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Health Life News

FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead  is a personal story directed by Joe Cross, who finding himself one hundred pounds overweight, loaded up with steroids and trying to deal with an autoimmune disease, decides he’d had enough. This documentary begins with Joe weighing in at 310 pounds. He doesn’t see any future in his current condition except pain, suffering and an early demise. Doctors and conventional medicine seem unable to help him.

Joe Cross, who lives in Australia, decides to come to the Unites States where he plans a sixty-day road trip across the country eating only fresh veggie and fruit juice he makes in the back of his car. Joe’s goal is to lose weight and improve his health to the point where he will be able to stop taking all the medications and live a healthy life.

Joe starts his journey in New York City where he feels there will be the most temptation to go off his juice fast. In NYC he talks to people on the street to get their reaction to what he is trying to do.  Joe meets and talks to about 500 people as he travels.  In a truck stop in Arizona he meets Phil Staples, an obese truck driver who suffers from the same autoimmune disorder that he does. Phil weighs 429 pounds.  Joe tells Phil about what he is doing and mentions that if Phil ever needs help to give him a call. One day back in Australia, Joe gets a call from Phil who is desperate.

What emerges is a documentary about Joe Cross and his journey along with Phil Staples amazing transition from extreme obesity to a healthy life. The juice fast not only helps each of them to lose weight, it also helps them overcome their autoimmune problem by detoxing their bodies. Soon they are able to get off all the medications they have been taking.

The documentary shows both men getting checkups to make sure it is safe to do the fast.  Also checkups along the way.  Joe emphatically suggests to others in the film that they also check with their doctors about doing this kind of fast.

Unlike Super Size Me, another hybrid documentary with someone on a mission, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead presents a positive story in which it advocates good health. This documentary is inspirational.  It presents a simple remedy for getting one’s physical and ultimately mental life back on track. Fast, Sick & Nearly Dead comes across as a serious nonfiction story advocating one way of obtaining good  health.

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead is well shot and edited in a way that keeps the pace moving. The progress that Joe, Phil and others make is amazing to watch. The documentary uses several animated scenes to explain an idea or situation.  No particular juicer or other products are pitched, although there may be some incidental product placement. The focus is the idea of fasting on vegetable and fruit juices for a certain period of time to detox one’s body and gain a foothold on a healthy life style. Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead shows the progress of others beside Joe and Phil that testify to the success of the idea.

Review written by James R (Jim)  R Martin

[box] FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD – A JOE CROSS FILM – Directed BY Joe Cross, Kurt Engfehr – 96 Minutes – 2011 – Director of Photography Daniel Marracino, Editors, Alison Amron and Christopher Seward. REBOOTYOURLIFE – http://www.jointhereboot.com/[/box]

 TRAILER

LINKS

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead

Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.

 

Categories
Arts News Poetry

Write Me A Serenade – suzanne m steiner

 

write me a serenade

by

suzanne m steiner

 

 


 

 

 

Write me a serenade

Then play it so gently

Yet colored with strength

Exquisite notes of memory

Steady chords of honesty

Sweet arpeggios of truth

Its how I so need it now.

Dancing, floating across the

Tiny hairs of my audio curls

Seeping slowing into my

Hungry still mind, and

Nurturing my needy soul.

Write me a serenade

Then play it for me

In the silence, with joy

Balanced so gingerly now

On the edge of the universe.

 

—————suzanne m steiner—3/18/2012

Categories
Arts Film Fine Arts News

Rothko’s Rooms – The World of Mark Rothko Abstract Artist

ROTHKO’S ROOMS, produced and directed by David Thompson is a journey into the world of Mark Rothko (1903 to 1970), who in the period from 1940 into 1960’s was one of the leading American Painters in the Modern Art world. The unique thing about this educational documentary is that it goes beyond mere facts and history.  Using action, interviews, archival elements, and additional footage, the documentary story penetrates Rothko’s abstract view of the world — unlocking the door to Rothko’s abstract work. This is a beautifully crafted documentary film well worth watching.

Rothko’s work and fragments of his life are brought into focus with the aid of voice over narration by Dilly Barlow. Also interviews and commentary with Sean Scully, Artist, Brian O’Douherty, writer/artist, and other artists, friends, family, critics, art historians, collectors and museum curators.  One technique used throughout the documentary is to conduct the interviews in front of subjectively lit paintings by Rothko.  This has an amazing effect, like being there with someone giving you a guided tour. Classical music, Mozart (Rothko enjoyed Mozart), is used in the film under interviews and in other scenes. Between interviews and commentary there are moments when you are allowed to spend a few moments on your own with the work and music.

ROTHKO’S ROOMS looks at Mark Rothko’s life from age ten when his family moved from Russia to Portland Oregon. Upon graduating from high school he won a scholarship to Yale. According to his daughter he did not begin his career as an artist until after he finished studying and then moved to New York City. The documentary makes a beautiful transition from archival photographs of Rothko to New York City and a series of shots of the city in a twilight rush of colors. The lighting and cinematography in ROTHKO’S ROOMS is excellent and helps to tell the story. It goes beyond simply getting a good exposure. The sound track whether it’s music or the sound of a subway train pulling into the platform, also helps set the mood and subjectively narrate scenes.

ROTHKO’S ROOMS goes a long way in helping one to understand abstract modern art; how the work represents emotion, environment and the artist’s presentation of those realities. The film looks at Rothko’s early years, his time at Yale, his evolution from the early years and New York abstract minimalism to his later painting. Like many artists Rothko did not like labels. He wanted his work to stand on its own. Rothko said: “I’m not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, doom and so on… The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience as I had when I painted them.”

ROTHKO’S ROOMS examines the circumstances surrounding Mark Rothko’s refusal to deliver work he was commissioned to create for a space in the new Segrams Building in New York City. He apparently did not understand that the work would be exhibited in a Four Season’s restaurant. He visited the restaurant before the installation happened and returned the $35,000 fee he had received. This work is now exhibited in the Tate Modern in London, England.

ROTHKO’S ROOMS is both an informative and entertaining documentary. It should be watched by anyone interested in understanding modern art, Mark Rothko’s work or enjoying an excellent documentary film. But the major achievement of this documentary is that it brings you closer to Rothko’s work and his message.

J R MARTIN – AUTHOR – Documentary Directing and Storytelling – REAL DEAL PRESS

ROTHKO’S ROOMS -2000 – 60 MINUTES PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY DAVID THOMSON, CAMERA MIKE ROBINSON, FILM EDITOR MALCOLM DANIEL © BBC -DISTRIBUTION KULTUR

TRAILER

ROTHKO’S ROOMS TRAILER

 

Rothko’s Rooms / Mark Rothko

Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.

Categories
Arts News Photography

The Family of Man – Documentary Photography Exhibit

THE FAMILY OF MAN EXHIBIT AND BOOK

CREATED BY EDWARD STEICHEN

ORIGINALLY OPENED IN 1955 THE MUSEM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK

A DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBIT AND BOOK

It must be a wonderful experience to walk though this exhibit of photographs documenting “The Family of Man,” and to linger and examine each picture depicting so much human life and activity. No narration and/or interviews are needed, each photograph speaks for itself and then joins the overall collection of pictures creating a myriad of impressions. This exhibit is a testament to the fact that documentary actuality and explorations come in all forms, not just on film or video. The title of the exhibit was inspired by the expression “family of man” found in a speech by Abraham Lincoln.

The Family of Man Exhibit Clervaux

Clervaux, Castle

The Family of Man Exhibit, created by Edward Steichen, is a documentary employing still photographs hung in an exhibition environment. It began life in The Museum of Modern Art, New York and ultimately traveled around the world to thirty-seven countries. It is now housed in Clervaux, Castle in Luxembourg, Edward Steichen’s birthplace. The exhibition is undergoing restoration and will not be open to the public until 2012.

Photographs from the exhibit can be viewed in The Family of Man book version, with an introduction by Steichen and a prologue by Carl Sandburg. While the book cannot give us the same experience as viewing the exhibit, it does present the photographs as a documentary compilation of the exhibit.

In the introduction to the book Steichen writes, “The exhibition, now permanently presented on the pages of this book, demonstrates that the art of photography is a dynamic process of giving form to ideas and of explaining man to man. It was conceived as a mirror of the universal elements and emotions in the everydayness of life – as a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world.”

Photograph by Dorthea Lange – Migrant Mother

 

The pictures come from all over the planet. Steichen with the help of his wife and staff culled 503 photographs from the two million photographs submitted by amateurs and professionals. Two hundred and seventy-three photographers, male and female, from sixty-eight countries took the 503 photographs used in the exhibit. Included in these numbers were many photographs from the US Library of congress and Life magazine. The exhibit traveled worldwide during the Cold War. Steichen felt that it might help for the world to see the “essential oneness of mankind.” The photographs are grouped in themes including love, birth, work, play, death, pleasure, pain, fears, hopes, tears and laughter.

