Now playing – strange trajectories, the 2007 ANU School of Art Emerging Artist Support Theme (EASS) award exhibition currently on at the Alliance Francaise in Canberra, is featuring the work of Michal Glickson (painting) and Anna Madeleine (photomedia). Anna is my daughter. She has two cool new video art pieces in this exhibition. She has also recently done the album art for Casual Projects new CD, No Rest, and is showing one of those images at PhotoAccess’s Open all areas 2008.
Despite my own mixed feelings, I’m expecting Loren Feldman’s Shel Israel parody to become the hottest puppet video show around while it lasts. Feldman has caused mischief and grief by taking the piss, and nicking the real Shel’s domain. You can read about it at Techcrunch or Karoli’s Bang the Drum, and here Feldman explains his initial impetus.
But it’s funny. As Steve Gillmor says in NewsGang Live (04.02.08, about the 45 -55 min mark), it’s the kind of thing you feel guilty about laughing at, but you can’t stop yourself. At first I was nitpicking the lip syncing, but Feldman is a quick study, and seems a natural for what works dramatically. (Update May 09 : not quick enough – he still can’t lip sync.)
I’m not sure if it’s so funny if you don’t follow the tech scene, but it’s interesting to see such a connection drawn between the tech world and the online puppetry world. There are precious few of us that follow both. I am intrigued to see who is willing to be interviewed, their differing comfort levels, and of course the power that resides in the way a puppet can ask questions and go places that a real interviewer can’t. The tech world seems to take itself fairly seriously much of the time, and I think Feldman may have a tiger by the tail with his entertaining and cutting take (though I’m sure it’s also going to be unkind and is already feeding into personality feuds). No wonder he is buying more puppets today.
Posted by hil on April 21, 2008
under politics, video
I’m not usually especially affected by multiple-celebrity-cause videos, but this one knocked me for six this morning. It’s a mashup of Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations and the iconic Kev Carmody/Paul Kelly song From Little Things Big Things Grow, devised by GetUp’s Brett Solomon and inspired by the Will.I.Am video made in support of Obama in the US. I guess it tapped straight into my happiness that many things that would have been unbelievable a year ago are starting to happen.
I’m also happy to see Paul Kelly endorse that idea that recognises that zealous copyrighting impoverishes creativity and cultural well-being. Kev Carmody did the same at the From Little Things concert that we went to in the Sydney Festival in January:
From Little Things Big Things Grow has its roots in songs like Woody Guthrie’s Deportees and The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll by Bob Dylan. And those songs grew out of the soil of other older songs. The Get Up Mob just added another branch to the tree. Long may it fruit
It sure was a happy night last night – after all the nail biting of the last few days and the start of the count last night, the John Howard era has come to an end!
Shan sent me his last election puppetry video, Howard’s Way, yesterday, but I must admit it felt too much like tempting fate to post it then!
Of course, now I have to decide what to do with my own two Howard puppets. They are too toxic to burn (just like the real thing, really!). I’m going to close my Vigil blog, but the puppet, which started out as an anti-war one, remains, as does the scarecrow one I made as a protest against the Howard government’s refugee policies. Any suggestions?
Shan Jayaweera’s John Howard has been pressing the flesh in Melbourne. I love this, especially where he describes himself as the Mick Jagger of Australian politics! Jemila McEwan made the puppet.
This is a snippet of the sizzling action in Philip Millar’s Puppetvison show Tyrannosaurous Sex sex which is on at the Northcote Fringe Festival until 13 October, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. I’ve seen this – its terrific! Puppetvision is also presenting Tadpole and Pure Puppet Palava, which means you have a good chance of seeing that blokey beer-swilling koala with attitude, Ken Koala:
(Philip Miller’s Ken Koala MCs the puppet cabaret at the 2006 National Puppetry Summit. Photo credit: Laura Purcell. From Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s Summit gallery.)
I’m taken with this lovely leaf logo which belongs to a new green blog Earth2Tech (a new part of the GigaOm blog network) which will focus on the business side of green and clean technology.
Dragonis a beautiful animation ad made for United Airlines. It’s made using paper cut-out stop-motion puppets, and you can see the process and team, lead by director, Jamie Caliri, in The Making of Dragon. Caliri also directed the ending animation forLemony Snicket.
