Author: jkordy

Quote

“Anyone who says you can’t see a thought simply doesn’t know art.”

— W. Ann Reynolds

Martin Creed @ the MCA

The MCA performance, which I had assumed was commissioned by the MCA, but I have come to find out is actually a pre-existing work, perhaps I should read more before these things, but I like to be surprised, can probably be summarized by one of the songs performed within it, entitled “What’s the point?”

But just like that song, though you may ponder that very question during some the songs and even during parts of the whole performance, if you stop there, then indeed what is the point? But if you dig deeper, I think there is much to enjoy here.  And indeed the evening featured one of my favorite movement phrases I have ever seen.

The rest is a little on the banal side, but in all earnestness, I’m pretty sure banality is part of the point indeed. The basis of this performance is ballet’s five basic positions. Martin pairs each one with one note, and we go form there.

As martin points out, only two of the positions allow you to move sideways, and three of them sort of allow front/back movement.  Hmm how do you make a performance out of that?  We soon find out. Not to mention cacti, some awesome noise making bandmates, and some very amusing live edited/mixed nsfw background videos. Well only two of them were nsfw, the rest featured things like the alphabet. or the numbers 1 to 100.

I’m sure Martin was more interested in simplicity, than banality, but the line is so thin.  Not sure it matters, both can get you into a trance like state. If you let the simplicity wash over you, if you appreciate the humor of it, and the dancers and musicians earnest performance of it, then you really can get something from it.

Nov 15–16, 2012
museum of contemporary art
chicago

 

You may have seen the giant rotating “mothers” outside the MCA Chicago,  here’s a great little interview with Creed about that piece, but also a great little window into the mind that is Martin Creed:

 

this page is so info-shallow, I just had to link to it:
http://dance.about.com/od/stepsandmoves/ss/Ballet_Five.htm

 

Holy Motors – Leos Carax

Wow. You may think you have some ideas about what the movie is about based on the above image.  But you have no idea.  Starting with the fact that the above scene is only a minute or two of the whole thing, is towards the end of it all, and is followed by all of the limo’s you see above, talking to each other and discussing their days and their drivers.

I thought I was fan of Leos Carax, but this film may have stretched me to the limits.  Not subject matter wise, not even lack of narrative wise, but really the super slow pacing made it very hard for me to follow.  I think my wife was right in saying this is the kind of movie David Lynch put’s on to relax. When he wants to watch something weird, this is it. Lynch films are straightforward compared to this.

Still I can’t fault a film that has one of my favorite characters of all time, the reprise of Tokyo!‘s M. Merde.  Though I feel this incarnation, by adding to the backstory, and offering perhaps a slightly different take on the Merde’s history, takes away a bit from the shear irreverence of that character as a whole.

In any case, Senior Merde is only one of the ten or so characters Denis Levant takes on.  I am also a fan of his, and continue to be. He does a tremendous job portraying all of the characters in this film and he really dives into each role (on both levels, you’ll see what I mean).

In the end I really appreciate this film.  There just isn’t enough weirdness in this world. Not enough risk taking. Not enough just exploring and following your imagination into some weird sh!t. On that front, this film delivers, and I appreciate that.  Oh and did I mention Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes also star? go figure.

 

more info at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/9571362/Holy-Motors-review.html

 

That’s easy!

That’s so easy!  Anybody could do that. I could do that in my sleep!  Oh really?  Have you? I know it looks easy, everything looks easy.  The harder it was to pull off the more work was put into it to make it look obvious and easy, the more they all point and say – that’s easy, I could do that.

Well the devil, or good product, or a truly magnificent finished piece of work is in the details. And those ain’t easy.  Well sure, in theory it’s easy.  “Oh that, that’s just that with that and you’re done.”  Or, “is that all?” Or “that’s just that, but less of it, more minimal. Seriously, anyone, could, do that.  I had that idea a long time ago.  I could have done it anytime, I just never got around to it.” Well ‘in theory’ everything is easy. That’s why it’s theory and not practice.  In real life you have to deal with all the crap that you just gloss over, and not think about, while you’re too busy thinking about how it’s all so easy.

That’s just it. Nothing is easy. Some things may look easy, if you’ve got enough skills and experience, you’ll make it look easy. but it ain’t. Not in the real world at least.  It all gets complicated real fast, and real solutions take work.  Untangling that ball of wires, to make a straight wire, takes real work and skill.

Hey you, instead of going around pointing out how easy everything is, which you are too ignorant to know better, go out and do something, make something yourself. Prove to me how easy it all is.

And you, the one looking back on your own work, appreciate what you done, getting them to say “That’s easy!,”  took real hard work, appreciate and remember that.

