Art - Les Astronautes (Borowczyk & Marker, 1959)

A scientist’s flight into outer space where, among other things, he spies on a young woman

Curated by Jason Forrest

Total Runtime: 0:12:05

This animated short deals with a scientist’s flight into outer space where, among other things, he spies on a young woman (Ligia Borowczyk) on his way up and later even saves a small spaceship from attack by a larger one – only for it to destroy his own vessel, which plummets back to Earth! The unusual animation combines the standard cartoon style with jazzy paper cut-outs and intermittent use of live-action, an approach which reached mass appeal a decade later with the arrival of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. —Mubi.com

Directors: Chris Marker, Walerian Borowczyk

Cast: Michel Boschet, Ligia Branice, Anatole Dauman, Philippe Lifchitz

Collection - Antoine (Et Les Problemes)

Get into the groove with Antoine, Vogue-approved French troubadour of the 1960s and beyond.

Curated by Whitney Weiss

Total Runtime: 0:22:05

Antoine (de son vrai nom Pierre Antoine Muraccioli), né le 4 juin 1944 à Tamatave (Madagascar), est un auteur-compositeur-interprète français. La chanson Les élucubrations d'Antoine le rend célèbre en 1966.

Il passe son adolescence entre la Savoie, la Haute-Savoie et l'Isère, où il fréquente le lycée Champollion de Grenoble en faisant les classes Math sup etmath spé. C'est dans cette ville qu'il achète sa première chemise à fleurs, sur le boulevard Maréchal Foch, et qu'il va obtenir le premier autographe deJohnny Hallyday^{[pas clair]}^{[réf. souhaitée]}. Élève-ingénieur de Centrale Paris (il obtient le diplôme en 1966^{Note 1}), un chagrin d'amour auprès de la sœur d'un élève de l'École Centrale l'amène à la chanson.

1966 : Les Élucubrations d'Antoine
1966 : Antoine rencontre Les Problèmes
1967 : Je reprends la route demain
1967 : Chante en italien
1967 : Madame Messanger, Claude, Jérémie et l’existence de Dieu
1968 : Bonjour salut
1969 : Enregistrement public à l’Olympia
1969 : Dites-moi ma mère
1969 : Album-disque pour grands et jeux pour tout-petits
1970 : Ra-ta-ta
1971 : Larraldia
1973 : Dans les chansons de l’opérette Dédé
1974 : Groseilles 74
1976 : Corcovado Rio de Janeiro
1977 : Corcovado reggae – Globe-flotteur
1978 : Corail noir
1980 : Quel beau voyage !
1981 : Solitaire
1985 : Aurore Montréal
1987 : Touchez pas à la mer
1993 : Iles… était une fois – Musiques du tour du monde (B.O.F., double CD)
1995 : Antoine rencontre le problèmes (Magic records, 1966-1967, 12 titres avec les Problèmes et 5 avec Les Charlots)
1998 : Les concerts inédits de Musicorama (1966-1969 et 1974, double CD)
2003 : Élucubre au petit journal
2007 : Bonjour salut (coffret 3 CD compilation 74 titres)

Talk Show - Albert Camus

Words from (and about) French philosopher/author Albert Camus.

Curated by Whitney Weiss

Total Runtime: 0:22:37

Albert Camus (French pronunciation: [al. bɛʁ ka.my] ( listen); 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French pied-noir author, journalist, and philosopher. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay "The Rebel" that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy ofnihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom. Although often cited as a proponent of existentialism, the philosophy with which Camus was associated during his own lifetime, he rejected this particular label.^[1] In an interview in 1945, Camus rejected any ideological associations: "No, I am not an existentialist. Sartreand I are always surprised to see our names linked..."^[2]

In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.^[3]

Camus was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times".^[4] He was the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, after Rudyard Kipling, and the first African-born writer to receive the award.^[5] He is the shortest-lived of any Nobel literature laureate to date, having died in an automobile accident just over two years after receiving the award.

In his writings Camus presented the reader with dualisms: happiness and sadness, dark and light, life and death, etc. His aim was to emphasize the fact that happiness is fleeting and that the human condition is one of mortality. He did this not to be morbid, but to reflect a greater appreciation for life and happiness. In Le Mythe, this dualism becomes a paradox: We value our lives and existence so greatly, but at the same time we know we will eventually die, and ultimately our endeavours are meaningless. While we can live with a dualism (I can accept periods of unhappiness, because I know I will also experience happiness to come), we cannot live with the paradox (I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless). In Le Mythe, Camus was interested in how we experience the Absurd and how we live with it. Our life must have meaning for us to value it. If we accept that life has no meaning and therefore no value, should we kill ourselves?

In Le Mythe, Camus suggests that 'creation of meaning', would entail a logical leap or a kind of philosophical suicide in order to find psychological comfort. But Camus wants to know if he can live with what logic and lucidity has uncovered – if one can build a foundation on what one knows and nothing more. Creation of meaning is not a viable alternative but a logical leap and an evasion of the problem. He gives examples of how others would seem to make this kind of leap. The alternative option, namely suicide, would entail another kind of leap, where one attempts to kill absurdity by destroying one of its terms (the human being). Camus points out, however, that there is no more meaning in death than there is in life, and that it simply evades the problem yet again. Camus concludes, that we must instead 'entertain' both death and the absurd, while never agreeing to their terms.

Meursault, the absurdist hero of L'Étranger, has killed a man and is scheduled to be executed. Caligula ends up admitting his absurd logic was wrong and is killed by an assassination he has deliberately brought about. However, while Camus possibly suggests that Caligula's absurd reasoning is wrong, the play's anti-hero does get the last word, as the author similarly exalts Meursault's final moments.

Camus made a significant contribution to a viewpoint of the Absurd, and always rejected nihilism as a valid response.

"If nothing had any meaning, you would be right. But there is something that still has a meaning." Second Letter to a German Friend, December 1943.

Camus' understanding of the Absurd promotes public debate; his various offerings entice us to think about the Absurd and offer our own contribution. Concepts such as cooperation, joint effort and solidarity are of key importance to Camus, though they are most likely sources of 'relative' versus 'absolute' meaning.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus

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Art - Les Astronautes (Borowczyk & Marker, 1959)