BEAUTY: Photography--John Divola

In the 90s' photographer John Divola set his camera up in remote areas, turned on the ten second timer, and ran as fast as he could. He named this series, appropriately enough, As Far As I Could Get and explores the motif of running and its emotional and psychological implications. There is something eerie about the series... a figure in the distance running away from us, the viewers, could signal running from danger, a danger to which we, the viewers, might still be exposed. Perhaps we are being emotionally as well as physically abandoned. Or perhaps instead of running away, the figure is running toward something... and what could make someone run in such a manner... to greet, to stop, to catch?

http://www.divola.com/

"Talk Is Cheap" by Chet Faker

Here is the sultry yet edgy "Talk Is Cheap" from Chet Faker's soon-to-be-released (April 15, 2014) album, "Built On Glass."
The video is quite poignant...

http://chetfaker.com/

BEAUTY: Video--Marilyn Minter

Painter and photographer Marilyn Minter is also a video artist. In this short, hypnotic video, I'm Not Much But I'm All I Think About, she uses vodka and silver cake frosting in a glycerin suspension to represent the ideas of excess, glamour, and vanity.

http://www.marilynminter.net/

BEAUTY: Photography--Maren Morstad

In solidarity for the folks suffering through extreme blizzards on the east coast of the US, here are Maren Morstad's heart-stoppingly atmospheric photos of New York City in snow... at night. Wow.

http://www.marenmorstad.com/

BEAUTY: Men--In love...

...for Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day.

I Had That Dream Again

"I Won't Kneel" by Groove Armada

I've always loved this song, "I Won't Kneel" by Groove Armada. I love the buzziness of the chorus, and I especially love guest vocalist Saint Saviour's (Becky Jones) sassy phrasing, like Alicia Bridges come back to sing to us about the night life...

http://www.groovearmada.com/

Welcome, Michael!

Out gay U.S. football player Michael Sam.

Micahel Sam completed his college football career this past December, and he is about to be drafted into the NFL to become the first openly gay professional football player in that organization. He is, and will be, a hero.

Welcome, Michael! CONTINUED SUCCESS TO YOU!

But There's Beauty In The Sadness

"The word for teardrinkers is lachryphagous, and for the eaters of human flesh it is anthropophagous, and the rest of us feed on sorrow all the time. It is the essence of many of the most beautiful ballads and pop songs, and why sorrow and heartbreak are so delicious might have to do with the emotions it stirs in us, the empathy for others' suffering, and the small comfort of not being alone with our own. With a sad song we feel a delicate grief, as though we mourn for three minutes a loss we can't remember but taste again, sorrow like salt tears, and then close it up like a letter in the final notes. Sadness the blue like dusk, the reminder that all things are emphemeral, and that because there is time there is change and that is another name for change, if you look back toward what is vanishing in the distance, is loss.

But sadness is also beautiful, maybe because it rings so true and goes so deep, because it is about the distances in our lives, the things we lose, the abyss between what the lover and the beloved want and imagine and understand that may widen to become unbridgeable at any moment, the distance between the hope at the outset and the eventual outcome, the journeys we have to travel, including the last one out of being and on past becoming into the unimaginable: the moth flown into the pure dark. Or the flame."

--from THE FARAWAY NEARBY by Rebecca Solnit

BEAUTY: Interiors--Kathleen Clements

Los Angeles-based interior designer Kathleen Clements is responsible for this mesmerizing living area full of amazing, sculptural pieces of furniture, as well as actual sculptures and works of art. I love how the totally neutral color palette allows the shapes, forms, and textures to become the focal points in this pristine space. The mix of modern and antique brings a wonderful sensibility... I would want to walk around and study each and every object. Although there is no information on her website about the location or provenance of this house, it sure looks like a renovation of Kelly Wearstler's former Hillcrest Estate house in the Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills. I adore what Wearstler did with the space--dark palette, sumptuous and ethnic layers, a veneer of glamour wrapped in an exquisite hush--but I love this too, if for no other reason than it's simply the polar opposite--clear, bright, cool, and a restraint that celebrates the architecture!

http://kathleenclementsdesign.com/

S.A.D.? There's a pill for that...

Suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder? Take one of these...

Fun, if-only design from Vaulot&Dyvère.

http://www.vaulotdyevre.com/

"Biggy" by Warpaint

Wow.
Lovin' "Biggy" by Los Angeles band Warpaint.
Sultry... a bit psychedelic... and a little spooky... yeeeeeah...

http://warpaintwarpaint.com/

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman

A great and tragic loss for the world of film and theater.

I saw him in 2003 on Broadway as James Tyrone in O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and he was great. What a shame...

The Pool In The Roof

The Jellyfish House in Marbella, Spain by Wiel Arets Architects.

http://www.wielaretsarchitects.com/

Gung Hay Fat Choy 2014

Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Happy Chinese New Year!

Today starts the Year of the Horse and according to believers, we could be in for some turbulence...

The Chinese year 4712 begins.

Just watched...

..."Samsara," Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson's 2011 follow-up to "Baraka."

Samsara is a Buddhist word that refers to the cycle of birth, life, death, and reincarnation. It carries with it a connotation of being attached to this physical plane, with all of its associated possibilities of pain and joy, love and suffering... of being unenlightened. Samsara is the opposite of nirvana which is true freedom from pain, suffering, and the individual experience of the outer world. And Fricke and Magidson chose themes, images, and sequences for this film that dramatically support this difference.

This film, like "Baraka," is hard to describe. It is more--or perhaps less?--than a documentary. Just like "Baraka," it is a meditation, a wordless experience that presents and suggests very large, even overwhelming ideas that are core to the human condition. It is like a dream, presenting images without words or explanation... and because of this form, the images resonate on a deeper level than if such ideas were to be written about or spoken of.

Filmed over nearly five years (the filmmakers started in 2006, after "Baraka") in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on glorious seventy-millimetre film, "Samsara" shows sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders. It shows scenes of love and tenderness, scenes of technological and societal alienation, scenes of creation and destruction, scenes of lush forests and desolate deserts, and scenes of great beauty juxtaposed against the violence, hopelessness, and death inherent in the human experience.

And like "Baraka," we see some familiar sights. We return to Mecca, we return to many temples in Asia... but I am not complaining. While the concept and execution might not be revolutionary, what the filmmakers do is truly transcendent. The camera work is of course stunning. The way scenes are framed and tracked is gorgeous: one could remove any frame from this film and the result would be an exquisite work of art. And returning from "Baraka" are composer Michael Stearns and renowned singer and composer Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) who created the musical score. For "Samsara," the musical process was a little different. The film was edited in silence and given to Stearns, Gerrard, and composer Marcello De Francisci who composed the music in direct response to the visuals.

The result is a sense of mono no aware (see previous post here), the knowledge that what one is seeing is impermanent, transcendent, part of a world which will one day be destroyed. In this film, we are witness to all the good and bad that is possible, the beauty and torture, all the tender things, love, and lives that are lived and lost.

Recommend? Absolutely. This is about as perfect as any film can get. Like I mentioned earlier, this is a wordless meditation and requires an open mind and heart to fully appreciate the experience. If you need a film to be "about" something, perhaps this is not for you. But if you can immerse yourself in a stream of consciousness triggered by the world itself, you're in for a treat.

http://barakasamsara.com/