It's all happening...or something

Neight the Greight is leaving today and now I'm discovering that I'm much more of a sentimentalist than I thought (thanks n8). I think it took until now to realize just how much things are about to change, or maybe I'm projecting? Most people I know are staying in NYC but one by one we will probably leave, move, lose touch, settle elsewhere, who knows where even I will end up. It's a lot to be confronted with, especially because I think I have a lot of fear connected with this idea of the REST of my LIFE. Understandable, and something I need to confront head on lest I get enveloped in it.

I finally saw

(http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2009/04/28/antichrist-poster.jpg)

and

(http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/fantastic_mr_fox1.jpg)

Two very different movies, obviously, and things I had been meaning to see for months now.
In terms of Antichrist I can't say it was much different from what I was anticipating: some shock value, lots of rough, violent sex, and some artsy slow-motion thrown in. Oh yeah, and opera. Naturally. I had planned on seeing it fr the sake of having the experience of watching the film, but I had already read about each extreme moment or shock, so I guess there was no way for it to have the desired effect. Still, I can't really say it added or took away anything from my life. I guess some people are just into that sort of thing? Also, Lars von Trier hates women.


The Fantastic Mr. Fox....I mean I guess I kind of understand much more why people hate Wes Anderson. He kind of falls into a Woody Allen category for me: I see the routine, the repetition of one style, but I love it so much, or have loved it in some of their films, that I'll pretty much see anything they do. But yeah, same color palette, disappointing soundtrack (for him), same shots, super detail oriented...but once again beautiful to watch, and I had a great time. Animation gets me almost every time, I find it so hard to fathom the detail, the minutae, especially when I'm not as detail oriented as I could be. Still I feel that movie had a potential to blow me away more than it actually did, sadly enough.

In an effort to get a head start on my Christmas gifts I sort of raced through Confederacy of Dunces (sorry John Kennedy Toole!) and started Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead. It's one of those wonderful things that makes me want to read always, that makes me want to rush out and buy all of his other works before I even finish this one. He's an NYC native and Harvard grad. I saw him with Anna at a New Yorker festival event with Jonathan Lethem that completely blew me away. His style is so detailed and beautiful, one of those authors who is amazingly good at weaving pop culture, race issues, etc. so elegantly you hardly notice the shift except to say YES, exactly. Anyways, I found online a clip from the National Book Festival where he read the exact same sections I saw. Be warned- it's a half hour, and he doesn't come on until about 3 minutes in, but if you have the time he is an amazing writer and well worth listening to.

Yet Another Tribute

I added a quote today to my blog from one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut. I have read almost everything he's written and still can't get enough. When looking for an image of that quote, I came across a number of amazing photos of him that I wanted to share, interspersed with other great things he's said.

(http://www.notitles.com/~dirt/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/vonnegut_kurt_garden_800.jpg)

A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

(http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/385/72a/38572ac6-a23b-4c20-a62b-83a4a02e3914)

I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did'.

(http://mike.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/11128361-11128364-slarge.jpg)

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.

(http://themoderatevoice.com/wordpress-engine/files/2008-april/Vonnegutsignature.jpg)

If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.

Also: POPE ATTACK! (you only need to watch the first couple of minutes to get the full effect)

It really doesn't matter if I'm wrong/I'm right/Where I belong I'm right

The entire point of this post is to acknowledge one of my favorite people who has had (and kept up with) her own excellent blog much longer than mine.

On December 22nd she wrote this post and it articulates so much of the NOW that it kind of hurt me to read. Does that make sense? Maybe only to me and my friends, or me and my age group, or just the two of us, but I happen to think it's pretty fucking dead on.

I wanted to do a sappy dedication post but I realized that my love letter to Allison is far too personal for the Interweb. Just know that if you, mysterious (non-existent?) reader, happen to know this girl, you should be forever grateful. I owe her my sanity and I have no doubt that she will be an amazing writer someday.

The title for this post is from the Beatles song Fixing A Hole. Here's a video with a cute Paul interview to open it. Allison, this is for you:

Christmas!

Today I explained the concept of Lady Gaga to my parents via this amazing fashion recap. We also watched Colbert rap and appreciated this ad that is apparently hanging in La Guardia airport due to either oversight or a really great marketing campaign:

(http://www.dogmomsdish.com/.a/6a00d8341fb85653ef0128760c4d40970c-500wi)

Obviously, we've been on the internet. But it's so nice to finally have a lazy day, especially when it leads to discoveries like this:

Where has RuPaul been, and why did I forget how great she is? I'm going to need to spend a bit more time looking into her fabulous life. Didn't she also at one point have an Oprah-esque talk show? Clips are essential.

