lunes, marzo 16, 2009
domingo, marzo 15, 2009
Inmortalidad
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dyingWoody Allen
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sábado, marzo 14, 2009
Padres
Título original: Flags of our fathers
Traducción comercial: La conquista del honor
Traducción: Banderas de nuestros padres
Traducción alternativa: -
Sobre el título:
(Continúa)
Reducir una bandera al mero honor es la antítesis de lo que Clint Eastwood busca; en todo caso el sinónimo debería ser "actitudes". La construcción del héroe siempre es ajena al héroe: el honor no puede conquistarse.
Conclusión:
La traducción no es traducción.
PULGAR ABAJO
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Traducción comercial: La conquista del honor
Traducción: Banderas de nuestros padres
Traducción alternativa: -
Sobre el título:
(Continúa)
Reducir una bandera al mero honor es la antítesis de lo que Clint Eastwood busca; en todo caso el sinónimo debería ser "actitudes". La construcción del héroe siempre es ajena al héroe: el honor no puede conquistarse.
Conclusión:
La traducción no es traducción.
PULGAR ABAJO
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viernes, marzo 13, 2009
Be kind Rewind
Billy looked at the clock on the gas stove. He had an hour to kill before the saucer came. He went into the living room, swinging the bottle like a dinner bell, turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
(Continúa)
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground., to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
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American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
(Continúa)
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground., to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
*
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse - FiveVer Post Completo
jueves, marzo 12, 2009
The Wrestler (2008)
Élite
The only place I get hurt is out there.
Desde Pi sabía que Darren Aronofsky es un gran director. Quisieron convencerme de haberlo sobrevaluado después de The Fountain, que en sí es un gran error porque pese a sus falencias ésta es una obra atrevida y compleja (quizás pretenciosa, sí, pero de todos los defectos es el que más se parece a una virtud). Por eso cuando leí que su próxima película iba a tratar sobre una especie devaluada de boxeador me sentí incómodo.
Pero The Wrestler se diferencia del resto de las películas sobre el tema. La principal está posibilitada precisamente por el ambiente elegido: el wrestling o lucha libre. Como no es un deporte sino un espectáculo y el ring no es una arena sino un escenario, no se puede decir que haya un ganador; tampoco que haya un perdedor, como en Rocky. Irresolución que está subrayada mediante la cordialidad de los luchadores antes del match, sin discutir en ningún momento por quién va a quedarse en la ficción con los laureles. Incluso más, el director termina elidiendo hasta esos momentos de convenio: el espectador entiende que simplemente los luchadores ocupan el papel que les corresponde.
Robin Radzinski tiene el suyo: el superhéroe Randy "The Ram" Robinson. Defiende a su país pateando iraníes durante los años 80. Pero todo cuerpo está sujeto a las normas de la anatomía y los años terminan revelándolo como el pedazo de carne que es. Pasa la década del 90 y ocurre lo que le pasa a la carne que se pudre: apesta. El nuevo mileno lo encuentra en una casa rodante que no rueda.
(Continúa)
La improvisación de la lucha libre termina siendo más violenta que la arbitrariedad del boxeo. Premisa que se corresponde con la realidad del personaje: Randy tiene un alter ego llamado Robin que se disfraza de día para trabajar. Su tragedia es que la mayoría de los días tiene que ser su otro yo y no sí mismo. Asimismo está distanciado de su hija, cuya marca es el desconocimiento de The Ram acerca de si es lesbiana o no: vacilación que nunca termina de resolverse de la misma manera en que él nunca termina por conocerla. La familia no acepta acuerdos previos como la luche libre, ergo se resuelve en violencia imposible de contener; delicias del castellano aparte, precisamente lo que no es la familia y sí es la lucha es ser libre.
Con la identidad en disputa no casualmente se enamora de una mujer cuyo trabajo consiste en desvestirse: es decir lo opuesto a disfrazarse. Pero el cuerpo desnudo también es un disfraz. Al notar el impecable vestuario, The Ram lleva la campera como si no la tuviera puesta sino embalada en su cuerpo; a la altura de las muñecas las mangas están sujetas con cinta adhesiva. La primera escena lo muestra también embalándose esa rodilla maltrecha, como los niños hacen con la pierna de un muñeco para que no se pierda. The Ram anda entre algodones, apenas sostenido por su ropa. La escena clave entonces es la de la abrochadora. El compañero luchador le está abrochando el alma al cuerpo, para que no se escape; o mejor dicho el cuerpo al alma, para que no se caiga por su propio peso muerto. Las cuerdas del ring lo atan al escenario como si fueran también de cinta adhesiva. Él termina por despegarse.
