Now this is how you teach somebody about art.
From boulerouge1.
Monthly Archives: September 2010
Documentary Film: The Century of the Self
The Century of the Self is a 2002 British documentary by Adam Curtis that explains how the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud were used by those in power to control the dangerous masses in democratic countries. Many of the most basic ideas behind American marketing and public relations during the 20th century, including the focus group, were invented by Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays. The American economy was converted into a consumer economy that relied upon people wanting things and feeling a need for things that were designed to increase the feeling of want.
The idea underlying this entire documentary, its fundamental observation is simply that in a democracy nearly the entire population is made up of stupid cow-like people who can be very easily controlled into thinking of themselves as unique individuals who are making their own decisions. The fact is that people, for the most part, are cannon fodder. They are willing to throw their sons and daughters into the meat grinder of war for the pretense of defending an economic structure completely dependent upon people earnestly believing that they really really need the new version of the iPhone. The mind control has worked. You can tell from the lines in front of the Best Buy at midnight waiting for the new Xbox. If you find yourself standing in line to buy the first new iPhone, you are simply mindless meat strung between bones without the slightest capacity for self-direction. You are one of the people in the crowd being laughed at by the guy in the window at the top of the skyscraper.
But it gets even worse. If you are making a call on your iPhone you are very likely the same mindless meat as the person waiting in line to buy the phone. Phone calls don’t exist anymore. They are now just pools of water where you throw your quarters and make a wish.
The series consists of four episodes. Each episode is presented in six parts on YouTube. You can find all the related parts if you click through to YouTube.
Episode 1: “Happiness Machines”
Episode 2: “The Engineering of Consent”
Episode 3: “There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed”
Episode 4: “Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering”
Film: Fellini’s Death
Jeff Alu is a photographer making films who I met at the Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago. Cool guy. He’s also made this perfectly dream-like dream sequence that’s a part of his in-production film, 12 Dreams. I look forward to seeing all twelve! We had a brief discussion at the opening night of the film festival about the cameras we use and the filming of dream sequences. I said I thought they were kind of difficult, but Jeff clearly stated that no, I was wrong, they are easy! Well, they are easy for him and I like what he ends up with. The Fellini thing comes through clearly. Alu is onto it somehow. The pillow fight is extraordinary and I think the inclusion of the tabletop city model is brilliant.
During the film festival week in downtown L.A. they played Alu’s film on a video monitor in one of the galleries at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. I love watching gallery films and Fellini’s Death look great there.
Film: Homeboy
Here’s another great film from Marvin Tiberious in Italy. ‘Nobody really talks about it, but we are moving peoples.’ That’s what he says in the film. It is one of the most beautiful thing’s I’ve ever seen on YouTube. He draws and speaks. The film shows how natural it is for people to move around and to not want to offer up their lives fighting for some spot of land.
Film: Metropolis Part 1
Having realized in a blinding flash of insight this week that the geek/tech outlook has essentially taken over most of the web world like some sort of a skin cancer and is absolute death to art, I offer an artist’s messy and incoherent view of urban life. It is very uncool and not technically proficient. But it is an artist speaking directly, without falsehood intervening. This piece is by Marvin Tiberious who lives in Italy.
I’m having a huge vomit reaction to these blogs run by little gangs of cool-cats who spread themselves thinly across all domains and offer a smug smirk when photographed. We’ve turned too much of the web over to the ugly little nerd group that wants everything to be just a tad retro. If I see something that looks steampunk I’m going to smash it. Steampunk is the white-supremacist version of cyberpunk which is simply a reference to any book you have read but cannot remember.
Boing Boing, Censorship, and Hypocrisy: Commenters, Watch Your Language!
This article incorporates adult themes and language.
This is a flat-out attack on the hypocrisy and thin-skinned holiness of a major blog that purports to stand for freedom of expression and open ideas. The blog is BoingBoing.net. I’ve had my problems with the site before, having made comments that their moderators found to be excessive or too foul-mouthed for their rather puritanical tastes. I say puritanical and I mean exactly that.
Boing Boing has a problem with genitalia. You’ll see why in a few moments.