Posts tagged as Culture (And TV)
31 Days of Horror: "Blood Diner"
Of all the movies we're discussing this month,Blood Diner is the most divorced from reality. It makes an incredibly consistent argument for its own distance from verity. While most films take place in somewhere at least tangentially relatable, Blood Diner drives across that line it in a flaming Cadillac. A Cadillac made of cannibalism, Nudie suits and wrestlers called Eddie Hitler. READ MORE
15 Bands I Will Probably Not See At CMJ This Year, Based Solely On Their Names
15. Wakey Wakey READ MORE
Twista And Raekwon, "The Heat"
Here's the video for Twista's new single, which features some dynamite production from the veteran Chicago team of No I.D. and Traxster (I don't know what that sample is, but I wish I did) and a cooled-out guest verse from Raekwon. Twista, who was original known as "Tung Twista," and, as you might know, was named the world's fastest rapper the Guiness Book of World Records, delivers a typically complicated and impressive staccato rhyme. Ignore the part where he says that he's "as good as Pelican Brief is..." (Because, really? Was The Pelican Brief that good? A matter of opinion, I suppose.) And listen to rest of the song, which is even better than The Pelican Brief.
Mystikal Featuring Lil Wayne And Fiend, "Paper Cuts" And The Amorality Of Art
Despite the fact that he has one of the most distinctive voices hip-hop has ever known, it's hard to root for Mystikal. Recording for Master P's No Limit Records, the Operation Desert Storm veteran played a major part in putting New Orleans rap on the map in the late '90s-remember "Here I Go," or "It Ain't My Fault" or "The Man Right Chea?" Then, even as No Limit went into decline, he rose to greater stardom with a string of hits produced by Neptunes that more effectively channeled the spirit of James Brown better than any rapper ever did before or since. "Shake Ya Ass" is one of those songs that have you remembering exactly where you were the first time you heard it. (Nowhere interesting in my case, just in a car, parked in front of a friend's house in Massachusetts. But still, I remember it very well!) And "Danger," and "Bouncin' Back." He really caught something special there for a while. READ MORE
Footnotes of Mad Men: Full of Demands, Empty of Offerings
Don's right-about one thing, at least: teenagers are sentimental. The cynicism with which adults rebel comes from the nihilism of doing what you know is bad for you because you're old enough to understand that these things usually go unpunished. The kind of joyless self-indulgence that adults traffic in doesn't exist for teenagers. For the young, it's unfathomable that act of self-indulgence can bring anything but joy. In the twilight of childhood, you're not sure what's like to be an adult but you know what it feels like to not be a child. Every brush with adult behavior-anything from smoking, to sneaking out, to driving, to fucking-is wrapped in a gauzy, loving haze. (It's bittersweet though: as the twilight of childhood dims, there is within the heart of every teenager a dull throb that comes with the mourning of lost innocence.) What's alarming, then, is when grown-ups act like teenagers: denying themselves nothing, cherishing their transgressions like merit badges, constantly chasing the beginning of something, unable to parse the sensations of joys from despair. READ MORE
Actress From The Pre-Irony Era Dies
"Her catchphrase — 'Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver'– became a slogan for an age without irony, before the social revolutions of the 1960s would change the way TV portrays the nuclear family forever. READ MORE
Let's talk about the finale of Mad Men!
There will be plenty of excitement this evening at 10 PM Eastern when a pissy Peyton Manning scowls on the sidelines in our nation's capital AMC airs the finale to Season 4 of "Mad Men." While the redoubtable Natasha Vargas-Cooper will of course be brining you your weekly installment of Footnotes tomorrow, the way our shared cultural heritage works these days is that everyone watches something and immediately jumps on the Internet to talk about it. (Sometimes they even do so during the event.) So we may as well set up a water cooler (your choice if beverage may vary) right here in anticipation. See you later on this evening. Feel free to smoke.
31 Days of Horror: "There's Nothing Out There" (Except Mike)
There's only one reason to write about "There's Nothing Out There": Mike. Because Mike, the man who inexplicably escorts three couples he doesn't get on with to a cabin in the woods, is such a hypnotically bad-ass dude that he renders anything else of note in the movie (of which there isn't much of anyway) completely irrelevant. Mike knows he's in a bad horror movie and he's not happy about it. At all. READ MORE
How To Stand Out As An Actor: "Just Finished Playing a Rapist"!
This solicitation was recently received by a TV person out on the other coast. They say "leave an impression and you'll get remembered!" I suppose that works even if the impression is rather creepy. For reasons of politeness, we've obscured this actor's last name. (And to be fair, it's not like my handwriting's any good either, though it is less rapistey.) But if you're interested in hiring this young man, let us know, and we'll make contact!
Justin Beiber: The New Notorious B.I.G.
Have you heard Justin Beiber rap? He does, under the name "Shawty Mane," over the beat from Harlem MC Vado's recent hit "Speaking In Tongues." Vado, it turns out, highly approves! "He killed it," the Harlem rapper told the Daily News. "He sounded like B.I.G." READ MORE