I got far more gifts than I deserve today, and mostly books, which I don't have the room or the time for, although they're all things I can't wait to read. I now own:

and these movies:

 

 

Yes. 

To lay his brain upon the board/ And pick the acrid colors out

(http://www.ximnet.com.my/thelab/images/upload/FF_70_brain1_f.jpg)

Today I discovered a great (if sporadic) section of the New York Times whose aim is to report on brain research. Yesterday’s article was on education, and how cognitive science is going to effect the way we teach children, since most teaching methods prior have been the result of tradition and assumption. For example, this article claims that"most entering preschoolers could perform rudimentary division,” whereas in my preschool we just learned how to count to ten.

It will be interesting to see if these methods are actually adapted and how they could effect the next generation. My math skills are incredibly weak and, although a lot of it has to do with the fact that I was too shy as a kid to explain that I didn’t understand things, I also think that my basic skills are to blame.

A group called Building Blocks is testing this idea of early math immersion and seems to have already garnered great results. The best part? They believe that by targeting certain parts of the brain it can even effect self-control. Maybe we can get rid of the 4^th graders on Ritalin?  (side note: Microsoft Word recognizes the word Ritalin. We’re doomed).

Another great article is from November 26^th, and it focuses on psychosurgery. I had never heard of this but apparently there are new procedures which may help to cure depression, anxiety, obesity, and OCD among other things by DRILLING HOLES INTO PART OF YOUR BRAIN. There have been mixed results: some have gotten better, some haven’t changed, and an unfortunate few have gotten much worse. One even lost the ability to care for herself after it went awry.

However, I’m not completely opposed to such an extreme method. As someone who has dealt with depression, it seems most medication and therapies are almost as strenuous to endure as surgery would be, and often feel futile. Even when certain patterns of thought can be recognized, it is not always within the means of a patient to eradicate them or act otherwise. That negative self-awareness can be terribly frustrating and dis-heartening, and I’m sure it would be an amazing relief if this surgery could eventually be a safe option.

There are a few more articles to be found in this section but I won’t summarize them all, though one in particular caught my eye. Apparently, it has become possible to erase memories a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This can be done to erase experiences of trauma or even just to fix a bad habit, yet it raises so many more questions about just how important these memories are to who YOU are as a person.

Also: “If traumatic memories are like malicious stalkers, then troubling memories — and a healthy dread of them — form the foundation of a moral conscience”

They mention in the article the tendency of artists and writers to explore the notions of consciousness and identity that are now being explored by neuroscientists (see this article about identity from the same section). I read a great book on this about a year or two ago called “Proust Was a Neuroscientist” by Jonah Lehrer in which he took examples of works by Cezanne, Stravinsky, Walt Whitman, and of course Proust (among others), and analyzed how their particular understanding of the process of human nature relates to scientific theory today. Amazing book, and also partially the topic of my colloquium for Gallatin, though with less science involved.

What am I trying to say?

Basically just that I find these new developments fascinating. I wonder how an in-depth understanding of the brain will effect the way we understand ourselves and relate to one another. What will happen if we can edit ourselves so easily?

Also- I feel like these developments are all a pretty big slap in the face for religion, the way we have starting defining what makes us human in the most practical of terms. Would we be much further along scientifically if religion hadn’t gotten in the way? (oh no- I think I might have gotten that from the ridiculous alternative universe episode of Family Guy. It is also the second time I’ve mentioned that show today).

Enough about the brain, I have to transcribe, but first:

The title of this post comes from a great poem by Wallace Stevens called The Man with the Blue Guitar from 1937. It’s too long to post but here it is along with a few bonus poems. If you’ve never read him, you probably should (thanks Kyle! You probably forgot but you recommended him ages ago)

Also, in looking at poetry earlier I came across this:

Democracy! Bah! When I hear that I reach for my feather boa!

-Allen Ginsberg

Yes. 

Continuing Education

(http://thepilver.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/lazy_jane.gif)

 Hell yeah, Shel Silverstein!

