Blog Post
Everyday They Write the Books: Mittenfest XI Returns to Rock for 826michigan
by christopherporter
Mittenfest is the annual three-day music festival benefiting 826michigan, the nonprofit center at 115 East Liberty St.
in Ann Arbor that helps school-aged kids express themselves through creative writing. 826michigan also offers drop-in tutoring, after-school programs, and help for those learning English.
Basically, it's good people doing good things, which is why 21 bands are playing for free to raise money in support of 826michigan.
Mittenfest returns for its 11th iteration, December 29-31, and it’s again taking place at Bona Sera in downtown Ypsilanti.
We did interviews with four of the bands playing the fest:
→ The Belle Isles
→ The Avatars
→ Blue Jeans
→ JUNGLEFOWL
And below is the full festival lineup, plus sound samples, dates, and times for all the Mittenfest bands:
Thursday, December 29
8:00pm - Audra Kubat (Detroit)
8:45pm - Truman (Ypsilanti)
9:30pm - AM People (Detroit)
10:15pm - Avatars (Ann Arbor)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
11:00pm - Mic Write (Detroit)
11:45pm - The Belle Isles (Hamtramck)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
12:30am - Chris Dupont (Ypsilanti)
Special guest: DJ Amber Fellows
Friday, December 30
8:00pm - Flower.Child (Ypsilanti)
Instagram is all we have pour l'enfant de la fleur
8:45pm - The Bruised Reed (Ann Arbor)
9:30pm - Anna Burch (Detroit)
10:15pm - Louis Picasso (Ypsilanti)
11:00pm - Decisions (Ypsilanti/Detroit)
11:45pm - Javelins (Detroit)
12:30am - Frontier Ruckus (Detroit/Ypsilanti)
Special guest: DJ Ryan Cady
Saturday, December 31
8:00pm - Slug Love (Ypsilanti)
8:45pm - Wraiths (Ypsilanti)
9:30pm - Blue Jeans (Ann Arbor)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
10:15pm - Meshes (Ypsilanti)
11:00pm - Junglefowl (Ypsilanti)
→→→Band interview and song samples here←←←
NEW YEARS CHAMPAGNE TOAST
12:05am - Tart (Hamtramck)
12:50am - Minihorse (Ypsilanti)
1:30am til 3am- DANCE PARTY
Special guests: DJ BEIGE (Detroit) and DJ Richie Wohlfeil (Hamtramck)
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and the editor of Pulp.
Mittenfest XI takes place December 29-31 at Bona Sera, 200 W Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti, MI, 48197. Music starts at 8:00pm every evening. $10 cover benefits 826michigan.
Blog Post
Say Qua?! New DVD Features the Best Shorts From 2016's Ann Arbor Film Festival
by christopherporter
Remember back in October when Saturday Night Live did a parody of the kinds of artfully shot and totally nonsensical movies you often see at film festivals?
SNL called its film qua -- which was being screened at the, ahem, "Ann Arbor Short Film Festival" -- and it had Emily Blunt running through a forest dotted with the number 3 and ended with her being forced to face her own self ... with her own self.
After the screening, the audience bolted to the stage -- since the crowd was made up entirely of the movie's huge cast and crew, save for one unlucky woman who was forced to ask qua's makers multiple questions about their terrible film.
Awkwardness ensued, comedy was had.
Sadly, qua did not make it onto the new DVD featuring 10 highlights from the actual Ann Arbor Film Festival's 2016 expansive short-film program. But this 9th collected edition of the festival’s best works includes films by:
~Chintis Lundgren, Life with Herman H. Rott (11 mins.) This short is about “a rat who enjoys heavy drinking, loud grind music and chess.” And he doesn’t like when a tidy female cat with a vacuum cleaner and classical records move in.
~Zhou Tao, Blue and Red (25 mins.) A luminescent meditation on light and how it illuminates the shared skin of humanity.
