(Video link here.) David Saltman sent us this video with the message “YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS”. And he was right, despite its 13 minutes, which is long for us. This 60 Minute profile tells the story of pianist Derek Paravicini who is blind, with disabilities so severe, he can’t tell his right hand from his left. But man, is this a story of unexpected redemption, of extraordinary gifts that can lie hidden in what may have seemed to a be profoundly limited life. It took a young piano teacher who ‘saw’ and nurtured Derek’s musical language, never imagining quite where it would lead.
After we posted Tom Sach’s wonderful ‘love letter to plywood‘, and mentioned our idea to clad our ancient fridge in plywood, a reader sent us the results of her hungry search for MORE Tom Sachs. Somewhere along the line she stumbled on Sach’s video COLOR, about the strict paint color code he uses in his studio. But it goes way beyond that subject. It will really make you begin to notice colors – the particular color of the colors all around us.
The whole world as we experience visually comes to us through the mystic reality of color.
Video link here. Recently Kottke posted this video of the anonymous Chinese man who stood up to a tank in Tiananmen Square. The footage was taken on June 5, 1989, the day after the Chinese military killed hundreds of civilians in an effort to extinguish democratic protest. Most of us have only seen the photo of him standing before a single tank; in fact, there was a long line of them.
We hadn’t seen the video before and looked to find out more: read more…
(Video link here.) Thomas Roebers film ‘Foli’ shows the rhythmic daily life of Baro, a Malinke village in Guinea; it is entralling. Almost eleven minutes long, it can be a lot to watch in a busy day. Break it up, watch bits over the course of a day. It will bring into focus the rhythm’s of your life.
A man who we assume to be one of the tribe’s leaders speaks occasionally throughout. His words form a kind of mantra, poem, prayer, with a rhythm of their own: read more…
UPDATE: Since we first published this post, Una Morera’s video has become inaccessable online, most likely because it was made an official selection for the New York Food Festival. Yay for Morera. So sadly for us, you’ll have to wait until it’s made public again. Fortunately, we sussed the video and its essential quotes, below.
When we first got wind of the Una Morera’s short documentary about Maurizio Negrini, a 3rd generation Italian baker, we callously thought “h-mm-m, bread…probably too specific …better suited for a food blog.”
We found that this beauty of a video goes way beyond its subject into much deeper realms…or perhaps it is that it reminds us what handmade bread is really about. “Artisan baker” is about bread as nourishment and as metaphor, bread as cosmic substance, thoughtfully expressed by Negrini: read more…
If you look closely at this image, you’ll discover that it is composed of the Buddhist Prayer for Peace, each letter cut from the Methodist Hymnal. It is the work of artist Meg Hitchcock, who letter-by-letter, cuts up sacred texts and reformulates them into others, creating a compelling and transcendent fusion. read more…
As a tribute to the 80th anniversary of Alvar Aalto’s famous stool “60″, Artek commissioned Mike Meirè to make a fresh interpretation of that icon of Finnish design. Here, the artist painstakingly handpaints the simple elements of the stool: 3 bent-ply legs, one round seat (showing just how difficult it is to paint a straight edge). It gave us new ideas for transforming the fabulously versatile stool (which we’ve blogged about at great length), copies of which are available at Ikeas in Europe and on Amazon (prime them before painting as the wood has a sealer on it).
The video is also a curiously relaxing, mesmerizing 2+ minutes mediation on paint and process, with lovely music… read more…
(Video link here.) They say that moving homes is one of the most stressful of life events. We are finding that to be true, due to the sheer volume of details that makes up a life: it’s as though we’re in an avalanche, crushed by how much there is to do. Though we keep things pretty spare, we are wondering how things got so complex.
What if we didn’t have all this stuff and accounts and fierce need for HOME? It got us thinking about the video we saw recently about Daniel Suelo who one day decided to give up all money. He moved to the wilderness of southeastern Utah, where he makes a cave his home, foraging for food, living by his wits, creativity and the generosity of friends. Says Daniel: read more…
Last week we went to the opening of an exhibition of artist Holton Rower’s paintings, made by pouring gallons of vividly colored paints onto plywood forms. They are on display at The Hole in NYC, an immense space that Rower’s monumental work fills with reverberating color and energy.
The paintings are made of humble materials: plywood and acrylic paint transformed by Rower’s imagination and daring. Some are so big that they could only be photographed by laying them in the alley behind Rower’s studio and photographing from 3 stories up. Tonight, we went to see him pour a painting and witness liquid color becoming form (as you can, on YouTube). read more…
(Video link here.) Dig this video made by composer Diego Stocco in conjunction with Burt’s Bees. Stocco creates a great beat, simply by shaking tree branches, flicking orange peels, banging on coconuts, mashing his hands through cooked rice, and sifting his hands through almonds – all amplified. Even the buzz of bees make an appearance. Just a reminder that you can find (and make) music anywhere.
Hans Hofmeester filmed his daughter Lotte once a week for the past twelve years. Then he edited snippets of film together to produce this time-lapse video of her growing from a baby into lovely 12-year-old, in under 3 minutes.
For us, GROWING is the operative word. Once you get past 40 or 50, aging often becomes something of conceptual downer, with images of life being half over, on a downward slope toward…the end. This video reminds us that aging is about growing, learning, understanding, revelation, fulfillment…and always: possibility.
(Video link here.) D-i-y shipping pallet creations are among our most popular posts, largely we imagine because of all recyclable materials, pallets offer a cheap (or free) source of an entirely natural material: wood. We’ve done A LOT of posts about pallets – including how to tell a safe pallet from a possibly toxic one – and we’re always on the lookout for new ideas. We found a trove in this video put together by The Canadian Wood Pallet & Container Association; we lost count at 150 in the short 2:30 second video.
(Video link here.) Matilda Klein is 94 years old, and danced during the World War II big-band era. She’s still dancing, in competition no less, with her dance partner Danny Maloney. We love the videographer’s – and Matilda’s – message of defying expectations and stereotypes about age – or anything else.
(Video link here.) Of the many episodes of The Little Rascals produced in the ‘thirties, this clip has to be one of the best: the poor, ever-resourceful, uninhibited, unsupervised gang of kids make a cake filled with prizes, following the recipe in a completely original way.
The backstory: Dickie’s abusive dad is so mean to Dickie’s mom that Dickie decides to cheer her by buying her a $2 dress for her birthday. Not having the money, he tries to raise it by baking the cake with his pals and selling prize-filled slices to other kids..
(Video link here.) This morning, we found several emails from readers alerting us to this video that is flying around the internet like wildfire. It’s about 9-year-old Caine who devised an elaborate arcade out of cardboard, great quantities of packing tape, plastic toys – whatever he could find – over the course of a summer vacation hanging around his dad’s used auto parts store. You can read the backstory here.
Though for us a bit too long and treacly toward the end, it is really worth checking out the first 6 or so minutes to witness the work of a truly inventive mind, and BIG spirit, who made a great deal out of what was at hand. ”No” does not appear to be in his kid’s vocabulary.
One of the best lines is from Caine’s dad, when his son said he wanted to buy a claw machine: “Why don’t you just build it?”… a perfect question. So Caine did.
We can only imagine what a kid like Caine might grow up to be, and do.
