Nostalgic flashbacks

These were two of my favorite shows as a young child. Did anyone else watch these? I was having major flashbacks as I watched these intros. Both theme songs are amazing. Some of the instruments sound like they are dying in the Today's Special theme song. And check out the forward thinking graphic effects! A mannequin outlined and filled in with a galaxy then turns into a real man?! Thrilling! However, I was disappointed that the puppet parrot that eats crackers in the mall storage closet wasn't featured in the opening. Or did I just imagine that character?

Also, I came across a surprising and somewhat frightening discovery. Remember the show David the Gnome? I will post the opening below. I was always a bit freaked out by it. I never really trusted David or the fox, and I hated (and still do) that opening embrace between David and his gnome companion. Anyway, I was just re-watching the opening and guess what the last credit was (for executive producers in charge of the show)? None other than Harvey and Bob Weinstein. I feel tricked in some way. And more weirded out now.

More Bright Eyes photos

I meant to post this earlier, but here is a link to Pitchfork's write-up on the Bright Eyes show and photos by Omaha-based Paparazzi by Appointment (including the one featured above).

Presenting...the Wallabees

I first fell in love with the Wallabees about 8 years ago. I have prolonged my longing for the shoes for 8 years. I wait no longer. How beautiful are they?

To give you a bit of history, Clarks originated back in 1825 when Cyrus and James Clark set up a small sheepskin slipper business in the tiny English village of Street, Somerset. In 1883, William Clark creates shoes that follow the natural shape of the foot, a revolutionary concept. Fast forward to 1950 when Nathan Clark, inspired by the crepe-soled boots worn by British officers in World War II, introduces the Desert Boot, the first of Clarks Originals. 2007, Lindsay receives her first pair of Clarks. History is made.

I must also mention that I placed my order for the Clarks with the store Straitlaced in L.A. and I have to commend the store and their customer service. That place is awesome. It's on Melrose (7553) and it's fairly small but has some great shoes and Walter, who I assume is the owner, is super nice and laid back and seems to hand pick the choice selection, which is why I chose to order from them in L.A. from Omaha, where they then ordered from England. Like Michael Scott and his customers, I appreciate that personal touch.

The finale

Trumpet, etc.

Near the end of True Blue:

Guitars, etc.

Bright Eyes

I saw Bright Eyes tonight at the intimate bar/venue The Waiting Room - thanks to Cynthia who skillfully procured the hard-to-get tickets. The show was pretty amazing. It's too late (or too early) to write about it in any articulate or even cohesive way. Simon Joyner and Flowers Forever opened -- sadly, I missed most of Flowers' set, but enjoyed what I did see and Simon Joyner sounded good tonight too. Bright Eyes set list photo below.

My new TV fixation

Friday Night Lights. The show is well written, well acted, and has an interesting and effective style. I have only one disc left of Season 5 for 24 and only the premiere for Season 6 is out on DVD. That means about a month of waiting for Jack and company. Luckily, I have found this show to fill that void. For those of you who have yet to watch Season 5 of 24, I will hold my commentary except to say prepare for heartbreak. 24 teaches the painful lesson of not getting too emotionally involved, especially with characters on television. It's tough love and loss on 24.

Back to Friday Night Lights though. There are some great people behind the show, notably Creator Peter Berg (Writer/Actor/Director, he directed the film) and Head Writer/Executive Producer Jason Katims (former Producer/Writer on My So-Called Life), who made some bold choices, especially in the way that they choose to shoot the show. They shoot in Austin in real locations rather than on a stage in L.A. They shoot at least three cameras simultaneously at all times, documentary style. Little to no blocking or rehearsal is involved and actors are encouraged to improvise in both lines and performance. According to actor Kyle Chandler, Berg said, "The few rules to the game that we play are, you come to the set, you know your character 110 percent, you know the lines that are on the page 110 percent, and then be prepared to get rid of everything and start all over." The lighting setups are minimal, which allow the actors more freedom to move where they want, there are no marks that they have to hit. The cinematographers looked to Direct Cinema pioneers like D.A. Pennebaker and the Maysles for inspiration. The result is a very realistic looking and seeming show. The performances are more natural, and the cameras (because of the multiple camera setup) are free to capture subtle things like a hand fidgeting or a bored look. They can wander and capture these small nuanced moments that add depth and realism to the show and its characters. Apparently, they often shoot on long lenses to stay out of the actors' way and to go more easily undetected.

The characters feel like real people, and for a cast of mostly unknowns, they've kept overacting and melodrama at bay. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, as the coach and his wife, are really talented and pull off one of the few believable representations of a husband and wife on television. You can tell that the producers and directors pay close attention to performance and are attuned to when a performance feels real or when it feels like acting. Also, I love Matt Saracen on the show, and the actor Zach Gilford is from Evanston.

Season 1 is out on DVD and you can also watch episodes on nbc.com.

Does Your Soul Have a Cold?

Mike Mills' new documentary, Does Your Soul Have a Cold? premieres TONIGHT on the IFC channel at 9 PM Eastern time. Some online sources have stated that it premieres Oct. 29th, but IFC states that it's on tonight. So tune in or set your DVRs for tonight, just in case.

Here's a quick rundown on the film:

"Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" is an intimate and compassionate journey into the lives of five depressed Japanese individuals who decide to take antidepressants. Their personal histories are examined, together with their hopes and fears, ultimately offering an intriguing perspective on the broad socio-cultural issues that are only now being uncovered in Japan.

Gatsby is jealous

Ann Arbor Film Festival Endangered!

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is being threatened with extinction due to losing state funding due to attack on public funds being used towards "objectional" content. This is a cause very close to my heart, as I love Ann Arbor and the Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF), and have many great memories of it. It is an all 16 mm festival and it shows such a variety of films, some very experimental and challenging. Festivals like this are so important, and this film festival is one of the purest in its love of the art form and its integrity. This cause is also an important one due to obvious reasons of freedom of expression, censorship, and First Amendment rights.

Here's a quick blurb on the Festival:

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest festival in North America showcasing independent and experimental film. As a non-partisan festival created to celebrate film as an art form, we exhibit work that challenges ideals, pushes techniques and styles in artistic expression, and celebrates cultures and countercultures from around the world. Since our founding in 1963, we have screened works by filmmakers like Kenneth Anger, Brian DePalma, Barbara Hammer, George Lucas, Yoko Ono, Gus Van Sant, Will Vinton and Andy Warhol.

Here's a quick summary of the censorship controversy: In early 2006 a group of legislators politically attacked the Ann Arbor Film Festival and cut its state funding to set an example for art they deemed "objectionable". The AAFF is fighting back (with the help of the ACLU) with a federal lawsuit to challenge ambiguous state funding guidelines, protect artists' freedom of speech, and to set an example of how an arts organization can respond creatively and successfully to defend its mission. The AAFF believes that public support of diverse artistic voices is critical to a healthy culture and democracy.

The full story can be found here.

So, if you can, please support this cause -- whether by spreading the word or donating yourself, or both. Here's a link to their creative fundraising campaign "Endangered."

Two interesting recent editorials

The Green-Collar Solution: Thomas L. Friedman's editorial about Van Jones, a black social/environmental activist from Oakland, CA, and the importance of bringing the young black underclass into the environmental movement and the opportunity to expand the green movement into an economic opportunity for the jobless and underprivileged.

Friedman makes a great point. Van Jones' work is really inspiring and promising, and I just hope this idea can gain momentum and start to work in practice and not just theory.

The environment as an issue is one that seems very segregated by socioeconomic factors. If you're struggling just to get by, you've got more things to worry about than what could happen to the Earth decades down the road. On the other hand, how hard is it to place an empty pop in recycling rather than the trash? Education is a big part of it. When we can't even get kids to read in failing public schools, how can we push for them to recycle and absorb and retain that information? And if parents aren't doing it, kids are likely to follow in their footsteps. How do we make this a relevant issue to low income families? The environment and the Earth's sustainability is an issue that affects us all and if our children are going to have a place to live at all, it's an issue that everyone is going to have to be united on and work towards...and soon. It's great to read about a viable idea being championed by a smart, energetic man.

Check out Green For All, the organization/campaign that Van Jones and others are lobbying for in Congress. You can click on "Get Involved" and sign up for their mailing list and see how you can help and you can give donations on their site as well. I'm signing up as we speak.

And another one, from today's NY Times: Abstinence 1, S-Chip 0.

Second pillow

It's the pink one in front with the cupcake.

Chekhov and the Mall of America

I am back from Minneapolis. The weekend was really fun. My sisters celebrated their entrance into the last year of their teens. We went shopping. A lot of shopping. Like a shopping spree. In the Mall of America. I almost fainted, but miraculously, I made it through. We attended a wonderful play, The Seagull, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Afterwards, we went to Fridays. We didn't want to overdose on high culture, after all. There is nothing like a plate of potato skins from Fridays at midnight to bring down those levels of pretension.

Seriously, though the play was one of the best I've seen. I was lucky enough to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform in Ann Arbor, but it was great to see them perform Chekhov. Those of you in L.A., I believe there are still available for The Seagull and I highly recommend it. L.A. is the only other U.S. city where it will be performed, at Royce Hall. The Guthrie Theater is a sight in itself. It is a really cool theater, as you can sort of tell from the photos above. I took quite a few photos in Minneapolis. I may have to make an album.

In other news, I finished my second pillow (part of my present to my sisters) and I finally received my pair of Clarks Wallabees that I've been pining for for years. They are beautiful (photo to come).

In pop cultural news, I finally saw After the Wedding (on dvd) and loved it. It's such a great movie. The performances were really amazing and the writing and directing is phenomenal. It is a fairly dramatic story, and even though emotions are strong and tempers flare, the film always feels honest and real. I wanted to see Brothers, and never did, so I'm making that a priority now. I now plan to see Things We Lost in the Fire, which actually looked quite good from the trailer...now it makes sense why. Major drama and feelings are in this realm that often goes untouched in most contemporary films - it reminds me of an interesing David Foster Wallace essay about how modern novels rarely try to tackle the large moral and psychological issues in a grand sense. He mourns the absence of a writer like Dostoevsky, who could write about human psychology and emotional experience in a way that was meaningful and felt real. So much contemporary art is about the intimately personal, the small moments in life, irony, distance, wit and cleverness. It's hard to really try, be sincere, be emotional, and try for something grand and deep -- the consequences of failing or not getting it just right or just so huge. If you fail but you're just trying to be ironic, it's not as bad as something that seems melodramatic or cheesy -- which is often the result of failing when trying to be sincere in an emotional way.

My point is that Bier is obviously not afraid of drama or emotion. She doesn't flinch from situations that are inherently very dramatic with a capital D and from eliciting emotional and dramatic performances. To me that shows courage, and best of all, it works. Or at least I thought it did in After the Wedding. We'll see about Things We Lost in the Fire.

In a tangential note, Things We Lost in the Fire is a pretty good album by Low.

art:21

I just found out that PBS has this great series called art:21 about art in the twenty-first century. Season Four premieres October 28 on PBS at 10 pm (ET). If you have a DVR you can set it now (I think).

Past artists featured on the series include Tim Hawkinson, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Kelley, Maya Lin, Barbara Kruger, Laurie Anderson, Matthew Barney, Barry McGee, Sally Mann, Kara Walker, Richard Serra, and Andrea Zittel.

Here's some info on the series from their site:

Art21 travels across the country and abroad to film 17 contemporary artists, from painters and sculptors to photographers and filmmakers, in their own spaces and in their own words. The result is a rare opportunity for television viewers to experience first-hand the complex artistic process – from inception to finished product – behind some of today’s most thought-provoking art.

The artists profiled in the series speak directly to the audience, describing their passions, impulses and methods. Viewers are invited behind-the-scenes to see artists at work in their studios, homes, communities, and in sites as diverse as an old-growth forest near Seattle, a military base in California, a theater academy in Warsaw, and a film set, in addition to galleries and museums.

“This series not only showcases the contributions of these artists, but also transcends the everyday art experience of a museum or gallery visit,” says Susan Sollins, Executive Producer of the series. “Viewers can discover what goes on inside the minds of these dynamic and thoughtful people, and what they have to say can significantly expand our knowledge and understanding of the world.”

Sounds cool, right? I'm sad I missed Seasons 1 and 2. PBS has some really great programming that unfortunately just doesn't reach enough people. I hope that with the increasing number of DVR systems in homes, people might have more of an opportunity to look for these types of programs, click a button, and then watch them at their leisure.

You can buy the DVDs and watch clips of them on YouTube. I watched a clip of Margaret Kilgallen, and it was interesting and made me really want to see the entire series. You can also watch the trailer for Season 4 on YouTube and subscribe to their videos.

So, if this sounds interesting, tune in for the upcoming installment.

