With the impending release of the Tim Burton version, here’s the very first film adaptation of the Lewis Carroll story. The film has deteriorated noticeably, but considering it was made in 1903, I think you’ll agree it’s held up well.
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Listening to Braille
Interesting NYT article on what it means to be literate in a world of advanced technology – when you’re also blind:
“Horror stories circulating around the convention featured children who don’t know what a paragraph is or why we capitalize letters or that “happily ever after” is made up of three separate words.”
With New Technologies, Do Blind People Lose More Than They Gain? – NYTimes.com
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La Puerta
La la la la la…(UPDATED)
Not sure what to make of this, but at least I don’t need subtitles. As the kids would say, WTF?
UPDATE: Since the original post, I’ve turned up a bit more information on this performer. His name is Eduard Hil (spelt “Hill” in some places, which may not be correct). Someone has put up a fan page about him on Facebook, and a video search on Google turns up a few more of his videos.
Here’s one, more links on this Russian language page.
UPDATE 2: Here’s another video that shows an early clip of Hil from some musical film, followed almost immediately by another clip of him singing a live “remix” of the same song on a Russian chat show of some kind.
Embrace Life
I love well-done PSAs. This one’s been viewed almost 2 million times as I post this, and for obvious reasons. (Thanks, ze frank!)
Joe Green Among the Greens
I’m reminded of an old Victor Borge joke: “…and now a piece by Giuseppe Verdi. Joe Green to you.”
And it was Joe Green, or at least his music, that invaded a market in Valencia, Spain on an apparently ordinary day. Piano music comes over the loudspeakers: somebody’s playing Joe’s tunes. Then a fruit merchant suddenly breaks into song. Heads turn, a crowd gathers – but see for yourself:
The event appears to have been a promo for a local opera company. Someone holds up a sign at the end that says “¿Ves como te gusta la Ópera?”, which, as near as I can tell, translates, “See how much you like opera?” There’s also a long web address at the bottom that I can’t seem to make out, which I’m guessing leads to the site of the company that put on this event. I say “event” because it’s too sublime to be called a “publicity stunt”.
Stephen Fry shared this link on Twitter today, with this comment: “Art truly proves its power when it’s taken out of its usual sphere and seen somewhere ordinary.” Joe Green would have been pleased and proud.
It had me grinning and a little weepy at the spontaneous beauty of it all. Thanks, Stephen! (Or should I say Steve?)
Bob and Ray -Two Classic Sketches
One of my favourite comedy teams, Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding, do two of their classic sketches on the Johnny Carson show – “The Most Beautiful Face Contest” and reporter Wally Ballou interviewing a four-leaf clover farmer. The beginning of the first sketch is cut off, and the video quality is sketchy throughout, but it’s well worth a watch.
An interesting side note: between the two sketches, Johnny asks Bob if any of his children are interested in show business, and he mentions his son Chris. That’s Chris Elliott, who would eventually go on to fame as a regular on Late Night with David Letterman, and roles in movies like Groundhog Day. Now, Chris’ daughter, Abby, has joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. The family was featured in a New York Times Magazine feature article last November.
Now, as Bob and Ray would say as they signed off their show, “write if you get work, and hang by your thumbs.”
(thanks, They Might Be Giants!)
Ten rules for writing fiction
Margaret Atwood:
“Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.”
David Lynch’s A Goofy Movie
In the great tradition of other film trailer reimaginings.
CGI Cinema – Nuit Blanche
A while back I posted a hyperreal CGI short. This one has an actual storyline. Gorgeous film noir look. Easy to see why this won an award. “Making of” video embedded below as well, so you can see where the elements came from and how they fit together.
Best watched full-screen if your machine’s speedy enough. (via)
Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.
Making Of Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.