Monday, February 28, 2011

Jane Russell 1921-2011

Blotter

 I just found out that Blotter Magazine published some of my art in their October 2010 issue, but didn't let me know. I knew they were interested in using my work, but I really don't like it when I'm not informed that my work is out there. Well anyway you can view the issue at this link which is a pdf.
 
http://www.blotterrag.com/back-issues/2010-10.pdf

Annie Girardot 1931-2011

Sad to learn of the death of this great actress who gave the best female performance of 1960 in Rocco And His Brothers. A gut retching searing performance. Bravo Ms. Girardot.

Dead Again 1991



A dreadful mish mash of a thriller that pretty much ended Kenneth Branagh’s directing career as well it should have. Set in 1990’s L.A. with black and white flashbacks to late 40’s L.A. the plot concerns a murder and some silly notations about reincarnation, karma and globs of back from the dead gibberish. Branagh plays a private eye who tries to help Emma Thompson figure out who she really is because for some reason she has amnesia and she looks exactly like the woman who was murdered back in the black and white flashbacks, and Branagh looks exactly like the man who may have committed the murder. This movie with its ludicrous plot twists and turns should never have reached the screen but since it did I feel free to throw stones at it. Branagh puts on his heavy showy American accent that is annoying to say the least and only calls attention to itself. Also along for this stuck roller coaster ride is Hanna Schygulla,  Derek Jacobi, Robin Williams, Andy Garcia and Campbell Scott.  The film does look good but with a plot full of holes that is embarrassingly influenced by practically every movie that Alfred Hitchcock ever made and I still can’t figure out why Emma had amnesia. .

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Switcheroo

My Painting on paper that I did many moons ago, has been selected for Broadsided's switcheroo in which poets are asked to write a poem based or inspired by my painting. I'm delighted to have been chosen, and look forward to seeing the results. You can view more info. on this at the link


http://www.broadsidedpress.org/switcheroo/april11.shtml

 

 

SWITCHEROO: APRIL, 2011

Writing Wanted

Writers, it's time for Broadsided's annual Switcheroo. April is National Poetry Month, and we can think of nothing better than to ask YOU to write poems.
Respond to the visual piece below in poetry, fiction, or prose. Your response need not be literal—you may take off in any tangent the work suggests. However, the art and writing must, together, work to create a greater piece.
Browse the past Switcheroos (right) to get a sense of the relationship between art and literature that we are hunting for.
Deadline: Work must be sent to "broadsided.subs@gmail.com" with "Switcheroo" in the subject line by April 10, 2011. Only one response per entrant, please. Our usual guidelines for length etc. apply.
The editors will read all submissions, and the winning entry will be published on May 1, 2011 as a Broadsided collaboration.
 

Friday, February 25, 2011

Guerilla Pamphlet

Guerilla Pamphlet has just posted one of my recent notebook collages at this link.
 

http://guerillapamphlets.webs.com/Guerilla%20Pamphlets%20Volume%20%208.pdf

Kiss Of Death 1947


This is a superb noir thriller that Hathaway made in 1947, with mostly “real” New York City locations. This film of redemption and revenge opens on Christmas Eve as Victor Mature and two other hoods enter the Chrysler Building to rob a private jeweler and of course everything that could g...o wrong does. This is a striking sequence to open a film with, and Hathaway milks the suspense as the crooks are stuck in a slow moving elevator. Mature whose fabulous face looks like it belongs on the side of a mountain is amazingly touching and moving as Nick Bianco a small time crook who decides to squeal on the psychotic Tommy Udo played in his debut film role by a scary Richard Widmark who throws a wheel chair bound Mildred Dunnock down a flight of stairs and then gives off his creepy giggle. This is still a shocking sequence and Widmark deservedly received a supporting Oscar nomination only to loose to Edmund Gwenn’s Santa Claus, in Miracle on 34th Street. Sweet always wins out over sour. The screenplay is by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer with wonderful nourish documentary like cinematography by Norbert Brodine. One of the Ten best films of 1947.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Glee Wee

I've finally fallen into the Glee thing, having never watched it on tv, I decided to check out the show on dvd, and for the most part I'm finding it pretty damn charming and fun. The high school kids are really 20 something with Cory Monteith the heartthrob of the show pushing 30 and playing 16 year olds. The musical numbers are hit and miss I could do without tributes to Lady Ga Ga and Britany Spears and the rocky horror picture show episode was a bust. Still the dancing by and large is vibrant even though the editing and movement is too fast and furious and rarely do you get to see any footwork, this seems to be the norm for musicals these days, but the "kids" do have voices, are very goodlooking (see Mr. Monteith who might be the most beautiful young actor working today) and a few ( think Lea Michele ) might even go on to bigger but not necessarily better  things. All hot topics are dutifully covered, homosexuality both  male and female, ageism, bullying, teen pregnancies, physically and mentally challenged characters, you get my drift. There are problems and crises galore all of which seem to have happy endings, just like in real life right?  Its all huggy huggy cutie cutie, nicely packaged but a little sterile.  

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Photographs.








Museum opening. 1969.

Me and John Perreault at the Roy Lichtenstein opening night of his retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum 1969. Photograph by Fred W. McDarrah. The photo was used week in and week out for months or years to advertise the art coverage at The Village Voice. Mc Darrah was in my opinion one of the truly great photojournalists and one of the biggest dickheads I've ever known.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Collages from 1994























Saturday, February 05, 2011

While The City Sleeps. 1956

 Last week I went to the Film Forum to see two Fritz Lang movies that I had never seen before. I won two tickets for answering a trivia question, and I’m thankful that I didn’t pay good money to see these quivering little mistakes. I can’t begin to say how bad this Fritz Lang movie is. Made on a shoe string and looking it, Lang did this for the ailing RKO studios without any personal convictions that I could see. This is the kind of film that Sam Fuller should have done, Fuller could have sunk his teeth into this lurid story that Lang made  boring and turgid. The film begins very promising with a nicely done murder sequence but it goes downhill after that. Instead of focusing on the far more interesting serial killer, Lang puts everything on the newspaper angle and places most of the action and attention here. The actors are a mixed bag, some has-beens and some about to be has-beens with only Ida Lupino breathing some life into  this terrible movie. Ida plays a sort of gossip columnist on the newspaper who smokes and drinks a lot, and looks great in her 1950’s getups and minks. She slinks and purrs through out the film and the movie is sort of fun when she’s around. The rest of the cast includes Dana Andrews who looks drunk even in the scenes (which are few) that he’s not drinking, James Craig who looks bloated and hung over and like Andrews was also a big drinker in real life and George Sanders who is not amusing in a role that should have been. Also around is Vincent Price, Rhoda Fleming, Thomas Mitchell John Barrymore Jr. and Sally Forrest who are all awful in degrees of awfulness. There are a few exterior’s of the newpaper office that has some expression to them, they look like matt shots, but all the interiors are bland and cheap looking. There are no details to the sets that give any indication that real people live and work here. The cinematography is ok but Lang shoots in very static setups and only the flawed “subway chase scene” at the end has some voom and movement, which is too late to do this piece of garbage any good. One of the ten worst films of 1956 and maybe the worst film of the decade.  

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Foliate Oak

Foliate Oak has just posted 3 of my photographs. You can view them at this link. 


http://www.foliateoak.uamont.edu/archives/february-2011/artwork/ira-joel-haber/ira-joel-haber

Broadsided

 This is my latest contribution to Broadsided Press. You can view the piece at this link and download it + there is a Q&A with me and the poet and you can also check out the other 5 broadsides that I've done.

http://www.broadsidedpress.org/
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