We rarely bother to watch the long-running weekly NBC sketch-comedy show Saturday Night Live anymore. But we were at home on the night of Saturday, December 17, and in our channel surfing we checked in on SNL for old times sake.

What we stumbled upon was one of the more memorable SNL moments we've seen in years -- it was a music video for a hip-hop tune called "Lazy Sunday," in which a couple of MCs rhyme about a series of mundane errands while on their mission to catch a screening of the new movie "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" in New York City. The rappers are not anyone you'd know from the world of hip-hop. The MCs were cast members -- SNL veteran Chris Parnell and newcomer Andy Samberg.

The song is funny because of Parnell and Samberg's cliche hip-hop posturing and gangsta'-rap mugging. But the rhymes themselves are a laugh riot. While the duo talk about going to see "Chronicles of Narnia," they go on to rap about online map websites Yahoo! Maps, MapQuest and Google Maps ("Google Maps is the best / True dat, double true!!!"), buying snack food from a deli, and "macking" on cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (a real bakery in the the West Village famous for its ultra-rich, creamy cupcakes). Best line from the song: "Whatchya' wanna do, Chris? / Snack-attack, Motherf#$%er!!!"

Since the broadcast, the song has had a second life on the Internet and become the latest Web video sensation with over a million downloads, radio airplay, apple iTunes listings, and an inspired line of t-shirts with quotes from the song.

Essential Linkage

"Lazy Sunday" Video [YouTube]
Saturday Night Live Web Site [NBC]
Nerds in the Hood, Stars on the Web [NY Times]

The talented actor-comedian David Cross has launched a return salvo in what could be called an ongoing comic-on-comic flame war. In "An Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy" that Cross wrote and posted on BobandDavid.com, the website he runs with "Mr. Show" alum Bob Odenkirk, he offers a side-splitting and thorough critique of "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" star and fellow-comic Larry the Cable Guy and his "Git-R-done" schtick of Southern, redneck stand-up humor.

The "Arrested Development" cast member Cross wrote the letter as a response to a mischaracterization of the comedian by Larry the Cable Guy. The mischaracterization was made when Larry the Cable Guy commented on misquoted remarks by Cross that appeared in a recent Rolling Stone magazine interview. Cross had been talking about Southern audiences and redneck comedy in the Rolling Stone piece.

Even though Cross' post is critical, it is not hateful nor is it quite a personal attack. In the end, it rolls off the Web as a work of humor grounded in telling observations. One observation that's illustrative and ironic is how Larry the Cable Guy is a "Southern" character by a guy who didn't grow up in the South, while Cross, a bi-coastal (LA and NYC) urban Jewish comic grew up in the deep South, suburban Atlanta, GA.

We've been fans of David Cross ever since we saw his HBO series "Mr. Show," which he collaborated on with Odenkirk. While Larry the Cable Guy has made us wince far too often those few times when we've stumbled across his act on Comedy Central. We're siding with Cross on this one, though we'd like to see Larry the Cable Guy's response. Comedian food fight, anyone?

Essential Linkage

An Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy [BenandDavid.com]
Ben and David Web Site

From the Global Graphica file: Well ... okay, maybe not the best forever-ever, ever-ever, ever-ever ... but close. This truck, which is often parked near a flea market in Soho in New York City, is one of our all-time favorite examples of graf-on-vehicle aeresol art. And it's certainly one of the most colorful in all of lower Manhattan. We haven't seen this truck in a while, so we suspect it may have been painted over already. If so, it's a damn shame. Then again, the ephemeral quality of street art -- that it gets covered over, dispappears, fades, and so on -- that is part of its beauty. (Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo)

In our ongoing series of posts devoted to monitoring news on Kimora Lee Simmons, we came across this recent ABC News item about Kimora in which she boldly agrees with accusations that she's "over the top" in her eye-blinding, blinged-out fabulosity. As the slim, tall force behind the Baby Phat brand, the half-Korean, half-black Kimora Lee is a person of fascination and inspiration for many young women. She is a former model and the wife of hip-hop mogul Russel Simmons, AND she is a mother of two children and a successful business person. Kimora Lee has a singular style that's a mix of aspirational glamour and hip-hop-flavored feminity. "Over the top"? Sure, if she says so, but we don't agree. Fabulous? Definitely.

