Erik Moe Art & Design

While doing some background reading for an about.com piece, I stumbled across this tantalizing mention of the Philadelphia Housing Authority nearly earning an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject in 1941:

A PLACE TO LIVE, produced by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. In the tradition of the great progressive films of the late 1930s and early 1940s such as “The River,” “Valley Town” and “The Land,” director Irving Lerner shows the deleterious effects of slum housing. This lyrical work features a rousing, Coplandesque score.

Of course, the housing projects the PHA built in order to rid the city of “deleterious effects” became notorious slums themselves with equally deleterious effects. The projects are mostly gone now, but Philly still has a serious housing problem… If only rousing, Coplandesque scores could solve all our problems…

Yesterday’s local elections across the country were promising, with virtually every race of note swinging in favor of liberals. Here in Philadelphia, a modest ethics reform amendment to the city charter passed by a heavy margin. Even with this amendment, Philly still has a long way to go on cleaning up its politics, as evidenced by scattered reports of shady tactics in opposition to the ethics measure. From today’s Inky:

Leaflets were distributed at polling places in at least four wards - the Ninth in Mount Airy, the 11th in North Philadelphia, the 30th in South Philadelphia, and the 52d in Wynnefield - urging a “no” vote. Red-and-blue text on the leaflet said: “Vote No! to the charter change. They are up to the same old tricks!!!”

This reminds me of another reform that should come to Philly. In Minnesota (and, I would assume, most other civilized jurisdictions) you can’t campaign or hang partisan signs within a certain number of yards of a polling place on election day. Here in Philly, signs for candidates and causes often dwarf the inconspicuous hand-scrawled “vote here” sign on the door of the rec center, pizza parlor, or private home that masquerades as your polling place. Two years ago when I showed up to vote at the Palumbo Rec Center in South Philly, I had to walk past a half-dozen handicapped children who earnestly gave me puppy dog eyes and a flyer for an obscure (Republican) candidate for municipal office. Who wants to vote against handicapped children?

STANDINGS:
                    W L  PCT GB Streak
Phila. Phanatics:   4 3 .571  - Won 1
Phila. Frustration: 3 4 .429  1 Lost 1


Writing in Thursday’s Inquirer, architecture critic Inga Saffron cuts Sheldon Bonovitz and the Duane Morris mega lawfirm down to size. The lawfirm has been bragging about the Roy Lichtenstein sculpture it has so generously arranged to bring to Philadelphia (for five years) as its contribution to the city’s amazing public art collection. Art critic Ed Sozanski had previously raved about the new installation, but in reality the sculpture is barely visible to the public because the plaza it stands in has been fenced off and converted to private space for Duane Morris employees! The lawfirm has committed a huge crime by subtracting valuable public space from Center City and now is trying to get good press by passing off a corporate art trophy as a public service. Saffron also points out that Bonovitz sits on the board of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation, and used those “public service” connections to secure the sculpture for his lawfirm.

STANDINGS:
                    W L  PCT GB Streak
Phila. Phanatics:   3 3 .500  - Lost 1
Phila. Frustration: 3 3 .500  1 Won 1


After taking a blogging vacation to focus on another writing project and some design work, I return to find that the world has gone crazy. Sunday’s New York Times reports that Philly is the new Brooklyn. The article is written by Jessica Pressler, who’s byline has appeared most frequently in Philadelphia Weekly, so maybe black isn’t quite the new white just yet. Mentioned as the head of the movement to bring New Yorkers to Philly is Laris Kreslins, publisher of Arthur Magazine. Wasn’t someone supposed to introduce me to that guy?

In related news, it turns out that Kryptonite is actually good for Superman.

STANDINGS:
                    W L  PCT GB Streak
Phila. Phanatics:   3 2 .600  - Won 1
Phila. Frustration: 2 3 .400  1 Lost 1


Pictured: A $5 ticket I saved from a 1993 Fugazi show.

I took a peek today to see what it would cost to see the reunited Dinosaur Jr. at the Electric Factory on Wednesday. I was alarmed at the markups being charged:

Event Dinosaur Jr
The Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
Wed, Jul 13, 2005 08:00 PM

Review Your Order

Item                              Charge
Tickets (Dinosaur Jr) FULL PRICE  US $28.00 x 1
Total Convenience Charge(s)       US $8.40 x 1
Order Processing Charge(s)        US $4.35
Will Call                         No Charge

TOTAL CHARGES                     US $40.75

Needless to say, I didn’t complete the transaction.

Maybe this is old news, but the degree of price-gouging going on is worse than I knew. I’ve been doing my best to avoid the ClearChannel/Ticketmaster collusion for years, and hadn’t realized it was this outrageous. Here in Philly, Sean Agnew and R5 Productions have done much to raise awareness about the monolithic national concert promotion company. More importantly, he’s made it a non-issue (at least for me) by playing host to 95% of the good shows I’ve seen during my four-plus years in Philly. Unfortunately, not every town has an R5 and plenty of people are being forced to pay $40.75 for acts that should really cost no more than $15-20.

The early Dinosaur Jr. never played $5 shows, but I rarely paid more than $10 for shows back then. Lou Barlow and J. Mascis might be on the same stage for the first time in sixteen years, but there is no way the value of thier performances has gone up 400% during their long feud. Of course, the median income of those of us who were in high school when the early Dinosaur Jr. releases came out has gone up a bit. But I’m sure that has nothing to do with the band’s recent peace treaty.

