“When you keep failing at things like I have, nobody knows you’re reinventing…”
– Dito Montiel
I first learned about Dito Montiel when his first film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints came out. It was notable for a cast including Robert Downey Jr., Shia Labeouf and Channing Tatum before they broke out, and Rosario Dawson who was already a star. Based on Montiel’s own book about growing up in and leaving New York, it introduced Montiel’s voice to Hollywood, particularly in dialogue that’s more like real people who have trouble articulating, rather than polished Hollywood screenplay.
His next movie was the studio action movie Fighting, also starring Tatum as an underground street fighter. Now that I knew who Montiel was, I stopped when I saw a Dito Montiel CD in a bin at the massive used record store Amoeba. The album had sophisticated music, layering different instruments with harmony and telling stories about, again, growing up. Montiel is also a painter. Tatum again stars in Montiel’s third film, The Son of No One. He plays a cop who gets assigned to the precinct of the housing project where he grew up. Tracy Morgan plays a stark, dramatic role as his childhood friend, now in rough shape from a traumatic childhood of abuse. Al Pacino plays police chief with ties to the old case.
Montiel is now a West Coaster like me. This is the third film I’ve had the opportunity to interview him for. Despite the serious subjects of his films and the raw style in which he portrays them, he always seems like lovable friendly guy. He even got a bit shy when I started asking about his music this time.
INTO: People who have notes written on the back of their hand in blue biro pen.
NOT INTO: That question: “What lies beyond the fierce surface? Who is the girl behind the image?” It is the straightest path to my sod-off list. If I open my legs wide enough you reckon you’ll see the real Manko shining through? Well honestly darling, you can suck my cock.
MAKES ME HAPPY: The smell of hair bleach, the sound of semi in Tokyo heat, jinxing people on my blacklist and getting mistaken for a tranny.
MAKES ME SAD: That David Bowie ruined his fabulous Ziggy Stardust fangs in the States in the ‘80s.
HOBBIES: Collecting tart cards.
5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: A handful of people and plane tickets to see them. The rest can sod off.
VICES: I trust you’ll find that in any given moral system Manko is perfectly 100% vice-free.
I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Dressing up, wallowing in self-obsession, excessively drinking, mocking things, making things, entertaining my alter ego, not being very nice, dreaming.
So, Herman Cain, the latest opinion polls show Cain, the former chief executive of a chain of pizza restaurants, running about even with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who had been the front-runner. Cain appeals to some conservatives because he is a political outsider at a time of anti-Washington sentiment that could help the Republicans challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012.
Except he doesn’t have the cash for a campaign, and the fact that he’s an idiot, but the Republican’s don’t care about that. First he stated in a PBS interview earlier in the week that China had indicated it is “trying to develop nuclear capability” even though their nuclear weapons testing dates back to the 1960s! 1960, 2011 what the big difference? China sucks according to Cain.
But his lack of knowledge on foreign affairs isn’t what this blog is about; it’s about Herman Cain being down to fuck anyone but his wife (and zombies, but we’ll get to them later).
This week “Krispy’ Lindsey and Alvin “Joey” Lindsey a.k.a. New Orleans good time hip-hoppers The Knux will join hosts Nicole Powers (SG’s Managing Editor) and Lacey Conner (our resident recovering reality TV star from VH1’s Rock of Love and Charm School) live in studio.
Tune in to the world’s leading naked radio show for two hours of totally awesome tunes and extreme conversation – and don’t let yo momma listen in!
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