Unlike my post on AC/DC the other day, I got nothing but nice things to say about Van Halen. Despite being a dyed in the wool, cardigan-carrying Smiths fan in high school, I always secretly dug VH. The inner hesher inside me always wanted to roll up in the school parking lot with aviator shades in a bitchin’ camero blaring Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, yelling ‘HEYYYYYY WHO WANTS TOOOO PAAAAAARTAAAY!’ While Diamond Dave may have been the antithesis of Morrissey, these lyrics could just have easily come from This Charming Man himself. Get your best Moz voice on and give it a whirl… Read More »
Versions Galore
All Talk
Cultural Notebook
Skinemax: The Lure Of Adolescent Nostalgia
In the description for this hyper-nostalgic audio-video mix, Smash TV explains that “Skinemax is Koyaanisqatsi for a generation raised on late night television and B-movie VHS tapes. It’s long form entertainment for short attention spans.” Adopting the type of frantic quick-cut edits that were a hallmark of early MTV (and now the lynchpin of every shameless Hollywood director from Michael Bay to Brett Ratner), Skinemax draws on the spirit of analog film scores and visual repetition to reshape such familiar material into a strange new soup. Read More »
Personal Essays
Death At The Demolition Derby
Dave Cosper, Logan, Ohio, September 12, 2006. (Photo: Ross Mantle)
Dave Cosper passed away on September 12, 2006 after winning his heats at the Hocking County Fair demolition derby. I had just met Dave and his family that day. The photo above is the first image I made of Dave, before I even introduced myself. I saw him and stopped, he looked over and I made this portrait. He was immediately and genuinely warm and open. We talked and he explained that his son Brandon drove too. I asked if I could spend the evening and make some photos of them all. Dave agreed and I met Brandon and Dave’s wife Natalie and started shooting. Read More »
Video Vault
Daniel Clowes’ Unaired Ad Spot For Apple
Not ready for prime time: Daniel Clowes, shilling for Apple.
It’s hard not to be entranced by this 2004 Apple advertisement starring cartoonist Daniel Clowes (click to view). It was part of the largely unsuccessful “Switch” campaign created by Errol Morris. The ads star mostly unknown “citizens” (including Morris’s son), as well as some b-list celebrities and cult figures like Clowes. They present unorthodox spokespeople advocating in stilted, awkward, circular speech about their newly acquired preference (hence the “Switch”) for Apple products. The jittery, quirky style of the ads are undoubtedly intended to communicate Apple’s supposed authenticity and relatability. Clowes’ ad, which never aired, feels particularly strange, as the not quite camera ready cartoonist stands uncomfortably in head to toe black, a jarring image against the the bucolic white nowhere-space that is the setting of all of Apple’s ads. Morris wisely chose bites that showcase Clowes at his sardonic, detached, emotionally removed best. Read More »
Versions Galore
Angus Beef
I know, I know, they are one of those bands that everyone like totally loves but I gotta confess, I never really liked AC/DC. In fact I can’t stand them. It’s got nothing to do with their musicianship or anything like that, for me it’s much more visceral. Whenever I hear, say, “You Shook Me All Night Long,” it’s like I have an allergic reaction. I picture sweaty, smelly Angus Young under those 8,000 megawatt stage lights and immediately my skin starts to itch and it feels like the temperature starts to go up; but not in any kind of sexy way but in more of a someone left the heater on in the conference room and I’m wearing a one size too small wool suit-kind of way. Then, like a demented parent in some bad 80s metal video, I manically set out to destroy whatever listening device it’s playing on until it is silenced. Read More »
