focus on the family - outfest presents ‘pick up the mic’

Saturday, July 15, 2006

I just got back from Los Feliz after having a really late dinner with my sister and her friend Layla at a place called Fred 62. We decided to grab a bite there after going to the OutFest showing of the film Pick Up The Mic: the (r)evolution of homohop. I got tickets online on Wednesday but nearly backed out today because of all the work I need to get done prior to classes starting on Monday. I’m grateful I don’t have a ‘better judgement’ chip installed in my brain. I could’ve missed out on this eye-opening documentary, a chance to see many of the featured artists perform (immediately after the film) and to meet them and buy their albums.

Here is a sliced-and-diced snippet from the Pick Up The Mic synopsis which I believe summarizes the film best:

Queer Hip-Hop: it’s a lot more than a stylish oxymoron in this surprising, fast-paced documentary on the world of queer rappers. Featuring searing public performances and raw, revealing interviews with the community’s most significant players, the film captures an unapologetic underground music movement just as it explodes into the mainstream - defying the music industry’s most homophobic genre in the process. [...] The artists are followed rehearsing, performing, and struggling – always revealing their raw, most intimate feelings, including experiences with homophobia, gender identification issues, and suicide. [...] PICK UP THE MIC reveals these artists and producers as they attempt to express their lives through hip-hop music - a medium from which they’ve often felt alienated because of it’s widespread misogyny and anti-gay rhetoric. [...] PICK UP THE MIC is not only a captivating record of a burgeoning culture, but is ultimately – and perhaps more importantly - an inspiring exploration of the universal desire to voice the passion and pain of one’s individual existence.

It’s not like these artists collaborated from the start on trying to create a sub-genre, a marketable putty to fill the gaping niche. As several of the homo-hop artists said in the documentary, they thought they were the first ones doing this. They did what they did because they felt the need to, the urgency. It didn’t matter to them that fame or mainstream success would not only be a longshot but would be highly improbable considering the subject matter of their lyrics and the walls of stereotypes (both about LGBT people and hip-hop) that could take just as long to deconstruct as they took to construct. In this way the homo-hop movement reminds me of my favorite genre of contemporary music: post-punk. I admire the passion and intensity that goes into art sans expectation: the drive to express oneself artistically because of need, not want.

I wish I could write about each and every artist but I’m so incredibly tired (full list of homohop artists and film cast/crew here). I’ll do what I can but this post could get long. I was extremely impressed by the powerful rhymes of JenRo (actually shes the sister of a good friend of ours!), the politics of race and gender in hip-hop by Tim’m T. West, the blurring of activism and music by Dutchboy, the discussions of “gay hip hop” versus being a hip hop artist who happens to be gay between Dutchboy and Miss Money, and so much more. While all the artists were superb and expressed a wide array of styles, personality types and backgrounds, two of the performers really resonated with me. The first was Katastrophe (aka Rocco Kayiatos). As described in the bio on his web site: “using his struggle as a trans man and his contested place in contemporary queer and hip hop culture as a springboard to discuss and express larger issues of community, space, privelege, sex and self-worth, [he] fills his layered beats with lyics that rif on pop culture, slide into personal revelation, call bullshit on contemporary culture, offer a ragged hope for revolution and flirt with a pretty girl on the dance floor, all in the course of a song.” That’s sounds about right. He’s an extremely talented rapper and producer who recently was dubbed producer of the year by Out Music Awards. He also has some of the most insightful lines in the entire documentary. I wish he were at the showing tonight. I would’ve liked nothing more than to have met the man in person. He’s performing in San Francisco Saturday through Monday but I can’t go. Instead I will purchase his albums.

Scream Club was ‘rad’. Lesbian punk-hop? Electro-sex-hop? Or “Electro Sex Hop Hip Pop Punk Rock Rap” (as described on their MySpace page). Whatever. Categories won’t work. It’s some sort of cross between Tracy and the Plastics and … JJ Fad’s “Supersonic”. This crazy sexy lesbian duo from Olympia, Washington’s got an ’80s punk aesthetic, an old school hip hop beats and rhymes style, all with a feminist angle. Yoko Ono says, “The hair-amazing. The new wave asthetics- genius. The music- unstoppable. When are they moving to new york?” Punk Planet says, “Arguably the next queer punk rock rap legends.” I say, “they’re everything I’d want to be and then some.” (I’m wiping the dust off the drum machine as I write this). Scream Club is “Cindy Wonderful and Sarah Adorable, two gaysymmetrical superheroes”. I got to meet the adorable Sarah after they performed. I tried to verbalize my excitement but am no good at such things. I bought Scream Club’s CD “Don’t Bite Your Sister” as well as a four track “Scream Club vs. Nicky Click” 7″. Nice. I’ll listen to it, loud, in the AM when I can pump up the volume. And she also gave my sister and I these pins (I’ll take a picture when I’m more awake): one that reads “Socially Awesome” and the other that says “SCREAMCLUB” with a picture of Sarah and Cindy wearing fake moustaches. I’ve already fastened them to my skull bag. “Don’t Bite Your Sister” is available at Tiny Sensational, but Sarah and Cindy have their own record label Crunks Not Dead. Check it out.

Thanks, Alex Hinton, for realizing the necessity of this film and for creating it with the same passion and urgency as the artists documented create their music. You helped bring all of these artists together to empower them, promote them and make them realize they are not alone so that they can continue to empower us and make us realize that we are not alone. (cheesy? whoops.) So what’s Alex Hinton up to next? He runs an indie record label, Retard Disco (great name!) with his partner Andy Wombwell. He also hinted that Andy and him have a film in the works: a sci-fi flick that takes place in the world of gay fitness. WTF? I’ll keep an eye out.

Posted by nalin at 1:42 am
Filed Under: art / openings, music / bands | Comments Off

project runway season three begins - ‘make it work’

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Had I known Bravo was going to play a marathon of Project Runway episodes today, I may have been glued to the TV watching all of Season 2 (which I missed thanks to having no tv for a year). But then I would’ve gotten no work done. I’m glad I didn’t know. But I caught the Season 3 “Road to the Runway” preview and then the first episode of Season 3. My feelings about the first episode are as mixed and mis-matched as some of the dresses (and personalities) that aired tonight.

The “Road to the Runway” segment was somewhat entertaining but pretty meaningless. I didn’t feel like this preview show gave me enough insight into the potential lineup of designers to see why one was chosen over another. I’m wondering if they didn’t actually show much of the designers’ portfolios on screen because of copyright or contractual reasons because I think that would’ve helped me understand the judges’ choices. Instead I got to watch Tim Gunn, Michael Kors, Heidi Klum and Nina Garcia look at and talk about what the tv viewer couldn’t see. At least it was good to see Jay McCarroll and all—someone I pegged from episode 1 of season 1 as being America’s next top designer. The only thing that resonated with me in that whole episode was when the flambouyantly classy Laura Bennett, a professional architect with no professional fashion design experience, explained her crossover by basically saying that an eye for good design transcends the boundaries of fields (that’s my severly butchered paraphrasing). I can agree with that. Or at least I try and tell myself the same to stay hopeful and sane. So after a wasted hour of that barely amusing intro, the first episode began.

My first thoughts: how is it that all of these contestants (with the exception of Bradley Baumkirchner) have such marketable names? Examples: Jeffrey Sebelia, Keith Michael, Allison Kelly, Robert Best, Laura Bennett, Michael Knight, and from Season 1 we had: Kara Saun, Wendy Pepper, Austin Scarett, Kevin Johnn, Alexandra Vidal. I don’t know if I can peg any of these guys as winners like I pegged Jay McCarroll (how long can I boast about that?) but I wonder if there is a names formula like ‘those with two first names don’t make it to the finals’ (aka Kevin Johnn). However that would mean Keith Michael and Allison Kelly don’t go far and I seem to think otherwise. Back to the drawing board. No one really struck me as crazy good. There are some very clear talents on the show but among those, there are some serious personality problems. But as we saw with Wendy Pepper, mediocrity and inconsistent design along with a terrible attitude can somehow take you all the way to the finals. So I’ll give my best shot at picking high rankers, possibly finalists, and I’ll take a shot at guessing a possible winner.

Laura Bennett may suffer the same fate as Austin Scarlett did in season 1: she may not be able to design too far outside of that golden age of cinema look. Similarly Katherine Gerdes (link: her own portfolio), who I also think is very talented, might have an issue breaking out of her hip, youth wear into the more haute couture challenges, but I have a little more faith in her. Jeffrey Sebelia has a lot of potential as well. Despite having already been in the bottom 2 of the first competition, I think he can really showcase more of his vision if he a) drops the attitude that he works for rock stars so he knows best and b) not go for the ragdoll look again (or as it was called in that horrendous movie Zoolander, “Derelicte…It is a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique.”) Malan Breton also seems to have potential but he has a lot of layers of arrogance to shed off in order to accomodate his thinking for each challenge. He also looks like David Bowie’s evil twin (albeit much younger), the one who didn’t make his first $100m by 30. Hey, never said that was a bad thing. Allison Kelly is neat. Michael Kors and Tim Gunn describe her in “Road to the Runway” as both ‘cute’ and ‘nice’, two traits not often seen together in fashion I guess. Add to that ‘robotic’ and we have a trifecta (note: robotic=good). She’s an odd one. She will go far, but perhaps not on this show. She’s so very Euro with her design and them judges are so gosh darn American! I wish Michael Knight luck. I think he has potential to wow the judges in the coming weeks by showing them something more unique than their standard fashion school fare. But for the first challenge, while I liked his dress made of coffee filters, he may have channelled a bit too much of Austin Scarlett and his episode 1 corn husk dress. Maybe. Could just be coincidence.

I really think Keith Michael has what it takes to make it to the finals and (with much insecurity, i wager) he’ll possibly win. I’m not just saying that because I’d like to… be with him or anything. (Hey I know I’m not the only one thinking that! For proof, check out Tim Gunn’s facial expression when Keith walks in the room for his interview on “Road to the Runway”!) Seriously though. He’s self-taught (brings new insights into fashion), turned down Tim Gunn’s suggestion (isn’t willing to give up his vision just because someone with more experience thinks differently), and handily won the first challenge (although Jay McCarroll was the winner in Season 1 without having won a single challenge other than the final one!). To top it off, the dress he made for episode 1 was supposedly his first attempt at designing/making women’s wear. He’s a menswear designer. Impressive. Plus he’s a David Sedaris fan (cool. neat. me too… but so?). Add to that: he looks like the love child of Thom Yorke, Jude Law and Damon Albarn, a very hot threesome. Yorke’s …vision, Law’s charm, and Albarn’s snootiness. If he tones down the arrogance as episodes progress, I’m guessing he at least makes it to the top 3. The preview for next week makes it look like he doesn’t learn to tone it down by then.

I don’t feel confident about any of those assessments. It’s all a bit scatterbrain at the moment. There were definitely some excellent performances in tonight’s lineup but overall I was left with the feeling of “these are America’s best choices for next top designer?” Maybe I’ve been romanticizing Season 1 by thinking I was a lot more impressed by those designers. But then I’m reminded of Wendy Pepper’s no-work-put-into-this-at-all balloon bikini thing that was supposed to make you think of Brazil at Mardi Gras, Daniel’s huh? ‘dress’ out of a black plastic garbage bag and brown paper bags (Derelicte!), the crying fits of Nora, bizarre Starr, and then there was that dude with the ponytail, Rob, who equated women with sportscars…

Posted by nalin at 11:13 pm
Filed Under: architecture / design, art / openings | 5 Comments »
Technorati Tags: Project Runway, Bravo, Keith Michael, Tim Gunn, Jay McCarroll, Heidi Klum, Fashion, Design

for breeders and non-breeders alike

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Today I received the new Flavorpill LA weekly newsletter in my inbox. Here’s some stuff that I found noteworthy:

2006 volkswagen rabbit 2.5 - breed a mate

A few years ago, I owned a 2000 Honda Civic Hatchback, sadly, the year before they were pulled from the market. The little thing had a 1.4L 106 horsepower engine, got about 35 miles per gallon, and was Honda’s most affordable car then as it has been since its inception in 1973. Sure, it was one of the last cars to make it up a hill and it didn’t like going much faster than 70mph, but it was fun to drive and saved me money on loan payments and gas. Two years after that, they re-released the Honda Civic Hatchback but only as an Si model, a sports model, aimed at a ‘youthier’ market I suppose—a market increasingly more nonchalant about gas prices and loan payments. Honda has done a lot in the way of increasing fuel efficiency, but the new Civic Hatchback Si was a reversal of that philosophy.

