hmmmm

Scorsese and Me

2012-02-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

Monday night at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was my first time on the big screen, and Martin Scorsese was watching!

Okay okay, so it wasn't a "movie" persay, rather a 30 second spot I shot and edited for the offical wine sponsor of the festival, Bridlewood (a lovely relaxing winery in the hills outside Santa Barbara). Still, if Scorsese has seen something I made that means I'm halfway right? At least 1/10th? 1/20th??

Notes from Film Independent Forum

2012-01-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

Some are here to learn, some are here to share. Everyone is here in the name of film. Each have different experiences, backgrounds, and levels of expertise. As I sat in one panel about film financing Saturday I looked back at the packed auditorium and thought to myself, "Damn. Each of these people are here just because they want to make movies." They don't have money to make it happen, but they are here because they believe in what they want to do enough that they believe they can make it happen somehow.

The Directors Guild of America buzzed alive for 2.5 days last weekend, filmmakers sharing challenges, hints, and tips. Events like Film Independent Forum create a space for like-minded filmmakers to gravitate toward one another naturally. Attendees can see works, hear the creators of those works talk, and then afterwards meet them and ask them further questions if they'd like. A sense of: "Collectively, we can do this" filled the building.

Day 1 at lunch I sat with Nick Lewis, who just directed his first documentary: "Rise and Shine: The Jay Demerit Story" and is usually a lawyer for a day job; Eric Kench, a passionate editor my age; Anthony Saludares, an actor / aspiring director, and Peter Belsito, a 30 year independent film business veteran who offered plenty of wisdom to us all.

Lewis' unusual path into film shows the accessibility of the modern film world. Moved by the story of World Cup soccer star Jay Demerit, Lewis saw no one else making a documentary and decided to it himself. "The only way to get it done is to do it on your own," he said. Lewis made a quarter of a million dollars for his movie on Kickstarter, enough to send a cameraman to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and now has his film screening in festivals and even a distribution deal on TV. "God bless the internet," the table agreed.

The internet wasn't around in 1981, when Belsito founded Independent Feature Project. "We wanted a voice," he said. "We were kids of the 60s, we were used to getting organized when there was a problem." Now the organizing can happen online. Or in person, at events like these. Either way, it has to happen somewhere. "Unlike other art, film is always collective," said Belsito. We need each other -- as was exemplified by the forum crowd, who were already deep in new connections by lunchtime.

One interesting panel "Find New Docs: Works in Progress From Film Independent Fellows" featured short versions of works in progress from new filmmakers: Malika Zouhali-Worrall, Director and Producer of "Call me Kuchu," the story of the life and tragic death of Uganda's openly gay man; PJ Raval, the creator of "Untitled Gay Retiree Documentary," and Natalija Vekic with "Strand: A Natural History of Cinema." They gathered on stage after the screenings and spoke to the joys and challenges of indie filmmaking.

One audience member asked how the young filmmakers felt about Herzog's claim the day before that he edits his movies in less than two weeks. "It's a stop and go process when you only have 2 people," said Vekic. "You are raising money, editing, shooting."

One filmmaker saved on money by living with his subject, which ended up working out creatively too. "We lived with our subject, and just hung out with the camera..."

Another interesting panel on Day 2 featured independent film directors who are now working in TV: Alan Poul, producer of "Six Feet Under" as moderator; Nicole Holofcener, director of "Please Give" and "Parks and Recreation"; Patty Jenkins, director of "Monster," and "The Killing,"; Jeremy Podeswa, director of "Boardwalk Empire," and "The Pacific"; and my personal favrotie, Don Roos, director of "Happy Endings," and "Web Therapy."

The panel was built around the trend of successful indie feature directors now directing TV for money, or availability. One major difference between directing TV and film is that writers have way more power on set of TV. Holofcener spoke to the refreshing quality of that. "Working on something that isn't your vision is kind of refreshing." She talked about different levels of insecurity and arrogance that come with being less valued as a director on set of TV. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm even there."

Another topic that came up was quality. Cinema used to be something to be attended to, now people watch movies on their iPads and iPhones. Roos spoke up, "Since it looks bad on TV it forces you to make sure the story works."

During Q & A one audience member asked a question about getting into the industry. There was a dramatic pause.

"The commodity you have is your singular vision," one panel member told the audience.

Jenkins said one thing she has learned from working on TV that will now be helpful to her working in film is to be open-minded to other people's opinions. "TV moves too fast to be all one vision," she said. Now she considers peoples' ideas in a different way.

"You can't be afraid of ‘NO,' you'll get a lot of them. You'll lose the fear eventually."

What are the TV directors watching now? Lots of reality.

In another room Juan Davis of KCET spoke about using transmedia to empower community. Davis is the creator of the "Departure" Series, a web experiment that is capturing and recording stories from people and characters that make up neighborhoods all over LA. "Every neighborhood we are covering are neighborhoods in transition," Davis said. "I notice that people don't feel ownership of the city. In order to take ownership you have to understand where it's coming from." He spoke of the series as "Slow media," like slow food. "Anti-drive-by media." Though they are not produced but rather just talking head stories, you could feel from his talk that this will make sense over time rather than in one sitting, like a film or episode of TV. I think that's what Davis meant by "Slow Media." "It's storytelling tweet by tweet, step by step until eventually there is a narrative arc," he said.

Those are some tidbits from the weekend. It would be interesting to see a visual web starting at the event and branching out to connections made and works in progress.

Onward ho, onto creating. Like Craig Emanuel, who led the film financing today forum said, "Let us take advantage of our beautiful minds."

This is posted over on my film blog as well.

Werner Herzog at Film Independent Forum

2012-01-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

Werner Herzog deletes all of his unused footage when he's done making a movie. Why? 1: Storage takes up too much space; and 2) "A carpenter doesn't sit on his shavings either."

This means that he doesn't have the option to go back and re-edit films. "I accept all my errors, and my films have many of them." You have to accept that the "child has a stutter, a squint, a limp."

The great filmmaker delivered many gems and to a packed house of filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers at the Directors Guild of America on Sunset Blvd Saturday morning. He was warm and seemed pleased to be there, almost like a grandfather passing down wisdom to his grand kids. "I hardly ever wear a suit and I do it for you here," he said. "Because we are all colleagues, we are all filmmakers and I want to show you respect." I sat in the front row and hung on his every word.

An editor with a bad habit of dawdling, perhaps the best wisdom I took away from it was about editing. "Editing HAS to be fast." Herzog delivered the final cut for "Bad Lieutenant" just 2 weeks after he was done shooting. "I always look at the footage only once." He puts either 1,2, or 3 in the rarest cases exclamation marks next to timecode and then knows that the footage with 3 exclamation marks will be the movie. Simple enough. "I've always been a quiet, steady, focused worker," he says.

Herzog's idea of efficient shooting and editing comes from his time experience as a producer. He understands the value of time and money. However, this is a riskier way to make movies. "You have to know what you're doing." As we know, Herzog does. While shooting "Bad Lieutenant" he would check in with the line producer every day after set to see how the cash flows we're going. He eliminated "safety thinking" on things like having a custom costume for a background actor who doesn't even appear...and eventually this thinking made made him deliver the film $2.6 million dollars under budget and 2 days under shooting schedule. "You have to take money seriously," he says, but "The more important thing is that you are taken seriously by the producers."

Herzog talked a lot about his new documentary "Into the Abyss," on capital punishment- a subject close to his heart. "I respectfully disagree with capital punishment," he says. He is a believer of life in prison without parole. Herzog says that though he lives in the US with an American wife, he will not become an American citizen because he will not be a citizen of a country that allows capital punishment. Moderator/ Journalist Stephen Galloway of the Hollywood Reporter asked Herzog a few times how working on this movie must have affected him emotionally. Herzog spoke steady, and did not appear jolted during his answers.

Other gems from the lecture include:

"Independent cinema doesn't exist. It exists only for your Christmas movie at home. All the rest depends on money." He talked about how he may start his own distribution company and the crowd cheered.

Herzog is a resident of Los Angeles and loves it. "For work, I have to be in the city with the most substance. For finances it's New York, for oil Huston but for everything else, Los Angeles."

"I have a reputation of being insane which is kind of weird because I'm clinically sane."

"Travel on foot that's where you start to understand the world and you start to understand life."

"I am not a journalist, I have conversations. I have to find the right tone right away. I am just the echo of what's going on"

For aspiring filmmakers who can't find a job in film yet, Herzog suggested, "Look for self reliance. Work where there is real intensity of life. Don't work in an office, work as a bouncer in a sex club. As a guard in a maximum security prison, and make your money for your film that way."

At one point while talking about a character in "Into the Abyss" Herzog used the phrase "national treasure." [Though he's not an American citizen] it struck me as odd to hear him use this phrase without referring to himself. It was very clear to me who the national treasure in the room is.

After a Q&A Herzog stayed around a while as fans buzzed around him. And then he was gone.

This is a late re-post of my film blog over at fest21.com.

'Like Crazy' Creative Team at Film Independent Forum

2011-11-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Film Independent Forum is a 3 day event in Los Angeles, filled with panels, lectures, Q & A sessions, screenings, and networking lunches, whose goal is to empower filmmakers "to take control of their projects."

"Like Crazy," (best film website I've seen) best picture pic at Sundance opened the event one week before it opened limited release. A Q & A with the creative team followed the screening.

A beautiful film about love, Film Independent introduced Like Crazy as an "artist driven" film. I had never thought of a film in those specific terms, but I see Film Independent likes to support films that are artist driven.

I loved it. It's funny because when I think about it I feel like it's not really about anything. You know how that is? It's the same with "Drive," (which I also loved). You go to say what it's about and your description falls short. "It's about a guy that drives...." Or "It's about first love..." It's the same feeling when you have a great connection with someone new. A friend asks, "What did you talk about?" And you say, "nothing really" or "everything" because you just talked a lot and it was about nothing in particular? ... Maybe that's how it is with great art and love too...indescribable in words; it's more about a feeling, fresh. Not to mention "Drive" and "Like Crazy" both have especially fantastic cinematography.

The fresh feeling "Like Crazy" brings is a result of a few nontraditional filmmaking methods, the most significant being what director Drake Doremus describes as "Hybrid/Improv." The actors came into a script and outline heavy on exposition, back-story, and subtext, but lacking in dialog compared to most films. Much of the dialog was improvised. Doremus and crew couldn't emphasize enough how extensive their outlining process is. He and co-writer Ben York Jones start with exposition
then strip it down and down, taking out as much dialog as possible. By the time the actors come in they just bring characters. With a structure and outline so heavy on detail there's room to "breathe within the structure." Many traditional filmmakers may see this approach as risky. But as was said on stage during the Q&A: "If you don't push yourself to fail, you stagnate."

The idea of creating as real of a situation as possible also went into the cinematography and camera choice. An unobtrusive, low profile 7D disappeared into the scene. "It's a process of trying to get the actors to forget about the camera and forget they're acting." DP John Gulesarian said Doremus' process means the whole thing is approached a bit like a documentary. Since the actors are imrpovising, he shoots everything, rather than sticking to a strict shot list. He doesn't know where they will go next. There were 70 hours of footage in the end, which "was a really fun process because you're constantly rewriting the film."

Doremus also employs method acting. The lovers in "Like Crazy" shared a living situation for a month. This whole filmmaking technique in my mind is brilliant. The actors are thrilled because they are empowered: they don't get this experience anywhere
else. They get to push themselves. Simple enough: great work and brilliant performances come from happy, passionate, empowered team members.

It's interesting to think that this improv approach, which if I'm not mistaken was first popularized by Mike Leigh (though Leigh uses improv even more extensively), may be gaining more and more power. Two weeks ago the first director I met at Shriekfest, Micah Levin, (same age group as Doremus, 25-30) used the same approach for his first feature "Opus." Since the internet and a digital culture means that everyone is a filmmaker, and since we watch all the content in the same place, our personal computer, the lines between what are fancy theatre films and home movies are blurred. Reality and documentary have a larger influence on "film" than right now than ever before.

"Like Crazy" is not dialog heavy, it's more emotional, and very visual (same with "Drive"...) which makes sense because when Doremus and Jones decided to write a movie together they agreed first on tone, and the kind of movie more than anything. During the film's conception they traded music, music videos, and other visuals back and forth. Okay, I'll stop comparing it to "Drive", in just a minute, but I watched an interview with Ryan Gosling about his first meeting with Director Nicolas Winding Refn: Gosling picked up Refn from the airport one night in LA and put on music in the car. As they cruised the freeways listening to music, Refn started crying because he realized the movie at that time.

At the end of the panel, the Like Crazy creative team said what theme they most take away from the film, in 140 characters or less (Oh, Twitter). "Love matters," said Doremus. "Love is important and love matters and it's worth loving all your life."

"The first love is the most real in a lot of ways," said producer Andrea Sperling.

Jones agreed with everything that was said prior, then took a different stance. "The wonder that is nostalgia- how memories are precious things..."

*This review is also posted on my movie blog at fest21.

Shriekfest, Part 2

2011-10-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

After the interesting conversation with Micah Levin of “Opus” Cubby and I wandered on through the party. We didn’t make it for before running into a coworker of hers on the stairway. Turns out Mr. Morgan Peter Brown also produced and acted in the closing night film. In “Absentia” a woman struggles with being haunted by the memories of her missing husband. There’s a law, “death in absentia,” that says when someone goes missing they can only be declared dead after 7 years. Absentia is a latin word for “without”; in this case it means “without a body.”

Yes, this movie is sad. “Absentia” is not gory, but rather emotionally heavy- character driven. Brown says their theory at Fallback Plan Productions is that you really have to care about the character in order to be scared for them.

Brown’s expectations for distribution have already been blown out of the water. “Absentia” has received domestic and international distribution via DVD and video on demand. They raised their first $20,000 on Kickstarter and the rest from private investment. They just found out they’ll be on Showtime next summer, as well as Netflix streaming at the same time. “Theatrical release doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,” said Brown.

An actor most of the time, Brown decided to produce after being in LA six years and having frustrations with the limitations of the city as an institution. “There are all these walls and gatekeepers, like almost the opposite of a meritocracy.” Then he began to hear stories of people who had made it happen for themselves. Having worked as a waiter, he knew plenty of people who “weren’t doing what they were most talented at,” so “As a producer I knew I could fill those roles easily,” said Brown. That’s when he decided to go for it. What he realized is that “Because of all the roadblocks, this town is a huge fan of the self starter.”

I asked Brown to comment on horror as a genre. “There are an insatiable large amount of fans and what they are fed on most of the time is almost exploitable in that way… and there’s the irony and symbolism of dealing with harder issues [via horror].” “It’s a sweeter pill to swallow by pushing it through that horror/scifi filter.” Brown talked about the racism symbolism in Dawn of the Dead, for example. “At the same time I love a good scare,” he said.

Two interesting conversations and one drink in, at this point in the night I am starting to understand this genre better. It seems people do it for two reasons: definitely do it for fun: who doesn’t love a good scare? There’s also something deeper at play.

“Horror films are definitely a great way to live through something horrible, without having to experience it,” says Tammi Sutton, who’s been working in horror for 20 years as a director/producer and writer. “Its very therapeutic for a lot of people… people are curious. Everyone has the same question on their minds: When am I going to die?” Shriekfest is the US Premiere of her film “Isle of Dogs” – what Sutton describes as a “British crime thriller.”

I wanted one more perspective on horror before the night was over. Indie filmmaker Kenneth Hall sat on a plush couch in the corner of the room, smoking a cigar, amicably socializing.

I asked Hall about the misconception that horror is all gore and camp. Hall thinks too many horror filmmakers today base their films in reality. “Unfortunately when that happens there are a ton of knockoffs,” he said. When in the 80s a lot of horror films had a sense of humor to them, now what happens is “the filmmaker is underestimating the audience.” Hall hopes we are moving away from that. The best horror films are stuff where “there’s levity and it’s more of a fun ride,” he said.

Even though horror sometimes seems like it’s dying, it only takes one indie film to re-spawn it. “Every single year I hear horror is dead. It never dies. It just needs to be re-invented every now and then,” Hall says.

“Absentia” plays Sunday at 8pm.

“Isle of Dogs” is playing tonight at 7:30.

"Opus" Opens Shriekfest

2011-09-30T10:49:00.001-07:00

I'm unfamiliar with the genre of "horror." I loved "Scream," and "I Know what you did Last Summer," in high-school when they came out, but somewhere along the way my interest piqued and hasn't come back again. I don't know, I like happy things.

So last night I was excited to see inside an unfamiliar world at the Shriekfest opening night party. I talked to filmmakers about their work, horror as a genre, and the state of indie filmmaking. My wingman Cubby and I ordered Heinekens and eyed the busy party. "Jameson on the rocks," I heard to my right. I turned and introduced myself to mostly editor / new director Micah Levin, who's first feature "Opus" opens Shriekfest at 7pm tonight. Levin and crew have been working together since their college days at Emerson (Levin couldn't have been much older than me- 25). "We didn't have that lag of trying to figure out how to work together... It's so much more enjoyable when there's a shorthand. I never had to worry about anything besides what was going on in the frame." The friends made this film with an interesting approach -lots of improv. They worked loosely from a 3 act structure and a 25 page shooting script, and they found many of the actors via Craigslist ads that simply offered the chance to be in a horror movie.

"Opus" is filmed from a killer's perspective, and is more of an art film-- emphasis on style-- than anything: texture, visual motifs, HOW it was filmed as opposed to being character or plot driven. The idea is that the audience experiences the film visually. Some entire scenes were filmed in one shot. Levin was inspired by shows like "Dexter" that "play with the aesthetic beauty of death." Levin directed and edited it. "I wanted the editing itself to be a character," said Levin. His approach was to get extra footage and then go into the editing room with too much to work with (I know from my own experience that's the best scenario an editor can be in).

An improv approach creates a space for the film to feel closer to reality. Since the actors from Craigslist had little if any rehearsal and preparation time, things on set were unpredictable (and more realistic ie. actually being scared rather than figuring out how to act the perfect fear). Levin says that was his biggest concern with production: that the improv would make it tricky to achieve the high cinematic look they wanted. But he knew he trusted his Director of Photography, Elie Smolkin. Smolkin said the improv approach meant the "lighting of a space rather than a person...then letting them walk through the light." And overall it was a lesson in letting go of control.

Improv meant letting go for "Opus" actor Brian Norris too. "It's fun not knowing. You don't get the opportunity to think about what you want to do. Sometimes that's more pressure, sometimes it's less...All I could do is prepare myself by watching 100 horror movies."

As far as I'm concerned, preparedness + an easy going attitude (letting go, rolling with it) can be the the key to success. Maybe that's why "Opus" has already won awards. Now Levin is hoping now for some sort of theatrical distribution. But "the reality is that we'll probably make most of our money on Video on Demand," he said. Beyond that? As a director Levin's goals from this are to get more work, and to be taken seriously as a director. And "ultimately just getting it out there, having people see it."

Levin says what they were able to do with the amount of money they had was great. "Opus" was made on "lots of favors" but the crew was all paid. I asked him how he felt about the recent lawsuit filed by unpaid interns on Black Swan who feel they were taken advantage of by not being given enough learning opportunities on set. Levin has interned a lot, some of which have been more fruitful than others, but thinks overall they are what you make of them, and it's largely about your attitude. "I think it [the lawsuit] is just gonna take away opportunities from people. Because studios will say OK, we can't do unpaid interns anymore."

Opus opens Shriekfest tonight at 7pm.

Check out the trailer.

OPUS TRAILER from MMM on Vimeo.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up with this song in my head.

