Rep. Michele Bachmann delivers a kooky and meandering entreaty to the Lord her God during the Family Research Council’s 2009 “Prayercast” event to thwart passage of healthcare reform legislation. GOD DOESN’T WANT EVERYONE TO HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE, HIPPIE!
Towards the end, when Lou Engle starts talking it gets truly spooky. I wish they were all wearing hooded robes like monks in that part (in my mind, they were wearing them).
“The Wanna Be Oddie” is a short animated film made by Ben Lam as his MFA project at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In it, he masterfully appropriates certain qualities of vintage, black and white animation, then updates them with 3D graphics and a kooky homage to Transformers, for one of the most charming animations I’ve seen in some time. Thoroughly modern, yet retro (in the best sense), too.
When I was a little kid, I used to collect silent movie comedies on Super 8 film from Blackhawk Films. I’d project them on the wall in my parent’s basement and I’d watch them over and over again. I really studied them and I must say, Ben Lam must’ve watched the same stuff, because he really perfectly abstracts and captures the “vintageness” (and all that would imply) of Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd, early Mickey Mouse, Ub Iwerks and Max Fleischer cartoons. He didn’t just slap a scratch filter over his animation, in other words, there’s some organic magic happening here that really puts his work at the head of the class. When you get the small details right, the bigger picture is so much more vivid.
Even in this crappy job market, I’m sure a talent like Ben’s was snapped up by the likes of Pixar, post haste. If this was a Coca-Cola commercial and only the difference was that the vending machine and bottles were red and sported logos, not much would change, and it would still be just as great.
Stated differently, If advertising was this cool, I wouldn’t tune it out.
Oki has put together a collection of Joy Division mashups with female singers like Cher, Katy Perry and Beyonce called Divas Of Joy Division which you can download for free here.
I’m a massive Joy Division fan so I approached Oki’s concept with trepidation, but was surprised to find that some of the tracks have an eerily appealing vibe.
This particular cut which combines “She’s Lost Control” with Nancy Sinatra singing “Bang, Bang” took a couple of listens before it got its hooks in me. But it did.
Sinatra’s flanged vocal not sitting right in the pocket (which is wobbly as it is) creates the unsettling atmosphere of a dark drug experience which seems perfect for songs about madness and homicide.
I mashed up the mashup with some video so you’d have something to look at.
This is not a parody, even though it’s kind of, sort of… (not really) funny. I guess it’s laugh at it funny.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s also vile and pure evil, but this puppy is also so patently ridiculous that it’s very, very close to being a self-parody. Crank up the volume on the absurdities therein about 5%—not even—and it could be an Onion video.
But it’s not.
Note that the name to send the money to is that of loathsome bigot, Sid Roth, a Jew for Jesus-type who is the host of his own idiotic Christianist pukefest called It’s Supernatural! The book was written by his frequent guest and crony, Dr. Michael Brown.
For quite reasonable, uh, reasons, I normally strongly suspect all anti-gay Christianists of being closet cases themselves. The more they are against gay rights, I say the more likely they’re smoking “Tina” with rent boys. It seems to be a natural law or something, doesn’t it? For the record, though, I don’t feel this way about Sid Roth. I don’t think Roth is a closeted gay man at all. I just think Sid Roth is a fucking idiot.
In the end, it’s assholes like Sid Roth, his buddy Michael Brown and the likes of Bryan Fischer and Tony Perkins who are their cause’s own worst enemies. They themselves are actually hastening the day when homosexual men and women across America will have the same civil rights that the rest of us enjoy. By consistently turning out hateful, idiotic nonsense like this, they are performing the same task for today’s younger people—who will want NOTHING to do with Christianity if this is how it defines itself—as those hateful little Chick Christian comics did for my generation. I’ll say it again: It’s guys like this, who by virtue of being so repulsive and bigoted, simply turn young people off Christianity altogether.
No matter what these guys come up with, our side always wins in the end: Because they are wrong.
Bonus moronic Sid Roth clip: “Man Proves Hell is Real (Includes Live Action Hell)”
This video from Tim Baker and The Kleptones combines music by Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Planets, Ian Dury and Rush with clips from El Topo, Zabriskie Point, Walkabout, Enter The Void and more to create something beautiful, mysterious and evocative—a mystical desert noir.
Apparently, in Estonia the average person spends 3 to 4 hours a day watching television. A fact which photographer Andris Feldmanis has used for the basis for his latest project TV Portraits.
Feldmanis’s idea is quite simple but highly effective, as he has reversed the point of view (a bit like My Game Face or a photographic version of The Royle Family), creating portraits of people “posing for their television sets.”
“It is not a critique of mass media and its influence, it is a document of what the TV sees.”
Since 2006 photographer and artist Patrick Winfield has been creating these giant Polaroid composites.
“My work is about juxtaposing various elements to make something new, playing with the familiar to form some fantasy. A recycling of imagery to create new symbols. I draw with my camera and film or with found images and the xacto knife.”
Check more of Winfield’s work here, and his blog here.
More of Winfield’s beautiful Polaroids, after the jump…
I don’t normally use Dangerous Minds to endorse a product, but I’ve made an exception for my new Fiat 500. Mainly, because I really believe it’s the best damn automobile out there for the price (starting at $15,000). If you’re in the market for a new car, check this one out.
The Fiat 500, the Italian classic of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, has been brought into the future and it’s a lovely automobile. Fiat, in partnership with Chrysler, is making the car in Detroit (it’s assembled in Mexico) and this is the first year that it is available in the USA. There’s a handful of dealerships in the States, including Austin and L.A.
The Fiat’s engine uses ‘multi-air technology” which results in less gas consumption, better mileage and less emissions than traditional valve train engines. It ain’t electric, but it’s about as close to green as you can get with a gas engine. I’m getting around 42mpg on the open highway and 35 in the city. It’s a relatively guilt-free ride.
Though I’m no expert, I have owned a few cars in my life and the Fiat 500 is the finest small car I’ve ever driven. Tough and fast enough to navigate a maze of tornadoes in Waco last month while the ballsy sound system was cranking Primal Scream.
I include this commercial, not because DM is being paid to do so, we’re not, but because this is what my car looks like and, as you can probably tell, I’m quite proud of it. And as commercials go, it’s a good one.
