Review of "The Devil and Daniel Johnston"

Daniel Johnston's artwork

The Devil and Daniel Johnston, directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, is a 2005 documentary chronicling the life of Daniel Johnston, an American singer-songwriter and artist, and his experiences with schizophrenia and how that manifested itself as satanic obsessions. Genius and art and music are all concepts that have historically had close ties with mental illness. This film emphasizes the question whether great artists always have to "tango with the devil."

The film begins with archival video and audio tapes that Johnston has recorded himself throughout his music career starting from his very beginning all the way to his success with his album, "Hi, How Are You," a span of over 20 years. Johnston is introduced in a folk club in his hometown, Austin, Texas, as "the greatest singer-songwriter alive." His sound is a lo-fi folk that is as raw as an artist can get, voice quivering and squeaking like a pre-pubescent and lyrics appealingly simple. Johnston starred on MTV for a short time and gained a sort of cult fanbase. Kurt Cobain hailed him as "the greatest living songwriter." 

Cobain wore a T-shirt with Johnston's iconic frog drawing, featured as his "Hi, How Are You" album cover, sparking a great interest among Nirvana fans for Daniel Johnston. His popularity exploded.

Following his relative success, Johnston experienced severe personality and mood changes, becoming completely obsessed with satanism and "the devil." He refused to sign a multi-album deal with Elektra because he was convinced that Metallica, also signed with Elektra, was possessed by Satan. He also put his manager in the hospital with wounds to head caused by a lead pipe and, believing himself to be Casper the Friendly Ghost, nearly killed his father and himself in a plane crash. 

The documentary shows interviews of Johnston's mother and father, manager, and close friends. They wear very natural costumes and makeup to emphasize the music and stay true to the theme. The cinematic effects such as the overlay of kaleidescope snowflakes over the archival footage shown in the film represent the disillusions of Johnston during those times in his life. Also, at about 47 minutes, there is a scene of the mental hospital to which Johnston was admitted. The building is white and beautiful but in this particular scene the sign on the building is broken and hanging ajar, perhaps underscoring that there is always a strangeness in beauty.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston shows just how intimate the relationship between artistry and mental illness can be and I enjoyed the film immensely. Whether you are a Johnston fan or dub him overrated, the film is creative, enjoyable, and fascinating in nature. 

so the world isn't ending I guess

So I'm pretty sure that the world isn't going to end next Friday, no matter how much I wish it would. According to NASA, "the world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012."

Here is the article.

I can't say I'm truly disappointed because I didn't actually ever believe that the sun would really go out on Dec. 21st or that the Earth would experience a polar shift so drastic that it would cause a flurry of natural disasters. I merely fantasized about disappearing in a flash of white light along with the rest of the planet and hopefully being reborn as a rock on Neptune or something like that. 

Rocks have no burdens. They simply exist. And some rocks are beautiful like crystals or gems and some rocks are stars or meteors. Over time they are worn down into grains of sand whirling around in space until lots of grains build up each other to make new rocks. Planets all started out as just one little grain of sand. 

Thinking about the end of the world triggers me a little. Instead, I'll write an optimistic list:

Why I Am Glad The World Probably Won't End:

1. I haven't seen Lykke Li live
2. My mom owes me 8 dollars
3. I want to grow taller
4. I need to practice doing splits because I can only do the splits with my left leg forward, not right
5. never kissed a boy! me! never! nope! 
6. I want to try every flavor of cake in the whole world 
7. My other blog has 350 followers 
8. Living isn't so bad if you pretend you are a tree or some other plant
9. there are so many pretty things to see on Earth
10. I want to grow up and get a job and live in nyc or tokyo or paris or shanghai and buy expensive clothes and be kind of sad but still happy
11. I want to live to see scientists discover mermaids

poem #2

ten pruned fingers lie palms to the sky

on hard white marble.

the cold no longer induces a shivery gasp.

instead, sadness percolates

until the heart overflows 

and a dull lambency 

seeps out the ears.

Silk Art

Feeding on the Entrails of my Strung Out Mind

No, this is neither high speed photography nor ethereal jellyfish. This is a hand sewn sculpture of pigmented silk and threads done by Lisa Kellner. The gossamer fabric almost looks like ink diffusing in water, a gorgeous image to be captured by just silk and paint. Upon closer inspection, it also resembles organs or perhaps bulbous growths in the body. I feel almost melancholy looking at her work.

I am now resolved to take up art again as I have forgotten how much interest I have in it.

Please enjoy a few more pictures of Kellner's silk sculptures:

i wrote a poem ok

wan face and brittle knees

arms outstretched and honey bees

she yearned for the moon

writhing through toxic mist

for the azure empyrean

that did not exist

5 pm in November

70 seconds of a November afternoon taken with Nikon d3100. It was supposed to be 60 but I can't count.

It was cold so I wore a sweater.

I fell and got blood on my skirt.

There were many geese. When do geese migrate south? I forget. I wonder if geese get cold in November.

