My Favorite Films and Performances of 2019
4 years ago
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Music: Chairlift + Das Racist
Come out to Tribeca Grand to checkout Chairlift and Das Racist. We're honored to play with these doods. So come!!!! RSVP at: DOESYOUINSPIREYOU@GMAIL.COM
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2008/09/whats_going_on_381.html
Music: Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam + Chaudvin Ka Chand
It should be no surprise to anyone that's read the first few posts on this blog that I'm obsessed with Guru Dutt. While watching Fanaa, a Hindi film written by a fan of old films, there's an antakshari scene with two of his film's songs used. In addition to "Hum Aapke Aankhon Mein" from my favorite film Pyaasa was "Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam" from another one of my favorite films of his, Kaagaz Ke Phool. I can't get this shit out of my head.
Guru was known for a lot of things but some believe the way he used light is the real legacy he left to Bollywood. This was made in 1959? I don't know shit about old films but I imagine the shot at about 2:00 is impressive for 1959. And damn, Waheeda Rehman was so fly. Though it's one of his best films, it was a commercial disaster and though he basically directed or co-directed after this he never wrote himself in the credits as Director. This was the first Indian film made in wide 75 mm CinemaScope as well.
While I'm posting on Guru Dutt songs, I may as well mention another. I love that the director of East is East bigged this song and film up by having the family travel to the Indian suburb to watch this at a theatre while the kids complained. This is also one of Rafi's finest recordings, which says alot.
YouTube: Palin on Bailout
I try to stay away from politics because, frankly, it's kind of depressing but this is just unreal:
And now the awesome SNL parody which wasn't really a parody which is kind of depressing:
Also peep these: http://palinquotes.sillycloud.com/ and http://interviewpalin.com/
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Music: MGMT + Laid Back + Hall and Oates
Last week I posted the band on KCRW. If you didn't have 35 minutes to watch that, which I can understand as I just saw it a week after putting it up, I found a video of one of the highlights for me. Here's the band doing a cover of a song called Roger by an 80's Danish (I think) synth- pop band awesomely called Laid Back.
The embedding is fucked but just go to the link:
http://kcrwmusicnews.vox.com/library/video/6a00e398a7497d000100fa969b94370003.html
Or watch them perform it live:
Here's the MP3 of the MGMT cover at KCRW via HEARSAY: http://hearsay.alphaquam.com/music/080927_04-Roger.mp3
Here's Laid Back's White Horse, which is amazing. "If you want to ride, don't ride the white horse"....
And here's one for Bakerman:
Since I am talking about music videos, and MGMT who I like to think of as a modern Hall and Oates, I'd be an idiot to not post quite possibly the best music video of all time: She's Gone.
And they disabled embedding but check out No Can Do as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vouDK-LELEU
Music: TV on the Radio Stop by Letterman
Along with the soundtracks to Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool, which I remembered owning while watching Fanaa this past weekend, TV on the Radio's "Dear Science," has been in very heavy rotation. Check out this interview in Gothamist with Kyp Malone: http://gothamist.com/2008/09/23/kyp_malone_tv_on_the_radio.php
I thought this quote on the title was kinda cool:
"The original germ of the idea comes from a note that Dave [Sitek] wrote in the studio that said, 'Dear Science, please start solving problems and curing diseases or shut the fuck up.'"
In this older interview on Gothamist I got a kick out of this:
Gothamist: Tell us about the afro.
Kyp: I don't have an afro. I wear my hair in a style called a natural. It's what happens if you're black and you grow your hair long and don't process it or braid it , I recommend it to anyone who has the genetic ability to rock it. It is a good barometer of who I need to take seriously in regards to their reaction towards it. It's just fucking hair.
If you don't know what he's talking about, here's a photo of Kyp with his natural (pre-haircut) and my Minority Report family: Chung and Sara'o.
And speaking of Sara'o, here's an article he sent me about Vivienne Westwood using larger male models with a note that said "It's your world pa". We all know I'm trying to kill it out here with the plus sized male modeling. http://www.collegeotr.com/fashion_institute_of_design_merchandising/models_are_finally_getting_bigger_9589
Humor: THE DARRYL STRAWBERRY SHOW
Oh man. Big up Alexi for putting me on to this. This is amazing on so many levels. Daaarrryyyylll:
And here's another good episode:
One more:
Friday, September 26, 2008
Music: Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place
Man. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) might be one of my favorite songs ever made. Holy shit. I've listened to this at least 5 times a day for the last month and a lot before that too. Here's the video from their awesome awesomeness "Stop Making Sense".
