sheepfilms
trying on a metaphor
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PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
macklin celebrini has autism
pixel skylines
NASA
KIROKAZE
Stranger Things
Not today Justin
One Nice Bug Per Day
occasionally subtle
hello vonnie
Product Placement
Kiana Khansmith
Jules of Nature
noise dept.
titsay
izzy's playlists!
Kaledo Art
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@theenthusiast
no offense but when I see wonder woman in theaters for the first time I’m going to cry my fucking eyes out
No offense, but when I see wonder woman in theaters for the 37th time I’ll be crying my fucking eyes out
If this ain't me...
How nice is this little photo set? Our Lara has come so far!
WHAT IN THE CARJA BLAZONS?!?!
HZD’s photo mode is insane.
For god’s sake can we just have another round of applause for Guerilla Games and the thing of rare beauty they have created?!
all shots by yours truly because if I’m being frank I’ve probably clocked the same amount of hours taking photos as i have actually playing the damn game
Bubblegum Crisis
When I was little my parents went overseas to London, and despite them being there when the subway bombings happened, I spoke to them with as much concern over their safety as well as the urgency they must feel to buy me the Bubblegum Crisis box set.
South Africa is a bit behind where anime imports etc are concerned, so when I saw Bubblegum Crisis’ poster in a magazine, I frothed for years knowing I’d probably never get it.
Spoiler Alert: I have it, have watched it repeatedly, still love it
BC is wrapped in nostalgia for me, so when i saw these little blueprint sketch layout things i felt all the feels.
LOOK! SO COOL!
Horizon: Zero Dawn (holy shit)
Okay so I’ve been trying not to ay anything about this game because i have yet to finish it and I’m reeeeeally taking my time with it but i cant hold it in anymore.
Horizon Zero Dawn is quite simply one of the best games ever made.
I am in constant awe of the beauty, both in the aesthetic and the narrative, and I have never spent so much time just fucking around and killing robot dinosaurs and looking for medicinal hinterblush or ochreblom or fire kiln root or questing the fuck out of these magical lands saving up for a bomb ass outfit because hey, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS EVER BEFORE
If I’m not learning how to override a Trampler in an insane Cauldron, I’m out here climbing Tallnecks I’m spending hours in Photo Mode and just living for every single facet of this game.
Everything about Horizon Zero Dawn feels familiar, but the folks over at Guerilla Games have polished HZD’s elements so perfectly that you feel like you have been waiting your whole life for something that plays this good.
Think about the game as a mix between Clan of the Cave Bear, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Skyrim, Wonder Woman, Shadow of the Colossus and The Witcher 3 aka EVERYTHING GOOD IN THIS WORLD.
Aloy is a remarkable protagonist, and I wouldn’t want to be on this journey with anyone else at the helm. She is headstrong, brazen and heroic and I’m obsessed with her.
The design, lore and depth of the world in which you are immersed is astounding, and i feel like a native of these lands as well as a naive rookie getting to grips with what makes this place tick.
If you have not bought this game, I can’t express the urgency you should feel to do so.
OBSESSED doesn’t even begin to cut it.
guys, further down my blog you will find a defence of Johansson’s casting as per the concept of adaptation and inter-cultural exchange.
After seeing the movie, and seeing that plot twist, I can no longer defend this movie. I am a privileged white male, and this movie does not speak to or rob my culture or address it in an uncomfortable way, thus I will leave this conversation to people who are better suited to it and have more interesting things to say about it.
As for whitewashing, we can only hope that this is the last time people try this fuckery.
Isabelle Huppert, Elle, The Oscars & What the Actual Fuck
Okay I’m not going to make it out as if I’m unbiased or not an unabashed critic of La La Land and the redundant acclaim that movie has somehow managed to garner (because yes to all of those things over here) but I am going to lament the fact that Emma Stone managed to win an Oscar over Isabelle Huppert.
Huppert’s turn as Michelle Leblanc, french businesswoman and potential sociopath/ un-fuckwithable human being was perhaps the most fully realised and tonally complete performance in recent memory.
