MFT: Artifact in Raul Bueno' "Poesia Hispano-Americano De Vanguardia

You never know what you can find while surfing on the mighty web. But it always takes you by the surprise - some words that fall into your eye, onomatopeia, found poems, exciting images or just weird depictions of the page in the midst of loading. It pinches you and you get it - this is it. I like this possibility of unknown unknown. It really creates tension inside of me. I know there is something i will find but i have no idea what it is and where and when and how i will find it. 

This is a page found in the scan of Raul Bueno' seminal monography on Spanish-American Avantgarde Poetry. It is fascinating study of the phenomenon made by one of its direct participants. Consider this to be refined insiders look - balanced by time and colored by academic studies. But this page has nothing to do with the book. It is just an artifact that was made on the copy of the book that was scanned. But it is so fascinating as an art object. 

It is a vertical line, probably a scratch made either by thick pencil or greasy pen. Or it can be a thread fallen from somewhere and stuck on page. It is unclear. It might neither of mentioned. It reminds me of Lucio Fontana' Spatiale series with its strategically placed and framed cuts on the canvases. While directly unrelated it also call back to Piero Manzoni' Achrome series with its crumples of the cloth on the canvas. 

Look at this page? What do you see? What do you think it is? Tell me.

MFT: Lightning Fast Talking Motormouth John Moschitta Jr.

Lightning fast motormouth speech is something that fascinates me. For some reason I just like how something relatively familiar and quite boring at times can transcend into semi-comprehensible realm simply by amping up the speed of delivery. Sometimes it can go so far that your instinct to recognize speech suddenly switches off and you listen to that weird sound wave. You know that there is some message inside - but your mind is far more interested with that sound wave. It sounds so different and your mind starts to actively apply his "pareidolia toys" on it. The words, entire sentences that are not there, leftfield meanings, ghost melodies and so on.

MFT: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

"Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is a CGI-animated philosophical science fiction film released by Square Pictures a film branch of  the developer of the series Square Enix and co-directed by the series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. It is considered to be one of the first attempts at making photorealistic animated film. One of its gimmicks was meticulously designed digital actors who could potentially appear in other pictures. Sadly, this never happened as film received rather frosty reception primarily focused on uncanny valley effects for human characters and overall weirdly conventional narrative. This resulted in a films crushing commercial dissapointment. Studio gambled on its cutting edge technology as the main selling point and that didn't payed off. Although you can see legacy of "The Spirits Within" in modern video games and blockbusters in a slightly bowdlerized form - Andy Serkis made a career out of motion capture performance, etc. Now it is regarded as a daring experiment that came out too soon. Which is not right.

BSPH: The Kinks - I'm not Like Everybody Else

All right now! Time to write about something that is not so obscure as usual. How about the song that follows me throughout life as a manifesto of sorts?

 

"I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is a song written by the great Ray Davies and performed by seminal The Kinks. You know the story. It was first released as a B-side for a hit single "Sunny Afternoon" in 1966 and later proved to be a staple in the band repertoire due to its affectionate theme and singalong chorus. It is one of those unbreakable song you can't really do bad (check out how Chocolate Watchband does the chorus). While original version is perfectly serviceable i always preferred live version that was released in 1994/1996 album "To the Bone". Because this song is like wine - it got really better with age. I will get to that a bit later.

Basically "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is Ray Davies' version of Sinatra's "My Way". It is about standing on you own and not giving up for casual commodities. But instead of somber sentimental tone we get ripping-roaring defiance - "middle finger treatment". It is an explication of sacramental "nope". This is a guts-song - it gets you deep - and you know it's true. I first heard it in 2005 when i was only starting to get myself together and it really helped me to get through uncaring and hostile environment. It played in my head every time i've stumbled upon some obstacles (which were plenty) and it was one of the things that keeped me from giving up. But down with sentiments.

Unlike the squeaky boom-boom original - "To The Bone" version got this mature disparate edge best described as "beaten but not defeated". It feels big but there is no abundance. The song moves on in an intimidating pace creating sense of menace. Drum beat is unhurried but relentless - it goes on no matter what, barely noticing anything around it. That's the song attitude. Because of that arrangement creates some kind of notion of unease.

Verses are more contemplative louring seesaw but then comes the chorus which shrugs it off and stomps it to the ground. It tears through the thick air. Davies' voice is worn and weary - its raspiness tells a story of its own - some kind of "its about how many hits you can get and still be on your feet". There is vast but unknowable background behind his words. Lots of emotion whirling in containment: some sadness, pain, vanity, gumption - but zero regret.

Guitar solo tells a parallel narrative - it provides you with an abstract backstory. Final rave-up is transcending - the song goes away. Many pointless battles behind and still no reason to prove anything to anybody - because you don't anything to anybody.

MFT: Once upon a time in trigun

Mash-up culture is one of the most fascinating things that Internet helped to nourish. It's has been around since the dawn of time - because that's how we do things. But it was never really in the spotlight until personal computers and Internet came along. Lots of people started to try their hand at most improbable combinations of things they love or hate or something else with varying degree of success. But even at its most lame - mash-ups are always a showcase of ability to take various elements and merge them into something of its own. Something that can potentially inspire for something completely different.

"Once Upon a Time in Trigun" is one of my favorite mash-up trailers. It was made by Matt Page in 2002-2003 as a love letter to his favorite anime series "Trigun". As it is "Once Upon a Time in Trigun" is an extremely smart mash-up trailer that seamlessly combines "Trigun" and Robert Rodriguez underwhelming conclusion to his informal Mariachi Trilogy titled "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". It isn't all that elaborate in its techniques. What Matt Page did was simple. He took the sound track of the trailer for "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and matched it with the footage from "Trigun". The result was action-packed trailer for non-existent film that can will come soon "in your head". What Page haven't planned is the effect his little video achieved. More on that later.

I first saw it on one of the CDs for video game magazine back in early 2003. I loved it. Because I knew "Trigun" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". But for reason - for me "Once Upon a Time in Trigun" was something of its own. I was eerily fascinated how naturally it merged together two different things into something else. It felt different.

"Trigun" was critically acclaimed adaptation of beloved manga series by Yasuhiro Nightow that managed to elevate and deepen cult status of the property by not trying to reinvent the wheel and just telling the stories in a different medium. It was amped up to eleven and filled with lots and lots of over the top scenes involving over the top characters. The main character - Vash the Stampede is known as human typhoon but in reality he is a bad case of a man caught in a wrong place and a wrong time while his counterpart Wolfwood is looking for trouble and finally gets it. But underneath it was nuanced relationship drama that tackled subjects of loneliness, rejection, honor, self-sacrifice, etc. 

As for "Once Upon a time in Mexico" - it is a tragedy of  good intentions. Robert Rodriguez tried and failed to do a Sergio Leone-sized gambit with grand and in the same time personal multiple narratives. But instead of sprawling story of conspiracy, guilt and revenge it turned out into meandering mishmash of elaborate scenes tied together with a shoelace instead of proper narrative structure. "Once Upon a time in Mexico" badly suffered from its overstuffed and overcompressed narrative. It was filled with colorful characters and high-tension scenes. But there was not much space in-between - so that characters could breathe and develop gradually and viewers could follow through and think about what is going on in the film. It seemed too much at once. And it damaged the film. On the other hand - trailer actually delivered on the promise of the film. It was telling streamlined version of the story free from excessive baggage. It was perfect teaser showcase.

Combined in "Once Upon a Time in Trigun" they cleaned one another from its original context and presented a thing that was not exactly just another reappropriated mash-up trailer. It was something bigger and better. It was a piece for imagination. You are given the basics and then you are free to develop it in your head in any way you want. This makes the most exciting film. Watching this trailer makes you play with it - you fill the gaps of the plot, develop them into fully-fledged narrative threads and turn it in any way you want. That's what real art manages to do. Even if its unforseen consequence.

In some way "Once Upon a Time in Trigun" is a harbinger of things to come. It is a monument of honest and unregulated influx of creativity that became possible because of Internet.

MFT: Arthur Penn, Warren Beatty - Mickey One

"Mickey One" is a film that doesn't give a fuck. It is directed by Athur Penn and starring Warren Beatty. It was released in 1965 to little fanfare and still remains an obscurity in the filmographies of both Penn and Beatty. It is footnote that lies deep in the shadows of next Penn / Beatty collaboration - game changing mighty-mighty "Bonnie and Clyde". Groundbreaking success of the latter led to diminishment of "Mickey One". It was written off as anything but a try-out, a test before the real deal. It doesn't seem to be fair but that's the reality. But that doesn't mean "Mickey One" is unworthy or outright bad. Quite the opposite. It is refreshingly weird beast of a film that dazzles by the mere fact of its existence.

Plot of "Mickey One" is relatively simple. Nameless club comedian gets into the trouble with mafia. He then flees and assumes the identity of Mickey One. He tries to lay low but it seems to be quite uncomfortable. Mickey One was born to stand-up and so after a while he returns to performing although he almost immediately starts to feel anxious about entire affair. Eventually he tries to sort things out with the mobsters only to get beaten. After that he says "screw this" and performs his act anyway consequences be damned.

