Deee-Lite (Remember?)

Deee-Lite’s last successful album was in 1994. They are known “Groove is in the Heart,” which seems to be living on. I remember going to a roller skating rink and requesting this one.


So what are the one hit wonders doing now? The Singer, Miss Kier has fallen from grace in a big way. She sued SEGA for using her likeness in a video game. Not only did she lose, she was forced to pay for the video game company’s legal bills.

Towa Tei seems to be the only guy who is still active musically. He has released an album in his native Japan and has collaborated with Australian singer Kylie Minogue on a dance single called Sometime Samurai. Here is the half hip, half just-weird video of one of his later songs.



The man can still create a groove.

TV's Big Week So Far

Now for something lighter! The last few posts on Popscape have been pretty serious, so lets get back to some good ol’ TV. I’ve been keeping abreast of this weeks many season premiers on broadcast TV. My impressions so far:

1. Nothing too spectacular. It looks like viewers have another good season of Heroes ahead of them. CBS seems to have a decent Tuesday line-up with Cane and The Unit. Another season of CSI gets underway tonight as well. I admit I’m looking forward to it.
2. The biggest surprise was Life. As NBC was promoting their shows, Life seemed to be in the back seat. It turned out to be one of the more interesting shows of the week. It was a bit intense and the lead character a bit of an anti-hero who viewers will like but who might have a dark side. In terms of interesting and complex story lines and dynamic characters, Life is still second fiddle to cable cop shows like The Wire and The Shield, but it could turn out to be one of the most interesting shows on broadcast. (I’m probably jinxing it. For Fox, NBC, et al, “interesting” is usually synonymous with “canceled.”)
3. Ken Burns PBS documentary on World War II has been running this week. It has been as watch-able (“non-boring”) as his other works. As far as Burns’ egotistical claims that the documentary is the truest look at The War ever, I’d have to agree. The interviews with veterans make it that good. You are left with the impression that these men were extra-ordinary for doing what they did. They are also haunted, and almost surprised to look back on the violence that they both experienced and meted out.

Web of Agendas

The advertising industry is getting the hang of youtube. But what about those with an agenda? The movement to bring attention and a resolution to the conflict in the Darfur region of The Sudan is very visible on video sharing sites. While TV newscasts concentrate on the McCann family follies, those who want attention on bigger matters are almost forced to move to the internet for coverage. Granted, a lot of the videos showing up on the internet serve the “action in Darfur” agenda. Few can be considered pure journalism. But, with the U.N. and the world’s powerful nations pussy-footing around on the Darfur issue, effect pieces have brought the calls first heard on TV to the web. Proof that the world is still watching is in the video below, which has already been viewed 200,000 times.



After all, George Clooney and Bono can’t do it all by themselves.

TV's Big Week

For TV watchers, this is premiere week. As TV's second string hits the showers after a summer of time slot filling, the popular and promising fall line-up lines up for introduction. There are plenty of new entries, most which won't make the grade. Still, this one of the more exciting season premiere weeks in my memory. Here is what I am looking forward to during the coming season.

NBC seems to be swinging for the fences. Journeyman and The Bionic Woman join network hero Heroes this week. NBC found a hit with heroes and seems to be trying to replicate the success with two more sci-fi-ish shows. Journeyman seems interesting and star Kevin McKidd was stellar in HBO's Rome. Still, it will depend on the shows writers to take Journeyman from good idea to hit show.

CBS, which might as well change its name to CSI has brought Jimmy Smits in to try to score with Cane, a kind of modern day Dallas. Moonlight has an interesting premise: a private investigator who happens to be a vampire. I'm also rooting for David Mamet's show, The Unit. Yes, it stars the Allstate Insurance guy, but it had its moments last year and Mamet and The Shield creator Shawn Ryan are deserve a long running hit.

Reality TV? I liked BEauty and the Geek on the CW last year. Unlike the Bachelor, I was able to watch it without losing hope in all humanity. Kid Nation might be interesting. Might be.

Next week holds a lot. Of course, there is also some more highbrow viewing, in the form of Ken Burns' new documentary The War. It runs on PBS this week.

Videos with a Purpose

I came across this recently on youtube.

