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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

UNGLAEUBIGER THOMAS



Working on Magic Flute with CHEAP  fearless leader Susanne Sachsse has been very productive.  We are really close to finishing our final outline before one of our major deadlines.  We are collaborating with my lovely child of high art Jonathan Berger who takes over the production design duties for all of my major projects plus working with the great Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu and Jackie the Israeli lighting designer who works with Yael Betrana and has worked with Susi and I before with Communist Bigamist and Camp/Anti-Camp.  I am really feeling my cheery Cheerinos with all that is shaping up with The Magic Flute. If the Magic Flute wasn’t enough I also have  been working doubletime on the latest visual art installation for my New York and Oslo Gallery, but don’t want to talk too much about it or I will wind up pulling a Jinx Falkenberg on myself.  After a lovely luncheon and brainstorming session Susanne, Marcuse Siegelstein, Daniel Hendrickson and I headed to the delightful Turkish boite Defne off the canal in Kruezberg for dindin with visiting University of Michigan at Ann Arbor scholar and opera queen David Halperin.  After supper we headed to the FSK Kino at Oranienplatz for the Berlin Art Film Festival the brainchild of lovesexy Toby Raucher Ashraf.
The other evening I went to dinner at the amazing Tibetan restaurant Budda House on Akazien Strasse near my Rote Insel kiez with my new BFF the prolific Turkish writer and novelist Murat Ham.  The stylish Mr. Ham has lived all over the world and is a charming and effervescent dinner companion with a sweet, goofy sense of humour.
Forgot to write something about the Woody Allen film Magic in the Moonlight which I saw some time ago.  The movie starts off in Berlin 1928.  Seems like Mr. Allen loves defaulting to the jazz era ever so often as a fav screen conceit, and there are some lovely locations scenes in the South of France with the young ingĂ©nue Emma Stone and her big Liza with a Z eyes. Ms. Stone is quite fetching but it wasn’t believable that she would fall for long on the tooth Colin Firth who early in the film has some very funny moments.  Oh and whats with pigeon chested Hamish Linkletter? He is way too elderly to play the juvinille male lead ---talk about a casting snafu.   The character I liked best was played by the always perfect Dame Eileen Atkins.  Like most modern Allen photoplays it sort of falls apart before we are even midway through the third reel---this time with a great big THUD! but who cares it was still fun and frolicsome and I can’t wait for his next nutters vehicle set in Estonia---why not?
FilmHighlights Manuel Schubert sent me a wonderful link to a New Yorker Magazine profile about German chancellor Angela Merkel:  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german
Learned quite a bit about the power hungry pepperpot Mrs. Angie of the perpetual pants suit.
My favourite line in the piece is when a Die Linke party member quotes Bertolt Brecht: “Who does not know the truth is simply a fool, yet who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a criminal.”
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The only person working in the arts in New York doing things the way it should be done is the legendary Miss Lia of Participant Inc. the not-for-profit gallery on the Lower East Side.  Please help support the great work she does by making a generous contribution.  Read the letter below:

Dear Participants and Friends,

It’s hard to sum up a year that exceeded our expectations in an email. We have a lot to be grateful for, and it's thanks to you that we're able to support the work of artists who are shaping the culture, whether posthumously, or those entering the field from other disciplines, or for the first time. You can help us continue this work by making a year-end, tax-deductible contribution.
Our first resolution for the New Year is W.A.G.E. certification. Working toward this goal with W.A.G.E (Working Artists and the Greater Economy) reinforces our belief that art workers should be paid, and that we are accountable for creating a sustainable model — for both artists and organization.

You can help us accomplish our work by making a year-end, tax-deductible contribution online.

Your gift goes a long way. THANK YOU.
With warm wishes for the new,

Lia Gangitano
Founder/Director
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Marc Ruvolo the humpy sex god of the Chicago hardcore punk scene just sent me a sweet note with a link to some music from his record company that includes some old collaborations I did with him and his youthquake gang back in the last century.  Check it out if you dare: