This short film, an unofficial, live action rendition of the video game Portal, a puzzle game from not that long ago, is from Dan Trachtenberg, an up and coming director. I heard about it on one of my favorite film podcasts Slashfilm and had to check it out. This is what you can do with a little time and a little money (I use the term ‘little’ loosely). If you’re not familiar with the game it’s actually pretty interesting. Here’s the wiksplanation.

Rare gem indeed. I’m sure most never knew it ever existed. Just liberated on to the youtubes.

Described as “a stylish romance centering on a brokenhearted urbanite who, only after breaking down and getting stranded in the desert, unearths the resources to woo a French-speaking woman at a lonely motel.”

Enjoy.

From R + I Creative:

From the schoolyard kids to the marketers everybody wants to get close to the cool guy…so what defines cool?
R+I Creative presents “The Pursuit Of Cool”, a short series about hedonism, sharing and meeting cool people with stories.

It all started with one quote…
“There is no algorithm to define cool, you just know it when you see it”.
ricreative.com/​The_Pursuit_Of_Cool/​TPOC.pdf

Featuring: Coltrane Curtis, Michele Savoia “The Tailor”, Ron Grant from “Ron grant & Friends” at The Village Underground…

Pt. 1 Featuring Mike Savoia

Chicago by boat: A timelapse journey from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Volume 2 of our video series for Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Art Exhibit by Koca Monarchy, featuring Production Artist Duo, Nez and Rio

Always a pleasure working with these guys – stay tuned for more….

Hip Hop captured one second at a time; Can the city of New York be framed in a 3″ x 5″? Can a culture be preserved in street photography? Ask Charlie Ahearn, director of Wild Style, and this film documenting Shabazz who was “defining hip hop before it had a definition.”

No really. Go ask him.

The BAMcinemaFest screening will take place on Sunday, Jun 26, 2011 at 3:30pm in Brooklyn, NY. A Q&A with director Charlie Ahearn and Jamel Shabazz himself will follow.

peeps it.

via IndieWire

Originally aired on the BBC in ’96 (I doubt my neighborhood could get this channel back then), check out this doc about Scott-Heron. Prolly appropriate to go ‘head and re-air this right about now. What say you?

via @hypebeast

Michael Rappaport will be getting my monies.

Gil Scott-Heron – LEGENDARY. Period. Here’s the poem.

———

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized.

Idiot boxes of the world unite! To fight off the effects of intelligence, replace smart quotes with fart jokes, substitute sense with scenes from “Martin,” let the baby’s bathe in that glow and learn all manner of things they don’t really need to know!

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized!

Channel the content of some rambling nonsense deep into the annals of yo’ subconscious, deprogram and depress chasing some televised success, be them, that, they and those be everything but in control,

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized!

Small claims Court drama, teenage baby mamas, Osama watching Osama, Celebrity Endorsed indoor saunas, the perfectly cooked piraña and other cannonfodder for you to ponder, all at the speed of imitations of life while the smoke of war gets inhaled thru the peace pipes, be still my beating heart and scare my brain from thinking thoughts as i sit intoxicated by the delights, sarcasm and 3 strikes thrown by my favorite pitcher in a sound surrounded, 3 dimensional, high death, full color mixture, wholly unsocializing and completely uncensored,

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized!

By this one-eyed monster most of the world was raised, and by this hero most of the world was saved, and to this master most of the world is slaves, it factors your fears with actors and cheers from a live studio audience pushing you to engage in a heroic act of thoughtlessness for the grand prize of a little bread, fleeting fame in the circus and every thought in yo head,

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized!

“Ain’t no changing me” said my flat screen TV, No More Che’s to the rescue, or Black Panthers to correct you, just coaxial cables and satellite signals to connect you to a world that doesn’t really look like it does on TV, where everything is much shorter, fatter, uglier and in disorder, where u have to do it now because there are no digital recorders where if the present gets boring you can just fast forward,

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized!

So there will be no revolution, or paradoxically ironic televised public execution of the entire worldwide televising institution, there wont even be a celebritized, televised trial of old baby blue, cuz you see my dear friends the television will not be revolutionized but what about the revolution that should taking place inside………………….of you?

By Wasalu “Lupe Fiasco” Jaco in Dedication to that guiding light of a human being Gil Scott Heron

via @ClutchMagazine

Awwwwshit.

I had the pleasure of meeting Clement & Co. last month at Paid Dues LA.  Good people with great work ethic and superb (innovative) ideas.  We can’t wait for more…. cheers from Chicago!

Might I add – this is my FAV joint from Pac Div’s Mania Mixtape

The second official music video from Pac Div’s highly acclaimed “Mania!” mixtape, “Fallin’” visually explores different types of relationships while serving as a companion piece to a yet-to-be-released video.

Directed by John Bollozos and John Henry Baliton (clementco.com)
Produced by Clement & Co. (@clementandco)
Title Design by Amy Hunt (amyhunt.net)
Production Design: Kristofferson San Pablo (kristoffersonsanpablo.com)

Taken from Arrested Motion:

The last time Barbara Kruger had a solo exhibition in Los Angeles, it was for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in 1999. Thanks to L&M Arts in Venice, Angelenos are once again able to immerse themselves in a one-woman show filled with her recent work.

