Allee Willis has been an avatar of social and sociable consciousness for as long as I can remember. Back in the day, associated with A&M Records and hits, like it says in her bio, she has collaborated with Bob Dylan, James Brown, Herbie Hancock and countless other music luminaries. A GRAMMY® winner for soundtrack music for 1985’s Beverly Hills Cop (a #1 album), Willis is one of contemporary music’s most prolific songwriters. Her first-ever musical -- with master arranger Stephen Bray -- the Oprah Winfrey-produced The Color Purple, opened in December ’05 on Broadway and is touring the country.
This is about her latest project, in her persona as "Bubbles the Artist" (http://www.bubblestheartist.com/) along with Gnarls Barkley voice Holly Palmer (who inhabits Cheesecake). Their combined efforts manifest as http://www.bubblesandcheesecake.com/. This is a genuine web-Youtube-cyber-phenomenon whose funky graphics in a rubadub style are moving rapidly through space and time.
The video was revealed to me by my friend and promo man extraordinaire Henry Eshelman. Its subject matter is empowerment for women, powered by a funky groove and some lovely cutout-collage animation. It has the Willis signature look and the implied message of girls gotta have fun. In the process, the Youtube notoriety brought out the comments in people and thus a controversy was born.
“This was written purely as a pop soul song; not at all political,” says Willis. “It does talk about how sometimes women have trouble standing up for themselves, but it’s really about self-esteem for everyone – about having enough of a sense of yourself to claim what’s right for you.”
Palmer commented, “I was very surprised at the anger out there directed at a couple of people having fun. In a way, it goes right to the heart of what we’re talking about with Bubbles & Cheesecake – everybody has the right to their own voice, no matter what resistance it meets.” Willis added, “It’s no wonder many women are afraid to express themselves, given some of the comments we’ve seen.
“It’s crazy being in the middle of an unintended controversy,” Willis concludes, “but the greatest thing our art can do is spotlight something that’s not working in the culture, and point to things that are more positive. It’s a hard position for us to be in, because all you want to do is make art. But we also feel we must be doing significant work if we’ve hit such a nerve with this song.”
And so, without further ado, the song ...
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Bugs and Buddha
This is a response to my friend Peter Clothier's seasonal musing (http://thebuddhadiaries.blogspot.com/2007/11/cockroach.html) about whether killing a cockroach is karmically correct. His blog post brought up some interest responses, such as this one from robin andrea, who said...
"When I catch bugs in the house I alway use a cup or small bowl to put over the critter. I then slide a postcard or envelope under the cup, catching the bug inside. The bug is only slightly offended by the experience, and is usually happy to crawl or fly out of the container. I've caught all kinds of citters this way, even a mouse the cat brought in.
Thus, my response took off from hers, and took in another gentleman's musing over the transcendental reincarnative implications. ...
Peter, around our house I use the Robin Andrea method as well, preserving the critters -- crickets mostly -- to carefully be served up to the reptile gods in the persons of my son's Gekko, Zeppo, and the three frogs that live in the next habitat over.
As to the reincarnation question, though you are correct in citing Mr. Kafka, I would prefer to honor the voice of an American auteur, Mr. Don Marquis:
mehitabel was once cleopatra
By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927
boss i am disappointed in
some of your readers they
are always asking how does
archy work the shift so as to get a
new line or how does archy do
this or do that they
are always interested in technical
details when the main question is
whether the stuff is
literature or not
i wish you would leave
that book of george moores on
the floor
mehitabel the cat and i want to
read it i have discovered that
mehitabel s soul formerly inhabited a
human also at least that
is what mehitabel is claiming these
days it may be she got jealous of
my prestige anyhow she and
i have been talking it over in a
friendly way who were you
mehitabel i asked her i was
cleopatra once she said well i said i
suppose you lived in a palace you bet
she said and what lovely fish dinners
we used to have and licked her chops
mehitabel would sell her soul for
a plate of fish any day i told her i thought
you were going to say you were
the favorite wife of the emperor
valerian he was some cat nip eh
mehitabel but she did not get me
archy
"When I catch bugs in the house I alway use a cup or small bowl to put over the critter. I then slide a postcard or envelope under the cup, catching the bug inside. The bug is only slightly offended by the experience, and is usually happy to crawl or fly out of the container. I've caught all kinds of citters this way, even a mouse the cat brought in.
Thus, my response took off from hers, and took in another gentleman's musing over the transcendental reincarnative implications. ...
Peter, around our house I use the Robin Andrea method as well, preserving the critters -- crickets mostly -- to carefully be served up to the reptile gods in the persons of my son's Gekko, Zeppo, and the three frogs that live in the next habitat over.
As to the reincarnation question, though you are correct in citing Mr. Kafka, I would prefer to honor the voice of an American auteur, Mr. Don Marquis:
mehitabel was once cleopatra
By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927
boss i am disappointed in
some of your readers they
are always asking how does
archy work the shift so as to get a
new line or how does archy do
this or do that they
are always interested in technical
details when the main question is
whether the stuff is
literature or not
i wish you would leave
that book of george moores on
the floor
mehitabel the cat and i want to
read it i have discovered that
mehitabel s soul formerly inhabited a
human also at least that
is what mehitabel is claiming these
days it may be she got jealous of
my prestige anyhow she and
i have been talking it over in a
friendly way who were you
mehitabel i asked her i was
cleopatra once she said well i said i
suppose you lived in a palace you bet
she said and what lovely fish dinners
we used to have and licked her chops
mehitabel would sell her soul for
a plate of fish any day i told her i thought
you were going to say you were
the favorite wife of the emperor
valerian he was some cat nip eh
mehitabel but she did not get me
archy
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
From Hell and Back ...
To mangle a book title by Norman Mailer. OK, so it's just in time for
Just scroll down to the fourth entry on this blog (http://doctornoemedia.blogspot.com/2007/09/fear-of-fright-night.html) and you can read my essay on classic horror films entitled “Fear of Fright Night”. I wrote this in 2001 for an AOL site I was a regular contributor/reviewer for called Entertainment Asylum.
You can also find the page here:
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/art7.html
I wrote numerous pieces for Entertainment Asylum in my tenure as an AOL correspondent/content editor, but only this one was saved for posterity. I share it with you now.
Cheers,
Noë Gold

aka Doctor Noe
> >
PS, there’s also a neato keeno compendium of creature features here on the same site:
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/articles.html
PPS, check out my latest article here ...
This is my article about Zorina Kroop, Mega Lottery winner, in the Studio City Sun, 10-5-07:
http://suncomm.globat.com/~suncommu/archives/studio_city_sun_archives/2007/Oct%205/
PPS, and here’s the last one for the Sun ...
