- but an Animated film is unlikely to ever win for writing.

Supporting Actor: Bardem was the obvious, and correct, choice in my opinion. Tom Wilkinson was also great in Michael Clayton.

Supporting Actress: A very well deserved win by Tilda Swinton.

Best Actress: I didn't see Marion Cotillard's film, but she sure is beautiful. However, of the films I did see, Ellen Page should have beaten the rest.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lews was a shoe-in, but the others were all worthy competitors.

Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture: No Country For Old Men, in what was apparently a make-up sweep for the Academy's failing to properly recognize Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, and Fargo, blew away There Will Be Blood. I personally feel it should have at least been a 2:1 split. As much as I love the Coen brothers' work, and it's a lot of love, There Will Be Blood was an excellent film. Paul Thomas Anderson deserved something for it. Eastern Promises deserved a nomination in any one of those categories far more than Atonement did. And -- for all us aspiring Indie filmmakers hoping to get picked up and shot into success atop a huge marketing budget -- let's hope Fox Searchlight's spending its films (such as Juno, LMS, and Napoleon Dynamite) into the spotlight and onto the nominations lists starts an all-out Indie film marketing and promotional war with Sony Pictures Classics, Focus, etc.

Bittersweet Foreign Films

Tonight Anu and I saw the wonderful Israeli film "The Band's Visit," a bittersweet look at the Arab-Israeli chasm in a unique and compelling way, one that avoids direct political confrontation and instead looks at human relations, similarities and differences from a personalized vantage point, and the loneliness that ensues when circumstances cause distance and disconnect between people who hope instead for friendship and understanding.

The acting is excellent on all counts, with even the most minor of characters coming across as believable. The location is a character in itself, chosen clearly to underscore the overwhelming sense of isolation and incompleteness in all the characters' lives. And the music, the only thing that manages to truly fill the empty spaces from which director Eran Kolirin has constructed his narrative tone, is set apart from the rest of the film as a beacon of dignity and hope in an otherwise lonely world. Clearly not a very American film, but one which I recommend highly.

It reminded me of other bittersweet foreign dramedies , all of which join "The Band's Visit" on my personal favorites list (and all of which hang together on the basis of tone and style, not plot similarities).

Wolfgang Becker's "Goodbye Lenin!" is a post-Communist tear-jerker which deals with the transience of cultural and familial stability in a way which rang especially true with my own Central European sensibilities. Unfairly tarred by some as Marxist nostalgia, "Goodbye, Lenin!" is instead a heartfelt look at family, love, loss, and changing times. Like Kolirin's focusing on people rather than politics, Becker makes the central issue not capitalism vs. communism but rather the precarious nature of striking a balance between freedom and progress on one hand, and rootedness and cultural heritage on the other.

"What to do in Case of Fire?" is the best punk rock film since "Repo Man," and like with the other films discussed, Gregor Schnitzler manages to strike another delicate balance -- this one between nostalgia and realism regarding the interesting and passionate, yet difficult, politically and socially charged punk heyday of the late 1970s to mid 1980s. Dealing with the different paths that a group of punk anarchist friends have taken since those times, and an event which forces them all back together for one last chance at friendship and meaning in their lives, "What to do in Case of Fire?" takes to task the selfishness and emptiness of the "Me Generation" backlash against the tumultuous times that preceded -- while still not making the good old days seem better than they really were.

Finally, Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding" rounds out this list of great bitersweet films. Simultaneously realistic and romantic, "Monsoon Wedding" deals with the conflicting and often hypocritical attitudes about love, sex and romance that prevail not only in Indian society, but in various forms throughout the world. Again, rather than make a diatribe Nair chose to focus on human stories that reveal the complexities of the situation rather than paint a black and white picture. Charming, and yet bravely gritty in some of its depictions of the relationship between sex and power, like all the films mentioned "Monsoon Wedding" succeeds on many levels.

Burtynsky: My Industrial / Landscape Photography Idol

I first saw Edward Burtynsky's work at one of the myriad galleries on Geary St. in San Francisco. I was absolutely engrossed by the photos: industrial landscapes from China. Each piece was amazing. The color. The composition. The fascinating scenes he captures. Burtynsky is a master at capturing the horrific beauty of degenerate industrial landscapes that has for so long drawn me to them.

