Sunday, March 28, 2004

Very Cool...'The Cat' The Cat. The Cat, a lampoon of jazz-record collectors, illustrated by the legendary cartoonist and animator, Gene Deitch. [Eye of the Goof] 10:37:04 PM

'Lil Red Rooster, Poultry, Yardbird Too early! [101-365] 12:26:44 PM

Moving Pictures Gooch To The Rescue This blog has always been devoted to independent and digital filmmaking. Given the budgetary constraints that seem to go hand-in-hand with this type of filmmaking, it's with great pleasure that I get to post today's link from Mike Luciano. Luciano is an avid DV filmmaker who is always looking for ways to make better films more economically. In class, we've been discussing ways to make shots more visually appealing (and, accordingly, the often painful cost of renting dollies, jibs, cranes and such. ) Gooch located a site with tons of plans for economical versions of all of the above. Home Built Stabilizers has an amazing link page. One of the best links on the page is to the site of Ron Dexter. A professional cinematographer, Dexter (pictured above) graciously shares lots of practical information in his site. There's a lot of reading there. Dexter recommends DV Moves. The best thing on the site is their video of their camera in action. It definitely elevates the quality of the shot in a heartbeat. Finally, Cody Deegan has a book with plans for another stabilizer and comparison videos on his site. If you're aching to tell your story with moving pictures instead of a bunch of static, tripod talking heads, check out these sites. [Cyndi Greening's Radio Blog] 9:23:18 AM

Notes: Ottmar Liebert on Flamenco Roots Sephardic Jews in Turkey. Interesting article I found on the web regarding Sephardic Jews in Turkey. Our story begins in March, 1492, when after the fall of Granada which marked the end of the Reconquista, the Catholic monarchs of Spain, Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon, together with their fanatical prime minister Torquemada, decided to send all the Jews who refused to be converted into exile. Approximately 200,000 Spanish Jews were exiled towards the north of Europe, and also spread out in branches throughout the Mediterranean area. It is of course, quite difficult to estimate the exact number of refugees in every country but according to some historians about 93,000 Jews came to the Ottoman Empire. This seems to somewhat dispute what Paco says in the interview regarding the influence of Sephardic music on Flamenco. If 200,000 Spanish Jews were exiled at the end of the 15th century, how could they influence Flamenco that much? However, it is possible that a large enough group of Sephardic Jews remained in Spain at the time, and maybe met with other persecuted peoples like the Gypsys and the Arabs. I think it is highly likely that Flamenco started at the cultural intersection of these three ethnic groups. [Ottmar Liebert] 9:20:16 AM

World Music Central - Interview with Paco de LucÌa Interview w Paco. Nice interview with Paco DeLucia from last December. I found some Sephardic scores and there I noticed the great influence that this music has in Flamenco. I used to think that Flamenco was more influenced by the Arab culture, but I am pretty sure now that it is more linked to the Sephardic music made at Toledo at that time. At the end of 1988 I played guitar at a resort hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. After one set a man came up to me and said that my playing reminded him of Sephardic music. Up to that time I had always assumed that Flamenco was mostly Arabic in nature, with bits and pieces from India and stops along the Gypsy migration... [Ottmar Liebert] 9:16:18 AM

Ah Yes....Mister B.I.M This is your Bishop Information Minister speaking. Enough repeats for today. The stupid person known as The Cartoonist will be back tomorrow. I'll bugger off now, crawling back into my damp hole in the Garden, underneath the pond, where that silly prat has ordered me to stay. I've had enough anyway. I'll go back into politics. I could easily become a spin doctor. See ya. [The Cartoonist] 9:05:20 AM

The Simputer Simputer ships. The Simputer, my favorite example of socially responsible vaporware, has finally become a hard reality, the Associated Press reports. It's a low-cost, Linux-powered handheld computer designed by Indian scientists in 2001 to introduce computing to populations too poor to afford... [seattlepi.com Buzzworthy] 9:03:11 AM

John C. Picardi's Play - 'Sweepers' He aims for strong characters, not stereotype. [Boston Globe -- Living / Arts News] 9:00:47 AM

Ralf Zeigermann Refresher - Illustrations A Repeat -The Mookse and the Gripes [4]. Joyce. I've set up a webpage dedicated to my Finnegans Wake illustrations. [The Cartoonist] 8:54:24 AM

Citizen Kubrick Citizen Kubrick [Via Jerry Kindall] [Tyromaniac] 8:50:19 AM

Mister B.I.M. This is your Bishop Information Minister speaking. The person known as The Cartoonist has been busy walking The Streets of London [MP3, 4MB] together with his uncle from Hamburg, who was so kind to supply him with the 1960's issues of 'film'. So I'm simply going to post a few repeats from September and order you to check out the Cartoonist's archives! The stupid bugger (aka The Cartoonist) will be back tomorrow. [The Cartoonist] 8:48:05 AM

Space Art 2 Space Art. [2] Ancient Mars, there's water everywhere. Renderings by Kees Veenenbos. Perhaps I should give Terragen another try ... [The Cartoonist] 8:45:43 AM

Bernardo Strozzi Reunited. In the 17th-century Bernardo Strozzi painting "Saint Sebastian Tended by Saint Irene and Her Maid," one of the greatest Italian treasures in the Museum of Fine Arts, the saint looks up -- but there's nothing there. [Boston Globe -- Living / Arts News] 8:43:42 AM

Space Art Space Art. [1] Don Davies, Space Artist and Animator. Thanks to Reimund for the link. [The Cartoonist] 8:41:06 AM