India Then and Now
Benazir Bhutto’s last moments before assassination
What a courageous woman! She knew she was a target and yet she tried to make change. I am shocked that such a figurehead from such an important country (Pakistan is a nuclear state) can be so easily killed. Long ago, I predicted Musharraf will end up being a major problem to the people of Pakistan, I got a couple of harsh comments which accused me of trying to rag on Pakistan. Like I said then, it had nothing to do with the country but everything to do with the fact that there is no such thing as a benovolent dictator. He will remain in “power.” Powerful enough to call himself President or Prime Minister but not powerful enough to tackle Al Qaeda. That requires the vote of confidence from the people which I doubt will ever be given to him.
These photographs are heartbreaking in so many ways. The possibility that she could have lived if she didn’t stand up through the car’s sun roof, if she was more relunctant to be so close to the people. And so on.
Our list of Best Online Videos for 2007
This is our second annual “best of” list. Like the 2006 list, this isn’t one of your neat and tidy “best of 2007″ lists. It is not like I have a problem deciding, after all we have posted over 1360 posts (and some posts have several video links), but I think all of these videos listed below are too deserving to be slighted. So if you see a strange category, you can attribute that to the video’s insistence on being heard.
While 2006 seemed like a banner year for online video, 2007 seemed to bring out a lot of pessimism that mainly revolved around the question of profitability. Also, the online video market continues to get saturated with content, just like old school blogging did. It seems like every blogger has some kind of podcast feed now. The word Youtube is synonymous with online video like Google is with internet search (scary?).
It used to be that among my circle of friends, I would be one of the initial people to find out about an online video phenomenon. This is no longer the case. I cannot tell you how often I feel l am either late to the party or missed it completely. The internet has become the biggest, baddest, most chaotic cable channel in the world and everyone is getting hip to it.
SHORTS
We had some great shorts this year, some from the years past but we found them online this year, so it officially fits our very loose guidelines to be eligible for our 2007 list.
Best Short: One Rat Short (Post) - From the story to its execution, this short is flawless. It is a dark tale of romantic love between two rats that steals from Romeo & Juliet as much as from Pixar.
Best Abstract Short: The Outlaw Son (Post) - There are no rewards in this film, you can choose to be in the moment or not. The One Rat Short showed how much can be done with excess, the Outlaw Son shows how much can be done with minimalism.
Best Animated Short: Jojo in the Stars (Post) - I saw this years ago at Resfest. The online experience is not the same, to say the least. Those rich blacks are washed out and the little animated touches are almost completely lost. Nevertheless, what a film! The animation is breathtaking. When she makes her appearance from the disco ball, I remember wanting to jump up and scream.
Best Comedic Short: The Shovel (Post) - Another film, I was lucky enough to see at a festival. Many films possess bigger, funnier set-ups and jokes but this comedy stands out because of its restraint.
- Dear Stranger - Yes, it is my film. But even if it weren’t, it would be here.
- The Raftman’s Razor - It doesn’t require several viewings but I always watch it everytime I come across it.
- Atama-Yama - Beautifully ugly. Hard to resist scratching your head.
- Forklift Driver - It looks like it is as old as the hills but it is edgier than the recent Tarantino gorefest.
- Wes Anderson’s Hotel Chevalier - One of the most popular posts of the last year. Deserving in many respects.
- Josie’s Lalaland - I went back and forth between this film and Jojo in the Stars in choosing the best animated short title.
MUSIC VIDEOS
2007 has been a great year for music videos. Mainstream stuff is still all about the cinematography but the independent videos are all about the ideas. There is also a return to linearity versus the 90’s simple-minded non-linearity where a video cut back and forth between locations and scenes with no development of any kind.
Among the major video forms, this format seems to be the only one concerned with formal elements in video. Some of that is seeping into shorts but the rest of the film world is largely vanilla.
Best Music Video: Grizzly Bear “Knife” (Post) - Also, the most original video of the year. I am convinced the video was invented by an alien of some kind. For much of it, the video looks like it is concerned with mythology more than the song. And though many believe that the video desecrated the song, I believe the opposite is true.
Other notable music videos:
- Handsome Furs “Dumb Animals” - Seemed like a tragic ending to a great romantic tragedy. Daring, innovative and strange as anything else from this year.
- Tom Baxter - “Better” - The idea is a little cheesy but the end result is quite beautiful.
- Cat Power “Where is My Love?” - A video that Dylan Thomas would have been proud of.
- Dave Gahan “Kingdom” - Architecture & loneliness seem like a perfect couple.
- Plug-In City “Broke On A Wheel” - Cute idea, cute video.
