Popular Media
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Channel 101: More Media For The Attention Deficient
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 4, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010One hundred channels of television and still nothing to watch? Try Channel 101.
In our continued search for amusing media for the attention deficient, we bring you: Channel 101. And in a convenient example of life imitating art, we’re going to do what Channel 101 does to its audience, and rather than tell you what to like, force you to go look at it and tell us what’s good. So just what is Channel 101? Well, if you live in LA, it’s a film festival with monthly screenings. But beyond that, it’s a “web channel” created by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab that lets filmmakers create short “pilots” that are then judged by the audience for a shot at getting into top rotation on the site. Kind of like real TV, except no-one’s getting paid, and the fat rich executive that calls the shots is YOU. The concept was born back in 1999 when Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab were banished from legitimate television after the FOX network opted not to make a show from their pilot Heat Vision and Jack. As their lives unraveled in 2000, Rob Schrab went on to make a series of home movies about eating poop and having sex with babies. Dan Harmon, not to be outdone, makes a movie about Chris Tallman coming back from the dead and raping him in the ass. That’s pretty much verbatim from their About Us page, for the record. The fact is these guys appear to have pals like Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, and Ben Stiller, and the concept draws some pretty decent talent, ranging from the “meta” arty 60′s mod stylised vignettes of EVERYTHING to the camp of Fagney & Gaycey. I didn’t take time to dig deeper. Why don’t YOU. And then come back and share. We get tired of doing all the heavy lifting around here. Read the rest of this entry »
Soviet Animation Is Something You Can’t Go Russian Into
[ Comments Off ]Posted on April 28, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010A seemingly endless well of Soviet-era animation is popping up on line for your perusal
 This image actually has nothing to do with animation. I just like the imagery. |
Last year we touched on some of the amazing Russian Flash Animation that’s out there, but I had no idea what an amazing body of work existed in terms of Soviet animation in general until I ran into this piece about 80′s Russian animation the other day. I’ve always had a mild fascination with things Russian; especially in the 80′s, when the cold war was sputtering out. I had a fair number of Russian military surplus caps, pins, and jackets, and loved the bold graphic style of Soviet propaganda posters. At the time the Soviet Union not only still existed, it was a dark and mysterious place in western eyes. I’ve also always enjoyed the tough-minded humorous attitude of my Russian friends, which is probably why I’ve threatened to run away and start a Balkan Funk Band. But that’s going to have to wait for a minute, because this Russian animation thing has triggered a wicked case of Wikiphilia, and I’ve got some YouTubing to do. The visual style of Russian animation prior to the 90′s is all over the map, and it’s hard to get a grasp on who did what and why. Some of the coolest stuff may or may not be politically-motivated, and all the best sources for this stuff are in Russian! So I’ve only included two clips below, but if you find this stuff intriguing you might start your trail with some things like this Soyuzmulzfilm channel on YouTube, or Wikipedia pages about the film studios Kievnauchfilm and Soyuzmultfilm. Read the rest of this entry »
No Lion – M.I.A.’s New Video “Born Free” Is Manely Just Violent
[ Comments Off ]Posted on April 26, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Monday, April 26th, 2010In much the same way that her political posturing brings more attention to herself than the plight of Sri Lanka, M.I.A.’s new video “Born Free” brings more attention to itself than its message.
Not to be outdone by Erykah Badu, Lady Gaga & Beyoncé, M.I.A.’s new video (below) is much more provocative short film than music video. And while it’s stylishly and cleverly shot it is – in my opinion – a little short on real finesse. When I first heard about M.I.A.
Danger Mouse Needs A Remix
[ Comments Off ]Posted on April 20, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010The coolest Danger Mouse in the world has never jammed as Gnarls Barkley.
No not that Danger Mouse, I’m talking about this Danger Mouse. With production suspended on the next James Bond film, the world may need a stylish, sophisticated spy figure to fill in. And Danger Mouse may be just the ticket. If you were alive and paying attention in the 80′s, you probably caught at least one episode of the animated British series featuring the witty and articulate mouse and his pun-prone hamster sidekick Penfold. Watching the series now, it seems a bit dreary and highbrow, but this is really just a side-effect of the fact that at the time it was playing against a pop culture background colored by the the end of the cold war and the commercialization of punk. You also had to be a bit of an Anglophile to get into it; I remember a girlfriend at the time asking “just what language is he speaking, anyway?”, referring to Penfold. In spite of his relatively cult status, I think a properly revamped Danger Mouse could be absolute genius. It would certainly be more interesting than the reworking of that other, cocaine-sniffing mouse which is apparently already in the works. If you’re a Danger Mouse fan who’d forgotten the series existed, it’s available on DVD
Does PBS Frontline’s “Obama’s Deal” Indict Investigative Reporting Too?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on April 13, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Now I know what the “BS” stands for, but what about the “P”?
Whether you’re a conservative or a liberal, watching the PBS Frontline program Obama’s Deal may leave you with some rather muddled feelings. If you’re an Obamaphile, you’ll jump to the president’s defense saying “Yeah, well, it’s Washington. There have to be some dirty deals made to get anything done“. If you’re a conservative, you’ll probably be left scratching your head, saying “Jeez. I had NO IDEA this guy was so COOL“. The program comes across as a low-key indictment of the methods president Obama utilized to drive home his health care “victory”. Which I find a little ironic. Not that I think they’re wrong in their highbrow, liberal elitist tsk-tsking observation that Obama is in fact “just another politician”, and for mostly political reasons has just done more to benefit the insurance companies than he has to benefit the American people. No, it’s the fact that – as much as I love the brilliantly produced show – to bother with this topic at all is a sort of meta-ironic commentary on the sad state of investigative reporting itself. I mean, where was their “investigative reporting” when this was all going down? It’s sort of like if we all knew that Nixon was a conniving manipulative bastard who would do anything to achieve his ends, so engineered and executed the Watergate burglaries with public transparency, and then Woodward & Bernstein came along and reported it on it. Sorry Frontline, I love you. But if this is your idea of news, I’ll stick with the Daily Show.