Have to give credit to Will Dixon at http://uninflectedimages.blogspot.com/ for posting this,
as I might not have caught it otherwise.
Well worth checking out.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Jesse
For some reason the death of Jesse Helms a few weeks ago totally passed me by( I must have been otherwise engaged either pissing on a crucifix or opening up a cadaver while browsing my extensive collection of Mappethorpe porn...
Helms first came to my attention during my art school days, around about the time he was causing such a stink in regards to Serranno's Piss Christ and Mapplethorpe's homoerotic photography. He believed work of that nature to be dangerous and depraved and basically wanted them removed from exhibition. Freedom of artistic expression was something Helms cared little about. Ironically in causing such a storm he brought worldwide attention to the very works he was railing against and helped garner the public infamy that they still have to this day. Kriston Capps has written quite an informative little piece for the Huffington Post which can be found here:kriston-capps/jesse-helms
Now I'm not usually one to find joy in someones demise... de mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that: but I have to say that's one voice that won't be missed.
To put that comment in context: The art debacle was one of his minor crimes, google him in regards to his thoughts on AIDS, racism or abortion. I should mention through obvious dementia and the second coming(Bono) he did seem to soften in his later years helping to raise funds to fight AIDS in Africa.
Here's some nice art in his memory:
Helms first came to my attention during my art school days, around about the time he was causing such a stink in regards to Serranno's Piss Christ and Mapplethorpe's homoerotic photography. He believed work of that nature to be dangerous and depraved and basically wanted them removed from exhibition. Freedom of artistic expression was something Helms cared little about. Ironically in causing such a storm he brought worldwide attention to the very works he was railing against and helped garner the public infamy that they still have to this day. Kriston Capps has written quite an informative little piece for the Huffington Post which can be found here:kriston-capps/jesse-helms
Now I'm not usually one to find joy in someones demise... de mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that: but I have to say that's one voice that won't be missed.
To put that comment in context: The art debacle was one of his minor crimes, google him in regards to his thoughts on AIDS, racism or abortion. I should mention through obvious dementia and the second coming(Bono) he did seem to soften in his later years helping to raise funds to fight AIDS in Africa.
Here's some nice art in his memory:
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The Return.
Another couple of weeks have past!
I was meant to return to Ireland for a holiday, but I'm afraid a few things came up and I couldn't make it after all. I am technically though still on my holidays so:
Went to see The Dark Knight and I have to say it lived up to expectations and even surpassed a few. Heath Ledger was a fantastic Joker. The script was pretty damn good; I had a few minor quibbles, but overall it played really well. Nolan obviously referenced the comics, I knew he was a big fan of The Long Halloween and it shows, but he obviously lifted from Frank Miller's Year One(there is a scene in there with Gordon that is an almost a direct translation) and the Batman himself at times really had that bad-ass almost psychopathic feel of The Dark Knight Returns. I was just waiting for him to say "I'm the goddamn Batman!" Thankfully Nolan hasn't gotten around to the All Star Batman yet. They even do a thing with Batman's eyes that made me very happy (I won't say what, in case the one person that reads this blog hasn't seen it yet, but from an artistic point of view it was very pleasing!)
The only thing that annoyed me about Christian Bale's performance was his Dirty Harry imitation when he donned the Batman suit. I realize that it's a way to disguise his voice so he is even further removed from his alter-ego of Bruce Wayne-but I just found it really grated after a while, it's OK when he's in his action mode beating up a bad guy, but when he's standing around conversing on a more relaxed level it just seemed ridiculous; too forced.
Maybe that's just me. There is no doubt however that it is the best Batman film to date and really worth checking out.
Went to the Celebration of Light.
Which is just a wanky pretentious name for a Fireworks display. This is a yearly competition
between various countries. This year it's Canada, USA and China and it plays out over a four day period with the finale I believe on Aug 2nd.
Personally Fireworks for me are about celebration, you know celebrating the fact that something important has taken place: the end of a war, moon landings or even the more obvious 4th of july type thing -something monumental...
This fireworks display is a competition!? Don`t get me wrong it quite a spectacular event, visually stunning and very enjoyable at that but it would be nice to be actually celebrating something.
So for me I pretended that we were celebrating something and my choice was between the capture of Karadzic, George Bernard Shaw's birthday or the Milwaukee man for shooting his lawnmower. www.bloggernews.net/116916
The Lawnmower shooting won out.
"I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want."
Yes you can Lawnmower man, yes you can!
Seattle Art Museum
Every-time we have visited Seattle, the Art Gallery was always closed as it seemed to be under constant renovation. This time it was open and I have to say it was well worth the wait.
The main exhibit was Inspiring Impressionism, which basically was an exploration of the old masters that inspired the likes of Monet,Manet, Cezanne, Degas and Renoir amongst others. Fascinating and informative exhibition and fantastic to see the above mentioned artists actual sketches copying from the likes of Rapheal, Watteau and Velaquez.
Moving in to their Modern Art section, I was more than happy to come face to face with a couple of Jim Dine paintings,a Robert Rauscheberg, a Jasper Johns, a Pollack and a wonderful De Kooning. Topping all that off with Andy Warhol's 1963 silkscreen of Elvis. I was a happy man.
