Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy; Bye, Molly! (2006) Online

Ontic Antics Starring Laurel and Hardy; Bye, Molly! (2006) Online

Originally a live Nervous System work (presented using a special film-projection contrivance that wife Flo and I would set up here and there), it hurt us that these were ephemeral works. Someone surprised us with a videotaping that caught more of the technique's unique visual effects than we expected. Still, re-filming wasn't good enough. I then began to investigate computer possibilities, first with FLO ROUNDS A CORNER (1999). But only after completing STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH (2003-4) was it possible to go farther. ONTIC ANTICS is our first Nervous System piece made permanent. The 1929 Laurel and Hardy short BERTH MARKS, filmed twice, with and without sound, is our glorious take-off point. In some ways ONTIC ANTICS now goes beyond what had been possible in live performance, especially the new (purely-digital) 3-D coda. The foot-stool that becomes a live puppy, however, is no computer effect but comes from rapid juxtaposition of opposing left-right frames, just as in the live ...