The design is strong in colour but super simple and aims to let the words and images do the talking. Diego’s a prolific guy, always taking great photos, painting crazy images and writing deep thoughts, so I’ll be visiting often to see what’s new.

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“Good business is the best art.”
— Andy Warhol

Pop Life explores a newer generation of artists that have made use of the media to capitalise on their art and indeed their own names. There was a fairly large section devoted to Andy Warhol’s entrepreneurial leanings in the 80s, at a time where he continued to court celebrity, and made all sorts of unlikely appearances, like in Aaron Spelling’s The Love Boat, as well as randomly taking a stroll about in the back of a late 80s pop video.

There was a wall dedicated to the 80s cover art of Warhol’s magazine: Interview. This was compelling evidence of his part in unleashing that certain 80s style of commercial art on the world.

Also on show were episodes of Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes, which were a series of laid back chats with celebrities, made for MTV. I managed to catch a few minutes with Jerry Hall and John Oates (the follicly superior half of Hall & Oates).

Upon further exploration, I was pleased to find that there were works of artists other than Andy Warhol being exhibited. Damien Hirst had his False Idol on display – a preserved calf with gold feet. Funny thing about Damien Hirst, I’m yet to meet someone that likes his art. Personally, I take a morbid interest in dead things in formaldehyde. And if they’ve got bling, more power to them.

Jeff Koons had some of his particular flights of fancy included, notably Made in Heaven, discreetly tucked away in one of the “adults only” rooms. Here we get an intimate glimpse of Jeff and his wife, Italian blue movie star and politician “La Cicciolina”, celebrating their special kind of adult love in a highly colour-saturated, Garden of Eden themed series of photos, along with a somewhat generously proportioned sculpture.

The last room in the exhibition featured the very chirpy and only slightly twisted art of Takashi Murakami, where we were inundated in illustrations, sculptures and toys to perfectly compliment the well endowed lactating cartoon lady we saw in the first room. As a nice cheerio, we were treated to a big screen playing Turning Japanese, as sung by a nice blue-haired cosplay Kirsten Dunst.

All up, Pop Life was interesting and provocative, and a good excuse to get yourself over to the Tate Modern. Pop Life will be there until 17 January.

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things

Chromeo’s music breaks down barriers between rock and electro, generation X and Y, Arab and Jew. They sound like some sort of cross between Rick James, Prince and Daft Punk. Very 80s yet very modern, with a sound that is “so hot right now”. Yet it seems so effortless for them because you can plainly see that Chromeo are good ol’ nerd boys from the 80s, making the tunes they want to listen to (one member, Dave One, wore a black t-shirt with a wolf on it along with white jeans!?!). Which probably explains why I dig them so much. And evidently, a much younger audience digs them too. A young lady behind me had a such a great time, she was quite happily singing along to pitch-adjusted vocal samples like they were deep and meaningful lyrics.

For me, having been able to see a band I really like live, up close, in a small venue, before they have become massive, with perfect sound all adds up to one of the best shows I’ve ever experienced.

Music videos:

• Rage
• Needy girl

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Congratulations to my good friends Monster Gale along with Hung Donkey and of course the Crumb who all put on a frigging awesome night on Saturday. I hope we can see some photos online soon…

Here is an article on Tinnitus. This link is dedicated to Salacious.

Update 17/05/06

Okay, Carl has graciously supplied some photos from the night. I’ve finally put a few of them up on my Flickr. Check them out.

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things

Last night, thanks to my good mate Leeann, I was lucky enough to get a free ticket to a preview screening of The Aristocrats (IMDB link). It’s been out in the US for some time now but only just coming out here. The Aristocrats is a documentary about an in-joke amongst comedians that has been around for decades. If you can stomach humour that mentions incest, bestiality, scatology and various other violent and depraved sex acts, this movie is for you. Personally, I was in tears from laughter.

“The Aristocrats” is a joke that has been with comics since Vaudeville. “The Aristocrats” is a joke that is never told in public, a private joke for comedians, so you’ve never heard it before. It’s a secret handshake among comics. It is also the dirtiest joke you will ever hear.

Some of my favourite comedians were featured in the hundred or so interviewed in the making of this film. Gilbert Gottfried, an old favourite was featured prominently (amazing), along with the likes of George Carlin, Steven Wright, the editorial staff of The Onion, Monty Python’s Eric Idle, Kevin Pollack (best. Walken. impersonator. ever), Harry Shearer, Chris Rock… the list keeps going. I must say Sarah Silverman is a new favourite of mine – go the funny ladies! There is an appearance from Penn and Teller and in fact Penn Jillette executive produced the film. Oh and look out for a dark side of Bob Saget (“Can I get a copy of this? I’d like to send it to the kids on the show Full House“) that you may have never seen before…

Anyway, to cut a long story short, go and see this film, or get it out when it makes it to DVD – if you aren’t easily offended that is.