"Mickey One" is a strange case of a Holywood film which is nothing like Holywood film and extremely proud of it. Things were complicated at the time when "Mickey One" was released. Theaters were filled with megalomaniac sword-and-sandals, po-faced costume dramas and senseless fluff of a comedies. Even Hitchcock passed his prime. New Holywood only started to emerge and was quite far from any kind of domination. Future masters like Peckinpah, Altman and Coppola already tried their hands at craft but their glory will come much later. Sure, there was also John Cassavetes who already released his mission statement film "Shadows" but he was thrusted into Holywood system and forced to play by the rules. Things were about to change but not yet.

In the meantime - there was a cinematic revolution going on in full swing Europe. French Nouvelle Vauge caught the world on fire and works of Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Eric Romer, Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol were bending the rules of filmmaking, challenging limits of cinematic forms and covering new and risque topics. These guys made cinema great again. They made it new and exciting - just like it was in the old days before corporates in the business suits took over. 

Arthur Penn and Warren Beatty were superbad fans of Nouvelle Vague and thought it would be a great idea to do no holds barred Nouvelle Vague film in US. And they could pull it off. Arthur Penn was already and established stage and film director. He was trusted, reliable man who could take responsibility and deliver satisfying results while not messing around. Warren Beatty was an up and coming white hot actor coming off 5 year long streak of commercial and critical hits. In his late 20s he was already a formiddable draw. It was easy to convince anybody to greenlit any project with such people involved. They knew the drill and played on it.

In its core - "Mickey One" is an endless supply of middle fingers and cussing to every conceivable cinematic convention especially those favored by Holywood system. There's some plot, there are so definitions of characters, there is some action. But it is delivered in a fundamentally different way. It ignores the Holywood rules of narrative.

Instead "Mickey One" just says "What's that shit? Fuck that shit!" and does something else. "Mickey One" dares to be different. And yet somehow remains relatively easy to follow even though it tries really hard to avoid any kind of convention. The plot "comedian gets into the trouble and tries to get away - poorly" serves as a starting point for showcase of cinematic equilibrism. It's a film of many things. It's a film that uses its own plot to show some stuff just because it looks kinda cool. It's a film about Warren Beatty doing a Jean-Paul Belmondo impression with shades of James Dean spliced with Orson Welles. It's a film where Arthur Penn throws every trick in the book just because why not and then makes up a couple of more on the fly that's what art is for. It's film that tries to up its cool jazz soundtrack by Stan Getz.

MFT: Getting on with James Urbaniak

"Getting on with James Urbaniak (a fictional podcast)" is a podcast series produced and starring one and only James Urbaniak. You know him. He is known for his stage work (including magnetic performance in "Thom Pain"), voicework in "The Venture Bros." and pitch-perfect portrayal Robert Crumb in "American Splendor". He even was in "Terminator" TV series. You might've seen him recently on "Difficult People" and "Review" where he delivers his signature believable neurotic but not over the top kind of character.

But for me - he always will be Simon Grim from "Henry Fool" and its subsequent sequels "Fay Grim" and "Ned Rifle". The evolution of Simon Grim - from a garbageman to a poet and beyond is staggering and painfully rings true in so many ways. Watching Simon's Quest really helped me to cope with many things going on with my life at that time. For that he holds a special place in my heart (there is also Parker Posey but that's another story).

"Getting on with James Urbaniak (a fictional podcast)" is essentially a neverending series of pieces written by various writers and unified by all-mighty voice of James Urbaniak. The idea is that the podcast is all about James Urbaniak and the world around him - but not really because that would be self-indulgent and ultimately annoying. Instead - James Urbaniak plays slightly exaggerated version of himself who essentially reads pieces written by other people presented as an excursions into his mind.

Basically James Urbaniak acts as a flytrap for various pieces. He catches them and they fit into the bigger picture. Which doesn't make any sense - but it makes some funny afterthoughts. He makes the texts his own - fills them with his character, colors them with his mannerisms. Urbaniak knows how to make you listen. It is a master-class of quietly dramatic delivery of astounding variety. There are pieces about ketchup, lack of sleep, feeling sorry, smelling something wrong, musings on first world problems and many others. Together all these pieces make a fascinating patchwork of a character study.

Do yourself a favor - listen to "Getting on with James Urbaniak (a fictional podcast)" .