Category: uncategorized

The Millions : Nobody Hearts L.A.: A Personal Los Angeles Canon

~ Mark

Readying myself for a move to Los Angeles, I naturally turned to literature, but I decided to avoid the region’s richest, oldest, most beloved literary currents: its unflinching examinations of Old Hollywood, its hardscrabble outsider odysseys toward the kingdom of celebrity, its hard-boiled tales of murderous intrigue and complex deceit beneath the palm trees. Those novels became iconic for a reason, but I had to ask: given Los Angeles’ practically unfathomable size and diversity, what other kinds of literature does it offer?

The Millions : Nobody Hearts L.A.: A Personal Los Angeles Canon

~ Mark

Paper Trail: Atlanta | Features | Pitchfork. Nice interview with Kelefa Sanneh about the Atlanta book, and Atlanta, and hiphop.

Another thing that’s interesting about Atlanta is that it’s a real magnet. A lot of the people that define that music aren’t from there; they’re drawn there. Gucci Mane comes from Alabama.Waka Flocka was born in Queens. The amazing producer Lex Luger comes in from Virginia. T-Pain’s from Florida. Even when Lil B launched his own first co-sign post Pack, he goes and hooks up with Soulja Boy. Machine Gun Kelly, from Cleveland, goes to Atlanta and hooks up with Travis Porter. I think one reason why the city has sustained itself so well is that it has welcomed artists from all over the place.

Pitchfork: Yeah, even Ludacris is from Illinois.

KS: Right. There is this industry infrastructure. Maybe it’s because Atlanta is known as a comfortable place to live if you’re African-American and have some money, and people generally enjoy living there. Can it become the Nashville of hip-hop? With Nashville, it’s not even about a Nashville sound anymore. It’s just that if you want to go into country music, that’s where you go. It’s not impossible to imagine that Atlanta can get there.

And also:

Somehow, and this is weird to me, the labels are all still in New York, except for Interscope in L.A. But you see these people get contracts. Living here in New York, I got the feeling that the label people were signing Atlanta artists because they had to, but that there wasn’t much enthusiasm for them within the labels. It’s like the history of hip-hop in miniature because that’s how hip-hop used to be treated by the music industry, like: “I guess we’ll sign them because this is what the kids are doing, but we don’t really get it, and we don’t really want to spend more time on this stuff than we have to.” So, for better or for worse, the Atlanta stuff has been pretty grassroots.

~ Mark

Artists and fans in Atlanta don’t seem to struggle with [getting hung up on one style] so much. They don’t seem to get as hung up on it as people do in New York, which is probably the capital of hip-hop people getting hung up on stuff.

Kelefa Sanneh.
~ Mark

billa:

Reading between the Lines

On September 24th, Gijs Van Vaerenbergh will reveal a construction in the rural landscape, by a cycle route, that’s based on the design of the local church. This ‘church’ consists of 30 tons of steel and 2000 columns, and is built on a fundament of armed concrete. Through the use of horizontal plates, the concept of the traditional church is transformed into a transparent object of art. 

~ Mark

It is weariness upon the same things to labor and by them to be controlled. In change is rest.

Heraclitus.

The Naked Prey

~ Mark

The Naked Prey. Speaking of chase movies stripped down to loincloths… This one was inspired by the true(ish?) story of John Colter’s escape from the Blackfeet in 1809, but it’s set in the African savannah somewhere. A safari trip goes wrong because the financial backer is a jackass and Cornel Wilde, the guide who’s been there enough to pick up a few languages, ends up running from the locals. It’s pulpy popcorn stuff, but there’s an interesting balance in how everything is portrayed. This is not the Africa with the sunsets and acacia trees and newborn knock-kneed giraffes. This is the dusty, thorny one with all the snakes. Neither hunters nor prey are acting all that honorably or dishonorably, they’ve just been reduced and everyone’s running on instinct and resourcefulness. Ebert didn’t like it much, for fair reasons that seem to related to having scene this kind of absurd stuff before, but I think that non-realistic ≠ non-enjoyable. The script could probably fit on a page or two. The soundtrack is almost entirely percussion. Plot aside, there’s some really great nature interludes that reminded me of how much I loved wildlife film when I was a kid.

Albums Recommended in “Dirty South”

~ Mark

Ben Westhoff’s Southern hiphop starter kit listed at the end of the book. FYI.

The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are – The 2 Live Crew
We Can’t Be Stopped – Geto Boys
The Fix – Scarface
Diary of the Originator: Chapter 12 – June 27th – DJ Screw
Ridin’ Dirty – UGK
On Top of the World – Eightball & MJG
Most Known Unknown – Three 6 Mafia
Aquemini – OutKast
Soul Food – Goodie Mob
400 Degreez – Juvenile
Ghetto D – Master P
Country Grammar – Nelly
Aaliyah – Aaliyah (Anil Dash approved!)
Under Construction – Missy Elliot
Lord Willin’ – Clipse
Kings of Crunk – Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz
Down with the King – T.I. hosted by DJ Drama
Get Ya Mind Correct – Paul Wall and Chamillionaire
We the Best – DJ Khaled
Souljaboytellem.com – Soulja Boy
Tha Carter III – Lil Wayne
Murder Was the Case – Gucci Mane

Albums Recommended in “Dirty South”

The New Atlantis » GPS and the End of the Road

~ Mark

One of the better essays I’ve read this year. I ended up browswing the site and Instapapering a bunch of other stuff. (via)

It is another paradox of [On the Road and Huckleberry Finn] that the supposed escape from civilization in large part consists of escape to civilization, or at least to its lesser-known boroughs. In each case, their travels are set against the grandeur of the natural world, but the scenes of their adventures are composed of unknown people in unfamiliar places. The “promise of every cobbled alley” is wrapped up in the possibility of the stranger — more fully, the chance encounter with the mysterious stranger in the enchanted place.

Seen in the right way, what the two novels show us is not the virtue of quitting civilization, but the freedom that comes from finding our own way through a world that is not of our own making.

Also:

Go to a city and find your way to somewhere new; take a walk or a drive through the streets of Washington, D.C., and you will begin to feel how it is a different place from Austin or San Francisco or Paris or New Orleans — how your possibilities for action are different and so too your possibilities for being.

The New Atlantis » GPS and the End of the Road

The Seventh Seal

~ Mark

Det Sjunde Inseglet (The Seventh Seal). First time I’d seen anything from Ingmar Bergman. Strange reaction to this one: when I was watching it, I wasn’t swept away. It was good, shot beautifully, funnier than I expected, etc. etc. But afterward, I kept thinking about it, turning it over, remembering scenes. Those ideas of morality, religion, existence, fear, and vulnerability in a meaningless universe have some staying power. You can definitely see why Woody Allen loves his work. Allen recommends starting with this one, Wild Strawberries, The Magician, Cries and Whispers, and Persona.