Urbanized

Really enjoyed this little nugget.  A great short documentary about all the smart ways that cities are dealing with the reality of exponential city growth. 75% of the world’s population will live in urban centers by 2050. As the world’s population grows cities grow even faster. As many clips in the film show, it’s not very wise to not plan for that, since you can’t really stop the growth.  That’s where Urban design comes to the rescue!

And that is what this film is really about. It’s the third in a trilogy of films Gary Hustwit has made that focus on design, alongside the just as great Helvetica and Objectified films.

In this one, he covers many of the great solutions some of the worlds biggest urban centers have come up with or are planning to implement or are just plain struggling with.  He also covers some urban design mis-steps, and how urban designers and planners have learned a lot from them.  Overall, a lot of great interviews, views, and ideas in a great little package. Highly recommend.

Read some more about the film at
fastcodesign.com

ICE @ the MCA

It’s always amazing to see the International Contemporary Ensemble.  It’s just wonderful to be able to experience contemporary composers within a live concert.  I was excited to hear some John Cage and I was not familiar with Pierre Boulez, so I was looking forward to the concert.

I think by far, the most exciting to me was John Cage’s famous 4’33” which I’ve only read about about before, but never participated in in a formal concert setting like this.  Funny how people’s general awareness of this piece has changed its content a lot since it was first performed.  (certainly a lot of people held-off on their coughing until the end.)

My second fave of the evening was also a John Cage, Radio Music, for eight radios (1956). Once again something I’ve read about, but not seen performed live.  So two fantastic firsts for me.  This one a little more successful than the first in my mind.  It also changes with the times and remains current so long as there are radio broadcasts (who knows how long that will last for, lol). I was actually surprised by how little was taken up by commercials, but even that adds a nice layer to the tapestry of sounds.

In any case, always enjoy seeing ICE at the MCA Chicago, and looking forward to the next one.

International Contemporary Ensemble
correspondence: cage and boulez
october 6, 2012
museum of contemporary art
chicago, il

Emergence – Steven Johnson

Wow, note to self: never write a book about the internet, the near future, or any kind of technological speculation. You just can’t ever predict what will or won’t happen.

On that note this book from 2001, didn’t age very well. Some of it’s predictions never came true, while other things heralded as the the next big thing have already come and gone.

But those are just unfortunate side-effects of writing about technology. The subject matter is still just as fascinating today as it was 10 years ago, and it seems it still hasn’t been explored and exploited enough, even though scientists have been studying the emergence phenomenon for years.

In science some headway has been made in understanding the self-assembly and self-organization of some biological systems. But in the tech sector, we are only now seriously beginning to use the logic of emergence for things like neural nets, pattern recognition, face tracking and learning networks.

The full title is Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. And the author does a reasonably good, thought not very deep, job on the first two or three points, but it’s the last part where too much speculation makes the book more of a sociological artifact on how people perceived the future of tech 10 years ago, than giving any real insight into software and technology. Thought as I said some of the broader implications of emergence are only now gaining wide adoption and watching little dots on a screen self-assemble without any explicit instructions to do so, is just as amazing today as it was then.

This book has been on my to read list for a while. Guess I should have gotten to it earlier.

Indie Game: The Movie

Wow. So so so good. I left the theater inspired. As documentaries go, this one is quite good. Quite a lot more drama, and life journey/development than one might expect from a film following a bunch of developers around. You’d think there would be a bunch of shots of a stack of coke cans, while a dirty bearded hunched-over guy stares at a screen. There is some of that, but really it’s much more about the personal journeys these guys go through while trying to follow their passion in the face of quite a few obstacles. Many of them quite a bit more dramatic than you would expect from some guys just making a game.

I guess you just forget or are ignorant of just how much blood, sweat and tears goes into something like this. And just how many people or circumstances out there are against you. But what is amazing is that in spite of all that they succeed! It is a documentary so not all is well and good, but overall their journeys are inspiring.

The film is 94 minutes long, and that may seem like a lot for a documentary for some people, but I really wished it was longer, not because the arc of the story felt unfinished, it did, but because I wished they had time to follow more people. Each of the teams they follow has such a unique story to tell, that I just wanted more. Fortunately the website has more footage, they did film more people they just didn’t make the theatrical release. And they will soon be selling a DVD, and a special edition DVD with even more content. So I might just get my wish.

Get more info, including when and where the film will be playing on their website – www.indiegamethemovie.com

Oh, and another thing. The whole thing is a kickstarter project. Which just makes the whole thing that much more awesome. I wish I had known about it when they were collecting $$, I would have contributed.