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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 7 years ago

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Best vacuum cleaners: from cordless Dyson to robot Roomba

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Best vacuum cleaners: from cordless Dyson to robot Roomba

Finding the best vacuum cleaner can be a bit of a chore. There are so many models to choose from, and who really wants to spend their time finding an appliance that means more work around the house?

The thing is, vacuum cleaners have come a long way since those massive corded vacs you had to heave out of the hall closet and reconnect to a new outlet every few minutes. We remember with disdain the gargantuan vacuum we had in our house growing up; it was practically medieval.

Vacuum cleaners today are much slimmer, with some controlled by hand and some with robotic brains of their own. While it’s still a “chore” in the traditional sense, vacuum cleaning can now be done in far less time and with far greater ease thanks to cordless vacuums. Even easier, you can now have a vacuum clean house on its own while you’re out and about.

[Update: Dyson’s latest and greatest vacuum cleaner, the Cyclone V10, is now on our list! We spent several weeks with the cordless vac. Our conclusion: Vacuum engineering and design come together in perfect harmony in this king of suction, and while the Cyclone V10 is undoubtedly expensive, there’s no denying it’s the best vacuum Dyson has made to date.]

Digging out the best Dyson or Roomba to help lighten the load can be the sort of investment where the benefits become almost immediately clear. Like the budding Ghostbusters we are, sucking up junk into our proton-pack-aping vacuum cleaners can actually be quite satisfying. It’s instant gratification, seeing the dirt, grime and crumbs sucked away into the netherworld of the vacuum cleaner’s bin.

And it only gets better if you’ve got a top-notch gadget to help you do it all. Whether it’s a lightweight cordless, a super-powerful upright or a “who needs humans?” robot cleaner you’re after, these are the best vacuum cleaners TechRadar has used. They all suck, but in the best possible way.

Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute

Power supply: : Cordless, battery | Weight: : 5.9 lbs / 2.6 kg | Bin size: : 0.75L | Run time: : Up to 60 minutes

Unrivaled design

Powerful suction

Battery drains fast on highest setting

Expensive

Dyson’s newest cordless vacuum cleaner is so good, the company is no longer producing new corded vacuums. That’s how confident Dyson is that the Cyclone V10 and the vacs that follow will meet all your cleaning needs.

Simply put, the Cyclone V10 is the best vacuum Dyson has ever made. Dyson has redefined its cyclone technology to produce more suction power than ever; the new V10 digital motor is 20% more powerful than the previous V8, and, we can assure, it sucks a lot (we mean that as a compliment).

You’ll notice a number of crucial changes between the V10 and older V models. For example, the barrel is now front-facing, and all attachments connect here directly. The design allows for greater suction efficiency, according to Dyson. The V10 is smarter than ever before, too, and can even detect differences in altitude, air pressure and temperature, and adjust itself for maximum performance.

Prices and models vary across regions, but needless to say, you pay for the Cyclone V10’s souped-up suction. And while the Cyclone V10 is more powerful than ever and boasts a more energy-dense battery than previous models, putting it on the highest setting will drain the battery in about five minutes. At the lowest setting, however, you’ll get up to 60 minutes of use, and that should be plenty for your everyday messes.

Read our full Dyson Cyclone V10 review

Dyson V8 Absolute

Power supply: : Cordless, battery | Weight: : 2.16kg | Bin size: : 0.54L | Suction power: 22AW (115AW in MAX mode)

Lightweight

Portable and modular

Strong suction

Expensive

Formerly the best cordless vacuum experience that money could buy, the Dyson V8 Absolute is still a top-of-the-line battery powered vacuum cleaner, even as the Cyclone V10 has dethroned it as the very best. It also remains an absolute joy to use.

First, the design. With a removable extender pole and equipped with six different heads for different surfaces and use cases, the V8 Absolute is lightweight and easy to run around the house. But with the suction motor in the pistol-grip handle area, you can easily clip a head directly onto the main unit, turning the whole thing into a portable cleaner, perfect for going up the stairs of de-crumbing the car.

