I'm too sad to tell you...

December 23, 2007 5:08 PM

A site for artist Bas Jan Ader (wikipedia) who was last seen in 1975 when he took off in what would have been the smallest sailboat ever to cross the Atlantic. Site includes his most famous piece, I'm Too Sad to Tell You.
posted by dobbs (15 comments total)

It freaks me out that I'm Too Sad To Tell You reminds me of Leave Britney Alone without the screaming.
posted by damnthesehumanhands at 5:47 PM on December 23, 2007

And that's a really nice website, btw.
posted by damnthesehumanhands at 5:48 PM on December 23, 2007

Kinda reminds me of The Passion of Joan of Arc without the burning to death.
posted by katillathehun at 6:14 PM on December 23, 2007

He should've done some research, he had been beat by a few years and several feet:

For 85 difficult days in 1968, Hugo Vihlen set his first world record for crossing the Atlantic, east to west, in a 5-foot-11-inch homebuilt sailboat named April Fool. He braved rough seas in his plywood and fiberglass vessel and slept with his knees bent.

Not a great link but I remembered this from a sailing book and was just verklempt that someone had crossed in a boat shorter than me.
posted by sammyo at 6:16 PM on December 23, 2007

I remember reading about the Fall series years ago and never got to see the footage until now. Thanks!
posted by ardgedee at 6:27 PM on December 23, 2007

Sailors never quite understand why they cannot climb Everest. Odd lot for sure.
posted by LiveLurker at 7:31 PM on December 23, 2007

Man, those films don't seem very interesting at all.
posted by delmoi at 8:02 PM on December 23, 2007

It worked for me!

It's difficult to put to words but Bas Jan Ader's presentation of gravity foibling seemed to denote that reality is interesting and subjective to this existence alone. Other than here may be interesting, too, but this is what all of us have to work with.

Neat! Good post!
posted by humannaire at 8:19 PM on December 23, 2007

Fake. No one was that sad in 1971.
posted by The Bellman at 8:29 PM on December 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

Great site, wonderful post. Hate to say it but was reminded of Leave Britney Alone as well. Ader's work seems contemplatively sad and his falling images kind of suicidal. Wonder if his mini-boat trip was a kind of suicide-as-artwork?
posted by nickyskye at 8:51 PM on December 23, 2007

" No one was that sad in 1971"
True, Bellman. So what went right in the past thirty six years to make us all "happy"
posted by LiveLurker at 10:38 PM on December 23, 2007

No one was that sad in 1971.

Oh, yeah?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:09 AM on December 24, 2007

Great site - how did they do that ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:07 AM on December 24, 2007

Thanks for posting this.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:09 AM on December 24, 2007

On further thought, I get it even more. Existence and physical reality in real life is, well, surfing.

Some of us are afraid of the water. Some of us stay on the small waves. Some of us go big.

But in the end, one way or another, it's all surfing.

This makes me happy!
posted by humannaire at 1:54 PM on December 24, 2007