Treme episodes 9 & 10

Saw episodes 9 & 10 of Treme, & they were most excellent. The show does death & loss well. & all set to some great music. Here are the trailers for episodes 9 & 10:





And the opening title sequence (where you get to hear that key song from the trailers in full):

Couple of new items re: Sri Lanka & secularism

A new article at Secular Sri Lanka site:

http://www.secularsrilanka.com/discussions/sujewa/on-secularism-sri-lanka-several-related-items

And a video discussion about a few items mentioned in the article:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meJFg27GMoE&feature=related

Here's Part 1 of the videos (out of 3) - probably best to check them out at YouTube, you'll get to see the full frame vs. cropped here:



- S

New essay on Mystery Train by Dennis Lim

Read "Mystery Train: Strangers in the Night" at the Criterion site.

a Persian Cats trailer

Persian Cats in Manhattan

From NYT review of No One Knows About Persian Cats:

"And of course circumstances for iconoclastic, bohemian young people in Iran are not what they are elsewhere. Both the pathos and the buoyant energy of “No One Knows About Persian Cats,” Bahman Ghobadi’s bouncy, seething new film, come from the sense that Negar, Ashkan and their friends are bravely laying claim to creativity, idealism and free expression in defiance of an authoritarian state that seeks to deny them those universal birthrights of modern youth."

Read the rest of the review at NYT.

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The simplicity (& the possibility - ease of achievement implied) in eHow articles re: art photography & directing makes them art/entertainment...

... on top of possibly useful how-to articles.

Check out:

How to become an art photographer

Becoming a Movie Director 101

I like them.

- S

iPhone 4 w/ video calling capability & HD video starting at $199

I guess I may have to get back on that too-expensive iPhone habit - the shiny new iPhone 4 (sarts selling 6/24, starting at $199) - will allow you to see other callers as you talk to them (provided that they have an iphone 4 also) & you can capture some video (they say it is HD, not sure exactly what kind of HD). Anyway, the last time I had an iPhone I ended up paying too much each month for phone service, but, maybe there are ways to keep that from happening if I get a iP4, will have to see. Regardless, I like this video phone/Face Time idea. More here.

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Criterion Collection at the Wexner Center 06/07/10 (they discuss the Mystery Train dvd a bit)

Sundance 2011 deadlines

Here.

UN human development report '09 for Sri Lanka

Check out the page here - lots of interesting & possibly useful info (for development related projects).

Thanks Muditha for the link!

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FleetFlicks - a new site for short films

Check out FleetFlicks here.

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the only DVD that i MUST GET this year (most likely)

Saw a 1st edition of Robert Frank's The Americans today...

... and a 1st edition French copy of the photo book too. Pretty cool to see these historical artifacts in the flesh (so to speak). America sure does change fast (or does it? :). At least the surfaces, shapes & colors & some important political realities are different now than they were in the late 50's, when Frank took these photos: