Friday, August 28, 2009

The Short Films of Sean Dunne

i found a posting of man in van on freewilliamsburg yesterday. man in van is a short doc directed by sean dunne about a man who truly lives in a van down by the hudson river. this lead me to his vimeo page where i discovered two more short docs that are quite good. i particularly like ed david's photography in the archive. the archive was an official selection at sundance this year and is a fantastic short about the largest record collection in the world and the record collector who can no longer afford to maintain it. buckles is an interview with the last surviving veteran of world war i. check'em out:

Man In Van from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.


The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.


Buckles from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

8-bit Trip

Lego (TRADEMARK!!!!) animation!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Tor and Sufjan Stevens - Illinoize(remix/mashup)


this remix/mashup is sick! tor, an artist based out of montreal, has created this badass mashup. he used sufjan steven's come on! feel the illinoise! to create beats and then borrowed vocals from various hip-hop well knowns(Big Daddy Kane, Outkast, Aesop Rock, Pete Rock & C L Smooth, Grand Puba, Brother Ali, etc.) the outkast track is especially fantastic. it's a mashup of sufjan's "dumb i sound" and one of my absolute favorite tracks of all time, outkast's "ATLiens." i've posted it below. you can listen to all the tracks on his youtube account, which is linked above. you can also download the full mashup for free right here.

Vimeo

if you haven't noticed, i'm a pretty active member of the vimeo community. i watch, friend, heart and comment on videos pretty frequently. i see a lot of professional work and i see a lot of excellent amatuer work. and then, i find something incredible like this:

Test Drive from charliesteadman on Vimeo.


this is charlie steadman. he's a very active vimeo member. he's a software engineer in massachusetts that is married with kids. he and his family started making videos a few years ago to share on vimeo. this is the first one. this is what vimeo is all about. i'm pretty sure he only had kids so that he might have an acting troupe that can't say no to his vision.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A Muslim man adjusts his cap in a mirror...


A Muslim man adjusts his cap in a mirror at a mosque on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, Indian-administered Kashmir on August 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta) #

from the big picture

Birmingham Politics

(a long post, but an hilarious news conference is below)

often times, when discussing birmingham politics, i look like this dude above (for whatever reason, this link refuses to cooperate regularly, so if it isn't there, reference this). our mayor is awaiting federal trial on 101 counts of mail fraud, bribery, etc, and even though the two men indicted with him flipped and will no doubt testify for the prosecution, the man refuses to resign. in fact, his burberry sweater and rolex watch-wearing-ass declared indigence so that the city he screwed will pay for his defense. this, just after the man in charge of the mayor's computer charity for kids just went to jail on 97 counts of fraud, much of which larry was associated. he is the same man that brought unicorns to a city hall meeting. he created a commission to bring the olympics (which cost china somewhere in the realm of $43 billion) to birmingham. he declared that birmingham deserved beluga whales in a world's largest aquarium, just like atlanta. he created the $90 million alabama adventure theme park that the county built and subsequently sold for $5 million when it tanked. he practically bankrupted the city of fairfeild while mayor, just before campaigning for a new job in birmingham. he was never, and currently is not actually a legitimate resident of the city of birmingham and therefore is not legally mayor. AND, upon being indicted in a federal civil lawsuit declared, "you can sue a ham sandwich in the state of alabama," ( to FEDERAL charges) amongst other outrageous/delirious quotes. but that's not got me going today. nope. on top of that, the majority of our county commission are being scrutinized or investigated for similar crimes. our county won't declare it, but we're bankrupt (relating to langford's crimes). our county sheriff's department had to sue the county commission for funding so that they could continue to police a county containing a city ranked 8th amongst the most dangerous cities in the nation. our city's budget is a $17 million deficit and all but one member of the city council voted to okay the construction of a $600 million domed stadium (langford's shiny idea) that only the "visionaries" want. we're playing the "get to know your city game." how about all that corruption? that's all without mentioning the county sewer debt crisis and layoffs.

but none of that is forcing me through the motions of the above three frames today. oh no. it was an election day yesterday. an important election. one to wipe the city council slate clean, if we so chose. there was a decent amount of press coverage in the lead-up to this election, since, it was a contended race for almost every seat this year. but no one received more press than "dr" antwon womack. what's strange about that is he was running for the district 6 seat on the board of education, not city council. the reason he received so much press is that "dr" antwon womack lied about his credentials. he didn't happen to actually possess a doctorate and he didn't actually graduate from Alabama A&M, or from high school for that matter. that lie was stupid. he also lied about his age. he claimed to be 23 on his facebook page, the home base for his campaign, but, he was actually 21. also stupid. he then held the following press conference where he admitted to running for the mayor of tarrant, more than likely, on the same resume: (at least watch until he uses the word "strutinized" but the end is really the best)

link if the embed isn't working

not smart.

