INTERNATIONAL VELVET: NBC & The London Summer Olympics

So..............

They've come. They've gone! 

And...........

What did we think?

Everyone's been gripping about NBC's coverage. But let's face it! They were doomed from the start! London is 5-6 hours ahead of us and even NBC Universal cannot control time! Maybe next time.

But there are other things with which one can take offense. 

And the guilt lies with NBC! 

The English, in their true blue manner, managed to present us with an image of themselves that is quirky and innovative. The Brits, with Shakespeare, Sheridan and Shaw in their blood, returned to their roots: words and theater. 

The two epic productions that book-ended the event this Summer seem to confuse people... Why wouldn't historic figures quote Shakespeare? The over-arching "weirdness" of the opening ceremony was what makes the Brits the Brits!! Hospital nannies (looking remarkably close to Tea Ladies), phosphorescent blankets and multiple Mary Poppins. Music, drama and fashion book-ended the two-plus weeks that the Olympics took in London, a city that has, like in 1948, overcome its past to recreate itself as an international capital all over again!

(London performed this miraculous act over a decade ago, but now its internationally official. I sum it up to the Chunnel!) 

Let's face it: Anyone that could get Elizabeth II, Queen of England, to not only appear for the whole opening ceremony but enter with 007 via helicopter is alright with me!! It seems Queen Elizabeth II has finally learnt the lesson that Dame Edna Everage tried to teach her over 25 years ago: "Learn to laugh at yourself, otherwise you may be missing out on the joke of the century"! 

As I said earlier, the English are the masters of the theater and spectacle! NBC is not. From the beginning they seem to drop the ball. Why put us through the entire Parade of Nations but cut out Akram Kahn's touching tribute to the victim's of the 7/7 attacks in London to hear Michael Phelps pontificate about his possibilities? It wasn't bad enough that IOC refused to acknowledge it's own history (and hat's off to Bob Costas for even bringing the subject of the Munich Massacre up during the parade), NBC seem to want to refuse any acknowledgement of true feel at all! As major allies of ours, I think all of us felt as strongly during their ordeal as they did during ours on 9/11 and I think NBC made them a major disservice.

And now NBC, answer me this: why, when a preliminary competition was held could you not tell us exactly when we could catch the following broadcasts? Seems like good TV etiquette, no? And why put in two channels dedicated to basketball and soccer then run the same games at the same time on a second family network? And WHY couldn't you take BRAVO out of commission for two full weeks instead of just one!?! WHY!!??!!

Anyway.......

I did rather enjoy the closing event. The Brits are masters of Pop Music and they put up a nice representation. It seems Kate Bush got chopped out of the event and I didn't miss her.  Annie Lennox came through in true-blue divahood and kudos to Jessie J for not one but TWO flesh-colored catsuits in one evening!! Both opening and closing presented a fabulous slice of English music, but it did beg the question.........

WHERE WAS LULU??!!??

More Jiggly Architecture

A visual update on an earlier reported Jiggly Architecture project.

It looked pretty awful in the early stages (see blog entry of Saturday, March 21, 2009 Post-9/11 Architecture) and it seems the nightmare is coming true!

Does this building have ANYTHING to do with others around it?

We find this thing aluminum-foil-biting disturbing!!

Anyone else care to voice their opinion? Start an architectural Baader-Meinhof commune?

The Photograph as False Document

The New York Times published an article the other day entitled "New Doubts Raised Over Famous War Photo" which highlighted the publication of a new book, “Shadows of Photography,” by José Manuel Susperregui, a communications professor at the Universidad del País Vasco, which concludes that Robert Capa’s famous picture "Falling Soldier" was taken not at Cerro Muriano, just north of Córdoba, but near another town, about 35 miles away, a town located far from the battle front of the Spanish Civil War. Mr. Susperregui suggests this means that “the ‘Falling Soldier’ photo is staged, as are all the others in the series taken on that front.”

This latest foree into the veracity of Capa's infamous image has brought the usual line-up of yea- & nay-sayers, including Buzz Hartshorn, the director of the International Center of Photography which stores Mr. Capa's archive, and the Spanish culture minister, the film director and screenwriter Ángeles González-Sinde. Mr. Susperregui certainly seems to have done his homework and the shadow of doubt cast on this work is darker than ever.

But what's really at stake here?

Indubitably, the invention of photography had an enormous impact on both the world of art and science. With the advent of the photographic process and its ability to document the world of the people that employed it, the practitioners of the 'classic' arts of painting and sculpture were freed from the world of documentation and reality. But even in its early, formative years there were those who saw photography as an opportunity to create images of allegory and fantasy. Julia Margaret Cameron & Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) participated in the English Victorian practice of dressing up friends and family and arranging them in religious or fanciful poses.

In France the photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson dressed up as the Comtesse Rose de Compiegne, creating a body of work that was the 19th century version of Cindy Sherman's Film Stills. Documents?
Sure! But the lady in question is a gentleman!

So as the work of Nadar begat the work of Atget begat the work of the Bechers, there has always been a counterpoint of photographers who's work questioned and refuted the documentary veracity of the photograph. The works of Man Ray, Tabard, Meatyard, Uehlsmann, Sherman & Demand have explored the process and construction of the photographic image. With the advent of the digital age, images are manipulated by the artists to remove or add information that should make anyone question how truthful any images is anymore.

Perhaps the real importance of this new discovery is its impact on the world of photojournalism. Robert Capa made his name by documenting the front of the Spanish Civil War and "Falling Soldier" was widely used as propaganda by the Left in its struggle over Franco's army. Capa was also the founder of the Magnum Agency, the first of its kind at the time and a magnet for the top photojournalists of its day. What does it mean if the founder of this particular branch of photography was actually staging images to influence the public? Is it the photojournalist's duty to observe and document, or to be allowed to use his art to portray personal beliefs and ethics?

Photojournalism's most powerful tool is its ability to document and influence at the same time. Think of how powerful certain images from the Vietnam War played in the public's mind and hearts. What if Eddie Adam's photograph of a suspected Viet Cong's execution had been staged? Or Nick Ut Cong Huynh's image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc and others fleeing the napalming of their village? How would we look back on our involvement and insistence on America's retreat from our involvement in a futile war?

If these new suspicions casts on Robert Capa's "Falling Soldier" are true, it will not so much shake our belief in "seeing is believing" (anyone with an ounce of cynicism has brought doubts to the 'truth' about photography) as make us reassess the prominence of a photographer who's fame will be tarnished and degraded by twisting the work of photojournalism into the art of invention.