Bunny and the Bull: Netflix Edition

Now, first thing's first - if you've never seen The Mighty Boosh, go and watch it NOW. At least scroll down to the bottom of the post, and click the link to watch the first episode.  Don't even take the time to finish reading the rest of my post, just come back to it later. I'll wait...

Okay, now has everyone watched at least a few episodes of The Mighty Boosh? Good. Time to get back to the movie pick for this week.

The first feature film from writer and director Paul King, director the cult television series The Mighty Boosh (see the connection now,) Bunny and the Bull follows an emotional basket case as he thinks back on the friend who made him that way.

Stephen, played by Edward Hogg, is a neurotic young man suffering from agoraphobia. As he toys with the idea of going out for food, he recalls a vacation in Europe with his former best friend Bunny, played Simon Farnaby.

While Stephen is quiet and shy, Bunny is outgoing to a fault. He chases women, guzzles booze and is willing to bet on anything. After Stephen is dumped by his girlfriend, Bunny suggests a trip to Europe to cure his blues. Soon after, Bunny wins a bet and the two officially decide to take the trip. Things suddenly take a turn for the worst after Stephen develops a crush on Eloisa, played by Veronica Echegui, a waitress at a local fast food chain. However, much to Stephen's dismay, Bunny sweeps her off her feet before he can make a move. The situation becomes even more complicated after Eloisa takes the two on a trip to her hometown in Spain.

Now I don't want to spoil the rest of the movie for you, but don't you worry, you're guaranteed plenty of whimsical oddballs, including a Hungarian vagrant named Attila whose drink of choice is dog's milk, a suave yet down-to-earth bullfighter, and a dry museum tour guide. Though it is no surprise these roles are played by The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, respectively, Bunny and the Bull is anything but Mighty Boosh: The Movie.

The production design is easily my favorite part of the film. The movie is played out against a semi-animated, endlessly inventive handcrafted backdrops. This includes an underpass made from newspaper, a fairground made from clock parts and a bull made out of cutlery, not to mention a wonderful credit sequence, which utilises everything in Stephen's flat from pocket calculators to postage stamps.

Though the film is, without a doubt, well made, I felt that its script was lacking. Especially compared to any episode of The Mighty Boosh. However, do not let that stop you from watching. It's a great film, and is the perfect example of the difference between British and American comedy.

You can view the trailer for the film below, and you can check out the first episode of The Mighty Boosh here.

Eating Animals

Author of two of the most admired books of the past decade, Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, for his third book, Jonathan Safran Foer chose to focus on longtime personal questions about his diet. A devout vegetarian, and occasional vegan, Foer was inspired to write Eating Animals after thinking of what he would tell his two young children about his dietary choices.

Americans love their animals. 46 million families in the United States own at least one dog, and 38 million keep cats. 13 million maintain freshwater aquariums, containing more than a 170 million fish. Collectively, these animals cost Americans some 40 billion dollars annually.

However, Americans also love to eat animals. Each year, they consume about 35 million cows, more than a 115 million pigs, and 9 billion birds. Most of these creatures have been raised under conditions that are, as most Americans should know, barbaric. Broiler chickens typically spend their lives in windowless sheds, packed in with up to thirty thousand other birds and generations of accumulated waste. The ammonia fumes thrown off by their rotting excrement can lead to breast blisters, leg sores, and respiratory disease. Bred to produce the maximum amount of meat in the minimum amount of time, they often become so top-heavy that they can’t support their own weight. At slaughtering time, they are shackled by their feet, hung from a conveyor belt, and dipped into an electrified bath known as “the stunner.”

Pretty horrifying. Yet we (including me) continue to eat bacon with breakfast each day.

Why is it that Americans are so taken with the animals they keep as pets, yet completely indifferent towards the animals they eat?

That is the question Foer sets out to answer.

For much of Eating Animals, it appears that Foer is arguing vegetarianism as the only moral option. But then, in the middle of the book, Foer becomes friendly with a farmer named Frank Reese, who raises what are known as “heritage” turkeys. “I have placed my wager on a vegetarian diet and I have enough respect for people like Frank, who have bet on a more humane animal agriculture, to support their kind of farming,” Foer states.

I am not a vegetarian. I have tried it in the past, but have always failed (much to my dismay.) I know how the animals we eat are slaughtered, yet I continue to eat them. I have read so much on vegetarianism, and agree with most of the arguments made for eliminating meat from your diet, but I still cannot bring myself to make the transition. Maybe it's just a way of avoiding those awkward questions from family. I am sure there is nothing more uncomfortable than trying to explain to your entire family on Thanksgiving day why you're not eating the turkey your Aunt slaved over all day in the kitchen. Maybe it's just a way to avoid becoming a "hassle." No one wants to be that dreaded dinner party guest who follows every course introduction with a snippy "oh, I don't eat that. It's meat."

I suppose in hindsight this all seems silly, but I think Foer does a good job of addressing it by suggesting that we are defined not by what we do, but by what we are willing to do without. A concept I'm still trying to grasp.

Regardless of your "position" on vegetarianism, I highly suggest you get your hands on a copy of Eating Animals. Foer does a fantastic job of presenting a pragmatic view of vegetarianism, and even if it doesn't completely change your dietary habits, it will make you think twice before eating beef with every meal.    

Sunday Link Collection

So here you have it.  A collection of some of my favorite links from this week.

Rolling Stone: Jim Morrison Ghost

Bangstyle: 10 Best Films Never Made

The New Yorker: The Lure of the Fairy Tale

Rolling Stone: The 10 Coolest Summer Albums

The New Yorker: "The Clock" Returns to New York

Rolling Stone: Previously Unseen Bob Dylan Lyrics from 1965

The New York Times: Aziz Ansari, Voice of the People

Twitter: Conde Nast Elevator

Tumblr: Rich Kids of Instagram

The New York Times: At the Olympics, Women's Time to Shine

The New Yorker: The Massacre in Aurora: Can You Blame the Movies

Glamour: Barbie's Wedding Photos (No, Really)

As always, click the doobli-doo on the right and follow my blog!

Oh, and don't forget to leave some comments.  I'd love to see what you've been checkin' out on the internet lately.

The Guerrilla Girls

The Guerrilla Girls

The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous group of feminists devoted to fighting against sexism within the art world. They are famous for wearing gorilla masks in order to keep their identity hidden.

They formed in 1985, as a response to the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition "An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture," which showcased work by 169 artists. However, out of those 169 artists, only 17 were women. The curator's press release for the exhibition stated: "Any artist who is not in my show should rethink his career." The founding Guerrilla Girls spoke out against the curator's statement by placing posters throughout SoHo. Ironically, their posters are now on display at the museum they originally protested.

Early organizing was based around group evaluation of statistical data gathered regarding gender inequality within the New York City art world. An example of data gathered by the group included the "penis count," where members would go to institutions, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and count the male to female subject ratio in artworks. The data gathered from the Met's public collections in 1985 showed that only 5% of the subjects were women, and that 83% of the women depicted were nude. Data like this formed the basis for protests - both verbally and visually. The group also kept "report cards" about organizations, galleries and critics featuring this data.

Example of the Guerrilla Girls Report Cards

The Guerrilla Girls also worked closely with artists, encouraging them to speak to those within the community to bridge the gender gap within the art world. They are known for their bold statements, including "do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?" and "when racism and sexism are no longer fashionable, what will your art collection be worth?"

However, the Guerrilla Girls had their fair share of critics, too. One even stated, “why do they have to wear such ugly things like gorilla masks, why can't they wear Cinderella masks?”

Membership in the New York City group is by invite only, and is based on relationships with current and past members, and one's involvement in contemporary art world. Due to the lack of formality, the group is comfortable with individuals outside of their base claiming to be Guerrilla Girls. One Guerrilla Girl stated in a 2007 interview that "it can only enhance us by having people of power who have been given credit for being a Girl, even if they were never a Girl." Men are not allowed to become Guerrilla Girls, but may support the group by assisting in promotional activities.

Guerrilla Girls generally take on pseudonyms based on dead and/or forgotten female artists. Members go by names such as Alma Thomas, Rosalba Carriera, Frida Kahlo, Julia de Borgos, and Hannah Hoch. By using pseudonyms, they are able to pay homage to, and remember, female artists.

Though the art world has made quite a bit of progress since the Guerrilla Girls formation in 1985, it's still a work in progress. Women artists working today still earn less than what most male artists earn, and working women in general earn about 77.4% of a man's salary.

