Spank Rock is driving the streets of Philadelphia with his friend, trying to find a decent place for lunch, when I ask him which rhymes he’s proudest of having written. He mentions a few songs, then gets suddenly animated. “You know which song I’m proud of? We made this song about those Lindsay Lohan pictures—the […]
Chas Bowie
Posted inBooks
Worldchanging
Billed as a Whole Earth Catalog for the new millennium, Worldchanging is a megalithic merger of sharp design and progressive ideology. Endlessly hyped around the blogosphere, this compendium of green technologies and ideas has been called “the seminal resource guide for anyone concerned about today and the future,” and environmental author Elizabeth Kolbert says that […]
Posted inBooks
The Architecture of Happiness
by Alain de Botton
Acquaintance with grief turns out to be one of the more unusual prerequisites of architectural appreciation. We might, quite aside from all other requirements, need to be a little sad before buildings can properly touch us.” This isn’t the way most writers hold forth on the topic of architecture, but most writers aren’t Alain de […]
Posted inArt
Current Photography: New Directions
Ijust want to talk about it, okay? I’m not here to hurt anybody’s feelings, and nobody’s in trouble. But I signed up to share my thoughts on this show because I love photography, particularly the “new” and “current” kind—the kind that has “direction.” But when a show bills itself as “current” and “new,” I thought […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Diane Arbus Killed Herself in ’71
(Probably So She Wouldn’t Have to See Fur)
Fur bills itself not as a factual biopic of legendary photographer Diane Arbus, but as a “tribute” to her piercing vision. And it’s funny, because I could think of a million ways to salute Arbus, and none of them include Nicole Kidman jacking off a Wookiee with shaving cream. Arbus was one of the seminal […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Crappy Meals
Tales From a Fast Food Nation
The question on everybody’s mind is, “How can they make Fast Food Nation into a movie with Kris Kristofferson and Wilmer Valderrama when the book was such a dense work of investigative journalism?” “It’s just another way to approach the truth,” Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser told me. “All forms of writing—fiction, journalism, theater—are […]
Posted inArt
Odds and Ends
I personally handpicked these little gems for the Odds and Ends screening,” writes curator Karl Lind in the notes for his upcoming video program. “I am constantly amazed by the sheer awesomeness of the work I see [here in Portland] and am perpetually inspired by [it].” This is the perfect point of inspiration for curating […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Connect the Plots
Babel‘s Sprawling, Devastating Stories
Over the course of its nearly two-and-a-half hour runtime, Babel makes one point blindingly clear: Director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga have mastered their signature storytelling technique of sprawling, intertwined narratives; gut-wrenching, intimate performances; and levels of transcontinental interdependency that would please both Buddhist practitioners and metaphysicians alike. Amores Perros introduced the world […]
Posted inMusic
Girl Talk Is Not a DJ
No, Really. It Says So on His T-Shirt
LISTENING TO GIRL TALK’S CD Night Ripper goes something like this: throttlethrottlethrottle—”Hey, it’s 2 Live Cr—”throttlethrottlethrottle—”Is that Neutral Milk Ho—”throttlethrottlethrottle, ad infinitum. Depending on your temperament, this will either delight or exasperate you. Mashing snippets from over 150 Top 40 and indierock anthems into a 40-minute CD, Night Ripper is a balls-out slaughter of popular […]
Posted inMusic
Five Facts from Frank Black
The Ex-Pixies Frontman Spills a Few Beans
LAST WEEK I SPOKE to none other than Charles Thompson, AKA Black Francis, AKA Frank Black, AKA the man who wrote “Caribou,” about touring, Cat Power, record bootleggers, the future of the Pixies, and his new album, Fast Man Raider Man (which is actually very, very good, with a sort of Leon Redbone/Alex Chilton vibe). […]
Posted inMusic
Just a Friend
How is Biz Markie so Damn Lovable?
LOVABILITY DOESN’T RANK high on the priority list for most rappers. Many try to be the best, the hardest, the richest, and the most famous, but few emcees strive to be straight lovable. Snoop once had a few drops of lovability that were quickly squandered; Will Smith wants to be loved so bad that it […]
Posted inBooks
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy’s stunning new novel of the apocalypse, The Road, is not for the faint of heart, nor for those who turn to literature for pleasant flights of the imagination. The Road is savage and grotesque, bleak and terrifying, inhumane but ultimately compassionate. The setting is the end of the world, in which Earth has […]