The Invention of Dr. Nakamats
Vancity Theatre
Saturday, October 9 2010 11:00am
Japanese inventor Yoshiro Nakamatsu has over 3000 patents to his name, invented the floppy disk, is an Ig Nobel prize winner, and now has a revolutionary new design for a bra. Or so he claims. This amusing film follows Nakamatsu in his busy everyday life around the occasion of his 80th birthday.
Nakamatsu is a shameless self promoter and takes it to incredible lengths. While he is in good shape and looks about 60, he claims he will live to the age of 144. He insists that a hotel conference room booked for his birthday party be renamed after him. A road sign at his home office lets you know you are at the intersection of Nakamats Street and Nakamats Drive directly in front of Nakamats Square. He has his own fan club whose members seem to be mostly late middle aged women who are particularly fond of his Love Jet aphrodisiac/perfume invention.
Always willing to play to the media, he projects his image of the great inventor in the line of Thomas Edison, and Leonardo Da Vinci. He even has a poster in his office to prove it. It's hard to tell if he genuinely believes in his press or is in on the joke. The inventions he does demonstrate seem to be straight out of the chindōgu movement by fellow Japanese inventor/artist Kenji Kawakami. What Kawakami invents for absurdist art and social critique, Nakamatsu seems to take seriously. Nakamatsu carries his mobile phone on a wrist strap of his own design in order to keep its deadly radiation away from his heart. He claims that his pedal cab runs on water, but oddly you still need to pedal it. He invents a motor powered by cosmic energy which looks suspiciously like solar cells.
Without any sense of irony or modesty he has become a one man industry. Dr. Nakamats' greatest invention is himself.
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Friday, October 08, 2010
VIFF Review: Kinshasa Symphony
Kinshasa Symphony
Granville 7 Theatre 2
Friday, October 8 2010 6:15pm
What compels musicians to create music even under the most extreme of circumstances? From the Titanic to the Siege of Stalingrad, there are musicians who carry on regardless. After years of war, the city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo barely functions with power outages, potholed dirt streets, ruined buildings, and pitch black nights. But the musicians of L’Orchestere Symphonique Kimbanguiste carry on despite the near impossible living conditions.
The orchestra is under the strong leadership of conductor Armand who is not a musician, but a pilot by training. He is the grandson of Simon Kimbangu, founder of the Christian sect named after him, and has inherited the drive, focus, intelligence, charisma, and pure force of will to shape these players into a functioning orchestra. For the most part, they are not professional musicians, but ordinary Congolese with an exceptional dedication to music. He takes on Beethoven's 9th Symphony which is no small challenge for even the most seasoned of Western orchestras, much less an inadequately equipped orchestra and choir of two hundred players.
The stories of the musicians private lives is compelling, and sometimes heartbreaking. They make their living in everyday occupations such as hairdressers, shopkeepers, cooks, mechanics, and electricians. Each has their own story of struggling to survive a hard existence with their families, but also devoting a large amount of time with the symphony. The symphony is an escape from a grinding existence, an outlet for their ingenuity, and an opportunity to creating beauty in a place where much was destroyed.
There are some particularly beautiful moments with the sound design. The musicians are filmed playing solo in the streets of Kinshasa with the traffic and chaos swirling around them. And then slowly the noise of the street fades and only the instrument is heard as the camera frame tightens in on the entranced face of the player playing his instrument.
This film is an uplifting exploration of the enduring human instinct for creativity that cannot be diminished by poverty, war, famine, or death. Congo's hope for the future lie with people like Armand and his fellow orchestra members who are rebuilding the country one concert at a time.
Granville 7 Theatre 2
Friday, October 8 2010 6:15pm
What compels musicians to create music even under the most extreme of circumstances? From the Titanic to the Siege of Stalingrad, there are musicians who carry on regardless. After years of war, the city of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo barely functions with power outages, potholed dirt streets, ruined buildings, and pitch black nights. But the musicians of L’Orchestere Symphonique Kimbanguiste carry on despite the near impossible living conditions.
The orchestra is under the strong leadership of conductor Armand who is not a musician, but a pilot by training. He is the grandson of Simon Kimbangu, founder of the Christian sect named after him, and has inherited the drive, focus, intelligence, charisma, and pure force of will to shape these players into a functioning orchestra. For the most part, they are not professional musicians, but ordinary Congolese with an exceptional dedication to music. He takes on Beethoven's 9th Symphony which is no small challenge for even the most seasoned of Western orchestras, much less an inadequately equipped orchestra and choir of two hundred players.
The stories of the musicians private lives is compelling, and sometimes heartbreaking. They make their living in everyday occupations such as hairdressers, shopkeepers, cooks, mechanics, and electricians. Each has their own story of struggling to survive a hard existence with their families, but also devoting a large amount of time with the symphony. The symphony is an escape from a grinding existence, an outlet for their ingenuity, and an opportunity to creating beauty in a place where much was destroyed.
There are some particularly beautiful moments with the sound design. The musicians are filmed playing solo in the streets of Kinshasa with the traffic and chaos swirling around them. And then slowly the noise of the street fades and only the instrument is heard as the camera frame tightens in on the entranced face of the player playing his instrument.
This film is an uplifting exploration of the enduring human instinct for creativity that cannot be diminished by poverty, war, famine, or death. Congo's hope for the future lie with people like Armand and his fellow orchestra members who are rebuilding the country one concert at a time.
VIFF Review: Zanzibar Musical Club
Zanzibar Musical Club
Pacific Cinémathèque
Friday, October 8 2010 10:45am
Zanzibar is an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the east African country of Tanzania. For centuries this has been a port of call on the spice trade route. Arabs, Africans, Indians, and the odd European have left their impact on the music and culture.
This film records the performances of several musicians and groups. But oddly while there are subtitles, there is no narration or captioning to explain who and what we are viewing and listening to. Not until the end credits do we find out the names of the musicians and groups. There is nothing to help the audience understand the music and how it developed.
Overall, an interesting look and listen to the music of Zanzibar, but desperately in need of a narrative.
Pacific Cinémathèque
Friday, October 8 2010 10:45am
Zanzibar is an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the east African country of Tanzania. For centuries this has been a port of call on the spice trade route. Arabs, Africans, Indians, and the odd European have left their impact on the music and culture.
This film records the performances of several musicians and groups. But oddly while there are subtitles, there is no narration or captioning to explain who and what we are viewing and listening to. Not until the end credits do we find out the names of the musicians and groups. There is nothing to help the audience understand the music and how it developed.
Overall, an interesting look and listen to the music of Zanzibar, but desperately in need of a narrative.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
VIFF Review: Wagner and Me
Wagner and Me
Granville 7 Theatre 5
Thursday, October 7 2010 6:00pm
I think for almost everyone of a certain age, including me, the first introduction to the music of Richard Wagner is when Elmer Fudd sings the immortal line, "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!". For British actor Stephen Fry, the first hearing of Tannhäuser on his parents' record player was the first kiss of a life long love affair with Wagner. But rare is the affair that is untroubled by complications, and Fry's Jewish heritage comes into uneasy conflict with Wagner's indelible association with Nazism.
There is no doubt that Fry is madly in love with both Wagner's music, and clothing in bright primary colours. His face beams as brightly as his wardrobe when he talks about the minutiae of the music. In one five minute segment we get a thorough musicology lesson in the "Tristan" chord and how Wagner developed the dramatic tension in his tragic love story Tristan und Isolde through the development and structure of the music through this one chord.
Fry journeys across Europe from Switzerland, to Castle Neuschwanstein in the Bavarian alps, to Nuremberg, and even Russia to follow the story of Wagner's uneasy life. On the trip to the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia to see a production of Das Rheingold, we learn this was a turning point in Wagner's life. Invited to conduct permanently here, he instead returned to Germany to complete the Ring cycle and seal his place in music history.
Fry is veritably giddy as he tours Bayreuth for the first time in his life. He takes us backstage, into rehearsal spaces, workshops, and underneath into mechanical staging areas. He interviews everyone from chorus members, costume makers, valkyrie singers, and even Wagner's great granddaughter Eva.
Throughout the documentary, Fry discusses the indelible stain upon Wagner's musical legacy. Fry's distress surfaces in Nuremberg and the rally grounds. Unlike the other tourists, he cannot bear to climb up to the platform where Hitler stood. He interviews a Holocaust survivor who lived because she was a cellist who could replace the deceased prisoner in the prison band. She does not like Wagner and will not play his music, but will not dissuade Fry from going to Bayreuth.
Fry does come to provisional terms with the dark associations of Wagner, and proudly presents his ticket to the opening night performance of the Bayreuth Festival. In the end it is the music that matters and it transcends any indignity, any tyrant, great or small.
