I personally think it’s way too early for Oscar talk and don’t care too much about the International FIlm Festivals (and won’t until someone decides to send me to Venice to cover one), but that’s what going on this week.  There’s nothing worth seeing at the movies (Bangkok Dangerous??) and fall TV hasn’t even started yet.  Time to go back to bed.

• In this week’s Gold Derby blog at latimes.com, Tom O’Neill confronts the question: could Peter O’Toole beat out Heath Ledger for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar?  Then he goes on to describe O’Toole’s latest vehicle, Dean Spanley that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, as “lollipop sweet” and “a nice Disney or Hallmark pic.”  The whole (imagined) conflict is at the core of how basically unimportant and random the Oscars are.  How could Ledger’s Joker even be in the same category as a curmudgeonly but sweet grandpa?  The question I want to confront is: How do I get a cushy and completely unnecessary job like Tom O’Neill?

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Gnarls Barkley graced us with their presence not long ago in July at the Hollywood Bowl and you’ve probably been living under a rock if you haven’t realized that they’ve become an interesting phenomenon since their breakout single, “Crazy.” Who can reject the sounds of Cee-Lo’s soulful vocals over DJ Danger Mouse’s tight beats? As they dress up as Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro or Cheech and Chong, most can’t help but be intrigued with their antics.

Their second studio album might have lacked in the dance anthems that powered St. Elsewhere, but the appropriately titled The Odd Couple still provided us with the same strong and soulful storytelling lyrics. This aspect is uniquely presented in their latest video, “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?” Directed by Chris Milk, the video’s concept and imagery may be disgusting and absurd, yet it is also sultry and heartfelt. See for yourself.

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What a GREAT weekend! Sunset Junction on Saturday (Be sure to check out our friends, Castledoor!) and Sunday… but let’s talk about Sunday. The day has finally come and I am more excited than a kid going to Disneyland on their birthday. Radiohead will be gracing Angelenos with their genius tonight at the Hollywood Bowl. Based on how amazing their recent release, “In Rainbows” is and the fact that they never, ever fail to put on a good show, it is likely that this concert will be on the “top-ten-best-concerts” list of many of those in attendance. For those who will be seeing Radiohead another day, Faster Pussycat at The Key Club will be quite loud and quite the hellish affair they promise on their MySpace. Sondre Lerche at the Troubadour is another worthy choice. Wherever you decide to go, whoever you look forward to seeing, enjoy music this weekend…I know I will!

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Move A Head

It’s that time again: a free weekend and you’re just browsing for something to do. This weekend’s art choices will not disappoint. Whether you’re looking for more variety in one go or a little devil-may-care attitude, there are some pretty hot exhibitions going on in LA. They’re free too. Feeling excited yet? Check out Cream of the Crop, It’s Hell Not Having A Hero, and Move A Head.

Cream of the Crop:

Six hand-picked up-and-coming artists will star in this exhibition: Jessica Cooper, Jennifer Jelenski, Caro Lozada, Mike Sosnowski, Star 27, Magda Trzaski. The comical and fantastical are on display as the six artists bring their own touches to the annual group show. Take a look at their individual work on-line and then head over to the gallery. It’s a show you shouldn’t miss.

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Move A Head

It’s that time again: a free weekend and you’re just browsing for something to do. This weekend’s art choices will not disappoint. Whether you’re looking for more variety in one go or a little devil-may-care attitude, there are some pretty hot exhibitions going on in LA. They’re free too. Feeling excited yet? Check out Cream of the Crop, It’s Hell Not Having A Hero, and Move A Head.

Cream of the Crop:

Six hand-picked up-and-coming artists will star in this exhibition: Jessica Cooper, Jennifer Jelenski, Caro Lozada, Mike Sosnowski, Star 27, Magda Trzaski. The comical and fantastical are on display as the six artists bring their own touches to the annual group show. Take a look at their individual work on-line and then head over to the gallery. It’s a show you shouldn’t miss.

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Located on the second floor on the 6700 block on Hollywood Boulevard is the home of International Dance Academy. Nestled snugly above and across the Ripley Museum between Highland and McCadden Place, it is conveniently accessible to those looking for it. Having arrived fresh off the Metro Red Line last Wednesday evening, I didn’t know what to expect - other than perhaps leotards, gym bags, and some good beats - but let’s just say that the first impression most definitely delivered.

