I had wanted to see Fela when it opened on Broadway. I heard such glowing reviews. Then I saw a bit of it on Jimmy Fallon and was totally underwhelmed. Given how out of hand Broadway tickets are, and given budgetary constraints, I decided to wait on Fela even though I had a good discount code. Let me find it…oh, it expired 2/28/10. It WAS FE4FANS and ?uestlove put it online for us because he was so blown away by it and wanted to make it easier for us peons to see it. You could try it. I would still see it but I don’t feel as pressed. I don’t deny the draw of Fela’s music. Anyway, then I saw the Wooster Group was putting on North Atlantic again. I think it was my first Wooster Group show. It is worth seeing but having seen it already, I thought I’d look into seeing American Idiot. I didn’t want to pay full price and did a search for a discount code. I found one. Let me find it for you… it is on Broadway Box. So I did enjoy the Green Day album American Idiot so I figured I would enjoy the music at the very least. It exceeded my expectations. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to wrap my head around the Hot Topix inspired wardrobe both on stage and in the audience. It was distracting. But then the talent took over. The cast is amazing, such fantastic voices. The vocal arrangements for these familiar songs were injected with enthusiasm and had a fresh quality. Green Day has managed to stay relevant throughout the years. I noticed the choreography was done by the guy who worked on Black Watch. This was a highly-praised production at St. Ann’s Warehouse from Scotland about the special Scottish regiment that went to Iraq. For me, the choreography was the highlight of the show. The centerpiece where the history of the Black Watch is described through narration, costume changes and choreography stood out in particular. I remember finding it interesting but not as mind-blowing as reviews suggested it would be. Still, Steven Hoggett was perfect for American Idiot. The story is very easy to follow. It takes three friends who take different paths including joining the army and serving in Iraq. The songs lend themselves easily to the story of feeling lost, discontented and disillusioned. It also incorporates songs from 21st Century Breakdown. There were a lot of kids in the audience who seemed to enjoy the show. I think any Green Day fan will certainly appreciate the incredible talent and the creative arrangements. I think kids will like the punk-y quality of the show. I hope it has a nice run and that the tickets are affordable.

Tim Burton Exhibit at MOMA
I had tried to see this exhibit in the fall but it was sold out. It has been doing really well. While I am a fan of Tim Burton, I was pretty much on the fence about making too big of an effort to see it. But everything fell into place one day last week and suddenly, I had a ticket to see the exhibit. It had a lot of cool, personal elements such as the note to Johnny Depp about what Willy Wonka might say about also being edible, the letter Tim Burton wrote in high school accompanying a book he wrote and sent to Disney where he ended up working. I liked how the sketches were torn out of his notebook and still had the ruffles on the edge. I liked seeing his CalArts project. It’s always interesting to see a person’s creative roots. What I did not like was how hot and cramped the exhibition hall felt. I think it could’ve been spread out more to give more respect to the artist and the patrons. But I was glad to have seen it.

New Directors New Films 2010
I do like attending movies at festivals because I get to see movies I wouldn’t have access to otherwise, hear directors and actors talk about their experiences working on these movies and the energy is usually fun. I’m sitting in theaters with equally enthusiastic film buffs. But sometimes I’m let down or plain disgruntled. I think my tastes might run too mainstream for the New Directors New Films festival because I often feel underwhelmed or plain old disappointed by hyped up movies (Old Joy didn’t do it for me – I kept thinking there was a supernatural or thriller aspect to the story but no, it was just about two guys who weren’t really friends anymore going on a hike). Then again, sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised by what I see and want to recommend it to all of my fellow PCA’s (like My Country, My Country). Also, one year, I had tickets to Camp which I couldn’t attend and had to wait until it came out later and LOVED. So, for me, ND/NF is hit or miss. This year, I saw two movies. Both had merit.

