Reflections
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Kennemer Dunes 360° today. Spring [ birth of a nation ]
Min/max temperature: 4°C/23°C; humidity: 76%; precipitation: 0 mm; sea level pressure: 1031 hPa; wind: WSW 5.0 km/h; visibility: 14.0 kilometres; Clouds: few 2700 m.
"Our preoccupation with numbers, preferably growth figures (polls, ratings, stock market figures, budgets, salaries, penis length et cetera) hides the underlying fear to actually having to think. Before people start a discussion within a so called consultation council […] at first figures need to be produced and made visible; once read, every discussion is unnecessary. The figures are supposed to tell the truth about a certain supposed transparent reality automatically. Equal fear for the process of thinking appears in the well-meant suggestions to people 'in trouble': 'You just do not have to think about it too much, it serves no purpose, it makes matters only worse.' The next logical step is towards thought-restricting drugs of which the French designation -- 'des stupefiant' ('stupefying') -- speaks so much more clear than the semi-soft name calling 'tranquillizers' […] What we experience today is the degeneration of the importance of language on a broad social scale. When thinking can be understood as an externalised act, then the inability to think must lead to the occasion to act in itself. In this area infantilization takes place, which does have an effect on the aspects that characterises being human, namely the delusion of providing meaning. In this case: the effects of the inadequacy of providing meaning. The consequence then becomes agitation and acting [ that ] out. According to the classic formula, taking action will elicit a reaction."
Paul Verhaeghe in 'Het einde van de psychotherapie', page 222, 223, 224, 225, first published in 2010 by De Bezige Bij, The Netherlands (unauthorized translation from Dutch)
"Movies are written in sand: applauded today, forgotten tomorrow. […] I foresee no possibility of venturing into themes showing a closer view of reality for a long time to come. The public itself will not have it. What it wants is a gun and a girl. [on sound movies: ] It is my arrogant belief that we have lost beauty."
D.W. Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948)
"In a Hollywood movie, after the movie is over, there's nothing more. There is no relationship between the screen and the spectator. There's just a duration. If you don't like it, you go to sleep, the way I do. [ The ] movie is not on screen. The movie stems from moving. The movie is a mover. The move from the reality to the screen and back to the reality. And the screens are nothing, just shades. It's like a swimmer doing a crawl until he arrives at the end of the swimming pool and then turning and going back again. This is the screen. […] When you arrive, [...] the moviemaker [ is the swimmer ] ; and when you start, it's the spectator. […] I don't think you should feel about a movie. You should feel about a woman, but not about a movie. You can't kiss a movie. […] Let's have a look and talk about it, but certainly not feel about it. That's what the Church says, feel about God. [ I ] can't [ work for television ]. You get more mystified than ever. Unless you think you can address 20 million people and you have something important to say and think you can go through all this mystification to get to the people, it's very difficult. [ I ] make very small movies to show to fewer people more often. More movies to fewer people but much more often. So [ I ] can survive […] it's very natural. I couldn't do anything else. You have to know how to survive. You have to be optimistic, because the world situation is so bad. Marx said that. The very pessimistic situation makes me feel optimistic. I'm an optimist because things are so bad they must get better because they can't be worse than they are. It's the same today."
Jean-Luc Godard in 'Jean-Luc Godard: The Rolling Stone Interview A look behind the lens at the famed French new wave director of 'Breathless' and 'Band of Outsiders' by Jonathan Cott, first published in June 1969 by Rolling Sone, USA
"Trough the reading of the script and the impressions given [...] by the director, slowly one starts to realize what [ needs to be done ]. In [the ] hot Los-Angeles burning sun -- we had to make the [ 'Barfly' ] interior acceptable, though being able to look outside at the same time to see what happens there. You need to take that into account, it [ can be ] difficult to stack those small rooms up with light. They need to remain out of frame. And the interior scenes required a certain ambience. You need to take that into account. I had ordered these huge rigging-towers -- with reflection screens -- with 12Kw's that bounced inside. Always reflected, never direct. […] Would I have said in these multi-billion dollar film: 'guys here we should not use any [ additional ] light, it needs to be dark' -- then they would go with that. The hardest part is to get the team to go with that, they are all crusted heads. So when we arrive at a street-corner, daytime, to shoot a car driving by -- only that -- all kinds of equipment is brought in. The script car and electricity trucks, and they all stand in the way, they take a lot of space. I've experienced that! [ I ] have always said to students -- when I had them in a workshop -- : '… the case is, when looking at the rushes and everybody applauds you because they look so great, when you think for yourself that it is not so good, than it is not so good. Because other people tend to believe pretty quickly that things look great. They see a sunset and it looks nicely orange, but you did not have to do anything to accomplish that, it always works. But there are also more complicated situations. With Friedkin, that was good working. He knew how to listen. We then had a complicated shot, with a car. It arrives at a terrain getting into a hangar. Shot with a crane, from top to ground. I then said: '… but why cover it in different shots? It can just drive in and we pan with the camera and the car can drive trough. […] Theoretically there are three possibilities. Dusk is short. Shoot a shot at dusk with the exact perfect light. One before that in touch over and one afterwards, which will just be doing fine. In twenty minutes we have three takes to shoot.' He understood that, and then started to organise very strictly the whole situation. We then immediately shot the first take and you get it all within schedule. But you need people who know how to react."
