You getting this, Zapruder?

First of all, yesterday morning I heard this awesome story on NPR's Morning Edition about a 102 key grand piano. I've never heard anything quite like it. Even playing normal pieces intended for 88 key pianos sound brighter. You can literally hear every single note being played with such clarity. Now we need some wacky composers to make new pieces for it. I'll get on it right away once someone gives me a grant for $300,000.

Now today was the first day of classes at my beloved MassArt.  Junior Screening 2. I had only been back for ten minutes and we were already watching a video about the 1972 Republican National Convention. Great. Just what I need before I have my coffee in the morning, a face-full of rabid Nixon supporters. The piece was called Four More Years (1972) and was made by the San Francisco collective TVTV. Overall, I liked it. It was shot on a Sony Portapak, the first portable video camera, so it made Nixon's Nazi Youth supports even more freaking creepy. Every frame of the washed out b&w video made Miami look like a city in a third world country. Also, the piece made me want to re-read Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72. After seeing the video, HST's descriptions of the scene seem dead freaking on- the decrepit Nixon supporters, the mind-boggling width of Ronald Regan's shoulders, and the eerie silence of the Vietnam Vets Against the War protesters outside the hotel. Maybe I'm a frustrated journalist. I feed off of shit like that.

Actually another radio show that would be fitting for this subject is this week's episode of This American Life. It's about kids given the responsibilities that are usually reserved for adults- like whether or not America should invade Grenada.

Then what did we watch next? The fucking Zapruder film. Really Prof. G? You want to crush our spirits that much? This was followed by Ant Farm/T.R. Uthco's The Eternal Frame (1975) which is a re-enactment of the assassination (well more so a re-enactment of the Zapruder film itself) right in Dealey Plaza. Was it accurate? Almost to the frame. Was it offensive? Jackie O was a dude in drag.

My class tomorrow has been canceled so I am looking at a four day weekend. I have no idea what to do with myself. If I'm smart, I'll write and go to the MFA and other fabulous things. If I'm stupid, I'll watch TV and Stumble until my fingers bleed. Let's hope for the former.