Video Of The Week: Arcade Fire

There's been a lot of talk surrounding this video since last weekend, ranging from the most idiotic things put to words in May to points that needed be addressed, but the most angry folks were undoubtedly the American LGBT community, and I guess the elephant in the room here is Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace, who not only released the best album of 2014 so far, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, which dealt exclusively with the issue at hand.

Here is her original tweet, which may be interpreted as a suggestion, for ''the next time'':

And here is where it gets out of hand:

The ''white actors in blackface'' line is the artistic equivalent to ''that's how the Nazis did it'' in political discussions, it's the end of the line. It's Godwin's Law, and it's futile.

I understand that a song called We Exist in which Arcade Fire chose to address the topic of transgenderism through its video, could have easily been a stronger affirmation to young trans folk dealing with the issue if the main character would have been portrayed by someone who had already come out as one. Heck, even a documentary-style video showing dozens of them, maybe with their coming-out date at the bottom of the screen - maybe a few doing so for the very first time on screen - would have been great. Maybe not.

But at this point, we know that film, as a medium, is limited in its scope and tells an incomplete story - it's why biopics are works of fiction, not documentary. And anyone who has lived through one year between the ages of 12 and 16 knows that what you see in films doesn't happen that way: people don't become murderers after one bad experience the eve of, or virgins don't lose their virginity in a cabin in the woods 15 minutes after meeting someone when they haven't been ready with the partner they just dumped after two years together. It's impossible to tell a complete tale in 100 minutes, let alone 30 (TV show), let alone 5 (music video). It's about make-believe, and pushing the narrative forward.

Even Harvey Pekar was disillusioned after the American Splendor movie came out, saying the actor portraying him (Paul Giamatti) was way better-looking than he was, but he understood it was a caricatural representation that needed to be watered down so that the heart of the story could be told.

Of all the responses to the criticism, I feel AF's Win Butler was the best, and so I give it to you in a huge chunk:

The entire interview is on The Advocate's website. In it, Butler addresses a lot of the stabs against it, and director David Wilson, who is gay, attacks the way the video was portrayed in the press upon its release (as attention-grabbers and click-magnets), the Huffington Post even misrepresenting it as ''Andrew Garfield does drag''.

Word Of The Day: Cliteracy

New York artist Sophia Wallace has a chip on her shoulder about society and mankind's illiteracy about the clitoris, and she decided to do something about it, just not he way Annie Sprinkle - whom I saw live at (the old) Club Soda in the mid-1990s - would have done it...

Instead of baring it all and equipping spectators with flashlights to facilitate exploration, Wallace ditched the facile/obvious/exploitation way of doing it (through performance) and instead built elaborate pieces, such as the street art panels 100 Laws of Cliteracy, sampled below:

"It is a curious dilemma to observe the paradox that on the one hand the female body is the primary metaphor for sexuality, its use saturates advertising, art and the mainstream erotic imaginary. Yet, the clitoris, the true female sexual organ, is virtually invisible," Wallace told Creem magazine earlier this year.

"Even in porn, the clitoris is treated as this optional, kind of freaky, 'wow he's doing her this huge favor' thing," she told HuffPost, adding that women often feel "embarrassed" to ask their partners to pleasure them. "It's insane to me that this is still happening in 2013."

Last year, during her tenure in the Art & Law Residency, Wallace started work on a multi-media project that she hoped would serve to challenge these misconceptions and to lift the veil on this enduring ignorance about the female body.

From the Huffington Post:

According to a 2011 post by Museum of Sex blogger Ms. M, the internal clitoris (highlighted in yellow in the images above) is a complex erectile structure consisting of two corpora cavernosa (that are said to wrap around the vagina when erect), two crura (erectile bodies that branch out from the clitoral body), clitoral vestibules or bulbs, and the clitoral glans (the part that you can see).

"This work has never meant to be behind the white walls of a gallery. It's really about cliteracy becoming a meme and creating new language for bodies and sexuality," Wallace said, adding that she wants to soon take her street art project global.

I also hope it becomes a meme, and chances are this installation, made with sculptor Kenneth Thomas, will help achieve that. I give you, Clit Rodeo:

She also goes one step further and ups the ante with a political stance:

Not only is the project for everyone ("I love seeing men standing up for the clit," Wallace says, adding that this is a conversation that liberates people of all genders), but she says that the clitoris can be seen as a "metaphor for freedom, body sovereignty and citizenship."

"Cliteracy is about not having one's body controlled or legislated," she said. "Not having access to the pleasure that is your birthright is a deeply political act."

Amen.

Now buy the shirt, join the cause, and by all means respect the clit enough to educate yourself on it.

''Not'' Guilty

I am just as angry as the next guy that the ''justice'' system has excused George Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin. But unlike most of my friends, from what had transpired surrounding the case of late, I kind of knew that's where it was going to go.

