535 Words on Charles Baudelaire

1.crouds

2.there

3.they

4.stand

5.chit-chatting

6.drinking

7.wine

8.talking

9.about

10.themselves

11.But

12.here

13.I

14.am

15.a

16.complete

17.stranger

18.hidden

19.blending

20.in

21.to

22.the

23.scenery

24.yet

25.I

26.am

27.seperate

28.I

29.can

30.take

31.the

32.role

33.of

34.anyone

35.i

36.feel

37.like

38.I

39.can

40.choose

41.my

42.interaction

43.with

44.them.

45.They

46.bore

47.me.

48.They

49.enthrall

50.me

51.they

52.are

53.a

54.unit

55.I

56.am

57.seperate

58.I

59.am

60.a

61.loner

62.an

63.artist

64.a

65.poet

66.their

67.meager

68.motivations

69.do

70.not

71.move

72.me.

73.however

74.i

75.can

76.be

77.amuzed

78.by

79.watching

80.their

81.debauchery

82.smirking

83.at

84.their

85.expense.

86.I

87.walk

88.alone

89.like

90.a

91.bad

92.ass

93.like

94.i

95.am

96.something

97.special

98.but

99.i

100.am

101.aren't

102.I?

103.its

104.funny

105.when

106.I

121.think

122.of

123.being

124.in

125.a

126.room

127.full

128.of

129.people

130.and

131.yet

132.I

133.still

134.feel

135.alone

136.I

137.have

138.no

139.connection

140.i

141.don't

142.belong

143.any

144.group

145.beyond

146.a

147.pair

148.words

149.are

150.pointless

151.mindless

152.chatter

153.i

154.was

155.never

156.one

157.for

158.small

159.talk

160.I

161.am

162.the

163.loner

164.at

165.the

166.party

167.i

168.set

169.myself

170.above

171.i

172.am

173.the

174.egoist

175.missing

176.out

177.on

178.the

179.possible

180.beauty

181.of

182.being

183.anonymous

184.and

185.intertwined

186.with

187.this

188.living

189.organism.

190.one

191.has

192.all

193.the

194.freedom

195.one

196.needs

197.to

198.do

199.anything

200.all

201.desires

202.can

203.be

204.partaken

205.every

206.door

207.is

208.open

209.and

210.if

211.its

212.not

213.then

214.its

215.to

216.a

217.room

218.that

219.i

220.didn't

221.want

222.to

223.go

224.into

225.any

226.way.

227.I

228.don't

229.want

230.to

231.be

232.an

233.egoist

234.anymore

235.to

236.me

237.all

238.the

239.doors

240.are

241.closed

242.and

243.i

244.shut

245.them

246.myself

247.i

248.want

249.to

250.be

251.that

252.other

253.character

254.when

255.i

256.am

257.in

258.the

259.crowd

260.i

261.want

262.that

263.swagger

264.i

265.want

266.to

267.make

268.love

269.to

270.it

271.all

272.i

273.desire

274.the

275.intoxication

276.that

277.could

278.be

279.mine

280.if

281.i

282.would

283.just give

284.in

285.to

286.it

287.whole

288.heartedly

289.take

290.a

291.plunge

292.be

293.someone

294.else

295.to

296.where

297.the

298.most

299.beautiful

300.or

301.the

302.most

303.pale

304.mask

305.and

306.just

307.move

308.through.

309.hey

310.as

311.a

312.side

313.thought

314.there

315.are

316.only

317.thre

318.hundred

319.and

320.fifty

321.two

322.words

323.in

324.crowds

325.baudelaire

326.was

327.more

328.brief

329.than

330.i

331.am

332.going

333.to

334.be

335.being

336.a

337.smart

338.ass

339.some

340.times

341.makes

342.things

343.a

344.lot

345.harder

346.on

347.you

348.than

349.you

350.think

351.it

352.will

353.anyhow

354.the

355.picture

356.that

357.i

358.chose

359.is

360.a

361.Edouard

362.manet

363.painting

364.called

365.Music

366.at

367.the

368.Tuileries

369.to

370.me

371.it

372.represents

373.the

374.crowd

375.of

376.people

377.and

378.I

379.am

380.the

381.stranger

382.observing

383.the

384.canvas

385.unlike

386.baudelaire

387.I

388.cannot

389.be

390.a

391.part

392.of

393.this

394.painting

395.or

396.time

397.and

398.what

399.a

400.different

401.time

402.it

403.must

404.have

405.been.

