sundance

Amazing shots of Beluga whales

These incredible, almost unbelievable, shots of Beluga whales in Russia’s White Sea seem too beautiful to be real. Far beneath ice in a whale sanctuary photographer Franco Banfi and team took handsaw to ice and dived below.  ‘When a whale comes up to us and swims by, it looks you right in the eyes. Sometimes, [...]

How you can help in Haiti

Cine Institute Students Effort from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

One of the issues the Sundance Film Festival has set out to explore this year is the role of the arts today — how filmmaking and other art forms can not just stay relevant, but can actually be an agent for positive change in a world that surely needs all the help it can get. It’s hard to think of a better example of the transformative power of art than the efforts of the students at Cine Institute, Haiti’s only film school, located in the country’s cultural capital, a seaside city called Jacmel.

IG Report: Last U.S. Jaguar Captured, Killed Intentionally

WASHINGTON, DC, January 22, 2010 (ENS) – The last known wild jaguar in the United States captured and killed last year in Arizona, was intentionally caught by employees of the Arizona Game and Fish Department in a snare, the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General said in a report issued Wednesday that implicates the state [...]

ThingsThatAreDoingIt.com

If you like your humor cheap and juvenile but find PeopleOfWalmart.com just a bit too mean and depressing, then check out ThingsThatAreDoingIt.com — a collection of inadvertently sexually-charged inanimate objects. Many of the coolest ones seem to have dubious origins (no way is that naked tree goddess not Photoshopped) but the ones that look genuine (like the friendly trees above) will lift your spirits and put a smile on your face that you can feel good about in a way that People of Walmart’s “Front to Back” cannot. Here’s a sample:

“L.A.’s single greatest secret.”

I’m not sure if this awesome story is well known out in LA, but I had never heard of this until reading about it on GOOD, which they called “L.A.’s single greatest secret.”

Green tech finds (1/21/10)

Glitter-sized solar panels, green electronics, and cow fat… your green tech finds.

• Lubing your engine with cow fat: Green Earth Technologies‘ G-OIL, a “bio-oil” created from cow fat, has been named the official motor oil of green racing series American Le Mans.
  
  
• Design your own electric vehicle: Trexa has created a concept platform for electric vehicles, which could allow specialty vehicle developers to create cars much like tech developers create iPhone apps (via Auto Blog Green)
  
  

Finally, a positive side to airport security.

We know of at least one good thing to come out of the whole underwear bomber shenanigans: lingerie ads inspired by those “naked” full body scanners. Okay, we’d much rather have a shorter stay at airport security (and retain at least a little bit of our privacy)…but at least we’ve got this clever ad for [...]

SPECTACLE REPORT: Elvis Costello on his favorite artists

Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello jam on the SPECTACLE stage.

As someone once wisely noted, “There’s nothing you can say that can’t be sung,” and so it proved to be during the nearly four hours that Bruce Springsteen and I shared the Apollo stage for our SPECTACLE taping.

Given Bruce’s generosity in song and conversation, it’s little wonder our performance yielded two full episodes. There is very little I can add by way of recommendation. He was good enough to sing almost every song we discussed, and even one we didn’t really know.

Suffice to say that the version of “Point Blank” with which the Imposters and I opened the evening, as well as my heartfelt but vocally fatigued solo rendition of “Brilliant Disguise,” are two of my favorite Springsteen songs. Sadly, neither could be accommodated in the final edit.

I am sorrier still that Nils Lofgren’s wonderful performance of “Like Rain” – a song that I had loved since his days in Grin – could not be placed in the narrative either. I hope it emerges one day. Nils’ contribution to preparations for the evening’s collaboration between the Imposters and he and his E-Street Band colleague Roy Bitten was invaluable.

Five weeks or so after the taping, I found myself back in New York, just as Bruce and the E-Street Band were playing a two-night stand at Madison Square Garden.

It was among the shows in which entire albums were performed, and I was delighted to find that Bruce was performing what is still my favorite of all his records, The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle, from which he had performed “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” on SPECTACLE.

I’ve spent a lot of time with this album, and it was remarkable to hear it re-animated in every detail with such nuance and vitality. It was stranger still to find myself walking out to sing Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” during the show’s finale.

