Category: Criticism
I'll try to be brief, because that is not my tendency. The HBO series The Wire demonstrates yet again that HBO consistently produces exceptional shows. It is now in its third season and remains compelling in a way that network TV police procedurals fail to even approach.
What is perhaps most unique about this series is its naturalism in character development. Characters like Frank Sobotka, McNulty, D'Angelo Barksdale, Kima, and Omar (and this comes in part from the mini-series-like continuity of each season) have a realness, a mundaneness, and a credibility that leads one to imagine their existences outside the narrative. Also, the format of the series means that narrative events carry their own time rather than conforming to an explicit resolve-in-60 minutes contrivance.
The fantastic thing about the police procedural aspect of this series is that we get a vivid sense of the density and irritating bureaucracy involved, but the series is written with an almost wonkish enthusiasm that leaves us fascinated rather than bored. The police procedural aspects of, say, CSI or L&O: CI are frequently rather fanciful. Criminal Intent in particular resembles a murder mystery show more than anything else.
I imagine the reasons are largely economic, but I wonder why it is that HBO series' tend to be so radically different and radically better than their network equivalents. There is a conviction and apparent artistic integrity to HBO's shows that is refreshing in a television landscape in which so much seems rote.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Sunday, November 28, 2004
"Mostly Dead
Category: Art In Progress
I will begin work on a film that involves copywrighted material, captures from video/dvd. The gist is this:
Gather together the most significant and compelling shots and moments from two films: Ghost, starring Tony Goldwyn and Vincent Schiavelli, and The Princess Bride, starring Chris Sarandon and Mel Smith.
{Which, check this out- Ghost was directed by Jerry Zucker of Top Secret and the Naked Gun movies fame. Also, interesting if not quite so compelling thing vis TPB... screenwriter William Goldman also had a hand in Last Action Hero}
The collection of clips will be assembled together, respecting neither the chronology of each film or any overt sense of narrative coherence. Nevertheless, I will attempt to tie the clips into some sort of unity using a scripted voiceover which I myself will perform.
I am aiming toward the attitudes that each source film displays toward the semi-dead. I also intend to wring emotional intensity out of each. As such, clips to be included will include Prince Humperdink's sadistic torture of Wesley and Carl Bruner's expression of abject terror when he discovers that the $4 million in blood money is gone.
Expected running time is between 8 and 18 minutes, to throw out a random range.
Despite the fact that this project, were it to be of a commercial nature, would violate certain copyrights, I will use this blog post as published demonstration that I hold all rights to this idea. However, I endorse any other artmaker's video mashup on this (meaning the borderlines of life and death) or a similar subject.
I will begin work on a film that involves copywrighted material, captures from video/dvd. The gist is this:
Gather together the most significant and compelling shots and moments from two films: Ghost, starring Tony Goldwyn and Vincent Schiavelli, and The Princess Bride, starring Chris Sarandon and Mel Smith.
{Which, check this out- Ghost was directed by Jerry Zucker of Top Secret and the Naked Gun movies fame. Also, interesting if not quite so compelling thing vis TPB... screenwriter William Goldman also had a hand in Last Action Hero}
The collection of clips will be assembled together, respecting neither the chronology of each film or any overt sense of narrative coherence. Nevertheless, I will attempt to tie the clips into some sort of unity using a scripted voiceover which I myself will perform.
I am aiming toward the attitudes that each source film displays toward the semi-dead. I also intend to wring emotional intensity out of each. As such, clips to be included will include Prince Humperdink's sadistic torture of Wesley and Carl Bruner's expression of abject terror when he discovers that the $4 million in blood money is gone.
Expected running time is between 8 and 18 minutes, to throw out a random range.
Despite the fact that this project, were it to be of a commercial nature, would violate certain copyrights, I will use this blog post as published demonstration that I hold all rights to this idea. However, I endorse any other artmaker's video mashup on this (meaning the borderlines of life and death) or a similar subject.
Monday, November 22, 2004
New Gallery
Category: Art In Progress
Resolved: To create an art gallery in my art studio.
The plan is to make the gallery itself a 4 ft. square in the NW corner of my studio. Anticipated hours as of now are 5-7 PM on Friday and something similar on Saturday. There will be a new show in the space every 2 weeks. I haven't figured out how openings are going to be dealt with vis-a-vis food and drinks.
The work shown will be principally mine, at least until I feel comfortable enough to accept proposals for the space.
In order to make this happen, I will have to perform some construction within and outside the gallery itself. I will have to set up lighting and electric in a way that benefits the space. I intend to have all manner of artworks displayable in the space, including video and perhaps interactives.
I understand that privacy will be an issue.
I will produce fliers for each show, but (print Gocco produced) postcards will be limited to a card for the gallery itself (which I will sell for $3?) and perhaps special openings.
I have not yet settled on a name for the gallery, but I think it ought to be Owl-themed. Ideas include: Owl Gallery, Galerie Hibou, Moyen-Duc, Asio Otus, Bubo Gallery, and Gallery Otus. The wall outside my space will have signage, including, perhaps, a painting of an owl.
Resolved: To create an art gallery in my art studio.
The plan is to make the gallery itself a 4 ft. square in the NW corner of my studio. Anticipated hours as of now are 5-7 PM on Friday and something similar on Saturday. There will be a new show in the space every 2 weeks. I haven't figured out how openings are going to be dealt with vis-a-vis food and drinks.
The work shown will be principally mine, at least until I feel comfortable enough to accept proposals for the space.
In order to make this happen, I will have to perform some construction within and outside the gallery itself. I will have to set up lighting and electric in a way that benefits the space. I intend to have all manner of artworks displayable in the space, including video and perhaps interactives.
I understand that privacy will be an issue.
I will produce fliers for each show, but (print Gocco produced) postcards will be limited to a card for the gallery itself (which I will sell for $3?) and perhaps special openings.
I have not yet settled on a name for the gallery, but I think it ought to be Owl-themed. Ideas include: Owl Gallery, Galerie Hibou, Moyen-Duc, Asio Otus, Bubo Gallery, and Gallery Otus. The wall outside my space will have signage, including, perhaps, a painting of an owl.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Jeweler's goggles
Category: Observations
I am in search of jeweler's goggles. They don't seem to be carried in any big box stores, even though my friend Cat suggested I could probably find them at a Home Depot.
I need these because some of my etching work requires that I do microsurgery on the copper, something I can't do au naturel without harming my eyes permanently. And my eyes are very important to me.
One of the reasons I mention this is that the internet can be a wonderful resource for connecting consumers to retail operations, for connecting seekers to information. But this works best when the consumer wants to order an item right from the retailer. What if I want it now?
I know somebody in Tampa has jeweler's goggles for sale. The future of the internet as a method by which retailers are connected with customers has to include the bricks and mortar to a better degree.
At this moment in time, I have the feeling that the problem is not that small businesses in Tampa that actually do sell this equipment aren't connecting their internet and bricks-and-mortar, but that they don't have any internet presence.
It's a lot to expect a small, maybe one-of-a-kind store to invest in cataloguing their inventory, but it may be the difference between getting business from people like me and not getting business.
This goes right to one of my greater criticisms of Tampa in general. As much as anywhere I've ever spent time, Tampa is a gridded chaos. Places like Florida Avenue are just one long stretch of ugly buildings disconnected from eachother. In this context, the big utopian malls with their sterility and air-conditioning and crappy chain clothing stores that I used to whine about in high school seem more real. Even the more wealthy retail zones like the Bruce B Downs New Tampa strip, manicured nowheres, are incoherent and wasteful.
It seems like raw chance that so many roadside retailers would get business. Nothing is within walking distance of anything else, there is not walking culture in Tampa except in the downtown areas, which aren't so great as far as downtowns go. Retailers must rely on location, eyecatching signage, and then on word of mouth. It doesn't help that this part of the world is built around tourism and that particular culture of looking.
Update: A trip around South Tampa today convinced me that my comment that there is no walking culture in Tampa is off base. But not in a good way. Poverty tends to force those who would otherwise drive to walk- not everyone can afford a car. Bus travel is an alternative, but it doesn't go everywhere.
I am in search of jeweler's goggles. They don't seem to be carried in any big box stores, even though my friend Cat suggested I could probably find them at a Home Depot.
I need these because some of my etching work requires that I do microsurgery on the copper, something I can't do au naturel without harming my eyes permanently. And my eyes are very important to me.
One of the reasons I mention this is that the internet can be a wonderful resource for connecting consumers to retail operations, for connecting seekers to information. But this works best when the consumer wants to order an item right from the retailer. What if I want it now?
I know somebody in Tampa has jeweler's goggles for sale. The future of the internet as a method by which retailers are connected with customers has to include the bricks and mortar to a better degree.
At this moment in time, I have the feeling that the problem is not that small businesses in Tampa that actually do sell this equipment aren't connecting their internet and bricks-and-mortar, but that they don't have any internet presence.
It's a lot to expect a small, maybe one-of-a-kind store to invest in cataloguing their inventory, but it may be the difference between getting business from people like me and not getting business.
This goes right to one of my greater criticisms of Tampa in general. As much as anywhere I've ever spent time, Tampa is a gridded chaos. Places like Florida Avenue are just one long stretch of ugly buildings disconnected from eachother. In this context, the big utopian malls with their sterility and air-conditioning and crappy chain clothing stores that I used to whine about in high school seem more real. Even the more wealthy retail zones like the Bruce B Downs New Tampa strip, manicured nowheres, are incoherent and wasteful.
It seems like raw chance that so many roadside retailers would get business. Nothing is within walking distance of anything else, there is not walking culture in Tampa except in the downtown areas, which aren't so great as far as downtowns go. Retailers must rely on location, eyecatching signage, and then on word of mouth. It doesn't help that this part of the world is built around tourism and that particular culture of looking.
Update: A trip around South Tampa today convinced me that my comment that there is no walking culture in Tampa is off base. But not in a good way. Poverty tends to force those who would otherwise drive to walk- not everyone can afford a car. Bus travel is an alternative, but it doesn't go everywhere.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
About This Blog
Category: News & Info
All materials found on this website have been created by Alex Costantino, aka Poop Ruiz, unless otherwise credited.
This blog was born on a lovely early afternoon on November 20th, 2004 in Tampa Florida. It was born of a need to catalogue ideas related to art and artmaking, a need to create a sounding board of those ideas, and a way to spread those ideas further than might be possible in person.
In the future it will be the occasion for the publishing of state proofs of artwork, essays on art, art and cultural criticism, poems stories and lyrics, and stupid ideas. It remains to be seen if this website will at some point in time have an educational component, but that's certainly possible
All materials found on this website have been created by Alex Costantino, aka Poop Ruiz, unless otherwise credited.
This blog was born on a lovely early afternoon on November 20th, 2004 in Tampa Florida. It was born of a need to catalogue ideas related to art and artmaking, a need to create a sounding board of those ideas, and a way to spread those ideas further than might be possible in person.
In the future it will be the occasion for the publishing of state proofs of artwork, essays on art, art and cultural criticism, poems stories and lyrics, and stupid ideas. It remains to be seen if this website will at some point in time have an educational component, but that's certainly possible
New boats on an empty sea
Category: News & Info
Hello and welcome to my alternative space on the world wide blog.
This space will be free of political speech to the degree that is necessary and will focus more on the development of artworks, ideas concerning artmaking, Hollywood script ideas, plans to take over the world, etc.
Hello and welcome to my alternative space on the world wide blog.
This space will be free of political speech to the degree that is necessary and will focus more on the development of artworks, ideas concerning artmaking, Hollywood script ideas, plans to take over the world, etc.
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