Quite the drama to wake up in, I know. Maybe it went along with my dreams...but all I remember from those is chugging a carton of fat-free milk then realizing it was 10 days old, and someone typing loudly in the room next to me whom I needed to tell to stop...hmm maybe that was a woodpecker.

Sometimes life feels more meaningful than others, and right now is one of those times for me. Maybe because of Mercury in retrograde, or the fact that I'm 25 now which feels significant, or the fact that I'm getting ready to leave my hometown again for new places... often it feels all very dramatic. And this song - most definitely one of the greatest songs ever written - equals pure, sweet drama more than any other. As you listen you cannot resist being overtaken by the love, despair, tragedy, romance!!

Growing up my mom drove a white Previa. You know those minivans that look like eggs? They don't make them anymore, but occasionally I still see one around. I grew up with two older brothers, and my mom drove this for most of our childhood. With all the hubbub plethora of activities that equates to having three kids + my mom being a busy working woman, we spent a lot of time in that car while hauled around to various places.

Being the youngest meant there were a lot of times after dropping off my brothers or on the way to a meeting, which I often accompanied my mom to, that it was just my mom and I in the car. Since when you have siblings time alone with either parent is precious, those times in the Previa just her and I were special. A stash of tapes always sat between the front two seats, including musical soundtracks: Evita, Cats, Phantom of the Opera. Guess what our favorite was? Neither of us had excellent singing voices, but we would put in the tape, fast forward to the right part, turn it up, wait for the chorus and finally sing out, "DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA!!!!!!" It was so dramatic.

Last night I went to bed overwhelmed and when I woke up with it in my head this morning my only option was to sing it out. After singing it and feeing it a few more times I felt better.

Thanks Mom, for introducing me to the idea of the power of art. Chances are what you are feeling has been translated by a work of art somewhere, made by someone who is feeling something close to what you are. Find comfort and sing out.

Happy Mother's Day.

PS. Madonna's version seriously compares, and our favorite Glee did it last year very well, but of course I first recommend the classic.

Wisdom = Combination of Opposites

2011-04-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

Recently I had the chance to interview an art director about his craft. I asked him to describe how he thought all the effort that he put into the sets will translate to the audience when it's all said and done. "You hope it's just a feeling... you know?" I realized then that's the most any artist hopes for, to display or transfer a feeling, indescribable by logic. That's why Black Swan was enchanting, why Cave of Forgotten Dreams was so moving, and it's why I couldn't separate my eyes from the screen while watching She Monkeys, the first narrative of Sweden's Lisa Aschan.

The subject matter is a little jarring, maybe that's how this film is so good: while it's entrancing it's also slightly uneasy to digest. A pre-sexualized 8 year-old who is in love with her cousin; and the competition between two teenage girls, one manipulative, both strong-willed. It's possible Aschan creates the feeling of unease by how bluntly she illustrates characteristics of good and bad, as journalist Ilya Tovbis pointed out to me in the festival press lounge when I asked him why he liked it. As opposed to black or white, as good and bad are often portrayed by amateur works of art (or Disney), she portrays them in a way so real that we the audience can't hide.

The visuals, stark and perfectly set with meticulous attention to detail while often bright and fun suggest youthful sexuality, tension, and perfection. By the time it ended suddenly, my feelings ranged from being slightly disturbed, a lighter feeling of damn, girls are mean, and like what I just watched was well-told.

She Monkeys is the first narrative of Sweden's Lisa Aschan, it won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Goteberg International Film Festival, and is up for the New Directors Film Prize Competition at SFIFF. Winners will be announced May 4th.

Werner Herzog in 3D: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2011-04-27T20:47:00.001-07:00

I have been delaying it long enough, it's time to write about experiencing Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams Monday night. Not that I have much to say besides SEE IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Let the film envelop you and enjoy the ride.

I won't be a fool and spoil for you or try describe the near out of body experience in too many words. Here are just a few thoughts:

As she introduced the film festival programmer Rachel Rosen said, "This film reminds us how extraordinarily wonderful and mysterious of a world it is." The crowd clapped when "Werner Herzog" came up on the screen. These viewers, who got their tickets far in advance and waited in a long line are no strangers to the wonder of Herzog.

A note on 3D: I realized after watching and being so moved by the sensual nature of the 3D camera that I have never seen a 3D live action film before. I don't consider Avatar live action because it is told through so many special effects, same with Tron, and besides that all I have seen in 3D is Alice in Wonderland (underwhelming, not filmed in 3D but rather a 2D-3D conversion), Toy Story 3 (Yay of course), and Coraline (Yay of course) but Herzog's was the first live action without major special effects. Also it is the very first documentary filmed in 3D, and Herzog [who I consider of the next level of human development] must be the first to have used the 3D camera as such a natural part of his filmmaking. The well written SFIFF54 program comments on the subject best. "Who better to adopt the form than Werner Herzog, our veteran guide to landscapes and mindscapes dislocative yet immersive? Eternally attracted to the spectacular, mystic and strange, he’s forever plunging head-first into exotica his bemused point-of-view renders gently inviting. There’s scarcely a Herzog feature...whose outré content, personalities and imagery wouldn’t make perfect sense in the stereoscopic form."

Since the caves that Werner and the 3D camera show us in this story were discovered in 1994 after being covered by limestone in a massive landslide, we witness the 32,000 year-old paintings inside as "a frozen flesh of a moment in time...they created the perfect time capsule." Adding to the mystery, the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc caverns are now locked by a steel door. No visitors allowed besides the occasional researcher granted access by the French Ministry of Culture.

A whole supporting cast and crew of interesting academics and scientists play supporting roles here, including a "Master Perfumer" and an "Experimental Archeologist." Many of them best explain the experience of being in the caves on more spiritual/emotional terms than logical, and that's really what this film is about. One man speaks to the experience of being in the caves as emotional shock. After coming out he needed days and weeks to relax and absorb the experience. "I am a scientist but I am human too," he says when describing coming out with a "powerful feeling of understanding things." Another expert ties the experience of the cave paintings to his opinion that human described as homosapien is wrong and that the descriptive word should be homospiritual instead.

And if we are just speaking logically, what is it about being in the caves, among the paintings? Well, has anything so old, in such fine, fresh form has ever been experienced. No. Part of the powerful feeling must also come from the fact that very few people have witnessed them. And the drawings represent the "invention of the figuration of things," from a previously oral culture.

Alas I fear I've said too much.
Heavier applause this time at the end: "Written, narrated, and directed by Werner Herzog." Im not sure I have ever felt such depth of feeling at the sight of a byline before.

Children of the Princess of Cleves at SFIFF54

2011-04-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Monday at the San Francisco International I saw the North American premiere of documentary Children of the Princess of Cleves, by French neuroscientist turned filmmaker Regis Sauder.

Cleves portrays students of a high school literature class in Marseilles who are reading and studying the 17th century French novel La Princesse de Cleves. The first thing I like about this documentary is how relatable it is: most of us can remember back to highschool required reading. We follow along as the students read and study the book while dually we are woven into their personal lives: they experience large and meaningful feelings of love and heartache, angst, and excitment that reflect the themes they are reading in the book. And Sauder does an excellent job weaving, I found it a very powerful documentary in large part because of the filmmaking. The high school characters in the documentary sometimes act out scenes from the book, sometimes voice the scenes to the camera, then dialog of them talking about their own lives and feelings is voiced-over footage of them in their daily lives, that is often very close up shots on their young acne-d faces (which I especially noticed since I got there late and had to sit in the 3rd row...) The tight, personal shots, and the drama of the fiction they're reading make for a nuanced and interesting twist on documentary.

*This is also posted over at my fest21 film blog

The State of Cinema is...Not Necessarily Taking Place in a Cinema

2011-04-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday night, closing out day 4 of the San Francisco International Film Festival, Christine Vachon of Killer Films delivered the State of Cinema Address. Christine has personally produced over 60 films, including I'm Not There, Boys Don't Cry, One Hour Photo, and the 2010 HBO mini series Mildred Pierce. The annual Address is billed as assessment of cinema + culture + society. Here's a little summary.

The style of the talk was the type where Vachon would ask a question, sort of state that she didn't know the answer, and then go on to offer lots of personal insight into the current state of things that suggested certain answers. I'll admit that as I sat in the audience I felt like I wanted her to tell us things with more certainty. "I came here for answers!" I couldn't help but feeling. ...But silly me, of course the smartest way of all is to be sure of the uncertainties.

- Vachon has produced over 60 films. Which, as she said, means "I have seen independent cinema die and be reborn at least 3 times." Over those years she has witnessed "How terrified the film industry is of change." She remembered back to hearing film editors say they would never work digitally. When she first started in the industry there were two types of film: very experimental cinema and Hollywood films, but not a lot in between. "Then I realized that there was this whole other kind of cinema... people were starting to make movies and not asking permission to make them. They were saying 'I don't see my life reflected, I don't see my world up there so I am going to take matters into my own hands.'" Vachon says this is happening again. And with the availability of cheap equipment that creates a professional look + more and more online distribution portals, this will only increase. But "they're doing it and it's not necessarily happening in a theatre near you," she said. "In some ways the name of this address should be, 'The State of Cinema is not necessarily taking place in a cinema,'" she said.

*photo credit- Pamela Gentile, courtesy of San Francisco Film Society

-As we spend more and more time in front of our computers, the way we consume media is changing dramatically. For the first time Vachon just signed a contract that included a certain number of tweets and facebook updates per day. Does the way we consume media affect the stories we tell? Though she never answered just how it does, she brought up this point at least 3 times during her talk so I'd say yes it definitely does.

-Now we have multiple pathways of distribution, multiple mediums for reaching audiences, and things are changing for the better. "What's happening now is we have to be: budget agnostic, format agnostic, content agnostic, and platform agnostic ...and that's exciting," said Vachon.

- Vachon spoke to early in her career making films oriented and marketed towards gay and lesbian audiences. Now because there is such a massive amount of content for consumers to choose from, marketing towards niche audiences is more necessary than ever. "More than ever indie film is about a direct relationship with the audience... filmmakers can understand exactly WHO they are making films for...but how do you find them?" Filmmaking now is about 1: finding a way to get to your audience (Twitter, Facebook?) 2: Making sure the audience knows where / how to find you (Twitter, Facebook?) and 3: Giving the audience a sense of participation in what you're creating (because the past 100 years of films are now available for consumption consumers need to feel invested to choose yours). Crowdsourcing...

- What is the definition of an independent film? Is it a dollar number? Is it considered independent if Miramax funds it? People ask Vachon this a lot, and she says it's not about the way it was financed but about the vision involved. It's about a true singular vision. An independent film is a movie that couldn't have been made by anyone else, a film that when shown on any platform the singular vision is preserved.

- These days younger filmmakers don't have the same boundaries about what is or isn't acceptable on their career path (ie. made for TV or HBO or online) and that's refreshing.

- As we spend more and more time in front of the computer our appetite for how long we will watch something is changing. Nobody wants movie theatres to die, and Vachon doesn't think the theatrical experience will anytime soon, but currently "We are at a real crossroads," Vachon says. There's so much out there. "If you want to live in 1974 you have more access to 1974 content now than you did in 1974."

- Portals. Vachon spoke a lot about "portals" which I will loosely define as venues for filmmakers to get their content out. Vachon thinks the future will be more and more filmmakers realizing they don't have to go through traditional portals, new portals will become available, filmmakers will be able to own more and more of our own rights, taking portals into our own hands. Because in this age we can DO IT OURSELVES. How refreshing and exciting.

- During Q&A someone asked Vachon what she's like to work with, how she spreads her vision. "The great thing about film production is it's like giving birth...You just have to forget about it or the species would never get propogated." Vachon spoke of getting to set the first day of a new production and remembering "Oh yeah, I HATE this." Haha! She told a story of seeing a psychic once who wondered if she was a general in battle. "Film is tough... Every film is a war story epic. A battle in its own way." Vachon said.

- I found it refreshing how Vachon spoke to corporate sponsorship. Is it about selling out? No, cynical hipsters, it's not. Of Killer Films Vachon said, Though we are never pandering, "Totally we are trying to take advantage of any corporate sponsorship we can."

- It continues to be an interesting time. We are consuming media in so many different ways. "Be open-minded and open-hearted," pleaded Vachon to the movie-goers in the audience.

- She spoke to how making female-driven films is tough, especially films about women in their 30s and 40s. "I have a hard time as a producer figuring out how those films fit theatrically." Later someone in the audience (who I later found out via twitter live feed was filmmaker Miranda July) challenged Vachon to speak to the tragedy of this, but Vachon wouldn't agree that it was even a tragedy at all. Instead Vachon looks at the positive, the opportunity. For example TV right now is practically ALL women-driven stories (Vachon speaks from experience having just produced HBO mini series Mildred Pierce). "That's amazing. Why not focus on what IS possible?" Hear, hear! "I think nostalgia is the most dangerous emotion in the world," said Vachon. Live in the moment! Focus on the opportunity!

- Are film festivals still a great goal for filmmakers? Yes. "Same as it ever was" as far as festivals. "This year Sundance was incredible. More movies sold than ever," she said.

- How will the future work so that filmmakers can make a living? "Ultimately I feel like if people want content, and people want filmmakers to produce content, there's going to have to be a meeting where content gets produced in a way that filmmakers can earn a living." What kind of a way? Vachon spoke again to how we are going to take portals more and more into our own hands. Filmmakers will be able to break off rights more specifically..."Figuring out portals that not only can give a good sense of independent film that people will go to, but also will really compensate filmmakers for putting their work up on them."

"I did hear an agent say that film is the new theatre. You do it for the love," Vachon said with a chuckle, before getting serious. "We're gonna crack it. We haven't cracked it yet but we're gonna crack it soon...We've stayed in business this long because we ONLY make the movies we really care about. We stick around because we only do what matters to us."

- On remaining true to her vision and whether she has been forced to comprimise on anything Vachon said, "All I do is comprimise...But ultimately if you're really focused on the vision the comprimise doesn't matter that much because you have a clear sense of what your 'wall of No' is. At what point is it not your movie anymore?"

The feeling I most took away from her talk ties back to the moment she took the mic at the beginning of the hour with a totally unassuming nature, as my friend and I noted. "The State of Cinema Address," she whispered dramatically, sarcastically. As if she has all the answers. No one does. No one can say exactly what is happening or what will: there is no one answer. But, an aspiring filmmaker myself, I left Vachon's talk feeling excited, invigorated, and not too concerned about the state of cinema. Like she says, "We're gonna crack it.

This is also posted over at my fest 21 film blog.

SFIFF 54: What I'm Looking Forward to

2011-04-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

It's springtime and the San Francisco International Film Festival is here again to enlighten us with the latest best film and commentary. May I say YAY?

There is tons of good stuff in the program, so here's just a bit of what I'm looking forward to:

1st: As usual, The State of the Cinema Address. The seductive combination of academia + film and you have the best event of the year for film nerds. Every time I've been my hand is sore after from excitedly taking so many notes. Hmmm, maybe I'll bring my recorder this year... Check out my coverage of the 2008 State of the Cinema Address with Wired Magazine's Kevin Kelly. This year's address is by independent cinema forerunner and risk taker Christine Vachon, cofounder of Killer Films, who as the SFFS says, "has been at the forefront of the independent film movement, championing risky, emotionally demanding work from unknown filmmakers and never shying away from edgy material." She's behind Boys Don't Cry, and a bunch of other cool stuff including that she produced the TV version of This American Life (personal journalism film nerd win).

2nd: Since such a big part of animation is "you never know what the F you are in for" film festivals are the best place to catch the latest. I've had more than a few experiences where I have seen some awesome animation then it disappears into the abyss of it's not on netflix or youtube how do I watch it world. Needless to say I plan on catching at least one or two animations and some of the childrens' categories. A cat in Paris looks interesting - Paris, french language, "watercolor" style. drool.

3rd: There are some seriously excellent looking documentaries in this year's program. Years past at the SFIFF I have seen great documentaries such as Age of Stupid, Crude, and A Journey with Peter Sellars... This year there are 30 documentaries in the program. American Teacher looks like a must-see: we need passionate teachers yet we underpay them. What to do? An inside look into the strife of the modern American teacher through 4 different perspectives. Education is such an important issue right now that every American should feel passionate about embracing, the more we all can learn the better. Cave of Forgetten Dreams- Herzog's latest, filmed in 3D, a look at cave paintings from 30,000 years ago. I heard him discuss it on npr yesterday, and he said once he went into the caves he decided not to go back in for 5 days because "he needed to absorb it." There's also an Yves Saint Laurent doc I'd love to see, Women Art Revolution about women artists in the 60s and 70s, Page One: Inside the New York Times (journalism nerd super win!). Let the Wind Carry Me, an inside look into a cinematographer's world that "details the itinerant lifestyle of a deeply observant and philosophical artist and the tolls that his profession takes on his family life." Enough said.

4th: New Skin for the Old Ceremony: 11 short films set to each track in this 1974 album by Leonard Cohen. "The films will be projected uninterrupted with the album as a soundtrack." HELL YES. I experienced this sort of thing at last year's SF animation fest with the Decemberists' Hazards of Love Visualized and it was awesome. A 21st century cinematic experience. Plus it includes the screening of a 1967 documentary of the young Cohen: Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Mr. Leonard Cohen.

5th: An Evening with Oliver Stone: Oliver Stone will be on stage for a Q&A. As I mentioned above, I love hearing interesting people speak their minds, and I worked at fora.tv for a year so by now I know enough about lectures to know when it's going to be GOOD. Oliver Stone? Enough said.

6th: Any of the unexpected awesome films I run into and am transfixed by. Stay tuned...

Hopefully I can make it to all of this. Being currently based out of Reno makes things a bit tricky but yes I will drive hundreds of miles for this stuff.

This is also posted on my film blog over at Fest21.

Claymation Side Project

2011-02-22T08:42:00.000-08:00

After the success of last year's Mall Santa claymation some friends and I wanted to do another. Katie Long, Ann Malloy and I made this. This year we had a smaller team and we are all working more and were busier so it was hard to make time for a CLAYMATION "side project." You see, claymation takes forever so the term "claymation side project" is kind of an oxymoron.

But! We are very pleased with the results. And we rallied a bunch of our friends including Ed Adkins, Scott Reickens, David Calvert, and Rachel Baez to do animal voices. Check it out and get some dance on.

Neil deGrasse Tyson at UNR

2011-02-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

"We're just going to sort of have fun with the universe for an hour," said science God Neil deGrasse Tyson as he strolled onstage to eager awaiting fans. The title projection behind him read, "The World as Seen Through the Lenses of Scientists." The crowd could not be more delighted, and chuckled with glee in response to the confident, easy-going speaker. There must have been 2,000 people at UNR last night to see Tyson. The auditorium was filled to the brim (including the "broken" seat I snagged last minute) along with three rooms of overflow who had to see Neil live-stream.

Before moving on he pointed to the little blue birdie icon at the bottom of the introduction slide. "Oh and that, to those of you who don't know, that's the Twitterverse," he whispered dramatically. Tyson walked to the computer and logged into his Twitter account. He spoke each word aloud as he typed. "Rabbits eat their own poop to regain essential nutrition they would otherwise lose....A product of stupid design."

"Let's tweet that." He clicked send and the crowd cheered. "I like to send a tweet at the start of talks so by the end we can see what we get." By the time he clicked back to the homepage 4 or 5 people had already re-tweeted it.

Tyson's look is straight out of the 90s. Light denim jeans, light brown blazer, black dress shirt and tie dotted with planets.

If there's one thing Tyson wants us to take away from the presentation, it's this: "Powerful countries invest in science. Countries that invest in science are the most powerful." Tyson had no problem hinting toward the fact that the U.S. needs to step up our scientific support. And rightfully so. The most profound part of his talk showed world 3 world maps: The first- a normal world map; The second- the countries of the world inflated or shrunk based on the number of peer-reviewed scientific papers published; and the third - The "trendline" of peer-reviewed scientific papers between the years 2000-2010. Between the second two maps, the U.S. shrinks dramatically. What's happening here?

On with the presentation -- the theme of which is the perspectives of different types of scientists-- "Scientists do see the world differently because there's so much information," said Tyson. Over the hour and a half he presented us with: the chemist's lens, planetary scientists' lens, biologist's lens', mathematician's lens, physicist's lens, science educator's lens, engineer's lens, and the astrophysicist's lens.

Here are some quotes and highlights I pulled from it:
*Disclaimer - my nerdiness is not for science. These highlights must differ greatly from those who are more scientifically impassioned.

- Scientists' faces are on money in Europe (countries that invest in science are powerful).

- When Ben Franklin invented the lightning rod in the U.S., he was accused of "thwarting the will of God."

- "That's what a cosmic perspective does. It simultaneously depresses you and uplifts you at the same time."

- After 9/11, Bush gave a speech in which he said, "Our God is the God that named the stars," which was meant to distinguish "us from them." He was wrong. In fact, 2/3 of the stars in the sky are named by Arabic cultures.

- There's all sorts of evidence of water on Mars. That's why we spend so much talking about Mars.

- It's ridiculous that "In 21st century America we have people who are afraid of the number 13!!" Example: Hotel floors.

- The gulf coast oil spill, trains collide in Los Angeles, levees break in New Orleans, bridge breaks in Minnesota, steam pipes collapse in NYC... are all examples of scientific fails, if you will, that make Neil think, "What country is this??" (U.S. needs to get its act together theme)

- Mark your calendars. You will experience your billionth second during the year you are 31 years of age. 31 years + 259 days + 1 hour + 46 minutes + 40 seconds, to be exact.

- The number one hundred billion represents: the approximate number of humans ever born; the number of stars in the milky way galaxy.

- Quintillion is the number of grains of sand on an average beach.

- Sextillion (10^21) is the number of stars in the observable universe.

-The cosmic abundances of elements in life on earth and in the universe are 1 for 1 in the following order: hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and "other."

- Tyson: "I've been looking up since age 9. When I walk out of a building the first thing I do is look up."

- Us and the Universe are made of the same stuff. That's why "I feel large when I walk out of a planetarium. Not only are you in the Universe, the Universe is in you," said Tyson.
*Side note: funny funny Tyson in Symphony of Science's video "We are all Connected"

- Tyson is very witty. When he finally finished his talk he said, "Sorry that went a little long...It's the Universe."

This flickr set has great photos from Tyson's visit, but it's not creative commons licensed so I couldn't download any of them.

Chelsea & Cory Love Story

2010-12-29T14:49:00.000-08:00

I write during the holiday slow-down on this blizzarding third to last day of 2010 with a recap of a love story video I finished a few months ago.
Chelsea and Cory are good friends who together make the best example of partners in crime that I can think of. I was living in San Francisco during the time they met and fell in love but did witness a bit of their early affections while back in Reno for winter break, at Burning Man, and other occasions. Which is why it was great to hear the details of their meeting during a sit down interview. I will always have serendipitous magical feelings when I think about this video. But the number of magical movie moments that occurred that late summer evening I drove out to Washoe Valley with my camera (a bullfrog's home, purple potato harvest, finding a lizard, shooting bow and arrow) I get the impression is nothing out of the ordinary for a weekday night with the Canons. While I was looking for music Chelsea had mentioned they both love Johnny Cash so I googled "Johnny Cash love song." The first song that came up blew my mind! Not only is the sound perfect I had tons of footage of them together in the grass to work with. *Sigh* some things are just meant to be... Meet Chelsea and Cory Canon. Their love will last "As long as the grass shall grow."

Chelsea & Cory Love Story

Moments of Inspiration!

2010-11-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

When I was in San Francisco at the start of this month I got to meet with USF professor David Silver. How nice! I wanted to plant the seed of our What's Good in America Today project in his head and see what he thought about it. We had a lovely lunch next to some sociologists in the faculty dining room, a secret spot I somehow didn't really notice during my three whole years there.

It was one of those certain conversations where there are too many things to talk about because everything is interesting. After having a similar kind of conversation with an uncle this past weekend, now it makes me appreciate how awesome and important those moments, and people are. You can go from unsure to totally fueled, positive and inspired in a mere moment!

Then the bus rolled up right as we were leaving, and both heading the same direction we ran and hopped on just in time. Silver had just a $5 bill but called out to fellow bus-riders for change. Someone in the back did, and a man next to me cheerfully said, "A community effort!"

And for a photo with this post, this sorry one which somehow is the only I took during my weekend in San Fran. Turns out it's kind of perfectly fitting though, since it shows muni and USF.

Sean Uyehara, San Francisco Film Society Programmer

2010-11-23T14:53:00.001-08:00

I interviewed Sean Uyehara at the animation film festival. The perspective he offered was shockingly academic, and very interesting. Sean has been with the San Francisco Film Society for 5 years.

Lis: How did your interest in animation begin?
Sean: I’m interested in movies…and one thing about animation that I think is especially interesting is the way that it implies the relationship of the production world of film to an audience. One thing I’m interested in about movies in general is not only how they create meaning, but how they create authority. There are certain ideas we think about what goes into the making of a movie that communicates its meaning. So when we see a Hollywood blockbuster we have an imaginary history of the production, right? Like we think about studios and important directors and big, industrial processes... With animation there’s usually this idea of the hand of an artist and the trace of what was there, and this sort of subjectivity is being produced. And it occurs on all kinds of different levels. So that’s mainly what I’m interested in. When I look at different forms of movies I’m interested in how they bring this kind of cognitive framework and this interpretive competency that goes along with it that we develop in a shared way.

Lis: Why do you think that is so interesting to you?
Sean: (haha) Because when you think about that then you start to realize that the different forms of communication that we have come with different vehicles of meaning and authority and voracity and authenticity and all these things that relate to how we understand the world and each other. So what it means for me to be sitting here and speaking to you directly has a completely different context and authority than what it means for me to make a video and send it to you. So, there are certain ways that people have access to different kinds of meaning and stuff. What I’m interested in investigating on a basic level is how we develop our shared competencies for understanding each other…And there’s a lot of ideas that go into that: ideas about narrative form and structure, aesthetics, grammars and techniques, so there are a lot of different things that sort of come along with different modes of communication... Like it would be odd for me to tell you a story right now, unless I were telling u a story rhetorically, whereas it’s not odd for a lot of these films to be narrative. And so we have certain expectations when we enter into this kind of relationship. I think about viewing movies as that- as the production and development of a relationship.

Lis: What goes into the process of you deciding what to show?
Sean: The point of the animation festival to me, (and the point to me doesn’t mean it
S the point for everyone, people have different ways of accessing the festival) For me what I’m trying to do is I’m trying to present an array of all of the different ways that animation is produced and articulated. So hopefully what emerges, if you come and you look at a lot of different works, is you see the different fronts where animation styles and techniques are being produced and being disseminated and then you sort of get a sense for where we are currently in terms of mode of communication.

Lis: It seemed to me while watching some of these movies that animation has the power to capture emotion and feeling. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Sean: Well I think that it’s not unique in being able to capture emotion or feeling…but one thing that is often residual in animation is the idea that what’s being communicated to you is the idea of an artist- a specific artist: because what one tends to see in animation is sort of the direct subjective intervention of somebody. That’s not really the case always- it often can be but it’s just one of those things where I think that the way that emotion is communicated through animation appears to be very direct and subjective to a person. So its apt- not because of the form per say, there might be certain things about the form that allow it to do that... but what it is is what we think were seeing and what we expect to be understanding and comprehending is imbued or tinged with this idea of the process of drawing or the process of doing this frame by frame manipulation which is an artisan, artisanal process- there’s a craft that you feel like is on display.

Lis: And it’s not the same with live action?
Sean: I don’t think so. We understand live action to be more of an objective process in general- not that it’s correct, that socially in general we agree that a camera records things independently of the desire of the maker. You can set up a camera in a place but the camera is going to capture something independently of the hand of the artist. That’s different than the idea of drawing something, or working on something in a frame-by-frame mode. When you understand it to be produced differently you think it comes with different meanings.

Lis: Any thoughts on the current state of animation?
Sean: One thing that animation has gone through is this sort of intense relationship to computers. One thing that’s been happening for a few years now is that that relationship is falling back. It’s not becoming as important. So one of the things that’s happening with animation is that there was this idea that computers and software were becoming almost like what cameras are to live action - that there’s this objective idea of the computer producing something independently of the artist. But I think that that’s being sort of captured and taken back and people are doing more 2D animation or they’re using computers in ways that allow them to express themselves more directly.

Memorable Shorts: SF Int'l Animation Fest 2010

2010-11-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

What follows are the short films from this weekend's San Francisco International Animation Festival that in my opinion were most fantastic and that I think in one way or another stick with me forever.

I Forgive You (Pierre Mousquet, Cauwe Jerome, Belgium 2009)
Played as part of the Best of Annecy Program. An animation style reminiscent of The Simpsons. Two wrestlers fight, plot turns unexpectedly and the result is hilarious. San Francisco crowd chuckled with glee.

Jean-Francois (Tom Haugomat, Bruno Mangyoku, France 2009)
So beautiful. Hand-drawn. Noteworthy for its unique well lit drawings, and music. You feel like you are watching a video of a book. A swimmer remembers his past... Played as Part of the Best of Annecy program. Unfortunately this trailer doesn't show you much besides a bit of the drawing style. Try to watch somewhere.

Jean-Francois (Teaser) from Cube Creative on Vimeo.

I am Simon (Tunde Molnar, Hungary 2009)
Absolutely amazing. A wise voice within a dog. So well done you feel what it's like to be this dog. Noteworthy for unique drawing style, 1st person scenes of dogs running that make you feel like you are the one running. This 30 second trailer gives you only a taste of the drawing style. Try to see this somewhere.

I AM SIMON - TRAILER from TÜNDE MOLNÁR on Vimeo.

Wisdom Teeth (Don Hertzfeldt, USA 2010)
Humor in simple animation at its best. Wisdom Teeth was my own introduction to Don Hertzfeldt's work, but Hertzfeldt, a Fremont California native, is wide known for his humorous, simple hand drawn short films. He has twice been nominated for Academy Awards for Rejected and Everything Will be OK. According to Wikipedia, he hasn't ever worked any jobs besides on his own animation. This year the San Francisco International Film Festival awarded him the Persistence of Vision Award Lifetime Achievement Award, at age 33. Wow. While watching the delightful Widsom Teeth I asked myself, but why is this SO FUNNY?? Everyone in the theater was cracking up. It's only simple line drawings, how could it be so very humorous? Well, there all different kinds of humor, probably the humor in this is of the variety of the unexpected, suggested my friend Adam. It's true. The more preposterous turns the plot takes, the funnier. Check out Don Hertzfeldt's site, Bitter Films.

Topi (Arjun Rihan, USA/India 2009)
Takes place in 1947, at the division of Britain's Indian empire into two nations: Pakistan and India; a time when 10 million people were uprooted and one million were killed in communal violence at the borders.
A portrait of a young boy at a train station with is mom. This animation tells a very simple story, and makes me think about the idea that very large, complex ideas or periods of history can be translated or taught well via simple, well-done animation films. No, by learning this way we do not learn the details, facts, dates and numbers, but we do learn a little of the feeling of what it was like then. Animation has that capability. In my opinion the learned feeling will stay with you more than the facts and dates and numbers.
Very powerful. Watch in full below.

* As the credits rolled I noticed Original Music by Ludwig Goransson. I had the chance to meet Ludwig and film him at work as a Composer on the show Community for a project I was working on in Los Angeles. He is very talented.

The Gruffalo (Jakob Schuh, Max Lang, France 2009)
Shown as part of the Children's program. Pretty darn cute. Animals take us on a tour through the forest. Nothing super unique about this one, but it's a pleasure to watch and if I had kids I would definitely be excited about having them watch this. And Helena Bonham Carter Plays the voice of the mother squirrel. Trailer below.

Kool-Aid Man in Second Life
While I was not an immediate fan of this one because as at least at this point in my life as a rule I am not into doom and gloom future-themed- art (yes I think we should think of the future as full of butterflies and love and I did NOT like Blade Runner) this film has stuck with me. I enjoyed the unexpectedness of the whole arrangement, and it disturbed me to a point where I will remember it forever. Exactly what it sounds like, and then some. Watch in its tres bizarre entirety below.

A Conversation with Jon Rafman from badatsports on Vimeo.

Komaneko's Christmas "A Lost Present" (Tsuneo Goda, Japan 2009)

I LOVE handmade animation. You can just tell when something has so much time put into the craft. It's like homemade pie versus store-bought. Well, there's probably a better analogy for that. When watching this kind of animation, each extra attention paid to detail just makes you giggle with delight. This little Christmas animation is so cute you might cry while watching it, as my friend Katie admitted to. Tsuneo Goda is the animator, who is also quite famous for his Domo animation creation.
Watch in full below!

Komaneko Christmas from Kurt Hanson on Vimeo.

Phew. That's a lot of talent in one blog post.

Mai Mai Miracle at the San Francisco Int'l Animation Festival 2010

2010-11-14T00:35:00.000-08:00

Since I'm a fan of Spirited Away, I was looking forward to seeing Mai Mai Miracle at the San Francisco International Animation Festival this morning. Mai Mai Miracle is directed by Sunao Katabuchi, who is a protege of Hayao Miyazaki's and worked as his assistant director on Kiki's Delivery Service. Miyazaki, who has received much critical acclaim for at least a dozen films and is considered the Walt Disney of Japan, is one of the few Anime directors who has managed to make films that have a worldwide appeal; and there are reflections of Miyazaki in Katabuchi's style.

I asked SFIAF Programmer Sean Uyehara why he included the film in this year's line-up, and about anime genre in general. One reason Uyehara, who has been a programmer with the San Francisco Film Society for 8 years now, loves Mai Mai Miracle is because he sees his 7-year-old going through the same themes that are explored in the movie. "I think it's a good film. And it represents something that's an important part of animation: Anime...One common theme in anime is exploration of that time of life between youth and adulthood. A lot of Miyazaki's films are about pre-adolescence. Which is interesting because a lot popular films usually focus on adolescence. Pre-adolescence is that moment when kids are figuring out their personality, how they fit in socially, feelings of empathy, how to deal with anger and disappointment...They are starting to understand how they affect others and others affect them."

I also asked Sean about the differences between Miyazaki and Katabuchi's work. He said that in Miyazaki's work "Usually the spiritual or dream world is as real as the actual world." In Mai Mai Miracle, there is more distinction between the two and "it's more about imagination than it is about mysticism," said Uyehara.

Mai Mai Miracle is a 90 minute delight for adults and children, presented beautifully.

This is also posted on fest21.com and filmfestivals.com

Heart Breaking and Beautiful: Anita Killi's Angry Man

2010-11-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

What is it about animation that can capture emotion and feeling so well? I suppose it's just the theme I have been talking about: subjectivity. Because so much attention to detail is paid by the creator to every single frame in animation, there's a lot of room for her/him to display the kind of feeling she means to, and the world we see on the screen ends up being the animator's brain poured out into an animation.

Whatever the case, Angry Man created by Anita Killi of Norway, shown at the San Francisco International Animation festival last night as part of the Best of Annecy program rendered me the most heartbroken I have ever been by a work of art, maybe ever. I kept thinking while watching it this had to be because so much thought was put into the the look and the sound of it...The scene has been created so well. Now I see after researching Anita's website that she has never used computers for any of her work. Every bit of Angry Man is hand-made. It's no surprise Angry Man of Troll film AS has won awards across the world, including Short Film Special Jury Award at Annecy 2010, Best animated short film at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, the 2010 National Film Board of Canada Public Prize, and was nominated for an Amanda Award: an award given annually at the Norwegian International Film Festival to promote and improve Norwegian film, as well as made the King of Norway cry.

This film is about domestic abuse, but shouldn't be misrepresented as only that. This is an incredible moving work of art. "It is of comfort to be able to combine artistic film with important issues. The issues shouldn't just be sad or heavy. But if the audience are moved it can open up for a good conversations or the feeling of having learned or experienced something important," says Killi on her website on the subject.

Angry Man starts with a little bird who says, "To everyone who has a secret..." What follows is a portrayal of an "Angry Man" inside the father of a young boy who thinks it's his fault that his father is so angry. Eventually we hear the birds whisper, "Pass it on." Thus the tagline of the film: Some secrets shouldn't be kept secret. Killi says on her website: "Through the years I've been more and more aware that my projects should have a proper message so it would feel right to spend years to create some tiny minutes of film," and "I primarily want to work with film for children that also should inspire the adults. Children are vulnerable and ear easily affected and that's why filmmakers should have a great responsibility as conveyors, messengers and educators. Quality film for children are sadly often of lesser priority than artistic films for adults which is of abundance."

Thanks Anita. Can't wait to see what's next.
Check out the Anita's film company, Troll Film AS, here

Here Come the Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized at the SFIAF 2010

2010-11-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

Here Come the Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized, a 4 part visual representation of the Decemberists' 2009 album The Hazards of Love was meant to only be a one-time show- a backdrop for a performance of the album start-to-finish in LA. Everyone liked the result so much the film is now being shown in festivals all over. Last night it opened the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival, which runs until Sunday. Andrezza Valentin and Guilherme Marconde, husband and wife team who worked on the third of 4 segments, were in attendance to introduce and close the film. This was the first time they had seen it without the band playing in front of the screen.

I thought about how different it would have been to see this playing behind a band rather than sitting in front of the screen without any distractions. As it started I was thinking about how this setting for viewing gives more power to the musician AND the animator, because the viewer has less senses to get lost in. The music and the animation complimenting each other force you to succumb to what's happening in front of you. The animators take the wheel, you relax and let them take you on journey through all dimensions. Guilherme confirmed my thoughts during the Q&A at the end of the hour. He said though it was a little more nerve-wracking since there was more attention on his work, he enjoyed watching it without the band playing in front of it. Seeing it at a concert means it's a party atmosphere, with lots of energy and a less immersive experience.

Since each frame is paid so much attention to in animation, it's insanely subjective and the end product means it is arguably much more of a direct reflection of the artist than other mediums. One of the many delights of this hour long wonder is that 4 different directors worked on 4 different parts, which means you experience 4 different styles of animation back to back. And when the Decemberists talked to the animators about the film they asked them not to animate based on the lyrics and the characters in the songs but rather on the the feelings they had while listening to it. During the Q&A Guilherme and Andrezza spoke to their creative process. "Sometimes we will listen to the music and ask each other, "What visual does this sound make you think of?"

During the show I started pondering why I was feeling so much nostalgia. Perhaps because most children watch a lot of animation. But there's something else: Oftentimes animated movies or videos create worlds made up of simple shapes and colors that looks visually like a child would think: simply. I talked to Guilherme about this idea after the show. "Animation like this is so abstract that everyone can draw their own meaning from it," he said. That idea makes me think that animation has the potential to be a spirituality. Simple shapes and music allow you to draw meaning where you like, and you can leave feeling immensely full.

