You may have seen this already, but it bears re-posting.
The largest Lego model in the world consisting of 5,335,200 bricks is a 1:1 scale X-wing fighter. It took 32 people 4 months to build and weighs almost 46,000 pounds! Gizmodo has many more incredible pictures of this behemoth.
I’ll openly admit my love (from afar) for the Star Wars Lego line. There’s just something about your favorite vehicles rendered without any curved lines. I hope they make a life-sized AT-AT next……
I tend to like my documentaries a little on the freaky side. So perhaps you’ll see why I’m so terribly excited to see the Source Family. Cults, messiah, drugs, music, and more white outfits than Colonel Sander’s closet. Here’s the run-down:
The Source Family was a radical experiment in ’70s utopian living. Their outlandish style, popular health food restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip; but their outsider ideals and the unconventional behavior of their spiritual leader, Father Yod, caused controversy with local authorities. They fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise.
Check the screenings link to see if you’re lucky enough to live in a town that gets this. The people of Providence, RI will get their chance to switch religions when the Source Family plays at the Cable Car beginning Friday, May 24th.
Well, all good things must end. As you probably know, George Jones checked out of this life last week at the age of 81. There are many heartfelt and detailed obids out there…….
But I think the best of all was Dave the Spazz’s show on WFMU last week. Just check out the playlist to see why this 3 hour show really is the best tribute Jones could have had. Can’t recommend this enough……
Possum’s passing was a big deal to me. I’ve come back to the GRAND catalog of Jones at least 3 times in my life, and probably will many more times. (I also watched Hee Haw with my grandparents every Saturday night in the 70′s.) I do find it a little disrespectful that his drunken antics are mentioned more than the fact that he found a way to stay relevant in country music for almost 4 decades. His antics made good copy, because like his music, they were real. Jones could make heartache sound so convincing. Though it’s not an adjective I often associate with country music; Jones was one of the most soulful singers I know.
The ridiculous:
The sublime:
The classic:
This is a very particular kind of movie: lyrical, sensory and visually untouchable. If you enjoy movies like Last Year at Marienbad, you should definitely submerge yourself in this film. If you’re more in the camp of say….Bad Boyz 2, read no further.
Terrence Malick seems to be on an artistic tear as of late, for someone who
waits a notoriously long time between films, he’s now cranking them out by his standards. One of Malick’s key new ingredients is cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who also worked on Tree of Life. I don’t know which of the two is more responsible for the incredibly gorgeous visuals. The way the camera follows people (hand-held with random splattering of swaths of natural light) also echoes Tree of Life.
To me, Tree of Life represents childhood (and it does such an amazing job of conveying the indescribable essence of that). To the Wonder, then is the middle saga. Tales of love, marriage, moving as well as the fallout from those same situations. (I’m very curious if Malick’s next film will address the “3rd chapter” of life?) Subtitles and voiceovers are the main plot-conveying devices, which works two ways. #1: it makes the film, on the surface, seem o-so-arty, as well as conveys the factual information the viewer needs….BUT #2: it frees the film up to simply record impressions of moments (as impossible as that sounds). This is why I wholeheartedly endorse this movie. You don’t have to know what’s happening exactly, you experience it.
I also applaud Malick for not giving shit-one about the commercial viability of his films. Most of the reviews I’ve read of To the Wonder are not positive, and I’m sure it’s not making too much money on the slim art house circuit. One reviewer kept describing how he didn’t like looking at the back of Affleck’s head the whole movie, but I really think that’s missing the point, the characters are almost like place settings. To the Wonder conveys a feeling and experience, that if you are ready, is well worth the effort.
If you’ve never seen a Malick movie, start with Badlands, and you’ll begin to understand the devotion he elicits.
Oh lordy! If anyone tells you there’s no humor left in art, please point them to the work of Will Laren. The situational comedy of these images combined with his (let’s just say) loose style will likely make whatever you’re currently drinking shoot out of your nose. Artists such as Raymond Pettibon and David Shrigley certainly come to mind for this kind of illustrated humor, but Laren is taking it to the next level. I wonder what Charles Schultz would think?
Laren is a Philadelphia-based artist associated with Space 1026. His all-purpose Tumblr is well worth checking for all kinds of great visuals. You can also purchase his zine: Slurricane.
Know that a titan walks among us! Recognize!
[* Gotta give credit where credit is due, thanks to the ever reliable Booooooom for the introduction!]
Yours truly was lucky enough to see Leviathan last night, a new documentary by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel. It’s about commercial fishing in the North Atlantic, but that makes it sound so simple……
The above images may help convey the abstract nature of the film. It’s beautiful. It’s also disorienting and visceral. The film is shot with tiny digital cameras mounted in every conceivable location. You see inside, outside, above water and underwater. There are times when the viewer is totally unsure what they are seeing. The amazing thing watching Leviathan are the transitions. They move from abstract shapes and colors (reminiscent of Stan Brakhage) to recognizable images. The sound too is overwhelmingly incredible. There are underwater shots (from the fishing net), where you can just barely make out the grunts and groans of the massive machinery required to pull up the long nets. I closed my eyes a few time, just to listen (something I rarely do at a movie).
You will also see the two fastest oyster shuckers known to man…….
I would not recommend this film to folks who might be prone to seasickness, also know that the fish butchery is rather intense. Real, but intense. I didn’t find the film to be some sort of anti-fishing, pro-animal rights affair, but rather a meditation on the sea itself. The shots of humans actually read much like the shots of the fish.
The ocean itself is the real star of this movie, which seems very deserved, particularly after all the crap we’ve done to it.
I would HIGHLY recommend this film to anyone who likes to see something different. As a film, the mechanics of it are totally unique. I actually had to just shut my eyes for a minute or two to re-orient myself. Everyone knows the ocean is there, but you’ve never
experienced it like this.
