Might have to take a break from blogging for a bit... Very hungover today, though that's not why... Just explains the lack of a daily post. Things are about to get really busy. As for today, after being cooped up for two weeks either cleaning muck from my apartment, writing treatments, and being sick I went out last night and the next thing I knew I'd drank too much already and at the point I made that realization that I had I figured why stop... Hadn't had one of those New York nights that stretch into the morning in so long. My first time really going out since I got back from the trip. This is a really easy city to get drunk in; some combination of its layout and how you can stumble into a taxi or train so easily and there are just bars everywhere. And if not that, it's also one of those cities where people don't look at you funny when you're going home and they're just getting up for work.
I was lucky enough, too, to meet this person named Catherine Kim and her friend Emily. Which was sort of funny. I'd never met Catherine in person before and had no idea what she looked like so I made a lot of awkward eye contact with people all night.
Catherine is young but oh so brilliant; I barely know her but you know sometimes how there are certain people you meet and you just have this sense that they're going to be sharing something interesting with the world? I've never known how to quanitfy or describe that invisible ether field that some people carry. Everything Catherine works on has quality already, even if some of it is just dabbling or her first try at a discipline. She's just smart as a whip and funny and fun, no maladjusted angst overwhelming what she does or her interests. And her friend Emily was just the same. Emily did the sweetest thing at 5am in a diner - she had to play me this band she was excited about, right there and then. Emily's a graphic design student at FIT and when she talks design she just lights up. The two of them were just so adorable together and hilarious but tuned in and sharp. Lately I've met creative people who seem to be in love with the world, or their creativity is dialed into less self tortured nonsense and into something better, and it's been inspiring to me. I was having a full blown migraine at 4am from all the drinking, and yet I was able to ignore it for awhile in their company.
So Bjork, Patrick Wolf, Beirut, Ben Gibbard, Final Fantasy, St. Vincent, The National, The Arcade Fire are all playing shows over the next few days in New York... It's almost more than I can bear and I was going to try and get into all of it. If you're in this city chances are you must be going to one of these. But I'm ditching all of it to go do some more shooting of Mr. Michel Gondry. It's worth it to me. I have to say that the thought of ever meeting the guy was unbearably nerve wracking. I'd even say that some of my stylistic intentions as a filmmaker come out of his shadow - I very purposely try to avoid doing anything close to what he does because I believe the world of videos is so full of second rate imitations of him. And he makes it so hard because he has so many ideas. He's just unbelievably unique - offhand ideas of his just flow out of him with a brilliance that you know is rare. And for all that he's a genuinely good person I like being around. I still get so mopishly shy around him, which is funny. They say you should never meet your heroes, because of dissapointment. I have to say that getting to watch Michel work and know him as a person is the reverse - you wish everyone could be so brilliant and kind.
I said this was unequivocal love week, which it hasn't been, really... But on my trip Nick and I talked about how easy cynicism is to cave into and how easy it is to be critical; but expressing good in things and what makes one feel good is hard, and maybe that's what time should be spent doing more often than tearing things down. The things that suck, they aren't worth the time perhaps? Here's to sharing stories of people who you find good.
And there's no way a little pocket camera could capture this, but here's the moon burning over the river crossing the Manhattan bridge at 530am. Another reason to love NY and the bridges here, and to live in Brooklyn, getting to see this every time I go home makes me smile.
I was lucky enough, too, to meet this person named Catherine Kim and her friend Emily. Which was sort of funny. I'd never met Catherine in person before and had no idea what she looked like so I made a lot of awkward eye contact with people all night.
Catherine is young but oh so brilliant; I barely know her but you know sometimes how there are certain people you meet and you just have this sense that they're going to be sharing something interesting with the world? I've never known how to quanitfy or describe that invisible ether field that some people carry. Everything Catherine works on has quality already, even if some of it is just dabbling or her first try at a discipline. She's just smart as a whip and funny and fun, no maladjusted angst overwhelming what she does or her interests. And her friend Emily was just the same. Emily did the sweetest thing at 5am in a diner - she had to play me this band she was excited about, right there and then. Emily's a graphic design student at FIT and when she talks design she just lights up. The two of them were just so adorable together and hilarious but tuned in and sharp. Lately I've met creative people who seem to be in love with the world, or their creativity is dialed into less self tortured nonsense and into something better, and it's been inspiring to me. I was having a full blown migraine at 4am from all the drinking, and yet I was able to ignore it for awhile in their company.
So Bjork, Patrick Wolf, Beirut, Ben Gibbard, Final Fantasy, St. Vincent, The National, The Arcade Fire are all playing shows over the next few days in New York... It's almost more than I can bear and I was going to try and get into all of it. If you're in this city chances are you must be going to one of these. But I'm ditching all of it to go do some more shooting of Mr. Michel Gondry. It's worth it to me. I have to say that the thought of ever meeting the guy was unbearably nerve wracking. I'd even say that some of my stylistic intentions as a filmmaker come out of his shadow - I very purposely try to avoid doing anything close to what he does because I believe the world of videos is so full of second rate imitations of him. And he makes it so hard because he has so many ideas. He's just unbelievably unique - offhand ideas of his just flow out of him with a brilliance that you know is rare. And for all that he's a genuinely good person I like being around. I still get so mopishly shy around him, which is funny. They say you should never meet your heroes, because of dissapointment. I have to say that getting to watch Michel work and know him as a person is the reverse - you wish everyone could be so brilliant and kind.
I said this was unequivocal love week, which it hasn't been, really... But on my trip Nick and I talked about how easy cynicism is to cave into and how easy it is to be critical; but expressing good in things and what makes one feel good is hard, and maybe that's what time should be spent doing more often than tearing things down. The things that suck, they aren't worth the time perhaps? Here's to sharing stories of people who you find good.
And there's no way a little pocket camera could capture this, but here's the moon burning over the river crossing the Manhattan bridge at 530am. Another reason to love NY and the bridges here, and to live in Brooklyn, getting to see this every time I go home makes me smile.
1 Comments:
I was just watching the video Gondry did for Kanye West's "Heard 'em Say" again. I had downloaded it way back when. IIRC, West opted to go with the Plimpton video instead. I still can't understand that choice.
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