High Adventure

Last Week I was in New York, for the first time. It was a lot of fun. We were filming, but I don't really think I should upload any of the footage. You'll see it soon enough. We got home late Tuesday night.

Wednesday, I went to see Inception. It's not a perfect film, but a very strong one, and well worth it's box office take and your seeing.

The visuals are stunning. The acting us superb. Christopher Nolan undertook a tremendous world to try to explain during the duration of a feature length film, and both he and the viewer have to move quickly to keep pace. He's a talented story-teller, as evidenced by his previous work, but even still, this is stretching. With as intricate a world, the story may have lent itself better to a series (a la LOST).

All the same, it's stunning, and I will be seeing it again in theaters.

Nolan's films offer homage in the best fashion. It's clear where his inspiration came for a lot of his work, but it never feels like a rip-off. He alwasy frames his borrowed ideas and aesthetic in a new enough context that it feels original. Inception was clearly a heist film, with all the tropes of the genre. It's the last job, the final steal before our protagonist can set life straight and move on. He assembles the team. They outline an intricate plan, with precise roles and timing and objectives. But it's more than a heist movie.

Think of it like The Italian Job meets The Matrix meets Solaris. The New York Times has some other comparisons as well. The New York Times always has interesting supplemental material to the best movies.

Thursday I went to the Twilight Concert Series for the first time this summer. It's always a good time, and free, but I've been out of town up till this point. Beirut was playing.


If you're not familiar with their sound, it's distinctly gypsy. Funny to think of what these guys must have been like in high school. They play trumpet, accordian, and trombone, among others. I can't imagine they were the "in" crowd, yet here they were at the Twilight Concert Series, playing a packed show, with people cheering for them like rock stars. It was a lot of fun.


The album version may give you a better indication of their sound.


The below videos are from last Friday, July 23, 2010, on BYU Campus. It was much more chaotic and painful then you might expect, but very fun. Ladies and Gentlemen, the World's Biggest Water Balloon Fight.






Saturday, I went to a pond outside Alpine UT. It doesn't sound like much, but man-o-man, is it fun with the right equipment.
This isn't a video of me or my friends, but it's the same thing in the same place, and gives you a good idea.

That night we went to Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork. I didn't make it to the rodeo, but I did see the fireworks.

Last week, all I did was play. I need to work a lot during this coming week to make up for it.

Anglilch

I've asked this question a thousand times, no joke.

About This Video

An Italian singer wrote this song with gibberish to sound like English. If you've ever wondered what other people think Americans sound like, this is it.

See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.

It's like Beck, Weird Al, and Led Zeppelin played backwards. I keep instinctively trying to understand what they're saying, and have to try to remember that they're not saying anything.

A Litmus for Authenticity

I haven't written anything substantial in a long time. I'm a little afraid of that. Writing isn't like riding a bike, and in all honesty, I'm not entirely persuaded riding a bike is like riding a bike. Without practice and persistence in life, I think we each may simply melt into a puddle of loosely sentient flesh.

That being said, you may just as likely melt while watching this video.



From what I can gather, this group broadcasts on public access cable in central Florida.

The lack of sophistication reminds me oddly of Napoleon Dynamite. Their whole existence is anachronistic. I mean, if you had to guess, when might you place this broadcast on a timeline? They're also local, but without location. While P.T. Katt and M. Gormley are in Florida, they could as easily be in any rural minor American locale. The same is true of Jared and Jerusha Hess' most recent work, Gentlman Broncos.



Again, the characters are only vaguely aware of themselves. They lack the proverbial mirror to actually see themselves as others see them.

There is a character in Gentlemen Broncos who would be right at home on the "Uncharted Zone". Lonnie Donaho talks about "the industry" and his "feature films" shot on a home VHS camcorder. He might also get along well with the proprietor of this local outfit.

