Zone

July 2012 - Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Heroes of Idiosyncratic Non-Fiction

Hello all. Today, I want to share three episodes of a podcast that I listen to fairly regularly: Colin Marshall's Notebook on Cities and Culture, formerly The Marketplace of Ideas. I love this podcast for many reasons, mainly the fascinating range of guests Colin sits down with, the deeply intelligent questions he asks them, and the winding conversations that spring from them.

Three interviews in particular have been getting regular play on my iPod over the past few months, one being with Geoff Dyer; the other two with Pico Iyer. Geoff Dyer is known for writing books on a variety of subjects, among them Andrei Tarkovsky (Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room), D.H. Lawrence (Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence), jazz (But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz), and more. But what I love about him is how he approaches such subjects from a personal, level-headed, often funny perspective that specifically avoids stuffy academic over-analysis, opting for a highly relatable and open form of cultural commentary.

Pico Iyer, author of books like Video Night in Kathmandu and Other Reports From the Not-So-Far East, The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto, and The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home, has a more specific area of interest in his writing (travel and world cultures), but like Dyer, he also pulls readers along on unpredictable journeys of ideas, thoughts and observations. His points on the ever-intensifying dialogue between cultures are among the most insightful I've ever come across.

Being committed to a large-scale writing project of my own at the moment, which I hope to make good progress on during this summer and, with luck, I'll be able to talk more about before too long, it is extremely inspiring to read and learn about writers like Dyer and Iyer, who are guided by their own passions, interests, and personal experiences over any other factors, and who make a point of incorporating these very personal components into their non-fiction work. Listening to them discuss such things is just as rewarding, and whether you're a writer or not, the interviews gathered below will surely charge your imagination and get you thinking about how we look at culture, art, and travel. Happy listening!

*Note: Notebook on Cities and Culture is also available on iTunes.

-Literary auteurhood: Geoff Dyer, writer and intellectual gatecrasher (May 2011)

-The world dreamed but not judged: traveler and writer Pico Iyer (August 2011)

-Fathers Chosen and Unchosen with Pico Iyer (April 2012)

Day's Dying Embers

Summer 2011 - Northern Ontario, Canada

Kaurismäki Mania!

On July 31st, the Criterion Collection will be releasing on Blu-ray and DVD Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki's delightful French fairy tale from last year. I can't wait.




-Here is a wonderful interview that Simon Hattenstone conducted with the dour, funny Finn in London's Soho House.

-And finally, here is Kaurismäki paying tribute to one of his artistic heroes, the great Yasujiro Ozu:

Magic Hour

June 2012 - Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Watch List

Contentment

Fresh Goodies from Joe

A little over two years ago, I was quite thrilled when one of my favorite contemporary filmmakers, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, was awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes for his marvelous Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. During this year's festival in the sunny south of France, I was likely not alone in my joy at hearing of the Thai filmmaker's newest projects. Apichatpong is known for being a fairly productive artist; aside from the six feature film projects to his name, he has also created a large number of short films and installation pieces, testing his unique, experimental sensibilities in various ways. The recent news of his two latest short films come as a welcome assurance that he will be continuing to maintain his productive, curious work methods even with a Palme d'Or on his shelf.

-The first of the two films that were screened at Cannes is Mekong Hotel, which clocks in at a little over an hour. Daniel Kasman wrote about the film over at MUBI Notebook in an enticing piece.

-The other film, Ashes, can actually be viewed for free online. Jittery and primitive in its visual quality, it was created with the LomoKino camera as part of a collaboration between Apichatpong, LomoKino and MUBI. Disorienting and beautiful.

-Also over at the Notebook is a wonderful interview with Apichatpong by Kasman about these new pieces and his work methods.

A jungle straight out of Apichatpong's cinema...in Northern Ontario.

"I discovered ME in the library."

Hello all. To kick off a return to the habit of posting links to cool stuff here again, here is a fascinating Paris Review interview with beloved science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, who passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 91. Conducted by Sam Weller, the interview completed a previously unpublished interview conducted by William Plummer in the late 1970s. It's wonderful stuff, especially if you're at all interested in the crafts of storytelling and writing. Enjoy.

The Paris Review: Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203

Crown

August 2011 - Northern Ontario, Canada

By the River

April 2010 - Paris, France

In the Land of the Golden Palm

October 2008 - Cannes, France

Waiting for the Train to Cannes

October 2008 - Nice, France

Dock

August, 2011

Goings-On in Asian Film: Nippon Connection, Tsai Ming-Liang and Shinsedai!

Hello all. I just wanted to gather together a few of the exciting things I've been involved with recently in the Asian film community. First of all, Chris MaGee of the J-Film Pow-Wow and I recently returned from our annual trip out to Frankfurt, Germany, for the Nippon Connection Japanese film festival. While Chris had his hands full as one of the jurors for the Nippon Visions program, I took up press coverage duties. My report on my festival experience is now posted over at the Pow-Wow, along with links to individual film reviews for some of the works that were shown.

Shortly before I left for that trip, I took some time to once again pop up as a guest host on the VCinema Show. Concluding the three-part mini-series of podcasts focusing on Taiwanese filmmakers, I spoke with Jon Jung (AKA Coffin Jon), Josh Samford and Dr. Stan Glick about the divisive and (in my eyes) mesmerizing Tsai Ming-Liang film Goodbye, Dragon Inn. Click on the picture below to access the episode, or get it through VCinema's subscription channel on iTunes.

Finally, things are really gearing up here in Toronto for the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival, which will be happening from July 12th-15th at the Revue Cinema. The full lineup of independent Japanese films has been revealed; click here to check it out and follow the above link for further details on the festival. There is a lot of fascinating stuff lined up for that week that should amount to a great time for Toronto film-goers and fans of Asian cinema.

Have a look at the festival trailer below, edited together by Pow-Wow writer Matthew Hardstaff, for a peek at the films that will be shown in July:

Summer in the City

Summer 2009 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada