Pan's Labyrinth (5.21)

Television
I finally got the chance to catch Heroes during a marathon showing on the SciFi channel. Has anyone watched it? Given the fact that all my series are ending or have ended for the year (The Sopranos, American Idol, Battlestar Galactica), I'm in the market for some fresh TV.

Gotta love The Simpsons. Watching the cartoon version of 24 and the 400th episode shows reminded me of what an institution the show is.

Books
Vanity Fair published excerpts from The Reagan Diaries. Apparently, Reagan began writing the journal when he took office. The editor pointed out how Reagan was a great summarizer and it's fascinating to see complex, emotionally wrenching issues and events distilled into a few sentences. Some examples:

Mon. March 30 (written April 11)

My day to address the Bldg and Const Trades Nat Conf. Was all dressed to go and for some reason at the last min took of my really good wrist watch and wore an older one. Speech not riotously received--still it was successful.
Left hotel at the usual side entrance and headed for the car--suddnenly there was a burst of gun fire from the left. SS Agent pushed me onto the floor of the car and jumped on top. I felt a blow in my upper back that was unbelievably painful. I was sure I'd broken my rib . . . . Getting shot hurts."

Thurs Dec 22.
Air crash of Pan Am plan over Scotland began with some kind of explosion. New figure on dead. --273 on plane.

Thurs Jan 19
.. . .Tomorrow I stop being president


Movies
Pan's Labyrinth is finally out on DVD. I've had it saved on my queue for months it seems, but the wait was well worth it. It's as beautiful, horrifying and violent as critics have discussed. What most appealed to me was the multiple levels on which the movie could be viewed simultaneously. The fantasy could be taken literally as the quest of a princess. It could represent a child's way of working through the loss of her parents. Or it could be taken as a reflection of the political strife taking place in Spain at the time. At its end, I find myself reassuring Luc of the fairy tale ending while sobbing. (I'm trying not to be a spoiler in the event you haven't seen it.)

Nifty Art Happenings
Have you heard about Vladmasters? Like the ipod performance I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, viewers are each given their own viewmasters. While listening to a common soundtrack, they watch a narrative unfold before their eyes. It's just so interesting to see artists try to find a way to connect people while still allowing those people to maintain a sense of privacy in their viewing (or listening) experiences.

In the German countryside, people pay 1.35 to watch an American actor David Barlow is planting potatos in from 8 am- 6pm as part of Bauerntheater (Farmer's Theater) produced by David Levine. The producer of the agricultural experience chose to stage the performance because he became "interested in the idea of acting technique as a means of accelerated knowledge acquisition (i.e., is the technique good for tasks other than representation)." Rather than entertain, Bauerntheater is aimed at encouraging people to talk about possibilities for theater other than entertainment. One professor sees it as the logical extension of a certain acting technique, the psychological style, where the actor strives to feel real emotions. Ideally, the illusion ends up being complete not only for the viewer but for the actor. The wife of a neighboring father thought the actor was doing a good job for a city boy. Even though her husband thought it was ridiculous, she thought it was definitely art.

Architecture
A Japanese architect devised shleters for refugees in Rwanda made of paper tubes and used Kirin beer plastic crates filled with sandbags as foundations of houses built for victims of the Kobe earthquake. What's especially cool is that the buildings are apparently quite lovely. Like my favorite store, Target, he doesn't think that good design has to be costly for people or the environment.

Quote
From Raskolnikov in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment:

In general, very few people are born with new ideas. Even people who are just capable of saying something that is in the slightest degree new are few and far between."