Hello People of the World;
Well, here we find ourselves on the last day of the
month of November, formerly “National Native American Heritage Month”. My apologies
for posting this so late, again, life gets in the way and makes me lazy. I have
no clue how it does that. I better look into it… sooner or later. Well here we
are, posting after Turkey Day! I hope you and yours’ had a nice big meal.
Hey, what do you know: it’s kind of cold. As of typing
this, it has warmed up a bit and now people are all complaining about it being
rancidly hot! But, don’t worry, once it drops back to around freezing, they
will complain it’s too cold. Or, maybe the Cool Kids will brag about where they
are from or where they have been and how it is no big deal, the temperature.
All that bragging and complaining, will you just let that alone? Leave that to
me. Ha.
Who would have though that, as fall turns to
winter? Man, this VERY expected drop in temperature that happens every fall
seems to surprise the entire world. The turn of the earth maybe is too quick
for us….
Let’s get this edition started, shall we?
1:[ The
Importance of Trash Bags…
So, I was cleaning up the place, getting rid of
garbage and some old, broken things I need to be rid of to keep the illusion of
my place being open and clean looking. I have a couple of broken fans that I am
loath to throw out due to sentimental value. Bonnie gave one fan to me after
our divorce and the other was a holdover from my days in Wyoming when my mother
was alive. So, because they have this attached value I cannot bring myself to
throw them out into the garbage even though both are have broken blades and
will not operate due to that.
So, in an effort to clean my place I bought a roll
of trash bags. I struck me that, at the expense of polluting our environment
with more plastic, they are actually really good at covering up sentimental
things, therefore making it easier to throw out unnecessary trinkets. I admit
that I have yet to test this by bagging up and throwing out my fans….
2:[ My Truthfulness Stuffs:
My Useless
Self: Ego & My Introversy Part II
I am an introvert. Now, it might not seem that way
when you read this but consider: I am not in the same room with you. Being an
introvert can also be mistaken for being “antisocial”, which I am not. But it
does make it easier for folks to leave introverts out.
I hate inviting myself places, most introverts do.
We like hanging out with people we know and being in the company of friends and
family. But I also think our introverse natures allows many people to think
that they can speak for us: “Well, they are going to say ‘no’ anyways to the
invite because they are always so quiet, so why bother?”
Introverts do like to have that option of saying
“No” for themselves. So, don’t be a fucking coward. Go ahead and ask that quiet
friend of yours to the thing. Let them say no for them selves. What is the
worst that can happen, they say “Okay”? Oh. Yeah, I guess that would be soooo
terrible… Sorry… Forget I said anything….
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.”
I know I keep saying that I need to get going on
this project. It is a cool project, I think, and something no other Native
artist is even attempting. I REALLY need to get this project going again. The
one drawing holding me up is an ink drawing of Al Swearengen from HBO’s
“Deadwood”. (Yeah, I know. But that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?) I don’t
know what it is about that drawing but I am hesitant to ink it. Part of me
thinks I have over-planned it the project. I have 78 drawings done with the
goal of completing 100 before switching to ledger books but I planned each one
of those remaining 22 drawings and that leaves little room for improv in what I
choose to draw.
But that fear of committing to the ink is something
that I just need to get over. I think it might be the level of detail as I am
afraid of messing it up. But one of my main art philosophies is that even
mistakes can be turned into something great. I just need to get off my ass and
start drawing again. Maybe it is just trying to find the time and space to
draw. In any case, it now seems that I have a deadline for new images for
NAMELESS.
Because, it looks like I MAYBE CURATING A SHOW in April
for the Illinois State Museum in the Thompson Center here in Chicago in April
2015. This all started when I espoused my own personal ideology about the
so-called “Native American Arts” and the offer was made. At first I refused
because I did not think anyone would be interested in my art or my ideals on
art. My ideology is the main reason I am never grouped in with the typical
cadre of Native American artists even though I have been drawing and creating
arts since I was a child. People do not like that I am trying to create art
without the baggage of beads and feathers, of fringe and horse and the
so-called “traditional” aspect of what typifies Native American culture, or
worse, that I am working on disassociating art from commerce. People want
money. That is all.