Wilco

Sorry, no photos, I forgot my camera. The show was really good though. Nels Cline is an amazing guitarist and really fun to watch live, and I really like Jeff Tweedy too -- and the other band members. The highlights for me were Handshake Drugs, Jesus, etc., I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, A Shot in the Arm and Via Chicago. Those last two were amazing. Via Chicago had these crazy outbursts of noise and drum freakouts and then it would quickly die down or stop completely, leaving just Jeff Tweedy's voice and acoustic strumming. The contrast was pretty powerful.

P.S.

Three things I forgot to mention about the Tilly concert:

1) They started the show with Jamie, the tap dancer, tapping a beat and then their drummer drumming the same beat. This beat matching/mimicking went on for about 5 minutes, without anyone else on stage or any other instruments. It was really cool.

2) Conor was there.

3) Numerous young girl fans were there, which was really cool to see. There was a large group of I would say 14-17 year olds in front of Kianna singing every song and dancing. At one point, she had to rely on them for the words of "Lost Girls" and they totally came through for her. They looked like they were having the time of their life, hanging on to every word. It was really pretty touching to watch.

Tonight I'm going to Wilco at the Orpheum, with Andrew Bird opening. Should be a good show. I've never seen either live, so I'm looking forward to it. I'll take some photos from my spot in the balcony and post them tonight or tomorrow.

Then this weekend is Minnesota! Tomorrow my sisters will be turning 19! Crazy! My mom and I leave tomorrow to visit and celebrate. Can't wait.

I did do it

Here's a link to an editorial by Maureen Dowd that I thought was really interesting and quite provocative.

Did anyone else who watched the USC vs. Nebraska football game get as annoyed as I did with ABC's coverage of Clarence Thomas watching the game in his skybox?

An inordinate amount of time (while the game was being played) was devoted to an interview with Justice Thomas and his interest in the Cornhuskers. It was bizarre and made me really angry. I really can't stand the fact that he is treated with such honor and grace, two qualities that he has shown to be lacking.

Views from today

...the world.

Daytrotter Sessions

Free songs can be found here from Whispertown 2000's Daytrotter session. A few of them are new and unreleased.

Daytrotter is a cool site that offers music from their live, in-studio sessions with bands. The studio is located in Rock Island, Illinois. Go Illinois! They have 3 bands in per week and each record 4 songs that they offer up to the cyberworld. They've had a lot of great musicians stop through, and they keep them archived. They seem to have a lot of cool, down to earth people on staff and feature the work of different artists too. Check it out when you can if you haven't already.

Tilly and the Wall stopped by for an encore performance in September. Their songs (including two unreleased ones and one off their old Woo EP) can be found here. Too Excited is awesome, they played it the other night (Pictures of Houses too) and it was really great and energetic live. Kianna sounds a little like two of my all-time favorite singers in the song - in the opening she sounds kind of like Corin Tucker and then in the chorus ("Boo hoo") she channels Bikini Kill-era Kathleen Hanna. I'm not one for comparisons, and to even mention either one of those names in conjunction with a different band or singer is near sacrilegious because of my reverance for both of those singers, but that's what really struck me when I heard this. So that's a big compliment from me to Tilly. I'm super excited for them to start working on their next album.

Six seconds.

I think the camera is having seizure-like tendencies in its reaction to the bass. Or maybe that's part of my dance move.

Talk 'n Deacon

That would be a good name for a band. Unfortunately it is only short for Girl Talk and Dan Deacon, two turntablist performers who master of ceremony'd a crowded, sweaty dance party at the Echoplex last weekend. Fun times. Dancing is awesome. Dancing with hundreds of sweaty Los Angelenos is also awesome.





Laura and Dennis dancin' and sweatin' it up.



I'm droppin' 'bows. (Dance lingo decoder not included in this post.)

P.S. If you ever read this -- Thanks Dennis!

Tilly & the Wall photos

Tilly returns! Oh My God!

Here's Tilly & the Wall's entrance to the Slowdown stage tonight in Omaha. They were awesome. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. It's so great when bands actually smile. Members of Tilly smile a lot. That is one of the great things about them. They played a bunch of great songs, the tap dancing was amazing (the number of tappers is growing...), the crowd was really into it -- and the show was free! Can't get much better than that.

blogotheque

Vincent Moon and his site has already gotten a lot of press and online buzz, but I felt the need to post this here too. Like many other things, I've been meaning to check out his site, and just finally got around to it. I'm glad that I did. It's pretty exciting stuff.

