springtime blues

I think this awful stupid weather is having the same effect on people as a full moon supposedly does. Yesterday I watched people fighting in the middle of the street, and people almost running people over with their cars in reverse, and people almost getting run over by the bus while trying to catch it, etc. The best/only good thing about this dip back into wintry tone-poem land is that I whipped Astral Weeks back out and it felt pretty appropriate.

Upcoming: The Lives of Others, Brothers Quay, Blue Cheer at the Pub (article forthcoming), etc. etc.

Also I still have to write a paper for the independent study I’m doing this semester, and time is tight on that, so probably not too many updates until that’s taken care of.

here i am.

My niece is convinced that she is Mary, mother of Jesus, and that her baby doll is in fact baby Jesus. This resulted in two amusing anecdotes today: the first was when she told her cousin (she is two, her cousin is almost-2) that he was Joseph, and he put a blanket over his head, and she told him he was supposed to be Joseph, not a ghost. The second was when he took baby Jesus from her, and she got upset because she’s not much for sharing (especially when the son of God is the object in question), and he proceeded to give the baby Jesus many kisses on the lips.

film and fondant

Monday was tennis weather and yesterday brought us snows. This truly is one of the cruellest of Aprils. Meanwhile, last night was AKTIONISMUS etc. at avant-garde film; Kubelka, Kren, the wonderful Mara Mattuschka. I was glad there were people there who would laugh at the funny things. Last week one of the Müller films featured splices of several different women from several different ’50s and ’60s films, all performing basically the same exact actions, such that 6 different people from six different films were being shown but it seemed like the same thing repeating over and over. It was funny. No one else laughed. I stifled.

Coming up, it’s Easter. I’ve had three of these so far, two of which happened just this evening as I struggled through my article for next week’s paper:

(As an aside, if you image search “Cadbury egg” or “Cadbury Creme Egg,” you’ll stumble upon quite a number of interesting things people have done with the little buggers, including but not limited to:

• Attempting to bake a cake substituting them for real eggs.
• Making a fried sandwich with them on wheat bread.
• Stuffing them inside Peeps, or perhaps it was the reverse.)

in case you’re into creepy things

Filmmakers is showing a Brothers Quay double feature next week — April 13-19. You can get a ticket for the double feature and watch the first part one night and the second part another night, if you want, which might be a good idea. Regardless, I’m excited.

semper fi, tattoo or die

I chuckled a lot yesterday reading this story about how Marines are now going to be prevented from getting large tattoos below the elbow or below the knee, and some of them are upset at this limitation on their liberty. I’m going to presume that the irony is obvious to you and any commentary on my part would be wasted fingerstrokes.

I KNEW I’D FORGET SOMETHING

Not a big deal, BUT — this morning’s Opus comic was really funny, to me. I often don’t think Opus is that great anymore; the grotesque nature, while I “get it,” usually just deters me from enjoying. But I liked this one a lot.

dogs and not-dogs

The last time I checked in with you was before the show Thursday, so I’ll start there and more forward in a chronological fashion, completing my overview only at the point when I can go no further because I haven’t done the things that I would be describing yet.

The One A.M. Radio was enjoyable, though perhaps not so much so as the last time I saw them, at Roboto about three years ago? That had as much to do with the instrumentation changes on this tour vs. that as much as the fact that — eep! — I’m not sure I like his new album quite as much as A Name Writ in Water (to be fair, I’ve only given it a cursory listen at  a friend’s house once, then heard the songs again at the show). That having been said, Hrishi’s voice is always beautiful regardless, and the show was relaxed and fun, with a good “interactive” vibe (POP 2.0), and on the whole quite satisfying.

Friday night was game night on Torley Street, which basically involves Alex beating everyone at Boggle for a while, then me getting to the irritable stage of drunkenness and everything feeling awkward, then getting over that, and some rousing Apples to Apples action.

Saturday I woke up disturbingly late, hurrying to make the afternoon sessions of the European experimental film conference at Pitt. It was surprisingly  accessible, and lucid, and interesting for the most part. Adam Lowenstein presented a paper on Un Chien Andalou (erg, we watched the eyeball-slitting scene, and apparently they had already watched it once at a session in the morning) and eXistenZ (I’ve never actually watched it; the clip we watched was kind of campily hilarious though). Marcia Landy presented on Dario Argento, making overtures toward the same things we had already discussed about Un Chien Andalou. The next two sessions, on late-Soviet Russian experimental film (Parallel Cinema and Necrorealism) and East German experimental film growing out of DEFA studios, were a bit less exciting, though Vladimir Padunov did a good job of making his lecture more exciting than the subject matter really warranted for the most part. Birgit Hein answered questions in a session that I left a bit early; that was really interesting (hearing firsthand accounts of the avant-garde film scene in Germany in the ’60s) but I was getting antsy and headed for dinner. Regardless, interesting sessions and and overall successful event, methinks. Also I had a not-dog Saturday night, which leads into my next topic of discussion:

Today — here’s the kicker — I went to a dog show. Yes, the kind where kind-of-maybe-crazy people parade dogs around and definitely-crazy judges feel these dogs’ testicles. It was fun; the best part was the agility course (read: OBSTACLE COURSE!) that saw its last few runs right after we got there. One little dog did really well the whole time until the last obstacle, a really big ramp he had to go up then back down, and he just wouldn’t do that one. It was a little sad. On a happier note, all along the perimeter, there were booths selling things like air deodorizers, cookies for dogs, fudge for humans, and t-shirts that said “Groomers do it on the table” and “I’m the alpha bitch.” And there were people there who would actually wear those t-shirts! Also I’m glad to have gone to the convention center for something and not died in its imminent collapse due to poor construction.

This week, avant-garde films at Pitt and I Adapt at Roboto conflict with one another. I’ll figure that out. Also, Deerhunter/Scalpels/Harangue Tuesday evening at CMU. I may or may not make that. I’m kind of burnt out on going to things.