Chinese Oil Refinery

Burtynsky is not only a master of form, but his subject matter is chosen in such a way as to reveal the dichotomy between economic necessity and environmental decay present in all our industrial activities. Thus, his work succeeds both as industrial formalism and as social commentary.

Bangladeshi Shipbreaking

Burtynsky is, for me, a role model for both aesthetically engaging and socially relevant industrial photography. If this kind of work appeals to you, I highly recommend checking out Burtynsky's work.

Lego: Say Yes to Nazis, Say Yes to Fun!

Otaku Mom posted about the lack of Nazis in the Indiana Jones Lego set. She has plenty to say that I agree with, so I recommend you read her screed. However, I want to take a different perspective on this issue: it's a bad business decision.

Think about it. You get your Indy Legos, open the box, and -- it's full of Nazis. So, you rush to make your Lego Diorama of the climactic Ark scene, and you set up the Ark and surround it with Nazis, and you put Indy behind a rock, and then you put your little Tesla coil (sold separately) in the Ark, and it shoots bolts of electricity everywhere, and then you realize the obvious -- the obvious that Lego and Lucasfilm clearly haven't. You need to melt your Nazis! That's the whole point of the setup. Melting some anonymous cultish-looking villains isn't nearly as much fun.

Naturally, melting the Nazis would be so much fun, you'd want to do it again. But, you can only melt your Nazis once. So, you'd put the rest of the kit in a box for that yardsale you'll never actually hold, and buy a whole new Indiana Jones Lego set. People would want to melt the Nazis dozens, maybe hundreds of times. They'd sell at least a zillion additional kits.

Now you can clearly see: Censorship is bad business.

Teaching Film: Don't Let Ambition Stand in the Way of Pedagogy

Tonight was the short film class I'm teaching. I've never really taught a class before, and teaching is itself a learning experience. I allowed the class to select an overly ambitious script, because I felt a class of overachievers deserved it. They are all motivated to finish, but I can see that it's stressing them out (and then that stress has led to my getting openly ticked off on one occasion, which didn't help). Unfortunate scheduling has led to the class corresponding with a time when several students (plus myself) are in the height of production crunch in our real jobs, so that's not helping either. It's hindering me from doing the level of preparation between classes that an ambitious project like this requires -- but then again, if I did the kind of preparation I'm thinking of (such as shot breakdowns, and some rewrites to deal with reigning in some things) I'd basically be co-Directing. The idea was to have someone in the class Direct. Perhaps that was a bad idea, but more likely that being a new teacher I just botched the implementation.

The class was structured as a "give them a minimum of lectures and then throw them into the fire" kind of class, which is popular at film schools these days. However, I think the script was too ambitious (I lobbied for them to do a weekend shoot, but not enough people could / wanted to -- and I failed as a teacher in that I didn't immediately require a rewrite to shorten and constrain the scenario). In the future, I'll probably restrict the length and number of characters in the script, do a minimal shot breakdown myself, and include enough time in the class for me to give a 15-30 minute pedagogical lecture at the beginning of each shoot day. I think I also need to have much more detailed examples for all materials (breakdown sheets, camera reports, etc.) available. The suggestion that there also be an hour of follow-up lecture, Q&A and "dailies" is also good. I'm inclined to suggest that we have a "30 second storytelling" class, as well as an equipment and setiquette class, as prerequisites for this class in the future. This way, people can come more prepared to actually make a real short film, which is what the class description promises.

For the future (provided anyone would even want me to teach this class again in the future), I'm keen to have comments in the comments section from any of you who have taught (especially taught film production) on what you think a good balance is between learning by doing (including failing at doing) a more realistic project, versus constrained, carefully instructed "toy" projects.

End of an Era: Polaroid Getting Out Of Film

Polaroid is shutting down its film operations. They had, of course, already discontinued their most interesting film: SX-70 "Time Zero" film with the gelatin based emulsion, but now SX-70s (and other Polaroids) are rendered completely useless (since there will be no readily available 600 film to hack into it). A shame, too, because it had a "nice" look that's not trivial to replicate digitally.

