The New F-Word

Long absence

2009-07-09T10:19:00.002-04:00

As I am sure it is apparent, I have not posted to this blog in a LONG time. I apologize to anyone who has visited for my lack of posts. I will no longer be posting to this blog and, instead, will soon be creating a new blog. More details to come...

In the meantime, I will be leaving my posts up on this blog up since my traffic reports indicate that several of them are still receiving multiple hits a day.

You can also read my tweets until I re-format my blog: http://twitter.com/susiehume

Thanks for reading!

Urban Dictionary

2007-03-27T00:49:00.000-04:00

Here's a short article I wrote for City newspaper on internet oddity, UrbanDictionary.com:
Read here, or below:

Think you're hip? Can you understand the mock conversation below?
Bob: Man, I have such a food baby! Djeetyat?
Jill: No. The cinemuck really turned my scrangina.
Bob: Shaw, it was skody! Let's globnick.
Jill: Sounds like a larf.
If you have no idea what Bob and Jill are discussing, then you obviously haven't been introduced to UrbanDictionary.com, an online community-edited slang dictionary. Started by Aaron Peckham in 2001, the website boasts more than 1 million entries, and almost 2,000 new ones are added each day. New entries are frequently repeats, and the site allows users to vote on entries (thumbs up or thumbs down) so that entries with higher ratings take prominence on the page.
Many of the words and phrases featured on UrbanDictionary.com are common sayings (like "cool"), some were derived from television, movies, or other pop-culture venues (and Urban Dictionary does its best to note the origins). Some entries are instances of offbeat vernacular, and at times, they are simply words made up by the site's users.
Most Gen-X and Gen-Y'ers will recognize terms like "drunk-dialing," defined by Urban Dictionary as making a phone call while inebriated to former flings, ex-boyfriends or girlfriends, or guys or girls that you want to hook up with; "shoulder surfing," looking over the shoulder(s) of a person with whom you are currently engaged in conversation to see if you can find someone better to talk to; or "rock star parking," the rare occurrence of obtaining a parking space directly outside the door of a bar, club, or restaurant.
But other words and expressions, like the ones used in the mock conversation above, are so new that they haven't yet made our everyday vocabulary. This is why Urban Dictionary's cultural role is twofold. It serves as a reference for individuals (and often businesses trying to market to younger, hip audiences). And as a continually updated database, it actually works to create new cultural expressions instead of being a mere reference for existing urban slang.
In the fall of 2005, Urban Dictionary expanded from just a website to a printed reference guide. The 352-page book contains only about 2,000 definitions from the website's massive collection. With online updates taking place daily, the book was outdated before it is even released. In other words, it is so five minutes ago.
Check it out at www.urbandictionary.com. It's da bomb.

Review of Carrie Mae Weems exhibit in Rochester

2007-03-01T16:45:00.000-05:00

Read the review written for City newspaper in Rochester here, or below:

Many modern women are hesitant to admit that they are feminists. The term typically requires clarification via a string of qualifiers, given the myriad negative cultural connotations and a history defined by divided opinion. Identifying as a feminist is even trickier for the feminist artist, who is already positioned outside a world often reserved for the male genius, resulting in further categorization and placement in a marginalized position. Carrie Mae Weems, an internationally renowned female, African-American photographer who often bitingly confronts issues of gender and race in her artwork, is no stranger to this concept. In fact, Weems uses the complications inherent in being a female artist as fuel for her work, flipping stereotypes and playing on viewers' assumptions in order to usurp them.
Currently on display at the University of Rochester's Hartnett Gallery, All About Eve is a cross-section of Weems' work from 1990 to 2006 that directly confronts gender issues. The exhibition's title evokes a dual meaning: the 1950 film of the same name and the biblical Eve. The artwork in the exhibition mirrors the title's multifaceted meaning as well, containing pieces that force viewers to explore several different female identity constructs --- the virgin and the whore, the mother and the daughter, the seducer and the seduced, the passive object and the aggressive subject.
Working with Hartnett Gallery director Derek Rushton, Weems selected 19 works from six distinct series and arranged them in a way that utilizes the gallery's idiosyncratic shape. Situated within Wilson Commons --- an oddly shaped building designed by architect I.M. Pei --- the triangular gallery provides a challenge to both artists and curators, but Weems and Rushton successfully use the space so that it actually enhances the work's strengths.
The left wall of the gallery, covered in a Weems-designed black-and-white wallpaper featuring a recurring female figure, contains a triptych from the series The Shape of Things (1993), and six photographs from the series Not Manet's Type (1997). The right wall is filled with five images from Weems' Kitchen Table (1990) series and three photographs from the series Framed by Modernism (1999).
The cleverest use of the gallery's space is where Weems has situated the piece The Apple of Adam's Eye (1995), a fabric folding screen that cuts across the acute corner connecting the gallery's left and right walls. The crimson partition employs a silk-screened image of a woman, shrouded in a royal blue sheet, and gold embroidered text to retell the biblical story of Adam and Eve. The front side of the panel reads "She'd always been the apple of Adam's Eye," but it is on the reverse side, which requires viewers to "trespass" into a tight corner, where Weems has left the rest of her humorous retelling: "Temptation my ass, desire has its place, and besides, they were both doomed from the start."
In the piece itself, Weems merges her talent as a visual artist and her acerbic humor. By selecting its unconventional gallery positioning, the poignancy is actually augmented. Forcing viewers to squeeze between the wall and the partition to view the back part of the screen is risky --- some patrons may be too timid to navigate the tight area and others will feel awkward as they work their way into the confined corner --- but it's necessary, as it heightens the themes of trespass and negotiation of space that are so common in Weems' artwork.

These themes are more prevalent in Weems' newest work, a short video titled Italian Dreams (2006), which plays on a loop on the gallery's back wall. Weems' eye for evocative visuals is readily apparent in this new video; it's an admirable addition to her already remarkable body of work. In the video, Weems (often the subject in her artwork) walks, with her back to the camera, through the hallways and gardens of Cinecittà, the studio in Rome made famous by Federico Fellini. Weems has admitted a love/hate relationship with Fellini's work due to his overt denigration of women, and here she consciously carves out a place for herself --- and women --- in that history.

This premise is apparent in several of the works on display. In the series Not Manet's Type, a woman (Weems again) shifts around a room in front of a mirror, the subject of both her own gaze and the viewer's. The text accompanying one panel states, "It was clear I was not Manet's type. Picasso --- who had a way with women --- only used me and Duchamp never even considered me."
All About Eve is a modest, but worthy exhibition of Weems' work. The skillfully nuanced pieces, seemingly disparate at first, are linked together by recurring themes, and their careful placement within the space-conscious gallery serves to reinforce their subtext. In her award-winning career, Weems has not only reclaimed historical settings for herself and women, but she has also proven herself a significant artist --- no qualifiers necessary.
All About Eve through March 9 Hartnett Gallery, Room 201, Wilson Commons, University of Rochester's River Campus Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, noon-6 p.m.

