#i need more medium format film immediately

[bonyfish]

Nik got creative when finding a way to transport the garden tomatoes inside, and I was struck by the incongruous poetry of the scene and had to take a photo.

Camera: Yashica Mat-124G Film: Kodak Gold 200

[romanceyourdemons]

cloverfield (2008) is an incredible film that makes brilliant use of its medium. the found footage style directly combats the usual pitfalls of kaiju film: a strung-out, bureaucratically-centered film; a large and ill-used cast; unclear stakes; and an overexplained or too-easily understood monster. in a film told entirely through a single handheld camera, edited to appear unedited and with no nondiegetic material except for the paratext at the very beginning of the film, not a single one of these problems is present. the story is incredibly tightly woven, centered not around the monster but rather around the small cast of highly developed characters who are the associates of the man holding the camera. the stakes are unimaginably high, being life-and-death—not the life and death of millions, which kaiju films regularly blithely sacrifice and audiences numbly accept, but the infinitely more significant life and death of six ordinary people. not only does the cut-down cast automatically heighten the emotional impact of their deaths and trauma, but the film cleverly taps into the cultural trauma of 9/11 to make the fears and confusion of the characters more immediate to the audience. and it is confusion that this film does best. we receive as much information as the characters about the monster (next to nothing), and similarly our view of the monster is always confused and poorly framed: a glimpse between buildings, a claw in the dust, and then we need to move on. visually noisy sets, wild camera movements, and cluttered soundscaping all prevent the audience from gaining their bearings—a breath of fresh air when compared to the hyper-formulaic writing and shooting of standard kaiju films. and yet, for all this film appears to be raw and uncoordinated footage, it is also clearly carefully plotted to prevent the audience from becoming numb to the chaos. constant and carefully timed flashes back to a young couple’s coney island trip two weeks before, which had apparently been filmed on the same tape as this, keep the story in constant juxtaposition with how life ought to be; the final moments of the film echoes the format of the beginning in a way that ties the whole story together and highlights the central urge behind the film: to see and to document, so that people in the future can remember and understand what you do not. brutal, spare, and highly impactful, cloverfield (2008) is an absolutely incredible film, one i would highly recommend

[myfriendpokey]

meet the beetles

vidcons were new media when the idea of new media was no longer new, was a path with known waypoints, a citizen kane here, a maus there… except as soon as this path was mapped out it no longer applied, the landscape no longer made sense. as if videogames as postmodern form was still cursed with a modernist conception of itself, this shadowy mirror life that seemed to mock and undercut the achievements available in postmodernity (say it with me: "videogames are bigger than the film industry!!"). the idea of some heroic transformative turn being just around the corner became less and less persuasive every year, until we were left with an unsettling sense that the medium as a whole had stopped, that it had died… this came as no news to hobbyists who had always experienced the medium as dead, who lived and worked inside the grisly material husk the format left behind on its movement from tradeshow to tradeshow - always a decade or two behind the cutting edge that the medium wrapped its identity around. but now even the tradeshows seem ailing and the format's own hype-men have either moved on to more exciting variants of stillborn new media (vr! nfts! ai!) or else were shaken by a sense that the tech industry's own master narrative was no longer looking so hot. the consultantification of the medium, trying to shore up a leaky ship with a delayed appeal to incremental reforms… we no longer just say that videogames suck as that hits too close to home, and there's no longer any confidence that these brash provocations can actually be followed up, instead we're left agreeing with each other that the format is actually doing pretty well, all things considered, and maybe just needs a few extra touch ups to look, uh, good as new. there are still frustrations bubbling beneath the new consensus. something i feel i've seen a lot more of lately is a kind of irritated aversion to the "same old thing but with new aesthetics" school of game design, complaints about formal conservatism etc… and as sympathetic as i am to arguments that videogames should just be weirder, i also sort of feel, well, didn't we just do that? does the desire to feel some kind of momentum again really mean we're stuck relitigating Games Formalism II: The Bitch Is Back?

for a sec let's do the opposite and assume the horrible unyieldiness of videogames, their stuck and stubborn refusal to "evolve", is not a failure in art's traditional relation to the cultural unconscious so much as the way that relation manifests. if we take this failure seriously, take it as something which is itself historically new. what would it mean for game-making - to live and work inside a dead format, to be a worm inside the corpse? the decomposing body becomes a visionary landscape, new colours, unnatural tints, sharp contrasts of vividness and paleness - old boundaries melt and run together, yield to gentle pressure of the penetrating beak. there is no longer such a strong boundary between the inside and outside. the bones show through the skin, the hidden things we took for granted renew themselves in their full strangeness. but also: there is no sense of these discoveries doing anything, leading anywhere. as temporary perceptions they might be startling and immediate but the question of what impact the little aesthetic explorers of the fields, worms bugs beetles millipedes etc, are individually having as they gnaw the corpse into something else is probably too fussy to calculate. meaningless bounded riches of experience… that's right, we're back to that thing everybody hates. we're back to aesthetics.

if videogames are haunted by a kind of pop-modernism then modernism itself is haunted by the aesthetic - by an aestheticism it tried to define itself against, the stale drawing-room air of the 19th century. over and over in reading those manifestos we find artistic calls to move past art, into something the authors frequently defined as more "active" than the "passive" role of aestheticism. and part of how videogames and the wider tech industry as a whole present themselves as modern is by repeating these calls, by drawing an implicit line between heroic activity and passive compliance. the aesthetic is imagined as "internal", as individual in the bad sense - a neutralised and murky inner world. whereas what we picture as non-aesthetic is what brings the individual out of herself, into some new socially legible role. the heroic user vs the lotus eating experiencer…! and as a figure out of time the aesthetic subject is lumped in with the other recalcitrant bogeys of tech - luddites, luddism as "a way to call those with whom they disagree both politically reactionary and anti-capitalist at the same time". but it's hard not to feel the luddites got a bad rep these days, and hard to feel like the kinds of participation allowed in a ringfenced public culture are not if anything even more disspiriting than the most "passive" text. one of the most striking features of the new-new-media, forms of new media more fully adapted to the role new media has as a kind of speculation bubble, is their near total lack of aesthetic interest. it almost feels crankish and petty to say these things (nfts, ai art, various metaverses) are boring and ugly - but that's kind of the point, right? the contempt for mere aesthetics is the sign that what these things are selling is the sense of their own inevitability, an inevitability that requires no consent from the people it's enforced upon. aesthetics themselves don't matter… but of course they do, right? how can they not matter?

videogames, as a weak form, have never really been able to jettison the need to appeal to the senses. their most cherished distinction, between "aesthetics" understood as meaning visuals and sound and the "non-aesthetic" of all the other gamey parts that they encompass, falls apart for me the more i think about it: are the pleasures of solving a puzzle, executing a combo, traversing an area really of a different nature to those of reading a text, following a piece of music or investigating a visual plane? to say reading prose is not a tentative, active, problem solving kind of task is just to say you're bad at it. and there's a sense that the odd blockedness, deadness of videogames as a format is itself aesthetic.. i think of the old adorno line that the aesthetic itself is always the extra-aesthetic, that which threatens to overflow the category of the aesthetic and transform life itself. so maybe the aesthetic is always experienced as a kind of provocative failure or stubbornness, a blockage, in contrast to the greased slide to a future no-one really wants or believes in.

so what does it mean to be interested in making games mostly as an aesthetic activity. right now the "game making scene" feels as fragmented and directionless as i've ever seen it - whatever infrastructure is still there now exists to provide networking or marketing opportunities to professionals, themselves ever more protective of their specialised domains and with ever less patience for any merely aesthetic actes gratuits that might gum up the pipes. the people i know still making weird shit seem increasingly cut off, working just for themselves and some friends, and maybe they're happier, i dunno. to me there's something melancholy about this condition of narrowed possibility - the difficulty of bouncing new ideas back and forth to one another, when everyone's constrained to their own holes and all the space in between is filled with advertisements. but as well as that, it can feel like it's hardly worthwhile even trying to rebuild those networks to begin with if it's just going to get us back to where we were. the same spurious claims to importance or social good or "what we need right now", same sleazy power dynamics, maybe a different handful of guys getting a career out if it this time.

and so i keep coming back to the stuckness, the nothingness of aesthetic work, of work that can't be evaluated in terms of historical importance or evolution or journeyman best practice, existing as nothing but sensibility, at a point where sensibility itself is treated as a kind of uncanny and functionless surplus that weighs upon the living. the golden coin that can never be spent, visible only through its absence in the ledger. we test it in the mouth, thought is made in the mouth, we chew, not knowing why, yet. as the guy says in the thing: why don't we just stick around for a while, and see what happens.

[vanquishedvaliant]

I posted 38,304 times in 2022

313 posts created (1%)

37,991 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@gae-bolg-alternative-dot-exe

@arachnofiend

@everybodylovestitties

@shuttershocky

@onefatweeb

I tagged 5,827 of my posts in 2022

#qvvevve - 951 posts

#moo - 719 posts

#guilty gear - 686 posts

#arknights - 613 posts

#elden ring - 585 posts

#cyberpunk edgerunners - 332 posts

#fe3h - 248 posts

#vivi original - 243 posts

#fire emblem - 241 posts

#milk - 122 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#stealing tagsso true as an ex minor i can confirm that becoming an adult against my will is weirdwe need to study these people’s minds

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

For people with actual culture and the ability to actual appreciate art and read critically, Vampire in the Garden is a beautiful, heart-felt take on classic star-crossed lovers via the medium of music in a painterly, evocative setting of the decaying culture of Russia’s slide from tsarist decadence into militant communist utilitarianism.

Where Humans have retreated behind tall concrete walls and use industrial technology, military might, and hard labour to survive the onslaught of blood-thirsty vampires and the cold of winter, the vampires live amidst decaying palaces and mansions awash in the lingering remnants of art, music, and history as their lower classes lose their minds to their hunger and their base instincts, starving for blood. Among them, our protagonists are both outcasts; a human girl disillusioned with the bleak and joyless life of the stronghold desperate for meaning, and the Queen of vampires, equally disheartened by the meaningless brutality and decline of her people and burdened by the tragedy of her lost love, who meet in the dark of night, both of their yearnings for more connected by the simple act of mournful song as they travel together to search for a paradise where they can live together, human and vampire and appreciate music and love in peace. Frankly; this movie is beautiful. The aesthetic of post-revolutionary industrial Russia feels under-utilized in similar media, and the depiction of the snowy reaches and dilapidated mansions as both harsh and deadly but also beautiful and serene comes across clearly between the more gritty struggles of human and vampire existence. Music and visuals are both pristine and evocative, and there’s plenty of vivid imagery reflecting the narrative.

The explicit and central homosexuality of the protagonists as both women-loving-women is integral to the story and serves to enhance the Shakespearean tale of love, war, and tragedy as their struggles to express themselves clash in parallel with the rigid expectations of their societies; a queen expected to marry and breed to continue her imperial bloodline, and a girl expected to surrender personal desires to the uncaring military machine.

No slouches either; the antagonists and deuteragonists of the film are no less ripe for dissection; men and women so wholly committed to the ideology of their regime that reconsideration is impossible; who have given their lives and their love to the cause and would sooner die than be broken by the weight of their sacrifices bearing down on them even as the lies unravel and reality confronts them head on.

I’d absolutely recommend Vampire in the Garden to anyone looking for anime with more artistic integrity and cinematic grandeur than mainstream fare, but it’s absolutely essential that it’s watched as one piece! Despite Netflix’s format and advertising, this is not a television series with 5 episodes! This is a feature-length movie cut into 5 parts! Please watch them all together!

1,075 notes - Posted May 20, 2022

#4

See the full post

1,344 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

#3

On the topic of Gundam Gays it’s extremely funny how quickly this incredibly well established franchise shot right into its lesbian engagement and then immediately shot down the first blush deniability for it I’m the kind of yuri bait enthusiast who is quite content to simmer in the Unspoken Text and veiled longings and plausible deniability and am wary to overly criticize it when it’s not overstaying its welcome

But to have Gundam of all things hit you in literally episode 1 with “It’s 2022 in Space and you’re still homophobic? That’s cringe.” is incredible.

1,750 notes - Posted October 3, 2022

#2

We actually literally just witnessed a trans girl win the grand finals of EVO 2022 Guilty Gear simultaneous with them announcing that Bridget is coming back to the game and is now She/Her

We actually live in this world for real

1,766 notes - Posted August 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

If the gayness can be denied it can just as easily be called queerbaiting. Text (and subtext) is less impactful and meaningful than action, even in the right direction. I think if gay people say it's not good enough isn't that an indication that it isn't good enough or enough for them to feel represented?

No.

There’s been a concept in social media activism that the primary perceived value of queer content in media is how loudly it demonstrates inclusion of a particular identity, and a lot of popular media gets judged solely on this aspect, like it’s checking off a tickbox for binary approval. 