But the shock is epic. Even The Huffington Post decided to get opinionated:

The Michael Moore quote up-top is quite true. Not just that, but Trayvon Martin's actions that night were scrutinized way beyond what normally transpires in ''normal'' murder cases. As a matter of fact, it was treated a little in the same way rape is, where they have more questions about the victim than they do the culprit (What was she wearing? Had she been drinking?), and the jury's fear of ''a Black man'' overshadowed the facts.

Because what this verdict means, pretty much, it's that since Black people appear more dangerous, it is excusable to kill them even if/when they're unarmed, teenagers, and coming home from the convenience store. Especially if they're wearing hoodies. A good lawyer could still get you off for killing one in a suit, but ''street'' wear is a no-brainer.

It has stopped being a ''Justice system'' and has become a ''criminal assessment system'' instead, where one type of victim is more complicit in their fate than others, and aggressors can be cleared of charges despite all evidence pointing to the contrary if they can arise enough suspicion on the victim.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for ''Innocent Until Proven Guilty'' - when the rules aren't rigged. This is exactly what I was referring to two weeks ago when I said:

with a legacy that lives on today in the disparity of the applications of the Law codes and how minorities are targeted most by the police and ''the system'' in general in the U.S.

And you can't ''just'' blame Florida, either. Case in point: this black woman mother who got a 20-year jail sentence for firing warning shots. WARNING SHOTS. At her abusive husband. And guess who's going to take care of their child now?

 There is a Mahatma Gandhi quote that goes along the lines of:

"There is a higher court than courts of justice, and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts."

But not only does it not apply to this situation, it doesn't even apply to this generation, because whenever shit like this happens, those in the wrong are convinced they're right. Say what you will about Barack Obama, he's always trying to choose between the lesser of two (or four) evils; Fox News, George W. Bush, John Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, Rick Perry, Stephen Harper: these people either deliberately force the choice to be between two evils, or just create one themselves.

And there are too many of them with too wide a platform to spread their stupidity around to masses who are unable of critical thinking (or too blinded by their stance on smaller issues to change sides for the larger ones). And that leads to this. And the system once again proves it's fucked.

New Ooze

 People got a bit of a scare last week when what looked like radioactive ooze rose from a sewer in Philadelphia:

Unlike the Chinese ooze from last May, though, this one had an official explanation:

This sinkhole, which has reportedly now been boarded over, is filled with water tinged with some fluorescent dye that official-agency types apparently use to trace water flow. That kind of thing is useful in studying sinkholes, since they can be much larger than they initially seem.

I just find it odd that sinkholes are just now appearing out of nowhere, remain largely unexplained, and yet no one is putting forth the proposition that it could have something to do with how fallible, profit-hungry human beings may have built shit over land that couldn't sustain it without having previously tested said ground sufficiently.

Of course, I'm saying that after having predicted that building 120 stories of fucking condos over downtown Montréal ground that passes over two separate underground subway lines won't last a decade, so it's kind of in my interest of ''winning'' that it all goes to shit. Though I wish no one any harm. But folks have been cutting corners in all walks of life since the 1950s (and probably earlier too, but the gangrene has been systemic in North America only relatively recently compared to, say, History).

Or maybe I'm just a cynical asshole.

They Call It Progress

Cynics and religious figureheads claim we come from and will return to dust, when it settles, which is another way of saying ''who gives a shit about how you live your life, you'll end up dead anyway''.

And that belief, I guess, is what prompts economics giants like Monsanto and McDonald's to feed the world crap - oftentimes literally - because who gives a shit what you eat, as long as it doesn't kill you right away.

That's one part of the equation, the other being that it doesn't matter what you build, it will eventually crumble or erode, so we might as well destruct it ourselves first. Which brings me to this news story about greed a construction company destroying one of Belize's largest Mayan pyramids with backhoes and bulldozers to extract rocks for a road-building project.

That's right: take a construction that has withstood the test of time - and the elements, and Conquistadors -  for over 2,300 years, and turn it into a fucking road, something that usually has trouble maintaining its integrity for 15 years. Awesome!

The human spirit knows no bounds!

Sure, the police are looking into it, seeing of they can't prosecute someone for what is the murder of a cultural landmark. But one man - it's always a man, isn't it? - spending 15 years in jail for finding a easy way to pocket millions of dollars won't bring the structure back. There's always that one asshole trying to fuck up what hundreds built to amaze thousands. That guy's organs and bones should be taken, one at a time, once per week, and given to people in need of transplants, until he is but a heart, a head and a stomach, kept alive by machines in a dungeon, serving a life sentence of watching the Mummy movies.

Rubber Pope

I really like artist Niki Johnson - all of her pieces reflect her mind-set on whatever topics she chooses to express herself, sometimes referring to celebrities (Paris Hilton was the inspiration of her 'Le Tart' piece, Amy Winehouse was immortalized in 'Corner Drug').