Elle, for all it’s controversy and provocation, is a masterful and elegant slice of life film that is entirely hinged on the performative accomplishment of Huppert.
To deny this woman the (supposedly) highest honour in performance is to deny the quality of film making.
Okay now I am fully aware that that statement is a tad dramatic, but come on. Although the arts is not comparable and create highly subjective experiences, there is no way that you can leverage Stone’s turn as a struggling, doe-eyed actress against Huppert’s tour-de-force performance as the complicated and magnetic Michelle Leblanc.
When I first watched Elle, I couldn’t really describe it or say anything about it. It was a revelation and at the same time a total fucking mystery. Conceptually, i was grasping at straws trying to frame it and when I would suggest it to friends I barely managed a synopsis. My proclamations of adoration and urging to go and see it was along the lines of... ‘Just uhm like go see it. Yeah’.
Everyone I know didn’t understand La La Land’s or why the fuck people were frothing over it, but each to his own i guess.
Ms. Huppert, I guess what I’m getting at it is, I’m shocked that you lost and in my mind you are the deserving win and perhaps the actress most deserving of adoration in history.
I really liked Elle guys.
Let’s Talk About Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Before we get started, allow me to say that whitewashing is a real thing, and it is regressive and in need of a shake-up.
Now, I have been a fan of GITS my whole life. I have the DVD’s (expensively procured from South African music shops that were somehow the only place you could find imported movies wtf?) to prove it, and I have watched every single thing the franchise has put out.
Now we finally see the iconic franchise heading to the silver screen, directed by Rupert Sanders and starring action-star of the decade Scarlett Johansson. Not an asian woman, but Scarlett Johansson. And a few fans are pissed.
Here’s the thing though, Paramount is adapting a beloved global property with Japanese origins. Adapting. Adaptation. Taking a property and re-working it as per X, Y, Z etc.
This is not a Japanese adaptation, but an American one. It is commonplace for cultural products to undergo changes and alterations during the process of adaptation, much like Park Chan Wook’s latest masterpiece The Handmaiden did. The Handmaiden is based on a short story of Welsh origin, and Wook adapted the piece into a haunting erotic thriller set in Korea, with Korean actors and Korean/ Japanese dialogue.
Where this gets tricky in GITS’ case is that America has been under fire for it’s lack of diversity and representation in its cultural products. And those criticisms are definitely warranted when looking at the mostly white faces that adorn movie posters. American TV seems to have run with diversity and non-white characters have gone from novelty to the norm. (Yay! Maeve, Annalise, Luke, Nikita, Priyanka, I’m looking at you!)
That being said however, I do not feel like the casting of Ms. Johansson was a meditated effort to occlude robust racial representation. To cast someone of Johansson’s caliber and box-office draw is only natural when looking to establish a new franchise. Without her at the centre of what looks set to be a glorious, violent slice of fan-service, this movie would never have happened.
It’s also interesting to look at how Asian/American films correspond and borrow from one another. Ghost, What Women Want, Unforgiven and Cellular have all been remade to some extent in Asia with Asian actors, even the amazing anime Tokyo Godfathers by Satoshi Kon was a loose adaptation of the John Wayne starring 3 Godfathers.
Moreover, Japanese fans seem entirely un-phased by the casting of Johansson, with some even casting doubt as to whether or not Kusanagi was even Japanese to begin with. This is a non-issue for them, as an American licensing of one of the most popular animes out there is a chance for the franchise to find global roots. It is also no secret that anime draws incredibly heavily from Western filmic and visual conventions, and exploit these to incredible extent. But it’s great, and it’s part of why anime is such a hoot. It’s a wonderful blend of influence, inspiration and style and it keeps people coming back. Just look at the Gothic Lolita subculture or the ridiculously amazing names of some characters (Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Lelouch Lamperouge anyone?)
