Friday, August 27, 2010

Deleted Scenes from The Expendables

Instead of giving you a rousing review of this "film", I am going to provide you all with all the deleted scenes that will be on the Special Edition DVD, as reported to me by a friend:




"You know, it's hard to cut even one scene, let alone four... I feel, as a filmmaker, like I had, you know... four abortions."
   --Sylvester Stallone, from The Expendables Special Edition DVD


DELETED SCENE #1: THE CHURCH


Stallone and Willis are confronted by a priest.

PRIEST: "Have you come here for forgiveness?"

Willis spins around and fires a bullet into the priest's forehead (the only use of a muzzle silencer in the entire film).

WILLIS: "It's a little too late for that, padre."


DELETED SCENE #2: THE FIX


Lundgren is shooting heroin as his dealer, played by Samuel L. Jackson, finishes a bottle of beer.
Jackson hands the empty bottle to Lundgren.

JACKSON: "Do that trick you showed me the last time."

Lundgren, barely focusing in his smack haze, accepts the bottle.
Lundgren proceeds to eat the bottle. Afterward, blood pouring from his lacerated mouth, he hiccups.

JACKSON: "Damn."

A wet, flatulant sound eminates from Lundgren, who giggles. Jackson frowns, sniffing the air.

JACKSON: "What the...? Did you just shit cho muthafuckin' pants?! Holy fucking shit, Gunner!! What the fuck is wrong witchoo?!"


DELETED SCENE #3: BRIDGE GIRL


Rourke waits in the blue light, in his tear-filled reverie, for Stallone to leave the shop. Then he stands, slowly removes his shirt, and picks up a hand mirror. On the back of the mirror is a sticker reading "EXPENDABLES." Shot of this sticker is held for eleven seconds. Then Rourke slowly turns his back to a large mirror on the wall, and uses the smaller mirror to ponder a tattoo on his back. The tattoo is huge, black ink, photorealistic... depicts a beautiful, chesty Croat girl in a summer dress, about to fling herself from a river bridge. Her expression is one of incalculable pain, yet in her eyes there's still the tiniest spark of hope, as though she dares fate to grant her salvation at the last possible instant.

ROURKE [whispering]: "I'll never forget you, Bridge Girl."


DELETED SCENE #4: THE BOY


The truck of soldiers chases after Statham & Stallone. As it roars through the capital, a peasant boy hurls a piece of fruit after the soldiers in a display of resistance [this scene made the final cut].

However...

The soldiers' truck skids to a halt, backs up, and the pair of soldiers next to the tailgate empty their automatic rifle magazines into the youthful Che, reducing his body to a spasming pile of lasagna.
Then it's back into gear, and on with the chase!


I'm also guessing there'll be an interview with the actress who played Sandra, the General's Daughter, vis-a-vis the compelling waterboarding scene. She might, I don't know, say...

"Tha scene woss so powerful, yes? We have shot it manny, manny times, ahntell Meester Stallone he say is just right. Then I see how ees come out, and I'm like, wow! How doze he do it? They rope... they writhing... they water ees beading up on my firm, round, tanned, heaving breasts... so passionate. Almose... sensual?"

Monday, August 23, 2010

One new painting, one new review, and a bunch of work on the Portrait Challenge show

I've been really busy getting materials ready for the Portrait Challenge at Bumbershoot, and haven't been keeping up with my blog, but I did have time to write a bit about Kate Tucker's show last week on the CAB here.  And I just managed to finish a work for the Kirkland Arts Center Redux Studio Challenge.  The theme was "architecture" which is a reoccurring theme in my work, which made that aspect relatively easy.  Well, relatively easy once I gave up on my initial idea (long story) and just decided to devote one of my last works in the Place series to this project.

So, here it is, 95 Place -


The KAC Redux show is in October and preliminary details are to be found on their website.


The rest of my days have been devoted to Portrait Challenge preparation stuff like this:



Drawing by Sharon Arnold


making buttons is hard!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Molorazzi at BLITZ August 2010


Check out my thought and some better pics over at my post on the CAB here.

Meanwhile, here's a couple other pics!


BOOM
Andie DeRoux in front of her work at Ghost Gallery
 Artist Greg Boudreau and Brittany in Greg's studio with a coloring contest happening in the background
Artists Julie Alpert and Laura Dean and a couple tall boys

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

"CAVE-O-SAPIAN" - best rock song of 2010!

ROCK IS GOOD AGAIN

I have never really been much of a Wolf Parade fan.  I enjoyed their first acclaimed release, Apologies to the Queen Mary, but I didn't really get too much from it.  It felt like there were going for a raw, kind of early Modest Mouse-rough but poppy-vibe and trying too hard.  The had an unsettled sound, an unsure sound.  It didn't help any that they took an animal name like every other mid '00s indie rock band.  Subsequently I never checked out their second album.  But for some reason, the other day I decided to pick up a copy Expo '86 and boy am I glad I did! 
Wolf Parade has released one of the best rock albums I've heard in years.  Poppy, energetic, clever, and delightful.  Driving melodies, super tight drumming, and clean guitars guide these songs.  The damn thing hooked me from the start.  You can certainly hear bits of other rock titans in the music, but they own this album.  The difference is they  homage and building on the music and the past. 

The songs on this release are top-to bottom excellent!  It's the kind of album that any given track could get stuck in your head.  I haven't been so enamored immediately by a release in a long time.  The highlight, though, has got to be the closing track "Cave-O-Sapien".  That song overcomes it's silly title (and lyrics) to be one of the best rock songs I've heard in a while.  Damn if there isn't some "oh oh oh oh ooohs" and such on it!  Great stuff  4.5 Molos!


