Saturday, January 31, 2009

Oscar Fever - Meryl Streep, Mickey Rourke, Sean Penn,

and all the other stars, good luck! What are you going to wear that night?

That's all I have to say on the subject except that Slumdog will lick them all. 

I just noticed that the borders on my homepage here are very Louis Vuitton. What does Freud want?

Anyway I have to brave the cold streets in search of social intercourse. 

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Gothenberg Debauchery Taking it's Toll

We just had out third screening in three days and we cannot complain about attendence. Full houses every night - and a  pleasant back and forth with the audience after the film. Q and A's are fun and we try to be funny and informative (that's pretty much me because Tom lobs grenades at me to keep things moving.  

Leigh (the co-composer) is hanging with us and we pick us new friends - then we eat and drink and stay out sick late - and today we're all feeling kind of sick. Lag and party lag and now I want to throw up. Did didn't go out tonight and se said we would meet at the Rivertons Sky bar where we have free dinner passes so they see us every night. can't timagian what they Swedes think of us. We find the Swedes a bit reserved. 

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Sweden the Land of Aquavit, Not. 1/24

When in the northern European climates in the depth of winter, or the near depth, only go out at night. At night the weather seems better because you can't see how shitty it is. If you can say something about Gothenbourg, Sweden, is that the weather can really suck. 

(this fucking place seems fucking deep) (I'm getting a better picture of Bergman's feelgood larks) 

We have a screening tonight at 10. We flew in from New York yesterday and in a few hours we were standing in front of 200 people, waiting for me to say something enlightening or pithy. Tom immediately started talking, (about how we met - ooh, another romance) which gave me my favorite opening grunts; "yeah, whatever he said". It seems to work. We rattle on for a bit, then the festival host says we have to wrap it. There was one last question from a long, dark beauty - "So, what are you doing now that you are single?". This was a brilliant question and I was about to stutter my way through it when Tom punts the shot with "oh, he keeps about six women busy". Then all I could say was thank you! (shithead) (for that massive lie) 

Then we went to a big party at a night club where I had a massively lonely night.    

Reporting from Sweden and Film Festival Life

We've had it drummed into us with the permanence of a tramp stamp on our ass to be rosy positive in all matters business and don't be looking the gift horse in the mouth. I have to go out and find me some aquavit. Once I do, I should be in a better spirit to go to the next screening. We did sell out last night and it was a good audience though I could have been funnier. I should be tonight since by midnight I should be well adjusted to this soul killing weather. Back in a while. 

 

Part 2 can be found on

www.artnet.com/magazine under The Big Picture. The artnet versje is edited. I'll post Part 2 of my draft once the artnet version has a chance to play out. In the meantime I'll post Sweden. 

Monday, January 19, 2009

The Big Picture





First I was all hot to write about this thing with Shephard Fairey and the Barack Obama poster, and it's historical value or possible historical value but then I thought no, it's a bit early, but then what if someone else writes about it? Then I would be tearing my hair out over not getting my ass in gear and just doing it. So, even though I don't have true posterity to back it up I’ll just blurt it out; Shephard Fairey is the first 21st century artist to create The Big Picture. Big fat deal now because now Shephard's on the Colbert Report and every other hoe media show including _ _ _. I won't say it in case I get a chance to whore it up there.

It’s been right in front of my face for almost a year but it only dawned on me recently. Since I live in New York, it’s been in front of everyone’s face for what seems like a long time. Not as long as the Obama/Biden Platform for the Arts has been around, because I remember reading it and thinking, Reinvest in Arts Education, Tax Fairness for Artists, Art Corps, Healthcare, OMG! I have never read or heard from a politician that had such a strong position on art as a fundamental. I’ve also noticed that most people do not read political platforms because they resemble boring legal documents instead of a fat shopping list. (I’m most people)

When is the last time we had a really famous, humongously popular artwork that a good chunk of the western world has seen and recognized as well as the Happy Face? There's Che Guevara, the mostly misunderstood popular puss on a t-shirt of all time, but monster hot all the same. Back in the day (the 60's) the educated lefties may have known the source photographer of that rebel hunk Che, Alberto Korda. In 20th century America we've had few very popular crossover art works created by artists; Robert Indiana's 1964 LOVE Christmas card graphic for MoMA, that by 1973 had shrunk to a best selling postage stamp, in 1976 bulked up into a huge public sculpture, and now it's a coffee cup. I'd like to forget Peter Max because he sucks. Andy Warhol painted the already universal Campbell Soup Tomato Can but it could be argued that he really deified America's Greatest Tomato, Marilyn Monroe. R. Crumb's 'Keep on Trucking' is (or was) a crossover hit and notable because of Crumb's artist cred. The 1991 Visual Aids Red Ribbon was invented by Visual Aids Artist's Caucus and it didn't take long for that simple lapel loop to change colors, meaning, and political affiliations. My criteria is simple, the picture has to be cool enough to be a t-shirt worn by people, say, in rural Mozambique, and musicians don't count.

Part 1 of The Big Picture