From 'Herzog on Herzog'

Going through a bit of a Werner Herzog-fest at the moment. This is from a book published in 2002 -

'I have often spoken of what I call the inadequate imagery of
today's civilization. I have the impression that the images that surround
us today are worn out; they are abused and useless and
exhausted. They are limping and dragging themselves behind the
rest of our cultural evolution. When I look at the postcards in
tourist shops and the images and advertisements that surround us
in magazines, or I turn on the television, or if I walk into a travel
agency and see those huge posters with that same tedious image of
the Grand Canyon on them, I truly feel there is something dangerous
emerging here. The biggest danger, in my opinion, is television
because to a certain degree it ruins our vision and makes us very
sad and lonesome. Our grandchildren will blame us for not having
tossed hand-grenades into TV stations because of commercials.
Television kills our imagination and what we end up with are
worn-out images because of the inability of too many people to
seek out fresh ones.

As a race we have become aware of certain dangers that surround
us. We comprehend, for example, that nuclear power is a
real danger for mankind, that over-crowding of the planet is the
greatest of all. We have understood that the destruction of the
environment is another enormous danger. But I truly believe that
the lack of adequate imagery is a danger of the same magnitude. It
is as serious a defect as being without memory. What have we done
to our images? What have we done to our embarrassed landscapes?
I have said this before and will repeat it again as long as I
am able to talk: if we do not develop adequate images we will die
out like dinosaurs. Look at the depiction of Jesus in our iconography,
unchanged since the vanilla ice-cream kitsch of the
Nazarene school of painting in the late nineteenth century. These
images alone are sufficient proof that Christianity is moribund. We
need images in accordance with our civilization and our innermost
conditioning, and this is the reason why I like any film that
searches for new images no matter in what direction it moves or
what story it tells. One must dig like an archaeologist and search
our violated landscape to find anything new. It can sometimes be a
struggle to find unprocessed and fresh images.'

As the T-shirt says - 'No i dont know who won X-factor because im not a fucking moron'.

Cork Film Fest - 'Locked Groove' accepted.

I'm very pleased to announce that my lil' doc has been accepted for the Cork FIlm Fest 2010. Now where can i get a tuxedo...

Message To Love (Lerner 1970)

Watched this again last weekend - one of the key documentary chronicles of the hippie era. This is the moment where business and idealism met head on and the aftermath of which gave us both Baader Meinhof and, in a convoluted way, The Eagles... 

The weekend ticket price of £3 to see Cohen, Hendrix, Dylan etc. on the same bill seems very amusing now.  A great film, much better than Lerner's earlier 'Woodstock', this is one all lovers of music and anyone with an interest in the 60's should check out ASAP.

IMDB link to film

Locked Groove Wallpaper 1

(Photo - Patricia Klich)

Locked Groove - A Documentary

I am pleased to announce that editing is almost complete on a documentary film I have been working on for the last 2 months, 'Locked Groove'. This film documents a performance conceived and conducted by the Cork based DJ, writer and music historian John Byrne. The performance consisted of 20 people operating turntables playing records containing what is known as a 'locked groove' -  a sound that sits on the last groove of a record (usually) and loops until the machine is turned off. This all happened in Saint Finbarr's Cathedral in late July 2010 under the title 'Bricklayers Lament' as part of the Sonic Vigil Sound Art festival.

The film consists of interviews and footage of the preparations and performance itself along with animations by the artist Tom Doig and voice contributions from the noted musician and composer Giordaí ua Laoghaire. 


The film will be soon displayed in Cork for its first ever showing so watch this space for future developments...


(Photo by Patricia Klich)

First Blog test thing

All this crazy gift of time.