form is void

philip glass

2012-01-31T23:25:00.000-06:00

Philip Glass just turned 75. There's a great interview with him in the Village Voice.

takato yamamoto

2012-01-31T14:22:00.000-06:00

yves tanguy

2012-01-30T18:17:00.000-06:00

I featured his wife earlier, and thought he deserved equal time.
Perhaps a series on Surrealist Spouses is in order! Or not.

untitled

2012-01-30T04:08:00.001-06:00

five from zora neale hurston

2012-01-29T20:10:00.000-06:00

Gods always behave like the people who make them.

~~~~~

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

~~~~~

The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.

~~~~~~

No matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you.

~~~~~

When one is too old for love, one finds great comfort in good dinners.

~~~~~

planetary bodies

2012-01-29T19:43:00.000-06:00

Worn-out frying pans photographed by Christopher Jonassen.

[Thanks to Kristian!]

for no particular reason

2012-01-29T14:54:00.000-06:00

I find this highly entertaining.

jaromir funke

2012-01-29T14:48:00.000-06:00

circa 1927

sophie cauvin

2012-01-29T00:07:00.000-06:00

+more+

transparent fauna

2012-01-28T21:03:00.000-06:00

by Iori Tomita

bleu nuit

2012-01-28T06:48:00.000-06:00

Video by Sabrina Ratte. Music by Le Révélateur.
For best results, view full screen. With headphones.

[via minimal exposition]

the wayward guggenheim

2012-01-27T18:26:00.000-06:00

Controversial, scandalous, and exceedingly fabulous, Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) did things her way. She was hated as much as she was loved, but her contribution to the world of 20th century art cannot be overestimated.

After a privileged yet unpleasant childhood (her father perished on the Titanic), this poor little rich girl went to Paris in the early 1920s and stayed there for the next few decades. She soon knew absolutely everyone who was anyone in those heady times, enjoying a glittering yet tempestuous life amongst artists, anarchists, the literati, and café society. It was there that she discovered her insatiable sexual appetite. Troubled marriages and countless affairs followed.

In the late 1930s, with war drawing ever-nearer, Peggy began collecting art with the aim of one day opening a museum. As more and more of her artist friends fled Paris, she took it upon herself to buy a painting a day---at bargain prices---by the likes of Kandinsky, Picasso, Magritte, Miro, Klee, Dali, Chagall, Mondrian, Braque, Tanguy, Giacometti, and Max Ernst (who she briefly married). This was in the days before purchasing art became the investment game and tax dodge it is now. In eight years, Peggy spent about $100,000 on paintings, drawings, and sculptures, never paying more than $4000 on one piece. Today, that collection has an estimated value of $600,000,000.

Moving to New York in the forties, Peggy was reunited with Marcel Duchamp, Andre Breton, and other surrealists who had left Paris. By this point, she herself had become a bit of surrealist art, known for her unique sense of style and ostentatious accessories. She opened Art of This Century, a gallery devoted to modern art, and it was an immediate sensation, showcasing work that had rarely been seen outside of Europe. Gradually she took on American artists as well, including Calder, de Kooning, Rothko, Motherwell, Joseph Cornell, and her recent discovery, Jackson Pollock. Paris was no longer on the cutting edge of artistic movements; the new capital of the avant-garde was New York.

Along the way, of course, there were constant parties, dinners, and various sexual entanglements. Her memoir from 1946 was unsparing in detail, becoming the talk of the town. Tiring of New York, Peggy moved to Venice in 1948, and remained there for the rest of her life. Her art collection was housed in her palazzo, where she entertained the rich and famous from all over. Though the ancient families of Venice never warmed to her, she became known as The Last Dogaressa, her flamboyant lifestyle the stuff of legend.

Peggy: The Wayward Guggenheim (1986), by Jacqueline Bograd Weld, is a wonderfully engaging biography. It shows Peggy Guggenheim as the complex (and often unlikable) individual she was: an unloved child and unloving parent, an infamous spendthrift who could be incredibly generous at times. She was shy, bold, awkward, grandiose, and had an endless parade of men (and a few women) in her bedroom. The book is also an excellent crash course on the history of modern art, covering Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. This provides a context for many of Peggy's activities and relationships. It's a great read and I highly recommend it.

View the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. An excellent documentary can be seen here. For more of her amazing sunglasses, go here.

gustavo lacerda

2012-01-26T18:35:00.000-06:00

+website+

an invisible light

2012-01-26T16:49:00.000-06:00

Take me there.

[via azurebumble]

mark powell

2012-01-25T15:45:00.000-06:00

Mark Powell uses a Bic Biro pen and vintage envelopes to create these stunning portraits.

[via Archie McPhee]

classic björk

2012-01-24T20:33:00.000-06:00

Wonderful song, fantastic video.

nestor jr.

2012-01-24T19:28:00.000-06:00

+Flickr+

five from r. buckminster fuller

2012-01-24T00:21:00.001-06:00

The opposite of nature is impossible.

