Documenting Subways, Comedy, & The Financial Meltdown

Design Classics was a 1980s documentary series looking at revolutionary pieces of design. The London Underground Map is about the subway map, created in 1933 by Underground employee Henry Beck, that has become an icon of both London and British design.

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100 Years Of Comedy is a documentary about the history of comedy during the 20th century. Written by Phillip Dye, the documentary features narration over archival footage of Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Charlie Chaplin, and many other great examples of comedy in history.

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Frontline is probably the best broadcast documentary series with some of the best investigative journalism of its kind with a whopping 26 awards and 25 nominations. The series focuses on exploring and illuminating the critical issues of our time.

On Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, the astonished leadership of the U.S. Congress was told in a private session by the chairman of the Federal Reserve that the American economy was in grave danger of a complete meltdown within a matter of days. "There was literally a pause in that room where the oxygen left," says Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).

Inside The Meltdown takes a close look at the current economic recession and the causes behind it. If you don't know why our economy got so bad so quickly, then this documentary may shock you to the bone.

Center for Land Use Interpretation

I saw the director of this organization (Michael Coolidge) speak at a lecture in Philadelphia a few weeks ago on its current projects and mission. Everything was purposefully left vague. He explained that CLUI's field of study was in "anthropogeomorphology," or the study of people interacting with and changing landscapes. (Landscape, in this context, referring to anything from a bombing range to a parking lot to a basin.) We were told that much of the research ends up as photo exhibits in museums - unintended as anything but a document of a certain place at a certain time. Several of the audience members were apparently uncomfortable by this fact and asked Coolidge during the Q&A after the lecture if he thought it unethical for CLUI to simply "document." His answer was an unequivocal "No."

Guy P.

To Amherst Via Train

It is the exact same price to go from Boston to Amherst by train as it is by bus. But instead of a view that mostly consists of highways, the train offers a very scenic look of Amherst and really shows its true beauty.

Upon arrival in Amherst from the Vermonter train, you find yourself at the Amherst rail station, which looks very eclectic and old fashioned.

Directly outside the station, you can sit on a convenient bench dedicated to Edward Spear and Bessie Spear, long-time residents of Dickinson street.

For those cold days, there is a lounge inside that offers a place for you to wait inside. You will find a few benches, a clock, a map, a local phone, and a time-table for when the trains depart.

The Vermonter is a very relaxing train, with comfortable seats, a cafe, electrical outlets at your seat, and plenty of leg room. The train leaves Amherst toward Washington D.C. at 1:19 pm daily and leaves toward Burlington, VT at 4:20 pm daily. This form of travel may be far more appreciated than bus travel.

-Jonathon Cohen

Amara Hark-Weber Blog / Photos

Gabrielle's graffiti photos made me think of the work my friend Amara Hark-Weber has done. This blog shows some of her pictures from Elefsina, Greece.

Jack

Amherst Graffiti

Hello All,

I took some pictures of Graffiti as planned.
It was really cold out, so I only covered the side of the street from Amherst Books to Rao's Coffee.

here's the link:

http://people.umass.edu/gsegalla/photo_album/index.htm

I hope it works. please let me know if it doesn't.
click on the thumbnails to see bigger pictures.

(I hope you like them).

-gabrielle

The Stone Reader

Hi. I recently watched this documentary after having read the book "Stones of Summer." The film is about an avid reader's pursuit of Dow Mossman, who after having his book published dropped into obscurity and never wrote another. The film is a little long but it explores the nature of the publishing industry and Dow's possible situation as the documentarian tries to find him. It's fascinating. Here is a link for the trailer to the film, The Stone Reader.

-Ezra Prior-

Abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans

http://www.terrastories.com/bearings/abandoned-six-flags-orleans


This site shows pictures of a Six Flags amusement park that remains abandoned today since Hurricane Katrina. I chose this "documentary piece" because 1) I think the photos are sad 2) I found it interesting that someone chose to document something like this at all. There are links to more documentary-like pages that chronicle other forgotten architectures on the website.

M.D.

We Can Print It For You Wholesale

The book business is constantly evolving.

The Gutenberg printing press has evolved into a wholesale printing press.

Large bookstores have become massive, corporate, chain-bookstores.

Corporate bookstores have become online bookstores.

Hardcover books are now available as digital books.



The digital book has been pirated or made free.

So how will an independent, store-front, hardcover-selling bookstore compete?

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The Food For Thought Books Collective is a workers' collective small bookstore in downtown Amherst, MA that has survived for more than thirty years. This bookstore, and many independent bookstores like it, have been able to stay competitive by joining together in the American Booksellers Association, a trade association that helps independent bookstores sell books online, network with publishers and authors, get advertisements, and attract future readers through a service called Indiebound.

There is another independent bookstore just down the street, but Food For Thought does not consider them competition. Food For Thought has found a specific niche of books to sell that they have special expertise in. These books may not be sold in other bookstores since they require the attention of a local reader with similar interests.

One of their specific niches is surrounding textbooks for students in the college town. Professors or instructors prefer Food For Thought because they are much easier to deal with than the more corporate sellers like eFollet. They also may suggest students look at other books in the bookstore that would be more likely pair up with a course.

Food For Thought offers a few special events, a comfortable feel, and gives back to the community. For example, they allowed local artists from Hampshire College to paint a mural outside their store.

People will want that tactile feel of holding a book, being able to talk directly to an expert about recommendations and their opinions on what the reader might like, find books that may not be available elsewhere, or being able to buy from a store that gives back to the community and be apart of their daily lives. Independent bookstores are here to stay.

I interviewed Mitch Gaslin (pictured above), who has worked at Food For Thought for 23 years, to learn more about the local bookstore.

-Jonathon Cohen

Jonathon Cohen's Documentary Links

Michael Moore might just be the most popular documentary film-maker of our time. He is also the man that has made it nearly impossible for any journalist to walk up to anyone and say, "Hi, I'm writing a documentary. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" He shows a very specific point of view in his films that critics have objected to for being biased. But with the highest grossing documentary of all time, you have to admit that he has a major effect on shaping the way we make documentaries. I highly recommend watching all of his documentaries and Canadian Bacon. To get a taste of his style, I have provided the full documentary of Bowling For Columbine.

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The League of Noble Peers created a documentary series called Steal This Film that documents the movement against intellectual property.

To promote their cause, they distribute their films for free via the BitTorrent p2p protocol. If you do not understand how they distribute films, then this is why their documentary style is so important.

There have been a few documentaries by 'old media' crews who don't understand the net and see peer-to-peer organisation as a threat to their livelihoods. They have no reason to represent the filesharing movement positively, and no capacity to represent it lucidly. We wanted to make a film that would explore this huge popular movement in a way that excited us, engaged us, and most importantly, focussed on what we know to be the positive and optimistic vision many filesharers and artists (they are often one) have for the future of creativity.^[1]

The League have come out with another film, to help educate the public about the landmark trial against The Pirate Bay, a torrent tracking website, for promoting other people's infringements of copyright laws. The results of this case could change the course of intellectual property for years to come. The full feature can be seen below.

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Sean Penn recently won an Oscar for his performance in Milk, a docudrama about the life of Harvey Milk. While Milk may be more entertaining, another film of similar name also won an Academy Award for a film about Harvey Milk.

The Times of Harvey Milk uses archival footage and narration to show the political career and impact of Harvey Milk and was an inspiration for the 2008 film. Hulu is offering the documentary free for viewing with a few short advertisements.




I hope you enjoyed my documentary links and please feel free to comment below! :)