The switching back and forth between CGI, stop-motion and hand-drawings makes you notice the differences between each medium. I guess I am a traditionalist-- when the hand-drawn stuff comes on constellations in the sky make shapes of animals that are then dancing with each other, and it feels like childhood and your ideal romance. Stars play a big role in all four sequences because a theme of the entire thing is the seasons. I thought about the ideas that go with stars: the delight, the twinkle, the mystery, the wonder, the sparkle, the HOPE. Stars signify hope and things that are bigger than ourselves. Shooting stars are obvious signs of hope. That's how this animation spectacular feels too.

All of this delight and guess what? These animators do this work as a SIDE JOB. Such brilliance it kind of boggles your mind that they can't even make a living doing it. Most of them do marketing work to make money. I asked Guilherme about this idea. "When you get paid for it you have to do what they want," he said. "If you do what you want, you don't get paid for it. That's just how it tends to work," he said with a chuckle. As a result he enjoys watching this work, because he did it from a place of passion.
This post is also posted on filmfestivals.com

Sheila Leslie

2010-10-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I should have posted this video when I finished it about a month ago, but since early voting begins today, this seems more appropriate.

You know how sometimes you can be close to someone, but not really know much about the work they do? Being close friends with Sheila's daughter Emma, I have known Sheila for awhile now, but it wasn't until I sat down to interview her and work with her on this video that I really got to know her.

I can start by saying this video is one of the easiest I have done, and that doesn't speak to its quality. I actually think it is some of my best work. The thing is that Sheila is so well spoken, so genuine, and so thoughtful yet concise with her words that she made my job easy. According to Sheila she had to become skilled at speaking in a concise and thoughtful way while working for non-profits talking to news people. "When you work for a non-profit that is your only way of getting the message out, so it better be good," she said. It was refreshing to sit down with a politician who is not at all calculated or pretentious, but rather speaks her mind and her heart. She's smart, honest and loves what she does, so talking about it is easy. Thanks Sheila. Nevada needs you!

Meet Sheila Leslie. She works hard for Nevada. She is also running for State Senate. If you live in Washoe Senate District 1, it would be wise to vote for her today. Or sometime before Nov. 3rd.

Brad & Sara Love Story

2010-08-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ever since I figured out I wanted to creatively tell peoples' stories through video, I have wanted to tell an engaged couples' story. I just always have thought what a cool time in your life it must be to reflect on love and life and the person you want to spend the rest of your life with!

I knew Brad from Project Moonshine was engaged to a mysterious lovely lady so I met them and asked if they were interested. I don't think they really understood what I meant at first, wanting to do their "video portrait" and maybe they thought I was a little crazy, but with open minds they gladly accepted the offer.

I shot this in two days: Day 1 we met at the Nevada Museum of Art so that I could get some nice B-roll of them to lay over the interview. The plan for shooting was that I didn't have much of one besides just to film them being themselves (with direction to try and ignore me and the camera) walking around this very cool building (designed by architect Will Bruder). It was fun to shoot them here because this is where they fell in love (watch video for details)! And the non- plan for shooting worked out well too because they were naturally embracing and being a cute couple the whole time-I hardly gave them any direction at all.
Day 2 of shooting was at their house, which is cool because the way their house is layed out is a metaphor. Brad has his "nerd lair" in the basement with all of his music stuff- instruments, playlists, computer, stereos, speakers, and tons and tons of CDs and records (Brad is one of the only people I know who still buys CDs). Then the middle floor of the house is the Brad & Sara floor- where they spend most of their time together: kitchen, family room, bedroom... And the top of floor has all of Sara's things: books, music, DVDs, pictures, and shoes. So naturally I interviewed Brad in the basement, Sara on the top floor, and them together on the main floor.

I thought this would be an easy edit into a 3 minute-ish lighthearted love story video, and I was wrong. I didn't know Brad and Sara really well before these interviews, and that's also what made it cool. I learned as I Interviewed, which made the story all the more real and genuine for the camera. Brad is very effusive and their love story is ever deeper than I imagined, so basically I fell in love with their story and was so inspired by what I captured on my camera that I spent a lot more time editing that I thought. (Which is becoming a theme for me...efficiency Lis efficiency!) The result, which I am very happy with, is below. Enjoy!

Meet Brad and Sara. They love each other. A lot.

Sara & Brad Love Story from lis bartlett on Vimeo.

Prescription for Writer's Block

2010-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

I like what writer-director Rodrigo Garcia has to say about uninspiration or writer's block.

Writer's block is very many different things...Sometimes you're just writing too soon- meaning you are too tired from the last thing you were doing. [Or] you haven't replenished enough: you haven't seen enough films, heard enough music, gotten out into the world, gotten out of town...You have to energize. And ultimately the final thing is you sit down and you write no matter what. Sometimes I will dictate a scene into a recorder. Writer's block is not a virus; it's you. If you don't get yourself out of it, then that's it--that's where you're going to live.

Garcia said this during an interesting Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcast where he, producer Julie Lynn and Samuel L. Jackson discuss working on Mother and Child.

Jason Boegle

2010-06-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

Remember back to being a little kid, sitting on the carpet of your house watching Sesame Street as your parents went about their adult routine of getting ready for the day? Remember that feeling of fascination and comfort you got while watching and learning things like how numbers work or the perspective of garbage truck drivers? I was reminded of this feeling while spending an afternoon in the field with Jason Boegle. Jason is crew supervisor for the people who pour and rake asphalt onto our streets, put up stop-signs, and paint the lines for crosswalks. Really exciting? No. The simple and mysterious ways that make the city go 'round? Yes.

Jason's humble personality makes him the perfect one for this job. He's been with the city for 15 years, working his way up. He likes the work that he does, he works hard, and after work he goes to his Fernley ranch and practices team roping -- also something he excels at. One year he won the $50,000 prize at the Reno Rodeo. Admirers say his calm demeanor is the real key to his success. Meet Jason Boegle.

Colin Loretz

2010-06-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

In March I started working at Reno Collective, where I met Colin. What strikes me most about Colin is that as a web developer / entrepreneur he could live in any major city, but he chooses to live in Reno - because he likes it here. Not only does he live here, but he works hard to make Reno a better place. When I asked him why he does this, he seemed thrown off. "A rising tide lifts all boats," he said in our interview. He wants everyone to succeed at whatever they're trying to do, simply because he wants to live in a place like that. Colin is definitely a leader, having founded Reno Collective (with Ed Adkins), Reno Wordcamp, and Ignite Reno, but he doesn't ask for much spotlight. He seems to lead from the back- which makes him all the more interesting....Meet Colin Loretz.

nice flight

2010-05-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the last day of my 10 day mini-tour of the east coast. Leaving Washington D.C. I was inspired and filled with love by seeing old friends and new places.

Delta flight DL1239 from Reagan NATL to Salt Lake City boarded and I found my window seat at 36F next to a cute father-daughter pair (who had been on a vacation touring the capital for her 12th birthday). The captain made an announcement or two and we rolled onto the runway.
I peered out my window as the plane lifted up and tilted gently back and forth over the Potomac River through crisp, voluminous white clouds. Whoever was flying the plane was having fun doing it. I felt like the pilot was taking us on a tour of the sky!

I thought to myself, "Man when you're filled to the brim with love it overflows into the people and places around you...I bet the pilot is loving flying this airplane right now."

We continued on flying through the cottony sky, the plane turned in a circle and lifted up higher until we were above the clouds. I stared out the window in a dreamy daze for like 2 hours I think. For the rest of the flight the captain kept us updated on upcoming turbulence, landing time, routes, etc. It was the best flying experience I have had in a long time.

When we landed I told the pilots this and I also took their picture.

I still think the future of travel is speed trains...but nice flight boys.

Professor David Silver

2010-05-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be in David Silver's Davies Forum on Digital Literacy class my last semester at USF. That class is the reason I even have this blog! What I most noticed and appreciated about Professor Silver's teaching style then was how much he asks questions instead of gives answers. Somehow as a student a professor's questions and curiosity empower you to think and learn more... And he's so curious that it in turn makes YOU curious about what he's teaching, no matter how you felt about the subject otherwise. You see his curiosity and you think, "Wow this must be really interesting."

So I was thrilled to interview Silver about his approach and philosophies on teaching, and living in the bay area. If you know David Silver you know that two of his main focuses are: gardening, sustainability, and green; then analyzing, creating and studying media. I had fun editing the video and putting the pieces together because though these are separate concepts, they also fit together very nicely and Professor Silver has made a point of meshing them into one: green media.

Oh, and I could not have told his story well at all without the use of fantastic photos from his prolific, well-organized, creative commons-ed flickr account.

Meet David Silver.

Meet Reno Fire Captain Tim Spencer

2010-04-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Jónsi

2010-04-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

Jónsi, his band, the 59 productions team, and the rest of his artistic crew, are very talented. If you have listened to his album, watched the making of videos on his site, or watched the music video for Go Do, you know what I'm talking about. Before I got to see him live at the Palace of Fine Arts on Friday I knew it was going to be awesome. But it was INCREDIBLE. Here's a tiny taste.

Back home, after playing the album for my mom, she said, "It seems that through his music he's giving people a sense that we CAN create a brighter future."

That night, together as performers and audience, we experienced the creation, or maybe the acknowledgment, of inspiration and hope. Somehow Jónsi's music reflects this sense of possibility. I suspect all of his performances are like this. For his current tour, there's a place on his site for guests to share their experience of his shows. It's no coincidence phrases like, "transcendentally beautiful," "truly magical," and "the soundtrack of my life," are what make up those comments. Some commenters admit to crying. I know I saw my own life before my eyes during the show, the word catharsis comes to mind. I left so personally inspired.

At the end of the second encore, after two standing ovations, the Jónsi crew came up and bowed together. The performance was so perfectly orchestrated, this was the most raw moment of the whole night. As they stood at the end of the stage closest to the audience, Jónsi and his team seemed genuinely surprised and appreciative of the roaring applause from the packed house. How special it is when, after an artist gives and gives so much, you can give back, say thanks and express your appreciation in such a simple but meaningful way.

Meet Jason Geddes

2010-04-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

Jason Geddes is Environmental Services Administrator for the City of Reno. The City created that position in 2007, and Jason is the first person to have it. As Environmental Services Administrator, he serves as the environmental awareness / sustainability liaison for the city council. Prior to this he was the Environmental Affairs Manager at the University of Nevada, Reno. That position, and his current position as Vice-Chairman of the Nevada System of Higher Education's Board of Regents, allowed him to play an integral role in the design and building of the awesome new green building, the Joe Crowley Student Union at UNR. It was great touring the building with Jason, having him point out some of the key features that make the building green, and also reflect the great state of Nevada. Jason is a Nevadan through and through, who was born in Winnemucca, raised in Gabbs, went to Sparks for High School and UNR for college. Meet Jason Geddes.

Star Athlete Ricci Kilgore-Ailes

2010-03-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

Meet Ricci Kilgore-Ailes. Ricci has had a dream since she was 8 to be an Olympian. She lettered in 5 sports in high school, and qualified for Olympic trials her freshman year of college for pole-vaulting. She was almost there. Then in March of 2000, 3 months before trials, she was in a horrific car accident where she was ejected from the car 60 feet into oncoming traffic. This tragedy left her paralyzed from the waist down. One would think her dreams were over. In December of 2000 , Ricci took up mono-skiing. Flash forward to 2010 . Tonight Ricci will participate in the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Paralympics. Keep dreaming Ricci...

A Day at the 2010 Nevada Interact Media Summit

2010-03-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

Saturday I attended the Nevada Interact Media Summit, and wow I'm glad I did! It was informative, thought-provoking, and overall fantastic. From the get-go at 9am, I was thoroughly engaged by Erin Kotecki Vest's keynote. Maybe it's because of interest, or study, or intelligence, but some people just understand how to exist productively (and market) in online social networks. Erin is one, who also describes with ease and humor how you can be one too. She talked about social networks and marketing, including a lot about twitter. She said things like, "If you don't join the conversation where it is, it's going to happen without you", "Don't be a wuss", and talked about the importance of engaging the "magic middle"-- tweeters who have a network and community. I majored in media studies at USF, so analytical, in-depth discussing about media is not new to me, but I finished 1.5 years ago and oh how refreshing it was to be in this setting again. Thanks Erin!

Next I went to hear Camilla Downs's interpretation of Facebook. The audience seemed to be mostly made up of people older than me who weren't introduced to Facebook in their college years like I was-- people who wanted to understand how to best utilize Facebook for marketing their businesses. I went to see Camilla because my struggle with Facebook is that since it has solely been a place for friends, until now, I struggle with how I should be using it for professional contacts as well. I feel a constant battle between being myself and marketing myself (As the day went on I realized these can and should be the same thing...) Camilla gave some insight-- "Do [on Facebook] what fires your passion!" She also talked about the value of Facebook fan pages and groups, where it's advantageous to use keywords and keyword phrases since on Facebook you dont have to pay for SEO. I also learned from Ms. Downs that you can connect your blog and notes section on Facebook easily so that every time you create a new post on your blog it automatically goes to your Facebook page as well.

At 11 a.m. I heard Mike McDowell's perspective on new media. I had heard he gives a good talk. He did! His presentation was well-organized- he presented complex ideas in a digestible fashion. He started by saying how we have gone from a "broadcast model" of media to a "many-to-many" style. Instead of just receiving information, now we toss it back and forth to each other as it becomes the news. He made sense of social networks by equating them to a dinner or cocktail party. "We don't go to a dinner party to hear a speech- we want to have a conversation, engage...that's why the broadcast model is dissolving..." and, "You don't want to hang out with people who are always selling. Ask their opinion!" He encouraged blogging. "Blogging gives you a human voice. Establish yourself as a thought leader!" I also liked an explanation he gave of the value of [online] social networks. "The problem with social networks in the real world is that our connections are hidden." Online, it's all laid out in front of us. See a friend has a friend you'd like to know? Connect. McDowell also made a point about Twitter I like- that even if someone is just talking about mowing the lawn, it's interesting to us because it makes us feel connected (And as we all know, in the end, human connection = life) . And McDowell helped me understand my struggle between marketing myself and being myself, between professional and personal. "I don't think there's going to be a distinction between personal and professional ever again." It's a matter of streamlining the two, he pointed out. AHhhhh! Realization. Thanks, Mike.

At lunch I skipped out to take a test for a part-time job with the 2010 census. (Want one?) If I can make money while going door-to-door talking to people about their lives, I'm there. What a way to learn about peoples' stories, gain perspective on the current time we're in and get ideas for documentary...
About 30 of us Nevadans showed up for the test. The Grandma next to me (I'm not being smart she talked to me about her grandkids) reminded me how to multiply decimals beforehand, and I scored a 98! Which made me feel smart.

Back at 3 p.m. for the How Interactive Media will Change Journalism discussion including panelists D. Brian Burghart, editor of the Reno News and Review, Beryl Love, editor of the Reno Gazette Journal, and Kirk Caraway, creator of CarsonNow.org, moderated by Tracy Viselli. The future of journalism is a fascinating topic for obvious reasons, and I think a polarizing one. The group seemed to go back and forth for the hour about what has changed, how much it has changed, how much more it is going to change and how much it will have to change.
They all seemed to believe professional journalism will exist forever in some capacity. It is just a matter of how it will be monetarily sustained. Now people are used to getting things for free. Will this change? "When will be the iTunes moment? We are waiting...People will pay for something if it has value, if it is not commoditized..." Beryl Love said on his prediction that some sort of micro-payments for articles will ensue.

Burghart noted how journalism has changed a lot, but also not at all. Sure there's a new online community, but there's also the community that has always existed at the Reno News and Review office. People come into the office all the time, in person, offering their opinions. Caraway has the perspective of working in the newspaper industry since age 9 on his parents newspaper, and remembered editing the old fashioned way, and also when the Internet first came out and it took him a week to realize how powerful it could be. He just started a new site, CarsonNow.org, a nonprofit news service and community journalism site on which anyone can post news, photos, and videos.

As for me, I am of the perspective that there will always be an element of slowing down to consume media the old-fashioned / paid way. Lately I am on the computer all day while articles and videos zoom past and I do my fair share of zooming through them, but sitting down to read the newspaper the paid way (whether on my kindle or in paper form), watching the Oscars, or the Olympics, or going to see a movie in the theatre, means slowing down for me. There's something else these all have in common-- they're communal. They involve spending time with other living breathing individuals. Reading doesn't, but perhaps reading something physical means spending time solely with yourself, instead of reading something online while you are scattered thinking of how you should tweet it, link to it, share it in your status update, or email it... As Love pointed out, his mom reads the RGJ online from across the country, but still cuts out physical articles that mention him for a scrapbook for when she dies. The ratings for the Superbowl, the Olympics, and the Oscars are all up this year. Avatar has made $2,603,189,342 to be the highest grossing film ever (with Titanic next at only $1,835,300,000). The Superbowl set the mark this year for the most watched telecast ever (abc.com)

Other take-aways the panelists discussed include: there's now an accountability and a conversation that exists in journalism because of the digital realm that wasn't there before; the consumption of news is far greater than ever before...; and that "In the end, people get what they want...When they don't get what they want, things change..." - Love

I ended the day mind-boggled at Colin Loretz and Annie Vranizan's 50 Apps to Fuel Your Online Business Seminar (See slides here).
Together they presented 50 Apps in 50 minutes, and in a way that was easy to understand! How do they keep all of this information in their brains?! Some people are just special. Most of the apps I have not used and most of them I now feel like I should use. The friendly man next to me saw the overwhlemed look on my face and assured me not to worry, that I didn't need ALL of them, no matter how cool and worthwhile they all seem.
Here are the ones I noted that I should definitely use or look into, and Colin says he'll post the list in full with descriptions, URLs, and prices ASAP on his site soon...
Tweet Deck, Wordpress, Readability, RescueTime, Ustream, Audacity, Buzzword, GoogleVoice, SurveyMonkey, Toodledo, Scribd, Snagit, Tweetie, Adium Chat...

Thanks Nevada Interact 2010! I leave you now informed, inspired, and having written my first in-depth blog post in quite some time.

Know Your City Employee: Corey Dalton

2010-02-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

For our second episode, we feature Corey Dalton. What I find interesting about Corey is that while his work as City Network Manager is all done behind the scenes, it also plays a huge role in keeping the city running. But he doesn't feel underrepresented, he takes pride in doing what he does behind the scenes. Corey was also my first introduction to the sport of falconry. He has his own site about his experience in the sport.

Meet Corey Dalton.

Meet Daniel Gordillo, Galapagos Islander / Tour Guide

2010-01-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

Mall Santa

2010-01-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

Mall Santa from Skema on Vimeo.

The 1st SKEMA production.

Know Your City Employee: Dave Barrett

2010-01-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

I recently started interning with the City of Reno Television Production Department. Together we came up with the idea for a new show that airs on Reno 213 in town, and on youtube. It's called Know Your City Employee. The idea is that we feature City Of Reno employees who also have interesting hobbies outside of work. It's a way to see where your tax dollars are going, and to get a new perspective from someone who maybe you have seen or who's job title you have heard of, but were never sure about what they did exactly or who they were.

Episode 1 features Dave Barrett, Parks Maintenance Supervisor and pilot.

