Adult Swim's Infomercials, the series that brought us "Too Many Cooks," is back and more horrifying than ever. The new video they're airing at 4am to scare hapless, insomniac stoners is called "Unedited Footage of a Bear." And, á la "Too Many Cooks," it starts off pretty innocently as a parody of the faux-documentary style home videos that are all too familiar on YouTube. But then, the video cuts off and brings you to a parody of an allergy commercial for a fake medicine called "Claridryl" -- complete with a "Skip Add" button that brings you to the Claridryl homepage. But as the clip veers into absurd darkness, you get a hint that maybe Claridryl isn't exactly what it seems. It's not a video for the faint of heart but at the very least it'll shake up the monotony of your week by giving you some disturbing nightmares.
Ellie Rines' 55 Gansevoort Gallery (55 Gansevoort Street) premieres a new video by Jeanette Hayes tonight, December 17th, 6 to 8 p.m. The 30-minute clip titled "This American Life" is a compilation of moments recorded over the last three years by the 26- year-old artist and internet star currently living in NYC. It will screen in a continuous loop -- 24/7 -- in the tiny space.
The cool "Situation NY" installation by Jana Winderen and Marc Fornes at Storefront for Art and Architecture (97 Kenmare Street) is only up for a few more days, and on Thursday, December 18, 7 p.m., there's a special evening at the space with "collaborative improvisations and solo intercessions." The night features sound artists, programmers and musicians from the New York Supercollider Meetup. Participants include Daniel Palkowski, Dave Britton, David Reeder and Nicholas Colvin.
Also wrapping up this weekend is Dan Colen's "The L...o...n...g Count" show in Walter De Maria's former studio that's located in an old electrical substation at 421 East 6th Street. The building was purchased in August for $27 million by Peter Brant who plans --- or, at least everyone is hoping he plans -- to convert the space into a permanent art center. You can check it out by appointment only via (646) 549-8446.
Leila Heller Gallery (568 West 25th Street) opens a big group show called "Time To Hit the Road" on December 19th. Curated by Alex Gerson and Matteo Zevi, the exhibition features works by artists that participated in the duo's Land Art Road Trip in the summer of 2013 and explores "how the creative journey has inspired their artistic practice." Around thirty artists are involved and the show is up until January 10, 2015.
A show of "intricately designed and embroidered paintings" by the Italian artist Angelo Filomeno opens on Thursday, December 18, 6 to 8 p.m., at Galerie Lelong (528 West 26th Street). For the exhibition, "The House of Magic Affection," over a dozen recent paintings and two sculptures will be on view and the artist will be present during the opening. The exhibition is on view until the end of January.
On Thursday, December 18 there's a reception with the artist Bruce Conkle for his exhibit "The Wooden Carrot" at Frosch & Portmann (53 Stanton Street), from 6 to 8 p.m. Conkle, who lives and works in Portland, Oregon, explores "man's place in nature" with his Captive Snowman series featuring "real snowpersons" on "life support" in big freezers -- don't forget to pay the electricity bill.
The closing reception for New York artist Chris Domenick's "You are Apple/Pear" is also on the 18th from 6 to 8 p.m. at RECESS (41 Grand Street). Domenick explores the "historical genre of the still life and its accompanying fruit basket" using three photography still-life tables and a blender on a "kitchen island."
Koenig & Clinton (459 West 19th Street) opens an exhibition of furniture and lighting by the 80s postmodern design collective The Memphis Group on December 18, 6 to 8 p.m. On view until January 31st. There's also a Memphis Group "partner show" at Joe Sheftel Gallery (24 Orchard Street) that runs through January 11th.
The artists participating in the sixteenth edition of the Centre-fuge murals will be working all weekend from December 18th to the 21st, covering a trailer parked at First Street and First Avenue. The results will then be on view through February 12th, 2015. Look for works by Arbiter, Basil Sema, BK, Foxxface, Joshua David McKenney, Lexi Bella and others. For three years, this public art project has transformed a DOT trailer into a rotating street art gallery.
Check out the current show, "2033, Original Works Created in 2014," by the UK artist Paul Insect at Allouche Gallery (115 Spring Street) up through January 11th.
