Sucked In

After noticing a few blogs that mentioned an HBO series called True Blood I had to do some research. When saw the opening title sequence on YouTube, I knew I had add it to my Netflix queue - pronto. The series 1 DVD contained 2 episodes. I truly wanted to hate it. Knowing how much I loved Alan Ball's Six Feet Under I wondered what would he do with Southern vampires.

I'm pretty picky about my vampires. I don't care for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I have no desire to watch anything related to the Twilight thing, and I didn't really care for Ann Rice's contribution either.

The first two episodes of TB remind of the aliens-among-us series V. Just like the vampires in TB, the aliens in V had became part of society but faced discrimination from some Earthlings as well as acceptance by others. There was a bit of alien dating as well.

I must say Bill is everything a vampire should be. Up till now, Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula was at the top of my vampire list. Bill is a really close 2nd. Even though he's British, he really handles that Southern gentleman accent. He looks like he could've been in the civil war. He acts as if the weight of existing almost 200 yrs is more than just a little unbearable. He's not just pale; he's down right cadaver grey. Hats off to makeup. That tiny bit of red around the eyes is like icing on the cake. I must confess that I went back and watched the scenes with just Bill and Sookie. Wow. What is with the attractiveness of the undead?

Home on the Range

I met Randy Polumbo and Shari Elf at the Good Folk Fest in 2006. There were freakishly attractive and amazingly tan. This is an article in the NY Times about Randy's Trash House in Joshua Tree, CA.

La Santa Muerte

I saw La Santa Muerte this past weekend. It is a documentary that mostly focuses on the devotees who visit the town of Tepito and its rather large alter of the Most Holy Death. She brings hope to the poor, the sick, and those rejected by society. Magazines like Time would have you believe only folks involved in drugs, kidnappings, and homicides worship her. That is not the message I got from this movie. Gael Garcia Bernal narrates.

Talbot Street Art Fair and INDIEana Handicraft Exchange

Saturday was the day one of Hector del Campo's Experimental Drawing class.

I was able to catch the Talbot Street Art Fair and the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange summer show at Harrison Center for the Arts. As always, parking looked like it was not going to happen, but just when I'm ready to give up (I believe I did at least 5 laps around the block), someone pulls out.

I bought a necklace at Talbot and a small mixed media piece at IHE.

Talbot Street and Indieana and First day of class

Yesterday was day one for Hector del Campo's Experimental drawing class.

I was able to get to the Talbot Street Art Fair and the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange

Forrest Goya

Last weekend I saw Goya's Ghost. Stellan Skarsgard as Goya and Javier Boredem as Brother Larenzo, a member of the waning Spanish Inquisition team. Times are changing, just not soon enough. Goya ends up being a bit Forrest Gumpish in that he's at key moments in history and mostly likely doesn't realize it. Brother Larenzo is having his picture painted by Goya, which requires several visits to the studio. When the SI gang try to claim that Goya is distributing damaging caricatures of the church; Brother Larenzo defends him. When the SI gang go on to claim that Goya is painting whores as angels in his church ceiling work; Larzeno convinces them that the church's mission should be to help those very whores. When the SI gang claims that a young daughter of a fairly wealthy merchant, who also had her portrait painted by Goya, is a heretic because she is seen turning her nose up at pork, Larenzo is powerless to help.

There are a few scenes of Goya sketching in his moleskine that are really cool.

Javier made this movie right before No Country for Old Men and I really prefer to see him in this kind of role. He appears to have just walked off of a canvas and onto the movie set.

Finally made it to First Friday!

I had to take time off of work, but it was worth it. I bought a Mike Altman painting on vintage vinyl from AV Framing Gallery. I'm getting it framed at MultiMedia art supply in Broad Ripple.