embracing the life you never planned on

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.

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

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

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

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.