experience an art form directly and then stand your ground
[pauline kael] offered a shackle-breaking song of liberation ... you had to experience an art form directly and then stand your ground ... "when I discovered that 'pretty poison' had opened without advance publicity or screenings," she wrote in 1968, "I rushed to see it, because a movie that makes the movie companies so nervous they’re afraid to show it to critics stands an awfully good chance of being an interesting movie. mediocrity and stupidity certainly don't scare them; talent does." she looked below the surface of a movie without ever giving up on that surface, which is where the action was ...
- david denby, "my life as a paulette: the story of a short friendship and a long obsession," new yorker october 20, 2003
posted October 28, 2003 in film, printbefore the snake
for the occasion, sigur rós also invented an instrument consisting of eight point shoes mounted on a base and fitted with microphones. occasionally, someone would bang this thing with sticks. the resulting sound was unremarkable, but it's the thought that counts. this is the sort of loopy idea that [john] cage might have had. he once miked a cactus and played it ... you can find dancing that is more poignant, or easier to watch, than [merce] cunningham's, but i don't think any choreographer in the world gives us a closer look at the truth. beauty without reasons, and without anxiety over the lack of reasons: that may be what life was like before we started making it up. sometimes, when i look at cunningham's stage, i think i'm seeing the world on the seventh day, with everything new and just itself—before the snake, and the tears, and the explanations.
- joan acocella, "double or nothing: merce cunningham goes rock," new yorker october 27, 2003
posted October 28, 2003 in performance, printmark lombardi
- frances richard, "obsessive—generous": toward a diagram of mark lombardi, wburg.com
posted October 26, 2003 in art, politicsfunction disciplines expression
while living in a zurich dormitory, [santiago calatrava] helped a veterinary student with drawings for his dissertation. in exchange, the veterinarian gave him the skeleton of a dog, which the calatravas' oldest son, rafael, now 23, named fifi. mr. calatrava hung the skeleton in his zurich office.
it proved a fitting gift. after receiving his ph.d. in 1980, he quickly won a commission to design a train station in zurich. that building introduced the skeletonlike forms that became his trademark. studying spinal columns, birds in flight and even fluttering eyelids, mr. calatrava had found a way to create buildings that suggested movement—perfect for airports, train stations and bridges ... of course there are detractors. the british architecture writer hugh aldersey-williams said, "architects sneer that calatrava is an engineer, while engineers dismiss him as a sculptor." david cohn, an american architecture critic living in madrid, says of the tenerife auditorium: "what is this large tongue or tentacle looming over the whole work? is it an orchid? a sea monster? calatrava doesn't take artistic control of the subliminal suggestions these works provoke." he adds that giving the wing a purpose would have improved it. "function," he says, "disciplines expression."
peter reed, curator of architecture and design at the museum of modern art in new york, disagrees. "if you're going to criticize calatrava," he said, "you need to criticize a lot of other people, including frank gehry, on the same grounds." mr. calatrava's buildings "make you aware you're someplace special," he added, and praised mr. calatrava for bringing inspiring architecture to the civic realm. "it's refreshing that his buildings aren't prada boutiques, but places for the public," he said.
and if the public loves them, mr. calatrava always sees something he could have done better. "buildings," he says, joking, "never look as good as fifi."
but his buildings may come closer than anyone's; they are the stars of "zoomorphic," a current exhibition at london's victoria and albert museum that focuses on a supposed "new wave" of animal-inspired buildings. in the show's catalog, mr. aldersey-williams compares the milwaukee museum to a "shark's gill basket" and mr. calatrava's lyon station to an anteater's snout.
- fred a. bernstein, "a clue to what's to come at ground zero," new york times october 26, 2003
posted October 26, 2003 in art, printopprobrium resonates
''[dale] peck may not be right about his scorched-earth policy,'' the novelist jeffrey eugenides has said. ''but his essay moves the discussion from the small idea (is this a good book or not?) to the large one (where should literature be headed?). that's what makes it criticism.' ... hostile reviews represent ''a critical attempt to compete, on an entertainment level.'' in other words, critics like peck can be more fun to read than the books they review. opprobrium resonates in a way that praise seldom does. witness the recent storm over martin amis's new novel, ''yellow dog,'' which even before its publication date was inviting praise and derision in the london press. '''yellow dog' isn't bad as in not very good or slightly disappointing,'' wrote tibor fischer, a rival novelist (who had a novel of his own coming out the same day). ''it's not-knowing-where-to-look bad.'' fischer suggested that reading the book was like discovering ''your favorite uncle being caught in a school playground, masturbating.''
