watch this:
That made my eyes tear up. For me, sixth grade was the worst. I felt really, really alone and weird and like there was something wrong with me. The boy in the trailer breaks my heart because I just know he is going to the best and coolest kind of person ever if he can just get through the next 5-7 years. I wish he could know that I care about him. And think he's so much cooler than the a-holes behind him on the bus. I wish he could know that everything really is going to get better.
Around the time I was in 6th grade (really from 2nd grade through 6th grade) I loved to listen to a storybook on tape every night as I was falling asleep. I listened to the same one over and over. Which was also the book that was the first book I read aloud but I'm not going to say what the title of it was because you might become distracted from the point I'm really trying to make, about how wonderful it is to listen to someone tell a story in the dark. I listened to this as I was falling asleep the other night and I recommend it highly. Will has a great voice, a sort of ambiguously regional but extremely local-feeling radio station voice, and also a great voice in the other sense. listen here. (I especially recommend the interview/play that starts a little over 18 minutes in.)
Showing posts with label I dare you. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I dare you. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
thank you stella
For all the magic you are always spreading around...
From: Stephen Elliott
Date: Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Subject: (The Daily Rumpus) notes on editing
To: the-daily-rumpus@googlegroups.com
A friend said to look at The Limey by Steven Soderbergh. You could see the editing, like a pattern on an expensive shirt. The movie was the editing, as opposed to the acting or any of the other elements. I wondered if the point was to save a film that didn't otherwise work but my friend said No, it had to be shot that way.
So I watched Out Of Site, perhaps Soderbergh's best. In Out Of Sight the editing is again on display, but it doesn't overtake the acting, or the music. You never wonder what the film is about. It's perfect. A symphony.
A friend encouraged me to write about editing. I don't know enough, or anything, I said. She said try. I decided to conflate her, marry two story lines. You can do that, cut out entire threads, why consummate anything, have everything be an open question. Let the viewer decide their own stories while your protagonist stares off, quiet.
The thing is there's a story that never rings true when you tell it yourself, the story where you apologize for a lover's failures. Or, like a guy I knew in Amsterdam who mentioned the way the window girls winked at him. They wanted someone younger and better looking, he said, and I laughed. Though there was Toine. The Nigerian lady did knock on the glass and invite him in for free. But... I think about the porn star who wanted to have sex with Vin Deisel. She wished he made porn. Why not sleep with him anyway? No, she wanted to get paid for it.
I dated a girl who had a client and a slave. They both got her symbol branded on their bodies. I didn't get branded; I was just the boyfriend. Her husband didn't get branded.
It's not uncommon for a sex worker to have a special client. It's just complicated. The movie Going Under is about that.
In this conflated world she said, You always go there; it's like you're hiding. She wrote me first. She said, You're like an irresistible trick. He said, Why am I the only person in the whole world who's not allowed to see you naked? She said, You love me, but not enough to jerk off to someone else. My friend said, That's just like you and me. I said it was just a movie. I said, Actually, yeah, that's the point.
**
What I look for when I'm editing is shape. Here she's a little stronger, here she's a little more shy. If she's awkward maybe I play her best lines on the back of her head and focus on her when she isn't saying anything. I like dialogue from people I can't see but I don't like to see a character from the front saying something without her lips moving. If you're not going to see someone again I might play a song over their scene that continues deep into the next, so it's like a montage, especially late in the film.
I learned the software so I can try something, a cut or a song, and only tell the editor if I think it works. The editor's time is more valuable than mine. I don't want to waste it. She cuts to rhythm, she fixes scenes that otherwise wouldn't work. She knows how to cut around people. I like it most when she takes risks. She's cut many films and knows so much. We both lean toward discordant notes.
So that and I read works that wouldn't make any sense to me if I wasn't in the middle of trying to do it. But right now I inhale them. Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Walter Murch. And I watch movies. And I'm amazed by how much I don't know. I could write a whole book about it.
From: Stephen Elliott
Date: Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Subject: (The Daily Rumpus) notes on editing
To: the-daily-rumpus@googlegroups.com
A friend said to look at The Limey by Steven Soderbergh. You could see the editing, like a pattern on an expensive shirt. The movie was the editing, as opposed to the acting or any of the other elements. I wondered if the point was to save a film that didn't otherwise work but my friend said No, it had to be shot that way.