Amer Directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani
My favorite part of seeing this movie was hearing the filmmakers introduce the film and then do a Q&A afterwards. They were very interesting and so adorable in their enthusiasm for cinema. For an avant garde, experimental movie, it was fairly accessible. It had a retro-look that was very deliberate and precise. It is a highly-stylized look at three stages in a woman’s life. It is not quite a horror movie although it is inspired by Italian horror movies. It reminded me of Seijin Suzuki too and that Japanese movie I saw recently at IFC called House. The directors explained that they worked carefully on the soundscape of the movie and wanted the audience to feel like it was in the head of the main character. The sound was very interesting and effective. I jumped out of my seat at least once. Amer is not for everyone and it’s not easily watchable. I think I would have to be in the right mindframe to re-watch it and take in the artistic qualities of it fully. Experimental is a good descriptor. If you like experimental movies, I think you would find Amer worth watching.

The Red Chapel Directed by Mads Brügger
North Korea and Cuba are the last bastions of Communism. North Korea has a high media profile because of the nuclear threats, the famine, the idiosyncrasies of dictator Kim Il Sung. I admit, I have seen a bunch of documentaries made in North Korea. It’s perversely fascinating though really sad to learn about this isolated, brainwashed country. The Red Chapel is described as being similar to Borat going to North Korea. I was turned off by the Borat reference. I actually found the Bruno movie funny but Borat was too mean-spirited and… broad maybe? I don’t have anything against broad comedy in general but I guess sometimes I just don’t find it funny. I like the Jackass movies because those guys make fun of themselves rather than others and do it in a creative and funny way. So I worried that The Red Chapel would be too mean-spirited for me. The director made a deal with the DPRK government to do a cultural exchange. He recruited two Korean-Danish comedians, Simon and Jacob, both adoptees from Korean. It was their first trip back to Korea since being adopted, one was 6 months old and the other a child, not sure how old. They put together the worst show ever. At first, I was turned off when the director introduced the movie and said that the performers stage names were Jul and Nosser or Christmas and Testicles. Broad comedy alert. Too stupid and mean for my tastes. So I started watching the movie with a bad taste in my mouth. As it continued, I found it so condescending, I didn’t think I could get over the tone. But then, the real reactions of the comedians, especially the younger one, 19 and not formally diagnosed in the movie but seeming to have cerebral palsy, came through on screen. Over the course of their two weeks, the PTB of this totalitarian state step in to make sure the entire show reflects the right message and right jokes. I have enough background knowledge about visiting the DPRK from the other documentaries I’ve seen and whatever I’ve learned from sources like Team America, etc. Watching the comedians and director encounter these weird scenarios was intriguing enough without the added “comedy” of the forced “irony” as the director narrated. Still, the movie ended up being fascinating and did not have too much forced crassness at the expense of others. I got chills when they were at the DMZ and walked around to the South Korea side and said, wow, this is the first time we’re visiting the land where we were born.

Popcorn Love
While I like to cast a wide net and look for as many different kinds of movie experiences as possible, I’m always drawn to the popcorn movies.

Hot Tub Time Machine
It looks goofy, it is goofy. But it was fun to see the Back to the Future references with Crispin Glover playing a pivotal and comedic role. John Cusack was relaxed and funny, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson also throwing caution to the wind and letting the jokes wash over them. I enjoyed Clark Duke in the web series he did with Michael Cera and he’s fun to watch in Hot Tub Time Machine as the representative from the Millenium Generation. Altogether, it was a silly but enjoyable movie that had predictable but warm life lessons.

Greenberg
Greenberg isn’t exactly a popcorn movie but it’s very accessible. I saw it after hearing about how great Ben Stiller’s performance is in it. I had seen the trailer many times and found it borderline annoying, too self-aware, too wanting to be clever. But the movie is slower-paced and reasonably easy to identify with, ultra-neuroticism not-withstanding; but everyone’s a little bit neurotic, right? It’s not as alienating as it could’ve been. I liked the wit and story of The Squid and The Whale. I don’t remember the specifics of Margot At the Wedding but I remember not liking it as much as Squid & Whale. Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig are very interesting to watch and have good chemistry. I’m glad I saw it. I recommend it.

