movies

680 – The Endless (2017)

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The Endless is a 2017 American science fiction horror film directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead and written by Benson. The film stars Benson, Moorhead, Callie HernandezTate EllingtonLew Temple and James Jordan. The Endless is a partial sequel to the Benson and Moorhead’s earlier film, Resolution  as it  shares the same creative universe and some plot points.

imdb

movies

676 – Zama (2017)

timespace coordinates: 18th century in a remote South American colony

Zama is a 2017 Argentine period drama film starring Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, and Matheus Nachtergaele & directed by Lucrecia Martel. It is based on the 1956 novel of the same name by Antonio di Benedetto, on Don Diego de Zama, a Spanish officer of the 18th century settled in Asunción, Paraguay, who awaits his transfer to Buenos Aires.

imdb

documentary

674 – Secret Life Underground: Series 1 (2016 documentary)

Nature Documentary hosted by Geoffrey Bateman, published by Arte in 2016 – English narration. (docuwiki)

The underground world is so unfamiliar to us that you only have to dig down a few yards to reveal a totally unknown realm, just beneath our feet. Today, only a fraction of the rich biodiversity that inhabits the soil has been studied. Scientists estimate that the ground is probably home to 70% of the living organisms yet to be discovered.

The Skin Of The Earth

Secret-Life-Underground-Series-1-chaptershot0We know less than 10% of the organisms that populate the underground world and that, each in their own way, take an active part in creating the soil. We are just beginning to discover that plants form partnerships and create complex unions. Welcome to this subtle, surprising and secret world.

Hidden in the Depths

Secret-Life-Underground-Series-1-chaptershot1Take a journey alongside scientists into an underground maze with huge surprises in store. They lead us into monumental cavities, shaped by water and by time. They reveal to us mineral jewels of staggering beauty, and shed light on certain species of fauna that defy the imagination.

mineral trees:

documentary, Uncategorized

672 – Edwardian Insects on Film (2013 documentary)

Edwardian-Insects-on-Film-CoverIn 1908 amateur naturalist Percy Smith stunned cinema goers with his surreal film The Acrobatic Fly. Featuring a bluebottle juggling a series of objects, the film became front page news. Now wildlife cameraman Charlie Hamilton-James attempts to recreate this fascinating film.

Along the way, Hamilton-James (helped by Sir David Attenborough who saw Smith’s films as a boy) tells the story of Percy’s remarkable career and reveals the genius behind this forgotten pioneer of British film. (docuwiki)

imdb


Minute Bodies: The Intimate World of F. Percy Smith (2016)

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imdb  ( film and music )

documentary

667 – After Life: The Strange Science of Decay (2011 documentary)

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If you have ever wondered what would happen in your own home if you were taken away and everything inside was left to rot, the answer is revealed in this programme which explores the strange and surprising science of decay. For two months, a glass box containing a typical kitchen and garden was left to rot in full public view within Edinburgh Zoo. In this resulting documentary, Dr George McGavin and his team use time-lapse cameras and specialist photography to capture the extraordinary way in which molds, slime molds, microbes and insects are able to break down our everyday things and allow new life to emerge from old. Decay is something that many of us are repulsed by, but as the programme shows, it’s a process that’s vital in nature. And seen in close up, it has an unexpected and sometimes mesmerising beauty. (docuwiki)

imdb

books, documentary

665 – The Botany of Desire (2009 documentary )

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The Botany of Desire is a two-hour program broadcast by PBS based on The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World is a 2001 nonfiction book by journalist Michael Pollan. Pollan presents case studies that mirror four types of human desires that are reflected in the way that we selectively grow, breed, and genetically engineer our plants. The tulip, beauty; marijuana, intoxication; the apple, sweetness; and the potato, control.

The stories range from the true story of Johnny Appleseed to Pollan’s first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana hybrids in Amsterdam to the paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes. Pollan also discusses the limitations of monoculture agriculture: specifically, the adoption in Ireland of a single breed of potato (the Lumper) made the Irish vulnerable to a fungus to which it had no resistance, resulting in the Irish Potato Famine. The Peruvians from whom the Irish had gotten the potato grew hundreds of varieties, so their exposure to any given pest was slight.

imdb


Michael Pollan on twitter 

documentary, quotes

664 – The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World (2018 Documentary)

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Hidden from sight is a kingdom that rules life on land. It’s an alien world with the largest and oldest organisms alive today. It is the 5th Kingdom of fungi.   (cbc)

32147852_1825334874153246_8756615246191263744_nThe-Kingdom

“When we think about the evolution of life on earth, what allowed plants to move out of the sea and to have roots for the first time is fungi. And it’s fungi that services those roots as plants crept from that edge into what we now think of as that normal place that we all live.” Rob Dunn

imdb   intro (youtube)


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forestfloornarrative

ome scientists believe that fungi might provide the answers to surviving climate change.
fungus hyphe web growing that stays mostly hidden (we only see the fruiting bodies) and live unlike plants consuming tissues
mushroom grow on every continent including Anatarctica
Dr. Anne Madden’s research has led to patent pending brewing technology, a newly discovered species, novel antibiotics, and a better understanding of the microorganisms in our world.
Helicon fungus growing on a twig