Weekly Rochester Events #408: Shall I Say Freedom Architect and Freedom Explorer?

Thursday, November 2, 2006

On Wednesday I almost went to The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see Babe: Pig in the City but decided at the last minute that I really didn't care if I saw the film again or not. I did go out later, though, to go to The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) I got to see Coffinberry who are about as hard-hitting as melodic, harmonic, mathish-rock can get. Tiger Cried Beef finished the night with more of their tight rock-and-roll — they play not quite what they are expected to play, you know? Their music is not quite as predictable as its structure would imply.

As a footnote, I tend to take notes on my old Palm Vx using a Fitaly keyboard which — when the light is adequate and the touchscreen is aligned well, it's a pretty fast and accurate entry method. But, you know, sometimes I hate the Fitaly keypad. By typing that quickly, I got, "you know, srmecirmes I hat py Fitaly keyped."

Another random thing is that I did a bunch of errands on Thursday. While out I was at the mall and one of those marketing survey people stopped me. Well, my like of extra-sharp cheddar cheese paid off and I was given two half-pound blocks to sample. Damn. Free cheese. You can't beat that.

That night I went to The Dryden Theater to see two films there. The first was Home Coming which was really quite entertaining. It was about dead American soldiers coming home as zombies from a war that was remarkably similar to the war in Iraq, and they were determined to vote out a regime that is remarkably similar to Bush and company. Although it stayed on the lightweight side of satire, at least it got the soullessness of the war-supporting party correct. The second film was Dead of Night in which, based on the sheer will of his mother, a young man killed in Vietnam returns home "undead" and begins craving blood. This one was much darker and quite good. It amplified the reaction of soldiers who were psychologically devastated that a government they trusted would sacrifice their minds and bodies in a questionable war.

But this got me to thinking: maybe I'm all wrong not believing in the value of the war in Iraq and our President. I mean, I say incredulous things to people — how hydrogen is not a source of energy to replace gasoline, or that there's no such thing as a car that runs on water as fuel — but these things are within my domain of expertise. Now I'm no expert on war. I have this impression that regular people get trained on how to use the equipment (radios, guns, survival gear, food, and so on) and then go to a place where they're told to shoot at these other people. It's really quite simplistic.

See, what I have been missing is that (like my understanding of basic chemistry principles) our military personnel have the basic ability to spot terrorists by sight. I think it's absurd, but what do I know? If I see someone walking toward me on the street I will almost always think they do not mean me harm. It's just foolish "belief in the good will of men" that will get me killed one day because I'd never be able to look at someone and think, "my God: I need to kill them because they are going to kill me." Sure, sometimes I get a "weird vibe" from someone and I distance myself from them, but it's nowhere near certain enough that I would go out of my way to cause them harm.

So what do I know? I go around with my naive view that we should not be making enemies of the whole world, but maybe they already were our enemies and our actions are just bringing that hatred to the surface. Perhaps it is actually true that every Iraqi man, woman, and child killed were (or would have become) terrorists.

Consider the logic of Occam's Razor: that among several competing theories, the simplest among them is probably true. My existing theory is that we have a military-industrial complex that profits from war and therefore will attempt to create and maintain war using human beings as cogs in its complex social machinery to permit people to make choices that otherwise be considered completely irrational (for instance, to send young men to kill and to die for money). Another theory is that our government and military are wise and our war is just.

It's like believing there's some catalytic fuel injection system that splits water molecules into their hydrogen and oxygen atoms without any energy and which can then be burned in a conventionally designed internal-combustion engine which then reverts it back to water. Alternatively, water molecules are in a stable, strongly bonded state that requires more energy to split apart than you'd get when you burn them together so water can never be a fuel source.

In both cases, the simpler theory is true.

I guess I'm just a fool to believe war is that simple — that it can be explained to a lay-person in terms they'd understand without some basic understanding. Especially in light of the fact that explaining something that I understand to the lay-person requires some level of basic understanding on theirs.

