South Carolina-based artist Hollis Brown Thornton uses a convoluted technique to transfer photos (into a moleskine!) and then work the image, removing the human and leaving something like a trail of milky smoke. Groovy.
His website and his Flickr stream.
By way of Moleskinerie.
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April 29, 2008
Hollis Brown Thornton's ghost transfers
April 28, 2008
New Harry Potter Film not going so well...
It was to be one of the biggest science experiments ever seen yet there was not a bunson burner or test tube in sight. Around 1,500 students kitted out in waterproof ponchos discovered exactly what happens when you drop a mint sweet into a bottle of Coca Cola, in an attempt to break a world record. The students, from Belgium, tried to out-fizz the previous record for so-called Mentos fountains by simultaneously putting Mentos mints into bottles of the soft drink.The resultant chemical reaction shot hundreds of streams of carbonated soda into the air.The explosive record-breaking event was held in Ladeuzeplein square in Leuven, Belgium.From the Daily Telegraph
Fantoche
Well done and slightly unnerving. The artist(s) are called notblu and there are more videos here.
UPDATE 05.14.08: Turns out that was part two of a longer film:
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
By way of New Shelton Wet/Dry.
Is this the Big One?
Are we truly screwed with this latest hike in gas prices? Two articles today want to make me break out the bicycle clips. The Wall Street Journal says Why This Oil Shock is the Big One in this article.
With the price shock of 2007-08, spending on energy as a share of wage income has shot up above 6%, topping the 1974-75 and 1990-91 shocks to be the worst since the 1980-81 runup. Comparing the additional cost of energy to income growth (especially sluggish in recent years), the current shock is far worse than any of the three prior ones, Mr. Carson says.That's because everybody's paying (or not paying) off huge credit card debt, or work for peanuts, or a combination of those and other disastrous factors. Check out that graph. Yikes. Then there's the New York Sun today which also has the cheerful news that Gasoline May Soon Cost $10/gallon:
The figures “suggest that energy costs will crowd out other spending components because income growth is being stifled by weakness in payroll employment,” he writes. “Moreover, relatively thin saving flows offer consumers little cushion against the rising oil prices.”
The forecasts calling for a jump to between $7 and $10 a gallon are based on the view that the price of crude is on its way to $200 in two to three years.Wheeeeeeee!! How you like your gas guzzlers now, America?
Translating this price into dollars and cents at the gas pump, one of our forecasters, the chairman of Houston-based Dune Energy, Alan Gaines, sees gas rising to $7-$8 a gallon. The other, a commodities tracker at Weiss Research in Jupiter, Fla., Sean Brodrick, projects a range of $8 to $10 a gallon.
While $7-$10 a gallon would be ground-breaking in America, these prices would not be trendsetting internationally. For example, European drivers are already shelling out $9 a gallon (which includes a $2-a-gallon tax).
April 27, 2008
REVIEW FROM HERE : The Renaissance meets Mughal Empire
April 27, 2008 8:37 AM
THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE
Fiction
Salman Rushdie
Random House, $26
Vladislav III, aka Vlad the Impaler, the real Romanian voivode who became the inspiration for Count Dracula, met his end sometime around 1476. Some say he died on the battlefield against the Turks, some have him assassinated by his own men. But the most fantastic and Gothic demise for Vlad has him decapitated and his head sent back to the Sultan in Istanbul, preserved in a jar of honey.
The honey jar episode makes its way into one page of Salman Rushdie's new novel, "The Enchantress of Florence," with Vlad just a footnote. But it's emblematic of this sprawling, fantastic work, the culmination of 10 years of research by the author.
Set during the Renaissance and taking in both its title location and the Mughal Empire (roughly present day India and lands to the north), "The Enchantress of Florence" spins a tale of imaginary and real women, of barbarism and civilization, and of storytelling itself. If it feels like an encyclopedia of knowledge crammed into its 350 pages, don't worry -- Mr. Rushdie includes an extensive bibliography at the end. For those who find his blend of fairy tale, history, and the so-fantastic-it-probably-actually-happened too overwhelming to sift through, there's always, ahem, Google.
