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Archive: September, 2009
Fox Searchlight will sneak preview Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It at theaters around the country tomorrow Saturday, September 26. (Our very own Sam Adams saw it at Toronto and, while he didn't include it in his festival wrap-up, he mentions several other must-sees.) The buzz I've gleaned? It's not great but better than one would expect from Ms. Barrymore. Also the soundtrack apparently rules.
Philly's screening is at:
UA Riverview 17 1400 South Columbus Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19147 (800) 326-3264
The games begin at 7:30 p.m. and you get a free t-shirt for showing. If you're still wary of Barrymore's flick, just wait until next week's issue when we give you the lowdown review-wise. Whip It opens theatrically Friday, October 2.
Whip It concerns Bliss (Ellen Page), a small town Texas teen who discovers roller derby and joins a squad (who would most likely get the beat down from hometown heroes and Choice award recipients the Philly Roller Girls). Here's the trailer (or you can just read my Trailer! commentary):
I recently watched a special about Drew Barrymore and it just made me respect her all the more. She has gone from drug abuse to directing and has completely changed her life around. She is brilliant
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| Jessica Kourkounis |
Krista Peel and Zak Starer of the Philadelphia Art Hotel, a super quirky artist residency that I wrote about earlier this summer, are one step closer to creating that golf course they've been dreaming about. (To fund their operation, they're planning on doing all sorts of unconventional things, like running a store, gallery, lecture space, an actual artists-only hotel, and the said golf course ' which would be created by artists.) Since its opening, they've been working out of their West Philly home, which means that resident artists took over their living quarters while Peel and Starer slept somewhere else temporarily. Today, though, they've officially relocated to their new Kenzo headquarters, where they'll have their own floor and the resident artists will have another. Here's what the couple had to say:
We have officially moved into our new home in the East Kensington section of the city. The change of location will allow us to expand our programming as we wind down our first year and head into our second. We will have more opportunities for resident artists, a more diverse program of public events, and a hotel room geared specifically for artists visiting Philadelphia for either work and/or pleasure.
We anxiously await the golf course, PAH.
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| Pantheon, 320 pp., $24.95, Aug. 25 |
Blurring the lines between poetry and prose, Hanan Al-Shaykh's The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story draws us deeply into exotic mid-19th-century Lebanon. Al-Shaykh writes her mother Kamila's memoir, transcribing the story from Kamila's own voice. In the prologue and epilogue, Hanan writes as herself, describing how she has harbored resentment toward her mother throughout her life for leaving her as a child. Hesitant to feel sympathy for her mother, Hanan finally succumbs to Kamila's pleas and listens to her story. Growing up in poverty with her mother and brother, separated from her father, Kamila and her family move in desperation to Beirut in the 1930s. There, they live with their older siblings from their mother's first marriage. But when one of her sisters dies of rabies, Kamila's family forces her into a marriage with the stingy, pious widower Abu-Hussein. She is 14; he is more than twice her age. Though we see harsh situations throughout the novel, this one ' the sacrifice of the daughter by mother and relatives, the rape she suffers (she describes herself as 'slaughtered') ' is the hardest to accept. By now, we've started see Kamila's story as part of some other ancient world, a world of arranged marriages and male dominance; but surprising details readjust our notion of modernity. For instance, Kamila develops an obsession with the cinema, drawing much of her knowledge and life lessons from films she sees. Tied to her love affair with the cinema is her budding relationship with Muhammad, an educated man her own age who appeals to her sense of dramatic romance. During their 10-year affair she mostly remains the same girl she's always been: spirited, charming and vain, always thinking up mischievous schemes and tricks. Kamila makes her husband's life miserable until finally ' 10 years and two children later ' she divorces him and marries Muhammad, leaving her two daughters behind. The rest of the book deals with the span of her life from her marriage to Muhammad to the last stages of her life, when personal tragedies and war in Lebanon radically change her world. It's interesting how Kamila recognizes the injustices of her time as unacceptable, even though she herself is not exactly a 'modern' woman. Instead, she is a woman of paradoxes. She draws from well of deep thoughts and poetry to make sense of her everyday life; but she remains clueless for most things practical, such as reading and writing. She hates being manipulated and coerced, yet she manipulates others. She is cunning and bold, escaping trouble simply by making people laugh their way out of irritation; but she makes the silliest mistakes (thinking that salt is 'deadly poison' she can use to kill off her cruel brother-in-law). The hardest part of following Kamila's thoughts so closely is the immaturity and irrationality she displays through most of her life. Frustrated with her first husband, she tries to drench herself in kerosene and light herself on fire. She speaks strongly of not wanting to do a thing, and then goes ahead and does it. It's irritating, but since we're listening to Kamila tell her own story, we have to accept it. Eventually, she does change, though the novel seems to skip and leap somewhat abruptly through time later in her life. As for writing style, the book is strange mix of poetic language and flat, journalistic statement of fact. This dichotomy seems a bit confusing until we realize that we are hearing two voices: the daughter's (who happens to be a Lebanese journalist), and the mother's (who was clearly a wonderful oral storyteller). As for the descriptions Kamila coins and the metaphors she tosses about, they could be poetry in themselves. By the end, I found that the lively Kamila had succeeded in charming me over.
