tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61049232011-04-21T19:54:25.284-04:00the song of self-inflicted homework **and the brain sketchpad of dan schank**danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comBlogger1511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1125365398874160472005-08-29T21:29:00.000-04:002005-08-29T21:29:58.876-04:00

andy warhol was always saying things like: "if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning." he documented a dissolving empathy-- his paper-thin jackie-o returns to the tabloid from which it was pulled. she is a document of a cultural event, and little more. "meaning" follows the logic of the above quote-- warhol repeats images, standardizes them, pulls things to the surface, and

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1125365317108712552005-08-29T21:27:00.000-04:002005-08-29T21:28:37.110-04:00

cronopios and famas is a fun little book by julio cortazar. it is split into three parts-- an "instruction manual," a fairly aloof family memoir, and a series of short fables regarding the invented (?) characters from which the book takes its name. each part reads more like a "prose poem" than a narrative, rendering the reading experience refreshingly free and unstructured.first and foremost,

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1125365152262787842005-08-29T21:24:00.000-04:002005-08-29T21:27:02.833-04:00

10. celebrities that sneak around my store on the down-low, but get recognized regardless.9. watching kinsey with my mom. now, i won't lie-- enduring endless statistics about males masturbating 700 hundred times a day (in a hundred million sordid ways) was no picnic, being next to the woman that birthed me and all... but it enabled a nice dialogue when it was over-- one that speaks well of the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1123750075893142722005-08-11T04:47:00.000-04:002005-08-15T21:31:26.706-04:00

i often find that my greatest problem, artistically, has more to do with vocabulary than with form or content. meaning that it's neither inspiration nor technical prowess that tends to trouble me, but iconography (and its process of generation). my ideas formulate and my skills are what they are, but finding the right forms for them is a horse of a different color.in this regard, taiwanese (

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1123750013661864252005-08-11T04:46:00.000-04:002005-08-11T04:46:53.663-04:00

i have mixed feelings about j.k. huysmans' "french decadent classic" against nature...first and foremost, it is one hell of a weird novel. it's not really even a "novel," actually. it is literally an account of the indulgences of a fussy, rich reclusive. its ever-changing series of literary and aesthetic oddities have more in common with a contemporary mix tape than with much of the "realist"

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1123749956717060002005-08-11T04:45:00.000-04:002005-08-11T04:45:56.723-04:00

an album i'm enjoying lately is mitchell akiyama's small explosions that are yours to keep, which i found via the infinitely useful and illuminating aquarius records website.the album's combination of avant garde electronics and humble acoustic flourishes makes it a welcome addition to a growing crop of warm electronica-- best represented by albums like matmos' the civil war or the books' the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712996127894762005-07-30T04:42:00.000-04:002005-07-30T04:43:16.130-04:00

i can't get tropical malady out of my head. it's been over a week since i've seen it, and i'm beginning to debate spending ten bucks to see it again when it opens here in philly. i'll attempt to explain why...malady is told in two parts, which-- though stylistically quite distinct-- feed off one another in a circular sort of way. it begins with a slow-going gay love story involving a soldier and

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712937889173652005-07-30T04:41:00.001-04:002005-07-30T04:42:17.893-04:00

i've spent the past month or so dealing with kafka-- i finally read the castle from cover to cover, followed by walter benjamin's famous essay on him, and ending with deleuze and guattari's toward a minor literature. during that time, i've been trying to formulate my own investment in his work.as far as my personal inclinations go, like deleuze and guattari, i'm not terribly drawn to either of

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712876507587922005-07-30T04:41:00.000-04:002005-07-30T04:41:16.510-04:00

(...my vacation was totally fantastic...)10. the window seat, and its quick peeks at that sprawling geo-quilt we call a landscape... the distancing jolt of apprehension and the not-quite-real acknowledgement that you are, indeed, hundreds of feet in the air...9. a delicious and nostalgic veggie burrito from pokez, with chips and salsa, of course...8. gabe's house, which is enormous and charming.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712825755226932005-07-30T04:39:00.000-04:002005-07-30T04:40:25.756-04:00

i like george romero for many of the same reasons i like sam fuller. both are inventive, intelligent film-makers who give and give and give... their strengths arise out of an affection for genre, a lean and dynamic approach to visual storytelling and a tendency to lay it on thick. they share a wild streak-- an impulse to follow things through to their garish extremes, as well as an eye for the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712754116776772005-07-30T04:38:00.000-04:002005-07-30T04:39:14.116-04:00

i was fairly excited at the prospect of a grittier batman. i like the darkness of batman, the way he always seems unsure about his own project, etc. and batman begins had all the makings of a more sophisticated superhero flick, which it delivers in heaps with its A-list cast and micro-managed "seriousness." but at the end of the day, it's still a comic book movie. at a certain point it has to

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712681805498652005-07-30T04:37:00.000-04:002005-07-30T04:38:01.806-04:00

by 10:30pm on jeweler's row in philadelphia, the diamond rings and gold chains are locked up for the night. in the store windows, structural terrariums await the coming decor. white felt necks and fingers; hacked and hemmed to the whims of tomorrow's affairs. it remains inviting after hours-- despite its lack of function-- triggering those everyday apocalypse aesthetics... the shopper's void made