But what of the story, which proceeds less like a straight line and more a series of concentric loops with a zigzag through them? A mysterious traveler from the West arrives at the palace of Akbar the Great bearing a letter from Queen Elizabeth I, but, more importantly, a story that only the Emperor can hear. Akbar, as we have been shown, would rather behead a man than listen to anything a know-it-all foreigner could say, but a wave of enlightenment and a surging feeling of self-doubt have taken a recent hold of him. The man from Florence claims lineage from the complicated family tree of the Mughal Empire and now reaches back to spin a yarn to prove -- and also save -- himself.
From the start, Mr. Rushdie lets us in on the probable fiction of this man's tale. But as we are already within a novel that is sewn together from both history and imagination, and where the Emperor's top wife is a woman that has been created out of the imagination (much to the consternation of his other hundred wives), the waters, while golden around the Emperor's palace in Fatehpur Sikri, have a considerable muddiness to them.
The storyteller goes by the name of Mogor Dell'Amore ("the Mughal of Love") but that is not his real or his only name. But as readers follow Mr. Rushdie into the story, they will find that names, like identities, have a way of changing to suit the situation. Everything becomes fluid in "The Enchantress of Florence," as every character seems to have several names -- the main criticism to levy against the book is its potential for confusion for the reader who cannot make it through large chunks of the novel in one sitting. Niccol0x98 Machiavelli takes a starring role, as do the brothers of a certain Amerigo Vespucci (who disappears from the novel in order to have a continent named after him). Literary allusions pop up among the historical ones, and the Three -- no, strike that, four -- Musketeers turn up in the second half as well.
Mr. Rushdie writes with enjoyable aplomb, spinning on the fantastic and flowery to drop in a street-level bit of realism and humor to mix things up a bit. "The Enchantress of Florence" feels like an old children's book written for adults, a reminder that the image of far-off lands or of perfect lovers can possess us at any age, and that imagination can change history in the weirdest of ways.
Salman Rushdie will discuss his work with author Pico Iyer at 4 p.m. May 4 at UCSB Campbell Hall as part of UCSB Arts & Lectures. Tickets are $25 general, $15 UCSB students. For tickets, call 893-3535 or go to www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.
©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press
April 25, 2008
DRINK OF THE WEEK : THE NUGGET'S PARASOL
NIK BLASCOVICH PHOTO
Ted Mills
April 25, 2008 11:41 AM
Way back in the mists of political time, The Nugget in Summerland received a visit from Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton and entourage, which put this wood-paneled restaurant on the local news for a while. T-shirts were sold, as were burgers. Bill may never have returned, but faithful locals have, for years and years, since the restaurant opened its doors in 1960.
Our mixologist entourage may not have a Secret Service detail, but we did enjoy the attention of bartender Wendy Sanders when we dropped in to sample the full bar section of The Nugget. The Clinton burger may have come and gone, but The Nugget's Bloody Caesar remains on the menu. It's a brunch favorite (and some say hangover cure) that fans swear by, substituting the garden variety tomato juice with Clamato, and -- here's the odd bit of trivia -- remains a popular cocktail in Canada.
The Nugget's secret is the marinated vodka used in the drink -- a week of infusing red, green, and jalapeño peppers in the alcohol produces a spicy base. Along with the usual Worcestershire Sauce and Tabasco, Sanders adds balsamic vinegar to the mix. Celery salt lines the rim and a marinated green bean joins the celery stalk. It was not as spicy as one might think, but the pepper taste remained long in the mouth.
The Nugget also has a tradition of serving up martinis in pint glasses and letting the customer use the Hawthorn strainer themselves to pour into the traditional Martini glass. This way, the customer gets two strong drinks for the price of one (and probably winds up drinking them faster too). Sanders, who has been serving since last October, made us one from Chopin vodka, with both an onion and an olive for garnish. Very strong, it was.
In the same vein, Sanders introduced us to the drink that she had been working on for a week, the Parasol. Like its cousins the Sea Breeze and Bay Breeze, the Parasol was born when her friend wanted a light vodka drink (the name, she says, comes from Mary Poppins). With two fruit juices, one to add color, and Triple Sec for more citrus flavor, the Parasol was light and summery. But as a fellow fan down the end of the bar remarked, "it sneaks up on ya!"
