Arts Roundup: ‘Werner Herzog Mind-Fuck’ Edition

Good morning! Want to start your day with a mind-fuck? OK!

You can now watch Ramin Bahrani's 2009 short "Plastic Bag" (no relation to this blog's former name) for free, which you most certainly should do, since it stars the voice of Werner Herzog as an emotionally needy plastic bag. Seriously.

Last year, when I interviewed Bahrani—whose three features are fairly serious dramas about the American working poor somewhat in the style of Italian Neorealism—he understandably struck me as puritanical about the kinds of movies he makes. He has little tolerance for cinematic experiences that aren't "real." And he didn't mention "Plastic Bag," even though he premiered it at the Venice Film Festival a few months later. So I'm fairly sure that with the short—which invokes one of the most pretentious cinematic images in recent memory, and deploys one of the international art house's most compelling, if occasionally baffling, oddballs—he's simply yanking our chain.

IN OTHER NEWS:

This blog post thinks way too hard about Wale's shoes.

The McLean Project for the Arts wants your—you guessed it—art.

The Imperial China record, out digitally since last month, can now be purchased in physical form. Read our review.

Yes, Neon Indian does have four publicists.

Seven of the D.C. bands heading to South by Southwest in Austin are playing a show together there.