sundance

Fiona Banner’s “Summer 2009″

Fiona Banner’s “Summer 2009″ is the ultimate “set and forget” art, which I also happen to think is quite a brilliant and humorous concept. She explains: This piece of paper was left out in the sunlight for the duration of the summer, with a stencil laid on it. At the end of the summer the [...]

SPECTACLE REPORT: Elvis Costello’s Must-Hear Songs by John Prine, Lyle Lovett, and Ray LaMontagne

Elvis Costello and Lyle Lovett.

Some people imagine I have a head start with my SPECTACLE encounters simply because my guests and I share an occupation.

However, the location of the specific common ground has often been unusual or obscure.

For example, Lyle Lovett and I both contributed to Robert Altman’s motion picture, SHORT CUTS.

I wrote the song “Punishing Kiss” for Annie Ross to perform, while Lyle, rather more crucially, was featured as a sinister confectioner. So, there was not much cause for dialogue, other than to remark upon this coincidence.

When I started my career, my unfortunate face and manner of speaking, which has often been mistaken for insolent at international borders, had me frequently described as “aggressive” or – perish the thought – “surly.”

In truth, I foolishly imagined that my songs might flourish while I remained out of the spotlight, but my natural shyness and impatience to get on with my work was often incorrectly decoded.

So while Ray Lamontagne may have found it hard to imagine that SPECTACLE’s M.C. was in anyway reticent, I can appreciate how his own natural reserve could be lazily mistaken for being “difficult.”

All I can say is that throughout our conversation Ray spoke with the same singular clarity and generosity found in his songs.

For all the contrasts between our three guests, one idea stands: they are all singers who have prevailed after initial comparisons to other performers, even when these supposed resemblances were intended to be complimentary.

I’ve always believed that a lot of good songs have been written while unsuccessfully attempting to copy the style of another writer. A lot of pop music is like this; you start out with someone else’s rhythm or voice in your head, and in utterly failing to duplicate it, you find your own.

Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of your own home

An image from 7 DAYS.

Four words of advice for film-loving humble folk who aren’t packing up their parkas and heading to the Sundance Film Festival this year — and especially for the even humbler folk who aren’t near any of the eight theaters around the country that will screen Festival films and host filmmaker Q&As on January 28 as part of the Sundance Film Festival USA audience initiative: Turn on the TV.

The View From Here

Clockwise from upper left: Larry Sultan, “My Mother Posing for Me,” (1984) Henry Wessel, “Southern California,” (1985) William A. Garnett, “Contour Graded Hills, Ventura County, California” (1953) and Ansel Adams, “Clouds, from Tunnel Overlook, Yosemite National Park, California” (1934)

Children growing up everywhere, in the middle of nowhere, middle America or in the backwoods of the Northeast all have specific visions of California. Of all the states in the country, why California? Why do people I meet today tell me how when they were children all they wanted to do was go to California? One reason: photography. Whether their impressions are of the Ansel Adams variety or the vastly more popular surfer/life guard/beach bum/eternal party culture California, they can all be traced back to specific images from photography both low (think neon bikini postcards) and high.

Short film: HEART

heart from laurent clermont on Vimeo. A lonely heart roams the urban cityscape looking for some companionship in this sweet and short film by Laurent Clermont. It’ll warm even the heart of the biggest cynic and grouch out there.

Nevada legalizes male prostitutes, but will the women pay to play?

Nevada County has finally legalized male prostitutes — so now the only question remaining, especially with the approval arriving in the middle of a recession, is this: Will the phones be ringing off the hook, or will the silence be deafening?

Too much air up there

As we brace for awards season, I buckled up and went to see UP IN THE AIR, on the lips of many-a-critic as contender for Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actor. So why did I find it so … airy? As in, without much substance?

And I’ll readily admit, I like some smooth Clooney romance just as much as the other guy, and Vera Farmiga is a great partner for George in a little heated hub-bub. (Although nothing, but nothing, tops Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, in Soderbergh’s OUT OF SIGHT.) AIR does have some great elements – sharp dialogue, snappy performances, and an organic, surprising twist that plays beautifully – so what’s the problem?

Christoph Niemann’s 2010 weather forecast

February 28: Local fog for bespectacled people entering warm room. Previously mentioned award-winning artist Christoph Niemann posted on his New York Times blog, Abstract City, an illustrated weather forecast for 2010. It’s quite amusing and oh-so-true, especially his prediction for “Spontaneous showers and umbrella purchases” on March 10, 2010. I think I went through over [...]

Green products for your home: which ones really work?

If you’re thinking about any kind of home improvement or renovation, you may find yourself overwhelmed with the array of “green” choices out there. Paints, appliances, building materials, decor items… there are lots of products claiming green cred.

Of course, longevity is one of the key elements of product sustainability, so you need paints, appliances, building materials and decor items to work… and to work for your lifestyle. Architect and LEED AP Maia Kumari Gilman has a post up at Green-Buildings.com that provides an overview of some of the products she’s worked with, and which ones she really likes (and doesn’t). Among the winners:

Avatar or Pocahontas?

While I’ve seen the below image passed around the Internet for few weeks now I’d be remiss not to post to SUNfiltered. As James Cameron’s Avatar continues to dominate box office records on its way to possibly unseat Titanic as the biggest grossing film in world history, this little note may connect the dots if [...]

Sundance Films Top 10 Sexy-FAIL Moments

To count down to the Sundance Film Festival, we’re blogging about some of our favorite movie moments in the festival’s history. We’ve covered the Top 10 Lessons in Love, Top 10 Lessons in Young Love and the Top 10 Oddest Couples. This week, we’re featuring the movie moments that make you feel funny in a bad way, make you squirm in your seat, give you second-hand embarrassment or leave you holding your knees rocking back and forth saying “No” over and over.

Channelling Joseph Cornell

Left: Joseph Cornell’s Untitled (Soap Bubble Set), 1936; Right: Michael Jones McKean’s “Young Saints and Garden,” 2009

Questioning the 2-D or 3-D-ness of something may seem arbitrary; Really it’s up to the artist. But when the artist works both ways, how does he or she decide? Take a look at Joseph Cornell, the famous assemblage artist. While he’s best known for his boxes that contained arrangements of objects, photos and Victorian bric-a-brac, his works on paper similarly combined elements both formal and surreal. It was his move to the 3-Dimensional world, however, that elevated and solidified his status as an artist.

Awesome letter from Mick (Jagger) to Andy (Warhol)

Pulled this one from the time capsule: an informal business letter dated appropriately in 1969 from Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol thanking Andy for agreeing to do the “art-work” for their new album. Mick, signing off with love, gives Andy pretty much carte-blanche do whatever he wants as well as naming his price.

Sundance Selects brings 2010 Festival films to your TV

Sundance Selects, the new theatrical and video-on-demand film label, today announced an unprecedented collaboration with the not-for-profit Sundance Institute for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (January 21st – 31st, Park City, UT). As part of the “Direct from the Sundance Film Festival” initiative, three films being screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival will simultaneously be available nationwide, on–demand, through Sundance Selects. The films in the collaboration represent the broad range of cinematic expression found in this year’s festival, from a highly anticipated documentary to a thrilling Park City at Midnight title, to a critically-acclaimed American independent film.

Investors Representing $13 Trillion Call for Climate Action Now

The world’s largest investors today issued a statement calling on the United States and other governments to “act now to catalyze development of a low-carbon economy and to attract the vast amount of private capital necessary for such a transformation.”

The Olympic Sport of Oscar Predicting

For years, Tom O’Neil’s Gold Derby has been the cyber watercooler to gather around and catch the buzz about who’s a shoo-in to get nominated–unless their film tanks, they come out with a sex tape, or someone better comes along.

I happen to be one of the professional prognosticators who give their educated guesses to the site’s Buzzmeter section, and though I don’t actually know much of anything about the inner workings of Hollywood, neither do a lot of the Oscar voters, so that works out just perfectly!

This year, I’m betting my grandmother’s life on the fact that the supporting trophies will step to the dark side and go to Christoph Waltz for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and Mo’Nique for PRECIOUS, even if the latter seems to have actively campaigned to lose the award.

Other categories have been harder to predict because when Gold Derby first asked for our lists in November—ranked in order of likelihood, mind you–some of the films hadn’t even screened yet. But again, that totally works out. Some movies like NINE happen to have an Oscar glow around them (not to mention a huge push) from the second they’re announced, and that usually stays with them even after people see the finished product and deem it a three.

Toothy jewelry

Silversmith Polly van der Glas has a full line of wearable jewelry that incorporates real human teeth into them. The teeth are donated but she writes, “Teeth are particularly difficult to come by, so any donations are gratefully accepted.” If you think these don’t have enough “bite” for your edgy style and prefer something more [...]

The best of “best of” movie lists for 2009

Some people vow to lose weight and start exercising in the New Year. I resolve to whip my Netflix queue in shape, trimming out last year’s worthy crap and replacing it with this year’s best offerings, which I have 12 months to get through before they turn into last year’s worthy crap. Aiding me in this task are the nation’s critics, who dutifully spend all year watching movies and the last few weeks in December compiling “best of” lists. Many of these lists tend to look more or less the same, but some offer the occasional surprise. These critical taste quirks are the spice of list reading.

So here, in the spirit of 10 best lists, are the 10 best “10 best movie” lists of 2009. I must warn you that, as a parent of two small children who only rarely leaves the house to sit in the dark with cinematically minded strangers, I have seen very few of the movies on these lists. (Thus the great importance of proper Netflix queue maintenance.) Then again, given how many kid-friendly movies made it onto the lists this year, that excuse may be a bit flimsy. Too bad. It’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. On to the list of lists!

Green Cup Challenge invites schools to save energy, money, and maybe the planet

Can schoolkids do what world leaders in Copenhagen failed to do last month: lower greenhouse gas emissions in the face of climate change? You may have already seen how some students challenged leaders in Denmark with patches from the climate quilt; now, the Green Schools Alliance (a sponsor of the quilt) has persuaded 128 schools in 22 states to take direct action against global warming by participating in the Green Cup Challenge.

Naked News: Hotel sex, guilt, and Russell Brand

photo by MACSURAK

• Oh man, we love behind-the-scenes hotel dirt. Like this recent report from the Novotel chain, claiming that one of their employees was hit on the head by a sex toy thrown over a balcony by an angry husband. Also, apparently hotel guests have left behind items including a $16,000 necklace, fake limbs, sex toys, a snake, a nun’s habit, a riding crop, and a baby (?!).
  
  
• A study finds that some women may have lower sex drives because they experience guilty feelings about being sexually aroused. If you thought libido was a tough problem to fix, try guilt…
  
  

Glenn Beck’s inspiration?

Glenn Beck scares me. His politics, his theatrics, and his ridiculous bouts of crying, ignorance, and insensitivity all combine for a freakish and dangerous show. I don’t like the man. On Facebook the other day my pal Jack Shamama linked to the above clip from The Kids in the Hall, the sketch comedy group and [...]

School is in session

An Art History lesson at BHQFU.

Even though the Bruce High Quality Foundation has exhibited at places both high and low, from the W Hotel to P.S.1 MoMA and the upcoming Whitney Biennial, they still, quite often, have to explain themselves. One such example is the BHQFU, the Bruce High Quality Foundation University, a series of classes open to the public in subjects such as Philosophy of Motion Pictures, What’s a Metaphor and Occult Shenanigans in 20th/21st Century Art. More explanation defying courses are listed here, the most stupefying being the BHQFU Detective Agency (just try making sense of the website). But if you’re really interested and you want to know more, BHQFU, like a proper institution of higher learning, is having another open house this evening.

Collection of Warner Bros “The End” screens

Check out this interesting collection of “The End” stills from Warner Brothers films. It’s displayed in chronological order so one can see the subtle design changes and updates starting in 1925 with LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN to 1967′s COOL HAND LUKE. Hover over any of the stills to see the movie title shot. [Via]

Sundance environmental films: the natural environment

They’re big! They’re ugly! And they might give you warts! They’re cane toads… in 3D! Mark Lewis’ CANE TOADS: THE CONQUEST, which premieres at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, isn’t your typical nature documentary. This follow-up to 1988′s CANE TOADS: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY portrays the “horror” of an invasive species with a heavy dose of comedy, but still provides a provocative illustration of the ecological damage a non-native “invader” can wreak. Imported to Australia in the 1930s to deal with pests decimating the Queensland sugar crop, cane toads represent “Australia’s most notorious environmental blunder”: they didn’t eat the Greyback Cane Beetles, but did multiply like crazy…

The world’s first sex robot

The AVN Adult Entertainment Expo was held in Vegas this past weekend, overlapping (not accidentally, one imagines) with the geek-fest Consumer Electronics Show. There were some areas of overlap, with sex booths showcasing 3-D porn, and a sort of “Wii for men” (a box attached to the johnson creates sensations that sync up with dirty scenes on the screen), and what’s being touted as the world’s first interactive sex robot.