The fact that the Future Islands' brilliant Letterman appearance happened way back in early March is really driving home that whole "where the fuck did the year go?" feeling. Fortunately, a minidoc of the band just surfaced, shot and directed Jay Buim, that captures a lot of quiet/blurry/sweet tour moments and a few shots of frontman Samuel T. Herring sweatily working his magic onstage. The seven-minute video also includes what must be the best pregame band-chant of all time, one that we've already started using before our editorial meetings: "1-2-3 WINNERS!" Watch Road Dawgs, above.
Congrats to everyone who's getting deafening amounts of Oscar buzz. It must be such a grand feeling. Alas, there are others who are just as deserving who will be shut out for various unfortunate reasons. Here are my eight faves who won't even get a piddling nomination.
Ellar Coltrane, Boyhood Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke have rightfully been given kudos for their supporting performances as the troubled parents, but the heart and soul of this sweeping movie about the cumulative importance of minutiae is the astonishing performance by Coltrane, playing their son Miles from age 6 to 18. It was quite a gamble for writer/director Richard Linklater to trust a kid actor with 12 years of filming, but it truly paid off, because you see Coltrane not only growing up, but evolving into a truly fine actor right before your eyes. Unfortunately, the reaction among the Oscar crowd is: "He's just a kid actor."
Miles Teller, Whiplash Similarly, J.K. Simmons is getting all the hoopla for playing the sadistic conductor in the taut, exciting battle of wills, Whiplash, and he's truly earned it. But Teller is his equal every step of the way as the young prodigy who's willing to play the game and fight this twisted Svengali to the finish. People must think Teller is too young to get honors, but again, that's just cocky-doodie.
Naomi Watts, Birdman Naomi is great as a very colorful and complex actress in the inventive look at theatrical vulnerabilities and egos. She's also good as a Russian whore with a heart of gold in St. Vincent. Alas, that first role peters out -- one or two more scenes and she would have been a lock -- and the latter movie isn't strong enough for Oscar (though she just nabbed a SAG nomination for it). Naomi would have done better in the early days of Garbo, when you could get nominated for several movies together.
Lindsay Duncan, Birdman Yes, we've hit upon a film with a whole array of great acting turns. (Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Andrea Riseborough, and the aforementioned Watts are all superb. Kudos to the casting -- and the direction.) Duncan is simply riveting as a fed up theater critic who sets out to destroy Keaton's Broadway play, with fangs out. And I should know from vicious theater critics.
Rene Russo, Nightcrawler Jake Gyllenhaal has nabbed Golden Globe and SAG nominations for losing weight and playing a creepy video stalkerazzi in this unusual character study, but Rene is just as fabulous. She plays a sort of updated Faye-Dunaway-in-Network type producer who lusts for ratings, no matter how sleazily they're attained. Too bad no one with a ballot seems to have noticed, except for the L.A. Film Critics, who named her runner-up.
Carmen Ejogo, Selma Strangely, I haven't heard any Oscar buzz for Carmen, who's great as Coretta Scott King in this well-played drama about the civil rights struggle in the 1960s. Ejogo plays Coretta as strong and supportive, but faced with occasional doubts about her husband's love and faithfulness. She's excellent in the role.
Shailene Woodley, The Fault in Our Stars They deprived Shailene of a nomination for The Descendants, and now she's getting snubbed again for this cancer-support-group romance. Admittedly, it soft pedals the disease element to make things way more glossy than anything in real life. What's more, it's thought of as a teen flick, and that kind of thing rarely gets nominated. But who cares? She's great!
Tilda Swinton, The Grand Budapest Hotel Tilda was such a sight as the grizzled Madame D., instantly granting the film extra cult status. People also adored her in the equally out there vampire flick Only Lovers Left Alive and the extra esoteric Snowpiercer. The woman always blesses these offbeat films with her enchanted and quirky presence. Alas, the feeling is, "We already gave her an Oscar!" Could anything be dumber?
