Four Eyed Monsters: New episodes (ep 9 to 12)
It has been a while since we heard from the Four Eyed Monsters (filmmakers Arin Crumley & Susan Buice). We have interviewed them in the past. I have fond affection and respect for them and their work. Many times, since all hoopla died down, I found myself defending them, their work, their way of doing things.
The biggest objection I hear is that they teeter on the obnoxious. A feeling akin to an older person feels to a younger person describing their lives as a grand-new-once-in-a-lifetime event when it is actually commonplace and repetitive. If you are in your late 20’s or later, these podcasts and the drama it revolves around remind you how silly, shallow life is in your early 20’s. But that could be intriguing in its own right.
These new podcasts will not change any of those perceptions. We are in our middle 20’s. The relationship is past the film and focused on itself. The big twist is that Susan has decided to be a stripper. I am a little confused on the reasons. Money, sexual exploration and a bigger-middle-finger-fuck-you to Arin are thrown in the mix. One reason, not touched upon, but in the mind of the viewer, would be that Susan, like Arin, are exhibitionists. It does boggle the mind how much recording taking place. Newest fetish: videoblogging!?
Like all of their earlier podcasts, they are honest about what is going on but not truthful. What I mean is that they are stating and describing what is going on. But nothing else. They have added what must be the most annoying cutaways to enhance these statements. But they stop there. What could be incredible conversations are cut short by a montage of beat-over-the-head physical illustrations of what has already been said.
Still following, still interested. As I have plead to the creators of Lost in the past, be easy with the fill.
Episodes nine, ten, eleven, twelve.
Photograph from Susan’s flickr account.
None of Us are Free: Burma
The None of Us are Free campaign, fronted by MTV, wants to “raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of people that have suffered at the hands of the military regime in Eastern Burma.” The effort became even more relevant “due to this weekend’s cyclone that ravaged the area, killing thousands.”
Part of this campaign, is the short movie Burma, written by Carl Le Blond of creative agency Ogilvy & Mather, Amsterdam, and directed by Shilo Design.
Visit None of Us are Free.
Mato Atom’s Political Stingin’
Two politically charged works from Mato Atom.
Watch Champions (Remembering the New World Order)
Watch McCain: I’m Lovin’ it!
Florian
Two lovers meet one another on a bridge. All is well until tragedy rises from the water.
A short movie by Andrew Gibbs.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Glass, a Portrait of Philip In 12 Parts
Saw this at Full Frame Film Festival. Wonderful portrait of a man whose music I admire more than anybody else’s. It wasn’t the standard documentary on an artist where the film is dedicated in making the subject look grander than they are. The Scott Hicks film is quite intimate, I never realized Glass was a closet Buddhist (he denies it). The filmmaker and the artist doing bring a certain humility to their tasks. Both practice their art because it intrigues them.
Empty Space
A short movie by Firman Machda. Sound design by David Kamp.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Garbage Man
A short cardboard horror story starring Rebecca De Unamuno and Mr. President George W. Bush in the title role.
Produced, shot and edited by James Edwards. Directed by Henry Naylor.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Stuff of Life
The second installment in Amnesty Unsubscribe Me campaign, the first being Waiting for the Guards. As you can guess, this one is about waterboarding.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Nightwish - The Islander
Can’t resist to such beautiful imagery, especially when they’re not just a senseless show up. Also, nice song.
Watch it. (MPEG-4)
Dove Onslaught(er)
Unilever, the makers of Dove beauty products, are buying palm oil from suppliers who destroy Indonesia’s rainforests. Greenpece says they got the proof: they’re causing forest destruction, species extinction and climate change.
Watch the spot.
via fubiz
Orgesticulanismus
It’s an animator’s film with lots of beautiful, wildly creative hand-drawn animation on display. I just find it incredibly inspiring to see skilled animators freestyling and having fun with the graphic possibilities of the medium.
(Amid on Cartoon Brew)
A short movie by Mathieu Labaye.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Betty Marisol Garcia - Firecracker
An elegant and tender film about an American female soldier who has the difficult task of leaving her 7 year old daughter in the responsibility of her mother as she heads off to war. Too much responsibility can also tear families apart.
Death to the Tinman
An adaptation of the origin story of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz series, in which the Tin Man is transformed from a human lumberjack to a metal man without a heart. Ray Tintori transported the story’s basic premise to a surreal, rural 1940s South, replacing Oz magic with evangelical mysticism; pastors, congregations, and the Rapture replace flying monkeys and witches melting upon contact with water.
Watch it. (Quicktime)
Previous Tintori: Time to Pretend.
Maps
The 20th century from an absurd point of view, a lesson of our shameful history. A perfect 3D animation. From the beginning of the second World War this film leads you trough the history of power, money and wars related to them.
Directors: Andreas Thaulow, Thomas Øhlenshlæger.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Todd Tinkham - Alexa
In many ways the film is a series of paintings strung up to tell a story. There are the talking hats, the underwater world, and then the touch. Beautiful. Evocative. Powerful.
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