Must be something in the water.
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The King is Dead
25 Jun
The King of Pop has died. I have very few words to say after the shocking news of Michael Jacksons’ heart attack and subsequent death hit the headlines – there’s nothing that hasn’t been said about the iconic figure that defined a generation and inspired millions.
I hope he rests in peace.
13 Beauties
22 Jun
I’m about to watch a movie. Not just any movie, it’s a collection of Andy Warhol’s screen tests. Thirteen of which have been chosen to create tonight’s ‘performance’; a projection onto a large screen with a live soundtrack provided by Dean & Britta. I’m at the Ford Amphitheatre, at an event produced by the L.A. Film Festival titled ’13 Most Beautiful’. Paul America, Susan Bottomly, Ann Buchanan, Freddy Herko, Jane Holzer, Dennis Hopper, Billy Name, Nico, Richard Rheem, Lou Reed, Ingrid Superstar, Edie Sedgwick and Mary Woronov are tonights featured artists. Mary is actually at the theatre, and before the show starts she is up on stage telling us stories about The Factory and Andy’s famous residents and friends. Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta provides grovelly voiced commentary throughout the night, spilling anecdotes about each person as they arrive on screen. Music is played to match the length of the each piece. With songs by Bob Dillon and Lou Reed, nostalgia easily sets in.
Chief among them:
Richard Rheem: Andy’s boyfriend for a time.
Paul America: Andy encouraged his actors to take different names, and for Paul, the name he took was America. Later on, he regretted this name change because he didn’t like what America represented and he said, it was difficult to check into hotels.
Susan Bottomly: 17 years of age, who cried during the screen test.
Nico: Whose real name was Christa Pakin and inspired a song written by Bob Dillon, who took a painting of Elvis Presley and later traded it for a used couch.
Freddy Harlo: He was a dancer and wore a black cape around town. While taking a bath in Andy’s apartment, someone put Mozart on and Freddy jumped out of the bath, danced around the room and then jumped out the window of the four story building. We are told that he was fond of taking speed.
Ingrid Von Schhelfflen (Ingrid Superstar): In 1986 she was living with her Mother. One day, she left her false teeth in a chair, walked out the front door and never came back. Throughout her test, she constantly hides her teeth and nose behind two delicate fingers. I can almost see the old woman she will become. With her wide chin and small lips, she reminds me of Drew Barrymore.
Lou Reed: Drinking a bottle of Coke. With graceful swigs from the bottle, he keeps his glasses on and (I assume) stares back at the camera. His fingers are long, with nails filed to a soft point.
Billy Name: Was lit on most of his films and in 1963 lived off East 7th Street in New York. Also a fan of speed, he decided to paint his apartment silver, which prompted Andy to ask him to do the same to his apartment. He lived with Andy for four years afterward.
Baby Jane Holzer: 1964 girl of the year who’s staring at the camera while brushing her teeth. It’s very sensual.
A picnic before, available at any open table you can find.
Mary Woronov
Susan Bottomly
Edie Sedgwick
Mary Woronov
Nico
The crowd. Feeling nostalgic?
Baby Jane: Jane Holzer
Another look at the show:
Trailer Plot: 13 Most Beautiful
Filming
17 Jun
Last Friday I was invited to a gig in the Hollywood Hills. My Dad is an actor, so I’m privy to some fun stuff if I can get some time off my amazingly boring job. Since I never get sick, and barely take vacation, I’ve racked up quite a few hours of PTO; so here I was Friday afternoon, with nothing but some spare time and an invitation to Molly Sims house. 
Model/Actress Molly Sims. Noted for her Sports Illustrated appearances and star of ‘Las Vegas’ as Delinda Deline.
I can tell you only that what was being filmed was a short, meant to make fun of its actors, and while the actors proceeded to do their bit, I watched behind the scenes. I played with Sims dogs, Chloe and Bubette, watched the action from just behind the director, stood in for Molly, chatted with the crew, and generally admired her beautiful home. Molly seems to be both well-read and an avid art collector. She certainly had fun playing up her part while filming. She is as stunning as you can imagine in person. All tan and blond and 5′ 9″.
Four hours later (which is remarkable for one scene) – start, stop, start, stop, this angle, that angle – all the actors were done with their scene and we said our goodbyes. The day was in the throes of California’s June Gloom, and with the cool weather, it was perfect for a beer on a patio. So it was.
Career Goals
4 JunAt times, my job translates into a Dilbert comic. Straight-out. There are days, after I’ve been asked when I will have kids, taken out to ice cream, and then approvingly pat on the head by my boss after I’ve made 40 copies for him, I wonder what my goal in life was supposed to be. I don’t think this was it.
At times where my work can’t ascribed to a Dilbert-like scenario, it’s just like Clockwatchers. A petri-dish of gossip and corporate mantras.
