sundance

BROKEDOWN PALACE: the definitive guide to Thailand

Welcome to the Zach Golden’s Guide to Thailand, the definitive companion to a country I’m pretty sure is in Southeast Asia. Despite never having visited Thailand, or as the locals call it, Vietnam, I’m uniquely qualified to write about such a majestic place because I occasionally eat Thai food and once got a massage from a woman I’m pretty sure was Thai (or maybe Korean).

All you really need to know about Thailand is this: if you’re an impressionable, young teen whose post-high school plans involve a summer in Hawaii with your equally impressionable teen friend, but at the last minute you decide to nix that in favor of Thailand where you and aforementioned impressionable friend meet a hunky Australian guy with a generic sounding name who asks you to smuggle some heroin into Hong Kong – don’t. Just don’t do it. Because chances are that hunky Australian guy (all Australian guys are hunky, you’d be hunky too if everything in your country was able to kill you) is in tight with some corrupt motherfuckers in the Thai “legal system” and you’re going to take the fall for being an impressionable young teen/effective drug mule…

Best of Kickstarter, 10/17

We scoured the pages of Kickstarter to bring you this week’s best projects. Have a great Kickstarter project of your own or see one you think deserves some extra attention? Let us know about it the comments and we may just feature it in our weekly roundup.

FILM

Last Bohemia: Those who saw last year’s documentary on New York Times style photographer Bill Cunningham will remember the artist community living in lofts on top of Carnegie Hall, all of whom were evicted (Cunningham included) by the end of the film. A new documentary, LAST BOHEMIA, directed by Josef Astor – himself a former tenant of the Carnegie lofts – aims to document the community of actors, artists, dancers and musicians that were forced from their homes.

Patrick Krzyzanowski’s wrestling paintings

Portuguese artist Patrick Krzyzanowski’s paintings of professional wrestlers exaggerate the already ludicrous “sport” with its gaudy costumes, showmanship and over the top violence, which has long been a pillar of American pop culture – especially amongst guys. In this interview with Vice, he explains the inspiration behind his work:

The Speedo makes a comeback

If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at that iconic image of the bikini-clad woman sudsing up a muscle car or rollerskating along the boardwalk, then have we got two videos for you. First, the high budget one: LMFAO’s “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” As our writer friend Grant Stoddard recently put it in a Facebook post, never before has banana sling been so explicitly celebrated in a music video – it’s shot in a way that gives the illusion of three-dimensionality, if you know what we mean. (Best line of the song? The chorus refrain “I work out.”) Yes, it’s funny and tongue in cheek, and yet the high production value gives it a weight that makes it feel like genuine equal-opportunity objectification.

Pavements to Parks: Park(ing) Day, every day

People, Parklets, and Pavement to Parks (plus Mojo Bicycle Café) from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

This year’s Park(ing) Day (an annual event I covered a few years ago) has come and gone and was another great success. In fact, it looks like they’re still counting the number of temporary “parks” people created in parking spaces around the world. Of course, all of those green spaces are gone now, but wouldn’t it be nice if parking spaces were being converted into spots for permanent enjoyment of the outdoors?

Brace yourself for fright night: What’s playing this week on Sundance Channel

If you don’t have your Halloween costume ready yet, tune into Sundance Channel this week for inspiration a la Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch, with back-to-back screenings of EYES WIDE SHUT and ERASERHEAD. If it’s less creep you seek in your ghoulish pursuits, the animated, family-friendly THE LADY AND THE REAPER or star-studded murder mystery THE DEAD GIRL are sure to…

Diane Arbus’ top 10 most famous portraits

Before 2003, the world hadn’t seen a major exhibition of Diane Arbus’ work in almost thirty years, during a traveling exhibition in the 1970s, and given the overwhelming response to “Diane Arbus Revelations” (2003-2006), the world was long overdue. Filmmaker Steven Shainberg (SECRETARY) took note and in 2006 relased FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS, starring Nicole Kidman as Arbus and Robert Downey Jr. as Lionel Sweeney, a fictionalized version of one of Arbus’ portraiture subjects. Since Arbus dwelled in a bizarre, fantastical and on-the-fringe world, it’s only fitting that an imagined story of her life is as close to a real ‘biopic’ as we’re likely to get. Get ready for Sundance Channel’s Sunday night screening (October 16th at 7:55p) with some her most famous photographs…

BEING ELMO – there will be tears

Constance Marks and Philip Shane’s BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER’S JOURNEY pulls at the heartstrings like a skilled marionettist. Winner of the 2011 Special Jury Prize at Sundance, this film continues to prove that audiences are hungry for documentary content that inspires. (See BUCK, another success story.) It’s highly likely that if you see this film, the incredible story of how puppeteer Kevin Clash not only realized his dream of working with Jim Henson but also ended up creating one of the most beloved childhood characters of all time, you will choke up…

Ishac Bertran’s vinyl mash-up

Analog Vinyl Sampling from Ishac Bertran on Vimeo.

