skynoise

How about that golden era of Turkish Cinema, the 1970s & 80s?

‘Remix culture’ and ‘alternative copyright’ ideas might be popular now ( and why not – with mediamaking tools becoming so easily available? ), but a glance back at Turkish Cinema two decades ago reveals a whole other world of homage techniques. One of the key directors was Çetin Inanç, who apparently owned a cinema (makes integration of “source material” much easier), and often mixed in dozens of sources into his feature films, which were generally action films, remakes and featured masks.

Turkish ‘Star Wars’ (1979 )

( Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam, full length google video )

Rocket science presumably extends even to making models of space ships, which is no doubt an endlessly complex and complicated endeavour. Better then, to just lift entire sequences from another film and cut and paste them into a film whenever spaceships are needed. Close up of Turkish skywalker chatting into some galactic intercom, cut to sequence of ships fighting from another film, cut back to Turkish skywalker – easy! Part of this movie’s fun is noting just how many sci-fi audio and visual samples they have managed to ‘borrow’ in completing their epic adventure.

Bizarrely choreographed fight scenes are enhanced by near random editing cuts and large sonic jumps in volume. And how about that mid-film training in the desert sequence, which seems to involve large paper rocks being tied to the feet of the heroes as they spring through the air from trampolines just below the camera’s view? Worth watching for proof of alternative and parallel universes.

imdb.com sez Turkish Star Wars now has a sequel: Dunyayi Kurtaran Adamin Oglu (The Son of the Man Who Saves The World). See also : Brazilian Star Wars (1978) ( www.imdb.com/title/tt0195360 )

& Italian Star Wars ( 1979 ) ( Star Crash : youtube.com/watch?v=pzfuNSpP0RA )

Turkish ‘Star Trek’ (1973)

( ‘Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda’ – aka Omer the Tourist in Star Trek. clips @ google video )

Turkish Captain Kirk gets attacked by a dozen roaming tarzan robots, and the only inhabitant of a ‘remote planet’ turns out to be a female who will literally kill so that she can lick salt from the skin of humans. Or vulcans – there’s a vulcan Spock of course, who seems to be intimidated by the arrival on board of a Turkish human from the past. All the usual Star trek sounds effects are in full force, albeit not always used in the most consistent of ways, the uniforms evoke the enterprise efficiently, and the set-design seems to take advantage of Turkish scenery as well as cardboard cut out IKEA spaceships.

Turkish ‘E.T.’ ( 1983 )

( ‘Badi’ – youtube.com/watch?v=Tl3a6-sxPqQ )

Sure Spielberg has lots of fancy effects, but the unknown mysteries of space and intergalactic species are just as emotive when channeled through a small man inside a large brown garbage bag with painted on bulbous eyes and oversize rubber gloves. The lack of subtitles on this one aren’t an issue – the plot doesn’t stray far from the original. There’s even a repeat of the infamous bicycle chase scene where a boy on a bmx bike pedals his little heart into the skies to escort E.T. to safe ground. Replace bmx with shopping trolley however, pushed by a bunch of screaming kids, and then superimpose the trolley against the sky so it is half transparent, and for further realism jiggle it around a little to simulate realistic motion. Works a treat.

Turkish ‘Spiderman’ (1973 )

( 3 DEV ADAM aka 3 mighty men aka Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man )

( youtube.com/watch+weep )

Who’d have thought the maker of Evil Dead would go on to making Spiderman? Those two worlds are much closer in this epic, Spiderman’s evil persona revealed from the very opening scene. On a secluded beach a man is buried in sand up to his head, and is being interrogated by Spiderman and another character. It’s fairly typical thuggery until the camera zooms out a little and we see a speedboat parked on the shore, complete with outboard motor, which of course is started, and the boat is moved back slowly, while we get a close up of blood splattering all over Spiderman’s face.

Turkish ‘Superman’ – Supermen Donuyor (1979)

Turkish ‘First Blood’ – remains at large, but is allegedly one of the more violent Turkish remakes.

Turkish ‘Wizard of Oz’ – Aysecik ve sihirli cuceler ruyalar ulkesinde (aka Aysecik and the Bewitched Dwarfs, & Aysecik in the Land of the Magic Dwarfs) (1971)

Seytan (aka Satan & Turkish Exorcist) (1974)

Khooni Murda (aka Indian Nightmare on Elm Street) (1989) &

Superman (aka The Indian Superman) (1987)
sound tempting…

Turkish ‘Batwoman’ – still eludes, but hopefully lives up to its amazing poster, send a link if you have it.