Deejay Deer album art for "Natur." (Photo via Numbers)
Like a page from the Brothers Grimm, Deejay Deer's bio reads that the producer "was born and raised in the Bavarian wilderness and is to our knowledge the first forest dwelling animal to use the prefix 'Deejay.'" Deer emerged in September, part of a wavelet of anonymous producers who grow their fanbase -- and mystique -- by pumping out genre-bending dance tracks and cryptic imagery in lieu of press photos. Deer's labelmate SOPHIE (both are on the Glaswegian imprint Numbers) hit No. 2 on the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart back in July with his serotonin-surging track "Lemonade"; GFOTY (Girlfriend of the Year) and the Lipgloss Twins are on PC Music, an upstart London label whose roster is spearheading a new sound influenced by the cutesy Japanese subculture kawaii. The light, fizzy output of these producers serves as an antidote to the bass-heavy style dominating popular electronic music, and their low profiles stand in sharp contrast to EDM's godlike superstars, whose personas can overshadow their work. As SOPHIE puts it, "Biographical details are quite boring. I'm more interested in music being about ideas rather than idols."
SOPHIE imagery. (Photo by Masha Mel)
The producer, who's occasionally been seen DJing but has also confirmed that he's used drag queens and other confederates as stand-ins during his sets, distinguishes his, Deejay Deer's, and the PC Music crew's anonymity from that of their predecessors like Daft Punk or the Gorillaz who teased their audiences with metallic helmets or animated avatars. SOPHIE has no interest in elaborate disguises. "Wearing masks presumes that people are interested in what your face looks like," he says. "I suppose what I am saying is nobody cares what you look like. They care about what you create." He continues, "It's like fashion really -- you like the shoes. The brand communicates itself through advertisements. You don't need to see a picture of the person who made them. You just buy them."
This story was originally published on Decemeber 10, 2012
Fun fact: We are suckers for holiday music. Maybe it's due to the fact that our mom used to crank up the holiday songs on Lite FM (thank you Delilah) starting weeks before Thanksgiving or that the first CD we owned was the Jackson 5 Christmas Album but for the last few weeks, our Songza account has been tuned to various holiday-themed stations nonstop. And, while we love us a good Bing Crosby rendition of "White Christmas" or Mariah's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," we can't help but wish that interspersed between all these Christmas songs was a Hanukkah jam or two not written by Adam Sandler. For those of us lighting the menorah tonight, it feels like there are only two choices for a seasonally festive soundtrack: either play "8 Crazy Nights" on repeat or give in and listen to Michael Bublé belt out "I'll Be Home For Christmas" while you munch on a latke.
The irony is, there shouldn't be such a dearth of Hanukkah music. Not only are there many Jewish singers, DJs and musicians (or half-Jews -- like Action Bronson and David Guetta, who knew?) but many classic Christmas carols were written by Jews (not to mention all of the Christmas albums recorded by Members of the Tribe). Think what would happen if all of these Chosen People put their talents to use and wrote and recorded some Hanukkah songs! Below, we imagine some of the possibilities...
1."Best (Hanukkah) I Ever Had" by Drake
On the heels of his Bar Mitzvah-inspired video for "HYFR," Drake's decided to dedicate another song to his Jewish roots. Set to Dirty South-style bass, the Hanukkah-themed track features rhymes like "Now you give the dreidel a roll-o, you already know, though / You only live once: that's the motto, YOLO / And we 'bout it eight days, eight days, eight days / Like we sittin' at the bench, we don't really play / Eight days, eight days, fuck what anybody says / Can't see 'em cause the gelt in the way." This just might be the first Hanukkah song you can twerk to.
2."Momma's Latkes" by Chromeo
The funky gents from the "first successful Arab and Jewish partnership" release a new single just in time for the holidays that tackles a romantic interfaith relationship. Dave1 tells a story about wooing a gentile girl during the holiday season and learning that as great as she is, she still can't compete with his mom. "And girl you got it, so sad / When the only latkes you make are so bad / And boy you got it, so wrong / When you eat her latkes and long for your mom's." [Photo by Atisha Paulson]
3."Party Eight Nights Long" by David Guetta
From the start, the EDM legend's latest track builds up a hypnotic and ear-deafening crescendo of fist-pumping beats that, when listened closely, sound vaguely klezmer-inspired. As for the vocals, if you can make it past the layers of autotune, you can hear frequent collaborator Chris Willis ("Gettin' Over," "Love Is Gone") singing "Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah." If you plan to celebrate the miracle of lights in Ibiza, this is the only track you'll need.
