Moth's YouTube Cavern #2: Final Day at GHS: June 2001

 

Final Day at GHS: June 2001

After only two caverns I’m noticing a trend, but I like this video for its true-to-life depiction of a real time and place. I find it amazing that in our latching to the concept of time we’ve found so many ways to record it. For thousands of years, modern humans existed on the planet knowing not much more than their immediate surroundings: Oxford University and the Aztec Empire existed simultaneously; the Bicycle and Steam Locomotive were independently invented just a few years apart. For better and worse, today we can see what’s going on in every corner of the world, however relatively mundane or spectacular.

I look back on high school fondly, and in the grand scheme 2001 wasn’t too far from 2009, so this was a nostalgic viewing. These are my supervisors at work; friends’ older siblings; my camp counselors and cousins in their youth. Look at them go!

- Moth

Moth's YouTube Cavern #1: The Life of Andy Warhol (Documentary)

Part 1

Part 2

This one took me a couple of weeks' worth of lunch breaks since it's around 3hrs total but it was a great journey.

Before watching, I was not privy to Andy Warhol's life and work other than the fact that he was the Campbell's Soup guy and did the cover art for The Velvet Underground & Nico. From watching this video I got the sense that he was a truly prolific artist who pioneered mediums, fused art with industrial concepts, and changed the world through his visionary work.

I was particularly interested in the first batch movies he made. Beginning in the second half of his career, these movies consisted of what might be most direct representation of "motion pictures". One film is just 5hrs of a person sleeping, another captures a man's face throughout a sexual encounter, and a handful of others record people doing everyday activities like drinking a coke or getting a haircut. These early films gave the viewer a chance to watch people do things that we all do every day, but can never experience through the body of another. I sleep every day, and I've seen people asleep, but to really watch someone sleep for 5hrs, or enjoy a whole beverage? I find Andy's idea of allowing us to view people simply experiencing the world especially poignant, and was most impressed by that period in his career.

I now have a much greater understanding of the depth of Andy's work, his unique story, and his far-reaching cultural impact. There is no accounting for taste, and Andy had it in spades. Some art historians claim that he is the most important artist since Pablo Picasso, or the most important art figure of the second half of the 20th century. After watching this I am inclined to agree.

- Moth