Quincy Ark, an adaptation

After a recent viewing of Alexander Sokurov's 2002 film Russian Ark there was a lively discussion among the house members recognizing the parallels between the two venerable historical institutions, the Hermitage Museum and the Quincy House. This lead to the development of a short film treatment.

Quincy Ark - Screen Treatment

Narrator/Camera view point - Nathan

Vignette 1 - Front of house

Coffee House revelers two men and two women are walking up to the house with narrator following.

Revelers go around the side of the house. Men are lagging behind women jostling for position as one claims a female.

Vignette 2 - Below back porch

Revelers go up the back stairs while narrator bumps into Santi at bottom of stairs, both go below stairs under house walk by window looking through to see Jeremiah Cunningham and Col. Brooks working on his still discussing the founding of the house.

Vignette 3 Back yard

Santi and narrator are interupted by loud noise behind them, turn around to find rugby players loudly reveling in the back yard. Santi and narrator wander through the partying crowd. No one notices them and Santi urges caution, discusses their petty jockishness while being drawn to the reality of their vital debauchery. One jock on the periphery notices santi and chases the pair off.

Vignette 4 In the basement

Enter the basement through the outside door. Come upon period couple and child huddling in corner whispering in fear. Discussing the know nothing riots. Santi recalls the fire to the narrator. They walk past and up the stairs.

Vignette 5 - The hallway/bathroom door.

Reaching the top of the stairs the two walk to the bathroom door. Santi motions as if to enter. Narrator cautions strongly and fearfully against it. Open door see house resident in bath tub scrubbing. Resident remarks about the terror of trying to clean the bathroom. Scares out Santi and Narrator.

Vignette 6 - Fireplace half of Living room - Scotch tasting

Santi and narrator enter the room to a resident (perhaps in some sort of period clothing) giving an introduction to a scotch with much pomp and circumstance. Santi quietly mocks while narrator disagrees. Both mention not knowing the taste of alcohol any more. Move to the dining room.

Vignette 7 - Dining room - contemporary people

Enter the dining room with 3 contemporary people, one staring at the St Bridget poster, one investigating beer on the table, and one looking at the movie shelf. Narrator and stanti move to the person at the movie shelf who is now holding a bergman film. Santi questions the person and ultimately berates them for a lack of taste in film.

Vignette 8 - (optional) Kitchen scene

Narrator tires of santi's conversation and wanders to the Kitchen, enters kitchen sees landlord fixing broken diswasher muttering about students trashing the place. Is approached by "re-founding" members of the house. Discuss their idea for a house of Catholic men.

Vignette 9 - Living room other half

Narrator begins to search for Santi again. Wanders through dining room now full of people talking. Sees performers in the stage area who begin to play music. walks through the area finds Santi hitting on some woman. Tries to talk with him, but Santi ignores/can't hear him. Band finishes song and people applaud, start to get up and make their way out. Narrator sees original couple that was entering now sitting hand in hand on couch. Narrator finds Santi standing there and they converse, Santi says he is staying. narrator makes it out to the front door, and out the window on the door one only sees water.

Projects Underway at the House

So I am feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the projects that myself and other housemates are working on at the moment, so I thought I would take a break from the craziness and enumerate them.

We are at the moment:

Planning a the first off-site Coffee House 1.5 weeks
Planning an American Whiskey Tasting in 2 weeks
Working on 3 separate freelancing web site projects
Trying to start a T-Shirt company
Beginning promotion for our Band
Finishing up creating a new musical instrument
Planning an Easter dinner for 20+
Encoding a DVD for the nun film project
Mixing down 3 live performances from the 24bit multi-track files
Practicing music for 3 gigs

And I'm sure there are some other happenings in there somewhere. At least things aren't getting boring.

Coffee House Videos!

Here are the first round of coffee house videos from the Lenten Coffee House! There will be more coming soon. (Sorry for the poor lighting, we are still new to this video thing...)

Building a body

The instrument creation continues!

When we last checked in we had just finished taking apart the keyboard and doing some minor soldering. The next step on our list is to build the body of our instrument.

As a base I'll be starting with two cheap Fender Starcaster bodies these are the guitars they sell at Target. I picked them up on ebay for $15 a piece.