A kiss has been chosen by many of these circles to be the most concrete binary proof you can have for a character’s queer sexuality, but putting aside the fact that many identities don’t benefit from that at all; (theoretically a bi person would have to kiss 2 different genders to ‘prove’ themselves this way, why would a trans person kissing anyone prove anything, asexual or aromantic obviously inapplicable, etc) w 

It’s simply incorrect that text is less impactful than “action”, given that media is Text. The Text is what comprises its “action” and what it’s statement of intent is. A kiss is not action, a kiss is Text. A gay character that does kiss or meets whatever satisfaction the audience deems for “representation” is still a creation of Text as much as a gay character that never kisses anyone. There’s no separation there. This wholesale disregard of theme and meaning of text and subtext in fiction and instead only approving media-friendly headline screenshots is one of the greatest tragedies of modern popular culture.

Treating the ‘undeniable’ existence of a queer character as “action” and “representation’ and not examining the actual context of their inclusion and what the story says about their identity, their lives, and their experiences is how you get Disney’s First Gay Character popping up in the news twice a year- it’s become more important for the headlines to State that you have one than for them to actually be important or meaningfully written, or for the story to have anything to say about the character or their lives. At this point of popular social media understanding, Queerbaiting simply does not mean what people have begun to use it to describe. Queerbaiting was intended to refers to deliberate marketing attempts to accrue viewership by over-promising the presence or importance of queer content to Bait in queer viewers hoping to be included. The key part of Queerbaiting is the intentional misdirection here, and because of that there is a very important distinction between queer subtext that is created to build intentional undertones and that which is included specifically to tease and entice viewers with the promise of more.

Many anime shows that people accuse of queerbaiting are doing exactly the opposite; in the case of Flip Flappers the overwhelming Text of the story is largely and centrally focused on the burgeoning sexuality of a young girl as she grows up and realizes that what her heart desires may conflict with expectations set by herself, her family, and society at large. That remains true through to the end of the story where she makes a breakthrough in her understanding of herself and her place in life and her sexuality is a major part of that.

A kiss is not at all required for this, but because there isn’t one people somehow become convinced that the story is “baiting” them desptie the actual meat of the story itself being fundamentally about being queer. Now, there’s definitely room for subjective differences in appreciation here, especially taking more Yuri works as a whole (particular Slice of Life), in which many of them do place their queer undertones as a less central tenet that aren’t deeply explored. I’m not saying that you as an individual can’t feel that you’re not satisfied without a more substantial story; but it doesn’t mean these stories have Failed in their role of Representation; they still have value and purpose whether they meet that shallow criteria or not. And it doesn’t mean that they aren’t Real and these characters aren’t quite obviously gay to anyone paying even the slightest attention.

What I’m actually hearing most of the time is that people consider the capital r Representation buzzword to tick off a box of “HAS LESBIAN” to be more important to them than actually reading a Story about gay people that has something meaningful to say; Add further to this deeper disqualifying factors restricting death, tragedy, “unhealthy” relationships, etc. And you quickly begin to cut down the number of stories you accept to only those which portray a superficial, consumer-friendly veneer of queerness.

This is in itself a sanitization of Queer identity that doesn’t celebrate or represent anyone; it’s selling an idea of Queerness that is clean, palatable, easily accessed.

That’s simply not enough to satisfy me, and it shouldn’t be for you either. 

1,896 notes - Posted May 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[redhillpdp1]

LENS

This week we explored filmmaking from a conceptual angle which was an interesting new perspective to take on a medium I’m pretty familiar with. I don’t think many of us enjoyed or felt like we could connect that much with this project. I think that’s probably down to the fact that we were urged to work in a format we weren’t used to. In my case I struggled with the ‘instructions’ idea. I didn’t really understand this because I don’t feel like there’s any one way to make a film, I also think that I just use film as a vessel for conveying ideas, so I kind of just improvise and experiment as I go along. I took the brief very literally, and made myself instructions for a film I intend to make. I want to develop a masculine drag persona I started exploring in foundation, so made myself a set of instructions for how to put my costume together. I also referred back to my bag project, by illustrating my packing list. I designed it to just look like a page from my sketchbook because I wanted to focus on how personal the project was to me. I also wanted to highlight that these were instructions to myself, and I intend to use them as supporting work when I eventually get round to making this film. My sketchbook is really more of a journal, and so it felt really intimate for me to share the page in a group environment. This feedback session was particularly negative for me, I went last and was interrupted by students coming in and telling us they booked the room for lunch and that we needed to leave. My presentation was rushed I didn’t receive any feedback from the tutors. The overall experience was pretty negative for me because I allowed myself to be really vulnerable and I think the lack of a response made me feel pretty exposed and embarrassed. It knocked my confidence significantly and somewhat discouraged me from furthering my research in this avenue.

Update: this project and feedback session really highlighted my anxieties about this course and urged me to think about what I’m doing. I’m faced with the option to crawl back into my comfort zone, or start being brave. This was an exercise in self esteem. I think this course is forcing me to confront the fact that my own fear of looking stupid is holding me back. It’s kind of freaking me out but I’m glad it’s happening so early on because it means I can immediately start working on it.

[onlinemarketingjuice]

Why Instagram (IG) Reels is Ideal for Reaching New Customers and Driving More Engagement

What is an Instagram (IG) reel?

Instagram Reels are full-screen vertical videos that can be up to 90 seconds long. They come with many unique editing tools and an extensive library of audio tracks (featuring everything from trending songs to snippets of other users’ viral content). On top of sounds, Reels can include multiple video clips, filters, captions, interactive backgrounds, stickers, and more!

Why are Instagram reels so popular?

It has become a hot favorite of influencers and brands all over the world. And the importance of Instagram Reels has only increased over the last couple of years, with more and more social media marketers resorting to this feature. One of the main reasons why Reels has become so popular is because it allows you to portray who you are through short, catchy videos.

How can a business or service benefit from IG Reels?

Reels help your small, medium, and large business gets the targeted audience with instant and safe marketing services like buying Instagram followers, likes, or comments. Instagram is an extremely low-cost and highly effective means to increase your brand awareness due to its huge user database.

The biggest benefit for business from IG Reels? Approximately 80% of marketers claim to have increased website traffic with an increasingly active presence. With 80% of Instagram users following at least one of the business sites, generating traffic to your site becomes important if you wish to make your brand the top SEO rankings.

How to take advantage of IG Reels to reach new audiences and drive more engagement?

Reels are the fastest-growing format and an important part of Instagram, as more people watch Reels to be entertained, go deeper with their interests, or discover new businesses.

For clients or product sales that are not in your website funnel, you need IG Reels to bring them in. Like it or not, IG Reels is the future as far as engagement with your content. If you are selling products or trying to acquire new clients, you need to go all in on Reels. If you think generic IG or Facebook ads are too overwhelming to drill down and figure out, go with just the IG Reels “boost” option.

If you already have posted IG content (in general), figure out which posts get the most likes and shares. Once you do, then that’s the post you want to boost.

How do I “boost” an IG Reel?

You can boost reels within the Instagram app to turn them into ads for the opportunity to reach new audiences and drive more engagement. To be eligible for boosting within the Instagram app, reels must be less than 60 seconds and have a 9:16 aspect ratio, which means they’re filmed vertically and have a full-screen format. At this time, reels that use third-party IP—such as copyrighted music, GIFs, interactive stickers, or camera filters in a reel—are ineligible for boosting, as well as reels shared to Facebook.

You can boost your reels by finding the reel in your grid in your profile and tapping Boost Post. After running your ad, remember to check your Insights to learn which ads brought in the most engagement. Reels is an easy feature to learn and don’t take a lot of time and energy to create. Make Reels the center of your Instagram Marketing strategy. Businesses can boost organic engagement on Instagram almost immediately with lots of ROI.

[the-art-of-animated-gifs]

Interview with my friend A.L. Crego

I have not met A.L. Crego.  I have not spoken with him on the phone, in fact I do not even know what he looks like.  But I can confidently call him my friend.  Three years ago when I started this blog he immediately disagreed with me in the comments about things I was writing and I loved it.  As a person putting ideas out there, you treasure things like that....because you know someone cares.  We have had many back and forth discussions over the years....if we had lived in Paris in 1911 we would be having arguments at La Rotonde (not to compare either of us to Picasso).

A.L. Crego is a motion artist who does a wide variety of things.  He has now become a very visible and active figure in the NFT Movement.  He recently completed a large and very successful project in which he animated the work of a number of well know street artists on the building themselves, something he has done for years.  His Tumblr page is a good place to start to see his work, which is largely surrealist in nature -- another Spanish artist following in the footsteps of other great Spanish surrealist artists.

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How long have you been creating gif art?

In a conscious and intentional way since 2014. Previously I haven't pay too much attention on one hand for its common use that was mostly ads and funny little videos, and on the other hand because it was a 'standard' format we accepted as something part of the web so I never stopped to analyze its potential. The key point for me was about 2010-2011 when the concept of 'Cinemagraph' was brought to life just giving it a name. It's format is .gif but its characteristics are different so I saw there the midpoint between photography and video, which gave born another format of art.

Art mutates when a new format appears. I was using and studying this format since then but it wasn't until 2014 that I decided to publish some of them.

What is your background?

In general terms, bachelor, 2 years of stone sculpting and two attempts of photography and audiovisual mediums. I say attempts because I gave up both of them as I was feeling that I was looking for something else more than studying all the previous history, style and isms, which is nice to understand where everything comes from and to be aware what are the key points on the history to use as reference, as a map. But in some way I felt limited as I was using digital tools since I had my first computer with 14 years, and I was being taught things I learnt by then. Even more in this times we are living where we are 21 century people, been taught by teachers from the 20 with 19 century methods.

A constant line that feeds my background is literature and music overall and later Street Art, next to more temporal interests as everything related with mythology, alchemy, history, psychology, neurology, biology, human condition in general... I don't have studies buy I'm a studying guy!

I always like to highlight that all these years that internet got strong and social networks appeared, I decided voluntary to be out of them. First reason was to keep my privacy safe in a growing world where it seemed that some "curtain" felt and everybody accepted that intimacy was now 'ex-timacy' and correct to show their private life, (this shocked me). Another reason was about the psychological effect that social networks were having on people I had around and everywhere in general. I started to notice patterns and "waves" about series, aesthetics, styles, and I was seeing clearly that if I go there, I will become permeable to all this "Amniotic Culture" I was trying to avoid.

This fact of being far (but study them closely) helped me a lot about researching and developing my own ideas and style, for the mere fact that I was using all this time and attention Social Networks require, on drinking from another sources. The B-side of this is that I was 'out of the radar' of mass people as this social networks are designed to live inside them. My idea of internet and spreading ideas is not in this way.

Where do you live and work?

In the north west of Spain, Galicia. Now due to Covid I travel less but before it, I was working and traveling many places as I only need a camera and a computer. This allows me move to work anywhere.

Do you think that animated gifs are a new art form?

I think so, despite the fact that the format existed since 1987. But as every new format of art it takes its time to be considered as art. The first photographs were not considered art until many years later. Same happened with film, same with CGI. Is nice to have in mind that gif format is the last strictly digital format of the three main ones on the web: picture, video and gif. Photography has about 200 years of history, video about 130, CGI about 60. Finally gif has 33, and used as art itself no more than 10-15. In the same way anybody takes a picture of anything does not convert it into art, is the same with gifs. One thing is the format, another is the 'art'. Everybody can take a picture, record a video or do a gif. The difference is on the how, the why, and from my point of view overall, the what.

Do you think that there is a difference between pure .gif files and the .mp4 files that people post on Instagram?

The first, big and obvious difference is the format. Is not the same a painting as a picture of a painting. Here happens the same. For example, if you treat a gif with Cinemagraph technique, you are converting in picture some parts of the image, so they still remain and with the texture and totally stillness of a picture. If you convert this gif into a mp4 this still parts, despite not having motion, will convert into a video texture (noise, subtle motion in pixels, etc) so the main characteristic, among the perfect loop, is lost. Another point is that you must play a video, a gif is always running. Waterfalls are always running and this characteristic is something that is inside our human nature, we react nice to "bucle" motions as waterfalls, fire, etc. We find pleasure on this. Of course if it's a video the perfect loop is lost and the visual mantra disappear. And another key point here is the soundtrack. In a video you can use sound to enhance or give another meaning to the piece that you can't with gifs. For me this is another characteristic that give meaning to gif. For me gif is silence, the sound is generated by the motion, the melody are the details and the beat the perfect loop. You can "hear" almost every gif.

The difference between a gif and a video is the same that between a waterfall and a hose (if this works).

What do you think are the characteristics of good gif art?

