art lover, reader of books, capturer of light, manipulator of pixels, teller of stories.
Yup. Big time nerd here. Star Trek Enterprise season 1, one of the better spin offs of the Star Trek franchise is set to be released in glorious Blu-ray next week. More info here.
It also includes a gag reel! And yes. It is my birthday in October. 🙂
The Japan Society is presenting an exhibit titled: Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints running until June. Info here. Prints from the masters including Hiroshige and Hokusai will be presented (everyone knows Hokusai’s tsunami wave with Mt. Fuji in the background) to show their impact on contemporary art, not only in Japan.
I was stunned when I first saw the influence that artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai have on European artists such as van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Degas, and Toulousse-Lautrec. The van Gogh museum in Amsterdam shows the influence (Japanesery) quite clearly. I remember looking twice at both the Flowering Plumtree and The Bridge in the Rain, two “copies” of Hiroshige’s work done by van Gogh hanging in the gallery. It certainly provides a different context to works of the European masters of the 20th century and a different perspective on how best to interpret art history from this same period.
Howard Greenberg, of New York’s Howard Greenberg Gallery, is showing part of his archival photography collection at Paris’s Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation beginning early April through April 21 (two days before I was to arrive — more about this later), in an exhibition that originates at the Musée de l’Elysée photography museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. It leaves Switzerland this week. Since my friend Krista is studying there I sent her a link to the gallery and informed her that I would be eternally envious (a lot of hidden resentment too) that she can enjoy what I will miss.
The collection includes photographic works centering on the role and influence of New York in United States culture in the 20th century and some exceptional imagery from the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.
I read Things Fall Apart many years ago and remember Achebe’s first novel as strong message against colonialism (published in 1958) and cultural imperialism. The role of christianity in the destruction of traditional societies is a common motif throughout Achebe’s work and he became a symbol for anti-colonial literature around the world, including indigenous peoples here in Canada. Achebe died this morning in Boston at the age of 82.
I suggest, if you have the desire and the time, to read this book in conjunction with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) to see the opposing visions of sub-Saharan Africa, one through the eyes of the colonizer, the other, the eyes of the colonized.
Peace.
Yes, the great director passed in 1998 but he would be 103 today. To celebrate, all of his films are being streamed for free this weekend!
The Metropolitan Museum on Art has a great video clip collection of 100 curators from around the world talking about pieces of art that they feel have changed the way that they view the world. Sort of TED for art lovers.
Click here for more.
okay… long week… not much to say except that if you, like me, are sick and tired of the snow and the cold, click here and prepare to smile at the adorable animal photos! 🙂
BBC3 has joined the zombie er, partially dead, movement with In The Flesh. Kieren Walker was once afflicted with Partial Death Syndrome. That’s right, once. The undead are de-undeaded, meaning that with proper medication, these former zombies are about to be re-integrated into society. Walker lives in a rural area and quickly confronts the spectre of prejudice: full blown armed gangs (religiously motivated… always rational and level headed mobs) that are willing to defy the central governments attempt at re-integration. I’m hoping for pitch forks and burnings. Walker also has to deal with recurring flashback from when he used to eat brains. Great first episode! Only two more episodes and I’m certain to watch them all!
More info here, with the trailer.
So we are being blanketed my 5-7cm of snow today. I’m happy since I am heading to the Nordiq Spa this week but not looking forward to going to the gym this morning! Come on summer!
One of Tristan’s university friends is the creator of a great app called Cinemagram. These are images with a portion of the image animated. Very cool effect that takes planning and some Photoshop and After Effects work (or the above mentioned app). A video tutorial is available from this link below.
I noticed this today over at Open Culture, cinemagraphs from Stanley Kubrick films.