I’ve always enjoyed these loops, by William Basinski. It is the same looped melody, which slowly degrades over the course of the hour duration of the track. It was inspired by Basinki’s experience of the destruction of the twin towers, having witnessed it from across the water, from Brooklyn. Oddly, I find a lot of peace in this track, in its predictability, peace in the chaos of the world, in the eternal recurrence of life.
Monthly Archives: May 2023
Sadness and Melancholy
I’ve always enjoyed and found contentment in the melancholy, the space where one must reflect and try to understand the hard feelings of the world. I think it’s given me a special tolerance for sadness, and probably explains my interest in helping others. Not everyone can deal with pity, or with hard feelings, but that’s where I think the magic is, where we become stronger through struggle and overcoming.
“After Life,” A Brief Review
“After Life,” Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1998, Japan. In the metaphysical limbo thereafter, everyone must choose one memory to carry with them, and the selection process is anything but easy. If you could carry one memory with you, what would it be?
Quote, Succession
“Some people just can’t cut a deal,” Kendall Roy
“Songs from the Second Floor,” A Brief Review
“Songs from the Second Floor,” R Andersson, 2000, Sweden. A surrealistic series of increasingly-dark but somehow-funny eccentric vignettes depicting moments in the lives of various people, who, in bizarre situations, grasp for a meaning which, without exception, eludes them.
Adversity
“Damnation,” A Brief Review
“Damnation,” Béla Tarr, 1989, Hungary. In a dreary, rural Hungarian town, a lonely but articulate man reflects on the futility of existence and schemes to win a beautiful married singer, only for her to fall for another close to him, but Karrer does not let sleeping dogs lie…
Common Sense, “Enlarged Mentality”, Political Dialogue
All Cruelty…
He’s a 10 but…
Bearer of Pity 