SURFACE TO AIR 09

Well tailored and monochrome.

M4M L.A.

All you need to know:

CHARLES EAMES

"Art isn't a product. It's a quality."
- Charles Eames

PING IS OPEN

Hey Portlanders,

My parents' new restaurant Ping is now open for business, so please go and check it out!

Ping
102 NW 4th Avenue
Portland, Oregon. 97209

http://www.pingpdx.com

CRITERION TREATMENT

Ok, so here is a list of films that I believe NEED the Criterion treatment:

1. RED DESERT (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
I have not seen this film, and I'm putting it on here precisely for that reason. It is agonizing that I cannot get my hands on this. I saw an original issue copy from the now out of print DVD release at Amoeba Records for over $100... Don't force me to do something drastic... Also, I heard the transfer on the old release is horrible.

2. LA NOTTE (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)
C'mon, the rest of the trilogy is on there, why not LA NOTTE? Besides, its the best of the three.

3. LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (Alain Resnais, 1961)
Do I need to explain this?

4. A MAN ESCAPED (Robert Bresson, 1956)
Such an important film for Bresson. Only logical to follow the releases of MOUCHETTE, PICKPOCKET and DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST with this.

5. MADE IN USA (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966)
Godard's last film with Anna Karina! That's monumental.

6. WEEKEND (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
The film that marks the end of his most influential period... plus the DVD is out of print. I was lucky my school has it in the library.

7. OLD JOY (Kelly Reichardt, 2006)
Maybe in time.

8. JEANNE DIELMAN (Chantal Akerman, 1975)
I heard this is forthcoming. I'm throwing it on here anyway. I can't wait till this comes to LACMA in April.

9. GUS VAN SANT DEATH TRILOGY
Maybe in time.

10. I had something here... I can't remember now... hmmm...

ARTERIES

BLISSFULLY YOURS

Ok, I'm starting to really like this guy.

Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's BLISSFULLY YOURS is the enigmatic and deceptively simple tale of three individuals who venture into the jungle in search of momentary respite from their lives in the city.

The film abruptly opens in a doctor's examination room, where a man named Min is being checked out for a painful rash that has spread over his body. Silent through out the examination, two women by his side instead do all the speaking. The younger one, Roong is his girlfriend, and the older woman is their friend Orn. What we don't know yet at this point is that Min is a Burmese migrant worker who is probably residing in Thailand illegally. The two women attempt to convince the doctor to issue Min a worker's permit to no avail. This scene sets the deadpan tone from jump- shot in a long, still wide, with a naturalistic uncomfortable air to the characters' interactions.

Weerasethakul's lingering pace is difficult to stomach through out the first "act" of the film, and maybe quite intentionally so. In the beginning, it seems we are being subjected to the rigor and dullness of everyday life. From the spirit destroying interiors of the doctor's office to the factory where Roong works, spending a little more time than we would care to in these soulless institutions raises the importance of the coming trip.

I referred to the portion of the film that takes place in the city as an "act", but I think its important to clarify that no semblance of a boring three-act structure exists here. Weerasethakul is obviously uninterested in conventional narrative and makes no attempt to unfold things in such a manner.

However, BLISSFULLY YOURS can be clearly divided into roughly two halves. This division comes when the opening title credits suddenly roll 45 minutes into the film, as Min and Roong cruise down country roads on the way to their forest destination. Its peculiar, but pretty much brilliant- acting as an intermission of sorts, transitioning us from oppressiveness to freedom.

And free we are at that point. As soon as we escape the city with the characters, the pace of the film is exactly the same, yet suddenly it feels liberating and mysterious. When Min, Roong and Orn finally arrive in the depths of the forest, they begin to shed layers both literally and figuratively. Slowly, each character begins to emerge from the smallest of exchanges. But Weerasethakul makes great strides to never provide you with a real handle on what stirs deep within them.

The scene with Roong and Orn in the river towards the end was just all kinds of amazing to me. The subtle shifts in tension, the mystery... it feels like there is so much going under the surface that you can't see... allusions that really feed your imagination.

KAWS ON CBS NEWS

Kaws got a big feature on CBS News recently. Way cool. Congrats man!

(The beginning makes me miss NYC so much...)

http://blog.honeyee.com/kaws

PUNJAB HIGH COURT

This is the Punjab High Court building in Chandigarh, India. It was designed by French architect Le Corbusier in the 1950's.

I think it is stunning.

JON RAYMOND @ POWELL'S BOOKS

When I was home in January I got the chance to go see one of my new favorite authors Jon Raymond speak at Powell's Bookstore. I highly, highly recommend his novel THE HALF LIFE and his new collection of shorts called LIVABILITY. I found this random video someone took at the reading on YouTube- check it out and see if you can spot director Todd Haynes in the beginning and myself waiting on line at the end, haha.

SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY

So I just watched SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY (2006), and it was my first introduction to Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's work. And what an interesting piece of work it is.

SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY is described as being an "abstract drama". But nothing really dramatic ever occurs, and there are actually more humorous moments than serious ones. The film is told in two parts, the first centered around a female physician at a small rural clinic and the second a male doctor at a big, modern metropolitan hospital. There is no real story to speak of, but more a collection of poignant and humorous moments that chronicle budding relationships amongst these two characters. Apparently the film is a tribute of sorts to Weerasethakul's parents, who are both physicians, and his own memories from spending so much time growing up in hospitals.

