There’s more where this came from, though this is by far my favorite.
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The Name Of This Album Is El Camino
Be still my beating heart: The Black Keys have a new album coming out on December 6th.
Inexplicably, I was lukewarm on last year’s Brothers when it came out.1 It took me a few months to realize just how wrong I had been, by which point everyone I pestered about the album had just kind of moved on to something else, robbing me of my chance to engage other music lovers in the right-on-brother-ain’t-THAT-the-truth of “Next Girl“2 or the sleazy stripper shuffle of “Howlin’ For You.”3
So how did Las Teclas de Negro 4 announce their new album? With that ridiculous video up there of Bob Odenkirk selling a used van.
Which leads us nicely to the actual cover art.
Clearly, the Keys are way funnier than their music indicates. That said, I thought Brothers had a pretty funny cover, too, which is why I think they probably should have gone with something like this:
On second thought, their idea is way better.
- In my defense, I still think 2008′s Attack & Release is a better album. [↩]
- There is nothing inherently funny about The Black Keys. They write bluesy rock and they cover a lot of familiar territory within the genre, lyrically speaking; heartbreak, lying, cheating, desire and repentance. That said, the video for “Next Girl” is possibly one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year. It features a Tyrannosaurus puppet as a lip syncing Casanova, wandering around a hipstamatastic poolside setting, cast full of bikini clad babes vying for the adorable dinosaur’s attention. When a tattooed beauty licks the lascivious lizard’s long snout, it sets off a cat fight that would normally mark the inevitably awkward moment in a story driven porn when the acting bits transition into the sex bits. While this Southern California homage to Caligula takes place, a crawl at the bottom of the screen details the battle between the band and the label over creative control of the video, admitting that “The Black Keys hate this video and don’t find it funny at all” and “they disavow any responsibility for it and with you would stop watching.” [↩]
- Another transcendently great video, this time using the tune as the trailer music for a grindhouse flick about a sexy assassin named Alexa Wolff hell bent on exacting revenge on the man who killed her father. There’s too much awesome here to speak of, but a couple of favoritelines include “bad guys beware: she’ll bang ya, but then… she’ll hang ya” and “I once choked a chupacabra to death for not saying grace.” Honestly, it’s a minor tragedy that this isn’t actually being made into a film. Can we get a Kickstarter project going to raise the funds for this or something? [↩]
- You didn’t watch the “Howlin’ For You” video, did you? [↩]
The Story Changes
Charlie Kaufman is undisputedly awesome.1 He never writes a boring movie and even when the movie itself is a little underwhelming, it always feels more like it’s my fault for not “getting it” than it is Kaufman’s for being inscrutable. Either way, he’s the rare screenwriter and filmmaker who bothers to challenge and intrigue. You don’t necessarily have to love him, but you’d be crazy not to admire him.
The Guardian UK has an article up from the man called “Charlie Kaufman: Why I Wrote Being John Malkovich.” It’s extracted from a BAFTA lecture of screenwriting and in lieu of being able to see that lecture, we can at least enjoy the wisdom imparted in this reprint of Kaufman’s words.
On the subject of writing in someone else’s voice instead of your own:
The major obstacle to this is your deeply seated belief that “you” is not interesting.
On not communicating at work:
I thought I was going to get fired, and probably should have been.
On turning two halves into a whole:
I had this idea that someone finds a portal into someone’s head, and I had another idea that somebody has a story about someone having an affair with a co-worker. And neither one was going anywhere, so I just decided to combine them.
On the dangers of storytelling:
Consider a traumatic event in your life. Think about how you experienced it. Now think about how you told it to someone a year later. Now think about how you told it for the hundredth time. It’s not the same thing.
On how time changes a story:
I like the idea that the story changes over time even though nothing has changed on the outside. What’s changed is all in my head and has to do with a realisation on my character’s part. And the story can only be told in a particular form.
Be sure to click over and read the full article. The story of the downhill runner is great.
- There’s a million scenes to choose from to illustrate just how true this is, but here’s one from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that’s funny, awkward and sweet. Joel is simultaneously remembering Clementine and interacting with her in the present. It’s a tough scene, but it’s perfectly written and feels natural, an almost impossible task with voice over narration. [↩]
Always Remember
If it’s it’s it is. If it’s its it’s mine.
Vladimir Is Putin On The… Oh Forget It
Action man! Those might not be the first words that come to mind when you think of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, but that’s only because you haven’t check this gem for flaws.
That’s right. Flawless. Eyewitness reports1 say that moments after this photo was taken, that frying pan had been crushed into a singularity that Putin immediately ingested. A microscopic big bang took place inside his belly and there are already sentient lifeforms growing there, colonizing the length of his large intestine.
See the full gallery of action shots at The Atlantic.
- This is an absolute lie. No such reports exist. [↩]