X-Men 3 is a classic impersonater, but Singin' in the Rain is the Great Appreciator

Part I: A Conjunction of drones simulating the way in which a classic was born.

This past Friday, X-men 3 came out. I never have too much hope for mainstream representations of my favorite heroes, especially when they are switching media, however, I was blown away by X-men 2. Sure it was just a fun movie, but it was really well made, with interesting character development and gripping plot that made relative sense. In light of this, I can't help but say that I was let down by the most recent installment, and Sorry Shu, but I don't think you're missing anything. (SPOILERS TO FOLLOW, but honestly I don't think its the kind of movie that gets any better if you dont know what is going to happen). Ok so you were warned. Scroll to next bold area if you don't want to read this. The movie starts with phoenix being dead, she proceeds to come back to life as we all expect and in a loving embrace...mysteriously kill Cyclops!!!!! As her power is spiraling out of control, in another scene, xavier tries to help her. She proceeds to mysteriously kill him as well!!!!! in a kind of disintegration by particle kind of way. Magneto turns up as token baddy, tries to form an army, the real enamy in the end ends up being phoenix, in one of the last scenes wolverine kills her!!!!!! to stop her from killing other people!!!!!! Now I am no stranger to the comic-book medium. I know that none of them are really dead, and it will all be explained in a later book/movie. This, however, is the very device (or at least a big one) that comics receive so much flak for, for not being serious literature. Superman cant ever die because he has to be around for the on-going monthly series he is featured in. This is also true for any of the basic elements in place that make the comic work. In an attempt to make his danger seem real the writers concoct deaths which they can retract only with some careful planning. These deaths are not resolved in the movie! One of the last shots is a pan of the three grave stones. (after credit scene aside). This leaves wolverine and storm to carry the team, which I must admit is pretty interesting, and they are both done well, however, the rest of the team consists of iceman, rogue, neither of which I like in the movie, a pretty well done beast, and colossus and shadowcat, that are good but not seen enough. Very small team considering the wealth of characters they have to choose from. Also a problem with comic movies is the way in which they change who characters are. Archangel was one of the founding members of the x-men, but here becomes the newest recruit. One great scene is the one in which wloverine battles jeans psi energy and walks up to her despite his flesh being torn apart and knitted ack together, managing to kill the woman he loves- that was amazing. All in all, considering the material they are working with, they could have done so much better. What about all the hundreds of amazing stories that are already out there but unkown to most of the public, oh well.

Part II: Benjamin Steele caught in the existential maze of history.

On another note I recently saw Singin' in the Rain for the first time. It is fucking incredible. I didn't know. There are so many aspects to it, that make it feel unbelievably modern, maybe even post modern. They mix silent film, with black and white film, color film, sound film, spoof silent film, filming of silent film, musical, filming of musical, in a menagerie of styles that interweave creating an absolutely surreal reality. The ability to act as in life, especially singing and dancing, is a metaphor for true ability and heart. All the silent film actors are phonies. The main characters crisis comes when talkies come out and he realizes he doesnt know how to act or speak lines. The solution comes when he decides to make his first talking picture a musical, which is what made him want to get into the business in the first place, and of course what he has been showing the audience all along. He has a fake "for show" romance with his silent film co-star who can't sing, but starts to fall for the girl who is a theatre actor who he gets to voice over the other womans' songs when they go musical. Lastly, I got chills when the scene started in which I new the title track was coming. It embodies the absolute epitome of happiness in who you are, and what you are capable of despite everything. He taps like a pro up until he starts tapping in puddles and ends the number stomping around in them to the beat of the song as it builds in crescendo. If you havn't seen it, or seen it recently, do your self a favor.

Three kinds of visual fun

a nose bleed that turned me into a french model.











Now for something serious. A test. Which of these two abstract paintings is more successful and why? I want concrete facts boys and girls. Votes and supporting evidence in comment section only please.

And now, ... a fire hydrant and a red-head that look alike.