So, I am looking for 3 or 4 other artists that
share my point of view of art and are willing to get in touch and we will work
something out. No, it is not a big show at the main gallery. It is a public
display in the main thoroughfare where tons of people will see your work! There
has even been talk of a panel to sort of counter one of the displays going on around
the same time. So, we will see what I can make of this…
Also, I am going to resurrect my “MY COURAGEOUS
WOMEN” photo project with an eye to getting it exhibited sometime soon. (Maybe
in April?) Let me know if you are interested in seeing my photo project or if
you would like to take part in it. With so many opportunities opening up, maybe
I should stretch beyond film…. Let me know….
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):
+ Many people like to think that they want to live
with the idea of BALANCE, because they feel it is akin to Native culture. For
example, the Diné have the concept of “hozho” or “to walk in beauty”. I always
thought it meant Harmony, not balance. People do not really understand what balance
is when talking about lifestyles. If you balance something, say a pile of
blocks, you will notice that all things are not equal on both sides. You are
thinking of a scale. But even then, you need to make sure that many somethings
balancing against the one large something.
Yes, to me, balance does not mean everything in
equal portion. It is about working with both the extremes of happiness, sadness
and anger. Many people just do not do that. Because there are some out there
that only want to deal in Happiness. I know what you’re saying: but what’s
wrong with that?
A lot. It is not a balanced life. I had a student
that refused to talk about the negativity in the Native-directed films I
screened because she “did not want to deal with negativity” because she wanted
“a balanced life”. Which is nonsense. Because life is MORE THAT JUST HAPPINESS!
It is sorrow, love, hate, anger, loneliness, and all those feelings that a
human being feels and you have to deal with that! People forget that we also
have negative feelings in us too. You cannot suppress or ignore those and think
you have a “balanced” life.
For my friend, who is Diné and was talking about
stereotypes and attributing his concept of balance to it, that you need to have
the negative stereotypes to balance positive ones, felt like a lazy way of not
dealing with it, of not taking a side, and very hypocritical because it seemed he
applied this Navajo concept of “hozho” only to the issue of sports mascots as
his “get out of jail free” card so that he did not have to take a side.
Living a balanced life is like spinning a plate, to
put things metaphorically, if the plate drops and breaks you are done, hooked
off stage into the next realm, or what ever you believe, and on that plate are
all these emotions, situations, and people that grow in size at different
intervals due to how they impact and interact with your life, sometimes you add
things to the plate, the plate becomes bigger and harder to keep spinning, you
have kids, change jobs, someone passes and you are left to grieve, or something
you are passionate about flares, like fighting injustice, or you are wronged
and have to deal with that, and you have to balance the plate to keep it
spinning. All things are not equal but you still have to deal with them to keep
your life (your plate) balance so it can go on spinning.
I guess the main hypocrisy here is that we Natives
love, Love, LOVE to preach about a balanced life but we do anything to not
actually live one….
+ So, there I was at the film festival event having
that DISUCUSSION ABOUT MY ART IDEALS: the separation of art and commerce in
which I got a lot of “I agree, but…”. I argued that I would rather give away my
drawings because I can easily make another. Give aways are actually a Native
Tradition! In some Northwest coast tribes the idea of give away is crazy! (In
that good sense.) The idea is that you are supposed to provide for your people
and the more you have the more you give away. Many white anthropologist love to
attach it to some for of tribal egoism, the more rich you are, the more you
prove it by giving away, which is just stupid.
I never understood why we sell our art, especially
art that was made traditionally, or has traditional motifs and images on/in
them. Worse yet, art that depicts things we Natives love to smugly deem
“sacred”, just so GAP and American Apparel doesn’t sell them. Shit, but we see
all the “Sacred” items and colors all over our Native business logos and tee
shirts. We are hypocrites first in that.
But the discussion came to this idea that I could
not replicate the drawing I gave away. I said I could because I am the one who
drew it. But the argument was that the process is different each time as I (or
any other Native artist) would be in a different headspace for creation, due to
time passage, different location and mental taxation at the time I create. The
process to create the drawing is different. I agreed of course it would not be
exactly the same drawing but it would be very similar. But all this was beside
the point, a point I was unable to make at the time because the topic shifted
to if I should curate a show based on my artist ideology.
What makes the process beside the point is this: if
the Process HAS MEANING and is NEVER THE SAME when creating something new, in
any case, if the process is soooo important and taxing to you, why sell it out,
why CHEAPEN that process by attaching a dollar figure to it to sell off?
NEXT MONTH’S
TRUTHFULNESS:
Ego and
_____?
Let me know what I should
cover next in my series on Truthfulness.
3:[ More MOVIE TIME ADVENTURES:
+HAMLET Update: The Fall shoot has been beset with
a lot of technical difficulties and scheduling restrictions. However, I am working
up new scene or two to be shot indoor to try and bypass the cold weather we are
in the middle of right now. Though, the play does suggest that the story takes
place during the winter. Well see, Shakespeare never had to deal with touchy
Native actors….
Probably the most difficult thing about HAMLET has
been getting people interested. Without beads and feathers or alcoholism or
historical trauma, no one cares about a Northern Arapaho trying to make a movie
based on Shakespeare. What no one seems to get is that I am telling a “Native”
story with a Native Voice. The story just happens to be HAMLET and I just
happen to be the “Native”. If you cannot see how the cast and I are
representing our Native heritage then you miss the whole point about Native
American self-representation and first-voice. It is tough enough to try to convince
my people of what I am doing because I am still getting the “You’re wasting my
time” attitude from most every one. Honestly, I hate wasting people’s time.
It seems that this Native community that makes a
big noise about supporting the works of Native artists really does not care
unless you can make them money or some kind of “rez famous”, as I call it.
Meaning, you are seen as famous in the very limited circles of Native film,
art, or what-have-you. When you cannot provide any of this, or fast enough for
some, they put on this attitude of having their time wasted or they are too
important because they were on a magazine no one reads. So much for supporting
each other.
This movie is my challenge to the Native community
to do art for the sake of doing art. That’s it. It is simple, really, but maybe,
way too difficult for the egos of many people.
The movie industry will hate that I am shooting digitally
on a pro-sumer Nikon D5100 DSLR, which, according to many in the industry, was
developed for AP to shoot video for websites. The camera is cheap and it has a
high-definition resolution that looks very good to me. Besides, the story
should be enough to carry an audiences’ interest. I have always believed that.
So many “independent” moviemakers want to shoot in 5k, which is a very high
resolution, about 5000 pixels across the screen. Old Standard definition TV was
only 750 pixels. HD (what Blu-ray is and what I am shooting in) is 1920 pixels,
Hi-def runs up to 4k and 5k, which is what the RED cameras shoot at.
Though the RED cameras are meant to be inexpensive,
the makers of RED cameras have never been a dirt-poor Northern Arapaho working
with what ever he can get his hands on. I am sure the ‘real’ Native film professionals
will turn their noses up at my efforts. That is okay, I subscribe to Jack
White’s tenant of it has to be a struggle. That is how we measure our
commitment to our form. It needs to be a struggle. You have to fight it, battle
it, to make it into something.
I hope HAMLET will get made. We have a really good
organization behind us and we have locations willing to work with such a unique
project. I just need to gather actors around me that also believe in my vision,
crude as it made be in the scope of limited equipment. That did not stop the
DOGMA 94 folk. Nor did it stop Goddard and the rest. I will get HAMLET done. I
even have a premiere date of September 2016. So, keep an eye out for another
call for actors. I hope more will join us.
