The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:30:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 Lordy, Lordy Erykah Badu Is 40! (Tomorrow) http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/lordy-lordy-erykah-badu-is-40-tomorrow http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/lordy-lordy-erykah-badu-is-40-tomorrow#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:30:34 +0000 Dave Bry http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/lordy-lordy-erykah-badu-is-40-tomorrow
Hey! Awl-fave Erykah Badu turns 40 tomorrow! Happy birthday to her. She put out a new video a couple weeks ago, too, in case you haven't seen it. It sort of looks like what Terry Gilliam's storyboarding for the ministry of information scene in Brazil might have. (That style of animation is big in videos lately.) At the end of it, just as you'd expect, Erykah boards an ankh-shaped rocket and blasts off into outer space. Which is what everybody should do on their 40th birthday.

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Hey! Awl-fave Erykah Badu turns 40 tomorrow! Happy birthday to her. She put out a new video a couple weeks ago, too, in case you haven't seen it. It sort of looks like what Terry Gilliam's storyboarding for the ministry of information scene in Brazil might have. (That style of animation is big in videos lately.) At the end of it, just as you'd expect, Erykah boards an ankh-shaped rocket and blasts off into outer space. Which is what everybody should do on their 40th birthday.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/lordy-lordy-erykah-badu-is-40-tomorrow/feed 1 Things You See In The Videos For Cee-Lo's "Bodies" And Damien Marley And Nas's "Sabali (Patience)" http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/things-you-see-in-the-videos-for-cee-los-bodies-and-damien-marley-and-nass-sabali-patience http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/things-you-see-in-the-videos-for-cee-los-bodies-and-damien-marley-and-nass-sabali-patience#comments Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:10:25 +0000 Dave Bry http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/things-you-see-in-the-videos-for-cee-los-bodies-and-damien-marley-and-nass-sabali-patience
Name tag
Polaroid camera
Polaroid pictures
Kate Moss
Pack of Trojans
CD cover for Above the Law's 1996 album, Time Will Reveal
African tribal mask
New York University diploma
Fur coat
Irises
Swimming pool
Clouds
Balloons
Pistol
Eagle-headed drummer sitting in lotus position
Rolls Royce convertible
Kerry Washington
Blood
Socket wrench
Neon signs
Los Angeles Times
Aquarium
Whale shark
Thresher shark
Nurse shark
Courtroom
Judge
Eagle-headed convict
Monkey playing bass guitar
Jean-Michael Basquiat's "Pecho/Oreja"
High-heeled shoes
Acrobats
Tigers jumping through hoops of fire
Elephants
Hippopotamus-headed waiters serving champagne
Karl Lagerfeld
BMW sports car
Smoke
Affleck duck
Billboard
Circus tent
Fireworks
Sunglasses
Hypodermic syringe
Solanine glycoalkaloid
Great white shark with human arm and leg dangling from jaws
Knife with Karl Lagerfeld handle
Cadaver diagram
H&M
Hippopotamus-headed chauffeur
Ocean
Common
Sunglasses on pedestals
Janelle Monae
Denim vest

Pyramids
Crumbling statues of Cheops
Palm trees
Elephants
Fire
Zebras
Male lion
Mountains
People walking over ancient Greek aquaduct
Crowns
Robes
Sunglasses
Hieroglyphics
Ceremonial masks
Lightning
Clouds
The moon
The ocean
A waterfall
Mermaids
Statues of Horus
The desert
Sand dunes
Shooting stars
Spears
Ancient ruins
Cross
Star and crescent
Statues of people drinking from pitchers while riding on the backs of griffons
Black panther
Snifter of Brandy
Thrones
Space
Eagles

Damien Marley and Nas silluetted against the full moon just like Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld at the end of the Coen Brothers' True Grit, which I did not enjoy as much I usually enjoy Coen Brothers movies. They're really my favorite moviemakers. But True Grit was just okay.

And, of course, both the above videos owe a debt to Kanye West's "Power."

And they all owe a debt to Terry Gilliam.

