Mouse on The Keys is a unique mixture of drums and keyboard, as well as the unlikely pairing of post rock with jazz fusion. Hailing from Toyko, here is the official music video and a rather inventive performance of the opening track off their mini album, Sezession.
Mouse On the Keys, Saigo no Bansan
November 24th, 2009 by CrapBear Grylls vs Honey Bee
October 11th, 2009 by CrapMan Vs Wild epic fail.
Kseniya Simonova’s sand animation
October 7th, 2009 by CrapKseniya Simonova, Ukraine’s Got Talent winner from 2009 constructs complex narratives through the usage of sand painting and synced musical scores.
Wait….this sounds familiar
October 7th, 2009 by Crap‘Chuck’ producer lands Western at Fox
via THR.com
Described as an epic Western with a sci-fi twist, the show will revolve around “a gunslinger caught between worlds” and will feature a nod to “Planet of the Apes,” said Rosenbaum, who is executive producing with Wonderland’s McG and Peter Johnson. “What I’m really interested in is the revamping of the Western genre where you still have all of the iconic Western themes and iconic Western tropes but the idea is that it will feel incredibly contemporary and will introduce the Western to a whole new generation,” Rosenbaum said.
Not to criticize a potential series before it even goes into production, I find this announcement somewhat ridiculous. Off the bat, it bears striking resemblance to another recent Fox series Firefly, which was a sci-fi with Western flavorings. Its also probably worth mentioning “another” older Fox production, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. which was conversely a Western with sci-fi flavorings. Both of which were canned prematurely.
I’m not saying its an unsuccessful formula since both works were rather incredible and sadly cut short, but how Fox could even think of doing it again and pass it off as some sort of unique “twist”.
Kristin Chenoweth on Glee (Videos)
October 2nd, 2009 by Crap
The initial pilot for Glee a few months back was good enough to get me somewhat excited. Here was a potential series that was seemingly going in the opposite direction to recent successful franchises like High School Musical, and instead actually embracing Broadway. It cast Lea Michele (Spring Awakening) in the lead role with future guest stars such as John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys) and Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked).
Needless to say, there was a definite contemporary angle but thats a given in any circumstance. This obviously meant that although there would be Broadway renditions, the majority of the material would be popular music….much of it being less than favorable. This was fine though for the large part. If Michele’s early rendition of Rihanna’s Take A Bow was any indication, I couldn’t complain. The insertion of material like Queen and Journey was also a refreshing surprise as well.
Overall though, the personal draw for the show was its potential to serve as an outlet for Broadway stars in guest role capacities. This and possibly only this was the major reason why I found myself following a a rather dull and incredibly derivative high school melodrama. Thus I faced growing disappointment as the episodes progressed.
TED Talks: Taryn Simon photographs secret sites
October 1st, 2009 by CrapReleased a few days ago on TED, Simon discusses and showcases her work. An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar attempts to reveal and direct light on facets of American culture and society rarely examined and The Innocents takes a look at the role photography itself has played with the wrongfully accused.
Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy
October 1st, 2009 by Crap
As far an fan-made films usually go, its often an embarrassing affair. Low budget productions coupled with adolescents who figure they can achieve more then they set out to do. There’s a reason why the high-gloss of Hollywood production or the careful craftsmanship of independent features is not easy to emulate. It takes careful training, intense logistical organization, and often times some sort of studio backing.
I wouldn’t go so far as to rave over Philanthropy or even cite it as an example opposite of this dilemma, but it comes close. Created by actual film students who seemingly have the abilities to work in the commercial industry, the film overall is quite impressive and surprising. The production level emulates a mid-level TV show which is quite impressive as is. Acting seems professional as well as the costuming, staging, and mise en scene.
Castaway On The Moon: Isolation, Jajangmyeon, & Hikikomoris
September 22nd, 2009 by Crap
Lets face it, Korean cinema has been far from impressive of late. Especially when we put things in contrast to earlier this very same decade that saw an emerging new generation that inventively crafted genre films capable of drawing huge international markets. Whether it was Park Chan Wook, Bong Joon Ho, or Kim Ki Duk, it was obvious that there was a shifting paradigm away from the more classical mentalities of old blood like Im Kwon-taek or even the monotonous flood of mainstream romance comedies or period films on the other side of the spectrum.
Overall, films that were both commercially viable and critically successful on a global scale were becoming increasingly more likely. This was in direct contrast and often times in conflict with a parallel trend that was heavily aimed at drawing in domestic tween markets, with embarrassingly sappy melodramatic fare that was often times both formulaic and utterly mindless. Unsurprisingly, this latter trend won out and the emergence of this domestic innovation seemed to disappear altogether. Park Chan Wook and his contemporaries were still pumping out yearly works for the festival circuit, but it didn’t appear that anyone new was entering the limelight.
Its quite a sad affair and one that has honestly decreased my personal attentions to Korean film making on the whole. Thus I watch less films as years pass and pay increasingly less attention to industry developments. This isn’t to say I’ve completely given up on them but merely that my attentions are focused elsewhere on the globe. I still catch the new Kim Ki Duk or Park film when the opportunity presents itself. And on some rare occasions, still catch that oddball film that may have peaked my interest via a blog post or blind rental. Castaway on the Moon is such a film and one that I viewed wholly by accident.
