The Night Book
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Forget Biopic, Forget Art, Forget and Just Watch...
Posted: August 31, 2008, 1:46 am by Levari
I can't say enough about how incredibly inventive I have always found this sequence with its simplicity of set-up, and the unabashed romance of artistic creation it invokes in the viewer. The sequence is a perfect use of montage, sound editing and time lapse; the three musical selections heard within the sequence are in total service of the character, and the music places Basquiat clearly within the artistic tradition of his influences, (mainly miles, dizzy, parker, roach, and hip hop) connecting the past with his present in too many ways to count.
Amazingly all of this is accomplished with the slightest of hand and deftest of cinematic touch by the director, Julian Schnabel, who managed to accomplish this in his first film with the most basic economy of means. This is something you almost never see, let alone see done well in films with all the money in the world behind them.
I don't know about the accuracy of this film's much debated portrayals of its characacters, and I don't really care because moments like this trump all talk of "facts." The first minute and a half is pure movie making, the second is, at turns, comedy, and then tragedy when one knows how Basquiat's story was to turn out in the end.
And I must write something about the unheralded Michael Wincott. He is an acting treasure, one of our best living and working no matter if he's playing a downtown, gay art impressario, a cuban writer forced to name names by Castro's kangaroo court, or a comic book psychopath in "The Crow." Wincott has that rare chameleon-like ability to totally disappear into whatever role he plays without calling any attention to himself; that's probably why you know his face, his distinctive voice, but not his name.
By the way, notice the walls of Basquiat's studio when this scene begins. I love the child-like city-scape painted around him, it's the kind of city Basquiat or Haring would have flourished and lived forever in creating their art on their own terms - if only the world was so perfect. It's a beautiful little touch that reeks of "you had to be there" accuracy of detail.
"I didn't know Tony Bennett painted!" -
The Bolton Turkey Farm
Posted: August 30, 2008, 8:46 am by Levari
It is said the ancients began painting on cave walls to express their hopes, their dreams, but most importantly, their fears and nightmares of a violent, mysterious and hostile world they simply could not understand.
I stumbled upon this idea because this has always been my approach, at least since I've "come of age," in making the things I choose to make no matter what medium the work takes on in the moment of my creating it. In so doing, "by any means necessary and available" to me, I hope to find my own language to express those same hopes, dreams, fears and nightmares the ancients once had...
Just before Thanksgiving in 1983, my school lined up 150 kids, with a few parents as chaperones, and bussed us to a turkey slaughterhouse for our class field trip. To this day I don't know why. I remember pools of blood on the floors, turkey body parts and guts spread everywhere, the small metal grinders for the bones, boys chasing girls with turkey paws they picked out of old wood boxes, and the look of the turkeys in those pens...pen after pen packed with turkeys...a veritable turkey concentration camp.
I still have nightmares about The Bolton Turkey Farm. Every couple months I dream in a cold sweat as if I'm still that nine year old boy getting off the bus with my classmates, having that putrid smell of raw, rotting turkey filling my nostrils for the first time, and then stepping onto the muddy path leading towards that aluminum barn building.
Those visions and memories from inside that building have come to embody, for me, the world at its cruelest, most inhuman, most unreasonable, murderous and irrational. It was, perhaps, not the most cruel sight I've ever seen - I've seen people shot and killed in drive-bys outside apartments I've been living in, seen people stabbed and writhing in the streets, I've even seen friends murdered (for real) on TV and had it played over and over again hundreds of thousands of times - but for their non-consciousness and their lack of free will, the fate of those turkeys sentenced to their miserable deaths rivals them all.
Inside the pens their rules were the same as ours: survival of the fittest, the weak are ganged up on, run over and destroyed. I remember seeing one lone grey-speckled turkey backed into a corner, his left eyeball pecked so badly it was hanging half-out of his head by a single veined tendril dangling just above the dirt. Most of his feathers were ripped out from his bloody body. He was surrounded by about five or six other turkeys, and all of them were taking turns pecking away at him as he cowered in the corner. I don't know if that turkey did anything to deserve that, or if he was just old, tired or just weak from the day he was born...
Anyway, I've never been able to write about the experience, and I have tried, but the writing was always melodramatic, overwrought, (my best impersonation of Henry Roth's "Call It Sleep,") or trying to be really smart, smarmy Kafkaesque black comedy.
It never worked.
It was never my voice, my perspective. It was try, try, try to be somebody else.
But now that I'm painting and drawing so much, devoting most of my energy to this, I'm finding that "by any means necessary" I'm able to reach a momentary catharsis with certain of these events and moments of my life, both the truamatizing and wonderous. Momentary catharsis, that's all. In the doing. But to feel that, experience it, is very encouraging.