La inversión de los estereotipos (inversión como la que plantea en la frase de cabecera) termina por resolverse. No es una película donde Rocky golpea una media res al ritmo de “Gonna Fly Now”: es The Ram la media res que es golpeada al ritmo de “The Wrestler”.
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The only place I get hurt is out there.
Desde Pi sabía que Darren Aronofsky es un gran director. Quisieron convencerme de haberlo sobrevaluado después de The Fountain, que en sí es un gran error porque pese a sus falencias ésta es una obra atrevida y compleja (quizás pretenciosa, sí, pero de todos los defectos es el que más se parece a una virtud). Por eso cuando leí que su próxima película iba a tratar sobre una especie devaluada de boxeador me sentí incómodo.
Pero The Wrestler se diferencia del resto de las películas sobre el tema. La principal está posibilitada precisamente por el ambiente elegido: el wrestling o lucha libre. Como no es un deporte sino un espectáculo y el ring no es una arena sino un escenario, no se puede decir que haya un ganador; tampoco que haya un perdedor, como en Rocky. Irresolución que está subrayada mediante la cordialidad de los luchadores antes del match, sin discutir en ningún momento por quién va a quedarse en la ficción con los laureles. Incluso más, el director termina elidiendo hasta esos momentos de convenio: el espectador entiende que simplemente los luchadores ocupan el papel que les corresponde.
Robin Radzinski tiene el suyo: el superhéroe Randy "The Ram" Robinson. Defiende a su país pateando iraníes durante los años 80. Pero todo cuerpo está sujeto a las normas de la anatomía y los años terminan revelándolo como el pedazo de carne que es. Pasa la década del 90 y ocurre lo que le pasa a la carne que se pudre: apesta. El nuevo mileno lo encuentra en una casa rodante que no rueda.
(Continúa)
La improvisación de la lucha libre termina siendo más violenta que la arbitrariedad del boxeo. Premisa que se corresponde con la realidad del personaje: Randy tiene un alter ego llamado Robin que se disfraza de día para trabajar. Su tragedia es que la mayoría de los días tiene que ser su otro yo y no sí mismo. Asimismo está distanciado de su hija, cuya marca es el desconocimiento de The Ram acerca de si es lesbiana o no: vacilación que nunca termina de resolverse de la misma manera en que él nunca termina por conocerla. La familia no acepta acuerdos previos como la luche libre, ergo se resuelve en violencia imposible de contener; delicias del castellano aparte, precisamente lo que no es la familia y sí es la lucha es ser libre.
Con la identidad en disputa no casualmente se enamora de una mujer cuyo trabajo consiste en desvestirse: es decir lo opuesto a disfrazarse. Pero el cuerpo desnudo también es un disfraz. Al notar el impecable vestuario, The Ram lleva la campera como si no la tuviera puesta sino embalada en su cuerpo; a la altura de las muñecas las mangas están sujetas con cinta adhesiva. La primera escena lo muestra también embalándose esa rodilla maltrecha, como los niños hacen con la pierna de un muñeco para que no se pierda. The Ram anda entre algodones, apenas sostenido por su ropa. La escena clave entonces es la de la abrochadora. El compañero luchador le está abrochando el alma al cuerpo, para que no se escape; o mejor dicho el cuerpo al alma, para que no se caiga por su propio peso muerto. Las cuerdas del ring lo atan al escenario como si fueran también de cinta adhesiva. Él termina por despegarse.
La inversión de los estereotipos (inversión como la que plantea en la frase de cabecera) termina por resolverse. No es una película donde Rocky golpea una media res al ritmo de “Gonna Fly Now”: es The Ram la media res que es golpeada al ritmo de “The Wrestler”.
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miércoles, marzo 11, 2009
4 Top 5
5 grandes tiranos
5. Emperador Palpatine (Ian McDarmind en Return of the Jedi)
4. Sargento Hartman (R. Lee Ermey en Full Metal Jacket)
3. Bill "The Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day Lewis en Gangs of New York)
2. Coronel Kurtz (Marlon Brando en Apocalypse Now)
(Continúa)
1. Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes en Schindler's List)
5) Las precuelas de SW tienen sus cosas buenas y sus malas; el Senador luego Canciller luego Emperador es una de las buenas; 4) Pero por favor no grite más; 3) Se aleja un poquito de la premisa de "tirano", pero todos sabemos que El Carnicero es el que verdaderamente tiene el poder en New York; 2) Y pensar que Coppola se enojó porque Brando había llegado gordo y pelado al rodaje...; 1) La escena frente al espejo lo revela tal como es: la conciencia amoral de un emperador romano que asume el poder de un dios viviente.
