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more Tim Burton

Finally got around to going to the MoMa and seeing the esteemed Tim Burton exhibit. Good thing I bought tickets last week as this thing has got to be the most popular exhibit the museum has ever seen and was sold out by the time I walked out a little after 1:00 pm. Even before I knew who Tim Burton was I knew his movies. They are dark, twisted, but comedic and humorous films who’s images seem to stick with you long after they are over. To name a few; Peewee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice among others. Both are classics of course and two of my favorite childhood movies. My father and I used to regurgitate Beetlejuice lines to each other from that very impressionable time in my childhood. “Hey there goes Elvis, YO KING!” is one that still resonates to this day.

You can’t take pictures inside the actual exhibit but it but it contains the earliest sketches, vibrant images, homework assignments, scrap-work, displays, costumes, figures, shorts, and so on essentially depicting the progression and maturation of one of the most imaginative artists of this century. It’s just not something you get to see everyday or in a lifetime. With the help of so many different people from curators, collaborators, artists, and studio’s, etc., the archived work is worth every cent of $20 I paid to go see it as the evolution and volume of Burton’s output is unprecedented. You can’t even believe how much he has done in such a short period of time and it makes me want to get to work immediately.

I believe the ever present mission of an artist is to conceptualize and materialize ideas as close to perfection as possible. The use of minimal material to come up with amazing art I thought could very much be compared to Hip Hop or Punk Rock.  Some people categorize Burton’s work as Pop Art.

Many times the finished product is far from perfect or doesn’t meet your own expectations of how it should have been, HOWEVER, after seeing this exhibit, the realization of how important the actual creative process is, over time, is just as important, if not more important than the finished product. And the reason why is because the finished product or end result of certain projects are actually sequential pieces themselves that lead to even bigger projects and ultimately make up the complete body of work of an artist; micro to macro. As critics and fans we tend to negatively judge and get hung up on similar works by the same artist referencing themselves in different works.  On the other hand we may have the same sentiments toward what is a seemingly radical digression from past works.  Seeing this exhibit made me perceive things a little differently because everything is a work in progress.

The word inspiring is an understatement in terms of what is being revealed on the third floor of the MoMa. The word perspective is something to ponder.

Good but not great. I’ve been wanting to see this movie for a long time due to the hype of course behind the Scorsese directed picture. It seems they had been running previews for this thing for a year and because DiCaprio came off a stellar performance in The Departed, I was looking forward to it. The previews were a little misleading. They almost made it seem like it was a horror, where Shutter Island was a haunted place and something like the house in The Shining. In terms of the actual movie, Leonardo definitely delivers as the great actor he is and you can’t take that away from him. Without a doubt he makes this movie worth seeing. I also liked how this movie was shot and developed like a novel keeping true to Dennis Lehane’s best seller, where themes were actually prevalent, keeping things tight and nicely connected. However, when it comes to everything else, I felt like I saw it a few times already; between the island, prisoners/patients, mental institution, corrupt cops and doctors. All of which make for an extremely predictable and traditional recipe for a “creepy” movie. Without giving it away I will say, there is ONE movie in particular from within the past 10 years, which Shutter Island lends itself to so much that as soon as the plot was revealed, I immediately thought “wow this is the 2010….” This type of realization coupled with what actually happens was mildly annoying. On the other hand, if you do not predict what will happen before it actually does, you will enjoy it a lot more. 3/5

it’s the 11 year anniversary of Big L’s death. Put It On was an anthem for Hip-Hop heads in the 90’s especially in New York. One of my favorite lines of all time came from this song; “you can’t kill me I was born dead.” I still say it sometimes as a quick response when it’s relevant to the convo and wonder if people know the reference. I feel like everyone jumped on his dick when he dropped Ebonics and although it’s a classic, it not what I remember him by. I remember Children Of The Corn demos on the Stretch and Bobbito show, his first album Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, DITC gems, and of course his classic freestyles on the show. If you’ve been around and in the know since then, you know that same radio show gave birth my career years later. It’s something I’m extremely proud of because I know theres a bunch of rappers from NY who never got the chance. Big-L was one of many giants from that era who solidified themselves as NY Hip Hop legend status, even before he died.

listen to this if you’ve never heard it before…. I remember hearing this live when it was on the air, in fact I might even have it recorded on a tape under my bed. This is when Big-L and Jay-Z used to run together and peep how L as so ill compared to Jay. They were peers of course and excellent rappers, and Jay still killed it, but he had no work for L.

listening to it as I type this and God damn I miss this time in rap so much, fuckkkk. truly one of the greats.