December 2001 Archives

This morning on NPR, there was a commentary about the Christmas Truce, a moment in the first year of WWI when British and German troops left their trenches, met in No Man's Land, and exchanged cigarettes and jam, sang Christmas carols, and even played soccer. This ad hoc truce was unofficial and unsanctioned, and it obviously didn't last, but it was a last vestige of a human, individual, moral approach to war that was rendered obsolete by WWI's technological advances. Paul Fussell, a UPenn historian, called it "the last twitch of the 19th century." Read firsthand accounts of the Christmas Truce here.

This story reminded me of a trip I made in early 2000 with Paul, a former colleague of mine, while we were working in Paris. We set out one cold Saturday to visit WWI memorials to the Battle of the Somme. We set out to visit the British Memorial at the village of Thiepval [note: link is in pdf format], designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. This arch is inscribed with the names of thousands of missing soldiers and was one inspiration for Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial [note: official Park Services websites are currently offline]. In November 2000, Maya Lin discussed Lutyens' influence in an essay she wrote in 1982, right after completing the then-controversial memorial. Read it in the New York Review of Books.

Merry Christmas.

Got back last night from a week in DC, sans video setup, in order to host an event at MoMA that turned out even better than I'd hoped.

The co-creators of Towers of Light, a proposal for an ephemeral memorial to the World Trade Center, discussed the project and its evolution. How it's gone from independent, abstract ideas and visions springing from different needs and visions (restitution, ghost limbs, spatial composition and urban planning) to an emminently realizable, concrete and remarkably cohesive proposal.

The collaboration that has taken shape includes artists Julian Laverdiere and Paul Myoda; architects Gustavo Bonevardi and John Bennett; Creative Time; and the Municipal Arts Society. Given that I know all four instigators and have counted at least two of them as friends for years, I'm especially eager to see this powerful project happen. The Towers of Light link above has a place to share your comments and support (note: They don't need money.)

Also, a photographer whose work I really admire, Philip-Lorca di Corcia, has had three shows, one in New York at PaceWildenstein [sorry, can't find a good link], one in London at Gagosian, UK, and one in Paris at Galerie Almine Rech [flash prevents deep linking...], which was the first showing I know of of his highly influential (i.e., frequently copied) fashion photography work. Check it out.

Cold, drizzly Sunday afternoon=prime logging (and weblogging time). Here is some real-time video screening/logging before I run over to my in-laws' apartment:


Tape 4: Closeups of my grandmother's photographs. Jeff's idea was to have her hold them rather than just to shoot them on their own, Ric Burns-style. Great images, nicely framed with her hands and sweater popping in from time to time. We can insert these cuts in her discussions of the various pics. One bummer: she'd tell some stories while we were shooting the photos, too (she was still miked up); some of these stories got cut off when Jeff'd stop taping a photo and request the next one. We weren't aware enough of what we were getting, I guess.

Shooting along an irrigation ditch, the first one. It was concrete lined, so the water ran much more quickly. Jeff (the cameraman) was straddling the ditch. Several great shots, useful for voiceover, narrative breaks, whatever. Then he suddenly swears at the camera. He flips around, looking through the camera as the rubber eyepiece rushes downstream. "Sht, sht sht," and then there's me busting up laughing, knowing that this eyepiece, which never seemed to stay on anyway, wouldn't be bothering us anymore. A slight, old guy with a straw hat and shaded clips on his glasses comes over to see what's up. "That water comes out over to Center Street, if you want to go catch it," he offers wryly.

First interior shots of one of the dry cleaners. A lot of tight, well-framed images of the various equipment stations, the clothes racks, etc. No people, really. (There were only two working at the time, and we'd made plans to go back the next morningto capture the hubbub.) Reminds me of shots from a smaller, less monumental Jane and Louise Wilson video.

gotta run.

An intense article by Dennis Lim in the Village Voice this week explores the ways film makers depict and deal with grief and absence. With references ranging from the French director FranÁois Ozon to Buffy, a lot of the article discusses Todd Field's awe-inspring debut feature, In the Bedroom, which everyone should run out and see.

A recently abused phrase: The terrorists have already won. Nearly 600 occurences on Google as I type, including at The Onion. I mention this at all because a neighbor and I were trying to figure out how The Daily Show had used it, and I just found the quote. From 18 October 2001.

"Let me get this staight, Jon.
Congress has been reduced to backing an 80's novelty rap star (MC Hammer) on the steps of the Capitol?
The terrorists have already won, Jon."

-Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show

Yikes. I feel like I either must or must not watch the documentary, Project Greenlight, which premiers on HBO tonight. It's the "making of" story of a guy from Chicago who won an online script contest by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production company, Live Planet; top prize waw a $1mm budget and a distribution deal from Miramax. The NY Times review hinted at a couple of interesting and not-unexpected points: 1) Ben Affleck's observation on the possible heinousness of the final product (an anxiety I share about my own project), "If Pete's works, it's `Stand by Me.' If it doesn't, it's the after- school special I did when I was 13." and 2) Caryn James' observation that "though no one says this on camera, one of Mr. Jones's assets was that his personality plays better on television than the runner-up's." As it turns out, then, was like acing the SAT's or winning the first Survivor; there is a system to be understood and played. Just sign up for the Princeton Review of film making...