Dnosauria

Category Archives: Brisbane

Feb 18 2 comments

Brisbane, Canberra, Consider, Melbourne, Sydney, Watch

See Into the Shadows

Tonight the NFSA’s Arc cinema held their second recent screening of Into the Shadows, a passion project by local writer/director Andrew Scarano. Inspired by the closure of Canberra’s Electric Shadows cinemas, the doco explores how the Australian film industry came to be in the chronically ill state it’s in and what might break it out of the rut. Given how Electric Shadows featured in my first few years in Canberra, I was keen to catch this one on the big screen. I’m glad I caught it.

This clip was just one of the observations on the local content that’s making the producers feel good but that no-one’s going to see that got a lot of laughs at tonight’s screening:

An American will come into the room and he’ll say “I want to have sex with her; I’m going to kill him; I’m going to steal that; and then I’m going to buy that car.” That’s like the first two minutes of the movie: you know what the guy wants, and the rest of the movie you just follow him going to get what he wants. Whereas in Australian films, the guy’ll go “I don’t mind that car, I wouldn’t mind rooting her but I don’t really care if I don’t.” You know, it’s a very lackadaisical, laconic nature, which is so inherent to our culture. … What a protagonist should be, if they don’t get what they want, it’s a huge crisis, whereas In Australia if they don’t get what they want, it’s kind of all right. And that’s the problem.

Brendan Cowell, Writer/Actor

MUFF Director Richard Wolstencroft must’ve been thinking along the same lines, noting how amongst all of the Australian films released over the last couple of decades, it’s the bad boy stories (Romper Stomper, Wolf Creek, Chopper) that get attention internationally.

The wrong content is but one of the problems highlighted by Scarano. The cartel-like MO of big exhibitors and big distributors is put under the spotlight too:

So many independent cinemas are used to receiving instructions: take this under these terms, or we’ll drive you out of town, run you out of business.That’s how organised crime works.There’s a power relationship with organised crime that says with a big stick, you can only have this under these terms. If you don’t take it, I threaten you. For me, that’s a terrible way to do business. But that’s the model out there in distribution land.

John L. Simpson, Producer/Distributor

Scarano was at tonight’s screening and mentioned that the DVD is going ahead and should be available this year. I reckon it’d make a great double-feature with Not Quite Hollywood for anyone interested in the history and future of the Australian film industry.

Dec 22 0 comments

Brisbane, Play

Just Add Bubbles

Get the whole story »

Oct 25 0 comments

Brisbane, Consider, Look

Don’t You Miss The Stars?

Street art comment on light pollution created by covering a bus shelter ad with a big cardboard stencil:

Spotted by Ian Kath, on Melbourne Street in South Brisbane.

Sep 07 0 comments

Brisbane, Look

Choose the form of The Destructor

Choose marshmallow for breakfast

Imagine my surprise when the ghost of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man appeared above the table during breakfast this morning.

Sep 06 2 comments

Brisbane, Consider, Listen, Look, Read

Perception at the Northey Street Markets

Perception

…something to think about…

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. How many other things are we missing?

[via]

I noticed a similar thing at the markets this morning. The A-frame with the story was ignored by the passers-by, but when I stopped to read it, others stopped to read it. Even more stopped to read after I knelt to take the picture of the story. But once that group had finished, the cluster fragmented, returning to their shopping. When I passed by again a few minutes later, all of the passers-by were ignoring the sign again.

The original Washington Post story on the experiment is worth reading. There’s also a video that accompanies the article.