406.i

407.can

408.however

409.picture

410.myself

411.walking

412.through

413.that

414.world

415.tipping

416.my

417.hat

418.to

419.the

420.ladies

421.and

422.speaking

423.in

424.an

425.aristocratic

426.air

427.to

428.the

429.gentlemen.

430.its

431.so

432.dignified

433.its

434.so

435.quaint

436.one

437.could

438.wonder

439.through

440.this

441.painting

442.into

443.infinity

444.among

445.the

446.trees

447.and

448.the

449.people

450.bumping

451.into

452.them

453.they

454.are

455.pilled

456.in

457.so

458.thickly

-------------------------------------

459.i

460.picture

461.central

462.park

463.in

464.new

465.york

466.ever

467.jostling

468.with

469.life

470.and

471.i

472.am

473.dressed

474.in

475.black

476.me

477.who

478.does't

479.fit

480.in

481.with

482.my

483.little

484.texas

485.town

486.but

487.they're

488.dressed

489.like...

one of them

no tourist

i belong

i am alone

I am solitary

i am the poet

i am the artist and they are my playground. 

that is Baudelaire's meaning this environment was his painting.

490.wow

491.is

492.this

493.five

494.hundred

495.word

496.thing

497.for

498.real?

499.i'm

500.stupid

A Few Images That Make Browsing For Stupid Stuff Stimulating

Who doesn't like Ninjas?

Nothing quite like misleading the youth of tomorrow...

indeed...

Aw,  they are just so gosh darn cute,  aren't they?

Experimental Films That Can Be Found Online

"The Hearts of Age" (1934)
by Orson Wells and William Vance




"Cat's Cradle" (1959)
By Stan Brakhage

Pilgrims and Indians and all that Ensued

 

    Midwestern activities demand of youth, school plays detailing the peaceful relations of the the Pilgrims fleeing religious oppression and the kindly Noble Savages who helped them survive their first winter. The kindness soon to be repaid by a philosophy of manifest destiny, railways and broken treaties.

    Beyond tracing the hand to make construction paper turkeys, the luck of the draw that dealt either the big black poster board hat or the head band with the bold primary and secondary colored feathers. God lay mercy upon the kid who got stuck in the turkey outfit or even the cornucopia for that matter.  Not because they were sacrificed for the greater good but because the outfit was ridiculous... Parents were then often subjected to rather long accounts of the voyage of the Mayflower from Plymouth to Plymouth Rock and the techniques of growing and preparing corn.

Traditionally, there is togetherness of family and friends with food-a-plenty which hearkens more true than most other western holidays, born of commercialism's traditional hype and shopping.  Much like Columbus Day(to be rebranded Indiginous Peoples Day) rarely are the consequences of European expansion given from a vantage outside the European descendant's legacy.  Few words are spoken of Wounded Knee or Salt Creek.  Honor though is given to the turkey.  The Plastic shamans would speak of the "Give Away" where one would give all that they owned to the other members of the tribe and so to become fully dependent.  A strengthening of the tribal community ensued.  One would learn trust and the others would learn all is one.  

So surely, we must indeed find cause to be thankful.