~~~~~

Life is the spirit incarnate in time.

~~~~~

Dare to be naive.

~~~~~

Love is metaphysical gravity.

~~~~~

We are powerfully imprisoned in these Dark Ages simply by the terms in which we have been conditioned to think.

~~~~~

nad wolinska

2012-01-24T00:12:00.000-06:00

+website+

church of solitude

2012-01-23T21:12:00.000-06:00

Plans from the mid-1970s, by Gaetano Pesce, for a proposed cathedral "for the recovery of solitude". It would have been embedded in the bedrock of Manhattan.

Gaetano Pesce's Church of Solitude was conceived in reaction to his experience of New York in the 1970s, where he saw people living together, "helter-skelter in crowds." To provide a serene place for introspection and contemplation, he buried the church beneath a vacant lot amid the towers of the city. The silent sanctuary incorporated small individual cells, a further retreat from the city's corporate and institutional culture. An excavated landscape was, for Pesce, an overlooked space that could provide for people's future needs. [via]

the feminine mystique

2012-01-22T00:36:00.001-06:00

Captured by Lisette Model (1901-1983)

de figuris veneris

2012-01-21T22:41:00.001-06:00

These charming artifacts are by Édouard-Henri Avril (1843-1928).

la femme 100 têtes

2012-01-21T16:36:00.000-06:00

I chanced upon this surrealist gem over at Feuilleton. It's really quite amazing.

autochromes

2012-01-21T01:34:00.000-06:00

These images were taken over a century ago, by Charles Corbet.

the arcanta sutras

2012-01-21T00:52:00.000-06:00

It's official! The digital-only compilation of songs from my previous albums has been released by the Projekt label. Read about it here. Then get it from iTunes. It’s only $4.99!

plum blossom cabinet

2012-01-21T00:43:00.000-06:00

Lately, I've been obsessed with this gorgeous piece of furniture by Based Upon.
Read more about it here.

gabriel pacheco

2012-01-20T16:34:00.000-06:00

+weblog+

five from djuna barnes

2012-01-20T01:29:00.000-06:00

An image is a stop the mind makes between uncertainties.

~~~~~

Dreams have only the pigmentation of fact.

~~~~~

What is a ruin but time easing itself of endurance?

~~~~~

A man is whole only when he takes into account his shadow.

