so how about i get back on this blog thing, yeah?

separating the brewery from the freight yard is a dancing man

lost moments at work

there are some mornings at work, when I've not slept the night before, when the random flow of music off off youtube is the only thing keeping me awake and keeping it interesting.

I don't know what to say about this (gem?):

digital hancock

Free Booze + Shrimp Cocktail + Film = Emerson Alumni Pahhty

As a recent graduate, I haven’t participated in too many of the slew of Emerson Alumni events that take place in the school’s adopted sister city of Los Angeles. But I found myself excited to attend this year’s film festival they hold every spring showcasing their student’s best shorts. Not only does Maria Menounos (an alum herself) show up to hand out one of those huge cardboard checks and show off her own success, but there are some really great films that this year were presented on the big screen in Hollywood’s Egyptian theatre.

It was a great night.

Somehow I showed up late and was still able to grab the only parking slot available right in front of the theatre. I figured it was all downhill from there. Not so. Without too many administrative speeches, the show began with a strong digital documentary from Kevin Mastman titled The Cadet Experience. It definitely set the tone for an HD-heavy screening experience, used beautifully in Alexander Yan’s melancholic Of the Fog and to a campy effect in Jessica Shoen’s Glee-like Prom Date.

But my favorite of the night was Sean Hanley’s Hindsight, shot on 16mm, and the winner of the Jury’s Choice First Prize at the Black Maria Film Festival. This is a film lover’s film. Beautifully shot, tightly edited, and with the perfect combination of image and sound, this film is not just a college student’s final project. Watching a film like this stand out so expertly from the crowd of digital movies validates why some of us still spend the time and the money on the real thing.

After the screening ended, a mass of hungry, possibly broke, quite possibly unemployed Emersonians headed out to the catered snack feast in the outside courtyard. “Is the alcohol free?” was asked by many and answered by another many with a gleeful “Yes!!” I’m always awkward in these situations, and might have made one too many off-handed comments about everyone enjoying their beef-on-a-stick, but networking was a success this night. Could also have been the effects of the Stella Artois, or the sugar high from the mini cupcakes, but whatever it was that helped me get through the “I know you! You working? Where you living? Are we friends on Facebook?”: Thank You.

We’re known as the Emerson Mafia, if only among ourselves. Be jealous if you want to. Or check out what’s happening in Emerson’s Los Angeles 

Check out the film's trailers here

Driving Pictures

I find that when I stop my car to take a photo, the people behind me aren't too happy. That's why some days I LOVVVE stoplights.

On my way to the LACMA Saturday evening, the sunset was astonishing. Iphone love. I also came across the epitome of the kitsch Hollywood has to offer. Its what I love most.

B.B.B.B.B.B a r b a r e l l a

Check out LACMA's Jane Fonda series running in their stellar contemporary wood-panelled theatre. She'll be in appearance for their screening of Klute, but I'd love to dress up as my best impersonation of Queen of the Galaxy.

 vs.

And besides, we're in LA Baby. I wouldn't be so surprised to see this down some street: 

Barbarella screens at 5:00 PM on Saturday, February 12th. Check out the complete calendar of screenings @ LACMA film

La Nouvelle Vague ♡ Classy Wheels

I'd drive a swanky car if I could. 


Specifically the 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Spider I researched and obsessed over after Saturday night's screening of Que la Bête Meure (1969) at the LACMA in West Hollywood. French New Wave Director Claude Chabrol's thriller set on the French coast of Brittany was a feast for the car-lover as well as the usual moderately pretentious European film-goer. (Aye...no huffs. I'm including myself in that one.) It pays to know that the Mustang is an American car, because it's not coincidence that the 1966 black Mustang is driven by the villain. The car becomes a symbol of reckless violence and arrogance, while the protagonist's Fiat is a symbol of restrained intensity and dutiful elegance. It is most definitely white. White knight, white car.

 

I need to point out this amazing website I just came across. Take heed: it's baller. IMCDb.org is the Internet Movie Cars Database. The collection from the film:

Now would normally be the time I'd show a picture of myself leaning with charisma against the polished lines of my own car, unfortunately, my 91 Toyota Camry with a couple slashes of duct tape doesn't making the "sharing" cut. But you can imagine as I drove back down Wilshire after an orgy of sports cars driven by attractive men, I dreamt of a future behind the wheel of something just as fly. It looks a little something like this:

But back to the film...or at least a reflection on the New Wave and their cars. The classic traffic jam scene from Godard's Week End (1967) is an example. Like a dog who looks like their owner (or vice versa) the car is a reflection of the character. Both Week End and Que la Bête Meure have in common the image of the destroyed, abandoned vehicle. Godard even sets a couple on fire. Is it looking too far into the car images to declare them a reflection of the plight and/or nature of the characters?

Que la Bête Meure has an intensity built on one man's search for the driver of a black car that hit and killed his young son. (This man/beast must die.) Apart from my new car obsession, this film contained something quite unique and lovely: a strong female character played expertly by a strong actress. Caroline Cellier, as the weak but still admirable Helene Lanson, endeared me with her soft features and almost nervous frailty, as well as with her charm, wit, and physical ease. Michel Duchaussoy as protagonist Charles Thenier is the French Peter O'Toole, and the gradual shift from the bitter nature of his initial pursuit of her affections to their bittersweet relationship creates some of the best tension in the film.

This film is as much about parting and loneliness as it is about retribution and revenge. Iconic French Cinematographer Jean Rabier drifts his camera in and away from singular figures adrift in the ocean or walking along the rock and tides. Whether angelic or fallen angel, the images remain haunting and melancholic. The comedy of life that Chabrol hints to in wonderful moments of social interaction, is lost when his characters are left to wander alone.

The ocean plays such a part in this film, I can't help but feel that ache for Maine. Too bad I would only be able to drive my dream car for 3 months out of the year. Maybe my next stop after LA will be the French Coast--thank you for the inspiration Chabrol.

And thank you LACMA. Check out a calendar of their screenings: LACMA film

One Night in Hollywood

It's interesting walking alone down Hollywood Blvd. on a Sunday night.

Parking much farther down the neon-lit street from my destination than I thought, I was forced to walk 5 blocks past the multiple smoke shops, sex toy boutiques, and the quaint "Oz of Hollywood Tattoo" on the way to the Egyptian theatre. The frequent wet spots on the uneven pavement sidewalk hinted at packed bars with long lines to the bathroom and a largely male crowd. I walked quickly and resisted responding to the comments about blondes and my killer high-tops.

I'm just a nerd who wanted to watch some old movies.

Finally reaching the theatre, I entered another type of technicolor world: Kodachrome Experimental Cinema. Filmforum's 35th Anniversary was held in a small screening room packed with other film enthusiasts (geeks) eager to spend the next two hours oohing and ahhing over 16mm projections of rare Kodachrome prints. In attendance was legendary experimental filmmaker Michael Kuchar, who in his opening conversation mentioned his film relationships with the likes of Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, Ken Jacobs, and Kenneth Anger. It was wonderful to hear someone speak so passionately about the urge to create art using film. Having heard his twin brother George speak in Boston about his own film energies, I was comforted again by Michael's insistence on the play involved with filmmaking, the hobbyist nature of the experimental filmmaker, and the necessity to do what you can with what you got.

Then again, after watching Kuchar's The Secret of Wendel Samson (1962), I fought the paranoia of failing to reach that level of vision in my own work.
The last film of the night, Kuchar's 33.5 minute exploration of fear, isolation, and vacillating sexuality, created that wonderful viewing "hum," or warmth of a raptured audience. Kuchar's cinematography holds a focus so intense that coupled with the thick, full color of Kodachrome, there's a tension that perpendicularly compliments the comic nature of the characters and their strange, yet oddly natural behavior.

Also included in the Kodachrome lineup were the films Pastoral d'Ete (1958) by Will Hindle, 3rd Ave El (1955) By Carson Davidson, Creation (1979) by Stan Brakhage, Secret Garden (1988) by Phil Solomon, and Path of Cessation (1974) by Robert Fulton.

My favorite film experience of all time is Phil Solomon's Remains to be Seen (1989-94) and screening his Secret Garden didn't disappoint. The vibrancy of Kodachrome has an interesting relationship to an artist's choice of either sound or silence. The density of Solomon's images, and their distinct surface manipulation played games with his choice of silence. The appropriation of footage from The Wizard of Oz caused me to think briefly back on that tattoo parlor on Hollywood, but my focus was almost instantly brought back by the color world of Dorothy and her fears of being far from home; fears that Solomon disguised behind layers of texture and physically transformed celluloid.

The connecting element between all the films was not just the Kodachrome stock, but the heightened sense of isolation. From singular figures: the lonely seals adrift on the ice in Brakhage's Creation, the gong soloist in the beginning Path of Cessation; to the sweeping landscapes of Pastoral d'Ete and the contrasting 3rd Ave El, the solitary relationship of the camera to its subject was only heightened with the saturation of color.

After leaving the screening room, a celebratory reception followed, with the obligatory red wines, alternative beers, and some, pardon my terminology, dank-ass cake. I think I almost crushed Kuchar's hand when I shook it, but he didn't seem to notice and was happy to talk about his work and the cake. I was introduced to him by Ray "3D" Zone who has worked in stereoscopic film for over 30 years and Kuchar is a big fan of his 3D comics. Gotta love the crowd that comes out for experimental film. Ah, but my social awkwardness prevailed, and after some good conversation, largely about the cheese platter, I slipped out onto the boulevard that seemed somehow safer than before.

I walked back down Hollywood with a renewed sense of purpose in my own films, a pocket-full of funky business cards, and an insane sugar-high. Can't wait to do it again.






For information on Filmforum activities and screenings check out their website at lafilmforum.org
(screen shots taken from the Filmforum website)

February 1st. Goddamn.

so i haven't been keeping this up-to-date. and laziness is preventing me from going back and cataloguing anything worthwhile. its the problem of time elapse....nothing seems that important a couple of days after it passes. so, i'm going to throw some photos on here and play a mini game of show and tell.

things that i have done in the last couple of months:

NYE in NYC
Boston
Maine
A Sober December
Eat
Not Eat
Bikram
Sit/Rest/Sleep
Eat
Work
Mt. Baldy, CA

Now, some pictures