H.G. Wells

2009-11-16T12:58:00.000-08:00

But in these plethoric times, when there is too much coarse stuff for everybody and we struggle for life takes the form of competitive advertisement and the effort to fill your neighbor's eye, there is no urgent demand either for personal courage, sound nerves or stark beauty, we find ourselves by accident. Always before these times the bulk of people did not overeat themselves, because they couldn't, whether they wanted to or not, and all but a very few were kept "fit" by unavoidable exercise and personal danger. Now, if only he pitch his standard low enough and keep free from pride, almost anyone can achieve a sort of excess. you can go through contemporary life fudging and slacking, never really hungry nor frightened nor passionately stirred, your highest moment a mere sentimental orgasm, and your first real contact with primary and elemental necessities the sweat of your deathbed. -H.G Wells

The San Francisco Mime Troupe

2009-11-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Since I call myself "interested in theatre" and I have lived in San Francisco for four years, it's probably some sort of sin that I had never heard of the San Francisco Mime Troupe before a few weeks ago. When I saw the Mill Valley Film Festival was having an event: Troupers: 50 Years of the San Francisco Mime Troupe I was intrigued, but also sincerely thought I was in for a night of miming- in my mind silent acting.

The illustrious Peter Coyote introduced the event by reading a section from his book, Sleeping Where I Fall, about his own introduction to the Troupe.

"Miming- not like Marcel Marceau- a mime uses words, movement and props to extend ideas," he explained. The Troupe performed Commedia Dell'Arte style theatre- ‘pass the hat' old Italian street theatre. You had to be entertaining, to be good, or you wouldn't make money. And most of the Troupers survived off of what was put in the hat. No room for boring theatre.

"It was the tail end of the beat era," said Coyote. "The Mime Troupe was just a successor in a long line of cultural expression."

Following Coyote's introduction we saw the very well done 1985 documentary Troupers- directed by Glenn Sibler and Claudia Vianello, and that's when I got the full story of the Mime Troupe.

Rock music promoter Bill Graham was the Business Manager of the Troupe for a long time. The Mime Troupe prevailed in the 60s. "Theatre is for people to see their own fears and preoccupations acted out on stage," said one actor. The San Francisco Mime Troupe served as the theatre for San Franciscans during a tumultuous, emotional time- the Cultural Revolution of 1962-1972. They would often set up in Golden Gate Park and hundreds of people would come watch. The Troupe still does performances like this in San Francisco, (http://sfmt.org) but I imagine in the 60s they were more prominent- that a more unified San Francisco supported them. The Mime Troupe became a collective by default.

"The Troupers seemed to speak for humanity instead of against it," said one Mime Troup fan in the documentary.

Troupers intimately follows the actors and we get an idea of why they are involved in the Troupe. One actor talks about how he used to be very religious and we get the impression that the Troupe now fulfills what Church did for him -"I switched from a faith in God to a faith in people," he says.

Another says the Mime Troupe was, "An integration of fun, sex, what you believed, and a vehicle to talk about it."

After Troupers, the filmmakers, and SF Mime Troupe alums Joan Holden and Wilma Bonet joined by Peter Coyote, sat on stage for a discussion. They all agreed that the Mime Troupe was something special in their lives, and that it was a special group of people who were part of it. Now later in their lives, "No one ever changed or backed down on their principles. We all have that fundamental, progressive, humanistic quality," said one.

The moderator asked the group something they most took away from the Troupe. "It gave you great confidence. You could go into a room with nothing and be magnificent. You may fall on your ass but you'll fall confidently," said Coyote.

"The fantastic feeling was that we could do anything, make anything work. There was a feeling of great power and mastery," said Holden.

If you haven't seen it Troupers I highly recommend it. Anyone interested in theatre or San Francisco should know the history of the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

*photo credit Margot Duane

My Grandfather's Nose -Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children

2009-11-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

I just started reading Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children for a book club a friend started. Yay for book club! I'm excited to connect with some friends in that way and feed my brain that way. Brilliant. Anyway it feels great to be reading something for myself again, (I generally put off reading books to read the paper and the internet) something I feel challenges my brain- I have to read some sentences aloud to process them- and MAN the writing is glorious. Wanted to share this paragraph on pg. 8 starting "My Grandfather's nose..."

My grandfather's nose: nostrils flaring, curvaceous as dancers. Between them swells the nose's triumphal arch, first up and out, then down and under, sweeping in to his upper lip with a superb and at present red-tipped flick. An easy nose to hit a tussock with. I wish to place on record my gratitude to this mighty organ- if not for it, who would ever have believed me to be truly my mother's son, my grandfather's grandson?- this colossal apparatus which was to be my birthright, too. Doctor Aziz's nose- comparable only to the trunk of the elephant-headed God Ganesh- established incontrovertibly his right to be a patriarch. It was Tai who taught him that, too. When young Aadam was barely past puberty the dilapidated boatman said, "That's a nose to start a family on, my princeling. There'd be no mistaking whose brood they were. Mughal Emperors would have given their right hands for noses like that one. There are dynasties waiting inside it," -and here Tai lapsed into coarseness- "like snot." (Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie, 1981)

Inside Programming the Mill Valley Film Festival

2009-10-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

I got to interview Zoe Elton, Director of Programming at The Mill Valley Film Festival, 3 days before the close of this year's fest. She's been with the Festival since it's inception 32 years ago, when she sort of fell into the position at random. Previously she worked in England as a theatre director and writer. Check out our conversation below to see what she has to say about the video art community in the 80s, how documentary has changed, it feeling like a "vintage year" for film, and on what programming for the Mill Valley Film Festival is all about. (The italicized parts are the things she said that I feel are especially awesome or interesting.) Thanks Zoe!

ZoeElton & director John Woo Oct17 2009 by Tommy Lau

What was the attendance last year?
Just shy of 40,000.

And about how many films are there this year?
Around 150 films this year.

What's the mission of the Mill Valley Film Festival?
To celebrate film as art and education.

Has that stayed the same for the 32 years?
That's always been the core thing... this festival has never been competitive. The role model for us back then was Telluride... Given the proliferation of festivals in the past ten years, it's been interesting to go down that path [of being non-competitive].
Structurally and ambiently it's very different than being a competitive festival. Look around, it's beautiful (Looks around at the park we're sitting in- people sit on benches in the shade of big green trees, sunshine, flowers, as were nestled between the hills in Mill Valley). We bring filmmakers here from all over the world, and there are great connections made in this environment.

What is the Festival budget?
I don't know the exact number, but the Festival is part of California Film Institute (It's a sort of umbrella non-profit for the Fest). The Festival is the major part of CFI. There's also the Smith Rafael Film Center and CFI Education. The Smith Rafael Center has esteemed guests all year round.

What came first, CFI, or the festival?
In 1978 the festival began. Then a few years later CFI started. 12-15 years later we were offered the chance to open the San Rafael Film Center...Last year the Sequoia Theatre went on the market. Mark [Fishkin, festival director] got a group of investors together to buy the theatre.

And in what capacity did you first get involved?
I was the first actual employee of the festival. I continued and developed the video festival.

What was the video festival?
Well there was a burgeoning video art community at that time... some people looked down on it. We asked one reviewer to come and he wasn't interested in reviewing the video portion- but a lot of people in this area were tracking what was ultimately going to be digital film. The video festival was a smaller, dedicated audience. There were a lot of really amazing innovators- Coppola was a really amazing innovator at the intersection of video and film...The videos we showed were a lot of short work, a lot of documentary stuff that had been made for TV and never made it on too, and documentary was a lot different then...

We would avoid using the word "documentary" for a while to describe a film because it would kill it at the box office. Then around the opening of the Smith Rafael Film Center, there was an upsurge in documentary.

What do you think are some of the reasons for the upsurge in documentary?
I think there are several reasons. In a parallel universe, there was an upsurge in books where people were telling their autobiographies in a compelling way...And politically, people were looking for documentaries that told the truth. I think ultimately documentary makers are engaging with their art in a way that speaks to a larger audience...films like Rivers and Tides, Errol Morris's films, even films like the Buena Vista Social Club. You know before that in the 80s and early 90s a lot of documentary workers worked for PBS, so documentaries had this PBS aesthetic.

How have things changed since you've been with the festival?
Well, it's much more sophisticated now. It started as a 3 day fest and now it has grown to 11 days, and our reputation has grown immensely. A lot of times with descriptions or reviews of films you will now see "Toronto, New York, Mill Valley"

Did you get the job in programming because you were viewed as having an overall objective perspective on good film?
Well I came into it with the sense as a writer/director - no films were teaching programming etc. at that point in time...My partner at that time was a cinematographer, and I noticed that although we came at film from different parts of the art form, we often ended up with the same conclusion... A lot of the people working at the fest in the beginning were working artists...that sensibility is really important [The sensibility of knowing what it's like to be on the ground].

It seems to me there's a general rule of nature that if you're looking at 10 of something, whether it be film or paintings or what have you, there's always 1 amazing one, a few really great ones, a bunch of good ones, and a few not so great ones.

Being on a programming team, does it mean that everyone has a general agreement on what's good or does it mean everyone has a unique perspective that adds to the team?
In our screening committees we try to get people coming from diverse grounds... It's always about discussion. A part of it is that we all kind of get each other and definitely we would, you know hold each other to our arguments and opinions. It's about discussion- and there are certain things that are always indisputable.

What are the parameters for deciding whether to include a film in the festival?
Well, sometimes people say, ‘That's a Mill Valley film.' And we wonder what that means. We are very international- we have films representing 40 or 50 countries, so it's wide reaching. There's something about films that are smart, well-crafted, with a compassionate sensibility... overall they are films made by artists who are passionate about what they do. We have a lot of audiences who really support artists in achieving a vision. And the fact that we're not competitive- it really gives filmmakers a chance to offer their work up to the public, and there's always a good discussion...

Have you ever considered turning the festival into a competition?
A board member came back from Sundance once and said, let's make it competitive. We didn't see the reason for it.

Did any sponsors decrease their support this year? If so what did you cut to balance the budget?
Yeah. We made cuts across the board. We were pretty "lean" beforehand anyway- there wasn't a lot of fat to cut. We tried to balance it in such a way that we maintained quality, so that substance was still pretty significant. There were some staff cuts...it offered me the opportunity to do some "housekeeping"- I tried to restructure the department, make things go more efficiently without losing vision, quality. And I think I succeeded at that.

It feels like such a "vintage year" - a lot of really, really good films out there. I don't know why. Maybe a few years down the road we will see the affect of the economic crisis.

What's a particular festival film success story that sticks out in your mind?
There's one that's kind of great. Caroline Link did a film "Beyond Silence" that coming out of the Festival got picked up by Miramax, she got an academy award nomination for it, and her next film won an award.

Anything notable about the pool of films submitted this year?
We don't try to impose a theme or focus, but we do try to pull the prevalent theme from the pool- this year there was really an "Architects of the Avant-Garde" theme that emerged.

What's the hardest thing about being a festival programmer?
Really, really long hours. Another thing that's hard is when there are films we really, really love that we just can't fit in- making tough decisions.

What's the secret to making a good idea into a good film?
Being clear on what your intention is, and having the courage of your vision, and the courage of your aesthetic.

What do you anticipate as the role of festivals in the future?
Well I think one thing that festivals do now that won't go away is they bring the community together. One of the great things festivals do is bring filmmakers together with their audiences. Festivals offer a chance to come together. Filmmakers get a glimpse of their film's affect on audiences.

Burning Man and the Future Memory

2009-10-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

Burning Man is an easy place to have a special experience. As you are living in a man-made city in the middle of the desert, with an extreme climate to exist in, and the week open wide without obligation to anything at all, including workplace / real-life stresses left behind at the gate to this new dimension, you find yourself doing lots of personal exploration.
Who would I be if I could be whoever I wanted?
People seem to have this in mind as they mill around the desert in tutus, shiny spandex, sparkles, or whatever it is that makes them feel most like themselves as they explore.

And I, at a time in my life where I am eager to ponder the answers to these types of questions, went into Burning Man this year open- minded, ready to receive whatever came my way.

One morning friend and fellow burner Nicole and I rode our bikes out to outer playa, where lots of cool art installations live. We found ourselves riding towards a little hut surrounded by wire trees temporarily planted in the desert floor. We ducked inside the hut to find the walls plastered with what looked like lots of different family photos (We later found out these were photos of "happy memories" people had sent in to the artist as he requested). A few people sat around cross-legged chatting, quietly taking a break from the outside dust, or intently writing on plastic leaves. Someone passed a laminated instruction sheet our way. If we wanted to participate we could. We curiously read up. On these plastic leaves we were instructed to write "A memory from your future," supposedly a "powerful, powerful brain exercise." Hmmmmmm say what?

I struggled. I understood the instructions and why this would be a powerful brain exercise (that once you point out something in your future all you have to do is draw a line to get there), but I had such trouble coming up with what I wanted to be my memory from my future. How do I sum up everything that I will have learned at a certain point in my future and write an event that will happen? I couldn't imagine an event because I struggled to wrap my brain around what knowledge I would have at that certain point, what event would happen, and then be able to reflect on that.

Amidst my struggle, a tall, tanned dreadlocked man decorated with loose linen, sturdy leather boots, and beads ducked in, smiling peacefully and purposefully looking around. He and another man jollily greeted one another. We soon realized he was the artist of the installation. Knowing there must be a lot of ideas behind this project, and that like most at Burning Man he would be open for a deep conversation, I approached him with my struggle. He was eager to chat. "Maybe I'm taking this too seriously," I lamented.

I stood and let him preach to me for awhile, and soon some golden words came out of his articulation. "You're never going to get to a place of ultimate achievement and understanding," he said. "That place does not exist."
I squinted and furrowed my brow, nodding slowly, realizing.
"When you get to that place you're thinking of, you'll be standing on those shoulders looking out for what's next."

Yes! It's true. Far too often I think of life as being a path to this ultimate place of understanding, success, and knowledge. Unfortunately, this means that often instead of living in the moment and focusing on what I am doing at the time, I am thinking ahead, stressing about what I should do next in order to get me to that place I think of.
I think this is an easy pattern of thinking for people to fall into. (Not that it's a bad thing to think ahead, but it is bad when it's all you can focus on).

I was struggling so much with the future memory because I was trying to think of this very point in my future when I would 'have it all figured out.' I couldn't wrap my brain around the knowledge that I would have then, because how could I? That time does not exist.

"Start with this weekend," he said. "What is something you want to happen this weekend, somewhere you'd like to be?" I nodded. The artist and I hugged goodbye. He smiled and said, "Have a great life." I, feeling much more clear, ducked out the entrance to the hut, hopped on my bike and Nicole and I rode off into the desert.

Soon enough this sign came into view.

I got off my bike and appreciated it for a moment, and took this photo. YES! There was the message again! It's so true. Don't focus on the big place or thing you want to achieve down the road, do focus on what you're doing now and put all you've got into it, because those little things will add up.
We rode on.

That night, around three or four in the morning, (The nightlife at Burning Man is just as equally awesome as the daytime life, and so one should balance when out there and get in some of each) the message came again. I and a different fellow camper Smitty, not ready yet to sleep, decided to stroll over to Center Camp -the only place at Burning Man where things are for sale, only coffee and ice, and also the hub of all the action- a stage is occupied at all hours with various performers. To our delight, a jazz trio was onstage. What a treat! At night techno music takes over the Burning Man nightlife, and the desert turns into a booming sound swamp. It's awesome, but sometimes you need a break and a new genre of music just soooothes your senses. We searched and spotted an empty couch up front- and plopped down. The musicians played a few songs, we relaxed in pleasure, Smitty fell asleep, then the keyboardist spoke up: "I'm going to kick these guys off for one last song...It took me about a year and a half to write. The chorus just came to me last month."

He sang a delightful tune, the lyrics, about finding yourself and not stressing, spoke me to clearly. Then the chorus came in,

Take - it - slow.
Let - it - go.
And soon you'll know, who you really are.

Man, could the universe be speaking to me any more clearly? We strolled back to our camp slowly, by way of the outer empty streets, which since it was only Tuesday hadn't been filled with campers yet. An hour or two before sunrise, darkness surrounded us and the stars were glorious. The chorus still plays out in my mind.

Take - it - slow.
Let - it - go.
And soon you'll know, who you really are.

ahhhh, thanks, Tuesday at Burning Man, 2009. I needed that.

*here's some interviews with burners I did post Burning Man at the car wash.

Local Swimmer Achieves her Dream

2009-10-01T12:40:00.001-07:00

You know how people give the advice, make a goal and you'll get there? About 40 years ago, Karen Rogers was seven years old when she looked out across Lake Tahoe and told her Dad that she was going to swim (21 miles!) across it one day. This August, she did it! She started at 3am, and it took her about ten hours. The only struggle she had during the swim was about three hours in when she cramped up. Her coach on a nearby kayak gave her a bottle of Cytomax, she pounded it, and continued on her way, feeling better. Besides that she said the swim was, "easy." WOW!

I interviewed Karen about her feat for ActiveReno last month. She was September's ActiveReno athlete of the month. The thing I found most interesting about what she said was how it is while she is swimming that she is truly at her happiest. A swimmer for 10 years, I have encountered more than a few people who are like this. Swimmers tend to be a quirky bunch! It's like they only feel complete when they have swimming in their lives. I have periods like this too, when the only thing that will make me feel OK is getting in a pool and swimming hard. Karen said about halfway through these long swims is when she feels "normal." She feels most like herself in the water. She says she considers this to mean she has not fully adapted into a human.

I relate. There's something magic about being in the water for long periods of time while getting exercize. Some people just need it! I do. Maybe it has to do with connection to the earth in an intense way, as you must adapt your breathing pattern to be able to stay in the water.
Check out this video portrait of Karen Rogers.

Pyramid Lake Triathlon 2009

2009-08-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Most people around these parts agree Pyramid Lake is eerie and special, and there are even stories that things gone missing in Lake Tahoe have ended up in Pyramid Lake- that there's some sort of secret underwater vortex between the two lakes.

Anyway there's a triathlon out there. I did it one year, and it was the hardest thing I'd ever done (next to climbing in and out of the Grand Canyon in a day). This year Jim Conkey, 78, did it, and he said it was the hardest thing he's done since around age 40.

check out the recap vid I shot and edited! And note local athlete Scott Young's 7-ish second bike- run transition. Impressive!
Done as a part of ActiveReno.

Trans Tahoe Relay Swim 2009

2009-07-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Trans Tahoe Relay Swim is a 30+ year tradition where teams of six individuals complete an 11 mile course across the glorious Lake Tahoe- starting at Sand Harbor Beach and ending at Skylandia Beach. Each individual swims for 30 minutes, then 15, then 10, until their team lands at Skylandia Beach. Speedboats filled with teammates bob alongside their swimmers until their turn in the 60-ish degree water. Then the swimmers touch, and switch.

The first swimmer of each team starts on the beach at 7:30 am. The first finishers come in around three hours, and keep coming in for about three more hours. Ambitious individuals who want to swim the whole thing alone are also allowed to compete.

This year instead of swimming I interviewed swimmers and created a video portrait of the event, in collaboration with my friends at ActiveReno. Check it out!

Joe Orrach on Feeling 'On Purpose'

2009-06-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

I sat down with Joe right after the first run of his first solo show-In My Corner- ended with a bang, all shows sold out, last fall. In My Corner is Joe's life story. The second run opens tomorrow! in Oakland. Details here.

Lis What came first: Your desire to tell your story or your desire to do a solo show?
Joe I think my desire to tell my story. I did a piece around ten years ago that was really the beginning of this whole thing, that ended up being about my dad and me. I think after I did that I had the desire to write the whole story. Then I started journaling and that turned into this show.

L Have you always wanted to do a solo show? Or is it something that comes with time as a performer you think? Like you get more confidence as you go?
J I never thought about doing a solo show when I first started. I didn't even know they existed. When I started I was just trying to get work and doing that whole thing...I saw a teacher of mine Noal Parentey do a one man show that was my first introduction to doing a one man show, and I was totally knocked out! It was about 20 years ago. I watched him and I was really moved and that kind of changed my whole idea about what performing was, because up until that time I was just learning how to tap dance and I was just starting.

* photo credit Liz Hafalia, Chronicle

L When you were younger dancing and doing other performing did you feel something special when people were enjoying watching you?
J Yeah. No doubt. And that started actually on the street. I pretty much got my start on the streets in New York City. I had a partner and the very first night we went out on the streets 77nd and Columbus actually. We knew something was going on. The reaction from the public, people on the street, walking by, and stopping... Because they could just keep going. The street teaches you a lot, and it teaches you how to hold an audience. What happened was, we did a few tap dance numbers and we had a huge crowd. And I had a friend come down that night, and he said it wasn't just the dance- there was something else going on. I knew in my gut that it was kind of special and that was really great. And after awhile we went inside and put a show together and went around performing pretty much around the world.

L What role do you think performance plays in peoples' lives? Why should you do it for other people? What's that need to even want to see a show? For you, or other people to want to watch you?
J The theatre for me is a really special place. And I'm just gonna say it- I feel it's church. It's a place to really move souls. Unlike a lot of conventional churches today where people aren't moved, I think the theatre is sacred grounds. And at the end of the day that's really the best way I can explain what it does for me and why I have to perform and why I really believe when they leave the theatre, that's why they're moved and transformed from that experience. And so when I perform, I really, somewhere, tap into that. It's...divine in a way. I call it vertical- it's a very vertical thing it taps into that what's beneath us and above us...

L Is that something you can get in a movie theatre too?
J You can, you can. But I don't think it happens as often. I think you can, but it's not the same, because there is a division. That screen stops that incredible magic. Although I think a great movie does go beyond the screen and can touch you and move you, there's nothing like live performance.

L So it must just have to do with human connection?
J Yeah I think so. Yes. It's human connection and it's also soul connection that we all have and which I believe makes us all the same. We're very different, but it makes us all the same. Because I can do this particular piece in China let's say, and people will get it- the language maybe they wouldn't get, but if the performance connected into that soulful place, you can do it anywhere and people will get it. And that's rare to be able to connect to another human being on that level...And we as performers are so fortunate to be able to do that when we're really doing what we're supposed to be doing.

L So the moment when you got the desire to tell your life story...?
J It was a germ somewhere in me, like whoa I need to tell this story...I wrote it over maybe just a few nights, and it was a very, very strange period in my life. But for some reason I felt I had to make sense out of certain things, and so I started writing this and it turned out to be pretty much about my father and me. It wasn't about telling it to other people. I needed to tell it to me. I needed to... talk to myself. Because I needed to make sense, somehow out of my life...Because it wasn't making sense. But you know how when you can do something and get it out of your brain it does become smaller?... And then stepping back it started to make a little sense. But not until a few years after, until it settled down. But it was really good to go through that experience, and it was pretty intense.

L How do you feel now that you've told it? It seems like the most honest thing a person could do...
J Incredible. One, the dream, saying I want to do this I want to have a solo show, that's great, and then to be able to say I've done it, I started on it, I finished it...and what's most gratifying is the reaction from the audience. I can't begin to tell you how gratifying that is, because when I started doing this I would talk to Liz (co-writer, wife) I would say why would anyone want to hear this? It's your [my] story but, so? Who is to say that other people are going to want to listen? And the reaction from the audience, which was beyond my wildest expectations, to have people come up to me, to receive emails and letters, to have people call me, some people I knew, some people I didn't know, just their reaction.

L So was it the co-writer Liz that helped you to get the confidence to think that your story might mean something to other people? or maybe you had that realization?
J Well Liz put it into a narrative. She made it like a story. It did give me confidence because she said 'This is a very unusual story," one that she liked. And up until a few days before it opened I'd say 'Liz do you think it's good? Do you really think it's good?' And she'd say, 'I think it's great.' And I don't know if that's being a performer you're really insecure, it's probably part of that but also I think I was trying to say Are people going to find this interesting?

L You didn't know somewhere inside that it would mean something to people?
J Maybe I did...And that I don't know if it's really me or if I need someone to tell me it's good... I don't know. I thought the story was interesting, and then more than interesting, it was honest. And then on top of it which I didn't realize later, it's everyone's story. Who can't relate between a child and their parent? An adult and a young person? And, it's kind of one of these old stories.

L Explain the cathartic experience of telling the painful story of you and your dad.
J Well, it was definitely cathartic. I would practice for Liz...and as I was doing it I was just crying, and crying and crying...because you re-live some of that. And you don't want the audience to see that, want them to feel it. So each process just went deeper and helped me to work out things on another level. So now I can talk to my father and I can look at him and stuff and it's much easier and it's much cleaner. But it took me this whole process to work that stuff out. Especially because what I didn't want to be was exactly what I was, which was my dad. So I really had to look in the mirror and look at myself, and do some soul searching. And the show really helped me, this story really helped me.

L So it could be thought of as a healing process for people to perform their life stories?
J Well one of the main reasons I wanted to perform it for people was to heal. Because in the process of getting the show up I really started to heal my relationship with my father, and really more importantly I think, I started to heal myself. And I figure if someone can come away after watching the show with some kind of purging or healing, (it cant come right away but) well as I was saying before quite a few people told me, 'I had to sit with that for 24 or 48 hours and just really let it digest or let it sink in more,' and it seemed like a lot of people were really touched by it, where they could take that story and kind of put it into their life, and say my father or my mother or this happened to me, and really, let them heal.

L But do you think performance could be a healing process for a lot of people?
J Yeah. Absolutely. I don't see why not. It sounds silly but I think performing, or acting or whatever you want to call it, first of all I know it's healing. I know it's healing. Like I said before anytime you get to be able to take some of the stuff that's inside that's kind of rolling around in your head, that becomes bigger than life because it's rolling inside, if you can try to stop that wheel spinning by writing about it, by singing about it, by talking about it, by performing it, whatever means, yes, I think everyone should do it. It can be scary but, gee, we only have one life, and like people say it's not a dress rehearsal.

L Did you ever know your life would make such a good story?
J (Laughing) That's funny. No no because you just try to live your life. But I knew somewhere along the line that we had a pretty interesting household. My dad's from Puerto Rico and he's out there, he's demonstrative, he's an egomaniac, he's charming, he's handsome, he moves well, he's got all of these things in him that make him an interesting guy. And then he's got all of these negative qualities that also make him ...And then my mom's Italian, born and raised in New York and so in that household there was a lot of... just a lot. Everything was loud. Everything was big and strong. So if that wasn't your natural thing, you had to learn how to survive in that. And I don't think naturally I'm that kind of a guy. Naturally I am and I'm not, and I had to use that side of me to survive in there. So I knew when I'd go over to other friends' houses that not everyone was like us (laughing). And I had my older brother Michael always getting in trouble... So to watch him in action I just knew something was going to happen. And then my uncles. I had some pretty crazy uncles. So I knew something was up. But not with myself. Just watching these people it was like 'Whoa! Am I part of this?'

L A few times in the show you say, "dancing makes me happy." People have said how they connected with this, so touch on the deeper meaning of it.
J The deeper part of that is- well it might not be so deep. But every time I seem to dance, when I was 5 or 6, or 10 or 20, or now, 21, it changed, it literally changed me. And it would change the dynamic in the room. Whether I was in my house or a party or a wedding, it would just change, for the better. Everyone around me would change- they'd smile, they'd stop and point and watch. I would have people just stopping and watching me because I was.. I don't know, performing. So that made me happy. And it made people happy. And so being a young latino, which I really identify with because that's how my father raised us, that was really in my blood, I just had to moooove. I don't know if it's innate intelligence of the body, but when I started moving and dancing, it just vibrates differently. And it made me happy and I saw how it changed everyone around me, and that was a good thing. When you make someone smile who's not smiling that's a good thing....From the earliest times I can remember dancing to now, it just changes something. And it's really who I am. I don't consider myself really a dancer but more a mover. I think movement really has a profound impact on people.

L So you think there should be more dancing?
J I really do I think there should be more arts, more dancing, more movement...
Back back back to the beginning of time, people communicated through movement.
The arts saves people's lives. I believed it saved mine. Not that I'd be dead but I can't imagine where I'd be if it weren't for the arts. And without sounding 'oh woe is me,' it's really huge. It's really huge. I mean I come from a boxing family. Nothing wrong with boxing in and of itself, but it's pretty brutal....Most of the cats I used to fight with, some of them are punchy, most of the guys I revered growing up as professional fighters, most of them are punch-drunk, none of them had an opportunity to find the arts...

L You think everyone has the capacity to be artistic?
J I really do. I don't know to what extent but I think there's an artist in all of us. For some reason I think that's our birthright... I'm not sure if some of us just don't listen to it or don't have the opportunity..

L So having told your life story and having had it touch people how do you feel? How do you feel as the living breathing subject of a play that's touched people?
J Incredible. It's beyond my wildest expectations. I didn't know that you could feel so humane to be able to move someone else in that kind of a way. I feel that somehow when you're an open channel and you're being used in a way that you feel you're supposed to be used, with this bigger thing out here called the universe, you just feel like you're on purpose.

L What do you hope your show does at it's best?
J Touch lives...to really move someone, to the point where they think about why they're here or maybe think about their father or mother or son or daughter...just to pause and say, wow.

Swimmer Jim

2009-06-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

I present you with Swimmer Jim! It's a little video portrait of Reno area Masters swimmer Jim Conkey, done as a part of Project Moonshine, and last winter's 'I Like Winners' exhibition at UNR's Sheppard Gallery. The basis for the exhibition was to explore through art the ideas of winning and athleticism. Here's Jim and his thoughts.

Swimmer Jim from lis bartlett on Vimeo.

Out of Business

2009-05-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

Our corner store is out of business! After a sign yesterday morning that said, 'Closed Today' this one came up last night.

I mean, the place was kind of deficient. We complain about it all the time. Everything was overpriced, they barely ever restocked, often unexpectedly expired items were for sale (I once bought a muffin, had some bites, THEN realized it was moldy), and they didn't sell much a sober adult would want to eat often: Chips, candy, soda, ice cream, overpriced alcohol, other packaged goods that have at least 40 ingredients...

But it's still weird. Makes me feel like preparing for the worst. I guess it's the most prominent reminder I've had of the economic crisis in awhile.

Animal Collective Seducing Montreal 5/15/09

2009-05-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

The multi-sensory experience of live music.

Animal Collective started their show Friday night LOUD. loud sound pulsing and flashing lights felt jarring at first. This seemed quite contrary to the first time I saw them at Great American Music Hall in San Fran a few years ago.
Bands become louder as become bigger? Somethin like that.

I'm overheating because of the loudness- music gets louder, harsh lights flash brighter, look around, crowded, no way out, sweating neck, PANIC

.... sitting on the sidewalk outside for a cool down.
Upstairs.
On the upper stairwell in front of a screen overlooking the stage. I could see about half of the stage here.

You see where I'm going. Screen AND live. perspective perspective...

Well the screen quite disturbed me actually. I think it was hd. I could feel it looming over me and it was hard not to look. The better option for screens during performance is the kind of screen I've seen Radiohead play with. Rather than an -as close to perfect as possible- representation (also known as HD) of what's happening live, Radiohead had screens up of artistic bizarre close-up angles of the stage, manipulated, strangely colored. Lets suggest to the viewer another perspective, let's let them guess what's this? Let's inspire their curiosities with oddity in a manipulated shot of part of the action, perhaps. Not just simply give them an hd picture. No need for this, Metropolis. I'd rather just listen than have a view of an hd screen of live performance happening in front of me.

Here in the stairwell is when the show got better *hmm funny Montreal is noted for their stairwells. Katie says it's because back in the day during the building of the city (arrround 1850?) people wanted stoops. For example in NY the stairs are on the inside of buildings, but in Montreal they're outside. Which means there are stoops.
What an idea! Oh how stoops add to a city in a Jane Jacobsian type way.

Swamp sounds verberate throughout the audience. "There's a lot of reverb up here" says [I think it was] Avey Tare.
"No shit." says the dude next to me, commenting on the load of electronics on stage.

Mutually exclusive sounds become inclusive
= love?= connection? I always come back to love= connection.

2 sounds become three three become four four become five
five become one
All sounds one, we're ALL one. The audience feels it too.

possibly
describable
only
in
poetry
?

trickle tickle, wave, smooth, expand, involve, hum, shriek, cover, arrest, embolden embody empower, birth, surround, bloom boom, feather flutter heighten explain express understand, fall, breathe, rest

all the verbs that go with sound
The fact that I feel so much nostalgia right now has to do with this.

The reverb seduces me.. it's a trick?

Sway me bring me lift me out of my box lets go. Later, put me back. or not.

The more I experience Animal Collective the more I hear the music in everyday life. Individual sounds work into each other, play off one another, All building into something eventually......

'Age of Stupid' Finally, BOLDLY, Shows Fate of Earth (at SFIFF)

2009-05-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last night 'Age of Stupid' had its North American premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and after watching I feel more called to action than I have in my 23 years on earth.

"I hope you enjoy the film- well not enjoy exactly- it's not a feel good movie but a feel inspired movie," director Franny Armstrong said before the show.

This is not your average documentary. Age of Stupid starts in the future- the year 2055 at a [computer generated] "digital archive" in Copenhagen. Our narrator is Pete Postlethwaite. Pete talks to the camera, directly to the audience, and takes us on a tour of our path to destruction of the earth, showing us news video clips of events that have led us to where we are now, and to where Pete is, alone in 2055.

The decision to make the film in the future, with all other footage and information completely real and and factual, only came after the first draft of the film was done, Armstrong said during q&a. In preview screenings the audience was confused and the film needed something to tie it all together. That's when the crew got the idea to set it in the future. The rest of the story is told (so effectively) by way of six peoples' intertwining stories- an idea stolen from the movie Traffic, directed by Steven Soderbergh. The six differet stories show us the reality- that "there is no right or wrong, or good or bad, we're all just people," said Armstrong. An Indian airplane entrepreneur who also wants to solve global poverty, an English man who develops wind turbine fields, and a Nigerian girl suffering the effects of a nearby Shell oil camp, are a few of the characters who help tell this story.

Some particular facts set us straight. If the whole world consumed as much as Americans, Canadians, and Australians, we would need 5 earths right now.

Destruction of railroads, death of electric cars, building cities where a car is a must...We don't have the right laws running our country because oil-business men have had an unhealthy impact on those who run our country. Now they run our country.

Energy is so ridiculously cheap that this has been an economical way to do things.

"It's like we had an unspoken collective pact to ignore climate change."

"Plenty of politicians are talking about it, but when it comes down to is, it's just not happening folks. It's just not happening," says one of the six.

"Why wouldn't we save ourselves if we had the chance?" asks Pete.

Quirky, humorous animation often mixes in to simply illustrate complex issues, like the idea that China is polluting so much right now, when Americans are the ones consuming what China manufactures, buying it in plastic, only to throw it away, where it sits in landfills...

The passion of the crew in portraying this important issue correctly, and
effectively, show through in the high quality of the film. Not
only is it inspiring but entertaining.

The San Francisco Film Society is right in saying, "Armstrong delivers a cautionary, pre-apocalyptic documentary that succeeds in piercing our complacency to a degree matched only, perhaps, by An Inconvenient Truth."

The Age of Stupid is the movie that goes with the Not Stupid campaign. The goal of the campaign is to get 250 million people to watch The Age of Stupid, which will be strategically released from now until September worldwide, and "to turn 250 million viewers into physical or virtual
activists, all focused on the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December
2009, where the successor to the Kyoto Treaty will be finalized and the
future of our species decided. Clearly the overall aim is to prevent
runaway climate change and the deaths of hundreds of millions, if not
billions, of people."

Go to notstupid.org, where you can send letters to politicians, and pledge how you will help this cause for the earth.

this article is also posted on filmfestivals.com

Rockwell the Inspiration for Duncan Jones' 'Moon'

2009-05-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

WHOA! This movie is a mind-blow.

Let me start by saying that I am quite unfamiliar with the genre of science fiction. When I read about this movie I didn't think, 'Oh what a cool sci-fi this movie will be.' SO it was a surprise to me when during the Q&A at the West Coast premiere of the movie at the SFIFF Sunday night so many questions and answers had to do with the sci-fi genre (themes borrowed from other movies, etc).

When I first started watching I immediately thought of Herzog's 'Grizzly Man' because of the perspective issue. We see astronaut Sam Bell ( Sam Rockwell) talking to a camera (The U.S.) back home. SO I thought of the idea of only being with yourself and the camera, the relationship formed there, and the perspective of the camera. Timothy Treadwell was alone in the wilderness with his camera, Sam is alone on the moon with a camera...
Well not completely alone. Kevin Spacey plays a robot friend.

Sam Rockwell gives quite a performance. It turns out the movie was inspired by him. Jones wanted to work with Rockwell, and Rockwell had ideas about wanting to play a working class hero type...

The moon setting is especially notable! I found myself wondering about why and how they decided to make it look the way it did and how the set worked. I learned during the Q&A it was built as a miniature model, and that's probably why it looked so beautiful. Often we see Sam driving the rover over the surface of the moon and it appears in slow motion, moon dust filling the dark air, which is only lit by the out-of-place man made machinery in outer space...

Whoa! Googling Duncan Jones just now I found out from Wikipedia that he is the son of David Bowie. Full circle. Last week at the SFIFF I watched Crude, in which David Bowie's wife and supermodel Iman Abdulmajid plays a key role in creating press buzz around a huge Chevron oil spill in Ecuador.

I'm not going give away anything about this movie, but I will say that it's soul-wrenchingly sad. About 3/4 way through I wanted to give up. At one point Sam says, "I just want to go home." And then earth comes into view.
But instead of giving up I became intrigued by the plot, and started questioning my own sadness- curious about why I felt so sad by this subject.
Sadness turned to curiosity.

Jones made the movie on a 5 million budget. and with only 30 days to shoot. 450 special effects shots. Damn!!!

Go see it. Be boggled.
Opens wide release June 12.

Coppola, American Zoetrope Founders Thrill San Francisco Crowd

2009-05-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

Forty years ago Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Carroll Ballard, and Walter Murch moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles, and founded the film company American Zoetrope. Three years later Coppola made ‘The Godfather.’

Accompanied by their wives, last night the men sat around on stage at the world-renowned Castro Theatre, telling the story of how it all began.
Zoetrope was $30,000 in dept before Coppola did ‘The Godfather.’ Worried about the debt and knowing that Coppola was “the only one of us who knew how to get a job” Lucas pressured Coppola to take the offer he had to direct ‘The Godfather’. Coppola said, “George was telling me to do the Godfather. ‘Do it however they want you to,’ he said,” to a chuckle from the sold-out audience.
“So thanks, George, for telling me to do the film,” Coppola said.

It turns out the studio had huge objections with how Coppola wanted to make it (Little did they know). They were opposed to Al Pacino and especially to Marlon Brando. In order for Brando to be cast the studio required that he do a screen test, that he do the part for free, and that there would be a million dollar bond for him in case he damaged anything. When shown the screen test of Brando, who Coppola described as “a brilliant man,” the studio was astounded.

Coppola, who made the1988 feature ‘Tucker’ about a maverick car designer and his ill-fated challenge to the auto industry, had a few words to say about the fall of the auto industry. “It’s heart breaking. America has spent decades making beautiful cars.” And on a broader note about the fate of the economic crisis, “Hard times will bring us closer together personally.”

Moderator David D’Arcy asked the group if there was any hesitancy to the idea of moving from the booming movie industry in Los Angeles to much smaller San Francisco. Overall the men said there was no hesitancy and that one of the reasons to leave Los Angeles was to leave all the legal and industry. “Why should the person who edits the sound not mix the sound?...Being in San Francisco was more like being in school…We wanted to be film makers.”
Coppola’s wife Eleanor spoke up. “This [San Francisco] is really about people who want to make films…In Los Angeles there are so many parties that revolve around things that really are peripheral to film.”

Lucas said, “We were all desperate to make movies.”

The four couples seemed truly pleasured to be on stage reminiscing about their lives and projects together, and the San Francisco audience, who lined up around two corners for hours in advance to see the event, were just as thrilled. “Can we bring the house lights up to see the beautiful faces of the audience?” Coppola jollily requested at one point.

Often the group teased one another. Murch said, “Lucas used to say- ‘Why am I the only one with a vision around here?’”
And Coppola and Lucas joked about Lucas’ writing skills back in the day. Lucas said he was more of a visual guy, didn’t think you needed anything else besides the vision.
“Like a script,” Coppola joked.
Coppola didn’t believe Lucas couldn’t write, and made Lucas write a screenplay for a job.
“But then you read it and said no, you’re not a writer,” Lucas said to Coppola. They all laughed along with the audience.

Ballard piped up about how these days more often than not the director has nothing to do with the writing of the script, rather the director comes in without any prior knowledge of the script and then takes over. “We were under the notion that if you were going to make a film you’d write it,” he said.

Coppola talked about his latest project, ‘Tetro’ (premiering later this month in Cannes) which is in black and white. “With black and white it’s different because it’s the light that’s used to separate, since there’s no color. No one will buy black and white movies. It’s hard…. For awhile if you wanna do it [make movies] you have to have a day job.”
“It’s fiction but it’s filled with personal memories,” he said about the film.

Coppola said there are really only about four films he made that are the ones he really wanted to make, from his own personal ideas. He noted Rain People, Conversation, Rumble Fish, and Youth Without Youth. "Film should be personal. Each person here, we're all unique and that unique perspective is reflected in what we create... which makes it all the more beautiful."

“The curse is that people just don’t go and see them,” he said.
“If you don’t have that kind of violence, or thrills and spills, the audience just won’t come.”

This review is also published on filmfestivals.com

'Everything Strange and New' Showing at SFIFF

2009-05-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

For the last time tonight! at 6:30 at kabuki cinema as part of the SFIFF. It was shot in Oakland.

Two minutes in I wanted to skip back to the beginning because I was stopped in my tracks by the style of film making. I wanted to watch it over so as to catch every detail.

This is a BLEAK movie. And man, the film making is incredible at illustrating bleakness.

Eerily slow zooms and dolly shots (which my cinema major roommate says is a trend right now) come one after the other and don't stop. Voice over has a huge role in this bleak illustration too. Often the camera holds on one vacant, nonliving space in the protagonist's daily life (like parts of the construction site where he works, or the empty street he lives) while we hear voice over of him talking about his life, or of he and his wife arguing. slow. silence. pain. monotony of daily life.

The shot that brings us down the most is a frequent long shot of protagonist Wayne, walking. Just walking. But he walks so slow, in no hurry, without any cares, not looking forward to anything next. Silence. Walking. After half a minute we are depressed too. Because we can feel it. We fear it for ourselves.

Director Frazer Bradshaw says on the film's website that his goal is to "create work that opens viewers to themselves."

While watching and after, I did spend some time assessing parts of my life (I guess to make sure it isn't going where Wayne's is). And though while watching most of the film I was quite depressed and down, today I feel extremely happy. Coincidence? Purging?

Bradshaw says further "I hope that viewers will reconstitute characters and events for themselves, bringing their own ideas and sensibilities to bear. In shaping my stories and characters, I leave important narrative and emotional spaces to be filled by the audience. My characters develop naturally, as if they absorbed what the audience imagines about them. I leave moments of silence so that viewers can employ their own motivations in driving the film's emotional content."

WHOA. I'd like to talk to Bradshaw more about this. I feel like that's exactly what this film did.

'Everything Strange and New' gets scarily depressing. (AT least that's how I feel?) Wayne and his wife detest each other. They're unhappy. There is no smiling and there aren't any birds chirping. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Wayne and his wife embrace in a thick hug. Love and hate at the same time? I'll keep watching.

Frantic orchestral interludes accent.

I recommend this movie. The film making is incredible, so much that it's maybe a bad thing because it's all I could focus on. It shows that Bradshaw has experience as a director of photography for over 200 productions.

This post is also posted at fest21.com.

Jean-Michel Cousteau

2009-04-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

I saw Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the obvious, speak at the California Academy of Sciences Nightlife Thursday night.

Twas great!

First of all, what a brilliant idea the nightlife series is. Pay less than half the usual admission, maybe check out an illuminating lecture, order a drink or two and mingle among the fish with other San Franciscans who appreciate California Academy of Science style values. I'm in! If you haven't checked it out yet I highly recommend.
Even though a beer is seven dollars, you have to admit the Greenest museum in the World is (at least ONE of) the coolest places you've had a drink.

On to the important stuff. I think Jean-Michel is trying to bring the idea of saving our oceans back to pop culture. I'm not sure if it ever was a part of pop culture. But the Green movement is, and so now maybe that can mean oceans too. I never hear people talking about how polluted our oceans are and what a big deal it is. I never talk about it either. In reality our oceans will not be full of life anymore if we don't act now.

Ever think about how much money and thought we put into space exploration compared to how much we put into exploring our own oceans here on earth?

The reason I say this about Jean-Michel is because his show Ocean Adventures has a new special, Call of the Killer Whale, that's premiering this Wednesday, April 22 (Earth Day) on PBS nationwide, and the show is fantastic! We got to see snippets Thursday night. Full of drama, and real drama at that. This messed up shit is actually happening! I think because of the right mix of perfect timing (Earth Day, and the Green movement getting bigger all the time) awesome (underwater video camera action), drama and emotion, and celebrity too, the show will bring some buzz.

Before going to bed I was setting the radio alarm for the morning and heard a familiar voice on KQED- Jean-Michel being interviewed by Michael Krasny. And finally Thursday he also made an appearance at the Commonwealth Club for an interview, which means next week, he'll be on fora.tv.

Phone Books Are Such a Waste of Paper

2009-03-30T12:38:00.001-07:00

Right? These pages have been sitting in our apartment lobby for weeks because nobody wants them.

After all, I don't even remember the last time I used a phone book to look up the number or location for something when I could just google it instead. And I think it was less then half a year ago when we got a new set, which have been sitting on the fridge until I replaced it with one of these...

Hmmm I guess during generations before us if I met a Harold Jones at the grocery store say, and then later was thinking how nice he seemed I might look him up in the phone book, call and say it was lovely meeting him, and maybe we'd become friends?

I think now if I met Harold at the store, he would probably only say his first name - "Hi I'm Harold." And I'd do some facebook and google stalking, maybe even second guess my first impression of him, and try to find out more about him before calling to make sure he wasn't "some weirdo," or something.
Ok slight exaggeration hopefully.

On a contradictory to saving paper and different note, I just signed up to receive the NY Times on Sunday, in a sort of effort to fight for the survival of journalism. I also love the Sunday NY Times. The culture reporting is like solid gold. And what a lovely Sunday to lay around with different sections of the paper fluttering in the breeze of open windows, or a Bay, all day...

-ha I just realized the Sunday New York Times is #46 on Stuff White People Like-

But at a mere $3.40 a week because of a 50% off special right now, and accounting for costs of things like paper printing costs, the driver's wages and gas for the delivery truck to get to my apt, I'm not even sure my subscription will help.

Sutro Baths Then and Now Portrait

2009-03-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a portrait of the Sutro Baths I made for our first assignment in Sam Green's doc class last Spring at USF! Sam gave us a list of places to choose from in the city, and I chose to do a portrait of the baths (named after San Fran's 24th Mayor, Adolph Sutro) because I have always been intrigued by the eerie history of the Cliff House and it's surrounding areas.

For this assignment I was really interested in sound mixing, from sounds found online to the music included and the sounds recorded live at the Baths. Thanks for the Marcus Guenter Sky. Enjoy...

Dmitry Orlov, Expert on Collapse

2009-03-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

I'm convinced.

January 20, 2009 at San Francisco Civic Center

2009-02-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

On inauguration day in San Francisco, I took my camera down to the civic center and interviewed people about the switch, the time in history, their emotions, what's next, and what it all means...

Synecdoche, New York

2009-01-26T16:04:00.000-08:00

If you'd like your soul and heart and mind twisted and turned over and over until you are simultaneously so drained and sad yet relieved, see Synecdoche, New York. A cathartic experience. Playing only until Wednesday in SF, at the Roxie Theater, in the Mission.

Walkmen / Beach House Show in SF!

2009-01-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

Last night, on President Obama's first full day in office, I saw The Walkmen and Beach House play the Fillmore. Man it was great! Of the two The Walkmen really rocked-- I say Beach House sounds just as amazing digitally as live, but I'm still definitely open to them.
And it's great being in a city where almost every time a band is on stage they say something like, "This is our favorite place to play," or "We love this city," and mean it.

Hell yes. Rock on. I'd see either of the bands again.

*The Walkmen above. I didn't take this picture but it's quite studly eh?

The Wrestler

2009-01-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

Just got back from seeing The Wrestler. Though enjoyable to watch because of the intimate follow style of filming / storytelling, I give it an eh.
I hadn't seen any previews but had heard some buzz and for some reason it sounded interesting to me. Though I really don't like wrestling or violence in movies. I guess I thought it would be an interesting character sketch.

Here's what it made me think about- which I already knew before- focus on self can equal loss of human connection

Welcome to 2009!

2009-01-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

About to start doing a lot more blogging. I guess it took me 13 days in to say that, but now I'm ready.

mmmmmmmaahhh.

Hand Drawn Animation Over Digital With Gene Deitch

2008-12-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

Last month at the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival I attended their retrospective of animator Gene Deitch's work for children. Deitch and his wife Zdenka who reside in Prague, were in attendance for the screening, and I had a chance to speak to both of them.

The showing included Deitch's works: Oscar Winning Monroe, The Three Robbers, TomTerrific, film versions of Maurice Sendak's In the Knight Kitchen, and Where the Wild Things Are, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Why Mosquitos Buzz in Peoples' Ears, and Tom and Jerry.

The retrospective was the last program I attended at the Festival, and it was an interesting way to end the weekend because all of Deitch's works are hand drawn animation, while most of the other stuff I'd seen over the weekend was all digital all the way. In fact, Deitch and his wife are advocates for hand -drawn animation when it comes to children's entertainment.

Though he acknowledges the magic Pixar creates Deitch said, "Animation comes down to the story. With computers, unfortunately a lot of the characters look like plastic...and the computer is shutting out hand drawn animation, unfortunately erroneously called 2D..."

It could be argued well that hand drawn animation, the artist's hand to pen to paper rather than hand to mouse to computer, is more subjective, more of a reflection of the artist. It's more pure. On digital animation, Deitch said he doesn't understand the path many 3D animators seem to be on of trying to imitate reality. "I don't think we should be in the business of trying to animate real live action. It's a dead end. There's no way to do it exactly, so why should we try?"

Deitch's wife Zdenka, a less than 5 ft woman who he described as small but feisty, had a lot to say about this matter as well. "Done with computer, it has no heart. I prefer hand made animation because it has heart...The animator gives a life, a feeling to it..."

While watching the hand drawn animation pieces of Gene's, my thoughts were along these same lines. The morals of the stories stood out to me. When the animator draws everything her/himself, it means the artist's point of view and perspective are completely reflected in the characters, giving the experience of watching a real feeling, hmmm perhaps this could be called soul?

I talked to Gene, a man who looks about 25 years younger than his age, about the digital versus hand drawn idea after the screenings. "There's so much competition out there now for childrens' attention," he said. "We try to make something of lasting value." Deitch said he has grandchildren who live in the U.S., and he's not even sure they would be entertained by his works, compared to what he called, "The splash - bang of the stuff children watch on TV today... We're trying to create something real, with meaning," he said.

I asked Zdenka if she felt that hand drawn animation is not just for children, but adults too. "We make these not just for children...There is a lot of junk in the world. It is important to broaden the mind," she said, referring to adults watching too.

**Photo credit Hilary Hart San Francisco Film Society --Gene Deitch and his wife, Zdenka, with Festival Programmer Sean Uyehara and daughter Asta.

Encyclopedia Pictura

2008-11-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

This weekend at the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival, my eyes were opened to a new world!
It is that of Encyclopedia Pictura. EP is an animating collective of three young men from Santa Cruz who are currently enjoying a lot of attention since their animation and production for Bjork's 'Wanderlust.' View here.

-Darren Rabinovitch, Sean Hellfritsch, and Isaiah Saxon of EP, and Sean Uyehara, Programmer of SFIAFF

Encyclopedia Pictura are definitely on top of their game. As designers /producers/ artists, they mix live action, digital animation, stop motion animation, and also they do stereoscopic 3D. Their work proves mastery of the latest animation technology (they use Maya, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and After Effects), as well as a well rounded sense of art. I think they must operate with %100 creativity and %100 tech skills, which is amazing to think about.

Because they are an independent cohesive unit, creating ground-breaking art, the three are reminiscent of a rock band- only they're animators. Music isn't the only situation where a small team of people can collaborate on an artistic vision and be successful and recognized for it!
*Note- This is also interesting considering our apparent switch to a visual culture these days*

The Animation Fest showed a series of their different short works, including Grow, Grizzly Bear: Knife, Bjork, Born Like Stars, Micro/Macro, Tactical Advantage, Seventeen Evergreen, Zion I: So Tall, Ballistic Jaw Propulsion of, and Spore.

I feel somewhat speechless trying to describe any of the pieces in words, because that's just it, their work is not about words but rather visuals complimenting sound. You can probably get that sense from watching Wanderlust. I can say however that when watching I was thinking about the idea of humans/earth as one. I kept noticing there seemed to be an emphasis on the beauty of (sometimes personified) natural non-human things (Watch Ballistic Jaw, Born Like Stars).

When the pieces were over and it was time for q and a, Founder Sean Uyehara had some news for us. The three guys hadn't arrived yet! Uyehara began to speak about their work when his phone rang. They were on the other line in the car on the way, so Uyehara held his phone to the microphone and we asked questions through him until they walked through the door to inspired applause. They had been sailing and got held up...

When asked about their vision, EP said, "We'd love to give people a sense of wonder through an experience that's not word based." I say mission accomplished.

Someone in the audience asked about if there's an underlying world view/ perspective that their work is made with. "It's an ecological perspective understanding the balance of all complex systems...Deep ecology," one of them responded (which means my thought of humans/earth as one sort of fits).

Even though Bjork offered them another music video deal, and also Animal Collective, a band they said they'd always wanted to work with (and also one of my favorite bands) apparently they're not doing music videos anymore. They didn't say why not.

Our New World

2008-11-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

Glide Memorial this morning

Rejoicing our President elect

on with our daily life....

New Solo Show Opens with a bang!

2008-09-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

There's good theater in town. Last weekend at The Intersection for the Arts theatre in the Mission, In My Corner, Joe Orrach's new solo show, opened to two sold out performances.

I just happen to be the Assistant Production Manager for the show, and I am loving it!

When I first met Joe and saw a rehearsal I was shocked at how multi-talented he is. First he dances a little, and you're thinking, this is great, then there's this intensely intriguing story (which is his true life story) and then he belts out this great tenor voice, and then he starts tap dancing! To top it off, your senses are completely tuned in because of the excellent accompaniment of this world class jazz trio: Matt Clark on piano, Micha Patri on drums, and Eugene Warren on double bass.

I was lucky to fall into such an opportunity. You can be part of it too: there are four more show dates this Thursday through Sunday!

Joe is a local who some may know from Teatro ZinZanni where he performed for 6 years. He grew up in New York and started his performance life tap dancing on the streets. This is where Gregory Hines saw him and this led him to where he is now.

In My Corner is an autobiographical story, largely the story of Joe's relationship with his father, and his personal voyage. It's a coming of age story, his transformation from growing up a New Yorican, leaving the ring behind, hanging up the boxing gloves, and putting on the tap shoes. The story winds through the riffs and beats of latin jazz and rock and roll. Sit back and relax, and your emotions will shift by the vibrations, sounds and silences of this 75 minute show.

Get your TICKETS now at www.joeorrach.com for one of the last performances:
Thursday at 8pm
Friday at 8pm
Saturday at 8pm
and Sunday at 1pm
$20 general admission

roAD trip

2008-08-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

My brother recently landed in North Carolina for grad school and I accompanied him for the trip out.

I wrote this in the car at the end of the week...

So the trip has been good. Tuesday was fantastic. Driving through pockets of thunderstorm over the rusty red ridges of Arizona and carefully zipping through monsoon style rain showers, the air was kept fresh and the skies kept dramatic.

Scenery stayed interesting

-a stop at Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ-

right up until night came and we blasted techno til New Mexico.

Early rise and Wednesday wasn’t as fun.
Hot hot heat and flat smog land
into and through the top of Texas

which pretty much all looks like this
and
Highway 40 must be owned by McDonald's, Taco Bell, the occasional Pizza Hut, and Subway. By the time we got to Oklahoma City I was having a claustrophobic panic attack in my desire to eat something that didn’t come in plastic first.
Getting off the freeway I was hoping to at least find a grocery store where I could buy an orange. Well we must have gotten off the wrong exit because what we found instead were humans driving air conditioned cars windows up between big box stores. We settled on Target where I purchased one of those tuna in foil snack things (foil better than plastic?)- not quite what I wanted.

That night we landed in Fort Smith, a quaint brick laden town on the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas, where I did find some vegetables. A pleasant place to call home after highway for 12 hours.

Thursday was a much better. More Subway and Green green green hills and more monsoon rain, and NPR kept us company. Memphis for lunch, $5 to a bum who worked hard for it, some perspective at the Civil Rights Museum, stayed on the freeway through Nashville and ended in Knoxville to sleep. People say Knoxville is nice, but we only had time to say goodbye in the morning. From the road it seemed like a nice place.

Next, a detour up to our nation's capital.

act like you like each other!

Before one last windy foresty strip of highway

to our final destination.

:)

American Idol

2008-07-23T22:59:00.000-07:00

As I'm pretty sure the number one TV show today, grossing katrillions of dollars each season through product placement, advertising, and cross medium success (getting viewers to text) American Idol is a sort of phenomenon. Coming up on its eighth season and apparently still going strong, it makes me wonder: what's the deal? I got to ponder this a little more while on the set of the auditions working as production assistant for the show. At the Cow Palace last week, at least a thousand people or so thought they had what took to be the next American Idol. Crazy. I sort of felt when I was there that people treat auditioning like playing the lottery- mayyybe just maybe they'll win. Though they haven't logicially thought about if they have what it takes. And everyone wants a chance to be on TV. Stardom. Success. The American Dream...

It was invigorating and pleasing to be around singing all day, since to sing is from the soul. Congratulations to everyone who tried out.

Silent Film Festival

2008-07-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

This last weekend in San Fran was the 13th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival at the Castro Theater.

We saw The Patsy starring Marion Davies and directed by 5 time Oscar nominated King Vidor, who holds the Guinness World record for longest running career as a director- spanning 8 decades. The movie was actually awesome- a 20's comedy I think refreshing because of most of the crap comedy we get in theaters today. I suppose the style of comedy was almost slapstick- and clever.