~~~~~

Life is painful, nasty, and short...in my case, it has only been painful and nasty.

~~~~~

lynn geesaman

2012-01-19T21:09:00.000-06:00

More here.

[via]

dark water

2012-01-19T14:59:00.001-06:00

These Lovecraft-inspired visions, by Kirill Rozhkov, were designed for carpets, which can be seen here. Also, don't miss his awesome website.

a perfect moment

2012-01-19T03:06:00.000-06:00

by Eva Wollenberg

carol prusa

2012-01-18T20:41:00.000-06:00

+website+

[via but does it float]

film is void: in the mood for love

2012-01-17T19:29:00.000-06:00

The pacing is languid, the storytelling elliptical, and, as a tale of unrequited love, the feeling is bittersweet. Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love (2000) is a haunting masterpiece, a ravishing film of unrelenting beauty, capturing the subtle dynamics of attraction and frustration. With the nuanced performances of it's impossibly gorgeous stars (Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung) and a camera which often peers through half-open doors, we are treated to moments both intimate and mundane. These glimpses gradually reveal the beginnings of an impractical romance. The film, set in 1960s Hong Kong, is rich with cinematic atmosphere: mid-century modern meets ancient urban decay, and it always seems to be raining. Thoughtfully filmed and acted, this tone poem may move you to tears, even as you marvel at the mastery of craft on display.

le ratan

2012-01-17T18:30:00.000-06:00

by Ram Shergill

kyrie

2012-01-16T20:46:00.000-06:00

Dusting off another old song. This piece is from 1997, and is one of the few from my first album that I can live with today. When performed in concert, the pre-recorded track is played while I add a more emotive layer of live vocals on top.

The repetition of the phrase "Kyrie eleison" ("Lord, have mercy") becomes a mantra, a means for connection to one's deepest self, thus transcending any religious system and paving the way for a truly spiritual experience.

kuniyoshi

2012-01-16T17:14:00.000-06:00

Another post of dizzying designs. These colorful and highly imaginative woodblock prints are by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1862). Many more can be found here.

georgii & vladimir stenberg

2012-01-15T20:26:00.000-06:00

I just can't get enough of the bold graphics of the Stenberg brothers, made from 1924-1933. See more at these Daily Stenberg posts.

having a wonderful time

2012-01-15T17:55:00.000-06:00

I posted this on The Redundant Variety Hour, but it seems worthy of sharing here, too.

paris windows

2012-01-15T17:21:00.000-06:00

By Eugène Atget (1857-1927)

clive hicks-jenkins

2012-01-14T18:20:00.001-06:00

The work of Clive Hicks-Jenkins (who I'm honored to call a friend) has been seen here before, and I've wanted to post this stunning series since first becoming aware of it. Clive is also a gifted and insightful writer; read his thoughts on these images here.

reliquary

2012-01-14T14:35:00.000-06:00

The remains of martyred saints, as photographed by Toby de Silva.

five from vivekananda

2012-01-13T20:28:00.000-06:00

External nature is only internal nature writ large.

~~~~~

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

~~~~~

Comfort is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being comfortable.

~~~~~

Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.

~~~~~

Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

~~~~~

kay sage

2012-01-13T16:49:00.000-06:00

The mysterious constructs of Kay Sage (1898-1963) are akin to something seen from the corner of the mind's eye. It's as if these strange sets and scaffolds were on the far edge of reality, the very supports of the subconscious itself.

tabula rasa

2012-01-13T16:09:00.001-06:00

Wow.

sound is void: joni mitchell - hejira

2012-01-12T16:42:00.000-06:00

Joni Mitchell's Hejira, from 1976, is a monochromatic masterpiece. Spare arrangements give this collection of songs a cohesive feel, as does the thematic device of life on the road. A woman in motion---on a flight from grace, or to it?---shares her inner monologues in a way that is deeply personal without lapsing into solipsistic navel gazing. There's something universal in her yearning, dissatisfaction, and quest for more. Whether seeking another lover, or simply peace of mind, Mitchell intuitively senses that the path itself may be the goal.

This is an album of snapshots and memories constantly rearranged in an effort to make sense of it all. Jaunty opener "Coyote" tells of a fling which could never be more than just that, and it brims with the character observations Mitchell excels at. She looks just as keenly without as within. The restless wanderlust that hums throughout this album is addressed in "Amelia", the title character being none other than the aviatrix Earhart. The recurring line "It was just a false alarm" is the closest thing to a chorus on any song here, building in poignancy with every repetition.

Each song is a page from a vagabond's diary, impressionistic yet finely drawn. A meeting in Memphis ("Furry Sings the Blues") yields unexpected results. Hooking up with a man-child ("Strange Boy") becomes one more failed attempt to connect with somebody on a meaningful level. The track that lends the album its title is an atmospheric anthem leading to the centerpiece of this cycle, "Song for Sharon". A strange, meandering meditation on dreams lost and found, it's an intimate epic, one of resignation and, perhaps, acceptance. "Black Crow" rocks out in an angular way, darkly evoking the compulsion which propels the singer forward. There's a quick stop at the jazzy "Blue Motel Room" before Mitchell once again seeks the melancholy "Refuge of the Roads".

