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March 30, 2007

No Direction Home

Four-hour Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan, from his beginnings to the motorcycle crash. By the end of the 1966 tour you can see that Dylan wants out out out. Everybody wants something from him, the press want to pick him apart, the folkies want him to give up the electric, the pop people want a hit, the hipsters want salvation, the peaceniks want a poster boy.
Great footage, great obscurities. You can forgive Dylan for never reaching the heights of Bringing/Highway/Blonde again. That Dylan crashed along with the motorcycle. 

Photographed by mills70

Posted by Ted Mills at 10:18 PM | | Comments (0)

March 29, 2007

Beau Travail

Claire Denis' super odd version of Billy Budd, which (unfortunately, I can hear Mr. C say) contains some of Benjamin Britten's tuneless opera of the same name (although, to be fair, it sorta works here). French Foreign Legionaires exercise, fight, iron shirts, and not much else under the Djibouti sun. Mesmerizing, elliptical. Very strange ending too. 

Photographed by mills70

Posted by Ted Mills at 10:22 PM | | Comments (0)

March 25, 2007

Avenue Montaigne/Orchestra Seats

Mildly amusing romantic comedy of a young country girl coming to the big city o' Paris and becoming entangled in three mid-life crises of the mildly and/or extremely rich. Just okay, I thought. On the other hand, a bit actress with one major scene, Annelise Hesme, was stunningly attractive. 

Photographed by mills70

Posted by Ted Mills at 10:35 PM | | Comments (0)

March 24, 2007

Water Drops on Burning Rocks

Two words: Ludivine Sangier. The French Scarlett Johannsen, just with less clothes. Francois Ozon's 2000 film is based upon an unpublished Fassbinder play, and he's kept the 1970s German setting and all the funky furniture. A very oddly directed film that shows how you can make one apartment look like a hundred different locations.
And Ludivine is only in the second half of the film, but, well, you'll understand when you see it. 

Photographed by mills70

Posted by Ted Mills at 10:40 PM | | Comments (0)

The Art of Andrew Schoultz

schoultz.jpg
Going through some old files I came across an art postcard for an exhibition of Andrew Schoultz. I meant to blog about him at the time (2005), but forgot. The large scale of his art and the fine linework don't get fairly represented on the 'net, so seek him out if you have a chance. He has a thing for wood, elephants, and battles.

Posted by Ted Mills at 09:42 PM | | Comments (0)

March 22, 2007

Knut, Polar Bears, and the Right


I wrote my first ever diary/article for Daily Kos, about the polar bear cub story.

Daily Kos: Knut, Polar Bears, and the Right

When does a right-winger suddenly want to save the polar bears? When there's an opportunity to bash "Animal Rights Groups" of course!

Let's follow the story back to the source, then make our way out again!

Click on the link to read the full article.

Posted by Ted Mills at 09:34 PM | | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

US Govt Killing Internet Radio

I know this is small potatoes compared to, gee, I dunno, torture, loss of habeas corpus, domestic spying, etc. bleedin' etc., but pending legislation threatens to kill online streaming radio by asking webmasters for royalties for every listener to an online station. Which, unless you are some corporate anus shitting out Top 40 hot squats (yes, I just said that), means you will have to close down your station. Which means most of NPR's online streams, and for me my beloved KCRW! Sooooooo:

Online Petition
A Save Our Internet Radio blog
An article in today's Salon

It's always something, isn't it?

Posted by Ted Mills at 08:02 PM | | Comments (0)

March 18, 2007

Cyriak's Madness


I think Cyriak is one of the b3ta.com crew. Here's a compedium of stoooooopid looping animation. Terry Gilliam would be proud.

UPDATE: In fact, they made a TV Pilot.

Posted by Ted Mills at 10:33 AM | | Comments (0)

March 14, 2007

Critical Mass!

criticalmass.jpg
I tried to add some movies to my Netflix and got this message! D'oh! I have since deleted a few (on the saved/upcoming/never-will-come-out list), but mostly I need to start watching more.

That magic number by the way is...500 movies.

Posted by Ted Mills at 10:01 AM | | Comments (1)

March 03, 2007

I held a blogging seminar! Wha?

Photographed by mills70

Yep, that's right, I was asked by SBCC (my employer) to hold a seminar on blogging this Friday. I spoke for about 3 hours to a mixed (mostly older) crowd of people. Fun and easy.

For those who attended the seminar, thank you once again. If you click on "Continue Reading" you can see the full entry and a series of links to all the sites I showed. If you would like the "Rules of Blogging", drop me a line and I will send it to you.

Early Internet:
The Wayback Machine
My old website for my film Nowhereland
Kibo.com

Popular Political Blogs:
Political Wire
Daily Kos

Types of Blogs:
Personal site
Self-promotional, but also a bit personal
Business promotion
Corporate Blog
CEO-written Blog

Particular interest-based blogs
Hot Sauce Blog
Samuel Pepys Diary
The Girl Who Ate Everything
Cute Overload
I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Other Kinds of Blogs
Boing Boing
Metafilter
Ze Frank: The Show
A personal/professional site on Flickr
A collectors site on Flickr
Fluxblog
A City-centered blog (exampleL Paris)

RSS and Syndication: Wikipedia's entry
Bloglines: a blog reader

Blog Hosting Sites
Blogger
LiveJournal
Myspace
Typepad
Xanga

Blogging software (on your own site)
WordPad
Expression Engine
Movable Type
Radio Userland


Posted by Ted Mills at 09:15 PM | | Comments (0)

March 01, 2007

After the Flood

carpetz_lol.jpg
Last Thursday night I came home from the Los Lobos concert at USCB to find that while away, the pipe on the toilet had just exploded from being old and for over an hour water had been filling my apartment. My bathroom was two-inches deep, the bedroom was soaked, and water was seeping through the floorboards down into the living room below.
I thought I was going to become homeless! But in the end I was very, very lucky. Only a few thrift store records got damaged (and of course the one CD that got destroyed was a public library CD). But for just under a week I've been living without carpet, and with industrial fans going 24/7 along with a dehumidifier to get rid of the water.
I did well, as I'm not that messy and not much was on the floor to get wet. And all my computer/writing/business/film/art stuff was in another (dry) corner of the place.
Yesterday, they installed new carpet and today all my stuff got moved back in from temp storage. Phew.
It was traumatic, still, I have to tell you.

Posted by Ted Mills at 01:03 AM | | Comments (0)