Consisting of a multi-channel video installation running 13 minutes, a room “wrap”, exterior wall projection, and room filled with smaller-sized text pieces on panel, the legendary conceptual artist provided a multitude of options to receive her messages and ideas. Striped bare of color and images, Kruger’s text-based work contained the minimum of just letters and words in black and white. The audience interacts by reading and walking on and around the work. We have images here, but to truly appreciate the exhibition, you need to make the trip to L&M and experience it as it was meant to be seen.

Go here to see more pics of the exhibit…

This is one of my homies from high school. Still doin it. And apparently it’s the year of cuttin’ off the lox. But the dopeness is in the roots. Always been a fan. And now, so will you.

GoWhereHipHop Sits Down With Common & Dr. Maya Angelou from Cam Be on Vimeo.

I don’t really have to provide an explanation on why you should watch this do I?

Oh. Props to Chicago Now (GoWhereHipHop)

From Kiss My Black Ads and New Black Man

Here is a summary from PBS and commentary from Michael Ray Charles on his art:

“Michael Ray Charles’ paintings investigate stereotypes drawn from the history of American advertising, product packaging, billboards, and commercials. Charles draws comparisons between Sambo, Mammy, and minstrel images of an earlier era and contemporary portrayals of black youths, celebrities, and athletes- images he sees as a constant in the American subconscious.”

“You’ve got to think of how these images were used in American culture…they were everywhere and they were used to market anything from oils to ink, from food products to clothing…People operate from an emotional place when they see these images because they think of the past as being something that happened and that the concepts don’t linger. But these concepts continue to affect us in many ways, in modern concepts of advertising as well as in contemporary advertisements.”
- Michael Ray Charles

Props to Kiss My Black Ads
To see more of his artwork visit HERE

In case you can’t read that… “Passion Fruit: The Other Chicago Black Movement” is a collection of watermelon- themed representational images, posters, photographs and original artworks that explore the American watermelon, not as a fruit, but a former symbol of racial stereotype now transformed into a positive and cultural icon. The exhibit pays tribute to the Chicago-based Black Arts Guild (BAG) Turtel Onli founded in 1970 to help launch the careers of its members. BAG adopted the Red, Black and Green watermelon as its logo, and initiated a creative battle to deconstruct the negative applications of watermelon images into a positive and creative symbol. Check it. African-American Cultural Center.

Word to 2DopeBoyz for the vids

Now they have collaborated with the art magazine JUXTAPOZE to create a video magazine clip showing some of the artists involved in MOCA’s most recent exhibit.

From Curated Mag:

Activism, art and politics are the intertwining topics of a new book from Gestalten, Art & Agenda. 100 young and established artists are covered, leading to a rich exploration of the many ways art combats social ills and the various methods of artists to build an activist vocabulary. The volume is edited by R. Klanten, M. Hübner, A. Bieber, P. Alonzo, and G. Jansen.

Under the “The More You Know…” act.

Courtesy of Kiss My Black Ads

Commissioned by Miami arts collective Borscht, the initiative paired Miami reared filmmakers with local musicians. In this case, Miami born and raised Strike Anywhere partner Barry Jenkins paired with Miami Chill Wave artist MillionYoung to create this slice of life piece inspired by the MillionYoung track Chlorophyl. Screening is April 23rd.

FYI – Jenkins made this film the weekend before SXSW so this guy definitely has a plan of trajectory. Make it happen, mayne.

via Shadow and Act

You ain’t never heard crazyman Morgan like this before…unless you bought his new book. It was definitely surprising to hear this dude crying on NPR…twice. It was astounding. I can honestly say that I had no idea. But don’t take my word for it…listen

From Arrested Motion:

Patrick Martinez recently opened his newest series of works entitled Hustlemania at LA’s Known Gallery. Patrick draws our attention to the everyday things that most may not think is conventionally beautiful. Using his environment as inspiration, he often focuses on the phenomenology of his surroundings to peak the interest of his audience. Exhibiting in the heart of Los Angeles’ Fairfax district, it looks like Patrick figured out a way to meld the hustle and flow from the City of Angels with the gallery world of fine arts. Utilizing numerous mediums from neon installations, sculptures and classic painterly techniques, this is one artist that will definitely entertain you.

Taken from Arrested Motion:

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The Chief went to see this not too long ago and said it was a good show. If you're in the area, check it out!
Patrick Martinez recently opened his newest series of works entitled Hustlemania at LA’s Known Gallery. Patrick draws our attention to the everyday things that most may not think is conventionally beautiful. Using his environment as inspiration, he often focuses on the phenomenology of his surroundings to peak the interest of his audience. Exhibiting in the heart of Los Angeles’ Fairfax district, it looks like Patrick figured out a way to meld the hustle and flow from the City of Angels with the gallery world of fine arts. Utilizing numerous mediums from neon installations, sculptures and classic painterly techniques, this is one artist that will definitely entertain you.

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The Chief went to see this not too long ago and said it was a good show. If you're in the area, check it out!

Architecture through the cinematographic lens. The visual fusion between the third and the seventh arts.
This brief description describes the declaration of aesthetic principles that underlies the “Third&Seventh” project:
A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already built spaces.

Best if watched in full screen mode. Dope.