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THINGS WE LIKE: Who captures nostalgia better than Neil Young?

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:04:50 -0400

THINGS WE LIKE:

Who captures nostalgia better than Neil Young?

We attended a wedding our first night filming in the Kathputli...

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:23:30 -0400

We attended a wedding our first night filming in the Kathputli Colony. Which producer do you think did best?

Many thanks to Will Basanta for saving face and filming this idiocy.

"There are no telegrams on Tralfamadore. But you’re right: each clump of symbols is a brief,..."

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:21:57 -0400

“There are no telegrams on Tralfamadore. But you’re right: each clump of symbols is a brief, urgent message––describing a situation, a scene. We Tralfamadorians read them all at once, not one after the other. There isn’t any particular relationship between all the messages, except that the author has chosen them carefully, so that, when seen all at once, they produce an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.”

- Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse FIve.

Hint: we’re conceptualizing our interactive narrative concept.

Angelo Badalamenti gives a tender and hilarious retelling of his...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:05:19 -0400

Angelo Badalamenti gives a tender and hilarious retelling of his musical collaboration with David Lynch on Twin Peaks. A great glimpse into the process of creating a soundtrack, which is something that’s on our minds as we start laying out our own for Tomorrow We Disappear.

Mumbai's slum solution?

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:42:55 -0400

Mumbai's slum solution?:

Listen to this 2008 BBC report about the planned resettlement of Mumbai’s Dharavi, perhaps the world’s most famous slum; it provided many of the locations for Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Josh, our insanely talented photographer / favorite manchild,...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:30:00 -0400

Josh, our insanely talented photographer / favorite manchild, has his own Travel Channel series about the trials + tribulations of photographing on-location. Awesome stuff! Check it out.

Save Chandigarh

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:48:32 -0400

Chandigarh is the capital of both Punjab and Haryana. India’s first planned city, established following Partition in 1947, it is the masterpiece of Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier.

In addition to years of neglect, the city, a gem of modern architecture, has recently become the target of art buyers and auctioneers. Local architects and art historians have since been fighting to save Chandigarh’s modernist history before it’s all gone.

Read Jason Burke’s article detailing the current situation here.

(Photo credit: John Macdougall/AFP)

Get-together of street magicians planned in city

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:16:38 -0400

Get-together of street magicians planned in city:

“A rare get-together of street magicians from across the country and their ‘modern’ counterparts is planned in the capital city as part of ‘India Jaal,’ a joint initiative of the State Tourism Department and Magic Academy, Thiruvananthapuram.”

“One of India’s iconic folk arts is fading away —...

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:54:24 -0400

“One of India’s iconic folk arts is fading away — and animal-rights activists say it can’t happen soon enough. They say it’s an art based on cruelty.”

In Delhi, there’s another artist colony where all the city’s snake charmers live. We plan on visiting on our next production shoot.

Listen to this NPR report on the state of snake charmers in India.

(Photo credit: Corey Flintoff/NPR)

Street Dreams

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:03:48 -0400

Street Dreams:

Some choice selections from Satish Sharma’s collection of Indian studio photographs. Sharma’s definitive collection is made up of studio portraits that he stumbled upon at flea markets in India during the 1990s:

“This selection of street images from The Satish Sharma Collection reveals the popular face of photography in India. These are the signs and icons of their times. This collection is an attempt to recover and define an alternative cultural heritage — a post-colonial history and an Indian non-Western cultural identity. The studios of India’s ‘rotiographers’ allow ordinary men and women to act out their fantasies: the studio supplies the props and backgrounds, you choose who you want to be. Compellingly combining the imagined and the real, these images challenge Western stereotypes of India and bring us face to face with a vibrant vernacular culture.”

Teller, from Penn & Teller, has released his five favorite...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:32:03 -0400

Teller, from Penn & Teller, has released his five favorite movies about magicians for NY Magazine’s Vulture blog. The eccentric duo visited Kathputli Colony in 2004 for their Magic and Mystery Tour.

India Conquers the World

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:01:28 -0400

India Conquers the World:

With a geographic mass one-third the size of the United States, India will have the largest population in the world by the late 20s (and by 2020 have the most English speakers).

Hands Off Our Houses

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:55:08 -0400

Hands Off Our Houses:

Great article from URBZ in the Times about socially constructed design. Every act of creation is also an act of destruction. If the home design process isn’t inclusive of the people actually set to live in the homes, then you have no idea what you’ll lose.

Image courtesy of Phaidon, from the new book, “Living in...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:15:00 -0400

Image courtesy of Phaidon, from the new book, “Living in the Endless City.”

10% of the world lived in cities in 1900. That number grew to 50% in 2007.By 2050, 75% of us will be in cities. Oh, and cities only constitute 2% of the Earth’s surface. .

It’s fascinating stuff, and a great read for anyone interested in the new realities of shared urban space.

THINGS WE LIKE: I love how Court13 uses music in their films....

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:14:00 -0400

THINGS WE LIKE:

I love how Court13 uses music in their films. They allow your emotions to carry you through the narrative, but never slip into cutting things together like a music video. Ray Tintori’s “Death to the Tinman” is another one to look out for.

TED talk: Dan Dennett on Consciousness

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:36:29 -0400

TED talk: Dan Dennett on Consciousness:

At the 5:14 mark, Dan Dennett refers to Lee Siegel’s “Net of Magic,” a book that was essential in researching our subject.

Metal workers outside Kathputli bang together pots and...

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:59:19 -0400

Metal workers outside Kathputli bang together pots and bowls.

(Photo credit: Josh Cogan / Rebel Yell)

Babban Khan is the father of Ishamudin and the brother of Naseeb...

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:54:29 -0400

Babban Khan is the father of Ishamudin and the brother of Naseeb Shah. He’s a master flute player and was once a monkey showman, until animal rights NGOs petitioned to have the monkeys in the colony taken away.

(Photo: Josh Cogan / Rebel Yell)

NY Times: In India, Dynamism Wrestles With Dysfunction

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:44:53 -0400

NY Times: In India, Dynamism Wrestles With Dysfunction:

The New York Times discovers Gurgaon, the tacky, unplanned, un-inclusive, and hopelessly unsustainable suburb of Delhi.

Jim Goldblum teaches the intricacies of cross-cultural...

Tue, 31 May 2011 15:31:59 -0400

Jim Goldblum teaches the intricacies of cross-cultural communication…and fails. Miserably.