Aubele, Niña Dioz, Bomba Estereo, RH+ y la Lafourcade @ Bowery Ballroom, 7/9.
Qué onda, I have to keep this short. Long story, but obviously don’t have a chance to do my usual let’s-make-the-post-as-long-as-possible thing.
Okay, last night I went to the Bowery for the LAMC showcase, mostly to see the most lovely Natalia Lafourcade. I actually sat at a table in the upstairs section for a bit, but I learned my lesson: the best way to go is to be out on the floor. I had a pretty sweet time. There were a lot of acts so here are a few words about each of them.
First off was Federico Aubele, hailing from Argentina, and I was surprised because I thought he had a bigger following. Unlike all the other artists (aside from Natalia) he was the only one with whom I was familiar. I hadn’t been impressed by the stuff I’d heard before, but I was pleasantly surprised by his brief set. I’m definitely going to revisit his recorded stuff.
Second was Monterrey’s Niña Dioz, and I swear to god, I was tickled by her presence. I just didn’t expect her and her sound… she mostly reminded me of Lady Sovereign, mostly cos she was tiny, too. Wow, I was just shocked that she was rapping for real, but I still couldn’t help that just last year (it was just last year, right??) La Mala Rodríguez was kicking LAMC ass. Niña Dioz was an oddity, but after two songs I got over it.
Next was Bomba Estereo, from Colombia. By this point I saw the floor filling up and I decided to join in because I wanted to be right up front for Natalia. Bomba Estereo were EXCELLENT. I knew nothing about them but the lead singer girl just comes out and she’s like, “¡¡CUUUUUMBIAAAAA!!” And you can imagine what came next. Or not! She wasn’t joking about their sound as “psychedelic cumbia.” The only thing that sucked is that they got too into their music, so that they would just draw out the psychedelic sounds to the point that it tested my patience and also felt kinda masturbatory in their part. Obviously it would have been fine if they’d been headlining but c’mon, son! If their music hadn’t rocked and if they hadn’t had such a punkass attitude I would have jumped on stage and punched them into silence.
I’m pretty sure Hector Buitrago was there!!! I love him. It’s too bad I missed him tonight at Celebrate Brooklyn. I saw him pop up at the venue when Bomba Estereo came on.
After that was Chile’s RH+, who were okay. That’s all. Of all the musicians, I think they were the oldest, either late 20s or early 30s. (At least that was my perception.) I don’t know, man. I just couldn’t believe they came all the way from Chile when there are plenty of bands with their sound right here in the city. Underwhelming, though confident and well-rehearsed.
AND THEN: Natalia. And two band members, one who was on synth and xylophone and backup vocals, and also a drummer. Natalia was so beautiful and er, Lilliputian. Como una muñeca de porcelana, pero no como las extrañas que me dan heebie-jeebies. She was so full of joy, every statement she made was pretty much followed with a giggle. Her thank yous were so sincere and she genuinely seemed to want everyone to just love her new material.
I think bands like Grizzly Bear would just seethe with jealousy if they heard her music. They would go into a small room and weep to themselves, “Why didn’t I think of that melody first??” Her music is a refreshing pop delight, and I think I left the venue with cavities she was so damn sweet. I can’t fucking wait to hear the new album and I hope she comes back to the city real soon. The music was so uplifting.
I just want to say that her bandmates were right on. It wasn’t just that they were competent and focused in doing a good job, or that they were happy to be there. It was more like, they were so ecstatic to be with Natalia and when she played a couple of songs alone, they would bop their heads and mouth along to the lyrics–they clearly LOVE the new songs. It was so great. Especially the drummer, I loved him so much! He was this flaco who looked like a mouse and you could tell that he’s one of those dudes who drums because he can’t mofuckin’ sit still. Even during the songs when he wasn’t drumming his ass off, he was just swaying along happily.
After their set was one more artist, León Polar. Unfortunately, it was already past 1 am by the time Natalia finished, so I couldn’t stay. (In fact, I got home at around 2:40.) As Natalia and her buds cleared their way, I waved to her drummer “¡OYE!” and when he noticed me I asked, “¿Me puedes dar el setlist?” He was kind enough to do so, and even though I said gracias, I kinda didn’t get to say it loudly enough, and there were other concertgoers behind me clamoring for a setlist, too, so he was distracted and didn’t hear me. I wish I’d had a chance to ask him his name, so I could thank him appropriately. Oh wells.
I don’t have a scanner or whatever unfortch, but here is what the setlist says:
Bowery Ballroom
Natalia L
Cursis Melodías
Ella es Bonita
No Viniste
Hu Hu Hu
Azul
-o-
Casa
I will say, however, I don’t think they followed the order quite as it was. They definitely did NOT play “Casa,” probably because they were running out of time and they were too nice to be like, “I don’t care, I’ma do what I want!” Ah well. La próxima vez, right?
BTW! I thought I saw Jon Pareles at the show, but it was from a distance so I wasn’t sure. Turns out I was right! Do I get points for being geeky enough to recognize him? No? Boo.
Jesus, my post still turned out in epic length. I’m so sorry.
I’m Not Ready to Give Up.
Um, it’s Independence Day and I’m home. My parents are already asleep. They both worked today. I have my window open and I can hear people in a nearby house partying. I’m six floors up, but it’s impressive how well I can hear them. If I looked out I could probably see them, even. Well, in recent days I’ve been bumming around reading blogs and there’s been a lot of (fabricated) buzz about how reggaetón is dead. I don’t know about that. The people partying were just blasting “Lo que pasó pasó,” and I found myself singing along to it–and hilariously enough, I could hear people trying to shout along to Daddy Yankee. I could even hear them tripping along to the lyrics, since Daddy Yankee has that rat-tat-tat delivery style. Sure, it’s an older song, but the enthusiasm for the track is still there.
Ooh, they’re listening to a remix of “Qué tengo que hacer” now.
Anyway, I wouldn’t be so worried about reggaetón being dead. I don’t get where this is coming from, or why we’re worrying so much about it agora. It’s true that the sound of reggaetón has changed, it’s even more club ready, yeah? More synth-happy, less reliant on the dembow beat, and so on. But it’s like, don’t you want your favorite genres to grow and develop? I sure as hell don’t want my favorite musicians to get lazy and for their music to become stagnant. Like, I can’t wait to see 10 years from now how much the genre has changed. This is a great time for reggaetón: the novelty is over for the masses, but that is just invitation for innovation, don’t you think?
I think the weird thing, too, is that calling a music genre “dead” just invites nostalgia. See, the problem with nostalgia is that a set of people will grab onto this genre and proclaim that it can only sound “pure” if musicians stick to a set of rules. If people make reggaetón-by-the-numbers (FruityLoops, anyone?), it barely leaves room for creativity. And maybe less brave musicians will settle for this, probably at the suggestion of their label peeps or whatever, but you know that only the ones who expand on the sound will really shine.
Anyway, I guess this is my quite unfortunate semi-response to the following folks: W&W, Unfashionably Late, Marisol LeBrón, Raquel Rivera, and Racialicious. Clearly these posts dwell on all sorts of aspects in regard to the demise of reggaetón, and I haven’t really responded adequately to any of them in any sort of timely manner (then again, no one asked me to). But I do recommend that y’all read these posts if you haven’t already. Really thought-provoking, and I feel like they bring up questions relevant to all genres of popular music, not just reggaetón.
Aw, the music is being drowned out by all the (illegal) firecrackers. Okay, off to my continued non-celebration of my nation. Hope y’all have a good weekend.
Hola Mexico Film Fest: Desierto Adentro (Rodrigo Plá) @ Quad Cinema.
Well, the Hola Mexico Film Festival ended today. I almost forgot about it, just as I pretty much forgot about TeatroStageFest this year. Seriously, I’ve just been so out of it. I feel really bad about missing the TeatroStageFest events, too, cos a couple of weeks ago I even got a call from one of their peeps reminding me about the shows. But of course at that point I was like, “Meh, there’s still time to figure out my schedule,” and of course just last night I was like, “Holy shiiiiit.”
Luckily, I remembered to attend the Hola Mexico fest. I was torn between watching Voy a explotar (I’m Gonna Explode) or Desierto adentro (The Desert Within). A while back I read about the former on Super45, and the soundtrack listing excited me, but the storyline seemed kinda boring. I was interested in the latter because it was directed by Rodrigo Plá. Last year I saw La zona, which he also directed, which was quite memorable, if not exactly perfect. If you couldn’t tell by the title for this post, I ultimately decided on checking out Plá’s new one.
This movie wasn’t perfect either, but as it happened with La zona, it’s given me a lot to think about. Both works are lacking in hope and infuriating, which I see as a good thing.
On a superficial level, Desierto adentro could not be more different from La zona, which makes me appreciate Plá’s willingness to try different things. Whereas La zona is wrapped up in modernity, the urban and the secular, Desierto adentro is steeped in the olden days, the rural and in Catholicism. La zona, too, focuses on a close-knit community that chooses to close itself off from the corruptions of the greater society, whereas in the newer film, isolation is imposed upon the individual, and it’s never voluntary; rather, it’s meant to be experienced as a punishment.
The story is broken into four clearly marked acts, and we get cues to the main theme of each section. We meet Elías, whose choices lead to a series of events that lead him to be cursed out by a priest and disowned by his mother. A deeply religious family man, Elías understandably takes this very badly. Even worse, he loses his wife and one of his sons, Aureliano–and this is only the beginning of his troubles. (BTW, Cien años de soledad vibes, anyone? Aureliano is not a name I hear thrown around very often…)
The rest of the movie we see Elías trying to show penance for his errors, growing increasingly desperate as time passes, but what complicates things even more is that his 7 children suffer right along with him… some more than others.
We experience most of these events through the eyes of Elías’s son, Aureliano. No, not the Aureliano who dies. See, Elías’s wife was pregnant, and she died giving birth to a boy. To honor the memory of Aureliano, the baby is named after his brother. Elías sets Baby Aureliano (literally) apart from the other six surviving children, nurturing an artistic side. Some scenes feature animated versions of the pictures Baby Aureliano draws. To a degree, Baby Aureliano thrives and finds comfort in this, but he soon comes to understand that Elías’s excuses of wanting to protect Baby Aureliano are rooted in more complex and sinister motives.
I’m sorry, I want to keep talking about it but I’m really tired and I need to work tomorrow. I’ll try to edit it and update it mañana, maybe. :( Before I go to sleep, I want to mention the music in this movie, which was used to great effect. We only hear music intermittently, which makes it more conspicuous when it does appear. It just shows up on occasion, a naked chorus of voices, no accompaniment. It’s so creepy.
What’s Left to Say?
So odd, just a few days ago, I was checking out Ta-Nehisi Coates’s (excellent) blog, where he wrote some posts on Michael Jackson. Inspired, I went on a YouTube binge checking out his old videos.
The sad thing about hearing of Michael Jackson’s death is that not even a minute after finding out, all I want to do is make a shitload of jokes about it. I mean, it’s been so long since anyone has taken him seriously, you know? So it’s kind of hard to remind myself that here was this really influential, talented musician under all the weirdness. I’m trying my hardest not to make fun of him though, because frankly, he had a huge impact in popular culture. He made some fine music.
He was very successful and became very very wealthy, yes, but he didn’t have the easiest life. So all I hope is that he is at peace. Hope his kids are okay, too. Ugh, I’m not looking forward to the tabloids going crazy over this.
Shit, Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett in one fucking day, this is so crazy. I know you’re going to tell me people are dying every minute, but you’ll have to excuse me, my mind is totally blown right now.
Twelfth Night @ Delacorte Theater (Shakespeare in the Park).
[EDIT July 6: I am getting several hits from people wondering how early to line up for the show. My coworker's girlfriend had Friday July 3 off so she decided to try for a ticket. She lined up around 6:30, but apparently, about 100 people showed up around the same time... she did NOT get tickets. Since this is the final week, you're probably going to have a pretty tough time. I'm speculating that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, being workdays, won't be as bad, and that Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be particularly difficult. I'll leave you to decide when to show up. I wish you the best of luck!]
For weeks I’d been planning on going to see Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park on June 18, because it was a week day I had off and before the reviews came out, so I figured the lines wouldn’t be as bad. But when I woke up on Thursday, the weather was just drab. Rainy all day. I watched some of The View; Anne Hathaway was on and all I could think was “Damn… I guess today’s a bad day to go.”
But as the hours passed I kept checking the weather, and by 5 pm I noticed that by 8 pm, there would “only” be 50 or 60% chance of precipitation. So even though I’d spent all day resigned with not being able to go, I decided that a little rain was not enough to keep me away. In fact, I imagined that plenty of people would be hesitant to go to an outdoor theater on a rainy night, so I decided to take my chances and see if I could get a ticket.
Well, the girl at the box office gave me my ticket and all I could do was throw my fist in the air and cry ALLAHU AKBAR! Why? Because my ticket was in section C, row CC: front row, in the best section of the theater. Although it’s sucky to go to the theater alone, the fact is that it’s more likely you’ll get a better seat. I just didn’t expect it to be that good!
I went off and grabbed me some dinner, and then I came back for the show. They opened the doors a bit late, and the show itself started past 8 (not unusual). The theater was about half empty, and I’d guess that a good number of the people there were (1) people who are familiar with the rain policy at the Delacorte Theater, (2) people who, like me, made sure the weather cleared out before they got a last minute ticket. As I waited for the show to start, two thoughts ran through my head. The first was, “Shit, I hope the production doesn’t suck,” and the second was “Muthafuck, I hope this doesn’t turn into some participatory production.” That’s what freaks me out about first row, that maybe an actor will try to interact with you and shit. That just sent me into a panic.
On the first count, I can confirm that the production was good, a solid B. I feel like it was time well spent, and I felt a pang of sadness I didn’t have anyone to share the experience. I’d say the entire cast was pretty good, committed, well-rehearsed. I’d even say that they really embraced their roles and were having a lot of fun, which, in turn, made it fun for me to watch.
It was drizzly the first half hour but the actors soldiered on, and I felt particularly bad for the ladies who wore gorgeous, short-sleeved dresses. The clothes were seriously rocking. I’d peg them very Napoleonic-era (maybe?).
A good half hour into the play, the drizzle finally got a little too hard to bear, so the Voice From God (okay, the dude who does the announcements) said that there would be a pause while the rain passed through. It didn’t take long for the rain to weaken, and so the actors went back to their places, kinda rewound a few lines to remind us where we’d stopped, and just went on as if nothing had happened.
I should mention that, when I first read the cast list, I really hoped there would be singing involved. Now I can say I’ve heard lovely people like Audra McDonald and Raúl Esparza sing to me live onstage. Er, well, the music was fairly good and the musicians were totally right on, but I did feel like the compositions were a bit long and dragged the pacing a bit. So part of me was like, “Damn, these songs are so pretty,” and another part of me was like, “Damn, can we get on with the ~*CRAZY ANTIX*~ already?”
But I didn’t hate this as much as I hated the fool, Feste, walking over to the front row right as the second half of the show started, and putting out his hat for money. Holy shit. I mean, I was totally laughing on the outside but weeping in the inside, and the only thing that made me feel a little better was that he didn’t put out the hat in front of my face, just the people next to me. It was a very close call, though, and lucky for the actor, David Pittu, because the couple sitting next to me was a lot more gracious about the unscripted moment than I would have been. Ack!
Another aspect of the show I didn’t dig too much was that the humor was played very broadly. The thing is that, in terms of execution, the actors did a great job, so my beef is with the directorial choice to deliver the lines with a clear wink and a jab with the elbow. At the same time, I infinitely preferred this more accessible, enjoyable production over last year’s Hamlet, you know? So I ain’t complaining too much on that element of the show.
I have to admit I wasn’t too hot with Esparza in the part of Orsino. He wasn’t bad, but I’d say miscast. Then again, I was basically expecting Pushing Daisies all over again. Sigh! Not only that, he had like, superintense sideburns–they really distracted me. I’d love to see him in another production soon, though!
McDonald was pretty good, though I found her far more watchable in her funny moments than in her brooding ones. Her timing is really good. Anne Hathaway held her own, and it’s probably the most physical thing I’ve seen her do since like, The Princess Diaries. She even gets into a sword fight. The choreography was all right, nothing major, but it’s still always cool to see a sword fight in a live production. By the way, the dude who played Viola’s twin brother looked acceptably similar to Anne Hathaway, but even more eerie, he seriously reminded me of the youngest Jonas brother(!). The actor’s name is Stark Sands (for real…?). Surely it was just from seeing him from a distance, but I was still like, “WHOA… Where’s Miley Cyrus, dude?” That said, I thought he was pretty good in his more minor role.
I really loved Jay O. Sanders in this; he was in A Midsummer Night’s Dream a couple of years ago as the head of the rude mechanicals, easily the best part of a so-so show. Again, he did not disappoint. He has a great voice, too. But I think my favorite cast member was Julie White, who played Maria with mischievous glee. Even though Maria plays a pretty awful trick on Malvolio, I still felt like she was totally awesome, and Julie White really made her a very inviting and sympathetic character.
The play itself is so funny. I had very faint memories of reading it in school and then watching the version with Helena Bonham Carter. I couldn’t remember anything except that there was a mistaken identity plot that centered around cross-dressing and that there was a funny servant lady named Maria but whose name was pronounced Mariah. Also, I remembered feeling more than a little awkward with the weddings at the end because of all the gender-bending. I’m not even gonna consider the political statement that the Public Theater may or may not be making by putting on this show at this moment in American history cos my mind would explode, yeah? But back to the words: there were some hilarious lines, that had everyone tittering and at times howling. Really bawdy lines. The weird thing was realizing how badly I’d needed to have a good laugh, and the production did the trick. All in all, a good night at the theater, especially since it was free.
The show will officially open on June 25, and will close on July 12 to make room for The Bacchae.
Let’s Leave the Past Behind.
Since we got cable in our TV my dad has flip-flopped several times on which programming package we want, though I think we’ve finally settled on a Spanish-language + fútbol dealio. This means that I got MTV, MTV2 AND VH1 taken away, but now I have MTVTres and mun2, which are pretty much identical in their content. I’m pretty ecstatic about it. I didn’t realize how much English-language material was included in these channels, but I like that I can get both the “best” of US American pop while getting the “best” of Spanish-language pop.
Anyway, back in those final days of having MTV (so long ago!) the video I used to wait for was Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” but these days I wait around a lot more for Daddy Yankee’s “¿Qué tengo que hacer?” The remix for the song with Jowell & Randy has been making the rounds, and the results are pretty spectacular.
I have a love/hate thing for Daddy Yankee, but right now it’s more on the love side of the spectrum. I like that his best wasn’t “Gasolina,” and that he’s kept things interesting.
Daddy Yankee’s not the only one to keep releasing quality shit. Don Omar has been a lot more ambitious in his latest incarnation as some sort of futuristic electro-freak, which kinda makes me wanna LOL but mostly makes me want to track him down so I can shake hands with him for having the balls to change his image so drastically. But the more things change, the more they remain the same! What he’s doing now really suits his over-the-top, melodramatic persona. His current single is called “Virtual Diva,” and has an awesome hook. “¡Chequea como se menea!” he exclaims in his usual booming voice. I’d definitely put it in the running for Song of the Summer. You can catch the ridiculous video ici.
My favorite part is at the end, when he leaves some final remarks:
¡Sencillo! Estamos trabajando encima de sus expectativas… de eso se trata. Algunos años luz antes que ustedes. Siempre voy a vivir ahí–no miren pa’ mi galaxia.
Loose translation: “It’s simple! We’re working beyond your expectations… that’s what it’s all about. Some light years ahead of you. I’ll always live there–don’t check out my galaxy.” Haha. Oh my god, Don Omar is da bomb.
One Last Trip.
Last night I decided to go shopping at the Virgin since it’s closing. This means I missed So You Think You Can Dance, so I spent the last few hours tracking down the performances (many props to Rickey!) and although there were a couple of clunkers, I’m really excited about this group of dancers. I’d give you a breakdown of my favorite dancers but at this point I feel like my judgment is clouded by all the handsome dudes. Seriously, the whole group of dancers is stunning. By the way, there’s a reason why I had to go hunting for the performance clips: Fox doesn’t put them on the show’s site. Travesty! You’d think that Fox would be kind enough to post the stupid show on their site, but apparently they can’t be bothered. Good move, you morons!
