Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Filming a Ghost: Jandek in Chapel Hill

Last night, there was a ghost sighting in Chapel Hill, a sighting I was fortunately able to document on videotape. The ghost was dressed in a black suit and pants, with a black hat and a black electric guitar. He was accompanied by three other specters, who employed a wide variety of instruments, including keyboards, drums, bass, xylophone, saxophone, and howling. Together, their ghostly reverie haunted the sacred walls of UNC’s Gerrard Hall, a place that I was told James K. Polk had once spoken at, from 7:30 to 9:30 on a cold Sunday evening. The ghost in charge of the proceedings went by many names: Sterling Smith, the representative from Corwood, or the name most people know him by, Jandek.

An elusive individual, yet one who had been releasing records with astounding profuseness since 1978, Jandek only started giving live concerts in 2004, when a music festival in Glasgow wrote to his PO box in Houston (the only way to get in touch with him) asking him to come and perform. Shocking all parties involved, Jandek agreed, and has continued with an on-and-off tour schedule since, rarely playing the same venue twice, and always with a different backing band. For this performance, Jandek was accompanied by John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats on keyboards, an instrument he admitted to having never played live since he was 9; Anne Gomez on bass, sax and the aforementioned howling; and drummer Brian Jones, who also took time to bang away on a xylophone during some of the numbers. Before the show, some of the ushers had set up a table where you could pick up pairs of earplugs, giving an indicator as to what was in store for the audience.

The set lasted two hours, and incorporated roughly six songs, most of which stretched past the twenty-minute mark. The opening number began with about 15 minutes of instrumental noise courtesy of Darnielle banging away on the keyboards, Gomez slapping her bass, and Jones rapidly swapping out time signatures, before Jandek took to the microphone with a long list of items, each one beginning with the phrase “I tried…” One of the shorter numbers was a song entitled “I Think I’m Unstable”. I assume that was the title since that line was repeated ad infinitum during the eight-minute song, in between harmonica solos (also performed by Jandek) and Darnielle complementing the harmonica with organ. The most memorable song of the night was a sort of call-and-response between Jandek and Gomez, in which Jandek would recite a few lines from his lyric book and Gomez would respond with a sustained howl into her microphone. The first time she did this, it elicited some whoops and shouts from the audience. Subsequent times, it simply became another instrument in the swirling mass of the song.

Overall, it was a fascinating concert to watch, even though I had to watch most of it through a viewfinder. There were three cameramen total: me, positioned stage left, roughly six rows back; and my friends Justin and Daniel, who were both in the balcony, center stage and stage right, respectively. We were told that a live album/DVD would be forthcoming (if the pattern of live Jandek titles continues, this one will surely be called Chapel Hill Sunday), but that it might be a while because Jandek was still working on releasing albums of concerts from a couple years ago. As I handed the tapes off to the mysterious representative from Corwood, I made sure to tell him that I couldn’t wait to see the finished result.

The flyers were printed on manila envelopes, complete with a pair of one-cent stamps.

Thanks to Justin and Daniel for filming, Neil for moral support, and especially Ned for making it all happen.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Jane Austen vs. Predator

So...just last week, I talked about the upcoming zombie spoof of Jane Austen's seminal work, Pride and Prejudice, entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Now, I receive the following e-mail:

Elton John’s Rocket Pictures hopes to make the first Jane Austen adaptation to which men will drag their girlfriends. Will Clark is set to direct "Pride and Predator,” which veers from the traditional period costume drama when an alien crash lands and begins to butcher the mannered protags, who suddenly have more than marriage and inheritance to worry about.
Wow. Did all of Jane Austen's books suddenly become public domain so everyone's jumping on the parody bandwagon or is there a niche market for sci-fi twists on classic novels that I am unaware of? 'Cause I'll go ahead and admit I always thought an alien invasion would've been a nice addition to The Count of Monte Cristo, and why not have Jean Valjean on the run not only from the French police, but also from a killer cyborg from the future? Hollywood, I am waiting for your call.

Happy Birthday to Me!

And what greater gift to get than the greatest viral video ever?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Lonely Island, Incredibad

The success of Internet comedy trio The Lonely Island could’ve easily been attributed to being in the right place at the right time, but their staying power has proved that Lorne Michaels didn’t just pick the first result that came up on YouTube. Now, the three Saturday Night Live cast members/writers have returned to their original moniker for Incredibad, a CD/DVD compiling their most memorable songs from SNL, as well as a handful of new tracks and sketches.

