superfacilmente

Bless Stereogum for finding fine music like a band I never heard of “Zoot Woman.” I think the vido nicely puts the “move your ass” in “class?”

Part of the rethinking of this blog is to bring together some of the other blog writing I have done in the past, including work from one of my previous blogs Mediamasher. In this new section, I will try to add a little US entertainment, starting with the ever pervasive writer’s strike. Since I am on the side of the writers, the whole thing seems like it could be resolved so easily, but perhaps I am wrong. The tediousness of the situation has come up most poignantly at the Daily Show, now “A Daily Show” until the writers come back. I think the clip below will show the difficulties of the strike much better than I could.

Anyone walking into San Telmo from Avenida de 9 de Julio might have come across the graffiti of adult swim of all things. I know, when I first came to BsAs almost a year ago, it was one of those American flairs that really stood out to me in the city. Apparently, the work is done by a graffiti studio in Argentina and a bit of searching revealed this really interesting, if somewhat bizarre video.

I hope everyone gets a chance to see Mr. Birdman in BsAs

While I sit and wait to get back some important pictures (so I might continue writing what I can about Buenos Aires from miles and miles away) I like to spend quite a bit of my time at the movies. I spent a majority of the new year attending this film or that and one of the big budget films I chanced to see was Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story produced by the venerable Judd Apatow, who makes about two movies a year this point, but can be remembered for the 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Taladega Nights and, perhaps less known for his fantastic tv shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Raunchy Mr. Apatow helped make a raunchy music mockumentary, which was enjoyable, though perhaps less so than his previous pieces. See the trailer below.

However, in a spectacle that seems only possible in New York, Mr. Cox found his way onto the big stage live at the Knitting Factory. Some of the clips are below.

and

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All I can ask is when Spinal Tap will grace a New York stage?

An integral part of New York is the film world there. It was often spoofed in shows like Seinfeld:

Sadly, that’s the best example I could find, but I assume just about everyone has seen those characters waiting on line for the movies.

So, upon my return to New York, I have started to once again take in the movies at a blistering pace, having seen Beowulf, Lars and the Real Girl, The Golden Compass, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Savages, No Country for Old Men, and finally I’m Not There..

The last of these, which I suppose I am lucky to see because New York provides so many different venues (and where I live in Lower Manhattan you can literally see different movies at different theaters), really stands as perhaps the most unique and experimental of that sizeable list of films.

I’m Not There really speaks for itself better than any one person would. The set of vignettes portray both fictionalized and real events in the life of Bob Dylan, accompanied by his music, which is performed by various bands and recordings by the singer himself. This fragmentation of his music and life is made even more complicated by the fact that first and foremost Dylan is never named, but given pseudonyms such as “Jude Quinn.” Furthermore, and perhaps most obvious, is that different people play Dylan throughout the movie.

I think that you can find plenty of reviews on the film. Many particularly point out the performance of Kate Blanchett as being particularly unique. Blanchett, in addition to being the only female form of Dylan, represents the time when Dylan went electric, a seminal change in the star. However, Blanchett’s Dylan is particularly narcissistic and “in your face.”

I think that the film itself is quite unique. Among other things, the vignettes intertwine, which makes the flow of the movie wonderfully disjointed. You don’t know which Dylan you are going to see when and though there is a rough chronology, it’s nicely interrupted by one Dylan or another.

However, for those looking for a Dylan biopic, I would not recommend this movie. It’s more like ekphrastic poetry. Dylan’s life and music inspire the characters and events of the story, which then can veer and interpret said music/events in their world by their own terms.

I wonder if Dylan as a general inspires these feelings over other musicians. I did my own ekphrastic interpretation of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” in about 9th grade when I was feeling particularly precocious (fear not, it will find it’s way onto the site), and I can’t help but think that perhaps the reason Dylan was considered such a good poet was our ability to empathize with him, the nerdy kid trying to rethink himself and aspiring to the story he was creating for himself. I am not a huge fan of Dylan’s musical chops, but it seems that even there he managed to create a unique sotry for himself (going electric, etc.). It’s something to think about.

Also, how rare is it to see ekphrasis in the form of film. I mean, referencing films is one thing, but is usually less obvious than when we quote in word or song. Those who like the classical music probably are very common with this kind of work and most of us have at very least read Fan Fiction, perhaps the most ubiquitous form of ekphrasis today. However, I just don’t know of many ekphrastic films, and few that are so blatant.

However, it is nice to be back in New York and to see this favored form of experimentation

It HAS been a while since I have kept up with La Bomba de Tiempo.

They seem to have been doing some nice things in the warmer weather

In addition, they began and updated a Myspace Account, which I hope everyone will check out. Definitely a good group to go see on a Monday night. And Konex is a fantastically weird space.

If there is one thing I have noticed about the most recent trends of New York City graffiti is that if you want to find even a smidgen of it in Manhattan, from roughly 116th st. - 10thst, throughout the middle of the city, is impossible. However, just over, and on, the Williamsburg Bridge, I have started to find a lot. I will start a “Graffiti NYC” page to update, but here are a few new pictures from on and around the bridge:

Originally, when I started to realize that my time in BsAs had to come to an end, I wanted to try to exact a clever and somewhat fantastic deception, namely to never say that I was going. I, had, and unfortunately still have, a backlog of nearly 70 unpublished beginnings of posts about the fair city and my hope was to publish them before my return to the U.S., where I would at least be staying for a year. In an ideal world, I would slowly phase back some of merely BsAs production to tell stories from around South American World, not dissimilar to my other, rarely posted on, Media Masher blog and would be able to use the relationships I had developed as a means of producing fresh and interesting material at the same rate that I had in BsAs.

Sadly, of course, this did not come to be. Instead, I came to my new job, teaching 13 year olds, and have had it, until very recently, take up not just my regular 8-3:30 day but often hours before and after it. Sadly this has put writing of all kinds on hold, and would be something I would like to remedy.

A while ago, in Buenos Aires, I got into a fight with a friend over the nature of blogs like this and his. My friend argued that blogs should act as portals to the reader, a means of understanding a singular point of view about subjects, something that I wonder if the other bloggers in BsAs agree with. I at the time was thinking of putting all my ideas, and blogs, into one source, a website where those of interest could see not just a travel blog, but a blog on media, a blog on writing, and a blog of personal exposition.

However, priorities have changed. My camera has been replaced and I find myself once again in a new city, attempting to still go out and explore while not working. My writing as a general has stagnated and I need to keep it going. So, with deference to my friend, I have chosen to employ his theory in practice.

Hence “Superfacilmente” will now be at least somewhat changed. In addition to providing the 70 or so blog entries on Argentina that I had initially intended, and hopefully will keep those of you in Argentina connected and interested, I will be posting rather extensive entries of my adventures in New York City, which is, arguably, a city at least on par with that of BsAs. Expect new New York City graffiti sections and extensive writing on that subject, from rest ‘raunt reviews to museum reviews to just talking about our first day of snow (today!). In addition, I am going to incorporate my music/media interests, writing (fictional and not) and opinions into this. Do not worry. I will do my best to separate each of these into Categories/Sections on the blog, so nobody gets weight down with too many of these rants. However, please feel free to comment on this change, blogs, or life in Argentina, in the future.

Thanks for listening

-M

As promised, now that technology is on my side, I have started to update the site, starting with some new Graffiti on the Grafitti: BsAs webpage. Here are a few samples:

Just a note for everyone wondering, I am not dead. I wanted to update the site for a long time, but have been waiting for a replacement camera and a new account for photos. The latter will occur later this week. Then the posting begins again!