The other highlight of the night was the live accompaniment of music, done so by Mr. Clark Wilson on a Mighty Wurlitzer organ. Having the musician in the room means the experience is organic, like seeing live theatre instead of a movie- anything can happen on the spot as perhaps the audience's reaction affects how the musician plays, and how the musician plays affects how the audience reacts- a mutual experience. This mutual experience theme is interesting to me and is addressed in a movie I was part of making for Sam Green and Kevin Epp's doc class at USF, called Ruins of the Past and Present.

Reno is Artown

2008-07-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Every July Reno hosts Artown, a month long summer arts festival, and most events are free. Pretty cool. Two summers ago I was part of a group, Project Moonshine, that made a sort of documentary- called Being Here- about the event.

This year something I had never seen before, a woman acrobat dancing hanging from a type of hot air balloon (that was tethered to the ground)- apparently called The Heliosphere, kicked off the festival on July 1 in Wingfield Park. Here's a taste...

Le Tour de Nez

2008-06-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

This past week I spent at the Tour de Nez- a pro bike race in Reno/Tahoe- a fantastic way to spend the week.

This is Roman Kilun who won two stages at Nez and who I just found has a blog of his own.

Dave Towle announced, which was exciting for me because for a few years I reallllly enjoyed him commentate the Tour de France on OLN, now Versus. He knows loads about cycling, and he's a real artist. Watching and listening to him makes you feel like you are there in person.

Co-filmer Mike Albright in for the good shot before having to fall back.

Here's a photo of a moment later, when after a bit of rain and fears of cancellation, a double rainbow emerged.

There's just something about a bike...

Delicious

2008-06-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

These cookies are deeeeelicious.

No Child...

2008-06-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

"No Child..." which just finished its run at Berkeley Rep, the last stop on its national tour, was everything everyone has been saying it is. The show has been getting lots of attention for awhile (it's been on for 2 years now) and sometimes hype can lead to great expectations and disappointment from the crowd. However, Nilaja Sun creates enough of an authentic energy in the room (and the Berkeley rep theatre is nice and intimate) for the hype to be legitimate.

The main wonderful point about this show is the fact of activism as entertainment. No Child... is insight into the No Child Left Behind Act that is a U.S. federal law that George W. Bush instituted in 2001.

Watching Sun I could tell the amount of teachers in the room because of the many inside teacher jokes I wasn't a part of. This meant that the audience was also really passionate- the NCLB act effects their lives every day, and there's a lot of emotion there. Seeing Sun enact a theater teacher struggling to make an impact on kids and also struggling to get support for doing it, hit home for the audience. At one scene when Sun enacts the teacher calling a student to see why he has been absent and finds out from his grandmother that his brother was shot dead in an incident of gang violence, I noticed hands go up to faces all over the crowd as viewers wiped their tears.

I'm proof that this show inspires in an activist way because leaving I researched more about the NCLB act. Barack Obama has plans to reform the act.

Monarch Movie

2008-06-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a movie I made intro to video production at USF with Samara Halperin last fall. It features music by Animal Collective, Mark Mothersbaugh (from the Life Aquatic) and Colleen, various butterfly footage from youtube, and voices by Dan and Kim Bartlett. enjoy!

Sex and the City Commentary

2008-06-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

My interest in Sex and the City stems from the fact of its intense fan base. What is it about this story that makes women and (mostly gay) men everywhere like it so much? I know, parts of it seem obvious- the glamour, the gossip, but what else? People feel positive and negative about the effects of the show on our culture. I thought the movie coming out meant a perfect time to do a little in qualitative research to try and figure out what here is making people tick.

Sex and the City The Movie Premieres

2008-05-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

last night I went to see Sex and the City on its opening day. Soon I will be posting a journalistic video of the occasion/idea.

Here's a taste. This is the moment when after waiting years, the audience heard the familiar sounds of their favorite opening credits. There aren't any give aways.

Kindness Movie

2008-05-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the first movie I ever made! It was done for Samara Halperin's intro to video class at USF last Fall. The assignment was to do an on camera edit, and it's my first one, so forgive the shaky camera, i-pod cord, and unfocused lens. It's supposed to be a portrait of kindness, features an experience at Burning Man, and is narrated by my friend and photographer David Calvert.
Enjoy!

Go See Young at Heart

2008-05-30T11:11:00.002-07:00

This Memorial Day Weekend I drove back home for a little relaxation/family love/refreshment.

*the sky in Reno is always fantastic (I think it has something to do with how it's simultaneously the desert and mountains), this weekend especially so because it was drizzly the whole time.

While here I saw the documentary Young at Heart by Stephen Walker, which is a portrayal of an elderly choir called Young at Heart. It was a fantastic! The movie has been recommended to me a lot because of my own similar documentary film making interests of late, which I will be posting proof of here soon.

OK, easy subject you may say. Old people say the darndest things. Pretty much, exactly. But also way more than that. They have 80 or so years of knowledge that is the foundation for what they have to say. In spending an hour and a half with older people, it's hard for your head and heart not to go back to the basics and realize what's important in life. Props to Walker I say. I'm all about creating entertainment by simply (not to say it's not a difficult task) putting a frame around beautiful things in life.

A scene most powerful is when the choir performs at a jail. Here we get to watch the prisoners watching and listening to the chorus, as we are thinking the prisoners must be affected, and be realizing, like we are, that we must live each day to the fullest, savor every moment, and appreciate life for what it is.

Smiling? I thought so.
Young at Heart is currently playing in San Francisco at the 4 Star Theater on Clement Street.

The State of Cinema Address

2008-05-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday morning in San Francisco, Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired magazine, delivered the State of Cinema address. Kelly has worked in digital technology since his founding role with The Well, in 1985, one of the first "true" online communtities. So he had a lot to say about what the future, inevitably and obviously digital all the way, will look like for motion pictures.

He opened his talk with a little factoid about life today: the huge amount of screens everywhere. "Anywhere we are waiting, there are screens," he said (gas stations, grocery lines, etc.).

He hit many points about why and how cinema has been and will continue to change:

- the home theater situation has been morphing: "There's a whole system of underground groups of state of the art home theaters."

-3D cinema may have a future. Theater owners want to use 3D to try and get customers into theaters. This was also a large topic discussed at last year's Future of Cinema Conference in Cannes, since this was also where Michael Peyser's U23D - "the first live-action 3D concert movie" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

-Because of all new possibilities and venues for distribution thanks to the Internet, there are all new rules and ideas for movie time frames. Think Youtube. "Before, you either made home movies or real movies. Now we have a middle. More than a home movie, less than a masterpiece."

-Tools are no longer a big decider for who is making movies and who is not. Since inexpensive video cameras are everywhere now, it's not the tools that prevent people from making movies. The only necessity now is the "ambition of the artist." Also because of accessible, inexpensive tools for production (cell phone cameras) and distribution (youtube) we now have soooo much content out there. People emphasize the crap. But, this just means there's more to weed through. "In order to have really great stuff you have to allow bad stuff."

-Computational Photography Film making- Take a film, extract out a person, and reassemble the story that you want (I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about here)

-Videos are increasingly everywhere. "It's similar to text everywhere. We don't even notice it. The moving image is becoming ubiquitous." When the printing press came out and text began to dominate, everyone was complaining about the loss of oral communication. This was known as the Gutenburg shift. Now, the same thing is happening with the shift from text to video. "We went from oral to written and now we're going to screen. There was a lamentation then. I think because of this shift to a visual culture, literary skills will be lost."

- What about the question of the literary form of film? How do we summarize, condense, make abstracts of films? How fast can we watch a film and still understand it? Everything is all about linking now. Eventually we will want to be able to link to certain frames in films, or even to certain things in frames. We don't have this technology yet.

- "It's the liquidity" of the medium. Film is becoming like this. Transformable.

-copy copy copy. "Freeconomy." What do we do? How do we make money? The copy machine is "the intermedia." (Mr. Kelly though is not worried about new media economy). "Where attention is money will follow. Stories have an incredible capacity to hold attention."

-For the future: the first lesson we learned on the web is that: we can do it! Nobody believed in the internet when it first came out. "We better start believing in the impossible."

-On the fate of film (celluloid), Kelly said, "I say good riddance to film (celluloid) because you can fake it (create the effect that film gives) with digital"

After the talk there was a Q and A and someone asked how artists will make money in this new "freeconomy." "I do believe we will find a model for artists being able to make a living," Kelly said.

*this post is the first of my culture review series. watch for more!

Thinker Phillip Thurtle

2008-05-05T08:25:00.001-07:00

Thurtle at USF (yes, he was not wearing shoes- apparently his students at UW are used to this).

I quite enjoyed the casual nature of his talk. He opened by saying he prefers questions whenever people have them, rather than at the end of his talk- that he is a very interactive speaker. This immediately made the event more of a conversation than anything else, which was good because Thurtle got into some abstract stuff that was best cleared up with a question or two.

His task for the talk was to make us realize that we take comics, the medium that teaches us to read text as image, for granted. In fact, comics, a medium thought of as low culture, can actually teach us loads about the world, the future, and philosophy. He began by comparing journalism to comics. "Journalism is limited: it only covers what just happened. Comics cover what may happen."

Here are some other snippets of the presentation/conversation:

Comics teach us:
how to read surfaces instead of lines
what it means to live in an industrial society
ways to engage in the world.

"The image shows states of affairs and scenes and the eye has to discover the relations"- Villem Flusser

Comics always deal with a high level of industrialization- Superheros always have one foot in industry and one foot in their bodies.

"Superheros exist."

In comics, it's not about personal transformation, it's about world transformation. With images, time is different. The time of the panel moves with the world, not by the subject, like in other mediums of storytelling. You the reader has to move time in a book. How? You have a plot. Something happens through the action of an individual. In comics, time is part of the world.

Images are important for provoking the imagination into inhabiting a possible future. The idea is not to get rid of conscious thought, the idea is that things don't always move with reason and logic.

"We are who we are because of our environments." It's about understanding the world instead of the world understanding you.

"You have to change the way you think about space. For me, a much more interesting way of thinking about space is as the things that bring us together. I can see outside because of the window."

Thurtle also touched a bit on Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art, which we read in preparation for his class. An interesting point I found in this book is the idea that we apparently see ourselves in cartoons, and other people in realistic drawings or photos of faces. Thurtle touched on this too. He said, "detail is all about othering."

Hmmmmm. Interesting.

Jasmine Park, Fashion Blogger

2008-05-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

*all photos in this blog are from www.pikepine.com

Jasmine Park puts positive vibes into the world.

She does this by walking around the streets of Seattle and telling people they look great, so great, that she would like to take a photo of them for her blog Pike/Pine. Then she only puts photos in her blog if the photos are complimentary of the person. No bad photos, and no disses on outfits either. Only positive pictures and commentary. Cruel reader comments also get moderated.

She spoke as part of the Davies Forum last Thursday, and she gave us her 4 rules for blogging: 1) take good photos (in fashion reporting people expect detail) 2) make people look good 3) Be nice "there's a certain amount of karma in the blogosphere and you sort of get what you put into it," Park said. and 4) Only post what I'm proud of. She also told us one thing that she has learned from her blogging is that people are nice. I imagine people are even nicer when you compliment them at first encounter.

Her fashion blogging has taken her to Tokyo

and she said it is by the far the most fashionable city, in her opinion.

I'm excited to see where she goes with her career, as she mentioned she may eventually move on to photographing not just people's fashion, but just people. Steven Shore, and Tuka are some photographers in this realm she really admires.

The Best Blog Post Ever

2008-04-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

My teacher for our Davies Forum on Digital Literacy class assigned us to do "the best blog post ever." Daunting as it may seem, I was not toooo worried because I knew I would have a lot of inspiration to work with after this last weekend.

Sunday night, just as I was drifting off to sleep in my bed, I awoke suddenly to the sound of a car.
My eyelids quickly jolted open. What was that?!!?
Ohhhh yeahhh, I'm back to civilization, where large moving machines is the norm.
I closed my eyes again with a grumble, appreciating the sweet memory of how nice it was to sleep with only the sounds of nature (and other people snoring).

This past weekend we lived at StoneLake Farm.

We spent time with the chickens who hatched our eggs.

We savored these eggs many times over. This spanish tortilla/makeshift scramble paired with a sweet white Riesling wine was maybe the best meal I have had since studying abroad in France a year ago (Thanks Lulu). So good, and eaten immersed in the wonder of such vast nature, that this was the slowest I had savored a meal since I can remember.

we took our time thinking of and creating these meals. Could the reason this trip felt so relaxing and time went by so nicely simply be the sheer pleasure in spending time to cook and savor our meals?

Perhaps. Or rather, eating is something that all humans share and relate on. With all of the things that civilization usually keeps us busy with taken away, we found ourselves talking and relating about food so much because we all naturally like and need to connect with each other. Besides being necessary to live, food, and cooking it, thinking about it, planning for the next meal, is a simple way for people to connect. The beauty in this is also that food, done properly, can be delicious, something special in itself.

we foraged

and chopped the wood that kept us warm

we appreciated this wood even more when it began to snow

we created very little trash!

and ducklings, hopefully who will survive the food chain and help the summer garden to fruition, provided us with some "fluff"

All of this, in one word is homesteading (check out www.howtohomestead.org) In two words, is the simple life. In ten words, is the most relaxing while simultaneously fulfilling weekend I have ever had.

I'll be back.

For an even better feel of StoneLake farms, view a slideshow of the trip.

Gayla Trail, Urban Gardener

2008-04-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Because of a field trip and graduation mayhem, this post is a bit late, but still necessary because of the value of this speaker's words! Gayla Trail, self-described "urban gardener" and author of blog You Grow Girl visited USF two Thursdays ago for the Davies Forum on Digital Literacy. It was great to have her here! I wish everyone could hear her speak, now I understand the tremendous importance of urban gardening.

One of Trail's mottos is "Play is Valuable." She said Play is three things: a learning tool, a way to explore and make discoveries, and also an opportunity to make mistakes. Her site started as her own play. She simply loved to garden, and was bored with her corporate job. "I just wanted other people to relate to," she said about starting the blog. It turns out people do relate to her, her blog is pretty popular.

She talked about her thought that gardening media is so flat and boring. Think about it: we tend to talk about nature as dead, she said. She referred to a quote by someone called Johnson who said instead of wilderness, we should call it wildness-. This makes the term a quality rather than a place, an adjective rather than a noun, and a little more exciting. Instead of gardening magazines for inspiration on gardening, Gail refers to works of literature: stuff like Michael Pollan's Second Nature, and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

Her main point is that we need to start seeing the city and nature as being able to coexist. We tend to think of them as separate. Gardening can inspire wonder and delight. "I use the word wonder a lot when I talk about gardening, " Trail said. After hearing her speak, I thought, duh! Gardening is a healthy habit that is fulfilling, good for the earth, and fun. Why is it still fairly obscure?

In addition to all of her pro- gardening points, Trail brought up some interesting points about blogging in general. "When you try to write in the mainstream, you have to be validated by someone else- not in personal media," she said. This means there's no editorial process. Maybe this is a good thing, or a bad thing. One bad thing may be that with blogging, you tend to write something, and then later connect with it and only come to know it after it's out there, open for criticism. In her own blog, Trail uses a lot of personal voice. "I have a lot of problems with the idea of hierarchy, I don't like authority" she said. She also uses a lot of photos in her blog because "we're a very visual culture."
Her blog being a sort of how to site for gardening, Trail also has a unique blogger perspective. "There are too many variables (in gardening) to give exact directions, the wrong way to give gardening directions is to say this is how you do it...I try to encourage people to make mistakes, kill plants, etc."

Kevin Epps

2008-04-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

Kevin Epps, chatting with students after the talk

Kevin Epps, filmmaker, activist, artist and my teacher for documentary class, gave a really intriguing talk about his experience as an artist in today's media landscape. "Digital technology is the reason this story was able to be told," he said about his 2005 documentary Straight Outta Hunter's Point. It was quite refreshing to hear someone talk about making a difference through media, giving people a voice by helping them to tell their story through documentary film. "There's something very empowering about telling your own story." Epps said. One of the ways he helps people do this is by working with Conscious Youth Media Crew, a non-profit production studio that provides inner city youth with the opportunity to create media. Awesome.

Epps also stated the idea that "We don't have to compete with Hollywood." As a media studies student, I guess it feels like everyone is always talking about making it big. Epps made me realize that it's more about small community power than Hollywood. Let's face it- Hollywood sucks.

Although, in this capitalist society, everyone needs money. Epps talked about how as an artist he and everyone else have been figuring out how to control ownership of their work and manage it in order to be compensated. This is the big issue that is happening right now with music downloading, and the reason why the writers' strike took place. It will be interesting to see how these sorts of issues play out in my lifetime.

This was the first time in our Davies Forum on Digital Literacy class that we had the perspective of a digital artist. Kevin Epps has a very unique, important perspective, perfect for the role. He touched on the digital divide too, something we are about to talk more about in our class. "Not having the access to the latest, fastest, digital technology is definitely a digital divide," Epps said.

Ocean Beach, Jane Jacobs, and Kelly Quinn

2008-04-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Ocean Beach is a great place. And I think Jane Jacobs would approve of Ocean Beach because, though it is not part of a grid system which she was such an advocate for ( a grid is the basic idea of a divided piece of land that provides equal size blocks, that dominates the landscape of the US), much of the grid system of San Francisco ends here. It is so large that much of San Francisco has access to it by simply walking or driving West.

The reason I am thinking about Ocean Beach in relation to what Jane Jacobs and Kelly Quinn had to say is because I love the vastness of it, how it's open to everyone (no fees or major restrictions) and how when it's a nice day out the whole city seems to flock to the beach. As Kelly Quinn said Thursday as a speaker for our Davies Forum on Digital Literacy class, "the grid is the most democratic form of urban planning, because at the corner we have the opportunity to meet people unlike ourselves." I think Ocean Beach is like this too! Because of its size and accessibility, day and night, and because of what it is as nature and as land's end, there are all sorts of different people at the beach.

Kelly Quinn said Thursday, "one of my real fascinations is with urban furniture." She then showed the class a slide of a photo of two benches facing each other. These benches almost require conversation, and human interaction, she pointed out. This brings up an interesting point. Ocean Beach has benches too, and a large ledge in an area where people can sit, though these benches face the water, not each other. But to me it seems like since everyone is there because they enjoy the beach -they all have this in common- and so the human interaction there is meaningful. This has to do with safety too. Though there is probably less of a permanent community at the beach, like a neighborhood would have, that knows who is who and keeps its eyes out for strangers, I feel like the mutual enjoyment of the beach is a safe thing in itself. One can probably tell and feel the difference between a person there to enjoy the beach and someone there to cause ruckus.

Quinn also mentioned the importance of trees. The more plants and trees, the less hot the climate. This is important, she mentioned, for elders. People don't like to come outside when it's really hot, and so are less involved and part of the community. Though there aren't trees at Ocean Beach, there's always a nice breeze.

Safety is of great importance to Jane Jacobs. I think Ocean Beach is very safe. During the day, as long as there aren't gale force winds or rain, people are always out: elders walking or sitting, parents walking kids in strollers, surfers, wind surfers, and couples. During the night, although the beach itself (the sand beyond the boardwalk lit by cars and lights on the street) is dark, partyers and bon-fire goers keep watch. To Jane Jacobs, eyes are very important. The more eyes on an area, the safer the area. The fact that there are so many people at Ocean Beach is itself probably one of the reasons why there are so many people at Ocean Beach. Jacobs says in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, "Nobody enjoys sitting on a stoop or looking out a window at an empty street. Almost nobody does such a thing. Large numbers of people entertain themselves, off an on, by watching street activity" (p 35). (my emphasis). To me this says, people need people- a large theme of the first three chapters of her book.