Degrees of Separation

In the middle of Fast, Cheap and Out of Control I began to write down a few things that I felt I connected with or had been connected to me through other projects I have exposed myself to. The score by Caleb Sampson brought about the same tone as Phillip Glass' work in Koyaanisqatsi. The continual references of the circus and its characters mingling with the ideas of all four naratives reminded me of Fellini's La Strada and his merging of cast, scenario and fiction. The entire time I felt the film was a feature length presentation of Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World. 

Koyaaniqatsi

An exceptional film by Godfrey Reggio, Koyaaniqatsi translates to "life out of balance". The film sweeps over landscapes, catalogs cities, defines the imprints of society and captures the unbalanced destruction and differences in our world. When reflecting as sites in which Reggio finds interest, these out of balance places blur boundaries. Frame by frame the life of the film begins to create a network of chaos that all link into a systemic instable reality. 

La Strada 
I'm not sure how I even stumbled upon Fellini films. And I'm not even sure how it is relevant, but something did click with between the films for me (probably the clowns but hopefully something more). The female character Gelsomina does stumble across a high wire walker in the film whom she grows fond of. I just wanted to throw this out there as a thought or connection that while cloudy in relevance it is a very distinct movie to grasp the character and tone of Fellini's work. There is something very true about his work while I also feel like I am being left out. 

Out of Control  

While always entertained by the ideas that Kevin Kelly presents in his book, the take away is much larger than the specifics of the book. Written in 1995 the book is somewhat projective in terms of its catalog of upcoming technologies and explorations. Fifteen years later we are experiencing some of the things that once only happened in the lab. It is the motivation of the exploration and the intuitive notion of connectivity that helps us humbly realize the small parts we may play in a larger system.

We don't have a word for learning and teaching at the same time, but our schooling would improve if we did.

The tendency to adopt ideas outside of the field is how we are able to grow. It is with these new perspectives that we are not a fixed lens with one trajectory. So I leave you with  a few other things I keep in my catalog and reach to as background noise or foreground focus when needing to be humbled:

art21

National Public Radio

NOVA

NOAA Weather

What the Bleep?!

Abelardo Morell