[hypergraphia]

finally!

photo blog of Charm City:

starting off with a gorgeous pic of my apartment. yes, this is where i live and i love it. small and cosy, super dusty but with three big bay windows and high ceilings. and my own bathroom (MY OWN BATHROOM I LOVE IT), albeit no kitchen. i love looking at the tree outside my window, it’s slowly turning brown now that fall’s here. i have a basil plant that is dying on me (i can’t nurture anything for the life of me, hence i do not have a pet) and a ‘rose of jericho’ - a desert plant that ‘opens up’ when watered, though no flowers bloom. oh, that book is the ‘collected writings of robert smithson’. note, ‘collected’, not ’selected’. as much respect i have for his artwork and thoughts, that guy must have been stoned for most of his very short life.

just to emphasize how baltimore can be pretty too, here’s the view from my window. that domed thing in the distance is a church. i am living in the ‘mount vernon cultural district’: theaters, concert halls, galleries, museums, indie cinema, bike co-op (filled with too-hipster-bike-hipsters), anarchist cafe, thrift stores. how’s that for accumulating cultural capital? beats cliche greenwich, eh?

perfect time for farmer’s market! so many queer-looking tomatoes. where i am going to get my fresh produce when winter rolls around?

first awesome speaker in the line of awesome speakers at MICA (that’s where i’m studying by the way): ANGELA DAVIS! AMY GOODMAN! DEMOCRACY NOW! by the way, amy goodman blew. my. mind. so powerful. so eloquent. so inspiring. everyone needs to hear her speak at least once in a lifetime

(then we had Annie Sprinkle. oh and guess who’s coming next? DJ SPOOKY aahhhh! so nice to be a student again)

what we do at art school: throw parties in our studios! nothing beats getting drunk on a dancefloor next to bansaws and tablesaws. here’s the balloon room

art student solution to stolen bike seat: build your own! and what’s even better, leave the pencil marks on the plywood for all to see! this is potentially a cool performance piece. how much do i love perpetuating the art student stereotype? sooo much.

lantini party! helping out with nana projects right now, and as a fundraiser for the annual great halloween lantern parade, we hold adult-oriented lantern building workshops + martinis! lantinis! i’m planning to learn how to stilt walk at the parade school -

quintessential american disclaimer, right there on my “small” styrofoam cup of watered-down nestea (to wash down my $1 hot dog at the Sam’s Club in-store fastfood stand. ugh). strip mall after strip mall. reminds me of time in canada, i haven’t been to a strip mall since i moved back to hong kong, not even in philly. and now im cruising the highway with my mates in a pickup truck, jumping from costco to home depot practically every other day! YES AMERICA

speaking of philly, i was there a couple weekends ago and loved it. it was wet, it was cold, it was fantastic. here’s a melancholy pic of a long stretch of highway from the bus

…

cause in my head there’s a greyhound station/
where I send my thoughts to far off destinations/
so they may have a chance of finding a place/
where they’re far more suited than here/

-Death Cab for Cutie, Soul Meets Body

just little snapshots of life:

my two friends from catholic school got me this cute windchime made of shells. it cheers me up when im stuck in my research assistant cage with no windows in the basement.

on my way to tutor my kiddie, in repulse bay. a rare gorgeous sunset.

during our little tutorial session of french + arts and crafts (yes, an unlikely combination). as a treat, i brought him coloured dot stickers… i think he has the makings of the next yayoi kusama.

during a crit at scm. i’m very glad that my job allows me to sit in classes… i miss college…

inside a work that was part of William Lim’s “Illegal Structure” exhibit at Tang Contemporary. the show was okay, i like pieces that incorporate bits of architecture. however, considering that the subtitle of the show is “a site-specific architectural installation exhibition”, it lacked the incorporation of the existing gallery space into the pieces themselves. why call it site-specific then?? the good thing is that the pieces made really interesting photos…

saw my first HKIFF film of the year - Gotz Spielmann’s Revanche. veeery Austrian film, and very enjoyable, in a macabre, dark manner. but funny too. great plot, great cinematography, and a great mix of sexy and seedy at the same time. see it if you can, i know the screening i went to was sold out.

