Says John Wilson, interviewed in "John Wilson’s Poetry of the Mundane/The director of 'The History of Concrete' discusses the value of comedy, nimbys, and making films out of both found moments and the rules that govern the Hallmark Channel" (The New Yorker).
Wilson, the genius behind my favorite TV show, "How To with John Wilson," explains his method: "I start the day by going out and filming potholes. I know that there’s a pothole somewhere about to give any day now, so I’ll go and do that. But then I’ll probably get bored, so I’ll go into a store nearby and see what’s going on there. And then I’ll tell them what I’m doing and see if they have anything to add. A lot of the time, the farther away you get from the subject matter, and the more you have someone from outside of that universe talk about it, the more interesting it gets, and the more illuminated the metaphor becomes."
And by the way, that's how I stumbled into the "Girl in Gold Boots" trailer, blogged in the previous post — "Just stumbled into the greatest movie trailer I have ever seen." I was looking for a DVD set of the HBO show "How To with John Wilson" so I could point non-HBO people to it. Didn't find it, found something else, which is nicely Wilsonesque.
"History of Concrete" might be a bit hard to find in theaters, but it is playing at Cinematheque here at UW on October 1st.
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25 comments:
I love looking at old concrete made with poorly sorted aggregate taken directly from River deposits.
“I was looking for a DVD set of the HBO show "How To with John Wilson" so I could point non-HBO people to it.”
I’d like one of those. I’d throw the DVDs away and use the case to hide my valuables. Not even the most determined…oh…I guess there might be one….
Reminds me of the Scandinavian books furniture stores kept on display with their Danish Modern furniture. I wonder now if those books were real.
Reminds me too of this recent book:
Fragility: A History of Plaster, by Alain Corbin, Translated by Helen Morrison
The book is real. Apparently, plaster was a big thing in 19th century France.
History Of Concrete sounds like just the sort of book I would pick up.
"The Girl with Gold Boots", or is it "The Girl in Gold Boots"
"In Gold Boots" was the subject of an MST3K's tenth season episode. It was regrettable. The movie was tedious and trite, and the riffing was uniformly lame as were the host segments. Compared to brilliant episodes like "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (s8,e9) and "Prince of Space" (s8, e16), the entire 10th season was listless and anemic.
I'd buy a book on the history of concrete. It sounds interesting.
But only if it is available on kindle so I can read it on my phone
John Henry
IMDB summarizes "The Girl in Gold Boots" thusly: A young woman leaves her job as a waitress and travels to Los Angeles, where she strives to become the top star in the glamorous world of go-go dancing.
Yep, that's about it. Subscribers gave it a 2.3 out of 10.
Perhaps "The Girl with Gold Boots" is a masterpiece, but IMDB ignores it completely.
Turns out that there is a book the History of Concrete by David Schmidt #4 of a series of books about materials. $6.99 via the portal.
I downloaded the sample via the portal. Toc looks interesting
John Henry
""The Girl with Gold Boots", or is it "The Girl in Gold Boots""
Thanks. Fixed.
""In Gold Boots" was the subject of an MST3K's tenth season episode. It was regrettable. The movie was tedious and trite, and the riffing was uniformly lame as were the host segments. "
Yeah, I watched the linked clip and didn't see what they were adding. The filtering through voices that were supposed to make what was boring funny interfered with the natural instinct to find it funny — perhaps because it wasn't sufficiently boring. It was fascinatingly terrible. So don't talk over it.
I thought it seemed like what John Waters made intentionally (in his older films like "Female Trouble" and "Polyester"). It's not easy to be that bad.
Howard,
River rocks generally make poor aggregate. They tend to be rounded and don't lock together like jagged, crushed rock does.
John Henry
A genuine history of concrete would be an import work of scholarship. We already know that many of the great surviving works of Roman engineering and architecture are largely made of poured concrete. Perhaps many other ancient monuments could reveal similar secrets of their construction. For example, the interior of the Great Pyramid of Giza may be concrete rather than quarried stone.
In my personal library, I have an 1899 copy of "Street Paving and Paving Materials.". :)
There have been several comments about reading books about concrete. About 15 years ago, Concrete and Culture by Adrian Forty was all the rage, examining (among other things) how concrete structures contributed to civilization, how mankind forgot for centuries how to make it properly, and noting how poorly we make it now, compared to the Romans. While our 50 and 100 year-old structures are crumbling, Roman concrete works still stand. Mr. Forty explains why. I'm surprised there's not more reference to that book by the current movie director.
I don' tknow about THE History of Concrete, but I have a personal History WITH Concrete, mostly associated with foundation and driveway installation and repair. Concrete is a demandingly harsh mistress, quick to turn on you if you don't follow its needs and wants. Timeliness is of the essence, which means preparation is key to success with it. I watched my driveway get poured and demolished twice, before on the third try they prepped properly and got it right. And those were professionals, supposedly.
