Tag: bike

Source unknown – Title Unknown (20XX)

A couple of posts back I mentioned about how in unselfconscious moments, no one really gives a second thought to accepted notions of public decorum. We pick our noses, scratch our asses and just generally give in to the entropy of personal comfort.

As such, this is clever insofar as the pose–although leaving little to the imagination–is actually not salacious. I mean, if a young woman riding her bike nude down a picturesque country road were to question whether or not she had a flat-tire, it might look something like this.

Yes, the camera is positioned ever so carefully to offer the audience the best view. But I do like the sense of scale, perspective and other than the dead flowering weed that just seems to float in the foreground, it’s actually a pretty damn decent composition.

(And, yes, anyone who was a seasoned bike rider would probably stop, straddle the bike and lean over the handle bars to check the tire–but that would be far less coy.)

With these type of images I always encourage people to ask: why is the subject naked? In this case, that’s not a question I think to ask. (I may not have ever had a chance to go skinny dipping in my life but I’ve damn well ridden a bike naked on dozens of occasions.)

But what I don’t understand is the damn umbrella strapped to the back of the bike? I mean, she doesn’t appear to need to wear glasses, she’s rocking the bedhead straight to braids look so it’s not like impending showers are going to muss her look and it’s warm enough for her to be riding her bike naked down a deserted country road…it seems to me an umbrella just doesn’t make a goddamn lick of sense.

Because riding a bike naked is great and all but running around without a stitch in the summer rain is bloody transcendent.

Source: nudepageant

Joe Swanberg & Adam Wingard – clips from Autoerotic (2011)

Yesterday, I posted this with a plea for someone to help me identify the source. (Credit to Den for the id.)

Alas, knowing the origin somewhat tarnishes my previous sterling opinion of the clip. (In fairness, I am torrenting the movie as I write this.)

So without having seen the entire film, let me focus on what I like about this clip–which essential boils down to production value.

I’d wager the exterior cafe, narrow hallway and bathroom are in three disparate geographic locations; however, note the way the character is blocked in the left third of the frame in the al fresco scene, then moves from left of center to right of center in the narrow hallway. Along with the ambient cafe noises, this contributes the illusion of continuity of physical space that appears seamless.

You can quibble that although holding on the exterior and holding on the narrow hallway contributes a sense of editing rhythm, the hold in the hallway seems to long. Also, although I understand why the character enters the restroom from the right third of the frame–given this is the same position from which she exited the previous frame and matches the angle at which she entered the bathroom, I’d have probably cheated it and had her entering from the left just to continue the movement from left to right in the previous frame.

I have no idea why focus wasn’t pulled to keep her in focus as she approaches the camera on her bike–but then I would have insisted on shooting it as a horizontal tracking master shot.

Despite these admittedly nitpicking flaws and the awkwardly porn-esque alleyway masturbation, I am rather fond of this clip for it’s attention to detail–you know what she’s going into the bathroom to do and instead of going for an explicit close up, the details of her arousal are conveyed through her flushed, sweat glazed face.

I’m pretty sure my opinion will diminish after seeing the full film but on the strength of these scenes, I am intrigued enough to take the plunge and that’s not nothing.