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
This is from a cover story by Noë Gold for the Sun Newspapers (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino CA).
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave. (Photo by robertevans.com)
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net .
Again, you might like to see how the story looks as a post on my blog
Doctor Noe’s Sexy Gadgets and Smooth Stuff
and here (Part 2)
and this about Oakwood School, where my son attends:
http://www.oakwoodschool.org/PDF/SunStory-Astman.pdf
I’d really appreciate your linking to my blog and inspiring others to ...
Subscribe! To Doctor Noe's Sexy Gadgets and Smooth Stuff, http://doctornoemedia.blogspot.com/
This is from my flickr pal Noemí Macías Vega and it was Uploaded by noemimmv (her flickr handle) on 19 Oct 07, 1.38PM MDT.
Here's what you will encounter when you go to her flickr profile (http://www.flickr.com/people/noemimmv/):
I have been interested in photography since I was 10 years old. Now I am studying photography in the Art high school of Canary Island (Spain).
I am learning new things from all sorts of people . . . I prefer portraits because I think in that form I can REALLY see the person.
The Self-portraits I do have death as a theme; I find that interesting and mysterious. If you want to see more of my photos please check out my website( which will be coming soon in English.)
Nomys Vega website: http://www.nomysvega.es.mw/
Halloween ...
and you thought you'd be seeing the usual run-o-the-mill clichéd images. Think again.Just scroll down to the fourth entry on this blog (http://doctornoemedia.blogspot.com/2007/09/fear-of-fright-night.html) and you can read my essay on classic horror films entitled “Fear of Fright Night”. I wrote this in 2001 for an AOL site I was a regular contributor/reviewer for called Entertainment Asylum.
You can also find the page here:
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/art7.html
I wrote numerous pieces for Entertainment Asylum in my tenure as an AOL correspondent/content editor, but only this one was saved for posterity. I share it with you now.
Cheers,
Noë Gold

aka Doctor Noe
>
PS, there’s also a neato keeno compendium of creature features here
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/articles.html
PPS, check out my latest article here ...
This is my article about Zorina Kroop, Mega Lottery winner, in the Studio City Sun, 10-5-07:
http://suncomm.globat.com/~suncommu/archives/studio_city_sun_archives/2007/Oct%205/
PPS, and here’s the last one for the Sun ...
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
This is from a cover story by Noë Gold for the Sun Newspapers (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino CA).
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave. (Photo by robertevans.com)
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net
Again, you might like to see how the story looks as a post on my blog
Doctor Noe’s Sexy Gadgets and Smooth Stuff
and here (Part 2)
and this about Oakwood School, where my son attends:
http://www.oakwoodschool.org/PDF/SunStory-Astman.pdf
I’d really appreciate your linking to my blog and inspiring others to ...
Subscribe! To Doctor Noe's Sexy Gadgets and Smooth Stuff, http://doctornoemedia.blogspot.com/
This is from my flickr pal Noemí Macías Vega and it was Uploaded by noemimmv (her flickr handle) on 19 Oct 07, 1.38PM MDT.
Here's what you will encounter when you go to her flickr profile (http://www.flickr.com/people/noemimmv/):
I have been interested in photography since I was 10 years old. Now I am studying photography in the Art high school of Canary Island (Spain).
I am learning new things from all sorts of people . . . I prefer portraits because I think in that form I can REALLY see the person.
The Self-portraits I do have death as a theme; I find that interesting and mysterious. If you want to see more of my photos please check out my website( which will be coming soon in English.)
Nomys Vega website: http://www.nomysvega.es.mw/
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Fear of Fright Night
Just in time for
Find the page at:
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/art7.html
I wrote numerous pieces for Entertainment Asylum in my tenure as an AOL correspondent/content editor, but only this one was saved for posterity. I share it with you now.
Cheers,
Noë Gold
By Noë Gold @ Entertainment Asylum
We are now in the midst of another cycle of shock films, loosely categorized by film historians as the horror genre but I'll just call 'em Scary Movies, since these film historians tend to quarrel and quibble about what exactly is a horror film. I say "cycle" because these films come in bunches, about every twenty years or so, and are extremely popular. The current crop (typified in the late nineties by Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Disturbing Behavior, the then-current Halloween: H20 and soon to be continued with I Still Know What You Did Last Summer), have one thing in common: they're not "monster movies" like Frankenstein or The Fly or any of the creepy horror films that were popular in the fifties.
The Scary Movie of the nineties relies more on psychological terror than the obvious makeup-enhanced movies of that more innocent era. It deals with ordinary people in ordinary situations who come across a deviant like "Halloween's" Mike Myers. The suspense in H20 is more on account of the audience's expectations and the throbbing, spooky music than from any obvious monster. Mike Myers comes with a lot of baggage, and it's all hidden beneath that very ordinary white Halloween mask. The effect is much more chilling than Godzilla could ever hope to be.
Why is this Scary cycle surfacing again now? On the surface, things are fairly stable in modern-day society. Crime statistics are down, the economy is whistling along and Charles Manson is tucked away neatly in prison with no hope of escape. So why do we flock to movies that scare the gizzards out of us? Because it gives us pleasure. When there are no real things to be scared of, we go to the movies to shake things up. In a weird way, it's therapeutic.
To illustrate this point, I call forth a reference in a seminal book by an author I used to know who taught me a lot about the genre, Carlos Clarens. On the frontispiece of his Illustrated History of the Horror Films, Carlos quotes sociologist Roland Penrose from his work, Violence in Contemporary Art: "The bogey of violence is particularly horrifying and intolerable to us when we meet it in cold blood. The arts, however, avoid its brutal impact by their appeal to the emotions, they warm us to its presence, turning terror into enjoyment and cruelty into compassion. We participate in the act of violence without suffering its evil consequences. Art, in fact, allows us, as in certain rituals, to satisfy our Olympian yearning to stimulate the forces of nature. Its nonviolent power has a therapeutic and catalytic influence."
So, watching Scary Movies in the relative safety of a theater with hundreds of other people around us will not turn us into raving, bloodthirsty lunatics. On the contrary, it's a cheap alternative to seeing a shrink. For the same reason we pay money and wait in long lines to ride the shriekiest roller coaster, we go to the movies to get our hair lifted. Steve Miner, who directed H20, says it this way: "My favorite scary film of all time was Psycho, which I could not sit through. I never saw the whole movie until I was an adult. Halloween I found reminiscent in spirit of that kind of movie: unrelentingly scary and suspenseful and atmospheric. I think people like to be scared because they can go to the edge without really being there."
