Werner Herzog - Herz aus Glas / Heart of Glass (1976)

 

Heart of Glass (German: Herz aus Glas) is a 1976 German film directed and produced by Werner Herzog, set in 18th century Bavaria. The film was written by Herzog, based partly on a story by Herbert Achternbusch. The main character is Hias, based on the legendary Bavarian prophet, Mühlhiasl.

During shooting, almost all of the actors performed while under hypnosis. Every actor in every scene was hypnotized, with the exception of the character Hias and the professional glassblowers who appear in the film. The hypnotized actors give very strange performances, which Herzog intended to suggest the trance-like state of the townspeople in the story. Herzog provided the actors with most of their dialogue, memorised during hypnosis. However, many of the hypnotised actors' gestures and movements occurred spontaneously during filming.

The soundtrack to the film is done by Popul Vuh

Johann Hari: Lost Connections

Johann Hari on Lost Connections 9/6/21
Author and journalist Johann Hari talks about his book, Lost Connections: Why You Are Depressed and How to Find Hope with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Hari, who has suffered with depression as a teenager and an adult, offers a sweeping critique of the medical establishment's understanding of depression and the frequent reliance on pharmaceutical treatments. Hari argues that it is our lost connections with each other, with our work, and with ourselves that explains the rise in depression in recent times.
Streamed live on May 5, 2023 Johann Hari: Lost Connections - a Lecture sponsored by Tommy G. Thompson Center

“What if depression is, in fact, a form of grief—for our own lives not being as they should? What if it is a form of grief for the connections we have lost, yet still need?”

Johann Hari, Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions.

The Swedish Theory of Love (2015)

This documentary from 2015 by Erik Gandini (Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers, Videocracy) examines the social and political landscape of Sweden in terms of relationships, family and love. (There are precoded English subtitles available by clicking the CC button in the bottom left corner). The implications of such basic social elements as attachment and interaction with other people are probably obvious. 

I have lived in Sweden for 20 years and am still continually surprised by the society. It is a culture of contradictions. On the one hand incredibly individualistic and with remarkably high degrees of personal freedom and choice. But on the other hand, it is totally conformist and always struggling for a homogeneity that seems to be slightly out of reach or pragmatically impossible. It is a segregated society, built along deepening ethnic and more recently economic fault lines, but at the same time social mobility is more available than in any other country I have encountered, with free education, high standards of housing and well paid jobs in a unionised workforce. It is a supremely psychological culture, by which I mean discourse is performed according to an established set of ideas, but there is little room for sarcasm, surrealist humour or satire (parody is the norm when it comes to humour). In many countries one could say the norms and proclivities of hegemonic culture are based on a consensus enforced by media, education and public opinion. But in Sweden there are few alternatives. Ideas are accepted and distributed or shared according to a very stable hierarchy of knowledge. An example that still makes me smile is how news broadcasts are often accompanied by an 'expert' who explains the rapport as part of the news. Analysis of social and political issues is conducted from the top down, and the vast majority of people do not question it. 

Everything from sexuality to political dissent is organised by the State. For example RFSU - Riksförbundet för sexuell upplysning (The National Association for Sexual Enlightenment) is just one of many organisations that is state sponsored and devoted to organising the intimate lives of Swedish citizens via a complex network of media and educational channels. The annual Pride festival is also managed and financed by RFSU. In one sense the work of RFSU is very progressive, and personally I support it. But there is no alternative. Revolutionär Pride Stockholm and Anarchopride are two examples of recent attempts to radicalise Pride and move it away from the 'Pink Washing' commercialisation and political photo opportunity is has become. But any questioning of the official discourse in Sweden is shut down very quickly by an activation of a carefully controlled public opinion. I believe this level of manufactured consent and crafted public opinion comes from the same forces described in "The Swedish Theory of Love". 

You can click through to the events page for the 2020 Revolutionär Pride

La Moindre des Choses / Every Little Thing (1996 Eng Subs)

Every summer the residents and nurses of La Borde psychiatric hospital (where philosopher psychiatrist Felix Guattari used to work), put on a play. Over the summer of 1995, thanks to Nicolas Philibert, director of the wonderful In the Land of the Deaf, they also made a film. Every Little Thing depicts their everyday goings-on and the rehearsals leading up to a performance of a work by Polish-Argentine writer Witold Grombrowitz.

There is no narration explaining away disabilities or interpreting unusual behaviour; no music to tug at our heartstrings; no dissertation on the wonders of theatrical therapy. Instead Philibert, with gentle lyrical sensitivity, lets people usually hidden from society speak for themselves in their own peculiar ways -- be it through silent movement, stream-of-consciousness speech, or the camera tracking the dance of the leaves on the trees.

