12.04.07
Posted in Nifty Links, Avant Experiwhosis, Experimental Film, Online Video, 16mm Film at 10:46 pm by Spencer
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
April 30, 1969 KQED TV, San Francisco, CA
18 min. B&W and color. Originally on 16mm.
Part 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hn1aV3VnZQg
Part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9IY1STwLoqU
Part 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xeHVSKEUfAo
Aired on KQED TV in 1969, the Dilexi Series represents a pioneering effort to present works created by artists specifically for broadcast. The 12-part weekly series was conceived and commissioned by the Dilexi Foundation, an off-shoot of the influential San Francisco art gallery founded by James Newman. Newman, who operated the Dilexi Gallery from 1958 until 1970, saw this innovative series as an opportunity to extend the influence of the contemporary arts far beyond the closeted environment of the commercial gallery.
Formal agreement was reached with KQED in 1968 with the station’s own John Coney designated as series producer. No restrictions, regarding length, form or content, were imposed upon the works, except for Newman’s stipulation that they be aired weekly within the same time-slot. Upon their completion, the 12 works were broadcast during the spring and summer of 1969.
Of the 12 artists invited to participate in the Dilexi Series, ten of them completed new works, and two, Andy Warhol and Frank Zappa, submitted extant works. The tapes and films are far-reaching in their approaches to the medium and the circumstance of the broadcast series. Some of the artists chose to intervene in the relationship of broadcaster and audience by broaching the subject of communications. (…)
Burnt Weeny Sandwich is another rarity. Created by Frank Zappa, the film, in one form or another, found its way into a larger work, Uncle Meat. Something of a high-speed home movie, Burnt Weeny Sandwich features the original Mothers of Invention, along with Captain Beefheart. This is one of the works that exists only within the Dilexi Series.
Once broadcast, the Dilexi Series was stored on the original 2″ videotape masters, a now archaic video format. Some masters were transferred to a contemporary format in 1982 and presented at the S.F. Video Festival. Through the generosity of KQED, the last of the Dilexi Series was just transferred to an exhibition format. This marks the first time in 22 years that all the Dilexi tapes are available. (…)
More info at: http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/videography/Burnt_Weeny_Sandwich.html
The Music:
- 00:00 “Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme” (1:26-1:55) from Uncle Meat
- 00:34 Unidentified Percussion Piece
- 01:27 “Theme From Burnt Weeny Sandwich” from Burnt Weeny Sandwich
- 05:47 “A Pound For A Brown (On The Bus)” from Uncle Meat
- 07:15 “Snork”
- 07:22 “Dog Breath, In The Year Of The Plague” from Uncle Meat
- 11:20 Unidentified Percussion & Snorks Piece
- 11:44 “Prelude To King Kong” from Uncle Meat
- 15:22 “God Bless America” from Uncle Meat
- 16:01 “The Dog Breath Variations” from Uncle Meat
More Things to Thank John Coney For:
(King Kong-sized hat tip to Hell’s Donut House.)
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06.07.07
Posted in Music, Nifty Links, What I'm Reading, Punk and Hardcore, Books at 10:55 pm by Spencer
Courtesy of the excellent bastards at Operation Phoenix Records, the Punk Zine Archive includes sanctioned PDF scans of bedrock punk zines, including Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll nos. 2 - 45 and misc. thereafter, Flipside no. 1 and misc. nos. 24 - 79, and numerous issues of HeartattaCK and Suburban Voice.
Run, don’t walk. And maybe consider contributing to the effort, eh wot?
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06.04.07
Posted in Whatever, Web Dev, Cinema, Music, Nifty Links, What I'm Reading, Politics, Seattle Stuff, Chicago at 11:19 pm by Spencer
What’s this fascist Dick hiding, anyway?
An above-average Sun Ra discography
The mighty Ivor Cutler on the John Peel show (thanks, Hell’s Donut House)
Weekly experimental music concerts at The Chapel in Wallingford (Seattle)
Dope-ass Vermont
Swanky “file browse” stylings (and another)
14 Rules for Fast Web Pages (excellent: summarizing Steve Souders’ presentation at Web 2.0, with links to the PowerPoint [very recommended] and all the references)
More optimization: “Performance Research, Part 4: Maximizing Parallel Downloads in the Carpool Lane” (YUIblog — related to the above)
More optimization: Optimizing Page Load Time (see bottom for additional links)
Why brain-teaser interview questions are stoopid
Bitchen 16mm scanned telecine machine (3 CCD coming soon, they say)
Official Forrest J. Ackerman site
The Online 78rpm Dicographical Project
The one and only Travis (ex-Ono)
Impressive synth sharity
And did I mention Vincent Collins?
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05.31.07
Posted in Cinema, Nifty Links, Animation, Online Video at 8:57 pm by Spencer
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog has posted two very fine streams of ’70s-era animation by one Vincent Collins, a very talented animator that I regret to say I was not previously aware of. Well now I’m much the wiser, and you should be, too.
Of particular wonderment is his fantastic three minute film 200 (1975), Collins’ tribute to the US Bicentennial that was actually financed and distributed by none other than the US Information Agency, which was basically the “white” (open) propaganda fount during the Cold War. Among other things, it is proof positive that times have REALLY changed.
