Monthly Archives for September 2008

Two more nights of QUILOMBO COUNTRY in NYC

QUILOMBO COUNTRY, New Documentary about Black Rebel Villages of Brazil, Premieres at the Pioneer Theater (Ave. A & 3rd Street) in New York City, September 19-25, 2008

Wednesday, Sept 24, 7pm
Thursday, Sept 25, 7pm

“Quilombo Country,” the award-winning documentary about Brazilian villages founded by escaped and rebel slaves, will have its premiere theatrical run at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater from Friday, September 19th to Thursday, September 25th every evening at 7 pm. The film is narrated by Chuck D, the legendary poet, media commentator and leader of the iconic hip hop band Public Enemy. The film’s creator, writer-director Leonard Abrams, will take questions after the Friday and Saturday screenings. The Pioneer Theater is located in the heart of New York City’s East Village at 155 East 3rd Street near Avenue A.

Brazil, once the world’s largest slave colony, was brutal and deadly for millions of Africans. But many thousands escaped and rebelled, creating settlements they called quilombos in Brazil’s untamed hinterland. Largely unknown to the outside world, these communities struggle today to preserve a rich heritage born of resistance to oppression.

“Quilombo Country” explores Afrobrazilian village life among the forests and rivers of northern Brazil, with rare footage of festivals and ceremonies that blend Catholic, African and native Amazonian rituals and customs, including the use of dance, drumming, tobacco and other sacred plants to facilitate the communication between the spiritual and material worlds.

Ranging from the abandoned sugar plantations in the Northeast to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, “Quilombo Country” is alive with first-person accounts of racial conflict, cultural ferment, political identity, and the struggle for land and human rights.

“Wonderfully rich…Abrams’s grainy, intimate portrait of the difficult everyday life of contemporary quilombo residents refuses romanticization.”
– Black Camera

“Immerse[s] the viewer in an ever-expanding network of relationships…in a way that is persuasive, complex, and timely.”
– Southern Quarterly

“Outstanding footage of festivals, parties and religious ceremonies.”
– In These Times

“Winner, Best Documentary, 2007”
– Black International Cinema Berlin festival

‘Quilombo Country’
2006 • USA • Color • Digital 4:3 • Running time: 73 minutes
Website: quilombocountry.com

Why the narrative Arts matter

Scientific American Mind – September 18, 2008

The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn

Our love for telling tales reveals the workings of the mind

By Jeremy Hsu

When Brad Pitt tells Eric Bana in the 2004 film Troy that “there are no pacts between lions and men,” he is not reciting a clever line from the pen of a Hollywood screenwriter. He is speaking Achilles’ words in English as Homer wrote them in Greek more than 2,000 years ago in the Iliad. The tale of the Trojan War has captivated generations of audiences while evolving from its origins as an oral epic to written versions and, finally, to several film adaptations. The power of this story to transcend time, language and culture is clear even today, evidenced by Troy’s robust success around the world.

Popular tales do far more than entertain, however. Psychologists and neuroscientists have recently become fascinated by the human predilection for storytelling. Why does our brain seem to be wired to enjoy stories? And how do the emotional and cognitive effects of a narrative influence our beliefs and real-world decisions?

The answers to these questions seem to be rooted in our history as a social animal. We tell stories about other people and for other people. Stories help us to keep tabs on what is happening in our communities. The safe, imaginary world of a story may be a kind of training ground, where we can practice interacting with others and learn the customs and rules of society. And stories have a unique power to persuade and motivate, because they appeal to our emotions and capacity for empathy.

Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history. Anthropologists find evidence of folktales everywhere in ancient cultures, written in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian. People in societies of all types weave narratives, from oral storytellers in hunter-gatherer tribes to the millions of writers churning out books, television shows and movies. And when a characteristic behavior shows up in so many different societies, researchers pay attention: its roots may tell us something about our evolutionary past.

To study storytelling, scientists must first define what constitutes a story, and that can prove tricky. Because there are so many diverse forms, scholars often define story structure, known as narrative, by explaining what it is not. Exposition contrasts with narrative by being a simple, straightforward explanation, such as a list of facts or an encyclopedia entry. Another standard approach defines narrative as a series of causally linked events that unfold over time. A third definition hinges on the typical narrative’s subject matter: the interactions of intentional agents—characters with minds—who possess various motivations.

