art. music. film. whatever.

2011-02-24T11:26:00.000-08:00

where have i been?

2010-08-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted on here in a while. It is not because I am neglecting my blogging, quite the contrary. I've simply been using my Tumblr blog by the same name more and more. Initially, my intention was to save Tumblr for things I like to gush about more so than what I attempted here which was opinions, reviews, and the like. Recently the two have merged a bit and the easier Tumblr format has prevailed (for instance I just posted about Jacques Audiard’s excellent De Battre Mon Couer s’est Arrete (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)

I intend to keep this blogspot for larger, more elaborate posts, but not much else... at least not for right now.

artmusicfilmwhatever.tumblr.com

we are love

2010-07-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

i just posted the following on my Tumblr about the new film I Am Love:

I Am Love is amazing, stunning, immaculate, gratifying, inspiring…. I want to see this again, NOW! I can’t remember a film being this perfect before. literally beginning to end PERFECT! i want to study it. i want to dissect it. i want to memorize it. i want to live by it. i cannot believe this movie exists! incredible!

I feel I need to write more about the film but have yet to digest it all. It is about love so great one could move mountains with its force. I feel, if viewed with an open mind, a film like I Am Love could change someone's life and subsequently the world. I truly believe that. Everyone should see this... and now!

love fades... again

2010-06-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Better than couples therapy, writer/director Maren Ade's Alle Anderen (Everyone Else) is the all too true-to-life story of two young lovers painfully figuring out their relationship isn't all its cracked up to be. On more than one occasion I found myself relating specifically to the disconnect felt between the two main characters. Sure, we all know love fades, but rarely have I seen a film chronicle the process so thoroughly and with such attention to detail. The end result is heartbreaking, at times grueling to watch. We've all been there and will probably be there again (just look at the title!).

I'm still figuring out the details, but I think the film is attempting to present the evolution of relationships in the past century and how we are slowly becoming more disconnected, if casual as a society when it comes to love. Pretty fascinating. Timely. Contemporary. And, as the youngest in the theater by far, something I believe was lost on most everyone else in the audience.

If you're in the Miami area, see this great, superbly acted film at the Tower Theater on Calle Ocho before its run ends. If you're young and ever been in love, you'll be glad you did.

just gimme some truth

2010-06-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

I noticed MOCA NOMI's upcoming exhibition Claire Fontaine: Economies opens this Friday. This reminded me of a review I began writing of their recent Cory Arcangel retro but never finished. I figured I'd just go ahead and post what I have before it's completely irrelevant (I added a quick closing line and a link to a recent article at the end)...

I saved visiting MoCA North Miami's recent exhibition Cory Arcangel: The Sharper Image (just closed in May, their next exhibition opens this week) until the artist's visit and lecture on April 24. Anticipating a standard lecture about his work, I made it to the museum an hour before the artist's arrival in order to immerse myself in the work on my own terms first, expecting to delve into the work with a freshened perspective afterward. To my surprise, the lecture didn't give me a new perspective on his work so much as a new perspective on the artist himself (who looks just like Jamie Kennedy of Malibu's Most Wanted, by the way). Reminding me of comedians such as Demetri Martin and the late Mitch Hedberg, Arcangel's lecture was more a comedy performance than informative diatribe. Unfortunately (or is it?) his "performance" was perhaps better than the artwork itself. After the lecture I skeptically returned to the exhibition questioning the amusing works, wondering if there was more than mere laughs. I'm afraid I came back nearly empty-handed.

Arcangel's works tend to be simultaneously art historically referential and self referential. They exist simultaneously in the past and very much in the now, making references to the contemporary art world and technologies that are or will soon be obsolete.

They say, and I'm not sure who "they" are, that comedy is harder to achieve in the arts then drama or terror and should be lauded as such. Internet humor is a talent for sure and Arcangel's references to YouTube and cheesy GIF-laden websites of years past taps into a new kind of virtual relationalist aesthetic not seen or expressed before. His modern interpretations of Fluxus processes and Steve Reich's compositions are cheeky, clever, and immediately engaging. And yet these works hardly go beyond that. Sure some of them tip-toe their way into the sublime -- works such as Sweet 16 or his large, almost ethereal Photoshop C-Prints (pictured) -- but one is taken back rather quickly and harshly by the works' wry beginnings. For me, most everything in The Sharper Image is too cynical (almost to the point of misanthropy), the inside jokes too loud to ultimately be taken as anything more.

This might be a generational thing, but I prefer more sincere, straightforward art. Give me honesty, skip the cynicism.

the day i fell in love with the world again

2010-05-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Our trip to New York more or less revolved around the Museum of Modern Art's amazing exhibition Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present. Basically going to New York to sit with her and see the exhibition, it was fitting that I spent two full days in MoMA, nearly all of which was spent in line waiting to sit with the artist. Of course waiting in line becomes part of one's experience and thus part of the piece itself. The entire experience was beautiful and unforgettable.

Writing about this, so enthused by the entire experience, I nearly forgot how I had been skeptical of the performance and to a certain extent of Marina's entire oeuvre. Initially years ago, I foolishly labeled her work feminist and nothing more. Later revising my stance, I realized just about none of her work is feminist and, beyond that, fell in love with her early works, particularly those just before joining forces with Ulay such as Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful and her Freeing series and Rhythm series of works. Even still, I remained cautious of her later work and viewed the idea of reperformance and the exhibition and her "presence" as insincere and a tad self indulgent. And so, while determined to sit with her and be a part of art history, I arrived to the museum in need of convincing.

We got to MoMA on Thursday, around 9:30. I had read of the long lines and about purchasing one's ticket in advance, but nothing could prepare me for the amount of excitement and sheer frenzy of it all. We got our free "I'm a museum professional" tickets at the information desk and stood in line to enter the museum. Once allowed to wait at the base of the steps to go up the stairs to the second floor and the atrium where Marina was waiting, an imposing figure spoke to the crowd: "There will be no running. If you run you will be escorted from the building. Everyone is number one. Marina wouldn't want anyone to get hurt. Etc..." As soon as he allowed the lobby of patrons towards the stairs, all of his words were forgotten as hundreds ran up the stairs attempting to be adults (this is a museum after all) while not allowing anyone in front of them. There was yelling and shoving, but once everything was said and done everyone settled down and accepted their place in line. I immediately felt the entire morning's process cheapened the work a bit and later thought about the socio-political implications of this experiential commodity Marina had created and how it had grown in popularity and demand over the weeks of the exhibition.

I thought about many things during the seven hours I spent waiting to sit with her. From the moment I laid my eyes upon her that morning, I was transported. There, dressed completely in white, with her head slightly bent forward, she closed her eyes as if saving her energy for the impending expelling of all that she had. And there was an energy in the room that was palpable and undeniable. I could not look at her without getting nauseous and overcome with emotion. My heart rate would quicken and I would begin to shiver. Waiting in line I thought about and discussed with those around me how anyone, unless they were blind (and even they might be able to), regardless of language, age, religion, sex, etc. could sit with her and experience the work at the same level. Her chair was a great equalizer of sorts. I also thought about how merely waiting in line I was a part of art history, part of an important work that will never be duplicated (or will it?).

I made friends and formed bonds while in line. Besides getting to know Catalina and Angelica even better, I met Eliza, Jordon, Greg, David, Diane, Sarah, and many other participants and museum staff for the first time. Most of those in line wouldn't make it to see Marina. None of us did the first day.

By the next day (Friday), we knew the drill. We arrived early, around 8:30, waiting outside both entrances to the museum. We discussed our plan of attack and by 10:30, after an even more ridiculous mad dash to the second floor, I was 15th in line. Much better than the 21st I started with the day before. Still, I was a little nervous I wouldn't be able to see her. But after speaking with most of my comrades in line and spending time feeling out the line I gained confidence that today was the day.

Waiting in line I realized how everyone has very different reasons to sit with Marina. I met Ananda who turned her experience with Marina into a performance onto itself, associating the experience with the death of her mother, sitting with her a total of 29 times (I witnessed her 28th, her 29th was this past Sunday).

Unlike the day before, I could look at Marina for more than a couple of seconds without losing my head. Still, I hardly looked at her face until my turn arrived. Angelica (pictured left) went right before me and before I knew it, it was my turn to sit. My heart was in my throat, pounding a mile a minute. I began to shiver and became extremely self-conscious. I got the signal to go ahead and as soon as I sat down something partly instinctual and partly inexplicable came over me. Marina pulled her head back, opening her eyes and locked her gaze onto mine. I had planned on speaking to her (with my mind of course) about countless important things: the universe, love and life, my family and past relationships, and about how much she's done, asking her for wisdom and strength. But when I actually stared into her eyes, I was overcome with so much emotion, such raw energy I couldn't help but be taken back to a more basic level. I wanted to kiss her forehead and hug her for days. By the end of what felt like seconds, but was actually 11 minutes, I was so grateful and full of so much love and positive energy that all of a sudden I felt selfish for sitting there. I wanted everyone in the world to feel what I was feeling. And as a firm believer that art can change lives I thought about how many lives could be positively touched that day. How could I sit in that chair while there were so many still in line? Suddenly I realized just an ounce of selfishness would be so fundamentally contrary to what the work is about that I didn't want to corrupt the piece. Within seconds of those feelings, I closed my eyes slowly to thank her and leave. She seemed sad to see me go so soon and so I hesitated a bit, but then continued and bowed my head. I grabbed my things, exited the square, and immediately found a quiet area near a wall. Out of breath and disoriented, I held my head in my hands thinking about a million things. Visibly exhausted, a girl asked me if I needed water. I thanked her and said I was fine. A couple of minutes passed and Angelica decided to see if I was ok. As soon as she put her hand on my shoulder I felt a release. I collapsed to the floor weeping and sobbing profusely. I was immensely grateful. Staring into Marina's eyes for so long, in such an intense manner, made me yearn for and react to human contact like never before.

To think she's been doing this for so long! Her body must be taking a serious toll. I am so grateful for her dedication, strength, and selflessness.

Angelica later wrote she "fell in love with [her]self again." That day I fell in love with the world again.

For further reading on Marina Abramović and her landmark exhibition and performance read Arthur C. Danto's excellent New York Times write up.

let's give new york another chance...

2010-05-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I'll be heading back to New York this coming Wednesday and I'm very excited to give the city a second chance. I visited NY for the first time in my adult life back in December of 2008 and returned disillusioned, depressed, heartbroken, and on the verge of a small identity crisis. Perhaps it was the failing relationship I was in at the time, or maybe it had something to do with the freezing/gloomy weather my body doesn't react well to. I'm not sure, but this time I'm cranking up that Jay-Z song on my iPod and doing things right!

I'll be going with three great friends (Catalina, Angelica, and Raymond). We're only going to be there for 5 days and 4 nights, but we plan on sleeping very little and doing way too many awesome things. Here's what we've got planned...

We'll be crashing at an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (not pictured below).

One of the reasons we all wanted to go to New York now rather than later: to go here...

for a chance to be part of art history and sit with this lady.

Besides MoMA we plan on seeing lots of art. Like the biennial at the Whitney,

the New Museum (where Jeff Koons has curated his first show),

P.S.1 (which we'll try and visit Sunday for the opening of Greater New York),

and hopefully some galleries (maybe Deitch Projects? Postmasters? Gogosian on Madison? who knows).

New York is known for it's great parks and we are all looking forward to checking out the newly opened and still unfinished High Line park on Manhattan's West Side.

Of course, Angelica made sure we went on the same weekend as NYC Popfest so we'll be heading over to Don Hill's on Friday to see Allo Darlin', Pants Yell!, and Tender Trap amongst others.

Of course, I made sure we went on the same weekend as LCD Soundsystem. We'll be seeing his third of four shows at Terminal 5 on Saturday. Not only will I be dancing ALL night, but I'll be able to check one more thing off my list of things I want to do before I die.

Besides all of the above, we'll be fitting in as much eccentric shopping, amazing food, and lots of unplanned adventures as we possibly can. If you know of any great thrift stores (and not the kind that sells used pairs of jeans for $300), amazing little eateries, things that are not-to-be-missed, and/or want to meet up, please let me know.

I'll certainly be posting on here about how it all goes, though make sure to look out for my tweets and tumblr posts for ongoing coverage. Bye bye, see you on the flip side...

expose yourself

2010-04-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

Cut Piece by Yoko Ono immediately grabs one's attention, becoming doubly absorbing by the second. First performed in 1964 at the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo, Yoko executed the work by walking on stage and kneeling on the floor in a skirt and sweater. Audience members were requested to come on stage and begin cutting away her garments until she was naked.

Although the Jean-Paul Sartre inspired work is at first meant to be an existentialist statement on the artist's identity, to me, it is at once an altruistic act. I see the performance and happening as a statement on how to live and love, bearing ourselves, putting ourselves out there, open to judgment, ridicule, and being taken advantage of.

Thanks to archival footage, we can relive to a certain extent one of these performances and get a good feel for what it was like for Yoko. One can hear the giggles from the audience. One can see the varying sizes of clothing audience members chose to cut off as well as Yoko's face which fascinatingly shifts from triumph to uncertainty to (perhaps) regret. The most interesting and telling portion of the video of the recorded performance below comes around the 7 minute mark when a man cuts a substantial amount of her undergarment (typical male!), leaving her literally and figuratively exposed and vulnerable.

YOKO ONO CUT PIECE

embracing the life you never planned on

2010-03-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

We've all had this experience before. I'm at work trying to explain to a co-worker why he needs to see a new movie I absolutely loved. The movie in question is the recently released comedy/drama, Greenberg. Just after revealing it stars Ben Stiller I am dismissed completely. Ok, I can understand a little apprehension towards the funny man.
I tell him "Greenberg is to Ben Stiller what Punch Drunk Love is to Adam Sandler."
Nothing.
"But I hate Adam Sandler!" I protest.
Still nothing.
"Noah Baumbach is the director. Does that mean anything to you?"
...
I then briefly try explaining to him why it's required contemporary viewing. How it's the best film I've seen this year (The White Ribbon doesn't count as it was a 2009 release I simply saw this year). He concluded the conversation with a mere "I'll download it when it comes out."

I felt defeated to say the least. What else could I have said? Well, let me first warn you that you're probably not going to like this film. As with nearly all great films in recent memory, most audience members left the Sunrise Cinema I saw it at grumbling to themselves, posting trite phrases on the message board in the theater's lobby such as "tedious!" or "BORING!". I tell you this not to dissuade you, but rather to make a rather valid point. With an unlikeable, narcissistic protagonist, Greenberg is not Meet the Fockers.

In Greenberg, Stiller plays a depressed, passive aggressive 40-something New Yorker house-sitting for his vacationing brother in his hometown of L.A. There he catches up with old friends including his ex-girlfriend ("the one that got away") and two past best friends and band mates. He also meets and immediately commences a relationship with his brother's assistant, Florence, an adorable but lost 20-something played by Greta Gerwig. The short but passionate journey upon witch the titular character embarks is a rocky, grueling, and at times remarkable one. Living a life of cynicism and regret ever since walking out on a recording contract and losing what he feels was the woman of his dreams, Roger Greenberg has reached a tipping point during witch he's decided to do "nothing" in a sad attempt to reconcile his deep seeded self-reproach. Equally lost but not yet jaded is Florence whom may be able to save him, if he only gives her the chance.

Roger is constantly pushed outside of his comfort zone of witty one liners and writing letters of complaint to large corporations. As a New York pedestrian who has forgotten to drive a car, a point is made in the film about how he is basically stranded in L.A, dependent upon others for this basic need. Throughout the film he has no choice but to ask for a ride, usually from Florence, forcing him to make contact with those around him even when he'd rather ignore them. Most of us need small earthquakes sometimes to shake us up and get us moving when in a rut. Then again, there are some like Roger that need more than that. With this in mind, Greenberg is fascinating as we watch the main character as he is forced to confront the breaking down of wall after wall.

Stiller does everything asked of him by the ingeniously true-to-life screenplay (his character's Chap-Stick obsession is hilarious). However, it is Mumblecore director Gerwig, who AO Scott said "may well be the definitive screen actress of her generation," that does a fabulous job of seemingly not acting at all. She steals just about every scene from Stiller and gives Greenberg its delicate heart and soul.

This, Baumbach's third film and what many believe to be his best, is a rather bleak, cautionary tale and ultimately an uplifting and thought provoking one. Though you may not notice if you blink. I believe it is also an important film. Important because it reflects a common contemporary disease: the relentless pursuit of the career. More specifically the drive to become famous and/or "successful", ingrained into all of us from the moment we enter this world, increased unabated as we age. This self-indulgent societal disease tells us we are failures if haven't "made it" by the time we're 40, making no reference to a basic human need... What of love? What of our relationships? I'm not talking about marriage, kids, and a home. Instead I am referring to the building of lasting and meaningful relationships with as many as one can possibly fit into one's life. What ever happened to the pursuit of this kind of success? Success at love. Baumbach's Roger Greenberg finds out the hard way that it is this kind of success that has alluded him his entire adult life. He finds that he must, as his best friend realizes, embrace the life he never planned on. If he can do this... If we can do this, essentially reorganizing our priorities, then everything will fall into place. Yes, it's that simple.

Watch the misleading trailer for Greenberg below. The film is not nearly this romantic or blatantly uplifting.

lost in L.A.

2010-03-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

More photos taken during a trip to the West Coast...

After driving by the Hoover Dam and taking a pit-stop at the Grand Canyon, we drove several hours to Los Angeles. To my surprise, I loved L.A.. A sprawling, never-ending city, its mixture of buzzing city, eclectic architecture, and warm beaches really made a good first impression on me. With much more to say, L.A. is like a far more substantial and interesting Miami.

We spent three short days there, in which I managed to visit the 1940-80 portion of MOCA, LA's expansive 30th Anniversary permanent collection exhibition, the eccentric Museum of Neon Art, much of downtown's great architecture, Santa Monica Beach and Pier, too much of Hollywood (by foot no less) including the legendary Amoeba Records, and Olvera Street. I could have gotten lost there for weeks.

Now some of MOCA, LA, where I fell in love with James Rosenquist, discovered Bridget Riley, and rediscovered Lichtenstein and many other greats.

Below, A hypnotizing work by Doug Wheeler, RM 669, 1969.

On the floor Barry Le Va's great Shatterscatter (Within the Series of Layered/Pattern Acts), 1968-71, and on the wall to the left, the longest movie ever made, Tony Conrad's witty Yellow Movie.

and behind me in the same room...
Bruce Nauman's Four Corner Piece, 1971. I couldn't get enough of this work! Hey, that's me on TV!

I took a couple fun, multi-exposure shots with my Lomo Diana Mini at the Museum of Neon Art.

In Hollywood...

A great Samuel L. Jackson impersonator in Hollywood. He was more than willing to pose and look away as I took the picture. Maybe I should've given him some kind of monetary compensation...

Olvera Street / El Pueblo de Los Angeles. Mmm, Mexican food and prostituted dancing child entertainers.

The dizzying lights of the street vendors there.

At a yummy Mexican restaurant my dad posed like a conquistador for me; something I will be forever grateful for.

We got to Santa Monica beach and the pier just as the sun began to set and it was epic! Certainly a touristy thing to do, but popular for a reason.

I love the disappearing palm trees and pier in this one.

These two were taken while riding on the roller-coaster on the pier.

We finished off the day a great little Italian restaurant somewhere in Venice Beach.

the controlled chaos of it all

2010-03-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

Think of Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale as the more serious, much more French version of The Royal Tenenbaums. Then forget I even said that.

Never have I seen such a controlled portrayal of the chaos of real life, love, family, etc. This masterpiece is a crisp, utterly beautiful depiction of a family, with all its many eccentricities, reuniting for Christmas after many years of induced separation. Brought together by the family's dying mother, played brilliantly by the stunning Catherine Deneuve, the roller coaster Desplechin puts the viewer through is harrowing, grueling, touching, transcendental, and ultimately uplifting in a way few films are. It exalts one's heart with something quite unquantifiable but all too warm and real.

The film's techniques are understated and refined. The shifts in background music from one scene to the next. The way we don't really relate, or want to relate, to any single character. The use of jump cuts, split screen, and many other New Wave camera approaches. It all melds effortlessly and nearly unnoticeably, always in favor of a greater cause, a great film I feel the need to see at least... eh, twice more.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the politics of their art: part 5

2010-03-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is it. This is the last part. Done. I think I stretched this out about as long as was need for no one to read anything past the third part. Why do I love Christo and Jeanne-Claude so much? If I could answer that I would be a much happier person.

To be honest, I kind of love how I end this essay. And now that I'm finished posting it all, I'd love to know what you think.

To catch up, read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, and part 4 here.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the Politics of their Art: How they are (shrewdly and discreetly) Socialist, Anti-American and Revolutionary - part 5

They, like most truly great artists, are walking contradictions, at times claiming their work has no politics, at others attributing diverse avant-garde, often political and socialist implications to their art. They are utterly inflexible in their views, especially when it concerns the way their works are constructed and presented. However, they are gently and discreetly revolutionary, proving much more effective this way. They even go as far as to work with the governments they are quietly criticizing. During The Umbrellas, for instance, official government highway signs would alert drivers when to exit to view the site. California highways helped to make The Umbrellas an even greater event by giving it free publicity. Seemingly working with the authorities and not perceptibly against them, they are more likely to gain universal acceptance and prominence for themselves and more importantly their craft and its cause.

Imperative past anything else for Christo and Jeanne-Claude, however, is creation. Their responsibility is towards their art, everything else follows. Their work is not left-wing or right-wing, it is beyond current or specific politics; this proving more topical now than ever before as we live in a world in which one is defined, at times judged, by one’s religious, social, political, or even scientific views. They are beyond these pithy differences. In the film Umbrellas Christo is often heard telling the Japanese press he is doing the project for no one but himself, for the joy and satisfaction of it. For this reason they do not allow any outside funding, retaining complete control of their work in a world in which complete control over any aspect of one’s life is a rare commodity.

The transitory nature of their art adds a perceptible sense of urgency to their works. Urgency to take action, get out and experience the art for one’s self. This causes an acceptance of one’s own ephemeral state, the work’s sense of urgency being applied to one’s self much like a modern day vanitas, on a scale as yet unmatched.

Their revolutionary statements and social criticisms are hardly paralleled, stirring meaningful social change that stems not from anger or brash political statements, but rather from the beauty of a memorable experience which creates a more positive and lasting impression. Their works are solitarily revolutionary. Change occurs on a mass scale but in an individual, introverted and singular manner. They allow for a wide array of possible interpretations, reactions and outcomes. Each viewer’s experience is widely varied. As with any true shift within the public’s collective consciousness, a revolution must start with the individual before it can take hold of the masses. One must change one’s self before moving on to any other. The Christos aid this like no other artist before. They have taken the notion of mass dissemination to commercial and international levels that are embraced by popular media and that could not have been envisioned almost a century ago. They have turned blue-collar work into the labor of artists, and vice versa; they have invited every worker to be both an artist and an art critic; they have understood Warhol’s and Haring’s works to be a beginning and not the end of the popularization of artworks in contemporary culture, becoming as they were in their time celebrities… (portrait to right by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz)

Is their work too ahead of its time, or worse, irrelevant for today’s masses, too layered, its various agendas too veiled? Is a more straightforward voice needed to make any difference today? Yes, but this has always been the case. There have always been artists who call for immediate change on a mass scale and, equally, artists that work on the individual, shifting our collective conscious over time. The Christos, who work in the sublime, only incite change in those who seek it and deserve it. Only over time are the benefits reaped. Only over time does it pay to be shrewd and discreet.

For references, leave me a comment.

Over The River moving forward

2010-03-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

I received the letter below in my inbox this afternoon concerning Christo and Jeanne-Claude's next work Over The River. And, while I'm very excited to see progress is being made on the project, I worry (though not much) about the possibility the project will not pass. The public is asked to submit comments and concerns about Over The River here, and I encourage you to send a short, positive comment their way. It's my dream to work on one of the Christo's projects and this could very easily be my only chance.

We are emailing to share several recent developments on Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Over The River.

First, we wanted to let you know that we added some new information to our website about the permitting process for this temporary work of art. As you may know, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Over The River. During this detailed permitting process, an independent contractor (selected by BLM) is analyzing all of the project’s potential impacts, benefits and areas of concern.

The BLM will also develop various alternatives to the artists’ original vision for Over The River. These different alternatives could call for changing a variety of factors, such as the number of miles of fabric, the locations of the fabric panels, the time of year when the art is exhibited or the duration of the exhibition period. These alternatives are all compared against a “No Action” alternative -- the baseline alternative that describes what would happen if the project is not completed.

Clearly, the EIS process is tremendously important for Over The River. That is why we will be keeping this new portion of the website updated so that you can stay current with the latest developments. Additionally, the BLM’s official Over The River EIS website can be viewed by clicking here.

The Over The River EIS began in February 2009 and is expected to be completed by spring of 2011. The process includes the following upcoming milestones:

1. Draft EIS: Scheduled for June 2010

The Draft EIS document will be made available to the public for 45 days of review and comment this coming summer. The BLM and its consultants will also be holding four public meetings to discuss the document in Salida, Canon City, Denver and Cotopaxi (exact dates TBD). During this phase, BLM will accept written and oral comments on the project from the public. Public participation during this phase will be critically important.

2. Final EIS: Scheduled for Spring 2011

After evaluating and developing responses to Draft EIS comments and fine-tuning the document as appropriate, the BLM will publish a Final EIS and announce the “Preferred Alternative” for Over The River.

3. Record of Decision: Scheduled for Spring 2011 This is the alternative that the BLM will recommend for implementation.

After considering all analysis and input, the BLM will issue a Record of Decision -- the agency’s final action prior to project implementation. This step will have a significant influence on the final outcome of Over The River.

We’ll be sure to let you know when there are opportunities to submit comments and attend public meetings. Additionally, the Friends of Over The River group (“FOR”) is planning a number of activities that may be of interest to you, which are described on our website.

In the meantime, we will continue to keep you updated and let you know as soon as it is time to submit letters or comments to the BLM. We hope that you will get involved during this critical time for Over The River.

Sincerely,

The OTR Project Team
...........................
Over The River is a two-week temporary work of art by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. For more information, visit our website at www.overtheriverinfo.com.

The (ominous) White Ribbon

2010-02-23T21:37:00.000-08:00

After thinking about the film off and on for the past couple of days (it was finally released in my area), Michael Haneke’s hypnotizing, mesmerizing Palme d'Or winning The White Ribbon is now on my end of ‘09 list as my second favorite movie from last year (probably even a “better” film then my favorite, Up in the Air). I need to see it again, but it's safe to say Haneke can’t fail! Not only is The White Ribbon impeccably made, with incredible, stark black and white cinematography and a subtle screenplay, the perfect blend of understated terror with a hint of humanity (usually lacking in his films); but the film (yet again) is a smart, scathing critique on imperialism, capitalism, and the powers that be (then, in pre-WWI Sweden, and now). It’s also a history lesson. The small town of the film is the micro within the macro of the world stage at the time.

The White Ribbon is nothing short of brilliant and solidifies Haneke's legacy even further, as if he needed it. If you can find it in theaters, go see it! NOW! Before it’s gone!

the hoover dam(n), the grand canyon, and the western plains

2010-02-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

In between Vegas and Los Angeles, we passed through the Hoover Dam and made a pit stop at the Grand Canyon. Two amazing places with great scenic driving in between. This is when the trip hit its stride and never looked back.

As with the previous pictures I posted, these were taken with my Minolta SLR (a Maxxum 5) and Lomo Diana Mini.

This guy spent nearly half an hour having his dad photograph him in a bunch of different positions. Amazing.

learning from las vegas

2010-02-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to pick up Robert Venturi's infamous Learning From Las Vegas, a book that called "for architects to be more receptive to the tastes and values of "common" people and less immodest in their erections of "heroic," self-aggrandizing monuments." I'll get back to you on that, but I begin this post thinking of Venturi's book because I just developed pictures from a recent trip to Las Vegas, amongst many other places on the West Coast.

Las Vegas is a strange animal indeed. I can't imagine I'll ever return there. It's streets lined with photographs of nearly-naked women and tourists taking pictures of its many faux monuments really rubbed me the wrong way. But the city also fascinated me. No where else have I been where there is such a clear delineation and obvious juxtaposition between the genuine or sincere, and the fake. Amongst the deprivation, loveless sex, and crude excess one can find families truly enjoying themselves. In front of and inside the city's plethora of architectural lies such as the Bellagio and Ceaser's Palace there are heart warming surprises such as the former's enchanting fountains. People really feel like they're somewhere special when they visit Las Vegas, but almost nothing in Las Vegas is new, at all. It's really a terrible place. Everything that is wrong with this country (the world really) all boiled down to a strip of road not more than four miles long.

Probably because of the obvious differences from the rest of the city, I really got a kick out of the seedier parts of town at the end of the the strip near the Sahara and the Stratosphere. Gross!

Anyway, below are some of the photographs I took in there. Some of these were taken with my Minolta SLR while others (the square ones) were taken using my Lomo Diana Mini.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the politics of their art: part 4

2010-02-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

In these next two (and final) parts, one could say I get into the nitty gritty of my argument, really fleshing it all out and making large hypotheses (perhaps even sweeping generalizations).

To catch up, read part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the Politics of their Art: How they are (shrewdly and discreetly) Socialist, Anti-American and Revolutionary - part 4

While the Christos’ major works in Europe have involved the wrapping of well known man-made public structures such as Wrapped Reichstag and The Pont Neuf Wrapped, their projects in America (and Japan), with the exception of their early work Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Wrapped and Wrapped Floor and Stairway (pictured), have dealt with natural creations and mostly rural areas. What are they trying to declare in America that they have not bothered to declare elsewhere in the world? Why get American’s out of their bustling cities, their million dollar homes, and their countless shopping malls and into the wilderness and back in touch with nature? And why not Europeans or anyone else? These works take place in rural areas where more humble communities can be found, some living off the land they own which the Christos have borrowed for the duration of the work. The Christos are forcing an interaction between urban Americans and their more rustic neighbors as well as the world around them; a simpler and more real way of life not as far as they had imagined.

The careful planification of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s works in America, compared to anywhere else, can be read as a critique of America’s cultural takeover and overly capitalistic character. Though this may not be completely intentional (Christo and Jeanne-Claude would never execute a work to get such an individual point across) their work is made to make the viewer think, feel, and contemplate outside the everyday. Consequently, from the average opinionated individual, such a reading could not help but be extracted. Their work, particularly in America, juxtaposes the industrial strength of the 20th and 21st centuries with the timeless beauty of the natural world, bringing up environmental concerns more relevant in the United States than anywhere else. Much of their work makes use of disparities and juxtapositions. The Umbrellas, for example, was fashioned in order to spur discussions over the differences between Japanese and American cultures. Planned and executed in the stretch of ten years, the work was immaculately deliberate. It used the countries’ many differences involving climate and land usage and availability, juxtaposing Japan (and the Pacific East’s) limited yet cultivated lush mountain climate with American West’s vast and arid often uncultivated valleys. Japan using their resources as efficiently as possible; America with such great potential and so little results. In an interview with the director of 5 of their films Albert Maysles, Jeanne-Claude comments on a visit to colleges in both California and Japan. These talks were conducted in order to recruit workers for the project. During questioning after each of the talks Jeanne-Claude noted that the first question at a Los Angeles university was in regards to the cost of the work and who would pay for it. In Japan, on the other hand, the first question was not economic but rather an aesthetic concern regarding the choice of colors for the umbrellas of each country. Now think about the innumerable diverse reactions to the work from the more than 3 million who visited it during the 14 days the site was open to the public and the millions more who studied it years before and after through diverse forms of media. One can only imagine the great social/critical effect the work had on the two country’s populations and the world.

Their work is subtly yet profoundly revolutionary. It calls for change, inciting it in the viewer in an unforgettable way. The communicative aspect of the Christos’ work causes viewers to question social barriers and prejudices, prejudgments, stereotypes, views, and beliefs. The transcendent side allows us to rise above the everyday and focus on a bigger picture. Because their art is free from any and all forms of dogma it predicts and precedes a world without the need for ideologies. “Having no sympathy with any existing ideology, they attempt to escape into a world without ideologies.” Not so much against, but beyond that, apart from the norm, their art can thus be considered thematically utopian and revolutionary. As Herbert Read finishes off his essay ‘What is Revolutionary Art?’, “REVOLUTIONARY ART IS CONSTRUCTIVE – REVOLUTIONARY ART IS INTERNATIONAL – REVOLUTIONARY ART IS REVOLUTIONARY;” Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artworks are a perfect embodiment of this superb 1935 essay’s closing lines. And even though Read was writing at the time on formalist artistic trends versus the more realistic, or “superrealism,” of his time, his hailing of the artist who uses pure form as revolutionary is entirely applicable to the Christos.

To be continued. For references, leave me a comment.

my night with Zach

2010-02-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I got into a heated discussion about the merits of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work (surprisingly, it wasn't me who introduced them into the conversation), although it was pretty much about all conceptual and site-specific art. This, with a guy who not only looked just like Zach Galifianakis, but actually worked as a volunteer on one Christo and Jeanne-Claude's works! He doesn't see the value of just about any and all art created after the Impressionists, claiming art in the 20th and now 21st Centuries, particularly of the conceptual and/or abstract kind, is self indulgent and needlessly complicated. As a traditional painter, he praised (and rightfully so) the work of 19th Century painters such as Manet and Goya because they "painted with their hearts" and believes the best art should hit the viewer on a basic level and not be buried in meaning, symbolism, concepts, or high-minded ideas. Noble perhaps, but completely ridiculous. How frustrating and futile a conversation this was! And it's his kind of fatalist, negative attitude that frustrates the most.

Anyway, today I noticed that what I failed to realize during this intense, alcohol-fueled, needless debate was just how easily I could have refuted his obscene hypothesis by simply pointing to the obvious: Art is basically one's commentary on one's life experiences and the world around us, right? And life can be the simplest yet most complicated thing in the universe. And so, as a reflection of of it all, shouldn't art be both simple and complicated. All the best art is... really. Think about it.

Is this post as pointless as last night's conversation? Probably. But then, it's just as essential.

on the grandiose and transcendental in art

2010-01-27T20:51:00.000-08:00

This is something I intend to explore and elaborate further on but I wanted to get down what I've got so far and gauge people's reactions. What's crazy is while I was writing this I stumbled upon this post on a friend's blog that is very nearly about the same thing (though much more profound and meaningful in a lot less words). Anyway, here goes:

Returning to my writings on Christo and Jeane-Claude in the past two months, and then recently listening to a song I loved (and still love) very much back in high school, I noticed how my very favorite works of art do something very distinct and special to me. It's difficult for me to put it any better than to say that the art I love most makes my heart swell...

Very abstract, I know. Let me try and elaborate. With art, I wish to experience the transcendental. The simple and the profound. I want to be washed over, bombarded, and swept away. I want to feel minuscule but not crushed. And I want to be perplexed and amazed, dazed and confused. Hit on a gut level, then taken somewhere beyond my own body.

...Still a little vague. Hmm, perhaps it'll help if I give some examples.

I'll start with music. I'd say if you've got a song start with at least seven minutes and go from there. This is hyperbole, sure, but generally speaking a musical work needs time to explore and examine, and expand and contract in order to achieve the above mentioned effect. Many works by Steve Reich and Phillip Glass all the way back through Beethoven achieve this easily. But beyond the Classical, or even Jazz, I can think of many late 20th Century musicians. For instance, The Beatles' A Day in the Life hits me over the head every time. The repetition from post-punk and new wave acts like Joy Division, Television, and New Order has the power to hypnotize. Same goes for the washed out noise from alternative bands from the 90s like My Bloody Valentine and Ride. Today, ambient and/or electronic musicians like Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, Björk, M83, Aphex Twin, Stars of the Lid, Dan Deacon, etc. have the power (when at their best) to lift my heart. Contemporary alternative rock from the likes of The Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, TV On The Radio, Dirty Projectors, and others makes me feel small but never alone.

With visual art, there's the aforementioned artist team of Christo and Jeanne-Claude as well as most every major environmental/earth/land artist such as Robert Smithson and Richard Serra, whose artworks directly remind the viewer of the ephemeral and how transient the universe is. Also obvious for inclusion would be the great Abstract Expressionists and Color Field painters of the 40s and 50s and the subsequent Neo-Expressionists of the 70s and 80s. It can be Minimalist or Post-Minimalist (doesn't matter); and Dan Flavin, Ana Mendieta, Felix Gonzalez Torres, and pretty much anything with white walls and soft ambient neon light and/or music come to mind. Video works by Doug Aitken, William Kentridge, and Jesper Just wake me up, while installations by Pipilotti Rist sedate me in the most pleasant way possible.

As for film (you knew it was coming), what first comes to mind are slow, (seemingly) meandering films that allow the viewer to think as the film progresses. Also, those that make my heart pound, even after the movie has finished. Directors like Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, François Truffaut, Stanley Kubrick, Terrance Malick, Martin Scorsese, and Michael Haneke, to name a few, add new levels of perspective to the world with their probing cinematic eyes. I've rarely felt more alive than during the endings to The 400 Blows, La Strada, The New World, 2001: a space odyssey, and CACHÉ; and for distinct reasons each time.

With most of these, as with all great artists, there are multiple layers. The way their works make me or anyone feel is only a part of of a great multi-faceted work. But for me (and for the purposes of this post) it's essential.

I'm not Clement Greenberg. I don't denounce kitch or pop.

And I understand that a musician, or any artist for that matter, cannot always be held up to this criteria, but why not try? I don't think I'm asking for too much. It’s not impossible.

Also, remember, this is a work in progress. I'm aware this may all seem familiar, vague, or even juvenile. Any critiques, suggestions (further reading, maybe), or direction will be much appreciated.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the politics of their art: part 3

2010-01-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post whats left of this essay. Sorry (as if anyone's been waiting). I'll be doing it in three more parts (five in total). I promise not to wait so long to post the last two.

You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the Politics of their Art: How they are (shrewdly and discreetly) Socialist, Anti-American and Revolutionary - part 3

The Christos in fact have a corporation. Their permanent corporation for managing funds and other administrative work, the CVJ Corporation, is run by Jeanne-Claude. They also often form an additional temporary corporation for each of their major projects. In 1991 they formed The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and U.S.A. Corporation of which Jeanne-Claude Christo-Javacheff was, of course, president. Christo is quoted as stating that art should reflect and be of the time it is made, a reason for emphasizing the methodical corporatization of their art. The fact that their art is temporary only emphasizes their odd (yet effective) marriage between commerce and art. Historically “it was necessary to be profoundly religious,” but now Christo points out, we are “an essentially economical, social and political world.” For this reason “any art that is less political, less economical, less social today, is simply less contemporary.” Acting, almost parodying, as a corporation serves them brilliantly, lulling closer and then enlightening their audience. “[Our] project[s] [are] teasing society,” Christo explains, “and society responds, in a way, as it responds in a very normal situation like building bridges, or roads, or highways. What we know is different is that all this energy is put to a fantastic irrational purpose, and that is the essence of the work.” Their work is “teasing society” and its values on multiple levels, as well as the microcosm that is the art world. Their work is an immensely valuable example, most likely the best, of “all of the paradoxical conditions under which artworks must be produced, distributed, and consumed today.” In their work they “deliberately exploit all the mechanisms of capitalism” “then they negate capitalism’s most distinctive feature, namely the accumulation of capital, and leave people incredulous.” Christo resourcefully compares their 1980-83 work Surrounded Islands to a movie-set:

I think the project has some kind of subversive dimension and this is why we have so many problems. Probably all the opposition, all the criticism of the project is basically that issue. If we spend three million dollars for a movie-set there would be no opposition. They can even burn the islands to be filmed and there would be no problem. The great power of the project is because it is absolutely irrational. This is the idea of the project, that the project put in doubt all the values.

A spectator might even go as far as to compare his own life with that of the Christos who are seemingly fulfilled, successful, and powerful yet contently penniless. Is it necessary to play by the rules of a corrupt societal system in order to live and create freely? The Christos’ answer would be "yes" and a louder, more meaningful "no." In watching a documentary on their work one notices the immense undertaking the planning of each project can be, but also the serene beauty and great fulfillment the completion of such a work can provide in contrast. In this sense, each of their works is a performance, one that can be scrutinized and admired on film and in print. The stark contrast between the two states of being, during and after a hectic production, brings into question the hectic acquisitive lifestyle many lead today, primarily in the capitalistic market-driven countries of the West.

The Umbrellas, which this writer considers the best example of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s subversive powers at work, was a strikingly beautiful, immediately engaging conversation amongst viewers in two continents separated by the largest body of water on Earth. Viewed by over 3 million people, the suggestion that each viewer’s respective country was not the only one on the planet must have, at one point or another, entered their minds. Viewers of the yellow umbrellas in California could not help but think about what was simultaneously happening with a comparable amount of blue umbrellas in Japan and vice versa, not to mention each country’s distinct cultural values and ideals, economic system, climate and landscape, and other innumerable factors. The work got people, including those simply passing by during their daily routines, to see beyond their everyday. The Umbrellas was gloriously defiant, its mesmerizing beauty proving astute and cunning. This was the Christos at their subversive best. The project was viewed primarily, more so than any other of their works and most likely any other art work before or since, “from the automobile, the ubiquitous chariot of both California and Japan.” Beyond that, it got those who were passing by to stop, get out from their autos, and explore and interact with the umbrellas. The Umbrellas directly brought politics into the Christos’ work and the lives of those visiting the works’ multiple sites. Viewers were forced to deal with distinct political bureaucracies and several regional boundaries in order to see the work.

To be continued. For references, leave me a comment.

Dark was the Night: great music... great cause

2010-01-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to listen to the Dark Was the Night compilation album that came out a while ago and I'm glad I finally did. It's the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. So that's all well and good... but how's the music?

There's some interesting experimental stuff from known acts as well as many collaborations that work rather wonderfully. Some amazing tracks are provided from the likes of Iron & Wine, Beirut, The Books feat. José González, Dirty Projectors and David Byrne, Grizzly Bear and Feist, Sufjan Stevens, and The Arcade Fire (giving us some new music while we wait for their next HIGHLY anticipated album).

Sure it's long, with two discs of music, but there's at least one disc's worth of really great music on here. Definitely recommended. And considering the cause... maybe you should buy it.

2009: the year in lists

2010-01-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

The year is over. It's been over. It's old news now...

Far too much of my life is spent living in the past.

These lists were a while in the making. I was on vacation at the end of the year and didn't get my things together 'till recently (still getting things together mentally). Anyway here goes: my 2009 year-end lists...

Best Movies
When compared to previous years (especially the last three), 2009 was a downright terrible year for movies. Still, there were a few gems. Although I'm still playing catch-up, I'm always playing catch-up and I've seen enough movies at this point to feel comfortable with this list.

Films I haven't seen: The Messenger, La Nana (The Maid), Les Plages d'Agnès (The Beaches of Agnes), Tokyo!, Sugar, District 9, Goodbye Solo, Still Walking, Crazy Heart, Tyson, Inglourious Basterds, and a couple of others.

24. Star Trek
23. Julie and Julia
22. Away We Go
21. Duplicity
20. Moon
19. Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces)
18. Cold Souls
17. Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo)
16. Avatar
15. Food Inc.
14. An Education
13. A Single Man
12. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
11. Where the Wild Things Are
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox
9. The Hurt Locker
8. The Brothers Bloom
7. A Serious Man
6. The Cove
5. Bright Star
4. Up
3. (500) Days of Summer
2. The White Ribbon
1. Up in the Air

Honorable Mentions: Good Hair, Coraline, and Whatever Works.

Best Songs
In alphabetical order because... well, YOU try putting these in preferential order. Not even I'm that crazy! However, I have bolded my very favorite tracks.

In 2009 more than ever I noticed the way I lean towards the melodic and my unabashed love of hooks and catchy tunes. Now that doesn't mean I'll listen to anything that'll make me dance on my drive from work. It has to be smart too. And this year it seems there was plenty of fun, clever, catchy stuff. Heck, even notoriously tough-to-like bands like Animal Collective and The Fiery Furnaces made fun, accessible albums (the former being far more successful than the latter).

...And there were lots of other songs that weren't necessarily catchy but just as great...

A.A. Bondy - When The Devil's Loose
Animal Collective - My Girls, Brother Sport, and In the Flowers (in that order)
Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (featuring Laetitia Sadier) and Walkabout (featuring Panda Bear) (in that order)
Au Revoir Simone - Anywhere You Looked and Trace a Line (in that order)
The Big Pink - Sweet Dreams (Beyoncé cover)
The Bird and the Bee - My Love
The Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway and I Gotta Feeling (in that order)
Blue Roses - I am Leaving
Camera Obscura - French Navy, My Maudlin Career, and Careless Love (in that order)
Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts
Dan Deacon - Snookered, Get Older, Surprise Stefani, and Build Voice (in that order)
Dead Man's Bones - Flowers Grow Out of My Grave and Paper Ships (in that order)
Delorean - Deli
Dirty Projectors - Useful Chamber, Stillness is the Move, and Fluorescent Half-Dome (in that order)
Discovery - Orange Shirt
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home
The Fiery Furnaces - Keep Me in the Dark
Girls - Hellhole Ratrace and Lust for Life (in that order)
Grand Archives - Silver Among the Gold
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire and Wet Hair
Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind (featuring Alicia Keys)
Kelly Clarkson - Already Gone
Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
Lily Allen - Chinese
Little Girls - Growing
M. Ward - Jailbird and Blake's View (in that order)
Matt & Kim - Daylight
Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
Metronomy - A Thing for Me
Mew - Sometimes Life Isn't Easy and Tricks of the Trade (in that order)
Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You
Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies
Noisettes - Don't Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go)
Nurses - Caterpillar Playground
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - A Teenager In Love, Contender, and Young Adult Friction (in that order)
Passion Pit - The Reeling
Patrick Watson - Beijing and Big Bird in a Small Cage (in that order)
Phoenix - 1901, Lasso, and Lisztomania (in that order)
Q-Tip - Gettin' Up
Real Estate - Saturday Morning
St. Vincent - The Strangers and Actor Out of Work (in that order)
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
Think About Life - Havin My Baby
Vampire Weekend - Horchata
The xx - VCR, Infinity, Heart Skipped a Beat, Crystalised, Islands, Shelter (yes it's almost the entire album... in that order)
Vivian Girls - Can't Get Over You
Washed Out - Feel It All Around
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
Yeasayer - Ambling Alp
Yo La Tengo - More Stars than there are in Heaven

Most Listened to Songs

Best Albums
The album isn't dead... yet. At this point I'd say it's on life support and in need of serious rehabilitation. However, there were a handful of albums that tried to be just that: beginning-to-end "albums" rather than simply collections of songs. Below are many that attempted to make cohesive albums and succeeded, though that's not their only redeeming quality.

This list is in order and doesn't include any real surprises or anything out of the ordinary (besides maybe Max Richter). Sadly, I haven't seen Au Revoir Simone, Q-Tip, nor Patrick Watson on very many year-end lists.

23. Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong
22. Girls - Album
21. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
20. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
19. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
18. Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring
17. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
16. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
15. Discovery - LP
14. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
13. St. Vincent - Actor
12. Mew - No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry, They Washed Away No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away
11. Atlas Sound - Logos
10. M. Ward - Hold Time
9. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
8. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
7. Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light
6. The xx - xx
5. Max Richter - 24 Postcards In Full Colour
4. Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
3. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
2. Dan Deacon - Bromst
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Most Listened to Artists

I ♥ Grandma ('09 mixtape)

2010-01-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

Completely jacking one of my favorite podcasts, this is my mixtape for the year that ended almost two weeks ago. But first, a bit of an explanation:

This mix (album cover above) is a very personal one, and looking at most of the songs on here, a very emo(tional) one. I feel like quite the dork, bracketing this mix with The Smiths' There is a Light that Never Goes Out and Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. But, not only were they songs I loved and listened to incessantly at the beginning and end of 2009, respectively, they also rather accurately express how I entered the year and how I exited it. Sure I've got Animal Collective on here (that was in everyone's ears in '09), but I've also got Au Revoir Simone and Kelly Clarkson, two female acts that in my humble opinion don't get enough respect (though the former deserves far more respect than the latter). Two Camera Obscura songs end Side A and begin Side B; that album was my breakup album, pretty much all I listened to for about a month and a half. Also, me being the hopeless optimist, the final two songs are a bit of wishful thinking on my part.

I placed some of the songs in chronological order, many of them describing a major love (and love lost) in my life, but most of them are simply songs I felt throughout the year (songs I really related to), many of which I flat-out loved.

I've added links to sendspace in case you don't have one or any of these fine tracks. But download them now, before their deleted.

Finally, while creating it, the list of songs naturally formed into two very separate acts...

Side A
The Smiths - There is a Light that Never Goes Out

Girls - Hellhole Ratrace

Sometimes you've just gotta make it for yourself.
Sometimes baby, you just need someone else.

And I dont want to cry my whole life through.

I want to do some laughing too.
So come on, come on, come on, come on, laugh with me.
And I dont want to die without shaking up a leg or two.
Yeah, I want to do some dancing too.
So come on, come on, come on, come on, dance with me.

The xx - VCR

Au Revoir Simone - Anywhere You Looked

Discovery - Orange Shirt

Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire

Oh! We used to dream! Now we worry about dying!

I don't wanna worry about dying. I just wanna worry about those sunshine and girls.

Animal Collective - My Girls

Jenny Lewis - Trying My Best to Love You

Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You

I have waited with a glacier's patience.
Smashed every transformer with every trailer,
till nothing was standing
sixty-five miles wide.
Still, you are nowhere...
Still, you are nowhere,
nowhere in sight.

Kelly Clarkson - Already Gone

Camera Obscura - French Navy

You and your dietary restrictions
said you loved me with a lot of conviction.
I was waiting to be struck by lightning,
waiting for somebody exciting...

like you.
Oh, the thing that you do.
You make me go, "Oooh"
with the things that you do, you do, you do.

I wanted to control it
but love, I couldn't hold it.
I wanted to control it
but love, I couldn't hold it.

Side B

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
I'll brace myself for the loneliness,

say hello to feelings that I detest

This maudlin career has come to an end.
I don't want to be sad again.

M. Ward - Jailbird

So who's gonna here your "help me, help me" now?

Better go find another best friend somehow.

She & Him - Take it Back

TV On The Radio - Family Tree

Were hanging in the shadow of your family tree
your haunted heart and me
brought down by an old idea whose time has come.
And in the shadow of the gallows of your family tree
there's a hundred hearts or three
pumping blood to the roots of evil to keep them young.

Mew - Sometimes Life Isn't Easy

Patrick Watson - Beijing

Woke up in Beijing.

In someone else's arms.

Through someone else's life

that I'm not sure belongs to me.

Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance

Having trouble telling how I feel, but I can dance, dance, dance. (never fails)

New Order - Leave Me Alone

The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Sweet disposition,
never too soon.
Oh reckless abandon,
like no one's watching you

A moment. A love.
A dream aloud.
A kiss. A cry.
Our rights. Our wrongs.
A moment. A love.
A dream aloud.
A moment. A love.
A dream aloud.

So stay there!
cause i'll be comin' over.
And while our bloods still young,
it's so young
it runs.
And we won't stop til it's over.
Won't stop to surrender.

the 106 best films of the decade

2009-12-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

Like every film critic, entertainment magazine, and cinema-obsessed blogger, I've been building towards and posting several teasers on this list for weeks now. I've finally come to some kind of consensus on what I believe are the best films of the decade, that is, from the year 2000 (technically the end of the last decade) through 2009 (two weeks from today). I feel it's way too early for me to be putting this list together. Not only are there a number of films from this year I have yet to see, but many from years past as well. Most of which will probably make it onto this list eventually. But then again, will I ever see every great film ever made? Sadly, no. And so, here goes...

This was a great decade for film. The internet allowed/liberated filmmakers, as with all artists, to explore far more than ever before. Coupled with a wide array of new technological advances, film grew to encompass a vast array of new genres and sub-genres. Sure there were way too many mediocre films to count, but those were accompanied by many audacious and thrilling ones.

The best year for film out of the past decade is a tough call between '05 and '06, but I'd have to give it to the latter. 2006 produced such fantastic works, a great mix of films from almost every continent. There are 106 films on this list because that's how many I ended up with. My numbers 1 and 2 could be alternated on any given day, depending on my mood.

As with my other year/decade-end lists, this will be a mix of what I find to be the most influential, important/substantial/historic, and (most importantly) great films of the past decade. For the most part this is simply a list although you'll also find a few small summaries as well as short observations and portions from larger reviews. And yes, they're in order (making this list all the more preposterous and inconsequential):

1. The New World (2005) – I'll never hear Wagner's Vorspiel the same way again.

2. Cache (Hidden) (2005)

3. There Will Be Blood (2007)

4. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – Looking at many other decade-end lists, I’ve received much validation. List after lists includes this, (yes, I’ll say it) Spielberg’s best film, many in their top ten.

5. L'Enfant (The Child) (2006) – As second-time winners of the Golden Palm, the top prize at Cannes, for L’Enfant in 2005, I knew going into the theater that I was in for something big. But I had no idea how hard and deep the experience would affect me. This film presents situations and characters I think we can all, although perhaps not directly, relate to. The main character, twenty-year-old thief and con artist Bruno, is someone who refuses to acknowledge the world around him essentially by denying the existence of any real responsibilities besides the obvious (mostly himself), something we've all tried or wanted to try in someway or another at one point in our lives. Jérémie Renier, who made his major-role debut in La Promesse, plays Bruno so naturally and with such subtlety, taking the viewer through a range of emotions; he makes it all too clear who the true enfant really is.

6. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s very own "alienation trilogy" of sorts: Amores Perros (2001), 21 Grams (2003), and Babel (2006).

7. Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) (2001)

8. El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006) – After seeing it for a second time, I had this to say about the film: Pan's Labyrinth, I find, is one of the most baffling and original ideas for a film in ages. The film works on numerous levels I would've never imagined could work together. This is a masterwork, definitely one for the canon. I can't wait for del Toro's next effort, although I don't see how anything could match his latest.

9. Half Nelson (2006) – Review here.

10. The Pianist (2002) – The best Holocaust/Nazi/WWII movie ever made (yes, better than Schindler's List).

11. Adaptation (2002) – Having actually read the book it's inspired from, The Orchid Thief, I was able to fully grasp the brilliance of what Kaufman and his crazy mind created here. I would definitely recommend reading the text before seeing this film as they are more companion pieces as opposed to different versions of the same story.

12. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) – Wes Anderson's best by far.

13. Children of Men (2006)

14. 4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni si 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) (2007) – 2007’s palme d'Or, I can still remember the feeling of this film slowly, but surely, creeping up on me as though taking me by the neck, slowly tightening, not letting go until long after it was all over. "Intense and gut-wrenching," doesn't begin to adequately describe this film. It is effective in ways I never knew film could be.

15. No Country for Old Men (2007)

16. Old Joy (2006) – Previews words on this here.

17. United 93 (2006)

18. Bowling for Columbine (2002) – Moore’s best documentary (although I haven’t seen Roger and Me), it really gets to the heart of America's many problems, more so than any other of his films (or most others of its kind). This is perhaps the film that is most indicative of our times. “Truly provocative,” as the movie's poster suggests.

19. Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006) – Review here.

20. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) There is not a false moment in this film (not an easy feat for a musical). Partially a study of love and the lengths we'll go to attain it, this is easily the best musical of the last 10-15 years and easily Tim Burton’s best.

21. Fa Yeung Nin Wa (In the Mood for Love) (2001) – It’s like Hiroshima Mon Amour, but in color.

22. Once (2007)

23. Les Triplettes de Belleville, Belleville Rendez-vous (The Triplets of Belleville) (2003)

24. The Aviator (2004)

25. Marie Antoinette (2006) – An observation of mine made then, that still holds true today: Marie Antoinette reminded me of a couple films, namely the previous year’s fantastic The New World. Sofia’s film has much in common with Terrence Malick’s epic, not only in its restrained amount of dialogue and passive and beautiful cinematography, but also in its main character’s development. Both female, they have to deal with finding themselves while dealing simultaneously with others' preconceived standards. Although the avenues taken by each couldn’t be more different, one chooses spirituality while the other chooses sensuality; both essentially deal with that same personal quest. Review here.

26. The Wrestler (2008) – The Wrestler surprised me with the scope of its message and symbolism as much as its exposing intensity and intimacy. This is one of the most American of films released this decade, as well as one of the most touching.

27. The Son (Le Fils) (2002)

28. The Return (Vozvrashcheniye) (2003)

29. La Science des Rêves (The Science of Sleep) (2006) – Review here.

30. WALL-E (2008)

31. Up in the Air (2009) – George Clooney is pitch-perfect as the charming poster child for all that is wrong with the world today in this brilliant film. I can't stop thinking about how amazingly complex and rich with genuine emotion Up in the Air is. Jason Reitman restores my faith in the power of a good story and what modern American cinema can accomplish. This is my new favorite film of 2009. Fantastic.

32. The Hours (2002)

33. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

34. In America (2003)

35. King Kong (2005) – A portion of my review from that year: Fantastic entertainment with a welcome message. 3 hours, you ask? They fly by like seconds. This is easily the most ENTERTAINING film of the year. As the cliché goes: I laughed, I cried… add on to that: I screamed, I squirmed, I was in awe. I loved this film. By the way, King Kong was much sadder and more human the second time I saw it; less an "epic", more a tragic love story.

36. Munich (2005) – This film, as with King Kong and Minority Report, is by the numbers entertainment, but done irrefutably well.

37. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – An ambitious and grandiose, yet flawed masterpiece, this is a very old-school approach to telling a sweeping, epic story. It is repressed by the restraints of its own source material, but Fincher takes it as far as anyone ever could. Not to mention, it sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of his impressive oeuvre. Deep down, I’m not sure why but I love epic, meaning-of-life movies like this one. This is one of the best I've ever seen. I had to see it twice.

38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) – This is the Annie Hall Woody Allen would've made if he were younger (and more optimistic) today. It has influenced countless films of its genre and climbed higher on this list because of it.

39. Ratatouille (2007) – An animated film about food as art and the human need to create? Incredible! My favorite Pixar film.

40. Memento (2000)

41. Minority Report (2002)

42. Volver (2006) – Aldomovar AND Penelope Cruz (in Spanish)?! Need I say more?

43. Crash (2004)

44. Atonement (2007) – From my review of the film, two years ago: Immaculately executed, incredibly this only Wright's second film, reminded me of last year's Children of Men from Alfonso Cuarón. That film, like Atonement, hit every note exactly right. Acting, cinematography, pace, tone, score, everything perfectly planned and manipulated brilliantly. Both films use the medium's strong points and exploit them. In Atonement there's a beach/war scene in particular that reminded me of Children of Men's long uninterrupted takes, painstakingly planned yet seemingly effortless in its naturalness. Atonement's beauty (this year) is rivaled only by Julian Schnabel's mesmerizing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. A number of scenes will take your breath away. The film devastated me. It is utterly unabashedly romantic, sweeping and in love with love yet completely sans sentimentality. It never hits a false note. Its emotional ups and downs and devastating conclusion are beyond powerful. They resonated on multiple levels, hitting me just as hard each time. If one thing is learned from the film it’s that collectively humanity seems only to be getting worse. Innocence is all but lost, moving further away with each shot of a gun or explosion of a land mine. The more I think about the micro vs. the macro within the film the more I want to read the novel in order to compare it with the brilliance of Wright's romantic epic, as much a romantic epic as Gone With The Wind or The English Patient.

45. (500) Days of Summer (2009) – Director Marc Webb’s debut film perfectly captures what it is to go through a contemporary young relationship, becoming THE film of my summer. Its images, all too familiar, filled my head in the day. Its music was the soundtrack to my nights. Fine! I’ll say it… this is the Annie Hall of our generation.

46. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) – Review here.

47. Entre les Murs (The Class) (2008)

48. Good Night, And Good Luck (2005)

49. Michael Clayton (2007) – I remember hurriedly typing after rushing home from a screening of this: I'm not sure how or why but there are certain films, a select few mind you, that make my heart race. And I don't mean from suspense (although Michael Clayton has plenty of that) or from a raw kind of emotion (which there is little short of as well). I'm referring, rather, to the amazing pounding one's heart endures when witnessing something unforgettable, something truly mind-blowingly brilliant. There is a very select group of films that leave me this way (Malick's The New World was the last I can remember); with my heart racing, my eyes pacing back and forth looking for more on the screen, my palms sweaty as I wipe them hurriedly on my pant-legs in a frantic array of emotions. Not all of my favorites do this to me, although most of them do. Perhaps Michael Clayton is a new favorite. For now, it's at the top of my list of the year.

50. Up (2009)

51. Capote (2005)

52. Ying xiong (Hero) (2004)

53. Notre Musique (2004) – Quite a melding of genres and styles, this will get you thinking for hours upon hours after you've seen it. In the 21st century Godard's still got it.

54. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

55. Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows) (2004)

56. Bright Star (2009) – Kind of fearless in its unabashed romanticism. I’ve been reading Keats on and off ever since. I wrote about it previously here.

57. Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) (2007) – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly reminded me of three films, three BIG films; The 400 Blows, 8 1/2 and (most of all) Ikiru. The 400 Blows due to its music, even at one point using the opening theme from Truffaut's debut film, but also thematically, slightly. It reminded me of 8 1/2 technically, often using voice over brilliantly and incorporating a non-sequential narrative. It inter-cuts memories, dreams, and real-time creatively to great effect. The film has most in common, though, with Kurosawa's epic (epic in my eyes) film about mortality and one man's final days. Schnabel's film isn't quite as brilliant or effective as Ikiru but, of course, it doesn't need to be. This film is beautiful beyond words. Amazingly shot, the cinematography is creative and breathtaking, even coming from the former painter. The editing is that of subtle brilliance, every cut purposefully selected. For example, memories are often cut abruptly, along with the soundtrack, as though one has been awakened or disturbed in deep thought. Memory and imagination, the two things the main character has retained and are at his (and the director's) disposal, are major parts of this film both visually and thematically. The results aren't far from genius and I believe will only gain stature with subsequent viewings.

58. Millions (2005)

59. The Queen (2006) – A fascinating experience that had me completely engrossed with the inner-workings of British politics after the death of Princess Diana, this is a film that holds change and progress dear and believes they are inevitable regardless of a few setbacks. If ignorant to this fact, we are given the immensely complex main character to relate to. The Queen is titled as such not simply because she is the main character. We, as intelligent viewers are supposed to make the same discoveries she makes about herself and through this we find the true meaning of the film. The Queen despises traditions while respecting their existence, taking a more civilized look at revolution. Ironically refreshing, isn’t it?

60. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) – My favorite Wes Anderson film.

61. The Cove (2009)

62. Finding Nemo (2003)

63. I'm Not There (2007)

64. Doubt (2008) – As with many of the greatest films of all time, Doubt leaves you with more questions than when you came in. Sure it's a filmed stage-play, but why mess with success?

65. Lars and the Real Girl (2007) – This film made me want to become a better person… seriously.

66. Off the Map (2003)

67. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) – Not as good as the hype would suggest, but just barely. This is a crowd-pleaser with brains.

68. Mar Adentro (The Sea Within) (2004)

69. Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) – Forget Al Gore's pie charts and laser pointer, this is the environmentally conscious documentary to see and discuss. Not only does it provoke thought, it provokes change.

70. Pollock (2000) – One of my favorite films (for personal as well as general film-loving reasons) and one of my favorite bio-pics of all time.

71. Away from Her (2007)

72. Signs (2002)

73. O Ano em que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation) (2006) – The horrors of war and conflict need not be images of open wounds or piles of bodies. This portrait of Brazil in 1970 told through the eyes of a 12 year-old boy is a brilliant, touching, deliciously “red” testament to the power of a good story.

74. Everything is Illuminated (2005) – I'm big on remembering and learning from the past and this film is all about that.

75. Diarios de Motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries) (2004)

76. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) – It is hard to view Episode III: Revenge of the Sith without thinking back to the previous five Star Wars films. But if this were the first, as opposed to the last film in the saga would it be viewed just as cynically? If I were to rank this film within the entire six-ology it would rank 3rd, just in front of Return of the Jedi and behind episodes four and five. On its own, however, I think it's a fascinating portrayal of one man's journey into the depths of hell. And within all this dark material, George Lucas managed to add humor, something Episode II lacked (personally my least favorite of the bunch and the only one I would dare to call a bad film). With Episode III Lucas has made a film I think all Star Wars fans will enjoy and consider a worthy close to an incredible saga.

77. The Visitor (2008) – Sure it can be a bit formulaic, pretentious and/or sentimental, but it's particularly effective at pulling our heartstrings when and where it counts. It opens our eyes and our hearts to the fact that more is lost than gained from America's current stance on immigration.

78. Paranoid Park (2007)

79. Wendy and Lucy (2008) – I wrote about this film comparing it to the similar (thematically) Into the Wild.

80. Donnie Darko (2001) – An alleged "cult classic" concerning everything from politics and religion to time-travel and American suburban life, I was completely engrossed by the main character and his Christ-like journey towards the end of the world. What he goes through within those last "28 days" runs the entire gamut of emotions, proving fascinating and at times inspirational. With a virtuoso performance from Gyllenhaal and an ambient, eerie score by Michael Andrews, ambitious doesn't begin to describe Richard Kelly's debut film. No other film blends genres and styles quite like this and with such deep affect.

Taking place in an election year, in which Bush defeated Dukakis, it parallels the time of its release and uses Donnie as the voice of reason and progress as he brings balance and truth to his town. As the closing song says, this is a "mad world" but we all need to cope somehow being careful we don't let it get to us. Donnie makes sure that can't happen. He listens to a creepy rabbit and does what he's told, for better or worse. Is this God, perhaps an angel, or just Donnie's hallucinations? I personally think it's the second choice but that's obviously open to debate.

What isn't up for debate is that this film believes of creation. This refreshing viewpoint is obvious as the viewer of the film is asked to experience the same self discovery Donnie goes through. In this we find the answers to Donnie’s questions on love, existence, and everything in between. And so, the film's ending is ultimately a happy one, satisfying in ways I never thought possible.

81. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

82. Spider-Man 2 (2004) – Easily the best of the three, I considered this the best super-hero movie ever made until The Dark Knight came along. This is the super-hero movie for everyone, as it is every movie genre in one.

83. About a Boy (2002)

84. Rachel Getting Married (2008) – Have any doubts about tying the know? This movie will make you want to get married.

85. The Brothers Bloom (2009) – I already waxed poetic about this wonderful film here.

86. Finding Neverland (2004)

87. Man Push Cart (2006) – Some would point to this as the best example of what AO Scott calls the Neo-Neo Realism. I would argue that to be Old Joy or even Wendy and Lucy. Regardless, Man Push Cart is an excellent, very American film.

88. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

89. A Serious Man (2009) – When the truth is found to be lies… and all the joy within you dies… Don’t you want somebody to love? A Serious Man answers this very important question, and with all the charm, wit, and subversive hilarity you’ve come to expect from the Coen Brothers.

90. Shi mian mai fu (House of Flying Daggers) (2004)

91. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) – I just wrote about this.

92. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) – This is kind of like one of Alejandro González Iñárritu's films but without the overly serious tone or convoluted plot structure. Sure it's a bit pretentious and its portrayal of "real" people is hard to swallow at times, but one's doubts are put to rest with any moment of dialogue between the underrated John Hawkes and the stunning (in innumerous ways) writer/director/actress/ performance artist Miranda July. The sum of this, July's debut film, is much greater than its parts.

93. Pride and Prejudice (2005)

94. Avatar (2009) - Not only does this get a spot on this list because it's the highest grossing film of the decade (second of all-time only behind James Cameron's other little film Titanic), but also because this kind of high-quality (with attention to every single detail) sweeping, grandiose, crowd-pleasing film doesn't get made nearly as often as it used to. Not since Peter Jackson's King Kong can I remember being this swept away into another world. This is cinema-escapism at its best.

95. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

96. Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

97. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

98. Feux Rouges (Red Lights) (2004) – They don't make them like this any more (at least not in Hollywood). This film has more on its agenda than mere thrills and supense, although those are plentiful, it's a Hitchcockian thriller in this sense. Red Lights relates the troubles of an overly domesticated man trying to regain his manhood and then some. But if there's a moral to this story it's that you should be careful what you wish for, or rather, you should be careful how you go about getting what you wish for. I was never sure where this film was going, which made it both interesting and entertaining; interesting being the key word, as this movie might make you rethink a few of your lifestyle choices, if not scare you into changing them; and that is a welcome change onto itself.

99. Knocked Up (2007)

100. The Fountain (2006) – The Fountain is such a difficult film to discuss. On the one hand I enjoyed the experience immensely and found the visuals nothing short of mind-bogglingly-spectacular. I was drawn in from the very beginning, the hour and a half running time whizzing by. I also love how the film is open to varying interpretations and meanings, with a fascinating triple narrative, three different storylines that may or may not be completely connected. On the other hand, I found the film's message redundant, pretentious, and a bit preachy. The Fountain is completely immersed in getting its juvenile message across to an audience that expects more from such an awe-inspiring, sensory stimulating, and captivating film. Its score by the brilliant Clint Mansell is nothing short of impecable.

The Fountain is a grand failure. It pains me to think how much more it could've been. However, Aronofsky must be commended. Besides being one of the most romantically true films in a long while, his film is uniquely spiritual at a time when spiritually minded films cause smirks and shudders from most moviegoers. With The Fountain he's trying something very few even dare to imagine nowadays: that which is original and (more importantly) comes from the heart, infused with passionate detail and a love for the art. Because of this, despite its numerous flaws, I'd be hard-pressed not to recommend Aronofsky's audacious experiment.

Note: Stay for the end credits, short and sweet as stars slowly appear on screen, completely filling it by the time the credits have ended. Also, listen for a small surprise at the very end.

101. The Darjeeling Limited (2007) – I have nothing but good feelings towards (not for) this film. I loved it despite juvenile, easy, laughable (but that's ok it's Wes) symbolism. But to get hung up on this would be missing the point of the film. This film left me overjoyed and in a collected sense of being, becoming something of a guilty pleasure of mine.

102. Juno (2007)

103. War of the Worlds (2005) – Not only is this great entertainment but it also plays as a social commentary; criticizing America's war in Iraq, amongst other things, and playing with the audience's fears of terrorism and our ever-changing world. Lately, Spielberg has become underrated because of his overrated-ness. He's a master filmmaker. Sure his films are generally commercial but, unlike most popular cinema, they're popular for a reason: they're GOOD.

104. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

105. The Illusionist (2006)

106. Naqoyqatsi (Naqoyqatsi: Life as War) (2002) – Not as good as its companion the masterpiece Koyanisqaatsi, but great nonetheless.

Disclaimer: I have yet to see Mulholland Dr., Yi Yi, Zodiac, 25th Hour, Before Sunset, Dogville, Grizzly Man, Lost in Translation, and of the Lord of the Rings films, Flight of the Red Balloon, City of God, Moolaadé, Beau Travail, Spirited Away, The Piano Teacher, Kill Bill, I Heart Huckabees, I own Crounching Tiger Hidden Dragon but have not seen it, Elephant, Synecdoche, New York, Hunger, Capturing The Friedmans, The Hurt Locker, My Winnipeg, Old Boy, Requiem for a Dream, The Squid and the Whale, Sideways, Gomorrah, Red Cliff, and too many others.

THE list of the decade: part 2, this might take a while

2009-12-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

This list, to name the best artists of the decade, is ridiculous, I know. But it's been quite fun, regardless. I don't think I'll be done with it for a little while longer, but just so you know I'm working on it, below are a couple more names to add to the list.

I've decided to keep authors, although I won't have many of them. And just to clarify, this list aims to include a mix of what I surmised to be the most influential, important, and downright good artists of the past decade. I'll add to my initial list the following:

Jim Hodges
Pae White
William Cordova
William Pope L
Maurizio Cattelan
Richard Serra - Now 70 years old, Serra continued as an artistic force to be reckoned with in the art world throughout the 2000s.

Lars Von Trier
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood. Need I say more? Not really, but what about Punch Drunk Love and Magnolia? Enough said.
George Clooney

Daft Punk
Björk - One of the most important musicians of the 90s was one of the most important musicians of the 2000s. Here's to another decade Bjork!
Sigur Rós
Coldplay - Regardless of what you think about their sentimental music, their influence in the music world (for better or worse) is undeniable.
Eminem - Similar to how I feel about Coldplay, this man was (is?) huge.
Missy Elliott
Timbaland
The Black Eyed Peas - Along with Kanye West, one of the greatest taste-makers of the past decade.
Justin Timberlake - this decade's MJ? Not quite, but he's still got another decade left in him to prove me wrong.

Frank Gehry - I know, he didn't produce much new architecture in the 2000s besides the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, but that building, along with the Guggenheim in Bilbao, are two of the most photographed, influential archetectural works of the past decade.

Junot Díaz - A genius. He needs to write more novels (they're the only ones I ever feel compelled to actually pick up and read!).
Edwidge Danticat
Nick Hornby

i'm going back to cali... i don't think so.

2009-12-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

I’ll be going to California (L.A., San Francisco, and many places in between) at the end of this week and, besides the obvious more touristy places, I’m not sure where I’ll be going or what I’ll be doing. I’ll definitely be going to the major museums like LACMA, MOCA, SFMOMA, and possibly The Getty (I hear the art is great here but the architecture and views of the city are better) and Yerba Buena Art Center. I’ll also be going to Santa Monica and Venice beaches, the Golden Gate Bridge and other obvious places in San Fran, as well as Sequoia National Park and two wineries… blah, blah, blah. That’s all well and good, but what else is there to do?

Have you been there? What do the locals do? Where do they go? What art galleries are worth a visit? Are there any fantastic museums I'm missing? Great restaurants? Any and all recommendations would be great.

By the way, I'll be taking many pictures during my West Coast travails. Check back here in a couple weeks to see all the great things (and not so great things) I saw in the Golden State.

the fantastic Fantastic Mr. Fox.

2009-12-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

I saw Wes Anderson's latest, Fantastic Mr. Fox, today and, while it may be in clay animation, it's an Anderson picture through and through. It's filled with dry wit, subtle jabs, and that signature brand of humor you don't really understand until later in the film. The same goes for the film's brilliance which I didn't fully grasp until the very end.

With this film, Anderson has taken a beloved children's book by Roald Dahl and created a wonderfully subversive, essentially anti-capitalist tale. And this atop the film's incredibly complex, daring, and hilariously quirky animation. Add in a fantastic score borrowing from, among others, Francois Truffaut's classic Day for Night (as he did in his American Express commercial) and the end result is a smart, emotionally genuine animated film for adults. And you thought Wes Anderson was losing his touch!

Art Basel is over, may i please have my life back?

2009-12-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

This year's Art Basel Miami Beach did not go nearly as planned. I took a day off early and only made it to half the fairs and events I had planned to attend. However I did go three days (Wed., Fri., and Sat.) and saw some great stuff. No regrets!

The only day that did go as originally planned was Wednesday. And what a Wednesday it was! I managed to see (walk, really) all of the Convention Center in 3 hours. No small feat! I'm positive I missed many good things, including almost all the video art (although there wasn't much) and a booth here or there, as well as the botanical garden, but it was well worth my time. I discovered some fantastic new artists, saw great work from old favorites (I saw my very first Christo in person!), ran into old friends (which always seems to happen), and finished the day with a surprisingly fun, riveting performance by Ebony Bones.

After a day off, I returned to Miami on Friday afternoon, visiting the front-loaded Scope/Art Asia first. I then made my way over to FO-CI (never again) and caught Art Miami just before it closed. I found some of my favorite works at Scope and Art Asia (Sui Jianguo, pictured) but overall I was unimpressed. I left with only a handful of names and galleries on my list. This, however, was comparatively a great experience next to the abysmal art I found at FO-CI and Art Miami. And while FO-CI is a new fair, Art Miami is in its 20th year! There is absolutely no excuse and I don't know if I'll be willing to return.

I ended Basel on a high note visiting both Pulse and Aqua. After getting my borrowed press pass confiscated at the door (the snotty bastards!), I made my way through Pulse with visible irritation. And while the art was all of great quality and some of it was rather impressive, I could not find a single work I absolutely loved. Some small über-detailed works caught my eye (this became a running theme for me for the rest of the day) and some fun pieces by Devorah Sperber (pictured right and left) at two different galleries began to lift my spirits, but it wasn't until turning the last corner of the regular exhibitors section, just before the Impulse portion of the fair, that I recovered completely. This is where David Abir's installation Tekrar Study 4 was located. A white room of sublimity, it hypnotized me, not letting go after at least 10 minutes. After Pulse, I finished my Art Basel travails with a visit to Aqua. This kid brother to the larger satelite fairs is a bit more daring in its gallery choices and, thus, filled with more interesting works. Sure there was some crap, but I also found some of the best work in all of Miami at Aqua.

Great reviews of Art Basel and the extra fairs can be found everywhere (here, here, and here, to name a few). So instead of adding another, I'll be doing something a little different and, hopefully, easier to read... I give you art. music. film. whatever's First Annual Art Basel Miami Beach Awards or "Basels" for short (you can also call them the ABAs [Art Basel Awards] but that's so late-90s). I'll be pointing out some of the prevailing trends I found running through all of the fairs, as well as some of my favorites and some head-scratchers.

Hottest Seller: Photography
Specifically heavily manipulated images, many of which were Chuck Close-esque landscapes and portraits of famous political figures and celebrities, as well as stacked/repetetive images of buildings and large objects (hard to explain but the images below speak for themselves). I saw 1, 2, 5, sometimes 7 or 8 red dots on many of these.

Stephan Zirwes, Zone 1, Industry 5

Several works by Sangbin Im, all of them sold, some of them more than once.

More repetition by Kim Yunho.

Even more repetition, all of them sold.

Celebrity portraits created using smaller images of other celebrities including Jackson vs Monroe by Alex Guofeng Cao.

Here you can see how the image of MJ was created as well as how it was sold four times, all before the weekend!

Biggest Theme: Celebrities
Including, but not limited to, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, JFK, and of course the King of Pop (and Basel '09) himself, Michael Jackson. Photographs, portraits, and sculptures of these people were everywhere! I think this was due in large part to the exceeding desperation of most galleries to sell art and what sells more than celebrities? Dead celebrities.

Kehinde Wiley's now famous portrait of the King of Pop greets visitors as they enter through the B Entrance at Art Basel.

Comenius Roethlisberger and Admir Jahic's For Big Mistakes: Erased Princess Diana Drawings. These are some kind of amazing.

Marilyn I can understand, but Mao is somehow still popular?

(other) Biggest Theme: Blatant Appropriation
I know the Rubell Family Collection just opened the exhibition Beg, Borrow, and Steal on this exact theme to run concurrently with Art Basel, but this was ridiculous. (Picture above also applies. More below)

This charming, yet ultimately unnecessary series of works by Leslie Holt was garnering lots of attention at Art Miami. Other famous painters she's appropriated and infused with Hello Kitty are Pollock, Caravaggio, Monet, and Matisse.

(another) Huge Theme: Vinyl Records
Though not as prevalent as the two themes above and the one below, there was at least one work with vinyl records, record sleeves, record players, or all of the above in every fair.

Record sleeves objectifying women connected by zippers. Found at Art Basel.

Found at Pulse.

Also found at Pulse.

Found at Aqua.

Most Annoying Theme: The English Language
Especially in neon, but also including (but definitely not limited to): glass, plastic, lightboxes, and candle wax. The worst of these (too many to count) looked as if they were purchased at Urban Outfitters.

...if only that were true.

Sui Jianguo, MADE IN CHINA. To be honest, I actually kind of like this... I kind of love the artist.

Anita Dube, Woman, 2007, wax.

Urban Outfitters wall decor.

Best Fair: Aqua
A mix of fun installations, daring conceptual works, and many detailed small paintings and drawings, Aqua had it all and it was (almost) all great.

Did not write down who this was. Found at Aqua.

Best Fair I Didn't Attend: NADA
...or so everyone tells me.

Most Engrossing Work: David Abir, Tekrar Study 4, 2009, mixed media, dimensions variable.
Designed to emulate the anatomical structure of the human ear, this was the multi-sensory experience I yearn for in most all of my art. The subtle changes of the diffused color display are interwoven with Abir's musical composition built from a selection of musical phrases from classical compositions as well as film scores. The installation provided a sublime, almost transcendental, moment that washed over me and left me dumbfounded, perplexed, and amazed with the universe. See more images and a video of the work here.

Favorite Work by an Established Artist: by Doug Aitkin, Free and Now, 2009, LED lit lightbox.
These were both found at the Convention Center at 303 Gallery, New York and Regen Projects, Los Angeles. Stunning departures for Aitken, one of my all-time favorite artists, these socio-political statemetns are much more blatant and carefree than his past work but still very much keeping with his aesthetic. Beautiful.

Favorite Works by Artists I'm Sure I'll Otherwise Hate:

Boxi (who seems to think he's Banksy) grabbed my attention with his painting expressing "disillusioned romanticism" (as his press release states) The Embrace at Carmichael Gallery's booth at Scope. Displaying post-apocalyptic love in black and white, the painting hits one note and hits it well.

This very smart and hilarious series of mixed media photographs are by Jonathan Gitelson. They literally made me laugh out loud in the middle of Scope... How many times could one say that?

Favorite New Discoveries (in order):
This includes many small-scaled, highly detailed artworks, as well as a few humorous ones and others somewhere in between.

Haim Elmoznino, untitled (too late for us), 2009, mixed media. Eery and poignant, this work would project the words "too late for us" at a snails pace for all to see.

Tadashi Mariyama with a series of many small paintings focusing on some kind of cataclysmic event.

One of very few works I was tempted to purchase (and not only because of the reasonable price) were these cube sculptures created by Canadian artist Jacob Whibley from my favorite gallery booth at Aqua, Narwhal Art Projects of Toronto. He calls them Cube (inw 1-10) and I want them on my coffee table.

Elizabeth Livingston's 4 x 6 paintings, which I also found at Aqua, are small, somewhat humorous, very unsettling, and powerful.

I completely connected with this series of four photographs by Kacey Wong from Amelia Johnson Contemporary entitled Drift City my favorite of which was Drift City (London, UK).

This is Awful! Not sure who the artist is (didn't care to find out).

Found at Art Basel.

I think this final picture of a work I found leaning against the wall at Pulse sums up the art presented and the general mood of Basel this year rather well. There were few daring choices and even less good art. Was it still worth going? In a word, yes. It's always worth going to Art Basel.

Art Basel is taking over (my life)!

2009-12-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

So it's finally here. The week many have been waiting since this time last year for. Art Basel! And not just the fair in Miami Beach... pish! Art Basel is so much more than that. It's parties, performances, food, music, film, and everything in between. So what's the plan? You gotta have a plan. Here's mine...

I'll be making up for my absence last year by heading over to Miami three days straight (with a possible fourth on Sunday). I'll be posting updates on my tumblr and twitter throughout.

Wednesday - this is the kick-off and doesn't really start until the night so I'll be heading after work. There's not much to do (besides what's below) unless you're a celebrity, a Miami-art-world insider, or a millionaire.

Art Basel Vernissage from 6 to 10. This is the big one and I scored opening night passes for it. I'll be dedicating all night to the Convention Center. Will I be returning here? My heart says 'yes' but my pocketbook says 'no'.
I'm down here so I might as well check out this year's Art Loves Music featuring (M.I.A.-esque) UK act Ebony Bones with American rapper Amanda Blank (?) opening. They featured French pop it-girl Yelle last year, what's next, Santigold? M.I.A. herself? Would be nice.

Thursday - this is "free day" for me. Besides Pulse at night I'm going to be hitting up as many of the free fairs as I see worth attending. (pictured below: David Hendren, Untitled (Execution), 2009 [Detail], dimensions variable, Kim Light/LightBox gallery who will be showing at NADA this year)

ink is one of the more promising of the free fairs. It exclusively presents works on paper. Sure it's in a hotel (so how good can it be, right?) but it's right around the corner from the convention center and should be good for a quick looksy. Opens bright and early at 10 am, so this might be my first stop.
NADA opens at 2 pm. And with video screenings at 3 pm daily, I'll be there as soon as it opens. This is my personal favorite from years past (and not only because it's free). It moves this year to a hotel, which saddens me but might not be entirely bad news.
Still wondering what will fill this time gap in the late morning between NADA (South Beach) and Wynwood. Any suggestions? The Rubell Family Collection maybe?
Little Sister 09 sounds like something I might actually purchase art at. Touted as the "smallest art fair in town" and hosted by Spinello Gallery, it features small scale works from 50 artists. As with most of the galleries open during Basel, this is free. Once I make it over the bridge I think I'll be heading here first.
I forgot about the opening of the de la Cruz's new space (thank you for the reminder Angelica). This is the personal collection of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, one of the most important couples of the Miami art world. As this is their inaugural exhibition I'm sure it won't fail to impress. Not to mention, it's free. I'll be stopping by here sometime around lunch.
This year, Pulse is where NADA was last year, The Ice Palace in North Miami. Good for Pulse, bad for NADA. At Pulse I'm looking forward to (amongst other things) David Abir's impressive sounding installation and Maria Jose Arjona's ongoing performance series /Affirmation/ cycle. I'll be heading here late; checking out the art sometime before Brooklyn's very own indie darlings the Vivian Girls hit the stage around 7 pm as part of this year's Pulse Performance series.
Depending on when the Vivian Girls finish, I'm hoping to make it to Thursday night's Oceanfront Nights (formerly known as Art Basel's Art Positions). Thursday features a collection of video and performance art including a series of video's by Marc Horowitz, a performance by Kelly Nipper, and (a rather interesting choice to close the night) Flemish artist Kris Martin (no relation to the Coldplay front man, I'm sure) with a monologue about why he became an artist... I might be leaving early.

Friday - this will be my final day, visiting all of the big ancillary fairs (including Scope, Art Miami, and Aqua) as well as some promising new comers and hopefully finishing up with a little Basquiat for good measure. Too much for one day? Probably.

Scope will be my first stop. As is the case with NADA, Scope never dissapoints. The fair moves to where Pulse was last year and is featuring a daily film showing this year. Plus you get complimentary admission to the hit-and-miss Art Asia. Well worth the $20 or $10 (with a valid or seemingly valid student ID) it takes to get in. Opens at 11 am. I'm there.
I've never been to Art Miami but after receiving several recommendations from a couple of friends I won't be missing it this go around. By the looks of their website, this seems to be a no frills art fair. Besides a program of videos, no film showings are scheduled. There are no musical acts at night. No genre-crossing mish-mashing. Just visual art... You'd think after 20 years of doing this, they'd get something right. Hope so.
I went to Aqua two years ago when it was housed in the meager 45-room boutique hotel by the same name. That was the best hotel fair I can remember. This year the hotel is out and Wynwood is in. Tickets are $15. My wallet's hurting already.
Lets see if I can make it over to Fountain in North Miami. However annoyingly designed, their website makes this look promising.
An intriguing new addition this year is FoCi. Featuring the work of Fred Liang and Kiki Smith, among others, it looks small, concise, and ready to surprise. Will it be worth my $10? I hope so. My only question left is, what exactly does FoCi stand for? Lets see if I can make a pass through here before heading over the bridge.
Pool is a smaller hotel fair I've heard mentioned a few time in the past. Taking place at the Carlton Hotel in South Beach, I might make a stop here sometime before...
Oceanfront Nights continues with an "exclusive work-in-progress sneak preview" of the documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child at 8:30 pm. Again, this will be at Collins Park and it's free.
Would go if I could afford it: French electronic duo Justice perform Friday night at Mansion night club. Worth the $40? Probably not.

This is just my preliminary sketch for the rest of this week. What will really happen? I'll let you know.

obscure movie pick: The Brothers Bloom

2009-11-27T19:50:00.000-08:00

Though not that obscure, The Brothers Bloom is a movie more people need to know about. Director and writer Rian Johnson's second film (his first being the cult film noir Brick), The Brothers Bloom is at first hilarious, then profound, then gripping, and finally tragically moving. Starring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, and the stunning Rachel Weisz, it's about two con-men (the aforementioned brothers) in quite the love/hate relationship. The younger, Bloom played by Brody, has been living a lie his entire life and he's tired of it, playing the charming male lead in all of his brother's con's. He wants what he calls an "unwritten life" (don't we all?) and eventually agrees to one last con before he gives it up for good. That last con is on Weisz's character, Penelope, a rich recluse who is more than they ever could've realised.

The Brothers Bloom is hilariously quirky with a style and comic sensibility similar to Wes Anderson's best and without the lack of substance that afflicted Anderson's last film (mind you I haven't seen Fantastic Mr. Fox). It's comedy early on is quick and dry, just the way I like it. But this is only the film's face. Underneath one finds a profound statement on not only the way we lead our lives but also the way we perceive them from afar. Is it possible to live genuinely, or are we all con-men of sorts? Is it true, as Ruffalo's character states, that "there's no such thing as an unwritten life, just a badly written one?" Definitely something to think about.

Sure it's not a perfect film. Something went a little wrong in the editing department and the pacing can be a little odd if confusing at times (before it picks up again) but for the first time in a long time, I very much disagree with most critics on this one; I quite loved The Brothers Bloom.

THE list of the decade

2009-11-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

Why am i so obsessed with making lists and reading lists and obsessing over lists...

Speaking of lists, while I've been working on this list of the best/my favorite films of the past 10 years (really 9 and 3/4) I came across: 1) An even better idea and 2) a couple other lists I made in the past.

My even better idea (though, don't worry, I'm still producing that best films list) is a list of the best artists of the decade, regardless of medium. This list would include visual artists, musicians, film directors and actors (and maybe cinematographers and writers), architects, and perhaps writers(though I'm not exactly an expert on the subject). I've come up with a rough sketch but was wondering if others could help. Not sure how many readers, if any, I have out there, but what do you think are the best artists of the decade past? Let me know and they probably will make it on my list.

Some of (many of) these could go. Here's what I got so far:

Michael Haneke

Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne - really hit their stride in the 2000s with Le Fils in 2003 and L'Enfant in 2006.

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Alfonso Cuarón
Werner Herzog

Paul Greengrass

Ryan Gosling

Paul Giamatti

Daniel Day-Lewis

Cate Blanchett

Penelope Cruz

Tilda Swinton

Meryl Streep - played out but never overrated.

Judd Apatow - for better or worse.

Charlie Kaufman

Spike Jonze

Wes Anderson

Michel Gondry

Gus Van Sant

Pixar

Jeff Koons (?)

Damien Hirst - though his heyday might've been the 90s, Hirst continued in popularity and critical acclaim in the 2000s.

Olafur Eliasson

Doug Aitken

Paul Chan

Pipilotti Rist

Tracey Emin

Cai Guo-Qiang

Neo Rauch

Jesper Just

TM Sisters

Christo and Jeanne-Claude - sure they had the 80s and 90s (and the 70s for that matter) but what about The Gates?! This blog hearts Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

TV on the Radio

Arcade Fire

Animal Collective

Panda Bear

Girl Talk

Dan Deacon

Kanye West

M.I.A.