Words and music have rarely meshed in such an organic fashion. Every line is memorable, the perfect distillation of image and essence, often delivered in a sort of sprechstimme. This album, more than any other, is what gave Joni Mitchell the reputation for being a "confessional" singer/songwriter. The lyrics, however, are only part of a hypnotically beautiful whole. Somehow, these guitar-based tracks are simultaneously stark and lush, often led by the fretless bass of maestro Jaco Pastorius. Percussion is minimal but appropriate. Jazz legends Tom Scott and Victor Feldman unobtrusively lend a hand. The songs all sound related, though each has its own unique elements.

As is no doubt apparent, Hejira is one of my very favorite albums, and has been for the past 36 years. I connected with it at an early and impressionable age, and am now much older than Mitchell was when she recorded it. The subtle depths of this timeless disc continue to unfold, a journey which, like life itself, is its own reward.

baumschule

2012-01-12T15:29:00.000-06:00

Aerial landscape views by Gerco de Ruijter.

john clowder

2012-01-11T23:00:00.000-06:00

More of his "remixes" here.

diamanda

2012-01-11T15:36:00.000-06:00

Galas.

wandering stars

2012-01-11T01:13:00.000-06:00

five from john lydon

2012-01-10T22:54:00.000-06:00

Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.

~~~~~

I think national pride leads to nothing but wars and hates.

~~~~~

Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.

~~~~~

There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.

~~~~~

Meat isn't murder. It's delicious.

~~~~~

[photos by Hedi Slimane]

thomas woodruff

2012-01-10T20:04:00.000-06:00

+website+

A previous Woodruff post here.

a new blogging endeavor

2012-01-10T03:25:00.001-06:00

Followers of my previous blogs, Fabulon and Chateau Thombeau, may miss the rampant fabulosity and camp sensibility which prevailed in those venues. In an attempt to rectify that situation somewhat, I've started a little video blog: The Redundant Variety Hour. It's a celebration of the golden age of television variety shows, from the sublime to the ridiculous. There won't be much text, just clips from programs the likes of which the world will never see again. It's still a work in progress, but please stop by often, tell your friends, and feel free to comment. It'll be fun, bitches!

Form is Void will still be my main blog. Finding new art every day has been quite inspiring for me, and I've enjoyed sharing these finds with you. Speaking of my blogs, Wunderkammer now has over 5100 followers on Tumblr! How crazy is that?

On a personal note, after two months of staying with friends and looking for work, I'm back with my parents for the winter. I guess Life always puts us where we're meant to be...None the less, I haven't given up. Thanks again to all who've shown their support, it means the world to me. XOXOX

the somnambulists

2012-01-09T17:21:00.000-06:00

William Wordsworth

John Keats

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

William Blake

In her photographs of life and death masks from the collection of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society, Joanna Kane renders striking images of individuals---famous and unknown---who lived in a time before the invention of photography. This somehow makes the past seem more real...

brooks salzwedel

2012-01-09T15:25:00.000-06:00

These drawings are made with graphite on Duralar, cast in layers of resin. Colors are added with layers of tape. More here.

wicky wacky woo

2012-01-09T01:24:00.001-06:00

This is just about my favorite thing these days.
A very different but equally enjoyable rendition can be found here.

renny tait

2012-01-09T01:14:00.000-06:00

+link+

6:30 a.m.

2012-01-08T15:58:00.000-06:00

+Robert Weingarten+

advanced style

2012-01-08T15:06:00.000-06:00

The trailer for an upcoming documentary. See more fabulosity at the Advanced Style Blog.

[via Doing Hard Time in Shaker Heights]

stephen berkman

2012-01-08T14:34:00.000-06:00

+website+

film is void: dreams that money can buy

2012-01-06T01:32:00.000-06:00

This surrealist film from 1947, directed by Hans Richter and produced by Peggy Guggenheim, explores the world of dreams. It features the talents of Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Man Ray, Paul Bowles, John Cage, and a certain Libby Holman, and provides a glimpse at what was considered "experimental" at the time. An interesting oddity, to be sure. (This version features a contemporary soundtrack, with mixed results.)

mid-century modern

2012-01-05T20:19:00.000-06:00

Homes by Pierre Koenig. Photos by Julius Shulman. 1958-1960

five from w. h . auden

2012-01-05T19:45:00.000-06:00

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep.

~~~~~

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.

~~~~~

All that we are not stares back at what we are

~~~~~

Music is the best means we have of digesting time.

~~~~~

You owe it to all of us to get on with what you're good at.