Better men have tread before and I give you some of their words:

Turkey: A large bird whose flesh, when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude.  ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.  ~William Shakespeare

I have strong doubts that the first Thanksgiving even remotely resembled the "history" I was told in second grade.  But considering that (when it comes to holidays) mainstream America's traditions tend to be over-eating, shopping, or getting drunk, I suppose it's a miracle that the concept of giving thanks even surfaces at all.  ~Ellen Orleans

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.  ~Native American Saying

Happy We-Stole-Your-Land-and-Killed-Your-People Day!  ~Thanksgiving toast, from the movie Sweet November

If I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Host of this universe, Who daily spreads a table in my sight, surely I cannot do less than acknowledge my dependence.  ~G.A. Johnston Ross

Thanks, for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business. Thanks, for a nation of finks.
-- William S. Burroughs, "A Thanksgiving Prayer".

There is one day that is ours.  There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to.  Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.  ~O. Henry

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Rainy Day in Los Angeles

Its actually been a rainy gang of days, but just at the right time. After months with out internet, the Internet's long awaited reappearance makes the prospect of hiding behind glass and admiring the gray from a distance seem swell.  

"Nighthawks at the Diner" is playing in the back ground, and Tom Waits is spitting out a fitting "Emotional Weather Report" as I shuffle files from hard drive to hard drive,  expecting that all meetings today are off,  and pondering effect that the thickness in the air will have on rehearsal later tonight. 

The busses outside noisily sludge through the streets of Korea-town but everything smells cleaner,  gloomy faces, no gloomier than usual, seem to fit the mood.  I of course am imagining faces on the pinhead characters I can see wandering from the subway lines down by Wilshire.

We are doing well to be out of bed, sipping coffee, wearing sweaters, letting cool air and soft light in for fresh rejuvenation.   Its funny when LA feels like this, like it could last till winter this way, like there might be a seasonal change upon the winds. 

Should be back to normal in no time... That's sort of what makes me sad,  I was getting into the idea of wearing London clothes,  or a cold weather Montana Mountain Man coat.  I miss the soul that is missing here. I keep hoping that the moisture will warp and crumble the cardboard cutouts that prevent us from seeing anything real in this god forsaken city of angels...

Andres Salaff's "Lifeline" Maintains An Orderly Progression As A Wave Of Depolarization.

Lifeline is a beautiful animated short film about an aging scientist using a machine to allow him to search time and space for his deceased wife.   This winner of a Student Academy award, written and animated by Andres Salaff, details the lengths that love will drive a person too.  The CalArts Character animation short film has no dialogue and is accompanied by a haunting score by Blanton Ross.  The source material used to create the ambient soundscapes of Lifeline have been collected into an album called Dream Travel.

 For more information on festivals Screenings etc. please visit lifelinefilm.blogspot.com

Lifeline from Andres Salaff on Vimeo.

Farmer Words

My Pa liked these, so I thought I would share it.

They buried a farmer today,
Gave him back to the dirt from which he came.
Earlier his family and neighbors walk by,
Looking at memories of a simple man’s life.
A table of photos, toy tractors and cards,
Telling the story of life on the farm.
There are the overalls he wore every day,
Except on Sunday, when he bowed his head to pray.
All things that kept him close to his roots.
Not born in a barn, but not far away,
From the fields where a boy learned how to play.
There are photos of his children and grandchildren, too,
And he and his wife, there are more than a few.
The smiles betray the hard times that he faced,
The worries and fears, the profits erased.
By weather and markets, out of his hands;
In the end, all he really had was his land.
The soil, the crops, and even the weeds,
To his way of thinking, that’s all he would need,
To take care of his family, and help them stay safe,
From a faster-paced world, not too far away.
A good life, a simple life, that’s what he led,
He’d struggled like most, but came out ahead.
And eventually, retirement, if ever a farmer could,
Stop worrying or working, but he did it, for good.
He enjoyed his last years, and made sure that he thanked,
The good Lord above for his life, and his land.
His time ended quickly, his loved ones in tears,
Hoping he knew what he meant to them all through the years.
Today they gather, to remember and pray,
About a simple man they loved, who was there every day.
Through joy and sorrow, laughter and pain,
He was there when they needed him, right up to the end.
Out to the cemetery, they carry him home,
To a small plot of land, just under a stone.
For they know he’s at peace, and praying for them,
As they stand on a slope, not far from his land.
The service now over, they leave him alone,
Knowing some day, he’ll greet them once more.
A dust cloud forms as the trucks drive away.
They buried a farmer today.
Jeff DeYoung

