Best trick of my life has to be pulling a kickflip on a longboard down here in Miami. My fascination with all things extreme often leads me to youtube where I find out what I always knew. I can't skate worth a carbon credit.
Killian Martin (unavailable on the internet apart from these videos) is the newest focus of a series of short form skate films being released as independent projects by Brett Novak. The skating and cinematography really speak for themselves, check their synergy below. The landscapes and architectures of Spain alone are fantastically shot, the fact that there is an amazing skateboarder in the middle of them all makes it truly memorable.
12.11.10
27.9.10
A Free Slice of Paradise - Jimbo's on Viriginia Key
Jimbo's means home. Freedom. Apathy. Love. Beer. Fish. Odd.
This slice of land acquired through years of squatting on an island where no cars could go has held its own throughout history. Jimbo's is a place to get away, a place to bring your amp and play as loud as you want. Your neighbors are the solid waste treatment facility and the fish. I decided to do my video postcard on this place because it is so dynamic. Every day there are different people and animals from all walks of life. I thought about the run down marine stadium, but I was afraid it would be lifeless. Abandoned in the wake of a storm.
Jimbo's is far from lifeless, although it does have its fair share of abandoned structures and lost souls. It is a hub of activity and one of the few places in Miami where the poorest of the poor coexist in happiness with the richest of the rich. A glimpse of Fisher Island in the distance is the only reminder you get there of the world in which many of us live, and the one Jimbo's offers refuge from.
This is my observational documentary of this interesting place, created entirely with natural sounds and images, nothing was prompted or planned ahead of time. I edited it over the course of a couple weeks for Electronic Media 445 at the University of Miami.
This slice of land acquired through years of squatting on an island where no cars could go has held its own throughout history. Jimbo's is a place to get away, a place to bring your amp and play as loud as you want. Your neighbors are the solid waste treatment facility and the fish. I decided to do my video postcard on this place because it is so dynamic. Every day there are different people and animals from all walks of life. I thought about the run down marine stadium, but I was afraid it would be lifeless. Abandoned in the wake of a storm.
Jimbo's is far from lifeless, although it does have its fair share of abandoned structures and lost souls. It is a hub of activity and one of the few places in Miami where the poorest of the poor coexist in happiness with the richest of the rich. A glimpse of Fisher Island in the distance is the only reminder you get there of the world in which many of us live, and the one Jimbo's offers refuge from.
This is my observational documentary of this interesting place, created entirely with natural sounds and images, nothing was prompted or planned ahead of time. I edited it over the course of a couple weeks for Electronic Media 445 at the University of Miami.
3.9.10
Man of the moment
You slept for eight hours last night
If you were lucky and managed things right
A neighbor tossed and turned
Consumed by all the things he couldn't manage
The magnitude of each moment
Exploding in the ticks and tocks
So much uncertainty certainly you see
But for the neighbor the evidence for control is too strong
He wrinkles thinking of all that is changing when he sleeps
Everything he could be to mean something
All the power he has within his two feet
To take him to where he needs to go,
Out of bed, out of sorrow,
Out of time, in a song
Where he can forget and be forgotten
Where life is long
Context is gone
Strangers fit nicely under his arm
Refreshing as a drainage ditch
Apathy is beautiful
And it makes us sick
This is an argument
Live a little bit?
If you were lucky and managed things right
A neighbor tossed and turned
Consumed by all the things he couldn't manage
The magnitude of each moment
Exploding in the ticks and tocks
So much uncertainty certainly you see
But for the neighbor the evidence for control is too strong
He wrinkles thinking of all that is changing when he sleeps
Everything he could be to mean something
All the power he has within his two feet
To take him to where he needs to go,
Out of bed, out of sorrow,
Out of time, in a song
Where he can forget and be forgotten
Where life is long
Context is gone
Strangers fit nicely under his arm
Refreshing as a drainage ditch
Apathy is beautiful
And it makes us sick
This is an argument
Live a little bit?
10.8.10
Animation in tune
8/10/2010 : Exhibit A - Musical Video Art Animation - by Michal Levy!
This genius has such a symbiotic understanding of design elements and music that she has flawlessly integrated the two into a couple of stellar animations that take musical synesthesia to a new level. Her brilliant use of color in Giant Steps (follow link for copyright issues) is actually relevant to the notes in John Coltrane's classic as indicated by the Pre-Production.
She couldn't stop with Giant Steps though, and in 2007 released a new music video
I'll let the work speak for itself, because it not only speaks, it sings, enjoy! Please visit her site too http://michalevy.com
--An addendum on finding this work, art in general, and the attics of our lives --
Discovering the many brilliant facets of human expression years after they've been created is a self-defining part of life. Being able to relate one's passion and knowledge to an audience the easiest way to be eternally relevant. Across language, across time, if your content is strong enough, it will surely shine.
True permanence is only possible through science and art, when you've tested your idea past the radical point of exhaustion and everywhere in between, when you've dedicated yourself to the translation of your understanding so much so that you end up with a message that actually moves your audiences to pass it on. If you find yourself moved in an audience one day, I hope that you support powerful creative work in the least with a blog/wall post. The reality is that the more you talk and link to things on the web the more influence you have over search results and ultimately what gets attention in the real world. This post is about one such discovery, which I owe to Rudy Hendricks Sather's (a man I've never met) post on Carey Clayton's Facebook wall...We surely all feel like archaeologists on the internet, not so specialized cultural anthropologists, rediscovering what we have made for one another over the years. In that sense by running a blog I also feel a bit like a curator in a museum full of wuteva I want. Assuming role play.
2.8.10
Why I Love the Miami Music Scene - WVUM The Voice
Here's a great little article by Kathleen Elise that I relate to alot as a veteran of the 305's empassioned nooks and barstools. Check it out and listen to 90.5fm in South Florida!
Why I Love the Miami Music Scene - WVUM The Voice
Why I Love the Miami Music Scene - WVUM The Voice
10.7.10
Rooted
Listening to Mofro for a good modern blues fix. Leading a simpler life until August.
There is finally time for reflection again, somewhere outside of the blur of a bus window.
There is finally time for reflection again, somewhere outside of the blur of a bus window.
Home has my heart.
Yesterday I climbed for the first time since early May, exploring with my good friend Andrew.
The stone was found in Schooley's Mountain county park off the beaten path. We named the routes on this wall Arachnophobia 5.9 and Creeper Hole 5.7.
The holds up the face were minimal, worn by weather, but ascent is easy if you climb using the jagged holds to the right. This face was undoubtedly created by dynamite mining. Loose rocks and creepy crawlers are prevalent sources of fear.
Things are simpler when all you gotta think about is how to survive.
It's healthy to be home and working again. In my spare time I'm able to connect with my world, put some roots down, rather than just pass through. In media, I'm working on managing all of the content from a rush of month in New Zealand. A great experience where I worked and adventured with 40 peers, all strangers to begin with and now friends. I'm experimenting with upload methods and building my understanding of Wordpress on paid hosting.
Off to an afternoon on the bluegrass, later ya'll.
29.6.10
Ayerland
The sun never sets on Joyce's rock
Seems that sleep comes around eleven o'clock
still the sky is lighted greyblue
orange sunset an infinite hue
as to where the day ends
I haven't yet found
awake in the 'morning' and chirps abound
bright as noon says the sun
at six thirty that's the story it certainly tells
what's in a clock? the hands don't tell me a thing
especially amidst all of this traveling
jump ahead fall behind
cross the dateline
Heavens no! Now I think I'm stuck in yesterday.
Climb a castle wall
stroll cobbled streets
Eurostyle reruns
everything's a repeat
but either way that makes sure
what you get is the best
Timetest the subjects
The right answer is popular demand
always has been
when not twisted by powers' hands
be sure you make yourself strong and true
and don't ever let someone lie to you
Instant coffee, a miracle!
across every sea
saving mornings every morning
for every addictee
Seems that sleep comes around eleven o'clock
still the sky is lighted greyblue
orange sunset an infinite hue
as to where the day ends
I haven't yet found
awake in the 'morning' and chirps abound
bright as noon says the sun
at six thirty that's the story it certainly tells
what's in a clock? the hands don't tell me a thing
especially amidst all of this traveling
jump ahead fall behind
cross the dateline
Heavens no! Now I think I'm stuck in yesterday.
Climb a castle wall
stroll cobbled streets
Eurostyle reruns
everything's a repeat
but either way that makes sure
what you get is the best
Timetest the subjects
The right answer is popular demand
always has been
when not twisted by powers' hands
be sure you make yourself strong and true
and don't ever let someone lie to you
Instant coffee, a miracle!
across every sea
saving mornings every morning
for every addictee
21.5.10
Greenery
Greenest green I've ever seen
columns of foliage sprouting up
surrounding hawks, grasshoppers,
squirrels and woodchucks.
Greenest green garden state
garden of youth hidden away
just a bit, there is even a path
no one can make you walk
Greenest green beyond the trees
pastures built for electricity
the alleys along which our power flows
paved down to grass and cobbling stones
Greenest green I've ever seen
rolling over the hills between
steeling beams reflecting
Chester New Jersey a garden of dreams
Run right through it
harvest the sounds,
the sunlight, the rivers trickling down.
the hills all surmountable,
little achieves
this peace is a boat in a summer breeze
columns of foliage sprouting up
surrounding hawks, grasshoppers,
squirrels and woodchucks.
Greenest green garden state
garden of youth hidden away
just a bit, there is even a path
no one can make you walk
Greenest green beyond the trees
pastures built for electricity
the alleys along which our power flows
paved down to grass and cobbling stones
Greenest green I've ever seen
rolling over the hills between
steeling beams reflecting
Chester New Jersey a garden of dreams
Run right through it
harvest the sounds,
the sunlight, the rivers trickling down.
the hills all surmountable,
little achieves
this peace is a boat in a summer breeze
18.5.10
The Creator's Project
WOW!
WOW AGAIN!
This website is exactly what the world is hungry for. I personally cannot get enough of this insight into the brilliant creative minds around the world. I am thoroughly impressed by what this new partnership between Intel and Vice is trying to accomplish for culture through multimedia. They have translated the artistic visions of the worlds most brilliant creators into a digestible web medium giving them an avenue of exposure and accreditation that they deserve. I hope this site will transform pop culture and give consumers an enlightened artistic direction through which to best invest their time and capital. I cannot get my eyes off of my computer screen, especially these creator profiles (My favorite so far) and simply must blog about the enormous potential I see here for a new media revolution.
The website's design is fabulous, they integrate all aspects of social media and web consumption into one platform. They have a gorgeous windowpane that houses a plethora of unique video profiles, short bios, and detailed project overviews for over 40 of the most respected creatives in the world. They also plan to continue to follow and provide updates on every one of their "Creators".