So I watched Out Of Site, perhaps Soderbergh's best. In Out Of Sight the editing is again on display, but it doesn't overtake the acting, or the music. You never wonder what the film is about. It's perfect. A symphony.
A friend encouraged me to write about editing. I don't know enough, or anything, I said. She said try. I decided to conflate her, marry two story lines. You can do that, cut out entire threads, why consummate anything, have everything be an open question. Let the viewer decide their own stories while your protagonist stares off, quiet.
The thing is there's a story that never rings true when you tell it yourself, the story where you apologize for a lover's failures. Or, like a guy I knew in Amsterdam who mentioned the way the window girls winked at him. They wanted someone younger and better looking, he said, and I laughed. Though there was Toine. The Nigerian lady did knock on the glass and invite him in for free. But... I think about the porn star who wanted to have sex with Vin Deisel. She wished he made porn. Why not sleep with him anyway? No, she wanted to get paid for it.
I dated a girl who had a client and a slave. They both got her symbol branded on their bodies. I didn't get branded; I was just the boyfriend. Her husband didn't get branded.
It's not uncommon for a sex worker to have a special client. It's just complicated. The movie Going Under is about that.
In this conflated world she said, You always go there; it's like you're hiding. She wrote me first. She said, You're like an irresistible trick. He said, Why am I the only person in the whole world who's not allowed to see you naked? She said, You love me, but not enough to jerk off to someone else. My friend said, That's just like you and me. I said it was just a movie. I said, Actually, yeah, that's the point.
**
What I look for when I'm editing is shape. Here she's a little stronger, here she's a little more shy. If she's awkward maybe I play her best lines on the back of her head and focus on her when she isn't saying anything. I like dialogue from people I can't see but I don't like to see a character from the front saying something without her lips moving. If you're not going to see someone again I might play a song over their scene that continues deep into the next, so it's like a montage, especially late in the film.
I learned the software so I can try something, a cut or a song, and only tell the editor if I think it works. The editor's time is more valuable than mine. I don't want to waste it. She cuts to rhythm, she fixes scenes that otherwise wouldn't work. She knows how to cut around people. I like it most when she takes risks. She's cut many films and knows so much. We both lean toward discordant notes.
So that and I read works that wouldn't make any sense to me if I wasn't in the middle of trying to do it. But right now I inhale them. Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Walter Murch. And I watch movies. And I'm amazed by how much I don't know. I could write a whole book about it.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Monday, August 23, 2010
this is a moment for a great speech
Dear President Obama,
Yesterday afternoon I had lunch with several older folks-- a brilliant and thoughtful 72 year-old among them (who as a young man had written his thesis under the mentorship of Mr. H. Kissinger). Before lunch began our host shared with us several news stories he'd printed out from the internet. I was horrified to learn that there are churches across the country holding 'Burn the Qu'ran Parties' on September 11th in protest of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque in Lower Manhattan. I was also frustrated with myself for being so consumed in my own personal bubble that the most I had engaged with this issue was appreciating a detail of FOX's hypocrisy that Jon Stewart had pointed out on The Daily Show a few nights before.
We were all united in our horror and the older folks at the table went on to discuss the intense need for a great speech right now. Having lived through the Kennedy years, the Civil Rights Movement, and Vietnam-- I realized how powerful a role great speeches have played in highlighting atrocities (as well as the redress of grievances) for this older generation-- and I tried to remember the great speeches that have played a role in the shaping of my social conscience. Your speech on Race in Philadelphia from 2008 is probably the speech of my life so far. (I was born in 1980.) I wrote about it here and think about it at least once or twice a week.
I know you are swamped and you are taking a much-needed vacation at the moment but I ask you to please consider making a speech about this issue. I live in New York now and I lived in NYC on 9/11 and I can assure you this Community Center would be a wonderful source of pride for most New Yorkers.
I'm sure you read it already but since this is an open letter-- I found Frank Rich's op-ed quite insightful. Read it here.
Thank you for your time.
