I really must discuss another massive influence that I am going to appropriate a lot of material from for my major work. I hadn’t thought about this one for a long while but I will/have steal/stolen a lot from it. It demands to be watched if only for it’s absolute mastery of sound design. The show: ‘Bush Tucker Man’, ran for a short time on the ABC but didn’t get the recognition I personally felt it deserved. It’s soundscape was so dense yet subtle, always varying in scope and dynamics. From the intimately close-mic’ed crackle of foliage under a Land Rover’s wheel to the wide, lush layers of miniature noises that come together to form the busy thicket of bush atmosphere, every element was in perfect accord. It really worked on a psychological level to place the viewer squarely in the point-of-view of the protagonist, to help the viewer feel the prickly melancholic highs and lows of survival in, and exploration of, uncharted territories. Superb!
Gus Van Sant. What a guy. Talking to my fellow classmate, good friend and all round stand up guy, Daniel Monks about him today, I thought about how great all his films are. Especially… Well, all of them. YAY!!
there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day
and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace
those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love
beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average
but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect
like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock
I am thinking about retiring from my illustrious career in film to pursue a new and more wonderful dream. I will begin my new life as a stand-up comedian focusing exclusively on recycling stale Chuck Norris jokes but substituting the name Kevin Sorbo in place of the Walker Texas hack. I see a long successful, nay, purposeful life ahead of my now. Come to daddy.
I think this paper forest needs some more paper leaves. Take this real leaf, roll the roller in the paint, squelch, squelch, squelch. Press it down on the paper. Cut around the purple leaf. Cut, cut, cut. The purple leaf is all cut out, put some glue of the back. Another purple leaf.
Whoosh, whoosh, can you be a leaf. Come on.
Like a leaf or feather in the windy windy weather, you can swirl around and twirl around and all fall down together.
Wow, just remembered that show Cheaters. It was a massive influence on me not only creatively but also shaped me somewhat as a human being. The dense exploration of relationships and the rigid social structures that prune and smother instinctive desires was something that really spoke to me in volumes. I think in my own work, and my major work in particular, I really want to capture some of those bittersweet ironies of life that were so well presented in each episode of this televisual masterpiece. Subtle feelings so effortlessly crystallized into half-hour snapshots of pain and beauty. Tonally too, this show had the most heart-wrenchingly wistful quality that I somehow want to appropriate into my own body of work. Amazingly powerful stuff.
