Hello People of the World;
GASP! Summer is right around the corner! What are
you going do to when temperatures rise? What will happen when it gets humid and
maybe rain sometimes, or gets cool again, or maybe one day it is so nice out
that you will get out of the AC and hit the beach, met up some friends and hang
out at the game or the bar or the cool neighborhood and see cool stuff like
murals and art shows or just walk around with a loved one? I know! You’ll bitch
ceaselessly about the weather. Okay. Got it.
Now that we got that out of the way, we can
concentrate on all the useless stuff we pack into our soulless, screen-staring
lives. I am the source that fills the chalice that is your empty soul. Let’s
get this edition started, shall we?
1:[ First Item
of the Month:
Speaking of Native American Hypocrisies….
Poor, Tahnee. She’s learned the hard truth about
the Native American Community:
You need coattails for us to ride if you want our
support!
2:[ My Truthfulness Stuffs:
My Useless Self: Ego &
MY OWN HYPOCRISIES
Stop complaining about people complaining. There is
nothing you can do. You can fix the situation so it does not happen again, but
complaining about people complaining does nothing but make you look like a
complete ass. I mean that we recently had someone complain about how much we
did one particular thing last year and we were stunned, STUNNED to hear them
complain about this year! But didn’t they know HOW HARD WE WORKED to get it as
sucky as it was this year?
So, complaining about their complaints does not
improve the situation. We should take it as constructive feedback because
someone took the time to notice our weakness and alerted us to it. It should
NEVER be about “how hard we worked” on it because how hard we worked is
irrelevant to the outcome, which, only they see. The words “We worked so hard”
should never be in our vocabulary in this area we work in. So, never complain
about other people complaining.
But, it is TOH-tally okay to complain about people
complaining about people complaining.
Why can I get away with this, you ask? Well, as
egotistical as I am, I know that my ego is based on my open hypocrisy. We are
all hypocrites. I am just open about mine own. If you look at our world today,
to quote the great man, “We are all a part of the same hypocrisy.”
We all declare our beliefs and positions yet we act
in a manner entirely contradictory to them. Take, for instance, my aversion to
the Sundance Institute will never prevent me from applying for a job there.
Typically, my ego would prevent me from telling you that. It keeps me from
telling you so many other important things about my beliefs, but if you paid
attention, can piece together for yourselves and it would explain my shrinking
circle of close friends. But I disclose this in hopes of ridding myself of my
egotistical trappings, which is the purpose of this section of WoS. But I keep
finding ways I am so hypocritical, because to quote the great man, “My
hypocrisy knows no bounds….”
Updates from my other Truthfulness Projects:
+ NAMELESS: The Authentic and Magical Ledger Art of EW3
A Treatise on
American Indian Art
“All you care
about is money. This city deserves a better class of artist. And I’m going to
give it to them.”
Still looking for showings. But I am closer to
finding some spaces that will let me show my ledger artwork. So, we’ll see.
Recently we had a discussion about charging
admission for the film festival I run. I am against it. I made it one of our
basic principles to never charge the artists, the audience, or the venues
anything to screen the films. It goes more towards this idea that the festival
is not more important than the idea
that the filmmakers are all Native American. To put their works and their
voices out there into the world, on as many screens, in front of as many
audiences as possible is paramount. Unfortunately, Native American Cinema as we
know it, is doomed. Unless we change the paradigm of how we create our art.
We need to control how we are represented in media,
because if you cannot see how that affects all other areas in society, then you
are a dupe my friend, plain and simple. It is not ridiculous to ask to a “fair
and balanced”, an accurate representation onscreen. For Natives to be portrayed
by Natives, to have Native directors telling Native American stories because it
does have an affect on how people see you and how they treat you overall. If
you are buying into what television and radio tells you about the poor, about
Obama or Bush, or anything to begin with, then you know it right then that has
had an affect on what it tells you about Native Americans and you are a dupe, a
fool, for thinking “there are bigger fish to fry.”
But somehow, art always comes back to money. “We
have to pay our overhead.”
I hate that money is attached to art and that is
how we measure its worth. I hate that the Native Art World is colonized to
think the same thing. I believe Native Art Markets are a new reservation system
where the gatekeepers, the “real Indian artist” determine who gets in without
ever trying to aim higher. This mentality allows others, non-Native curators
and collectors to hold authority over our culture because of how much they paid
for a piece or how many times they show a Native artist’s work or by “allowing”
the artists to do presentations. It makes me angry.