Since 2000, only 14% of the Guggenheim's solo shows of living artists have been devoted to women. Only 8% of the work exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art is by women. Only about 23% of solo gallery shows at top New York sites feature pieces by female artists. Women are also consistently only 15% of the names on Artforum‘s, Art + Auction‘s, and ArtReview‘s annual “power lists.”

80% of students at the School of Visual Arts are female. However, in the real world, galleries and museums are dominated by male artists, as 70 to 80% of work displayed is usually by male artists.

Now I'm going to get off my feminist soapbox, and let you do your own independent research!  As always, feel free to comment or contact me with any questions.  Sorry it took me so long to get the post up, I've been having some problems with my internet.

"There is still an institutional lag and an insistence on a male Eurocentric narrative. We are trying to change the future: to get girls and boys to realize that women's art is not an exception—it's a normal part of art history."
Judy Chicago, Artist

To find out more about the Guerrilla Girls, visit: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/ 

Trainspotting: Netflix Edition

Netflix, though great for watching Dawson's Creek and catching up on Gossip Girl (both of which I have done,) is also home to a lot of wonderful movies that are often overlooked.

Until now, that is.

Here with yet another installment, I have come to rescue you from your Netflix rut.

Trainspotting is a 1996 British film directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours.) The film follows a group of heroin addicts in the 1980's living in an economically depressed part of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The film was ranked number 10 by the British Film Institute in its list of Top 100 British films of all time. In 2004 the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll.

Trainspotting is based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh, and stars Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle and Kelly Macdonald.

Irvine Welsh once stated in a Q&A that the title is a reference to people thinking that the act of trainspotting makes no sense. Irvine says he feels the same about heroin addicts. To non-addicts the act seems pointless. However if you take heroin, it makes absolute sense.

Mark Renton, played by Ewan McGregor, is a young man with few prospects and ambitions. Like most of his friends, Renton is a heroin addict who loves the drug's blissful oblivion. Financing his habit also provides excitement that his life otherwise lacks. Renton's two best friends are Sick Boy, played by Jonny Lee Miller, a well dressed James Bond lover, and Spud, played by Ewan Bremner, a naive but lovable nerd. Renton and his pals also hang out with Begbie, played by Robert Carlyle, a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies though he drinks like a fish. After one too many brushes with the law, Renton kicks his heroin habit and moves to London, where he finds a job, a flat, and something close to sanity. However, Sick Boy, Begbie, and Spud all arrive at his doorstep one day, leading Renton back into a life of drugs and crime.

In order to prepare for the role, McGregor read numerous books on crack and heroin addiction. In fact, he was even taught how to cook up heroin with a spoon using glucose powder. McGregor even considered injecting heroin to better understand the character, but eventually decided against it. Probably a good idea in the long run. Director Danny Boyle had them all prepare for the film by making them watch other movies about rebellious youths, such as The Hustler, The Exorcist and A Clockwork Orange. Danny Boyle pays direct tribute to A Clockwork Orange in the scene set at the Volcano nightclub, which is very similar to that set in the Milk Bar in Kubrick's film. In fact, the track playing in the Volcano club is by Heaven 17, who took their name from A Clockwork Orange.

Upon its initial release in the United States, the first 20 minutes of Trainspotting were re-edited with alternative dialogue to allow the American audience to comprehend the strong Scottish accents and slang. Its release sparked much controversy as to whether it promoted drug use or not. U.S. Senator Bob Dole accused it of moral depravity and glorifying drug use during the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign. However, he later admitted that he had never actually seen the film.

I highly suggest you add Trainspotting to your Instant Queue. The film is a fantastic mix of fantasty and reality, and its bright colors and driving soundtrack deliver a potent kick. Though defended by some as anti-drug and attacked by others as pro-drug, I do not believe the film is either. Trainspotting takes a realistic look at the exhausting and unruly life of a drug addict, and the two things that make a bearable.

You can view the trailer for the film below.

Rainy Dayz

Rainy Dayz from taylor03p on 8tracks.

Ohio has been experiencing quite a few rainy days recently, so I thought I would put together a little mix of what I've been listening to while driving around town in the rain.

And yes, there is ONE Lana Del Ray song in the mix.  

ONE.

For anyone who knows me, I am coming off as a total hypocrite right now.  Yes, I am aware of how much I complain about her.  I mean, she always sounds like she's pouting.  And not in a sexy way, in a "oh my god your too old to be whining like that" kind of way.  But I don't care.  It's catchy.  

Kind of like the flu...

