Being Julia Malkovich

Basically just a portal into my poorly-designed mind.

[everydaylouie]

happy halloween! here is a ghost duet

[beingjuliamalkovich]

How Do We Talk About Race and Pop Culture Without Going Insane?

A panel of critics discuss Wesley Morris’s New York Times essay and some of the biggest anxieties plaguing criticism today.

I just listened to a Longform interview with Wesley Morris from a few years ago, Googled him, and found this: a response to the provocative piece put out in the Times a week or two ago. And while I loved hearing him interviewed, I have to agree with these critics that “The Morality Wars” (a reflection on and critique of our contemporary social-justice approach to culture) was not his best work. However, these critics rightfully pick up on the interesting threads of his argument and take them in different directions, ruminating on the ways cultural criticism has changed over the past several years. It makes for a really interesting roundtable, and left me feeling that something positive had come out of Morris’s thinkpiece. 

Writing this now, I think of Morris’s comment on Longform that there are too many people responding to one critic’s idea, often with only a nugget of the truth that made the original article so compelling. I see this case, somewhat sadly, as the reverse: Morris’s piece ultimately felt unsatisfying, but this roundtable more than made up for any disappointment I felt. A must-read.

[beingjuliamalkovich]

Longform Podcast #210: Ben Taub · Longform

Ben Taub is a contributing writer at The New Yorker. "I don’t think it’s my place to be cynical because I’ve observed some of the horrors of the Syrian War through these various materials, but it’s Syrians that are living them. It’s Syrians that are being largely ignored by the international community and by a lot of political attention on ISIS. And I think that it wouldn’t be my place to be cynical when some of them still aren’t."

This was such a compelling episode of Longform. Here’s this journalistic wunderkind who starts traveling to the Middle East and reporting on ISIS during college. And yet, he comes across as smart and sensitive and personable and interesting and modest. 

[averagehorror]

[leahberman]

[beingjuliamalkovich]

TIFF starts today! In honour of the wonderful Toronto International Film Festival, I’ll be sharing one of my favourites from their video archives, 12 facts about 12 Angry Men. This is an incredible film and the TIFF video is cheeky and well done. One not mentioned in this video is that Ed Begley, who portrays the irascible Juror No. 10, is the father of Ed Begley Jr., who is perhaps best known for the role of Stan Sitwell from my favourite TV comedy, Arrested Development.

[mexicanxthighs-deactivated20190]

[benoit-marie-lecoin]

Avant de devenir un réalisateur célèbre Stanley Kubrick était photojournaliste, ces photos sont issues d’une commande du magazine Look sur la ville de Chicago en 1949, la série est intitulée “Chicago City of Contrasts”.

[manundertheinfluence]

Stanley Kubrick: Photographs of New York from the 1940s

Before he began directing films, Stanley Kubrick was a photo-journalist with Look magazine, starting his career in 1946, and was, apparently, their youngest photographer on record. Kubrick snapped over 10,000 pictures, sometimes hiding his camera in a paper bag to achieve a more intimate and natural image.

[a-bittersweet-life]

Photography by Stanley Kubrick for Look Magazine

[beingjuliamalkovich]

These aren’t even my favourites from the exhibition (on right now at the Museum of New York). He was so good, so young.

[burzumss]

Female Trouble (1974)

[filmschool]

By puppyteeth

[beingjuliamalkovich]

Longform Podcast #297: Elif Batuman · Longform

Elif Batuman is a novelist and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her latest article is “Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry.” “I hear novelists say things sometimes like the character does something they don’t expect. It’s like talking to people who have done

One of the strangest and most interesting episodes of the @longform podcast I’ve ever heard! So good.

[tokyo-fashion]

17-year-old Hikaru on the street in Harajuku. The high cuffs of his Soe pants and his red necktie are both held together by safety pins. He’s also wearing a striped Nike shirt, vintage red cap, canvas belt, and Rombaut shoes. Full Look

[beingjuliamalkovich]

This series is the best YouTube pop-culture analysis I’ve ever encountered. It’s detailed, well paced, nuanced, and expansive. If you’re a Twin Peaks fan, it’s a must watch.

[beingjuliamalkovich]

Yesterday was “Heathers Day”

This association of movie and day is inspired by the musical adaptation of the 80′s no-longer-so-cult classic “Heathers.” And while I do not fuck with that musical -- I mean, could anything be farther from Veronica’s wry one-liners and  JD’s unflappable psychosis? -- I happened to watch “Heathers” yesterday. And man, are there some choice lines.

My new favourite is easily a snippy comeback from queen bee Heather Chandler: “Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw. Do I look like Mother Teresa?” But there’s a lot more to love. Here are some classic lines from the movie.

“Are we going to prom or to hell?”

“I love my dead gay son!”

“I don't patronize bunny rabbits.”

“I like it. It's got that what-a-cruel-world-let's-toss-ourselves-in-the-abyss type ambiance.”

“Whether to kill yourself or not is one of the most important decisions a teenager can make.”

“Our love is God, let's go get a Slushie.”

“I say we just grow up, be adults and die.”

“Well, it's just like -- they're people I work with, and our job is being popular and shit.”

“Oh my God. I'll have to send my S.A.T. scores to San Quentin instead of Stanford.”

“We must pray the other teenagers of Sherwood, Ohio, know the name of that righteous dude who can solve their problems: it's Jesus Christ, and he's in the Book.”

And my forever fav: “Great pâté, mom, but I gotta motor if I wanna be ready for that funeral.”

[beingjuliamalkovich]

From Lawrence of Arabia, dir. David Lean, I give you the greatest cut in cinematic history.