The first thing you may notice about the collection of tracks is that Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer have an affinity for nerdcore rap, whether its Andy and fellow SNLer Chris Parnell bustin’ rhymes about a trip to the theater to see The Cronicles of Narnia (“Lazy Sunday”), or Andy and Akiva bragging about their nautical escapades with T-Pain (“I’m On a Boat”). While this is a strategy that pays off pretty consistently, it does make for a somewhat tedious listen once we finally arrive at the alien three-way that is the title track. High-profile guests like Jack Black and Norah Jones provide entertaining diversions from the familiar material, and it’s nice to finally have unbleeped versions of SNL favorites like “Dick in a Box” and “Natalie’s Rap,” a hilarious hardcore rap parody featuring a wonderfully unhinged Natalie Portman.

Interludes like “The Old Saloon” poke fun at the obnoxious DJ call-outs during promo tracks, but sometimes, like in the case of “Shrooms,” the simpler the idea, the funnier. Songs rarely break the three-minute mark, which is the perfect length to get the jokes across without wearing out the concept, something the other writers of SNL could stand to learn.

Overall, Incredibad does an exceptional job cataloging the first few years of one of the more recent success stories to emerge from the Not Ready for Primetime Players. However, the accompanying DVD feels more like a last-minute bonus than a comprehensive collection, only delivering five of their infamous “SNL Digital Shorts” and three Lonely Island skits. Still, a gift horse this hilarious shouldn’t be looked in the mouth, especially if said horse has just consumed a bottle of Carlos Santana’s champagne.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Your Week in Zombie News

For some reason, there appears to be a steady amount of zombie-related media being released to the unsuspecting public, and while I am all for anything and everything zombie, I feel the need to point out two of the more recent releases:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Featured on NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," and recommended by John Hodgman, one of the stars of the #1 Children's Film in America, this parody of the classic Jane Austen novel features the original text, plus "all-new scenes of bone crunching zombie action!" The book's already reached #88 on the Amazon.com Best-Seller list, and it hasn't even been released yet! Also, that cover is amazing. Zombifying the covers of famous literature needs to be the new Photoshop challenge.Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is just ten bucks from Amazon.com. It's release date is listed as "unknown."

Otto; or, Up with Dead People
a film by Bruce LaBruce

This film and I crossed paths last year when I was a programmer for the Cucalorus Film Festival, and let me tell you, I hope we never see each other again. I am all for more gay/lesbian cinema. In fact, a lot of the entries I viewed were about homosexual relationships, and for the most part, they were all very entertaining and would've been perfect fits for Cucalorus. Bruce LaBruce's gay zombie porn, however, was boring, incomprehensible, and featured embarrassingly bad acting by people who clearly had no need to attempt the fake foreign accents they were trying to pull off. I mean, seriously, how do you fuck up a film taking place in a parallel universe where "gay zombie porn" has become a cottage industry? It practically writes itself! And look at the tagline on the DVD cover:That's right; it says "Bringing sexy back...from the dead." If half the film were as creative as that tagline, maybe Otto would've been shown at the festival. It's still ten times better than the offensively heterosexual Deadgirl, recent Cucalorus entry and my pick for worst film of '08. Otto; or Up with Dead People is on DVD for $24.99 on Amazon.com.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Countdown to Watchmen: The Keene Act and You

The Watchmen viral videos continue with this fake PSA on the Keene Act, which banned the act of costumed vigilantism in the United States:



Not as professional as the vintage 1970 newscast, but I love the step-by-step "How to Avoid Rorschach" at the end. For more awesomeness, check out the official website for The New Frontiersmen, as well as their Flickr page.

Pictures for Sad Pilgrim

I love when two of my favorite comic artists collaborate on one strip. In this case, John Campbell (Pictures for Sad Children) provides the story while Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim) provides the pictures:

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Twittering Sátántangó

Bela Tarr is often heralded as the master of the long take. His films are known for their slow, drawn-out stories and the elaborate camerawork that accompanies them. I've known of several films by this Hungarian auteur (Werckmeister Harmonies, The Man from London) but after reading this analysis on NotComing.com, I decided to make Sátántangó, a seven-plus-hour epic that spans four discs, my first foray into Tarrville.



Now, even though I decided to go on this journey alone, it doesn't mean I can't share in the experience. So I've chosen to post my thoughts on Twitter as I watch the film. After I've finished with each section of the film, I'll post all my twitters in this blog post for easy reference. So, without further ado, let the twittering (tweeting, twiting, whatever) begin!

