Culture Greyhound

Hope you’re enjoying your spring break.  Here are some music videos for the season. They just sound like spring to me.

And the spring classic:

Today a guest post from my sis Emily, who examines the work of Paul Giamatti, including his new film Win Win.

Paul Giamatti has always been a favorite of mine and with a new film coming out called Win Win, I wanted to do a special write up about his films. Hilarious and heartwarming, the new film make me laugh out loud. A broke lawyer in New Jersey, Mike (Paul Giamatti) becomes the guardian of an old man in order to receive some extra money every month. When the old man’s grandson shows up, Mike has no choice but to take him in until his mother gets out of rehab. The film has a great ensemble cast and everyone is funny. The actors do a great job of transitioning the feel of the film from a comedy to an intense drama when it needs to be. The grandson, played by Alex Shaffer, does an especially good job of this. This being his breakout role, I was very impressed with his ability to make the switch. Although it is easy to tell which he is better at. Giamatti is solid the entire film and when a scene is lagging, he picks it up quickly and carries the rest of the cast with him.

In a strange, dark comedy, Paul Giamatti is excellent. The film, Cold Souls, is unique and funny with some of my favorite Giamatti scenes. He plays himself, an actor who is having difficulty separating himself from the play he is starring in. So he visits a clinic and has his soul extracted from his brain and stored in a facility. With some of his best monologues and incredible facial expressions, Giamatti delivers an amazing performance. People assume portraying yourself in a film would be easy, and he makes it look that way, but he also made sure the character was more intriguing than your average person. It wouldn’t surprise me if Giamatti turned out to be that interesting of a person.

In Sideways, a more well-known comedy, Giamatti provides the hopeless middle-aged man needed for the lead. Depressed, and trying to make sure his friend has a good time on a road trip to wine country, Miles and his friend Jack rediscover themselves. Finding yourself in the middle of your lifetime is not filmed as often as a coming of age story about teens. Sideways makes you laugh about it, and at the same time hope you don’t end up like that. Giamatti tends to choose these types of comedies because he performs well and it is never ordinary. This film is a great representation of Giamatti’s acting style and I love and respect what he does as an actor.

Before her trek to Austin for SXSW, Miss Unique dropped a new, banging mixtape. While not as sharp as last year’s Domination Mixtape, this collection is still willing and able to give you fits of booty shaking. Check it, available for free download from Dominique Young Unique’s Soundcloud.

Dominique Young Unique – Glamorous Touch Mixtape by Artjam Records

This is the third and final post for my picks for SXSW 2011. Today I’m looking over the parties that span many days and feature a slew of bands and musicians.

Other Music Lawn Party – Thurs-Fri

Paste Austin Party – Wed-Thurs (RSVP)

SXSW Texas Style Death Match – Wed-Sat

Fader Fort by Fiat – Wed-Sat (RSVP)

Austin Imposition II – Wed-Sat (RSVP)

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This week the first of a two-part series dedicated to SXSW 2011.

Playlist:

The Diamond Center – Dos Fridas
Hooray For Earth – True Loves
Cloud Nothings – Morgan
Twin Shadow – I Can’t Wait
Yuck – Shook Down

Ok, this is when it gets crazy. Today I’m going through the Music portion of SXSW 2011, which happens Wednesday, March 16 – Saturday, March 19.  Keep in mind there’s always gonna be pop-up shows and last-minute party announcements like every year, so follow me on Twitter and I’ll try to keep everyone abreast of anything awesome.  Also: on Monday I will post my picks for multi-day parties, like Fader Fort, Waterloo Parking Lot Shows, etc. so look forward to that. Today’s list only includes my picks for single-day parties.

Wednesday, March 16

Eat Your Own Ears/Austinist/Windish Day Party @ Mohawk – Free

By far the best lineup of the day – Cloud Nothings, Twin Shadow, Givers, Royal Bangs. Awesome.

Honorable Mentions

Altered Zones @ SXSW

Bella Union x Yours Truly @ SXSW

Brooklyn Vs. the Bay – RSVP

eMusic @ SXSW

Terrorbird Media/Force Field PR Day Party at Red 7

Amanda Shires @ G & S Lounge (Outdoors) 2420 S 1st St. – 2 pm

Queens of the Stone Age @ Rolling Stone Showcase at LZR – If you don’t have a badge, it’s likely you’re not getting in.  But best of luck to ya!

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Today is Part 1 of my picks for shows/parties at SXSW 2011.  Today, I’m covering my picks happening during the Interactive portion of this year, from Saturday, March 12 to Tuesday, March 15.  I couldn’t find anything crazy awesome for Friday, March 11 that wasn’t “badgeholders only” or “sold out,” so if you know of something, get at me! Much obliged! Let the party begin!