I realized that, now that school is over with, there is the scarily real potential for me to end up more often than not sitting in my room pants-less watching Family Guy and eating Doritos. Although I need that kind of vacation I don’t want my brain to melt, so I think I’m going to try and make this my year of literature. I’m going to finally read all of those epic, earth shattering works (then maybe I can learn not to use cliché’s) that I never read in school like E.M Forester, James Joyce, Henry Miller, Ernest Hemingway, etc. Not all of their works, naturally, but I’d like the ability to start using their names as adjectives and really know what I’m talking about. I think I’ll come up with a comprehensive list and post it here, someday….If anyone wants to join me we can be awesome nerds and have a reading group!

I have tried to embark on this type of thing before…pretty much every summer I have declared that I’ll be reading something epic which rarely gets finished. But now I’ll really have time (finally) and it will be nice to keep my brain active. I usually am trying to do so but I feel like I’ve been slacking in that department lately, being wiped out with finals and certain inane classes and busy work at internships….

But! Here are some interesting things I’ve learned this morning from the New York Times annual “Year in Ideas ”

1)    We’re replacing nature with machines

(http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2004/images/synthetic_trees_400.jpg)

 Ok, so this isn’t entirely true, and in this article they do make sure to refute that idea. But still, there is something slightly unnerving about us whittling down trees and ivy to their specific purpose and then finding a way to recreate that out of things that “resemble giant fly-swatters” and “leaflike modules that harness both solar and wind energy.” It is comforting to know that there are people out there who are able to be innovative with energy. Apparently, “when a breeze rustles Grow's [designer Samuel Cochran’s] leaves, tiny piezoelectric generators in their "stems" create a small charge.” We’re starting to get better and better at harnessing nature. But when will these things actually be usable? I guess it’s hard to tell on the East Coast- I feel like California gets all of the energy tricks, with all of their wealthy liberals and sun.

2)   We can print out batteries  

Which made the New York Times hint at a viewable paper rather than print. Good work staying relevant, NYT, although I think I’d rather read than watch most of your staff.

3) We’re making robots feel  

This section disturbs me quite a bit, actually. They’re describing how robots are often used for warfare, but now they’re going to make them ethical and feel guilt. Isn’t that part of the reason why we don’t want to be the ones fighting, to avoid the emotional aftermath? And whose ethical standards are we programming these poor robots with? Also, you can’t read an article about robots without this type of threat: “the software will actually allow robots to outperform humans from an ethical perspective.” Their superiority is always looming- eerie.    

    (http://blog.makezine.com/violinRobot1.jpg) 

4)   The Japanese want lithium in our water supply! 

Because otherwise, we will obviously want to kill ourselves. Shades of Brave New World, anyone?

5)   Who owns the moon?

I mean, I thought we did, since we conquered it with a flag and all way back in the day. But apparently now that we’ve discovered frozen water the moon is totally a commodity again. We (and China) have been crashing things into it right and left, and now the amazingly forward thinking katrillionaire Richard Bronson has created commercial flights to the moon! If you have $200,000 I suggest you get on it. 

But how are we going to divide up this glorious satellite? Maybe this is what the UN is for.

(Also- I have always thought astronauts were the forgotten heroes- they get to go into fucking outer space! Why aren’t we still obsessed with them like in those good-old Cold War days? Since Lance Bass wasn’t allowed to leave Earth I thought we had standards. Bronson- way to lower those.)

People look well in the dark

I decided my musical thoughts of the day needed their own separate post but first!
I apologize for any and all grammatical/spelling errors on this blog. I suppose I should try harder, but I've never been a perfectionist, so this is just kind of how I roll- sloppy.

ANYWAYS
I've been meaning to post this video for a really long time. It's an acoustic version of Winter Never Stops by one of my favorite bands, Deerhunter. It's been around for awhile but I only recently discovered it and I feel compelled to listen to it every day.

Deerhunter - Winter Never Stops (Acoustic) from Bradford Cox on Vimeo.
Yes, another one of those "deer" bands that people can't keep straight, but I have to admit I'm a sucker for their sort-of-experimental "shoegazy" ways. Plus I have a completely serious and probably unhealthy obsesssion with Bradford Cox, the lead singer and, as a solo artist, Atlas Sound (I posted a link to a song off of his amazing new album Logos a few months ago). He's been accused of having a huge ego blah blah, but he writes great music, knows everybody (he collaborated with Karen O for the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack), and is fucking hilarious, as is evidenced by his blog and this Pitchfork video.He posts mixes and covers on his blog all the time; he's basically always working on music, and in every interview I've read he just comes across as having a great outlook. He's just a super huge music fan.

