20,000 Leagues opening titles
Student project by Maximov. Pretty frickin’ nice.
Llama llama llama llama!
Via… somewhere. Ugh.
Fourteen actors acting
The New York Times presents Fourteen Actors Acting: A video gallery of classic screen types. Personally, I found it difficult to get past Javier. There’s something about these portraits that is very intimate, which I guess is the nature of acting. Probably helps that they’re black and white.
And Vincent Cassel proves this: Dance, it’s all in the pants. Wait, that didn’t come out right…
The Best Thing I Ever Done
The Best Thing I Ever Done HQ from MargaretEmily MacKenzie on Vimeo.
A word of warning: Don’t watch this on an empty stomach. People will argue about who makes the best NYC pizza, but no matter how you slice it, DeMarco is an artist. This short (16 minutes) portrait of the man behind the pizza at Di Fara is a feast for the eyes and, quite frankly, heart. It’s like bespoke pizza. 
And I WANT TO GO TO THERE!
“Chores. A reason to live.”
I love seeing John Waters interviewed. There’s just something so fascinating about him. He always seems so giddy with spirit and in love with life. Need to pick up Role Models – have a feeling tis a decadent read.
Via Austin Kleon
“I dance this way”
I have no idea why, but I find this mesmerizing as all get up. Just the sheer exuberance. What is that? Oh, wait. Is that… fun? Are they having fun? Love the old guy who looks like he’s asleep.
Couldn’t do that in NY. I have to walk barefoot in my apartment or my downstairs neighbor has a shit fit.
The story behind this footage:
Way back in 1964, New York filmmaker, David Hoffman was headed down with his new 16mm hand help camera (weight 49 lbs!) to spend three weeks driving the backcountry around Madison County, North Carolina, in the center of Appalachia, with the 82 year old founder of the pioneer Asheville Mountain Music and Dance Festival, Bascom Lamar Lunsford. The resulting film, “Bluegrass Roots” lets you hear and experience the hard scrabbling, dirt road real people sounds that dominated the back country of the southern mountains 40 years ago. It presents a string of the most extraordinary singers, players and dancers the BlueGrass Mountains had to offer. Many later became famous. Some were never heard from again. Most of the songs are classics, including Lunsford’s own tune, “Mountain Dew.” This scene was filmed at Bascom’s home with a local dance group came to dance in Bascom’s living room.
When this film aired on Public Television in 1965, TV Guide gave it a full-page positive review, because Americans had never seen a documentary on the roots of Bluegrass and Country music. Today, the dirt roads and the moonshine counties are largely modernized, and Bluegrass Roots, stands as a record of a uniquely talented group of people at a time just before the coming of television, changed them.
Via Zefrank
Kevin Smith – Writing and Filmmaking
Dude can talk. Super interesting to hear someone talk about their body of work and career. I must say, he’s a bit hung up on dying young. Regardless of whether you love or loathe his films, this interview is great stuff.
Part 1 – Selling out and Salty Language
Part 2 – Writing and Filmmaking (That’s it above)
Part 3 – Change, Death, Legacy
Part 4 – The Dark Side of the Internet
Part 5 – The Curse of Chasing Amy
Part 6 – Bright Side of the Internet
Part 7 – Talking to People He Wrote
Part 8 – Gretzky, Gratitude and God
Part 9 – Risking His Life and Starting a New One
Via Russell Davies
Become a microscope.
ABC’s from Central Office on Vimeo.
This is what I love about the internet. I had never heard of Sister Corita (have I ever mentioned I grew up on a sheep farm in NSW, Australia? baa!), yet spent some time during lunch reading about her and seeing some of her fab work. I want to see this doco. The above is an excerpt from the Short Documentary “Become a Microscope – 90 Statements on Sister Corita”, directed by Aaron Rose of Beautiful Losers fame. (Don’t know Beautiful Losers? That can be your journey of discovery this afternoon.)
Synopsis: (lifted from the flickr set from the opening of a retrospective of her work titled Passion For the Possible: The Work of Sister Corita
Sister Corita (1918-1986) was a teacher, political activist and possibly one of the most innovative and unusual pop artists of the 1960’s. She was also a Catholic nun. Become A Microscope is a 20-minute art/documentary film celebrating the life, work, and teachings of this incredible artist. The film was shot on location on the campus of Immaculate Heart in Los Angeles, the same place where most of the film’s story happened. It serves as a living, breathing document of the inspiration she spread to so many people throughout her life…and as the title suggests, the importance of looking at the world “small pieces at a time”. Through the use of interviews with those who knew her, we tell Corita’s story in an abstract way. Using archival images from the Corita archive along with visual effects created specifically for the project by some of the most talented animators working today, we have created a colorful visual montage. The film reveals itself as a living, moving, graphic and musical artwork.
For more on Passion For the Possible: The Work of Sister Corita go to CHUMPCHAMPION.com.
Awesomesauce.
The most successful animated band ever!
I went through a total Gorillaz obsession phase when I lived in Singapore. They were my soundtrack nearly every day on the bus. Though not so nearly as obsessed as I was then, I still love the way their music transports me back to that time and place. Actually, I still love Gorillaz. And I love this too.
Bananaz, a documentary made by Ceri Levy, is now available to watch online at Babelgum, in its entirety, for free.
Levy filmed alongside and behind the scenes from 2000 to 2006, from first drawings, animations, music and the musicians, through to the faces behind the voices of Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel Hobbs. The result is an unsanitised, free-wheeling documentary film; an intimate, honest and often hilarious account of the working relationship between [Damien] Albarn and [Jamie] Hewlett. With appearances by many of those who occasionally pass through this world ; Dennis Hopper, De la Soul, Ibrahim Ferrer, Dangermouse, Dan the Automator, D12, Bootie Brown and Neneh Cherry.?
So if you’ve got a spare 91 minutes, saddle up and watch.
DLF.tv (the DL being David Lynch)
Mr Lynch attributes his ability to catch creative ideas to his 35 years of practicing the Transcendental Meditation Technique. I attribute my fear of severed human ears in fields to David Lynch, but that’s neither here nor there. Moving on…
The David Lynch Foundation is:
…dedicated to providing students with the opportunity to learn how to meditate. The David Lynch Foundation funds and implements stress reducing programs that improve creativity, brain functioning, and academic performance. These programs have also been documented to reduce ADHD and other learning disorders, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.
While DLF.tv is
The new Online TV Channel that celebrates consciousness, creativity and bliss. DLF.TV will showcase high quality video content from the David Lynch Foundation events, compelling profiles and documentaries, exclusive content from David Lynch, and explore all aspects of creativity.
Good, good. Anything to get the juice juiced. Love the idea of the “Daily David” – basically an interview series where the man himself “speaks candidly about anything and everything ranging from filmmaking to consciousness”.
I’m very curious about this, since my brain is one woody and tangled forest that I desire to trek into and find new species within. Here’s D talking about his first meditation.
And just for fun, un-realted to the DLF, here is one of my favorite DL moments.
Via Rubbishcorp
I Can Read Movies
I keep forgetting to post these. I love this project by spacesick, where he takes a movie and creates an old style book cover out of it. Minimalist awesomeness. Check out the full series in one scrollable piece of lovely goo right here. You can even request the next one, if you like.
Confessions of a Superhero
Ok, here’s my confession. When I was a little kid, I used to wear my Wonder Woman outfit out in the paddock when rounding up the sheep. I have a distinct memory of following a mob wearing it. It had plastic gold bracelets and when I lost the lasso of truth, dad found me a piece of bailing twine to use.
I know in my heart, however, that if asked I would not wear it on Hollywood Boulevard. I don’t know how long this will available to watch for free, but head on over to snag films to watch “Confessions of a Superhero“, a little 92 minute documentary following some of the actors who play superheroes for the tourists in Hollywood.
My flickr
