Styrofoam Head

Aha! I've been trying for days to get this to work! Working with Asian Web Sites can be a pain, especially with this dingbat computer I have!

First I went through Google.au, but it sure seemed slow, and the video would get stuck at 1:49 of the 7:10 long video. Then I went directly to the video, on a Chinese Web Site, but it would also get stuck at the same place. Then, finally, through Truveo.com (thank you today's Wall Street Journal for the tip), the entire video now seems to work.

When I was in Australia last year, I dropped in on the State Library of Queensland, which was hosting an opening for the Multimedia Art Asia Pacific (MAAP) art show "Out Of The Internet." The avant-garde of Brisbane was out in force, particularly the Asian wing.

Pressed for time (I was headed to see Opera Australia's "Pirates of Penzance" and time was short), I quickly scanned the various computer monitors featuring various works of art. There was something called Manhua Wonderlands:

Incarcerated in their own karaoke ward room, Karaoke Bedlam presents the work of a series of artists exploring karaoke and music video clip culture as it can be channelled through the lens of hallucination and surrealism, chaos and nihilism, subconscious and the unconscious, sanity and schizophrenia. From delusions of grandeur that surround the cult of the pop-idol celebrity, to booty RnB strip-tease role-playing, to fantastical visions of mermen singing sea shanties, Karaoke Bedlam invites audiences to enter the Karaoke Bedlam wards and become voyeurs into claustrophic worlds of audio-visual madness and karaoke induced psychoses.

Among the works of art featuring people, there seemed to be a theme of frustration and debility. Three films caught my attention:

• a man explained about a proposal for an art work that was never funded;
• a man attempted to eat a bowl of noodles with cutlery, and prepare tea, all the while wearing boxing gloves (Takayuki Hino, Japan, Boxing Man - here is a related Japanese review); and,
• a woman placed a large block of styrofoam over her head and flailed away at the styrofoam with a knife. Apparently she starts by inscribing the word 'Question' on the styrofoam (Hyun-joo Kim - Korea, Styrofoam Head - here is a related Japanese review).

Anyway, via Truveo, here is the link to "Styrofoam Head".

Also, while at Videocollector's Web Site, check out the truly bizarre 30-minute musical "Cremaster 3 - The Order"! Is this the future of musical theater? It's like "A Chorus Line" gone all sci-fi on us....

According to the Cremaster Web Site:

At this point in the narrative the film pauses for a choric interlude, which rehearses the initiation rites of the Masonic fraternity through allegorical representations of the five-part Cremaster cycle, all in the guise of a game staged in the Guggenheim Museum. Called “The Order,” this competition features a fantastical incarnation of the Apprentice as its sole contestant, who must overcome obstacles on each level of the museum's spiraling rotunda.

In the ensuing scene, which returns to the top of the Chrysler Building, the Architect is murdered by the Apprentice, who is then killed by the tower. Both men have been punished for their hubris and the building will remain unfinished. The film ends with a coda that links it to Cremaster 4.

Yes, I have truly seen the future, and it is full of bizarre Asian stuff! (even though Cremaster is American, apparently, but nevermind.... Or maybe the future is joint Asian/American ....hmmmm.....?)

Also, note that Hyun-joo Kim is apparently not the same person as Kim Hyun-joo, the Korean actress, who has a fabulously-cute TV commercial (I should post that too, since it's the future as well, and the future has a place all picked out for young Korean actresses....)

Well, regarding Asian video art, as with Columbian Zumba last week, like they say in the movie "Eraserhead" regarding chicken:

Mr. X: We've got chicken tonight. Strangest damn things. They're man made. Little damn things. Smaller than my fist. But they're new.