Watch This: Spike Jonze and Kanye West Make a Short Film
by Jessica Barnes; Cinematical
Most people look at Kanye West as a bit of a joke these days, and to be fair he's responsible for most of the damage to his own reputation as an egomaniac and a bit of a blowhard. But I guess it takes the directorial genius of Spike Jonze to remind us that there's probably more going on underneath Kanye's surface than we give him credit for, and no matter what you may think of West he does have pretty good taste in his pop culture 'associations' -- and the latest is an 11-minute short film directed by Jonze that premiered at the Los Angeles Film Fest earlier this summer and is now available online.
Unfortunately I can't really tell you much about it, because frankly, you have to see it to believe it. But here is what I can tell you: the film is titled We Were Once a Fairytale and it starts out with Kanye being his usual drunken and obnoxious self (though luckily Taylor Swift is nowhere in sight). But keep in mind this is Jonze's short, and as to be expected, things take a very strange (and somewhat disturbing) turn.
Hopefully the success of Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are this weekend means we will be seeing more from the director this year, because this short reminds us that there's nobody that makes movies like Jonze -- not to mention that he does the impossible with this short: he makes Kanye West seem almost human.
Warning: Things get a little NSFW.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MikdIcnViJk
Sometimes I can't believe I used to be a guy that would stick up for someone like Kanye, and i don't really want to think Jonze would participate in this kind of self indulgence. However, it doesn't matter Spike Jonze fucking annihilates stylistically. Jonze is a genius, he may be one of the few who could pull this off. I actually laughed out loud when Kanye threw up those paper hearts or whatever, roses. who knows. Not sure if that was the intended reaction, but at least it a reaction, i guess. Anyhow, it was neat, it's obvious Kanye is trying to artfully say something like "GUYS, I'M VULNERABLE AND WEAK TOO " and i don't think this makes him look human, i think it makes him look desperate. "Everyone Like me!" is what this screams, "but, i got the hippest director around, they'll respect me now!" type of thing I don't find this risque or going out on a limb, as far as Kanye's part goes. But, the film itself and spike's hand hold focus fiasco he's got going there is fucking neato. It was interesting.
Kanye: "hey, I have a shit load of cash, and people who "know stuff" (puts up quotation marks with hands) about film said, you're the shit.
Spike: Oh, yeah, Jon Brion mentioned something about you. You pay in cash right?
Jonze stole that from Ghostboy... who may or may not have stolen it from someone else... but "...great artists steal" anyway.
As for Kanye's role in it, this was made before his assholish outburst, sometime in January.
Prior to January of this year, Kanye has been a media whore.
He has always had Some outburst, some year, several ignorant statements/actions before 2009.
But, yeah, obviously this isn't much of an acting stretch for him.
"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Kanye West."
Haha!
Quote from: The Perineum Falcon on October 26, 2009, 05:43:56 PM
"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Kanye West."
Haha!
It wasn't finished. What leaked wasn't necessarily complete. Should be on iTunes pretty soon.
Since the youtube link is gone here is a decent quality version on vimeo
http://vimeo.com/7132913 (http://vimeo.com/7132913)
SHORT, AMAZING BEHIND THE SCENES CLIP
http://vimeo.com/7298787
kanye west bores me to death. I feel like Mugatu in Zoolander when it comes to Kanye West. Doesn't anyone realize what a fucking bore this guy is? I feel like I'm going crazy. His attitude is a monument to self delusion only comparable to the self delusion of the pitchfork morons who write long articles on this douchebag as if it was necessary.
I really liked it.
if I didn't know who kanye west or spike jonze was I would like it. sure, it reminds me of something I'd have wanted to make when I was 17, but that's a headspace where we think and jonze creates.
good short.
watched this a couple of days ago and it's excellent. And y'all need to show Kanye more love. Easily the best artist in pop music for the 00s.
what the fuck are you talking about
I'm talking about how this movie by Spike Jonze and the career of artist Kanye West are both of very high quality.
Quote from: New Feeling on April 14, 2010, 03:01:55 PM
Easily the best artist in pop music for the 00s.
i was talking about this part... what the fuck does it mean
kantye sux!
Quote from: 72teeth on April 17, 2010, 02:21:25 AM
Quote from: New Feeling on April 14, 2010, 03:01:55 PM
Easily the best artist in pop music for the 00s.
i was talking about this part... what the fuck does it mean
ok it was a pretty hyperbolic statement, but it was meant to suggest that when the history of Popular music is assessed by breaking it down to decades, the decade beginning in 2000 and ending in 2009 will feature very few truly interesting artists that achieved legit mainstream success. Kanye is certainly one of them, and due to his run of excellent albums combined with his prolific and influential production work, especially with Jay-Z (one of the other few contenders), along with his highly controversial persona, I would cast my vote in his favor. Of course now that I think about it I might have cast my vote for Radiohead or the Flaming Lips or Animal Collective, but I can't really consider them "Pop" in the same way I consider Kanye.
