Tony Oursler's Opicotic

tony oursler

The Rock-afire Explosion Movie Trailer

according to Wikipedia...
The Rock-afire Explosion was an animatronic robot band that played in Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants from 1980 to 1991...The stage was designed to be life-sized. Unlike many small novelty animatronic shows, the Rock-afire was designed to take up the entire length of the showroom. The stage was split into three sections, with the band in the center section and other characters on the two side sections each with separate curtains. Differing from their main competitor (Chuck E. Cheese's), the characters could mimic playing real instruments and had realistic facial expressions due to the use of latex masks (as used in Disney animatronics) as opposed to fabric and foam. The show also used a large amount of props and stage lighting effects which heightened the amount of perceived movement on the stage.

Art History Comes Alive

Masterpieces are interactive in Beijing at the "World Classic Interactive Arts Exhibition." A South Korean gallery spent 2 years developing 61 replicas of classic works like the Mono Lisa and the Last Supper, also ancient Greek works like The Winged Victory of Samothrace, transforming them into characters that move, speak, and interact with their audiences. Video on YouTube Reuters Article By Hanna Rantala

Loie Fuller's Restaurant

Green

Here is the website where you can download the entire film for free. It's a must see!
greenfilm.free.fr

For more info:
Orangutan Outreach
Borneo Orangutan Survival

2009 DIFF Awards

Click here for a list of all winners
Best Documentary Short – Green
by Moez Moez

Ocean vs Building

It's not funny Bart

Documentary

According to the Wikipedia.com...
"Burlesque is a humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody and sometimes grotesque exaggeration. Prior to Burlesque becoming associated with striptease, it was a form of musical and theatrical parody in which an opera or piece of classical theatre is adapted in a broad, often risqué style very different from that for which it was originally known."

I am curious to discover more about the inner workings of this performance genre and to share with you the mindset of contemporary burlesque performers. For now, here is a story about The 2008 New York Burlesque Festival, and a Loie Fuller inspired performance by Vicky Butterfly.

it's all about the tease

The Survivor's Way

The Survivor's Way is a new work proposed by Alex Oliszewski to DXARTS. His development process is unfolding on his blog.

Green

"Green" is a documentary film that will screen at the 2009 Durango Independent Film Festival March 4th-8th. Using a strong visual storytelling structure and a creative sound bed, this film documents the last moments of a female orangutan's life.

We first see the orangutan, who we'll later learn is named Green, in a duffel bag with head hanging out, riding in the back of a pickup truck. This initial shot is emotionally shocking and lasts for what feels like a full minute or more. The viewer has no context of the circumstances. I wasn't sure it was alive.

Shortly after, we discover that the form of this film is absent of interviews and narration. In fact, not many words are heard throughout the entire piece. The narrative proceeds with a dissolve, from the bed-sickened Green into her life memories. We experience a lush jungle and rich ecosystem, full of primates and other wildlife.

The filmmaker uses point-of-view and dutch-angle shots to place us into the orangutan's perspective. As the story continues, Green's perspective is juxtaposed with the process of development destroying her home through deforestation to biodiesel production. It's a gradual transition into the harsh reality of globalization. The forest is destroyed, primates suffer, palm oil is manufactured, and the fast-paced urban world seems oblivious.

"Her name is Green, she is alone in a world which doesn't belong to her. She is a female orangutan, victim of deforestation and palm oil plantations." (short synopsis)

"Green's" heart-felt message addresses our current global crisis through a universal lens. This well-constructed, cinematic story is a must-see at DIFF this year.

1981 Newspapers

Community Access

"Durango Community Access Television encourages communication and participation in public life by providing media tools, media education, and media distribution systems to the community. Support DCAT by becoming a member."

"As a DCAT member, you are part of the continuing effort to create local, community-building, free speech television. Public access gives you and your neighbors the opportunity to inform, entertain, and speak out for yourselves, in your own words. Unlike broadcast television and commercial cable services that deliver programs to you, public access is programming by and for you. You pick the topic, you write the script, you run the camera, and you edit the video."

Miranda July

Miranda July Interview - video powered by Metacafe

Joshua White

"Live performance of The Joshua Light Show at The Kitchen in NYC (April 4, 2007). With Bec Stupak as guest VJ and music by Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom."

Happy New Year!

Michael Wesch

I recently watched Michael Wesch's presentation, again, in preparation for Media Literacy this semester.