American Teen = Reality TV + The Breakfast Club
American Teen is a documentary that follows five teenagers through their senior year of high school in Warsaw, Indiana. As I was watching it, completely absorbed in their stories, I knew that the editing and the constant camera presence were driving much of the plot. That's just inevitable. It wasn't until I watched some of the deleted scenes though that I realized just how contrived it really is.
Hannah was presented in the film as the passionate rebel, the super cool girl who no one realizes is cool. She's the heart of the story and the one you're supposed to relate to. But the extra footage included on the DVD is very revealing. In particular, there's a scene where the recently-dumped (via text message) Hannah and her best friend Clark decide to go to the prom together if neither of them gets a date. Clark ends up getting asked and when he tells Hannah, she throws a fit. The edited version just shows Clark and Hannah going to the prom together. You'd never know that he dumped his date to go with her, as friends. The scene showed Hannah acting like the princess which was cut from the final version because it didn't fit with her prescribed archetype. Megan played the role of the spoiled, self-important princess. It made me wonder what else was left out. Like, who else strayed from their roles? You never see any footage of Megan aside from her "mean girl" moments and her breakdown over family issues. If I were Megan, I'd be pissed.
So where did these archetypes come from?
The filmmakers crammed the "reality" of these kids' stories into The Breakfast Club, a fact which they advertised in the film's poster. Just like The Breakfast Club, it claims to be getting beyond the stereotypes but is actually inventing them and defining them, with the help of its complicit, camera-loving stars. American Teen is the high school story we've all come to expect and it plays out just like a narrative film. But even though it's only about as real as reality TV, it's absolutely riveting.
2009-02-24 14:31:25 UTC
I Love China Miéville To Death, But...
I just read both Perdido Street Station and The Scar and can't wait to read Iron Council. Bas-Lag has to be one of the richest, most fascinating worlds ever imagined. It's a sci-fi steampunk wonderland filled with mad scientists, magic, violence, demons, robots, crazy drugs, several sentient species, inter-species sex, art, subversive publishing, artificial intelligence, and more. These are the kind of books you read till your eyes bleed.
But jesus h christ, he's gotta stop with the 10¢ word abuse!
He picks his favorite vocabulary words and then uses them over and over again, ad frickin' nauseum. In Perdido Street Station those words are vertiginous and desultory. They appear at least ten times each. I have nothing against those words, but they're not the kind of words you can use all the time. Desultory means random or disconnected. What the hell is wrong with using the word random once in a while? His crutch word in The Scar is puissant. It means powerful, which is a perfectly cromulent word, right? The word puissant appears at least 15 times. By the end of the book, I was threatening to kill myself if I saw it again. I should be dead many times over.
I'm all for increasing one's vocabulary, but the thing about words is that you can use the more common ones more often and get away with it because they don't stand out. Not so with 10¢ words. You end up sounding pretentious. Or maybe it's just me. I also remember being incredibly irritated with Margaret Atwood's overuse of the word furtive.
2009-02-23 00:15:37 UTC
London Fashion Week Presents: Disturbing Stains
From the Central Saint Martins Fall 2009 collection:
Uh, you've got a little something leaking from your, um, er... AAANYway, that's a lovely sheet you're wearing.
BTW, wouldn't "The Disturbing Stains" be a great band name?
2009-02-22 23:33:50 UTC
Bonde Do Rolê
The Brazilian band Bonde Do Rolê makes some very cheery music. In fact, their album Bonde Do Rolê With Lasers is so cheery, it sounds like the kind of music that cheerleaders do routines to. It makes me wanna find some people to make a pyramid with. Also, the lead singer sounds like a hyper little boy. She shouts and chants dirty Portuguese lyrics over intentionally cheesy and ridiculously infectious, sample-laden funk carioca. There are lots of whistles, kazoo solos, and marching band beats. It's great stuff.
Bonde Do Rolê With Lasers was released in 2007, but the band has since lost their fantastic lead singer, MC Marina Vello. According to Wikipedia, in February of 2008 the two remaining members of the band hosted a competition to replace her on an MTV reality show styled after American Idol and Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll. Two winners were selected. The audience voted for one and the other was chosen by the band "after taking a piece of meat from her genitals in the final show." Band member Pedro D'Eyrot explained, "It's the spirit of the band." That should tell you everything you need to know about Bonde Do Rolê. On to the videos!
- Office Boy
- Solta o Frango
- Marina Gasolina
This video is hilarious and Marina is awesome.
Best cockfight ever.
Favorite lyric? "Meet me after school and I beat you like gorilla." I love to yell this out.
Now who wants to make a pyramid?
2009-02-22 13:32:56 UTC
Neon Fur Hats from Michael Kors
Introducing the greatest hat in the world:
You can see the whole collection here, but it's mostly basic black with the occasional perfect burst of neon.
I want them in every color. And no, I don't care how many muppets have to die.
2009-02-19 17:27:40 UTC