Happy Thanksgiving (just about)!  It has been a busy month for me since my last update, but progress is occurring in almost every aspect of my life.  The last few weeks have been an exercise in trial and error and I have learned so much.  Now I have a chance to enjoy a break, savor some rest, and contemplate what I have learned.

This past weekend, I attended a Butoh Workshop at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina.  This all came about because by pure chance, while researching Butoh for my structural analysis paper, I happened to find a link to an Asheville-based website devoted to Butoh.  The three hour workshop fit my schedule and was a drivable distance, so I decided to go for it.

Julie Becton Gillum, a dancer with more than 40 years of experience behind her and who had studied in Japan with the living masters of Butoh this past summer, led about thirty of us students through the workshop.  We warmed up together and “danced.” It was a wonderfully freeing experience, because instead of being locked into the vocabulary of modern dance movement, we were free to create our own vocabulary.  No movement was restricted, and thus the only barrier on our ability to physically express ourselves was our own inhibitions.

This removal of a set vocabulary or system of movement, and this embracing of physical freedom, kept bringing me back to the training I had received this summer in Suzuki and Viewpoints with the SITI Company.  In particular, Barney O’Hanlon’s words kept echoing through my head: “Dance is simply conscious movement.” But the remarkable thing about Butoh is (and I couldn’t have grasped this from merely reading about it, I had to experience it) there comes a point during your dance where your movement is barely conscious.  At times during the workshop, I was becoming so in-tune with listening to my body, listening to the impulses that moved me from within on a visceral and even animalistic level (instead of an intellectual one), that I began to move in ways that surprised or even shocked my own senses.  I had a new Viewpoint.

Perhaps that seems a bit of a contrived tie-in to my research, but I will try to argue my point: Anne Bogart’s system of Viewpoints are a way of breaking down and experiencing time and space, theatrically, within the context of the ensemble.  To achieve the level of precision and specificity, on an individual and group basis, that Viewpoints requires, you have to get out of your own way.  You have to listen, you have to embrace all possibilities, and only then can you make a choice.  The conscious movement that Barney talked about at SITI was the product of all that precision, specificity, and listening – it was a conscious choice in reaction to infinite possibilities.  And through the Butoh, I found that my choices became easier and easier to make and (based on the reactions of the Julie and others in the workshop) more and more compelling.  I achieved a state of such careful listening that my body was one step ahead of my mind, and consequently, I was free to create with an unimpeded physical imagination.

This is a powerful and useful tool at the disposal of the performing artist – the ability to lead with the body, to kinesthetically respond instead of intellectually.  If the body leads, the mind will follow.  Because of this, my experience with Butoh has been phenomenally helpful in not only improving my acting and my appreciation for dance and movement, but also in my understanding of the efficacy of Viewpoints in building a dynamic and compelling ensemble of actors!

Butoh is a Japanese dance form which first developed in the aftermath of World War II, in many ways a rebellion of Japan’s youth culture against the horrors and devastation of the war.  The style (and perhaps more accurately, the philosophy) of Butoh was first developed by Tatsumi Hijikata as a reaction against the more traditional theatrical styles of Noh and Western forms of dance.  The form was so shocking when it first appeared in the late ’50s and early ’60s that it was initially banned in many Japanese theatrical venues.  Hijikata’s work continued, however, and the form began to attract international attention.  It is popular among street performers, practitioners of political or social theatre (similar in some ways to Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed), and many performers and choreographers who have become dissatisfied or felt restricted by the conventional protocols of dance.

In this way, I see similarities between Butoh’s emergence as a rebellion against traditional culture the same way as the Viewpoints emerged out of the Judson Church Movement in America – both these new forms of art simply ask the questions, “Why do we do this the way we do?” and “Are there other ways?”  Art is important because it is relevant to the culture that produces it.  Cultures are always changing, and so must art, if it is to grow and develop into something new and relevant.

Butoh’s cultural impact, much like the destruction of ideals for America’s youth during the Vietnam War and the struggles of the Civil Rights movement, manifested through the postmodern movement.  By examining the human condition through grotesque imagery and contortions of the body, Butoh both alienated and captivated its audiences through a disturbing manifestation of the emotions felt after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This art was scary and it was intense, but it was certainly relevant.