Hollywood puts the fat in "fat suit"

2007-02-04T18:07:00.000-05:00

Read my article here or below:

When Hollywood runs out of sequels and remakes --- which should happen any day now --- it has at least one comic leg to fall back on: movie folks seem to find nothing funnier than a man in a fat suit and a dress. With the February 9 release of Eddie Murphy's new film, Norbit, it's time to ask: what is with Hollywood's strange fascination with men dressed up as obese women? And maybe more importantly, who is paying to see these films?
The fat suit can be found on film as early as Monty Python's Meaning of Life in 1983, and has increased in its realism and frequency ever since. Even with our growing tendency toward political correctness, it seems that obesity is still fair game for laughs. And men in drag are a Hollywood humor staple (Some Like It Hot, Tootsie, Mrs. Doubtfire, et al.) Stripping a man of his masculinity may never lose its hilarity. But the growing trend seems to be not just men playing big, fat women, but specifically African-American men playing big, fat women.
Martin Lawrence did it for Big Momma's House, which was popular enough to spawn a similar be-fat-suited sequel. Tyler Perry has done it several times, from Madea's Family Reunion to Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Even Eddie Murphy has dabbled with latex and lycra before, in The Nutty Professor movies. Dave Chappelle spoke out against the trend on Oprah last year and stated his outward refusal to wear a dress. "Why do they put every black man in a dress eventually?" he asked. Good question.
So here we go again with the stereotypical domineering fat woman, and the desexualized black male. In Norbit, Murphy plays the titular character, a shy, good guy who is engaged to a controlling, gi-normous woman named Rasputia (whom Murphy also plays). The previews show the same old fat jokes (honestly, how many 400-pound women wear bikinis and run amuck like Godzilla, breaking everything in their paths?) and Murphy, as Norbit, looks embarrassed by the whole thing. As well he should be, frankly.

Night of the Living Deadenbacher

2007-02-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

An article I wrote for City, Rochester's alt-weekly newspaper. You can read it here or look below:
If you're one of the 20 million people who tuned into the Golden Globes on January 15, then you may have witnessed the new spokesman for Orville Redenbacher popcorn --- Orville Redenbacher himself. Well, not quite, since Redenbacher died almost 12 years ago. Instead, the new ad features a "composite" Redenbacher employing three actors (one each for the body, the face, and the voice) and the efforts of Digital Domain (the CG team behind The Lord of the Rings and Titanic) to digitally graft Redenbacher's mannerisms and facial features onto the actors frame by frame.
The effect is a creepy, bobble-headed Redenbacher replete with an oversized bowtie that seems to be keeping his head from teetering off his neck. If you saw the commercial, you probably did a double take. (If you haven't seen it, it's available on the Orville Redenbacher website, http://www.orville.com/.) And you realized that something's not quite right --- beyond the creep factor of having a dead guy schilling snack foods.
Sure, dead celebs have been used to pitch products in the past. The trend started in 1991 with a Diet Coke ad featuring Elton John performing before a crowd of gone-but-not-forgotten celebs, including Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Louis Armstrong. And most people remember more recent efforts like Mustang's invocation of Steve McQueen, Fred Astaire being sold to the (Dirt) Devil and Audrey Hepburn dancing for The Gap. But this is the first time a company has digitally recreated a walking, talking, zombie-spokesman that it can use to do and say as it pleases. It's a chilling concept that is only augmented by the awkwardness and eeriness of the ad itself.
As if the whole thing couldn't get any stranger, the "Deadenbacher" commercial was also directed by David Fincher --- yes, that David Fincher, director of Fight Club, Seven, and Panic Room. Just what is it that draws a big-name Hollywood director to a popcorn commercial? ConAgra Foods, the company that owns the Orville Redenbacher brand, won't disclose how much it paid to raise the dead, but it has declared it the most expensive ad it has ever made for the brand. And as the technology gets easier and cheaper (as technology does), we're apt to see zombie-stars popping up faster than the light-and-fluffy treat itself.

Review of Edgar Martins exhibit from NYC trip

2007-01-22T16:55:00.000-05:00

The woman stands alone on the beach, her head obscured by a cluster of balloons. She peers into the ocean, now a deep black infinity masked by night’s darkness. Ten steps further and she may fall off the edge into obscurity, but she remains motionless, trapped somewhere between fantasy and reality by photographer Edgar Martins.
The photograph, untitled, is part of the series “The Accidental Theorist,” currently on display at the Betty Cuningham Gallery in Chelsea through Jan. 13. The exhibition, also including prints from his series “Dystopia,” is Martins first in the U.S. — and what a grand entrance he makes.
The gallery’s first room contains five framed prints from Martins’ series “Dystopia:” Photographs taken immediately following the forest fires that engulfed Portugal in 2005. Martins, born in Portugal, used long-exposures so that the smoke from the fire’s aftermath fills the frame. At first glance, it appears to be fog, but upon closer inspection a subtle, unnatural pattern emerges— the smoke is opaque in areas, and transparent in others. Martins is playing with viewers’ assumptions; the disruption of the natural landscape by the unnatural appearance of the smoke creates tension and heightens the emotion.
The gallery’s second room contains the series “The Accidental Theorist.” Fourteen prints, mounted on aluminum and affixed to 3-inch thick wood substrate, jut out from the stark white walls. The beach photographs are 60-second exposures using only ambient light. The subjects vary: Beach umbrellas, a volleyball net, cabanas and in some, just the sand. Moonlight renders the landscapes delicate and artifical and the viewer wanders into a surreal world. Where the black horizon and the stark landscape meet, it is as if space and time are about to collapse into one.
The 30-something artist is a rarity amongst his contemporaries, most of whom are entrenched in the digital age. Employing a large format camera and no digital manipulation, Martins achieves remarkably surreal images that force the viewer to question how they are accomplished with traditional means. If you go see this exhibit (and you should), the eerily beautiful images will likely haunt your memory for days.

Review of "The Drowsy Chaperone" from NYC trip

2007-01-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

The Broadway production of “The Drowsy Chaperone” is best analogized to cotton candy; the high-energy song and dance numbers, lavish sets and 20s costumes send the audience into an intense, smile-laden sugar high, but also like the fast-dissolving circus treat, the show, touted as “a musical within a comedy,” only titillates the taste buds for its 105 minute runtime and the songs are ultimately forgettable.

Currently showing at the New York Marriott Marquis Theatre, “The Drowsy Chaperone”, based on the book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, is a play within a play narrated by a nameless character referred to simply as “Man in Chair” (a role typically filled by Mr. Martin himself, but played by swing actor Jay Douglas at the Jan. 2 performance). Man in Chair is the perfect postmodern creation — he makes abundant self-referential quips about theater and beats would-be detractors to the punch by criticizing the play’s flaws before they occur.

The narrative of the play within the play is an intentionally cookie-cutter plot akin to a Shakespearean comedy, replete with “mix-ups, mayhem” and of course a finale that involves several “gay weddings” (which Man in Chair clarifies “meant something different back then.”)
First-time director Casey Nicholaw does a fine job organizing the large ensemble cast and the audience is never left confused. Douglas plays Man in Chair with the appropriate amount of sarcasm and near perfect comic-timing that keeps the audience with him until the very end. But it is Sutton Foster, as bride-to-be Janet Van De Graaff, who is the obvious standout performer in the ensemble.

Foster’s rendition of “Show Off,” a song with a fairly formulaic tune and rather unremarkable lyrics, is surprisingly enjoyable; her impressive voice, immense stage presence and irresistible charisma elevate the otherwise bland song into an entertaining romp. While the audience is likely to forget exactly how the song goes, they’re sure to remember Foster’s performance, basking in the glow of camera flashes.

In the end, “The Drowsy Chaperone” is pure, unabashed escapism. And frankly, sometimes the sugary sweet simplicity and pleasure of cotton candy is the only thing that truly hits the spot.

