Tuesday 6 November 2007

hang drum

has anyone ever seen this instrument before? i saw it live the other day and was fascinated. it might be the most amazing instrument i've ever seen.

Sunday 28 October 2007

Congratulations

Graduates of 2006-2007


Claire Anholt
Michael Atkins
Amanda Belantara
Jana Carrey
Vania Celebicic Arielli
Clara de los Arcos Diez
Robert Eagle
Katie Gillum
Anne-Katrine Hansen
Esther Hertog
Alexander Hirl
Kelly Kendziorski
Elissa Krowe
Niccolò Patriarca
Rebecca Payne
Jennifer Peachey
Katrin Streicher
Ana Tovey

Friday 12 October 2007

Thursday 11 October 2007

Thursday 20 September 2007

Tuesday 18 September 2007

Monday 17 September 2007

Sunday 16 September 2007

Dance Party



"You're so Gangsta"
Chromeo

Tuesday 11 September 2007

Friday 7 September 2007

Thursday 6 September 2007

Trapped in the closet hits the big time!

Oh dear, the secret's out. Trapped in the Closet was the cover story of the guardian guide the other week. (Although not sure how to feel about it after reading about R Kelly and his urinating antics)

Tying into Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's cameo in the farmer vid below, there is a great cover that he and Matt Sweeney did of R Kelly's super cheesy 'ignition'. Very funny. I have a copy if you want a listen some time.

Monday 3 September 2007

Watermelon Love




...I saw this a while ago and I thought it was amazing!

Friday 31 August 2007

Farmer fun!

I can't stop laughing at this video, it is soooo funny, and it's got Bonnie 'Prince' Billy in it, what a legend!


Tuesday 28 August 2007

Bring back the blog! Issues-based participant-generated broadcast TV?! Plus procastination

Someone sent me this link to what looks like a really innovative series on one of the main TV channels in NZ. People approach the production company with an issue they want addressed, and the company makes the film under their editorial direction...
http://www.opendoor.net.nz/index.php?section=index&sub_section=start
The website says there are similar initiatives in Canada and the U.S
I don't know what the quality of then programmes is like but the idea is a refreshing break from what we usually hear about how TV treats their participants stories.

Also an old but good music vid inspired by Mr and Mrs Belantara and me seeing them perform this weekend:

Wednesday 27 June 2007

Learning to let go

Hi MAVAs....I wanted to give a little update and share some advice that I have been given that I think is quite lovely and pertinent. My project has been quite up and down, I was finding it very hard to feel enthused about my subject when I first arrived, and was regretting not choosing something more exciting that would have provided more of an adventure. Things really picked up for me when I filmed the wiccan winter solstice at the stonehenge - something I was so apprehensive about beforehand that I didn't sleep a wink the night before. We were blessed with clear (but windy) weather despite a howling storm all night, and the ceremony was lovely and because of relationship building in the days leading up to it I was granted special permisison to go within the circle and film details of the ritual that other photographers present weren't permitted to do. The day was brilliant and re-kindled my interest and confidence. The following day filming also went well, but I missed a couple of key moments when I switched the camera off (intentionally), thinking what was happening was not important, and that was sad, its hard to let go of what you know you missed. But even worse, when I watched the solstice footage several days later, I discovered that for at least 5mins I must have turned the camera to standby by accident, right when I was filming lovely details of the fire, holly leaves being passed around and other things that would really lift the film from just people standing around which the majority of my film seems to be, plus a very interesting in situ interview. I've been feeling rather devastated and very despondent about my filmmaking skills ever since, but my friend Kate has sent this advice that I think is useful for anyone who is having probs, as I'm sure I'm not alone (although not with not hitting rec, I'm sure you're all more competent than that!) :

Come on Ana - remember Nanook!

When Flaherty lost a year's worth of filming in a fire, he just got back on that sledge to the Arctic and staged it again! [NB I'M NOT ENDORSING STAGING ALTHOUGH I'VE HAD SEVERAL OFFERS FROM FRIENDS TO DRESS UP AS PAGANS AND LIGHT A FIRE!)

Of course you must suffer adversity - this is the way plenty of great art (and scholarship) is reached.


Anyway, I'm not suggesting I'm making great art at this stage, far far from it, but it is good to remember if we are feeling challenged, that this is still a learning experience and does not have to be perfection.

Friday 22 June 2007

Fieldwork update

Hello. I arrived in Portland a week ago, and started shooting almost immediately off the plane. I was tired, jet-lagged, and managed not to get the footage that would be the beginning of the scene. It's a pretty good middle and end, though. I was getting a bit bored with my topic after talking about it since January, but meeting the women reminded me why I am here. While they seem to be little more than average suburban moms, they are incredibly thoughtful about the changes that have taken place in women's lives over the past two generations. I'm am glad that they are able to take the time to reflect on their incredibly busy and sometimes contradictory lives for the sake of my camera. They gather, knowing they are capable of much more "success" and social recognition, but reassuring each other that they are doing the right thing by placing more value on the lives and upbringing of their children. Still, it's a conflict that is as rich as it is seemingly mundane.

Sunday 17 June 2007

Fieldwork updates?

Howdy all. Just thought I could follow up on Kelly's post and that we could use the MAVA blog to share things, like updates or ideas or techniques or anything like that. I'm still kicking around in Manchester. I leave the UK on the 29 June (hopefully) after I will have gotten my Russian and Kazakhstani visas. Route is as follows: bus London to Krakow (26 hrs), then trains Krakow to Kiev, Kiev to Moscow, Moscow to Astana (capital of KZ), Astana to Almaty--5 days in all. Hey, Paul suggested that I emphasise the 'journey' aspect of it, so I'm doing it all by land.

I just went to Prague last weekend, where I learned how to walk backwards, uphill through the city centre, dodging tourists. It was so bloody difficult to keep the camera steady. My Kazakh subjects were rapping. I wasn't too sure of the quality of the sound or image (if it can stand on its own as a scene), so I had the main guy repeat the rap the next day in an interview in case I need that to cover my wobbly observational camera-work.

In the meantime, I'm now filming a cool homeless guy I met today named Danny. I asked about his situation, and when he heard that I do film, he asked if I could make a film about him. He's definitely one of the most interesting people I've met in a very long time SO I'll be spending a night or two on the streets with him later this week... seeing as I'm getting chucked out of Moberly. It will hopefully be a piece of somewhat shared anthropology where we'll both contribute to setting up scenes and scenarios where he will, essentially, act out his daily life.

That's my update. Who else would like to share how things are going so far?

Monday 11 June 2007

Save the blog!

Hey everyone. I'm not quite away on fieldwork, yet, but I know some of you are. How's it going?

The palace is being packed and cleaned and I can't help but comment on how quickly time has passed. I'll be uploading lots of photos as soon as I'm a bit more settled and will post links here. Can't wait to hear from you!

Friday 18 May 2007

Home decoration MAVA style....

My new wallpaper....




And carpet...and bedlinen...

Monday 14 May 2007

and some munich coolness...

sorry another one, but don't wanna ruin the image of my hometown forever ;-)) so here is some munich coolness...
also about 5 min away from uni.

no, actually this is more funny...

this is not even a 5 min walk away from the social anthropology department in munich...
what can you say? germans are correct, on time, bureaucratic and haha...? weird??

fancy a tube ride in munich?

A little piece of Portland

The penny video was pretty representational of the coffee/hipster city centre, so here's a little bit of east side hottness. Let's get serious!

Sunday 13 May 2007

B/c its no fun to play a game by yourself...

Ana this ones for you (and you Kelly!) ... so I didn't even realize Santa Monica had a critical mass until I saw this video, but supposedly its been going on for over 5 years there! This video makes me think I should have never left home...the beach, the palm trees, the sun, going running in nothing but shorts and a sports bra at night!.....

Saturday 12 May 2007

Procrastination Project Proposal

Maybe it is outrageous that I am still putting things on the blog when the essays are nearly due, but frequent brief breaks help writing, right? Anyway, as we're all from so many different places I thought it would be fun to start a video dialogue in which we post a video that in some way epitomises an aspect of life from where we're from. I'm going to kick it off with a little kiwi number - unfortunately it is a commercial but it does show an iconic aspect of kiwi masculinity...In case you don't get it, Stubbies are a brand of shorts. Go on, post one back before monday otherwise I'll look silly.

Wednesday 9 May 2007

Make Love not Essays...



OK so this has little relevance to VA as such, but I saw CSS play last night and they were great and most therepeutic. This song is perfect when you need a little bedroom dancing essay relief (not meant euphemistically!!).

