Worth watching ?

The Simon Pegg led comedy RUN FAT BOY RUN is simple, generic but charming - 5 out of 10



Wong Kar Wai's BLUEBERRY NIGHTS on the other hand is a total disaster with Jude Law turning cardboard and Norah Jones acting with about as much flow as bad porridge. Like Woody Allen in London, Wai in New York is just a case of fish out of water - 1 out of 10



Takashi Miike's SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO is totally absurd and in many ways nonsensical to western sensibilities but still kinda funny and the winner of this pot luck - 6 out of 10

Deforming and Reforming Reality

"I do believe that today... one could say that modern man, wants a sensation really without the boredom of its conveyance. Or the cut down of conveyance as far as possible so you just give over the sensation."



"I try to make concentrations of images."



what do you think when people say your paintings are ugly?
"I'm very pleased that those people don't like them. I am much more pleased when they really hate them than when they like them. It means that there might be something there."



"art is artifact"

Quotes from the incredible UK TV documentary The South Bank Show Francis Bacon Special (9th June 1985)

We should make architecture like Michael Haneke makes films

Architect Peter Eisenman interviews Filmaker Michael Haneke. Haneke's "Cache" was a favorite of mine (and many others) a couple of years back.

Much to fascinate here including the reminder that one of the joys of Antonioni films is how he filmed architecture because he was trained as an architect. More proof that all the arts bleed into one another.

I can't say I've paid close attention to Eisenman's architecture before reading this piece but this made me a bit more interested in him so here's one of his theoretical buildings - the "Moebius Building."

Keep On Fighting for the Things You Want

Ichi Freaks Rejoice

Ichi Freak = a fan of Zatoichi movies.



News of a new Ichi movie is very exciting indeed. The twist this time ? In Sori Fumihiko's upcoming 2008 ICHI movie - Zatoichi is now a woman. From the short bits revealed it looks like it might just work. Former idol singer and model, young actress Haruka Ayase plays blind swordsman Ichi and supposedly no doubles were used for the swordfight scenes. The actress spent a month in intense training with sword action supervisor Hiroshi Kuze (who worked with Akira Kurosawa on "Ran"). Rumors have it this is no Azumi style movie and it's faithful in spirit to the original flicks whilst still bringing something new. Can't wait to see how she recreates / updates Ichi's unique sword style. Ayase has very big feet to step into not only those of original Ichi Shintarô Katsu-San, who for many, myself included, is still unsurpassable, but she also has to take on those of Takeshi Kitano who already successfully recreated Ichi for the 21st century. Director Sori Fumihiko previously directed "Ping Pong" and the 3D SF CGI epic "Vexville" which featured an exclusive cut from Carl Craig on the soundtrack. He is well respected. Sadly we will probably have to wait until 2009 to see this stateside and subtitled.

Meanwhile our chances of ever seeing cult director Takashi Miike's current Tokyo theatrical staging of a Zatoichi play seem pretty much to be zero.

And Ichi fever shows no signs of slowing down with Sonny Chiba, under his newly created alias of Rindo Wachinaga, announced his first directorial project ZA TOICHI (English title The Toichi). The script written by Chiba is said to be take it's themes from the TV series of Zatoichi. Relatively unknown actor Ginji Yoshikawa (who previously worked with Steven Segal) is confirmed for the lead role of a moneylender who, like the swordsman Zatoichi, is blind. There is a possibility that Chiba will co-star under his acting name. The film's budget is reportedly 200 million yen and filming is scheduled to begin in April, followed by a possible Japanese release in the fall.

My Icons: Malcom X

This photo has been on my office wall since 1999. With respect for his struggle, I'd like to take a moment today and remember the passing of Malcom X this week in 1965.

For me the story of Malcom is a life lesson for many reasons but the primary one being how he embraced change. We live in a world where people say that we as individuals cannot change who we are at our core but Malcom did so not once, but over and over. His evolution is also a logical systematic one and is thus a captivating one to follow and read about. I read his autobiography as a very alienated young man and found strength in his story that is still with me today. Looking at his life I can see that change is possible in my own life.



I have to also admire Malcom as a muslim searching for the positive. Yes when he was with the Nation of Islam that was not always the case, but we have to look at where he ended up. It was a tragedy for America to be denied this man. Think what he could do today to the attitude and relationship America has with Islam. Think where he would have gone next in his ideas and stance. His message was widening. His thoughts ever more humanitarian. His best work was always ahead of him. That is the kind of life to admire. That is the kind of life to live. It reminds me to keep pushing and keep growing not only on a personal spiritual level but in the way I enagage the world and the people around me.