Anyway, the Virgin had hit the 70% off mark last night, and shockingly enough they’d moved enough units to have the lower level closed off! I don’t think I’ll go back again before Sunday, which is its final day. So here is a list of the things I bought in my final trip to the Virgin at Union Square:
- Crash, JG Ballard
- The Jim DeRogatis bio of the Flaming Lips
- Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
- A History of Violence, David Cronenberg
- A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater
- That Arctic Monkeys DVD with that video for the one song of theirs I really dig and that features Stephen Graham
- Primitive Love, Miami Sound Machine
- A Talk Talk Best Of
- A Stray Cats Best Of
- Lotofire, Ely Guerra
- Los de atrás vienen conmigo, Calle 13
- Te quiero…, Los Temerarios
- Citizen Boris, Golem
- Vôo de coração, Ritchie
I need to explain my purchases. First, they’re pretty much down to shit now! There really isn’t a lot of great stuff so I do feel very happy and lucky to have gotten what I got. Seriously, even all the Spanish language Pop/Rock section is pretty much depleted. Second, the fact that everything is 70% off meant that I was willing to take more of a chance. The last three items listed, well, I’ve never listened to any of their stuff, but I thought I’d be adventurous. I’m especially curious about that Ritchie guy, who looks pretty goofy on the album cover–muito 80s, LOL. It’s too bad that I have a tendency to go for flashy and tacky, but I just couldn’t say no!!
Actually, there were definitely some items to which I said no, for various reasons. Sigh. They included a busted copy of an Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas album, as well as a Gram Parsons bio and Queens Reigns Supreme. Also, there was a Green Day bio I was eyeing… Yes, yes, my taste in music books is even odder than my regular taste in music. Now shut up about it.
I do feel ambivalent about this specific store closing, because as far as megastores went, its stock wasn’t so bad. Obviously it’s because the crowd around Union Square skews younger and more “indie,” so there was always a relatively decent vinyl section and stuff. (The Tower at Lincoln Center, in comparison, tended to have a more extensive classical/Broadway section.) I hope that a store like this closing means that the smaller, more specialized stores get to survive, whether it’s Other Music or, I dunno, Turntable Lab. Brick-and-mortar music and video stores are becoming a rare breed, that’s for sure, and you know something? It is really fucking inconvenient. Especially because the Virgin was the #1 choice for me to meet up with my friends when we hung out.
I leave you with a few highlights of my experience at the Union Square Virgin. I bought my Langley Schools record there, as well as the Young Liars EP. I got to see Franz Ferdinand throw a really nice in-store performance back when their first album came out. And perhaps the highlight of the highlights is this: I was in the store on August 14, 2003, when all the fucking lights in the city went out. Actually, I can easily say that it was one of the Top 3 worst days in my life, so it’s a shitty memory, but it’s a vivid one regardless. Stupidly enough, I didn’t steal anything from the store when the blackout happened. Haha. Damn my integrity.
Hm, I guess I kinda will miss the store. But I’m not surprised that they’re closing, c’est tout.
Speaking of music stores: Next Thursday, June 18, Insound is having a Warehouse Sale for the first time. So if you’re in NYC, you should definitely definitely check it out. I’m sure the deals won’t be massive, but imagine the shipping charges you’ll avoid! The details here. I’m not sure if I can go yet, but I’m gonna try. I highly recommend it! Although they push a lot of new stuff on their site, they still have plenty of back stock that is worth sifting through. I should know, because I used to pack everyone’s orders there. :D
MoCCA Fest 2009.
[Edit: My friend from work wrote a li'l something on MoCCA too. Clickety click here. Also, I was lurking around a day or two ago looking at other people's posts, and someone mentioned how annoying it was that there didn't seem to be any trash cans in the fucking armory. I agree! I kept looking around for a place to dump my trash, and eveeeeentually I found a receptacle.]
Went to the MoCCA fest, which was moved from the Puck building to the Armory between 25th and 26th Streets. The space was striking, absolutely massive–everyone fit under one space, instead of having to split the exhibitors into several large rooms. On one level it was easier to have everyone under one roof, but on another level it also felt a little less personal. I don’t know what could be done about it; the fest had long outgrown its former space, and the move was necessary. The one thing that actually sucked was how humid it got, people were just sweating left and right.
It was just overwhelming to have so many exhibitors and fans in there. Even though there was a floor plan, it was easier for me to just get a feel for the space, so I literally walked up and down every aisle to see who was there and what they had to offer. Then, once I finished doing that, I just returned to the tables that really caught my eye, which was mostly the international artists.
It remained crowded almost all day, so I didn’t get a good glimpse at certain tables. As it happens every year, I saw Adrian Tomine, and his buddy Seth was there, too. I didn’t get anything signed by him, but seeing Adrian was comforting, like, “There’s a familiar face!” Haha. Jason showed up and signed shit, as well as Tom Gauld and I think Kurt Wolfgang too, among many many others. Everyone was so friendly and eager to engage in sweet conversation while enticing us common folk into buying their creative output and in my head I was like, “AHHHHH TOO MUCH I CAN’T HANDLE IT!” but mostly I just smiled politely, said hello, glanced at some of the comics here and there, and just moved on.
Listen, I was on a budget, okay? I really wanted a copy of Joann Sfar’s Piano, but by the point I saw it, I was down to less than $30… And the book was going for $40. There were some other really cool from L’Association and this Belgian publisher named Bries. Bought a couple of titles from the latter.
I was hoping (it was a wild and futile hope, really) that maybe they might have Papa est un peu fatigué but they didn’t. I bought another Ville Ranta comic instead. Bought some other comics from the Scandinavian contingent. I got a mini-comic signed by one of the artists, and I thought he was just gonna give me his John Hancock but he was nice enough to draw me a little something. So I just want to declare this artist, Simon Bukhave, as totally awesome for taking the time and effort to do so.
There was also a Romanian table. I shit you not. Like, of all the random places… They were featuring a series called Hardcomics and I bought a couple, including one that wasn’t even translated. But that’s okay, because I really love the artwork.
The one panel I attended was called “Scandinavian Comics 101,” and the panelists included: Åsa Ekström (Sweden), Mattias Elftrop (Sweden), Johanna Rojola (Finland), Thomas Thorhauge (Denmark), Ib Kjeldsmark (Denmark), Erik Falk (Norway), and one more artist whose name I didn’t catch (also from Norway). If you know his name, or if I misspelled anyone’s name, please let me know! The panel was moderated by Steffen P. Maarup, who is Danish. As soon as I saw how many artists were participating in the panel, I realized we weren’t going to get too far into some deep dialogue from the artists of the various countries they represented. The allotted time was just too brief to get very far… However, the panelists were all very charming and made some great points. For example, I had no idea that so many of them were deeply influenced by French and Belgian comics as opposed to American ones. There was a curious audience member who posed a really interesting question about race and whether the POC in the Scandinavian countries were active at all in the comics scene. The panelists didn’t have much of an answer other than that POC are not really visible. Honestly, there was plenty said during the short time and I’m sure someone who took more copious notes will hit every bullet point discussed… but unfortunately that someone isn’t me. Sorry!
Dude! I do wanna give props to MoCCA for putting out refreshments at the panels!! I feel like my admission money mostly went to good use. Hehe. I had fun, and I got some really cool comics that I’m probably never ever gonna see again, so… it was worth it. Hope all the international artists are able to come next year, too!
On the Idiot Box.
Hello my treacherous friends! I am still recovering from watching the season finale of Lost. Did you feel dicked over by the last shot? I did! But after thinking about it and reading a shitload of comments on the AV Club about this last episode of the season, I can gladly say that the rest of this episode was pretty right on! Especially Michael Emerson’s last scene in the episode, where he just starts bitching–”WHAT ABOUT ME??” What about you? You should get an Emmy for that, that’s what.
Watch at your own risk! (Then again, it’ll probably get pulled soon.)
Seriously, isn’t his hissy fit hilarious?
Since this show has a terrible fondness of dispensing of cast members, I expected a few casualties, but I was pretty pissed about one in particular. Mind you, he’s not confirmed dead, because this show also has a terrible fondness of faking deaths, buuuuut at the moment I’m mad I’ll have to wait until next January to find out. Arghh.
—
Today I gladly rotted my brain on Freaks and Geeks.
If you can’t tell, Bill Haverchuck is my favorite character, and it pisses me off that Martin Starr is not the most successful F&G alum. Not that I hate anyone in the cast, they were all fucking amazing. I just didn’t expect Seth Rogen of all people to be considered leading man material. C’est tout.
Some Geekery.
- Wednesday eve I ran the fuck out of work and I made it just in time to the Broadway district. Went to see August: Osage County. It was tightly written, deftly acted, and beautifully staged. There were a lot of genuine laughs and none of the actors had quirky/distracting acting styles. Even though one of the understudies was in the production that night, the play still felt completely natural, like the entire acting team had been playing these roles together forever. It was incredible how well everything meshed and I have to commend the director for that. I admit that I was a bit of a hardass in the beginning, not wanting to get too involved with the story, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t move me. I didn’t give an ovation, but I was very content that there was an emotional impact somewhere deep in my sorry little heart.
There was a pretty heavy revelation in the play that had no foreshadowing even, except when the scene where the revelation is revealed began, I understood from a mile away what was about to be revealed and so I braced myself for it. My friend from work had warned me there was a big twist, true, but I didn’t know the nature of the twist. All she told me was that this is not the sort of play to read before watching. It seems that other people weren’t as ready, because the majority of the audience gasped loudly when the character finally dropped the bomb. I could only giggle nervously when I heard everyone react.
Shameless namechecking: I’m pretty sure Lauren Hutton was in the audience. The only reason I am kinda doubting myself about whether it was really her is that I couldn’t imagine her being as short as the woman I saw at the theater, what with Lauren Hutton being a model and all. And I guess I couldn’t understand why she would be seeing the play a year after it opened on Broadway. And I don’t even know if Lauren Hutton was bumming around NYC lately. Does she live here? But I stand by might words: I saw Lauren Hutton in the audience.
Regardless, it was well worth the money and the fact that I missed Lost. But you mofuckers better believe I’m not gonna miss the Lost finale next week. Hope it doesn’t suck, LOL.
