the making of, by greg allen
I went to Houston last week for the opening of an amazing show at the Menil Collection, photographs by Olafur Eliasson. Of course, my post about it is now like a 10,000-word essay, which I don’t know if even I’ll ever read.
So in the mean time, check out the show, and the Times article on the de Menil’s Philip Johnson-designed house, which was a sharp International Style stick in the eye of Tara-style 1950’s Houston.
J. Hoberman interviewed Ghost in the Shell anime director Oshii Mamoru at Cannes, where he screened his latest work, Innocence. As Hoberman reports it, the interview was straight out of the Keanu junket in Lost in Translation, with the director himself barely speaking and the Japanese translator answering for him on auto-pilot.
Totemo mendokusai.
Ms. (Katherine) Milkman (Princeton ’04), who has a minor in American studies, read 442 stories printed in The New Yorker from Oct. 5, 1992, to Sept. 17, 2001, and built a substantial database. She then constructed a series of rococo mathematical tests to discern, among other things, whether certain fiction editors at the magazine had a specific impact on the type of fiction that was published, the sex of authors and the race of characters…
Among Ms. Milkman’s least shocking findings was that characters in New Yorker fiction tend to live in the same places New Yorker readers do, not the United States as a whole…
Ms. Milkman is by all accounts, including her own, a normal college student.
– David Carr, reporting on Ms Milkman’s senior thesis in the NY Times
It’s my guess that we cling to the harsher bits of the past not just as a warning system to remind us that the next Indian raid or suddenly veering, tower-bound 757 is always waiting but as a passport to connect us to the rest of the world, whose horrors are available each morning and evening on television or in the Times. And the cold moment that returns to mind and sticks there, unbidden, may be preferable to the alternative and much longer blank spaces, whole months and years wiped clear of color or conversation. Like it or not, we geezers are not the curators of this unstable repository of trifling or tragic days but only the screenwriters and directors of the latest revival.
-Roger Angell, “Life in rerun, now playing near you.” >The New Yorker, Issue of 2004-06-07
It seems hard to imagine Tarkovsky doing something so instant, but apparently he took Polaroids all the time. Looking at the few illustrated in the Guardian, though, they’re uncommonly beautiful. The director’s son provides brief comments, and he’s collected several dozen photos into a book.
Instant Light, Tarkovsky Polaroids, from Thames and Hudson (UK)
Apparently, Paul Wolfowitz and I have something in common: our neighborhood Thai restaurant. We’re in DC for the weekend, eating at Sala Thai, and he walks in alone, with a newspaper under his arm. Makes a beeline for the bar, where he orders, reads his paper–in far more peace than he’s brought on the world–gets his takeout, and leaves.
Related: Al Gore calls for wholesale resignations of the dangerous architects of disgraceful Iraq and terrorism fiascos, including our neighbor, Paul Wolfowitz. Read the transcript, or watch the video.
Apparently, Paul Wolfowitz and I have something in common: our neighborhood Thai restaurant. We’re in DC for the weekend, eating at Sala Thai, and he walks in alone, with a newspaper under his arm. Makes a beeline for the bar, where he orders, reads his paper–in far more peace than he’s brought on the world–gets his takeout, and leaves.
Related: Al Gore calls for wholesale resignations of the dangerous architects of disgraceful Iraq and terrorism fiascos, including our neighbor, Paul Wolfowitz. Read the transcript, or watch the video.
The similarities between Michael Moore and Mel Gibson, and Farenheit 9/11 and The Passion are worth noting. Let’s see: zealots with messiah complexes? Yep. Threat of damnation if film’s message isn’t heeded? Check. Sensationalistic cineporn tactics to reach beyond true believers? Yep. Special guest star: Satan? Uh-huh. Out to make so much money their directors’ll have an easier time passing a camel through the eye of a needle? Check and checkmate.
At The Hot Button, David Poland gets all New York Review of Books on Moore’s ass, pointing out, with cool and logic, the inconsistencies and contradictions in the creation myth that’s being preached about Farenheit 9/11 and its marketing. It’s a great read, and he’s right–Moore’s inaccurate depiction of the Disney Sanhedrin is distorted and inflammatory.
Likewise, Gibson claimed of biblical accuracy for his film, when in fact, it drew heavily from the ecstatic visions of one 19th century German nuncase. That scholars and serious theologians–and experienced religion reporters pointed those discrepancies out had approximately zero impact on the film’s reception.