I'm looking forward to this multi-volume book from professor Manning Marable.. He's lucky enough to be able to do his research at the New York Library who smartly saved Malcom's papers and photographs from the auction block in 2005. Their collection includes a set of diaries from Malcolm X's trips to Africa and Mecca in 1964. Alex Haley used the diaries to write The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Here's Gary Younge's introduction to a recent penguin edition of the book (click on cover).

Related to Malcom here's the cover of a great spiritual Jazz album by Chicago musician Phil Cohran dedicated to Malcom. Cohran is a musician known for his associations with Sun Ra and the A.A.C.M. The album (originally self-released in an edition of 1000 copies) documents a live peformance from February 1968 at the Cohran-run Afro-Arts Theater. The concert took the form of a suite of four tracks, each capturing a period of Malcom's life, 'Malcolm Little,' 'Detroit Red,' 'Malcolm X,' and 'El Hajj Malik El Shabazz.' The album was re-released on CD by Katalyst Entertainment in late 2007. You can listen and read more about it at CD Baby.



Finally here's a picture of two great icons side by side - Malcom and the man who "stung like a bee" Muhammed Ali

Pasta with Derek

Just saw the absolutely fantastic documentary / biographical film on the life of cult film-maker Derek Jarman - Derek made by Derek Jarman’s friend and collaborator Tilda Swinton and film maker video artist Isaac Julien. In England thankfully there is a major reappraisal of Derek's work afoot with a major retrospective at the Serpentine . I'm really sad I won't get a chance to visit this.

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to meet and interview legendary film maker Derek Jarman some years ago (before Blue / after Caravaggio). The interview took place on one of my then favorite streets in London, Old Compton St, where we had pasta for lunch after which we retired to Derek's apartment just across the road above Charing Cross Rd. His place was, unsurprisingly, as striking as the man himself - black paintings embedded with mirrors, a wooden throne, all kinds of wonderful books. I remember we talked about 15th Century English mystic John Dee, his fantastic sets for the ballet "In The Mouth of The Night," his work with the equally legendary Ken Russell and his now very famous, but then still new garden.



I'm not gay, and have no interest in homosexuality, but Derek's work even in it's most homosexual of moments transcends the narrow framework of being classified as strictly "gay." Much has been made of his sexual orientation since his passing of AIDS related illness and many have championed him as a "gay" artist and whilst I do not want to deny the essence of the man the fact is he was much much more - Derek was a fascinating mixture of characters and was obsessed with a wide array of themes.

I think it is fairer to call him an artist interested and exploring "outsider" territory and as such he's much more accessible and meaningful to a broader range of people. Derek's work reflected the depth of his thinking and it's very English in many ways. On one hand he handles the classics - Caravaggio's biography, Christopher Marlowe's Edward II, Britten's War Requiem, Wittgenstein's biography and Shakespeare's The Tempest. On the other hand he's very much a part of Punk - Jubilee and Post-Punk - videos for Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and The Smiths and the dissection of Thatcher's UK that is The Last of England. Then of course he's purely poetic - The Angelic Conversation, In The Shadow of The Sun and many other super 8 films.

Fact is simply put Derek Jarman was one of the most innovative, original and down right unique film-makers England, or any other country for that matter, has seen. If you haven't seen his work I suggest you track down Caravaggio as a good starting point - it's one of his more formal works but outstanding. After find the two volumes of Super 8 films - much more experimental but a fantastic view at the real "inside' of his work. Then I'd try something like "The Last of England."



Derek and his films were very important to me, alongside Mike Leigh's "Naked" I felt something like "The Last of England" truly reflected the world I was living in and Caravaggio was one of the reasons I went to acting school. I always wanted to be in one of his films. Here's what his cohort film-maker Cerith Wyn Evans (who was Jarman's assistant in the early 80s on films like "The Last of England") said about him recently - "It would be wonderful to have Derek still with us but I wonder what he would have made of the YBAs or BritArt. I think you can see aspects of Derek’s work in the Britishness of it but, at the same time, I’m sure he would have been critical of all the marketing. Because, after all, he was very much part of the pop art generation and he distanced himself from that. It would have been very interesting to see what his counter arguments would have been. Certainly, I imagine Charles Saatchi would have been a real demon for Derek. But also I think there would have been aspects that he could and would have exploited to the full."

And here is British Punk scholar and Derek's friend Jon Savage - "He was a fantastic catalyst. I remember at the funeral saying to a couple of people, ‘This will be the last time these diverse people will be in the same room.’ You used to go up to Derek’s tiny flat and there would be some German punk kid who’d come to talk to him, together with Norman Rosenthal from the Royal Academy, John Maybury and Derek’s latest rent boy discovery. Not that Derek was having sex with them necessarily, but he liked those marginal lads. Derek was always unbiddable, that’s what I liked about him: ‘I’m going to do what the hell I want. I’m going to do the opposite to everybody else, and sod you. He was a great battler.

There were very many sides to him. And I really like Derek’s Super-8 films. I loved ‘In the Shadow of the Sun’. I thought that was fantastic. It just all worked. Derek was very lyrical about the countryside. I spent a lot of time with him in 1983/1984, just driving around London. He took me all around the Docklands. It was that pyscho-geographical thing of finding forgotten bits of the city; this fantastic landscape that I hadn’t realised existed. I like the idea that filmmaking is an extension of everyday life. For Derek, it wasn’t something that was blocked off by production schedules. And I do see some of Derek’s films as a visual diary, really. In that way he was very inspiring."

Industrial Relations

"the thing about England is that there’s a culture of the village idiot. There’s always somebody where you live who’s outside. It’s acceptable to be an outcast, an eccentric"



TG interview from Frieze April 2006.

’whenever we encountered confrontation, we would attempt to embrace rather than fight it’

Kusama and her wonderful dot obsession

Last week I posted a classic 60s films from one of my favorite artists Yayoi Kusama now here is a couple of shots of her new art show (sadly not in New York) but in London at Victoria Miro gallery (the same people that rep Chris Ofili) -



Dots Obsession - Infinity Mirrored Room, 2008

More Blood

A day later and I cannot get THERE WILL BE BLOOD out of my mind. I played "Proven Lands" from Johnny Greenwood's incredible soundtrack (on Nonesuch) over and over and then did some more reading on the web - good stuff out there like this interview with director Paul Thomas Anderson from The Onion and this audio interview from KCRW.



and to round out the multi-media here's an interview with Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson from Charlie Rose's PBS chat show.

My Mother Born Today

My mother has taught me about the meaning of commitment and love. She never stopped believing in me even in the hardest times. I gained so much of my artistic side from her too. Words cannot capture how special she is. It is best simply to say "Thank You" and bow my head with the utmost respect to the person who carried me into this world and shaped who I am at my core.

There Will Be Self Above All Others

Finally caught "There Will be Blood" last night - totally blown away - script, acting, photography, score all working with such precision. This blows away "No Country For Old Men" and Daniel deserves major acclaim for a stunningly physical and psychological performance that eclipses anything he has done to date. If you haven't seen it go while it's still on the big screen. If I had seen this in 2007 it would have been my movie of the year.

Save us from these Empty Feelings

In every war nameless dead float in the waters. In every war children don't come home to see their parents. In every war fathers stop being providers. In every war mothers become widows. In every war communities are shattered. In every war hope is challenged. In every war despair rules. In every war pointless suffering overwhelms. In every war injustice reigns. In every war there are endless cut threads of existence. In every war lies the path to more war. When will humans learn? War is not the answer.

Self Obliteration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h0hExzfS5Q


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOd99fqGjto


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGHr-KS5gz4

run

Hassan ran and didn’t look back. There was no logical reason for him to run. He could just feel that something was about to happen and if he didn’t get out there then he might cease to exist. He could feel the hate the largered-up fat guy and his new skinny-runt roommate felt for him building up. He knew he was a target for a rage that didn’t even belong being pointed at him. It was as visible as a malignant cist at the end of their noses. Thankfully, sometimes the impulse to live just takes over. Just as he took off he could hear them shouting “Paki!” and calling to each other “Where’d he go?” As he ran down the tunnel dividing the small houses he could hear them scream “We’re gonna kick yer head in you….” Into the main street full of traffic he went not pausing to look back. He kept running to the roundabout and up the hill opposite the tower building and into the University Student union courtyard. Now there were people around, but then again, they were students. They wouldn’t stop the guys killing him would they? Students talked a big game but when it came to action, especially an attack on a skinny poor brown boy punk like him. They wouldn’t amount to much. Probably wait until he’d got his head kicked in and then call the cops.

Shadow Play

Saw the new Joy Divison documentary last night at Lincoln Centre. Decent flick - as expected not much new but it was well put together (as to be expected given the large budget). Some candid moments from the band themselves, a very funny Martin Hannett story related to his use of the AMS delay unit and some nice bits from the best graphic designer of all time Peter Saville. Here's some classic Kevin Cummins photos of the band in their prime. These photos are captured in a ridiculously expensive new book.





