antigob: i like

Showing posts with label i like. Show all posts

Friday, 13 August 2010

America: One bad film and six great ones

This is quite a neat little film from WNYC and features a naughty scene too!

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

This Levi's spot, directed by John Hillcoat (The Road) is just crammed with all sorts of things you'd expect in an ad from the jeans that built America: pickup trucks, wide streets, moody workers looking moody in their wife beaters. But there's a point to all this: as the Santa Fe boxcars roll across a dust brown landscape, the people of Braddock Pennsylvania wake to work. Except, there is no work because 'a long time ago things got broken here and people got sad and left' (sad face). But Levi's are helping the town rediscover the idea of an honest day's graft (happy face!), by repurposing and reinventing Braddock's UnSmoke Artspace so 'urban pioneers can remake the local identity through art'. Jesus, what drivel. Surely if Levi's really want to help America get back to work, they could, y'know, build a factory in Braddock? Instead of using the bleeding fingers of China.

Anyway, the whole thing pissed me off, but then I have been listening to a lot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, so I only have myself to blame. Here are some better examples of films loosely grouped under the title of America.

If you really want to see a great doc about working America, then check out Harlan County USA.

Here's a tidy little short. And it's a Western too!

I've posted some of Sean's work before. This is his new one:

And another...

Finally, a new Fatal Farm film

Posted via email from the antigob

Thursday, 12 August 2010

How I Escaped My Certain Fate by Stewart Lee

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

A reoccurring theme in Stewart Lee’s dissection of his own craft and recent UK comedy is the idea of the comic as a shaman outsider figure. One who observes society and then deftly criticises its failings. He writes about the Hopi clown rituals that happen in the Pueblo villages of South West America, where for one day, those chosen, dress as frightening clowns and mock the members of their community they believe need taking down a peg or two. He describes a similar ceremony that happens in the Languedoc area of France and one he drew inspiration from to write the unsettling 90s Comedian set. Lee sees himself as an outsider figure.

But then, Lee, who took up stand-up comedy after seeing the obtuse Ted Chippington, relishes being difficult. And reading parts of this book you realize he’s probably quite difficult if you met him in person. ‘I come across as arrogant, because I am’*

But there’s something quite admirable about all this. Unlike almost every other comedian you see on television – he doesn’t want you to follow him on Twitter, or watch him talk about toys on some Channel 4 show. He doesn’t do comedy about well-worn subjects, or swear and shout.

His shows are considered and well thought out. Even if you’re indifferent about comedy seeing Stewart Lee live is an experience. And yet he does wind people up. A lot of his jokes are built around repetition and the playful exploitation of funny rhythms and sounds. It’s not to everyone’s tastes and Lee is quite happy with that; he’s remarked he doesn’t like it if the whole audience is with him at a show. He likes tension.

Weird he’s written a big book explaining his comedy then. Surely that should be someone else’s job?

But if you’re into the craft of stand up you’ll love this book. It’s full of great references to music, other comedians and it’s also pretty funny too. I bought my copy from the most dangerous book shop in London.

Check out his site too!

*I might have made this up or remembered it wrong.

Posted via email from the antigob

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Solar Bears - Inner Sunshine

Read full review of Inner Sunshine - Solar Bears on Boomkat.com ©

Hmmm lovely.

Posted via email from the antigob

Thursday, 29 July 2010

The Chap - Even Your Friend video

Nice work Non Format

Posted via email from the antigob

Doc about choc

This doc is great; it makes me want to curl up with a book and eat chocolate by the Mast Brothers. I like the use of black screens (or whatever the proper term is) with voice over, the photography and the titling. Not so sure about the corpsing at the start of the film, or the music. But hey, minor grumbles.

Posted via email from the antigob

Friday, 16 July 2010

On the Grind

Little bit different from your usual run of the mill skateboard film

http://www.onthegrindmovie.net/

Posted via email from the antigob

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Please Say Something

Posted via email from the antigob

Friday, 9 July 2010

Great docs

Bullying in America

The Bully Project Promo from Lee Hirsch on Vimeo.

When the subject decides not to be the subject anymore

FAITH HEALER [PROLOGUE] from Saint Eliot and Company on Vimeo.

Yes! A doc about soda! Beautiful colours

Obsessives: Soda Pop from CHOW.com on Vimeo.

Posted via email from the antigob

Thursday, 27 May 2010

Enter Naomi

Very busy at the moment. Trying to make a film. It's like working in a cloud. But between reading books about scripts and talking to people about scripts, cameras and actors, I finally managed to finish Enter Naomi by Joe Carducci.

It's perhaps one one of the few book I've yet to read about the SoCal hardcore scene that sprang up in the early eighties. Carducci was at its very epicentre, running SST, the label the Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Husker Du, Black Flag and scores of other bands across America called home.

While books such as Henry Rollins', Get In The Van and Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life explore the nature of SST, Enter Naomi is an altogether more personal book, focusing on the life of SST photographer and close friend of Carducci, Naomi Petersen.

Like so many of the people who would end up at SST, Naomi was an outcast, a mixed race young woman at odds with a Japanese heritage that alienated her through high school. Carducci tells how Naomi's eager attitude and hefty Nikon got her through countless gigs where violence was common – at least until the cops turned up, when it got worse.

But her camera and attitude couldn't shield her from the booze and when things start to go wrong the book turns from first hand accounts from Carducci, to postcards sent from the road and anecdotes about Naomi told by bands she'd photograph. This book, like Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, exposes how women were treated by the hardcore scene; it wasn't pretty and it seems Naomi was caught between this attitude and her unwillingness to confirm to the 'normal' life of husband, kids and home.

It's a great book, fleshing out the life of SST and the dedication of one outsider to music. it's worth tracking down for Petersen's photos alone.

Posted via web from the antigob

Thursday, 6 May 2010

The Simpsons Confidential

So why is The Simpsons so popular? Is it the characters? The jokes? The stories? According to a study undertaken by Fox, the number one reason people like the show was when Homer hits his head and 'all the pretty colours'.

That's focus groups for you. The answer is more complex and John Ortved's first revelation is the role of Matt Groening. If there's a Matt-sized hole in the book, it's because the cartoonist behind the Life is Hell strip played only a very minor role in the story of how The Simpsons quickly became the most successful show in television history.

While it's true Matt drew a family based around his own to pitch for the Tracy Ullman show, the book reveals the brains behind the tone, look and setting of The Simpsons.

If there's a heart to the show, then it's down to James L Brooks – the man behind the sitcom Taxi and the writer/director of Terms Of Endearment. Ortved reveals Brooks to be the force that anchored the antics of The Simpsons around the idea of family – as well as a ruthless director of who should enjoy financial success from the show.

All the yellow skin and garish colours is down to animators, Klasky-Csupo. The creation of Springfield and the myriad of supporting characters is the work of hard drinkin', hard gamblin' comedy veteran Sam Simon. And what was Matt Groening doing all this time? Sitting in his office authorising ever more outlandish merchandising opportunities for Homer and co.

The real pleasure to be had from The Simpsons Confidential – particularly for any comedy fan – are the chapters dedicated to the show's writing room. Various ex-writers, such as Conan O'Brien and Jon Vitti describe writing for the show as equal to 'shooting hoops with Michael Jordan'.

Some of the finest minds in American comedy have written scripts and almost all of them for the generally accepted classic era (between seasons 2 and 6). This is a good book to discover the work of George Meyer, the man behind the singular Army Man magazine and John Swartzwelder, who wrote more classic scripts than any other writer. Without them, there wouldn't be the lines, 'Pray for Mojo' or the deliciously violent Itchy and Scratchy.

Inevitably, a good final third of the book is devoted to just how poor the show has become in recent years. John Ortved squarely nails his colours to the mast – the show should have ended seasons ago. But The Simpsons is a monster. The Fox network owes its very existence to the show; only Seinfeld has earned more money. It's almost impossible for any of the people interviewed in the book to imagine the show coming to an end and because of this, the book tends to drag. But The Simpsons Confidential is not just a history of the show. It's an essential read for anyone who wants to learn about the icons of recent American comedy writing. And that makes it pretty funny too.

Posted via web from the antigob