Tag: Philosophy

Deep Astronomy and The Romantic Sciences (2023): Film Review

On By parallelaestheticsIn Blog, Film Review, ReviewLeave a comment

A while ago I positively reviewed The American Astronaut directed by Cory McAbee.
The other day I watched Deep Astronomy and The Romantic Sciences a new film made by Cory McAbee in collaboration with the art collectives Small Star Corporation and Captain Ahab’s Motorcycle Club.

The film starts out with a man named Rudy drinking in a bar with his friends when he spots a robot in disguise as a human drinking from an empty glass. The robot tells Rudy that in a few days time she will be shot into space as humanities representation to the stars.
What follows is a collection of presentations, musical numbers, animations and tongue in cheek philosophical monologues that make up a narrative explaining why the robot is being sent to space.

The film is undoubtedly eccentric. Its unusual structure and fusion of mediums work surprisingly well.
Deep Astronomy and the The Romantic Sciences is a science fiction film based primarily around ideas. Creative in its concept but simplistic in its presentation it was shot primarily in a bar and a few dozen lecture halls.

Entertaining, humorous and perhaps even a little educational, I enjoyed Deep Astronomy and the The Romantic Sciences. I’d recommend watching it and since the film makers have uploaded it to their website where you can watch it for free and with a run time of one hour eleven minutes you’ve no excuse not to.

Of Walking in Ice [Book Review]

On By parallelaestheticsIn Blog, Book Review, ReviewLeave a comment

In 1974 Werner Herzog was informed that his close friend Lotte Eisner was sick and possibly dying.
Determined to see his friend the auteur director set off on a pilgrimage from Munich to Paris on foot.
He departed on Saturday 23rd November and finally arrived on Saturday 14th December. Everyday he wrote an entry in a diary documenting his journey.
The diary was published in a thin volume titled “Of Walking in Ice,” which I found in a used book store then began on 23rd of November and finished on the 14th December, reading each entry forty-nine years after it was penned by Herzog.
Herzog describes the various sights he seen on his travels which he sometimes lists vaguely and other times describes in vivid and poetic detail.
He tells us of the pains he suffers, the harsh weather, the grim landscapes of desolate road sides and decaying villages, the strangers that watch him with curiosity and suspicion and his almost hallucinogenic day dreams.
Over all Herzog provides us with an account of a unique experience that is poetic, dreamlike and memorable.