Like the Viewpoints, this can be hard to visualize, so here is a short video of a solo Butoh dancer:

I find the video both terrifying and irresistible.  The sheer skill (the patience, focus, specificity, and control) of the performer is captivating.  I cannot take my eyes off him.  Again, just like the Viewpoints, the medium of Butoh allows a freedom from restriction and tradition, allowing the performer to connect to the audience out of a place of unimpeded emotional content.  But the emotional content comes from the doing (from the being), not from any contrived performance.  I can feel this honest energy very powerfully just watching the video, and I wasn’t even there!  Viewpoints, when done well (and I was fortunate enough to see some very moving examples of this at Skidmore this summer), is equally powerful and all encompassing.

For a current assignment for my Elon College Fellow seminar (which I am taking in addition to the private research conducted alongside my mentor), I am writing a structural analysis paper on Butoh in relationship to my research on Viewpoints.  I will share my research as I make more discoveries!

Oh yes we are

In keeping with the need to write everyday in some form beyond text messages, I can kill several birds with one larger predatory bird by bringing life back to this blog.

Today’s highlights include:

- Online marathon of everything Levi Maestro

- Torrenting Yo Gabba Gabba season 1 music

-Yoinking the Zeitgeist movie [Like "Religulous" for athiest extremists]

-Witnessing the dopest Astro Boy hoodie at the Apple Store

-Laptop dying again, taking with it my last reason for not getting a Macbook Pro

-Being punched in the face by inspiration for a new story idea[or a "new" version of a classic (see "old" in any dictionary) story]

Will Post Soon

Banksy’s most recent gallery exhibition, and his largest, is a new project called Banksy Vs the Bristol Museum. It features street art, installations, updated classic sculptures, updated classic paintings, and a lot more. Its worth checking out, since Banksy covers all his favorite subjects here, as well as a few new ones.

Been a long time, not that anyone cares.

At the 2009 Texas Star Party, a time lapse video was filmed of the night’s entertainment, showing the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, visible over Texas. Actually pretty amazing to be able to see it.

Laser etched stacks of 1 dollar Unites States currency notes. This whole project is sick. I just wish I could remember the name of the artist. I think his last name is Camp. Does anyone know?

I’m starting this Tumblr ( http://f-y-characterdesign.tumblr.com ) as a source for images of people with interesting looks and styles that can be used as inspiration and basis for character design. I’m always looking for pics to add to the library, so if anyone has pics of people with an interesting look or with interesting features, send them to me at character.library@gmail.com

Zoe Kravitz, the model/actress/sexy/goddess daughter of Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz is now officially in a band. She’s the lead singer of a band known as Elevator Fight, a trippy little outfit that describes their sound as “liquefied Panda” ecxept more wordy than that. Check them out. I’m liking the sound so far.

If you love Fuck My Life or My Life is Average ( or hate them, but can’t stop reading), you’ll love (again, or hate, but won’t be able to stop reading) Texts From Last Night. People can submit the contents of the most confusing or entertaining texts they’ve sent or received recently. Some of them are pretty entertaining. See the examples below:

(303): The pink midgets playing hockey is the EXACT reason cold meds and alcohol do not mix. Period.

(614): She said I could do whatever I wanted to her. I pumped for 20 seconds, apologized, rolled over and passed out. I sit directly across from her at work. Awkward?

(813): you were crying and the really sympathetic homeless man offered you a sip of his whiskey. who was i to stop you?

(313): At a stoplight watching a woman push groceries in a stroller while dodging oncoming traffic… Reallllly Detroit?

(403): she said i have a nice penis, i told her only bob saget and god could judge that.

Check out Texts From Last Night

I’m on Youtube checking out everything they have featuring Rome, the new lead singer of the newly reunited Sublime and trying to get an accurate picture of just what this kid can do. So far, he’s damn good. On this song, though, he needs to work on his pacing. He’s racing the music, but it sounds good. I’m excited for some new Sublime.

So…I Started a new blog today: A Tumblr titled “FuckYeahHipstersAndComics” (___.tumblr.com, obviously). Tomorrow I need to post on tervelandrews to announce its inception and the reasoning behind it. Essentially “I started a new blog today, a Tumblr. I’ve been reading Tumblrs for the past few weeks, getting thoroughly sucked into the world of hipsters and their current wave of blogs. Tumblr is unique(ish) and fascinating because of the ability to reblog. Can you imagine being given permission and even being coerced into rehashing ideas and works that have already been thought and done? Not to offend anyone, but it’s really the embodiment of histerdom as it’s become in recent years. Thousands of people sharing a dozen relatively unique ideas and all pretending they don’t care or share. I tried to stay away from irony (as that is the hipster food of choice), but I couldn’t help it as far as the title. In honor of all those incredibly original people who title their Tumblrs with “Fuck Yeah”, I present:
http://fuckyeahhipstersandcomics.tumblr.com/

This is what I do when Skins is in the off season. I scrape at nostalgia to make myself feel what I need to in order to get some writing done.

