MoMMAP - Kansas City Premiere - Sunday Aug 1, 2010

Kansas City Premiere - Sunday, August 1, 2010 - 5PM - Fringe Fest, Screenland Crown Center.

I might be wrong to start thinking about John Acquadro's new feature comedy, "Most of My Memoirs Are Plagiarized" by looking up the definition of sociopath. Clad in bold primary patterns and a signature yellow raincoat, David "Ashley" Planner (Dan Keezer) is a sociopath whose Shakespearean plots-within-plots crease the film's course. But a deeper understanding of his mental state doesn't boost the pure fun of this picture. Because the pleasure in MoMMAP isn't unfolding psychodrama, it is the fast-talking humor of pivot-logic. And the puzzle isn't the human mind. It is an actual giant jigsaw-puzzle. Once solved it becomes the admission ticket into a multi-phase treasure map adventure trap. You may have already noticed. This isn't The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Photo by Julia Fredenburg.

"We're going to make your home the world again!" - Ashley

For me it is difficult to separate the fiction of MoMMAP from the reality of its making, which is remarkable since the film is such a work of surreal optimism. When John called to say that he and his group (Demalgamation, New York / New Jersey) would be shooting primarily in Kansas City and would we and my brother (Dominic Burkart, 13) go out for a role, Julia and I weren't surprised. Maybe these are the plagiarized memoirs making it hard to distinguish a summer in Kansas City from the scenario written by our good friend John.

Photo by John Acquadro.

I have always thought that once behind the camera John stops being a filmmaker and becomes a diary filmer in the tradition of Jonas Mekas and Stan Brakhage. He divorces himself from all the plans and preparations required to coordinate a project of scale, at times to the frustration of his collaborators. But he becomes astutely sensitive to the actual human moment, to the absurdity, to the beauty, to the typography of the world in time around him. He doesn't always point the camera where he is supposed to, but some of the most unlikely moments make it through to the final cut.

Photo by Dan Keezer.

MoMMAP is worth it just as an index of the strangest locations in Kansas City that cut well against Brooklyn and Omaha. It's worth it as the document of a group's ethic at a time. It's worth it only for the authentic positivity and frank wardrobe of Emily Monen as Immaculada. Close your eyes and just listen to the acoustic intervention by Teal Gardner of UUVVWWZ and the MIDI melodies of Goodbye the Band. Come out for the fantastical view of American middlebrow culture today. Stay for the burger-soda.


"Most of My Memoirs Are Plagiarized" (2010)

Dan Keezer ● Emily Monen ● Wilson Vance ● Maria Calderon ● Chris Wilson ● Jamie Burkart ● Julia Fredenburg ● Carrie Thompson ● Teal Gardner ● Arone Dyer ● Goodbye the Band ● Buke and Gass ● Joe Knapp ● Spencer Owen ● James Monen ● Lauren Pascale ● Sue Hendon ● Dominic Burkart ● Shayna Stevens ● Danica Wilson ● Jennifer Gunn ● Shan Raoufi ● Jeff Koster ● Alexandra Ackerman ● Weston Ulfig ● Ramona Fagbore ● Gladys Morris ● Nancy Monen ● Morgan Klein ● Shawn Stevens ● Jacob Stevens ● Fergus Baumann ● Alaina Hickman ● Dylan Strimple ● Chris Stoll ● Patrick Kinney ● Amy Ramsey ● Paul Baumann ● William Monen ● Dr. Michael Davidian ● George Hendon ● et al.

Managed by Emily Monen.

Written and Directed by John Acquadro

Prom Time!

A few weeks ago, some old and new friends of ours took us to the prom! The Harveyville Prom in Harveyville, Kansas in fact! A nice artist couple bought the Harveyville elementary and high schools and turned them into an artist residence and lively farm. Fortunately for us, they held a prom in the gym and we were invited to tag along! We got to stay the night in the 5th grade classroom and received a great breakfast in the cafeteria!