For being such a graceful host, Wendy and her concoction get the Drink of the Week.
THE PARASOL
3 oz. Grey Goose vodka
1/2 oz. Pineapple juice
1/2 oz. Cranberry juice
splash of Triple Sec
Mix ingredients in shaker over ice and strain into martini glass. Garnish with lime.
The Nugget
2318 Lillie Ave., Summerland
969-6135
©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press
The Worst Food in America
A disgusting, high-calorie list from Men's Health:
Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing
2,900 calories
182 g fat 240 g carbs
Even if you split this "starter" with three friends, you'll have downed a dinner's worth of calories before your entree arrives. Follow this up with a steak, sides, and a dessert and you could easily break the 3,500 calorie barrier.
ONSTAGE : Steps to success - D.C. satirists return to Lobero for an evening of song and sketches
The Governator gets a makeover when The Capitol Steps come to town.
DAVID BAZEMORE PHOTO
By Ted Mills, News-Press Correspondent
April 25, 2008 11:14 AM
The Capitol Steps, that beltway bunch of musical satirists returning to the Lobero for their 11th year, run on a fuel that consists of 30 percent parody and 70 percent puns -- really groan-worthy puns. For an example, check a slew of song titles: "Help Me Fake It to the Right" (about Mitt Romney), "What Kind of Fuel Am I?" (about bio-fuels), "Electile Dysfunction," and the title of their latest CD collection, "Campaign and Suffering."
"I am the culprit behind most of those," admits co-founder Elaina Newport.
The story of how the Capitol Steps went on to become one of Washington, D.C.'s most reliable institutions and exports -- aside from scandals, their bread and butter -- has been thoroughly documented. Former Republican staff members on the Senate Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Government Processes, Elaina Newport and Bill Strauss started writing satirical ditties, which led to a performance at a Christmas show in 1981. The success earned them requests, new members (both Republican and Democrat) and a side-career that they eventually made full-time and open to the public.
"It was a fun time for satire," says Newport about those early years. "Reagan had just come in. He was going from acting to politics and we went from politics to performing." Bill Strauss has a career in law ahead of him, but chose comedy instead. "I think Bill was also wondering if he'd be in front of a committee one day, being asked, 'Did you write a song against the President in 1981?"
Strauss passed away late last year at the end of a long illness, but the group, which has seen some 30 odd members in its lifetime, continues on.
As a topical-humor group, the Steps find it the hardest when a politician does not offer obvious traits to puncture. Newport said former candidate Fred Thompson wasn't too funny until they latched onto his Beverly Hills connection (resulting in a Beverly Hillbillies parody). Or they may be ahead of the audience's perceptions -- when Rudy Giuliani looked to be the obvious GOP nominee, the Steps were making fun of his constant reference to 9/11. The routine "wasn't quite connecting" until Joe Biden pointed out, in his now famous quote from the debates, "there's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11." Then the routine worked ? and Rudy dropped out.
"We had a song called 'McCain's Campaign Is Clearly Down the Drain,' when we didn't know who was going to be the main candidate," she adds. But then, nobody looks to a comedy troupe for prognostication. For the most part, songs about the economy, scandals, and other countries remain popular. A skit about airport security also does well, and springs from the group's own experience. "The TSA has seized some of our props on tour," Newport says. "We do skits on terrorism, so we have plastic grenades and guns. We had a skit with a gas-mask, that never made it through either." No wonder the Steps dress up their TSA security guard as an axe-wielding barbarian.
The Steps remain fiercely bipartisan, but unlike Congress, they all get along well. Newport, like all the others, has to bite her tongue even when a politician she likes is the subject of derision. "I was upset when they tried to swift-boat John Kerry," she says. "I mean, he did serve in Vietnam." The group still went ahead with their parody "Fakey Purple Heart," set to the Billy-Ray Cyrus song.
Still, their targets take it all in stride. Most even request their songs, like former presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. Others are disappointed when there isn't a song about them. And for those politicians who don't have any sense of humor at all?
"I can't name them," Newport says, sounding protective. "Because they don't turn up."
