Category Archives: music + film

blogs and sites, Inspirations, music + film

Dancing for Yourself via New Art

“Awesome, isn’t it?
Dancing for yourself is the best, and we all (?) know the feeling of something that is so good it should really be changing the world….

Now that we’ve gotten this far, you need to know something: this event was staged. The person dancing is a performer, and what you have just seen is an art project.”

Provoking thoughts about experience and performance, art and self, the public, the commodity, and the private, the everyday, the contrivance, and the sublime. This is the latest post from New Art, who does not write often, but is always worth checking out when he does.

Discuss with your favorite dance partner, or with a reflection of yourself in some large mirror.

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amazing people, Inspirations, music + film, my friends

Sea pangs

An old friend dropped in on the Sonofagun yesterday. We haven’t seen Warwick Hill for years…and learned that he’s been very busy, living a very adventurous, high-energy life, and that he and his partner, TJ, have been filming all their experiences at sea. I’ve just watched the DVD of their latest documentary, No Fixed Address, this morning. Twice in a row. I loved it. Going to get a few copies, now, for other friends who live on boats and dream of sailing after a life of adventure and freedom and beautiful coastlines.

The following two videos are just short teasers, covering two separate adventures that Warwick, TJ, and their Indonesian-built perahu, Oelin, had…but they’ll give you an idea of what the full-length documentary is like:

No Fixed Address is available from Warwick and TJ’s website, www.oelin.com, either as a DVD or an mp4 download.

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amazing people, Inspirations, music + film

Art.

Never trust a spiritual leader who doesn’t dance.
—Miyagi

A beautiful, living art form and self-expression. I am particularly fascinated because it’s not something I can do or know anything about. I dance, but gravity still calls the shots. This…well, this is different. This is poetry. Exploring the limits of the body’s imagination. Playfully simulating the glitches and electronic distortions of video and music. A body of water, movements like oil. The dancer is Marquese Scott.

Try to see past the music, if it jars you (though I happen to love dubstep). This is a portrait of passion.

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Inspirations, music + film

Getting in a lovey-dovey mood :)

I’ve been fiddling around with paper Valentine ideas…both for this blog, and for Jackson’s Darwin’s shop displays. It was serendipity that led me to this romantic animation featuring paper. Lots of paper.

Merging computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques,”Paperman” was created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios. I love that they’ve put it up on YouTube for everyone to enjoy.

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Inspirations, music + film

Two words:

Urban. Skiing.

Makes me wish I lived in the temperate zones. Well, for a week, at least. Kris, I know, would LOVE this…he was a cross-country (as opposed to alpine) skier in Prague, as well as rock climber.

I may have to get the full feature…

JP Auclair Street Segment (from All.I.Can.)
…An unparalleled cinematic experience: All.I.Can is a stunning exploratory essay that compares the challenges of big mountain skiing to the challenges of global climate change. Shot on 6 continents over 2 years, the world’s best skiers deliver inspirational performances while ground-breaking cinematography expands our vision of the natural world.

via Raincoaster

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art + design, Inspirations, music + film

Oh man, this makes me want to paint…

Hey, this video is magical. It’s almost half an hour long (whoa!) and you may not even like the finished painting, but wow, watching Donna Downey attack a large canvas, from start to finish, is just so inspiring, I don’t know how anyone could watch this and not GO AND PAINT SOMETHING.

I found this video on youtube, but it is linked—with more of a story—to a post on Donna Downey’s blog, here.

Express yourself. It is later than you think.

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