Banksy Street Art in Los Angeles
Venerable graffiti artist Banksy premiered his new and much anticipated street art “documentary” film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” Monday night in Los Angeles.
Even Minnie Driver showed up. Dear me!
Hoping to “do for street art what The Karate Kid did for martial arts,” Banksy’s film (which stars OBEY mastermind Shepard Fairey) opened in selected cities Friday, April 16th.
Two Liberian Original Six Fans
HOCKEY JERSEYS!
Hockey Night in Liberia: NHL Jerseys Everywhere in War-Torn Nation (National Post)
My brain can’t even process this right now. Lin Yu Chun and William Shatner sing a duet of “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Chun exploded on the scene with his better-than-Whitney-live performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”
Check this out while I get back to letting my head explode:
Experimental indie staple Animal Collective premiered their new album ODDSAC at Sundance Festival this past summer. Yes – Sundance. It’s a visual album directed by Danny Perez. I saw it at a screening in Chicago a few weeks ago. I suggest you get your hands on it – especially if you liked that creepy-ass VHS from The Ring.
I’m not necessarily suggesting that this film is good, but rather just completely expected. Films of this caliber seem completely immune to genuine criticism. Instead, it’s more appropriate to simply say that this album/film was visually and audibly accurate. If it weren’t for the fact that Animal Collective wrote the film’s musical score, or what seems more like hyperbolic folly with traces of music, I wouldn’t even mention the sound at all.
With a film this experimental and visual, this audio track seemed to be par for the course. You know what I mean – when people walk through the forest, the noise that their feet make as they walk over dry leaves sounds much more like the sound of someone crushing elephant bones, not someone walking through a forest of dry leaves. Conveniently, Animal Collective’s music already sounds a little like someone crushing elephant bones.
Having said that, no matter how atrocious the music or film was or could have been, it’s refreshing – and hopefully an indication of what lies ahead for the music industry. As years go by, I find myself continually bitching about how the future that I had anticipated never seems to actually be happening. However, as I was sitting in the Chicago screening of ODDSAC, I was reminded that flying cars aren’t the only sign of the world slowly becoming a Philip K. Dick novel.
Animal Collective and Danny Perez took liberties with an increasingly tired industry (music albums), and made a beautiful project that should be appreciated as true art. I’m looking forward to more of these “visual albums” (specifically if Atom and His Package starts making music again).
KFC’s Double Down… Your Prayers Have Been Answered
Finally, somebody listened
...then they listened harder. Why, god? Why?
One of my new lady friends was recently diagnosed with celiac disease (when delicious gluten eats away the lining of your intestines causing a laundry list of symptoms, some of my favorites include: bruising easily, irritability, and unexplained short stature). Anyway, she must now follow a lifelong diet of gluten-free foods, making eating out with her nearly impossible.
No doubt has this severely strained our relationship. We’ve tried to work around it. It’s just not the same. The dynamic has been lost. As soon as I was about to give up entirely on this chick, KFC unveiled their new “sandwich” The Double Down yesterday, a bread-less answer to all my prayers.
Problem solved.
Most likely conceived by the heavenly version of the Colonel, the Double Down is two pieces of bacon and two pieces of cheese, sandwiched neatly by two boneless chicken breasts (2 of everything!). YES!
Then there’s the new variant: The Krispy Kreme Double Down. Because why wouldn’t you add donuts to the mix? Up next: The Camel Light Krispy Kreme Pennzoil Double Down Super Size Meal.