Saturday – March 12

Okay, first up is the Mogwee Party, which you need to RSVP to here, which is happening at the world-famous Mohawk.  Not the best lineup, IMO, but it’s something to get me into the SXSW groove, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Washed Out and Black Joe Lewis again.

Rest of the dates through Tuesday after the jump.

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Back in the 70′s, there was only Johnny Carson.  But since the retirement of the undisputed King of Late Night in 1992, there has been a plethora of new shows pop up, each with the same basic formula, but unique in their own way. After reading Bill Carter’s The War For Late Night, I have become addicted to late-night television all over again.  So I am starting a new series of posts dedicated to the many hosts out there currently making us laugh after prime time, analyzing one at a time.

For years, Jay Leno has had the reputation of being a workaholic, spending hours upon hours working on his monologue and the best jokes for it.  In fact, he reportedly works on almost nothing else, including the scripted bits, questions for the interview, and other areas of the show.  That’s what the writing staff does; no, Jay’s baby, his pride and joy, is the opening monologue, the longest one in late night, with the most punchlines, consistently, every night.  Jay is such a workaholic joke writer, in fact, that when the show is on break, he goes on tour, doing stand-up shows across the country delivering fresh material for an always-eager audience.

Why then, does Jay’s show feel so lifeless, so lazy and routine, so stale? It’s simple: quantity does not equal quality.  Jay delivers joke after joke after joke, all topical, all with predictable punchlines, all given in rapid succession, because the audience is usually just laughing politely, rather than genuinely.  The amount of time killed by the audience applauding after every punchline is staggering, all for jokes that don’t land because they’re not good.  The video clips superimpose figures and images – it’s obvious this show has one of the biggest budgets in late night – and still Tonight feels lost, because the material is second-rate.  These are the jokes that made it to the final cut?

I’m not gonna lie to ya – it was very difficult sitting through a week of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  I’m no masochist.  The jokes are not funny, the scripted bits usually rely on material from people not associated with the show, and the interviews are a bore.  It’s obvious Jay spends little time on anything but his opening, which is sad, really.  The interviews don’t rely on comic relief from the host, but the guest, who Jay will let sink if he or she isn’t keeping the audience captivated with their prepared anecdote.  Jay merely sits and asks questions – he kills time by finding clips to show during the interview, from the guest’s past and their current promotion.  He rarely adds anything interesting or cracks a joke; in comparison, while he feels more conversational than Conan O’Brien, at least Conan knows when an interview is going south, and he does what he can to improve upon it.  Jay is merely there.

The funniest bits are the scripted ones, or the bits when Jay relies on material from his own audience.  I’m talking about Headlines and Jaywalking, of course.  And even these bits aren’t even that great, they’re just better than everything else around it.  One show had a correspondent talking to celebrities during a red-carpet Oscar-watching party, and got a few laughs from me.  Again, the laughs were not delivered by, and had nothing to do with, Jay Leno.  Headlines is, in case you are unfamiliar, newspaper clippings people send Jay from around the country, featuring funny pictures and typos.  Again, all Jay did was use a highlighter.  And Jaywalking, or this week, a “game show” called the Jaywalking All-Stars, probably the funniest thing the show consistently does, is just Jay asking regular dumb Americans simple questions about current events and general knowledge.  The answers are funny because the people are stupid, Jay’s reaction is the same as the audience watching it.  He becomes a spectator on his own fucking show.

The Tonight Show is well-rehearsed, flashy, smooth-running, and, ultimately, the most boring hour in late night television.  A talk show personality should have just that – a personality.  Jay’s direct competitor, David Letterman, has one, sometimes one that polarizes his audience.  Kimmel, Fallon, Ferguson, and the cable crew of Stewart, Colbert, Conan, Handler, and even Lopez all have let their personalities show on their program; when you’re hosting a show like this for a long time, eventually, it comes out.  At least, it does if it’s your show.  The Tonight Show with Jay Leno could be hosted by anyone, really, and no one would notice.  Because, even when Jay makes some observation, some critique about a celebrity or politician, to generate laughs, it always seems to sound like someone else gave him the idea, like it’s not his own.  It’s just a regurgitated comment someone else already made more cleverly, only this time it’s homogenized so the masses can agree with it.  Actually, that’s the thesis for Jay Leno’s entire show.

Jeff the Brotherhood – Mind Ride

Evan Voytas – Our Thing

Colleen Green – Worship You

Das Racist – Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)

Fergus and Geronimo – Tell It In My Ear