San Francisco Field Trip

First, a little admin: phonographgirl made my new default icon for me. Awwwww. Thanks again!

Second, I just returned from a little jaunt with taogrl to the City and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. There we saw the work of the artist of our destiny, Matthew Barney. I'm sure I've told the story of Barney and how we came to know of his work in a Subway in Paris, France many years ago, but I'm too lazy to find it in my blog. Needless to say, he is a guilty, yet grueling pleasure. Why? Read this boy's biography on Wikipedia. And if you can understand this dude's work on the first viewing, well fuck you!

Anyway, Barney's apparently been dating Bjork for a while now, and they have collaborated on his latest Project, Drawing Restraint 9. His films are thought provoking, even if those thoughts are confusing. Up until now, I thought it was impossible to make a scene featuring eating flesh sliced from your own legs sexually charged. Matthew pulls if off, though. Intermingled with my stifled gags, "Damn he's hot!" escaped my lips.

Summary? Contrary to his Cremaster 3 film, this movie was not rife with Masonic references. No, this time Matthew is tackling Japanese Culture and the whaling industry. The movie features a little Japanese Parade celebrating the departure of the Nisshin Maru, a whaling vessel. The film also features Barney and Bjork boarding the ship, being cleaned and groomed for a Japanese tea ceremony, the tea ceremony, then making out and carving eachother's legs up. Also, don't miss the little boy in the ship's infirmary with something white and fuzzy hanging out of his mouth vomiting into a bucket. And since we do get an idea of the volume of this poor lad's issue, let's just say he's got Monsieur Creosote beat. Eventually, Barney and Bjork morph into whales and head out to sea, likely to be harpooned later by Japanese whalers, bless their whale hearts.

With regard to the tea ceremony, is tea often so sludge-like? There was clearly stunt tea involved, or good acting, because the tea the Japanese guy prepared for Bjork and Barney was the consistency of paste. Yet, they made slurping sounds indicative of a more fluid substance. However, they managed not to get any of that green artsy-fartsy sludge on their lips. Either there were some outtakes featuring green tea sludge up their noses, or they swapped the tea for filming purposes. In short, mad props to Barney to finding the most impractical ceremonial tea set ever. I may retract that statement if I take the time to investigate the culture of Japanese tea ceremonies, and if they all feature tea-you-can-chew, then I'll stand corrected. And really, that's what needs to happen. Viewers will fail to understand Barney's work beyond it's visually stunning spectacle if they are not up on mythology, masonic rituals, japanese whaling culture, and whatever other subject he decides to take on.

(Anne, overcome by curiosity, reads up on Japanese Tea Ceremonies) Ah, yes. There are thin tea ceremonies, and thick tea ceremonies. Barney and Bjork were clearly engaging in the thick ceremony. Good to know so I can avoid it in the future.

In the final analysis, all the esoteric footage was absolutely worth the effort, because Barney shows up naked in one scene. Score one for us!

In other news, we also indulged in some Tapas at the Thirsty Bear near the SFMoma. All in all, a good day.

One good thing about the Hilton

Perhaps this is standard Hotel procedure, but I left my jacket behind in the hotel room in Atlanta. I called the Hilton, found out who the Lost and Found coordinator was, and made an inquiry. Sure enough, they found my lucky little windbreaker. It's not particularly expensive, but it's rather handy. They are sending it to me, without charging me for the shipment.

I like that.

All is well.

How are your respective Fridays proceeding?