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2006-10-04T23:15:00.000-04:00

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Leaping into the Bluetoothed Maw of the Future

2006-09-30T19:34:00.000-04:00

I write this post from the massive WIRED NextFest that is taking place this weekend. The fest is a technological orgy and covers developments in the fields like healthcare, energy, transportation, entertainment, and of course, robotics. Droves of gawking onlookers, eyes glazed with childlike fascination, flock between exhibits and demonstrations in the massive Javits Convention Center. In the foyer, about a dozen people strum the invisible laser beams that serve as chords of a “lunar harpsichord” to make an eerie collective sound. Past that, videos documenting medical breakthroughs in molecular probes that identify diseases directly from genealogical makeup preemptively remind me of Gattaca. Next to that, a man runs his hands across a table, which is in fact an interactive desktop, to easily and seamlessly manipulate a birds eye view of Manhattan, as shown in Google Earth. On the other side of a curtain, a video simulation shows a man in his virtual kitchen in the year 2037, with a completely integrated interface that renders manually frying eggs a thing of the past.

These first few examples were among the more logical and impressive applications of technology to our daily lives as shown at NextFest. As I continued, though, I was somewhat disillusioned to find that the future of design lies in gratuitously interactive vending machines on which, if compelled, one can solve puzzles that upon completion play a congratulatory video. NEAT! The representative was quick to point out that the machine had two vending bays when one gentleman asked, “Isn’t this just going to piss off the guy behind me that wants to buy a soda?” Good thing, that.

Immediately adjacent to this technological wonder was the “Hug Shirt,” a futuristic, skin-tight, Bluetooth enabled garment with a network of sensors that, theoretically, simulate a personalized hug for the wearer. Designed for long distance relationships, distanced lovers adorned with their own Hug Shirts will soon be able to hug themselves to record and send eachother virtual embraces via cell phone. The implications are staggering.

One thing that cheered me up was seeing the designers of a future doorway scramble frantically to remedy a series of malfunctions that made their contraption utterly useless.

After spending an hour or two on the floor, I was filled with mixed reactions from all of these indications of our technological trajectory. On the one hand, advances in medicine, from three dimensional CT Scans to prosthetic augmentations designed to aid the sick and disabled as well as greener energy solutions that better utilize natural resources like wind, hydrogen and solar energy. On the other, completely useless novelties thinly disguised as progressive and beneficial that fed off of the wide-eyed enthusiasm of technophiles wooed by shiny gadgetry. Another disturbing element to the show was the corporate presence: young, entrepreneurial companies trying to stake their space in the financial markets of the future as well as the central General Motors exhibition advertising genuine interest in greener, cleaner vehicles for the benefit of the globe. I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that they were operating off of a different motive generally associated with the color green.

Nextfest was the violent collision of man’s ceaseless pursuits towards progress, self-preservation, efficiency, elimination of boredom, and absolute power. What I question is the deep conviction in our societal progress through what struck me as technological masturbation.

In a brief conversation with John Schott, he explained to me his vision of the future of the art world in conjunction with all of the wondrous breakthroughs on display. I wasn’t sure how to respond to his statement, perhaps out of a current sense of contentment or a lack of foresight or I don’t know…but the more I think about it, the more it strikes me that he is probably dead on in his assertion. It will take time to warm up to the idea after being a little overwhelmed today, but at the same time, part of me belives in the vast spectrum of possibilities using the tools of the future. My apprehension lies with the intention of the engineers, artists, and visionaries who will harness the power of our collective imagination and lead us onward - hopefully into a future that focuses on the well being of the planet and its inhabitants instead of the wanton elimination of minor burdens and advancement of consumer novelties. Time will tell..

