If you’re looking to get a little outside of the ordinary with your next film choice, then definitely check out Quid Pro Quo.
Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) is a Public Radio reporter in New York City. When he was eight, his mother and father died in an automobile accident that left him in a wheelchair.
On air, Isaac recounts how he recently received an anonymous tip from someone identified only as “Ancient Chinese Girl.” She tells him a perfectly able-bodied man walked into an emergency ward downtown, and attempted to bribe a doctor into amputating his leg.
As Isaac investigates the eerie tip, he encounters Fiona (Vera Farmiga) who, through her own quandary, leads Isaac to a netherworld of people afflicted with a perverse desire to be disabled. Like a contemporary noir detective film, Quid Pro Quo follows Isaac as he embarks on a dream-like journey to pull back the layers of what makes people feel whole.
This quixotic entanglement between reality and its reinterpretation through desire is the heart and soul of Quid Pro Quo. Isaac is drawn to Fiona’s dark side because somewhere in the strata of her perversion lies an underlying truth about himself. He is confined to a wheelchair because of an accident. What can he possibly learn about himself from Fiona’s desire to be like him? The answer of course is everything.
Bomb It “is the explosive new documentary from award-winning director Jon Reiss investigating the most subversive and controversial art form currently shaping international youth culture: graffiti”.
Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, Bomb It tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe. Featuring old school legends and current favorites such as Taki 183, Cornbread, Stay High 149, T-Kid, Cope 2, Zephyr, Revs, Os Gemeos, KET, Chino, Shepard Fairey, Revok, and Mear One. This cutting edge documentary tracks down today’s most innovative and pervasive street artists as they battle for control over the urban visual landscape. You’ll never look at public space the same way again.
Locations include Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tijuana, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, Berlin, Cape Town, São Paulo, and Tokyo, so all the hot spots are covers as well.
Conclusion: If you have even a passing interest in graffiti, its history, its effect, and its current status, then Bomb It looks like a can’t miss film.
Urban Monarch and Modern Drunkard put together two great guides about how to score free drinks when you go out. Put down the credit card, and slowly step away.
Artist Felix Beck created a non-visual graffiti project called Soundbombs, “innocuous-looking 6-inch plastic shells that broadcast short clips (lines from Shakespeare, flatulence, or anything else you record) to unwitting passersby”. He doesn’t sell them, but instead takes applications, and prospective users must tell him where they will use it and how much they’re willing to pay. Get loud.
Sodium Laurel Sulfate, and ingredient in toothpaste, blocks sweet sensors on your tongue, which explains why orange juice tastes so bad after you brush.
Stuart Haygarth created the Tide Chandelier out of man made debris that washed up along a stretch of the Kent coastline. “The sphere is an analogy for the moon which effects the tides which in turn wash up the debris”.
The Road Tested Chair by John Carter brings the outdoors indoors by utilizing actual New York City “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs that actually work to create the seating surface. The legs are even made of reconfigured and customized steel street sign brackets. Available in genuine street scuff or squeaky clean with a fresh coat of yellow paint, the chair plugs into a standard outlet and is controlled via a remote control. This stuff’s made in New York City.
The New York City Journals is a blogged chronicle of the attempt by one ambitious group of people to recreate New York City faithfully, right down to the street level, in SimCity 4. They’re not just putting buildings in place that kind of look like the real thing though. They’re designing new structures that look exactly like the real thing. They even held a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on the same streets as the real one. Can you say dedication?
If you’re looking to get a little outside of the ordinary with your next film choice, then definitely check out Quid Pro Quo.