Anyways, enjoy the tunes, and be sure to catch up on all of my recent posts!  There are some pretty good ones up right now.

As always, please follow me and comment on my posts.  I'd love to hear feedback from you guys!  I'm always looking for good advice and constructive criticism.

And yes, I said constructive.  Please don't berate me for any typos or the type of font I use.

Woody at 100

Musician Woody Guthrie

This month, musician Woody Guthrie would have turned 100. Though his music is probably not everyone's cup of tea, I don't care. I'm going to talk about him anyways. After all, this is my blog. Not yours.

Woody Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, best known for his political songs and traditional ballads. Guthrie also wrote many children's songs, and was capable of writing in almost any style.

During the Dust Bowl, Guthrie travelled from Oklahoma to California with a group of migrant workers, where he learned to play traditional folk and blues songs. As a result, many of his songs were about his experiences during the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression. This earned him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour." In fact, if you know anything about Woody Guthrie, it's probably from studying John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath, a novel about a family of migrant workers traveling from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl.

His best-known song is probably "This Land Is Your Land," which is often misinterpreted as an incredibly patriotic song.  Though it was about the beauty of traveling throughout the United States, Guthrie is quick to point out its downfalls.  In fact, before its release, Guthrie removed two verses from the famous song, verses 4 and 6. The verses read:

"There was a high wall there
That tried to stop me
A sign was painted that said "Private Property"
But on the other side it didn't say nothin'
That side was made for you and me"

"In the squares of the city
In the shadow of a steeple
By the relief office
I'd seen my people
As they stood there hungry
I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?"

A clear jab at what would be called the 1% today, the extra verses add another dimension to the song, steering it away from the sanitized version taught in schools today. In fact, the unedited version of the song became one of the anthems of the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Most of Guthrie's songs were incredibly political and he was often associated with the Communist party.  

Famous for regularly performing with the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists" displayed on his guitar, Guthrie was also a member of the Almanac Singers, a folk-protest group. Initially, Guthrie helped write and sing what the Almanac Singers called "peace" songs. While the Nazi-Soviet Pact was in effect, the Communist line was that World War II was a capitalist fraud. However, after Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, the group wrote anti-fascist songs. The members of the Almanac Singers and residents of the Almanac House were a loosely defined group of musicians, though the 'core' members included Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Millard Lampell and Lee Hays. In keeping with common socialist ideals, meals, chores and rent at the Almanac House were shared.

The Almanac Singers

Sadly, by the late 1940's, Guthries health was deteriorating, and his behavior became extremely erratic. Eventually, he was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, a genetic disorder he inherited from his mother. Guthrie's condition worsened, and he became increasingly unable to control his muscles. From 1956 to 1961 he was hospitalized at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New York, and was then transferred to Brooklyn State Hospital until 1966. Finally, he was moved to Creedmore Psychiatric Center until his death in 1967 at the age of 55.

Guthrie served as a figurehead during the American Folk Revival in the 1960's (which deserves an entire blog post of its own.) Folk revivalists were increasingly more aware of their political surroundings, and focused on issues of the times, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Free Speech Movement.

Many folk revivalists grew to idolize Guthrie. One day, during his stay at Greystone, Guthrie was visited by a 19 year old Bob Dylan. After learning of Guthrie's whereabouts, Dylan visited him regularly.

Guthrie was said to have had his good days and his bad days. On the good days, Dylan would sing songs to him, and Guthrie seemed warm to Dylan. On the bad days, Guthrie would berate Dylan. Apparently, on Dylan's last visit, Guthrie did not recognize him at all.

Guthries illness was mostly untreated, due to the lack of information about the genetic disorder. However, his death helped raise awareness of the disease and led to the formation of the Huntington's Disease Society of America.

Dylan later went on to write a song in tribute of Guthrie, titled "Song to Woody."

Musicians such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, Joe Strummer, John Lennon, and Jeff Tweedy have all acknowledged Guthrie as a major influence.

Although most Americans today couldn't name more than few songs by Woody Guthrie, his influence is undeniable. Even if you have never heard of Woody Guthrie, I encourage you to listen to some of his music. Even if you don't like folk music. Guthrie is an important part of American musical history, and his legacy lives on today. 

I've decided to end my blog post with a little quote.  Guthrie could write a better conclusion than me.

"I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.

I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built.

I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work."

Guthrie on songwriting

Happy 100, Woody.