Ari Picker felt exhausted and burned out by Lost In The Trees’ A Church That Fits Our Needs. The 2012 album memorialized Picker’s mother, who committed suicide in 2008. The project was deeply personal and deeply ambitious. It made many critics’ 2012 top-10 lists (including the top spot for the Wall Street Journal), and it led the North Carolina band to appear at New York’s Lincoln Center for the American Songbook Series. But the tour that preceded that show was fraught with challenges: Rock clubs weren’t the ideal venues for the band’s delicate dynamics and string arrangements for cellos and violins. After all that, Picker questioned his desire to make another album. But he has made another. Past Life (Anti-) jettisons many of Church’s identifying markers: It’s abstract and impressionistic rather than overtly personal, and it’s minimalist rather than maximalist. Picker will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Lost In The Trees feature.
Picker: Pumping Iron is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first film (as long as you don’t count Hercules In New York, and I think we can all agree to forget about that one). If you’re an Arnold or a documentary fan, I highly recommend this film. I was surprised when I first saw it, but it actually has a fantastic story arc. It is all about the top body builders training for the upcoming bodybuilding world championships. It sets up a young Arnold as the pompous protagonist gallivanting around the 1970s L.A. sunshine, and the once unknown Lou Ferrigno as the dark horse from underground NYC who is coming to challenge Arnold for the bodybuilding crown. The film is full of great one-liners. Arnold smoking a joint, bell-bottoms and big sunglasses, and some great drama and camaraderie between good friends. It’s very cool to see a wide-eyed-to-the-world Arnold talk about his motivation to get into film. Check out the making of Pumping Iron and you can see the reunited cast’s commentary on the film, who are mostly skinny old dudes now. Arnold talks of missing his bodybuilding days with his friends with such nostalgia, it’s probably his most moving moment on camera.
Video after the jump.