- My friend from work and I went to see Star Trek today. I am not a Star Trek person at all and my knowledge of it is minimal, so I was pretty much experiencing everything for the first time. The movie was… kinda boring. No, I mean… it was fun… it was okay, but it didn’t feel necessary. Do you think it’s fucked up that I expect so much out of a fucking action movie? Star Trek was slick, and noisy, and busy, with a lot of stuff, and a lot of good-to-great actors in bit roles, and a lot of redshirts. There were some funny parts, too, I won’t deny it. I liked a lot of the actors and I thought they were well cast, but when there’s so many peeps in the screen, it was like they barely got to do anything other than look good in their uniforms. Each of the characters got a pivotal scene, or if not pivotal at least a spotlight scene, but mostly to serve either Kirk and sometimes Spock. Other than Kirk and Spock, they have no internal growth that we can see, it just feels like a lot of cool actors wasted, c’est tout. For example, I wish Uhura had (literally) kicked more ass, it’s like she only threw one punch, and her biggest contribution was to confirm something that Kirk said. Oh, and I guess she played a love interest. At least she took the initiative to kiss first.
The action was just okay, not especially well-choreographed, and I was particularly mad about the villain’s death. It was very Darth Maul, you know, like this big looming evil presence that is discarded of fairly easily at the end. I ended up wondering what the big deal had been with the dude. Sheesh. Most of the plot did make sense, which was nice, although a lot of it felt like going through the motions. Y’know, just a lot of archetypes reaching familiar points of growth, like the rebel who grows up to be a leader, or the mixed-race dude who learns he doesn’t need to prioritize one of his races over the other and instead learns to love all of himself. Et cetera, et cetera.
My biggest concern was that I never felt there was anything at stake. As soon as Leonard Nimoy showed up I thought, “Well, no one has to worry about anything, everything will turn out just fine and dandy.” It’s like, it finally hit me that in this alternate universe, the rules are so flexible I never really feel like anyone is really gonna get hurt and I’m never really gonna get emotionally invested. Not that I want emotional manipulation in the form of women in refrigerators and the like, but some real sense of struggle would have drawn me in more.
Another thing I think really sucks is that the movie was as good as it could have been, and I’m bummed that most likely, there will be a sequel that will just be more big explosions and playing it safe so as to please all the fans.
Oh! And let’s not forget what we really learned in Star Trek. (1) Cheating in tests is okay. (2) If you ignore ALL the rules, you can still become captain of a starship and everyone will love you!! (3) It’s fine to needle your anal-retentive frenemy into having a mini-emotional breakdown so that you can take over his job after he proves himself incapable of being level-headed enough to lead a team.
The previews were pretty wack. The audience was mostly dudes, many at least in their 30s, though there were all these middle school boys, too. There were some girls, many of whom were with their guys. Okay, I’m out. Live long and prosper, y’all.
Serious Talk About a Guy I Can’t Take Seriously.
[Edit: Jay Smooth finally made a little video about Asher Roth, and as you'd imagine it doesn't really have to do with Asher Roth himself. Click here for a more level-headed and eloquent discussion about Asher Roth than whatever my post says.]
I should tell you about my latest morning routine. It involves watching music videos. I flip between VH1 and MTV, and watch whichever channel is showing the less annoying video. And if they’re both annoying, I flip to the morning news–which is pretty frustrating to watch, too. In between videos one time, they showed a commercial for Asher Roth’s album, with a snippet of “I Love College.”
I was amused by it, but I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was just a fun and breezy song that will probably be forgotten soon. So recently Jay Smooth asked on his site whether he should talk about it, and I was surprised by the strong reactions from people. As you will see if you click on the post, I traded some comments with one guy in particular. What the guy was saying was that he felt weird liking Asher Roth partly because of the crowd it attracted; although this commenter saw (some) merit in Asher, he felt like Asher is emblematic of a certain type of person who might like shit like “I Love College” but don’t really care to delve deeper into hip-hop, and the commenter worried that he might be seen as one of those people, too. I mean I know how painful it can be; I love love love music and it really upsets me to meet people who claim to love music too, but they eventually reveal that for them it’s just a superficial thing.
But I told the commenter that he shouldn’t really give a shit what other people think, because if you like (or love!) something, you can’t help it, so why not just enjoy yourself? If you feel a spark–and you know those sparks don’t come often enough–shouldn’t you just let go and not listen to what other people say?
Well, tonight I (kinda) retract my statement. Although I firmly believe that if you love something you shouldn’t get it twisted worrying how other people think of your likes and dislikes, I am starting to see why people don’t like Asher Roth. Or rather, don’t like Asher Roth’s public persona–who the fuck knows what he’s like in private. This Racialicious post delves into the several stupid things he’s said. (Make sure to read the comments, too, since the readers bring up some great points from all sorts of angles.)
For me, the main issue is whether to ignore his musical existence and hope he goes away, cos what if we do ignore him and all he does is fester like a cancer on us? I’m very conflicted about Asher Roth, as you can see, and I’m also very conflicted about making this post. Because my word count keeps increasing by the second and most of me is thinking, “Um… do I really give that much of a shit about this guy?” I really don’t want to seem like one of those crotchety folk who are think that whatever latest thing is like, the work of the devil or whatevs. I see him strictly as a novelty, it’s really not worth it to get so worked up about someone who’ll most likely fade away. (If I end up being wrong about him fading away, though, I’m gonna be worrying a bit more, for sure.) Anyway, that’s why I haven’t really researched much on him. I know, I know. That’s like a cardinal sin when talking shit: if you’re gonna talk shit about someone you should know everything about them so you can talk shit accurately. And yet… just a few clicks here and there show he’s been saying some real wack stuff and it makes me averse to learning more about him.
So what did he say–out of all the dumb shit he’s said–that got me mad enough to write about it? In this article, he is quoted as saying:
Roth addresses poverty and greed on the song “Sour Patch Kids.” And at his fans’ behest, Roth uploaded to his MySpace page “A Millie Remix,” a freestyle rhyme over Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” beat, criticizing rappers who boast about having millions of dollars but “don’t share, don’t donate to charity.”
“When I dropped that … (I thought) ‘You guys are always going off about how much money you have. Do you realize what’s going on in this world right now?’ All these black rappers — African rappers — talking about how much money they have. ‘Do you realize what’s going on in Africa right now?’” Roth says.
“It’s just like, ‘You guys are disgusting. Talking about billions and billions of dollars you have. And spending it frivolously, when you know, the Motherland is suffering beyond belief right now.’”
So I read that and I pretty much gasped. What is he thinking?!?! “All these African rappers…” My dear bro, lemme tell you something. Most blacks in the US were like, kinda born and raised in the US? Like, their ancestors might have been African but most of them are not. Of course in recent years there’s been a new wave of immigrants from Africa (like Obama’s papa!), but what I mean is that you can’t just generalize and be like, “Y’all are African! Why don’t you take care of Africa then!” The quote is also ridiculous because the “suffering Motherland” needs help from all of us, we’re all implicated and we are all responsible for helping, so I don’t see why Asher’s singling out rich black rappers to donate their money away. Since he brought up the subject, I think it’s fair of me to ask him what he’s done for people who are less privileged than he is.
And this brings me to another thing that bothers me about the quote: where does Asher get off thinking that just because a rapper is boasting about having a shitload of money, that the rapper really does have a lot of money. I’m gonna guess that most of the rappers Asher listens to are mainstream rappers on major labels, and believe me, when you’re on a major, most of the cashflow ain’t going to the artist. Oh, Asher, you’re on a major, don’t you know? Steve Albini is a consummate asshole, but he sure knows his math. After you give money to your manager and your lawyer and your producers and after you pay for the album manufacturing expenses and to the music video director and after all the payola* your label will pay for you to get radioplay and even to your stylist if you have one… well guess what? You need to sell a shit ton of records to make millions of millions. And believe me, I don’t mean like, 62000 records. So don’t be preaching about “black rappers gotta do this and black rappers gotta do that with their money,” cos God knows how little they’re really making even if they’re boasting so as to make it seem like the rapper lifestyle is mad glamorous. Let’s face it, the label honchos probably told the rappers to say that boastful shit because it sells…
(*About the payola comment: like steroid use in sports, nobody likes to admit it happens. But don’t you find it odd that this guy seems to come out of nowhere? He’s not particularly gifted as a rapper or a musician, and he’s obviously not winning over that many people with his charm. I mean maybe, just maybe he’s been toiling and struggling and maybe all the stars aligned properly to give him so much luck, but I find it suspicious. Maybe for some strange reason, his label thinks he will be profitable and they’re just pumping a looooot of money in all sorts of strategic places and they’re just manufacturing his popularity. What’s the best way to get more hits on a YouTube vid? Make it seem like the video has already gotten tons of hits so that it’ll pique people’s curiosity and make them wonder what they’re missing. Same concept applies here.)
Anyway, even though I’m clearly seething, I try to tell myself that there are privileged people out there who get it. So I leave you with the words with someone who gets it, and I can only hope that he will forgive me for quoting him so extensively and won’t feel offended that I’m bringing him into this silly post about some nobody who will be forgotten in about a month.
You have been trying to tell us to change for a long time. You lecture us about the social pathology of the inner city and how we need to become more like you. We need to move to the suburbs too. We need to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and abandon our “undesirables” the way you abandoned us.
We need to do this. We need to do that.
We’re not the ones who did the most to create the problems. We’re trying to face the problems you left us with. We’re staying behind and trying to make things better.
We think the suburbs are what needs to be changed about America. We think the suburbs are bad for America.
Socially, they intensify segregation and mistrust. Culturally, they erode the sense of history, narrow the outlook, and dull the imagination. Economically, they intensify inequality by isolating the rich and poor. Then the poor lack access to good schools, hospitals, businesses, police, transportation, city services, concerned neighbors, and any of the things that would allow them to alleviate their situation. The rich lack access to reality and any sense of proportion. They run around in a comfort warp, taking everything for granted and misusing what they have.
- Upski, Bomb the Suburbs.
(Sometimes when I feel infuriated, reading Bomb the Suburbs makes me feel better.)