(one more!)

...More good distracting things...





...You've probably seen it, but it's SO fun to watch! Who doesn't want to try this out after seeing the video?

Monday 7 May 2007

more music video distraction

Hey guys. I can't embed this one, but it's cute! Or maybe I just miss Portland coffee too much.

Matt McCormick is one of my favorite filmmakers. He also has a music video for Sleater-Kinney, two from the Shins 1 2 and some excertps from his shorts. Check him out!

/fangirl

Tuesday 1 May 2007

we gotta practice mayn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d1va5OZMbs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fprofile%2Emyspace%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ecfm%3Ffuseaction%3Duser%2Eviewprofile%26friendid%3D77272795%26MyToken%3D28d7f5e1%2D58ee%2D4019%2Da2d6

Monday 30 April 2007

Friggin' hilarious

Just watch it... I was in hysterics, probably b/c I am brain dead from all this work but don't hold that against me
... (esp. good if you like Will Ferrell ...)
The Landlord

Sunday 29 April 2007

glam cams - system azure



I think this is a great art project - artist Jill Magid set herself up as a 'security ornamentation' company, and convinced Amsterdam police to let her decorate their surveillance cameras with rhinestones...http://www.systemazure.com/

Saturday 28 April 2007

TV / film Indie names and pointers

So it's hard to think of life after being a MAVA, but we all must make money at some point. For those who are interested, here are some of the names of TV indie productions to look at possibly applying to.

I sat down with the series producer of Dog Borstal before I left the BBC two weeks ago. He's been in the business 15 years and began by working on observational, longer-term projects. He goes back and forth between BBC projects for money etc and independent projects of his own. These are his pointers:

1) If you want do an unpaid work experience placement at the BBC (4 weeks maximum), search and apply at:
https://jobs.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc03.asp?newms=se
It's great for the CV, gives you good contacts and most importantly provides you a taster of life in TV.


2) There are 2 books especially that have lists of film/TV/radio production companies and their contact details. This can give you an idea of which production companies are where. These two books are:
The Media Guide/Directory, published by Guardian Books <>
The Knowledge <>


3) If you want to try your hand at one of the big TV indie studios that produce much of the popular F&L (Factual and Learning) on TV, the big ones are:
RDF Media
Talk-back Thames
Endemol

Smaller ones:
20-20
October
Windfall


4) If you want to get into editing, he recommended looking into what are called 'Facility Houses', which is where many production companies send their footage when the editing is not done in-house. One he mentioned are:
Crow TV
Clear Cut
Uncle (part of 'The Farm' in London)
Blue
Tele-cine

5) Read Broadcast Magazine for updates on what's been commissioned, so that you know what's going on in the industry, as well as to whom you should send your CV. You can also subscribe to Production Base, which is an online media job agency that can help you get your CV to production companies. It costs around £15/month.


This is a VERY incomplete list. There are so many other options--here in Manchester, many in Bristol and some in Birmingham. My series producer recommended applying to these companies as a runner/researcher, prove yourself and get the hang of the company and then look for options to film/sound record/edit. They're always looking for 'new talent' (read: fresh blood).

Thursday 26 April 2007

Streaming documentary archive from FourDocs

I love FourDocs. What a great resource for those of us who keep missing the opening hours of the GCVA film library and would rather watch films on our computers. These are some of the most influential docs made from 1906 to 2003. And now FourDocs has won a BAFTA for interactive innovation!

http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/archive/a_to_z.html

Thank you all

I just wanted to say thank you so much for the adorable card and cornerhouse gift vouchers. It was really sweet of you guys to do that. And I loved it.

I love all of you darling little MAVAs!!!

Demetri Martin...hilarious




okay so this is totally relevant to our studies. he uses visual enhancers. that counts right?!

Wednesday 25 April 2007

If any of you are interested, here is the site I made for the presentation today. The font is too small, but is gives you an idea.

Cruising Map.

See you all soon.

Monday 23 April 2007

Kiwi gangsta-folk showdown: Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros

These guys - Flight of the Conchords - are from my home town. They're kinda funny.

