Here's the first entry (of mine) for the "Star Wars Uncut" project on Vimeo. This version is not actually the entry, since it was decided, in order to keep access available to all sorts of videomakers, to use a 4:3 ratio that anyone can conform their video to. This version was shot and edited in the original aspect ratio used in the movie itself. The 4:3 pan & scan version that is the "official" entry can be found in a separate spot.
This seems to be my preferred render, since it preserves the composition of the shots mine were based on. However, since the project was defined as 4:3 ratio, the current pan & scan version (or possibly a tweaked version of it) will have to suffice.
Comments welcome.
There are still many scenes left to be shot and edited. You can take a tour of what's already done, what's available, and compare scenes to the original "Episode 4" at Star Wars Uncut.
The following video is an impressive piece in that it breathes new life and thought into a bit of liturgy that has in many ways become a sort of comforting cliché. Or at least that's how I've always thought about it. Then again, my flirtation with Catholicism ended, at the latest, in my early 20s.
For the most part, though, this piece speaks for itself, though composer Tim Silva's notes do highlight some of the more striking aspects of this vocal composition, which sets the Agnus Dei at odds with the Gloria and asks some serious questions of the Creator.
'Agnus Dei' (2008) turns a prayer for peace into a plea for help; a frantic crying out in a time of darkness and war. After three traditional stanzas, the singers quote another prayer ('Gloria') in an almost sarcastic manner as if to say, "Where is the peace on earth for people of good will?" Finally the pleas are left, seemingly unanswered.
For the past few days, the thumbnail server code that tells an embedded player which thumbnails to show seems to think you can nest a jpeg inside another jpeg. If you're here, or on any other site with embedded YouTube videos, for that matter, the player still works but the screen appears blank and black. Just hit the play button on the second player below to confirm that. This bug is presently discussed in a fair bit of detail on the YouTube Help Forums.
The following player should work (it's not from YouTube):
Albemarle Senior Choir performs Gioachino Rossini's "Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti" (Comic Duet for Two Cats). Performance at Miller Chapel, on the grounds of the Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, Saturday, July 18, 2009. Marianna Parnas-Simpson, Albemarle musical director, conducting.
This next one will work (I predict) once the code is fixed:
And so it did.
There are also so many videos being corrupted since the shift a month ago to 2GB uploads that it's stopped being funny... and I had a really great sense of humor about this stuff. That sense of humor, though, has been eroding lately, probably due to my sense of downright exhaustion, trying to field user questions and pass along pithy (or immensely verbose) observations to YouTube staff. A staff that at present seem to be dealing with far too many fires at once to be able to do more than respond haphazardly to the handful of users they've allowed to "bubble up" issues for their attention.
One more vid for the lolcat fans out there:
If I weren't so messed up in the head, I would have probably stopped doing this a few months ago, for the sake of any shreds of sanity that still remain. Unfortunately I find this whole phenomenon mesmerizing. Who knows, maybe I can turn the experience into a screenplay?
We don't really need to go into that just now, do we? I think I'll be perverse and stick two embedded players for the same videos into this post (see above), just so I can more readily see if and when the coding has been fixed.
Since I didn't get to play this set for the NAMI Benefit, I've taken it to its psycho extreme. Here for your delectation or avoidance is a set that is sort of a tribute to WOBC-FM (Oberlin College Radio) as it was from 1977 to 1979. Except possibly a little stranger. And since the benefit is over, I decided not to stick entirely to a playlist that could have been heard in '79. Contrary to my usual practice of posting playlists days after the fact, if at all, this is being posted pre-show. My show for tonight may start a little late, but should start shortly after 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific time at the Velvet in Second Life, or on Shoutcast for those who don't do avatars.
In scoping things out I also just discovered that someone considers WOBC the 6th best college radio station in the country. Go figure. Check them out sometime (during the academic year may be better?)
Looking at their current playlists, surprisingly little has changed. Don't worry... it won't be painful much. A preview of the playlist is provided after the jump. It might be altered by your requests or my strange whims.
Playlist:
(Don't mind the lapses in numbering, I'm hiding some of the tracks I may or may not actually play.)