A full-charge will give you around 40 minutes of use, which is really impressive for a cordless cleaner – though mileage will vary once you start using on the motorized heads, or switch on the V8 Absolute’s MAX mode. You’ll rarely need it though – for a handheld, this cleaner will rival even an upright for sheers dirt-sucking power. Its large bin will take in plenty of trash too before needing emptying – another convenience not often seen in a cordless.

Best of all though, it genuinely is fun to use. The sci-fi aesthetic makes it one of the few “white goods” gadgets you’ll happily leave on show in the house, with the transforming design as useful as it is clever. It’s worth saving the cash for.

Gtech AirRam MK2

Power supply: Battery (cordless) | Weight: 3.5kg | Battery live: 40 minutes

Lightweight, easy to carry and move

Easily accessible bin

Bin is small

No attachment tools

The Gtech AirRam MK2 blends the flexibility of a cordless vacuum with strong suction performance and easy use, making it a great choice for those looking for a vac they can quickly whizz around the home.

It’s super easy to setup out of the box, and after the the initial charge (it takes four hours to fully charge from flat) you’re ready to go. The need to charge however can be a hassle, especially if an accidental spillage has occurred and you want to quickly clean it, only to find the AirRam MK2 is out of battery. You could use it if plugged into the wall, but with such a short charging cable supplied that’d be wholly impractical.

An hour on the charger will give you a short burst of power to address a spillage, but if you’re planning on doing a general clean you’ll want a fall charge, which gives you around 40 minutes of use – similar to what you’d get from Dyson’s V8 Absolute.

While charging may be a little inconvenient at times, it means you’re never tethered to a cord when using the Gtech AirRam MK2 and that is where is comes into its own. It’s lightweight and highly manoeuvrable body allows you to quickly and efficiently move round your home.

Gtech’s Airlock technology automatically adjusts the head for different flooring types, and suction is generally very good – but it’s not the best on offer.

The collection bin may be a bit on the small side too, but it’s incredibly easy to empty and ensures you don’t get your hands dirty, with the removable cylinder featuring a sliding lever that pushes out all the nasties.

It’s easy to carry up and down stairs, but with no hose or attachments you can’t easily vacuum stairs with it, or hard to reach areas of your home. It’s price tag makes it a more approachable option than the Dyson however, so if you’re on a budget it’s well worth a look.

Dyson Light Ball Multi Floor

Power supply: Corded | Weight: 6.9kg | Cord length: 9.4m | Suction power: 90AW

Impressive, continuous suction

Multi-functional tools included

Heavy to carry up stairs

Cord is annoying

If you want serious suction from your vacuum cleaner, Dyson is the market leader. Its cyclone technology has long been touted as the best sucker around, and on the Light Ball Multi Floor we can safely say; this thing sucks big time. In a good way.

With 90AW of suction power the Dyson Light Ball Multi Floor tackles carpet, wood floors, laminate and more. Each pass hoovers up dust, hair and other particles struck inside your carpets too, not just those sitting on top.

We were surprised, and impressed with the amount of stuff it picked up during the first few trips around our house – clearly our previous vacuum wasn’t doing the job as effectively.

When the large bin fills up, it’s just a simple one button release from the body of the Light Ball, and then another one button press to dispense its contents into the bin – although with the large flag that opens at the bottom you’ll need to angle the cylinder accordingly.

As well as acting as a standard upright cleaner, the Light Ball also comes with a built in hose and tools, allowing you to tackle hard to reach places, ceilings and stairs with relative ease.

It’s still a bit of a beast to carry up and down stairs though, and at times the long 9.4m cord does get in the way, making you wish this was a cordless vacuum – but the trade off will be inferior suction.

If you’re in the market for a vacuum cleaner that will give your floors a seriously good seeing too, then the easy to use, highly maneuverable and surprisingly quiet (considering the suction) Dyson Light Ball could be up your street.

Dyson 360 Eye robot vacuum cleaner

Power supply: Battery | Weight: 2.4kg | Bin size: 0.33Lm | Suction power: 20AW

Quiet operation

Compact width

Not the most thorough clean

Tall height

With AI smarts improving all the time and robotics increasingly as at home as on the production line, the sci-fi dream of having a little robot helper to potter about the house is increasingly becoming a reality. The Dyson 360 Eye is the vacuum cleaning company’s first effort in the space, and makes a good account of itself.

