Flaming Pablum

Descent

1,309 1/2 Weeks

According to Moviefone -- and they would know, I suppose -- this week marks the 25th anniversary of Adrian Lyne's much-maligned "9 1/2 Weeks," the prototypically soft-core kink flick and quintessential 80's artifact that launched a thousand tepid imitators. It jump-started Kim Basinger's career and marked the first of a long series of lamentable missteps for the then-promising Mickey Rourke. Ultimately, it's a fairly hollow vessel -- a stylishly-wrapped present without much inside to recommend it. In his article for Moviefone, writer Gary Susman cites five reasons why the film has had a lasting effect. For the most part, I agree with Gary (I'll let you click on over there if you care). But I think he's forgotten a crucial element.

Despite it's inarguable dearth of significant substance, "9 1/2 Weeks" is an elegantly stylish love-letter not just to Kim Basinger's curves, but to New York City. Like a clutch of other films of its era -- notably Tony Scott's equally-masturbatory-but-still-far-superior vampire flick, "The Hunger" --- "9 1/2 Weeks" depicts NYC with artful panache, rather starkly contrasting the NYC films of a decade earlier like "Marathon Man," "French Connection," "Panic in Needle Park" and "The Taking of Pelham 123." Those films portrayed New York City as caked in a patina of greasy soot, whereas so many shots in "9 1/2 Weeks" -- from locations in the Village to Coney Island to the Chelsea Hotel and SoHo -- make the city look positively enchanted.

Don't get me wrong -- it's still a botched endeavor and a squirm-inducing portrayal of smug misogyny at the end of the day. Lyne would replicate the formula with more commercially-successful results a couple of years later with "Fatal Attraction," which also features some stylish shots of Manhattan.

For all its flaws, though, I still kinda dig "9 1/2 Weeks." Give it another shot and see if you agree. Here's a small taste of what I'm talking about.

Stirring It Up on Staple Street

In perusing through Gothamist this morning, I came upon this interview with the dubiously-named GiGi La Femme, a buxom burlesquer who is apparently trying to re-inject NYC with a bit of old timey spice. Good for her, I say. In any case, the only reason I'm citing it here is that I was struck by the photo that accompanied the interview (appended at the top of this post -- thanks, Gothamist), of the scantily-clad GiGi posing seductively (and, I'd imagine, uncomfortably) right in the middle of one of my favorite Manhattan byways, Staple Street in TriBeCa.

Inspired by same, here are a few shots of the picturesque strip in question (the last one featuring -- once again -- the Beastie Boys). Film fans might also recognize Staple Street as the ominous back alley behind Puffy's wherein Ed Harris kills John C. Riley in "State of Grace."

Here in My Car...

Just an artful little shot of a 1962 Super Beatle, parked -- if I'm not mistaken --around 59th Street & Fifth Avenue (if that's indeed the Plaza reflected in its windshield). This photograph comes courtesy of the Tumblr, Whitey's Place. It reminded me a bit of the photograph below I snapped of a Mini Cooper in the West Village in 2000 (before they became maddeningly ubiquitous).

 

I Need a Ray of Sunshine

Jeremiah Moss has an informative post up this morning about the fate of the fabled Chinatown Fair on Mott Street, arguably most famous for attractions like its dancing chicken. Said fowl was immortalized in song by Brooklyn's own Life in a Blender. I've put it up here before, but what the hell -- here it is one more time. Crank it.

For more from the mighty Life in a Blender, click here.

Beasties in the Streets

I don't really know how I made the leap from one to the other, but after reading Yukie's latest piece on dumpster diving in the SoHo of her youth, I recalled an ancient, pre-Hip Hop Beastie Boys video wherein the fledgling foursome (back when future Luscious Jackson member Kate Schellenbach was still in their ranks) and their youthfully punky pals are depicted frolicking with juvenile abandon amid what looks like the then-grimy, industrial streets of SoHo. Maybe someone recognizes the specific locales or is the editing too quick?

You've Got to Set Them Up

Sure, I saw them last summer, but being that they're about to sign off for good, I was talked into seeing LCD Soundsystem again, late next month at -- again -- shitty Terminal 5. Boogie!

What Are Words For?

A little over a year ago or so, I started a Tumblr page for no readily apparent reason other than abject boredom. Get Back to Work turned into a giant, vacuous, id-satiating timesuck that served no real practical purpose other than acting as a seldom-perused depository of images (everything from comic book covers to `Net memes to pictures of vintage New York City to old movie posters to favorite album sleeves and all points in between). I'd meant it to be sort of a companion site to Flaming Pablum, but I'm not sure it's really tackled that task. Get Back to Work has attracted a paltry 129 followers from the Tumblr community, but I figured that since I've slapped up loads of cool NYC pics in there (in between photographs of favorite musicians, flyers from long-ago hardcore shows at long-since-torn-down venues, stills from cult movies and the odd video clip), perhaps you -- the non-Tumblrite -- might enjoy it. There's precious little reading involved (giving you a much-needed break from my slavishly verbose, masturbatory prose), so let that be an incentive. It's junk-food for the eye. Go get it. Below are a few choice examples of what to expect.

Looking Down Lafayette

Oliver & Charlotte, gazing south this morning from the second floor window of the Astor Place Kmart.

Goin' Downtown

I thought this was pretty cool. From Yorkville to the Lower East Side in 53 seconds.