Review of Showtime's Weeds

The hook of the NBC’s show Weeds is the theme song “ Little Boxes” by Malvina Reynolds. The song is a brillant and searing critique of suburbia. She sings in a folksy soprano “ little boxes/ on hillside/ little boxes made out of tick-tacky/little boxes on the hillside/ and they all look just the same” as a montage of images of the same people go into coffee shops, pull out of the driveway and going on morning jogs. This captures the aim of Weeds exactly.
The show is centered around Nancy Botwin, a suburban housewife played by a sexy Mary Louise Parker, who, after facing the death of her husband and no way to support her two sons, turns towards the business of selling pot. The entire plot is centered on Nancy’s budding career as a stoic marijuana dealer and the complications this imposes. The cast of characters provides a comic depiction of the archetypal suburban population. There is Doug, who is played by Kevin Nealon, a hopelessly aloof dope smoking CPA who is Nancy’s best customer and city councilor, Celia a frigid, bitter housewife who is also the president of the PTA but hates her own kids. There are also her two rebellious sons, Silas the emo teenager who is in love with a deaf girl, and Shane, an ostracized middle school outcast who is dealing with his father’s death by shooting mountain lions and assaulting his nemesis with pink goo via with a super soaker. The suppliers that provide Nancy with her marijuana are a little too stereotypical and serve to illustrate juxtaposition between white middle class suburbia and black lower middle class life in a way that borders on offensive. The fast talking, money grubbing black matriarch, the pregnant young women whose only purpose is gossiping, and the handsome hypersexual black man who has an affinity for old cars and Pilates are unoriginal and unimaginative. I get that the purpose is to highlight a disjuncture between the two lifestyles, but the characters do not add complexity and therefore seems irrelevant and one-dimensional.
Weeds wouldn’t have been able to develop character complexity if the plot wasn’t strictly centered on the monotony of everyday life. There are no melodramatic moments in the first season of Weeds. The fall back drama of infidelity in television is turned on its head when Celia, who has found out her husband is cheating on her with a cute Asian tennis instructor, proceeds to get drunk with her and halfheartedly calls her a slut while tipping her glass toward the bartender for a refill. The most climatic moment of the first season is Nancy, who while picking up marijuana at her dealers house experiences a drive by shooting. The absurdity of suburbia would not have been possible if there was more action. The off kilter humor of that makes the show what it is, is illustrated perfectly in the scene, where Doug and Nancy’s slacker brother in law that tries to fill in for father figure share a bowl and muse on complexity of language. While trying to decide what the best word for “taint” is Lupita, the household maid is asked “ What is thing called between the dick and the asshole?’ and she replies “The coffee table.”

The show, at first watch is about a mother who partakes in the illicit career as a drug dealer. However, it uses this as a jumping off point to expose the figurative” weeds” that stubbornly pops up in the quest for perfection and normalcy that suburbia is supposed to represent. It is a show as much about the addiction to middle class comfort as it is about the addiction to marijuana. The characters seem absurd but not unlike the people one would meet if the suburbs of any major city, or anyone for that matter. The show makes it clear that everyone would be better off if we embraced our neuroses. Nancy and her dysfunctional crew serve to remind us that letting go of the pursuit of perfection and facing the weeds of our own ridiculous lives are in the long run, are a much better high.

Review of Fried Green Tomatoes

" The secret of Life? The secrets in the sauce." One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, Fried Green Tomatoes. The story begins with Evelyn Couch, an overweight, unhappy housewife who meets Ninny Threadgoode, a spunky old lady in a nursing home who begins to tell the story of Idgie Threadgoode and her friendship with Ruth Jamison. Her story is set in depression era Alabama and centers on the dramatic murder of Ruth's abusive husband and the racial conflict of their town.The climax of the movie is when Ruth dies of cancer and the effects it has on Idgie and Evelyn's realization that Ninnie and Idgie are the same person. As Ninnie continues to tell her story Evelyn slowly gains confidence and the two form a beautiful friendship despite their difference in age. When Evelyn offers Ninnie a room in her housefor the rest of her days, Ninnie accepts.
There are many reasons why I love this movie. It was a staple movie in my household growing up, one of the only movies that my entire family could agree on watching so it certainly has nostalgic value. More than that, it is story about the power of female friendship that I have wanted to emulate since I was a little girl. Although I have certainly never murdered my best friend's abusive husband, I might consider it after a night watching Fried Green Tomatoes.

Review of favorite album. Ani DiFranco's Living in Clip.

Choosing a favorite album is a tricky and confusing process. There is that album that reminds you of days past, the "nostalgia" album. There is the extreme rock out, dance by yourself at home, clothes optional album. Then there is my personal favorite, the deep, thought provoking album that has changed your worldview. Very few albums fit into all three categories. Ani DiFranco's Living in Clip is one of those albums for me. A live album, recorded in 1997, has been one of the only albums that has ceased to change or lessen its message and influence over time. I was introduced to this album at 16, at a time where my views of the world were just starting to emerge. The diversity and depth of this album has continued to reveal itself to me in the past eight years.I can say, hands down, that this album introduced me to feminism, which eventually lead into social justice and Columbia College. Ani's vocal range, the deep booming growl to the kittenish soprano musical caress is all highlighted in this album. Her decided "girl rock" songs are poetry and life lesson all rolled into one. Living in Clip has enticed me to dance around my apartment more than once alone, it has brought tears and gut wrenching anger to the surface, and more importantly, it continues to. There is not a track on the two disc album that I don't love, that I can't relate to whether in experience or memory. It is one of those alums that has on a fundamental level, changed me and the course of my life.

Review of Howard Brown's Art Exhibits

Howard Brown is not an art gallery. It is an organization dedicated to providing service to Gay, Lesbian,Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer folks in the Lakeview neighborhood. It is a stunning building, tall and majestic and made of glass. Walking in is in itself a little intimidating, especially considering the reasons why a friend and I were there, we were looking for sculptures. The confused look on the man at the front desk and a suggestion to check the third floor made it clear that looking for art galleries on Metromix was a grave mistake. We started at the "sculpture" installation, a series of life perservers mounted on the wall in different types of fabric. I suppose the concept was interesting enough, highlighting the diverse ways in which people are treated and saved from the various issues confronting the GLBTQ community. However, if I may be frank, it was boring. The initial "wow"factor of the symbolism was soon lost and there was left simply a row of life preservers stapled on the wall.
We then moved on to what was probably not considered a gallery, it was simply a wall full of the clients artwork. Some of it was impressive to be sure, a board with nails with a pair of wax lips in the middle that resembled Mick Jagger, a flamboyant coat made entirely of rooster feathers and red velvet, an ethereal distorted picture of an African-American woman singing into a microphone. However, its proximity to the bathroom and the lack of proper lighting and general ambiance made it decidedly not worth the time.
We were about to leave, dissapointed and panic stricken about our assignment, when the wall in a little common area caught our eye. There was an entire wall filled with huge horizontal photographs of what looked like neighborhoods. At further glance, it was clear that there were digitally enhanced and were actually painted over. The result was striking, it was a perfect cross between painting and photography.The images were familiar enough, but the colors brighter, the familiar landmarks crisper and slightly manipulated. One of the pictures was on the el, with random people photographed and put into the picture so that the result was a mix of familiarity and fantasy. It looked almost real, save the slightly cartoonish quality of the man dressed in all black carrying a bright pink gift or the child wearing winter clothes on what seemed to be a summer day. There was also a picture of the corner of Belmont and Clark, and only if you really looked was it obvious that there were random dogs running around, or that the store names were switched so that the Pink Frog became the Frog Pink, or that there was three pictures of the same person in the Starbucks. It seemed that it was a slight tweaking of reality, in which the playful and odd spirit of Chicago was highlighted through this not quite but almost upside down world.
The artist Archer Coe, has lived in Chicago for over eight years, and his inspiration grew from the diversity of Chicago's inhabitants. It is said that he used over 400 images in one composite and mixes photography, illustration, and graphic design to produce his work. The result is breathtaking, as if you are seeing the Chicago you love through someobody else's and falling in love with it all over again.