The Segway, invented by Dean Kamen, is a uniquely self-balancing two wheeled transport device. Using hi-tech gyroscopics it balances you on a platform one foot off the ground, and drives at speeds up to 25km/h – which you activate by leaning forward. Lean back and it slows or stops, tilt a wrist or lean from side to side ( depending on which model you have) and there you have it – a fully functioning hoverboard ( albeit with a AU$ 8-9000 price tag ). Victorian distributor Michael Mote ( of Segway Southern Cross ) loaned one overnight, and was kind enough to also answer the questions below. ( Click for the photo collage that resulted – featuring a red vinyl lobster and members of 3 melbourne bands – denim owl, bum creek and aleks & the ramps)

How do you quickly describe the device to people unaware of it?

This is a Segway Personal Transporter. A single person short haul device. If your needs are for a single person, a short range trip, then this might meet your needs.

Your first ride on a Segway – what did it feel like?

Magic! It’s like it’s connected to my brain, and it obeys my thoughts.

Is there much of a learning curve for riding one?

It takes about 90 seconds to get the hang of a Segway, and about an hours practice to get really competent. Compare this with the Vic Roads campaign suggesting that 120 HOURS is the minimum a car driver should practice before being let out solo.

How safe is a Segway, and its gyroscopic self-balancing mechanism?

A Segway is inherently safe. It can safely operate even after a failure of an important part of the machine. It is intuitively controlled, easy to learn and much safer to use than say a car or a motorcycle. You never forget, even in an emergency, how to stop or avoid an obstacle. That’s the elegance of intuitive control, as compared to the contrived control ( pedal, levers etc ) on cars and motorcycles.

Why would someone enjoy owning a Segway?

It’s modern and efficient. My car and I weigh about 1500 Kg, yet my Segway and I weigh 150 Kg or less. Any way you analyse it, that’s tenfold less energy required to get me where I need to go. It also creates a sense of community, people say ‘G’Day’ and smile lots. That never happens when I drive. I get to smell the roses, that never happens either when I drive.

What legal barriers exist for the Segway in Australia?

If I confine myself to Victoria (there are relevant State and Federal laws), I believe a Segway is well within both the intent and letter of current Victorian Law. ( I can’t speak for them, but I think that Vic Roads have a different belief ). I’ve travelled many kilometres around Melbourne, and other parts of Victoria, without issue. If I were to get a ‘ticket’ for doing ‘something wrong’ I would most likely challenge it. That way an independent judge can hear my interpretation of the law, and the authorities interpretation, and a clearer decision would be made.

What hopes are there for overcoming these barriers?

If my interpretation of the law is correct, there’s no barrier. If incorrect, then the ‘community’ will have to assess this question. The Segway PT is a fabulous machine, clean, green, compact and with lots of other desirable characteristics. When pollution, congestion and global warming make headlines daily, ‘community’ assessment is likely to be positive.

What’ve been some unusual / interesting anecdotes from customers / segway users?

Probably the nicest ones come from people with disabilities. The beam on their faces after they feel the wind in their hair is simply priceless.

Jobe from the US sitcom Arrested Development rides a Segway. Who’d you like to see riding a Segway on Australian TV?

I saw ‘Arrested’ – pity they dubbed a most ‘unSegway like’ sound over it. The Prime Minister, Minister for Transport, or Minister for Roads travelling to their next Press conference, and on the nightly news. Or the shadow Ministers.

Why has the Segway failed to set the world alight, and what has Segway learnt from that?

Market penetration is actually somewhat similar to that of micowave ovens, or even mobile phones at the 3 year point. Early projections were a bit high – that happens sometimes with new and exciting products. Tell me your thoughts after 1 hour of using a Segway – are you ‘alight’ ?

Are the innovations of the Segway utilised in other contexts?

Sure there’s lots of industrial applications. Many based on the Segway robotic platforms. Then of course, there’s the iBot.

What lies in store for the evolution of the Segway?
I always look forward to visiting the Segway factory, they never fail to impress me. I’m sure their next products will too.

Turns out the ‘megapixel’ resolution of the human eye is around 576. Here’s a few more ways to enjoy that.

