sundance

Green gifts: the dematerialized edition

The holidays can be a tough time for a good greenie. Sure, you want to participate in the rituals of giving and receiving associated with Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and, yes, you want to give your family members and friends gifts they want. But does that have to mean pushing aside any sense of environmental responsibility (or good ol’ fashioned green guilt) and hitting the mall (or the internet) for “stuff” that we’ll box (in that “free” gift box) and wrap (in unrecyclable paper)?

This week on Sundance Channel: Everybody loves a bisexual period drama

This week on Sundance Channel, we’ve got samplings of culture from Germany, Belgium, and New York City. With the exception of THE WAVE, most of these indulge a lighter side: just what we need in the dark days ahead.  We’ve got something for every one, from MAN ON WIRE to a period romance with bisexual undertones.

Get more GWLBWLB: Getting ready for the holidays

We get it. You came here hoping for an extra bit of Jared’s sex tape. You’ll have to go digging around on the Internet to find that yourself (and then post a link for us, obviously). We’re not doing that because we want to end up on Santa’s nice list. And we’re not the only ones getting ready for the holidays. Sherrié and Shane have a little Christmas single they’ve been working on.

Joe Zee on Kathy and Erik Wilson:

Their Challenge: When I first met husband and wife design team, Kathy and Erik Wilson of Kathy Wilson Atelier, it was very clear who wore the pants in that design family. Erik, a law student, ex-Marine and devoted husband, was loyally standing by his designing wife as she explained enthusiastically to me her concepts behind their men’s and women’s collections.

Genre big and small permeates screens

Are we inside a genre revolution? Lately the amount of content hitting screens that features either a modest nod or full-fledged over-the-top bow to genre is simply overwhelming. ANOTHER EARTH is indie-drama-with-a-side-of-sci-fi. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE is indie-drama-with-a-touch-of-thriller. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, the highly anticipated third feature from Lynn Ramsay, is indie-drama-experimental-fantasy. Yep, that’s right, on the surface it’s about raising a child who turns out to be a Columbine-like murderer, but in reality, I hear, it exists as a true art film. Lead actress Tilda Swinton said in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine that the film is “a fantasy that has as much to do with the practical business of bringing up a child as ROSEMARY’S BABY has to do with being pregnant.”

THE SURROGATE: John Hawkes as a paraplegic poet

THE SURROGATE is, so far, one of the most anticipated films for Sundance 2012. To the list of best-known actors in this year’s festival, including John Krasinski, Bruce Willis, Michael Cera, Amanda Seyfried, Danny Glover and Common, THE SURROGATE adds Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, and Oscar nominee John Hawkes. Hawkes, whose recent turns at Sundance have included a cult leader and a Meth addict, now plays a paralyzed journalist and poet. The film is based on the true story of how polio survivor Mark O’Brien, who spent much of his life on an iron lung, eventually lost his virginity with help from his priest and a sex surrogate. O’Brien’s relationship with the surrogate, played by Helen Hunt, changes both of their lives. Ben Lewin, himself a polio survivor, writes and directs.

Best of the Web: A wooden iPhone & delicious, cheeseburger wrapping paper

A Wooden iPhone: Artists Kyle Bean and Thomas Forsyth created this charming wooden iPhone with removable block buttons for the December cover of Computer Arts. I’m increasingly convinced that there’s an untapped market for primitive versions of modern gizmos (remember the Victorian Kindle?).

Kaleidoscopic Manhattan

I’m really digging the new video kaleidoscopic works from artist Anne Morgan Spalter. She captures video footage of urban landscapes such as Rockefeller Center or Fifth Avenue in New York City and then digitally transforms them using a decidedly 19th century concept. The resulting view is a constantly shifting but rigidly geometric patterned series of images as you can observe in the video above (my fave!), which I think is an interesting juxtaposition with the inherent symmetry of Manhattan’s streets. If you are around the Big Apple you should check out her debut NYC show at the Stephan Stoyanov Gallery.

And now for something truly mortifying: overwrought teenage anti-choice poetry

Embarrassing diary entries, old yearbook photos, junior high love letters — it’s all fun and games until someone breaks out their unhinged teenage anti-choice poetry.

