VITAL
the Nerdy Misogynists of Joss Whedon’s World
Fig.1: You think it’d kill Joss Whedon to cast some pretty people on one of his shows? Just once? February 2009 featured the premiere of new TV series Dollhouse, the latest attempt by sci-fi hotshot and badass feminist Joss Whedon to teach the FOX Broadcasting Company what a “cult fanbase” is. Having once been burned by FOX during the run of his previous series, the critically-lauded but still-underrated Firefly (which had its episodes shown out of order, among other random promotional clusterfucks), Whedon apparently has been convinced that FOX has learned its lesson, and will give his new series about human trafficking and high-concept prostitution a chance to really grow into its own. Good luck with that, Joss. While you’re wishing for things, how about a pony? In all seriousness, though, Dollhouse has started finding its legs with the 6th and 7th episodes (episode 8 of the 13-episode 1st season airs tonight). In brief, the show revolves around a girl named Echo, who has, for reasons becoming slowly revealed to us, voluntarily signed up to become a “doll” for the Dollhouse, a company that provides custom-programmed people who provide services for the super-mega-ultra-wealthy and have their entire personalities wiped clean after every engagement. The dolls hang out in a childlike blank state until they are called to duty, at which point they are imprinted with a customized personality. Need a bodyguard? The perfect date? The Dollhouse has what you need, and it is completely gross. It only takes until the second episode to see Echo sleeping with a client whom she is programmed to think is her boyfriend. Fricking EW. Fig.2: The best outdoorsy Real Girl sex toy money can buy. Note the Marc Singer-ish Beastmaster profile of the douchebag in this photograph. That’s some solid casting. Knowing Whedon’s previous work with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, however, which was a landmark of empowering feminist television, helps lesson the ick factor a tad. It’s pretty clear the Dollhouse is being set up as the Bad Guys of the show, while Agent Ballard, an FBI agent who’s the Jack McGee to Echo’s David Banner, is being established as a protagonist. It’s clear now that the first half of the season has aired that once again, Joss Whedon is hoping to make some fairly radical statements about feminism, personal identity, and individualism. Fig.3: Just good clean fun between super-powered rivals March 2009, meanwhile, marked the 10th anniversary of Women in Refrigerators, a website run by now-comic book writer Gail Simone. Women in Refrigerators is built around a list assembled by Simone and a number of her friends that catalogued the large number of female comic book characters who have been killed, maimed, raped, depowered, or otherwise messed with, often as a plot device to put a male character through some kind of trial. (The name of the site refers to a storyline where the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern comes home to his apartment to discover his girlfriend, Alex DeWitt, killed and stuffed into […]
Apr 3rd, 2009 by DJ Hostettler
The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling!
Enjoy public scrutiny? Hard work for little or no pay? Willing to sacrifice your time, money and dignity? If you answered yes to all these question you can join an elite team comprised of just about anyone who can afford the supplies. That’s right, you to can be an artist (can’t afford supplies? be a conceptual artist – then all you’ll need is your imagination). In my experience, nothing provokes eye-rolling or makes a usually well mannered person utter a contemptuous “mmm” whilst waving their little finger in the air, more than telling someone “I’m an artist.” I really do try to avoid using the term “artist;” it can sound a little pretentious and does invoke the image of a fancy man wearing a striped shirt and beret, sipping wine and pontificating how “no one gets me.” That’s not me – I prefer beer and don’t even own a beret (not yet). As of late there’s been a call for artists, and advocates of the arts, to “get more involved” and “support the art scene” from various groups and self professed arts leaders. Ignited by the closing of yet another art gallery: Paperboat (the latest of over 30 galleries that have come and gone since 1999) and the uproars surrounding a couple public art projects (Lincoln Park and the Zweig project). Since I’ve been in Milwaukee, and involved in the art scene, for a little over a decade, there’s always something: Blue Shirts, Bronz Fonzies, Beasties, contempt for the Di Suervo Sunburst, etc., and not only is it artists versus public consensus, it’s artists versus artists, gallery versus gallery, and Calatrava versus Godzilla. What will come from the latest debacles? Probably nothing. After this public furor settles down, and the smoke clears, the fine folks in the Milwaukee art scene will get back to normal; complaining, finger pointing, and calling each other names – in private.
