Watch Out

How is it that you can watch something that is so depraved, so bizarre, and so disturbing that you almost loathe finishing it but, when you are watching the damned thing, like it so much that you can’t help but enjoy it? I don’t get it. I just don’t. Such was the quandary with Watch Out a film recently released on DVD and which was based on a book by the over-the-top author (and self acclaimed Greatest Author in the World) Dr. Joseph Suglia. I have seen a lot of movies over the years and I can say, with all honesty, that this is one of the weirdest films I have ever seen. Whether that is praise or damnation I am still unsure about.

Watch Out is the story of Jonathan Barrows, a man who is so wholly in love with himself as to barely be able to contain his self focused erotic thoughts. A man so enamored with all that he is that he has created his own porn to watch of himself or to look at. Jonathan, you see, is god. Or at least the only relevant god in current existence. And thus, being god, he is beyond the conception or understanding of other humans. People, we find out, disgust Jonathan and any attempt to connect with him is always rebuffed and refused. Despite his disdain for people though, Jonathan needs to make a living so he is in Benton Harbor, Michigan to see about a professorship there, only to find that there may be no such position and that the people of this small town may not be so easy to shoo away or rebuff. What Jonathan finds is that here, like everywhere he goes, the people are obsessed with him, their attractions understandable but boring and their insistent calls for attention draining. His room is ransacked, he is harassed, and despite his charms, people are beginning to get angry with his attitude. Things escalate for Jonathan when he confronts the professor who holds the power to hire him and he finds that his charm alone isn’t enough for him to get ahead anymore. The second act of the film, which comprises the last twenty minutes, give or take, details how Jonathan became who he is, and how, anyone who stood in his way of getting what he wanted, or who annoyed him too deeply, ended up meeting with a very unhappy ending.

An over the top film, in every way, it’s hard to know what to make of it. The main character is such a bastard that you certainly don’t root for him but, against the banality and ugliness of the rest of the world, you have to admit his charms. What was funny was how often the lead actor was nude, which, while not that shocking I suppose, gets shocking considering that as the film progresses we see that the actor was definitely method acting some of his, er solo acts. Heck, there is an aspect of the film that plays like porn, and, well, may be, but it is played so straight that the sensationalism of porn is lost and you are left only with the reality of that situation. The script is completely over-written but that is clearly the intention and it is a shame that so much of the acting is so poor because, with better actors, this script would have shined a lot brighter. I think if I had one major criticism it’d be that, well, I don’t get it.

I don’t.

But that’s ok.

I mean, to a degree it’s an examination of madness, on self worship, on how boring the word is, and I am sure on other things but, too, it’s just a movie. A weird, weird movie with murder, masturbation, madness, and mammaries, and I guess that’s good enough.

Would I recommend it? Yes, with the caveat that you understand that this is not a film to take lightly. It’s a weird, funny movie that is terribly self indulgent, and will undoubtedly wear out its welcome at times but is something like you’ve never seen before.

A hard 7.

If you are interested in checking my short story collection This Beautiful Darkness out you can find it on my own Create Space site  for ten dollars -

https://www.createspace.com/3386414

You can find the book through Amazon.com as well, where you can download an e-book.

(thanks to David K. Ewen for having me on his show tonight! -

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ewenprime)

Well, here you go, another option to read the new book, this time in the DIGISPHERE!

WOOO!

So if you have one of those new-fangled Kindles you can get yourself a copy of my short story collection for five bucks.

See for yourself -

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Y26YDY

Few things are as heart wrenching as watching someone you love die but I can tell you that watching someTHING you love die can elicit similar pain and heartache. It is torture to watch something you worked on and poured your passion into as it dies, worse when you see it dying but can’t stop it.

For me right now that THING is community art and it is dying…but it doesn’t have to.

With the loss of so many federal funds, the arts have been suffering a death of a thousand cuts and what money is left is sought after by a thousand groups. Imagine a mother bird trying to feed a nest of a hundred babies with one worm. It doesn’t feed everyone and those that do eat will eat very little. Everyone wants a non-profit and everyone needs money only, well, there just isn’t a lot to get. So you have a couple choices, you evolve, or you die. A lot of places though don’t have the foresight, or leadership to evolve. I can say from personal experience that for the area I live in, if you want to do arts work, you have to be willing to sacrifice because if you want someone else to fund it then you are dreaming. The arts, I am afraid, are an extravagance to many people and that is just how it is. My friends and I did art shows in this area, indie art shows, for over two years and never once did we ask for money from anyone but ourselves. Sure, who doesn’t want access to money so you can do more and accomplish more? The thing is though, if you can’t put something together on the cheap, then what is money gonna buy? For an art show you need a venue, a way do display art, and artists. That is it. The rest is so much window dressing.