The Raveonettes

Cat Power

Madvillain - seperately and together.

Wilco

Bierut

Sufjan Stevens

The White Stripes - sorry, had to.

Outkast

Jay-Z

Danger Mouse

Radiohead

T-Pain (?)

Jens Lekman

Herzog & de Meuron

Dave Eggers

Need more visual artists. Need MANY more architects. And I might just leave writers out all together. Lets see how this list pans out in the weeks to come...

In the meantime, here's a list I came up with a year or two ago: the best films on the "female experience." Yes, I know. This is from a guy. So really, what do I know?! These are all films that I feel epitomize what it means to be a women, with all it's struggle and passion, accurately chronicling the angst and frustration felt by lighter sex while trying to deal with all the world places upon them. These aren't solely female empowerment or feminist films but, deeper than that, most of them are a celebration of women, admiring courageousness they display when at their best.

In no particular order...

Volver

Girl Interrupted

The Hours

Marie Antoinette

Marnie

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

Pride and Prejudice

Persona (duly noted. not sure how I forgot this one)

Short, I know, but sweet.

films of the decade: part 3

2009-11-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on my list. It's coming along pretty well, though it's certainly daunting... Is There Will Be Blood really all that much better than Pan's Labyrinth? How seriously should I take polished Hollywood-fare like the gorgeous King Kong or Atonement? How about more manipulative and sentimental films like Crash or Hotel Rwanda?

I'll somehow figure out a way to justify their placement, hopefully.

Below are some more films that will definitely be (somewhere) on the list. These are perhaps more questionable choices, but I certainly stand behind them...

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Writer: Michael Arndt
Producers: Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Ron Yerxa, David T. Friendly, Albert Berger
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin

Little Miss Sunshine is a gem of a little film. At first underrated then highly overrated (and immensely popular due in part to it's ubiquitous, all-yellow, "indie-film" marketing campaign) but now underrated again; not only is it heartwarming, touching, and philosophically well-rounded, it's also very, very funny. Don't hate.

My review from a few years back (edited) below...

I almost completely forgot about writing a review during and after catching a screening of the new transcendentally funny (look up "transcendentally" on dictionary.com and use the third definition) indie dramedy Little Miss Sunshine. I couldn't help but forget to think about the film critically and just take it in for what it was. As my friends and I stopped for some milkshakes (yes, milkshakes) following the film, instead of zoning them out and concentrating on my movie "experience" and what it meant (as I usually do), I found myself reminding myself to simply live and enjoy the time we were sharing right then and there. I almost forgot about the film entirely all the while applying one of its principle points, to enjoy the moment at hand, and I ended up having a blast. In retrospect, it was definitely a memorable experience. Little Miss Sunshine is a film that makes you forget about the frivolities of life and helps you focus on what truly matters. A film I saw recently, The Devil Wears Prada, carries a similar message; but while that film scratches the surface as a morality tale, with stereotypical characters and sophomoric symbolism, Little Miss Sunshine is truly a complex and thoroughly enveloping work.

It’s been said that it’s possible to make a great film about anything and everything. The premise doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with the basic material and how ambitious you want to be with it that ultimately determines whether a film is great or not. Little Miss Sunshine has what one might classify as a typically indie premise. A family embarks on a road trip to fulfill a little girl’s dream to compete in a beauty pageant. And yet there is so much to be picked apart, studied and analyzed, all while being completely engrossing and entertaining. And that's what Little Miss Sunshine achieves so precisely; first time feature film directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton know exactly how much of the intellectual to put in while still maintaining a thin and recognizable base that keeps your attention indefinitely.

While the laughs don’t come around quite as often as the trailers may let on, when they do come around the jokes are not only hilarious but memorable in their unmistakable charm and freshness. The entire cast is pitch-perfect. Steve Carell’s character is of the most subtle hilarity; with more quirks than any supporting player has a right to have. Abigail Breslin, who plays 7-year-old Olive, is enchanting on screen as the heart of the film and the last shred of innocence and hope left in a family that always seems on the brink of falling apart. Finally, the choice of casting Alan Arkin in the grandfather role is brilliant. With some of the funniest lines from any film this year, he delivers laughs every time he opens his mouth.

One of the keys to understanding the film is an unconventionally straight forward “meaning of life” conversation towards the end of the film between Paul Dano's and Carell's characters. We learn, along with Dano's character Dwayne, that the best part of life is the struggle to become who you want to be, once we're there we tend to become complacent and retrogressive, forgetting how we got there in the first place. Little Miss Sunshine teaches us to never forget, if only for an unforgettably compelling hour and forty minutes.

Marie Antoinette (2006)
Director: Sofia Coppola
Writer: Sofia Coppola
Producers: Sofia Coppola, Ross Katz
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Marianne Faithfull, Steve Coogan, Judy Davis, Jason Schwartzman

Ever since it's release, I've touted Sofia Coppola's third film, Marie Antoinette, as a misunderstood modern masterpiece. Many viewed the film as her worst film to date, an indulgent mess that only an overconfident young filmmaker could produce (the fact that she's the Francis Coppola's daughter didn't help any either). If I'm not mistaken, it was even booed at Cannes. The unorthodox, modern American dialogue, MTV-styled cinematography, and sheer lack of respect for the original subject matter turned many critics, and even more moviegoers, off. That is, if the candy-bright colors, young and popular actors, and hip 80s-inspired soundtrack didn't steal their attention first. There's even a pair of Converse sneakers in one of the shots! However, all this was done in good fun and, what's more, in the name of good art.

Below is my (edited) review of the film from when it was released...

Nothing matters more than the present, something Sofia Coppola is well aware of, regardless of whether she's making a period piece set in the 18th century or a romantic drama set in the 21st. Via Marie Antoinette's short and tragic life, Sofia (she is “Sofia” as there is only one “Coppola”) has produced a humorous and cleverly conceived film, a sumptuous and visually stunning indictment on our society and its ever diminishing treatment of the “lesser sex." She presents Antoinette, not as the arrogant beast so many have come to learn and read about, but rather as a girl (and eventually a woman) caught in a world of ridiculous protocol and overbearing monotony. A girl that attains every material possession she’s been taught to desire and eventually, a woman who learns to live it up and enjoy her time as best as she can within her depressingly mundane circumstances. We all know how Marie Antoinette dies. We might know why. This film doesn’t care about any of that, not even caring enough to show her death. Sofia is much more interested in making a remarkably introspective film that’s as much about our times as it is about 18th century France (which isn’t completely due to it’s killer soundtrack).

Kirsten Dunst’s Antoinette is purposefully too modern in a role she was born to play. Essentially a girl of the 21st century stuck in the 18th century, Antoinette is torn between what she wants to do and what she is told she must do. To cement the Franco-Austrian alliance, she is sent off to Versailles at age 14 to be married to the Dauphin of France (Jason Schwartzman), the hilariously sexually uninterested next king of France (his hobby, an obvious and hilariously clever innuendo, is the study of locks and keys). Her purpose as his wife is to produce an heir, more importantly a male heir, and when this proves difficult she feels backed into a corner and helpless. Simultaneously she finds herself confounded by endless monotony and predictable routine, and amongst some of the most heartless and gossipy people in her or any other court. There is nothing left for her to do but use the power she has, once settled in, to live her life far away from the consuming cares of the court and enjoy it the best way she knows how: first through the avid possession of material things and eventually through physical pleasure.

The entire film is cunningly told from Antoinette's perspective alone, only telling us what she would know in her sheltered existence. The film is lost in her world and thus we only get bits and pieces of the “real world” outside of Versailles. We learn of French aid to the Americans fighting the Revolutionary War, and it’s suggested this is the actual culprit for France’s growing debt and not Antoinette’s horrific amount of spending. Sofia suggests Antoinette was merely the scapegoat, a role women have been playing since antiquity. Towards the end we are given a glimpse perhaps at her true feelings towards the people of her country and thus further sympathize with the unfortunate situation she’s been placed in.

Even in a historical period piece there is no time like the present. This would explain the film’s various connections to the present: it’s mostly post-punk and New-Wave filled soundtrack, the actor’s modern accents and dialogue, the seemingly random inclusion of a pair of Converse All-Stars amid more common shoes of the time in a particular scene. Many, if not most, will complain about this film’s superficiality, claiming it’s without purpose or true meaning. But when a society promotes and sells the shallow and superficial more than anything else what do you expect most women will end up becoming? Today there are more “Marie Antoinettes” than ever before. This film is not about one woman’s life as much as it is about the frivolous female masses our world has, and continues, to produce. The trick is to break away from the convention. This is where Sofia’s daring cinematic achievement and Marie Antoinette herself find redemption and practical meaning.

We feel sorry for Antoinette, as much as we feel sorry for those pageant girls at the finale of Little Miss Sunshine. But more than that, we like her, or at least I did, and encourage and understand her actions however superficially misguided they might be, eventually envying the small but rich slice of life she enjoyed before her death. What would you do if you were in her Chucks?

La science des rêves (The Science of Sleep) (2006)
Director: Michel Gondry Writer: Michel Gondry Producer: Georges Bermann
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat

Another severely underrated, wonderful, wonderfully odd film. It's unconventional in various ways including narrative style, visual style and cinematography, method of acting and others, and it's hard to classify. It's a film I appreciated immensely and yet it's not a completely enjoyable film, at least not in the traditional sense, that is, what one would expect from a romantic movie starring two attractive young people (ie. a classifiable and immediately satisfying ending, great emotional highs and lows, etc.). I appreciated its honest nature and realism and can fully relate to the film's main protagonist; someone who sees nothing but monotony and suffering in "real-life" and uses his dreams as a means of escape. Of course, not having a good handle on this dream world and a good defining line between dreams and reality could be disastrous, particularly with one's relationships.

The Science of Sleep is a cautionary tale and might be considered a tragedy by some (not me). We learn from it just how crucial this line is. That is, the line between ourselves and our relationships; between our thoughts, desires, and inner feelings and what we show and how we act around others. We can't show too much at a time but we can't hide ourselves completely either. Stephane, played brilliantly by Gael Garcia Bernal, is very immature in this regard (perhaps choosing immaturity over the vulnerability of age and eventual death). He is a boy trapped in a young man's body. He hates his life and buries himself in his dreams as a creative outlet.

In the film it is suggested that artists create so that they won't be forgotten (Freud also said this) and this implies an inner yearning to be accepted. The Science of Sleep negates this through Stephane. He creates (art, inventions, thoughts, etc.) to get away from reality, at times portraying death as a joke or something transient probably to forget if only for a short while the pain it has caused him.

As I said before, some viewers might consider this film a tragedy or perhaps full of romantically confusing situations and with an ending that leaves much to be desired. While I can understand how someone could come to this conclusion I in no way agree with it. I believe the film and its protagonist end in growth, understanding, and triumph.

The Science of Sleep is a young, thinking person's film (a rare breed) and thus won't find itself with a large fanbase any time soon. It requires much more attention than usual. If you can't follow the narrative strings from dream to reality and back again then you're just not paying attention. The way things pop into and out of Stephane's dreams is inventive, as are the dream sequences themselves thanks to the creative mastery of director Michel Gondry. If you feel empty or confused by the end of this film than, simply put, you need to see it again (rewind if you can). The dream sequences, while entertaining and possibly distracting, are vital to understanding the film and following its narrative threads. Putting in the time and energy into understanding Gondry's best film (yes, better then Eternal Sunshine) is well worth it.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the politics of their art: part 2

2009-11-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the Politics of their Art: How they are (shrewdly and discreetly) Socialist, Anti-American and Revolutionary - part 2

The Christos act as a corporation, and a large one at that. One with millions of dollars coming in and out of its bank accounts annually, conducting business in all of the major industrialized countries of the world. Characteristic of a business, they are concerned with their brand and the exclusiveness of what they do. They are relentless self-promoters constantly selling themselves, never missing an opportunity to correct misconceptions concerning their brand, aware and taking serious care of their public image. "They impress the public through the media with the kind of statistical data churned out by corporate America […] so that their prestige and power is validated and indirectly endorsed." Notice how carefully calculated this press release for The Umbrellas has been worded:

At sunrise, on October 9th, 1991, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1,880 workers began to open the 3,100 umbrellas in Ibaraki and California, in the presence of the artists.
This Japan-USA temporary work of art reflected the similarities and differences in the ways of life and the use of the land in two inland valleys, one 19 kilometers (12 miles) long in Japan, and the other 29 kilometers (18 miles) long in the USA.
In Japan, the valley is located north of Hitachiota and south of Satomi, 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Tokyo, around Route 349 and the Sato River, in the Prefecture of Ibaraki, on the properties of 459 private landowners and governmental agencies.
In the U.S.A., the valley is located 96.5 kilometers (60 miles) north of Los Angeles, along Interstate 5 and the Tejon Pass, between south of Gorman and Grapevine, on the properties of Tejon Ranch, 25 private landowners as well as governmental agencies.
Eleven manufacturers in Japan, USA, Germany and Canada prepared the various elements of The Umbrellas: fabric, aluminum super-structures, steel frame bases, anchors, wooden base supports, bags and molded base covers. All 3,100 umbrellas were assembled in Bakersfield, California, from where the 1,340 blue umbrellas were shipped to Japan.
Starting in December 1990, with a total work force of 500, Muto Construction Co. Ltd. in Ibaraki, and A. L. Huber and Son in California installed the earth anchors and steel bases. The sitting platform / base covers were placed during August and September 1991.
From September 19 to October 7, 1991, an additional construction work force began transporting The Umbrellas to their assigned bases, bolted them to the receiving sleeves, and elevated the umbrellas to an upright closed position. On October 4, students, agricultural workers, and friends, (960 in USA and 920 in Japan,) joined the work force to complete the installation of The Umbrellas. Each umbrella was 6 meters (19 feet 8 inches) high and 8.66 meters (26 feet 5 inches) in diameter.
The artists entirely financed their 26 million dollar temporary work of art through The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and U.S.A. Corporation (Jeanne-Claude Christo-Javacheff, president). Previous projects by the artists have all been financed in a similar manner through the sale of the studies, preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, early works, and original lithographs. The artists do not accept any sponsorship.
The removal started on October 27 and the land was restored to its original condition. The Umbrellas were taken apart and all elements were recycled.
The Umbrellas, free standing dynamic modules, reflected the availability of the land in each valley, creating an invitational inner space, as houses without walls, or temporary settlements and related to the ephemeral character of the work of art. In the precious and limited space of Japan, The Umbrellas were positioned intimately, close together and sometimes following the geometry of the rice fields. In the luxuriant vegetation enriched by water year round, The Umbrellas were blue.
In the California vastness of uncultivated grazing land, the configuration of the umbrellas was whimsical and spreading in every direction. The brown hills are covered by blond grass, and in that dry landscape, The Umbrellas were yellow.
From October 9th, 1991 for a period of eighteen days, The Umbrellas were seen, approached, and enjoyed by the public, either by car from a distance and closer as they bordered the roads, or by walking under The Umbrellas in their luminous shadows.

They use new world media to its full potential and their full advantage, embracing more traditional forms of self propaganda such as television and print, as well as more contemporary forms like film and the internet. They willingly give interviews regularly (with plenty of notice months in advance, of course) and have been the subject of 10 documentary films, each on a particular project of theirs. They regularly invite and pay for directors to make the documentaries though they never profit from them, documentation a key means of preserving and proliferating the concepts and significance of their work. Visit their website and you will find a cleverly arranged overabundance of information. The site openly supports discussion of their works, all that is missing is a message board. Extremely positive in tone, it looks and feels like a commercial website and would be more than helpful for anyone who is simply curious or someone more seriously studying the Christos and their work. The Q-A section includes common errors concerning the Christos and their art, protecting their corporate image without fail. Their projects are never overtly political. Not since 1962 when they executed their last blatantly political major work Wall of Oil Barrels, Iron Curtain (1962, Rue Visconti, Paris, France), with the sole notable exception of The Wall - 13,000 Oil Barrels, (1999, Gasometer, Oberhausen, Germany), have their projects spurred any sort of immediate political response. Conceived in Paris, Wall of Oil Barrels, Iron Curtain postdated the erection of the Berlin Wall by a year in a time during the Algerian war when there were numerous demonstrations taking place on the streets of Paris. Their work has since been much more subtle and layered particularly to those unfamiliar with the art world, far more aesthetically oriented than politically or socially, but only at first. "Ask anything,” Jeanne-Claude said before a recent interview for National Geographic, “but we do not talk of religion, politics, or other artists.” They are very aware of their public image indeed.

The Christos play the part of corporate CEOs very well, as consumed and work-obsessed as any of New York’s wealthiest executives, the glaring difference being that their company makes and runs successfully on zero profit (and even more successfully when in the red). Their product can never be sold or owned. And “unlike some promoters and marketing executives, the Christos indeed fabricate and build the monuments that they promise.” They are simultaneously the essence and antithesis of big business. Early in their careers, recently transplanted to America, they exhibited in Gallery Castelli in New York, but by 1968 they had left the gallery in order to retain their personal and artistic autonomy. They have never looked back since.

To be continued. For references, leave me a comment.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the politics of their art: part 1

2009-11-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

Learning of the sudden death of one half of the artist team Christo and Jeanne-Claude this past week I was deeply saddened of course but I also found myself reminiscing, remembering my time in college as an Art History student and my obsession with their art and its sheer ambition. I had always been fascinated with their art. Its process with its lack of egoism or capitalism dumbfounded me at first. But it wasn't until I got to writing my final paper for Senior Seminar that I found how truly remarkable and significant the art of this seminal artist duo really was.

In memory of Jeane-Claude and the 51 years she spent creating temporary works of art hand-in-hand with her husband Christo, I will be posting my final paper in portions. It was all but exactly two years ago that I handed it in. It's the best thing I've ever done (written or not) and probably will ever do. I'm still very proud of it...