Here's a Management cover from 4/20/2003, Zonker Harris Day at Wesleyan. I posted this before but, like James Pants, it was one of 8 or 9 videos so here it is again. There's something real charming about this.
Here are David Byrne & Arcade Fire performing the song on 2/2/2005 at Irving Plaza.
Dope.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Art: MANOJ
YES!
YES!
YES!
MANOJ is a documentary about a rising comedian, Manoj Krishnamurthy. It was written and is starring none other than Hari Kondabolu, famed brother of unfamed Ashok Kondabolu. Hari plays what we call in Hindi fillums a "double role". You may remember him from his stand-up on Comedy Central. No? Well, check this out anyway ya chuchbags. Highly Recommended.
Art: F.N. Souza
Last week I stopped by AICON gallery to see The Ghost of Souza. "The exhibition creates a map of relationships, drawing on a wide range of artists and artiastic practices from contemporary India, bringing them into conversation with a selection of some of Souzas most powerful canvases." The gallery is located on 35 Great Jones Street and the work of Souza and others will be on display until October 18, 2008. I highly recommend checking it out.
Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002) was an Indian artist. He was the first avant-garde artist from India to achieve widespread recognition in the West. If his name doesn't seem Indian to you it's because he's from Goa which was colonized by the Portuguese hella early. I got a paper lying around about the Jesuits who came over and kicked it with the Mughals; 20 bucks a pop but you can use it at Wesleyan because I wrote it at SOAS (holler). His style was, as John Berger put it, "deliberately eclectic". While it was Expressionist in character, it also drew upon post-war Art Brut and British Neo-romanticism. After 1967 he settled in N.Y. but returned to India before his death in 2002.
Dude got kicked out of every school he went to, including the prestigious Sir J.J. School of Art I've mentioned a lot of people going to. Alumni I've posted about here that went to J.J. include Atul Dodiya, Anjolie Eli Menon, and MF Husain. J.J. was kind of a colonial jumpoff and Souza supported the Quit India Movement so they mercked him out in 1942.
Souza and S.H.Raza, who is on my list of artists to post about, started the Progressive Artists Group in 1947, the year India gained Independence. MF Husain was an early member of the group as well. The idea was to break away with the Bengal School of Art and their quasi-orientalist ways instead embracing the avant-garde and international world of art. Fools were painting mad shit that catered to the whites. He left India for London in 1949. In 1956 the group disbanded.
UNTITLED (CHRIST AND TWO DICIPLES), 1983, Ink on Paper
DOUBLE PORTRAIT, 1962, Oil on Canvas 
POPE BLESSING THE CROWD, 1963, Oil on Canvas
SPAIN, 1959, Oil on Board
DEGENERATES, 1957, Oil on Board
PORTRAIT AFTER TITIAN, 1956, Oil on Canvas
PORTRAIT OF HUSAIN, 1958, Oil on Board
HINDU PRINCESS, 1949, Oil on Board
PORTRAIT OF A FURRED WOMAN, 1964, Oil on Board
SELF-PORTRAIT ON TILED FLOOR, 1949, Oil on Plywood
LANDSCAPE, 1974, Oil on CanvasAnd here's an awesome piece by Baiju Parthan who I posted on before. Parthan studied under Souza who is depicted (I'm almost positive) in this piece. You can see this piece at AICON as well.
AS SIMPLE AS THAT (EROS AND MINOTAUR), 2008, Oil and Acrylic on Canvas
Music: Chad VanGaalen - Molten Light
Chad VanGaalen is a Canadian musician and artist from Calgary, Alberta. Dude made a bunch of homemade CDs with hand-drawn art. Eventually one of these bedroom cd's made it's way to Sub Pop where it was re-released in 2005. Dude didn't only make this song, but he also animated the video.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Music: MGMT on KCRW
MGMT on KCRW..... (Don't know if this embedded joint works. Haven't seen it yet.)
Monday, September 22, 2008
Art: Geoffrey Raymond
Geoffrey Raymond makes Chuck-Close-esque portraits of Wall Street's business elite like Lloyd Blankfein and CNBC anchors like Jim Cramer. He's blown up this past year with his portraits of executives of failed banks, highlighted on Dealbreaker and across the internet. After completing the portrait, Geoffrey camps out outside of the firm's main office and has people write comments on them. Typically he'll use a color, green for Lehman for example, for current or past employees of the firm and black for non-employees. Here's his potrait of James Cayne, "The Annotated Bear".
And recently he painted Dick Fuld, "The Annotated Fuld" with comments like "Greed + Ego = Fuld" written in green.
Here's a work-in-progress, yet to be tagged outside the AIG building, "The Annotated AIG".
I'm off to a meeting....
Craigslist: Trading 4.5 Million Shares of Lehman Stock for ANYTHING YOU CAN GIVE ME
"Alright so I am a (former) Lehman Brothers broker. The truth is that I don't really know what I did there but I am real good at Excel spreadsheets and apparently ruining the economy. The point is that I have accumulated a little under 4.5 million shares of stock and I need to get rid of them and some other stuff I have bought over the years. My Soho loft is pretty much packed with stock, so is my Water Street condo and my summer apartment in the Upper West Side. I have live-in girlfriends at each of these places and I can't stand to lose any of them, so I am DEFINITELY a motivated seller. I am trying to get rid of the following things:
- All 4.5 million shares of stock, perfect for a paper airplane fleet, wallpapering, you name it.
- A series of Porsche 911 Turbos painted to match the color of Skittles
- Bottles of wine apparently owned by Plato (I might have gotten ripped off???)
- A houseboat in Long Island Sound with a firing range on it.
- The original Zapruder film (rare!)
- I can also tell you stories about eating at some really amazing and famous restaurants (Daniel, Per Se, Nobu, and more)
In retrospect I probably should have saved some money or maybe worked for a decent company but the past is unfortunately behind me and the future is crushing down on me like 210,000 pounds of paper. "
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bar/843579762.html
Stuff: Cool People
Here are some cool people.
Arthur Rimbaud:
Francis Newton Souza:
Richard Hell:
Richard Hell and the rest of Television:
William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn of The Weathermen:
Amiri Baraka:
Bhagat Singh:
Marcus Garvey:
Guru Dutt:
Jean-Michel Basquiat: 
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Music: Diplo, M.I.A., Switch
M.I.A., Diplo, and Switch took over for Giles Peterson at BBC Radio 1 while dude was in Cuba. This what they did. What a cool plug from the energy king, ELEPHANTMAN!!
http://maddecent.com/blog/2008/09/15/diplo-switch-mia-takeover/
Diplo, Switch & M.I.A Takeover
-----------------------------------------
Unknown – 'Boeke' (White)
Crookers – 'Burning Spear' (Mad Decent)
Unknown – ‘Untitled’ (White)
Unknown - 'This is Ska' (White)
Busy Signal ft MIA and Rye Rye – 'Tic Toc' (Mia Remix) (Test)
Switch & Rusko 'Untitled' (White)
Benga – '26 Basslines' (Tempa)
Can – ‘Vitamin C’ (United Artists)
Major Lazer - 'I'm an Indian Too' (White)
DJ Mujava – ‘Township Funk’ (This is Music)
Steve Angelo – 'Gypsy' (This is Music)
J Dilla – ‘Oxtapus’
Major Lazer - ‘Lazer Theme’ (White)
Busy Signal – 'Cool It Down' (VP Records)
Black Star – 'Let Me Hump You' (Test)
Isaac Hayes - Ike's Rap II, (Enterprise)
Tame Impala – ‘Remember Me’ (White)
Peace.
UPDATE: Busy Signal ft MIA and Rye Rye – 'Tic Toc' (Mia Remix) (Test) is amazing. I can't wait for this shit to leak as an mp3 so I can put it up. If you don't want to hear the whole mix, which I suggest, at least forward to that. Dag.
Music: Tinchy Stryder
A few posts ago I referred to Tinchy Stryder as some "funny-named grime dude". My bust. Tinchy Stryder's a real solid grime dude. Part of Roll Deep, he came to prominence playing shows and getting put on by cats like Wiley and Dizzy. He's the "Prince of Grime" apparently. If you haven't heard the Gang Gang Dance song highlighting dude, do that. Fire.