It's because of Bradford that I fell in love with the song I'll Be Your Mirror by the Velvet Underground. Though I've been fans of their music for many years I hadn't really paid much attention to it's beauty and simplicity, but Bradford mentions it all the time, and now I'm convinced. People hate on Nico's involvement since she was basically placed in the band by Andy Warhol (I believe?) and "can't sing," but I've been sold on her strangeness since the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack changed my life in high school.



(song around the :45 mark)

(Sidenote- how perfect is Alec Baldwin's narration? Wes Anderson just nailed it with this film on so many levels...I need to watch it again)

Anyways, I highly suggest you give "I'll Be Your Mirror" another listen.
I also got a craving for the Velvet Underground song "Jesus" on my commute to work and in listening to a few tracks in reverse order I suddenly noticed something I should have noticed from the get go: The Velvet Underground self-titled album completely has an ephiphanal (real word?) arch to it: Jesus turns to Beginning to See the Light turns to I'm Set Free....ok, so maybe it's not that cool or in depth, mostly I was just amazing that it took me 4 years of listening to the album to even notice that transition.

So listening to "I'm Set Free" got me thinking about how much I like songs about freedom, like "I'm Free" by the Who and the Aretha Franklin song "Think." Freedom is something so desired and emphasized by people, especially people I know, and myself, who like to believe that they know better than to be trapped by convention. But in reality, we are so far from being free. I'm still enrolled in a major university and working a part-time retail job, etc. etc. Wanting to work in the arts is different from Wall Street maybe, but does it  make me less free since I have to work so much harder to make any money at all in comparison to other professions? One of the most reasonable lamentations about New York is that so often you end up working to live, and I would never want to end up like that, but wouldn't it be great to make a boatload of money and then have that out of the way and be able to do what I want? Maybe that's freedom but it seems like you have to give up a part of yourself in order to earn that kind.

Going to All Tomorrow's Parties in September made me have an ephiphany about music. It's certainly not completely true but I do believe that the closest you can get to complete freedom is to be able to play music, even if you aren't successful. At ATP there were so many great collaborations (No Age with Bob Mould playing Husker Du songs, even one with Bradford, Caribou playing with Four Tet, so amazing) and I felt like there had to be even more happening behind the scenes. Musicians just have a language all their own with which to communicate with each other, and even if everyone can't play it always (cheesy, I know) brings people together. Muscians are always the ones with those great stories about travelling the world to study different traditional instruments or to tour with bands they admire, and what an amazing way to express yourself- to pick up an instrument and just make something happen.

Basically, I wish I played something. I know that elements of the music scene are just as mired in money and power etc, but I like to keep my innocent view of how much can be done with that awesome talent. 


What was this post about? No idea.Rambling. I slept four hours but for some reason still wanted to get this out now? God. Anyways here's a present if you made it through, an old/creepy/awesome video you've probably seen of a time-lapse mural.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I met myself in a dream, and I just want to tell you everything was alright.

I felt on the verge of an existential crisis the other day, but I'm already feeling much better. It all makes sense though. the FUTURE is looming, I've got maybe 2 days left and then I'm done with NYU, except of course for my colloquium. I'm sure I'll have a good number of freak outs in the next couple of months even though somewhere in me I know that even if I had some grand plan for my Life, chances are it would never come out the way I planned it. So why worry?

In other news, I wish London was closer...they have some fucking GREAT art.

Take, for example, this years Turner Prize (the winner was just announced last week).
Apparently this piece, Seizure by Roger Hiorns, was the favorite

(http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/turnerprize2009/img/work_hiorns_seizure2.jpg)

But it didn't win. Still, it's beautiful. I'll let the Guardian describe it since you know, they're British so it sounds better:

The artist poured thousands of litres of copper sulphate into the flat and then waited for it to crystallise. The work saw many hundreds of visitors queuing up to don wellies and gloves and explore its miasmic spaces.

Sigh. I want to don some wellies and spend some time in the depths of these blue crystals, for sure.
 Here is the winner:

(http://taohuawu.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/2009-10-11turnerprizerichardwright1.jpg)

It has no title and is by artist Richard Wright, who designs his pieces right on the gallery walls. Since this also involves gold leaf and the most popular word used to describe the experience of seeing it is "transfixed," I'm glad it won, although

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/04/28/article-1174317-027C96B900000578-553_634x409.jpg)

Hoirns is super cute, no?