4."Judas Maccabeus" by Regina Spektor
Spektor's cryptic ballad departs from the Book of Maccabees, describing a love affair between the narrator and the titular Jewish warrior. "The Bible doesn't mention us," sings Spektor, in apparent reference to the fact that the Maccabean revolt occurred long after the appearance of the Torah.
5."Turtleneck & L'chaim" by The Lonely Island
SNL viral-video goofballs the Lonely Island return with a Hanukkah-inspired Jewish jam that'll knock Weird Al's yarmulke off. The whole thing's a little bit derivative of Adam Sandler -- especially lyrics like "gefilte fish in my pants" -- but your younger brother who's still in Hebrew school and doesn't know any better will love this stuff.
6."Light the Lights With You" by Maroon 5
A far cry from the band's dance floor hit "Moves Like Jagger," "Light the Lights With You" features Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine crooning about the loneliness he feels on Hanukkah after his model girlfriend breaks up with him on the third night of the holiday. Doleful piano chords and Levine's occasional slip into falsetto heighten the feeling that there actually are things lonelier than being a Jew on Christmas -- being a Jew with a broken heart on Hanukkah.
7."Latkes & Blunts" by Action Bronson (Produced by Party Supplies)
Party Supplies' bass-heavy 70s funk beats, as silky smooth as canola oil, provide the backdrop for rhymes like "Grate those russet potatoes while we be smokin' / nothing like latkes when you been tokin'."
8. "Judah" by fun.
Though the band may only have one member of the Chosen People (Jack Antonoff), the trio's ebullient, power pop sound makes them uniquely capable bards when it comes to the re-telling of a larger-than-life story: Judah and the Maccabees. Highlights of the rousing song include a layer of pulsating drum beats that could remind you of the sounds of Israelites participating in Judah's rebellion.
9."Dreidel Trizz" by A-Trak
You'd never think a track sampling a children's Hanukkah song (that would be "I Have a Little Dreidel") could become a certified club banger but then again most wouldn't have thought a track dedicated to your mother's favorite chanteuse (that would be Duck Sauce's "Barbra Streisand") would be either. And now, A-Trak has done both. Opening with shimmery bloops and techno-fied whirs, the frenetic production goes on to feature air horns, sirens and the faint -- yet persistent -- chant of "dreidel, dreidel, dreidel / clay, clay, clay."
10."Candle Light" by Jessie Ware
A follow-up to her song "Night Light" from Ware's debut album, Devotion, "Candle Light" features the same mournful cello intro and languid 90s-era R&B beats but with lyrics like "You'll be my candle light, there when I go to sleep / You'll be the symbol of the miracle that we keep" you can bet the soulful songstress isn't talking about a tattooed beau. No, she's talking about a menorah.
11."Soldiers of Maccabee" by Anthrax
This thrash metal onslaught is inspired by stories of the Maccabees' guerilla fighting methods. Has been known to turn circle pits into horas.
And we'll issue a challenge: if any of these artists are inspired by our suggestions and feel like recording these holiday classics-in-the-making, there's a live venue waiting for you to premiere the track...the PAPER kitchen. Your move, guys.
Today, long after its evolution from subway vandalism to a beloved global art form, graffiti is a constant fixture of daily urban life, most of it as unremarkable as pigeons and dog shit. But there are exceptions to that rule: a handful of artists are currently painting our city Technicolor and proving that sometimes the message really is more than the medium. Here are 10 of them.
At 32 years old, Jason Woodside is still quite young considering the amount of recognition his work has garnered. He's already collaborated with Obey, been commissioned by restaurants and hotels across all five boroughs and taken over the New Museum with his signature clash of rainbow-bright prints. His tangram-esque mishmash of patterns puts his pieces in visual conflict with their often drab, concrete environs, and makes them instantly recognizable as part of his oeuvre. Though found throughout the streets of New York, his work tends more towards fine modern art than your run-of-the-mill street tag, making him a leader of what some have termed the post-graffiti movement.
Beau Stanton is technically more muralist and painter than professional street artist, with impressively detailed work that ranges from miniatures to paintings that cover entire facades. Stanton mixes historical, nautical and architectural references to create murals that seem perfectly suited to the Industrial Era -- that, or something out of a steampunk's wet dream. His paintings fuse the present and past into single images -- or, as he puts it, "enigmatic illuminations."
Maya Hayuk's murals lean more toward geometric, neon-colored acid trips than the indecipherable bubble letters or childlike scribbles you're used to seeing sprayed across every street corner. She takes over huge walls, transforming them into kaleidoscopic imagery that pulls the viewer in like a modern-day mandala. With solo exhibitions held the world over and her own book, Round the Way, Hayuk creates a synesthesia-like experience that always leaves you wanting more.
ELLE's street art ranges from tags and wheatpaste to murals, sculptures and, most recently, advertisements replaced with her own collages. Though she frequently takes over billboards along the BQE without permission, she's also been commissioned by IKEA to make posters and had her work legally projected across the facade of the New Museum. ELLE's work blurs the line between fine, street and commercial art, proving that the boundaries between each really only exist in the eye of the beholder.
The twin brothers behind Skewville first came to fame thanks to the wooden sneakers they left dangling over power lines, echoing the real ones they'd seen growing up in New York. They still remain loyal to their original footwear, but the twins' most recent work focuses more on ironic slogans, like a double-ended arrow reading, "SUCKS EITHER WAY," and a mural at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens that encourages you to "UPDATE YOUR STATUS."
GILF is surely one of New York's most outspoken, forward-thinking street artists and social activists. Probably best known for her banner strung across the recently demolished 5 Pointz building that read, "GENTRIFICATION IN PROCESS," GILF's work has been written about in New York magazine and the Daily News and shown in galleries across the US and abroad.
Matthew Denton Burrows' mural work looks like what Tim Burton might create if he decided to dabble in folk art. His blocky, primary-colored portraits blend together the macabre and bizarre, but with an innocence and simplicity that make the final product more charming than alarming. Though a trained illustrator and fine artist, Burrows' began doing large-scale work in public spaces in 2013. He may still be a street-art novice, but the darkness, intensity and introspection in his pieces promise big things to come.
Specter's street art is trompe l'oeil at its finest. He paints a wall of broken windows in the heart of gentrified Williamsburg, creates elaborate wrought-iron gates out of cardboard and installs hyper-realistic bodegas on concrete walls. Though he earned his credentials on the streets of Montreal as part of the Kops crew, five years in New York have helped hone this artist's phantasmagorical aesthetic to perfection.
Graffiti artist isn't quite the right term for Aakash Nihalani. Though the spirit of his installations is very much in tune with that of his fellow street artists, Nihalani's tools of choice are cardboard and fluorescent-colored tape. Creating geometric optical illusions in urban settings, his work causes viewers to question what's real and what isn't, producing a sense of the uncanny in the midst of the everyday.
31. My Sweetheart terrarium by Twig (features tiny kissing couple inside). $45 Twig.com.
32.Intelligentsia
Coffee gift box (includes a 12oz bag of Celebration Blend, an
Intelligentsia mug and an Askinosie chocolate bar). $45.00 via Intelligentsiacoffee.com.
33 Urban Theater: New York Art in the 1980s. $55, via Rizzoli.com
Serial's Season 1 finale aired yesterday, and we haven't seen such giddy exhaustion since Walter White revealed that Jesse Pinkman was actually his son, drawing to a close five seasons of Breaking Bad. Now that the record-breaking podcast is on hold, the time has come for think pieces, sober online forum debate and the aggregation of hi-i-i-i-larious memes! In choosing our favorites, we kept two things in mind: 1) as Best Buy learned the hard way, Serial jokes should really stick to the show's addictive powers and avoid making light of a horrific murder case; 2) cereal puns aren't funny.
