This is the end my friend

As you probably could tell this experiment ended a while back.

In 2009 I will have another blog but I won't tell anyone about it. I want to just write and be free of anyone having to know it's me in any shape or form.

For those of you who read and enjoyed this blog in 2008 THANK YOU.

Live long and prosper

the show I wish I hadn't missed

Adjaye Sclera Pavilion

The name "Sclera" means a 'space from my viewpoint." Sclera is an elliptical structure, approximately 12 x 8 meters, divided internally by two chambers. The energetic arrangement of boards is formed by varying lengths of timber alternating with open air, through which sky and city are visible. Sclera, Adjaye explains, refers to the dense, fibrous external membrane covering the human eye. Sclera is made from American tulipwood (also known as Yellow Poplar) in part for its unique colour. The pavilion is currently on view at the Southbank Centre London during the 2008 London Design Festival and will be sold at auction later this month.

Adjaye discusses the project here

Wish we saw more of this kind of temporary art architecture in New York.

JG BALLARD in Crash

1971 film starring Ballard himself - more info here

Web Reading: Links

Detroit artist Abdul Qadim Haqq discusses his artwork for Drexciya and upcoming book project (finally!).

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Author Junot Díaz in conversation with author Richard Price

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Bill Lee - Brooklynite Jazz musician and father of Spike profiled in video

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In depth profile of author Hanif Kureishi

Those formerly buried by history will rise

"Our technology forces us to live mythically" - Marshall McLuhan
"Epsilon Aquazone we're going deep" - Drexciya





"Purple and blue, the lurid shadows of the hollow breakers are cast upon the mist of night, which gathers cold and low, advancing like the shallow of death upon the guilty ship as it labours amidst the lightning of the sea, its thin masts written upon the sky in lines of blood, girded with condemnation in that fearful hue which signs the sky with horror, and mixes its flaming flood with the sunlight, and, cast far along the desolate heave of the sepulchral waves, incarnadines the multitudinous sea." Ruskin


Image: Joseph Mallord William Turner "Slave Ship" 1840
Music: N.O's "Elegia" (extended over 17 minute version)

My Favorite Films: Naked (Mike Leigh)

If you ask me to sum up England as it was when I left way back under the reign of Maggie Thatcher then there's three films I'd tell you to check - Mike Leigh's "Naked," Derek Jarman's "The Last of England," and Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and his Lover" - of the three it's "Naked" that is the masterpiece that has stood the test of time and remains to this day one of my favorite films of all time. Lets get it straight - life under Thatcher was bleak and grim socially and economically. Class warfare was at an all time high. It sucked.

David Thewlis' Johnny summed up the affect of alienation that Thatcherism 'caused for many. His bitterness and self destruction seemingly the only route available to him. I felt much the same at the time.

Looking back now Lesley Sharp's Northern accent and realness of character makes me pine for the Northern girls of youth. That soft lilt in her voice and obvious straight forwardness is charming in a way few American girls are. And most of all the film reminds me of living in Chalk Farm going to acting school (much of the film was shot in North London near where I lived). Mike Leigh even came by our school one day. I remember how much he looked like my favorite teacher from comprehensive school, hunched over and very leftie looking - the total birkenstock wearing type. But you could see he was totally curious, studying everyone with quick glances and hard looks.

Here's a very insightful recent interview with Mike Leigh were he discusses "Naked" and the months of improvisation he went through with David Thewlis and the cast. Leigh rightly notes - "I think David's tragedy, is that he hasn't found a role to match Johnny since." The same sadly could be said of Leigh - though his fame has risen drastically since "Naked" I don't think he's ever reached the heights of he achieved with this special film.

The new Leigh film "Happy Go Lucky" is opening Stateside soon at the New York Film Festival (but its already on DVD in the UK) - it's meant to be his light 'pure' comedy - sadly it's not that funny because the main actress just isn't strong enough to carry a whole film and in the end it is no where near as good as "Naked." The best character is the racist driving instructor (who is also the only bitter character in the film). Maybe Leigh just does bitter better than he does happiness? That is after all a very English trait.

Leigh would do well in these troubled times to revisit the vibe of "Naked" and make a film that like it reflects our times with uncanny skill and pure grit. British film makers have always been able to capture the life of ordinary people far better than anyone else and with the UK currently going through almost as much inner turmoil (racism, economic collapse, failing social structures) as we here in the US are experiencing it would be great to see a master like Leigh cut through the BS and show us some truth of the people. One hopes the runaway success of "Vera Drake" won't mean that Leigh can no longer make films about our times. "Happy Go Lucky" just isn't saying enough about them.

