weapons of massdistraction

Last night we enjoyed a screening of Buster Keaton’s classic Sherlock Jr. at the Trylon Microcinema, accompanied by Dreamland Faces. It was lovely. And it sold out! (I suppose that’s not saying a lot, since it is a micro cinema but still). My son guffawed quite a bit, particularly at the physical humor. Thankfully the musicians welcomed audience reactions.

Five items of note for this Monday evening:

• Sally Ride, First American Woman In Space, Is Dead. Growing up I had no strong female role models in my own life. For a time I idolized Amelia Earhart. But she was part of the distant past. I very clearly remember when Sally Ride showed up on my radar and was so excited when she went into space. I found her to be incredibly inspiring - and proof that women could have more than marriage and kids and drudgery. Much more.
• “How Being in Awe Expands Time and Helps You Live Better” - this I like.
• Reading about Bikini Kill’s plans to launch a record label (for the band’s 25th anniversary) led me to learn about (and order) the book Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution. That goes to the top of my summer reading pile.
• “High caffeine levels in the waters off the Oregon coast are likely the result of pollution from human waste, scientists say.” This is grossssss.
• “Comedian and musician Reggie Watts recently visited the NPR Music offices with a simple setup of loop and delay pedals and a microphone. But the spontaneous improvisations he created by building up layers of sound and melody provide a magical showcase for his soulful musicianship and deadpan humor.”

Later on I’ll get out to the Hack Factory for the Handmade Music series. If I can pull myself out of my air conditioning, that is, and force myself back into the thick of it. Feels like it’s been a particularly thick and hot summer. But it’s also gone speeding by. It’s already my son’s last week at summer camp. Then he’s off for an August of air travel with and without me. And then…JUNIOR HIGH.

Well, the innocent excitement and hype surrounding Christopher Nolan’s conclusion to his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, turned to horror. After a lone gunman killed twelve and injured dozens more at a midnight showing in Colorado. But I hate to see this turned into a political issue or a knee jerk call to action. A friend wrote “be careful and skeptical of anyone attempting to hold up a tragedy such as this shooting as a reason for doing anything or thinking anything or passing any laws. Be mindful. It’s after tragedy that our wits are most weary.” So true.

In other bummertown news, local bassist and Urban Bean barista Matt Call was the victim of a hit and run recently (he was opening the driver’s door of his car in front of the coffee shop, in broad daylight, when he was “struck and tossed” 25 feet by a passing sport-utility vehicle). He is currently in the ICU after suffering extensive injuries including two broken femurs, a cracked pelvis, and spinal fractures, which will require months of recovery. But there are some good people in this town hosting a benefit show for him next week. Or you can donate online here.

In happier news, I finally watched the Swedish Sound of Noise full length last night (I’d pre-ordered the DVD months ago but then took my time watching it once it arrived). It’s a full length featuring the performers who made Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers.

The narrative revolves around police officer Amadeus Warnebring, tone-deaf scion of a distinguished musical family, and his attempts to track down a group of six guerilla percussionists whose anarchic public performances are terrorizing the city. The drumming set pieces correspond to an avant-garde score with four hilariously titled movements. Where the short involved the six drummers imaginatively using standard apartment furnishings as their instruments, the feature unleashes them on an unspecified city’s civic and cultural institutions. Including an amusing backstory for each of the soberly dressed drummers as well as their nemesis, music-hating investigator Warnebring, the film creates a treat for the eyes and ears from the dull, repetitive sounds of everyday life.

I freaking LOVED it. Then this morning I came across this. A much cheesier American sort of musical collaboration with five “piano guys” and 1 piano. Hmm. I do enjoy their Cello Wars lightsaber duel a bit more but they’re nowhere near as cool as the Swedes.

And this is just plain cool:

Former Throbbing Gristle singer Genesis P-Orridge will teach this summer at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. According to FACT, P-Orridge will be one of the special guests participating in the museum’s second annual series of “workshops, lectures and discussions,” aptly titled Summer School, which takes place at its PS1 space in Brooklyn. Participants of her workshop are “expected to look with great honesty and openness at the emotional journeys of their life to date and explore the creation of an intimate, personal, magical language.” Each workshop will culminate in a presentation open to the public on September 9th.

And lastly, on the lighter side…Scary Smash featuring Dave Foley, Joss Whedon & Kate Micucci - Written By A Kid, Episode 1: A monster, a milk truck, a S.Q.U.A.T. team leader named Gerald and an epic 7 day battle–all from the mind of 5-year-old Brett.

Ah, another weekend that whizzed right on by. And I accomplished only a small portion of what I’d intended. But I really can’t do it all. Still, how about a five good things round up?

