It’s been just over a year since M-Net and DSTV launched Mzansi Magic. In that time the channel has impressed me, especially with the broadcast of rare and historical South African content.

I have seen some of the most compelling stories on Mzansi Magic, documentaries  about politics, sports, celebrities, music, culture and tradition. Retrospective countdowns take viewers back as far as the late 1970′s, playing videos from South Africa’s disco and emerging “bubblegum” scenes.

Although the more current content isn’t my favorite it is still interesting to see local films, which are often independently produced. A series of short films produced by AFDA (one of South Africa’s premiere film schools) has had some airplay, showing just how comprehensive a view the channel provides.

The word mzansi, which is a colloquial term for South African is often irrelevantly put in front of a name, to make it more South African. This certainly isn’t the case for the Mzansi in “Mzansi Magic” as the channel has shown a dedication to commissioning and screening local content, which in effect is a boost for the industry.

It’s been talked about for months now, and yet when I got home the other night and saw that Kodak had declared bankruptcy, I was still shocked.

Or maybe shocked is the wrong word—just intensely distressed. For as long as I can remember, I have had to deal on a regular basis with Kodak removing from production the products they made that I had come to rely on. Among the most depressing were losing reversal print stock just after I began working with motion picture film, meaning I was only able to have prints made of my first film; then of course shooting my last rolls of Kodachrome in a rush just so I could have them processed. Plus-x reversal stock was a beautiful film I was sad to lose, with only a couple of rolls remaining in my crisper drawer.

Anyway, no sense eulogizing yet, since, at least for now, things are “business as usual” until they restructure. But it’s pretty clear from the language of the press release, and really from the way the company has been led for the past decade, that film is not on their mind for the future. Hopefully someone will take the business from them, and keep these wonderful film stocks in production, and maybe even bring back some that have been senselessly lost.

Ironically, the same day the bankruptcy was declared, Variety published this article about how the Motion Picture Academy has issued a report about the extreme problems of storing digitally completed works. The most stable solution for storing these works is, no surprise here, not digitally, but on separation negatives on black and white film. If Kodak had a CEO that cared about their history and products, they would be more interested in aggressively pushing what they are good at, rather than trying to stake their future fortunes on … printers?

The Roxie (SF’s oldest continually operating movie theater – since 1909!), like most weird, incredible, run-down, independent movie theaters, has been on the verge of shutting down for as long as I’ve lived here. I don’t think anyone ever had any trouble sneaking beer in to that particular theater (I certainly haven’t), but it’s great to see the SF Board of Supervisors making an effort to help support a neighborhood institution by approving a license which will allow them to sell beer and wine.

While I was initially concerned that the Roxie might just be trying to sell movie-goers on over-priced cans of PBR, last week’s ’2 Drunk 2 Die Hard’ event – a screening of Die Hard featuring beer from local brewery 21st Amendment – quickly put my fears to rest.

It’s a mixed blessing to live near a place that sells things that are increasingly hard to come by, that you want. On the one hand, the close proximity makes acquiring things when you realize you need them very easy. On the other hand, of course, it means you end up spending probably more money than you otherwise would. So it is with me and Freestyle Photographic Supplies.

I’ve been increasingly using my variety of 35 mm, 120 and Polaroid cameras, and processing black and white film by hand, and so naturally I need to make frequent visits to Freestyle. They carry a wide variety of films, are the US distributors of Holga cameras, and keep in stock all the chemistry you’re likely to need.

It’s a great thing to have a few blocks away, in a world where these things are increasingly difficult to find just by walking into a place in your neighborhood. They also have a gallery space off the sales floor, and for the next couple of months you can see work by the employees of Freestyle, all of whom are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about everything from straightforward, traditional black and white photography to all manner of alternative photo processes.

Liz Glynn - ALEXANDRIA and other Losses

Since I’ve been spending all of my money on film and chemicals, I have less money to spend on one of my other major vices: books. So naturally, I’ve been going to the library more. Los Angeles’ central library is a beautiful place to visit, not just for the usual reasons, but also because up on the 2nd floor, outside the Art, Music, and Recreation Department, is a modest gallery housing the ongoing series Works Sited, curated by LAPL librarian Olivian Cha for the past few years.

The series invites artists to create work “with themes relating to the library’s collections and practices.” Right now, artist Liz Glynn has created an exhibition that combines work made from books withdrawn from the collection and on their way to the dump with ephemera from the 1986 arson that destroyed a large part of the collection.

There once was a time where you couldn’t just fire away 10 shots in a row, review them and delete the ones you don’t like. Yes, the world of film. I am of the digital generation so my introduction to film came a bit later. Recently, I wandered into the local thrift shop and came out with a Holga 135 – something a little different from digital.

