La Motta vs.

Reposted from friend The Holiday Buffet:

The home video montages [in Raging Bull] are the only scenes in color. Though intimate
and blissfully nostalgic, the candid footage is faded and scratched. It is not
reality. The contrast between this kodachromed euphoria and the stark
black and white fighting stills makes Jake La Motta's inevitable downfall
seem all the more tragic.

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

In this RSA short, renown philosopher Slavoj Zizek discusses cultural capitalism and the ethical implications of charity.

The RSAnimate series is a good one, and this is one of the best installments I've seen.

yeah, but you didn't

Last March, I posted some of Craig Damrauer's New Math, the blogger's attempt to quantify the world with words and basic math. I just came across this one, which sums up a conversation I've had with many a cynic.

SS10 Soundtrack: The Official List

I posted in March and again in May about Spring/Summer soundtracks. Now that I'm about ready to pull my winter comforter out, it seems like a good time to post what my SS10 Soundtrack ended up being.

Mainstays:

+ LCD Soundsystem This is Happening

+ Beach House Teen Dream

+ Arcade Fire The Suburbs

+ Delorean Subiza

Also a big part of the soundscape:

+ Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock, Caribou Swim, Washed Out Life of Leisure, Wild Nothing Gemini.

But, at the end of the day, how much less fun would Summer 2010 have been without Boom Boom Pow and:

"Battle: Los Angeles" Trailer

great trailer. no dialog. just sparse sound design and a gorgeous, haunting johann johannsson cue.

Carter:Obama :: Woody:Ryan

I just came across this in the archives, and it seemed like an appropriate, if not unpopular, time to post it. Ryan and I spent Nov 4 at a call center, trying to sway swing states in Obama's favor. I took this picture of him, and a few weeks later spotted a mirror image of Woody Allen stumping for Carter. I thought it made for a pretty funny diptych.

east side gritty, west side pretty

After two years at Aspect Ratio, this is my last day in the office. And after a decade on the east side, this is my last month in Silverlake. Although I love both, I'm diving into an exciting new venture in Santa Monica with some of my best friends, and life in Venice isn't gonna suck. I'll surf in the morning, jump on my bike and ride down the boardwalk to the office with my (future) dog. *le sigh

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take right?

Sing it, Roland, sing it, Curt.

dig dig dig dig

Remix of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by new remix phenom Pogo. It's kind of mesmerizing.

19

I think Afroman should do a remake with "I was gonna vote Yes on 19, but I got high."

Falling Down

I dressed up as Michael Douglas' character, Bill Foster, in Falling Down. Obscure, I know. But that's what you get when you decide what you're going to be on Saturday morning, Halloween weekend.

You like the Smiths? I like the Smiths. OMG

I read a great blog entry on (500) Days of Summer today. There are great lines like this, when in his summary of the film, writer Gabe gets to the end, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character understands that things aren't going to work out with Summer:

Then he goes to an interview for a job as an architect and meets Minka Kelly, and we are led to believe that they will get married and never argue about anything and also her name is Autumn because fuck you.

A great bit:

The most obvious precedent for (500) Days of Summer (which, seriously, with the parentheses in the title? And I say that as someone who has an insufferable appreciation for parenthetical asides [no duh]), is Amelie. Actually,Amelie isn’t so much a precedent for this movie as it is its blueprint. If Napoleon Dynamite was Rushmore for assholes, then (500) Days of Summer is Amelie for lazy people. The problem, of course, is that Amelie was already Amelie for lazy people. I’m not trying to blow anyone’s minds or shatter anyone’s dreams, but Amelie, too, buried its emotional failings in a weaponized shell of aesthetic armor. The unanswered question in both that movie and this one is: WHY WOULD THESE PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE?

It's a good read. Check it out.

via videogum, via ryan