European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET Film Blog.

by LEP
Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 05:51:17 AM EST

"We gather in this great Blog, Eurotrib, to mourn and to give thanks. It is a fitting place to do so, a place where the story of our Blog and the story of our Film Discussion Group which we now commend to Blog Heaven are intertwined.
It was here that the idea of a Film Blog was created; it was here that many vowed to participate; it was here that its first and second editions took birth. It is fitting, then, that a place that stood at the centre of its brief life should now be the place where we honour its passing.
How should we explain the numbers so pitiful? Who knows? People are busy? It was ahead of its time is the usual explanation.
There was about the Film Blog, in George Eliot's lovely phrase, "the sweet presence of a good diffused". But its life was to be very brief.
Finally, we come here not only to mourn but also to give thanks, to celebrate its brief existence and to hope that someday there may be a rebirth of a new and better Film Blog.

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Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET Film Blog. | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

awww, very droll, LEP...

i am so not up on the movie thing, i fasted for 20 years from any movies at all, so it was always going to be a peripheral interest for me at ET.

having said that, i enjoyed the first one, for the politics. as you probably remember, the films i found so-so at best.

i have tried to watch seven samurai several times, since i rediscovered 'movie culture' and hated it.

so i opted out of even visiting the diary, even though sven is one of my fave posters here.

the idea is a good one, perhaps less often, maybe it is ahead of its time.

perhaps it could be reframed, as in: run a leisurely vote as to what films would be voted on, say over 6 months, choose them (it) and the go for it, after everyone has had plenty of time to get the dvd.

not being on b-band, torrent is not an option, and i can't count on everyone being as kind as you were, to loan me the dvds.

desi ursu....now that was a film!

There are no blank spots on the map any more, anywhere on earth. You want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind. Jon Krakauer

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 08:25:03 AM EST

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

Well, I have some other ideas, but any action will have to wait until late April when I get back from the U.S. Hopefully the airlines will still be able to pay for the fuel on April 21.
And I agree with you that, given the interests of this blog, films with political plots may be the way to go.

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 08:44:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon (none / 1)

LEP it was partly my fault for not putting up some provocative thoughts to kick the thing off, part clash with the photography blog and part forum obsession with other topics.

The idea is a good one, though I remain to be convinced that comparing 2 movies in the best way to go.

I think everybody appreciates the sharing of interesting resources/entertainments - whether books, youtubes, links, reviews or whatever. Movies are part of our media landscape too. I'm not sure we need coverage of current mainstream movies because they are covered quite well in the msm - unless they really get up our noses! But there are lots of other movies that are not widely publicized - it is worth getting recommendations from others in order to seek them out.

My latest TV series project is actually a movie (cinema/TV/DVD) review program with a new format that includes a comedy back story. We are in discussions this coming week with the channel.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 16th, 2008 at 08:37:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon (none / 1)

Sven. I think the idea of a film discussion blog is a good one for a blog of retired people and housewives; people who have the time to sit down and watch the films. It's not the diary you wrote yesterday. You notice there was only one person, me, who had prepared and had watched the films for yesterday's blog; the two other commenters were speaking from memory. Even for the first blog which I wrote there were only a handful who prepared for it in spite of there being many comments. I suspected then that the film blog was not going to fly.
So this diary is only my bizarre method of saying: "let's put it out of its misery and bury it with honours" before it gets sick and all shriveled up.

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Sun Mar 16th, 2008 at 10:33:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon (4.00 / 3)

It will maybe re-emerge in a new format ;-)

Who would have thought that the Photoblog would be so fascinating and successful in terms of active contributions? We have try things and see how they resonate.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 16th, 2008 at 11:51:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 2)

Darn, and I finally got a chance to see The Serpent's Egg! But it would have been a difficult review anyway, so maybe this is sort of like school being closed for a snow day the day you had to turn in an assignment that wasn't quite finished.

