Vision & Volume was an article I created for my college newspaper The Otter Realm. The focus was to feature a movie, a book and a musical album every week. The works chosen were usually passed over by the general public but are acclaimed by underground scenes.
Semester 2; Episode 1
Time to stop fretting, the break is over and Vision and Volume is back. If you enjoyed the previous installments, be prepared, your about to be hit be the mallet of originality as we present works that even your hip little sister isn’t blogging about.
Primer
A 2004 science fiction film about time travel, Primer is a depiction of experimental discovery as it happens. The film was written, directed and produced, on an extremely low budget, by mathematician and engineer Shane Carruth. Aaron (Carruth) and Abe, corporate engineers, run a side business with two other friends. They use the money made to fund scientific projects, with hopes of creating something worthy of gaining venture capital. After an argument about which direction to go in, Aaron and Abe start working on their own device, whose function is to reduce the weight of an object. What they actually create is a time machine. They devise a plan to make money cheating the stock market, but it does not take long for them to start trying to meddle with their lives. The plotline involves multiple timelines and may take a few viewings to fully understand. Carruth wrote the dialogue to accurately reflect working scientists, leaving in technical jargon and complex language.
G. Love and Special Sauce: “G. Love & Special Sauce”
Drawing influence from guitar and harmonica driven blues, funk backbeat and hip-hop lyricism, G. Love’s 1994 debut album is a reinvention of genres. Loose raps about summer-time living, cold beverages and basketball are spit over an unfaltering rhythm section. The bands delta sound comes from their use of instruments: old dobro guitars for G, “Jimi Jazz” Prescott on stand-up bass and “The Houseman” Clemens precision brush drumming. And, no drum machines or sampling from this group. The album was recorded live, adding to it’s lo-fi blend of slacker rap and acoustic blues.
You Shall Know Our Velocity
Know for his vibrant prose and often subtle cynical sarcasm, Dave Eggers second book finds Will trying to give away $32,000. After a delusional plan to use the money to save his friend’s life fails, Will and third comrade, Hand, decided to visit obscure countries and give the money away to people they find to be most deserving. Through elaborate ways of distributing the money and spontaneous side adventures, they see that without a definite strategy, distributing the funds is more difficult and awkward than they expected. The novel reads as a travel log, yet shows insight into Wills fears and isolation as he moves from country to country.
The second season of Vision and Volume is on the move and will be exposing the masses, with continued updates, on the best in avant-garde art
Primer
A 2004 science fiction film about time travel, Primer is a depiction of experimental discovery as it happens. The film was written, directed and produced, on an extremely low budget, by mathematician and engineer Shane Carruth. Aaron (Carruth) and Abe, corporate engineers, run a side business with two other friends. They use the money made to fund scientific projects, with hopes of creating something worthy of gaining venture capital. After an argument about which direction to go in, Aaron and Abe start working on their own device, whose function is to reduce the weight of an object. What they actually create is a time machine. They devise a plan to make money cheating the stock market, but it does not take long for them to start trying to meddle with their lives. The plotline involves multiple timelines and may take a few viewings to fully understand. Carruth wrote the dialogue to accurately reflect working scientists, leaving in technical jargon and complex language.
G. Love and Special Sauce: “G. Love & Special Sauce”
Drawing influence from guitar and harmonica driven blues, funk backbeat and hip-hop lyricism, G. Love’s 1994 debut album is a reinvention of genres. Loose raps about summer-time living, cold beverages and basketball are spit over an unfaltering rhythm section. The bands delta sound comes from their use of instruments: old dobro guitars for G, “Jimi Jazz” Prescott on stand-up bass and “The Houseman” Clemens precision brush drumming. And, no drum machines or sampling from this group. The album was recorded live, adding to it’s lo-fi blend of slacker rap and acoustic blues.
You Shall Know Our Velocity
Know for his vibrant prose and often subtle cynical sarcasm, Dave Eggers second book finds Will trying to give away $32,000. After a delusional plan to use the money to save his friend’s life fails, Will and third comrade, Hand, decided to visit obscure countries and give the money away to people they find to be most deserving. Through elaborate ways of distributing the money and spontaneous side adventures, they see that without a definite strategy, distributing the funds is more difficult and awkward than they expected. The novel reads as a travel log, yet shows insight into Wills fears and isolation as he moves from country to country.