These men are AUTHENTICALLY poor performers in a way that I am entirely incapable of, in a way that I doubt can be duplicated by parody (Save by Jared Hess). I could not make something this bad if I tried. They'll never win awards or critical acclaim. They'd be lucky to come close to covering their costs, though they just might from gawkers paying money to see what is, by most accounts, an absolute train wreck. They seem to be entirely unaware of any developments in their field over the last twenty to thirty years. What's more, they are either OBLIVIOUS to or genuinely Do Not Care what people think of their work.

I can't tell if these are the most remarkable examples of hubris I've ever seen, or the complete absence. They don't presume to elevate their work over others, or even to compare. By all appearances they are doing this for their own enjoyment. If anybody else cares to watch, that's simply a bonus.

Hubris or not, regard for others work or none, these two groups present the most undeniable, clear cases of authenticity anywhere in media I know of. They are transparently bad, but you know it isn't a joke to them. Nobody would invest the time necessary to produce so much ostensibly unremarkable work. In being so transparent, they're also more true than almost any mainstream electronic culture. It's made by and for them and theirs. And that's tremendous.

Michel Gondry seems to understand this in a way many other filmmakers don't. It's reflected in his movies, and I love his movies.

Copyright, Science, and Education

Larry Lessig is somebody I'd like to be more like. I know I've talked about him before. I admire his independent intellect and adaptability.

He makes more sense on the subject of Copyright than any other individual or institution I've ever encountered. Laws should Make Sense.

Shouldn't intellectual property be made more available with the passage of time? For a huge swath of archival footage, the opposite is true. After just a few years, all rights revert back to the owner of the copyright.

According to Lessig, that means that much of the 20th century's documentary work on film will literally decay and be obliterated instead of being digitized, democratized, and distributed for the good of those who could learn from and use it. Instead, it will literally rot.

Interestingly, the most progressive groups pertaining to open use of electronic media are not only very forward thinking artists like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Girl Talk, nut also Al-Jazeera, the Arabic language cable news network.

See video below:

It's real. I'm really done.

I'm done. I'm really finished with school. I'll never go to another day of formalized education if I don't want to. It's more bittersweet than I would have thought, but is certainly sweet.

I'm listening to Animal by Miike Snow right now.

from BYU Diploma Status
to Austin Michael Craig
date Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 10:13 PM
subject Your BYU Bachelor of Arts has been mailed


Dear Austin,
Congratulations on receiving your Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University.
As of 10/2/2009 your diploma was mailed to:
Austin Michael Craig
4** N 2** E
Provo UT 84606

Please allow up to 10 days for delivery via 'First Class US Mail'.
Please do not call Brigham Young University at this time,
as your diploma has already been mailed.

Click the following link to VIEW YOUR DIPLOMA!
https://www.michaelsutter.com/emaildiplomastatus?mailstatusid=8118-2051323-270

Congratulations again on your fine achievement!

Can't Stop Won't Stop

Really diggin' new stuff from some friend, Can't Stop Won't Stop.

RIP MJ

I know I'm late on this one.

I'll try to remember the best.



Personally, I am a huge Thriller fan. Love that song. Listen to it year round. And Rock With You. Timeless, those.

You can hand this to the man: When his songs start, everyone hits the dance floor. Everyone.

Here is a pretty solid short bio of The King of Pop.

Finale

For better or worse, the institutionally sanctioned torture ritual of "Finals" is almost over. Just a couple hours to go.

But you should listen to this song till I have time to talk again.

Thanks, Rob, for pointing this one out. New favorite.

Ra Ra Rebecca!

The other night we put together a video for my friend Mary's sister's friend's birthday.

Apparently Rebecca has quite the web fooprint. Neat.



This is pretty ridiculous, but I guess that's what can make it endearing.

Serious Play

This may be a bit fragmented. Forgive me.

Play is important. Also, "failure" is important.
Students should be allowed, even prompted, to try things that probably won't work. If you're so afraid to fail, you'll never try anything except what's easy and/or has been done before.

Don't think I'm suggesting this at the expense of work. I understand work, I know it's value. I think most people do. Value becomes apparent when environments aren't artificially constructed. Work shouldn't be so severely divided from play. In an ideal situation, they aren't always that different.



And, as mentioned above, kids (and adults) should be encouraged to play constructively, in an open-ended fashion. They should be given toys without an absolute clear procedure. They'll figure out what to do with their toys, don't worry. You could give them toys like some of the ones these guys have.



These two aren't the most amazing orators, but they've got some good stuff to show.

You should check out the Art Center Design Conference "Serious Play". Worth a bit of your time.

And now, something completely different.

I was excited yesterday to constructively use one of the applications on my phone. I was at D.I., and they played a song I really like, had heard before, but didn't know the artist or song. The lyrics were indecipherable, except for "la la la". That's not really going to help in a Google search. So I pulled out the G1, and fired up Shazam.

Shazam listens to a song for about ten or fifteen seconds, analyzes it, compares it against a database, and tells you the song, album, artist, and gives you the option to watch the video on or download from Amazon. It was fantastic, technology making my life better. Couple that with Compare Everywhere and mobile access to things like eBay, craigslist, or KSL Classifieds, and I'm a smarter, better informed consumer.

P.S. The song was "La la la" by The Bird and the Bee. To listen, click here.

Musical Picture

I'm in my Film Genres class.

Last week we watched Swing Time with Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers.
She's as lovely as any actress I've ever seen on screen. This week it's
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. You know, "Bless your beautiful hide".
That one. They're grossly un-p.c. by today's standards, especially Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers but they retain the original appeal. Who
doesn't love some song and dance?

We discussed for a bit the absudity of the Musical film. I'm sure the
thought has crossed your mind before. Here we have a group of people who
spontaneously burst out into choreographed song and dance. Everybody
joins, instinctively taking their queues, as naturaly as smiling back at
a grinning baby.

Sometimes they do it within a diegetic context, i.e. we see the actor
sing and dance because his character in the film is a singer or dancer.
More often, though, music rises from the ether and somebody sings for no
audience (except us) and out of nothing but love.

If anybody did this in reality, we would send them to a professional
mental health expert. They'd need a head shrinker. They'd be
certifiable.

I'd love to see a musical exploit this. Our main character believes
life's a musical. He sings and dances, the animals join in. The
production values reflect classic musicals; their performance is in
front of a painted backdrop, they're elaborately costumed along with
everybody else, the setting is exaggerated and overdone.

But nobody else is in on it. We cut to the reality of the situation.
He's crazy as a loon, and his backup singers and dancers are actually
puzzled onlookers. The setting is stark and unpolished, just what it
would look like anywhere off-screen

I think it could make for a pretty great satire. The audience could
simultaneously enjoy the song and dance and acknowledge the absurd
propositions that virtually all musicals present.

P.S. Dp made the astute observation that there is almost NO way Will
Ferrell didn't base Ron Burgundy on Adam Pontape from Seven Brides for
Seven Brothers. Clear as day when somebody points it out, but the
liklihood of those two films entering the same conversation for any
other reason is almost nil.

-Sent from Austin's phone.

Assorted

I'm sincerely disappointed that I didn't think of this first: bullet-time-lapse

Space Art is fun.

Danny Michel is great, and nobody knows it but me and Canada.

Why were we so opposed to the ideology of the USSR for 50 years, but we're totally okay with Chinese oppressive Communism (Go Beijing 2008 Olympics)? Is it because Chinese Communism is (presently) a contained wrong? They aren't rolling tanks into Georgia, I suppose.

I don't think it's a good idea to be so cozy with a nation we don't share fundamental common values with, even if they provide unbelievably cheap labor. It intertwines our futures in a way that we'll ultimately have to reconcile, maybe in a very ugly conflict. It's like a marriage. You wouldn't marry somebody for the tax breaks when you know the other would make a deplorable parent. Why should we tie our future to China if we don't see eye to eye on very basic issues concerning human rights, freedom of speech, and political freedom?