I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need to understand that culture is not fixed, and that it capable of cross-pollination and dissemination. I think Scarlett Johansson is a perfect fit for a Western portrayal of The Major, but I do think that her casting would’ve gone down a lot better were there more meaty, prominent Asian roles to represent those demographics. In conclusion, in a globalised community, there’s a lot more of us to cater to and represent, and in order to remedy these very real and very painful reactions culture has to adapt somehow. The hype machine wants us to start reacting now, and reacting strongly. Which we invariably do, but let’s give Ghost in the Shell a chance. We have a few stills, teasers and a trailer to go by. The least we can do is give it the benefit of the doubt.
The Enduring Sartorial Genius of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira
Look, if you frequent Dazed and Confused and High Snobiety you’ll have peaked the look.
Bomber Jackets, high waisted denims, sneakers, faded t-shirts and a fuck-you-attitude. It’s all very now, and very chic, and mostly in thanks to a certain Mr. West aka Art Dad who has a fash hungry cabal cloning his unique blend of... whatever the fuck.
West himself has declared Akira, the 1988 powerhouse that redefined various filmic genres, as his favourite film. That and Blade Runner, another sartorially rich film that’s influenced the majority of aesthetes and auteurs today.
Akira’s fashion sensibilities has been discussed various times before, and in more eloquent ways than I myself could hope to contribute. It is a visual feast that more than likely birthed some of the visual optics we employ when conjuring images pertaining to the urban, the industrial and the post-modern cosmopolitan.
The film itself is thematically rich, and quite the dinner conversation fodder, but today let’s just take a minute to appreciate and extend some admiration to the bevy of lewks that can be cloned from this gem of a movie.
The Colours!
The Hair! (*cough* Sky Ferreira I Blame Myself *cough*)
The Hats!
The Jackets! (*cough* Vetements *cough*)
The Vibez!
The Street Chic! (Normcore eat your heart out)
The Emotionz!
Christine and the Queens and the Emancipation of Gender
2016 has been a rough year. The American elections are a farcical exposition of our social mentalities. The Isreali/Palestinian conflict continues to derail on its own axis and the student protests here in South Africa is steadily being exacerbated by lingering prejudices and willful misunderstanding.
It’s a tough time to find yourself, express yourself and, yes, define yourself. In the face of such gross injustices, social unrest and flagrant atrocities, how do you make time to take stock of your identity and explore who you are, singular.
I’m a gay afrikaans man. We’re kind of a stoic culture, traditional and generally a bit obtuse as a people when it comes to inter-cultural consideration and communal sympathy. I might be generalising, but afford me some creative liberty.
I have a really hard identifying with people. I can be really mean and abrasive because I’m a raging narcissist and a cut-from-the-cloth millennial. And yet, somewhere in the middle of this year I started listening to a then unknown french lady sing and it taught me so much. Not about others, but about myself, which has hopefully helped me funnel that level of understanding into my relationships and social identity.
Heloïse Letissier is a visionary. A poetic, gender fluid superhero who has invaded contemporary sound to reshape it’s illocutionary tactics and offer a different take on pop music that doesn’t skimp on any of pop’s appeal.
There’s bouncy beats, infectious hooks and melodies that transcend what is considered ‘catchy’ and all the while all of the songs on her album Chaleur Humane aka The Best Thing to Happen This Year carry some hefty conceptual and thematic weight.
I’ve read Judith Butler, I’ve read Foucault, and yet they never penetrated my idea of gender politics like Letissier’s ‘iT’ has. That song alone has really forced me to think about how I present myself, how I present my ideas and how I should go about this grand ol’ idea that is gender.
Others, like ‘Narcissus is Back’ and ‘Safe and Holy’ has unlocked some dormant self-diagnoses that I feel like I can safely and adequately deal with now. In the words of Robyn (another fave), ‘music can transport you right into an emotion’. Christine and the Queens has done so much more than that, they’ve transported me into myself, into a space whereI’m comfortable with myself.
Pretty fucking cool.
The reason I mention the shitty side of 2016 in relation to my many a revelation during a listen to Christine is that she has reminded me how important and novel it is to have someone produce something so culturally valuable and insightful.
There’s a lot of shit going on, abject badness and sadness, but every once in a while someone catches a beat and makes something of such emotional worth that people from all over can synchronise and share in it, even if just for a moment.