After a relatively painless app-powered set-up process, the camera equipped Dyson 360 Eye is able to navigate your home, weaving around obstacles on a cleaning routine you again establish through the app.

Considering its small size, it’s surprisingly capable at sucking up the rubbish in your home and, when its battery gets low and it’s time for a recharge, the 360 Eye will intelligently return to its charging station without any prompting.

It’s a premium product, commanding a high asking price that’s best used as a supplement to your usual cleaning rota rather than a replacement. With the 360 Eye doing the rounds once every day, you’ll find that your home will need a “deep clean” vacuum session by your own hand far more rarely.

But there’s still room for improvement if the company ever make a second generation – the tall clearance makes it difficult for the 360 Eye to fit under furniture, a bigger bin would lessen the need to keep emptying it out, and a larger battery would give it a better chance of completing a whole-house sweep in one pass without a recharge session.

The limitations of the wider product category taken into consideration, it’s a solid luxury cleaning product regardless.

iRobot Roomba 980 robot vacuum cleaner

Power supply: Battery | Weight: 3.94kg | Bin size: 0.6Lm | Suction power: 33AW

Environment mapping

Relatively low clearance

Sluggish app control

Struggles with cables

Dyson’s not the only company working with robotics in the home space, and many rate iRobot and its Roomba 980 vacuum cleaner very highly, too.

A low-clearance, dirt-sucking disc, it’s likewise intelligent enough to go about its business in your home without much prompting from its human owners. The Roomba 980 will intelligently map your home for problem spots, kicking into a high-power mode when carpets are identified, and weaving around chair legs and other potential obstacles.

With a two hour battery life, it will manage a longer cleaning cycle than the Dyson before it too heads back to its charging dock.

Other smart features of the Roomba 980 include its battery-powered “Dual Mode Virtual Wall Barriers” which signal to the bot which area to avoid if placed across a doorway, and more granular control over its cleaning procedures through its accompanying app.

However, the Roomba 980 too has room for improvement, with it’s app not always terrible intuitive, and the robot itself sometimes getting bamboozled by cables.

It’s another pricey cleaning luxury, and making the choice between it and its Dyson rival will be a tough one. But for those that can afford it, the Roomba 980 is another excellent cleaning convenience.

Eufy RoboVac 11

Power supply: Battery | Weight: 3.02kg | Bin size: 0.6Lm

Low price compared to competition

Lots of cleaning settings

No companion app

Limited battery life

You may not have heard of the name Eufy before, but this more affordable robot vacuum cleaner offers some fantastic value and it comes from the sister brand of Anker, which is the closest thing to a household name in the world of portable chargers.

The RoboVac 11 has lots of cleaning settings included an automatic mode, maximum power, edge cleaning, single room cleaning or a mode that specifically focuses on one small area.

The problem is, unlike the two vacuums above you can’t connect the RoboVac 11 to an app so you can’t monitor or set your robot cleaner to go when you’re not in the house.

Instead it’s all activated through a remote control that comes in the box with the RoboVac 11. You can set it up on a timer so the cleaner will automatically head on its journey once a day, but it’s not as useful as having an app to do it from anywhere in the world.

There’s also no mapping technology built in and instead the RoboVac 11 will just make its own way around your home until the battery runs out. It uses infrared sensors to avoid bumping into furniture in your home, but it can be quite frustrating if you’re to sit and watch it work as it doesn’t clean as efficiently as some other cleaners.

With a 0.6 Lm bin this will keep going for multiple cleans and we found the battery life to last around 90 minutes on the automatic mode and a little bit less if you’re using the maximum power suction.

The Eufy may not be the most efficient or powerful robot vacuum cleaner on the market, but considering its super low price point it’s impressive how much value for money you get with the RoboVac 11.

Read our full Eufy RoboVac 11 review

Neato Botvac Connected

Power supply: Battery | Weight: 3.94kg | Bin size: 0.6Lm

Thorough clean

Relatively cheap

Incorrectly assesses its own height

Marks very easily

While not quite as familiar a name as Dyson or Roomba, with the Neato Botvac Connected, Neato managed to create a vacuum cleaner that definitely gives the others a run for their money.

