Author: Eric Brightwell

Eric Brightwell is an essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener. He lives in Los Angeles because he loves it -- not because he was born there. He doesn't really care about street art, sleb culture, sunshine, and prefers mass and active transit to cars.

The Most Popular Spotify Playlists

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Although I have my issues with Spotify -- namely, it's run by two billionaires who enrich themselves off both musician's recordings and ads that feel like extortion -- I use it a lot. It has to be said, it's a pretty great product for consumers if not at all especially helpful for creators -- especially … Continue reading The Most Popular Spotify Playlists

Daphne Oram

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Daphne Oram was a pioneering English composer of electronic music and musique concrΓ¨te and inventor of early synthesizers. Oram was an eccentric, too, interested not just in experimental music but in esoteric knowledge, time travel, plant intelligence, and mysticism. She was a member of the Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation and student of New Age … Continue reading Daphne Oram

Seasons in Los Angeles

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In 2019, I decided to make a video essay documenting the changing seasons in Los Angeles. https://www.youtube.com/embed/MF9OoSUPnrM The film begins, as the year does, in winter. In this case, it's winter in the San Gabriel Mountains that divide the chaparral of the Los Angeles Basin from the desert of the Antelope Valley. Next we're in … Continue reading Seasons in Los Angeles

Christmas Ghost Stories On Film

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I'm not sure how widespread the practice of telling, reading, and watching ghost stories is on Christmas Eve, nor when it began. The custom appears to be almost unknown to most of my fellow Angelenos -- despite, you know, the most famous Christmas story, Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, containing new fewer than four ghosts. … Continue reading Christmas Ghost Stories On Film

π•·π–”π–˜ π•¬π–“π–Œπ–Šπ–‘π–Šπ–˜ π•²π–”π–™π–π–Žπ–ˆ, 𝖆 π•³π–†π–‘π–‘π–”π–œπ–Šπ–Šπ–“ 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕯í𝖆 π–‰π–Š π–‘π–”π–˜ π•Έπ–šπ–Šπ–—π–™π–”π–˜ π•±π–†π–“π–™π–†π–˜π–Žπ–†

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It's almost Halloween. Surely one of the greatest holidays, Halloween is up there, in my estimation, with Burns Supper, Nowruz, Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving II. I keep reading and hearing, though, that Halloween is cancelled this year, thanks to the mismanagement at nearly every level of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surely you can't cancel a holiday, though, … Continue reading π•·π–”π–˜ π•¬π–“π–Œπ–Šπ–‘π–Šπ–˜ π•²π–”π–™π–π–Žπ–ˆ, 𝖆 π•³π–†π–‘π–‘π–”π–œπ–Šπ–Šπ–“ 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕯í𝖆 π–‰π–Š π–‘π–”π–˜ π•Έπ–šπ–Šπ–—π–™π–”π–˜ π•±π–†π–“π–™π–†π–˜π–Žπ–†

Pan-Asian Metropolis — Q&A with filmmaker Elizabeth Ai about her latest project, NEW WAVE

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If you're American and you recognize names like "Bad Boys Blue," "C.C. Catch," "Sandra," or "Modern Talking," there's a good chance that you, or someone close to you, is Vietnamese. For the uninitiated non-Viet Americans, those are the names of three German (and one German-Dutch) pop bands whose songs have been compiled, covered, and claimed … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Q&A with filmmaker Elizabeth Ai about her latest project, NEW WAVE

The Triffids

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NOTE: Around 2009, I wrote a bunch of music biographies for Amoeba Music, which was then planning an ambitious project which ultimately never came to fruition. Some of the biographies I wrote about my favorite musical acts did eventually make their way onto Amoeba’s current, scaled back website β€” although they’re somewhat buried and often … Continue reading The Triffids

Mantronix

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NOTE: Around 2009, I wrote a bunch of music biographies for Amoeba Music, which was then planning an ambitious project which ultimately never came to fruition. Some of the biographies I wrote did make their way onto Amoeba’s current, scaled back website β€” although they’re somewhat buried and often don’t credit the authors. A lot … Continue reading Mantronix

Man Parrish

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NOTE: Around 2009, I wrote a bunch of music biographies for Amoeba Music, which was then planning an ambitious project which ultimately never came to fruition. Some of the biographies I wrote did make their way onto Amoeba's current, scaled back website -- although they're somewhat buried and often don't credit the authors. A lot … Continue reading Man Parrish

Pan-Asian Metropolis — Korean Los Angeles

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INTRODUCTION Los Angeles is home to the largest Korean community anywhere outside of Korea -- a distinction it has held since at least since 1979. Metro Los Angeles is home to the enclaves of Koreatown (the world's first) and Little Seoul -- as well as the communities with large Korean populations like Windsor Square, Miracle … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Korean Los Angeles