Being Boring

Review: The Lost Films of Charles Ludlam

Published on 2010-08-18 13:39:00

Head on over to X-TRA Online to read my recent article on 'The Lost Films of Charles Ludlam', which screened in the Queer/Art/Film series at IFC in February. The article will be printed in volume 13 number 1 of the Los Angeles based contemporary art quarterly hitting stands in September. "Mimesis is missing the point, which was pleasure, all along. Revising narrative based, normative cinema, Ludlam produced a revelatory sensation-based cinema without counterpoint in the breadth of avant-garde ci

carmen

Published on 2010-08-05 08:26:00

It’s the look you believe (in?) And that sort of nose Ordinariness is the hallmark of the star But here, that’s inverted To like fantasy, an empathic Relatability. There’s little I feel In common with Denise, except perhaps The ire.

Ahem

Published on 2010-07-27 13:16:00

What? At least it's better than that Third Reich shit he's been peddling

Surprisingly unhungover...

Published on 2010-07-23 08:42:00

So much to catch up on!Thursday boasted an art crawl which was slowed by an accidental after work nap. I had nothing but ambitions about the Lower East Side gallery thing, even if it wasn't entirely too clear what it was (in hindsight it was something to the tune of MOCA's Contemporaries, read: young bourgeois would-be collectors hob-nobbing, read: something that strode out of a Nicole Holofcener movie). As I got to my first destination, Participant Inc., my confusion was affirmed by their utter

Never Forget

Published on 2010-07-23 08:41:00

Now, if only they wouldn't forget about us.

Diamante

Published on 2010-07-16 09:09:00

I really need to learn to start getting to things on time. Was hanging out with Sam Ashby who is stateside long enough to pollinate zine stands with his beautiful new fag film mag, Little Joe. Then I ran into Glitter Nation in an attempt to hear Genesis and the Lady Jaye Breyer P. Orridge spin a yarn at the new museum about cut-ups and Brion Gysin. No dice. Sold out. So sad. So instead I ate crab pizza and drank g&t's into this less-than-sweltering (now - thank GOD!) weather.Mostly I write about

We Are Family?

Published on 2010-07-14 08:30:00

Two different pictures, one strident message. I’ve watched, in the past few days, two summer movies that could not be more disparate in origin and form that sadly categorized a contemporary ethos of moral conservativism and family values. I sat dumbfounded but affirmed before Sex and the City 2, after the cloud of bile and hatred had more or less rendered the thing a quivering Carrie-on, beaten like a schoolchild who well deserved it. After a watch, I’d lend a blow too. Stirred in my critica

Until that Later Date...

Published on 2010-07-10 12:21:00

There's three posts swimming in my head right now. Let this suffice until then. Should have been a performance of 'Get Outta My Way' ('When Dress Takes Over')...I'm also really loving this song at present. In a summer that's really showing a dearth of good music, this has been on heavy rotation... And cause I haven't posted this yet. I think, perhaps all future output should resemble this. I think this performance shows some of the most provocative (and productive) uses of popular culture that I

Sickly Games

Published on 2010-07-08 10:13:00

I'm ill and using that as an excuse to let my mind wander all over the place. It's a good manner of thinking that is only further enabled by this swealtering heat all of New York (and other neighboring regions, I suppose) is being subjected to. I love illness for this reason, sitting in bed with movies playing and countless books piling up in sweat covered sheets. There's an image! I've watched some rather delicious films lately, in my state of immune system innebriation. In an attempt at using

Good Stuff on Kelis over at Fanzine

Published on 2010-07-07 23:50:00

Drift on over to the Fanzine to read my epic re/overview of Kelis' career, including her recent stint as dance dive on the just-released Flesh Tone. The following quote, which I found today on MTV.com (I think?) didn't make its way to me in time to be part of my claim, but I think it speaks to the piece - and to Kelis' particular strength amid the other popstars out there. "I recorded it at home and I recorded it, like, literally laying on my couch. It's just the most comfortable way to possibly

Love in July

Published on 2010-07-02 11:24:00

Strolled the Chelsea openings last night, mostly headed for Christmas in July show at Yvonne Lambert gallery. From the opening window with a whirling xmas tree that trashes is ornaments as they fly across the room, the show did not disappoint. Given the present climate of the artworld, it felt like Christmas was precisely the remedy to the malaise. Few Santas, surprisingly but a lot of trees and lights. Some gestures were forced than others (the red and green Lynda Benglis became a melted tree,

New Min

Published on 2010-06-25 08:28:00

I tried to go to openings last night but it was rather hot and quite crowded. Easily thwarted, I decided to partake in that recent Twilight movie, New Moon. This attempt at immersion in a viable phenomenon was (pleasantly) interrupted midway, by a phone call from Bruce Benderson. We gabbed about hustlers and movies then I got back to Bella and that man with the chest. The Twilight movies do a very good job at world creation, I must say. Watching them, one embodies this alienated and disenfranchi

Failuretics

Published on 2010-06-24 08:35:00

I failed in both attempts at culture last night. A boy's got to get to events early here. Which is tricky when said event starts at 6pm! Missed: The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol with panel by Brigid Berlin, Gerrard Malanga, Taylor Meade, Bibbi Hansen, and friends. Full capacity house. Actually the NYPL people graciously opened the doors for the hangers-on, but my other attendee was not game to peer through said frame (god knows I would have been - peering through an ajar door, what

On Being Made High

Published on 2010-06-23 12:59:00

The new Kelis vid dropped last week and it's a swell one. It's a tad cheesy but in a really game and inclusive way. The rave lights move towards the end trigger surpressed and frightful highschool memories that would best be left untouched. Leave it to Kelis. I'll be publishing a lengthy Kelis over/review soon at The Fanzine, but what better way to tide you over than the thing, itself? "...The highlight of the album is its new single, '4th of July (Fireworks)' which comes on like a mid-90s dan

Pause for the Jet

Published on 2010-06-22 10:25:00

I'm thinking about Kate Bush, lately. Contributing to a new piece that D was working on in a casual way - maybe it was laziness or disinterest, but don't many of the more interesting endeavors start off so flippantly? He's working on these new xerox pieces and this one was a whorl. Big and black, an amorphous cloud in the center of a frame. A text block was reserved for the as-of-yet determined text. I had put on the record for 'Hounds of Love' and it sat adjacent to D's work station. He asked m

Boom!