The Creator's Project seems to be one of the most brilliantly orchestrated media sponsorships I've ever seen. So HUGE props Intel and Vice I think I'm going to buy your stock right now. The homepage links up to the most recent content on their Blog, Creators, and Events pages, keeping followers up to date on the most current news related to the multidimensional project and its mountain of contributors. The promise of "coming soon" creators is overwhelming, but a promise that huge is enough to make me check back every day.
The Project plans to manifest itself in the physical world in just over a month, right outside my door at their New York City 80,000 sq foot performance space hosted at Milk Studios on June 26th. I hope to be able to stop by in my few hours layover flying between New Zealand and Ireland :) Although I'm certain It won't be enough time to enjoy it in full so I might have to make a trip to Brazil in August as well.
14.5.10
Taxes
I ran the furthest I've ever gone today.
Ten whole miles. I feel like a child telling you about this, but I came up with a saying on the run, passing by Daytop Rehab facility. If you didn't need it when you were four you don't need it now.
As I've grown, modernization has been like a mother to me and I can feel it changing society. We can be so weak and dependent on everything except ourselves, each other, our flesh, our beating hearts. So eager to adopt the newest interface without realizing how reliant we've become on systems we don't even understand. Why do people still get dysentery? Because we don't respect biology. We want everything, for ourselves, now, and for free.
"Don't try to sell me anything", she said "especially not an orphan, I can make that myself."
The things that have no economic cost we take, without payment or thanks. Stealing out of Mother Nature's pocketbook. Gobbling Google's goods. One postulation for evolution is that we are actually going to shrink into little green men. All of our natural survival equipment is already obsolete except our brain. It has been replaced by processes and machines. Gas and engines. At this rate a virtual world is our only hope. The only other person I saw exercising in ten miles today was a fat guy on a bike, and a dog.
I had a fifth roommate this year. His name was DJ. Everyday I'd see his face and his beady eyes and wonder if he was still alive. He couldn't have been much older than four. He had needs, all the needs of a four year old and all the needs of a dying 80 year old with lyphoma. We treated him because he had moments left. He had a childhood every day he woke up. How do you tell someone that they're going to die? It's just something they have to know. DJ is one of the reasons I'm not afraid. He's alive right here, right now, because of me.
You're going to die.
The choice to live wasn't yours to begin with. The problem is that many of us feel entitled to keep on doing it because we were born. Because it has become a habit to wake up. Addicted dependent pathetic grown adults, I hope you like it. I do feel that medical spending associated with birth and infancy complications are justified, because the life of a youth deserves a chance in its innocence and absence of experience. But at the same time I don't think it is morally sound to conceive a child at all in our current world because of what it means for another child who didn't have a choice to live either and now drinks from a ditch.
Adopt.
Health care has come too far scientifically and fiscally and it is depriving people of basic human needs. Needs that are common and inherent to all beings. Investments to solve overeating problems, or even cosmetics, have superseded infrastructure and energy development for too long. Just because there is a solution doesn't mean you are entitled to it. Our economy isn't a reason, it has no reason, we should never allow it to govern or justify our decisions. Understand that is how it was designed, to influence us. Live above it and give time, not money, to the things you believe in. If that is medicine, please reconsider. Medicine was a miracle, but you can't solve one problem without ignoring another. The money for medical school, that bypass surgery, that lifelong Xanex and Prozac addiction, or that chemo that might add 5 years, lets say $250,000, could provide fresh water, food, and birth control for someone for their whole life, or employ a teacher overseas.
To anyone who thinks we should provide health care for everyone, consider the opposite. Provide low cost essential and preventative care, but nothing more. As a civilization right now we don't need to save lives digging into peoples' chests and brains, replacing their slaughtered livers or removing cognitive processes. Thank you Edward Jenner, but now people have become the smallpox of the planet. We need to prevent new cases for the time being. We need to take a new perspective on life itself. Develop a culture that embraces the cyclical nature of life, foster acceptance that one's time has come, live in it and allow it to pass. How much life do you need? How many other peoples' lives is yours worth? DJ lived in moments, not minutes. Make a wish and make it happen. Your time is now, you'll be forgotten. Have you not lived? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
We live for each other, that's why it's so sad to see others go. They lived for you, and as they die, they die for you. You now have the chance to have what they had or never got the chance to have. Their time becomes your time as long as you hold them in your mind. The present is a present from the past. So it goes.
Ten whole miles. I feel like a child telling you about this, but I came up with a saying on the run, passing by Daytop Rehab facility. If you didn't need it when you were four you don't need it now.
As I've grown, modernization has been like a mother to me and I can feel it changing society. We can be so weak and dependent on everything except ourselves, each other, our flesh, our beating hearts. So eager to adopt the newest interface without realizing how reliant we've become on systems we don't even understand. Why do people still get dysentery? Because we don't respect biology. We want everything, for ourselves, now, and for free.
"Don't try to sell me anything", she said "especially not an orphan, I can make that myself."
The things that have no economic cost we take, without payment or thanks. Stealing out of Mother Nature's pocketbook. Gobbling Google's goods. One postulation for evolution is that we are actually going to shrink into little green men. All of our natural survival equipment is already obsolete except our brain. It has been replaced by processes and machines. Gas and engines. At this rate a virtual world is our only hope. The only other person I saw exercising in ten miles today was a fat guy on a bike, and a dog.
I had a fifth roommate this year. His name was DJ. Everyday I'd see his face and his beady eyes and wonder if he was still alive. He couldn't have been much older than four. He had needs, all the needs of a four year old and all the needs of a dying 80 year old with lyphoma. We treated him because he had moments left. He had a childhood every day he woke up. How do you tell someone that they're going to die? It's just something they have to know. DJ is one of the reasons I'm not afraid. He's alive right here, right now, because of me.
You're going to die.
The choice to live wasn't yours to begin with. The problem is that many of us feel entitled to keep on doing it because we were born. Because it has become a habit to wake up. Addicted dependent pathetic grown adults, I hope you like it. I do feel that medical spending associated with birth and infancy complications are justified, because the life of a youth deserves a chance in its innocence and absence of experience. But at the same time I don't think it is morally sound to conceive a child at all in our current world because of what it means for another child who didn't have a choice to live either and now drinks from a ditch.
Adopt.
Health care has come too far scientifically and fiscally and it is depriving people of basic human needs. Needs that are common and inherent to all beings. Investments to solve overeating problems, or even cosmetics, have superseded infrastructure and energy development for too long. Just because there is a solution doesn't mean you are entitled to it. Our economy isn't a reason, it has no reason, we should never allow it to govern or justify our decisions. Understand that is how it was designed, to influence us. Live above it and give time, not money, to the things you believe in. If that is medicine, please reconsider. Medicine was a miracle, but you can't solve one problem without ignoring another. The money for medical school, that bypass surgery, that lifelong Xanex and Prozac addiction, or that chemo that might add 5 years, lets say $250,000, could provide fresh water, food, and birth control for someone for their whole life, or employ a teacher overseas.
To anyone who thinks we should provide health care for everyone, consider the opposite. Provide low cost essential and preventative care, but nothing more. As a civilization right now we don't need to save lives digging into peoples' chests and brains, replacing their slaughtered livers or removing cognitive processes. Thank you Edward Jenner, but now people have become the smallpox of the planet. We need to prevent new cases for the time being. We need to take a new perspective on life itself. Develop a culture that embraces the cyclical nature of life, foster acceptance that one's time has come, live in it and allow it to pass. How much life do you need? How many other peoples' lives is yours worth? DJ lived in moments, not minutes. Make a wish and make it happen. Your time is now, you'll be forgotten. Have you not lived? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
We live for each other, that's why it's so sad to see others go. They lived for you, and as they die, they die for you. You now have the chance to have what they had or never got the chance to have. Their time becomes your time as long as you hold them in your mind. The present is a present from the past. So it goes.
11.5.10
Birth of a Vision
I recently released my first short film, entitled the Birth of an Omelette, it has been one of my more satisfying accomplishments mostly because of the people I have shared it with. The generous compliments and recognition that I'm not used to receiving have been interesting as well but honestly the biggest compliment is just that you sat there and watched the whole thing. I came into it with such a concise plot and plan I was honestly upset I could not finish it as it was written. Thank you Bolex. But now, given its warm reception from everyone from the french krew to churchgoers back home I can offer an unprecedented insight into the film's birth for a loyal fan and as a personal retrospection.
The first movie I was planning on making for CMP222 was a love story, in which basically a tree playing matchmaker to two lonesome souls hurt by the same whore, one was a roomate and the other a crush. Initially I just wanted someone to fall in love with a tree but I couldn't write 5 pages without dialogue to justify even considering making that film. There aren't enough beautiful shots in the world to fill a story that strange and immobile. Nevertheless, love remained a theme in my mind. So time went by, I managed to do some pre-production on the matchmaking tree to keep my grade and engagement up, and as I always knew I would, I reached a point when I could not work on that movie anymore.
As I fuddled through the semester, the animated feature How To Train Your Dragon was released and I read an incredibly comprehensive review of the fantasy world one morning in USA today. It is good for fiction okay. In discussion of this movie with my friend Eric (not myself) I thought about how I needed to write a new 222, within a week. We spoke over breakfast and I imagined a boy who could be in love. First with a dragon, he could teach it tricks, he could play baseball with it, the possibilities were endless. As logistics bore down on my creativity I cracked open a shell that morning before Easter Sunday and I asked myself, where do dragon's come from? An egg deep in our imagination.
All of the meanings an egg already has in our minds, all of the creatures it could become, and all the fates the many millions before this one made it incredibly easy to write a movie around. If I am the first to have done it, well... I'll be damned.
As for the sound design, I didn't think about it until I was essentially completely done editing the visuals in silence. I took my time selecting music that best fit the peculiar moods of the film and made a few adjustments with the video to synch up to the various soundtracks, like I duplicated the trash can peep dance so that it would run the length of the chant. The church music, and a bad choir at that, really made me smile in remembrance of the belief system that was engrained in me as a kid, and how church has been both incredibly boring and incredibly beautiful. So it was chosen for its personal connection. One of the last things I did was put Pascal (Dylan) to sleep in the fade out of the choir because that song is a snore. I also tried to make a really strange chord out of the end of the harp arpeggio combined with the beginning of Railroad Earth.
I probably had the most fun shooting the scene that didn't even make it in the movie in which Pascal gets bombarded from that window and you'll never know the rest. Finding the right horse trotting noise was pretty entertaining as well. Thank you to everyone who helped me realize this peice I couldn't have done it without Dylan and Etienne especially, and Julia who made the endearing peeplets, the nest and the crown. I am grateful to have connected with so many people as you are.
The first movie I was planning on making for CMP222 was a love story, in which basically a tree playing matchmaker to two lonesome souls hurt by the same whore, one was a roomate and the other a crush. Initially I just wanted someone to fall in love with a tree but I couldn't write 5 pages without dialogue to justify even considering making that film. There aren't enough beautiful shots in the world to fill a story that strange and immobile. Nevertheless, love remained a theme in my mind. So time went by, I managed to do some pre-production on the matchmaking tree to keep my grade and engagement up, and as I always knew I would, I reached a point when I could not work on that movie anymore.
As I fuddled through the semester, the animated feature How To Train Your Dragon was released and I read an incredibly comprehensive review of the fantasy world one morning in USA today. It is good for fiction okay. In discussion of this movie with my friend Eric (not myself) I thought about how I needed to write a new 222, within a week. We spoke over breakfast and I imagined a boy who could be in love. First with a dragon, he could teach it tricks, he could play baseball with it, the possibilities were endless. As logistics bore down on my creativity I cracked open a shell that morning before Easter Sunday and I asked myself, where do dragon's come from? An egg deep in our imagination.
All of the meanings an egg already has in our minds, all of the creatures it could become, and all the fates the many millions before this one made it incredibly easy to write a movie around. If I am the first to have done it, well... I'll be damned.
As for the sound design, I didn't think about it until I was essentially completely done editing the visuals in silence. I took my time selecting music that best fit the peculiar moods of the film and made a few adjustments with the video to synch up to the various soundtracks, like I duplicated the trash can peep dance so that it would run the length of the chant. The church music, and a bad choir at that, really made me smile in remembrance of the belief system that was engrained in me as a kid, and how church has been both incredibly boring and incredibly beautiful. So it was chosen for its personal connection. One of the last things I did was put Pascal (Dylan) to sleep in the fade out of the choir because that song is a snore. I also tried to make a really strange chord out of the end of the harp arpeggio combined with the beginning of Railroad Earth.
I probably had the most fun shooting the scene that didn't even make it in the movie in which Pascal gets bombarded from that window and you'll never know the rest. Finding the right horse trotting noise was pretty entertaining as well. Thank you to everyone who helped me realize this peice I couldn't have done it without Dylan and Etienne especially, and Julia who made the endearing peeplets, the nest and the crown. I am grateful to have connected with so many people as you are.
1.5.10
Projects
These are some of video projects I've been producing or editing if you're interested, first is a piece I got so excited about I didn't stop editing until it was done. Footage courtesy of Kemy Joseph - http://urawesome.org. I plan on going to Haiti for Fall Break 2010. Find others like it at http://kozeayiti.org/stories/
Next is my most recent visual journalism project, the Kitemaster, Marc-Arthur Jean-Louis. Sound is clutch so crank it or use some headphones.
26.4.10
18.4.10
Social Conscience
It's no secret while you're reading this post 2 children died from malaria. That being said it is important we all take some time to promote projects that are doing giving to the community and promoting a positive society right now. On the stove we're heating up http://igknite.org . The website has been revamped, we've got a project next weekend entitled Flow: Uniting Children's Visions on Water and the World.
Also launched this week is http://kozeayiti.org , which is creole for conversation Haiti. This is a great project which enables a dialogue (translated into french, creole, and english) through multimedia and journalism between the Haitian community and those willing to help and listen to their concerns abroad. It will hopefully become a resource for anyone seeking insight or offering input on the future development for the rubble-ridden nation. I'm currently sifting through hours of footage and interviews from the ground and editing them to be uploaded to the site within the next several weeks, thanks to Kemy Joseph of http://urawesome.org for traveling there twice and building an infrastructure of journalists who will continue to provide content.
Also launched this week is http://kozeayiti.org , which is creole for conversation Haiti. This is a great project which enables a dialogue (translated into french, creole, and english) through multimedia and journalism between the Haitian community and those willing to help and listen to their concerns abroad. It will hopefully become a resource for anyone seeking insight or offering input on the future development for the rubble-ridden nation. I'm currently sifting through hours of footage and interviews from the ground and editing them to be uploaded to the site within the next several weeks, thanks to Kemy Joseph of http://urawesome.org for traveling there twice and building an infrastructure of journalists who will continue to provide content.
4.4.10
Post Rock Relapse
Without an Ipod, or any MP3 device for several months now, I've honestly forgotten what some of my favorite music even sounds like. The world has had my ear. So sitting here working on some drawings I noticed a concert on May 11th of a band I forgot about. The mighty Minus the Bear.
Minus the Bear's sound is a bit popular and outplayed but they are good example of the genre. I actually hear Thursday a bit in their music. The vocals have a way of destroying the distilled emotion.
The indecipherable likes of Mogwai and Sigur Ros have much more weight when it comes to my admiration of the actual music on which a message can be overlaid. Their music is a standalone message. A beautiful expression, albeit sometimes suicidal. These two bands are powerful to me because I interpret their songs as depictions of the essence of birth and the reality of death through instrumentation. Making this especially meaningful is that they do it with instruments traditionally associated with rock music. The song below uses the same setup as Coldplay.
Post rock has always been the most cathartic music for me, since seeing Sigur Ros in 2006 up in NYC It's been a genre I not only listen to but feel. Something so beautiful that it can conjure my tears. From the womby feel of these Icelanders to the popular dimensions of Minus the Bear, their tracks have been absent from my ears but remained ever present in my soul. The permanence lies in their originality. The way their songs can't be hummed, the way I couldn't replicate the complexity of their layered melodies, their spacious tonality. A full sound that feels so empty you might just cry.