Below is the complete 200 via YouTube thanks to the mighty A/V Geeks. (Props to Michael Bester for his [standards-compliant!] Kimili Flash Plugin for WordPress.)
(Broken video link corrected 1/14/2007)
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05.10.07
Posted in Cinema, Nifty Links, What I'm Reading, 3D, Cinema History, Science, Books at 7:30 pm by Spencer
While trolling about for things 3D, I came upon Stereoscopic.org, the official web site of the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications Conference (SD&A), which is tied to The Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) and The International Society for Optical Engineering (still known by its olde acronym, SPIE).
While not much in the beauty department, the SD&A site includes archived conference proceedings dating all the way back to 1996. Among the site’s other offerings is a small but wonderful virtual library that offers free downloads of licensed PDF scans of three rare and notable books about 3D film and stereoscopic photography.
Following are relevant details (quoted from the library link above), with links to the download pages. The two books still in copyright are licensed for one-time download solely for personal use. This is why you have to register for each download, but I can attest that they don’t spam you for it.
Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema
by Lenny Lipton (1982)
Provides a wide ranging [technical] analysis of many stereoscopic topics. The book’s primary focus is the stereoscopic cinema, however the book’s many background sections are equally relevant to the many different types of stereoscopic display devices available today. This book provides a wealth of information for both the novice and also those already active in the field of stereoscopic imaging. Also included with the download is a 5 page errata list.
The World of 3-D Movies
by Eddie Sammons (1992)
Primarily a filmography of 3-D movies however it also provides an extensive history of 3-D Movies. Titles of chapters in the book include: 3-D in the Beginning and Now, 3-D or Not 3-D, The Formats, The Movies - A Chronology, The Movies - The Filmography, Who Directed What, At Home With 3-D. An errata list is provided at the end of the book.
Three-Dimensional Photography: Principles of Stereoscopy
by Herbert C. McKay (1953 ed., orig. 1948)
The main topic is stereoscopic photographic technique. Titles of chapters include: Elementary Stereography, Stereoscopic Cameras, Stereographic Technique, Flash in Stereo, Color in Stereo, Pictorial Stereography, Applied Stereoscopy, Polarized Light Applied to Stereoscopy, Close-up Stereography, Trick Work and Hyperstereo. The book also provides a review of a wide range of stereoscopic film cameras, viewers and projectors available at the time [ca. 1953]. The book touches on a few areas of stereoscopic theory but intentionally does not go into too much detail in these areas. The book contains a glossary of stereoscopic terms and is amply illustrated.
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Posted in Music, Nifty Links, MP3s, Olde Music at 7:14 pm by Spencer
Courtesy of Climax Golden Twins’ blog, I learned of the Antique Phonograph & Gramophone Thai Society (APGTS) and the first phonograph and gramophone museum in Thailand.
The site is mostly in Thai with a little English sprinkled about, but it’s chockablock with photographs, downloadable MP3s you have to hunt for (unless you can read Thai I presume), and illustrated articles such as the one about the Phonautograph, an 1857 invention by one Leon Scott that has “a pulley and when the weight falls, a lamp-blacked glass, under a stiff pig’s bristle, has a translation motion and a stiff pig’s bristle draw a line if no sound.”
Make sure to stop by the photographic tour of the museum. If you happen to be passing through Thailand and wish to visit, you are asked to please first call 02-9399920 or 02-9399553, or email them ahead of time. (I presume it’s in Bangkok but, um, I can’t tell for sure.)
Here’s direct links to some of the MP3s I managed to scrounge up at the site — and apologies if I’ve mangled the titles.
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05.08.07
Posted in Nifty Links, 3D, Space is the Place, Natural Wonders, Science at 10:00 pm by Spencer
As reported here back in October 2006, NASA launched two imaging satellites with the intention of producing 3D images of the Sun. Six months later, on April 23 this year, NASA unveiled the first images from the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO).
The 3D images like the one above require Red-and-Cyan (light blue) glasses, with red on left (inexplicably contrary to tradition). The NASA site provides info on sources for 3D glasses, as well as instructions on how to make your own.
STEREO is sponsored by NASA Headquarters’ Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Solar Terrestrial Probes Program Office, in Greenbelt, MD, manages the mission, instruments and science center. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, MD, designed and built the spacecraft and will operate the twin observatories for NASA during the mission.
A number of museums in the US and abroad will be displaying high-resolution STEREO images and movies, though apparently none in Seattle (yet?). Dammit.
Here are links to various NASA web sites and online galleries devoted to the STEREO Mission.
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05.01.07
Posted in Nifty Links, What I'm Reading, Indiana at 5:32 pm by Spencer
I stumbled across the nifty online archive of the Gilder Lehrman Collection at the New York Historical Society. The holdings — some 60,000 searchable documents — include “manuscript letters, diaries, maps, photographs, printed books and pamphlets ranging from 1493 through modern times…[and] is particularly rich with materials in the Revolutionary, Antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction periods.”
This amazing Collection includes marvels like “the first draft of the Constitution; thousands of unpublished Civil War soldiers’ letters; letters written by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass; and the writings of such notable women as Lucy Knox, Mercy Otis Warren and Catherine Macaulay.” And…ever, always…more.
They have a handy Document of the Week page, which also links to archives, various virtual exhibits, and all suches.
Thank you, Gilder Lehrman Collection!
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