Saturday, December 8, 2012

The booksellers love books


Alas, second-hand bookshops are closing daily, driven out of business by the combination of a general decline in reading, the internet and that most characteristic of all modern British institutions, the charity shop. Booksellers tell me that 90 per cent of their overheads arise from their shops, and 90 per cent of their sales from the internet. Except for the true antiquarian dealers, whose customers are aficionados of the first state and the misprint on page 287, second-hand bookshops make less and less economic sense.

Second-hand booksellers are not in it for the money, of course: it is probably easier to make a good living on social security. The booksellers love books, though not necessarily their purchasers, and in their way are learned men. When they have been in the trade for many years they know everything about books except, possibly, their content. Possessed of astonishing memories, they say things like “I haven’t seen another copy since 1978”. Some of them seem destined to be mummified among their books like the silverfish, and probably cannot conceive of a better way to die.

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Chava (Eva) Samuel (1901-1989), the great mother of Israeli ceramics

A ceramic relief by artist Chava Samuel was found recently during the renovation of Independence Hall on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, the historic building where David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948. The relief had been concealed behind a board for decades.

The piece had presumably been installed in the entrance to the hall in the fall of 1948. The relief features a seven-branched menorah and a Hebrew inscription: "In this building the establishment of the State of Israel was declared on the 5th of Iyyar 5708, 14.5.48."
Samuel, who was born in Essen, Germany in 1904, was one of the pioneers of Israeli ceramics. She came to Israel in 1934 and opened the first ceramics studio of its kind in the Jewish community of Jerusalem. She later opened a workshop in Rishon Letzion as well.
A number of her works were installed in public buildings. These include Zodiac Relief at the Kesem Cinema in Tel Aviv, where the first sessions of the Israeli Knesset were held, and ceramic walls in a number of locations, including one in the Yad Lebanim memorial in Rishon Letzion and another in the cellar of the Carmel Mizrahi winery in the same city, as well as one in the community center of Moshav Sitria. Samuel died in 1989.
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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Outstretched to the future


I grew up in a converted white clapboard church in the center of a small New England town to a family of artists and anthropologists. One side nurtured artistic creation, while the other explored, among other things, the function of art in society. My interest in clay is an intersection of these two sides, art and its function, both holy and humble. For three years, I apprenticed in the workshops of North Carolina potters Matt Jones and Mark Hewitt. Their work combines traditions, from the Anglo-Oriental school of Leach, Hamada, and Cardew to the folk pottery of the south-eastern United States and many places between. In their workshops I learned to love these simple pots; adorned or bare, quiet and strong, they make their place comfortably at the table or hearth and speak to the thousands of years of pots before them.
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Monday, October 22, 2012

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Feel Earth

What it Means to Throw Clay and feel Earth Come Alive

There is life in this clay as I wedge before day, when morning is just but a gleam

Its life’s hard to feel, when it’s not on a wheel, but my fingers are gentle and clean

So any heartbeat, that lies in the deep, is like waves that crash on the shore

And as I, wedge my clay, in the dawn before day, I will help this life to grow more

Slump in my chair, and brush back my hair, before lifting the first ball to me

A five-pound no more, but size is no chore, for a master with hands that can see

And its smack on the bat is loud as a crack, hunch over the faint little heart

With a sponge in my grip the water turns to slip, a push of the wheel now I start

At once it’s alive, it beating will thrive, I can feel my own heart speed the wheel

Off-center a bit, but its life has been lit, it’s alive and it moves with my feel

So I dive with the earth, and help to give birth, to a pot which this clay will now form

Be proud where you end, I tell my dear friend, but it trembles and shakes with reform

The clay moves not you, my words whisper true, as the form writhes in my grip

I cast up and down, the slip forms a crown, on its head which comes off in a strip

As my hands move in, its beating grows din, to center this clay is the devil

But I remember my phrase, and my hand does not raise, ‘til it’s round and perfectly level

My hands go to center, my fingertips enter, and I open the clay to a torus

I can tell that it’s scared with its insides so flared, my fingers move together in chorus

Sing now my dear! I implore you drop fear, my hands guide your way as you rise

Your form grows with majesty as you spin in front of me, you breathe ‘neath my hands with your cries

But suddenly I stop as you reach your full top, and I place my hands on your base

I listen and feel with the spins of the wheel, but I realize some thing’s out of place

For deep in your wall an air pocket’s small, a death wish for pots of all size

You don’t feel it that much, but it hurts when I touch, I fear this will be your demise

