Time, Tarkovsky And The Pandemic

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SOURCES
www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
www.psychologicalscience.org/...
www.goalcast.com/2018/10/25/t...
www.latimes.com/lifestyle/sto...
www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-C...
www.bbc.com/future/article/20...
MUSIC
Blue Wednesday, "Long Walk, Short Dock (ft Dillan Witherow)"
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The Nerdwriter is a series of video essays about art, culture, politics, philosophy and more.

[@RhysticStudies]

"the days are long and the years are short"

[@YearsOfLeadPoisoning]

The years go fast and the days go so slow

[@taylormurphy8224]

Hey Sam, good to see ya :)

[@lainopening4958]

Days are short, and years are shorter yet. I need couple of trillion years.

[@Erik-zd2oi]

@@lainopening4958 you can have mine

[@plutosgardener2631]

My life in a nutshell

[@TheGaroStudios]

Nerdwriter and Tarkovsky? This is a good day

[@IMarcMan]

Oh hell yeah!

[@MsMeGUka]

My dream came true but I WANT MORE OF THIS 😃❤️

[@kenton643]

This is brilliant, please please please talk about Stalker and Solaris!

[@MsMeGUka]

@@kenton643 yass 💯❤️

[@greissava1525]

Nerdwriter1, Tarkovsky and TheGaroStudios in the same place? Too good to be true

[@benwasserman8223]

I love how all Nerdwriter needed to do to prove his point in this video was air a single, ongoing Tarkovsky clip. That's the most Tarkovsky thing one could do.

[@bobmcdade5217]

In a depiction of a man trying to cross a courtyard without the flame of the candle he is holding going out, Tarkovsky manages to generate more tension than many films featuring a ticking clock and a nuclear weapon.

[@DidBer]

An empty pool...

[@Watupwitthat1234567]

I’m at a shitty job where the hours drag and I see this video pop up in my spare time. Around five and a half minutes, the space above my mask is wet with tears. I’m a film school grad who fell out of love with cinema during quarantine and this video reminded me the power of watching a movie. I still feel goosebumps on my arm. Thanks for reminding me of Tarkovsky and all your work.

[@harryom3497]

What are you doing nowadays.

[@thejesuschrist]

glad you're back. love you.

[@aletheiaverite]

wow you really are risen

[@joerie8941]

@@aletheiaverite he was a day early tho

[@jmax9]

Yeah, but you love everybody, right?

[@filmcraft7890]

High praise.

[@shivambahukhandi9157]

@Jesus Christ Glad you're back too

[@generalfishcake]

Imagine if Tarkovsky filmed a fast food commercial. The fry cook trying for 9 minutes to light the gas stove. Fades to black. "I'm lovin' it."

[@jesusdanielcarrillo6990]

haha

[@OfficialEDC]

Loooool now I imagine how others would do a fast food commercial. Tarantino - Somehow feet prepares the food Aronofsky - Family orders food and while the youngest son enjoys his meal, a bomb destroys the whole place. Lars von Trier - NSFW.

[@procrastinator99]

@@OfficialEDC I love this.

[@Vingul]

Cursed comment

[@alejoparedes2388]

That was hilarious

[@aparahnasen5452]

Tarkovsky to Nolan on 'time' : "Don't understand it, feel it."

[@anasalaffas3679]

love that

[@greyfox4838]

I'm confused, tarkovsky never spoke to nolan, he died in the 80s, and the two directors couldn't be more different in how they filmed time

[@Zack-xv2yc]

@@greyfox4838 I'm sorry to say this, but you sir just gotten r/wooosh

[@greyfox4838]

@@Zack-xv2yc please explain

[@mtk3755]

@Jack Francis such a great comparison tbh I loved nolan but after discovery tarkovsky there's no going back for me

[@nightthought2497]

The path of that scene was heartrenchingly beautiful. The fear, hope, pain, control, and chaos all blended into this beautifully simple walk. Walking from one side to the other, like the chicken crossing the road. No meaning save what is imbued in it by the walker, the teller, and the viewer. Through a space once filled with life, now abandoned, filled with the detritus of a world that would rather it disappear, save the man and the candle.

[@ThenNow]

'Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.' -Schopenhauer

[@rosspy2018]

I humbly disagree. Remember your childhood when you were free of responsibilities and quite independent when it comes to time. We were rarely bored compared to other phases of our lives. Alongside this "boredom’s climax" pain is getting enlarged due to the structure of our everyday life. I wont elaborate on death,diseases etc cause its just out of our control,it would be arrogant to explain or worse to complain about something beyond our power.Ofc we can temporarily prevent it thanks to sciences but this nihilism is a joke. How exactly can we define something as independent from human nature as life with two abstract words that are usually connected to human acts?

[@cipher9849]

@@rosspy2018 ok buddy

[@rosspy2018]

@Naywaf well didn’t expect an answer tbh. I Just wanted to improvise hahahaha

[@Richard_Jones]

"Eng-er-land swings, like a pendulum do." - Roger Miller

[@musicgam3]

@@rosspy2018 As a counter to you view, you might be interested in Byung-Chul Han's Palliative Society (at the moment it is only available in German, but it will receive an English translation later this year. Han argues that pain is disappearing, and that dying is particularly difficult today.

[@samuelbartram9611]

I heard nothing he said I was just watching this guy walk

[@teigevlogssometimes]

Same lol

[@somm3rs]

Still watching the video right now hoping the candle doesn’t go out and he doesn’t have to do the whole fucking thing again

[@TiMonsor]

great russian actor by the way) Oleg Yankovsky. He was in the Mirror too.

[@arthurb8436]

such tension built from such a simple shot. a great example of tarkovsky's genius

[@Josh_Woodford]

@@arthurb8436 if you understand why he's doing this in the context of the movie, it's heartbreaking too.

[@muthusid]

That Tarkovsky clip is making me choke up an cry and I’m not sure why. Maybe because I feel like I can relate with the character about so many projects in my life.

[@kirvergalarragacastro1448]

Can relate so much. You'd probably believe that I'm lying but I was planning to start a project and make a video talking about time, with this particular scene, about tarkovsky's thoughts on the time. Of course that The Nerd Writer did a wonderful job, but I felt like a candle just died for me lol.

[@jamescheaye927]

But you could start it again. As grueling as it may be, you CAN light it up again

[@lucasBarjas]

here's why i think it's so relateble: that scene is the synthesis of the whole movie, and the movie is about this character's spiritual journey. it's relateble because it perfectly simbolizes the human aproach to what's above him: the long journey, the many failed attempts, the light we carry, the wind that blows it off, the cathartic satisfaction when you finnaly do it. everything in that scene is perfect in the sense that it perfectly boils down to it's most basic patterns the human journey towards God (and, analogically, to eveything we value more then ourselves).

[@7Comic7mischief7]

Was a med student going into the pandemic, am a doctor heading out of it. This was spot on, and much needed. Thank you.

[@HVAC_Sean]

I first saw that clip from "Nostalgia" in a puzzle game known as "The Witness." The game's inclusion of it, as an optional secret you could painstakingly find and view, as I interpreted it, was meant as a visual euphemism for the grueling feeling of having to start over. The whole game itself has no written instructions. No writing at all. Everything in the game is something you learn visually, audibly, and through trial-and-error, making it one of the most uniquely challenging puzzle games I've ever come across. Some of those puzzles were so involved, frustrating, and complicated that it really would feel as though that candle had blown out, and now you must walk all the way back; especially considering that every puzzle must be made with a carefully threaded, uninterrupted line that never crosses itself. That's about as far as the relevance of this game has with the clip, but I am very curious about what you would extract from The Witness. The game gave me a lot to ponder, during and after. It had me feeling insightful, empowered, and solemn all at once. It game me a new perspective, which is a major part of the game's mechanic. Perspective.

[@raccoon135]

I clicked on this video because I recognized the image from the game. That game is such a masterpiece of immersion and true puzzle solving. Brilliant game.

