Cinema list A-Z: Fire up your Netflix!

My good pal Gina, posted her version of the favorite films A to Z awhile back. Aging snob loves lists! So here is mine.

A for Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle)

B for Belle De Jour (Luis Buñuel)

C is for Conformist, The (Bernardo Bertolucci)

D is for Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti)

E is for Eraserhead (David Lynch)

F is for Fantastic Planet (René Laloux)

G is for Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)

H is for Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)

I is for In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai)

J is for Jules et Jim (Francois Truaffaut)

K is for Kolya (Jan Sverák)

L is for La Strada (Fellini)

M is for Mysterious Skin (Greg Araki)

N is for Nasty Girl, The (Michael Verhoeven)­

O is for Otesánek (ie Little Otik Jan Svenkmajer)

P is for Player, The (Robert Altman)

Q is for Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam)

R is for Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer­)

S is for Sweet Hereafter, The (Atom Egoyan)

T is for Trust (Hal Hartley)

U is for Under the Sand (Francois Oxon)

V is for Videodrome (Cronenberg)

W is for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodovar)

X is for Xi yan (i.e. The Wedding Banquet, Ang Lee)

Y is for You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)

Z is for Z (Costa Gravas)

WE DON’T PUT OUT! Ladies and Gentleman the Fabulous Stains!

Last night I watched one of my absolute favorite films of all time: LADIES AND GENTLEMAN THE FABULOUS STAINS!

A great movie in terms of cinema history it is not. But in terms of rock history, cult cinema and third wave feminism, is a very important. Made in 1981 by Paramount, directed by Lou Adler, Ladies and Gentleman stars fourteen-year-old Diane Lane as Corinne Burns (“Third Degree Burns”), and pre-Blue Velvet Laura Dern as her cousin. Along with Corinne’s sister, the girls become The Stains, a punk band that sound like really early Slits recordings. Members of the Sex Pistols and Paul Simonon from the Clash (!) are the band they open for (“The Looters”). Oh and there is a headlining band that is clearly supposed to be KISS, junkie “old farts” in makeup and platforms stuck in the glory haze of the 70s. There is an overdose. Women are referred to as “birds.” Lots of angry cigarette smoking takes place. Corinne pouts, prances, and yells to her audience “WE DON’T PUT OUT.”

Only a week into the tour, Corinne skyrockets The Stains to fame with her fashion-sense (a combination of Siouxsie Sioux’s theatrical makeup and The Raincoats’ ratty girly chic), bad ass attitude, and a series of appearances on local news. She steals The Looters’ big song, “Join the Professionals” after she beds the patronizing lead singer. Next thing you know, The Stains are headlining. Little Corinnes flock to the show, girls called “skunks” because of their appropriation of Corinne’s signature black and white spiky hairdo.

Overnight, The Stains become the punk Miley Cyrus of the day thanks to their new sleazy manager hawking merch to capitalize on the “Skunk” craze. There is fallout and the “skunks” realize they have been swindled. Looks like Corinne’s days of glory are over. However, Corinne’s a fighter. She rebuffs Looter dude’s offer to be a groupie for them, gets her money from the slimy manager via knife wielding, and then gives it to the kindly Rastafarian who drives their tour bus (so he can bail out his friend in jail for ganja smoking, of course!). Without any real explanation, suddenly The Stains end up on MTV and basically become the Go Gos with Looter’s “Join the Professionals” remade into a pop ditty.

Ridiculous? Yes. But as a post punk junkie and lover of hokey teen drama and a champion of girls who rock! I gotta say I still find this movie utterly enjoyable and somewhat inspiring. And I’m not alone. It basically wrote riot grrl before riot grrl existed, and it even kind of foresaw tiot grrl’s tragic watered down commercialization (Spice Girls, “Girl Power,” etc.) after its heyday.

While it was never even distributed in theaters, young girls found it thanks to a second life on late night tv (which was where I first saw it as a little girl). It became a favorite of Courtney Love’s, Tobi Vail (of Bikini Kill), filmmaker Sarah Jacobson, and even Jon Bon Jovi. LONG overdue Rhino home video released the DVD in September.

So I encourage everyone into punk, 80’s nostalgia, feminism, riot grrl, or just electro fashion (Corinne’s hair was all the rage in the Burg four years ago) to go out and get it on Netflix.  Also check out the documentary on the making of the film and the struggle to restore the “lost” Paramount picture. It’s equally inspiring. And if anyone can find “I’m a waste of time” (their other song), please let me know!

Deerhunter you make my day (week, month, maybe even year?)

Before 2008 Deerhunter was not known for having very good live shows. Shows were usually sloppily played and dictated by Bradford Cox’s intense, sometimes offensive personality. Sometimes the band was three hours late to go on stage; often Bradford Cox was in a house dress; once a bj was supposedly given during a set. Reports make them sound like the Black Lips’ younger cousins who are really into Bowie and cough syrup. One of the crueler critics of pre-2008 Deerhunter (From LA WEEKLY) wrote: Deerhunter’s live show reminds me of the first scene in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, where Bill and Ted awkwardly flail at their instruments while bitching elliptically about the necessity of making a triumphant video to get Eddie Van Halen to teach them how to play guitar.

Ouch! (Bradford exchanged nasty emails with the writer after this was published, and, of course, posted it on his often incendiary blog).  But I’m harping on the bad; the point is now THEY ARE THE BEST LIVE BAND ON THE PLANET!