Kevin Williamson, the Dawson's Creek director who wrote the screenplay of H20 as well as that of Scream, credits Halloween for what he is today. "Halloween is and always has been my favorite film of all time," he says. "It wasn't just a movie, it was an experience. ... The audience participation factor was one of the most incredible parts of the movie. The way the audience jumped and screamed at the characters on screen got my blood pumping. It was this effect in Halloween that made me realize that I wanted to be a filmmaker.
Okay, what about that "every twenty years" theory? It's no coincidence that the current Halloween is subtitled H20, since the original Halloween was released in 1978. That one put its director, John Carpenter, on the map and kicked off the career of Jamie Lee Curtis as well (it was her first feature film). H20 has among its co-stars Jamie Lee's mom, Janet Leigh, who was the star victim of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, released 18 years before Halloween in 1960 (and later to be redone in a faithful translation by Gus Van Sant). Carpenter's stated purpose in conceiving Halloween was that he wanted to create a picture that would play like a full-length version of the shower scene in Psycho.
Go back roughly twenty years from Psycho and you have the beginning of another Scary cycle in the early forties. A series of films produced by Val Lewton has a lot in common with what the Scary cycle of the nineties is going for - psychological horror with no monsters or creatures in sight. The great director Jacques Tourneur did more with camera angles, lighting and sound to chill the audience's bones with his masterpieces the original Cat People and his follow-up I Walked With a Zombie. I command you to go out and rent these right now so you can see what I mean.
The first of these twenty-year cycles, just to round out my argument, goes back to Germany in the twenties. You won't be able to rent Paul Weggener's Student of Prague or his series of films about the Golem, a vengeful Jewish monster who haunted Czechoslovakia. But there is also The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the original vampire story (with Max Schreck as the Vampire). And rounding out the cycle is The Hands of Orlac, with Caligari's Conrad Veidt, about a concert pianist who has the hands of a murderer grafted on after he loses his in an accident. The fright genre moved (along with a number of German filmmakers escaping the Nazis) to America for its next cycle, and it is also no great coincidence that another one of these German exports, Peter Lorre, made his American film debut in 1935 in a remake of Orlac called Mad Love, another one that you must rent or seek out on cable TV.
Which is all to say that what comes around goes around in the world of roller coasters and Scary Movies. Now that I have given you a quick sense of its history, it's a good time to grab a ride.
PS, there’s also a neato keeno compendium of creature features here on the same site:
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/articles.html
.... and in this photo gallery from The Hollywood Reporter:
Halloween ...
this here’s my essay on classic horror films entitled “Fear of Fright Night”. I wrote this in 2001 for an AOL site I was a regular contributor/reviewer for called Entertainment Asylum.Find the page at:
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/art7.html
I wrote numerous pieces for Entertainment Asylum in my tenure as an AOL correspondent/content editor, but only this one was saved for posterity. I share it with you now.
Cheers,
Noë Gold
FEAR OF FRIGHT NIGHT
What's to enjoy about scary films?
We are now in the midst of another cycle of shock films, loosely categorized by film historians as the horror genre but I'll just call 'em Scary Movies, since these film historians tend to quarrel and quibble about what exactly is a horror film. I say "cycle" because these films come in bunches, about every twenty years or so, and are extremely popular. The current crop (typified in the late nineties by Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Disturbing Behavior, the then-current Halloween: H20 and soon to be continued with I Still Know What You Did Last Summer), have one thing in common: they're not "monster movies" like Frankenstein or The Fly or any of the creepy horror films that were popular in the fifties.
The Scary Movie of the nineties relies more on psychological terror than the obvious makeup-enhanced movies of that more innocent era. It deals with ordinary people in ordinary situations who come across a deviant like "Halloween's" Mike Myers. The suspense in H20 is more on account of the audience's expectations and the throbbing, spooky music than from any obvious monster. Mike Myers comes with a lot of baggage, and it's all hidden beneath that very ordinary white Halloween mask. The effect is much more chilling than Godzilla could ever hope to be.
Why is this Scary cycle surfacing again now? On the surface, things are fairly stable in modern-day society. Crime statistics are down, the economy is whistling along and Charles Manson is tucked away neatly in prison with no hope of escape. So why do we flock to movies that scare the gizzards out of us? Because it gives us pleasure. When there are no real things to be scared of, we go to the movies to shake things up. In a weird way, it's therapeutic.
To illustrate this point, I call forth a reference in a seminal book by an author I used to know who taught me a lot about the genre, Carlos Clarens. On the frontispiece of his Illustrated History of the Horror Films, Carlos quotes sociologist Roland Penrose from his work, Violence in Contemporary Art: "The bogey of violence is particularly horrifying and intolerable to us when we meet it in cold blood. The arts, however, avoid its brutal impact by their appeal to the emotions, they warm us to its presence, turning terror into enjoyment and cruelty into compassion. We participate in the act of violence without suffering its evil consequences. Art, in fact, allows us, as in certain rituals, to satisfy our Olympian yearning to stimulate the forces of nature. Its nonviolent power has a therapeutic and catalytic influence."
So, watching Scary Movies in the relative safety of a theater with hundreds of other people around us will not turn us into raving, bloodthirsty lunatics. On the contrary, it's a cheap alternative to seeing a shrink. For the same reason we pay money and wait in long lines to ride the shriekiest roller coaster, we go to the movies to get our hair lifted. Steve Miner, who directed H20, says it this way: "My favorite scary film of all time was Psycho, which I could not sit through. I never saw the whole movie until I was an adult. Halloween I found reminiscent in spirit of that kind of movie: unrelentingly scary and suspenseful and atmospheric. I think people like to be scared because they can go to the edge without really being there."
Kevin Williamson, the Dawson's Creek director who wrote the screenplay of H20 as well as that of Scream, credits Halloween for what he is today. "Halloween is and always has been my favorite film of all time," he says. "It wasn't just a movie, it was an experience. ... The audience participation factor was one of the most incredible parts of the movie. The way the audience jumped and screamed at the characters on screen got my blood pumping. It was this effect in Halloween that made me realize that I wanted to be a filmmaker.
Okay, what about that "every twenty years" theory? It's no coincidence that the current Halloween is subtitled H20, since the original Halloween was released in 1978. That one put its director, John Carpenter, on the map and kicked off the career of Jamie Lee Curtis as well (it was her first feature film). H20 has among its co-stars Jamie Lee's mom, Janet Leigh, who was the star victim of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, released 18 years before Halloween in 1960 (and later to be redone in a faithful translation by Gus Van Sant). Carpenter's stated purpose in conceiving Halloween was that he wanted to create a picture that would play like a full-length version of the shower scene in Psycho.
