The Chosen People
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- kingjulien
Why is the design community so anti-semitic? Seriously, why can't QBN show some love? I'm talking a retrospective honoring the chosen people. We have dominated this design field (like every other) you hoors, and done so with panache, and the tightest and wettest perms this side of Davey Kleinfeld. And don't think we can't mob deep if it comes to that. I may be a half-breed, but take my Matza Ball soup and see what happens. Keep that window open and see if my grandmother doesn't backhand the waitress about the draft. Bust out those dice and watch me break yo self fool on the dradle. See me borrow $2.50 from you at Quiznos with a twenty in my pocket and just smile while doing it.
We're talking reparations, muthaf*ckers. You know the US knew about the Holocaust way before they decided to intervene with them damn Klauses. Remember the Rosenbergs! Remember the Hollywood Blacklist! Viva la Royal Tenenbaums!
Don't forget, Ace Rothstein from Casino refused to assimilate to this racist cracka society, and neither will I. If that means wearing Blue Vuarnets from 1982 and doing the cabbage patch to the theme song from DC Cab, I'm not trippin.
I hope you take these ideas seriously. AhSalamMaLeekum my brothas.
- clone0
yo brutha put down the crack pipe and get a job
- MX_OnD0
let's talk instead of something not racist releated? i am fucking sick of that
pascii
(Feb 16 05, 00:35)Well sed ya Swiss hoooooooor!
MX_OnD
(Feb 16 05, 00:42)
- JamesEngage0
er, fuck off.
- kingjulien0
Sarcasm you Scottish hoooooor!
- MX_OnD0
Sarcasm you Scottish hoooooor!
kingjulien
(Feb 16 05, 00:57)Lowest form of wit
ya daft yank TITSeriously WHY did ye huv tae dee it??
The black history thing hus been goin' oan noo fer over a week an' this hjist gives the boay mare fuel. I'm with James oan this one:
er, fuck off.
JamesEngage
(Feb 16 05, 00:56)
- pascii0
Lines Of Communication
Reviewed by Ian WhitneyI don’t think I need to tell you that Do The Right Thing is a good movie. You probably knew that. If you didn’t, you know it now. The Critic has spoken. With that out of the way, I think it’s time to start drawing some comparisons and making some sweeping generalizations about the Lee movies I’ve seen so far. One constant theme is the failure of communication and the divisions it creates among groups that should be united. In She’s Gotta Have It, Nora is never able to explain to her three boyfriends why she is dating them all simultaneously. And the men’s attempts to talk to Nora or to each other only make things worse. In School Daze, the groups chastise outsiders and pass tests of fealty but never stop to notice that the people they ostracize are themselves. Do the Right Thing continues these themes with a complexity and confidence missing from his earlier films.
Within the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant there are a lot of stories in that make up Do The Right Thing, a complete summary would be far too long and uninteresting. At the highest level, the film is about an exceptionally hot day. Driven by heat, the usually invisible tensions between the residents, business owners and police become strained to the point of breaking. The main tension is between Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and the Italian-American owners of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. Buggin’ Out takes issue with Sal’s “Wall of Fame”, a collection of pictures of Italian-American entertainers that doesn’t reflect the population of the almost all-black neighborhood.
This conflict is the backbone of the story, but far from the focus. Throughout the day, residents from all parts of the neighborhood conflict, pulling at tensions that the heat has made taut. None of these conflicts are resolved; the people involved talk or yell but never actually communicate. Almost every exchange ends in “fuck you” as the characters depart in disgust. The residents are unable to communicate honestly but, as in She’s Gotta Have It, they are honest once they are alone. In one scene, Lee shows all the characaters’ unspoken thoughts by having them spew racial slurs at the camera. In dialog, these unspoken thoughts create misunderstandings and divisions among groups that should be united as members of the neighborhood. The unresolved conflicts pile on each other and fester, building the tension until the neighborhood explodes.
Lee leaves open the question of what people should do with all these unspoken thoughts. Bringing them out into the open could be cathartic, but also divisive. Lee is clear that keeping divisions hidden only leads to greater conflict, the tension remains under the surface only to explode during times of stress. As an alternative, Lee uses a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King smiling and shaking hands as a symbol of disparate groups uniting for a single cause. After the film’s conclusion, Lee uses quotes from the two men as post-scripts. The quotes show the great difference between the two men, but the photo shows that they could unify. Neighborhood resident Smiley, who has an undefined mental illness (Lee says in his book on the making of Malcom X that Smiley was a deaf-mute, but he does speak and hear in the movie so who knows?), hovers in the background of much of the film trying to sell copies of the photo to passers by. But Smiley and his pictures are ignored throughout the film. Lee gives his characters the answer to their conflicts if only they’d ever stop to look at it.By ignoring the possible solution, the film’s conflicts remain open after the closing credits. That suits Lee’s purpose well, he’s not looking to give solutions, but to create discussion. Like he did in School Daze, Lee opens many cans of worms without intending to close any of them. Unlike School Daze, where the conflicts were simply dropped in its sudden and fantastical ending, Lee uses the conflicts to serve a purpose, creating a tension in the film that is vital for the climax. All of the neighborhood’s tensions come to rest on the shoulders of Mookie (Spike Lee).