As a fan of mash-ups (and to you music purists I say, haters gonna hate), I found this music experiment by Ishac Bertran pretty fascinating. Taking the traditional cut-and-paste slicing method used to create different loops and mixes on reel-to-reel audio tape machines, Bertran took it one step further into our analog past by applying the same method to actual vinyl records. With some freshly purchased “second-hand vinyl records [of] different music styles: Supertramp, Wagner, Paul Anka, Chicago, Lil Jon,” a hot wire cutter, and a bit of dexterity and ingenuity, Bertran constructed a mash-up vinyl record Frankenstein’d together with other vinyls. You can hear the result for yourself in his video (above).

Naked news – pop culture edition

• Any show featuring a full gimp suit has promise: a review of “American Horror Story” that took the words right out of our mouth.
  
  
• Four lessons men can learn from Justin Beiber on being better boyfriends.
  
  
• The Washington DC International LGBT Film Festival kicks off tonight.
  
  

Weekly movie trailer roundup: THE MUPPETS and THE MUPPET MOVIE

Let’s just get this out there: I love the Muppets. I grew up with them as much as any kid, but it’s only as an adult that I really appreciate Jim Henson and the art of muppetry. I love The Muppet Show from the late 70s and early 80s, THE MUPPET MOVIE (1979) – I even love the side characters – the two cranky old men in the theatre and the aliens from Muppets in Space – more than the main attractions. And as one generation that spent their childhood alongside Kermit and Miss Piggy grows up and has kids of their own, it’s really no surprise that Disney’s come out with a Muppet movie for the next batch of young ‘uns, THE MUPPETS (due out in November).

The main question is whether director…

Full Frontal Fashion recap: loving Elizabeth Olsen’s break out style

Break-out star Elizabeth Olsen hits NYFF in head-to-toe McQueen. In Rachel Zoe’s words, I die. (And check out her transformative style evolution.)

It’s hot! It’s cold! It’s humid! What do I where?…

The “Low-Line,” an underground park for NYC

Okay, I’ll admit it. Whenever someone from out of town starts asking me about the Highline and whether or not it’s really as cool as it looks, I feel very proud to live in New York. Because yes, it’s exactly as cool as it looks (actually, it’s cooler, because they sell gourmet popsicles now, and I love me some popsicles), and it’s pretty neat to live in a place that would invest millions of dollars in a beautifully designed piece of urban revitalization. I mean, just look at it: it’s a park suspended over New York City. The future is now!

Fifty no-handed bike moves

“Golden Tree” by Martin Brooks from Ninian Doff on Vimeo.

A part of me sincerely believes that my life will be an utter failure if I never learn how to ride my bike without using my hands. I’ve practiced on and off since my youth, but fear of crashing and ruining my beautiful face overtakes the urge to ride sans hands. When I ride my bike up and down the West Side bike path in Manhattan, I burn with jealousy at my fellow New Yorkers who flaunt their no-hands bike riding ability…

Green tech finds, 10/13/11

Teenagers build a really fast hybrid, GM’s got an all-electric vehicle in the works, and Nissan has a concept for charging a car in ten minutes: your green tech finds for the week.

Another EV1? Let’s hope not. Chevy plans to start selling the Spark EV (above) in limited US markets in…

The wurst German ever

“You need to finish that,” she said, cocking her eyes towards my still half full liter stein in front of me. I looked up at my friend Ashley with pleading eyes. “I can’t!” I said, clutching my stomach as if the physical gesture would help plead my case to the girl I’ve known since college. “I’m so full!” I hadn’t wanted all of it to begin with. When our waitress presented me with the stein of Hofbrau Oktoberfest, I practically choked on my pretzel. “I can’t drink all that,” I shrieked. “I can’t even lift the darn thing!”

Ashley laughed as I dramatically clasped both of my hands around…

Not Your Mom’s Baryshnikov

Baryshnikov | Photo Credit: Kah Poon

We know you’re probably wiped out after the double wammy of Proper Villains and Valissa Yoe last week, but we here at Sundance Channel urge you to party onward, always with Garo in your fiery dancing hearts.

The sixth installment for all you ladies, gents and gender benders is here — The Baryshnikov Mix. Coming to you once a week as tribute to couture fashion designer Garo Sparo, all thanks to our lovely friends over at Garo’s workshop.

Watch as Garo, part-time psychiatrist and full-time dream weaver, helps his clients battle their inhibitions and unleash their true selves in our all new original series UNLEASHED BY GARO, Fridays at 9p!

Live human birth: You never saw this at the county fair

A few weeks back we found ourselves at a county fair witnessing the live birth of a calf (as one does). It was equal parts fascinating, horrifying and beautiful and reminded us of exactly how animalistic the human birth experience can be. But where humans get forceps or perhaps a c-section when things get tricky, this poor calf was pulled out with a heavy metal chain tugged on by three burly farmers. The crowd at the fair oohed and aahed with each contraction as if they were at a fireworks display, while a moderator encouraged us all to be as quiet as possible because, you know, the cow didn’t exactly give her permission for us all to be there and we were probably a tad distracting…

Best of the web: Korea’s angry pizza claims & Occupy Sesame Street gets ugly

Pizza Dispute: Pizza is one of few foods that can cause international disputes over who “invented” it. Most recently, an outspoken Korean conspiracy theorist (and, of course, blogger), Sang-J00n Han, is accusing Marco Polo of stealing pizza from Asia. A video interview with Han includes footage of a huge Buddha statue from the Goryeo dynasty wearing “what can only be a pizza box” on his head. I don’t really get what all the fuss is about; in the words of Michaelangelo and Donatello (from TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES), “doesn’t everybody eat pizza?”

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE sweeps the festival circuit

Elizabeth Olsen, aka the younger sister of the Olsen twins, may be poised to upstage her famous older sisters with a performance in MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE that critics are calling “a tour de force, full of depth and complexity.” It’s kind of amazing that her first film credit, one of the Olsen twins’ childhood capers, HOW THE WEST WAS FUN, was made less than ten years ago. In the meantime, she graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, and now she’s back at the tender age of 22 to show us what she’s got.

But Olsen isn’t the only fresh new face…

The uncanny world of Philipp Igumnov

I want to highlight Russian artist Philipp Igumnov and his intriguing collection of collages. His dream-like landscapes are oddly familiar; He takes an image as common as a family posing in a field and imbues it with a certain uncanny quality. My favorite is the one pictured above of a child leaping out of the back of a C-130 transport plane. It captures what it feels like to be a child joyously jumping into a pool, but Igumnov ups the stakes by launching the kid out the back of a plane.

Design Dish: Moleskine launches a logo competition, Frank Gehry’s latest for Louis Vuitton

Frank Gehry’s LVMH Sail Boat: After a few legal setbacks and delays, Frank Gehry’s design for the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation (a fancy name for the building that will house CEO Bernard Arnaut’s giant personal art collection) is scheduled for completion next year. At 130,000 square feet, the structure is designed to look like a white sailing ship standing alone in a forest. To create the unique curvature of the massive white panels (or “sails”), Gehry and his team worked with Moulage Sous Vide technology, a new technique that allows the designer to create concrete molds from computer-generated 3D models…

Ryan O’Neal: Bad boy in BARRY LYNDON, bad boy in reality TV

Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 picaresque masterpiece, BARRY LYNDON, was, like many of his greatest films, universally panned as a massive failure upon its release only to be regarded years later as a film classic. It stars Ryan O’Neal in one of his most memorable roles. After five years on Peyton Place, an Oscar nomination for his role in LOVE STORY, followed by WHAT’S UP, DOC? and PAPER MOON, O’Neal was already an established star. He played the part of Lyndon with a quietness and sensitivity I doubt any other actor would have brought to the role. In fact, in all of his biggest roles he’s played the soft-spoken, gentle leading man, like the love-sick Oliver Barrett in LOVE STORY and the…

Visiting North Korea with a Polaroid

I have to admit the novelty of seeing photos snapped by Western photographers visiting North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated locales, has worn off. I would argue that some photographers now almost fetishize the society’s strict, barren and guarded nature. All those visits are tightly controlled by the state and its minders who restrict not only where the photographers can go, see, and who they talk to, but also the specific angle at which they take a photo. If taking a photo of Kim Jong Il, for example, you must do so standing directly in front of him.

But Reuters photographer Carlos Barria traveled to North Korea and broke this mold…

The Virginity Project: a blog, a book, a play

We first heard from Kate Monro a few years ago from across the pond when her Virginity Project was just a fledgeling little baby blog. Today, that blog, which collects and publishes first time tales of all sorts from all over the world, is shortlisted for the UK Cosmoplitan Blog Awards 2011. She’s also got a book out now based on the blog, ”First Times: True Tales of Virginity Lost and Found,“ and this month her blog/book is being turned into a play at the…