Rachel Profiling

The “Housed” exhibition of women photographers...

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:01:00 -0400

The “Housed” exhibition of women photographers happening at the Alice Austen Museum in Staten Island (did you know such a place existed? Now you do!) is pretty great. Up through Sept. 5, so you know, act now and all that.

(Photo:”Trude & I Masked,” by Austen herself).

Reading Bob Hicok’s Words for Empty and Words for Full (with thanks to Nancy Pearl for the...

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:47:00 -0400

Reading Bob Hicok’s Words for Empty and Words for Full (with thanks to Nancy Pearl for the discovery), and finding all over again that poetry has its uses.

From “Whimper”:

…and why ask that why

of the larger why, why did this happen, and why from that why
branch to the why am I alive why, there’s the why
are we here why and the why do we let so many questions
begin with a bang why and the why do we say aftermath
when it never ends, the desire to add for some and subtract
for others, we say we want answers, that it’s very quiet
around here now, all this light, the sun more full of itself
by the day until July will strip us of shadows and time
will seem to have given up on night, why is the song
we add to nature, we’re like birds as kids, why why why,
we sang, we sing, whole flocks of us swirling now,
turning our turns into turning, not knowing
in our direction what our direction is, how things
get decided undecided, lost if you need to find us
is where we are.

I mean.

Dear Sugar

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:08:00 -0400

Dear Sugar:

Advice columns rarely deliver on their most basic premise. But then there is this. Whoever is doing the anonymous advising over at The Rumpus is really doing the Lord’s work—or at least she is killing it, writing-wise. Every column I click through just gets better. This is a good place to start.

Back manifesting destiny out (South)west for a bit for general...

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:27:03 -0400

Back manifesting destiny out (South)west for a bit for general soul replenishment/inspiration/kickstarting the autumnal lurch towards change. She totally knows what I’m talking about.

"Speaking of bowl cuts…we were in the dollar store yesterday and I found some old Aqua-Net from the..."

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:42:03 -0400

“Speaking of bowl cuts…we were in the dollar store yesterday and I found some old Aqua-Net from the 80s. It’s like really thick hairspray and I was thinking of doing something different with my hair at the show tomorrow night just to freak people out. Because lately it’s like “Oh, there’s the bowl cut dude.” But if I changed it up they’d be like, “Hey, where’s the bowl cut dude?” Maybe I’ll do the inverse and stick it up. We’re gonna debut our first performance of the New Kids On The Block song “Hangin’ Tough” tomorrow. It’s gonna be pretty wild.”

- Sometimes it’s easy to forget what living in Brooklyn in 2010 looks and sounds like. And then sometimes it’s not. #whereismytimecapsule

Ahh.

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:53:48 -0400

Ahh.

The revival of Lilith Fair sounds dangerous and not so down with...

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:51:00 -0400

The revival of Lilith Fair sounds dangerous and not so down with Naomi Klein-ology:

“If I happened to be a user of o.b.’s line of feminine protection, I certainly could have gotten my money’s worth. I could have loaded handfuls of tampons and pads into a free Chevrolet tote bag, then filled out a survey to score a $5 Starbucks gift card. I could have layered in a few dozen snack-size Luna Bars, and washed them down with endless amounts of Crystal Light in my Lilith-branded Nalgene bottle while sitting in the shade from the ABC Music Lounge or the Yamaha gear tent. If the shade wasn’t enough, I could have swiped on some free Degree antiperspirant, or smoked a pack of free Camels. “

Let’s all remember the better days*.

(*This is technically a performance from Jools Holland. W/evs.)

For Those About to Rock

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:27:05 -0400

Psyched alert: For most of the next week, I’ll be hanging out and supervising the future Kathleens and Kims of the world Willie May Rock Camp for Girls, which is just about one of the most empowering organizations going for the little ones in this borough or any place. You can read Ada Calhoun’s quite comprehensive take on the whole thing over at the venerable 90s Woman, or get involved in whatever way you see fit at the official site. At the end of all this, there will be a fully-loaded, roadie-manned rock show at a Brooklyn mainstay, with lots of sparkles and feathers and beaming parents. Here goes.

Sometimes, when you take a trip up to Maine in the high summer...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:46:00 -0400

Sometimes, when you take a trip up to Maine in the high summer heat wave, you end up on a beach, cut with rivulets and tributaries from low tide. Sometimes, you end up on this beach with a couple and their serenely happy, Irish-named child. And sometimes, you really just have to smash your face into that little belly. It’s not like there was another option here. I mean, sorry for partying with the babysploitation, but…look at it.

This is happening, incredibly soon.

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:42:07 -0400

This is happening, incredibly soon.

The Ramona and Beezus trailer has arrived. While I am thrilled...

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:24:00 -0400

The Ramona and Beezus trailer has arrived. While I am thrilled that at 94 years old, Beverly Cleary is still kickin’ it with us from Yamhill to the after party, I do wish that there was some mock grave that she could use to roll in at her leisure.

Thanks, VGum, for my new hero.

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:29:29 -0400

Thanks, VGum, for my new hero.

Well, this is worth it.

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:41:56 -0400

Well, this is worth it.

Party Down Finale

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:43:00 -0400

Party Down Finale:

Aryan rock bands. Brown-eyed serpents. Jane Lynch returneth with incense and “Duffles.” Megan Mullally ponders where her flanks are. The best of what has been a season of bests. Airs tomorrow night but here it is now. COME BACK for another season!

