Mixed Media

No Frills For Spike Lee

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| Thu May. 3, 2007 1:24 PM PDT

The 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike Lee last night with the SF Film Society's Directing Award, and praised Lee as a prolific director not afraid to tackle not just race, but also class and gender issues in his films.

Lee's personality – humorous and political, honest and deadpan – was on full display during his Q&A with Boston Globe film critic Wesley Morris in San Francisco.

Lee was a tough interview. Wearing his trademark thick-rimmed glasses, his brief and somewhat reluctant responses often left interviewer Morris grasping at straws. Lee chose his words wisely. He playfully teased Morris. He recognized the larger race issues behind the Don Imus incident, and affirmed for audience members that the people of New Orleans are still hurting. He also joked that his wife, who reads all of his scripts, has been influential in changing the depiction of women – a common point of criticism – in his films.

The audience was treated to a montage, featuring clips from the biggies – aka Spike Lee Joints: She's Gotta Have It (1986), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Clockers (1995), Four Little Girls (1997), Summer of Sam (1999), 25th Hour (2002), and Inside Man (2006). Lee's latest is the award-winning When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, and judging by the two acts shown at the event, is not to be missed.

—Gary Moskowitz

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4/29 an Inside Job

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| Thu May. 3, 2007 12:30 PM PDT

MoJoBlog provoked a hot discussion about the tanker explosion that warped two highways in Oakland at the same time on Sunday. Now two independent Websites are unraveling the case. One brings us this photo of Cheney fleeing the scene of the "accident." My question is, why aren't the mainstream media reporting the fact that NOT A SINGLE Israeli was driving on that part of the freeway when it collapsed?

Cheney-4-29.bmp

Coachella Wrapup - Sunday

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| Mon Apr. 30, 2007 3:50 AM PDT

In today's edition, the third and final of your daily Coachella wrapups, enjoy: Rage! French bands! Predicting riots... after they happen! And a bro factor through the roof! This day is written in the blisters on my feet: let me unwrap the bandages for your benefit.

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Coachella Wrapup - Saturday

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| Sun Apr. 29, 2007 1:51 AM PDT

In today's edition of What I Did On My Trip To Coachella, you will experience: Unbearable heat! Profusion of bros! Arcade Fire! Celebrities! And VIP fashion trends! It's Coachella Day Two, and the dusty crap in my nose is still fresh, so let's get this all down before I forget.

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Coachella Wrapup - Friday

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| Sat Apr. 28, 2007 3:29 AM PDT

Good morning from Indio. It's Party Ben, reporting at 2:30 a.m., so please forgive the poor grammar or wonky punctuation.

Coachella, it should be said, contains multitudes, and I don't just mean 60,000 hipster kids wandering around the desert. With so much music happening all at once, your experience of the festival is shaped by your choices, your luck, and how fast you can walk. So I, along with my intrepid photographer Kristi, tried to sample as many performers as possible. Here's what we saw on the first day of the first three-day Coachella in the event's 8-year history.

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Nagi Noda and Jack White Team Up to Pimp Coke Prettily

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| Fri Apr. 27, 2007 3:12 PM PDT


Highly acclaimed director Nagi Noda is known for her whimsical eye and is the creative genius behind many fantasy laden art and video projects. Her most notable works include the short film Fitness Video and music videos for artists such as the Scissors Sisters: "She's My Man", Tiga: "Far from Home", and the brillant Yuki: "Sentimental Journey" video that inspired Noda's latest work--a commercial for Coke featuring music by Unibloggal heartthrob Jack White. For the most part I hate ads which is why I praise my DVR up and down every night, but if I have to be subjected to the art of marketing, I at least appreciate when it's artful.

—Laurin Asdal

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Meet the "Messengers of Orgasm"

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| Thu Apr. 26, 2007 8:00 PM PDT

If you haven't found your clit by adulthood, it might be worth seeking some guidance. That little nub can be hard to find, and cultural and religious mores have shrouded it even further. But paying $2,000? Living in a community of spiritual supporters? Practicing "orgasmic meditation" every day under the direction of a guru? The for-profit One Taste Urban Retreat Center in SOMA sounds less like feminist consciousness-raising than a self-help scam. Rife with jargon such as obnosing, chargey, and open-source sensuality, this story by Mary Spicuzza is a fun read.