I don't plan these paintings or drawing or the associations and narratives I attach to them. If I have the courage to begin, those memories and narratives simply come to me in the process of making and searching. Phrases, ideas, streams of words, titles (I scribble these down on the backs of receipts scattered around the apartment,) then a narrative creates itself, but that narrative is for me and only me. It is my decision whether to share the narrative, what the painting or drawing means to me, or not to share it, just as sharing the work itself, the end creation, is my choice as well. Most things I don't, or am not ready to, not out of preciousness, mystery or fear, but simply because one knows when the time is right, and sometimes that time never comes.
I try my best not to put that narrative into the visual field other than to convey the energy of that experience for me, or, at least my memory of that experience, that hope, and my hope is that the energy of that experience gives whoever is viewing it an experience of their own, a memory of their own, a visceral experience most of all...I let the technque (or lack thereof) do the rest, and when it works I find I haven't so much painted a painting or drawn a picture, but created a language the way those ancient cave painters once were trying to create a language for what they were seeing and experiencing and dreaming.
The Bolton Turkey Farm. I could paint a thousand pictures. I'll never understand...
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"I believe in the practice and philosophy ...
Posted: August 24, 2008, 1:11 am by Levari
"I believe in the practice and philosophy of what we have agreed to call magic, in what I must call the evocation of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the power of creating magical illusions, in the visions of truth in the depths of the mind when the eyes are closed; and I believe in three doctrines, which have, as I think, been handed down from early times, and been the foundations of nearly all magical practices. These doctrines are:---
(1) That the borders of our mind are ever shifting, and that many minds can flow into one another, as it were, and create or reveal a single mind, a single energy.
(2) That the borders of our memories are as shifting, and that our memories are part of one great memory, the memory of Nature herself.
(3) That this great mind and great memory can be evoked by symbols."
---William Butler Yeats, "Magic" (1901) -
Shhhhhhhhhhhh....
Posted: August 24, 2008, 5:08 pm by Levari
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Sunday Morning...
Posted: August 24, 2008, 6:48 am by Levari
Sunday Morning... -
Face(S)
Posted: August 21, 2008, 6:14 am by Levari
Face:
Singing face
frozen in time.
Face:
Whispering face
trying not to scream
as it tells you
all the secrets
you'll use against them
later.
Face:
Whithered face
with the eyes of
a young girl.
Face:
Scared face
afraid to come
closer.
Face:
Lonely face
in the middle
of a crowd.
Face:
Desperate face
unsure of what happened
or why.
Face:
Determined face
an endless "to do" list
written across
teeth.
Face:
My laughing face
even though it
does not get
the joke.
Face:
Happy face
Sunday afternoon
listening to the sounds
of the marathon runners
footsteps and the crowd's
screams on the street
below.
Face:
Dead.
A mask
dreaming
he was once beloved
upon this Earth.
Korea Town - Los Angeles, 3/18/06 -
This is Fearlessness
Posted: August 19, 2008, 1:59 am by Levari
When's the last time you saw a two minute, uncut close up in a movie? This is the most chillingly intimate scene filmed in the last twenty years. YouTube doesn't do the overlooked classic "Birth," or the actress justice, but a bad share is better than no share at all.
See the film on as big a screen as you can, it's utterly stunning, a fully visualized novella, and an ageless rarity that becomes more and more moving with each viewing.
Jonathan Glazer has only made two films, this and the cult classic "Sexy Beast," a lot of commercials, and many music videos, most famously for Radiohead. It's hard to pick one, but if he's not the best director working in the world, he is our most passionate and daring.
Please, make another film. -
To Friends Scattered Across This World...
Posted: August 19, 2008, 6:56 am by Levari
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The Night Book Is Gonna Make It Funky For You
Posted: August 18, 2008, 5:07 pm by Levari
"Watch a Hardy Boy Mystery!"
The original booty rap video circa 1986. Ridiculous, yes, but try not to nod your head to this. Try.
And then imagine an 11 year old boy glued to some of the first episodes of Yo MTV Raps realizing, "this is the life I want!" -
It's Sunday!
Posted: August 17, 2008, 5:18 pm by Levari
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American Journalism Needs to Clean Up Its Act...Or Get A Life
Posted: August 15, 2008, 1:59 am by Levari
Like, d'uh
PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) - Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever.
Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence.
Its spread was fueled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator.
One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis.
Bigfoot creatures are said to live in the forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. An opossum is a marsupial about the size of a house cat.