The top 1/3 of one body is going to serve as keytar portion which will sit on the top of the instrument and the bottom 3/4ths of the other body will be the guitar portion. I measured out the height of keyboard and marked the body.


Cutting a straight line with the table saw was going to be difficult because of the non-straight edge of the guitar. In order to make it straight, I put together a few pieces of scrap wood to even the side out and keep it flush to the gate.



Since one of the sides of the body was going to be a throw away piece I attached it to the scrap wood with a short screw, making sure that the screw was not long enough to be in the path of the blade!



Once that was done it was time to fire up the table saw, cut and repeat for the second body.




With the two bodies cut the next step was to get them attached together. In order to have the most stability I figured that dowels were the way to go. Using a drill and a place marker i drilled for a total of 10 dowels, probably overkill, but I don't want to take any unnecessary risks.




Finally using a guide mark the spots on the other side of the body, apply the glue and clamp it together!







Because I just eyeballed the angles of the dowels getting the sides together with those clamps took a lot of work, but after a lot of effort the two bodies were clamped together, and there was only one step left for the evening:

The Journey Begins!

I was having dinner and drinks late one evening with some musician friends. As we were talking about various musical instruments I was struck by an idea that I believe was at once both pure madness and sheer brilliance. A new instrument, a double necked instrument. I wondered what happens when you take two of the most ridiculous, and therefore awesome instruments, the double neck guitar and the keytar, and combine them?
Surely the ridiculousness and the awesomeness would be off the charts. I believe that after having such a flash of inspiration I have been given a grave moral obligation to bring this monster into existence.

So after a few late nights on ebay, the project is ready to begin!

First I will start with the keyboard. Fortunatley one of my roomates had an old Yamaha Portasound PSS-140, which is the perfect size for this project. The first step was to seperate the keyboard from the body.

y.


This step required a bit of soldering because the white connector you see between the keyboard and the drum pad was far too short to set the keyboard in the body.

Next will be to construct the body of the guitar. I've gotten two cheap bodies on ebay, and I'll keep you all posted as it progresses.

Movie and Discussion Promo Video

Ever Wished You Had More Siblings?

Things That Changed Aaron's Life

One of the housemates sometimes likes to ask if something someone is praising changed their life. It's a bit of an overblown phrase - "changed your life" - but there's something to it. Last night I was thinking about this notion in regards to art. We often like talk about the power of art to transform people (cf. Das Leben der Andere), but with regards to particular pieces, more often we speak in terms of objective value or historical significance, rather than personal subjective importance.

So I got to thinking: What works of art have changed my life? Since that can be a rather intangible criteria, I came up with two more specific questions: What works of art have caused me to really sit up and take notice? Or what works do I find myself looking back to and referencing time and again?

Really, I think these are two sides of the same coin; both questions identify works that reveal something heretofore unknown in my experience. These are works that transcend their medium or genre: not, "This is a great painting," but "This is great."

So here are some preliminary lists. I may modify or explicate them in subsequent posts - they are, after all, highly provisional tabulations - but for now, simply laying them down is labor enough.

Things That Changed Aaron's Life

Visual Art:
Bernini, Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius
--, Apollo and Daphne
--, David
--, The Rape of Proserpina
Abbott Handerson Thayer, A Virgin

Books:
Homer, The Iliad
uncertain, Song of Songs
Plato, Republic
Shakespeare, Macbeth
Milton, Paradise Lost
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life
T. S. Eliot, The Four Quartets
C. S. Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost
--, Mere Christianity
--, The Chronicles of Narnia
--, The Four Loves
--, A Grief Observed
Martin Heidegger, Building Dwelling Thinking
Josef Pieper, Leisure, the Basis of Culture
--, The Four Cardinal Virtues
J. R. R. Tolkien, Leaf by Niggle
Walter M. Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz
Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels
Lloyd Alexander, The Prydain Chronicles
George Weigel, Witness to Hope
Stephen Pressfield, Gates of Fire
John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

Music:
Palestrina, various
de Victoria, various
Fauré, Requiem
Rich Mullins, Songs
--, A Liturgy, A Legacy and a Ragamuffin Band
--, Never Picture Perfect
Anonymous 4, An English Ladymass
--, 1000: A Mass for the End of Time
Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans
Rosie Thomas, These Friends of Mine

Films:
Chariots of Fire
The Mission
Shadowlands
La Vita è bella
Amelie
In America

Opera:
Giacomo Pucini, Gianni Schicchi

Beverages:
Earl Grey tea
Strongbow cider
Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale


PS You might notice that there are far more books than paintings, for example. I guess it's a pretty basic proof that I've spent more time in libraries than in art galleries.

Papal Coffee House This Weekend

In the wake of all the papal celebrations we decided to continue the party. Join us for an evening of music and such.

You Don't Wanna Leave - New Animated Mike Mangione Video

You Don't Wanna Leave
Uploaded by BarfQuestion

The Vatican Through an Ambassador's Eye

The Vatican Through an Ambassador's Eye

Accompanying the U.S. Envoy to the Holy See

By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, MARCH 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Art historians secretly dream of going back in time to see artistic masterpieces in their original environment, rather than as museum pieces. In their wildest flights of fancy, they fantasize about being part of that world.

Last Friday, this art historian lived that dream when I accompanied my mother, Mary Ann Glendon, as she presented her credentials to Benedict XVI as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.

As we donned our black mantillas at the embassy residence, we were already entering into a different criterion of beauty and worth. Covered head to toe in long skirts and jackets, all I saw were the radiantly happy faces of my mother, sisters and daughters.

Click here to read more.

Just Some Thoughts...

For the last six or seven years I have been mulling over a set of issues concerning notions of inspiration, sequencing and different forms of art.

It is fairly common that we describe the relationship between two works of art in a way that is chronological, causal and hierarchic: this painting was inspired by that poem; this novel is the sequel to that one; this opera draws upon that epic.

There is an interesting (and somewhat natural) flow to this process. A painting or other visual form of art often depicts a scene from a story. Less often do you find an entire novel that was inspired by a single work of visual art (or even a series of pieces, such as the collected paintings of Monet). You do, however, sometimes find poetry with inspirations ranging from expansive narratives to very simple visual forms. Song, likewise, seems to be a flexible medium, though obviously certain types of songs - such as operas - are less so.

The process is usually, however, quite linear, monodirectional and hierarchic. If a scene from Homer’s Iliad inspired a particular sculpture, there is a certain sense in which we say the sculpture is indebted to the epic and in that regard, inferior to it. At the very least, no one would suggest that the sculpture would go on to influence how Homer writes his work. And yet, the sculpture might change how we read the epic. So why not break the linearity in more material ways?

What if a community of artists were to produce, as a single project, a corpus of interplaying works of art, with none primary - in time, causality or importance - to another? You will sometimes see an exhibit of visual arts which begin to do this, a series of works which revolve around a central theme and were created at roughly the same time. These, however, do little to transcend the distinctions between various forms of art; at most, such an exhibit might include painting, sculpture and prints, with some carefully selected background music. But what if such a body ran a fuller gamut: drawings, paintings, one-act plays, songs, poems, photographs, short stories?

I can imagine a dozen or two interdisciplinary artists choosing a theme - probably something broad like “fathers and sons” - and, over a course of time, producing an interconnected body of works. They might begin with paintings and drawings. One of these might be of a father with two young boys, walking hand in hand to the beach on a windy day. In a second round of creation, someone might wonder what their background was, going on to writing a short story about a husband who had just lost his wife, and took his boys to the beach in an attempt to raise their flagging spirits. Or was it just his own attempt to keep up appearances and deal with his own grief? This in turn might be picked up in a song or poem, and thence recycled into another drawing. A topic of properly-calibrated breadth would allow the artists to incorporate elements from various works in new and interesting ways.

What would the final product look like? I can imagine a sort of coffee table book, full of short stories and poems, lavishly illustrated with a variety of pictures, and containing the lyrics and music to an accompanying album of music. Is this an elaborate set of notes for the album, or is it just background to the book? Are these stories about a series of pictures, or illustrations to the stories? Such a project would relish such ambiguities, and happily play with them. With imagination, film or other artistic media might be included. (Narrative stories with an appendix of recipes are fairly common amongst certain genre of reading; why not include the culinary arts? Or brewing?)