For me first and overall the perfect loop. Not using it is not using the only format that has this characteristics. Of course there can be gif art that is not perfect loop, but from my point of view and in my work is a must. It's a new way not only of creating but also of thinking. Imagine an still scene is easy, imagine an A-B point action is easy. For me the challenge is about thinking an idea that is perfect looped where all the elements interact and eventually come back to its initial point. Succeed doing this is where the perfect loop appears and you are not able to find where is the start point of the action. Like a visual mantra, that it's repetition leads you inside the piece. Gif art is nice to use the power of the hypnotic movements. Another point to have in mind for me is the flow of it, the frame rate I mean. Depending on the idea and the kind of animation this should vary; is not the same fps to achieve something with flow than if you want to achieve a more 'retro' old style. Another thing is about dithering and color palette. This second one is essential to understand as it affects the final file. When we work with photo and video we are using millions of colors but when rendered as gifs all the gradients, lights and even colors will change if there is a previous understood of this point.

As summary: If motion doesn't add, change of enhance the meaning of the piece, is expendable.

I'd would like to add that I'm not really supporter of this kind of gifs generated automatically that just move a still image itself. I understand that this 'technique' is used as a tool for certain motion (I use it) but not to move a whole image. I feel the same as if somebody hold a painting in front of me and moves it randomly. If the work was born still, it must remain still. A good example of 'inner motion', this means that the motion is implicit on the image despite not being in motion, are the photographs of Cartier Bresson for example. Giving motion to this pictures for example, will kill it because it will break the concept of 'perfect instant' .

'Instant' differs etymologically from 'moment' in the motion. So, still image (painting, photo, sculpture, etc) is an instant, videos are stories with a-b point, and gifs are moments, the mid point.

How would you describe your gif art?

I usually condense it as "Visual Mantras", as the technique and the aesthetic vary depending on the idea , but in all of them the perfect loop and the intention of hypnotizing is always present.

In another terms about aesthetics and themes I think ‘Industrial Nature’ can fit nice. I use a lot of industrial elements but I like to mix their mechanics with the biological natural ones.

How long have you been creating and selling NFTs?

I am selling NFTs since mid 2019, but it wasn't until October 2020 that I focused more on it and dug into the ecosystem to find new paths to focus my work.

Do you think that NFTs are a positive for gif artists?

For me, and the main reason I jumped into cryptoart and NFT, is that now I can certify my digital work as original. Even more to gif works as they were always understood as something banal and minor for the context of its born. Gif art was born prostituted, used mostly for ads and to claim our attention on the internet, next to the highest glamour of painting and traditional art, and 3d, photography and video these last decades. Even worst if we realize that gif format was the only visual format born by and for the internet.

NFTs are totally positive for gif artists because despite being a digital/online native format it never had its own ecosystem to live in. I feel that I was creating creatures for an ecosystem I was waiting to drop them there. Now with the blockchain, NFTs and cryptoart, I found the place where they can live, being watched by everybody and have the certify that is my work. Until some months ago my work was "free" on the web and I had no control over it at all. This was a huge problem I was suffering since my first month into gif art as people use it indiscriminately with no credit at all. It's ok, and I always defend that my work is to be seen, to be shared, but I was looking for the way to be able to have this link with my work without losing the option of being available for everybody. NFT totally changes this.

What do you think will happen in the future as NFTs get even more popular?

In general terms I think it will happen the same as when print got more popular. People will use it more, a lot of crazy and useless things will appear, tons more of different uses and useful purposes, (not only on art). This opens a new door a lot of people was waiting so the future is unpredictable but we can feel where things are going. NFT arrived to stay and the concept of decentralization is something that was always present on the internet since first days but born inside a centralized system. NFTs are being a way for people to understand the 'peer to peer' philosophy and this makes people think in different codes, so we can expect a lot of new horizons, in art, music, design...

What do you think of the environmental impact of NFTs?

This question can goes really deep but in general terms I think that is something that is being oversized due to the hype and the boiling point we are, and it's understandable because is not false that it has an environmental impact, as everything does. But on the other hand I have two main areas in mind. The first and the obvious from my point of view is that when something is new and developing is less efficient, in the way that it requires more effort to achieve the result. But at the same time, the more this technology is used the more is developed and all this issues are part of it. The first car was not electric.

The second point that usually reverberates in my mind and that it seems that 'hard critics' omit is that they are not having in mind that this NFTs we mint, give us a profit that can be used offline to do another things that can be useful to solve this problem, for example, investing part of this money on living on our own in a minimal and clean way (not working for huge multinational that their environmental impact is tons times more than NFTs and then being part of an ONG to feel clean) and on using part of this money on looking and researching new ways to mint and to keep this digital ecosystem more efficient and clean. Every development needs time.

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If you have found this content valuable considering getting me a cup of coffee

[bbyboybrock--archived]

The More the Merrier (Colby Brock Imagine)

Summary: After a magical xplr trip with their daughter, a pregnant reader and Colby are in for a surprise at the hospital.

Written: 2020

Word Count: 3,590

Warnings: Fluff, pregnancy, swearing, NICU

Masterlist

“You promise this isn’t some haunted location. This is just a forest, right? No demons or spirits involved.” I ask as I help Bea out of the car.

“Babe, I’ve told you a hundred times. This is just a normal explore trip. No ghost, ghouls, or goblins. I promise. I did a lot of research.” Colby explains as he grabs our backpacks out of the trunk.

“Okay, I’m just checking. I love our family the way it is and it would be a real bummer if we had to take home a possessed 6-year-old instead of our little angel. Or you know, this next little popping out of me like an alien.” I gently rub my hand over my ever-growing belly. The fact that Colby even managed to get me out here at seven months pregnant is a miracle.

It would have been Sam, Colby, Kat, and I on this trip but Kat is 9 months pregnant and on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. Up until last week, Kat and I have been doing everything together. Joint announcements, gender reveals, baby showers, etc. When we both found out we were having boys, we had to take a break because we just know that we’re about to give birth to mini versions of Sam and Colby. Truly a nightmare.

“Bea, hold one of our hands please,” I call after the energetic 6-year-old. I let go of her hand to put her backpack on her and put mine on and she began darting further into the forest with her creepy stuffed doll that Jake gave her when she was born.

“Here, take this, I got her.” Colby hands me the blogging camera and runs after Bea. He scoops her up and waits for me to catch up to them.

“Honestly, at this rate, I’m having the baby in the middle of the forest,” I say after waddling over to Colby and Bea.

“Please don’t joke like that. I know we packed stuff in case of an emergency, but I’m not mentally prepared for that. So keep that sucker in there until he is fully cooked please.” Colby says kissing my forehead before handing Bea to me and taking the camera back.

We walk for a bit while Bea holds my hands. Every once in awhile she’ll let go of my hand to pick up something she found on the ground and put it in her backpack. Last time I checked she had about 5 rocks and a couple of twigs. The whole time Colby was vlogging the two of us. If it was for our family channel or his channel, I couldn’t tell you. Most of the time when the three of us going on little outings like this and he’s filming it’s for our channel, but he’ll sometimes include footage on his channel every once in a while.

“Mommy, daddy, look a lizard!” Beatrice yells before running forward towards a tree.

“Bea! Try not to hurt him, okay? We’re in his house.” Colby calls out after the energetic mini version of ourselves.

“Okay, so two things: 1. I really have to pee and I don’t think there is a restroom here. 2. I need a break; my back and ankles are killing me and I’m starving. Maybe coming out here this late into the pregnancy was a bad idea. I don’t remember my stomach being this big or being this tired when I was 8 months pregnant with Bea.” I stretch my back a little bit to try to elevate some of the pain.

Being this far along, I haven’t been able to get much done. I began to appreciate that my full-time job rarely requires me to leave the house. I can just sit at home and make videos while sitting in the same spot. Colby’s been great about staying home more and doing sit down videos. The further I got into my pregnancy, the less time he spent out of the house filming for long periods.

“Mommy, look how fast I can climb this rock. I can be just like daddy!” Beatrice shouts before climbing up a medium rock formation.

Colby runs after her, in case she falls. Her little legs move faster than Colby can keep up with. Looking at him now, you wouldn’t believe that he was running from cops and potential murderers nearly every day. After I got pregnant with Bea, Colby starting doing messy risky videos. Just our luck, Beatrice seems to be making up for him by doing risky things like jump on the kitchen counters. ”I’m just exploring like daddy,” she would explain when I would catch her dangling on the opposite side of the stair rails. She looks so much like him. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had my hair, you would think that Colby created and gave birth to her all on his own. For my sake, I hope our little boy is more like me. I don’t think I can handle 3 Colbys on my own. I love him, but sometimes it’s like being a single mother with two children.

We reach the little picnic area that Colby has been talking about all week. The first thing that my eyes land on in the bathroom. I immediately make a beeline to the bathroom, leaving Colby to wrangle Bea on his own. The bathroom, like the picnic area, is cleaner than I imagined it would be. Even if it wasn’t, I couldn’t afford to be picky, this baby is headbutting my bladder like a little goat. He is definitely going to be like Colby, I can promise you that.

“What the fuck?” I whisper to myself. I know that I needed to pee, but it felt like someone popped a water balloon. This has to be a normal bathroom break, right? I still have a month left, this shouldn’t be happening right now. My back has been hurting for a while, but that could be Braxton hicks. I had a lot of those when I was pregnant with Bea.

I get up quickly and go wash my hands. Thinking of ways to tell Colby that the baby may be coming right now. I don’t want to alarm him. Colby is cool under pressure, but he’s an absolute maniac when he’s in dad mode.

“Hey, Colby, my love, I might— What did you do?” I walk out to the picnic area covered in fairy lights and Bea sitting on the table. Colby is holding a small bouquet. The corner of his mouth crept up his face and exposed his teeth slightly. He walks up towards me and places his hand out. I take it without hesitation. He leads me to the table that Bea is sitting on and ushers for me to sit. He places the flowers in my lap and sits down next to me.

“Okay, so I know this is a bit strange and unexpected. But in all honesty, this has been put off long enough. Y/N, we’re been together for seven years and every day I fall deeper in love with you. You’re an amazing mother to Beatrice and a supportive girlfriend. I should have done this earlier but we were barely together for a year when you got pregnant with Bea and I didn’t want you to think that I was only doing it because you were pregnant and I’m from Kansas. In all honestly have done it before but it never felt like the right moment. I bought this ring the day after Bea was born and I’ve just been carrying it in my pocket for the right moment. Which is stupid because my whole brand is ‘now or never’ but I wanted the moment to be perfect for you. I know that you always say that we don’t have to get married or that you don’t need a big wedding. But I know deep down that you want those things, and I want you to be happy. You’re the love of my life and I want you to have your big fairytale wedding, so Y/N Y/LN, will you do me the honors and marry me?” Colby slides off the bench in one fluid motion and drops down to his knee. He pulls out a ring box from his pocket to reveal a ring that’s not big or small. It’s the perfect size and looks like the ring I’ve been dreaming about my entire life.

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Colby, I will marry you!” I let Colby slide the ring on my finger, which is surprisingly the only thing that hasn’t gotten bigger with this pregnancy. He comes up to my level and kisses me. Bea cheers and wraps her little arms around us.

“Oh yeah, you were trying to tell me something when you got out of the bathroom.” Colby’s face is so red and he can’t stop smiling.

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, so my water might have broken.” I rub my lower back and watch Colby’s smile drop.

“Are you fucking serious? You’re in labor and you let be babble like an idiot?” Colby starts running around the picnic table and grabbing his camera. He disappears behind the bathroom and comes back with two rangers.

****

As soon as we got back into cell range, I called the doctor. She told us that we had enough time to make it to the hospital. When I told Colby that my water broke, he must have thought that I mean our son’s head was currently dangling out of my vagina because he’s driving like a maniac. I feel fine. My contracts are roughly 20 minutes or more apart, which I told the doctor. I’m vlogging the whole thing because this is going to make an amazing video. You would think that after already having one baby, Colby would mellow out a little bit. I gave Bea her lunch that she was supposed to have after the proposal.

I still can’t believe that Colby proposed. I would have been fine with not putting an official label on our relationship. I could have been happy being his girlfriend for the rest of my life, but he was right I did want a big wedding. To one day be Mrs. Colby Brock. Now it’s going to come true.

“Oh, shit—” Colby mutters under his breath. He reaches into his pocket and hands me his phone. I take it from him and set the camera up on the dashboard.

“Who am I calling? Your parents?” I ask as I unlock his phone and head to his contact.

“Oh shit, I almost forgot. Call them and your parents too. But call Jake, we need him to meet us at the hospital to watch Bea for us.” He nervously runs his hand threw his hair before placing it back on the wheel.

I scroll until I find the contact labeled ‘Demon Spawn’ and call him. The phone rings about three times before he picks up.

“Hey Colby, did she say yes?” Jake asks immediately.

“Hey Jake, it’s me. Colby’s driving right now.” I put the volume louder so Colby could hear.

“Oh fuck— um… did Colby ask you about… brunch on Sunday at our place?” I can hear Tara next to him whispering about something.

