Category: These Are Those Things

That inspire, that I like, and that I hope you feel the same about

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These Are Those Things

Scavenger Hunt


Maybe this is what all those people looking up at the sky are doing.  It’s one big scavenger hunt where we all have to find each letter.  Now I realize one of those things that I have been missing: I don’t think I have ever spotted a single letter by looking at how buildings rest against the sky.  I better get cracking.

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One Of The Top Films Of All Time: Chris Marker’s La Jetee

Chris Marker’s LA JETEE haunts many filmmakers’ work.  When I went to NYU, it was required viewing and I think you can see it’s influence in many grads’ work.  Its marriage of form and content has rarely been equaled.  His film SANS SOLEIL has also forever provoked me to deliver a true Essay Film — and I will one day.  Both are Required Viewing.  

One of the beautiful things about his work is that its effect runs far beyond the work at hand; he changes how we look at things, makes us reflect upon our own choices.  Marker is a true believer in the power of the dialogue between screen and audience. He recognizes how some of the best work is created when our imagination fills in the gaps.  Today far too much is actually shown, preventing us from becoming complicit in the narratives. His great essay on Hitchcock’s VERTIGO makes clear his passion for this process.  If only others could follow this lead…

There’s a lot of great writing on this film out there. Here’s Senses Of Cinema’s…

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These Are Those Things

Rope Giant



I don’t know where this guy lives but I wish he’d come over to play. (tipped by Offbeatearth)

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These Are Those Things

The Other TED

Still ranking right below BLU as my favorite clip of the year, is the TED Talk by Jill Bolte Taylor “A Stroke Of Insight”.  Now TED has posted enough of their lectures to warrant a Top Ten (via BoingBoing).  

I still remain grateful that we don’t have to run out and have a stroke to gain this sort of insight, just like we don’t need to run out a practice the methods of others, like Timothy Leary, who had remarkably similar realizations as Taylor, albeit not quite as succinct.  To quote TED: “Neuroantomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientist would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.”

Maybe I am a few years behind, but 2008 feels like The Year That Lectures Broke on the Internet.  It’s pretty great that ideas have finally become a pop form.
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These Are Those Things

Transforming The Neighborhood



In my dreams, NYC transforms overnight.  Manhattan is no longer the island of the super-rich.  The ubiquitous advertising is gone.  Everything is art.  In fact it looks a lot like The Heidelberg Project outside of Detroit.  This alone is a reason for a trip to Michigan.

The Heidelberg Project was started in response to the homes left abandoned after the ’67 Detroit Riots.  Tyree Guyton (and his wife and father) got the kids together and went-a-decorating.  It’s truly inspiring.
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These Are Those Things

Psychedelia Redux


EncyclepdiaPictura seem to be part of a growing wave of mind-blowing filmmakers and artists hellbent on accessing the deep recesses of our lizard brain.  When Corbin slipped me the first taste of their work (knife) I time travelled back to my march through Utah’s Paria Canyon in my late teens when I was covered in mud and feeling akin to the Yeti as I scared the various more sane hikers who expected to commune with common nature.  Awww, fond memories.  Bjork since found them and they gave her a great 3D vid too.  

Others in this wave include the band MGMT (check out “Time To Pretend” — if you haven’t been already among the 2.5M who did on YouTube or their interactive video game) & Assume Vivid Astro Focus (featured above).  For a taste of the past, there is Hipgnosis.  Turn on the love light baby.  thanks Mr. Reynolds!
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These Are Those Things

A Truly Pleasurable Experience: "Love And War"

I got a link today to check out a short film at the YouTube Screening Room.  I did not yet know about this new feature at YouTube.  It’s High Definition.  You can watch full screen without the image getting fuzzy.  The sound was good.  And they have award winning films from around the world.  I felt like I was getting closer to that elusive promise of the internet…

Maybe it was because it was early in the morning and my brain hadn’t yet woken up.  Or maybe it’s because the film was good.  Check out Love And War, “probably the world’s first animated opera”.  The puppets are good, the shots great, the music absorbing.  It’s a great way to start your day.