Posts Tagged ‘Commentary’

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And my Oscar goes to: The Skin

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

I know it’s 2 days later, but the Oscar just won’t leave me alone.

Yes, there was the one great painful irony of the night: Billy Crystal noticing how refreshing it is in the midst of the global financial crisis to celebrate millionaires giving each other golden statues. Funny. Sad.

But there was another one that went unnoticed. And was even sadder. It was the Oscar for best documentary short. It went to “Saving Face”, a documentary about a plastic surgeon who is helping women who have been injured in acid attacks. It was extremely strange to see clips from the movie showing the suffering of Pakistani women whose faces – and lives – have been destroyed by men throwing acid at them. And then to see Kodak theatre filled with women who just returned from appointments with plastic surgeons in which they paid to have acid put on their faces. And do some (reconstructive?) surgery. For millions of dollars. To make them look younger. So they appeal to men.

No, I have  never seen skin like in LA. Tight, shiny, ageless, story-less, wrinkle-less. Skin that looks beyond young: Skin that looks artificial, plastic. Skin worth a fortune. Skin that went through quite a lot of pain to look that way. Skin that was exposed to acid and cut to pieces in order to attract. Isn’t that some kind of tyranny? Some kind of punishment?

And there it was. The Skin. Right there in that room: Meryl Streep with a forehead of a 18 years old, J.Lo. with a skin 15 years younger, Angie looking like…. something not human. All applauding to “Saving Face”.

Ouch.

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Reconnect

Saturday, November 26th, 2011

Yesterday, Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving, when sales start in US), a woman pulled out pepper spray and injured 20 people in order to get a discounted Xbox. A man was leaving a store with his family and got shot when he didn’t want to give up his purchase. Another man was stabbed in a shopping mall.

Rihanna’s latest video, widely watched in US is banned in France. It is showing, and glorifying, a couple of drug addicts smoking crack, popping pills, drinking, having sex, tattooing each other. All to a funky beat, her happily singing “We found love in a hopeless place”. It looks like so much fun! Her “S&M” video was banned in Europe for glorifying S&M practices. A woman who has the status she could use to fight drugs and domestic violence is doing exactly the opposite. Let’s break all boundaries and just shock. I can see the creative meeting with an enthusiastic young director pitching the premise that hasn’t yet been seen and will break every rule. That’s how you get famous, isn’t it? And if you’re famous, you’re rich. You can buy a Xbox any time, don’t need to use pepper spray.

“The Muppets” just came out. A great film. How wonderful it is that they are back and entertaining kids in a human pace, without aggression, killing, fighting, chasing, explosions. Very refreshing after all latest kids’ movies, which are so packed with action and aggression that I’d leave a cinema hysterical and trembling like after 5 cups of coffee. Well, Muppets need to raise money  ($10 million) to save their name and their studio. They don’t, but they get the equal – they get fame. They get streets filled with people screaming their names. So they win. Happy end. Money or fame. One of them will save your soul.

Rules (moral, religious, legislative) have disappeared. Barriers are lifted, nothing is holding us down and we are drifting in this weightless world of individual “I”s. We are completely free in our search for happiness. We can do everything and the only thing we have to do is take care of our own arse. Others don’t matter. The effects of our actions don’t matter. We are completely disconnected. And wonder why we are lonely and unhappy although there is so much around us. There is too much of everything, things, people, emotions, phases come and go, everything is here, everything is exchangeable. Why bind to something? It can always be different, better. So we need more! Of everything. Trying to cope with and find our way through this chaos we created, we are using ratio. We are analyzing, weighing, trying to understand. Trying to analyze the un-analyzable.

Just like the socio-economic system we created. Try to analyze that. Try to solve the mess. Impossible. We need to start from zero. In so many aspects of our society.

We need to reconnect.

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Wall Street Brennt

Saturday, November 5th, 2011

Yesterday’s blog in German:

http://www.zib21.com/19438/anataj/wall-street-brennt/#comments

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Occupy Wall Street

Saturday, November 5th, 2011

Yes, I’ve been there.

I had to. I am for change. I wrote about things Occupy people are fighting against (and for) in my essay about the financial crisis back in 2008 (see my “Ana Almighty”  article in The Vienna Review, December 2008). I wrote about it in my second book “Knockout” – let’s hope it will come out soon.

I was excited to witness Occupy Wall Street. But it made me sad.

First, the whole neighborhood is under a blockade and there are more policemen and securities than traders. Walking through Wall Street felt like walking through Zagreb during the war – especially during an air raid. That was last year, before Occupy. It is even worse now. How fair and innocent can the financial sector be if it needs an army of policemen to protect it?

Second, Occupy Wall Street is actually Occupy Zuccotti Park – the protesters are squashed together in a tiny park away from the Wall Street and surrounded by Mc Donald’s and Burger King and a million of police cars. There are more police cars then protesters. It looked like they were put there, where they don’t disturb, and left until they lose the drive and just leave. And this is what will happen. It reminded me of Uni Brennt, the protest that started at the University of Vienna in 2009 and spread through Europe. Universities were occupied for months. There were workshops, work groups; famous intellectuals talked and supported, media covered. Students were left to protest until they lost the drive. Nothing has changed.

Don’t ask me how to make a change. I don’t know. Maybe we should all just quit our jobs in the same time.

Unfortunately, the danger is that with every try like this, which ends up in just dying away, people lose hope. Hope in their power and hope in their ability to change things. When we lose hope, we can take a triple dose of anti depressants and turn into robots. And this is exactly what the system needs.

And last, yesterday I found a large article about the big Occupy protests in Okland on the home page of Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard. Then I looked into LA Times. NY Times. Huffington Post. No one covered them. For the US media – and thus US public – they have never happened.

Yes, I’m sad. Still, the fact that so many people recognize problems, have a critical mind, want to find solutions, are willing to protest and say NO MORE – that is hope.

 

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L.A. Breasts

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

L.A. Magazine’s October issue is dedicated to L.A. Women. What a great idea! Maria Shriver on the cover, described as strong, smart, iconic. 2 pages about women who changed the game, 2 pages of a general story about women in L.A., an interview with Wallis Annenberg (a philanthropist), couple of pages about woman heroes…. But then:

4 pages devoted to breasts. Not kidding.

It made me wonder (yet again) why the hell out of all cities in the world, I landed in this city. I know it’s supposed to be cool, ironic and funny. Somehow it isn’t.

And then I imagined a November issue of New York Magazine devoted to N.Y. men. And a 4 pages article about their penises. Am sure they’d have much more amazing stories to tell.

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The Tree of Art

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

Ironically, I watched Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life one day after I came up with the outline for my script about women from my island Zlarin. I wrote the outline for the script writing class at UCLA. It wasn’t easy – what I originally wanted to do was a real “foreign language movie” (that’s what they call them here), but the class was about writing a Hollywood movie. I received my first slap (or two or more) during first five minutes in the class. I heard things like “Why make something that 400 people will see when you can make something 4 mil. people will see?”; “Why make movies that will only show on Sundance?”; “I’m doing this to make money”. I was offended by the lack of recognition that art and entertainment are two different things done out of different drives. But they both deserve respect.

Yes, writers here officially learn the recipe for (Hollywood) movies that work. The rules are very strict. You will learn about the 3 act structure, plot turns, beats, set pieces, log lines, character, his/her goal, obstacles, nemesis, points of no return, inciting incidents, the climax… You will learn to recreate the one universal story about the journey of the hero which Hollywood claims works perfectly. And suddenly you will stop wondering why all movies feel the same. Because they all are one and the same movie. Only with different characters and different settings.

So there I was, lounged in the chair of the empty cinema. I knew I was going to see something different and believed it will be, as many friends said, something terrible. “It was like watching screen savers,” one of them said. But I also knew I was ready to challenge my heavy overdose of Hollywood movies (and the life around them). I still wonder if the I enjoyed this movie just because it gave me what I needed at that very moment. Maybe if I watched this move on a different occasion, I would have hated it. But…

The film put its arms around me and started singing a lullaby into my ear. And then it lulled me into a trip. A trip I desperately needed. It slowed me down, helped me concentrate, breathe and reminded me of the magic of … being. And yet it is just a story of one average small-town American family during the 50s, somewhere in the South. Actually, it not even a story – it is a collage of magical pictures accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack including Couperin, Brahms and Berlioz. No goals, no 3 act structure, no points of no return. No set pieces.

This magnificent collage shows (instead of “tells”) how it is to be a child, a son, brother. How it feels to be. Human. Without narration, it shows the complexity and beauty of love within a family. Of creation and loss. Life. Manifested in rays of sunlight slipping through curtains just to land on your wall. Or a play in the garden. Zen.

No, I don’t think it is a masterpiece. There are flaws. It does not make sense. It is not entertaining. The dinosaurs are unnecessary. The story of creation could have been shorter. And I am not sure about some voice overs and the afterlife…. But it did what art should to – it touched me, moved me and changed me. It reminded me of the respect I should continuously feel towards life.

And to do that, art doesn’t need rules. A 3 act structure film is entertained and engaging. But never has such a fundamental impact. And that’s what makes the difference between art and entertainment. Art has the power to touch us, move us and take us on a trip. Connect us with the universe. And this it can do very well (or even better?) without a recipe. Entertainment has to entertain. And yes, there is a formula for this.

