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Bryan Zanisnik’s Grandma

I stumbled upon this guy’s website earlier and realized my friend Jennifer had told me about his work. He has a number of stills on his site as well as two videos: Remembrance of Things Past and Family Reunion. The former features Zanisnik’s grandmother remembering and reenacting wartime battle scenes in combat gear, operating toy guns and reporting to her superiors. The latter begins with her uttering the Taxi Driver line repeatedly in the mirror - “You talkin’ to me?” She’s tired of being called a guinea and turns to violence when pushed over the edge.

Zanisnik shot the footage used here as home movies when he was 13, and he re-edited it in 2006. From his artist statement:

“…Fourteen years later, I have recontextualized and re-edited this archive into a series of short video pieces. Each video presents my grandmother within a varied context, from the Vietnam War, to immigration, to her portrayal as a mafia hitman. These videos are an examination of violence and revisionist American history, seen both through my eyes, and the eyes of my eighty year old grandmother.”

For me, it speaks more about the character of this woman as an open-minded lovable amateur actor and to her relationship with the artist, her grandson. But I still think it’s great.

There are no direct links on his site, so you’ll have to go HERE, go to Images, and then click on the Quicktime Movie links beneath the stills.

Jailhouse Rock

Many of you probably saw the amazing video on Youtube recently of prisoners in the Philippines doing a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. If you’re curious about the background story, check out this 20 minute documentary about the phenomenon.

Below is the original Thriller clip, uploaded by prison warden Byron F. Garcia. The female role is played by an inmate who is a transvestite; her partner is a fancily jacketed inmate portraying Michael.

Thanks to Paul for posting this on Myspace.

It reminds me of an episode of This American Life chronicling a production of Act V of Hamlet by a group of inmates at a high-security prison. Listen to it HERE.

Kate’s Birthday/Tree-Trimming Party

…was super fun and we made some awesome ornaments! Unfortunately I did not get shots of eveyone’s - I wish I had. Check out a small selection on my flickr page, starting HERE or go directly to the two featured below.

Dan’s Golden Space Cookie Ornament

My Second Ornament

Happy Holidays!

Someone Else’s History

I picked these up at Vortex during the same visit where I peeped the how-to smooth guy book (see below). I went scavenging for my birthday and found these 2 photographs, among other tasty tidbits.

How cool is this woman?? I can’t wait until I find a giant boulder that I can pose beneath, and I mean that sincerely.

Gotta love the matching outfits and the look on the smallest kid’s face. Funny that the older kid is playing along since you’d think it would be the reverse. You enjoy this type of thing when you’re younger and then you’re terrifically embarrassed by it, and then you get into it again. Oh wait, that’s me. Not you. Given the red background I’m thinking this may have been a holiday photo, so I’m even being kind of festive!

HOW TO MAKE LOVE TO SINGLE WOMAN

I’m sure it’s full of loads of great tips!

There was an entire crate full of these at local junk shop Vortex (222 Montrose, Brooklyn, NY). I can’t believe I didn’t buy one! Luckily they’re bound to have many copies left the next time I stroll by.

A quick google search yielded this - not sure whether it’s the same material. Sadly I didn’t catch the author’s name on the book - and funny that it’s not printed on the cover at all. Could this be the romeo behind the love-making magic??

O Superman

“So hold me mom….in your long arms.”

I never really knew much about Laurie Anderson except what you absorb in a freshman theory class - that, paired with the ultra-memorable image of her from the cover of Big Science. I guess I had always, uh, meant to check her out but it didn’t happen until I stumbled upon this video on one of the non-youtube video sites. I half-expected it to be irritating and too spoken-wordy, but I found it quite the opposite. Her voice and the calm pace of the song are very soothing, and though the video is over 8 minutes long, it doesn’t get tedious. The video’s minimalism works well, and in fact the whole piece feels like it’s been pared down just the necessary and appropriate components - nothing extraneous or superfluous. Her lyrical exploration of the familiar-personal and familiar-national particularly strike a chord for me, as I’ve been interested lately in a similar dynamic of belonging (see Mother’s Arms).