Robby Müller in 'Interview Robby Muller (2007)' first published in 2008 on the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers website (authorized translation from Dutch)
" [ Unless ] you know how [ a style ] is done, you say, 'What the hell is the idea? Where is it?' You keep looking for some kind of justification. Our brains are designed to see signs and put them together into a story. [ The ] brain always tries to read stories into things, and as every edit is a story in its own right, the brain can't accept it and begins to link them all together."
Lars von Trier in 'Framing, A Symposium on Cinematography; On Random Framing -- Automavision', page 142, 143, edited by Andreas Fisher-Hansen, Igor Koršič and Tina Sørensen (unpublished manuscript)
SAR_12_along_the_way
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Above: Todays 30K Best-Level SAR training footprint comes from the other side of the "[...] luminous drawbridge trough which the story has to reach the audience and the audience has to acces the story..." -- holding the 35- and 16mm Kodak Vision 3 filmstock, while standing at editing-desk: "Food should be something to chew on, right?"¹
"It is our natural birthright to be fit and healthy. Unfortunately, science and medicine have largely missed this point. Researchers look boldly to the future, to new medicines, genetic screening, and surgical procedures, yet never ask the question, "Why do we need theses advances?" and "Is there a simpler, better way to health and wellness?" If they were to ask these questions, they would realise that the key to the puzzle is to start at the beginning. Our health researchers, who currently lack a framework from which to assess the staggering volume of information they generate every day, flounder with basic questions: "What should we eat?" "How much and what types of exercise should we do?" "How can we live a healthy life?" Although these may seem like sound questions for health researchers to ask, the answers constantly change in response to politics, lobbying and the media. As a result, their recommendations are not based on science, but rather lobbying and political manoeuvring. [F] ew people make a real attempt to fix this mess. But who can really blame them. After all, it's hard as hell to make money off healthy people… unless you sell bicycles, running shoes or teach dance classes."
Robb Wolf in 'The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet' on page 34 'Stop! Savannah Time!' (first published in 2010)
On- and off-site references:
http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/95-sar-6-along-the-way
http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/69-footprint-sar-3
http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/81-sar-14-14-epilogue-secured
http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/101-sar-11-along-the-way
http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/100-sar-10-along-the-way
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour
https://maps.google.nl/maps?client=safari&q=kennemerduinen&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&ei=V3-HU9fdIKqa1AXRioGgBA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexibility (anatomy)
http://normanhollyn.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/walter-murch-talks-about-standing/
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¹ Peter de Bie, in an interview we conducted in 2007 for our upcoming film 'Here Comes Big Trouble' (photographed on the filmfootage above, shot in 2007 in IJmuiden, The Netherlands)
Training_30K_after_footprint_clear_dry_deep_tide_low_wind
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Above: Cooling down after 30K training. Just listened to Skip Richard's David Baldacci interview: "...If you're in the zone, you can really, really roll..." There is a link to Skip Richard's website and the interview here
Raising a Flag
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Above: Yevgeny Khaldei's photograph of 'Raising a flag over the Reichstag'.
"What individuals do is related to what they think. . . . Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed."
Francis Beer as quoted by Isaiah Wilson III in 'AMERICAN GRAND STRATEGY AND THE FUTURE OF U.S. LANDPOWER', CHAPTER 4 'RECONSIDERING AMERICAN POWER' Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press, December 2014
"Although the crisis in Ukraine continues to focus attention on Russia's western border, Moscow is seeking to exploit a more lucrative prize along its vast northern frontage: the Arctic Circle. Melting ice has opened up new transit routes and revealed previously inaccessible oil and mineral deposits. Facing a year of harsh economic constraints, securing exploitable energy reserves remains a top priority for Moscow. The planned militarization of the Arctic is already underway, and funding is secured through 2015 (the Ministry of Defense was the only Kremlin ministry not to be curtailed in the most recent budget.) With Russia aiming to consolidate its strength by the end of the year, surrounding countries are already reassessing their positions in the face of an overwhelming regional force […] Even in a post-Cold War world, the region could once again be transformed into a zone of frozen conflicts. The great powers have long competed over the Arctic, and now countries such as China and India are expressing their own interest in the region."
