Your Mom's Bleeding, Photo Op!

Free Blood /Music

Download mp3s

I saw Free Blood back in April when they opened for Hot Chip at Terminal 5. I'd never heard of the electro duo before, but really I enjoyed their performance. The dude in the pic is John Pugh, one time vocalist and drummer of !!! (Chk Chk Chk), and he seriously has a crazy stage persona. Towards the end he came off the stage and put his huge face RIGHT in front of mine. (We had momentary eye sex. I can't say if I was honored or scared... maybe both?) Their music is simply fun and full of energy... its like watching like kids singing in playground, only it's infused with instruments/electro beats.

Immediately that night I checked out their myspace page, but they only had two tracks streaming and no official album released. I have resorted to buying their EPs on iTunes with the free song credits I get from my ticketmaster purchases (free is always worth it). I'm looking forward to their album release, but it seems like it won't happen for a while.

This is their music video for "The Royal Family."

Imagine that giant on stage, but writhing even more viciously, like a worm.

---

Y Tu Mamá También (2001) /Film
Rating: 9/10

Y Tu Mamá También (literally 'and your mother too') is directed by Alfonso Cuaron and stars two of the most popular Latino actors, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. I've been meaning to watch it since it was released in Korean theaters six years ago, but the fact that the bed scenes were was practically soft core pr0n didn't make it easily accessible for a fourteen-year-old.

Despite the long wait, the movie exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed its realistic portrayal of its characters and its subtle approach in covering so many social themes relevant to Latin America. What's interesting is its unusual use of narration. At certain points, the narrator interrupts the soundtrack to describe something that relates what's happening on screen. These tangents seem irrelevant to the plot at the time, but later it becomes clear that they advance the overarching themes of the film. Here's an article that might help you understand the movie even better.

---

Steven Klein /Photography

Klein is known to photograph a lot of celebrities for magazine spreads, and that's exactly how I found out about him. It was an Oct 2007 issue of Details magazine with a section called "Brad Pitt by Steven Klein" (as shown above). I usually don't pay attention to these magazine spreads in general, but this one caught my attention with the heavy and colorful digital editing.

His other works are more conventional and not digitally raped so much. While I looked through his photo shoots of other celebrities, I also got a sense that his style fit fashion ads. And because I'm a genius, I was right. He's done ad shoots for Dolce and Gabanna, DSquared, and more girl brands that I don't care about. His website's definitely worth a look.