Admittedly, this is a somewhat artificial way of doing something that happens, to a lesser extent, in the ordinary course of human cultural exchanges. Still, it might be a fun and interesting project, for those involved in its creation or appreciation. Alas, I am afraid I shall probably have to relegate myself to the latter category. But I enjoy just thinking about it.

Some of the Best

This time of year, many writers are putting together a “best films of 2007” list. I would like to get in on the action, but it would be a little impractical for me to try to list the best films that have come out, since I have seen so few of them. Instead, this is the “best films Aaron has seen in 2007.” Thanks in no small part to the Quincy Movie Nights, there have been plenty of good films to consider. After much thought, I have chosen a trifecta of winners to share the title.



The first of these films, Juno, is still playing in theaters. Jason Reitman’s story of a pregnant high school student - a sort of wise fool surrounded by adults who do not always get it - began as a limited release, but quickly moved to theaters everywhere. And it is easy to see why. The audience with which I saw it was laughing out loud and clearly enjoying the humorous moments; but when the film got serious, you could have heard a pin drop. The story is well written, with several neat turns and reversals; it is well acted, with a first rate performance by Ellen Page in the title role; it is beautifully shot; and it has a quality musical score. Finally, the film is grounded on solid philosophical and moral principles. It does not bill itself as “pro-life” or “family-friendly” and does not assault its viewer with kitch messages. Indeed, the film is very much a creature of the modern age, frankly acknowledging the reality of family life in 21st century America. But it is also a film that understands and speaks to the fundamental importance of human dignity, the value of parenting and the importance of committed relationships.



In America (2003) is the story of a modern Irish family moving to New York City and struggling along with financial and family issues. Normally a film with that description would not pique my interest; it sounds like it would either be pathetically cheesy or terribly depressing. But as Nathan (not exactly the house optimist) explained, “this is a feel-good movie I can get behind.” Unlike most films of the feel-good genre, In America is neither predictable nor poorly acted; instead, it is a highly believable story. (This is probably due, in large part, to the fact that the script was written by a real family, based on their actual experience.) In addition, the story is artfully constructed, with several thoughtful sub-themes weaving through the story of the family’s struggles.



Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) can be a confusing film. But fear not; the confusion is artfully handled, complementing the story, instead of leaving the viewer woefully confused. Michel Gondry’s story of love, loss and memory, like Juno and In America, avoids the formulaic, with several enjoyable plot turns and a nice interweaving of the main plot line and a subplot. Though I have only seen the film once, I have little doubt that a second viewing would reveal a wealth of carefully thought out details. But in addition to its narrative qualities (which are many), Eternal Sunshine is a beautiful piece of art. Much of the story is set in the world of memory and Gondry has done an excellent job of imaging what that might look like. (Thankfully, this does not include massive amounts of computer animation that tax the viewer’s suspended disbelief.)

There were any number of honorable mentions, but their ranks are far too many to actually mention them. Perhaps another blog post...

Chrismas Don't Care

It's almost Christmas and the radio waves are jammed with sleigh bells and cheer. This Year Sufjan Stevens held a Christmas Song Swap Contest. We thought that it might be fun, so Quincy house members, and our friends in the new international sensation, Fauxhawk Favre, joined us to create two songs for a short Christmas album. We hope that you all enjoy them, and have a very Merry Christmas.

Chrismas Don't Care - Fauxhawk Farve

Far Away Christmas - Nathan Castellanos

A new figure: Part III

While studying the works of an obscure Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci (pictured left), for my History of Political Warfare exam, I was struck by his picture. The resemblance with a soon-to-be housemate is, well, striking. Is it possible that Gramsci did not die in 1937, as suspected, but is in fact still among us, posing as one Santiago Ramos (pictured right)? Decide for yourself.

A new figure

You may notice a small change to the upper right hand corner of this website, which you have come to rely on for all of your quincy related information. No your eyes are not playing tricks on you. We are getting a new house mate, and I have finally had time to sit down and put together a proper image. I'm sure that you will all give him a warm welcome when he finally gets himself out to the east coast.