Go back roughly twenty years from Psycho and you have the beginning of another Scary cycle in the early forties. A series of films produced by Val Lewton has a lot in common with what the Scary cycle of the nineties is going for - psychological horror with no monsters or creatures in sight. The great director Jacques Tourneur did more with camera angles, lighting and sound to chill the audience's bones with his masterpieces the original Cat People and his follow-up I Walked With a Zombie. I command you to go out and rent these right now so you can see what I mean.
The first of these twenty-year cycles, just to round out my argument, goes back to Germany in the twenties. You won't be able to rent Paul Weggener's Student of Prague or his series of films about the Golem, a vengeful Jewish monster who haunted Czechoslovakia. But there is also The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the original vampire story (with Max Schreck as the Vampire). And rounding out the cycle is The Hands of Orlac, with Caligari's Conrad Veidt, about a concert pianist who has the hands of a murderer grafted on after he loses his in an accident. The fright genre moved (along with a number of German filmmakers escaping the Nazis) to America for its next cycle, and it is also no great coincidence that another one of these German exports, Peter Lorre, made his American film debut in 1935 in a remake of Orlac called Mad Love, another one that you must rent or seek out on cable TV.
Which is all to say that what comes around goes around in the world of roller coasters and Scary Movies. Now that I have given you a quick sense of its history, it's a good time to grab a ride.
PS, there’s also a neato keeno compendium of creature features here on the same site:
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/articles.html
.... and in this photo gallery from The Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/iconic-horror-movies-32472
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
This is from a cover story by Noë Gold for the Sun Newspapers (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino CA).
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave.
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net .
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
This is from a cover story by Noë Gold for the Sun Newspapers (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino CA).
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave.
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Lovely Antifascist
What is amazing to me about this person is that she lived in a time when everything was possible. See the three listings below. ...
"Gerda Taro, Guadalajara Front, Spain," July 1937, by an unknown photographer.
Photo: International Center of Photography
Related Article: A Wartime Photographer in Her Own Light (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/arts/design/22taro.html)
----------------
Now playing: Paul McCartney - All Things Must Pass
via FoxyTunes
"Gerda Taro, Guadalajara Front, Spain," July 1937, by an unknown photographer.
Photo: International Center of Photography
Related Article: A Wartime Photographer in Her Own Light (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/arts/design/22taro.html)
----------------
Now playing: Paul McCartney - All Things Must Pass
via FoxyTunes
GerdaTaro: Premature Anti-Fascist Icon Lady
Gerda Taro began her short, adventurous life as Gerta Pohorylle, a Jewess born in Poland.Sometime in the spring of 1936, she and her lover André Friedmann, a Hungarian Jew, who took the name Robert Capa, changed their names and, in the process, the history of photography. Ms. Pohorylle became Gerda Taro. Working at times as “Capa,” an imaginary American photographer, they began documenting the Spanish Civil War, capturing the ruined towns and devastated civilians and soldiers on the Republican side.
Gerda Taro - Republican Bugle Boy
This series of photos (see the next three blog entries) took me back to an adolescent obsession triggered by George Orwell's most amazing Homage to Catalonia, his tale of the revolutionary atmosphere that pervade Spanish Civil War-era Barcelona and its environs. The streets were teeming with anarchism and good vibrations, powered by the common struggle to off the Fascist forces of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. For this, Taro, her husband Robert Capa and the sainted Brooklyn soldiers of the Lincoln Brigade were anointed "premature antifascists" by the Hoover-led FBI and its successors in the Great American Witch Hunt, the House Unamerican Activities Committee and McCarthyism.
War Portraitist With a Cause
Gerda Taro, who died young, is only now being honored by the International Center of Photography in New York. See above and link at right for more ... (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/arts/design/22taro.html?ex=1348200000&en=3ccb5a5546f4abe1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink)
Friday, September 7, 2007
Ham on Ry
This is a pic my buddy Lyle Wachovsky took of Ry Cooder as I interviewed him (I'm on the left) for Guitar World magazine. I was the founding editor of this rag. I'll post the entire story in the next blog entry.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Tart Sweet
A picture is worth a thousand calories.
I'll leave it at that: http://www.rockenwagner.com/cafe.html
Besides, Triplecreme (http://triplecreme.blogspot.com/2007/03/3-square-bakery-now-open.html) can give you the down low. She's a real foodie.
I'll leave it at that: http://www.rockenwagner.com/cafe.html
Besides, Triplecreme (http://triplecreme.blogspot.com/2007/03/3-square-bakery-now-open.html) can give you the down low. She's a real foodie.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Now here's a fun idea ...
... from Andy Ihnatko, my favorite tech columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times who I first encountered as an original MacUser fan back in the '90s, and this marks the second but doubtless not the last time I quote him in this here space.
I highly recommend his books (www.wiley.com) about technology, which like Herman Melville's tomes, give me the minutia of a subject at the same time as they delve into the blubber. For more of his wit and wisdom, do visit his "Colossal Waste of Bandwidth" at www.andyi.com.
Andy's caption to "Not the Press Badge":
... about which the ever-observant Jim Heid noted ...
I highly recommend his books (www.wiley.com) about technology, which like Herman Melville's tomes, give me the minutia of a subject at the same time as they delve into the blubber. For more of his wit and wisdom, do visit his "Colossal Waste of Bandwidth" at www.andyi.com.
Andy's caption to "Not the Press Badge":
While explaining a recurring phenomenon, I came up with the idea for a special "Not The Press" badge for me to wear when I'm out shooting an event with the Big-Ass SLR.
Made with FD's Flickr Toys.
Made with FD's Flickr Toys.
... about which the ever-observant Jim Heid noted ...
 | jimheid |
Another Andy I. gem
This is the photo that inspired the anti-press badge above.
Here's what Andy I. says about the captured event and the badge it inspired. The photo is entitled "Letdown":
I felt like I was disappointing some people. The folks who do lots of parade would spot the Better Than Normal camera and pointedly slow down or do something cool in front of me, and often the ringleader would ask what paper I work for so they can snag the clipping for their press kit.
The factual answer is "The Chicago Sun-Times" but I'm sure that they mean "how can your photo further any of our life goals?" so the truthful answer is "I'm just shooting for fun."
They don't spit on me after that, but still, I wonder if I shouldn't make up some sort of NOT THE PRESS badge to wear, just to keep things clear.
Here's what Andy I. says about the captured event and the badge it inspired. The photo is entitled "Letdown":
I felt like I was disappointing some people. The folks who do lots of parade would spot the Better Than Normal camera and pointedly slow down or do something cool in front of me, and often the ringleader would ask what paper I work for so they can snag the clipping for their press kit.