- The Strokes “You Only Live Once” - Money doesn’t necessarily destroy creativity.
- Kate Nash “Foundations” - Girl point-of-view cuteness.
- The Bees “Listening Man” - Guy point-of-view cuteness.
- Feist “1234″ - Yes, from the iPod commercial.
- Dizzee Rascal “Sirens” - Tackles white colonialism with great dexterity.
- Emily Haines “Our Hell” - The effect and the song are a match made in heaven.
COMMERCIALS
What constitutes a successful ad has changed in the last couple of years. The focus is to create a buzz online. A lot of this has already become quite tiresome.
Best Commercial: Epuron (Post) - Simply brilliant.
Most sophisticated ad ever: Martin Scorsese’s Key To Reserva - The plot seems to play with genre than anything else. Is it a documentary? a short? an ad!
VIDEOBLOGGING
I am somewhat disappointed with the general direction videoblogging seems to be taking. Talking heads with a lot of personality get the views.
Best Videoblog: Alive in Baghdad - I am amazed at the result as much as how it comes about.
Best Post: Banana Bus - I award myself in all humility. So far, there is not a person who I have met who has not been seduced by the little bus.
Best Series: Young American Bodies - Some of the most daring videos from any medium.
Best Comic Series: Psycho Bob - Scary as much as funny.
OTHER AWARDS
Best Viral: Ninja Warrior (Sasuke) Makoto Nagano (Post) - Read the comments from our post to witness its effect.
Best Stop-Motion: Pes - Sneaux “Skateboard” ad (Post) - Pes = Stop-motion. No surprise.
Sexiest video: Room Service (Post) - Boing!
Best Photography Slideshow: Minutes to Midnight (Post) - A great journey highlighted by even better photography.
Best Graphics: Herr Bar “Clark” (Post) - Little to do with FX dexterity as much as prettiness of the images.
Best Video on Art: Paul Rand Tribute Film (Post) - When content and form meet perfectly.
Best Adaptations: Billy Collins Inspired Videos - Can online video bring poetry back to the spotlight? These videos sure do that.
Best Parody: Wheels (Post) - Trailer, parody and short all at once
Best WTF video: Chocolade Haas (Post) - Some have listed as their favorite video of the year.
Second Best WTF video: Nodern’s video (Post) - We are clueless as you are.
Best Documentary: Michael Moore’s Sicko (Post) - Yes, it was available online, illegally obviously.
Coolest Video: Visual Effects on a Trampoline (Post) - I’d be surprised if you haven’t seen it.
Hippest video: Hipster Olympics - If you been to Williamsburg, you know.
Best Mash-up: Put Your Hands Up for Detroit (Post) - Was in the running for the sexiest video of the year as well.
Best Action: Ryan vs Dorkman, part 2 (Post) - George Lucas has nothing on these guys.
Best Action Comedy: Deadly Finger (Post) - Jackie Chan, meet finger!
Best Television: The Office “Dunder Mifflin Ad” - This is a very personal choice. I love The Office and thus this scene.
Best Feature: Four Eyed Monsters (Post) - They put their film online this year. A daring move, much like their work.
Dek has also compiled a list of his favorites which in some ways is different from mine. He has become the primary blogger on this blog, don’t know what we or I would do without him. TickleBooth continues to grow at a healthy pace, 8 times as much traffic as the previous year with less big hit posts and more steady growth.
Thanks to all the submissions, comments and general support.
Blood, Nails & Prayers
A series of photographs by Philips Jones Griffiths on the Philipino Catholic Easter phenomenon. The flagellation brought back memories from my childhood in India.
Watch it (bloody imagery)
TED - Photosynth demo
Even if you are not even a little bit geeky, this demo will rock your world. It is a glimpse into the wonderful future of the web.
Using photos of oft-snapped subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features that outstrip all expectation. Its architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, shows it off in this standing-ovation demo. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle. With an unpleasant grimace. And an ant-sized chip in its lower left molar. “Perhaps the most amazing demo I’ve seen this year,” wrote Ethan Zuckerman, after TED2007. Indeed, Photosynth might utterly transform the way we manipulate and experience digital images.
Simply breathtaking.
Watch it - via HD for Indies
Celebrating 50 Years of Magnum
My favorite publisher of Photography books.
Watch the Wallpaper Slideshow -Â From Magnum - via Kottke
Dave Huth’s digital collages
Videoblogger Dave Huth, who we have feature before here and here, has been doing some fascinating work with collages.
Watch the slideshow - Dave’s video site
Minutes to Midnight
A slideshow/ video on the behind-the-scenes of Trent Park’s Minutes to Midnight. One of the most outstanding, awe-inspiring collection of photos I have ever seen.
