Yesterday Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was shooting some b-roll at Georgetown Law for this week’s WH production [working title, according to the AP: “Bush to Visit NSA for Pep Talk”], but it looks like they ran into some problems with the extras.
You know, when leafblower-wielding hustlers were driving around, disrupting shoots in LA, the studios got some anti-nuisance legislation passed. Makes you wonder if WHP isn’t thinking that’d be pretty handy right about now.
Elmgreen & Dragset Blitz London [sic]
My boys Elmgreen & Dragset are opening their show, The Welfare State, at the Serpentine tomorrow, and there’s a conference related to the show at the Goethe Institute on Friday, and there’s a fat catalogue on every day, whenever you like. [oops, actually, it’s not out in the US until March.]
Kultureflash has images from the show’s first incarnation at Kunsthall Bergen, Norway.
Meanwhile, here’s a photo they sent me from just before their Prada Marfa project opened last fall. That there’s Boyd on the left.
Gentlemen, You Can’t Threaten In Here, This Is The Threat Operations Center!
Gotta admit, the rather mundane, unimpressive visuals of the NSA’s Threat Operations Center are a boost to the secretive agency’s credibility. The place looks like utilitarian Government, right down to the bald-ponytailed sysadmin on the front row.
The TOC had enough wallscreens plotting enough suitably important-looking, real-time metrics that the WH advance team only needed to dress a media meeting point for GWB–which turned out to be a hallway.
Looks like the doors were taken off their hinges, and the transoms were filled with blackout WHP graphics. Other than that, Sforza’s lighting buddy Bob DiServi swapped out a few floodlights to fill out the back, and that’s it. All in all, very narrowly focused, limited scope, and only what’s absolutely necessary. [which, conveniently, is identical to today’s message]. And the whole thing was authorized by the 9/11 congressional resolution.
A bonus set dressing tip: How do you get the flags to furl just so? A wire hanger, bent into a diamond and duct-taped to the flagpole underneath.
images: reuters/todd black; ap/evan vucci via yahoo
Pink Lady = Jeff
For the autumn sports festival season, many schools and kindergartens sang out “oh-ha!” and danced along to Shingo Mama’s song. The word was awarded a grand prize for trendy word of 2000. In the twenty-first century, “oh-ha!” just might become a standard morning greeting among the Japanese.
First shiny mud balls and now oh-ha. The near-instantaneous global dissemination of Japanese flashtrends is one of the hallmarks of the new Internet Century.
Meanwhile, between Shingo Mama and Turner Prize winning potter Grayson Perry, I predict large, doll-like cross-dressers will rule the world by 2010 at the latest
Shingo Mama no Oh-Ha [google video via tmn]
WHAT’S COOL IN JAPAN: July-September 2000: Shingo Mama [web-japan.org]
The American Dream: Astroturf And A White Picket Fence
Wow, we have entered the Sforzian Baroque period.
A GWB “townhall-style meeting” at a moving company in Sterling, VA took place on one of the most soundstage-like sets we’ve seen in a while. These screened supporter-packed events were very popular during the campaign. Here, the classic “Sforzian Backdrop” gives way to a more spatially complex theater-in-the-round composition, complete with white picket fences, white white people [oops], and on-message Astroturf [oops again].
But wait, there IS a Backdrop, a pop-out house, complete with shingles and clapboard siding. [and on-message banner, of course]. I’d be interested to see if WH Prod. built the house, or if it was pre-existing, and thus served as a source for the WHP design.
Whether it was intentional or not, you have to give the White House credit; this through-the-fence angle is a thoughful gift to the powerless liberal Photoshoppers clamoring for impeachment.
Or those dreaming of a good old-fashioned showtrial.
Images: top two: AP/Evan Vucci, bottom: Reuters/Jim Young via yahoo]
Shoutout to lowculture Matt for the Iraqi Defendant Crib reference.
Needed: 6 Containers Of Pistachio-Colored Drywall
On Saturday, the Rem Koolhaas Prada store in SoHo was either engulfed in flames, soaked in water and smoke, or both.
The ostentatiously exposed drywall was Prada green and imported, if not actually manufactured to spec. [What’s the stock color of Italian drywall? Anybody?] Watch for the just-arrived merch to show up, freshly drycleaned, at a TJ Maxx far from you, very soon.
And what’s this? The Guggenheim is still hanging out in the building? Did landlord collector Peter Brant get his forever for-sale Warhol Last Supper out of their gallery in time?
Verbose Coma has pictures,, Gothamist has roundups, and modernartnotes has a draft checklist of art in the building [verbosecoma via gothamist]
Is This The Coup?
Because there have been helicopters flying over the house in DC every five minutes for the last hour, apparently. Maybe we’re in the flight path to Camp David, or maybe we’re too close to Cheney’s house, which is where I’d imagine any coup would start.