The only option left is to try unsaleable.com's SX-70 BLEND film, which is apparently just 600 film modified and put in SX-70 cartridges w/ an ND filter to compensate for the 600 film being 2 stops off. The price is quite steep at $37/pack plus shipping from Holland, which isn't worth it for any SX-70 film that hasn't got the gelatin based emulsion. Better off just putting the SX-70 up on the display shelf with other cameras for which film will never be available again.

Anger and Amazon.com

I lost my temper twice today. I'm very stressed right now, but that's no real excuse. The problem with losing my temper is that not only does it make other people feel bad (and generally they don't deserve it), but it makes me feel bad the rest of the day. Not only do I feel angry about whatever made me angry in the first place, but I feel guilty and upset that I've hurt the feelings of people I like and respect. It rarely accomplishes anything to get angry, except to make a bad situation worse, and it undermines the working relationship and requires lots of energy be spent to smooth things over. Getting angry gets in the way of the person getting angry, even more so than the person they've gotten angry at. All in all, it's the wrong thing to do 99% of the time.


I went looking for Anger Management books because I'm often pissed off about something. Sure, the state of the world is such that this isn't unreasonable -- but it's also not very utilitarian of me.

I know getting more exercise will help more than a book, but reading generally makes me feel better. So I went looking for books, and found this one:

Which leads to my simple discussion of how I shop on Amazon:

Search by keywords. Then, open each link in a new Firefox tab, based on:
1. I recognize the author as an authority on the subject.
2. Highest reviews with the most number of reviews contributing (the # in parenthesis next to the stars)

Usually, this nets ten to fifteen books, except on obscure topics.

I then read the reviews, always starting with the one-star reviews. If the one-star reviews all make compelling arguments for why the book is terrible, I quickly skim the five-star reviews for rebuttals. Most books get cut in this pass.

Then I "look inside" if available. If I don't think the table of contents covers sufficient ground, or if the writing samples are bad, the book gets cut.

For the three to five survivors, I read both Amazon and off-site reviews until I'm sick of them. I generally prefer off-site reviews in legitimate publications, but those can be hard to come by for many kinds of books.

Then, I buy the one or two best choices.

Often I move "almost rans" into "save for later" in my shopping cart. The idea is that I can recover those options quickly if I get the book, further reading shows that it's bad, and I decide to return it. The problem is, my "saved for later" list has grown to almost 500 books. There appears to be no tool for editing this list other than the web page checkboxes, one page at a time, with the list continually shifting under you as you remove items. This is very tedious. And it makes me angry. Which makes this post come full circle.

Anyone know of an "Amazon management" tool that would allow this, and also better management of wishlists and reviews? If so, please post in the comments.

The Travails Of Making Timely Sketch Comedy

Friday night some friends helped me shoot a political satire. We wanted to get it up online this weekend for the run up to Super Tuesday, but it may never see the light of day owing to legitimate concerns of our employer (who did not participate in its production, but has a right to approve or deny our side projects).

It was good fun anyway.

It's not much of a film, per se, but rather it's a skit committed to tape. There are only 3 shot setups, and they're all medium shots with fairly poorly thought out options for cutting (my fault -- I wanted to compress shooting time and keep the actors lines fresh, so I didn't instruct them to leave many pregnant pauses or other actions to cut on). The actors ultimately saved the day by finally declaring that they could do the entire piece (over 5 minutes) in one continuous take. In about ten heroic attempts, the pulled off at least two successful reads. They also did a version of the last two pages that omitted the most potentially offensive material (a satire of the crypto-racist underpinnings of a certain kind of political argument). Since I'd given them almost no time to learn the material, I was very impressed. My DP did a credible job with what he was given to work with, which was basically noting -- it's just static shots of two people talking at a water cooler.