Essential Linkage

Lee's 'Fabulosity' [ABC News]
Kimora Lee Simmons
Baby Phat Website

There is a new line tees by superstar Japanese graphics -- and now fashion -- designer Kenzo Minami, an immense talent who honed his chops at Parsons School of Design in New York City before returning to Japan to embark on his career. His design work mostly takes the form of convoluted, often black-and-white graphic collages. Minami has designed for global sneaker brands Adidas, Reebok and Nike. Now he's also designing for himself, under his own name.

Essential Linkage

Kenzo Minami Website

From the Global Graphica file ... During the past few months, we've seen dozens of these street art pieces of kids engaged with various handheld toys and other objects that, upon closer inspection, are actually Sony PlayStation Portable devices, that is, the PSP. This image was taken in Soho. Most of the ads are confined to downtown Manhattan. This "graf" is really a clever attempt by Sony to appropriate the street art vernacular for advertising purposes as part of its guerilla marketing efforts for the PSP. We have to admit that the ads are cool; we like 'em. Unfortunately, when we spotted this one, the batteries on our Nikon digital camera were out of juice, so we had to shoot these images with the lower resolution of the camera embedded in our Palm Treo 650 Smartphone. (Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo)

Essential Linkage

Global Graphica
Sony PlayStation Portable Street Art / Guerrilla Marketing 1[Global Graphica]
Sony PSP Website

One of the things we lovemost about living in New York City is that with the density of people at street level in Manhattan comes endless exposure to fragments of other people's conversations as you pass them on the sidewalks or sit next to them in a subway car. We've been regularly running amusing snippets of such conversation we've overheard hear on the Air Massive sidebar for years, but now we're making it an official part of the archive starting with this post. So here is Volume 1 ...

Guy talking into cellphone on West Broadway in Soho, NYC:

"Hey man, can you hear me? Got a new cell phone -- it's a Treo, man! That's right, a Treo. Yeah, the Palm Treo 650 and it's aaaawesome ... uh ... hello, can you hear me? Hello? Hello ... Shit!"

Top "Revolutionary" special effects movies ever ... according to who? Well, according to ABC News, and though they claim "Top Ten," they actually list 11 films, with that being the original "King Kong" film of 1933 -- the special effects employed in making the first Kong movie were pretty amazing, given where the state of filmmaking was at that time. This is an interesting list because there are a few films that we're surprised are not on the list. Where's "2001: A Space Odyssey"? Stanley Kubrick's "2001" used some impressive visual effects to set the standard for a new sci-fi space realism, one that would be copied by Star Wars and countless other films since then. The problem might be that "special effects" may be defined slightly differently from person to person. Is animation a "special effect"? The entry of the CG film "Toy Story" is understandable; the entire film is one giant special effect -- but it's an animated feature and one can argue that animation is a special effect in and of itself. It's been around for a long, long time. What makes a film"revolutionary" in its use of effects, we presume, is that the movie broke new ground in the original use and introduction of a technique or technology to create visual sequences that would be difficult or impossible to realize with normal live-action or animated filmmaking. Hence "Toy Story" was the first major feature animated film to be wholly computer generated. The technology allowed for a new visual aesthetic and video-realism for animation. By the way, the Number 1 film? "The Matrix." Can't really argue with that?

Essential Linkage
The Top Ten Revolutionary Effects Movies of All Times
King Kong (1933) [Filmsite.org]
The Matrix Trilogy - Official Warner Bros. Movie Website
King Kong 92005) Official Movie Website

There's a lot of hype about 19-year-old U.K. rap sensation Lady Sovereign and her new album "Vertically Challenged." There's also a ton of hype about her becoming the first British grime artist to breakthrough in America. We're not convinced that that will happen, in part because of her at times over-the-top Britishness (be it ghetto-London Britishness, at that, even though it sounds awesome), but also because the grime genre itself is mostly too stark for American mainstream tastes.

We'd love to be wrong on this one, and Lady Sovereign stands a better chance than any other big name on the U.K. grime scene of finding success in the U.S. She has the talent and she's got the beats. "Vertically Challenged" (the title is a reference to Lady's height of 5'1") is not as good as some of her previously released singles promised. As a collection, the disc underperforms.