Everyone has been waiting for the new Arcade Fire to come out; well it's here and it's really good.  The Suburbs.  Arcade Fire is a great band, one of the best live bands of the decade, and you have to see them if you have not. 

I doubt they will ever write an album as ground-breaking and universally loved as Funeral (nor should they try). The Suburbs is not attempting to be another Funeral.  It feels like the next chapter in the story, though, especially lyrically.  More mature?  Yes.  And the tracks are more consistent front to back than either of their first 2 albums - there are no duds on The Suburbs.  

That being said, there's something missing - this album is excellent, but it feels too easy.  There is beauty and some great songs.  But maybe they are just almost too good for their own good.  That doesn't make sense, and I don't have time to elaborate on it...but maybe this album is just one more strong step on some kind of amazing musical journey.  If any contemporary band can take us on such a journey, The Arcade Fire is the one.  4 Molos


School of Seven Bells released an album Disconnect from Desire a couple weeks ago that might be in danger of getting ignored in the wave of Arcade Fire love, but I hope that is not the case.  I love this band!  But it's not the kind of music you can listen to all the time, there's a lot of repetitiveness in their music, heightened by the twin Deheza sister's lovely harmonizing - really all they music is built around the vocals, to create stunning atmosphere.  Disconnect is a stronger, more diverse and better-written follow up to the very good Alpinisms and in spots it moves their sound a little further away from the shoegazer to pop to good effect.  You should check it out!.  By the way, Wikipedia says their name comes from "a mythical South American pickpocket training academy"  3.5 Molos

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Morris Graves as Muse; I prefer Xanadu

Tonight, opening in 3 spaces in the Tashiro Kaplan Building- Rock DeMent, Angle and Corridor, is an exhibition called the Mystic Sons of Morris Graves, organized by the "secret society" of sorts of the same name, which started back in '91 by Charles Kraft and others.  According to the Rock DeMent statement the show features actual objects and work from Morris himself, and works by not only the PNW old guard artists (with respect) but many heavy hitters from the art world:

Chris Crites, Charles Krafft, Stephen Rock, Tony Bennet, Ries Niemi, George Condo, Kelly Lyles, Peter Santino, Matthew Barney, Stan Lee, David C, Kane, Susan Rothenberg, Eric Nelson, Mya Lin, Don Ed Hardy, John Ohanessian, Grace Slick, Matthew Kangas, Charlie Manson, Larry Reid...and more

Susan Rothenberg?  Mya Lin, George Condo?? and Matthew Barney?  Really?  Wait, Charlie Manson?  As in Charles Manson?  Looks like it.  What a coup! 

Also exhibiting are a host of emerging and professional local artists like Troy Gua, Kate Protage, Chris Sheridan, and many others.   

This show is getting a lot of attention; people are writing about this show (see Regina's post here because). Morris Graves is one of the few home-grown legends of any note from the 20th Century, and he deserves to be celebrated. I'm certainly curious to see the show and what sorts of works will be on display, especially from such an impressive list of artists...

My first impression upon hearing about the exhibition was that it was fostering the implication that all of us local emerging artists are "sons of Morris Graves" but once I learned a little more about it, I see it's really just a celebration of a mythic artist, for fun and to keep his legend alive.  

Let's take that for what it is, a big, rambling love fest for one of the few local 20th century artists to gain national attention.  

Never-the-less it got me thinking a little bit.  (dangerous I know!)  I feared this was another exhibition that centered around the idea that the NW school was the last big thing to happen to art around here (outside of Chihuly) and we'd never get past it, we'd never finally be looking strongly at all the amazing contemporary work happening out here.

I'm reminded of when I saw the writer Colsen Whitehead read, and he talked about how he the generation of writers/literary folks just above him were all still fixated on things like the Vietnam War, Woodstock , hippie culture,  summer of love and all the events of the late 60s and that it was hard to break up that whole scene-that it was time for new writers and new subjects to be more prominent.  But that older generation still had all the power.  When I hear about people loving and celebrating things like the old and mostly deceased Northwest school artists  I just keep thinking, when will they start paying attention to the new work out there?   When the new guard get a real shot?

But hey, I was making mountains out of molehills.   It is just a show and it will showcase a lot of emerging talent and maybe some folks will create some interesting takes on the subject.  Who knows...

If nothing else we might get an answer this burning question:

Is Morris Graves responsible for all the bird imagery in Northwest art?


 If Morris Graves as muse is not your thing, you can skate over to SOIL and check out the Xanadu show instead for  far more sexy musings. 
 
 

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Brief Sunday Art Walk

It's a lot harder to go see art on Sunday in Pioneer Square than it used to be, as a lot of galleries have decided to close on Sundays.  I still saw a couple interesting things, though, check 'em out -

Klara Glosova's skates in the window at SOIL, part of the Xanadu show opening this week.

   I have about zero interest in the Picasso show that will be opening at SAM this fall to everyone's delight, but damn if this mural isn't pretty bad ass.

Trevor Johnson's floating sculptures at Zeitgeist

There has been some interesting site-specific sculptural work happening in Occidental Park....
which is always a nice surprise for those of use who travel through that area...makes it easier to ignore all the tourists and the drug dealers/users (which make up about 80% of the Pioneer Square street demographic)