It's a Moby Free-For-All!

Do you think Moby sits around all day with his friends, brainstorming music-video ideas by the dozen? I do. I really do.

We Are All Made of Stars - Nobody looks more comfortable in a spacesuit than Moby. He should make it his "every-day" wear.


Beautiful - Story-telling, a lost music-video artform, is back!


Bodyrock - Yeah! Blow shit up!


Honey - I believe there's some in-camera effects here--the best kind.


Spiders - This is SO me and my friends from drama class so many years ago.

Great-ish Unsung Performances: Leif Garrett as Eddie Trojan in "The Spirit of '76"

For some reason I rented "The Spirit of '76" a few weeks ago. Maybe I just needed to "tune out" for a little while. This 1990 film is all kinds of dumb, but it's knowingly dumb and once you get used to the wooden acting and slow comic pacing by never-heard-from-again director Lucas Reiner, its good-natured, wacky charm starts to ooze forth, coating you in a retro day-glow aura.

Due to an imaginative futuristic catastrophe, America in the year 2176 has lost all contact with its past. Desperate scientists hijack rocket scientist Adam-11's time-travel machine in order to travel to the birth of our nation and reinstate our lost Constitution. Only the machine malfunctions and they end up in 1976, in the midst of Bicentennial fever. Also, Adam-11 is played by David Cassidy. That's right. David Cassidy with his trademark shag hairdo is a rocket scientist.

You also get the ever-cheerful McDonald brothers, Jeffrey and Steve, of Redd Kross, Roman and Sophia Coppola working in the background as writer and costume designer, respectively, and all kinds of funny little cameos by the likes of Devo, Carl and Rob Reiner, Julie Brown, and Moon Zappa, as a clothing boutique employee who digs astrology.

But most surprising of all is Leif Garrett's performance as swinging, polyester-encased Eddie Trojan. As a would-be ambassador of love to hot futuristic visitor, Chanel-6 (Olivia d'Abo, lookin' fiiiine), Garrett is goofy, horny, and surprisingly sweet. His charm has never been as present since his teen-idol years. Was it the feathered wig? The pukka shells? The power of The Hustle to move him? Also worth noting is his performance as a psychopath Soc in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Outsiders"--nothing behind the eyes there. While he continues to be tabloid fodder for battling addiction demons, we will always wonder in regards to his film career, what might have been...

Look at his awesome range, from horn-dog to cheerful arbitrator of disco-dancing foreplay. And look at his moves. A fan on the Internet Movie Database forum suggests he partake in "Dancing With The Stars." I agree! But only if he wears this outfit and others like it, for every performance.






Here's where Garrett really shines. Watch him alter his expression from hopeful elation to downtrodden disappointment. Awwww, Eddie...sometimes Boogie Fever hurts.




1990 was too close to the 70s for a full-blown satire of the era. Many people in 1990 still looked, talked and listened to the music of the 70s on a constant basis. Now those years are feeling like ancient history and it's nice to see David Cassidy in this film, still all cute and fairly angry. In 1990 he still had it. Disclosure: when I was eight, I LOOOOOOOOOOVED Keith Partridge until all my older, more fickle friends soon declared him "over" (after indoctrinating me into their cult of Keith). Sadly, I took my Tiger Beat photos off the wall, and moved on to Davy Jones, who was more my size anyway. I appreciate this last little burst of youthful David Cassidy.

Another post on IMDB mentioned that the film, while resembling 70s-era Southern California, was actually filmed in sunny Alameda, right across the Bay from San Francisco. Nice job, location scouts.

Redd Kross - 1976



Trailer

Proposition 8 Depresses / Silverton, Oregon Uplifts

Proposition 8's success in California left me heavy-hearted this week. I know it's going to Court and the fight will go on, but people: it's 2008. Time to recognize the rights of our friends and neighbors without bigotry and discrimination. Some couples would like to get married and it's wrong to stand in their way. If I believed in God, be assured that my God would approve of love and commitment among the ranks. Because my God wouldn't be AN IDIOT.

Here's a news story from "The Oregonian" that lifted my spirits. The citizens of Silverton have elected the nation's first openly transgendered mayor. Mayor Stu Rasmussen is a straight guy who wears women's clothes and has long hair and breast implants. He runs a movie theater, is a civic activist, and has lived in Silverton all his life. He says of his home town, "This is a warm, caring and accepting community and they judge people for who they are and what they stand for, not necessarily what they look like."