Besides, I'm in a surrendering mood lately anyway. I had argued in a discussion about how making "snarky" comments at an early stage in a creative endavor can cause it to be abandoned, even if it really was a good idea. See, any work from the heart starts with a tiny kernel — a little itch that says you should try and do something. It's never very specific, and it knows nothing about construction, insurance, or its own purpose even. But if you nurture it and try things, you can coax the idea into something stronger — something that has meaning or a method to be constructed. From there you create designs and explanations. It's at that point that it can survive critique, and the creator becomes a mouthpiece to explain the creation's intentions (in a metaphoric, not metaphysical way).

See, I thought I was ready to defend that concept, but it still isn't mature enough. The "dumb hippy" comments I got about it, and the "you have to be tough enough to handle reality" comments really hurt — I expected the group to realize that this was a self-referential discussion and understand that it was fledgling idea that needed nurturing more than it needed murder. I didn't know whether it would survive or not, and at my weakest point, I decided to surrender the argument to my opponents. To the surrender I added, "I will continue to create because it is a fundamental part of my being. Be glad, though, that everything I make will make me convulse with disgust that it might one day bring any of you joy."

I found it really unfortunate that in as much as anyone who's made something from nothing can relate to that point, those who have not can not.

But onto artwork completed and presented for critique: on Friday I stopped out at A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) to check out that Mebemewebe mural. I looked at it for a while but it never came together for me. The artists' statement indicated it had something to do with an energy flow but it seemed broken and disjoint — it was done on three panels with a gap between them so wherever you stood you'd get a different perspective. I appreciated the concept, but I just couldn't get the piece to make sense to me ... the energy-flow idea really didn't clue me in, either. The other artwork from Islands Fold was quite good, though ... rather trippy and complex but with an interesting consistency to it all.

Later, Ali, myself, and Ali's friend Stacie went to a Halloween party at a house of a friend of theirs. I had dressed as a longshoreman ... a rather simple costume although with my beard and the addition of a snug-fitting knit hat, a beige turtleneck sweater, and a yellow raincoat, I could have walked out of any movie scene. The two of them had made their own Girl Scout costumes that looked really good. Anyway, the party was excellent — there were about 80 people there and all but maybe 5 showed up in costume. It was great ... sort of like those amazing costume parties you'd see in 1980's movies that never seem to look that way — real-world parties consisting of half the people gawking in street clothes.

Saturday Ali and I got a late start and headed to a friend of mine's party that I was rather looking forward to. I had pretty high expectations and although the party was okay, it didn't meet those high standards and I wasn't nearly as drunk as the other partiers so I was kind of disappointed. We went to Lux Lounge (666 South Ave.) after just a few minutes and, for the first time I can remember, had to wait in line outside until enough people left. The party at Lux was quite good as well. Once again, everyone was dressed up except for a handful of people. I'm beginning to understand the interest in costuming: it's essentially a collaborative effort made independently by individuals to create an atmosphere of fantasy. I actually would have preferred that people inadequately costumed would have been turned away at the door. Perhaps, like the group-editing technique we used at Gracies Dinnertime Theatre that you'd simply need to justify your costume to be let in.

Sunday (two days before Halloween) we got our pumpkins carved. They ended up looking pretty good ... lit-up or not. I decided to save all the guts and on Monday I made some pumpkin-spiced, pumpkinseed granola which turned out pretty good. I also made an attempt to use the seed membrane strings that everyone says to throw away — I figure I can freeze small clumps into ice cube trays then use a blender to avoid the problem of them winding around the spindle and actually get them puréed. That's still pending, though.

On Monday evening I made it to the Emerging Filmmakers Series installment at The Little (240 East Ave.) The show was pretty good. My Escape from Teen America by Stevie Girard started things off — it was a great film with a good style about a kid coming to grips with himself as a "self" rather than a "product". I had seen Crossing before at the 2003 The Rochester International Film Festival. It was made by Riccardo Costa ... I thought the twist-ending was still too easy to figure out, but I liked it more this time ... maybe it was edited a little, or maybe I just saw it differently. Betty la Flaca by Hugo Perez was a pretty funny film about a Latino woman who gets her buttocks enlarged at a sketchy clinic to make her more desirable to Latino men. But the real treat of the night was the amazing Motion Portrait by John W. Yost. It was simply a series of moving portraits of people but each seemed to really capture their essence in just a few carefully-selected seconds.

