Gone Surfing

Bushwick

New Larry Clark film coming out . Same story (wiry teenage skater boys meet skinny teenage suburban girls, random sex and violence happen), different city (Los Angeles). All according to the tried and true Larry Clark formula and as long as you're able to forget, that he was already 38, when he shot his legendary photos for 'Teenage Lust' some 25 years ago, it is indeed the essence of teenage sex and weltschmerz hip. So what better place to have a movie premiere than a block party in Brooklyn. In Bushwick! The latest frontier of urban grit, where Larry Clark took his sponsors to boldly go where no corporation has ever gone before.

He found the perfect media partner in American Apparel whose campaign outright stole his visual language. Lately American Apparel turned into the new Starbucks though. It's now just another corporation looking for street cred, always hot on the trails of hipster real estate pioneers. Each store signals the end of a bohemian era in that particular neighborhood. They just opened a very mall-looking one on Smith Street, which looks eerily out of place. Kind of a bridgehead of suburbia, just like the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle. We all know what's next - rent hikes, soccer mom SUVs and the cotton dockers crowd. Bushwick! You're next...

---
Trailer promo for 'Whassup Rockers'.

Music video style promo for 'Whassup Rockers'.

Official website promo for 'Whassup Rockers'.

We Call It Life

Here's the nominee for lifetime achievement in corporate spin:
The Competitive Enterprise Institute came up with a campaign to stem the rising tide of global warming awareness (pun intended) with the slogan 'They call it pollution - we call it life'. The message is - carbon dioxides are actually good for us. You know, the stuff that cute kids breathe out and majestic trees breathe in. So basically Al Gore and his regulation-crazed eco-Nazis want to outlaw breathing! And you thought 'Thank You For Smoking' was an exaggeration.

Just in case you wonder, who's behind the self-proclaimed 'non-profit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government', here's a list of some of the organisations financing the Competitive Enterprise Institute:

Amoco Foundation, Inc., American Petroleum Institute, Coca-Cola Company, Detroit Farming Inc., Dow Chemical, Ford Motor Company Fund, General Motors Corporation,Gilder Foundation, IBM, Koch Family Foundations, Philip Morris Companies, Inc., Pfizer Inc., and Texaco, Inc..

---
Watch the "We Call It Life" spot. There's also a spot claiming that the glaciers are not melting, but actually growing.

Trailer for "Thank You For Smoking"

A Soviet Moment

That was a rather Soviet moment - the post office just returned a book I had sent out to Europe about a week ago. There were some ominous looking hieroglyphic codes on the envelope and a very official looking sticker saying: "We regret that your mail is being returned to you because of heightened security measures." Turns out any mail weighing over 16 ounces has to be presented to a postal clerk in person. The equally Soviet style lines at any US post office make mailing letters heavier than that of course a rather time-consuming task. Which will drive me into the arms of UPS and DHL, whose clerks actually serve you and even make house calls.

Although I have to admit that I do agree with the equation of overweight being a security threat. So next time one of those people whose lack of willpower makes them easy prey for any Twinky or Whopper that crosses their paths squeezes next to me on the subway, I will inform them that due to heightened security measures all passengers with a body mass index over 30 should report to an MTA clerk or any other transit authority official before boarding a train.

And yes - now that book would arrive way too late.

Summer

It's Jazz festival season in New York with the JVC Festival taking the traditional route to larger audiences and the Vision Festival proving that New York City can still be daring. Friends had even planned to come over from Europe to see some shows. Until they found out they could see all that music much more conveniently in Montreux, Saalfelden and Burghausen. There's gonna be some great shows, like the Herbie Hancock quartet with Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Brian Blade or the Joseph Jarman Ensemble. Not that anybody really has anything to add to what has been said some fourty years ago, when crazed innovators could make the cover of Time.