Saturday 21 April 2007

Ultimate essay distraction - super 8

I recently was lucky enough to score a super8 camera from Freecycle. There's no way I'm going to have a chance to try it out before leaving for my summer project, but if for some reason any of you have some time up your sleeve and would like to play around with it I'd be more than happy to lend it. Feel a bit guilty having it sitting around unused.
Came with a mic and manual (and lovely plush royal blue-lined case, yummy!), apparently hasn't been used since the 1980s but worked fine then...Just let me know if you fancy camera-sitting.

Bitmapping

This project sounds fun - 'Bitmapping invites you to take art in a rare experiment in democratic art. An opportunity for everyone with a camera-phone to contribute to a unique, organically evolving exhbition - a consensual roadmap of perspectives and close-ups on the fabric of urban life'
more here...
www.bitmapping.com
Unfortunately because of an incident of overly democratic art - someone swiping my camera phone at Arnolfini art gallery a while back - I can't participate, but maybe you're technically enabled and want to give it a go...

Tuesday 17 April 2007

Boredom Buster...

SLEPPING WHILE YOU DRIVE

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ok, so its a little cheesy but I think I'm biased b/c I used to date the lead singer of this band for one red hot minute back in LA... I think most of their songs are shit...but I do like this music video and plus its got great shots of LA's biggest attraction (the freeway!)... i do miss having a car just to have the freedom to drive off somewhere random...

Monday 16 April 2007

ethno - what?

http://www.ubu.com/ethno/

Check it out... ethno soundings, ethno visuals and now ethno poetry, and its even mentions "in situ"...what else could you want from a website?

Ubu the website its on is full of stuff to waste your time rather then write an essay or transcribe a film!
xoxo, Banana

Reflections on the BBC...

SO after 3 weeks in London, being slave labour at the BBC, I've come to a couple conclusions...

-Talking to people about their dog's poo can be more interesting than I thought. I was helping to cast dogs and their owners (known as 'contributors' in TV lingo), and I learned a lot along the way--and not just about dogs.
-The BBC is not as bad as Gavin and others made it out to be. My producers did have a strong code of ethics and a love of good documentaries. They do shows like Dog Borstal (not as bad as most crap on BBC3) between doing projects they're passionate about. It pays the bills. And in this business, you're lucky if you have steady work that pays the bills. What filmmaker/actor DOESN'T do one crap money-maker to make the films s/he loves?
-Some people at the BBC really are just as bad as Gavin made them out to be--and worse. I overheard a conversation between a commisioning exec and a producer about a show they wanted to call Bare-Naked Ladies (like the band) to get people to watch. They've recently been working on shows called How big are your breasts? and Help! My dog's arse is as fat as mine! I kid you not. These people make me want to burn down the BBC.
-For people like us, work experience at the BBC is perfect for 1)your CV 2)a foot in the door and 3) connections to other production companies. I left last Friday with two A4's full of contacts (producers/directors and production companies) to send my CV to. No one else is going to tell you this, other than those in the business and those in-the-know. I feel SOOOOO much better now about getting a job in documentaries after this course.
-Despite a veneer of organisation and calm, producers are spontaneous and last minute when it comes to hiring people. I told a producer working on WWII: Behind Closed Doors that I speak Russian. She said, 'Great! Can you start Monday?' I just about cried when I told her I had to come back to Manc to return to Uni that day and work at the Stationery Box. If you send out your CVs, be ready to start the next day when the producer phones you.
-CV's: I sat down the head of HR for researchers/runners (essentially, us when we start at a production company) and he helped me re-structure my CV to send to producers. I will write another posting about how to do a CV for the TV industry. Stay tuned...
-MAVAs kick ass! No one else there doing work experience had the training we have had. I knew more about their Sony cameras and Sennheiser radio mics than the producers! We have skills that we can use to our advantage--we arrive at their doorstep pre-trained, so we can more quickly get jobs on camera or sound.
-As much as I loved being at the BBC, we're probably best off sending our CVs to independent production companies first (I'll make a list in another posting). It's much easier at indies to climb the ranks and go to camera or sound jobs, rather than wasting a year or two at the BBC as a runner. The BBC has so few jobs right now in Factual & Learning (docs and reality TV). They're contracting those out to the indies, for the most part.

SO those are just a handful of my reflections. There will be postings to come with CV advice and a list of independent production companies we can send those pretty little CVs to.

Wednesday 11 April 2007

Wordsworth Rap

Cinema of Ideas

This is a great new initiative organised by various people from BFI and Independent Cinema Office...Its in London but will have podcasts by the look of it, and they also take suggestions for potential events and discussions.
http://www.cinemaofideas.org.uk/

Vituoso Busker

This is a long but interesting article about an experiment where one of the world's most renowned violinists plays for the morning rush hour crowd in a Washington DC subway station.

via urban honking

Cheap and cheerful hard drive

Hey - I've been looking around for a hard drive and have found this one from Western Digital which seems to be basically the same as the Lacie version with the firewire and USB interface, but its £115 rather than £170
Ran it past David Henderson who seems to think it will do the trick just fine, so thought I would share this discovery...

Wednesday 4 April 2007

Internet Video Activism



Here's a video my friend helped make to help publicize the efforts to release a prisoner from Guantanamo.

She's also pointed me to this video blog about everyday life in Baghdad. It's another good example of alternative form of distribution, and connected to this glossy but interesting attempt at global dialogue that doesn't seem to be living up to its full potential.

Friday 30 March 2007

..a visit to Le Rabelais Supermarket

After seeing Zotovich down the Cafe Insomnia...I soon became intrigued about the tired old ideas he was peddlin' in his supermarkets. Of course now that Le Rabelais Supermarket has banded together with all the other supermarkets to form the De:Facto World Government, it seems everything and anything that is meaningful can be found on their shelves. Whole cultures are wrapped up, packaged and put on display, India usually finds itself put next to either Jamaica or Mexico; the Church has been reduced to a small 'soul' food section next to the even less popular existentialist deli-counter. Whenever I stroll up and down the endless aisles I can’t help rejoicing in the meaningless of it all even though I know this is against official supermarket policy.

...pots, pans, clouds, cuckoos. Now the supermarkets have realised that people rarely stop investing things with meaning, they've really cornered the market. For while science and religion mistakenly staked their claim on absolute and eternal truths, the supermarkets know that meaning is mostly disposable, and have seen how any old rubbish will do. Once meaning becomes disposable everything inside the supermarket becomes meaningful whereas whatever lays outside remains meaningless. Therefore garbage is those things that are no longer meaningful; clouds in the sky are poor substitutes for the supermarkets' artificial aerosol variety. In an increasingly antiseptic world plastic cuckoos and never used pans carry the day, whilst twice used pots are taken as a sign of perversion...take any sidewalk anthropologist’s word for it...it's strange times that we live in...

Monday 26 March 2007

A word of warning re radio mic batteries...

Hey ED'ers I used my radio mic yesterday with the 'new' batteries that I bought off Bill. One of them died after 1 hour. Not suggesting faulty goods - as such - but recommend you bring a back-up even if you're not shooting the full 4 hours that they're supposed to cover. Not that I could have changed it anyway, in the middle of the druid's ritual. Grrrrr.

Sunday 18 March 2007

Onions




These guys are pals of mine (and at the risk of shamelessly plugging them) if you like what you see/hear, then go to www.mspace.com/onionstheband...

Wednesday 14 March 2007

Wet Pets



And the response:



I'm not sure why, but I find this hilarious.

Saturday 10 March 2007

Hard drive recommendations

Hi - I'm looking at getting a hard drive, and am not sure what to go for. I know Sue suggested Lacie, and getting 500GB, but there are quite a few choices
What difference does firewire or USB make? If anyone can recommend a model that they think is good value for money and sufficient for using for editing it would be great if you could post a reply!
Thanks
P.S for Mac Powerbook G4

Thursday 8 March 2007

Tuesday 6 March 2007

Psychogeographic discovery

Just stumbled across this website for Manchester Area Psychogeographic while doing some virtual flaneuring...

Sunday 4 March 2007

mava song

i couldn't believe it, but there already is a song about us...

thanks everyone for coming! we had a great time!



Saturday 3 March 2007

Wednesday 28 February 2007

Can't you just SMELL the ethnography?

This makes me SO excited! I've often wanted a kind of scratch-and-sniff ethnography. If we can use film/photos/sound recordings in ethnographic representation, then why not use smell as well? My new goal in life: write the first web-based monograph that uses smell along with video and audio-- though I might have to wait a decade...


___________________________________________
From the BBC website:
Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 11:57 GMT

'Fragrant future beckons for web'

Many South Koreans are serious video game players
Within a decade the net will be able to deliver smells as fast as it does data, predicts a report.