The factual answer is "The Chicago Sun-Times" but I'm sure that they mean "how can your photo further any of our life goals?" so the truthful answer is "I'm just shooting for fun."
They don't spit on me after that, but still, I wonder if I shouldn't make up some sort of NOT THE PRESS badge to wear, just to keep things clear.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Visual Poetry
One of the rare pleasures of meandering around Flickr is when I discover someone who is not only a great photographer but someone who with his photography and his words comments on life around us. Just such a creator is Jim Heid, who is not only one of my new gurus of the Mac (a particular religion in whose congregation I worship regularly), but also quite a philosopher indeed. His paper trail is worth following.
I may, I might, I must
If you will tell me why the fen
appears impassable, I then
will tell you why I think that I
can get across it if I try.
Marianne Moore (1887-1972)
Another of the poems showcased on the London Underground as part of the system's Poems on the Underground program.
View the first photo in the series or the previous one.
If you will tell me why the fen
appears impassable, I then
will tell you why I think that I
can get across it if I try.
Marianne Moore (1887-1972)
Another of the poems showcased on the London Underground as part of the system's Poems on the Underground program.
View the first photo in the series or the previous one.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Brian Robbins Sun Newspapers P. 2 6-29-07
This is from a cover story by Noë Gold for the Sun Newspapers (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino CA).
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave.
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net.
Photo by robertevans.com
Here is my unedited manuscript for this piece:
Brian Robbins for the Studio City Sun
By Noë Gold
Driving onto the Fox lot on my way to see director Brian Robbins as he helms his second Eddie Murphy comedy “Starship Dave,” I pass a vigorous game of H-O-R-S-E played by some Star-Trek-cum-West Point-outfitted extras and what looks like the Oscar-nominated star of “Norbit.”
I later discover, talking to Eddie’s assistant Charisse Hewitt while watching him film some of his scenes, that that wasn’t her boss shooting baskets but his photo double doppelganger, who looks remarkably like Eddie but is about six inches shorter.
The basketball court is a constant on Robbins’ sets, not only because it provides respite from the shoot-and-wait-around endemic to all sets but because it is a hallmark of the sports-nut director’s working style, a loose camaraderie with the emphasis on playmaking and precision and a hardwood warrior’s sense of team play and strategy.
Like the original hardwood warrior, Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Robbins is described by his producer Todd Komarnicki as “the zen master of the lens. I’ve never seen a director create such a casual and friendly work environment that at the same time is hard-working and on the button. It’s a rare combination of professionalism and personal connection and it really makes for great work,” he says.
And the pickup basketball game has its place in the entire aesthetic, he continues. “I’m happy to say that my producing partner is getting lessons there from Brian in friendliness and no-conflict filmmaking — if you don’t sharpen your skill set then you don’t put yourself out there. The first shoot is the fun time in the morning. People are on their game and convivial, and this project has been a truly enjoyable experience. Brian has been collaborative and instinctive and funny and warm. He stands up for what he believes in, and we all wind up with the best piece of material.”
The director and his star established their go-to relationship on the set of their last comedy together, the PG-13-rated “Norbit.”
The comedy was budgeted at about $60 million and went on to make $170 million and counting (it has just been released on DVD). Murphy was so happy with the process of making that one that he asked Robbins what he was doing next. The answer turned out to be “Starship Dave,” a big family comedy about an alien spaceship made to look like a human being that lands on Earth.
“It’s basically the story of people from a planet called Nil who are sent to Earth because they need something from the planet to replenish their energy supply,” says Robbins. “They had sent an orb down to Earth and it fell. So they have no choice but to come here and investigate why this happened. The hook is, that these people are no taller than an inch and a quarter. So they built a spaceship that looks like a human being so that they can come and interact with us and basically that spaceship is Eddie Murphy. So they’re also all inside the ship operating it like a giant Trojan horse, and also Eddie’s character is inside the ship — he’s the captain, which is why the ship looks like him.”
The scenes I have come to observe take place inside the “head” or cockpit of the spaceship. The set designers have built this big egg-shaped structure on a soundstage and peopled it with drone-like space men and women sitting at desklike seats with LCD monitors facing a big projection screen which in the finished movie will be showing what Eddie sees through his “eyes” as he interacts with humans in his fumbling, exploratory way. As he goes on dates in the New York-located shoot, the camera records what’s going on inside and outside his head, and the pieces are put together later in post-production.
“It’s a complicated movie. It’s tricky,” says Robbins. “The whole real world’s a fish-out-of-water concept: people don’t know that he’s a spaceship. And then there’s this whole other movie going on inside his body which is like a submarine.. And then everything that’s going on in the real world which we shot on videotape through his eyes — we’re playing that back on viewscreens that are inside his head. He’s controlling the outside so he has to experience it on the inside. We’re constantly trying to make sure that everything syncs up.”
The New York City-born Studio City transplant is on a roll these days. “Norbit’s” commercial success was echoed by that of “Wild Hogs,” which he produced with partner Mike Tollin. Tollin-Robbins Productions, which is on Ventura Boulevard, is in post-production on the TV movie “The Bronx Is Burning,” and in pre-production on the next Halle Berry-Billy Bob Thornton drama “Tulia.” On top of that is his ongoing involvement in a raft of TV shows his company produces, among them “Smallville” and “One Tree Hill.” Robbins recently set up his own shingle, Varsity Pictures, in West Hollywood.
Robbins moved to the Valley in his early teens, went to Grant High School and immediately got into the entertainment biz. His father is the character actor Floyd Levine, who played Abe the Tailor in his son’s movie, “Norbit” and Dr. Stein on “Melrose Place,” and appeared in many TV shows including “Knight Rider,” “Cagney & Lacey,” “T.J. Hooker,” “The Love Boat,” “Starsky & Hutch” and “Kojak.”
Perhaps due to his father’s mentorship, or maybe just his own drive, Robbins parlayed his student involvement into a career. “I started out acting in plays in high school,” he says. “I got my first agent and started auditioning for roles. After a while I did a few pilots and soon after that I landed on “Head of the Class” for five years. I ended up guest starring on every sitcom on TV like ‘Different Strokes,’ ‘Facts of Life,’ ‘Three’s Company,’ ‘Taxi,’ ‘Cagney & Lacey.’
