Happy St. Patrick's Day

It looks like we will not be seeing St. Patrick's a national holiday soon. Guinness fell over 700,000 signatures short of their goal.

oh well, luck o' the Irish.

Getty adendum

This Friday starts the Getty's Fridays Off the 405 series. Also free.

Click here for more information.

I have not had the pleasure of going yet, but plan to this Friday. I cannot wait!

If you have gone and have a review drop me a line at my email address.

Song stuck in my head

I haven't done this in a while but lately I have had "Radio Clash" stuck in my head. This stems from a Clash documentary I saw on PBS a couple weeks or so ago. Yes, it is in my head still.

Did anybody watch it? Was that Lee in the background graffiti writing?

Sometimes my posts are not in order

Sometimes I write a few at a time and they sneak in between other posts.

I am unemployed, bored, and tired of waiting for the phone to ring. Drop me a line at my email address.

Losing momentum

If you are interested in taking part in making St. Patrick's day into a holiday, join Guinness Brewery's petition. They seem to be losing momentum.

If you know the history of the irish impact on this country or just want a day off go to:

www.propostion317.com

I know that this is a promotional thing for St. Patrick's day, but if congress can vote in a bunch of crappy laws detrimental to its people, why not try for something fun like this. Who does it hurt anyway?

Still Laid off...still frustrated...still finding stuff to do on the cheap

One of the greatest free venues Los Angeles has to offer is by far The Getty Museum.

Where: 1200 Getty Drive (just off of Sepulveda)
When: Tuesdays-Sundays
What: Wide range of art including Van Gogh's Irises and my favorite current exhibit The Goat Dance a retrospective of the photographs of Graciela Iturbide. It also has an artfully designed garden/sculpture garden. (Just don't touch)
Total cost to you: $8 parking, tram ride free, admission to the museum free.

You may recognize the mural at the left "Nuestra Senora de las Iguanas" re-worked by Anne Sperling was originally a photo by Graciela Iturbide. (You can see the mural in Silver Lake just stand outside of Intellegencia and look up and to the left) I went expressly to see the Iturbide exhibit, not because of the mural but because I am a huge fan of the Mexican photographers. Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Tina Mondotti being among my favs. (You can see an Alvarez Bravo in the adjacent Nudes room) I am not the best at being an art critic, but what I love about Iturbide's work, as well as that of her mentors, is that as well as being very artfully done, there is also an element of social-political criticism to each and every photograph. (There it is again social political criticism) Catch he talking about her work in this short video Hay Tiempo/There is time on the Getty website.

Click here/haz clic aquí
I strongly recommend seeing this show, it runs until April 13th.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot enjoy all that the Getty has to offer in one day. Go often, it is so quiet and peaceful. It really feels like you are on a little retreat. Who knew that free could offer you piece of mind?

now that I ...

... put on an indistinguishable picture of myself on this blog, please do not write me nasty perverted notes. I will reach through this computer and smack you.

my favorite banned movie

After looking through Filmtracks I was reminded of my favorite banned movie written and directed by Todd Haynes, also one of my favorite film directors. (His "I'm Not There" was featured, but my favorite film is the "Citizen Kane"-esque "Velvet Goldmine") ((A girl who likes Hip-Hop and Glam Rock, No Way))

I digress.

My favorite banned film is a movie he did a couple years after he finished film school called "Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story" which you will find by clicking here (It is best if you do not watch it full screen, very pixelated, obviously a copy of a copy)

I think this is a great film of the effects of fame on the psyche as well as a great film about eating disorders. I think it is a must see for young girls and might sway people away from that destructive disease.

What Barbie Dolls?!?!
I know you might be put off that it is "acted" out by Barbie Dolls, but if any of you are old enough to remember how she looked before she died, you would realize that it would be a human rights violation to ask anyone to widdle away to the weight she was before death. Not that the starlettes aren't trying.

So if you have about 40 minutes to spare check out my favorite banned film, how it ended up on the internet I will never know. When I saw it as a copy of a copy of a copy the Carpenter Family, especially Richard was taking legal action so that it would not be seen, he didn't want Karen remembered that way, and the doll thing didn't help.

Let me know what you think. It isn't bad to comment on a blog that you are reading or emailing the person to let them know that you are reading. In fact it is encouraged.

"Honest to Blog"-Diablo Cody

I mentioned recently that I wished that there were a category for best film soundtrack.
Strangely I just came across this blog called Filmtracks that is blog about nothing but soundtracks.

Basically it names a soundtrack, lists all of the songs and enables you to directly download or buy.

Yay! No more guessing. No more sitting 5 inches from your television with a magnifying glass trying to decipher black screen with white type, in hopes that you will figure out the song that you like.

Unfortunately this blog is on hiatus. I hope it comes back soon, but you will have plenty to keep you busy. Check out the redesigned cover art , re-worked by the blogger.

Filtering through nostalgia

This blog isn't as music heavy as the other blogs I have had. I kind of miss talking music w/ people.

This is good segue to....

One of my recent purchases has been the Filter Magazine winter '08. (with Q-tip on the cover.) Read the article "Q-tip and the Legacy of Hip Hop", I think it is one of the more eye opening articles I have read in a long time. I love the interview style to tell the story of an era. (See Yes Yes Ya'll by Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahern) Did you know that Low End Theory, which by the way is my greatest hip hop album of all time, influenced Dr. Dre to make "The Chronic."?

See all the people who were influenced by Tribe and what they say about them.

I remember running to a friend's house after school everyday to watch Yo! MTV Raps just to catch the Bonita Applebum video. Tribe was the first Hip Hop band I ever fell in love with. I love hip hop as poetry, I love hip hop as social political criticism, those are the reasons I love Tribe and continue to be a big fan. I regret only being able to see them twice before they stopped being a group.

By the way if you are wondering what music I listen to you can find me by my email address at www.jango.com. I have 4 stations to choose from.