Sure, there is part of me that looks skeptically at things like Pangea Day. Changing the world is a big proposition, but I hear it almost every day. “I’m going to change the world with politics, or the Olympics, or Live Aid, or film.” If you actually waited for said people or events to change the world, you’d get old and gray and eventually pass away. For goodness sake, the massive U.N., an organization that is supposed to be in the business of world changing has turned out to be little more than a big, self-righteous, teddy bear. So you’ll have to forgive me for being skeptical when I see things like the above video.

However, it is true that grassroots film-making is giving people who were otherwise not on the map a chance to tell their stories. Places like youtube give them a vehicle to show their work to the world. Finding the best of this kind of work is difficult.

Much of the output, of course, is mediocre. But hidden in there are amazing talents capable of using film to astonishing effect...

At least I won’t have to wade through hours of shaky camera work and giggling teenagers to find the best online videos. It looks more and more like grassroots reporting will be the future of online journalism and homemade films the future of online entertainment.

Therefore, I’ll probably be watching next May 10th when Pangea Day brings the best videos to our attention. The world isn’t going to change, but I may well be impressed with what I see.

Thailand Butts Heads With YouTube, Again

The Bangkok Post reports:

Department of Special Investigation under the Justice Ministry is seeking a court order to block clips recently posted on video-sharing website YouTube that accuse Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda of masterminding the Sept 19 coup.

I am not certain how long the videos will remain accessible, but here is a link.

Thailand has struggled with the use of new media recently. Several months ago, YouTube was blocked in Thailand, supposedly because of some videos poking fun at the country’s revered monarch. Critics of Thailand’s current government site the fact that the site was blocked because there were too many videos of the military coup, which took place a few days before the videos attacking the king were posted.

Some of the more paranoid members of the current administration accuse the tech-savvy supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for posting the recent videos. Thanksin is still actively seeking a return to power. His supporters have often accused Prem Tinsulanonda of misusing his power during the coup. However, this is the first time the accusations have reached the internet.

Since last year’s coup, journalists and human rights organizations have criticized Thailand for their lack of press freedom.

K-Ville Blows It

Am I the only TV viewer who was disappointed with Fox’s K-ville last week?

To me, K-ville was about getting one’s due. Anthony Anderson has had a bunch of solid supporting roles and stole the show as gangster Antwon Mitchell in The Shield. In K-ville, he plays a cop in post hurricane New Orleans.

The show’s creator, Jonathan Lisco, formerly wrote for the popular show NYPD Blue. He had a chance to add some grit to a TV schedule of CSIs and Law and Orders.

Finally, New Orleans itself is a well-known city. It was so even in pre-Katrina days, and is finally getting its airtime as the setting for a major network show.

Still, I was disappointed with the show. The banter was extremely cliché. After his fifth “I’m black and your white, isn’t that funny” joke, I started to feel sorry for Anderson. It was as if the writers thought they could schlock together a script and not worry about quality. Perhaps they expected charity from the viewing audience because the show was set in New Orleans and had so many references to the sorry state of things after Katrina.

The story was pretty much lifted off of every other cop show ever made. Though it seems that the tools to make this a better show are there, it doesn’t look like it will happen for K-ville. The writers are going to have to rely on more than the fact that the film is set in New Orleans to sell their show.

Sure, everyone feels sorry for what happened during Hurricane Katrina. That doesn’t mean that they are going to sit through an hour of bad dialogue and plots recycled from other shows.

Like Katrina, K-ville is another disaster that took place in New Orleans.

The Lady from Shanghai

I will stay with yesterday’s theme of remakes to highlight another upcoming film. Hong Kong indie film superstar Wong Kar Wei is at the helm of The Lady from Shanghai. The film will star Nicole Kidman and Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman. Orson Wells shot the original film in the 1940s.

The difference between Lady from Shanghai and the remake of Bangkok Dangerous is that Wong Kar Wei has always proven himself to be outside of the usual commercial pressures put on directors by studios. His early projects were shot without scripts and were marked by their dark-yet-intimate feel. Wong fans will have to wait until next year to find out if the director can carry the magic of his earlier films (Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love) with a studio breathing down his neck. Something tells me Wong would not have signed on to do Lady from Shanghai if he were not given a certain amount of control over the filming.

