Our beloved fairy tale characters have been pushed out of their homelands by the Adversary and are living in exile in New York City. Murder, love, war, magic and heroics doesn’t cover half of it. (more…)
Archive for July, 2009
Crawling with Art: Harlem
There is a renaissance going on, according to some, just north of Central Park and east of Morningside. An area which some declare is now SoHa (South Harlem) is home to a burgeoning artistic community increasingly eager to make its presence known.
It is trying to do so through the Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts (visual, performing, music, etc.). There are about 4-6 of these half-day, guided trolley tours per year. The upcoming ArtCrawl Harlem will take place on August 8th. (more…)
Back-to-Bom II: Identity in Mehta’s Maximum City
*Part II in a series on Indian literature and non-fiction
Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (2004) is a source of sophisticated empathy – pathos that is intelligent and fact-based, but ultimately aware of the inexplicable aspects of its irrationality. Mehta chooses to portray all sorts of inhabitants of the Mumbai underworld – communalist mafia members, disaffected movie stars, and gender-masking bar dancers – in a seeming desire to put forth a basic message: identity can be approached individually, even in locations traditionally defined by collectivity (areas of high population density like cities). Additionally, stories of extra-normal identity—those least accessed and told—are crucial in understanding greater urban identities. (more…)
Jeremiah Zagar’s “In a Dream”: Portrait of an Artist
“Love is a work of art,” says the poster of In a Dream. For artist Isaiah Zagar, this is literally the case, for better or for worse. Written and directed by his son Jeremiah Zagar, who makes only a second-long appearance in the entire film, this documentary exposes the life of a troubled artist losing his grip on the world. (more…)
Once Upon a Retelling: The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block
Nine short stories retelling fairy tales with gritty, modern twists. Hit-or-miss stories, but the hits are well worth checking out.
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Tarkovsky Day Fest 4—Descent into Everything (Stalker)
One of the best parts about science fiction movies is that they are rarely about science. 2001 does not try and guess what the future will look like, but is more concerned about what is truly the difference between man and his makers. Blade Runner is not about robots but about the importance of memories. Even a more recent film like Sunshine is not a cautionary tale about the sun dying but a morality play in which people are forced to take the role of God. (more…)