I’m sure it wasn’t Asher Roth’s idea to grow up in the suburbs and I’m not going to assume that his life was easy peasy. But I think his words reflect a lack of comprehension of the world around him. It’s like, he’s being challenged to think critically for the first time in his life about privilege, and instead of trying to learn and grow and understand, he’s kinda stuck in a defensive mode. He obviously doesn’t have the vocabulary to talk about race because he hasn’t really had to talk about it before–not to the extent that people have been pushing him now that he’s a public figure. The question is, is he willing to learn?
Oh, and by the way: I finally listened to what “I Love College” was really saying, and I was like, “Wait… he’s not extolling the pleasures of reading Aristotle and Zizek and writing papers where you get to use all those big vocab words you learned for the SATs?” I feel like such a geek, but I’m damn disappointed that the whole song is about partying and not about like, learning and shit. Haha.
Ugh, what am I doing still typing up this post? I gotta catch me some sleep. Will I wake up tomorrow and find out that this post makes no sense?
Look What I Found in My Files.
An old Cat & Girl comic I modified… I almost forgot I had it. I’m not sure what the text was in the original strip.
In Case You Were Curious, Which You Most Likely Were Not.
(1) I decided recently that Roy Orbison is fucking brilliant. I find his voice quite strange.
(2) A couple of weeks ago I went to the Virgin on Times Square and found out they were closing. Got some cool shit. My biggest find was a fucking Man Recordings 12″ that features Deize Tigrona. I chortled to myself at the fact that no one had bothered to buy it and I was giddy that I had the pleasure to do so. I was so excited, in fact, that I kinda didn’t want to listen to it, because I was so fucking sure I’d be disappointed. But I listened anyway. And let me tell you something–now, I know you’re going to laugh, but I wish you wouldn’t–after listening to it, I was thrilled, but I also couldn’t figure out if I’d listened to it at the right speed. I know it makes me sound like a moron, but I’m telling you, both sides of the single are so fucking weird, so many miles away from what I recognize as funk, that I am still kinda disoriented about it. At the same time, this disorientation makes me feel even more excited about the 12″. The A-side in particular is off the hook. Hee! I think it’s gonna be one of those songs, like “Ni Fu Ni Fa,” that I’m gonna listen to years from now and still think that it’s ahead of its time. Seriously.
(3) I also bought a copy of Scratch half price, and thank the lord cos that shit was mad expensive originally. I started watching it today, and I couldn’t finish it cos my parents told me to stop hogging the teevee. I’m telling you, though, it’s really fun and just watching the footage of all those DJs slouched over their turntables is so beautiful. Okay, the sounds, I don’t care much about the result of the sounds, but fundamentally, I find it really inspiring, because you know that for them to create the music that they do, they need to go crate-diggin’ for the most beautiful sounds to their ears, and they need to learn every element in a song intimately, and I’m awed by the dedication and discipline and pure love of music they show in doing that. I know that I don’t hear music the way they hear music, and I’m fascinated by it. I also think it’s amazing how they take a pre-existing work and they really reinterpret it, not unlike a singer covering someone else’s song.
(4) I bought a collection of poetry by Jose Garcia Villa (v. v. hard to abstain from adding accents in his name since I’m so used to it, but he’s filipino and I’m not sure if they use them over there). I’m only telling you this because it’s National Poetry Month and I’m enjoying the book a lot. I didn’t know of his existence until recently, when the AAWW had an event about him. Like Tseng Kwong Chi later on, it appears that Villa was one of those cool kids hanging out downtown who has become nothing more than a footnote in pop culture history, even though both Villa and Tseng were serious artists with significant contributions to the scene.
Anyway, reading the book and enjoying really makes me wonder why I don’t read more poetry. The dumb and easy answer is that I don’t get it, and I find a lot of other people telling me they don’t get poetry either. I really feel like we’re not taught poetry very well. The whole population can’t be averse to poetry–we must have been taught that somehow it’s lesser than other writing forms. And that fucking annoys me! In one sense I understand that times change and that different writing forms fall out of vogue. For example, I’d say–without any scientific proof or naught, but still–we’re transitioning out of the era of the novel and more into some weird sort of non-fiction/memoir era (and I think blogs are helping this!), but it still bothers me that poetry is ignored because I think there’s still a lot that could be said and done with poetry. Poetry came before the novel and I feel that the less literate people are in poetry, that means that works from hundreds and hundreds of years ago will become lost… Seguro que yo sueno histérica, y yo sé que lo poesía no morirá por completo, pero me molesta que hay tanta tradición, tanta cultura y arte que la gente no aprecia y lo toman todo por idioteces solo porque alguien (some higher up) decidió que la poesía ya no importa tanto como otros géneros, y así es que las generaciones más jóvenes no aprenden el valor que tienen los poemas… Bah! Me duele la cabeza. And so I make my exit.
LAMC 2009.
Okay, here goes! I totally missed that the LAMC website posted its full schedule. Sorry about the delay. Below, I’ve organized the shows by artist, with approximate set times when available. Please let me know if you see any errors OR if you have other, non-official LAMC events for me to add. And remember, times, locations and acts might change!
Afrobeta
Sat July 11 – after midnight – SOB’s
Aterciopelados
Fri 10 July – Celebrate Brooklyn @ Prospect Park Bandshell – GRATIS
Banda de Turistas
Wed 8 July – Mercury Lounge
Bebe
Sat 11 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS
Bomba Estéreo
Wed 8 July – Bembe
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Thurs 9 July – Bowery Ballroom
Fri 10 July – Antigua
Sat 11 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS
Sat July 11 – after midnight – SOB’s
Sun July 12 – Nublu
Calle 13
Sat 11 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS
Ceci Bastida
Wed 8 July – Mercury Lounge
Cojoba
Tues 7 July – Oveja Negra
Curumin
Wed 8 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS
DJ Afro (Los Amigos Invisibles)
Fri 10 July – Celebrate Brooklyn @ Prospect Park Bandshell – GRATIS
Sat July 11 – all evening(?) – SOB’s
D-Mente
Tues 7 July – Oveja Negra
Domino Saints
Wed 8 July – Mercury Lounge
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
El G (ZZK)
Wed 8 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS
Ella Fuksbrauner
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Eric Bobo
Sat 11 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS
Federico Aubele
Thurs 9 July – Bowery Ballroom
Gaby Moreno
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Javier Garcia
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Juana Molina
Wed 8 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS
León Polar
Thurs 9 July – Bowery Ballroom
Los Amigos Invisibles
Tues 7 July – 7 pm – Apple Store Soho – GRATIS
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Fri 10 July – Celebrate Brooklyn @ Prospect Park Bandshell – GRATIS
Los Delinqüentes
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
Sat 11 July – Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield – GRATIS CANCELADO
Los Hollywood
Wed 8 July – Mercury Lounge
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
M-16
Tues 7 July – Oveja Negra
Maladicto
Tues 7 July – Oveja Negra
Maluca
Wed 8 July – Mercury Lounge
Monareta
Wed 8 July – Mercury Lounge
Natalia Lafourcade
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Thurs 9 July – Bowery Ballroom
Raza Odiada
Tues 7 July – Oveja Negra
RH+, AKA Rock Hudson
Thurs 9 July – SOB’s
Thurs 9 July – Bowery Ballroom
Santuario
Tues 7 July – Oveja Negra
—–
PREVIOUS EDITS:
I’m excited, they announced the panel topics for the LAMC recently. Pueden encontrar los temas en el sitio oficial, aquí. Make sure to check back for the full schedule! Hope they get a good mix of acts this year… Can’t wait to see who’ll play Summerstage! NYRemezcla reports that Los Fabulosos Cadillacs will be playing the free show at Central Park! It’s going to be INSANE. EDIT April 26: There will be two Summerstage shows this year, both of which will be free. The opener for Los Cadillacs will be Eric Bobo, maybe one more opener to come? The other show will headline Juana Molina, Curumin and ZZK’s El G. Should be a hot show. Details here. EDIT May 4: Celebrate Brooklyn date is up, and it’s amazin’!! Los Amigos Invisibles AND Aterciopelados will be playing on Friday July 10. Also of note (but not related to the LAMC) is a free show on July 2, headlining Obie Bermudez and featuring Cucu Diamantes and Rebel Diaz. All Celebrate Brooklyn deets here.
EDIT May 19: SOB’s updated their website. On Thursday July 9, they will be holding the LAMC Acoustic Showcase; actual acts to be determined. On Saturday July 11, they will also have an LAMC After Party, featuring Bomba Estereo, Afrobeta and DJ Afro on the turntables throughout the night. EDIT May 24: I was snooping on Natalia Lafourcade’s MySpace page and realized she’s playing two gigs, one of which is the Acoustic Showcase at SOB’s. The other set will take place on the afternoon of Thursday July 9 at the Bowery Ballroom. Yay!
EDIT May 27: Heyyy the Mercury Lounge posted its LAMC show, and it looks like a marathon event! If you wanna see 7 bands in one night, this is the night to go, haha. The show will take place on Wednesday July 8 and some of the acts featured are Ceci Bastida and Monareta. The other acts included are Banda de Turistas, Maluca, RH+, Domino Saints, and Los Hollywood. Click here for all the details.
ND/NF 2009: La Nana (Sebastián Silva) @ MoMA.
Hurm. Well, I’m trying to pump out as much as possible without having my computer freak out. Let’s see how that turns out. A couple of nights ago, I found myself amid hundreds of older people who had the free time to go see La nana (The Maid) at MoMA for the New Directors/New Films series this year. Directed by Sebastián Silva, this Chilean movie takes explores the tense relationship that employers and employees have.
In this movie in particular, a live-in maid (Catalina Saavedra) who has served a family for over two decades finally reaches her breaking point, forcing the family to hire a second maid to assist the first one. Of course, the original maid sees this as a threat to her turf, what with not really having a life outside of this family. So poor coping mechanisms in the form of harrassing the new maid(s) and other such hijinks ensue.
Before the movie started Silva gave a brief intro, explaining that in Chile there is a tendency for well-off families to have live-in maids, which is not really the case in the US. But the power dynamic between the maid and the rest of the family totally translated. You should have been at the movie theater, it was totally packed and we were all laughing and gasping together, and at the Q&A afterwards, people couldn’t contain themselves from mentioning that they liked the movie.