That is what I am trying to do with my ledger art
project. To tear it away from that, in all aspects: content, format, materials,
and sales. Take away the beads and feathers and ‘the Old Times’, because we are
not that anymore. I am throwing out all the clichéd aspects of a “ledger art”
project and seeing if the message of a Native-created special can still make
its message heard, without the money thrown at it. To quote the great man, ‘It’s not about money. It’s about sending a
message…’.
+ The Five Six SEVEN Hypocrisies of Native America:
(Because Seven is a sacred
number):
Sure, “Sioux-per Sober”. And yet, they still put
the stereotypical Indian head on the tee shirt. (facepalm.) It is like saying “Ban
‘Redskins’!”, yet wearing a Blackhawks jersey because they are playing for the Stanley
Cup. The reason white people put on headdresses, is because we still put on
headdresses, for anything. We don’t even need a reason anymore. Indian schools
will have their own mascots wearing one. Unfortunately, a headdress doesn’t
mean a whole lot anymore. You can see that by how often you see Natives in
them, and for what reasons they wear them.
NEXT MONTH’S
TRUTHFULNESS:
Ego and
_____?
Let me know what I should
cover next in my series on Truthfulness.
3:[ More MOVIE TIME ADVENTURES: More Reviews:
+ BATMAN ’89: they screened this at the Music Box
Theater as part of the Batman’s 75th Anniversary of being a comic
book character, a grand accomplishment… for a comic book character that has
nothing else to do but be a comic book character. Anyways. I remember being
such a fan when this came out in ’89 that I was know as that “Batman Guy” in
high school. I went to see this a few weeks ago with one of my best friends,
Cuba and we decided that the reason we loved it so when it first came out was
because it was the ONLY representation of Batman, our favorite character, at
the time. Now, looking back we see that it is more a flawed Tim Burton film
than a Batman movie. We saw the ridiculousness of some of the performances and
the sheer incredulousness of situations and we saw how weak a movie it is. We
were so blinded to its badness by seeing Batman on the big screen at a time
when comic book movies were not even considered, in any way. We also talked
about movies we “fell out of love with” after time. To this list I added Kurt
Wimmer’s “Equilibrium” and now I add Tim Burton’s “Batman”….
+ Locke, starring Tom Hardy, is what I am declaring
to be the Best Dramatic Picture of the Year. It is about a construction manager
who makes a decision to drive the 90-minute drive to deal with something
personal and having to deal with all the consequences of his decision. The
catch is that it all takes place inside the car on the 90-minute drive and
Hardy must convey all this emotion and fortitude because he is the only person
on screen the whole time. Powerful and subtle and simple and when the three can
be conveyed in a single film, that makes for a great film for me. Highest
Recommendation.
+ Back to the Future: My Char and I went to see
this because in spite of it being her favorite all-time 80’s movie and I having
been alive when it premiered, we had never saw it on the big screen. I opted
for “Commando” at the time and never once regretted it. Watching it on the big
screen is wholly different than all those years of small screen visitations.
For one, it seems to move at a brisker pace. Secondly, we noticed little
details which are not apparent on the TV screen, such as the subtly of the old
age make up. All in all, I loved seeing it with my co-critic and afterwards we
talked about it for hours, like we always do. So, missing it back then, was
well worth it if only to be able to sit and discuss it with Charlotte now….
+ X-Man: Days of Future Past – As much as I enjoyed
this in the theater, I find myself never thinking about it afterwards. “First
Class” I still think about, “X2” I still think about. But this one, as
action-packed and streamlined as it was, I never stop to think about like I do
the other two X-Man movies. It was good. Well-made and well acted, that when it
was done, I thought, “Shit, they pulled it off. They re-booted the X-Man movies
better than the Star Trek reboot did.” Sorry, but Warpath is a joke: “Ten
Horses. Riding west. Three Days.” I guess in the deep future, with people that
can manipulate metal or read the thoughts of people half a world away, you
still need Indian scouts to point out the obvious…. RECOMMENDED, with
reservations. (Ha. Get it?)
+ Ramona (1928) – I saw this at the MUSIC BOX
THEATER as part of their Second Saturday Silent Film Series. I saw the
description for this one and decided to attend for a coupe of reasons. 1) to
see if a silent film would still hold up for me. (I hated "The
Artist"), and, 2) it was directed by Edwin Carewe, who directed such
notables of the times such as "Evageline" and others, and was considered
a master of the silent form, but was born Jay Fox and is listed on the 1898
& 1907 Dawes Chickasaw rolls as a tribal member.
