SABBATICAL

Going on holiday sabbatical and posting will be spotty at best. Happy holidays!

NEW ANIMALS SOUTHEAST ASIA DIVISION

Many new species discovered in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong River region. These animals include the Kachin woolly bat and this proud pink cyanide-shooting millipede. Also, the world's largest spider with a leg-span up to 12 inches, was discovered in a cave in Laos. More scary and deadly animal discoveries here and here.

WENDY AND LUCY

I saw the new Kelly Reichardt film over the weekend, Wendy and Lucy. The film is emblematic of the times in which we live and our wanderlust generation. Wendy is traveling, running from something ambiguous. She is searching for something enigmatic, and she is broke, burdened, and desperate. Her sole companion is her dog Lucy. It's a trying film, richly beautiful, but often bleak. Approach with caution, but those seeking literary cinema outside of hollywood's formulas will be well rewarded. Lucy is wonderful and provides a heartbreaking performance.

NAKED WITH MY SWEATER ON

TREE HUTS NYC

Now on view in Madison Square Park, NYC is Tadashi Kawamata's Tree Huts. Upon first inspection, the tree huts seems to invoke nostalgia and a sense of play. Yet upon further reflection, a more insidious meaning comes into view. Given the location of the unreachable huts among the neighboring skyscrapers along with the impending winter and the astronomical housing costs, the City seems to be sending a message to its homeless residents - "Go climb a tree."

More info

The tree huts will be taken down December 31.

FIELD RECORDINGS

Chris Watson - Vatnajökull



Forget (for a moment) the concept of the album as a collection of preconceived songs. Consider music composed by nature. Consider sound captured by patience and chance. Consider field recording auteur Chris Watson. The above 18 minute mp3 was recorded at Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland. You can hear the titanic shifts of the ice. The birds over head. The water seeping out from the melting, ancient glacier. Like watching a fantastic nature documentary in your head. Break out the big headphones for this.

PS - This track and the two others that compose the album Weather Report (all tracks about 18 minutes long) are available on amazon for 89 cents each. Very much worth purchasing.

GRAFF ANIMATION

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Artist Blu's website with more pictures and info.

WHERE ARE THE WILD THINGS?

Interview with director Spike Jonze

THANKSGIVING

I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. I am currently thankful for David Shrigley.

NOISE BLISS DAY

Fennesz - Saffron Revolution



Today was a great day for music. The new record from Fennesz, Black Sea, and a brand new Buddha Machine 2.0. Both were purchased at the cheerful, helpful Other Music in Manhattan. The Fennesz record is fantastic. Fantastic. Guitars strummed and tuned and turned to sound like orchestras. Walls of sound. Nature crashing. Sea slowly rising and subsiding.



And then there's the Buddha machine 2.0. A small box with a built in speaker, 9 ambient sound loops with feedback, piano, and guitar, and a pitch modulator. I found myself switching through the tracks and altering the pitch for a while before I sat back and let the machine carry my thoughts away. Listen to loops and investigate more on the Buddha Machine site.

DEEP DEUTSCH DUB DEVOTION

I'm endorsing this show before I even see it, but I love Pipilotti Rist. Now at the MOMA, Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters), until Feb 2. Must see now.

GOOD MORNING GASTROPODA

Gastropoda

AU HASARD BALTHAZAR

Au hasard Balthazar (1966) from Marienbad on Vimeo.
Le génie Robert Bresson en l'année 1966.

SUN SHINE

ANIMAL TALES

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

ANIMAL ILLUSION

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

HERMAN DUNE TMRW

Very excited to see Herman Dune tomorrow at the Bell House in Brooklyn. He is also playing a show in Manhattan on Thursday.

IN MY ROOM

TWILIGHT

The brilliant and controversial Bill Henson at Robert Miller Gallery until November 15.

...

NICE WORK INDIANA

My home state Indiana voted for a Democratic president for the first time since 1976. Nice work, Indiana. I'm optimistic about this country and our natural world again.

I LIKE AMERICA AND AMERICA LIKES ME

by Joseph Beuys






"Beuys traveled to the United States in 1974 and performed an action entitled I like America and America Likes Me at the René Block Gallery in New York. The action actually began at Kennedy Airport, where friends wrapped him in felt and transported him to the gallery in an ambulance. Beuys then spent several days in a room with only a felt blanket, a flashlight, a cane that looked like a shepherd's staff, copies of the Wall Street Journal (which were delivered daily), and a live coyote. His choice of employing a coyote was perhaps an acknowledgment of an animal that holds great spiritual significance for Native Americans, or a commentary on a country that through its Western expansion had become "lost" America." from Walker website. link.

MORE HAUNTINGS

HALLOWEEN

Mount Eerie Dances with Wolves EP





Track 1 and 2