Brazilian artist Claudio Ethos works on his first Los Angeles art piece. I happened upon him down on Main Street and thought he was a worker about to paint over a painting of a face. I started shooting and after several minutes realized that he was the artist.
Category Archives: Documentary Film
Coney Island: OverUnder x Veng x Ephameron
Here’s some painting going on in Coney Island. The video was made by No Longer Empty NYC, which organizes free art showing in empty storefronts and other odd locations. They also hold children’s workshops, artist discussions, and musical performances.
I found this via Wooster Collective.
Charlie Is My Darling: 1965 Documentary Film About The Rolling Stones
This is a 1965 film by Peter Whitehead that follows the young Rolling Stones around on a tour of Ireland. The film is ragged and jittery, catching odd moments on trains, in rehearsal rooms, in cars and on stage. There’s a fascinating bit where Brian Jones talks about wanting to make a surreal film about love. The general sense I get from watching this is of these magnificently talented young guys becoming aware of what they actually are. They are awakening to the fact of what they are doing and they are working out all the little moves. Jagger looks in every scene to be crafting in masterful detail exactly how Mick Jagger will move and talk. It’s a fascinating glimpse at artists creating the very personas they will present to the world.
Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten
Mature Content
This is a 2007 documentary film by Julien Temple about legendary British punk rock musician Joe Strummer. The film conveys the messy aggressive work required if you want to really do what you really want to do.
Here’s the film’s official website where you can order the DVD.
Part 2:
Parts 3 – 11 after the jump
Diary (2010): A Film by Tim Hetherington
Mature Content and War Footage:
This is a film by Tim Hetherington, the photojournalist who was killed yesterday in Libya. This film is his personal statement on being immersed in violence and trying to make some sense of it through the lens of journalism.
TED Film From Arrested Chinese Artist
This is a film presented at the TED conference from the famous Chinese artist who was recently kidnapped by Chinese authorities. He has completely vanished along with thousands of other artists, journalists, writers, intellectuals and human rights workers who have been taken in the past several months. This artist speaks very simply and clearly about the situation in his country where his government watches him all day long and sees nothing wrong with bulldozing his studio to the ground because he expresses some criticism of what he sees around him.
What I do not respect about this video is the simpering nitwit from TED who introduces the film by stating that the TED conference takes no position on China. He then goes on to bend over for China and mentions how many people have been lifted from poverty in China. How far up China’s ass can this guy fit his head, I wonder? How can any organization not take a position on China? I’m sure if Hitler were around today and rambling across the land on an extermination campaign, this bunch from TED would take no position on that.
Look at this little notice on TED’s YouTube page where the film is hosted:
TED is a non-partisan, nonpolitical organization and we understand the Chinese authorities concern at anything which might provoke social unrest. But for anyone who believes in the power of ideas, of human imagination, it is heartbreaking to see one of the world’s great artists shackled in this way. We will be tracking developments carefully. Here is the film.
TED ‘understands the Chinese authorities concern at anything which might provoke social unrest!’
Oh my god! Yes indeed. They understand this concern of a totalitarian murdering government that is more than happy to make people vanish into prison because they want to complain about being beaten by a policeman.
Hey TED, here I come with my ticket! Gosh, I wouldn’t want you to be concerned that I might boo one of your presentations. Wouldn’t want that, would we?
Lifting people out of poverty in China is not what we need to be doing. We need to be shutting these people out entirely. We need companies that do not fill their computers with Chinese parts. We need toys that do not come painted with Chinese lead poison. We need to treat this totalitarian country the way it deserves to be treated. A rich China doing business with every company on the planet is not going to advance freedom for anyone. China needs to be pushed into abject and brutal poverty. Only then will the conditions exist for a revolution.
I opened up my Dell computer the other day to blow some dust out. The first things I saw were multiple ‘Made in China’ stickers on various components. Screw Dell. Screw every Western company that buys a single circuit board from China. Screw China.