Local Liberal Outrage Gets Physical

Great! Leave it to a select few Vegas liberals to give both local and national conservatives something to bite on. Local TV station KLAS has an article up on the assault of a Vegas local at Fahrenheit 9/11 showing.

James Hudnall's Digital Brownshirts? Try Leftist Brownshirts article starts with the personal aside, "It's a good thing I wasn't there when this happened. Take my word for it. " on the D.C. Horton site he continues, "It's a good thing I wasn't there when this happened or it would have made the news. All those severed limbs and heads would have been messy.' "

Local conservative pundit/blogger dcthornton.com added to the discussion.

"Don't expect Michael Moore to denounce the assault, but probably compare the assailant to one of the Minutemen.

In the meantime, I hope Metro Police will keep an eye on the MoveOn crowd and not hesitate to arrest the next person who even thinks of assaulting anybody who isn't singing praises of Moore's crockumentary. "

Surprisingly, Tinseltrasher has yet to offer his take.

Free Comic Book Day

Are you low on cash?
Willing to take free things when they are handed to you?
Like books with pictures in them?

Then you will be celebrating July 3rd, Free Comic Book Day! The folks over at Vegas Puppies . com posted about this day of freedom a while ago.

The Free Comic Book Day Site has a Store Locator, and lists seven places in the Vegas Valley to get your graphic novel fix.

Collector Pays $20,000, Enjoys Artist Opening A Lot

Voltaire is said to have remarked, "Once a philosopher, twice a sodomite!" when regarding man-on-man loving. So, if an artist sells themselves more than once, is it only then they are a prostitute? Artist Andrea Fraser will be asked and debating that question for some time. For $20,000, of which $10,000 went to the gallery, an unidentified collector spent an evening with the artist, a hotel room and a video camera. What transpired was captured on tape and is now available for viewing from June 10 through July 9 at Friedrich Petzel Gallery.

The following quote and above image come courtesy of Friedrich Petzel Gallery.

"'Untitled' 2003 was initiated in 2002 when Andrea Fraser approached Friedrich Petzel Gallery to arrange a commission with a private collector on her behalf. The requirements for the commission were to include a sexual encounter between Fraser and a collector, which would be recorded on videotape, with the first exemplar of the edition going to the participating collector. The resulting videotape is a silent, unedited, sixty-minute document shot in a hotel room with a stationary camera and existing lighting.

'Untitled' is a continuation of Fraser's twenty-year examination of the relationships between artists and their patrons. Known for her performances in the form of gallery tours and analyses of collecting by museums, corporate art institutions, and private collectors, Untitled shifts the focus of this investigation from the social and economic conditions of art to a much more personal terrain. The work raises issues regarding the ethical and consensual terms of interpersonal relationships as well as the contractual terms of economic exchange."

The New York Times article has found a much more succinct description of the video, "...In it, the artist is seen having sex in what some have characterized coyly as 'every imaginable position'..."

But is it art, or just pornography wrapped in the intellectual trappings of art? Would anyone care if the artist didn't look hot in a red dress? Will the girls of The Chicken Ranch and Stardust Ranch be searching for gallery representation in LA and NY? Will Dennis Hof be the Larry Gagosian of Pahrump?

So many questions, so few answers.

In Honor of Joe Pachinko

Joe Pachinko has a collection of poems entitled "The Urinals of Hell." To celebrate that book, and procrastinate a little longer on a real article (soon, I promise), LVAC is proud to present, "Urinals from Artists and Designers With Dubious Taste!" The first two images come from Entensity.net, "...finally a site Safe for Work. Well, kind of." And the last from an Ananova article.

The first designer, Schiphol, has proven that men do need help with their aim. The second design is unattributed. And the last urinal, by female designer Meike van Schijndel, generated so much controversy that Virgin Airlines canceled their installation in its new executive clubhouse at Kennedy Airport. Responding to criticism leveled at the urinal's purported anti-woman design, Schijndel responds with a letter to her critics, which pretty much concludes this way...

"'Kisses' is made as an art-piece with a wink to reality. The thought that this urinal only represents a man peeing in a woman's mouth, never even occurred to me while making it. Lighten up, it just a cartoonish looking mouth, there are worst things in the world to get all worked up about."

Freaking Poetry!

Well, actually it's poetry at the Freakin' Frog. While BeerAdvocate has a review and street directions, the bar wasn't mentioned as a poet's corner. Let it be now known that the Frog likes poets and vice versa.

Joe Pachinko will be having a reading at the Freakin' Frog Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. He will be entertaining the inebriated with select works from his debut poetry collection "The Urinals of Hell", available at Amazon.com.

This PSA (Poetry Service Announcement) was sponsored by Jarret Keene, and written at 5:48 in the morning.

I Bet You They Don't Play This Song on The Radio

Monty Python Alum Eric Idle on the FCC, the Bush Administration and other things American. Not sure if he performed this little ditty when he was in Vegas.

While the song can be found on the Monty Python website, the following lovely image is hosted by HAMNCHEEZ.

It's Online! Online!!!!

Monster creator and Vegas artist Shan Michael has brought his creations to the internet, at ToY INDUSTRieS.

"I will be posting 10 of my works
each month on this bloglin here shortly...

...Each piece generally has
a limited run of 10.
Each piece is hand-made,
made up of
layered color cardstock copies.
LOOK REAL NICE!"