AQUABATS! SUPERSHOW!

It's my understanding that some (all?) of the founding members of the Aquabats are members of the LDS Church, Mormon boys who served missions and everything. They're sure an entertaining band, and they make a funny show it turns out.

This is the pilot for their new show. Enjoy.

P.S. Them being LDS, it begs the question: Was the phrase (about 3 min. in) "This is the Place" a deliberate reference to LDS history?

Capital Hill Blog Party

I mean block party.
Featuring Girl Talk.
-Sent from Austin's phone.

Rush on Rush

I've often wondered what would happen in this situation. I'm surprised I haven't seen Weezer do it, seeing as they are such astute observers of pop culture.

Rush plays "Tom Saywer" on Rock Band, at Expert level, no less.



Not unlike the video Michel Gondry did for Be Kind Rewind.

Does this qualify as post-modern?

Kids

When music automatically plays on a blog, 90% of the time, I will close the window with no further discussion. End of story.

I recently came across a blog when this started playing, and I couldn't bring myself to close it. I like the song, as much as I didn't want to.

Enjoy.

"Kids" by MGMT on Cantora Records.


This is from an unofficial music video for the song. From what I understand, the band liked it.

Courtship Dating

Sorry, folks, no talk of my Courtship Dating here (this time), but I've been listening to the song by Crystal Castles on loop for...well...a couple weeks. It's weird, on the myspace page, two songs are played when you click on Courtship Dating, one after the other. I only listen to the first song, the second seems incongruous with the rest of their body of work. If a lot of people are doing that, I wonder if it messes up their playcount.

Listen Here.

It's a testament to their rising popularity that a year ago, I couldn't find any pictures of them online, at least none that showed their faces (the duo deliberately obscured their faces in most press photos). Now, it's only a google search away.

Look at them. They're the picture of "Cool, I don't care though". Somehow, apathy can equate cool in pop-culture.

Brainpower

Some guys in my office were playing Rock Band the other day. I gotta' hand it to the guys who made the playlist for that game, they put in mostly winners. I get really in to most of the songs. So I was caught off guard when they started playing this song, and I had to immediately pull away from my computer and see what they were playing. It wasn't really a rock song, and it wasn't a band or song I'd heard before. I liked it.

Apparently, one of the band members is a senior producer at the game developer who made Guitar Hero. They've been in every iteration of the game since the first. Interesting way to launch your band big, but hey, it worked.

The song is pretty funny if you listen to the lyrics. I'm sorry if you're not as into crappy-electro-pop as I am. You probably aren't. But Enjoy.




P.S. I figured out how to post audio here! I'm stoked. I'll just embed a "video", then collapse the height so all that's left is a play bar. Not a perfect solution, but a working one for the time being.

The Odd Couple

You've probably heard the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. NPR called it the hit song of Summer '06. Everybody everywhere listened to it, it crossed genre and cultural boundaries. Just a great song.

The duo just released their new album, "The Odd Couple". It's okay. I downloaded it, but not from iTunes. They released it for free. That's right, download for nothin'. But the catch is...it's one long file...backwards.

That's okay for somebody who has done audio editing. But it must be enough of a deterent that they don't expect it to hurt record sales too much. Fun gimmick, and it gets me a free album.

I really like the music video for the song Going On. Hope you do too.


P.S. Don't ask me to make any sense of it. I just like the look of the thing. Striking.

Once in a Lifetime

My friend Lindsay just texted and said she was listening to The Talking Heads, and that they reminded her of me. I don't know why it did, I don't recall any conversations we've ever had about the Talking Heads, though I could just be forgetting. A asked what song. Once in a Lifetime and Burning Down the House. I was hoping it was Once in a Lifetime. Thanks Lindsay.