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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Busan Bienniale
I finally made it to the Busan Bienniale a couple weekends ago. It leaned fairly heavily towards video and installation art. I have this minor grudge against video art, as so much of it totally disregards the way people receive art in a gallery. Let's face it, even if you're a top-notch artist, it will be difficult to make someone stay in the same place in a gallery for very long. I think video artists should keep this in mind, and compose accordingly so people can get the "gist" of your video from any 2 or so minute fragment. Mind you, this only applies to video art displayed at large exhibitions like bienniales.
Regardless, there was a couple good video installations. This was one of them. On the one side, an outside corner that made the projection surface look like a glowing cube, various deserted architecturally inflected images dissolved in and out. As you walked around the cube, however, the inside corner on the other side revealed that it was not a cube at all, but merely two fairly flat surfaces intersecting on a perpindicular plane.
The inside plane depicted an avalanche in slow motion, engulfing everything in its path, including a road, miniturized by the scale of the mountains and the avalanche, and eventually engulfing the whole screen. The way this piece conveyed the awesome natural power (that can be both beautiful and destructive) as the architecturality of the box was absolutely brilliant. The domestic sublime, you might call it.
My other favourite work was a sound installation which I will explain more in a subsequent blog.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Things are getting tense here...
Or not... One morning, when I woke up, I heard an air raid siren. Then, as I was walking to school, I heard fighter jets. But the Koreans will blast fireworks and party for the scantest reason, including the current Chrysanthemum Festival. Even though the South has quickly followed the North into 1000 km missile range capability, they still have time to celebrate flowers. Thank goodness for smelling the roses, er, I mean, Chrysanthemums!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Is your Sex Sexy Enough?
Thursday, October 19, 2006
ISP tracking RULES...
I found out that someone from Tokyo, who works for Japan's largest internet service provider read my blog for fifteen hours! I guess they read the whole damn thing!
American Spies.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Marnie.
So I watched Marnie last week. It launched into my "best five" ever movies rather quickly, although when I revisit it in my memory it might be hampered by its weak link: Sean Connery's accent slipping in and out of his Scottish brogue. No one can match Hitchcock for the psychological depth of his characters (except for Bergman in his film Persona). He also has the distinction of making a propaganda film that depicts the villain as still human (Lifeboat). Not a common characteristic of propaganda films, it is yet ultimately more convincing to show the humanity of the enemy. It's also preventative medicine against the very worst atrocities, or do our animal instincts drive out the reasoning beast within, regardless?
Monday, October 16, 2006
Mail Art
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Surf's Up!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
North Korea blew up a nuke!
The Down-low lowdown on Ginseng
I finally decided to do something proactive about my health, so I invested in some Ginseng products. My choice of product perhaps is questionable, but we shall see. I bought some Korean Red Ginseng Wine (pictured above), and I have been indulging every day (not to the point of drunkenness, mind you). Despite the rash of Ginseng products available everywhere these days, overuse of ginseng can be hard on your heart. Medicine can be poison and vice versa like a certain french philosopher and others have noticed. Ginseng is supposed to be a good tonic when you are ill. I think my sinuses warranted a shot, and so far I have noticed a slight improvement. When I bought the wine, they threw a huge bag of ginseng candies my way as well. That happens a lot here: buy something get something free.
Thank goodness for the man-shaped root.
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