Amir Motlagh
MIRS "Spin Cycle" is now available on Itunes and if you are into collecting hardware, a limited pressing CD is available on Amazon for Pre-Order. It officially comes out this Tuesday, the 23'rd of November, 2010.
While MIRS remains elusive right now, it won't be long before someone else tells you about it. So, be the curator, the tastemaker, the leader of your crew. Don't wait until someone else tells you what to listen to man.
Spin Cycle is now available on BandCamp, followed by a larger digital and CD launch Novemeber 30th, 2010.
Don't waste your fucking time here, go grab it before all the digital files are gone. I would also like to make the case that you pick up the full EP instead of singles, because they are made to go linear, and because its pretty good.
Also, with your purchase of the album, you get a PDF translation page that will come in handy soon.
"Spin Cycle", the first release from MIRS comes out Tuesday, November 2nd on BandCamp as a digital only (MP3, Wav), followed by a limited edition CD pressing & full digital release (including Itunes, Amazon, Etc.) November 30th, 2010. The EP includes the following four tracks:
01. Spring (bombs)
02. Summer (farahavar)
03. Fall (birds)
04. Winter (little tokyo)
Mirs is the name of my new music project. Shanks and the Dreamers are on permanent hiatus. What to look forward too? The debut EP, Spin + Cycle is mixed, and waiting to get mastered. Look for an end of the year release.
More information will be filled out here very shortly.
I've been busy with the website. Finally gotten around to scanning four years of photos taken by my trustee Nikon FE before it broke. A good portion of the photos where from a series I was doing called, "Mothers, Lovers, and Fuckers", which was never fully completed.
A few individual pieces made there way into shows, although I never gathered them all together as a proper series. And now, its no longer a series, but more of a historic document.
If the opportunity is right, I am certainly open to showing them publicly. For now, a few will make their way unto the photography+art section of the website soon.
Taken directly from "100 Films: Indies I Recommend: Whale"
"Indies I Recommend: Whale
Earlier this year, when I was naive enough to think I could somehow change the world (well, not the world as much as a city), I got in my head this idea that I could start a screening series called Indies for Indies. We had a willing venue, so armed with a bunch of ideas stolen from Ted Hope, I set up a series of indie films. And, man, we showed some great films in a stunningly beautiful. The thing is, no one showed up. And not just for the series. No one was showing up for stuff like Sergio Leone films, for Annie Hall, The 400 Blows. We put the series on hiatus and soon after that, the theatre closed. It was a shame, because we could have done great things for indie film in Pittsburgh.
What can you do, right?
Anyway, the very first film we screened as part of the series was Amir Motlagh's Whale, a beautiful film about heartbreak, a lo-fi, found art film made by a supremely talented filmmaker. It's messy--intentionally so--but has more raw, honest truth than any film I've seen this year. Amir very quickly jumped to the top of my list of filmmakers to watch.
And now Whale is available for your home viewing pleasure. You can buy DVDs all over the place, and you can even rent it for a mere $0.99 on YouTube. Don't tell me you can't afford that. Do it. Rent it. Buy a DVD. You won't regret it."
____________
Personally, I would like to point out that you can no longer get WHALE on youtube for a mere $0.99. Its now $1.99. See what happens when you lag.
So, i've finally found a parking spot. This is the first time my website feels integrated, and I've finally put most things under one roof. Of course, its still a work in progress, and we have a bit to go, to make this thing fully functional, with all the content I want to have up. But its going to happen, and it sure is happening fast. My big fear now is mostly related to grammar given the cursory nature of getting a site up and running.
Also, this past year I've spent some time in introspection about the monstrous bourgeoning of Web 2.0. As a man devoted to the arts (as much as one can make this claim while owning up to other responsibilities), this is becoming an increasingly tricky subject, which most people will never need nor want to think twice about.
On one hand, you have the power of connection to almost anyone from our past, present and future. We have increased tools of self-promotion, of conversing with our peers and fans. But these things are on one side of a debate that always get crushed by personal agenda, and sometimes solely on narcissism. Nowadays, we give away many types of information without proper processing. With this comes the commoditization of our personality, and negates the sense of proper individualism in a real world context.
These technologies forces a syntax of compression, and no better example is Twitters 140 character limit. This limit amounts to a verbal pitch, a commercial, relaying as much information as possible in the shortest possible way. With the succinct, you lose alternative meanings, deeper meanings. You lose the real sense of discussion. Of course, this is only a reductive and a bit of navel gazing, but I ask other artist to think about what it means to them to commit to the arts.
