Music Video Monday featuring Grum, Kele and These New Puritans

Grum- can't shake this feeling


Kele- tenderoni


These New Puritans- hologram


The End

Smothered in Transparent Blue

About a month ago I read Dennis Cooper's Smothered in Hugs, a collection of "essays, interviews, feedback, and obituaries" that were previously published in the likes of the Village Voice, Interview Magazine, Spin Magazine and more. Covering Courtney Love, Derek Jarman, River Phoenix, Nan Goldin, William Burroughs, Clive Barker and John Waters, just to name a few, I found Cooper's non fiction to be revealing and of course well written- sometimes staggeringly well written. The standout pieces for me are the investigative/reportage works 'Too School For School' (about students completing their graduate degree in Fine Arts at UCLA in 1994) and 'AIDS: Words from the Front,' a poetic and heartbreaking look at hustlers living with (and dying) from AIDS.
Cooper's taste in outsider art is impeccable and I made a list of music, literature and cinema to explore based on his recommendations and praise in Smothered in Hugs. The hilarious 'Hipper Than Thou: Ryu Murakami' documents Cooper's failed interview with the cool and controversial Japanese writer and film director, Ryu Murakami. The planned interview apparently went awry and spiralled into a farce due to the language barrier between Cooper and Murakami and a somewhat inept translator. Miscommunication aside, Cooper eloquently describes Murakami's work and hooked my interest enough that I did some research. I was surprised to discover I had bought and already read one of his books called In The Miso Soup. It seems that the novel didn't make a very strong impression on me.



However, I was intrigued by the reviews of Murakami's first novel, the Akutagawa Prize winning Almost Transparent Blue, originally published in 1976. Newsweek called the book "A Japanese mix of A Clockwork Orange [one of my favorite films] and L'Etranger [one of my favorite books]"- so I had to check it out. The novel is a slim 126 pages but packs a powerful punch as it brutally details the violent, drugged out, over sexed and dangerous lives of a group of Japanese youths living in a port town close to an American military base. Murakami's writing is often (and sometimes especially) beautiful as he describes the grotesqueness of the youths' reality and the bizarre hallucinations of the main character. The Washington Post listed my favorite things about the book, calling Almost Transparent Blue "a combination of exotica, erotica, and indigenous literary technique...Bugs and mucus, cheesecake and semen, rain and runways- all lovingly described."
I found a paragraph on page 113 particularly striking and true and though I would post it here:

"I remembered a friend who'd died of a bad liver, and what he'd always said. Yeah, he'd said, maybe it's just my idea, but really it always hurts, the times it don't hurt is when we just forget, we just forget it hurts, you know, it's not just because my belly's all rotten, everybody always hurts. So when it really starts stabbing me, somehow I feel sort of peaceful, like I'm myself again. It's hard to take, sure, but I feel sort of peaceful. Because it's always hurt ever since I was born."

Almost Transparent Blue is a surprisingly strong book that I highly recommend.

The End

Music Video Monday featuring Girls and Pure

And oldie and a new one:

Pure- Anna is a Speed Freak


Girls- curls


The End

Dree Hemingway for Halston - Video

I caught a profile segment on model/aspiring actress Dree Hemingway (Ernest's great-granddaughter) while watching an old episode of Fashion Television. Though beautiful, Dree comes off a bit dim in interviews but she isn't really the point of this post anyway. While profiling her, Fashion Television showed a quick sequence of a video Dree did for Halston a few years ago. I loved the Kubrick-like tracking shot, graceful slow motion and eerie elements so hunted down the vid. Here it is:



The End

The Strange Boys and Kate Moss for Topshop

Check out Kate Moss dancing (awkwardly but looking hot) to The Strange Boys' "be brave" for Topshop's Spring/Summer 2010 video:



The End

Music Video Monday featuring Diamond Rings, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Crystal Castles and Miike Snow

To make up for my absence, here is a stack of music videos- early!

Diamond Rings- show me your stuff


The Pains of Being Pure At Heart- say no to love


Crystal Castles- celestica


Miike Snow- rabbit


The End

Music Video Monday featuring The Golden Filter

Late again, I know.

The Golden Filter- memorial day

Music Video Monday featuring Ólafur Arnalds, Carte Blanche and Born Ruffians

Ólafur Arnalds- Hægt,kemur ljósið

Ólafur Arnalds – Hægt, kemur ljósið (Official Music Video) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

Carte Blanche(a.k.a: DJ Mehdi & Riton)- gare du nord


Born Ruffians- what to say


The End

Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear 2010

From Aug 27 - 29, Rue Morgue will put on its annual Festival of Fear National Horror Expo and this year, the line up of guests is crazy!

(My highlights)
David Cronenberg
Ken Russel
Heather Lagenkamp
Joan Collins
Julie Newmar

http://www.rue-morgue.com/rmp_fof.php

Looking forward to it!