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Name tag
Polaroid camera
Polaroid pictures
Kate Moss
Pack of Trojans
CD cover for Above the Law's 1996 album, Time Will Reveal
African tribal mask
New York University diploma
Fur coat
Irises
Swimming pool
Clouds
Balloons
Pistol
Eagle-headed drummer sitting in lotus position
Rolls Royce convertible
Kerry Washington
Blood
Socket wrench
Neon signs
Los Angeles Times
Aquarium
Whale shark
Thresher shark
Nurse shark
Courtroom
Judge
Eagle-headed convict
Monkey playing bass guitar
Jean-Michael Basquiat's "Pecho/Oreja"
High-heeled shoes
Acrobats
Tigers jumping through hoops of fire
Elephants
Hippopotamus-headed waiters serving champagne
Karl Lagerfeld
BMW sports car
Smoke
Affleck duck
Billboard
Circus tent
Fireworks
Sunglasses
Hypodermic syringe
Solanine glycoalkaloid
Great white shark with human arm and leg dangling from jaws
Knife with Karl Lagerfeld handle
Cadaver diagram
H&M
Hippopotamus-headed chauffeur
Ocean
Common
Sunglasses on pedestals
Janelle Monae
Denim vest

Pyramids
Crumbling statues of Cheops
Palm trees
Elephants
Fire
Zebras
Male lion
Mountains
People walking over ancient Greek aquaduct
Crowns
Robes
Sunglasses
Hieroglyphics
Ceremonial masks
Lightning
Clouds
The moon
The ocean
A waterfall
Mermaids
Statues of Horus
The desert
Sand dunes
Shooting stars
Spears
Ancient ruins
Cross
Star and crescent
Statues of people drinking from pitchers while riding on the backs of griffons
Black panther
Snifter of Brandy
Thrones
Space
Eagles

Damien Marley and Nas silluetted against the full moon just like Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld at the end of the Coen Brothers' True Grit, which I did not enjoy as much I usually enjoy Coen Brothers movies. They're really my favorite moviemakers. But True Grit was just okay.

And, of course, both the above videos owe a debt to Kanye West's "Power."

And they all owe a debt to Terry Gilliam.

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6 comments

]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/things-you-see-in-the-videos-for-cee-los-bodies-and-damien-marley-and-nass-sabali-patience/feed 6 Anthony Lane Deems "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" Not Awesome http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/anthony-lane-deems-the-imaginarium-of-dr-parnassus-not-awesome http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/anthony-lane-deems-the-imaginarium-of-dr-parnassus-not-awesome#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:00:44 +0000 Dave Bry http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/anthony-lane-deems-the-imaginarium-of-dr-parnassus-not-awesome
Crap. Anthony Lane's review of Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus makes me sad. Because it is not a glowing rave, and I was really looking forward to this movie and wanted it to be good. I still want to see it. But this criticism, like so much of Lane's writing, is very astute: "I have no idea... whether C.G.I. was the best or the worst thing that could have happened to Terry Gilliam. His gifts of invention were already so fecund, and so prolix, that this newfound ability to construct anything that drifts into his mind's eye-as opposed to the ramshackle, hand-drawn delight of his earlier animation-spells both enchantment and chaos. He can follow any train of thought, so he does, and it's no surprise when the trains run out of steam."

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Crap. Anthony Lane's review of Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus makes me sad. Because it is not a glowing rave, and I was really looking forward to this movie and wanted it to be good. I still want to see it. But this criticism, like so much of Lane's writing, is very astute: "I have no idea... whether C.G.I. was the best or the worst thing that could have happened to Terry Gilliam. His gifts of invention were already so fecund, and so prolix, that this newfound ability to construct anything that drifts into his mind's eye-as opposed to the ramshackle, hand-drawn delight of his earlier animation-spells both enchantment and chaos. He can follow any train of thought, so he does, and it's no surprise when the trains run out of steam."

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/anthony-lane-deems-the-imaginarium-of-dr-parnassus-not-awesome/feed 11 Victory! 'Dr. Parnassus' Coming To The U.S. http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/victory-dr-parnassus-coming-to-the-us http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/victory-dr-parnassus-coming-to-the-us#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:32:06 +0000 Dave Bry http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/victory-dr-parnassus-coming-to-the-us Thanks, no doubt, to our campaigning earlier this week, now we get the word: Variety has announced that Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus has found a stateside distributor. It is Sony Pictures Classics.

