(no subject)

Went to see Toy Story 3 at the Prince Charles in Leicester Square. I'm going to write a stern letter to the manager of that place about the quality of their cleaning services. There I was, watching the film, when I got something in my eye, three damn times! Once near the beginning and twice near the end! Unacceptable!

Seriously though, a wonderful film. So many great things, I loved Spanish Buzz but the scene where Andy sits down with Bonnie and introduces her to all his toys was really well done. The pre-film short Day & Night was great too, being dialogue-free it harked back to the sorts of cartoons that used to get shown to fill up five minute spaces in the TV schedules, or on Rolf's Cartoon Time.

Even stepping out into a pouring with rain, autumnal Leicester Square couldn't get me down.

"The new Scissor Sisters album, They've got Ian McEwan doing guest vocals."

Overheard on the Number 11 bus on my way to Camberwell, which is apparently the new Vauxhall.

I went to check out the new Fourth Plinth nominees. It was a strong showing, no obvious duds like Bob and Roberta Smith's 'Faîtes L’Art, pas La Guerre (Make Art, Not War)' or Tracey Emin's meerkats. That's not to say I liked all of them though.

It was the two offerings by duos that failed to inspire me, Elmgreen & Dragset's Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 (left) and Allora & Calzadilla's Untitled (ATM/Organ) (right), though I'll admit I don't know why. There's a certain po-facedness I feel coming off of them. Untitled comes off as the work of accountants who think they are amusing because one time, right, one of them wore a green tie to work and it was the talk of the office for days afterwards. There may be something profound to say about the relationship between commerce and religion or money and music but Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla don't appear to have taken any time to figure out what it might be as far as I can tell from websites and leaflets. With Fig. 101 I'm unconvinced by the spectacle of putting up there the child on his rocking horse rather than the blood-soaked general on his charger that the boy may become. I think it may just come down to my personal prejudice against depictions of the child as the golden innocent as yet unsullied by our too cruel world. But I cried at Toy Story 3, so don't you call me a monster.

In saying that those two were over serious I'm not saying that the best art is flippant or that the Fourth Plinth should have a punchline on it, but I think putting a Cock up there is a justifiable thing to do. I like the blue colour, although I don't think it would work when in situ, but Fritsch's Hahn/Cock amused me.

As did Brian Griffith's Battenberg. It's certainly got the strongest art bullshit justification for it on the Fourth Plinth website, go and see!

It's Never Too Late And You Can't Go Back by Mariele Neudecker looks good as a small model when you look down at it but I don't think works at all in how it's described as working at full size on the plinth. The description talks about haunting beauty of the British landscape but I can't see how viewers are going to see this. Even if it's considerably bigger in proportion to the plinth than this model shows it's not really using the space in any useful way.

So my pick for the plinth is probably Sikandar by Hew Locke. It reminds me of the elephants from a few months ago and, considering that Boris Johnson did say at one point that he wanted to abolish the Fourth Plinth concept and just stick another statue of some dead white guy up there, something which is a détournement of any of his ideas will naturally please me. He was also successful in Afghanistan which is more than we can claim these days. Vote Sikandar, you know it makes sense!