Glass Half Empty.

-  ARTIST OF THE DAY: Roxie Vizcarra.  That will take you to her official site, she also has a blog (though she hasn’t updated since April; probably because she’s incredibly busy for being a BOSS artist).  Roxie’s art is mildly surrealistic, but her figures always seem to be anatomically spot-on.  Just check out some of her NSFW pieces.  Her use of color is great, it hearkens back to pop art a little, though her designs and compositions are much more sophisticated than that would lead on.  One word I would use for her stuff is energy.  All her art has this wicked sense of energy flowing through it.  Here’s one from her site called “Adulthood”:

-  New poster for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master”:

-  The story about the comments sections getting closed on Rotten Tomatoes “Dark Knight Rises” page has more to it than it seems.  Initially I had read that ardent fans of Nolan’s Bat-films had been so disgustingly brutal — some going so far as to offer death threats — to ANYONE who didn’t like the film, that the Admins shut down commenting.  That is true.  But there was/is a twist: film critic Eric Snider (who’s had his share of controversy before), put up a review saying this…

“The Dark Knight Rises is easily the most disappointing Batman film so far – and I’m including Schumacher’s Batman & Robin in that statement.”

Not a big deal, right?  Snider, with the power he had been granted by RT, uploaded this mini-review and when clicked, it would bring viewers directly to his site.  To up his traffic count.  Also — what’s worse — he hadn’t even seen the film yet when he posted that.  He was trolling.  For hits on his site.  Ugh.

Why does everyone get so fucking weird about these movies?  I don’t get it.  I wrote extensively about the hubub surrounding The Dark Knight upon release back in July of 2008, I may have to do that again soonish.  There are lots of cultural ticks at play with things like this.  If you’re a fan, why the hell do you care if people don’t like the movie?  I would love it if everyone didn’t like this movie… the theaters would be way less crowded.  And annoying.

-  To cope with the genocide and war and terror of the Congo, some citizens are turning to art.  Specifically, making socially conscious hip-hop music.  It makes sense, it requires the least money to manufacture.  It has always been a voice and/or outlet for the oppressed.

“Rap music provided escape and inspiration. The young men listened to it on the local radio and when the Institute’s internet connection was working, they watched videos on YouTube of American and French rap groups. Many of the youth she met were in rap groups themselves. They had organized a concert with cash prizes for winners, around $100; a large sum in a country where the average monthly salary for a teacher is around $50. The two-day event took place at the Kaoze Community Center in the village of Rutshuru, Nord Kivu.

The shows, which took place during the day due to security concerns, were full of the euphoria of youth anywhere. Using pre-recorded tracks, they sang and danced until sunset, when the Community Center was cleared.”

-Sonny