“Jake, you’re fine. I asked her and she said yes. You can relax.” Colby says—yells— from his side of the car.

“Oh! She said yes.” Jake tells someone, again probably Tara, on the other side of the phone.

“You know they’re on speaker, I can hear them. But congrats you guys!” Tara cheers.

“Thank you. But we’re actually calling you guys so you can meet us at the hospital.” I explain. I watch Bea spill something in the review mirror and hand her a napkin.

“We’re already here. Wait, is the baby coming?” I hear movement on the other side of the line.

“Wait, why are you two at the hospital? Did Jake play with the easy bake oven again?” I thought after the last time, Tara and I hide that stupid thing. Jake almost burned the house down when we were all living together still.

“Huh? Oh no! Kat is having the baby. Should be any minute now. We’ve been here all day.” Tara explains. I’m positive she took the phone from Jake and sent him off somewhere.

“Wait, Kat went into labor and didn’t tell me?”

“Her water broke right after you texted us that you left. She refused to let any of us tell you guys because she didn’t want to ruin the proposal. She said that we could tell you guys after. But don’t worry. Everything is fine, Sam has been coming out every like 30 minutes with updates. Now that we know you’re back from the mountains, we’ll text you until you get here.”

“Okay thanks, but you don’t need to. We’re like five minutes away.”

“Okay, we’ll be waiting. Just don’t have my nephew on the side of the road or anything.” Tara says before hanging up the phone.

****

Lying in the hospital room, I wait patiently as the nurse checks the ultrasound. She has an indifferent face, probably not to scare expecting mothers, but her lack of expression is what’s scaring me. She has been looking for a while and has even taken a few pictures. Colby sits beside me with Bea sleeping in his lap. She fell asleep in the car right before we got here. Lucky for Colby, I could still waddle on my own so he could carry Bea.

“Okay, everything looks okay. The doctor will come in to confirm and give you your options.” The nurse smiles as she removes the ultrasound jelly from my stomach.

Colby grabs my hand and strokes it quietly. I know he must be stressed and what he can do right now is limited. However, this small little touch, one he’s must have done hundreds of times, is enough right now.

Dr. Long comes in and greets us. She must have just come from Katrina’s room. She gave birth right after we got here. We were lucky enough to see everyone before we got shuttled off into our room. Dr. Long squirts more cool ultrasound jelly on my belly and scans around. After a few seconds, she clicks a button so we can hear the heartbeat. It sounds different than before, almost echoed.

“Okay, Ms. Y/LN, Mr. Brock a lot of things are happening right now. We missed something during your first few scans. There is a second baby in there, hiding behind your son. We didn’t detect the second baby because it is a bit smaller than the first baby. Their heartbeats were very close in sync which is why we couldn’t notice two different beats. Both babies are doing well. I’m just going to check to see how dilated you are before we can talk more.” Dr. Long wipes off the jelly and covers up my stomach.

“S-second baby? You mean she’s having twins?” Colby asks, jumping up and waking up Bea.

“I’m actually going to kill you,” I mutter under my breath. Giving birth was hard enough, but two at the same time had to be worse.

“Yes, twins. It’s not uncommon for parents to not know they’re having more than one baby until birth. Would you like to know the gender of the second baby?”

Colby takes a quick look at me and I nod.

“Yes, please. I mean it doesn’t matter but knowing would still be nice.” Colby asks.

“Baby B is a girl. And it looks like you’re in pre-labor. Your water did not break but you did pass the mucus plug. You’re only 4 centimeters dilated, so you still have a while.” Dr. Long finally resurfaces and looks at Colby and me. Our faces must be panicked.

“So, what then? We stay here? We go home?” I ask sitting up a bit more.

“Well, Ms. Y/LN, you have a few options. First, because you are 35 weeks pregnant, that’s still a bit early even for twins. I would suggest slowing down the labor for a few hours and injecting the babies with a steroid that would help their lungs develop faster. It’s two injections 12 hours apart. Or we can get ready to do a C-section right now. In both cases, the babies might have to spend some time in the NICU, but both methods are safe this early.”

“I mean, I want to keep them in for as long as possible so probably the first option. What do you think Colbs?” I ask. My stress levels increase. I know that Dr. Long says that the babies will be fine, but I can’t help but worry.

“Hey, it’s your body. I’ll support whatever you want to do but I think that’s best too.” Colby goes back to stroking my hand. Beatrice is resting her head on his chest.

“Okay, we’ll be back in a few minutes to get set up.” Dr. Long says before leaving us in silence.

****

A week to a month; that’s how long Dr. Long says the twins might have to stay in the NICU. Relatively speaking, they’re fine. They’re just premature and struggling with low birth weight and underdevelopment. They’re too small for car seats, which Colby is going to have to get another one of. We’re going to have to get another one of everything. Maybe we can exchange the stroller we got at the baby shower for a double one. We’re also going to have to get a lot more baby clothes, or at least another going home outfit for when the time comes. I also had my own complication after giving birth and now have to stay an extra day. Mentally, I wasn’t prepared for two babies, and I don’t think my body was either. They came five minutes apart, first our son, and then our daughter.

“Hey, Y/N,” I hear a familiar voice say from behind me. The nurses were checking on the twins so I decided to give them some room and step out.

“Hey, Kat, Sam, how’s little Oliver?” I smile at them. They’re walking towards me, holding their little bundle of joy in a car seat.

“He’s fine. He passed the car seat test so we’re set to go home. How are the twins?” Sam asks. Kat gives me a quick hug from her wheelchair.

“They’re doing their best. They’re Colby’s kids so they’re stubborn as hell, I can tell already. How are you feeling Kat?” I look at the exhausted Canadian. She had a smooth birth and gets to leave a day after. She has bits of blue dye in her hair that she got done after finding out she was having a boy.

“I’m tired and everything hurts. I don’t know how you did it twice in one day.” She sighs and brushes her hair out of her face.

“I don’t know. But you two go home and snuggle that little baby before he starts smelling like sugar and play-doh.” I joke. I wave them off and go back to watching the nurses. They’ve moved on to other babies now.

“Mommy!” Just as I’m about to get up and go back into the NICU, I hear Beatrice running down the hall. Colby is following quickly behind her.

“Hi my loves,” Bea climbs up next to me and rests her head on my chest.

“Sorry, she was just excited to see you and the babies.” I noticed the vlog camera in Colby’s hand. I’m glad he’s still documenting everything for us.

“Where are they? Where are my baby brother and sister? Daddy said that they were dropped off this morning.” I look at Colby confused because we had a conversation about how we would explain this all to her. In fact, I know we had a conversation with her months ago about where babies come from.

“I panicked…” Colby says quickly to explain why our daughter was talking about storks.

“Well, your brother and sister are in that room right there but you can’t go in there. They’re really small and a little bit sick. So, they want to be extra safe and only let mommies and daddies in there. But one of us can go in there and FaceTime so you can see them.” I stoke Bea’s hair and kiss her forehead.

“Okay, I understand. It’s like when my throat was hurting when I was little and I couldn’t go to preschool so other kids couldn’t make me more sick. What are their names?” She asks running over to the window and tiptoeing so she can peek in.

Colby and I had a lot of time to think about this. We decided on two conditions:1. I would name our daughter and he would name our son and 2. their middle names would match. We split the job in half to deal with the stress. We didn’t even have one name when we knew that we were having one baby, let alone two.

“Well, your brother’s name is Aiden Isaiah. And your little sister’s name is Chloe Isabella.” I explain to her.

“Yeah, and they’re both so excited to meet you and explore the world with the rest of us,” Colby says softly before kissing me on the cheek. With that kiss, I knew that everything would be fine.

[shikantazaart]

Shikantaza Creativity Interview III - SPARTALIEN

At Shikantaza we are not content to just create art. We want to understand art. We want to understand the people who make art. Into the act of creation. Who are the people behind the art work? What motivates them? Where do they find their inspiration?

No two people think and act alike, so it is even less likely to find two artists who think and act alike. Yet, there will be crossovers, shared thoughts and shared experiences. Where do we adjoin and where do we diverge?

Our series of interviews with artists and creators aims to answer these questions.

In interview number three we speak to multimedia experimenter SPARTALIEN. You can find his creations here https://spartalien.com/visual as well as a collection of his work in the Shikantaza gallery.

1 - Starting with the most important question - Who is Memoria?

Memoria is Latin and means, when translated, memory / remembrance.

I named the merchandise for the album "2358" Memoria instead of Memory, because the main track titles are also translated into Latin.

I see my merchandise as small memories/artefacts. Not only because they are very rare, but because I can never go back to that time.

“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things” - Cicero

2 - You work across different mediums. Do you have any preference for a specific form? When did you first find the format that was “you”?

I became really infected with the digital virus around in the late 90s when I built my first computer. A year or two later I started taking photos and manipulating them digitally. I also had a few printed, which allowed me to bring the digital into the real world. Then I discovered IRC and started learning a little bit of TCL. Since I had fun coding, I decided to learn the basics of web development because I needed a website to show my pictures to other people. In general, I was fascinated by the flow of information on the Internet. That distance is no longer a real hurdle when it comes to data transmission.

I've always loved music as a listener and small collector. I was then and still am one of those people who never go out of the house for long periods of time without a Walkman. Music production came into play when a couple of friends set up a small studio where they produced Techno/Psy. When I was there for the first time, I knew immediately that I wanted to try it too. A few old tracks from back then are still available on my website.

From then on, many of my projects have developed in the direction of music.  The input for a program was often music metadata or it was a website that was about music in some way or another. But since I was still at the very beginning of my learning process, I kept discarding practically everything in order to improve it or to learn new things. Around 2001, I started a web radio with friends, which was online for several years. The music was mainly Downtempo, Trip-Hop, IDM and Ambient. Promos from unknown artists from around the world were also broadcasted.

The atmosphere, the feeling I got from this time - how the music finds me and not the other way around, how it can change people's thoughts - has never left me since then.

3 - Do you feel that each medium allows you to express yourself differently from the others? How do you choose which medium you work in any given moment?

Yes. But I think you can convey the same feelings with any medium. The question is how direct it is. For example, pain can be expressed with fire but also with a chair in an empty room. At the end of the day, in my opinion, it's not about the artist's intention but about the perception of the viewer and his or her subsequent thoughts and actions. For example, imagine you make a dark ambient track that you experience as sad and heavy, but someone else tells you that it helped to relax and develop thoughts.

In addition to all of this, each medium also has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to technical implementation. So, sometimes the choice can also purely depend on skill or resources.

We all have ideas and often out ambitions outweigh our resources. Sometimes we need more resources, but more often than not we need to chip away at our ideas until our ambitions and resources align.

4 - Do you seek different sources of inspiration for your music than you would for your visual creations?

It's everything in the world around me that inspires me. Everything I perceive and feel, so to speak. Most of the time I don't have a melody or a picture in my head. It is more of a feeling and then I look for the right tone or shape for it, so to speak.

5 - How closely are your creations connected to each other?

Very close one could say - through my thoughts that I have wrapped in it. I always had a bit of a problem putting my thoughts into words. I tend to stray through various topics when I talk about something. With music and visuals, it feels lighter and more natural to get to the point. The "message" doesn't always get through, but being able to do so is liberating and invaluable to me.

6 - If you were to direct people to a specific piece of work that you feel really nails what you are aiming for with your creations, which would it be?

This is a hard question. Maybe I would ask you to sit down and listen to the album "FLOATING HIGH" in one sitting. Since it felt like coming home to me while making it. The music is less intrusive and not as precise in its message as the previous releases. Like its cover art, where the clouds could be seen as opening or closing. I wanted to create tracks that leave more room for thought while still telling a story.

7 - You have “X minutes of peace” on your site. Why is this needed? Was this made for you or for others?

For others but also for myself. For me it is self-reflection that allows me to understand myself better. But since I have problems with "just switching off my head", the moments in which I just sit quietly and let the recording device do its work are very valuable. In moments like these I can really switch off and think about something very carefully. Asking questions even though I feel like I don't have an answer. Or simply enjoying the precious fresh air and sounds of nature.

Unfortunately, too many people don't have time for that kind of peace. Too much pressure is on them. They either get this or that, or they can't survive. It's so sad how the system works. I simply think that if everyone would have more inner-peace, the world would be a better place. But then again, what do I know living under a rock between mountains?

The videos should allow us to find peace for a few minutes, no matter where we are. So that new and hopefully useful thoughts can develop.

The series  Let It All Go is actually the same thing, just with music.

For the really dark hours there is BRAIN I/O. From time to time I prefer to embrace the pressure. Difficult to describe. The concept is basically: don't think, just feel and record it. It's about things that I personally want to leave behind or at least want to learn to accept (not necessarily being okay with) them if I can't change them.

Peace is an issue for me. When I briefly find it only points the way to the next act. This is fantastic but self defeating. Why can’t we just stay in peace?

