EXTRA CRITICUM

Make Mine Horizontal!

Did you see the article in The New York Times about vertical videos, Vertical Video on the Small Screen? Not a Crime by Farhad Manjoo? Give it read. I’ll wait.

Oh, there is so much to dislike about this article. Such as the media experts quoted seem to all work for tech companies that are helping sites develop platforms for vertical video. That’s an impartial group for sure.

The Wolfpack Game

This is not a review of the documentary The Wolfpack. But I will say it’s excellent and you should see it. Seriously, go see it. But no, instead of reviewing it I’d like to pose a question inspired by the film.

Pet Peeve - A Haiku

Foreign film trailers

No dialogue, no subtitles

Who are they fooling?

Sagrada: The Mystery of Creation - A Film Review

Would you like to contemplate time, continuity, community, creativity, and spirituality while seeing beautiful images of an architectural marvel? If yes, have I got a film for you: Sagrada: The Mystery of Creation, directed by Stefan Haupt.

Weekend at Rolo’s

When Roland Tec asked if I’d be interested in spending a weekend in CT with him and John Yearley, writing, I was onboard. I liked the idea from the start, but I also wasn’t sure what I’d work on. Though Roland had labeled it, “writing weekend” I was pretty sure he wouldn’t mind if I worked on my documentary, A Life’s Work. But something in me said, “Write.”

A Good Idea

Speaking of ideas, here’s a good one: write emails to people (friends, people you’ve fallen out of touch with, friends of friends, complete strangers, anyone, really) who work in fields you're interested in pursuing and ask them for professional advice.

Gimme Some Truth: Conversation with Essayist Randon Billings Noble

I met essayist Randon Billings Noble at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. As I remember it, all of our conversations were either about music (she studied classical violin and plays piano) or "nonfiction." That's how it is at residencies, and man, am I missing that now. Anyway, back in June 2013 Randon posted this as a Facebook status:

We Should Listen to Nobel Prize Winners Because They're Usually Smart

Popping up all over my Facebook feed last week was a three-year old interview with Thomas Sudhof, who won (with Randy Schekman and James Rothman) this year’s Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology. The reason? This question and answer:

Who was your most influential teacher, and why?

Sudhof: My bassoon teacher, Herbert Tauscher, who taught me that the only way to do something right is to practice and listen and practice and listen, hours, and hours, and hours.

Time Mgmt

I started a new job and I've been trying to get into a routine for my creative work. In the past I loosely employed the Pomodoro Technique (work 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break) and found it effective, so I've been doing that and I'm mostly pleased with the results. But I've been wondering what other people do? (Other people meaning you, Dear Reader.)

Do you have a preferred time of day? Do you work for a set amount of time? Every day? Heavy lifting in the morning and reviewing the day's work in the evening? I'd love to hear from artists of all disciplines.

Double Feature! Guitar Innovators: John Fahey & Nels Cline at Cinema Village

Beginning Friday, August 16, you will have the rare opportunity to see a documentary double feature in a theater: In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey and Approximately Nels Cline. But you shouldn’t go to Cinema Village in NYC just because it’s a double bill, you should go to Cinema Village because you will see two good films about two exceptional artists, both of whom happen to play guitar.

 

A Public Service Announcement from Me: Please, Shut the F#&k Up!

It went like this. I staked out a good seat at a free outdoor concert. A couple sat next to me and proceeded to talk the entire time legend and national treasure Allen Toussaint performed.

Andy & Sam: Crowdsource This!

While researching actor and professional wrestler Andre the Giant, I came across this:

"As a child, he {Andre the Giant} displayed symptoms of his gigantism very early, reaching a height of 6'3" (190.5 cm) and weight of 240 pounds (110 kg) by age 12. Unable to fit on the school bus, he was driven to school by a neighbor, Nobel prize winning playwright and author Samuel Beckett."

This fired my imagination. If it fires yours perhaps you’d like to spend a minute and contribute a few words to this Extra Criticum  … thing.

Agency

I saw someone wearing this t-shirt the other day ---

--- and it reminded me of the last time I saw this shirt. It was a long time ago when I freelanced at a place  … let’s call it … The Complex. While I was there I worked on ... oh, let's call it ... The Product. The Product was taken away from “my” department and handed over to another department that day years ago when I saw a woman wearing the t-shirt. The shirt then reminded me of something I wrote in a commercial screenplay.

Happy Fifth Anniversary! Or How Extra Criticum Changed My Life

Extra Criticum was born on May 24th, 2008 and on June 2nd of that year my first post appeared, a review of the film Reprise. Before I wrote that post I was shy, withdrawn, and weighed 498 lbs. Since then I lost 350 lbs and gained the confidence I was lacking. Now I’m famous, rich, beautiful, and get so much action I’m giving some of it away to the action-less.

Letting Go: The Last Picture Show and Me

Here's my favorite scene from one of my favorite films, The Last Picture Show.