Part 1: February 5

9:08 PM - Part one of seven-hour Bela Tarr movie tonight. See you on the other side.

9:13 PM - Let's see if I can make it back to my apartment without freezing to death first.

10:24 PM - 47 minutes in and I'm already getting tired. (For some reason, this post never made it from my phone to Twitter, so I'm paraphrasing.)

10:44 PM - At 1:07, a bug crawls around on the camera lens. Nice touch.

10:46 PM - This score sounds like it was performed on an old Casio.

10:59 PM - Is Futaki a Hungarian name?

11:09 PM - Now watching an old man fall asleep. Was this movie designed to treat insomnia?

11:18 PM - Most exciting thing to happen in the film so far: the old man fell over.

11:26 PM - When I hear the title of this film, I can't help but think of the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song, "Satan Said Dance."

11:50 PM - End of part one. Wow. 2:10 in, and we don't even have anything resembling a plot! We'll see what happens in part two, once Netflix sends it.

Part 2: February 8 (My phone decided to go apeshit on me, so tweets appeared out of order or not at all. Hooray for technology!)

9:27 PM - Alright, you asked for it (actually, you didn't). It's time for part two of Sátántangó!

9:33 PM -
Ok, let's see if i can remember all the characters from part one...

9:43 PM - Every conversation in this film seems to take place in two different time zones.

9:43 PM - Ah, that creepy electronic score is back!

9:56 PM - I believe that was the shortest chapter yet, 25 minutes.

10:02 PM - Ah, I believe we have reached the infamous "cat torture" chapter of the film.

10:06 PM - Starting to get tired earlier than I was last week. 35 min. vs. 54 min.

10:16 PM - I think I would much rather be Kelly Reichardt's dog than Bela Tarr's cat.

10:23 PM - I don't think Irimias is ever gonna arrive in town.

10:26 PM - PETA would have a field day with this film, but they're too busy dealing with "Kittens on a Roomba."

10:35
PM - Gotta break to pick up my roommate.

11:04 PM - Aaaand...back to the cat torture.

11:11 PM - I think Bela's taken the "film the actor as they walk away" motif as far as it can go.

11:12 PM - Have now acquired alcohol and will drink every time the camera cuts.

11:17 PM - Dr. Drink-A-Lot makes a return appearance.

11:25 PM - Little girl chapter over. Now on to a chapter subtitled "The Devil's Nipples."

11:29 PM - If that guy says the word plodding one more time...

11:34 PM - Everyone in this movie looks as if they're missing a soul.

11:46 PM - Man, even the parties in this film are depressing to watch.

11:48 PM - Could someone explain the man with a loaf of bread attached to his head?

11:52 PM - This is the worst song ever.

11:53 PM - I think I would rather hear the drunk man talk about plodding for an hour than listen to any more of this song.

12:00 AM - This is the second time someone has fallen asleep in the movie. A hint of sorts?

12:08 AM - And end of part 2.


UPDATE: So...some of you may be wondering why I never concluded this entry with my analysis of the third part of Sátántangó. The fact of the matter is that I thought this was a pretty silly exercise to begin with, and I didn't feel the need to continue it with the third disc. Rather, I just sat down and watched the film, unabated and undeterred. And even though the above posts may lead some to believe that I held the film in contempt and desired to mock it before it even began, the truth is that I thought Bela Tarr's film was a fascinating experiment in subtlety and mood, from the foreboding opening shot of cattle prowling the streets of an empty village, to the never-ending trek the old doctor takes to find the source of the mystery bells. Overall, it was a satisfying experience, although it's an experience I probably won't choose to repeat for some time, at least until I have another seven hours to kill.

Also, I have no idea what's going on in the comments to this post. Either someone is posting the same time as different people (I highly doubt that Mihaly Vig actually reads my blog) or it's computer hour over at the looney bin. (My apologies to people who actually posted coherent responses.)

Gatorade Corners the Elusive Nerd Market

Gatorade sells a lot of sports drinks to a lot of people, but apparently they must have been missing out on the demographic of geeks and nerds (a demographic that yours truly is a lifetime member of). How else to explain this insanely elaborate homage to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, entitled The Quest for G?


While the joke doesn't really work some of the time (how do you make fun of something that was funny to begin with?) there are some inspired moments, including the gang's showdown with dance group JabbaWockeez and their final battle with a fire-breathing poodle.