The Holga started out in the 90′s as cheap way to get people in China to take pictures. Everything about it is plastic from the body down to the lens. Originally manufactured in the medium format, Holga quickly manufactured a 35mm version as the format became more standard.

Holga’s fixed 47mm lens comes with 4 focus features; portrait, couple, family, and mountain but what makes it really make it shine is its shutter. It has two options; manual and standard 1/125 speed. No matter your setting, you can take as many images on a single frame as you please – imagine a portrait with a close-up on top of it – you will see an aura!

Holga marvels in its imperfection. Despite being mass-manufactured, each Holga is unique. Imperfectly engineered, each camera is slightly different in subtle ways; front light-leaks, back light-leaks, blackened corners, imperfections in the lens, the list goes on! You’re never sure what you’re going to shoot. There is little frame of reference besides the viewfinder, which doesn’t match up with the lens in close-ups! Each roll is a experiment and the anticipation of getting it developed is too good – it’s addictive.

I found several rolls of Advantix (APS) film in a pocket, which I didn’t know existed, of my bag that I didn’t realize existed (I use the bag almost every day). The film was probably hiding in there since I was in college, waiting for me to find it. Ripening. I’ve been using it now and the photographs are lovely. I had forgotten the joy of dropping off a roll of film at the drugstore, and picking it up an hour later. Then excitedly looking through the prints as I walk out the front door. In the past few years Advantix film has become super expensive. What’s that? You don’t know Advantix? It’s this weird format of film (24 mm) that is an analog precursor to digital film. It’s made me rediscover my love of point-and-shoot photography, and I’ve been shooting a ton of 35 mm film. The joy of Advantix though… man that camera is small! Smaller than any digital camera I’ve ever used.

I also discovered something even older lurking in the closet of the room I never lived in, but which is “my” room at my parents house—my old typewriter. It is, in fact, my grandmother’s typewriter. She gave it to me many years ago. I brought it back with me to LA and have been typing incessantly. It’s spurred my productivity. I’ve been creating dozens of little index cards for friends, little scores or things like that.

It is a real joy to type as opposed to typing on this thing I’m using to write this (a laptop—ugh). I guess the combination of not having something that is increasingly hot sitting on my crotch coupled with a screen blaring very unpleasant light into my eyes makes for an unpleasant experience. I just hope I never start treating the typewriter like a laptop, like this dude that sat next to me in a café in West Hollywood, who sat down and pulled a giant clunker out of his backpack and started typing away at it—what a douchebag!

Easily one of the most harrowing and psychologically tense movies I’ve ever seen, I immediately left Black Swan feeling like I needed a drink. This may or may not have something to do with me being able to relate to Nina’s (the main character played by Natalie Portman) singular obsession with perfection (practically to the point of madness), but this isn’t about me right now. Well, it’s not really about the movie either which comes highly recommended if you haven’t seen it.

This is about the incredible score, composed by Clint Mansell who also did a fantastic score for every hipster’s favorite heroin movie, Requiem for a Dream. Using many elements of “Swan Lake,” Mansell weaves in enough interesting twists on the classic to make it sound more like a horror ballet than a night at the theater with your parents.

Theatrical release poster from the first Human Centipede...

If you have the same reaction I did seeing the title of this entry, I assume you’ve either see the original Human Centipede (First Sequence) or you know what  the premise of the film is. Director Tom Six, despite death threats on Facebook, intends to release Human Centipede II (The Full Sequence) sometime in 2011 courtesy of IFC Films. It’s described as 100% medically INaccurate; sort of a play on the first film that was described as 100% medically accurate (numerous doctors found that claim debatable). There’s a sort of teaser trailer floating around the internet  with the director talking a bit about the second film while walking in a parking lot. It ends with him standing next to a man in a doctor’s coat splattered in blood with a cardboard box over his head. Despite its depravity, the Human Centipede franchise is a car crash some of us simply cannot turn away from. Something I’m certain Tom Six is very well aware of.

Natalie Portman in the Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky’s highly anticipated new film, Black Swan, is a thrill so gripping I thought it had induced in me a migraine.  Fortunately, as my muscles relaxed and I reacclimated to the world outside the theater my headache dissipated and I realized the physical effects of the movie were just a testament to an expertly woven psychological thriller.

I loved Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler, and was admittedly skeptical when I first heard of Black Swan.  It sounded slightly over the top, a little like a fairy tale with a dramatic conclusion.  And it was, but that was what I liked about it.  Black Swan achieves the timeless feel of the ballet, presenting a fable about personal demons and the drive for perfection.

Natalie Portman in Black Swan

Black Swan has inspired me to check out 1948′s The Red Shoes, apparently a strong influence on Aronofsky for Black Swan.  From the trailer it looks full of just as much yummy melodrama, described as a woman torn between the man she loves and her passion for ballet.  It says: “Thrill to matchless music, as she dances between two loves…”

Still from The Red Shoes