This time, in a piece finished in December 2012 (yeah, yeah, hospitalization has made me late on many things I wanted to write about - move on!), she reacted to a quote from Pope Benedict XVI who said in 2009 (she's even more belated than I am!) that the use in condoms in Africa would spread AIDS by making a portrait of him entirely in condoms:

She calls it Eggs Benedict.

Through this, she hopes to take aim at the church's stance on using condoms, but also promote sexual diversity and a more open discussion about sexual health.

The entire project took 270 hours spread over three years to complete, Johnson estimated -- 135 hours individually opening the condoms, laying them out and planning, and 135 hours threading them through wire mesh. She finished in late 2012 and plans to display the piece as part of a larger exhibition at Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee from June 7 to July 28.

Titanic 2012

A luxury cruise ship with 4200 people on board crashed on an Italian shore. More than 70 people are missing, 3 are dead - and no one knows what the fuck happened.

In this day and age, 100 years after the actual Titanic crashed.

Chew Through Pain

Apparently, getting a tattoo removed is so painful you need a mouthguard to chew on to deter from the pain. Well, Megan Fox does, anyway.

Then again, I suspect she also has to find a way to numb the pain of being married to Beverly Hills, 90210 alumni and ''DJ'' Brian Austin Green...

Bale Bat No More

News from late November: Christian Bale will no longer try to make us believe he can be convincing as a superhero, as he will don the Bat-cape for the last time in next summer's The Dark Knight Rises.

Don't get me wrong: the first two Bale-Christopher Nolan batflicks were very good, well written, well directed, decently acted, superbly filmed. But there is no way in fucking hell Bale, as Bruce Wayne, was credible as the world's best-looking billionaire playboy (Brad Pitt would probably have been a much better choice), and growling like an out-of-breath pedophile while crouching does not a scary avenger make.

Just sayin'.

R.I.P. Patrice O'Neal

After suffering a stroke in October, stand-up comedian Patrice O'Neal died today, succombing to a long, hard struggle with diabetes.

I last saw him in The Comedy Central Roast Of Charlie Sheen, and he alluded briefly to his disease, but I didn't think it was that serious.

I need to get tested. Soon.

Did you know that in Canada, 25% of diabetics are unaware they even have it?

Someone Please Explain To Me...

Who the fuck is Courtney Stodden? And why does it matter what she wears?

I should have left it alone, I really should have... but here is what I've learned through 5 seconds of Google:

Alright. So she’s a 17 year-old aspiring model/actress/singer. Like so many others.

Except she’s been married to small-time actor Doug Hutchison (small roles in The Green Mile and 24, played ''plane door opener'' in the 2000 remake of Shaft…), who is 51. since she was 16. Uh-huh, yeah: gross.

But the dude has morals: he refused to play in a movie that would cast him as a director who starts banging his underage actress in The Genesis Of Lincoln. Classy move, no?

But at least Courtney looks 37.

Still, a nobody actor and a nobody actress walk down a street, and people are focusing on what they’re wearing? Why? Who gives a fuck? And why does it make it onto the fucking news?

Where is this world headed, and how can we make the extinction of mankind happen any faster?

R.I.P. Ken Russell

It was bound to happen some day...

British film director Ken Russell - who brought us such movies as Tommy (1975), Whore (1991) and Women In Love (1969) - has indeed passed away, at age 84.

He was often under-rated because while he aimed for a rather intellectual cinema, he had an obsession with displaying vivid, crude sex scenes, many of them of the homosexual persuasion or featuring religious figures (nuns, for one).

But a storyteller is a storyteller, and he was a good one.

Grey's Anatomy Fired Actress After Lesbian Scene

Although many sources, including Huffington Post, cite Grey's Anatomy executive producer Shonda Rhimes as saying this decision has nothing to do with actress Brooke Smith's recently-aired lesbian love-making episode.

Uh huh.

The fact that ABC executives were afraid of losing Christian viewers and/or valuable advertizers had nothing to do with the firing, which was told to the actress at the very last minute - when she got her next script. And the fact that it looks abrupt and forced in the script and is left rather unexplained is likely a coincidence too.

So let me get this straight: you do your job and go ahead with what's in the script, you lose your job. You refuse to go through with it (which never came to Smith's mind, mind you, consumate professional that she is), you're a sexist - and fired too.

''Damned if you don't, damned if you do'', said philosopher Bart Simpson in the song ''Deep Deep Trouble'' in the early '90s.

I guess so.

Nice to see networks still don't have the stomach to defend their employees and the purity of the art they're trying to maintain in a landscape dominated by reality shows. The bigger the corporation that's your boss, the less they've got your back. Good to know.

At least viewers got to see some girl-on-girl action, and film producers and directors saw someone willing to go where the script will take her, for future reference.