o paon bulletin

this just came in the mail with comics, concerts, and an ode to spring. thanks genevieve!

did you know that bears have webcams?

a tour of the plants in my apartment

This is Freya, she is a fern that likes to drink water almost every daya.


This is Philomene, she is purple and hairy.

This is Carmella, she is not too into sun or water, and has probably grown two inches since I took this picture.

Yo I am so excited about Springtime. New York winter is the harshest cold I have ever experienced firsthand. (There are approximately nine other plants also living around the apartment, I don't think they have names yet.) I just found out that Animal Collective is going to be playing in the park down the way in a few months and you can just lay in the grass outside and still here the sounds. summmerrrrrrrrrrrrrr is the best

on getting old

while I have observed some changes in myself lately, I am mostly just happy to let them be and see where they go. This is less interesting and only being used to preface the second part here. I got a digital converter (with a government coupon) so that I can continue watching Jeopardy, and another unnamed program. I don't need it (tv) of course, but I really like themed trivia and riddles. So I hooked it up this evening, and the abc connection is all wobbly like a digital psychedelic meltdown. I thought I'd send a letter to the local station about their signal strength. While I have still been unable to locate the proper contacts, I saw the following on their comment page:

this morning bill evans was talking about a tiger with those little piglets. And then i saw the tiger opening his mouth and putting is over the piglet, and the story ended. I want to know what happened. And i am sure others do as well.

cinema lately

At some point in the last month or so I read a snippet of a quote warning against watching cinematic fiction as it will negatively affect one's concept of reality. I agree with this to a certain extent, and thought I'd limit myself to only documentaries for a bit. This is a little ridiculous as I am a pretty devout theater-goer. But it is good too in alerting myself to the fact that the cinematic fiction I appreciate most is the very out-there whole restructuring of a suggested reality in a very new form. avant-garde it goes.

I recently saw Tokyo! at BAM and loved it. It was hilarious, ridiculous, witty, insane, and touching. Describing a triptych as a whole can be misleading I suppose, so I'll break it down a bit: The first piece ("Interior Design") was directed by Michel Gondry. We are all laughing right away. It was a good choice as first. It is based on a story/comic by Gabrielle Bell, whom I have not read but have now requested works from the library. It also pokes great fun at filmmakers. Knowing how Gondry rolls, I should like to track down a copy of the film shown in the film.
The third segment was really sweet and nerdy, sort of akin to Let the Right One In (which I saw recently and really liked - Oskar is such an endearing character), wherein love occurs between someone who is perceived a bit like a monster (but is themself confident and unconcerned) and another catches a glimpse of this and sees them self in it. Hermits instead of vampires. The most visually stunning of the three.
The second segment ("Merde" by Leos Carax) is insane, the audience is confused at first. But the bizarre scenario presented remains relatively intact, so we are assuaged. In retrospect it too is beautiful. I can't really describe it without giving too much away. Such a lovely monster. (Lilies!)
The first segment set a touch of post-apocalypse that subtly permeated the rest. I am curious as to if there were any constraints for the directors. I didn't research it all prior to seeing it, I had simply seen a preview for it at Examined Life.

So, Examined Life was the only documentary I have seen lately. I had the luck to attend the first screening (quite by accident) in which the director (Astra Taylor) and one of the philosophers (Avital Ronell) were there speaking and Q&Aing. I had found myself in a mini-existential-crisis at the time and watching this film was like going to the doctor. It is a series of walks (save a car ride and a wheelchair) in eight segments with prominent contemporary philosophers discussing meaning and purpose. The title references the Socrates quote ("An unexamined life is not worth living") around which much of the dialogue is directed. The variety too was wonderful. For example, Slavoj Zizek is this lisping Slovenian wearing a neon orange safety vest wandering a landfill and pondering the trouble with humans being so removed from their waste. It is full of advice and additional outlets to research. The philosophers and sassy! Maybe I am just remembering the in-person one. It is a little breezy but that is better than being inaccessible.

