Higher Education

(Image courtesy Macdirectory.com)

For the past few years, David Lynch has been running a foundation for Consciousness-Based education and world peace. The organization, which is backed by several medical doctors and professional psychologists and psychiatrists, challenges typically over-diagnosed and overly-medicated learning disorders in children, such as ADHD and depression, through the use of transcendental meditation. Grants and scholarships are available through the foundation's Web site.

Among other things, the foundation is also working to establish a University of World Peace.

And the winner is...

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, I thought I'd have a little fun and post my own personal award winners out of the embarrassingly large number of movies I've seen over the past year or so. This listing has nothing to do with release dates, academy nominations, etc. and everything to do with a long winter and a relatively new Netflix subscription, which I highly recommend (if you have a lot of time on your hands)! Can anyone say k hole?

BEST PUNK DRAMA
This Is England

This coming of age punk rock tale set in early '80s England (always a recipe for an amazing soundtrack) is a heartbreaking story rife with social commentary and a great peek into the birth of the rude boy in the wake the Skinhead movement. Imagine being an impressionable, fatherless kid who gets picked on a lot and having to choose between the two rivaling brotherhoods that saved your ass. What follows is an awakening loss of innocence and an ending that will leave you with the good kind of tears.

BEST COMEDY/TEAR JERKER
Son of Rambow

As corny as it sounds, there's nothing better than revisiting a time when your imagination could take you anywhere. In this film, two unlikely friends, who have serendipitously come together to make a sequel to Rambo (Son of Rambow), find there are real life forces threatening to dispel their fantasy world. If you don't laugh through your tears at least a few times while watching this amazing movie, I don't think I could ever be friends with you.

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
The Devil and Daniel Johnston

I could watch a documentary about the accounting department at an insurance firm and be riveted but let me tell you, this excavation into the somewhat secret life of prolific songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston is certifiably intriguing. Building his musical empire just under the radar for the past 30 or so years, Johnston has consistently held a quiet following of people who both love and hate him. This movie clearly reveals the fine line that lays between insanity and genius as it follows Johnston through mental institutions and his strange but deserved fame.

You're Gonna Miss Me

In that same vein, Roky Erickson's amazing journey from fame to obscurity and back to fame again is proof positive that yes, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. In an amazing twist of second chances, this inspirational documentary follows the long process of the schizophrenic musician's recovery and rebirth into the music scene he helped create, after being holed up in his mother's house in a mentally deranged state for nearly 20 years.

MOVIE WITH THE MOST HEART
Billy the Kid

Supremely intelligent kids that recite Robert Frost poetry, show you their karate moves and say, "Take me to your leader," a lot may freak some people out but Billy Price, a teenager with Asberger's Syndrome and the subject of this poignant documentary, is more sincere than many people I've encountered in this world. Billy Price is my hero. After you see this movie, he may be yours as well.

MOST UNCOMFORTABLE MOMENTS
Mysterious Skin

Sex, drugs, aliens and social awkwardness all make for a cringe-worthy coming of age film (Read: Do not see this movie with your parents) but the real weight of this story lays in the motivations of the two main characters, both sexually abused by the same baseball coach, and the drastically polarized effect it has on their lives -- One becomes a worldly, gay prostitute and the other believes he was abducted by aliens. If this unlikely pairing peaks your interest, I would suggest you rent this movie or read the novel it was based on by Scott Heim.

BEST ACTION FILM
Pierrot Le Fou

Jean Luc Goddard's eye-bleeding cinematography is the star in this '60s French film about love, murder and betrayal. I know plenty of cinefile/hipsters who name-drop this dude on a regular basis but I am not afraid to reveal this was my first experience with one of his movies. I now understand the reverence.

That's all I got. Send me your lists now!!

Blip

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been sick for the past four days or so. I have many interesting blog topics on the horizon, so stay tuned! xo

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart

If you're somewhere in the downtown Minneapolis area tomorrow night, please come by and say hello. Katie and I have been hustling to polish our chops in time for our big Valentine DJ shindig. So come dance your heart out to some amazing vinyl collections and have a good time in the name of love. If you can't make it, have a happy Valentine's Day and don't get all weird and pressured about it. Just have a good time and spread your love around. xoxoxoxoxo

It's a cruel, cruel world

Come with me on a long and boring journey through the treacherous annals of the intellectual property debate.

Now that President Obama has clocked in a few weeks at the White House, the warm, fuzzy, let's all hold hands, Kumbaya period has come to an abrupt end. Here is proof that some things we're taught growing up -- for instance, saying "thank you" and "excuse me," common decency, respect for elders and sharing toys -- sometimes don't apply to life in the real world.

Shepard Fairey, in the midst of a settlement negotiation with the AP (who filed a lawsuit against him last week over his use of the image above), decided to slap the news empire with his own counter-suit.

The AP, in a glorious game of, "Mine!" is obviously unhappy with Fairey's latest move, as the settlement they sought to receive from him was to go to AP journalists around the world who have become victims of disaster. (I thought that was cute.)

Adding another layer of complete ridiculousness on the AP's behalf, the freelance photographer who actually took the image, (which he apparently no longer "owns." Zzzzzz) appears to be siding (?) with Fairey on all of this.

“If you put all the legal stuff away, I’m so proud of the photograph and that Fairey did what he did artistically with it, and the effect it’s had." (New York Times)

My advice to the AP: Let's do like the R.I.A. and just give up on this stuff already. Why don't they just send the money they're spending on the lawsuit to their hungry journalists around the globe and everything would be fine?

"You're an alien!"

Wow. I'm having one of those days where everything and nothing is happening all at once. (Please refer to above movie still.) Heroes are being given the keys to New York, stimulus packages and Grammy outfits are being hotly debated (snooze)... and I just realized I'm missing the FIRST prime time press conference with Barack Obama on CNN. (What's the difference between a prime time press conference and a regular old one, anyway?)

Background on my laziness: I spent a long weekend in NYC, so needless to say, I am pretty wilted and out of it this Monday. I also recently joined facebook and have wasted many hours of my life constructing the new and improved version of me. Watch out! Sidebar: Why is everyone doing this all of a sudden, including me?

The only appropriate thing I can do is leave you with the best tale of metamorphosis I can conjure-- the trailer for The Man Who Fell to Earth starring David Bowie, circa 1976. This is an amazing film that oozes with high-calorie eye candy and new and improved meaning every time I watch it. Check it out...

R.I.P.

2009 is shaping up to be a mournful year for the weirdo rock world. Lux Interior (top), crypt keeper of rockabilly cool and lead singer of the Cramps died from a pre-existing heart condition this morning in Glendale. It's sad to see such an influential living pool of music history dry up right before your eyes. I'm sure he will be deeply missed.

Dear Roto Rooter, My brain is clogged.

Are we still talking about this, really?

Today's Old News

Feb. 4, 1974: Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped from her home in Berkeley by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Although it was rumored she was beaten and raped by members of the SLA, Patricia sympathized with her captors (a phenomenon known as Stockholm Syndrome) and ended up knocking off some banks, brandishing automatic weapons, raising hell, etc. Hence, the flattering mugshot photo above. Hey, we all did some crazy things in our teens, right?

A Voice For the Voiceless

I first became aware of autistic animal advocate, Dr. Temple Grandin from a recent newspaper article about her latest book, The Way I See It. Although I am still sticking close to my vegetarian eating habits, Dr. Grandin is the first person in eight years to actually make me reconsider my policies on eating meat. She claims that due to her autism, she has the ability to sense emotions in animals and has committed her life to the redevelopment of slaughterhouses and other meat processing facilities that have made so many of us vegetarians opt out of the "circle of life."

Since the late '80s, she has helped design humane livestock handling facilities in the US, Mexico, New Zealand, Europe and Canada, just to name a few. Currently, Grandin is working with a number of slaughterhouses that distribute meat to many popular fast food chains to help find a more humane solution to the treatment of animals and employees in these facilities.


She has penned more than a few books on animal behavior using her keen ability to detect those emotional nuances, as well as a handful of titles on dealing with Asberger's Syndrome.

Dr. Grandin speaks all over the world about autism and animal handling and was even randomly referred to in an early '90s novel (Godlike, by Richard Hell) I was reading on a plane last week... There is also talk of an HBO movie about her life, where she is played by Claire Danes (even more random.)

It goes without saying that her story is a fascinating inspiration to anyone. You can order books and find out more about Temple Grandin HERE.

Das Ah Riot

Here are some moments captured from the recent one-night-only reunion of the enigmatic Bush Tetras. These damsels of New York post-punk weren't too pretentious to kick out the jams for a packed house at Nick and Eddie in Minneapolis. Original bassist Laura Kennedy, in lieu of a liver transplant, was there in recovery mode, wearing a hospital mask and shaking a leg with the aid of a cane. (The bassist filling in for Kennedy was on point!)

This was indeed a magical experience. Hopefully the benefit, which was held in Laura's honor, raised enough loot to help with her medical bills. Let's pray that it won't take another medical calamity for these ladies to hit the stage together again.

Tracklist:
Boom
Punch Drunk
Tropics
Rituals
Stare
Das Ah Riot
Funky
Motorhead
Page 18
Nails
Cowboys in Africa
Creeps

Not Your Grandma's Lladro

You can further drool over more of these gorgeous Lladro collaborations at The Future Perfect. I can't stand how much I adore these. My grandma had a ("Don't touch!") Lladro ballerina when I was a little girl. Though I love my granny's, I'd rather have my paws all over these future-forward upgrades any day.