Two videos for you.

I know I haven't posted for a really long time, but I'm still out here. I've since moved to Cleveland to start a Masters program in Art History and Museum studies, but I should write about that another time. For now, I'd like to post two videos.



I think this is great because it takes true Bowie fans to really parody Bowie successfully. And I think this is more of a cross between parody and homage. They somehow get their voices to sound just like Bowie's during certain times in his career. But in general I think it's hilarious.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlpvXOuIJT4

The second (which I can't embed, sorry) is a song that I have not been able to get out of my head since I heard it. I'm not typically a rap/R&B fan, but I think this song is exceptionally catchy, thanks in part to Lady Gaga's vocal sampling. And the video is pretty good too. Listen to it a few times, and I dare you to not to hum it later on.

Basquiat

One of my favorite movies of all time is Julian Schnabel's "Basquiat" from 1996. I realize that movie critics, art critics, and pretty much anybody who has a bone to pick with Julian Schnabel may not think this movie is as great as I do, but that's their problem. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about the life and work to Jean Michel Basquiat, nor can I say much about the art scene in New York in the 1980s, so I don't know how accurate it is. One thing I can say is that it is a great story of the rise and fall of a young artist who made it for just doing his thing. I will also say that I particularly appreciate movies about artists, even if they aren't the best, because they might introduce the viewer to an artist or an art movement they previously didn't know anything about.

The soundtrack is amazing- from the Pogues to Public Image Ltd., to Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel to Tom Waits. The music is haunting when it's not exciting, and shows that the 1980s wasn't the musical wasteland that it's often dismissed as.

For the most part the acting is really great, too. I'm not too picky when it comes to acting, I can only tell when it's really bad and when it's really good. Jeffrey Wright as the title character is wonderful and captures the creative, yet still really innocent and not at all put together character of an artist who is only 19 years old when he makes it in the New York art world. Benicio Del Toro plays the best friend and I think he rocks it- we all know someone with priorities and ideas like Benny's. I think Claire Forlani is annoying in just about anything, so I'm not crazy about her in the girlfriend role, but I can overlook it with the rest of the cast that includes: Denis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Parker Posey, Willem Dafoe, and Courtney Love.

And, oh yeah, possibly my favorite casting decision in the history of cinema: David Bowie as Andy Warhol. For as much as I love David Bowie, which is a whole lot, I'll admit that he may not be the best actor out there. But I don't know if Andy Warhol himself could have played a more hilarious and lovable Andy Warhol.

If I haven't yet convinced you to go out and rent this movie (or watch it again), I'll leave you with this clip to either get you hooked or, at the very least, make you smile.