Some people prefer drapes to canvas though.

The truth is that, for now and for the foreseeable future the money for the arts is almost all dried up. There are too many programs that need funding and the arts are just lower on the priority list. So what do you do in order to survive?

Well, you can keep fighting for the little money that is out there, something that is many times necessary in order to survive if you are a gallery or have staff and an overhead. The thing here is that if you don’t get the money then you are pushed into a corner, and then what?

So sure, you can fight for money but what if you don’t get it? You can work together, or try to, and pool your resources. The inherent problem here is that te more people that get under one roof, the more voices that will be fighting to be heard above the clamor and the more hands you have outstretched. You get into a situation similar to where we started, with lots of people and little money to go around.

Or…

Or you slim down and streamline. A venue is pretty hard to get around. You can only do street art in so many places and during so much of the year, but beyond that, you need somewhere to put art up. After that, it is about getting art and a way to show it. You can promote things digitally, and, frankly, if your artists are not invested enough to get the word out as well then they don’t need to be showing. You can supply your own snacks if you have to have them, and for music, make a damn mix on a computer. It isn’t complicated, just takes some work.

So which one is the evolved choice?

All of them.
That is the thing. You have to look for the money, and the venue, you should always look for ways to work with other people, other artists, and other groups, and if you are smart, you will always look for ways to save money. And while they save money they must never forget to foster the new talent. There has to be a balance where you celebrate the artists and art that has been around the scene but you have to also usher in the new generation of artists. There is a point of stagnancy that can occur in local arts where the old artists refuse to give up their ground, refuse to look for new venues and make it hard for young artists to break through. Without the mix of old and new, you run the risk of alienating the patrons and the artists, which can also lead to the death of community arts. And without an established art scene and room for an indie scene, the art community becomes boring and stagnant.

I love the arts, and have loved being a part of my city’s arts long enough to feel tied to them. Being tied to them though, I can see the sickness in the roots here. Too much infighting, too many unchecked egos, too many hands out, and not enough cooperation. There are never enough venues, too few artists that think beyond themselves, and with newspapers suffering so much it is hard to get the word out about what you are doing in a traditional sense. If this was only about the art, my god, this area would be a mecca, with so much ready talent available, but it isn’t that easy, and, in the end, nothing is.

Community arts are dying, friends. Sure, the artists will survive, but will the galleries and cooperatives? I dunno. I don’t know that anyone does. Unless we can support ourselves, and learn to support one another, things will only get worse. But where does autonomy end and group-think begin? How much do we need to evolve to survive? And finally, when does are simply become commerce and little else?

Time will tell.

Meet Mr. Bloos, he’s a happenin’ cat, a fun guy, but, unfortunately, he is trapped in a Hell dimension, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t look good, just the same. So as he falls from tortuous dimension to torturous dimension, join Mr. Bloos on his journey, and ponder the imponderables like – does Hell have fresh linen?

Another funky drawing colored in Photoshop. With each drawing I am trying to add more, show more, do more. Trying to grow in some way. I am still learning, or maybe re-learning, though that implies I was good at it once, which isn’t the case. But here is Vikink, in all his glory.

I have been wanting to do more drawing and art stuff lately without the concern for deadlines but, as is always the case, time is not so forgiving. I drew this fella out the other day and, after way too much fighting with my scanner, scanned him in and colored him in Photoshop. I like him. I am still working on how to do what I do, and what I WANT to do, beyond silly monsters like this, and definitely need to find the time to work on doing a whole damn body and not just head shots, but, here is Nomster, in all his glory.

Brief interview with me is up on the Michigan Times website.

www.themichigantimes.com

Article by Annette Wierz

UM-Flint alumnus Chris Ringler promoted his second book “This Beautiful Darkness” at Pages Bookstore Oct. 9.

Ringlers’ book, “This Beautiful Darkness” costs $10 and can be purchased by following this link: https://www.createspace.com/3386414

MORPHEUS TALES posted their review of This Beautiful Darkness in their blog.

Dig it.

http://blogs.myspace.com/morpheustales