2006-09-30T19:00:00.000-04:00

Highlights from the Frick & the Whitney :

The Forge by Goya

St. Jermane by El Greco

Girl with a Beach Ball by Roy Lichtenstein (shitty image quality does this little justice)

Woman in an Armchair by Picasso

Artist's Studio by Picasso

Sound Art (of Various Sorts)

2006-09-30T18:41:00.000-04:00

After a day of rest on Monday, we met with sound artist and scholar Alexis Bhagat for a stroll around the city. When we arrived at our first destination, smack in the middle of Times Square, Alex sat down on a grate above the subway and beckoned us to listen to a sound that was eerily resonating from somewhere within the bowels of the city. As it turns out, sound artists of old had installed a transmitter somewhere under the streets that emits, to this day, a constant pitch that most people either a) assume comes from passing subway trains or b) don’t notice at all. Despite a rather distracting photoshoot that was taking place on the same traffic island, we took ten meditative minutes to bask in the din of Times Square and reflect solely on the sounds that were shifting around us as well as the tone emitting out from under the grate.

We then took a train for a session in the mysterious Dreamhouse, a sound art installation sealed up in a second floor apartment above Tribeca. Inside, the space was completely bathed in violet light and contained two rooms. In the smaller room, a rectangular sculpture was mounted beneath a red and a blue light that were aligned to disorient the viewer’s sense of geometry and depth perception. The main room was completely empty except for four large speakers in each of its corners and a shrine for a bearded mystic who was explained to be the former guru of the installation artist. The sound art of the installation came in the form of a very precisely conceived and invasive frequency that has not ceased in roughly twenty years. I observed my unusual surroundings, laid down on the carpet, promptly fell asleep, and woke up an hour and a half later, before we came to our senses and trudged down the stairs.

Now, due to unfortunate aural and visual distractions, I was unable to pay as close attention as Alex deserved, so I remain incredibly confused as to the nature and purpose of sound art, but he had a great deal to say of other matters. Alex’s enthusiasm for the poetic and the esoteric carried him through lengthy and lively discourse, ranging in subject matter from the definition of music to the impossibility of presenting an authentic voice due to the collective, interactive nature of humankind. Several students went on to dine with him and, as I understand, compiled material for a sort of documentary which I will eagerly await, but I had a prior engagement: an eagerly anticipated Dirty Projectors & Grizzly Bear show at the Bowery Ballroom.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Dirty Projectors on stage, but their haphazard, structure-defying sound translated remarkably well. They kept things interesting with lots of maddening time signatures, the odd, whiny wail of the singer, who plucked at a right-handed guitar upside down and left-handed, and irregular drumming that lead the group through the peaks and valleys of their inverted soundscape.

They fit quite well with Grizzly Bear, who came on and played a modest but absolutely beautiful set. Clarinets, flutes, and for one song, the violin of Final Fantasy’s Owen Pallett culminated in breathtaking harmony with the swooning arrangements and vocals of frontmen Edward Droste and Daniel Rossen. Grizzly Bear’s elegant restraint shined in songs like “Colorado” and “Knife” before exploding in the blissful closer “On a Neck, on a Spit” and an untitled new song that had me begging for more.

Up next, on our last night in the city, an evening with John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats…

Saturday, more or less

2006-09-25T20:20:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, our group served as volunteers for a festival of urban games called “Come Out & Play.” Expectations were admittedly low going into this program, and most people adopted a wait-and-see approach to the weekend’s festivities, with descriptions ranging from widespread games of tag to stock trading simulations to intricate cloak-and-dagger games of cellular espionage. Many games were inventive adaptations using wi-fi and cellular technology, but not mine. I was assigned with leading two teams through a makeshift minigolf course that ran from Tompkins Park on the Lower East Side to Union Square.

The game was called Manhattan Megaputt. Its creators, Dave and Dustin, plotted a 10-hole course that ran through the colorful streets of St. Mark’s. The more interesting holes included what was essentially a footrace between the two teams, a live “goalie” that deflected putt attempts with a hockey stick, a NERF gun ambush, and the grand finale, a race through the first floor of Barnes & Noble to find the answer to obscure clues dealing with surprisingly obscene children’s books. Dave and Dustin were not without a sense of imagination, but I couldn’t help but question the academic merits of what I did for three hours that afternoon, especially after the novelty of commanding geeky grown men and women to race after bright little pseudo golf balls began to wear off. I felt like a summer camp counselor leading children through tasks that were almost as time-consuming as they were menial. Even after being immersed in New Media’s various iterations and applications for two weeks now in New York, I couldn’t for the life of me relate what I was doing to anything remotely resembling the advancement of my New Media knowledge.