I'll keep an eye on the tribune for the rebirth of the film blog. One hopes it will be suitably dramatic :}

Karen in Austin

Thence comes our true nobility by grace, It was not willed us with our rank and place. Chaucer

by Wife of Bath (bakerswife13@yahoo.com) on Sun Mar 16th, 2008 at 09:55:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (none / 1)

You can still add your comment to the Film Blog #1 regarding The Serpent's Egg. I'd be interested to see it.
http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2008/2/7/18553/46814

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Mon Mar 17th, 2008 at 03:03:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (none / 1)

Sorry. I guess you can't post any more in that diary. Never mind!

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Mon Mar 17th, 2008 at 07:31:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 2)

My problem is that I have no idea how to talk about a film.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 11:40:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

Well I never wrote about a film until the First Film Blog. I think as amateurs we just discuss what the film did or said to us. For example, in speaking of The Serpent's Egg, Turambar stated "... it gives you the feeling of actually being there, just before some major catastrophe is going to happen." He saw it exactly as I saw it.
If the film's a comedy did it make you laugh? etc., etc.
You have an advantage over most of us in that you're an experienced photographer and you can look at the cinematography with an experienced eye. Just look at a film as a series of thousands of still photos.
Anyway, if we do another film blog later, you can attempt it.

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 12:33:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 7)

I'm not really up on everything which is available or written here, so if it's already being or has been done, feel free to ignore me.

However, I noticed that a lot of people post links to music videos, and I myself like visual arts and books, plus obviously others like films. So why not have a general arts blog, that everybody can write for once in a while, putting up an analysis for discussion? The medium can change every week, so films will come up say once a months or so. Obviously if one form of art gets more discussion than another, then you can schedule to your readers.

It's just that I don't watch films, and very little television to boot, so any form of 'moving image' art is not discussable. But I would love the chance one day to compare and contrast Goya's Saturn Devouring his Son with Repin's Ivan the Terrible killing his son.

That's my idea.

Member of the Anti-Fabulousness League since 1987.

by Ephemera on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 01:57:43 PM EST

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

That's something you could do yourself. Write a diary and see if there's any interest. Not much is invested and lost if it's not too popular and you may have to do it a few times to get a good sounding. I would be happy to read your diary contrasting Goya and Repin.
A film discussion group is different, however, in that people have to do something affirmative to participate; ie., watch the films. If they don't watch the films there can be no discussion.

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 02:07:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (none / 1)

I'm going to have a go at a music diary this week, so we'll see how that goes.

(I won't be able to write it 'till Friday, and that's photo blog day so another day might be better for posting it. Any suggestions for a better day are welcome.)

A 'visual arts' diary could work, I think, as long as the images are online. (Just google the title, click on images, find a biggish one that has the colours as you remember them, then insert into diary.) Contributors--and readers--can see the images--if they're big enough--and so follow any discussions based on the visuals.

I like the idea of picture juxtapositions. So if you write a diary--I'll look forward to reading it.

Re: films, I was wondering if it would make more sense to review films that are available online--not DVDs or torrents, but things like this:

European Tribune - War of the Narratives - Two Venezuelan documentaries

The Irish documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" has turned into somewhat of a leftist answer to this critism, questioning how the media is used as a tool of power and control in a society. To my surprise I discovered that the film was posted on Google video.
It is a beautiful and expressive piece of political documentary:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144&q
Naturally, the Venezuelan middle- and upper class is rather irritated by the picture that is painted of Venezuelan society and their allegedly pampered and racist life style. In a move I applaud whoever responsible for, they have made a counter-documentary, discussing the ways in which TRWNBT in their view was wrong, misleading, manipulative, etc:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3378761249364089950&q
More than the original documentary (which was deliberately provocative), I think the response really gives an insight into middle class Venezuelan attitudes. If you have time to see it, I ask you to not only evaluate what they are saying and how they are saying it (both in content of critism but also how they have chosen to present it), but also what they are NOT arguing against.

I don't know if it'll work, but the only requirement is that contributors (and readers) watch the online work. I expect there are new developments online. Also, a lot of old work is available and (for me) the films carry a resonance that could be developed in a discussion. Youtube, though, chops things at 10 minutes which makes it difficult to watch something in one sitting. Has anyone investigated google video to see what's out there?

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Mon Mar 17th, 2008 at 04:31:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 2)

I think a music blog is a great idea. I suggest Wednesday. You might want to publicize it on the open thread for a week or two before posting and tell us in advance which subjects you will be discussing so we can prepare if we want. And you might want to keep the subjects narrow for the first few times. Good Luck.
I have some other ideas for a film blog but it will have to wait for my return from America on April 22.

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Mon Mar 17th, 2008 at 05:01:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

Just throwing thoughts out:

Film blogs can have two aspects. One is the general "What did you think of it and why?"; everyone can contribute (who has watched the film.) The only danger is an argument about tastes--where I follow the Crazy Horse logic that "I like it / I don't like it" is fine, but criticism is something else.

Then there is another aspect, which we have seen an interest in with the photo blog, and that is: technical elements. Sven knows a lot about these--but whether he has time/interest in developing it. Thing is, the technical aspect is served wonderfully by youtube. All those 10 min clips, all the favourites snipped and available. Maybe there would be some interest in analysing a 10 min clip rather than a whole film?

Also, for those who have seen the film, a clip might have a "key resonance" such that it can be shown and then used to feed out to the wider picture.

A simple example: I've never been into Hitchcock. It could just be "like vs. dislike", but he's a famous director, I'm sure clips of his films are online, and maybe I'd learn a thing or eight from a technical discussion--hmmm....maybe I'm thinking "form and function can't be separated"--only maybe not!

(...like I said, just throwing thoughts out.)

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Mon Mar 17th, 2008 at 06:13:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

As far as I get Hitchcock he was an inventor, making new techniques and themes. The problem with inoventors are that they are not necessarily the best at using the new tools they make. Later on people might make (in this case) movies that outshines the original works. For those that experienced the newness when it was new, that experience may very well thrumph the later works, but for those that first see the tools invented by Hitchcock used in a modern film, seeing the original pieces can be somewhat of a letdown. They can still be appreciated for their historical value but they are not innovative today, and without that freshness they are not really all that good.

To be frank, I have not seen that much of Hitchcocks works to be certain that this description fits Hitchcock. I am however certain that later generations of moveiwatchers will not experience the awe I felt when I watched Jurassic Park. They made it look so real! Not like the stiff puppets or crude cuts (with blue lines around the cut-in object) I was used too. Now computer animation is standard and hanging a movie on just good animations does not work, thus a story is also needed (ok, Jurassic Park might have had a story but I hardly remember it).

by A swedish kind of death on Mon Mar 17th, 2008 at 03:36:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 4)

Sorry I havent managed to apply electrodes to the corpse, or at least a shot of adreniline to keep its heart fluttering. Unfortunately I had an early night last night as I had a trip to the inlaws today, from which I have only just returned. Tomorrow I will attempt to bring about the following

Interviewer: What do you believe is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings? Helpmann: Bad sportsmanship

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 06:16:08 PM EST

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (none / 1)

LOL. Thanks for the laugh ceebs. I see that film was the one in which you had your first screen role as the assistant to Dr. F.

I told Bush; don't play chess with the freakin' Russians.

by LEP (rafifoon@yahoo.com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 06:47:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

but more accurately I am portayed here

Interviewer: What do you believe is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings? Helpmann: Bad sportsmanship

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sat Mar 15th, 2008 at 07:22:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET F (4.00 / 3)

I don't know about others, but I was snowed over lately and had guests to tend at home, thus had no time for both the film blog & photo blog from last Friday, and haven't yet downloaded The Seven Samurai to make up for it now...

You should definitely continue the series, though also definitely not on Fridays (I'd prefer Saturdays).

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Mon Mar 17th, 2008 at 11:48:13 AM EST

Funeral and Sermon upon the death of the ET Film Blog. | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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