Straight into Compton

9903 S. Santa Monica Blvd.



1549 E. Washington Blvd.



Seeing three out of the four original Banksys still up in LA gives me satisfaction. Thanks Banksy, for getting me to go to Compton and turn off and exit my car.

Mariachi meets Mamba

The pairing of Robert Rodriguez and Kobe Bryant is both so satisfying and fitting; two bad-ass mother fuckers whose legacies have been defined by their defiantly merciless self-exploitations. This short will further blur the boundaries of pop culture status quo; it's a 6 minute commercial for Nike that can also cling to its fantastic "parody" status for validation. Perhaps even that acknowledgment disregards the movie from being held to the same rules of critical evaluation of other films, in terms of its success in achieving authentic art status. In which case, I will let my opinion reside with the school of thought that simply deems this movie, "fucking sweet."

Bricks and bones

Found myself visiting the "Crayola Shooter" again today. Met a fellow who told me about another Banksy in Beverly Hills of the dog peeing on an entire building wall; am gonna have to check that one out. The "No Parking" sign the gun was pointing at is gone, most likely being shopped around for tens of thousands of dollars.

Gotta dance

Is Thom Yorke this generation's Gene Kelly? I wish people wouldn't judge me if I danced like this in public.

Just another brick in the wall

"Great paintings shouldn’t be in museums. Have you ever been in a museum? Museums are cemeteries. Paintings should be on the walls of restaurants, in dime stores, in gas stations, in men’s rooms. Great paintings should be where people hang out. The only thing where it’s happening is on radio and records, that’s where people hang out. You can’t see great paintings. You pay half a million and hang one in your house and one guest sees it. That’s not art. That’s a shame, a crime. Music is the only thing that’s in tune with what’s happening. It’s not in book form; it’s not on the stage. All this art they’ve been talking about is nonexistent. It just remains on the shelf. It doesn’t make anyone happier. Just think how many people would really feel great if they could see a Picasso in their daily diner. It’s not the bomb that has to go, man, it’s the museums.”

-Bob Dylan

Culture: shocked. Reality: Checked. I thought that artistic expression was dead; Punk's not dead, Jesus is. I thought that art couldn't exist in today's society, that there were too many factors and variables to saturate and thus deny authenticity. Today I saw, that I was wrong. Today I saw the Sistine Chapel. Today I saw the Beatles. Today I saw a wall.

Interview with Heartbeats' star Monia Chokri

Woke up and did a "phoner" (phone interview) (haha...phoner) with Monia Chokri of the new Quebec film "Les Amours Imaginaires" ("Heartbeats", in English) for Tonight at the Movies. Watch for this movie to drop; it's fantastic hipster cinema and writer/director/actor Xavier Dolan is twenty one years old! I don't even do my own laundry...