Here’s that Big Science cover I mentioned:

And here’s another clip of her performing the song, this time in her Soho apartment.

Superman + Spider Woman = True Love

This clip from the 1998 Indian film Dariya Dil begins with an admirably low-tech green screen sequence as our cozy superhero friends boogie and coo in the clouds. After a brief romantic interlude the pair spy a couple being assaulted and come to their rescue, Superman demonstrating some more green screen-assisted superawesomeness. “Super super super super super-man!” is being chanted as he dazzles the villains with his moves. If you can hold on until the end (or click ahead) you’ll be rewarded with a choreographed dance party in some kind of public plaza with a gorgeous 70s-esque shape formation as its backdrop.

Bollywood movies make me so happy! Especially the knockoff variety.

FYI, the lead (super) man is named Govinda. He’s a huge actor in India and also a member of Parliament (MP) in Mumbai. Apparently he’s not as popular as a politician as he was as an actor in his heyday…

Read more in his Wikipedia entry.

Wedding Party Thriller Dance

It takes about 30 seconds to warm up, and it’s not the tightest, but it’s inspiring nonetheless. You gotta give it to them for spicing up the party with a not-so-sacramental but still just as sacred act - that of doing something you feel passionate about with your closest friends and family.

And for old time’s sake, you might also want to check out the classic Bollywood Thriller.

Blank Dogs + Oceanic Art

There are only 4 comments thus far on Blank Dogs’ video “Leaving the Light On” on youtube, and they range from “extremely pretentious” to “blank dogs are the cutting edge shit!” I’d have to side with the latter. The video itself isn’t terribly exciting but it fits the song like a glove. I came across their music on myspace when I saw an image of a masked figure (see below) in someone’s top friends and clicked on it.

The music is smart garage-y pop with heavy guitar and vocal distortion that’s catchy despite the amount to which the content is obscured by the noise. Different moments in the tunes offered on myspace brought to mind Ariel Pink, Animal Collective, and Joy Division. A quick google search yielded results describing the band as “death pop” and wondering whether they might hail from Brooklyn (rather than Madagascar, as their myspace profile states). Neither the music profile or the video offer a glimpse of the band member(s) faces, leaving us only with the images of the masks to draw upon. Luckily the masks and the music go down well together.

Thinking about the masks while writing this reminds me that I want to check out the New Galleries for Oceanic Art at the Metropolitan Museum. I haven’t been there probably since a field trip in my youth but the NY Times review and amazing slideshow of the new gallery piqued my interest. The reviewer (Ken Johnson) was quick to point out that the Native American art collection is in need of some serious lovin’ but at least we can marvel at the Oceanic collection for the time being.

Blank Dogs - “Leaving the Light On” below

Ya Make Me Wanna Snoop

Sorry for the corny pun but I have to remain true to my feverish and delirious mind. In my sickness and time of need, one thing that brings me joy is Snoop Dogg’s new video Sensual Seduction. Most of you have probably seen it already, but still it merits a mention. Margaret, a purveyor of fine links and cultural tidbits, sent it to me last week and I’ve watched it several times since. It’s fashioned in the style of an old video, referncing both 70s and 80s fashion trends and music artists. A great deal of the footage features Snoop dressed much like Prince with a keytar strapped on and wearing glasses while his female cohorts dance and pose around him in a cloud of smoke machine fog. One particular segment in which Snoop and his “backup band” bop back and forth, their images mirrored from the middle of the frame, borrows heavily from When the Doves Cry. Other segments feature various sexy retro Snoops, one being a smooth skinny disco-era figure. Other than it’s oh-so-fun use of green screen techniques, this video is also notable for its pacing - nice and slow with long shots and few cuts and fades, just like in the olden days. Of course, the vocoder distinguishes this as a newer tune, but it seems they tried to justify that with the tube in his mouth, suggesting a talk box (see Stevie Wonder use one here). Bravo, Snoop!

Check it: