692 – The Happening (2008)

The Happening is a 2008 psychological horror-thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo and Betty Buckley. The film follows a man, his wife, his best friend and his friend’s daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster.

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Shyamalan told the New York Daily News: “We’re making an excellent B movie, that’s our goal”. Some critics enjoyed it because of this. Glenn Whipp said, “Tamping down the self-seriousness in favor of some horrific silliness, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening plays as a genuinely enjoyable B-movie for anyone inclined (or able) to see it that way”.

Joseph J. Foy, professor of politics and popular culture, describes Shyamalan’s film as an expression of “post-environmentalism” in which traditional paradigmatic politics are replaced with a call for the world to “embrace a revolutionary reevaluation of wealth and prosperity not in terms of monetary net worth or material possessions, but in terms of overall well-being”. (wiki)

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691 – The Wonder of Weeds (2011)

“…when something does get labeled alien, an entire industry will spring up dedicated to its destruction.”

Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins celebrates the humble and sometimes hated plants we call weeds. He discovers that there is no such thing as a weed, botanically speaking, and that in fact what we call a weed has changed again and again over the last three hundred years. Chris uncovers the story of our changing relationship with weeds – in reality, the story of the battle between wilderness and civilisation. He finds out how weeds have been seen as beautiful and useful in the past, and sees how their secrets are being unlocked today in order to transform our crops.

Finally, Chris asks whether, in our quest to eliminate Japanese Knotweed or Rhododendron Ponticum, we are really engaged in an arms race we can never win. We remove weeds from our fields and gardens at our peril.

YOUTUBE

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“What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”

Inversnaid (1881)

Gerard Manley Hopkins

687 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

timespace coordinates: 1981  San Fernando Valley

imdb   themes

681 – Isle of Dogs (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2038 Japan

Isle of Dogs (Japanese: 犬ヶ島 Hepburn: Inugashima) is a 2018 stop-motion animated film written, produced and directed by Wes Anderson. Set in a dystopian near-future Japan, the story follows a young boy searching for his dog after the species is banished to an island following the outbreak of a canine flu. The film’s ensemble voice cast includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Balaban, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Courtney B. Vance, Fisher Stevens, Harvey Keitel, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, F. Murray Abraham, Frank Wood, Kunichi Nomura and Yoko Ono.

Anderson said that the film was strongly influenced by the films of Akira Kurosawa, as well as the stop-motion animated holiday specials made by Rankin/Bass Productions. (wiki)

https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/23-29-april-2018/erica-dorn-on-creating-graphics-for-wes-andersons-isle-of-dogs/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5104604/

679 – Night in the Woods (2017 video game)

timespace coordinates: 2017 Possum Springs

Night in the Woods is a single-player adventure game released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. (wiki)

NIGHT IN THE WOODS is an adventure game focused on exploration, story, and character, featuring dozens of characters to meet and lots to do across a lush, vibrant world. After a successful Kickstarter it’s being made by Infinite Fall, a teamup of Alec Holowka (Aquaria), Scott Benson (Late Night Work Club), and Bethany Hockenberry.

OST * vol 1 * vol 2 *

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM: OS: Windows 7 // Processor: Intel i5 Quad-Core // Memory: 4 GB RAM // Graphics: Intel HD 4000 // Storage: 8 GB available space // Additional Notes: 32-bit systems must use virtual memory to get over 2GB.

http://www.nightinthewoods.com/   steam

678 – Blood Tea and Red String (2006)

Blood Tea and Red String is a stop-motion-animated feature film, directed by Christiane Cegavske. It was released on February 2, 2006 after a production time of 13 years, having been filmed in various places in the West Coast and in two studios. The musical score was composed and performed by Mark Growden. Cegavske says in the audio commentary to the DVD for this film that it is to be the first in a trilogy.

“A handmade stop-motion fairy tale for adults that tells the tale of the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Oak Dwellers over the doll of their heart’s desire.” imdb

677 – My Winnipeg (2007)

timespace coordinates: 20th century Snowy, Sleep-Walking Winnipeg

My Winnipeg is a 2007 film directed and written by Guy Maddin with dialogue by George Toles. Described by Maddin as a “docu-fantasia,” that melds “personal history, civic tragedy, and mystical hypothesizing,” the film is a surrealist mockumentary about Winnipeg, Maddin’s home town. A New York Times article described the film’s unconventional take on the documentary style by noting that it “skates along an icy edge between dreams and lucidity, fact and fiction, cinema and psychotherapy.”

Maddin also released a book titled My Winnipeg (Coach House Books, 2009). Maddin’s book contains the film’s narration as a main text surrounded by annotations, including outtakes, marginal notes and digressions, production stills, family photos, and miscellaneous material. The book contains a “Winnipeg Map” by artist Marcel Dzama featuring such fictional attractions as “The Giant Squid of the Red [River],” various poster designs for the film, and short articles about working with Maddin by Andy Smetanka, Darcy Fehr, and Caelum Vatnsdal. Maddin also includes an angry e-mail from an ex-girlfriend, collages and notebooks pages, and an X-ray of the dog Spanky from the film. The book also includes an interview with Maddin’s mother Herdis, conducted by Ann Savage, and an interview with Maddin conducted by Michael Ondaatje. Maddin’s publisher offers the book with or without a DVD of the film, distributed by Seville Pictures.

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