Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

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.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Defending Sacred Ground

More Interesting words from Mr. Alex Collier.
I've been checking out videos of Collier Lectures for about a year now.
His writings can be found here.

This video doesn't go into Collier's story as much but more into the history of our galaxy from the Andromedan perspective, as well as more information on the different races of extra terrestrials. The video is 14 parts long so if you want to see the entire thing you'll have to click on the video and actually watch it at youtube. His lectures are all really long, but always very compelling to me.



Previous post on Collier

Brother Theodore

There must be some explanation for why this man is on Letterman, or the strange things walking on all fours does to Letterman's suits?



I am not sure what that is.