We may begin as observers of people walking aimlessly around the grounds lost in their own disjointed thoughts, but Philibert draws us out of our preconceptions and into their world. It's a world that finds joy and tenderness in articulating every emotion, good and bad: from the pleasure of pressing the keys on an accordian for the first time, to the sadness of a man shuffling slowly up to the camera only to remark, 'I can't take any more', and then shuffle off again.

Then there is expression explored through drama and music. Grombowitz's Opérette is modernist absurd theatre, the lines, ironically, more nonsensical than those of this production's actors. When one actor is asked why he particularly likes the third act, he replies: 'The castle is ruined, the wind blows, the lines are totally illogical... that comforts me.'

Finally we witness the afternoon performance. Set in the tranquil sun-dappled gardens, with fantastical costumes, outrageous dramatics and an added psychiatric edge, voilà! there's magnificent and jubilant theatrical chaos. — Mark Amery

Zizek vs Peterson Debate

Bestselling author and psychologist Jordan Peterson debates “Happiness: Capitalism vs. Marxism” with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, in an event that was more than a year in the making.

Being Human: Cure and Catagion (2010)

Originally broadcast in 2010, this is episode 1 of series 2 of the UK series Being Human (2008-2013). The series follows the lives and struggles of three characters, Annie, Mitchell and George. At first glance they seem to be three late maturers who share an old house in Bristol in the UK. They have lived, and loved, but now rely on each other in what first appears to be fairly average lives. But then the inner depth comes in; George is a werewolf, Mitchell a vampire and Annie is a ghost. They struggle with who they are as they put almighty effort into being human, or at least appearing to be so. But as they struggle they discover there is more to being human than wearing the right clothes and saying the right things. There are emotional currents, allegiances, ethics and morals, choices and the need for love.

This episode deals with some of the heaviest aspects of being human; love, desire, honesty, memory and purpose. It pits characters against each other in love and war as they gradually reveal and learn the truth about themselves and those around them. Consequence is also a major theme in the story, with the result of actions made in ignorance revealed and then made part of relationships. It even has a backdrop of power as a way to control people, but also being a status desired by many. In my opinion Being Human was one of the most riveting and well written series to emerge from television in the past decades. It takes up themes of Shakespearean proportions and delivers them in the language and imagery of the early 21st century. The acting is powerful and precise and characters appear as fully developed entities that draw us, the audience, into the depths of the human psyche. If you do not want to watch all 5 seasons then just watch this episode 1 of series 2, Cure and Catagion. It will change the way you understand your own life and what you do with it.

The episode begins with Mitchell and George encountering husband and wife vampires Ivan and Daisy, who warn them of the likely power struggle after chief vampire Herrick's death and their own vulnerability. Annie gets work in a pub and takes home customer Nathan, and Mitchell befriends new doctor Lucy. At the full moon, whilst the sinister Kemp destroys a captive werewolf in a pressure chamber, Nina is horrified to find that, accidentally scratched by George, she too transforms into a werewolf. George is pursued by the flirtatious Daisy who wants him to enjoy the dark side and has sex with him. Smelling Daisy's perfume on him increases Nina's anguish but they make up and the other housemates pledge to support Nina. Whilst they are all out, Kemp comes to the house with a psychic, testing for supernatural presences, and sensing triumph.

The episode ends with a sense of community, be it threatened by the selfishness of aggressive and wrathful religion. 

Colin Wilson: The High and the Low

In this moving and profound program, Colin Wilson shares his personal struggle in dealing with states of panic and depression. His attempt to cope with these difficult experiences has led him to explore states of extreme lucidity and self-control.

Colin Wilson (1931-2013) was one of the most prolific writers in the English language. His novels include The Mind Parasites, The Philosopher's Stone and Sex Diary of a Metaphysician. Other major works include A Criminal History of Mankind, The Occult, Mysteries, Religion and the Rebel, The New Existentialism, New Pathways in Psychology and The Outsider--his first and most famous book.

The difference between hearing and listening | Pauline Oliveros (1932 – 2016)

Sounds carry intelligence. If you are too narrow in your awareness of sounds, you are likely to be disconnected from your environment. Ears do not listen to sounds; the brain does. Listening is a lifetime practice that depends on accumulated experiences with sound; it can be focused to detail or open to the entire field of sound. Octogenarian composer and sound art pioneer Pauline Oliveros describes the sound experiment that led her to found an institute related to Deep Listening, and develop it as a theory relevant to music, psychology, and our collective quality of life.

Pauline Oliveros died yesterday, aged 84.

WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971 - Eng. Subs)

What does the energy harnessed through orgasm have to do with the state of communist Yugoslavia circa 1971? Only counterculture filmmaker extraordinaire Dušan Makavejev has the answers (or the questions). His surreal documentary-fiction collision WR: Mysteries of the Organism begins as an investigation into the life and work of controversial psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and then explodes into a free-form narrative of a beautiful young Slavic girl’s sexual liberation. Banned upon its release in the director’s homeland, the art-house smash WR is both whimsical and bold in its blending of politics and sexuality.