Results of the DNA tests were revealed in an e-mail from Nelson and distributed at the Palo Alto, California, news conference held by Tom Biscardi, host of a weekly online radio show about the Bigfoot.
Also present were Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two who say they discovered the Bigfoot corpse while hiking in the woods of northern Georgia. They also are co-owners of a company that offers Bigfoot merchandise.
Despite the dubious photo and the commercial interests of the alleged discoverers, the Bigfoot claim drew interest from Australia to Europe and even The New York Times.
Biscardi said the DNA samples may not have been taken correctly and may have been contaminated, and that he would proceed with an autopsy of the alleged Bigfoot remains, currently in a freezer at an undisclosed location. -
Sasquatch
Posted: August 15, 2008, 9:08 pm by Levari
Why is it that every time someone "finds evidence" of Big Foot or The Lochness Monster or aliens, the picture or video that gets "released" is either blurry, half cut-off or looks like something from a cheap movie studio tour. You would think these guys would spend the money to hire a professional photographer if they were going to go to all this trouble, and moreso if it was real.
And Big Foot in Georgia? Of all places! Are you kidding me? The KKK down there would hunt down any black man who breathed near a white woman even if had he been on the run through those same woods for months. Now you're telling me that not one of these guys could hunt down, much less mistakenly run into a big loping 7'7 ape-man until now? Okay.
By the way, speaking of incredible, not to be believed finds, a couple years ago, after a meeting for work at Universal Studios, I once "found" the legendary "Back to The Future" De Lorean, the one that Michael J. Fox drives, abandoned, alone and rusted in the very back of the Universal lot. It was just sitting there, the skeleton of it, its previous movie glory all but forgotten, looking like Johnny Unitas in a San Diego Chargers uniform.
I bet it's still there.
That's Hollywood.
Anyway, read for yourself.
(CNN) -- A policeman and a former corrections officer say that on Friday they will unveil evidence of what they claim is their biggest find ever: the body of Bigfoot.
The thawed body of a creature reputed to be Bigfoot reportedly weighs more than 500 pounds.
Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, a pair of Bigfoot-hunting hobbyists from north Georgia, say they found the creature's body in a wooded area and spotted several similar creatures that were still alive.
The carcass of the furry half-man, half-ape is 7 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs more than 500 pounds, they say. However, the two are not disclosing the exact location of their discovery to protect the remaining creatures.
Tom Nelson, chairman of the biology department at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, said he's "pretty skeptical" the world will feast its eyes on a new species Friday.
"That would certainly rock mammalogy," joked Nelson, who specializes in the study of mammals. "I see a research grant in my future."
Whitton and Dyer plan to unveil what they say is DNA and photo evidence of the discovery in Palo Alto, California, in conjunction with a group called Searching for Bigfoot Inc.
A photograph on that group's Web site shows what appears to be the body of a large, hairy creature with an ape-like face, stuffed into a large freezer.
According to a written release, the two announced the discovery on an Internet radio show, "Squatch Detective," several weeks ago. iReport.com: Do you believe in Bigfoot?
"The only person we would allow to come down and verify the body was 'the Real Bigfoot Hunter,' Tom Biscardi," Dyer said, referring to Searching for Bigfoot's CEO, who has been looking for the elusive, legendary creature in the United States and Canada since 1971.
Whitton is a Georgia police officer who is on administrative leave after being shot in the wrist during a pursuit. Dyer is a former prison guard.
DNA tests on the body have begun, said the statement, and "extensive scientific studies" will be done on the body by scientists, including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist and a paleontologist.
Nelson, the university professor, acknowledged that new species of animals have been discovered in recent decades and that, in science, "we always acknowledge the possibility of something new."
But he said that even in north Georgia, home to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the foot of the Appalachian Trail, it stretches the imagination to think a family of 7-foot-tall creatures could have eluded hunters, hikers and creeping development until now.
"To the average person, these places just seem like extreme wilderness where you'll find lions and tigers and bears," he said. "The reality is that you're never more than a mile from a road."
The group says the animal is male, has reddish hair and "blackish-gray" eyes and human-like feet, hands and teeth. E-mail to a friend | Mixx it | Share -
We're Baaaaaaackkkkkkkkk!
Posted: August 14, 2008, 9:55 pm by Levari
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The Bloody Warmongers
Posted: August 14, 2008, 4:34 pm by Levari
This is footage of a Georgian TV reporter shot by Russian snipers while giving a live report on attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to innocent civilians. -
I REALLY REALLY want my hometown to win a championship before I die...