Passing through its narrow unassuming entrance and up two flights of stairs is revealed to the public a different view than that which could be suggested from standing on the street. If Heaven were a dance studio, this would be the place. With many rooms and glistening wooden floors, crystal clear windows with a view of the city, and a central hub with which to run into fellow students from all walks, it is easily a place that any burgeoning talent could call home. Of course, any reputable studio is entitled to its share of self-acknowledged splendor, but a highlighted feature was pleasing to this observant femme - while its name graces every other wall in red-and-black print, the message and aura is simple: ‘It’s so nice to have you here with us. Let’s dance’.

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POKER NIGHT
Greg Miller, Jay Kelly, John Garrett, Tim McCarthy, and Jai Hall
July 19 - August 16, 2008
Reception Saturday, July 26, 7-10pm
VENICE, CA-Commissary Arts is pleased to announce Poker Night,   a group show with works by Greg Miller, Jay Kelly, Tim McCarthy, John Garrett, and Jai Hall. For nearly a decade, these Los Angeles based artists and creative individuals have come together regularly to partake in the quintessentially American male ritual, “Poker Night.” The game itself is not the subject, but rather the event to bring together the work of five diverse creative individuals and explore their varied approaches to synthesizing media, pop culture, and urban environments in their work. With “a chip and a chair,” each player comes to the table.

Veteran   LA artist Greg Miller draws upon classic American icons of the 1950s and 60s to create his collage and resin paintings. Integrating fragmented photographic imagery, familiar objects, and celebrated novels, Miller juxtaposes word and image in layered and worked painted surfaces that suggest memory and the loss of innocence. Miller has created a selection of small works especially for this exhibition.
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Pulchritudo Vaga: Regina Wilson
Australian Master Painter
July 19 - August 3, 2008
Opening reception: Saturday, July 19, 6.30-9pm

“The beauty we feel when we let go of a thing’s purpose and just delight in how it is”
- Immanuel Kant

This is the first U.S. solo exhibition for this award-winning Australian Aboriginal Artist from Peppimenarti Community, in the Northern Territory, Australia.

The exhibition runs from July 17th through August 3rd, 2008. Private previews July 15th & 16th. For an appointment email mc@tjala.com

ARENA 1
A project of Santa Monica Art Studios
3026 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica, CA. 90405

July 19 - August 16, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 19, 8-11pm

Merry Karnowsky Gallery is presenting a solo exhibition by renowned British artist, photographer, filmmaker and writer Dave McKean. PERSISTENCE OF VISION is a glimpse inside McKean’s mind. His paintings and drawings capture the mystery of silent film and serve as postcards from his travels around the world. In a series of skeleton drawings, a man becomes pathologically aware of his own skeleton and the feeling of his bones grinding and sliding against each other inside his skin. McKean’s striking photographs depict an ironic, sub-atomic tarot deck for an unseen world, combining traditional tarot iconography with tables of quarks and fermions of particle physics.

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Doug Henry & Joe Potts
Still Life with Dancer: New Video Work
August 2 - August 30, 2008
Reception: Saturday August 2, 2008 6-8

Celebrate the birth of Cubism with Doug Henry and Joe Potts at Cardwell Jimmerson Contemporary Art. The new video installation, “Still Life With Dancer” by Henry and Potts commemorates the centennial of the birth of Cubism, widely viewed as the first systematic attempt to break down traditional modes of representation.

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OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE ARTIST
SATURDAY, JULY 12th
8:30 - 10 PMT
THROUGH SEPTEMBER

This new body of work, which Melanie Pullen began in 2004, is an examination of historic battle imagery and the social impact of conflict, combat, the stylization of war, and the viewpoint of victory. It includes light-box portraits of soldiers from different countries and eras, battle scenes, individual and groups of jumping soldiers, and images of biowarfare select agents such as anthrax. This is the first work in which Pullen makes use of the light-box which gives the artworks a floating cinematic effect. For Violent Times, Pullen enlisted the help of set builders, makeup artists, actors, models, stylists, and stunt crews, among others. To create one of the monumental battle scenes she worked for several months with one of the top movie studios to build large sections of the city of Berlin and then populated this shot with a cast of hundreds.

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AT THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
19 July - 16 August, 2008
Reception: Saturday, 19 July 7 - 10PM

Gallery Five Thirty Three is pleased to present At the Middle of Nowhere. The exhibition runs from July 19th to August 16th, with a reception for the artists on Saturday, July 19th from 7-10PM

To exist at the middle of nowhere brings solace to some and distress to others. Each artist in this exhibition bends, stretches, and portrays relationships to familiar surroundings in unique ways, either transferring the viewer to a space of ease and contentment or leaving them with no footing at all.
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