Anu and I thought of the idea Wednesday, wrote it Thursday night, and gave it to the actors on Friday. That didn't leave much time for preparation, and we spent 4 of the 8 hours shooting it rehearsing and dealing with technical issues caused by scrambling to get everything together too quickly. The piece is about the text and the performance, not the visuals, but it definitely was another lesson in the difficulties of extremely rapid filmmaking. It also pointed out what a Director truly needs to be thinking about (performance first, then shot design in conjunction with the DP), and why producers are such critical partners in the creative process. I should have delegated more of dealing with practical and technical issues to someone else, and focused on bouncing between my actors and my DP.

We gave up shooting some shots that would have made the piece less static and more visually interest, because it was 2AM and we had to shoot the angles we had so many times because I'd tortured the actors with 6 pages of very dense, yet rhythymic, dialog. What we gave up was close-ups / over-the-shoulder shots. We shouldn't have done that. But, I felt obligated to let my fabulous crew, who responded to my crazy call to "make a short tomorrow," go home and have a weekend with their families. Given either two or three more shooting hours, we would have nailed that. I could try to fake it with cropped push-ins in Digital Fusion or Shake, but MiniDV isn't much of an image to work with to begin with so I'm reluctant to push it.

Preparation is always key to successful filmmaking. I need to replace the missing items in my kit, and work with my DP and others to always keep the proper cables, power supplies, and so on with our gear. We could have done all our shots had we spent less time dealing with the equipment. If you're going to do run-and-gun or any other style of fast filmmaking, make sure your kit is complete and well organized.

All in all, I still like the piece, but it's not much of a film. It's more like a hurriedly put together sketch from a low-budget TV comedy show (the TV feel is further created by the lighting, which was as flat as we could get in our short setup time so we could move the camera with minimal adjustment of lights). None of this reflects on the talent of my crew, but on the following decisions: (1) do the whole thing very fast, (2) focus on the text and performance, and let other things go by the wayside, and (3) let the cast and crew go home. The entire project came together in about 14 hours -- which will increase to about 20 or so if I decide to go ahead and try to edit the 3 setups into some kind of a shot flow rather than sticking with one of the end-to-end takes (but those were so impressive, I feel a compunction to want to use one).

Everyone was a joy to work with, and I hope they will join me in further filmmaking (or, as in this case, skitmaking) pursuits.

The Real Secret To Juno's Success

Last night Anu and I were debating what about Juno made it a financial success -- not the unpredictable, uncontrollable forces of coincidence (such as the Xmas 07 boost), but the deliberate elements of the script which made it able to capitalize on those coincidental events. I often write in a similar genre (or tone, or style, or however you choose to describe it's narrative niche), and we were discussing what it is about some of my scripts that may or may not reflect the elements of success found in Juno. We came to the conclusion that a a quirky indie film, with unusual characters, and deal with difficult subject matter, is more easily accepted by general audiences if it is ultimately warm, upbeat, and family friendly (particularly: the story centers around familial love and its ability to overcome social pressures, which was an element in both Juno and Little Miss Sunshine). Of course, like Juno and LMS, it also needs to be well written, with compelling characterizations, enough of a traditional story structure to allow a general audience to relate, and witty dialog.

I remain unconvinced. That sounds both credible and thoughtful, so clearly the success must instead be attributable to a gimmick that's instantly recognizable and understandable (and doesn't require the writer to actually put in any thought or effort). Clearly it wasn't the case that Cody wrote an excellent script, which Reitman (and the cast) turned into a charmingly compelling film -- no, there's obviously some trick here, and I'm going to figure out what it is.

Much has been made of Diablo Cody's past as a stripper, and while perhaps that gimmick works for some, I don't think the Full Monty approach is going to work given my particular physique. Therefore, I have deduced that the gimmick here is using the formula (Name for the Devil + Town in Wyoming) to generate one's nom de plume. That, dear readers, is unequivocably the secret to Juno's success.

Therefore, I am opening it up to a vote as to which of these names you think is most likely to guarantee immediate fame and fortune when slapped onto the cover of my next script:

What Devil + Wyoming nom de plume should I select to guarantee instant success?

	Satan Cheyenne
	Lucifer Medicine Bow
	Chernobog Thermopolis
	Belial Worland
	Beelzebub Torringon
	Abaddon Kemmerer
	Voland Pinedale
	Iblis Sheridan
	Old Nick Jackson
	Angra Mainyu Laramie

skip to results

Once I've selected an appropriate "Diabolically Wyoming" name, it's really only a matter of days, perhaps mere minutes, until I join the ranks of the rich and famous. Free rides in my gold-plated LearJet for all readers of this blog!

