lunacy
Pigs on the Wing
Part 1
If you didn’t care what happened to me,
And I didn’t care for you,
We would zig zag our way through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain.
Wondering which of the buggars to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing.
Part 2
You know that I care what happens to you,
And I know that you care for me, too.
So I don’t feel alone,
Or the weight of the stone,
Now that I’ve found somewhere safe
To bury my bone.
And any fool knows a dog needs a home,
A shelter from pigs on the wing.
10secondfilms.org
Some think content will keep getting longer and longer until movies are 3 and 4 hours long. That’s fine. OK with us. We also like the idea of not spending 3 or 4 hours to get something out of it.
Like music, there is a time and place for a long song and a short one. We like them both. We do listen to waaay more short songs than long ones, though. This is the reason we love still images more than films. If our house was on fire and we had to save still images or films, we would have to save the stills. We know. Sounds surprising! We work in motion but, like most of our favorite filmmakers, we think in stills. Moments. In a moment, a still image can change our lives. Films take a little longer.
Which is one reason we created and curate 10secondfilms.org. In 10 moments, a film can pack quite a wallop. Some maybe not so much, but are still worthy as friendly exercises in media literacy.
Howard Rheingold called this site “genius, funny, and yes, friendly expression of participation media literacy” via his Twitter account.
Gever Tulley also commented on it using the most appropriate phrase ever: “oddly compelling” – also via Twitter.
Compliments coming from fellas like these make us feel pretty darn swell, to say the least. Thank you, Gever and Howard. You both have our most humble admiration and deepest respect.
This is all just to say that we believe the experience of producing media should be a friendly one for all ages, especially as technology can still be an obstacle to the creative process for many of us. As an exercise in media and visual literacies, the 10-second format is vital. It minimizes the need for complex tools. These moments as movies are gratifying and occasionally inspire larger, more ambitious projects.
Make a 10 second film with any device that captures motion pictures.
No editing — One take — 10 seconds maximum length — Sound is optional.
Have a 10 second film you like?
We’d love to hear about it and perhaps even feature it on the site – click here to tell us more.
Meanwhile, thanks for reading and — keep playing.
Here, Now
Easy to take this all for granted. Breathing. Walking. Seeing. Feeling. Any sense. Pick one. And it’s even easier to stroll through this whole thing blind to the possibility that this may just very well all be some dream. We know nothing about what any of us are doing here.
In the meantime, we find things to make it about: for some, it’s about love and a sense of belonging. For many it appears to be money and fame. That’s surprising, isn’t it? Celebrity only seems to present new problems. It doesn’t change anything. It steals privacy, creates further issues with identity, but doesn’t provide any solutions for this singular dilemma. Nothing does.
So I am writing this to myself.
When people die, people close to us, it kindles something. What is that feeling? It makes me calm, reminds me of our connectivity to everything. It may be morbid, but I am oddly comforted by that loneliness, walking around in that stupor. Pleased to be again so intimately conscious that we have no control over any of this schwack. I am at peace within the moments of tragedy in a way I cannot be to quite the same degree otherwise. i don’t need anything in those times. I’m not hungry or thirsty. I’m not tired. I just seem to be picking up some signal that can’t be known coming from somewhere, everywhere. Call it shock if you want. There’s something more going on there, something unseen that has properties. As if ocean waves generate this frequency that we haven’t even considered the possibility of, or clouds being ghosts that have trapped themselves here, not having let go of their lives here on Earth yet. I laugh at what we think we know. Even if it is correct, it is always, ALWAYS, only the tip of the iceberg.
We can buy this, travel there, pretend to be this or that but it doesn’t help.
As Vonnegut used to say:
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.”
Are we evolving closer or further away from this awareness? What are the advantages of each? Disadvantages?
What could this awareness do for us? Is it important?
Does it change how we treat each other? Ourselves?
Do we care?
Big River Man: Martin Strel
Check out Martin’s complete [and impressive] list of accomplishments here
Marshmallow test: pass or fail?