Man o man, this is great stuff!
Below is a fantastic animated video about the insane exploits of the WWF in 80′s. What do you get when you combine the two entertainment giants above, 3 ounces of heroin, coke, weed and beer?
You get a story that sounds more like a Keith Richards chapter from Life (honestly, you could replace “wrestling match” with “concert”). This gem was made by Australian animation company Rubber House.
Thanks to the ever-awesome Booooooom, who have featured Rubber House videos more than once. Also, do yourself a favor and follow the Iron Sheik on his various propaganda platforms, you won’t be disappointed (offended maybe).
Oh Fiery Furnaces, how I miss your catastrophic musical onslaught! I have been repeatedly reminded of your musical badassness every time I listen to this great Daytrotter session.
Why am I writing about a four-song set from over a year ago? First, it’s an incredible run-through of 4 songs covering most of their recorded output. Second, with Matthew doing his own incredibly ambitious own thing, and Eleanor flying solo, this may well be one of the last Fiery Furnaces performance ever! I really hope not, I always looked forward to a new Fiery Furnaces album as much as a day off.
What makes this session so special? Here, the colorful sound of the originals is replaced with simple, piano based versions.
Matthew Friedberger is no slouch on the keys (or any other instrument he plays). So even while playing Van-Cliburn-esque fills on a normal upright piano, the songs still retain their original energy and effectiveness. That’s really the only embellishment these versions have, and that’s what makes these versions so effective. If you’ve ever experienced the claustrophobic cacophony that is Blueberry Boat, you will be scraping your jaw off the floor after hearing this version. The overcooked insanity of the original is replaced with a very clever song that you always half-heard buried under the original.
The whole set has the air of an 18th century parlour room. It’s intimate and charming.*
My point here is: if this truly is one of the last Fiery Furnaces performances, what an incredible, concise and perfect end. Long may they burn.
* For the opposite end of this spectrum, check out Remember, their double live disc, in which they utterly and recklessly destroy their own songs with a 4-person-total-rock show configuration. Everything flies off the rails and runs together. I have rarely heard an entire musical catalog so utterly transformed.
Wouldn’t you like to hear stories about Emory Zickafoose Brown, Sleepy Gilreath, Anna May Stillwell, and the Dobkins brothers: George and Orville? You’re in luck. Look no further than the new re-issue of Lee Hazlewood’s Trouble Is a Lonesome Town.
One of Hazlewood’s first outings, this song-cyle features spoken word intros that are often as engaging as the song itself. Content-wise, these songs feature the usual culprits: ugliness, loneliness, trains, women and trouble.
Some are tall tales about the characters of Trouble, others are simple truths like “We All Make the Little Flowers Grow“. There’s a constant sense of humor in all these songs. “Soft and gooey-looking” is how Lee describes the prettiest girl in Trouble, where an argument can be started easily by saying something either for or against the railroad. It’s a kind of midwest humor where things that are horrible and true are comical. “Six Feet of Chain” basically documents all the things that Dobkins brothers can do…while tied up. “Ugly Brown” is literally about someone so visually unpleasant they’re basically a sideshow…….
Some might call this sound hokey. I think that does this music a real disservice. The original record was releases in 1963 and did nothing in terms of commercial sales. It was a strange time for this kind of record to come out, it would have been way to square for the then-up-and-coming counterculture, and the “Americana” market (as we know it) didn’t exist yet. This type of narrative/song cycle sort of thing would have been far too weird for the early 60′s country music market. It probably got made because (as Lee says in the included Autobiography ’45) “people found out I work cheap.”
The sound is more like the songs Shel Silverstein wrote for Johnny Cash (I could actually hear Cash singing some of these tunes). Stylistically, it’s like really good Roger Miller.
Did i mention this is a Light In the Attic re-issue? So of course you get the usual copious liner notes, as well as 15 extra track to flush out the original album (the vinyl actually came with a copy of the screenplay for the album?!!). Included is one of Lee’s greatest early tracks: “The Girl On Death Row”. This songs starts like a James Bond theme and then morphs into a string-laden paen to a dying female inmate. The extra tracks also contain Lee’s first singles released under the pseudonym Mark Robinson?. One of the highlights of these early cuts is the deadpan anthem of self-depreciation : “I’ve Made Enough Mistakes Today” (with Jack Nitzsche doing the string arrangements).
If you are a Hazlewood fan, this is a must-buy. (Newbies should probably start here.) You can hear all the elements in place for the later masterpieces, as well as appreciate a minor anomaly in American music.
Above (and below) is the mind-blowing work of Australian artist Dan McPharlin. These mini-mini-mini synthesizer and oscillators are hand-made of cardboard. They are awesome for a variety of reasons, chief among them is the beauty of mechanized repetition. At this scale all the various knobs and sliders have no labels. So the viewer is left to ponder the purely visual nature of the shapes, colors and characteristics of ….knobs.
However, my real reason for giving McPharlin some airtime, is his other artistic passion: sci-fi art.
YES!! For the longest time, it was criminally uncool to actually reveal how much you enjoyed the artwork of Roger Dean, John Berkey and others. McPharlin is embracing it, as are the many bands employing his art for their covers.
McPharlin says it best:
“For me mood and atmosphere always trumps technical verisimilitude so that’s what I try to bring to my work.”
Between the sickening technicality of the Pocket Synths and the atmospheric space abstractions, McPharlin seems poised to conquer many worlds. He is officially recognized!
* This is the album cover for the incredible New Age Outlaws by Dylan Ettinger, I didn’t know McPharlin did the cover until a few minutes ago. If you like….The Blader Runner soundtrack, check this out……