8 - When inspiration has left the building where do you look to find it?

I'm not really actively looking for inspiration. Somehow it doesn't work that way for me. So variety is important to me. That is why I usually have several side projects going on in the areas that I do not much publicize. Much of it never leaves my hard drive and is mainly intended to free my mind and get on to new ideas in the process. Coding, graphics, drawing, etc. But the music production is and remains the main focus.

9 - These are the questions I am asking all the interviewees. Why do you create? What is it that pushes you to keep creating?

The inner child is just too strong. I've been living for a while and I know exactly nothing. It kind of feels like that. So many things that you can create with the computer alone. I'm stuck in that loop where you just love to create things and learn - and use the new knowledge to create new things. Things!

10 - What would most assist you to create more works? Is there an ultimate goal for your creations?

More time and resources for sure. but most important to me is the feeling that my loved ones are safe. When I have to worry about their future because the system is going the way it is, it feels like a pile of stones in my head.

The creative / social goal of my art is relatively simple and based on my own experience. Art has helped me tremendously when I felt lost - or when I was just "bored". Taking time to really listen to or look at something can be very liberating.

My short-term financial goal is to generate a more or less regular income through art. But since I never released anything commercially before 2016, this world is still new to me.

My dream goal is to hear my music in film and games and to generate an income that supports my family.

Nonetheless, I think goals are here to create an initial path, not necessarily motivation.

I do not know of a single soul who has not been lost. Some never find their way back. Some don’t need to find their way back, they are happier in the place they found.

11 - If you were to offer a creator any advice what would it be?

Based on my own experience in no particular order:

Stay curious and open minded for different viewpoints.

Tutorials can limit your creativity. Sure, learn the basics, but explore as much as you can on your own and never be afraid to fail. It's a process, not a game.

On projects that take longer than a day to complete, set yourself a deadline when you want to have it completed. Not important if it takes longer, but in general that helps to stay more focused.

Very few things are easy when you start.

Limitations are not necessarily bad.

Don't wait for motivation to create. It will kick in usually a few minutes after you've started. Therefore keep your tools ready and organized so you can start creating at any time.

You can always turn off the internet.

Be open for constructive criticism.

Especially for the digital crowd, backup your stuff!

(All images and works by SPARTALIEN)

[vroenis]

Part 2

This is part 1.

Can you tell how tired I was getting by the end? This is life under meds, but given the other benefits (I think?), I’ll take it for now.

When I woke up the next morning, I had a whole lot I was thinking about and it’s stuff I want to say given I said a lot, but didn’t cover this stuff. I’m still happy with part 1, I think that’s just how I write, moving from subject to subject more or less organically and it does show me to more unstructured even if there is a vague plan for how I want the piece to go.

Anyway let’s get going.

As always, mild spoilers for well, everything. If you haven’t seen this stuff and are mildly interested in watching them then ah, you may have a lot of catching up to do. I don’t think I’ll drop any real hard spoilers for anything but you never know.

Ghost In The Shell is an Outsider story

There are whole stacks of lore you could dive into with Stand Alone Complex in particular, with Motoko having been in an aircraft accident and getting her first shell (cyber-body) at a very early age, what that means, the thing with Kuze (avoiding spoilers here), and the extended cast - not that Paz, Boma and even Ishikawa get a whole lot of time anyway - but it’s not really that important.

Looking at just Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 film, and even more-so his 2004 film Innocence (not really a sequel but usually regarded as such), the narratives cast the characters very much as Outsiders. In the first film, Section 9 is already at odds with the government in general and while it’s subtle, Aramaki as a department head is certainly different from his contemporaries, even if we don’t see much of it - again, so much more of this in Stand Alone Complex. Motoko’s early conversation with Togusa in the first film is probably the most telling as far as playing it loud. She speaks in pragmatic terms to why he’s there, but this is a precursor to what will ultimately transpire for herself at the conclusion of the film, something very intentionally written into the film. Batou is also an Outsider in more ways than one, not only in the role he plays in the department but in the very clear personal boundary between him and Motoko. There are boundaries between Batou and everyone and they become more apparent in the second film. Togusa is easy pickings so I’ll leave him alone, suffice to say if the film needs one, he’s the audience’s window of ignorance which is why he’s discarded so willingly half way in. He gets his time in the spotlight in Stand Alone Complex and it’s pretty amazing.

As for Motoko... I admit it is difficult separating my understanding of her character from Stand Alone Complex and attempting to just isolate what’s shown of her in the first film but I’ll try.

I mentioned the film’s centrepiece montage in my previous journal, in which we might say Motoko is the centrepiece but if so, she probably shares it with the city itself, and I feel much more is being said about the two together rather than separated simultaneously. This would be one of the first indications of Motoko’s sense of identity, of otherness, isolation, questioning. Again the scene that plays it most loud would be diving on the boat and her speech to Batou. There are other moments tho; single frames of her face, looks, movements that are lingered on, I feel like Oshii is constantly telling us about her and what she’s going to do, but more important than that, why she’s going to do it and how she feels.

Ghost in the Shell is a film about great emotion, and not like I’d know because it’s been a long time since I’ve looked into the discourse around it, but I suspect no-one really talks about it as a film about feelings.

I realise these days I talk more and more about moods and art being mood pieces. I labelled my Instagram account as being “A catalogue of moods” and I’m very fond of the use of the word in vernacular. It might seem flippant but it’s immensely empowered, especially for me as an individual when I understand my moods and can translate them into, via and thru art. I do appreciate many struggle with Oshii’s cinematic language as it can appear cold and detached and that’s fine, but it’s anything but for me - it’s immensely emotionally charged, it just appears differently to what audiences are perhaps accustomed to seeing. It’s a different language that perhaps takes time to learn, but it’s all there.

This couldn’t become more evident than in Innocence (the Ghost in the Shell 2 moniker I think was a western addendum). Batou takes centre stage and is  immediately presented as bluntly as possible as an Outsider, reaffirmed later by Aramaki who also cements Togusa’s position in limbo.

I should pause and say that within the GitS canon, I feel Togusa is definitely embraced by Section 9, so he’s not wholly an Outsider to the department, but for obvious reasons, he doesn’t fully share all of their daily or philosophical concerns - hence not wholly. He would also definitely be an Outsider to most other members of the force after joining Section 9, but unfortunately I’m not here to love Togusa, poor guy - I feel like he’s always a bit unloved. Someone write a giant essay in service to his greatness. He actually is great.

But I adore Batou in Innocence. I love his story, his struggle, his emotion. I love how present Motoko is without ever appearing on screen and then when she does, the impact she has on everything, especially with the lines she delivers, one of which I quoted to open the last journal. Batou is in many ways a shadow of what Motoko was and is/has become, just in physical form, mirroring her in a real world manifestation with the natural physical limitations that comes with.

For some reason I feel like I need to inject a comment about Batou putting the jacket/vest on Motoko’s body. I don’t know if people perceive this as an act of masculine modesty but it’s not how I read it. I did stumble on this action for years but as I began to interpret the films as Outsider stories, I realised that he does this as an act of inclusion, and that Motoko consents, permits him to and doesn’t immediately react with violence or technological recourse we know she is well capable of, indicates it’s mutual. Their inclusion isn’t just about the boundaries of the Section 9 department but extends beyond that, an inner circle that may only contain the two of them - inside which there are still boundaries between them Batou can never cross. Those boundaries become infinitely more apparent after the final events of the first film, and the second film effectively is all about how he feels about them. He is an ultimate Outsider, but so is Motoko in the state she now is in.

Section 9 is a department of stray dogs. Individuals who haven’t quite fit in where they belong, and found belonging with one another. Then, after a time, one of them moves on - at the conclusion of the first film, and then another feels an almost permanent and ultimate sense of separation - more or less the duration of the second film.

Ghost in the Shell isn’t about technology and sentience and hacking and corporations at all. It’s about loneliness and belonging and acceptance and affection. It’s about how that feels.

I’m Not Sure Why People Struggle With David Lynch Films

I need to stop talking about anime. Honestly I looked at the list at the start of the last journal and thought hell yea Sky Crawlers, Jin-Roh, Haibane Renmei and Lain let’s unpack some shit! but honestly I’ll run out of time and I should really draw from a variety of mediums and sources.

OK I’m not being facetious when I say Lynch’s films are fairly straight-forward narrative-wise. Again, it’s hard for me to position myself in a place where I’m not into the stuff I’m into and maybe that’s what gives me the cinematic language familiarity to parse them but that just sounds like wanker bullshit to me. I don’t mind if folks don’t like Lynch films, that’s fine. But they aren’t difficult.

So in the context of everything else, even on that short list on the last journal, plus how I keep trying to shift the discussion of works from the pragmatic reading of them to an emotional reading of them from a mood perspective, I feel as tho the same process can be applied to Lynch. So much about his films are about how they make you feel, or I’ll say - how they make *me* feel. It might be grandiose to assume I’m feeling the correct emotion, that these are the moods that David Lynch himself is attempting to create and evoke and thus, I am interpreting them correctly but hey - I enjoy the hell out of the films, feel I understand them and watch them over and over again so that’s all I’m basing it on.

That’s not to say there are things I dismiss as meaningless or that I don’t understand in his films, it’s just that I don’t have to parse them immediately at first watch and perhaps that’s the audience’s problem. I don’t know if reverse-diagnosis is appropriate but looking at how much hand-holding there is in other directors’ films might be just as telling. I mean I saw Nolan’s Tenet and was about the least confusing thing I’d ever seen in my life but apparently *that* confused people, and you know hey that’s fair I guess, but I mean Nolan did a whooooole lot of audience hand-holding in that film, I mean, the dialogue was terrible. There was so much unnecessary exposition, which I generally find in all of his films, so if an audience can’t follow that then OK sure, Lynch is going to be a problem.

The thing is popcorn cinema is totally OK. I watch it. I really love it, I’ve written about it before, it’s good Industry. There’s a lot of great creativity in popular cinema, I don’t at all think poorly of it and I love seeing a really well produced, Hollywood picture... but I guess if that’s all you consume, and I guess if folks’ short-format episodic media (aka series - think Netflix, HVO etc.) is more or less to the same standard, then it begins to make sense that anything outside of that isn’t going to make sense.

Long story short - Lynch films tell simple stories where the feeling of the film is as important as the narrative of the film. To understand the story, you have to understand the feeling, and vice-versa.

Surprise surprise, it turns out independent and deemed “fringe” film-makers... aka Outsiders... make films about Outsiders.

Now I wouldn’t know if any of the Marvel films thematically are about Outsiders or Outsider culture, they probably are and very loudly at that, but the reason I’ve never included one in my catalogue of moods is they all read the same way. Not only are Marvel films mostly indistinct from one other to me, they’re also mostly indistinct from much of popular culture in general. That doesn’t make them bad, some of them still have some pretty awesome stunts, visfx, even parts of the narratives, funny jokes etc. in them, but on the whole they’re not useful to me as things I deem truly valuable in the long-term.

It’s OK, I’m not at all going to lament the proliferation of Marvel films, a lot of them have been pretty cool and they keep people in work. Meow meow meow “the death of cinema” mate, sure - I find it more difficult to find the sorts of films I like but that’s always been the case. Humans will do what they do, it’s not a read on cinema, it’s about being an Outsider and what that’s all about. True, maybe weird shit like Lynch and Noe might be more difficult to make, but the weird-indie corner was also dominated by white men and that needs to change, so who knows what the future holds.

Can you detect the point at which I took my meds and started getting tired?

Ghost in the Shell // Innocence // What We Want // What We’re Left With

Growing up as an Outsider, I feel as tho the first Ghost in the Shell film carries the weight of isolation, questions of identity and belonging, ultimately of acceptance, empowerment and liberation. Then Innocence brings to bear very similar moods but states that things may not necessarily change for the better, they simply change state. I love that in both narratives, the main texts of hacking or corrupt corporations, crime etc. are the least common denominators and barely relevant to heart of the films. I think about the theme of icons in Innocence, icons operatively being the dolls throughout the film, and the final image of Togusa’s daughter’s gift. As humans we assume we’re to take the position of biological humanity as representative of sentience, taking moral priority over all other beings. Earlier in the film we think Togusa is in limbo, but  at the conclusion Motoko asks the question, or perhaps states that perhaps we’re all in limbo together.

I think that’s a significant part of what growing up as and being an Outsider is like, what it feels like. Christians have this saying about “living in the world but not of the world” (derived from a bible verse) and honestly I don’t think they know what it means because they just operate like a cult, but I think queers and folks with long term mental health conditions have a better idea. We are pushed out to the fringes of our social groups from an early age, long before we know or understand what’s different about us. Our peers and the adults around us do this to us because their social behaviours are so well hard-coded, even they may not even know precisely what’s different about us, they just do - and they’re right. We are different. And they don’t accept us.

