...at the end of the day, she realized that the time had passed quickly. and though she couldn’t claim to be efficient with the tasks she needed to accomplish in that day, or in the year, she had, nevertheless, managed to spend her time wisely. and so, she crossed one item off her virtual to-do list and began to get ready for bed...

dramatic irony

a more dramatic and emotive version of U2's "with or without you" i have not seen, nor will ever see again.

this is a Belgian girls' choir that has produced several cd's of wistful and unexpecting pop covers. they go by the name "Scala and Kolacny Bros," which confused me until now, b/c it seemed incredibly egotistical for two dudes to take all the credit for the singing these girls were doing. [edit: Scala is actually the name of the Scala choir. oops.]

but then i saw this and i was completely convinced otherwise.

indeed, there would be no singing without the conspicuous affect of their conductor.

so carry on, carry on wayward son.
(now there's a cover i'd like to see them do!)

-stephan!e


p.s. one of my favorite moments comes around 1:12, when they sing "you give it all, but i want more." something in one of the girls' faces tells me she's got a real special interpretation of that song lyric. oh smiles!
p.p.s. 2:20 onward is pretty awesome too.

their beats kick back like death

all this rawkin hath lulled her into a catatonic state... glad the oven's still awake! slam ur door in her karate face!

i apologize for the lack of riting lately, but it seems that in wanting to keep this a fairly serious sight, i am much more discerning with what i write.

regardless, for lack of interesting writing of my own to share, and in lieu of my own video work (including a small docu-style film project i'm waiting to debut), i offer some amusing video finds.

the following videos are bizarre, beautiful, ridiculous. ostensibly sensual delights, particularly in their use of music to abhor, inspire, and stir ur soul.

beats,
stephan!e

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click on image to go to vid.

Tantrum Dance // Tantric Trance

this makes Michael Jackson in Thriller look like such a faker.

Claire de Lune

if you ever wanted to know how an 80s music video for Debussy would look, here you have it.

Anthem

watch his eyes. then watch his eyes in the last five seconds. then watch his eyes in this.

enjoying Spring into Summer

listening to some experimental sound poetry*
+ reading Dharma Bums by Kerouac (my favorite book from a past summer)

= it's already summer in my head.

sayonara,
stephan!e

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*on Michael Snow's "Sinoms" [mp3 for download]:
"In the 50-minute Sinoms, Snow has multi-tracked some 20 voices, with as many different French and English accents, reading a complete list of the mayors of Quebec City, at some points making a simple juxtaposition of pronunciation and at others creating the effect of a choir." - U B U W E B

i was first familiar with Michael Snow and his work Wavelength, an experimental non-narrative film. but i learnt today that he was first and foremost a jazz musician, in addition to a photographer, a sculptor, an artist.

some of his photographic work, quite compelling and filmic:

Authorization (1969) - currently my laptop desktop

Venetian Blind (1970)

time travel is easy

yesterday, i showed you pictures from travel books i found from my childhood.

today, i share more intimate glimpses into the past.

first, pictures from this book i made in Montessori school*:
the scribbled "copyright" on the inside cover indicates that i made this in 1995. that was a full 12 years ago. the book is a delicate creation titled "Grown-ups always do everything!" and features 20 unique pages of pencil drawings paired with different privileges of the older class i envied as a 9-year-old imprisoned in the educational system.
it is handbound: as i remember, i drew the pictures in sequence in a booklet of salvaged computer paper, then folded the pages together, made holes in the crease and threaded them together. i then glued the end pages to the covers, which were cardboard pieces i covered in a soft fabric (you can see this detail in the photo).
(for those interested in the art of self-binding, this is a simplified version of case-binding.)

what i find most interesting was the "about the author" on the back inside cover:
notice how i mis-typed my own birthday (Dec 26, not 29) and how my goal "is to someday be a famous writer." where did that young girl go?

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finding this treasure brings back fond memories of elementary school, and being left to my own devices, i recall spending recesses and afterschools playing with paper materials, making countless notebooks and sketchbooks of various sizes and colors, giving them to friends and family, keeping some for myself for later writing. i determined to use every book i made for a story or novel (as i said, i had dreams of being a writer. and evidently, a self-published one.)

i once gave a boyfriend a hand-bound book i made in 8th grade, a unique gift because i had marbleized paper for the covers, and bound it in japanese style, with a beaded tassle bookmark.

---

seriously, where did that young dreamer go?

finding these relics from childhood makes me feel sad for dreams i've let go. but it also gives me renewed faith in the person i am. and a sense of duty to the past.

but the past is merely a distant present. and the future is the present is the past. why leave book-binding in the past? why allow self-publication to be a left-behind childhood dream. i'm self-binding my senior thesis. let's call it a tribute to the dreamers.

tomorrow: more pictures from the past.

to the past, and its presents,
stephanie


*note to self: research the Montessori method for your senior project. according to Webster's, the Montessori method emphasizes developing children's "natural" interests, rather than following a strict formal curriculum. this has interesting developmental implications, and is as close a method to facilitated autodidacticism that i can think of in an extant institutional setting.