The Origins of Auto-Tune

Where it all came from. T-Pain eat your heart out..

"Mongol"

So I finally got around to watching "Mongol", which I'd been wanting to watch for quite some time now. Like many of you, one gets busy and one forgets. "Mongol" was stunning. The film's cinematography was brilliant, but what really stood out to me was the film's writing. In it's economy of words, it's subtle humor, the underlying drama. My only criticism of this film was Temudjin himself (Genghis before he was Khan), played by Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, whose performance was a bit sleepy. Maybe I just yearned to see a more brutal Temudjin. But it's necessary to know, this film was drawn from The Secret History of the Mongols, a Mongolian text that presents Temudjin as a more humane man who came from humble origins, which are quite different from that of the brutal, one-dimensional histories written by the (conquered) Chinese or Russians. That said, I can't wait for director Sergei Bodrov's second installment. If you're looking for blood and guts, this might not be the one. Nevertheless, here's the trailer for the first..

"Brazil"

Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult film, it's not for everybody, the humor is pretty damn awkward! The Ministry of Information! Here's one of the opening shots...

A War is Raging..

.. on the Sunset Strip..


Audi threw the ad up. BMW retaliated with a genius ad. Bravo, ultimate driving machine. I want one now.

Coachella 2009 Parties

The big buzz is the Music Loves Fashion party at the Riviera Hotel. In addition to almost every LA promoter being involved, there's just a ton of people staying there..



Last year's party was kind of weak. So looks like this year they're trying to take the crown from the crew over at Anthem Magazine, who for the past few years have thrown the best parties at the best houses, hands down. I hear this year they have a lake smack dab in the middle of the property..



My good friends from URB, dF, Undefeated, and more are throwing the inaugural Indioasis party..


The Good Life party w/ Doug E. Fresh, Spank Rock, etc..



And the Ace Hotel party sponsored by Levi's..



And other parties (leaning towards the more exclusive) include the T-Mobile afterparty on Saturday night (last years was solid, really far out, dark drive); a Filter Magazine pre-party on Thursday night; and a Jeremy Scott party on Saturday night. And if you didn't rsvp for any of these parties, just bumrush the show, act like ya know. Plus, you got all your friends with their own private villas so there should be no shortage of what to do! But be safe out there. See you all in the desert!!!

"The Clinic" on TubeFilter

TubeFilter is the 'Variety" of the world of web episodic. They just published some love today, read the whole article here.

Aloe Blacc on Current TV

Newest Current pod I produced. The talented Aloe Blacc on Stones Throw..

Iconoclasts

Simply one of the best and most honest shows on the telly. I got lost for quite awhile just toggling through the all these online clips. Enjoy.

"Baraka"

Nothing to do with Mortal Kombat, Ron Fricke directed this painstakingly beautiful film back in 1992. It was the first film in over twenty years to be photographed in the 70mm Todd-AO format, an extremely high definition wide-screen film format developed in the mid 1950s. Not a single word in the entire film, "Baraka" (which in Sufi means "breath of life") is an intricately weaved series of images with no conventional plot, alongside a mysterious score. This is the original montage, the clash of independent and even disparate images (coined by Sergei Eisenstein), not the quick intro for your video dude. In summary, this is a great film to chill out and relax to, even cupcake to. 17 years later, his newest film after "Baraka" is set to come out this year. It's called "Samsara", which is a Sanskrit word meaning "cyclic existence". Definitely a watermark in cinematic history, Eisenstein would've been proud. Here's the trailer..