- james atlas, "the takedown artist," new york times magazine october 26, 2003
posted October 26, 2003 in printchicken of the sea scrolls decoded
though the chicken of the sea mystery is now solved, mtv is banking that there are many, many other things simpson does not know. accordingly, it has renewed the show for a second season.
- joal ryan, "chicken of the sea scrolls decoded," e! online news october 21, 2003
posted October 22, 2003 in crap, printnot so much they have a problem with blood
"black-and-white did make the movie go down easier" with the motion picture association, mr. tarantino, who was traveling, said through a spokeswoman when asked about the movie's rating. "something i've noticed is that when it comes to americans, it's not so much they have a problem with blood; they have a problem with the color red."
- laura m. holson, "studios killing (but carefully) for an r rating," new york times october 21, 2003
posted October 21, 2003 in film, printyes and no. no and yes
anita pallenberg: it could be that i ride a bicycle everywhere around london. everyone is so polite here. i would be terrified to do it in new york. how did you get the name baby jane?
baby jane holzer: there was this columnist called carol bjorkman who wrote for women's wear daily, and she coined the phrase after the movie, which nobody had seen. when i saw the movie i thought oh my god, what have they done to me? it was the most frightening thing. the name stuck, which is a drag.
jane: when did he die?
anita: 1969. would you call yourself a survivor?
jane: definitely. we're both survivors.
anita: but the word 'survivor' makes us sound like we're been to boot camp, as if we were barely getting by. do you see it like that?
jane: yes and no. no and yes.
anita: are you married now?
jane: no, i work too hard. i don't have the time. men of our generation need a lot of attention, unlike the younger ones. the younger ones are very good about giving.
anita: yeah, its true. i went to see a psychic in london, who told me i should look for a tibetan or an indian.
jane: i don't think so. darling, you're rock n' roll aristocracy.
- anita pallenberg, interview of warhol star baby jane holzer, cheapdate fall 2002
posted October 18, 2003 in performance, print, speechanimation gore and perversion, repeatedly
wanton violence/crime (w)
- beating injury gore, repeatedly
- torment
- graphic martial arts fighting, repeatedly
- gunfire to kill, repeatedly
- killing by blade with gore, repeatedly
- carnage, repeatedly
- gore, repeatedly
- knife attacks, repeatedly
- physical brutality, repeatedly
- animation gore and perversion, repeatedly
- sadism
- beheadings, repeatedly
- amputations, repeatedly
- a long sequence of blade killings: beheadings, amputations, slicings, etc.
- massive carnage
- threat to butcher by blade
- 28 uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary
- 29 uses of the most foul of the foul words
- lying to daughter
- perverted talk over comatose woman's body
- woman getting dressed
- selling sex with a comatose woman
- vulgar talk, repeatedly
- suggestive eye movement
- camera angle to force viewer on private parts, repeatedly
- vulgar expressions/mannerisms
- teen drinking
- smoking, repeatedly
- drinking
- bar
- one use of god's name in vain without the four letter expletive and 7 with it
- equating god with buddha
- mockery of his will
- gunfire murder to the head
- murder by blade, repeatedly, including beheadings
- scene of multiple head-shot murders, repeatedly
impudence/hate (i)
sexual immorality (s)
drugs/alcohol (d):
offense to god (o)
murder/suicide (m)
- christian analysis of american culture (cap ministry)'s review of kill bill
posted October 16, 2003 in film, printwe are in from boston and can start to tip you over as early as saturday
two big dick jocks - ltr - 29
date: 2003-10-16, 2:40pm
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posted October 16, 2003 in crap, sexa tiny chip you only noticed up close
yvette had an over-the-shoulder smile like a pinup girl, and when the smile caught him right, it made it hard for teddy to breathe. she had a chipped tooth on the right, a tiny chip you only noticed up close, and teddy loved it. even more, he loved the smile that forgot the chip was there. he wanted to kiss her teeth when he thought of it. she was down from canada like he was, and came from catholics like he did, and he felt he knew her in his blood, and had always known her. it hurt him to be away ... when teddy was six, his grandfather died, and the priest stood over the big dirt hole with the white box in it, and said things teddy didn't understand, and then teddy's grandmother threw herself like a great bird in her black dress down into the hole, and held the box in her long, thing arms, crying, "il est mort! il est mort!" still more like a bird, and they had to pull her collapsed body from the grave. was that what teddy wanted from yvette? he thought it was. it had frightened him, but was still his model for devotion. he wouldn't throw himself into yvette's grave if she died—it was too hysterical for a man—but he would do more. he was quite sure he would do more.
