Category Archives: Humor

Saturday Matinee: Gridlock’d

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“Gridlock’d” (1997) is a film most people remember for featuring one of Tupac Shakur’s last starring roles (he was murdered in a shooting just two months after its completion). While Tupac’s performance as Spoon, a level-headed but drug-addicted jazz musician, is impressive and possibly his best, often overlooked are contributions of co-star Tim Roth and actor/writer/first-time director Vondie Curtis Hall. Roth stars as Stretch, Spoon’s impulsive and slightly deranged partner in addiction and music. Both Shakur and Roth inhabit their roles with a sense of authenticity, humanity, and charisma, giving their potentially pathetic characters believable chemistry and a likeable comic edge. The film kicks off when the third member of their jazz combo, Cookie, played by Thandie Newton, has an overdose, compelling the others to go on a quixotic quest seeking treatment for their addiction. Unfortunately for our protagonists the Detroit healthcare system is a bureaucratic maze seemingly designed to thwart their efforts. Odds of their success are decreased further when they’re targeted by cops and gangsters.

Detroit-born Vondie Curtis Hall does an excellent job balancing the script’s gritty realism and dark outlook with comedy and wit. Visually, the film is stylish without looking too glamorous or grim, and he keeps moments of humor and suspense well-paced. Hall is also suitably menacing as gangster D-Reper. Director John Sayles, who previously worked with Hall on the film “Passion Fish”, makes a cameo appearance as one of the cops. Hall hasn’t yet made another film on par with the quality of Gridlock’d, but he continues to do much acting and directing work for television.

As strong as Hall’s directorial debut is, it wouldn’t be as emotionally involving and memorable were it not for Tupac Shakur’s presence. Like his character in Gridlock’d, Tupac was at the time seeking a new beginning; a new creative direction. The fact that his life was tragically cut short can’t help but add a sense of poignancy and dramatic weight to his role and the entire film.

Russell Brand on Voting and Revolution

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Though I’m not familiar with Russell Brand’s work as an actor, judging from interview clips he’s a pretty good comedian and social critic in the tradition of Bill Hicks. In this excerpt from the BBC program Newsnight he defends his choice not to vote and voices concern for a number of topics not usually discussed on television.

While I understand the position of not voting, I believe in the U.S. there’s still good reason to vote at least for local elections, initiatives or referendums. Voting may be a form of coersion but in some cases it can block the enaction of policies leading to greater coersion. If one uses absentee ballots voting doesn’t take much time and effort and though vote rigging is a problem, not all elections are rigged and voting can in some cases make it more difficult to do. For now in this country, with education and organization, voting can still lead to positive change or prevent things from getting worse, and of course one’s political activity shouldn’t be limited to voting. However, when it comes to presidential elections, low turnouts are one way to send a message of illegitimacy and disgust. Despite political disagreements I’m glad public figures such as Brand use their fame as a platform for thoughtful and substantive ideas not usually found in the world of corporate media. It seems he’s been on a roll lately because just last month he was banned from the GQ Awards for this speech:

And earlier this year he made a mockery of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program:

While Brand may have good reason to be annoyed with the hosts, it’s unfortunate that he resorted to lewd jokes near the end. Stooping to their level undermines the effectiveness of his critique, in my opinion.

About the Fainting Diabetic “Saved” by Obama…

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A couple days ago Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton of Truthstream Media released this dissection of a supposedly spontaneous and unusual incident which took place during a recent Obama speech on healthcare:

Even if someone in the audience pointed out to Obama what was happening behind him, it doesn’t explain the utterly unnatural response of the woman next to Karmel who doesn’t even look at her as she’s holding her hand and propping her up. It also doesn’t explain the number of times very similar incidents have occurred in the past. Faintings might be a common occurrence at large public events but to have them play out in almost the exact same way with the same responses makes it more likely to be scripted political theater.

This video was posted on Cryptogon.com and is much like the “TeamWakeEmUp” clip referenced on the Truthstream video:

The latest fainting incident may have been used to hammer in the point about why we need Obamacare and to distract from embarrassing aspects such as the website access problems, but it must have more important uses for it to be used so many times. Corporations and interest groups spend vast amounts of money to get their people into office. High level politicians are too much of an investment risk to allow to act independently so they must work with teams of advisers, speech writers and PR experts. It’s not hard to see what they would gain from the false-fainting ploy. In some situations it could be a distraction but it also adds an element of surprise, fear, reassurance and a little bit of humor which makes the event more dramatic, emotionally resonant and memorable. It also serves to humanize the speaker while simultaneously endowing them with heroic and paternal qualities: attentiveness, assertiveness, cool headed-ness, compassion, and expertise. This strategy would of course work much better in the days before independent media reports and YouTube compilation clips but those could always be dismissed as delusions of “truthers” and conspiracy theorists.

Banksy Back in New York

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Artist and activist Banksy has been posting daily works at http://www.banksyny.com/ as part of a monthlong residency in New York. These are some of the highlights so far:

The Best of George Carlin: Exposing our government and fall of humanity one joke at a time

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The good folks at BrainFeed have helpfully compiled classic segments of George Carlin’s many performances and interviews:

Notes by BrainFeed:

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 — June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, actor, and writer/author who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums. Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his “Seven Dirty Words” comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government’s power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.

The first of his 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. From the late 1980s, Carlin’s routines focused on socio-cultural criticism of modern American society. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. His final HBO special, It’s Bad for Ya, was filmed less than four months before his death. In 2004, Carlin placed second on the Comedy Central list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.