Boonville/Beetlejuice

Tim Burton Exhibition @ MoMA

Picture sampling from Boonville

Boonville Statement (excerpt)

Boonville brings together images from six iconographic American towns of the same name in an effort to present a single, unifying view of America. Whether in New York, Indiana or California, each Boonville possesses archetypal American qualities.

-Timothy Briner

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I was fortunate enough to take a break from Syracuse recently with a weekend outing in NYC with a couple of friends. We did lots and lots of walking and exploring around Chelsea with the intent of checking out galleries and new works. It was wonderful. I encountered a great variety of incredible work by artists I'd never known, including Timothy Briner and his photographs. I remember having somewhat of a visceral reaction to his latest series, Boonville. There was a quality to the composition of those photographs that confronted me, but I still can't quite place what it was that struck me. The images were difficult to ignore.

The following day Jeff and I headed to midtown to see the ongoing exhibitions at MoMA and the Guggenheim. Both were fascinating and really exciting for me, personally. One of the events I encountered at MoMA was the Tim Burton exhibition, an expansive retrospective of his life and work. I've never really been a Tim Burton enthusiast, but I've enjoyed a number of his films and always appreciated his uncompromising and unique vision. The exhibition was staggering in the amount of work on display. There was a ton of great memorabilia, sculpture and photographs that was fun to approach, but what I thought was most fascinating was his earlier (amazingly elaborate) sketches from his alienated youth in Burbank and later how some of those earlier ideas were fully realized in bigger projects. I have to admit that I was hoping they would have Pee-wee's bike on display from Pee-wee's Big Adventure, but unfortunately it was not on hand. Maybe there's only one left in existence and Paul Reubens has it locked in a bunker somewhere down in the Earth's core. I like that thought.

Stray notes from my notebook over the weekend:

• # of times I said "This place will eat you alive." = 12
• # of times I heard someone earnestly say "Meat is really popular right now." = 2
• # of times I forgot to pack underwear = 1
• # of times I heard a homeless man sing "Kiss from a Rose" while riding the subway = 1
• # of times I ran into Kristin Allen-Zito = 1
• best hipster accessory I saw in Brooklyn = Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket

Nailed It

"All of humankind has one thing in common... the sandwich.
I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich."

Liz Lemon explains her worldview to Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock S04E03

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Alright. I'm attempting to breathe some new life into the blog.

Hi.

Hands down the second year working and living in Syracuse trumps the first year experience. I'm into the first semester much more assured of where I want to go with my ideas and my morale has boosted because of that confidence.

Lately I've been directing actors from the drama department. For this class we toil with one particular film scene every three weeks then switch to a new scene. We film, edit, and critique each week. I really enjoy it. It's an empowering feeling, but also incredibly demanding not only to guide the performance, but to devise a strong visual strategy as well. It helps me communicate my thoughts a lot more specifically and so it's good for me to reinforce those skills. I only wish we had more classes like this.

Outside of school I've decided to welcome the fall season with open arms. The weather has shifted quite a bit to all sorts of heavy and light rains. I like that it's gray out more consistently now. People are already moaning and complaining about it, but it's my jam.

Before I touch base again here are some really encouraging words that I read a few weeks ago from Ira Glass on the frustrating early stages of a creative career. It's been on my mind ever since because I think it is absolutely true:

Via Alex of ISO50

Ira Glass on the creative process:

The first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good — it’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. A lot of people never get past that phase and a lot of people at that point quit.

And the thing I would just like to say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. We knew that it didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have and the thing to do is — everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it, if you’re going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase or if you’re just starting off and you’re entering into that phase, you’ve got to know it’s totally normal and the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work.

But Before I Go

I am leaving Washington again to continue school at Syracuse. This was a solid summer and I managed to document small parts of it through the lens of a super 8 camera. The video embedded in this post is mostly raw and unedited with a little music accompaniment. There's no real structure here. Just loosely shot to test the type of film and functions of the camera and also to create somewhat of a time capsule for my friends.

Here is a glimpse of my 4th of July at Daniel's as well as my day at Larabee Beach with Nick. Shot on two rolls of Ektachrome 64T:

Cleo In The Universe

Back on August 2nd a number of people including myself banded together for an arduous one day film shoot for our friend Jimmy Marble. Cleo In The Universe is a project Jimmy wrote and directed about exploring love in the vastness of the galaxy. The script contains a unique blend of multimedia. The process involved using a projector, stop-motion techniques, and archival footage. The bulk of the film was shot on Super 8 with Ektachrome 64T film. It was one hell of a demanding day and everyone did fantastic work. Members of the crew snapped pictures along the way:

photo by Ben Sellon

photo by Ben Sellon

photo by Abiel Hoff

photo by Abiel Hoff

Preparation for the project:
Cleo: The Making of

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Details about Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox have been scarce until a trailer recently surfaced showcasing a lot of impressive stop motion animation and design in the film. The animals and set pieces look wonderful and the cast a pretty classic line up of great actors. The approach to the material seems classy and sober without pandering to a particular kind of audience. I think this is highlighted by a lot of the deadpan humor in the trailer. Count me in. Should be a rewarding experience to sit through.

When you have great children's books being picked up by guys like Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson you are in a special time and place.

1930s-40s in Color

Kitchen utensils hanging below a spice rack with mint, caraway, tyme, and sage jars

between 1941 and 1945.

Marine lieutenant, glider pilot in training, ready for take-off at Page Field,
Parris Island, S.C. 1942 May.

"Backstage" at the "girlie" show at the Vermont state fair,
Rutland, 1941 Sept.

Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room,
C. & N.W. R.R., Clinton, Iowa 1943 April.

Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif.
Shown checking electrical assemblies 1942 June.

Mind boggling images from The Library of Congress' photostream on Flickr. The original images are color transparencies ranging in size from 35 mm. to 4x5 inches. The Library of Congress also has a huge and free assortment of some of the earliest films ever shot in the iTunes U Store. Check out the Edison Companies section. Thanks to Karl for renewing my interest in these remarkable photographs.