58 min
Episode 9: Thinking Through Nonsense and Animation with Prof. Richard Cousins SOUNDPROOF
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- Performing Arts
Cinesthesia 09 Original Broadcast Radio Playlist March 14, 2024 1. Olivier Bernet / Tout Ce Qui Est A Vous M’appartient (film: Persepolis) 2. John Zorn / Music for Tsunta (Nine Cues) (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 3. John Zorn / Hollywood Hotel: Objects (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 4. John Zorn / Hollywood Hotel: Japanese Tourists (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 5. John Zorn / Hollywood Hotel: Night Hotel 2 (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 6. Barzin / Folded Petal (film: The Shadow of My Life) 7. Barzin / Canvas (film: The Shadow of My Life) 8. Maurice Solway / Judicial Polka (film: The Violin) 9. Tom Waits / Heigh Ho (The Dwarfs Marching Song) (From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) (from: Stay Awake, 1988) 10. Barzin / Starry Night (film: The Shadow of My Life) 11. Barzin / A Meeting in the Rain (film: The Shadow of My Life) 12. Barzin / Feathers (film: The Shadow of My Life) 13. Barzin / A Dark Pool (film: The Shadow of My Life) 14. Barzin / Persona (film: The Shadow of My Life) 15. Olivier Bernet / Manifestations (film: Persepolis) 16. Olivier Bernet / La Bonne Lecon (film: Persepolis) 17. Olivier Bernet / L’é Popée d’Anouche (film: Persepolis) 18. Sinéad O’Connor/Andy Rourke / Someday My Prince Will Come (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) (from: Stay Awake, 1988)
Back in 2022, Professor Richard Cousins walked into our class and talked some nonsense. And thinking through nonsense, I wrote this response. I once heard a personal theory about the brain’s inner workings that makes a person erupt with laughter. As the idea goes, when listening to a joke, the set-up engages the brain’s left hemisphere, but then the punchline suddenly forces the listener to switch to the right. For example, the left brain may follow “E-flat walks into a bar.” But when “the bartender says ‘sorry we don’t serve minors,” our grasp quickly slips to the right. According to the hunch, this abrupt shift is what causes laughter. A sudden detour into nonsense can cause someone to laugh.
The getting of “laughs” is the motor that drives the nonsense in some early animations. In comedies like Ernie Kovacs’ Eugene, Tex Avery’s Screwball Squirrel, and Charles M. (“Chuck”) Jones’ Duck Amuck, each short notably plays with defying the audience’s expectations with filmmaking conventions.
Read more: https://laalfonso.substack.com
Cinesthesia 09 Original Broadcast Radio Playlist March 14, 2024 1. Olivier Bernet / Tout Ce Qui Est A Vous M’appartient (film: Persepolis) 2. John Zorn / Music for Tsunta (Nine Cues) (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 3. John Zorn / Hollywood Hotel: Objects (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 4. John Zorn / Hollywood Hotel: Japanese Tourists (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 5. John Zorn / Hollywood Hotel: Night Hotel 2 (from: Filmworks III: 1990-1995) 6. Barzin / Folded Petal (film: The Shadow of My Life) 7. Barzin / Canvas (film: The Shadow of My Life) 8. Maurice Solway / Judicial Polka (film: The Violin) 9. Tom Waits / Heigh Ho (The Dwarfs Marching Song) (From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) (from: Stay Awake, 1988) 10. Barzin / Starry Night (film: The Shadow of My Life) 11. Barzin / A Meeting in the Rain (film: The Shadow of My Life) 12. Barzin / Feathers (film: The Shadow of My Life) 13. Barzin / A Dark Pool (film: The Shadow of My Life) 14. Barzin / Persona (film: The Shadow of My Life) 15. Olivier Bernet / Manifestations (film: Persepolis) 16. Olivier Bernet / La Bonne Lecon (film: Persepolis) 17. Olivier Bernet / L’é Popée d’Anouche (film: Persepolis) 18. Sinéad O’Connor/Andy Rourke / Someday My Prince Will Come (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) (from: Stay Awake, 1988)
Back in 2022, Professor Richard Cousins walked into our class and talked some nonsense. And thinking through nonsense, I wrote this response. I once heard a personal theory about the brain’s inner workings that makes a person erupt with laughter. As the idea goes, when listening to a joke, the set-up engages the brain’s left hemisphere, but then the punchline suddenly forces the listener to switch to the right. For example, the left brain may follow “E-flat walks into a bar.” But when “the bartender says ‘sorry we don’t serve minors,” our grasp quickly slips to the right. According to the hunch, this abrupt shift is what causes laughter. A sudden detour into nonsense can cause someone to laugh.
The getting of “laughs” is the motor that drives the nonsense in some early animations. In comedies like Ernie Kovacs’ Eugene, Tex Avery’s Screwball Squirrel, and Charles M. (“Chuck”) Jones’ Duck Amuck, each short notably plays with defying the audience’s expectations with filmmaking conventions.
Read more: https://laalfonso.substack.com
58 min