30 Rock - Creating a new genre?

2006-12-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

Tina Fey’s new NBC show, “30 Rock,” for which Fey is also the creator, writer and lead actor, works on two distinct genre levels; it works both as a sitcom and also, due to the level at which the show references and parodies material from other shows it acts as a form of fictionalized sketch comedy in the vein of “Saturday Night Live,” for which Fey was previously head-writer. It both fits within the sitcom genre and combines elements of sketch comedy to create a show with heightened intertextuality and self-referentiality.
Several actors from “SNL” have joined the cast of “30 Rock” adding to the show’s intertextuality. Tracy Morgan plays a character with a strikingly similar name, Tracy Jordan, who is arguably both a version of himself and several other black actors. References are made to Martin Lawrence in the pilot episode with Jordan’s character having been in a movie where he plays a “fat grandma,” an obvious reference to “Big Momma’s House.” Jordan’s character also references Eddie Murphy with the red leather jacket worn in the pilot episode which is reminiscent of Murphy’s jacket from his “Delirious” tour. Lastly, in a flashback to Jordan’s film career, Morgan parodies the Danny Glover character from “Lethal Weapon” by stating, “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
The multiple actors that Morgan impersonates further the levels of reality at work in the show. Tracy Morgan the actor is a sketch-comedian, who is playing a sketch-comedian whose celebrity life is a combination of roles that are actually impersonations and parodies of other celebrities’ lives.
Actress Rachel Dratch (also from “SNL”) guest stars regularly on the show as well. Dratch is not playing one of the show’s main characters, but rather reappears in several episodes as different characters. (She plays a cat wrangler in the pilot episode, a maid in “The Aftermath,” and Elizabeth Taylor in “Jack Meets Dennis.”) Dratch’s appearances as changing characters points to the show’s relationship to sketch comedy; she is a regular cast member who is able to impersonate someone new every week. Alec Baldwin, though not an “SNL” cast member was a frequent host of the show, so his contribution here is both logical and fitting as “30 Rock” VP Jack Donaghy.
Tina Fey plays the main character of the show, Liz Lemon. Fey is the previous head-writer for “SNL” playing the head-writer for the sketch comedy show “The Girlie Show” on “30 Rock.” Her character is an obvious amalgamation of several other female sitcom characters and this contributes to the show’s ability to act both as sitcom and sketch comedy.
In the pilot episode, Liz Lemon (Fey) confronts a man who cuts in line at a hotdog stand, resulting in her buying all of the hotdogs and walking down the streets of New York passing them out. As she begins her walk down the city street a song begins to play with the lyrics, “Who’s that kicking it down the street causing a stir…that’s her…who’s got the kind of charisma the boys prefer…that’s her..” The lyrics and score to the song and the shots of Fey prancing down the New York streets are reminiscent of the opening sequence for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” The theme song lyrics for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (seasons two through seven) stated, “Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? Well it's you, girl, and you should know it.”
This entire opening sequence works on the level of parodying “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” so as to make this a sort of parody “sketch,” but as Fey approaches her office building the camera shifts inside to a set where the theme song playing is being filmed. It is not the theme of “30 Rock” as we have been mislead to believe, but rather the theme song for one of “The Girlie Show’s sketches” titled “The Overly Confident Morbidly Obese Woman,” a screen parody of Kirstie Alley’s “Fat Actress” (replete with sequined dress). Again the show is providing two levels here: the sketch comedy that occurs within the narrative and also the sketch comedy that takes place as a part of the show that Fey as Liz Lemon is writing for. In a sense the show is able to parody two shows at once – one in the narrative and the other in the narrative’s own sketch comedy show. The idea of the show-within-a-show concept is also tied into “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
In the following episode, “The Aftermath,” Fey parodies Mary Richards again. Here she throws a party for her co-workers on a yacht and worries throughout the entire episode about the party failing. She is constantly asking the party-goers, “It’s going well, isn’t it? I mean it has to go well.” After the party ends in disappointment Fey admits, “It was a disaster. I can’t do this.”
In the next episode, “Blind Date,” Fey moves us into another “female” sitcom parody, the obvious choice of parody since Lemon (Fey’s character) is a writer for “The Girlie Show,” described by the NBC page as “a real fun ladies’ comedy show for ladies.” (Fey’s friend and star of “The Girlie Show,” Jane Krakowski is also from “Ally McBeal,” the quintessential “girlie” show.) This time Fey parodies entire aspects of the HBO show “Sex and the City.” As Lemon points out in the pilot, though, referencing the HBO tagline, this is “not HBO, it’s TV.”
In “Blind Date,” Jack tells Liz she needs to date and that her “biggest fear should be choking to death in [her] own apartment.” Liz states she isn’t afraid, only to be plagued by it the entire episode, and at her apartment while eating Chinese take-out she chokes and has to perform the Heimlich on herself with the help of a chair. This entire scene is taken from the “Sex and the City” episode “Four Women and a Funeral.” Therefore, in this episode, Fey is parodying Miranda’s character from “Sex and the City.” This is later confirmed again when Liz finally agrees to be set up on a blind date with a friend of Jack’s, only to find that the blind date is a woman; Jack has made the assumption that she is a lesbian. Miranda also experienced this exact same pratfall on “Sex and the City.”
In the latest episode, “Jack Meets Dennis,” “Sex and the City” is referenced again. Guest star Dean Winters plays Fey’s boyfriend, Dennis Duffy. When asked by Jenna (Jane Krakowski) how the sex is, Fey replies “fast and only on Saturdays; it’s perfect.” Winters also played in an episode of “Sex and the City” titled “Fuck Buddy,” where he played Carrie’s “friend with benefits.” Since the show acts as a sort of sketch comedy in the vein of “SNL,” Winters is the host/guest star of this show and he parodies in it the work he has done before (as is customary for “SNL” hosts.) He plays again the role of the “boyfriend of convenience” here and also later references his role as Ryan O’Reily on “Oz” when he discusses “rat kings,” referencing a discussion about Governor Devlin on that show.
In “Jack-Tor,” Fey raises the level of intertextuality even more. The opening scene of the show addresses product placement and the characters discuss how annoying it is as they themselves participate in obvious product placement for Snapple. This scene parodies a scene from the film “Wayne’s World” (where the same is done with Pepsi), which also happens to be an “SNL” film. And, this scene is also self-referential because NBC had actually required more product placement in the show, so Fey wrote it into the show as an instrument of comedy (like Wayne’s World) and this is also what Liz Lemon proposes for the GE products they are required to write in.
In the same episode, Jenna performs her international hit song “Muffintop,” a theme and joke that continues throughout the show. The lyrics of the song, “Everyone knows the top of the muffin is the best part,” are a reference to a “Seinfeld” episode where Elaine uses that exact phrase (and later a store called “Top of the Muffin to you” is opened up.)
“30 Rock” features incessant parodies of other shows and styles while retaining the plot conventions and drive of the normal sitcom. In creating a show with several levels of reality and references to prior (and current) shows, Fey has created a new multi-layered genre; the sitcom and the sketch comedy coalesce to form the “sketch sitcom.”

Feminist critique of TV show "Heroes"

2006-12-08T06:10:00.000-05:00

I recently wrote a feminist critique of the television show "Heroes" for my Methods of Criticism class. I used post-structuralist feminism as a basis for critique, and discussed the various gender stereotypes employed by the show in constructing its female characters. Specifically, the three main female characters Niki (Ali Larter), Claire (Hayden Panettiere) and Eden (Nora Zehetner).