Granville 7 Theatre 5
Thursday, October 7 2010 6:00pm
I think for almost everyone of a certain age, including me, the first introduction to the music of Richard Wagner is when Elmer Fudd sings the immortal line, "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!". For British actor Stephen Fry, the first hearing of Tannhäuser on his parents' record player was the first kiss of a life long love affair with Wagner. But rare is the affair that is untroubled by complications, and Fry's Jewish heritage comes into uneasy conflict with Wagner's indelible association with Nazism.
There is no doubt that Fry is madly in love with both Wagner's music, and clothing in bright primary colours. His face beams as brightly as his wardrobe when he talks about the minutiae of the music. In one five minute segment we get a thorough musicology lesson in the "Tristan" chord and how Wagner developed the dramatic tension in his tragic love story Tristan und Isolde through the development and structure of the music through this one chord.
Fry journeys across Europe from Switzerland, to Castle Neuschwanstein in the Bavarian alps, to Nuremberg, and even Russia to follow the story of Wagner's uneasy life. On the trip to the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia to see a production of Das Rheingold, we learn this was a turning point in Wagner's life. Invited to conduct permanently here, he instead returned to Germany to complete the Ring cycle and seal his place in music history.
Fry is veritably giddy as he tours Bayreuth for the first time in his life. He takes us backstage, into rehearsal spaces, workshops, and underneath into mechanical staging areas. He interviews everyone from chorus members, costume makers, valkyrie singers, and even Wagner's great granddaughter Eva.
Throughout the documentary, Fry discusses the indelible stain upon Wagner's musical legacy. Fry's distress surfaces in Nuremberg and the rally grounds. Unlike the other tourists, he cannot bear to climb up to the platform where Hitler stood. He interviews a Holocaust survivor who lived because she was a cellist who could replace the deceased prisoner in the prison band. She does not like Wagner and will not play his music, but will not dissuade Fry from going to Bayreuth.
Fry does come to provisional terms with the dark associations of Wagner, and proudly presents his ticket to the opening night performance of the Bayreuth Festival. In the end it is the music that matters and it transcends any indignity, any tyrant, great or small.
VIFF Review: Rio Sonata
Rio Sonata
Granville 7 Theatre 6
Wednesday, October 6 2010 12:45pm
The soundtrack opens with this powerful rich high tenor voice singing in Portuguese. I wonder who this great male Brazilian singer is, until the aerial beauty shots of Rio de Janeiro dissolve to Nana Caymmi, the great female Brazilian singer. Now in her 60's she's still recording and performing to adulating crowds.
From a musical family, daughter of noted composer Dorival Caymmi, she was a musically talented child along with her brother Dori. But she seemed destined for a domestic life when she married a Venezuelan doctor at age 18, moved to Venezuela, and bore three children in succession. That is until she felt overwhelmed by that life and left and returned to Brazil with her children. She started singing to support her family.
Caymmi becomes a larger than life figure on the 1960's Brazilian music scene working with famed musicians like Gilberto Gil (to whom she was married), Maria Bethânia, Tom Jobim, and Milton Nascimento but she never considered herself a Bossa Nova or Tropicália singer. Caymmi's career might have faded if not for the novelas or Brazilian soap operas which featured her emotionally charged music and kept her in the public eye.
Even as a young woman her powerful, yet warm, and husky voice is mesmerizing, and her delivery is heartfelt. Over the credits, the film ends with the elder Caymmi singing a wonderfully warm and touching version of Smile in Portuguese which may be worth the price of admission.
Granville 7 Theatre 6
Wednesday, October 6 2010 12:45pm
The soundtrack opens with this powerful rich high tenor voice singing in Portuguese. I wonder who this great male Brazilian singer is, until the aerial beauty shots of Rio de Janeiro dissolve to Nana Caymmi, the great female Brazilian singer. Now in her 60's she's still recording and performing to adulating crowds.
From a musical family, daughter of noted composer Dorival Caymmi, she was a musically talented child along with her brother Dori. But she seemed destined for a domestic life when she married a Venezuelan doctor at age 18, moved to Venezuela, and bore three children in succession. That is until she felt overwhelmed by that life and left and returned to Brazil with her children. She started singing to support her family.
Caymmi becomes a larger than life figure on the 1960's Brazilian music scene working with famed musicians like Gilberto Gil (to whom she was married), Maria Bethânia, Tom Jobim, and Milton Nascimento but she never considered herself a Bossa Nova or Tropicália singer. Caymmi's career might have faded if not for the novelas or Brazilian soap operas which featured her emotionally charged music and kept her in the public eye.