[@omarfarooq7211]

Funny how the previous game by the same dev "Braid" is entirely about manipulating time and viewing it from different perspectives. Rewinding it, slowing it down, time moving directly with the player. Easily the best puzzle game I ever played and one of my favorite games of all time. Just love everything that uses time as its subject like the prince of persia and tenet

[@bigsmacked]

writing a video on this. thanks for the insite.

[@essneyallen6777]

There was another content creator that talked about the witness and that clip, but I could have sworn it was Nerdwriter again D: I can't remember who it was. Folding ideas maybe? GMTK? Jacob Geller?

[@fabriski5465]

Great game and the first time I saw this clip too but since you mentioned it one question comes to my mind: did you finished it?

[@OfficialMaxBox]

Wow, that was a very introspective way to start the day. Thank you, great video.

[@agranero6]

Tarkovsky wrote a book called Sculpting Time. You can see similar scenes in the rain over the breakfast scene on Solaris, and the scene of overpass in the same movies (filmed in Tokyo by the way). Sometimes he remember me of Yasujiro Ozu for instance showing the clothes hanged for drying for a long time on the front of the building in An Autumn Afternoon.

[@worstenbroodje6832]

It's fitting that I'm watching this while I procrastinate what I should be doing.

[@Hanna-oj2qj]

"You don't come out of a Tarkovsky film with the same perspective of time you had when you went in." Great content Nerdwriter! 🧡 Tarkovsky films inspired me to be present in the moment, that there's no need to rush. Even in the mundane, there are moments worth remembering of.

[@gregevenden6515]

NerdWriter, for all the channels I've come across, delivers the best content bar none. Without exception, his video essays--each and every one--invites me to see the world anew. They make life better. Thank you for all you've done, Mr. Puschak.

[@anubhabbiswas4901]

I think this is the inspiration I needed to begin watching Tarkovsky's cinema. Great essay!

[@thomaspappas8946]

"You become aware of the odd encounter you 're having with Time itself. You can feel the texture of it. It's presence. As if Time were not only a concept. But a substance streching out in front of you, expanding and contracting with every breath. It's beyond interest, beyond boredom." ~ So well put and articulated. Feeling time and not experiencing it must be one of the most rare and difficult things a human can do.

[@jada90]

This is very 'Dune'. Dig it

[@SiMeGamer]

You can't experience without feeling. Experience (the event, not skill, related definition) is created and memorized through feelings.

[@benlehman9412]

God I missed you man, feels good to see you the feed again. Your videos are so artistic: the timing, editing, and writing is always down to perfection. I can’t help but watch them twice to make sure i soaked it all in properly.

[@shaman9]

"...the infinity beneath the normal rhythms of life." Just beautiful.

[@timyearsley]

Nerdwriter and Tarkovsky: the planets have truly aligned 🤯

[@TheGaze]

Who needs fancy KZbin editing when you have Tarkovsky? Inspiring video, as per usual. Thank you sir!

[@eftorq]

Tarkovsky was a huge inspiration for my Bachelors Thesis documentary short film. It’s so impressive how these rare moments, where the rhythm is broken, cinema reminds us of how we perceive time. Edit: typos

[@thorn262]

EditEdit: typ‘Oh!!’s

[@fbp3976]

I always look forward so watch your videos! It’s always instructive, and beautiful, and thought provoking. Thank you for producing and sharing an such excellent quality work! ❤️

[@Mia7Eyes]

Time(ing) is the most wondrous force I have experienced yet. One of the most influencing pieces of art and media in my life has been your video about the movie Arrival and I am currently writing an essay about the Beginning in university. It has been a few years since you made the video and to be honest I do not follow all your videos (Tarkovsky probably influenced many of them) - however now, here, you quote Tarkovsky again; "film being a mosaic made with time", just like you did in your video about Arrival then. For those two specific videos to have the same theme is a little miracle to me. I am no filmmaker and cannot express my ideas as well yet , but I recently think there is so much to timing. It might be a small video with a common quote or the voice actor on the radio who voiced your favourite audiobook as a child - there are so many stings and hints of meaning to find every day in our lifes if we take the time to find them. I am not religious - just a fan of the quiet everyday coinscidences. Do not really know why I tried to write this down, but maybe you or someone reading this can relate in a way. Have a nice day ;)

[@chandrasekar03]

My fav tarkowsky movie is mirror, that house buring scene is classic

[@Lorisv]

"tarkovsky induces a kind of trance" you hit the nail on the head once again! great video as always!