To quote Minus the Bear's Throwing Shapes it "makes you listen"
Minus the Bear's sound is a bit popular and outplayed but they are good example of the genre. I actually hear Thursday a bit in their music. The vocals have a way of destroying the distilled emotion.
The indecipherable likes of Mogwai and Sigur Ros have much more weight when it comes to my admiration of the actual music on which a message can be overlaid. Their music is a standalone message. A beautiful expression, albeit sometimes suicidal. These two bands are powerful to me because I interpret their songs as depictions of the essence of birth and the reality of death through instrumentation. Making this especially meaningful is that they do it with instruments traditionally associated with rock music. The song below uses the same setup as Coldplay.
Post rock has always been the most cathartic music for me, since seeing Sigur Ros in 2006 up in NYC It's been a genre I not only listen to but feel. Something so beautiful that it can conjure my tears. From the womby feel of these Icelanders to the popular dimensions of Minus the Bear, their tracks have been absent from my ears but remained ever present in my soul. The permanence lies in their originality. The way their songs can't be hummed, the way I couldn't replicate the complexity of their layered melodies, their spacious tonality. A full sound that feels so empty you might just cry.
To quote Minus the Bear's Throwing Shapes it "makes you listen"
24.3.10
Freshiprocity
The internet has given me more than I could ask for so I figured I'd return the favor this week.
Here's my boy Steve Brickman's senior recital, its a trio jazzifying some songs for 40 minutes. It makes a wonderful addition to any cocktail party.
Here's my boy Steve Brickman's senior recital, its a trio jazzifying some songs for 40 minutes. It makes a wonderful addition to any cocktail party.
Steve Brickman Senior Recital Miami 2010
This is a bit for the band the Heavy Pets, had fun at the Vagabond. the middle is chopped out cuz both me and the band got a little lazy at that point and i figured no one really wanted to relive that part. Check out the jam at 3:52
The Heavy Pets at Vagabond JAM 2010
Level the Playingfield - Groundskeeping at University of Miami
20.3.10
Keep the things you forgot
If there's one thing that I hope remains forever indifferent to our will it's our world. In true nature the absence and presence of humanity are most visible. Preserving the slices of the world without us in it that we have left is so integral to our collective sanity. I have to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Theodore Roosevelt today for most of my favorite places.
I adventured to only the surface of Red Rock Canyon and its splendor caught me off guard. Living in miami it's honestly sad to peer out along the horizon in all directions and see that, well... it is flat. the ocean is epic! and flat. the buildings are tall! and flat. and square. and rigid. All of the change down here is a social product. That is why it was so healthy for me to escape with the University of Miami rock climbing club to the Mojave Desert.
All the architecture is a cheap impersonation of this mountain range.
for miles and miles
stones all the same
each bit fragmenting
no practical use
save what we give them
smash them, stack them
sharpen them, scale them
shape them, scrape them
before they scrape you
From the air
it was splendid chasing the sun across the plains of the US. Millennia of change manifested in an single frame. Blink and it's new. First setting foot in the park the cold air washed over me like a bath as I recognized that this was a place I would have loved to call home. I only managed to pen a couple of poems I wish I had had more solitude, but I suppose I was there with a group, with a purpose, to climb.
Something I neglected to write about immersed in this amazing space.
Nestling mountain lion
dawning desert
stilling air
peaks and their shadows finitely long
cliffs in the act of crumbling
faces slope to plain
no need to move, a mouse will stroll through to clean my lips.
in the meantime I'll drift and enjoy the view.
No need to make this terribly long, all in all this is a
great place to spend a year exploring, let the ground guide your step, or one of the many great books on the region, and it will reveal its treasures willingly. Remember! Always clap to let the scorpions, snakes, and lions know, 'hey dudes, I'm taking the path less traveled.'
12.3.10
Red Rock Nevada
I'm heading where the wild still roams the western moans of nevada, a home.
the crags and the cracks i'll eat for snacks
this place has seen many faces many climbers have died
a native a coyote a mountainlion a snake
scorpions spiders arachnid cake
i might get bit swollen and stung
attacked by a cougar vulture feast on my lung
but probably i'll just pull myself up
one toe hold and biting rocks with my mouth
26.2.10
ducted
Last night I struggled metaphysically deep in my head.
As I slept I could feel my legs floating right out of the bed.
Then they fell as though they failed and up went my head.
Bending me backward the strangest thing.
I could only imagine my ears had sprouted wings.
Then their efforts were thwarted I fell lifeless again.
Realizing what was happening was a most brilliant feeling
unfortunately it also meant the end of the dream.
As I slept I could feel my legs floating right out of the bed.
Then they fell as though they failed and up went my head.
Bending me backward the strangest thing.
I could only imagine my ears had sprouted wings.
Then their efforts were thwarted I fell lifeless again.
Realizing what was happening was a most brilliant feeling
unfortunately it also meant the end of the dream.
