Showing all posts tagged: legacy
The billboard artworks of Robert Montgomery
8 June 2012
London based artist Robert Montgomery takes billboards, both in use and disused, and turns them into oversize canvases to make a variety of observations on day to day life.
Originally published Friday 8 June 2012.
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art, legacy, Robert Montgomery
When galaxies collide, coming to the night sky in four billion years
4 June 2012
Several billion years hence our galaxy, the Milky Way, will collide with galactic neighbour Andromeda, and form a new entity some are calling Milkomeda. This NASA image depicts key steps in the process, and if nothing else will transform the night sky into a visual spectacle.
Not that anyone will probably be around to think about it anyway, but the night sky will have far less appeal once the merger is complete. The bright white haze (in the last frame) that will eventually take the place of the Milky Way (first frame) looks a little bland to me.
Via NASA Science.
Originally published Monday 4 June 2012.
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French illustrator Mega’s new take on the alphabet
14 May 2012
Image courtesy of Mega.
Paris based illustrator and street artist Mega, whose work I’ve mentioned before, recently launched I Just Murdered The Alphabet, a new project that will see him create a new illustration each day for five months.
Inspired variously by graffiti, sign painting, and psychedelic art, Mega’s new series of works are a tribute to hip-hop culture, and also an introduction to an intriguing, though imaginary, tribe that seeks to set itself apart from mainstream society.
Originally published Monday 14 May 2012.
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The Way, a film by Emilio Estevez, with Martin Sheen, James Nesbitt
23 April 2012
Still from The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez.
People have been walking the Camino de Santiago, or Camino, an 800 kilometre long track from the Pyrenees in France, to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, in the Spanish town Galicia, for over a thousand years. Many are Christian pilgrims on spiritual retreats, while others walk the scenic pathway purely for leisure.
American eye doctor Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) finds himself on the historic trail for other reasons however, in The Way (trailer), the latest feature of American filmmaker Emilio Estevez (The War at Home, Bobby). Estevez also plays Tom’s adult son, the free-spirited Daniel, who dies during a storm soon after embarking on the long trek.
Intent on walking the path alone in remembrance of Daniel, Tom isn’t exactly overjoyed to run into the same people repeatedly. They include Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a Dutchman trying to lose weight, Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), a Canadian escaping from an abusive marriage, and Jack (James Nesbitt), a struggling Irish writer.
The four eventually end up walking as a group, and in their own ways are able to be of help to each other. Tom however remains the most aloof of the quartet, and the most prone to bad tempered outbursts, as he struggles to come to terms with his grief, while harbouring a lingering ambivalence towards his trekking companions.
On one hand The Way is a warming portrayal the ancient Camino, and the people who travel along it, and their quest for whatever it is that they are seeking. Many of the situations that Tom and his co-walkers find themselves in will doubtless be familiar to anyone who has spent time backpacking, regardless of where they’ve been.
Yet it’s as if the grimness of Tom’s trudge, and the varying despair of those accompanying him, wasn’t quite enough for the screenwriters, who seemed to decide the story was want of a little more tension. The solution however, mainly in the form of Tom’s frequent meltdowns, comes across as contrived, and at odds with the consoling calm of the Camino.
Originally posted Monday 23 April 2012.
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Deborah Kara Unger, Emilio Estevez, film, James Nesbitt, legacy, Martin Sheen, Yorick van Wageningen
Something that really cooks: Michael J Fox replays Johnny B Goode
17 November 2011
Michael J. Fox who played Marty McFly in Back To The Future, recently re-performed Chuck Berry’s 1958 hit Johnny B. Goode at A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson, an annual event staged by his foundation that supports research into Parkinson’s disease.
Fox’s, or rather McFly’s, rendition of Johnny B. Goode at the Enchantment under the sea dance in 1955, is one of the (fictitious) historical events I’d like to witness. It’d also be an opportunity to be a dance floor innovator/early adopter, by showing 1950’s dance-goers a whole new way to trip the light fantastic.
Originally published Thursday 17 November 2011
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film, legacy, Michael J Fox, music, video
Caught Inside, a film by Adam Blaiklock, with Ben Oxenbould, Daisy Betts
10 October 2011
Still from Caught Inside, a film by Adam Blaiklock.
