This week's Sound of Young America looks at the world of movies from a variety of perspectives outside of the inside.
Sean Uyehara is a programmer for the San Francisco International Film Festival, which is currently running here in the City by the Bay. We talk with him about what it's like to watch 1400 movies a year. Also, he talks about some of the more exciting events at this year's festival, including a discussion of machinima from the creators of Red Vs. Blue, and a remarkable video mashup experience from Addictive TV. You can also read more of Sean's thoughts on the festival here.
Sharon Waxman is the Los Angeles Times' Hollywood reporter, but she wasn't always in the entertainment news business. She started out as a foreign correspondent, and admits she only came to the Tinseltown game out of "desperation." Her book, "Rebels in the Backlot" traces the indie film explosion of the mid-90s. It focuses on the work of Quentin Tarantino, PT Anderson, David Fincher, Steven Sodebergh, David O. Russel, and Spike Jonze. It was recently released in paperback.
Philip Lopate's new book is the Library of America's "American Movie Critics: From the Silents Until Now." The huge tome covers film writing from the silent era until now. We talk with Philip about how criticism has changed over the past hundred years, his favorite critics and why, and the role of film criticism in society.
Also, a message from Your Friend in Hollywood, Jen Kirkman.
The San Francisco International Film Festival is in full swing here in San Francisco. There are many, many films being shown, but programmer Sean Uyehara offers us some tips on upcoming films worth checking out...
Backstage, Dir Emmanuelle Bercot (France) Backstage takes on the dark, frenzied world of fandom, immersing viewers in a surreal melodrama of desire in which Lucie, a starstruck teenager, develops an unsavory and dangerous relationship with her idol, pop icon Lauren.
Sean says: "It's sort of like Aaron Spelling meets Antonioni... it's the kind of film that's crossing so many boundaries, it's really a fun, crazy ride." Screens at the Kabuki in San Francisco, Tues May 02 / 7PM
Sean says: "Our executive direct likes to say 'they give machinima legs.' There's a lot of people tinkering with machinima, it's really interesting, it's really neat, but it needed a step forward in the evolutionary process to really turn into something that seems viable in the long term and that's what Rooster Teeth is doing."
Screens at the Aquarius in Palo Alto Wed, May 03 / 6:45
Adam's Apples, Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen, Denmark A pitch-black comedy/religious parable in which a truculent neo-Nazi ex-convict and a dementedly upbeat country priest square off amid Old Testament plagues centered on a parish apple tree.
Sean says: "It's about someone who gets out of prison, doesn't feel like righting himself, and then anything that you can imagine going wrong to him does. And it's hilarious. Because it's not happening to you."
Screening at the Aquarius in Palo Alto, Tue, May 02 / 9:30 PM
Addictive TV, England/France Trailblazing VJ outfit Addictive TV presents a "best of" selection from the acclaimed Optronica film and music festival and performs The Eye of the Pilot, a live mashup of 1950s 8mm film, art deco-inspired graphics and music.
Sean says: "Imagine your favorite DJ, doing your favorite music mix... some sort of mashup. And then taking your favorite films, your favorite TV spots, some archival footage, mixing it all up, and putting it together. It's an absolutely overwhelming, mind-boggling experience."
Showing/Performing at the Kabuki in San Francisco Mon, May 02 / 9:45 and at the nightclub Mighty in SF Wed, May 03 / 9:00
Sean talks about watching 1400 films a year for the festival on this week's show.
Our pal John Hodgman drops us a line about his partner-in-crime, Jonathan Coulton:
I wanted to let you Coulton fans know that Coulton is offering a VERY SPECIAL concert of songs themed to the first of May (and other themes) on May 1, this Monday, at 7PM, at "Mo Pitkin's" THE place to go for bawdy calendar-based songs and also: chopped liver.
He has many many more songs than you've heard before, as he has been writing one per week for the past 1000 years--part of his incredible "Thing A Week" podcast via his website, called, not surprisingly www.jonathancoulton.com.
Coulton is indeed hilarious, and his website features lots of music you can hear, buy and get for free. It's a unique twist on the pop-rock-humor hpioneered by They Might Be Giants. Like "Skullcrusher Mountain," as heard on The Sound of Young America, which is the usual evil-maniac's-lament type tune.
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Thanks to J. Smooth at Tuberaider for sharing this amazing clip of the Backyard Band, one of the best go-go bands in Washington DC. The song is "Ruff it Off," and it's filmed for a local TV station. You can see a bit of DC Hardcore in this DC Go-Go video...
I think it's wonderful that our country still has vibrant regional musical styles like Go-Go. Baltimore club music is another example... despite what some might have you believe, there are regional music styles, particularly in urban music, that remain more than just museum pieces.
In DC, there are posters for Go-Go shows plastered on every lamppost (well, every lamppost in certain parts of town). Bands like Backyard play every week at certain clubs, and folks go every week to party. Here's the father of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, rocking a DC club in 1994.
On a related note... if you don't read the Times regularly, there was a great piece this week by kelefa sanneh about New Orleans hip-hop. It's a manifesto on a topic sanneh has been alluding to for months -- the way the media and dominant culture have ignored New Orleans today, even as they've celebrated "New Orleans jazz" (led by Wynton Marsalis, who's made quite a career of telling white people black culture is something that happened between 1920 and 1955). I wouldn't say that I'm Bout It Bout It, but I agree that Juvenile and Lil Wayne are two of the most talented cats out.
Don't believe me? Watch Weezie rip the Booth at Rap City and tell me otherwise... (and if you need more proof, watch him rock "Shooter" with Thicke)
"hyphy is energy, it's lettin' yourself go, it's doin' the fool, it's actin' the rectum, it's a stress reliever, it's lettin' your hair down, it's energy, you know what I mean? If I wanted to put it in a sentence, I could say, 'What happened over there, man? Why that shit happen over there, they throwin' shit up, and it's a whole bunch of hyphy mo'fuckers makin' believe they fools.' That's the way you put that in a sentence."
What a coincidence... I was just reading the bit of William Goldman's wonderful Hollywood memoir, "Which Lie Did I Tell?" where he talks about The Princess Bride. And what do I find on the internet? The Princess Bride for $5.99 with free shipping. Use code 85704.
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Will it work? Who knows. My feeling, based on the fact that it's been pushed back several times, is that it may not. It was a bit grotesque in half-hour form... I can hardly imagine watching that character for ninety minutes. Of course... I'll be there opening night.
Our pal Hound provides us with this astonishing information regarding brewing plans to object to the release of Eugene Mirman's new DVD, "En Garde, Society!"
Protest Against Eugene Mirman
Followed By A Party For Eugene Mirman's New Album En Garde, Society!
Funny guy Eugene Mirman has a new full-length comedy album, En Garde, Society!, coming out May 9 on Sub Pop records. The 2 disc CD+DVD set features a CD of live standup, plus some in-studio recordings, a DVD with eight films including Michael Showalter's parody/tribute to Eugene, and liner notes by John Hodgman.
To protest his continuing success, The Onion is organizing a rally against Eugene on Monday, May 8. Meet at the southern end of Union Square. At 7 p.m., we will march east on 14th St. two blocks to the nearest bar. Protest signs will be provided.
Once we arrive at the nearest bar, the protest will quickly dissolve into a celebration for Eugene's new album, En Garde, Society!, at which point we'll drink and make merry. Can you keep a secret? We didn't think so, but we'll let you in on it just the same. Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields) will guest DJ later in the evening.
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Because we are great supporters of free speech and believe in democracy (and stealing the ideas of others), we would like your help in staging similar protests in the following cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Seattle. Please get in touch with our mobilization specialists if you are interested in helping to organize an anti-Eugene protest at an as-yet-to-be-revealed location in any of those cities at andrews@subpop.com. And, because we are also great believers in the notion that likely none of you will do this for free, protesters will be rewarded with a copy of our new DVD comp, Acquired Taste, and some other free crap!
If you live in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, or Seattle, and would be interested in protesting Eugene Mirman and his various shenanigans, please contact andrews@subpop.com NOW!
Podcast: College Years - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
This week on TSOYA: The College Years: * The Evil Computer Bent on World Domination stops by for a rousing session of "Relationship advice from an Evil Computer Bent on World Domination." * The Extreme Weatherman gives us weather that is now five years out of date. * Gene describes a dream he had, in which Nolan Ryan made out with his mom. * We hear an amazing dream from Dan about emo kids taking over UCSC's Porter College, with a twist that must be heard to be believed. * A caller calls in and tells us she listens every week -- we don't know that she'll call in a few months later, ask Gene out, and they will then date for over a year. * We have a contentious discussion about Radiohead
A friend of mine offered to help me integrate this page more tightly with the main TSOYA webpage. While that's going on, pardon our dust, as there's no testing with blogger, only doing.
By request, a free MP3 of our theme song, "Maximum Fun." I wrote the theme with my pal Dan Grayson -- he basically wrote the music (I'm musically illiterate, but provided some guidelines and pushed and pulled a little), I mostly wrote the lyrics (we changed a couple things to make them easier for Dan to sing). He plays all the instruments, and we recorded it in his little home studio. I'm singing backup vocals and playing cowbell.
In the first few weeks of The Sound of Young America's new, listener-supported era, we've gotten a number of contributions from listeners. We're up to about $75/month in steady income, which certainly isn't enough to live on (the ultimate goal), but will certainly give me some capital to reinvest in the show.