I’ve never been into marshmallows but still think I woulda failed on principle:
Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.
Tapped
In late 2008, Switchblade’s Adam Condal edited “Tapped,” a 90-minute documentary that in July of 2009 premiered at the Long Island and Maine International Film Festivals. The film illustrates the impact of the global water crisis on America and what we can do as individuals to enact change sooner rather than later. “Tapped” examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil. The following is the trailer Adam Condal cut for the film. (Please note that “Tapped” will be showing at the Arclight in Hollywood beginning August 7th, 2009).
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Using Nature as a Hitman
The World War 1 Tyrolean Avalanches
1916-1918
Avalanches were used as highly effective weapons during World War 1. This disastrous weapon started when lot’s of snow fell in the Alp’s during the December of 1916. People could tell that the avalanche risk was high. A big avalanche killed 250 soldiers while tumbling down on the barracks. Some unknown person got the idea that avalanches could make a highly effective weapon. The avalanche war had begun. Avalanches could be started and even directed by just bombing a mountain. History has not yet calculated the exact number of deaths. Deaths have been estimated as high as 40,000 on each fighting side. Humans are responsible for these death causing, disastrous avalanche killer.
A pal and I had a brief discussion about this today – how and why we choose to use nature to do our dirty work. Just like this story.
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Do YOU Drink Wilkins?
If only commercials were still as cool as these for Wilkins Coffee – thanks to Pierre for the tip – made my day : )
Why is there buttock stabbing in Rome?
QUESTION: Why is there buttock stabbing in Rome?
Manchester United fans are in Rome for the Champions League final. When English teams have visited the Italian capital in recent years there have been a string of fans stabbed in the buttocks by hooligans. But why do they target the backside? Other than the fact that United plays dirty so why shouldn’t their fans?
It’s called the Eternal City by many, but Rome also has the sobriquet “Stab City” among football fans because of the level of knife attacks in the Italian capital.
There are fears tonight’s Champions League final, being held in the city’s Olympic Stadium, will be marred by such violence after several knife-related attacks on supporters from a number of English clubs over the last decade.
What is marked about the attacks is that victims are often stabbed in the buttocks. The practice even has its own slang name in the local Roman dialect – “puncicate”. But why is the backside targeted?
ANSWER: It is a painful, humiliating injury but not likely to be life threatening.
In medieval duels stabbing someone in the buttocks was considered the most skillful move
According to those who have researched the subject, a stab wound in the buttocks may be chosen as it is seen as not likely to be life-threatening, but is humiliating and painful for the victim.
Experts believe the cultural tradition may even be linked to medieval duelling where slashing an opponent’s buttocks was supposedly considered very skillful.
“Puncicate” is mainly about hurting rival fans but not killing them, says John Foot, a professor of modern Italian history at University College London and an author on Italian football.
Update: I’m happy to report there were no buttock-stabbings at Brits Pub while I was there watching the game.
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Area Man Writes Blog
LITTLE CANADA, MNâ€â€Local resident Steve Bachman, the self-styled “Bachster†of Internet obscurity, has announced plans to publish a blog. Family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and checkout clerks are bracing themselves for the expected onslaught of hintsâ€â€subtle and not-so-subtleâ€â€of the “you ought to check out my blog†variety.
Bachman believes that his catchy graphical hook, a black-and-white bust of J.S. Bach wearing crudely hand-drawn pink-tinted sunglasses, will set his blog apart from the crowd. “It’s been a big hit with my test audience,†he says, “many of whom have expressed the opinion that it’s a very cool and subtle way to brand the Bachster name.†He does admit, however, that a few of his readers have misidentified the image. The names Benjamin Franklin, Horace Rumpole, and “Ben Stein in a wig†have come up.
When asked if readers can expect a lot of self-revelatory writing, reflection, and evidence of personal growth on his blog, he says, “No, but I do expect to skewer everyone I know quite unmercifully.â€Â
Check out BachBlog if you likey : )
Keep up the great work, Steve – and remember, there are far worse ways to spend time.
For example, we could be stone-cold-Hollywood pimps defending our territory against would-be-take-our-hoes-ways-from-us-neighboring-pimps.
yeah.
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Hit and Run near Lake Calhoun
For those of us who commute on our bicycles to work each day, this is our worst nightmare : yesterday at 4:23 a.m. officers in the Fifth Precinct were dispatched to a report of the body of a man in the roadway at Excelsior Boulevard and West 32nd Street. When officers arrived they found the body of a male in his sixties lying in the street. It appears that the victim had been riding his bicycle eastbound on Excelsior Boulevard when he was struck by a vehicle and killed. The driver left the scene and made no report.
Thus, the Minneapolis Police Department is seeking our help in locating the driver and vehicle responsible for this. The vehicle should have significant front end damage. Anyone with information please call the T.I.P.S. line at 612-692-TIPS (8477).
Hug the ones you love today.
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So long, Facebook
Today i say goodbye to social networking. I no longer wish to opt-in to additional consumer surveillance.
If i had an office job that bored me to tears, i would surely feel differently and continue to click my way through mob, zombie and other such mindless *wars*.
Alas, i have no such job and after a discussion about its pros and cons, it is undeniably clear that the cons ruthlessly outweigh the pros.
After using the features that Facebook provides *free* to users for the past couple of years, in all fairness it was fun to occasionally find a long, lost pal.
However, given the amount of information Facebook sells about me and anyone else who uses it, I began to think this way : “They’re making lots of money off of tracking what I spend and where and potentially using my words and images without my knowledge. Is that such a great deal for anyone else?”
To boot, I was friends with a lot of people who I never see or actually have much in common with [towards the end i actually started removing "friends"].
As for the friends i see on a regular basis, i don’t need such a tool to stay in contact with them.
So — so long, social-networking-disguised-as-data-mining-and-profiling sites!
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YARTGROYTV
Have you ever wondered why they call it television “programming”?
Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that it INFLUENCES people how to behave would it?
Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that it TEACHES people to adopt an identity that isn’t their own would it?
Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that it CONVINCES people that they need to act a certain way to be COOL would it?
Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the WORLD would be a better place without it would it?
Fact : programming is programming you.
Yet Another Reason To Get Rid Of Your TV :
Is ANYONE here to make friends?
This “reality” makes me think there’s not much difference between television programming and how these people feel/think at work, at home and in society at large.
Are YOU here to make friends or are you just here to *win*?
You *winners* aren’t able to answer that honestly and that’s ok – you didn’t come here to make friends.
The rest of us didn’t come here to make friends with self-serving bullies.
Sadly, according to this study, the bullies aren’t going away any time soon.
It’s easy to get down about this but, fortunately, there ARE good people around who help balance them out : )
The only catch is, you won’t see or *meet* any of them on TV.
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You Think You Really Know Me
The DVD is out for anyone who didn’t see the film in theaters.
“In 1977, a 24-year-old musician from Endicott, NY released a wonderful, odd album, combining elements of pop, proto new wave, jazz, avant-garde composition and electronic music, alternately sweet and angst ridden, about the women in his life and his fantasies…†– The New York Times
He made a masterpiece, and then he disappeared.
Championed by the likes of Beck and Matt Groening and obsessed over by record collectors, Gary Wilson’s 1977 album, YOU THINK YOU REALLY KNOW ME, is widely considered one of the most unique and personal musical statements of the 1970′s. Inspired by the 2002 reissue of the seminal album, director Michael Wolk set out to learn more about the man behind this esoteric record only to find that its creator had all but vanished shortly after its release, making for a story just as interesting and peculiar as the album for which he’s known. You Think You Really Know Me: The Gary Wilson Story is a look at the fascinating yet bittersweet life of a musician and artist well ahead of his time and ripe for rediscovery.
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