Grain Lover

Well, it's the end of the year and that means it's the holiday season and what better time than now for an annoying rant about the state of film. Today I would specifically address digital film/projection. I'm finding the move to the digital realm a little troubling in terms of public viewing. For me, the character of film lies in the very term, "film." That is what it is (or was, I guess), a physical object that can become a shared experience by becoming intangible. That is film's great awe, its mystery, and what creates a unique viewing experience. The grain of every strip of film is different; dirt collects differently; there are breaks and imperfect splices that are annoying, but give the presentation uniqueness or, in other words, a soul.

See, film is alive, it exists, it has mass and it ultimately deteriorates and dies. It is the physical (actors, scenery, etc) chemically recorded via intangible means in reverse (light focused through a lens onto films, developed into a negative, then printed into a positive for release to theaters), transported in a tangible state (the film), then becoming intangible again for an audience to view it (light through film and projector). Film is lightning in a bottle, light stored and shared. There is a beauty and life in this, that is absent in digital projection. The perfect nature of it removes the soul of the 'performance.'

Think of it in terms of music, phonographic LP's are a 'dirty' medium (hiss, pops, skips) but they have a life and character to themselves that compact discs cannot match. Their imperfections create a unique performance and object, it gives each LP its own life and aura (or warmth to use a more common phrase) that just cannot be found in a 'clean' medium such as the CD. Hence, you sometimes have artificial 'noise' added to songs to give them atmosphere, to create the illusion of an LP. In film we now see the same thing occurring in movies such as 300, which was artificially 'grained' to give it texture that would be otherwise missing; to give this film, produced digitally, a warmth and reality that would otherwise be missing.

There is no turning back the tide, film projectors are bound to be slowly phased out, and I would be lying if I was to say that there is no good in the move to digital (although I won't go into that now). I do feel, however, that much of the magic in film is being lost and it makes this viewer, for one, a little sad.

The Soup: Rainbow Brite

Sinus Infections Derail Household

Well, a spat with some nasty germs living in Z and my sinuses has kept me away for a bit. We're not better, but we have the finest chemicals modern science can provide us working for us now, so we don't have to do all the heavy lifting. Listening to the John Denver & Muppets Christmas album seems to help, or maybe that's the decongestant talking.

Anyway, watched part of the Sigur Ros film "Heima" yesterday, which is an absolutely beautiful document of the band and their home, Iceland . It's very rare that (what is essentially) a tour film truly expresses the soul of a band, but this one far surpasses that mark and I, for one, couldn't be happier that it has occurred with this particular band.

If the point of music is to create a transcendent state in the listener, Sigur Ros is one of the few 'rock' bands in existence that actually achieve this. To provide some perspective, I attended my first live performance by the band about 3 years ago; that day I was in considerable pain, I would, in fact, be in the hospital the following day having my appendix removed. That night, however, my pain was lifted. The absolute beauty of the performance was so overwhelming that there was nothing else left in the world, it was all-consuming. That feeling returned watching "Heima." I have not finished the film at this point, but it would take something extremely terrible to destroy this experience. I really do not need to go further to be able to say that I wholeheartedly recommend this film to anyone. Sigur Ros may not become your favorite band, but I think you would be hard pressed to not find something to love about this film.

Alcohol Magic

Guys night out. Brad figures out how to hold his beer without using his fingers.

Literary Laws #502

If you are reading something and the word "accredited" is used as an adjective, what you are reading is boring.

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A Soft Opening

Okay, so I guess it's time I get this thing rolling - I've been talking about it for quite some time now... Anyway, welcome to what is sure to be a completely unique blogging experience. Alright I've lied to you already, this will pretty much be like any other blog, filled with useless information about things that I am obsessing over. I mean, really, why are you reading this?

So I guess if you really want to know what is going on in my ratty little head, stay tuned for more fun little nuggets of information like this:

I like cheese.

See, you really needed to know that, didn't you? Now go be productive.