Friday, April 7, 2017

Charming!












 
 
 
Photo credit: Kimberley Bursic.








Dear Watchful,

Oh, I know, I know, the charm of French bread!!  What a world, and what marvelous people are in it, right now, this minute, ready to show you something you simply must see.  This last few weeks I have witnessed so many things you would love to see, but not everything is easily sent to you electronically.  Just this morning, on the dried stalk of the sunflower, the mating pair of Scrub jays were sharing a moment so intimate that I blushed at watching.  There was the 611th page of giant ball of yarn novel with all manner of different ends sticking out from the windings.  There was a Tiger Swallowtail on a lavish blue violet iris.  And, oh! the wildflowers this Spring!  What can I say that might fit their immensity?

Ah, but what of what I can send to you?   A colleague and I have begun a little platform, a venue, a space for things.  We call it the Idea Lounge, and it Pops-Up, like things do these days.  It's a kind of free college, and it recently featured a screening of excellent animated shorts by
Jan Švankmajer.  Here are the links to the five films, plus a bonus film by an animator that influenced Švankmajer.
 

A Game of Stones, 9 min 1965: https://vimeo.com/99961406
Meat Love, 1 min 1988:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Xqnmk5Zic
Flora, 20 seconds, 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np-kFkDLT7k
Dimensions of Dialogue, 12 min, 1982:  https://vimeo.com/12073562
Darkness Light Darkness, 8 min, 1990:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXQIPv9vNh0

Charley Bowers:
It's a Bird , 1930, excerpt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4I15-7L0ss