Calm down there kid
- The Polo
I say, go to hell westie chavs.I say, fuck you north shore jocks. It’s about time real, grounded men take back the polo shirt; liberating it fromjudgementand scorn. If it was good enough for Kennedy, it’s good enough for me.
- Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works Created The World’s Most Amazing Planes
There’s a fascinating story behind Lockheed’s “Skunk Works”. A secretive, completely unregulated body who had license to think up some really freaking crazy stuff during the early days of military aviation (through to today).
- Reflections on Reflections
I’ve noticed that I often become anxious or feel discontented when too far from social media, music, television or other recreational distractions. I enjoy them, convince myself they’re useful and still manage to be productive with them in my life.
But I wonder, what would I be like if my life was like that of everyone pre-1980s? Free of mobile distractions, instant communication and false gratification? I remember being at a dinner with Michael Kirby where, with a sense of loss, he mentioned he worries for our generation. He painted a picture of his university days, which seemed to be consumed by quiet evenings of uninterrupted reflection and self-assessment, combined with a much greater disposition towards reading.
I think about my own time (so far) in the academy, and all I see is hours wasted in facebook, twitter, television, morning commutes where I exchange the dull roar of my thoughts for the sweet tonality of my iPod. I make effort to read thoughtful articles, but they’re often from blogs that flow through my G Readerand often my attention span isn’t nearly as deep as their considerations. With luck, our generation will still develop the necessary critical thinking skills to forge themselves a stately space in public discourse, but I worry that the distractions are reducing the proportion of us that will.
So I wonder, are we a generation that is exchanging reflection and self-assessment for the impulsive judgement of our peers? Swapping out quiet, personal time for the constant hum of others? And secondly, if this is all happening; is it actually detrimental? Or am I romanticising cold, boring and endless evenings at home alone?
- Sydney Film Festival 2009 Highlights
God knows what’s happened with the Sydney Film Festival this year. The promotional material has gone from being gorgeous, arty and incredibly cinematic to, well, featuring an ugly dog sitting on a chair. The festival is running for a week shorter than usual. The program is a tangled, unclear mess and the hype engine seems to be running on empty. I can only conclude they’ve lost a significant amount of funding due to the Financial Crisis. But despite these setbacks there are still some fantastic films showing, if you look hard enough through the program to find them. See below for some of the real highlights!
$9.99
Geoffrey Rush, one of the all-star voice cast in this first Australian-Israeli co-production, calls this animated ensemble piece ‘a claymation of Robert Altmans Short Cuts’, and that’s a spot-on description for a funny, surreal film. Single dad Jim Peck (LaPaglia) endures a day of sartorial accidents. Sons Dave (Samuel Johnson) and Lenny (Ben Mendelsohn), have their own adventures, as does soon-to-be-married Ron (Joel Edgerton), fiancee Michelle (Claudia Karvan), youngster Zack (Jamie Katsamatsas), retiree Albert (Otto) and kinky supermodel Tanita (Leanna Walsman). Created in 40 weeks by nine animators under director Tatia Rosenthal, the provocative $9.99 winner of the Mexico City festival’s audience award is unlike anything else in this, or any, film festival.
http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=39
500 DAYS OF SUMMER
Sure it only got made because Garden State, Little Miss Sunshine and Juno were commercial successes. But it still looks charming, and features Tommy from “3rd Rock from the Sun” all grown up. -D
The Rom-Com is pleasurably reinvigorated in Marc Webb’s post-modern spin on the agonies and ecstasies of unruly, unrequited love. Hapless Tom (Gordon-Levitt, Brick, SFF06) architect by training, romantic by nature and a greetings-card writer by trade is instantaneously smitten with the alluringly kooky Summer (Zooey Deschanel, Yes Man), but she happens to believe that true love just doesn’t exist. The wryly comic dissection of their subsequent new millennium romance is chronicled, with considerable verve and pace, in a non-linear sequence that catches us constantly off guard. Visually inventive and brimming with playful references, there’s a lot to embrace in this unconventional tale of idealism and self-discovery set to become the indie flick du jour.
