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Ken Burns

kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
edited June 2007 in Strut Central
He has a new, 7 part series on WWII coming out this fall.To say I'm excited is an understatement.CIVIL WAR= GREATEST DOCUMENTARY EVER??? "Ashokan Farewell," like what???????? Discuss the realness of America's greatest documentarian, and PBS, his exclusive home.

  Comments

  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    Don't like his style at all. Too slow. He also has a traditional American approach to history, i.e. that "great men" move history forward. Thus in his Jazz documentary he's still talking about Luis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in the 1960s.

    That being said I'm a WWII nut so I'll probably still give it a look.
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    Don't like his style at all. Too slow. He also has a traditional American approach to history, i.e. that "great men" move history forward. Thus in his Jazz documentary he's still talking about Luis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in the 1960s.

    That being said I'm a WWII nut so I'll probably still give it a look.

    I think he's better with war/history than art. Jazz was very :ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh: to these eyes/ears, and Baseball was good, but not as great as Civil War, Jefferson, Brooklyn Bridge.

    That said, Unforgivable Blackness: the Jack Johnson story was doooooooooope.

    Anyway, this one, like many, is to be a first hand account from many americans, focusing on certain towns that had a big impact on the war, from interned Japanese of Sacramento to a farming town in MN that had a large impact on the US effort.

    i'll be watching.

    WWII was ... wow ... lot to talk about with that war.
  • macacamacaca 278 Posts
    his jazz series was kind of weak, even though i burned the entire set from the library.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    In his defense.
    He does not do reenactments. (I hate reenactments.)
    His research is impeccable.
    I learned about Pre WWI Black marching bands from the Jazz doc.
    That Brooklyn Bridge thing is face melt.

    On the other hand...
    There was so much wrong with Jazz.
    His earnestness and pretension is offensive. (I'm not talking about his docs, I'm talking about those moments when he is on screen.)

    I agree that he goes with the great men make the nation argument. It bugged us in Jazz. I bet it bugged baseball historians in baseball.

    This doc is supposed to be all about the little guy. No McArthurs or Pattons.

    On the down side there also will be no Gonzalez or Perez.
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    It's WWII, there is a TON of footage out there to pick from. If he goes for his traditional, I'm going to show a still photograph for 5 minutes and have a slow voice over I'm gonna tune out quick.
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    yo Laser, saw your wife's recent chalk project on a favorite art blog this week. continued props.

    woostercollective, as i recall if you want to collect the press.

    EDIT:

    Found the link:
    http://www.woostercollective.com/

    that you up top?
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    And coming down the pike in 2009, he has a new film called The National Parks coming out, and he's looking for home movie submissions to use in the doc. Which means your family's footage can be featured in a Ken Burns production. I'm feeling awfully lazy right now, so I'm just going to cut and paste a bit of promo copy I recently wrote for it here:

    Have you ever been to one of America???s national parks? Did you take your video camera? If so, you might be able to see your footage on WGBH in a documentary produced by none other than Ken Burns!

    Burns and writer/producer Dayton Duncan are teaming up to produce a film that will tell the human history of five of the nation???s premiere national parks: Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Acadia, and Great Smoky Mountains. Slated to air in the fall of 2009, The National Parks will feature historic family footage of the parks from the 1920s through the 1980s.

    Footage must be submitted by August 1, 2007. Get submission information: a href="http://nationalparkstraveler.typepad.com/national_parks_traveler/2007/03/help_ken_burns_.htmlhttp://nationalparkstraveler.typepad.com/national_parks_traveler/2007/03/help_ken_burns_.htmlbr />
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Oh, and apropos of nothing, dude was in the office the other day. He's about 5'4" and still has that same haircut that he must have had since he was 5 years old. Perhaps one day he'll use his filmmaking skills to tackle his true passion--the bowl cut.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    yo Laser, saw your wife's recent chalk project on a favorite art blog this week. continued props.

    woostercollective, as i recall if you want to collect the press.

    EDIT:

    Found the link:
    http://www.woostercollective.com/

    that you up top?

    Thanks.

    This is Mike K. He is a member of Veterans For Peace. He has come down to help chalk a number of mornings.

    Today he showed up just as Nancy had written his family name.

    For those who don't know about Nancy's work check out my blog and pics. Maybe this will be Burns' next project.
    http://iraqnamesproject.wordpress.com/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/iraqnamesproject/
  • white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts
    Oh, and apropos of nothing, dude was in the office the other day. He's about 5'4" and still has that same haircut that he must have had since he was 5 years old. Perhaps one day he'll use his filmmaking skills to tackle his true passion--the bowl cut.


    Pop that (denim) collar!
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