~Susanna Wallin, Two Clothespins in an Envelope (14 mins.) Two brothers, over the course of four days, clear out their mom’s house after she died. Does archive equal identity? Or is it just a reminder of what you left behind?
~Marcin Gizycki, Sto[nes (2 mins.) From the AAFF description: “The English word STONES contains two Polish words: STO = ONE HUNDRED and STOS = PILE. A pile of stones was used to create this abstract extravaganza of moving stripes and circles.” Say qua? No, it’s cool; think of it as a moving painting.
~Elizabeth Lo, Bisonhead (10 mins.) How do you feel about hunting? Now, how do you feel about a Native American family’s legal culling of a bison herd in Yellowstone, a tradition that precedes the time before Europeans colonized North America?
~Wrik Mead, Summer 1975 (10 mins.) Animation, stills, and film combine to explore a 13-year-old’s sexual awakening in Toronto.
~Julia Yezbick, How to Rust (25 mins.) The forced Europeanization of Africans is examined through Detroit’s postindustrial landscape and how something that was once considered “progress” by some can decay in unimagined ways.
~Terri Sarris, Our Last Hurrah (8 mins.) A lifelong, annual family Fourth of July gathering spent at a northern Wisconsin lake is examined through the lens of tradition, change, and loss.
~Ji Young Grace Shin, Phantasmata (5 mins.) Insomnia, dreams, and hypnagogia conflate into a waking life.
~Joel Rakowski & Terri Sarris, Drive In (2 mins.) A pastoral video-landscape painting of a bygone era featuring Michigan's oldest drive-in theater, the Ford Wyoming in Dearborn.
The best of the 2016 Ann Arbor Film Festival’s short-films DVD can be purchased for $15 from here.
But you can enjoy qua for free ... forever. “333 333 3 3333333 33333333 3333. C’EST MOI!”
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp.
Blog Post
Michigan Movie at the Michigan: "The Pickle Recipe"
by christopherporter
Fermented foods are a form of pickling, but pickles can just be ... pickles, straight up.
See, sauerkraut and yogurt are fermented foods that engage in a form of pickling, with the preservation caused by lactic acid fermentation.
But straight-up pickling is the process in which a vegetable -- in this case, a cucumber -- is preserved by vinegar, an acidic.
In the The Pickle Recipe, a new film set in Detroit, whatever secret ingredients have been added to Grandma Rose's pickling process -- whose dill-icious concoction has had patrons flocking to Irv’s Deli for years -- is the driving force behind Joey Miller’s desperate attempt to steal the recipe from her.
In other words, this ain't no straight-up pickle.
Miller is a DJ/MC for weddings, bat mitzvahs, and any other party that needs its roof blown off. But Miller (played by Jon Dore) is in debt and he loses his only source of income when all his sound and lighting gear gets destroyed by accident. He turns to his sneaky Uncle Morty (David Paymer) for a loan, who agrees to give Miller the dough -- on one condition: That he steal Grandma Rose’s (Lynn Cohen) pickle recipe, a secret creation she’s long sworn to take to her grave.
Hijinks ensue and viewers are treated to comedic caper flick with more than a touch of heart.
Director Michael Manasseri and writers/producers Sheldon Cohn and Gary Wolfson are Michigan natives, and nine of the cast/crew members attended the University of Michigan. The Pickle Recipe is playing at the Michigan Theater through December 22, and we caught up with Manasseri, Cohn, and Wolfson in an email interview, whose questions they answered as a group.
Q: I know many of the film's makers are from the Detroit area, but are pickles a THING around here in the Jewish / Eastern European communities?
A: I would say that pickles here -- and not the ones that are sides with burgers because they are "kosher style," unless you're in a deli -- are part of the deli scene in Detroit and the great Jewish food scene here. I don't think we are an intense pickle state, but we have some great delis, the best bagels in the U.S., and a great and vibrant Jewish community. Gary's grandma was from Russia and she made incredible kosher dills that her family just loved. But she never gave anyone the recipe and when she died she took the recipe with her. About 5 years ago when Gary told me the story is where the idea for the film was born.
Q: I understand that in the pickle-tasting section off the movie, Sheldon and Gary wrote a rap song to score the scene. Why rap -- when you originally wanted to use a Neil Diamond song! And why didn't the cast take to it?
A: The "song," if you could call it that, was a fairly easy song to write since that's all my sons listen to and rap is such a part of Detroit. Because that's the setting of the film we thought it fit, especially since the deli crew each had some lyrics. Since Neil Diamond was out and neither Gary and I are songwriters, we felt we could do a pickle rap. Well, we wrote it, Gary's cousin put a beat track behind it, and I recorded it on my iPhone. Michael had listened to it and said don't send it to the cast, but I did anyway. And I'm glad I did because the song and my rendition, Jon Dore just hated. He felt it was very dated and said he wouldn't do it; the rest of the cast thought it was lame and corny, and this was on the morning of the day we were supposed to shoot the scene. Since [Dore] was a comedian and also played guitar, he asked if he and the cast could try to come up with something, and we are so glad they did because the rap was so bad. The “She's Tasting Pickles" song saved the scene.
Q: How was it for Sheldon and Gary to make the leap from the advertising world, where they worked together, to feature-length filmmaking? Did the former inform the latter to a degree, or did you discover that selling things versus telling a story were different enough that you had to figure out more things than you thought as the film progressed?
A: In terms of our advertising experience, it was great preparation for movie making. I made short films in college, and advertising -- at least good advertising -- entertains viewers as it sells. Gary and I worked on many commercials and a lot of humorous ones for which we won a lot of awards. Funny spots and emotional tearjerker spots, which was great training. Our directors and crews were very accomplished, with some feature directors and Academy Award-winning cinematographers. We worked with good actors, and spent many hours editing the commercials since in our world the directors didn't edit the spots; we did with editors we hired while the directors went off to their next projects.
One interesting side note is that we hired [legendary documentary filmmaker] Errol Morris for his first commercial years ago, a whacked-out idea called "Mobile Judge" for 7-11 about a judge whose courtroom is on a flatbed and drives around town judging convenience stores. Errol went on to be huge, with a very strong and successful commercial career.
What we weren't prepared for was the pace of a low-budget film. We spent a week filming a 60-second commercial, but here was a 90-minute film in 22 days. There was so little time to play with lines or do alternate reads. But not having to sell something and not having a client and a stopwatch was great. Our best commercials had the sell woven into the story, so the viewer was being sold a product in a subtle way and not with a sledgehammer.
We had the luxury of time to perfect the script, which was 100 drafts over 5 years, and a good amount of time to edit. But one thing that was tough is that when you make a 30-second ad, you can watch it 10 times in a row and make changes. You can't do it with a film. And you get so close to it, it's hard to keep your perspective. But all in all, it was a blast and I was very sad on the last shoot day. I'd love to do it again and I know it won't take 5 years. At least I hope.
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp.
Blog Post
Animal Magic: Donald Hall's "Eating the Pig"
by christopherporter
If you’re a vegetarian, Donald Hall’s poem “Eating the Pig” might make your stomach churn.
But if you’re a meat eater and are disgusted by Hall’s imagery -- or the pictures in the Eating the Pig: A Dinner Party in Poetry, Photography & Painting exhibit, on display at the Ann Arbor District Library, that document the evening described in the poem -- you need to get in touch with where your animal-based protein comes from and the often brutal ways it gets to your plate.
(Read the "Eating the Pig" poem here or listen to Hall read it here.)
In 1975, Hall left his teaching job at University of Michigan and bought his maternal great-grandfather's farm in New Hampshire, where he spent many summers as a child. With so much of his life spent in a rural area, the 2006 Poet Laureate is deeply in tune with nature and the creatures that populate it. His poems show a clear-eyed vision of how real life is always an ongoing mix of beauty and struggle, inextricably linked and forever a source of consternation and inspiration. Hall recognizes that a gorgeous horse can become a broken down beast of burden; that a majestic but aging rooster’s final morning crow is lost to the wind before his head is chopped off; and that a cute little suckling pig can also be a source of human sustenance.
Hall has written many poems that feature animals -- and no, they aren’t all about eating them. Below is a selection of those poems, which display Hall’s reverence for animals and the many things they provide for humanity. These poems also give additional context to “Eating the Pig,” which ties a single October 1974 Ann Arbor evening spent carving and devouring an animal to a historic ritual of life and death that stretches back to the Stone Age when flint cutting tools first appeared.
“Eating the Pig” isn’t barbarous; ultimately, it’s about paying homage, with all the gory details, to the animals who have worked the land or been sacrificed in support of human survival (including vegetarians).
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp.
"Eating the Pig: A Dinner Party in Poetry, Photography and Painting" runs through January 12, 2017, on the 3rd floor of the Downtown Branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. For more information on the exhibit, including a new essay Hall wrote about the evening and to see all the photos, visit AADL's "Eating the Pig" website. View the Donald Hall books in our collection here.
Blog Post
Interview: Photographer Michelle Massey/Omeeomi, UMMA/Tiny Expo Award Winner
by christopherporter
Tiny Expo has become an annual tradition for the Washtenaw-area arts and crafts community, and the juried artists who exhibit their works often leave the downtown Ann Arbor District Library brimming with dinero from all the sales.
But this year there was a chance to take home some bonus bucks.
For this year’s event, which was held December 10, the Tiny Expo/UMMA Store Vendor Contest allowed patrons to cast votes for their favorite artists, with the prizes being:
-- 3rd place: $20 gift card to the UMMA store
-- 2nd place: $30 gift card to the UMMA store
-- 1st place: Select products by the winning artist will be featured and available for sale at the UMMA museum store for 6 months.
The top 3 vote-getters were then vetted by Nettie Tiso, manager of the UMMA store, who chose which artist would get to sell his or her works at the museum.
And this year’s winner is ... [drumroll] ... [really long drumroll] ... [now the drummer is doing a jazz solo, so this may take a while] ... [security breaks the drumsticks and escorts percussionist out of the building] ...
Michelle Massey, a Ypsilanti-based photographer who calls her company Omeeomi.
We talked to Massey about her art and photography in the interview below:
Q: How do you pronounce your company name and what’s its origin?
A: Omi [oh-me] is a childhood name I gave myself and so I pronounce Omeeomi "oh-me-oh-me," however, I never correct others who may pronounce it "oh-me-oh-my." I like the ring to that just as much!
Q: How do you describe your photographic process?
A: I print photographs and mount them onto wooden blocks and plaques. I take a picture -- sometimes more -- a day and turn them into small pieces of art. Each photo is unique and local to the area.
Q: It looks like you're making tangible Instagram photos. Is that the inspiration?
A: You are correct, I take tangible Instagram photos. I've always enjoyed taking pictures, capturing moments in time. Instagram is a handy outlet for me to present them and share them with others. This year I participated in a 366 Days project where I post one photo daily. I love having all the photos in one venue where I can reference back and see my progression as an artist.
Q: Is there something special about the mounting techniques -- the varnish used, the wood type, etc. -- that help enhance the photos?
A: My favorite photographs I print and mount with decoupage -- I adore decoupage -- to square stained pine boards. A dark stain, I feel, gives a nice contrast to the images. The wood allows the photograph to gain substance without being trapped by a traditional frame. Most of my work is presented on the wood boards, however, I also print some images on magnets and cards. The 366 Days project has allowed me, this year, to print a calendar as well.
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp.
To see more of Massey’s work, visit her on Instagram or Facebook.
Blog Post
Interview: Fred Thomas on his "Voiceover" video
by christopherporter
Fred Thomas doesn’t evoke regular feelings among his listeners. His smart, wordy songs have grabbed listeners’ emotions for two decades as a solo artist or in bands such as Saturday Looks Good to Me, City Center, and a slew of others.
