Inside/Outside

If I were you and you were me, here’s what we would do this weekend:

Steve James is one of the finest filmmakers working today. Hoop Dreams was a watershed moment in documentary filmmaking and remains one of my all-time favorite movies. His new film, The Interrupters, is in theaters Friday. It’s a somber look at gang violence in the inner city of Chicago and the efforts of a group of ex-gangbangers that have made it their mission to put an end to the bloodshed. With James behind the lens, it’s all but guaranteed to move you.

If you’re hungry for more silver screen, wander over to Cinema Village and catch the documentary Sleep Furiously. I have absolutely no idea what this film is about, but this weekend, I plan to do exactly what its title suggests. (Note: I just watched a short trailer and I’m really intrigued. Now I’m watching a longer trailer and I’m even more intrigued. The music is by Aphex Twin. I think I just talked myself into seeing this film in the amount of time it took for me to write this wack-ass paragraph.)

Go to the rooftop garden of the Met. Get a drink at the bar, gawk at the absolutely bananas panoramic view of Central Park and the city below. Get another drink and catch a buzz. Check out the sculptures by Anthony Caro that are currently on display. Pretended to appreciate the artwork for a few minutes, get back in line for the bar. Think about what else you have to do today. Realize you have nothing to do because it’s the weekend. Grin.

Blank City

Saw the premiere of Blank City at IFC tonight. Makes me want to go create shit. Or destroy shit. Or create shit then destroy it.

David Choe

So David Choe still blows my mind. He’s got a book out now too that’s pretty rad. It’s called “David Choe.” Check it out.

Dead Man

Watched Dead Man the other day. Observation: Johnny Depp is a much cooler mystic drug-tripping, revolver-packing rogue cowboy than he is a swishy Disney pirate. But now I understand where he began to mine the latter character. Still, no excuse bud. Also, I want to eat a cheeseburger with Jim Jarmusch. Score’s by Neil Young.

BNE

A little late to the game, but I recently noticed the prevalence of BNE stickers around the city. Apparently these stickers have covered major cities around the world including Hong Kong, San Fran, and Tokyo. For a better explanation, let’s turn to ABC’s Nancy Weiner:

And I always find Japanese television hilarious, so:

Jenny Holzer at the Whitney

I can’t lie. The first time I heard about Jenny Holzer was in a recent piece in the New York Times about Shephard Fairey, referencing Holzer as an influence in Fairey’s own [formerly] subversive/pseudo-guerilla artwork. The article stuck with me A) because it all but blasted Fairey for his recent commercial work for Bloomingdales and Saks, which seems to wholly contradict the message in his art (I agree, c’mon homie) and B) because I had seen Holzer’s name all over subway ads for her current Whitney exhibition that caught my eye.

Upon further research, I learned that Holzer has become well-known for her use of words and phrases in public spaces as a means to present a message or evoke response. She has become perhaps best known for her ongoing work Truisms. Her latest exhibition at the Whitney, PROTECT PROTECT, encompasses much of her work from the 90s, and according to the Whitney is her most comprehensive exhibition in fifteen years. I think it looks pretty rad and definitely look forward to checking it out. It’s up until May 31.

Public Ad Campaign Whitewashes NYC Billboards

Over the weekend, the Public Ad Campaign organized teams of people to whitewash illegal outdoor billboards in Manhattan. You know all those atrocious sticky poster things pasted on street-level spaces everywhere? Apparently most of them are illegal, so the Public Ad Campaign teamed with a whole host of artists to make them look cool. Pretty good idea if you ask me. Check out more of the work over at Wooster Collective.

I Lego New York

My roommate showed me this link recently…Christoph Niemann’s Abstract City blog on the NY Times website. Apparently Niemann is an accomplished illustrator whose work has appeared on the covers of The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly and NY Times Magazine. In his latest entry, he turns Lego pieces into slices of NYC life. ENJOY.

SWEET Bad Brains print by Shepard Fairey x Glen E Friedman

Check out this sick Bad Brains silk screen by Obey mastermind Shepard Fairey and old school photographer Glen E Friedman. Too bad I’ll probably never own it since it’s limited edition, like everything seems to be nowadays. Darn it. More info about its release on Fairey’s website: Obey Giant

Dope Movie Posters

My cohort Soybomb recently sent me the super cool movie poster for The Deer Hunter which alludes to the seminal Russian roulette scene. This inspired me to do a post I’ve been meaning to put up for a while now to share a few of my favorite movie posters from over the years.

Quite possibly my favorite movie poster of all time. No explanation needed.

The truest movie tagline ever imagined.

A highly underrated film, in my opinion. Bill Murray’s face says it all.

A badass poster for a badass film.

This poster makes me uncomfortable for some reason, yet it’s still arresting. Very few posters evoke the mood of the film itself better than this.

So chill.