ai wei wei - never sorry

ai wei wei - not god's gift man to man
i like his ideas and some of his works, but at the end of the day he is an egotistical artist at the head of a massive workshop of nameless people
he doesn't seem to appreciate the valor of others because he thinks he is the leader through twitter
that he lives alone and that one person can enact all the change
he doesn't seem to believe in the strength of those who support him and also risk their lives just to help him do the things he does--only without the fame of being a fat man with a twitter account

that being said, some of his works are truly inspiring -- especially the sichuan earthquake victims pieces, but others are not as moving
some of it feels like dada on steroids, and some of its just him camwhoring it up because people don't do it in china and he's so different
he's the one cat that opens a door and leaves apparently
and like a cat, i love and hate him
so i guess what this means is he's definitely a great artist.

Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry (2012)

She lived 7 years happily on this earth.

and definitely an amazing documentary which can only attest to how things should be done--you really do get a good full nuanced complicated picture about the situation and that ai wei wei is not an amazing idol who is perfect, he's also flawed and sometimes not right

"One person can not solve the problems of a whole country. But if everyone ignores the country's problems, what will happen?"
- Gao Ying, Ai WeiWei's mother

i would've loved to see an actual bit from ai wei wei's wif about ai lao, his son from another marriage. why does he speak for everyone? hell, why did the mother of the child only get two lines and the two lines are "oh he's so nice to the son"?

" Ai had his only son through an extra-marital affair. “It was important to show Ai Weiwei as a father, not only because his son plays a crucial role in his life, but also because it’s one of the major reasons why authorities are now able to put more pressure on him,” says Klayman. “Without getting too much into his personal life, it was also important not to hide the truth, and to show that Weiwei is not a superhuman. He is a real person.” " So the man is not an island.

eames - math/science/art

what amazing sensitivity

Eames: The Architect and the Painter (2011)

"We don't do art. We solve problems."
"Best for the most for the least" - Ray Eames

sick day

woke up feeling worse than ever
napped, set up the horse blanket so im extra comfy
gonna be a day behind or so

Art:21 Identity~
starring Steve Martin, Bruce Nauman, Kerry James Marshall, Maya Lin (eek), and Louise Bourgeois
amazing
http://video.pbs.org/video/1237561998/

i like the series because even though it's thematically organized, the content is so rich with great interviews and images
maya lin is like all at once the most serious and adorable artists ever

"I cannot remember a time when I was not concerned with environmental issues or when I did not feel humbled by the beauty of the natural world. A strong respect and love for the land exists throughout my work.
I take inspiration from topography and natural phenomena: water patterns, solar eclipses, mappings of the ocean floor, ice formations, undulations of the landscape. My work asks the viewer to pay closer attention to the land.
As we begin the new millennium, we have to think of peace not just as among our own species but as encompassing all species that live on this planet. We must look at how our activities affect the natural world in which we live."
- Maya Lin (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/Lin/essay.html)

joy joy

interview went really well
northwestern might like me haha
nintendo store right afte rinterview
met up with samson and we went to the tree at rockefeller center, as well as the famous image of 30 rock and the christmas tree
lunch at tgifridays
walked over to kelvin's building and we saw the cool lever house with the tapestries and the huge bronze rat (that looked plush)
had some coffee in the blackstone building which was a little cracked out on christmas
after discussing e-waste and sustainability in the lever house courtyard, went down to the maker bot store on mulberry st--which had the most awesome heart gear and huge 3-d printed displays
after that, did a mini derive because i saw the street art wall changed and took some awesome photos
then went to the new museum of art, saw the exhibitions there on Rosemarie Trockel, and my favorite were definitely her wool pieces and her kunstkammer inspired curiosities with the beautiful scientific illustrations :)
omg Günter Weseler breathing pieces--amazing and terrifying. art really came alive o_o
after that we realized the new museum has a studio space next door called studio 231 which is currently featuring Haroon Mirza, "Preoccupied Waveforms" which was a thumping awesome room
http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/preoccupied-waveforms
following that we walked a bit, went into freitag which had the overwhelming smell of vinyl baggage
and then took the train to penn station to have red mango and look at the empire state building at a nice distance
walked to times square, spotted the ball from a nice distance and saw skyfall :D
good view from the empire terrace and now back homeeeee
whew--did so much!

i feel so lazy..

especially after watching this

First Position (2011)

_amazing_

i only like ballet when it's like this, not the dopey wannabes who fit every stereotype of a ballerina. the major draw for me to ballet is literally doing the impossible with your body--not so much the plinkety music and the classical characters;
every dance has their bad schmoozey moments, like ballroom faces and bboying crotch grabbing but ballet is one of _the_ cheesiest because so many of the girls all look like they desperately need a cheeseburger and to not be fragile pieces of glass

but once in a while you see people who are strong, talented, and beyond graceful and it reminds you that even if everyone can dance or make art, there is such a thing as talent and not everyone has it.

the whole movie reminded me that passion and motivation are the real drives in life, and that if you're not feeling that inner hunger and ache from time to time, you're not really doing what you live for

Michaela DePrince

Jose Sebastian

Aran Bell

degenerate art

Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes (2011)

the art of glass blowing is amaazing
"it's like willy wonka of making bongs!"
amazing.

seriously some amazing piecessss

operation pipe dreams!

Sunday Afternoon in NYC

THROWBACK WEEKEND -- no documentaries though

saturday was nice
pho in chinatown
arc sale (part 2) with zarek
caracas arepas with kelvin
rye bar & speakeasy raines law room -- amazing drink champs elysees & the not so bad 5 points

sundayyy
swoon studio party, being in the presence of JR and tennessee jane watson whattt
meeting an assistant of JRs who wants to "follow me on instagram" (what does this mean, i feel so old)
and then vintage subway train party!!
live jazz, swing dancers, people in their finest vintagery--and some quite lovely women in their flapper dresses and 50s styled dresses and coats (and the hats!)--what a great party in a vintage subway train
the looks on peoples' faces made my entire day
that and the fear of dying on the old train because that ride was _not_ smooth.
now whenever i look at a new train i just have to remember that one guy: "not vintage enough."

http://www.mta.info/metrocard/promos/Vintagetrain/index.html

uh..

yeah..

Craigslist Joe (2012)

yeah......i mean i wanna travel like him but not weep at everything
not the greatest, i wouldnt recommend it really but hey, entertaining somewhat
and lols zach galifianakis

the pot holes of self-understanding

more and more parallels, or maybe it's just the way i see things

They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain (2012)

really starts off dopey in the beginning and has some weirdly humorous things in the middle because he really has no clue what he got himself into
beautiful footage, good summation of burma i think
some horrifying images from cyclone nargis but is definitely most up to date now

"What I do observe is a land where the precepts of Buddhism are so embedded that philosophical acceptance is widespread. It is not a successful nation... and although its tourist business thrives, the nation (at least as seen here) has not yet been colonized by fast food and chain stores that make much of the world look like a Western shopping mall. Even Lieberman, an outspoken critic of its military regime, loves it." - Roger Ebert

and it's a bit unsettling just how much he loves it, starting off the movie by saying how exotic and culturally intact burma is because of its closed of nature
but at least he comments on the fact that it's dilapidating, it's decaying, its hardly thriving and preserving what is most important which is the human experience.

"Lieberman's film is the only doc about Burma available. I gather he may not be an infallible source."
that is also a lie, good job Roger Ebert.


"The lorry is crammed with Buddhist pilgrims, but Mr Lieberman gives his attention to another foreigner seated next to him, who quite ominously explains that the trucks frequently veer off the winding road as they make their way to the top of the mountain, plunging into deep ravines and killing everyone on board.
The drivers, the man further explains to the camera, are not bothered by the prospect of dying....But those who live in Myanmar or who possess reasonable knowledge of the country will immediately recognise the man for what he is: a charlatan unable to resist the compulsion to impress others with “special knowledge” about the supposed dangers of visiting “exotic” locales like Myanmar.

This might seem like a minor point foreigners, but when I’ve described this scene to Buddhist friends in Yangon who have not seen the film, the reaction has ranged from mild disapproval to deep shock that a director could be so poorly informed about the subject of his movie. The handful of Christians I surveyed were more forgiving.

Some audience members at the January screening in Yangon also questioned the title of They Call It Myanmar, about which Mr Lieberman responded that he thought the title was somewhat ambiguous: “I mean, who is ‘they’?” he asked the audience.
Of course when foreigners talk about Myanmar, particularly those like Mr Lieberman who make a point of referring to the country as Burma, there is really only one “they” from which to choose. It would be a stretch to assume that the word is a reference to the poverty-stricken people depicted in the film.

....

Mr Lieberman did acknowledge that there has indeed been a different kind of change, of the sort that is important to people in Myanmar in ways that most Westerners can barely imagine; that is — to borrow the title from a book by Aung San Suu Kyi — the freedom from fear."
http://www.mmtimes.com/2012/timeout/621/timeout62104.html

i know im not in d.c. but

i still want to use this blog for at least my documentary documenting :)

PressPausePlay (2011)

Like the title, it took me a long time to just get through the movie because my mind is so spazzy now, but then again so is the pace of today's society. Everything is multi-tasked, no one really stops to just sit and look in silence, no one really listens to music just to listen to it. People listen to music more as background noise on a daily basis, something to have on while you do work, etc.

ÓLAFUR ARNALDS live with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra at Bridgewater Hall Manchester on July 1, 2010.

Conducted by André de Ridder.

Filmed by the Press Pause Play documentary team: presspauseplay.com

The studio version of 'Gleypa okkur' is available on Ólafur's second album '...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness'

“WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF A NEW DARK AGE. THE CREATIVE WORLD IS DESTROYED. ALL WE HAVE IS CACOPHONY AND SELF OPINION.”
—ANDREW KEEN, AUTHOR, THE CULT OF THE AMATEUR

“THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. THE INDUSTRY IS DEAD. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BE AN ARTIST.”
– SETH GODIN, ENTREPRENEUR, AND PUBLIC SPEAKER

treat yo self + birthpocalypse

oh d.c. part 1 you have been amazing to me and i can only look forward to more good times in part 2: inauguration edition

art market was beautiful, so was the ridiculous 3 page menu for the inaugural ball tasting (spoiler: everything will be delicious)
bought myself an ammonite beaded necklace from keith pearson (aka choctaw keith) from IL and a turquoise and lapis lazuli ring from veronica bennally

saturday:
birthpocalypse was pretty epic, the trail went as follows
shophouse
nanny o'briens
haydee's funk and soul night (regia one liter beers and beggin')
doner bistro

livestreaming? really?

got a hot dog from dc-3 (pickle spear, chili, and tomatoes)
chai at ebenezer's with the lovely erin lau
dinner with the lovelies 7 gals you'll meet at ted's bulletin watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
leslie, raquel, hsiu mei, kailin, cate, lucy and kailey

just now leslie gave me a pair of beautiful quill and bead earrings from pine ridge, south dakota (oglala lakota/geronimo territory say whatttt)
and kailey gave me a copy of sherman alexie's reservation blues

seriously d.c., you're really rivaling santa fe here and it's a bit scary just how much love im feeling for the world