[@MsDragontooth]

All your videos feel like a spoken word and an essay and I love that

[@adjjal]

Wow as someone who has always has a strange relationship with time, and never fully understood the words to describe what I was experiencing this was such an eye opening video for me its insane. Thank you again Nerdwriter for sharing something so insightful. As someone with adhd I feel like my relationship to time is slightly squewed compared to neurotypical people. This vid helped me understand why I feel that way a little more.

[@itmedana]

holy moly i have been struggling with the speedy passing of time so much recently and this just perfectly articulates that feeling!!!!

[@graffitiabcd]

Probably one of my favorite Nerdwriter episodes yet, and it ends with "I'm working on something I want to focus on" ah okay, I'll be focusing on waiting eagerly.

[@astianlumiere256]

I just wanted to say you are a true inspiration for me which is why I started making video essays. Thank you Nerdwriter!

[@ruizinho08]

After a super long hiatus, where the days felt emptier than usual, a smile on my face after seeing a notification. BRILLIANT 👏

[@debbygeorge7140]

okay so... when he said "distortion" the word's audio was actually distorted and am not sure if that was intentional or just my internet acting up. But sure as hell I loved it lol

[@aljen181]

Kyle Kallgren of Brows Held High also did a full video essay over the span of this scene. 2 years ago. It's called Nostalghia Critique.

[@garjo7131]

That was one of the first things I thought about within the first 15 seconds of this video. That video is one of my favorites on this website actually.

[@michaelannunziato3898]

Does the nerdwriter know about Kyle’s channel?

[@lily-padsaslaunchpadshoney980]

Kyle also discussed how this scene has not escaped KZbin's copyright ID system. Hopefully this one will.

[@michelerusso9745]

I remember it so you don't have to

[@michaelannunziato3898]

@@michelerusso9745 wrong guy

[@mashakazantsev9196]

My parents showed me his movies and I’m so happy you are doing a video on this!!!!

[@Q269]

That was really well put; great use of visuals too

[@hikaruyoroi]

This guy is without a doubt the best essayist on the platform.

[@jackieweaver3884]

any other recommendations of essay channels?

[@izzygarnelo]

@@jackieweaver3884 I'm also wondering!!

[@ikstreme3718]

@@jackieweaver3884 Check out Thomas Flight, very good channel as well.

[@jackieweaver3884]

@@ikstreme3718 thank you for recommending him, he's amazing and painfully underrated!

[@jackieweaver3884]

@@izzygarnelo i know a few i love: Like Stories Of Old, The Closer Look, Screened, Real Dimension Pictures, Lessons from Screenplay, KaptainKristian, Just Write, In Praise Of Shadows, FilmJoy, Every Frame A Painting, The Royal Ocean Film Society, Spikima Movies

[@dancingCactus]

"Time is a valuable thing. Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings. Watch it count down to the end of the day. The clock ticks life away." -Linkin Park, 2001

[@Magmoormaster]

It's so unreal

[@apoptose1558]

"That's what happens when you get older. Time has already got a piece of you. Eventually, it's got a taste for you, and eventually, it's gonna eat you".

[@swim_ad]

All these words they make no sense I find bliss in ignorance.

[@DarkAngelEU]

Tryin to hold on We didn't even know we wasted it all just to watch you go

[@wasusapsupan2643]

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[@stefanoraffo5096]

One of the best videos I've ever seen in my life. This is amazingly paced

[@hardiksharma3602]

Ngl whenever I'd feel like Meditating, I'm definitely gonna watch this video. The voice the words the visuals everything is so calming.

[@qutalive]

This is a truly brilliant video. One of your greatest!

[@MarchforScience]

"History is not Time; nor is evolution. They are both consequences. Time is a state: the flame in which there lives the salamander of the human soul."