The Neon Demon
Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest film proves once more that the director’s oeuvre is more than divisive, it’s downright bi-polar.
The Neon Demon, starring the likes of Elle Fanning and Jenna Malone, is in my opinion, the director’s best work yet. I more or less loathed Only God Forgives, but The Neon Demon kind of made me like it and appreciate it. Here’s why:
Refn makes themed films. I don’t mean thematic as in loaded with concepts and underlying points of interest (which, don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of). I mean themed films as in he samples/ outright steals from established conventions and manipulates them according to his own twisted expositions. His films are so closely huddled around a given theme that it is all too easy to think of them as second-hand imitations, which I’m sure the director would love actually. But no, they are so incredibly exemplary of the visual culture and creative cross-pollination that is the 21st century.
The Neon Demon is simultaneously a Lynchian exploration of the feeling that accompanies adoration and fame as well as a unnerving, Dazed and Confused-esque look at the all-consuming obsession we have with fresh meat on the scene. But instead of moralising, or any kind of emotive filmic didacticism, Refn revels in it all and provides one of the strangest and most compelling anti-bildungs to ever grace the silver screen.
It should be noted that Refn refrains from telling the viewer much. Instead, he shows and evokes and eventually in the last chapter, provokes.
Like a glossy, glamorous amalgamation of Valley of the Dolls, Suspiria, and Mulholland Drive, The Neon Demon assimilates all of its influences and thematic sources to quite literally gut punch the viewer and leave them confused, shaken and bewildered. (I was three glasses of wine deep when i watched it for the first time and I just kind of sat there when the credits rolled and patted my stomach)
The music is a pretty good indication of how clever and sardonic the film is, providing at times surreptitious tinkling, throbbing techno and then that Sia track that adorns the credits. Let’s talk about that Sia track actually; I tried to think of why they would do such a thing as it seemed so incongruous, but then it hit me. That is exactly the song Abby Lee’s character would play to herself to justify her actions and make herself feel better.
I spoke to some friends who absolutely hated it, and their main point of dislike seemed to stem from the acting and the dialogue. i found this to be an idiotic criticism, as the writing is so stilted, so wooden and cheesy that it perfectly sets The Neon Demon up as the classiest B-movie you will ever see.
As for the title, guessing who gets to don the mantle of neon demon is as illusive as it is irrelevant. There are no likeable or relatable characters to be found here. Actually, I would go as far as saying there are no characters in this film, simply guises that stand in for conventions to be found in the cache of characterisation.
The film skirts the edge of bad taste, and flouts any and all considerations pertaining to narrative structure and cohesion. It is a mounting dread, bloody dissolution of aspiration and a hedonistic sampling of aesthetics and glamour.
I loved every minute of it.
Gravity Rush: Remastered
So a month or so back I got Gravity Rush Remastered on the PlayStation Store.
I was looking for a fun little game to play over a weekend, and I really liked the anime aesthetic of the game.
What ended up happening was me finding love in an unlikely place.
My boyfriend was less than impressed by the game, but if we're being real, a game with a stylish female protagonist and superhero elements was always going to have me enamoured with it.
The game has been out for a while so I'm kind of bummed that I haven't gotten around to it.
I love it so much!
The flying mechanics are so great, and the cel shaded steampunk-y cityscape is so fun to explore.
It's a bit of a silly game, and sure the combat isn't the greatest, but I can't remember the last time I had so much fun just derping around and playing with cool powers.
I also just have to take a second and comment on the absolutely whack amalgamation of influences at play in the game.
We've got some Bayonetta (amnesiac witch that can kick ass), Howl's Moving Castle (engine driven lump of metal), Moebius (sci fi vibe and colour palette) and a whole lot of anime swirled about in a bucket of l, yes I'm saying it again, FUN!
If you guys haven't picked this game up yet, DO IT.
A Defense of Enchantress, played by Cara Delevigne
Okay so Cara Delevigne’s take on Enchantress got a lot of heat, and I’m not entirely sure that’s fair.
Suicide Squad was a divisive experience, and sure, there was a lot that could’ve been done a little better (Less Deadshot and more Harley for starters, lbh) but it was a fun movie with great parts and even greater potential.
