alphabet

overheard today on the tram: kid and his dad talk about outlaws, the wild west and cowboys. Suddenly the kid asks: "So, what's your favourite letter?". Almost instantly came the puzzled "Heingh?!" from his father (at this point my face light up in a huge smile and I looked to the other side, so they couldn't see that I was entertained). "Your favourite letter?" the kid replied ignoring his father's confusion. Dad answered promptly: "B". "Mine is 'H'. And your least favourite letter?". "A", the father answered. "Mine is "S", the child continued and when his father asked him why, he said: "You know, I hate this 'sssssssss' (he meant the sound).

Unfortunatelly I didn't get all the arguments for liking "H" but I walked home in a great mood afterwards. It is only a child's mind who can come up with this question. And only a child's mind who can come up with actual letters and reasons for liking/disliking them (the father's answers were "A" and "B" - booooring!).

So what's your favourite letter? Mine is "K". Reasons: Because it's half of "O.K." and because it makes a pretty damn cool undercover agent code name.

picture source: Balázs Szabó's Behance portfolio

personal projects

Whenever I get the time, I want to work on several personal projects:

1. visual inspiration from Romania, is a short series of posts (maybe 5?) that will help me introduce Romanian artists to a larger audience. The focus of these posts lies less on fine arts in the traditional sense but more on urban, pop & digital art and youth culture in Romania. The first part can be found here on KoiKoiKoi.

2. music from Macau is a short series of posts planned for NeochaEDGE. It will profile several bands and DJ's and feature interviews with them and music videos of live performances. I am also planning an article featuring interviews with Portuguese and Chinese people from Macau (music critics, producers etc), who describe and comment on the current state of the local music scene. I am not sure yet, where I could submit such an article, but the people I have met so far, make it difficult for me not to want to put everything I discover on paper.

3. Chinese photography is a young project and the one that motivates me most at the moment. The idea behind it was that I wanted to introduce Chinese photographers, who I discover and interview for NeochaEDGE, to a German audience. Since I have access to both cultures, why not make something beautiful out of it? I have the opportunity to guest-blog for a German photography blog and I received pretty much freedom in what and how I wanted to write. But the more I plan this article, the more confused I become about its concept and what I want to achieve with it. And on top of everything I anticipate that it will take time. It's a long process of viewing portfolios, conversing with photographers, Chinese bloggers and photography experts, using google translator A LOT, deciding on how to showcase together professional and amateur photographers of different generations and different styles. But the wait will be worth it!

It's so exciting to discover, share and hopefully inspire!

digital inspiration from romania vol.1

I recently posted a showcase on KoiKoiKoi Visual Arts Magazine (link here to see the entire post). The idea behind it was to present readers with some examples of creative talent from Romania in the field of digital arts & design. It is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to offer a glimpse at the incredible creative potential of this country. It features Stefan Lucut, Matei Apostolescu, Cristian Ienciu, Sorin Bechira, Claudia Cimpan, Andrei Ograda.

image by Matei Apostolescu

notre jour viendra - teaser

Romain Gavras is the son of acclaimed Greek/French filmmaker Costa-Gavras. Below is the mysterious trailer for his first feature film "Notre Jour Viendra (Our Day Will Come)", starring Vincent Cassel & Olivier Barthelemy.

Gavras' past directing efforts (DJ Mehdi - Sigantune, Justice - Stress & the controversial M.I.A. - Born Free) have channeled towards (violent and distressing) music videos, but these are traditionally long enough to make short films, with a strong narrative and almost seeming as if the music is used as a soundtrack to the moving picture. Considering this, the announcement of the feature film came as no surprise.

Originally titled "Redheads" (oh my! reference to the "Born Free" music video?) the movie deals with the following problematic:

What do you do when you're a red-haired teenage loser with no friends except for an older guy, your shrink? When everyone hates you, especially your family? When all your peers make fun of you and kick you around? The answer: you and your loser buddy blow all the cash you can get your hands on to buy a sportscar, you dress smart and you head for the land of redheads, Ireland. But what starts off as a search for an ideal, gradually escalates into a rampage of hate, violence and self-destruction.

I am looking forward to this movie but I have to say that the trailer itself is beautiful and has definetely caught my eye (and ear).

Offical movie website.

notre jour viendra - feature film trailer from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

work

Through @reese I have come across this wonderful quote from 37signals' book "Rework" :

"You want to feel that if you stopped doing what you do, people would notice."

Basically it suggests that one needs to feel that one's work is needed, helpful and that it makes a difference, that one's efforts are valuable and appreciated. This is the most important driving force behind motivated work.

