treasure beyond price
I am compelled to write by some virtue of a novel I’ve twice encountered. The first encounter was rather bereft, and I decided to leave this treasure only to return to it exactly one year later. The read itself was ephemeral, but to me, it left a lasting impression. Dai Sijie’s book, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamtress spoke to me in ways that the reactionary novels of the time spoke to the two main characters in the book. I felt an instant connection — almost as if a past life had permitted me some sense of ownership with regard to the semi-autobiographical work of fiction. Perhaps that was Dai Sijie’s way of saying that the Little Seamstress was not the only one to be re-educated through prominent works of literature. Indeed, a treasure beyond price.
“I was carried away, swept along by the mighty stream of words pouring from the hundreds of pages. To me it was the ultimate book: once you had read it, neither your own life nor the world you lived in would ever look the same.” - Dai Sijie (Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress)
stay-at-home body
the more I think of how close I am to finishing the term, the more I start to feel as if the weeks are going by slower. I have a teaching presentation due on monday, to be presented to a 5th grade class on thursday. Sometimes, on really dismal semestres such as this one, I wish that I had a stunt double. I’d let him do all of the dirty work, while I stay at home and wait for him to tell me how his day went. Completely rested, of course.
I’d make a good homebody.
你猜怎么样！Chicken butt!! …..not nearly as effective billingually..-__-) !!!
learning like a mofo
I think the stress from the semestre is slowing building up, and that awful queasy feeling of being so full of paperwork, that if I were to vomit, a recycled research paper would probably be regurgitated from from my mind, crumpled and all. There must be something in my unconscious mind that my inner procrastinator is trying to tell me, but he usually waits until the last minute. Bastard. Somehow, I feel that I’m going to exhaust myself even more these next few months.
Add oil.
delighting me always
no space for glancing
Unrelenting in my mind is the pursuit to metamorphose those particular traits into something meaningful. The proximity between myself and herself is insignificant, and is measured in glances.
by Maya Deren
The major obstacle for amateur film-makers is their own sense of inferiority vis-a-vis professional productions. The very classification “amateur” has an apologetic ring. But that very word - from the Latin “amateur” - “lover” means one who does something for the love of the thing rather than for economic reasons or necessity. And this is the meaning from which the amateur film-maker should take his clue. Instead of envying the script and dialogue writers, the trained actors, the elaborate staffs and sets, the enormous production budgets of the professional film, the amateur should make use of the one great advantage which all professionals envy him, namely, freedom - both artistic and physical.
Artistic freedom means that the amateur film-maker is never forced to sacrifice visual drama and beauty to a stream of words, words, words, words, to the relentless activity and explanations of a plot, or to the display of a star or a sponsor’s product; nor is the amateur production expected to return profit on a huge investment by holding the attention of a massive and motley audience for 90 minutes.
Like the amateur still-photographer, the amateur film-maker can devote himself to capturing the poetry and beauty of places and events and, since he is using a motion picture camera, he can explore the vast world of the beauty of movement. (One of the films winning Honorable Mention in the 1958 Creative Film Awards was ROUND AND SQUARE, a poetic, rhythmic treatment of the dancing lights of cars as they streamed down highways, under bridges, etc.) Instead of trying to invent a plot that moves, use the movement or wind, or water, children, people, elevators, balls, etc. as a poem might celebrate these. And use your freedom to experiment with visual ideas; your mistakes will not get you fired.
Physical freedom includes time freedom - a freedom from budget imposed deadlines. But above all, the amateur film-maker, with his small, light-weight equipment, has an inconspicuousness (for candid shooting) and a physical mobility which is well the envy of most professionals, burdened as they are by their many-ton monsters, cables and crews. Don’t forget that no tripod has yet been built which is as miraculously versatile in movement as the complex system of supports, joints, muscles, and nerves which is the human body, which, with a bit of practice, makes possible the enormous variety of camera angles and visual action. You have all this, and a brain too, in one neat, compact, mobile package. Cameras do not make films; film-makers make films.
Improve your films not by adding more equipment and personnel but by using what you have to its fullest capacity. The most important part of your equipment is yourself: your mobile body, your imaginative mind, and your freedom to use both. Make sure you do use them.