Even as a young woman her powerful, yet warm, and husky voice is mesmerizing, and her delivery is heartfelt. Over the credits, the film ends with the elder Caymmi singing a wonderfully warm and touching version of Smile in Portuguese which may be worth the price of admission.
Monday, October 04, 2010
VIFF Review: A Drummer's Dream
A Drummer's Dream
Granville 7 Theatre 2
Monday, October 4 2010 6:30pm
I will be making a lot fewer drummer jokes after seeing A Drummer's Dream. This enthralling film documents the coming together of Montreal musician Nasyr Abdul Al-Khabyyr's dream of organizing a drumming camp with his fellow drummers and friends. Each drummer teaching at the camp is an extraordinary and individual talent in their own right encompassing many styles from rock, Latin, jazz, to R&B.
My favorite performance was by Kenwood Dennard who I can only describe as the Bobby McFerrin of drummers. Never have I seen anyone drum, play left hand bass, sing, and do vocal rhythms all at the same time. The most technically astonishing performance is by Mike Mangini who can play so inhumanly fast that it looks like they sped up the film. In the Q&A session, director John Walker assures us it was filmed at the normal 30fps.
The drummers' love of music and passion to share it with their students shines throughout this film. Director Walker captures their enthusiasm, joie de vivre, and technical virtuosity behind the drum kit and off it. The joy and sharing is palpable in the interviews especially when Latin players Giovanni Hidalgo and Raul Rekow are interviewed together. Hidalgo is from Puerto Rico and Rekow is of mixed Filipino-American heritage, but they have a naturally hilarious interplay and bond like two brothers.
The camp students are of all ages from young teenagers to seniors. The climax of the film is of the final evening group performance. It's a participatory kind of night. Students in the audience drum along, and improvise on anything handy. With much cajoling and encouragement, even film maker John Walker has his turn behind the drum kit. But probably the most heartwarming scene is of student Chris—who looks about 14 or 15—as he gives the performance of his young life with an astonished and supportive band of teachers surrounding him. Later in his interview, he declares that night the best moment of his life.
Granville 7 Theatre 2
Monday, October 4 2010 6:30pm
I will be making a lot fewer drummer jokes after seeing A Drummer's Dream. This enthralling film documents the coming together of Montreal musician Nasyr Abdul Al-Khabyyr's dream of organizing a drumming camp with his fellow drummers and friends. Each drummer teaching at the camp is an extraordinary and individual talent in their own right encompassing many styles from rock, Latin, jazz, to R&B.
My favorite performance was by Kenwood Dennard who I can only describe as the Bobby McFerrin of drummers. Never have I seen anyone drum, play left hand bass, sing, and do vocal rhythms all at the same time. The most technically astonishing performance is by Mike Mangini who can play so inhumanly fast that it looks like they sped up the film. In the Q&A session, director John Walker assures us it was filmed at the normal 30fps.
The drummers' love of music and passion to share it with their students shines throughout this film. Director Walker captures their enthusiasm, joie de vivre, and technical virtuosity behind the drum kit and off it. The joy and sharing is palpable in the interviews especially when Latin players Giovanni Hidalgo and Raul Rekow are interviewed together. Hidalgo is from Puerto Rico and Rekow is of mixed Filipino-American heritage, but they have a naturally hilarious interplay and bond like two brothers.
The camp students are of all ages from young teenagers to seniors. The climax of the film is of the final evening group performance. It's a participatory kind of night. Students in the audience drum along, and improvise on anything handy. With much cajoling and encouragement, even film maker John Walker has his turn behind the drum kit. But probably the most heartwarming scene is of student Chris—who looks about 14 or 15—as he gives the performance of his young life with an astonished and supportive band of teachers surrounding him. Later in his interview, he declares that night the best moment of his life.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
VIFF Review: The Eye 3D—Life and Science at Cerro Paranal
The Eye 3D—Life and Science at Cerro Paranal
Park Theatre
Sunday, October 3 2010 4:00pm
A starry sky, over a barren red-brown rock strewn landscape. Not Mars, but Cerro Paranal, the mountain in the high desert of northern Chile on which the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope is located. Shot in effectively used 3D, the facility looks eerily like a prototype for a Martian colony.
This German documentary introduces us to life at one of the remotest and technologically sophisticated workplaces in the world. Each of the four main telescopes are housed in rotating structures the size of a six storey building. Taking care of such massive and delicate machinery requires a round the clock staff of engineers and technicians. Most of the scientists are here temporarily to make their observations and return with the data to their home research centres.