just saw Iron Ladies of Liberia, which was part of this year’s AFI program.

since i couldn’t find anyone to go with me, i was about to not make the trip to the cinema despite already having acquired free tickets (the weather and the fact that it’s a real mission to get from my place to center city was a real put off).

i am so glad that i went in the end. because it was a kick-arse movie. wow.

it’s basically a documentary about the first woman president of Liberia, and her first year in office. i dont want to give too much away, because you really should see the film yourself, but during the entire hour and ten minutes, i could not take my eyes away from the screen. on the most basic level, i’ve learnt so much about the country and the people there, having not known anything about it before. and the name does the ladies justice; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the ultimate iron lady, appointed other iron lady ministers as part of her office, and the determination, integrity, strength, and even good humour that these women possess and exude is really inspiring; you can’t help but just like them, and no wonder the people of Liberia refer to Johnson Sirleaf as ‘Oh Ma’.

the movie was amazing, and it was followed by an equally interesting discussion forum attended by one of the co-directors, Siatta Scott Johnson. the audience enthusiastically asked her questions, she responded energetically, and really, her and the women in her movie just make me smile and feel so good about humanity. and i felt really motivated, hearing Siatta speak about her work, the shit she had to put up with during the past Liberian regime… it’s one of those instances that really make you think: what the hell are YOU doing to make this world a better place?

so are women really better at democracy and running a country than men? so far, in the case of Liberia, it seems so. near the end of the discussion, one viewer suggested that Liberia can learn to fight corruption by consulting HK’s ICAC; as for HK, we can learn to democratically elect our chief executive by universal suffrage from Liberia (interesting note: Liberia’s constitution is apparently a word-for-word copy of the American one. of course it’s expected as this movie is part of the AFI program…).

indeed, one must watch documentaries with a grain of salt - but as far as documentaries go, this one should not be missed.

just watched gus van sant’s “milk” with my lovely friend the other night. to all those people who still don’t know, please take advantage of hong kong Amex card’s benefits: buy one get one free ticket at all broadway and amc cinemas! two tix for $65 was a real treat

milk was highly enjoyable, and i loved the entire cast, even the supporting actors (especially diego luna, he really successfully got on our nerves in the movie, exactly as intended. too bad mr. lonely SUCKED - not even bad enough for cult movie material). how funny is it that both of us fine arts students did not recognize jeff koons? brief two minute cameo.

sort of lost interest in new movies lately, but i think milk has restored my confidence with its kick-arse cast. i have to say, the hippies were very charming, maybe i don’t hate them as much as eric cartman does.

regarding old movies that i have been catching up on… there’s a lot of catching to do, and the whole process is greatly facilitated by city u’s media library, wheee. just watched rebel without a cause, and i finally understand why there is so much hubbub about james dean… who agrees that philip j. fry looks like jim stark?

…long live wikipedia!

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage

what a fun official video for Whitest Boy Alive reminds me of my Visual Studies and Color classes…

last night i saw labyrinth of passion with my wonderfully gorgeous friend and her cathay-esque red peacoat that she designed herself.

labyrinth was amazing (and not only because i got free tickets). raunchy and crazy, full of bright colours and oh-so-campy. loved it.

feels good to be watching movies again.

Maya Deren

inspirational.