http://www.warprecords.com/ganggangdance/Gang_Gang_Dance-Princes_feat_Tinchy_Stryder.mp3
Here's Tinchy on the Ting Tings beat for "That's Not My Name". Murder. DR was thinking about doing a That's Not My Name... They call me vickram, they call me sanjay... They call me Hector, they call me Carlos... There's no use now.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/1661925362fbb019/ (zshare)
He spits on that A Milli beat somewhere on hypemachine too.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Art: SoME FaVZz
Francis Newton Souza, DEGENERATES, 1957, Oil on Board, 48 X 60
Jean-Michel Basquiat, IRONY OF THE NEGRO POLICEMAN, 1981, Acrylic and Oil Paintstick on Wood. 72 X 48
![[Husain.bmp]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyug2VJxICQiX0afApt-zjlKvaA_w_B_NiM24xgVwnibbkZ9mSBVJu9f8Is2hSbOaEGJoXsu_Ygkr29KwomLqsKLhg61vRBS8p6-9ZBOYk2cDsRJ1SuxAoGtTNohnIvw2pw5YXJPbkVh4/s1600/Husain.bmp)
MF Husain, BHARAT MATA
Did not know this but last week in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of India termed this painting of "Bharat Mata" in nude as a "work of art". It's pretty controversial as the right-wing Hindoos weren't big fans. They so cray cray, them boys.
Music: "Oh Shit, Gang Gang"
Gang Gang Dance's new album Saint Dymphna is out October 20th. A lot of you may remember them from this past year's 88 Drummers event. According to their myspace page, they're buds with GordonGartrelle bud Leif. Though I had read a lot about them before and was fascinated with the descriptions of their music, I never really fucked with them. These two new songs make me wish I did. I'm equally obsessed with both. Now I fuck with them, hardbody.
"Princes" is like nothing you've ever heard. If you're on some next shit like this and it is like something you've heard, do share. Tynchy Stryder's some funny-named grime dude. He's good. I'd love to spit on a beat like this.
http://www.warprecords.com/ganggangdance/Gang_Gang_Dance-Princes_feat_Tinchy_Stryder.mp3
Someone descsribed "House Jam" as "The Knife being produced by Timbaland" and I think that's alright though it gives a lot of credit to Timbaland. Brian DeGraw is more like an art Timbo. This is infectious. Lizzi Bougatsos' vocals sound amazing. AY WASSUP GIRL.
http://www.warprecords.com/ganggangdance/Gang_Gang_Dance-House_Jam.mp3
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Art: Baiju Parthan
Tonight at 6 is the opening reception of the new location of the AICON, formerly Arts India, gallery. 35 Great Jones Street. "The Ghost of Souza" is the new location's inaugural exhibit. "The exhibition creates a map of relationships, drawing on a wide range of artists and artiastic practices from contemporary India, bringing them into conversation with a selection of some of Souzas most powerful canvases." While I'm kind of surprised I have yet to post on the work of Francis Newton Souza, one of India's most well known and prolific modern artists, I'm going to save that for later. Right now, I'd prefer posting on someone else I came across who has a piece being exhibited there: Baiju Parthan.
Baiju Parthan has a rather eclectic academic background. He's a trained artist with B.F.A. in painting, bachelors degree in Botany, post graduate diploma in Mythology and Philosophy. Baiju Parthan is an artist with a mythopoeic imagination.
This is Baiju Parthan: 
This is his work:
Archeology- House of Spice
'Engineered Fruit'![[BaijuParthan.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkFdwL2UsrHNIfSYM0r7la-gLjVZy_y2QFLBfNnZAI5hNXouHhemo4H7FzXlbjpQQ9QB7R8o8C0pkQU708rnDiaaQqW2e_p4-WU5hz6sYBzzHp-5CdDVnGZhbvsGRf9pt-bxvZ554RVZd/s1600/BaijuParthan.jpg)
This is Pigment ink on an Aluminum Composite Panel.
Global Variant, 2004. Whoa:
Awesome:
Dude kind of reminds me of Atul Dodiya. And here's an Atul Dodiya piece I just came across. "Mirage", 2002. Atul began painting on shutters as many Indians spent their days and nights behind them during the 1992 riots in India.
"We On That YouTube Listening To 1-Tweezy"
Now that work has slowed down a wee bit and this Lehman thing is getting clearer I can post about meaningless things that don't make me money. Prime example: YouTube videos that I like and haven't posted on. I won't include "Cupid", 112's classic hit, but I will divulge that the song "Different Schools" by Das Racist is based on a comment some 14 year old wrote for that video.
I'm in love with the girl on the right. It's not just her moves. It's the way she executes them. At about 35 seconds I realize she's probably very funny. I bet the morning after we would sit in bed and read the obituaries together, burning, eating cheeseburgers, and laughing about things. Her English would get better. My Portuguese would improve. The good life.
