Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Abderrahmane Sissako

Last week, Abderrahmane Sissako came to the department for a Q&A. As with many of the guests that we are lucky to get, Sissako was fantastic.

He has an interesting story: born in Mauritania, grew up in Mali, moved to Moscow for film school (VGIK). A short that he made went to Cannes, and garnered much attention to him. He was able to move to Paris and continue to make films on his own terms for French television (but still gets theatrical distribution). Most of his films are based in Africa and there was a screening of his earlier film Waiting for Happiness.

Through an interpreter, he was incredibly sincere, gentle, thoughtful and passionate about his experiences and his philosophies on filmmaking and working with actors.

He also screened a few scenes from his student films all the way up to his latest feature Bamako (in which the World Bank and the IMF are put on trial for screwing up Africa). In the scene he showed us, a villager comes to the podium and just starts singing in some native language that is not translated. However, everything the man is singing about is incredibly clear to the viewer. Perhaps one of the greatest moments on film that I've ever seen.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Mike Trent Hates Canadians (i.e Black People)


I couldn't make this stuff up folks....

Assistant District Attorney in Harris County, Texas sent out an email referring to "Canadians" in the jury of a case he had just won. Problem is that obviously, there were no Canadians on the jury (and further, it wouldn't be possible for a Canadian to sit on a jury). However, there were a few black folks.

From the Urban Dictionary:
Canadian:

Expression for black people used by whites as "code" when they want to refer to blacks in a semi-derogatory manner without being detected in a group of people

"Jeezus, look at all the Canadians out tonight."


Of course, the guy in question is claiming no foul, and is quoted as saying: "Am I insanely stupid enough to send a racial slur to 250 LAWYERS? Litigious, complaint-ready lawyers, some of whom are African-American?? That is just absurd."

Well, I guess you are probably not insane...but definitely stupid. Not to mention ignorant.

Just a further illustration of the systemic racism that plagues the justice system everywhere.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Skull and Bones


Washington Square Park - Under Construction
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

If you've taken a jaunt through Washington Square Park recently, you'd realize that you couldn't get pretty far. They are pretty much tearing it up and it has caused much uproar amongst community groups. The biggest change will be the alignment of the large fountain with the arch. Personally, I feel that this is a nice aesthetic move as I think beauty is inherent with balance.

Is it worth millions of dollars, well that's another story.

During the digging yesterday, crews came across several skeletons that no doubt are hundreds of years old stemming from the park's previous use as a burial ground.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Low Budget Science


My current forte is low budget filmmaking. I enjoy the thinking and creativity involved in making decisions with minimal cash flow.
However, this thinking can't be extrapolated to my past forte of science.
The Fiscal Year 2008 budget, as tabled, sees huge cuts to science in the US, especially high energy physics. It's effects could be catastrophic, and are already being felt:
-work on the ILC has stopped completely.
-the BaBar experiment will be shut down 6 months early.
-runs with colliding beams at RHIC (my old stomping ground) are being shortened from 30 weeks to 13 weeks.
The list goes on and on. Jobs, knowledge, innovation and training are all on the line. You really should write to the government to stop this.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Dock Ellis: Turn on, tune in, drop out



I was over at snopes.com trying to verify a ridiculous email forward that I got sent (fyi: Walmart did sell flip flops that caused terrible skin infections), and randomly came across the story of Dock Ellis, a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in the 70's.

If you are not part of the enlightened, here's a rundown of one of the most colourful ball players of all time:

-during pre-game warmups, he'd show up in curlers

-he intentionally hit three consecutive batters at the top of the 1st inning. The fourth batter was able to dodge the plunkers and drew a walk. He then drilled two pitches at Johnny Bench's head before being pulled.

-pitched a no-hitter while tripping on LSD!!

I just checked his career stats, and they are pretty good: 138-119 with an OK 3.46 ERA.

Respectable numbers, for someone that probably won't be remembered for them.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Cutting Room Floor


My Editing Station
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms

Editing is another part of the directorial role that calls for tough and quick decision-making. There is so much agonizing done, about performances, the delivery of lines, gestures it can become quickly obsessive.

In extreme cases, entire characters are taken out if the performance is not working, or if it just convolutes the story. IFC has a list of actors that have ended up on the cutting room floor, some of them really interesting: Harrison Ford was in E.T?

My favourite is the case of Adrien Brody whining when his starring role in Malick's The Thin Red Line was whittled down to a supporting role. He's complained ever since, even though it was that film that he pretty much owes his career to.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

B-List Celebrity Sighting: Peter Dinklage

Accomplished actor who was in amongst other things The Station Agent. He also made an awesome cameo in The Baxter.

Spotted him on 11th St at Broadway, walking his dog with a companion.

Monday, January 07, 2008

My Entrance to High Society


Staircase after the Show
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

Last week I went to see War and Peace at the Metropolitan Opera. My only other experience with operas was at the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of 'Samson and Delila' a few years ago, which I really enjoyed.

I went to see it, because a friend of mine is a huge fan of Tolstoy's massive original tome (which still sits unread in the office bookshelf), so I thought that this would be a good substitute. Also The Times also gave it an incredible review a few weeks ago.

The production itself was enormous and long, full of hundreds of cast members all singing their hearts out. So on an epic level it was successful. The production is pretty much divided into two parts (the opening being 'the peace', and the second part 'the war'). I found the former to be a bit slow paced, whereas the latter was was extremely dynamic, passionate and full of great production tricks.

Unfortunately, Subatomic Films hasn't hit the big money yet, so all we could afford were the cheap seats, and sitting so far away, it's a bit hard for the voices to hit you as strongly as they should.