This isn’t so much a complaint as it is a lament. As our time in each city is as limited as the direction we are given with our projects, it was a fairly frustrating afternoon as a Manhattan Megaputt volunteer, and I left the Come Out & Play festival with a sour taste in my mouth.

After the academic day, however, I tried made the most of an evening downtown by seeing the French equivalent of Sin City, Renaissance. Despite a fairly conventional storyline that echoed themes of fellow New Media-y features The Matrix and Minority Report, the film took advantage of the theater’s technical capabilities with breathtaking animation and loads of ear candy. Overall it was nothing to write home about, but worth seeing nonetheless.

After the movie and a failed attempt to see Akron/Family who sadly sold out the Tonic, the night began anew back at iHouse. Word of a party of an immense scale in East Williamsburg had spread and at around 1:30 in the morning I found myself in a cab speeding across the Williamsburg Bridge before finally arriving at the warehouse-type loft that held no less than 750 frenzied partakers. There were multiple sources of live music, huge video screens, art being destroyed as quickly as it was created, a lot of walking around dumbfounded, no shortage of spontaneous scenes of romance, and even a bit of dancing, but by 4 in the morning we decided to call it a night and staggered back to the nearest subway stop (about 45 minutes away) before finally arriving home, just in time to watch the sky start to turn to dawn.

Man, this city sure finds ways to keep one busy…

Army of Shadows

2006-09-24T16:55:00.000-04:00

There are many reasons to fall in love with New York City – there’s never a dull moment, the sheer breadth of humanity is astounding, and it is the entertainment and media Mecca of the western world, so on and so forth. For a movie nerd, the opportunities are endless. One such opportunity came my way this week when I learned that for two weeks, the Film Forum would be screening a restored 35mm print of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 masterpiece, Army of Shadows for the first time in the United States.

The film is set in the dark underbelly of the French Resistance’s network of espionage and follows the activities of Phillippe Gerbier, whom we first meet under Gestapo captivity, behind a wall of concrete and “between three fools and two lost souls.” Phillippe is soon understood to be a nimble thinker and a man entrenched in his toil and dedication to the only cause that he feels to be worth fighting for. Army of Shadows shines in both technical and narrative aspects. It is shot absolutely beautifully, from the tired train stations to a countryside hideout, to a magnificent night scene in which Phillippe is taken in a rowboat to board an English submarine that surfaces momentarily above the rolling swells of the ocean. Cinematographer Pierre L’homme casts wisps of light to provide what little illumination the movie provides in its lengthy, involved and largely stationary shots, and the effect is a beautiful portrayal of a world in the depths of a winter blackout, operating only under moonlight.

The first death that we witness is that of a Catholic schoolteacher (one of two lost souls in the cell). The unceremonious scene of his removal from the cell serves as a stark, silent depiction of the death of Christ, wrapped in a shawl and completely expended. Phillippe remarks that he never even heard the schoolteacher say a word. The scene is telling in its grim atmosphere and understated majesty and introduces the tone of the film and the mindset of the characters. After his escape from captivity, we follow Phillippe’s movements in and out of Paris, Marseilles, and London. The shifts in place are masterfully crafted, and as Phillippe moves in and out of captivity, it is understood that the concept of freedom is but a hollowed memory, that there is no distinction between every day life and a senseless struggle in the face of almost certain death. Themes of death and the meaning of courage prevail throughout the movie as the characters work towards an impossible goal. Europe is transformed into a prison of mirrors, under the shadow of death and deception, of identities lost, forgotten, or simply rendered meaningless. We will never know the true names or former identities of Resistance members Le Bison, Le Masque, and the maternal figure of Mathilde, a woman of uncompromised vision and guile and the driving force behind any success that the group does encounter.

Praise for Army of Shadows has been rightfully unanimous. It is a near-perfect realization of the myth of Sisyphus, Camus’ tragic hero, for whom existence is no different than death without the deep conviction in the validity of his thoughts and actions. Phillippe’s internal struggle, of courage and conviction, between a steadfast belief in his cause and ready acknowledgement of certain doom, is an endlessly fascinating saga. This is a movie of the finest sort, an epic both beautifully shot and conceived, and almost seamless in presentation. It is truly a work of art and, over 30 years after its initial release, remains as brilliant and compelling as ever. It is simply sublime.