Because, when this thing starts to gain traction, I
know more people will come around, because it could change HOW Native American
movies get made, change what the industry THINKS about Native American actors,
and be the first of a long line of really cool and unique films made in Native
country. As I see it, Native American Cinema, as we know it, is doomed. We need
something like HAMLET to shake up the gatekeepers and the status quo, bend the
rules to create something new using something old. To assert the ultimate act
of reverse cultural appropriation by taking something from the colonial
cultural and make it Northern Arapaho, just to really, truly turn the tables of the expectations of people when it comes
to Native American Cinema…
+Side by Side: A Short Review – a documentary
discussing the move to digital moviemaking with some of the big names of the industry
and produced and hosted by Keanu Reeves, who is experiencing a small
renaissance of late after the shitty “47 Ronin”. He questions filmmakers like
Martin Scorsese, Lar Von Trier, David Lynch, Robert Rodriguez, George Lucas,
Christopher Nolan, and James Cameron about the switch from celluloid to digital
filmmaking. It is a very balanced look at the conversion and goes into
technical depth without over-saturating it with tech-speak. A really good doc.
I recommend it if you are interested in such things.
+More new movie reviews coming: Interstellar,
Birdman, Dear White People, Rhymes for Young Ghouls plus analysis of such films
as Man of Steel, Night of the Hunter and other film defenses and arguments of
“Masterpiece” status, all coming to the revamped WOS Reviews ‘Blog…. Coming
Soon.
4:[ What is up with this new trend
of Ugly Sports Shoes? Have the current crop of professional sports stars all
have gone colorblind? Have you seen what all the kids are getting their parents
to buy them for “sports”? Have you seen those new, clown-colored basketball
shoes out there, being worn out in the wet, snowy streets? What happened to
simple colors?
I preferred Converse Weapons to the Nike Air
Jordans. But maybe I am just an old man complaining about today’s fashions.
That is basically it, for everyone, really. Look at how all worked up we are
getting over low-hanging pants. Since it is clearly associated with black
teens, it MUST be a bad thing, right? We even try to draw homosexual, prison
parallels to the fashion as if being gay is evil and anything associated with
black teens MUST be associated with prisons. Come on! OVER PANTS! We are all
the grumpy old man yelling at the kids to get out of our lawns. That is
America, NOW.
Still, neon blue and orange Adidas shoes look
stupid….
5:[ Ah yes, settle in Dear
Readers for more of:
Adventures in
the Coffee Shop and/or on the CTA!
+ I have been ordering hot chocolate in the coffee
shops of late, it being something a bit different from coffee or tea. I have
learned that even though many different coffee shops call it different things:
hot chocolate or cocoa, it always ends up being someone stirring chocolate
syrup into steamed milk. Plus, there is no MISTAKING hot chocolate for anything
else, like for coffee or tea or even apple juice. No mochas or lattes or hot,
spice ciders to mis-communicate and complicate what is a very simple request.
In other news: This is why I never go to
McDonald’s: Their machines are always broken down – I went to a McD’s the other
day to get out of the cold and to wait for a school visit but their cocoa machine
was broken. So, I walked around in the blocks for 40 minutes not finding
anywhere else to stop and sit before getting into my school visit a bit early.
Stupid Mickey Dee’s….
+ I cannot help but overhear the VERY LOUD
CONVERSATIONS the baristas have when ever I come to the coffee shop. It is as
if they try to talk loud on purpose to show off how cool they are or how they
are one of the “Little People”. Case in point, one of the dude baristas was
working extra hard to present his expensive tastes as a “not really” thing.
“I’ve had caviar, it’s not really a thing, but I ate it” (Translation: “I have caviar all the time at parties and other
places I go, I love it but since I am talking to people of color…”.) and “I
don’t really go for Kettle Corn.” (Translation: “Ew, that’s for POOR People!”) Anyways. This guy talks about all of
his exclusive taste and tries to pretend that “he’s not THAT into them.”
Look, I know how tough it is to be a barista. I get
it. It is a shitty job. You have to put up with assholes like me. But if it is
such a shitty job, quit. You can end that misery with a phone call. But I also
get that you are TOO INTERESTING A PERSON to have a shitty job. (Thanks to
Louis CK for that one)
I have no idea where I am going with this….
+ Speaking of talking very loud about important
recent event, so everyone can hear you. After the recent Ferguson decision and
subsequent protests, I have overheard so many people’s stupid opinions about
it, on both sides. I wish people would stop talking about stuff and do
something instead. (Yeah, I should talk, right?) Maybe that needs to be
something that needs to stop….