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the Politics of their Art: How they are (shrewdly and discreetly) Socialist, Anti-American and Revolutionary - part 1

Born on the exact same day, June 13, 1935, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon could not have come from two more completely different families. Christo, from a poor industrialist Bulgarian family, lived and studied in Bulgaria until 21 when he left to Czechoslovakia, then Vienna, and finally France, fleeing from the oppression and lack of artistic freedom in Cold War Eastern Europe. Jeanne-Claude, in turn, from a well-heeled French military family, was educated in France and Switzerland. Penniless in Paris, Christo painted portraits for a living while creating his inimitable art objects in his apartment during his free time. Each at opposing sides of French class society, Christo met Jeanne-Claude when he was commissioned to paint her mother’s portrait. Their contradicting class levels and social backgrounds were the main source of problems between Jeanne-Claude’s parents and Christo. These same divergent backgrounds would eventually contribute to their distinctive work dynamic which is essential when considering the implications and execution of their work.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art is endlessly classifiable and impossible to define. It has been labeled many things including environmental, site-specific, and land art. Christo and Jeanne-Claude (the Christos for short) have been “conceptual, pop, minimalist, well before time, and [have] invented an art form that as yet has neither name nor imitator." Because of the ambition and size of their work, and because their projects have no precedent, they are required to deal with a great deal of legal and bureaucratic maneuverings in order to realize each new and distinct project. The politics and planning, which are planned and executed primarily by Jeanne-Claude, are as much a part of the artwork as the final presentation; their art is as much, if not more, a form of process art than site-specific or environmental. The often lengthy but always strenuous process takes as much dedication and passion as Pollock’s drips, as much premeditated arrangement and deliberation as Arp’s torn paper collages. Financially they spend unforgivably for each work. “Everything we’ve got plus everything we can borrow” Jeanne-Claude has been quoted as saying often. And emphasizing the process, the Christos acknowledge the entire span of time between a project’s initial conception and its final execution as the documented date of a work. The entire process of The Umbrellas (1984-91, California, USA and Ibaraki, Japan), for example, from beginning to end dates 1984-91. The artists are always eager to make a point of the importance of their time spent in between unveilings. When asked recently if the concept was the most difficult part of each project, Jeanne-Claude answered “no, the concept is easy. Any idiot can have a good idea. What is hard is to do it.” The Christos have enough passion and enthusiasm to follow a project as much as 32 years (Wrapped Trees, 1997-98, Riehen, Switzerland) through to completion.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art exists in the moment literally and figuratively. Of course we are aware of the fleeting nature of their work. Running Fence (1972-76, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California) is forever suspended in our minds together with whatever was playing on the radio or the fashions at the time. But each project is also very much in, and a part of, the world around it beyond what one sees. The Christos readily use new-age materials for their projects including plastics, nylons, steel cables and poles, as well as new-age production processes, producing their materials employing the newest methods of our industrial and post-industrial society. They are the only artists of note who outsource their production and incorporate world economic globalization into their art. For example “eleven manufacturers in Japan, USA, Germany and Canada prepared the various elements of The Umbrellas: fabric, aluminum super-structures, steel frame bases, anchors, wooden base supports, bags and molded base covers.” And much like a modern corporation they employ thousands of workers for construction and installation. The Umbrellas alone utilized a construction work force of 500 and 1,880 installation workers (not volunteers) all paid standard wages. As landmark Postmodernists their work and their relationship ties the old with the new. The process and method of their work is a melding of “capitalism, democracy, enquiry, experiment, collaboration and co-operation.” Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s marriage and artistic collaboration are a blending of previous artistic traditions with modern capitalism and industrialization. Each puts to use his/her strongest social and/or artistic assets. Christo is producer. Jeanne-Claude is promoter. He is the artist genius to her relentlessly (reciprocally) self-interested manager. Christo is the quintessential enigmatic polymath, a modern example of what has been typified in art history texts since Leonardo. Jeanne-Claude, alternatively, takes the role of up-to-the-minute business organizer and administrator, always attune to the mechanizations of modern corporate society in order to promote and advance their art. She is always attentive of the art market, buying and selling Christo’s early portable works as well as his studies, preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, and original lithographs of their new projects providing capital for their next pending venture.

To be continued. For references, leave me a comment.

films of the decade: part 2

2009-11-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

While on many decade-end-lists and seemingly growing in popularity and acclaim, enough cannot be said about Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck's stunning The Lives of Others. Very few films have screenplays that flow as fluidly as this. It features the inimitable Ulrich Mühe in one of his last performances.

Below is my review from a few years ago...

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006)
Director: Ryan Fleck
Writers: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Producers: Alex Orlovsky, Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Rosanne Korenberg, Anna Boden
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Monique Curnen, Karen Chilton, Tina Holmes, Collins Pennie

Regardless of the fact that it received the Oscar for Best Foreign Film instead of the slightly more deserving Pan's Labyrinth, The Lives of Others is nearly as good and certainly deserving of the wide attention it will now receive (it’s definitely a much better film than last year's winner, the slightly above average Tsotsi). Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck's first feature film, The Lives of Others delves into many captivating topics and genres ranging from thrilling government espionage and an ever evolving personal ethics and morals tale, to an exploration of the idea of the prostitution of art under a controlling government and the effect this has on the artist as well as the transformative ability of the arts in general and it’s role as the spark of change in an ever changing political world. How far will a writer, an actor, or a director go for his work? The film also delves into the greater picture: how far will someone, anyone go to do what is inherently right?

While slightly manipulative and sentimental in the vein of Spielberg's Schindler's List or his more recent Munich (a film that is tonally very similar), it's hard to fault such a poignant, enrapturing film. Taking place in East Germany during the years before 1989, The Lives of Others is about one man, a state surveillance expert, who slowly discovers he's on the wrong side politically and morally. This loyal employee of the state, Hauptmann G. Wiesler(Ulrich Mühe), is put in charge of surveillance of playwright Georg Dreyman and his longtime girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland as well as Dreyman’s apartment where many of the events of the film take place after the Minister of Culture of East Germany becomes interested romantically in Christa. Wiesler finds the life of the couple fascinating and, through the transformative power of the arts amongst other things, his cold and hardened heart is slowly warmed. A particular scene of sudden emotional power and clarity hits the viewer when Wiesler hears a specific piece of music played by Dreyman on his piano. It’s unadulterated moments like this that are too few and far between in cinema today.

The film pays homage to Coppola's 1974 surveillance filled The Conversation, at times even referring directly to the director’s little known masterpiece via its camera angles. The two films share many similarities including a lead character surveillance expert who goes through events causing a moral metamorphosis of sorts; Ulrich Mühe giving Gene Hackman a run for his money, generating one of the best performances I've seen all year. His Wiesler is right up there with such nuanced characters from this year as Gosling’s Dan Dunne (Half Nelson) and DiCaprio’s Danny Archer (Blood Diamond).

The film's main character, while given a name is otherwise known and remembered as HGW XX/7. What he does for others, selflessly and without remorse is what defines him. His name is not important and will most likely be forgotten rather quickly after he's gone. Through the course of the film he becomes what in Yiddish would be called a "mensch," someone so selfless and giving that they are rarely seen or heard of, never wanting any recognition of any kind. The transformation is one of subtle brilliance sneaking up on you to the point where it might seem false or contrived but in retrospect make perfect sense, eliciting such a wide range of emotions from the audience. This is of course no doubt due to the airtight screenplay, never wasting a second of celluloid or a single line of dialogue, as well as Ulrich Mühe's astonishing and subtle performance.

The film's final frames are such severely heartbreaking scenes of pure and bittersweet joy; its final freeze frame shot reminded me of Truffaut’s ending shot from his respective debut film, the classic The 400 Blows. The two films, in their final closing seconds, share a very similar moment filled with both triumph and tragedy; in The Lives of Others, providing a deeply affecting moment I won’t soon forget.

films of the decade: part 1

2009-11-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

The Times recently came out with their list of not the most important or highest grossing, but of the The 100 Best Films of the Decade. Quite the daunting task, I don't envy them for having the guts to put together such an ambitious list, and so soon! (probably too soon) After studying the list and chatting about it with a couple of my friends and work-mates I came to the conclusion that not only was their list flawed but purposefully so. How else could one explain the inclusion of Team America: World Police or Casino Royale, especially so high on the list (#5 and #8, respectively)? These lists are almost always created by newspapers, magazines, and online publications in order to get readers riled up. To get internet bloggers (myself included) to write about and discuss and otherwise bash their list all the while netting them millions of visitors and thus raising their online ad revenues (I don't have any hard facts to support this claim, but it's not all that far fetched, is it?).

Anywho, as I'm sure is the case with many others, I thought, "why don't I go ahead and create my own list of the best films of the decade?" And so, what I've decided to do is, in the days leading up to my this list (which is still being processed) I'll post old reviews I've written of my favorite films of this decade past. I'm sure this will all be quite anti-climatic, but here goes...

I'll begin with one of my favorite films of 2006 and (as I say at the end of the review) the best American film of that year...

Half Nelson (2006)
Director: Ryan Fleck
Writers: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Producers: Alex Orlovsky, Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Rosanne Korenberg, Anna Boden
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Monique Curnen, Karen Chilton, Tina Holmes, Collins Pennie

In Ryan Fleck's audacious and gritty debut film, Half Nelson, Ryan Gosling (The Notebook) plays Dan, a young and rebellious school teacher working in the inner city trying his best to influence, and at times inspire, his students as best he can. Simultaneously he’s slipping deeper and deeper into drug addiction that's only an outward reflection of his greater disillusionment and frustration with his life and the world. One evening after a school basketball game, one of his students, Drey, played by talented new-comer Shareeka Epps, catches her coach/teacher (Gosling) getting high in a stall in the women's locker room. The relationship the two of them eventually form is a powerful one, carrying the rest of the film through to its stunning conclusion.

As I mentioned previously, Half Nelson is a film about disillusionment. Gosling’s character is disillusioned with his life and where it’s headed, but even more so, he’s disillusioned with the world around him and thus feels inadequate and useless, which compels him to fall further into a major drug addiction. As Gosling’s character tells the children in his junior high history class, the culprit is the "machine" that "keeps all of us down". The problem is, we’re all part of this machine (i.e. the white man, the government, prisons, etc.); but, as the ingeniously interspersed readings of civil rights history remind us, and as he informs and reminds his kids, we all have a choice. In essence, this choice comes down to how much we allow the machine to affect us; how much of ourselves will we allow it to take, and how much will we give to help change it? Anyone whose real, who isn't lying to themselves or living in a fantasy world, can't help but appreciate this film and identify with the two lead characters, Dan and Drey. They are characters that require thought and time to fully understand. These are REAL people, real people in real situations.

From its romanticized and perfectly cast leads, to its gritty, nothing but the bare essentials cinematography, Half Nelson is a near perfect film; the kind of film for anyone who is afraid to go to the movies, deterred by the very genre this film enlivens: the inspirational drama. First time feature film director and co-writer Ryan Fleck steers way clear of the sentimentality that so easily could’ve inundated the pitch-perfect, so unpretentious it could've been a documentary screenplay.

Gosling and Epps give performances of rare and subtle brilliance which undoubtedly contribute to the film’s powerful, stirring statement and inspirational closing act. Their characters are both real and restrained. Epps is more than believable as a confused, but strong and confident girl struggling with adolescence and the depravity of the world around her. In Gosling's case, this is certainly an Oscar worthy performance. A true case of less is more... a LOT more.

Adding another layer of gravity is the film's perfectly timed and powerful soundtrack. Broken Social Scene provides several exclusive and/or extended tracks that add that extra bit of "oomf" precisely when the film needs it; especially during the film's climax, a scene without a word of dialogue which is one of the most brilliant, powerful, and telling scenes of recent memory.

If you can find Half Nelson playing near you, I highly encourage you to get out and see it soon. You won't easily find better performances, a more streamlined screenplay, or more refreshing directing. This is the best American film of 2006.

obscure movie pick: Bright Star

2009-11-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

Never have I seen a film capture the sheer, raw delight and immense mood swings of young love. Amazingly, it is neither an epic romance nor a contemporary love story. Director Jane Campion's latest little bio-pic, Bright Star, is about British poet John Keats's final days as he fell in love and was consequently inspired by the flirty, enchanting wannabe-fashionista (for her time) Fanny Brawne.

I mentioned to a friend that this would make a great opening film as part of a double feature along with Terrance Malick's incredible The New World. With its languid pace, and attention to cinematography and detail, Bright Star would accompany Malick's four-year-old film wonderfully including thematically.

The film is heartbreaking on many resonant levels besides the obvious, yet incredibly poignant and genuine, finale. As the credits roll one of Keats's poems, Ode to a Nightingale, is read, ending right on cue with the film's score... stunning.

art imitating

2009-06-08T11:03:00.001-07:00

above: actual lynching
below: Farley Aguilar, Mermaid Hunt, 2008

discovering art in an embarrassing way

2009-06-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever discovered great art in an embarrassing way? Today I became enamored with a work by Picasso (The Two Saltimbanques [Harlequin and his Companion], 1901) when a co-worker gave me a 2x4 in. sticker of it. The only other thing I could compare this to would be the few times I've heard a song to an Apple or shampoo commercial and was left google-ing for it. Could one have a legitimate "moment" of artistic discovery, self reflection, or even sublimity with what is essentially an artwork (at the very least) thrice removed from its original source?

Unfortunatly, today I think I did...

'Tis the world we now live in, I suppose.

obscure movie pick of the week: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

2009-05-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse) has gotten lost a bit among the likes of Fritz Lang's other (more obviously) historically significant masterpieces such as M or Metropolis, but it in no way deserves less attention. However, it is the best known in a series of Dr. Mabuse films and (along with M) was banned in Nazi Germany due to much of the content making various negative references to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi regime.

The first time I saw it I wasn't expecting much and it really took me by surprise. It excited me throughout in ways Lang's previous film, M, only accomplished at its climax; with a more socially relevant screenplay (then and now) as well as a more intensely original and metaphorically charged use of sound (it was only his SECOND sound film). A fantastic piece of cinema, definitely my favorite of Lang's films (for now).

art imitating

2009-04-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

above: hurricane damage
below: Philip Estlund, Wash Out, 2009

you are not yourself

2009-04-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

barbara kruger

remember this and you will go far in life

obscure movie pick of the week: Diva

2009-04-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

Diva, Jean-Jacques Beineix's debut film from 1981, regularly seems to come up in conversation between me and a friend of mine, and always with the fondest of memories. We both saw it together in a film and lit. course back in college. Thing is, despite its genius and over-all entertain-ability, we always seem to remember and refer to the most obscure and minimal details from the film. For example, my friend (Ralph's his name) always brings up a particularly interesting apartment-rollerskating Asian teenager and said apartment with its lack of walls and furniture (an ideal place to crash in the idealistic eyes of young college students such as ourselves). The film is just so modern and different the story and its meaning (upon first viewing at least) takes a backseat to Beineix's daring and mesmerizing stylistic choices. Regardless of just how weird Diva is, be sure its definitely a riveting thriller with style to spare and layers upon layers that will provide hours of interesting conversation afterwards. For Beineix, it was quite the hard act to follow. As his IMDB page proves, he never quite reached the heights of his debut and retreated into assistant director obscurity.

Even more sad, I haven't seen Diva in quite a while...

excess vs. necessity at the multiplex (or your netflix qeue)

2009-04-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

excess...

Into the Wild: Good not great. Very obvious (eye-rollingly, at time) with unnecessary narration and back-story, manipulative close-ups, over-the-top acting, and cheesy dialogue.

necessity...

Wendy and Lucy: A better take on a similar story and theme (though with a very different message). A grade-A example of what some are calling Neo-Neo Realism (more on that at later time), this is Sean Penn's indulgent film from two years ago without the self-serving beginning or end; it plops you down in the middle of this woman's predicament, doesn't sugar coat it or glorify it, and trusts you to put together the pieces.

obscure movie pick of the week: The Return

2009-04-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

You wont be able to get this movie out of your head for quite some time after seeing it. Russian writer/director Andrei Zvyagintsev's debut film Vozvrashcheniye (The Return) explores the mixed emotions and layered tension the return of a missing father brings upon two brothers.

A stunning, haunting film with one of the best ending pay-offs I've ever seen, The Return is impossible to categorize with elements from many different genres and more to say than most other films combined. Expect to use your brain for this one because it doesn't tie up the loose ends at the end Hollywood-style, that's your job. The performances are flawless, particularly from the main child actor, and the cinematography is nothing short of (subtle) brilliance. This movie hits your heart like a ton of bricks, half of which you don't even feel until the credits have long since rolled by.

obscure movie pick of the week: Old Joy

2009-03-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

In an effort to produce something more dependably regular here on art under your nose, I plan on routinely recommending a lesser known film weekly. I'll try my best to give you a good reason why you should waste your time and perhaps money on these fantastic works of cinema, usually by posting a past review I've written of the film.

To start off... This week, I was finally able to catch up with Kelly Reichardt's third or fourth film (depending on who's counting) Wendy and Lucy, an amazing little film that really packs a punch. It reminded me of how great Reichardt's previous film was. Released in 2006, Old Joy was in my personal top 10 of films from that year (a year filled with fantastic cinema like Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men, and Half Nelson). Both films contain similar themes of anti-materialism and alienation presented in very distinct ways that reach you very differently. Both are highly recommended.

Below I've included a short review of Old Joy, which I wrote shortly after seeing the film in theaters.

Why you should see it:

What a deeply touching film this is! A movie about the refreshing nature of our youth, as well as male camaraderie and the eventual separation between friends (and that's just one of its many themes), Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy is one of the most tragic films of the year as well as one of the best. A film that definitely stays with you, with a powerful thought provoking message that's surprising for a film lasting a mere 76 minutes.

Such a timely film, Old Joy is the story of two men who at one point were more than friends, overly-close "bonding men" of sorts, but now have grown apart; one of them choosing a more stable/traditional married life (and expecting a child) while the other continuing with the hippy, carefree ways of his youth. As they go on a road trip in search of a more scenic destination, the subtle tension between the two steadily increases leading to more than a couple thought provoking conversations amongst the two friends, as well as a stunning climax of great restraint and depth. Perhaps the film is more geared towards men, but it's themes of separation in a bitter, indifference-promoting world, and later themes of helpless alienation are universal.

Now, this is not a movie for everyone! This is a very minimalist, if not flat out slow, film along the lines of Malick or Antonioni. And as with many of those directors' films, most of the audience in my theater was restless throughout, laughing as they left the auditorium in bewilderment. I've said it before and I'll say it again: these people just don't get it! They're too accustomed to today's overly explanatory films that when they're forced to do a bit of the work themselves they're lost and don't know how to "read" the film (movies are a form of literature after all), thus labeling it a boring or pointless exercise. And so the lazy cinema from Hollywood today has once again ruined new and inspired cinema for the masses. . . sigh . . .

