New York City, mid-90s

At a Cafe in Manhattan

Thanksgiving in 2008

Aunt Faye backlit

Banana plant, with offspring

title: new banana, old banana.

The blogging returns

title: With bougainvillea in boots

Graduate school and an internet-free residence have placed my “filmic” blogging in hibernation; my possession of several typewriters & a cozy 25°C apartment (77 F) don’t help.

However, this social mammal shall begin to publish content this late fall – mostly pictorial, either new captures or photos from the “vault” – through the few days of Thanksgiving relief; the picture-making apparatus include a Minolta SRT101 w normal lens, Sony Cybershot DSC-W55 & a Nikon D70s primarily w normal lens.

My goal here is to amount to a weekly ritual of still photographs, film commentary & other self-distracting mischiefs.

SCSMI Conference Banquet, Photos

Left to right, Top down:
1) Madison, WI Capitol from Best Western In The Park. Near 180° view of Madison from Banquet Hall. Beer, Wine & appetizers were served prior to dinner. A warm atmosphere amongst scholars with a common interest in Film Cognition.
2) Posing with David Bordwell
3) Banquet Hall, A Medium Wide Shot
4) Funny Pose with Stephen Prince
5) With Henry Bacon and Dan Levin
6) Posing with Sheena Rogers
7) Funny Pose with Murray Smith
8 With Tim Smith
9) Genna’s After Banquet.

Cognitivist Conference, Madison WI

I’m currently attending a 4-day conference at University of Wisconsin Madison: SCSMI

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Is Seeing Believing?

In this era of cognitivism – where humanists & scientists strive to chart the workings of the brain – there is still a wide misuse of the term “suspense of disbelief” in the everyday discussion of movie narrative. Is seeing believing – inside and outside the movie theater? How about just the inside: many movie-goers do not think twice before saying that such and such a film induces a suspense of disbelief. A quote ascribed to “master of suspense” Alfred Hitchcock sheds some light into this matter:

“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” (source: http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/hitchcock/wiki/Hitchcock_Quotes)

I can certainly relate to having a battle of wills, figuratively, between my distensible organ and the fear of wetting my pants. This fear – nearing the end of my psychological threshold or physiological boundary – becomes a firm belief that I will not be able to hold it long enough for, say, the hero to swoop the damsel away from the bad guys. This belief overrides the movie-watching experience – like an alarm clock upsets a dream. A mainstream narrative holds an audience through the make-believe of emotional highs & lows, but when your bladder is full, your imagination is superseded by a belief that is of an urgent nature. I often find that this battle against the bladder is futile for it does one of two things: either my attention is distracted away from the movie, or I will end up missing parts of the film unintentionally. So far, my belief in the bladder always win.

So, I will stick to efficient genre films & the occasional epic or art film only upon answering the call of nature.