Thursday January 17, 2008

Mr. Bubble

A feature I wrote about Web 1.0 character Josh “Pseudo” Harris for the February issue of Radar is now online. I spent time tracking Harris this fall as he tried to get his latest venture, Operator 11, off the ground. As a bonus, Radar has posted the concept trailer for We Live in Public, a documentary-in-progress by filmmaker Ondi Timoner (she made the rock-doc DiG!), which she has been working on since Harris hired her to film his massive millennium party, Quiet. The trailer, which is about 12 minutes long, includes lots of great footage of the party-cum-social-experiment and various interviews with Harris, including his famous proclamation—on 60 Minutes II—that he hoped to put CBS out of business. It’s a reminder for those who survived the last boom and a cautionary tale to those who hope to weather this one.

We live in public trailer from RADAR on Vimeo.

Posted by jim at 08:51 AM ||

Tuesday January 08, 2008

It’s Educational!

Two weeks from today, our friend Carrie McLaren will launch Adult Education, a monthly lecture series at Park Slope bocce mecca Union Hall. The idea is to have people give pithy A/V presentations on ephemeral topics ranging from obscure trade magazines to the history of personal hygiene ads—any topic about which the presenter has become unusually informed. At the first installment, I will discuss meta-tourism, a topic close to my heart. The evening’s co-presenters will include Liz Clayton, Paul Lukas, Heidi Cody, and film archivist Russell Scholl. Should be fun. Come by. 8 pm, Tues., January 22 at Union Hall.

Posted by jim at 11:16 AM ||

Friday January 04, 2008

Bull Hockey

Kaye on set

I have decided to get out more. Unfortunately, this resolution went into effect yesterday—the coldest day in anyone’s recent memory—when I decided to loiter around Madison Square Garden and watch eccentric British director Tony Kaye shoot a promotional film for Ford and its sponsorship of the Professional Bull Riders tour, which is in Manhattan this weekend.

You might remember Kaye as the director of American History X, although he was so unhappy with the final edit that he tried to force New Line to change his credit to “Humpty Dumpty.” He was also working a performance art shtick a few years ago that saw him appearing—in person and in short films—dressed as Osama Bin Laden. But nevermind. By all accounts Kaye has been on good behavior lately, and his new documentary about America’s abortion divide, Lake of Fire, is generating Oscar buzz. (You can inspect the trailer here.) It was fun to watch him interview a handful of fresh-faced cowpokes, punctuating each chat with the obligatory Anglo throwaway, “Brilliant!” It’s a toss-up who found who stranger.

Bull on Ice

The bulls, like me, seemed impatient with the cold. Their blood appeared to run thick as they sluggishly stampeded up and down a makeshift chute on 33rd Street, chased by two men on horseback. I ducked back into the subway once I lost feeling in my hands, but unfortunately wasn’t able to take any of them with me.

Posted by jim at 02:33 PM ||