Congratulations to Mayor Rasmussen and to the 9,588 people of Silverton. I'm glad to get to know you a little this week.

Transgendered mayor

Source: Silverton gives its vote to transgendered mayor by Kimberly A.C. Wilson, "The Oregonian."

Go See: Northwest Film & Video Festival 2008

I just started volunteering for the NW Film Center. My first assignment was tabling at Wordstock this weekend at the Portland Convention Center. The combination of a friendly, helpful, film-loving organization that offers film classes, equipment rentals to all, and marvelous festivals and screenings throughout the year, together with Portland's most enthusiastic readers, writers, authors and publishers was almost too much for my psyche to handle. I met so many nice people, including my NW Film Center cohorts.

The NW Film Center is hosting the 35th Northwest Film & Video Festival all this week. See films from all over the Northwest; shorts, documentaries, features and the always intriguing: unclassifiable. Check the schedule and get on over to the Whitsell Auditorium (at the Portland Art Museum) for screenings through Saturday, November 15th.

There's much to choose from. These caught my eye:

"Fast Break" - Director: Don Zavin; Tue., Nov. 11th, 9:00 p.m.
This singular time capsule of the 1977 NBA World Champion Trail Blazer season offers uncommonly intimate moments on and off the court...reflective conversations with Bill Walton and many of the other players of the era reveal the touching and surprising innocence of a time before the superstar era.

"She's a Boy I Knew" - Director: Gwen Haworth; Wed., Nov. 12th, 7:00 p.m.
Haworth's open-eyed autobiography shares the story of a boy making and sharing the decision to change his gender...

"Pig Roast & Tank of Fish" - Director: Ivy Lin; Sat., Nov. 15, 3:00 p.m.
Portland's Chinatown was once the second largest in the U.S., but today it is a struggling neighborhood in search of identity and rebirth...

"Shorts II" - various directors, Sat., Nov. 15th, 6:00 p.m.
There's a big variety here that looked really good to me. I'm intrigued by "Aboard The Pater Noster" by Daniel Conrad: This sequence of group dances choreographed by Aszure Barton was sumptuously filmed in Prague with, among other things, an odd people-moving contraption known as the Pater Noster. (Wha-? I've got to see that contraption. - CWW)
Also:
"Suffragette Slasher" by Julie Perini: Mary Richardson, a militant suffragette in the early 20th century, slashed a treasured painting in the National Gallery in London as a protest action. (Only 3 minutes long--that's gotta be good. - CWW)

"The Rifle Workbook" - Vincent Caldoni (from the Shorts II program)


"Wendy and Lucy" - Director: Kelly Reichardt; Sat., Nov. 15th, 8:00 p.m.
One of the best-received films at the Cannes, Toronto and New York Film festivals. Based on Portland writer John Raymond's short story, Wendy (Michelle Williams) and her dog Lucy (Reichardt's own) are on their way to Alaska for a summer of cannery work, when the car breaks down in a small Oregon town. Flat broke, Wendy must confront the realities of poverty, self-reliance, friendship and duty--that of the people she meets and painfully her own. (Opens at Cinema 21 in late December.)

Trailer from 2007 (couldn't find 2008--a victim of budget cuts, perhaps?)


This little write-up with the trailer describes the supportive and humorous atmosphere of the NW Film Center very well:

After 34 years (now 35) of Northwest Film & Video Festivals, we continue to draw our enthusiasm from the inspirational dedication we see from the filmmakers of the Northwest. We see the heroic feats of strength, tenaciousness and passion you engage to make your art and to make it good. We shudder at your financial turmoil, shake our fists to the wind for your technological breakdowns, and bleed for your rejections. You are a dedicated lot and this Festival is dedicated to you. http://www.nwfilm.org/ (Find information about film classes here.)

"Perhaps, Tomorrow" - Jeff Frankenhauser; from the digital film editing class at NW Film Center with footage from the Prelinger Archives.

Political Accoutrements Present and Accounted For

My Obama campaign buttons arrived in the mail today so I'm set to start the heirloom collection for the future grandchildren. I'm just waiting for MoveOn to send me my free button that I signed up for (in return for 50,000 emails from them). They said it would take up to five weeks for delivery. Five weeks to send a button.

Did you ever send away for something from a cereal box? It took FOREVER to arrive. Usually by the time I received the item, I had completely forgotten I had ordered it in the first place. The MoveOn Obama button will be a nice surprise a few weeks from now.

Today at Jackson's school bus stop a mom from down the street was wearing two really big Obama buttons on her coat. Now I too can be fashionable when the school bus arrives.

(Blurry photo--sorry. We don't have time to wait for pristine 35mm prints from the macro lens.)

And here's the Oregonian front page. Looks good, editors.

And here's the final electoral map from the already legendary 538 site. Thank you 538 for keeping Keith's head from exploding in the weeks leading up to Election Night. I appreciate your words of encouragement, backed by amazing mathematical skills.

Because of 538, we knew that Obama won when CNN announced Ohio was his. We got to jump up and down before a lot of people were doing so. And when our neighbors started setting off fireworks, we were ready at the door, shouting whoops of joy.

It looks like Obama will gain an electoral vote from Omaha as well. The electoral votes keep coming in.

Here's the 538 post for Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 8:27 p.m.:

Barack Obama Wins Ohio

Barack Obama wins Ohio. All call. We aren't "calling" the overall race yet, but that's ballgame, folks. He will be the next president of the United States.

Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States.

The roar goes up in Grant Park. They know.

To everyone who participated, who donated, who voted--thank you.

Now what am I going to do with these?

Portland Bursts Into Song

Post-election crowd in Portland, OR spontaneously sings "Star Spangled Banner." Lovely.



source: znowboarding45

Everyday People Dance to the Music

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Michelle in 2016.

"Wild in the Streets" 1968

At last--it's election day! Celebrate with "Wild in the Streets," 1968 Hollywood's take on youth culture run wild. Max Frost, the 24-year-old president elect and world's most popular entertainer lowers the legal voting age to 14. Everyone over 30 is put in a prison camp and forced to ingest LSD. Starring Shelley Winters as Mrs. Daphne Flatow.

Trailer


Max Frost (Christopher Jones) performs chart-topper The Shape of Things to Come.


Max Frost and The Troopers - 14 or Fight. Richard Pryor in his first film role as the Troopers' drummer.




So if Max Frost was 24 then, he'd be 68 today. Sobering.

When Voting, Strive for Excellence as Much as Possible

My cousins visited the American Celebration on Parade exhibit at Shenandoah Caverns in Virgina and took this lovely family portrait on the flag float.

Here's my West Coast recommendations. Simple but effective voting techniques in the pursuit of governmental excellence.

California: NO ON 8. I want to attend my friends' weddings.

Oregon: Merkley, Merkley, Merkley.

Washington State: Gregoire, Gregoire, Gregoire.

Everyone: OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA!

British Columbia: Go about your pleasant business.


Vote - The Submarines

"Horror Castle" by Francis Kohler and Creativity Explored

My friend Francis teaches at Creativity Explored, an art center for adults with disabilities. This is their collaborative effort, made for the 2005 art exhibit, "Revenge of Monster."

A mad scientist kidnaps a young lady with the goal making her into a monster to join his collection of famous creatures, including Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster, and others. Screenplay by Gordon Shepard (who also stars).

Have an excellent Halloween.

"Galaxy Quest" 1999

What's my favorite all-time big-budget sci-fi spoof comedy? That's right, it's Galaxy Quest. Surprised? Don't be. Galaxy Quest is a rollicking good time with a stellar ensemble cast, awesome ILM effects, and good-natured, well-paced comic timing by television director Dean Parisot. But mainly it's a loving and knowledgeable tribute to the science-fiction/space opera genre and its fans.

This film is so sweet at heart that even though critics loved it and initial audiences enjoyed it, it might have left some comedy fans stunned and unsure how to handle its themes of kindness, camaraderie and honesty triumphing over all. Cynics might have been thinking as the house lights came up, "Whu-? I actually ended up LIKING Tim Allen as the egomaniacal Captain Kirk figure?" Yes, and let me tell you something, Tim Allen does a great job starring in this film. There, I wrote it. Well, he does. He makes a very credible arrogant, megalomaniac hero.

But don't disregard Galaxy Quest because of its family-friendliness and big hearted humanity. See it for the clever concept: a bunch of washed-up actors from the long-cancelled but beloved sci-fi television show, Galaxy Quest, are recruited by actual aliens who need their help, warding off evil crab-like intergalactic space thugs. The aliens (Thermians) have seen every episode of the series and mistaking it for a documentary, have modeled their entire society and technological know-how after the show. Hilarity really does ensue.

No? OK, see it for this man and this man only:
Alan Rickman as Alexander Dane—a frustrated, seething, bitter Shakespearean actor, forever forced to utter his half-alien character's ridiculous catch phrase ("By Grabthar's hammer...") while wearing a rubber reptilian cap on his head for the entire film. Perhaps the most perfectly cast character in all of drama since the dawn of time.

Still not convinced? Then see it for Sam Rockwell, a paranoid extra from the original TV series (Crew Member #6) who was killed off before the first commercial and is terrified of it happening for real once they get into space. Simply known as "Guy" to emphasize his expendable status.
OK, how about the Thermians, headed by Enrico Colantoni as Mathesar with his brilliant little sing-songy monotone voice? Fun game: see if you can find Dwight (Rainn Wilson) from "The Office" among the Thermians. He's pretty identifiable, which shows how alien-like Dwight is.
Tony Shalhoub as the most nonplussed character in film history, ship-engineer Fred Kwan. In one outtake, Rockwell demands, "Are you STONED?!" and he may very well be. He has the munchies during even the most dramatic moments.
Plus there's Sigourney Weaver playing a dumb-ish blonde whose only job on the original series was repeating back whatever the ship's computer said. She and adorable Thermian Missi Pyle are the only female characters of note. And except for Daryl Mitchell as the ship's pilot, there is nary a person of color in sight. I told you it was a knowledgeable tribute. You might recognize references to a certain 60s-era TV show, here, there, and everywhere.

And now, with plenty of visual spoilers (sorry about that), we present:


















Trailer


OK, one more Dwight.

Trees as Creatures from "Your Daily Tree"

Here's a sampling of some of the "trees as creatures" I've featured on my other blog, Your Daily Tree. These are all growing in my neighborhood, but I feature other trees from such exotic locations as Portland, Seattle, and Crescent City as well. Enjoy a little nature with your Internet experience at Your Daily Tree.

California: Support Civil Rights - Vote No on Prop. 8

I don't live in California any more but I'm really invested in the outcome of Proposition 8, which would amend the State Constitution to read: Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California.

There is no reason on Earth to add these discriminatory words to the State Constitution. There is no proof that gay marriage leads to anything other than equal rights for all State citizens. And with the divorce rate at 50% among straights, who are we to say what works in a marriage anyway? Churches and out-of-state religious groups have spent millions to convince California voters otherwise.

Here's 88-year-old Molly Pier's take on it. I'm with Molly.

All-Around-The-World Girls Tour Portland

All over the world, musicians make a point of playing in the international arena of...Portland, OR. Because Portland cares about music. Check out all these cool young women, all happening this week. In PORTLAND. That's right. Portland.

U.S. (originally from East Hollywood) - Sam Phillips, Little Plastic Life - Doug Fir Lounge, Oct. 28. Sam Phillips has a nice write-up on her myspace page. She was the composer for "Gilmore Girls" during its run--a beloved TV show that combined screwball comedy with family melodrama. She has an album out now called "Don't Do Anything."


FRANCE - Yelle, A Cause Des Garcons - Berbati's Pan, Oct. 29.


SWEDEN - Lykke Li, Little Bit - Doug Fir Lounge, Oct. 30. Bringing the bun back to women's hair.
Little Bit


AUSTRALIA - Missy Higgins, Where I Stood - Crystal Ballroom, Nov. 5.

Get Your War On

Next to "Doonesbury," "Get Your War On" by David Rees is my favorite satirical comic. And now 23/6 presents it in animated form. Isn't this a beautiful world?



Devo - Beautiful World
Back in the 80s it seemed that all of the U.S. not only voted for Reagan, but also loved and revered the man. If you were not part of this contingent, you most likely felt very angry, isolated and ineffectual. This led to irony. Enjoy.

Devo-Beautiful World
Uploaded by adiis. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

I Love Opie

Keith's favorite read, Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awesome Blog, featured this gem from Ron Howard (and friends) this week. Funny and true.


Here's Keith and I holding up our mail-in ballots. Two for Obama! The bags under our eyes represent the stress this campaign (and the Federal government of the past eight years) has put on our psyches. Won't you please vote for the positive, intelligent, thoughtful choice? And no, he's definitely NOT a socialist. Come on, McCarthyism is SO last century!




Video source: Funny or Die.
Poster source: Barack Obama site (this one's sold out, but there's others for your political art gallery).