Thomas is an Ann Arbor native, but over the last decade he's bounced between Portland, New York City, and everywhere in between. But we’ll always claim the prolific songwriter, whose music veers from urgent indie rock to recumbent soundscapes, as our own -- even if his current home is Montreal, Quebec.
He’s just too talented for us to let him go completely.
Thomas has a new album, Changer, coming out January 27. Two tunes have been released so far -- the stripped down and emotionally biting guitar song “Brickwall” and the electronic “Echolation” -- but for “Voiceover,” the third song released into the wild, Thomas made a video.
The clip features Thomas deadpanning his way through strumming a guitar as scenes of everyday activities -- fixing your hair, turning on a lamp, etc. -- are repeated over and over to hammer home that even the smallest moments contain moments of beauty even if everything in the greater world feels like it’s going to hell.
We’ll have a longer feature on Thomas closer to when Changer comes out, but we did a quick chat with him about the making of the “Voiceover” video:
Q: Where was the video filmed and who came up with theme?
A: The video was directed by Noah Elliott Morrison, a Detroit-based photographer/visual artist. He conceptualized the entire thing and it was shot in and around his house over the course of a single day. We both talked about the intentions behind creating a visual companion piece to the song, both trying to communicate a sense that there are deeper emotional currents always running through the mundane, repetitive, and forgettable things that make up our days.
Q: Does the video relate to the song in the sense that the "regular feelings" you sing about are equated to the redundant, everyday mundane activities we all engage in? Whereas when you sing the line about how in your dreams you get all the beauties to visit you and in your clearer moments remember the power of a song -- such as Sonic Youth’s "Dirty Boots" video -- all of which help alleviate those "regular" feelings?
A: Well, yes and no. In a strange way, the revelatory bliss of relating to a Sonic Youth video when you're 15 and then remembering how pure that feeling seemed when you're all grown up becomes a cycle of "regular feelings" as well! The song is a mourning for lost friends and the general feelings of losing ground that a lot of people have been living under for the past few years. It's ultimately a hopeful song, trying to remind the listener that even the most mundane-seeming moment -- or times of what feels like dire, relentless ugliness -- can hold some promise.
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp.
Changer comes out January 27, 2017, on Polyvinyl Records. You can preorder it here.
Media
Preview: Student Partnerships in Technology and Performing Arts Showcase
Professor Michael Gurevich is a facilitator.
As the assistant professor and chair of the Department of Performing Arts Technology at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance, it’s Gurevich’s job to help his students make connections between seemingly disparate things, be it computer music and improvisation or tap dancing and video games.
On December 13 at 7:30 pm, the public can watch some of these collaborations at the Student Partnerships in Technology and Performing Arts Showcase, the first event from an experimental pilot course Gurevich developed to bring together artists from the tech side (electronic musicians, coders, etc.) and the traditional arts (dancers, instrumentalists, etc.) Held in the state-of-the-art Chip Davis Technology Studio in the Earl V. Moore Building, the multimedia and performance showcase promises to be a head-twisting exploration of artistic intersections.
In the video below, Pulp editor Christopher Porter interviewed Gurevich and asked him about the showcase -- which is free -- and how it all plays into the University of Michigan’s Third Century Initiative: "As U-M prepares to celebrate its bicentennial in 2017, the Third Century Initiative has been established to inspire innovative programs that enhance the student learning experience and develop creative approaches to the world’s greatest challenges."
Blog Post
Interview: Dr. Thomas Strode and Boychoir of Ann Arbor
by christopherporter
It’s a haunting sound when a group of boys’ voices in the treble range convene.
I’m not talking about performances by boychoirs, which feature the unchanged voices of prepubescent boys, who together make a sound so lovely and pure that the effect is haunting.
I’m talking about the start of boychoir practices and the scary sound created when a gaggle of rambunctious dudes with short attention spans and constant jokes get together to learn the craft of choir singing.