- maile meloy, liars and saints
posted October 15, 2003 in printhow mass media markets will need to adjust
one major theme, though not the only one, is that today's youth, influenced by video games and other emerging interactive media forms, are acquiring a fundamentally different attitude towards media. media is, for them, not something to be consumed, but also to be created. this has broad consequences for how we design media, how the young are taught in schools, and how mass media markets will need to adjust.
- cms.930/21f.034: media, education, and the marketplace, fall 2001
posted October 15, 2003 in printit makes our teeth hurt
the note tries so hard to be fair every day that it makes our teeth hurt, but, by regularly disregarding thumper's mother's rule, we set ourselves up for attacks from all sides.
- mark halperin, lisa todorovich, gayle tzemach, david chalian, brooke brower, and karen travers, with teddy davis and hadley gamble, "a program of leadership with integrity ... covered on bended knee," abcnews.com: the note october 14, 2003
posted October 14, 2003 in politics, print
suppose you hosted a blog and nobody came
perseus estimates there are 4.12 million blogs on eight hosting services. but the research company estimated that 66%—2.72 million—haven't been updated in two months and that 1.09 million haven't been updated since the first day. the average duration for an abandoned blog was 126 days, according to the survey of 3,634 blogs.
- paul j. gough, "suppose you hosted a blog and nobody came," mediadailynews october 7, 2003
posted October 14, 2003 in printtired of reading myself blog
i am tired of reading myself blog, so am trying this instead.
posted October 13, 2003 in deliveryi only loved the world of men
throughout, she remained a solitary being. "i only loved the world of men," she wrote to a friend, "not the world of men-and-women."
- "briefly noted: gellhorn, by caroline moorehead," new yorker october 6, 2003
posted October 06, 2003 in printtight, hard things
we tend to think of young artists as a wild and crazy bunch, but often they are the opposite—depressed, grouchy people who sit around wondering why all those older artists are getting the grants and the contracts. their work bespeaks their mood. they imitate their elders, and not admiringly, but grudgingly, in the spirit of "i can do it, too." in fact, they can't do it, because they don’t really believe in it, but neither can they do what they’re meant to do, because the moment of courage has not yet come. and so, for a while, they produce tight, hard things.
- joan acocella, "finding augie march: saul bellow's first novels," new yorker october 6, 2003
posted October 06, 2003 in art, printrecommendation from a friend that makes you think less of your friend
[sara] nelson describes herself as an insomniac who is "ravenous for books," and she structures [so many books, so little time: a year of passionate reading] as a record of a single year's reading, during which time she devours everything from j. m. coetzee to somerset maugham to mary higgins clark to a dictionary of hipster slang. from this starting point, nelson examines phenomena that will make many readers smile with recognition: the false importance of an overhyped book, the recommendation from a friend that makes you think less of your friend, and, most dreaded of all, the book you feel guilty for not having read.
- leo carey, "book currents: now paging," new yorker october 6, 2003
posted October 06, 2003 in printit doesn't give you back much else.
dancing is not commercial, not my type of dancing anyway. so i don't have to worry about the commercialization of the arts. you have to love dancing to stick with it. it doesn't give you back much else.
- deborah solomon, "lord of the dance: questions for merce cunningham," new york times magazine october 5, 2003
posted October 06, 2003 in performance, print, speechyou can't be so sophisticated
but even modest ambition came at a price. [lee] bontecou felt "squeamish," she said, at suggestions by castelli that she alter her work to make it more saleable and rejected interpretations that seemed to turn her into an "assemblage artist" or, much later, a feminist symbol. when she shifted gears in the late 1960's and began to mold fish and floral forms out of plastic—work that now looks lyrical and innovative, not to mention political—critics were nonplused that their favorite freudian futurist had become a flower child.
that response reveals her deeper rift with the art world. it is a matter of sensibility. "when i told people that my favorite museum in new york was the american museum of natural history, their eyes would glaze over," ms. bontecou says with annoyance. "you can't be so sophisticated or you just dry up."
- lyle rexer, "lee bontecou returns from her faraway planet," new york times october 5, 2003
posted October 05, 2003 in art, printsaid lynnette
"my concern is that the city cat won't make it in the country," said lynnette braxton, 49. "he's going to have no jazz, no hip-hop. he's going to miss the harlem renaissance."
alan feuer and jason george, "police subdue a tiger in harlem apartment," new york times october 4, 2003
posted October 04, 2003 in printfriendlier and more expressive
when i picked dylan up from the airport, the first thing i noticed was how different he looked. his hair was longer and he'd leaned up quite a bit. his personality also seemed a bit different ... he was friendlier and more expressive than before.
we spent the afternoon catching up, and before i knew it i had talked him into taking a big dildo up his ass.
- sean cody: original movies: dylan's toys!
posted October 02, 2003 in sex