Dodes’ka-den is described as “a kind of guerrilla filmmaking”. The 1970 production was month long exercise in rapid and cost effective design decision making. In the course of this exercise, Kurosawa established a bold new aesthetic for color and character driven storytelling. His use of color is iconic, and surreal, while never disrupting one’s emotional engagement with the narrative.
It’s tempting to interpret Dodes’ka-den as the foreshadowing of stylistic techniques yet to be fully revealed. Tempting; the film is minimal and schematic in relation to Kurosawa’s body of work. As strong as his feeling for color was in 1970, the thoughts come across as an emerging dialect, while later expressions “Kagemusha” (’80) and “Ran” (’85) - both of them - present formal and immersive master courses in a stunning visual language.
The Jomox “Resonator Neuronium”. Obnoxious name and I enjoy obnoxious names.
The Youtube comments are as funny as you’d expect - ranging from “This is bar-none the coolest thing on youtube…” to “very bored piece of hardware[...]”
There are other ways to generate atmospheric loops and I’ve never seen any that can be as dynamically and organically modulated; it has the potential for highly expressive if inherently unpredictable performances in the hands of a skilled tweaker. The video gives a quick impression of how the Resonator interacts with sequenced midi data and heavy delay. I believe it has 1/4 inch stereo inputs too.
Mentioned this enjoyable movie in an earlier post. The poetic true-life story treats time as a central character. Much of the footage is from the 70’s (it’s affecting to see the twin towers in their infancy). The scenes of New York are moving.
The perpetrators of the event were preparing a film from their earliest stages of planning. They spent 6 years planning the walk, and several decades producing the film.
Meanwhile, the spectacle itself is an exercise in total focus on the present, a moment which results only from a sustained vision into the distant future. Philippe Petit displays enormous organizational ability, courage, highly refined acrobatic skills and a zen like appreciation of the now moment.
“Siberiade” is a spectacular film by Andrei Konchalovsky. The four part epic story reveals many ancient and modern themes, in an ambitious effort to understand humanness in times of cultural instability.
The title of this post is in reference to Siberiade character Afanasy Ustyuzhanin, who abandons the social and economic responsibilities of his tiny village to clear a road through the woods, on course to a distant region told in folk stories as a source of great danger (”the Devil’s Mane”). His friends and family criticize this irrational pursuit. Society fears that the road will lead to spiritual ruin. The labor is backbreaking and his course is openly self-destructive.
Despite all physical and emotional obstacles, Afanasy continues until ultimately he is overcome by nature and dies on the job; pretty heavy stuff. And the question is clear - why? Why is he obsessed with this project? What drives a man to such madness?
Character Afanasy brings to mind a brush clearing fanatic down in Crawford, Texas.
Indeed, Oliver Stone paid tribute to Konchalovsky in his recent work “W.” Stone’s sequence of young W. working with a Texas oil crew invokes several scenes from Siberiade. It’s hard to not view W’s behavior in the context of characters Aleksey Ustyuzhanin and his tree chopping grandfather Afanasy.
These two excellent films are essential viewing for anyone who seeks to understand the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of economic globalization. I encourage watching them both in succession, starting with Stone.
There’s a moment during one of the black power scenes in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Sympathy for the Devil” where the narrator speaks from the perspective of the economic elite about using drive in movies as a means to control the masses. Godard’s intent was to explore mass culture as an artsy intellectual critique of the failures of intellectualism. It’s a slow paced, abstract piece with many hidden layers of symbolism, beautiful recording studio footage and exceptional narration.
The story of the film production is interesting too. Not surprisingly there were conflicts between Godard’s original vision and the final product that went to market. It’s amusing to think that a studio would work with a known trickster like Godard, and expect the results to somehow not explode in their faces.
Unlike modern productions featuring trendy pop stars, Godard’s 1968 message was that consumers were obligated to engage in the culture. He argued that fans of the Stones shouldn’t be content with the mass produced and slickly marketed blues rock of that period. Rather fans should dig deeper and learn about the roots of blues music. What’s more, you can’t watch his footage of the Stones in rehearsal without sensing a sort of bemused amateurism in these pop art icons. It’s strong realism that brings the subjects down to earth while inspiring a different type of respect for their work and the work of their producers!
Speaking of great work, friends at the Disposable Film Festival are doing a fine job shining a light on an emerging genre of video art - video produced using non-professional equipment. Their second festival in SF a few months ago was a big success and they’re organizing screenings around the world. Currently they’re hosting a Bike in Movie screening on May 13, 2009 in downtown San Francisco. It’ll be a fun night.
You have to believe Godard would be pleased to learn of a bike in screening of cool new genre of DIY movies. Maybe someone on the internet will let him know.
Many have expressed confusion about the Banksters’ success in hustling ever greater piles of public cash.
The first Yakuza Papers film was released in 1973 by the Toei Company. “Battles Without Honor and Humanity” was so brilliantly written (Iiboshi & Kasahara), and directed (Fukasaku) that it inspired a five part series, countless filmmakers, and initiated a style of crime story that is popular still. A recent excellent example is Borrone’s 2008 “Gomorrah”.
I’ve only got a minute here in between important job responsibilities and pressing concerns, so trust I won’t waste your time. Christgau’s online archive is a great place to waste some time.
Here’s a gem as Christgau recreates the experience of interviewing rock legends the Archers of Loaf.
His favorite interview question ever: “Do you love the Archers of Loaf?” His answer: “Yes. I must love this band, because I think about them more than I do myself.”
I interviewed the Archers once after a ‘93 or ‘94 show at Rick’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tough to pin down, irony was just getting hot and they owned it. Maybe the most exciting rock band at the time.
At this point no one knows which way to go… eventually someone somewhere will find someplace good and we’ll give music a new rev level and blog about it ’til you puke.
Technology is advancing far too quickly for the old safeguards of intellectual property rights to keep up, and while we wait for the technical fixes to emerge, those of us who want to explore the opportunities the Internet offers need to establish a set of ground rules that give us the power to decide how our music is exploited and by whom.
That’s singer/songwriter Billy Bragg in an intelligent opinion piece last month in the NYT titled “The Royalty Scam”.
[tags]intellectual property, publishing, Billy Bragg[/tags]
Comparing activities to golf is feeling like a lazy angle. If I ever write about something being the new golf, please submit Plan Resonate refund form #5 for complete satisfaction. That’s an honest-to-god-money-back-guarantee friends.
Employees at Seattle law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro recently got a big incentive to take up the sport. Management promised bicycles worth $3,500 to any employee who pledges to bike to work three months out of the year.
Firm managing partner and cyclist Steve Berman said he wanted to find a way to reduce the firm’s carbon footprint and encourage fitness.
Berman said he gets the bikes at cost from Ridley Bicycles for about $1,800.
So far, 35 of the firm’s 100 employees have signed up. Berman expects to hand out the bikes by May, and it will cost the firm $63,000.
Cool idea and good storytelling by Berman.
FWIW, riding a bike isn’t the same as cycling, and neither are the exclusive domain of type A fashionable at 4AM workaholics. Spandex, faux sponsorships, and $3,500 geometrically insane racing bikes are entirely optional.
