2004 - the year of unexpected disasters

peacefish
Originally uploaded by topiary.

We ushered in 2004 with news of the earthquake in Bam, Iran. (6.6 quake that killed 26,000 in Bam on Dec. 26, 2003). Another ancient city in ruins, only this time, through no doing of our own.... how strange that 2004 would end with an even bigger, much more far ranging catastrophe from an earthquake. In between, there were hurricanes and other forces of nature to remind us of our tenuous relationship to security and stability. I read that Saturn is in Cancer right now, from June 3, 2003 - July 16, 2005, which according to the people at www.artcharts.com means that during this time, we humans are reckoning with our relationship to security - a time of increasing government control, bad weather, rising unemployment and depreciating property values (tell this to NYC real estate) and it also says: "The land can literally quake, increasing the potential for earthquakes." (I'm not making this up.)

Of course, there was the unexpected disaster of the election. Which, by the way, http://www.ContestTheVote.org is still looking for people to sign their petition -

But, I think, for those of us who did survive 2004, it has been about gathering strength, gaining strategy knowlege through loss and disappointment - it will make us stronger. Goodbye to supoorting candidates who 'support the war.' Goodbye Reagan, Arafat, Sontag - old guards of thinking. The Modern is new again. And my generation, all of sudden, we are the adults.

Takeshi Kaneshiro

Just saw House of Flying Daggers, which could have been called Tragic Love Story in 4 Seasons or variously, Forest of Flying Bamboo - which was definately the highlight, or also, Gorgeous Japanese Guy Rushing Around China Pretending He's Not in Love With the Cute Skinny Dancer Girl - there is more to say, like that it's gorgeous and hilarious and wonderful and reminds me that in my previous life I WAS a chinese warrior fighting the corrupt government.

B of A's invasion of red

I'll admit, I hold grudges against colors. Like, for example, I've never really forgiven purple. And this is because of Myra Leibster, who my dad dated when he first left my mom. This woman (who had her own children) wore only purple - purple cowboy boots, purple leather jacket, purple socks, everything purple every day. This was in the early 80's when purple was really popular - so it kind of seemed like a fashion move gone OCD. (She eventually became a second grade teacher at the school where my Mom still teaches and even as late as the mid 90's she was still wearing only purple and my mom told me that the kids in the school all called her the purple lady. So I guess it wasn't just a fashion thing on her part.)

But - anyways, the real reason for this post tonight is to report on the trend of big corporations going red. Specifically the previously-ubiquitous-only-on-the-west coast, sinisterly-named Bank of America, who has recently swallowing up Fleet and other East Coast provincial banking institutions out here in NY metropolitan area... Now, I know, it's not really shocking that B of A would starbuck it's way east and onto the streets of NYC, but what really disturbs me is it's sudden, post-election color shift.

Which is to say, when I lived in SF, the B of A's logo was predominantly blue. It always had a blue & red theme, but the backdrop was BLUE. And now, all of a sudden, B of A has materialized with a suddenly revamped logo which is predominantly RED. I take this personally, I take this as an invasion - an politically-charged aesthetic invasion. And, I'd like to point out the irony in the new chosen affinity for Red that this big money, corporate interest has... now that "communism is dead."

stock market

citi-stock market
Originally uploaded by topiary.

disingenuous ads which purport to advise us against thinking money is the most important thing...
meanwhile, you have to have at least $500 to keep in their bank just to have a checking account
i hate them
and their coy b-s
"healthy and wise, the other part is not important"
it makes me want to buy cans of spray paint

bad education

the constant tangling of a movie within a movie, an unfolding plot seems to keep its writer/director central protagonish guessing as to the meaning and motivation of his own characters
second, a viciously funny pot shots at the catholic church
which doesn't just make a movie that gives us the cliche of the injured boys at the hands of the pedophile priests,
everyone in the film is guilty of suffering the bad education at the hands of their beloveds
almodóvar is enraptured by the magic of fiction and the power of the story to transform not only its characters but itself
like a pudding, folding in on itself, as we lick the bowl
and of course, its pretty to look at - not just the boys, but the wall paper, the colors
a field of young catholic school boys pathetically doing push ups to the orders of the fat priest
hustlers upon hustlers, each one trying to steal something from someone else

it's not sincere and heartbreaking like Talk to Her
though they both share the spanish appetite for the surreal
its a wicked and cold and noir'ish plot turning film about storytelling and acting
hustling and theft

queer moss

c. Topiary

notre musique

note to self: join Film Forum

Goddard's 3 part harmony - part Chris Marker (Hell), part No Exit existential fiction ramble, part... Yvonne Rainer film is the only reference I have, but I know she was really inspired by him - so...?

the experience of watching the film was definately enhanced by the presence of John Waters, who was sitting right behind us, as it turned out - hearing him chuckle during this odd film added surreal to the already surreal

i took the film as a meditation on the role of victim - purgatory was set in sarajevo
fitting backdrop for the french-israeli-russian jewess beauty who interviews a palestinian about victimhood and defeat
the palestinian says that no one is interested in them, they are only famous because of who their enemy is: the jews - the ultimate victims who have become the oppressors
the israeli-palestinian struggle (war?) boiled down to a european fascination with the endless transmogrification of the jew

in the end the jewish woman martyrs herself - gets shot in the name of asking people to die for peace

i can't help but think about this film in relation to the interview with Amos Oz today on WNYC - Amos Oz who talks about his own transformation from right-wing zionist in his youth to socialist patriot to contemporary critic of israeli policy

i fantasize that we are a world moving toward more complex ideas about humanity - rendering violence and oppression obsolete - because we have so much work to do to invent sustainable methods for power and nourishment, rebuilding the ruins created in the name of security

I dream that we will take to the streets, inspired by Kiev, inspired by our own disgust with this corrupt empire
may we crumble into a thousand disparete humane pieces
reject the tyranny of corporate global consolidation
and get back to our own small business of growing things
and helping each other to live through this
in slow and beautiful color

the incredibles

note to self: cultivate inner violet

i love how the teenage daughter is always the misfit
the narrative hindges on the girl finding her own power
the cloak of invisibility becomes family's protective shield;
mother as ship and parachute

sick+indignant

sick+indignant
Originally uploaded by topiary.

Dublin, Nov. 2004

shamrock light

shamrock light
Originally uploaded by topiary.