A holiday wish – Carl Weaver (2005, 2.3MB, 0:43)
Carl Weaver is a renaissance man – photographer,
writer, doer of many things. He also has a dry humor
and delivery most of us would kill for. In 2005, he
called to wish his friend Dwayne a merry Christmas.
We similarly extend holiday greetings and well wishes
to you, from everyone here at DVblog.
Katrine Emme Thielkes – Sweet Christmas #19 (2008, 1.8MB, 0:31)
The nineteenth in the Sweet Christmas series by Katrine Emme Thielkes.
Audio by Mikkel Westerkam.
Justin Kemp – hard timez (2008, 35MB, 5:52)
Justin Kemp is a ridiculously funny video artist who,
among other things, remixes YouTube videos.
Almost nothing video related brings me as much joy
lately as this does.
Stephen Slappe – 3 out of 4 (2005, 1.6MB, 0:45)
Short, rather humorous piece from Stephen Slappe,
which simultaneously celebrates large, antiquated rotating
advertisements and laments the disappearance of the four
basic food groups.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen in Tokyo – (2008, 5.1MB, 1:18)
Bear with me here: have you ever felt lost? I don’t
mean existentially. I mean alone in a place that was
not your own, a foreigner in a strange land, a stranger
in a foreign land. I have on several occasions – including
during a solo trip to Japan a few years ago – and when
this commercial came on my TV about a month back, I
couldn’t tear myself away. No, it isn’t net art or experimental
animation, but it’s beautiful and haunting and something I
certainly see far too little of on television. If you think a little
Lost in Translation, you wouldn’t be wrong for that. The guys
behind the this piece admitted in a recent interview that they
paid special attention to reproducing LiT details for fans of the film.
Other facts: this is a commercial for SAS featuring former
Danish Secretary of State, and two more similar follow-ups
are running/forthcoming (though not featuring Ellemann-Jensen or Japan,
sadly). The startlingly mournful music is appropriately from Babel.
The tagline reads, in English, “Almost home” or “As good as home.”
Erik Bunger – the Allens (2004, 23.3MB, 3:19)
Absolutely clever piece by Swedish artist Erik Bunger,
drawn from his experience moving from Sweden to
Germany, where many films on TV are dubbed. As
language can be so central to a character, Bunger
started thinking about people like Woody Allen, who
always play the same character but also one so
connected to his whiny, nervous New York accent.
For this installation piece, a computer program
continuously changed the dubbing of Allen between
his various vocal incarnations. Totally delightful.
Invisible People – Larry (2008, 48.6MB, 9:21)
Invisible People is a new project from Mark Horvath
that documents homelessness in Los Angeles. The
interviews are unedited, and it can honestly be hard
to watch some of them – but isn’t that the point?
The site comes with a warning:
Caution: some content may be offensive. Our hope is
you’ll get mad enough to do something.
This particular interview is one of my favorites, as Larry
is charismatic and Mark was able to capture that easily.
But I’d encourage you to go watch the others as well.
Mark himself is in a rough financial situation that might
soon land him back on the streets too.
Seems we are often our own best advocates.
Carl Burgess – Disappointment (2008, 9.6MB, 0:58)
Amusing short remix from artist Carl Burgess.
Kelly Mark – A Man & A Woman (2007, 4.5MB, 8:10)
Hilarious piece from the very funny, very talented
Kelly Mark.
Mark says: While working on my 2 hour mash-up
movie REM I kept a log book of every movie I watched
during this time. The text for “A Man & A Woman” comes
from the movie synopsis listed on the cable tv menu.
The piece starts off with one word descriptions and
then more and more adjectives are added.
The Ghost of You Lingers (2007, 22.9MB, 3:34)
Everything Hits At Once (2001, 17.8MB, 4:03)
Being objective about Spoon is hard for me. We have history.
I was way younger than I’ll admit when I bought Girls Can Tell,
upon its release.
Soon after followed a deep love for their range and growth as a band.
I watched band members come in and go out, Britt Daniel and Jim Eno
ultimately the utensil glue.
I went to shows. I screamed. I took pictures. I didn’t take video.
I tried to stay in the moments.
I still do these things. I went to a concert of theirs a few months back
and didn’t even take my camera inside.
They don’t come through my current town of residence as much, but when
they do, I’ll be there. I have every EP and 7″ single they’ve made.
It is important.
I watch these videos and I think about what it all means.
I don’t know who made any of these, which makes me an ignorant curator
and fan, but that praise isn’t the goal this time for me.
I just want to share some nice videos that mean something to me.
(Why else would I bother doing this at all?)
To follow a band, to know you wouldn’t make a documentary about them
if given the opportunity because it would forever alter your deep relationship
with who you believe them to be and what you believe their music means.
To watch, to listen as corporate radio realizes their greatness. It only took
eleven years. Twelve?
You see the videos that others make and think, okay. It is here. That’s okay.
These are better than okay.