~~~~~

vern dufford

2012-01-05T19:04:00.000-06:00

+more+

winterwoods

2012-01-05T13:02:00.000-06:00

stephen aldrich

2012-01-05T02:26:00.001-06:00

More here.

masquerade

2012-01-05T01:37:00.001-06:00

by Saul Steinberg and Inge Morath, 1959

sound is void: brian eno - another day on earth

2012-01-04T15:42:00.001-06:00

If there is such a thing as the perfect ambient pop album, Brian Eno's Another Day on Earth (2005) would be it. Consisting of actual songs which are actually sung, the temptation may be to compare it to Eno's early work, but this collection really stands on it's own. Or, rather, it stands upon the foundation of sonic landscapes for which this musician and producer is best known. While the opening tune ("This") has a bopping beat, the rest of the album glacially drifts through an interior realm of sound and self-analysis. Arrangements are inventive and atmospheric, as one would expect, with the vocals often as effects-heavy as the other instruments. Through it all floats an air of melancholy, of mid-life resignation, which lends a bittersweet quality to the entire endeavor. There's nothing flashy or ostentatious here, just subtlety and intelligence from an artist who no longer has to prove himself and can afford to simply be. A mature and majestic effort, Another Day on Earth is one of my very favorite releases of the 21st century.

lili ország

2012-01-04T14:23:00.000-06:00

+more+

ordeal by roses

2012-01-04T00:37:00.000-06:00

by Eikoh Hosoe

heavenly bodies

2012-01-03T17:30:00.000-06:00

Wall hangings, circa 1855. More info here.

go do

2012-01-03T15:49:00.000-06:00

do go

john kenn

2012-01-03T02:42:00.000-06:00

In his free time, Danish television director John Kenn draws monsters on Post-It notes.

five from william s. burroughs

2012-01-02T22:05:00.000-06:00

How I hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity.

~~~~~

Perhaps all pleasure is only relief.

~~~~~

Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.

~~~~~

In deep sadness there is no place for sentimentality.