24.2.10
The beach
Twice in a week I've seen this beach
It is steeper than any reality
Sand slides to the tumult
Rogue wave after rogue wave
Washing over everything
First it was a beach vampires called home
They tried to bite me and into the water I dove
Next I fled the festival, the forest, found a city
rundown railroads telephone poles
The waves kept coming
Bigger splashing I held onto what we'd built
to keep myself from becoming another piece of silt
Receding receding ripples to the horizon
the view from the top of the beach
best summed up as everything
water sand people poles wires factory
we stood there standing as it all went still
It is steeper than any reality
Sand slides to the tumult
Rogue wave after rogue wave
Washing over everything
First it was a beach vampires called home
They tried to bite me and into the water I dove
Next I fled the festival, the forest, found a city
rundown railroads telephone poles
The waves kept coming
Bigger splashing I held onto what we'd built
to keep myself from becoming another piece of silt
Receding receding ripples to the horizon
the view from the top of the beach
best summed up as everything
water sand people poles wires factory
we stood there standing as it all went still
22.2.10
Whoaverload
I don't even do that much, but the weight of the world looms heavily. The urgency of everything is becoming daunting, yet I continue to blog. Given the vastness of this web I would not even know if someone took a swat to the lower half. As i hear the content around me being generated in the form of keyboards, minds, eyes, all in rows, all at machines, we are more connected to each other than ever and still we feel alone.
What is the solution? Where are our problems? Do they make it to this conceptual space? Do they manifest in the real world? Is our perpetual ignorance the only thing that keeps us from losing our minds? Our ability to shrug it off, drink it away, satisfaction comes in so many different ways. I guess everyone deserves a break, understand that the greatest a flaw in our consciousness is its limits. I feel its capacity every day. We have tools to listen more, to compress our files, condense our being to kilobytes, share the lives of other things. A live feed of a bird in a nest, a baby's first steps, a litter of puppies from birth until death. The wisdom of the tweets of the elderly. Our future's past is all here. This blog is gonna be an antique. Translated a thousand times till it loses its rhymes, I hope you all stay oblique.
A high wire. That's where I am. Balancing. So many things feel fatal so many distractions will lead to the fall. Nothing but practice, nothing but the external and internal balance will guide me safely to the other side. As I cross the wire I become a memory. Should I fall, no one will share my death with the world out of respect. If I fall, please show it to everyone. Show me tumbling and gaining 9.8m/s being sucked to the only place I can call my home. Watch as it swats me traveling 30km/s through space. Calculate the time I had to have my last, slow, meaningless thought. Put my last words in my mouth, make sure they're someone elses. At least I didn't starve.
Begun - igKnite Haiti Project, CVJ meticulous story, studying stuff
Done - igKnite one event
What is the solution? Where are our problems? Do they make it to this conceptual space? Do they manifest in the real world? Is our perpetual ignorance the only thing that keeps us from losing our minds? Our ability to shrug it off, drink it away, satisfaction comes in so many different ways. I guess everyone deserves a break, understand that the greatest a flaw in our consciousness is its limits. I feel its capacity every day. We have tools to listen more, to compress our files, condense our being to kilobytes, share the lives of other things. A live feed of a bird in a nest, a baby's first steps, a litter of puppies from birth until death. The wisdom of the tweets of the elderly. Our future's past is all here. This blog is gonna be an antique. Translated a thousand times till it loses its rhymes, I hope you all stay oblique.
A high wire. That's where I am. Balancing. So many things feel fatal so many distractions will lead to the fall. Nothing but practice, nothing but the external and internal balance will guide me safely to the other side. As I cross the wire I become a memory. Should I fall, no one will share my death with the world out of respect. If I fall, please show it to everyone. Show me tumbling and gaining 9.8m/s being sucked to the only place I can call my home. Watch as it swats me traveling 30km/s through space. Calculate the time I had to have my last, slow, meaningless thought. Put my last words in my mouth, make sure they're someone elses. At least I didn't starve.
Begun - igKnite Haiti Project, CVJ meticulous story, studying stuff
Done - igKnite one event
21.2.10
Take your supplement
Lately to keep myself sane I've been using
allison schulnik
and
last although sadly i'm afraid i'm only becoming more jaded. hahaha insert passion pit ringtone in computer lab
allison schulnik
and
last although sadly i'm afraid i'm only becoming more jaded. hahaha insert passion pit ringtone in computer lab
15.2.10
Fresher Audio and Film
Now that emo day is behind us, I've managed to produce a couple of random things this semester so far. First is my CMP (Creative Motion Pictures) 222 groups' first movie ever, first time using a bolex and film, at least for me. I came up with the plot on the spot because quite honestly I didn't just want to shoot two dudes at a table. Apart from our little mistake (we left a red ND filter in the camera and that's why I reduced it to black and white) it turned out quite nice, Gabe and Brian did some very smooth camera work, and I got to play my favorite character!
Second thing I finished today is my first ever audio story for CVJ209 class about the famed Hofbrauhaus beer establishment. Check it
Second thing I finished today is my first ever audio story for CVJ209 class about the famed Hofbrauhaus beer establishment. Check it
11.2.10
Valentine's post
I spent my weekend submerged in art
trying to understand another heart
ambitious afruitious
no time for anything
it's a sadness beesting
leave me a post-it
an IOU
one day be sure
i'll even it up
promise me true
Guest contribution -
trying to understand another heart
ambitious afruitious
no time for anything
it's a sadness beesting
leave me a post-it
an IOU
one day be sure
i'll even it up
promise me true
Guest contribution -
Young Love
A year molded around the nape of your neck
fall turned to winter
we outside
and then to spring
where are we going?
where do you want to go?
To love - To be,
your dreams to catch
the world the cage
-to die, but for a moment to live
If only for a moment
IN YOUR EYES...
