People that should get fired: Audi's marketing team

Having dabbed my pinkey in advertizing years ago I know what kind of arrogant douches work in the industry. I would have paid an arm and a leg (and maybe donated some precious fluids) to be able to see the reaction of Audi's marketing team when BMW launched their campaigns.
Audi: you got served! ( plus your cars smell of doodoo)

Reflection Eternal: Back Again!

There's only few people in hip hop that still get me excited and Talib Kweli is one of them.

Reflection Eternal's ( his tag team with producer -DJ Hi-tek) follow up album to their 2000 release Train of thought, an album we pretty much memorised back to front when it came out. (we also used to have enough time on our hands to have hour long sing alongs)
Hi-tek's solo efforts left me kind of luke warm but listening to the track below it seems that work best when together.


Reflection Eternal - Back Again [Talib Kweli] from Radio Planet on Vimeo.

This is going on loop on my ipod starting from.... now!

The Chaser

Hot diggety- Did I enjoy this flick.
If this was made by the Hollywood machinery (and according to the trailer it is being remade) then this is the kind of movie where all the girls get kidnapped whenever Morgan Freeman is around,Denzel Washington looks cool lying crippled in
bed or Christopher Lambert saves the day with some cool chess moves...

But although you might initially feel this is a paint-by-the numbers serial killer with weird fetish getting caught by cop with a past- story this has an added Korean flavor, the MSG infused aftertaste where anything can happen in those dark-green alleys of Seoul that we have come to know so well with the emergence of kick-ass Korean movies from the last few years.
In some ways it made me think of Old Boy especially in a few of the hammer bludgeoning scenes at the end of the Chaser but specifically the way the scenes were shot and lit.
The story is of a cop-turned-pimp trying to save one of his 'ladies of the night' from a serial killer and he has 12 hours to prove the dude is guilty or he gets left out on bail. (I kept thinking how polite korean cops are, they REALLY wanted to let the guy go- maybe we should consider organising a crime wave on rollerskates dressed as santa in Korea...where's Stephen Dorf when you need him)

Although it sounds like a conventional story it leaves you on the edge of your futon from the get go, making you realize that the movie speaks an entirely different language. One of the first scene is between the holy trinity of trick, bitch and pimp where the John was up for some crazy perverted asian sex, he had a guy stashed with a camera and was adamant that the girl does not pee in the toilet, I dont know what the guy was cooking up or how he gets his kicks but the interaction between the characters and how our reluctant hero comes to the rescue whilst still making a quick buck is remarkable. And I love the look the girl gave our hero whilst she walked by him with a huge swollen eye.
It msut be said that after seeing so many Korean flicks lately I just expect some sickly shit to happen suddenly. The Chaser isn't gory but it does not shy away from getting its mittens dirty.

The good guy doesn't necessarily win and the bad guy is just pure evil.(And one of the kids gets hurt really bad. I don't know if she also got raped but let's assume she didn't.)
The movie gets extra points in my book for making cops looks like complete idiots. And any movie that does that without having to resort to bringing out Louis de Funes and his nuns is ok in my book.

Also, how cool is that poster? It's got me saying...I want to take his face... offf!
Let the remaking begin!

If your IM list was

Humour, the drunken uncle of all emotion.
This is a list that makes you realize how things are funny when they are kinda true.
For example Donkeys are stupid, monkeys wank when people are watching and children cry... all very true and all very very funny.

Superheroes

Mexican artist Dulce Pinzon created a very cool photography project called "The Real Story of the superheroes”
I think it says something about immigration in a ironic way.

According to her bio:

""The Real Story of the superheroes” comes full circle to reintroduce the Mexican immigrant in New York in a satirical documentary style featuring ordinary men and women in their work environment donning superhero garb, thus raising questions of both our definition of heroism and our ignorance of and indifference to the workforce that fuels our ever-consuming economy."

I just like people in costumes.

Marvels

Marvels is a graphic novel or comic (I’ll use both words back and forth because I don't care and that’s the kind of James Dean- Arthur Fonzzerelli rebel that I am), published in 1994 and spanning the Marvel universe from the 60’s to now.
It’s a re-telling of 4 key moments seen through the eyes of not superheroes fighting the battles but regular people and the effect on their lives.
Although reading about regular people is pretty boring since that’s what books are for and I imagine if the regular people are miserably unhappy then that’s what French movies are for. But since Phil Sheldon, the main character playing a freelance photographer and writer is surrounded by superheroes the comic is pretty kick ass.
The artwork is the first thing that you notice as its drawers-droppingly beautiful right from the intro of the creation of the Human Torch, to the covers of the different chapters.
Alex Ross uses photo realism to create a world which really makes you wonder why this is a comic and not a painting in a museum.
In any case I was in awe of this piece of work especially chapter 2 with the X-men and the little girl.
I think on some level you need some back ground information as to what's exactly happening. If you are new to comics, then I wouldnt suggest this title to start with as it there's not much exposition of the events taking place. They are snapshots taken from Phil's lens where he himself sometimes doesn't get the sense of satisfaction he needs to put his obsession to rest.
But then again it's a comic so if a 8 year old can figure it out I am sure eveyone else can.
And if you have seen Fantastic four part 2, Revenge of the blonder Jessica Alba, then you have the required back ground for chapter 4 which is the most action packed one.


On my playlist:

Def Jam 1985-2001: History of Hip Hop
Made me remember how cool LL COOL J was before hollywood.
And how Slick Rick is the best MC to come out of the UK period.