~~~~~

Which came first: the intestine or the tapeworm?

~~~~~

kanaval

2012-01-02T19:50:00.000-06:00

By Leah Gordon. From her website:

Each year, Jacmel, a coastal town in Southern Haiti, holds pre-Lenten Mardi Gras Festivities. Troupes of 'performers' act out mythological and political tales in a whorish theatre of the absurd that courses the streets unshackled by traditional parade.

The characters and costume partially betray their roots in medieval European carnival, but the Jacmellien masquerades are also a fusion of clandestine Vodou, ancestral memory, political satire and personal revelation.

Here is an interesting article about this work.

agostino arrivabene

2012-01-02T16:23:00.000-06:00

+website+tumblr+

why not?

2012-01-01T23:37:00.001-06:00

Something lovely to start the week...

ignasi ruiz

2012-01-01T23:17:00.000-06:00

+website+

film is void: house of pleasures

2012-01-01T22:45:00.000-06:00

"This place stinks of champagne and sperm." So it goes in the opulent House of Pleasures (2011), an atmospheric French film about a fin de siècle Parisian bordello. Originally titled L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close), and also released as House of Tolerance, there's very little story here. Instead, we're given moments, marvelous and mundane, of life in a whorehouse. Visually ravishing, with sumptuous sets and costumes, this film is the very definition of languid. It's steeped in decadence, an opium dream drifting into a slow-motion nightmare. Soft-core kitsch or understated masterpiece? That's up to the viewer to decide. What can't be denied is that House of Pleasures is beautiful, thought-provoking, and ultimately quite sad, showing how intertwined pleasure and pain can often be.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-12-30T22:28:00.000-06:00

Wishing everyone the most splendid 2012 imaginable!

XOXOX

Thom

vivian maier

2011-12-30T21:26:00.000-06:00

Vivian Maier (1926-2009), a Chicago nanny, took over a 100,000 photographs, which remained unseen by the public until after her death, when they were inadvertently discovered. They've since achieved great popularity and acclaim. I first found out about her over a year ago, when I saw this, and was as moved by her story as by her amazing work. Learn much more at vivianmaier.com, it's well worth it.

a favorite

2011-12-30T02:58:00.000-06:00

Classic.

studies in brown and grey

2011-12-30T02:00:00.001-06:00

franz von bayros

2011-12-29T14:51:00.000-06:00

Where would Art Nouveau be without peacocks? And partially disrobed women? In these fantastic images, found at this fabulous blog, the two become one. And why not?

foutaises

2011-12-28T23:14:00.000-06:00

In this delightful short film from 1989, many of director Jean Pierre Jeunet's cinematic obsessions are already intact, including the presence of actor Dominique Pinon.

bill brandt

2011-12-28T21:30:00.000-06:00

The long and varied career of photographer Bill Brandt (1904-1983) covered everything from high society portraits to more experimental pieces such as those featured above. See many more here.

the thorne rooms

2011-12-28T19:08:00.000-06:00

From the Art Institute of Chicago: The 68 Thorne Miniature Rooms enable one to glimpse elements of European interiors from the late 13th century to the 1930s and American furnishings from the 17th century to the 1930s. Painstakingly constructed on a scale of one inch to one foot, these fascinating models were conceived by Mrs. James Ward Thorne of Chicago and constructed between 1932 and 1940 by master craftsmen according to her specifications.

View all of the rooms here.

sound is void: maria muldaur - sweet harmony

2011-12-28T14:44:00.000-06:00

The dulcet tones of Maria Muldaur have never been put to better use than on her eclectic third album, Sweet Harmony (1976). The title track, a Smokey Robinson tune, starts things off: languid, sensual, with an alluring siren-song of a chorus (Linda Ronstadt is part of the backing choir). This sets the tone for a genre-hopping adventure that is as consistent as it is enjoyable. Folk, jazz, blues and gospel flow in a way that makes perfect sense, buoyed by Muldaur's sincerity and sense of humor. She displays an innate understanding of the music, from the inside out, and the arrangements are equally appropriate. Standouts include the breezy "Rockin' Chair" (with an appearance by none other than Hoagy Carmichael) and "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye", which tips its vintage hat to the Bosworth Sisters. There are quiet moments of great sensitivity ("Back by Fall", "Wild Bird") and foot-stomping romps like "I Can't Stand It" and "Jon the Generator". All in all, this is a thoroughly satisfying endeavor, a forgotten pop treasure that shows how timeless sweet harmonies can be.

ferdinand keller

2011-12-28T14:26:00.000-06:00

More here.

bogdan zwir

2011-12-28T02:10:00.000-06:00

+website+

form and void

2011-12-27T21:17:00.000-06:00

So there.

anders petersen

2011-12-27T16:39:00.000-06:00

+website+

john piper

2011-12-27T01:51:00.000-06:00

More here.

five from isaac asimov

2011-12-27T01:05:00.000-06:00

The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.

~~~~~

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.

~~~~~

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

~~~~~

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.

~~~~~

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

~~~~~

on christmas day

2011-12-26T14:04:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, in an effort to avoid a house full of relatives, I went for a three-hour walk along the river. These are some of the things I saw.

l'esclave endormi

2011-12-26T14:00:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite songs ever (though I prefer the 12" 4AD version),
sung by the exceedingly fabulous Richenel.

spring, summer, fall, winter...and spring

2011-12-26T12:48:00.000-06:00

A floating hermitage on a mountain lake is the setting for the subtle Zen fable Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring (2003). The story is conveyed with little dialogue, relying on beautiful visuals to tell the tale. Stillness and silence are not normally the stuff of modern cinema, but they speak volumes here. Though simple in format, there is great depth which is thoughtfully plumbed by the director and his actors. The result is a unique experience for the viewer, one of pleasure, profundity, and possibly enlightenment.

xiaoling cao

2011-12-26T00:02:00.000-06:00

More here.

[via couleurs]

bunker archeology

2011-12-26T00:01:00.000-06:00

by Paul Virilio

ghosts of christmas past

2011-12-24T23:17:00.000-06:00

These bizarre little films haunted my childhood. In fact, they haunt me still.

crystal visions

2011-12-24T21:21:00.001-06:00

In 1885, nineteen-year-old Wilson A. Bentley took his first successful photomicrograph of a snow crystal. He went on to capture over 5000 such images before he died on Dec. 23, 1931, after walking six miles in a blizzard in order to photograph more snowflakes.