It was kinda weird to see how realistic the interactions appeared to be, and even though there were a lot of gaps story-wise–in the sense that they’re not explained explicitly–there are definitely telling moments. The oldest child does not get along with the maid, and when she asks her mother why she can’t fire the maid, the mother just has this blank look, as if she couldn’t even bear to think about it. “Porque no puedo,” the mother replies, obviously helpless. The daughter, too, has a huge look of guilt when the maid finally collapses, even though the two have a very passive-aggressive relationship, and this look indicates that the daughter has a more complicated view of her maid that previously indicated in the movie.
At the Q&A that followed the movie, one of the audience members mentioned Sergio Vodanovic’s “El delantal blanco,” which is part of his Viña plays. I also thought of Vodanovic’s play the first instant I saw the maid’s uniform, but the comparisons quickly dissipated. Although both Vodanovic and Silva use humor to show a greater critique of class differences* in Chile, “El delantal blanco” functions more as allegory and its two characters (a maid and her female employer) are strictly representative and not three-dimensional at all. On the other hand, Silva does flesh out the titular maid of his film considerably, so that even though we’re missing a lot of back story, her actions and reactions reveal a shitload about what motivates her and what breaks her. The director actually mentioned that whenever he saw how maids are portrayed, they’re usually caricatures, they’re types and never just people, so he wanted to show the life a maid with more depth. I think he can take great pride that he succeeded and that he did it with such humor. Catalina Saavedra, too, was especially fearless and her facial expressions were priceless. She really gets the audience to root for her character, even though the maid is obviously off.
Silva, by the way, had never heard of “El delantal blanco.” A lot of his material came from his own experience living in a household that had several maids, and I think he even mentioned that they helped him flesh out the story. Pretty awesome.
Fuck, honestly, I could go on talking about the details of the movie forever, but I’m worried my computer’s going to explode. Also, I’m kinda tired.
One last thing, Sebastián Silva’s English is pretty good. In fact, he said his next project will be in English. Sounded interesting and I hope it turns out well.
*From what I can tell, Chile is similar to England in that both have huge class anxiety, as opposed to here in the US where we are more hush-hush about class but we’re far more openly preoccupied with race.
Pinocchio.
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Translated by Geoffrey Brock
I’m writing this a couple of months after I read the book. I needed the distance to think carefully about my comments regarding the book, because immediately after I finished it, all I could feel was disappointment.
No, I didn’t care much for Pinocchio as a character, and that ultimately extended to me not liking the story since the entire narrative is about him and all the mistakes he makes along the way. He’s rendered as an unsympathetic figure, someone who openly disobeys others. It would be one thing if he stood as a contrast to abusive authority figures, I would have a kinder view if Pinocchio’s mischief had served to reveal the failures and hypocrisy of society; however, most of the errors are really rooted in his own carelessness and they just made the wooden boy look bad instead of commenting on something outside of the boy. I would have found this more compelling since I don’t have a clear sense of what Italy was like at the time Pinocchio was written.
So time after time, we see Pinocchio make a bad choice, and just when you think that Pinocchio would learn, he gets sidetracked again, thanks to all sorts of distractions. It’s frustrating! The worst part is when Pinocchio is reunited with the Fairy, and she manages to make an honest puppet out of him for a while. He has a stable home that she keeps in order, and he excels in school. But he gets into one fight with a classmate and everything comes tumbling down… didn’t Pinocchio understand how good he had it going?? Hadn’t he learned from his many previous mistakes? It’s hard to feel pity for him. Not only that, it complicates the ending, because we’re led to believe everything ends happily ever after. We close the book with a warm fuzzy feeling, until we think, “Well, there were previous instances when everything seemed okay, and look how bad things turned out…” All I could think was that the story ends, but I don’t trust that Pinocchio truly learned a lesson.
Then again, maybe there was no lesson to learn. I think Collodi didn’t mean this story to be the morality tale that it’s come to represent. In my life, I’ve primarily identified two images with Pinocchio: first, conscience in the form of the cricket, and the second, the nose that grows with every lie that is told. Both of these images take a different form in the story from what we generally think of them, and they have less of a moralistic quality on the page.
I found it comforting that Collodi seemed aware of Pinocchio’s faults and wasn’t enamored with his protagonist. Collodi also gives the audience a hard time, withholding information until the last second, or maybe just making up stuff whenever he needs to come up with an excuse, leaving the readers to try and hold on while the ride shifts in unexpected directions.
Collodi shows a great sense of humor. One of the recurring elements in his story telling was that every few chapters, Pinocchio would meet someone from his past, and he’d recount every stupid thing that had happened to the boy in those few chapters. I’m sure it was just a necessity from serialization, sort of how TV shows say, “Previously on…,” but it tickled me to see what Pinocchio included and conveniently forgot whenever he recounted his side of the story. There’s so much plot that you read Pinocchio recounting everything and you’re like, “Geez, I’d totally forgotten this happened…!”
I don’t think I would have appreciated this story as much as I did if I hadn’t read the critical essay by Rebecca West that followed the story. (I own the NYRB edition.) For example, it illuminates a lot about the Blue-Haired Fairy, who is not entirely benevolent. I thought she’d be passive and that she would forgive and forget every one of Pinocchio’s infractions, but it wasn’t that way at all. Pinocchio’s relationship to the Blue-Haired Fairy is fascinating and the critical commentary goes at length about it, with good reason. She’s the only female character in this story and the role she plays is very complicated. At the end, I feel like Pinocchio is great to read for scholarly purposes, but it’s not exactly a fun book to read.
So after all this talk of the story, why haven’t I mentioned the Disney version of Pinocchio? Because I don’t remember it. Instead, I approached the book with a more general sense of how Pinocchio is viewed in society today, though I am assuming that this perspective is mostly defined by the Disney version anyway. In that sense, I was definitely surprised by how my expectations did not match what I was reading at all.
PEN World Voices 2009.
¿Qué onda? Un virus atacó mi computadora… Pero bueno, todavía estoy viva.
I’d been waiting for today for a while. The PEN American Center announced the full lineup for their PEN World Voices Festival. (You can see all the info ici.) And I’m outraged by how many of the events are not free! Hehe, actually, most of the stuff is free and the ticketed events are fairly cheap. So go check out all the good stuff.
Also, Andrés Neuman (Bogotá 39) won the latest Premio Alfaguara. Man, he’s cashing in big time. I’m so curious to read his novels, what the hell does una estadounidense have to do to get her hands on some cool new lit??
On the Watchmen Movie, Mucho Text Avec Spoilers.
A lot of times I know that a movie will be a waste of time, but I still get curious about the usually convoluted plotlines so I go online and spoil myself the movie. It tends to happen with a lot of horror movies, but not always. I had already spoiled myself Watchmen, but it didn’t quell my curiosity because I read about all the changes from the book and I wondered how the fuck everything was gonna pan out, so I was (a) dying for the movie to leak, or (b) waiting for 10 days to pass so I could use a movie voucher to watch it for like $2.
I caved. I went to watch it last night. Paid the full ticket price and everything.
There’s some things I should mention. First of all, I didn’t have a phone on me yesterday, which was awkward because I use my phone as my watch, as most of my friends do. I was fucking blanking out and unsure about whether I’d just left it home, or if I’d dropped it on the street. I was wearing a coat with shallow pockets, y’see. So every few hours I had to get change and look for a payphone to call my own phone, hoping my mom would pick up and thereby confirm that the phone was at home. The whole thing was an exercise in hilarity. First off, it’s ridiculous trying to find a payphone these days, even if I found myself in a tourist-heavy area. (And I do mean the tourists are heavy! HAHAHA okay never mind very rude of me I know…) Second off, my mom is pretty much deaf in one ear, so she really can’t hear my phone vibrate… most of the time she can’t hear her own phone, even though her has a very loud ringtone. Third off, I couldn’t call anyone else because the only phone number I have committed to heart is my own fucking number. I hung out all by my lonesome which suited me fine, but I felt very disconnected to the world.
I was full of win yesterday, really.
It was the afternoon and I didn’t know what to do with myself so I decided to queue up for the West Side Story ticket lottery. Since I didn’t have a watch on me, I just stood in the cold for like a good hour and a half until I found out that I didn’t win. Fuck man, I bet this revival isn’t even all that and it was mad cold yesterday, but there were a shitload of people dying to get a fucking ticket. My god.
Anyway, I peaced out of there but the cold and the hunger was getting to me so I just went into a Sbarro and paid $2.29 for a 20 oz. bottle of water… Jesus fuck. Whatever, I had a fun time people-watching the tourists surrounding me. I wondered if they saw me as a tourist, too. But I peaced out as soon as I warmed up and I walked up to the Lincoln Center area to see if the indie theater had anything good showing at a godly hour. Never mind that I wasn’t even sure what time it was. I wasn’t too interested in the movies showing at that moment, so I walked over to the big chain theater near the Barnes & Noble and bought a ticket to Watchmen.
Okay, I admit it. I was curious about the plot changes, but I have a crush on Patrick Wilson, too. He was one of the highlights of the Angels in America movie for me (and believe me, I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the movie as a whole). I was really puzzled by the fact that he was playing Nite Owl. Nothing on Patrick Wilson’s acting, I think he’s a wonderful actor, but I mean, Patrick Wilson is fiiiiine. And Dan Dreiberg, his character, is totally lame. And has a paunch. So I wanted to see how the hell they worked that out. I was really interested to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jackie Earle Haley, too.
I found out a few days ago that the opening box office for Watchmen was only like, $50 million, so I wasn’t sure how many people would show up for a weeknight screening of the movie. The closer it got to the screening time, though, it filled up pretty nicely. There were a shitload of open seats though; I had a whole row to myself, there was a couple sitting directly behind me, and on the row in front there was a black dude, but he was farther away to one side. You wouldn’t believe my surprise when the lights went out and after a good number of trailers, some dude sits next to me. Or rather, I was sitting in the third seat into the row, on the second seat was my purse, and he sat on the seat closest to the aisle. Well I noticed he had a bag on him so I moved my purse to the seat on my other side. Instead of putting his bag between us, he sat next to me and put his bag on the seat closest to the aisle. See where I’m going with this? I mean from then on I knew there was something odd, right? Like there’s at least a hundred empty seats and you’re like, he just happened to see the seat next to me was empty?