Quedaron afuera:
Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker en The Last King of Scotland), Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz en Der Untergang), el Capitán Vidal (Sergi López en El Laberinto del Fauno), Richard III (Ian McKellen en Richard III), Hynkel dictador de Tomaria (Charlie Chaplin en The Great Dictator).
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5. Emperador Palpatine (Ian McDarmind en Return of the Jedi)
4. Sargento Hartman (R. Lee Ermey en Full Metal Jacket)
3. Bill "The Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day Lewis en Gangs of New York)
2. Coronel Kurtz (Marlon Brando en Apocalypse Now)
(Continúa)
1. Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes en Schindler's List)
5) Las precuelas de SW tienen sus cosas buenas y sus malas; el Senador luego Canciller luego Emperador es una de las buenas; 4) Pero por favor no grite más; 3) Se aleja un poquito de la premisa de "tirano", pero todos sabemos que El Carnicero es el que verdaderamente tiene el poder en New York; 2) Y pensar que Coppola se enojó porque Brando había llegado gordo y pelado al rodaje...; 1) La escena frente al espejo lo revela tal como es: la conciencia amoral de un emperador romano que asume el poder de un dios viviente.
Quedaron afuera:
Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker en The Last King of Scotland), Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz en Der Untergang), el Capitán Vidal (Sergi López en El Laberinto del Fauno), Richard III (Ian McKellen en Richard III), Hynkel dictador de Tomaria (Charlie Chaplin en The Great Dictator).
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martes, marzo 10, 2009
The Aviator (2004)
Interesante
There's just too much "Howard Hughes" in "Howard Hughes". That's what's the matter.
Junto a las películas sobre el Holocausto, las películas biográficas son el objeto de un amor desmesurado por las asociaciones que entregan premios a comienzos de año. A modo de ejemplo, cinco de nueve de las ganadoras del Oscar a mejor actor en lo que va del nuevo siglo lo fueron por protagonizar biopics; en las actrices, seis de nueve; desde el 2001 que de los dos géneros al menos un ganador por año caracterizó a un personaje histórico; si contamos los nominados la tendencia se acentúa aún más notoriamente; etc.
Así como cada biografía construye la vida que representa, cada biografía construye el género que las nuclea. Una pared se sostiene cuando los elementos que la forman se soportan mutuamente; por mucho cemento que se use los elementos desiguales son rechazados. De la misma manera está prosperando el género biográfico: produciendo cada vez más ladrillos.
Quizás sea fácil remarcar esto al enfrentar una biografía de mala calidad (son en las obras de menor cuantía donde se revela el truco, el mecanismo que las duplica con menores diferencias). No es exactamente el caso de The Aviator, aún cuando tampoco sea todo lo contrario. (Continúa) Tiene logradas actuaciones, del protagonista y uno o dos secundarios; una gran dirección y una buena reconstrucción histórica; pero el guión resulta fragmentado y lento, extendiéndose en la vida del millionario excéntrico por antonomasia pero sin abarcarla por completo. Al final, literalmente, no queda en claro qué apuntaban desarrollar del protagonista. Las tres horas de duración no ayudan…
…sí ayuda el increíble, incómodo, maravilloso uso del color: una paleta de colores por cada período vivido por el protagonista, pero de acuerdo a las posibilidades técnicas de aquel entonces. Este detalle es procedente siendo Howard Hughes no sólo un obseso y un millionario y un aviador, como parece recordar el título, sino también un cineasta, como parece recordar la película. Retroceder en el tiempo implica que todo aquel que haya bajado su película por internet tendrá la legítima sensación de haber bajado una copia de mala calidad. A veces peor es mejor; de modo que en la época del Technicolor las chauchas se ven apetitosamente turquesas.
La intensidad del color lamentablemente se corresponde con una vacuidad emotiva. La precisión técnica, así como la precisión actoral para reproducir los modos de un ser histórico, no la pueden revertir. The Aviator conspira contra sí misma y, siento, se roba la nota que por otros lados había logrado conseguir.
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There's just too much "Howard Hughes" in "Howard Hughes". That's what's the matter.
