167 posts tagged “politics”

The New York Times recently did an excellent write-up of the AIDS program my brother is working for in Zambia.  I guess there is one thing Bush has done right...

In case you hadn't heard, Chicken John would like to run for mayor of San Francisco.  His platform basically boils down to "SF artists are rad", so you know I love him.  And he pretty much saved my life once, which is a story for another forum.  Anyway, he needs to raise $4300 by tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm.  He's halfway there, and someone who would like to be identified only as Dr. Evil has $1000 and is matching all funds donated in the next 24 hours.  So I urge you to click on the link above and Paypal the man some money at chickenjohn@chickenjohn.com.  I just did.

From Chicken John's site:
If you had a friend that had to move away from SF because it was too expensive, send me $20 per friend.
If you are an artist and never considered that the Arts Commission of SF represents you, send me $10.
If you or someone you know lost a car to being towed and you owed too many parking tickets send me $25 per lost car.
If you or someone you know was involved in an art space that was shut down by the city send me $37.
If you would like to make a few buses run on gasified coffee grinds send me 10 bucks.
If you don’t like that bow and arrow bullshit on the embarcadero send me 10 cents. (that’ll be a few hundred thousand dollars.)
If you think that our mayor needs to be challenged on issues involving the arts, too many cars and being intolerant to innovation and new ideas send me $20.
If you feel like you are disenfranchised and unrepresented send me $40.
If you feel like the green campaign that the city is force feeding SF is actually greenwashing, send me $10.
If you want me to get matching funds, you yourself would send me at least $100 and get a few of your friends to do the same.

Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics

Rebecca Solnit

from the Booksmith:
"Rebecca Solnit has made a vocation out of journeying into difficult territory and reporting back - as an environmentalist, public intellectual, and anti-globalization activist. Storming the Gates of Paradise, a collection of her essays from the past ten years, comprise a unique guidebook to the American landscape after the millennium - not just the deserts, skies, gardens, and wilderness areas that have long made up Solnit’s subject matter, but the social landscape of democracy and repression, of borders, ruins, and protests."

Smilingman

Also to check out: new locally-made film The Smiling Man.  Especially as I missed the release party at 12 Galaxies last night thanks to a KALX staff meeting and general feeling of blarth.  I trust Bay Area filmmakers to do the noir thing right, that's for sure.

Manhunter

"I know that I'm not smarter than you."
"Then how did you catch me?"
"You had disadvantages."
"What disadvantages?"
"You're insane."

Though foggy high overhead and with no hint of sun, it was surprisingly temperate in Stern Grove yesterday for Os Mutantes.  I got there early enough to secure a spot on the main lawn, and though things definitely got busy they didn't have to close the meadow, probably because the other half of the Bay Area was at the AIDS Walk.  Los Amigos Invisibles got things off to an awesome start, folding one song into another into highly-energetic jams, and they were completely undeterred by a power spike that left them without sound for 10 minutes.  The crowd in the designated dance area at the front of the stage was suitably warmed up by the time Os Mutantes marched onstage in time to military music, garbed in spangles and sparkles.  They proceeded to bring the exceedingly groovy tropicalia, interspersing their songs with fable-like commentary on their history and California politics.  Proud Brazilians in the audience waved flags and cheered uproariously at every opportunity.

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At Giant Robot - Tree Show III.  A simple concept, elegantly executed: dozens of artists show work organized around the theme of trees.  Considering the fact that I want to get a tree tattooed on my back and leaves onto my wrist, you can imagine how much this appeals to me.  I loved Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch's tree above, as well as the pieces by Albert Reyes and Susie Ghahremani.  But I was especially drawn to a simple woodcut print by Nathalie Roland, and I stared at it for a good five minutes before I realized why her signature looked so familiar to me.  Ten years ago, just before I graduated, I went to the UCSC student print fair and bought my first piece of real art, a screenprint that I loved called The Accident.  It currently hangs above my desk at home and I look at it every day.  The artist?  Nathalie Roland.  I bought her tree print from Giant Robot on the spot.

Don't worry, be happy:
Watch W and MC Rove rap their way through the political turmoil of the Iraq war, with a cameo appearance from Brother Dick.

Anat

Ear, nose and throat: from The Anatomy of Mansur of Shiraz, Persia, 1264

Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration

Audacia Ray

from Modern Times Bookstore:
"Combining her insider's knowledge with the voices of a variety of women whose firsthand experiences include camming, chatting, dating, sex blogging, and making porn, Ray examines the Internet as a valuable—though often problematic—sexual space. Naked on the Internet is a guide as well as a critical analysis of the empowering and oppressive aspects of women's online experiences."

Pirates128

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - I kept thinking to myself, "Ladies and gentlemen, Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush!"  He was pretty much the best thing about this mess.  That and the five seconds of audio captured from the ride at Disneyland.  Perfect $3 movie at the Parkway though.

My goal this week is to make it to the Oakland Art Gallery to see Dance Elixir's performance/installation Land, even though things are looking a leetle busy in my own life at present.  If you happen to work in the area, and you can pop over on your lunch or right after quittin' time, I say check it out.

How does Fox attack?
Home Depot claims to be concerned about the environment, but they advertise on Fox. A bit of a contradiction, isn't it? See the proof, then sign the petition.

Friday at lunch I snuck out of work for an hour to attend an Art and Conversation program at SFMOMA, in this instance a talk with German artist Felix Schramm.  As part of its New Work series the museum has commissioned Schramm to create his amazing architectural sculptures in a section of the fourth floor galleries, and I will write more about the works themselves at a later date.  During the talk Schramm discussed his techniques and thought processes with curatorial associate Apsara DiQuinzio as she showed some of his previous projects onscreen.  I was especially interested to learn how spontaneously the sculptures come together out of pieces Schramm has lying around his studio, and how intimately he is involved with the construction of his pieces.  He uses a team, but has to be there for every moment they are being built.  And when the show is over, everything is recycled, nothing remains.  After the talk Schramm briefly walked us through his exhibition, pointing out details I might have missed otherwise.  There's nothing like having an artist show you his own work, especially when that artist is a smart, handsome German man.

All day Saturday I took part in more serious art geekery in the form of a symposium at the de Young entitled Mapping the City: Artists Engage with the Urban Environment.  Presented by my fave local gallery Southern Exposure after a year of participatory Off-Site art projects, many of which I have written about here and literally too many to list, the symposium gave us all a chance to appreciate the awesome work SoEx helped make happen in the last year.  After an incredibly inspiring opening lecture by Jeannene Przyblyski of the Bureau of Urban Secrets, a handful of the Off-Site artists took turns discussing their ideas, and then at lunch Neighborhood Public Radio did a live broadcast in front of the Richter painting in the main hall at the same time that Rebar offered a slightly illicit tour of the museum's "public" space.  We only set off alarms twice.  There were more artist presentations after lunch, and then a closing lecture by Simon Sadler, author of The Situationist City.  Situationist Guy Debord was definitely present in spirit all throughout the day, and I am literally electrified with anticipation to see what SoEx does next, as they've already given me perspectives on the city that I never would have had otherwise.  They're moving again, this time to a slightly larger space (with a garden!) on 14th Street, and we'll see what happens once they land.

Rogers_main

At Blank Space - John Colle Rogers: Crazy Train to the Land of Pure Imagination.  An actual train, as Rogers has constructed an elaborate tableau that takes up the entire small gallery, with a model train continuously running through it.  You can carefully crawl under a bridge and stand in the middle of the diorama, peering closely at miniature scenes of destruction and military conflict.  But then you notice one of the soldiers is holding hands with a monkey, that the Grim Reaper stands nearby, and that a pink cow is driving one of the armored vehicles.  Rogers's intent seems to be more satire than bombast, and he was on hand at the opening Saturday night decked out in an engineer's cap.  This was my first time at Blank Space, which occupies an old bait and tackle shop on San Pablo, and I'm excited that it's walking distance from my house.

Lewis Black and the conservative media:
"You know what a fake news show on Fox News should give you? Real news!"

40

Blue Soul: from Soul Shapes by Alice Dew-Smith, UK, 1890