IN CLAMATORE

solitude

“It is my firm belief, and I say this as a dictum, that all these tools now at our disposal, these things that are part of this explosive evolution of means of communication, mean we are now heading for an era of solitude. Along with this rapid growth of forms of communication at our disposal- be it fax, phone, email, internet or whatever- human solitude will increase in direct proportion. It might sound paradoxical, but it is not. It might appear that these things remove us from our isolation, but isolation is very different from solitude. When you are caught in a snowdrift in South Dakota, fifty miles from the next town, your isolation can be overcome with a mere cellular phone. But solitude is something more existential.”

-Werner Herzog

WASTE OF LYFE

RETURN

This blog is coming back.



Please stand by.

IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER

Art of the peptalk.

Passing energy from coach to player can make for excellent over-the-top emotion in sports films.

In research for BASKETBALL WEATHER I have been researching and rewatching peptalks.

Bill Murray's MEATBALL'S peptalk undercuts the reason for peptalks in general.



Contrast that with Nick Nolte's opening speech from BLUE CHIPS.



This method performance was for the most part based on Bobby Knight, I believe. He is at least the most famous coach for using negative control tactics and fear to inspire better play. Nolte's performance is tame compared to the real thing:



I need to go back into my vhs archives to find one of my dad's peptalks I recorded in highschool and incorporated into the basketball video that year, which I titled "A Parallel Universe" for some reason? My dad had a much better approach to inspiring a team. He wasn't as apathetic as Murray (though those four words were all that was going through my head toward the end), and he didn't scream at you like Knight, though sometimes a swift look would make you feel that way. Sometimes the jacket would be thrown. But his speeches were always something we looked forward to because they really made you want to care about not just the specific game we were playing, but the GAME itself.

NOWHERE

A new video/sound art piece by two friends of mine from high school. Painter/photographer/cinematographer Cassie Christensen and musician/recording engineer/photographer/filmmaker Nathan Edwards. The three of us used to run around with video cameras and make music back in those days, so I am proud to see what they have achieved years later. I believe this is part of an installation, so the first couple minutes are dark, but once the images arise, you will not be disappointed. Gorgeous images of nature and city landscapes that recall naturalist films like KOYAANISQATSI and BARAKA with a hauntingly spaced out score.

Nowhere. from Nathan Edwards on Vimeo.