At 10 cm tall, it comfortably manages to shuffle under most items of furniture, and uses laser guidance to map the room. It’s very satisfying watching it figure out which items of furniture it can navigate under and around.

A little frustratingly, it doesn’t seem to factor in the little protruding circle on top of the unit that houses the Neato logo, and so does occasionally get caught on items that it only just clears.

You can control the Neato Botvac Connected using your phone, set up routines for when you want it to clean, and even pause mid-clean. There are also convenient buttons on the unit itself; one for ‘spot clean’ that will do one room, or ‘house clean’ that will do your entire home before guiding itself back to its base station.

At 0.7 Lm, the bin size is bigger than both the Dyson 360 and the Roomba, but is still small in comparison to a standard vacuum cleaner, and will need emptying mid-clean if you have a large (or particularly dirty) home.

There is the option to either have the Neato clean in Eco or Turbo mode, which will give you quieter or deeper cleaning, depending on your preference. From the time that we have spent with it, the deeper cleaning mode provides a very thorough level of cleaning, although will invariably miss areas that require moving of obstacles, so you’ll still need an occasional once-over with a hand-held vacuum cleaner.

#Cleaners #cordless #Dyson #robot #Roomba #vacuum #Tech #Tech World

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giveuselife-blog · 7 years ago

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The six quality Doggie gadgets in the marketplace

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The six quality Doggie gadgets in the marketplace

Stuck ON Digital camera

Doggie Cartoon

ElectrIQ puppy monitoring Digital camera with audio, £39.97 from £forty nine.97.

In case you’ve ever wondered what your pooch gets as much as whilst you’re no longer at home, this Digital camera may shed a few light on the scenario. Hook it up to your telephone and the Digicam will offer stay HD streaming to your device. And when you seize Wireless hopping on the couch — simply as you suspected — you may call to him thru the app (or provide reassurance in case your dog is pining for you). you may also use the app to maneuver the Digicam so it makes a specialty of any other vicinity in the room.

THIRSTY Paintings

Drinkwell Platinum Pet Water Fountain, £forty six.Ninety-nine from £forty nine.Ninety-nine, Argos

This water fountain gives a tech hydration answer for thirsty pooches. All you do is upload the filter, pour a few tap water into the top of the tool, put the lid returned on after which plug into the mains. Regulate the speed at which the water flows to suit your puppy and let them drink from the fountain. Because the water is continuously circulated, it stays cool and any nasties are removed because it filters. The fountain is likewise suitable for moggies and its components are dishwasher safe.

FUR YOUR EYES Simplest

Vileda Cleaning Robot, £149.99, save.Vileda.Co.united Kingdom

The reality of proudly owning a dog is that their fur finally ends up anywhere. Skirting boards, cushions, inside the toughest to reach nooks and crannies — if there’s even the teensiest area, you could guarantee fur gets in it. Take the detritus to venture with a wise hoover. Being a robot purifier, this one by way of Vileda calls for little from you, store a piece of programming ahead. With counter-rotating brushes, it makes brief Paintings of riding difficult floors and carpets of pooch hair. you can use it on stairs too; the drop sensor guarantees it gained crash down them.

Dog Consume canine

TD Design four.3L Automated puppy Feeder for Dogs & Cats, £75.ninety nine from £ninety nine.Ninety-nine, Amazon

Flip to tech to get you out of a tight spot with this Automated canine feeder. Despite the fact that most food is off the menu, you could upload dry meals to the dispenser and program it to serve up meals on your dog at set instances. you may also select how many quantities — from one to 10 — you need your pooch to have for the duration of the meal. The tool lets in recording, so, if you like, you could upload a message, so that it will play three times earlier than the device starts of evolved shelling out the products, calling to the puppy in question and alerting him that grub’s up. appropriate for small to medium Dogs and cats, a magnetic protection lid way your pet received be able to snaffle snacks from the top of the machine. You’ll want three D batteries to maintain it running.

on the Right Music

PitPat puppy Screen, £39.99, Argos

Wi-fitness tech is a trend that continues to grow, with trackers, monitors and apps all designed to keep us aware of our activity (or non-activity). And now you can get your 4-legged friend in on the motion too. This small device fits onto your dog’s collar and connects to an app on your smartphone to Monitor their pastime ranges. There are 2 hundred breeds at the app to ensure the statistics and hints on energy and hobby are suitable for your mutt.

