How To Enjoy 2012

(Minorish spoilers for 2012, but trust me, it doesn't matter)

Do you love movies about the apocalypse? Sure, we all do. One of the most unpleasant aspects of being aware of your own mortality is dealing with the fact that the world actually DOESN'T revolve around you, and once you're gone the story of mankind will continue just fine. In apocalypse movies, not so!  Sure, you're going to die, but take this lovely parting gift with you; everyone else and the world!

As much as I love seeing famous landmarks fall down, it's a sad fact of Hollywood movies that the better the special effects, the most emotionally dishonest the story is going to be. I don't go to an apocalypse movie to feel good about how mankind's plucky will to survive can withstand even supervolcanos and ash blocking out the sun for a million years - I go for the catharsis of oblivion!

2012 does has some wonderful action setpieces in the first hour, and does a nice job of ramping up the tension on their way there. I would not entirely disuade you from spending 10-12 dollars on it, as long as you follow my advice on how best to enjoy it:

1. Sneak a beer in
2. Watch the first hour, or however long it takes them to get to China

Third and most important step after the jump...

The Year In Film In One Image

You know, we at Geekanerd could have done one of those big "Best Films of 2008" articles, but why bother when this Village Voice cover sums it up in one image. This is really all you need to know about 2008. Here's hoping 2009 offers more surprises.

Weekanerd NYC: Propaganda Shorts, Oscar Shorts, and Shorts You (re)Made!

Friday, January 18

• Dawn Of Japanese Animation: Propaganda
  
• 7pm @ The Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, Manhattan

Animated war propaganda is as entertaining as it is unsettling, as anyone who's watched Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines will attest. As a sheltered American, I've rarely had the chance to see propaganda from other countries, and this sample of animated shorts from 1930-40s Japan promises a very different brand of ambiguity-free emotional manipulation. These films will be presented with recently created music and live narration, and the program includes titles such as Momotaro's Sky Adventure and Sankichi the Monkey: The Storm Troopers. $10, $4.50 for students.

This year's crop of Oscar Short Docs and Michel Gondry invites you to (re)make art, after the jump...

Saturday, February 16

• Be Kind Rewind Exhibition
  Noon to 6pm@ Deitch Gallery, 18 Wooster Street, Manhattan

Do you want to make a lo-fi recreation of your favorite movie, but you need the process to be within a carefully structured environment? You're in luck! As part of a new exhibit of Michel's Gondry's art/promotion for Be Kind Rewind, Gondry will be making over the Deitch gallery in the image of the video store from his film, complete with a backlot with ready-made sets and video equipment so attendees can (re)make their own movies. The videos will then be exhibited in the gallery, so this is your shot at fame, people. Commercial New York Art World Fame!

Sunday, February 17

• 2008 Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts
  
• 5pm@ The Museum of Modern Art (Titus Theater 1), 11 W. 53rd St, Manhattan

The bane of every Oscar Pool is the Documentary Shorts category. Usually an educated guess amounts to looking up the synopsizes and trying to pick something about the holocaust. But thanks to MOMA, you can now watch the four nominees yourself and either vote your heart or gauge for yourself what those squares in the academy will like. $10 or $6 for students.

Weekanerd NYC: Fantasy College Edition - Free Nerd-Oriented Lectures & Screenings

Monday, January 21

• Wholphin Shorts Program
  
• 7pm @ Barbes, 376 9th Street, Brooklyn

Wholphin is a quarterly DVD magazine from McSweeneys, named after the hybrid spawn of a dolphin and a false killer whale. Whimsy! This screening will feature various Wholphin approved films, including selections from their upcoming Spring 08 volume. Let's hope it Death to the Tinman, a visceral take on the tin man's story from the Oz books, which plays like a cross between Wes Anderson and Salvador Dali.


Tuesday, January 22

• Adult Education: The Micro-Genre
  
• 8pm @ Union Hall, 702 Union Street, Brooklyn
  

First of all, this event is being put on by a Brooklyn magazine called Stay Free!, and that makes me upset because "Stay Free" used to be my email sig. It's from my favorite Clash song. I don't like it when people steal my shtick. This is a Secret Science Club-esque lecture series, but with lower attention span requirements (yay!). Tonight, five speakers will discuss examples of Internet-enabled "micro-genres" such as the architecture of converted Fast-Food Restaurants and Photos of Tourists Taking Photos. This is in many ways the essence of geekery.

Here's that Clash song, because it's great.

Wednesday, January 23

• "Author Interview: Lee Siegel and Against the Machine
  
• 7pm@ McNally Robinson, 52 Prince Street, Manhattan
  

This talk would actually make a pretty good companion event to the Micro-Genre lecture. Against the Machine is writer Lee Siegel's critique of how the internet has changed the way we think about art, privacy, commerce, and other aspects of life and culture. Spoiler alert: For the worse. Siegel will be interviewed by National Book Critics Circle prez Jon Freeman, and will take questions from the audience as well.

Thursday, January 24

• Jack Repcheck Lectures and Signs Copernicus' Secret
  
• 6:30 @ Cooper Union's Wollman Auditorium, 51 Astor Place, Manhattan
  

Here's a hard history of science lecture for any of you who aren't impressed by all that socio-anthro internet nonsense. Repcheck's new book focuses on the last 12 years of Copernicus's life, when it still seemed unsure if his radical anti-earth research would ever see the light of day. The most scandosious part of his book is that Copernicus had a mistress, so be sure to bring that up in the Q and A.