Lady Sovereign offers up her best on "Random" -- by far her best track -- and "Chi-ching " and "Hoodie." "Random" alone could be one of the best singles of the year and it is -- despite tons of expletives -- the most accessible grime record we've heard. It's certainly the tune with the most infectious hooks. Lady Sovereign will warrant comparisons with Missy Elliott. "Random" sounds like what super producer Timbaland (who produces Missy Elliott's best work) would sound like if he moved to South London and became a grime artist.

Where Lady Sovereign really shines is in her flow and MC style. She's got more attitude than she knows what to do with. And her lyrics take hard -- but clever and funny -- swipes at some big names (Nelly, Chingy) in American hip-hop and U.K. grime. Her numerous Adidas references can get under the skin and on the nerves after a while and are practically screaming out for a sponsorship deal from the German sneaker and apparel maker. Despite some soft spots, "Vertically Challenged" gets the nod from our iPod this week.

Essential Linkage
Lady Sovereign Official Website
BBC Homegrown Interview with Lady Sovereign
Profile: Lady Sovereign [Pitchfork Reviews]

While we're on the subject of spaces and places in downtown Manhattan that are no more, here's a shot of the recently torn down Gaseteria gas station at the corner of Houston and Lafayette streets in Soho, New York City. More precisely, it's a picture of a billboard advertisement of the station at the station. We've always loved this sign because it's so obviously from a different stylistic era of advertising and retail signage. Even the messaging is quaint: "Thank you for making us #1" and "New York's 'House Brand'" are presented in an almost laughable, but endearing, way. Most of all, we love the design aesthetic and the illustration of the station itself, with bright yellow NYC taxis sitting at all the pumps. It's a big surprise that Gaseteria wasn't demolished to make room for new luxury apartments and condos (given the location, the land and air-rights alone are worth potentially tens of millions of dollars.) No, what replaced this old petrol stop was a new, shiny, modern service station of a well-known brand franchise. (Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo)

Essential Links
Global Graphica Website
Thank You for Making Us #1

From the Global Graphica file ... The building pictured above no longer exists. The tenement at 295 Bowery was torn down earlier this year by Avalon Bay Partners, a real-estate investment trust, as part of their multi-building Avalon Chrystie condo development that straddles Houston St. and the Bowery on the border of the East Village and Soho. The building was a haven for lots of graf and street art, none more symbolic than that the wheat-paste poster of a skull talking into a cell phone on the facade. The 295 Bowery building had been a decrepit structure for decades, but was actually still home to a few artists who were paying extremely low rents on what had become extremely valuable real estate. The building is also known as "McGurk's Suicide Hall" because about a hundred years ago it was home to McGurk's Saloon, which was often frequented by hookers and their customers. The saloon was the scene of many suicides by desperate prostitutes looking to escape the misery of the Bowery. (Global Graphica /Ivan Corsa Photo)

Essential Links
Global Graphica Website
295 Bowery, McGurk's Suicide Hall No. 1 - Detail
295 Bowery, McGurk's Suicide Hall No. 2
295 Bowery, McGurk's Suicide Hall No. 3 - Context

Heard the sad news from LA late Friday night: legendary stand-up comic and actor Richard Pryor had passed away. Pryor was one of the biggest, most influential and original comedians to come onto the American stand-up scene in the 1970's. He became one of comedy's first big superstars and began appearing in a string of popular films. His style of humor -- filled with expletives -- was a source of inspiration for comedians as diverse as Chris Rock and Robyn Williams and David Letterman. He was also one of the first black comics to crossover to the mainstream and find a mass audience. The media is reporting that Pryor died of a heart attack. He had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) years earlier. In the early 1980's he was almost killed in his home in a home cocaine-making explosion, which left him with severe burns on 50 percent of his body. (Pryor had become a habitual drug-user at the time.) Richard Pryor, respect. Rest in peace.