Tuesday was Halloween and Ali and I got a few trick-or-treaters at my house. The first batch of them got quite a lot of candy as well. We left early to stop for a snack at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) before heading to George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see Nosferatu. Man ... for a film that's over 80 years old, it was really quite creepy. The special effects were sometimes subtle (like the lightning-fast demonic horses) or rather corny (the stop-motion animation was a bit weak) but overall, each effect was used specifically to make a point, not just to demonstrate the effect. I'd bet that watching it alone in the dark would raise the hair on the back of your neck.

Updated: Note that The High Falls Film Festival starts next Wednesday. For any of you nerds like me who like to have the whole thing in their datebook, database, or spreadsheet, well, here's the complete list of events in tab-separated format. Edit the file first if you need to remove the headings line before importing it. Pick between:

• Macintosh format
• Microsoft format
• UNIX format

T H U R S D A Y

This evening at 5:30 p.m. at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is a lecture in the Auditorium by Grant Holcomb and Jessica Marten on the WWI posters being displayed in the Lockhart Gallery. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 6 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is another "Wish You Were Here" Photography Lecture, this time featuring Gerd Ludwig discussing Russia's rapid transformation from Communism to Capitalism. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] This evening at 6:30 p.m. at St. Anne Church (1600 Mt. Hope Ave.) is a presentation by The University of Rochester concerning proposed construction of a 4,000-ton Chiller Plant on the campus. [source: Upper Mount Hope Neighborhood Association flyer] [all ages] Tonight at 7 p.m. is the second performance of Real Time at Downstairs Cabaret (172 West Main St.). The Downstairs Cabaret description says, it's a "cleverly crafted celebration of love — both online and off — and all of its absurdness and awkwardness. If you liked Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Little Miss Sunshine, you'll love Real Time!" [source: Downstairs Cabaret calendar] Tonight at Starry Nites Café (696 University Ave., formerly Moonbeans) is talented, daring acoustic soloist JoAnn Vaccaro starting around 8 p.m. [source: Starry Nites calendar] [all ages] Over at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. is The Exact Math. [source: Boulder Coffee website] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Chats perchés (The Case of the Grinning Cat) starting at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday at 7 p.m. Apparently Cheshire cat icons began appearing in France, leaving the unanswered questions of "who?" and "why?" Also showing will be a collection curated by Chris Marker titled The Bestiary: Short Films About Animals. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] The Capitals will be at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 9:30 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Tonight at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is great attention-deficit chaotic-jazz/funk/rock-ish band Gaylord, and Diane and the Shell starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: band e-mail] [21+] Pure Kona Poetry Open Mic Night is at Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) tonight starting at 7:30. [source: Daily Perks calendar] Drinking Liberally meets at 8 p.m. tonight at Monty's Korner (355 East Ave.) [source: RocWiki calendar]