Caught Inside, trailer, a psychological thriller, is the debut feature of Australian film director Adam Blaiklock, who co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Tomaszewski and Joe Velikovsky. The film, which won the Audience Award at the Sydney Film Festival in 2010, is presently screening in limited release in Australian cinemas.
Set in Bali, and the seas off Indonesia, Caught Inside follows a group of long-time friends who sail to a remote island for twelve days. Drinking and fishing are on the agenda, along with surfing at a little known location called “the butchery”, named for the spectacular surfing waves in the vicinity.
While usually a boys only getaway, Toobs (Simon Lyndon) contravenes the long standing no girls tradition by bring girlfriend Alex (Leeanna Walsman), and her friend Sam (Daisy Betts), along. While the girls don’t much bother Bobby (Sam Lyndon), and youngster Grom (Harry Cook), Bull (Ben Oxenbould), does not feel the same way.
Nonetheless the group sets sail with Skipper Joe (Peter Phelps) at the helm, and after a night of partying Bull begins to warm to the girls, particularly the single Sam. A story about a certain video featuring her that went viral online further piques Bull’s interest, but his efforts to win her attention are thwarted by Bobby, who has caught Sam’s eye.
Upon reaching the supposedly secret surfing spot, the group is surprised to find a lone European surfer residing on the nearby secluded island, who worse still, appears to have claimed “the butchery” as his. This act of “trespass” enrages Bull, who is also becoming increasingly agitated by the amount of time Bobby and Sam are spending together.
After Bull boils over, Skipper Joe leaves him on the island alone overnight to cool down. Bull, convinced Sam likes him over Bobby, returns to the yacht in the darkness, which is moored some distance off shore, and is determined that nothing, or no one, will stand between the two of them.
At first glance, Caught Inside seems to tread familiar ground, whereby a group of people, cut off somehow from the outside world, find themselves contending with a violent psychopath. But Caught Inside sets itself apart from similar stories, by not quite going the way that might be expected.
Indeed Caught Inside pushes against the weight of its run-of-the-mill expectations to advantage, generating an unsettling foreboding and suspense. Solid performances, especially from Ben Oxenbould, and striking cinematography, which includes some impressive, if disquieting, underwater shots, further buoy the story.
Originally published Monday 10 October 2011
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Adam Blaiklock, Ben Oxenbould, Daisy Betts, film, legacy
Trigger, a film by Bruce McDonald, with Tracy Wright, Molly Parker
16 August 2011
Trigger (trailer), a comedy drama, is the latest feature of Canadian film director Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments, Pontypool). The story traces the reunion of two indie-rockers, Kat (Molly Parker), a bass player and vocalist, and Vic (the late Tracy Wright), who once performed together in a two-piece band called Trigger.
Trigger, which premiered in Australia at the Canadian Film Festival in Sydney on Wednesday, 10 August, 2011, picks up the story of the two band members ten years after their acrimonious on-stage split. They have accepted an invitation to perform at a Women in Rock tribute show taking place in Toronto, their hometown.
Kat has since relocated to Los Angeles where she works in marketing, but often travels to Toronto for work. The two have arranged to meet for dinner in the restaurant of the five-star hotel where Kat is staying. Vic however is less than impressed with the extravagant setting of their first face-to-face meeting since the band broke up.
While past tensions quickly surface, it isn’t long before some traces of their earlier, close if turbulent, friendship comes to light. While Vic is happy to go along to the tribute show, she is not so willing to perform, even though Kat promised organisers they would. The show however soon rouses happy memories of their on-stage hey-day.
While reacquainting themselves with former associates, both come to the doleful realisation that they cannot reclaim their old lives. This is brought home by the fact friends have moved on, become older, more conservative, and are even driving hybrid vehicles, surely a contravention of the hard living, hard playing, rock ethos.
Despite having been apart Kat and Vic learn they have had a number of similar experiences, including having dealt with substance abuse issues, which both seem to have overcome. But just as the two are beginning to warm to each other again, Vic then learns that there is just a little more to the tribute show than meets the eye…
Trigger is a slice-of-life drama featuring just two central characters, and covers a only small period of time, in much the same way as Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset and Before Sunrise films, and plays out over the course of a single night. This however gives Kat and Vic plenty of time to try and make sense of their post-band lives.
