readings (so terribly late)

Anytime, Anywhere  

Sasha Frere-Jones

Frere-Jones is reviewing West’s new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I’m no grammarian, but I think it may be missing a few commas. That aside, Kanye’s career has seen many twists and turns over the last few years, with some good moments (his music) and bad moments (anytime he speaks candidly). I still think he’s a cool guy with some serious sanity issues, so I’m going to check out this album. The guest artists are all awesome too! I’m so out of the loop with this type of music.

Fancy Footwork

David Denby

Black Swan:

Now I totally wish I had gone to see Black Swan! It’s not that I didn’t want to, I just never had the chance. Although I haven’t seen it, I do find this critic to be extremely harsh on the subject of artists and morbidity. Perfectionism is a dangerous thing and while Black Swan may bring this to extremes, I can relate to some of Nina’s anxiety and the physical effects it has on the body and the mind. We’re all a bit insane, and this movie dives into the darkest realms of artistic insanity.

Love and Other Drugs:

I haven’t seen this either, I am such a hermit! Denby loved this movie, and now this leaves me with the conviction that he is the type of critic who LOVES to be contrary to the popular opinion (which isn’t necessarily bad) because most critics loved Black Swan and felt apathetic towards Love and Other Drugs. I still would love to see both movies!

Ladies Wild

Sasha Frere-Jones

I have always admired Gaga for her gutsy genius—she’s screwing everyone over by accessing the heart of human nature and completely exploiting it—I love her! This article also discusses her business smarts and her understanding of collaboration with the right people.

Abstract Art's New World, Forged for All

Michael Kimmelman

I was actually recently listening to an interview with Richard Serra on PRI’s Studio 360. I can’t wait to go and experience his sculptures—descriptions don’t really seem to do the trick. This article is about his installation in the Bilbao Guggenheim (they designed specific sections of the museum for his work—imagine!) and a review of the pieces there, which are going to change the way the world views sculpture.

Serra Smiles

Peter Schjeldahl

This next article about Serra discusses his piece Switch, which induces pleasure as a piece of beauty, not fear as did Tilted Arc. Schjeldahl also discusses Serra’s evolution from his 1960’s gravitational works of lead, to Tilted Arc, which was hated so much that it was uninstalled and put in government storage, to his works today which are incredibly beautiful and widely acclaimed.

Off the Rim

I wish I had heard of Jim Carroll before this article. I think it would give me some more context of The Petting Zoo. As far as I can tell, the author did not enjoy the Carroll’s book as much as his earlier work, it was as if he had grown tired and lost his youthful spark. I’d like to read his earlier work, I’d never even heard of the movie adaptation. Again, I am a hermit!