There’s a lot of stuff going on re: the critics coming out with a strong thesis to hate this movie and subsequently built a review around said thesis, but of course we can’t plausibly refer to that level of speculation when talking about our much hyped Suicide Squad. But I do want to come to Enchantress’ defense, if only a little.
One reviewer quipped that Delevigne’s performance was career-endingly bad, and that she ‘sounded like Vanessa Redgrave on rhinoceros tranquilizers’.
That is quite the statement, and hilarious if it were true. Was Enchantress the best villain ever? God no. Was she the worst? No no and no.
We have to consider the difference in Ayer’s and WB’s cuts of the film, and how these differences influenced the overall experience Suicide Squad was able to deliver.
Delevigne wasn’t given much ‘textual’ space to perform in, and much of her villainy was sidelined in favour of character development in the form of stupid family metaphors and pseudo-camaraderie which felt out of place and out of sync.
Enchantress looked amazing, had great presence but was never allowed to fully encompass the ancient, oozing chaos her look promised. But there’s not much we can do about that, save maybe hope for a killer comeback in Justice League Dark. (penned by Guillermo del Toro and now being directed by Doug Liman of Edge of Tomorrow fame)
But let’s compare Enchantress to some other blockbuster villains this year:
Enchantress vs. Apocalypse (X-Men): Essentially the same vibe going on here, but whereas Apocalypse was a whiny, wordy blue foreskin Enchantress made it way more believable that she was going to destroy the world and punish everyone mainly because she was hell-bent on exactly that even though her attempt seemed foolish and unrealistic. She packs hubris and vanity, whereas Apocalypse just acts as a foil to Professor X’s delicate world-view.
Enchantress vs. Lex Luthor (BvS): Someone want to offer something here because I can’t...
Enchantress vs. Zemo (Civil War): Wait... was Zemo really a villain or just a guy that was fucking around and accidentally got his idea to work out (kind of)
Anyway, that’s my opinion on the matter. I’m expecting a lot of hate from Marvel fans as per usual when I post about DCEU but yolo, let me know what you think :)
Kanye West’s outfit at the Manus x Machina Met Gala is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. As divisive and annoying as he may be, the man knows his way around a look. I’m so very in love with this and shall spend the rest of my days trying to get my hands at a jacket like that. Kim looks cute too.
SEVDALIZA
I recently discovered Sevdaliza and I have to say that her music is a breath of fresh air. She’s dark and seductive, and I really like the way she blends styles and rhythms to produce something that’s creepy and compelling.
Her music has a kind of surreal magnetism about it, and I’m so in for this ride.
I’ve bought all of her EPs and I can assure you that they are definitely worth it! Have a look, have a listen and get to know this haunting honey.
Anita Sarkeesian
I love Anita Sarkeesian. I think she's a genius and a master critic. As a video game fan, I also appreciate her contributions to the corpus of video game theory. She is a fresh voice and deftly couples critical frameworks with video game representation. As an avid fan, I watch most of her videos. I also watch some of the reactions to said videos. Interrogating and critiquing theory is part of the game, and obviously there must be counter arguments. But the reactions to Sarkeesian's work is something else. Just now I watched her video of the male gaze, and there was a reaction to the video saying that the male gaze is not a real thing and Sarkeesian makes shit up to fuel her own delusions. PEOPLE, I understand that not everyone has the same background or education, and that sometimes established theory is completely unknown to some, but come on, do a little research. Sarkeesian talks of real things, appearing in real journals and critical circles. Please inform your opinion. Don't be drunk on hate. If what she was saying was all a crock of shit, you wouldn't be reacting so strongly. Let's have robust discussions instead of just nay-saying and attacking one another's character. Sexism, misogyny and objectification are real things that manifest in all kinds of ways in our societies, why do you think video games are exempt from these manifestations? No one is trying to take anything away from you, you are not the victim, people are just calling for more believable and fair representation across platforms. And what could possibly be bad about that?
This Sailor Moon editor is really shit but this weave look good on me lbr