The Passion looms over F911 in another way: Weinstein and Moore are demanding a King of the Jews’ ransom for the right to distribute a film that could hit the box office like The Second Coming.
[via Greencine]
The similarities between Michael Moore and Mel Gibson, and Farenheit 9/11 and The Passion are worth noting. Let’s see: zealots with messiah complexes? Yep. Threat of damnation if film’s message isn’t heeded? Check. Sensationalistic cineporn tactics to reach beyond true believers? Yep. Special guest star: Satan? Uh-huh. Out to make so much money their directors’ll have an easier time passing a camel through the eye of a needle? Check and checkmate.
At The Hot Button, David Poland gets all New York Review of Books on Moore’s ass, pointing out, with cool and logic, the inconsistencies and contradictions in the creation myth that’s being preached about Farenheit 9/11 and its marketing. It’s a great read, and he’s right–Moore’s inaccurate depiction of the Disney Sanhedrin is distorted and inflammatory.
Likewise, Gibson claimed of biblical accuracy for his film, when in fact, it drew heavily from the ecstatic visions of one 19th century German nuncase. That scholars and serious theologians–and experienced religion reporters pointed those discrepancies out had approximately zero impact on the film’s reception.
The Passion looms over F911 in another way: Weinstein and Moore are demanding a King of the Jews’ ransom for the right to distribute a film that could hit the box office like The Second Coming.
[via Greencine]
Ouch. a 10,000sf warehouse of Momart, the leading art handler/storage company in the UK, burned to the ground yesterday, taking an as-yet unknown number of major Brit Art works with it. The Guardian has some speculative details on what burned, including Jake and Dinos Chapman’s massive installation, Hell, but there’s still a lot that’s not known.
If Charles Saatchi believed in karma, this would be devastating to him right now. But unless he’s actively trying to come back as a worm, he doesn’t so, never mind. [via MAN]
Update: I’ve rewritten the title for this post half a dozen times. My initial impulse of shock still stands, but the close second–schadenfreude over Saatchi’s misfortune–is untenable. It really is–sorry, Charlie–not about you. Jonathan Jones visits the site an reflects on the ashes of Hell.
Ouch. a 10,000sf warehouse of Momart, the leading art handler/storage company in the UK, burned to the ground yesterday, taking an as-yet unknown number of major Brit Art works with it. The Guardian has some speculative details on what burned, including Jake and Dinos Chapman’s massive installation, Hell, but there’s still a lot that’s not known.
If Charles Saatchi believed in karma, this would be devastating to him right now. But unless he’s actively trying to come back as a worm, he doesn’t so, never mind. [via MAN]
Update: I’ve rewritten the title for this post half a dozen times. My initial impulse of shock still stands, but the close second–schadenfreude over Saatchi’s misfortune–is untenable. It really is–sorry, Charlie–not about you. Jonathan Jones visits the site an reflects on the ashes of Hell.
Sometimes the part of me that wants to right wins out over the part of me that wants to be loved. It’s at times like this when I want people to confirm to me that my movie/script/editing/whatever is not just cheese, but government cheese.
The rest of the time, though, I want what everyone else wants: to be fawned over by people who don’t mean what they say. At Hollywoodlog, Shane has compiled an interpretive guide for just such occasions, when you’re face-to-face, stripped of the protective layer of politesse offered by a new assistant, poor cell coverage, or that email-gobbling spam filter. [via Defamer]
Sometimes the part of me that wants to right wins out over the part of me that wants to be loved. It’s at times like this when I want people to confirm to me that my movie/script/editing/whatever is not just cheese, but government cheese.
The rest of the time, though, I want what everyone else wants: to be fawned over by people who don’t mean what they say. At Hollywoodlog, Shane has compiled an interpretive guide for just such occasions, when you’re face-to-face, stripped of the protective layer of politesse offered by a new assistant, poor cell coverage, or that email-gobbling spam filter. [via Defamer]
“There are people who use their blogs to write, like, ‘Today I went to the cleaners,'” [aspiring blogger book agent Kate] Lee said.
Besides, I see “Today I went to the cleaners” more as a movie than a book.
“There are people who use their blogs to write, like, ‘Today I went to the cleaners,'” [aspiring blogger book agent Kate] Lee said.
Besides, I see “Today I went to the cleaners” more as a movie than a book.