More MEM and also Joan Didion

I was perusing Mary Ellen Mark's website and came across this photo of Joan Didion and John Dunne. She is a great photo subject and the picture itself is beautifully composed. This type of picture of her only ever serve to remind me of the fact that her writing just, you know, SPEAKS to me (...man).

Her husband, John Gregory Dunn, is said to be an equally prolific writer. I admit to never having read any of his works.

Her fiction is good. Solid. Play It As It Lays particularly stands out as a compelling and disturbing work. What I like best though, is her volumes of essays. Her ability to say so much with so little, and in such a small amount of space never fails to move my senses.

JD then JD now













I recommend:

• Slouching Towards Bethlehem (first collection of essays/articles)
• Play It As It Lays (arguably best work of fiction)
  

The Dopeness

I have been listening to the soundtrack to The Wackness for a couple of weeks now and I encourage anyone who likes hiphop in any way, shape, or form to give it a sit-down. Chock full o a sweet mix of smooth beats and some jams starting to border on gangsta (before that shit blew up), it's an excellent mix. Throw in a Mott the Hoople track and it's all good.

For those not in the know, the film takes place in the mid 90s when hiphop was thriving somewhere between Tribe and DMX. Summatime, kid sells green from a ice cart, falls in love, all to a dope soundtrack.

Sidenote - Method Man (who, in '94, was a member of Wu-Tang Clan) plays kid's supplier.

After seeing the movie a second time (once I had the soundtrack) I noticed a bunch of songs in the film that weren't on the offish score. Most noticeably the Wu's own C.R.E.A.M.

Anyway, for a sick dose of mid-nineties hiphop before things REALLY got gangsta, check out The Wackness. It's also a pretty good movie.
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RE. below post - Fairey was arrested as he was entering his ICA opening. He appeared in Brighton and Roxbury district courts a couple days ago.

faireys

I've been a fan of Shepherd Fairey since I first started becoming aware of and researching graf bowmbers/public artists a number of years ago. Now that the world is becoming saturated with his images (especially the iconic Obama/hope print) I feel the need to spread the love even more (and remind the posers that I was a fan first).

Fairey dog has been screen printing/sticker bombing/etc. for almost 20 years. He's best known for his Andre the Giant obey rorschach-esque print. Little do people know, the Obey campaign was preceeded by the lesser-known Andre the Giant Has a Posse campaign:


Sprung from an inside joke with a friend who wanted to learn how to screen print. Cuz, like, who wouldn't want to be in A the G's posse?

In writing this post, I came accross several spoofs of the print, from one advertising Charles Darwin's posse (seriously scary, I am a member) to my personal favorite:






Tony Danza is a bad mama jama.


Look also for Parker Posey's posse and Darth Vader's dark side posse.

Anyway, if you live in Boston you are probably experiencing even more the over-saturation of Mr. Fairey cause he has a show (opened two days ago) at the ICA. Which, by the way, if you haven't been to their new location (well not so new anymore) on the waterfront, it's worth the trek. I'm planning on checking out the exhibit. But just remember - I liked him way before all ya'll.