Author Archives: michaelc

Beckett’s pauses / Students’ Warning

by michaelc Posted on 13 November 2009

Two letters in the Guardian this week past caught my attention. The first concerns the pauses in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Murray Marshall of Salisbury writes: The obituary for Timothy Bateson (Obituary, 8 November) mentioned the difficulties that … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic life, Miscellany | Tagged Beckett, Student fees | Comments Off

Follas Novas

by michaelc Posted on 3 November 2009

Portrait of a bookshop in Santiago de Compostela [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/13029933[/vimeo]

Posted in Video Blog | Comments Off

Curtocircuito: Materia

by michaelc Posted on 2 November 2009

Here’s the third film from the Curtocircuito workshop, Materia by Pablo Fontenla and Marce Magán. This one hardly needs subtitles. The text at the end says ‘Everything exists or doesn’t exist. Something can be at the same time itself and something … Continue reading →

Posted in Film matters | Comments Off

Non-compliance

by michaelc Posted on 1 November 2009

This morning I caught the end of a story on the BBC news which concluded ‘The government says it wants universities to treat students more like consumers’. I respond by emitting an exclamation which cannot be repeated in polite language. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic life | Tagged Universities | Comments Off

The last piano factory (in England)

by michaelc Posted on 30 October 2009

It makes me a little sad to hear that the last piano factory in the UK, Kemble’s in Bletchley, is closing today, with a loss of 90 jobs (and the skills they comprise). I visited this factory back in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged Music, piano | Comments Off

Curtocircuito

by michaelc Posted on 25 October 2009

The task was not so easy. The participants in the workshop had to make a three-minute documentary in four days. The subject was Santiago de Compostela, where the workshop was held as part of Curtocircuito—ShortCircuit in Gallego—one of a number … Continue reading →

Posted in Film matters | Tagged Documentary, Film Festival | Comments Off

Soundtrack thoughts

by michaelc Posted on 30 September 2009

I’ve recently caught up with Charles O’Brien’s splendid, paradigm-shifting book, Cinema’s Conversion to Sound, subtitled Technology and Film Style in France and the US. Briefly, O’Brien combines thorough research into primary sources and empirical methods of analysing film style to critique … Continue reading →

Posted in Film matters | Tagged Soundtrack | Comments Off

Cuba: untold stories

by michaelc Posted on 8 September 2009

Back from the Cuba Research Forum event in Nottingham. Came away thinking once again, as many times before, that Cuba is a mass of paradoxes. A small country which punches far above its weight in international politics, in dire economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Cuba | Tagged Cuba | Comments Off

Detroit Again

by michaelc Posted on 27 August 2009

Having made a film about Detroit a few years ago (Detroit: Ruin of a City), my attention is periodically caught by items about the Motor City, like this, over at One Way Street: There’s probably no more emblematic set of … Continue reading →

Posted in Notice | Tagged Cities, Detroit | Comments Off

End of the BFI as we know it?

by michaelc Posted on 22 August 2009

Let’s have no illusions. It was probably inevitable. The government has announced plans for a merger of the BFI and the Film Council [UKFC]. As The Guardian has it, ‘The British film landscape could be facing its biggest upheaval in … Continue reading →

Posted in Film matters | Tagged BFI, Film | Comments Off

Putney Debater

A personal blog

Author Archives: michaelc

Beckett’s pauses / Students’ Warning

Follas Novas

Curtocircuito: Materia

Non-compliance

The last piano factory (in England)

Curtocircuito

Soundtrack thoughts

Cuba: untold stories

Detroit Again

End of the BFI as we know it?

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Author Archives: michaelc

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives

Tags