Here's a picture of Mike Leigh shot at the main "Naked" location, followed by the official trailer (not that good) and a scene from the film







The Faber & Faber book of interviews "Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh" is released this month Stateside.

Geeks are funny

One thing that both the US and the UK have come to a consensus on in recent times is how funny Geeks are. In fact Geek humor is now one of the main categories of humor on both sides of the Atlantic. Being pretty much a total nerd myself a lot of things I find funny come from this rising wave including at the top of my list (now finally showing on US TV on IFC), British show "The IT Crowd."

I like the show for all kinds of reasons least of which is Moss played by Richard Ayoade (pictured) reminds me of what I looked and acted like at 14 (yep I really had hair just like that). Two seasons of the show have been broadcast in the UK and in my opinion the second season is far funnier than the first so if you're watching Stateside be patient - this is a show that gets better as it progresses.

Here's the first episode in three parts







And here's a brand new article on Richard from The Guardian today which reveals he's adapting the Welsh novel "Submarine" by Joe Dunthorne which amazon describes as a journey "into the mind of a troubled 14-year-old boy obsessed with his virginity, his parent's failing marriage and the dictionary." Sounds like perfect material if you ask me.

No post until September

simple enough - won't be posting until September - sometimes you have to live not comment / document.
If you have ideas, suggestions, comments - send them along.
Lots of good stuff to check in the archive meantime.

Brian Eno on Barry Lyndon and Unthinkable futures

BRIAN ENO: UNTHINKABLE FUTURES
originally published in the Summer 1993 issue of Whole Earth Review

* Everybody becomes so completely cynical about the election process that voter turnout drops to 2 percent (families and relatives of prospective politicians) until finally the "democratic process" is abandoned in favour of a lottery system. Everything immediately improves.

* It turns out that nearly all the conspiracy theories you ever heard were actually true -- that the world really is being run by 150 malevolent men with nasty prejudices.

* Smoking is proven to be good exercise for the lungs.

* Genetic research shows that it is possible to create gifted scientists, great artists, sublime linguists and supreme athletes. Everyone starves to death through lack of farmers, cooks and waiters.

* It becomes clear that there are significant racial differences between people -- that the stereotypes were right after all.

* Ordinary people routinely employ publicists.

* Public relations becomes the biggest profession in wealthy countries.

* Sexual roles reverse: men wear makeup and are aggressively pursued and harassed by women in ill-fitting clothes.

* Video phones inspire a new sexual revolution whereby everybody sits at home doing rude things electronically with everyone else. Productivity slumps; video screens get bigger and bigger.

* Suicide becomes not only commonplace but socially acceptable and even encouraged. People choose when to die: living too long is considered selfish and old-fashioned.

* A new profession -- cosmetic psychiatry -- is born. People visit "plastic psychiatrists" to get interesting neuroses and obsessions added into their makeup.

* Meanwhile, as the cult of youth fades away, plastic surgeons find a profitable new market in making people look interestingly wrinkled, wisely aged, and experientially weatherbeaten. Also, as Oriental aesthetics sweep the West, the traditional values of physiological symmetry and freedom of blemish are seen as naive and uninteresting. Perfect youngsters from Colorado, after years of fretful mirror-gazing, finally save enough money to get their noses put on wrong, or to have a few teeth blackened.

* Tanned skin is once again seen as the mark of peasantry. Sunblock-wearing becomes routine.

* Mass outbreaks of allergies unexpectedly solve all our transportation problems by confining almost everyone to their sealed residences. Telecommunications stocks soar.

* 2025 AD: A social archaeologist discovers a cowshed built from nineteen old Julian Schnabel paintings.

* Abandoned highrise projects become the residence of choice for the new urban chic, changing hands for ever-increasing sums, until finally only lawyers and stockbrokers (skillfully posing as members of dispossessed minority groups) are able to afford them.

* 2010 AD: California elects the first transsexual governor. All public toilets are redesigned at great expense.

* New drugs to pacify children (modern laudanum) are smilingly sold by big pharmaceutical companies (wish they'd hurry up!).

* A new kind of holiday becomes popular: you are dropped by helicopter in an unknown place, with two weeks' supply of food and water. You are assured that you will not see anyone else in this time. There is a panic button just in case.

* Seed companies start selling packets of unpredictable mutants produced by random genetic engineering programmes: "JUST PLANT 'EM AND SEE WHAT COMES UP!" Suburbia is covered with exotic new blooms and giant cucumbers.

* A new concept of "global Darwinism" takes root: people argue for the right of the human species to rid itself of weak specimens. Aid to developing countries ceases. Hospitals become "viability assessment centres" and turn away or terminate poor specimens.