But for 30 years, the ever-patient Dr. Thomas Strode has led the Boychoir of Ann Arbor through innumerable practices, and his ability to keep cool and impart high-quality musical education to a rather wiggly and easily distracted audience is remarkable.
In the common area of Ann Arbor’s St. Paul Lutheran Church, where Strode is the director of music, he teaches boys musical theory and gives singing lessons using a quiet, measured tone of voice. Under Strode's gentle guidance, the boys' constant hum of silliness at the start of practice soon becomes a gloriously soothing sound when they begin to sing.
Strode instructs a prep choir, for newer singers, as well as the performing choir, which features more experienced vocalists and expands the treble boychoir model to also include an SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) choir, with the older boys and their changing voices providing the lower notes.
Dr. Strode really understands how to teach children, which is why Boychoir of Ann Arbor has thrived for three decades. And the kids really do learn to sing beautifully, as listeners will be able to hear at the “A Boychoir Christmas” concerts on December 9 and 10.
These annual shows are highlights for many holiday concertgoers -- but they will also be Strode’s final ones as the choir’s director. He’s retiring at the end of the boychoir’s season, which wraps on June 4 with the “Spring Finale” concert.
With this being Strode’s final Christmas concert, we asked the good doctor to give us a preview of what we will hear and why.
Q: The choir prepared 16 songs for the concert. Which one was the hardest for the kids to master and why?
A: There are two works that I would consider more difficult in this concert, for different reasons:
“Stille Nacht” as arranged by Philip Lawson for the King’s Singers. It is in six voice parts, a cappella, with key changes, and in German. Balance, blend, and dynamic contrast are some of the issues we’ve been working on in this piece.
“The Shepherds Sing” by Bob Chilcott. Shaping of phrases, balance between soloist and choir, sensitivity to the text, and its relative unfamiliarity to the choristers have made this piece a bit more challenging.
Q: Since this is your final Christmas concert, did you choose a particular piece that means a lot to you for the boys to perform?
A: Yes. “On This Day Earth Shall Ring” by Haldane Campbell Stewart [1868–1942]. Stewart was a renowned cricket player, in addition to his work as a choir trainer at Magdalene College, Oxford. I first heard this piece on an old recording of the Liverpool Cathedral Choir, which I’ve had for about 40 years. It’s one of my favorite Christmas choral pieces.
Q: What's your favorite piece of music from past Christmas concerts that you weren't able to perform this year?
A: Well, I’d have to say the Britten “Ceremony of Carols,” just because it is the quintessential boys’ Christmas work, renowned and loved throughout the world. We have performed it many times, the last time in 2015. We try not to repeat major works from year to year -- of course, the perennials such as “Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day” are always on the program!
Q: Any funny stories from past Christmas concerts?
A: Nothing in particular, but I will share this: We have a tradition of inviting alumni who are present to come up and sing the final pieces -- which do not vary from year to year -- with us. It’s usually the case that several fine young men come up to sing -- and I have no idea who they are, since I knew them, in most cases, as trebles!
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp. He also has two wiggly, rambunctious boys in the prep choir.
"A Boychoir Christmas" will be performed twice: Friday, December 9 at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Ypsilanti, 300 N. Washington St.; Saturday, December 10 at 3 p.m., First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, 1432 Washtenaw Ave. You can reserve tickets at aaboychoir.org/reserve.
Blog Post
Preview: December Documentaries
by christopherporter
Do you have a God complex? Then documentary filmmaking might not be for you.
“In feature films the director is God; in documentary films, God is the director,” said the deity Alfred Hitchcock.
But the seven documentaries being shown in Ann Arbor this December had directors who put aside any supernatural ambitions they may have to tell real stories.