Related: Salon.com’s dissection of Clear Channel | Clear Channel Sucks

I have many frustrations about the film scene here in what is still America’s fifth largest city. For the second year in a row the city’s big Fourth of July tourism push is presenting a series of outdoor screenings. That part is a fine and laudable goal. I love outdoor screenings. They are a great way of building community and reclaiming open spaces that are sometimes scary after dark.

My compliant is with the quality of the screenings. See if you can spot the problem in the picture (inset, taken from the Welcome America site). The screen is a truck with two video panels on its side. The image source is not even film. It’s a DVD that was probably rented at a local Blockbuster (hopefully they at least secured the rights for public exhibition). The two screens on the truck leave a wide black seam down the middle of the frame. Fun… You know, in France there were riots over bad projection at the cinemas…. And, if the DVD/truck combo weren’t bad enough, the company operating the truck apparently thinks it better to use all of the real estate on the “screen” instead of presenting the film at the proper aspect ratio. This means that all the characters look like Ernie from Seseme Street (squat midgets with wide heads).

Even if you aren’t a film junkie like me, you are probably thinking “that sounds really unwatchable.” You would be right. This is essentially the same thing as “exhibiting” a painting by presenting a crumpled up, sliced-in-half reproduction of the original. Admittedly, the works on display here aren’t the Mona Lisas of cinema (Rocky II, Phantom of the Opera, and National Treasure are on the bill), but is it really all that hard to do this one small thing right (especially on Welcome America’s bloated budget).

Isn’t Philly supposed to be all gung-ho about the economic benefits of building a film scene here? Wouldn’t it be smart to have the biggest, most expensive annual tourism event clued-in about a basic respect for public exhibition?

Maybe someday the non-existant department of film and new media at the PMA or the ICA will host decent outdoor film events. For now, The Secret Cinema is doing its best. Tonight at dusk is their last scheduled summer screening outside at 40th and Walnut. A Laurel and Hardy film is on the bill. It’s better than nothing, right?

STANDINGS:
W L PCT GB Streak
Phila. Phanatics: 2 2 .500 - Lost 1
Phila. Frustration: 2 2 .500 - Won 1


Today’s Inky reports on a new liberal group called Neighborhood Networks that aims to bring 21st Century activism to bear on the 19th Century one-party state that exists here. Typically backwards, Party people quoted in the article dismiss the group because it has no access to patronage jobs or party money to “reward loyalists and punish dissenters.” Maybe I’m wrong here, but aren’t loyalty and dissent kind of meaningless in a one-party system?

I was really impressed by MoveOn’s style of neighborhood organizing last fall, and I’ve been thinking that it should be used more on local politics where small numbers of people can really have a big impact. Here’s hoping Neighborhood Networks can shake things up a bit.

Related: Everything you always wanted to know about your ward boss but were too afraid for your life to ask (Young Philly Politics)

STANDINGS:
                    W L  PCT GB Streak
Phila. Phanatics:   2 1 .667  - Won 2
Phila. Frustration: 1 2 .333  1 Lost 2


According to today’s Daily News, Mayor Street says that the “smoking ban is certain” and it may even pass in the next two weeks. I’m not holding my breath (except when I go to McGlinchey’s), but it was nice to see such optimism about the long-delayed measure. So what if this is all part of Street’s Evangelical push to dictate healthy living? How often do Evangelicals get behind workers’ rights? Only in Philadelphia.

So you see, things in Philly aren’t all bad. Occasionally there are small improvements. In a blatant rip-off of the City Paper’s Bell Curve feature, I’m going to try to keep a running tally of my positive and negative Philly commentary. One article equals one win for either the Frustration or the Phanatics. This positive story balances out my recent post on Mayor Street being named most worstestest Mayor in the country, so the standings now look like this:

STANDINGS:
                    W L  PCT GB Streak
Phila. Frustration: 1 1 .500  - Lost 1
Phila. Phanatics:   1 1 .500  - Won 1


Sigh… Time Magazine has named Mayor John Street Worst Mayor in America (in a three-way tie with the mayors of Detroit and San Diego). And the City Council still won’t pass even a largely symbolic ethics reform bill.

How frustrating is it to be a progressive living in Philadelphia? Here’s a tale of two cities for your consideration. In Seattle if you want to know who has given money to a city election campaign you need only go to www.seattle.gov/ethics. In Philly, you have to walk to an obscure city records office and request access to the paper records. Oh, and you need to transcribe the records by hand. You can’t use a photocopier, camera, laptop, or anything other than a pen and paper (according to a friend who works for the city). In the age of Google can that be considered a public record? It’s almost as if people still use smoke signals to announce election results.

Film Fest season is my favorite time of year. For two amazing weeks, we cinema-starved Philadelphians have access to way more international and indie film than we can possibly see. Because last year I only really saw things at the Philadelphia Film Festival that later had longer runs at mainstream theaters, this year my strategy is to only see things that might be unlikely to screen outside of the fest. This means that I’m gritting my teeth and passing up the latest by Todd Solondz, Francois Ozon, Steve Buscemi, and Isabelle Huppert in favor of some more obscure selections. Among the picks that I already have tickets for are:

• Me and You and Everyone We Know, the debut film by performance artist Miranda July.
• Survive Style 5+, a surreal Japanese comedic action film from the ever-popular Danger After Dark sub-festival
• This Charming Girl, a debut film from Korean director Lee Yoon-ki

I’ve also plugged some of the more interesting films that might work with my schedule into iCal and published the listings here. Send me a message if you see something you’d like to go see with me.

Update: The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival is also going on now. There is usually quite a bit of overlap between the two fests. Minny readers - please let me know what you are seeing!