Anthology Film Archives

2006-09-24T14:42:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, our group took a trip to the Anthology Film Archives to see Carleton grad and former John Schott disciple John Mhiripiri. I was dazzled by Anthology's Soviet film series this summer and saw Alexander Tarkovsky's "The Mirror" there, completely unaware of a) the Carleton connection and b) the dedication with which the heavily understaffed archive team operates. Our group was treated to discussion of the history of the archive, the evolution of film medias, and a private screening of several short avant-garde features. The films included a twenty minute abstract collage of train and railway footage that layered the steam-filled stations and endless industrial geometry beautifully; a provocative, oddly thrilling collage of various historical footage compiled thirty years ago; a stunning rendition of a bullfight; and a deeply disturbing portrait of a man spliced frame by frame, with the word "DESTROY" repeating incessantly until our immediate perception of and association with the word was entirely deconstructed. I would have loved to sit there for hours, days, weeks, simply exploring the massive vault that the folks at Anthology have amassed, but just the few movies that we saw provided some immediate inspiration. Considering the amount of work that Anthology puts into the global effort of film restoration and archiving, its a wonder that the operation remains as low-key and underfunded as it is. I can only hope that one day, with the constant improvements in public accessibility and distribution, these works will be readily available to anyone who has the interest in but not the means to pursue and explore the history and reclusive underground of avant-garde cinema. If you ever find yourself in New York, Anthology is *the* place to check out forgotten cinematic gems and discover your dormant wonder in the avant-garde..

Here are some photos from the archive..

John Mhiripiri

All of these were taken with either double or triple exposures onto a single frame of film, a motif that I will be toying with for the duration of the trip. As you can see, the results can be quite interesting, and the implications of capturing the time, motion, or shift in context from one half of the composition to the next leave much room for experimentation. Its also a very spontaneous form of collage, without the benefit of composing elements with the precision of Photoshop or even a gluestick, instead opting for a less produced portrayal of an action or a place. I am reminded of Duane Michael's ghostly imagery and decidedly cinematic framing and portraiture....expect much more experimentation along these lines.

boris

MAN MAN

2006-09-18T22:42:00.000-04:00

When I discovered that Brooklyn-based group Man Man were playing a midnight show under the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge and perfectly appropriate red and yellow stripes of the Spiegel tent, my heart skipped a beat. Man Man's shows have quickly grown into the stuff of legend, and after their performance, its easy to see why. Let me put it simply: Man Man rocked my f*cking world. The five maniacs on stage thundered through about 20 songs using dozens of instruments to channel music that has been adequately described as Tom Waits meets Zappa meets Captain Beefheart, or what I like to describe as a frantic aural bordello of freaky energy and raw firepower. The show, which ended up starting closer to 1 in the morning, was a bold strike to any prior appreciation I had of live performance. The venue was ideal and the crowd was frenetic. Unfortunately I left with no record of it save my own recollection, but if I happen upon any pictures I will post them here. There was a blogger in the crowd with a fancy digital camera that must have gotten some gems before being threatened by an angry, shirtless man that was no less than twice his size. The explosion of energy that we witnessed would be nigh impossible to harness in a still frame, however, resulting in a rare instance in which the "new media approach" is ultimately not applicable (I've decided that the affectionate belittling of new media is an absolute necessity to keep up with John Schott's beaming enthusiasm on the subject).

boris

What the flux was that?

2006-09-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

Our first week, along with Williamsburg's annual Conflux Festival have come to a close. For the last few days we have been in a veritable stew of concepts, information, and new perspectives concerning "psychogeography," or the psychology applicable to how we perceive and interact with our surroundings. The goal of most artists' projects seemed to be to simply introduce new points of view to our existing, largely unexamined sense of spatial interaction. The most popular "exhibit" of the weekend was, without question, a street art tour organized by the folks of the Graffiti Research Lab and the Wooster Collective. A roving band explored various Williamsburg walls and were treated with some fantastic works from the pre-eminent street artists of New York as well as an overview of graffiti nomenclature for the uninitiated. Highlights of the trip were many, including a great Banksy piece and a monumental anti-smoking mural (bottom pic).