UPDATE: No more seasons. Ergh.

"But beyond simple availability, actual quality is, I believe, on the increase. Democratization of..."

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:34:00 -0400

“

But beyond simple availability, actual quality is, I believe, on the increase. Democratization of every major medium has resulted in creative people from all walks of life, and from all means, being able to get their art to bigger audiences than ever before. Mainstream movies may be in dire straits, but the chances of a small, independent project getting released is greater than ever before. Television networks are beginning to populate their schedules with writers and producers who come from more diverse backgrounds than at any time in the medium’s history. Artists no longer need the sanction of a handful of publishers, networks, studios, or labels to get the public’s attention. Even if the talent pool remains static, we can now see the work of a far larger percentage of that talent pool if we so desire. The general public may still have a taste for chaff, but more wheat is being grown than ever. These are the things that are of paramount importance to point out to combat the cultural cynicism brought about by that same cultural overload.

Why bother? Well, other than the obvious fact that I make my living as a sort of cultural advocate, the fact is, as my colleague Donna Bowman put it, people living through a golden age often don’t know. And it’s important that they do, because this golden age, as with all the ones that lie behind us, depends on patronage. If enough people lament the death of culture, culture will die, no matter how sophisticated our means of disseminating it. And what will crush the horn of plenty won’t be the things it isn’t producing, but indifference to what it is.

”

- Leonard Pierce, “Are We Really In a Cultural Golden Age?”

Rhona Bitner.

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:31:20 -0400

Rhona Bitner.

"So I just think it takes a couple decades to kind of clear your brain now. So it makes more sense to..."

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:13:24 -0400

“So I just think it takes a couple decades to kind of clear your brain now. So it makes more sense to me that I could find my footing when I was 30 instead of when I was 19. It seems a little more clear. You know, novelists are older now. Things are happening later in people’s lives. They’re kind of living lives and then creating things about the lives they’ve lived. Rather than being an artiste at an early age and coming out with a ball of fire. That energy has been co-opted because you haven’t immunized yourself yet against media. It’s easier to get swept up things then take a couple of years to get over your, like, indie rock hangover. I’m scraping the fucking Quarterstick Records crust out of my eyes when I’m like, 27. You know, “Why am I playing in 5/7? How is that fun?””

- James Murphy.

These new Lisa Perry dresses with Andy Warhol photographs on...

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:33:15 -0400

These new Lisa Perry dresses with Andy Warhol photographs on them cost $1,300. I just have no idea if that is done in the most distilled spirit of the thing or is a complete horse-blinder fail. Someone explain to me the hows and whys?

So I have returned to Miranda July’s 2007 collection of short stories, in anticipation of her...

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:22:00 -0400

So I have returned to Miranda July’s 2007 collection of short stories, in anticipation of her new film, The Future, coming out, and because she’s all over Union Square right now in an interactive, imposing-art-on-the-landscape way that is Deitch Projects’ last swan song before L.A. and museums happen and an era ends. It’s doing me quite right.

Anyways, here is an excerpt (the old fash typing way), because WHY NOT. This bit is from “Something that Needs Nothing,” which was published in the NY’er but is criminally unavails as of yet online.

I went to the bathroom and threw handfuls of water on my face, and it was easy. In fact, I could do anything. I took off the jeans and T-shirt I had been sleeping in. Naked, I crouched on the floor and sliced the legs off my pants with a box cutter. I put them on and they were itty-bitty. Itty-bitty teeny-tiny. I sawed through the T-shirt, leaving IF YOU LOVE JAZZ on the floor. HONK barely covered my small breasts, but hey. Hey, I was leaving the apartment. I was walking down the hall, and there was a small basket of old apples in front of a neighbor’s door with a sign that said, FOR MY NEIGHBORS PLEASE TAKE ONE. And hey, I was starving. I took an apple and the door swung open. I had never really seen this neighbor, but now I could see that she was a junkie. An old junkie. And she was wearing a sweater that I knew she had found in the hallway. It was Kate’s cardigan. She told me to take another one, and then she asked for a hug. I hugged her hard with an apple in each hand. Last week, I would have been afraid to touch her, but now I knew that I could do anything.

I had no money for the bus, so I walked. It was an incredible distance. A horse would get tired galloping there. When birds flew there, it was called migration. But it wasn’t difficult, it just took time. It was a new experience to walk across the city in tiny shorts and a half-shirt that said HONK. People honked without even seeing the shirt. I often felt that I would be shot in the back with an arrow or a gun, but this didn’t happen. The world wasn’t safer than I had thought; on the contrary, it was so dangerous that my practically naked self fit right in, like a car crash, it happened every day.

I’m sure I’m the last person to know this, but Mary...

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:43:00 -0400

I’m sure I’m the last person to know this, but Mary J. Blige has signed on to play Nina in the first major biopic of her life, which will be shot this autumn in and around Paris. Mary J. is learning French. She has also said this of getting the part in the film, which will follow Nina’s bipolar disorder troubles and the later-life relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson: “From the beginning…I didn’t trust men, period. But I trusted something in me that needed his help and I’ve never seen that in anyone else before. This story was written similar. Our lives are pretty similar.”

Anyways, please remake this scene, Mary J. Thanks.