Artists on Display for a Month

Frédérik SisaNews

The Whole Foods Market in Woodlands Hills recently put into action a community-oriented program whereby regional artists are given an opportunity to display their work. Launched with a reception, artworks are put on display for customers to enjoy and, perhaps, to purchase. On Saturday, June 10, I happily had the opportunity to share in the reception for Melisa Sharpe, whose fine art photographs will be on display for the coming month.

The location was a small, enclosed outdoor patio where sunlight poured in from large windows. A mural painted in a breezy, Italian style provided an element of ornamentation that enhanced the space without dominating it. It was a wonderful venue for a reception that featured a dozen easels, each holding a beautiful black and white photograph, and a table with fine cheeses, fruits and nuts for guests to enjoy. All told, dozens of people showed up — friends, family, co-workers, Whole Foods shoppers and staff — to enjoy images of places such as Hollywood, Santa Monica, New York and Puerto Rico.

A Very Inconvenient Truth Indeed

Frédérik SisaA&E

An Inconvenient Truth offers a portrait of a man and a plea for a planet in jeopardy. The man, of course, is former Vice President Al Gore, who jokingly introduces himself as the man who “used to be the next president of the United States.” It’s characteristic of a self-deprecating sense of humor that may come from his image during the 2000 presidential election campaign. But as tempting as it might be to believe that Mr. Gore embodied playwright Vaclav Havel’s words, “Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not,” the film offers a glimpse into Mr. Gore that goes beyond refuting his image as a stiff intellectual.

Requiem for a Rabbit

Frédérik SisaOP-ED

Imagine, for a moment, that there is a cute fuzzy creature in front of you, with soft fur and a twitching nose. Imagine holding it in your hand and petting it.
 
Now imagine that this fuzzy creature is the very last of its species. With its death, a species will have disappeared from the planet.
 
Gone.
Forever.
 

Blip!

From the Left, Mr. Sisa

Frédérik SisaThe Recreational Nihilist


When my wife and I were in San Diego a few weeks ago, we passed by several placard-carrying people on our walk back to our B&B after a day’s adventure at the zoo. They were obviously on their way to an immigration rally, given the slogans written on their signs. One in particular caught my attention:  “Immigration Is a Human Right.”
 
My first thought was that, yes, the case can be made for people’s right to move about the planet as they see fit (in an ideal world). But that’s not the point of this whole immigration debate. And on thinking back on a previous column, I realize that I’m still justified in pointing out that nobody is talking about illegal immigration’s real underlying issues.

The Black Rider Rides Again

Frédérik SisaA&E

The Black Rider brings together Tom Waits‚ distinctive, jazzy, cabaret-noir music with William S. Burroughs’ idiosyncratic words, all under the hallucinatory production of Robert Wilson’s direction. There is the loose semblance of story beneath the lush costumes, vivacious music, and the set design’s postmodern expressionism. Based on a German folk tale that has been put to the stage in different forms throughout the years, the tale underlying The Black Rider is that of an accounting clerk named Wilhelm who can only marry the girl he loves if he can prove to her father, a hunter, that he, too, can hunt. There’s a snag, of course. Wilhelm couldn’t even hit the broad side of a barn at point-blank range. So the clerk makes a deal with the devil, receiving magic bullets that will render his aim perfect. What he doesn’t realize is that he will pay a price for the favor, and it will inevitably be the stuff of tragedy.

Closer to Home

Frédérik SisaThe Recreational Nihilist

(Second of two parts)
  
Another front on the religious battle with homosexuality is California’s school textbooks. As reported by Reuters
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060407/us_nm/rights_gays_textbooks_dc),
“Conservative groups are reacting to proposed legislation that would require school textbooks to include lessons on how gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons have helped California develop.”

Gays: Still Victims of Oppression

Frédérik SisaThe Recreational Nihilist

     I am often amused, in an eye-rolling sort of way, by denials that certain people are victims of socially ingrained prejudices and outright discrimination. While in some cases — race and gender — the nature of the prejudice has gone far beyond pointing at a white male, yelling “oppressor!” and leaving it at that, it really comes close in other cases to being that simple. I’m referring to gay, lesbian, and transgendered individuals, whose victimhood isn’t the product of paranoid delusions; their oppressors don’t even bother to hide under rocks. And who are these gay-hating, gay-bashing oppressors? The answer: So-called religious conservatives, particularly the very vocal right-wing of Christianity.

‘Brick’ Is High School Film Noir

Frédérik SisaA&E

     A high school student named Brendan (Gordon-Levitt) receives a desperate phone call from the ex-girlfriend he still pines for.

     Faster than you can recite the two rules of investigation — follow the money and cherchez la femme — Brendan becomes embroiled in a Byzantine plot of drugs and death as he struggles to find Emily (Emilie De Ravin, from TV’s “Lost”) and discovers the truth behind the proverbial web of lies and deceit surrounding her.

Immigration Chaos

Frédérik SisaThe Recreational Nihilist

     From Gov. Schwarzenegger’s‚ recent guest column in the Los Angeles Times on the topic of immigration.
        “Our goal should be to create a policy that reflects our national motto:E pluribus unum  (Out of many, one).
        Sounds good to me. Let’s move on:
        “Immigration is about our security.”
        Sure. Next:
        “Criminalizing immigrants for coming here is a slogan, not a solution.”
        Yes, it is.

Good Goth, Here We Go Again

Frédérik SisaThe Recreational Nihilist

     In reading my fellow critics’ reviews of V for Vendetta, I came across a pet peeve that irks me enough to devote this week’s scribblings to setting the record straight. That pet peeve is the consistent misrepresentation of the Gothic (or Goth) subculture in the media and in films.
 
     The most in-your-face offense, of course, comes on the big screen, typically in the form of what I call gothploitation. This is when the Gothic “look” is appropriated without its substance. I think the trend started more or less with the first Matrix film. But it really went over-the-top in the Underworld films, which concealed nonsensical storytelling by exploiting gorgeously gothic costume design.