Taco Bell Offers Exciting Underpaid Opportunity To Feel Like A Scab

Today Speak Media Blog commented on this announcement by Taco Bell and their PR vendor that they're willing to pay $260 (in Taco Bell "food") for writers to create advertising copy for their condiment packaging.

The headline on Trading Markets reads "Taco Bell Offers Striking Writers a Spicy Creative Outlet" and the press release claims: "...Taco Bell wanted to show its support for the thousands of creative minds itching to press pen to paper..." The offer to pay in food is hinted at being a great altruistic move to help "starving" strikers.

That's not altruism, that's an offer that says: "come ply your trade for us for a pittance." Advertising copywriters are well paid in cash, not handouts. $260 (in in-kind merchandise) for copy for a national campaign for a major brand? Are you kidding me?

It's not altruistic, it's insulting. Never mind that Taco Bell's food isn't particularly good (and most of the writers who are striking are in LA, where you can get real Mexican food cheaper), even if it were the most splendid food in all the land it's still an insult to ask a striking worker to come do a job that undercuts their fellow tradespeople.

I hope that people see through this, and realize that it's an insult to the striking writers, who are professionals on strike over serious contract matters relevant to their livelihoods and not random contestants in a lame in-store PR contest printed on placemats. It's an affront to their fellow writers as well -- those being the copywriters whose business they are asking the striking writers to publicly undercut.

Studios Looking for the Next Juno?

I also posted a version of this as a comment on Alligators In A Helicopter.

The question is: how to repeat the (financial) success of Juno.

I think studios will have a hard time making a film to capture "the" Juno audience, because I don't think it has one audience. It's a film that, due to a variety of factors, was in the right place at the right time to attract multiple audiences.

One factor is that in a downbeat political and economic climate and when a lot of downer films are out, Juno is quite light despite its potentially difficult and melodramatic subject matter. It also balances aspects of how it deals with the teen pregnancy issue in a way that allows it to sit on the fence and avoid alienating either Liberals or Conservatives too readily.

Another factor is that pretty much every Xmas 07 film exceeded box office expectations (Alvin and the Chipmunks over $200M, you gotta be kidding) -- and Juno got an Oscar nomination bump (not as good as an Oscar bump, but it did increase its profile in the media), AND Fox advertised the heck out of it for a film in its genre and cost range (which they also did successfully for LMS).

Plus, it was good -- but lots of equally good or better films, often ones targeted at a similar base audience (hipsters), fail -- even ones which might even have had crossover appeal had they gotten legs out the gate.

I am not sure that the Juno factors can all be deliberately repeated. I think the best studios can do is take more chances on cheaper films that aren't designed to be blockbusters, knowing that like with more expensive films some will hit and some won't -- but when they do, the payoff is a bigger multiplier. I hope they will, because that strategy means more opportunities for those of us who don't get those "hey, here's a million bucks, go write me a guaranteed blockbuster" type of calls.

I'm encouraged, because Juno is in my own natural genre (a truly successful pair of writers recently agreed to have lunch with me and share some insights, and we talked about how we both were angry at not naving written LMS or Juno ourselves. It made me feel better to know that successful people also get angry about not having written scripts they loved).

However, I don't think that being in that genre, and being good, is quite enough. There are a lot more factors that also need to line up.

The Amazing work of Chris Kuksi

Kris Kuksi is one of my new favorite artists. His work is obviously influenced by H.R. Giger and his ilk, but as this image:

shows, Kuksi also has a directly political side which is generally missing from Giger's work (which is not to say Giger is totally devoid of social commentary, but overt politics is not part of it). Kuksi's meticulous sculptures that blend Gigerian biomechanical stylings with a Gothic architectural feel are, I feel, his most compelling works. These hellish dioramas are grotesque emotional narratives, vibrant in three spatial dimensions but frozen in time.

Kuksi's work is both visually and intellectually compelling, and I look forward to seeing more of it in the future.