While I'm not posting my actual paper here in my blog, here are some interesting things I noticed:

For those unfamiliar with the show, it is about a group of everyday people who wake up to realize that they have special powers. In terms of mere content analysis, the men with special powers far outweigh the women with powers on the show. There are currently two women alive with superpowers (two have been killed) and there are eight men with powers. Only two main character “heroes” have been killed and both were women. The first, Charlie (Jayma Mays) had the ability to memorize and learn facts at astonishing rates, and though the male character Hiro tried to save her from being murdered, she ends up being the stereotypical female victim. The other dead hero is Eden, who was killed off in the latest episode (to be discussed more later).
The show’s tagline, “Save the cheerleader, save the world,” refers to the character Claire, a high school cheerleader with the ultimate power of indestructibility. The show’s tagline alone posits Claire, even though she is arguably one of the show’s most powerful characters, as someone who needs to be saved. Women are often represented as either vulnerable or as victims and the show’s tagline heightens this notion. The “heroes” that band together to “save the cheerleader” are all male characters on the show. Yes, Claire may be the key to saving the world, but the fact that she holds one of the highest powers on the show begs the question of why she needs to be saved instead of doing the saving herself.
Claire’s character is fraught with gender stereotypes. We first see Claire in the pilot through the screen of a handheld camera which “controls” her by making her captive to the small screen and also heightens the notion of her as an object for the male gaze (the camera is being operated by a male character, Zach). As a cheerleader she is almost always seen in her cheerleading uniform (short skirt with v-split and tight top) which puts her natural beauty at conflict with her unnatural power. Her objectification is most obvious in the opening sequence of the episode “Collision” where the show’s title is literally printed on her abdomen.
While the male “heroes” are delighted with their new powers or generally feel blessed by them, Claire sees her new power as a curse; she is concerned with still appearing feminine and dainty and her power threatens that. When asked by Zach if she is being overdramatic, Claire responds emphatically, “No, I don’t think.” This sort of dialogue continues for Claire as she is portrayed as a mere object, incapable of real thought – her sole purpose, it seems, is to be “saved” by the other characters. When asked by one of the heroes, Peter, who comes to her rescue, “By saving you, did I save the world?” Claire frankly replies, “I don’t know. I’m just a cheerleader.”
In a sense, Claire’s power is actually a disadvantage rather than a benefit. When the football captain Brody tries to rape her, and eventually pushes her down, he kills her, but Claire’s regenerative powers actually redeem Brody for his crime. Since she heals, he is not a murderer. Her power is of great benefit to everyone around her, but not to herself.
The show’s use of female gender constructs is most obvious in the character Niki Sanders. Just like Claire, Niki is first introduced to the audience through the screen of a camera, but her “confined” appearance continues throughout the show. Niki is an internet stripper – she sells her image for money – who realizes that she has a split-personality that is unnaturally strong and murderous. Niki’s character represents woman’s double bind; she is punished both for being good and when she strays from cultural norms. Here, as a superhero she has the double identity, but her power is completely out of her hands (she blacks out and doesn’t remember what happens).
Her violent personality is named Jessica, after her sister who died when Niki was young. Niki blacks out anytime she feels threatened or vulnerable and Jessica takes over, resulting in men with torn limbs and random sexual encounters. A later episode reveals that Niki has developed this split personality as a result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father; Jessica was created to protect her from the evils around her – this is a common comic book superheroine trait where women get their powers as a result of abuse or rape. One could argue that Niki is not even a superhero, just a woman with mental illness. Even her super-human strength is used only to protect or save her son, Micah, which could be argued as the phenomenon that sometimes occurs when women’s children are endangered.
In order to portray Niki’s split-personality, she is often seen in mirrors (or otherwise reflected in water, glass and other means) showing that she is visually split and therefore not to be trusted. The mirror shots both represent her feminine self-absorbed narcissism and her duplicitous nature. The idea of her being visually split is constantly thrown in the audience’s face; we see her reflection in an elevator door with the line down the middle, in three-piece mirrors where her image is extended over the panels and in broken mirrors where she is fragmented into pieces. The mirrors also work to contain her threat and danger; it is when Jessica breaks free from containment of the mirror that she is real trouble to those around her.
The character Eden, who kills herself in the most recent episode, “Fallout,” as a sacrificial act (she did not want the villain, Sylar, to steal her powers) is a more complex, yet equally gendered character. Her name alone evokes The Garden of Eden, the place of woman’s sin and of the convincing, yet evil, snake. Eden as a modern-day siren, endowed with the power of persuasion and evil tendencies represents both Eve and the snake.
While her power is also more potent and likely more desirable than any of the male’s power, she is controlled by the men in the show. Claire’s father, Mr. Bennett, commands Eden and uses her as a tool for his means. Her power is muted by Mr. Bennett’s other “acquisition,” an unnamed Haitian character who has the ability to block other’s powers.
The women in “Heroes” are always either wearing the color red or are otherwise surrounded by it (red cheerleading uniform, red umbrellas, red blankets, etc.) The color red is used to signify Niki’s duplicity (as both a color of anger or rage and of passion), Claire’s burgeoning sexuality (her cheerleading uniform, the red blanket covering her naked body at the morgue) and Eden’s tendencies toward evil. Subsidiary female characters are also often seen in the color red, whereas the male characters only wear or are surrounded by this color in times of weakness (Hiro, when he loses his power is mysteriously changed into a red shirt). Therefore, in “Heroes” the color red represents lack – lack of phallus (and therefore power and control) for the women or sudden lack of power for the men.
It is obvious that the men are the real “heroes” in this show. Even the narration of the show is done by a male, therefore giving the authority of interpretation here to the men. While the show does create complex and strong female characters, it employs stereotypes to do so and finds ways to contain their power throughout the show (typically by men). Instead of working as a postfeminist text, where feminist critique would no longer be relevant, this show is laden with stereotypes that perpetuate female gender constructs.
This may sound like just another "angry feminist rant," but in actuality I find the show is still an enjoyable, if guilty, pleasure. I am not suggesting that creator Tim Kring wrote his characters this way intentionally, this critique is more about pointing out the gender constructs/stereotypes that are still at work in society that we may not even notice.

Tenacious D film review

2006-11-16T16:45:00.001-05:00

Here is a link to my review of Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, written for the Rochester insider:

Please click here to read it.

Making the familiar foreign: Reinventing O’Keeffe

2006-11-13T11:28:00.000-05:00

Georgia O’Keeffe, the bellwether of American women artists, enjoyed a career that spanned more than 60 years and produced over 1,200 paintings. Borrowing terminology from German cultural critic Walter Benjamin, O’Keeffe’s works, having been perpetually reproduced in virtually ever format imaginable have lost their “aura,” the sense of awe a viewer feels when in the presence of inimitable artwork typically restricted to exhibition.
Curating the work of such an iconic artist presents an enormous challenge to a museum; the objective is to offer a fresh and imaginative look at artwork that has become not only accessible to viewers, but also wholly familiar. In order to present an original exhibition, an in-depth examination must take place into the unexplored areas of the artist’s career.
Currently on display at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, N.Y. through December 31, the touring show “Georgia O’Keeffe: Color and Conservation,” a collection of 27 rarely seen works, represents the efforts of art-historian Sarah Whitaker Peters and Memorial Art Gallery curator Marie Via to re-explore the career of the famous female painter.
As the show’s title implies, the focus is not just on O’Keeffe’s paintings, but also on her relationship with her conservator, Caroline Keck. Peters discovered 96 letters between O’Keeffe and Keck that became the impetus for the collection. Owing thanks to Via, several photographs of O’Keeffe are also on display (on loan from Rochester’s George Eastman House). The resulting show is not a mere display of O’Keeffe’s art; rather, it is a discovery of her process and the role she played in the conservation of her legacy.
Via has hung the works in semi-chronological order, spanning four rooms in the gallery. The first room contains several photographs taken by O’Keeffe’s husband, famous photographer Alfred Stieglitz. The seldom seen photographs provide viewers a personal and even intimate portrait of the artist; Via ingeniously exposes the viewer to these photographs before O’Keeffe’s paintings in order to wipe clean the slate of expected familiarity one has before viewing O’Keeffe’s work.
O’Keeffe’s surroundings were often the muse for her paintings. The exhibit focuses on work from O’Keeffe’s most prolific periods: her representational period spawned from her earlier life in New York City; her move to abstraction inspired by visuals at the couple’s cabin on Lake George; and her eventual shift to surrealism triggered by Stieglitz’s death and her subsequent move to New Mexico. Via’s choice to exhibit the work chronologically has the simultaneous and remarkable effect of clustering the art by both style and location.
Where appropriate, the gallery has positioned informational plaques that contain copies of Keck and O’Keeffe’s letters and additional comments on the preservation process used for specific paintings. The plaques allow the viewers to see another new aspect of O’Keeffe – her fascinating handwriting – and also give insight into the conservation process which, done correctly, cannot be detected.
The only thing that detracts from the display is Via’s decision to place random, unattributed quotes on the walls. The viewer assumes they are quotes from O’Keeffe (and they are), but they unnecessarily clutter the walls and are unconnected to the exhibition’s otherwise strong thesis.
Ultimately, the specific paintings on display become almost inconsequential — they are less the heart of the exhibit than the work that has been put into protecting the vibrant, emblematic O’Keeffe colors. The show is a radical departure from most gallery’s treatment of O’Keeffe which often feature random assortments of O’Keeffe’s work –a sort of “here’s what we could get” display – here, a large effort has been put into casting aside the proverbial O’Keeffe and creating an innovative exhibition with a fresh focus.

Director Christopher Nolan conjures cinematic magic

2006-10-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

Magic is the art of entertaining an audience to divert their attention and subsequently give the impression that something impossible has taken place right before their eyes. “The Prestige,” released into theaters on Oct. 20, tells the tale of the escalating rivalry between two London magicians at the turn of the 19th century. Director Christopher Nolan constructs the narrative analogous to the magician’s illusions, triggering the expectation of an extraordinary, revelatory twist. But the final act is not a shock at all—the attentive viewer will have figured it out long before the exposition. The real magic is that the resultant predictability does not detract from Nolan’s highly engrossing film.
The film, based on the novel by Christopher Priest, opens with the death of illusionist Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) while his foe, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), bears witness to his demise. The ensuing stories, cross-cut in semi-chronological order, follow the trial of Borden for Angier’s death, the formation and intensification of their rivalry, and Angier’s quest to commission a contraption he hopes will outshine his adversary.
Nolan, famous for his convoluted narratives (most notably in “Memento,” and “The Following”), employs a triple-narrative structure to parallel the idea that every magic trick is composed of three acts. This principle is uttered twice in the film by Cutter (Michael Caine), who designs the devices used by the magicians for their illusions. The three acts, he says, are the pledge (“where the magician shows you something that seems ordinary, but probably isn't”), the turn (“where the magician makes his ordinary something do something extraordinary”), and the prestige (“the part with the twists and turns…you see something shocking you've never seen before”).
Though Nolan’s narrative structure loops back and forth, bending time into a knot, the viewer is never befuddled. The non-sequential account actually serves to lock the viewer into the present tense of the film’s reality allowing what could have been a commonplace story to become an intriguing exploration.
On top of his penchant for complex narratives, Nolan has also mastered the art of establishing unlikable lead characters. The viewer’s sympathies are constantly thrown between Borden and Angier and never resolve to side with one or the other. This puts the viewer in a constant state of dissonance and creates a tension that furthers the sinister atmosphere of the film.
Jackman and Bale are equally impressive in the title roles. Jackman terrifically portrays Angier as man on a downward spiral into pure obsession and madness. And Bale has the remarkable chameleon-like ability to absorb whatever character he is playing to a degree that the viewer forgets every role he has played before it.
The women of “The Prestige” play their roles with varying degrees of greatness. Rebecca Hall, as Borden’s wife Sarah, leaves a lasting impression; she craftily portrays her character’s emotional battle with her husband’s on-off detachment and makes it evident with every part of her body. Scarlett Johansson, usually an actress of great depth and talent, relies solely on her pouty lips, good looks and raspy voice to play Angier’s assistant, Olivia; as Cutter tells Angier before she is hired, “a good looking assistant is the best distraction,” and, regrettably, Johansson is not much more than a distraction in the film.
David Bowie is the most eccentric casting choice made in “The Prestige,” but that fact only adds to his extraordinary turn as famous inventor Nikola Tesla. As an electrical engineer during the Industrial Revolution, Tesla represents the real magic of scientific invention over the prestidigitator’s illusions. Tesla and his famous competitor, Edison, act as counterparts for the film’s main characters Borden and Angier; Tesla, like Borden, was a genius who lacked the presentation and expediency of his rival Edison, who shares with Angier the gift of showmanship and practicality.
The dutiful viewer, taking a cue from the film’s opening line (“are you watching closely?”), will recognize the many cinematic foreshadowing elements and visual metaphors that Nolan utilizes to solve the riddle long before the “prestige” is revealed, but Nolan’s storytelling is so riveting, the acting is so phenomenal, and the pacing is so perfect, that not a minute of the film’s finale will be spent unimpressed.

Let's stay together

2006-10-17T19:12:00.000-04:00

I was a bit nervous to watch "The Break-Up," not only because of the horrible reviews and pans from my friends, but even more so because of my whole disillusionment with the romantic-comedy genre which I feel normally enforces unrealistic notions about romance and perpetuates the "prince" complex for their leading women who can only be happy when they find love. I find it especially annoying, then, that these films get passed off as "chick flicks" that women either are supposed to love, or even worse, believe.
With that said, I was pleasantly surprised by "The Break-Up." It was horribly mismarketed as a comedy in trailers, but the film is actually a more serious look at modern relationships. I rarely ever find myself sympathizing with or understanding the characters in most romantic comedies, but in "The Break-Up" they are much more realistic people. Yes, the size of their apartment and the lifestyle they live in terms of the money they make is completely unbelievable, but I think we've all come to expect that in films and television, even if we don't forgive it. But the actual arguments they have and the actual progression of their split was pretty accurate. Break-ups, like relationships, don't just happen over night. They build up and even after the splitting words have been said, the emotional separation takes time.
Even more impressive is that this film doesn't pander to the idea that women just need a man to be happy and also that we are very complex. Anniston does a great job in this film and really separates herself from her role in "Friends." Yes, these characters are ultimately a bit selfish and shallow, but they are honest and real.
And the ending? Phenomenal. Most people hated it because it wasn't the traditional Hollywood happy-ending, but I found the ending not only fitting, but also uplifting.
This film does for women what "High Fidelity" did for men (another fabulous film): it is an honest look at relationships and break-ups. For those who love pure escapist entertainment that doesn't really reflect true life, rent a different romantic-comedy -- this one's not for you.

No thank you...

2006-10-16T23:20:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching “Thank You for Smoking,” which I meant to see when it came out, but missed it before it left theaters. Anyway, I was very excited to see the film, both because of what I had read prior to its release and the reviews I read after it came out. The film received quite a bit of praise from critics and audiences alike and while I am not one to trust everything I read, I was still excited to see what may be a good satire (a genre that I feel is sadly lacking). Needless to say, my expectations for the film were fairly high.
Aaron Eckhart, as tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor (Nic-otine Nailer), was fabulous and I must admit that I did laugh out loud several times watching the film (something I am less likely to do when I am alone.) Rob Lowe as a Hollywood agent was fabulous, even with only a few minutes of screen time. But I found the film, in general, a bit tame. If you’re going to make a satire about the moral flexibility of lobbyists and politicians, I say go full force, no holds barred. I wanted to be offended by the film’s unwillingness to back down and mostly, I want to feel a ping of guilt for laughing – but I didn’t.
Indeed, the first half of the film seemed to be building momentum to the hysterical, yet guilty laughs I was craving, but instead shifted focus to the relationship between Eckhart and his teenage son. It is here that the film became less satire and more about the moral redemption his character receives – he isn’t completely redeemed by the film’s end, but the film still seems to be peddling a message, which felt kind of unnecessary and actually a bit annoying. I didn’t want to leave this film with some ‘moral of the story.’ Sure, smoking is unhealthy and lobbyists and politicians alike are corrupt, but we all know that. I found Eckhart’s eventual abandonment of Big Tobacco for his son’s sake to be unbelievable and I felt a bit betrayed.
In fact, the people that end up looking the most unethical by the film’s end are journalists and women – as a female journalist I must admit I was a bit insulted. Katie Holmes plays journalist Heather Holloway who uses not journalistic integrity and wit to get the story on Nick Naylor, but instead uses her “great tits” (as the character’s constantly call them) and sleeps with him to get him to reveal his secrets. So if lobbyists and politicians are bad, journalists are just plain evil as they will apparently stop at nothing to get the story.
Whereas Nick Naylor is redeemed by the end of the film and moves on to a bigger, better job (his own business), Heather instead is shown degraded as a weathergirl caught in a storm. The women in the film in general are either one-dimensional characters, evil seductresses, whores, clueless idiots (as is Nick’s ex-wife) or in the case of Maria Bello’s character they have just become “one of the guys.” I could go on for pages about how this movie objectifies, vilifies and generally dismisses women, but this blog is getting a bit long and I feel I’ve made my point.
In the end, the movie reminded me of an episode of “The Family Guy” where Peter’s company is taken over by a tobacco company and he becomes president and spokesman. “The Family Guy” is never forgiving, everyone is fair game – that episode is particularly merciless. I recommend renting that instead of “Thank You for Smoking” if you want good satire.

