Author Archive for Alex

Marchand & Meffre: More Ruins of Detroit

It’s been a full year since we’ve first pointed you to Yves Marchand’s and Romain Meffre’s fantastic photographs from the ruins of Detroit. About two weeks ago the british Guardian ran a great story about their work and their book “The Ruins of Detroit” (amazon affiliate link), including an image gallery with a number of photos that haven’t been seen online before. You should check them out!

Today the german Spiegel Online also has a lengthy article on Detroit’s major architect Alber Kahn with even more photos by Marchand and Meffre.

These are absolutely worth reading and especially seeing! Beautiful photographs that hint at numerous and unfortunately sad stories from the urban America of the 20th century.

by Alex | January 17, 2011 | 0 Comments
Images, Inspiration, Links and USA

Blizzard Timelapse over America

Due to recent events here’s 20 hours of a blizzard storm comprised within 40 seconds. The snow just won’t stop! Hang in there!


(View directly on vimeo)

by Alex | December 29, 2010 | 0 Comments
General Stuff

North American English Dialects on a map

Here’s a treat for you language aficionados: A pretty comprehensive and detailed map of english language dialects in North America based on pronunciation patterns, including links to examples.


(via)

by Alex | December 29, 2010 | 0 Comments
Research and USA

Trailer for Wim Wenders’ 3D film “Pina”

After Werner Herzog’s 3D documentary another legendary German filmmaker brings you a highly artistic 3D film for art house cinemas: Wim Wenders’ PINA.

This is going to be unlike anything 3D that came out of Hollywood so far. It’s dance film and documentary and all in all a beautiful homage to the late Pina Bausch, the famous choreographer of the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Check out the trailer below! Unfortunately in 2D only, so you have to imagine what it looks like in the depth of a 3D screen… I’ve been lucky enough to see bits of it in 3D already and I can assure you, this promises to be an amazing piece of film art that beautifully and expertly explores the pairing of stereoscopic filmmaking with movement in space as created by the dancers through Bausch’s extraordinary choreography. And with another art house 3D film coming to theaters it’s also paving the way for more highly artistic 3D content including our 3D doc “American Backroom”. So tell your friends and be in line when the film hits 3D screens in early 2011.


(SternTrailerPremiere)

by Alex | December 11, 2010 | 7 Comments
General Stuff, Inspiration, Production and Stereo 3D

Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans Tour

As every one visiting this blog once in a while may have noticed, abandoned and decayed places are undeniably a subject of interest both for our writing here as well as our proposed 3D documentary film. I’m always so fascinated by the eerie atmosphere and the haunting memories these images provoke. Just like filmmaker Teddy Smith, obviously. He took a tour of Six Flags New Orleans which has been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and has never been reopened. Check out his beautifully shot video below. The park is scheduled to be demolished in early 2011.


(YouTubeSixFlagsNOLA)

by Alex | December 11, 2010 | 0 Comments
Inspiration and USA

American Ruins in 3D

American Ruins in 3D! That sounds almost like a scene from THE AMERICAN BACKROOM… or rather like a photo project by Matt Bergstrom. He’s creating three View-Master Sets of abandoned buildings in decay.

“American Ruins” is a three-dimensional, photographic series exploring unusual, abandoned buildings — like a candy factory! — to be viewed on an old-fashioned View-Master. Both an exploration of architectural history and a fun throwback to childhood, backers will receive their very own View-Master viewer and a complete set of reels!

Matt needs a little financial support to get things started so he launched his project on Kickstarter: American Ruins in 3D! How cool is that. Definitely worth our support. Click the image below to check it out:

by Alex | September 15, 2010 | 0 Comments
General Stuff, Stereo 3D and USA

First art house 3D documentary premieres in Toronto

Here it is, “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”, the first documentary film in stereoscopic 3D that is targeted at – let’s put it – more sophisticated art house audiences, and hopefully it paves the way for many more films to come, including our little project here. Directed by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog (whose wonderful documentary “Encounters at the End of the World” already is one of the inspirational sources for THE AMERICAN BACKROOM) “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” leads us into the caves of Chauvent-Pont-d’Arc in France, famous for its extensive cave paintings. Since said cave is not open to the public, I guess you could call it utterly fantastic that Herzog chose stereoscopic 3D to capture images from inside.

The bad news is, so far there are no known theatrical release dates. And considering the numbers of smaller art house movie theaters in Germany that are actually able to screen a digital 3D documentary, I don’t see much hope for it being released in the near future. I’m afraid major theater chains won’t even consider it. It’s a pity. I can only speak for Germany right now, but there is an ongoing (and neverending) discussion about adding and financing digital projection systems to smaller theaters – and right now it seems that the digital revolution on art house screens over here has failed.

Back to “Cave” that premiered last night at the Toronto International Film Festival, and IndieWire got one of the first reviews:

Herzog naturally plays up the enigma at hand with epic grandeur, occasionally overdoing it but usually hitting the mark. Introducing the setting with a majestic crane shot (particularly immersive in 3-D), his camera soars above the cave and surveys the desolate landscape. Unleashing cosmic observations about “the abyss of time” and the like, Herzog ventures into the darkness with his small team, carefully illuminating the 35,000-year-old artwork within. The profoundly magical aura of the footage ranges from charcoal etchings of animals in motion (“almost like a form of proto-cinema”) to hints of attempts at self-portraiture (“as if the human soul was awakened within them”).

Head on over to IndieWire for the full review.

by Alex | September 15, 2010 | 2 Comments
General Stuff, Links and Stereo 3D

Johnny Knoxville shows us how Detroit lives

The ruins of Detroit and the downfall of what once was America’s fourth largest city are definitely one of the most fascinating aspects of the “other America” – and have been a topic on this blog several times before. In the latest chapter of Detroits videography, a shoe company sent Jackass-frontman Johnny Knoxville to Detroit. Not to mock it Jackass-style, but to visit the local art scene that is flourishing between overgrown façades and abandoned shopping malls – adding just another new aspect to the whole Detroit-story. The end result is the urban explorer-style documentary “Detroit Lives!”. Below you will find a trailer and part 1 of the full-length documentary, hit the jump for parts 2 and 3.


(Watch directly on YouTube)

Detroit Lives! – Part 1:
Continue reading ‘Johnny Knoxville shows us how Detroit lives’

by Alex | September 14, 2010 | 1 Comment
People and Research

Walking across the USA – in time-lapse


(Guy Walks Across America on vimeo)

Crazy! There’s this guy who does a Forrest Gump and crosses the USA by foot! Well, not really. But it’s still a nicely done stop-motion shortfilm from… ehrm, it seems like it comes from a major jeans brand. Never mind. It makes us get itchy feet, and that’s still a true feeling. So, in case you wanna follow in the guy’s footsteps, wearing jeans or not, click here for a Goole Map of his journey.

by Alex | July 30, 2010 | 0 Comments
Inspiration, Travel and USA

Post Depression-Era America in Color

Wow! The Denver Post put together an amazing set of color photographs taken between 1939 and 1943 in post-depression era America. Some of the only color pictures that take a close look at the effect of the Great Depression on rural America. Color photos from times long ago are a treat anyway, but these ones are even more special. They’ve been taken from the archives of the Library of Congress, in particular from the color set of the 1930s to 1940s. Head on over to flickr to browse through them for yourself, but be warned, it’s a whopping 1,615 photos in this set alone.

by Alex | July 30, 2010 | 0 Comments
Images, Links, People, Research and USA