the bizarre, disturbing and sweet story of koike and yoko. anyone who can take pictures of panties and still look innocent is a poet in my book. ok, watch at your own risk. directed and written by japanese film maker sion sono with takahiro nishijima, hikari mitsushima, sakura ando. by ars
saw this documentary last night and it was quite incredible and uplifting. the story is about the famous couple herb (a postal worker) and dorothy (librarian), better known as the vogels, who amassed an incredible art collection worth billions on their measly salaries living in a stuffed rent-controlled apt in nyc. their collection included works by richard tuttle, dan graham, donald judd, sol lewitt, christo & jeanne claude, roy lichtenstein, david salle, cindy sherman, chuck close, jeff koons and many others. living a completely modest life with their cat in the same apt, they refused to sell any of their works or donate them to the numerous museums that offered to house them… until one day, they donated the entire collection to the national gallery of the arts. they accepted this for two reasons, 1- because it was a national gallery and not a private one, and 2- because it was and is free for the public. they asked for nothing in return. now i like to know who in the world would do such a thing unless you are a selfless angel from another planet. nice to see there are people in this world that still consider wealth to be irrelevant. by dd
oh child, spare me. everything i love about bill cunningham, is what i hate about scott schuman. they are the opposite poles in the same sector. bill is a spirit, the other pure flesh. bill is about life the other about fame. bill is about grit the other about flash. bill is about art the other about business. bill is about love… bill is humble… bill is light and the rest is darkness. in the end ,it does come to be about who you are as a person and bill is the epitome of all that i love about new york. no offense! when you become famous, you have to be able to take some shit. scott is surely loved and respected by many and i can be the one hater (not sure he can handle that). sorry i see no interest in satorialist or scott’s work nor his fame or how business smart he is. business smartness and fame mean nothing to me, if anything they tell me a bit about who you are and it’s generally not good. that brand is built on pandering to the status quo, not supporting the the fringe that feeds that status quo. when you photograph a bunch of vain editors and models after the shows you too can expect guaranteed traffic. bill just never wanted the attention or the fame or the money. i admire that tremendously. by dd
lee jung-jae (also known as sam kang) as hoon, the rich husband
jeon do-yeon as eun-yi (the housemaid) washing the madam’s hair
byeong-sik, as “miss cho”the main maid and eun-yi (the new housemaid)
the original poster from the 1960’s film hanyeo by korean director kim ki-young
it’s not often these days that i spend two hours of my time on a film and feel happy that i did… housemaid is a great new korean film by director im sang-soo based on a remake of the original 1960’s film, praised as “marvelous… extraordinary image…” comparing the korean director to luis bunuel. the remake by sang-soo is equally amazing and up to date, not only for its sparse dialogue and unconventional story, but also for its visual style. the film competed for the palme d’or at the cannes and is worthy of your precious time. the story is about a wealthy korean family who bring on a young maid into their fold. in time, this reveals the bourgeois family’s true colors. beautifully styled and filmed on location, it’s at times surreal but never unreal. i couldn’t help but think of “the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie” while watching it, except i must confess i enjoyed this more than its french counterpart. a great recent film to indulge in if you haven’t already seen it. deserves a place in the “must be considered films” section on TS indeed. by dd
after that post on hemingway and castro, i ended up watching the 4 hour IFC film “che” directed by steven soderbergh and starring benicio del toro (who won at the cannes film festival for best actor) as a convincing, despite slightly overweight, ernesto che guevara. the film is in spanish with an english subtitle. it’s the best film i’ve seen on che, and despite it’s high budget production, it retains the grit of the era. love the vintage documentary footage mixed in with the grainy b&w mockumentary footage and the high-def muted color film. with the UN in full swing right now it’s worth a watch just to hear che’s 1965 UN speech. beautifully romantic and idealistic. by xy
serge gainsbourg biopic showing now at the film forum ny. by ad
came across this film from 1996 (super 8/16mm) and found it beautifully soft and eloquent. quite amazing. reminded me of rosselini and early antonioni, except this talks about my city. you can read more about jem cohen here. by xy
a cast of characters (including a stint by charlotte rampling) devouring each other in a small world awash with big money. set against the backdrop of contemporary London and the international art scene, it casts an eye over the appetites and morality of some of its major players.’ saw the film finally tonight, and it’s a hilarious and observant film. if you have had any contact with the art world in anyway, you are bound to encounter a stereotype of one in here. a “must be considered” film to be sure. by dd
mayan temple tikal guatemala
mayan artifact with delta wings and serpent head
sombrero galaxy: NASA hubble telescope image
sky people: mayan artifact from tikal ruins guatemala
aliens who came to earth thousands and thousands of years ago? established civilization as we know it? bred earth and alien DNA to create a race known as man? i mean i would have laughed this man out, and considered him in desperate need of a hobby. i’d picture ron hubbard and a bunch of hollywood freaks on prozac writing alien scripts in the church of scientology. i mean come on, to believe this type of stuff is more foolish than believing in god and organized religion… but hell it’s fascinating!
in my search for documentaries on the similarities of the pyramids of egypt and south america, in accordance with my desperation in my choice of films on demand, i came across a history channel series titled “ancient aliens” and its 2nd episode: “gods & aliens”. not generally being a fan of aliens, the word “god” did get me interested. after all, we’re told there’s a god up there and we’re told there are aliens up there. supposedly, both visited us and are planing to come back soon… i pressed play. twenty 44 minute episodes later i’m bummed that it’s all over. i thoroughly enjoyed the “stories” and the imaginative fictions, and although i find 80% of the “reasoning” and “facts” in the series assumptive and weak, i have come to place this theory that is frowned upon by millions (including myself) well above god and religion which billions still believe in. not that this says much about the theory but still.
the premise of the theory is grand but surprisingly fully compatible with evolution. what is different between this and christianity, or scientology, or religion in general, is that you are not asked to “have faith and believe” but look, ask and judge a “theory” based on assumptions. it goes something like this: 1- our solar system is a micron in relation to our galaxy (milky way). our galaxy is but one of estimated hundreds of billions of galaxies (per nasa hubble telescope research). 2- there is a higher probability that life exists somewhere out there, than the probability that it doesn’t. 3- life organisms can travel through space via galactic collisions (the big bang being one) this is referred to as panspermia. 4- we know that myths, stories, even religions and beliefs are generally routed in some form of events or truths that were passed down, granted distorted or exaggerated down the line. 5- the story referred to here is the story of beings in the skies, gods, angels descending, inception of a virgin by god and other nonsense. the type that is present in almost identical sequence in egyptian, greek, babylonian, mayan, african, indian and even pagan documents. what was there that provoked this completely disjointed cultures to talk about the same thing? 6- well the AAT’s have come up with a magical story:
aliens came to earth long ago. in a series of experiments, they meshed alien DNA with earth beings. the failures were the hybrids of men (actually alien) with bird heads, centaurs, unicorns, and cyclops as depicted by egyptian, mayan and other cultures in paintings and stories. the successful experiment was man, a sapien with a larger brain similar to aliens. this they claim is what darwin claims to be his missing link. james watson, the man behind the discovery of DNA, claims that there is a chance that man kind’s missing link was simply a fluke accident, but the chances of this accident are like a tornado going through a junk yard and coming up with a fully assembled 747 aircraft… meaning next to none. so the plot thickens… aliens then pass knowledge to this new man with a bigger brain. man being still dumb, sees the aliens as gods (thus the multiple gods of the past). so the aliens don’t actually resemble us, we resemble them. thus most alien sightings are with 2 large eyes, 2 arms, 2 legs and a pot belly (every mans future). eventually either man revolts against alien, or they leave earth for one of many reasons they give in the film. man idolizes alien in some cases, for it gave him life and knowledge. what we think of god today, they claim, was simply alien flesh and intelligence. the stories of angels with wings, are aliens that flew to the sky and back and this goes on and on… it has surely made me dream a bit and i’m glad i saw it, beats natalie portman’s “black swan” any day. if you have 20 hours to kill you too can stream it on netflix. by dd
full film, bad sound (while it lasts)
but if you want to see the film properly, get it streaming or get the dvd
here is a cheesy hollywood film, and perhaps one of the few out of a handful of films ever made on the topic. it was recommended to me by a mexican friend with mayan ancestors, and while he warned me that it isn’t great, he did say that it is the best rendition to date in film on the topic. the film is done in original mayan dialect with subtitles. i watched it in tulum on the night after a visit to the templo dios del viento (god of winds temple) which resides on a cliff facing the ocean. swimming towards it, i could imagine the spaniards first sight of the mayan ingenuity. it’s enough for any beginner to light up your interest. worth a watch. by dd
talking about haters… i can’t not think of this. great film by larry clark worth a watch. by dd
i had pretty much given up on woody allen’s later films, but i have heard great things about this one. just based on my sources alone, i would put this in the to be considered section. by dd
a visual collective outlet of inspiration
 the housemaid-2010: a remake of the 1960’s film by kim ki-young — see more of this on tomorrow started blog){kind=link}
