What a wind-up tin bunny looks like on the inside. Are CT scanners the new photography medium?? Now I know why docotors take a very long time in the Emergency Room. Ghostly. Yes. Captivating. Yes.
Courtesy of The New York Times. The innards of a mechanical dog toy. The image was taken using a CT scanner by Satre Stuelke in Manhattan. Stuelke is an artist and medical student. Probably medical student moreso now. Stuelke was an art professor at the School of Visual Arts and is now a medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Set in Beirut during the 1982 Isreali invasion of Lebanon which was titled "Operation Peace for Galilee," Waltz with Bashir deals with Ari Folman's long lost memories of the completely useless and unnecessary violence accompanied by some bitter mis-deeds that he witnessed during his time in the Isreali Defense Forces. The animated documentary tracks Ari, who is 20 years older, seeking out his old friends from the military to piece together everything that they remember about shipping off to Lebanon, fighting in the streets of Beirut, accidentally claiming innocent lives, being ambushed at every corner and silently looking on as the Sabra and Shatila massacre occured. The soundtrack does a great job of setting mood and cadence, especially in such visually stimulating scenes as where Ari is bathing in the sea with his friends and watching flares shooting over the damaged rubble of Beirut. The title of the film derives its name from a particular scene in which the commander of Ari's infantry unit forcefufully grabs a machine gun from another soldier and runs to the middle of the street amidst sniper and rocket fire from an abandoned hotel, firing widly all around in what seemed to be a "waltz" while posters of Bashir Gemayel hung everywhere.
Everything was calm on the beach that day. There was a light fog and every now and then, a shipping tanker would roll out of the distance. This fisherman came out when he realized that there was no wind that day. He baited his fishing rod with some chum (fish heads) and weighed it down with a 3 ounce weight. He never caught a single fish. He told me he did not really care for catching anything. He just wanted to feel the sand under his feet and appreciate the view. "Ain't nothin to really catch around here anyway," he said. "But I just love to cast out the bait." Over and over, he cast his line out. It glided out into the sky 30, 40, 50, 60, 60 feet and went down into the sea. Its arc was still etched in my mind along with the prevalent buzzing sound that the fishing line makes when traveling. I made my way back to the parking lot. The man just stood staring at the ocean, meticulously scanning every tiny ripple. Picking up his fishing rod, he cast again. It was back to work tomorrow.
This documentary directed by Stacy Peralta, who is noted for his Bones Brigade skateboard videos as well as the film Dogtown and Z Boys, sinks the viewer into the everyday life of gang members in LA. It is narrated by Forest Whitaker and has already made news at the Sundance Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival and many others. There have been several articles about the violence between the different rival sects of the bloods and the crips but none are thorough. They are mostly fragmented and speculative. The same could be said about any documentary film attempts which attempt to cover the lack of information with sensationalism and shock to scare the viewer into locking his or her door. The film follows the emergence of of the Crips in the late 60s to early 70s by a pair of high school students to rival other notorious gangs of older boys in LA. They used to be called "cribs" to signify the young status of its members but the name eventually changed to "crips" to represent the canes that the members carried. The gang became notorious and expanded rapidly not just to different parts of LA county but all over the country such as Houston, Texas and Bronx, NY. The bloods supposedly arose from a splinter group of the crips and was ostracized. There only option was to meet with a "council" of other gangs to form a larger and stronger sect that can threaten the crips. The documentary traces the rise as well as the several attempts between different groups and ex-members to reconcile.The Film also covers the different activites of the gangs to finance their lifestyles and looks at the turf battles that fluctuate wildly along the streets like frontlines. Reconciliation attempts are also observed by different ex-members who have either had a change of heart or learned bluntly that life behind the steel bars of San Quentin would make even the most brutal of men sweat profusely. There are different groups promoting peace between the gangs along with many active members who just want to get out and live their lives but are bound to their gang: the only chance of leaving is by a bullet, whether it be friend or foe.
This is a piece by Michael Walker that appeared in Mens Vogue and NPR. He spent months watching and interviewing cargo pilots. He does an amazing job of portraying the daily life of a "freight dog,"looking at the fast-paced and stressful work, the antiquated planes, the peculiar cargo as well as the unpredictable weather. Walker portray "freight dogs" as the crazy yet brilliant gang of brazen assholes that they really are.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Every Saturday afternoon, a small group of people, mostly retirees, gather along Main street in White Plains. They carry posters and placards protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every few seconds, a supportive driver comes down the street, honking and cheering. Some pedestrians wave. Others just display a look of puzzlement.
What a wind-up tin bunny looks like on the inside. Are CT scanners the new photography medium?? Now I know why docotors take a very long time in the Emergency Room. Ghostly. Yes. Captivating. Yes.
Courtesy of The New York Times. The innards of a mechanical dog toy. The image was taken using a CT scanner by Satre Stuelke in Manhattan. Stuelke is an artist and medical student. Probably medical student moreso now. Stuelke was an art professor at the School of Visual Arts and is now a medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College.