F R I D A Y

This afternoon at 4 p.m. at Crocus Clay Works (1115 E. Main St. Door #2, Suite 225) is their grand opening featuring works by Jennifer Buckley, Dulcie Miller, Marie Verlinde, Sabra Wood, and Alyssa Foos. [source: RocWiki calendar] The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) will be hosting Razbari Sumthing, and The Levar Burtones starting around 6 p.m. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] Tonight from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Rochester Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince St.) is the opening for Proving Ground by Alison Secrest and Many are the Deceivers by Cassie Worley. The show runs through November 13. [source: Visual Studies Workshop calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 6 p.m. at The Community Darkroom at The Genesee Center for the Arts (713 Monroe Ave.) The Natural World opens. It explores "the world of traditional and historic photographic processes through the eyes and works of the Community Darkroom photographers" and runs through January 15. [source: Genesee Center for the Arts calendar] Over at The Club at Water Street (204 N. Water St.) starting around 6 p.m. is fun ska from Mrs. Skannotto. [source: JamBase calendar for Rochester] [all ages] Green Drinks Rochester will be meeting at Caverly's Pub (741 South Ave., formerly Genesee Co-op Credit Union) tonight at 6 p.m. to discuss eco-themed stuff. [source: Craigslist Rochester events] Tonight at 7 p.m. in the Spurrier Dance Studio at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a Lecture/Demonstration by Lani Fand Weissbach performing her work in the Butoh style, "a contemporary dance form that emerged in Japan shortly after WWII." [source: University of Rochester Events Calendar] Paul Hodges will be at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee website] [all ages] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing Fear and Desire starting at 8 p.m. about four soldiers dealing with their fears and desires. Star of Fear and Desire, Paul Mazursky (and a filmmaker himself) will be on hand to introduce the film and discuss it afterward. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Over at The Auditorium Center (875 Main St E.) starting around 8 p.m. is comedian Lewis Black (as seen on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart). [source: Freetime] Tonight at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Ave., a.k.a. "Bullwinkle's") is soloist with the pretty, high, tremolo-rich voice, Josephine Foster and Peter and the Wolf starting at 9 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight at The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) is Moosie's Comedy Night starting at 9 p.m. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] Tonight at A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) is Donna Parker, Blktygr, The Clan of the Cave Bear, and Autoanimal starting around 9 p.m. [source: A|V Space website] Tonight at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is is Irish-slanted punk from Tom Foolery and the Shannanighans (not Shenanigans), and The Peasants starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] [21+]

S A T U R D A Y

Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) will be hosting really talented guitarist and singer Kinloch Nelson, charismatic and varied soloist Scott Regan, and Phil Marshall starting around 8 p.m. [source: band e-mail] [all ages] Tonight at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is acoustic-groove-rock from Cole Blair, and JoAnn Vaccaro (despite Boulder thinking she's "Joanne Paccaro") starting around 8 p.m. [source: Boulder Coffee MySpace site] [all ages] Blue Dahlia Coffee (92 S. Main St., Canandaigua) will be hosting acoustic harpist Mary Shannon starting around 8 p.m. [source: Blue Dahlia calendar] [all ages] Paul Mazursky returns tonight to host the showing of his film, Next Stop, Greenwich Village at 8 p.m. at the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) The film is about a young actor arriving in the Village in the 1950's. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Fancie, great satirical-gospel band The Lobster Quadrille, and spoken-word poetry and avant-garde ambient music from Urknee and Bjürton will be at A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) starting around 9 p.m. [source: A|V Space website] The Montage Live Music Hall (50 Chestnut St., formerly the Montage Grille) will be hosting very good metal from Sulaco, American Heritage, and really good metal/punk-rock from Fallguy starting around 10 p.m. [source: Montage Live Music Hall MySpace page] Over at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. is Say Hi to Your Mom, great mellow-ish rock-and-roll Hinkley, and The Metal Hearts [source: Bug Jar calendar] [18+] Tonight at 10:30 p.m. in the Ingle Auditorium at RIT (One Lomb Memorial Dr., campus map) is a comedy show with Rachel Feinstein and Bernadette Pauley. [source: RIT CAB calendar] The Brokedown will be at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) starting around 10:30 p.m. [source: Freetime] [21+] Tonight's another Betty's Sing-a-Long at Betty Meyer's Bullwinkle Café (622 Lake Ave., a.k.a. "Bullwinkle's") starting around 10.

S U N D A Y

For all the great shows they've put on, I'll mention that today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. is the Bop Shop Fall Record Show at The Bop Shop (274 N. Goodman St., in Village Gate Square) [source: Bop Shop calendar] [all ages] Today from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. is a Concert for Serena at Water Street Music Hall (204 N. Water St.) to benefit a local family struck by a tragic fire. Performing acts include Catch 22, Dave McGrath, Lou Gramm, and Uncle Plum. [source: Water Street calendar] [all ages] Today at 2 p.m. in the Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) is a Photography Lecture featuring Walter Colley (see also The Animal Portrait) discussing The How-To's of Photographing Your Pet. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the M&T Bank Ballroom at The Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) is a discussion of the Maxfield Parrish painting Interlude: The Lute Players followed at 3 p.m. by a Dance Performance loosely based on the work by The Elizabeth Clark Dance Ensemble, and Bill Evans and Company. [source: Memorial Art Gallery calendar] [all ages] The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) will be hosting very good groove-metal band Kalpana, The Gritty Midi Gang, and pretty good, mellow, down-tempo soloist Little Yellow Bird starting this afternoon around 3 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar] [all ages] Tonight at A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) is excellent experimental acoustic soloist (although occasionally he plays a bit more rockified) Autumn In Halifax with a new CD, something of a folkish-rock gypsy orchestra in Idatel, and The Real Live Tigers starting around 9 p.m. [source: band e-mail] Tonight and every Sunday at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) is a Comedy Open Mic with Matt Rohr at 7:30 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] [all ages]