Similarly, the Volkswagen Rabbit was created in the late 70s in response to the gas crisis. Thus it was extremely fuel efficient—a 1.5L diesel engine that got 45 to 57 mpg! (link) Imagine my excitement when I saw VW Rabbit ads all throughout the latest Flavorpill. There’s no way VW could turn this car into a sports car! But they did. It has a 2.5L Inline-5 cylinder engine that delivers 150hp and gets only 22 to 30mpg. That’s bad compared to the Rabbits of yesteryear and even compared to many of today’s non-hybrid economy cars (oddly even the super sporty 2006 200hp VW GTI gets better gas mileage than that!). Sad. And don’t be tempted by the available 18″ rims or DVD package if you want to keep your Rabbit at least somewhat affordable like a Rabbit’s supposed to be. VW could take a page from Scion’s book: you can build a Pimp-my-ride-esque sporty economy car with a 1.5L 103hp engine (quite nimble and not as wimpy as it sounds) without having a fuel efficiency that dangles in the 20s.

That being said, the new web site for the 2006 Rabbit is at least fun. If you go to the Volkswagon Rabbit page, you can click on the “Breed a Mate” link to determine the genotype frequency when breeding different VW Rabbits, and, curiously, you can also breed VW Rabbits with actual rabbits (watch as the furry rabbit shakes its backside to seduce the VW Rabbit into the parking garage). Hours of fun.

outfest 2006
It’s been a few days since the beginning of this year’s Outfest (July 6-17): LA’s 24th annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Last year, I only saw one film at the festival—The Joy of Life which I actually liked even though the entire film was shots of San Francisco at dawn supplemented with the voiceover of a disheartened butch lesbian—a film almost as stark as its poster.

I’m not sure exactly what I’ll see at this year’s festival. At most I’ll catch two films Thursday and/or Friday. There seems to be some interesting stuff on hip-hop culture and its clash with homosexuality (Beyond Beats and Rhymes) as well as a documentary on queer hip-hoppers (Pick Up the Mic). There’s a documentary called Happy Hookers which discusses being queer in India, honing in on the shunned yet very visible hermaphrodite sub/counter-culture. Those would be interesting. Also, the French-Canadian film C.R.A.Z.Y. looks interesting but perhaps only because the video still they chose to promote the film has lead character Zachary Beaulieu with a lightning bolt painted on his face just as David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane did (there’s even a Bowie pic in the background on …tinfoil?). Other than those, I don’t think there’s much else at Outfest I want to see. The majority of the rest of the films appear to be your standard fare Netflix rentable LGBT type of film — two perfect boys/men living in an imperfect town/world…

There’s some other good stuff going on this week, according to Flavorpill but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to attend any of it because of time constraints (a lot of client work to finish up and I start the SCI-Arc MAKING+MEANING summer architecture program on Monday). Some quick highlights:

Thursday July 13 Downtown Art Walk in the Downtown LA Arts District; Mods & Rockers Film Festival celebrates sex, drugs and rock’n'roll in film;
Friday July 14 BitterSweet: performs at Temple Bar in Santa Monica;
Saturday July 15 MOCA NightVision (during the ongoing Robert Rauschenberg: Combines exhibit) features DJ Sloe Poke and Cut Chemist;
Sunday July 16 Bollywood Night featuring A.R. Rahman and Musafir at the Hollywood Bowl; Ray Davies of The Kinks performs at The Wiltern

Posted by nalin at 9:05 pm
Filed Under: flavorpill escapades, sustainable development | No Comments »
Technorati Tags: Flavorpill, Volkswagen Rabbit, Fuel Efficiency, OutFest, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, MoCA, Robert Rauschenberg

revenge is a dish best served with clay

Saturday, July 8, 2006

I spotted these little gems on YouTube late last night. Very impressed, DaggeH, whoever you are. These claymation/stop motion videos were created by DaggeH (him? her?) by compiling photos taken with the Sony Ericsson w800i camera phone in Movie Maker 2.0.

From top down: the first clip, titled “Sliced”, depicts what happens when you let your opponent get ahold of your mêlée weapon (even if it is a pencil). The second clip, titled “Tent”, warns us of the dangers of being complacent, humming, and not wearing side-view mirrors. And the third clip, added by DaggeH earlier today, titled “Pulp” is a testament to the value of sword skills in a world dominated by projectile weapons (i.e. the quick fix). No I don’t really believe a word of what I’m saying.

The sound effects from all three were well chosen and well executed, as was the score used in the first clip. It’s an anthemic ‘hero’ action sequence type ditty that comes to its conclusion just as the scene’s antagonist arrives at his. The third clip daringly uses the tune “Pump It” from the much revered Black Eyed Peas opus Monkey Business. I’m not really sure what’s going on musically in the second clip, but I must say my imagination goes wild when picturing what that microphone was faced with to produce the gurgling effect when our unsuspecting lead character gets Cthulhu-ed by the parasitic effects of his combatants broadsword.