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712623402379422005-07-30T04:36:00.000-04:002005-07-30T04:37:03.406-04:00

donald richie's a hundred years of japanese film is an informative, insightful, and occasionally frustrating read...informative-- first and foremost-- because richie has been writing about japan (and its films in particular) since the end of world war II, and is perhaps the most influential western thinker concerned with the cinema of the country. accordingly, his accessible and linear account is

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1122712532356880542005-07-30T04:34:00.000-04:002005-07-30T04:35:32.363-04:00

after years of curiosity, i finally saw robert frank's cocksucker blues. the film documents the rolling stones' 1972 tour for exile on main street, and its heavy emphasis on rock star debauchery (groupie fucking, coke snorting, heroin shooting, etc.) has prevented its release in the years since.frank's foggy, deliberately incoherent approach wallows in the unglamourous. his camera shows up at

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1117507451243455492005-05-30T22:42:00.000-04:002005-05-30T22:44:11.246-04:00

well, i only completed two books during the month of may, for reasons both bad (weird work schedule, volatile attention span) and good (working almost nightly in the studio). but i did manage to read the second of patricia highsmith's "ripley" novels, ripley underground.what i like about tom ripley-- the identity-stealing psychopath at the center of the books-- has to do with his vulnerability.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1117507351955365492005-05-30T22:41:00.000-04:002005-05-30T22:42:31.960-04:00

i should post more about music...)jj turned me on to the music of antony and the johnsons a while back, shortly after i missed seeing them with him. ho hum to that. anyway, in the abstract, the rumors of a frank decaro-esque gentleman who sings like nina simone had me from the get-go, and the comparisons to scott walker certainly didn't hurt either. when their record i am a bird now hit my

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1116388588064188882005-05-17T23:56:00.000-04:002005-05-17T23:56:28.066-04:00

most film footage involving athletes-- whether narrarated by bob costas or directed by kon ichikawa-- tends to focus on ideal forms and circumstances. the athlete is typically an exhalted "everyman," directing his or her physicality towards an unforseen "natural" union. the inhumanity of the performance is, in fact, a superhumanity. the athlete brings to life the imagined blossoming of his/her

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1116388497588074342005-05-17T23:54:00.000-04:002005-05-17T23:54:57.593-04:00

haven't done one of these in a while...ten good things for the springtime ("the only pretty ring time")10. led zeppelin's "custard pie" sounded every bit as good to me in my mother's car last weekend as it did when i was twelve years old. "custard pie" is the first track from physical graffiti, an album which-- to this day-- remains my all time favorite summer record. the perfect soundtrack to

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1116388439727651542005-05-17T23:53:00.000-04:002005-05-17T23:53:59.730-04:00

at the store, we're selling a mounted print of this salvador dali painting. the museum is coming to the end of a major dali exhibition, and i've been immersed in dali commodities for several months. it gets you thinking...surrealism, for better or worse, is not only one of my biggest preoccupations, but also perhaps the most fitting adjective for my artwork (feel free to throw "neo" in there if

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1116388372930239992005-05-17T23:51:00.000-04:002005-05-17T23:52:52.936-04:00

... there's a corridor i find myself gravitating towards. it's a glass connector path, very well lit, with rocking chairs for watching the planes move about.the airport is aesthetically interesting on account of its awfulness. it's an empty vessel, characterized only by the corporate and bureaucratic signifiers of its purpose-- to move people, to move capital. an antfarm of suspended desire and

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113714260239645442005-04-17T01:03:00.001-04:002005-04-17T01:04:20.240-04:00

i'm always perplexed (and usually annoyed) by the amount of laughter generated in movie theatres. i think a certain type of spectator feels an obligatory sympathy for what they're watching... it's as if the preview for hitch will feel "human" inferiority if you don't chuckle at each and every white-men-can't-dance joke, or something like that...with that grouchy disposition in mind, i found

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113714227394493482005-04-17T01:03:00.000-04:002005-04-17T01:03:47.396-04:00

tsai ming-liang loves to film people in their underwear. in fact, if there could be a central image surrounding his body of work, it would undoubtedly be that of lee kang sheng in his tightie-whities. underwear is an important obstacle in a tsai film. it stands alongside his narratives, literally marking the halfway point between public and private behavior. it mirrors the strange allure of his

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113714152930311442005-04-17T01:01:00.000-04:002005-04-17T01:02:32.936-04:00

if there's one thing to be said about the current crop of japanese supernatural thrillers-- best personified by the grudge and ring films-- it's that they appear to be, perhaps accidentally, constructing a new genre of horror itself. and parameters are being set accordingly... these films concern themselves with simple cause/effect premises (i.e. watch a VHS tape that makes you die a week later),

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113714069461789862005-04-17T01:00:00.000-04:002005-04-17T01:01:09.463-04:00

this week i read kenzaburo oe's nip the buds, shoot the kids...it's pretty bleak stuff-- concerning a war-time plague in a japanese village, and the reform school adolescents who are left behind in it. the tone is atmospheric and somewhat allegorical, concerned more with its distinct sense of dread than with plot or even character development. which is fine in my book. oe was only 23 when the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113713931430464782005-04-17T00:57:00.000-04:002005-04-17T00:58:51.433-04:00

i highly recommend james baldwin's wonderful, illuminating non-fiction text the devil finds work. baldwin's book occupies a middle ground between "film theory" and "memoir," without succumbing to either the stuffiness of the former, or the narcissism of the latter. put most simply, it is an account of the experience of watching movies. it is casual in tone, but harsh when necessary. it is nuanced

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113713811536729362005-04-17T00:56:00.000-04:002005-04-17T00:56:51.536-04:00

here is a link to a page containing some interesting, hard to find experimental films from the likes of man ray, harry smith and hans richter. it also contains an interview with craig baldwin, and dali/bunuel's worth-the-hype un chen anadalou. i've only watched one so far. i have DSL and it still took a while to boot up, so proceed accordingly.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113713758672689102005-04-17T00:55:00.000-04:002005-04-17T00:55:58.673-04:00

over the past week, i did two things to my copy of l'abbe c that would make its author proud:1. i read it.2. i barfed all over it....what better to read as you make war with your worst stomach flu in years than a novel by mr. bataille?? even if this is ultimately an unessential one. the story concerns twin brothers: charles-- an amoral libertine conducting an affair with an enigmatic prostitute

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113713663463014292005-04-17T00:53:00.000-04:002005-04-17T00:54:36.996-04:00

(*** indicates things that still do)10. the high dive.9. what would happen to my body if i drank enough jolt colas in a row.8. that thing that crawls into that dude's ear in wrath of khan. it's still gross. (oh stop pretending you don't know what i'm talking about...)7. the film version of whitley strieber's communion-- which i still have not seen to this day. its sheer existence was enough to

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113713597258957842005-04-17T00:51:00.000-04:002005-04-17T00:53:17.260-04:00

(well, i already broke my pact with myself... this week's book took two weeks. ho hum.)for the past two weeks i've been reading the dream life: movies, media and the mythology of the sixties by village voice film critic and all-around-good-opinion-haver j. hoberman (or, as i like to call him, J HOBA). hoberman's book re-traces our most-hyped decade of the recent past as seen at the movies. as a

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1113713478915263672005-04-17T00:50:00.000-04:002005-04-17T00:51:18.916-04:00

my favorite thing about jean renoir's film grand illusion is that it's the only war film i've ever seen without an antagonist. "war," as construed in the film, is not so much a struggle as a predicament. throughout the narrative, characters on both sides of the conflict (world war I) make continuous attempts at an agreeable co-existence. they interact with one another. they act out of a sense of

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1109639235813091262005-02-28T20:06:00.000-05:002005-02-28T20:07:15.813-05:00

should anyone prefer a less long-winded account of the books i've been reading, i've just added my first 42 word book review to the online journal horse less press (which also features a lot of interesting poetry, for all you poetry-inclined lj friends). should be good practice. i could probably use a little editing...

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1109639186506553312005-02-28T20:05:00.000-05:002005-02-28T20:06:26.513-05:00

this week's book was imago, the conclusion to octavia e. butler's xenogenesis series (also known as lilith's brood). it's tough to describe these books without making them sound like garden-variety, sci-fi dork stuff. there are aliens... there are humans... they take place-- following a nuclear war-- in an alien reconstruction of pre-industrial earth... all of which might turn off 40% of the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1109639110058880892005-02-28T20:04:00.000-05:002005-02-28T20:05:10.063-05:00

having read its "tomatometer", as well as an infinite number of best-of-2004 lists, it's disappointing that a more complex dialogue surrounding spike lee's she hate me has yet to emerge. i'm not surprised that it hasn't faired well critically or commercially. but it does seem unfortunate--and even downright lazy-- that, in a year when lars von trier's equally uneven, quasi-offensive dogville has

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1109047868743515332005-02-21T23:48:00.001-05:002005-02-21T23:51:08.750-05:00

(and you thought i forgot to read my book for the week...)this week's book was what is cinema? vol. 1 by andre bazin. lately i've been recognizing that my film-nerd-dom is moving beyond a mere hobby, and if i'm ever going to utilize it in any way, i might as well get a little grounding in what's been written on it. hence bazin. anyway, here's a thought inspired by it:in bazin's essay, "the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1109047793002583402005-02-21T23:48:00.000-05:002005-02-21T23:49:53.006-05:00

token description: patricia highsmith's the talented mr. ripley concerns a young opportunist who leaves new york city (and relative financial squalor) for italy, in hopes of bringing trust-fund-playboy dickie greenleaf home to his father. upon arrival, he develops a peculiar friendship with dickie, which eventually goes sour. upon putting together that dickie and his almost-girlfriend marge are

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1107327328138749112005-02-02T01:54:00.000-05:002005-02-02T01:55:28.136-05:00

this week i read the history of sexuality, vol.1: an introduction by michel foucault (and the fact that it took all week to read it should indicate how slow and easily distracted a reader i am). rather than arrogantly assume i have anything substantial to add to the already-infinite debate surrounding foucault, i'll simply say i found it fascinating, and make three points that sort of evade my

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1107327285163300262005-02-02T01:53:00.000-05:002005-02-02T01:54:45.163-05:00