M O N D A Y

This evening at 7:30 p.m. in Meliora Hall at The University of Rochester (Elmwood Ave. at Intercampus Dr., details on River Campus Map) is a showing of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada which compares friendship and the fear of terror. [source: University of Rochester website] Bored? Why not check out 1980's DJ night at The Bug Jar (219 Monroe Ave.) starting around 11 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar]

T U E S D A Y

Election Day This morning at 7:30 a.m. in the cafeteria overlooking the arboretum in Bausch and Lomb (140 Stone St.) is the Artists Breakfast Group meeting ... anyone interested in art or creativity is invited. Today from 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. in Gleason Auditorium at The Rochester Public Library (115 South Ave.) is another Books Sandwiched-In discussion. Today's features A. Vincent Buzard and Robert Feldman reviewing Joe Klein's Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You're Stupid. [source: Rochester Public Library calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 7:30 p.m. is the opening performance of American Buffalo at Geva (75 Woodbury Blvd.) The play runs through November 26. [source: Geva Theatre website] The Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) will be showing A Girl in Every Port starting at 8 p.m. with Philip C. Carli on piano. The film is about a comedy about a couple womanizing sailor buddies who get pitted against one another when they are attracted to the same woman. [source: Eastman House calendar] [all ages] Tonight at 7 p.m. at The Flat Iron Café (561 State St.) is the Hot as Fire Spoken Word / Open Mic. [source: Flat Iron Cafe webstie] Daily Perks (389 Gregory St.) is hosting an Acoustic Open Mic featuring JoAnn Vaccaro from 8 to 10. [source: Daily Perks calendar] [all ages] Autumn In Halifax will be playing at The Little Theatre Café (240 East Ave.) tonight starting around 8.

W E D N E S D A Y

Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at The Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester (277 N. Goodman St.) is another Artist Networking Event, this time to discuss The Thriving Toronto Art Scene. [source: Arts and Cultural Council e-mail] Tonight at The Montage Live Music Hall (50 Chestnut St., formerly the Montage Grille) is The Misery Index, Salt This Earth, The Lazers, Intronaut, and The Swarm of the Lotus starting around 8 p.m. [source: Montage Live Music Hall MySpace page] Updated: Tonight at Café Underground Railroad (480 W. Main St.) is a Spoken Word/Poetry night starting around 9 p.m. [source: the proverbial grapevine] A|V Art Sound Space (N. Union St. at Trinidad St., #8 in the Public Market, formerly the All-Purpose Room) will be hosting Slingshot Dakota, Scouts Honor, Blessed Relief for Mother, and Ghostharm starting around 9 p.m. [source: A|V Space website] Tonight at The Rochester Contemporary Art Gallery (137 East Ave.) is the Opening Night Party for The High Falls Film Festival starting at 9:30 p.m. Check the website for films starting this evening. [source: High Falls Film Festival website] Poor People United meets tonight and every Wednesday at 7 at St. Joseph's House of Hospitality (402 South Ave.) [source: the proverbial grapevine] There's an Open Mic for Acoustic Music at Boulder Coffee Co. (100 Alexander St.) tonight around 8. [source: the proverbial grapevine] Tonight at Milestones (170 East Ave.) is another The Comedy Block Party starting almost promptly at 8 p.m.

Polls | Other Projects

DreamHost Web Hosting
I use DreamHost to run JayceLand.com. Click the ad to buy hosting and I'll get money to run my site. Hooray!

Store at CafePress
Buy some JayceLand junk at sky high prices!