2.25.2009

2 legit

2 quit

2.11.2009

in Blue

Lately I keep listening to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" while writing. I don't know if it's helping or not but I sure am enjoying it.


(from Woody Allen's Manhattan)

2.09.2009

the Dark Side of Fairey

You're not getting a picture with this post for a reason...
I just needed to get this off my chest: if I never see another riff on Shepard Fairey's red, white, and blue Obama graphic it'll be too soon. It's not that it's not a great graphic because it is and I've loved his work since (he's where I claim old-school legitimacy, ready?) reading about him in Transworld Skateboarding when I was in grade 9, but I'm getting older and crustier and something about sudden ubiquity just sticks in my craw (that's a thing that crusty old people say). Actually some of that is probably a reaction to the Canadian Obama-mania. Excellent news for the world, definitely! But! He's still got a lot of work to do! I think the best thing that excited people could do is maybe not buy an Obama t-shirt but instead be inspired to do something locally that echoes the hopes for a proactive, constructive term down south.

His Winnipeg


I finally got around to doing my ex-civic duty and watched Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg tonight. For those who don't know (this means nobody since the movie got great reviews all over and popped up on a bunch of year-end best-of lists in the last two months, and everyone saw it before me anyway), it's a pseudo-documentary on Winnipeg shot in Maddin's regular expressionist-influenced style, mixing Winnipeg history, his own biography, and some great made up truths all about the city. Watching the Arena get torn down all over again was hard to watch, and I caught a cameo by Marcel Dzama's dad (familiar from deco dawson's film: dzama) as Black Tuesday hockey player "Smiley" Dzama, causing me to remember deco's rationale for casting Dzama Sr. as his own son for the film because of the perma-smile that set itself upon Marcel's face every time he stepped in front of the camera. Anyway, if you haven't seen this film yet, well then, dummy, get on it - for your movie health!

2.07.2009

Diplomacy

After some time apart Overheard in New York has recaptured my love with this little gem about the Polish here.