Apr 3rd, 2009 by Gene Evans
What Would Jesus Say?
While we’re on the subject of nudes at MAM, and continuing the idea that picking on “Standing Woman” is sexist, here are a few males to consider: Torso of a Male Athlete: Marble. Missing head, arms, one leg and part of another. Some of the penis is gone missing too, but not all of it. Male Ancestor Figure: Wood. What’s that between his legs? The Kiss: Painted plaster cast. No lack of imagination in this one.
Apr 2nd, 2009 by Stella Cretek
Road trip! 2009 WI Film Festival guide
The 2009 Wisconsin Film Festival starts TODAY and runs through April 5. Pack a bag - we're going to Madison! Here are Howie Goldklang's picks for the party.
Apr 2nd, 2009 by Howie Goldklang
Art and Performance April 2-8, 2009
Visual Art Art in Bloom, Milwaukee Art Museum. 4/2 through 4/5. Celebrating springtime, Art In Bloom showcases the talents of more than 40 renowned floral designers interpreting masterworks from the Museum’s Collection. This year’s expanded exhibition also includes lectures and workshops with celebrity floral designers and master gardeners, book signings, plein air painters, a multi-vendor indoor marketplace, a garden sculpture sale, and floral-inspired dining in the Café Calatrava Garden Room. Presenting lectures, demonstrations, and book signings will be Michael George—one of the most sought after floral designers in the United States; Milwaukee native Michael Weishan, former host of PBS television’s The Victory Garden; Portland-based vine expert Linda Beutler; landscape designer Craig Bergmann; Chicago Master Gardener and radio host Mike Nowak; local horticulture expert Melinda Myers; renowned children’s book author Lois Ehlert and many others. Awesome Art Sale, Racine Art Museum, 4/3 Due to overwhelming success, this awesome event is back with more artwork than ever! Many one-of-a-kind items priced as low as $20! Discover original, museum-quality artwork donated by collectors and nationally known artists from across the country. Purchase a great piece of art and know that you are contributing to the sustaining growth of RAM’s exhibition and education programs. This is a fabulous time to add to your art collection or start one now! For more info click here! Frankie Martin, Green Gallery West. 4/3 Get down with the (original) Green Gallery on their momentous fifth anniversary with an exhibition of new works by Frankie Martin, whose work was a part of the very first Green Gallery show. In Life or Death?, Martin will show new video work as well as paintings and video stills. Who Died? is a five part, non-linear narrative video that reinterprets popular representations of death and the transcendence of the human body. Some light paintings will accompany this piece. Frankie will also present part of her series Left Behind which features paintings and mobiles based on the idea of what normally gets discarded. To do this she stretches her drop cloths as finished paintings that expose the materials and process of the work done in her studio. Frankie also incorporates objects from her neighborhood or from her own garbage into the work. In Frankie’s words “the idea is that these things become non-things, then become re-contextualized as things again.” Frankie will also exhibit Born Again, a video in which Botticelli’s Birth of Venus is translated into the video format. Frankie Martin’s work has appeared in galleries all over the world, from Milwaukee to Oslo to Paris to San Francisco and New York, where she now lives. Bon anniversaire, Green Gallery! Marina Bychkova: Enchanted Doll, Villa Terrace, 4/8 Exploring the dark, dreamy side of folklore and fantasy, Bychokova transforms a children’s toy into an exploration and reinterpretation of femininity, tradition and fairy tales. Says the artist, ““Creating a visual narrative is the most intriguing way of articulating my ideas and a doll is a perfect medium because of its potential for such visual story. My […]
Apr 1st, 2009 by Ryan Findley
TULPAN a huge hit in NYC, coming to MKE Monday!