6:[ So I brought new gloves.
Yes, it has gotten that cold. I buy these glove made with neoprene and have
those stupid TECH TIPS that are supposed to allow you to work your touch screen
apparatus – they don’t work. I have no super-deluxe cell phone that has a touch
screen so all these gloves do is let in a slow trickle of cold air those these
tight-knitted mesh tips when they are supposed to be keeping my hands warm. I
tried the Tech Tips on a Redbox machine and it is a struggle as they never
align correctly to your fingertips. You have to scoot your fingers around to
make good contact through the tips to operate a touch screen. Dumb. So, beware
of such gloves. It sort of says something about our constant need to stare at
our phones no matter the temperature….
7:[ And now Wisdom of the Sages
presents:
“An Ever-growing List of Things That MUST Stop!”
+ Complaining but never offering a solution: I have
been to some recent town hall meetings on a variety of subjects and at all of
them they do nothing but complain about how things are but none ever try to
offer a solution other than “immediate action”. Some, not even that. So, I went
to one recently about Youth Media. While everyone agreed that media influences
and that media “feeds us what we eat”, meaning that we are the influence media
has had on us, no one really presented solutions to these issues. That needs to
stop….
+ POOR Shaming – Looking at sites like People of
Wal-mart, and what the news industry did to SEARS, take a good look at the
people they are shaming. Many of these stores and businesses cater to the lower
income bracket. So, I am sorry they are not as good-looking, or as rich and
awesome as you… I apologize on their behalf….
+ One of these is not like the others: While all of
them have done some fucked up things in their time, only one is really getting
his whole empire and legacy destroyed (granted, as it should be) but between
BILL COSBY, WOODY ALLEN and ROMAN POLANSKI, why is this only happening to the
black guy…?
8:[ So, I picked the wrong day
to get my girl some birthday presents. Standing in line at the Game Stop
getting my girl a gift, it was a madhouse. It did not help that this day was also
this so-called, vaunted “Black Friday”. This goes to show you how brainwashed
the media can make us. I mean, we can shop at all these same places on any
other day of the year, yet, when the media tells us to get in on the “Black
Friday Deals!” we are ready to kill someone over a fucking $25 DVD player.
Geez. I mean, that store isn’t going anywhere in the next 30 days. Fucking wake
up people.
The other thing I saw in this craze maze of
humanity was the parent with a list from their child. When I was a child, the
best memories of Christmas were the not knowing what I was getting as a gift.
It made the presents that much more special to get. Sure, I had wish lists but
I was always happy with my presents. Because I know my parents and later, my
family gave these things to me because of how much they thought they put into
them, hoping, believing these gifts would be something I would appreciate. I
still feel that. Here, a dad was talking to a store associate about the list
his 15-year-old gave him. I mean, can you call it a gift when you know what you
are getting, or, is it simply an order to fill, like Amazon? Is Amazon giving
you gifts because you ordered it?
I try very hard to think of gifts for people. When
I do, I think a lot about their likes and interests, it means I have to pay
fucking attention to things like that. I have to have empathy and interest.
That is something we are slowly breeding out of our species of late. Which is
why I do not make a big deal about my birthday now. I am happy with whatever
people deem to get me. It means they put some thought into my interests. Let’s
try to show a bit more consideration this year….
9:[ From the “This Just In” Department: Since I am
posting this so late , I am also late to the game when it comes to the new STAR
WARS movie title and, now, teaser trailer. To be honest: I am not really
impressed. I don’t care for the title “The Force Awakens”. It sounds generic,
like something a fan film would use. Look, I am a huge fan of STAR WARS. Ask
anyone. But lately, with the stupid “expanded universe” and stupid cartoon
series’ of late, I am just not all too eager for more Star Wars right now. For
me, anyway, Star Wars is simply the saga of the Skywalker Clan, which was
deftly told in the two preceding trilogies. Where to you go after the Empire is
defeated, the Emperor killed by his former pupil, Darth Vader redeeming his
legacy, defeating the Sith and bringing balance to the force and all the heroes
living to see another day?
