Nachoqatsi

From Youtube:

na - cho -qatsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. Nacho life. 2. Life eating
nachos. 3. Life eating crispy tortilla chips smothered in cheese. 4. A way of
life that celebrates the consumption of nachos

Anyway, i just figured i should post this awesomeness.

Also, the official trailer for the violent videogame Grand Theft Auto 4 uses music, cut and mixed, from koyaanisquatsi with similar styled NY computer graphics. I doubt Philip would be pleased by that one, however.

Recently I went to Normandy with my group of other American students in a big bus. It took a long while. It was interesting to go back to these places I hadn’t seen for 8 years or so, and I ended up crying like a baby, but it was a good experience.

The museum of peace near Caen is a poignant and moving chronology of the history leading up to, during and after WWII. Im not very good with the subject of WWII, I usually cant hold up in one piece for too long when theres a lot of discussion on the subject. Thankfully the museum was not nearly as depressing as it could have been, and it was really well done. There was a fascinating german propaganda film, which was made using stock footage, on the subject of D-day, which clearly tried to portray the germans as victorious. None of the footage was actually from Normandy, of course.

Anyway, in the museum there were many interesting war artifacts one in particular was a page from shostakovich’s 7th symphony. The symphony even accompanied a film on the subject of the invasion of lenningrad.

Later there was another film which I watched in the theatre there which was sort of an amalgamation of a lot of war and peace images. The construction of the berlin wall, the rebellion in the Czech republic, the tearing down of the berlin wall, the war in Vietnam, images of the peace movement, of peace accords etc, etc. Anyway they used film from Koyyanisqatsi and Naqqoisqatsi in the film, it was fun to see footage I knew… but accompanied to much less interesting music.

you guys are awesome

Just a little note/link to the wonderful temporary re-blog set up by the hard-working folks at anablog.

I have... no time. I shouldn’t even be typing it as its cutting in on my sleep-schedule.

Koyaanisqatsi was good- personally not mind-blowing, not revolutionary, surprisingly (visually)minimalistic in its emphasis on (visual) repetition (but i guess thats the point). I really did enjoy it, the music fit perfectly (though i thought there were many passages that were just a little too slow for me), the film gave me a different perspective of the kind of workings of the urban/industrial/manufacturing world.

Like anything minimalistic, at its best it left me in a giddy dizziness, disorienting and with a sense of awe. At its worst, it left me audibly yawning.
Some parts i wish the music were a little more diverse (organic, the grid). The film itself could be spectacularly beautiful and even moving in its coldness, in its objective "portraiture" of both individuals and the crowd.

I have many things to say, but i gotta get up early. Best be off.

So i have just rented Koyaanisqatsi from my university library and have decided to post a few words. I have heard the music many times but have never seen the film. There is a real sense of drama in the music even without the video, but i am expecting that with it will be even more potent. The music is epic in a way, and, as far as im concerned, it is the ultimate in post-modernernity- that searing severe repetition, strict tonality and hypnotic persistence, a reflection of the contemporary urban world.

I have also read a great deal about the film, so hopefully my expectations will be met.