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Capsule
Friday, October 11, 2019
Film, also called movie or motion picture, is a medium used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or programmed moving images along with other sensory stimulations.
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Lead Picture (Story below in Thumbnail)
Friday, October 11, 2019
An animated GIF of a photographic sequence shot by Eadweard Muybridge in 1887.
His chronophotographic works can be regarded as movies recorded before there was a proper way to replay the material in motion.
Read more on the blog www.existentialautotrip.com
The blog? A daily three to four-minute excursion into photos and short texts to regale the curious with an ever-changing and diverting view of a world rich in gastronomy, visual art, ideas, chuckles, stories, people, diversions, science, homespun, and enlightenment.
Observing with wit and wisdom, Dom Capossela, an experienced leader, guides his team of contributors and followers through that world, an amusing and edifying conversation to join.
Note that the blog is also the first place that posts the "Hey, Dom!" videos.
An animated GIF of a photographic sequence shot by Eadweard Muybridge in 1887.
His chronophotographic works can be regarded as movies recorded before there was a proper way to replay the material in motion.
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Commentary
Friday, October 11, 2019
We turn today’s Commentary over to Tucker Johnson, and a literate movie review.
Space is frigid, dark, and empty. That emptiness has birthed a very human obsession of journeying there and telling stories about our travels and what we ultimately choose to fill that emptiness with. It may be our pioneering spirit that drives us to discover a new place, occupy it, and make it our own but part of that discovery whether in the old West, the jungles of the Amazon or the far reaches of space, is discovery of the self. There have been dozens of sci-fi films about people going to the ends of the cosmos to find truths within themselves, but James Gray’s masterful Ad Astra is something special. The film is a visual delight and runs the gamut of themes relating to all manner of human experience. It’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris more than Gravity or The Martian when it comes to pacing and on screen action but for all the film’s lack of popcorn set pieces it works wonders thematically, serving as an examination of masculinity, a treatise on how we inevitably become our parents, and at times even a search for an absent God. Gray’s direction, spot on technical aspects, and one of Brad Pitt’s finest performances make Ad Astra a film that is going to age like wine.
Roy McBride (Pitt) is an astronaut to his marrow. He is a man with nerves of steel and a pulse that never rises above 80 BPM even when he is free falling towards Earth as he does in the film’s opening sequence. Roy is at once pensive and feeling by delivering context and inner motivations by serving as the film’s narrator, but also a stoic, shoot first ask questions later spaceman bringing together the duality of modern masculinity. All living creatures feel, but the stereotypical nature of being a white man means being raised and pressured by society to push that feeling down or eliminate it especially in the face of getting the job done. Roy does not fail at getting the job done. His swan dive in the opening sequence is done deftly, without any level of fear or panic despite the nature of the incident. The cause of Roy’s fall is a power surge that hits Earth on a global scale. As the story unfolds we and Roy learn that the cause of the event has been traced back to Neptune which was the last known location of an ill fated space mission know as the Lima Project captained by Roy’s father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones). Roy has lived his entire life in the shadow of his father who is a legend when it comes to all
things space and that shadow was darkened when the Lima Project ceased contact with Earth decades earlier in Roy’s childhood. Roy’s blood connection to his father makes him the perfect choice for a mission to Mars to re-establish contact with Lima and more importantly H. Clifford in order to pinpoint his location. Sci-fi stories often tell of a human’s search for meaning but here we get a literal story of a man on a quest to find his Creator and try to learn the answers to questions that have been eating away at him. Namely why did He leave us and never return?
Roy’s trek takes him to the moon which at this point in history has become a tourist trap complete with chain restaurants. Before leaving he exchanges gunshots with scavenging pirates in lunar rovers and the frenetic nature of the scene is only intensified by Gray’s choice to have the event unfold in the silence of space. He then travels to Mars which is the furthest from Earth humanity has managed to colonize. Much like James Gray’s last film The Lost City of Z, this story carries elements of how a journey into the unknown can change a person. Here we watch the Roy, the astronaut extraordinaire’s perfect heart rate begin to quicken as he ventures further and further from the familiarity of Earth and the immediate space around it.
The steady decay of Roy’s resolve isn’t hard to relate to. In this film space is hardly a picnic. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema uses his camera to show space as austere and ghostly but not without the ability to hypnotize anyone who makes the mistake of looking into it for too long. The camera lingers often on the vacuous interiors of spaceships, gorgeous larger than life planetary rings, shadowy subterranean Martian caves and warped reflections on the various characters gold coated helmet visors. Gray wants to convey the hugeness of space and all the mystery its endlessness holds but he also subtly builds in what that hugeness can do to a person. Claire Denis’ recent film High Life another sci fi masterpiece spends much of its time courting the looming threat of suicide and despair that creeps in the longer and farther away from Earth they travel. Ad Astra teaches us that mood altering drugs are standard rations for those charged with extended time in the black and psych evaluations are part of astronaut’s day. On Mars we even get a glimpse of a plaque that reads “Crisis counseling: There is
hope, make the call” The same sign can be found on the Golden Gate Bridge here on earth right now. It brings human fragility into a larger than life space epic and Gray never allows that feeling to falter. We never leave Roy. We experience the entire film through his eyes and just as importantly his mind. We never know more than he does, and the result is a film that feels colossal and deeply personal at the same time.