My favorite experience with concrete was pouring a foundation for a house, with a very expert company which has done business in Austin for decades. The property being built was right next to a Catholic Church and school, and I'd gotten to know the church lady administering the place very well as the property was purchased and prepared for construction, as good neighbor relations were essential to avoid problems during construciton. She asked kindly, if any concrete was left after the foundation pour, if the workers would mind pouring it into potholes in their parking lot. I relayed this to the worker's supervisor, expecting a sensible chuckle as the only response. He said, "The company owner has such a great reputation in town because he always helps out in exactly these situations. Your last truck today was gonna be a half load. If you'll pay about $200 more for a full load, we'll take care of her parking lot." I agreed, and soon two of his guys were over at the Church, cleaning out potholes. They laid some excess rebar in the biggest erosions, and then when the last concrete truck was finished with the foundation, it drove next door and those two guys basically repaired the parking lot. Took about an hour. Cones put up to protect the newly poured spots, tape around the big erosion hole with rebar. Church lady delighted.
The Church later granted me an easement on the 1.5 foot of Church property the 50 year old chainlink fence between us had put on my side. Which was nice of them.
Concrete. It works miracles.
And yes, I would buy a coffee table book titled The History of Concrete.
The history of concrete is actually quite fascinating. To me, but them, I'm somewhat of a nerd even at 71.
Roman concrete used in sea walls poured a millennia ago are still standing and doing the job. Concrete poured 20 years ago is crumbling all around us, and crumbling concrete has destroyed many a building and is responsible for killing people every year. One of the many article explaining the durability of Roman concrete- https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/the-ancient-roman-secret-to-more-ductile-concrete-could-be-buried-miles-beneath-our-feet/
One of the many problems with modern concrete, particularly in shore areas is iron rebar. Why are we still using it? Ah, it's cheap, and everyone knows how to work with it. And why are we still pouring concrete for seawalls and structural supports that isn't fiber reinforced? It's cheaper and lasts 20 years. Took a course in engineering economics once- and according to economic calculations every dollar spent making something last more then 20 years is a dollar wasted- because that dollar invested would allow you to rebuild new in 20 years! But that's where I look at economic theory and Reality 101- no one invests that dollar.
In the South, where we don't pour salt on to the highways for months out of the year, fibercrete roadways with basalt or other fiber rebar would likely last 50 years or more. A bit more research is yet needed to determine a concrete composition that would last for northern roadways.
But even now- fibercrete with basalt of other fiber rebar would lengthen the lifetime of bridge supports and retaining walls. I could go on- but I suspect few here are really interested in concrete.
Also want to mention, though, my ancestors were brickmakers. And The Hamblet Blue Brick company in England was owned by relatives. Known for exceptionally strong blue brick- as in blue colored. Due to the clay composition. Turns out there are brick collectors and groups of brick collectors in England, and blue bricks of any kind have a special spot in brick collections.
The history of concrete makes me think about the Roman Empire.
“Reminds me too of this recent book:
Fragility: A History of Plaster, by Alain Corbin, Translated by Helen Morrison
The book is real. Apparently, plaster was a big thing in 19th century France.”
Yes, there are large gypsum deposits in Paris mined in the 19th century, and thus “Plaster of Paris”. It’s in the north, in Montmartre, Buttes-Chaumont , and Belleville. The Basilica of Sacre Coeur is on a hill that was extensively mined. It was mined in the times of the ancient Romans in small amounts.
This is true Jungian synchronicity, the translator was Hellen Morrison, and we all know that Morrison died in Paris in a bath tub and is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Heh. For the title of my first novel, I checked Amazon to see if my working title was already taken. It was, so I messed around with somewhat-relevant titles until I found one that no one had yet published (on Amazon). Why? I am far too retiring to self-promote with any effectiveness, so it wasn't as if anyone was going to hear about this book out in the world, go looking for it, and accidentally buy someone else's Title X - purchasers were all going to be my family, my friends, and - if I were lucky, and if the book were sufficiently entertaining - people at one remove from these. (There have been some of those. One keeps bugging my daughter, who told her about the first book, to bug me to finish the third one. The second one she found on her own.)
Law professor Michael Pollack, the author of the new book Sidewalk Nation: The Life and Law of America's Most Overlooked Resource calls on cities to create Departments of Sidewalks. As far as I'm concerned, they should step on it.
I would be intrigued by and would likely read a book entitled "The History of Concrete." I believe that an argument can be made that modern civilization developed as a consequence of the invention of and development of concrete.
I posted before reading the comments. Good to know that I am not alone. GMTA.
There was an old line about coffee table books that were bigger or heavier than actual coffee tables. "The History of Concrete" sounds like a good candidate. I would make it a two-volume set with volume one being "The History of Concrete in the Abstract."
BTW- there is a theory I saw, maybe a SCIFI short story, that the world is secretly run by the concrete industry. Shown by the fact that every civilization that has stopped pouring concrete and building with it has subsequently collapsed, and a new nation rises elsewhere or even in it's place that- starts building by pouring concrete. And thrives.
As long as the concrete pours- civilization thrives.
Just tried to look up the theory- and AI embellished it! And I found a book on the history of concrete: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13279543-concrete-planet
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