Maybe I am starting to get a little more upset that weird/different art is becoming more difficult to fund and make, because it’s for us, for me. It speaks to me. You already have so much, and representation and inclusion is so important. I don’t just need queer cinema, I need weird cinema, I need moods. I need quiet, introspective, pensive, reflective, Outsider moods.

I still feel like an Outsider. I have a few people who understand more about me, but I don’t think I have a place, not in a real sense. I have never felt that. Art is one of the few places I feel any connection with anything, and connecting with people is a very odd thing to consider - honestly, I actually would really like to connect with people but the unique combination of being queer *and* autistic comorbid with bipolar makes it really tough, more difficult the older I get. And now all you want to do is fund Marvel movies. I can’t feed off of that.

I’m getting tired, I’m not making any sense. It’s time for bed.

[kamccormickhnd1b]

Still Life Photographers

Josef Sudek was a Czech photographer best known for his haunting black-and-white images of Prague, interiors, still life, and the landscapes of Bohemian forests. Many of Sudek’s most memorable images were taken from the very window of his small studio, documenting his humble courtyard during changing weather and light conditions. 

“Everything around us, dead or alive, in the eyes of a crazy photographer mysteriously takes on many variations, so that a seemingly dead object comes to life through light or by its surroundings.” 

-Josef Sudek

Sudek was born on March 17, 1896 in Kolín, Czechoslovakia, Sudek had originally worked as a bookbinder before serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War, when he was wounded and subsequently lost his right arm due to it needing to be amputated. After this, he began to study under the photographer Jaromir Funke and grew and developed into an influential figure of the medium. 

Known as the ‘Poet of Prague’, Sudek never married, and was a shy and retiring person. He never appeared at his exhibition openings and there are few people that feature in his photographs. In 1974, Sudek had a large exhibition at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. He died two years later in Prague, on 15 September 1976, when he was 80 years old. Later, larger retrospectives were mounted in his honour in both Prague and Brno, in the Czech Republic. Many of Sudek’s works can be found in museums such as the National Gallery of Art and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

One of Josef Sudek’s most famous pieces is Prague, circa 1950. In the 1950s, Sudek purchased a Kodak Panorama camera and began to photograph the city streets in this new wide 1:3 format. The Panorama was made in 1894 and had two shutter speeds-fast and slow. The lens of camera was spring driven and rotated during the exposure projecting a slit of light that travelled across the film to produce an image. The film was held against a curved film frame and in combination with the swing lens produced an image with multiple perspective lines. Armed with the Panorama would go out into early morning Prague to capture what cityscapes that were eerily devoid of people, such as the image above.

I liked the look of this image because immediately, I was drawn to the almost black tree that is the centre of the image, you can see in the background of the branches buildings and signs of civillisation, but Sudek chose to photograph this. With his dislike of people and large crowds, I feel like this was his way of photographing the population without actually photographing people or residents of the place. 

I really like that the focus of the image is the tree, he liked to photograph desolate landscapes, and a barren tree fits that description. The tree is rather lifeless, maybe with the time of year it had an effect on the leaves, but I liked this shot because to me personally, there’s a ploy on life and death: he’s looking and focusing on something that is completely lifeless, and in the background, is life. I doubt this was what he was going for, but it’s what I personally take from this image.

Another famous work of Josef Sudek is Circa, 1960. 

I liked this image in particular because it has a similar take to it as the first: the focus is the branches, the little flowers on the branches, with a looming building in the background. With Sudek’s dislike of social gatherings, I feel it shows in his work because he focuses on shots where you can see there is life, he just chooses not to go near it or to photograph it like many other photographers would. I liked that his main focus is sticking to landscapes or “still life” objects, such as trees and flowers. To me, this is another take on his preference on shooting empty images in the way of people, he didn’t like involving people, so he involved them in a way that didn’t require speaking to them or even being near them. And even then, there is no people, you can faintly see people in the distance, but it is a black blur and barely noticeable thanks to the detail of the branches and everything else in the frame. 

I like the composition of this shot because while the main focus is technically the branches, my eye is drawn to the building in the back. It’s out of focus, but it also looms there and is rather daunting to look at, it sticks to his genre of shooting rathre haunting like images.

Josef Sudek-Still Life

I looked into more of Sudek’s work surrounding still life in particular this time. Below are the images I liked the most and I will be talking about why I was drawn to them.

The image above was the first image I took a liking to when I typed in still life iages by Josef Sudek. I liked the dark ambience of the image, but I also like the use of the water (I’m assuming) and the eggs, one of which is fully in tact while the rest have had their shells removed. 

I liked the use of shadows, mainly around hte back of the image, on the table and the front egg itself, it helps to add a rather daunting look to the image, almost creepy. 

I liked this image because it immediately reminded me of “beaten and battered” people in the world, by that I do not mean people being abused, I mean people having scars. Whether it be through accidents, vicious attacks or even their own doing, this image spoke to me on that level: the apples are scarred and damaged, all but one, and with how the apples are positioned, I almost get a feeling of care here. To me, it seems like the unharmed apple is “tending” to the other two, the damaged ones, like a loved one or a friend would do whenever you are hurt or damaged.

I like this image because there’s an elegance to it. I was drawn to the use of a flower not quite fully blooming while in a glass of water. There’s a story to be told here, and for me, it’s a story of life in the smallest of places, you don’t have to own a large and wonderful flower pot to maintain a flower. 

I liked this image because that’s the story I take from it personally, I like to look at images and see a story and figure out on my own what that story may or may not be, even if it isn’t the right story at all. I like that we will never know, not unless we speak to the photographer himself, all we can do is wonder about it and tell a story of our own through someone else’s shot.

I liked this image because I was drawn to the use of reflections and the use of dark ambience for the vase and the flower. The image is taken against a window with a vase and some dying plants and some background accessories such as a candle stick, I believe. I liked the use of reflection in the window to show off the outside scenery to this window, the tall gates, the buildings, the trees, I like how well he captured a rather Gothic ambience to the image and I like the patterns in it; from the vase itself and the gates. 

In many of Sudek’s shots, I get the sense of mortality, as there is usually something involved in the shot that represents death, like the dying tree, the dead plants, but there is also a story on life too: the looming buildings in the background and the blooming flower. I don’t think this was Sudek’s intentions, but it is the story I like to take from it.

[dailykatrina]

PART I

The primary purpose of this blog was to publish the picture of my friend Elīna wearing a red beret. First time we interacted was at our coursmates movie night at his place far away in 2010. We didn’t like each other first. I don’t remember how exactly we became friends (as I don’t remember what was the movie we watched that night. Was it a film by Coen brothers? Or something from Clint Eastwood?). Nevertheless, something more important became evident soon after - we were about to embark on a journey of imagination together and enhance the everyday in such ways that no object would be left as ordinary. 

PART II

This blog became abandoned. It is true. I moved to France in 2016 and it took me about 3 years to fully settle. I’ve traveled a lot during this time as well. There was a lot happening and a lot of effort was put into learning new language, taking care of seemingly never-ending bureaucratic procedures and money earning activities. I didn’t post much during that time and there’s another reason for that. I’ve got a 35mm vintage Canon camera and it didn’t feel right to mix those well framed shots with random everydayness from my phone camera on the same platform. 

I’ve posted some photo series on flickr. There’s only two (or three) that I personally find succesfull and feel the importance of. 

PART III

I went to a film and photo developement workshop as a present for my 29th birthday. It’s been a dream coming true. I knew that I want to experiment with developement and to be more in charge of how sensitive my photography is. However, I continued to develop at an external film lab. My Paris apartment was too small to welcome a darkroom.

PART IV

I got my first real* camera when I was 16 or 17. It was a digital Canon EOS 400. I can still summon the feelings of pride about the marketing speech I gave to my father (in order for him to sponsor this lavish desire). I loved taking black and white and low iso pictures with that camera and a few years later I even expanded my lens collection. However, I loved shooting with the basic 18-55mm lens the most. As much as I almost always shoot on Program with my vintage Canon still today. 

I had a blog on Blogspot. It was called '1000 airplanes on the roof'. That blog was important. I erased it. I even erased the archive of the images I had on my computer from that time. But it was important and there are images I can still recall in my memory that don’t exist in any other realm anymore. JV was following that blog. He asked me to have one of the pictures in full size and I shared it with him. It’s the only picture left from that blog that has a materiality today. 

*I had a point and shoot sony pocket camera before, but my mother lost it a year after I got it. 

PART V

I’ve started using instagram when I moved to France as a way to communicate with my friends. A place for everyday randomness and stunning French landscapes. I love taking pictures with my phone. I am not a farmer of a photography who willfully cultivates and constructs his images. I am a hunter. Or rather, outside of these binaries, I'm just perceptive and sensitive towards objects/elements existing outside of me and them falling into certain ‘images’ that pierce me. I feel like things are cinematographic. And I love to archive things. You know by now that I can be manic and a compulsive eraser, having an inner fight between a desire to share and a desire to keep to myself. Not that there ever was an ambition - even after years of (intermittently occasional but ever-present) shooting, I still considered painting as my primary artistic interest. Painting would be the one I would give my time to. Not photography. 

PART VI 

I am not a painter today. I even developed a fear of a brush. It makes me feel anxious. My last painting teacher criticized my way of being too detail oriented (lack of confidence) and I was vulnerable to that. It made me cry. I am hoping to come back to it one day but for now I need more time for the expression to ripen. 

Things happened photography wise, things that I've already mentioned and some other things that I haven't. I got a Ricoh pocket camera (my digital Canon died of being unused a long time ago already). I realized that I lack literacy, awareness and vocabulary about my own pictorial expressions. I realized that most of my photography is not well served by the small digital format (thanks JV!). I realized that I don’t want my pictures (don’t mind about the phone pictures but not the 135 and MF) to be a scroll through in the middle of the instagram garbage and adds (thanks SF!). I realized that I want the images I capture to be tangible (Thanks to both JV and SF). 

PART VII

It took time to understand what kind of enlarger woud fit my needs best. I didn’t think I’ll get there on my own. But like with everything - persistence and diligence are likely to take you anywhere you want to get to. 

The everyday is important and I am still trying to capture it. Elīna is not here with me but our friendship is a shared book where we both keep writing our experiences. It might not have an immediate visuality. But we'll talk about it and make it alive once we're together. Life continues to be beautiful and ugly and final in both of these expressions as always. I snap this and that and post it here and there. The medium for that is inconstant. 

Sometimes I get into the habit of sharing 

and sometimes 

I get out of it. 

But this place, 

for now 

it’s a place 

of memories 

of an era. 

[phantom-le6]

Film Review - Mulan (2020)

As I noted in my previous film review for The New Mutants, I’ve temporarily postponed working through a backlog of TV show reviews to tackle a couple more film reviews.  With The New Mutants having been the first of those two films, I now give you my review for the second, which is the live-action remake of the Disney classic Mulan…

Plot (adapted from Wikipedia):

In Imperial China, Hua Mulan is an adventurous and active girl to the disappointment of her parents, who hope that one day she will be wed to a good husband. As a young woman, Mulan is forced to meet with a matchmaker to demonstrate her fitness as a future wife. Mulan, flustered, attempts to pour tea in front of the matchmaker, but a spider causes a panic from her little sister Xiu, accidentally causing a mishap that destroys the kettle, leading the matchmaker to call her a disgrace in front of her family.

To the north, an imperial outpost is invaded by Rouran warriors, under the leadership of Böri Khan. They are assisted by the witch Xianniang, who uses her magic to pose as a surviving soldier and report the attack to the Emperor of China; he then issues a conscription decree ordering every family to contribute one man to fight Khan's forces.

Imperial soldiers arrive in Mulan's village to enlist recruits and her father Hua Zhou is forced to pledge his service as he has no sons, immediately keeling over in front of the soldiers due to his bad leg. Realizing that her father has no chance of survival, Mulan flees with his armor, horse, and sword to join in his place. Mulan arrives at the training camp, which is run by Commander Tung, an old comrade of Hua Zhou. Alongside dozens of other inexperienced recruits, she ultimately becomes a trained soldier under his tutelage without exposing her true identity.

The Khan's army continues to advance, forcing Tung to end training early and send his battalion to fight. Mulan chases some troops on her own, but is confronted by Xianniang, who mocks her for pretending to be a man. She attempts to kill Mulan, but her attacks are stopped by the leather with which Mulan's chest had been bound to hide her identity. Mulan removes her male disguise, returning to the battle just as the Rourans begin attacking her fellow troops with a trebuchet. Mulan uses discarded helmets and her archery skills to maneuver the trebuchet into firing on a snowy mountain, triggering an avalanche that buries the Rourans.