---
The Thelonius Monk Quartet "Epistrophy"

The Thelonius Monk Quartet doing a whole set starting with "Round About Midnight"

Miles Davis & John Coltrane "So What"

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers featuring Wayne Shorter and Lee Morgan "Dat Dere"

A Soldier's Song

The Marine Corps is currently rather embarassed about a video that appeared on the internet and shows a Marine singing a song called 'Hadji Girl'. Amongst US soldiers in Iraq 'Hadji' is a derogatory slur for Iraqis. The song, which the soldier sings to a crowd of jeering comrades, tells the story about a firefight. In the heat of battle a young girl appears out of nowhere and invites this Marine to meet her family. She is leading him into an ambush. When they arrive at her home, the girl's father and brother open fire, the Marine hits the ground and the girl is killed by her brother and father's gunfire.The girl's father and brother are still intent on killing the Marine so he grabs the girl's sister and the brother and father then proceed to gun her down also in their haste to kill the Marine.

The song's lyrics go: "I grabbed her little sister and put her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally. . .I blew those little fuckers to eternity . . .They should have known they were fucking with the Marines."

The singer is Corporal Joshua Belile. Nine months ago he performed before his fellow Marines in Iraq. Marine spokeseman Lieutenant Colonel Scott Fazekas said: "The video that was posted anonymously is clearly inappropriate and contrary to the high standards expected of all Marines. The video is not reflective of the tremendous sacrifices and dedication demonstrated, on a daily basis, by tens of thousands of marines who have assisted the Iraqi people in gaining their freedom." Belile now says his song was just a joke and the words bore no relation to actual events in Iraq. He has apologised and promised never again to sing those lyrics.

The song is not the first example of violent lyrics from the frontlines. The GIs belonging to the rap group 4th25 had recorded a whole album while being stationed in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City. Which make the drug-hazed frontline culture of GIs in Vietnam look rather tame.

---
4th25 video in - wmv ... flash ... realplayer

4th25 - Homepage

Brazil

That 1 : 0 against Croatia was of course disappointing, especially after months of bombarding the global public with promises of miracle work like in the already legendary one-take video Ronaldinho did for a sneaker company, which is indeed quite amazing, even if you consider the very simple trick used to enable the almost supernatural longshots.

---
Watch Ronaldinho work his magic

Cat Power

OCD might not be the best precondition for a Rock Star career, but despite the ticks and fits Cat Power's Town Hall show was unbelievably good. And how many people get to have their videos shot by 'Kids'-writer Harmony Korine. But it sure helps to have a voice somewhere between Marianne Faithful and Dusty Springfield and a backbeat like Ben Webster or Dexter Gordon, which makes even songs like 'House of the Rising Sun' or 'Hit the Road Jack' sound fresh.

---
Cat Power's "Living Proof" directed by Harmony Korine, plus "Fool", "He War", and "Cross Bones Style".

Cat Power drunk at a Karaoke Bar doing "Slim Shady" and The Kinks.

Puerto Rican Day

It's Puerto Rican Day weekend. Miguel Cotto's fighting at the Garden, El Gran Combo plays the Copa, Parade under the tutelage of Grand Marshal Marc Anthony starts Sunday 11AM at 44th and 5th.

P.S.: Despite the hometown crowd's cheering for Brooklyn-based underdog Paulie Malignaggi, Cotto won by unanimous decision. Although nobody beats Malignaggi's Gotti-kid-hairstyle and his excellent pouting for the cameras.

---
Watch the promo for the Cotto-Malignaggi fight

Watch Malignaggi's reel

Watch a summary of the fight

Paranoid Yet?

So the government knows who you called overseas, what you wrote in your last e-mail to Europe and what kinky searches you did on Google. Ever wondered what'll happen to all the information you give everytime you go to the Doctor, use your a membership or credit card? The ACLU came up with a scenario that's not as far-fetched as you think it'd be.

---
What'll happen when you order Pizza

How To Get Ahead On Television

There might be no pundit more brillant than Ann Coulter, who has mastered the art of hatemongering as entertainment and now topped herself by slandering 911 widows . That unhinged even the eternally friendly Today Show's Matt Lauer and got her a cover of the Daily News. Not too bad for a book launch. Now hear the roaring applaus from the heartland and watch her new book shoot up the bestseller lists.

---
Ann Coulter slandering 911 widows on the Today Show

The Best Of Ann Coulter

Just Relax, That's What Jesus Would Do

In this week's issue of the New Yorker Sasha Frere-Jones is musing about the reasons, why so many British popstars make it anywhere in the world, but in the US. There are some exceptions and 'their lyrics tend to be uplifting; they lack identifiably English accents, and they avoid British slang unfamiliar to Americans.' So forget about cynical superstars like Robbie Williams, whose new single rips religions old and new and advises his listeners 'Just relax, that's what Jesus would do.' Case in point.

Department of Porkland Security

In the spirit of Gerald Ford the new Homeland Security budget sent a clear message: DHS to New York: Drop Dead!

DHS chief Michael Chertoff announced that the anti-terror budget for New York City will be slashed by 40.1 percent. At the same time the budgets for some cities hitherto not known as prime targets for terrorist attacks were raised - Louisville, Kentucky + 41.2 %, Omaha, Nebraska + 38,8 %, Jacksonville, Florida 26 % etc. etc.

Mayor Bloomberg commented: "When you stop a terrorist, they have a map of New York City in their pocket. They don't have a map of any of the other 46 places or 45 places [that get funding]." He left no doubt, that it's pork barrelling that’s at play here: "We tried to do an analysis of some of the moneys and whether or not they were given out for political reasons, and in fact in many of the places where they got money — but arguably there's no threat — there are close connections either at the Senate level or the House level.“

In the meantime the Daily News got hold of documents, which revealed the criteria for the budget assessments. Turns out DHS classified New York as a city with no significant landmarks or national icons. Bloomberg's seen it too: "All I can tell you is if you look at their worksheets, and it says that New York City doesn't have any high visibility national icons ... I mean, I don't have to list the Brooklyn Bridge, the United Nations, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Stock Exchange."

The document did note a commuter population of more than 16 million around the city twice struck by fundamentalist terrorists and twice more targeted in plots halted in pre-operational stages. It noted the more than eight million residents and the largest rail ridership in the nation - more than five million. It is those commuters and rail riders who are expected to suffer most from the cuts since mass transit is listed on most DHS alerts as the top terror target.

Now the Daily News calls for Chertoff's resignation. Might be a good idea, before we get Katrina'd up the Hudson. Not that we New Yorkers aren't willing to support the war against terror, that still fills us with fear everytime the subways stops dead in a tunnel or makes us duck for a milisecond, when a jetliner flies by just a little to low or makes us worry, when there's stand-offs with apocalyptic leaders of Islamic nations harboring nuclear ambitions. But when some bureacrat cronies start to treat us like cannon fodder, we get a bit testy. Maybe secession is the solution. Make New York City a protectorate of the E.U., kind of a Hong Kong of the Western hemisphere. Hey - if New York City was a country, it would be the 17th largest economic power in the world. New Yorkers generate a GDP of 500 billion a year. That's more than Switzerland and almost as much as Russia. Let's see, how long the US would survive without us.

Farewell, au revoir, leb wohl, hasta nunca!

Dreamworlds

The devil, the apocaplypse, all true believers going to heaven, while special holy forces mow down all the non-believers. Best of all - that cesspool of sin, the ugly Moloch New York in ruins. No, that's not Ahmadinejad's platform for re-election, but the basic premise for the video game version of the legendary 'Left Beind'-series of fundamentalist novels by Tim Lahaye, which are based on prophecies from the Bible's Book of Revelation. Quite an irresistible tagline:
Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.

If you are a bit more secular minded and you're really into gepolitics there's 'Mercenaries 2 - World in Flames'. As the website promises:
'A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone. But for you, international crisis is all upside: You are a mercenary, and you profit from chaos.' And they said gaming is just frivolous escapism.

---
Watch a video trailer for 'Left Behind Games'

Check out 'Mercenaries 2 - World in Flames'