Overall, the festival was a great first foray into a world of the abstract thinking and re-thinking that new media demands. The artists ranged from determined social activists to inquisitive minds who channeled their enthusiasm through their projects, but a common thread was a refreshing absence of pretense that some might hastily associate with Williamsburg's uniformally hip population. A very positive, communal vibe carried the festival through four days of sharing, learning, and collaborating.

Project ideas are popping up and being realized every day, and the creative potential of this trip is sneaking up on our group... A network of ideas has begun to develop between us and is sure to be enriched through further experience and assimilation - be sure to keep an eye out on our project headquarters: NewMediaRoadtrip.com for all of the latest happenings.

boris

Back to the Future

2006-09-15T13:17:00.000-04:00

After just three full days in the city I find myself frantically kicking to stay afloat in a veritable sea of new media. After a pretty relaxed introductory sort of day on tuesday, we took the L train to Williamsburg to meet with the gentlemen of the Institute of the Future of the Book. The group blog has a more detailed account of our meeting, so I'll just post my own reaction here. To me, the project seems to be designed to bridge and eventually find a way for two parallel worlds to merge into one. Sophie, the Institute's newest development, is an incredibly fluid tool that turns a blank slate into a synthesis of text and multimedia, a step towards what the Institute believes will be the first incarnation of the electronic book. The potential is undeniable - even projects from 15+ years ago that director Bob Stein has overseen, like a multimedia presentation that breaks down Stravinsky's Rites of Spring, does what no physical text is capable of by providing an interactive breakdown of the piece's various intricacies, from dissecting the separate tracks to the puzzling time signatures. The result is captivating, and Sophie allows for even more freedom for authors and readers alike. The project is clearly aimed to streamline intellectual discourse and provide information with a new medium that is closer to the times.

At what point in the process of this electronic gentrification though, I wonder, does the idea of a 'book' as a physical medium of stories and information cease to be faithfully represented? Bob Stein shares the concern and admits that the concept of the book as we know it doesn't necessarily represent the ultimate goal of the project, and offered us a MacBook of our choice if we could come up with a more suitable term than simply 'electronic book.' Its here that I believe is the crux of the new project - the result will fully transcend the boundaries of and completely redefine the physical book: an advancement that strikes me, with all due respect to the Institute, as an overly grandiose endeavor. Instead, what is needed is a new term entirely that labels the new medium specifically as a tool for the discourse of knowledge that can also be manipulated to artistic ends. There is a reason to me that our concept of the book is mired in the physical realm. Books have faithfully served their purpose as textual and pictoral mediums since the manuscripts of old, and will continue to do so as our world evolves into a more ephemeral, digitally construct. Bob Stein's vision is praiseworthy and no doubt has a place in the future in homes and schools around the world - but a complete renewal of the book to me seems an impossible task. The trick to this sort of conceptual development, of course, is that the final product remains obscure until a breakthrough comes along after years of research and development; the Institute is working largely in the dark, but further development will serve to enlighten and define the final product which we can only refer to as now as the 'electronic book.'

This weekend we are all participants and facilitators of the Conflux Festival in Williamsburg. I'm leaving right now for a project that examines advertising in public space which looks to be quite interesting and will hopefully serve as inspiration for a personal project on advertising in the city. Much more to come about Conflux, as well as pictures of the trip, which, due to the theft of my digital camera, will have to be done the old fashioned way.

A bientot ~

Love is all you need

2006-09-09T01:05:00.000-04:00

Now that the CAMS Roadtrip is just hours away, summer reading (ahem) completed, and the mound of clothes, cameras, adapters and shit in the middle of my room inching ever so closely to being stuffed unceremoniously inside the backpack that it will inhabit for the next three months, I sit and begin to reflect on what awaits in the weeks ahead. I have completed my pre-departure training and am well familiarized with all of the techno-jargon that will be the backbone of our collective vocabulary (and mentality).