And this is not just a motto I believe everyone who needs to supervise a group should try to apply when it comes to motivating individuals or teams. It's a question we might as well just ask ouselves, while we're at it. And if the answer is not satifying, we need to change either the line of work, or the "client" ;-)

only man

Here is a very cool video for English band Audio Bullys' "Only Man" (out March 23rd) from their new album "Higher than the Eiffel", which will be released March, 29th.

The video was directed by Jonas and Francois (Justice, Madonna, Kanye West) from famous Paris based production company El Nino. Although their other version of the video is also noteworthy (set as a duel to be the "only man" featuring some nice vintage Porsche cars), this one is definetely an eye catcher, with interesting camera work and awesome custom type molded into sneaker soles:

audiobullys - only man from EL NINO on Vimeo.

via Stefan Lucut

bakuchi dancer

Here is a very nice video for a very catchy song by DOES, titled "Bakuchi Dancer". Unfortunatelly, the quality is pretty poor but considering that it will probably be removed soon, enjoy it while you still can.

howard

It's saturday morning, it's cartoon morning: This week's cartoon comes from Julia Pott, an animator and illustrator from London and member of the TreatStudios collective. "Howard" is a her first-year film from the Royal College of Art and is a beautifully illustrated short animation about falling out of love.

This link was shared by Ma Kuangpei (aka Keats), a Taiwanese animator I have blogged about before.

eureka - review

Eureka (Yûreka), one of my favourite films, is a movie directed by Shinji Aoyama. Interestingly, as I was preparing this review, I have read that it is considered to be THE finest Japanese film of the last decade. It is a sepia-coloured, over 3 hours long, slow-paced film, with little dialogue and soundtrack. It is characterized by documentary - style long - shots and excellent cinematography, composition and editing. And indeed, even though it's long (I watched it in two sessions), there is nothing unnecessary about this movie and every second of it is essential for the entire whole.

The story evolves around the three survivors of a violent bus hijacking: a bus driver and two young siblings. This trauma will eventually mark their lives in various aspects. Two years later, the bus driver leaves his wife, is kicked out of his brother's home and is in search of a place to stay. Interestingly, he manages to find the two children, who had shared the unfortunate hijacking experience with him. But he finds them living alone, abandoned by their mother after the death of their father. These characters then embark on a journey and drive aimlessly in (ironically) a bus across the country. A series of murders complicates the plot and suggests a dark secret that will eventually be revealed towards the end. In short, it is a story about people, who help each other in their spiritual search of something they don't know they were looking for.

It would be too superficial to categorize the film as a draggy, pretentious art - film documentation of three people trying to overcome a deep trauma. In fact, even though slow-paced, this story has elements of a road movie, a drama, a slice - of - life comedy and a psychological thriller. Believe me when I say, it is worth sitting through its entire length and witnessing the characters' rediscovery of life.

I find it amazing how such intensity and complexity of feelings can be conveyed by such simplicity. It achieves what other movies may never be able to, it is moving without being pathetic. It is clean. It is elegant. It is one of the few movies of a very rare and powerful sensibility. And it definetely speaks a different language than anything else you've watched before.

Below is a taster for this wonderful film:

Read an interview with the director on Midnight Eye. Poster source

24 rooms

I am so glad I was finally able to find an embeddable version of this. Here is a video of how a tiny appartment in Hong Kong can ingeniously be tranformed in 24 different rooms.

back to the future

Here's this saturday's morning cartoon: a geat example of creative talent from China. It was made as an MV (music starts at 1:55) for Chinese 8-bit producer Baifan. It is the very first animation by Chinese animator, painter and VJ Wang Meng, whom I had the pleasure to interview for NeochaEDGE.

"When I was doing this series, I put forth a concept I call “I’m gonna regret the rest of my life if I give up my transformers and be a mama’s boy.” (如果为了比别的小朋友小红花多 而放弃玩变形金刚，我会遗憾终生的。)

(...) We started losing that happiness in high school when we were pressured to study excessively, and now we are pressured to work excessively, etc. – but what’s it all for? What’s the relationship between the “ideal” and reality? Is the “ideal” that we spend so much time studying and working really all that great?

Over the last few years there has been a resurgence of all things “retro” in China – 8-bit music, of course, can be included in this trend. This trend has greatly influenced me and my work. I think the reason people are into these things is not because the retro games or fashions of the past are better than the modern games or fashions or whatever. It’s mostly because people nowadays want to rediscover the happiness we all had when we were kids. That’s what’s happening with 8-bit music, it’s being made all over again as a re-fabricated retro thing because it makes us happy."

baden baden

Don't let the name fool you, Baden Baden is a band based in Paris, France. Below is their debut video to the song "Anyone":

via Feingut

brahman

Brahman is a 1995 formed Japanese alternative punk band. Although I only like few of their songs, I appreciate and admire them for their hard work and for having inspired an entire generation in Japan. Below I share the MV for "Silent Day". Did I mention that I have a soft spot for Japanese longhaired stringstummers?

the birthday

Below I am sharing a video featuring Japanese band "The Birthday" performing live "Piano". I love Yusuke Chiba's husky voice, whatever band he's in, it's strong. Very Strong.