THE CAPITOL STEPS
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday
Where: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
Cost: $25 to $35
Information: 963-0761, www.lobero.com
©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press
ONSTAGE : Primordial modern - Eiko & Koma brings mournful, earthy dance to UCSB
COURTESY PHOTO
By Ted Mills, News-Press Correspondent
April 25, 2008 11:10 AM
"Sometimes I feel that part of 'evolving' is a liberty to de-evolve," says Eiko of Eiko and Koma, the wife and husband dance duo. "We do a lot of animalistic movement, but that is not imitation. That is us remembering what it was like to be animals." The provocative career of this couple, now in its third decade, has long explored those connections of man and the environment, as well as its disconnect. Eiko and Koma's often-ghostly white pallor, the strange beauty of their movements, and their archaic stage environments will all be taken to the next level in their live collaboration with avant-garde pianist Margaret Leng Tan this Thursday night at UCSB's Campbell Hall. The evening-length work is entitled "Mourning."
Eiko underlines the idea of Tan as collaborator, not just accompanist, and that "Mourning" should be seen not as an evening of dance with music, but rather one of music with dance. "Tan is a fellow artist," Eiko says. "She's a strong performer and pianist. As such she is very much in her own world."
But the same could be said about Eiko and Koma. Both developed their art while in college in Tokyo, during the turbulent years of the late '60s and early '70s. As in the West, the youth of Japan rebelled against their government, and by extension, all authority.
"We were both part of the anti-Vietnam, post-war questioning that was going on," Eiko says. "Before we met each other we were both active. And we both dropped out. Even among the anti-war sects there was a lot of antagonism. So I went to talk to my dance teacher. I wanted something to grapple with. I wanted to find a way to communicate my ideas without arguing."
Eiko's teachers were Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, both modern dance legends who are seen as the originators of Butoh dance. Though Eiko and Koma's works share some qualities with Butoh, such as the unsettling imagery, white make-up, and grotesque movement, Eiko says they never properly studied the style.
"I don't think of them as Butoh masters," she says. "We have a spiritual tie with them, but ? we were bad students anyway." Any teachers at that time, she says, were still authority figures.
Instead, once Eiko had met Koma, they developed their own style and moved away from Japan to Germany, then to New York.
"It was a way of trying out our relationship," she says. "And along the way we realized what we could do. We realized we had become one." That relationship has held strong over the years since their first performance in 1971. They have always performed as a duo, and Eiko says that through this time, certain themes have continued: "The relationship with nature, how things that are vulnerable change so rapidly; how technology has caused these things."
Those themes continue in a way with the collaboration with Tan. The pianist, who is well-known for her recordings of John Cage works -- she worked closely with the composer in the last decade of his life -- brought hours worth of selections to the first (professional) meeting with Eiko and Koma two years ago.
"She played for hours from her repertory," says Eiko. Some of the pieces that made their way into "Mourning" include Somei Satoh's "Litania" and Cage's "In the Name of the Holocaust." The Cage piece caused some problems from the point of view of a dancer.
"The first time I heard it I immediately thought, this is not good," says Eiko, "This is kind of impossible to dance to ? we knew it would be a very dangerous place that we were stepping into. The emotion that goes with it ? it's a very strong wave of emotions. It's almost unwelcome."
But entering that uncomfortable space, being in it, and, as Eiko points out, highlighting the space as much as the dancer, is part of Eiko and Koma's art. Even this far into their career, for Eiko and Koma to feel unsure and to push forward shows they haven't lost their nerve.
"Margaret's playing is so precise, so necessary, so urgent, and our dance is . . . arbitrary," she says with half a laugh. "It's suicidal for us to be working with her."
EIKO & KOMA, with MARGARET LENG TAN
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Campbell Hall, UCSB
Cost: $35 general, $19 students
Information: 893-3535, www.artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu
©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press
The Art of Scott Teplin
Scott Teplin draws/watercolors intricate Escher-like rooms devoid of people, but containing intriguing domestic goods and hidden vaults, all visibile through his Ukiyoe-meets-video game isometric view. I think, also, his style reminds me a bit of the artist on the HBJ editions of Stanislaw Lem books.
Here's a page at the Adam Baumgold Gallery, which is showing his works, including the latest, Alphaville. Here's his blog.
By way of Boing Boing.
Kaibo Zonshinzu Anatomy Scrolls
Fascinating and grisly.