[@_squirrelgirl_]

Best time-related video I've watched so far, loved it!!

[@jowysantiago1372]

Beautiful Sculpting in time

[@3laserbeam3]

Saw the thumbnail, saw the first frame. Is Nerdwriter going to do a gorgeous monologue with no edits during the candle scene from Nostalgia? You bet he is! :D

[@perihelionstudios7563]

Kyle Kallgren, also an amazing scholar and video essayist, does a similar video on Tarkovksy's Nostalghia, and this is what he closes with: "And here I am, still listening to the orders of a maniac, convinced the world was about to end- even though the man was a fool, an abuser, cruel in his neglect. But when you do something long enough, you tend to forget why you started, and eventually it just becomes about the act itself, and the reason why you started becomes unimportant. And you keep going because you're in a constant present, and it's not about memory, or the past or the future, but just about doing the task before you, just about taking the next step, just about staying present in this moment of captured time, keeping the flame burning." I thought that was some good insight to share here along with this video, as time feels as relative, transient, and persistent as ever. Keep the flame alive, Evan. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJ_acoV9i81qm8U

[@timhyde1726]

I cannot describe the joy I get when I see a nerdwriter video I haven’t seen yet

[@NyleGames]

What an elegant way of putting it, I watched Stalker for the first time in January. While at first I was fidgety it didn't take long for the trance to take hold, a sort of comfortable boredom, but without the negative connotations that boredom brings.

[@tediumless]

- No good thing can come our from this pandemic - * nerdwriter releases a video discussing tarkovsky* - ONE (1) good thing came out from this pandemic

[@jackgreenwood1502]

Thesis, antithesis, synthesis :)

[@Mmxxaamm]

You talking about Tarkovsky, that’s all I needed to make this year better. Thanks dude! Ps. If you happen to analyze one of his films, specially Stalker, that’ll be amazing

[@CafeCreativeYT]

Thank you for using the entire clip for this video, genius.

[@ericm1839]

Being post major pandemic, the commute from my apartment to the school is UNBEARABLE. It feels painfully long

[@brechtgeers]

Honestly, until you brought attention to the movie in your words I was just quietly staring at the mans feet and wondering why he's not walking around the little pools of water xD

[@Trowa71]

I experience the shot as long and boring, I remember the shot all at once as short and amazing.

[@ploxnodogs]

always a treat to see Nerdwriter1 in the suggested feed :)

[@GGasparis7]

Perfect video, thank you. We need more of you in these days...

[@that_1_viewer239]

I’ve watched five hour videos, yet this one somehow feels the longest.

[@LiakozZ]

"Τα χρόνια είναι αμέτρητα μα είναι η ζωή μικρή"

[@trustnugget280]

There are many approaches on the concept of time. There are science based perceptions, paradoxes, there are philosphical ones. I like yours the best, stunning work!

[@galfortuna4845]

congrats on 3 mil🥳

[@greyish7121]

What a breathtakingly beautiful intro. You’re a genius.

[@Lolfire]

Oh hey youtube was actually nice enough to put this one into my sub box. Your last 3 videos weren't even though I've been subscribed.

[@garethsmith3036]

honestly one of the best video essays I've ever seen

[@Jonasemmerik]

Love your editing in this

[@Bruceybaby2009]

Anyone else get so excited when they see a new Nerdwriter video that you put off watching it for a few days cause you know you’re about to watch something really important and are about to have your perspective changed forever, so you kinda have to brace for it? That’s how this Tarkovsky Pandemic video feels.

[@plica06]

And then you have to wait another month or more for another Nerdwriter video when it used to be every week!

[@The1Helleri]

But why was he trying to cross with a lit candle?!

[@weirdelf8604]

Gotta watch the film to find out 😉 a really beautiful and spiritual film.

[@asdfg_98]

@@weirdelf8604 name please

[@TheMGIvideos]

@@asdfg_98 Nostalgia

[@brosandimusic]

been waiting for a tarkovsky video from you! about time my friend

[@kaengurus.sind.genossen]

Can relate to try keeping a candle alight. Did exactly this three days ago for about the quarter of an hour.