1. The Fiery Furnaces - Benton Harbor Blues Again (WOBC 91.5 Webcast) ... 3. Ladytron - I'm Not Scared (3:58) 4. Weather Report - Birdland (5:59) 5. Brave Combo - Waltz in C Minor (2:14) 6. Lou Reed - Perfect Day (3:48) 7. Frank Zappa - You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here (3:41) 8. Priscilla Lopez;Don Pippin - What I Did For Love from A Chorus Line (Album Version) (3:45) 9. Frédéric Chopin - Prelude for piano No. 4 in E minor ('Suffocation') Op. 28/4, B. 123/2 (2:29) 10. Brian Eno - The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch (3:05) 11. Jerry Hadley, June Anderson, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, Della Jones, Kurt Ollmann - London Symphony Orchestra e Chorus - Leonard Bernstein - We Are Women (3:34) 12. Gerard Schwarz, New York Chamber Symphony & Teresa Stratas - Ausfstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny: Havanna - Lied (1:55) 13. London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Adrian Boult - Variations On An Original Theme ('Enigma'), Op.36: XIII: Romanza: *** (2:33) 14. Anna Prucnal - I ragazzi giu nel campo (lyrics by Pier Paolo Pasolini) (3:23) 15. Willie Nelson & Calexico - Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) (Album Version) (5:19) 16. Harald Paulsen - Moritat (2:20) 17. Susan Sarandon - Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me (2:31) 18. Brian Eno - Baby's On Fire (5:19) 19. Mediaeval Baebes - Umlahi (2:14) 20. Wiener Philharmoniker - Khovanshchina - Prelude (Dawn on the Moscow River) (5:59) 21. Hungry Lucy - Ode (3:07) 22. Neil Young - Vampire Blues (Remastered Album Version) (4:11) ... 27. Pink Floyd - Bring The Boys Back Home (1:26) 28. Little Feat - Teenage Nervous Breakdown (2:13) 29. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer ( LP Version ) (4:20) 30. RZA - Ode To Oren Ishii (2:05) 31. Björk - Overture (3:38) 32. The Supersonics/Tommy McCook - Ode to Billy Joe (3:56) 33. Roxy Music - Both Ends Burning (5:16) 34. The Bastard Fairies - Ode To The Prostitute (3:23) 35. Theo Bleckmann & Fumio Yasuda - Ostersonntag (Brecht) (1:52) 36. The Orb/The Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Pandaharmonium (5:28) 37. David Bromberg Band - Summer Wages (3:54) 38. Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas [From Paris, Texas] (2:54) 39. Happy Rhodes - Phobos (5:13) 40. Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (3:40) 41. Frank Zappa - Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up (5:42) 42. Wiener Philharmoniker - Pictures at an Exhibition - The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga) (3:03) 43. Leszek Mozdzer - Piesn o Milosci (fragment) (1:32) 44. Justin Brown, Michaela Fukacova & Odense Symphony Orchestra - The Six Realm: III. The Hungry Ghost Realm (6:11)
46. Depeche Mode - Tora! Tora! Tora! (Album Version) (4:28) 47. Azasaurus Regina - Various Modems (1:09) 48. Nellie McKay - Yodel (1:36) 49. Elvis Costello - You Belong To Me (2:25) 50. Dreigroschonoper Band - Zuhälterballade (3:01) 51. Joy Division - Shadowplay (3:51) 52. Das Palast Orchester & Max Raabe;HK Gruber - What Good Would the Moon Be? aus "Street Scene" (An American Opera von Elmer Rice nach seinem gleichnamigen Bühnenstück), 1946 (4:32) 53. Franz Schubert - Winterreise, song cycle for voice & piano, D. 911 (Op. 89): Book II, Im Dorfe ("Es bellen die Hunde, es rasseln die Ketten") (2:42) 54. Dead Kennedys - When Ya Get Drafted (1:22) 55. The B-52's - Party Out Of Bounds (Album Version) (3:21) 56. The Patti Smith Group - Pissing In A River (Digitally Remastered 1996) (4:52) 57. Mediaeval Baebes - This World Fareth As A Fantasye (4:07) 58. Hélène Grimaud - Après une lecture de Dante, Fantasia quasi sonata from Années de pèlerinage, 2e année " I'Italie " S.161I, Italy (15:22) 59. Leonard Slatkin - Carmina burana/O Fortuna (2:43) 60. Three Songs After Poets By Arthur Rimbaud (1:40) 61. Three Songs After Poets By Arthur Rimbaud (2:00) 62. Three Songs After Poets By Arthur Rimbaud (1:26) 63. Mediaeval Baebes - Temptasyon (3:19) 64. Joshua Bell;Esa-Pekka Salonen;The Philharmonia Orchestra - Anna's Theme (Instrumental) (2:52) 65. Pink Floyd - Pigs On The Wing (Part One) (1:25) 66. Leo Kottke - The Last Of The Arkansas