The movie started and everything was okay the first fifteen minutes, but then I realize he was moving a lot. So I peeked over and noticed he actually had his penis out and was masturbating right next to me. There was nothing sexy happening on the screen, obviously, just a sick guy. I didn’t know what to do, because a part of me just wanted to tell him to put it in his pants and just watch the fucking movie. I even considered ignoring him but I realized that I couldn’t concentrate on the movie just knowing that this guy was wanking himself right next to me. In the span of like, four or five minutes, I debated with my course of action and decided that bringing attention to his behavior could bring any number of mostly sucky responses, so I just decided to up and leave. I felt bad about getting in the way of the couple behind me.
Since I was already out of the theater I decided to maybe place a call to my phone. Then I thought, “What the fuck, I paid $12.50 for this shit and I’m gonna watch this motherfucking movie to the end!” Besides, I was kinda worried the dude had followed me out so I thought it was better to be in a room full of people. The row behind the couple whose view I blocked was completely empty, so I sat there. And I hoped the dude wouldn’t show up and give me trouble.
Well wouldn’t you believe it, I noticed that the very row in which I sat was totally empty, too. The motherfucker left after I did.
Anyway, after that I just watched the movie in relative peace, though on occasion I’d drift away and worry that the guy would show up again or something. I mean, maybe if the movie had been more absorbing, I would have forgotten completely about the pervert, but there you go. Watchmen was pretty sweet in pieces, but as a whole, it didn’t gel.
I’m sorry it took me so long to get to talking about the movie. There’s really nothing to say that hasn’t been said already. Yeah, the sex scene was awful. Everyone was laughing and it was probably the biggest laugh in the movie. Listen, I don’t want to hear “Hallelujah” used in a movie or TV show unless it involves Alan Dale dying on-screen of a heart attack, mmmkay? I’m sick of it being used as “emotional shorthand” in the cheapest way possible. Besides, when I read the comic and got to the scene, I thought something like Depeche Mode would play in the background. Sigh.
The changes they made to the characters were really annoying, and sometimes they were fundamental changes. It’s like most of the plot revolving around them stays the same, but there’s so many things about the characters that aren’t fleshed out that would have explained why they did this or that. For example, there’s no real explanation to the complexity in the relationship between Mama Silk Spectre and Baby Silk Spectre, which is such an interesting take on feminism and sexism in superhero culture. And we never see Baby Silk Spectre having this back-and-forth between hating her superhero past and loving it. Instead, she acts as the person who is really way excited about getting back in costume and drags Dan back into his.
Another deep change was that they made no mention of Rorschach’s discomfort with women. We don’t even see the whole thing about why his mask moves and shit. They made Rorschach a lot more sympathetic, and more… I don’t know what word to use, more functional? I imagined Rorschach was in a world of his own, but even in the way he spoke, he seemed like he could still fit into regular society.
And Ozymandias’s plan just seemed like the kind of thing that a regular evil mastermind would come up with, whereas when I read the comic, I was riveted by the level of ridiculousness his plan involved… For all the slow-mo used in the movie, I feel like they didn’t linger on the important stuff, relying more on telling us the important bits instead of showing us and letting us reflect on what was happening on screen. There were so many subtle things missing that I was able to fill in from having read the comic, but I couldn’t imagine how a complete stranger to the movie would fill in those blanks. For example, I wish we’d seen more of Rorschach’s shrink and how he is affected by Rorschach. Part of me wants to watch the extended version of the movie and see how much it improves (or worsens). I also hated that they all seemed to have superhuman strength. Come on, these people have been in retirement! They’re not getting any younger! At least they could have explained that they were secretly still keeping strong, or something.
Worst of all, I never fully felt like there was anything at stake. Or rather, I could see some of what was at stake, but I didn’t feel the depth of how cataclysmic the stakes were. This movie’s failures made me realize how much I loved The Dark Knight.
Yeah, Malin Akerman was mostly wooden. To be frank, for any shortcomings involving the acting, I’m gonna place squarely on Zack Snyder. Not that I’ve seen any of his other movies, but it really felt like he didn’t place acting at the top of his priority list at all, it was like he cared more about replicating the look and feel of the comic a lot more. I don’t know if it was because he thought, “No one’s gonna care, this is an action movie! The fanboys don’t care about beautiful acting, they want to see Rorschach’s capture sequence to be portrayed exactly as it is on the page!” (The sequence involving his capture was, indeed, awesome to watch.) I don’t even know how much prep work they did on the actual performances. But on the screen, it very much felt like it was more about what the actors brought to the table and that Snyder gave them minimal notes on how to maximize the emotion. It’s like he just threw everyone in front of the camera and was like, “Okay, ready? Bring it, y’all!” without talking about the motivations of the characters and blah blah blah. And if a performance was subpar, I can see him going, “That’s okay, you tried, we’ll work on it in post-production!” Am I being unfair to Zack Snyder? Well, if he has beef he can write to me about it. Well, to be nice, I think he would make a really wonderful music video director. He’s got a strong visual sensibility.
Some random shit I did like: the liberal use of fake blood. Whoever gets to press the button that makes the blood squirt out like that must have the funnest job ever. Loved the McLaughlin Group bit in the beginning–I thought it was spot-on. I also enjoyed the opening credits where we see the history of the first generation of superheroes. Mama Silk Spectre’s costume was really cute, even if her boots weren’t appropriate for crime-busting. My favorite moment involving Rorschach was when he’s like, “I’m not locked up with you, you’re locked up with me!” It was a very satisfying moment and I thought Haley’s line-reading was perfect. The movie made me appreciate the Comedian’s complexity more, actually! In addition, there were two funny moments in the jail break out that stand out. First, Baby Silk Spectre unnecessarily kicks some guard’s ass, and Nite Owl’s reaction was priceless. Really nicely done, especially because, even though he was wearing his mask, he conveyed his opinion beautifully. Second, I loved Rorschach’s whole “Need to use the men’s room” bit, especially with the door swinging. I think those were my two favorite moments in the movie. I also thought that 80s NYC was rendered nicely. And I thought they tried to leave a lot of in-jokes for the fans, which I appreciated.
There was one moment in the movie that genuinely surprised me. Just the choice of direction was unexpected. It’s Rorschach’s final scene, and he takes off the mask, and he’s crying. I didn’t remember him crying in the comic, but I looked it up and he totally is. Now, when I saw it in the comic book, I thought he was crying out of anger, frustration, disappointment that his former teammates were willing to settle. But in the movie he seems to be crying in resignation and in fear of death, too. That choice kinda does make sense, now that I think about it, but it makes Rorschach’s exit so much less badass than I originally conceived it in my mind.
I’m sorry this post is such a mess. I said so much but nothing really coheres… I guess some Zack Snyder rubbed off on me. Zing!
EDIT: Oh crud, I forgot to mention, I was totally pumped for some of the trailers they showed before the movie. In particular, I almost died of excitement when they showed the Wolverine trailer, not because of Hugh Jackman, but because I had no idea that Gambit was gonna be in the movie! Holy shit, I do not care how bad that movie is, I can’t wait to see Gambit in action!! I used to have such a crush on him (er, the cartoon version of him) when I was like, 8. Siiigh.
Marjane Satrapi + Chris Ware @ NYU Skirball Center (Festival of New French Writing).
Earlier tonight I went to see Marjane Satrapi and Chris Ware in conversation, with Françoise Mouly as moderator. Even though I wasn’t feeling 100%, this was an event I needed to attend because… well, how often do you see a lineup like that? It was fucking free, too. So I HAD to go. I didn’t take notes but here are some of my impressions:
I’d seen video footage of Marjane Satrapi before doing interviews and stuff, so I had a clear sense of what she’d be like. Thanks to my coworker, I had the pleasure of seeing Comic Book Confidential a little while back, so I knew what Françoise Mouly would be like, too. (In one word: HOT.) When it came to Chris Ware, however, I didn’t even know what he looked like, what his voice sounded like, so imagine how surprised I was when he walked onto the stage. No really… one some level he looks like a walking, talking version of one of his drawings, which weirded me out. Even the kinda bummed out attitude was so familiar. And yet, as the discussion went on, he uncovered all these interesting layers that made me appreciate him so much more as a complex individual. His self-deprecation was almost off-putting (his wife must be one patient woman) but it was still genuine enough for people to be able to laugh in sympathy. And hey, for such a mopey cartoonist, he had great comic timing.
I think for the most part I gained a lot of wisdom from Satrapi, but it may just be that her French-accented English just made her sound really deep. What’s cool is that even though Satrapi and Ware have such wildly different styles in their artwork and their creative process, most of the hour-long conversation was dedicated to noting how much they had in common. So one of the really cool things that Satrapi talked about was the relation of the audience and the medium of her work. For example, a reader is very active when reading a comic because they are allowed to imagine what is going on between the panels, but working on the film version of Persepolis, it was difficult to have to fill in those missing points between the panels because a film goer is a lot more passive when experiencing a movie.
Another point Satrapi made was that drawings are closer (more intimate?) to human nature than, say, photographs, because a photograph reproduces reality whereas a drawing reflects the way an individual views the world. Well this reminded me of that Bible passage, “God made man in his own image,” which makes me think of how artists are trying to create the world through their own eyes. There is some quality of wanting to take control and be a little bit God-like when you are an artist, of creating a world and having a say in how things turn out… Do I make any sense right now?
I think it was at this point that Chris Ware chimed in, speaking of his daughter. He spoke of how his four-year-old daughter has been scribbling or doodling ever since she could hold a pencil, but ever since she’s started (pre?)school, she’s been coming home with these pictures of, for example, things that could be recognized as faces. What he meant is that she learned that certain abstractions, certain shapes or whatever, can be combined to form something recognizable. So that a circle can be a head and two dots can be eyes and there can be a line for the nose and a line for the mouth. And this isn’t something that was innate, but that it was something she learned. Yeah, I was thinking about McCloud’s Understanding Comics when Ware talked about this. But I mean, what really struck me was realizing that we learned that certain symbols are universal, so that everyone sees “<3″ and says, “That’s the shape of a heart,” or maybe a triangle resting on top of a square symbolizes “house,” and that this is something learned.
We were able to see Ware’s gradual artistic process, from the blank page until the final product, and you could kind of feel the audience going, “Holy crap.” Cos even in its raw, blue-pencil form, you could see how detailed everything was. Even Mouly and Satrapi were looking at the images and whispering to each other, “Incroyable!”