Meredith Monk - Ascension Variations @ Guggenheim Museum

Epic, I suppose. The whole time that I was there it all seemed very normal but I had to remind myself that I had never been to a performance remotely resembling this. It was staged at the Guggenheim Museum, which, if you have not been, is a round, upwardly spiraling space designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Meredith Monk first performed in the space forty years ago, and used aspects of that performance "Juice" in last night's show.

I am a great fan of Monk's vocal records, especially those recorded in the eighties. This was my first time seeing her perform, and it was amazing. When I have seen some other, established performers, it is a little sad that they are still doing the same thing as 20+ years ago. The Ascension Variations had both old and new elements, and both old and new performers. There were perhaps close to one hundred performers in all!

Walking in, there were some cushions on the floor, with ledges where the elderly were perched. I didn't notice at the time, but thinking about it now I was probably one of the youngest people there - not that it matters, I like going to shows with older peoples, especially when they have avant-garde fashion!

The stage was in constant motion, and rarely at any one fixed point. There were multiple casts, generally designated by the color of their clothing. The main vocalists were in dark red, (contrasted by a desert caterpillar foursome in bright red) and a quartet of musicians in gray. There were dancers, a chorus, and three women representing perhaps three elements of the female. To us on the floor they sang and danced and wound their way up to the top. The amplification was subtle, very well-done, and really just gave me chills as the sound moved through me. After this portion was a break (but you were not allowed outside except to leave) and all the performers set themselves up dancing or singing, amidst the art all throughout the galleries. Being a round space, there are many wall panels set up for mounting flat works upon. Some were behind, moving in and out, and interacting with the art, but ultimately they were presented as works of art themselves. The audience was invited to move through the galleries, and "shift perspective." When I walked past Ms. Monk, I watched a museum guard pulled her away and through a side exit. I made my way to the very top, and looked down to see Monk set up in the center with a light upon, legs splayed out playing a small squeezebox and singing. She is eventually joined by the other performers, save the chorus, who, dressed in white, are interspersed among the audience all hanging over the edge of the spiral. Looking down I see hands on many railings below. It ends with the performers all laid on their backs.

There was so much more, phenomenal was the only word that came to my mind when it was over.

Eric Copeland @ 92Y / some thoughts on electroooonnnnicc music

I went to see White Magic play a couple nights ago at the 92nd St Y Tribeca space. Eric Copeland opened for them and totally stole the show. Black Dice (a band he plays in) live is a little much for me - I found it difficult to distinguish much of anything, but maybe the sound system was distorting it as well. On his own it was amazing. He is this scarecrow looking character with hair sticking out the sides of his hat playing circular circusy dub. It ruled. The beats were tuff and heavy. And so when White Magic (I just accidentally typed "Black Magic") went on, my interest waned. Through The Sun Door is such a good album, and when the Songs of Hurt and Healing freebie came w/ Arthur I was so stoked. They played an old jam that seemed lost on the crowd, and then played a song I hadn't heard that people were hooting out for. I guess I haven't really been listening to the new stuff.

I have been listening to a lot more bands utilizing electronic elements. I am guessing this has to do with living now in a hyper-urban environment and listenting too to headphones on the subway. When I was fourteen I got that MTV Amp album when techno got mainstream, but then Smashing Pumpkins did a techno song "Eye" for the Lost Highway soundtrack and I thought they totally sold out. (I have listened to that song more recently and thought it pretty good) There is probably very little that I listen too that is techno proper, I think that term only really gets used for rave music now.
The albums released in the last month or so that I have been most excited about have been Fever Ray - Fever Ray (video here), Telepathe - Dance Mother (video here), and Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (video here). Maybe it is more about the loss of a physical drummer? Are live drums to rough for the iPod? Maybe not, and I really do enjoy live drumming shows - IUD is killer.

When I got home from the White Magic show, I was questioning my love for the freak folk. But I went to an Arthur mag benefit at Market Hotel last night and it was really pleasant. I think it might have been the first show in New York I have been to that made apparent the use of incense. Afterwards I went to this b&w geometric hipster dance party but had no moves as the dj played no bass.