Bill Cosby introduces a study about how White and Black children draw (and see) themselves.

Dave Chappelle speaks to James Lipton about the stresses Hollywood exerts, citing his friend Martin Lawrence’s nervous breakdown as an example.

Paul Mooney is asked whether he perceives any real changes in mainstream racial attitude since the sixties.

Might seem a bit hypocritical, hot off the heels of posting 3 video clips of African-American youth dancing to some pretty brutal soundtracks. My only hope is to illustrate my firm belief that amazing things are sometimes borne from horrific lineages, and there is still time and space for constructive, non-defeatist dialogue about America’s racial faultlines.

by Jennifer Doyle
The New York Times

GOA, India — When the Indian women’s national team takes the field against Sri Lanka on Friday in the South Asian Games, it will be its first soccer match in two years.

India’s national soccer association had failed to schedule a friendly match for its women’s team since October 2007. And last June, FIFA, the sport’s world governing body, sent a rebuke to the All India Football Federation and, with no matches to evaluate, removed the Indian team from its world rankings.

The delisting seemed to move Indian soccer officials to action.

Circles of Confusion: Hollis Frampton (Part 3)

Saturday January 30, 2010 @ 2:00pm
Pacific Design Center
8687 Melrose Avenue (at San Vicente)

Free Admission

More info on the five-part screening series at LA Film Forum.
In conjunction with Art Los Angeles Contemporary fair and Khastoo Gallery.

Hollis Frampton (1936-1984) was an American filmmaker, artist and writer who left a legacy of brilliant innovation in avant-garde cinema. His films are challenging and ground breaking explorations in the material properties of the medium, including but not limited to mathematics, the contours of perception and cognition, and the phenomenological nature of the motion picture.

PART THREE of this series will include Poetic Justice and (nostalgia), followed by a panel with Alex Klein, David James, Madison Brookshire and Michael Ned Holte.

Ooga Booga is a concept shop vital to the creative life-blood of Los Angeles. It gathers an eclectic range of products. Spearheaded by Wendy Yao, Ooga Booga fosters a vibrant community of independent producers. For Swiss Institute, Yao installs a lounge in which one may read over 300 titles — from self to professionally published. The room contains contributions by:

Bidoun and Anthology Film Archives present an encore screening of Ben Hayeem’s unmissable, unfathomable wonder. Born and raised in Bombay, Hayeem (1933-2004) made a number of well-regarded films and was close with experimental film pioneers Maya Deren and Slavko Vorkapich. Early in his career he joined the Living Theater group in New York and became the only Indian Jew to play a Chinese Priest with a Yiddish accent in a Brecht play. This comedic, cross-cultural experience must have set him down the path to the rather incredible and risque happenings in The Black Banana.

The original promotional notes inform us that, “In this zany, ribald Middle Eastern comedy, young Jews, Arabs and Texans revolt against the parental and conventional authority, represented by old-fashioned Jews, Arabs and Texans…Despite its message of peace and good will between Jew and Arab, The Black Banana has the distinction of being the only film ever banned in Israel because its mixture of nudity and religious satire offended the Israeli censorship board.”

The Black Banana will be preceeded by Ben Hayeem short films:
Papillote (1964, 10.5 minutes, 16mm)
Flora (1965, 6 minutes, 16mm)

Tuesday, December 22 at 8:00 PM
Anthology Film Archives: 32 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003

(This movie absolutely blew my mind, I cannot recommend it enough. DO NOT MISS!)

Keith Bormuth, The Occasion of Fracture
Softcover, 28 pp., offset 1/1, 160 x 240 mm
Edition of 500
Published by Keith Bormuth

Though he is still crawling, 9-month-old Thurston Conder takes about 10 seconds to have the run of the house. It’s not that he’s exceptionally fast; he just doesn’t have that far to roam. Thurston shares 380 square feet with his mom and dad, Kelly Breslin and Ryan Conder, and a medium-sized mutt named Charlie.

3. The music comes directly from the artist.
Most of Rinse’s output is sourced directly from producers. Tracks are played as soon as possible, often without anyone but the DJ and producer knowing the credits and dropped before they risk becoming stale or come close to getting a release. As funky crew Circle said in response to someone asking for one particular track to be identified on an internet forum: “Tracklist? You’ll be lucky”.

Trim (above) on Rinse, 2004. This set on Deja Vu 92.3 was my intro to grime.