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| Dangerous Ponies |
Every Thursday, we give you this week's LGBTQ to-do list. -Author Frederick Hertz will be at Giovanni's Room (345 S. 12th St.,'215-923-2960) today, Sept. 24 at 5:30 p.m., reading from his book Making It Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnerships, and Civil Unions for free. Hertz, an attorney from Oakland, Calif., makes a living providing legal advice to gay couples about marriage, divorce and property ownership. Get ready to be informed. -We've been hearing it for weeks, but on Fri., Sept. 25 at 11:30 p.m. Pure is officially transitioning into what's being hyped as one of the most fab clubs in town, Voyeur Nightclub (1221 St. James St., 215-735-5772). The newly designed, multi-level club will be filled with tunes by DJ Dozia and DJ Tripp. You know you wanna be there. Everyone else will be. -On Sun., Sept. 27 from noon to 4 p.m.,'Philly AIDS Thrift will be pulling their goods out onto the street for their So-So (South of South Street) Block Party and Flea Market. The area on Bainbridge between Fifth and Sixth streets will be flooded with thrifty threads, live music and local restaurant booths. Do it for the fun, do it for the cause. All proceeds go toward the AIDS Fund. -A slew of queer, lady rockers and DJs will be infiltrating Tritone (1508 South St.,'215-545-0475) on Sat., Sept. 26 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. for a $10 show that will surely rock you out of your skinny jeans. Among the list of performers will be Dangerous Ponies (pictured), Rachel Tension and DJ Lil Sis. -And don't forget about the Gayborhood Games on Sat., Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m., which I wrote about in this week's Agenda section. Itching for more gay events? Check out our LGBTQ listings.
Look how good C.B. is at playing the office drone! But do we believe her as a sadsack Portland-ite? Considering this is from the same producers as Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy and Paranoid Park, I figure this this a small, quiet movie where you don't think anything happens until the end where you figure out a hell of a lot happened, you just didn't notice it at the time. But I'm worried about the weepiness. Old Joy (which also employed indie rock star Will "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy/Palace Bro." Oldham) and Wendy and Lucy director Kelly Reichardt's films (read Sam Adams' interview with her) are so powerful because they don't come right out and wear the "how long does it take for a heartbreak to heal" sadness on their sleeve. But it does involve Carrie Brownstein and considering I did (and do) want to be a her when I grow up, I'm gonna give it high marks.
That's not Carrie in the office for the Jumpers video!
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| animationarchives.org |
Pairing jazz and film is natural for Secret Cinema programmer Jay Schwartz. 'Jazz started in the early 20th century and so did the movies,' he says. Schwartz celebrates the couple with a slate of shorts, a cartoon and Soundies ' early music videos viewed in a film jukebox. The program features music by Louis Armstrong, Rogers & Hart and Cab Calloway. Calloway, and his famous drug-referencing song, appears in the seminal Fleischer brothers' 'Minnie the Moocher." In the animated short, Betty Boop and BF Bimbo run away from home only to bump into a ghost walrus who sings the titular tune. But what's really impressive is that the walrus moves with Calloway's exact fluidity; Calloway's rolly-poly dancing was rotoscoped, a technique that allowed animators to capture live action movement (think Richard Linklater's Waking Life, those Charles Schwab commercials, etc.). Check it out below (the videos quality does no justice to the 'toon. Schwartz's print will obviously be better):
One selection, 'He was Her Man' directed by Dudley Murphy is so rare that two sources said it was lost. But, of course, Schwartz has a print.
Jazz & Swing Rarities, Fri., Sept. 25, 8:00 pm, $7, Moore College of Art & Design, 20th & Race Streets, Philadelphia, 215-965-4099, thesecretcinema.com.
"Incident on 57th Street"
"I Want You" (Dylan cover)
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| Sturdy Roots |
Wed., Sept. 23, 6:30 p.m., free, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 S. 22nd St., Reserve seats here or call 215-351-0511.
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