Local trees & c.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Where the wild things aren't 
"Where the Wild Things Are" may be a childlike picture, but it isn't an innocent one. The movie is so loaded with adult ideas about childhood -- as opposed to things that might delight or engage an actual child -- that it comes off as a calculated, petulant shout, the kind of trick kids play to guilt-trip their parents into paying attention to them. It appears to be a movie made by, and for, members of a generation who feel it's unfair to have to grow up. Jonze isn't channeling the feelings of 9-year-olds so much as he's obsessively fingering his own, like the silky edge of a blanket. "Who cares about the children?" is Jonze's sulky rhetorical question. "What about me?"
"Where the Wild Things Are" may be a childlike picture, but it isn't an innocent one. The movie is so loaded with adult ideas about childhood -- as opposed to things that might delight or engage an actual child -- that it comes off as a calculated, petulant shout, the kind of trick kids play to guilt-trip their parents into paying attention to them. It appears to be a movie made by, and for, members of a generation who feel it's unfair to have to grow up. Jonze isn't channeling the feelings of 9-year-olds so much as he's obsessively fingering his own, like the silky edge of a blanket. "Who cares about the children?" is Jonze's sulky rhetorical question. "What about me?"
Thursday, October 15, 2009

See you there!!
Or Gallery: 12 Sun Songs Launch
Friday Oct 16th from 7 to 9.
Zulu Records
1972 West 4th
“Cranfield and Slade: 12 Sun Songs” is a yellow vinyl album made up of covers of pop songs about the sun. Aping a 1970s concept album Cranfield and Slade present twelve songs arranged to represent a day, beginning with songs about sunrise and winding down with songs about sunsets. Tracks range from classics such as George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset,” to the lesser-known “Sun” by singer-songwriter Margot Guryan or “Where Evil Grows” by Vancouver’s The Poppy Family. The album combines field recordings made in various Vancouver locations with electronic sound and acoustic and electric instruments.
Based in rainy Vancouver, Cranfield and Slade are made up of visual artist Kathy Slade and artist/musician Brady Cranfield, working with musicians including Larissa Loyva (Piano, Kellarissa), Johnny Payne (Victoria Victoria, The Shilos), and Chris Harris (Piano, Parks and Rec, The Secret Three, Womankind); and special guests John Collins (The New Pornographers, The Evaporators) and artist Rodney Graham (The Rodney Graham Band, UJ3RK5).
The liner notes for 12 Sun Songs were written by celebrated Canadian poet and critic Peter Culley.
Published with JRP Ringier in the Christoph Keller Edition series.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
on TCM this Friday night---Laird Cregar in The Lodger (1944)
Cregar's anxiety-laden portrayal of psychosexual torment was years ahead of its time, and pushed past censors one of the screen's first and most influential depictions of psychological horror. Combined with the Gothic atmosphere of the period English setting, it was Psycho as imagined by Hammer Films, fifteen years early. This was the future of horror...
Two-year-old in Mensa
Mrs Wrigley, a housewife, added: "His vocabulary is amazing. He's able to construct complex sentences.
"The other day he said to me, 'Mummy, sausages are like a party in my mouth'."
Dr Peter Congdon, who assessed Oscar, said he was a "child of very superior intelligence".
out now the new ecopoetics with Emily Abendroth, Fatho Amoy, mIEKAL aND, Kristen Andersen, Karen Leona Anderson, Stan Apps, Robert Ashton, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Christine Boileau, Timothy Bradford, Pam Brown, Julieann Brownton, James Bunn, Andrew Burke, Bonny Cassidy, Louise Crisp, Justin Clemens, Jon Cone, Jack Collom, Matthew Cooperman, Gregory Day, Tyler Doherty, Thom Donovan, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Theodore Enslin, John Estes, Kate Fagan, Michael Farrell, Alec Finlay, Lisa Fishman, Benjamin Friedlander, Forrest Gander, Jody Gladding, Liberty Heise, Krista Ingebretson, Jill Jones, Patrick Jones, Michael Kelleher, John Kinsella, Kyhl Lyndgaard, James Koller, José MartÃ, John McBain, Ray Meeks, Graeme Miles, Stuart Mills, Peter Minter, Luis-Aguilar Moreno, Derek Motion, Jesse Nissim, Alistair Noon, Lucas North, Antonio Ochoa, Peter O’Mara, Isabelle Pelissier, Carol Quinn, José Rabéarivelo, Daniel W. Rasmus, Joan Retallack, Sarah Rosenthal, Linda Russo, Kate Schapira, Andrew Schelling, Jared Schickling, Jonathan Skinner, Gary Snyder, Juliana Spahr, James Stuart, Alf Taylor, Angélica Tornero, Rodrigo Toscano, Lauren Tyers, Erica Van Horn, Stephen Vincent, Damian Weber, Simon West, Les Wicks...
Friday, October 09, 2009