Advices from An Old Farmer

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
Words that soak into your ears are whispered… not yelled.
Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.
Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You cannot unsay a cruel word.
Every path has a few puddles.
When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
The best sermons are lived, not preached.
Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
Don’t judge folks by their relatives. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life… Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
Don ‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around..
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
Most times, it just gets down to common sense.

IN STILLNESS

when all these worlds collide
each lonely star in the sky
makes a clever design
side by side and far enough away
in the wash of old and promised place

where would you like to focus your beam
says the scattered dream king
cause i promise it all rests on you
you are the viewer
you're the point of control
you gotta shake off the heavy
and let the path take its course
take the blessing in the lesson
and forgive all the parts
and do exactly what needs to be done

The Work of Tripp S. Nestor

I would like to share the work of a friend and collaborator I met traveling in Europe. I have used a few of his Images before but will be turning to him for whatever custom art this blog needs.

Ladies and Germs,  May I present Tripp Nestor.

"A good portion of my friends are visual artists... I have been watching and admiring them for some time.  Sound is an excellent medium,  but my jealousy of the eyes became too great.   So I got a Wacom tablet,  and tried my hand at the whole Photoshop digital painting thing... I haven't gone back since"  -  Tripp Nestor

SPOILER ALERT: Alice in Wonderland

Expect more Disney channel than Tim Burton or better yet don't bother...it's inevitable that you will anyway,  and I cant blame you.  I had high hopes too,  A director I respect, excellent actors, a timeless amazing story to serve as inspiration.  How could it go wrong?

I keep telling myself that it was not a lack of vision that movie suffered from but an over bearing corporation shadowing that vision and reigning it in, nullifying what could have been really special about it.   Instead you get watered down Tim Burton fingerprints scattered about Wonderland: dark circle eye shadow, serpentine trees, asymmetrical jail cells, doors and so forth.   The movie achieved the stereotype yet lacked the soul.  I spent the whole 109 minutes in anticipation for the movie to be removed from its leash,  and instead was rewarded with fortunate buoys placed to save the audience from drowning on a  sinking ship.

So fair enough, the animation was well made, the acting and voice talent was on par,  though I would have liked to see more of it than the cameo like quick snippits borrowed from the heritage of  Lewis Carrol's original Tale.   Helena Bonham Carter executed her part as the pouting Red Queen perfectly,  and in the end turned out to be the redemption of the film.  Sorry Johnny... Even Elfman who is notorious for using ghost writers and continuously declining in his creativity as a composer seemed to be doing pretty well with the music,  something that I was expecting to be frustrated with.   Thus I was almost willing to except the work as at least entertaining,  and then...

WHAT THE FUCK is up with that shit song for the ugly ass end credits... it forever ruined everything... All the waiting, all the watching; right down the toilet. All the talent wasted by crap producers... For what?  So disney can masturbate all over your face and laugh at you for buying a ticket. I could not get out of the theater fast enough.

I hate the world now... Art is dead.   Are money people really that tasteless.  How is it possible to suck that much...  Do your self a favor and start leaving the theater as soon as Alice gets on a boat.  Trust me.

