According to two recent Slate articles (here and here), the influence Wes Anderson is pervasive. Consider this trailer for the movie “The Brothers Bloom.”

As Elbert Ventura of Slate notes,

The Brothers Bloom is only the latest addition to a burgeoning subgenre. Over the last few years, Anderson’s movies have become touchstones for indie culture. In the 1990s, it seemed every NYU graduate and Sundance contender was making his own Tarantino knockoff. These days, the Tarantino imitators have been replaced by the Wes wannabes. A popular strain in recent American indie cinema has been the Andersonian quirkfest, a tendency that runs through movies like Juno, Napoleon Dynamite, Son of Rambow, Charlie Bartlett, and Garden State, among others.

Elsewhere, Seth Stevenson of Slate says,

A recent essay made the claim that Wes Anderson is the “most influential American filmmaker of the post-Baby Boom generation.” I’d argue that Anderson’s influence extends to the realm of television commercials.

The list of clips they cite as examples is pretty compelling. Consider this Decemberist video, this Vampire Weekend video, this Cars.com ad, or this GEICO ad.

North Korea announced on Wednesday that it considers itself no longer bound by the 1953 armistice agreement that halted the Korean War. It’s too bad. The armistice had a solid run, lasting 56 years or so.

Mancow, a semi-obscure radio personality whom I’ve blogged about before, recently agreed to be waterboarded with the hopes of proving that it’s not torture. His reaction, after enduring only 5 seconds, is surprising, yet still predictable: “absolutely torture.” [video here]

Incidentally, I foresee a new niche industry: obscure to semi-obscure media personalities agreeing to subject themselves to special “enhanced interrogation techniques” for attention. Who wouldn’t want to see Glenn Beck slammed against a fake concrete wall after nine days of sleep deprivation?

Joel asked.

1) Joe Johnson
Ronnie Brewer
Steve Nash
Amare Stoudemire
Lebron James
Leandro Barbosa
Josh Smith
Tony Parker
Dwight Howard
Anderson Varejao
Birdman (Chris Anderson)
J.R. Smith

Most behaviors, customs, etc. are obviously influenced by both ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’, but I tend to see things in terms of genetics and evolution. So, when I’m confronted the unfamiliar practices that count as “human nature” in other cultures (polygamy for instance), I have to admit I’m a little overly biased toward the ‘nature’ camp. According to this article, maybe I’m not. It gives some good arguments that, among other things, the same genetic motivators might actually promote polygamy in some cultures and monogamy in others, and even why the seemingly obvious cultural bias toward blond-haired, blue-eyed women might be human nature too.

I’d take this with a few grains of salt; The article often mentions data that would motivate it’s explanations, but rarely mentions data that would further justify them. The explanations are certainly plausible, though, and for people like me who are predisposed to ‘nature’ arguments, they’re pretty compelling.

Thanks to Robert Cheek for sharing the article.