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize - Glenn Greenwald
Beyond Afghanistan, Obama continues to preside over another war -- in Iraq: remember that? -- where no meaningful withdrawal has occurred. He uttered not a peep of opposition to the Israeli massacre of Gazan civilians at the beginning of this year (using American weapons), one which a U.N. investigator just found constituted war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. The changed tone to Iran notwithstanding, his administration frequently emphasizes that it is preserving the option to bomb that country, too -- which could be a third war against a Muslim country fought simultaneously under his watch. He's worked tirelessly to protect his country not only from accountability -- but also transparency -- for the last eight years of war crimes, almost certainly violating America's treaty obligations in the process. And he is currently presiding over an expansion of the legal black hole at Bagram while aggressively demanding the right to abduct people from around the world, ship them there, and then imprison them indefinitely with no rights of any kind...
Thursday, October 08, 2009
WFMU's Beware of the Blog: Lux and Ivy's Favorites (mp3s)

This interview is essential for truly understanding the mythos of The Cramps. Yes, The Cramps made amazing music, and amazing contributions to the history of music, but to really get a good idea of where they are coming from, is to listen to the music that inspired them. If you think its all crazy rockabilly, you're wrong...
This interview is essential for truly understanding the mythos of The Cramps. Yes, The Cramps made amazing music, and amazing contributions to the history of music, but to really get a good idea of where they are coming from, is to listen to the music that inspired them. If you think its all crazy rockabilly, you're wrong...
Sun Ra, non-stop selections from Live at the Horseshoe Tavern Toronto 1978
BCCLA Files Lawsuit Against City For Violation of Charter Rights

So the billion dollar security budget is not intended at all to protect the population in Vancouver, whether housed or homeless. It is intended to protect an elite group of people who are spending two weeks in Vancouver and Whistler.
So the billion dollar security budget is not intended at all to protect the population in Vancouver, whether housed or homeless. It is intended to protect an elite group of people who are spending two weeks in Vancouver and Whistler.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Scar Stuff: Richard Taylor "Nightmare", "Horror", "Terror", "Fright" (Major/ Random Records, 1962)
Mr Taylor's sketchy profile claims him as "one of the newest sought after 'thriller' actors on the scene today", with producers allegedly finding "his sinister voice mystifying and full of suspense, and in direct contrast to his handsome appearance". Now this all may well be true, but what really strikes me in his delivery is the breathy, manic and nearly unhinged quality he gives these readings. In the best parts (like when the character is all worked up), there's a real sense of low-budget madness coming across -- kinda like the archetypical creep in the cellar was awarded a recording contract or something....

Mr Taylor's sketchy profile claims him as "one of the newest sought after 'thriller' actors on the scene today", with producers allegedly finding "his sinister voice mystifying and full of suspense, and in direct contrast to his handsome appearance". Now this all may well be true, but what really strikes me in his delivery is the breathy, manic and nearly unhinged quality he gives these readings. In the best parts (like when the character is all worked up), there's a real sense of low-budget madness coming across -- kinda like the archetypical creep in the cellar was awarded a recording contract or something....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)