• Dream come true: Neil Gaiman writing Sandman prequel, new novel, five kids’ books, basically all the things. Hooray!
• This is grrrrreat: “The project rrrrrrrroll is made by a group of friends from Japan. They were all thinking how cool it would be to produce something while just hanging out together when they started to make their amazing animated pictures. The small GIFs are showing people or objects turning around their own axis. Most of the pictures have been produced on a short trip where the group of friends spent half the time shooting and just had fun being together.”
• We enjoyed a Saturday night at the Turf Club with locals Is/Is and The Blind Shake and San Francisco’s The Mallard. I absolutely LOVE three band bills! And this was a particularly solid triumvirate line up. Afterward we went on a late night ice cream run (Ben & Jerry’s karamel sutra for me) and stayed up too late watching episodes of Archer.
• Despite the day’s heat and humidity we survived and even enjoyed the Dragon Boat Festival. Boat races, dragon dancers, martial arts demos, bubble tea, sub-par food offerings and bumping into friends. Not bad.
• My easygoing boyfriend agreed to accompany me to a showing of Magic Mike. It wasn’t without flaws but I did enjoy it. But I’ve had enough of Matthew McConaughey’s pelvis for a lifetime. Never again plz.

Hitting the hay early. Drifting off to sleep soon listening to The Psychic Paramount while reading paranormal fiction. Need to be fully rested in order to properly plot out the Choose Your Own Adventure path of the coming week. Hopefully it will be the path of least resistance and wreak the least amount of havoc.

It’s a random weird Wednesday with all sorts of every day life tasks to tackle. But distractions abound!

• “You are who you pretend to be.” I need to see this movie: Unicorn City: “This low budget, Utah produced fantasy gamer comedy should be a colossal failure but good writing, an able cast, and a Napolean Dynamite spirit make for surprising, if odd, fun.”
• In music news: Jeremy Messersmith and Christian Erickson on modern music fandom. And related to that topic, but in book form, I pre-ordered: Year Zero in which Aliens Go Crazy for Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Also? Somehow I’d never seen the video for The Avalanches song “Since I Left You” - but the boyfriend pointed it out to me and it is just lovely.
• Nasa has the coolest vending machines in the world
• In travel news, some lovely friends just returned from their two week honeymoon to Indonesia. Speaking of travel… 29 life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight.
• “In Los Angeles promoting the picture’s 40th anniversary, the four stars sat down to discuss this masterpiece, its themes and what went into making such a challenging picture.” - Four Men, Forty Years: Deliverance
• This video is making the rounds but it is freaking hilarious: A Conversation With My 12 Year Old Self: 20th Anniversary Edition
• This weekend is the first ever Twin Cities Veg Fest, being held at Coffman Memorial Union at the U of M.

I did not partake of the donuts (pictured below). Instead I drank some mango smoothie and somehow inhaled a chunk of my granola bar and I’ve been coughing and wheezing ever since. Maybe if I’d just eaten the damned donuts I wouldn’t have this problem. Or perhaps I would have choked to death on the sprinkles. BUT WE WILL NEVER KNOW.

June is usually my favorite month. And not just because of my birthday. It generally marks the end of a school year (for me, when I was younger and now for my son) and the beginning of amazing weather and summer fun times at the beach and picnicking and at the drive-in. But this year’s June? It can get bent. I have my reasons. It all began with hundreds of flying ants swarming my bedroom one night. And the clutch dying on my car the next day. And me coming down with a sinus infection immediately after that - that I still haven’t kicked - and then? I FREAKING CRASHED MY CAR. That I had just put $1000 into repairing. In 23 years of licensed driving I’d never hit anyone before. The good news? No one was hurt. Because I hit a giant Cadillac Escalade at maybe 5mph. And even though my car was totaled I have it back already. Hooray, that sad-making and stressful month is over and now it’s July!

Five other good things:

• July = heat wave. Yesterday my wonderful boyfriend took me to a Twins game, where we roasted until the shade reached our section in the 7th inning. Later he surprised me by showing up at my place with his toolbox and volunteering to drag our a/c units out of storage and install them in my bedroom and my son’s. We slept very well last night.
• The 4th of July is smack dab in the middle of the week this year, so we’ll be staying in town. But we have fun plans lined up with friends we adore.
• I love this so much: Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor. And this post about Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits.
• This is intense: Canadian artist Heather Benning wanted to evoke a life without Internet, flat-screen televisions, or air conditioning. The dollhouse she has created definitely accomplishes that goal, transforming an abandoned farmhouse in Saskatchewan into a life-size version of the classic childhood toy. After renovating the interior, the artist filled the house with furniture and decor dating back to 1968, when it was abandoned. She left the exterior untouched, creating two co-existing worlds — the inside reveals a place immune to the effects of time, whereas the outside shows a house that is decayed and derelict. The contrast speaks to the passage of time, childhood play, memory, and nostalgia.
• I finally made the time to call and complain to CenturyLink about my bill. They’re lowering it by $15/month and crediting me $15/month for the last eight months.

In other taking care of business news, while busting my ass the other night to locate my car’s title and other paperwork for the insurance company I realized I hadn’t filed my 2011 taxes yet. Doh. Generally not a big deal because I always get money back rather than owe it. But I gathered all the necessary documents in one place and plan to see an accountant STAT. And this morning I’m returning a bag of cloaks after having borrowed them a year and a half ago for a photo project. And then meeting with the bride and groom from two weekends ago to hand over their photo files. And then we can hopefully have some fun times which may or may not involve an air conditioned movie theater and Pixar’s Brave. Personally I wouldn’t mind seeing Magic Mike but I’ll save that for ladies night.