Television's Marquee Moon might be my favorite rock album of all time. It's definitely top three. Man, Richard Hell's the fucking man. If you ever have the opportunity to read Please Kill Me: An Oral History of Punk, do it. It's a series of interviews blended into stories of the beginnings of the post-Warhol punk scene in New York and is dripping of NYC depravity in the 70's and 80's. I had a video up on my facebook of Tom Verlaine trying to teach Richard Hell some part of Venus and him having no interest whatsover, looking hella zonked and joking around. They took that down so this will do: Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation
If you've ever wondered, this is what the Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell video will look like; Vick and I chilling in Jamaica, Queens, maybe at a Combination Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts instead, rapping with some faux-Hype Williams video styling. This is the Grime equivalent of Thug Handles:
James Pants:
I put this up on my facebook back in the end of July. Why not again? This is how we roll in India.
Courtesy of Dap. The best line delivery of all time. "Please watch this 10x right now":
Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea would probably be in that top 3 rock albums list for me as well. Man. It's a shame these guys aren't around anymore. "is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?"
What else? Early videos of the Management at Zonker Harris Day and Eclectic at Wesleyan?
And.......
The best rap battle ever.....
Music: TV on the Radio
The drums are a bit dancier. A bit more programmed. There's a lot more synths. But not bee ba bee doo synths; SYNTHS. There's strings. It's a bit sexier; a bit influenced by Prince. It's a bit scarier. It's a bit more desperate. Sometimes it reminds me of El-P in a funny, rock-equivalent of his apocaplyptic, melancholy, futurist way. Kyp Malone sings a lot more than I recall on the last album. Tunde sings harder. Sometimes it reminds me of Bowie. There's even a track that sounds like rap but that's not so surprising as 2002's OK Calculator had some flows on it. While that album, their first which they placed into sofa cushions in furniture stores in Brooklyn and performed at coffee shops, had moments of brilliance peeking through in select spots. This album is cohesive. It's consistent. It's an album. It's Radiohead. You know those albums that you listen to through and through? The albums that soundtrack a few months in your life and then when you hear them a year later you remember that time in your life? It's been a while since I've had one of those. This is like that shit. Shit.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Music: New TV on the Radio Video + Kanye "Love Lockdown"
New TV on the Radio video. TV on the Radio is a band from Brooklyn. I bothered their bassist at a bar once. I've been listening to this song a lot and it's grown on me. Maybe it will grow on you?
Peep it here:
http://www.spinner.com/2008/09/16/tv-on-the-radio-golden-age-video-premiere/
I can't hear this because I'm at work but I liked the performance and live rip I posted on the night of the VMA's so I'm guessing I won't hate it:
Peep it here:
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=206428_-1__0_~0_-1_9_2008_0_0&em3281=&em3161=
Monday, September 15, 2008
Blog: Sesame Tooth
Hell yeah: Noah (fucking!) Isaacs has a blog:
Dear friends,
I wanted to let you know that I just started up Sesame Tooth, a place where all your culinary fantasies come true (my very own line of heirloom tubers will be forthcoming on the site). Please join me on a daily basis as I look at food in my kitchen, food in New York and in general whatever schmaltz I find on the interweb.
Best,
Noah
Wesleyan in Hollywood
Wesleyan's Entertaining Class in Vanity Fair:
We could do one of these for Music as well, although most of them are already listed as playing MHOW on Halloween.
Music: Halloween Extravaganza
Bener
FOR REAL THOUGH?
Wesleyan connections aside, this show will be bonkers.
My god.
10/31 Music Hall of Williamsburg
MGMT
Amazing Baby
Violens
Boy Crisis
Francis & the Lights
Sunday, September 14, 2008
News: Wall Street
WHAT THE FUCK?I'm at work at 10 PM on a Sunday night.
Lehman Brothers is no more.
At $29/share, John Thain brokered an amazing deal:
Bank of America and Merrill Lynch are now one.
This week will go down in history. Now that Merrill, Lehman, and Bear are gone, what does the future hold for the only American banks left without significant restructuring: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley?
Oh, and as Victor repeatedly told my unedumacated ass the other night: David Foster Wallace is dead. This author's death is particularly interesting because, I'm told, "the whole thing about that dude was that he hadn't killed himself yet."
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