I See Tori Spelling As The Witness
When will E! stage a Jackson Trial-style re-enactment of the Paris Hilton deposition transcript? Because seriously, there hasn’t been a 200-page, skank-related legal document this readable since the Starr Report:
Q. Let me just take a step back because I didn’t ask about what Val Kilmer had said about Zeta, if anything. did he speak negatively towards her? You might have said something.
MR STEIN: She reported that he said she was a crazy bitch.
THE WITNESS: That she was insane. She was a bad person.
MR BERRA: Did he ever provide any specific things that she had done or was it just a general–
A. No. We were just like walking in the lobby of the hotel. No, it wasn’t the lobby of the hotel, it was the lobby in the boat.
Q. There is a lobby in the boat? [Paul Allen’s boat, anchored at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival]
A. It’s like a 500-foot yacht. It’s insane.
…
Q…Do you recall sending Rob and e-mail before this one?
A. Maybe. I don’t even remember.
Q. Okay.
A. That was the whole thing. I needed a dress– I mean, I needed jewewlry and a dress.
Q. You had a dress, though?
A. Yeah, I did have a dress.
MR BERRA [the questioner, attorney for the plaintiff, Zeta Graff]: Marking the next exhibit in order, No. 6.
THE WITNESS: (Witness yawns.)
MR. BERRA: We have to do this every day.
THE WITNESS: I’d kill myself.
…
Q. [In an e-mail about a Graff diamond necklace, publicist Rob Shuter] refers to it as the “biggest f***off necklace you have ever seen.” Do you remember receiving this e-mail?
A. Yeah.
Q. And you received it right around the same period of time?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. And then you responded back, adn correct me if I am wrong, “Love it! Zeta Graff will be so pissed.” Do you recall writing that?
A. Yep.
Q. What was your–what was the reason that you wrote that?…
A. Just paris told me — Paris’s maid Kula told me that she knows all the jewelry and she would, like, freak out if I was ever wearing Graff jewelry. She had said that at some point. And then wehn i told paris, I was like, “Graff is bringing jewelry over.” And was like, “Oh, she’s going to be so pissed.”…
Q. Okay. Can you read that back, Pam. (Record reads as follows: “Answer: Just Paris told me– Paris’s maid Kula told me that she knows all the jewelry and” –)
THE WITNESS: Not maid. Can you take “maid” out. That’s rude. She’s not a maid. Sorry. I don’t want her to think that I called her a maid. She’s not. Assistant.
MR STEIN [Hilton’s attorney]: A keeper.
MR BERRA: Now she’s not going to do any more housework.
…
MR BERRA: I believe that’s it. Just give me 30 seconds.
(Discussion held off the record.)
MR STEIN: We will stipulate that the original can be delivered to our offices and if not signed and returned–within 30 days?
MR BERRA: That’s fine with me.
MR STEIN: –it can be used as if it were signed for all purposes.
THE WITNESS: This is not going to the media, right?
pdf’s of the deposition and email transcript are available in the sidebar at tmz.com
Or On Par With The First Time Seeing “Hungry Like The Wolf”?
“When I originally posted the video on the site I likened watching it to a life-changing experience ‘on par with losing your virginity or seeing Garden State for the first time‘…” [emphasis added]
That’s part of Derek’s description of #1, “Glosoli,” a Sigur Ros video, which is pretty gorgeous. Obviously, it might be that I’m just waaay too old and outside the demo anymore, but if Beck’s boring-ass breakdancing robot video is #47, I guess there really aren’t 65 good music videos made each year.
M3 Online: Top 65 Music Videos Of 2005 [gwfa via robotwisdom]
The Black Manohla
Wow, it sucks to be Manohla Dargis. Or to be at Sundance. The festival is apparently the same every year, but different. And since that means that mediocre films and deals often hog the spotlight, and actual, honest-to-goodness finds are often left without distribution, it’s really starting to bug.
Sundance, for Indies, Soft Kiss Before Dying [nyt]
You Gotta Fight. For The Right. Angle.
The Beastie Boys handed out 50 video cameras to fans at a November 2004 MSG concert, and have edited the footage they shot into a concert documentary called Awesome! I F***ing Shot That!:
The film will cost the Beastie Boys about $1.2 million when the sampling fees are added in; the band returned all the Hi-8 Sony cameras (a step above a typical camcorder) to the stores where they were bought, in some cases for a full refund.
The film debuts Saturday at Sundance and comes out in March. They’re promoting it by playing the Park City launch party for MySpace’s filmmaker community.
This Is Not Spinal Tap: A Concert Film by Fans [nyt]
Music. And. The Spoken. Word.
I’ve heard this recording many times before, but I’ve never seen the video. Let me tell you, this is right up there with Leonard Nimoy’s “Bilbo Baggins for President” music video.