Best,
Adrienne
Yesterday afternoon I had lunch with several older folks-- a brilliant and thoughtful 72 year-old among them (who as a young man had written his thesis under the mentorship of Mr. H. Kissinger). Before lunch began our host shared with us several news stories he'd printed out from the internet. I was horrified to learn that there are churches across the country holding 'Burn the Qu'ran Parties' on September 11th in protest of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque in Lower Manhattan. I was also frustrated with myself for being so consumed in my own personal bubble that the most I had engaged with this issue was appreciating a detail of FOX's hypocrisy that Jon Stewart had pointed out on The Daily Show a few nights before.
We were all united in our horror and the older folks at the table went on to discuss the intense need for a great speech right now. Having lived through the Kennedy years, the Civil Rights Movement, and Vietnam-- I realized how powerful a role great speeches have played in highlighting atrocities (as well as the redress of grievances) for this older generation-- and I tried to remember the great speeches that have played a role in the shaping of my social conscience. Your speech on Race in Philadelphia from 2008 is probably the speech of my life so far. (I was born in 1980.) I wrote about it here and think about it at least once or twice a week.
I know you are swamped and you are taking a much-needed vacation at the moment but I ask you to please consider making a speech about this issue. I live in New York now and I lived in NYC on 9/11 and I can assure you this Community Center would be a wonderful source of pride for most New Yorkers.
I'm sure you read it already but since this is an open letter-- I found Frank Rich's op-ed quite insightful. Read it here.
Thank you for your time.
Best,
Adrienne
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
those moments when the world is talking to you
I was talking to a friend the other day about how one of the best parts of camping is how somehow it makes you feel very strongly like the world is talking to you, and something monumental and natural always seems to happen, the times, albeit rare, that I find myself camping... once I went hiking/rock climbing and right around dusk we realized we forgot the headlamps/flashlights/ANY source of light, etc. and we were at that point on top of a mountain, the kind of mountain that doesn't have paths. It was terrifying and lovely and towards the end of my crab-style maneuvering towards the base we saw Aurora Boeralis or "Northern Lights" in the sky. They are very rare at the latitude we were at but they came through for us that night. It looked like a dance made of colorful waves of electricity playing between the sky and the ground. It was epic and magic and thank god I was out there and looking.
sometimes I feel totally lost and can't understand any thing in the world, or at least that's how I feel. And so I start to look for signs...
Here are some from today...
through the radio:
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's "Falling Slowly" from ONCE
Jeff Buckley's "Alleluia"
on a piece of scrap paper I found on the floor:
(handwritten)
It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Never stop dreaming.
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
When we love, we always strive to become better than we are.
When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
Without love, dreams would have no meaning.
Love is the pure language of the world...A language without words…the one true language of the universe. It requires no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time.
Love is the force that transforms and improves the soul of the world.
The Alchemist
in the newspaper:
reading about the collapse of the 160-mile ice shelf in Antarctica-- breaking my heart
but seeing the picture of from the Red Sox's win against Oakland in JAPAN early yesterday morning-- making me feel elated (SPRING! BASEBALL! JAPAN!)
on the street near my house:
giant blooming roses in all the gardens
waves of joy, waves of grief, waves of fear, waves of peace
what is the world saying (to me) today?
sometimes I feel totally lost and can't understand any thing in the world, or at least that's how I feel. And so I start to look for signs...
Here are some from today...
through the radio:
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's "Falling Slowly" from ONCE
Jeff Buckley's "Alleluia"
on a piece of scrap paper I found on the floor:
(handwritten)
It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Never stop dreaming.
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
When we love, we always strive to become better than we are.
When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
Without love, dreams would have no meaning.
Love is the pure language of the world...A language without words…the one true language of the universe. It requires no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time.
Love is the force that transforms and improves the soul of the world.
The Alchemist
in the newspaper:
reading about the collapse of the 160-mile ice shelf in Antarctica-- breaking my heart
but seeing the picture of from the Red Sox's win against Oakland in JAPAN early yesterday morning-- making me feel elated (SPRING! BASEBALL! JAPAN!)
on the street near my house:
giant blooming roses in all the gardens
waves of joy, waves of grief, waves of fear, waves of peace
what is the world saying (to me) today?
Monday, March 3, 2008
leap boy!
well, there is a new man in my life. He is twenty inches long and he made an Auntie out of me and he was born on the most special, truly most rare day of the year.