If you enjoyed last year's masterpiece The New World, or any other such "slow" films, then Old Joy is definitely the 2006 indie release for you.

killing two institutions with one (celluloid) stone

2009-03-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

I recently caught Tony Gilroy's new film (his 2nd) Duplicity (his 1st, Michael Clayton is stunning), starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, and it's another case in which I can't for the life of me get it out of my head. Most at first, like myself, would be fooled into thinking it's merely a fun caper-film, a-la the Ocean's series. A throwback to the sexy, fun spy films of the sixties (To Catch a Thief comes to mind). And Gilroy is certainly guilty of fashioning the film in this vein; it's slick and witty style is nothing new, no matter how well it's done. But don't allow the film's flair to distract you. Behind Roberts' glistening teeth and Owen's chiseled jaw-line is a great scathing critique of not only (more obviously) American capitalism and big corporations but also of a far older institution. One that at times is far more transparent and falsely grandiose: marriage.

While Duplicity's main characters are not married, they do claim to love one another exclusively with the same "good intentions" (for the future) and intimate commitments any loving couple would have for one another. The problem is they don't trust each other. Without ruining the ending, to make a long story short... money is the root of nearly all evil. It ruins everything! Including any decent relationship, turning it into a simulacrum of a impossible ideal. Put your trust in money and it will only leave you lost, lonely, and depressed.

Keep this in mind when going into the film (viewing it more as parable then reality) and I guarantee you'll appreciate it alot more.

putting on a show

2009-03-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

Normally I wouldn't post something so specifically about myself, but I think this calls for an exception. And normally I wouldn't re-blog something, but seeing as how this one concerns me specifically, I thought it appropriate.

There are very few times when I have been more proud of myself. It was a great, nerve-racking (to the point of losing 10 pounds) accomplishment...

http://elegantsips.tumblr.com/post/87730514

"a painting has a life of its own, i have to let it live"

2009-03-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

[wrote this a while ago but never quite finished it the way I wanted... figured I'd finally just post it anyway]

Many artists, from Pollock to Warhol to Basquiat, spoke (perhaps facetiously) of a particular state of mind they got into, a zone, a place where they ceased being artists and taped into something else, something unexplainable and very different. Some argue this is a metaphysical or ethereal place the artist is pulling from, when an artist is no longer thinking of his art nor is he an artist but instead merely a tool for something that already exists (be it somewhere out there in the ether, in a parallel universe, etc.) to be transcribed and communicated for others to look at, ponder, be enlightened by, and enjoy. Their work is "meant" to change the world (at the risk of losing credibility, it's kind of like in that recent mediocre movie by M. Night Shyamalan).

Others think these people are taking crazy pills. And some fall somewhere along the middle.

And so, the question arises (as it did at work, in my case, one inspired afternoon): What do you think? Are these moments of unexplained artistic genius moments in which the planets align and we gain a glimpse into an another universe; are they simply products of a night of drug induced hallucinations; or do these moments fall somewhere in-between, unconsciously grabbed from a collective subconscious otherwise untapped by and hidden from the masses?

I, for one, fall somewhere along the middle. I believe we are what we create and vice versa (what we create is a product of who we are). We may not be aware of it but even when we get lost in something we love (be it art or even another human being) it explains chapters worth of who we are and what we truly care for, live for, and yearn for. Perhaps these artists are taping into something which we might’ve been better aware of earlier during our childhoods, but is now clouded after years of disillusionment as we've grow older and colder.

Pollock and his contemporaries have always been a general point of interest and perennial favorite of mine. No matter how new or daring contemporary art gets I always go back to them.

Now I turn it over to you:

1. Check out the video below (listen, particularly)...

2. Think about the above...

3. Let me know what you think...

"sometimes i lose the painting... "

if i were the academy. . .

2009-02-24T06:28:00.000-08:00

Best Foreign Language Film: 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) or Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Ferias, O (The Year My Parents went on Vacation) (I have yet to see The Class, Gomorra, or Hunger)

Best Animated Feature Film: WALL.E ( a given, it's Pixar)

Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the academy got this one right)

Best Editing: The Dark Knight

Best Cinematography: Paranoid Park

Best Adapted Screenplay: Doubt

Best Original Screenplay: The Wrestler (though I have yet to see Synecdoche, New York)

Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt (however, I wouldn't by any means consider Penelope Cruz a bad choice)

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (sure he HAD to win considering his death, but I'll be damned if he didn't deserve it)

Best Leading Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married (a tough one, especially considering I haven't seen Frozen River or Wendy and Lucy)

Best Leading Actor: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor (subtle brilliance)

Best Director: Cristian Mungiu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

Best Picture: 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) or WALL. E

Full list of actual winners here.

fun with russian constructivism!

2009-02-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

moma, new york. 12-08.

it's a tough job, but. . .

2009-02-11T07:18:00.000-08:00

"This is the WORST art collection ever!"
-art appraiser, on a collection including mostly Romero Britto's "art".

month-late ruminations on the year in film, 2008

2009-02-09T07:26:00.000-08:00

Probably the worst year for film this decade. . . What a terrible year in film!. . . After such amazing releases in 2007, 2008 was a proverbial nosedive in originality and progress. . .

I've been reading and listening to statements very similar to those in the past few months. And I don't blame those who said them, I'm one of them! The year was filled with mediocrity and disappointments. Releases from storied, respected studios, actors, and directors left me disillusioned; and the year was filled with countless forgettable and uninspired performances.

Case in point: the abysmal, self indulgent Changeling from the legendary Clint Eastwood who for the past two decades, up until this point, has been continually producing some of the best cinema this side of the Atlantic. His first and much hyped film of the year was nothing short of tedious. And not only was Changeling a pointless bore, including an eye-rolling, calculated one-note performance from Angelina Jolie, but Eastwood's second release Gran Torino, while an improvement, was terribly acted and overly manipulative. As appealing as Eastwood was on screen, let's just hope Gran Torino is not the swan song many see it as for his acting career.

Eastwood, however, wasn't the only respected director to crash and burn in '08. Both the Coen Brothers and Fernando Meirelles released high-profile misfires (to varying degrees) with Burn After Reading and Blindness, respectively. Even foreign cinema had its slip-ups with the mediocre yet inexplicably highly praised French thriller Tell No One and the better, yet cliche and predictable, German Nazi era drama The Counterfeiters which undeservedly one best foreign film at last years Academy Awards. And even with the release of and subsequent hysteria over Christopher Nolan's masterpiece of the superhero sub-genre The Dark Knight, there was still a plethora of over-hyped and overblown distractions like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

Some more of 2008's disappointments (most of which I didn't even bother to see):
Australia
The Spirit
The Reader
The Lucky Ones
Quantum of Solace
The Secret Life of Bees
W.
The Promotion

Nonetheless 2008 did have its fair share of near-great films as well as two films I could honestly say are bonafide masterpieces (my top two below).

I make a top 30 each year and this year is no different. So far I have 24 films on my list of the best of the year, the first six of which I consider severely flawed in some way or another. It excludes quite a few like Gomorrah, Waltz With Bashir, Wendy and Lucy, Synecdoche, New York, and Man on Wire which are on my wish list but have yet to see.

24. Cloverfield
23. Last Chance Harvey
22. Son of Ranbow
21. Be Kind Rewind
20. Blindness
19. Valkyrie
18. Ne le Dis á Personne (Tell No One)
17. Gran Torino
16. Burn After Reading

When you've got films like those so high on your list, you know somethings wrong.

15. Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) - I would've preferred for the suspense to have been a bit more refined but frankly using the past to represent the present is done so well here that I can't really complain. This film says almost as much about the evils of ruthless American style capitalism as it does about the Nazis. The lead, Karl Markovics, isn't brilliant but beyond sufficient, carrying the film when needed on the rare occasion that the screenplay fails. As opposed to most films, I'd love to see a (heavily ironic) American remake of this, although keeping with the original's subtlety.

14. Rachel Getting Married - The best example of cinéma vérité since the last Dardenne Brothers' film, I felt as though I was present for every minute of it.

13. Frost/Nixon - I'll echo here what I said on my Twitter. . . While no best picture, Frost/Nixon is certainly riveting and thought provoking. I would love to see the original stage-play version. Ron Howard, however, is still dead to me.

12. Vicky Christina Barcelona - It's Woody. . . in Spain?. . . I'm there.

11. Funny Games - A great remake of a great film from an amazing director. The fact that its a remake adds another layer of genius. Michael Haneke does it again.

10. Paranoid Park - It doesn't hit you until far after you've left the theater. This is a tragic, haunting portrayal of contemporary American youth, and a brilliant one.

9. Slumdog Millionaire - Not as good as the hype would suggest but just barely. This is a crowd-pleaser with brains. The one film I wanted to see again the most.

8. The Visitor - Poignant and touching, this is quite an amazingly powerful little film. Sure it can be a bit formulaic, pretentious and/or sentimental, but it's particularly effective at pulling our heartstrings when and where it counts. It opens our eyes and our hearts to the fact that more is lost than gained from America's current stance on immigration.

7. Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias, O (The Year My Parents went on Vacation) - The horrors of war and conflict need not be images of open wounds or piles of bodies. This portrait of Brazil in 1970 told through the eyes of a 12 year-old boy is a brilliant, touching, deliciously Red testament to the power of a good story. The best Brazilian film in years.

6. Doubt - Leaves you with more questions than what you came in with and it's all the better for it. Sure it's a filmed stage-play, but why mess with success? Powerful stuff.

5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - An ambitious and grandiose, yet flawed masterpiece. This is a very old-school approach to telling a sweeping, epic story. The film is inhibited by the restraints of it's own source material, but Fincher takes it as far as anyone ever could. Not to mention, it sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of his impressive oeuvre. Deep down, I love epic, meaning-of-life movies like this one; this is one of the best I've ever seen.

4. The Dark Night - enough has been said (and repeated).

3. The Wrestler - Surprised me with the scope of its message and symbolism as much as its exposing intensity and intimacy. This is the most American of films released in '08. . . and the most touching.

2. WALL.E - What a gamble. What an ingenious risk Pixar has taken this time, making one of the darkest, most amazingly poignant animated films ever. I didn't think it possible for Pixar to top last year's fantastic Ratatouille with yet another complex adult tale told simply threw what's typically considered a children's medium, but they just might have with WALL.E. It's tale is told rather simply (essentially a silent film for more than half an hour) but its themes, message and implications are very profound. And above all else there is a unrelenting heart at its core sans sentimentality that really hits the film's layered messages home. A must-see for any lover of film, art, life.

1. 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) - My only 5-star (perfectly) rated film of last year. Technically released in 2007, that year's palme d'Or winner was released here in the States in early 2008. I can still remember the feeling of this film slowly but surely creeping up on me as though taking me by the neck, slowly tightening, not letting go until long after it was all over. "Intense and gut-wrenching" doesn't begin to adequately describe this film. It is effective in ways I never knew film could be.

designer ketchup or disposible pop art?

2009-02-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

Taken while waiting for lunch today (with Bianca's camera phone).

alan moore is a raving lunatic, but i'll still listen

2009-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Author of the Watchmen and V for Vendetta (among other comic book classics) raves on about the overall failure of today's movie industry and somehow gets into American politics via superhero mythology... hmm.

He does make some interesting points along the way. Well worth your time.

I particularly loved this condensed load of genius: "The more money that’s involved in a project the less imagination there will be in the project, and vice versa. If you’ve got zero budget, you’re John Waters, you’re Jean Cocteau, you’re going to make a brilliant film."

Not 100% true, but close enough.

www.totalfilm.com/features/exclusive-why-alan-moore-hates-comic-book-movies

'tis true

2009-01-20T10:17:00.000-08:00

Art exists right under the nose.
It resides in my everyday experiences:
In my husband’s sleepy smile,
In the reassuring clutter of my house,
laundry gathering on the bedroom floor,
a mountain of junk mail,
a greeting from my cat at the door.
- Harumi Abe describing her series of works "under observation"

While I'm not completely convinced by her work, I do agree wholeheartedly with the above made observation. Lately I've been pushing to live my life more and more with this in mind.

One of her works will be on display at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood's Abracadabra Exhibition/Raffle Fund-raiser.

2008 winners and losers

2009-01-13T06:58:00.000-08:00

Gus Van Sant. . . (Paranoid Park and Milk) making 2008 not suck as bad as it could of otherwise.

Clint Eastwood. . . (Changeling and Gran Torino) nearly making me forget all of Van Sant's hard work. Better luck next year "old guy."

eyes vs. size

2009-01-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

Like meeting a celebrity or coming across a famous piece of architecture, it's always a surprise (to me) how famous works of art look immensely different in person. The size of an artwork can deceivingly seem more monumental or (the opposite effect) un-impressively small in photos, textbooks, and on the internet compared to the real thing. Nearly always I'm struck at how drastically a works impact can change when seen in person and I try to document the most extreme cases. . .

Artwork: Roy Lichtenstein's Pop Art classic Drowning Girl

Where: Museum of Modern Art, NY

In-person effect: This was a case in which I imagined a much larger, more monumental original, perhaps because of the work's imposing figure (the titular girl drowning) and overall composition or perhaps because of the impression previously left by Warhol's similar yet much larger works. Lictenstein is still a genius in my eyes, simply a more subtle one.

Original:

who says contemporary art alienates the masses?

2008-12-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

Pipilotti Rist's amazing, and amazingly popular, Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters) at MoMA. It's a hangout spot, lounge/rest area, multi-sensory experience, and general conglomaration of people from hundreds of different countries all rolled up into one cool-looking, at times sublime installation.

the AV Club posts their top 10 films of the year

2008-12-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

Here is the AV Club's list of the 10 best films of the year. Quite a good list considering this was a let-down of a year for film, particularly after '07's fantastic roster of films. As they put it (hitting the nail on the head), this year was filled with many small gems but few standout achievements.

WALL-E and 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days are two favorites that I was happy to see here. Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park (his Milk is also on the list) is the standout here (as is Surfwise, a film I've never heard of). Certainly a deserving film but absent from most other year-end lists, I'm sure Paranoid Park will be on mine. Surprisingly high on the list, but not without reason, Charlie Kaufman's stunning directorial debut Synecdoche, New York and Rachel Getting Married are two films that if it weren't an "off year" I wouldn't expect to be this popular. They're truly acquired tastes, but definitely worth your time.

And while one of the best end-of-the-year lists I've seen thus far, there are a few glaring omissions (some, favorites of mine) including: The Visitor, (Palm d'Ore winner) The Class, Happy-Go-Lucky, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Slumdog Millionaire.

I'm still compiling my top 30 (which I've been putting together annually for many years now). I'll post it here as soon as I feel I've seen enough films.

don't look at me while i desparage the arts

2008-12-17T18:28:00.000-08:00

I don't like to watch movies on my ipod. Ever since I took a political art class in which my professor accused watching films on ipods and other such miniature devices as ruining the medium. "It's like seeing a Rothko in person vs. looking at a picture of one in your textbook," he said. And I agree (to a point. there are films and video art that are meant to be seen on tiny screens but thats another discussion for another day). There's nothing like seeing your favorite Kubrick or Malick masterpiece on a movie screen, the former of which I sadly have yet to do.

But at times I make the exception if I've seen the film a numerous amount of times (the other day I saw The 400 Blows on my ipod, cheering me up severely) or if it's a comedy or a film with standard/generic cinematography.

I am currently creating a digital file of Woody Allen's Manhattan for my ipod. While a hilarious comedy, the film has some of the most stunning visuals. Allen's mise-en-scene completely changes from his previous films and the entire thing is filmed in gorgeous black and white. I'm really looking forward to maybe watching it on my way back from New York next week. However I'm severely torn between the convenience and its quality.

Should I simply wait to see my films only when I can get in front of a 40" screen (or bigger)? Or should I embrace new technology that allows me to watch my favorite films whenever I can? Does it matter how I see a film as long as I see it and I'm aware of the differences in quality? I guess what I'm afraid of is not how I watch the film, but how I'm seen watching the film. I feel as though I'm contributing to the degradation and mass (re)production of art in our society. It's not the mere fact that I'm watching a film on a 2" screen, it's the attitude behind my actions, an attitude that I'm perpetuating by watching Woody Allen's seminal classic Manhattan on my 2" ipod screen. . .

Well, I already stopped buying cds in favor of digital music. I guess I just don't have the willpower. . . just, please, don't look at me.

overheard at art basel:

2008-12-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

"Ohhh Britto, my favorite!"

"That's LICHTENSTEIN !!!"

ouch!

standing up for surrealism

2008-12-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

At work:
"Yeah, I can't wait to go to New York. At MOMA there's this Miró retro of sorts. Looks good."
"Miró. Isn't he a surrealist? Surrealism is lame."
"Yeah, but he's that second kind of surrealism, not like Dali."
"Still does nothing for me."
"Yeah me neither, but you can't deny its historical importance. Miró and others led to Pollock and the abstract expressionists, for instance."
"What! NARRATIVE surrealism has nothing to do with NON-OBJECTIVE abstract expressionism."
"In that aspect, you're right, but Miró was amongst those that popularized automatism, which, along with Kandinsky and Dadaism, led directly to Pollock, especially his earlier stuff which did have some figures. Not to mention surrealism's ties with Freudian thought and the unconscious. Pollock and Co. were all about the powers of the unconscious."
"Yeah. . . I guess."

old vs. new

2008-12-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

Co-worker walks into office area. . . "yeah!" he says, referring to the music being played from his computer on a random last.fm playlist.

He sits down and returns to his work. . . then it hits him "oh! this is just jazz!" he says to me in disappointment, "I thought it was avant-garde indie noise."

arts organization neglecting the art

2008-12-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

I submitted a t-shirt design for the center's yearly t-shirt and it was of course declined.

The design (right) is a simplified picture of Rene Magritte's "This is not a Pipe" with the line under it "This is a Shirt." Genius, I know. It's smart, funny, and best (and most obvious) of all, it's about art. Unfortunately, nobody at work got it (except for our curator and my faithful co-worker), including our executive director. "Welcome to the arts organization where no one knows a thing about art", my co-worker sneers. This place where I work is filled with nice, energetic, motivated people. Great, but one thing is severely lacking: they don't know a damn thing about art!

Oh well. Maybe I'll publish it on threadless and hope my witty design gets the recognition it deserves. . .