Thursday, September 30, 2010
"do something worth remembering...with a scar."
DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.
"I never wanna take this for granted, so I try and keep motivation simple, real, and positive. If I am to
scrape a living, at least it's a living worth scraping. If there's no future in it, at least it's a present worth
remembering. For fires of happiness and waves of gratitude, for everything that brought us to that
point, enough at that moment in time, to do something worth remembering with a photograph or a scar
- I feel genuinely lucky to hand on heart say I love doing what I do, and though I may never be a rich
man, if I live long enough, I'll certainly have a tale or two for the nephews...and I dig the thought of that."
for grandma helen.
What she's called me ever since I was a very little girl:
Pronounced "sooker" [rhyme: booker] "tup" [rhyme: cup].
Swedish Wikipedia
Sockertöpp: "A sugar-loaf pressed into a large cone. Sugarloaf Mountain can be cut or trimmed with a sugar-tong to
get the appropriate pieces [for] coffee. Sugar Tops were stored sometimes in sugar chests. Sugarloaf
disappeared from the grocery market [when] the mass produced bitsockret came, but can sometimes be
available in stores with an old-fashioned touch."
Pronounced "sooker" [rhyme: booker] "tup" [rhyme: cup].
Swedish Wikipedia
Sockertöpp: "A sugar-loaf pressed into a large cone. Sugarloaf Mountain can be cut or trimmed with a sugar-tong to
get the appropriate pieces [for] coffee. Sugar Tops were stored sometimes in sugar chests. Sugarloaf
disappeared from the grocery market [when] the mass produced bitsockret came, but can sometimes be
available in stores with an old-fashioned touch."
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Psalm 46:5
I like both versions......
"God is within her, she will not fail; God will help her at break of day."
-NIV
"God has taken his place in her; she will not be moved. He will come to her help at the dawn of morning."
-Bible in Basic English
"The poetic idea here seems to refer to the day as having turned away 'from' us at night, and then as turning about 'toward' us
in the morning, after having gone, as it were, to the greatest distance from us."
-Barnes' Notes
"God is in the midst of her....the church and people of God; not merely by his essence, power, and providence, as he is in the
midst of the world; but by his gracious presence, and which always continues, though not always perceived..."
-Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
"God is within her, she will not fail; God will help her at break of day."
-NIV
"God has taken his place in her; she will not be moved. He will come to her help at the dawn of morning."
-Bible in Basic English
"The poetic idea here seems to refer to the day as having turned away 'from' us at night, and then as turning about 'toward' us
in the morning, after having gone, as it were, to the greatest distance from us."
-Barnes' Notes
"God is in the midst of her....the church and people of God; not merely by his essence, power, and providence, as he is in the
midst of the world; but by his gracious presence, and which always continues, though not always perceived..."
-Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Review of a Review
"Wallowing in Misery for Art's Sake"
by A.O. Scott - New York Times
It is both surprising and refreshing to me that this New York Times film columnist actually acknowledges the ubiquitous
pretense of film festivals, being that people like him are often in close conjunction with the semantics of their production.
Instead of an air of overall praise, he aligns himself with people like me who find it aggravating that a) the general public is
rarely (if ever) given the opportunity to attend, b) most of the films screened (especially foreign submissions) are otherwise
impossible to see, and c) independent films are sadly being taken off festival rosters in favor of manic depressive art films
deemed worthy by executives (see title).
I learned from this article that a large contributing factor to these issues is high brow film societies' disdain for "the American
art-movie economy" or "the independent sector" of festival submissions. Scott explains that independent film companies,
struggling along with the rest of the country from the wayward economy, have started commercializing their material, be it
minimally and begrudgingly. Nevertheless, festival execs are aghast at the presence of any commercialization whatsoever and
have hitherto cast a furrowed critical brow on indie gems, resulting in their gradual replacement with a slew of depressing
featured films that display absolutely no evocation of viewing pleasure whatsoever. In other words, anything redemptive,
American, and only-commercial-enough-to-put-food-on-the-table is rejected.
Now, don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a despondent foreign film as much as the next guy, but those that I'm not as crazy
about I wouldn't be able to see even if I wanted to. Scott alludes that the reason for this restriction is the executive assumption
that the general public isn't interested in these kinds of films, meaning there's no need for festivals to be made readily
available. Neither are the films themselves for that matter, because any kind of mass distribution would certainly buck their
"no commercialism" rule.
Mind's eye of festival execs: "If we eliminate the only films they'd be interested in attending and make every other film
impossible to find then maybe we can make our high brow critical society even smaller..."
Thus, promotion to keep festival attendance a caste system of what Scott refers to as "a transnational fraternity of directors,
journalists, and well, festival programmers" is in full swing.
After all that, I guess I'm just complaining because I feel left out, festival films are impossible to find, and I love indies.
End of story.
by A.O. Scott - New York Times
It is both surprising and refreshing to me that this New York Times film columnist actually acknowledges the ubiquitous
pretense of film festivals, being that people like him are often in close conjunction with the semantics of their production.
Instead of an air of overall praise, he aligns himself with people like me who find it aggravating that a) the general public is
rarely (if ever) given the opportunity to attend, b) most of the films screened (especially foreign submissions) are otherwise
impossible to see, and c) independent films are sadly being taken off festival rosters in favor of manic depressive art films
deemed worthy by executives (see title).
I learned from this article that a large contributing factor to these issues is high brow film societies' disdain for "the American
art-movie economy" or "the independent sector" of festival submissions. Scott explains that independent film companies,
struggling along with the rest of the country from the wayward economy, have started commercializing their material, be it
minimally and begrudgingly. Nevertheless, festival execs are aghast at the presence of any commercialization whatsoever and
have hitherto cast a furrowed critical brow on indie gems, resulting in their gradual replacement with a slew of depressing
featured films that display absolutely no evocation of viewing pleasure whatsoever. In other words, anything redemptive,
American, and only-commercial-enough-to-put-food-on-the-table is rejected.
Now, don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a despondent foreign film as much as the next guy, but those that I'm not as crazy
about I wouldn't be able to see even if I wanted to. Scott alludes that the reason for this restriction is the executive assumption
that the general public isn't interested in these kinds of films, meaning there's no need for festivals to be made readily
available. Neither are the films themselves for that matter, because any kind of mass distribution would certainly buck their
"no commercialism" rule.
Mind's eye of festival execs: "If we eliminate the only films they'd be interested in attending and make every other film
impossible to find then maybe we can make our high brow critical society even smaller..."
Thus, promotion to keep festival attendance a caste system of what Scott refers to as "a transnational fraternity of directors,
journalists, and well, festival programmers" is in full swing.
After all that, I guess I'm just complaining because I feel left out, festival films are impossible to find, and I love indies.
End of story.
Friday, September 24, 2010
i am the place where i am: well, i left my heart in barcelona.
"Las Coleccionistas is a photography studio in Barcelona, which produces and disseminates visual projects. Understand
photography as the interplay between light and emotion as a way of communicating at its most provocative, connecting with
people and spread, but also as a form of participation, a tool that helps them find new meanings and alternative interpretations are closer to of their environment."
photography as the interplay between light and emotion as a way of communicating at its most provocative, connecting with
people and spread, but also as a form of participation, a tool that helps them find new meanings and alternative interpretations are closer to of their environment."
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Those nights.
Here’s to those nights.
Those wintery nights on the second floor of the building of bird’s egg blue,
in the city we hardly saw.
Never much mattered,
sitting on that $60 couch we loved so well – bottles of yellow tail, the faux-fur blanket,
watching the mystery of Trinity unfold or the brotherhood of an Irish gang be destroyed and redeemed,
all while Figment jumped up the walls and Harmony laid on the orange chair...
gazing adoringly over at us;
those wintery nights of Angels & Airwaves and Band of Horses
when we made pasta dinner and stayed up late,
had tickle fights and talked deeply about friendships,
shared the last cigarette;
those wintery nights when we were motivated to do anything and everything.
And write.
I loved those nights…
and can’t wait for more, love.
photography by Joe Lieske
"There are stories written on the sidewalks"
Those wintery nights on the second floor of the building of bird’s egg blue,
in the city we hardly saw.
Never much mattered,
sitting on that $60 couch we loved so well – bottles of yellow tail, the faux-fur blanket,
watching the mystery of Trinity unfold or the brotherhood of an Irish gang be destroyed and redeemed,
all while Figment jumped up the walls and Harmony laid on the orange chair...
gazing adoringly over at us;
those wintery nights of Angels & Airwaves and Band of Horses
when we made pasta dinner and stayed up late,
had tickle fights and talked deeply about friendships,
shared the last cigarette;
those wintery nights when we were motivated to do anything and everything.
And write.
I loved those nights…
and can’t wait for more, love.
photography by Joe Lieske
"There are stories written on the sidewalks"
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Tribond of Blogs.
New York Times Style magazine columnist Leanne Shapton may just be my new favorite writer.
Her theoretical and personal views are reflected in "We Three Things," a column that concentrates on a collective theme
amongst a trinity of objects, ideas, design, art, technology, literature, food...basically anything quirky or quintessential in the mind's eye of its author.
My three favorites:
"Head First"
"Pass the Marmalade"
"Water Colors"
View her full collection here.
Her theoretical and personal views are reflected in "We Three Things," a column that concentrates on a collective theme
amongst a trinity of objects, ideas, design, art, technology, literature, food...basically anything quirky or quintessential in the mind's eye of its author.
My three favorites:
"Head First"
"Pass the Marmalade"
"Water Colors"
View her full collection here.
Monday, September 20, 2010
music theory by daniel hunter
c.o. Alex Wolf.
"Bands don't 'lose' the ability to make 'good' music. They simply choose to make something different than what you like. Hence the reason people always argue about which album from a band is better, newer, older, etc. Any artist in the world can sit down and use the same formulas to write the exact same types of songs again. Billy Corgan, even, could probably sit down and write an entire album that sounds shockingly like Gish, but why would he want to? Gish came out in a certain time period. It was a great album because of the context in which it was released. He's doing something different now. Most people don't like it, but that doesn't mean he should resort to copying his old material idea for idea.
"Bands don't 'lose' the ability to make 'good' music. They simply choose to make something different than what you like. Hence the reason people always argue about which album from a band is better, newer, older, etc. Any artist in the world can sit down and use the same formulas to write the exact same types of songs again. Billy Corgan, even, could probably sit down and write an entire album that sounds shockingly like Gish, but why would he want to? Gish came out in a certain time period. It was a great album because of the context in which it was released. He's doing something different now. Most people don't like it, but that doesn't mean he should resort to copying his old material idea for idea.
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