Got Grudge?

2006-10-16T19:22:00.000-04:00

Milk may do a body good, but the maker’s of “The Grudge 2” want you to know that over consumption of the bovine fluid may also lead to death.
“The Grudge 2,” which appropriately opened Friday the 13th, is a sequel to 2004’s “The Grudge,” which is a remake of the 2003 Japanese film, “Ju-on.” If that sounds confusing, then the film’s plot is nothing short of a Gordian knot, woven with one-dimensional characters, crater-size plot holes and laughable death sequences.
The film attempts to weave three storylines, two in Japan and one in Chicago. The characters are connected only by the ghosts that haunt them, but the film’s director, Takashi Shimizu (who also directed “The Grudge” and “Ju-on”), annoyingly cross-cuts the stories with fade-outs every five to fifteen minutes.
The resulting film is more parody than sequel. Shimizu rips entire scenes from his previous films and tries to pass them off as revelatory. He doesn’t stop there; he also shamelessly steals entire scenes from unconnected places. The opening sequence is an almost verbatim reproduction of a scene from “Six Feet Under.”
Shimizu uses the appropriate horror movie formula – mix two parts scantily-clad women (here cheerleaders and catholic school girls), one part ghosts (mother-ghost having bad hair day joined by mewing son), and a dash of creepy noises (here, throat-clicking) – but he completely neglects the art of suspense; the product is laughable at best.
Death by milk may be original, but that doesn’t make it an effective scare technique. The comic death scenes, poor acting and absent plot joined by peek-a-boo with an elderly man on a bus and an old lady who talks like Swan from “Mad TV” and looks like the shop owner from “Gremlins,” and you get not a horror movie, but a hysterical comedy.

Review of Pete Turner show at the George Eastman House

2006-09-25T03:50:00.000-04:00

“Color Me Beautiful: Photographer Pete Turner is Empowered by Color”

A photograph has the uncanny ability to rediscover for its viewers the beauty that they recurrently experience, but fail to give sufficient attention – or, as famous French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson famously coined, photographs represent a “decisive moment” where even the most basic object or event can be striking if captured in the right fraction of time. Photographer Pete Turner mastered the art of the “decisive moment” early in his career and combined it with a flair for surreal color and striking composition in a time when color photography was used almost exclusively for commercial purposes; unfortunately, Turner’s newer work sacrifices his old talents to focus solely on experiments with color, a boring and safe move for a once risky master.
Currently on display at the George Eastman House through February 4, 2007, Empowered by Color is a retrospective of Pete Turner’s 40-year career. A modest collection of about 50 photographs are on display, hung in semi-chronological order with the newest work on the far right wall and the oldest on the far left.
“Times Square,” 1957, is the most hauntingly beautiful of Turner’s older work. A thick blue haze envelops a deserted Times Square at night; a stoplight stands in the middle of the shot, extraordinarily displaying red, yellow and green simultaneously. The long-exposure shot makes the viewer aware of the sad truth that time is fleeting and yet, the lights gives us pause by asking us to do the impossible – stop and go concurrently. It is here that Turner weds surrealism, color and the decisive moment with aplomb.
On the opposite wall is one of Turner’s newer photographs, “Fronds,” 2004, a brightly colored image of palm fronds in front of a bright-orange wall. The resulting photograph is more like a southwestern postcard cover than a Turner masterpiece. The decisive moment is of no importance here and the colors, though extravagant, do nothing to transport us from the everyday world.
When successful, Turner’s photographs exert overwhelming colors and imposing shapes, propelling the viewer into a surreal, Technicolor world. Turner’s ability to create such striking images in a pre-digital-manipulation-world is what makes his older works so impressive and his newer work – for which Turner employs a digital camera and software – depressingly boring in contrast. Turner’s newer work is a boiled down version of the old – the “decisive moment” and surrealism have evaporated and all that is left is concentrated color.

Rochester band Room 30 draws crowds, one fan at a time

2006-09-25T03:45:00.000-04:00

Here is an article I wrote for the Rochester Insider on the talented local band Room 30.
Check them out at www.room30.com

Take a little bit of rock music, mix in two parts ska, add some funk and punk, a dash of reggae and you will get this year’s Ten Ugly Men Ugly Idol winner, Room 30.
“It’s nice not to be typecast as a certain type of band,” says Rochester Institute of Technology student Chris Hynes, 24, the band’s singer, songwriter and lead guitarist. “Our music is something different. It cannot really be classified.”
Since winning the Ugly Idol competition last July, Room 30 have had no trouble booking shows. They played over 30 shows this summer, and their fall schedule is filling up fast, including an October 14 show at A-Pub Live with Puddle.

Something New
Booking shows in a city that loves cover bands isn’t easy when you are trying to play original songs, but Room 30 find other ways to draw in crowds.

“Sometimes if you don’t play songs they recognize, you lose them,” admits Hynes, who seems to have come up with a solution. “Sometimes we will play a show with a cover band and that will get people in and then they’ll hear us and think ‘hey, these guys aren’t bad.’”

While Room 30’s music is definitively different, they also acknowledge the bands that have influenced their unique sound. Hynes, a fan of O.A.R. and Reel Big Fish, tries to infuse their styles into the songs that he writes, but he also leaves room for the band’s other members to put their spin on it.

“It’s fun because every song we’ve ever written we all put different elements into it,” says Hynes. “A lot of songs are written open so we can leave room for solos. When your audiences are the same in the same city, it’s nice to change it up a bit.”

Room 30 is psyched about their upcoming fall shows. For their A-Pub Live show they plan to play mostly originals, but Hynes says they may throw in a couple familiar songs for the crowd.

“We like to cover the Sam Cooke song Another Saturday Night,” Hynes says. “It’s one of those songs you don’t think you know, but then you hear it and you suddenly recognize it.”

Even when they are playing the occasional cover song, Room 30 make sure to add their own distinct flavor. Sometimes they will intersperse a cover song into an original to attract the attention of a crowd, which they have done with songs like Van Morrison’s famous anthem Brown-eyed Girl.

“It keeps the new audiences listening and the fans guessing,” explains Hynes.

One Fan at a Time
Room 30 are also wise to the fact that part of making a name for yourself is getting as much exposure as possible.

“Very rarely do we say no to a show,” says Hynes. “It’s one fan at a time. There may only be 10 people at a show, but if one person likes you, that’s good.”

Longtime fan Derrick Bazer, 22, appreciates the distinct sound that Room 30 brings to Rochester

“Most other bands play the same covers and it gets repetitive,” says Bazer, who has admittedly seen all but two of Room 30’s shows. “It’s nice to hear some new music. All of the fans like what they’re doing.”

Proving Hynes’ one-fan-at-a-time theory, Room 30 has a growing group of loyal fans who appeared at every show they played over the summer.