Ok enough of that. I’m not even buying my own enthusiasm anymore. I used to want to be the next Ray Harryhausen, but my few attempts at stop motion animation taught me that I may not have the patience for such detailed work. My attempts were, I have to admit, a bit… anal though. I was trying for a level of fluidity that makes stop motion appear as though it isn’t (ie Wallace and Grommit, Nightmare Before Christmas, etc). If I do things again (which I am very tempted to do) I will go for a raw-er look not only because it would drive me less insane (or just as insane but over an extended period of time) but also because I appreciate the aesthetic more now. I have a Sony-Ericsson w600i which takes slightly inferior pictures to the w800i, but I could use it to make my own stop animation clips. It would be easier, I think, than 30 frames per second of 5 megapixel stills I used to use from my Sony F707.

Speaking of stop animation (I’ve always gotta try and tie things together), three of Ron’s friends from Thursday’s Belle & Sebastian concert—which I wrote about last night—work for stop animation/claymation shows Robot Chicken and Moral Orel, two of my favorite shows on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. They do model creation, not animation. Man what a job that must be. I asked Chris if he made the t-shirt that said “Tigga’ Please!” that a tiger was wearing in a skit about animals wearing obnoxious/racy tshirts. I need to get a human sized version of that!

Posted by nalin at 8:30 pm
Filed Under: art / openings, uncategorized | No Comments »
Technorati Tags: Claymation, Stop Animation, YouTube

but it all fades into morning when you open your eyes

Friday, July 7, 2006

Yesterday night (Thursday), I got to see the ‘indie’ legends band Belle & Sebastian perform at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic (conductor: Alexander Mickelthwate) — a sublime and wholly unforgettable concert. I went with my friend Ron (who I also went with to see Arctic Monkeys back in March) and some of his friends who I am just starting to get to know. It took me unusually long to get to the Bowl, over 2 hours to get from Culver City to Hollywood (roughly 10 miles). Ron said he heard something about a bomb threat somewhere that may have caused the huge traffic delays? Regardless, it meant we missed the opening act, The Shins. Sucks. Luckily didn’t miss B&S though. And no one got hurt. No bombs.

Finally, after nearly 10 years of listening to and loving this seven piece Scottish ensemble, I got to see what all the fuss was about with their live performances. They played a lot of their older stuff (from albums: If You’re Feeling Sinister, The Boy With The Arab Strap, Fold Your Hands…, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, etc), all great albums, but sadly only a few tracks from their latest album The Life Pursuit which I like very much. I always imagined their live shows would be so mellow that all you could do to join in the mood is bob your head side to side. Although I would’ve been entirely fine with that, I was very wrong. Lead singer and songwriter, Stuart Murdoch and at times the rest of the band as well were, to a first time B&S concert-goer, unexpectedly theatrical.

Some examples: For a song that Stevie Jackson sang, Stuart said he felt like dancing and propositioned a lady from the audience to dance with him on stage. When asked her name, she said she was “Baby Beotch”. Stuart and… Baby Beotch danced like true mods from the ’60s. During “Dirty Dream Number Two” (my favorite song by B&S, off of The Boy with the Arab Strap) Stuart left the bridge (“In a town so small there’s no escaping you / In a town so small there’s no escape from view / In a town so small there’s nothing left to do”) up to the audience to sing. During “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”, by far their loudest number that night, Murdoch was actually in the audience running up and down the aisles, interacting with the audience. And during “The Boy With the Arab Strap”, the song they ended their encore with, they invited people from the audience up on stage to dance. There were at least 20 people up there dancing in full retro swing as the arched lighting at the Bowl oscillated Vertigo-style in pink and yellow psychadelic spirals. I felt like I was watching the Mike Myers, Susanna Hoffs and Mathew Sweet band from Austin Powers, Ming Tea. But I was definitely listening to those crazy kids, Belle and Sebastian.