The Merge of Democracy and the Insurance Company

we each play a part in the system

one to their own way

the way we fill our time

the way we teach

the way we grow

the point of living every day

to play

is to teach

the radiation

from which the power does spread

the east

in distance waves

workers on the other side

earliest film

a post apcolyptic playground

rhythm in frames per second

moving in comfortable silence

the eye watching you

the way a child sees his father

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Body as an Interface

Biomechanics is a rising field of interest for many different people from medicine to sports and even into the arts.  The human body can be monitored in a variety of ways from eegs which measure brain waves,  eogs to measure eye movement in sleep studies,  heart and breathing monitors. The depth of research into this world is an abyss that seems to be come ever deeper the more one learns about the subject.   My interest in the subject remains within the arts and with movement as a control of a non-clinical environment.   Our main limitation is that the human body can can only (as of yet) be interfaced superficially.   This leads to problems measuring human movement because joints which could be hard to measure on their own are even harder to access because they are deep to certain muscle groups and skin.  For a short example of the complications, take just the lower body from the superior structure the hips down to the inferior ankles.  By limiting possibilities to the larger movements of the skeletal system (particularly to those inferior to the transverse plane) you end up with only six large joints acting independently of all others. For monitoring, movement these joints can be looked at in 3 pairs of root sensor systems.

    - the hips
    - the knees
    - and the ankles

When standing, we can say that the body is at unity or the starting/natural state.    Most joints are in their natural state of extension in this position.  and then...

The Hips

When dealing with the hips circumduction becomes a problem because of the 3 Dimensional conic movement of a ball and socket joint.  The closest electronic analog i can think of is a joystick which measures potentiometers on two axis  and outputs both position values like coordinates (x,y). if we were to use a flex sensor we could only measure the anterior hip motion along the the sagital plane because of the gluteus maximus and hamstrings on the posterior which mask the small angle of movement we could measure if we had access to the acetabulum where the head of the femur makes contact with the coxal bone.  One might be able to measure the movement of the greater trochanter but that would still be difficult with the muscles which act as the flexors of the hip joint. This problem holds firm when you try to measure abduction(open) and adduction(closed) on the frontal plane as you would see it in Leonardo's  "Anatomy."
{as a side note measuring the medial and lateral rotation would be difficult as well}

The Knees

The knees being a hinge joint are the only joint on the lower body that can be easilly monitored using a flex sensor.   Hinge joints lend themselves to this type of monitoring because they have one state of extension and one state of variable flexion from 180 degrees all the way open down to about 10 degrees as folded as possible.  Flex sensors aren't really useful for any other type of synovial joint.

The Ankle

Measuring the ankle is weird because its natural state of extension lies between two points of flexion: dorsiflexion with the toe up and plantarflexion with the toe down.   One could put flex sensors along the achiles tendon and the dorsal part of the foot where the tibia and fibula meet the talus.  

More of the foot could be wired up to flex sensors for each of the phalanges and metatarsals but the shoe probably wouldn't be very comfortable.  For the foot I would like to develop some sort of measurement device that would be more intricate but similar to the type of system that you see in children's flashing led shoes.  the system would have quite a few pressure sensors embedded in the soul of the shoe to measure the anterior most end of the metatarsals through the phalanges and cuboid area and also below the calcaneus to measure the weight displacements as a user moved and balanced in different ways. 

So you see talking about the body could get complex, let alone measuring it. Then there is a whole new slew of fun to be had by all.  So the knees and elbows are easy bend sensors,  and then... fubar...

If you like the flexion measuring its worth a look at the MidiDancer developed at CalArts by Coniglio and Stoppiello of company Troika Ranch.   That's where it has all already happened in dance... has been happening since 1984...probably longer... at the risk of repeating the grand. 

I had original aspirations to use such a system for performance after having my brain fully warped by the book "Machine Musicianship" by Rob Rowe.   It was Morton Subotnik's work "Intimate Immensity" and his use of infra-red beams in a system technically executed by Clay Chaplin and danced by Nyoman Wenten that led me to CalArts in the first place.  My exploration of sensor possibilities for retrieving information from the human body began with the use of video to track motion, followed by research into things such as joint angles and rotations, muscle stretch or tension, and pressure for weight displacement on the plantar surface of the foot. 

anyhow...

In my search for better sensors I came across some interesting developers and their websites.

Poleema sensors use magnetic feilds to determine location.

The porcupine is made of several tilt / ball switches which recognize motion and orientation on the three planes, it could be quite useful.