"But if you could just see the beauty
These things I could never describe"
Isolation - Ian Curtis

Great Garland

Here's a series of work by old school British graphic designer Ken Garland













I wonder where Neville Brody got his ideas from ? hint hint ...


What were the key influences on your approach to design?

Ken Garland: I don’t have heroes as such. I have great respect for the work of some people, and quite often they are people who would be very impatient of politics. People like, say, Paul Rand and like Hans Schleger, a much-neglected designer who, being a refugee from Nazism, certainly had a political attitude. But he didn’t brandish it. And Jan Tschichold.
My greatest influences are probably Futurism, Dadaism and Surrealism, which is intriguing because the Futurists were crypto-fascists, after all. Also photography. Bill Brandt’s greatest work was his social commentary for Picture Post. My upbringing was punctuated by the weekly arrival of Picture Post, a hugely important magazine. That and Lilliput were the two things that influenced me most before I even thought about being a graphic designer. Wonderful. Anyone of my generation would say the same, I think.

Journeying Jarmusch

Director Jim Jarmusch should be a role model for new directors - how to stay indie and walk your own path. Keeping up with the road movie theme he has explored time and time again starting with his classic "Stranger Than Paradise," Jarmusch begins filming of his new opus "Limits of Control" in the Spanish cities of Madrid, Seville and Almeria this month. It's being shot by cinematographer Christopher "In The Mood for Love" Doyle and features Jarmusch regular Isaach De Bankolé alongside more bankable Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and Gael García Bernal.

Reports are the film is the story of a mysterious loner whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. Sounds like classic Jarmusch to me. Putting Bankolé as the main character is certainly a great move too.

Here's a bit of classic Jarmusch

a pastoral moment

coming down from the high of last nights intense party at Cielo

Mantra

Ain't love grand ?

Ryuichi Sakamoto and his former wife Akiko Yano show the love performing the YMO classic "Tong Poo" (with short intervals of YMO playing live).

The footage is from a rare out of print, not yet on DVD documentary directed by Elizabeth Lennard called "Tokyo Melody, A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto" (1985). The film was funded by France's National TV for the First Tokyo International Film Festival. Lennard followed Sakamoto during the recording of his album "Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia".

The Boys Are Back in Town

What Makes Us Want to Be Good?

Great Adrian Tomine cover for Ny Times Magazine last month - his comic "Shortcomings" was one of my favorites from 2007.

Image and Sound

Photograph: Gojio at Kyoto (Late 19th Century)
Sound: Balanescu Quartet (YMO) - Behind The Mask (1997)

"Everything passes" Haruki Murakami

pull over

Everyone should know the notorious verbally related stories of Miles Davis' life in New York in the '70s. He was pulled over again and again by the cops driving in his fly car (seen above and below). But that wasn't the only thing that was stopping Miles in the '70s - a lot of critics hated his album "On The Corner" so much so that it gained a reputation as the most hated album in jazz . What's clear from the advertising for the album



is that Miles was trying to make an album for the people. He didn't give a damn what the critics thought. But this is hardly the street music the sleeve depicts

Funky it may be. But if this is street music then maybe the street was in Blade Runner or some other future zone.

Miles' catalogue is so overwhelming and his musical alchemy so strong it's something you just have to experience but I can understand why people get daunted with it. Luckily I managed to get introduced to Miles really early on so I've had plenty of time to get through the entire catalogue. For the last ten years I've pretty much focused on trying to listen to more of the what I refer to as his "mind-expanding" phase - the period from "In A Silent Way" to the early 80's. Why ? Because the records are challenging but full of ideas. Admittedly albums like Dark Magus, Agharta and Pangaea (which I consider amongst my favorite Miles albums) are not records you can just play anytime. There's some serious density going on which is likely to make a lot of people's heads feel like exploding.

Returning to the recently issued box set "The Complete On The Corner Sessions" last month I was reminded yet again of the thing that for me always broke the density - Michael Henderson's in the pocket bass playing.

"I was playing with Stevie Wonder... He said to Stevie, “I’m taking your fucking bass player.” " Michael Henderson to All About Jazz

New Rand Web

New Paul Rand website is simply incredible and great to see. Warning it's a time sucker. Rand is really one of (if not the) key people to look at when it comes to logo design. I also just discovered that he built this own house and now really want to know more about it because I just love to see the houses creative people build for themselves. For me seeing Dieter Rams house made his work become all that more alive. I am sure it would be the same with Rand.