Bluish Barn

[post-event update]

I think we can all agree the Pizza Pizzazz schooled all other pans at The Bluish Barn last night.

Cheers to a fantastic season of gatherings.  Nothing substantiates my mitten-state residence like living next to a house where you can eat pizza and drink beer while discussing early mac artificial intelligence, mega pixels, hermeneutics, tristimulus values, and solving a morning by launching your puzzle-piece-ingesting cat through the window.  Bonus, you can now safely reference Home Alone in everyday conversation, and I will get it.

Thanks & see you next year.

 -girlnextdoor

[original post]

So we’re hoping to host a Peezha Kehvan night in Ann Arbor on Tuesday December 19th. We’re looking for pizzaeater / beerdrinker / Home-Alone-lover / types to be present. If you are interested in pizza, beer, or Kevin McAllister, please email Girl Next Door [at] bluishbarn [dot] com with dietary requirements. Or just show up at 8 p.m. But, first come first served (literally).

What is Peezha Kehvan?

Peezha Kehvan Night (devised by Claire Skowroneck and Girl Next Door) was conceived from her more sophisticated parent, Pecha Kucha, as a place for young Bluishbarners to watch Home Alone, drink Strohs, and compare/contrast various pizza baking products, including the Pizza Stone, Traditional Metal Pan, AirBake, and the famed Pizza Pizzazz.

But as we all know, give a plate to a Bluishbarner and you’ll be doing dishes for hours. The key to Peezha Kehvan Night is its patented system for avoiding this fate. Each presenter is allowed pizza and beer, then shown Home Alone. The only catch is that before leaving the Bluish Barn, they must wash and dry their dishes, and, once emptied, deposit their beer cans in the recycling receptacle. This keeps the countertops clear and Tim’s interest level in hosting future food-based events up.

Peezha Kehvan (which is certainly not Japanese) has tapped into a demand for a forum where pizza and beer are informally consumed while Home Alone is shown, without having to rent a DVD or chat up a hideous Cottage Inn waitperson. The demand for the best pizza pan will finally be met- as Peezha Kehvan Night, with a bit of blog-pushing, will bring bluishbarners together one last time before we spread to over a dozen cities across the world for the holidays.

Join us next Tuesday, 8 p.m. for Home Alone, homemade pizza, and Strohs!!!

Please spread the word.

Thursday December 14th, 8pm sharp at the Bluish Barn:

Sara Blakely
Forest Bright
Charles Fairbanks
Gabriel Harp
Melanie Manos
Lindsay Stern
Ann Stewart

Each of these presenters will show 20 images for 20 seconds each. It will be exciting. Hope to see you here.

So we’re hoping to host a Pecha Kucha night in Ann Arbor on Thursday December 14th. We’re looking for 10 artist/designer/architect/types to present. If you are interested in presenting on this first night please email Zack Denfeld at zcd@umich.edu by this Friday Dec. 8th. First come first served, but with enough interest this will become a regular event in 2007, so there should be lots of chances to participate.

This Friday 8-midnight (with music) and Saturday 11-8pm at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti, come visit me and Eric at our Sappycards / Prefabdomains / Eric’s screenprints / etc. table at the the Shadow Art Fair.

There’ll be all kinds of stuff from all kinds of local artists and nonprofits, plus free (donation) gift-wrapping. Gift-wrapping! And 9 thousand gallons of good local beer.

Also, the Fair could still use a few volunteers for things like goodie-bag stuffing and working the door and setting up tables and stuff. Volunteers get drink vouchers and goodie bags and Fair coupons. Let me know or email info at shadowartfair.com if you’re interested.

UPDATE from Jimmy:

we have a web site! jimmyrigged.com… i’m trying to get an idea of how many spoke cards and game boards to print up. so, if you’re planning on attending, drop me a line. this will help me prepare a little more efficiently. still need people to run checkpoints. if you want to volunteer, we’ll be meeting tuesday night at starbucks on state at 7pm.

