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Lorna Mills and Sally McKay
Digital Media Tree this blog's archive OVVLvverk Lorna Mills: Artworks / Persona Volare / contact Sally McKay: GIFS / cv and contact |
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| The word "provincial" is usually used in a derogatory context, but those of us who live in the Canadian province of Ontario might revel in the capital-P-provincial aspects of Bruce MacDonald's Pontypool. It's an Ontario zombie movie. The premise: language is a virus --- more specifically, the spoken English language is a virus that's taken hold in small-town Southern Ontario, and the Quebéçois militia are circling in helicopters and gunning infected people down. In true zombie-movie form, the real enemy is a mysteriously contagious disease of epidemic proportions, only this time the subtext isn't AIDS, it's Alzheimers. Scary like 28 Days Later, classicaly Western, conservative, and indulgently post-apocalyptic like Omega Man, Pontypool's neuroscientific veracity leaves Inception in the dust and surpasses even neuro-geek Charlie Kauffman's Synedoche New York by leaps and bounds. I mean bonds…, uh, bonding. Um..I mean bounding.. and leaps. I mean leaks….. Three thumbs up! (wait...how many thumbs do I have again? Maybe we should count this in tomatoes, I know I have three tomatoes...) SPOILER ALERT: Pontypool has typo in its name, plus the letters p o n o l (in no specific order) (with a captial T and that ryhmes with P and that stands for pool...or something...okay, this isn't really a proper spoiler...). It is a real place. |
VB's Sunday Prog-Rock Assortment
Van Der Graaf Generator- A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
I just wanted to say the title of this song.
Focus - Hocus Pocus
Swell yodelling solo.
Soft Machine - I Should've Known
Featuring a young Robert Wyatt on percussion and vocals. Nice light show.
COS (Classroom) - Achille
Obscure Belgian jazz-math, set to clever found footage.
RM Vaughan writes (scroll down) about Crepuscular Fenêtre at Fly Gallery, by Jean McKay (alias M.Jean). Dioramas on view until June 17.    |
| Check out Art Fag City for a Q&A I did with curator Lisa Myers. This is my first post at AFC. The series is called Report from the Academy. Blogging can be fraught for academics because they are understandably proprietorial about their research, and many bloggers have a hate-on for academics because they sometimes use terrible jargon. Academics have the luxury of not needing to be up-to-minute with all the latest news, and they have permission to really sink into an idea or topic, and examine issues that aren't part of the artworld buzz. But blogging needs to be short and sweet and footnotes are generally frowned on. I like the tension of trying to straddle both worlds. The interview with Lisa is about her curatorial approach to power (among other things). Next month I'll be talking to Patrick Macaulay from Harbourfront Centre. After that, I'm going to nerd out on some art & science theory. Many thanks to Paddy for the opportunity! And especially thanks to Lisa for her patience, generosity and hard work in putting this first interview together. |