From Frank April 08 _____________________________________________________________________    Rumination on art. It has occurred to me tonight what one of art's purpose's might be: Our lives are so rich with experience. There are so many moments of profound occurrences that happen to us everyday, if only we take the time to honor them, or to really see them, and let them move us. It is so easy to forget them with the passing of another day,    - full of MORE life. Art helps us capsulize the moment that really grabbed us by the collar. A journal entry through images or sound or movement or words. Every person's life is a unique passage. Our body's memory reads like a talking book,   - ours -  unlike anybody else's. It's odd to me now that there is not an art form built on smell or touch - (at least that I am aware of), because I remember touch, and how a smell can trigger a memory. And how is that different than sight or sound? But... Sitting in the kitchen tonight , I was being moved by a piece of music, so much so that I felt I would never forget the moment - but I knew I would, knowing myself and how many moments have rung like a bell for me - but are now a shadow at best. Like a photo bringing you back to a time - or a mix tape reminding you of a time when you felt a particular spirit of your life. Every act of creation is built on an aspect of your life experience. and making art of it somehow crystallizes that moment, like an island in a stream. In the long run our lives really mean very little. All those profound experiences in our life fade as our bodies turn to dust. But  - they DO mean something while we are alive. I always loved what Jack Kerouac said... " 'Live your lives out' ?!?!?!? - NO!  - 'LOVE' your lives out"!. Honor & Respect the moment. __________________________________________________________________________    I plan to use my body up. When I die there won't be much left of me. My hearing will be gone from enjoying music to the fullest, soul fulfilling volume that makes me swoon and wanna dance. My liver will be tough as a rugby ball from longs nights of drinking and numbing my ears listening to music with friends. My lungs will be dark with smoke residue from tobacco, city smudge and cannabis. my joints will be worn away from dancing and jumping up and down. My skin will be scarred and sun burnt and calloused. My eye's will be red from the unshaded sun. My sex will be well worn, satisfied and tired. My taste buds will be shot from temperature and hot spice. My sense of smell will most likely stay intact. But it will never smell chemo again. At least not coming off of my body. I plan to die out of doors (if at all possible in this modern world). Get lost as sea, melt back into the mountains. Dry up in the desert. I don't want to live forever, I just want to live and love. Here and now. I am willing to pay the price.   __________________________________________________________________

from Marco - may 23rd 08    just writing a thought and excuse the confusion yo, thinking of my art, your art, other artists in the family.... fabio once said to think of my short documentaries as essays, video essays, because for him, he sees the word as the french word, which means to make an attempt on explaining something, to try...an essayer, I'll paste and link the wikipedia definition. anyway this is line with what we have been talking about a bit, the idea to revisit things that we have thought or have been taught, to question the world as it is presented to us by others, or ourselves, like society, the media, and well in doing so perhaps see something else, that can make us live a little better... it seems  that yes this feeling of disconnection is what we are experiencing, this needing to be connected through technology, is disconnecting us from ourselves, this is one theme, that is running through many of our conversations, but also this desire to re-see how and why this has happened, and to then heal that wound, or repair that connection..like what u were saying about not us having an old soul, but rather our soul is young, and our mind and body is ancient, or for me like saying being best (as what the society is forcing us to try be) is perhaps not high point or is what to achieve, but rather the attempt to strive and to reach for something new is has a far greater reward...changing a mentality REFRAME short films on these emotions or ideas Etymology The word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, 'to try' or 'to attempt'. In English essay first meant 'a trial' or 'an attempt', and this is still an alternative meaning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay essayist: a writer of essays but perhaps something else peace marco