Filter the Fluff, Vol. 2

Tuesday, December 19


Every now and then, I come across some really well-written pieces on the interwebs and get the urge to share it here. When I share something, I want it to have real substance. Unfortunately there are so many vapid pieces out there, and it's becoming more and more difficult to filter the fluff. Whether it aligns with my viewpoint or not, the article should only be one thing: thought-provoking. The following (listed below) were just that. Instead of explaining them in my own words, I have pasted some excerpts.

The Holiday Brilliance of Donny Hathaway’s "This Christmas"

"A pickup on the drums kick-starts the song like a parade, thick with vintage brass and syncopated sleigh bells, before an organ lights the way to the first lines: “Hang all the mistletoe, I wanna get to know you better.”

... The song, like an intricate snow globe, suspends several musical elements in a dreamy display of Hathaway’s gifts—at its center is a barrelhouse acoustic piano solo christened by elegant strings. “It’s gospel, it’s country, it’s blues. It’s everything good, in a Christmas stew."

- Emily Lordi of The New Yorker brilliantly deconstructs Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," and explains why it's been dubbed "the black Christmas anthem." Full article here


DP Haris Zambarloukos Talks Shooting Murder On the Orient Express in Glorious 65MM

"What we really wanted to do was to create a really immersive, emotional experience for the audience, and 65mm film is so intimate. You feel every eyelid bat in a way that you can’t compare with another format. If we have a cast like this, and you’ve got them all in one carriage, and you want them all in one shot, this process really allows you to get the full benefit of that.

...The portraiture of that, and the way that you experience that is what drove us to shoot 65 film, as opposed to doing what most people thought, which is the epic glances that we would do in kind of Alpine journey on the train. For me, this kind of guttural connection with the performance is by far the most important."

- John Bucher of Movie Maker interviews Harris Zambarloukos, the Director of Photography on the film Murder on the Orient Express, and (in part) inspired me to finally buy a film camera. Full interview here.

Life With a Preemie

"Ben will have an adjusted age until around age two. His adjusted age is based on his due date. On Monday he was two months old but his adjusted age is three and a half weeks old. Until he is two we will base his development on this age. Realistically he will probably be somewhere in between. For instance, right now he definitely has more neck control than a three and a half week old but not nearly as much as a two month old. He’s somewhere in between. He might catch up completely before age two. He might not."

- Nadine breaks down all the things you probably never think about if you've never had to adjust to life with a prematurely born baby. Full post here.