For example:
I'm preparing the big mailing to everyone who filled out our listener survey at the end of 2005. I finally found an old copy of Office 2000, and used it to complete the required mail merge... I'll pick winners of all the many prizes (Onion books, DVDs, etc) soon and announce them in the May newsletter.
I also hopped onto Ebay to purchase a card laminator... everyone who responded to the survey will get a brand new Maximum Fun Club card, laminated by yours truly (well, my girlfriend volunteered to help). Hopefully I won't burn my face off or anything.
Also! I just ordered some Sound of Young America stickers... the image on them is pictured above. Everyone will get one of those, too. I've also got Dan Grayson, best known for designing the TSOYA website and co-writing (and singing) the theme song, "Maximum Fun," working on two other merchandise projects as well... the first is a new "Maximum Fun" pin with the pink elephants graphic I've been using for The College Years.
The second is... wait for it... T-Shirts!
Once Dan's done designing them, I'm off to Barrios Unidos in Santa Cruz to spend my life savings having them printed up. BU is a great non-profit that works with at-risk kids in Santa Cruz and Salinas, helping them build their community. We decided to print them on American Apparel shirts, not really for political reasons (my friend who's a union organizer tells me that while they're sweatshop-free, they're also big union busters), but mostly because those are some really nice shirts. Shirts are so expensive, I'm not sure how we'll distribute them, but I'll think of something.
Andy Kindler was one of the first guests on Dr. Katz, and he shared this little reminiscence on aspecialthing.com today:
When they first did the show, we recorded it at the house of the executive producer in his kitchen pantry. They put us up at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, which was fantastic. It was just the greatest experience. Dom Irrera was amazing on the show, appearing many times. I remember Jonathan Katz talking about how great it was to have a conversation on the show without having to worry about the timing of a live studio audience like in a regular sitcom, so they could talk over each other. The H. Jon Benjamin/ Jonathan Katz relationship might be my favorite thing ever. They were just so brilliant together. I love H. Jon. I was on an episode once with David Mamet, although I didn't get to meet him. He's an old friend of Jonathan. He had a line where Laura (Silverman) says to him: "You're not just blowing smoke up my ass, are you?" And David Mamet says: "What do you mean just?" One of my favorite Jonathan Katz lines is: "It's the least I can do. I checked." Jonathan, H. Jon Benjamin, Tom Leopold, myself, and others were on this really great animated show called "The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special." The people who played Dick and Paula were hilarious. It was a take off on a local morning type talk show. Jonathan Katz played the band leader and H. Jon came on as different historical figures, and also an engineer in the booth. Tom Leopold played different parts as well. I played myself, as the nephew of Dick and Paula. We made 12 episodes for fx when they were going through their wanting to be a men's channel time period, and I don't think hardly anyone has seen them. It would be great if that came out on dvd.
A consortium of public radio & television stations and public media networks (like NPR) have joined together to create TellThemPublicMatters.org, which makes it super-easy to contact your representatives in congress and elsewhere to ask them to stop cutting funding for public broadcasting. The current administration's budget called for a 38% cut in public broadcasting funding -- we must speak up now.
Public broadcasting is a drop in the bucket of the federal budget, but it has a huge impact on our daily lives. If you care as much as I do about this, please take a second to visit the website and contact your representatives. 1/3 of America tunes in to public media every week, and without government funding, that could dissapear -- particularly for people in rural and other under-served areas.
Lewis Black's full CD, "The Carnegie Hall Performance" is available to stream on AOL Music. You can listen here. Click on his album cover in the navigation bar above the player, or else you'll get a weird smooth jazz album album with a cover that appears to be going for as sort of Kenny-G-meets-Sharon-Stone-in-Basic-Instinct thing.
"Rust, a fungus disease, sapped the
wheat crop. Production of durum wheat dropped from the 10-year average
of 31,547,000 bushels a year to 4,976,000 bushels."
Sean Uyehara is a programmer for the San Francisco International Film Festival, which is currently running here in the City by the Bay. We talk with him about what it's like to watch 1400 movies a year. Also, he talks about some of the more exciting events at this year's festival, including a discussion of machinima from the creators of Red Vs. Blue, and a remarkable video mashup experience from Addictive TV. You can also read more of Sean's thoughts on the festival here.
Sharon Waxman is the Los Angeles Times' Hollywood reporter, but she wasn't always in the entertainment news business. She started out as a foreign correspondent, and admits she only came to the Tinseltown game out of "desperation." Her book, "Rebels in the Backlot" traces the indie film explosion of the mid-90s. It focuses on the work of Quentin Tarantino, PT Anderson, David Fincher, Steven Sodebergh, David O. Russel, and Spike Jonze. It was recently released in paperback.
Philip Lopate's new book is the Library of America's "American Movie Critics: From the Silents Until Now." The huge tome covers film writing from the silent era until now. We talk with Philip about how criticism has changed over the past hundred years, his favorite critics and why, and the role of film criticism in society.