“Their music is very energetic,” says fan Jared McMullen, 23, who admits he rarely misses a show. “They work up the crowd a lot and the music is well-composed. It’s fun to listen to and be around.”

Room 30 also credit their loyal fans for their increasing popularity and success.

“If we were having an off night, they would drink a lot and make the bar a lot of fun,” says Hynes. “They helped us out a lot.”

With no booking agent or manager, Hynes has also taken up marketing for the group. “I carry CD’s around with me everywhere I go,” he says. “It’s that self-marketing thing — the one fan at a time mentality. I just stay after every show and talk to everyone I can.”

Coming Soon…
Currently Room 30 have just a three-song EP of their best-known songs — “Come My Way,” “Here’s to Snap,” and “Melvin” — but in the spring they plan to record and release a full-length CD.
They also want to start booking shows in other cities. Hynes would ideally like to see the group touring up and down the East Coast within the next year.
“Rochester has been great to us,” says Hynes, “But there is only so much you can do in one city.”

While three of Room 30’s members are still finishing up college, Hynes admits he would love for the group to make it big someday.

“We’ve got something going here,” says Hynes, currently pursuing a pre-law degree. “If it came down to it, I would love for this to be my full-time job.”

Meet the Band…
Chris Hynes, 24: Lead guitar and vocals, songwriter. Pre-law student at RIT.
Kevin Matthews, 24: Bass player. Psychology major at SUNY Brockport.
Ben Collins, 24: Drums. Employed full-time with the Sutherland Group.Wes Smith, 21: Saxophone. Student at Eastman School of Music.

Three Reasons NOT to miss the Ebony Fashion Fair

2006-09-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

It’s the world’s largest traveling fashion show
The Ebony Fashion Fair is just that – the world’s largest traveling fashion show. This year’s show opened in Chicago on Sept. 6 and will travel to nearly 180 cities before closing in Bermuda in May. The best news of all? Rochester is one of the stops! The Ebony Fashion Fair will take place at the RSMC Eisenhart Auditorium on October 19 at 8 p.m. in Rochester and I have a feeling that tickets will sell out fast. You will not have another opportunity this year (or possibly ever) to see a show of this size and caliber unless you know someone who knows someone who can get you into a runway show in New York City (highly unlikely). With the season finale of Project Runway quickly approaching, this is your chance to get out and see some live runway fashion from famous designers who have already ‘made it work’.
It brings some of the biggest designer names to the area
Let’s face it; unless we’re watching TV, it is not often that we get to see the designs of the fashion world’s biggest names strutted down the runway. The Ebony Fashion Fair has given many designers and models their start in its 49 years, but each year it also boasts an impressive list of the world’s most famous fashion designers. This year’s list of over 70 designers is no different, including names like Vivienne Westwood, Oscar de la Renta, Givenchy, Bill Blass and Yves St. Laurent. This year’s fashion fair is sure showcase the designs of more big names than a season of Sex and the City, and best of all, it’s right in our backyard.
It benefits a local charity
Not only do you get to see high-fashion, hot bods and big names, but the whole evening is also 100% guilt free – it’s for charity! The Ebony Fashion Fair has donated over $55 million to a variety of charitable organizations since it began in 1948. The Rochester show is hosted by Trinity Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and will benefit the community scholarship fund which provides tuition assistance to low-income families. So, how often do you have the opportunity to see a national fashion show while at the same time feeling like you’ve done a good deed? Almost never. Not only are you demonstrating your altruistic side just by buying a ticket, but you’ll also get a subscription to either Ebony or Jet magazine and a chance to win a variety of prizes, including round-trip airline tickets or a new car.

EBONY Stylishly Hot Fashion Fair

2006-09-20T21:40:00.000-04:00

I just received word from my editor at the Rochester Insider that I get to write a preview for the EBONY Stylishly Hot Fashion Fair.
How often does a national fashion show come to Rochester? It's even coming to Syracuse -- rarer still. It is after all "the world's largest traveling fashion show," as their site puts it. Check it out here.
I browsed the press releases online and was very impressed by the range of styles represented. I don't have too many details yet, but I will keep my blog updated and add my preview once it is written.
Keep checking back.

My MIX article

2006-09-18T18:11:00.000-04:00

The above picture is an image of my article from "The Mix," a special supplement of the Syracuse "Post-Standard." (Read the article at the bottom of this post, OR click on the above image to open in new window and then click lower right-hand corner to zoom.)
Beneath is a picture of the cover which I also designed. The cover incorporates images from the other articles in "The Mix," all written by members of the Goldring Arts Journalism Program, a master's degree program at the Newhouse School of Syracuse University which trains aspiring journalists how to write about the arts.

The largest photo in this cover, the dancing picture, is one that I took for fellow student at a dance class. See the full image below.

In an unassuming building at the edge of the Syracuse University campus stands the nationally renowned contemporary photography gallery, Light Work. Since its inception in 1973, Light Work has not only been home to a gallery that draws artists and audiences the world over, but also a state-of-the-art community access photography facility, Community Darkrooms.

The approximately 350 members of Community Darkrooms range from hobbyists to professional photographers. Memberships are available at an affordable rate to the general public and Syracuse University students and card-holders. Members have access to all of the equipment in Community Darkrooms; only printing and classes incur extra costs.

While the facility itself is undeniably impressive – Community Darkrooms offers both a color and a black and white darkroom, a digital manipulation and printing lab complete with Mac G5 computers and Epson pigment printers, a large studio room with professional lighting kits, and a variety of courses and seminars – it is the community environment that serves to benefit the members most of all.

“When we say community darkroom, the accent is on community,” said Dale Pierce, a professional photographer and 15-year member. “We have a passion that we share together and we support each other so much.” Pierce not only uses the darkroom to create his own artwork, but also teaches classes at Community Darkrooms.

Since taking his first photography course at Community Darkrooms in 1991, Pierce has exhibited his artwork at several well-established galleries and has published his photographs in various trade magazines.

Currently, Pierce is working on a new photographic process he developed and calls “photo montage.” Pierce begins the process by photographing models in the studio, working only in black and white traditional photography. Each photograph is then printed in two different exposures both of which are cut into approximately one inch strips. He then weaves the strips together to create one image and re-photographs it. The final effect is a multi-layered look that gives the photograph added depth, allowing it to nearly jump off the page at the viewer.

Two-year member Tracey Gotham, 47, began taking photography courses a few years ago as a hobby, but soon realized it could become a lot more. “It’s a passion,” she said. “It’s cathartic, cleansing and therapeutic. You learn a lot about yourself.”

Gotham recently won best-in-show in the annual competition, “On My Own Time,” a local juried arts competition cosponsored by the Cultural Resources Council of Syracuse and Onondaga County and the Everson Museum of Art meant to demonstrate the artistic ability of employees from local businesses.

Her winning photograph, to be displayed at the Everson Museum of Art in October, is a candid shot of a 12-year-old girl in a cornfield, holding several stalks of corn in her arms. Gotham explained that the girl was insecure at first about being photographed, but, Gotham said, “She was very proud of [the photograph] when she saw it.”

A variety of classes are also offered at Community Darkrooms for those who wish to learn photography. Anna Vaivoda, 19, a student at Johns Hopkins University and Skaneateles resident, recently took the intermediate black and white course. “I am by no means an expert,” she said, “but they help with the fine tuning. It is a small class so there is lots of one-on-one time with the professor.”

In October Community Darkrooms will offer free seminars to the public. There will be an introductory darkroom seminar the first Saturday of every month, and on the second Saturday of each month, they will offer free seminars in iLife – Apple software for editing photographs, video and music. “It is a great place to start for those who are beginners,” said Vernon Burnett, Community Darkrooms manager. “You can have a web page up in two hours.”

Members of Community Darkrooms also benefit from the extraordinary artist-in-residence program offered through Light Work. Each year, the gallery invites between 12 and 15 artists to participate. The artists are given a stipend, an apartment in Syracuse provided by the gallery, and access to Community Darkrooms, including a private darkroom. The program has drawn many famous photographers including Carrie Mae Weems, Peter DeLory, Cindy Sherman, and most recently, Suzanne Opton.

“Even though the artists are given a private darkroom, they often interact with the members and students,” said Burnett, recognizing how beneficial the artist’s presence is to other members.

Member Dale Pierce had the opportunity to work alongside Suzanne Opton while she was in residency. “They’re very willing to spend time with the other artists,” he said. “They conduct mini-seminars with members and assist them. They are very accessible.”

Many of the darkroom’s members credit their artistic success to the reciprocal learning effect the community environment creates. “A lot of lasting friendships are formed here,” Gotham said. “We all came here with the desire, but we didn’t have the tools to work with.”

More information about Community Darkrooms, including hours, class descriptions, schedules, registration forms and membership information can be found on their website at http://www.communitydarkrooms.com.

Too much idle, not nearly enough wild

2006-09-12T18:08:00.000-04:00

About one-third of the musical “Idlewild” is fresh and wildly entertaining thanks to both the songs (a fusion of hip-hop, rap and jazz, written and performed by the hip-hop duo OutKast) and the fast, cool direction of Bryan Barber, in his first feature film. In these musical numbers the viewer is thrust into a toe-tapping, smile-laden frenzy as the scenes and songs unfold in a high-paced whirl of action. It is then incredibly frustrating and unfortunate that the other two-thirds of the film are left to Barber’s horribly clichéd, historically inaccurate and utterly confused story.
Barber’s story is so uninspired and derivative it’s as if he has actually copied characters, dialogue and motifs out of some cliché handbook – think bullet-stopping bible, gangster with heart of gold, and lines like, “You’re not from around here, are you?” The resulting story is like the bastard child of “Moulin Rouge” and the “Cotton Club” with extra gangster and whore clichés thrown in just to make sure we get the setting.
The film takes place in the 1930’s in the quaint African-American community of Idlewild, Ga., and focuses on the lives of Percival (Andre Benjamin) and Rooster (Antwan A. Patton); a familiar story about childhood friends from opposite sides of the track. Percival, the ‘good’ one, is the son of a strict mortician and Rooster, the bootlegger’s son, represents trouble.
The opening sequence shows the two as children who quickly form a bond; and though the film incessantly reminds us how close they are, they strangely do not share a scene again until the final, forced act. The midsection focuses on the two separately, while Barber simultaneously attempts to see just how many stories he can squeeze into one two-hour film.
Rooster runs the town’s speakeasy, ironically called the Church, where he feels pressure from the town’s corrupt gangster (Terrence Howard) and from his wife who wants him to lead a straighter, safer life for her and their kids. Percival works at his father’s mortuary but dreams of being a famous musician, even though he has horrible stage fright (which mysteriously disappears after the first act). Percival also meets and falls in love with the Church’s featured act, Angel Davenport (Paula Patton).
Even when the story is at its cheesiest, Barber’s eye candy and OutKast’s ear candy are so delicious that we almost don’t miss the mind candy – except when the film falls prey to annoyingly overt factual errors. We can overcome and even appreciate the anachronistic songs, but the fact that this prohibition-era film is set in 1935, a whole two years after the prohibition amendment was repealed, is unforgivable. It is this kind of nonchalant disregard and seeming laziness in Barber’s story that is so appalling in contrast to his obvious flare for direction. “Idlewild’s” fantastic acting, music and directing just go to prove that even with the right ingredients you don’t necessarily have the recipe for success; sometimes you just have pure formula.

Melina Mara

2006-08-18T14:21:00.000-04:00

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Melina Mara, a photojournalist for the Washington Post and an acclaimed photographic artist. Her exhibit, “Changing the Face of Power: Women in the U.S. Senate,” was first exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arts and Industries Building in 2003 and has since been displayed at several other venues, most recently the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.
See all of the photographs in the exhibit here.

Mara realized the opportunity to document these women in a new way – as serious politicians rather than celebrities. The photographs display the 14 female U.S. senators in a variety of settings, always amid a sea of men, showing that they are still few among many. Mara highlights aspects of their femininity in her photographs – gendered items like shoes (see the Maria Cantwell shoe photo) and skirts are often a focus – but there is also a central focus here on the struggles they seem to face. In her photographs, the women always seem to be ‘on the move’ or somehow more frantically busy in comparison to their more static male counterparts. They aren’t just busy with their senatorial duties, but also with their children (see the exquisite Kay Bailey Hutchinson photo with her daughter), their appearances (see the Mary Landrieu mirror photo), and trying to fit in (see the Barbara Boxer “Boxer Box” photo, or the photo of Hillary Clinton obscured by a massive wooden desk). I asked Mara the famous loaded question of whether or not she considers herself a feminist. Her refreshingly honest and almost optimistic answer is posted in full below:

“I think every woman, whether they say they are a feminist or not, is a feminist. We can’t help it. I am a small percentage in photojournalism and there are many men before me and very few women. The women who are in it now are not as trailblazing as those who came before me. Any of us trying to make it in this public sector – you have to go by the rules created by men. And we would have probably made the rules a bit differently because we are different. We all struggle with sexism and not being taken seriously and being looked at for our looks rather than what is coming out of our mouths. We are not only judged by men, but also other women. We are still concerned with what Hillary’s hair looks like. We are all feminists even if we are stay at home moms and with the kids – you are then a feminist because you are doing what you want to do. We have that freedom. If we want to do something else we can. Or if we don’t want to have kids, we can. We don’t want to slot ourselves – I think we have created that place for ourselves. I think most women politicians will say that they’re feminist because they believe in the choices – they believe in women having the choice. No one else makes the rules for you. I just hope that doesn’t go backwards ever.”

I call Mara’s answer honest because I think it is hard – as my blog attempts to point out – for women to admit that they are feminists today. It is such a loaded term in our society and it is often easier to say things like “I’m not a feminist, but…” I think being a feminist artist is even more of a troubled idea because it is also 'dripping with qualifiers'; you can be a feminist photographer or a radical feminist video artist, etc. I think artists often play dumb to feminist intent to avoid losing audience.

I referred to Mara as optimistic only because as much as I want to believe that all women are feminists, I fear that too many are still scared of what that term implies. But, perhaps Mara is correct in saying that all women are feminists, whether or not they are willing to admit it. I think the most important thing Mara touches upon is that women need to stop judging one another; unification is not the point when we all believe the same thing or aspire to the same goals, it is, rather, the moment when we all agree to allow each other to make our own choices and support one another’s decisions.

Now that is optimistic.

Welcome to my blog...

2006-08-18T12:21:00.000-04:00

The title of my blog, “The New F-Word,” is a reference to a passage in the book “Manifesta,” by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards. They write:

“Feminism, a word that describes a social justice movement for gender equity and human liberation is often treated as the other F-word. Partly because it’s a word of great power, it’s nearly as unseemly as those other girl terms, cunt or bitch...the term is dripping with qualifiers.”

In a sense, they are saying that feminism, today, is a troubled word. It has too many negative connotations, too much history and too much divided opinion. In order to call yourself a feminist today you must clarify what type of feminist either with a string of adjectives or qualifiers.
In my blog I plan to look at how women are visually constructed in our society in both films and photography – two equally loaded terms in our visual and cultural world. As a woman and a feminist (no qualifiers), I think it is important to look at how the visual mediums we are confronted with on a daily basis influence our thoughts and, conversely, how we influence them. I don’t plan on creating here another angry-feminist (qualifier) rant-blog, but rather a serious conversation on what I am seeing – both positive and negative.

I have been compiling posts for this blog for the past two weeks, but, alas, have been too busy to actually post them, so there will be several initial posts for today.