GET THE BALL ROLLING

PetSafe Ball Launcher, £134.99, Argos

Add a device

Throwing balls for a canine can get tiring if the canine in the query has more power and interest in fetching a ball than you do. This is where generation can assist. The PetSafe Ball Launcher is an investment, but it does relieve the stress on worn-out fingers. upload the balls (it comes with two, but you could use everyday tennis balls) to the device and program it to launch them, both in your garden or at the park — you could choose up to 9 extraordinary distances (of among 2.five-9m). To hold it going, both plug it in or upload six D batteries so that you can roam unfastened. There’s also an automated relaxation mode to make certain your canine doesn’t tire.

10 Unusual devices Designed for Pooches

As technologies hold to strengthen, we are now seeing greater focused and specialized devices that range from pretty cool to simply plain Extraordinary. That is the case for gadgets for people, and now there is an entire array of peculiar and amusing devices in particular designed on your canine too! Examine on for simply 10 of the various specific alternatives available on the market.

#1 Bowlingual Voice Translator

On occasion, it’s quite apparent what Wireless needs when he is barking up a typhoon, other instances, it is not so clear. but with this tool, we will now gain a fair deeper information of our quality 4-legged pals. Even as presently Best to be had in Japan, these gadgets claim that they are able to translate domestic dog communicate into human talk – at the least sort of. The tool is programmed to inform you what the overall temper country of your dog is.

#2 The Canine Twitterer

As Twitter keeps to grow in reputation, why shouldn’t our pooches be capable of Tweet as nicely? With the Dog Twitterer, now they could. Whilst at Work, you can keep up with everyday Twitter updates from Wi-fido, relying on what he is as much as on the time. There are over 500 messages, consequently permitting your pup to talk most in their everyday doings with the more global at huge.

#3Humunga Stache Fetch Toy for Dogs

So seriously, what can be better than a toy your dog loves that also offers you a touch laugh as well? And who would not suppose that a doggy with a large mustache is just now downright lovable? With this Stache fetch toy, as bite toy is affixed to a giant faux mustache. Toss the toy to your pooch and when they start chewing on the toy, the mustache is flawlessly located throughout their upper lip.

#4 The Ultrasonic Barking canine Deterrent

Except one has a defend dog, any incessant barking isn’t always useful, it is simply simply disturbing. In case you, or even considered one of your associates has a canine with an affinity for being a chunk on the vocal aspect, That is the machine for you. Conspicuously hidden inside a birdhouse Layout is an ultrasonic device that emits a sound on every occasion a dog bark is heard. This sound, unable to be heard by way of people, get the Puppies attention rapid and puts and cease to the barking.

dog cartoon black and white

dog cartoon network

#5Yuppy Pup Treat Device

What ought to likely make a dog happier than the potential to dispense, at their very own pleasure, their preferred pup snacks? With this Automatic Deal with dispenser, now they could! With a bite at the bone latch on the lowest of the Device, out pops a Deal with much to domestic dog’s satisfaction.

#6 LED Dog Tail Communicator

Too frequently, the traces of verbal exchange between guy and animal is ways too thick. We realize that there are numerous methods that Puppies speak their feelings to us, and thanks to this LED dog tail communicator, you could now know, relying on the rate of the tail wagging, what kind of mood your dog is in.

#7 Autolux puppy Pavilion

some think that the luxury we deliver to our pets must haven’t any restriction, and In case you are this type of people, then definitely this domestic dog spa will be Right up your alley. placed your pampered pooch inside the pavilion, select the extent of humidity with a purpose to offer the maximum consolation in your canine, and allow them to experience the steeply-priced opportunity to baths and blow dryers.

#8 PetZen DogTread Motorized Exercising Treadmill

As tons as we love our pets, Now and again we just aren’t in the temper to leash up and take them on those long walks they love so much. however now you do not have to deny your pooch the delight of their walks, nor do you have to get off your bum to take them out. With this treadmill, this is similar to an ordinary one, but smaller, your domestic dog can stroll all he desires, why you sit on the couch and Consume potato chips.google device enter code

#9PetPeek Window

Whether your dog likes to take a looks at your friend’s flowers and fauna now and again, or you’re simply simply nosy, this pet window is a wonderful preference. able to be established in any traditional fence, your dog (otherwise you) now has the capability to check out the happenings of the neighbor’s backyard or stay out their dream of gambling space cadet.

#10 puppy Equipment Happy Trails Stroller

China Stock Market

For some, nothing is ever “too much” for our fluffy four-legged first-class pals. They deserve to live in the lap of luxury, and lap of luxury will they find, indeed, with this puppy stroller. Like a full on a baby stroller, simply smaller, designed for littler Dogs, those strollers will allow carting your fur child round in style.stock market numbers for today

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ethanalter · 7 years ago

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Errol Morris on New Docu 'The B-Side,' About Photographer Elsa Dorfman: 'I've Always Seen Her as a Major Artist'

Photographer Elsa Dorfman in Errol Morris documentary ‘The B-Side’ (Photo: Everett)

On the surface, The B-Side may look like a B-movie in Errol Morris‘s filmography. Clocking in at just 76 minutes and focusing on a single subject — the life and career of portrait photographer Elsa Dorfman — the movie isn’t as expansive or intensive a documentary experience as past Morris-directed features such as his groundbreaking 1988 true crime tale, The Thin Blue Line, or his Oscar-winning 2003 portrait of Vietnam-era U.S. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, The Fog of War. But The B-Side‘s simplicity is also its chief virtue: As longtime friends Morris and Dorfman talk, they create an intimate space that allows for thoughtful ruminations on mortality, photography, and the impermanence of memory. The grade-A doc, which opened in limited release on June 30, made a lasting impression on us, earning it a place on Yahoo Movies’ list of the 21 best movies of 2017 so far.

The film’s title comes from a key piece of Dorfman’s artistic process: every client who sits in front of her large-format Polaroid camera is given a choice of two pictures. They leave with one, and the other, which the photographer calls a “B-Side,” goes into her personal archive, which houses pictures of notable creative types such as Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg. Yahoo Movies spoke with Morris about what it means to own a picture — or film footage — of someone else, how interviewing serial killer Ed Gein was a formative experience in his career as a filmmaker and author, and the 20th anniversary of his documentary Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control.

‘The B-Side’ director Errol Morris (Photo: John Lamparski/Getty Images)

As we see in the film, Elsa Dorfman keeps all of her “B-Sides” in her home and office. You must have a library of outtakes and unused material from past films — where do you store your own B-Sides? I have so many projects that never got made, I suppose you might think of them as B-Sides. For Elsa, she came to call the rejected photographs a B-side, and the irony, of course, is that the B-Sides are often the better photographs. Which is really interesting: Why do we pick one photograph over another as being somehow better? But the term has all kinds of resonance, because Elsa tells us that she never got her due as a photographer. She was always an also-ran, never a gallery [artist], and never [received] acknowledgement as a serious photographer. That’s something that I hope the movie helps remedy, because I’ve always seen her as a major artist.

What interests me about the film is the idea of ownership: Elsa owns a piece of her clients’ lives in the form of these pictures, and you own the outtakes of projects that didn’t move forward. How does that make you feel, knowing that you, in a sense, own a little piece of your subjects’ lives? It’s strange. That’s [the process] of making a movie about someone; you change your life, you change their life. And it clearly is a way of reflecting back on the past. The Fog of War, for me, is a way of thinking about Robert S. McNamara, and reflecting on my relationship with him, and about the history that we’ve both been a part of. Elsa told me very early on, “If you don’t like a photograph, look at it in 10 years. Look at it in 15 or 20 or 25 years.” The McNamara who was in front of my camera — as opposed to the man I demonstrated against in the 1960s — is endlessly fascinating to me. I had come to know him. Was he a different person than he was at the time of the war in Vietnam?

I have thought quite often, and I think this idea comes from Elsa, of stopping time. She tells us [in the film] it’s about nailing down the “now,” but then she reminds us that nailing down the now is impossible. The now is fleeing in front of us, it’s racing on. And that, too, has made me think a lot about photography. The dream of somehow [ensuring] that the past doesn’t escape us altogether. That there can be some remnant, some residue of what’s gone before. And also a sense of loss. My most optimistic notion about my own film is that it’s a kind of elegy for the past where photography plays a very central role.