I came across these blogs, thank you Erica, and they make for lovely and amazing thoughts.
the first one makes me think of the many wonderful boys/men I have known in my life, how there is a little bit of a pirate spirit in many of them... not scary or violent pirates, but adventurous and full of romantic notions and wildly original. I still gotta see Pirates of the Caribbean but I'm thinking the Johnny Depp character, Jack Sparrow, is sort of a good prototype. Swaggering and unpredictable but loyal and with a heart of gold. And this blog is full of great pictures and clever quips and I don't think it's just for boys.
http://theborderlinesociopathicblogforboys.blogspot.com
this next one is by the same author but tackles or just sorta ruminates on questions of a slightly weightier sort. I wish he could go head to head with Hillary and Barack and raise these weaknesses of the euphemized-to-death 'universal healthcare' agenda... I am not big on going to the doctor for a cough or cold, but I think realize that even as I am in one of the lowest income-brackets I am still in the catbird seat when it comes to taking my health and access etc for granted, especially as I don't have a family of my own to worry about.
http://sippicancottage.blogspot.com
I especially like the postings froms February 28th and 29th. And crazily enough, this writer man is from a small little town outside Boston that I have spent a lot of time. Small world.
I came across these blogs, thank you Erica, and they make for lovely and amazing thoughts.
the first one makes me think of the many wonderful boys/men I have known in my life, how there is a little bit of a pirate spirit in many of them... not scary or violent pirates, but adventurous and full of romantic notions and wildly original. I still gotta see Pirates of the Caribbean but I'm thinking the Johnny Depp character, Jack Sparrow, is sort of a good prototype. Swaggering and unpredictable but loyal and with a heart of gold. And this blog is full of great pictures and clever quips and I don't think it's just for boys.
http://theborderlinesociopathicblogforboys.blogspot.com
this next one is by the same author but tackles or just sorta ruminates on questions of a slightly weightier sort. I wish he could go head to head with Hillary and Barack and raise these weaknesses of the euphemized-to-death 'universal healthcare' agenda... I am not big on going to the doctor for a cough or cold, but I think realize that even as I am in one of the lowest income-brackets I am still in the catbird seat when it comes to taking my health and access etc for granted, especially as I don't have a family of my own to worry about.
http://sippicancottage.blogspot.com
I especially like the postings froms February 28th and 29th. And crazily enough, this writer man is from a small little town outside Boston that I have spent a lot of time. Small world.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
my heart today
these are stolen kisses from Miranda July's "Learning to Love You More" website/project. They are assignments, sort of, but there is no one grading them. Also, just like your education, the main person your efforts will benefit is you. I will jump in and add one too:
69. Look someone you care deeply about in the eye and just see what happens.
now, from http://learningtoloveyoumore.com/ :