Junto a las películas sobre el Holocausto, las películas biográficas son el objeto de un amor desmesurado por las asociaciones que entregan premios a comienzos de año. A modo de ejemplo, cinco de nueve de las ganadoras del Oscar a mejor actor en lo que va del nuevo siglo lo fueron por protagonizar biopics; en las actrices, seis de nueve; desde el 2001 que de los dos géneros al menos un ganador por año caracterizó a un personaje histórico; si contamos los nominados la tendencia se acentúa aún más notoriamente; etc.
Así como cada biografía construye la vida que representa, cada biografía construye el género que las nuclea. Una pared se sostiene cuando los elementos que la forman se soportan mutuamente; por mucho cemento que se use los elementos desiguales son rechazados. De la misma manera está prosperando el género biográfico: produciendo cada vez más ladrillos.
Quizás sea fácil remarcar esto al enfrentar una biografía de mala calidad (son en las obras de menor cuantía donde se revela el truco, el mecanismo que las duplica con menores diferencias). No es exactamente el caso de The Aviator, aún cuando tampoco sea todo lo contrario. (Continúa) Tiene logradas actuaciones, del protagonista y uno o dos secundarios; una gran dirección y una buena reconstrucción histórica; pero el guión resulta fragmentado y lento, extendiéndose en la vida del millionario excéntrico por antonomasia pero sin abarcarla por completo. Al final, literalmente, no queda en claro qué apuntaban desarrollar del protagonista. Las tres horas de duración no ayudan…
…sí ayuda el increíble, incómodo, maravilloso uso del color: una paleta de colores por cada período vivido por el protagonista, pero de acuerdo a las posibilidades técnicas de aquel entonces. Este detalle es procedente siendo Howard Hughes no sólo un obseso y un millionario y un aviador, como parece recordar el título, sino también un cineasta, como parece recordar la película. Retroceder en el tiempo implica que todo aquel que haya bajado su película por internet tendrá la legítima sensación de haber bajado una copia de mala calidad. A veces peor es mejor; de modo que en la época del Technicolor las chauchas se ven apetitosamente turquesas.
La intensidad del color lamentablemente se corresponde con una vacuidad emotiva. La precisión técnica, así como la precisión actoral para reproducir los modos de un ser histórico, no la pueden revertir. The Aviator conspira contra sí misma y, siento, se roba la nota que por otros lados había logrado conseguir.
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Self-censorship
Entrevista a Michel Gondry
director de Human Nature, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, La ciencia del sueño y Be kind rewind
Do you ever watch films on your telephone?
No ... I guess I take a lot of pictures on my telephone, but I never download them. I get caught by my ex-girlfriend because of my telephone. All these gadgets, the phone and the computer, they expose the inside of your brain in a way that's bad. Everybody has a bit of Gary Glitter in the corner of their brain. I'm not sure you're going to print that.
I've heard so many stories of people getting caught through their computers and stuff; when you hear about the governor of New York getting caught with prostitutes, I sort of felt sorry for him. Everybody is doing dirty stuff, is tempted to go to some website of some sort, and to be able to expose that, it's not fair. I think the people who offer that are as guilty as the guys who fall into it. I say "guys" because it's very much the way the male brain is wired. Not every man is similar, but there's similarity in the way we connect with sex; it's our weakness. And then it's exposed as something ugly and bad. I don't know why I'm talking about this ... do you have your title already? I think it's a problem when journalists have the title of their article before they do the interview, because it biases the way they conduct it. But you'd be in bad shape if you had yours, because I think I just got right off the point. I think the piece is for the internet, like everything these days ...
I spend too much time on the net – it's a problem. To tell you how bad – and I'm sure I'm not the only one – I tried to ask my assistant to put some kind of parental control on some of the websites I go to, to get some parental control on myself, but it's too complicated.
(Continúa)
Couldn't your teenage son sort it out for you?
I'm sure he's going to the same horrible websites as me. I feel bad about that, because those things were not available when I was his age, and I think those things are captivating. People will always say "You don't have to go there," but I think you need to be limited. It's like prostitution and everything – if it's available then it's tempting. It's why I'm against legalisation of marijuana – because if it's available you want to get more. I can talk about that because I'm not doing it.
So are you advocating internet censorship?
Erm ... I think you should be able to censor yourself. If you allow censorship then it's always going to be used to give more power to people who already have power. I think your brain goes in waves – sometimes you feel strong, like in the morning, and at these moments you could make a decision that stops you being weak another time. Like drink dialling, that's terrible. They should have systems on your computer: you'd have to do mathematical equations before you go on the net. Then you could not email your ex-girlfriend and tell her how much you love her, which is the last thing you want to do when you're sober.
