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, print