The second season of Vision and Volume is on the move and will be exposing the masses, with continued updates, on the best in avant-garde art
Semester 2; Episode 2
“I sip the Dom P watching Gandhi until I’m charged, then writin’ in my book of rhymes, all the words pass the margin.” -Nas
Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical novel by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer. After joining the Nazi SS at a young age, Harrer is eventually arrested by the British and placed in an internment camp in India. The book picks up as a fellow soldier and he escape the camp, crossing the border into Tibet. Once in the capitol of Lhasa, he is summoned by the 14 Dali Lama Tenzin Gyatso who is only 11 years old. Harrer becomes Gyatso’s tutor, teaching him of the Western world, geography and English. In return Harrer is taught compassion and learns how to redeem himself for working with the Nazi regime. As he spends more time with the Dali Lama, Harrer helps focus international attention to Tibet as the Chinese Communist army takes control.
Metropolis
A 1927 German expressionist film directed by Fritz Lange, Metropolis views the clash between workers and owners in an urban future dystopia. Freder, son of Joh Fredersen the master of Metropolis, is blind to the plight of lower-class workers and any aspect of their lives. When Maria, a beautiful subterranean dweller visits him, he notices the wretched lives of the almost-slave labor. In attempt to help and learn more about the bourgeois, Freder takes up a job among the commoners. His father, although, believes that the elite and poor have separate roles and goes about trying to suppress their rumblings. With the help of inventor Rotwang, Fredersen plans to kidnap Maria, model a robot after her and use it to incite violence among the workers. Soon, complete chaos breaks out as fires rage, floods expand and the fate of workers is compromised. Shot in black and white and using visual effects, that still stun audiences, Metropolis is the most expensive silent film ever made.
Nas “Illmatic”
The 1994 debut album of Nas, Illmatic is a staple of the East Coast hip-hop scene. Reviving New York City artistic renaissance, Nas presents a darker look at inner-city life. First person narratives about gang activity, isolation and urban poverty are rapped with multi-syllabic internal rhyme patterns and a young 20 year old perspective. The albums lyrical content features personas which are cynical yet optimistic with emotion from pain to pleasure. Nas’ delivery of clever word play and impressive vocabulary reinvented the art of hip-hop bringing it to unprecedented heights.
Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical novel by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer. After joining the Nazi SS at a young age, Harrer is eventually arrested by the British and placed in an internment camp in India. The book picks up as a fellow soldier and he escape the camp, crossing the border into Tibet. Once in the capitol of Lhasa, he is summoned by the 14 Dali Lama Tenzin Gyatso who is only 11 years old. Harrer becomes Gyatso’s tutor, teaching him of the Western world, geography and English. In return Harrer is taught compassion and learns how to redeem himself for working with the Nazi regime. As he spends more time with the Dali Lama, Harrer helps focus international attention to Tibet as the Chinese Communist army takes control.
Metropolis
A 1927 German expressionist film directed by Fritz Lange, Metropolis views the clash between workers and owners in an urban future dystopia. Freder, son of Joh Fredersen the master of Metropolis, is blind to the plight of lower-class workers and any aspect of their lives. When Maria, a beautiful subterranean dweller visits him, he notices the wretched lives of the almost-slave labor. In attempt to help and learn more about the bourgeois, Freder takes up a job among the commoners. His father, although, believes that the elite and poor have separate roles and goes about trying to suppress their rumblings. With the help of inventor Rotwang, Fredersen plans to kidnap Maria, model a robot after her and use it to incite violence among the workers. Soon, complete chaos breaks out as fires rage, floods expand and the fate of workers is compromised. Shot in black and white and using visual effects, that still stun audiences, Metropolis is the most expensive silent film ever made.
Nas “Illmatic”
The 1994 debut album of Nas, Illmatic is a staple of the East Coast hip-hop scene. Reviving New York City artistic renaissance, Nas presents a darker look at inner-city life. First person narratives about gang activity, isolation and urban poverty are rapped with multi-syllabic internal rhyme patterns and a young 20 year old perspective. The albums lyrical content features personas which are cynical yet optimistic with emotion from pain to pleasure. Nas’ delivery of clever word play and impressive vocabulary reinvented the art of hip-hop bringing it to unprecedented heights.
Semester 2; Episode 3
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Physicist, surgeon, musician and hero Dr. Buckaroo Banzai has to save the world from inter-dimensional aliens in this 1984 science fiction/ comedy. While test running a jet car designed to move through solid matter, Banzai’s team discover a pod attached itself to the car. Dr. Lizardo, a scientist who previously failed a similar experiment, has been possessed by the Red Lectroid’s leader and brings thousands of the alien reptiles to Earth after hearing of Banzai’s success. Under the guise of working for the Air Force, they build a “tri-wing bomber” with Banzai’s overthruster to rescue Lectroids stuck in the 8Th Dimension. Banzai and his team of cross-field scientists and band “The Hong Kong Cavaliers” must defeat the Red Lectroids before the Black Lectroids protect themselves by prompting the U.S. and U.S.S.R. into nuclear war. A cult hit due to its surreal, sarcastic and almost inside joke nature, Buckaroo Banzai stars Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum and John Lithgow in 80’s version of the classic pulp “adventurer-scientist has to defeat evil to save the world” plots.
Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller’s first novel, published in 1934, highly criticized by American obscenity laws during the 60’s. A mix of autobiographical, fictional and stream-of-consciousness accounts, Miller writes about his time in Paris. He spends it in the goodwill of friends and working as a newspaper proofreader but seeks some other means of survival. He moves to the Parisian suburbs but eventually feels restricted and moves back to the city. The novel is crude yet does so in order to slap the reader out of habitual thinking and into other unconditional topics. The anger Miller projects stems from a society that has dehumanized its citizens and seeing such, he offers insights into the human condition.
Toots & The Maytals “Funky Kingston”
Prominent members in the rise of ska and reggae music, The Maytals did not receive mainstream until their fifth album in 1973. With characteristic off-beat rhythm, 4/4 time signature and bass driven melody, the group blends-in harmonized vocals reminiscent of Otis Redding and heed unfettering devotion to their work. The album’s American release blends in songs from their “In the Dark” release and features a cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Road. The Maytals, along with the reggae sound, became increasingly popular with U.K. working class and influenced the Oi! scene.
Physicist, surgeon, musician and hero Dr. Buckaroo Banzai has to save the world from inter-dimensional aliens in this 1984 science fiction/ comedy. While test running a jet car designed to move through solid matter, Banzai’s team discover a pod attached itself to the car. Dr. Lizardo, a scientist who previously failed a similar experiment, has been possessed by the Red Lectroid’s leader and brings thousands of the alien reptiles to Earth after hearing of Banzai’s success. Under the guise of working for the Air Force, they build a “tri-wing bomber” with Banzai’s overthruster to rescue Lectroids stuck in the 8Th Dimension. Banzai and his team of cross-field scientists and band “The Hong Kong Cavaliers” must defeat the Red Lectroids before the Black Lectroids protect themselves by prompting the U.S. and U.S.S.R. into nuclear war. A cult hit due to its surreal, sarcastic and almost inside joke nature, Buckaroo Banzai stars Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum and John Lithgow in 80’s version of the classic pulp “adventurer-scientist has to defeat evil to save the world” plots.
Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller’s first novel, published in 1934, highly criticized by American obscenity laws during the 60’s. A mix of autobiographical, fictional and stream-of-consciousness accounts, Miller writes about his time in Paris. He spends it in the goodwill of friends and working as a newspaper proofreader but seeks some other means of survival. He moves to the Parisian suburbs but eventually feels restricted and moves back to the city. The novel is crude yet does so in order to slap the reader out of habitual thinking and into other unconditional topics. The anger Miller projects stems from a society that has dehumanized its citizens and seeing such, he offers insights into the human condition.
Toots & The Maytals “Funky Kingston”
Prominent members in the rise of ska and reggae music, The Maytals did not receive mainstream until their fifth album in 1973. With characteristic off-beat rhythm, 4/4 time signature and bass driven melody, the group blends-in harmonized vocals reminiscent of Otis Redding and heed unfettering devotion to their work. The album’s American release blends in songs from their “In the Dark” release and features a cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Road. The Maytals, along with the reggae sound, became increasingly popular with U.K. working class and influenced the Oi! scene.
Semester 2; Episode 4
“There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.”- Ghost Dog
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Forest Whitaker is not to be trifled in Jim Jarmusch’s urban samurai flick, based around the 18th century Bushido book of a nonconforming warrior. Ghost Dog owes allegiance to mob boss Louie, but when a hit goes awry he has to eliminate the gang one by one. Residing on a Jersey City rooftop and only communicating through pigeons, he is as skilled with a sword as he is with laser-sight guns or electronic eavesdropping equipment. Ghost Dog meets a young girl, Pearline, in the park and is prompted to why he never to speaks to anyone. While talking with her, he finds that she is an avid reader and gives her Rashomon, thus serving as his Kurosawa stylized legacy. Featuring a soundtrack by kung-fu inspired RZA, the film is a mash-up of past and present influences ,with appreciation for all myth and culture.