From: 'Russia's Plans for Arctic Supremacy' published Januari 16, 2015 on http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/russias-plans-arctic-supremacy#axzz3PMtY6OsF
"Reports of heavy rocket artillery firing on the eastern parts of the city of Mariupol, Ukraine, as well as a statement made by a separatist leader, indicate the potential preparation of an offensive on the city. While this would be a significant escalation and an indicator of Russian intent to push further into Ukraine, potentially forming a much-rumored land connection to the northern border of Crimea, there are also several indicators required for such an offensive that are currently still missing. […] Reports of heavy rocket artillery firing on the eastern parts of the city of Mariupol have been widely reported, with the death toll rising to 27 people [...] The widespread use of Grad Multiple Launch Rocket Systems indicates that this is a planned action with significant logistical support that it involves extensive use of Russian troops, though Grad fire has been widely used throughout the conflict. […] Heavy artillery preparations frequently precede Russian attacks, particularly by concentrated MLRS attack. Given the amount of munitions needed to supply concentrated fire, the Russians tend not to use them casually. The presence of Grad missiles indicates the possibility of artillery preparation for a broader offensive."
From: 'Red Alert: Rocket Fire Could Signal New Offensive on Mariupol' published today on http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/red-alert-rocket-fire-could-signal-new-offensive-mariupol#ixzz3PqAJzyzQ
"Representational pictures were the first true “medium” our ancestors created, some 30,000-40,000 years ago. Some of the early pictures were accurate depictions of the natural world. Others likely had a persuasive, even political, intent as they employed deliberate factual distortions. Understanding this human factor is crucial in understanding pictures. Any estimation of the meaning or effects of a picture must take into account the receptivity, attitudes, and beliefs of audiences, as well as those of producers or disseminators.": http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/141-sar-sarsential-toolbox-15-14
"Logic tells us that a flag should invoke respect by virtue of the entity it represents, not by its coloration or pattern. Yet, despite logic, we are all swayed—irrationally, perhaps, but most assuredly—by appearances.": http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/146-graffitihunt-2
The Silver Lining
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Above: Silver lining and variety during wintertraining and 300K event. Dutch winters call for action. Action generates warmth; transcending wind, water, darkness and boredom into Joy.
"[M]aintain a vigilant watch over [your] mental state, control [your] mind […] and channel […] thoughts to positive and purposeful things. When things go wrong, […] don’t blame and wallow in self-pity; rather […] immediately seek the positive lesson in the mess…the silver lining…then […] act on it. [D]on’t dwell on the negative, but learn to reframe each event to only the positive remains."
Mark Divine in 'Habits of Mastery part 2' on SealFit website: http://sealfit.com/blog/habits-of-mastery-part-2/
"Many of us have come to consider comfort as our greatest need. Comfort is not essential, and we often value it much too highly [...]": http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/nl/training/98-sar-along-the-way
"[ Without ] optimism [ … ] motivation and talent alone will not result in the confidence and persistence necessary for resilient survival behaviour.": http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/nl/training/127-sar-sarsential-toolbox-4-14
"Major Anya Amasova: It's getting cold
James Bond: Is there anything I can do to warm you up?
Major Anya Amasova: You don't have to worry about me Mr Bond, I went on a survival course in Siberia
James Bond: Yes, I believe a great number of your country men do. What did they teach you?
Major Anya Amasova: That its very important to have a positive mental attitude"
Actors Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' (1977), directed by Lewis Gilbert, written by Christopher Wood, Richard Maibaum and Ian Fleming: http://www.mgm.com/#/our-titles/1891/The-Spy-Who-Loved-Me
See also: Sarsential 23: train! [ practice ] "One day, after a rehearsal that hadn’t pleased [ violinist Mischa ] Elman, [ he was ] leaving Carnegie Hall by the backstage entrance when [ he was ] approached by two tourists looking for the hall’s entrance. Seeing his violin case, they asked, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Without looking up and continuing on his way, Elman simply replied, 'Practice.'": http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/162-sar-sarsential-23-train