But then it occurs to me that during the SPECTACLE encounter Bruce and I found ourselves talking about other artists and their music as much as our own experiences.

In some cases this was a departure from those previous occasions when we had shared the stage. So here are some songs that you might enjoy by those very artists.

Sundance films coming soon to YouTube

Those of us feeling sad about being stuck at home during the Sundance Film Festival yet again this year will be relieved to hear that our distance from Park City is a diminishing disadvantage. Today’s news? Audiences across the United States can view three Sundance feature films on their very own computers even before they screen for Festival audiences, thanks to a deal Sundance has forged with YouTube.

THE LAST STATION

Anton Chekhov’s novella “My Life” reads like the first half of Leo Tolstoy’s life. A socially rebellious youth from a wealthy family who rejects the privileges of his class, denounces his education and sets out to make a life for himself amongst the working people. THE LAST STATION, however, is concerned only with the great man’s final days, more concerned, perhaps, than the great man himself. The film, like the ardent young Tolstoyans who hang on his every word, seeks to preserve his legacy even when Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) isn’t so sure what that is. Like Christians who follow the Bible to the letter, he is disappointed, it seems, or perhaps bewildered that his friends and believers obey ideals he once advocated for like abstinence, for example, when he himself doesn’t hesitate to make love to his wife.

FROM PARIS TO PRECIOUS (aka PUSH): Sundance switches gears

Main Street in Park City, UT during the Sundance Film Festival.

I have two words for you: Lyle Lovett. My Mason-Dixon reared soul is all a flutter over this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

I will be honest: I haven’t gone to Sundance in four years. I used to cover it when I was the deputy editor for Page Six at the New York Post. For a gossip columnist, it was like shooting ducks in a barrel. Celebrities abounded, bad behavior – thanks to alcohol consumption, high altitudes and a distinct lack of spousal companionship – was everywhere, and I was in heaven. I would see some great movies, interview some actors, and then go to premiere and agency parties, collecting information all along the way. It was fun and I got some good work done.

Until 2006.

Trend-spotting at Sundance Film Festival 2010

Image from HOWL

Journalists at film festivals invariably find themselves with the task of connecting the dots among dozens of disparate movies — looking for the big picture, whether in the form of a new fad or a larger cultural moment (e.g., last year’s elusive search, during a Sundance that coincided with a historic inauguration, for the quintessential Obama movie). Expect lots of trend-spotting once Sundance 2010 kicks off on Thursday night, and expect these three topics to get plenty of play:

Dalek for Ai Records

In 1999 Ai Records released it’s first ever record. And now, in 2010, they will be celebrating with 200 limited edition picture discs. Each disc’s artwork was created by Dalek. Dalek has worked with Takashi Murakami and seems to be finding his own point of view. I don’t know much about AI records. And that’s [...]

And then there was one Yale screamer

Fraternity from Richard Mosse on Vimeo. In his strangely captivating and succinctly titled video “Fraternity,” artist and filmmaker Richard Mosse challenged members of the Yale branch of fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon-alumni, including five US presidents, Supreme Court judges, a vice president, senators, and captains of industry-to compete against one another in a screaming contest. Mosse [...]

The rise of the sugar mama

photo via IMDB

A recent study by the Pew Research Center, comparing marriages in 2007 with those in 1970, found that husbands whose wives earn more than they do jumped from 4% to 22%. This is partly because, for the first time ever, in the under 44 age group, more women than men have college degrees. Make no mistake, women still earn 77c to the man’s dollar, so things aren’t exactly coming up roses. But still, plenty of women are bringing home the bacon while hubby contributes a few Bacos.

FISH TANK: wisdom in a teenager

One of the more interesting characters on the screen right now is the angry, vulnerable and directionless Mia (Katie Jarvis) in the British film FISH TANK, directed by Andrea Arnold (currently screening at IFC Center). A 15 year old girl clothed in baggy sweat suits, Mia spends her free time drinking liquor and practicing awkward dance moves by herself. She’s looking for expression and it spills out through her rage as she tumbles through mistakes and near scrapes with disaster with a kind of tough resilience that would make you want to hug her… if you weren’t worried about her breaking your nose.