The other amazing thing was we all got to watch a short animation that Chris Ware did of this… I don’t know, I guess it was a feature on This American Life. The story he animated was so hilarious, and not just because the story was so great, but because the artwork complimented the storytelling so brilliantly. It makes me wish he only did animation. It was pretty wonderful to see his familiar figures in motion.
Man, I haven’t laughed this hard since… er, well, since last night’s 30 Rock. But really, I felt so happy to be there and to witness this event, not least because we got to see this short animation. Earlier today, as I got ready to go out to this discussion, it kind of hit me how lucky I am to live in New York where there’s always all this cool, oftentimes free shit happening. Sometimes I wish I lived somewhere cheaper, but shit like this makes me feel so privileged to live in this city.
I liked hearing about the different methods Satrapi used in her different comics, too, but it was really cool to just hear about her childhood, too, about how she had limited exposure to comics as a child, and then finally learning how much potential the medium offered her to express herself. I wish Ware had shared more about his childhood, too, though he was so sure that the audience didn’t care to hear anything about it. He did mention, though, how annoyed he was
As the conversation wound down, Mouly mentioned that Ware and Satrapi had published their first books at a relatively young age, at 31 and 30 respectively. After the event was over my friend and I were walking down the street, and we both expressed some sort of relief that we still have time to accomplish something. I mean, frankly I find it kinda hard to even see myself alive at age 30 (is that a weird thing to say?), but this event gave me a bit of hope. It made it slightly easier to see a future ahead of me, one where I could actually contribute something of substance to the world, whatever that may be.
Hm… I forgot to mention a lot of stuff about their conversation, so hopefully some other bloggers will fill in. They’ll probably be a lot more eloquent, too. Ultimately, I was left with a deeply positive impression of Mouly, Satrapi and Ware, and it was really cute to see Satrapi and Ware, in particular, praising each other’s work.
Before I sign off, I have some name-dropping to do. First, as I’d hoped, Art Spiegelman was totally there, sitting in the audience. I was just thrilled to be in the same fucking room as Spiegelman. Second, when I walked outside Skirball, I almost bumped into this person taking a picture of his (her?) friend with… Paul Auster! Can you believe it! Paul Auster was at the event too! I mean, unless he just happened to be walking past the Skirball Center at the very moment the discussion was over and everyone was spilling out onto the street. But I doubt it, especially knowing that his work has been graphic novel-fied, I’m pretty sure he attended the discussion too. Fucking cool. Once again, I love living in New York.
Noli Me Tangere.
Much love and respect to Jay Smooth for producing this vid. Que Dios lo bendiga. He’s really gone above and beyond what everyone else has been discussing in the whole Chris Brown/Rihanna abuse situation (and if you go to the youtube page for the vid, there are links to resources on domestic violence). This video was so necessary and it is full of TRUTH.
And to Elizabeth Mendez Berry, I don’t read Vibe so I missed “Love Hurts” when it first came out. But y’all better believe that, when I read the article in the Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006 collection, I was captivated and I thought it took mad chutzpah to say what she said. I really hope everyone watches the video and tracks down the article. It’s totally worth it.
Did y’all have a good Valentine’s Day? I am lucky to say that I had a sweet day, and I can only wish the same to you.
This Post Is Brought To You By The Letters S, T, F, and U.
The Internet gods are smiling down on me.
Some lovely, thoughtful individual converted and uploaded this mofuckin’ remix of Christian Bale’s recent freakout.
Here’s the mp3!!
And here’s the requisite ONTD post about it, if you missed it. But really! HOW COULD YOU HAVE MISSED IT??
Some Notes.
Part I
I just read this post on Moleskine Literario (¿otra vez? ¡pos sí!) about Julio Cortázar’s former spouse selling the rights to three unpublished stories. Iván wrote,
Está claro que Cortázar no decidió publicarlos en su momento por considerarlos equívocos, pero no importa, nadie espera demasiado de esos textos, lo interesante es el legado. Eso sí, el libro será de ultra lujo: solo 100 ejemplares a 260 euros cada uno.
That is, “It’s clear that Cortázar decided not to publish the stories at the time because they weren’t right, but that doesn’t matter, no one expects much from those texts, what matters is the legacy. That said, the book will be an ultra luxury: only 100 copies at 260 euros each.” (My emphases. Also: not a literal translation.)
What really annoys the fuck out of me is that it seems ridiculous to charge 260 euros to get your hands on three unpublished stories. Honestly. This woman couldn’t donate (or even sell!) the works to a museum or a library? Turning the stories into a commodity, a very expensive commodity at that, pisses me off so bad. My dearest hope is that the people who get their hands on this ARE establishments such as museums or libraries that will allow the masses to have some sort of access to them for free, rather than having the copies go to private individuals who, for all we know might use the stories to wipe their asses with them (o lo que sea). Argh. 260 euros! And none of it going to the fucking author, cos he’s dead. So why is it so fucking expensive? Supposedly, it’s just how much it’ll cost to bind the stories in a beautiful volume, and that the publisher won’t be making a profit. Pffft. Okay, even if that’s true, for the consumer, it becomes much more of a “haha, I got one and you don’t” situation. I don’t see why Cortázar’s former wife couldn’t just make it available to a wider mass of people so that we could get a better sense of his writing process and the like.
“What matters is the legacy,” right. But why should Cortázar’s legacy touch only a select few who can afford it? I hope at least one of the people lucky enough to buy the stories just scans the fucking thing and leaks it onto the internets.
Musical Interlude A
“Soch na kya,” from Ghayal, which is a reinterpretation of “Llorando se fue,” better known as the song that inspired “Lambada.” Further proof that this song is bangin’ in pretty much every language and arrangement. Just recently I noticed that “Llorando se fue” actually has Japanese lyrics, which I noted from the use of the words “anata” and “watashi.” Yay for rudimentary Japanese language skills. Anyway, as soon as I realized that I thought, “Geez, I never knew were Peruvian.” It’s just that whenever I think of big Japanese populations in Latin America I think of Peru and Brazil. Heh. But Los Kjarkas are actually Bolivian. Regardless of where they’re from, I’m curious as to why they sing in Japanese in the first place. ¡Qué misterio!
Part II
Words Without Borders updated! Its theme for February is “The Graphic World,” and there’s some sweet translations of comics available. It’s also worth checking out their archives for older translations of comics. For example, there’s an excerpt in English of Fuguet’s “Road Story.” Good shit!
Musical Interlude B
I never made a list of favorite albums of 2008, and I’m so glad because I only listened to Utada Hikaru’s Heart Station recently and I’m loving it. I’m kinda dreading her forthcoming English language album, mostly cos I listened to her newest single and it’s dreadfully boring. But Heart Station is undeniably awesome.
Part III
How do the Kindle fiends do it? How can anyone stare at a screen and just read for extended periods of time? I had a hard enough time wanting to read Colson Whitehead’s “Wow, Fiction Works!” I mean, I opened the page and it loaded in like, five seconds, and then I… proceeded to not read it. Jesus. For like hours and hours I was like, “Oh, let’s put it off for a bit until I’ve finished watching this stupid youtube vid of [insert your favorite pointless youtube time-waster of choice here].” Finally I understood that I wasn’t going to read this essay unless I printed it. Because if I printed it, I wouldn’t be distracted by other open browser pages, not to mention it felt good to have something tangible to read. And it didn’t hurt my eyes to read it! In fact, I was pretty giddy about it. Whitehead is so gleeful in his delivery that it’s infectious.
Happy Belated Birthday…
… To Edgar Allan Poe.
It’s not like I’ve been online that much, so I didn’t even know about Poe’s 200th birthday until I read about it on Moleskine Literario. Not that I read Poe on a regular basis, but I have a particular soft spot for Poe for several reasons.
(1) He was, for a brief period, a Bronxite. And sure, we’re not talking about post-Robert Moses-shitting-on-our-borough-and-leaving-us-to-clean-up-his-mess The Bronx, but this was in the mid-19th century when the Bronx was just woods and farmland. So he was a trensetter (early adopter?) who made the Bronx home before others dared to. Being in such an isolated place (compared to downtown Manhattan) must have been good inspiration for his writing.
(2) He was a master of short fiction, and he was one of the first notable short fiction writers. As someone whose favorite genre of literature is short fiction, I am in awe of Poe’s work. Think of it! Without him as a forefather of the short story, people like Borges wouldn’t exist.
When I was younger and heard he believed a story should have a “single effect,” I got it. To this day, it informs the way I read short fiction and the way I try to write it.
(3) One of the first stories by Ray Bradbury I read was “Usher II,” and at that point I hadn’t read “The Fall of the House of Usher,” but I was still captivated by all the references I did get. My favorite was the reference to “The Masque of the Red Death,” mostly because I thought it would be brilliant to have a house big enough to have seven rooms that were all painted a different color. But of course, the more important thing is that I was led onto the rest of The Martian Chronicles, which I still think is some of the best shit I’ve read in my life.
(4) Hey, remember when The Simpsons used to be awesomesauce? Nevermore!
You can find a lot of his works at the Project Gutenberg site (click here), etc. Hurray for works that are too old to be copyrighted!
Back to Class.
A couple of years ago I took this fun class at school called “Writing New York.” The professors teach it every Spring and, unlike back when I took the class, now they have a blog for it too, so if you’re feeling geeky and want to learn more about NYC by reading awesome books and watching awesome movies, you can actually follow along and join in the discussion here. That specific post I’m linking to has a syllabus and everything. A lot of the reading for the first half of the semester includes a lot of non-copyrighted stuff, so you could probably just look it up on the internets and read it for free.
It’s weird, I recently watched Gangs of New York for the first time, and I was shocked by how much information I’d retained from this Writing New York class. I mean, I was a pretty lousy student, but having taken this class made it so much easier for me to watch the movie and understand it in context. Wish the movie had resonated a little more though, LOL. Definitely not Scorsese’s finest, even though I loved his little cameo.
Anyway, you don’t even have to be interested specifically in NYC to enjoy the texts. In the end, I feel like I learned so much about cities and urban life as a whole.
Yes We Can (Go Back to the Island).
You wanna hear something lame? I can’t decide whether I’m more excited about Obama’s inauguration, or the fact that Lost is coming back on TV. I wish I wasn’t so excited about both things, I’m just setting myself up for disappointment.