Of course you are free to disagree and I'd love to hear who you think was the great pop musician of recent times.
He just looks and acts the part. Excellent albums? Come on. His music is garbage.
that's just ridiculous
i dunno.
in terms of success he isnt the GOAT that he believes himself to be. what ppl will remember are the ppl who were huge in 2000-2010. kanye's one of them but so is Black Eyed Peas (garbage) and Justin Timberlake (kinda alrite) -- THAT's pop music, hell even BEYONCE is more easily classifiable as pop music than freaking Jay Z. an early contender for this title in the new decade is Gaga - EASY.
Kanye is probably best compared to Timbaland. his hip hop cred is nowhere near Jay Z and to be honest that's the only thing Jay Z brings to the table (god knows where he got it cos i think the dude is massively overrated).. in terms of amazing pop music you have to look at what Timbaland did as producer (pussycat dolls and those 2late 2pologize ppl notwithstanding) in the last decade. he's on hiatus now, whatever that means, but he left his mark and made a pretty penny which won't be forgotten anytime soon.
kanye SELLS himself as the greatest of all time. so when ppl try to think of who the best is, it's easy to remember that there was this one dude who all he ever said was "hey i'm the best pop artist of all time, remember that".. that's actually frighteningly close to a real quote of his. he is not the best POP artist between 2000 and 2010 in terms of success, or even what he's done to the genre.
he's just a egomaniac producer slightly more camera-hungry than timbaland.
kantye sux!
I just want to say it's nice of Neil to represent for Kanye but he should probably do it in this thread. I'll back you up bro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhDAWKnomsk
We need a new term for what Kanye is doing now. Maybe toxic stupidity? Whatever it is, it's not cute or endearing, and it should be taken seriously as something that is actively infecting people's minds. Culture is demonstrably degraded for him being in the conversation.
there's not a chance in hell that someone who might be negatively affected by Ye will watch that video and have their opinion altered. so it's shittalking to the choir, which is so odd to me. it's so odd to me. i don't see its benefit. to become more bothered by Ye? why?
saying he's "one of the dumbest guys in the country, it's not an exaggeration" is wrong. it's slanderous. that's the newscaster working himself up. that's the newscaster making himself excited. that's the newscaster speaking to his audience. that's more in line with what Ye does, but not doing it as well.
Ye isn't into politics, he's into pop culture. so this is having the wrong kind of conversation about him, and missing the point of what he's doing.
he's attracting attention, that's all he's doing. that's why he's doing it. and he's as dumb as Trump in that it's totally working and people can't figure out how, although they're the ones making it work.
don't pick the low hanging fruits jb. reach for more than the obvious
Quote from: jenkins on October 02, 2018, 02:41:46 PMYe isn't into politics, he's into pop culture. so this is having the wrong kind of conversation about him, and missing the point of what he's doing.
Hopefully I wasn't subconsciously baiting, but I was 100% certain that someone would respond saying this. I can't even express how much I disagree with that opinion.
I'm sorry if this is low-hanging fruit, but it's happening and I feel like it matters a bit.
Kanye has chosen to make himself political. It is a consistent interest of his now. He wears a freaking MAGA hat and made a song about said hat. Does it matter to me exactly how his motivations are divided — how much of this is mental illness, cynical attention-seeking, performance art, or sincerely-felt idiocy? No, I could not care less. What matters is what he's doing.
I think it's great (even necessary) for artists to enter the political conversation. But in a conversation, you respond and offer other opinions. The problem here is that when you engage with Kanye's opinion, especially this one, it dissolves into dust. There is nothing there. You might be able to discern what Kanye is getting at, but he seems unable to form a sentence that coherently expresses a basic point of view. Beyond the toxic and misguided platitudes, you're left to piece things together from context clues, and even then you can't be sure he even knows what he's saying. For example in his call to action on the 13th amendment, not only did he not understand the amendment itself, he seemed to not understand what an amendment is.
And yet, like an insane religious belief, there is just enough substance to infect people's minds. It's almost more persuasive when you make an argument like this, because there is almost nothing to grasp onto to argue with.
