Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

From the Congressional Record – Lois Capps, D-CA:

Madam Speaker, I rise in response to recent calls for new offshore drilling. These arguments for new drilling hit a dry hole for several reasons.

First, we are already drilling offshore. Eighty percent of the known offshore reserves are in areas where leasing and drilling is allowed. Today, the oil companies have nearly 6,000 untapped leases in the Gulf of Mexico alone.

Second, with 3 percent of the world’s resources and 25 percent of the world’s demand, there is no way we are going to just drill our way out of this problem.

Third, even the Bush administration admits consumers would see little savings at the pump from new drilling.

Yesterday, Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Agency, said this about the impact of new drilling: ``It would be a relatively small effect, because it would take such a long time to bring those supplies on. It doesn’t affect prices that much.’’

Democrats have a better plan. Let’s pass legislation that moves America in a new direction on energy by closing the Enron loophole on Wall Street speculators who are driving up prices. Let’s reduce mass transit fares and build the infrastructure there, and let’s force Big Oil to use it or lose it on drilling permits.

I urge my colleagues to join with me in bringing America to a new, more affordable energy future.

Every time I watch a show on Hulu these days, I wind up seeing this public service announcement.

Seriously, have the people who made this ad ever been high school students? The kids at the school I went to had no problem saying things like this in person—even to the kids who were supposedly their best friends—and being completely serious about it. It’s a way of asserting dominance and marking territory, and I’m sure that if you honestly look at adult life, too, you’ll find that the same thing happens there, largely because those adults have risen to maturity being told that their own violence, stupidity, and petty meanness as adolescents was “just part of growing up.” And, indeed, it was. The behavioral part that was ignored, justified, and tacitly endorsed by the adults in their lives.

That’s the message I’m getting lately. Kind of funny, since I just got a gig hosting a movie review show for local TV. I’m being encouraged to publish an e-mail address people can send to to agree or disagree with my reviews, but maybe I wouldn’t be able to take the abuse…

Take this track – which I just can’t seem to get out of my mind, but is getting universally bad reviews from the folks on Amazon.com. I dig it, though.

It’s a bluegrass rap. It’s by Snoop Dogg, so if you’re at the workplace some of the lyrics might get you in trouble. Otherwise – enjoy.

I honestly cannot understand why more press releases don’t contain something like this.:

We are working on a fix for this and your breasts should be back to normal soon.

Priceless.

This video is great. I love how every time the camera goes past, the kittens look at it, as if to say, “Um, excuse me? What is that thing?”

Vimeo doesn’t let you embed in HD, but it’s in HD at their website.

Kittens in HD from FX Films on Vimeo.

John Oliver’s “Terrifying Times” made the point that something about the hair ballad makes any slow-motion sports footage positively heart wrenching. One middle-aged man bowling alone at the alleys may not be that touching of a sight, but slow it down and set it to Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” and it suddenly becomes great drama.

Alternatively, the right music can make any sport seem badass. For instance: I’ve been exposed to a lot of cricket lately. As interesting as it can be (there’s a line you never thought an American would write), it always seems just slightly goofy. Is it the shinguards? Yeah. It’s probably the shinguards.

But throw a little bit of Eminem into the mix, and you get this.

Lord Raglan Cricket Club from Will Peverett on Vimeo.

I’m getting set to shoot a new short film soon, and as I gather things together I keep running into a simple truth.

Film equipment – even entry level film equipment – is expensive. Incredibly expensive.

And a lot of its function can be done by much cheaper objects.

Much cheaper.

Case in point: Indy Mogul tells you how you can make your own cheap boom pole for your microphone.

Amazing. Just… amazing.

I am also disturbed that my recent investment in an el-cheapo $180 camera has now resulted in my being able to shoot better video than with my old equipment.

Finally, one thing to bear in mind is your soundtrack. Obviously, you want to keep it legal. But there’s something to be learned from Quentin Tarantino on this – go for the songs that nobody’s heard in any context for the past decade or more. After all – “Stuck in the Middle With You” might have been a hit for Steeler’s Wheel, but at the time Tarantino synced it to a violent, twisted moment of Reservoir Dogs, it was getting minimal play even on oldies stations. There are plenty of even newer songs just waiting for that treatment.

For example – just imagine this the next time you try to imagine the song that will be playing when your badass gangsters walk away from an exploding car.

First of all, that generic graphic that came with the template is gone.

Second, ArtMachine is now home to the Guide to Glen, which you can use to navigate my way-too-widespread web presence.

Listening to new pop hip-hop tracks after spending an afternoon listening to the fantastic beats and breaks that were plundered to create their musical beds is a singularly unsatisfying experience.