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He played Arnold in Happy Days and of course, Mr Miyagi in The Karate Kid series.

Pat, you will be missed. Here’s a fitting tribute:
noriyukipatmorita.ytmnd.com

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The winner of the best entry was Brad (bonus points for being first). The winner of the random selection was Amy (your entry was good too). Congrats. I’ll get in touch with you guys to get your details and send you the book shortly.

Honorable mentions go to Stuart and “Random Commenter”, but unfortunately you were both disqualified for lying. Stuart, I doubt you got knocked up in high school, and I know you don’t have awesome hair. “Random Commenter”, I was really tempted to give it to you, but the fact is you’re not hot in a Caitlin kinda way. You are more of an early Wheels with the mullet.

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things

I, like many others my age who grew up in front of the box, would come home to enjoy Degrassi Junior High (and later Degrassi High), after school. If you grew up watching this on the ABC (Australia), you would remember the introductory warning from The Afternoon Show host (James Valentine, later Michael Tunn) about the serious adolescent issues covered in Degrassi, such as teen drinking, drug use, homesexuality, AIDS, suicide, youth pregnancy and abortion, and getting locked in the janitor closet with no clothes on while being called a “broom-head”. If you were a younger viewer, you were politely asked to go away for half an hour.

In more recent times, Degrassi has returned in the form of The Next Generation, with a cast of new young characters along with the return of some of the original characters we grew up with, which I’ve talked about in a previous post. Anyway, I’ve recently gotten my hands on the new Degrassi book, Degrassi Generations The Official 411. If you like Degrassi the way I do, this book has everything you need. Actor and character profiles, where are they now, theme song (and zit remedy) lyrics, episode guide and just about anything you would ever want to know about all the Degrassi programs – Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High, Schools Out (the Degrassi movie) and Degrassi: The Next Generation. Here are some bits of knowledge:

Did you know?

• Degrassi is named after Captain Filippo De Grassi, an Italian soldier and early Canadian settler in the 1830s.
• The actors who played The Zit Remedy didn’t actually know how to play their instruments (No way!)
• Executive producer Linda Schuyler was actually a high school teacher who wanted to make films with students about high school life.
• Kevin Smith (of Clerks, Mallrats, etc fame) is a huge fan. He wrote the introduction to the book and talks about how he got to snog Caitlin (LUCKY!) on his guest appearance in The Next Generation.

The book itself is well designed and has hundreds of photos throughout. Fans won’t be disappointed.

I am giving away 2 copies of Degrassi: Generations

If you would like a copy of the book, just write a comment below outlining which Degrassi character you are most like and why. Keep it short and sweet.

I will give one copy away to a random commenter, and another to the person giving the best answer. Make sure you submit a valid email address (will never be published) with your comment. You have until 14 November 2005.

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things

World of Warcraft is a MMORPG from Blizzard Entertainment involving multiplayer team co-operative and PvP action, along with aspects of role playing in a fantasy Lord of the Rings / Dungeons and Dragons kind of setting. It is an exclusively online game (broadband is a must) where you can fight, team up and interact with thousands of other players at any one time. According to recent reports, the total number of current active users has exceeded 4 million.

WoW presents the player with a beautifully designed and virtually seamless 3D world environment where you can travel freely, almost completely without any waits for loading, within a vast landscape spanning two continents. There is a monthly subscription to play (on top of the cost of the game) which goes towards the continual improvements and general evolution of the game.

With so many players around the world playing WoW, many communities have formed around the game, including various dedicated forums, sites and even podcasts (Taverncast, World of Warcast). There are also communities within the game itself, namely guilds, where people join quests and raids together, or just generally chat and hang out.

Another thing about this game, which is an improvement on previous MMORPGs is that it rewards casual play, so you won’t be majorly disadvantaged if you don’t play day-in-day-out. That being said, there is so much variety in what you can do in this game that you could virtually just live in the game non-stop. There’s the action/questing/fighting aspect. There’s the social aspect. There’s even professions, trade and auctions in the game – it has its own self-contained economy. The different modes of play are part of the addictiveness of this game. I’ve played with some players who are always on (more than me!) who really do seem to live in the game. This is testament to the fantastic playability of this game, but it’s also something to be wary of when playing… keeping a balance – too much of a good thing, etc. Sufficed to say, it’s addictive.

