The 8.5-minute short (the last 2-plus minutes of which are the credits) centers around a Midnight Ridazz-esque group night ride featuring Jared Leto and his band pedaling along with a purported group of actual Ridazz — I say “purported” because individual close-ups reveal them all to be far too sullenly sans FUN as they journey glumly in the dark across and under the requisite downtown locations such as the 6th Street Bridge, the Second Street tunnel, and Grand Street. Seriously: Why so serious?
But everything’s great eye candy and otherwise going mostly awesome and only threatening to be hugely overwrought and ultra-serious like the song until the video’s director, Bartholomew Cubbins, decides to have a paid-actor/stuntperson get fatally creamed on his bike by a motorist near Pershing Square. Then, while everyone stands dumbly around by the body like powered-down replicants, poor Cubbins couldn’t help but trot out a hornless unicorn galloping in slo-mo up a dark street. Of course, with a visual like that the dead ridah can’t help but awaken refreshed from his unplanned road nap, and just get up on his undamaged bike to ride away.
After that there’s more of Leto singing, then a critical mass-style “circle of death” at an ironically traffic-less intersection. Then all the still way-too-bummed cyclists start wailing like a giant gruff chorus along with Leto until they magically arrive at the Santa Monica Pier where they disappear. Fade to black.
Your mileage may vary from my curmudgeonly take.
PS. If the embed’s dead up there, here’s the video’s URL:
If you’ve been reading here at LA MetBlogs for any length of time, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I am a man who is connected, and that I like to share those connections with you, dear reader.
Early in 2008 I discovered a great talent with the help of the good people at Boing Boing’s BBtv. Klaus Pierre, a German/French actor had come to Hollywood to train to be the next big action hero. If you’re not already familiar with Klaus Pierre, here is a BBtv episode you need to see:
I have recently become acquainted with the director who brought those episodes featuring Klaus Pierre to the world. He tells me that Klaus has recently completed post-production on his movie, and that it will be available for your enjoyment soon. In the meantime, Klaus will be shooting an interview later this week to let his adoring fans know what he’s been up to over the last year.
Here is where I share my connections. I know that you all must have many questions for Klaus, so leave them in the comment section below. I’ll pass them along, and perhaps Klaus will answer in his interview video. If you could ask Klaus Pierre anything, what would you want to know?
More BBtv episodes featuring Klaus Pierre after the jump… (more…)
No idea when this was taken, or if there was any followup, but the video at Shabooty.com is insane nonetheless. A few kids on what appears to be an LA subway train are teasing a large woman (referred to in the video title as a crackhead hooker) for about five minutes, who seems to be egging them on. A little over halfway through this clip, she pulls what is assumed to be pepperspray from her purse and sprays it at one of the kid’s eyes.
That’s comedian Rich Fulcher in the center with L.A. Metblogs own Ruth666 on the left (and an unidentified flipper at right) in a still from Fulcher’s new video in which he gives the finger to flowers, trees, bikes, babies, Cadillacs, Smokey Bear, Capitol Records, water, the Hollywood Sign, Harleys, payphones, the planet earth, Albert Einstein, and more. Even a lowly blade of grass is not spared one of the hundreds of middle fingers from him, Ruth and his brigade of bird flyers that all together make up what Fulcher calls “the love poem Los Angeles deserves,” and serves as a warm-up to what he’s announced as his next metropological middle finger target: London.
Film repertory fans in Los Angeles rallied after LACMA announced it was pulling the plug on its four-decade-old weekend film series. And they were apparently heard. This week, Time Warner Cable and The Hollywood Foreign Press (presenter of the Golden Globes) stepped up and donated $150K to fund the series continuously through next June. After that who knows?
For now, film buffs have scored a victory for the art of cinema and brought new life and resolve to their legions. And as summer’s final weekends dwindle down, there seems to be a cache of diverse films playing at art galleries, cemeteries, museums and, of course, movie theaters. If you’ve got blockbuster fatigue or spend the summer like I do, avoiding them, consider these:
(PICK HIT) Friday: Luna (1979) – Opera, heroin and incest, anyone? Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial tale of a wildly successful American opera singer, played by Jill Clayburgh, and the sexual relationship that springs up between her and her 15-year-old son as she tries to help him kick his heroin habit. And it’s in English, so there are no subtitles to distract you from the histrionic melodrama. A bizarre hoot. Antebellum Gallery’s Fetish Film Fridays series; 7:30 PM; Antebellum Gallery, 1643 N. Las Palmas Ave. Los Angeles 90028; phone, 323-856-0667 for more info. (more…)
However, it wasn’t real. In both my original post, and the description on YouTube, I point it that it was merely a commercial shoot I’d run across. Still, people clearly will believe what they want.