Or let's say I go to this dirty website and do my dirty business, whatever it is: then I regret it, and I should be then able to censor myself. Then the next time I want to go, I'd have made a decision when I was in a better place in my mind. That's how censorship should work, but no one's going to bring out the tools to do that. It's too bad because I think it would be a good idea. That's my new policy – self-censorship.
How do you feel about the internet as an outlet for your art?
I just did a commercial with Kevin Spacey; I think of my movies he'd probably only seen Sunshine, and wasn't really into my work. Then a friend who visited him mentioned the videos I did with the Rubik's Cube, this work I have no respect for, and on the third day of our shoot he came to me and said: "Oh, I saw your stuff on YouTube - it's really amazing." A lot of people connect to me through the silly things I do through the net. I think our main communication now is going to be electronic – and the downside is trying to watch a video on a two-inch square screen with things blinking all over it. That's what the internet is: it's like bombarding your eyeballs with these myriad blinking colour lights. It's like trying to watch a movie on your phone in the middle of Times Square. You can put that in big letters. Actually you should this in big letters. Put my quote of my quote of my quote: this one of me saying "put this one as a quote".
Your father was a computer programmer. Did that rub off on you?
He made microphones and speakers as well. It's interesting how differently brains are wired: my brother was totally influenced by our dad, and me not at all. In fact I couldn't understand the programming, although I like the logic of it, but maybe I'm not patient enough. I need a more immediate reward.
Which is a funny thing to hear from a stop-motion animator.
But animation gives me a very quick reward, if I work all night or all week. When you see it come to life, it's like a shot. I don't need to take drugs – I get my kicks from that. I would never drive a motorbike because I would be dead in ten minutes, but I was once behind somebody who rode motorbikes, and experienced the feeling of acceleration from zero to 100 miles per hour in five seconds, and understood why people would risk their lives doing that. I'm lucky that my kick is very safe.
And what's your next film project?
I have to wait a little bit before I can say – I have a lot of things on and I have to define which is the next one. But I'm pretty busy. I don't mean to brag – I get scared like everyone, so I just did a commercial. I think commercials are bad, but then art is contradiction.
The internet is rife with rumours of you adapting Rudy Rucker's Master of Space and Time with Daniel Clowes or The Green Hornet with Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow.
It's like going back into the past. In fact I'm not trying to ... no, see, I have to stop saying what I was about to, because it's not good. In French you say "turn your tongue seven times in your mouth" before you say something. Bite your tongue! That's the best self-censorship.
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director de Human Nature, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, La ciencia del sueño y Be kind rewind
Do you ever watch films on your telephone?
No ... I guess I take a lot of pictures on my telephone, but I never download them. I get caught by my ex-girlfriend because of my telephone. All these gadgets, the phone and the computer, they expose the inside of your brain in a way that's bad. Everybody has a bit of Gary Glitter in the corner of their brain. I'm not sure you're going to print that.
I've heard so many stories of people getting caught through their computers and stuff; when you hear about the governor of New York getting caught with prostitutes, I sort of felt sorry for him. Everybody is doing dirty stuff, is tempted to go to some website of some sort, and to be able to expose that, it's not fair. I think the people who offer that are as guilty as the guys who fall into it. I say "guys" because it's very much the way the male brain is wired. Not every man is similar, but there's similarity in the way we connect with sex; it's our weakness. And then it's exposed as something ugly and bad. I don't know why I'm talking about this ... do you have your title already? I think it's a problem when journalists have the title of their article before they do the interview, because it biases the way they conduct it. But you'd be in bad shape if you had yours, because I think I just got right off the point. I think the piece is for the internet, like everything these days ...
I spend too much time on the net – it's a problem. To tell you how bad – and I'm sure I'm not the only one – I tried to ask my assistant to put some kind of parental control on some of the websites I go to, to get some parental control on myself, but it's too complicated.
(Continúa)
Couldn't your teenage son sort it out for you?
I'm sure he's going to the same horrible websites as me. I feel bad about that, because those things were not available when I was his age, and I think those things are captivating. People will always say "You don't have to go there," but I think you need to be limited. It's like prostitution and everything – if it's available then it's tempting. It's why I'm against legalisation of marijuana – because if it's available you want to get more. I can talk about that because I'm not doing it.
So are you advocating internet censorship?
