Lackidasical regarding my laziness, not relating to my lack of interest of blogging otherwise we wouldn’t be here would we?
I’m tired, and the summer is going by way too fast.
I just watched a pretty dope movie (a little before my movie a day binge I recently started) called They shoot horses don’t they? A Sydney Pollack movie with a very young Jane Fonda. It was really intriguing that the story just started off innocent and became much more unsettling as the story progresses, it’s fascinating to begin with then it becomes much harder to digest.
See they look like they are having fun don’t they?
little do you know….
This idea of attraction vs repulsion is happening in a lot of modern art, there are these otherwise perplexing images, that have an frightening story to tell.. over here at MM ( again where I have been housed and interning over the summer) this is essentially everything on our first floor in our main gallery
But it really reminds me of an older exhibit that we had by Carsten Holler, Amusement park.
This is where Holler assembled an amusement park in building 5 and slowed it down to ridiculous lenghts (think a 3 inches every 10 minutes). So at first glance it is familiar and friendly, but then later on it becomes frightening after time progresses.
A bit of a jump but really really neccessary song to listen to… not creepy whatsoever.
Like I said, I am progressively getting to the point of exhaustion -for reasons unknown- but it is summer and highly reccomend everyone listening to Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, and specifically, their track “swimming pools”… Made of awesomenesss
palimpsest: a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.
For me, this also means anything that has had left its mark,or better yet, an impression.
Not only that, but what you are looking at above is some bad ass work By Julie Mehretu currently on display at WCMA (pronounced WICK-MUH). I love this idea and how Julie showcasing all the layers beneath layers beneath layers. My favorite thing about this work is how you can see the older identities of these structures, remain intact through out the renovation, for an interesting juxtaposition of old and new.
The idea of palimpsest is one that lends itself all across the board. Especially with music. The palimpsest itself, might be attributed to genre, and even instrumentation in some cases. But with the whole phenomena of the “mash-ups” getting onto most if not all of the places in the blogosphere, I think it is refreshing to clearly see a broad range of sources compile into one flowing song.
Although for some it is understandably annoying to have the same source material repeated over and over. (i.e. this guy and his hatred towards Pachelbel)
Aside from that, the refreshing new source material I was talking about is…
M.I.A.
(In addition to sick beats.. she’s pretty hot)
20 Dollar
(Sorry I felt that was really really necessary)
It sneaks up on you. Oh yes it does.
I love M.I.A. because its a mind fucking/road trip. It takes you along for a ride regardless of if you enjoy or not, and even if you get a little nauseous on the way there, you’re GOING to enjoy it.
Not only do you have M.I.A. being ridiculous as usual, but you have the main progression from New Order’s Blue Monday, AND the chorus from the Pixies classic( and no doubt seminal); Where is my Mind? How you could you say no to any of that?
Moving on…
As easy as it is,
I think a really good example of this palimpsest idea in the film world, goes to PULP FICTION
the evidence of this palimpsest is added as a nice touch to this otherwise very nonlinear structure of a plot. You can see traces of elements ( added on later much more clearly)appearing in the scenes. Whenever this happens- which is a lot- you get a great sense of closure, as everything makes much more sense. (espeically wtih the outfits that Vincenet and Jules wear) I feel like the more and more you watch, the more and more you notice.
And as an added feature, tarantino has all the winks, nods, and “know-what-i-mean(s)” throughout all of the movies, as he has a couple steady ties… (think Red Apple Cigarettes)
On the poetry side. There is a poem by W.S. Merwin
“Now Renting”
Nobody remembers
the original site
of course
what was there to remember
somebody nobody remembers
wanted a little building
nobody knows why
on the original site
and cleared it
no doubt
had to
later somebody
wanted a little
more space
and set up a scaffold
around the first building
and built the walls higher
and then tore down
the scaffold
then in time somebody
put up more scaffolding
and tore down
the whole building
and dug a hole in the original site
and put up a bigger
building and tore
down the scaffolding
to the accompaniment
of music announcing
a golden age.
but somebody with vision
soon put more scaffolding
on top of the building
and raised the whole structure
even higher than before
and tore down the scaffolding
but a while after that
somebody put up more scaffolding
with glass pictures on it
all the way up
of a glass building
never built
on that site
with nobody
inside it
at all the windows
to see the motionless clouds
.
Merwin is of course notorious for no punctuation, so sorry if that was hard to follow.
Either way we have the literal description and the aesthetic one in which the text is shaped to form a building going up and down and up again.
It’s important to know that the sky is motionless at the end because as much as man changes with the palimpsest ridden landscape, the natural world is not affected, at least in this circumstance..
trying to imagine what I will leave behind, aside from empty beer cans and dvd cases.
Man, it has been an intense couple of weeks so far at my internship, but it’s been a lot of fun.
I have new stuff to talk about, in spite of the fact of how tired I am.