Park and his partner, both Australians, travel through the Australian outback in an effort to document the Australian spirit. Fascinating, inspiring and incredible. I can’t wait to get my hands on the book. A must-see!
In 2003, with wife and fellow photographer Narelle Autio, Parke drove almost 90,000 kilometres around Australia. He had been saving for five years to make a road trip, but finally set off after noticing a newspaper survey that claimed most Australians thought their country had come to the end of an era. Parke says it was then he decided that the time had come to find out what his country had become. Minutes to Midnight, the collection of photographs from this journey, offers a sometimes disturbing portrait of 21st-century Australia, from the desiccated outback to the chaotic, melancholic vitality of life in remote Aboriginal towns.
Dreamlike slow-motion thingee (updated) is ASHES AND SNOW
No idea what this piece is called because the person who posted this absolutely stunning video on Youtube conveniently left the name, the appropriate tags and the credits from the piece. Argh!
This dreamlike slow-motion piece is visually one of the most stunning things I have ever seen. The sequence of images seem to form lines of a visual poem. Something derived from Buddhist mythology with generous spicing of sepia, Indian ragas and nature.
(If anyone can provide any info on the video, please leave it in the comments.)
Update: Commenter points out that it is the work of Gregory Colbert and the title of the project is Ashes and Snow.
Since its debut in Venice in 2002, more than a million people have attended Ashes and Snow, an exhibition of more than 50 large-scale photographic artworks, a 60-minute feature film, and two 9-minute film haikus by Gregory Colbert.
Thanks F. Hamelin!
Four Eyed Monsters – Episode 8
I was getting a little antsy with no new FEM episode in a while but finally…
I was getting tired of all this actor drama and hoping they would move on. They did kinda. The first half is more on the actors wanting more credit (as in directing credit) and they are going to bitch and complain about it. The crew, outside of Arin and Susan, are fed up and they lose it. It was wonderfully interesting.
Then there is a twist towards the end. It seems the third act of this drama is upon us. You will need to see the podcast to find out. Let me put it this, the drama only gets better!
Watch Episode 8 – Subscribe in iTunes
Related Links:
– My interview with Four Eyed Monsters
Inner-city London, a photo-essay
Powerful photo-essay by Simon Wheatley.
Dance, Monkeys, Dance!
Some of the monkeys read Nietzsche
The monkeys argue about Nietzsche
without given any consideration to the fact
that Nietzsche
was just another fucking monkey.
A clip based on a spoken word poem by Ernest Cline, with images taken from Google.
I usually don’t dig too much for such stuff, but this one amazed me.
Watch it on YouTube.
Download it. [Quicktime]
Listen to the poem. [MP3]
Post Secret
Still one of my favorite websites. So simple an idea, yet the result feels so complex.
Banksy: A modern day Robin Hood?
It is generally hard for me to find artists to look up to for it is hard to find artists whose work have both content and style. And among those artists I do admire there are very few graffiti artists on the list. In the past, I found the art-form had very little to say and usually repetitive. However on discovering Banksy and some of the work on Wooster, I have begun to appreciate the medium. When done effectively, graffiti can sneak up on you, challenge established ideas inside and outside of you. Here is a quote from Banksy’s website:
Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw wherever they liked. Where every street was wash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a living breathing thing which belonged to everybody, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall - its wet.
Banksy is well known for his museum stunt where he placed some of his art alongside museum pieces considered classics. But my personal favorite is his recent work on the Segregation wall that separates Israel and Palestine. Like most graffiti, the work was done under duress, well, in this case extreme duress. But the resulting work is light, playful that ponders innocent questions and moments.
Banksy’s site – The Segregation Wall – Old Guardian Story on Banksy & Wall
Mark Holthusen’s Photography for Ça Ira
Ça Ira is an opera scored and directed by Pink Floyd founder, Roger Waters. The opera revolves around the French Revolution. The style of the opera was simple enough, a black-clad orchestra performing to the backdrop of Mark Holthusen’s photography. The photography is absolutely stunning, one of the few times I have ever been excited about watching an opera.
The photographs are enhanced to look grand rather than to imitate reality. The backdrop, the props and costumes are some of the best I have ever seen. Holthusen’s photography outside of Ça Ira is very similar in style: painterly, staged, abundance of costumes, and decadent in nature. In the photographs that look current or have modern subjects, his photography seems stalled in mid-sentence.
The entire site is in Flash so I really cannot link to any particular images or pages. However, I recommend you check out the slideshows for the various acts and the videos in the “Downloads” section.
Visit & play Ça Ira photos - Holthusen’s portfolio site
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