The Human Experience

It seems there are a spate of Catholic movies being made these days; I recently received an email recommend for this one.

In terms of genre it looks to be rather interesting, something that sort of fits in the category of "documentary" but really pushes the boundaries of that label in a way that began only a few years ago.

To be honest, the trailer seemed a little bit over the top, playing up the evil and inhumanity in the world in a way that, while not strictly false, came off flat. Nevertheless, that could just be the trailer. A more interesting question might be that of audience: Who is this film intended for? Because - in spite of the name, The Human Experience - the film clearly takes a Christian, even Catholic view of the world. I happen to share such a world-view, but I wonder how marketable such a film is. If they're hoping for a broad market appeal, they may have shot themselves in the foot by dropping a few too many Christian images, using too much Christian language. Still, the very fact of the film's title suggests that they understand the basic idea behind a broad appeal: it has to be on the basis of that which all men share, namely the human experience.

On the other hand, perhaps the film is really only designed for consumption by Christians. And maybe that's not such a bad thing. While the goal these days is usually to make blockbuster films that will convert the whole world, a more limited task may be called for. After all, a film that specifically aimed at touching a Christian audience and encouraged them to live out their faith in a more vibrant way would have the virtue of being able to focus on doing a single thing and doing it well. Such a film would be addressing an audience which speaks the same language as its producers, the language of Christian faith. That's not a recipe for reaching the masses, but it might be just the sort of thing someone should do.

Art and Culture in the War of Ideas

Supporters of the Iraqi insurgency have begun producing Hollywood-style movie posters, most based on horror or action movies, satirizing the American military. While the precise origin of the posters is unclear, Britain's Sky News, the only media outlet to cover the matter, reported this summer that the images are proliferating on Islamic extremist websites, which attribute them to the insurgents themselves.

One blogger who picked up the story noted that the insurgents "show a native fluency in American popular culture." This indeed raises a variety of questions about culture, popular or otherwise.

Is culture the type of thing that can be used or abused?

Is art merely techne, the ability to craft something well? In that case, might we call this latest propaganda campaign by these mufsidun "good art"? Or does art necessarily have a moral dimension?

Finally, do cultures have an innate value, or are all equal? As a practical matter, should we be studying the enemy, in order to bring this sort of propaganda to his camp, or is there something inherently wrong with this, if his culture is intrinsically disordered? Is his culture so disordered?

It's Gone

Quite recently, after a long break from riding the metro to work, circumstances have found me walking the familiar path to the train in the morning. On my morning trek the other day I noticed that finally the rusted piece of metal had disappeared from the spot where it had lain for many a month. I suppose nothing lasts in this world, and indeed part of the beauty of that old metal piece was the ongoing process of its own decay. Nonetheless, it was sad to see it go.

"No really, pink and green look good on you."

This weekend I found my self trying to explain to a friend the difference between being nice and being kind. My thoughts were a little rusty so I thought that it may be helpful to jot a few things down.

Perhaps as an example one could imagine an encounter with a close friend who has made a bad choice (for the sake of this experiment lets think of something trivial, such as getting a really bad hair cut, or purchasing an ugly outfit, but you could easily imagine a more serious circumstance.) The "nice" thing to do is to tell your friend that what ever they have done is ok, or even good. "No that shirt really looks good on you." This course of action would be taken out of the fear of hurting a friend's feelings, or self esteem. Niceness is concerned with the immediate response.

The kind action on the other hand would be to clearly but gently inform your friend of the glaring mistake that he has made. In order for this act of informing to count as actually kind the motivation needs to be one of genuine concern for your friend, for example feeling bad that people will be laughing at him as he wears his yellow and orange polka dot scarf, rather than being motivated by the pleasure that you can receive from belittling your friend's sense of self worth.

Interestingly it seems that an act of "niceness" is a very simple act which does not require any sort of internal disposition that matches an outer manifestation. Kindness on the other hand is more than just a simple external state of affairs, but rather it is contingent on a sort of integrity. Kindness engages the person as a whole.

At least that's my attempt at clarifying my thoughts.