There was plenty of Stuart dancing and prancing around the stage (and even through the audience during several songs) holding his little rimmed black hat to keep it from falling/flying off as if he were some cross between Joe Jackson and Andy Bell …although admittedly not gay (but that doesn’t quell my crush. did I just say that?). An interview with Murdoch in Scotland’s Sunday Herald notes that Stuart “often blurs the boundaries of gender and sexuality; so much so, in fact, that one blogger on homosexual issues has been moved to declare, “Sod Liza Minnelli and David Beckham. If ever there was an honorary gay, it’s Stuart Murdoch.”” During the song “Lord Anthony” (off of the album Dear Catastrophe Waitress), Murdoch asked if anyone in the audience had a spare dress and mascara. One woman had a spare dress (Murdoch: shocked anyone would carry a spare dress), and another woman applied mascara to Stuarts eyelashes. For the entire song, he donned the dress and makeup as he got through this bittersweet ballad (“Tony, you’re a bit of a mess; / Melted Toblerone under your dress. If the kids could see you they would pass you right by. / Blue mascara running over your eye. / When will you realize it doesn’t pay / To be smarter than teachers, smarter than most boys? / “Shut your mouth, start kicking the football” / Bang on the teeth. You were off for a week, boy.”)

Note: Images on the right are not from the July 6 2006 Hollywood Bowl show. I didn’t realize I could bring a camera to the show! I’ll remember that next time I go to the Bowl. Credit where credit is due, from top to bottom: the first two shots are press shots, (1) Photo by M.Clark, (2) Photo by Catherine Lewis, (3, 6) from smashingmag, (4) from BiscottiLand (5) from here.

Posted by nalin at 10:40 pm
Filed Under: music / bands | No Comments »
Technorati Tags: Belle and Sebastian, Hollywood Bowl, The Shins, LA Philharmonic, Stuart Murdoch

independence day, lunchables style

Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Here it is. The fourth of July. The last few minutes of it anyway. I worked pretty much all day and don’t really have any regrets about that. July 4th isn’t one those days I go all festive about. I didn’t go out to see any fireworks. But I heard plenty of them (a few days before as well, and I’m sure they’ll continue sporadically a few days after). Enough to scare the life out of my cat, if I had one (damn the no pets rule!). All the explosions, the whistling rockets, the “bombs bursting in air” fragmented my mind a bit. So here’s a fragmented attempt at a blog post…

sanitary compartments
Finally got a chance to catch up a bit on my Colbert Report by watching video clips of the show on Comedy Central’s web site. In an episode from last week (or the week before?) from a segment on his show called “The Word”, he contests the validity of using the term ‘Melting Pot’ or even the more recent ‘Salad Bowl’ analogy to describe the US. What does he suggest we replace it with?

“…the answer is tonight’s Word: Lunchables. Yes Lunchables, like the vacuumed wrapped snack tray, America should be patriotically divided into sanitary compartments of like minded citizens. (Who are high in saturated fat) And we’re well on our way. We already know if we live in a red state or blue state, now you can know if you live in a God state or a gay state. [...] The point is, like crackers and juice boxes, American may have their differences, but I believe we can come together by living hermetically sealed apart. If you disagree with your neighbor, just find a new neighbor. One just like you, and eventually, we’ll each be in our ideal communities. (Gated ones) And that’s the Word.

You can read the complete hysterical transcript of that segment here, or you can watch the video clip on Comedy Central’s ‘videos’ section for the Colbert Report (link to “The Word” clips — unfortunately I can’t figure out how to link directly to the “Lunchables” clip)
drunk trumpet
More unpacking. The new place is finally starting to come together (read: I can finally see some of the floor). My sister and I made so much headway today and I give all the credit to the music she put on — Kid Koala Live From the Short Attention Span Audio Theater. That man is talented. I could listen to his dj wizardry for hours (in fact I did). Creating a trumpet solo by scratching a single trumpet note overtop jazz in Drunk Trumpet impressed me the most. Let’s see if it keeps me motivated to take care of some more settling in tomorrow. I must assemble my desk next — currently I am using my dresser as my desk, monitor on top and keyboard and trackball in drawer 3, a makeshift keyboard tray. If the desk situation isn’t remedied real soon, I’m bound to get carpal tunnel.
roots radicals
Lastly, and completely out of order (told you this would be fragmented), I met with a photographer in Silver Lake today, someone I am working with — he and i are working on the same project for the same client. As I was transferring some of the new shots he had for me to my slow as mud laptop, we got to talking. And as things go, we ended talking about music, guitar construction, the unparalleled versatility of the minimalistically designed Fender telecaster, etc. After a while, he said to me, “you should meet my neighbor. He’s somewhat of a guitar afficianado.” Turns out his neighbor is Tim Armstrong, lead singer of the punk rock band Rancid. No way. I didn’t get to meet Tim today. Perhaps next time I’m by I’ll be able to and I can ask him who let the wolves out.

