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Who Is Marina Abramovic?

The name has become more and more present as the weeks have recently gone by. The artist appeared in Jay Z’s new music video and Lady Gaga is a huge fan and even participated in a video showing the “Abramovic Method” in support of the Marina Abramovic Institute.

Don’t know what we’re talking about? Here are some hints:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMG2oNqBy-Y

A simple history:

Marina Abramovic is a performance artist whose art deals with the ideas of the limits of the body, the mind, the spirit and the relationship they all share. Having lived a very military lifestyle in Serbia, all of Abramovic’s early performances were done before 10 pm, as her mother insisted that she be home by then.

Her early pieces was a very graphic and provocative performances with Rhythms 10, 5, 2, and 0. Rhythm 0 in is memorable in particular as she sat still for 6 hours in front of a table with 72 objects and let the audience do whatever they wanted to her with them. She later collaborated with Ulay (another performance artist) in many projects that attempted to create and explore the idea of a non gendered existence and a their existence beyond man and woman, known as “the self”. Her collaboration ended with their final performance piece together as they each walked the Wall of China from one end and met in the middle.

Her later performances, and the ones that seem to inspire the new generation and renewed interest in her is her performance in MoMa “The Artist Is Present” where she sat perfectly still and people were encouraged to sit across from her. Some people got angry, some wept, and some proposed marriage.

Why is she still so captivating, even to a new audience?

Abramovic isn’t afraid of danger or to go to the extremes. She isn’t afraid to make her audience uncomfortable and everything that she does is well thought out beforehand. The fact that performances like hers can now be filmed and shared through YouTube make her even more dynamic and accessible to a much bigger audience. You can find clips of “The Artist is Present” on YouTube, there was a Facebook group called “Sitting With Marina”. In a world that seems to love the new and unexpected, Abramovich has become more relevant than ever.

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1 More Adventure?

There are few franchises that can be considered classics, and the Indian Jones is definitely one of them. The character himself, a college professor who is sarcastic, funny, and a great adventurer finally answering to the great question in life: Yes, smart guys can be cool too.  Movies and later television shows made archaeology cool and history interesting for people, which is no easy feat.

Why do we love him? Producer Frank Marshall put it best when he said, "Indy [is] a fallible character. He makes mistakes and gets hurt...That's the other thing people like: He's a real character, not a character with superpowers. Spielberg said there "was the willingness to allow our leading man to get hurt and to express his pain and to get his mad out and to take pratfalls and sometimes be the butt of his own jokes. I mean, Indiana Jones is not a perfect hero, and his imperfections, I think, makes the audience feel that, with a little more exercise and a little more courage, they could be just like him."

It seems that Harrison Ford wants one more crack at this beloved character, but should there be another one?

....We’re hesitant to yes because of the last movie. The movie took a strange turn of events with the addition of an alien race and Cate Blanchett as a Soviet Union officer.

With that said, we’ll always love the character and everything he represents. Harrison Ford is good at what he does, maybe when Lucas and Spielberg find their MacGuffin, they can have one last hurrah.

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Hot Or Not? Selena Gomez Sparkles In An Aquatic Blue Mini

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Such a funny show!

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OMG can he be any more talented?!? 

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How cute is he? LOL!

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Come on talent, get your videos uploaded! The world needs to see you shine.

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Young Duet. A good reminder to CASTINGHUB members that you need to get your video reels up! 

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Another very talented teen!

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Love this girl! <3

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Who knew Ariel Winter from Modern Family (the funniest show in history) could sing! 

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25 Spectacular Movies You (Probably) Haven’t Seen

Human Traffic

Very unique comedy about the drug/club culture in the UK. Five friends ponder society, drug use and their own lives as they go about their usual weekend of snorting, smoking, popping, dancing and sex.

The Matador

Pierce Brosnan plays an assassin going through a mid-life crisis as he approached retirement. He’s like 007 on a spree of existential questioning. Very funny.

The Good, The Bad, And the Weird

Two comical outlaws and a bounty hunter fight for a treasure map in 1940s Manchuria while being pursued by the Japanese army and Chinese bandits. This movie puts a crazy asian spin on the classic western theme. Extremely entertaining.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

A group of college students go camping for the weekend and, through a series of unlucky events, begin thinking that the harmless Tucker & Dale (pictured above) are trying to kill them. Tucker and Dale in turn think the kids are carrying out a group suicide pact. Hilarity ensues.

New Kids Turbo

An absolutely nutty movie from the Netherlands. Picture the guys from Jackass, minus 50 IQ points, making a movie with a plot. These guys take matters into their own hands when they lose their jobs and aren’t paid ‘enough’ unemployment from their government.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang

KKBB is a murder-comedy (?) with the epic cast of Val Kilmer as a private-eye and Robert Downey Jr. as thief pretending to be an actor to seduce the beautiful Michelle Monaghan, who is actually an actress.