Published on 2010-06-14 13:46:00

Before I pieced together the various seedling articles that would become my book Fever Pitch, I had this “really good idea.” I wanted to pull together a collection of writings called Bad. ‘Bad’ would have collected my writings on films that most deem… well, bad. I don’t have the documents in front of me now, nor did I finish the article that would have capped off the collection (a treatise of a film that has somewhat slipped from my favor of not bad, but good: Cat People). I love “

ATL

Published on 2010-05-17 10:32:00

I love it, quite amature sound! Its got No 1.written all over it.I just love it!!!!It sounds incredibly beautiful!!!!!!Love it. Best Kylie songfor years and nicefor Kylie just to be herselfI adore it!I am so happy andcan't wait todiscover the video, then the album.Kylie is back!LOVE IT!! I am so gladI held off listeningto the LQ clips going around.It helped build the excitement.Was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype.But even after first listen the chorus is in your head.yeah, chorus def kee

Being Hated So Much Right Now

Published on 2010-05-04 10:30:00

I need to stop eating red meat before bedtime. I had a dream about Kelis last night. She was pumping gas - or was I? I think she was riding in a tour bus or camper van. It was a dark tan color. I had a similar moment as one which I shared on the phone recently with avant-garde filmmaker Luther Price. I started talking about his film on which I'm basing a project (Luther, who has never done any kind of home distribution and doubtfully ever will) and he asked me how I'd seen it. I had to leave thi

Docu Drama

Published on 2010-04-29 10:15:00

Watched Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema last night. I suppose I can't be too surprised. I've been on a documentary kick lately (which is atypical) and I can't help but furrow my brow at the sloppy handle of recent narratologies. Linnearity is a hard thing to discern when you're painting broad strokes of a subject that spans years - much like the film last night which runs from Fireworks (1947) to Tarnation (2006)[a gamut that actually showcases little cinematic progression if you get to the

MEAT Screening and Installation May 7

Published on 2010-04-28 17:33:00

MEAT an installation by Luther PriceOpening Reception Friday May 7, 8:00 – 10:00pm Louis V E.S.P.140 Jackson St, #4D Brooklyn, NY 11211 Louis V E.S.P. is excited to announce the installation of MEAT and a screening of the 60‐minute film at 9pm, on May 7th. Meat (1990, 1991) is comprised of film, performance documentation, slide projections and sculptural ephemera in which Boston‐based filmmaker, Luther Price restages a surgical nightmare he endured in the 1986 political uprising in Nicara

Homecoming Queen

Published on 2010-03-03 15:45:00

William E. Jones is proving to be one of Queer cinema’s most stalwart voices. But we've known that for some time, haven't we? In a period where gay narrative cinema has drifted to the on‐demand circuit and left lonely mainstream voices like Tom Ford to peddle conservative gay ideologies, an older student film like Jones' recently screened Massillon can sound a chord, reminding one of the potential for cinema to be (progressively) political. Perhaps, as Jones suggested when speaking at Anthol

The Burnt Sight

Published on 2009-10-08 10:11:00

I wanted to like them. And, really, what subject is more perfect for a subjective study than an inkblot? Last night, at the closing program for Anthology Film Archive’s ‘The Walking Picture Palace’ series, new abstract works by Luther Price came alive upon the screen. The idea is simple enough and in-no-way unprecedented within Avant-Garde film. Price’s hand painted works, not prints but each unique objects, run before the beam, casting amorphous shapes onto the screen: seething, creepin

My Boyfriend is Right

Published on 2009-08-19 12:15:00

All of my recent buys and reads have had purple covers with white font (mostly). What does that say, I wonder? I have not neglected this page. I have been sweating and toiling over a thesis. Perhaps portions of it will appear here later. There's a Whitney Houston article that's half finished and looks at the haters surrounding her comeback - everyone who mentions the crack when listening to her new, bawdy ballads fearing the outmoded. Hopefully that will post soon.

Terse Round-up

Published on 2009-06-28 05:06:00

10 things I think about recent developments1. Little Boots – Hands Wow, This was a sure thing, I thought. I was wrong. Forgettable and a strange blend of over and under-produced. That the killer ‘Stuck On Repeat’ is featured in an amended 3-minute version when the brilliance of the song is that it needs to be long and… well… repetitive really shows a lack of smarts on LB’s part. To quote Pitchfork, “Songs don’t get stuck on repeat unless people can’t get them out of their heads

Plaster and Pearl (excerpt)

Published on 2009-04-28 04:29:00

This is a fragment of a new, lengthy work on Dominican Starlet Maria Montez, matriarch of Universal's war-year sarong epics, and her baroque stylizations.Maria Montez’s first leading role, Arabian Nights also marked Universal’s first use of the new, 3-strip Technicolor process. The new color film was an ocular sensation both in the emblazoned color stock and the plastic potential for world creation. This technology enabled the emphasis of film to rest on the visual construction of the fanta