And it pains me so, when the wheel does slow, and gaze at your fabulous lines

You were princely, a king, your figure could sing, yet none of your grace undermines

The dawn crept near when I shed a tear, and pulled out a long coiled thread

Around fingers of life, I wrapped thread like a knife, and cut you from the bat so you’re dead

Severed and broken, your body a token, of clay that could breathe and laugh

And I look at the thread which claimed you instead, and sighing I cut you in half

There in your wall, I see a bubble, that’s all, what brought you down from your top

Cannot be, it’s not fair, I feel the despair, as I throw your two halves in the slop

But dawn has a way, of clearing dismay, and as the sun rose so did I

I felt through my feet, a breathing in beat, coming from the earth and the sky

It breathed both in time, to clay’s heart and mine, and I saw myself split like the pot

But my breathing lived on, though my body was gone, for the heart and the soul don’t get caught

The sunlight now broke from cracking night’s cloak, like gold ships from the sea I saw light

The majesty I saw put in contrast the flaw, in the pot thrown at dawn after night

Yes the form it was great, but that did not make, the clay who it was ‘neath my hands

It was beating and breath, not cause of death, which defined my dear friend in my plans

So again let us throw! I shout all aglow, We will make such a form never seen!

Clay on the bat, loud as a crack, I drip you in water ‘till you gleam

And this time I touch, not one beat as such, but the breath of the earth and the sky

I pull and there’s life, give beauty with knife, I’m a potter, with clay I can fly

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Bookseller, Bookseller, why are you mad?


The Bookseller
Bookseller, Bookseller, why do you weep?
Because I must sell my books far too cheap.

Bookseller, Bookseller, why do you grin?
Because an old lady is just coming in.

Bookseller, Bookseller, why all this joy?
Because she requires a nice book for a boy.

Bookseller, Bookseller, why do you cough?
Ahem! Well, the discount forgot to come off.

Bookseller, Bookseller, why are you gay?
Because it's my best of business to-day.

Bookseller, Bookseller, why are you mad?
Because the half-sovereign I changed her is bad

This rather rare children's book of poetry and lithographic illustrations relating to various kinds of employment - some quite unusual - was first published in Fleet St in London in 1900. Text by JJ Bell. Illustrations by C Robinson.
via BibliOdyssey

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Ligo,Jani and Skandinieki


The annual celebration of the summer solstice, known as Jani is generally viewed as the most important Latvian holiday. Jani is celebrated on June 23 and 24. The traditions and rituals associated with the celebration of Jani are deeply rooted in ancient Latvian folklore and continue to have deep symbolic meaning for the celebrants. Participants gather flowers, grasses and oak leaves which are used to make wreaths and decorate the farmstead, house and farm animals. Jani night activities include the singing of special Jani songs (Ligo songs) around a ceremonial bonfire. Home-brewed beer and a special Jani caraway seed cheese are an essential part of this colourful holiday ritual.
Skandinieki is a collective of singers and instrumentalists (a total of 23 are credited on this recording) that marked its 27th anniversary last November. The core of Skandinieki is the Stalts family. Dāvis, Helmi, Julgī, Marga and Ričards Stalts perform on their new CD(Dzied un spēle Skandinieki) Of note is that the Stalts are of Liv descent. Though their numbers have fallen through the years, the Livs are still alive and well in Latvia
Today there are only about 300 Livonians, most of whom have become Latvianised. Approximately 70 of them understand Livonian partially, maybe ten speak it as their mother tongue.
(read more...)

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Tony Blair's Ein Hod Connection


SEEKING TO confuse the paparazzi who were not among the invited guests, supermodel Esti Ginzberg and property developer Adi Keizman sent out wedding invitations that listed the venue as a villa in Zichron Yaacov. Only on the night before the wedding did guests receive notice of the correct address, which was in the courtyard of the home of fashion photographer Ron Kedmi, who lives in the Ein Hod Artists’ Village. It was Ginzberg’s first wedding and Keizman’s third. At the time that he and Ginzberg started keeping company around two years ago, he was still married to Ofra Strauss, who chairs the Straus Group. Strauss was previously married for 18 years to Dan Lahat, son of former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat. Her name has since been romantically linked with that of Middle East envoy Tony Blair, with whom she enjoys a close friendship. Both Strauss and Blair have denied that their relationship is more than platonic, but neither the Hebrew nor the British media have accepted the denials. Keisman, who is more than a decade younger than Strauss, is 16 years older than his 22 year old bride. via JP