Review of NBC's V

I don't own a t.v. The old vestiges of my mother's lectures of the mysterious evils of t.v rotting the brain left a somewhat irrational stamp on me. Most of the t.v. series that I am familiar with were recommended to me through word of mouth by friends and tailored to fit my interests and personality. So my introduction to the NBC series V was a random Hulu search and no expectation whatsoever of what the show was about or what it was going to be like. V starts with the usual haunting intro music and a montage of images of different characters at a specific moment in time, 6:30 am to be precise. There is a descent of what appears to be a huge spacecraft over 29 major cities of the world. The viewer is then introduced, along with the unsuspecting characters of the show to the Visitors, supposedly friendly aliens that come in peace. The masses are quickly swooned with the beautiful V's and their charisma and charm. They are decidedly human, except more beautiful and with toned physiques. The V's have the power to cure common human disease and seduce human youth to join their ranks. The arrival of the Visitors swell the churches with people and seem to unite humans everywhere in their zeal for these savvy extra-terrestrials. The tension, at least in the first episode, comes from the main character FBI agent Erica Evans and a small group of dissidents who begin to smell foul play. This quickly leads to a meeting of these doubters and the realization that the V's have long infiltrated business, government, and religious institutions and their arrival of earth is actually the last stage in a take over of the world. The suspense of the show is in the seeming anonymity of the aliens and the paranoia that comes in not knowing what kind of being is sitting next to you on the train or in a bar. The climax in the pilot unravels with a coming out of the V's, and the audience learns that the supposed good guys ( Erica Evans partner) are really reptilian skinned conspirators and that there is at least on V who is out to save humanity.
The show feels like a typical NBC show, beautiful people in expensive clothes battling the forces of good and evil in heels and Gucci suits. Although it is interesting to add the occasional hidden identity or seemingly untraceable murder, the plot is as predictable as the Cubs losing. We all know, that even though the somewhat zealous and naive humans are in it deep, they are going to conquer those aliens, with various romances and broken families mended along the way. The moral was the most interesting part for me, not the spectacular and tacky effects or mediocre acting. The moral of the pilot is that devotion is the most dangerous tool as it breeds blindness and then you have aliens trying to eat you. It is a somewhat scathing critique of people accepting whatever they are told without questioning the source. Although the viewer gets to scorn at the stupid googly eyed people who are about to become lunch meat and identify with the sophisticated elite that knows better and resists the V's, it is more interesting to think about what side of the divide of people you would fit into if your life were a 47 minute episode on tv in which sexy aliens were trying to seduce you. I can't say for certain that I wouldn't buy a V fanny pack and just go with it, those Gucci heels are fierce even if they are attached to a totalitarian space lizard.

Review of Pablo Picasso's "The Old Guitarist"

Picasso's " The Old Guitarist" is one of those works of art that doesn't invite you in for pleasantries. It grabs you, slams you against your psyche and demands that you feel it, all of it. "The Old Guitarist" was painted in 1903 after the suicide of Picasso's friend, Carlos Casagemas. This painting and others were part of a period of time called the "Blue Period" in which it is said that the monochromatic blues in his painting represented an intense sadness. It is also a period of time in which his subject matter highlighted the downtrodden and poor. The "Old Guitarist" is a picture of a man, a beggar most likely, sitting on the floor with a guitar in his hand. His clothes are tattered and torn and he is without shoes. His head is down, and we only see his sallow, hollowed cheeks. The mans head seems weighed down by his poverty, by his sadness as though the guitar in the only thing that keeps him upright. The painting is in various shades of blue, symbolizing melancholy. The only other color is a touch of brown in the man's shirt and the guitar. There is an elongation of his features, mainly the length of his face and his limbs that make the man jarring to look. Various art critics highlight the correlation between Picasso and the man, that the alienation he felt in searching for an inspiration outside the shackles of formal schooling made him able to relate to the alienation of the man on the fringes of society. This piece is so powerful because it is precisely that alienation that is relatable to anyone who has felt like an outcast. There is something so provoking about a piece of work that doesn't try sweeten the human experience, that forces you to face someone else's emotion and your own at the same time.

Review of Monet's "bouqet de soleils"

Claude Monet credits his love of gardening to becoming a painter. In his 1881 painting "Bouqet de soleils" there is a vase of sunflowers on an orange tablecloth. The color scheme is cool and pale with the flowers being the focal point. The leaves drip down, contrasting the reaching upwards the flowers seem to do. The bouqet is the central focal point, and takes up almost the entire canvas.The backround is blue and gray with the staccato brush strokes adding a hazy quality to the painting. The play on light is impressive, although it has no real movement. Although the painting is pretty to look at, it is momentary. The audience gets a distinct feeling that although the painting itself is brillant in technique and in execution, you get no sense of the artist. Beyond the first moment of pleasant admiration, there is nothing, no motive, no strong feeling that it evokes. I suppose this has little to do with the impressionist style of painting, as the focus is one of capturing light and movement. However this is precisely why most of Monet's paintings seem dull and lack imagination. Flowers are pretty but they belong outside, not on a canvas in my dentist's office.

Review of John Fante's Ask the Dust

It is very rarely that I am enthralled by a book, seduced into and held hostage until the last sentence on the last page. Ask the Dust, John Fante's 1939 classic did just that. It starts with our hero Arturo Bandini, an aspiring and broke second generation Italian who moves from Boulder,Colorado to Los Angeles to succeed as a writer. The novel starts out with Bandini living in a rented hotel room surviving on oranges, cigarettes, and a huge ego. The novel is centered around his meeting and falling in love with Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress whose affair blossoms out of a battle of wills and a flurry of racist insults. We are introduced to a world of strange but likable characters such as Hellfrick a drunk neighbor whose taste for meat drives him to slaughter a calf, and Mr. Hackmuth, who we do not meet but understand his role through Bandini's unhealthy obsession with the editor. The story progresses as Camilla and Bandini continue their tumultuous relationship, with Bandini insulting her shoes and writing mediocre love poems the next until we find out that Camilla is in love with Sammy, a cook who has tuberculosis and whose disgust for his admirer becomes more pronounced as the book goes on. The novel progresses as Bandini inches into his success as a writer and his unrequited love falls apart mentally. The story ends with Camilla disappearing after Bandini buys her a house and a little white dog with his book advance. In this unusual antithesis of boys gets girl, Bandini does not get the girl, but gets the better option of fame and money.
There are several undercurrents to the book that make it interesting. Ask the Dust touches on the issues of ethnicity and class in 1930's America, there is a subtle disjuncture between how Bandini sees himself as an American and how others view him as an immigrant or non- white. There are several examples of Bandini being confronted with prejudices ( such as when Bandini arrives at the hotel and the landlady proclaims that they don't allow Mexicans) while simultaneously perhaps denying and projecting his Italianess ( there is a scene where Camilla points out that the colors of his eyes and hair are black, while he insists they are brown and then insults her ethnicity as a Mexican.)
There are several parts of the book where he goes from almost comical self loathing to narcissistic boasting in one page.His unabashedly self centered and grandiose nature is an interesting contrast to his fear of intimacy with women. He does not consummate his relationship with Camilla, even after she repeatedly throws herself at him, and is only able to lust after her when she is not around or when he is angry at her. His desperate desire for her manifests in stealing and sleeping with her hat and pretending he is with her when he is with other women. There is only one sexual incident in the book, with Vera Rivken, who is deformed so Bandini can barely look at her. What is puzzling is where this neuroses came from. Is it his relentless inability to function properly or merely the habits leftover from his Catholic upbringing? Either way, I would love to hate Bandini but I cannot bring myself do it. He is relatable, (regardless of it being written in 1939) because lets face it, we are all assholes, we just don't say what we think out loud.

New Review of Arcade Fire

At first listen, it is easy to get swept up in the grand orchestral sound of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. The front man Win Butler and his wife Regine Chassagne's sophomore album does sound in a big way, with every instrument under the sun incorporated from the pipe organ to the hurdy- gurdy. Arcade Fire's strong point is in provoking  the exasperation and anger that every semi-conscious person who has stopped and taken a look at the state of affairs has had and stretching and padding them until they reaching a bursting point along with every crescendo that comes with almost every track on the album. However, at second listen, once one is able to regain a rational mind and able to sparse out Butler's lyrics, one begins to see that his lyrics are often carried away by the sound. In a song that does little in the way of lyrical talent like"Black Mirror," he sings " I walked down to the ocean/after waking from a nightmare/ no moon/no pale reflection/black mirror,black mirror." Although the music is undoubtedly beautiful and grandiose, the overwhelmingly melodramatic and at times apocalyptic lyrics leave you hopelessly melancholy and suspicious. A word of advice; do not listen to Neon Bible before 9 a.m, it will have you seeing the signs of the end of the world everywhere, eyeing your local Barista to make sure he isn't spiking your coffee.

Its been years since I have been lulled by the promises of religion, years since the beautiful but cathartic promises of redemption rang true.  I can say without the slightest murmur of doubt that Arcade Fire has converted me into a true believer of the redemtive and critical power of music.  Their call, among other things, is to resist the numbing influences of church and media that stun the masses into oblivion. Win Butlers ability to provoke the listener into a mind space of apolcolypic rage while simeltaeously wanting to sob at the ethereal, epic beauty of the organ and piano in his songs is  true musical genius.  Arcade Fire's sophmore album Neon Bible, which debuted in 2007 is a haunting, intensely robust record complete with an organ, xylophone, and various stringed instruments that transport and awaken. In " Intervention," a dramatic and almost hymnal critique of the church, he sings "Working for the church/While your family dies/You take what they give you/And you keep it inside/Every spark of friendship and love/Will die without a home/ Hear the soldier groan "We'll go at it alone."  In an equally choir like song "My Body is a Cage" Butler sings about the limits of the body(although I am sure this can be open to intepretation) and prays to set his body free in a cresecendo that increases the heart rate. Every song is an experiment, a journey, a new opportunity to look at the things we take for granted in a new light. In this album they are unafraid of matching dramatic lyrics with even more dramatic composition, and although in other circumstances this can be the recipe for a garish and busy disaster, in Arcade Fire's case, it makes for an memorable and larger than life sound. I am converted. A true believer.