Through the film’s entirety, Pitt hefts the emotional and physical weight in one of his finest performances. Though he fights, shoots, pilots, and scales like Buck Rodgers the beauty of his performance is in its subtlety and grace. A lot of other filmmakers would have left Pitt behind for the magnificence of space or the minute details of interplanetary travel but Gray allows the camera to linger on Pitt’s face in an unprecedented way. Pitt never allows Roy to be overemotional or indifferent. He conveys so much through his character’s world weary eyes.
All of this is familiar ground for Gray, a true cinema master whose movies are defined by their flawed, unfulfilled heroes. That isn’t to say he isn’t developing as a director and writer. Gray’s early work focused on intimate New York settings. In films like Little Odessa, Two Lovers, and We Own the Night the world ended with a particular street that separated one neighborhood from the next. Now the spaces that separate people are literal and gargantuan.
What’s funny is even with a jump in the size, scale, and budget compared to Gray’s earlier films Ad Astra might be his simplest. Despite the amazing effects work, the action set pieces and the characters Roy crosses paths with they are all removed from the film as efficiently as they entered leaving us to understand that the only relationship that matters is between father and son. Ad Astra may take place far from home but it tells a story about things that couldn’t be closer. It is a story about all of our quests to find meaning in a world that used to comfort but has changed to the point of inspiring fear. This film ends on a note of unlikely hope and that hope is earned through space doubling for all of life’s journey. Human connection and love is all there is.
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News re: existentialautotrip
Friday, October 11, 2019
As promised, Marc O visited us on Wednesday bearing light.
He installed three additional sets of lights and worked to position them just so.
The result: a terrific improvement in the quality of the video that led to a more confident and relaxed video performance.
Today, we’ll share the much improved quality of the videos.
We’ll take a couple of weeks to retire and replace the older videos.
The blog will be greatly enhanced with the new renditions.
Also excited by TJ’s [Tucker Johnson] movie review. We likely to see regular contributions from him, a terrific boost to the overall quality of the blog content.
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Wednesday’s Dinner posted on
Friday, October 11, 2019
Turkey soup.
Even I have had enough turkey for a while.
Oh, yes, the soup was delicious.
So was my signature Gin and Tonic.
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Chuckle of the day:
Friday, October 11, 2019
Immediately upon delivering the child, even though he saw the child breathing, the nasty doctor slapped newly-born Chuck Norris on the butt.
The Japanese are the only other group of people who have made a worse mistake!
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A “Hello, my friends!” video.
Friday, October 11, 2019
Movies and your family: a loving and bonding moment.
Length: 2.47
Dom’s website: existentialautotrip.com
Dom’s website: existentialautotrip.com
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Today’s Thumbnail
Friday, October 11, 2019
Film, also called movie or motion picture, is a medium used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty or atmosphere by the means of recorded or programmed moving images along with other sensory stimulations.
The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and to the art form that is the result of it.
Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures.
They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them.
Some films have become popular worldwide attractions through the use of dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into other languages.
Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens.
The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication.
A frame from Roundhay Garden Scene, the world's earliest surviving film produced using a motion picture camera, by Louis Le Prince, 1888.
A screenshot of en:Roundhay Garden Scene by the French en:Louis Le Prince.
The world's first film, shot on 14 October 1888 at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
The home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley, the in-laws of Louis Le Prince.
Note that Sarah (shown second from right) died on 24 October 1888, only 10 days after being filmed in the movie.
A tip o' the hat (U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, 1924) after signing an Indian treaty.
Sly devil that he was.
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Acknowledgements
Friday, October 11, 2019
Thanks to Marc O for the time and expertise he brought to the quality of the videos. We stumbled through the learning process until Marc’s arrival to take the physical setup of our tiny studio into his own hands. Thank you, Marc.
And thanks to Tucker J for his erudite movie review.
Thanks to the Jokes Warehouse for the chuckle today.
Thanks to the Microsoft team at the Prudential Center for their unflagging availability to help with a constant flow of technological problems.
Always thanks to Wikipedia, the Lead and the Thumbnail sections of the Blog very often shaped from stories taken from that amazing website. They are truly worthy of public support.
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GoodMorning
Friday, October 11, 2019
I love going to the frugal days at the cinemas.
I keep the cash I save in here.
And now? Gotta go.
Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?
See you soon.
Your Taeyeon