... is that he treats "poignancy" as if it were an exploitation genre. ...yes, i just watched before sunset... and yes, following his insufferable waking life, i sorta wanted to hate it. but what bothers me, i hope, is deeper than simply an art-dude aversion to sentiment. i love, for example, cameron crowe's humble and well-intended say anything. i want to describe where i think linklater goes

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1107327146732405742005-02-02T01:51:00.000-05:002005-02-02T01:53:23.900-05:00

so, the good folks at artofvision convinced me to make a YMDB top twenty of my favorite films. here's the link. YMDB lists foreign films in their native language, so if it seems like there's a lot of high-falutin' nonsense, just click on the title and you'll figure out what you're looking at. the list is volatile, and will certainly change (at least in my brain). i made a somewhat self conscious

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1107327052031506362005-02-02T01:50:00.000-05:002005-02-02T01:50:52.033-05:00

i cheated. i've been reading this for over a month. but i did finish the final 225 or so pages this week... david s. reynolds' walt whitman's america: a cultural biography is exactly what it purports to be-- a cultural biography. i wish most biographies were "cultural," actually... i'm personally less interested in the nuts and bolts of a figure's life than i am in how he/she relates to, differs

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1107326984143003622005-02-02T01:49:00.000-05:002005-02-02T01:49:44.143-05:00

ok, another late new year's resolution: i will read a book a week (hopefully for the rest of the year) and jot something down about it each monday or tuesday. sound good??? first up is denton welch's autobiographical memoir maiden voyage, which is available from the always interesting exact change press. the story documents welch's sixteenth year, during which he runs away from school, travels

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1107326911948804882005-02-02T01:47:00.000-05:002005-02-02T01:48:31.950-05:00

one of the many great things about soulseek is that it allows you to revisit records you've owned lousy dubbed cassettes of for years but never upgraded. one such record of mine is hit to death in the future head by the flaming lips. i will now revisit that record autobiographically... ...when i look back on my high school years, one thing that always strikes me is the lack of older siblings

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1104564359495890702005-01-01T02:21:00.003-05:002005-02-21T23:52:18.076-05:00

i've been seeing a lot of great movies lately, and at the top of my recent faves sits film, samuel beckett's 1965 near-silent collaboration with director alan schneider. everything about film produces meaning. in fact, i would argue that there is more legitimate content (as opposed to narrative flourishes) in the twenty six minutes of this concise treasure than in most three hour epics. gestures

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1104564303928301842005-01-01T02:21:00.002-05:002005-01-01T02:25:03.926-05:00

again, in no hierarchical order... 10. cramped urban sports demand a peculiar element of fantasy. unlike traditional playground sports, where one might fancy oneself a "michael jordan" anytime a skillful two points are scored, fantasy becomes integral to the game. the poor kids huddled around my neighborhood rowhomes are under obligation to imagine that the seven-foot-tall wooden bucket they've

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1104564242965581922005-01-01T02:21:00.001-05:002005-01-01T02:24:02.966-05:00

i just watched brian dannelly's saved!, that mandy moore movie about jesus and stuff. the movie's pretty bad (sorry ed, i know you liked it). it can't really make up its mind what it wants to be... it occupies this wishy-washy middle ground between cynicism and sincerity, resulting in an experience too cynical to be sweet and too sweet to be funny. macaulay culkin does a bad ferris bueller

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1104564170452574352005-01-01T02:21:00.000-05:002005-01-01T02:22:50.453-05:00

india song, a 1975 film directed by french novelist marguerite duras, inevitably sent light bulbs flashing above the head of calvin klein. one wonders as to the number of euro-elitist perfume ads this film has inspired. in the canon of boho pretentions, one would have to look to an alain resnais or an ingmar bergman for a celluloid specimen more "sprockets-like" in its style and delivery. the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224664923723032004-12-05T01:29:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:31:04.923-05:00

i decided to begin posting my more thought-out posts from my new blog, "the bad baroque", here... so if you scroll down, there's a good bit of new info for you...

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224504997404222004-12-05T01:27:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:28:24.996-05:00

well, i finally saw dogville, lars von trier's controversial allegory about power dynamics in rural 1930's america. and while, ultimately, i think it's miserably one-dimensional and needlessly long, i am (perhaps reluctantly) glad i made it to its conclusion. it at least got me thinking... first, let's get the description out of the way-- dogville is the story of a mysterious, beautiful woman

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224434110742912004-12-05T01:26:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:27:14.110-05:00

reading an interview with tsai ming liang today (with rebels of the neon god sitting here in its netflix package, waiting to be watched), i was reminded of how much i love lee kang sheng, the star of most of his films. lee kang sheng's enigmatic blankness is too fickle and peculiar to merit comparisions to the bold singularity of a clint eastwood or an alain delon. his non-presence is not a

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224366730211662004-12-05T01:25:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:26:06.730-05:00

... is the three minute dose of mayhem that has been missing in my life for some time now. the song, called "new tappy is heard and beheld," is emblematic of why this album is totally great, and why this band gives me hope for howl-at-the-moon rock music as we know it. their earlier record, the golden river, was a big surprise for me at the beginning of the year (as noted on my other blog *scroll