Monday, June 4, 2012

Jugs Full of Secrets


Archaeologists in the eastern Mediterranean region have been unearthing spherical jugs, used by the ancients for storing and trading oil, wine, and other valuable commodities. Because we're used to the metric system, which defines units of volume based on the cube, modern archaeologists believed that the merchants of antiquity could only approximately assess the capacity of these round jugs, says Prof. Itzhak Benenson of Tel Aviv University's Department of Geography.
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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Women Potters of Hamer


The Hamer tribe is an indigenous group of people in Africa. Their home is in the beautiful Omo Valley located in the south-western parts of Ethiopia. They are a semi-nomadic, pastoral people, numbering about 42 000.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Saw yourself ? Get Tagged ! j.viewz

2000 photos, 300 fans (no computer fakery..) Saw yourself? Get Tagged (and free mp3): http://goo.gl/u2bTw Taken from the album rivers and homes: http://www.jviewz.com Directed by Shelly Carmel, Eran Amir, Jonathan Dagan. DOP: Hunter Baker | Editing: Elan Golod | Styling: Karin Elgai Production: Matt Leiderman (USA) | Eran Amir (Israel) Color Correction: Jonathan Dagan | Color Correction (Photos): Yair Cohen Post: COPA Network | AC: Sam Pyra, Peter Steusloff, Taylor Baker Lighting & Grip: Mark Solomon, Zach Stoltzfus | HMU: Liz Furlong

Friday, May 18, 2012

Watch Online The Best Jazz Movie


Jazz on a Summer's Day
Features one of the rare film appearances of two of the greatest jazz artists of all times: New Orleans-born trumpeter Louis Armstrong and Texas-born trombonist Jack Teagarden. When Armstrong formed his six-piece All Stars in 1946 Jack, who was white, was asked to join. The obvious affection these two great performers felt for each other's singing, clowning and playing is particularly evident in their classic performance of "Old Rocking Chair." After Armstrong was invited to return his home town after many years away, he insisted Teagarden join him on the stage. The city refused to let a white man and a Negro play together. Armstrong vowed never to return to New Orleans and kept his word until the day he died.



"Louis Armstrong and his band kitted out in matching blazers with Mother of Pearl buttons. Anita O'Day in her marvelous hat and white gloves. Thelonious Monk and his bamboo sunglasses. In the audience there's the beautiful girl in the red sweater chewing gum. Ascots. Bermuda shorts. Straw hats. Capri pants. And young couples having some real fun. I felt like crying."

"I caught this film about 10 years ago while idly flipping around the cable minefield. It had already started as I began to watch, so I didn't know anything about it till it was over. Like you, I was mesmerized. And suddenly clued in to the magic of my parents' heyday. This was their milieu - jazz, cocktails, effortless style, genuine optimism. All the moments you site in the film are priceless. The juxtaposition of the America's Cup trials, crowd shots and epic performances is very unique and more than holds up today. It was very near the end of an era. The end of jazz as more or less mainstream entertainment. The end of an era of populist panache. The end of optimism. This film filled in a lot of gaps for me. It gave me a window into the world of my parents, at a time when they were just becoming my parents. I've been urging people to see it ever since - and everyone who does see seems sincerely grateful. I wish I'd been able to see the restored print at Lincoln Center. That must have been a treat. "
Cast (in credits order)
Jimmy Giuffre ... Himself
Thelonious Monk ... Himself
Henry Grimes ... Himself
Sonny Stitt ... Himself
Sal Salvador ... Himself
Anita O'Day ... Herself
George Shearing ... Himself
Dinah Washington ... Herself
Gerry Mulligan ... Himself
Big Maybelle ... Herself
Chuck Berry ... Himself
Chico Hamilton ... Himself


Louis Armstrong ... Himself
Jack Teagarden ... Himself
Mahalia Jackson ... Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Baily ... Himself
Danny Barcelona ... Himself
Bob Brookmeyer ... Himself
Buck Clayton ... Himself
Willis Conover ... Interviewer
Bill Crow ... Himself
Eric Dolphy ... Himself
Eli's Chosen Six ... Themselves
Art Farmer ... Himself
Harold Gaylon ... Himself
Nathan Gershman ... Himself
Terry Gibbs ... Himself
Urbie Green ... Himself
Jim Hall ... Himself
Peanuts Hucko ... Himself
Jo Jones ... Himself
Ray Mosca ... Himself
Armando Peraza ... Himself
Max Roach ... Himself
Rudy Rutherford ... Himself
Martin Williams ... Jazz Critic in Audience
Patricia Bosworth ... Disgruntled redhead in audience (uncredited)
Directors:Aram Avakian
Bert Stern
Writers:Albert D'Annibale (writer)
Arnold Perl (writer)