I did not see any turtles. Do turtles hibernate? I forget.

The sun receded early. The moon was bright.

When I got home there was no one in the house. My mom called 2 hours later and said she was in Ohio? Why is she in Ohio. wtvr

Hurricane Past Times

I am a bit late on this update as I have not had power in a few days due to Sandy. Deepest condolences to those injured by the severe weather,

Luckily, my weekend consisted of just some heavy rain and warm tea.

I predict that the months ahead will bring poor weather as well, so here are a few suggestions for how to stay happy and relaxed even if the world outside is cold and gray.

1. Bake something sweet to share! We have two recipes in previous posts for you to check out~

2. Do some sun salutations. They are simple for even yoga beginners.

3. Read a book in a warm place. What better time to enjoy a nice story than when you are trapped indoors?

4. Catch up on homework.

Just kidding! No one likes homework. Instead, watch a movie! We recommend Moonrise Kingdom, directed by Wes Anderson.

5. Make something with your hands. Recently I made this smocked shirt.


May your rainy days be filled with joy!

~Amy

Dystopian Trailer Critique

Never Let Me Go. Mark Romanek. R. 2010

In an alternate history, Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Kiera Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) are students at Hailsham House, a boarding school for clones. At one point they are told that their existence is merely defined by transplant patients, as they were created and raised to be organ donors, destined to die, or "complete", in early adulthood. Never Let Me Go is a coming of age story of love, loss, and truth, as the three face their grim fate, posing the question: What makes us human?

The trailer for the dystopian film, "Never Let Me Go"

The trailer for "Never Let Me Go" clearly exemplifies a dystopia and is effective in sparking interest in viewers by utilizing tasteful editing, convincing actors, and establishing a clear background for the plot. In this trailer, the director, Romanek, uses a voiceover done by Mulligan while scenes of the three children grow up are shown in a montage, establishing the premise and themes for the film. Romanek also uses simple white text. The editing is minimalistic and does not overwhelm the viewer, while still presenting the necessary information, such as explaining the role of clones in this alternate dystopian history. One of the most compelling scenes shown is of Tommy (Garfield) getting out of a car, howling in frustration and distress, his face contorted in pain. The actor's convincing portrayal of the character contributes greatly to the overall quality of the trailer. I plan to use the same minimalistic yet effective editing style for my group's trailer and also hope to convey the emotions of the characters to the best of my abilities. A voiceover will probably used as well. There are many aspects of "Never Let Me Go"s trailer that I plan to incorporate into our project.

"five by five" she whispered.

five by five

five by fiv

five by fi

five by f

five by

five b

five

fiv

fi

f

first clip: that's a lake.
second clip: that's a loud water flowing thing.
third clip: that's a diseased plant/fungus I think. who knows.
fourth clip: that's my bike.
fifth clip: that's a view of grass.

I filmed each clip using Dengi, my nikon d3100 and edited using iMovie. Overall, I found the editing for this project simple and quick. I'm quite pleased with the result seeing as this was my first time editing video on my own. Perhaps next time we should have a film project where we must tell a story through 10 scenes each 10 seconds long, without dialogue.

that would be interesting.

okay bye

Almost Famous (2000)

FILM REVIEW; With Sympathy For the Devil, A Rock Writer Finds His Way by A. O. Scott

Scott commends director Cameron Crowe for not just using rock music as a decoration to his film, Almost Famous, but as more of a window into the souls of his characters. Scott gives some context to his review by describing Crowe's film style and immediately highlights music as one of the main themes in the film. He gives a synopsis to the plot and outlines the main characters. Although not much critique is given on the staging and costuming, themes and motifs are discussed abundantly. Scott writes with a light tone and is very matter of fact, viewing the film with a fair and unbiased eye. I think this is very important when critiquing literature. The ending of the film is not given away and Scott ends the review by saying that the film could have been better, but it is nontheless remarkable and a sex and drug filled film that you would be happy to take your mother to see. 

The structure of this movie review was easy to understand and overall organized nicely. I think that in class we should take elements of it and incorporate it into our own writing styles, but I do not think that there should be a format engraved in stone. We should be allowed creative freedom. However, with that being said, there should be a few rules such as:

1. not giving away the ending

2. including basic points such as plot, characters, motifs/themes, and recommendations

3. critical yet unbiased critique of cinematography, acting skills, and other aspects of film

photo cr: to owner


Movie Review:
http://diigo.com/0sv94

Tardigrades

This is a post about tardigrades, one of my favorite animals!

Tardigrades, also known as "water bears" or "moss piglets", have recently been discovered as the first species of organism to be able to survive the conditions of outer space. Also able to withstand extremely low and high temperatures, water bears live in places ranging from the Himalayas to the deep sea. They have 8 legs and are called "bears" because when they walk they kind of plod about just like a bear. The fact that they can survive in the vacuum like conditions of space leads me to speculate that perhaps these animals originated from space. Anyway, I hope you appreciate this animal as much as I do.

bye bye and may you have an interesting day