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THE SNOW LION BUDDHIST NEWS & CATALOG
From Apocalypse Now to Impermanence, Information about Impermanence Book
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144 pp., IMEMCH
$29.95 Snow Lion special $23.96
Order Now
Imagine an intimate, get-real conversation with 108 really interesting, introspective people focusing on impermanence and other core issues of life on this planet. Now imagine dipping into these fascinating conversations whenever you feel like it, exploring the things that really matter.
A new, fascinating, gorgeously designed DVD-and-book multi-media project, Impermanence, has been created for just this purpose by a set of award-winning artists, designers, and producers. With clients such as Sony and Apple, team members on this project have also been involved in DVD versions of Apocalypse Now, The Grateful Dead Movie, Marie Antoinette, and Shortcut to Nirvana, so the experience they deliver is sophisticated, artistic, and highly professional. Add in core Buddhist values (the project was originally part of a multi-museum tour dedicated to H.H. the Dalai Lama) and you get an idea of what a moving, inspiring experience it is to plug in the DVD or dip into the accompanying book. |
David Hodge, an internationally acclaimed artist who spearheaded the project with his wife Hi-Jin, notes, "People are tremendously moved by it. We've observed people watch the show [the contents of the DVD in their museum installation form] and break down into tears—or burst into laughter." He adds, "People seem to hear a certain thing—and they’re hooked. It's like a salve that draws them in."
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More about the book . . .
What does it mean that we are constantly changing? How do people confront ideas like death and change? Though impermanence is a central Buddhist concept, it’s also a universal concern. We all grow up, change, and eventually pass into another state. Impermanence: Embracing Change provides a range of voices, profound and heartwarming, that address these questions.
This well-designed book/DVD combination provides an immersion experience--intimate conversations with a over a hundred intelligent, interesting people about core issues that we so rarely get a chance to talk about. Based on the New York Times-reviewed exhibit, Impermancence features fascinating observations by people ranging from philosophers to gardeners, economists to spiritual leaders, doctors to patients. The authors promised themselves that they would stop when the interviews started to duplicate each other—but that never happened. Even the shyest people could talk about the topic for a long time; even those who appeared far from contemplative had thought deeply about impermanence. The result was incredibly moving. The Hodges’ installation consisted of a large, circular arrangement of mounted iPods on which the interviews played simultaneously, each on its own screen. The San Jose Mercury News called the piece “one of the most popular works in the exhibition.”
Including both a book and a DVD so that the interviews can be viewed as they were seen in the original exhibit, Impermancence is more than a beautiful record of the exhibit; it blends art, philosophy, and everyday life to present a kaleidoscope of views on a topic everyone has wrestled with.
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More about the Authors . . .
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David Hodge and Hi-Jin Hodge are filmmakers and artists whose work explores complex human and social questions. They live in Half Moon Bay, California. |
David Hodge and Hi-Jin Hodge |
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