As part of the Nancy Hwang birthday extravaganza, I saw Episode II: Attack of the Clones last night. Ugh — it was worse than I expected. Natalie Portman’s a trooper for trying to act like this was a “real movie with acting” while saying some of the worst lines in movie history. It made the 3 good ones (now known as Episodes 4-6) look like Shakespeare. My friend Anees was right – it was like Star Wars Porn — all the stuff you like to see, over and over and over. All money shots, all the time!

Whenever there were “plot” interludes, such as the scenes of the budding romance between Natalie and whoever that guy is, the audience snickered until we got back to the light sabers and special effects.

I miss Princess Leia.

On Sunday we went to brunch – which one was the mother? – at The Park with our friend Brownie, followed by a visit to Scope Art at the Gershwin Hotel. No celebrities were spotted at The Park. The food wasn’t bad, and is surprisingly cheap at brunch/lunch time. If service is going to be that bad, shouldn’t all of the waiters look like models? (They don’t.)

Scope Art was great fun! Sort of like the Gramercy Art Fair at the beginning — nicely low key. There were a number of interesting out of town galleries — without websites to link! I was pleased by the amount of drawing and painting on display. It’s not dead!

There’s a very interesting gallery in Cleveland of all places called Shaheen showing people ranging from Roe Ethridge to Blake Rayne.

Others things of note: Stuart Hawkins from Priska Juschka and a show called “Amenities” curated by Pascal Spengemann — an entire room of works by artists replacing or working with the objects in the room — a painting in the Gideon Bible (Ben Potter), toilet paper of handmade paper from utility bills (Missy Bly), and casts of vacuumings from the hotel (Corin Hewitt).

I’ve been having some computer issues for the last week, so this is a big catch-up post.

On Saturday we went to some galleries in Chelsea. Highlights:

• Brian Coleman and Molly Smith at LFL Gallery — Molly’s gouache and ink works on paper are especially beautiful.
  
• Katarzyna Kozyra at Postmasters — pretty Polish boys in videos
  
• Polly Apfelbaum and Beatriz Milhazes at D’Amelio Terras
  
• David Reed at Max Protech — hmm… www.maxprotech.com takes me to some kind of hydraulics company
  
• Jim Hodges at CRG — Wow! One of the best shows I’ve seen in Chelsea in a while
  
• John F. Simon, Jr. at Sandra Gering</p>

More to follow about Scope Art, etc.

Here’s a disturbing but interesting 13 minute video by Christoph Draeger, Reynold Reynolds, and Gary Breslin. It stars Guy Richard Smit. The premise: the final newscast of MSNBC.

Actual photos from the 1848 uprising in Paris – barricades and all! See it on James’ site.

Beware of art majors whose conceptual projects go a little too far.

The 21-year-old college student accused of putting pipe bombs in mailboxes in five states told authorities he was trying to make a “smiley face” on the map, a sheriff said today.

My friend, the fabulously exuberant Gabriella, has joined this little blog world of ours.

Welcome!

Hmm… Should this be filed under culture or queer? It’s one of those high/low art kind of things.

Last night we saw Jonny McGovern, Gay Pimp Daddy/International Gay Teen Pop Superstar, at PS122. We took James’s nephew Peter – the gay psychriatrist nephew – and his friend John. It was great fun, with Jonny and his backup dancers (including one Abercrombie and Fitch model), plus two fabulous draq queens. I think my favorite song was “Hey, Little Raver Boi”. The choreography, by Jonny, Kimmarie Lynch, and Christopher Campell, was hilarious — trashy queer boy band dancing. The costumes for “Raver Boi” included light sticks, visors, and bell bottoms of course.

It lasts until May 12. Worth a visit I think. The crowd was an interesting mix, including straight boys and their girlfriends. The girls really screamed for the songs about Jonny seducing straight boys. This post-straight world is very interesting.

We had dinner afterward at my favorite East Village restaurant, Raga — Indian fusion, not really Indian, one block east of the glitter of the 6th Street Little India.

Side note. Abercrombie’s web site has a music page, including a streaming station? How’s this for an album description:

Camber attacks with buzzing guitars desperately hung over a rock solid backbeat.

Last night we went to the opening for 3 shows at Art Resources Transfer — Jonathan Feldschuh, Merrill Wagner, and M. Sovan Kumar. Jonathan also has a show at Cynthia Broan right now. The pottery installation by Kuman is really beautiful, and I LOVED the Merill Wagner works. She rocks, as usual.

After the opening we saw Blue Surge, by Rebecca Gilman, at the Public Theater. Info on the production in Chicago at the Goodman is available here and here. It seems to be mostly the same cast, and the same director as that production. She has a reputation for writing plays that are a bit didactic, and have their hearts in the right place, but don’t necessarily work as theatre. This is the first play of hers I’ve seen, and I have to agree.

I think the direction by Robert Falls, and the cast, outshined the play. The cast was uniformly excellent. Rachel Miner was totally convincing as a young woman still in her teens who realizes that working in the local “massage parlor” makes more sense for her than working at Wendy’s. Joe Murphy plays a cop trying to “escape” his background and make something of himself, with Amy Landecker as his middle class artist girlfriend. The other two actors, Steve Key as a goofy, slacker cop, and Colleen Werthmann (member of Elevator Repair Service) as another hooker, are also awesome. We spoke to Key afterwards to tell him how much we enjoyed it.

The play has its moments, I will admit. The scene between Beth (upwardly mobile) and her boyfriend Curt (who isn’t) is really strong. All of us that came from small, poor towns where most people have dead end jobs and drink too much would find a lot that’s familiar in that scene. He wonders if she stays with him to shock her artist friends, and she’s disappointed that he’s not more successful. After all, she says, anyone who is smart enough and tries hard enough can “make it” in America. I would like to think that, and I’m lucky to be where I am now compared to where I came from, but I don’t think that’s the way the world works for most people. I went to a high school where most people didn’t think of going to college, and thought it was frivolous to do so. I’m glad I escaped, but I can’t really say that I’m “better” than the people who are still there. I’m lucky.

POLICE MUST NOTIFY RESIDENTS WHEN
CATHOLIC CHURCH MOVES INTO NEIGHBORHOOD
Controversial “Egan’s Law” Expected to Gain Widespread Support

See it at SatireWire.