I love those days when you come across a blog that opens you up to a whole new world. Even better if that blog has a link to an amazing flickr stream of polaroids of all the bands I'd love to see, but just haven't been able to yet...

Well, for those in the know (and probably most of you are) I'm talking about the gorilla vs. bear polaroids from the legendary music blog. I actually got to the site through the 8hands blogroll (!!!) - and I have to admit that this blog has opened me up to a whole other world of sites that I've been enjoying all morning.

I feel especially honored to feature these amazing polaroids, in memory of a film that has no business being discontinued. Are all the amazing polaroid flickr streams really that much of an anomaly to the powers that be? I guess we really are a minority. But, I digress. Check out the gorilla vs. bear polaroids for an intimate look at your favorite artists of the now. Really great work. I'm officially jealous. Enjoy...

 

Angus Andrew of the remarkable foursome, Liars, had just finished soundchecking on the eve of Sunday the 17th of February.

 

 

St. Vincent outside the Mohawk after an unbelievable Hot Freaks! set

 

 

Jens Lekman, a sharp dresser, looks to his right after a winsome set at Dallas' own Granada Theater, 11/13/07.

 

 

jared swilley

 

 

Bill Baird of {{{Sunset}}} with Murphy's glasses, which he received received after a gentleman's exchange, a sunglass swap, and a fee to the tune of $50.

 

 

thefield_1.jpg

 

 

M.I.A. five seconds before her bumpin' set.

 

 

Kyp of TV on the Radio: Dallas

 

 

Panda Bear: Dallas, TX

 

 

Grizzly Bear's Dan Rossen tustles with brother Ed

 

 

To check out more from gorilla vs. bear polaroids' stream, click here.

I guess it's not news anymore. Heath is dead. The magazine covers are out, the obituaries written, the autopsy report is on its way, and the YouTube tributes are a flowin'. Even Daniel Day Lewis already dedicated his SAG award to the man. I meant to write this post earlier. But I kept giving myself excuses: "It's my birthday," "First, I need to watch I'm Not There. Then I need to rent Candy…"

 

And the more I put it off, the more I knew that there's nothing that I can really say that you don't already know or feel. What's gotten to me most, though, is how much his death has struck a cord online. I don't remember ever seeing a collective grief ever expressed quite so - with the gossip rags and elite newspapers weighing in, video memorials, Facebook fansite pages, and comments (oh, how many comments!) on anything that is even remotely related to Heath Ledger. I guess online we're allowed to wallow, get sappy, and lament in the privacy of our very public lives online.

 

So, a second before Heath officially becomes an icon and we lose all sense of proportion, I'll put forth my little tribute, and share a few of my faves from his past, present, and not too distant future.

 

The Past: Lords of Dogtown. A truly underappreciated classic. This film (along with Monster's Ball) is one of the first movies that I really started to notice Heath; his rooftap party scene rant is an all time fave. An early Emile Hirsch is amazing here as well.

 

 

The Present: I'm Not There. An amazing and eerily prescient performance. Alon hated this movie, but admitted that the only Bob Dylan could relate to was Heath's. I can't wait to see it again.

 

 

The Future: Batman – The Dark Knight. Let's hope this isn't the movie that killed him. It already looks like a legendary performance.

 

I'm in such a hazed out not quite here mood today. Something to do with Mondays after a rainy weekend, parties not quite as exciting as they were a month ago, and a bit too much of Burial's Untrue album on repeat...

 

Looking for someone to feature today, I randomly checked a link I'd saved from Harley VW's flickr stream. When I saw her photos again, I understood just why, on this particular day, I revisited Harley VW's work. Dreamy and melancholy, her work leaves you with a feeling of eavesdropping in on people who don't quite see you, or maybe it's just that they don't care that you're there. All I can do is look and think "I'm not there."

 

Cold beauties for a coming winter - these are photos that perfectly capture this kind of day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see more of Harley VW's flickr stream, click here.

 

I got this rather intimidating email a couple of days ago: A friend told me to take 70 minutes of my time and watch a YouTube movie named "Four Eyed Monsters". 70 minutes. Scary. I considered my possibilities:

 

1. Ignore him.
2. Reply, starting with "Who the hell has 70 minutes for anything these days?!"
3. Watch the first 5 minutes, pretend I saw the whole thing and hope he'll never ask me about it.

 

Being the lazy ass that I am, I ended up ignoring the email, but leaving it "unread" in my inbox - which would have been great if I didn't have my minor case of OCD. I, personally, just can't stand that "you've got 1 unread email" notification. I need things to be nice and orderly.

 

 

And so, after finally giving the local pub a chance the other day, I got back home and decided that even though it's late, there's just no choice but watching those first 5 minutes...

 

I get easily influenced by the way things are designed, so I was hooked before the movie even started - the movie's logo looks like something out of a sketchbook. In fact, the whole movie sort of feels like it was taken out of someone's sketchbook, and so I watched the whole thing, and didn't even take any snack breaks.

 

I'm not very sure how much of an autobiography this movie is, but it generally is the story of this guy who meets this girl online, who are both that-good-kind-of-artistic geeks. I'm not really into spoilers, so I'll just tell you they have a very interesting, different beginning of a relationship, and they end up turning their whole story into this movie.

 

Sorry for sounding like a 12 year old girl, but the story's Beautiful. I'm actually sort of sorry I watched their relationship in a movie - now I can't try anything like it in real life without feeling like I'm copying someone else's... erm, ideas.

 

The Happy Couple

 

As for the movie's design, acting, and all that - well - I could tell this didn't cost the millions it took to make Titanic, But I really preferred it this way. The movie sometimes feels a little more like an art project than a feature, but that really just made it feel more real. The sets, the compositions, the writing, animation, music - they all feel like these guys dove deep into their minds (or guts) to show us exactly how it was for them.

 

So, why not take 70 minutes of your time and watch a good movie? It's definitely 70 minutes you'll enjoy more than, well, wasting time in front of cable TV - and you all know you do it.

 

One more note, while I'm here: Four Eyed Monsters actually participated in festivals and all that, but the creators spent so much money on making it, that they've sort of turned to the internet for help. They've added the movie to YouTube so that more people could watch it, and have somehow gotten a cool deal from this new movie-related social network site called Spout - Spout agreed to pay them a shiny dollar for every Four Eyed Monsters viewer that follows a link to join the network. Personally, I think they really deserve this money, so follow the instructions at the beginning of their movie, and help them out.