Pangs' Remake Dangerous

The first film by the incomparable Pang Brothers was the gritty 1999 thriller Bangkok Dangerous. The film won an award at the Toronto International Film Festival and sent the Pangs on their way to bigger and better things including the horror hit The Eye.

Recently, the Pangs decided to enter the re-make game by using the same storyline of the 1999 Dangerous to film a new version staring Nicholas Cage. I guess the Pangs figured that casting the balding, squinting Cage and putting him opposite a girl with more sex appeal than the one in the original film would be the way to Hollywood’s hearts and wallets.

Here's the trailer of the 199 version of Bangkok Dangerous.




Will the new film work? Honestly, the Pangs are long overdo to cash in on some of the success they have had in the past. Still, the original was so well done that it seems a shame. In the 1999 film, Pawalit Mongkolpisit played the lead character, a deaf hitman who starts to feel guilty for his past deeds. His chemistry with the Pang’s story and camera work was what made the film stand out. Can Danny and Oxide duplicate that chemistry with Cage. It seems unlikely, but I am pulling for them, or at least, pulling for a big box office showing that will open some doors in Hollywood.

The Internet and Activism in The Middle East

Saudi Arabia is more and more looking like an authoritarian state. While the powerful House of Saud continues to count oil revenue and vacation in New England, a strict form of Islamic law rules the non-elite members of the Saudi population. Of course, this aids the aristocrats by keeping the status quo.

There is a small, but growing portion of the population that is voicing their opinion against some of the more ridiculous laws, such as the ones which say women are not allowed to drive and must cover their heads. In a true sign of the times, Saudi activists are circulating a petition via the internet, and receiving massive amounts of support domestically and from others around the region. The internet seems to provide a level of anonymity that makes more people comfortable with voicing their opinion. The same has been true of liberal Iranian citizens who voice their discontents and hopes for the future in the blogospere.

More visible activists, like Saudi writer Zaynab Hifni, have publicized their views on the authoritarianism of Saudi Arabia and Iran.




New media allow for these more liberal voices to be heard, not just in Saudi Arabia, but everywhere where authoritarianism flourishes.

M. Night Shyamalan's Last Stand

M. Night Shyamalan came on to the silver screen scene at the top. The Sixth Sense, only his second feature film, was a success at the box office and praised by critics. Unbreakable and Signs, Shyamalan’s two subsequent projects, were also widely praised by critics, including the god-critic Rodger Ebert.

M. Night Shyamalan’s fairy tales ends there. The Village had his trademark surprise ending, but this time, the surprise was how badly Shyamalan whiffed. Lady in the Water continued the losing streak with the New York Post cleverly criticizing it as “dead in the water.” The intelligent thrills of Sixth Sense now seem relegated to the dusty VHS section of your local video store.

So Shyamalan did what any self-respecting director would: He went for the sure thing. He signed on to direct a live action film version of the popular Avatar series. A martial arts fantasy set in a fictional world and aimed at children will be a big departure for Shyamalan. But a sure thing?


The TV show has a pretty big following, so the box office numbers are almost built into the film already.

What if he screws it up, though? Shyamalan, even in his less successful movies, has always fallen back on his cleverness and on psychological thrills. That won’t work with Avatar; its fans will be looking to see how true he is to the spirit of the TV series. Critics will be looking to see if he can bring anything fresh to it. The rest of us will just get to see what kind of director Shyamalan really is. (Twenty years hence, will he be known simply as a film director or will he still be the guy whose best movie was The Sixth Sense?)

Prince: The Purple Justice Seeker

The artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince is mad. He’s ready to dish out some justice. Sure, no one is going to be too scared of his five-foot, ninety pound frame. That is until his massive bodyguards enter the room…escorting his high priced, ruthless, super-attorneys.

The Purple One is suing Youtube, and pretty much every other website on the internet, in an effort to help “the creators and owners of their music need to reclaim their art.”

