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[Previous entry: "Rare "Aye-Aye" born in British zoo."] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Exoskeleton tech ready for market."] 04/16/2005 Entry: "Mixed reviews for Dig!" Mixed reviews for Dig! Its a "rockumentary" about two indie bands who formed in the 90s. The frontmen of each band are old friends and bitter enemies. I can't say I've heard the Dandy Warhold before but I've heard a bunch of Brian Brian Jonestown Massacre and just missed out (dont remember why) on seeing them play here in Chicago a couple years ago. The Onion review claims it ends with something of a pro-industry message: sell cellphone ringtones and expand your fanbase wherever you can. Newcombe gets demonized for being an arrogant, insufferable, doped-up monster too dysfunctional to achieve commercial success, while Taylor gets romanticized for being an arrogant, insufferable, coked-up monster savvy enough to land a song in a cell-phone commercial and secure a big European fan base. Both men come across as pricks, but the film frustratingly gives Taylor a free pass. Its biggest mistake lies in making the sneering, loathsome Warhols frontman its narrator, a move that deprives it of the distance necessary for a truly effective send-up of rock hubris run amok. By giving Taylor the last word, Dig! becomes little more than a self-serving, unconvincing infomercial for a musician who comes across as functional and bearable only when compared to his counterpart.See also: Well written and more positive sfgate article.
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