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sex-Libris of Franz von Bayros

Franz von Bayros (1866-1924) was an Austrian commercial artist, illustrator, and painter best known for his controversial "Tales at the Dressing Table" portfolio. Franz von Bayros (also Marquis de Bayros) was born on May 28, 1866, in Zagreb, in present-day Croatia. He may be one of the most fascinating drawers and designers of fin de siècle Austria. At the age 17, Bayros passed the entrance exam for the Vienna Academy with Eduard von Engerth. Bayros mixed in elegant society and soon belonged to the circle of friends of Johann Straub, whose step daughter Alice he married on 1896. The next year, Bayros moved to Munich. In 1904, Bayros gave his first exhibition in Munich, which was a great success. From 1904 until 1908, Bayros traveled to Paris and Italy for his studies. Returning Vienna, he felt himself a stranger. The outbreak of the First World War was yet another setback for Bayros. The artist died on April 2, 1924 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Potting thru Zen to Bahá'í


An examination of the art of pottery through the work of two world renowned potters Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. The film traces the entire process of pottery-making, beginning with the digging of clay and its
preparation, and on through to long sequences of pots being thrown on the wheel.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Yorkshireman Brendon Grimshaw

Moyenne Island is a small island (0.089 km2/0.034 sq mi) in the Ste Anne Marine National Park off the north coast of Mahé, Seychelles. Since the 1970s it has been a flora and fauna reserve. From 1915 until the 1970s, the island was abandoned until its purchase by Brendon Grimshaw, an English newspaper editor. Currently he is the only permanent resident of Moyenne and is responsible for returning the island to its former natural state Brendon Grimshaw purchased the island for £8,000 in 1962 and set about making the island habitable. He did this with the help of one other man, Rene Antoine Lafortune. They operate the island as a nature reserve, charging visitors €12 to come ashore, roam the island, dine at the "Jolly Roger" restaurant and relax on the beach. Grimshaw and his friend planted sixteen-thousand trees, built 4,8 kilometers of nature paths, and brought and bred giant land tortoises, creating an island of incredible beauty now worth 34 million Euros. Apart from a wide variety of plant and bird life, the island is home to over 100 land tortoises. The eldest, Desmond, is 76 years old according to Grimshaw. He named the tortoise after his godson. There are rumours that over £30m of pirate treasure is buried on the island. Grimshaw has made two major digs and found some evidence of man-made hiding places, but no gold or other treasure has been found as yet. There are two graves on the island which have been said to be those of pirates, although this cannot be confirmed After 20 years of persistence, Grimshaw and his assistant Lafortune achieved their goal of making Moyenne Island a National Park in its own right, separate to that of the St. Anne marine park. Now known as the Moyenne Island National Park, it is the smallest national park in the world, harbouring more species per square foot than any other part of the world. The island is 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) away from the main island of Mahe.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Those Were The Days, My Friend



בה' באייר תש"ח (14 במאי 1948), כ-8 שעות לפני סיום המנדט הבריטי, נחתמה מגילת העצמאות ודוד בן-גוריון, לימים ראש ממשלתה הראשון של מדינת ישראל, הכריז על הקמת מדינת ישראל. ההכרזה באה בעקבות החלטת החלוקה של עצרת האו"ם – החלטה 181 מיום 29 בנובמבר 1947.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Stinky Books

Walk into a used bookshop and you will encounter the unique aroma of aging books. The smell is loved by some, disliked by others, but where does it come from?

