Why Ye should ignore the haters, Jurassic Park through the eyes of the dinosaurs, the best of Kendrick and rappers watching porn. Here’s what the Dazed team are ‘liking’ this week
JURASSIC PARK FROM THE DINOSAURS POINT OF VIEW
“How it has taken 22 years to imagine what Jurassic Park was like from the dinosaurs point of view is beyond me. Looking at the seminal Spielberg hit through eyes older than time becomes the best game ever. There is a lot of fun poked at Jeff Goldblum’s state of open shirtedness. And at how whiny the snot-faced grandchildren are. Remember when the boy is so useless he gets forcefully ejected from the electric barrier? LOL. Karen was having a right laugh, we imagine (Karen is the ficitional name given to the T-Rex). ‘Why does everything I love leave me?’ Karen asks, after mauling a human. Ugh, too good.” – Trey Taylor, Film Editor (@TreyTylor)
FUGU & TAKO
“Can Sushi get any fresher than that? This funny short mockumentary filled with great VFX lets you get a glimpse at the after effects of fresh fish and a friendship that is on the rocks.” – Camilla Mathis, Production Coordinator (@camillamathis)
TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY: KENDRICK LAMAR’S UNAPOLOGETIC BLACK AMERICAN DREAM
“How many rappers can produce two classic albums back to back? Don't worry... I'll wait! With the surprise release of Kendrick Lamar's new album To Pimp A Butterfly, there has been praise and criticism, from lengthy think pieces to 140-character Twitter commentaries, all discussing the album's theme of racism, poverty, black culture and more. Salon discusses Lamar’s concept of the black American dream through a detailed rundown of the album, noting his references to political parties as gangs (DemoCrips and and ReBloodlicans) in Hood Politics, to his bold bravado when shattering black stereotypes in Blacker the Berry (“My hair is nappy/ My dick is big/ My nose is round and wide.”) In a time where unjust killings of black men across America continue, and discussions of cultural appropriation are reaching breaking point, Kendrick has created an unapologetically black album, asserting himself as one of the most honest and fearless rappers in the industry. Now this album is truly The New Classic. Catch that reference if you want to.” – Leah Sinclair, Editorial Intern (@LeahSinclairr)
DAVID CRONENBERG'S MASTERPIECE “VIDEODROME” WAS A TECHNOLOGY PROPHECY
“While researching around LaBeouf, Rönkkö and Turner's Follow My Heart project this week, I got lost in the writing of social media theorist and sociologist Nathan Jurgenson. Jurgenson basically argues that IRL is URL: our digital lives form a part of our augmented reality, and are no less ‘real’ than the ‘real’ world. This essay on Cronenberg's Videodrome, which positions the movie as a counterpoint to The Matrix's misreading of Baudrillard, articulates it particularly well, using Cronenberg's body horror imagery spliced with media theory to convince you that Facebook is real life as much as television is real life. It also drew my attention to the fact that the film was originally called Network of Blood, which circles right back around to the idea of Follow My Heart, and is, as Jurgenson writes, ‘precisely how we should understand social media, as a technology not just of wires and circuits, but of bodies and politics. There’s nothing anti-human about technology: the smartphone that you rub and take to bed is a technology of flesh.’” – Aimee Cliff, Music Editor (@AimeeCliff)
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ACTION BRONSON, A$AP FERG, THE-DREAM & MORE WATCH VR PORN
“‘A lot of motherfuckers ain’t never gonna leave the house.’ Watch a bunch of your favourite rappers awkwardly watch virtual reality porn for the very first time.” – Sean Carpenter, Digital Marketing Coordinator (@SeanCarpenter2)
“Enormous Eye is Rookie editor (and sometime Dazed writer) Amy Rose Speigel's new website. She gets writers to track their Saturday and then write down exactly what they do. It sounds like it might be totally boring and banal, but there's something strangely fascinating about knowing what people do for an otherwise totally arbitrarily chosen 24 hours of their life.” – Zing Tsjeng, News Editor (@MissZing)
“How do jokes connect to atrocities? Does Youtube operate as the modern world's universal vernacular culture database? And aren't ISIS, well, a bit silly? This excellent post from Al Jazeera, commissioned around Saturday Night Live's takedown, reminds us that, no matter how evil ISIS's reign is, humour can combat the horror. When is too soon? Maybe for the sensitivities of those far from the bloodshed, it always will be. But for those citizens of the Middle East dealing with this reality everyday, the chance to rip the piss out of ISIS is part of the process. ‘A joke does not degrade a subject,’ said Orwell. ‘It reminds him he is already degraded.’ Never a truer word said.” – Charlie Robin Jones, Digital Editor (@CharliexJones)
KANYE WEST AT GLASTONBURY 2015: THIS GENERATION'S POP PROVOCATEUR WON'T BE BORING
“The kind of people kicking off about Kanye headlining Glastonbury are the same kind who were genuinely excited when Foo Fighters were announced. Also the same kind who start petitions which go viral and then have to sheepishly admit they've never set foot on those muddy Worthy farm fields. As a recent Yeezy agnostic turned fundamentalist I am pretty excited. And I'm not going either. Glastonbury is an enormous festival with hundreds of acts. But to be a headliner you must be able to captivate the masses, be the spectacle, the escape, the epitome of pop culture today and Kanye is all that. (You may spit hate in Facebook comments on our Kanye articles but you're still talking about him, reading about him, thinking about him. That's pop, am I right?) Like Jay Z before him, and to a lesser extent, Beyoncé, Kanye is an unusual ‘festival’ headliner, but not a surprise one. Glasto isn't just for the 175,000 who make the pilgrimage each year, but for the millions of underage, over-age and anyone who can't spare £200+ on a ticket (me) who watch the coverage on TV. It's a national event. And the people want Kanye. Plus I can't fucking wait to see Kim in Hunter wellies.” – Natasha Slee, Social Media Assistant (@TashaLouises)
WE OWE “SCARY SPICE” AN APOLOGY
“I've never really thought about it before but this piece had me face palming all over the shop. Why did we call Mel B. Scary Spice? Why was she scary when Emma was Baby? Mel C Sporty? Surely, the only thing standing between her and another moniker was some sort of low lying racism that we were too young to understand. So, as a grown up (of sorts) Mel B., please take this as my official apology.” – Ashleigh Kane, Digital Assistant (@AshleighKane)