Barrel Fever and Other Stories
Barrel Fever is a 1994 compilation of short stories by author and humorist David Sedaris, of NPR “Morning Edition” fame. His essays are a satirical look at contemporary America and the contradictions in everyday. Sedaris writing is candid and honest with a sense of personal knowledge. Split between fiction and autobiographical, stories range from the lives of siblings and famous stars to his notorious “SantaLand Diaries”, about his time spent working as a Macy’s elf. Topically, Sedaris likes to dwell in people, jobs, education and life experiences.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor “F# A# (infinity sign)”
The 1998 debut album of Canada’s post-rock Godspeed You Black Emperor!, F# A# (infinity sign) plays as a brooding soundtrack to a somber film. Comprised of nine semi-permanent members, vocals are lent to field recordings and samples collected from around the country. The music moves in sweeping volume and cadence changes, from seemingly slow to a turbulent collage of sound. The album format is much closer to a symphony than a traditional LP, formed as three tracks consisting of multiple movements within.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Forest Whitaker is not to be trifled in Jim Jarmusch’s urban samurai flick, based around the 18th century Bushido book of a nonconforming warrior. Ghost Dog owes allegiance to mob boss Louie, but when a hit goes awry he has to eliminate the gang one by one. Residing on a Jersey City rooftop and only communicating through pigeons, he is as skilled with a sword as he is with laser-sight guns or electronic eavesdropping equipment. Ghost Dog meets a young girl, Pearline, in the park and is prompted to why he never to speaks to anyone. While talking with her, he finds that she is an avid reader and gives her Rashomon, thus serving as his Kurosawa stylized legacy. Featuring a soundtrack by kung-fu inspired RZA, the film is a mash-up of past and present influences ,with appreciation for all myth and culture.
Barrel Fever and Other Stories
Barrel Fever is a 1994 compilation of short stories by author and humorist David Sedaris, of NPR “Morning Edition” fame. His essays are a satirical look at contemporary America and the contradictions in everyday. Sedaris writing is candid and honest with a sense of personal knowledge. Split between fiction and autobiographical, stories range from the lives of siblings and famous stars to his notorious “SantaLand Diaries”, about his time spent working as a Macy’s elf. Topically, Sedaris likes to dwell in people, jobs, education and life experiences.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor “F# A# (infinity sign)”
The 1998 debut album of Canada’s post-rock Godspeed You Black Emperor!, F# A# (infinity sign) plays as a brooding soundtrack to a somber film. Comprised of nine semi-permanent members, vocals are lent to field recordings and samples collected from around the country. The music moves in sweeping volume and cadence changes, from seemingly slow to a turbulent collage of sound. The album format is much closer to a symphony than a traditional LP, formed as three tracks consisting of multiple movements within.
Semester 2; Episode 5
“Just got a message that said ‘Yeah, hell is freezin over’, I got a phone call from the Lord saying, ‘Boy, go get a sweater right now’”- MM; SKM
Shottas
Two brothers are intent on doing everything they have to in order to become top hustlers in Cess Silvera’s film about Jamaican gangsters and criminal underworld. Biggs (Kymani Marley) and Wayne (Spragga Benz) grow up in Kingston, idolizing the power of local “shottas.” After robbing a beer truck they buy passports and move to Miami to fuel their rise. After being deported back to Jamaica, Biggs continues his “bossdom” but faces too much police interference. He travels back to Miami and is informed he has lost his place on top, with Teddy now ruling the city. Biggs and Wayne must show once again how senselessly violent they are by going after him. Wyclef Jean scores the film, backing it with a heavy array of reggae and dancehall.
Down and Out in Paris and London
George Orwell’s debut novel, an stylized account of his time spent becoming poor in Paris and London. In 1928 he moved to a bohemian Mecca in Paris, after ending his duties as a police officer in Burma. Envisioned as an ideal place for young writers, the city soon took its toll as Orwell describe his decline into poverty. Left to pawn his possessions and work long hours as a dishwasher, he decides to move to London where a friend is to secure him a job. Arriving to no work, Orwell lives as a hobo, traveling and meeting various characters. His writings commentate on the conditions inside hostels and the state of the poor, who they really are underneath an outside view.
Sun Kil Moon “Tiny Cities”
The Red House Painter’s Mark Kozelek reinterprets 11 Modest Mouse tracks in his solo project, Sun Kil Moon. Using Isaac Brock’s lyrics, Kozelek turns them into deeply soulful poetry eliciting love and grief. This album differs a bit from other Sun Kil Moon releases, featuring little more than an acoustic guitar and sparse strings. It doesn’t fault there, the simplicity of the melody along with the roughness of his voice, create a lushness best suited for heavy rain. Tiny Cities is a perfect combination of fast-paced indie rock with the emotion rung out of it.