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

it’s even better the second day


“Welcome to the belly of the beast,” he says, “this is where the store really begins.”
While the upstairs is stocked with largely available current titles, this is the area where Kitchen Arts houses its rarest treasures — extensive collections of culinary journals, historic tomes and final copies of books that Waxman deems “significant contributions in their field,” as well as out-of-print editions that Waxman is saving until that right client comes along.
He offers an example: “They might come in and say, ‘I’m looking for a special signed boxed-edition of Richard Olney’s ‘The French Menu Cookbook.’ Yeah, we can do that.”
But how to choose which customers are worthy of such special consideration? The opinionated Waxman is as skilled at curating his clientele as he is at managing the store’s catalog.
“This book would be gone in 15 minutes if I put it out on the floor upstairs,” he says, pointing to a high corner shelf where a hardbound first edition of “White Heat,” by British bad boy chef Marco Pierre White, sits in pristine condition. “I don’t want to sell it to someone who’s going to put it on their shelf like a bowling trophy, but perhaps to someone who’s interested in post-World War II English cooking, to whom this would mean something.”
Before the tour is complete, Waxman heads to an even smaller back corner of the basement, a tiny vault of a closet that used to be the walk-in refrigerator when this address was a butcher shop. The shelves here contain what seems a perfect cross-section of his personal and professional interests — a collection of vintage Jewish cookbooks. There, one can find a 1960s stuffed cabbage recipe from the sisterhood of Congregation Brith Emeth near Pepper Pike, Ohio. In a Manischewitz book from the early 1930s, meanwhile, there are recipes for “farfel pudding No. 2,” “matzo schalet” and “vaffels” written with instructions in both English and Yiddish.
“These are suddenly in demand, now that people are rediscovering Yiddish,” Waxman says with the matter-of-fact tone of a sage who knew all along that such a resurgence would occur. But, of course, those new Yiddish scholars will have to travel to the Upper East Side and pay a visit to Waxman himself: “These,” he says, “these are not for sale.”
See Nach Waxman’s brisket recipe on the Jew and the Carrot and share your favorite brisket recipe.
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Nach Waxman is owner of one of the largest food bookstores in the country, Kitchen Arts & Letters, in Manhattan. From his perch behind the counter, he sees customers—famous chefs, not-famous line cooks, and civilians alike—streaming in to peruse his bountiful, unusual collection. Waxman shows us the basement, where hes got some truly rare books. And he shares an unlikely bookstore success story: beating Barnes & Noble.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Mike Dodd: The Potter


“Essential to his philosophy is an oriental view that the role of the individual in the creation of true art is unobtrusive. Mike's work has maintained this philosophy in the making of unshowy pots with simply applied surface textures and subtle glazes sourced from naturally occurring materials. It is a rare approach that has required during his career an intense personal application. As a result his work enjoys the support of many serious collectors of English pottery, as well as that of some respected critics whose judgement of Mike's work is unusually and openly generous, simply that it has beauty.” Paul Vincent, Founding Editor of ‘Ceramics in Society’
http://www.mikedoddpottery.com/

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A face on buttocks


This mural by famed Dada artist Marcel Janco is seeing the light of day for the first time in half a century. The discovery of the mural came as the Janco Dada museum in Israel began a restoration project of Janco's art studio in the village of Ein Hod. Eli Shaltiel is performing the restoration work and discovered the mural behind a layer of plaster. Mural Restorer, Eli Shaltiel, saying (Hebrew): "I suddenly reached a black dot, I continued to expose it further and we realized it is in fact a line. I continued following that line that day, following it wherever it will take me. I already realized it is a painting and was very excited. At the end of the day I exposed a fragment of about 30X30 centimeter, showing some kind of shape made of lines. Retroactively it was a knee and a small part of a breast." Janco was born in Bucharest in 1895 and adopted an art movement known as "Dada"-- an anti-conformist style that encouraged the use of irrational ideas. In 1941, he moved to Israel and formed a close-knit community of artists in the village. Museum curator Raya Zommer-Tal says Janco plastered over the mural himself. Director and Curator of the Janco Dada Museum in Ein Hod, Raya Zomemr-Tal, saying (English): "It wasn't done as something that a museum should exhibit it. And this is a different kind of a work of art, that you do and you know that you are going to demolish it. And we also found protocols about it, because there was a time that they wanted to leave it, but Janco said 'no, I don't mind. I am an artist but it's ok to repaint a work of art." It's believed more murals are hidden under layers of paint, which will further reveal Janco's off-beat humor, such as painting a face on human buttocks.
Andrew Schmertz, Reuters
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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Smut: Barnet Lee "Barney" Rosset, Jr. (May 28, 1922 – February 21, 2012)


IFQ Magazine recently caught up with legendary book publisher Barney Rosset to discuss his storied career and ventures into film and political opinions ; the occasion was marked by the DVD release of Obscene, a documentary on Rosset by filmmakers Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O’Connor, made available courtesy of Virgil Films and Entertainment alongside Arthouse Films. With both Grove Press and his literary magazine The Evergreen Review, Rosset introduced American society to a who’s who of iconic writers including Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet, David Mamet, Tom Stoppard, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, among many, many more. His progressive politics and belief in freedom of speech led him to champion such banned books as Tropic of Cancer, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, and Naked Lunch, all of which were subjected to obscenity trials that Rosset subsequently won, thus opening up free speech to a then-unparalleled degree. Below are some brief words from our conversation.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

