Memphis is a city known for being the home of the late Elvis Presley and his mansion Graceland. It's also known for being the wordlwide hub of FedEx. (But you knew that already, didn't you?) And if you are really scratching your head for a tourist icon from this humid, hungover river city of the South, then there's Mud Island Park.

But one thing that you may not know (but, damnmit, you should) is that "crunk" is to Memphis what a venti skim latte is to Seattle. That's right, kids, Memphis is crunky, crunkalicious, and totally crunktastic. More to the point, Memphis is the setting to one of the most exciting and engaging films of the year, "Hustle & Flow."

Directed and written by Craig Brewer, and co-produced by John Singleton under his New Deal Productions moniker, "Hustle & Flow" is the tale of a two-bit North Memphis ghetto pimp and pot-dealer named DJay who is facing down a bout of sudden-onset mid-life crisis. Dealing with this crisis leads DJay and an old high-school aquaintance to start song-writing and recording an independent hip-hop demo.

Despite a couple of almost cringe-worthy moments of melodrama and ghetto cliche, "Hustle & Flow" manages to be an earnest, entertaining and surprisingly unglamorous and authentic portrayal of how, under the most desperate of circumstances, hip hop inspiration, perspiration and collaborative talents can add up to create unforgettable art.

"Hustle & Flow" was the major critical and popular darling at this year's Sundance Film Festival and by the time the movie's credits roll, you'll know why. This one is going on our top ten list for '05.

Hustle and Flow - Official Movie Web Site

Hustle and Flow - Official Movie Web Site

We stumbled across this amusing Web site (under a German domain, no less) called the South Park Studio Character Generator. It's truly amazing just how much character variety can be created using this mix-and-match palette-based tool. As they say, the possibilities are endless. (Well, actually, mathematically speaking, they're not endless, but rather, philosophically speaking, "seemingly" endless.) ANYWAY. Putting together an actual South Park character with the online Generator -- an actual Kenny or Chef, say -- is a lot harder that it looks. But the Generator isn't about re-creating South Park's "real" cartoon cast. This is about you creating your own original South Parker. That's what makes this so cool, but, really, you've gotta see it for yourself to believe it. Check it out here. Think of it: some enterprising and creative soul out there among you could use this to create a whole new set of characters, dump the art into Macromedia Flash and develop an animated alternative Bizarro-world South Park doppelganger, then publish it on the Internet. OK, we've sown the seed. Now get to it, kids!

Essential Linkage

South Park Studio Character Generator

South Park Studio Character Generator [South Park Studio]

Meet the new Battlestar Galactica. Not the same as the old Battlestar Galactica.

If you've been watching SciFi Channel regularly for the past year or are just an uber-channel surfer with basic cable, then you've probably already have seen the new Battlestar Galactica. The show is based on the original Star Wars-inspired television series from the 1970's that ran for only one season and is now something of a cult classic.

The new Battlestar, now in its second season, was a surprise hit for SciFi and has caught the attention of a larger-than-expected mainstream audience as well as the mainstream media (MSM). That hit home last week when a big feature on Battlestar Galactica appeared across the pages of New York Times Magazine.

The article explores the journey of Battlestar from obscurity as a piece of 70's prime-time dross to its second-coming as a serious and compelling dramatic series. The story of how the new BG got produced and how its creator developed a vision for the new series is fascinating. Check the link to the original New York Times Magazine article below.

Essential Linkage

Ron Moore's Deep Space Journey [NY Times Magazine]

Official Battlestar Galactica Web Site [SciFi Channel]

The Massive stepped out and headed Uptown yesterday for a late-night showing of the new French film "The Beat My Heart Skipped." The show was sold-out. And after seeing the flim, we realized why. The movie is an excellent remake -- that's actually more of an adaptation -- of the late 70's cult film "Fingers." The critics are loving on this taught and stylish piece of contemporary noir, and we are, too.

The story revolves around a shady young Parisian real estate fixer named Thomas, who aspires to escape the seedy-greedy ugliness of his occupation and become a professional concert pianist. The former manager of his late mother, herself a world-famous concert pianist, invites Thomas to audition for him. Though Thomas gave up piano when his mother passed away a decade earlier, he is inspired to fulfill the promise of his musical talent. He enlists the help of a Chinese piano teacher to help him prepare in his free time for the big try-out. Thomas must struggle to balance the demands of following his dream and the grotty, brutal realities of his real estate work violently collecting debts and evicting squatters.

This summer has seen some excellent French cinema on American movie screens -- "A Toute Suite," "Elevator to the Gallows," and now "The Beat My Heart Skipped." See this one the big screen before it gets packed away to DVD-land.

Essential Linkage

Interview tih Director Jaques Audiard [Wellspring Films]

The Beat My Heart Skipped - Official Movie Web Site

Metacritic Score: The Beat My Heart Skipped

FILM REVIEW; Amid the Pulp, a Meditation on Fathers, Sons and the Ties That Choke [NY Times]

We recently caught the new Hayao Miyazaki anime feature film, Howl's Moving Castle. Miyazaki is the undisputed current master of Japanese animation. His previous film, Spirited Away, was theatrically released in the U.S. and won the director an Oscar.

We'd seen the Miyazaki film that preceded Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, which was the largest grossing film in Japan at the time it was released in the late 1990's.

So we went into Howl's Moving Castle with high expectations. Howl's is yet another stunning example of Hayao's preternaturally Japanese vision of spirituality and coming of age innocence. But the film falls surprisingly short.

We were disappointed, for one, because the movie breaks it's own internal logic in its storytelling. The film also seems to rely on some cheaper conventions of Japanese animation that appear thrown in for no good reason than an easy, gimmicky gag that might appeal to a child audience. This wasn't a problem with the more complex and more overtly fantastic worlds created in Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke.

Howl's Moving Castle revisits more of the territory explored in an earlier Miyazaki film called Porco Rosso, which was recently released on DVD in the U.S. Porco Rosso also left us disappointed, even it is indisputedly classic Miyazaki, especially when viewed with the hindsight of the director's total filmography. And even more so gicen his recent feature films, wherein the stories invariably revolve around a teenage girl wrestling with enormously powerful and mystical forces.

The verdict? See Howl's Moving Castle for the spectacle and the story and a taste of brilliant Japanese anime. But if you really want to see Miyazaki at his absolute most sublime and directorial best, then rent the DVD for Spirited Away instead and prepare to be blown away.

Essential Linkage

Hayao Miyazaki Filmography / Bio [IMdB]

We couldn't help it. When we saw our cat Wasa (our unofficial Air Massive mascot) cozying up to the latest Prefuse 73 CD, we grabbed our Nikon digicam and snapped this photo. We're not sure yet if Wasa's shocked expression is due to the presence of the Prefuse 73 disc or at our nerve for disturbing him to take his photo.

In any case, we think the new Prefuse 73 album is boss. The disc is titled "Surrounded by Silence" and is further evidence of Scott Herren's evolutionary sonic genius. That said, his previous effort, "One Word Extinguisher," made more of an immediate impression on us at first listen. "Surrounded" is by far Herren's biggest production and it risks being weighed down by its extensive collaborations with a who's who of indie music superstars.

Essential Linkage

Prefuse 73 - Official "Surrounded by Silence" Website