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224303238751792004-12-05T01:24:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:25:03.240-05:00

dear dawn of the dead remake, i really wanted to like you. i admired you for casting sarah polley in the title role. i was even prepared to put aside my indifference toward ving rhames, thinking his on-screen persona was fitting enough to fill the shoes of the great ken foree. and i even loved your first fifteen minutes (like everyone said i would)-- where you got right into it with good pacing

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224240340445422004-12-05T01:23:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:24:00.340-05:00

ol' dirty bastard was not merely a clown, but at his best, reached the operatic heights of a wailing little richard, a strutting iggy pop or a marching freddy mercury. i first heard ol' dirty in the wonder-bread, ultra-caucasian environment of art school, 1995. i greeted him with enthusiasm, being eager to plant new words like "dada" and "nihilism" into any awkward contemporary context i could

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224179379834562004-12-05T01:22:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:22:59.380-05:00

i was reading at work today and i came across a brief description of a "singles bar." when i think of a singles bar, the first image that pops into my head is fred mac murray and shirley mac laine in that shady chinese restaurant from the apartment. what a singles bar might be in 2004 (as opposed to 1960) totally escapes me. but it's the sort of thing i feel a kind of distant expectation to know

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224118379273822004-12-05T01:21:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:21:58.380-05:00

i am increasingly obsessed with the tv show arrested development. it has become my most beloved distraction from apocalyptic thoughts in the wake of the election. i think a lot of people are turned off by the show because it is so complex. like seinfeld (but better, i would argue), it's the sort of thing where if you miss the beginning, you won't get all the jokes at the end. so here's a little

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102224036352268692004-12-05T01:18:00.001-05:002004-12-05T00:20:36.353-05:00

i thought this up while bored at work... 10. my favorite crappy snack food is andy capp's hot fries, the only junk food product i can think of with a target audience of disgruntled old men. i find it amusingly inaccurate to make the most lifeless, unfunny cartoon character in history the spokesperson for the spiciest corner-store snack food in history. i also really like the way andy capp is

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102223955042574702004-12-05T01:18:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:19:15.043-05:00

i've had an exciting day. me and my dad have been chit-chatting about taking a day trip to the hawk mountain bird sanctuary for about a year and a half, and today we finally did it. the sanctuary is located about 20 miles south of pottsville, PA-- a town which inevitably has seen a great deal of my $$$, being the home of the yuengling lager brewery. all of this is tucked away in lush,

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102223848840374772004-12-05T01:16:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:17:28.840-05:00

friday night, a recent film by claire denis, is one of the most stubborn, singular and miraculous things i've seen in quite a while. it is as warm as it is austere, and as thoughtful as it is thoughtless. put simply, it is the story of a one night stand. and as such, it is the deepest and most tender film i've ever seen devoted to the subject. it also surpasses in its complexity any account i've

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102223727271198002004-12-05T01:15:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:15:27.273-05:00

finding bob rafelson's 1972 film the king of marvin gardens on netflix was certainly a pleasant surprise. it's nice to know that things like it manage to emerge on dvd. gardens is one of those weird, smart examples of 70's american cinema. the kind that sits on the footnotes of the hyped, canonical 70's (godfather I & II and so on), next to other offbeat treasures like robert altman's mc cabe

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102223661330647082004-12-05T01:13:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:14:21.330-05:00

i haven't been too dilligent lately with the reading, writing or art-making. this is because of the shiny new machine i'm currently tapping away on... three or four days ago, my roommate charlie allowed me to download all of the music from his portable hard drive-- essentially his entire collection (plus about half of my own that he copied)-- and as a result i now have 7000 + songs stored on this

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1102223571651314172004-12-05T01:12:00.000-05:002004-12-05T00:12:51.650-05:00

dog days is a film with an interesting gimmick-- austrian director ulrich seidl chose to shoot his tale of human oddities in a bland austrian suburb exclusively on days where the temperature went well into the nineties (fahrenheit). accordingly-- one can assume-- the sweat coating his impressively un-lovely cast is the real deal. days is seidl's first fiction film (he's known for offbeat and

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1094541712047099872004-09-07T03:13:00.000-04:002004-09-19T12:49:44.820-04:00

apologies for the lack of posting, folks. the problem is that i've now been computerless for several months. BUT, the wait is about to end. in the comping weeks, i will enter the world of the PC... and posting will begin again. but not here (at least i think)... i set up a new blog at livejournal. this site contracted a virus, now eliminated, which was why it was offlimits for such a long time.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1089012892997208792004-07-05T02:46:00.000-04:002004-07-05T03:34:52.996-04:00

my favorite "reading on the train" music of the moment is venice, the new record by fennesz. it's a subtle and engaging piece of work, and manages to keep me well entertained for an album consisting of static and bleeps and things of that sort. i'm far more low brow and conventional when it comes to music-- as oppossed to film and visual art-- and i'm ashamed to admit that i can lose interest

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1088802599130556182004-07-02T16:00:00.000-04:002004-07-02T17:09:59.130-04:00

(well, i'm officially becoming a gus van sant fan. i never liked his earlier stuff too much, even the credible shit before good will hunting and the other chase-your-dreams flick he made after it, ol' whatsitsface.) elephant makes a nice companion piece to gerry, which i posted about (scroll all the way down) a while back. both are essentially plotless, even if elephant does flirt a bit more

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1088447313856934642004-06-28T14:02:00.000-04:002004-06-28T14:31:12.850-04:00

1. joanna newsome plays the harp. and, upon seeing her perform last wednesday (with previously-posted-about devendra banhart and espers), i found out she plays a great big harp. like, bigger than a human being. in addition, she writes brilliant, peculiar folk music and sings like a cross between billie holiday and minnie mouse. her voice is alarming at first, perhaps not unlike that of brother

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1087189964552911192004-06-14T01:02:00.000-04:002004-06-14T01:12:44.553-04:00

a walk through west philly at night is different than that of my familiar fishtown. everything is a bit wider. you notice facades and signs rather than storefronts. fishtown feels cramped, and an intimacy emerges from the compact spatial situation. for example, the hundreds of little holiday window displays set up by neighborhood families. west philly, on the other hand, seems handsome despite

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1086931577362733092004-06-11T00:47:00.000-04:002004-06-11T01:26:17.363-04:00

well, i'm probably the last person that ought to be saying much about errol morris' film the fog of war-- what with my abyssmal knowledge of history and all-- but i thought i'd react to it anyway. for the sake of debate, if nothing else. first off, it's not neccessarily a great documentary by any means. the dull philip glass soundtrack is only noticeable because the name "philip glass" is

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1086756535368398922004-06-09T00:21:00.002-04:002004-06-09T00:55:19.580-04:00

* devendra banhart is making some really interesting music. days in the wake-era will oldham is a decent point of reference, but before you cry "been there, done that" comes the twist of psychedelic randomness, giving the two records i've bought by him a quality not unlike "tyrannosaurus rex"-era t.rex. the earlier record, oh me oh my is a lo-fi oddity not unlike early smog, minus the venomous

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1086411690657762262004-06-05T00:39:00.000-04:002004-06-05T01:01:30.656-04:00

(i'm back, by the way... the computer is hooked up and all...) since everyone is already raving about the movie, for a million reasons, i'll just mention a few that effected me specifically... * the way the special effects seem not only appropriate-- but also neccessary-- to the structure of the film itself. all the tricks i'm so used to dismissing as a bunch of MTV bullshit are so perfectly

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1084652533569224302004-05-15T15:34:00.000-04:002004-05-15T16:22:13.570-04:00

(forgive me, this will be another silly entry... kinda getting back into this after a few weeks) being at my parents affords me a look at my high school yearbook, inspiring the following thoughts: 1. my affected, misanthropic high school front seems an awful lot less rebellious ten years after the fact, which pretty much goes without saying-- except for the fact that it's actually my sister's

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1084597854096059042004-05-15T00:55:00.000-04:002004-05-15T01:10:54.096-04:00

well, through a sort of downgrade, it appears that this site will get to continue. my now deceased '97 mac will soon be replaced by my dad's old PC. my dad was very sweet and erased a hundred billion tax programing files (he's an accountant-- making my existence a bit more mysterious... huh huh), so despite its "vintage status," i believe it'll work out ok. at the moment, i'm dog sitting for ma

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1082951953622314162004-04-25T23:48:00.000-04:002004-04-26T00:08:03.983-04:00

this is from olivia, who i assume intends to playfully criticize my blog by sending me such things free of context. and i'm posting it free of context too, cause i haven't bothered to find any. its funnier without it, i guess, and seemed worthy of a post. i certainly got a laugh out of it. and i guess it also adds a chuckle or two to the fact that this site comes up in searches for "walt whitman

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1082754140683715862004-04-23T16:57:00.000-04:002004-04-23T17:06:30.060-04:00

can anyone recommend some good silent films to check out??? me and erin are starting a project revolving around them.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1082612610454998792004-04-22T01:38:00.000-04:002004-04-22T01:47:37.013-04:00

i just watched paul rudd on conan o'brien. i've seen him on jon stewart before too. he's always really natural and funny-- totally the opposite of most of those interviews, even when decent people are doing them. so what's up??? why isn't this guy in anything cool (other than clueless)??? he's charming and charismatic. what gives??? is anybody with me on this??? click on the link if you don't

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1082502748747446402004-04-20T18:50:00.000-04:002004-04-20T20:26:31.746-04:00

reading over some of the reviews of kill bill, vol. 2, i have to say my impression is a little different than most of what i skimmed over. having loved vol.1 as only a nerdy kung fu fan can, i was a little disappointed with the second installment, even though-- as a whole-- i think it's a pretty compotent statement from someone who clearly could have glided along on his coattails at this point

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1082440661846108742004-04-20T01:57:00.000-04:002004-04-20T02:04:20.466-04:00

i brought my record player up to the living room from the basement yesterday. my records are weird... about half were formerly my dad's. i never really bought records (or-- for that matter-- understood vinyl-purists, you closet-capitalist snobs!!!). most of the records i've bought were cheap or from thrift stores. i make a lot of mix cd's (and tapes before that), and records always eliminate

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1082350280422100802004-04-19T00:29:00.000-04:002004-04-19T01:05:42.590-04:00

a few posts back, i mentioned how one of my favorite scenes from harmony korine's gummo involves a little girl jumping up and down on a bed, repeating "i wanna moustache, dammit!!" an incident from the subway the other day can help me explain what is so striking about such a scene... i sat behind a woman with two rowdy little girls. the girls were pushing and playing and entertaining themselves

