I headed last monday towards the beautiful capital city of Germany, Berlin. This really huge agglomeration is my most favorite city, offering a GREEEAAAAT cultural menu... art, fashion, music, exhibitions... In 4 days, I did more than 50 cultural things/stuff/whatever (not the tourist bullshit) and it was simply amazing... I experiences some nice conversations with young artists, photographers and had the amazing honour to talk to some film students (greetings ;)). The short trip really influenced me, I saw a type of life I never experienced... happiness with the most simple things in the world, no influence of stuff we could never imagine to live without here in Luxembourg and yeah... could talk 3 hours about this but I just came home and am a total wreck^^
I want to share only one picture with you which I took by coincidence but shows how rural life in Berlin is and how people actually support each other (both guys didn't know each other, I asked). It's great I think ;)
A few weeks passed by, school is over... and I did absolutely no photographs or filmed anything... This is not caused by a lack of creativity but result of the simple fact that I was not able to realize my ideas the way I initially wanted to. Personal problems and a change of mind created a distance between me and my projects so I did a Tabula Rasa, realigned my thoughts and wrote a new concept for a short film about deceptions of life, loss of identity and guilt. It's not yet finished, but this time, I feel more connected to it. The initial idea for a short movie was a nice mashup of different kinds of youth violence + consequences, but it was, honestly, lame. The new project called "Mutability" will be darker, more serious, dirty, focussed on the fucked up facts of a reality scarred by pain and social devastation... "Terminus" by Philip Bloom (<3) inspired me to do something more apocalyptic, I think it's the right direction....
The only problem: I need an actor, male, looking quite old, ready to play a fucked up person without feeling ashamed if the scene becomes too weird.... will be a challenge! If anybody is interested, I cannot offer you money, but it will be a nice experience, I swear, contact me ;)
What do you do when you absolutely don't want to flow with the masses on National Day? You grab your Cam and go doing some night photography with a friend! Fortunately, a local firework began just at the moment where we prepared to go home! :)
Some impressions:
21st of June: 5 days ago, Rise Against published their music video for Make It Stop (September's Children). This video marshals me to say a few things about the content of this video.
What's the video about? It shows us three teenagers and their daily life in highschool, which is more an agony than a life. At first, all three teenagers can't stand the situation, are willing to commit suicide in order to put an end to their sufferings. At the crucial point, they realize that there is ALWAYS something to live for and that life gets better!
This video is much more than a simple music video. As usual, Rise Against combine excellent punk songs to really authentic, eructative videos with really deep meanings. The content is not made up out of thin air, at every second, every tracking shot, every cut, every single word contains the focussed, intensive aestesia of brilliant musicians.
I underline EVERY SINGLE WORD/PICTURE of this music video. I know about the sufferings of being bullied for being someone who doesn't totally fit in society, the anxiety of being constricted by people that feel superior. I really was at a point of not knowing and wanting to continue. I felt unworthy to live amongst these people who seemed so strong and untouchable. At a very critical point, I succeeded in overcoming the situation, I began realizing how weak those guys and girls actually were, they were definitely not better than me. I fought against their oppression and succeeded (WITHOUT ANY ACT OF VIOLENCE!). I became a goddamn strong person, I don't care about what people say about me, I don't let them touch my dignity.
Never again.
Society, WE, need to realize that EVERY SINGLE god damn person is part of our society and that we have to support everyone on this planet. Bullying is the result of social and ethical/moral ignorance of a collective that has installed a moral system based on personal benefits at the cost of social engagement. Changes must imperatively be done to reduce violence and to improve the dignity of every single man or woman on the planet! Every crime, every single word of discrimination is a capital offense against humanity! The global situation of violence (every form of violence) has reached a point where we cannot simply sit down and talk!
This war is a war that must be led by every human being. Everyone can fight in his environment against violence, bullying, discrimination, it still is possible! And even if we could only save one person from being bullied or from committing suicide because of being bullied, we gained a victory! I stand up for a society who's ambitions go further than achieving a certain point of prosperity! Real prosperity is defined by achieving living conditions in which every human being can evolve, regardless of whether a perosn fits into any norm! I really know that I will never experience a peaceful world, but I'm quite sure that my actions in the past few years didn't assist violence. Being motivated, trying to help people, working for a concrete aim is never useless and can never be repaid in monetary form. The actions of one single person may seem useless, but if I am able to change one person's mind... you know what I mean...
Stay strong, stand for your goals, never let someone oppress you... This world needs strong people.... strong people who can lead a fight that does not involve arms or violence! Strong =/= strong! Help change the world with your funds... every good intention is a progress!
I hope that my future projects can illustrate this complex of problems....
Sorry for grammar and orthography, I'm always getting impulsive on this theme....
Three weeks 'till summer vacation and I feel constrainted to inform you what I will do these 2 months of summer.
First, I'll do some bandshootings with some really nice bands (infos at a later date). I'm really looking forward to these dates in my calendar and I've planned a few really nice locations... Did you know that it takes hell of a lot of time in order to actually get a permission to shoot in abandoned industry halls or in engine sheds?
Then, it's time to shoot my short film about violence and different ways to antagonize it starring a quite young (18) and very talented amateur actor.... FINALLY! (I waited for this moment since January)
I'm currently planning a series of photographs named "Burning Society" involving burning objects which represent different aspects of modern society, but I'm not sure whether to realize it or to simply do one or two single photograph's (a whole series could turn boring I think...). Here's a first impression of what this series could look like (note that I made this photograph in around three minutes in order to visualize the theme):
What are you thinking about?
What I'll certainly do is travelling to Berlin to do some street photography with a friend of mine (kind of really dirty, hardcore, ugly street photography :D ).
Another shooting that I'm going to do is a series of Luxembourg City, but I'm still looking for a good motto for the shooting....
Stay tuned, I'll provide you with more infos as soon as I get them ;)
It's my obligation to call your attention to the annual "Fête de la Musique" taking place in a whole bunch of cities in Luxembourg.
Anyone who's somehow interested in music should pay a visit to one of the events (it's over the whole weekend). You'll certainly not find a "festival" that provides such an amount of high class music to the astonishing price of 0€ ;)
As every year, Dudelange (lovely called Dudetown) becomes the stronghold of the events, giving local and international bands a chance to play in front of a huge and highly interesting crowd. This year's headliner is Royal Republic, a Swedish rockband with really nice and massive songs, so roll out the red carpet ;)
Here's Dudetown's timetable, if' you've not planned to go, this might change your opinion, it's worth it ;) MAIN STAGE: 16h30 - 01h00 16.00-16.35: BIRDBONES 17.15-17.55: LIA 18.35-19.25: WORLDFLY 20.20-21.35: THE HOOTERS 22.20-23.20: PUGGY
00.00-01.00: ROYAL REPUBLIC
...
PLANET STAGE: 16h00 - 00h00
16.40-17.10: S.K.O.R.
18.00-18.30: ANGEL AT MY TABLE
19.30-20.10: YEW
21.40-22.10: METRO
23.25-23.55: BABYOIL
...
WHY NOT STAGE: 18h00 - 01h00
18.00-18.40: TUYS
19.00-19.40: THOUGHTS OF THE 4
20.00-20.40: LUCEED
21.00-21.40: DE LÄB
22.05-22.50: HAL FLAVIN
23.15-23.50: MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY
00.10-01.00: VERSUS YOU
(I really prefer the line-up of the small stages this year) Bye, see you in Dudetown ;)
It was a toss-up whether to create a "real" web presence or to launch a blog in order to get rid of my creative overkill. I really don't want to speechify, so I'm trying to get to the point:
Amidst my impressive cultural and creative environment, I felt quite solitary. I know hell of a lot of so called "photographers", a few filmmakers and a nice number of musicians, poets and authors, but I never felt connected to anyone of these guys to a point which could lead me to a permanent collaboration with one of them. I'm a child of the new century: I know exactly how it feels to be permanently connected to everyone and everything, to be exposed to tons of junk people spit on social networks and to have to conform to social and moral "standards" in order to fit in a society (which I definitely don't approve!).
These two completely different sides of life, art/culture and modern "trash" society, are an endless source of inspiration for people who are still able to do more in life than to vegetate. Instead of trying to fit in, I try to stay outside, to do my thing... Every attempt to fit in something is an adjudgement against creativity... and creativity can be taken from any milieu one wants!
Even if I personally don't like how our society manages fun, morals, etc. I will certainly not try to denounce anyone's way of life. My work, which I realize with different forms of art (especially Photography and Film) will not "lead a way" or "create a new world order", but it will be representive for my way of thinking, my "vision" of a spiritual well developped global mind. That is the reason why I created this blog ;)
Why "Crack Up"?
- To crack up means: - to break sth into pieces
- to turn crazy
- A crack up = crash of a plane
I think this explains why I named the blog like this. I want to do sith different, which may crash into some people's mind/world conception, because this simply makes fun! Nothing more to say ;)
What can you expect from this blog?
-an insight at my work as amateur photographer and moviemaker
-close-ups of different events which I pick at random (Concerts, Shows, Exhibitons, Contests, Global events,...)
-comments on a wide lineup of themes (WWW, everyday-situations, funny videos etc)
Nevertheless, this blog should be about what I do, not about what I want to do, so let's just start the creativity engines.... 3....2....1..... see you later ;)