Posted: August 14, 2008, 5:16 am by Levari
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The Mystery Of Genius
Posted: August 10, 2008, 5:38 pm by Levari
If you are remotely interested in visual art, Netflix this flick, it's truly amazing to watch the master work, and maybe the best documentary made of any artist ever... -
[nt]
Posted: August 9, 2008, 8:21 pm by Levari
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Sometimes There's Nothing Wrong With A Healthy Dose Of "Fuck The World..."
Posted: August 8, 2008, 6:33 am by Levari
Sometimes There's Nothing Wrong With A Healthy Dose Of "Fuck The World..." -
Outlaws Need Dental Floss Too
Posted: August 5, 2008, 1:12 am by Levari
INT. LIVING ROOM. LATER.
Eddie is watching TV and doing coke off the coffee table. Bonnie comes in. He offers her the coke. She does a line. They watch TV for a long, awkward silence...
Eddie: I feel terrible.
Eddie grabs the remote, and crawls on the floor in front of the TV. Flips the channels: Fox, CNN, MSNBC…War, Famine, Catastrophe, etc...
Bonnie: Are you depressed about the news, Eddie?
Eddie: Yeah.
Bonnie: Yeah, the news is depressing.
Eddie: I mean, the aborigines had their problems too. Sure. Y’know. Tigers in the trees. Dogs after his food. I mean, in the middle ages, everybody really had to worry about witches and goblins. But we have stuff eating at us. We have stuff. We don’t even…I mean, why do you think all of the warlords of the world are stashing all of these chemical weapons for the powers that be…Them…Us. Us…Them. The call em’ weapons of mass destruction, but they’re not. They’re very, very selective! Chemical weapons are very careful about what they destroy. They annihilate people…and preserve things. They love things! You and I would be dead. Gas. Puke. Gone. Whereas, y’know other earlier, older people…the ancients…could look to the heavens, which in their minds was inhabited by this thoughtful, meditative…y’know maybe a trifle unpredictable, wrathful, but never-the-less, up there… this divine…onlooker. Us???? We’ve got anchor persons, and talking heads. We’ve got politicians who decide life and death issues on the basis of their media consultants. That’s what we’ve got!
(Eddie spits up.)
Bonnie: Oh boy, Eddie, I think I’m going to need a mangnifying glass to find what’s left of your good points. What is going on with you?
Eddie: Suck my dick.
Bonnie: No, c’mon. I’m being serious here. I thought you had this girlfriend...and it was this…significant, y’know, mutually fulfilling, blah blah blah, relationship…
Eddie: Things have taken a turn for the worse. That’s all. Suck my dick.
Bonnie: Like what?
Eddie: She doesn’t love me.
Bonnie: Who?
Eddie: My girlfriend.
Bonnie: What do you mean?
Eddie: What do you mean, what do I mean? My girlfriend doesn’t want me.
Bonnie: Oh sure she does.
Eddie: No.
Bonnie: Why?
Eddie: I don’t know, but she doesn’t.
Bonnie: Are you sure?
Eddie: Bonnie, I’m a real person. Y’know. I’m not some God damn TV image here, okay?! I mean, you know that right? Don’t you know that…
Eddie begins jumping up and down like a little boy having a tantrum...
Eddie: Suck my dick, okay…suck my…SUCK MY DICK!
Bonnie: You know if your manner of speech is any way of reflection of what goes on inside your head you are lucky you can even tie your shoes.
Eddie turns and stares at her…
Eddie: Oh, You want me to be kinder? Is that it? Kinder, gentler?! Well, I say, “NO!” Be harder. Be colder. Be a rock. Or polyurathane. That’s my advice.
He holds up his whiskey glass to the light.
Eddie: I say be a thing…and LIVE!
Bonnie: Have you ever considered that maybe you’re doing a little to much shit there, Eddie. I mean even outlaws have to take precautionary measures...
Eddie: Maybe you’re right…….Do you ever have that experience where your thoughts are like these totally separate, totally self sustaining phone booths in this vast uninhabited shopping mall in your head? Do you ever have that experience?
She looks at him.
Eddie: I don’t feel loved! Even if she loves me, I don’t feel it! I don’t feel it…and…Y’know…I’m sick of it, okay! Y’know what I mean?!
Bonnie: I’m going to go.
Eddie: What for?
Bonnie: Home, y’know. My kid... -
Just Another Poet
Posted: August 4, 2008, 3:02 am by Levari
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K-Man
Posted: August 1, 2008, 4:47 pm by Levari
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Klugman
Posted: August 1, 2008, 3:26 pm by Levari
Blah blah blah
Fish cakes
Alas a fish cake.
Yet more fish cakes
Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.
The end of the fish cakes