Early Top 10: Coachella Edition

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| Wed Apr. 25, 2007 6:51 PM PDT

Tomorrow morning, me and about 60,000 of my pals will start heading down to Indio for the Coachella Music & Arts Festival. The event – envisioned as an American version of British festivals like Glastonbury, without the mud -- has drawn hipsters, fashionistas, yuppies, rockers, ravers, goths and geeks to the broiling desert since 1999. I've been to all but one. Maybe it's the amazing lineup, maybe it's the well-planned and grassy venue, or maybe it's the fact that I never had a wild Spring Break experience because I was always studying too hard, but I love everything about Coachella, and every year I start counting down the days to the next one the moment I get back. Check back here for coverage and pictures all weekend. Here's an arbitrary list of what to look forward to if you're going (or watching the webcast):

mojo-photo-sonicyouth.jpg10. Sonic Youth (Outdoor Stage, Friday)
This venerable New York combo put out one of the best albums of 2006, and this might be our only chance to hear them play songs from it, since much of their upcoming tour will be dedicated to Daydream Nation. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

mojo-photo-jarvis.JPG9. Jarvis Cocker (Outdoor Stage, Friday)
Pulp were near-revolutionaries, and while their frontman hasn't stayed on top of the charts, he's as feisty as ever (bad language on that link!), releasing an acclaimed solo record this year.

mojo-photo-manu.JPG8. Manu Chao (Main Stage, Sunday)
What's great about Coachella is that not only do you catch up with your favorite artists, but also discover new ones. I don't know much about this Latin singer, but about seven different people in the last week have told me how excited they are about him, so I'll check him out, and I hope he doesn't turn out to be the World Music Dave Matthews which is kind of what he looks like he might be from this picture.

mojo-photo-faithless.JPG7. Faithless (Sahara Stage, Friday)
It's been almost ten years since I've seen Faithless, and it was at a small San Francisco club; in the meantime, they've established themselves as an epic, must-see festival act all over Europe. With Coachella known for life-changing dance tent shows (see Daft Punk, Underworld, Chemical Brothers), this could be a highlight.

mojo-photo-peterbjornjohn.JPG6. Peter Bjorn & John (Mojave Tent, Saturday)
Sticking a heavily-buzzed band in the tiniest tent (see Gnarls Barkley last year) is also a Coachella tradition; if I can actually get in to see them, I'll be interested to see how their lilting, '60s-style indie pop translates to the stage.

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MTV Thinks Indie Bands Are Over

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| Wed Apr. 25, 2007 5:52 PM PDT

mojo-cover-blocparty.jpg A weirdly vitriolic and kind of hard-to-read article appeared today on MTVNews.com with the basic point that "indie bands are unsuccessful." I suppose it shouldn't be surprising -- it's kind of like George W. Bush saying global warming doesn't exist. What are you expecting him to say? But it's still disappointing. The writer, James Montgomery, describes some sort of mythical time -- apparently, 2005 -- when bands like Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were "flavors of the month." Sadly, none of them could keep it up, because, uh, something happened, "and suddenly," it reads, "none of them seemed to matter much any more." Wow!

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Bjork on SNL: Hmm, B-minus?

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| Sun Apr. 22, 2007 8:43 PM PDT


(Watch quick, before it gets taken down...)

Icelandic singer Björk gave a highly anticipated performance on "Saturday Night Live" last night, her first on the show in almost ten years. It's an interesting time for Björk: with a new album and high-profile tour imminent, she's seemingly emerging from a kind of artistic cocoon that she appeared to enter after the traumatic experience of filming the nearly unwatchable (in my opinion) "Dancer in the Dark." Think back: the immense artistic achievement of 1997's Homogenic was followed by Vespertine and Medulla (in 2001 and 2004 respectively): introverted, experimental albums with none of Homogenic's vertigo-inducing vistas of sound or emotional intensity. After that, as if to thumb her nose at critics who thought she couldn't get more left-field, she hooked up with Matthew Barney, and their combined effort, "Drawing Restraint," seemed both weaker and weirder than the individual artists' work.

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Photo Essays + Slideshows

kids smoking

Glamorous Photos of Kids Smoking

Frieke Janssens' images of kids and (fake!) cigarettes capture the ugliness and the not-quite-bygone glamour of smoking.

Slideshow: "Enjoy an Ice Cream Cone Shortly Before Lunch"

10 classic ads from the sugar and cereal industries.

Portraits of Addiction

A Manhattan banker shoots portraits of drug abuse, sex work, and homelessness in the Bronx.

Garry Winogrand, John F. Kennedy, Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, 1

Never Before Seen Photos From Legendary Street Photographer Garry Winogrand

Fourteen amazing scenes of life in America—and hundreds more where that came from.

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