In other news, is it bad that I'm super excited for a cover album? Beck has decided to cover Songs of Leonard Cohen, my favorite album, and according to Wikipedia (the thinking man's source) it's going to involve: MGMT, Devendra Banhart, Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother and Binki Shapiro of Little Joy. I never cared much for MGMT but, as one of my recent posts showed I have so much love for Devendra. I can't wait to hear what he'll do with it.

Also, Little Joy opened for Devendra and I've been really into them lately. They're super poppy and all incredibly attractive, but in that down-to-earth, I want to party with you and hide my jealousy kind of way. They just kind of chill in bars in California with Devendra and listen to Portuguese/Brazilian bands and jam. Not a bad life. 

(http://files.list.co.uk/images/2009/01/08/pre-little-joy-1.jpg)

(The guy on the right is Fabrizio Moretti from the Strokes which, side note, I never had a Strokes moment but there are so many signs recently that I should have, like gushing friends and end-of-the-decade lists, plus praise from James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem, DFA records) who I definitely trust, so I think it's about that time). 

Also, despite Binki Shapiro's ridiculous name, she has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard.

In other important news, the ever amazing New York Magazine approval matrix introduced me to the existence of a 5 pound, 12,600 calorie gummy bear. Just thought you should know.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Found this via Gawker....

William S. Burroughs "Thanksgiving Prayer"

Little Things

1) So in a recent post I wrote about "the picture at the top of my blog" and that picture has obviously changed. For references sake, above is that previous photo. My new photo is of a work by the amazing John Baldessari, who I somehow missed during my art historical education, though I luckily caught a whole bunch of his works at the LA County Museum when I visited over the summer. He's amazing, check him out!


2) Today I was killing time at work, perusing the least intellectual parts of the New York Times, when I stumbled upon this  :

Of Color | Stylish Gifts

By SIMONE S. OLIVER

Somali fashion, do-it-yourself henna kits, children's books that draw inspiration from the lives of Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor: it's not hard to find gifts created for and by people of color this holiday season.

Does anyone else find this a little absurd? 

3) In a recent episode of The Daily Show, Jon did a short piece (that got pretty stupid at the end, but I forgive him, as always) on Will Phillips , a ten-year-old boy who refuses to stand up for the pledge of allegiance as a protest against gay inequality. I can't decide which part is more ridiculous, when his father cracks up at the word "gaywad" or the newscasters question, "what is a gaywad?" Even better: this kid is amazingly intelligent and already a dissenter! He's more articulate than many people my own age. LOVE

4) Today I donated $50 to help feed a family for Thanksgiving. I know that not many people have money to spare right now, but if you can, you should donate too! Seems like a nice program . 

CULTURE!

I had a grand weekend.

Friday was Broken Embraces

(http://www.chilternfilmsociety.org.uk/uploads/images/09-10-images/Broken%20Embraces%20still%202.jpg)

the new Almodovar film. Beauty was the dominating factor of this movie for me. How is Penelope Cruz so astoundingly gorgeous? And Almodovar is 100% the auteur: there were so many exquisite shots (like the perfect framing of the opening exercise sequence and the soon-to-be-infamous hands on screen moment) and SO MUCH RED. I was highly entertained but still, much of it felt a little cheap. A friend suggested he was making fun of his own melodrama and he does reference one of his own earlier films, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." I hope this is true, because otherwise so much of it seemed all too easy, and Almodovar does not cop-out.

Sunday was jam packed. First:

(http://www.dgdesignnetwork.com.au/dgdn/wp-content/gallery/briefing-room/09october/TB_CorpseBride.jpg)

Tim Burton exhibition at MoMA! It was opening day, so super crowded, so it's a great sign that I was still in such a good mood when I left- it's that good. I was wondering what exactly would make up an exhibition on the filmmaker, and was pleasantly surprised to find all of his models and costumes PLUS: short films (some of which, I was told, can be seen on the MoMA website - can't check because the internet at W blows), sculptures, cartoons, and even a picture book he sent to Disney while still in high school! So basically, he's always been amazing.

The exhibition really brings to light just how talented this crazy person really is. Throughout the exhibition people were exclaiming about all of his work that they had forgotten about, from Batman Returns to Mars Attacks! Which is my personal favorite- I can't BELIEVE I forgot this amazing work of art existed. Aliens + Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, Pierce Brosnan, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox?! Yes please! (Note: I just looked at IMDB only to discover that both Natalie Portman and FUCKING PAM GRIER were also in this. MUST WATCH).

