There are three words the Up Fronter loves more than any others: “Mill Creek Entertainment.” Mill Creek is the company that’s released many DVD sets of 50 low-budget films in the horror, sci-fi and drive-in categories. You can pick up these DVD sets in several places around town or all over the internet for $10 to $15 a set. If you own a set such as the Sci-Fi Classics 50 Movie Pack, you can watch old film and TV serials from the 1930s through the 1950s. These are the serials that featured such heroes as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. George Lucas was trying to re-create the feel of these serials when he made the first Star Wars movie. If you can free up your time on July 16, you can watch old serials all day long (or for as long as you want to) at the Calcasieu Serialfest at the Brimstone Museum in Sulphur. Serials will be screened from 10 am-4 pm. Admission is free to the public.
Little Free Library
You may have noticed the new “Little Free Library” on the big table on the second floor of the Central School arts center at 809 Kirby St. The “Little Free Library” concept is gaining traction in the Lake Area. It works like this: if you see a book you like on the table, just take it and read it. When you have a chance, bring a book of your own and contribute it to the little library. Take one and bring one. You’ll never need to stand in line or use a library card. Another innovation on the second floor of Central School is an old cigarette machine that’s been retooled so that it now sells small works of original local art for the amazingly low price of $5 each. In most cases, you can see part of the art work you’re buying. But at the very bottom of the machine, you’re given the option of selecting from a grab bag of works that you buy sight unseen. You’ll have to work very hard to find a more economical way to start a solid collection of art.
Kelley Project Shown In N.O.
Antenna Gallery in New Orleans is hosting an exhibit of collages and artist’s books by McNeese professor of art Heather Ryan Kelley through the end of July. The gallery is located at 3718 St. Claude Avenue. Hours are Tuesday-Friday 11 am-4 pm and by appointment on Saturday and Sunday from noon through 5 pm. The show is free to the public. The exhibition, titled “The Midden Heap Project,” also features works by sound artists Jonathan Nelson and Bernard Clarke. A special reception is set for Saturday, July 9, 6-10 pm. James Joyce’s daunting, experimental novel Finnegans Wake is the inspiration for Kelley’s Midden Heap Project. The exhibit refers to a key passage in the seventh chapter of Finnegans Wake, known as “The House of the Haunted Ink Bottle.” In this house, the artist Shem, an “alshemist” — and a stand-in for Joyce himself — has an enormous midden heap (or trash pile) that he transforms into art. Viewers will notice that Kelley follows this process over and over when she makes her Joyce-related art works. At the N.O. show, there will be two listening stations that feature sound works by Jonathan Nelson and Bernard Clarke. Nelson’s “The House of the Haunted Ink Bottle” is a sound collage consisting of hundreds of vocal fragments that, when united, form a reading of pages 182-184 of the standard edition of Finnegans Wake. Clarke has made a series of sound collages of materials culled from Ireland’s National Radio RTÉ archives. He’ll also present his lively and inventive reading of parts of Joyce’s text. On exhibit is a selection from Kelley’s series of collages; she’s making one collage for each page of Finnegans Wake. So far, she’s made a collage for each of the first 216 pages. That means she only has 410 collages to go. Also on display in New Orleans is a set of seven artist’s books Kelley has prepared about the first 200 pages of the novel. Of course, experimental literature and sound can seem daunting. But I’m very familiar with Kelley’s art, and I can assure you that while it may deal with unusual topics, it’s always accessible and entertaining. It also teaches viewers facts about the life of the writer many consider the greatest of the 20th century.
I Assure You I Don’t Have Them
Quoted verbatim from a new commercial by Elbert Lee Guillory for his 4th Congressional District run: “These are coconuts.” [Holds up two coconuts in a see-through bag.] “In Louisiana, when someone has courage and fortitude and the ability to stand up when others stand back, we say that she or he has coconuts.” [Long close-up of two coconuts.] “… There are not enough coconuts in Washington, D.C., today.” [Guillory again holds up two coconuts.] “Today there are not enough people who love God, love America and love the American people in Washington, D.C.” [Long, slo-mo close-up of two coconuts bouncing up and down on a black cloth.] “Coconuts — to stand up for what’s right for the American people.” [Another long close-up of coconuts.] “It takes coconuts to stand against the wild spending that mortgages our grandbabies’ future. It takes coconuts to yell out, ‘We must take care of our vets, our elderly, our poor before we invite millions of guests onto our health, education and welfare systems …’” [More bouncing coconuts]. See it all on YouTube. Me, I think I’m going to stand back for a while.
Only In New Orleans
Now here’s a headline that’s mind-blowing even for New Orleans: “Two women named Shannon stabbed their boyfriends over the weekend.” And I didn’t even know that the name Shannon was particularly popular. But hey, for all I know, we may come to work some Monday and read “NEW ORLEANS — Two women named Ophelia stabbed their boyfriends over the weekend.” Or maybe even “NEW ORLEANS — Two women named Zena Warrior Princess stabbed their boyfriends over the weekend.” Our recent killer headline about the two stabbing Shannons came courtesy of Times-Picayune reporter Emily Lane.
Sloppy Work At The Top
My favorite part of the special session of the Louisiana Legislature came at the very beginning, when a number of major legislators said they didn’t think they’d be able to close the $600 million budget gap — their only job for the session. Rarely if ever do I hear a politician come right out and tell audiences that he’s not going to do his job. I thought it was a hoot and a holler. The rest of the session was quite a bit less funny. When the whole hot mess came to an end, legislators had come up with less than half of the $600 million they were supposed to generate. True to their word, they failed abysmally. So who will get cut? The Times-Picayune’s Julie O’Donoghue reported these figures: “lawmakers chose to make cuts to the K-12 schools budget ($24.2 million short), the TOPS scholarship program ($87.8 million short), prisons and sheriffs who house state prisoners ($25.6 million short), as well as juvenile detention and rehabilitation services ($14.5 million short).” And of course there will be other cuts. The Legislature did work hard enough to use some of its smoke and mirror tricks to make magic money. Check out the trick they used to make TOPS defunding disappear. TOPs will be fully funded in the fall semester. But in the spring semester, TOPS funding will be cut 60 percent. This particular trick is called “front loading.” It takes a little more fancy foot work than your standard country two-step. It’s sure as hell not something that would have occurred to me. Maybe students and parents will decide they like the idea of a one-semester school year. And maybe pigs will fly and horses will sing.
The Funnies
Sandra Bullock (cocky FBI agent): Email me the address to that paint factory ASAP. Marlon Wayons (Bullock’s FBI colleague): Excuse me, Ashburn? Um, I was wondering if you would … Bullock: Oh, thanks. Awkward. Uh, nothing personal, but as a rule I make it a point not to date my co-workers. So, thank you. Wayons: I was wondering if you would not talk to me in that tone. Bullock (embarrassed): Oh … oh! Yes, of course. Melissa McCarthy (Bullock’s satirical partner): That’s a little different. Bullock: Yeah, I wouldn’t [take a tone]. Why would I? McCarthy: Why would you? … Well, are we clear here? ‘Cause I don’t know … It got real awkward between you guys. Bullock: No, it’s not awkward. We’re all good. Right? Wayons: Same page. McCarthy (to an agent walking down the hall): She doesn’t wanna date co-workers. Spread the word. — The Heat, Dir. Paul Feig, 2013
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