By giving the film’s central role and pivotal choice to Mookie—and, by extension, to Lee himself—Lee shows the trap that even the nicest, most conscious person can be caught in. Mookie is a goof, but a loveable goof. He’s one of the few who tries to bridge the barriers between Sal’s and the neighborhood. He works at Sal’s, is friends with Vito and attempts to soothe Pino’s racial anger. Mookie also makes some of the films most questionable decisions that are far from doing “the right thing.”
If Mookie, the film’s most sympathetic character, can’t do the right thing, is Lee suggesting that it’s an impossible goal? I don’t think so. Rather, I think he’s trying to be realistic about its difficulty. In its final scene, Do The Right Thing starts to explore how friendships can emerge from anger. It’s an open invitation to the audience to pick up where the characters leave off, starting a painful but rewarding dialog.1
- kingjulien0
Seriously WHY did ye huv tae dee it??
MX_OnD
(Feb 16 05, 00:59)Actually, I just like watching you construct sentences and toss insults around, MX, it amuses me, and if that gives you a headache, with all the other nonsense around here, well, that's kinda funny too.
- jamble0
Why don't you just fuck off?
- pascii0
yeah really king julien.
btw, i like the works of leni riefenstahl what makes me. i am sure, in your eyes a narrow minded nazi
- kingjulien0
Pasci, if you took my original satire and twisted it into something as retarded as that premise you just tossed forth, you really may be missing that chromosome after all.
Jamble, lick my balls.
- pascii0
did i miss a point? stick that discussion up your arse
- MX_OnD0
I'll write this in plain English Julien
to make perfectly certain you understand my every word.There has been a thread for over a week now where racist fucking nonsense is being spouted and hatred generally spread. The timing of your thread is rather unfortunate.
Given that your thread was intended as a sarcastic parody on this first thread that has caused so much grief it is evident that your thread will act as an incendiary.
So your claim to sarcasm is a valid one, but your claim to intelligence (not to mention emotional intelligence) unfortunately not.
- iDp0
MX you speak english?
- kingjulien0
MX, I don't care if you think the timing is bad. It's just a little post that if nobody responds to, will go away quickly with other assorted bad attempts at humor. If a jackass twists that and turns it around, or any thread for that matter, into something juvenile or racist or retarded, guess what? That's the sick and twisted world we live in, that was the point of my ramblings, and ultimately, there's way more important things to be concerned with.
I'm not sure what is more annoying, the teenie bopper wanna be thugs or the so called NT purists who get their panties in a bunch when their humor doesn't conform to someone elses.
Now, I never claimed anything about intelligence, but I also don't think you should be the one who determines these things. After all, your website is a Valentine's Heart which turns into a hairy ballsack. I think it's hilarious, and laughed my ass off yesterday when I first saw it, but is that high brow intelligence?
Now good night, I don't choose to spend my life on here writing treaties on NT protocal.
- pascii0
"This conflict is the backbone of the story, but far from the focus. None of these conflicts are resolved; the people involved talk or yell but never actually communicate. Almost every exchange ends in “fuck you” as the characters depart in disgust. The residents are unable to communicate honestly."
- pascii0
whatever. sleep well kingjulien. see you next 'round
- MX_OnD0
airey/kingjulien
please post yer phone numbers.
I have an urge to phone you and call you cocks.
MX_OnD
(Feb 16 05, 01:24)You don't understand that by posting another thread like this you are actively encouraging the same fuckwit responses as the chris rock and black history threads???
I was not making a comment on humour in general but rather that trying to pass off an encouragement for racism as sarcasm is particularly unfunny.
- paraselene0
i don't believe he's even jewish. he spelled matzoh and dreidel wrong.
- e-pill0
MX you speak english?
iDp
(Feb 16 05, 01:30)
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you know andrew i thought the same thing for a lil bit until i got your emails and read your posts in 'the design thread' it really threw me off...makes me smile...i do love how you construct your sentences in your scottish tone. its fun to read! its almost like a jeckyl and hyde..your metaphors rock!
- rasko40
get a sense of humour, my niggas.