1812 and Farting Japanese


Most people would look on this Japanese art - depicting various men and women engaged in flatulent combat - as 200-year-old toilet humour.
But the artwork, known as 'He-gassen' (or 'fart battle'), is in fact a pointed comment on political and social changes in Japan.
Made by an unknown artist or artists, the scroll depicts a number of different scenes - all linked by the fact that at least one character is directing a debilitating blast of flatulence towards another character.
They may be riding on horseback, or directing a foul wind through a gap in a wall, but the meaning is the same.
This scroll and similar drawings were created in response to increasing intrusion of Europeans in Japan during the Edo period - between 1603 and 1868.
Just like renaissance painters left hidden meaning in their work, or modern-day cartoonists provide humorous takes on serious political events, the He-gassen scroll has specific meaning that would have been instantly interpreted at the time.
Read more....

Friday, February 17, 2012

Janco's Women


Meticulous restoration work in the studio-home of the late Marcel Janco in Ein Hod has revealed bold, beautiful and forgotten frescoes by one of the fathers of the 20th-century of Dada movement.

The story dates back to Purim 1956 in Ein Hod, a village whose establishment Janco had spearheaded three years earlier. Among the pioneers of the revolutionary 20th-century art movement called Dada, Janco exhibited at important museums around the world and his work continues to fetch high prices; dozens of houses he designed as an architect grace his birthplace, Romania.
In honor of Purim, Janco decided to adopt an old Italian festival tradition of decorating houses with frescoes, usually inside, to lend the Ein Hod ball a festive atmosphere. Other artists-in-residence joined the effort, and Tel Aviv's bohemians migrated north for the event, which was widely talked about.

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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Flying Books

Books have the power to transfix a reader. A turn of the page provides an alternate story to live, be it a line prose or a hefty epic. Moonbot Studios' animated short "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" highlights the delight of literature through its very own story.
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" was one of five nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards' Best Animated Short category, announced Jan. 24. The Shreveport, Louisiana-based studio released the short as its first animation project.
Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, the 15-minute film draws from Hurricane Katrina, "The Wizard of Oz," Buster Keaton and, of course, a love for books. The story starts in New Orleans with the Keaton-like Mr. Morris Lessmore writing a book on the balcony of a hotel. A menacing storm swirls into town, blowing away houses and street signs, taking Mr. Lessmore and his unfinished book with it. Lessmore is transported to a land filled with fluttering novels; a land where he can dedicate his life to filling his book with the abundance of words he is now surrounded with.
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" has already won 13 awards, including "Best Animated Short" and "Audience Award Winner" at the Austin Film Festival, and "Best Animated Short" at the Cinequest Film Fest.
more...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Mississippi Delta & Hill Country


Mississippi Delta & Hill Country (1978):
Bluesmen; fife-and-drum ensembles; former muleskinners and railroad tie-tampers; and tall-tale reciters. Performers include Skip James collaborator Jack Owens, diddley-bow player Lonnie Pitchford, former Mississippi Sheik Sam Chatmon, fife legend Otha Turner, and R. L. Burnside in his first film appearance. Camera by John Bishop; fieldwork in collaboration with Worth Long

Saturday, January 7, 2012

What Makes Naomi Run...


Naomi Verchovsky: Ein Hod Potter from zeev verchovsky on Vimeo.
Part of "What motivates them to create..."
Roy Spungin, Creator/Director
Niv Horowitz, Editor
artists
Robert Nechin
Nobuya Yamaguchi
Daniel Dworsky
Ayelet Shefer
Naomi Verchovsky
Julian Chagrin
Naaama Berckowitz
ein-hod.us/video/what-motivates-them-to-create

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Primitive Pottery

Found in a cinema in Derbyshire, a can of film labelled "A Primitive Pottery in Dorset" has found its way home.
Collaborating with Penny Copland-Griffiths,who presents this video, and her colleagues from the Verwood and District Potteries Trust, Trilith produced this 1917 film of Crossroads Pottery, Verwood, Dorset,together with interviews with Fred Thorne, the last "boy" to be taken on at the pottery, potter John Leach whose grandfather Bernard created the studio pottery movement in Britain,
and a section dealing with the archaeological dig in 2000, directed by AC Archaeology, prior to the last traces of the pottery being buried under a car park. Penny Copland-Griffiths brings the fruits of 30 years of research to this production. Produced, shot and edited by John Holman.
For 31 min. video go to VIMEO