Media Party

Separated at Birth

While Vivian Girls lack the irreverent feminist spirit of The Fabulous Stains -- and this Stains clip doesn't capture the more rocking, Vivian Girls-like sound they develop later in Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains -- these bands have a lovable tunelessness in common. It should also be noted that The White Stripes were kind of named after the Stains' hairstyles... I think. Watch the trailer and you'll see what I mean. -- JD

Stephin Merritt Documentary

Anderson Gets Animated

New Panda Bear

Under the Influence: Quentin Tarantino

The Wave of the Future

Waiting For Something

Waiting For Something - a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Tarpon

This bizarre-looking movie is pretty hard-to-see -- as far as I can tell, it's not even listed on imdb -- but it's definitely out there somewhere. Thanks to DiscLand contributor Jason Woloski for bringing this Jimmy Buffett-scored oddity to my attention. He's seen Tarpon... and he totally vouches for it. -- JD

The Dutchess and the Duke at Sneaky Dee's

The Dutchess and the Duke were in Toronto last night, performing as a two-piece and playing a pretty good balance of album one and album two. Random observation: rarely have I ever seen a band make so many requests for volume adjustments, which is odd given their relatively straightforward double singer-guitarist set-up. For a solid twenty minutes before their set began, both Kimberly Morrison and Jesse Lortz repeatedly asked to have their vocals/guitars turned up and/or down. During this period, they even managed to play lengthy portions of a few songs -- and the (polite) requests didn't stop there. In any case, it turned out to be a pretty solid show, poor sightlines and bizarrely noisy crowd notwithstanding. Watch the following clip and you'll see/hear what I mean. -- JD

Pauline Kael in Conversation

These videos have some strange technical glitches -- and the intro is repeated in each clip -- but this is a rare chance to see legendary film critic Pauline Kael in conversation. People who take issue with her occasionally harsh, contrarian approach to film criticism may be surprised by the humor, enthusiasm and level-headedness she exhibits here, but I always thought these qualities were pretty evident in her writing. Either way, prepare for some enlightening thoughts on the work of Robert Preston, John Boorman, Sidney Lumet, Paul Newman, etc. -- JD

Peace on Earth

For reasons that should be obvious in a minute, this holiday classic rarely gets the attention or airplay it deserves. Produced by MGM on the eve of World War II, Peace on Earth is too dark and depressing for the the happy-go-lucky tastes of today's parents, but it's an extremely potent anti-war message movie. Seventy years later, it still packs a punch. Below Peace on Earth, you'll find its lesser, but still quite effective Hanna-Barbera re-make, Good Will to Men. -- JD

Media Party's Festive Film Festival

Last Friday, I presented a 16mm scope print of the Donald Sutherland/Jennifer O'Neill/Robert Duvall non-classic Lady Ice at The Trash Palace. As a festive treat, I showed an assortment of classic holiday commercials (mostly from the seventies) after the feature. Here are most of those ads, along with a few added attractions. If The Junky's Christmas didn't put you in a holiday frame-of-mind, don't worry, this should do the trick. Happy Holidays, Media Party readers! -- JD

Beatles 3000

Here's a big YouTube find from occasional Media Party contributor Ken Stuebing:

Two Shorts by Jason Reitman

Another Reason to Love FMF

This is a really intriguing video. Apparently, Wes Anderson's attention to detail was so great in re-creating the world of Roald Dahl that Dahl's widow Felicity burst into tears when she first visited the set. Even the furniture and props are miniaturizations of actual objects from Dahl's home. Amazing. -- JD

Papercuts and Camera Obscura at The Phoenix

Glossy, Generic-Looking Noah Baumbach Trailer

A few questions/thoughts: 1) Ben Stiller's hair doesn't fit on his head, 2) you can feel that the trailer is hiding all the non-frivolous stuff, but it looks like the mumblecore chick gets hospitalized at some point, 3) somewhere between The Royal Tenenbaums and Meet the Fockers, Ben Stiller became borderline unwatchable and 4) Noah Baumbach's movies are so consistently great (pseudonymous quickie Highball notwithstanding) that I'm still pretty positive I'll like this. A lot. -- JD

Devo at The Phoenix

Vaguely Terrifying... in a Good Way

Alfred Hitchcock For the Hour

Dirty Projectors at The Opera House

Friday Video Party

Dan Auerbach at The Phoenix

Media Party's Halloween TV Spook-Fest!

Matt Damon Trailer Party

If you had to choose between a feel-good apartheid rugby movie with a funny poster and an amnesia-free Bourne movie set in Iraq, which one would you go with? Too close to call? Not to worry, Matt Damon made both. Invictus is out on December 11th, just in time for unwarranted Oscar nominations, while Green Zone -- which is based on the much-cooler-titled book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City -- is coming out in the more action-friendly month of March. Green Zone is the rare movie that actually seems to be avoiding Oscar buzz, as audiences are apparently afraid of serious, prestige-level dramas about Iraq right now. If you ask me, the team behind this trailer went a little too far in the anti-prestige direction. This certainly doesn't look like an adaptation of a book that the The New York Times Book Review called "absolutely brilliant," though this could still prove to be a fitting description of the film itself. -- JD