Unfortunately, the YouTube page Snopes.com is pulling from doesn’t include my description – someone downloaded my clip and reuploaded it under their own name, saying it took place in Georgia. Damn copyright thieves will even resort to stealing free content of crappy video shot guerrilla style at a public film shoot!
There are scores of talented artists in LA doing all kinds of rad stuff, but who has time to figure out which ones are worth checking out? For those who can’t spare 120 minutes, I give you 120 Seconds.
This week I took my (borrowed) handycam down to one of those warehouses full of rented practice spaces in the epicenter of what appears to be post-apocalyptic LA (just on the outskirts of Skid Row) to interview emerging LA-based atomic prog pop trio, MA46.
Pop Flock, Cheryl Cambras’s crochet sculptures of small and enormous colorful birds and everyday objects, are in the windows at Mercado on Sunset in Silver Lake. The LA-based artist, Nebraska-born and with an MFA in Film from the Art Institute of Chicago, makes films, sculpture and music. 102 of her crocheted budgies were included in Machine Project’s recent Field Guide to LACMA exhibit at the museum.
Cambras’s yarn sculptures are precise, sterile and speak to a detached, yet somehow cuddly, sensibiity. After seeing her films on her site, I was curious about how she approached the non-fibrous medium. She told me in an email,
I’m drawn to the absurd. My films tend to be darker than my sculptural work, visually and thematically. I explore the dream lives of seemingly ordinary people and things.
Similar to my sculptural work, my film plots and characters are presented fairly minimally, pared down. The characters tend to be tightly wound, virtually suspended, due to some fear; their stories come from their search for release.
Pop Flock will be at Mercado through Monday, April 20th; 3517 W. Sunset Blvd. LA 90026.
Her super short film, louise and fred, after the click.
Ever since I was given a quick peek inside the New Beverly’s projection booth last year I’ve been wanting to return with a video crew to document one of L.A.’s coolest little nooks. Reels of countless trailers from the past 7 or so decades were stacked to the ceiling, and just about every remaining bit of wall space was covered with every calendar/schedule the New Bev had printed since it reopened as a revival house just over 30 years ago. It was a film geek’s paradise.
I still haven’t arranged the video crew for a visit, but last week, FlipCam in hand, projectionist Adam Trash invited up to the booth for brief tour. Here’s the result:
(Metblogs, Los Angeles, CA) — This past Saturday, a few Hollywood neighborhoods were struck by a series of mail thefts. Video below shows the suspect who is believed to have stolen mail from numerous homes and apartment.
(In my case, she is suspected to have ripped open and removed contents from packages left inside the building I live in.)
If you believe you know the identity of this woman, or may have been the victim of one of these mail thefts, contact the United States Post Office in Hollywood at 323-464-1714.
If you know the current whereabouts of this woman contact the Hollywood Police Department at 213-972-2971 and ask for Officer Ralph Sanchez. (If you see any crime in progress, of course call 911).
Note: If you receive the message “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available” when attempting to view, try opening this page or the video in a different browser (Firefox instead of Safari, for example).
I Will, I Will Mock You Verdell Wilson OK, igetrad. You win. No contest. igetrad red line a few years back. saw a dude with his shirt pulled up under his chin furiously picking away at scabs... girlvaughn Flossing. seriously. So disgusting. Also – agree with nail clippers. The sound of it makes me gag.
Pop Flock, Cheryl Cambras’s crochet sculptures of small and enormous colorful birds and everyday objects, are in the windows at Mercado on Sunset in Silver Lake. The LA-based artist, Nebraska-born and with an MFA in Film from the Art Institute of Chicago, makes films, sculpture and music. 102 of her crocheted budgies were included in Machine Project’s recent 
