(El Farol, 29 December 2012)
Sport teaches one how to lose, but so do various other (often nobler) pursuits on occasions that life invariably furnishes. A remaining excuse for sport is that it teaches one to take responsibility and be in the spotlight. Flamenco teaches so, too, but employs a richer vocabulary.
Physical appearance is secondary. It suffices that it bear an imprint of one's lifestyle. The movement communicates the soul.
The presence of one is a gift from many.
29 December 2012
3 November 2012
"Playback" by Raymond Chandler (1958)
Aware of the material world's imperfections, he invests little in it. He invests little in general (except in his character), for fear of loss. He stirs up his environment in order to generate the data from which to learn and using which to teach by exposure---quickly and efficiently, since his encounters are brief.
He disentangles others' lives in order to uncover a story that he can admire and inscribe himself into.
He disentangles others' lives in order to uncover a story that he can admire and inscribe himself into.
9 October 2012
ProArteDanza
(Harbourfront Centre, 6 October 2012)
"Expire": Subordinating two bodies to either mind in turn, stifling each other's voices by mutual consent, exchanging sacrifices for favours---this is a strangers' compromise, sustainable and brutal. Friendship connects those who seek to not dominate, but merge their minds spontaneously.
"We will": Unconditional respect invites trust. Then, one can generate conflict intentionally, in order to debug, not insult, nor reject. Restart until it is right. Only that final time counts.
"Expire": Subordinating two bodies to either mind in turn, stifling each other's voices by mutual consent, exchanging sacrifices for favours---this is a strangers' compromise, sustainable and brutal. Friendship connects those who seek to not dominate, but merge their minds spontaneously.
"We will": Unconditional respect invites trust. Then, one can generate conflict intentionally, in order to debug, not insult, nor reject. Restart until it is right. Only that final time counts.
3 October 2012
Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years
(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 30 September 2012)
Warhol's goal was to diagnose---not cure, nor soothe, nor gratify. His specialty was anxiety.
Warhol's goal was to diagnose---not cure, nor soothe, nor gratify. His specialty was anxiety.
Stravinsky/Balanchine: The Collaboration
(New York City Ballet, 29 September 2012)
Many a classical ballet could have been improved had it been feasible to separate some dancers and eliminate others. A ballerina's spins and dives would have been greater technical achievements had she not been supported by the man. When a man has a dramatic role to play, it is typically one of watching the woman admiringly. Dancers hardly communicate. Their relationship does not develop onstage, but is delivered frozen in a rather dull state designed to look pretty. It often does.
Balanchine breaks with the aesthetic convention of classical ballet in Part II of the "Symphony in Three Movements." The dancing couple creates an entity that exists in its own right and imbues each constituent individual with life. The remaining dances are explorative, occasionally baroque---Citizen Kanesque in that they contain innovations (e.g., non-classical positions, no plot), but these innovations add up to a study, not a perfected work of art.
Balanchine's dances are Art Deco. They communicate little, worship the form, and suppress individualism. They worship the machine and subordination---with individuals being means, not human beings enriched and exposed in interactions with others.
One cannot blame Balanchine for not being a Hitchcock. Balanchine lacks Hitchcock's obsession with human relationships. Balanchine's interest is in that which transcends the human, and that which transcends is at risk of speaking little to humans.
Many a classical ballet could have been improved had it been feasible to separate some dancers and eliminate others. A ballerina's spins and dives would have been greater technical achievements had she not been supported by the man. When a man has a dramatic role to play, it is typically one of watching the woman admiringly. Dancers hardly communicate. Their relationship does not develop onstage, but is delivered frozen in a rather dull state designed to look pretty. It often does.
Balanchine breaks with the aesthetic convention of classical ballet in Part II of the "Symphony in Three Movements." The dancing couple creates an entity that exists in its own right and imbues each constituent individual with life. The remaining dances are explorative, occasionally baroque---Citizen Kanesque in that they contain innovations (e.g., non-classical positions, no plot), but these innovations add up to a study, not a perfected work of art.
Balanchine's dances are Art Deco. They communicate little, worship the form, and suppress individualism. They worship the machine and subordination---with individuals being means, not human beings enriched and exposed in interactions with others.
One cannot blame Balanchine for not being a Hitchcock. Balanchine lacks Hitchcock's obsession with human relationships. Balanchine's interest is in that which transcends the human, and that which transcends is at risk of speaking little to humans.
16 September 2012
Vertigo (1958)
Hitchcock is too impatient to seek out accidental beauty; he constructs beauty. Circumstances change; ideals persist. Hitchcock's pictures age little. For him, beauty and class are not fetishes, but are essential for fluent expression. Beauty is efficient on screen. Dignity is the appropriate surrogate off screen. By revealing the rungs of the social ladder, Hitchcock invites to ascend.
Movies that last preserve that which has no logical structure, that which one remembers well, but cannot evoke on a whim: rich colours, deep shadows, supple movements, unrecognised longings, the plurality of lives and their bearers.
Obsessions animate, nearly consume. Obsessions with people possess nobility, denied to all other obsessions.
Movies that last preserve that which has no logical structure, that which one remembers well, but cannot evoke on a whim: rich colours, deep shadows, supple movements, unrecognised longings, the plurality of lives and their bearers.
Obsessions animate, nearly consume. Obsessions with people possess nobility, denied to all other obsessions.
20 August 2012
Harrison, TX
(59E59, 18 August 2012)
In provinces, one excels by doing well in the game. In big cities, one excels by changing the game. For some, it is best to accept the game and to master one's strategy, instead of being a perpetual amateur player in an ever-evolving game that no one else wishes to join. With the rules of the game well defined, the game itself becomes a character, in provinces.
In the "Blind Date," individuals crave others' company, not others' individuality. And they know it and accept it.
"The Midnight Caller" advocates individualism. Ultimately, for everyone's good, one ought to act selfishly, and let another exercise his choice, as this exercise cannot be forestalled, but only delayed, at a cost for all.
One needs partners in play; one does not need particular individuals---most of the time. Yet, one is not deterred from electing someone specific to be that partner, and craving this someone specific, thus denying the power of abstraction.
The key to contentment is to pride oneself on having solved a constrained optimisation problem.
In provinces, one excels by doing well in the game. In big cities, one excels by changing the game. For some, it is best to accept the game and to master one's strategy, instead of being a perpetual amateur player in an ever-evolving game that no one else wishes to join. With the rules of the game well defined, the game itself becomes a character, in provinces.
In the "Blind Date," individuals crave others' company, not others' individuality. And they know it and accept it.
"The Midnight Caller" advocates individualism. Ultimately, for everyone's good, one ought to act selfishly, and let another exercise his choice, as this exercise cannot be forestalled, but only delayed, at a cost for all.
One needs partners in play; one does not need particular individuals---most of the time. Yet, one is not deterred from electing someone specific to be that partner, and craving this someone specific, thus denying the power of abstraction.
The key to contentment is to pride oneself on having solved a constrained optimisation problem.
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