GOING HOLLYWOOD
FilmTreks is a local venture that offers Filmmaking workshops. Last summer they taught a speed-filming course, where pairs of students produced a finished, short documentary in four days. Two of those students, Dave Kurz and Pat McMurtry, took me to Emigration Canyon, where I grew up. As we hiked around, they asked me questions and pointed cameras at me, resulting a couple of days later, in this film. The title, "Slithering Towards Gomorrah," they lifted from the reptile chapter of my book, Rigor Vitae. Despite their limited time constraints, I think they did a remarkable job of capturing my rambling, incoherent style of communicating.
posted by Carel Brest van Kempen at 9:07 PM
9 Comments:
Nice little film, and glad to get to know you better. Now I've got to lay hands on the book.
Yep, a very nice little film. So, now you are a movie star? :) Good job .....
A pleasure to watch. As a previous commenter says, it's nice to get this background on you and your work.
Nice short! When can we expect a feature?
Excellent. They managed to squeeze a lot into a very short film. Enjoyed hearing what you had to say, and also watching you at work. It was well worth the long download time over my dreadful net connection (currently running at 21000 bps ... argggh!!!).
Enjoyed watching and hearing you. This is our first visit to your blogspot. My husband Fred said "I'm tired of not making a difference". It is a real puzzle, how one can make a difference. People are so obtuse, and so bound to carry on status quo. It takes a personal epiphany for anyone to turn around or change their course. You may be interested in Artists for Conservation http://www.natureartists.com/ and how some of us are trying to make a difference, by having a web-based artist group go non-profit toward conservation goals. Getting on YouTube is a good start. Getting in the news is good too, but folks only really notice BAD and SCAREY news. It is personally expensive to be involved in any of that kind of news. We may just have to try to stick around so that when everything begins to fall apart, we can be here to help pick up the pieces. Writing a book about how to do that may be helpful too. Have you seen our friend Mike Nickerson's book "Life, Money, and Illusion"? It gives a penetrating history and philosophy of economies and a good solid proposal for sustainable economies. Something to read that is not too discouraging.... but how to get there? Mike's solution has always been to spread the word.
Very cool Carel.
I think that art that celebrates nature is BETTER than propaganda and hand- wringing; it shows us what we might lose and helps us love it more.
Codger: Thanks. Looks like my devious ploy is working just as I planned...mwa-ha-ha.
Terry: You got that right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare my acceptance speech for the academy.
John: Thanks. It's pretty embarrassing to see yourself on film--even more so to post it, so it's nice to hear you appreciate it.
Neil: I'm hammering out the details on a series of features. Why think small (no offense to your blog)?
Bev: Thanks for your patience. I think you and I are the last holdouts blogging over dial-ups.
Aleta: Thanks for your comments and for the book recommendation. I hadn't heard of it, and will look it up.
Steve: Thanks, Steve. If you're saying that good art communicates better than bad writing, I guess I'll agree with you. If you're saying that our own crafts (yours and mine) feel ineffectual to us, then I think that's pretty funny.
Good movie, I enjoyed seeing you work. By writing about the natural world and its conservation, I think we are making some difference... even if blogging causes people to use their computers more :)
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