quote of the week

“Look at me. You won't be rewarded for your kindness. I am a good example. This is reality. Poverty begets evil. That's the rule of the game.”
(Xiang Gang zhi zao/Made in Hong Kong, Fruit Chan (1997))

“the torch” #39 – Bonus material on your DVD - does it add up?

Really, how versatile is that disc you just bought? A legitimate question, for sure, and one that has every content shopper scrupulously studying the back cover of whatever DVD they think about purchasing – if they are smart enough to consider before leaving their cash to the counter. The flipside to our products’ packaging is a selling point, whichever way you look at it. And to investigate as to what we want – and what we get – as consumers of films, is worthy of taking a moment to deliberate on. No battle over formats sees the movie-lover as winner, unless there is bonus material included to match expectations. The option is on the table for any producer and designer to make their costumers happy – if only they bothered to care about demand; which should be in their own best interest, should it not? Let’s compile a list, then, of what makes for real added value in a hard copy release, so that next time we will truly enrich ourselves (and not just the shops and companies) when buying another item for our private film library. First attempt you will find: here.

(pic©mo)

quote of the week

“[...] all else is true in the article, except those things that are not.”
(AAWW newsletter (2007))

quote of the week

“I should very much like, then, to share this all so sudden metamorphosis of mine with you. Doing so would make me start to feel a surer faith in the friendship that exists between us, that true friendship which not hope nor fear nor concern for personal advantage ever sunders, that friendship in which and for which people are ready to die. I can give you plenty of examples of people who have not been lacking a friend but friendship, something that can never happen when mutual inclination draws two personalities together in a fellowship of desire for all that is honourable. Why cannot it happen? Because they know that everything – and especially their setbacks – is shared between them.”
(Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Epistulae morales at Lucilium (64))

“the torch” #38 – in the crux: location scouting

The Here and Now is ideally located between the Then and There and all that which it is impossible to foretell: our forever elusive future, wherever it may lead us. On this we have common ground, and an acute awareness – as well as an existential need – to reassure ourselves of who (and where) we are by relating the stories of our individual pasts and weave them into one large and sweeping fabric of togetherness and human belonging. To this end we apply all kinds of expression to forge a narrative that has the coherence (and resiliency) to support. As history manifests itself in our minds and finds itself often attached to objects or places we hold dear or dread, every filmmaker is confronted with the task of identifying the one and only perfect setting for their movie. “The Torch” in this week’s edition probes into the choices and options, their various deep implications, in the matter of scouting for the right location and handling of place in a motion picture coming to life. You find it: here.

(pic©mo)

quote of the week

“The spirit is always attacking.”
(The Hidden Blade, Yamada Yoji (2004))