Hot Hungarian Hip-Hop: review of “The District!” 24/12/2007
Posted by dlatman in Graffiti, europe, hungary, music, time, travel, youth.2 comments
Graffiti outside Pest bar, photo taken Spring 2006. I love Budapest!
Welcome, new readers, who might have come here from The New York Times shout-out. Feel free to poke around, make comments, ask questions even if they seem dumb, and e-mail me if you’re shy: danielle(dot)latman(at)gmail(dot)com.
I just saw “The District!,” an animated movie from Budapest, Hungary with a friend a few nights ago. After the glowing reviews from The NY Times and various film blogs, I was all pumped up to see “the most original animated movie of 2007.” The visuals are amazing, and the soundtrack made us wanna dance in our seats, but my friend and I left the Two Boots Pioneer Theater in confusion. Was this really a political satire, or was something lost in translation? (more…)
“Don’t Fear Love” 20/12/2007
Posted by dlatman in Graffiti, art, food, love, ny, shopping, u.s..16 comments
Plywood board spray-painted and stenciled, bolted onto a street sign on Prince Street, located just outside the Apple store. Bears more than a striking resemblance to the style of “Stay Human.” Whoever did this: I want to be your friend.
Fear/hate and love are two of the most important main human emotions, right? But don’t just take my word for it; this guy agrees with me too. Now that my two-month stay in my hometown of New York City is winding down, I’d like to summarize what I love and hate most about New York.
#1: NYC is unique and fun. Let’s start with the obvious, shall we? It’s the biggest city in the U.S., with people coming here from all over the world, creating a multi-cultural dynamic and interesting mix of neighborhoods. New trends in fashion, electronics, food and art come here first, which is pretty exciting; stuff is open late and there’s tons of entertainment available, from low to high brow. You never need to be bored.
#1: Gentrification is boring. Box stores creeping up onto once-sketchy streets. High-end boutiques and restaurants opening in areas once home to drug addicts and homeless people. White people getting on the B train at Church Avenue. Developers buying up low- and middle-income housing projects for $5 billion. All of this is making the city more generic and boring, and it’s a boring topic that people can’t stop talking about. This is so boring, I’m practically falling asleep right now. Zzzz…
“Stay Human” 12/12/2007
Posted by dlatman in Collage, Graffiti, Jewish, art, europe, ny, shopping, travel, u.s..add a comment
UPDATE 12/15/07: read this NY Times article on why Europeans love shopping in NY (hint: it’s cheaper).
This stencil-collage on metal, bolted onto a street signpost, was located on Greene Street off Prince, in lower Manhattan. It makes me really happy ’cause I like the message, and it mixes two of my favorite art forms.
It is good to remember to stay human, ’cause the holidays have been bringing me down. I am Jewish, yet everything around me is urging me to partake in some orgiastic commercial celebration to which I have no allegiance. This is particularly severe in NY, where multitudes of shoppers crowd the streets with their bulky bags and pointy elbows, getting in my way.
I also must take a moment to complain about tourists. Yes, their money is good for the economy, but many visitors walk so slowly, talk so loudly, and frequently exhibit bad style and haircuts. It’s really annoying when people get in my way while I’m trying to run errands or get somewhere quickly.
Before you get scared away, please note: all my crabbiness at tourists and Christians can melt away in a simple human encounter. Last week I was rushing around doing errands, when I overheard a tall, blonde German couple trying to figure out directions in their guttural accents. I tried to ignore them but eventually the gorgeous woman stopped me.
“Do you know where Mercer Street is?” she asked, her eyebrows knit together in concern.
I looked up, trying to visualize a map of lower Manhattan in my head. Then I saw the green street sign in front of us. “It’s right here!” I exclaimed, happy at being able to help someone in their hour of need, or at least confusion. Me, the German lady and her shaven-head boyfriend all laughed in camaraderie, and then parted our separate ways.
Even I love to shop and eat strudel in foreign cafes sometimes.
This was stenciled on the side of the board:
M.I.A. in Phila, PA 12/1/07 07/12/2007
Posted by dlatman in art, fun, music, u.s., women.add a comment
Update 5/25/08: I was really happy to hear this Rye Rye / DJ Blaqstarr remix recently at a dance party. Shake it to the ground!
From Crackle: M.I.A. 1
Check out Emily’s video of M.I.A. (right) performing “Bamboo Banga,” with “hype woman” Cherry on the left, and DJ Low Budget behind them.
After two opening acts, the sold-out crowd at downtown Philadelphia’s Electric Factory was pumped up and ready to see Ms. Arulpragasam, including me and my friend Emily. M.I.A’s two NY shows for the CMJ festival sold out quickly last month, so we had decided to travel to this show, the hip-hop star’s last stop in her U.S. tour before returning to the UK. We had withstood over two hours of driving, freezing weather, and getting felt-up by aggressive security guards in order to arrive at this moment, and we were gonna enjoy it, dammit!
Luckily for everyone present, M.I.A. did not disappoint. Before the show started, a video of a radical left-wing Japanese politician was presented on overhead screens, while the crowd cheered at his urging to overthrow the government. Our frenzy and excitement built until M.I.A. entered the stage wearing a metallic hooded body suit under short white shorts, sneakers and striking white eye makeup. Everyone screamed, cheered and started dancing in the extremely packed space.
The 90-minute set included hits from her first and second albums, including “Galang,” “Boys,” “Sunshowers,” “Pull Up the People,” “Bucky Done Gun,” “Bird Flu,” and “World Town.” M.I.A. was joined on stage with DJ Low Budget, her back-up singer/dancer Cherry, and Baltimore rapper Rye Rye (I love her young, feminine voice!). The music was highlighted by brightly colored videos playing on a large screen behind the stage, which M.I.A. programmed before each set. The images mixed video-game style graphics with militaristic themes and footage of M.I.A. playing various instruments in a range of settings, from jungle to urban. I like a lot of the graphics she uses and find it one of the most compelling parts of her performance.
But don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of other fun stuff going on. M.I.A. splashed water onto the crowd at several points, urging us to “Wake up!” With the help of security, she also pulled tons of girls onto the stage for “10 Dollar,” and had a big dance party on stage (don’t worry, boys were able to join the fun during “Boys”). I liked when she crowd-surfed into the audience and said, “You can’t hear shit back here! Turn the sound up!” (and they did).
Was it slightly disorienting to watch people booty-dancing to a song about immigrant women prostitutes? Yes. Did it keep me from dancing? Hell no! While M.I.A. might not seamlessly integrate her politics and sexy beats, she’s brilliant at bringing seemingly disparate people and rhythms together into a colorful, fun dance party like no other.