Clash of the Titans 3D
The original Clash of the Titans has a cult following. It has a certain charm especially in the low-budget special effects. The re-make started off slow although Sam Worthington has star quality. I was worried about his skirt/tunic as he ran around. Then he changed into a longer skirt and I was able to rest easier. I admit I kept thinking about Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief because I recently read it and the protagonist is also Perseus. The 3D effects were minimal in Clash of the Titans. I think seeing it without would be fine. The movie definitely picked up and I left feeling fairly satisfied in terms of seeing entertaining mythological action sequences.

On the train
M. E. Kerr gave me When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead to read. She said it was very well written and that she had taught the book in her writing class at Ashawagh Hall. I found it very interesting. It’s a YA book about time travel. But it doesn’t have bells and whistles. It doesn’t have linearity. It is inspired by Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. A fellow PCA said it was reminiscent of La Jetee which inspired 12 Monkeys.

Lowboy
I first heard of Lowboy in the hilarious Zach Galifianakis video where he role-plays as John Wray. It was strange to read it on the subway as it takes place on the NYC subway system. It’s well-written and very reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye. It’s funny but sad. Lowboy is a teenager who is searching for something intangible while others look for him, worried about what he’ll do next.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Poor Stieg Larsson passed away before he experienced the phenomenal success of his book. I was curious to read the book that sparked so much interest and enthusiasm. I read a fair amount of crime/mystery/thriller books. Having just seen the movie, it was a little strange to start off already having the mystery unraveled. But there was a lot of editing in the movie. It’s a good beach read although I was on the train most of the time. I did sit outside on a deck for part of my reading, with birds chirping and a cool breeze blowing over me. I am curious about the next books in the series and will also see the other Swedish movies when they are released. I can’t believe how perfectly cast the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is in the movie. It’s worth seeing the movie for Noomi Rapace alone.

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I saw a couple more Satyajit Ray movies. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha) is very different in tone from the neo-realistic ones of the Apu and Calcutta Trilogies. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had the music and dancing that we associate with Indian movies now. But it’s very charming in its pre-Bollywood way. It is the opposite of neo-realism as it is a fairytale with rampant magic via special effects and characters spontaneously breaking into song and dance throughout the movie. I loved the delightful way Satyajit Ray wove in the trippiness of the ghosts. All of the magic was very sweet. The movie came out in 1968. It is black and white. The print looked good. It seemed to be a mix of two different prints. You can read more about the movie at this Satyajit Ray site.

Teen Kanya

At the beginning of Teen Kanya (Three Daughters), I heard very familiar strains of music which made me think, didn’t Satyajit Ray just use this same theme in the previous movie I saw? Then I realized (with the help of a fellow Pop Culture Addict) that I recognized the music from Wes Anderson’s Darjeeling Limited which I listen to often enough to have not made this mistake. The international print arrived by mistake so we only saw “two daughters” rather than “Three Daughters” indicated by the movie’s title. The New York Film Society graciously gave us free drinks and popcorn as an apology. There was a time when you might get a free drink for sound issues at the local cineplex. Now you’re lucky if it’s the right movie playing. Anyway, kudos to Walter Reade Theater for treating us film-goers so well.

The first segment of Three Daughters was luminous and heart-wrenching. Satyajit Ray found such natural children to act in his movies. He is also a women’s rights proponent. He is well-known for showing the caste system and effects of poverty without being heavy-handed. I don’t think he intentionally made “issue” movies. He made movies from his heart. But his enormous talent resulted in movies with universal themes about the human condition and interpersonal intricacies. The girl in the first segment was pitch-perfect. The second segment was missing. The last segment was about an older girl who ends up getting married before she knows it’s what she wants. The cinematography was astounding. Another sign of how amazing Walter Reade is: they are showing the full length version of Three Daughters in a couple of weeks so I will get to see that second daughter segment then. I’m really excited about seeing that first daughter story again. By the way, the three girls in this movie are not related. They are characters in three short stories about girls that became the movie Teen Kanya, Three Daughters.

The Soloist

I was a bit wary of seeing this until I watched the 60 Minutes segment about the real Nathaniel Ayers and Steve Lopez. You can watch this video and read the column here. The story is interesting and sad. I love Robert Downey, Jr. and know that Jamie Foxx would do the role right. Both were fascinating to watch. Jamie Foxx did a good job of conveying a troubled and gifted individual. The movie actually made me think about RDJ’s difficult period. He found the strength and support to accept help and make his life more livable. I wondered if Los Angeles’ Skid Row was portrayed in an exaggerated manner until some Angelenos told me it really was like Blade Runner in the worst way. The movie kept my interest but I think the real footage and columns provide the most compelling stories.

Duplicity

I went in to Duplicity with low expectations so I was duly entertained. It’s fun to watch Clive Owen and Julia Roberts have fun in fabulous locales, be cool spies and try to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. It’s a good rental or lightweight movie outing.

The United States of Tara

I finished watching the first season of this show. I think it’s really captivating. The characters are connected to each other and care about each other. I look forward to season 2!

The rest

Still obsessed with Lost. Loving Dollhouse. LOVING 30 Rock. Haven’t dl’d the new Gomez album yet. Saw them perform their single on some late night show and liked it.

The Daily Show

Going to the Daily Show taping the other week was loads of fun. It entailed hours of waiting in line, being given misinformation, shuffling off to another line, then complaining about being told to stand in the wrong line, being let back into the original line by fellow fans. Then we got in and waited another hour, maybe less while they edited the show (we learned this from Jon Stewart when he came out to say hi right before the taping). The studio is tiny and efficiently built. The staff had a hipster vibe. But they were still friendly and not self-satisfied. I hope to see The Colbert Report at some point.

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I’ve been relying on Twitter to a fault to quickly update my blog. But I realize I need more than 140 characters to convey some of my thoughts which is why I started this blog in the first place. Recently I went to see Wong Kar Wai’s early movie Days of Being Wild starring Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau and Andy Lau, all HK Superstars. There is even a teaser with Tony Leung at the end to set up the sequel which was never made. Or, as the journalist Jaime Wolf paraphrased Wong Kar Wai at the NY Film Society screening, every movie he made afterwards was a sequel. But really, with In the Mood for Love’s success, 2046 ended up being a true sequel. It was great to see it on a big screen in a decent theater. I had seen it once at the Museum of the Moving Image during an awesome Wong Kar Wai festival which featured the director himself. But now I realize, the theater was not ideal. That is also the theater I saw Ashes of Time in. Recall that Ashes of Time was reduxed and shown at the New York Film Festival 2008. It completely changed my opinion of that movie seeing it at the Ziegfeld, with a new soundtrack and restored picture and sound. I appreciate the beauty of the story and the acting so much more after that screening. In fact, it was a rapturous experience seeing it. Watching Days of Being Wild was not as sublime but it was still cool. It made me very nostalgic for Leslie Cheung and his movies. He really had a unique relationship with Wong Kar Wai. They understood each other the way Wong Kar Wai and cinematographer Chris Doyle do. I’ve also always loved that title, Days of Being Wild. I think it comes from something but not sure what.

Coraline in 3D was beautiful. Yes, the button eyes are on the creepy side. But the images are stunning. The story was a little obtuse but ultimately, love wins the day.

Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth

Recently saw one of the best curated exhibits of the development of an artist’s style at the Art Institute of Chicago entitled Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety and Myth. Munch’s The Scream has entered pop culture never to turn back. This Norwegian artist was a sponge. He loved art, he appreciated his contemporaries (Van Gogh, Monet, Gauguin to name a few) and quoted similar themes in his work. You might be hard-pressed to see how Monet and Munch are related but this exhibit does the work for you. It puts together the pieces Munch studied and enjoyed during his lifetime next to his own work. Fascinating. The exhibit reminded me of Nick Hornby’s book of columns Shakespeare Wrote for Money. The premise of his column is that he is a voracious reader, soccer/football season aside, and his reading begets reading. He starts to read something and then is inspired to read something else. He may see a reference to an author or a topic and then he’s off to the bookstore to get a new book. I think that is how most of us experience books, movies, tv shows and all forms of art. I certainly am flighty and a bit compulsive about looking up related shows, books, movies when my interest is peaked by an author, artist, actor, show or the like. That’s why we love the interweb, as dear Tracy Jordan of 30 Rock likes to say. It’s instantaneous. We think of something we want to know or can’t quite remember and all we have to do is see if someone else documented it online for us to look up. Anyway, Edvard Munch experienced art this way. He took in what past artists studied and created. He looked at what his friends and colleagues were influenced by and created. Then he went into his studio and put down on paper with many mediums, oils, etching tools and woodcuts, his ideas.

chelfitsch Theater Company
Five Days in March

Saw interesting play at Japan Society entitled Five Days in March. It reminded me of the work done by the illustrious and brilliant Wooster Group.

Finally got around to looking at Watchmen. I figured since I’ve had my opening night IMAX tix for Watchmen since they first became available (because I love seeing event movies with boisterous crowds), I should look at the original material which has such a reputation. It really as great as people say. I don’t read many graphic novels but I know there are a lot of  hugely entertaining ones out there I’m missing out on, including the Buffy and Angel series. I read them occasionally, like Maus and Fun Home. And of course I had heard of Watchmen from many fellow Pop Culture Addicts.  Anyway, I wonder if it will translate to the screen. We will know soon enough!

I am so enthralled by KenKen. I like Sudoku well enough but don’t do those puzzles regularly. But I figured when Will Shortz introduced KenKen last week in the New York Times, I’d take a gander. The easy ones are very satisfying to finish and the hard ones are incredibly challenging. But so far, I am not deterred. If you go to the official KenKen site, you can sign up for a free link to numerous puzzles. I think I dl’d 24! Very generous of them.

At long last, Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse premiered! You can see it all over the place if you missed it. You can catch at Amazon or Fox.com for starters. I’m sure they will rerun it at some point as well. I watched it twice. First online and then via dvr. I am already a fan of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles so I am thrilled with the pairing of it with Dollhouse for our Friday night viewing. I love the potential for Amy Acker’s storyline. I’m just excited that Team Whedon is back in action and on tv.

SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH…

I’m still watching this show. I got my wish. I was thinking that Elton John would be a good host because he loves pop music and follows new music avidly as well as appreciating pop music of the past. He is an executive producer of the show so I figured he’d show up in person eventually. The most recent episode featured Diane Krall. As she is married to Elvis Costello, Elton John took over the role of interviewer for this show so as to keep down the bias. But the whole show is a love-fest anyway. That’s the point. It’s all about mutual admiration by these interesting musicians. Anyway, I don’t listen to Diane Krall actively but I enjoyed this episode and developed a deeper appreciation for her jazz piano-playing.

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I have been remiss about writing here. I have something of a solution though. If you look to your right side, facing the screen, underneath the search box, you will see my pop culture addict (a.k.a. popgirlnyc) twitter updates. I finally joined Twitter. I don’t know why I kept putting it off because it is great. It is such an easy and fun way to keep my kith and kin informed about what is feeding my pop culture addiction on a moment by moment basis. Look, I know how to stay focused on the stuff that matters.

Anyway, the tv winter premieres are rolling in. Lost was amazing. I still have to rewatch the premiere to soak it in more. I don’t know if I already said here that I got Lost Season 4 on dvd and poured over every extra. Such a good show. I also love reading about Lost everywhere. I read J Wood at powells.com, Doc Jensen at ew.com and check in with Watch with Kristen at eonline.com and Herc at aintitcool.com. I am going to start reading stuff at Lostpedia also at the recommendation of a trustworthy fellow Pop Culture Addict and Lost fan. I liked how Desmond came back into the fold of the story. Very clever story-telling. He is special, so his future can be affected, dare I say changed, by the actions of the Losties in the past as the island moves through time. I enjoyed Hurley’s radical decision to turn himself to the police and go against Ben as advised by Sayid. I just realized that Miles Straume might be a Dharma Initiative offspring. I haven’t figured out where Charlotte is from. If she was born on the island, then how and why did she leave? Anyway, I am thrilled to have it back on air.

I am also happy to have Friday Nights Light back on. What a great show. Obviously, I don’t have Direct TV. Otherwise I would’ve seen Season 3 already. But I am glad the show made a deal with them so it could also be shown in NBC where I can access it.