Current reigning King of Sex Music, Miguel, secretly dropped a new three-song EP last night just in time for "cuffing season." Still-untitled, the release features songs like "nwa" (featuring LA-based rapper, Kurupt), "hollywooddreams" and "coffee," which the singer previewed on Instagram a few months back. "nwa" features falsettos and cowbells reminiscent of a Pharrell track, "hollywooddreams" features similar fuzz and reverb as on his superb "Simple Things" and "coffee" is a lush, psych-tinged love song. Listen to all three, above.
Back at the BAFTA Britannia Awards in October, BBC America Anglophenia host Siobhan Thompson asked British actors to do their best-worst American accents -- and made the same challenge to American actors -- and the results are pretty great. Watch as stars from Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, Episodes, House of Cards and more do horrendous Robert De Niro impressions, East Coast accents, talk about liking burgers and basically sound like they have a pound of mashed potatoes in their mouths at all times. Which, accurate. Representing the United States, Lea Thompson does a hideous British accent and Jon Favreau gives himself a lame out. Boo! Brits for the win.
Here's some facts you probably know about Snoop Dogg:
1. He's a rap icon 2. He likes weed. A lot. 3. He changed his name to 'Snoop Lion' for a time but has now changed it back.
Now here's something you might not know:
His 17-year-old son, Cordell, is one of the top NCAA football recruits in the country. No shit.
Cordell gets his love of the gridiron from his dad, who's coached pee wee football and even created a league where his son got his start as a kid. The two have now teamed up on a new reality show for ESPN called Snoop & Son: A Dad's Dream that'll follow them as they navigate Cordell's college prospects, review game tapes and do normal family stuff like wash dishes. ESPN released the first trailer for the show yesterday and -- no lie -- it looks really good. Give it a look, above.
21-year-old Sebastian Sommer is an up-and-coming independent filmmaker who's more obsessed with the internet than traditional film. Like a true digital native -- one who is always tabbing between Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr -- his shorts focus on whatever interests him in the moment. His short film, She Told Me She Was Dead, featuring actress and nightlife star Hari Nef, is an exploration of celebrity and viral fame and his webseries, Alt-Lit follows a crew of apathetic Brooklyn poets. The running thread through all of his work is how the internet intersects with and changes our IRL lives. Sommer's newest short, Eight Circut Model, originally premiered by Purple Magazine, is a futuristic fashion shoot gone horribly wrong. For this project he teamed up with actress Jennifer Prediger, who most recently wrote, directed, and starred in the festival darling, Trouble Dolls. You can watch Eight Circuit Model and then read our Q&A with Sebastian Sommer and Jennifer Prediger, below.
How did you come up with the concept for Eight Circuit Model? It seemed like, half horror film and half critique of millennial culture.
Sebastian Sommer: I originally had this idea around the moment of a photo shoot and how that experience can be funny or awkward. I'm also really obsessed with the internet -- and the dark side of the internet -- so that's something I really wanted to show in the film. So it ended up being a combination of all of these things that I was obsessed with at the time -- like Hood by Air.
Yeah, HBA is sort of hard to avoid these days. Why did you choose to include the brand in your film?
SS: Other than just really liking it, I felt like the clothing itself makes a statement. Hood By Air sort of fits into this new, emerging culture. I remember when HBA was just a website and you had to just email them to get it -- they didn't have a shop or anything. So it's been interesting to see them really grow and explode. I've always been a fan, even if A$AP Rocky doesn't think they're cool anymore. Jennifer Prediger: Yeah, you liked them before they were cool and after they stopped being cool.
So how did you two start working together? JP: Well, Sebastian is really good at reaching out to people whose work he's seen and admired. He saw the Joe Swanberg film, Uncle Kent (2011), that I acted in.
SS: Yeah, the first time I saw it was in an airport on the way back from California during the summer. I watched Uncle Kent on my iPod Touch -- not even an iPhone -- and I used the airport WiFi to stream the film since I had been meaning to check it out. I remember Jennifer's performance was definitely my favorite. It's always great when an actor can do something that stays in your mind.
JP: From there Sebastian sent me the nicest Facebook message and he also sent me one of his short films that he had at the TriBeCa Film Festival titled, Mama Said Sardine Baby. It's the strangest movie title of all-time, but I love it. That was the beginning of my interest in Sebastian's work. I felt like he had captured the essence of something very important.
Sebastian Sommer (left) and Jennifer Prediger (right). Photo by Jennifer Medina
How did you build the rest of the cast? Do you have a network of actors that you usually work with?
SS: When I was writing it I definitely knew that I wanted Jennifer in the film and Steve Girard, who plays the photographer in Eight Circuit Model. He had this film, Wawd Ahp, that won Best Midnight Short at SXSW. It was really, really fucking crazy -- crazier than my film. In the short he played a rapper who cuts his own head off and then has sex with his own head. I knew I wanted him to play the photographer and then the rest of the actors and actresses filled in around that.
Looking at Alt Lit -- the webseries that you did for Nerve -- in comparison with Eight Circuit Model, it seems like your work really focuses on youth culture. But Alt Lit was more like satire... Eight Circuit Model is definitely the direction I'm going toward. With Alt Lit, Nerve definitely had more control than I wish they did. Eight Circuit Model is more true to my style.
What did you do differently with Eight Circuit Model?
JP: Well, with Eight Circuit Model the concept is basically a person getting an actual virus from a computer -- a computer virus that becomes a biological virus that can kill you. The fact that Sebastian is even thinking about humans having sex with robots, or people getting diseases from computers is really different.
SS: Yeah, I like computers a lot. I want to bring internet culture to movies. I'm in the process right now of trying to figure out how to do that and how to get there. I just want to bring the culture of the internet to films. I think a lot of movies are out of touch with what's going on online. Obviously, films like The Social Network have been made and David Fincher uses computer screens in an interesting way, but I don't think meme culture has really been brought to film. Like the really weird stuff. Nobody is referencing all these things that millions of people on the internet would understand.
It's an interesting undertaking to bring the internet to film because the internet, or at least the act of going online, is pretty boring visually.
SS: Haha yeah, it can be. But people don't think enough about how incredible the internet is and through film-making I want to change that.
What projects are you working on next?
SS: I have almost finished editing my next short film Family Tree, which
stars Hari Nef and India Menuez. It's about a dinner party that quickly
becomes sinister and it's inspired by things I've seen on 4chan, Agatha
Christie, and Ken Russell, with music by Hot Sugar. After that I
plan on making only one more short film before I start making feature
films.
This clip is just as freaky now as it was back in 1977. It was recorded for a Bing Crosby TV special and, sadly, Crosby died 5 weeks after the taping. Bowie, who looks here like a cross between Ashton Kutcher and Ryan McGinley, supposedly hated the song and only did it because his mom liked Crosby. The long intro inappropriately sets the stage with ridiculous quips like Bowie asking Crosby "Are you the new butler?" and then claiming he likes older musicians like John Lennon and Harry Nilsson. Regardless, somehow the holiday spirit shines through as the two duet without ever make eye contact.
Move over Mariah, SSION's Cody Critcheloe, Hunx and His Punx's Seth Bogart and Samantha Urbani have made your new favorite holiday jam: "Pink Christmas." The trio -- with the help of legendary '80s-era LA billboard queen Angelyne -- sing an ode to the holidays that is equal parts '80s synth rock, WHAM!'s "Last Christmas," and MTV's fake boy band 2gether's late-90s tween hit "Calculus." While the track is easy listening, muzak-y brain candy at its finest, the video is cuckoo and amazing and features everyone from Peaches and Geneva Jacuzzi to a muscle-y guy in a speedo and a slew of fun LA kids (we think we spotted Dog Show co-owner Christine Stormberg, for instance). Give it a watch, above.
(And, if you're in the mood for more "Pink Christmas," you can buy a limited-edition perfume of the same name at VFILES or Wacky Wacko.)