The Kaibo Zonshinzu anatomy scrolls, painted in 1819 by Kyoto-area physician Yasukazu Minagaki (1784-1825), consist of beautifully realistic, if not gruesome, depictions of scientific human dissection.
Unlike European anatomical drawings of the time, which tended to depict the corpse as a living thing devoid of pain (and often in some sort of Greek pose), these realistic illustrations show blood and other fluids leaking from subjects with ghastly facial expressions.
The fact that the bodies used in scientific autopsies in Edo-period Japan generally belonged to heinous criminals executed by decapitation adds to the grisly nature of the illustrations.
From the PinkTentacle Blog
April 24, 2008
Shinya Tsukamoto's "Adventures of Electric Rod Boy"
Tsukamoto made his breakthrough with Tetsuo Iron Man, and then went on to Tokyo Fist and A Snake in June. But here's where it all began with "Adventures of Electric Rod Boy." (Okay, it was his second film.) You can see that his obsessions were already in place. And you can see over the years that he's tried to keep that Super 8 aesthetic.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
By way of Robot Action Boy
April 23, 2008
test entry for style sheet
Hey, if you are reading this, I'm doing some CSS hackery (with help from a friend). Pay no attention to this.
Dangerous times for journalists
Pity the poor cub reporter, sent by desperate and/or moronic bosses out to cover something or other for their local news. Hey, you know what would be great--if you try to do what the pros are doing! You know, jump on a motorbike and ride off at the end of the segment! Stand really close to the event, I mean *really* close!
From the YouTube User PeopleGettingOwned.
I Can Hear Ewe Calling
I don't know the artist, but these are cool. More here.
Nothing soft about it - 'The Pillowman' disturbs, but might be Genesis West's best production
Katurian (Jeff Mills, seated) is questioned by officers Ariel (Tom Hinshaw, middle) and Tupolski (Dirk Blocker, right) about crimes he says he did not commit.
DAVID BAZEMORE PHOTOS
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 23, 2008 8:52 AM
Theater director Maurice Lord might have a thing for torture. Not that he likes it. Rather, he seems to have been shaken to the core since the 2004 revelations at Abu Ghraib prison. Or maybe it is just the tenor of the times. Either way, since Genesis West's resuscitation in 2005, the plays he has directed for his company have been colored in various shades of black, with a sheen of bitter, gallows humor. Sam Shepard's "The God of Hell" featured an electro-shock chastity belt and a hyper-patriotic salesman/torturer. Caryl Churchill's "Far Away" featured public humiliation and execution as a backdrop for factory workers discussing their tedious jobs.
With Martin McDonagh's "The Pillowman," -- having premiered Thursday at Center Stage Theater -- Genesis West has produced one of its best shows, if not one of its darkest. Read the ingredients on the box: patricide, child murder and torture (with and without a quick death to follow).
But -- and with Genesis West there's always a but -- "The Pillowman" delivers laughter and some profoundly moving moments. How is this possible?
Playwright Mr. McDonagh has become a familiar name to filmgoers with his recent film, "In Bruges," which manages a similar blend of comedy and violence and insists on being serious about both. In fact, the two officers we meet at the beginning of "The Pillowman" -- one a detective, one a policeman -- remind us of the hit men duo featured in his film. Here, though, Tupolski (Dirk Blocker) and Ariel (Tom Hinshaw) interrogate, torture and threaten to kill their main suspect, Katurian (Jeff Mills), for crimes he says he did not commit. As Tupolski reminds us, this is a totalitarian police state, so forget the trial. (Mr. McDonagh never sets the play in a real location, instead placing it in some odd blend of Ireland, big-city America and Eastern Europe.)
Tupolski and Ariel suspect Katurian of a series of gruesome child murders, and their methods come directly from short, unpublished horror stories Katurian has written. The detective has a box-file of Katurian's collected works, and Ariel has a car battery with a set of electrodes ready to be used to extract a confession. They also have Katurian's mentally challenged brother, Michal (Matt Tavianini), in a separate cell next door, and they have an incriminating confession from him.