The next 8 weeks will be an examination as well as a personal reflection on the gradual onset of what Marshall McLuhan first dubbed the “Global Village” over 30 years ago. In the last 30 years our society has been hurled towards complete, ubiquitously compatible digitalization at a breakneck pace. From our infrastructure to our individual persons, cyber-augmentation has been streamlining every aspect of our daily affairs. The alarming rate at which this technological evolution is unfolding leaves little time for reflection on the direct consequences of a society increasingly governed by and dependent on the latest technological breakthroughs. Aspects of our daily lives that we now take for granted were the stuff of dreams just a quarter of a century ago, and with every passing day, research delivers us asymptotically closer to the future.

The ever-evolving and expanding field of New Media is at the core of these advancements, and will be the focus of our Roadtrip. Through New Media Art, as the Dadaists of old explored the dystopian aspects of an increasingly technologically driven, war-torn world without a discernable source of compassion, reason, or divinity with highly conceptual art through largely untested media, I hope to explore the application and absorption of new media and its effects on a global and individual basis. Concepts that will be addressed include the concept of the demise of materiality and its effects in a materialist consumer society, global awareness and apathy in the digital age, ubiquitous surveillance (as well as using surveillance technology for alternate methods of visualizing “the city”), advertising, the direct effect of history on the present, and the gradual change of a physical space’s façade and purpose over time.

New concepts are sure to emerge from our in-field education, and project ideas will continue to crystallize as we embark on our techno-survey, but at the core of our journey will be the education of the evolution and direct implementation of new media around the world. Regardless of inherent views on the general effects of technology on human existence, awareness of global trends is demanded in this Orwellian reality. Although it is too late to reverse progress and redefine our present age, an understanding of global currents allows us the leverage necessary to step into the information arena and wage conceptual and moral war against the impending violations of our privacy and the implications of a world in which the twinkling stars that captured the imagination of one and all are forgotten and replaced with the faint pulse of a mechanized legion of RFID transmitters.

Nightmare scenarios aside, I hope to come out the other side with an advanced understanding of what it means to be human in this digital age – and while lingering questions as to the natural technological disposition of humankind may remain unanswered, at the very least my own relationship with the digital age will not escape scrupulous measure.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Until Monday…

boris

since we last spoke

2006-08-16T13:33:00.000-04:00

its hard to believe that i have just one day of work left this summer. i like to think that i left with a bang, as last thursday i sliced my left middle finger open with an exacto knife while half asleep at work. i got stitches for the first time (five), half a day of work off, and free mexican food, so all in all it was a reasonably pleasant experience. i took a picture of the wound with my phone but it was, regrettably, erased, so i have no gore for your viewing pleasure.

my last weekend in nyc was absolutely beautiful. on saturday i caught the sunset over the reservoir in central park and took the first photos worth taking in color all summer. august twilight in the park is truly something to behold...

on sunday i headed out to mccarren park pool in brooklyn for yet another free concert;
beirut and deerhoof, two bands that i've been obsessed with for some time, were on the bill, and ?uestlove did the honors on the turntables. i watched beirut from the other side of the gigantic pool. they looked a little awkward performing in front of so many people but played decently. their show earlier this summer at northsix is as far as im concerned impossible to top, but it was nice to see them again this summer. between sets, ?uestlove manned the turntables with some excellent funk. photographic proof:

deerhoof, in all of their genre-defying, mind-bending, schizophrenic glory, were fucking spectacular. drummer greg saunier, working with just a kick, snare, and torn up hi hats, completely thrashed his sticks on every song. powerful, frenetic, dirty, savage, beautiful....upon coming home i immediately ordered tickets to see them again in san francisco in september. i still don't know what hit me, but i was in musical bliss for their entire set. just....wow. everything else just sounds stale now.

did i mention it was another beautiful day? i caught some nice light on the way out of the pool...

i've decided that i haven't spent nearly enough time in brooklyn and that if i ever find myself living here again, i'll know where to start looking. good times..