The End

Music Video Monday goes pop

Yesterday was a holiday and of course I had to work. Gotta make that time and a half cash! So here is the delayed Music Video Monday post (beware, this one goes pop):

Quadron- Buster Keaton


Goldfrapp- alive


Robyn- dancing on my own


The End

Gregg Araki - 'Kaboom' (3rd clip and interview)

Here is a third clip from 'Kaboom' featuring some nudity and a brief interview with Gregg Araki at Cannes.





The End

Gregg Araki - 'Kaboom' (Cannes reviews)

Gregg Araki's 'Kaboom' had its premiere at Cannes and the reviews are in.

In an interview with Anthony Kaufman for indiewire, Araki says that he went back to his indie roots with 'Kaboom,' "cut[ting] the whole thing...on Final Cut," and that the film "is definitely an old school Gregg Araki cult movie. For those people who think all of Gregg Araki’s movies suck except ‘Mysterious Skin,’ they’re probably not going to be thrilled. But it was super-fun to make.”
An old school Gregg Araki cult movie?!? Sounds fucking awesome. 'Kaboom' remains the most anticipated release of 2010 for me, despite some of the mixed reviews. While Mike D'Angelo at the AV Club confirms my sentiments, stating, Araki's "maturity + technical skill + deliberate regression = awesome," Guy Lodge at In Connection calls the film "uneven" and in his review of 'Kaboom' for indiewire, Kaufman states that the film never transcends its "silliness" and Araki's "apocalyptic pastiche doesn't feel as urgent — or as subversive — as it once did."

Two previously unreleased clips have appeared:

A moment that reminds me more of Lynch's 'Mulholland Drive' than 'Twin Peaks' which Araki cites as a reference. It also recalls 'Mysterious Skin' with the voice-over and bright, washed out look.


and a scene that reminds me of the moment in 'Nowhere' where the bathroom conversation between Dark and Mel is interrupted by Zero.


Check here for a break down of more reviews and their respective origins.

The End

Music video Monday featuring HEALTH and The Bitters

HEALTH - "we are water"

HEALTH - WE ARE WATER from POPFRENZY HQ on Vimeo.

The Bitters - "travelin' girl"

The Bitters - Travelin' Girl from Mexican Summer on Vimeo.

The End

Bret Easton Ellis' Vice interview (May 2010)

Gearing up for the anticipated release of 'Imperial Bedrooms,' a sequel of sorts to 1985's 'Less Than Zero,' Vice interviewed writer Bret Easton Ellis over the phone. I haven't read the whole thing as it contains a spoiler, but it is informative and insightful:

http://www.viceland.com/int/v17n5/htdocs/bret-easton-ellis-426.php

Apparently 'Imperial Bedrooms' "is darker than 'Less Than Zero' and more full of dread and horror." - I'm liking the sounds of that!



The End

Zero 7 hour long mix

Sam from Zero 7 has put together a brand new, hour-long mix featuring some of his favourite tracks past and present, set to pictures taken by the band during their autumn tour last year.

Karl Lagerfeld - 'Remember Now' (short film)

Is there anything the Kaiser can't do?

Shot in St. Tropez, featuring Elisa Sednaoui, Baptiste Giabiconi, Freja Beha Erichsen, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Heidi Mount and Leigh Lezark, 'Remember Now' is a 17 min short film written and directed by Karl Lagerfeld.
What exactly is the film about? Not sure. Will it be any good? Probably not. But like Tom Ford's 'A Single Man,' it will be amazing to look at.
Check out the trailer for the high fashion, dancing, partying and style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Ebwzq7Kgw



The End

'Automation' by Phil Hale - AnOther Man Spring/Summer 2010

Minimalist, architectural awesomeness:

http://homotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/alex-bennett-by-phil-hale-automation.html

The End

Fin Du Cinema

I can't think of a more fitting post for this blog.
Via Dennis Cooper's blog, Alan presents FIN DU CINEMA, a collection of 100 end titles:

http://denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com/2010/04/alan-presents-fin-de-cinema.html

The End

'I Spit On Your Grave' and 'Piranha 3D'

The recycling factory called Hollywood has been on a remake roll these past few years, pumping out updated versions of classic horror films. Here are two more to add to the already bloated list. Seems they are signaling out the year 1978 to draw from.
Sidenote/guilty admission: I'm actually looking forward to these.

'I Spit On Your Grave' (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zU3U-9B3fE&feature=fvst


'I Spit On Your Grave' (1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKCys3sd8Bw

'Piranha 3D' (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW5_4gZ0Jn4&feature=channel

'Piranha' (1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NmkXCSewdA

The End

Dan Felton in short video "So Long, For Now"

Dan Felton looking hot in a vid for TEST Magazine UK, "So Long, For Now," set to an instrumental loop of Q Tip's "vivrant thing."

Untitled from Daniel Jaffe on Vimeo.

The End