“And when I was on ‘Head of the Class’ I realized that there must be more to life than sitting in a trailer and waiting to come out and say a few lines,” he adds. “I started wanting to write and direct and to realize that that was where my real creative outlet was. So on the show I got to co-write an episode and I started to develop a few ideas. And when the show ended, I produced this TV show with Magic Johnson, this celebrity basketball show, and from there I met Mike Tollin who was to become my partner during the last 12 years. We hooked up on that and we made this documentary for Fox called ‘Hardwood Dreams’ and that became the foundation for Tollin Robbins. We developed and did the pilot for ‘All That’ on Nickelodeon, we did ‘Arliss’ on HBO, and also we made a Hank Aaron documentary for Turner which got nominated for a Peabody. All this happened in the first year and a half — an amazing start for our company.
“From ‘All That’ we were able to make our first feature film, ‘Good Burger,’ which Dan Schneider co-wrote and I directed. I really had only directed a couple of things for Nickelodeon, and Paramount let me direct it and it worked out really well. Right after that I got the script for ‘Varsity Blues.’ From there we were legitimately in the movie business, and I was a director.
“We got a deal with Warner Bros. to do television shows. And that’s how ‘Smallville,’ ‘What I Like About You’ and eventually ‘One Tree Hill’ happened.”
So what is his formula for success? The director is not really forthcoming on that one. “I don’t know if I have a secret and if I had one I probably wouldn’t tell you,” he replies. “I think TV is a whole other animal but movies are completely intangible. You think you have a good script and you assemble a good cast, and then you work really hard to try and make the best movie you can but you really don’t know how it’s going to turn out until you’re sitting in a movie theater and watching the first preview.”
And if you go by Robbins, he is just beginning to figure it out. “I’m at the point now that if I’m working on a movie for three or four weeks and I watch it the first time I know whether we are in really good shape or if … I’m not sure. ‘Norbit’ was amazing. I thought ‘Norbit’ worked as soon as I put that thing on a monitor. I thought it worked so well, it played so loud and so uproarious, that it was really a thrill.”
If there’s one thing Robbins knows, besides sports and actors, it’s comedy, but he doesn’t know why. It’s not something you can analyze, he says. “Comedy is so amazing. It’s a strange thing. It’s hard to manufacture. I was talking to Eddie the other day and we were watching something and it got such a big laugh and I said God that was so funny. Eddie said, ‘Why was that so funny?’ And I said, ‘I can’t tell you why.’ I think the one gift that I’ve gotten is after so many hours of television and so many types of movies — I’ve spent the last 10 years constantly in production — it’s just experience.”
__________________________
Noë Gold is a contributor to Variety and former features editor at the Hollywood Reporter, editor-in-chief of Movies USA, Bikini and Guitar World and columnist for the Village Voice and the New York Daily News. His interviews with Cameron Crowe, Frank Zappa and other luminaries may be found at www.noemedia.net and www.doctornoemedia.com .
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave.
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net.
Photo by robertevans.com
Here is my unedited manuscript for this piece:
Brian Robbins for the Studio City Sun
By Noë Gold
Driving onto the Fox lot on my way to see director Brian Robbins as he helms his second Eddie Murphy comedy “Starship Dave,” I pass a vigorous game of H-O-R-S-E played by some Star-Trek-cum-West Point-outfitted extras and what looks like the Oscar-nominated star of “Norbit.”
I later discover, talking to Eddie’s assistant Charisse Hewitt while watching him film some of his scenes, that that wasn’t her boss shooting baskets but his photo double doppelganger, who looks remarkably like Eddie but is about six inches shorter.
The basketball court is a constant on Robbins’ sets, not only because it provides respite from the shoot-and-wait-around endemic to all sets but because it is a hallmark of the sports-nut director’s working style, a loose camaraderie with the emphasis on playmaking and precision and a hardwood warrior’s sense of team play and strategy.
Like the original hardwood warrior, Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Robbins is described by his producer Todd Komarnicki as “the zen master of the lens. I’ve never seen a director create such a casual and friendly work environment that at the same time is hard-working and on the button. It’s a rare combination of professionalism and personal connection and it really makes for great work,” he says.
And the pickup basketball game has its place in the entire aesthetic, he continues. “I’m happy to say that my producing partner is getting lessons there from Brian in friendliness and no-conflict filmmaking — if you don’t sharpen your skill set then you don’t put yourself out there. The first shoot is the fun time in the morning. People are on their game and convivial, and this project has been a truly enjoyable experience. Brian has been collaborative and instinctive and funny and warm. He stands up for what he believes in, and we all wind up with the best piece of material.”
The director and his star established their go-to relationship on the set of their last comedy together, the PG-13-rated “Norbit.”
The comedy was budgeted at about $60 million and went on to make $170 million and counting (it has just been released on DVD). Murphy was so happy with the process of making that one that he asked Robbins what he was doing next. The answer turned out to be “Starship Dave,” a big family comedy about an alien spaceship made to look like a human being that lands on Earth.
“It’s basically the story of people from a planet called Nil who are sent to Earth because they need something from the planet to replenish their energy supply,” says Robbins. “They had sent an orb down to Earth and it fell. So they have no choice but to come here and investigate why this happened. The hook is, that these people are no taller than an inch and a quarter. So they built a spaceship that looks like a human being so that they can come and interact with us and basically that spaceship is Eddie Murphy. So they’re also all inside the ship operating it like a giant Trojan horse, and also Eddie’s character is inside the ship — he’s the captain, which is why the ship looks like him.”
The scenes I have come to observe take place inside the “head” or cockpit of the spaceship. The set designers have built this big egg-shaped structure on a soundstage and peopled it with drone-like space men and women sitting at desklike seats with LCD monitors facing a big projection screen which in the finished movie will be showing what Eddie sees through his “eyes” as he interacts with humans in his fumbling, exploratory way. As he goes on dates in the New York-located shoot, the camera records what’s going on inside and outside his head, and the pieces are put together later in post-production.
“It’s a complicated movie. It’s tricky,” says Robbins. “The whole real world’s a fish-out-of-water concept: people don’t know that he’s a spaceship. And then there’s this whole other movie going on inside his body which is like a submarine.. And then everything that’s going on in the real world which we shot on videotape through his eyes — we’re playing that back on viewscreens that are inside his head. He’s controlling the outside so he has to experience it on the inside. We’re constantly trying to make sure that everything syncs up.”
The New York City-born Studio City transplant is on a roll these days. “Norbit’s” commercial success was echoed by that of “Wild Hogs,” which he produced with partner Mike Tollin. Tollin-Robbins Productions, which is on Ventura Boulevard, is in post-production on the TV movie “The Bronx Is Burning,” and in pre-production on the next Halle Berry-Billy Bob Thornton drama “Tulia.” On top of that is his ongoing involvement in a raft of TV shows his company produces, among them “Smallville” and “One Tree Hill.” Robbins recently set up his own shingle, Varsity Pictures, in West Hollywood.
Robbins moved to the Valley in his early teens, went to Grant High School and immediately got into the entertainment biz. His father is the character actor Floyd Levine, who played Abe the Tailor in his son’s movie, “Norbit” and Dr. Stein on “Melrose Place,” and appeared in many TV shows including “Knight Rider,” “Cagney & Lacey,” “T.J. Hooker,” “The Love Boat,” “Starsky & Hutch” and “Kojak.”
Perhaps due to his father’s mentorship, or maybe just his own drive, Robbins parlayed his student involvement into a career. “I started out acting in plays in high school,” he says. “I got my first agent and started auditioning for roles. After a while I did a few pilots and soon after that I landed on “Head of the Class” for five years. I ended up guest starring on every sitcom on TV like ‘Different Strokes,’ ‘Facts of Life,’ ‘Three’s Company,’ ‘Taxi,’ ‘Cagney & Lacey.’
“And when I was on ‘Head of the Class’ I realized that there must be more to life than sitting in a trailer and waiting to come out and say a few lines,” he adds. “I started wanting to write and direct and to realize that that was where my real creative outlet was. So on the show I got to co-write an episode and I started to develop a few ideas. And when the show ended, I produced this TV show with Magic Johnson, this celebrity basketball show, and from there I met Mike Tollin who was to become my partner during the last 12 years. We hooked up on that and we made this documentary for Fox called ‘Hardwood Dreams’ and that became the foundation for Tollin Robbins. We developed and did the pilot for ‘All That’ on Nickelodeon, we did ‘Arliss’ on HBO, and also we made a Hank Aaron documentary for Turner which got nominated for a Peabody. All this happened in the first year and a half — an amazing start for our company.
“From ‘All That’ we were able to make our first feature film, ‘Good Burger,’ which Dan Schneider co-wrote and I directed. I really had only directed a couple of things for Nickelodeon, and Paramount let me direct it and it worked out really well. Right after that I got the script for ‘Varsity Blues.’ From there we were legitimately in the movie business, and I was a director.
“We got a deal with Warner Bros. to do television shows. And that’s how ‘Smallville,’ ‘What I Like About You’ and eventually ‘One Tree Hill’ happened.”
So what is his formula for success? The director is not really forthcoming on that one. “I don’t know if I have a secret and if I had one I probably wouldn’t tell you,” he replies. “I think TV is a whole other animal but movies are completely intangible. You think you have a good script and you assemble a good cast, and then you work really hard to try and make the best movie you can but you really don’t know how it’s going to turn out until you’re sitting in a movie theater and watching the first preview.”
And if you go by Robbins, he is just beginning to figure it out. “I’m at the point now that if I’m working on a movie for three or four weeks and I watch it the first time I know whether we are in really good shape or if … I’m not sure. ‘Norbit’ was amazing. I thought ‘Norbit’ worked as soon as I put that thing on a monitor. I thought it worked so well, it played so loud and so uproarious, that it was really a thrill.”
If there’s one thing Robbins knows, besides sports and actors, it’s comedy, but he doesn’t know why. It’s not something you can analyze, he says. “Comedy is so amazing. It’s a strange thing. It’s hard to manufacture. I was talking to Eddie the other day and we were watching something and it got such a big laugh and I said God that was so funny. Eddie said, ‘Why was that so funny?’ And I said, ‘I can’t tell you why.’ I think the one gift that I’ve gotten is after so many hours of television and so many types of movies — I’ve spent the last 10 years constantly in production — it’s just experience.”
__________________________
Noë Gold is a contributor to Variety and former features editor at the Hollywood Reporter, editor-in-chief of Movies USA, Bikini and Guitar World and columnist for the Village Voice and the New York Daily News. His interviews with Cameron Crowe, Frank Zappa and other luminaries may be found at www.noemedia.net and www.doctornoemedia.com .
Brian Robbins in the Sun Newspapers 6-29-07
This is from a cover story by Noë Gold for the Sun Newspapers (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino CA).
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave.
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net.
Photo by robertevans.com
Brian Robbins, director of Eddie Murphy’s smash comedy Norbit, takes us on the set of his next Murphy vehicle, Starship Dave.
Noë Gold’s most recent cover story on director Brian Robbins in all three editions of the Sun Newspapers may be found here ...
http://www.studiocitysun.com/proof/STUv5n22.pdf
Noë Gold’s interviews with Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry and Cameron Crowe are at www.noemedia.net.
Photo by robertevans.com
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Noë's Reindeer speaks
THIS POEM was dealt up by my Warrior Brother Ken Iverson one fine July day. Seems a fitting way to cap the thread on being, doing and nothingness.
I’ll just sit with these thoughts for a while.
POWERFUL WORDS ABOUT SILENCE
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message, just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out & resonate in every word & deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There is no sidestepping your own being or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Leonard Peltier
good words 4 u >>> www.noemedia.net
www.doctornoemedia.com
“take 2 clicks and call me in the morning”
Noë's Reindeer speaks
Originally uploaded by Doctor Noe
I’ll just sit with these thoughts for a while.
POWERFUL WORDS ABOUT SILENCE
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message, just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out & resonate in every word & deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There is no sidestepping your own being or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Leonard Peltier
good words 4 u >>> www.noemedia.net
www.doctornoemedia.com
“take 2 clicks and call me in the morning”
Noë's Reindeer speaks
Originally uploaded by Doctor Noe
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Infrared Palm Silhouette
A Visual Calculus for Living.
I have to say, the idea of blogging had no appeal to me unless there was some sort of visual orientation in the mix. More than some. It seems to me the digital playground afforded by this alchemical medium is set up best for mixed media. That is, the full onslaught of impulses -- graphic, aural, sensory in every way.
So I thought I'll pre-blog this blog entry with the following exegesis in a semiotic way to turn it up, slap it down and scratch that metaphorical turntable that is my keyboard as I sit here at my desk flipping through my favorite digital toy, the flickr photo ossessionista social network where such creative souls as Hiro (http://www.flickr.com/people/hiro_oshima/) of New York, my home town, hang out.
Now this picture gets me ruminating on another hot phenomenon that has something to do with palm trees. Specifically, the guru of mu Ubu, the poobah of the New American Novel Megillah, William Faulkner. Even more specifically, his genre-shattering Wild Palms, a first-edition copy in "near fine" shape in a "near fine jacket." Notwithstanding "a little soiling to the upper cover and some light wear to the top lower corner" the book is a nice copy in a First Edition and is rated Fine/Fine. It'll set you back a mere $1,700 in this hallowed spot: http://www.biblio.com/books/66393583.html.
Or you could go to the library, use their free bandwith as you're reading their copy of this literary bible and go to interesting sites like this blog and my more tech-talk-oriented one at http://www.doctornoemedia.com.
Cheers,
| Noë Gold | noe@doctornoemedia.com |
“take 2 clicks and call me in the morning”
I have to say, the idea of blogging had no appeal to me unless there was some sort of visual orientation in the mix. More than some. It seems to me the digital playground afforded by this alchemical medium is set up best for mixed media. That is, the full onslaught of impulses -- graphic, aural, sensory in every way.
So I thought I'll pre-blog this blog entry with the following exegesis in a semiotic way to turn it up, slap it down and scratch that metaphorical turntable that is my keyboard as I sit here at my desk flipping through my favorite digital toy, the flickr photo ossessionista social network where such creative souls as Hiro (http://www.flickr.com/people/hiro_oshima/) of New York, my home town, hang out.
Now this picture gets me ruminating on another hot phenomenon that has something to do with palm trees. Specifically, the guru of mu Ubu, the poobah of the New American Novel Megillah, William Faulkner. Even more specifically, his genre-shattering Wild Palms, a first-edition copy in "near fine" shape in a "near fine jacket." Notwithstanding "a little soiling to the upper cover and some light wear to the top lower corner" the book is a nice copy in a First Edition and is rated Fine/Fine. It'll set you back a mere $1,700 in this hallowed spot: http://www.biblio.com/books/66393583.html.
Or you could go to the library, use their free bandwith as you're reading their copy of this literary bible and go to interesting sites like this blog and my more tech-talk-oriented one at http://www.doctornoemedia.com.
Cheers,
| Noë Gold | noe@doctornoemedia.com |
“take 2 clicks and call me in the morning”
Friday, July 6, 2007
Loving The Spin I'm In
This is from my flickr buddy Andy Ihnatko, who continues to astound me. I'm not sure if his entire text gets blogged to my site when I click 'blog this,' so here is his caption for the photo of the older woman with the batons. It inspired me, and I hope it inspires you:
Here's a good opportunity to muse on the subject of the Freak Flag. This woman is flying hers gloriously and proudly...as she should.
(Oh, and she was a really good baton-twirler, too.)
A Freak Flag is a treasured item and comes with a certain responsibility. Whoever gave you yours trusted you not to simply fold it carefully and toss it in a drawer. Nope, a Freak Flag is meant to be flown high and flown hard.
Not everyone is blessed with one. A Freak Flag is a source of joy that's uniquely yours. For some, it's going to conventions dressed up as Boba Fett. Others hang enough Christmas lights on their house every year to trick animals into emerging from hibernation early. Maybe last month you read something in the morning paper and then, pausing only long enough to claim a personal day, you drove 180 miles to get your picture taken with a life-sized butter sculpture of Elvis. It could be something as simple as a pair of green plaid pants that you adore, and which you wear any time you think you can get away with it.
By celebrating your personal joy, you add to the whole of the Universe.
If people are going to laugh...hell, let 'em. You're not doing this to win other people's approval, and laughter is valuable at nearly any cost. Plus, if the sight of your Freak Flag inspires just one bystander to do something he thought of a few years ago but immediately dismissed as silly, then clearly, the gods chose well when they put one in your hands.
I heartily salute this woman. If it's been many years since you left your teens and your swimmer's physique behind and yet you're still twirling batons, then it's clearly not just something you do as an after-school hobby. It's part of who you are, as permanent and documentary as a tattoo. And it's a gesture of great generosity to share that sort of joy with thousands of strangers.
A Freak Flag that's never flown is like a toy that's kept in the package, a song that's unsung, or a great movie that burns up before anyone thinks to transfer it from its original nitrate stock.
Comments
view profile
dvsjr Pro User says:
Amen.
Posted 29 hours ago. ( permalink )
view profile
jimery Pro User says:
After chuckling out loud, I had to pass the laptop around the room for all to see. That is certainly a good'n.
Posted 24 hours ago. ( permalink )
view profile
Doctor Noe says:
Andy, it is a joy and a pleasure to be your contact. I hope you are collecting all this shit and putting it in a book. Because it's too good to waste.
Hendrix is mah man!
The G
Posted 2 minutes ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )
Here's a good opportunity to muse on the subject of the Freak Flag. This woman is flying hers gloriously and proudly...as she should.
(Oh, and she was a really good baton-twirler, too.)
A Freak Flag is a treasured item and comes with a certain responsibility. Whoever gave you yours trusted you not to simply fold it carefully and toss it in a drawer. Nope, a Freak Flag is meant to be flown high and flown hard.
Not everyone is blessed with one. A Freak Flag is a source of joy that's uniquely yours. For some, it's going to conventions dressed up as Boba Fett. Others hang enough Christmas lights on their house every year to trick animals into emerging from hibernation early. Maybe last month you read something in the morning paper and then, pausing only long enough to claim a personal day, you drove 180 miles to get your picture taken with a life-sized butter sculpture of Elvis. It could be something as simple as a pair of green plaid pants that you adore, and which you wear any time you think you can get away with it.
By celebrating your personal joy, you add to the whole of the Universe.
If people are going to laugh...hell, let 'em. You're not doing this to win other people's approval, and laughter is valuable at nearly any cost. Plus, if the sight of your Freak Flag inspires just one bystander to do something he thought of a few years ago but immediately dismissed as silly, then clearly, the gods chose well when they put one in your hands.
I heartily salute this woman. If it's been many years since you left your teens and your swimmer's physique behind and yet you're still twirling batons, then it's clearly not just something you do as an after-school hobby. It's part of who you are, as permanent and documentary as a tattoo. And it's a gesture of great generosity to share that sort of joy with thousands of strangers.
A Freak Flag that's never flown is like a toy that's kept in the package, a song that's unsung, or a great movie that burns up before anyone thinks to transfer it from its original nitrate stock.
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dvsjr Pro User says:
Amen.
Posted 29 hours ago. ( permalink )
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jimery Pro User says:
After chuckling out loud, I had to pass the laptop around the room for all to see. That is certainly a good'n.
Posted 24 hours ago. ( permalink )
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Doctor Noe says:
Andy, it is a joy and a pleasure to be your contact. I hope you are collecting all this shit and putting it in a book. Because it's too good to waste.
Hendrix is mah man!
The G
Posted 2 minutes ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Noe Gold aka Middle Walter
In my bluesman alter ego, Middle Walter, I have performed with/for various and sundry, including Joe Satriani, Paul Butterfield and Van Morrison.
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