Monday July 24, 2006 arts.michigandaily.com artspage@michigandaily.com IARu 9 0 ART NOTEBOOK Street Art Fair not hopele By Andrew Klein Managing Arts Editor 1 The tents are gone and the streets clear. It no longer takes 15 min- utes to move between the State and Michigan Theaters. Ann Arbor's Street Art Fair is gone, tightly packed away in innumerable SUVs and trucks. Townies and history of art majors. love nothing more than to shut themselves away in bars, nursing a pint and muttering over the fair's inanity. Why does this fair instill such disdain? The first argument is how the name "Street Art Fair" is a mis- nomer. Wander into the wrong bar and you'll hear "Street Kitsch Fair," "Street Crap Fair" and the like with the occasional expletive. The impli- cation is that the displayed works are in no way "fine art," that it's a misrepresentation of a serious pro- fession. Clocks with horrifically cute cat motifs, jade and ivory ani- mals, garden gnomes ... the word is decorative, craft, kitsch. And then there's the crowd: SUV strollers, endless sarongs and enough $200 hiking sandals and zucchini nut muffins to rival Los Angeles (well maybe). It's an annual reminder that Ann Arbor's classic hippy founda- tion is not quite so pure. Yuppie genes have polluted the bloodline and we don't like seeing it. Honestly, what do these afore- Younger Owen trumps big bro in Ex-Girifriend' ss, just misnamed mentioned 'arguments get at? To that Angell Hall's Doric columns: wax theoretical, is the production of are "masculine." art - regardless of your definition, And that absolutely doesn't matter. regardless of the crowd's demo- Should someone not "in the graphic - ever inane, hopeless or know" be censured for finding aes- t wrong? For thousands, the answer thetic pleasure in purely decorative is obvious. And it should be obvious art? You tell me. It is pretentious t to the embittered townies, history and condescending to think so. Per- of art majors included (that would sonally, I wouldn't mind if the front include myself). It can't be argued yard of my future house has a bit of this fair is evil without undermining flare to it. the truth that art is one of the most Maybe the fair needs a name important aspects of any culture. change - that's a decent argu- Federal money for the arts is next to ment. Condemning the people the non-existant. I say congratulations fair attracts ignores not only Ann to those who put their art out in the Arbor's rich tradition of large, awk- open in a country that for the most ward gatherings (um, Hash Bash?), part doesn't seem to care. but also is a denial of the fact that Then there's the all-to-common our wonderful town has a good argument that "the art fair is the streak of the insufferable yuppie in unholy union of decorative arts and her. But more importantly, it implies capitalism." Yes, there is a lot of an elitist, intellectual monopoly on overpriced crap out there - there's what constitutes "art." There are too also a lot of overpriced crap in gal- many comparisons to be made with leries across the country. But price that in mind. and quality are as wildly subjective You might feel that the "art" is as one can imagine, and the distinc- generally bad and the traffic ter- tions one makes will be as different rible (no one will argue that), but as the next. The vast majority of our Ann Arbor's Street Art Fair is well- country - liberal or conservative intentioned and has a good heart - could not tell you how Jackson - and it's only four days. We can Pollock changed the face of art or handle it. w . t : . t t t t By Imran Syed Daily Arts Writer One week after his funnier, smarter older brother Owen debuted the worst comedy of his career ("You, Me and Dupree"), Luke Wilson stars in "My Super Ex-Girl- friend, without question his best My Super comedic accom- Ex-Girifriend plishment. At the Showcase Luke seems to and Quality 16 have _ stolen his 20th Century Fox brother's patented, slow-witted charm and down-home careless bliss, and uses those precious and rare qualities to per- fection in the film. Given that "Ex-Girl- friend" is far from a great comedy, it still has just enough oddball humor and an alluring sentimentality that make it ultimately satisfactory. Luke Wilson ("Old School") plays Matt Saunders, a successful architect who falls on the slightly hesitant side when it comes to personal relationships. Urged on by his buddy Vaughn (Rainn Wilson,TV's "The Office"),Mattbegins dating a woman he met on the subway, one Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman) who, if slightly controlling, is seemingly quiet and sane. But little does he know that underneath Jenny's bushy brown locks and trademark "nerdy superhero alter-ego" glasses is G-Girl, the local superheroine known for busting crooks, putting out fires and just generally being super-heroic. But my friends, superheroes are people too. They have feelings; they cry, they laugh and sometimes, they get angry and shove a chainsaw up a man's ... yeah. In its goofy, light-hearted por- trayal of contemporary life, "Ex-Girl- friend" actually does an admirable job of highlighting the impossible logistics of a superhero lifestyle. Sure, Superman and Batman are all wonderful, genial "What do you mean you lost Uma Thurman's number?" upholders of justice and liberty, but how exactly do they unwind and settle down for a quiet evening with Lois Lane or for that boring board meeting at Wayne Enterprises? We know of their heroics and sometimes learn of their private insecurities but never do real superhero movies get into the ordinary problems our favorite heroes must face. Sure, there have been films like "Sky High" and "The Incredibles" which attempted to take the superhero movie and add a dash of the mundane, but none of those were any good. "Ex-Girl- friend," while inevitably cheesy and sometimes laughably over the top, is a far better attempt at producing a movie where a superhero is simply a charac- ter. So while it's not a superhero movie per se and is mostly a regular romantic comedy, lucky for us, it's a pretty good romantic comedy, accentuated by the outlandish character of its romance. Luke Wilson, usually at his best as the butt of a better comedian's jokes (see "Blue Streak"), turns out to have a comic quality of his own, and it should surprise no one that it's very similar to his older brother's. Always perfect as the hopeless but likable guy who's in way over his head, he thrives as the clueless punching bag for his over-worked, under-appreciated super- spouse. And in his scenes with Rainn Wilson, there is a touch of that widely desired yet unachievable buddy com- edy magic; their relationship almost works, then falls flat, but falls spectac- ularly and with awkward glances and phrases to spare. And of course, even super lives have problems; even superheroes can't make someone love them. The unexpected twist the movie concludes with is just as outrageous as the rest of the film and actually a pleasant escape from the "against all odds, romance endures" bombast of most romantic comedies. Like the film itself, the ending is clum- sy, cloudy and hardly contingent, but in a way such that it's almost believable and ultimately entertaining. second annual a e a Try to find the "Fake ad" in today's paper and throughout the month. If you think you have found the ad, e-mail your guess (with your name and page number of the ad) to: displayomichigandaily.com (subject: fake ad contest) Contest sponsored by Papa John's Pizza. Winner will receive i Free Large Pizza Winner will be chosen at the end of each month and will be contacted by e-mail.