I’ve never been a Fantasy or Role Playing Game type guy, so that’s all new to me. I come from a Doom, Quake, Battlefield action genre as well as a real-time strategy gaming (Age of Empires, Starcraft, etc) background and I’ve certainly had no background in the whole Dungeons & Dragons phenomenon so it took a little getting used to some aspects of gameplay and the player culture, but a bit of practice along with tips from many helpful players will have any novice quickly up to speed. This is also one of those few games that gamer girls have embraced wholeheartedly as well as guys, which is always a formula for massive sales (ala Sims 2).

So that’s a small glimpse into the dark solipsistic world that is World of Warcraft. Now if you’ll excuse me, WoW is calling…

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things

Bruce Campbell plays Elvis Presley, who we find living a depressed life in a nursing home with a tumour on the end of his penis. To cut a long story short, Elvis got tired of living the high life some decades ago and decided to swap identities with an Elvis impersonator who went on to get fat and overdose on drugs (of course). So the real Elvis missed his chance to switch back to his real life. So he’s now in the retirement home, his only friend being a man who thinks he is JFK, and together they do battle with a Mummy who is feasting on the elderly…

It’s kinda slow moving in an old-skool way, and not a hell of a lot happens, but it’s still fun, and Bruce Campbell is always good value. It’s bad and it’s good. More films like this please…

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things

So I’ve just returned from a much needed short rest break in the Blue Mountains with my lovely significant other. We passed the time reading, drinking wine in front of log fires, wearing warm $2 slippers and having spa baths. I even rode a horse. All this busy relaxation did not preclude us from getting out and mixing it with the locals. On Thursday night we got over to The Gearin in Katoomba to catch Muph + Plutonic rip shit up Oz hip hop style.

I hadn’t seen them before, and only heard some of their stuff on the radio (Triple J has been giving Heaps Good a bit of airplay recently). So the jury was still out on these Melbourne boys – but seeing them live was good, thankfully, as the warm up acts weren’t much to write home about… The Katoomba scene seemed to rely heavily on hats and hoodies. I’d call it Hick-hop but apparently that’s for gangsta hillbillies in Kentucky. Just kidding mountain crew, don’t kill me, or worse, call me a poofter when you’re behind the mic…

But seriously, I can say that at the very least there’s a healthy distaste to “bling-hop” and fake-ass gangsta style rap generally in Aussie hip-hop so that’s a plus. So anyway, the Katoomba kids have their own scene going up there and that’s all cool.

After the local supports, Muph + Plutonic came on and were rocking straight off, and they had some major fans in the crowd it seemed. There were guys there that knew every lyric on the new album. Plutonic played the drums ridiculously tight throughout, Muph provided the emotionally charged and unpretentious lyrics and Snap was their turntablist (and hyper-upperer). They all did a great job. I met Muph after the show and he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy. I give their set 8.5 out of 10 plus bonus points for being good down-to-earth Melbourne boys. Keep cuttin’ sick.

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things

• Everyone remembers the “all the way with Stephanie Kaye” episode (“Kiss Me, Steph”). This is the very first episode of DJH. Stephanie Kaye is now a “mature” 8th grader, and runs for school president. Her prissy nerd friend Voula can’t handle Steph’s new image and sluttish behaviour.
• Joey Jeremiah was such a little obnoxious dweeb! Allow me to demonstrate with this visual comparison of young Joey vs Craig’s stepfather Joey in next generation. Joey can be seen in the second shot as the responsible father figure, and more importantly, the hat has been passed to the next generation:

He still rules. No-one could pull off the vest, mullet and brim hat like Joey.

• The ultimate insult seems to be “broomhead”. This term is used quite often. The poster ad for the school dance in episode 2 says “be there or be a broomhead”.
• One word… Caitlin. She was so sweet and classy before that Claude (“Cload”) fool offed himself and blamed it on her. But that there’s a whole different post.

I also have to mention that The Next Generation has got me hooked, especially seeing the episodes (season1?) that have just aired here on the ABC have predominantly been centred around Spike and Snake getting married, and there’s a whole lot of Joey, Caitlin and Lucy to be seen. Mr Raditch is now the principal and looks like an old lech.

Spike’s daughter Emma is a central character of the new show. As some might recall, she is the lovechild of Spike and Shane back in Degrassi High. Shane didn’t want to stick around with the baby until he took some acid and jumped off a bridge and got brain damage.

Published at HenryTapia.com – Experiencing and designing things