Man in his pajama at China Star in Louisville, Kentucky
I recently attended an exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum entitled Van Gogh: Into the Undergrowth. Turns out there is a whole sub-genre of painting called sous-bois, which means undergrowth, that explores the significance of the interior of the forest. Hmmm. I have been exploring the interior of the forest for years now. Here is my latest entry into this genre.
There is much to be concerned about in the world today but it is always good to pause and take stock of all those things we are thankful for. Let us turn a life of resentment into a life of gratitude. I wish all my friends around the world and here in America Peace and Love.
Here are some mythical creatures that were on display at Louisville’s Frazier Museum.
There Be Dragons Here
Big Foot
Heed the Siren Call
Pegasus
A Unicorn
First Trump said Obama was the worst president in history
Then he said what a great man he was
Next he will try to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn
Then some swamp land in Florida
He will bark you down like at a gypsy at a carnival
Try to sell you Christmas cards in June
The ship of state ain’t real estate it’s is now a ship of fools.
Strike a Match Set Me on Fire
Come Close to My Fire
This is where they disposed of the bodies…..
Titus Andronicus is one of Shakespeare’s more out there plays. It was presented recently by Kentucky Shakespeare at a warehouse in the heart of Butchertown near downtown Louisville just in time for Halloween. How very appropriate in both cases for this was the most bloody and horror haunted of all the Bard’s pieces.
Titus was one of Shakespeare’s early plays and written when he was quite young. It is not one of his best plays but it is certainly one of his goriest. Perfect for the October Country and very fitting fare for Halloween.
Director Matt Wallace gives us plenty of atmosphere by staging the play in an abandoned warehouse with with dark interiors, concrete floors, exposed pipes, and plenty of fog. Lighting was from utility lamps pressed into service. The play is set in set in ancient Rome but the warehouse space and the costuming of the actors give the play the right horror haunted feel. Just right for torture and mayhem. The cast was dressed in black leather and Tamora, Queen of the Goths, was appropriately outfitted in a black leather corset suitable to her name.
Harold Bloom has called this play a testimony to patriarchy’s ultimate oppression of its females. In an act of revenge, Lavinia, Titus’s daughter, is savagely raped by Tamora’s sons, Demetius and Chiron. Tamora says to them, “…when you have the honey of your desire, let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting.” After raping Lavinia the boys cut out her tongue and slice off both her hands so that she cannot identify them.
Later Titus continues the cycle of revenge by killing both of Tamora’s sons by cutting their throats. He drains their blood and bakes their remains into a pie and then feeds the meal to Tamora unbeknownst to her. When she finds out horror ensues.
The actors were uniformly excellent and the play was as good a Shakespeare as you will see anywhere in the country. Titus Andronicus was a marvel to behold.
David at 21C
The clock upbraids me with her time
I was out all night long with the Grand Marquis
First it was Heathers then it was Feathers at 21C
The Red Penguin most naturally
Topped it off with drinks at Jocks
I had bourbon on the rocks
The Grand Marquis had his with coke
We had to leave because we both were broke
I fell into bed and slept til 7 most fitfully
I was out all night long with the Grand Marquis.
The film, American Honey, came onto my radar screen recently because of the buzz it seemed to be getting in the media. I saw the trailer and became intrigued. I vowed to see the movie. Several things about this movie caught my attention. The name for one, American Honey. Thought provoking and provocative. It stirred visions of a sweet young thing standing up in an open car with the wind rushing through her hair without a care in the world. When I learned it was a road trip movie about a teen aged girl in a magazine crew I was hooked. When I was 16 I was a member of a traveling magazine crew too. It was my first actual paying job that I ever had where I got a weekly paycheck. My teachers and my parents hated it. My teachers thought it was a distraction and my parents didn’t like the exposure I got to the seamier side of life. I loved it for the same reasons. I learned more about life from that one experience than almost anything else I have ever done. Like the characters in the film, I came of age.
So I went to see it. Here is my report. Despite the name this film is actually British. It was directed by British filmmaker, Andrea Arnold. Shooting locations included: Muskogee, Oklahoma, and parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, and North Dakota. I am not going to say anything bad about Muskogee. I lived there for seven years and it is full of colorful characters. But I will say this: it is a good place to run away from.
It is always interesting to me to see America depicted through the lens of a foreign born director. Such as the likes of Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders, and now Andrea Arnold. Their perspectives are just a little bit different. But that difference is instructive. Arnold has previously won an Oscar for Wasp (2005), Best Short Film, Live Action.
The lead actor is played by newcomer Sasha Lane. This is her first movie role. She was literally discovered on the beach on spring break in Panama City, Florida. She has great energy and is a natural in her role as Star, the teenager from Muskogee who takes a chance on getting out of there and joins the magazine crew that is passing through. Shia LaBeouf plays top salesman Jake who tries to show the independent minded Star the ropes. He succeeds in more ways than one. Riley Keough, Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, plays the crew leader.
A couple of things that put me off at first were the aspect ratio and the length of the film. Aspect ratio was 4:3 which was damned near a square on the screen. I must confess that I did not like this format much when I first saw it, but after a while I got used to it. This is a format that the director must like as she uses it frequently. Running time is two hours and 43 minutes. Quite long. But, I must say I didn’t notice it much until the movie was over and I went outside and noticed that the weather had changed and the light was decidedly different. Man, that was a long film, I told myself. But, as I said, during the watching of the film I really didn’t notice. I believe that it took that much time for the story, such as it was, to unfold. The movie was not filmed in a conventional story line with a classic beginning, middle, and end, but rather more like a slice of life. It put me in mind of cinema verite, which I love.
The movie was supposed to be about a subculture of millennials making their way and coming of age. The ensemble acting was quite good with lots of energy and engagement. Everyone had their own back story they were running away from. I didn’t find them to be that different from the teenagers I hung out with when I was selling magazines door to door. They are millennials and I am a boomer. But hey! We were all young once. Great movie! Highly recommend.
I recently visited London and Paris. I had long dreamed of vising these places as they have lived in my imagination for years from reading books. Using the subway systems of Philadelphia and New York City, primed me for the London Underground and the Parisian Metro system.
On one of my many excursions around London, I descended the steps into the underground, and encountered a smiling, red-faced uniformed attendant.
“Hello!” I said.
“Hello!” he returned.
I inquired about the best route to get to my destination.
“Take the Circle Line to Baker Street, transfer to the Jubilee Line. Get off at Southwark and it is only a short walk to the Globe.”
“Thank you!”
“Cheers!”
This was typical of my experience in the London Underground— easy to navigate with friendly attendants and patrons who were willing to answer your questions.
In Paris, perhaps the incongruity of being in a strange land made my existence there somehow congruent. I felt at home at last. Once I arrived in Paris, I approached a Parisian Metro booth and spoke to one of the attendants.
“Parlez-vous anglais?”
“Un peu.”
Although I did not speak the language, I was able to communicate well enough to find my way, with a few words and hand gestures.
On one of my last days in the city, I was sitting outside, having a glass of red wine at the Café de Flore on Boulevard Saint Germaine. A Frenchman who took the table next to mine, lit up a cigar and then glanced in my direction to ask if I was offended by the cigar smoke.
“Oh, no,” I said, “I understand that people who sit outside often smoke and I am not offended.”
He nodded and smiled. He took a couple of puffs off his cigar and we began talking, he in perfect English. We talked for a long time about a wide range of events including the recent terrorist attacks. I mentioned the increased security around the metro. He shared that he had just talked to his daughter who lives in the neighbourhood where the attacks occurred and she felt safe using the Metro System.
“Yes,” he cautioned, “but the police and soldiers cannot be everywhere. You have to be vigilant. In effect, we have to be responsible for our own security.”
As we were sitting there, we watched many police vehicles driving by with their sirens blaring.
“Something’s going on,” he said.
Then he pointed out that if a car were to pull up in front of us right now and gunmen got out and started shooting, what could we do about it? Nothing! He was right of course. So I concluded that the French are a little fatalistic about such things.
C’est la vie?
I travelled to London and Paris by myself because I needed to be alone. I needed time to think about my life and my absurd existence with only myself for company as I walked the cobblestone streets of Montmartre. The encounters that I did have gave me reason to believe in the possibility of happiness and the hope for humanity. I found in both London and Paris, a big smile and a hello or bonjour broke down the normal barriers humans seem to erect between themselves. You can be anonymous, but by using the universal language of a smile followed by a greeting you can still be touched by the human heart.
Ghost Dog 