"The Pillowman" -- the title comes from one of Katurian's stories -- uses its police-state setting to pitch its ideas about guilt, authorship and child abuse at a desperate level. Katurian's ability to spin horrific narratives out of a complicated and difficult childhood, and the intersections of reality and fiction that weave in and out of the play, serve to both save and damn him. "The Pillowman" is not one of those plays that intentionally muddles a real and an imaginary storyline, however, but one that precedes like detective work, uncovering clues and reshaping what we believe is the truth as the play proceeds forward in time and backwards in remembrance. It also asks if a miserable life can be worth living and if shreds of hope and love are enough in a life laden with abuse and violence.
But as aforementioned, the play manages to be quite funny, from Tupolski and Ariel's strange and codependent working relationship to Katurian's short stories, which taken as literature might never make it out of a writing workshop. Tupolski responds later with a story just as improbable and allegorically confusing as that of the accused. Mr. McDonagh's banter reveals shades of Irish slang and inflection, but Mr. Lord chooses wisely to keep things in varying shades of American accents.
Jeff Mills and Matt Tavianini both come from Boxtales, their usual theatrical stomping ground, and while playing brothers, they seem well suited to a play centered around storytelling. When Katurian isn't stuck in a cell being grilled, he is off to the side in a chair telling us stories about his childhood, which are illustrated dumb-show-like on a raised, recessed area of the stage, with Leslie Gangl-Howe and Howard Howe playing abusive, Gothic parents, and Rudy Martinez and Amanda Berning playing the children. Tim Burton would approve of the devilish glee in which Mr. Lord stages these horrible tableaux. (And thanks goes to set and lighting designer Theodore Michael Dolas for making it so mesmerizing).
Mr. Mills and Mr. Tavianini form the emotional core of the play, but Dirk Blocker and Tom Hinshaw are equally delightful to watch. Mr. Lord has worked with Mr. Hinshaw in nearly every Genesis West production -- having him play a torturer with a tender streak is one of the director's most clever choices. Mr. Blocker, who does most of his work in television and film, begins as a stereotypical detective, but then reveals multiple shades and facets.
All of which makes the final moments in "The Pillowman" so jarring, unexpected and grimly satisfying. You can't say you haven't been warned.
'THE PILLOWMAN'
When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and May 1-3
Where: Center Stage Theater, 751 Paseo Nuevo, upstairs
Cost: $25, $20 students
Information: 963-0408, www.centerstagetheater.org
©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press
April 22, 2008
John Stezaker
Film Portrait (Incision) I
2005
John Stezaker collects postcards, movie portraits, stills and lobby cards with an archivist’s zeal. But the way in which they are re-functioned as art is not at all congruent with such an approach. One of the things that makes Stezaker’s practice so intriguing is the extent to which the works more or less follow Conceptual art orthodoxy up to when he makes his ‘cut’, bringing the two images together, after which all other decisions are intuited. The ‘idea’ of the works is straightforward and consistent, and Stezaker has constructed them in much the same way for more than 20 years: two different images are brought together, each destroyed in some important way in order to birth a new one. Yet the logic, or meaning, of the new images remains mysterious.Written by Dan Kidner from Frieze.com
Some more Stezaker galleries at MoMa, and the Saatchi Gallery.
And here's some art grant writing:
Through his signature use of photographic collage John Stezaker identifies mankind’s desire to portray an enhanced self and explores our acceptance or our suspicion of others' personas and the denial of our own.Arrrrgh. Like fingernails on chalkboard. Here's some more of that from the Tate:
John Stezaker is fascinated by the power of images and questions the authority of pictures found in books, magazines, postcards and encyclopaedias by directly intervening into their ordinary status.Owwwwww! Sweet pain of art-grant writing! Why do you hurt me so?
April 21, 2008
The Revisionism of Dr. Wertham
A few issues back, the New Yorker had a book review/story about the comic book hearings of the 1950s and how horror comics were blamed for juvenile delinquency. What followed was a "Comics Code" that was even more puritanical than the one that censored Hollywood films in the 1930s. The first half of the article by Louis Menand sums up the history fairly well, the second half dives into David Hajdu's book on the subject (“The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America”) and finds some interesting revisioning of history. Dr. Wertham, for example, seen as somebody's conservative stern uncle, was nothing of the sort. He was, rather, more of a progressive, and saw the relationship of comics to kids as mass consumerism to those least likely to ward it off and the most impressionable.