Essential Links
Richard Pryor Official Website
Comedian Richard Pryor dead at 65 [BBC News]
Pioneering Comedian Richard Pryor Dies [ABC News / AP]

The Grammy Awards nominations were announced Friday and some of our favorite artists were among the nominees. We were especially happy to see (but, admittedly, entirely surprised) by a Best Producer nomination going to Dangermouse, who produced the global hit "Demon Days" album by Gorillaz. Dangermouse first came to the world's attention with this bootleg and very underground mash-up "The Gray Album," a controversial mix of the Beatles classic "White" album with Jay Z's "Black" album. Recently Dangermouse has been getting press props for his collabo with MF Doom, called, appropriately, "Dangerdoom." The Grammy nomination will just increase Dangermouse's profile further. And if he actually wins, well, he'll be a real star, and we'll happily cheer him. That said, the Grammies, for the most part, are a joke. But with noms going to Danger and Gorillaz, that may be changing. Then again, Mariah Carey also got a nomination, so what can you say?

Essential Links

Danger Mouse Nominated for Producer of The Year [Stereoboard]
Grammy nominees [New York Newsday]
Grammy Showdown: Comeback queen Carey faces West in key races. [London Free Press]

Meow! Lots going on in this image taken in Le Marais -- street signs, some very French architecture, and a wheat-paste of a black-and-white cathead. As pure street art goes, wheat pastes are probably our favorite medium. That this cathead is approximately actual size and appears so random gives it a sense playfulness and disarms passersby. We found about half a dozen or so of these catheads around Paris, mostly in Les Marais. The cat's face and pattern make it a dead ringer for one of our cats in NYC.
(Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo)

Essential Links

Paris Street Art: Cat Head in Les Marais [Global Graphica]
Global Graphica

Paris street art

In the Bathing Ape Massive's continuing series of posts on our holiday gift wish list, our second entry is the versatile and well-designed co-branded Incase / DC Shoes bag. Even though the bag was announced in the summer, we still want one. Incase has been getting a lot of attention for its excellent and stylish laptop bags, thanks in part to placement in Apple Stores throughout the U.S. DC Shoes, of course, is well known for its skateboarding sneakers and gear. The Incase / DC Shoes collabo bag has dimensions, pockets and pouches custom-fitted for size compatibility with the Apple iPod and iPod Mini, as well as both the 15' and 17' Powerbook. But, as they say, that's not all ... the bag is designed to also carry a skateboard (seriously), which is where DC Shoes enters the equation.

Essential Links

Holiday Wish List Item 2: Incase / DC Shoes Bag [Bathing Ape Massive]
Incase Website
DC Shoes Website

A European friend of ours who lives in Tokyo has turned us onto a popular anime series that has us hooked. The series, currently running on Nihon Television in Japan, is called "Monster." It's about a Japanese surgeon named Dr. Tenma living in Dusseldorf, Germany, where he has embarked on a successful medical career at a leading hospital. It's set in the mid-1980's when Germany was still divided into Communist East and Democratic West. The story, as our friend Roy described it, is kind of like "The Fugitive" but with even more twists and turns and a showdown between the doctor and a full-blown psychopath. This is anime for a mature audience; Doraemon or Sailor Moon it is not. We've only seen the first few episodes of Monster, but we're going to view them again from the start and give you an update as we watch our way through all the nearly 60 episodes produced thus far (as they become available to us). Some "torrents" are available on the Web via fansites here.

Essential Links

Monster - Official Wiki Entry
Torrents for Monster at AnimeSuki Website
Monster - Official Homepage at Nihon Television Website (Japanese)

The director Spike Jonze is best known for his idiosyncratic feature movies "Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich," as well as a hip sense of pop cultural referencing, which he has employed in music videos like the Beastie Boys classic "Sabotage." (He was also know for, until recently, being married to Sophia Copola). But like many film directors in Hollywood, Jonze also does TV commercials. Even when he's selling out, Jonze has a wicked streak of humor that is in a class by itself as seen in this TV commercial for GAP in which employees and customers suddenly, inexplicably go beserk and start tearing apart one of the clothing chain's stores. This is brilliant stuff. You can watch the ad online at Ad Awards International.

Essential Links

Spike Jonze GAP Ad
Ad Awards International Web Site
Spike Jonze Bio [IMDb]

There's a bit of drippy black graf on this green relay-mailbox in Soho in New York City. But it's covered by a cheeky piece of street art in the form of a giant adhesive bandage: A street art dressing for a graf writer's boo boo. Here's a close-up shot (with photog's hand in view) displaying the bandage design. This image was shot using the built-in camera on a Palm Treo 650 Smartphone.
(Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo)

Essential Link

Global Graphica

We wanted to like Aeon Flux. No, actually ... We wanted to love it. Long before the credits rolled, in fact, long before the movie reached its action-packed machine-gunning climax, we were far from loving Aeon Flux and still quite short of liking it.

Aeon Flux is not that bad -- to be fair, there's a lot to like when you take the flick apart and look at its parts. But on balance the film is a lame, flawed piece of cinema that fails to fully explore the treasure chest of ideas touched upon in the 1990's MTV animation series on which Aeon Flux is based. The flaws are many. Add enough of them up and they seriously undermine a film, which is by almost every technical measure a polished, well-crafted exercise in narrative and filmmaking.

Or, to put it another way, it's the same ol' slick, big-budgeted, major Hollywood studio mediocrity. It's poisoned by the same process that brings total crap like The Dukes of Hazard to theaters every summer. Except this is winter, and unlike the Dukes of Hazard, Aeon Flux was a groundbreaking, and original independently produced animated TV series. It was smart and funny.

Aeon Flux could be classified as sci-fi, but it's really more like cyberpunk. Set in the 25th century, the story follows the spy-versus-spy adventures of Aeon (Charlize Theron), a rebel assassin on a mission to take out Chairman Goodchild (Marton Csokas), the head of futuristic walled city-state called Brendag.

The MTV show (and a short-form version of Aeon Flux that preceded it) were created by Peter Chung, who shares a story credit on the film, but otherwise had nothing substantial to do with the making of the live-action movie.

Aeon Flux -- the movie -- feels like the life force was sucked out of the it in the attempt to make something that studio execs, teenage boys, and licensed product merchandisers would all like or feel stood a chance of turning a profit.

Even when there is actual passion on the screen -- i.e., a certain sexual tension and minor love scene between Aeon and Goodchild -- we're left feeling passionless. And we never really get know the characters or care enough about them to like them, we never we really feel like we should truly give a shit about them or see past their two-dimensional presences.

What's more, the film never stops for those moments of black humor that were a trademark of the cartoon series. Aeon's sense of humor was one of her endearing and humanizing qualities, and it defined her character.

The obvious technical competence with which the film has been made only makes our disappointment greater. The amazing, talented Charlize Theron has never been less engaging in terms of actual acting than in Aeon Flux. And it's a damn shame.

Massive rating: 2.7 stars out of 5

Essential Links

Aeon Flux - Official Movie Site

We've been using Skype so much this past year that we're tempted to permanently disconnect our landline and to rely only on our Treo 650 smartphone and Skype on our laptop for all our phone needs. With the latter in mind, we've got our eyes on a stylish IP phone phone handset than can be jacked into our Apple Powerbook to make those Skype calls feel more like good ol' fashion telephony. The most stylish IP peripheral to hit the market is the Hulger PIP phone. This slim, sexy and colorful series of handsets have a sweet retro-futuristic look to die for.

Essential Links

Hulger Web Site

There's a great article in the past week's Village Voice about the current trials and tribulations of seminal hip-hop magazine The Source. The story chronicles the recent problems plaguing the music and lifestyle mag and its publishers, editors and former staff. It appears The golden age of The Source as the definitive chronicler and voice of hip-hop music and culture are gone, despite what seems like some recent revitalization of its editorial gumption and coverage. The magazines trouble ranges from lawsuits, criminal allegations, massive debts and declining circulation to charges of sexual harassment, trashed editorial credibility, and plain thuggery. It doesn't help that the publication has a legion of angry former staff and rankled industry insiders, including artists, labels and advertisers. Nor does it help that younger mags like XXL and Vibe are gaining readers and proving their relevance by consistent editorial. The impression from the Voice article is that these problems may permanently cripple The Source and cast doubt about its relevance and future. Fascinating stuff. Too bad for The Source. Too bad for hip-hop. Too bad for all of us. But one's mag's problem is another mag's opportunity. XXL, anyone?

Essential Links

The Source Under Fire [Village Voice article]
The Source Magazine Web Site
XXL Magazine
Vibe Magazine

Ok, kids, we're back after a week-long Thanksgiving break from the Massive. And what a week it was: catching up with old friends, catching up on reading, and catching up on loads of movies, DVDs, and music. So, without further ado, let's dive right back into the business of consuming culture and spittin' the hype.