He claims that Youtube is lying when they say that they cannot control what users put on their site. In the past, Youtube has honored requests for videos to be taken off their site because of copyright infringement. However, these efforts seem to be half-hearted. I’m sure both Hollywood and the music industry are cheering quietly as Prince berates the Google owned video site:

"YouTube ... are clearly able (to) filter porn and pedophile material but appear to choose not to filter out the unauthorized music and film content which is core to their business success."

He’s stating the obvious. But…
Youtube probably has a stable of lawyers whose ruthlessness and deceptive cunning is equal to that of Prince’s. It will be a bloody battle royale.

And if Youtube loses? They can always just play the whiny, spoiled kid who knows how to wield the First Amendment. “We can’t control everything that goes on our site. Come-on. We’re doing our best. You don’t want us to censor everyone, do you?”

Good luck Prince. You'regonnaneedit.

Why You Crying, Kanye?

Why does Kanye West put so much stock in winning the flippin’ MTV music award? Anyone with anything between their ears knows that dreaming about MTV giving you an award or choosing you to stand center stage is like being the class nerd pining for the head cheerleader. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

Yes, Kanye had (another) meltdown at an awards show, this time the MTV Awards that featured a comedy act by Brittney Spears that seemed straight out of SNL. Mr. West is becoming more known for acting like a spoiled brat in public than for his music. Apparently the tirade had something to do with not being chosen to open the show or not receiving as many awards as Justin Timberlake.


Gee, Kanye, your mom must be so proud of you.

Here’s what I don’t get: West is a music talent. He has more sonic skills in his left earlobe than most other “musicians” have in their whole body. Why does he have to be validated by MTV? Why does he need to be recognized by a second rate awards show that is obviously going for ratings above all else? He has money. He has (or is it had) the music industry’s respect. He seems to have a healthy level of confidence. Why does he need further validation from a source that most people don’t take very seriously.


I just want to say, “Yo (does anyone say ‘yo’ anymore) Kanye, make it about the music. Come on. You’re making a fool of yourself. For F*#%’s sake, make it about the music.”

Dengue Fever: Serious Stuff or Brief Blip

Is this the future of American music?


Dengue Fever, a indie rock band from California. They have taken fusion music to new levels. After a trip to Cambodia, where they were haunted by the native folk music, brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman set about looking for someone to sing in Khmer. Chhom Nimol fronts the six-piece band.

Though they are based in the U.S., all the bands lyrics are sung in Khmer. Dengue Fever has gained a bit of a following, playing at last ear’s SXSW music festival. The band’s songs have also been chosen for several soundtracks, including Matt Dillon’s film, City of Ghosts.

Is D.F. an anomaly? One might think that the band is the result of a few hipsters who are trying to do something that they deem cool because it flirting with just being plain bizarre.

Perhaps that is the case. But the (mild) success of Dengue Fever might point to something a little more substantial. Some American pop is already being infused with international sounds. Latin and African rhythms are everywhere. How much of a stretch is actually singing in another language, even one as obscure as Khmer (about 20 million people speak it, worldwide)? With the internet, and the slow but sure death of the music industry as we know it, who’s to say that globalized bands like Dengue Fever are not at the cutting edge of a trend?

No Country for Old Men: Trailer

When I saw this trailer, I was both excited and apprehensive.



Excited because I had recently read Cormac MacCarthy’s novel on which the film is based. For once a worthwhile story is being filmed. McCarthy has had a long career, at times punctuated with bouts of poverty and obscurity. I’m sure he’s getting a decent-sized check for the rights to the story, as well as the notoriety that comes from having your book made into a film (McCarthy is known to be a private man, so perhaps the notoriety is something others want for him more than he wants for himself.

However, I admit a little apprehension when it comes to the filmmakers. The Coen Brothers are known for offbeat film like the ultra-violent Fargo and riotous Oh Brother Where Art Thou? How will the treat the subtle insights into humanity that make McCarthy’s stories so excellent? I guess this is the problem people have whenever one of their favorite books gets translated to celluloid.

To be fair, from the trailer it looks like the Coens have kept many of the books details. This is a chance for them to resuscitate careers that seem a bit lifeless since Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

I like McCarthy’s books; I like the Coens’ films. I don’t see these two matching up very well, but I hope to be surprised.