Also, throughout my tour, I kept hearing the word creepy. I think that's an undeniable fact about him, and its so awesome that his weirdness is so well-loved.

 I mean, this is how he and Helena Bonham Carter showed up to his MoMA tribute:

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1228838/Helena-Bonham-Carter-goes-Gothic-princess-joins-Johnny-Depp-Tim-Burton-tribute.html)

Perfect. 

Which reminds me: I only saw Sweeney Todd once. Good thing I'm going home for Thanksgiving so I can make a marathon out of this. Also, thank god this is open til April because I'm definitely going back.

Another great thing: the catalogue is only $20! That's so rare. Also, is that the British spelling?

Anyways. My sister is visiting so naturally, I went to see some theater (Sunday was a big day).

(http://mediaspot.broadway.com/uploads/thumbnails/uploads/let-me-down-easy_jpg_606x10000_q85.jpg)

I was excited to see "Let Me Down Easy" starring Anna Deavere Smith, having just filled my "college arts education requirement" by writing a paper about her late '90s work "Fires in the Mirror." In case you don't know, Smith is a performance artist who conducts interviews and then performs each character herself, weaving together a story that is partly confessional, partly satire, and wholly about her ridiculous ability to inhabit absolutely anyone. "Let Me Down Easy" focuses on health care, and she interviews family members, patients, politicians, even Lance Armstrong. It was amazing, funny, and beautiful. After writing my paper I was a little bit skeptical, having seen her work only through the slightly-crappy made-for-tv version of "Fires in the Mirror," which I found slightly offensive in her outlandish renderings of its characters (in that case, the Jewish and Black communities of Crown Heights). Here, I thought she was brilliant. It's too bad it closes in January, or I would want to see it again.

Later that evening (I know, I know) I caught Devendra Banhart, Part One.

(http://stardustandsequins.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/handinair1.jpg)

I had bought tickets to see him play at NYC's Town Hall a few months ago only to discover that he's also playing at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Town Hall is seated and formal while Music Hall is a regular club, so since I have a great deal of love for this man/I'm pretty sure I'll get two different experiences, I'm going two nights in a row. I'm also really spoiled, and  have given him a really large amount of his money (especially since I was inclined to buy a hard copy of his new album, "What Will We Be"- I'm so glad I spent the $17.99 or whatever, because it comes with some beautiful artwork). 

Anyhow, last nights show: beautiful, naturally. I had seen him once before, at this years Coachella, and that show was downright exultant, with everyone exhausted and sunsoaked and dirty but dancing and drinking and smoking and laughing wildly. He passed around a bottle of Patrón, and my memory of it consists of lots of colors and body parts and beaming, as it should be.

Last night was seated and more subdued, but it felt pretty much the same internally. Even after all of this time of going to shows, I still find it an incredible experience to go to a concert and hear, right in front of you, usually in a more honest and beautiful way, those songs you have been listening to for however long, months, years maybe. It struck me too that I started listening to Devendra because I knew of him as this folksy singer, so I would put him on while I fell asleep. Half the time I would end up staying up too late just to listen, and he still is one of those artists I have spent a great deal of time with alone, someone I listen to intimately, in my room in the dark or during breaks from the day. How crazy to see him up there, sometimes just him and his guitar and all those hundreds of people sitting there quietly.

I was hoping, since it was going to be a seated, more passive venue, that he would play one of my favorite songs in the world, one of the most beautiful, "This is the Way" off of Rejoicing in the Hands. He didn't, and I'm assuming he won't play it in a club tonight, since there will be much more of a party vibe. Fingers crossed though.

Here is a video and here is the song

The entire thing is 100% made by the last  two lines:

"Well I know I know/we had a choice/we chose rejoice" sigh.

A Sense of Place

 Here is a piece I wrote for class that still needs some tweaking. Our assignment was to write an essay about a place, and though I like parts of this I think I felt pressured to find a theme that still doesn't quite fit.

Check it!

A note about the photo at the top of my blog...

This past summer I spent six weeks traveling through Europe by myself (an amazing experience I may start chronicling here with the help of my journal). I spent ten days in Lisbon, Portugal, and while there visited the amazing Museu Berardo in Belem.

They were closed for the installation of a new exhibit (which kept happening to me over and over on my trip...) but had an architecture exhibition still open. Usually I'm a bit turned off by such exhibits, since the idea of studying floor plans isn't exactly enticing (I've had some bad art history experiences), but it turned out to be one of the most amazing exhibitions I've ever seen, and now I'm in love with the Portuguese artist who did the painting above.

(http://www.theguide.co.za/images/arts/0.01094100%201211470347.jpg)

His name is Amancio d'Alpoim Miranda Guedes but he is mostly known as Pancho Guedes. Though primarily an architect (and an amazing, surrealist one that that) he is also an artist. Here are a few images from the exhibition:

(excuse the quality/angles, it's hard to avoid the reflection of the glass on most of these)

He has spent most of his life in Mozambique, which might be the reason why he apparently isn't well known here. He has done sculptures based off of African Art:

(the darker one is an anonymous original, the lighter wood is his own version) 

More importantly, he has made remarkable buildings:

The Eye House

(http://www.greenart.info/guide/C26P01t.jpg)

(http://alexandrepomar.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/09/pancho.jpg)

Baby's First Blogpost

Here's my first blogpost on the W Magazine blog. Heavily re-edited, as to be expected, but at least it exists and has my name on it.


http://www.wmagazine.com/w/blogs/editorsblog/2009/10/16/south-african-artist-robin-rho.htm


Pictures Reframed (Performance Documentation), 2009

South African artist Robin Rhode has been an increasingly hot commodity since his debut at the Walker Art Center in 2003. Rhode's socially conscious, street culture-influenced work features cheekily humorous performances (at the Walker, he pretended to break into a sketch of a car), photographs and film, often using chalk as a medium. For his next project, Rhode is collaborating with world-renowned pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on Pictures Reframed, a re-imagining of Modest Mussorgsky's classic piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. Five panels of Rhode's images, along with a video projection, will surround Andsnes as he performs, evoking a gallery setting.

Apparatus (Still) 2009

What was the impetus behind the project?
Leif Ove Andsnes was interested in bringing Pictures from an Exhibition back into the visual arts. Lincoln Center has a very multidisciplinary outlook; they inspired him to look at how one can stage classical concerts and recitals differently.

Were you familiar with the music?
I hadn't heard the music before, to be honest. But upon listening to it, I discovered that I'd heard pieces of it in cartoons or in some hip-hops samples by Method Man. Only then did I realize how big the Pictures at an Exhibition music is -- it's actually has been incorporated into popular culture quite extensively.

Promenade (Still) 2008/2009

Are you trained at all, musically?
No, not at all.

Pictures at an Exhibition was inspired by an exhibit of Viktor Hartmann's artworks. Did you look to the original works yourself?
Yes. I found it really interesting to not work from my own ideas. But I created the art from a new framework. How do these drawings from the 1860s relate to our current economic and social climate? That became really interesting.

Pictures Reframed (Performance Documentation) 2009

Did any of Hartmann's works speak to you in particular?
There's a sketch of an ox wagon that Hartmann made in a Polish ghetto in Russia during the 1860s. Two years ago, I shot a lot of material in Johannesburg on the theme of trains. Just as the ox wagon was a symbol of Russia's political injustices toward the Polish people, the train is a powerful symbol in South African history. It transported the masses from rural areas to goldmines, where they worked for minimum wage. The train also touches on the persecution of the Jews in WWII. The idea around this ox wagon then began to touch on histories outside of its own, and that's what I believe gives this project relevance to anyone.

Has music influenced your work prior to this collaboration?
Through working within the musical discourse I'm able to understand the influence that music has had [on my process]. I create drawings in a very physical manner that is linked to rhythm and tempo.

Pictures Reframed premieres at Lincoln Center (November 11-13) and will be followed by a world tour.
Photos: courtesy of the artist, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York and Tucci Russo Studio per l'Arte Contemporanea, Torre Pellice.

By Sarah Lerner

Middle Class

I'm at a weird place in my life right now, transitioning between two internships.This semester I was offered an internship with W Magazine in their features department, and so of course I leapt at the opportunity to join the sinking ship that is Conde Nast (or so other bloggers like to say). Because I'm an intern, I do the typical menial things in exchange for the occasional actual assignment- I sort mail, I photocopy, and last week I had to go out and get someone a newspaper. In the office, I barely register on the food chain. Our conference room is full of clothes I will never be able to afford for photo shoots, and our articles revolve around high society events, successful businessmen/women, and celebrites.