Get ready for awesomeness…
Anselm Keifer awesomeness that is!.
so so good.
This is from his “… Narrow are the Vessels” instillation at my museum. This specific one is titled.” Let the Earth Be Opened and Send Forth a Savior”( referencing the resurrection of christ in Isaiah 45:8). His art conveys a lot of religious, themes. This is due to his own involvement as a post-war german (literally born a couple days after the third reich). This painting shows, hope and renewal with the flowers, in an otherwise landscape full of doom. The mere size of this piece alone is more then enough to leave you awestruck (9 by 25 feet) Highly recommend checking this out.
You know that feeling you get when something is wrapped up so perfectly, that you are left a wordless jumbled mass of emotion? That’s one of the feeling that I love. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one either. As the year winds down, I thought a post on closure would be a good way to sum things up. Recently, I watched a movie that has this vast sense of closure where not only is the viewer left at piece with the film, but with a lot more.
Ingmar Bergman, FTW.
In an astonishingly funny, and uplifting Smiles of A Summer Night, Bergman explores basically his take on a romantic comedy. His typical cerebral, and deeply philosophical exploits that we have seen in Seventh Seal are still here, however now they are shown in a different light. Any time a character has those deeper thoughts, he / she just gets made fun of by another character. It is apparent here that the Seminal Swede can do light, funny films. This is the inspiration for Woody Allen’s Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy, except, much much better. A high recommendation for the feel-good fanatics.
Check out this shit right here.
Les Savy Fav just dropped a live album!
They do an awesome cover of “Everybody’s Gotta Live” by Love, as the ending song. They only way this would be cooler is if it had Arthur Lee came out and done it, but, granted, that’s kind of impossible. Either way love this fucking song. Also, noteworthy performance of the lowest bitter, off The Fav’s newest cd.
Bernadette Mayer!
One of my fave’s.
Great great stuff here, This poem takes you through everything, when there is nowhere to go. It makes you warm when everything is cold, it gives you security even though your against the odds.
god I just want a hug afterward.
The way to keep going in Antarctica
Be strong Bernadette
Nobody will ever know
I came here for a reason
Perhaps there is a life here
Of not being afraid of your own heart beating
Do not be afraid of your own heart beating
Look at very small things with your eyes
& stay warm
Nothing outside can cure you but everything’s outside
There is great shame for the world in knowing
You may have gone this far
Perhaps this is why you love the presence of other people so much
Perhaps this is why you wait so impatiently
You have nothing more to teach
Until there is no more panic at the knowledge of your own
real existence
& then only special childish laughter to be shown
& no more lies no more
Not to find you no
More coming back & more returning
Southern journey
Small things & not my own debris
Something to fight against
& we are all very fluent about ourselves
Our own ideas of food, a Wild sauce
There’s not much point in its being over: but we do not speak them:
I had written: “the man who sewed his soles back on his feet”
And then i panicked most at the sound of what the wind could do
to me
if i crawled back to the house, two feet give no position, if
the branches cracked over my head & their threatening me,if I
covered my face with beer & sweated till you returned
If i suffered what else could I do
Horrible resolution aside, The Acid House Kings, took Belle and Sebastian’s indie-rock utopian feel almost to a point of exploitation. There single that I currently can’t get out of my head right now, Tonight is Forever feels like your witnessing karaoke in the seventies, and you much like the Michael Jackson song reminiscent of that era, don’t stop ’til you get enough. Yea, that’s right, I said it. This song forces you into the simultaneous head bobbing that you see in those lame ass car commercials, but in the end, you’re okay with that. So sing along with the acid house kings and bust out those puffy shirts and dive in.
Oh yea, TWEE= chiefly British: affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint (such a theme might sound twee or corny)
that is there genre, we all can thank Merriam Webster for this later.
How long have we known each other? I feel like by highlighting my favorite depressing art, that I could move that much further away from you.
Ok, enough personification let’s get down to business. There is a certain kind of depression that I can accept, more than likely this is due to the fact that there is a huge sense of closure that comes with this depression; to elaborate, I’m left with nothing, and I want nothing to comfort me.
A nearly perfect embodiment of this kind of depression is…
my god… the horror.
First off, being that this movie is teamed with an unbelievably depressing string accompaniment by The Kronos Quartet, shout-outs are in order… woot!
Aside from that though, the movie is a gripping, and necessary view of addiction in a lot of its forms and the downfalls that come from that. Aronofsky, perfects this distance you feel with all the characters by utilizing many of the technical tricks he has up his sleeves like the uber quick jump cuts, used to dehumanize the characters, and his wonderful work with split-screen to show that all though Harry and Marion, appear physically entwined, there is clearly something between them. Check out my favorite review of this movie from Ain’t it cool news here.
Like I said, although the Kronos Quarter is AMAZING with this soundtrack, it is not my favorite, ” left with nothing wanting nothing to comfort me” music goes to…
constantonslaught