Big Trouble

Big Trouble is one of those movies where all of these different people end up intertwined at the end of the movie. It’s has Tim Allen, ‘Puddy’ from Seinfeld, and it’s freaking funny. Enough said.

Once Upon A Time In The West

This is the most EPIC western film of all time. Even if westerns aren’t your cup of tea, give this one a chance. A master gunslinger returns to town to take revenge on a foe from his past. He makes Chuck Norris look like a total pussy.

Persepolis

A fascinating and truly unique animated film about a girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The story follows the girl as she grows up and struggles with her identity as a woman and an Iranian in a modern world.

13 Assassins

Where Once Upon A Time in the West defined ‘epic’ in the western category, 13 Assassins defines it in the martial arts category. As you could have guessed, 13 elite assassins ban together to take out an evil war lord. The final scene is a massive fight within a city the assassins have rigged with booby traps. Can I say epic again?

El Secreto De Sus Ojos

An aging detective takes on an old murder case that was never solved.

The Terminal

Tom Hanks stars as a foreigner from a war-torn country who is forced to live in a U.S. airport terminal until he is granted a green card. Having no money, Hanks comes up with a number of interesting ways to stay fed and comfortable during his stay.

Attack the Block

Aliens are attacking the UK. It’s up to a team of teenage hooligans to fend them off while angry drug dealers and police fail to see the invasion coming. This movie is very similar to ‘Sean of the Dead’ with it’s unique combo of comedy and gore.

Dr. Strangelove (Or How I Stopped Worrying And Learned to Love the Bomb)

The great Stanley Kubrick directs a story about a crazed American general who launches a nuclear missile at Russia during the Cold War and told the bomb squadron to ignore any commands to turn back. Meanwhile the American government races to find a way to fix the situation and prevent global nuclear war.

Downfall

Downfall chronicles the last few weeks of Hitler’s reign before the end of WWII. His highest ranking officers struggle between blind allegiance and fear as Hitler remains in denial of the impending defeat. Extremely interesting.

Tropic Thunder

A troupe of movie actors are dropped into a war zone that they think is all planned for the movie they’re shooting. Best two parts of the film: Robert Downey Jr. is a method-actor taking on the part of a black man & Tom Cruise shows up unexpectedly. I won’t say anymore…

The Fall

A hospitalized man unfolds a story to a young girl, battling his own demons within the story as he goes. Think Princess Bride, but a whole lot more colorful.

The Invention of Lying

Ricky Gervais lives in a world where no one lies, or even considers lying possible. One day he suddenly realized that he can. Everyone else believes literally everything he says, including that a woman must sleep with him immediately or the world will end. His fibbing is slippery slope that leads Ricky to be the only man on earth who knows what happens when you die (cue religion jabs).

Drive

Ryan Gosling is a badass getaway driver (think Transporter) who finds himself falling in love with the married girl next store. He finds himself in trouble when he tries to help her out by driving her husband to a robbery. Amazing soundtrack with a very unique feel overall.

There Will Be Blood

Based on Upton Sinclair’s Oil!, There Will Be Blood tells the story of a small oil tycoon (Daniel Day-Lewis) fights his way to the top of the industry in gold rush era California. The soundtrack, cinematography & dialogue are flat-out AMAZING. I almost didn’t include this one because it’s a well-known academy award winner (Best Actor & Best Cinematography), but it’s too good to not mention.

Brick

Joseph Gordon-Levitt pushes his way through the underbelly of his high school to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. All of the classic elements of a noir are cleverly translated to the high-school movie format. Is Levitt ever in a bad movie? Think about it…

Hard Candy

This film is not for the light of heart. A young girl takes justice into her own hands by seducing a suspected pedophile online, To Catch a Predator-style. Ellen Page displays a shocking level of maturity and prowess as she unleashes an intensely psychological punishment on the unsuspecting man.

Man On The Moon

Jim Carrey gives his most transformative and most-overlooked performance as the ‘eccentric avant-garde comedian’, Andy Kaufman. He may look like Ace Ventura in this picture, but I assure you Carrey makes this movie a must-see without any of his usual immature humor.

City Island

A dysfunctional family comes together when they take a troubled youth into their home who disturbs their delicate web of inter-familial lies, including a son with a fetish for watching large women eat and a father with the secret dream of playing a gangster on-screen.

Romeo + Juliet

Check out this artsy, modern adaptation of the classic love story. The lines are still in Old English but this film does a wonderful job of visually translating Shakespeare’s cryptic diction while keeping you entertained.