After work this past week I went to the film forum that I've organized for my old internship, a non-profit for families with incarcerated family members. Despite the fact that I have curated the event, I still carry connotations that members of the audience are against. I am white and in college at a prestigious unversity, but what these people might not know is that I will be paying for that education for a long, long time. Though no one is directly mean to me, half of the film forums are often spent yelling about racism, oppression, the targeting of communities, all of which I know nothing about from personal experience. I started working with them while taking an art and public policy course, and I spent a long time talking with my class about the ways to convey support without alienating a group that you don't actually belong to. Of course, just by being there are creating these forums I am showing my support, but I still get looks of skepticism from audience members at each and every screening.

So at one internship, I am begging for scraps in the form of interviews while at the other, I am the elite, the lucky, because of my circumstances and for the fact that I happen to be middle class. It's quite a shift all in one day.


In other news: I really want to just go away for awhile, live on a house in the beach or the mountains and read and write and hide. Is that sad? I'm in the middle of two really good books right now though and with no time to read them all I can dream about is escaping. I guess you can have too much of a good thing though- perhaps my goal should be less running away from my life and more just learning how to live it, learning how to make enough time so I can spend twelve hours reading or escape for a weekend. Does anyone really get to do that, once they grow up? College and travel have spoiled me.


In other other news: Just saw Where the Wild Things Are. Will have to sit on it for a bit, all I know is that it made me want to be a kid again, to see things in that light, even if it does mean the occasional temper tantrum. I still have a hard time controlling my emotions, so where'd the fun part go? I want to sleep with my friends in a pile and have dirt fights and roll down hills...for now my childish fantasies will have to be fulfilled by Tilly and the Wall, who I haven't listened to in awhile and who seem to capture it best.

So Percussion Interview

Last spring I had the privilege of interviewing So Percussion, an avant-garde quartet that works almost exclusively with percussion instruments. They're playing the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave festival coming up in October in NYC, where they will be performing their new original piece, Imaginary Cities. After the jump, the final product from my interview.

Check it!

Recent Essay

For my Writing the Personal Essay class, our first assignment was to write a quick essay on a mundane or routine act. Here is the result:

To Drive

I have lived in New York for three years, and never once have I lamented leaving my car behind, that dark-gray Saturn Ion that I shared so aggravatingly with my mother up until I left for school. I don’t miss finding parking, near accidents, or waiting in traffic. I don’t miss those winter days when the car would warm up just as you arrive wherever you were going, or summer days when the humidity outside feels exactly the same as the thickness in the car and you have to submerge in its swampiness until the steering wheel stops burning your hands. I don’t miss having to find someone to stay sober at such-and-such’s party, or being the one to do so, so that everyone else can be reckless and free.

But I do miss the music. Nowadays, I have my industrial looking Bose headphones with their intimate and powerful sound quality, and my IPod that fits almost everything I own in its neat little portable package. Yet with those come the protective bubble of personal experience, whereas nothing beats the slightly scratchy speakers and CD player in the car of my youth. You could blast music to fill not only every inch of air space in your car but out to the streets around you, an accelerating boom box lacking the confrontational vibe of it’s 80s counterpart (it’s much easier after all, to speed away than run from anyone opposed to your taste).

As a teenager, I used music to act out my angst, playing bad hardcore music at 6 am while my mother drove me to school and playing the Beatles by way of apology once I had calmed down. Learning how to drive meant a certain kind of adult freedom, and the music I listened to fed right into that. Listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, an art-punk group still around today, made me feel bad and dangerous at the age of sixteen, a force to be reckoned with. My friends and I would blast dance music and try to gain attention for our careless joy at every stoplight, a precursor to the Joy Division induced cigarette-out-every-window nonchalance we affected later on.

When the first rush died down and driving became routine, I began to really take note of what little peace driving could give me. It was how I got to know an album, leaving it in my car for months at a time, on repeat. The summer was for ska music, with its lively and joyous horn section, and winter was for the droning sounds of Nico and the Velvet Underground, keeping me company while I treacherously attempted to drive over snow. Driving allows for a sort of meditative trance, being an automatic and simple task that lets your mind wander. While listening to music in the city I’m always transfixed by those around me, by the distractions of lights, buildings, constant action. What I miss isn’t the music- it’s the perfect way to experience the music, to let it act as therapist, setting, friend, and personality all in one go. It’s the ability to be left with nothing but what you hear.