the official grace & cello blog

… here is another pieces of techno-beauty for you : it is a digital magazine that is about as interactive as you can imagine. in order to make the most of this site, you really have to play around with.

some tips : when you get to the site, look for the “view project” link and click on that. you might want to press F11 at some point to make the screen full … regardless, when you get to the digi-mag, you can create the ‘frame’ that houses the article, and in many cases the article fits the frame. if you look at other editions (in the archive), the interface is different … some of them completely disconcerting, but wonderfully stimulating!

… truly a magazine that challenges how one thinks, and learns …

happy reading!

c.

i don’t own a cellphone, and a lot of people give me flack about that … luddite, hippie, stubborn, all those sorts of discussions. the thing is, i do love technology. i just like to pick and chose my technology, and i like the idea of chosing one’s technology based on values, needs, costs (environmental and social more so than economic), and personal idiosyncracies and preference. in other words, i don’t think we should feel obligated to adopt new technologies just because they are new (as is the case with genetically-modified foods, for example … or sheep for that matter.) 

anyway, all this to say that jonathon harris is the sort of techy i relate to. this is an artist, or at least a very creative individual, who happens to use a medium that has one of the most vast canvases imaginable (i.e., the internet, and all that accompanies it).

check out this talk (it is only about 15 minutes), and then try to tell me that computer programming can’t be art!

c.

check out this talk by david keith, a professor who studies climate change (simply put). i have never really liked this guy, for a number of different reasons, but i think it is important to hear what he is saying … because really, what he is saying is what many are thinking and believing. namely, that we will be able to think up clever technological fixes to our climate change problem.

what bothers me most about this guy is not his questioning of the current climate change environment, but his cocky assurance about the scope of science’s ability … something which any objective observer would qualify as ‘limited’. for instance, we are great at starting things, or creating events (and causes), but we are horrible when coming to understanding how these fit into the systems that govern our lives.

sure we could maybe cool the atmosphere with particulates in case of emergency … but what will this do subsequently?

oddly, part of his argument is mirrored in this article from nov.14th that shows that china is far out-pacing the world in it’s ‘weather engineering’ initiatives.

… seems like we are getting a good indication of where our governments efforts will go when it comes to dealing with climate change.

c.

ya, i know … sounds a bit heavy. but c’mon … just because african dance is already pretty much one of the most stunning forms of expression ever devised doesn’t mean it can’t change … and for the better.

the other night we went and saw nora chipaumire at the tangente dance theatre here in montreal. she is incredibly striking, and personal and the dance was captivating, to say the least.

 … although, to be honest, i always wondering what i am ‘getting’ and not getting when i go to contemporary dance. the nice thing about the evening (beside the music, dance, light and energy) was a film they showed after the dance that dealt with the changing nature of dance in africa … ‘contemporary african dance’. nora was a featured artist in the film, and there were a host of other incredible dancers … all talking about africa, art, dance and the need and sanity in evolving in ways that make sense for them.

anyway, all very nice. if you get a chance the film is called movement (r)evolution africa and it is worth seeing not only for the insight it gives in to african identity, art and culture, but also into the nature of dance, and physical expression.

just as an aside, one of my favourite groups in the film were these fellows from senegal who did one especially stunning pieces called fagaala that dealt with the genocide that occured in rwanda. … if you’ve ever wondered ‘what good is dance?’ … watch this film. or find out where these people are dancing, and go see them.

… or go see anyone dance, because it is truly the art form that proceeds all the rest (and this is doubly true for african dance).

c.

there is this really great, cosy film festival going on in montreal right now. it is called the cinemania film festival and it is a francophone film festival, meaning that all the films come from french-speaking countries … france, algeria, quebec, belgium, and all the others … all films are shown with english subtitles, which was a startling idea in montreal when this festival started 13 years ago.

it would be a long story to explain, but … although montreal is a bilingual town (english and french), there still are (and used to be many more) people who don’t speak very good french. so … this festival was a way to bring those people, and anyone else who was interested, out to see great films (that happen to be french) … films that they won’t see anywhere else. so today, it is a place where angolophone, francophones and allophones (people with any other language as their ‘mother tongue’) get together to see great films.

we went and saw les cartouches gauloises last night (’summer of ‘62′ is the english title), and it was incredible. it is about the end of france’s occupation of algeria … but seen through the eyes of boys. what a beautiful, complex film. apparently, it is semi-autobiographical, and the film-maker who made this film did it as a way to talk about, and explore, those incredibly traumatic … as well as the incredibly beautiful and joyful … events he lived as a kid … but which nobody ever talked about, because everyone lived through all the same madness at the same time.

the film contains some very troubling scenes, but it is all couched within the ’stand by me’ / huckleberry fin romanticism that accompanies all young people as they grow, explore, play and learn.

… a really, really great film.

… oh, and the other great thing about this festival is that it has moved to the cinema imperial in recent years, and this theatre makes me happy! there is nothing like seeing great cinema in a great theatre.

gotta love good art,

c.