passion such as can exist nowadays

"I want to write the moral history of the men of my generation-- or, more accurately, the history of their feelings. It's a book about love, about passion; but passion such as can exist nowadays--that is to say, inactive." - Gustave Flaubert, on L'Éducation sentimentale
(according to Wikipedia)

the optimism/pessimism of recession

"It’s possible that the downturn will produce a profusion of Hugo Chávezes. It’s possible that the Obama administration will spend much of its time battling a global protest movement that doesn’t even exist yet."
- David Brooks, 11/17/08

"Look at the stone, the story comes afterwards..."

"Ora, quando vimos Trás-os-Montes — e já o tínhamos pressentido nas aulas — percebemos o lado documental. A mim deu-me uma outra segurança, porque fez — e continua a fazer cada vez mais — com que, ao começar a pensar num filme, seja sempre começar a pensar a partir de alguém real, um rosto, uma maneira de andar, um sítio, mais do que uma história. E era mesmo isso que ele proclamava: "Olha para a pedra que a história vem depois — e se não houver história não é importante.""

("When we saw Trás-os-Montes — and we had already sensed it in school — we understood the documentary component. This reassured me, because it makes it — and continues to make it more and more each time — so that when you start to think about a film, it always starts with something real, a face, a way of walking, a place, more than a story. And that was exactly what he stated: "Look at the stone, the story comes afterwards — and if there's no story, that doesn't matter."")

- Pedro Costa, on António Reis
Interview conducted in Lisbon on July 28, 1997 by Anabela Moutinho and Maria da Graça Lobo; published in António Reis e Margarida Cordeiro - a poesia da terra (António Reis e Margarida Cordeiro - the poetry of the land).

Many thanks to Cristina at Dias Felizes for providing this quote, and for assistance with translation.

Election Day 2008

My neighborhood last night:

Screaming and celebration for hours. Hundreds of people in the street. Car horns honking, in celebratory rhythm. High-fiving strangers. "We Are The Champions" singalongs in the bars. Car radios, turned all the way up, playing Obama's speech. Fireworks in the street.


I love Park Slope.

Update: I should have been on 5th Avenue!

You have to see things clearly: the struggle between the idea and the matter

“The form of the body gives birth to the soul. I’ve said that a hundred times. …When someone says, ‘Yes, the form, it’s the form, the form, never mind the idea’, that is a sell-out. It’s not true. You have to see things clearly: First, there is the idea, then there is the matter, and then the form. And there is nothing you can do about that. Nobody can change that! …And through this work, the struggle between the idea and the matter, and the struggle with the matter, gives rise to the form. And the rest is just filling material. …The same goes for the sculptor. He has his idea and gets a block of marble and he works the matter. He has to take into account the nervures in the marble, the cracks, all the geological layers in it. He just can’t do whatever he wants.”
- Jean-Marie Straub, in Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie?

“Um ponto de vista sobre o mundo é um ponto de vista sobre o cinema”

“Um ponto de vista sobre o mundo é um ponto de vista sobre o cinema”
– José Manuel Costa

(“A point of view on the world is a point of view on the cinema”)

Vale Abraão

Contra-Imperialism Single Feature

Tuesday in New York -- today! -- features 2 very rare and very political screenings -- sadly, scheduled so as to be mutually exclusive (insert joke about leftist infighting here). I'm not sure you can go wrong with either call, but I'll be at the latter.




Film Comment Selects presents Richard Fleischer's 1969 biopic Che!
Tuesday, October 28 at 6:35pm
(more)



Far From Vietnam
A film by Jean-Luc Godard, Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and Agnes Varda
16mm, 1967, 120 minutes
Tuesday, October 28 at 8:00pm
at Light Industry

the ideology of intention

(via)

the ingenuity of the market

The Last Laugh - George Parr - Subprime - subtitulos
Uploaded by erioluk

[Don't be distracted by the humor - these are the actual facts of the subprime crisis, the first domino in our present situation. This is the closest thing to a nonideological analysis I've seen, presented with absolute clarity. Please share.]

Thanks to André Dias and Margarida Carvalho for passing this along.

rational(e)

I've been MIA from this blog for 3 reasons:
1. I'm obsessed with the financial crisis.
2. I have a film project that might be launching soon.
3. I have a new job.

If you follow my shared items feed then you already knew about #1.

Once I get a bit of free time... someday... I hope to write a big **FINANCIAL CRISIS!!** post. Until then, these links will have to do:


Sad Guys on Trading Floors

LOLFED

Enjoy.

Ask Ken Jacobs

Tank.tv, an online moving-image gallery and curated series of experimental film and video art, is hosting 20 works by Ken Jacobs in October and November. Click the link to watch!

The works will also be screened at Tank.tv events in the UK; Screening schedule and general info on the Jacobs series available here, including Ken Jacobs in person in London at the end of November. Also keep your eyes peeled for Tank Magazine's new issue, featuring a discussion between Jacobs and Mark Webber on Star Spangled to Death, and an essay from Jacobs on contemporary American politics entitled "Failed State."

Ken is also answering questions via email in an extended Q+A session. You can email your questions to the artist at ken@tank.tv.
A regularly updated transcript of the dialogue will be online at www.tank.tv/askken.