Una verdad, una mentira

17 August 2010 • out of context
tags: books, mankind, quotes, truth

“Es un hecho comprobado que a la gente le resulta mucho más fácil creer una mentira que han oído repetir mil veces que una verdad que nunca habían oído antes”.

El tao de la salud, el sexo y la larga vida by Daniel Reid

Le vide-ordure automatique

25 July 2010 • out of context
tags: love, mankind, quotes, situationism, texts

“Entre l’amour et le vide-ordure automatique la jeunesse de tous les pays a fait son choix et préfère le vide-ordure.”

Formulaire pour un urbanisme nouveau by Gilles Ivain

Sitting with crossed legs

13 June 2010 • out of context
tags: articles, books, civilization, mankind, nature, texts, walking

“When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them —as if legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon— I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago.”

Walking by Henry David Thoreau

No such thing as human nature

20 May 2010 • out of context
tags: books, cinema, mankind, nature, quotes, science, texts, water

“Science has proven that there’s no such thing as “human nature”. Just as water takes the shape of its container, so human nature is relative to its past and present conditioning.”

Expended Cinema by Gene Youngblood

Crossing the Great Sagrada (1924)

21 April 2010 • watchings
tags: cinema, civilization, comedy, documentaries, fantasy, fiction, found footage, humour, imagination, mankind, nature

Adrian Brunel
Original: 35mm, black and white, silent.

Crossing the Great Sagrada is a strange film with an odd sense of humour and a slightly postmodern feeling. It’s not a masterpiece, but in a sense it’s decades ahead of its time.

“(…) this journey is portrayed in an absurd manner, drawing attention to the artificial nature of the film. (…) Titles, intended to provide narrative orientation, constantly give conflicting information, producing a confused, comic effect. (…) Crossing the Great Sagrada satirises the colonial stereotype of ‘native’ people. It also places doubt upon the authenticity of many of these travel films (…) The film’s surreal humour prefigures that of later innovative British comedy, such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus.”

Jamie Sexton

I declare my resignation from Mankind

31 October 2009 • out of context
tags: cinema, civilization, mankind, quotes, suicide

…when I was 20 years old, I could no longer stand to be a member of Mankind. I wrote a declaration: “Herewith I declare my resignation from Mankind. Sincerely, Peter Kubelka.” But I could not implement the consequences, because if I step out of Mankind, where do I step to? There is nowhere else. I do feel like I wouldn’t like to be a member of this civilization, or of my community. But there is no way out. You can kill yourself, but that doesn’t change anything.

His African Journey: An Interview with Peter Kubelka by Scott MacDonald and Peter Kubelka. Film Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Spring, 2004), pp. 2-12.