Live Audiovisual Sequencing

The Holy Grail is now within reach, but still requires quite a few hacks and workarounds. vjforums.com is a good place to rummage for tips on how to use video applications alongside an audio sequencer like Ableton Live, or how to use Ableton Live to generate midi for both Motion & Final Cut Pro ( useful for
controlling parameters of those programs in a more nuanced manner ). On the VJ side, the VDMX 5 beta is sailing well, it’s learning curves best tackled after a good browse of the vidvox wiki and this VDMX 5 tutorial. Turntablist technique can help with the sequencing too, as ably demonstrated to loud cheers by Cut Chemist at a 2006 gig, scratching a DVD of people in the crowd recorded 2 minutes earlier.

http://fotowoosh.com – is new online software that turns any picture into a 3D image, and surprisingly effective too, analysing the geometry of each image and
then outputting this as a 3D model which can be explored.

http://meatpaper.com : a print magazine of art and ideas about meat. “We like
metaphors more than marinating tips. We are your journal of meat culture.” For all your food writers obsessing with pigs, alphabets made of raw hamburger, and hats of meat needs.

Le Beebs

One million hours of the BBC’s past are going to be made available to the public online. A trial programme has started, which will likely expand to include all of the UK, but others outside will be charged to access the archive.

RSS Feeds

Yes, they totally change the way you use the web, and either save lots of time, or allow a much greater breadth of material to be covered. And they guarantee you don’t miss posts, mp3s, writings from your favourite and newly discovered places. RSS makes blogs and podcasts subscribable, and increasingly can
incorporate different kinds of media. http://marshallk.com/391 shows a few of the possibilities with mixed media RSS feeds ( feeds created for the delivery of video, photos, audio files and other media items all together by RSS. ) For those yet to leap, this 3.5 minute video explaining RSS in Plain English is worth a browse.

‘Master New Media’ give a great round up of all the possible ways video can be annotated online now – including adding subtitles, text, animated shapes and pointers, freehand text and drawings, images, webcam video and even RSS feeds directly into your web-hosted videos.

The $7 TV Network: Neokast brings multicasting to the masses. Enter Neokast, the brainchild of a PhD candidate from Northwestern University, Stefan Birrer. Neokast uses peer-to-peer technology to effectively emulate a multicast experience. If you know what this means, interesting enough.

Google Browser Sync for Firefox

An overlooked extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions. Found via – Matt Haughey, aka the guy who founded metafilter.com, and just started a blog about how to survive “professionally screwing around on the web“.

And one for the road, via kottke.org, a 90s slang dictionary.

Mythic religions and deepest science use quite different language to say the same thing : the world we leave our little footsteps in, is a shimmer of light and vibration. Zooming in and out on that vibration, Semiconductor present a compilation DVD of their animations to date: “Worlds in Flux”.

Getting To Here And Now

Semi-Conductor = Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt and their PR blurb claims ‘obsessive interests in landscape, architecture, geology, geography, chaos / systems theory and artificial intelligence’. In practical terms (over the last 5-6 years) this has encompassed:
– exploring a large array of digital and analogue animation techniques and processes, combining where possible.
– many residencies, installations, exhibitions and live cinema performances
– ‘Hi-Fi Rise’ – an art DVD compilation in 2001 with an innovative interface, and featuring the work of many artists including People Like Us and Amon Tobin.
– 3 music videos, 4 live cinema pieces and 6 short films.

Spinning The Disc

‘Brilliant Noise’ is perhaps the highlight of the “Worlds in Flux’ DVD, featuring gorgeous black and white time lapsed animations made from close up photographs of the sun’s flicker and dance. That these photographs were sourced from a solar observatory and left unmanipulated was quite a surprise to read, a conscious decision to let the sun’s crackling glory stand on its own. 11 possible soundtracks can be chosen to accompany this dazzling monochromatic display, from artists including Cristian Vogel, Max Richter and Antenna Farm, each adding it’s own sense of atmosphere.

200 nano-webbers is another delicious animation, this one created as a visualisation for Japanese act ‘Double Adaptor’ using custom-made scripting to generate a lovely hybrid of seemingly drawn squiggles and complex structural behaviours and movements. The tangle of elements oscillate with the music and shift towards density interconnection as the song washes along. Very re-watch worthy.

Hooking up with the British Geological Survey nabbed a range of seismic data for Semi-conductor, which they exploited to great effect within ‘All the time in the world’. Converting the data into sound, they used this to jolt portions of a coastline into life, animating segments within a scene and slowly shifting from one location to another, drawing attention to the crust of the earth along the way. Particularly captivating were the fluttering sparks of light that hovered above one section of coastline, illuminating nooks and crannies as they travelled in and out of coastal rock formations.