I also found a similar sensor that reads full 3d motion and comes with software(very cool).  www.xsens.com.  It uses small blocks which could be fitted to the femur and the tibia/ fibula and would send out information about the orientation of those bones.  Really, useful stuff it also says how fast it moves etc.. check it out.

Also, there is a book called "Three Dimensional Analysis of Human Movement"  containing essays of many different scientists edited by Paul Allard. 

Its something to think about...more...

The Bastard

 

DEFINING EXPERIMENTAL FILM

Websters New Universal Unabridged Dictionary:

experimental- a. [french experimental, from the latin word experimentum, an experiment
1.  of or based on experience rather than based on theory or authority.
2. based on, tested by, or having the nature of experimentation
3. for the sake of experiment; testing
4. tentative
5. of or used for experiments

experiment-   a trial test, from experiri to try, to test
1. a test or trial of something; specifically, (A) any action or process taken to discover something not yet known or to demonstrate something known; (B)   something tried to find out whether it will be effective;  as giving students complete freedom to to choose their courses is an educational experiment

film- n. [ME. fylme AS. filmen,  a film, membrane.]
1. a thin skin; a pellicle; a membrane;  a delicate coating or outer layer, partially obscuring what lies beneath; as, a film of gelatin; a film of lace.
2.  a sheet or roll of a flexible cellulose material covered with a substance sensitive to light and used in taking photographs.
3. a thin veil, haze, or blur as over the eyes.
4. a motion picture
5. a delicate thread, as of a cobweb


Together the words, experimental and film, seem to mean more than the definitions imply.    By following the history, one is introduced to experimental film at an almost identical point to that which film in its self as an art form is being introduced.  In a almost fanciful way one can say that any of the films being made up to and into the 1920's were experimental since making a film itself was a young and untapped art.  All of the pioneers were attempting to do something for which no template had been laid out.  Surely it must have fascinated artists such as Melies,  Rene Claire,  Louis Feuillade, Dmitri Kirsanov, and Man Ray simply to watch this machine feed tape through recording pictures.  These primitive beings, mostly standard artists had the power to capture life in any way they saw it and the possibilities were endless. Ferdinand Leger captured the machine and tied it into our human reality with Ballet Mechanique.   But at this point the experimental art of making any film can be further broken down into more aesthetic issues.  The experiment becomes:    How do i make something new and fresh even fresher?  Should I just show pretty pictures or try to shock the audience?   Should I try to tell a story?
    I will divide here into my own aesthetic categories of experimental film: films with out a narrative and films with narrative.  It is my opinion that both films without narrative and films with narrative must be looked at very differently.  Personally I have enjoyed the narrative films more.  Which is not to say that I have gotten nothing from those films with out this element of story line. Actually, almost all of the films have some form of a life running through them.  The city films show this in an interesting way.  In place of standard characters the films focus on the overall image of the city, be it though a few hours on a rainy day or through the entire day as in Berlin.  This tampering with scale does some interesting things to the mind.  These films teach you to focus on imagery and smaller things with in the whole of the film.  It becomes the subtleties that define the film.   The art resides in the dance of the hop scotch playing children in a Bronx Morning.  Its in the connection between lunch break and zoo animals in Berlin.  The tempo and musicality of the non-narrative films play an important role also.  The human body has a tie to this pulse present through all motion films.   The music of motion seems most accessible in animations.  Symphonie Diagonal by Viking Eggling even has a sonata form.  Composition in Blue by Oskar Fischinger is probably my favorite films to view though it is simple and easy to figure out the stop frame methods of creating it, it made me happy to watch it. It is fun even border line cheesy when placed with the music but hey, what can you say its an opinion.  Colour Box by Len Lye with the paintings on film is  beautiful and intriguing I enjoyed its musical quality and nature even more with out the Beatles than with the arbitrary soundtrack.  I am continually reinforcing my love for the way that almost any kind of music can be played to a film and will sync up in coincidental ways and shape the entire viewing experience of the film.
    Narrative forms hold a special place in experimental films for me, my limited knowledge of experimental film begins with David Lynch which has nothing and everything to do with my interest in the matter.  The final place I am going to go is where I was left off,  with the film The Blood of The Poet by Jean Cocteau.  This to me had that same great narrative quality as Lynch where the actual story line is experimental in its self with artistic photography cast aside. If one were to just read the screenplay the overall arch would lead you into an alternate reality where the goal is the journey which has an ambiguous place in time and space where anything is possible and all the things that living on earth teaches are rendered worthless.   In my past this type of film is what I would seek out as experimental film and to a great extent it is my preference.   Narratives for some of the experimental films I have watched have not all had this element.  Some of them are labeled as experimental on the basis of how they are filmed or edited.  You could look at the film Life of an American Firefighter by Edwin Porter and easily see something that by today's standards seems cooky and strange or at least out of a Quentin Tarantino movie.  The Idea of space and time is altered here but not in as abstract of a way withing the story.  Here we have an example of a very basic scenario, a totally realistic occurrence.  But the way that it is shot holds the integrity of the space with more value than the integrity of time continuity.  First it is filmed from inside showing one side of the drama as if it were a stage play, and then it starts back at the beginning and shows itself from another view point outside the house.  I was immediately taken by this. Les Vampire by Louis Feuillade though presented as such didn't seem to have any experimental element it them at all.  My ability to decipher films out of context with the other normal films of their time severely stunts my ability to label anything that is not extremely obvious as a an experimental film.  There is just nothing to compare it too.