A year molded around the nape of your neck
fall turned to winter
we outside
and then to spring
where are we going?
where do you want to go?
To love - To be,
your dreams to catch
the world the cage
-to die, but for a moment to live
If only for a moment
IN YOUR EYES...
4.2.10
3.2.10
fresh stuff
Begun - Trying out for director for off the wire, Super bowl events!! (might go film the lingerie bowl tommorow if we get a press pass hahaha) Looking for paying gigs so if anyone needs a video let me know. Paying for New Zealand. It hurts. Audio story on Hofbrauhaus.
Done - first CMP project, pretty hilarious cant wait for film to be processed. It will be up here.
Done - first CMP project, pretty hilarious cant wait for film to be processed. It will be up here.
31.1.10
Tryin to be
All this social media has got me exhausted
There's too much to share
Everyone stealing everything everywhere
Creating images of who we are
Pretending extending pretension extension
What we like and what we do
I think I'm something
Why don't you?
Everyone I see is a little bit better
Drawing painting singing, what luck.
Maybe it's because I'm writing this post
Instead of practicing I'll just fuck.
There's too much to share
Everyone stealing everything everywhere
Creating images of who we are
Pretending extending pretension extension
What we like and what we do
I think I'm something
Why don't you?
Everyone I see is a little bit better
Drawing painting singing, what luck.
Maybe it's because I'm writing this post
Instead of practicing I'll just fuck.
28.1.10
You've got a nice art
Everyone should check this ALBUM out. Good compilation of magical paintings and pictures.
Far out photo manipulations by the man, Erik Johansson check his portfolio
26.1.10
Lost Desert Moon
The saloon never closed. Its wooden doors made no choices, it's dust covered clothes. The men and their horses or pistols or cards had a knack for trouble far from mama's arms. Whiskey in their bellies and gold flakes for lunch, their smiles were toothless and their boots killed like guns. The must filled their noses, the never filled their souls, a hangout for prisoners of a place down the road. Riding or sitting they'll never get caught, the lawman who seeks them has already been shot. Left to each others' brass knuckles and arms, with only dreams of lovers to keep the place warm. Time passes... oasis evaporates... riders follow the wind blowing out the gates. Faded wood, echoes, and cobwebs, no patrons no poker no angels or gods. Lone coyote breaks silence in the empty parlor. A room in history, that dusty saloon, may it live on forever lost desert moon.
21.1.10
19.1.10
Action
The stage is set
i havent written it yet
the mode is meaning
the rest is nonsense
teeming in time
lost by the side
writing passes by
rhythm is flow
i just hope you know
my hands are tap dancing
clapping the keys in front of me
piano, i can't play that
boarding whatever sea
concrete snow water clouds
images aroused
i might just type this endlessly
radiobeams rippling inside
we all drive
are you scared?
i dont care if i die
you all have this bit
i want to hear yours
that'd be why i'd cry
cuz u never told me
u never showed me
something shining unashamed
impossible to hide
words are only the shadows of who you are
always black on white
i'm finally unafraid to break the rhyme
so boring on that swing
or is it a wing
flapping up high
up up sky sky
i've got something i'm hiding away
patching it up
animals don't play catch
take the ball
never throw it back
funny how we think like that
precious nothings power divine rewind rewind
i want to see that part where we fall apart
but i wont remember how it happened
and i'll never get to see it again
just a shadow in a book
a reflection, picture took
erase whatever erase it all
at least then you'll think you're original
i havent written it yet
the mode is meaning
the rest is nonsense
teeming in time
lost by the side
writing passes by
rhythm is flow
i just hope you know
my hands are tap dancing
clapping the keys in front of me
piano, i can't play that
boarding whatever sea
concrete snow water clouds
images aroused
i might just type this endlessly
radiobeams rippling inside
we all drive
are you scared?
i dont care if i die
you all have this bit
i want to hear yours
that'd be why i'd cry
cuz u never told me
u never showed me
something shining unashamed
impossible to hide
words are only the shadows of who you are
always black on white
i'm finally unafraid to break the rhyme
so boring on that swing
or is it a wing
flapping up high
up up sky sky
i've got something i'm hiding away
patching it up
animals don't play catch
take the ball
never throw it back
funny how we think like that
precious nothings power divine rewind rewind
i want to see that part where we fall apart
but i wont remember how it happened
and i'll never get to see it again
just a shadow in a book
a reflection, picture took
erase whatever erase it all
at least then you'll think you're original
15.1.10
Matt Rein Live
Something I covered last month, this was my favorite track - "The Lovin"
I'm looking for partners to help produce live recordings, audio and video peeps just hit me up ericreator@gmail.com or on fbook message
I'm looking for partners to help produce live recordings, audio and video peeps just hit me up ericreator@gmail.com or on fbook message
Matt Rein - The Lovin' @ Gordon Biersch from Eric Hurley on Vimeo.
14.1.10
11.1.10
Favorite of all time if all that time is now.
The clock keeps on ticking
You showed me ever was never meant to last.
We listen to the tocks and measure what we lack.
But it's pointless because moments don't come back.
We could waste forever thinking about just how fast
favorites died forever ever right now.
The clock keeps on ticking
You showed me ever was never meant to last.
We listen to the tocks and measure what we lack.
But it's pointless because moments don't come back.
We could waste forever thinking about just how fast
favorites died forever ever right now.
7.1.10
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