How to Let Go of the World (And Love All the Things Climate Can't Change)
Thursday, December 1, 6:00 pm - Free
Ann Arbor Downtown Library - Multi-Purpose Room
Josh Fox’s 2010 documentary Gasland, about the dangers of fracking, was nominated for an Oscar. His new film, How to Let Go of the World (And Love All the Things Climate Can't Change), also looks at the interactions between humans and the environment, but it’s not a call to arms. Climate change is here; it can’t be reversed. And rather than remind you of that depressing thought for 127 minutes, Fox talks about the things “climate change can’t destroy. What are those parts of us that are so deep that no storm can take them away?” How to Let Go of the World celebrates the human spirit that carries on in the face of a threat that cannot be denied. The screening will be followed by a brief discussion on global warming.
The Eagle Huntress
Friday, December 2 to Thursday, December 8, various times - $
Michigan Theater
For more than 1,000 years, nomads in the Altai Mountains have used golden eagles to hunt. But during all that time, it’s strictly been a dude thing: a father passes down the tradition to his sons, never his daughters. The Eagle Huntress follows a 13-year-old Mongolian girl named Aisholpan as she attempts to break the patriarchal tradition and become the first female eagle hunter in her family’s 12-generation history. The film’s rated G and it's only 87 minutes, so bring the kiddos. Your jaws can drop as a family when you see the stunning cinematography.
All Eyes and Ears
Monday, December 5, 6 pm - Free
Museum of Art - Stern Auditorium
The relationship between China and the United States is one in need of perpetual marriage counseling. In All Eyes and Ears, director Vanessa Hope explores the nations’ complex ties through the lens of two personal stories: U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and his adopted Chinese daughter, Gracie Mei, and the plight of blind legal advocate and activist Chen Guangcheng. While Huntsman was the ambassador, Guangcheng went from house arrest to asylum in the U.S. embassy, and the film tracks the tensions between the countries during this time. Director Hope will introduce the film and hold a Q&A after.
Citizen Architect
Tuesday, December 6, 6:30 pm - Free
U-M Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning
When you say the word “architect,” it conjures the image of a person who designs a giant office building or a fancy-ass mansion. Sam Wainwright Douglas' 2010 documentary follows the work of southern architect Samuel Mockbee, cofounder of the Auburn University Rural Studio program, whose students work with the extremely poor people who live right nearby. The movie shows how the citizens and architects worked together to rebuild their community one finely designed structure at a time.
One: The Movie
Thursday, December 8, 6:30 pm - Free
Ann Arbor Downtown Library - Multi-Purpose Room
For this 2006 doc, co-directors Scott Carter, Ward M. Powers and Diane Powers went around the world and asked spiritual gurus such as Deepak Chopra, Father Thomas Keating, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, and others the same 20 questions about the meaning of life, including:
- What happens when I die?
Can you describe God?
Is a hot dog really a sandwich?
OK, perhaps that last question is only of real concern to me, but the people in this documentary undertake the responsibility to interpret the meaning of life with earnestness and graciousness. Co-director Carter, a local yoga instructor, will hold a Q&A after the screening.
Warren Miller’s Here, There & Everywhere
Friday, December 9, 7:30 pm - $
Michigan Theater
Since 1950, Warren Miller has been kicking out inventive films that show the beauty, adventure, and danger of snow sports. His latest trick captures glorious scenes everywhere from Squaw Valley, Calif., and Greenland to Switzerland and ... Boston’s Fenway Park? Did somebody get rad on the Big Green Monster? Check out Warren Miller’s 67th slopes film, Here, There & Everywhere, to find out.
Design Disruptors
Monday, December 19, 7:00 pm
Ann Arbor Downtown Library - Multi-Purpose Room
The art of design isn’t just about putting a drop shadow behind a letter or creating a beautiful object. It’s about creating an experience that can connect with humans on an emotional and physical level. And in today’s hurried society, if something doesn’t grab a user right away, it’s likely abandoned. That’s why companies are paying so much attention to the design aspects of their products now, not just the underlying engineering. Design Disruptors, a new documentary from InVision and directed by Catalyst, highlights the most innovative design approaches by 15 of the world’s biggest companies, including Uber, Netflix, and Twitter.
Christopher Porter is a Library Technician and editor of Pulp.