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ekm on paper

@technicolorfamiliar / technicolorfamiliar.tumblr.com

All posted content belongs to me, unless stated otherwise. My Other Blog: @traces-to-nowhere
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✨️Art vs Artist 2023✨️

Real talk? This year has been a doozy, you guys. I left a long-term job back in May and have been struggling to figure out what's next. Then a sudden family emergency hit last month. Productivity has been pretty low, art wise. Only in the past few months have I started to get back into drawing. But I've been enjoying exploring a new medium with embroidery.

#my art#art vs artist#apparently the color of 2023 was burnt orange
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Technicolor Familiar Watches Too Many Conrad Veidt Movies Part 2 of ?

(More on what this is all about in Part 1)

Disclaimer: I think I get into more plot spoilers here than I did in my last post, incase that matters to any interested parties reading this.

We're getting into the titles where I mostly went in cold, no expectations or even general ideas of what these movies were about beyond brief descriptions on IMDB or Letterboxd.

Oh and, Disclaimer #2: If the creators/editors/scanners of any images used see their work here, please let me know so I can give you proper credit! 🖤

#my writing#conrad veidt#the thief of bagdad#the student of prague#the passing of the third floor back#the last performance#dark journey
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Technicolor Familiar Watches Too Many Conrad Veidt Movies Part 1 of ?

Apropos of nothing, I find myself wading around waist deep in Conrad Veidt's filmography, at least the titles I can easily find online.

I've been writing down my mostly brief impressions after each movie, mainly for my own entertainment since I know exactly zero other people who would care lol. I actually created a Mastodon account especially for this purpose, since my primary socials aren't really for this sort of thing. But the character limit on Mastodon is seriously cramping my style, so I'm going to be annoying about this on Tumblr, my self-imposed blog expectations be damned.

I'm not doing plot summaries, but there are spoilers. I'm not watching these movies in any particular order other than what I'm in the mood for on any given day. I'm half trying to keep the thirst levels to a minimum, but no promises; all bets were off after watching A Woman's Face. And tbh, this whole thing has turned into an Emotional Support / Coping Mechanism / Escapism Tactic because hoo boy is my brain bad these days. But be forewarned, I'm not a writer, I'm not a film critic. I just like movies and turns out I like Conrad Veidt a lot too. I'd probably have more and better things to say about a lot of these upon a second or third watch.

So as of late November, I'm 15 films deep with a lot more to go. I'm thinking about splitting this up into multiple posts, maybe like 5ish films/post. Originally I was going to see how many of these movies can I watch before the end of 2023. But I'm just going to keep going until I run out of available titles or I get sick of Connie's face (unlikely).

#my writing#conrad veidt#the man who laughs#eerie tales#the cabinet of doctor caligari#the hands of orlac#a woman's face
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Depeche Mode // Oct 23, 2023 // Washington, DC Finally! I missed out on the first North American leg of the Memento Mori tour and very nearly missed out on this one. But I finally made it to a show and it delivered on all fronts.

#depeche mode#my writing
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Just realized I never posted these here: these are two illustrations I made for the Blixa Bargeld supporter-created zine I helped design and compile last year. I really love Blixa's work with Teho Teardo, so I wanted to do something related to their back catalog.

#my art#blixa bargeld#teho teardo
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To live inside a dream.

Been thinking a lot about Punchdrunk's The Burnt City during its final weeks. I definitely had some mixed feelings when I went to see it last fall, but so much of the experience has stayed with me in my memory and imagination, which I think must be a good thing.

Some of my very favorite things about TBC were the spaces and environments. The design and details were such a standout -- especially the graphic design, from posters and signs to letterhead and album covers. And I really loved the creative merging of eras and styles. I wish I had spent a whole show just investing time exploring the space, digging into the richness of detail.

#my art#sketchbook#the burnt city
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Been trying to teach myself embroidery for the past year or so. This is the first finished-ish piece so far, a stitch-friendly rework of an old digital drawing.

#my art#embroidery
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Punchdrunk's The Burnt City, Part 1/2

[This ended up being much longer than I thought it would be, so I'm breaking it up into two posts for now. Maybe more eventually...]

Well. I just got back from seeing four shows in three days. And I'm having a hard time thinking of a quick way to summarize my experience. Because, turns out (perhaps to no surprise), my feelings about the show and my time in it are COMPLICATED.

This is new for me. With Punchdrunk's work anyway. I don't feel just one way in particular about the show as a whole because it's really a sum of its parts. I'm finding that I can’t make a broad, generalized statement about The Burnt City. But I will say this: I did not feel the soul affirming, creatively inspiring magic in this show that I felt with Sleep No More and The Drowned Man. It seems that my relationship to their work has changed... which, again, is no real surprise.

That said, it is not a bad show! It is a masterful, challenging work of art with some moments of staggering brilliance. I was deeply moved and awed by a number of things I saw. Both tears and laughter were a part of those four shows for me. But I was not transported, my circuitry was not rewired, the lightning bolt of inspiration simply was not there.

Because of this, I wondered, "Was it worth it to fly to London to see this show four times?" and, "Would I want to come back?" In the end, I do think it was worth it (for Reasons… read on). However, I don't feel any desire to plan another trip any time soon.

But I want to keep this write up generally positive. I do have some pretty serious criticisms, but I don't feel like this is the space to be harping on the things that don't work.

Spoilers below, obviously.

#the burnt city#punchdrunk#immersive theatre#my writing