The video below is part of his Take-away shows series, filming bands in long takes in natural settings playing their music. Au naturale, all live. Below is Grizzly Bear singing The Knife accapella in the streets. The Arcade Fire playing Neon Bible in an elevator is pretty awesome too. Other ones include Jens Lekman, Architecture in Helsinki, Tapes n Tapes, Beirut...a lot of great musicians. It's a great idea and they're fun to watch. It's liberating to see these verite videos without the lighting and the effects and all that. These videos are better than like 97% of music videos.

#10.4 - Grizzly bear - The Knife
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Pillows!

Here is the first pillow that I made. Well, to be honest, I designed the pillow and chose the fabrics, pieced and glued them, and my mom did the sewing. So, she gets major props for that. I wish I knew how to sew. I once made a gym bag and a pillow in the shape of a large baseball bat, but that is pretty much the extent of it. So, I'm going to observe my mom and hopefully pick up some skills of my own.

This one went to Laura, as a very belated apartment-warming gift. This was just the start. I'm planning to make more. I already have the materials for one more, and the ideas for about four more. I just have to get my work ethic/discipline up to the speed of my mind; an ongoing task for me.

So, please let me know if any of you, dear readers, are interested in obtaining one of my unique, one-of-a-kind creations. Contact me and we'll work out the details.

the most exciting Thing.

So I was wanting to subscribe to this thing called The Thing. It's an awesome, creative idea. If you're too lazy to have clicked on the link, basically you subscribe to getting 4 "everyday objects that incorporate text" by four different artists, sent to you over the course of a year in brown paper packaging. These things could be anything really, but most of all, they are a mystery. How fun!

So, back to the story. After months of deliberating (due to the costs and the fact that I had little to no money), I had finally decided to subscribe. I decided that it meant a lot to me and I could use part of my graduation money for something that, while frivolous in a way, would make me happier than anything I could possibly need (and most things that I want). Thus is the allure of art. No sooner than the day after I had decided to subscribe did I get an e-mail from the ever generous LHH with the subject of "i'm about to make your day." I open it to read this (hope you don't mind I'm posting this):

"I broke down and subscribed to something very exciting. you may be able to guess. It is for us to share, but your half of it (which you may choose) is a gift from me to you. The subscription will be delivered to you in Omaha, NE. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I just wanted to do it. hopefully you will receive installment #1 within the next few weeks. Hopefully it will inspire you."

Well, I received it, I love it and I am inspired. Thank you, Laura! It is awesome. It felt like Christmas day to me, but without the annoyance of having to get up at 7 am. In addition to being overjoyed at finding such a large piece of mail for me on my front step (one of the most exciting things to have happen), I feel extremely lucky to have such thoughtful and generous friends like you. I'm feeling so fortunate and warm hearted that I have actually deliberated for the past 2 minutes about writing, "That is the true gift" after that last sentence. I'm serious. But I could only hear Sharon Stone saying it. So, I will keep it there as long as you all imagine her saying it (with a slight Southern twang).

Now, since I have created such a mystery over what is exactly in the tube, and I am failing to deliver the photographic goods due to my impatience with the computer taking forever to load one specific photo (really, the money shot) for some reason, you'll have to go here to see The Thing. It's like an online scavenger hunt. Enter the secret password and then scroll down to see something beautiful and vinyl.

Weekend Update

A lot of exciting things have happened since I last posted. I went to L.A. I returned to Omaha. I made a pillow. I watched 24. I took photos. I finished watching Season 1 of 30 Rock. I watched the premiere of The Office. I laughed. I saw Clark Duke from Clark and Michael. I almost finished Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. I read interesting articles on Leica cameras, a man with a rare and debilitating form of amnesia, and the woman who started Paper magazine. I tried on Clarks shoes and broke my other new shoes in.

I saw a lot of friends. I/we hung out. I/we danced. I/we listened to music. I/we ate a lot of good food. I/we had Pinkberry. I/we took walks with Rufus and went to the dog park. I hung out with Sylvia and Zelda. I could tell they missed me.

I am too exhausted, I think, to post many photos. However, I will leave you with a photo that gives off a feeling of L.A. as I feel it. You feel me?