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1081911721328098062004-04-13T22:54:00.000-04:002004-04-13T23:12:50.716-04:00

while it is true that there are better things i could be doing right now, i just read this article on the NYtimes website a moment ago, assessing the president's speech tonight. conferences of this sort are always most interesting in their awkward moments, and it is unfortunate to see the level to which the times glossed over a big one. here's the quote from the article: "I don't want to sound

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1081833359708704782004-04-13T01:01:00.000-04:002004-04-13T03:01:33.246-04:00

alenka zupancic's ethics of the real is a good example of what i like about theory/philosophy-- namely the frustrating, illuminating momentum i feel while deep in the throes of partial understanding. upon finishing this book about a week back, i felt confused and provoked and perplexed and engaged. none of which lends itself to much other than "word salad," which is all i can promise is about to

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1081739536746649732004-04-11T23:09:00.000-04:002004-04-11T23:16:09.843-04:00

i promise some real posts soon. in the meantime...

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1081312958909876772004-04-07T00:39:00.000-04:002004-04-07T00:47:27.966-04:00

so as to make myself a better quizo player, i've been looking into the american presidents... here's the top two that i know the absolute least about: this one and this one. if you know stuff about either of those presidents, i salute you. i guess.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1081141245293396692004-04-05T00:45:00.000-04:002004-04-05T02:10:55.310-04:00

the hole is the second film i've seen by taiwanese director tsai ming liang. the first was what time is it there?, which i posted about shortly after starting this blog. having loved what time..., i had high expectations going into this earlier film (1998), and i must say it lived up to them. the hole is a kind of minimalist take on the plague/apocalypse theme that's been popular lately (in 28

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1080970412395840272004-04-03T00:16:00.000-05:002004-04-03T00:58:02.543-05:00

since i haven't been able to talk anyone into seeing the dawn of the dead remake yet, i might as well post a bit about the texas chainsaw massacre remake. i found it a bit better than i thought it'd be, unlike ed, who was pretty much ready to throw down after watching it. the thing to keep in mind is that it's a hollywood horror flick. so i went into it treating it as such. and i thought it had

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1080804094158053072004-04-01T02:13:00.000-05:002004-04-01T03:16:21.873-05:00

i've been posting a bit less cause i've been going out more. in the past week, i saw three shows... figured i'd say what i have to say about them... first was animal collective at vox populi, one of philly's few decent galleries. animal collective is part of this emerging scene of hippie-ish noise rock, which i find promising... they take what's fun from the old noise/spazz stuff and combine it

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1080431339878594002004-03-27T18:34:00.000-05:002004-03-27T20:03:14.466-05:00

so, i watched half of gummo the other night. i've seen it several times, but not in a few years. it's strange how it felt a bit different this time. the stuff i love about it is all still there (the jarring interplay of stage-y acting and documentary-like non-acting, the merciless integration of exploitation and compassion, the little girl jumping on a bed and shouting "i wanna moustache,

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1080273012591785822004-03-25T22:25:00.000-05:002004-03-25T22:53:42.610-05:00

i read on the "philadelphia metro" today, alongside such groundbreaking news as "boy brings crack to show and tell," that, according to travel + leisure magazine's recent "america's favorite cities" aol online poll, philly was dead last on two accounts: least stylish, and least attractive... so stuff another soft pretzel in yer face, fellow philadelphians... if that's all there is my friends,

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079934719772371232004-03-22T00:39:00.000-05:002004-03-22T00:56:46.090-05:00

while noodling around on the arts and letters daily page today, i found this enlightening article, in which a journalist meets a man in baghdad who has been documenting post-war graffiti there. the results are all over the board, and amount to a rather detailed little window into what may (???) be indicative of the various sentiments there. hopping around from article to article these days, i

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079829814895098502004-03-20T19:35:00.000-05:002004-03-20T23:15:29.890-05:00

the title track of the new destroyer record (scroll down for previous post) is called "notorious lightning." and that about sums up the vibe of the whole thing... most old reviews of destroyer eventually name drop david bowie as a point of reference. but just as the destroyer of albums past was not the familiar bowie -- if it was bowie at all (more "man who sold the world" than "thin white duke

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079596507242397262004-03-18T02:45:00.000-05:002004-03-18T03:45:57.326-05:00

i stumbled across this fun article the other night, which appears to have been written shortly after the lydia davis translation of proust's rememberance of things past was published. (what comes next will be more relevant if you read the article first, but whatever...) ...this piece was really appropriate to me because i'm totally guilty of the sort of thing he's (humorously) arguing against.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079507411926739442004-03-17T02:04:00.000-05:002004-03-17T02:16:00.186-05:00

ok, so i'm two thirds of the way through the new destroyer album, something i've been looking forward to with an adolescent giddiness which, thankfully, hasn't softened any with age when it comes to great music. anyway, it's really strange. the reviews i've read (click on the link for one) warned me, but i didn't quite believe them. full-on synth orchestra effects, enough to make you feel like

