I guess I was real lonely before school started or something cause now that I am not spending 95% of my time in my room I haven't had the urge to post for a while or write in my Dear Public Diary.
Anyway, had a nice vacation in New York with Parker, Smallhead, Willy-Trilly, and Dickie while baby-sitting Becky the dog in DUMBO, then saw the fam and a few friends on a low-key visit to Toronto and Muskoka.
About to settle in and catch up on Jersey Shore under 5 blankets in my uninsulated room. It's like being in Jukkasjarvi. I like it.
After shooting a short film when I get back to New York I'm looking forward to seeing Columbia Film Alum ZOE BELOFF screen her Coney Island Films at THE MOMA on January 18th. Join me, yes?
Weee! So this is the video I directed for SEBASTIEN GRAINGER (click on that link to see Sebastien's pubic hair, no joke) in the summer. I'll put a best quality crab version up on my videos page at some point.
MIKE LEBLANC did the beautiful camerawork on the video, JEREMY BAILEY art directed, and the girls were amazing. You should have heard them screaming on set. It was unreal. Sebastien's wife EVA MICHON did the makeup. She's the best. And if you look closely you can see that the purple leopard face paint matches the shoes she's wearing.
Otherwise things are good. I'm writing a paper on Otto Preminger's film Laura at the moment, working on figuring out some music rights for a short I've written about a girl named Ariel who stalks her lifeguard while singing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid, getting ready to shoot another short film over the break, finishing my treatment for a feature film about a body-switching homo, and getting ready to launch the screening series that CHARLOTTE and I are starting at Columbia. The series will be of queer film and video artists. The first event is a co-sponsorship with the MA Film Program bringing queer theorist Tom Waugh to screen and speak about the film Montreal Main. The next event is a screening of Matt Wolf's Arthur Russell documentary, Wild Combination. Matt is going to come speak about the film as well.
I'll post more info about those as they happen. They are Columbia events but outsiders can attend.
Okay gotta run! Class on a Sunday yuck! But yay!
Labels: FILM, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MUSIC, REALLY FUCKING GAY, YOUTUBE
I went to my first opera tonight. I saw The Barber of Seville at The Met. I got rush tickets for twenty bucks (normally almost three hundred dollar tickets!) and my seat was 15 rows from the stage. I couldn't believe it.
With all this talk of Aristotelean act structure and reading a lot of Bazin's realist film theory in school I thought it would be a good idea to go see live theatre. It's cool to watch from the perspective of wanting to write and direct films - how the writer weaves the story, how the director directs the eye on stage and interprets the nearly 200-year-old opera. Also, I realized how much exposition there is in opera and musicals in general - somehow you can get away with telling the audience exactly how you feel and what you're thinking when you sing, unlike in non-musical theatre where the more intriguing externalization of the psyche is brought about through the characters' actions, the mise-en-scene, the editing, the camera movements - pretty much anything but saying it right out loud. (Basically all this is me trying to spit back out what I've been hearing in class every day for the past few weeks - I feel like I only really know something when I can explain it to someone else - maybe I'm doing a bad job but this is helping me...so sorry for the zzzzzz).
I found I had something in common with Count Almaviva and Rosina in the Music Lesson Scene. In this scene, Almaviva is pretending to be Rosina's music teacher so that they can speak as lovers, but Rosina's benefactor, Doctor Bartolo (the man who intends to marry her before Almaviva can), is in the room. So Rosina and Almaviva sing their messages to each other through a fake aria called "The Unnecessary Precaution". They profess their love to each other in plain view of Bartolo. This kind of code shows up in Moulin Rouge when whoserface and whatsisname pretend to be practicing for the play but are really singing about themselves.
I realized I have regularly done the same thing. How many times have I tried to get out some secret message using songs as code? I often attach great meaning to music and then put the music out there in hopes of the intended recipient getting the message. It's so silly. I remember being very young and blaring Alanis Morissette's "Perfect" from my room when I was mad at my mom. It didn't get any better or any less cheesy from then on. I guess in these instances of trying to get my point across, pure exposition would serve me better - I should just say what I mean. Easier said than sung, I guess. Or vice versa.
Anyway, school has been very busy and great. I have also seen some NYFF and other screenings. I will give my brief reviews now:
To Die Like a Man - As one review I read put it: "It's difficult to make a film about drag queens, murderous gay soldiers, and heroin addicts tedious, but that's exactly what this film does."
Trash Humpers, Harmony Korine - Yes Yes Yes! I think I'm going to be a trash humper for Halloween. "Three
Min Ye (Tell Me Who You Are), Souleymane Cissé - This was difficult to watch without understanding the context of women's rights and current politics in Mali. It felt really cyclical and never really resolved for me - I think that was the point. I'm glad I stayed to hear the director speak about the film. He himself said that at first, this film appears to be quite banal, but when you understand the politics of Mali right now, how women were just denied many rights, this is a very important discussion. (The film follows a woman in a polygamous marriage who is having an affair with a man who is also in a polygamous marriage - Big Love Mali style).
Rachel Is, Charlotte Glynn - My classmate Charlotte made this film about her developmentally delayed sister, Rachel, and their family's search for housing for Rachel. It was really great and if you get the chance to see it you should. Check the website for more info and a trailer - RACHELIS.COM.
Otherwise I'm working like heck at school and I'll have lots more to share, just not very often. I'm starting to write a treatment for my reverse oedipal sci-fi thriller feature length script. When I finish the script next semester maybe I'll share it with you dear friends. Wish me luck!
Labels: BOOKS MOVIES AND OTHER CULTURALISTICALITIES, FILM, SEX, YOUTUBE
In 1518 a plague broke out in Strasbourg causing the residents to dance until they died:
She was still dancing several days later. Within a week about 100 people had been consumed by the same irresistible urge to dance. The authorities were convinced that the afflicted would only recover if they danced day and night. So guildhalls were set aside for them to dance in, musicians were hired to play pipes and drums to keep them moving, and professional dancers were paid to keep them on their feet. Within days those with weak hearts started to die.
By the end of August 1518 about 400 people had experienced the madness. Finally they were loaded aboard wagons and taken to a healing shrine. Not until early September did the epidemic recede.(Source)
The theory is that the people began dancing because of the extreme distress caused by famine, disease, and poverty. The need to dance was so strong that when the urge finally overtook every reason not to dance it ended up killing them.
This reminds me of a documentary I saw in an experimental film class in university. The people of an African (I believe - might have been Haitian...?) village would set aside a day every year or so to go into trances. They would induce themselves into feverish and violent dancing and convulse until they frothed at the mouth, claiming spirits had overtaken them. Animal sacrifices were made. Child shamans spoke in tongues. Huge riotous gatherings took place. And then, the next day, everything went back to normal. People behaved as if nothing unusual had happened. Any indiscretions were not addressed. It was as if it simply did not happen.
Apparently this was a way for them to release stress - these trance dance rituals. They ascribed a higher power to the act of dancing so that they could completely release themselves and be as violent and frenetic as needed without being self-conscious about their movements. I guess it's the same reason that people drink before they feel comfortable dancing. It would appear that the need to dance is inherent, but only when we're either completely desperate for it or we are sure our movements will have no consequences can it really be released. Looking at these examples, it seems that dancing is not at all a frivolous or unimportant activity. A night out on the town could very well save your life.
Labels: DEATH AND DRAMA, YOUTUBE
I've been telling my friends about my aunt who became an Italian Disco Star/Model/Artist forever now, and finally there's proof on YouTube. Here's Mary performing Casino with The Passengers in a sparkling Pierre Cardin dress. Wink.
Here are some words I'd like to put out of circulation:
Hipster: The only people who use this word are old people, people who are classifiable hipsters themselves, or people who feel excluded. Describing someone as a "hipster" has about the same clout as calling something "funky" or "groovy". It's become a huge blanket term to describe a huge part of the population. Within this population there are subsets of annoying people, and there are subsets of really creative amazing people. It is so frustrating to see art/artists/music/musicians/huge areas of a city/restaurants/bars etc. cast aside and shunned because of the quick and easy label "hipster" being applied to them. And usually it's the worst of the bunch attacking from within. It's like the people who make fun of American Apparel are there the most. The ones who make fun of MGMT are the ones who secretly listen to them. It's basically akin to latent homosexuality. The word has always annoyed me, but I'm fed up with it right now because I'm moving to Williamsburg and I'm sick of people telling me not to move there cause it's full of hipsters. It's cheap, it's nice, it's convenient, and I like it. There, I've said it. Now fuck off.
Fashion-Forward: This term is used only by people who have no clue what they are talking about. If they were truly aware of what fashion is they would never say these words together. Accordingly, anything they label as fashion-forward is definitely not.
Random: This word is used by people who are too lazy to think of even one valid word to describe an event properly. Usually, people say "random" when it's not at all appropriate - such as running into someone on the street. It's not "random" to see someone you know when you're outside of your house or at an event.
Weird: I only want this word to be banned in the context of art or when describing a person. "That picture is weird." This is such a terribly boring way to dismiss something without even taking a moment to consider said thing. "Charlie's weird." I would bet that Charlie isn't weird. I would bet that you're a snore.
Exceptions: Ja'mie can say "random" as much as she likes because she's in private school. Also, you can have a weird day or a weird encounter. Otherwise please stop overusing these words.
Labels: YOUTUBE
Spread and embed! Also go to iTunes to buy the new single and the videos - ITUNES LINK.
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MUSIC, YOUTUBE
Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You - Dir. Patrick Daughters & Marcel Dzama.
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, THINGS I WISH I'D DONE, YOUTUBE
I've had Animal Collective's "Bluish" on repeat all day imagining what I would do for their video if I had the chance...and now I just found this video apparently by the amazing Pipilotti Rist. I don't know what it is...I haven't seen it before and I think it's just a mashup of her video and their song but I like it anyway.
MERYN CADELL is a man now. I wonder if anyone steals his sweaters?
Labels: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...?, YOUTUBE
It's so earnest I love it. I sometimes get frustrated when people make things like this so jokily or "fashionably". I didn't laugh at this once - I really think it's amazing. Enya's maybe the most unfashionable/uncool singer but she is so completely in this aesthetic that you have to admire her for it. I want tomorrow, too, Enya.
Labels: THINGS I WISH I'D DONE, YOUTUBE
Labels: YOUTUBE
PLEASURE DOME was fun tonight. It was MICHAEL ROBINSON showing his work and some of his favourite work. I enjoyed Michael's Hold Me Now which was a video containing seahorses and a clip of a blind Mary from Little House on the Prairie while a karaoke version of Hold Me Now played overtop. I couldn't find a clip to embed, sowwy.
I also liked SHANA MOULTON'S Whispering Pines #7, which I couldn't find but another of her videos is above.
See, I'm not so wrong for having an interest in ENYA.
I took RAMON's epic 46 minute track d'Arc and started playing with some audio from one of my favourite VIDEOS and next thing I knew I had 8 minutes of a mash-up that I kind of like (even though it's sloppy and anyone else could do a better job and it's thrown together in Final Cut and I have no idea what I'm doing). Anyway, it's probably good because Ramon's track is so nice and anything would sound good when mixed with it.
Download by right-clicking HERE.
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MUSIC, STOLEN, YOUTUBE
I finally found some footage of Friend Record from Size Small, the Winnipeg kids show that haunted my life. I dressed up as Friend Record last Halloween, and having nothing but memory to go by I did pretty well in re-creating the surreal and terrifying giant record with wooden spoons. I forgot the mouth and eyes, but people seemed to know who I was. See my costume below. Thanks to Kirby for the video linky.
Labels: NARCISSISM, YOUTUBE
