Johnny Depp upstaged by the mermaids! Yeahhhh, life does still have meaning after all;) The disappointing thing about Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, though - and it'd be hard for Mr. Depp ever to disappoint, is that it just isn't that exciting. Dariusz Wolski's 3D cinematography should probably garner an Academy Award nomination next year in a sea of forgettable 3D Hollywood efforts. But when mortals comme moi begin analysing the 3D (and wow is it quietly and unobtrusively impressive) something must inevitably be lacking in other departments. It's a shame most of the mermaids are underwater and underused except for Syrena (Astrid Berges-Frisby-a promising screen future there) captured for her tear that would unlock the fountain of youth. Now: did the film's writers borrow that idea from a Tribeca 2010 film The White Meadows (Iranian writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof) about a man who sails around collecting tears? Credit where credit is due.

But this movie does what it says on the can. It rollicks often rollercoasts along and the musicals cred of director Rob Marshall (Nine, Chicago) is really valued in choreographing the film as a whole. A crying shame there just weren't any dance/singing numbers, though. People would pay good money to see Depp, Penélope Cruz and the gang besport themselves in merry moves.

Now if Mr. Fish had taken more photos for me he would have been treated to this watery fest. Can fish feel fear? Or even guilt? By process of osmosis who does that effect the DNA of a mermaid? Oh dear, Viva had better stay stum - that's what happens when you start dating a scientist.

Opening tomorrow is the annual experimental Migrating Forms film fest at Anthology Film Archive (May 20–29) with Melanie Gilligan's Popular Unrest . Loads of bounty here shining from the watery cine depths. Each year the fest highlights a neglected director and this year Brazilian Glauber Rocha has the honour. If you miss the screenings both Black God, White Devil (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol) 1964 and Entranced Earth (Portuguese: Terra em Transe) 1967 are available on that bête noire of cineastes, DVD (thanks to a region free Brit outfit Mr. Bongo), but Antônio das Mortes (1969) is harder to find.
 Among the shorts are Cao Fei's East Wind (his exhibition Play Time opened at Lombard-Freid last night. BZV is Kevin Jerome Everson's latest (he opened last year's fest). And the the very Lower East Side Laure Provost (she's actually London based) receives a nice profiling.

Another treat for New York is the month long New Museum residency of Thai film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (my favorite being Syndromes and a Century)

Tonight's opening at the Krause Gallery looks interesting. Michael Marshall is an artist, photographer, educator, physicist, platinum printer, creative ornithologist, gardener, digital image maker, illusionist, natural historian, cartographer, wood worker, yogi, encaustic painter, professor. Not backwards in coming forwards is Mr. Marshall. And Rob Tarbell has been working with smoke on paper for years: "With Vitreous Humor, Tarbellís interest lies in fabricating immediate yet elusive objects that play with a pleasurable deception as a way to channel a collective desire to suspend disbelief. The works consider how trust is gained and how obvious fictions become reality." Hmmm...

The Kitchen's Foreclosed. Between Crisis and Possibility interrogates the term foreclosure.
Continuing at Marianne Boesky's Chelsea space are Salvatore Scarpitta's Trajectory and Ted Stamm's Works on Paper in the Project Room. Matthew Porter's The Undefeated at Invisible-Exports is an artistic dialectic of Jane Fonda and John Wayne's hollywood careers. And any chance to see the work of Chaim Soutine shouldn't be passed up - you even get Francis Bacon for the same visit (Helly Nahmad Gallery – located in the Carlyle Hotel). Nor should hearing some of the legends of music in the Cafe Carlyle - Bobby Short's 'hang out'. Viva was in a spin for weeks after seeing Eartha Kitt there many moons ago. Spooning of moons....
Dinah Washington singing Destination Moon

And The American Museum of Natural History (Fri 20th 9pm-1am) has One Step Beyond vibing in the Hayden Planetarium with live bands, DJs, and VJs at the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Cocktails in space - tickets are $25 but that does include a free future visit to the museum. (You have to be 21 or over because of the alcohol though)

100th anniversary of Gustav Mahler's death yesterday. Can't wait to see Percy Adlon's (does anyone remember Zuckerbaby or Baghdad Cafe?) film Mahler on the Couch
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