he also released this statement:
"Today I am re-assuring the voters of my district that has expressed their continuing support in my campaign in spite of my false statements about my pass. I will not comment publicly about my allegations anymore, however now is time for me to express my thoughts on why I am in this race. Early part of the year I questioned about running for the school board and which district to run for, and also talked with my friends and now supporters that encouraged me to enter the race. I think the public should know who encourage me to enter the race and who is supporting my campaign like LaShunda Scales a candidate for District 1 City Council and Carole Smitherman both encouraged me to enter the race and is continuing to support my campaign. And I thank them for their support."

damn, dawg. just not smart.

he lied, but at this point i started to feel bad for him. i DID. he waivered for a bit trying to decide whether to shut down his campaign or go with the ol' saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity." i think he got a bad publicist's advise. he kept his campaign alive and went to the polls.

i've always said,"never underestimate a birmingham city voter." or, i'd like to say that i've always said that. but really, never underestimate a birmingham city voter. the polls closed and the votes were counted and published this morning. "dr" antwon womack received 117 votes. now THAT was stupid. i'm just hoping he has a shitload of family members.

it's hard to comprehend how he received more than 17 votes. it makes me feel crazy. but i think that this points to a larger birmingham problem. it's really a black hole, not a problem(if this were on al.com, every racist asshole that posts comments on that site would turn that into a racial statement. by racist asshole, i mean everyone who posts on that site. anyway, that's another story). "dr" antwon womack is a product of the city school system. a city school system which failed him. he's the product of a city that failed him. we all sit around laughing and poking fun at his fabricated words and syntax. but he really isn't as stupid as he seems. underneath the exterior of his paltry education, a mind is plotting. you can hear it in the press conference, little bits of rhetoric culled from the mouths of local, sly politicians before him. i hear bits of our last three mayors in his defense and over all tone. if he'd been only a little slicker, if he'd been able to cover his past a little better, who knows...perhaps he could have made the board of education? perhaps he could have then run for city council, county commission, or even mayor? this is how we come to receive the birmingham we have now. our political infra-structure is failing us and will continue to fail unless we do something about the status of education in this city - shit, in this state. antwon womacks affect our crime rate, our political system, our education system, and our own lives - but more importantly, we affect their's. we need a change. as a great man once said, "let's do something." we have five runoffs for city council after yesterday's election and four, or so, for the board of education. i hope everyone gets out to vote in the many, many runoffs that take place on oct. 6.

*edit - so in trying to find hyperlinks for all my hilarious references, i found this article by john archibald that basically says exactly what i've said. for the record, i wrote this early this morning before finding his article and didn't feel like deleting all that work. i don't want our one reader to think this wasn't my idea.

We Have Band - You Came Out

i'm not into this band, but i really like the music video.

We Have Band - You Came Out (Official Music Video) from We Have Band on Vimeo.


and the making of:

We Have Band - You Came Out (The Making Of) from We Have Band on Vimeo.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Throws

i first saw this short when the small change screening series was on tour. they set up shop in my friend burke's living room and screened films for a room of 20 people. it's a great idea. they still tour and you can check out their touring dates and locations at the link above. this film, out of several beautiful and intriguing pieces really struck me. it is so simple and such an interesting piece comes from a tiny concept. the filmmaker is david dunn and he won the first disposable film festival with this short. here's what he has to say about it:

A short video made using a CVS brand "disposable" video camera. Made for a group show at Publico Gallery in Cincinnati, OH. Also screened at the ICA in Philadelphia and first prize winner at the first annual Disposable Film Festival.


Throws from David Dunn on Vimeo.



his other shorts are based around simple but intriguing concepts. i've linked his vimeo page where they are posted.

Tobias Stretch

i love the SHIT out of tobias stretch's work! it's strange, i've loved his stuff for some time, check his website frequently and follow his blog, which he never updates, and i've never thought of posting some of his work here. another thing i love the shit out of is radiohead. here are the two together at last:

Radiohead Weird Fishes by Tobias Stretch from Tobias Stretch on Vimeo.


it couldn't be any better.

i love the vast landscapes and ethereal nature of his work. his finely textured characters seem to parade and maneuver through infinity. his work evokes this distant, or perhaps dying, youthful imaginative sensation that i haven't experienced since i saw the henson films labrynth and dark crystal, or even the last unicorn, or books like a wrinkle in time. that is called synesthesia. it's god damn beautiful, damnit! how's that for eloquence. it's complex as well. his animated moves coupled with the extensive character animation and sometimes time lapsed environment are intense. as for the flight scenes, i'm not quite sure how he accomplishes them, but they're incredible.

i don't know much about him, other than he's an artist and lives in pennsylvania. but that doesn't really matter as long as he keeps making what he makes.

here's his reel:

Tobias Stretch Reel I from Tobias Stretch on Vimeo.


you can find more videos here.

Birdy Nam Nam

great animation for french electro band, birdy nam nam.

And Everything Was Alright

an excellent short. watch it why not. despite what you might perceive from looking at the video jacket, it is actually live action.

And Everything Was Alright from Placeholder Films on Vimeo.

Man sitting down nr. cart full of skeletal remains of soldiers...


(click for larger version)
Man sitting down nr. cart full of skeletal remains of soldiers as black laborers dig graves in bkgrd. on Civil War battlefield.
Location: Cold Harbor, VA, US
Date taken: April 1865
Photographer: John Reekie

from the life/google archive.

Turbo-Sculpture


artfagcity, which is the most appropriate name i've encountered, has an article up about non-political celebrity statues throughout the world. it began with the bruce lee project. there are sister statues of bruce lee. one, aptly placed in hong kong and the other, not so apt, in mostar, bosnia and herzegovina. those effected by the yugoslav wars apparently felt they needed statues of leaders but had no leader worthy of immortalization. enter bruce lee. this is what is called turbo-sculpture.

"Although she does not say it, the development of Turbo-folk, a musical genre originating in Serbia and emerging from pop-folk, is emblematic of the 90’s crisis in ex-Yugoslavia. At the time, the term was nothing more than an intentionally humorous combination of two contradictory concepts - “turbo,” evoking an image of modern industrial progress and “folk,” a symbol of tradition and rural conservatism. But the political and economic turmoil of the early 1990s Yugoslavia rendered the society labile enough for the concept “Turbo-culture” to gain momentum. With all its exaggerations, inordinateness and random amalgamations of both local and global ornamentations, Turbo eventually became a prefix for social and media phenomena of the war and post-war period. As a result, terms such as Turbo-politics, Turbo-TV, Turbo-architecture, Turbo-urbanism, etc. developed. Turbo-sculpture describes the recent rise of interest and popularity in public monuments dedicated to nonpolitical celebrity figures."

there's more on the turbo movement in the article. the statue is supposed to represent ethnic unity in an ethnically touchy place. but the bruce lee statue isn't the only bronzed celebrity in the region. there's a nikola tesla in belgrade, well, not too far fetched, but then there's also a tupac shakur. in fact, italian artist paolo chiasera has created a tupac project and constructed yet another off-set statue of the rapper in bologna. the strangest of all, and this is my humble opinion, is the rocky balboa in zitište, serbia, one of the poorest cities in northern serbia. the idea being that this statue would somehow reinvigorate the city's economy and reputation. it's good to know they don't just elect these visionaries in birmingham.

the full article with more photos are here. be careful, there is a slightly nsfw photo of samantha fox - yes they were building her a statue.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Sorry I'm Late from Tomas Monkovsky and Blink

Tomas Mankovsky directed this really badass video for Blink. it's the story of a guy who misses the bus to his girlfriend's house and narrowly avoids every peril waiting along the non-bus route to her home.

Sorry I'm Late from Tomas Mankovsky on Vimeo.


these are behind the scenes photos.


there's a bunch of behind the scenes stuff here.

Oxford by Adam Pellin Deeve

i think that this is a brilliant animation. vimeo has this channel that is devoted to video documentation of cities. this was on that channel. i'm assuming that adam pellin deeve made this for that purpose, but whatever, it's a stand alone piece.

Oxford from AdamPellinDeeve on Vimeo.

Friday, August 21, 2009

The Best Fan Music Video I've Ever Seen

my friend, brian ratigan, (yes, i do) over at final broadcast sent me this video. it's a fan music video for grizzly bear's "two weeks" made by gabe askew. the entire thing is computer generated using 3ds Max.

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

Chih-Han Hsu


what a fantastically evocative image. there are more here by photographer Chih-Han Hsu.

nosaj thing video projection test

this is a test shoot of some video projection modulation for nosaj thing's live performances. nosaj thing is an electronic musician/modulator from L.A. on Alpha Pup records. Alpha Pup puts out records by the likes of daedelus, busdriver, edIT, and funkadelic.

Nosaj Thing Visual Show Compilation Test Shoot from Adam Guzman on Vimeo.

burning car


this was made by superflex. the folks who brought you flooded mcdonalds.

even youtube HQ won't do this justice. you can download a higher res version through the pirate bay here.

Snuff Box


this is one of my favorite shows. i know that boingboing already had a post about snuff box a year or so ago, but i really feel that this point needs to be reiterated: if you've never seen or heard of snuff box, then run man, run to your nearest dvd proprietor and buy the shit out of it. if you're poor, i've got .avi's of them all at home and we can work out a busing system to get you over to my house to view them. the show, written by and starring matt berry and rich fulcher, contains sketches and punchlines within the shell of a narrative that has no beginning and no end. it's quite chaotic, reminiscent of an eighties bbc comedy show called young ones, with less of a sitcom structure. you don't know young ones? COME ON MAN!!!

matt berry is the high executioner to the king (hangman) and rich fulcher is his assistant. when they're not relaxing in the gentlemen's club for hangmen, they're actually hanging someone or playing other characters in bizarrely juxtapositioned sketches. unfortunately, the show only appears to have had six episodes, which is a normal bbc first season. i'm unaware if the show is being continued, but the first season alone is fantastic. any might boosh, it crowd, man to man with dean learner, or garth marenghi's darkplace fans should know about this show. berry and fulcher actually met while shooting the mighty boosh. if you are one of these fans and know nothing of it, well, i've just informed you and you should see it. you will love it. matt berry wrote and performs the theme song, which i thoroughly enjoy. the theme song comes into play pretty heavily in almost every episode (beyond it being the opening theme, asshole). here's the theme song and some choice sketches:





that should give you a pretty good idea of what this show is about. the first season is out on dvd, so go and get it why not?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Ryan McGinley






i really love ryan mcginley's moonmilk series. [some nsfw]

skreet arts

i was razed up on 'em skreets, so you know i'm bout some skreet art. they all said i wouldnt make it, but i showed em. now that i'm a boss, i read art blogs and follow my favorite skreet artists instead of hustlin. really, they aren't skreet artists, merely, artists. there's a similar confusion in the labeling of untrained artists as folk and outsider artists. they make art - period, and like senator tanker bell, "i wish i could be everywhere that people are doing oart." But, I work and try to make as much "oart" of my own, so I can't really be goin' all around watching artists work. thank the military! for this series of tubes called the internets that bring me information about some of my favorite artists working around the world. sure, they paint illegally on walls and objects surrounded by skreets, but they're artists. currently, some of my favorite artists are in attendance at the Fame Festival in italy. the Fame Festival has a blog here.

BLU, Lucy McLauchlan, and Sam3 are three of my absolute favorite people contributing to the human culture and they're all in italy working together towards a common showing for the Fame Festival. it's like the expendables of skreet art. for those of you unfamiliar with their work, you should check out some videos. i've linked to their websites but below are some videos that are really inspiring. now how about that post?!? damn, i'm the dennis miller of blogging but hyper-links allow you to actually understand my references. booyah.

BLU

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.



Lucy McLauchlan

Beat13 / Lucy McLauchlan "Tacit" from Beat13 on Vimeo.



Sam3

OUROBOROS from sam3 on Vimeo.

SOUR / 日々の音色 (Hibi no Neiro)

SOUR / 日々の音色 (Hibi no Neiro) MV from Magico Nakamura on Vimeo.


This is a music video that has definitely made the internet rounds. It was posted on blog after blog only weeks ago and has well over a million views logged on youtube alone. That being said, here it is again if you didn't catch it, and more IMPORTANTLY, here is an interview that Graham Kolbeins of futureshipwreck.com and Weloveyouso conducted with the four filmmakers. It details how they pulled off the fantastically creative and complex undertaking of choreographing 80 different international participants by webcam.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Lost Calender Picture

This composition was done in my early days with photoshop. It might not be the prettiest, but the idea is definitely there. This was meant to be a part of my follow up calender. I guess I got too busy with school and engagement. Hopefully, I will find time to make another one. I know my brother, sister and grandmothers are all anxiously waiting. Trust me they've been pretty vocal.

Skeet Skeet

this is a video from my birthday gathering.

SKEET SKEET from justin gaar on Vimeo.

Green Star mars SPECTACULAR Record

we've fallen off on posting. i've marked it on our progress chart with a green star. green stars aren't great. they aren't bad, but also, not good. in past months, laser and i have received gold stars for exemplary posts, and i've received one yellow star for shameless self-promotion. from afar the yellow star looks quite like a gold star and no one's said a word. with laser moving to the biggest city he could muster and successfully job searching his way to employment, and me, well, living in the easiest city i could muster and working on two television shows, expanding my oeuvre with two bands, and also holding down a 9-5, this blog became taxing and fell by the wayside.

an easy fix, i say! until i can scratch up more time for lengthier posts such as this very one, i'll be posting videos, photos, music, and general works i find inspiring. sometimes i may accompany that post with words, others not. here is the first one:

SURFIN'/BODY IN THE WATER-MEMORY CASSETTE from PAT VAMOS on Vimeo.


this is a video to a song by memory tapes/memory cassette. if you would like to know more about him read this. i think this video is beautiful.