Ramona, takes place in the late 1800's California,
is about an orphan girl raised on a Spanish ranch by the iron-willed ranch
mistress. She grows up with the ranch mistress' son and as she gets older, he
falls in love with her.
When Ramona falls in love with Alessandro, the
Temecula Indian that shears sheep for the ranch, it is revealed, when Ramona
announces her engagement to Alessandro, that she too is half Indian. Instead of
horrifying her into submission, she is overjoyed that she can marry a fellow
Indian. Her brother then helps her elope with Alessandro and they go to live an
idyllic life in the Indian village. Of course, the Indians need to be punished
for defying the order of society, from there, much calamity befalls Ramona and
Alessandro until Ramona is returned to the ranch at film's end, remarking
"It is as if I never left..."
The silent film era was resplendent with Native
American character heroes and often told stories from their points of view.
However, many Native directors also knew their audiences. While this one
addresses the discrimination Indians face, it also goes into the conversion of
Indian people as well, showing the punishment from a higher power when Ramona
leaves to be with her people. Ramona must still return to the ranch and
maintain the status quo. As one audience member put is as we left the theater,
"Here she is, a Native American who makes her choice and is happy. Then
the director shows how great their life is, but then, 'Nope, we can't let
things be too happy'."
RECOMMENDED if it screens near you. There were many
religious colonization and racial discrimination subtleties that pervade the story
that I found interesting viewing with a modern lens.
4:[ So, there is this article
online about this Super Barista drinking regular “Store brand” coffees and
hating them. This? This is news? I am always surprised at how many ways we
elevate mediocrity. The whole of this guy’s “talents” is just tasting coffee,
and judging it.
Man, can you honestly say this guy contributes
anything to society? We constantly find new ways to celebrate our own
mediocrity. We have Apple Geniuses, Coffee Shop Baristas, Native Artists,
Politicos, Democrats, Republicans, name it, anything we can pat ourselves on
the back for thinking we are better than others.
Fuck World Peace or working for it, that’s too
hard, because I want to know what kind of coffee to buy at the store because
some stuck-up shithead said this one brand “was tolerable.”
Soft cells, people. Enjoy them. Speaking of
coffee….
5:[ Ah yes, settle in Dear
Readers for more of:
Adventures in
the Coffee Shop and/or on the CTA!
+ So, I finally went in and experienced an “Intellegentsia”
Coffee Shop. It seems to me that the only things separating any type of coffee
shop are the prices and the aura of “cool” where hip folks think they are
slumming it by being or working in these types of coffee shops. It was still
filled with the Bob Executives on their way to Business, in their blue shirts
and dark slacks, bro hugging each other, and they were all dressed alike! It
still has the Movie Makers sitting and talking to one another about their
“unique” ideas that are “kinda like ‘Game of Thrones’ mixed with Native
American clans” and they name drop people the person they are talking to has
never heard of but who is totally doing something like that and they would be
interested, and the green tea still tastes the same as anywhere else I have
been. But, it is “Intellegentsia”, where the normal riffraff do not go and that
makes it awesome….
+ Listening in, I think this tutor (Could be a
teacher judging from how overly-critical he is being) meeting his student at
the coffee shop to go over her paper is really getting off on correcting an
Asian student. Prejudiced? Maybe, if I had not seen him at other times in the
coffee shop helping Joe Athletes and Sally Sweets with their papers,
practically rewriting it for them. He seemed to really get off on point out all
the ways this particular student was wrong…. Or, maybe I am prejudiced….
+ Here is an expansion of something that was in
last month’s edition that had no clarification. So there was this Dude on the
train that is on the phone saying over and over that he’ll “be right there” and
where exactly he was. We were at Madison and Wabash. He was obviously talking
to “his woman” because he was deflecting accusations of not caring and such and
kept reassuring her that he was just five minutes away, maybe four stops. But,
when the train stops, he sees the hot chicks on the opposite platform. He
stares hard out the window at them all the while reassuring the person he’s
talking to that he’ll be right there. Then, he starts knocking on the window
trying to catch the young ladies’ attention. Who does that? And, since when
does knocking ever help? Anyways, he jumps off the train before it leaves the
station so he can go over and talk to the ladies. Classy….
