Two Very Different Dances

Wow. I think this couple has a really interesting chemistry...I was so-so about this casting at first...but something about her headstrong tom-boy nature and fiesty macho Maks has really been cool. Andrews was the sportscaster who was stalked by some freak in Chicago and filmed naked and alone in her hotel room then broadcast on YouTube. I really felt horrible when this story came out...it's so creepy but it's great to see this woman in the safe tough hands of hottie Maks. Last night Maks had an awesome idea...because Erin is so headstrong and doesn't trust people (understandably so) he introduced a blindfold. I thought he was going to use the blindfold for rehersal and training perposes only...but the blindfold became part of the choreography and it is really stunning. when I watched this last night I got tears in my eyes.

The above dance is my favourite tops dance routine on DWTS so far ever. Last week this couple pop star Nicole and professional dancer Derek did the most wonderful jive....no way I thought it could be topped. The routine above is so good and so fun. The judges were pissed off that they broke so many rules...but what they performed was just like watching Gene kelly or Fred Astaire...it was so exciting and joyful!

When I Went Out The Door This Morning...

I just knew I was gonna get a job. I knew exactly where to go...I was pulled...I could feel I had to go to this one place I was haunting...

And when I got there just for my own recreation to read and have a latte...the woman hired me.

Yipppeee...I'm working a bar position part-time with great hours, super nice people, like family...and I get to make cappuccinos (which I love making) and talk with people!!!!! Since it's part-time I can get another job too..and help with busking. Whoohoo! Two jobs baby that's the way to roll.

On the weekend, I had the hunch. I got some new sneaks for my future job..and some new pants and t-shirts...something I NEVER do...but I knew I had to be ready. Preparation. Experience. Opportunity. Right? Even my Green Card looked shinier this morning...it's done it's own job!

(listen...I am always busy and I've been doing volunteer work here in Chicago... but for those who know me, lets face it, I'm your classic textbook stylistically posing slacker-Church of the Subgenius ....have you ever thought you would hear me be happy to have a job?) Har!

Family App

In this video is Tim, a pal...actually the brother of a good family friend. I've been following his work notes on FB about developing an App for the new iPad. I love that he is in line in the U.S. for getting the new product. His notes were really fun to follow as he stressed out with a time constraint making his new App. His sister is a good friend and a Halloween party a couple years ago he was Beetlejuice, his sister was a female Elvis, I was Sharon Tate (hey I never said I had good taste)...I was trying to find some photos...here's a couple but I can't find Tim as Beetlejuice and he looked amazing!



Are you going to get an iPad? I'm more interested in a laptop...a classic Mac laptop...but I love the iPhone so much. I hope in 6 months to get an iPhone...

Happening Vs. Performance

A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered as an art. Happenings take place anywhere (from basements to studio lofts and even street alley ways), are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience. Key elements of happenings are planned, but artists sometimes retain room for improvisation. This new media art aspect to happenings eliminates the boundary between the artwork and its viewer. Henceforth, the interactions between the audience and the artwork makes the audience, in a sense, part of the art.
In the later sixties, perhaps due to the depiction in films of hippie culture, the term was used much less specifically to mean any gathering of interest, from a pool hall meetup or a jamming of a few young people to a beer blast or fancy formal party.

Allan Kaprow first coined the term happening in the Spring of 1957 at an art picnic at George Segal's farm to describe the art pieces that were going on. Happening first appeared in print in the Winter 1959 issue of the Rutgers University undergraduate literary magazine, Anthologist. The form was imitated and the term was adopted by artists across the U.S., Germany, and Japan. Jack Kerouac referred to Kaprow as "The Happenings man," and an ad showing a woman floating in outer space declared, "I dreamt I was in a happening in my Maidenform brassiere."
"Happenings" are very difficult to describe, in part because each one is unique and completely different from one another. One definition comes from Wardrip-Fruin and Montfort in The New Media Reader, "The term "Happening" has been used to describe many performances and events, organized by Allan Kaprow and others during the 1950s and 1960s, including a number of theatrical productions that were traditionally scripted and invited only limited audience interaction.

Or...