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]]> Thanks, no doubt, to our campaigning earlier this week, now we get the word: Variety has announced that Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus has found a stateside distributor. It is Sony Pictures Classics.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/victory-dr-parnassus-coming-to-the-us/feed 2 Why Can't America See 'The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus'? http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/why-cant-america-see-the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/why-cant-america-see-the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:45:57 +0000 Dave Bry http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/why-cant-america-see-the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus
Here is the UK trailer for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, which, insanely, still does not have a US distributor. How can that be? We are expecting a purchase at the Toronto Film Festival next month-or you will have to go to Europe in October to see it. There are very many reasons that we are getting on the bandwagon for a US release.

1) The story, of a man who has sold his soul to the devil for immortality and the power to cross into parallel dimensions, seems particularly well-suited to Gilliam's darkly comic psychedelia.

2) It is Heath Ledger's last work. He died part way through filming.

3) Along with Heath Ledger, it also stars Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell-making it a sort of big-screen menagerie of Hollywood hot boys.

4) Along with them, it also stars Tom Waits and Christopher Plummer-who own two of the English-speaking world's greatest speaking voices.

5) Tom Waits plays the devil, which is basically a role that's been waiting for him to play since the bible-or at least since he wrote and recorded "Way Down In the Hole" for his 1987 album, Frank's Wild Years. (That song, of course, was also the theme song for The Wire.)

6) "I don't know why he thought of me," said Waits, of Gilliam, in an immensely enjoyable self-interview Pitchfork's report sends us to. "I was raised in the church."

Besides the movie, in the interview, Waits discusses everything from his favorite songs to obscure word origins to the scariest things he can think of. To the question of how he'd compare two guitarists he's worked with, Marc Ribot and Smokey Hormel, he answers: "Octopus have eight and squid have ten tentacles, each with hundreds of suction cups and each have the power to burst a man's artery. They have small birdlike beaks used to inject venom into a victim. Some gigantic squid and octopus with one hundred foot tentacles have been reported. Squids have been known to pull down entire boats to feed on the disoriented sailors in the water. Many believe unexplained, sunken deep-sea vessels, and entire boat disappearances are the handiwork of giant squid." Oh yes. It is well-worth reading the whole thing.

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Here is the UK trailer for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, which, insanely, still does not have a US distributor. How can that be? We are expecting a purchase at the Toronto Film Festival next month-or you will have to go to Europe in October to see it. There are very many reasons that we are getting on the bandwagon for a US release.

1) The story, of a man who has sold his soul to the devil for immortality and the power to cross into parallel dimensions, seems particularly well-suited to Gilliam's darkly comic psychedelia.

2) It is Heath Ledger's last work. He died part way through filming.

3) Along with Heath Ledger, it also stars Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell-making it a sort of big-screen menagerie of Hollywood hot boys.

4) Along with them, it also stars Tom Waits and Christopher Plummer-who own two of the English-speaking world's greatest speaking voices.

5) Tom Waits plays the devil, which is basically a role that's been waiting for him to play since the bible-or at least since he wrote and recorded "Way Down In the Hole" for his 1987 album, Frank's Wild Years. (That song, of course, was also the theme song for The Wire.)

6) "I don't know why he thought of me," said Waits, of Gilliam, in an immensely enjoyable self-interview Pitchfork's report sends us to. "I was raised in the church."

Besides the movie, in the interview, Waits discusses everything from his favorite songs to obscure word origins to the scariest things he can think of. To the question of how he'd compare two guitarists he's worked with, Marc Ribot and Smokey Hormel, he answers: "Octopus have eight and squid have ten tentacles, each with hundreds of suction cups and each have the power to burst a man's artery. They have small birdlike beaks used to inject venom into a victim. Some gigantic squid and octopus with one hundred foot tentacles have been reported. Squids have been known to pull down entire boats to feed on the disoriented sailors in the water. Many believe unexplained, sunken deep-sea vessels, and entire boat disappearances are the handiwork of giant squid." Oh yes. It is well-worth reading the whole thing.

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