Ok, maybe not, but pretty damn close. Bryan, Ian and I left the Music Hall of Williamsburg with our mouths agape. Bradford gave us everything we wanted and more: first the brilliant “new” album (yeah I got it leaked too) Microcastle. Then the fantastic companion album Weird Era, which often channels the Brian Jonestown Massacre–if they weren’t such fuckups–and old Verve. Now a mind blowing, almost 2 hour long live show??? Speechless. Not quite Obama win speechless, but uh, close. This was my Obama win-style indie rock moment of 2008.

There are a billion great recaps of this show on the internet–you can even listen to it on MP3 at NYCtaper. I personally don’t even need to relive it because well, it’s something I want remember exactly as it was Friday, November 7, 2008.  I left thinking of the beauty in illness and alienation, of Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor, and also of confessional poetry and a lot of stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with wearing housedresses or getting high. It’s very moving to watch someone who is so gaunt and ill-looking blow your mind away with a full-of-life performance (with his amazing band, which, it should be noted, contributed to Microcastle in spades). It is also rallying to see these live-show underdogs smash former criticisms.

I guess touring with NIN–the original woe is me/let’s make some great noise band…oh and PITCHFORK agrees with me on this!–really did make the band shape up. Meanwhile I’m listening to “Saved By Old Times” over and over again–just like I did 5 months ago when I first got the album.

Also check out pics of the show and crowd from Prefix Magazine (including one of Bryan and me looking beautifully disinterested).

Election Night Top Ten!

Holy Shit! Did I just have the best night of my entire life? It surpassed that 21st birthday night that’s for certain.

Agingsnob’s Election Night Top Ten

1. Barack Obama, President Elect. Before midnight! Landslide!

2. Bars/homes/stadiums/churches full of people of all colors and ages moved by Obama’s pragmatic, sincere, and tear unleashing speech.

3. The gorgeous, color-coordinated Michelle Obama. And now her portrait is featured in Liz Peyton’s New Museum show.

3. A Blue Ohio! I’m so proud to say that my friend Gina helped make it happen by carpooling to Ohio, canvasing tirelessly and even dressing up in fleece to not scare the natives. She also made election night cookies. YUM.

3. Bucks County for Obama?!? Holy shit–the Pennsylvania county where I grew up, a place where I literally knew three black people in a 30 mile radius, a place where old money, Target superstores, upper-crust style racism, big hair and big bank accounts reign supreme, was one of the counties that sent PA to Obama’s camp. This is a place that Hilary Clinton ignored on her First Lady tour of important places in American history even though George Washington crossed the damn river to start winning the Revolutionary War and what is more historic than that? Yeah, the BC almost always goes to the GOP. Not last night. I like to think my friends who live there (and all voted Obama) helped out but also maybe all those MoveOn.org phone calls to PA actually worked.

4. Massive celebration by the young people (and non young people)–from Seattle’s march downtown to Williamsburg hipsters being non-ironic to Chicago’s jubillation in Grant Park it was a good night to be under thirty and have a very loud voice. It was also the first time in my entire life that this 25-year-old felt her opinion/vote made a difference.

5. The awesome old Chicago African Americans on today’s All Things Considered

6. Hello Al Franken? Maybe/hopefully/pretty please? Goodbye Liddy Dole and a bunch of other Republican creeps in the Senate for sure. Ciao ciao!

7. The droves of people that went out to vote. 2 hours to wait in Crown Heights!

*photo courtesy of runswithscissors

8. Something tells me from all the smooching I spotted in Park Slope (baby mecca) that a bunch of babies are going to be born in exactly nine months. Democrat lust!

9. Medical Marijauna in Michigan???!!! Wow. The hand-shaped state does love the ghanja. Detroit Rock City fans celebrate everywhere.

10. Martha Stewart and Rachel Maddow making election day cocktails– plus scrapbooking!

Top 5 Election Bummers

1. Prop 8. I love California but COME ON HOW DID YOU LET THIS PASS?

2. Creaky old school mechanical voting machines through out Brooklyn. Come on? We’re the one of the biggest and most advanced cities in the world. Can’t we get a fancy touch screen????

3.Tim Robbins‘ voting woes.

Reports The New York Times:

At one point, a poll worker who tried to get the insistent Mr. Robbins to move mentioned calling over a police officer, and the actor responded, “Is this some kind of intimidation? I’m taking this as intimidation.” He added that he was prepared to be arrested, if necessary

It’s Tim Robbins people! Let the Tall Lefty Movie Star of Quirky Humor vote! This is New York not Kansas!!! And I agree with him–those affidavit ballots are bullshit. Did you not see Thelma and Louise? Don’t fuck with Susan Sarandon–and that includes denying her man his voting rights. And speaking of you New York Times, why is it so fucking hard to find a newspaper today?

4. November 5, 2008: Hangover, lack of hearing, exhaustion, laryngitis. Also the feeling that your head might explode.

5. The will.i.am hologram talking to Anderson Cooper: Jem fans delighted; rest of world not amused.

Sadlibs and Devo! Happy Election Day!

Sometimes I think to myself and ask WWDD? (What would Devo do?). This is very pertinent today as Devo would VOTE FOR OBAMA!

And after you vote how about printing out some games to occupy your nerve-wracked hands while you watch the nation’s results come in? Go to sweeeeeet zine from my buddy Angela (I interviewed her a few months ago for my other project Iheartbrooklyn.tv) for a sadlibs ex-president cover letter and an electoral cover sheet that you can print out while you drink to our new President Barack Obama.