Sex tapes and drunk drama: Tonight on GWLBWLB

TGI-DRAMA! If we’ve learned anything from reality television, it’s the fact that if you make a sex tape…it’s gonna wind up on the internet and embarrass you (and quite possibly make you millions, but that’s a whole different story). Down in Nashville, however, they deal with things a little differently.

Dear Santa: Criterion, please

If you happen to be shopping online, a stop at premier DVD publisher Criterion is likely to derail your giving into dreams of receiving. Their site kicks ass, frankly. Not only can you drool over new releases of your favorite classic, arthouse and foreign films, you can browse a plethora of famous peoples’ top ten Criterion lists. Bill Hader is actually a cinephile genius with Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW as his number one and an obscure Ozu as his number three! Bill Hader and Ozu? I teach at a film school and when I wear my Ozu t-shirt that’s shaped into an Ozzy logo I get nothing but blank stares. Nice work, Hader. And Kim Gordon puts a film on her list (Catherine Breillat’s FAT GIRL) that she admits to not having seen! Awesomely bold.

But back to buying. Criterion does such an amazing job reinventing a film through not only through its famous Criterion extras, but also by redesigning a film’s identity and thereby inviting you to rediscover it in a new way. Take Kieslowski’s brilliant 1994 trilogy, THREE COLORS: RED, WHITE, BLUE.

Like everyone, Adam Lambert grows up (stylewise)

At some point we’ve all been eager to enter a scene bright eyed and bushy tale, usually putting what is thought of as our best foot forward, personality and fashion wise. You’re wearing you’re heart on your sleeve, and your wallet’s pretty empty. Let’s face it, you’re wearing every last dime because not everyone has a powerhouse PR team and the blessing of a celebrity stylist, or designer—let alone both—to balance the enthusiasm of being the new kid on the block with a desire to be a fashion plate, subjected to public scrutiny. Ciao Clay Aiken.

Green tech finds: Recycled guitars and impromptu speakers

Cool concept cars and planes, speakers that turn ordinary objects into amplifiers, and the potential environmental cost of washing your jacket: this week’s green tech finds.

Honda’s very cool, very light electric concept vehicle: Unfortunately, “concept” often means we’ll never see one on the road. Still, Honda’s EV-STER (which rolled out last week at the Tokyo Auto Show, and is pictured above) shows the company combining electric power with light weight (through lots of body elements made from carbon) and sweet styling; maybe they’ll keep thinking this way as they work towards new production vehicles. (via Earth Techling)

The perfect New Yorker cartoon

My friend Casey shared on Facebook the cool news that one of his friends had a cartoon published in the latest issue of The New Yorker, the holy grail of publications that feature cartoons (at least in my eyes!). It reminds me of this wonderful essay by the New Yorker Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff on what he considers to be “the perfect cartoon” which was drawn by Chon Day in 1946 (seen above) and selected from the thousands published in their magazine. At first glance I found it relatively unexceptional, but the brilliance of the cartoon, as Mankoff explains, is the subtlety of its dark humor which is achieved with a high degree of difficulty.

Nice holiday-themed toys for the naughty adult in your life

When it comes to giving your significant O a holiday gift, slippers are great, but sex toys are better. As long as you make quality, beauty and safety your main priorities, you can’t go wrong with a pleasure object (unless you’re in a relationship with a religious neo-con, i.e. one of the few ones who don’t have a secret gimp suit hidden under their bed). Here are some suggestions that are particularly festive:

Joe Zee on Qristyl Frazier

Her Challenge: Qristyl Frazier dubbed her plus-size collection “Plus Sexy” and in the world of fashion, we can definitely use more fashion-worthy plus size collections. This has been a market that I personally feel has been underserved with great fashionable options in recent years and Qristyl had the opportunity to step in there and be an integral part of that budding industry.

The simple photographic approach of MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE

I finally saw Sean Durkin’s Sundance standout MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, and I too found it absolutely deserving of the awards and accolades it has recently garnered. It’s a wonderfully compelling flashback narrative, the likes of which we really haven’t seen since SHINE, wherein the dramatic tension comes from the audience discovering the past and watching its inevitable collide with the present. But even more interesting than that, the film is lean and beautiful in its simplicity, specifically in the way in which it’s covered, or filmed from different angles.

Confessions of a serial restaurant dater

“Do you need help?” My date asked.

I shook my head. “No, I’m good – I do it all the time,” I answered brightly. I leaned in closer, examining my target carefully as I adjusted the white balance on my camera. Holding my cell phone light in one hand and my camera in the other, I zoomed in on the shrimp-topped squid ink pasta noodles and carefully snapped my first shot. And then a second. And then another from a different angle. Finally, after several more shots, I set my camera down next to my wine glass and looked up with a smile.

Dropping the T-bomb: Tackling our ‘Tranny’ problem

Poor Kelly Osbourne, losing her fiancé to a transsexual model. And poor Neal Patrick Harris, putting his foot in his mouth co-hosting Live with Kelly, uttering “Tranny” on national television, twice. NPH is a terrific poster child for gay men and Queer America (men had ceded that role to Ellen and Rosie, even Gaga). It seems Ms. Patrick Harris realized using the T-Bomb was in poor taste, and tweeted an apology, maybe because as a gay man he understands how people let hateful words fly absentmindedly. I really felt pity for the gentleman—for Kelly O, things happen.

West and Watson wow just about everyone in APPROPRIATE ADULT

If you are anything like us, you can’t wait to see more of Dectective McNulty looking like Creepy McCreeperson. But, if you are not one of the legions of fans ready to tune into APPROPRIATE ADULT on Saturday night then perhaps we can convince you.

Design Dish: Pantone for Visa & the biggest dining table ever

The Liyuan Library: I’m a sucker for unusual library spaces, and this new construction in Huairou, China hits all the sweet spots. Tucked away in a small mountain village, the long, narrow structure blends into its surroundings with a reed-like outer layer that still allows for sunlight to trickle inside.

Secrets buried within “A Christmas Carol”

A few years ago, the Morgan Museum and Library, which owns the 68-page manuscript of Charles Dickens’ classic tale “A Christmas Carol,” let the New York Times scan all the hand-scribbled, 168-year-old pages and post them online. The Times then challenged its readers to scour through the digital pages of this manuscript for which Dickens apparently “made no working notes, outline, plans, or preliminary drafts” (brave man!), and unlock mysteries buried within his edits.

The 30 Project: Three decades to a more sustainable food system

Remember 1980? The Miracle on Ice? Voodoo economics? “Funkytown” at the top of the charts? Seems like eons ago, doesn’t it? You may not remember (or even realize) that 1980 was also a seminal year (or, the round-about time for big changes) in our food system. Consolidation of agriculture? That’s when we started to see it. High-fructose corn syrup? It started showing up in, well, everything right about then. A decrease in US agricultural aid to other countries? That, too.

So, is any of this important to us now, or just a little food history trivia?

Car crash sex on TV

We recently ran a post on EMandLO.com about television shows with hot sex scenes, but if we’re being honest, the stuff that really floats our boats is the hilarious, cringe-worthy stuff that just seems a lot more realistic — after all, sex is often awkward, full of miscommunication, with some head bonking and disappointment, maybe tears. Which is why we loved, loved, LOVED last night’s episode of New Girl on Fox. We’ll admit, we were pretty eh about the pilot — it was close, but no cigar. So we never scheduled a second date with the show. But a friend encouraged us to give it another chance last night and we are so glad we did — because we can’t remember the last time we laughed so hard, especially not from of a television show (we’re talking tears and stomach pain). Not to get your hopes up, but it’s one of the best sex scenes we’ve ever seen on TV* — it should win an Emmy. We liked it so much, we went online so we could watch the earlier “penis” episode (officially titled “Naked”), which also did not disappoint. Oh, if only the same could be said for sex.

Don’t miss the short side of Sundance: Festival announces short film program

Sundance Institute announced today the program of short films selected to screen at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. This year’s Short Film program is comprised of 64 short films selected from a record 7,675 submissions, up 16% over submissions for the 2011 Festival. The Festival will be January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.