KAKAI & KIKI TRAILER

I love this strange trailer for Takashi Murakami's animated film, Kaikai & Kiki. I can't wait to see the movie. After conquering the art world and hipsters alike with his trademark superflat style, Murakami is now the flavor of the month with hip hop stars like Jay-Z, who recently commissioned artwork, and Kanye West, whose latest album, Graduation, sports a cover illustration by Murakami. I have a tiny cartoon he drew for me during the install of the Superflat show at the Henry Art Gallery. It may contribute to my retirement fund someday.


Takashi Murakami, Japanese pop artist and animator, on the BBC series, Japanorama.


New York Times Magazine article on The Murakami Method:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03MURAKAMI.html?pagewanted=9

NESSUN DORMA

Opera. Overly sentimental, overwrought, stuffy, snobby. Maybe that's true, but it can also kick ass. I mean, provide a powerful and moving experience. I've enjoyed several operas with my girlfriend Wendy, who is a big fan, and I admit at first I attended somewhat reluctantly.
Here on the blog, we've posted everything from punk to jazz, Django to the Ronettes, Jimmy Durante to Electric 6, but this is the first opera, and if you hate the stuff I apologize, but I beg you to listen. I've picked Luciano Pavarotti singing "Nessun Dorma", the famous tenor aria from Puccini's Turandot. Below is a translation from the Italian, so you can sing along. One of the great moments of opera comes when the prince sings the final "Vincero!" I shall win! I dare you not to be moved.

The Prince

Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me, Il nome mio nessun saprà, no, no, Sulla tua bocca lo dirò Quando la luce splenderà, Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio Che ti fa mia.	But my secret is hidden within me; My name no one shall know, no, no, On your mouth I will speak it When the light shines, And my kiss will dissolve the silence That makes you mine.
Chorus
Il nome suo nessun saprà E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir.	No one will know his name And we must, alas, die.
The Prince
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò!	Vanish, o night! Set, stars! At daybreak, I shall conquer!

LA BEFANA

In Italy, there is no Santa Claus. La Befana, a witch on a broom, brings the presents. The story goes that the wise men asked for directions to Bethlehem, but an old woman refused to help because she was too busy. Later she had a change of heart, but couldn't find them to help. Now she must roam the world looking for the Christ child to atone for her sins, and bringing presents and sacks of ashes to the children. In case you miss her on Christmas, don't worry, she flies through on the eve of the twelfth day of Christmas, January 6th, otherwise known as Epiphany. Buon Natale!

E' arrivata la Befana

THE WORLD BEAT

For the love of God, don't let Ken win!

WHAT DO THEY CALL THE ACT? THE ARISTOCRATS!

F. Scott Fitzgerald was right, the rich ARE different. These kinky fruitcakes live in a mansion on the corner of Havelock and Ellis, in an upscale gated community where the shrubs are trimmed to resemble gumdrops and the lawn signs are always tasteful and Republican. Civic leaders in public, in private they smolder like wet copies of the National Review on a blazing birch fire.

Music is "Danger! High Voltage!" by the Electric Six, with Jack White on back-up vocals, and suggested for mature audiences with a sense of humor. Not for kids.

BAD SANTA

Things could be worse. You could be having a fingerlicking Christmas with this guy.

Patton Oswalt visits the Colonel (warning - some rough language)

ART TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE

Some say it's a great idea, creating a shorthand checklist for art lovers with time and money to kill, and others say it's a fool's errand. Either way, Jonathan Jones of the Guardian has a daunting assignment: naming the fifty great works of art one must see before dying. "The works of art that matter most," is how he puts it. So far, he's kicked off the project by presenting his top twenty works of art (listed below). Undoubtedly great works, even a casual art student could think of significant omissions and probably come up with another list entirely. Reducing the total artistic expression of mankind to any list may seem ludicrous (especially a short list), but as a parlor game it's kind of fun, like playing art history Trivial Pursuit. What would you add? What are your all-time favorite works of art? What works are most important?


To his credit, Jones is asking for your help, so send your suggestions to the Guardian. I understand the reaction has been intense. For my part, I miss certain favorites and balk at the slim representation of modern art. Something is happening out there -- in the studios and galleries, in the museums, something of value in the past fifty years of art -- but I get the feeling you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2006/11/the_works_of_art_that_matter_m.html


Jonathan Jones' List

Jan van Eyck, The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, c.1435, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Caravaggio, The Burial of St. Lucy (1608), Museo di Palazzo Bellomo, Syracuse, Sicily
Rembrandt, Aristotle with a Bust of Homer (1654), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
San Rock Art, South African National Museum, Cape Town
Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire from Les Lauves (1904 - 6), Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Mark Rothko, The Rothko Chapel (paintings 1965-66; chapel opened 1971), Houston, Texas
Michelangelo, Moses (installed 1545), Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome
Leonardo da Vinci, The Adoration of the Magi, (c. 1481), Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Vermeer, View of Delft (c.1660-61), Mauritshuis, The Hague
Matthias Grünewald, The Isenheim Altarpiece (c.1509-15), Musée Unterlinden, Colmar, France
Hans Holbein, The Dead Christ, (1521-2), Kunstmuseum, Basel
Velázquez, Las Meninas (1656), Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
Unknown, Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun (1333-1323BC), Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Jackson Pollock, One: Number 31, 1950, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Masaccio, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (c.1427), Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.
Pablo Picasso, Guernica (1937), Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid
Titian, Danaë (c. 1544-6), Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
Raphael, The School of Athens (1510-11), Stanza della Signatura, Vatican Palace, Rome
Unknown, Parthenon Sculptures ("Elgin Marbles"), c. 444 BC, British Museum, London
Henri Matisse, The Dance (1910), Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia