mondojohnson

Painter and ukulele artisan Amy Crehore has prepared this entrancing (and beautifully framed) work for the upcoming Dark Pop 2.0 show at NYC’s Last Rites gallery.

“We all had to do a piece of ‘dark art’ for the show and this is mine,” says Crehore on her blog. It’s called A Curious Shelter, and features a smiling, Krampus-like monster with inscrutable motives toward the naked girl he’s sheltering. Is he sinister or sweet? Or both — dark art as dark chocolate?

I love it.

Here is the show info for my pals in NYC:

Dark Pop 2.0
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 9th from 7-11pm
Last Rites Gallery
511 W. 33rd St. – 3rd Fl.
New York, NY 10001
212.529.0666
lastritesgallery.com

ABC’s remake of the paranoid 80’s classic “V” took the network by surprise, garnering a much huger audience than they had anticipated. There was some concern that the show wouldn’t live beyond its four filmed episodes (which concluded tonight). But now it’s poised to return in March of 2010, and since it’s a proven money-maker, I have a few free suggestions on how the producers can goose the ratings even further.

In no particular order:

1. More lizards. We only got a brief glimpse of Alan Tudyk’s lizard eye, and a peek at Morris Chestnut’s lizard forearm. If you want me to keep watching, fill the Spring season with more reptilian madness… (and feel free to go over the top with the V-human hybrid baby).

2. Live rodent consumption. You’ve probably already lost a third of your fanboy audience by not having Morena Baccarin recreate the most famous scene from the 80’s version. Gore it up; you’ve got CG on your side. Give the kiddies nightmares.

3. Film in New York City. Please. You’re insulting us; that’s clearly Vancouver. And think of the wry commentary you can make about the Disney-fied NYC — it’s increasingly resembling the Mother Ship anyway.

4. Cast Eliza Dushku and Enver Gjokaj. These two sexy and capable actors need work after the cancellation of Dollhouse, and it would give you a fresh new legion of young, horny scifi viewers.

Good luck, V. See you in March.

Depressing and deep memories on this horrible anniversary. As I watch this date slip into banal Americana, I can’t help but express my own shopworn platitude: never forget.

I am warm and fuzzy with nostalgia after having seen the photos at the 8th Street Playhouse group on Facebook. I worked at the famous cult movie house as manager during my last couple years at NYU.

We chain smoked cigarettes, drank gallons of coffee and spent an awful lot of time doing our glam hair and makeup. We’d often use the theatre after-hours for parties and various other shenanigans, including using it as a set for my roommate Bob Burn’s koo-koo film school klassic “Heavy Cream”.

The Playhouse belonged to a different era of NYC — there were ashtrays in the seats and pot-smoking in the theatre was less controversial than sneaking in your own can of soda. I had a strange road to hoe, as at the time I was “straight-edge”, sober as a judge, while everyone else was pretty much continually tripping or slipping off to the opium den that was the projection room. I was conflicted between my managerial duties and my deep desire to be the “cool boss….”

Happily, the cool boss usually prevailed. Trying to fight the crazy, self-indulgent creativity was like yelling at a hurricane… and the mayhem was what made the place “the epicenter of cool” (to quote Jim Farber) at a time when we were all going to die of AIDS at any moment.

Depressingly resonant post on GAWKER: “New York Will Now Send You Home”. But I thought New York was my home… I don’t know who I am anymore…:crazy:…