68. Feel the news.
67. Repair something.
66. Make a field guide to your yard.
65. Perform the phone call someone else wished they could have.
64. Teach us an exercise.
63. Make an encouraging banner.
62. Make an educational public plaque.
61. Describe your ideal government.
60. Write a press release about an everyday event.
59. Interview someone who has experienced war.
58. Record the sound that is keeping you awake.
57. Lipsync to shy neighbor's Garth Brooks cover.
56. Make a portrait of your friend's desires.
55. Photograph a significant outfit.
54. Draw the news.
53. Give advice to yourself in the past.
52. Write the phone call you wish you could have.
51. Describe what to do with your body when you die.
50. Take a flash photo under your bed.
49. Draw a picture of your friend's friend.
48. Make the saddest song.
47. Re-enact a scene from a movie that made someone else cry.
46. Draw Raymond Carver's Cathedral.
45. Reread your favorite book from fifth grade.
44. Make a "LTLYM assignment".
43. Make an exhibition of the art in your parent's house.
42. List five events from 1984.
41. Document your bald spot.
40. Heal yourself.
39. Take a picture of your parents kissing.
38. Act out someone else's argument.
37. Write down a recent argument.
36. Grow a garden in an unexpected spot.
35. Ask your family to describe what you do.
34. Make a protest sign and protest.
33. Braid someone's hair.
32. Draw a scene from a movie that made you cry.
31. Spend time with a dying person.
30. Take a picture of strangers holding hands.
29. Make an audio recording of a choir.
28. Edit a photo album page.
27. Take a picture of the sun.
26. Design an article of clothing for Mona to crochet.
25. Make a video of someone dancing.
24. Cover the song "Don't Dream It's Over".
23. Recreate this snapshot.
22. Recreate a scene from Laura Lark's life story.
21. Sculpt a bust of Steve.
20. Take a family portrait of two families.
19. Illustrate a scene or make an object from Paul Arensmeyer's life story.
18. Recreate a poster you had as a teenager.
17. Record your own guided meditation.
16. Make a paper replica of your bed.
15. Hang a windchime on a tree in a parking lot.
14. Write your life story in less than a day.
13. Recreate the moment after a crime.
12. Get a temporary tattoo of one of Morgan Rozacky's neighbors.
11. Photograph a scar and write about it.
10. Make a flier of your day.
9. Draw a constellation from someone's freckles.
8. Curate an artist's retrospective in a public place.
7. Recreate 3 minutes of a Fresh Air interview.
6. Make a poster of shadows.
5. Recreate an object from someone's past.
4. Start a lecture series.
3. Make a documentary video about a small child.
2. Make a neighborhood field recording.
1. Make a child's outfit in an adult size.
69. Look someone you care deeply about in the eye and just see what happens.
now, from http://learningtoloveyoumore.com/ :
68. Feel the news.
67. Repair something.
66. Make a field guide to your yard.
65. Perform the phone call someone else wished they could have.
64. Teach us an exercise.
63. Make an encouraging banner.
62. Make an educational public plaque.
61. Describe your ideal government.
60. Write a press release about an everyday event.
59. Interview someone who has experienced war.
58. Record the sound that is keeping you awake.
57. Lipsync to shy neighbor's Garth Brooks cover.
56. Make a portrait of your friend's desires.
55. Photograph a significant outfit.
54. Draw the news.
53. Give advice to yourself in the past.
52. Write the phone call you wish you could have.
51. Describe what to do with your body when you die.
50. Take a flash photo under your bed.
49. Draw a picture of your friend's friend.
48. Make the saddest song.
47. Re-enact a scene from a movie that made someone else cry.
46. Draw Raymond Carver's Cathedral.
45. Reread your favorite book from fifth grade.
44. Make a "LTLYM assignment".
43. Make an exhibition of the art in your parent's house.
42. List five events from 1984.
41. Document your bald spot.
40. Heal yourself.
39. Take a picture of your parents kissing.
38. Act out someone else's argument.
37. Write down a recent argument.
36. Grow a garden in an unexpected spot.
35. Ask your family to describe what you do.
34. Make a protest sign and protest.
33. Braid someone's hair.
32. Draw a scene from a movie that made you cry.
31. Spend time with a dying person.
30. Take a picture of strangers holding hands.
29. Make an audio recording of a choir.
28. Edit a photo album page.
27. Take a picture of the sun.
26. Design an article of clothing for Mona to crochet.
25. Make a video of someone dancing.
24. Cover the song "Don't Dream It's Over".
23. Recreate this snapshot.
22. Recreate a scene from Laura Lark's life story.
21. Sculpt a bust of Steve.
20. Take a family portrait of two families.
19. Illustrate a scene or make an object from Paul Arensmeyer's life story.
18. Recreate a poster you had as a teenager.
17. Record your own guided meditation.
16. Make a paper replica of your bed.
15. Hang a windchime on a tree in a parking lot.
14. Write your life story in less than a day.
13. Recreate the moment after a crime.
12. Get a temporary tattoo of one of Morgan Rozacky's neighbors.
11. Photograph a scar and write about it.
10. Make a flier of your day.
9. Draw a constellation from someone's freckles.
8. Curate an artist's retrospective in a public place.
7. Recreate 3 minutes of a Fresh Air interview.
6. Make a poster of shadows.
5. Recreate an object from someone's past.
4. Start a lecture series.
3. Make a documentary video about a small child.
2. Make a neighborhood field recording.
1. Make a child's outfit in an adult size.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
for what its worth
please look at someone/something/yourself today with a little more love
a little more patience
a little more laughter ... humility ... pride
a little more space
look for the subtleties
they are there
I promise
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