The day after I saw the film, Amazon delivered my copy of “Save the Cat”, apparently the ultimate book on screenwriting. I welcomed it with a completely new mindset – I decided to happily learn the rules so I that one day, if I decide to do this, I can (even more happily) break them. Wish me good luck with that.

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Rossini, Beethoven, Haydn, Händl and the Flag

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

Last night, I was excited to hear my first concert at the Hollywood Bowl. This legendary venue was supposed to add to my experiences of Opera Garnier, The Met, La Scala and Wiener Staatsoper (Covent Garden, Fenice and San Carlo are on the list). Unfortunately, the excitement has turned into shock right after the artists appeared on the stage. They received the welcoming applause and then the audience got up as they started playing the anthem. People held their hands on their hearts and sang out loud. American flag, which was hanging just left of the stage was projected on two large screens on each side of the stage.

But why?

We were about to hear works by Rossini (Italian), Beethoven (German), Haydn (Austrian) and Händl (German). Solists were Swiss, Venezuelan, and American (born to Korean parents). The conductor was British. The instruments must have been made in Europe (or am I so ignorant that I don’t know USA is producing concert-class violins and pianos?)

Having experienced a war based on national hatred, having learned (as we all have) about the horrors the world has so recently experienced because of nationalism (WW2), and being aware of two wars going on under the same flag, the experience made me very uncomfortable.

There is no space for nationalism in art. Art should bring peace and break all boundaries. And at its best, it really does – many of those musicians were educated in and have built their careers in many different countries on different continents. A Händel opera in its original form will be equally appreciated in France, Japan or Australia. Warhol’s works hang on walls all around the world.

And yes, we are used to anthems – before sports events. But this has its reasons – national teams often compete each other and have to give their best representing their country.

Art is together and not against each other.

A fact that should be highly respected and valued.

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Hands On – a new definition

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

In her interview for the August issue of Vogue, Sarah Jessica Parker explained that she and her husband are hands-on parents: they only have a nanny for the 2 years old twins and someone to “help with the logistics of  their 8 year old son’s schedule”.

Whose hands?

 

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Equality

Monday, August 1st, 2011

USA can’t pay back its debts but gets to keep AAA rating. Greece, Portugal or Spain don’t.

WHO has stopped the research on male birth control injections because tests show that men gained weight and got depressed. Women have been dealing with identical problems with the pill for past 50 years. But that’s OK?

 

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Only Bad Mood?

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Norway: A right wing radical puts a bomb in the government building in Oslo and then goes to an island where he kills 77 teenagers in a summer camp organized by the social-democratic party. He wanted to warn the party, which he accused of letting too many Muslims into the country.

Austria: A yearly youth study shows that more and more young people support FPÖ, the right-wing party. FPÖ directly appeals to (and then nourish) their fears. The study shows that Austrian youth is increasingly anxious. It also shows that those sympathizing FPÖ are much more scared (than those more left oriented) of the future: of inflation, terrorism and one day not receiving their pension.

USA: In current debt-ceiling debate, the Republicans are bringing the country – and the world economic system to the verge of a catastrophe. The only thing they want to achieve is – ultimate power. Even if the world crashes.

Brusselles: EU is facing a political disintegration and economic collapse. We’re facing a catastrophe, hand in hand with USA.

See any links? Well I do. For me, all of these are puzzle pieces of the same story. In September 2008, our western system known as democratic liberal capitalism proved to have failed. Under the strong lobby of those who hold the money, but not officially the power, we didn’t do what seemed impossible but was the only solution – erase and start from scratch. It wouldn’t have allowed rich to get richer, as they did since the crisis. Instead, we took the corpse, dabbed on it some make-up (couple of trillions of dollars worth of make-up) and pretended it’s going to be OK. Well, it’s not. The corpse has rottened and there’s nothing left but a huge mess and unpayable debt.

Of course people are scared. This could be the end of the world as we know it. The systems, the beliefs, the rules, the rulers, everything that should keep us in place and safe from chaos and suffering – it has all proved (continuously) to have failed. In our globalized world that means there’s nowhere to escape. We fail, you fail.

One more time, the only solution would be to start from scratch. But how do you start from scratch and change the whole paradigm? How do you explain to people who speed up when you signal you’d like to change a lane, just so that they don’t have to let you in front of them (even if it means endangering yours and their life) that the only way this poor planet and its billions of people can survive is if we LIVE solidarity, respect, altruism and modesty? There’s no space here for greed and power games.

Either we reach that or we’ll go through a catastrophe in the scale of WW III. Unfortunately, I’m afraid we’ll need to experience such a tragedy to (re-)learn real value. It’s human nature.

Yes, I’m in a bad mood today.

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