I don't think it's fun or cute to give him a pass. Toxic stupidity of this kind has real-world consequences. It's not unlike the actual struggle that's happening in public schools right now where students refuse to believe the earth is round because some of their favorite celebrities have doubts. Kanye is at the forefront of a similar kind of anti-intellectualism. If you think it's a one-off stunt, you're mistaken.
it's like this: people usually enter society through politics, but he's entering politics through society.
responding to his opinion, he clearly thinks there's a limited social perception of black people, and he wants to broaden the social perception of black people--that is not toxic.
wtf about the 13th amendment, who gives a shit. are we talking facts or opinions here? did you even listen to him on SNL, hello, he said listen with your heart and not with your head.
he's learning politics in public and it won't be easy, of course not. people will legitimately casually call him toxically stupid.
He's dumb. And he makes people who follow him say dumb political things. I know. I read KanyeToThe. He's also having a mental breakdown in a Kardashian world. I'm sad at different levels.
this is how one who is sane proceeds: with a desire for self, and efforts expanding to meet that desire
in terms of seeking attention, y'all make it easy for him to get what he wants
Quote from: jenkins on October 02, 2018, 03:56:28 PMwtf about the 13th amendment, who gives a shit. are we talking facts or opinions here? did you even listen to him on SNL, hello, he said listen with your heart and not with your head.
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on October 02, 2018, 03:39:47 PMKanye is at the forefront of a similar kind of anti-intellectualism.
it's not hard to see: you need to attack the points and not the person.
the head and the heart jb, the head and the heart
Quote from: jenkins on October 02, 2018, 04:27:22 PMit's not hard to see: you need to attack the points and not the person.
Yes, and that's what half of my post was about. His "points" crumble to dust under the mildest scrutiny.
well then it was the other half that i considered neither helpful nor, well, very smart at all
Ye as my president? lol. this whole conversation the entire time has been subconsciously hilarious. but just picture the movie--this is happening because of Ye as a person. and we understand him better than we talk like we do, and that's so dangerous it gave us Trump
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has finally voiced a political opinion. She doesn't offer any stunning insights or anything, and it's a bit meh that she sticks to cultural issues, but this is an unambiguously great thing to do. She even endorsed 2 specific Democratic candidates in her home state.
I'm writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I'll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I've been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.
I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway.
So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈
https://www.instagram.com/p/BopoXpYnCes/
i was watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and funny enough it reminded me that science people have been ahead on social politics for a while now too. art people of course, but science people too. Kirstie Alley makes her bigscreen debut playing someone training to be a captain--she's Romulan/Vulcan, so logical with a dash of emotions. woman as a captain. the next captain we see is Paul Winfield, he's black. William Shatner still the white knight but they were saying, all the way back then and not even as a central plot point, there were other possibilities for ship captain.
in terms of smoking cigarettes, it's interesting to me that they decided to take down the sign. this is the reason stated
QuoteThe "No Smoking At Anytime On Bridge" sign from the first scene was removed in later bridge scenes when Gene Roddenberry complained that smoking would not exist in the future.
if you have tried to quit smoking, remember what Gene Roddenberry thought
the initial portion of this post did directly link to the theme in jb's above post, because what i was saying is it's rather ridiculous how long it's taking to square away the basic fact that all people are created equal, i didn't know i'd phrase it that way but look how basic it is. the topic extends beyond politics into literally all of humanity and the fight won't end until the topic is squared away, as it shouldn't, since there's no question that the fight is worth its time and effort, and there's no question the wasted energy and misspent time is coming from the other side. what i think Taylor Swift exemplifies is two things 1 traveling to different parts of the world always helps a person grow 2 there's simply going to be a new perspective from a younger generation--i really think that's brewing, and a lot of the dumb problems we have now will finally be gone from us in our future
LOL
"My eyes are now wide open and now realize I've been used to spread messages I don't believe in. I am distancing myself from politics and completely focusing on being creative !!!"
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1057382916760707072
it's what you wanted and all you demonstrated is you were willing laugh at him either way
I mean that's true but not a personal attack
"Fucking dumbass" is the only thing that comes to my mind after someone says: "Candace Owens used me". Especially from the fucking dumbass in chief.
I love 90% of his albums; I have no sympathy left for him. His freedom of thought is a copy/paste of YouTube comments that he thinks he thought himself.
After Fucking Dumbass what comes is: Fucking Tool.
Unnecessary
Quote from: jenkins on October 31, 2018, 02:25:38 AM
it's what you wanted and all you demonstrated is you were willing laugh at him either way
I mean that's true but not a personal attack
Fair.
Quote from: jenkins on October 31, 2018, 10:54:28 AM
Unnecessary
Nah, I think there's a real political violence to what he said and his actions and I don't believe in a peaceful protest.
in the big picture you're picking easy internet fights related to another country's politics. it's just silly.