This just in: the New York Times‘ A.O. Scott posted a fabulous review today of Tulpan, a romance, coming-of-age story and epic landscape drama set on the desolate steppes of Kazhakstan. Scott writes: Tulpan, the first fictional feature by the Kazakh director Sergey Dvortsevoy, might be described as an epic landscape film, a sweetly comic coming-of-age story or a lyrical work of social realism. But the setting — a windswept, sparely populated steppe in southern Kazakhstan — gives the movie a mood that sometimes feels closer to that of science fiction. … [The lamb birth] scene, a milestone in cinematic ovine obstetrics, is both crucial to the story and a tour de force, the kind of thing a director like David Cronenberg or Takashi Miike would attempt only with prosthetics or other special effects. In “Tulpan” you see it for real, a perfectly ordinary event that is also something of a miracle. Tulpan took home the Prix un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, and it celebrates an anticipated opening in New York today. And here’s the best part, Milwaukee: you can see it here on Monday as part of Milwaukee Film‘s so-far-successful Monday Night at the Movies series at the Marcus North Shore Cinema in Mequon. It’s unusual that we have the chance here on the Third Coast to see an independent international release within the same week of screenings on the East Coast, so we recommend you attend. You can buy your tickets online now at milwaukee-film.org. See the Tulpan trailer and learn more here. Don’t feel like driving to Mequon? No car? NO PROBLEM! Join Milwaukee Film, WMSE and TCD at the Wicked Hop for a big, bad bus party. Come early for drink specials and burger madness. Bus departs at 6:30 sharp. Play trivia with WMSE DJs and join Program Director Jonathan Jackson for a casual discussion about the film on the way back. We’ll have some great giveaways on the bus and after the show! The bus is FREE, so save some cash, save the earth, and have a crazy good time. See you there, film-os.
Apr 1st, 2009 by Amy Elliott
Drink Like An Egyptian
Who knows if King Tut was given to tippling, but when his tomb was opened in 1922, three dozen plain pottery wine jars were discovered inside, twenty-six of which had hieroglyphs telling of the vineyard location, the estate where it was produced, and the vinter who produced it. Two pots were labeled “very good.” Tut died in 1352 BC, and perhaps the labels were the first, or almost the first, examples of things to come in the world of labels. A few of the wine jars in the tomb were empty. Or perhaps laced with poison, who knows? My personal favorite label, is pasted in my Cooking of Provincial France cookbook, circa 1968. The label from a Beaujolais Saint-Amour burgundy produced by “Jaboulet-Vercherre,” is square, designed in tones of burgundy, white and metallic gold. Stamped “JV,” it includes a coat-of-arms bannered “in tenebris lumen rectis,” which means, “true light in the darkness.” I drank large draughts of the Beaujolais while mastering the art of whipping up Coquille Saint-Jacques a la Provencale, which incidentally, is best served with a dry white wine. Dude, peel me a grape. Paper labels as we know them today, weren’t developed for general use until around 1860, when manufacturers understood how to make them stick to glass. Prior to that, well-heeled households used silver “bottle tickets” hung by narrow silver chains from wine decanters. In the 1740s, European wineries sold their products unlabeled. They were stored stacked in bins and the bins were then identified with glazed pottery tags. Labels were designed to inform. Consider this from a late 1800s bottle of sweet red Tokay from Hungary: This wine having been stored in wood for the full period necessary for maturity, and all unwholesome acids being thereby eliminated, is safely included in the dietary scale of the invalid; whilst its fine delicate bouquet will