Elsa Dorfman’s picture of Allen Ginsberg (Photo: Everett)

Do you own any of your own films outright? And is that idea of ownership important to you? I’ve had to sell off most of my films, just in order to make them, or to go on making them. Many of my films I’ve had [creative] control over: it’s been my choice of how to make them and how to edit them. I own very few of them. I don’t know what I would do with them. But most artists end up selling their work in some way or another. That is, if there are people willing to buy.

In the film, we hear Elsa musing about donating her photographs to an archive. Have you made similar plans? There’s a number of people who have offered to take them. I’ve gotten offers from maybe half a dozen different institutions that are interested, but I haven’t done anything with them. I would like them to live somewhere, but I’m not going to worry about it for a while. I’d like to make a couple more films first!

Elsa expresses a similar attitude; part of her reticence to the idea seems to be that it acknowledges a mortality that perhaps she’s not ready to accept yet. I think that’s discussed on camera. Not directly: it’s not my asking her, “Elsa, how do you feel about dying?” [That’s] something that I would never do. But there are ways that you can discuss mortality without doing that kind of thing, and I think it’s something that is discussed, either directly or indirectly, throughout The B-Side. It’s very much part of that movie…the impermanence of everything, including ourselves.

Watch a clip from ‘The B-Side’

yahoo

Speaking of your unfinished works, early on in your career, you interviewed the serial killer, Ed Gein, whose crimes where the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. What state does that material exist in now? Have you ever revisited it? I might. In fact, Penguin has asked me to do another book, and I proposed a book entitled, Murderers I Have Known, and certainly Gein would be one of them. I don’t have film footage [of him]. I wasn’t a filmmaker when I interviewed him. They were audiotapes. It’s a remarkable story [that] people are still fascinated with 70 years later. I’m not altogether sure why; perhaps because the crimes were so outlandish. And maybe also because of Psycho.

Was that a formative experience for you as an interviewer? And what techniques have you learned over the years about how you pose questions to people? All of those early interviews that I did were very much formative. [As was] reaching people to talk to, and investigating a murder. Those are all things that I started to do very early on, even before I became, technically speaking, a filmmaker. I don’t think there’s a technique [to interviewing people]. I think it’s the technique of actually engaging with people: talking to them, listening to them. It’s about a relationship. It’s about actually caring to listen to someone, and trying to uncover something about them that goes beyond the perfunctory, to a level of emotional engagement. If you’re not emotionally engaged in your subject, then you can’t do this, I don’t think. Or you can’t do it well.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, which is one of my favorites of yours. What are your reflections on that film, two decades later? I love it. My wife pointed out to me that Fast, Cheap is one of her favorite films, and she thinks that The B-Side is the closest film I’ve made to it. And I know why she thinks that’s the case, because that too was an elegy. I made it right after my mother and stepfather’s death, and it is about the loss of everything. All of the characters talk about disappearing, principally the topiary gardener [George Mendonça] and the lion tamer [Dave Hoover]. You have a feeling of, “We’re here today, but gone tomorrow,” but you also see the nobility of it all in carrying on and creating something. [George] gets up on those ladders and he’s trimming. It’s remarkable. He’s no longer with us; he died years ago.

Watch the trailer for ‘Fast, Cheap & Out of Control’

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The one thing I learned from making The B-Side is that something does remain, and those are the things you can love. I love it when Elsa says about Allan Ginsberg, “He gave me the gift of friendship.” She was giving me that gift as well, and for that, I’m grateful.

We hear a lot today about jobs that are falling away because of automation; society overall seems to be moving in a more mechanized direction. Is there any fear in your mind that filmmakers might be replaced by machines? I think there’ll always be room for art. I mean, it’s part of what we do. It’s part of the human enterprise. So maybe that will endure. Will it endure forever? Well, maybe nothing will.

Would you be interested to watch a film directed by a robot? Sure, I’d watch it. If it was a nice robot. [Laughs]

‘The B-Side’: Watch a trailer:

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