Tao of Chuck Klosterman
14 OctChuck Klosterman has perspective to burn. I would bet a large sum of money on his being correct (or at least pursuasive) ninety-five percent of the time, whether or not I personally disagree with his thoughts, particularly as they relate to the age old question “What does it all mean?” Ostensibly, he makes a good point on the subject, on many subjects, and one in particularly is, what’s with Publishings’ state of affairs? We rank 18 out of 24 nations in terms of the relative effectiveness of our educational system, and routinely have low reading rates of adults across the nation. But that’s not all, Culture as a whole generally sucks, countries hate us for the shit we spew out. So, it seems significant to read a passage from Chuck Klosterman’s IV, a collection of essays from his days spent writing for Esquire and Spin magazine, who said this:
Photo by Carrie Marshall
“Why, I wondered, do people so often feel let down by popular culture? Why do serious film fans feel disgusted when another stock Tom Hanks movie earns $200 million? Why do record store employees get angry when a band like Comets on Fire comes to town and only twenty-two people pay to see them? Why do highly literate people get depressed when they look at The New York Times Best Sellers list?”
So much of what we see around us, we disagree with. Yet, pop icons, among many facets of society, continue to exist and excel through public support and cultural infrastructure. Chuck continues his thought with this – a juxtaposition of one’s own thoughts versus public opinion, or rather – what sells the fastest and in the largest quantities:”There’s always this peculiar disconnect between how people exist in the world and how they think the world is supposed to exist; it’s almost as if Americans can’t accept an important truth about being alive. And this is the truth to which I refer: culture can’t be wrong. That doesn’t mean it’s always “right,” nor does it mean you always have to agree with it. But culture is never wrong. People can be wrong, and movements can be wrong. But culture – as a whole – cannot be wrong. Culture is just there. ”
Michael Moore is the best example of Klosterman’s statement. I mean, if culture as a whole loves Paris Hilton and continues to promote her for reasons I cannot comprehend, then who I am to contend with popular opinion? I have no stake in her celebrity. If she sells, then market her. In this day and age, with the markets crashing and people desperate for ideas that sell, in a market devoid of originality, then Chuck is right, Culture is not wrong, it’s our realistic gossip-gulfing self. The disappointment sets in because our realistic makeup doesn’t match our idealism. But….
Photo by Mustafa Calaki
If disagreement with mainstream culture simply means that your ideas aren’t preferred, then consider the opposite, by Stephen King, who says, “There is a kind of unspoken (hence undefended and unexamined) belief in publishing circles that the most commercially successful stories and novels are fast-paced….the underlying thought is that people have so many things to do today, and are so easily distracted from the printed word, that you’ll lose them unless you become a kind of short-order cook, serving up sizzling burgers, fries, and eggs over easy just as fast as you can. Like so many unexamined beliefs in the publishing business, this idea is largely bullshit…which is why, when books like Umberto Eco’s The Name of The Rose or Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain suddenly break out of the pack and climb the best-seller lists, publishers and editors are astonished. I suspect that most of them ascribe these books’ unexpected success to unpredictable and deplorable lapses into good taste on the part of the reading public.”
I think, we all liked McDonalds hamburgers, and look where that got us. Fast food and bigger belts – can you consider these ostensibly unintended consequences the “not wrong” taste of Culture? Or is Chuck Klosterman’s assertion that culture’s not wrong or right just really saying that culture is the result of freedom of choice, and where we’re at is the result of freedom, not taste, because from what I can tell – we don’t have any.
Photo by Mauricio Quiroga – Miami’s Memorial Statue
Daily Intel
10 OctDaily Intel, the New York Magazine blog, dissected the Wall Street Crisis today from the perspective of its dependent reporters. Amidst vociferate end-of-the-world declarations for Wall Street and countless speculations on our formidable future across all markets, including jobs, journalists now enlist themselves as newfangled martyrs.
Photo by Corey Tester
For Whom The Bell Tolls
19 Sep
Funeral Bell: Photo by Steven Stokan
As mentioned yesterday, journalism is now one big communal discussion; and there’s no standard bar to measure the quality of information suffusing itself through amateur or journalistic outlets nationwide and abroad (even my own writings here). It’s led to a lackdaisical attitude and general indifference towards the quality of writing and stories, and now we’re addicted to sensational news and getting it at breakneck speed. It’s all taken for granted.
Here we are: quotes from The New York Observer, “The story burns more intensely and then it burns out more quickly,” said Jonathan Alter, the Newsweek writer, musing about the life cycle of pieces. “And there’s so much information and so much political coverage that it’s easy for good stories to be lost entirely in that register.”
“Very few of these stories have a long finish,” said Michael Duffy, the nation editor for Time. “The gong dissipates quickly.”
“My instinct is that there is such cacophony of commentary that it does sometimes drown out ideas from good and deeply reported journalism,” said Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor of The Washington Post.
“In the Internet age, the cycle is constant and people don’t really have time to reflect all day on a single story in the newspaper,” he added. “And it’s more difficult to set the agenda for very long.”
NO SAINTS IN L.A. 