Posted by nalin at 11:55 pm
Filed Under: music / bands, uncategorized | No Comments »
Technorati Tags: Jasper Johns, Stephen Colbert, Kid Koala, Rancid

modular marvel

Saturday, July 1, 2006

The craziness of last week’s move—the packing, the unpacking, the mess everywhere—has made me wish there was an easier way. Well, I don’t think there is. Moving is hell. I like to dream that one day I’ll have one of those prefab modular houses that you can load onto “wide load” trucks in pieces and then plop down wherever. Foldable living. Adam Kalkin’s innovative, eco-friendly Quik House made of recycled cargo crates gives me hope… and a variety of other warm tingly feelings. I’m caught between parallel desires of “I want to make that” and “I want to live in that.” (click on the image below for an animated demonstration)

Adam Kalkin’s design is wonderfully efficient in regards to price and space. Because of its use of low-cost, sturdy storm proof, flood proof, fire proof shipping crates (link: audio commentary by Kalkin) and its use of multiple crates to create an expansive space, Kalkin has pushed some of the limits inherant to prefab housing. Most impressive to me is the social impact such architecture can have on disaster relief work. A more minimalistic design but the same basic concept of re-using low-cost yet sturdy shipping crates could be used to efficiently house disaster victims. And he’s doing that too.

Spotted on Inhabitat (original post with more excellent pictures and detailed writeup by Sarah)

Posted by nalin at 4:03 pm
Filed Under: architecture / design, sustainable development | No Comments »
Technorati Tags: Adam Kalkin, Quik House, Prefab Housing, Modular Housing, Disaster Relief

world news, once a week

Friday, June 30, 2006

A lot’s been going down this week. The world is a tumultuous ball of all variations of war and conflict, disease, famine, death and the occasional news of a kitten that was rescued from a tree. But what do I know about that? I’ve had one of the busiest weeks with moving (back ache), lots of rush design work for clients (neck ache), acceptance into school (yay!), and a complete lack of sleep to boot. So instead you get to hear about my world (should you choose to read on) in one extended post rather than 3 separate ones because, let’s face it, I’m wiped. But first, if you’ve had a week like I’ve had, you’re not able to make much time to read/watch world news. That’s why the wonderful people at Flavorpill Productions have brought us…

activate - world news distilled
…and like a good boy I signed up right away. Why the heck not? I subscribe to all the rest of their free weekly newsletters—Flavorpill for local events, Artkrush for art, BoldType for books (currently highlighting books on booze), Earplug for music, and JC Report for… fashion—what’s one more. Plus it’s not a terrible idea. However, unlike the rest of the Flavorpill Network publications, it doesn’t really cater to a niche. In the same amount of space as their other publications, you get a newsletter about a few things that have been going on in world news. My guess—it’s not gonna be as popular. So far (week 2) I’m not too keen on their selections of what they consider to be important world news. It’s tough. I wouldn’t want the job of distilling a week’s worth of world news from major news sources into one page. And I also had an issue with several wordings in their most recent issue—one example: the news blurb on research about homosexuality and choice waggishly titled O Brother, Where Art Thy Gay Sibling begins “A recent poll found that 42% of Americans feel that being gay is a choice, not an accident of biology.” So either it’s a choice (damn heathens!) or it’s an accident (damn nature!). Interesting. I’ll see how it goes. Typically I get my news from a wide array of online news sources and blogs, but I’ll save Activate for weeks like this… unless of course they keep writing bits like that. The initial email I got from Activate said the following: “Activate delivers a concise roundup of world news to your inbox once a week. And the design is spiffy.” Well I agree with the last part — at least the design is spiffy.

SCI-Arc making+meaning summer architecture institute
As some of you already know and others are soon to find out, I have been wanting to go back to school for architecture for some time now. I am pursuing a M.Arch I—a Masters in Architecture for those who have a Bachelors in something besides architecture. Because of moving over the past year and ending up in LA, I wasn’t able to apply this year. In the meantime, I’ve been checking out accredited architecture schools in the LA area. After taking a tour of the SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) campus—a very unique building (a quarter mile long freight depot in Downtown LA: view, googlemaps)—I fell in love with the physical place, but I mostly was enamoured by its philosophy. This was definitely where I wanted to get my graduate degree. But that would have to wait until application season. In the meantime, I applied for SCI-Arc’s MAKING+MEANING summer architecture institute hoping to get a head start and possibly end up liking the school even more. Well, I got in to the summer program. Hurrah. I start in a few weeks. Now to get my hands on a drafting brush, hot glue gun, a Dremel, etc. And lastly…

we’ve moved!
After a year of living in the South Bay (Northern Redondo Beach) of LA, we decided we wanted to move a little closer to Downtown LA, Santa Monica, Venice, West Hollywood, Westwood, West LA. So we moved to Culver City, pretty much Downtown Culver City—an artsy community which has its foundations in film and tv (once housed MGM, now Sony Pictures Entertainment / Sony Studios—just down the block from us) and speakeasies from the Prohibition era. (read more) My friend Casey told me today about a bar just down the street from us on Washington where the actors who played the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz would hang out back when MGM was filming it. Gotta check that out. Basically we moved from here to here. I figured a 15 mile move would be less taxing than the 3000 mile move my sister and I made when we moved out here last year. I suppose it was, but really not by much. So far, I’m really liking Culver City—a lot to do in a relatively small area, a lot of fun places within walking distance (yes, walking is permitted in LA), and quite centrally located especially since I’ll be going to school in Downtown LA this summer. But I miss my friends in the South Bay. I’m planning on hanging out with them tomorrow.

It’s been a long week. A modicum of relaxation is in order.

Posted by nalin at 9:52 pm
Filed Under: architecture / design, art / openings, flavorpill escapades, music / bands | 1 Comment »
Technorati Tags: Flavorpill, Activate, Gay, Lesbian, LGBT, Architecture, Culver City

disconnected or connected? tortillas and watermelon

Friday, June 23, 2006

It was nearly closing time at the local bar I frequent. I had stopped drinking earlier that night but stuck around because I was enjoying the conversation. One conversation in particular stuck with me. It took place between my friend Sean, Rob and I. Just as the bartender called out “Last Call!” (to which Sean always says, “you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here”), Sean began the following two seemingly disconnected stories:

First he was telling us about a cantina in Arizona where they hired a midget to walk around wearing a sombrero with tortilla chips around the brim and salsa in the middle. He told us this in his classic, very descriptive storytelling style replete with giant grin. I was shaking my head in disbelief throughout as was Rob. The only difference was I didn’t think it was funny. I thought it was… diminuitive (no pun intended). Rob pointed out that the ‘midget’ didn’t have to take the job if he thought it was berating. While we were debating the rightness or wrongness of that, Sean cut us both off by telling us the following story (same big grin):

When his father worked in entertainment, he heard about a 20th Century Fox executive who had a high profile party at some hotel. This excutive had hired a group of African American men to sit in the corner and eat watermelon. Just like with the previous story, Rob and I were both in disbelief. The only difference was this time neither of us thought it was funny. I turned to Rob and sarcastically said, “Well those men didn’t have to take that job.” He said somehow this is different, this is worse. Then after a while, agreed they are both ideologically the same.

Sean stood there, suavely smoking a cigarette, watching us debate this, smiling the whole time. Mind you, this is the same Sean who makes irreverent comments such as, “Sure I’ll have another cigarette. There are starving children in Darfur who can’t have a cigarette;” a comment so absurd I always laugh. Anyway, I’m not sure if he was trying to make a point by seeing how we dealt with these two disconnected/connected stories. If he was, he’s brilliant. If he wasn’t,… still quite brilliant. I wasn’t able to find out. It was closing time. We were being sent home.

Posted by nalin at 2:16 pm
Filed Under: uncategorized | No Comments »
Technorati Tags: Racism, Last Call, Barfly

jackson pollock’s abstract expressionism by mouse

Monday, June 19, 2006

Yup, someone’s finally done it. Now you too can make your own Jackson Pollock-esque pour technique virtual paintings. Pollock’s brush never touched the canvas as he dripped paint; your pointer never touches the… err… well the concept is similar. You just kinda move your mouse (or other pointing device) around to make your own primitive archetypes. I’ve tried it with my trackball and Wacom tablet although neither the tablet’s pressure sensitivity nor brush directional control works with it. Left click to change from the color you’re using. Above there’s one that I made. It’s a lot of fun. Have at it. You know you want to. — spotted on Core77’s Design Blog

Posted by nalin at 3:46 pm
Filed Under: architecture / design, art / openings | No Comments »