Documentary

The Apple TV Vietnam War Documentary Series

Last night I watched the first episode of a documentary series on the Vietnam war, made by Apple TV. It’s eighteen hours of documentaries covering different aspects of the conflict. In the first episode they speak about boots on the ground and tunnel rats. Through the exploration of this topic we see some footage of traps being prepared and some footage from within the underground tunnels. In the footage we see an operating theatre in an undergorund room.

An Arte Documentary Series about Cars

Last night I watched two episodes in a documentary series about a brief history of cars. In the first documentary we see a discussion about the history of cars from the 19th century to modern day with the use of archive footage. In the second we see how the car helped with consumerism. In the third I think they discuss the mental health consequences of cars. What makes this documentaries series interesting is that it goes into a lot of depth, without any sensationalism.

Nanook of the North

Two days ago I watched Nanook of the North, a documentary about an Inuit man and his family. This isn’t a documentary in the conventional sense. This documentary dates back to 1922 when the Documentary film was a brand new genre. This is one of the first documentaries, if not the first. I read about it for years, until, when I was watching Northern Exposure I did a search and came across the documentary on Filmin.

Big Timber - A Netflix Documentary Series

For a few days I have been watching a few documentary series on Netflix. Big Timber is one of them. Usually I like nature that is untouched. I like to see trees that are standing tall and proud, not on their sides, ready to be chopped up into wood for housing. It is because I like to see living trees that I started watching the series, and then gave up.

The Horror of Herculaneum

Years ago I walked around Herculaneum and was impressed by how well preserved it was. I could see wood, plaster and more. You could see how the rooms looked. It is much smaller than Pompei but it is still worth visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvFlEJpuTfo

Documentaries about JavaScript Frameworks

Within the last week Honeypot Originals have released a number of documentaries. Each episode covers a different JavaScript Framework. So far that have Vue.js, Ember.js, Elixir and GraphQL. Each of these documentaries is about half an hour long and interviews some of the key players. What is nice about these documentaries is that they take names and projects that may be familiar to us, but add faces and context to them.

Spoonley Wood Roman Villa and Mosaic

Roman remains may be found and excavated but sometimes nature reclaims them. These ruins were discovered in 1882 but nature returned and hid them safely away again. Such tweets should inspire archeological departments, and film and TV or BA Media Studies to document the process of re-excavating these ruins, with photogrammetry and other modern tech used. https://twitter.com/MSFMagic/status/1493179373431803904

One And A Half Years of Pandemic fatigue

For the first one hundred days of the pandemic it felt long but we had a hope, and the impression that respective governments were working to eradicate the pandemic so that we could resume normal life. Eventually though people against lockdowns, and against other measures began to be heard and so societies around the world reopened, and with the reopening of society so the virus flared up again. In the French part of Switzerland society is opening up despite half of people tested for covid testing positive, and despite knowing that the numbers are climbing by around 30 percent per week.

Seeing the Pandemic As A Journey

Last night I was reading and began seeing the pandemic as a journey. The pandemic has been a journey for everyone, but especially for those in solitude. For those of us in solitude, it has required that we completely change how we consume the media and how we interact with the world. We go for weeks without hugs, without kisses, without meals with other people. For weeks, we may exchange a few words at a shop or petrol station but without ever having in person conversations.

Day 33 of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – A video walk

Today I went on a video walk with the DJI OSMO pocket three or whichever number it has and I took a series of frames. Before going for my daily walk I searched through the Vision Du Réel virtual Film Festival list of films and I found “The Bridge”. It’s available for all to watch during the festival. I didn’t watch it in full but from what I saw it’s a series of shots in the style of Dziga Vertov’s Man With the Movie Camera.