http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=43
THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR
Phil Spector is basically the white Michael Jackson, and fittingly there’s been hardly any public discussion about what’s occurred. -D
Legendary music producer (Lennon, Harrison, the Ramones etc), songwriter (’You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’), originator of the ‘Wall of Sound’, and accused murderer, Phil Spector is interviewed at length in this mesmerising documentary. Archival footage of his greatest hits (The Righteous Brothers, Tina Turner, and more) is interspersed with scenes from his 2007 murder trial. Spector talks about his father’s suicide (when he was a toddler), his early singing career, and his spat with Scorsese over the illicit use of ‘Be My Baby’ in Mean Streets. His bizarre hair backgrounded by the famous white piano from Imagine, he rants about everything and everyone (Tony Bennett is a frequent target), making Jayanti’s film, notwithstanding the violent crime of which Spector is accused (and since the film was completed, found guilty of), highly amusing, and his discriminating musicianship all the more startling.
http://www.sff.org.au/Festival/Films/FilmDetails.aspx?id=106
Read more…
- What The Fuck? Patrick Wolf’s “Vulture”
I’ve always proudly claimed that if I was every going to go gay, it’d be for Patrick Wolf and no one else. But even I’m a bit thrown by his latest video.
It’s a BDSM party-town, that makes me feel like the early 90s never died. I can’t help but feel like it’s exactly what Madonna wanted the Vogue video to be.
It’s described on his myspace as:
Show[ing] an enraptured, semi naked Patrick writhing in a full S&M, bondage outfit. The controversial scenes are intercut with those of Patrick as the leather clad ‘Vulture’ and as an unmasked icon. Inspired by experiences Patrick gained and suffered on the American leg of the 2007 ‘Magic Position’ tour, the video perfectly depicts these experiences, which Patrick describes as ‘getting involved in some dodgy satanic sex games and exploring the many dark sides of Los Angeles.
All I want to know is what the hell did he get upto in LA, and why was Trent Reznor involved?
What do you think?
- Recession is fun!
I don’t know how many of you have come across Microsoft’s “SongSmith” yet, but it’s their new program that “creates” “music” to go along with data, or more usefully, your voice. Thank god! My future has finally arrived! Anyone can become a internationally successful recording artist with the help of a computer (after all, the RIAA keep telling us that they can’t afford to keep making music on our behalf).
They’ve been trying to promote it with this absoloutely terrible (yet awesome in every conceivable way) advertisment they’ve posted online, which ironically almost exclusively features Macs. (Those stickers aren’t fooling anyone YOU IDJETS!
The best SongSmith tune I’ve heard so far, is the one generated to a whole bunch of miserable, “end-of-the-world” type data. It’sunsettlingly jolly! Check it out below.
EDIT: This competes for the best tune title, Billy Idol’s White Wedding Bluegrassified!
- I am - are you?
(via - Boing Boing)
- Malcolm Turnbull’s Christmas Message
God this is awkward! You’d think they’d atleast plan what they were going to say beforehand. Obviously no one’s let them in on that little television secret that nothing goes on air without a script (aside from, say, Lateline. But perhaps this explains Turbull’s confusion).
- The Dutch Conmen
Oh god - here we go again. There’s another “environmentally friendly” fad that’s going to get everybody all wound up. The problem, however, is that it’s not actually that helpful at all. It’s just another covert commercial endeavour hiding behind the myst of peoples lack of understanding. (After all, who can forget “Blackle” - which made a tonne of money for its owner, and did very little for anything else).
What’s the new kid on the block, you ask? The ecofont.
Made by the Dutch communications and design firm SPRANQ (did we mention SPRANQ, SPRANQ, SPRANQ, SPRANQ, SPRANQ, SPRANQ, SPRANQ?), it attempts to convince us that using a font with a series of holes in it will reduce ink usage by 20% (proven, how?).
The sad truth is, it’s just as easy to reduce your ink usage by setting your printer to a drafting quality than using their special font. But I guess you just won’t get that warm, fuzzy-inside feeling.
I also don’t know why you’d want to lock yourself into using one particular typeface? Especially when it’s one of the most publicly hated ones around…
Any innovation that leads to more ecologically efficient workflows are a real winner in my eyes. We all just need to be a bit more critical in our judgements in order to steer clear of the snake oil salesmen.