Holger Pooten is a UK based photographer who’s work includes both personal projects and commercial advertisements. His staged photographs are beautiful and pretty brilliant. Even the most shocking ones.

Check out Holger Pooten

Christian Schoeler is a Dusseldorf-based contemporary artist who desribes his work as “Ecstacy and loss. Adolescence and Vulnerability. Beauty and decadence.” He looks for subjects that he finds beautiful and “disquieting” and paints them in either watercolor or oil.

Check out his interview with East Village Boys

Due to rewrites and bursts of inspiration that come during showers, I find myself needing pics and info of Kyoto Station. I need to know the ins and outs of the train station. The setup, the platforms, the views from inside, the dimensions of the building, which parts of the station are for public access and which are for employees only, the meaning of life, the reasons behind its design, etc. EVERYTHING about Kyoto Station.

Seriously, any help would be appreciated.

Proof again that everything is so much cooler in Japan. The manhole and underground fire extinguisher (the firefighters keep them in culverts underground. Cool.) covers all feature deigsins that range from the abstract and interesting, to the “totally fucking trippy”. Flickr has pages and pages of them, all photographed by people who understood just how awesome they are. Below is a sampling of what you could be seeing if you ran away to Japan to teach English and work on your novel.

If this feels anything like Sunshine, it should. The two are somehow related and this one gets even further in 2001: A Space Odyssey territory. And with a cast of technically only one person, it has no choice but to be laden with psychological subtext. Essentially the idea is that Sam Rockwell, or some character played by him, has been working alone on the moon for 3 years. He’s 2 weeks from retirement (just like a cop, right before he goes dirty) when weird shit starts happening, starting with an emergency in which he must save an unconscious astronaut who just crash landed on the lunar surface. That astronaut is him. Yes, him. Now, they wouldn’t be cloning people and giving them false memories of real lives before tossing them on the moon to do psychologically taxing jobs that nobody else wants, would they? No, “they” would never do that. Never. No. (I think they did.) So this movie is going to be a nice little existential crisis that I can’t wait to watch. And honestly, Sam Rockwell is the go-to guy for a believable existential crisis.

A while back (2007) I started seeing trailers for a movie called Sunshine, which just made me think of the movies Daylight and Shine. But the trailer was INSANE along the lines of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I Googled it and found out that Sunshine was directed by Danny Boyle, who directed Trainspotting and most recently, Slumdog Millionaire. For those who don’t know, Danny Boyle means lots of psychological subtext. Again, just like 2001. I’m about to go watch this online without paying for it. I expect it to be good, yet underrated. It had better be.

While doing research for IED Tokyo, I hit up Flickr to get an idea of what Kyoto Station really looked like. Reference images are a comic writer or artist’s best friend. I never expected this. Kyoto Station better be what heaven lloks like, or I’m not going. (I wasn’t anyway.)

The list of places to visit in Japan grows for me all the time. Too bad my first real vacation won’t be until some time in my mid-30’s.

Today I came across this blog, Freenick.net, by and about a man named Nick who find himself recovering from a crystal meth addiction. Hard times, high crimes.

I could point out that I first clicked the link because I connected the words “free nick” with the bag in the above image. But I won’t.

Check out FreeNick.net

I just saw this on a blog I started reading today. Apparently this sign is being posted around Palm Springs. It’s…well, its crazy. And funny.

Here’s the corresponding Google search.

Found these on Amazon. They turn your wall into chalk board for making notes, keeping a schedule, etc. It’s a pretty good idea aside from the reason people started using dry erase instead of chalk: chalk is just fucking messy. That flaw aside, I have been looking for something like this. I think I’d be happy in my room, insanely scrawling notes and ideas for whatever I’m working on onto the chalky sections of my walls, scratching my face and wiping my brow, then forgetting to check a mirror before running out to get some food and wondering why everyone’s looking at me like I’m crazy. I could imagine they sense my genius and it repels them, a subconscious act of self preservation.

No, but I could get a lot of work done this way. Plus, I was already planning on writing notes on my wall and painting over them once I didn’t need them anymore. This is still messy, but less so. Maybe I’ll pick some up.

You should, too. Yeah, you. (Aqui)

This helps. Crayola Non-toxic Dust-free Chalk (Aqui)