The art world is now both socially professional and professionally social. Curators visit artists’ studios; collectors, dealers, and journalists assemble for a reception and reconvene later for dinner; everyone goes to parties. We exchange introductions and small talk; art is bought and sold; careers (and friendships) brighten or fade. In each situation, certain behaviors are expected while others are silently discouraged. Sometimes, what’s appropriate in the real world would be catastrophic in the art world, and vice versa.

Making these distinctions on the spot can be nerve-wracking and disastrous. So we asked ourselves: What is the place of etiquette in art? How do social mores establish our communities, mediate our critical discussions, and frame our experience of art? If we were to transcribe these unspoken laws, what would they look like? What happens when the rules are broken? Since we didn’t have all the answers, we politely asked our friends for some help.

Thanks Jeff

Two projects that fit loosely into a larger idea of supporting ideas that work quietly and locally.

I have a few projects from this Porto-based label via trades with my friend Isabel (who produced the work above, from BF10/Wanda II). BdF’s website is pretty clear and concise as to aims and background information, so there’s not much else to say here other than this is one of my favorite imprints.

I met Maki Hakui in NYC at this years Art Book Fair, and her magazine School was the only title I ended up shelling out cash for. I support her mission to avoid discussing the usual aspects and figures of Japanese art culture, and going straight to intimate, direct dialogues with its lesser exposed – but equally interesting – women creatives.

Punctum:

Studium:
Interlude Films
Interludes

The Golden Age/Edad de Oro is a film that documents a season of the Golden Age League, a soccer league in Corona Park, Queens, New York. Not just any soccer league, the highly competitive Golden Age League is made up of middle-aged former professional players from mostly Central and South America.

You are invited to attend:

CONTRA MUNDUM VI
Sunday, October 4, 2009
7PM

The Enemy of All Mankind

Matthew Taylor Raffety, professor of History,
University of Redlands discusses pirates, piracy,
and the autonomy of the high seas.

The talk will be followed by a DJ set of related music by Jon Pestoni.

Mandrake
2692 S La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90034
(between Venice Blvd and Washington Blvd)

www.mandrakebar.com
www.osloeditions.com

Abdellah Taïa +
An American In Tangier, Mohamed Ulad, 1993, 27 mins
Chronicles/Morocco, Michel Auder, 1971-71, 26 mins
Morocco 1972: The Real Chronicles with Viva, Michel Auder, 2002, 36 mins

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at Light Industry, Brooklyn
7:30pm, $7

More information here

If it isn’t already, worth putting on your reading list.
No doubt the conversation-starter of the fall.

At MIT Press
Downloadable PDF

Van der Weijde’s photographic project documents over 220 houses built in Germany between 1933 and 1945 in order to eventually provide a house for every working-class NSDAP member. In turn this ‘Siedlungpolitiek’ was both a powerful Nazi propaganda tool and a way to provide living space to loyal members. Most of these houses still exist, however unless one knows their full history they retain an unassuming normalcy.

One of the highlights of my short trip to London was this retrospective of Simon Foxton’s styling work, complete with a display of his scrapbooks. The Paul Hetherington-designed catalog is also a treat.

Emily Mast and Evan Mast, 25 July –

“My brother Evan and i collaborated on an ephemeral piece for Exhibition in New York this past Monday. We filled the space with smoke and light in the middle of the night.”

You are invited to attend:

CONTRA MUNDUM IV
Sunday, August 2, 2009
7PM

Banish the World
Aaron Kunin, writer and assistant professor of negative
anthropology at Pomona College, discusses misanthropy
and the trope of self-banishment in Shakespeare.

The talk will be followed by a DJ set by Mike Metzger of related music.

Mandrake
2692 S La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90034
(between Venice Blvd and Washington Blvd)

www.mandrakebar.com
www.osloeditions.com

You are invited to attend:

CONTRA MUNDUM III
Sunday, July 5, 2009
7PM

Animalize
Elad Lassry, artist, will discuss animal subjectivity
and the animal as subject in film and photography.

The talk will be followed by a DJ set by Wendy Yao of related music.

Mandrake
2692 S La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90034
(between Venice Blvd and Washington Blvd)

www.mandrakebar.com
www.osloeditions.com

The United States’ 2–0 victory over European champions Spain in the Confederations Cup semi-finals on Wednesday in South Africa, earns a place on the list of great international upsets.

and again

Have a great weekend, you guys.

make sure sound is on