Halber Mensch (A.K.A.- 1/2 Mensch) (1986) by Sogo Ishii & Einstürzende Neubauten

"Halber Mensch" (aka "1/2 Mensch") is a 1986 film by Japanese director Sogo Ishii with German band Einstürzende Neubauten. It was originally released on VHS, and re-released on DVD in 2005. The film's title comes from the album of the same name.

Einstürzende Neubauten were in their creative prime when punk film pioneer

Sohgo Ishii shot this 58-minute document in Tokyo during the band's world

tour in 1985.

Set mostly in a condemned factory/junkpile (the former Nakamatsu Ironworks),

the film features a tormental troupe of butoh dancers, fire, FM Einheit repairing

his shoe, micro photography, industrial textures, live footage from their Korakuen

Hall arena shows, one of their guerilla street actions, lots of beautiful destruction

and amazing music.

It's extremely, lyrically visual, perhaps because Ishii didn't feel the need to

hang everything on some skimpy plot this time and could just let his camera do the talking.

[01]. Armenia

[02]. Sehnsucht

[03]. Letztes biest

[04]. Abfackeln

[05]. Zerstorte Zelle

[06]. Halber Mensch

[07]. Z.N.S.

[08]. Die Zeichnungen des Patienten

[09]. Der Tod ist ein Dandy

[10]. Schaben

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halber_Mensch_(film) 

Buckminster Fuller - Everything I Know (1975)

networkawesome.com has compiled 42 hours of video taken during the last two weeks of January 1975 when Buckminster Fuller gave an extraordinary series of lectures concerning his entire life's work. These thinking out loud lectures span 42 hours and examine in depth all of Fuller's major inventions and discoveries from the 1927 Dymaxion house, car and bathroom, through the Wichita House, geodesic domes, and tensegrity structures, as well as the contents of Synergetics. Autobiographical in parts, Fuller recounts his own personal history in the context of the history of science and industrialization. The stories behind his Dymaxion car, geodesic domes, World Game and integration of science and humanism are lucidly communicated with continuous reference to his synergetic geometry. Permeating the entire series is his unique comprehensive design approach to solving the problems of the world. Some of the topics Fuller covered in this wide ranging discourse include: architecture, design, philosophy, education, mathematics, geometry, cartography, economics, history, structure, industry, housing and engineering.

Reference: networkawesome.com

Peter Gabriel- Digging in the Dirt (1992) music video by John Downer

"Digging in the Dirt" is a 1992 song by British musician Peter Gabriel. It was the first single taken from his sixth studio album, Us. The song was only a minor hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, but it topped both the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The song was moderately successful on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at #24.

The music video for the single was directed by John Downer and utilised stop-motion animation, a technique used in the videos for Gabriel's earlier hits "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time". The work was painstaking, especially for Gabriel himself who was required to lie still for hours at a time over the course of several days. The video won a Grammy award in 1993 in the Best Short-Form Video category.

The video is largely an exploration of the issues in his personal life at the time- the end of his relationship with Rosanna Arquette, his desire to reconnect with his daughter and even the self healing he was looking for in therapy.

In the video, Gabriel is displayed in a variety of disturbing imagery- including being buried alive, consumed by an overgrowth of foliage (thanks to a gruelling stop-motion process) and flying into a rage while trying to swat a fly. This time, Gabriel returned to stop motion and claymation- that had served him so well in the 1980s, forgoing (the then primitive and time-consuming) computer graphics used in "Steam".

From the onset, the word "help" forms in the grass while dark imagery plays. Gabriel eerily morphs into a skeleton while at the same time trying to excavate himself. Ultimately, the viewers are left with a gleam of hope as "help" morphs into "heal" after Gabriel symbolically rises from the soil, clad in white.

The Secret World Live version of the song is far more intense than the studio version. This is due to a chaotic blend of disturbingly high pitched distorted guitar (by guitarist David Rhodes), as well as occasional jarring synth bass stabs (Tony Levin) and an expansive performance by Manu Katché on the drums. The stage craft for the song is considered a highlight of the show. Gabriel wore a special "helmet" with a video camera attached in an antennae-like way, showing in great detail his facial expressions, while moving in time with the music. This is used to create a particularly grotesque image of Gabriel, most prominent during the "freak-out" sequence in which the camera is graphically pointed down Gabriel's throat.

Lyrics:
Something in me, dark and sticky
All the time it's getting strong
No way of dealing with this feeling
Can't go on like this too long

[Chorus:]
This time you've gone too far [x3]
I told you [x4]
This time you've gone too far [x3]
I told you [x4]

Don't talk back
Just drive the car
Shut your mouth
I know what you are
Don't say nothing
Keep your hands on the wheel
Don't turn around
This is for real
Digging in the dirt
Stay with me, I need support
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurt

The more I look, the more I find
As I close on in, I get so blind
I feel it in my head, I feel it in my toes
I feel it in my sex, that's the place it goes

[Chorus]

I'm digging in the dirt
Stay with me I need support
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
To open up the places I got hurt

Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt




Below is the Digging in the Dirt video, the live concert footage from the Secret World Live DVD, and The Making of Digging in the Dirt music video. Enjoy!