some quick news on two projects i currently have in the crockpot:
my second feature titled Sonny Side Down will start shooting later this fall - check the site as it progresses.
Stay tuned....
Last Rites of Bokononism - Cat's Cradle - 1963
God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"
"See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.
Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have.
I feel very unimportant compared to You.
The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around.
I got so much, and most mud got so little.
Thank you for the honor!
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.
What memories for mud to have!
What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!
I loved everything I saw!
Good night.
I will go to heaven now.
I can hardly wait...
To find out for certain what my wampeter was...
And who was in my karass...
And all the good things our karass did for you.
Amen.
May 12: The Elk Hotel at Cafe Du' Nord as pt of the 11th Annual Mission Creek Festival
( followed by a preformance by the beautiful and talented Veronica Klaus)
The Elk Hotel; A Dirty Soap Opera
"Life is a circle. A wobbly circle."
"And all of life's great secrets will be revealed during your stay at the Elk Hotel, including how to tell which potato in your mash is the biggest slut. This vision of hell is a fluorescently lit broken record of the bizarre, presided over by top-notch soap opera actors. And you can only watch in appreciation and schadenfreude as they are spun into the recursive whirlpool of the miseries and mysteries confined to the soiled rooms within the Elk..."
----NY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 2006
for a primer check out THE ELK HOTEL.COM or check the episodes on youtube.
check the Mission Creek Fest website for updates on the schedule closer to the date.
SEEING BEYOND SIGHT:
Photographs by blind teenagers
Author Reading: April 5, Cody's Books, 2 Stockton Street
The exhibition Seeing Beyond Sight is the product of Sound Shadows, a literacy-through-photography class taught by Tony Deifell, Shirley Hand, Dan Partridge and Jessica Toal from 1992 to 1997 at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC. Even before you know that these pictures were taken by blind teenagers, they are striking in their use of light and composition, and haunting in their chiaroscuro intensity. Accompanying the images are the students’ own words and captions — in which we see how much the taking of pictures came to mean to them and how the creative process works in ways rarely experienced. With its ambitious, seemingly paradoxical premise, Seeing Beyond Sight challenges our definitions of art, vision, and perception and what it really means to see.
For more information please visit http://www.seeingbeyondsight.org.
Read the review of Seeing Beyond Sight in The New York Times Sunday Book Review: http://www.seeingbeyondsight.org/book/NewYorkTimes_BookReview.html
one last thought...
miles on vinyl - WHEW!
hold on to your hats and glasses kids...an actual 'Blue Note' record.
silky smooth.
other albums i'm 'spinin' tonight:
Portishead | "Portishead"
Jane's Addiction | "Nothing's Shocking" (i love "summertime rolls")
Stewart Copeland |"Rumblefish" Soundtrack
The Decemberists | "The Crane Wife"
BRMC | "Take them on, on your own"
Jane's Addiction | "So What" 12" Deep Red remixes
so i've been damn busy the last few weeks (apologies to those whose calls/emails i haven't returned), but i'm back in the saddle this weekend - finishing the first draft of my next feature titled " SonnySideDown". It's still in 'hush-hush' mode but I'll post more deets about it as soon as I can.
So back to vinyl, I picked up several choice album this morning but the first one that hit the needle (if u read the earlier rant -- this is the first record I've played in like 20yrs) was Floyd's 'the final cut'.
WOW - I forgot how great vinyl sounds.
some positives:
1) you can still make those old school mix tapes...'cept vinyl to digital is much warmer that digital to digital...my .02
2) You are listening the the album as the artist/producer intended. None of this shuttle stuff
3) You have to get off your ass if you want to skip a song or to turn the record over.
If you are rockin iTunes exclusively, i would highly recommend that you go out and buy a record player (you can pick up a good sounding one for $50-100).
It's a good musical supplement and you won't be sorry!!!
p.s. - i haven't found The Flamimg Lips 12" yet :(
Manifesto
1. The movie shall be a short film
2. It shall be fiction or a fiction with experimental influences
3. The movieshall be shot in Super 8, 16mm, or 35mm and in B/W
4. It shall be silent. No audio recording is allowed.
5. The intertitles shall be minimalist. They shall be written in any language chosen by the director. They can be filmed or added digitally in post.
6. The photography shall be done during shooting. Touch ups during post shall only be to eliminate flaws or add effects that can not be done by the camera.
7. The editingshall be done either on film, or digitally after transfer on video.
8. The score shall be an original soundtrack w/o lyrics. Voices and choirs are accepted.
check out the films & try it yourself sometime!
NEOMUET
