Quentin Tarantino & things that made last week

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Quentin Tarantino couldn’t happen today. There is no need for an encyclopaedic knowledge of film trivia or the role of video store assistant as algorithm. He was familiar with a particularly wide library compared your average Blockbuster. Tarantino was a product of a childhood watching films on TV, dingy cinemas and a great independent video rental shop. TV film selection exposed him to films that algorithms wouldn’t have picked for him. Publishers like Eureka, Artificial Eye, Tartan and The Criterion Collection in the US have tried to carry the torch through careful curation.

Most video shops had students or grumpy middle aged men as assistants who might grunt at you if you were lucky. But occasionally you would get someone who was a film fan who would love to share their knowledge like Quentin Tarantino did. Record shops and comic book shops were a similar experience, but for the fact that working in a record shop was considered a cooler job.

This video is a great guide to Quentin Tarantino’s sources.

The story of Yoshie Akiba, owner of Yoshi’s nightclub which specialises in jazz. The video below is just amazing to watch. More Japanese related content here.

Vidal Sassoon took an interesting approach to this ad in China, more here – Do as you’re told? No thanks | The Work | Campaign Asia. The idea of not obeying authority is a subversive one in a collective society. Let alone a collective society in a totalitarian state. Brands are recognising that women can have a full independent life, this is at odds with government that wants a more traditional wife and mother role. China needs to raise its birth rate and needs married couples to increase social stability.  


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