Also, 24 is going strong – better than that 2 hour intro they showed over Thanksgiving week. I mean, it was okay but it reminded me of the Lost storyline with Mr. Eko and I think Lost did it better. Psych is back, too, much to my glee.

Saw Valkyrie the movie and also the History Channel special. The movie was watchable. The story is more powerful than the movie. But the movie had its moments. It kept my interest throughout but afterwards when I was trying to pinpoint what made it just a B/B- movie rather than B+ or higher was that it is a bit superficial. I guess they had to make concessions so it wouldn’t be 5 hours long. It was effective as it was just not mind-blowing. We didn’t really know the back stories of any of the resistance members. When I watched the History Channel special and learned more facts about the people involved, it really enhanced the story.

Saw Swedish vampire movie, “Let the Right One In.” Liked it better than Twilight. Heard it is being remade as an American movie.  Not sure if the taboos will carry over into the translated version. Anyway, the kids did a good job and the movie has stuck with me.

As I noted in my twitter update, I saw an amazing collection of Barkley Hendricks work entitled Birth of Cool. Nothing can convey the power of seeing his work in person. He’s very accessible and highly skillful. Most of his work focuses on people, and they are so real. I loved how the descriptions of his works included his inspirations. He went to art school, he traveled around the world and he incorporates his experiences in such an immediate way. I really see how his fascination with Rembrandt and Caravaggio play into his own contemporary work.

Big Love has started off strong. I look forward to the new episode tonight. I’m watching the United States of Tara also. I can’t wait for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.

I read somewhere that we will probably not see the last few episodes of Pushing Daisies. It will have to wait until the season 2 dvd comes out. Boohoo.

Signing off for now. Don’t forget to read the sidebar for my most current updates! I’m still figuring out what is worth twittering about. Like, do you care what I’m eating for lunch? Or should I stick to my pop culture goings-on. Time will tell.

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I visited all four waterfalls, using the advice given on the official site, and took lots of pix. I selected just a handful to share here. I figured I should show each of the four waterfalls. The above and below pix were taken at the Brooklyn Promenade.

Olafur Eliasson did a spectacular job of paying tribute to the urban landscape of NYC and creating beauty and wonder for all to appreciate.

I am just posting a picture of the background info rather than typing or cutting and pasting. If you want to know more, I recommend the official site.

Here is the waterfall at Pier 35 in Manhattan taken from Brooklyn.

Here is a close-up of the waterfall at the Brooklyn Bridge taken in Brooklyn. A fellow PCA and I noted how we were both drawn to this one the most. It is certainly the most accessible and most vibrant.

You have to look closely to see the waterfall at Governor’s Island (next to the Statue of Liberty). The waterfall in the forefront is the one at the Brooklyn Piers. This picture was taken in Brooklyn.

This a shot taken from a boat at night of the waterfall at Governor’s Island.

I recommend all routes. I spent a fair amount of time walking around. This is the best way to get pictures if your camera is like mine, just a simple point and shoot. I loved the 30-minute Circle Line waterfalls cruise. Make sure you stand outside on the top deck if you can for the best views. But as we were constantly in motion, my pix were also on the blurry side. Still, I got some cool shots. Apparently you can try to get a free ticket for this but as they said it was “sold out” for the next three weeks, I just paid the very reasonable $10 ticket price. I barely heard the intro by Olafur Eliasson but you can just listen to the podcast on the site or read the artist’s statement there.

I must say, I greatly enjoyed the view from Piers 16 and 17 at South Street Seaport. I was impressed by the waterfalls by day, but when the sunset came and the waterfalls were lit from behind, I was completely taken by them.

It was quite overcast the couple of days I explored the waterfalls so I hope to have a chance to view them again when the sun is out more prominently. But I am pleased with my pix and with the viewing experience I had. I totally recommend bearing the crowds and subway to make your way to the viewing posts both in Brooklyn and Manhattan. You have a lot of time but if you get there now, you can compare your summer experience with your fall viewing later on down the line.

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