Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Thursday, December 3, 2009

There ain't nobody that can sing like me

During the spring of 1995, Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora contacted English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg about writing music for a selection of completed Guthrie lyrics. Her father had left behind over a thousand sets of complete lyrics written between 1939 and 1967; none of these lyrics had any music other than a vague stylistic notation.



According to Bob Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles, Woody Guthrie offered his unpublished songs to Dylan, but the young singer was unable to get them from Guthrie's family (he tells a story about a reluctant babysitter).

Nora Guthrie's liner notes in Mermaid Avenue indicate that it was her intention that the songs be given to a new generation of musicians who would be able to make the songs relevant to a younger generation. Nora Guthrie contacted Bragg, who in turn approached Wilco and asked them to participate in the project as well.

Wilco agreed, and in addition to recording with Bragg in Ireland, they were given their own share of songs to finish.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Go on with your bad self

This is Ran by Akira Kurosawa, made in 1985. I don't know anything about it. Only that I watched Stray Dog by Akira and then went looking for more by the same director and that I was sick of watching black and white movies and that the font used in the title looked raw.

The actors were brutally good and each frame could be a beautiful painting. And in sequence for 2 hours it felt more like reading a comic book. Even the colours in the movie were perfect.

EDIT: As it turns out this is Akira's vision of King Lear set in Japan during the times of the civil wars, the 16th century I think.

It was his 27th movie (out of 30) and he was 75 at time of completion.

It cost 260 million yen and was 10 years in the making. When it appeared as though the film would not receive funding he began drawing illustrations of each character and costume and mapping out their psychology.

Watch also "it's wonderful to create Ran". A series of documentaries on Directors and the movies they've made.

Great stuff on lighting, camera angles, set designs, makeup (be bold with the makeup!), costume...

His 1980 film, Kagemusha, was said to be a practice run for Ran (for essential elements such as horse training and castle set building)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

still style




For example, amog traditional performing arts, lets take Japanese dance. In Japanese dance, rather than rhythym of movement, it’s coming to a standstill after movement. And the beauty of the form in that static state that’s important. You see many such scenes in Mizoguchi’s films, the actors who’ve been acting out their conflicts and struggles come to a halt in a beautiful pose at a certain point, we call this Kimaru in Japanese. His films have many such moments, which are conveyed through the composition of the image.
...
In Sansho the Bailiff, it’s not a scene of turmoil, but a very simple scene, it’s the scene where Anju goes into the lake. That scene is suggestive of Japanese theatre arts such as Kabuki and Noh, which use a passageway called hashigakari, which leads through the theatre to the stage, all an actor does on it is simply walk, but it’s a very important element in Japan’s traditional theatre arts. To walk powerfully or very sadly or with a springy step; there are lots of ways and they’re all stylized. The simple act of walking makes it beautiful.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Name the darling




My kitten is 7 weeks old, she was born in East Harlem.

What's her name?

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009