Valhalla Rising is a complex and violent film, full of beautiful, savage images and scant dialogue. What actually happens onscreen? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx2u4ZzhcmQ Nicolas Winding Refn's brutal tour-de-force Valhalla Rising stars Mads Mikkelsen as a mute killing machine owned by a Norse Chieftain. The Chieftain keeps him caged, barely seeing to his physical needs and trotting him … Continue reading Possessed by Violence: Valhalla Rising
Experiences and Impressions
Yearning for Catharsis: The Transitory Sound and Movement Collective
When we get caught up in evaluating performance, life, and art, become uninspired. How do we refresh our vision? I found my seat in the darkened room. A soundless film was projected upon the bare wall and musicians waited in the darkness at the sides of the space. Soon, low electronic sounds began to enter … Continue reading Yearning for Catharsis: The Transitory Sound and Movement Collective
Deciphering the Dream: Robert Altman’s 3 Women
Dreams allow symbols, objects and personalities to form fluid associations. Can their suspension of reality help us understand our lives? Robert Altman was having a terrible day. He had argued with Warner Brothers executives over decisions about his next film project and things had been said that couldn't be unsaid. Much worse, his wife had … Continue reading Deciphering the Dream: Robert Altman’s 3 Women
The First Annual Late Summer Reading List
Looking for something to do with the rest of your summer? Here are twelve books to help pass the time. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer/Annie Barrows, 2008 An epistolary novel, meaning it is presented as a collection of letters. Historical piece that puts a personal face on the … Continue reading The First Annual Late Summer Reading List
Revealing the Internal Voice: Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man
If our internal dialogues were revealed, what would the world learn? None of us could bear that kind of scrutiny. We are each far more wonderful and far more horrible than anyone could imagine. Thankfully, in A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood supplies us with the internal dialogues of a fictional character. George may not … Continue reading Revealing the Internal Voice: Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man
Burying the Beloved: Love and Loss in Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles
What would you do if the love of your life was taking on something that you knew would kill them? Homer's Iliad is a mainstay of western culture, one of the first epics to be written down in that tradition. So why read a novel that retells part of that story when everyone knows how it ends? Well, for one … Continue reading Burying the Beloved: Love and Loss in Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles
Buried Memories: The Other Immigrants by Saba Husain
There are moments in which events in our past connect powerfully to our present. How do we express such synchronicity? As human beings we move from one reality to another, crossing so many bridges that we become bridges ourselves: between countries, between cultures, between periods of time, between our own memories. Most of the time … Continue reading Buried Memories: The Other Immigrants by Saba Husain
A Healing Song: The Breathless Choir
Society encourages us to pursue marketable things at which we excel. Is there value in pursuits that challenge our weaknesses? The weeding and winnowing starts when we are very young. What was it for you? Too short to play basketball. Can't color inside the lines. Can't do math. Can't visualize. Has no rhythm. Can't sing. Might as … Continue reading A Healing Song: The Breathless Choir
Water and Light: This is how I get to you by Tuba Sozudogru
Our most important thoughts and feelings are those that are hard to put into words. Can art give them voices? Tuba Sozudogru presented her devastatingly beautiful and profound self portrait, This is how I get to you, at synkroniciti's Open Mic, Broken Pieces, on January 9th, 2016. In writing the overview for that evening, which … Continue reading Water and Light: This is how I get to you by Tuba Sozudogru
Through the Dream of a Child: Brent Bonacorso’s West of the Moon
There is pain and struggle in life that is universal. How can art help us to approach these things differently? Brent Bonacorso has directed videos for Elton John (Home Again) and Katy Perry (Unconditionally) as well as numerous commercials. Technically stunning and innovative, as well as emotionally charged, his signature style is filled with striking images, bright and dreamy, … Continue reading Through the Dream of a Child: Brent Bonacorso’s West of the Moon