Odds and Ends

Deep into teaching this time of year, so not much in the way of contributions lately.

*On Friday, I'm finally going to see The Master, up at the Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis. By complete coincidence, this is the exact same theatre where I first saw There Will Be Blood in February of 2008. I will try to blog more about this later in the week, as there's a whole host of ironies at work here.

*My digital cinema article, "I'll (Always) Be Back: Virtual Performance and Post-Human Labor in the Age of Digital Cinema" is now online here--it may or may not be subscription-protected. I'm sure most academic libraries probably have access to Culture, Theory and Critique. This is the most recent piece I've published from Haunted Nerves, and the first to deal explicitly with the digital.

*Saw today that someone is trying to sell Kubrick Facade on Amazon for $177. Good luck with that. No, its not out-of-print yet, and there are cheap copies everywhere, so I'm flattered, but if there actually is a market like that for it, let me know. I've got more. I think that's probably more than I've made in royalties on it in the last four years.

Herzog, answering questions after his Thursday night lecture on the role of music in film. IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers is to his right.

*Finally, Werner Herzog was on campus last week doing lectures, interviews and visiting classes. Amazing experience--I was also at a reception Thursday night which he attended. I wish I had more to say on it--it feels like a dream now. Hard to believe now that the moment's passed. The film scene at IU has really exploded since I last lived here in 2008. They have a restored cinema, which shows an amazingly eclectic group of movies and attracts top talent to visit.

Across several days, Herzog was exceedingly generous with his time. A wonderful man. Herzog made a lot of random observations in his various engagements--some of which stuck with me. He recalled an experience at a festival where he argued with fellow documentarians about the role of the filmmaker--when one said they should be a fly on the wall, he responded by saying, no, they should be the hornet that strikes. Is there a better metaphor for documentaries?

Friday afternoon, Herzog was interviewed by IU professor Greg Waller at the cinema, which of course was also screening many of his classic films throughout the week. Herzog himself attended the screenings.

During the interview the next day, he talked about why he watched reality TV and he mentioned that a poet must not avert their eyes. To be in the world, we must be willing to see everything. I found that particularly poignant, especially these days.

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