You can also vote on which conceptual photograph is stronger, maybe that would be more fun.

shubricoxkins

I decided to do four paintnings, each on one member of the unholy quadtich. My students were using national geographic covers as palettes. After they were done with them I would photograph them, edit out any visible words, have them blown up, put really elaborate frames around them and paint on top of them myself. My hope being to access some collective consciousness though misappropriating known images, filter them through the unconcious minds of my unsuspecting students, and try myself to tie it all together, with what I feel like was some pretty interesting results. Each one went in a completely different direction due to the requirements of the image, and marks already present. I was forced to work outside of my usual habits. Shubricoxkins had nothing to do with it actually, I just came across that listing in my old phonebook.

ok now im really here

So, Im an image kinda guy...so maybe ill do this that way. This is a good one, me holding up drawing that one of my students did of bottom half of my face in front of bottom half of my face. They did a pretty good job, I gave them an A+ but mainly for subject choice. Damn you guys have covered a lot of ground while ive been sleeping, I think im finally caught up now, didnt want to post until id read it all, kinda like walking into a movie halfway and voicing a really loud opinion that you find out to be totally wrong, 6331 huh? Its pretty interesting framework, and all the contributors are all the roster, no one else is invited? Anyway, I liked what justin had to say about home. When I got out of High School i couldnt wait to get away from Maryland. Now I find myself thinking there is no better place for me, although that is to do with # of friends, and not family. For me a move there takes me further away from almost all family members. What with high school buds kicking around, all you wash u peeps who are trying to take over my home turf, old acquaintances, lees best bud from high school, as well as just the overall central location, close to philli, ny, dc, and coastal inlet of the cheasapeake makes this kid pretty excited about Sorry Justin, Yale just didnt work out for me, although I think MICA (in Baltimore) had become my first choice even before I got the rejection letter from Yale. Hey you cant win them all. All in it is something about the familiar that I feel as comforting. Maybe I wont settle there but at least for a couple years it sounds really good to be with a fuckin crew again. Boston has been real but im ready for a change. I also liked Winklers posting about the people we meet. My current specialization has been becoming a fusion between the ghetto and the fine art world. This young man to my right is one of my most recent students. He is currently preparing to render this image in charcoal. Ive started a lot of them off with drawing of their hands, their choice of image and pose. Ive gotten a lot of gang signs, or other sybolic gestures. It is interesting that to them, it is just a fact of life, maybe they are even scared to create an image without a hard face on it, for fear of what their comtemporaries will think. I absolutely love these images and even find them to transcend their usual meaning by changing the context. The lighting, compostions, and care each one puts into creating their work places it distinctively outside of their environment-my influence. The subject remains inside. At times I almost feel as though my direction of them results in a conceptual piece of my own, like the artist John Baldassari who has other people execute paintings for him of his own conception which change meaning through those that execute them. Needless to say the whole experience has been eye-opening. A story I already told Morgan: After class one day I left the school where upon I saw one of my students who hadnt come for a while waiting at the bus stop. She pretended to ignore me, so I had to cross the street to engage conversation. Upon asking her when she was coming back she proclaims loudly so everyone waiting for the bus can hear, "You look like a god damn social worker" , stunned I pause, then say, "I am one". She answers, "yeah but not mine", to which I say, "Yes I am, Im your teacher". This is the same girl that tried to start a fight with another student in a class that comprised of 3 students while I was still on crutches. All of them arent this bad, actually most of them really respect me when they see me out on the street, but still, things like this happen pretty often that just open my eyes to this world. This image is of one of the grated windows in the art room in the Jeremiah Burke High School at which I teach. The sign was made of paper was up for about 2 weeks before being torn down. Ill try to comment on what some of you guys say in the future but i just thought I had to throw all this in there, hey you didnt invite an artist to talk about politics anyway now did you? Watched some of your colbert morg dog, put up the bush ones you were telling me about. And yes this last picture is a portait, done by one of my students, of me with a full beard, crying, wearing a polka-dotted tunic. Quite good, I gave it a B+.

im here