Start/finish will be here at the Bluish Barn.
Sunday December 3rd, high noon
$5 entry fee
jimmyfix writes:

another ann arbor alleycat. thisone will be a little different. thanks to dennis and nils of fixed gear gallery fame for their permission to “borrow” their idea. it’s gonna’ be called skids and sprockets. i know not as cool as night of the living tread, but they can’t all be winners. it’s a take on chutes and ladders. regardless of the name the race is gonna’ kick ass.

here’s the basics. everyone will receive a board game/manifest. on one side will be a map listing all the checkpoints. on the other side will be a game board. you will roll the dice and count off the spaces on the game board. that will determine your first checkpoint. once you reach your first checkpoint you’ll roll again. again, to determine your next checkpoint (you”ll roll at every checkpoint). you will continue until you’ve completed all the checkpoints, then proceed to the finish. there will also be time bonuses and deduction spaces on the game board. this means that first to finish does not necessarily mean first place.

as always, i could use volunteers to run checkpoints. anyone
interested? e mail holdfast3000 at gmail dot com.

checkpoints:

1. the big house. ne corner of main st. and stadium
2. ann arbor cyclery. sw corner of dewey ave and packard st.
3. washtenaw dairy. sw corner of madison and s. ashley
4. west park band shell. seventh st. to the east, chapin st. to the west, miller to the north, huron to the south.
5. nichols arboretum. washington heights entrance, off medical center dr.
6. gazebo at the end of island dr., entrance to cedar bend nature area
7. bandemer park. underneath m14 overpass. main entrance to the park is where whitmore lake rd. meets barton dr.
8. the spinning cube. next to the michigan union, w of state st., e of thompson, n of madison, s of william.

girlnextdoor writes:

NO PLAN MUST BE FAIL! (If that makes no sense to you, come to sushi night and ask.)

Friday, November 17, Thursday, Nov 16th 2006 at 8:00 p.m.
Pre-Thanksgiving Sushi Dinner at the Bluish Barn with guest hosts Sarah-san and Andrea-san.
Roll your own sushi starting at 8:00, dinner and movie at 9:00.
Guests welcome but please RSVP to girlnextdoor at bluish barn dot com. We will ask for a small contribution (nori, sake, Strohs, etc) which we will coordinate over email once we receive your rsvp.

I told her no one reads this blog, so she won’t get any rsvps. Please prove me wrong.

The time has come once again to make your suggestions for movies to screen when we start back up sometime this Winter.

Think of movies that would be good to see in a room (all Winter screenings will be inside) full of people. Truly independent movies, local movies, or impossibly artsy movies that deserve to be screened at a microcinema. Plus, we always try to fit one documentary and something foreign into each schedule.

And let me know if you’d attend another Ann Arbor Film Festival pre-screening screening. They have a lot more submissions to screen, so if there’s enough interest, I’d be willing to do it again.

If you’ve never posted a comment here before, your first post will be delayed for approval by the moderator (me). After I know you’re not spam, your comments get posted automatically. And you can always email me at timothy at bluishbarn dot com.

Here’s a list of some films we’ve screened already, to give you a taste of what we like:

July 19: The Cruise
July 27: The Warriors
August 3: Badlands
August 11: If…
August 18: Instrument
August 25th: Stand By Me
August 31: Breaking Away
Sep 14: Papillon (McQueen and Hoffman in classic prison escape flick)
Tues Sep 19: [Bollywood night] (to honor Twitch microcinema; curated by Vinh/Zack)
Sep 21: City of God (Brazil; growing up gangster in poor Rio de Janeiro)
Sep 28: Titticut Follies (Wiseman doc about mental institution talent show)
Oct 5: Wizard People, Dear Reader (Harry Potter re-narrated)
Mon Oct 9: Who is Bozo Texino? (secret history of hobo graffiti; $5-$10 sliding scale to Bill Daniel, travelling filmmaker)
Oct 12: the Celebration (Denmark; Dogme #1; family dinner gone wrong)
Oct 19: Plague Dogs (animation; escaped lab dogs hunted as Bubonic carriers)
Oct 26: the Fearless Vampire Killers (Polanski vampire spoof)
Nov 2: Ann Arbor Film Festival pre-screening screening