Weerasethakul shoots in long, extended takes with an unobtrusive observatory eye... it's patiently and beautifully paced. There is something of an affinity for nature in the film as well- for example in one really interesting scene, the camera initially tracks the conversation of two characters on a balcony, only to move past them seemingly distracted by the lush green landscape behind them.

The second half of SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY basically takes the characters and situations from the first half, and relocates them in a new setting with slightly different variations on how the moments unfold. The film is pretty enigmatic, and a total subjective experience as far as what you take from it. I think trying to dig for one single "meaning" is actually an obnoxious approach, as the simple emotions evoked moment to moment were enough for me. However I was also definitely left pondering the idea of circularity in life- for sure a major theme. I just loved how quiet the film was, how rich and humanist it was. There are so many great, small interactions between characters, you feel like you're studying tiny movements through a microscope.

I was really really reminded of Tsai Ming Liang by this. I'm sure that comparison has been made a million times already, but its true. Both filmmakers have a really similar meditative aesthetic. Anyway, I have BLISSFULLY YOURS coming next. Looks really good. Wahooo.

GOODBYE SOLO SCREENINGS

GOODBYE SOLO, the new film from Ramin Bahrani - who is my favorite up and coming director, finally has a screening schedule:

February 2009 Screenings
February 17- Portland, OR- Portland Film Festival

March 2009 Screenings
March 5 - New York- Museum of Modern Art
March 27- New York- Angelika
March 27- Chicago- Century Centre

April 2009 Screenings
April 10- Los Angeles- Sunset 5
April 10- Pasadena, CA- Playhouse 7
April 17- Berkeley, CA- Shattuck
April 17- Boston- Kendall Square
April 17- San Francisco- TBD
April 24- San Diego- Ken Cinema

May 2009 Screenings
May 8- Philadelphia- Ritz
May 8- Washington, D.C.- E Street Cinema
May 8- Seattle- Varsity Theater
May 15- St. Louis- Tivoli Theater
May 15- Atlanta- Midtown Art Cinema

500 DAYS OF SUMMER

I really love Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, so I'm going to go ahead and pretend this doesn't look as bad as it does and see it anyway.

I'm listening to She & Him right now, coincidentally.

SAMUEL KUHN ON THE OSCARS

YOU WON'T MISS ME

Ry Russo Young's new film YOU WONT MISS ME premiered at Sundance this year. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it. It stars Julian Schnabel's daughter, Stella Schnabel. I just watched Ry's first film ORPHANS, which I was able to find on DVD at Amoeba Records, and it was really interesting.

I don't think there is a trailer for YOU WON'T MISS ME yet, but check out this interview:



http://www.ryrussoyoung.com

THE STAG IN THE GARDEN

Just something little I wrote. Was supposed to be like a journal entry, ended up sounding pretty literary though. And I could have expanded it. Oh well.

By the time the stag had stumbled off back into the woods, and we had broken eye contact, my eggs laid brown and stiff in the pan. I dumped them into the garbage can and returned to the window above the kitchen sink. It frames the open patch of land where Cecilia used to try to grow herbs, but this time of year any semblance of a garden is buried by the snowfall.

The stag's stride was unbalanced, painful even. As if the weight of his body could collapse his hind legs at any moment. He treaded through the remnants of Cecilia's labor, and my first instinct was to reach for the Winchester. I know it's silly at this point, but I'd like that garden to be well kept.

I didn't bother to reattempt breakfast. Something about the way that stag looked at me left my stomach in a delicate state. I heated some milk instead, more to feel the warm mug between my palms than a desire to consume anything.

I can barely stand to set foot in the attic now. It was supposed to be a place for me to play, the only space in the cabin big enough to house all my instruments. The remodel destroyed it. I hate its cleanliness, its sterility. It feels like a hospital waiting room.

I took my guitar and recorder downstairs and tried to get something done. My fingers were numb from the cold, and each pluck of a string left my fingertips red. I could feel the joints of the hand resisting my commands, creaking like a poorly oiled machine. I thought today was the day I'd finally work through it, and I wasn't getting up until I had at least the start of something. Then I noticed the large beads of winter perspiration on the window. I watched them roll down the glass at leisure. It was enough to distract me.

With dad's old axe in hand, I went behind the tool shed to collect some fire wood. Every strike of the log echoed softly, just enough to hear the cracking sound ripple into the blackness. I was the only thing making any sort of noise for miles, and it suddenly felt like a sad one sided conversation I was carrying on.

That is until I heard something dragging through the snow. I remember gripping the splintering axe handle tight and looking up with a breath held in my sternum. There was the stag. The same bastard, dragging his hind legs. He looked at me, and I felt weak and wanted to run. It felt like a challenge- the way an overconfident asshole on the street will lock eyes in passing, just to see if you will look away in surrender.

I went to bed curious of the morning. Thinking of Cecilia, thinking of the stag, and hoping I had my last encounter with the latter.

NINE TO FIVE

THE 503 - "THE GIVING OF THANKS"

Episode 5... Thanksgiving shenanigans in the homeland haha.


Part 1


Part 2