After Death, My Sweet: From an Idea by Kubrick, a New Film May Be Born.
Archive for October, 2006
The new video for Slayer’s “Eyes of the Insane” from Christ Illusion is having its premiere on mp3.com today. Click here to check it out.
Directed by Iranian filmmaker Tony Petrossian (Slipknot), ‘Eyes of the Insane’ is a first-person narrative about the horrors leading up to the final moments of a soldier at war. The entire video is a single, long and tight close-up of the soldier’s eye with images clearly reflected within his pupil and iris and perfectly choreographed with the rhythm of the music. Reflected are disconcerting images of para trooping into enemy territory, gunfire, helicopters and tanks, explosions, poignant flashbacks of his wife and child and home, and the images of his death. Two endings were filmed — one where the soldier dies from his combat injuries, and the other where he commits suicide.
The lyrics for ‘Eyes of the Insane’ were written by Slayer’s bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and the song was inspired by a magazine article entitled ‘Casualty of War’. The article told the story about a highly-decorated U.S. soldier in Iraq who, a mere four days away from going home, had a mental breakdown that left him “seeing faces, soldiers’ faces.” He took his own life.
Over the band’s twenty-plus years together, Slayer’s music has dealt overtly with the brutality of war and religious fanaticism. Many of the songs on ‘Christ Illusion’, in particular, scrutinize America’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan and the shrinking distance between the Church and State. And a huge chunk of Slayer’s core audience are those blue-collar kids who enlisted in the military and are getting blown to bits.
Mondo Multiplex: The Snuff Film Turns Respectable. I happened to stumble upon a CNN report on this film a couple of days ago. I have to confess, I found some of the footage pretty disturbing but fascinating at the same time.
Although I have been photographing now for 3 years, I still consider myself a newbie. Whilst in that time, the point-and-click approach has served me well and helped train ‘the eye’ in terms of composition, seeking out ‘the’ shot and beginning to see the world differently - in terms of technical proficiency and experience - I have a ways to go. Now that I have entered the DSLR world, the technical side of photography takes on a more important aspect in terms of achieving the results one wants.
Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with some night photography - some of which has been documented here on this blog. Some results have been ok, some diabolical - but at the very least, I am learning!
It can be a little daunting to go out late at night and shoot, I’ve had too many scary run-ins of late so I’m always nervous and hesitant to explore new areas.
I invested in a tripod over the past week and last night I went out to experiment with the stability of the tripod and shooting in low-light conditions with various ISO settings and aperture speed.
Late last night I spent some time at the Shrine of Remembrance. Although the composition of the shot is not exactly the best - I was really pleased with the colors and the amazing glow on the wet ground. I want to go back and shoot this one again, as I feel I can get a much better shot next time especially with the angle I have in mind. Now I just need another wet night with a brooding sky and I think I can capture this one much, much better. Until next time…
The Arrow of Time. One family’s 30 year photographic documentation of their lives. Absolutely fascinating!
A representative for Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has confirmed that the highly anticipated and much-rumored reunion of Iommi, Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward appears to be shaping up and taking a new form. After various promoters have approached the former Sabbath bandmates’ respective representatives, the guys have started taking all of this very seriously, as they have aparently wanted to reunite for some time now. It looks as if the new shape may be that of ‘Heaven And Hell’ - that is the moniker that the band is likely to use on their new venture as Sharon Osbourne owns the name Black Sabbath. If all goes well, ‘Heaven And Hell’ should be hitting the road in early 2007 and anything that pisses of Mrs. Osbourne - can only be a good thing! Riiight?
The Dio era of Sabbath spawned ‘Heaven & Hell’, ‘Mob Rules’, ‘Live Evil’, ‘Dehumanizer’ which are some of the band’s finest works. Particularly ‘Heaven & Hell’ and ‘Mob Rules’ two absolute Metal masterpieces.
