Amazing optical illusion and back to Muybridge

This is a very interesting effect and I feel like doing it and it brought back to my mind Muybridge.

The experiment by Muybridge
The origin of motion capture technology referred to as MoCap, recording movements of people or other moving objects and analyzing them, can be traced back to the experiment done by Edward Muybridge, an English photographer, in 1872. He photographed each movement of a horse galloping, by using twenty four cameras lined up on the horse track, that were triggered when the horse ran past. From this, a series of 24 pictures of a horse galloping stride by stride was made. Those pictures first revealed the motion of a horse’s movement. Actually, that was when they proved that there was a moment when all four legs were in the air at the same time [6].

Source: here and here

Big Brother is NOT watching you

There is always a place.

Peter Pan

I don't know why this is one of the Disney's production that I liked the most when I was a child. I still have some scenes on my mind and can recall the enchantment of being carried away by a fantasy world. It was pure and simple magic and it is good that sometimes it can be experienced again when reading a book, watching a movie, going to an exhibition, watching dolphins or any other of these things that make us dream and remember that we are different but changeless. 

Philadelphia

Great movie and this song by Neil Young touches my soul in a way that I don't have words to express what I feel. The piano is amazing!

Have a great weekend.

Update November, 13

Ken left a comment and reminded that yesterday was Neil Young Birthday.

Happy Birthday Neil Young!

Reminder: The music is not "The streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen.

Posters of some unforgettable movies

It's not easy to make a list of movies most people like. I will try.

Hope you like these and name some movies you will never forget.

Thank you!

Plácido Domingo sings Bizet

LA FLEUR QUE TU M’AVAIS JETÉE (FLOWER SONG) Don José La fleur que tu m’avais jetée dans ma prison m’était restée, flétrie et sèche, cette fleur gardait toujours sa douce odeur; et pendant des heures entières, sur mes yeux, fermant mes paupières, de cette odeur je m’enivrais et dans la nuit je te voyais! Je me prenais à te maudire, à te détester, à me dire: pourquoi faut-il que le destin l’ait mise là sur mon chemin! Puis je m’accusais de blasphème, et je ne sentais en moi-même, je ne sentais qu’un seul désir, un seul désir, un seul espoir: te revoir, ô Carmen, oui, te revoir! Car tu n’avais eu qu’à paraître, qu’à jeter un regard sur moi, pour t’emparer de tout mon être, ô ma Carmen! Et j’étais une chose à toi! Carmen, je t’aime! Don José In prison I kept lovingly The flower you had thrown at me. Though it had faded and turned dry, It still smelled sweet as time went by; And I would put that special flower On my closed eyes, hour after hour. Drunk with that fragrance, I felt light, And there I saw you in the night! At times I would begin to hate you, To curse you and to execrate you, To say: why did it have to be That fate brought her so close to me! Then I thought that faith had defied me, And I only felt deep inside me, I only felt but one desire, But one desire, one hope, one yen, To see you, Carmen, yes, see you again! For all you needed was to be there, To throw a fleeting glance my way, To have full mastery of me there, Oh, Carmen, dear! And all you did with me was play! Carmen, I love you!

The Opera Carmen, by Bizet, is probably one of the most famous operas and has been inspiring filmmakers, theater's directors and visual artists till today. This performance by Placido Domingo is one of the most intense. The movie "Carmen" by Carlos Saura, 1983, gathered Paco de Lucia, Antonio Gades and a great cast. One of the must-sees of my list.

Paco de Lucia, Johnny Depp, Marlon Brandon Faye Dunaway and Bryan Adams welcome September

September, for those who are below the Equator, is the prelude of warm times. I did chose Paco de Lucia to welcome the month and we can all stay warm in heart that is the important place. Entre dos Aguas is one of his most famous musics and I remember the first time I heard it back in the end of the 70ies I wanted to listen to it one more time, one more... and it is still so. We can all stay warm dancing or watching flamenco dancers:

"Also Flamenco dance has changed, specially female dancers try to rather showcase their temperament than artistry. The Flamenco guitar that formerly was just featuring the dancers arrived to be a soloistical art form, great virtuoso Paco de Lucia being the pioneer of that development. Mass medias have brought Flamenco to the world stage, but deeply it has always been and will remain an intimate kind of music. You have not listened authentical Flamenco if not in a juerga with a small group of friends, at midnight somewhere in the South of Spain, when there is nothing around but the voice, the guitar and the body of a dancer moving in the moonlight."

In the meantime take a look at these photos of dancers. Paco de Lucia has recorded and participated in films such as Carmen by Carlos Saura and in 1995 was featured in Bryan Adams hit "Have you ever loved a woman" for the movie Don Juan deMarco. I watched the movie and I have good recollections and Marlon Brandon is still on my mind. "So tell me have you ever really - really really ever loved a woman?" Have a great September! Music unites people. Update: September, 3 You can click at the video "Rio Ancho" when the first video finishes. It is as amazing and also very known music. I wonder how some people can go through life without knowing some of the incredible things some people created. Paco de Lucia is at this list for me.

Pentimento by Lillian Hellman and the movie Julia

This is how Lillian Hellman starts her novel Pentimento, that was inspiration for the movie "Julia", 1977:

"Old paint on canvas, as it ages, sometimws becomes trasparent. When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child manes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter "repented," changed his mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again.

That is all I mean about the people in this book. The paint has aged now and I wanted to see what was there for once, what is there for now."

The movie starts with this words being said by Jane Fond who is Lillian. I like it very much. I will publish an example of pentimento on a canvas tomorrow.

Utamaro and his five women

The movie "Utamaro and his his women", 1946, tells the story of the printmaker who depicted women in a seductive manner usually wearing kimonos. To see a selection of the Utamaro's prints you can search here or wait till I post about them.

Luis Buñuel views on religion

"Thank God I'm an atheist."

Luis Buñuel Right: The Exterminating Angel, 1962, a film by Buñuel

Life: To choose or not to choose? Trainspotting

I just visited a very dear blogger friend at It's quite an experience. This is Matthew Holford's blog and I have the pleasure of exchanging some long discussions with him from time to time.

He loves cinema and the title of his blog "It's quite an experience" is from Blade Runner. Remember the scene of Deckard and Batty are fighting:

"Batty: Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave."

He did post this opening scene of Trainspotting. "Genius there is no other word for it", as Matt publish some of his amazing findings.

Thank for this one Radagast.

F for Fake by Orson Welles

"F for Fake" is the last major film completed by Orson Welles. Initially released in 1974, it focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career as a professional art forger; de Hory's story serves as the backdrop for a fast-paced, meandering investigation of the natures of authorship and authenticity, as well as the basis of the value of art. You can watch it at Youtube starting here for the first video and clicking at the other parts.

These are some excerpts:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, by way of introduction, this is a film about trickery, about fraud, about lies. Tell it by the fireside, in a marketplace or in a movie, almost any story is almost certainly some kind of lie.”

Orson Welles

"The important distiction to make when you are talking about the genuine quality of a painting is not so much if it is a real painting or a fake. It is wether if it is a good fake or a bad fake."

Clifford Irving

"...For instance that the author of "Fake" a book about a faker was himself a faker and the author of a fake."...

Orson Welles

"Some people even say: 'After I did read the book of Clifford Irving about you I like you even more than before"

Elmyr de Hory

"... In this cathalog was this Modigliani which is a Modigliani by Elmyr.

I would say: "This is a fake Modigliani." and the art gallery owner would say; "Yes. You can see that it is a fake because Modigliani would never have drawn an arm parallel to line of the dress that way and the background is very badly done and it's signature isn't right.

In the next gallery I would show this Modigliani in a cathalog and I say "That's a genuine Modigiani and they look at this and say: "Yes, You can see that it is one of the finest Modiglianni. It is the portrait of Mademoiselle de Boutennee and we know it very well, it is reproduced everywhere. After that, I must say, lost my faith in the concept of expertise."

Clifford Irving

"I don't feel bad for Modigliani. I feel good for me."

Elmyr de Hory

"People pretend to be shocked, they like to be shocked, you know, it's in their nature, it's humans nature."

Elmyr de Hory

"All the tales he tells now are things that he built up in his imagination over the years and come to believe is true."

Clifford Irving

"He has created I think the ability to live, I hesitate to say a criminal life because I don't think of him as a criminal as he doesn't think of himself as a criminal."

Now that it's out in the open, the world knows who Elmyr is, he's done. ANd now that Elmyr accept it and says to the world; "Yes, it is me. I am the greatest art forgery of the 20 century, now I think that he can recapture that person honesty."

Clifford Irving

"I think that Elmyr's problem for years and the reason why he could not succed as a painter of his own work was that the type of life he led prohibited him from having a personal vision.

And when an artist has no person vision what can he communicate onto the canvas?"

Clifford Irving

You can see Orson Welles talking about his hoax "The war of the worlds".

But we never know if he is telling the truth. If you have seen "The Hoax" I think you should see this movie.

Directed by: Orson Welles » Written by: Orson Welles, 1974 » Region/Time: France, Iran, W Germany, documentary/wtf, 85 minutes. Filmed in France, Ibiza and USA

Starring: Orson Welles as Himself » Oja Kodar as The Girl » Elmyr de Hory as Himself » Clifford Irving as Himself » François Reichenbach as Himself.

New Year's eve - time for change and women that changed lives - Happy New Year!

We all think about changes in the year last the of the year while waiting for the new one to arrive. Maybe we will forget it all at the first Monday of the year but I hope you don't and that you can reach some of the plans you did for the next 365 days. I did chose four women from the movies that did changes in the lives of other people. Although I think these are movies that everybody knows I will put the list: "Sound of Music" and Maria (Julie Andrews) "Bagda Cafe" and Jasmin (Marianne Sagebretch) "Chocolat" and Vianne (Juliette Binoche) "Le Fabuleux Destin de Amélie Poulain" Amélie (Audrey Tautou) Happy New Year!

Woody Allen - Marshall Mcluhan telling the Columbia teacher he knows nothing of his work

If life was only like this...

Destino - Walt Disney and Salvador Dali working together

Destino DALI & Walt disney from cesar laurent on Vimeo.

Walt Disney was inspired by many artists and used some of the artistic tendencies of the twenty century like German expressionism and surrealism.

The Walt Disney Company released in 2003 "Destino" a project Disney started in collaboration with the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali in 1945. After nine months they had to stop because the economy during war times were terrible.

Walt Disney's brother, Roy Disney worked on the project and used fifteen Dali's paintings, the music singed by the Spanish Dora Luz and drafts of the story.

Enjoy.

Charlie Chaplin - "The table ballet" and "The Great Dictator"

Forever in our minds and souls.

Patch Adamns - How many fingers do you see?

Arthur Mendelson: (showing his hands with the thumb hidden) "How many fingers do you see?"
Hunter Patch Adams:...... .."Four."
Arthur Mendelson:............. "No no! Look beyond the fingers! Now tell me how many you see."
(Patch looks at the fingers)
Arthur Mendelson:........ "You're focusing on the problem. If you focus on the problem, you can't see the solution. Never focus on the problem!"
(Patch looks at Mendelson's eyes)
Hunter Patch Adams (seeing the fingers in double-vision) :......."Eight."
Arthur Mendelson: ....."See what no one else sees. See what everyone chooses not to see... out of fear, conformity or laziness. See the whole world anew each day!"

Never focus on the problem. :)

Ana Torrent - "Cria Cuervos" by Carlos Saura

 I saw almost all of Carlos Saura's movies. Cria Cuervos, 1975, is a psychological drama and Ana Torrent is a eight years-old girl who is growing up in a confused home during Franco's dictatorship. What a great movie! Ana Torrent listening to this music is amazing and is on my mind. Only 1 minute. Listen to this:

Porque Te Vas 

Hoy en mi ventana brilla el sol 

Y el corazón se pone triste contemplando la ciudad 

Porque te vas 

Como cada noche desperté pensando en ti 

Y en mi reloj todas las horas vi passar 

Porque te vas 

Todas las promessas de mi amor se irán contigo 

Me olvidaras, me olvidaras 

Junto a la estación lloraré igual que un niño 

Porque te vas, porque te vas 

Bajo la penumbra de un farol se dormirán 

Todas las cosas que quedaron por decir se dormirán 

Junto a las manillas de un reloj despejarán 

Yodas las horas que quedaron por vivir esperarán.

At the end she says: "Que se muera. Que se muera."

Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron - The Love Scene

I watched "An American in Paris" when I was a teenager and this part of the ballet is still the expression of love for me. Watch it.

Chocolat - Toulouse Lautrec and Vicent Minnelli: Gene Kelly as Chocolat

I love the movie "An American in Paris" and I still remember the enchantement the first time I did watch it. During the ballet there is this amazing recreation of one of Toulouse Lautrec's work.