Mulan rides back to camp and rescues Chen Honghui, a soldier she befriended in camp. Unable to hide her true gender any longer, she is expelled from the army and begins her return home. On her way, she is confronted by Xianniang, who reveals that she was also shunned by her people and fights for Böri Khan only because he treats her as an equal and that no one else does. Additionally, she reveals that the attacks on the outposts have been a diversion, as Khan's true plan is to capture and execute the Emperor for having his father killed. Risking execution, Mulan returns to her battalion to warn them of the impending capture. Tung decides to believe her, and allows her to lead a unit to the Emperor's palace. 

Xianniang uses her magic to assume the appearance of the Imperial Chancellor and persuades the Emperor to accept Böri Khan's challenge to single combat, while removing the city guards from their posts. The guards are murdered, and the Rourans prepare to burn the Emperor alive. Mulan's unit distracts the Rourans while Mulan goes to save the Emperor. Khan tries to snipe her with an arrow, but Xianniang, sympathetic to Mulan and disenchanted from Khan, transforms into a bird and sacrifices herself by intercepting the arrow. Mulan kills Khan, but not before he disarms her and destroys her father's sword. She frees the Emperor, who offers to let her join his personal guard. She declines the offer and returns to her village. 

Mulan is reunited with her family. An emissary from the Emperor, under the leadership of Commander Tung, arrives to present Mulan with a new sword, while making a personal request that she join the Emperor's Guard.

Review:

Apparently, this film got really slated by Chinese audiences for numerous historical and cultural mishandlings and errors, so before I get into looking at the film itself, I’d like to point out something about Disney films in general.  News flash, ladies and gentlemen, most of them are not original stories; the majority are based on historical legends, folk tales, fairy tales and story books, and not a single one will ever be spot on to what it was before.  Frozen?  A very loose adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s story The Snow Queen.  Snow White?  The original version of that story would read more like a horror film than children’s animation.  101 Dalmatians?  The Disney animated feature is very dumbed down and stream-lined compared to the novel. Given this, no one should expect any Disney film to be historically or culturally spot-on.  This is what Disney does, and always has done, and you have to keep that in mind every time you watch these films.  Plus, films are by their very nature made up, even when based on true stories.  Cultural and historical accuracy is what documentaries are for. 

Now, having said all this with regard to managing one’s expectations of Mulan in terms of its historical and cultural inaccuracies, I’d also like to point out that while the film is by and large a remake of the Disney animated classic, it’s not a remake like we’ve seen from Disney before now.  With the likes of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and the Lion King, the films have been adapted in a way that preserves the basic genre, plot and overall identity of the original film, simply adding to or adjusting as necessary to make the film effective in a photo-realistic format.  With Mulan, however, the remake focuses more on Mulan’s struggle in having to go off to war and become a solider, so this martial arts war film aspect ends up removing the musical aspect of the film, though fans of the original film will recognise variants on key songs within the score of the film. 

To my mind, taking out the musical elements and a degree of the cartoonish comedy through the elimination of Mushu was a very good move.  War is a brutal, bloody business that isn’t an appropriate environment for characters to be breaking into big musical numbers in.  Even the animated version of Mulan understood this by keeping its musical numbers confined to Mulan’s civilian life and time as a trainee conscript. Once the soldiers were confronted by the aftermath of war near the end of that film’s second act, we don’t get another song until we’re going into the end credits. 

That being said, I do feel that the film starts poorly, with the various scenes of social awkwardness around the film’s start and middle, ranging from the matchmaker debacle to Mulan’s various efforts at pretending to be a man all being scenes I didn’t enjoy.  These weren’t so bad in the animated version (well, the matchmaker was, but I digress), and I think that’s because animation is a medium that slightly diffuses that kind of awkwardness in a scene.  In live action, it’s a bit too close to real life, and as an autistic person I have enough moments of social awkwardness in my own life; I don’t need to see it in the things I watch for purposes of escapism and general entertainment. 

However, outside of archaic marital customs and the worst soldier’s drag act since Hugh Laurie in the Blackadder Goes Forth episode ‘Major Star’, the film still has good points.  The film’s other scenes are well-acted by all concerned, the fight scenes are well-down and the scoring is very good.  I also like the addition of the witch character of Xianniang, and linking her to Mulan through the idea that it is showing a mastery of chi energy for combat despite being woman that causes ostracism for both women.  This adds to the underlying moral of gender equality that is the core of the Mulan story, from original legend to animated film and on into this live action remake.  In addition, the actress who voiced Mulan in the original animated film has a cameo in this film introducing Mulan to the Emperor near the end of the film, so we also have a rare ‘passing of the baton’ moment not common to Disney remakes. 

Overall, Disney has created a decent remake of Mulan despite the loss of its musical genre in favour of more action and a greater focus on the war element of the story.  It’s just unfortunate that, for me at least, the awkwardness of some scenes makes the film an uncomfortable thing to sit through during parts of the first two-thirds, especially given their importance to the overall plot and concept of the film.  Frankly, I think the makers of this film needed to find a substitute for the animation medium in terms of diffusing some of that social awkwardness, and frankly retention of a talking dragon might have helped a bit.  Overall, I’d probably give this remake about 7 out of 10.

[civoxmovies-blog]

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Alternative link ➡ https://t.co/wtqpHo8WhS?amp=1 Título original Our Efectos !Colaterales del Amor Efectos !Colaterales del Amor Año 2020 Duración 93 min. País Estados Unidos Estados Unidos Dirección Richard Tanne Guion Krystal Sutherland, Richard Tanne Música Stephen James Taylor Fotografía Albert Salas Reparto Lili Reinhart, Sarah Jones, Austin Abrams, Bruce Altman, Adhir Kalyan, Coral Peña, Shannon Walsh, Meg Gibson, Kara Young, C.J. Hoff, Jon Lemmon, J.J. Pyle, Anzi DeBenedetto, Maxmillian Robinson, Lan Zhong, Aleksander Dinic Productora While the players who play a role in the film are referred to as actors (men) or actresses (women). There is also the term extras that are used as supporting characters with few roles in the film. This is different from the main actors who have bigger and more roles. Being an actor and an actress must be demanded to have good acting talent, which is in accordance with the theme of the film he is starring in. In certain scenes, the actor’s role can be replaced by a stuntman or a stuntman. The existence of a stuntman is important to replace the actors doing scenes that are difficult and extreme, which are usually found in action action films. Films can also be used to convey certain messages from the filmmaker. Some industries also use film to convey and represent their symbols and culture. Filmmaking is also a form of expression, thoughts, ideas, concepts, feelings and moods of a human being visualized in film. The film itself is mostly a fiction, although some are based on fact true stories or based on a true story. There are also documentaries with original and real pictures, or biographical films that tell the story of a character. There are many other popular genre films, ranging from action films, horror films, comedy films, romantic films, fantasy films, thriller films, drama films, science fiction films, crime films, documentaries and others. That’s a little information about the definition of film or movie. The information was quoted from various sources and references. Hope it can be useful. Storyline Seventeen-year-old Henry Page (Austin Abrams) has never been in love. He fancies himself a romantic, but the kind of once-in-a-lifetime love he's been hoping for just hasn't happened yet. Then, on the first day of senior year, he meets transfer student Grace Town (Lili Reinhart) and it seems all that is about to change. When Grace and Henry are chosen to co-edit the school paper, he is immediately drawn to the mysterious newcomer. As he learns the heartbreaking secret that has changed her life, he finds himself falling in love with her - or at least the person he thinks she is. Written by Amazon Studios

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis Plot Keywords: school | See All (1) » Genres: Drama | Romance Motion Picture Rating (MPAA) Rated R for language, sexuality and teen drug use | See all certifications » Parents Guide: View content advisory tag :

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TV MOVIE The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s. Televised events such as the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 19340 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famous introduction at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in the US spurred a growth in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 19440 World MOVIE inspired many Americans to buy their first television set and then in 1948, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earningEfectos !Colaterales del Amor   Milton Berle the name “”Mr Television”” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The first national live television broadcast in the US took place on September 4, 1951 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets. The first national color broadcast (the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade) in the US occurred on January 1, 1954. During the following ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. A color transition was announced for the fall of 1965, during which over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later. In 19402, the last holdout among daytime network shows converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season. 2. Formats and Genres See also: List of genres § Film and television formats and genres Television shows are more varied than most other forms of media due to the wide variety of formats and genres that can be presented. A show may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television films), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional MOVIE). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed] A drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures. Before the 1980s, shows (except for soap opera-type serials) typically remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little.[citation needed] If some change happened to the characters’ lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.[citation needed] Since the 1980s, many MOVIE feature progressive change in the plot, the characters, or both. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time drama television MOVIE to have this kind of dramatic structure,[4][better source needed] while the later MOVIE Babylon 5 further exemplifies such structure in that it had a predetermined story running over its intendevd five-season run.[citvatio””&n needed] In 2007, it was reported that television was growing into a larger component of major media companies’ revenues than film.[5] Some also noted the increase in quality of some television programs. In 2007, Academy-Award-winning film director Steven Soderbergh, commenting on ambiguity and complexity of character and narrative, stated: “”I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television. 3. Thank’s For All And Happy Watching Find all the movies that you can stream online, including those that were screened this week. If you are wondering what you can watch on this website, then you should know that it covers genres that include crime, Science, Fi-Fi, action, romance, thriller, Comedy, drama and Anime Movie. Thank you very much. We tell everyone who is happy to receive us as news or information about this year’s film schedule and how you watch your favorite films. Hopefully we can become the best partner for you in finding recommendations for your favorite movies. That’s all from us, greetings! Thanks for watching The Video Today. I hope you enjoy the videos that I share. Give a thumbs up, like, or share if you enjoy what we’ve shared so that we more excited.

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Esa ya no será ninguna preocupación de aquí en adelante. ¿Qué velocidad necesitas para ver Película online? En estas páginas, con una conexión básica te alcanzará y sobrará. ¿Qué plugin necesito para ver Película online? En la mayoría de casos, ¡ninguno! ¿Puedo encontrar dónde ver Película 3D online? Eso quizá está un poco más difícil.Efectos !Colaterales del Amor   Ver Película online gratis A continuación todo lo que debes saber paraEfectos !Colaterales del Amor   Película online Ojo, la lista solo contempla páginas online legales, que albergan contenido de dominio público, independiente, liberado por sus mismos realizadores o con licencias como Creative Commons. Es decir, si quieres ver Animales Fantásticos 2 completa en Español oEfectos !Colaterales del Amor  , La chica en la telaraña, Overlord,Efectos !Colaterales del Amor   oEfectos !Colaterales del Amor   con subtítulos, puede que te decepciones. 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VerEfectos !Colaterales del Amor   Película subtítulos Español Latino castellano o con subtítulos en tu idioma y de todos los géneros: terror, comedia, acción, thriller, @VER AQUI ?> @VER AQUI ?> drama y ciencia ficción. También series online o descargar pelis y más… mucho más VER PelículaEfectos !Colaterales del Amor   GRATIS en Español o con subtítulos en tu idioma, en HD –y hasta en calidad de imagen 4K–y sin cortes ni interrupciones es sencillo en las mejores páginas de cine y televisión gratuitas del año. ¿Cuáles son exactamente estas webs? A continuación te detallamos todo lo que debes saber para ver las mejores pelis cuando quieras, donde quieras y con quien quieras. 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[yasbxxgie]

Traveling While Black: behind the eye-opening VR documentary on racism in America In the Emmy-nominated virtual reality project, viewers are given an immersive historical experience on the depressingly topical dangers of being black in America

The theatre has luxurious red velvet upholstered seats, grand ceilings and gilded trimmings. The rows of chairs stretch back into the ostensible blackness, with light beaming from the projector room. Ahead, archival footage of stylish black travelers pack the screen as an unseen narrator discusses the hardships of mid-20th-century black travel. Enabled by modern technology but trapped by racist social convention, their trips were eventually greatly eased by the publication of the Green Book, which listed safe spaces for black people to sleep, eat and replenish.

A car gradually appears next to the stage in black and white and a Green Book institution, Washington DC’s Ben’s Chili Bowl, comes into view. The seats have dissipated into a silent, empty U Street. For the next 20 minutes, the viewer will journey through the traumatic stories lent to Emmy-nominated virtual reality documentary Traveling While Black, which discusses the agony and trepidation of a people moving through a country that has not fully accepted them.

Traveling While Black is the first virtual reality project by Oscar-winning documentarian Roger Ross Williams, in collaboration with virtual reality studio Felix and Paul Studios. Glued together by the deep terror of racism, the documentary relies on a collection of interviews and poetic cinematic recreations to tell the harrowing tale of the danger that comes with having black skin.

Originally developed from a play as a multimedia project, someone suggested it might take better life as virtual reality project. Even so, its initial development was rocky. “It was tough figuring out the landscape because everything is so new,” Williams said. “At one point, this piece was going to be animated. At one point, we wrote a script and were talking to actors...”