Performance art is art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience. It is opposed to painting or sculpture, for example, where an object constitutes the work. Performance art traditionally involves the artist and other actors, but works like Survival Research Laboratories' pieces, utilizing robots and machines without people, may also be seen as an offshoot of performance art.
Although performance art could be said to include relatively mainstream activities such as theater, dance, music, and circus-related things like fire breathing, juggling, and gymnastics, these are normally instead known as the performing arts. Performance art is a term usually reserved to refer to a kind of usually avant-garde or conceptual art which grew out of the visual arts. Uniquely, Michel Lotito ("M. Mangetout") made performance out of eating unusual objects.

Performance art, as the term is commonly understood, began to be identified in the 1960s with the work of artists such as Yves Klein, Allan Kaprow—who coined the term Happenings—Carolee Schneemann, Hermann Nitsch, Yoko Ono, Wolf Vostell, Joseph Beuys, Barbara T. Smith, Vito Acconci, the women associated with the Feminist Studio Workshop and the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, and Chris Burden. But performance art was certainly anticipated, if not explicitly formulated, by Japan's Gutai group of the 1950s, especially in such works as Atsuko Tanaka's "Electric Dress"

Tiki Wiki Time

We went for dinner to Traver Vic's and had us some Mai Tais....are they ever good!


Tiki culture refers to a 20th-century theme used in Polynesian-style restaurants and clubs originally in the United States and then, to a lesser degree, around the world. Although inspired in part by Tiki carvings and mythology, the connection is loose and stylistic.

Tiki culture in the United States began in 1934 with the opening of Don the Beachcomber, a Polynesian-themed bar and restaurant in Hollywood. The proprietor was Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt, a young man from Louisiana who had sailed throughout the South Pacific; later he legally changed his name to Donn Beach. His restaurant featured Cantonese cuisine and exotic rum punches, with a decor of flaming torches, rattan furniture, flower leis, and brightly colored fabrics. Three years later, Victor Bergeron, better known as Trader Vic, adopted a Tiki theme for his restaurant in Oakland, which eventually grew to become a worldwide chain. The theme took on a life during the restaurant's growth in the Bay Area. The Trader Vic in Palo Alto not only spawned architectural choices, such as the architectural concept behind the odd looking Tiki Inn Motel], which still exists as the Stanford Terrace Inn . There also currently exists a modern sculpture garden from Papua New Guinea] that was made to celebrate the modern form of art that was a large part of the original inspiration for tiki culture. From Wiki

Back In Biz

Keyboard and mouse were jimmied. I had been MacGver-ing them for a couple weeks...but keyboard was super jammed. I'd wire some stuff for quick blog posts...but really couldn't type. Just went downtown and got new mouse and keyboard. We really needed new ones for about a year. And wow are these ever sexy. Like butter.

Also got some storage. Our iTunes and iMovie were taking up so much space and things were getting sluggish. I am so excited to install this storage space...moving all of Stagg's music...and going to organize it in a way we can actually find stuff, lol. Also my editing takes up so much space...so this should be a fun weekend of organizing all my movie files and videos...and being able to play music at the same time. We had reached a spot where playing music and even checking emails was super trying...whoo hooo!!!!

Chicago Film Co-Op Meet Up

We've been volunteering at the Chicago Film Co-Op's meet ups and here is Stagg working the bar. He is talking to Shirley King who has just begun doing a little film work herself. We had a great visit discussing with Shirley King how to find work in films in Chicago and we hope to see her perform next week.

Every meet-up there is a speaker and this months speaker was filmmaker James Choi who produced Made In China. James shared his story of how he got into film and after working in LA for years he finally made his own film. The 7 person crew basically went to China and filmed without permits and on the fly. Choi was a very interesting artist and good storyteller and I can't wait to see this movie. We saw several clips outside the trailer format and it is very funny! Below is the official trailer. Here is an interview with the writer of the film.


Amy working the door in the front lobby of the Chicago Film Co-Op.



H. Cherdon came into chicago for a quick visit and to participate at the Meet-Up because she runs a similar Film Co-Op in Austin, Texas. Here is the link. I love her job description, "Creative Superhero"! And here is another site for Austin Film Meet Up.