Joaquin Phoenix's documentary I'm Still Here catches me off gaurd, Sarah Palin may be hoping to catch all of America off guard in 2012, and Jay Electronica might be 1 step closer to saving hip-hop.
I'm Still Here
Joaquin Phoenix told everyone he was going to quit being an actor and pursue a career as a hip-hop artist a few years back. A lot of people were stunned, many people didn't believe him, and similar to Sarah Palin's Alaska, I didn't care. In 2009 he went on Letterman and gave a really strange interview, which I vaguely remembered hearing about. I also very vaguely remembered reports that his rapping career was an utter disaster.
Well, Joaquin Phoenix's whole 2 year ordeal was filmed for a documentary by Casey Affleck for a film called I'm Still Here. It turns out the entire 2 years, rapping career and all, was a giant hoax or some kind of elaborate "meta" film project. Joaquin Phoenix had pulled a fast one. When I watched I'm Still Here, what's described above is all the information I had about the movie, I wasn't expecting much—mostly I was watching out of boredom—and I very much expected an artsy, preachy, indie film full of pretention. I'm Still Here is hilariously funny, and I'm completely behind the premise of the movie. I feel like an Oscar nominated Hollywood actor that is truly willing to risk his entire real life career in an elaborate 2 year exploration of celebrity, fame, the media, and a whole lot else, borders on brilliant. Contrary to my initial suspicion, the movie actually fails in defining clearly what it's about which is probably it's major flaw. However, what I took away was the way everyone who encountered Joaquin (other celebrities, media figures) looked at him throughout the movie, completely unsure about what he was truly doing. It was as though all of their faces were saying, "you're not allowed to toy with the notions of celebrity and fame." Everyone looked disturbed not being able to distinguish between the purposefully manufactured world of the media, celebrity, fame, fortune, and whatever it was Joaquin Phoenix was doing. He blurred everyone's already blurred reality. Though it didn't fully work, I really like this movie. I really recommend it. If nothing else, it's surprisingly very funny throughout.
Sarah Palin's Alaska
Alright. I'm going to try to hold my lunch. Apparently Sarah Palin has a reality TV show on TLC, and it aired it first episode last night. For the record, I don't watch TLC, didn't know Palin's show was airing last night, and wouldn't have watched it even if I had. The show, called Sarah Palin's Alaska, I guess is supposed to be about Palin and her family living out their traditional American lives and traditional American values, in the Alaskan heartland. As many people have pointed out, the show is likely a giant political ad for Sarah Palin that she doesn't have to pay for—in fact to the contrary, they're paying her. There are many aspects of politics that I find interesting, but Sarah Palin makes my stomach queasy and my head hurt. That said, her ability to completely avoid any of the seriousness that normally accompanies discussions about being leader of the free world are masterful, if downright frightening, and her TV show is just more evidence of that fact. Soon this may be Sarah Palin's America. I just threw up a little on my keyboard. Oh well. On the bright side, Palin may be onto something here. If America is now experiencing its decline the least we can do is turn it into the biggest entertainment spectacle in the history of the world, by turning our descent into a reality show. Really, I don't care what happens to this country, but we'll rue the day we stop producing world-class television.
Jay Electronica
I'm many things, a repository of hip-hop news and information is not one of them. Talk about not caring about something, typically this would top the list. I first heard Jay Electronica exactly a year ago, well after he'd hit the underground scene. I was duly impressed, downloaded his mixtape, What the F*ck is a Jay Electronica, and listened to it on repeat for months. The Willy Wonka, (a childhood favorite of mine) woven throughout the entire album; a song over a movie score; the best post Katrina song; the whole mixtape is creative genius. Jay Electronica is in my opinion both the best rapper in hip-hop right now and in a long time. Last year, about the time I found out about him, he apparently signed with Diddy, which cause me and a lot of other people to sigh in cautious frustration. Everyone has been waiting a long time for Jay Electronica to put out a proper album, but Sean Combs isn't exactly a repository of smart, conscience, provocative, grown man, hip-hop himself. There was the fear he'd ruin Jay Electronica. Yet the fact that Jay Electronica had finally signed a deal that would produce an actual album was still exciting. Well that was a year ago and none of it ever happened. Today everybody is breathing a little easier as Jay Electronica has apparently signed a deal with Jay Z, subsiding fears Diddy uniquely produced, and renewing hope that someday we may actually get a Jay Electronica album.
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