But all parties agree that the story works best told through documentary film-making. “Documentaries are a lot more immediately mature as a medium of virtual reality, as a genre, as a format than fiction. We saw that this was too sensitive of a shoot to be experimenting with,” said Paul Raphael of Felix and Paul Studios. “We really wanted to do the material justice. It’s not the kind of subject you want to approach and not be respectful of.”

In the documentary, the aforementioned Ben’s Chili Bowl acts as a heartbeat of black DC, presenting itself as a central location for black travelers and locals alike. The virtual experience elucidates the concept and reality of an enduring safe space, too often stripped from black citizens.

Virginia Ali, the owner of Ben’s Chili Bowl, relays the history of the building as a black space, an old copy of the printed Green Book resting on the table of the booth before her. Ben’s Chili Bowl is the third iteration of the space, she says, originating as a silent movie theatre, then a pool hall, and finally, into the restaurant and institution where Barack Obama once visited for their famous half-smoke.

“From the very day that we opened, until the current time, it’s still a safe haven for people,” she asserts gently. To Williams, Ben’s was a natural choice to set a documentary. Ben’s encapsulates the combination of black ease and discomfort alike. “We wanted to basically take people back to the time when they needed the Green Book and they needed spaces like that. We wanted to connect that to the present because we still need spaces like that to show how much hasn’t changed.”

In the documentary, like in the lives of black Americans, there is nowhere to turn away from the horrors of racism. It besieges the viewer in its inescapable cage.

“If you’re not African American, you get to go into a space and be part of a conversation that you probably normally would not be privy to. If you are black, you get to delve deep into that inner trauma that we all carry with us in America as black people. I think that’s really powerful in the way that 2D storytelling can’t provide,” Williams said.

Raphael agreed, saying: “In virtual reality, you get to actually feel like they are there in front of you, much more strongly than by watching them on a flat two-dimensional rectangular screen. So that really changes how receptive you are to anything that is presented to you.”

But he admits its all-encompassing nature also poses a challenge. “[It] also means you have to recalibrate how you tell the story and what you present to the viewer. You could actually overwhelm a viewer very easily and have them shut down,” Raphael explains. “So it’s a very interesting and beautiful medium to work with. You need to be careful with it, but when you do it right, you can affect people in a way that I think is out of reach for cinema.”

The experience allows for the past and present to be presented in juxtaposition, merging to validate one eery conclusion: the problems of the past have not subsided. Former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee activist Courtland Cox contends in the documentary: “The assumption is that, at some time, it stopped. And that’s not the case. It never stopped.”

The creator of the Green Book, Victor Green, once said that if the guide went out of print, black people would have reached the proverbial mountaintop of equal opportunity. Traveling While Black directly challenges that. “It’s different, but we are still in danger as black people when we step outside of our doors,” Williams said. “I could be walking down the street in my own neighborhood and be killed.”

Indeed, the fears aren’t exclusively relegated to the bus or the train or even distant travel, says Williams. The documentary highlights one such example: the tragic extrajudicial murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, told through his reticent mother, Samaria, who describes the day for the first time to an audience inside the restaurant.

She was at home, when, only a short distance from his Cleveland home, the officers shot her child within seconds of their arrival on scene. He was unarmed. The video of the entire police encounter only takes a few seconds, wherein the viewer is whisked back to the movie theatre, ushering a sense of disbelief and removal from the horror on screen. When the viewer returns to the booth where Samaria is still seated, several of the patrons and servers are in tears.

“I will never get that vision out of my head,” she laments, telling the somber yet captive audience how she was restrained from being with her child during his final moments by the same force that took his life. Fiddling with her napkin nervously, she continues: “I wasn’t finished raising him. I wasn’t finished nourishing him and America robbed me.” When asked what the American dream is to her, she replies: “A nightmare. Especially if you black.”

“I wonder, when does it end?” Sandra Butler-Truesdale, a fifth-generation DC resident, ponders aloud in the experience.

It’s the kind of question Williams wants the viewers to ask after the experience. He understands the material will not carry the same weight to different groups but does believe in its power to start an honest conversation.

“I think that if you are not a person of color and you watch this film, you walk away transformed. You walk away [and] you feel the sort of empathy and the pain really that black people carry with them in a country that hasn’t confronted the reality of racism, in fact, in a country where racism is on the rise … As a black person, I want you to walk away and want you to have open and honest conversations with people in your community about that trauma. It’s like therapy. We need to talk about it.”

[youtu.be]

Photographs:

Traveling While Black, a virtual reality documentary, discusses the agony and trepidation of a people moving through a country that has not fully accepted them

Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington DC acts as a safe space for black travelers and locals alike

[vapormaison]

2019 Best Japanese OST Press/Repress: Elfen Lied by Tiger Lab Records

Like many late millennials with artistic pretensions, I used to have an “Anituber” channel back in the wild west days of youtube. From 2010-2013 — roughly corresponding with my first three years in university — I reviewed DVD releases from ADV, Manga Entertainment, Central Park Media, and Geneon — all the big players in Western anime releases at the time, all dead and gone now with the rise of streaming. Everyone but Funimation — a sad irony and perhaps telling about the nature of the dubbing industry that the studio with a serial rape problem and established casting couch was the only one to survive.

In the interest of maintaining my personal ethics, posterity, and sanity I’ve long since deleted that channel. While there was definitely a “moment” on the platform for a nineteen year-old cokehead film student in front of a MacBook webcam doing his best Slavoj Zizek impression, that moment has long since passed. I’ve long since cooled on “substantive” media critique anyway. The world doesn’t need another Eisenstein-aligned Marxist analysis of Neon Genesis Evangelion — or, a 6-part series on using Lacanian techniques to develop a leftist praxis for Fate/Stay Night. Media exists in the present moment to be a salve for the postmodern hellscape we inhabit together.

As an interesting sidebar, the most popular video on that channel — raking in just north of 10k views over its lifetime from 2011-2015, was a twelve minute video essay on the 1995 anime Elfen Lied, where I asserted that it was the ultimate expression of contemporary Japanese anti-modern rage. While I don’t find myself particularly nostalgic for any of the content on that channel, I’m actually kind of proud of that one in particular.

While most of my analysis was fixated on the visuals, narrative, and recent oeuvre of its mangaka, Lynn Okamoto, and series director, Mamoru Kanbei, I did lay out a framework on why I consider it to be one of the most successful soundtracks ever produced for an anime. I did not heap this praise lightly, as that roughly fifteen year period of 1995-2010 was bookended by the OSTs of Evangelion and K-On! — and certainly proved to be one of the most sonically iconic periods that the medium has ever produced.

it was also one of the first soundtracks that spurred my own history of Japanese OST collection.

And, then, almost a decade later, I found out that Tiger Lab was releasing a vinyl of Elfen Lied.

In spite of this, when I originally the news, I felt a tinge of trepidation. This is not to throw shade at Tiger Lab, however — but at the reputation of previous releases of the Elfen Lied soundtrack in Japan. A quick adventure with google translate across the Japanese net for various Elfen Lied OST roleases — especially on CD — will reveal for you a lot of contempt from Otaku and anime-enthusiast audiophiles for any number of reasons. Most hinge on the quality of the physicals. This is often because Japanese physical media releases of anime soundtracks are often laden with fresh, exceptionally crisp and clean-sounding masters for CDs, and usually exclusive posters and other content geared toward the “collector” nature of many Otaku. This has usually not been the case with Elfen Lied.

A friend of mine in Kanagawa quipped “Sometimes it sounds better on the DVD” in regard to a number of OST releases of soundtracks from anime produced by Studio Arms with CD releases published by VAP. Admittedly, some of it must have been born in resentment, but I’ve always trusted the man’s opinion — as he’s invested a small family fortune into building a shrine of sorts to that studio’s output. He chalks up the poor release quality to the studio’s inability or lack of funds to master the content properly for a CD or HQ digital release, and VAP’s decline in release quality during the early 2000s roughly corresponding to a sale to another Zaibatsu. “Studio Arms made hentai for many years to stay solvent, maybe they could not send a good master to VAP [the publisher]” he told me. While I can’t know if it’s VAP, Arms or another studio handling the CD-master work, a cursory check of their oeuvre seems to confirm confirms that claim of his — but I acknowledge I’m wandering into uncharted waters here.

In spite of all that — I ordered the wax from Tiger Lab and was duly impressed. In lieu of reviewing each track as per my usual review format, in the following section I want to talk about my listening experience from the two formats I own the soundtrack in — the SA/VAP published CD from 2004 and Tiger Lab’s release. Once we finish going into the core differences — and why this vinyl is absolutely worth your purchase over competing physicals — I’ll go into the virtues of the listening experience on the whole.

Part 1: Comparisons of Select Tracks

I suppose the expectation is that I start off by taking about the most iconic recording from the series — the OP, Lilium. In the spirit of defying expectations, I’ll begin with what I consider a better litmus test.

My personal shit-test for a good master and press is how well it can handle a track that is sonically robust and diverse, crossing genre and form — requiring an intensive, sufficiently wide mix and refined master. You don’t get that on every OST album — but Elfen Lied offers one such potential track in particular, and that particular track happens to be my favorite composition on the entire album. Uso Sora, composed by Kayo Konishi and Yukio Kondo is a truly magnificent piece, and it’s used brilliantly in the series — for those familiar, I only need to quote one line: “M-m-mommy…?”.

It begins with lulling piano chords that gradually build in tempo and energy with the addition of percussion, and then it undergoes a full metamorphosis in its last minute or so to become an aggressive, frenetic techno piece with distorted lows and an angry drum kit. Mirroring the evolution of its subject in the show with understated aplomb, and functioning as a robust and enjoyable composition divorced from its source — it really deserve more recognition than it receives, but I do not doubt it will ever step forth from the massive shadow cast from the haunting chorals of Lilium, and the brilliantly directed visual intro that accompanied it.

Needless to say, Tiger Lab more than passed muster here, to the point where I’m almost blown away by just how good it sounds compared to the rest of my Elfen Lied related physicals. I experienced a definite brightness from the vinyl master over my stereo that I don't get from a lot of other Western label releases, like say Milano, which tends to cash in on a Westerner’s preference for warmth.  Tiger Lab deserves credit for this approach, because it genuinely feels like a more authentically “Japanese” sound. In my experience, the Western labels that care the most about the dedicated audiophile adhere to this sonic profile, and Tiger Lab deserves all due credit here.

Finally, I might as well include my thoughts on Lilium. In short, it sounds fantastic. The mix here really brings out the most of the chorals, and provides crisp and clean sounds where you want them most. It’s also one of those tracks where you can just feel the dynamic range before you even hear it. I ended up listening to these on my Cambridges, and I’ve got to say that’s there’s something in the way they treat this particular profile of song — strongly vocal dominated, extremely muted piano, and supporting string inhabiting the negative space — absolutely incredibly. It put the KEFs to shame. I’ve always asserted that you’ve got to pair certain songs with certain speaker pairs. I’ve never been a huge devotional music guy, and I’m not entirely sure that the Cambridge or KEFs provide ideal profiles for the track. That said, Lilium sounds great anyway.

But I can envision these on a pair of high end Yamahas, or a pair of vintage Blaupunkt bookshelves sounding as stone-cold killer as Lucy when Kouta’s threatened.

I sent a rip to my friend Hiroshi, the StudioArms Shrine man, who immediately snapped up a copy after listening. I also learned that it was actually the first vinyl purchase he’s ever made after two decades of serious collecting. So perhaps that is a testament in and of itself!

Part 2: Physicality

I rarely devote an entire section to talking about the vinyl/OBI itself, but then again, Tiger Lab has put out a release certainly worthy of this. First off, the cover, which pairs perfectly with the overall aesthetic of both the series and previous soundtrack releases. I can imagine this being a release that has already attracted some attention by Japanese collectors, as the cover seems to tap into a certain sense of continuity that I know are a huge hit with that community. It certainly pairs well with my two releases from VAP, and a laserdisc set that I have. They all opt for that very iconic Klimt Vienna Secession style with appropriate creative flourishes — but I like Tiger Lab’s take on it the most. The side characters populating the back in a choral array reminiscent of the Beethoven Frieze is also a really nice touch for any enthusiast of the fin-de-siècle style.

I picked up the pink vinyl on release, one of the few pink vinyls that I’ve bought that at least feels thematically consistent with the release and not just a default “vaporwave” or “city pop” or “future funk” styling. Diclonii rock the pink hair, after all. That all said, I’m wishing now that I got the “metallic gold” edition, as its another color that feels both apropos and stunningly beautiful. With all that in mind, this is also one of the better waxes that I’ve felt in-hand, and manages to feel robust. I’ve yet to find specific info, but it certainly feels like a 180g.

In conclusion, I’ve got to give immense credit to Tiger Lab for handling this release with a class and vigor that few Japanese publishers have given it. It certainly bodes well for the future of anime releases on vinyl, and makes me eager to fill out an emergent collection.