Berkeley Big People Sculpture Proclaimed, "Great big FAIL"

Hey, a new figurative sculpture (i.e., "statue") was just dedicated in Berkeley and The Chronicle's art critic, Kenneth Baker, figuratively barfed all over it. He didn't really vomit on the statue. It's mounted too high in the air for that. But he had some choice words, which I mentally translated as: aesthetically hurling. See what you think. I'll give you Mr. Baker's take and my own translation. Bay Area art criticism is so in need of translation; I should hire myself out.

Here it is: "Berkeley Big People" by Scott Donahue, at the pedestrian bridge at the Berkeley Marina.Baker: Donahue's dominant figures...represent protesters agitating for various causes. Perhaps from a vehicle...the sculpture...communicates a flash of appreciation for Berkeley's long contrarian streak. But viewed on foot, up close, it reads as caricature, and thus, as mockery. It turns any thought of activist politics into dismissive thoughts of political correctness.

Translation: East Bay piece of shit. Did I get 'political correctness' in there? (checking). Yes. Good.

Here's the close-up. My first thought: Cripes, that is a piece of shit. But what do I know?
Baker: As sculpture, "Berkeley Big People" fails every test. Crucially, it ignores the fact that the best art of the past 50 years at monumental scale has systematically discredited the statuary conception of sculpture.

Translation: It's a fucking crap little statue! And a shitty one at that!
(So far Kenneth Baker and I are on the same page--CWW.)

Baker compares "Berkeley Big People" to two other recent art works that he likes better. Claes Oldenburg's and Coosje van Bruggen's "Cupid's Span" (below), and Richard Serra's "Ballast" (last shot).
Baker: "Cupid's Span"...in San Francisco looks like representational sculpture. But its immensity, its visual echoes of the Bay Bridge and other associations - something about having one's heart pinned here, a reminiscence of Old World colonizers' masted ships - take it far from the literal impression it makes at first. I do not think "Cupid's Span" wears as well as some of the team's projects in other cities, such as "Clothespin" in Philadelphia, but it does have built into it the possibility of visual surprise on future encounters.

Translation: Why couldn't SF get "Clothespin?" Why must we get the left-overs after artists drop their best work back East? Why do I toil away on the West Coast anyway, where no one takes me seriously? I could be reviewing "Clothespin" for New York Magazine, but no, I have to come up with some kind of bullshit about pinning my heart here with a giant bow and arrow with some kind of colonizer reference to show I "get it." Like I fucking care!
(Personally, I think this looks like something from the children's department at IKEA, but I withhold all judgment until seeing it in person--something I've learned about giant art over the years - CWW.)

Baker: Richard Serra's "Ballast" deconstructs the statuary conception of sculpture. At a distance from the site, the work's structure appears obvious: One plate slants slightly to the north, the other to the south. Their divergence is the hallmark of the piece from outside in. But stand between them and look first at one plate, then at the other, and both appear to tilt rightward, which makes them look identical.

This simple phenomenology of "Ballast" has much to show us about the condition of vision that no representational sculpture could reveal. It concerns the embodied nature of vision, which eludes representation - even in the hands of a master such as Cézanne - and which only a viewer's direct engagement can clarify.

Translation: Hmmm, wonder what's for lunch today? Maybe that new Asian fusion place on Bryant. I don't know...I just had Chilean Sea Bass last night. Maybe a brick-fired Mediterranean pizza with cornmeal crust. Mmmmm, yummy...

Baker goes on for a bit more but he lost me at "deconstruct." The word "deconstruct" should be shot and thrown into a ditch as far as I'm concerned. If you are using that in your writing about art, stop. Stop right now. Find another word, then go forth. Baker's word-fun also includes "remnant of vanquished hopes for a future of thrillingly progressive evolution in taste and thinking," and "artistic obsolescence." Whoo! Now go get that lunch, Mr. Baker; you've EARNED it.

Source: SFGate

La Danse des Squelettes

I don't know French, but I know good dancing when I see it.

La dance des Squelletes


Les Squelettes from "Téléfrancais!"


Silly Symphony - "The Skeleton Dance," 1929

"Mama Voted for Obama!" - Literature for the Littlest Democrats

Jeremy Zilber, author of children's books, "Why Mommy is a Democrat," and "Why Daddy is a Democrat," has written a new book, "Mama Voted for Obama!" And I noticed that it's illustrated by Greg Bonnell, who used to live in San Francisco long ago and entertained us with his musical duo, The Dave. I didn't know Greg was an accomplished illustrator as well. It's a small Obama world after all. The books are available at Jeremy's site littledemocrats.net. You can see by these sample pages that we're in the realm of the super charming.