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Eighteen movies inspired by (or stolen from) Shakespeare. →
I’ve been reading a lot of Shakespeare lately — really! — and I have to cop to a newfound fondness of the man. Clearly he doesn’t exactly need my endorsement, nor does he need the funked-up Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo + Juliet. But upon finising Henry IV, Part 1 last week, it never occurred to me that Gus Van Sant used the story as a springboard for My Own Private Idaho. Honest Will Shakespeare might have appreciated that. I should probably see it again though.Photo reblogged from Sneak
The Art of Serial Killing.
I stopped watching Dexter when my free subscription to Showtime ran out, but if I weren’t pinching my pennies right now I’d go so far as to say it’s worth the monthly fee. Shepard Fairey apparently agrees. Or they just paid him a boatload of money. But probably the former because there’s love in this tagline.
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To Speak Ill of the Dead. →
Let this be a lesson to you: If you treat your family like garbage, they will take it out on your obituary and expose your sad life. Says the Aguilar family of their mother:
“Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.”
That’s gotta hurt.
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Sunny Day Real Estate “In Circles” (Live on 120 Minutes)
It’s been so long since the first time I saw Sunny Day Real Estate, back in 1994, that I almost forgot just how perfectly imperfect they were before anyone actually cared about them. This clip depicts four kind of dorky kids before they realized they were any good. As soon as they figured out what everyone else already had, they broke up.
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The Real Reason McCain’s Age Might Matter. →
All joking aside — and I know how hard it is to resist — the fact is, John McCain is old. Seventy-one years old. The Daily Intel has the most sober assessment of that fact that I’ve yet to read. A few talking points:
• Twenty-two percent of Americans 71 and older are affected by mild cognitive impairment, a decline in brain function that causes memory loss and can lead to dementia.
• 35 to 40 percent of older adults have neural deficits that lead to poor decision making.
• Gerontologists and retirement planners have learned that aging brains compensate for cognitive decline by relying on templates of familiar knowledge more than problem solving. This phenomenon, called confabulation, rather than being random, often takes the form of untrue “facts” that make them feel better — giving them what scientists have called “the pleasantness of false beliefs.”
What worries me is not that John McCain is 71. It’s that John McCain will be 72 if he is elected, 76 if he wins a second term, and 80 if he runs through eight years in the White House. Now I love octogenarians — especially cool ones that sing Coldplay songs — but this concerns me on, like, so many levels.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Basement Jaxx feat. Roxanne Shanté “Make Me Sweat”
If you had asked in 1984, I would have told you that Roxanne Shanté was a superstar — and on my block, she was. Back then we were grade school kids from Queens, and Shanté, a 14-year-old girl who grew up blocks from our school in the Queensbridge Projects, was on the radio with “Roxanne’s Revenge” — which might still be the greatest response record ever. You can’t get much fiercer than Shanté in 2008: She’s currently a practicing psychologist, a vegan, and a legendary rapper with a guest turn on this Basement Jaxx twelve-inch from last year. It’s like I’m gonna be sweating this girl forever.
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How to live for free in San Francisco. →
Serial evictees are finding new ways of cheating the Bay Area rental market using laws, loopholes, and litigation:
The number of serial evictees operating in San Francisco is hard to add up because they are good at covering their tracks. They have a number of tricks, such as changing their names to dodge background checks, or using phony landlord and work references. Also benefiting them is a state law that requires eviction actions to be masked from the public for 60 days after their initial filing.
One evictee is so litigious that two seasoned attorneys refused to utter his name, though legend has it that he occupied an upscale home in Presidio Heights for years without ever paying the $5,000 monthly rent.
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What if Hitler had a Twitter account?
This clip explores what might have happened if there were a Twitter-server overload during World War II. Because nothing gets in the way of the Führer and his tweets. (via)
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The best play I've never seen. →
You don’t have to be a genius to do this math: Last week in Los Angeles, P.T. Anderson directed a “top-secret” performance of vignettes starring Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph — with Jon Brion performing a live musical score. If there were a Tony Award for Best Nonsequitur Line in a Screenplay, he’d have a winner: “When I was little, I used to put Snoopy between my legs and just hump him so hard. I humped him and humped him until his nose broke off.”Photo
The Tompkins Square Park Riots.
It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty years since the police — and the city that employs them — began their methodical takedown of the Lower East Side. (In spite of what your real estate agent told you, no one called it the “East Village” back in 1988.) Photographer Q. Sakamaki has published a commemorative book on the riots and their aftermath, but if you can’t wait, Gothamist has a preview.
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