As well as with my favourite pieces above, the clips on the rest of the disc string together nicely as a range of experiments, each showing a different side of Semi-Conductors fascination with the micro and the macro, the buzzing life within structures that we take for granted most of the time. Notable mentions go to ‘The Sound of Microclimates’ which nicely superimposes animations on top of urban surrounds, ‘Inaudible Cities’ which reaches a stroboscopic, shuddering climax, Green grass of tunnel’ for mum, and ‘Earthquake films’, an earlier piece which reanimates a series of earthquake photos with a variety of masks, 3D experiments and collage play.

On another note, Fatcat records who are releasing this DVD, have of course made it region-free. What makes any larger label believe someone should have to buy another copy of a disc to watch it in another country is beyond me.

Like cyclone ravaged banana prices returning to ‘normal’, the subtropical delivery of Brisbane’s finest electronic musicians should be greeted with open arms by Melbournians this week.

Orinoko Flow = Suckafish P Jones (MC + beats producer), Anal Cookie (noise terror hiphop duo) , Potato Masta (Osaka)(beats and the fastest Japanese rapping you’ve heard) and Aoi ( beats weigh a megatonne ). Seems they figured was best to combine forces for a tour of ‘bass-bin ruin’, and so the south gets em from May 17-20 ( details below ). Suckafish ( who also runs the radio show Forcefed Fistfulls on 4zzzFM ), jumped on the promo wagon:

If this is a ‘super-group’ – what super-powers does each member have?

Anal Cookie (Two Pants Rotation and Babymachine) – Stupendous gag reflex, ninja turtle flykicks and scare tactics

Aoi – Lazer eyes, fingers of steel!

Suckafish P Jones – summonin up the juju in yr underpants

Potato Master – Can open portals to parallel dimensions when funny dancin’

Having notched a fair bit of East Coast touring perspective, what distinguishes Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne hiphop?

In Brisbane it seems like everyone’s a bit more fluidly involved in other scenes – so you get rock kids, electro wierdos and staunch hip hoppers comin to shows, whereas in sydney and melbourne peeps seem a bit more niche in their tastes. Music wise, again, its hard, but i’d say in brisbane we retain that tropical upfuckery that makes everything a lil more sweaty and wild…

Is it getting easier or harder to translate production into live performance?

Easier! I remember when we used to have to bust this out with cheap cd-rs and a couple of discmans… now its all laptops, trigger fingers, final scratch… i think there are more and more options for live sample playback, loops etc. meaning that hip hop and electronic performance is becoming waaay more dynamic

Recent inspirations musically / lyrically?

Growing obsessed with Grime and Dubstep – it’s a pretty regional sound (UK), but I feel like that energy in Grime really works in Australia… when it gets hot here, we get crazy, and the whole hyped up, souped up tempo thing is just on fire! It’s just got an energy and immediacy that is missing from Hip Hop at the moment, it’s got that really new, raw and exciting quality that’s unavoidably infectious. That, and an unhealthy obsession with early 60’s electronic music and international machine obscura keeps me awake late into the early morn with the headphones on.

So how does the tour work – you all playing together?

We’re comin to melbourne as more of a sound system, broken into individual acts, but even when we don’t play together in a single set our sets will collide with one another… Potato Master brings his patented trans-global gameboy ragga humour to the plate while Aoi stirs the pot with stuttering boom bap and clunky drums, suckafish increases the pressure with bass, lyrical absurdities and a lil bit of voodooand Anal Cookie tear the whole place apart and bleed neon from their scabs

What’s your own current live set-up, and what would you like to improve about it?

Generally ableton live, triggered from an MPC=like controller, the Trigger Finger, with vocals from guest MCs or myself if the occasion calls for it… I’m always wanting to integrate more live instrumentation, particularly percussive elements to make the show more and more visceral

Gigalicious

Thursday May 17 – Potato Master at Uber Lingua w/ Suckafish on DJ duties as the Fishmonger General

Friday May 18 - Suckafish and Aoi play Rogue State at th North Bazaar in Northcote (while Anal Cookie play down the road w casionova at the afterdark!)

Saturday May 19 – Anal Cookie, Potato Masta, Suckafish P and Aoi play with Curse ov Dialekt, Makkenz (Japan), MC Purple Duck and more at the Corner Hotel for the ‘Ockerchino Variety Show’

Sunday May 20 – AOi and Suckafish play w heapsa cats at ‘Rap Sabbath’ at Bar Open, ( launch party for El-P’s ‘I’ll Sleep When You;re Dead’).

Videoclip featuring Potato Masta & Alan from Anal Cookie here.