Kanye's crazy. We know this. The mad man whose ego could unfurl down the winding path of The Great Wall of China and still be in reserve, is kind of an asshole kind of often. You could cite a thousand examples of this, or just one that we all remember as an award-winning moment. The thing is though that in addition to his immature petulance being remarkable, West is good, damn good. His word work is arguably second to none. He drops lines that baffle in their cleverness. His music reverbs with intelligence and swift wit, as well as brain wrapping beats that bust through radio speakers and headphones clear across any societal divide. He's a star, and has been since his first wire-jawed crash onto the scene, but now he's a tastemaker and a filmmaker.
My first notice of the 35 minute time clock running down at the bottom bar of West's long-form music video fro Runaway elicited a reflexive mouse over to the fast forward button, but I never made use of it. Besides for featuring West's awesome new crop of songs, the video is expertly art directed. The colors and scenery are hypnotic, sturated and frenetic. Although the director's credit goes to West, (maybe an ego feed?) the video's lifeblood is contemporary artist and credited Art Director Vanessa Beecroft's. Beecroft made a name for herself in the 90s and aughts by gathering groups of similarly styled women into gallery spaces for fashion heavy art sit-ins. Her work was beloved and accepted by the fashion world, which also trades mightily in the gathering of static, aesthetically similar females.
Stills from Vanessa Beecroft performance pieces, 1993 to 2010.
Ms. Beecroft's hand in the Runaway piece mends a puzzle for me: I watched Kanye's VMA performance with its cavalry of same-same stylized dancers thinking that Ms. Beecroft would be proud. Now I see that she's more than inspired the work, she's been involved! West's sonic cinema also gathers other top talents. Philip Lim is responsible for the sartorial aspects, and the legendary, ubiquitous costume magicians at Izquierdo Studio turned model-made-actress Selita Ebanks into a Victoria's Secret version of a phoenix hell bent on setting their fine feathered work ablaze. The always hip Hype Williams is given a writer's credit, which smells funky to me in light of his phenomenal director's reel. Perhaps Hype did more "writing" by directing this top notch video with Kanye. No matter the semantics of titles, the video is obviously the result of some dream team work and obviously an instant classic. Keep it comin' Yeezy (and team) because it's raising the bar so damn high and us fans like it very much.
My coworker Graig and I have turned our humble office into a disco. How you might ask? It's easy with the addition of what I have now come to believe is an office supply necessity. Introducing the Desktop Discoball!
All you do is hit the lights, push the lil button and watch the spectacle of silvery light spin. Now, you can't just have any music playing when this thing is going, you need to maestro the perfect soundtrack. May we suggest the soulful stylings of Ms. Beth Ditto, who has become out daily work party's star performer. She's so amazing. Not only is The Gossip's song "Heavy Cross" too good for words according to Graig, but Beth Ditto is one of my favorite fashion icons, so it all works out incredibly well. The Ditto's curvaceous figure is the least of her most amazing attributes, girl can belt it out and she's a singularly sensational role model for liberation of all kinds: aesthetic, sexual, body. It just doesn't end. Here she is in the song's glittering and golden video:
And, just in case you doubted the girl's for realness, check out this making of the video feature that highlights her greatness.
Don't you just love her? Party on, Beth. I'll see you at work in the morning.
I'm only going to say this once, so listen up: In spite of previous misgivings about The One Who Bluffs with Her Muffin, I actually really like the new Lady Gaga track and video. Director Francis Lawrence did it up on "Bad Romance"! His slick music video skills (previously seen in such poppy stunners as Britney's "I'm a Slave For You", Janet's "Son of a Gun", and Gwen's "What You Waiting For?"--all of which are in my top ten videos of all time) match the mistress of mayhem's music and me-me-me-mantra magically. The super white light, blond-coiffed, make-up saturated, sex show is something I'm sure Madonna is so jealous she wasn't a part of. With this video, Gaga actually takes the Material Girl's torch and stomps away with it, wild-eyed, searching for a built guy in some wicked footwear. I also think Gaga is the perfect female embodiment of Marilyn Manson's legacy. She's offering the scary pop that people always have a little craving for, and she's running it into a very glam mainstream. I'm spitting words here, but there's no need. Just watch the video:
I can't deny it: The Gaga done good. And, Lady, nice McQueen shoes, Bitch! Loves them on you. This Gaga track actually premiered at Alexander McQueen's incredible Plato's Atlantis runway show last month, which was brilliant. What a great match. Speaking of matches, the Gaga burns the Haus down and gets crispy in the end, but her shoes survive. Thank God.