* In reaction, a new definition of viability (based on memes rather than genes) is invoked. People are subjected to exhaustive tests (occupying large amounts of their time) to check the originality and scope of their ideas.

* A new profession, meme-inspector, comes into being.

* Schools abandon the attempt to teach the three Rs, concentrating instead on wacky and controversial "personhood" therapies. Everyone grows up bonkers in some way or another. The whole of the next century is like the late sixties.

* A highly successful new magazine -- Ordinary People, edited by the nonagenarian Studs Terkel -- focuses only on people who have never done anything in particular to deserve attention.

* A new type of artist arises: someone whose task is to gather together existing but overlooked pieces of amateur art, and, by directing attention onto them, to make them important. (This is part of a much larger theory of mine about the new role of curatorship, the big job of the next century.)

* The first Bio-Olympics, where athletes can have anything added to or subtracted from their bodies, take place in 2004.

* News is understood to be a creation of our attention and interests (rather than "the truth") and news shows are redesigned as "thinktanks," where four interesting minds from different disciplines are asked the question, "So what do YOU think happened today?"

* Later, four uninteresting minds (chosen from the pages of Ordinary People magazine) are asked the same questions.

* Direct-mailing organizations carry increasingly complex and subtle character assessments of their targets. To avoid being deluged by the resulting irresistible offers, people routinely begin buying inconsistent products. This is designed to confuse the profilers.* Pro-lifers, meanwhile, discover that women are less likely to miscarry if confined to bed and sedated for the first trimester. Congress bows to pressure and legislates rest.

二天一 / Ni ten ichi ryu / two heavens as one

A style of classical Japanese swordsmanship conceived by the famous warrior Miyamoto Musashi in around 1640.

Niten Ichi (二天一, "two heavens as one")
Nitō Ichi (二刀一, "two swords as one")

The director Hiroyuki Nakano has also directed films like "Stereo Future" and 'Samurai Fiction" which has been described as a hilarious rock n' roll samurai comedy.

What's at Greenmarket - July, August, September

Eating in Season has become more and more important to me. Here's a handy printable PDF guide to food in season at Greenmarket from Time Out

Pulling Faces

Ryuichi Sakamoto will be appearing tonight at 9pm @ World Financial Center Winter Garden with Christian Fennesz. This is the first time the duo have appeared live together in the US. The show is free. Review to follow

Boys will be Boys

Music on my iPhone right now

Bernard Sjazner: Superficial Music
Cabaret Voltaire: The Voice of America
Carlos Perón: Impersonator I
David Bowie: Low
David Bowie: Heroes
David Sylvian: Secrets of The Beehive
Ennio Morricone: Duck You Sucker OST
Ennio Morricone: Once Upon A Time in The West OST
Giorgio Moroder: American Gigolo OST
Haunted Weather: Music, Silence and Memory - compiled by David Toop
Human Audio Sponge (aka HASYMO): Live in Barcelona
J.A.M: Just A Maestro
John Zorn: The Big Gundown
Jon Hassell: Earthquake Island
Liliental: Liliental
Liquid Liquid: Slip In And Out of Phenomenon
Lost Jockey: Professor Slack
Luciano: Fabric 41
Master Musicians Of Jajouka: Apocalypse Across The Sky
Mikey Dread; African Anthem
Nico: Frozen Borderline
Ø: Oleva
Patti Smith & Kevin Shields
Pandit Pran Nath: Raga Cycle: Palace Theatre, Paris 1972
Radiohead: In Rainbows (Expanded)
Rombery Homicide Division (self made Michael Mann soundtrack)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda
Sigur Ros: Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Serge Synthesizer Volume One - Synthesizer Demonstration Record
Tangerine Dream: Thief OST

My Map of NYC

Scroll down and you'll find a new link - a ongoing map of places I like and visit in New York including restaurants, museums, stores etc. By no means complete since it's just started but a good thing to note since I will be adding to it extensively.
In addition to adding places that are favorites I am also adding places I want to check.

Micro home invades NYC

Micro Compact Home at MOMA - part of the upcoming exhibition - HOME DELIVERY: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling which opens in 9 days. Here's what the house looks like in a rural setting

New Roeg

Quite surprised to see news of a new film from the director of "Peformance," "Walkabout," "The Man Who Fell To Earth" and "Don't Look Now" Nicolas Roeg - the film (based on a novel by Fay Weldon) is called Puffball and stars Donald Sutherland, Samantha Morton and Miranda Richardson.

It's opening in England this week but has already been savaged by bloggers who've labeled it " Rosemary’s Baby meets Straw Dogs, with hints of The Wicker Man and Roeg’s own catalogue thrown in the mix, all wrapped up in a matrix of giant forest stones, Odin, and hex dolls." Certainly the trailer doesn't do the film much either.



The good thing is though Roeg is talking to the press again (something he rarely does)- read his interview with the Guardian which shows he's still as full of wile as ever. Interesting to read too that he doesn't believe in story boarding.

"I've been told my movies are difficult to market."

Swordsmen

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Bourdain's Laos

Last nights return of Anthony Bourdain's long running travel / food show "No Reservations" (my favorite foodie show) saw the man in Laos - a place I have to admit I knew little of before seeing the show. Without a doubt it was probably the most political show that Bourdain has done since he found himself in Beirut when the bombing started. It was also one of the most real pieces of television I've seen in recent times. Bourdain sitting down to dinner with a guy who got his legs blown off by a 30 year old US bomb in a countryside still littered with US bombs was intense and moving. To see Bourdain whose never short of a wisecrack utterly humbled was indeed captivating TV. Turns out he filmed the segment way back in January - you can read his blog entry about Laos here.

Upcoming in the series - next week Columbia, July 21st: Bourdain finally in Arabia - Saudi Arabia to be exact, July 28th: Uruguay, August 4th: US Southwest (2nd time), August 11th: Tokyo (his third show from there I think - he meets up with "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto and tries a Kaiseki meal - preview video here , August 1st: Spain (he visits El Bulli again), August 25: Egypt (nice to see him doing two Arabic countries in this new season- when you going to Yemen Anthony ?).

Robbery in LA (again)

Really feeling the re-runs of the Michael Mann produced series Robbery Homicide Division. If your a fan of Mann films like "Heat" or "Collateral" then you would probably enjoy this show which is somewhere between "The Shield," "The Wire" and a Mann movie. I remember enjoying the show when it originally aired but what's interesting looking back is how it's dark one minute, shining and gleaming the next. The show's super stylized look is very Mann-like though he isn't directing. It's a far more realistic LA than we are often shown. The show also makes clever use of music. Without a doubt a show above the normal cop genre. Oh and you wouldn't think Tom Sizemore could pull off a whole show as the lead character but he does well on RHD because the supporting cast is equally quirky, unique and ethnically diverse. One would think this would be the kind of show that HBO or Showtime would get behind but they turned it down ! Reruns are on the Sleuth network nightly until the 18th.



Some facts about the show
* The show was originally broadcast in 2002
* Robbery Homicide Division was originally titled "Metro," then renamed "RHD/LA," then RHD
* The show was partially created by Law & Order's Executive producer Barry Schindel who left the show after the first episode.
* Here's a list of RHD cast members who worked for Michael Mann before or after the series (and what Mann film they appeared in)
Tom Sizemore - Heat
Michael Paul Chan - Thief, The Insider
Barry Shabaka Henley - Ali, Collateral, Miami Vice
Mario Van Peebles- Ali
Klea Scott - Collateral
David Cubitt - Ali
Emilio Rivera - Collateral
* The show featured a real life LAPD SWAT team negotiator as a frequent guest star and a LAPD detective as technical advisor.
* Paul Michael Glaser (aka Starsky) directed three episodes, Michael Mann's daughter directed one.
* The shows soundtrack theme was "Deltron 3030 (Instrumental)" by Deltron 3030 - the show also featured music from acts like DJ Shadow and Coldplay.
* They originally broadcast 10 episodes - 3 additional episodes were shown later and are being shown in the current re-broadcast.
* The show was one of the first shot on High definition video - often guerilla style. It owes at least part of it's look to the HDV medium.
* Mann sold Sizemore on the show by telling him "I'm gonna make the greatest cop drama ever -wanna try with me?"
* Describing the show to EW before it's first airing Mann said ''There's no dumbing down here. I'm not trying to tell stories on television cinematically -quite the opposite. I want to use the immediacy, the fluidity and quickness of television."
* In December 2002, days after lead actor Tom Sizemore was arrested for battery the show was pulled from the TV schedule.



Here as a bonus is another bit of Michael Mann from 2002 - his high budget advert for Mercedes Benz starring Benicio Del Toro - don't you wish all advertising was this good ?

From old India to a new Sofa

Design duo Doshi Levien cite the above painting as inspiration for their new Sofa entitled amusingly enough "My Beautiful Backside" - personally I think the painting is nicer than the sofa but it's interesting to see the process exposed and great to see some non-Western source being used. The Sofa reminds me a bit of 1920s Art Deco, I can imagine people doing the Charleston around it.