While some very important discoveries have been made here like the super-massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, this film really focuses on working conditions and the narration seems aimed to a young audience. Adult and science savvy audiences will find the science content lacking. Questions to the scientists and staff elicit responses aimed at young people, especially women, to consider a career in the sciences.
Sharp eyed viewers will recognize the living quarters called the Residencia from the James Bond film Quantum of Solace.
Park Theatre
Sunday, October 3 2010 4:00pm
A starry sky, over a barren red-brown rock strewn landscape. Not Mars, but Cerro Paranal, the mountain in the high desert of northern Chile on which the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope is located. Shot in effectively used 3D, the facility looks eerily like a prototype for a Martian colony.
This German documentary introduces us to life at one of the remotest and technologically sophisticated workplaces in the world. Each of the four main telescopes are housed in rotating structures the size of a six storey building. Taking care of such massive and delicate machinery requires a round the clock staff of engineers and technicians. Most of the scientists are here temporarily to make their observations and return with the data to their home research centres.
While some very important discoveries have been made here like the super-massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, this film really focuses on working conditions and the narration seems aimed to a young audience. Adult and science savvy audiences will find the science content lacking. Questions to the scientists and staff elicit responses aimed at young people, especially women, to consider a career in the sciences.
Sharp eyed viewers will recognize the living quarters called the Residencia from the James Bond film Quantum of Solace.
VIFF Review: Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Vancity Theatre
Sunday, October 3 2010 11:00am
In the universe it is the biggest stars that shine the brightest, but also the briefest. In the New York art world of the 1980's Jean-Michel Basquiat was that star. From runaway teenager graffiti artist on the streets of New York to collaborating with Andy Warhol, his career spanned less than a decade before his untimely death at age 27 from drug overdose.
His notoriety as graffiti artist SAMO© gave him breaks with art dealers who saw something in his subversive texts and they gave him the opportunity to paint in studio rather than on the streets. Over time, he would produce thousands of paintings and drawings. His style was deceptively simple and child-like in appearance, but incorporated a wide ranging knowledge and understanding of art and the world around him. Basquiat voraciously absorbed media from television, music, art, books and magazines and he channelled that onto the canvas.
A boyishly handsome black man, he lived the high life with contemporaries of the New York scene, like Madonna, Keith Haring, Debbie Harry, and Andy Warhol, but was still subject to racial indignities like being unable to hail a cab. While he could tap his inner child to produce his art, his inner child was unprepared for the pressures of the art world. Tragically he would emulate his musical (Charlie Parker) and literary (William S. Burroughs) heroes before him, and take to heroin to enhance his experience and output.
Friend and director Tamra Davis weaves together an extensive interview recorded two years before his death, along with recent interviews with the significant people in his life, all underscored with a fantastic bebop heavy soundtrack. Film recordings of Basquiat in his studio almost suggest a kind of improvisation as he paints in a rapid real-time style constantly being influenced by the media surrounding him. In our media saturated and fragmented world, his work is more relevant and comprehensible than when he produced it a quarter century ago.
Vancity Theatre
Sunday, October 3 2010 11:00am
In the universe it is the biggest stars that shine the brightest, but also the briefest. In the New York art world of the 1980's Jean-Michel Basquiat was that star. From runaway teenager graffiti artist on the streets of New York to collaborating with Andy Warhol, his career spanned less than a decade before his untimely death at age 27 from drug overdose.
His notoriety as graffiti artist SAMO© gave him breaks with art dealers who saw something in his subversive texts and they gave him the opportunity to paint in studio rather than on the streets. Over time, he would produce thousands of paintings and drawings. His style was deceptively simple and child-like in appearance, but incorporated a wide ranging knowledge and understanding of art and the world around him. Basquiat voraciously absorbed media from television, music, art, books and magazines and he channelled that onto the canvas.
A boyishly handsome black man, he lived the high life with contemporaries of the New York scene, like Madonna, Keith Haring, Debbie Harry, and Andy Warhol, but was still subject to racial indignities like being unable to hail a cab. While he could tap his inner child to produce his art, his inner child was unprepared for the pressures of the art world. Tragically he would emulate his musical (Charlie Parker) and literary (William S. Burroughs) heroes before him, and take to heroin to enhance his experience and output.
Friend and director Tamra Davis weaves together an extensive interview recorded two years before his death, along with recent interviews with the significant people in his life, all underscored with a fantastic bebop heavy soundtrack. Film recordings of Basquiat in his studio almost suggest a kind of improvisation as he paints in a rapid real-time style constantly being influenced by the media surrounding him. In our media saturated and fragmented world, his work is more relevant and comprehensible than when he produced it a quarter century ago.
VIFF Review: An Ecology of Mind
An Ecology of Mind
Granville 7 Theatre 5
Saturday, October 2, 2010 9:00pm
From the film synopsis you think this would be a typical biography of a scientist and his work in a narrow field of study. But director Nora Bateson manages to convey the connectedness of thought that underpins the work of her father scientist Gregory Bateson. Gregory was a modern Renaissance man whose areas of study and ideas threaded together anthropology, biology, psychology, technology, and ecology. Interviews with wide ranging figures like Internet pioneer Steward Brand, physicist and author of The Tao of Physics Fritjof Capra, and former California governor Jerry Brown attest to the influence and importance of Gregory's ideas. For Gregory, understanding something in isolated detail was just an exercise in cataloging. Without understanding its relationships to surrounding objects you completely miss the big picture—context matters.
There is much footage of Gregory with his measured and eloquent English accent, as he lectures, and discusses the importance of understanding relationships. He was an avid documentarian, taking thousands of photos and hours of footage when he worked with his then wife anthropologist Margaret Mead in Indonesia. Nothing seemed beyond his purview. He was a formidable and rigorous thinker, but a caring man who was especially tender with his youngest daughter.
Gregory's ideas about systems and relationships form an ecology of mind. He comes up with the concept of the "double bind" as a Catch-22 situation caused by dead-end thinking characterized by false dichotomies like the economy versus the environment, man versus nature, conservative versus liberal. As Gregory points out, divisions and definitions are often arbitrary conveniences which lead to restricted thinking about politics, economics, and the world.
In the filmmaker Q&A after this world premiere screening, Nora points out how this film could not have been made 20 years ago and how her father's ideas can only now become mainstream. It took the rise of the environmental movement, and the computer revolution and Internet to make systems thinking of the interconnectedness of things to be mainstream. As human society must recognize and solve deeply interconnected problems, the solutions will only come through deep understanding of the systems and relationships we depend on.
Granville 7 Theatre 5
Saturday, October 2, 2010 9:00pm
From the film synopsis you think this would be a typical biography of a scientist and his work in a narrow field of study. But director Nora Bateson manages to convey the connectedness of thought that underpins the work of her father scientist Gregory Bateson. Gregory was a modern Renaissance man whose areas of study and ideas threaded together anthropology, biology, psychology, technology, and ecology. Interviews with wide ranging figures like Internet pioneer Steward Brand, physicist and author of The Tao of Physics Fritjof Capra, and former California governor Jerry Brown attest to the influence and importance of Gregory's ideas. For Gregory, understanding something in isolated detail was just an exercise in cataloging. Without understanding its relationships to surrounding objects you completely miss the big picture—context matters.
There is much footage of Gregory with his measured and eloquent English accent, as he lectures, and discusses the importance of understanding relationships. He was an avid documentarian, taking thousands of photos and hours of footage when he worked with his then wife anthropologist Margaret Mead in Indonesia. Nothing seemed beyond his purview. He was a formidable and rigorous thinker, but a caring man who was especially tender with his youngest daughter.
Gregory's ideas about systems and relationships form an ecology of mind. He comes up with the concept of the "double bind" as a Catch-22 situation caused by dead-end thinking characterized by false dichotomies like the economy versus the environment, man versus nature, conservative versus liberal. As Gregory points out, divisions and definitions are often arbitrary conveniences which lead to restricted thinking about politics, economics, and the world.
In the filmmaker Q&A after this world premiere screening, Nora points out how this film could not have been made 20 years ago and how her father's ideas can only now become mainstream. It took the rise of the environmental movement, and the computer revolution and Internet to make systems thinking of the interconnectedness of things to be mainstream. As human society must recognize and solve deeply interconnected problems, the solutions will only come through deep understanding of the systems and relationships we depend on.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
VIFF Review: Trimpin: The Sound of Invention
Trimpin: The Sound of Invention
Vancity Theatre
Friday, October 9 2009 9:30pm
Gerhard Trimpin is an inventor, musician, composer, tinker, and conceptual artist with a unique sensibility and ingenious mechanical aptitude. His musical instruments cum audio sculptures are playful, sonically interesting, and surprisingly musical. His workshop is a treasure trove of parts culled from junkyards and free sources. Machines in various stages of completion resemble the fanciful illustrations of Dr. Seuss.
Trimpin's upbringing in a small town in the Black Forest region of Germany is a strong influence on his art. The cuckoo clock tradition, his father's handiness as a cabinet maker, an old electronics book for boys, and his natural affinity for tinkering form the basis of his inventiveness. He befriended, and was influenced by composer Conlon Nancarrow who wrote pieces for player piano which could not be played by human pianists.
The film features a number of Trimpin's installations. One of the more well know is the tower of guitars in Seattle's Experience Music Project. Entitled "If VI was IX: Roots and Branches", this 50 foot sculpture of 700 guitars was commissioned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. In an amusing anecdote, Trimpin assuages Allen's worry on how the guitars will be tuned by blurting out that they will be self-tuning without having any idea how to accomplish that.
Trimpin collaborates on a most unusual concert with the Kronos Quartet, bringing his musical instruments and machines together with the music world's most experimental string quartet. The form of the concert is in flux as the Kronos members learn how to play Trimpin's instruments, and understand his conception. Eventually everyone finds their way, and the concert comes off spectacularly.
At 79 minutes this film is only a small sampling of the mechanical musical wonders that Trimpin brings to life. Fortunately, director Peter Esmonde and Trimpin himself was at the screening and answered questions about the film and the work. Trimpin was soft-spoken but enthusiastic in answering the audience's questions.
Vancity Theatre
Friday, October 9 2009 9:30pm
Gerhard Trimpin is an inventor, musician, composer, tinker, and conceptual artist with a unique sensibility and ingenious mechanical aptitude. His musical instruments cum audio sculptures are playful, sonically interesting, and surprisingly musical. His workshop is a treasure trove of parts culled from junkyards and free sources. Machines in various stages of completion resemble the fanciful illustrations of Dr. Seuss.
Trimpin's upbringing in a small town in the Black Forest region of Germany is a strong influence on his art. The cuckoo clock tradition, his father's handiness as a cabinet maker, an old electronics book for boys, and his natural affinity for tinkering form the basis of his inventiveness. He befriended, and was influenced by composer Conlon Nancarrow who wrote pieces for player piano which could not be played by human pianists.
The film features a number of Trimpin's installations. One of the more well know is the tower of guitars in Seattle's Experience Music Project. Entitled "If VI was IX: Roots and Branches", this 50 foot sculpture of 700 guitars was commissioned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. In an amusing anecdote, Trimpin assuages Allen's worry on how the guitars will be tuned by blurting out that they will be self-tuning without having any idea how to accomplish that.
Trimpin collaborates on a most unusual concert with the Kronos Quartet, bringing his musical instruments and machines together with the music world's most experimental string quartet. The form of the concert is in flux as the Kronos members learn how to play Trimpin's instruments, and understand his conception. Eventually everyone finds their way, and the concert comes off spectacularly.
At 79 minutes this film is only a small sampling of the mechanical musical wonders that Trimpin brings to life. Fortunately, director Peter Esmonde and Trimpin himself was at the screening and answered questions about the film and the work. Trimpin was soft-spoken but enthusiastic in answering the audience's questions.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
VIFF Review: VIFF Fan Guide iPhone Application
XOMO Digital is a Vancouver company which produces mobile applications for festivals. Their new iPhone application for the Vancouver International Film Festival Fan Guide is a useful tool to help navigate and plan viewing of the over 370 films over 16 days. It's an evolutionary improvement on their Vancouver International Jazz Festival app which was a good first effort but lacked certain useful ways of navigating the schedule of events and marking favourite events.
The app first starts up on the What's On view which shows all films showing today in chronological order at all theatres and the calendar control easily lets you navigate by day. The calendar control is not nicely placed on the navigation bar and covers the top highlight and bottom shadow. Strangely, the Map button seems to just show your current location and not any theatre locations.
Films view lists all films in alphabetical order and can display by category. The Section button seems redundant on the Categories view. The Youtube link on the Film Details view for films which have previews is a nice touch as is the IMDB rating. The showing (Event Details) view contains a phone icon which calls the VIFF ticket hotline.
Theatres view lists all participating theatres in alphabetical order, shows distance to theatre, and has convenient Map button showing all theatre locations. Venue Details lists all films at that venue in chronological order. It is unclear why there is a Favourite button on the Venue Detail screen. Have a favourite theatre doesn't seem to be useful at all.