Some honest questions I would like to raise. How is being engaged 24/7 to the banalities of cooler talk, and hyper pop culture contributing to focus and or productivity? Do you feel that your intuition is as strong as it was in the years before everything became a "discussion"? Is your time spent "selling yourself" hindering your bigger, loftier dreams and goals? Is in fact, the 24/7 pimping of product (what we call art-i-facts) actually causing your potential admirers to find you antagonizing or annoying?
We have grown in a world where diversity of thought is being squeezed away by the hands of consumerism, and mostly by the cult of technology. I understand the urge or the need to give (hurl) yourself to your peers for personal reasons, for validation and acceptance, but remember, once we all start patting each other on the back, we will lose the fringe thoughts within ourselves, the punk attitude, our gonzo's, our rebels, the free thinkers whom care less about validation and more about the process of creating. We lose that particular sense of communication that only comes from disciplined distance, from the outside, looking in. Even the mainstream greats had that. Just imagine a world in which Woody Allen was sending tweets from his set on Manhattan. Or, if Spielberg was updating his facebook fan page with lines from an unreleased script of Goonies while in production. Where is the magic? Is the idea of “movie magic” only a nostalgic component of my own very personal past, that others are not (equally or at all) interested in anymore? Quite possible.
Before you label me a luddite, i say thank you. Also, i understand that this is presumptions and I myself have spent lots of time "pimpin my shit". This is only written to conjure the thought process. Thats all. I still respect guys who choose the path of Web 2.0, and I'm open to learning from them as well. Hell, I'm still partially entrenched in that world. It would be silly to render all the new tools as useless or as tools in an idlers playground. I'm only arguing that they are indeed very powerful when used with some diligence and polish.
So, next time you have that urge, pull back for a second and think, do I really want to say what I'm about to say to everyone I've ever known? And worst yet, in time, will anybody even care?
AM
Addendum: I'm just happy I have my own place to write whatever the fuck I want without a discussion.
Add IndieFlix too the growing list of places to purchase and or stream WHALE. As of now, you can purchase an IndieFlix WHALE dvd for $9.95, or rent online for 30 days at $4.95. The DVD is the lowest listed anywhere, although the artwork differs from the DVD you can purchase elsewhere, including Amazon.
So, maybe now, instead of wasting your time with a torrent, you can bring home WHALE for cheap and legally.
Whale will be available to watch on "IndieFlix" starting Tuesday, June 22nd. A week later, it will go live on "Youtube Rentals".
As far as other choices go, you can check it out on DVD, or Video on Demand and instant streaming on Amazon right now, with either a rental option or an instant streaming option, both with prices that are unfair, between creator and consumer. You guys win.
For links and updates, stop on by in a few days.
Download is free. Just click the link on the bottom of the player to go to Shanks and the Dreamers SoundCloud page.
Our Iran by Shanks and the Dreamers
3-8-10
Taken directley from Pittsurgh Examiner
Written by Sam Ippolito
"Whale", a Mumblecore-like tale of Writer/Director/Star Amir Motlagh forced by a failed romantic relationship, to move back home with his parents, at 29, to try and reclaim his once burgeoning writing career. Motlagh plays Cameron, an Iranian-American immigrant with suburban roots in Orange County, discovers through reacquainting himself with old friends, that they too, suffer from a lack of maturity and not being able to control their aimless wonder.
Told through interconnecting monologues and talkie scenes, a story begins to appear out of nowhere, similar to its shaky hand-held camera shots of the wide blue open of California skies, dotted with little fluffy clouds. The poster art of the movie even shows our two main characters staring off into these vistas. Trying to glimpse some kind of signal for the future, a glimmer of hope.
Lots of close-ups of characters' faces gives the film an immediate intimacy, making them instantly relatable. Likable. With believable acting throughout, some artistic camera flourishes and a lyrical, poetic style that enhances the film, adding a layered dimension, making it more than the sum of its parts.
Credit also goes to a weird experimental soundtrack combined with some strummed Indie rock. Motlagh also has his hands in this, his band is featured prominently. But the film, especially in its quieter moments, has a dream-like quality that rewards the viewer with its insight into just trying to be able to juggle life's hardship with an innate desire to just enjoy life.
A debut well worth catching, along with the nicest Art House in town, makes it something Cinephiles can cherish and look forward to. Trailers and one short film show before the main feature, adding another reason to attend. And if anyone cannot catch this cool film series debut, more Indies are scheduled for later in the month. "Whale" is also available on DVD, now at the film's official website.
