Invisible Cinema

Was Bashō a Ninja?

From: the Intro to Basho's Narrow Road by Hiroaki Sato

Was Bashō a Ninja?

"When a renga master traveled, it was important to have an array of literary-minded merchants, samurai, or other people of means lined up along the way.  People who were willing to accomodate the visiting poet for the  pleasure of taking part in a session or two of renga composition.  When such people were not available, as apparently happened during parts of Bashō's travels to the north, the itinerant poet could be reduced to an itinerant pauper.

    Here, because several aspects of this famed journey, such as expenses, remain a mystery, I might as well touch on a speculation (not altogether implausible) that Bashō might have served as a ninja during his travels to the north.

   Bashō was from a former warrior-class family in Iga, Mino, a famous breeding ground for ninja, who were often employed as spies.  Just about the time Bashō set out to the north, there was a quiet dispute between an agent of the Tokugawa shogunate and Date Tsunamura (1659-1719), concerning the renovation of the Nikkō shrine.  The Nikkō, which Bashō and Sora planned to visit early on in their journey, was the resting place of the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.  The Date family was assigned to renovate this shrine, and the cost was expected to be ruinous . . . The shogunate may have planned to dispatch a secret agent to look into the matter.

    There are, in addition, some circumstances that cannot be fully explained.  Bashō originally had in mind a different traveling companion, but switched to Sora at the last minute.  Also, Sora apparently did not leave Edo at the same time Bashō did.

    To our disappointment perhaps, the scholar, Muramatsu Tomotsugu, after an exhaustive documentary investigation, had to conclude that Sora, not Bashō, might have been given some duties to carry out by the government, but there probably is nothing more to the story.

   The speculation that Bashō may have been a ninja arose partly because of a diary that Sora kept during the journey, which was not published until as late as 1943.  Such theorization aside, though, this perfunctory recording of day-to-day occurrences indicates that Bashō's composition was not a straight 'travel account.'  Bashō reshuffled dates, concocted some poems for Sora, created impressions contrary to what actually happened, and otherwise fabricated for literary effect."

   

"There is an Experimental Cinema in Spain, but . . . " by Albert Alcoz

From:  "There is an Experimental Cinema in Spain, but . . . " by Albert Alcoz, Experimental Conversations, Issue 2:  Autumn 2008:  Spanish-Avant Garde Film

"The main aim of this text is to briefly outline the history of experimental cinema in Spain, to examine what it has been and seek the keys to its possible survival. If ‘experimental cinema' is a hard category to define, it's almost harder to pin down ‘Spanish experimental cinema' in geographical terms. This difficulty is mainly due to a longstanding lack of appropriate means of production, distribution and exhibition in the country. There's certainly never been a shortage of restlessly innovative filmmakers. Many artists have made use of the cinematic medium to express feelings, communicate ideas and transmit impressions without limiting themselves to the institutional mode of representation of fiction cinema or sticking to accepted documentary norms. They have attempted to subvert, transgress and interrogate these accepted cinematic forms, whilst cultivating other levels of visual and conceptual intensity. Because, aside from the plastic qualities of its imagery, experimental cinema has constantly questioned the existence of the cinematographic medium, both as art and as mass media spectacle."  - Albert Alcoz, Visionary Film

Film stills:  David Domingo's, Película Sudorosa

Good blogs reflect focused obsessions . . .

Finally, someone who understands blogging as obsession!:)  A few excerpts from "What Makes a Good Blog?" by Merlin Mann, via Sean's Edu-Ark-Hive!

2.  Good blogs reflect focused obsessions. People start real blogs because they think about something a lot. Maybe even five things. But, their brain so overflows with curiosity about a family of topics that they can’t stop reading and writing about it. They make and consume smart forebrain porn.** So: where do this person’s obsessions take them?

3.  Good blogs are the product of “Attention times Interest.” A blog shows me where someone’s attention tends to go. Then, on some level, they encourage me to follow the evolution of their interest through a day or a year. There’s a story here. Ethical “via” links make it easy for me to follow their specific trail of attention, then join them for a walk made out of words & images.

5.  Good “non-post” blogs have style and curation. Some of the best blogs use unusual formats, employ only photos and video, or utilize the list format to artistic effect. I regret there are not more blogs that see format as the container for creativity . . .

8.  Good blogs try. I’ve come to believe that creative life comes down to those who try just a little bit harder. Then, there’s the other 98%. They’re still eating the free continental breakfast over at FriendFeed. A good blog is written by a blogger who thinks longer, works harder, and obsesses more. Ultimately, a good blogger tries.

**So right on! :)

motion study - little birds

An impromptu study of wing movement on a Brooklyn fire escape!

Live from Paris . . .

See the Chanel Spring-Summer 2009 show!

Ooooh la la . . .

All in the game, yo, all in the game . . .

"Man, it's just a game, I just play it to play it
I put my feet in the footprints left to me
Without sayin a word, the ghetto's got a mental telepathy
Man, my brother hustled so naturally
Up next is me, but what perplexes me
Shit I know how this movie ends, still I play . . .

*

But the allure of the game, keeps callin your name
To all the Lauras of the world, I feel your pain
To all the Christies in every cities and Tiffany Lanes
We all hustlers, in love with the same thang . . ."

-- Jay-Z, "Allure"

99% inspiration!

“Use your own light and return to the source of light. This is called ‘practicing eternity’.”—Lao-Tsu

Program 3: Andrew Noren
Views from the Avant-Garde, NYFF, Sat. Oct. 4, 3:30