so...
What separates experimental film from traditional film?   In modern times where Hollywood has developed a cookie cutter example of what will make a film "good" where "good" is infinitely interchangeable with the word "marketable"  it is easy to pick out something that is different.  Ironically there really isn't any thing new going on its just a recycling of discoveries previously made through out the course of the century.  Fortunately, these lost experiments and the rediscovery and reuse attempting to expose a modern audience to a narrative of filming trick that isn't always used fits the vague definitions of experiment laid out at the beginning of this essay.  Some films are easy to watch some were more difficult, some seemed to meander about aimlessly.  Keep in mind I am not trying to offend any film.   I am mearly trying to find a definition to the combined idea labled with the name Experimental Film.  Aesthetics should not determine the expiremental nature of a film, but rather the composition should define the label.  One should ask what is it about this film that is unique or experimental in nature.  What has the director/ artist done outside of standard practices.  So in conclusion My definition falls most closely with the first definition of experiment, any action or process taken to discover something not yet known or to demonstrate something known.  Experimentation is not being the first to do something but to do something to open the mind.  perhaps?

I have thoughts, I can write a Blog

sigh...
I just watched "Julie and Julia". It showed me something about continuity, which is often the cry of the masses, and indeed a mismatched gathering of self stimulation is in fact just that. Yet the overwhelming number of Blogs will testify to the value of self adoration and reaching out to strangers in this time of our civilization's evolution. Shall I share my perspective on the world? In time dear child, but first view this image Tripp Nestor. (I have heard the people like pictures)

Now, there is this ongoing debate about real art vs. digital art, another about real writers and throw away bloggers. Furthermore we have endless copyright issues, remixing of video and music. (by the way that picture you need permission to use that image) Yes we have worked our selves towards something, in a few hundred years they may explain the phenomenon. Will it be a modern Renaissance? What is going to be seen as the worth that comes out of this time of reckless freedom of expression? Is success to be measured by the number of google hits one has? Will those hits equate to ease of living, wealth or prosperity?

Who knows?

In the vaults of the future...

The proof will be in the pudding.

New Version of The Deadline in High Definition

To do it justice, Andres Salaff has released his CalArts animation "The Deadline" in high definition.  This is a excellent envisioning of a man coping with the difficulties of overbearing expectations. Ripping through time and taking a few twists and turns along the way. This film tackles tough issues like substance abuse and suicide. And Features a score by Blanton Ross