+ Sitting in the coffee shop I am witness to a dude
who confronts a loud co-customer at their shared table. The dude got offended
because the loudmouth was talking too loud about something but the loudmouth
wouldn’t drop it about the dude minding his own business. You know how it goes,
all it takes for either of them to shut the fuck up but both have to have the
last word. Sorry, but that is not how debates are won, having the last word,
not matter what you see on TV. So, they both settle down and it’s quiet at
their table and after a while the loudmouth leaves. Immediately, the dude calls
his bro to talk shit about him. Typical.
+ I just saw a little kid grab one of those coffee
cups with the straws that they sale, and this kid sticks the whole straw in his
mouth. His mother grabs it out of his face and instead of telling anyone, just
puts the cup and straw back on the sales shelf. I sat there to see if the mom
would tell anyone when she ordered and paid…
…she didn’t. She left. So, be careful out there.
Before you flip your lid, I took the cup to the
cashier and let them know, to which the barista understandingly says “Eww.”
6:[ So, I went out and did my
laundry (“gasp”, I know) at the nearest Laundromat because my neighbors are
rude boors. While there, waiting for my machines to finish, I finally watch my
first full daytime talk show in about eight years. (“gasp”, I know.) It was a
show called “The Chew”, a food talk show about talking to people about food.
They had guests, some washed-up, early 2000’s model/actress and her husband,
who have a reality TV show that they blatantly admitted was not really reality
but staged vignettes, and games where studio audiences won cash for some stupid
reason, and where the hosts sometimes cooked stuff. Novel, I know. Now, all of
this leads me to ask a potentially stupid question:
Is it just me or have all television studio
audiences de-evolved into a pack of “WOOOOOOOOO!” monkeys?
7:[ And now Wisdom of the
Sages presents:
“An Ever-growing List of Things That MUST Stop!”
+ This attitude of: Movies Only Owe Me a
Ball-Tickling or “Why Film is NOT ART”
In the recent wake of the releases of both “Pacific
Rim” and the new “Godzilla” movies, and in conjunction to my own viewing of the
1954 Japanese version of “Gojira”, I had prepared this whole diatribe about
knowing the difference between metaphor and allegory and how it pertains to
monster movies. Whereas “Gojira” was an allegory of atomic power and its
improper usage steeped in a kaiju film, I was rather disappointed by the
results of “Pacific Rim” and how many were disappointed by the new “Godzilla”,
which every one wanted to have fun rather than contemplating something deeper
in a kiaju film. But instead, they want to be kids again.
I had laid out this argument about allegory versus
metaphor and how today’s audiences completely confuse the two, or outright
ignore them, because: man in rubber suit smashing model buildings. As you know,
stories are how we pass on our most sacred cultural information, in easy to
swallow chunks. These used to be winter tales, now are movies and video games.
Yes, you should be getting something life changing from art. You really should.
That old “This movie isn’t gonna change your life,
but if you want to be a kid again” argument is the primary cause of the
retardation of our country and this backwards stepping of our society. We want
instant gratification, just like we got when we were kids playing with our toys
and watching cartoons.
So you “just want to be a kid again” at the movies?
Fuck that! You aren’t a kid anymore! Let your kids be kids. You had your chance
and you blew it. Fuck what you think you’re owed as a popcorn-munching,
ticket-buying idiot. You got scammed. Try to get something from movies. Try to learn.
Grow up. Be real.
+ Waiting for the bus at the corner of Clark and
Rogers, there was this obviously mentally ill person walking in the streets,
talking tough and getting in people’s faces over nothing. He would yell at
passing cars, he pulled on the doors of parked cars, and generally made a
nuisance of himself. He did not hurt anyone or cause any damage, from what I
saw. He was just being a bothersome ass that I could ignore. Yes, he did walk
past me and was loud but he never got in my face or said anything.
The guy was basically harmless and when the cops
will come to get him (And they will, because he is black), hopefully, they will
make that assessment too and get him the help he needs. What bugged me though
is that two people near me were staring at him too but making wry commentary on
him. They laughed at his thug’s front and grandiose traffic-halting. The fellow
eventually went back into the hospice down the street. I assume that is where
he came from, as there is one near where he disappeared. Or maybe the cops got
him. One lady who passed me remarked, “Someone forgot his medicine”.
To which I could only agree, because that much was
obvious.
One of the commentators got on the bus with me. A
few stops down the street, another fellow with obvious problems gets on and
holds up the passengers explaining his fare card situation. The commentator
huffs and sighs and makes comments like “please don’t make this a looong bus
trip.”
That is when it hit me: our society really likes to
watch the spectacle of others’ suffering. Which is why, I guess, we like
“reality TV”. We like to think that they are worse off than us and we love to watch
the spectacle of them melting down. It is the same reason we love sports, we
love the brutality of them hurting one another and tearing down the players
when they don’t do what we want, which is to entertain us. It’s why we love
watching the lives of celebrities and their problems because we will always
think we are better from our judgmental high grounds. It’s the reason we send
soldier off to war, we’d rather they get their lives trashed than ours and we
can praise ourselves for “supporting them” when we love the spectacle of war.
We are so fucked up as a society, that we take pleasure in the spectacle of
others’ suffering. Just take a moment and look at what you enjoy watching….
+ Nothing sadder than the old dude trying to chat
up and impress the “hot” barista and vice-versa, the old barista trying to chat
up and impress the “hot” customers. Let me show you how a real Old Dude does
it… zzzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz.
8:[ I am always still
surprised at how much of a treat something like Dunkin’ Donuts is for kids. I
was in there the other day and seeing how the little ones light up when they
come through the doors is something very special. Or like getting something, a
toy, a candy, anything from a dollar store or Walgreens and to see them just
skip and hold onto their something with love. That is something I cannot get
over and it breaks my heart that one day, they will lose that in our need to
make sure they grow up to be adults, rather than people….
9:[ From the “This Just In” Department: Here is the
best, recent example of our mass hypocrisy. We are so in love with the USA
Soccer Team at the World Cup in Brazil right now, all because it provides us a
vicarious win without having to do anything. When the real problem there in
Brazil is the extreme poverty and there have been protests and violent clashes
about it for the last few years, when the World Cup was announced. It seems the
Brazilian government spent millions in preparation for these games rather than
trying to rebuild its infrastructure to help the people living in poverty. You
think we will care? Nope, ‘cause here we are throwing money and attention at
fucking soccer ‘cause: ‘Merica wins!
The true hypocrisy of it all is that no one fucking
cares about soccer….
10:[ Last Item of the Month: I am sitting here looking at all the people
around me, interacting, talking, and visiting in such a grand symphony of
humanity, and I could find it so very inspiring if every, single one of them
were not just talking bullshit and nonsense no human being should ever be
interested in, ever. Just inane the nonsense that affects only them in some
personal way, which makes it important enough to address and therefore,
themselves important because they have to deal with that stupid customer or the
way UPS delivers when only their roommates are there, or how kale is so much
better for you.
No discussion about what is really affecting us.
Nothing important that will progress humanity onto the correct paths. Nope.
“Business, business, business, banking, banking,
files, banking, them, business.”
“Yeah, we’ll laugh out loud to show everyone that
we will never meet sitting in here that we are such a fun bunch, even though we
will never hang out after work, and will talk about one another when our
backs are turned.”
“This phone, that app, that show, that movie, this
musician is soooo much better because I listen to them, watch them, buy their
shit, have a knowledge about them, this coffee drink.”
We are such a pathetic species, we never act on
things we should act on, we are too distracted by things that are not important
in the least, and we keep finding new ways to separate one another, when we
should be working to solve the really real, really big problems we ALL face,
too busy dealing with the stuff “that makes me happy” and not dealing or facing
the bad and the dark and working through it and doing that every damn day.
Or worse, we “support” bullshit causes that are
taking place for real hundreds or thousands of miles away and we pat our selves
on the back because we marched or drummed or re-posted to Facebook in “support”,
to “raise awareness”. Nobody does anything anymore. Failing species….
On that uplifting note: That will do it for this
month.
Been on a "Lunch with Friends" Tour this
spring. Thanks to Monica & Debra, Mike & Maria, Cuba, Bonnie &
Char, Dave, and Allen and my new friend Cynthia for taking the time. Maybe I'll
start a summer leg of the tour? Get in touch if I missed anyone! As always,
feel free to comment, correct, or contradict anything you read on my silly
weblog. Call me out on my nonsense, they only thing you will hurt is my ego. I
should not get the last word because that is a stupid thing to happen. You know
that.
I’ll take your silence and non-action as agreement.
Thank you.
Until Next Time, “I try to show the schemers how
pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”
2014 Ernest M. Whiteman III