Wong Kar-wai + Eva Green + Muse… hot.

just saw a documentary on Yayoi Kusama called “I Adore Myself”. indeed, it was quite plain to everyone, as the title suggests, that she does adore herself. throughout the whole movie, she repeatedly exclaimed that she’s a genius; that her works are incredible, and that they should sell for a lot of money.

despite the egoism, she is really amazing. the documentary was a bit of a disappointment; it focused way too much on her receiving awards, one award after another. i guess i wanted to see more of her history, her biography, especially when she was in the ’60s, shouting for attention in NYC (competing against the likes of one Andy Warhol) and was not yet super famous (see picture below):

gosh. how i’d love to do what she did back then. was she not simply amazing?

even though the documentary itself being a bit of a flop, her personality and onscreen presence mesmerized me entirely. she’s rather aged, but still so active, still constantly thinking, creating, painting. of course, the act of painting repeated motifs (polka dots, eyes…) is relaxing for her, as she’s been struggling with depression throughout her life, and i think that this sort of perseverance in creating has a lot to do with that. she is a reminder to me that all artists’ lives are a struggle, whether financially, or mentally/emotionally. without struggle, there is no art (no good art anyway - suffering breeds artistic genius).

after watching the movie, i want so much to make stuff, to create, to use my hands again. it’s been a long time since i made anything, not even a little sketch. i think it’s time.

saw three movies in the past two weeks, and a lecture. wanted to see more lectures, but then got lazy.

lecture first. went to hear lawrence lessig speak about creative commons at hku.

my overall thoughts: his lectures, as i’ve been told, are blockbusters. yes, indeed they are. lots of youtube viddys, lots of music and flashing lights and animations. he’s an extremely witty guy, and i was entertained while learning stuff. lots of american pop culture references. unfortunately, the pop-text he used on his slick powerpoint presentation was a little too much - practically every word he said had an accompanying pop-up, when i felt like they should only be used for emphasis.

his points are well taken. after having discussing them with my friends, the conclusion is that he’s libertarian, and somewhat conservative (afterall, he’s still a lawyer), and the points he makes are points that are rational and that make sense. perhaps he is so clever simply because everyone else in the business/law world have absolutely no sense. not quite a revolutionary, more like a moderate activist trying to find the best solution in the context of this day and age.

it would be nice to find a revolutionary to look up to.

the lecture was good, but what i found most interesting was the Q&A session (which i unfortunately had to leave early from as i had to catch a movie - see below). it’s good to hear professionals speak about their work, it’s even better to hear non-professionals or about-to-be-professionals voice their opinions, to ask questions and be curious. it was good to hear what hong kong academics had to say. i wanted to ask something, but couldn’t think of anything clever as usual.

anyway.

first movie watched was Parking 停车 (2008). thought it was a really good movie. can’t say it’s my favourite, but i enjoyed it immensely, especially the cinematography and the soundtrack. the one part i found slightly annoying was the fact that the main character really didn’t seem very determined to stop the craziness that he had gotten himself into - i nearly lost my patience. but, everything else made up for it. also found the tough-guy traids dudes really amusing.

second movie: takeshi miike’s Crows - Episode 0. Miike’s crazy, that’s why i’m a fan, and this movie just about has everything he’s best at. mindless violence, but in a humourous manner, tough guy characters (this time, it’s the yakuza), and a rockin’ OST. nothing i didn’t like in the movie, but i must admit, i got a little braindead from all the face punching and fake blood smeared all over near the end.

last but not least: kirstblueten-hanami (cherry blossoms). the entire movie is more or less about a man who loses his wife. it was… to put it lightly, it was profoundly intense for me to watch this movie, to be engrossed in this man’s hurt, when my emotional state was already so deep in it. i cried during the whole film. halfway through, i was asked if i knew what this film was about before getting a ticket, and i said yes. i knew exactly what it was about, and i knew exactly what to expect. i wanted to see the movie… perhaps in a perverse sort of way, i wanted to hurt, to feel the hurt, to feel the rawness of such intensity and sadness, to get overwhelmed, to drown. i wanted to see it from someone else’s point of view, perhaps the director’s, or the actor’s. i wanted to see how others in the audience would react, how i would react not so much to life, but art imitating life.

my conclusion - the movie may seem quirky, and sometimes ridiculous even, but in the end, it’s real. it knows what it’s like, to lose a wife, someone you truly love. each and every scene touched a chord, spoke of truth. i couldn’t stop crying.