Trigger isn’t all introspection though, and features a stirring performance reminiscent of the band during its peak, plus flashback glimpses of the friendship of Kat and Vic in earlier days. This is a story that anyone who has had the dream, or once lived the dream, and now finds life to be a little quieter, will be all too familiar with.
Originally published Tuesday 16 August 2011.
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Bruce McDonald, film, legacy, Molly Parker, Tracy Wright, trailer, video
Jaloux, a film by Patrick Demers with Sophie Cadieux, Maxime Denommee
11 August 2011
Jaloux, trailer (French language), a drama thriller, is the debut feature of Montreal director Patrick Demers, who wrote the screenplay, which was largely improvised during filming, in conjunction with its three stars, Sophie Cadieux who plays Marianne, Maxime Denommée as Thomas, and Benoît Gouin as the neighbour of Thomas’ uncle.
Marianne and Thomas have been together eight years but boredom has begun to stifle their relationship. Thomas believes a weekend away at his uncle’s remote forest cabin, near Mandeville, in Quebec, will help them rediscover each other. Jaloux premiered in Australia at the 6th Canadian Film Festival in Sydney on Tuesday, 9 August, 2011.
To say Marianne and Thomas’ relationship is in strife would be an understatement. A fierce argument, which turns into a tussle, as they approach his uncle Michel’s (Daniel Gadouas) cabin, results in their car running off the gravel road into a ditch. Neither is hurt however, and they complete the trip to the nearby cabin on foot.
On reaching the cabin they are surprised to find Michel’s neighbour, Ben, has prepared a meal for them. Ben had however been expecting Michel and his girlfriend Helene (Marie-France Lambert), but after learning that Thomas is his nephew, and having taken a shine to Marianne, instead invites the couple to share the meal with him.
After a night’s heavy drinking Marianne and Thomas wake the next morning, having slept in separate parts of the house, with little memory of the evening before. Deciding a swim will help clear their heads, they wander down to the nearby lake, only to meet Ben again, much to Thomas’ annoyance, who happens to be out rowing his boat.
Not happy with the way Marianne is taking to Ben, Thomas instead decides to find a mechanic to repair their car. On his way into the local town though he, by chance, meets a cousin who he hasn’t seen in years. It is only then that Thomas comes to realise that the man claiming to be his uncle’s neighbour is in fact someone else altogether…
Jaloux is a slow burning thriller that is underscored by a simmering unease that threatens to boil over at any minute. This tension is accentuated by flashbacks and memories that may be from the night before, the week before, or possibly even months or years earlier.
But what here is real, imagined, or fantasy? While the storyline is relatively simple, what Jaloux lacks in narrative it makes up for in drama and suspense, as jealousy, lies, deceit, and guilt compound. Clichés bountiful in a story of this nature are refreshingly absent, leaving the viewer uncertain as to what exactly will happen next.
Originally published Thursday 11 August 2011.
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Benoit Gouin, film, legacy, Maxime Denommee, Patrick Demers, Sophie Cadieux
Fade to grey: as we get older we stop dreaming in technicolour
12 July 2011
We tend to stop dreaming in colour as we age, according to a study which surveyed a group of people in 1993, and then again in 2009.
In both surveys, approximately 80% of subjects younger than 30 years of age experienced color in their dreams, but the percentage decreased with age and fell to approximately 20% by the age of 60. The frequency of dreaming in color increased from 1993 to 2009 only for respondents in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. We speculate that color TV may play a role in the generational difference observed.
Originally published Tuesday 12 July 2011.
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A short history of the letter J the alphabets last member
14 April 2011
While sitting in the tenth place in the English alphabet, the letter J, which split off from the letter I, was actually the last addition to the writing system.
“J” is a bit of a late bloomer; after all, it was the last letter added to the alphabet. It is no coincidence that i and j stand side by side — they actually started out as the same character. The letter j began as a swash, a typographical embellishment for the already existing i. With the introduction of lowercase letters to the Roman numeric system, j was commonly used to denote the conclusion of a series of one’s – as in “xiij” for the number 13.
Originally published Thursday 14 April 2011.
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