Also, at the Stereo Quatro/Against All Odds show at Jillians, Shan provided images used for the projections, and for Stereo Quatro's website.

The 1st Annual International Folk Festival of Las Vegas

A good source of local news is Cindy, of Whirlygig Inc. The following info came from her.

"Join us in Las Vegas, Nevada for The International Folk Dances & Workshops Festival. Enjoy a variety of performances & dance workshops from around the world, more than 600 hundred artists together giving life to this magnificent folk festival of Las Vegas. We invite you to be part of the festival representing your country sharing with locals and tourist the best of your country with your dances, music, & crafts. If you would like to be part of this magnificent festival, confirm the name of your performer group, craft artist or restaurant name.

FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Contact: Ixela Gutierrez
Festival's Producer
for questions or more information:
(702) 388-0948 (702) 339-0948 mexicovivodance@aol.com

Cine Vegas, Anime and Cartoons at Clark County Libraries, and the Vegas Indie Animation Festival

CineVegas is coming this weekend. About the same time next year, The Dam Short Film Fest.

For those who want their libraries with a little less literacy and more strangely-titled Japanese animation, the Clark County Libraries have heard your demands and have quite the collection of choices this summer.

As part of the Teen Zone - Movies! program, the Whitney Library will be having an Anime Film Fest which will show "...an afternoon of your favorite Japanese anime flicks." However, with the teen audience in mind, chances are slim of seeing Ghost in the Shell, which has naked boobies in it. The long-awaited sequel to Ghost in the Shell (trailer) is showing in Japan now, so no idea on boobies in this one. Here's hoping. In the meantime, check out the amazing trailer for the Victorian steampunk movie Steamboy. Looks great.


Two county libraries have anime-related Teen Zone Special programs.

"West Las Vegas Library
6/16, 7/13 and 8/19 - 6 p.m.
Anime Evenings
Watch episodes of Japanese animated TV series and movies and show off your own anime-inspired artwork!

Clark County Library
Saturday, July 17 - 2 p.m.
Learn to Draw Anime
Come learn how to draw cartoons from an expert. Limited seating, so please pre-register."

Less than a month is not much time to create a great animated movie, but it could happen. Anyways, July 9th is the deadline for "The Big Cartoon Exhibition 2004," which will be showcasing the works accepted:

"Las Vegas, Nevada -- Las Vegas Comic-Con, in association with Cartoon Mogul, is hosting The Big Cartoon Exhibition 2004, October, during the 3-day multimedia event. Comic-Con's mission is providing a venue to support and showcase animation art by independent animators from around the world...

...The Big Cartoon Exhibitors are seeking animated film submissions, no time restrictions, in all genre categories (traditional, computer graphics, flash, stop-motion, experimental), to fill a three day schedule of festival programming. This will be a non-competitive showcase, which will give animators and their art more exposure, as well as introduce the independent animation art form to a broader mainstream audience....

...For more information on The Big Cartoon Exhibition 2004, contact cartoonmogul@cox.net or check out our information page for more details at Las Vegas Comic Con."

Free workshop on Public Art

From the Clark County Parks Department...

"The Clark County Parks and Community Services, in partnership with the Nevada Arts Council, is providing a free workshop for artists wishing to enter into the expanding field of Public Art.

The workshop will feature three well-respected and internationally
recognized artists with experience in public art projects: Barbara
Grygutis from Tucson, Arizona; Buster Simpson, from Seattle, Washington;
and Kevin Berry from Phoenix, Arizona. The workshop will be held on
Wednesday, June 9, from 6:00pm - 9:00pm, at the Winchester Cultural
Center, located at 3130 S. McLeod Dr., just north of Desert Inn Rd.
Public art is becoming more prevalent in public and private spaces, and
nationally is becoming required as part of construction projects in many
municipalities. Public art has evolved, and now is not necessarily just
a statue placed in a public location. Governing bodies and corporations
require design concepts that may involve large expanses of landscape,
but also engage the viewer, and are to take into account historical and
environmental elements of the site.

The three artists presenting this workshop are currently working with
the Clark County Parks & Community Services' Cultural Division to
develop a concept plan for a large public trail project in Las Vegas,
the Flamingo Arroyo Trail. The purpose of the workshop is to inform
local artists about public art opportunities. The County is also looking
for interns to work on the trail project, and learn while doing.

All three artists will present examples of their work, explain how they
entered into the field of public art, and answer questions from the
audience. Prior to the workshop, interested artists are encouraged to
visit the these websites (Buster Simpson, Public Art Network, or
Artist Registry of American Fine Artists). For more information,
call Diane Bush at (702) 455-8239, and for directions, call Winchester
Cultural Center at 455-7340."

Vegas Corrupts Another Art Form: This Time... Haikus

The finely-attuned Japanese art of the haiku has been totally corrupted by Vegas, for the Vegas Puppies . com are sponsoring an Offensive Haiku Contest. The submission/voting deadline is until the 13th, with the final outcome to be determined, "when the authors of the two most offensive haikus go head to head in a 3 poem v. 3 poem Haiku DEATH MATCH!!!" How can a poetry death-match not rock?

Membership in the Vegas Puppies is a prerequisite to enter, but you would be in good company. The Amazing Johnathan has submitted his haiku for consideration, and a fine contribution to the genre indeed. Enjoy.



Your Grandfather is
Hung like a Tic-Tac and you
Have minty fresh breath