However narrative is defined, people know it when they feel it. Whether fiction or nonfiction, a narrative engages its audience through psychological realism—recognizable emotions and believable interactions among characters.

“Everyone has a natural detector for psychological realism,” says Raymond A. Mar, assistant professor of psychology at York University in Toronto. “We can tell when something rings false.”

But the best stories—those retold through generations and translated into other languages—do more than simply present a believable picture. These tales captivate their audience, whose emotions can be inextricably tied to those of the story’s characters. Such immersion is a state psychologists call “narrative transport.”

Continue reading →

OM with Koen Holtkamp – All-Ages – NYC – Autumnal equinox TONIGHT (Tues, Sept 23)

SHARE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX with OM

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 23rd.

at

SHANGRI LA – 100 Sutton Street @ NASSAU, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Doors open at 8PM.

KOEN HOLTKAMP (Mountains, Aero) plays at 845pm
OM at 930PM

Be there early – NO presales. $12. BYOB, ALL AGES!!!!!!! This loft space is also a home. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL! NO LOITERING OUTSIDE, TAKE YOUR TRASH WITH YOU……THANK YOU….

New doc on Evergreen Review's BARNEY ROSSET!


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Opens Friday, Sept 26 at Cinema Village

Obscene: a Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press

“OBSCENE is the definitive film biography of Barney Rosset, the influential publisher of Grove Press and the Evergreen Review. He acquired the then fledgling Grove Press in 1951 and soon embarked on a tumultuous career of publishing and political engagement that continues to inspire today’s defenders of free expression. Not only was he the first American publisher of acclaimed authors Samuel Beckett, Kenzaburo Oe, Tom Stoppard, Che Guevara, and Malcolm X, but he also battled the government in the highest courts to overrule the obscenity ban on groundbreaking works of fiction such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Tropic of Cancer and Naked Lunch. Ultimately he won and altered the course of history, but not without first enduring lawsuits, death-threats, grenade attacks, government surveillance, and the occupation of his premises by enraged feminists.

“But the same unyielding and reckless energy Rosset used to publish and distribute controversial works such as Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, the Swedish film I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW), and the provocative Evergreen Review, also brought him perilously close to destruction. Featuring music by Bob Dylan, The Doors, Warren Zevon, and Patti Smith, and never-before-seen footage, OBSCENE is directed by first time filmmakers Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O’Connor.”

Music By:
Bob Dylan – I Threw It All Away
The Doors – Back Door Man
Patti Smith – Spell
Warren Zevon – Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Jim Carroll – Falling Down Laughing
X – Adult Books
Ella Fitzgerald – All The Things You Are

Cast:
Barney Rosset
with
Amiri Baraka
Jim Carroll
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Al Goldstein
Erica Jong
Ray Manzarek
Michael McClure
John Rechy
Ed Sanders
John Sayles
Gore Vidal
John Waters

and
Lenny Bruce
William S. Burroughs
Allen Ginsberg
Henry Miller
Malcolm X

"Handmade Portraits: Wood Mosaics" by Tara Young at etsy

“Robin and Kathy Tucker of woodmosaics stopped working in town back in 1986. After Robin’s intricate wood-inlayed work was featured in The Best of Missouri Hands catalog and commissioned by Ralston Purina, they were on their way to full time crafting. Influenced by Amish quilt patterns, Robin’s excellent woodworking uses exotic natural woods that range from Satinwood from Sri Lanka to Purpleheart from Central and South America. All of the wood is completely natural, with only a clear finish added to punctuate the beauty of the wood’s innate color.

“Choosing to live as off the grid as much as possible, Robin built a windmill so the family could hand pump their own water. Kathy made their clothes for years and they slaughter their own meat from the goats and chickens they raise. However, the one amenity they can’t live without is the internet. After a dozen years of craft shows across the country, Robin and Kathy prefer to stay at home, tend to the farm and sell their goods via laptop rather than mall shows. While the juxtaposition of an outhouse and high speed internet would seem strange to most folks, the Tuckers have chosen to make certain sacrifices to keep costs down while in pursuit of a self sustained lifestyle. Living in the middle the country in Spickard, Missouri, the Tuckers keep connected through the latest in social networking via their Myspace and flickr sites, with a solar powered back-up generator in case the electricity goes out.”

http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/thisHandmadeLife/article/handmade-portraits-wood-mosaics/2588/