Greyhounds (3:17) 67. Genesis - For Absent Friends (1:42) 68. Yvonne S. Moriarty - Am I Not Merciful? (6:33) 69. Talking Heads - Don't Worry About The Government (Album Version) (3:00) 70. Manos Hadjidakis - The Urchins Down in the Meadow (2:30) 71. Luis Rossi - éxtasis tanguero (3:05) 72. Rainer Maria - The Awful Truth Of Loving (LP Version) (4:57) 73. Glenn Gould - Variations Chromatiques (14:10) 74. Berceuse, Op. 57 (4:11) 75. The Clash - Hateful (2:44) 76. Flobots - Stand Up (4:39) 77. June Tabor - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (6:24) 78. Vangelis - Sword Of Orion (1:55) 79. Brian Eno & Laraaji - The Dance #3 (3:21) 80. Donna Summer - Hot Stuff [12" Version] (6:43) 81. Brian Eno - Put A Straw Under Baby (2004 Digital Remaster) (3:25) 82. Talking Heads - Buildings On Fire (3:38) 83. Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side (4:17) 84. Grateful Dead - Good Lovin' (5:59) 85. New Riders of the Purple Sage - California Day (2:37) 86. Little Feat - Mercenary Territory (LP Version) (4:26) 87. Joe Strummer/Mescaleros - Redemption Song (3:27) 88. David Bowie - Cracked Actor (3:01) 89. Tom Waits - Nobody (2:50) 90. Keith Jarrett - Köln, January 24, 1975, Part IIC (6:56) 91. Randy Newman - Short People (LP Version) (2:51) 92. Tim Curry - Sweet Transvestite (3:23) 93. Fela Kuti - Zombie (12:24) 94. Randy Newman - Jolly Coppers On Parade (LP Version) (3:49) 95. Eagles - Life in the Fast Lane (4:45) 96. David Grisman - Blue Midnite (LP Version) (3:40) 97. Warren Zevon - Play It All Night Long (LP Version) (2:52) 98. Ani DiFranco - Manhole (3:44) 99. Regina Spektor - Man of a Thousand Faces (3:11) 100. Goxnadly - Werewolves of Acid Planet (3:24) 101. Panic! At the Disco - Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off (3:21) 102. Al Franken - Senator Wolfman (11:18) 103. The Dresden Dolls - The Jeep Song (4:50) 104. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - The New Stone Age (3:41) 105. Louis XIV - Paper Doll (Album Version) (3:25) 106. Jacques Brel - Les Bourgeois (2:53)
This video is a response to two movies I saw recently, movies that are in many ways connected to one another. The movies are Dušan Makavejev's SWEET MOVIE and Pier Paolo Pasolini's SALÒ. Hard movies to love, and in the case of SALÒ, a movie some seem to believe was partly responsible for Pasolini's brutal murder, not long after its release. SWEET MOVIE also led to its share of sorrow for some of those involved in its making.
Both movies are about (among many other things) property, consumerism and human nature at its most extreme and repulsive. People do not tend to thank others for making them look too closely in the mirror.
In part because using their original approach to these subjects would probably result in instant censorship and banning from various video sites, I've taken another tack here, one that I expect will probably result in no shortage of bewilderment among some, because its impact is so oblique.
If you want to see this in HD, it may be best to follow the links to vimeo.
This is also a sort of response to discussions that have been running, off and on, in a vimeo group where I've been a bit vocal, and where I first learned of the works of James Benning, who may or may not have found inspiration in the same two movies.
A new product after long last, inspired by a late night conversation at the Velvet. I've spent so very long doing nothing but DJing, and refamiliarizing myself with Blender felt sort of like getting a few gentle love bites from these guys.
Unfortunately it's not a dress or other outfit, but I suppose you could wear them if you choose. They're available at my Second Life store, dropdeadcute.
Video must be rotting my brain.
Expect further development, varieties, maybe even a controller HUD if anybody decides to buy these little guys. I might even make some that look like actual piranhas, rather than the toxic pigments that would be sure to exist in the glaze for these sweet little things, if they were actually available in real life. I don't know, maybe I need to contact some old co-workers and see if I can find out how to contract with a sweatshop? Or maybe not.
How I wish I had something witty to say right around here.