Quick facts: Harveyville is 1 1/2 hours from Kansas City, and the population is about 250.

New Summer Line on Etsy

New summer line on Etsy! Very Exciting!


Thanks to Laura Frank for being my charming model and thanks to Jamie for being a grade-A assistant!
My Etsy

Update : New Urban Agriculture Rules in KC

Back in April I wrote this post about urban agriculture in Kansas City and truth be told, it was a response to our friend and neighbor who was pessimistic about the new regulations possible imposed by the City Council. He thought they might muck it up.

I said buck-up! Not everything's so bad! Well, here's to you Mike Wells, things have turned out just as you have said!

Here's the latest:

• You can sell produce from your property (a bonus!)
• You cannot have "row crops" in your front yard (very sad!)

Before this was enacted, there weren't any regulation of putting veggies in your front yard. Mostly, you just had to make sure your grass was mowed and things weren't looking too decrepit. Now you can sell produce from your property, but you can't grow it in rows in your front yard. A mixed bag!

New Urban Agriculture Rules in KC

Recently a new ordinance regarding urban farming in Kansas City has been introduced in the City Council.

What will this new ordinance do?

• Residents can work on a garden or pickup veggies even if they don't own the property. Currently, you have to own the property.
• Gardeners could sell produce onsite with a special permit

Tentative! If this ordinance about new urban agriculture rules in KC passes the Planning and Zoning Committee on May 5th, then it will go to the full Council for a vote.

Read more from the Kansas City Star or from the Urban Agriculture Fact Sheet

The Study of Something New

Let's do new things, over and over until we get it right the first time. With practice and observation we will improve our craft at doing what we've never done before. Enter new situations. Invent new goals. Build better by a changing plan.

We are redhead children of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, whose wire models of movement assume that a process is made to repeat. Teach us your tricks of flex and bend. But show understanding when you find our optimal loop will not close.

Because we are not bricklayers. We never face the same job twice. Our strength and our anguish is a long tail of skill left at each site with the project complete.

"Do Easy"(1982) Gus Van Sant film adaptation of "The Discipline of D.E."(1973) by William S. Burroughs

"The Easier Way"(1946) from the Prelinger Archive

Drawings by Ian Correa

My friend Ian Correa used to be a private investigator. Once he was on a case where the husband claimed to have lost the ability to create new memories, like in the movie Momento.

Ian is camped out in his car within view of the house.


It's 2am and well lit summer streets go on forever like great indoors. We are listening to Steve Reich on a CD Ian got from the library. He rolls down the window to smoke. Ian is the best driver at night in summer after a movie. The first time he heard Steve Reich he cried, so he keeps renewing the CD. Next he puts on DJ Shadow.


At first when Ian moved away no one understood his jokes. He would make a joke in his straight conversational way and everyone thought he was a liar. For a while it seemed like this would be a real problem.


I don't know how Ian feels about communism, but when he leaves graffiti on a bathroom wall he likes to write, "Red Revolution Now."


The night before the raft project left St. Louis, we were half way home from the pizza shop where he worked for a couple years. "I talked with my boss," he said. "I quit. And I'm coming with you guys in the morning."

Ian is a practical romantic, an eagle scout. He is always down for an adventure and won't put up with bullllllllshiiiiiiit. We're climbing the ladder to the roof. We're testing all the doors. There is a hole in this fence. I trust him. He's on the inside.


Ian has always been a private person. There parts of his life that remain a mystery to me. What happened last year that wiped out his savings? I don't ask the details of his relationships. Maybe I should. Neither of us are great a keeping up on the phone. But I do look at his drawings.


You can see all 42 of the drawings Ian gave me, even (gulp) the racy ones, on flickr. I hope he keeps up the good work and doesn't mind that I put all this on the web.


Ian Correa lives at his friend Nate's house in Saint Louis. He is working on a graduate degree in Library Science and has a book club. He grew up in Kansas City and recently gave me a manila folder full of drawings. We've been friends since secret santas in sixth grade.

photo from James Johnson