He was against the code. He did not want to censor comic books, only to restrict their sale so that kids could not buy them without a parent present. He wanted to give them the equivalent of an R rating. Bart Beaty’s “Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture” ($22, paper; University Press of Mississippi) makes a strong case for the revisionist position. As Beaty points out, Wertham was not a philistine; he was a progressive intellectual. His Harlem clinic was named for Paul Lafargue, Marx’s son-in-law. He collected modern art, helped produce an anthology of modernist writers, and opposed censorship. He believed that people’s behavior was partly determined by their environment, in this respect dissenting from orthodox Freudianism, and some of his work, on the psychological effects of segregation on African-Americans, was used in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education.Somewhere in this tale is a lesson about getting more than what you wished for, and how a desire to protect can be manipulated by those in power to satisfy their cravings to repress and contain.Wertham thought that representations make a difference—that how people see themselves and others reflected in the media affects the way they think and behave. As Beaty says, racist (particularly concerning Asians) and sexist images and remarks can be found on almost every page of crime and horror comics. What especially strikes a reader today is the fantastic proliferation of images of violence against women, almost always depicted in highly sexualized forms. If one believes that pervasive negative images of black people are harmful, why would one not believe the same thing about images of men beating, torturing, and killing women?
Vancouver and Portland Galleries up!
At the end of March I visited my friend Olivia in Vancouver, BC. It was my first trip to Canada, and prob not my last.
You can see the full set here.
Then from Vancouver, I flew to Portland, OR and stayed with my friend Chris. This was my first trip to Oregon and also, not my last.
Dig that funky Portland scene here.
April 20, 2008
WITMOT?
My main homey Jon Crow has a new blog. What's that, you say, a new blog? I didn't know he had an old blog. Well, that's where you're wrong. But I forgive you.
WITMOT deals with: movies, James A. Garfield, traveling, James A. Garfield, kvetching, and for those who don't like James A. Garfield, there's sport. Here's a sample of his writing:
Back in 1998, after I graduated from U of Michigan with a Master’s Degree in Japanese Studies that I knew would prove to be worthless, I panicked. I wanted to go back to Japan, but I really did not want to teach English again. I taught it for two years between 1994 and ‘96 and I felt my brain softening a little more with each day I worked there. The few job leads that I had in Japan fell through and suddenly I had no clue what I was going to do with my life. The future looked confusing and uncertain and I was overwhelmed. So I did what any red-blooded lad hailing from the stout state of Ohio might: I sold my car and traveled around the world. Along the way, I wrote a series of mass emails detailing my adventures with included climbing Himalayas, getting chased by a Rhino and getting naked with a room full of Russians. I thought of them as a sort of proto-blog though blogs were at that point a good five years away. So now, ten years later, I finally have these missives in a blog format. You can read the first entry here.Please do check it out, even though he only paid me $10 to give him a plug. He' s a good guy.
April 17, 2008
Welcome back, it's me.
Sure have been gone a long time, folks! And I should keep up with posting, after all I have thousands of devoted fans I can't let down. Well, maybe not thousands, but hundreds. Okay, maybe not hundreds, more like my mom and a few friends. But still I can't let them down!!
I took Spring Break in Vancouver and Portland and the Canada photos are already up. I've been busy writing and teaching.
I'm always nervous to get behind a candidate, but I've come around to Obama over the last months. I've more and more impressed with his speeches and his attitude. The man seems genuine. I've also stood back, impressed, as he's used every negative moment as a chance to go on the offensive. Last night was the unbelievably shitty and moronic travesty of a debate on ABC. But tonight I saw this footage:
OMG!!! Did you see that? He referenced Jay-Z! To wit:
I'm not saying that I'm voting for Obama because he likes Jay-Z, but this is just to show that he knows some great political Aikido and a reference like this just shows how this is a totally different game we're in now. This isn't politics as usual.
Lastly, I went to go see Dengue Fever play SOhO tonight and it was excellent. More photos soon. My friends Sami and Doug were there, along with tons of peeps that I know, so it was a good night out.
