Des Temps

Tag: pop culture

  • Gay Navy

    Uncle Sam Wants You

    The US military has a long history of helping the entertainment industry with props and narrative consulting. This includes The Village People’s music video for the song In The Navy. And the Navy even used the song in recruiting efforts, until they realized that the VP were quite gay.

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    What I find curious is the issue of authorship. Lyrically the song is a paean to the Navy. And if sung by hetero cadets, would likely be embraced by the brass. But since it’s by gay men, is assumed to be laced with subtext. I imagine that it was penned with a wink, but where does it fall within intent vs. interpretation? Could it exist with fan bases that may be at cross purposes? Makes me think of Soulja Boy, SkeetSkeet +FUBU or how Abercrombie & Fitch, worn by many a conservative frat boy, uses the gay terms ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ when cataloguing their menswear.

  • Notorious

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    Above is the Biggie Smalls trailer. Below is the beginning.

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  • Who's Got Next: Champion + Starter?

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    OK. So we know that the 90s are the new 80s, and now that it’s the first crispy day of fall, I’m ready to see if 2 classic brands come back 100% in hipster/rapster style: Champion logo sweatshirts and Starter Jackets. Internets, what do you think?

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    And – JSmooth has for us a great note about Hipster Rap:

  • So Lonely

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    Our friends Michael and Johanna recently wrote great posts about the current upswing in collective loneliness. It may seem at odds with our web of connections, but with each wave of tech comes new feelings of alienation. Wondering if that’s what put the walkies in this Police video.

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  • Chad Ocho Cinco

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    So Bengals WR Chad Johnson has legally changed his named to Chad Ocho Cinco – and now his jersey will reflect that. I love this sly win for individuality within a massive corporation, sometimes maligned as the “No Fun League”. @ the end of the day, Chad knows that he is businessman, not just a sportsman, and is remixing the ways in which he can capitalize on his brand. Reminds me of Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali and of course Rod Smart, aka He Hate Me, from the XFL.

  • Pineapple Express, A Bromantic Comedy

    a very bromantic pic here

    The film Pineapple Express brings forth the new genre of Bromantic Comedy. How new is this term? It ain’t yet on Wikipedia.

    Over the last few years, Hollywood has taken male bonding to a new level of intimacy, far more sensitive than Lethal Weapon. Entourage, Superbad, 40 Year Old Virgin and the forthcoming Bromance.– all of these are about male friendship and openly speak to the fact that Guys Have Feelings. (‘feelings’ being historically ‘unmanly/queer’) While the scripts are rife with jokes about being gay, the stories are grounded in the pursuit of punani.

    Not so in Pineapple, a film in which many of the male characters are painted with unasked/unanswered question marks about their sexuality. Women are used moreso for comic relief than to reaffirm the hetero status of the characters. So if this film makes a tidy profit, I do wonder what the next step in this narrative trend will be.

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  • Top Chef, Williamsburg + Mayonnaise

    Eat In Kitchen

    Word from Gothamist is that the new Top Chef contestants are living in my hood at the McCarren Park Condos. When asked what was filming, a crew member deadpanned “A mayonnaise commercial. Just a mayonnaise commercial.”

    Mayonnaise and Cat Food are the two tried and true classics of film set crowd control. Tell the public that’s what you’re shooting, and they’ll keep on moving – the thinking is that nobody cares about these products. No prom king, sorry.

    That said, while working on set I’ve had odd conversations with passerby about the virtues of condiments and cats. And even as a filmmaker, I am not immune from such chicanery. Last week I walked by a set and paused to ask what’s shooting – in my query using code to convey my insider status – it’s OK, you can tell me what’s really on camera.
    But alas no pass for me, just a stonefaced response: “Hellmann’s Mayonnaise.” I smiled and pushed on.

    no brands for you!

    (Bonus Points go to whichever upstart filmmakers create a meta-text that integrates Top Chef with their Carroll Gardens brethren Real World.)