[@calhowell6798]

I see the title and the movie in the thumbnail and just instantly get this certain type of satisfaction only a nerdwriter video could explain.

[@DimitriR]

I already miss the Titanic video about Melodrama genre 😢

[@Pericles_89]

the way you lined up your dialogue to match the clip is insane, like you pause for the candle to be blown out, and he reaches out and feels when you talk about texture.

[@adancingdog]

Quality video! Nerdwriter is the only KZbinr I’ve turned on notifications for.

[@beyondthebeatpodcast1026]

I can hear Pink Floyd....."Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day"

[@sertaki]

Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way

[@henrygamba]

@@MrTelephos Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

[@sertaki]

@@MrTelephos Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain

[@udkc]

How do you do it? How do you outdo yourself every god damn upload? 👏🏻

[@seraaron]

I keep coming back to this video

[@DaganKay]

Amazingly perceptive and well articulated. Put into words the thoughts and feelings many of us are having lately

[@StraussMax]

So, an essay on Mark Fisher's Ghosts of my life and Hauntology when? Haha

[@nabil5134]

Hopefully never

[@StraussMax]

@@nabil5134 heeeey :( that's sad

[@xceie]

Your videos are the only videos (not music) that I don't watch at 1.25 speed at this point. Your pacing and flow are really underrated aspects of your video making!

[@aadityaadhikari5335]

Woke up to a Nerdwriter video, heck of a good day!

[@donaldduff-mccracken448]

That was lovely and reminds me I need to watch this again.

[@CodenamesLIVE]

Recently 100%ed "The Witness"... this gave me flashbacks to that annoying cave cinema... but beautiful vid, as usual!

[@bucklakelukie]

Big recommendation on Tarkovsky’s book ‘Sculpting in Time’ if this video interested you

[@sanjananharisri5067]

I've tried to get my hands on a hardcopy for years

[@CaptainMorganThe3rd]

I’ll never forget the first time I watched Stalker. I watched down in the basement and went upstairs to fetch a glass of water. When I pressed the glass against the fridge, I suddenly became vividly aware of the passage of the water into the glass - as though I were seeing it in slow motion. It was though I could feel every molecule swirling, crashing, and settling into the vessel. It immediately tripped me out, and I did not totally understand why at the time. Only after watching more of Tarkovsky’s films did I realize how effectively he had drawn my attention to the passage of time. He was a truly brilliant filmmaker.

[@amadeusakreveusmusic3356]

Welcome home, Legend. You inspire me to make videos. Much love from Norway. Deuce.

[@loquatmuncher]

Vsauce, michael here.

[@mervekuzu5449]

If a De Chirico painting depicts the world "with a strangeness that forces the viewer to see the familiar with alien eyes", then a Tarkovsky movie depicts the world with a strangeness that forces the viewer to see the alien with familiar eyes.

[@DarkAngelEU]

Nope

[@JeyeNooks]

So happy to hear your voice, much love!

[@jordan22031991]

I missed your videos !! your voice is totally captivating like it can make a boring novel awesome as well, please keep making these videos

[@fanfaxforever]

Where's the Titanic video, I'm sad I saved it for later.

[@av-ic3ts]

wait i thought this was a cpg gray video the entire time lmao

[@LucyOliver65]

Beautifully timed narration

[@melinaanibarro7324]

I love your videos. As a aspiring filmmaker, Tarkovsky is my favorite filmmaker. This is my favorite movie of his. Thank you for giving recognition to him.

[@kaizen335-e9i]

This video essay and the Arrival video essay are among my favorites because they explain the concept of time and space so well. Much love from Kenya ❤.

[@monisa129]

3 years of film school didn't convice me to watch Nostalgia. 8 mins of Nerdwriter did.

[@vasyok69]

While we rightfully praise Tarkovskiy, let's not forget one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. Nobody else could play that part like Oleg Yankovskiy.

[@stewartkilleen675]

Thank you! That was excellent, and very soothing! ☺️