Sundance environmental films: climate change

From Copenhagen to cable news channels, most of the arguments surrounding global warming, and, more specifically, government responses to it, involve economic growth. These arguments often fail to miss the broader human costs that people around the globe are already experiencing as a result of a warming climate. Michael Nash’s CLIMATE REFUGEES brings these stories to the forefront: the rising seas that may engulf the island nation of Tuvalu, droughts and extreme storms in Africa and Asia, and rapid desertification in China.

Candy faces

Ashkan Honarvar’s latest effort in his “Faces” series involved digitally altering portraits so they appear to be grotesquely defaced. And by grotesque I actually mean delicious because these faces were in fact disfigured with candy. [Hat tip: Annie]

The rotunda gets naked

Walk into the Guggenheim on January 29th and you will not see a single piece of art. In fact, it was difficult to find an image to use for this post because, for the very first time in its 50 year history, the Guggenheim is taking all the art off the walls of the rotunda to prepare for the coming of Tino Sehgal. Sehgal’s work is some of the most clever use of what we might call formal art space, meaning galleries, private collections and museums. Some of his previous exhibitions have taken place at the Tate, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the 2005 Venice Biennale.

A visual history of Crayola colors

In 1903 Crayola crayons existed in only 8 hues. Today they number in 120. Through the years some colors have been deleted, but mostly they’ grown, branching out from the original colors. A friend of Weather Sealed recently created the image above. It is a visual representation of Crayola’s color growth.

Buggy cartoons

This might not be something you want to read or look at while eating, but World Famous Design Junkies posted a collection of macabre, yet humorous doodles involving dead flies, as well as the occasional bee and moth. They can’t seem to locate the author of these cartoons and enlisted the help of the Internet [...]

Sundance Films Top 10 Infidelities

To count down to the Sundance Film Festival, we’ve been blogging about some of our favorite movie moments in the festival’s history. We’ve covered the Top 10 Lessons in Love, Top 10 Lessons in Young Love, Top 10 Oddest Couples, and Top 10 Sexy-FAIL Moments. This week is the final installment, and we saved the worst for last — infidelity, so bad for marriages, but so good for movie-makers. As Tolstoy sort of said, all happy marriages resemble one another, but each unhappy marriage is unhappy in its own way. Have a nice day!

1. PERSONAL VELOCITY: THREE PORTRAITS: This movie is soaked through with infidelity, in particular the knock-on effect that infidelity (and its close cousins, abandonment and divorce) has on the kids. Philip Larkin put it best: “They fuck you up, your mum and dad. / They may not mean to, but they do. / They fill you with the faults they had / And add some extra, just for you.”
2. THE INFORMERS: Based on Bret Easton Ellis’s story collection (’nuff said, perhaps?), this film’s speciality is early ’80s L.A. infidelity. In other words, the sex is fueled by booze and drugs and is even emptier than your average illicit shag.

Obama’s One-Year Environmental Grades Range From ‘B+’ to ‘C-’

One year after he was inaugurated with promises of “hope” and “change,” President Barack Obama has earned only a grade of “C” for his handling of endangered species, climate, energy, public lands, and oceans from one conservation group but an overall grade of “B+” on climate and energy from another.

Raw weather, rawhide and ready for Sundance 2010!

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Thank God Park City is too cold for PETA protesters. (Seriously – you ever notice how PETA works out of kind of cold places like NYC or not so cold places like LA, but they leave Chicago and Utah alone?). In preparation for Sundance, I went on weather.com and almost cried for my imaginary abuelita when it informed me that this year’s festivities fall directly in line with a snowstorm.

Buzz, like swine flu is something you can pick up at a party

Image from THE OATH, the story of Salim Hamdan

That ephemeral Sundance commodity known as buzz used to be something you picked up at parties, on shuttles, waiting in line at screenings — now it’s quantified before the festival even begins, with films ranked on the Sundance site according to page views (and, once the screenings actually get under way, star ratings). Based on the track records of the parties involved (and on totally unscientific early word of mouth), here are the four movies — one from each of the competitive sections — I have the highest hopes for…