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079477109508127942004-03-16T17:40:00.000-05:002004-03-16T17:50:40.233-05:00

here is hans blix, quoted in an article in the NYtimes, on our year old war and our administration: "They wanted to come to the conclusion that there were weapons," he said. "Like the former days of the witch hunt, they are convinced that they exist, and if you see a black cat, well, that's evidence of the witch." pretty harsh stuff. while i'm at it, moveon is asking folks to send letters to

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079255016583565392004-03-14T04:03:00.000-05:002004-03-14T05:08:51.546-05:00

well, i finished the plague of fantasies by slovenian theorist slavoj zizek a few days back, and i've been thinking it over. i'm certainly guilty of the usual laziness in reading zizek, being only an occasional dabbler in theory/philosophy (i'd like to read more, though), with little under my belt as far as time spent with the elusive jaques lacan. the blessing/curse of zizek is that he is in

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079248256210555452004-03-14T02:00:00.000-05:002004-03-14T02:14:09.780-05:00

so, i've decided i'm watching dawn of the dead again prior to the remake. i watch it at least once a year. and now is the time. dawn of the dead is one of my all time favorite movies. i would say top five, with-me-on-a-desert-island-style favorite movies. just the right blend of shape-shifting, weird and unstoppably comprehensive (i'm referring of course to the director's cut, to dork things up

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079157545266945542004-03-13T00:40:00.000-05:002004-03-13T01:09:54.030-05:00

the bassist for the dead milkmen passed away today. and as a fellow philadelphian, i thought i'd jot down some recollections or something... the milkmen were arguably the first punk band that i ever heard of (ok, maybe the exploited or the sex pistols or black flag)... growing up in philly, you had a kind of vague awareness of them, punk or not. and in high school, i spent many an hour with

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1079051798724140672004-03-11T19:11:00.000-05:002004-03-11T20:32:49.340-05:00

i finally saw roman polanski's the pianist last night, and i must say it surpassed my expectations. it has many of the usual conventions of a film geared towards a large audience ("everyman"-ish lead character, emphasis on the personal over the political-- at least for the most part), but it manages to steer clear of the heavy hand that generally marks dramatic films that clean up at the oscars.

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1078644766804774912004-03-07T02:21:00.000-05:002004-03-07T03:21:06.326-05:00

hundreds of virgin skulls gather together and make a kind of virgin-skull-snowball-thing. pointy horns start peeking out of it. the inside is glowing red and smoke is pouring out. sammo hung, in an attempt to contain the forces of evil through some sort of magical power he exerts through his eyebrows (which are about a hundred billion miles long) proceeds to wrap his grey eyebrows, along with

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1078613445138863452004-03-06T17:38:00.000-05:002004-03-06T17:55:35.623-05:00

i'm reading slavoj zizek's the plague of fantasies, and the other day i stumbled across a bit i thought was worth placing in this context: (from page 130 of the verso edition in the link) One should adopt towards cyberspace a 'conservative' attitude, like that of Chaplin vis-á-vis sound in cinema: Chaplin was far more than usually aware of the traumatic impact of the voice as a foreign intruder

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1078382273849757002004-03-04T01:25:00.000-05:002004-03-04T02:02:37.450-05:00

for the past few days, i've been trying to think of artists that have stirred enthusiasm within me recently... and i'm not coming up with much (at least not in the "fine arts"... there are plenty of filmmakers, musicians, authors, etc.). so i've been trying to re-cap, in my brain, things that have impressed me, semi-recently. one such event was the kiki smith show at the fabric workshop about

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1078270848814302192004-03-02T18:28:00.000-05:002004-03-02T18:43:46.420-05:00

out of boredom, i began searching myself/this blog on google. i was reading about how yahoo is charging for listings (???) and i guess i got a little narcissistic... first, i found the walt whitman poem i took the name of the blog from: here's the exact portion: O camerado close! O you and me at last, and us two only. O a word to clear one's path ahead endlessly! O something ecstatic and

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1078031109740702662004-02-28T23:58:00.000-05:002004-02-29T00:42:27.356-05:00

ok, you're all gonna fight me on this one, but i have to say i enjoyed robert rodriguez's once upon a time in mexico. yeah, yeah, it's not great or anything, but i still fell for it. and to make matters worse, i have to also admit that i like desperado better than el mariachi, and maybe his underrated teen flick the faculty best of all. i think rodriguez is "mainstream" in the best sense of the

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1077655037960913582004-02-24T15:10:00.000-05:002004-02-24T16:06:24.793-05:00

ok, folks... here's another news-sample-entry... kerry has just suggested that if he were in office, he would consider intervention in haiti. this is from a NYtimes story: He said that if he were president, he would be pressing Haitian rebels to back off their goal of toppling Mr. Aristide, perhaps by threatening the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. "I think you've got to be

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6104923.post-1077609734582189832004-02-24T02:46:00.000-05:002004-02-24T03:12:40.700-05:00

i was reading a few things tonight about gay marriage in san fran, and i'm realizing i need to read more. funny how there are so many boiling culture wars right now-- certainly the election is bound to be one, to say nothing of michael moore or bill o'reilly or mel gibson or or or or or.... anyway, here's a bit from a recent yahoo article on the subject... man, is that arnold ever surreal...

danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17215561559666644430noreply@blogger.com