Shottas
Two brothers are intent on doing everything they have to in order to become top hustlers in Cess Silvera’s film about Jamaican gangsters and criminal underworld. Biggs (Kymani Marley) and Wayne (Spragga Benz) grow up in Kingston, idolizing the power of local “shottas.” After robbing a beer truck they buy passports and move to Miami to fuel their rise. After being deported back to Jamaica, Biggs continues his “bossdom” but faces too much police interference. He travels back to Miami and is informed he has lost his place on top, with Teddy now ruling the city. Biggs and Wayne must show once again how senselessly violent they are by going after him. Wyclef Jean scores the film, backing it with a heavy array of reggae and dancehall.
Down and Out in Paris and London
George Orwell’s debut novel, an stylized account of his time spent becoming poor in Paris and London. In 1928 he moved to a bohemian Mecca in Paris, after ending his duties as a police officer in Burma. Envisioned as an ideal place for young writers, the city soon took its toll as Orwell describe his decline into poverty. Left to pawn his possessions and work long hours as a dishwasher, he decides to move to London where a friend is to secure him a job. Arriving to no work, Orwell lives as a hobo, traveling and meeting various characters. His writings commentate on the conditions inside hostels and the state of the poor, who they really are underneath an outside view.
Sun Kil Moon “Tiny Cities”
The Red House Painter’s Mark Kozelek reinterprets 11 Modest Mouse tracks in his solo project, Sun Kil Moon. Using Isaac Brock’s lyrics, Kozelek turns them into deeply soulful poetry eliciting love and grief. This album differs a bit from other Sun Kil Moon releases, featuring little more than an acoustic guitar and sparse strings. It doesn’t fault there, the simplicity of the melody along with the roughness of his voice, create a lushness best suited for heavy rain. Tiny Cities is a perfect combination of fast-paced indie rock with the emotion rung out of it.
Semester 2; Episode 6
Last Days
The 2005 final installment of Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy”, Last Days is a fictionalized interpretation of the few days before the death of Kurt Cobain. Blake is an isolated musician who constantly tries to elude record companies, friends and a P.I. He hides out in a detachment behind his house, sneaking in and out to sometimes play music or walk in the forest. Scenes with Blake have almost no dialogue, give some muttering and indistinct wording. His downward spiral is shown through subtle misplacements and spaced out actions, which do no even phase him. Similar to true events, the ending is somewhat ambiguous and un clear.
The Stranger
French Algerian Albert Camus’ first novel, published in 1942, is seen thematically as existentialist, absurdist, nihilist and stoic. In part 1, Meursault unreasonably kills an Arab man who he seems to recognize. He gives to reason to his actions except for discomfort from the heat and bright sunlight. In part 2 details Meursault’s time in jail and court, where his shows no remorse for his doing. Thorough the trial, the reader sees Meursault move from unperceptive to aware of his own actions. This comes not through murder of the man, but from the introspective view he takes, imprisoned waiting for death.
Best Coast “Where The Boys Are”
Los Angeles based, Best Coast , is what happens when you mix shoegazer, the Beach Boys and a 50’s girls group. Phased-out lyrics are accompanied by background harmonies; Droning layered guitar are hinted with doo-wop. And it highly infectious, . Best Coast is like the morning after too much whiskey at an Annette Benning and Frankie Avalon beach party
The 2005 final installment of Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy”, Last Days is a fictionalized interpretation of the few days before the death of Kurt Cobain. Blake is an isolated musician who constantly tries to elude record companies, friends and a P.I. He hides out in a detachment behind his house, sneaking in and out to sometimes play music or walk in the forest. Scenes with Blake have almost no dialogue, give some muttering and indistinct wording. His downward spiral is shown through subtle misplacements and spaced out actions, which do no even phase him. Similar to true events, the ending is somewhat ambiguous and un clear.
The Stranger
French Algerian Albert Camus’ first novel, published in 1942, is seen thematically as existentialist, absurdist, nihilist and stoic. In part 1, Meursault unreasonably kills an Arab man who he seems to recognize. He gives to reason to his actions except for discomfort from the heat and bright sunlight. In part 2 details Meursault’s time in jail and court, where his shows no remorse for his doing. Thorough the trial, the reader sees Meursault move from unperceptive to aware of his own actions. This comes not through murder of the man, but from the introspective view he takes, imprisoned waiting for death.
Best Coast “Where The Boys Are”
Los Angeles based, Best Coast , is what happens when you mix shoegazer, the Beach Boys and a 50’s girls group. Phased-out lyrics are accompanied by background harmonies; Droning layered guitar are hinted with doo-wop. And it highly infectious, . Best Coast is like the morning after too much whiskey at an Annette Benning and Frankie Avalon beach party