Sharon Tingley posted a bunch of totally radical photos of hers from the 70’s. Check ‘em.

(via mystic-lady)

My pal Kasia just posted about this Criterion release of the classic experimental William Greaves film Symbiopsychotaxiplasm.

In his one-of-a-kind fiction/documentary hybrid Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One, director William Greaves presides over a beleaguered film crew in New York’s Central Park, leaving them to try to figure out what kind of movie they’re making. A couple enacts a break-up scenario over and over, a documentary crew films a crew filming the crew, locals wander casually into the frame: the project defies easy description. Yet this wildly innovative sixties counterculture landmark remains one of the most tightly focused and insightful movies ever made about making movies. Criterion presents this long-unreleased gem in a special two-disc edition, along with its sequel, Take 2 1/2, made thirty-five years later with executive producers Steven Soderbergh and Steve Buscemi.

I haven’t seen this yet, but I certainly want to soon! How gorgeous is that cover art, huh?

I’m so excited about this film! When you live in Philadelphia, Zagar’s work creeps into your consciousness with this odd iconic ubiquity. So strange, and yet so beautiful and literally found in every nook and cranny of this city. The film was made by Jeremiah’s son, so it’s sure to be an intimate family portrait which tend to be some of my favorite kind of films.

Synopsis:
Over the past four decades, Isaiah Zagar has covered more than 50,000 square feet of Philadelphia with stunning mosaic murals. In A Dream is a documentary feature film that chronicles his work and his tumultuous relationship with his wife, Julia. It follows the Zagars as their marriage implodes and a harrowing new chapter in their life unfolds.

I can’t believe I missed the theatrical showing of this film last April, but now it’s coming out on DVD(?) and I plan on seeing it asap. Maybe it’s time for a documentary film house party! Who’s in?

[UPDATE: Luckily, I was wrong about that date - it's actually going to be in the Ritz at the Bourse starting April 17, 2009! Yes! Let's all go! Who's in?]

This is pretty amazing work from Flickr user Ettubrute.

On my night time flight back to SF from Amsterdam, I noticed that the lights from cities were making the clouds glow. Really spectacular and ethereal – it was really seeing the impact of urban environments from a different perspective. Each glow or squiggle represents one town or city!

Luckily the flight was half empty, so I was able to set up a impromptu mound made up of my bags, pillows, and blankets for my camera to sit on.

We were around the midwest at the beginning of the clip, and there were fewer cities once we hit the rockies. the bridge at the end is the san mateo bridge.

Technique: 1600iso; beginning – 1 (30sec) exposure / 45secs, end – 1 (4sec) exposure / 10 secs; total elapsed time: around 3 hours?

Music: Bloc Party – Signs

I got to thinking about it today because my pal Hudson reblogged a link to this NY Times article about a similar (albeit more modern) subject.

Cool fanboy aside: I was given my copy of this film by Bill’s brother and frequent Richard Linklater collaborator Lee Daniel when we met at Sundance ‘07.

Who is Bozo Texino? chronicles the search for the source of a ubiquitous and mythic rail graffiti– a simple sketch of a character with an infinity-shaped hat and the scrawled moniker, “Bozo Texino”– a drawing seen on railcars for over 80 years. Daniel’s gritty black and white film uncovers a secret society and it’s underground universe of hobo and railworker graffiti, and includes interviews with legendary boxcar artists, Coaltrain, Herby, Colossus of Roads, and The Rambler. Shooting over a 16-year period, Daniel rode freights across the West carrying a Super-8 sound camera and a 16mm Bolex. During his quest he discovered the roots of a folkloric tradition that has gone mostly unnoticed for a century. Taking inspiration from Beat artists Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac, the film functions as both a sub-cultural documentary and a stylized fable on wanderlust and outsider identity.

My good friend and mega-talented painter Mike Yoder just hung a solo show of new paintings on at Lycoming College Art Gallery. He does stunning work, with vivid, in-your-face color that slams you with a dichotomy of the beauty and the horror of fiery images of war.

On Facebook, you can see a photo gallery of the show here.

If you’ve ever been to my house, you’ll know that we have one of Mike’s paintings (a slightly older work done during an artist residency in Marfa, Texas) hanging proudly in our living room:

I just picked up a couple of these shirts from MoveOn.org who are giving them away if you donate towards their campaign to sign up 500,000 young voters in swing states. While you’re there, be sure to check out their pretty righteous “Manifest Hope” art gallery.

As an aside, I think it will be very cool/creepy if all my friends bought one and we wear the shirt around town on coordinated days. Um, no.

As an additional aside, even though I keep posting about it, I do still hate politics. I just can’t seem to give them up during a presidential campaign season. *sigh*

Oh, and in case you hadn’t heard before: Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilot was a governor.

The time it took. The energy. The planning. The foresight. The danger. The vision. This is shear and utter genius (plus some good old fashioned hard work).

Blu, whoever you are, I salute you. Applause all around. You will go far.