This Thursday, 9pm SHARP, we’ll be doing a special pre-screening of submissions in the ‘experimental’ category for next Spring’s Ann Arbor Film Festival. Mostly animation. Nothing longer than 15 minutes in length, and most under 5 minutes, so it’ll be easy to come and go as you please.

There will be a gong. If anything gets unbearable, and a majority of people strike the gong - accounting for tastes, democratically - we’ll immediately stop the film and start the next one.

This is a essentially a volunteer service for the embattled A2 Film Fest, weeding out the crap so their more ‘expert’ screeners don’t have to waste their time. But I’ve taken out the real long ones and the ones with terrible blurbs, so this should be fun and full of surprises. And besides, as any halfway decent artist knows, sometimes the biggest pile of crap can be more inspiring than the most polished diamond.

The Fall season will be over after next Thursday’s Fearless Vampire Killers, then we’re taking a break until mid-Winter or so. Bring drinks and let’s celebrate the end of the season with this little-known Polanski romp.

Screenings here are only possible with a little bit of help from a lot of different people. The Bluish Barn would like to officially thank, and give a slight boost to the googleability of, the following persons:

Mikey Barringer, Eric Adams, Zack Denfeld, Zack Weber, Vinh Nguyen, Michelle Winkfield, Claire Skowronek, Andrea Steves, Josh Sanchez, Anne Ryan, Sarah Stedman, Lizzie Ayer, Geoff Goodman, Bill Daniel, Adrianne Finelli, Carrie Morris, Chris Bathgate, all our neighbors (especially the ones we share a backyard with), and anyone who’s ever folded up and stacked chairs, held up an end of the screen, or stoked the fire.

Special mention goes to anyone who’s ever come here without knowing anyone who lived here, perhaps on a night when the crowd was not large enough to hide among, meaning you had to sit in a quiet space in an awkward situation and talk to people you didn’t know. I myself am somewhat inept socially, so I really do admire your bravery. If you keep coming, you might even become a regular and be able to casually splay yourself out on the couch or not have to ask to use the bathroom or put beer in the fridge or whatever.

Seriously, thanks.

This Thursday, it’s “Wizard People, Dear Reader”. From the illegal art site:

Wizard People, Dear Reader is an unauthorized re-envisioning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by Brad Neely…Neely has crafted an as-of-yet-unnamed new art form, one everyone should experience for themselves.

Then, next Monday the 9th, it’s “Who is Bozo Texino”. From Bill Daniel’s site:

THIS SPECTACULAR TRAVEL ADVENTURE FAITHFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED IN REALISTIC BLACK AND WHITE FILM AT CONSIDERABLE RISK FROM SPEEDING FREIGHT TRAINS AND IN SECRET HOBO JUNGLES IN THE DOGGED PURSUIT OF THE IMPOSSIBLY CONVOLUTED STORY OF THE HERETOFORE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE CENTURY-OLD FOLKLORIC PRACTICE OF HOBO AND RAILWORKER GRAFFITI AND THE ABSURD QUEST FOR THE TRUE IDENTITY OF RAILROADING’S GREATEST ARTIST WILL LIKELY AMUSE AND CONFOUND YOU IN ITS SINCERE ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND AND PRESERVE THIS ARTFORM.

Sorry, I’m too busy to write something myself.

Because Bill Daniel is traveling with his film and needs to pay for gas, we put up flyers for a screening for the first time.  If you’ve never been to the Bluish Barn before, please take a moment to read the note I wrote to our neighbors to get a feel for things here.  Fall screenings begin at 9pm and always end by midnight.  Full movie schedule here.