Saturday, June 21, 2014

"Impasse" - A short film by Bram Schouw




Without words, we're left to consider whether love and attraction can break through the impasse of human intolerance. 

IMPASSE, is the second short film of Dutch filmmaker Bram Schouw. It had its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2008 and was selected at renowned film festivals in New York, Sarajevo and Paris. Impasse got a Special Mention at the International Amsterdam Film Festival and won the NFTVM VERS AWARD for young Dutch filmmakers. As part of the feature film STORIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS, composed out of 22 short films by directors as Hany Abu-Assad, Marina Abramovic and Sergei Bodrov, IMPASSE still travels around cinemas worldwide.


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

"Black Maps" - A poem by Mark Strand


Black Maps

Not the attendance of stones,
nor the applauding wind,
shall let you know
you have arrived,

nor the sea that celebrates
only departures,
nor the mountains,
nor the dying cities.

Nothing will tell you
where you are.
Each moment is a place
you’ve never been.

You can walk
believing you cast
a light around you.
But how will you know?

The present is always dark.
Its maps are black,
rising from nothing,
describing,

in their slow ascent
into themselves,
their own voyage,
its emptiness,
the bleak temperate
necessity of its completion.
As they rise into being
they are like breath.

And if they are studied at all
it is only to find,
too late, what you thought
were concerns of yours

do not exist.
Your house is not marked
on any of them,
nor are your friends,

waiting for you to appear,
nor are your enemies,
listing your faults.
Only you are there,

saying hello
to what you will be,
and the black grass
is holding up the black stars.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Bry Webb' s second solo album "Free Will"



Constantines' frontman Bry Webb, has released his second solo album last month. It's called "Free Will". The album was recorded at Toronto's 6 Nassau Recording Studio, with Webb producing alongside Jeff McMurrich (Constantines, Jennifer Castle, Owen Pallett). It finds Webb backed by his band the Providers, which includes Nathan Lawr of Minotaurs on drums, Anna Ruddick of Ladies of the Canyon on bass, Aaron Goldstein of Lee Harvey Osmond on pedal steel, and Rich Burnett on guitar and lap steel. Guests include Jennifer Castle, Will Kidman of Constantines and others.

According to the record company Idée Fixe Records, this is a record about responsibility, love, work, desire, art and above all, will. Webb possesses a beautiful voice and this record contains some fine and subtle song making. In "Fletcher", Bry Webb states "What I need I carry with me" and it's in this sparse and organic way that this record has been recorded.