FreeRange

Chop Shop

Massive movie recommendation: Chop Shop by Ramin Bahrani. I’m not sure this trailer captures much of the awesome spirit of this film, but Eberts adoring blog post might give you some idea of the Love it generates:

The New Great American Director

Certainly it taught me some things about living poor in New York, and as a piece of film craft its masterful at creating sad and joyous new imagery. Big rec for anybody who felt Slumdog missed the point entirely!

Vizzini’s Zinn Zinger

I was going to post about shark exploitation in film, but instead stumbled upon this. Wallace Shawn (better known as Vizzini from the Princess Bride, or Baron von Westphalen from Southland Tales – hands down the worst film I saw last year) reads a great Howard Zinn zinger. Its a great speech. And its Vizzini.

Royal de Luxe in Santiago

Royal de Luxe make me believe in the magic. How inspiring…

They have recently taken their Little Giant to Santiago in Chile where she has a cult following. He uncle the Giant was there too. I saw her in 2005 in Nantes, France and can say that it was the most extraordinary performance I have ever seen.

Little Girl Giant (Pequeña Gigante) Santiago Chile

I can’t wait to see their show in Wellington in March. They are bringing their Revolt of the Mannequins show here. series of crazy stories played out in 10 different shops in downtown Wellington.

See: NZ International Arts Festival and Revolt of the Mannequins

Steinbeck on Banks and Tractors

As an addition to the ‘gardening and violence’ theme, here are a couple of  short excerpts from John Steinbeck’s classic novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ first published in 1939. Personally I thought it was all a massive bore when forced to read it in high school, but am finding it more interesting to re-read now. The story follows a family driven from their Oklahoma farm by large agricultural companies. It captures a moment of great historic change in America’s relation to rural land, and considers the experiential and philosophical effects of this new industrialisation. And its beautifully written:

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Kaki Lima

Mobility has a whole other dimension in Indonesia. Where it’s a complete headache to go anywhere in the grid-locked capital city of Jakarta, things come to you: soup kitchens, mattresses, monkey shows, tailors with sewing machines, second hand shoes, songbirds, stationery, coin rides, ice cream, herbal tonics, freshly ironed slacks, drag queen shows. Read the rest of this entry »

OK, so this is quite old now…

Garfield - Garfield

…but I recently rediscovered the excellent “Garfield Minus Garfield” site.

Removing the fat cat, we’re left with:
“a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman
as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb”

Slavoj Wonders as he Wanders in the Trash

Canadian documentary ‘Examined Life’ -which I haven’t seen the full version of- features a nest of contemporary thinkers, including the occasionally controversial Slavoj Zizek. In this short clip, he puts his mind to ecological ideology, to unexpected ends, where he posits that contemporary society must infact sever its connection with Nature, and instead develop its Artificiality instead, an abstract materialism, which he then challenges to arrive at poetry, spiritualism and love, a love for Earth which embraces its flaws, and ours. Worth chatting about…

disaster, disaster, disaster

This is a world of frequent tragic disasters. I’ve heard a few people lately comment about how they feel bad when they can’t connect emotionally to the enormity of some disasters, and wonder why some impact more than others.  I personally felt much more affected by the Victorian Bushfires and Samoan Tsunami than the current Haiti tragedy.  I think we shouldn’t worry about this.  We are social beings, and as such our emotional networks extend from family to friends to friends of friends.  Of course we can relate more to the suffering of those closest to us, and as much as we mentally and spiritually like the idea of universal concern,  its simply uneconomical to have a emotional empathy to six billion other humans.   To mark the almost anniversary of the apocalyptic sadness that engulfed parts of Victoria in Australia last year the guardian has written a stunning review of the events on that sad day.  Read it here.

White Motherfuckers

"Don't give Haitians a penny"

30 Years!

“ There can be no doubt we are living in confusing times. The social pressures alone are enough to start one thinking about living an alternative lifestyle. Already many people are leaving the cities to live on the land, simply because they can no longer afford the costs of urban life.

Let us take a look at city life, the frantic rush and bustle on the streets, all that traffic and factories with all their pollution, noise and waste, and cynical exploitation by big business. And where are you? In the midst of the frenzied grime, paying high rent or struggling to cope with mortgage payments. Food and heating costs have rocketed, and we know they can only go up. You are working as many hours as you can to pay for city life, with little time for leisure, even less time to get to know your children, or to spend a few days with friends. Altogether it’s a vicious circle, a struggle for survival, with no time to think and be oneself. No wonder that crime is on the increase and mental institutions are overcrowded. If you haven’t fallen victim to one of these social ills, then you could be facing a coronary in your efforts to maintain the pace.

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