All of the photographs in the book are black and white. Photographs that depict love in many forms begin the story of The Family of Man. Not only lovers embracing but also love demonstrated in many forms including the love of parents for their children. There are photographs by well known photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorthea Lange, Robert Capa, Margaret Bourke-White, Diane and Allan Arbus, Mathew Brady and many more.

Until 2012 when the exhibit reopens in Luxembourg, the book version of The Family of Man, on its own, is well worth a visit.

Post written by  J R MARTIN –   AUTHOR CREATE DOCUMENTARY FILMS, VIDEOS AND MULTIMEDIA  Also Director of the Documentary Course at Full Sail University.  See other documentary reviews by James R Martin at http://www.jrmartinmedia.com/reviews

 

Categories
Health Life News Reading

Born To Run – A Hidden Tribe, Ultra Runners and New Ideas About Running

According to author Christopher McDougall the basis for this book and the fast-moving adventure story he tells, was a question? Why does my foot hurt?  Why do I and other runners eventually sustain all types of injuries? But this story has a lot more going for it than why runners get injuries. It’s a great read and hard to put down at times even if you’re the type of person who fights off the urge to exercise by lying down.

You will immediately be pulled into the Born To Run story, as if you’re sitting there with McDougall in “the dim lobby of an old hotel on the edge of the desert” in Mexico, as McDougall obsessively waits  on the slim chance that the a man he doesn’t even know exists might appear. Caballo Blanco, the mystery man of Mexico’s Sierra Nevada region and Copper Canyon is that man.

McDougal’s style of writing is first person.  He tells you the story as if you were sitting down having a bear with him.  He weaves together a great nonfiction story that covers his experience and introduces a cast of real live characters including famous distance runners, trainers, scientists, drug dealers, and the fabled running Tarahumara Indians who live in the Copper Canyon region of Mexico’s Sierra Nevada mountains.

For me, someone who has run for thirty years, this story hits home. Coincidentally my son gave me Born To Run as a present for my recent birthday. After all those ears of running my right knee  started aching along with nearby muscles in that leg. I have always ran for exercise. I’ve run a few 5K’s and a 10K once.  People have criticized my running style for my lack of “heal/toe” action. But until now I never had an injury or ache. Getting into a more natural style of running, as described in the book along with switching to a more minimalist type of running shoe alleviated the problems with my knee.

Born To Run is not only a great story it introduces a number of ideas and concepts about running that I never knew about. Good story and some great information and tips on running. What’s not to like?

Review written by Jim Martin

 For additional information on Caballo Blanco – Caballo Blanco’s Last Run: The Micah True Story

[amazon_enhanced asin="0307279189" /]

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About News Politics

Welcome to Almost Seventy-One

Did you know that human heads have gotten smaller over time? Have our brains shrunk as well?

Almost Seventy-One.com is many things. The topics on Almost Seventy-one range over a wide spectrum including news, people, politics, the arts, contemplation, meditation, ideas and more. Almost Seventy-one is a metaphor for experience and reflection, not chronological time. It is open to anyone interested in sharing their thoughts on a range of subjects about life in general, learning, relationships, art, contemplation, travel, poetry, writing, politics, priorities, recreation and opinions. We accept posts from anyone interested in submitting them.

 

 

[box] Please excuse our dust, amostseventyone.com is a work in progress.[/box]

Our outlook on life politically is definitely left of center. We believe that this country is in a dangerous moment in its history when one election could shift the balance too far in one direction. If the far right gains control  of the White House the United States is headed toward destroying the democracy created in 1776. Liberals (and moderates) don’t take away people’s right to vote. Liberals try to take care of people, so your Social Security and Medicare are safe with Liberals. Liberals ask the top 1% of the population to pay their fair share of taxes. Liberals don’t start wars with Iraq or Afghanistan. The list goes on.

So yes this blog may be considered left of center or liberal. But it seems that the United States has survived because of a power balance  between extremes. If that power shifts totally to one side or the other the survival of this democracy is jeopardized. This is why most citizens of the country are moderates who shift positions between moderate conservatism and moderate progressive/ liberal on most issues.

This blog is open to all types of discourse. As far as the political commentary we look for opinions that make a case rather than spew vitriolic rhetoric. Please keep comments civil.

J R Martin

[box type=”info”] To submit an article or other blog post email it to JR@jrmartinmedia.com[/box]