If you've had your fill of schmaltzy holiday music by now, cleanse your pallet with this new video from Sky Ferreira, directed by her boyfriend and DIIV frontman Zachary Cole Smith, for the superbly scuzzy Night Time, My Time track "Omanko." The video features home video footage of the couple's adventures together -- including ice skating and flying in a plane -- over Ferreira's refrain that she's "gearing up for a Japanese Christmas." Check it out above.
Shadiest Shade Move of the Week: Kris Jenner posting this bitchy email to Instagram that she received from our current cover girl, warning her mother to cut it out with ALL the black dresses and white collars! While we think it was an epic moment in parental one-upping that Kris gets snaps for,Kim kind of does have a point. Let's get some pops of color and new silhouettes up in this bitch, Kris. --Elizabeth Thompson Best Way to Punch a Painting Without Getting Arrested: Punchamonet.gallery. If you've never wanted to punch a Monet while in a gallery you're lying to yourself. But that's okay, because now you have the chance to beat the shit out of a painting on the Internet! Which is basically real life at this point. -- Kyla Bills Scariest Vacation: This one. A man in Canada booked a trip around the world with his then-girlfriend but they broke up and, rather than canceling the trip, the dude put a call out on Reddit for any woman who shared his ex's name (Liz Gallagher) to accompany him. Please be safe, new Liz Gallagher! -- K.B.
Best Tampon Ad:The one made by NYU's Hammerkatz sketch comedy group, which imagined a tampon commercial made by an all male marketing team and it's too good to be true. -- K.B. Best Use of Stock Footage:This homage to famous directors is startlingly wonderful and accurate considering that it's composed entirely stock footage. -- K.B.
Happiest Remix: As part of LuckyMe Records' Advent calendar they released a remix of A.G. Cooks "Beautiful" and it's a song you can't help but smile while listening to. -- K.B. Best Hanukkah News of the week: There's now some Hanukkah-specific beers to drink with your latkes! Even better news is that the company is called "He'Brews." -- K.B.
Best Parody of the Only Podcast People Talk About:Funny Or Die's Serial parody before the finale of Serial is probably the most spot on impersonation of Sarah Koenig's emotions toward the series ending. -- K.B.
Most Yaaaaaas Girl Moment of the Week: Nicki Minaj in Roberto Cavali's Spring campaign. "I wanted a sensual woman who is aware of her body,
who is not afraid to show her curves -- rather, she turns them into her
strength," the designer told WWD about choosing the rapper as the brand's new face, and we have to agree that Nicki Minaj is the perfect choice. -- Gabby Bess [via WWD]
Craziest Dollar Amount Spend on Christmas Presents of the Week: $74,000. That, of course, was spent by Kanye West on his beloved North West. The world's best dad bought baby North a $62,000 diamond encrusted tiara and a $12,000 matte black SUV toy car. Merry fucking Christmas, please adopt me. -- GB [via Daily Mail]
FRESH TO DEATH If you smell good, that's half the battle. We're all about the spicy warmth of Tom Ford Velvet Orchid and Marc Jacobs' Daisy Dream is a fruity, floral wonderland. Bottega Veneta Knot smells like soap and line-hung laundry and My Burberry is a freesia-geranium delight. Give yourself a spritz and a wink in the mirror.
SLOBCORE SALLIES All you need in life is a dry shampoo and a good quality lipgloss. Here are our picks for the best in the biz for when showering, blow-drying and eyelash curling just fills you with "ughhhhhh." Slobcore ladies rise up!
MARC'S DA MAN We have nothing but heart-eyes-emojis for all of Marc Jacobs' beauty products. If you can't afford to wear him on your body, wear him on your face. Chic, chic, chic.
LADIES WHO LOTION Women who have a whole lotion routine that's a thing: We feel you. Here are the best body creams and moisturizers to get you feeling super luxx..
SHINE BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND There's no such thing as too much glitter. Wear it on your face, your eyes, your lips -- you're basically a truly outrageous Jem and everyone loves to see you sparkle.
ACE OF FACE Guess what? You hit 28 and your face ain't about that life anymore. It's all about exfoliation and collagen creams from here on out. Oh, and you should probably get to know serums on a personal level. Here are our picks.