Bressonian Quote #13 - Notes from a Master Filmmaker

"The terrible habit of theatre." - Robert Bresson

Aronofsky's Black Swan Trailer and Poster

This is the recently released trailer and poster for Darren Aronofsky's new film (always anxiously and excitedly anticipated). It will be premiering on opening night of the Venice Film Festival, Sept. 1, as well as screening at the Toronto Film Festival.

An Honest Review of Christopher Nolan's "Inception" - Finally...

It seems that the film critics' circle, with their universal applause and praise for recent blockbuster spectacles like Avatar and Inception, have tuned into some Joseph Campbell-esque collective consciousness that the rest of the thinking, film-viewing population are not privy to. I presume that they have fallen victim to the debilitating, enchanting, hypnotizing charms of those suave studios and big (but shameless) marketing schemes. So sad, especially for self-proclaimed professionals and experts (funny). I simply can't believe how little dissension there was among the ranks of popular critics in regard to these two films. Even the more seemingly credible, or definitively "indy", critical reviews were soft and approving. Avatar is decidedly some of the worst cinematic dribble that I have suffered through in years (it would have been an average story had it been written for submission to a junior high literary magazine), and Inception, though one hell of a spectacle (and relatively interesting concept), was an average movie at best - with grueling expository dialogue and a formula story line with no original character development. And yet, the critics (even Village Voice, NY Times, Ebert, and the likes - shame on you) universally praised these forgettable, unchallenging films. Where is the young rebellious Ebert of old that stood up against popular opinion and hailed the cinematic excellence of Bonnie and Clyde - risking career and credibility? We need dissension.

Following is the only honest review of Inception that I have read - bravo.

REVIEW: Is Inception This Year’s Masterpiece? Dream On

BY STEPHANIE ZACHAREK

If the career of Christopher Nolan is any indication, we’ve entered an era in which movies can no longer be great. They can only be awesome, which isn’t nearly the same thing.

In Inception, Nolan does the impossible, the unthinkable, the stupendous: He folds a mirror version of Paris back upon itself; he stages a fight sequence in a gravity-free hotel room; he sends a train plowing through a busy city street. Whatever you can dream, Nolan does it in Inception. Then he nestles those little dreams into even bigger dreams, and those bigger dreams into gargantuan dreams, going on into infinity, cubed. He stretches the boundaries of filmmaking so that it’s, like, not even filmmaking anymore, it’s just pure “OMG I gotta text myBFF right now” sensation.

Wouldn’t it have been easier just to make a movie?

But that urgent simplicity, that directness of focus, is beyond Nolan: Everything he does is forced and overthought, and Inception, far from being his ticket into hall-of-fame greatness, is a very expensive-looking, elephantine film whose myriad so-called complexities — of both the emotional and intellectual sort — add up to a kind of ADD tedium. This may be a movie about dreams, but there’s nothing dreamlike or evocative about it: Nolan doesn’t build or sustain a mood; all he does is twist the plot, under, over, and back upon itself, relying on Hans Zimmer’s sonic boom of a score to remind us when we should be excited or anxious or moved. It’s less directing than directing traffic.

For the complete review, follow the link: MovieLine Reviews

And, thank you for an honest and intelligent review.

Persecution/Bigotry Robs the World Time and Time Again...

Link: http://coffeeghost.net/images/dontaskdonttell.png

The Arab Parrot - Highly Recommended Blog/ Images of Intrigue

One of my close friends and Master of all things pop culture surreal (an invaluable media resource) recently tuned me in to this blog. I must say wow, haha, and intriguing - I can't quit checking it out. Think urban art, Andy Warhol, paparazzi, street photography, performance art, image journal, gritty, soft, voyeurism, communal, hipster pretense, urban soul, potential brilliance, potential pointlessness. Actually, maybe I should let this one speak for itself. Enjoy.

The Arab Parrot

Existential Woes - reflections and observations

Keep nailing the ground to the earth,

but it won't stay down.

Bressonian Quote #12 - Notes from a Master Filmmaker

"Two types of film: those that employ the resources of the theatre (actors. direction, etc.) and use the camera in order to reproduce; those that employ the resources of cinematography and use the camera to create." - Robert Bresson

Bokonon - Relevant Quote/Wisdom

"Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything." ~Bokonon (aka: Kurt Vonnegut)

Link: VONNEGUT.com

Filmmaker Quotes: Gus Van Sant

The following is a recent email that I received from a close friend, collaborator, and fellow filmmaker. I couldn't agree more - with my friend and Van Sant.

After the financial success of Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant had this to say:

"I came to realize since I had no need to make a lot of money, I should make films I find interesting, regardless of their outcome and audience."

And then he gave us Elephant and Paranoid Park. This man is my hero.

Arizona High Schools To Now Teach Spanish Entirely In English - the ONION reports

Links: the ONION - America's Finest News Source

Absurdity of the Moment - #02

At The Height Of The Crisis, $1.6 Billion In 'Ill-Advised' Bonuses

by JACOB GOLDSTEIN

At the height of the financial crisis, there was a window of a few months after banks had received federal bailout money, and before they were subject to new rules restricting their pay practices.

During that window, 17 financial companies handed out $1.6 billion in compensation that was "ill-advised," Kenneth Feinberg, the federal official appointed to oversee pay at bailed-out firms, said this morning...

Here are the 17 firms that Feinberg says made ill-advised payments. Those that have not yet fully repaid taxpayer bailouts are listed in bold:

• American Express
• AIG
• Bank of America
• Boston Private Financial Holdings
• Capital One
• CIT
• Citigroup
• JPMorgan Chase
• M&T Bank
• Morgan Stanley
• Regions Financial
• SunTrust Banks
• Bank of New York Mellon
• Goldman Sachs
• PNC Financial Services Group
• U.S. Bancorp
• Wells Fargo

Link to the entire article: NPR Reports

I feel like the utter and complete disregard of basic social (if not business) ethics is abundantly apparent, so no need to expound upon the evident injustice or my rising fury as i read each dribbling continuation of this absurd financial saga. Obviously, this is merely one more example in a long line that epitomizes the failures of our financial sector, and the major players, to have any semblance of basic human decency or expansive vision. This also perpetuates the rising tide of validated questions about the root paradigm of American Capitalism and contemporary deregulation. We reap what we sow.

Just wanted to play my part in the relevant information continuum in hopes that some may read this list and reconsider any further business transactions with these companies. They took money from the poor and paid gratuitous bonuses to the wealthiest - unforgivable, criminal.

The Jaunt (a short film by tod gorman) - Original Score, Poster/One-Sheet and Trailer

The Jaunt Original Score (written by Steve Raney and Tod Gorman)


This is the original Film Score for The Jaunt, a short film - based on the Stephen King short story - that I directed and edited. Seemingly endless post-production will wrap this month, and we hope to be screening in festivals by fall.

There are two tracks:

- The Electronic Film Score (opening and body of film): composed by Steve Raney, a good friend and gifted electronic musician/DJ extraordinaire based out of Brooklyn, NY.

- Final Track (end credits): composed by Steve and myself. Recorded by Ben Privott/Acoustic guitar by Tod Gorman/ Vocal humming by Tod Gorman and Brendan Carter/ Electronic tracks and Keys by Steve Raney.

The Jaunt Original Trailer (by Nick Smith)


Poster Designs by Nick Smith.

The Jaunt is presented by Bad Trip Film and Boy in a Box Productions, in conjunction with UNCW Film Studies and Stephen King's Dollar Baby Program.

Duality is the Premise - reflections and observations

EVERYTHING is a duality.

Rant Casey (from Chuck Palahniuk's novel, Rant) - Wisdom and Relevant Quotes

"Some people are just born human. The rest of us, we take a lifetime to get there."

"The future you have tomorrow won't be the same as the future you had yesterday."

"You're a different human being to everybody that you meet."

~Rant Casey

Link: The Cult - The Official Chuck Palahniuk Site

Highly recommended novel - Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. A twisted mutation of Palahniuk's dark-nook, back-alley, gritty realism (surreal at the same time - yes, this does make sense) and fantastical, philosophical, sci fi thriller - with the underlying combative themes of social chaos and romantic purpose that seem to thread all of Palahniuk's books. Also written through first person accounts of Rant Casey, post-mortem - this adds an intriguing aspect of questionable credibility and perspective to the storytelling voice and moves the story forward with narrative holes that build anticipation in a fascinating manner. Follow the link for more information.

Photo Captures Double Lightning Strike - Images of Intrigue

Sometimes, a photographer goes out in search of a good photo--and, because of unforeseen circumstances, he comes back with a great photo, one that gets displayed all over the world.

Links: NPR

Chicago Tribune

Photojournalism - To Win Afghan Trust, Village By Village (NPR) - Images of Intrigue

Photojournalism from Afghanistan - by David Gilkey/NPR

Follow the link to view a 13 image slide show of these extraordinarily poetic, but intensely reflective photographs recently taken on assignment by David Gilkey. There is honesty between the stylistic artistry of the images and the brutal realism of subject matter.

Bressonian Quote #11 - Notes from a Master Filmmaker

"(1925?) The TALKIE opens its doors to theatre which occupies the place and surrounds it with barbed wire." - Robert Bresson

Bresson's negative sentiments toward theatre will be clarified in upcoming Bressonian Quotes. His qualm was not with theatre per se, but with the detrimental marriage of theatre and film, and the artistic restrictions it imposes - particularly in defining commercial narrative expectations.

Leon Levinstein, The Lonely Photographer (NPR) - Images of Intrigue

It's the burden of a successful photographer to answer the dreaded question: What makes a great photograph?

But sometimes a photographer will proffer an unsolicited view. Like Leon Levinstein, who, in a1988 interview, gave his thoughts. "A good photograph," he said, "will prove to the viewer how little our eyes permit us to see. Most people only see what they've always seen and what they expect to see. Whereas a photographer, if he's good, will see everything."

And Leon Levinstein, although perhaps an unfamiliar name, was a good photographer.

There's a common canon of 1960s street photographers, which includes names like Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand and Robert Frank. They received grants and awards, sought magazine assignments and gallery showings, and their names are always the first to roll off the tongues of photo historians and critics when discussing that era of street photography.

But one photographer, whose work rivals theirs, has remained in relative obscurity by choice; he doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. The man, Leon Levinstein, summed it up himself in that 1980s interview. "You gotta be alone and work alone," he said. "It's a lonely occupation, if you wanna call it that." - Follow the link for the complete article on NPR.

To view online or visit a thorough retrospective of his work:

Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein's New York Photographs, 1950–1980
June 8, 2010–October 17, 2010
The Howard Gilman Gallery - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

	See the Collection Database for a list of works included in this exhibition.
	Download the audio file. (5.29 MB) - Excerpts from 1988 archival recording, Leon Levinstein talks about his work.
Leon Levinstein (American, 1910–1988), an unheralded master of street photography, is best known for his candid and unsentimental black-and-white figure studies made in New York City neighborhoods from Times Square and the Lower East Side to Coney Island. This exhibition, drawn exclusively from the Metropolitan's collection, will feature some forty photographs that reflect the artist's fearless approach to the medium. Levinstein's graphic virtuosity—seen in raw, expressive gestures and seemingly monumental bodies—is balanced by his unusual compassion for his offbeat subjects from the demimonde. Born in West Virginia in 1910, Levinstein moved to New York in 1946 and spent the next thirty-five years obsessively photographing strangers on the streets of his adopted home. Early in his career, Levinstein was quoted in Photography Annual 1955: "In my photographs I want to look at life—at the commonplace things as if I just turned a corner and ran into them for the first time." With daring and dedication to his subject, Levinstein captured the denizens of New York City at extremely close range. He used his superb sense of composition to frame the faces, flesh, poses, and movements of his fellow city dwellers in their myriad guises: sunbathers, young couples, children, businessmen, beggars, prostitutes, proselytizers, society ladies, and characters of all stripes.

Perhaps the Greatest Sports Ad ever recorded...

This may be the greatest sports ad ever recorded - 3 mins. long, an insane and eclectic cast, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (badass auteur/director of Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Biutiful - recently premiered at Cannes), probably cost as much as his features, and, my god, the editing! It's a shame it's Nike, but i don't know who else could have pulled it off. Enjoy the media experience - especially Futball fans - and try not to dwell on the shameless marketing indulgence until after soaking in its brilliance a bit.

link: www.slate.com

Poet Peter Orlovsky, Ginsberg's partner, dies at 76 - SF Gate reports

Peter Orlovsky was a sweet and handsome 21-year-old with a troubled past when he met Allen Ginsberg in San Francisco in 1954, and the two forged a relationship that would last for decades and transform their lives.

Mr. Orlovsky, who became a poet in his own right but was always overshadowed by Ginsberg's fame, died Sunday in Vermont. He was 76 and had battled emphysema and lung cancer.

"When Peter and Allen met, they were both troubled," said Gerald Nicosia, a Marin County poet and biographer of Jack Kerouac. "Ginsberg was troubled by his homosexuality and afraid to be a poet, and Peter had come from this family defined by mental illness, and he was living in San Francisco and wondering where his own life was going."

Within a year of meeting Mr. Orlovsky, Ginsberg started writing "Howl," a poem that was first performed Oct. 7, 1955, at the Six Gallery in San Francisco and published a year later. The controversial poem became a seminal work of the Beat Generation.

"Allen was the brains, and Peter was the heart," said Nicosia. " You couldn't be around him without feeling this love radiating from his eyes."

Read more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/06/03/BA741DO3IS.DTL#ixzz0pwJmRtWR

Another lost Beat - so sad, so few left to tell the stories from one of our most intriguing generations.