One of my favourite songs comes still from the good ol' Thee Michelle Gun Elephant days: "Gypsy Sunday".

puma reinventing the shoe box

Puma has partnered with The Fuse Project to completely redesign the packaging for their shoes. They came to the solution of foregoing a box altogether, and instead used a special bag and a foldable cardboard sheet. This is quite innovative and has several advantages:

• the packaging uses 65% less cardboard than the standard shoe box, has no laminated printing, no tissue paper
• the special bag is made of non-woven polyester consisting of recycled PET, and eventually is also recyclable.
• the special bag has a handle and can also be used to carry the shoes, hence replacing the traditional plastic shopping bag
• this type of "box" takes up less space and weighs less in shipping, which means that a larger amount of "boxes" can be transported at once (economical). It also means that they can be stacked and stored more convenient in the shops who order them.

Puma claims that this new design will save about 8,500 tons of paper, 20 million Mega joules of electricity, 1 million litres of fuel oil, 1 million litres of water and 500,000 litres of diesel.

via PSFK

the white ribbon - review

***may contain spoilers***

Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" was an unexpected find, like a breath of fresh air in a landscape of both mainstream movies and art films that have all forgotten what it's like to be subtle . "They don't make movies like this very often", my friend said. No, they don't.

The movie's strong points are: Incredibly authentic rendition of time, space and characters, wonderful framing and camera work, crushingly magnificent and intimidating dialogues, excellent performances and actor choices.

I did however feel, there were some inconsistencies in the plot (Why did Sigi never tell on the ones that harmed him, once he recovered? Why did the midwife never come back and where did the doctor's family dissapear to?).

But all in all, I believe that it might have been the director's intention to confuse, in order to help the viewer identify with the perspective of the school teacher, who was himself far from beeing the omniscient narrator, we have all been used to lately. Haneke's movie was not going to tell us "who" or "why", it's not about blame or motivation behind actions. It's simply about telling a story of a series of strange and violent events happening in a small rural village in the north of pre-WW I Germany.

And now, this might be my own personal opinion, but I strongly disagree with the idea that Haneke's village is to be seen as a microcosmos to reflect Germany as a whole and that his movie is about the depiction of the generation of children who would grow up into the fascist youth of WW II (you see, that would not be subtle at all). I believe that it stands for how, on a global level, a context of sexual and emotional repression, dogmatic religiosity, familial abuse, mistreatment and oppression of women, strong patriarchal values and social hierarchies can breed evil forces that will eventually exteriorize themselves.

I have found a user comment on imdb that I find quite appropriate:

"A powerful film, sharing so much information without any answers; it takes our mind into overdrive, trying so hard to find a reason for it all. But sometimes there are none; sometimes bad things just happen."

poster source. previously featured trailer. read an interview with Haneke here.

alice in wonderland - review

I've recently seen Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 3D and I have to say that I am deeply dissapointed.

There is little doubt nowadays that the 3D visuals are an enriching experience to any fantasy film. And even though I am both a huge Tim Burton and Alice fan, I was immensely let down by this film. The narrative was poor, the visuals mediocre (although a quite good character and set design) and all in all, I think that whoever knows and loves Lewis Carroll's "Alice" would have a hard time finding that character in Tim Burton's adaptation.

Although this movie was not mainly intended for a very young audience, throughout the time while I was watching it, my thoughts kept sending me back to Wolfgang Petersen's "Neverending Story". I kept wondering when they would make a 3D release of that fantastic tale. On second thought, you know what? Forget about the 3D. Somehow, movies back then had a whole lot more heart:

poster source

t(h)ree

T(h)ree (http://www.myspace.com/projectothree) is a wonderful musical project that brings together, for the very first time, musicians from Portugal, Hong Kong and Macau. The sales of the album will be entirely donated to Unicef Hong Kong. In Macau the sales will be donated to: Anima (http://www.anima.org.mo/now/) and Na Terra (http://www.naterra.org/).

If you want to buy the album, you can contact Bloom Creative Network at www.bloomland.cn/antonio@bloomland.cn

Listen to the show by Hugo Pinto on Próximo Oriente (http://proximo-oriente.blogspot.com/) featuring the music made in Portugal, Macau & Hong Kong, as well as an interview (in Portuguese) with the man behind this adventure, David Valentim:

Próximo Oriente - Edição 17.04.2010 by Hugo Pinto on Mixcloud

I have blogged about Hugo's show before, make sure you follow his mixtapes!

interactive billboard against aggression

This video speaks for itself:

music: album intro The XX

via dosomething studio