boris

concrete jungle

2006-08-02T16:00:00.000-04:00

triple digits
miserable

both pairs of headphones broke last week...
payed $50 for a bloc party show that i didn't get to see...
live in a box, sleep in a box, go to work in a box, sit in a box, stare at a box, read boxes of words, go down 26 floors in a box to get in a box to get back to your box. gridlocked
netflix is glue for my soul right now
there is no sanctuary from this heat. you cant think straight...i want to dive into the ocean and swim away

i saw a good play last night called What the Thunder Said. it was in a very cool AT&T communications building, built around the turn of the century and seemingly untouched since. there were no seats. the audience physically follow the actors around an empty basement-like space through a series of vignettes loosely connected and collectively questioning individual being. it was seriously engaging, performed beautifully....and free (!)

here are pictures from july..

boris

beirut blogger

2006-07-27T12:25:00.000-04:00

as war continues to unfold in israel and lebanon, Mazen Kurbal has chronicled his experiences in his KERBLOG through simple illustration, right from beirut. his blog is a shining example of how the sheer ease and accessibility of blogging lends itself to unadulterated, embedded, and creative journalism, as well as testament to the ever expanding reach of media. i'll definitely be keeping an eye on this..

i've always had a thing for clandestine underground submarine bases and what not, so i thought these pictures from a defunct Soviet submarine base were pretty sweet. it looks like the perfect readymade set for the next bond flick - and its already been what, two or three movies without a russki villain? i'd say its high time for jimmy to head back to the motherland..

ZUMBAKAMERA

2006-07-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

ZUMBAKAMERA is the home of jossie malis, "realizador, animador, ilustrador." the illustrations are very cool but his film shorts and animations are especially swank. his charming little stories present a social commentary and are imbued with a Lumiere brothers-esque visual style. Bendito Machine (top picture) is my favorite but they are all worth checking out. quality stuff.

black swans

2006-07-22T14:23:00.000-04:00

last night i decided to go and see the black swans in perhaps the most unusual venue that i've been to yet, a cool little gallery called brooklyn fire proof. i hadn't heard anything of theirs prior, but i was pleasantly surprised. it was along the lines of beck's sea change, but better and about sex (or lack thereof) and sung instead by E of eels after a rainy night of drinking. they have a couple of mp3s on their website that are worth checking out... pictures:

i also started playing with low-light digital photography yesterday. call these experiments in digital painting..

somewhat of a dreary friday, im afraid. next week looks promising though, with danielson, the hold steady, a silver mt. zion, and bloc party (among so many others) all playing shows. and, hopefully, some sunshine.

boris

summer flicks

2006-07-21T13:53:00.000-04:00

i did some catching up this week in theaters and saw a scanner darkly and once in a lifetime.

a scanner darkly was directed by waking life creator richard linklater, who again uses the interpolated rotoscoping technique of digitally shading and editing single frames of film to portray a dark vision of anaheim in our not-so-distant future. it's adapted from blade runner writer philip k. dick's novel, which is based largely on his first-hand observations of various aspects of drug addiction, combined with the dystopian future society angle. the film succeeds in creating a persistent sense of paranoia derived from layers of secrecy, surveillance, anxiety, and suspicion. linklater implements the visual aspect seamlessly. it only enhances and never diverts attention from the highly compelling subject matter and psychological turns of arctor. keanu's performance was unfortunately (but appropriately) flat, but robert downey jr. takes full advantage of his animated state and steals the show. throughly enjoyed this movie.
8/10

i first heard about once in a lifetime whilst watching the epic germany/argentina quarter final a couple of weeks ago. co-directed by john dower and paul crowder, it documents the brief late-70s reign of the new york cosmos soccer club, after the initial signing of pele and subsequent additions of international stars such as giorgio chinaglia and franz beckenbauer. i really had no idea of these few strange years which gripped new york in soccer hysteria before disappearing almost as quickly. it was interesting to see the sudden, unexpected rise of a completely unfamiliar sport at the time, into a phenomenon that managed to sweep normally hard-to-please new yorkers off of their feet. the film did a great job in digging through the archives and finding video gems of legends like pele and beckenbauer in action. the movie is a fun little package - short but sweet, with a nice funk soundtrack and nostalgia-laced interviews with some of the players who were in the thick of the madness. must-see for any soccer fan.
8/10

siren music festival

2006-07-16T13:06:00.000-04:00

yesterday was the annual siren music festival held out on coney island. there were 14 acts on two stages throughout the day, making it the free concert event of the summer in new york, topping off an already impressive roster with the likes of tv on the radio, seu jorge, jose gonzales, belle & sebastian, eels, cut chemist, etc etc.. unfortunately i missed man man's set, but saw tapes 'n tapes, serena maneesh, and art brut. all three were quality, high energy shows. here are some pictures from the tapes 'n tapes set and the ridiculous grand finale of the serena maneesh set.

...and some other pictures of coney island. a very strange, otherworldly place and one worthy of another visit before the end of the summer.

updates

2006-07-13T00:30:00.000-04:00

there was a pretty spectacular lightning storm tonight in the city, so as if i didn't spend enough time staring at a computer screen at work today, i decided to spruce up the old blog a little bit. there are now links and, well, a sidebar. all that's missing are people to actually read it.

i guess i should also explain exactly why i started the blog in the first place. i'm spending the next term abroad on a media studies program with stops in new york, london, amsterdam, and berlin, with professor john schott, carleton college's resident media guru/avant-gardist. all of the trip's participants are required to keep a blog of their travels and projects and so forth. here is the site for the trip, and here is john's blog.

so, as i'm starting the trip early by spending the summer in new york, i thought i would throw something up so i could post photos and such from the summer. which, eventually, i might actually do.
stay tuned

boris

education and zizou

2006-07-10T18:37:00.000-04:00

i was impressed by this article by john taylor gatto today at work. he addresses public education as an althusserian ideological state apparatus that perpetuates the societal structure at its most basic level: childhood.

It's perfectly obvious from our society today what those specifications were. Maturity has by now been banished from nearly every aspect of our lives. Easy divorce laws have removed the need to work at relationships; easy credit has removed the need for fiscal self-control; easy entertainment has removed the need to learn to entertain oneself; easy answers have removed the need to ask questions. We have become a nation of children, happy to surrender our judgments and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults. We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair. We drive SUVs and believe the lie that they constitute a kind of life insurance, even when we're upside-down in them. And, worst of all, we don't bat an eye when Ari Fleischer tells us to "be careful what you say," even if we remember having been told somewhere back in school that America is the land of the free. We simply buy that one too. Our schooling, as intended, has seen to it.

its somewhat disconcerting to read a distinguished teacher's scathing review of the state and implications of the machinistic educational system we see today. disconcerting, but eye-opening.

the world cup is now over...italy did what they had to do and they take home the cup. having only allowed two goals (an own goal and zidane's penalty kick) throughout the tournament is no small feat, and in my mind cannavaro fully deserved the golden ball, but giving it to zidane may have restored at least some dignity after his late game breakdown. still, very sad to see zizou's career end in such ugly fashion...

and now soccer returns to total obscurity in america and we have nothing but baseball until the premiership begins again. it was nice while it lasted and 2010 will certainly be worth the wait.

boris

unnecessarily morbid 1st post

2006-07-04T02:18:00.000-04:00

very slow day...

can't wait until tomorrow; what i'm sure will be an amazing game between germany and italy followed by a bbq and fireworks. but mostly just excited about the soccer. i think germany will win 1-0, but much will depend on the referee and penalty kicks! also rooting for france and for zidane to cap off his legacy with a strong outing and perhaps even a cup. deutschland, deutschland!....

i got to see tv on the radio at a free show in brooklyn on friday after checking out the moma's vast and excellent dada exhibit. i only had time for about a sixth of what was there before the museum closed but i will definitely be back next friday. and tvotr sounded great for the most part but a couple of the new songs translated awkwardly live. i'd still really love to see them in a smaller locale...their new album, return to cookie mountain, has basically been on repeat since april. they have a blog.

and, speaking of fireworks, here's a bunch of videos on nuclear testing from the US Department of Energy. they have that great 50's cold war aura to them.

happy 4th.

boris

hello

2006-07-03T00:06:00.000-04:00

...is this thing working...?

yes...hello consciousness...