Moroccan Fish Tagine

It's interesting to compare these two recipes - first one from Mourad Mazouz the Moroccan owner of the excellent Momo restaurant in London and the second by the excellent fish chef Rick Stein (as seen on his show Fruits of the Sea)

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FISH TAGINE - Mourad Mazouz
Serves 4

2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin, plus extra
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large preserved lemon, or two small ones, halved
1 tbsp lemon juice
4x250g fish steaks (sea bass, cod or haddock), cut across the fish
3 carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 green peppers, deseeded and sliced
2 cabbage leaves

* Mix together the coriander, garlic, spices, oil, preserved lemon and lemon juice. Place the fish in a shallow bowl and pour over the marinade. Leave in the fridge for 2 hours.
* Blanch the carrot and potato slices in boiling water for 4 minutes, then drain.
* Remove the fish from the marinade (keep this), scraping off any bits.
* Place the carrot pieces on the bottom of a tagine pot or lidded casserole, place the fish on top, then tuck the potato slices around and on top of it. Do the same with the tomatoes and peppers. Add the lemon from the marinade, sprinkle with a good pinch more of cumin, then place the cabbage leaves over the top. Add 100ml of water to the marinade and pour into the pot.
* Cover and cook gently on the hob for 25-30 minutes.

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FISH TAGINE - Rick Stein

Preparation time less than 30 mins / Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour / Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
¼ preserved lemon, finely chopped
4 plum tomatoes, sliced
600ml/1 pint fish stock
8 small new potatoes, cut lengthways into quarters
2 red mullet, ocean perch or grey mullet, weighing about 450g/1lb each, filleted
8 black olives, halved
1 tsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp chopped fresh mint
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the charmoula:
2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1½ tsp ground cumin
½ red finger chilli, seeded and chopped roughly
½ tsp saffron strands
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juice only
1½ tsp paprika
1 tsp salt

* For the charmoula, put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
* Heat the oil in a large pan, add the celery, carrot and onion and fry gently for 5 minutes, until softened but not browned.
* Add half the chopped preserved lemon, 2 tbsp of the charmoula, the tomatoes and the stock.
* Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes, then add the potatoes. Simmer for 6-8 minutes until tender.
* Preheat the grill to high. Brush the fillets of fish with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and then cut each diagonally in half.
* Grill, skin-side up, for about 6 minutes.
* Stir the olives, the rest of the charmoula and the remaining preserved lemon into the sauce and check the seasoning.
* Put the fish in four warmed soup bowls, spoon over the sauce and sprinkle with the chopped coriander and mint.

Note: To make Moroccan preserved lemons, take 4-5 lemons, wash well and cut into 4, but not all the way through. Sprinkle coarse salt into the cuts, close up the lemons and put them in a large jar. Press down, put a weight on top and close the jar. In a few days sufficient juices should be released to cover the lemons. If not, add more lemon juice. Leave for a month before using and use only the skin, discarding the flesh.

More Riley

Bridget Riley discusses the 60s.

YMO 2008

"I was the ideas man" Hosono


"I was the populariser, the communicator" Takahashi


"And I did the theory" Sakamoto

On one hand I am happy that YMO are back, because now I can read things like this new interview from The Guardian and can see pictures like the above from their June show at the Massive Attack curated Meltdown Festival in London. Also I can look forward to their new single out next month. But sadly one thing I cannot do is attend a YMO concert. Why ? Because US promoters are ASLEEP. :(

When Japan meets Italy

A cool new range of chairs from Italian designer Enzo Mari for Japanese company Hida Sangyo - the leading wooden fruniture makers of Japan, based in the Takayama region. This company is known for its wood craftsmanship which goes all the way back to the 7th Century when craftsmen from Hida-Takayama were responsible for constructing the magnificent wooden temples of Kyoto and Nara including the now World Heritage site Horyu-ji, still standing after 13 centuries. This collection is made with Japanese sugi wood and realized with state-of-the-art industrial wood compression. Available in the US from Ameico.

Here's an interview with Mari about the series - sadly it's just in Italian with Japanese subtitles but it does show the whole series of products that extends beyond the above chairs into tables, benches and more (some of which aren't available in the US).

Yemeni Oud and dancing

Summer

Bridget takes Paris

One of my favorite artists Bridget Riley - had yet another massive career retrospective open this month, this time in Paris at the Musee d'Art Modern de la Ville de Paris - it runs until Sept 28th.































"For me Nature is not landscape, but the dynamism of visual forces - an event rather than an appearance - these forces can only be tackled by treating color and form as ultimate identities, freeing them from all descriptive or functional roles." Bridget Riley.

Listen to Bridget discuss 5 subjects.

Her current studios in the East and West of London.