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Friday, December 7, 2007

Kind Waters

posted by on December 7 at 14:18 PM

Open the December issue for ArtForum and will find these kind words by John Waters:

john_waters_1.jpg

“Zoo is a jaw-dropping, sympathetic documentary of the so-called Enumclaw Horse Incident.” On his top ten films for the year, he gave Zoo the high position of number 4. Thank you, John.

RSS icon Comments

1

Kudos!

Posted by Carollani | December 7, 2007 2:29 PM
2

Congratulations!

Posted by Miss Stereo | December 7, 2007 3:16 PM
3

jeez that guy looks like a skinny effete Jack Nicholson

Posted by vooodooo84 | December 7, 2007 3:42 PM
4

John Waters: a man known for his good taste.

Posted by Travis | December 7, 2007 3:44 PM
5

Am I the only one here who doesn't get Waters' popularity? "Serial Mom" was OK, but "Pecker" and most of the Divine movies were unwatchable for me, even though I liked Divine.

What's the attraction?

Posted by Wolf | December 7, 2007 3:48 PM
6

wolf - i feel the same way about vagina, hillary clinton, and doritos. i've come to the conclusion that some things you're just not meant to understand, and there's nothing wrong with that. those little differences are what make people so special!

that being said, "polyester" is the best fucking movie ever made.

Posted by brandon | December 7, 2007 4:05 PM
7

Wow Wolf,
If you have to ask then you just don't get it. John Waters' early movies are the very pinnacle of tasteless humor. The incredible cha cha shoes scene in Female Trouble, the revolt against Queen Carlotta in Desperate Living, actual queers sucking on bike seats in Multiple Maniacs, Crackers and Cookie having sex with a live chicken in Pink Flamingos, the singing rectum, the Cavalcade of Perversion...my cup runneth over. The man's genius for crazy and disturbing human behavior was just bottomless. But man, none of that even matters...the movies are just funny as hell. Can you really think of Divine in a church, eating her murdered boyfriend, then being raped by a giant lobster, and not gasp in awe? Not me.

Posted by Gurldoggie | December 7, 2007 4:12 PM
8

I understand Doritos. I still have some Polyester scratch-n-sniff cards here somewhere.

I just don't get what it is about Waters that makes him, well...him.

I gotta say, though, that "Full of grqace" was a catch phrase around the house for a while after we watched "Pecker." It was just absurd enough to be funny.

Posted by Wolf | December 7, 2007 4:13 PM
9

@ #7: Oh, I got it. I'm beginning to think now that I have enough people around me like them that I see nothing interesting about them on-screen. Although Edie the Egg-Lady was a favorite, god rest her soul.

Maybe seeing my life on-screen just doesn't have a lot of appeal. I don't think they're horrible movies, just not very interesting.

Posted by Wolf | December 7, 2007 4:17 PM
10

Congrats Charles. Baltimore in the House!

Movies by Waters I've found fun, taboo, challenging, yadda yadda. But I think my fondest appreciation of him is knowing his hometown somewhat. Back in the 90s I spent a week there, staying at some perfomance artists' loft. Walking near Fell's Point and stopping in shops, and talking with people, some who are fanactical about Waters, having met and known him, is usually an acid-test for me to break through the sterile "medium" of art. As always, I'd like to go on, but unlike certain dickwads, I don't get off on my ability to "yack?"

Posted by June Bee | December 7, 2007 4:36 PM
11

Charles, that is very good to hear.

Posted by Mudede Reader | December 7, 2007 4:47 PM
12

Way to go, Charles. We thought "Zoo" was excellent.

Posted by Damien | December 7, 2007 4:49 PM
13

Yeah, congrats Chaz. I admired "Zoo" as well even though the subject matter ventures into an area that makes me very squeamish. Zoophilia was handled as well as it could have been and bravo. Hard to imagine, though, someone so fucked up could be otherwise functional. Got the same kind of uneasy squirm going watching "The Piano Teacher" which is a fiction but possible.

Oh, by the way. Took your advice and rented both the doc about the making of and "Soy Cuba" a few weeks back. Spellbinding both. Thanks for the tip.

Posted by Bauhaus | December 7, 2007 8:47 PM
14

That is fabulous. Congratulations!

Posted by Clint | December 7, 2007 11:12 PM

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