The great thing is, the artist, Shatner, still stands by his work, unfazed by the Priceline-era ironists. His album of spoken-word covers and collaborations, Has Been, produced by Ben Folds is deeply serious. It’s the Shatnerian equivalent of Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin-produced Cash, with a little Sinatra Duets thrown in for good measure.
That said, I notice there are no Elton John-related tracks on the album; I hope this “Rocketman” performance isn’t the reason why.
“Rocketman,” by William Shatner, c. 1978 [youtube via gawker]
Bernadette Corporation Berlin Film Studio Boondoggle
I’m a fan of Bernadette Corporation, so even though it’s not about results but about process, I’m interested to see what came out of their film gig in Berlin. That’s where they ran Pedestrian Cinema, a temporary production center for DV and any other creative medium they saw fit to trot out. As they put it,
Each day, Pedestrian Cinema will confront the question of fabricating itself. Is it to be based on history, dramatize the everyday, be documentary-like and specific, or metaphoric and abstract? At the same time, the film studio turns to debates internal to the medium, deciding to re-examine everything proper to cinema (shot, sequence, frame, sound, actors’ bodies, time, speaking, space, light, montage, etc.). These could be exercises, investigations, and fragments that result from meeting a new actor, a series of interviews turning into monologues, and so on. The activity presented to the public will not be limited to digital film, there could also be a newsletter, live performances, music, drawings, or sculpture.
While production cost barriers are falling enough to make a year of “shoot whatever, we’ll see” feasible, the distribution bottleneck remains. BC’s chosen the arts institutional channel to screen and exhibit their work. So far, pieces have been shown at Frieze in October, and as part of a BC retrospective [which just closed] at Witte de With artspace in Rotterdam [smart people, nice place]. And Chrissie Iles put PC on two lists she made: a ten best for 2005 list for Artforum–and the Whitney Biennial.
Pedestrian Cinema proposal [bernadettecorporation.com]
When You’re A Nail, Everything Looks Like A Hole
A tabloid summary of Herbert Muschamp’s long essay on 2 Columbus Circle: back in the day
AbEx: straight
Historicism, Pop: gay
Museum of Modern Art: straight
Gallery of Modern Art [aka 2 Columbus]: gay
But didn’t AbEx evangelizer Frank O’Hara and modernist architect Philip Johnson also work at MoMA? And hasn’t Muschamp talked about what a great pickup joint MoMA was in the 70’s?
Maybe it’s not a question of straight and gay, HM, but butch and femme. Or maybe, you know, it’s you, Herb. All I know is, Muschamp’s architecture writing has totally blossomed since he came out of that Times arch. critic closet of his. It’s a lifestyle choice [sic] we should all support.
The Secret History of 2 Columbus Circle [nyt]
Kris or Julie? Which Angel Is John McCain?
Because it matters FAR more than you know.
You have to be a certain age to remember the shock and confusion of 1977. That was when, just as Farrah postermania had crested, America turned on the TV one Wednesday night, only to find that Jill Munroe had been replaced by her harder, kind of meaner-looking, equally cop [but not, alas, equally hot] cousin Kris. [You cry nepotism? cronyism? family connections? Whatever, Kris did hold down the job longer than Jill ever did.]
It was the most audacious swap out since the whole Two Darrins Affair, and it worked. Once. But the producers got cocky, sloppy, fat and weary, and Charlie’s Angels lost its way. When Leonard Goldberg & Aaron Spelling needed another smart one after Sabrina left, they first tried Tiffany Welles and, inexplicably, Julie Rogers with no success. People had had enough.
It seems totally obvious to me that the incumbency is too valuable an electoral advantage for Karl Rove, the White House’s Aaron Spelling, to pass up. And so the question is not if Dick Cheney will give America another “Waitaminnit, where’s Farrah??” shock, or even when [although it’ll be some time two years-and-a-day from the start of Bush’s second term and the 2008 election, with Plame, torture, spying, impeachment probabilities, and the 2006 election outcome helping a bit.] but who?*
McCain? Rice? Frist [hah]? Graham?
There are two reasons I bring this up now: One was yet another report of Dick Cheney’s health problems. The other was the screening last evening of the most comically bad Bond movie EVER [or at least until the one with Wayne Newton in it] last night on TNT: A View To A Kill, which was notable only for Grace Jones and for proving that, yes, Tanya Roberts could do worse than Sheena and Beastmaster. The last thing America needs right now is a Tanya Roberts presidency.
The Democrats’ big problem is not that, once it gets on the air, a series can almost always manage to push out one viable spinoff: Laverne & Shirley, The Jeffersons, Melrose Place, Frasier. That’s Quayle/Mondale-era thinking. The real problem is if Karl Rove is not Aaron Spelling-evil, but Dick Wolf-evil. As if there wasn’t enough interchangable Law & Orders already.
* well, it ain’t gonna be you, you out-of-touch intellectual seeking to bust me for showin’ my connection with the Amercan people by avoidin’ the use of ‘whom’.