Here's my favorite song from the night, the groovy and hypnotic "Seeing Hands," which could have gone on 20 more minutes for my taste.
April 16, 2008
Soul of Solodon : Goleta-based singer releases her first EP
Singer Becca Solodon's album "In My Room," released today on the Internet, will come out on CD next month.
STEPHANIE KINCHELOE PHOTO
TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 16, 2008 7:41 AM
At 21, singer-songwriter and composer Becca Solodon stands on the threshold of the second stage of her career. Today her first EP, "In My Room," was released on the Internet, to be followed next month on CD. And though it may be her first release, Miss Solodon has been careful in this, her first real volley into the pop world.
When she was 16, Miss Solodon was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, which led to the amputation of one leg below the calf. During this process, her dreams of becoming a professional singer led to some extraordinary connections. Just six weeks after leaving the hospital, she opened for Mariah Carey, one of her idols, during the star's 2003 Santa Barbara appearance. Not long after that appearance, Miss Solodon was approached by at least three labels.
"I was offered contracts, but I knew it wasn't the right time," she said. "I took them to my lawyer and he said I'd be absolutely insane to sign them."
Instead, Miss Solodon buckled down and began writing. A lot. And most of it at home.
"In My Room" refers in part to where most of that writing and recording takes place, and where she creates her romantic blend of pop and R&B.
"Half is my bedroom, the other half is my studio," she said. "In 2003 I got my keyboard and ProTools (the sound production software), and in 2004 I got a microphone and put studio foam on the walls."
The home studio became Miss Solodon's musical laboratory, although she's also befriended many producers along the way, including Ronnie King and Damion "Damizza" Young.
"They both pushed me to develop my songwriting before I started releasing anything. I was still writing and growing as an artist (in 2003)."
One of the first songs that, in Miss Solodon's mind, reflects her true style as an artist is "Simply Irresistible," created as a collaboration between the singer and a Finnish musician, Ves Rain, with whom she shares a common friend. Mr. Rain sent a song sketch via Internet, Miss Solodon sent back a vocal track, and Mr. Rain recorded the track live with musicians in Finland.
Other tracks on the six-song EP come straight from Miss Solodon's home studio.
"It took me a while to learn, but I have recording down very well," she said. "I'm quite picky, actually, especially about vocals. In the chorus sections, I have tons of harmonies, all my own. Mixing vocals is my specialty."
One song close to her heart is "Always Watching Over Me," dedicated to a younger friend, Krista Romero, who passed away last year from leukemia.
Miss Solodon met Krista at the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, which, along with other organizations like the Make-a-Wish Foundation, helped Miss Solodon with her own illness.
"Going to see Krista (in the hospital) was like seeing a younger version of myself," she said. "And meeting her parents reminded me of my own. I knew what she was going through. She may be gone, but she will live on through the song."
Since 2003, Miss Solodon's once-hobby has now become a passion, and despite being a full-time student and working part time at the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, she has been pulling many late-night sessions to get the EP ready.
A full album of new material is planned for September, and she is still lining up concerts.
On May 3, Miss Solodon will perform at UCSB's Relay for Life and that same night at a benefit show at the Santa Barbara Woman's Club. An end-of-semester concert at City College is also in the works.
Becca Solodon's six-track EP "In My Room" is available at www.beccasolodon.com.
©2008 Santa Barbara News-Press
April 04, 2008
Ruth Bernhard's Nude in Box
This photo by Ruth Bernhard is currently on display at the Portland Art Museum. In it's original print size, it's very compelling, sensuous, and yet surreal. As I thought about it, I began to wonder...surely I've seen this image before. Where??
Oh that's right, it was stolen for the not-very-good Boxing Helena movie.
Ruth Bernhard had a fascinating life. She was born in Berlin, studied art there too, moved to NYC, got involved with photography, had both female and male lovers, focused a lot of her work on the female nude, and died in San Francisco at 101. That's a long life.
"If I have chosen the female form in particular, it is because beauty has been debased and exploited in our sensual 20th century,” she told Margaretta K. Mitchell, author of “Ruth Bernhard: Between Art and Life” (2000). “Woman has been the subject of much that is sordid and cheap, especially in photography. To raise, to elevate, to endorse with timeless reverence the image of woman has been my mission."