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Heidi J. De Vries

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May 26, 2003
Casa Dulce
Friday evening I made my way to the Sanitary Fill Company (aka the dump) in south San Francisco for the closing party of Isis Rodriguez and Nicole Repack's art installation Casa Dulce. Created as part of the SFC's artist-in-residence program, the two women were encouraged to turn items salvaged from the garbage into art. My personal favorite was a dressing table inlaid with a patchwork of denim and topped by a vanity painted with their own interpretation of The Two Fridas. I also loved their bedspread of discarded Giants baseball cards and the strong influence of graffiti art throughout their work. In another section of the warehouse Jon Rolston had assembled an impressive array of found objects into his own narrative entitled "Careers in Creative Writing". I had to snicker when I spotted an evolve.com coffee mug in the jumble. As I left the party I peeked into an adjoining section of the transfer station where the piles of stinky garbage were awaiting their fate. Sea gulls glared back at me and dared me to mess with their treasures.

Saturday evening I received a last-minute invitation from Dan and Carol to accompany them to see The Matrix Reloaded, and I spontaneously agreed to see it even though it would be my second time. I don't feel the need to write any sort of review for this film, as the interweb is already fit to burst with opinion that is certainly more knowledgeable about its philosophy and obscure references than I could ever hope to be. However, I will say that I enjoyed it more this time because I completely disengaged my brain and revelled in it on a purely visual level. The visual of Carrie-Anne Moss's shiny shiny boots, for instance. And I found JD's name in the credits!

After the movie Dan and Carol lured me back to their place to watch Laputa and to pet their Very Nice Cat Oprah. I decided to do this instead of attending the party Kitchen Sink was throwing to celebrate the publication of their third issue, so to compensate I picked up a copy of said issue at my local independent bookseller the next day. Now I'm feeling a twinge of regret for not making it out to see Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu play at the party. Because the magazine itself, though housed in a shiny pretty binding, just isn't that great. Better content, less pretension, please. I know I know, pot, kettle, black.

My Memorial Day holiday consisted of some heavy-duty lazing around the house, but I did manage to watch a couple of DVDs. The first, Le Million, was a very silly French comedy about a man who wins enough money in the lottery to settle all of his many debts, if only he could track down where he left his ticket. The cast had a delightful tendency to burst into song at any given moment. The second film, Black Narcissus, was another creature entirely, the story of five nuns sent to minister to the natives high in the Himalayas. They all slowly start to lose it in one way or another, and the film artfully calls into question the ideals of missionary work as well makes you wonder whose souls really need saving. Even if the story weren't engrossing (which it was), Black Narcissus would be worth seeing for the cinematography alone. The colors blew me away.

Sanitary Fill Company's Artist-in-Residence Program
Nicole Repack and Isis Rodriguez
The Matrix Reloaded
Kitchen Sink
Deerhoof
Xiu Xiu
Lunchboxing



   



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