don't think twice, it's alright

this is brilliant footage of johnny cash covering dylan's iconic song, don't think twice, it's alright. the first minute is the footage and the rest are just clips of the footage unfortunately.

  

incredible footage. incredible song. obviously dylan's version is better, but this is johnny's take on it and good and worth a listen. must have been an amazing time to be around back then huh?

defining art

as i was going through the introduction to our art & science book, i came across what i would consider a good commentary on the "what is art" discussion.

"in the last century, defining art has become a challenge. in earlier times, it was identified with time-honoured media such as painting, printmaking and sculpture, and was pursued for aesthetic purposes: the creation of beauty, the achievement of realism or the visual exploration of symbols, for example. in the twentieth century, many aspect of art's traditional definition were augmented as artists started working with non-art media, contexts and concepts. new media included technological tools, installation formats, performances, happenings and earth works. dividers between art genres such as sound, theatre, cinema and the visual arts were torn down, and the dominance of eurocentric forms and ideas were questioned. the traditional barrier between viewer and artwork was challenged. artists pursued many agendas besides the creation of beauty, including conceptualism, cultural commentary and socially engaged interventions" (8). 

while it seems that, overall, the discourse has calmed down a bit, i still found this excerpt quite relevant and a nice linear explanation of how art and it's definition is evolving.

so check it out. be ye cool.

austin parkhill

whilst researching different practitioners to interview, i stumbled across austin parkhill. he paints super realistic portraits of people and i found this video of him putting together this piece:

check it out.

video idea: for relaxing times, make it suntory time

i stumbled upon this video of musical artist father john misty's fake promotion of suntory whisky (lost in translation anyone?), which is an obvious parody of a 1970's sammy davis jr ad for the same brand. 

amazing. i can't tell if this guy is a genius or a....genius.

anyway, despite it's simplicity and eccentricity, i think something along these lines could be a good option for the upcoming video project. or perhaps because of those two things, it would be a good option. who knows.

the great debaters

two words: election season. you can't escape it. it is difficult enough to stay in the house without hearing about the upcoming presidential election, and far more difficult to go out without hearing or seeing some reference to it. of course it is important, of course it matters that you vote, but similar to many other people, i have had my fill. and when i've had my fill, i have to find a way to keep things interesting and relevant. to do so, i began a photo series tentatively titled the great debaters, where i have manipulated a photo of the two presidential candidates and inserted pictures i have taken of friends between them. 

no more talk. here are the first few:

1.

2.

3.

these make me laugh, and i guess that's why i made them. i just don't get what's so funny.

dan deacon music video

roaming the internets for proposal ideas, i came across this music video for dan deacon's song true thrush. basically the two dudes filmed a scene in a room, showed their scene to the next two folks, and those two folks were to make a recreation of that scene. the those two folks showed their scene to the next two people and those people did the same, and so on and so forth. it's amazing to see how the video evolves each time the next couple comes in and performs. 

check it out:

anyway, i thought something like this would either be a great idea for my proposal or my video...obviously not exactly the same, but something that employs some of these ideas.

sufjan stevens christmas!

anyone who is looking for some nontraditional christmas music for the upcoming season, REJOICE! sufjan is releasing yet another box set as a follow up to his 2006 christmas release. oh baby, it's cold outside.

check out this lego stop motion video he released promoting the new albums:

NICE!

remember my presentation on michel gondry not long ago? well he made a similar video for the white stripes awhile back. check it out (the production value is a bit higher than sufjans..):