Also paid a trip to the Science fiction Museum which is always a blast. They actually have the original Captain Kirk control chair on display. Nuff said.
Wall-E
Took my son to see the latest Pixar outing and wasn't disappointed. To be honest when I first started to hear whispers about this movie I was not too pushed on seeing it, I had the impression it was just a fill-in movie -like Cars after The Incredibles seemed to be. A movie that was just there to fill a gap until the next Brad Bird offering came along. Boy was I wrong. I was sold right from the opening sequences; beautiful stuff. This movie is right up there with Ratatouille and The Incredibles. The emotion and character that the animators squeezed from the female robot Eve, was just incredible. This seemingly sterile, simplistic, white apple mac looking appliance just lived and breathed !
The live action sequences threw me off a little, but I can see their reasoning behind them, so guess I can let that go.
That'll do for now. I`ll try to get back to regular posting.
Cheers...
I was meant to return to Ireland for a holiday, but I'm afraid a few things came up and I couldn't make it after all. I am technically though still on my holidays so:
Went to see The Dark Knight and I have to say it lived up to expectations and even surpassed a few. Heath Ledger was a fantastic Joker. The script was pretty damn good; I had a few minor quibbles, but overall it played really well. Nolan obviously referenced the comics, I knew he was a big fan of The Long Halloween and it shows, but he obviously lifted from Frank Miller's Year One(there is a scene in there with Gordon that is an almost a direct translation) and the Batman himself at times really had that bad-ass almost psychopathic feel of The Dark Knight Returns. I was just waiting for him to say "I'm the goddamn Batman!" Thankfully Nolan hasn't gotten around to the All Star Batman yet. They even do a thing with Batman's eyes that made me very happy (I won't say what, in case the one person that reads this blog hasn't seen it yet, but from an artistic point of view it was very pleasing!)
The only thing that annoyed me about Christian Bale's performance was his Dirty Harry imitation when he donned the Batman suit. I realize that it's a way to disguise his voice so he is even further removed from his alter-ego of Bruce Wayne-but I just found it really grated after a while, it's OK when he's in his action mode beating up a bad guy, but when he's standing around conversing on a more relaxed level it just seemed ridiculous; too forced.
Maybe that's just me. There is no doubt however that it is the best Batman film to date and really worth checking out.
Went to the Celebration of Light.
Which is just a wanky pretentious name for a Fireworks display. This is a yearly competition
between various countries. This year it's Canada, USA and China and it plays out over a four day period with the finale I believe on Aug 2nd.
Personally Fireworks for me are about celebration, you know celebrating the fact that something important has taken place: the end of a war, moon landings or even the more obvious 4th of july type thing -something monumental...
This fireworks display is a competition!? Don`t get me wrong it quite a spectacular event, visually stunning and very enjoyable at that but it would be nice to be actually celebrating something.
So for me I pretended that we were celebrating something and my choice was between the capture of Karadzic, George Bernard Shaw's birthday or the Milwaukee man for shooting his lawnmower. www.bloggernews.net/116916
The Lawnmower shooting won out.
"I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want."
Yes you can Lawnmower man, yes you can!
Seattle Art Museum
Every-time we have visited Seattle, the Art Gallery was always closed as it seemed to be under constant renovation. This time it was open and I have to say it was well worth the wait.
The main exhibit was Inspiring Impressionism, which basically was an exploration of the old masters that inspired the likes of Monet,Manet, Cezanne, Degas and Renoir amongst others. Fascinating and informative exhibition and fantastic to see the above mentioned artists actual sketches copying from the likes of Rapheal, Watteau and Velaquez.
Moving in to their Modern Art section, I was more than happy to come face to face with a couple of Jim Dine paintings,a Robert Rauscheberg, a Jasper Johns, a Pollack and a wonderful De Kooning. Topping all that off with Andy Warhol's 1963 silkscreen of Elvis. I was a happy man.
Also paid a trip to the Science fiction Museum which is always a blast. They actually have the original Captain Kirk control chair on display. Nuff said.
Wall-E
Took my son to see the latest Pixar outing and wasn't disappointed. To be honest when I first started to hear whispers about this movie I was not too pushed on seeing it, I had the impression it was just a fill-in movie -like Cars after The Incredibles seemed to be. A movie that was just there to fill a gap until the next Brad Bird offering came along. Boy was I wrong. I was sold right from the opening sequences; beautiful stuff. This movie is right up there with Ratatouille and The Incredibles. The emotion and character that the animators squeezed from the female robot Eve, was just incredible. This seemingly sterile, simplistic, white apple mac looking appliance just lived and breathed !
The live action sequences threw me off a little, but I can see their reasoning behind them, so guess I can let that go.
That'll do for now. I`ll try to get back to regular posting.
Cheers...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Well I kept up that post a day thing didn't I>>>!?
Rather than pontificate profusely as I usually do when I start into one of these posts I`ll just jump straight to an image instead.
Anton Dirkin did the tonals.
Cheers.
Rather than pontificate profusely as I usually do when I start into one of these posts I`ll just jump straight to an image instead.
Anton Dirkin did the tonals.
Cheers.
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