La vitesse – Toma (2005, 7MB, 1 min.)
La Vitesse – Raphael (2005, 6.8 MB, 1 min.)
La telephon portable – Linda (2005, 5.6MB, 1 min.)
Another round of videos from Les Filmistes Associ
By Mica.
Monthly Archives: November 2008
Flatness:145
Flatness:145 (2006, 11.5MB, 2:25 min.)
Deftly made & somehow rather British quirkiness
from artist Rob James.
Kelly Mark – A Man & A Woman
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.
Three from Spoon
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.
‘Play One of Those Funky Dope Scratches!’
Freeze Bass Rock (date unknown, 0.9MB, 47 sec)
Going On (date unknown, 1.1MB, 58 sec)
Lamentably poorly filmed, but nonetheless delicious bits of
scratching from delarge.co.uk, which I think is a Brighton,
UK based visual arts &c. collective, though I could be wrong –
these guys are cool & don
Mischa Kuball – Public Square
Mischa Kuball – Public Square (date unknown, 4.4MB, 2:41)
Do you miss the public square, the everyperson
common space? Yeah, so did Mischa Kuball. So
he made this. It’s quite fantastic. Enjoy.
Two from Monkmus & Kid Koala
Basin Street Blues (2003, 11.3 MB)
Couple of collaborations between artist & film-maker
Monkmus and turntablist Kid Koala found on the
generously-stocked-with-goodies video page of the
Ninja Tune site, these tracks are pure aural & visual delight.
Les Filmistes
Cindy Sherman – Doll Clothes
Cindy Sherman – Doll Clothes (1975, 21.2MB, 2:24)
One of Cindy Sherman’s first Super 8 films.
An excellent early view into the overtly
feminine, introspective work of the artist
that would later follow.
Two Moon July – David Byrne and Phillip Glass
David Byrne – Report from L.A. (1986, 49MB, 4:30 min.)
Phillip Glass – Mad Rush (1986, 29MB, 3:17 min.)
Both of these pieces, although incredibly different in feel and nature, were
preformed for the “multidisciplinary event” which showcased “experimental
video, film, visual art, performance and music in a theatrical framework”.
Shot at New York City’s infamous Kitchen, and broadcast on television sets
across the states in 1986, the production “reflects a moment when art centers
were experimenting with new modes of presenting the arts for television.”
Read more and see more here.
“More fun than you can shake your stick at”
Kinetocast in autumn
Kinetocast – To Watch In Preparation For The Deep Fall (2006, 8.5MB, 1:25)
Kinetocast – To Watch For Help Getting Through (2007, 16.9MB, 2:55)
Two more from the endlessly delightful kinetocast,
conceptual pieces about existential moments.
New York Times Special Edition – The War Is Over
New York Times Special Edition (2008, 16.2MB, 2:12 min)
Self-explanatory movie giving background & reaction
to the day before yesterday’s visionary prank ( &
how often do you hear those two words together?)
by those visionary pranksters The Yes Men.
More here.
Breathtaking & inspiring.
Wild Combination – A Portrait of Arthur Russell
A Portrait of Arthur Russell (trailer) (2008, 7MB, 2:11 min.)
“Wild Combination is Matt Wolf’s acclaimed documentary on seminal
avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer
Arthur Russell. Before his death in 1992, Arthur created music that
spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art.
The film incorporates rare archival footage and commentary from
Arthur’s family, friends, collaborators and admirers, including
Philip Glass, Allen Ginsberg, Jens Lekman, and many more.”
2 from Bernard Gigounon
Nicolas Provost – Bataille
Bataille (clip) (2003, 1MB, 32 sec.)
“In Bataille, fragments from the Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon
are subject to a mirror effect. A scene in which two samurai fight
each other becomes a cosmic field of monsters where horror and
pain evoke beauty and joy.”
from Nicolas Provost.
Zach Kmiec – mmmff
Mmmff Activities Workshop 2006: Call for entries (2006, 10.1MB, 1:58)
Mmmff Activities Workshop 2006 (2006, 13.8MB, 3:44)
Here’s the setup:
Jennifer Proctor taught a videoblogging class at the
University of Iowa in 2006. Every student set up
his/her own videoblog and made vloggy goodness.
Then, many abandoned their work, though I’d
personally expect nothing less.
While I knew one of the students in the class
(UI is one of my alma maters), a guy I didn’t
know – mmmff – caught my attention more.
Using a cell phone I’m pretty sure he just found
somewhere, Zach then made collage videos of the
five seconds or less the phone would capture in every go.
In the first video, the premise of the phone and
its limitations are introduced, and in the second
follow-up piece, the plan – to make a compilation
of activities you can do in 5 seconds or less – is executed.
It’s pretty much the opposite of boring, predictable,
talk-to-your-camera vids that litter so many hosting
services these days.
This is video functioning within constraints.
It’s also wildly hilarious.
Some of the very best random and weird videoblog
work I’ve ever seen.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Seth Brau – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2008, 18.1MB, 4:31)
Really lovely piece of moving typology from
Seth Brau of the Human Rights Action Center.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
turns 60 this year. Read the full text here.
Music from Rumspringa.
Video via Osocio
Sharon Hayes – Symbionese Liberation Army Screeds #13, 16, 20 & 29
Sharon Hayes – Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) Screeds #13, 16, 20 & 29 (2002, 7.4MB, 2:49)
Between 2001 and 2002, artist Sharon Hayes
reenacted four tapes from the SLA Patty Hearst
abduction in 1974. These respeakings were
performed before an audience, mostly memorized,
but the audience was instructed to correct or feed
Hayes a line when she made a mistake.
Entertaining, reflective, and somewhat moving.
A real treat whether you lived through the original
events or not.
Voting
I know we featured the folks at Sporkworld only recently
but they just posted this and it’s wonderful
– & somewhat topical…
Watch it all – it’s deadly serious but Millie Niss
makes her points with the kind of comic timing
many would kill for.
What Is – The Cupcake – or – King of the Hill
What Is – The Cupcake – or – King of the Hill (2005, 11.1MB, 2:58)
Very funny war film spoof from defunct vlog What Is.