Yes! At least thats what writer and director Gus Van Sant says in his Paranoid Park, his adaptation of Blake Nelson’s novel.

This movie is the next in a series of movies that Gus Van Sant has made since he supposedly “broke out of Hollywood.” It follows the story of Alex, a teenager (more like tween); who is supposedly disconnected, like you know most teens are nowadays, and I guess for that reason can’t seem to formulate a sentence that includes more than a subject and a verb.

If you want to know more, then keep reading!

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If you’ve switched on the news recently, or at least opened up to the first couple of pages in the Strib you’ve noticed that there is always a lot of stuff happening around the world. But if you know anything about the media you can bet your fine gluteus maximus that once a story reaches you it has already been censored once through the reporter, censored through the producers, censored once again by the corporate legal department, and then cropped to fit the time limit in the tv program. This is where Live Leak comes in. Think of it as a youtube with a heavy news focus. Lets examine the recent riots in Belgrade caused by Bosnian independence. If you remember rioters actually broke into the US embassy. Yet for those of us who saw it on regular news channels this is the image we saw If you waited 2 hours after the fact and logged onto Live Leak this is the image you would have seen this. That’s right, this is from INSIDE the US embassy. A word of caution: Live Leak is a great resource for all you aspiring social activists, or just for people who want to get another view on current events. However be careful of forming opinions out of context. By watching simply a raw video on live leak you should also take into account the situation in which the event is taking place and who the people are involved, if not you run the risk of being even more mis-informed than you would be by simply watching the news. Live Leak is a tool, not necessarily the 100% truth.

Then your answer is Kinky. I mean Kinky music….err the band Kinky. I first heard these guys while playing SSX 3 back in the good old days. Back when video games cost $49.99 instead of $59.99 and people still had ambitions for this person and this person. But all things aside, at this point you should be asking yourself: “What is Kinky?”, “Why do I care?”, “Why does he always have to force his opinions on us?” Well ignoring the latter two questions I will answer the first one. Kinky, or “Kinky” in Spanish, is a Mexican group straight-outta Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. They have ditched their guitars, mandolins and “cumbia”-like instruments for more electronic gear like samplers and synths. Armed with these tools Kinky is one of the few groups that has achieved a succesful fusion between ethnic “nortenas” and scenester club beats.All in all very “crunk.”Now here’s a Kinky video.YOU’RE WELCOME!

…there is the Mexican Institute of Sound (yeah the name is in English). It comes at you straight out of the land of people with funny hats and moustaches. Actually, in “Chilango-landia” there really arent that many people with moustaches. Blame it on the PRD‘istas man. Anyways, I’m getting off track here. M.I.S. is a “Cumbia/Electronica” set composed solely of Camilo Lara and his sampler/mixer. In recent years Mexican electronica has gained a lot of momentum with the surfacing of groups like Kinky, and the NorTec Collective (who will be performing at the Walker on the Saturday, December 8).

M.I.S. is simply riding that wave and being very succesful at it. Check them out on their MySpace page or simply listen to the video below.

Or if you’re FIFA 08 obsessed like me you can listen to them there!

So you’re feeling kinda lame. You just realized that your supposed A to Z music selection is really just Ashanti to XZibit. What happened to originality? Well 50 Cent killed it. Yeah that’s right, I said it what are you going to do about it? Well look no further, well actually look south. Whether its Cumbias, Punketon, Regaton, or you just have no idea what the hell I just said, Mexican Hip/Hop and Rap is alive and well. Better known acts such as Molotov have pierced the American market, while other (and very lame) chicano groups like Daddy Yankee have also left their print in the mainstream music scene. One group though, Control Machete, remains in relative obscurity here in the US of A even as it has gained rabid notoreity in “Mejico” and everything south of it.

Known for their driving beats, and accessible lyrics that deal with anything from Mexican politics to life in northern Mexico, Control Machete is basically accessible to anyone who doesn’t know who Spiro Agnew or Miguel de La Madrid was.