The Vastness/The Voice

It should be no surprise that I love Pablo Neruda. I first fell in love with his posthumous work The Sea and Bells (El mar y las campanas). One of my favorite musical groups, Rachel's, did an album based off this work. I fell in love this book of poems as I read them on the sands of the Pacific Northwest. Neruda was writing five books of poetry to be released on his seventieth birthday. He died before any of them were completed. William O'Daly has translated the unfinished works and they are published by Copper Creek along with a few of his late works.

Although, there has been some dispute over the quality of O'Daly's translations all the books are bi-lingual. So if one was interested, one can always do some research and find the meaning oneself. I do not mind the translations, but I am by no means fluent in Spanish. I understand that part of translation is interpretation. Daniel Ladinsky explores this concept quite well with his translations of Hafiz.

Whether you speak Spanish or not I highly recommend reading some Neruda. He was one of the world's greatest poets, and he achieved a voice most poets only dream about having. And while you are at it listen to some of Rachel's' music. The Systems/Layers album never left my stereo for about a year. It still carries a heavy rotation in my musical library.

Zach Attach

This whole Summer Zach Galifiankis has been almost ever present in the realm of film and comedy. Who knew that him playing himself on the Hangover would finally lead to people noticing him. But the fun is not over yet.

Zach is due to appear in a couple of new great productions. The first will be an HBO series called Bored to Death with Ted Danson, Jason Schwartzman, and a slew of other hilarious actors doing cameos. Then he comes out in a new movie in October with Michael Cera sporting a mustache entitled Youth in Revolt.

It makes me wonder if someone will give him another Late World opportunity only to see him go crazy under Network restrictions or thrive in a situation where he has full control like his stand-up DVD Live at the Purple Onion. Maybe he will just sink back under the radar like when he did his Dog Bites Man venture. No matter what I know he is sure to do another Between Two Ferns.





Oh his comedy has grown leaps and bounds. This shows the prowess of his physical comedy.

NCFF

This last weekend was the Nevada City Film Festival. I had a great time watching short films, long films, and even a comedy show. I volunteered and helped out cleaning up and ushering. Of the films I had a few favorites: I Am So Proud Of You by Don Hertfeldt, Goldfish by Joe Wein, and Somewhere in Time by Chris Streng which featured a collection of Troll dolls acting out a fantastic adventure. Being pleasantly surprised by the local films as well as the amount of international and higher production films I will definitely be looking forward to next year's Film Fest.

Git Down Dance Remix

A while ago one of my friends Caleb Coppock made some videos mashing up clips from a movie called Talking Feet with some 50 cent songs. The result was pure hilarity. The video below explores the idea a bit further. The rest of the videos are Caleb's. Enjoy.













The great thing is I actually found a VHS tape of the last guy doing an instructional video on how to dance like this in a thrift store. And it is awesome.

Film Fascination

A while ago I made a list of movies that I looked forward to seeing in 2009. Most of them are still yet to come out. And there are others like G.I. Joe that were not worthy. But I think that it is time for me to put in my two cents about those movies that have come out and are, deservingly, on the list.

The Hangover was hilarious. The whole thing coming off to me as an homage to Zach Galifinakis' stand up routines. Public Enemies was good, but it wasn't The Untouchables. However Sam Mendes' Away We Go was funny, charming, emotional, and extremely true to life. It also hosted some great tunes by the likes of the Stranglers, Bob Dylan, and The Velvet Underground.

I don't know how good Wild Things will be, but Dave Eggers seems to be doing pretty well in the screenwriting world as well as holding his own as a writer/novelist and editor of McSweeney's. I loved Away We Go and highly recommend it.

Some other movies that will be watched this year and should have made the list are Duncan Jones' Moon, Woody Allen's Whatever Works, and Jim Jarmusch's Limits of Control.

A Fist Full Of Pennies

Last Tuesday I took a drive down the hill to go see a band called Dead Western play in Sacramento. The performance was great. I happen to very much appreciate music that has different aspects that set it apart. And Troy Mighty's vocals sound almost like he is singing a whale's lament out of water. The music was slow, minimalist, and fit the vocal styles perfectly. It was all together enjoyable.



The other bands to play were Freebasers and Barn Owl. Each had their own defined style and were great to see. I suggest going to a show featuring any of these bands if they come your way.

Playfull Placemats

I was out with my parents and my 3 year old nephew, Campbell, eating breakfast. When the server brought us some crayons for Campbell to draw. I think I took more interest in them than my nephew and doodled this on the back of the placemat while we waited for our food.

Alex Kanevsky

I heard someone once say that Francis Bacon has had more of impact on the contemporary art scene than Pablo Picasso. Although, I don't believe this, it is interesting to see his impact on art today. Alex Kanevsky's paintings definitely make me think of Francis Bacon. While these figure studies layer skeletal, shadow, and contour, his paintings mix thick brush stokes and almost pixelated texture. With an added bonus, I will not only post how and why this artist inspires me, but also what inspires him.

In an interview Kanevsky said this,

"Everything. All first-hand experiences. John Adams wrote a beautiful composition titled "Naive and Sentimental Music". He took this title from a Friedrich Schiller essay "On Naive and Sentimental Poetry". Schiller decided that there are really just two kinds of artists: naive and sentimental. Naive artist works with the first-hand experiences, uncompromised by self-analysis. Sentimental are works that are self-aware of their place in history, theory, etc. One usually sees this kind of work accompanied by an artist statement. I think I am more naive than sentimental in the things that inspire me."

And it is people like this who inspire me.