please the taste of the connoisseur. Makes you want to drink yourself stupid doesn’t it? In 2001, an image of Mona Lisa sporting a red mustache took first prize in a label-making content hyped by Wine Maker Magazine An obvious rip off of “Got Milk” campaign, I wonder if it bombed? Anyone who shops for wine, knows it’s the label that grabs the eye and it’s the label that clinches the sale. Face it, it’s where “art meets commerce.” The youth of today now drink more wine than beer, and yes, these are the youths who grew up with television, digital graphics, People Magazine, and clothing “branded” with labels. Come on now, who wouldn’t want a bottle of “Marilyn Merlot,” named after Marilyn Monroe who died way back in 1962. She’s there on the label in living color…head thrown back, rosy lips parted to reveal pearly teeth. Her famous eyes are partially closed. Clad in a ribbed white tank-top; a delicate necklace dripping seal shells and polished stone hangs around her famous neck. A wine expert claims Marilyn Merlot (2003 Napa Valley Winery) is “middling,” and it’s suggested that perhaps connoisseurs should […]
Apr 1st, 2009 by Judith Ann Moriarty
Quiznos and the Free Gay Marketplace
Fig.1: A Quiznos mascot distributes pro-gay propaganda at Christian music festival Lifest 2008 in Oshkosh, WI When Sean Penn accepted the Best Actor oscar this year for his portrayal of the title character in Milk, he unapologetically turned his acceptance speech into a political statement on the advancing of gay rights and equality (as Sean Penn is wont to do, being a Hollywood actor whose opinions are more important than those of normal mortal humans like you and I): For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone. Yes, Proposition 8 was a huge blow to the advancing cause of homosexual equality, but as many people more educated than I have noted, the slim margin with which the proposition passed compared to similar initiatives in years past shows that America is moving (albiet at a glacial pace) in a more progressive direction with regard to its stace on homosexuality. (In fact, the fivethirtyeight.com article linked discusses how divided the vote was on a generational basis–young voters overwhelmingly opposed Prop 8 while older voters supported it.) So the passage of Prop 8 was demoralizing for the forces of equality, it is true. But let’s remember, folks–we’re discussing government here, and government and politics move at a glacial pace when it comes to shifts in the cultural landscape (see: the difference between the hoopla over Bill Clinton’s pot use and the “so what?” reaction to Barack Obama’s admission of past drug use, including cocaine). To see where we really are as a culture, perhaps we should take a cue from our fellow Americans over on the right side of the aisle and see what’s happening in the free marketplace. Consumerism! Business! Advertising! The Republicans always say we should take our lead from the world of capitalism, so let’s play by their rules today. So, what’s been going on in the world of advertising lately? How are businesses looking to grab America’s ever-scarcer disposeable income? How does homoerotic fast food grab you, America? Fig.2: Put it in me, Scott…put that foot-plus slab of meaty torpedo goodness in my gaping maw The internet is buzzing over this one. No strangers to ads that, um, fall off the beaten path (remember the Quiznos rat-things?), Quiznos’ fast-food slashfic retelling of the relationship between HAL 9000 and Dave Bowman has all of Blogistan ruminating on the overtly sexual subtext. Of course, queer progress is hard to come by, or even measure. Just yesterday, the governor of Vermont said that he would veto any gay-marriage bill brought to his desk — let’s hope the lame duck is overridden. Yet some of the most optimistic evidence that bigotry is going down can be found not in the courts […]
Mar 30th, 2009 by DJ Hostettler
Around Town With Bones
Milwaukee’s icon, Bob Watt, is 84! And who deserves it more than this Beat poet and painter/sculptor? I mean, it’s an honor to live long enough to be dissed by Pegi Taylor, local art nay-sayer. Jimmy Von Milwaukee hosted a party at his loft (complete with performance art and poetry) for Watt, and down from Manitowoc drove Johny Shimon & Julie Lindemann to capture a few moments. You can see a few of them at their Flickr site, but being photographed and celebrated by Johny & Julie is a big deal, for J & J are photographers of renown, recently having a great retrospective of their work aired at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Stella herself has been photographed by J & J, memorably so when photographed wearing a Packer helmet while sitting on Watt’s ample lap. The closing of Nicholas Grider’s “Men In Suits” exhibit brought lots of ogglers to floor five of the Marshall Building. Crammed into the Portrait Gallery’s two small rooms, and spilling out into the narrow hall, many of the visitors were subjects in Grider’s ‘Men” photographs, so it wasn’t unusual to see Peter Goldberg standing in front of his portrait, holding his stomach in, just like he did for the photograph. Other celebs included others portrayed: Kyle Cherek, Skip Forest, Joe Pabst, and a host of manly men. Three women agreed to be included in the project wall grid. Deb Brehmer produced a slick mini-catalog for the event, and they sold like hotcakes for $15.00. The gallery is open Friday/Saturdays from 1-4pm. Next up? Tender Is The Line. Seven artists & the art of drawing. Allegedly, Wisconsin Visual Artists (formerly known as Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors), is NOT moving on to floor two of the Marshall Building, but Phylis Toburen is exiting from floor one, just so you know. And isn’t it sweet that Bill Delind Gallery is newly installed at Geo.Watt’s emporium, in the space formerly occupied by pots and pans? As I’ve written in prior posts, I can see Green Gallery East from my condo digs. Michelle Grabner’s silverpoint drawings are newly installed, along with a sensational Guest Mobile. It’s hard to believe that this place was recently a dump of a former defunct pizza joint. The smaller “back room” has two Jose Lerma “paintings”(earth mixed with acrylic base), and a whiz of an installation consisting of (to my mind) something creepy concerning the Spanish Inquisition. It’s brilliant. Lerma gave up law school in Madison to become an artist. Lucky for us.
Mar 30th, 2009 by Stella Cretek
Pierre Renee
Give Me a Break Wake up all you elitists! While you are enjoying a pizza at Riverfront Pizzeria on Erie Street, look around at the photographs and see if you can figure out who “Pierre Renee” is… ask your waitperson about the work on the walls, most of it in the small rooms adjacent to the bar area. Gee whiz, I’ve never heard of Pierre Renee, have you? Is he a bona-fide photographer or just some chap with a camera who likes to click click? There’s an 800 number attached to the frames so you can call and find out more should you care enough. Here’s a clue or two: In a recent Milwaukee Magazine article, writer Tom Bamberger raised some issues about the Breakwater condo on Prospect Avenue. Shortly thereafter, a “newsletter” began circulating in virtual space, ostensibly sent from the offices of the architect who brought Breakwater to town. It questioned Bamberger’s “credentials,” and slammed Bamberger’s photographs as not “appropriate for the Breakwater.” But that was a bit beside the point. Read on. So gee whiz, you have to ask yourself, would Pierre Renee’s photographs be more appropriate? They’re pretty awful, but well, go to the pizza place and decide for yourself if big blowsy images would best fit with the big blowsy Breakwater designed by ????? If you’re still in the dark, then so be it. Do you know who Renee is? The answer is hilarious, or so says I.
Mar 30th, 2009 by Stella Cretek
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
On the surface Edward Albee’s 1951 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – currently playing at The Alchemist Theater – seems to be nothing more than an intellectual pun on the verse “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?”, having little to do with the author herself. However, the disenchanted couple at the core of the play – Martha and George, performed with supple intensity by Sharon Nieman-Koebert and Mike Webber – exist in a world not so dissimilar to Woolf’s. They live in a world of domestic and academic impotence. Although Virginia and her husband, Leonard Woolf, shared a love and fondness for one another, they lived in separate worlds within their home. This lack of excitement, this confinement, led Virginia and her restless soul to have an open affair, as we see Martha attempting here in front of George with the vigorous and handsome Nick, a newcomer to the university that Martha’s father runs and where George teaches history. Like Woolf, Martha seeks a natural vigor lacking in George. At the heart of the story a couple looks to season the domestic blandness of their life together, and in doing so, deconstruct and reconstitute their love for one another. Kirk Thomsen, who also directs the production, plays Nick with a naive seriousness that is the complete opposite of George’s (and Martha’s) sharp condescension and bitter wit. After a party welcoming the new faculty, Nick and his pretty but innocuous wife, Honey (played by Liz Shipe) venture to the older couple’s home for a nightcap. It’s Martha’s fawning over Nick that sparks the tinder of tension hovering between her and George into an all out fire. Nick and Honey become pawns in the older couple’s power struggle. As they’re being moved from square to square, Martha informs them of her child, to which George pleads to her: “No, Martha. Don’t you bring that up, Martha. Don’t you dare talk about our son, Martha!” With this revelation, shrouded in mystery, dark secrets begin to spill out of both couples, and we see an inversion of the appearance of the younger couple’s happiness. By the end of the night, both couples come face to face with the delusional foundations on which their relationships are built. The most entertaining scene occurs when Martha and Nick – their sexual tension coming to a head – grind and twist to some very hip Surf Rock, while George watches helplessly with a brandy-comatosed Honey from the couch. Think of the scene from Blue Velvet when Dean Stockwell – from his anachronistic, pastel-consumed drug house – sings Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” for a frenzied Dennis Hopper (as George is here) and a group of oblivious and eerily sterile women (as Honey is here) who sit around knitting, unaffected by the storm on hand. For a brief minute the play turns into a musical: Martha and George trade syncopated insults in tune with the music, and level-headed Nick provides the pragmatic chorus, “Jesus Christ you two, enough!” The scene culminates with an impressive […]
Mar 30th, 2009 by Michael Madden
A Bronx Tale
Is it better to be loved or feared? This question gets to the heart of A Bronx Tale, Chazz Palmenteri’s tour de force currently ready to enthrall you at the Marcus Center’s Uilein Hall. The story takes place in the 1960s in (you guessed it) the Bronx and centers around a boy, Calogero (“C”), and his respect and loyalty for two very different men. Lorenzo is the boy’s father, a hard working, well-liked individual who cares for his son a great deal. On the other end of the spectrum is Sonny, a nefarious street boss who commands respect in the neighborhood through intimidation. Both men play an important role in the life of the boy and each one contributes to the boy’s eventual learned values. Conflict ensues when Lorenzo objects to Calogero’s over exposure to the immoral, yet street smart Sonny. Growing up in the Bronx is a concept so far removed from my own formative years spent in the bucolic areas of Racine county, writing this review makes me feel, in a way, like a fish writing about algebra. Or, given my comparative lack of understanding of anything mathematical, it’s like me trying to review algebra. However, love and fear are really the only two emotions that matter in any given situation for anyone. Boiled down, all of our actions, daily, yearly, moment to moment, are motivated by one or the other. Young C learns to balance these two motivators throughout the story. What C learns from Sonny about girls he balances against his father’s prejudice. And in turn, what C learns from his from his father about trust he bounces off Sonny’s paranoia. When the story ends, C has grown into a young man with all the emotional tools necessary to make it in the world that is neither Sonny’s way nor his father’s, but his own way. Chazz Palminteri is a virtuoso stage performer. Forget Bullets Over Broadway, forget The Usual Suspects, basically forget whatever your preconceived notion might be of Palminteri from any particular movie or stage production. Palminteri is a veritable rock star of the theatrical stage. And if you’ve never seen the performance talents of Chazz Palminteri, I implore you: Get to the Marcus Center this weekend and prepare yourself for some riveting entertainment. Using merely his body and voice he creates an entire panoply of characters, each with his own unique vocal and physical quality. Without break he unfolds the story through these characters for an endurance testing hour and forty minutes. Chazz Palminteri being such the powerhouse performer that he is, it’s a virtual breeze to forgive some of the cartoony aspects of the story, especially when you find out the one-man-play is also written by Palminteri. This is not an ego thing. Palminteri deserves to be performing his own work. Some of the characters are there solely for humorous effect and don’t add much to the story: there is a fat man, who was so fat his shadow once killed a dog, and a guy […]
Mar 30th, 2009 by Michael Madden