The Favourites feature is essential, but doesn't always work as expected. If you mark a particular showing (Event Details) as a favourite, the film doesn't show up in the Films/Favourites view. You have to mark the film in the Film Details view as a favourite for it to appear on the Films/Favourites view. I guess a favourite event is not the same as a favourite film. I think it would make more sense if you marked an event as a favourite that it's parent film be marked as well. The favourite star is difficult to see in the Films list view icons because of the small size and low contrast.
There is some confusion when in Films view when favourites mode is active. The upper right navigation button sometimes reads Favourites instead of Show All. When you press that Favourites button, it updates with a black background and all films are listed. Pressing the black Favourites button shows only the favourite films and the button turns into a blue Show All button.
The Stories view allows you to post and share messages and photos about VIFF. The default keyboard behaviour was strange without the usual capitalization shortcuts. Interesting feature but it would be awesome if it integrated somehow with Facebook or Twitter instead of being its own isolated island of social media. I personally post my quick film impressions on Facebook and the full film reviews on Blogger. It's not immediately obvious how to get to the Stories site from outside of the app from say a desktop browser or link to that information from Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, etc.
The Info view has information on the VIFF and links to the official VIFF website and ticket telephone hotline. The Map button shows a map with all the sponsoring restaurants pinned.
The app nicely remembers what view you last used when it starts up. It also seems to remember state of each view.
The app occasionally crashes when navigating between views. The app always crashes in the Stories view if you tap on the blue STORIES icon at the top of the list view.
Another quirk: you can create a ridiculously deep navigation stack going from the Event Details to Film Details to Event Details, etc. Pressing the back button will eventually unwind the stack and get you back to the top view. I didn't have the patience to see how deep you could go before crashing the app.
Overall a helpful and useful app to help wade your way through the huge number of movies at the VIFF. The social media feature is of more questionable usefulness. I give VIFF Fan Guide version 1.0 a respectable 4/5 stars on iTunes Store.
The app first starts up on the What's On view which shows all films showing today in chronological order at all theatres and the calendar control easily lets you navigate by day. The calendar control is not nicely placed on the navigation bar and covers the top highlight and bottom shadow. Strangely, the Map button seems to just show your current location and not any theatre locations.
Films view lists all films in alphabetical order and can display by category. The Section button seems redundant on the Categories view. The Youtube link on the Film Details view for films which have previews is a nice touch as is the IMDB rating. The showing (Event Details) view contains a phone icon which calls the VIFF ticket hotline.
Theatres view lists all participating theatres in alphabetical order, shows distance to theatre, and has convenient Map button showing all theatre locations. Venue Details lists all films at that venue in chronological order. It is unclear why there is a Favourite button on the Venue Detail screen. Have a favourite theatre doesn't seem to be useful at all.
The Favourites feature is essential, but doesn't always work as expected. If you mark a particular showing (Event Details) as a favourite, the film doesn't show up in the Films/Favourites view. You have to mark the film in the Film Details view as a favourite for it to appear on the Films/Favourites view. I guess a favourite event is not the same as a favourite film. I think it would make more sense if you marked an event as a favourite that it's parent film be marked as well. The favourite star is difficult to see in the Films list view icons because of the small size and low contrast.
There is some confusion when in Films view when favourites mode is active. The upper right navigation button sometimes reads Favourites instead of Show All. When you press that Favourites button, it updates with a black background and all films are listed. Pressing the black Favourites button shows only the favourite films and the button turns into a blue Show All button.
The Stories view allows you to post and share messages and photos about VIFF. The default keyboard behaviour was strange without the usual capitalization shortcuts. Interesting feature but it would be awesome if it integrated somehow with Facebook or Twitter instead of being its own isolated island of social media. I personally post my quick film impressions on Facebook and the full film reviews on Blogger. It's not immediately obvious how to get to the Stories site from outside of the app from say a desktop browser or link to that information from Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, etc.
The Info view has information on the VIFF and links to the official VIFF website and ticket telephone hotline. The Map button shows a map with all the sponsoring restaurants pinned.
The app nicely remembers what view you last used when it starts up. It also seems to remember state of each view.
The app occasionally crashes when navigating between views. The app always crashes in the Stories view if you tap on the blue STORIES icon at the top of the list view.
Another quirk: you can create a ridiculously deep navigation stack going from the Event Details to Film Details to Event Details, etc. Pressing the back button will eventually unwind the stack and get you back to the top view. I didn't have the patience to see how deep you could go before crashing the app.
Overall a helpful and useful app to help wade your way through the huge number of movies at the VIFF. The social media feature is of more questionable usefulness. I give VIFF Fan Guide version 1.0 a respectable 4/5 stars on iTunes Store.
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