Erm ... I think you should be able to censor yourself. If you allow censorship then it's always going to be used to give more power to people who already have power. I think your brain goes in waves – sometimes you feel strong, like in the morning, and at these moments you could make a decision that stops you being weak another time. Like drink dialling, that's terrible. They should have systems on your computer: you'd have to do mathematical equations before you go on the net. Then you could not email your ex-girlfriend and tell her how much you love her, which is the last thing you want to do when you're sober.
Or let's say I go to this dirty website and do my dirty business, whatever it is: then I regret it, and I should be then able to censor myself. Then the next time I want to go, I'd have made a decision when I was in a better place in my mind. That's how censorship should work, but no one's going to bring out the tools to do that. It's too bad because I think it would be a good idea. That's my new policy – self-censorship.
How do you feel about the internet as an outlet for your art?
I just did a commercial with Kevin Spacey; I think of my movies he'd probably only seen Sunshine, and wasn't really into my work. Then a friend who visited him mentioned the videos I did with the Rubik's Cube, this work I have no respect for, and on the third day of our shoot he came to me and said: "Oh, I saw your stuff on YouTube - it's really amazing." A lot of people connect to me through the silly things I do through the net. I think our main communication now is going to be electronic – and the downside is trying to watch a video on a two-inch square screen with things blinking all over it. That's what the internet is: it's like bombarding your eyeballs with these myriad blinking colour lights. It's like trying to watch a movie on your phone in the middle of Times Square. You can put that in big letters. Actually you should this in big letters. Put my quote of my quote of my quote: this one of me saying "put this one as a quote".
Your father was a computer programmer. Did that rub off on you?
He made microphones and speakers as well. It's interesting how differently brains are wired: my brother was totally influenced by our dad, and me not at all. In fact I couldn't understand the programming, although I like the logic of it, but maybe I'm not patient enough. I need a more immediate reward.
Which is a funny thing to hear from a stop-motion animator.
But animation gives me a very quick reward, if I work all night or all week. When you see it come to life, it's like a shot. I don't need to take drugs – I get my kicks from that. I would never drive a motorbike because I would be dead in ten minutes, but I was once behind somebody who rode motorbikes, and experienced the feeling of acceleration from zero to 100 miles per hour in five seconds, and understood why people would risk their lives doing that. I'm lucky that my kick is very safe.
And what's your next film project?
I have to wait a little bit before I can say – I have a lot of things on and I have to define which is the next one. But I'm pretty busy. I don't mean to brag – I get scared like everyone, so I just did a commercial. I think commercials are bad, but then art is contradiction.
The internet is rife with rumours of you adapting Rudy Rucker's Master of Space and Time with Daniel Clowes or The Green Hornet with Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow.
It's like going back into the past. In fact I'm not trying to ... no, see, I have to stop saying what I was about to, because it's not good. In French you say "turn your tongue seven times in your mouth" before you say something. Bite your tongue! That's the best self-censorship.
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lunes, marzo 09, 2009
Senado de la Nación
Senator #2: Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. Smith: I yield.
Senator #2: In view of the gentlemen's touching concern for the Senators and in view of the fact that he's been talking for seven and one-half hours and must be very, very tired, would he permit a motion to recess until the morning, at which time he may be better able to continue with his profound babblings?
Mr. Smith: Mr. President, what happens to me in the morning -- I mean about my having this floor to go on with my babblings?
Senate President: If the Senator permits this motion for recess, he won't have the floor in the morning to babble with or anything else, unless he's recognized first by this Chair.
Mr. Smith: Uh, uh...As I was saying gentlemen...I'm either dead right or I'm crazy. And I feel fine.
Senate President: Is the Senator yielding the floor?
Mr. Smith: Yield the...? Oh, no. I feel fine... "The Constitution of the United States". Page one, top left-hand corner: "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..."
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Mr. Smith: I yield.
Senator #2: In view of the gentlemen's touching concern for the Senators and in view of the fact that he's been talking for seven and one-half hours and must be very, very tired, would he permit a motion to recess until the morning, at which time he may be better able to continue with his profound babblings?
Mr. Smith: Mr. President, what happens to me in the morning -- I mean about my having this floor to go on with my babblings?
Senate President: If the Senator permits this motion for recess, he won't have the floor in the morning to babble with or anything else, unless he's recognized first by this Chair.
Mr. Smith: Uh, uh...As I was saying gentlemen...I'm either dead right or I'm crazy. And I feel fine.
Senate President: Is the Senator yielding the floor?
Mr. Smith: Yield the...? Oh, no. I feel fine... "The Constitution of the United States". Page one, top left-hand corner: "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..."
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