Easy, you reuse all of that to make new movies. The
Empire is still around, so are the Sith, the Force needed to be “Awoken” for
both the light and dark sides, and more lightsabers need to be shown. So,
basically, all of what happened in the first two trilogies was for nothing. But
now, it has that silly JJ Abrams “Star Trek”/Apple Store sheen to everything.
Sorry. The teaser was more of the same with wobbly cameras and mood lighting. I
am in the minority here.
I would have loved to see the Star Wars Universe
grow up a bit and steal a page out of the George RR Martin book of
storytelling, by breaking the galaxy up into ruling houses that vie for the
throne left empty by the fall of Palpatine. It would give heft to old
characters, to see them take sides in a longer, subtler galaxy-wide battle for
control. Seeing Han Solo against the Skywalkers, serving some sort of Davos Seaworth
role as the Hand of a King, which pits him against his friends, as Luke
bitterly defends his sister’s claim to the throne of Naboo, which has gone from
a democracy to a monarchy in the meantime.
But no, we will get more of the same so fans can
feel like they had something to do with it all. Some real missed opportunities
to do something new with the series, and not “something new” like a different
looking lightsaber for the same old Sith story….
10:[ Last Item of the Month: After hearing some DC honcho talk about the
various TV and movie incarnations of DC characters, I think DC is plotting an
INFINTIE CRISIS SERIES to take place some time after the Marvel Infinity Wars
movies. Think about it. They are building a cinematic universe differently than
Marvel is.
Whereas, Marvel needs to strictly adhere to a the
overall business plan of interlocking movies, DC is able to create very strong
filmmaker-centric movies, cool television shows, even video games and label
them each a separate universe within the overall DC universe. Can you imagine,
in five year’s the two Flashes, from the movie and the series, crossing over in
a “Flashpoint” event? How about Bale, Affleck and a grizzled Keaton, Kilmer and
Clooney teaming up, with an awesome cameo by West? The Watchmen are suddenly
attacked by a Justice League led by Brandon Routh, who later on must battle
Cavill’s Superman in an ultimate Crisis on Infinite Earths scenario? Then, when
things seem to be at their darkest, a CGI Christopher Reeves Superman swoops in
to save the day and inspire all the Supermen?
I don’t know. It just seems to have more creative
freedom than the universe building that Marvel is doing and so far, many of the
DC movies are completed movies, (Yes, even Green Latern, sucky as it was.) and
do not, should not, suffer from those weak second halves that the Marvel movies
do where they have to make sure they all link up eventually…. Something to
think about.
That
will do it for this month.
So, I had been watching the MST3K Turkey Day 2014
on Thanksgiving because I’d rather do that than be thankful for everything I
have for just one day a year. People love to say that it is just an excuse to
be with family and they really don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Shit, dude, that
only makes it worse! You shouldn’t NEED AN EXCUSE to be with your family!
Besides, I am a MST3K fan from when it was still on the air. I taped the shows.
I love the show. It is probably my most-favorite show of all time.
So, then the power went out in my building and with
it, my internet connection. So, I was forced to journey out into the world. I
went to the Starbucks and realized how many people REALLY do not celebrate this
holiday. Maybe, because it involves Natives now days? Dunno. But it was fun to
see parents and kids getting drinks and just hanging in the shop.
To be honest, it has been tougher of late to pull this
together. Which is why I have been very late in posting from time to time. I
think it may be time to take a break. I have consistently maintained this web
log since February of 2007, according to the WOS Archive, but have been writing
it for over ten years at least. I have taken breaks from it but always come
back to it. But I feel that now, maybe next month’s edition will be the last
one for now. I have something I have been working up the courage to state and
maybe I should just get it out of the way… in next month’s edition. We will see….
So, as always, feel free to comment, critique,
contradict, or correct anything you read here. I am only the authority over my
own opinions, and we should know that opinions are not facts. Excpet for maybe
mine because no one corrects or contradicts me. Oh well. Go on, give it a try.
Maybe I’ll actually pay attention to you.
Until Next Time, “I try to show the schemers how
pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”
2014 Ernest M. Whiteman III
