so much to be thankful for this year!!! my family & our Cape Town reunion last March/April, friends (old & new), my pooch, my job, and my recovery. also, good music & especially this song by The xx:
this is not an official video; i posted the original & a cool remix in this playlist... ever since i heard this cover i have been obsessed with this band!
this Andy Warhol quote pretty much sums it all up:
WHEN PEOPLE ARE READY TO, THEY CHANGE. THEY NEVER DO IT BEFORE THEN, AND SOMETIMES THEY DIE BEFORE THEY GET AROUND TO IT. YOU CAN'T MAKE THEM CHANGE IF THEY DON'T WANT TO, JUST LIKE WHEN THEY DO WANT TO, YOU CAN'T STOP THEM.
why not clue you in a bit on what i'm doing for a day job these days... i work with directors who also design & animate in highly creative & cost effective ways. the global economic downturn keeps spearheading positive change every day, and i'm excited to be part of it... i love working with talent that understands the establishment while operating in a manner that is innovative, current, pragmatic & unburdened...
the first clip is by Fede Alvarez who brings us this wicked Sci-Fi short about the inevitable day when the giant robots finally get tired of us sticking forks in our toasters and come to hand us all our asses. It’s called "Panic Attack" and yes, seeing 200 foot Iron Giants striding purposefully out of the fog to stomp pedestrians and hurl alien firepower at our vulnerable capitols is a pulse quickening experience:
Fede went to college in Amsterdam, directed a slew of cool commercials & returned to Montevideo (Uruguay) to direct, design & animate "Panic Attack," which hit youtube with a bang last week. Fede is with LA based Cortez Brothers for commercial work & just signed with CAA as well... his work reminds me a bit of Neil Blomkamp's (whose District 9 hit theaters earlier this year). i'd say Fede is to South Americans what Neil is to South Africans...
in Cannes, Doble Nelson won a Gold Lion for these:
this other Doble one cracks me up; i've lived like this:
here too, Doble Nelson has a heavy hand in the design & animation. Doble most recently worked with Crispin Porter & Bogusky on the west coast... again, i'll be happy to send you their reel...
you might already know about the full service production house Arsenal & the award winning promos Arsenal directed, shooting the live action & doing all the design & vfx in-house. here was the latest which until recently was airing on the tube & screening in theaters:
most recently, Arsenal's OneSize directed & designed the opening credits for the Playgrounds Festival... the film offers us a first-hand look at an action-packed playground battle in super slow motion:
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enough screeners for now! share the wealth & spread the gospel!
here are some more super lo-fi mobile phone pics i took on the fly last sunday night. as usual, i donned a pair of oversized Grey Ant wayfarers from Sirens & Sailors... the irresistible Rashida who hosted, spontaneously joined the Lady Tigra for a sexy little number, in front of hotter than ever Kelis. last time i bumped into Kelis was years ago at Hoy Como Ayer in Little Havana (Miami) where she jumped on the cramped stage to perform with the bar's drummers...
for pics of another party Rashida hosted, click HERE
10 years ago already, Kelis was Caught Out There:
today she's even hotter than she was in this 2007 clip:
Karlos & i swung by this random diner for a bite:
days earlier, i caught up with a friend at my favorite place in Venice for a balanced lunch:AXE
when this chick turned around, i just had to shoot...
please be patient, i have 2 new playlists but they're both sooo long i'm gonna have to decide which tracks are best before posting.
click HERE for more recent pics... back in Echo Park, Sirens & Sailors had a trunk show:
In celebration of the greatest athletic achievement by a man on a psychedelic journey,NO MASand artist James Blagdenproudly present the animated tale of Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter. In the past few years we've heard all too much about performance enhancing drugs from greenies to tetrahydrogestrinone, and not enough about performance inhibiting drugs. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds needs to be revised downwards with an asterisk, we submit that the Dock Ellis record deserves a giant exclamation point. Of the 263 no-hitters ever thrown in the Big Leagues, we can only guess how many were aided by steroids, but we can say without question that only one was ever thrown on acid.
Sadly, the great Dock Ellis died last December at 63. A year before, radio producers Donnell Alexander and Neille Ilel, had recorded an interview with Ellis in which the former Pirate right hander gave a moment by moment account of June 12, 1970, the day he no-hit the San Diego Padres. Alexander and Ilels original four minute piece appeared March 29, 2008 on NPRs Weekend America. When they stumbled across that piece this past June, Blagden and Isenberg were inspired to create a short animated film around the original audio:
more lo-fi mobile shots taken at The Antlers & The Silversun Pickups shows, the Paper Magazine party with Mr. Black's butt naked servers, over lunches in Venice & during walks in Elysian Parkwith Chicho.
riding the Elite to The Antlers show was a trip! Honda made some cool spots for it back in the day:
it was really nice to see the Silversun Pickups too. Brian & Nikki who started the band were my housemates for 8 years. i remember them playing, rehearsing, partying in the living room. our parties quickly reached hundreds of friends & neighbors, with many other bands picking up instruments, from local LA bands to members of The Strokes & the likes. it was crazy. Nikki always made a mean breakfast the morning after, when everyone rose from whichever corner of the house they had crashed in. Mark who played records at the intimate show this week used to play records between the bands; he also goes by the name of Frosty & started DUBLAB. he was my college roommate before i moved in with Brian & Nikki. in my USC days, i'd just come sit in the room Mark & his brother Derek shared to listen to them playing records while coming down from whatever i was coming down from the previous night. good times! anyhew, it was nice to catch Brian & Nikki between legs of their European tour, and to have Mark there as well... all in the family!!!
