sea shepherd

Great article that makes you really think about environmentalism and humanity's role therein in the New Yorker. Video content as well.

my so-called quarterlife

I've discovered a new quality television series, only it isn't exactly television. It's a series of webisodes called quarterlife, telling the stories of angst suffered by twenty-something year-olds through the eyes and words of a video-blogger. What's interesting about quarterlife is that it takes the rough-around-the-edges look and feel of YouTube and mixes it with quality writing and filmmaking of seasoned professionals. Any fans of My So-Called Life and thirtysomething will appreciate this series as it was created by none other than Edward Zwick. Having examined teenagers and thirty-year-olds under a magnifying glass, he's now applying the same tricks of his trade to a different age category.

le prez hot

enter bloomberg?

How about a pluralist presidential campaign? Bloomberg's been taking a crash course on foreign policy.

worth its weight?

I've been seriously looking into going biodiesel in 2008, and this news is all the more reason to do it! This would mean unloading my smooth ride, and getting an old Mercedes (possibly another smooth ride but with more character and smelling of french fries).

I also have decided to become a locavore. Not necessarily one of them, per se, but doing what they do (eat local).

blank canvas/messy canvas

As I wind up my fifth day freelancing at Current, and my second day of double shifts, the thought crossed my clouded and overworked brain as to whether it's easier to take a story that is a total mess and fix it, or to start fresh with a blank canvas and create something out of nothing. I suppose if the story you're working with has good elements, there must be some salvageable nuggets that a little bit of crafting can extract from the wreckage. Then again, why pick up the pieces when you can create something smooth and seamless from the get-go? Is it too much to ask for good clean audio, crisp and pretty HD footage, a well-thought-out script? I lean toward the blank canvas. Starting anew seems more inviting and promising than making sh** smell good.

Clearly there is a correlation with life experience here, not just editing good and bad stories. In this midnight hour, I apply the analogy to my choices, my relationships, my current and future endeavors. Somehow when it comes to your own experiences, it seems harder to go out and buy a new pair of shoes when all you need to do is scrape the sh** off the old ones. A nice polish and they'll be as sparkly and pretty as the ones in the shop window.

Enough ramblings and analogies. I must now continue to make this sad excuse for a story that lays in front of me fresh and exciting.

ce matin

the future is... about to be re-written?

My bro, giving Joe Strummer a run for his money (or not):

it's like night and day

I'm editing what passes for programming at Current TV right now, and although I am happy to be receiving a paycheck for my services, I must admit that it's embarrassing what the definition of content has become. Filmmaking and media making used to be considered an artform when it was all about celluloid and black and white. These were mediums that were actually extremely difficult to manipulate, let alone learn how to use them to craft an effective story. Whereas I'm all for the democratization of making art, I really feel that segments such as the ones I'm editing tonight do a detriment to my professional field. Viewers' abilities to decipher between good and bad production value will suffer in the end when the majority of "content" is made by any joe schmoe on the street with a digital camcorder and iMovie. And then places like Current buy these segments for cheap and air them.

So before I came to work today, I squeezed in a matinee. Inspired by the Radiohead cover of Ceremony, I went to the Clay Theater to see Control, the biopic about Ian Curtis of Joy Division. This film is a refreshing reminder that filmmaking is an art, and literally made me want to destroy my digital camera and any notion of creating media for small screens and on the cheap and devote my life to filming the old fashioned way. It was an interesting choice to film Control in black and white. I believe the result was effective, shades of black and white symbolizing the way Ian Curtis may have seen the world--love and hate, life and death. If it was filmed in color, this movie might have become another "24 Hour Party People" or an "Almost Famous;" instead we are given a beautiful and memorable portrait of a bygone era and the life of a bygone artist.

Excellent performances as well. Very well made and artistic film.

radiohead does the smiths

pretty good yodeling, but what's up with the cutaways to the pink shirted torso?

experience/light

Last night my mom called me as I was preparing to go to my entrepreneurship class to ask me if I wanted to join her and some friends at SF MOMA. I've been dying to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibit since I first read about it and saw the banners on the streetlamps here in SF. So I sent a little note off to my teacher to say that I was sick along with my homework and off I went to experience art.

His art propels one into experiencing an environment, and certain elements of an environment in particular, thereby encompassing the person experiencing art into the art itself. It's a very compelling and emotional show. At times I felt like I was at Burning Man. Eliasson is genius at his installations and architectural design. Looking into some of the mirrored reflections of myself, I could actually see the strong personal connection he has to his work. It was breathtaking.

Most breathtaking of all was the 360 degree room for all colours. I walked in to see people standing close to the wall, looking slightly hypnotized. I walked right up to the wall and did the same. All of a sudden, the light consumes your peripheral vision, and you feel like you are enveloped in hues of yellow, orange, blue, pink, green, purple and white. What struck me was how my body physically reacted to the changes in color. Pink and orange gave me butterflies, like I was seeing a boy I had a crush on. Whereas blue made me feel serene and reminded me of when I was scuba diving and would float weightlessly into the abyss. I let the emotions roll through me as the light entered and passed through my physical being like a drug. I could have stayed there and experienced the permutations for hours.

stuck in a strange, but lucid, dream

Last night I managed to get extremely drunk and, when I came home, barely had enough time to play with Cloud kitty before passing out. Somehow I changed into my pajamas, closed the curtains and got under the covers. I woke up in the middle of the night, or rather, it seemed as though I woke up in the middle of the night, walked into the living room and saw that my apartment had been ransacked. I thanked God that I bought the safe to store my valuables. I thought that I must have been so drunk when I came home that I didn't notice the disarray before. I walked into the bathroom and tried to flick the lights on and they didn't work (it reminded me of that scene in Amelie). And then I went back into my bedroom and saw that it too was ransacked. I realized at that moment that I must have been dreaming, so I decided to test it out. I dived into the air in the place that my bed would have been and figured if I was in a dream, I would land softly. Moments later, my head lay gently on my pillow and my cat was curled up next to me, and everything seemed as it should.

shrooms!

Here are a couple pics I took of mushrooms around Phoenix Lake about the same time of year two years ago:



And some tree fungi I found last year in West Marin:

this'll be f***ing brilliant

The Swearing Festival at Edinburgh Castle!

frog/soup

On Sunday, the Sultan, miss Jenny C. and I went on a hike on Mt. Tam. We took the High Marsh Trail to the Kent Trail to the Helen Markt Trail around Alpine Lake. It was a long and strenuous hike. My legs are still sore! We hiked through several different habitats--redwood groves, fern covered hills, a tunnel of manzanita bushes, rocky terrain, bubbling brooks, a waterfall. The trails at times were covered with yellow and brown leaves from the deciduous trees. Bunches of mushrooms popped up out of the damp earth. The mountain smelled so amazingly fresh. We even saw a couple frogs! Here's one that Sultan spotted in a tree:

Yesterday I made a very delicious soup that I am continuing to enjoy today. I baked a butternut squash, sauteed and ground some ginger and onions, and then, when the squash was finished backing, scooped it out and re-sauteed these 3 ingredients altogether. Then I added 2 cups of vegetable broth, some sea salt and a few pinches of curry powder. I let this cook together for a couple hours. Then I added about 1 cup of coconut milk and stirred that in thoroughly. Then I chopped up some cilantro to garnish my soup, and let me tell you: YUM.

all roads lead to Rome

I hate it when HBO series end! Just finished watching the final episode of Rome Season 2, the FINAL season! I understand that it was the most expensive series ever made in the history of television, but two seasons only? I also don't particularly like last episodes (because the writers feel like they have to tie up all loose ends), but this last episode with all the death and sex was pretty decent. There were a couple moments of cheese, but nothing too smelly. At least there was no ridiculous music montage like they did to us with the last episode of Six Feet Under.

funny pics

Bane and I after several drinks at Club Deluxe:

Jess and I as our alter-egos:

She's actually smiling in the picture (in case it's not apparent)!

divest from darfur

I just sent a note asking my senators to support an important
bill that would give states the right to remove their pension
funds from companies that are helping fund the genocide in
Darfur.

Will you join me? Just click here now:

This bill would help end the violence in Darfur by empowering
states to put pressure on the Sudanese government and denying
them the resources needed to continue to fund the violence. The
bill has already passed the House of Representatives 418-1, but
now it's the Senate's turn.

this could be addicting

Second Life

Just found out about it at an event at Swissnex that I attended last night on the future of television and "new media" content.

art is not dead

Having brooding enough over "loss," Jessica and I decided to celebrate in high style last night after all. We cruised the bars in the Lower Haight for a few hours, I as the Butterfly Goddess, she as the High Priestess of the Third Eye, doling out chocolate kisses to any other All Hallow's Eve revelers crossing our paths. We met a fairy princess, Satan, Mother Nature, Mario (of Mario Brothers), the lead singer of the band Poison, Spartacus, three cops (it's funny how certain people dress in costume every day!) among many others choosing to re-identify themselves on this zaniest of holidays.

We recommitted ourselves to the creation of art for art's sake and the task of giving our film about identity a new identity.

Photos to come, as soon as I figure out how to use my new cell phone.