The forecast came in a wide-ranging survey produced by the South Korean government to find out what consumers will want from future technologies.

[...]

The long-range predictions in the survey came from interviews carried out with about 3,500 technology experts in South Korea.

The country has long been known for its dedication to hi-tech.

Net-using citizens enjoy some of the highest speed broadband connections in the world, widespread high-speed mobile networks and the country's education system makes extensive use of the net to teach and track pupils' progress.

The hi-tech panel behind the report believed that, by 2015, the net will be used to deliver data about smells to a fragrance cartridge sitting next to a computer or other device accessing the net. [...]


for the full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6404067.stm

Monday 26 February 2007

Public service announcement

This could be you in June...


OK so probably you'll be somewhere exotic working on the final project but if you're in the UK you could be getting touch with nature alongside 1,000s of others at the archetypal British festival - Glastonbury. But only if you register by this wed (this isn't buying a ticket, its just registering your interest) www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk

Sunday 25 February 2007

...yesterday's visit to the Cafe Insomnia

...in all these months that the i've been drinking cafe-au-lait at the Cafe Muse, I've never visited the little place nearby...I've always been put off by the clientele and decor but also the name...The Cafe Insomnia. It doesn't bode well. Perhaps on occasion I've been tempted to drop in while passing the Cafe Insomnia...but I never ventured past the yellow door and I've always been frightened by the sounds of radical bonhomie that spills out into the streets.


That all changed yesterday when I saw an old friend in there...Ivor...who invited me in. For the past five years Ivor has been living in his current place, a small flat on th 3rd floor of a house in S**** Ma[d]chester. Four different people have ended up living in the room below. Sometimes in the middle of the night he presses his head to the floorboards to hear them s-s-snore. Sometimes early in the morning, before the trains and traffic interrupt his silent reverie, he also presses his head to the pillow just to hear the blood pound in his head. It reminds him of the many things that are part of him, that are found just under the veneer of his skin but has never seen. In some odd, disengaged and degraded way it also reminds Ivor that he's alive.

Ivor introduced me to Zotovitch...a regular habitue at the Cafe Insomnia...who it transpires is Le Rabelais supermarket's vice-president. He talks hard about the need for softening up Arabs for the market and advocates a permanent state of war. When asked about peace the answer cannot be found in his flabby words and rhetoric...nor in his overbearing but perhaps once handsome face. He desperately needs some exercise...for here is a man carved out of the worst type of lard (the sort that lies exactly halfway between piety and a bistro lifestyle) and yet he urges leaner and fitter men into war. Zotovitch's appetite for war would change the minute he was made to run round the training field, thus breaking him many weeks before any actual combat. Ultimately he requires a regime change from pate de fois gras to salad and climbing stairs. That or a change of menu is in order down at the Cafe Insomnia...

Saturday 24 February 2007

American Fair Use law

Hey. The Americans among us should find this interesting. The documentary filmmakers' statement of best practices in fair use can be found here or by following the links in the first article.

Friday 23 February 2007

Cute with Chris



This man has a web-based show. It is a short-form series, updated twice a week, that relies on pictures of cute animals, silly letters from teenage girls, and strong sense of irony. Which is to say it is highly entertaining and outside of the view of the "mainstream" "audience." The above episode holds some relevance to what we've been learning about working in TV in ED2, and it shows what sorts of things are possible outside of that model. These are very very different from the types of films we make, but I think there is potential in short-form series that don't cost a lot of money to make and are consumed more like web-comics than traditional film or television. Admittedly, I have no idea where this man gets his money and he isn't travelling anywhere, so the types of documentary work in this medium would be limited in that sense. Still, I think this is an interesting prospect for people staying close to home.

Weird america is an example of a podcast that is more documentary based, has more visible advertising and is slightly more mobile in its perview. Again, it is pertty limited in terms of what we are doing, but RSS subscriptions and itunes allows these episodes to be directly delivered to your computer or email. It is still pretty light, but the limitations inherent in this form of distribution are very different from those in television.

Sunday 11 February 2007

Computer Drawing



I want to to play.

Sunday Funday



Matt & Phred's 8pm...see you there!

Saturday 10 February 2007

Central Asia Project at Cornerhouse

Where is the line between ethnography and art? What's the difference between an artist who wanders off the tourist path and the ethnographer who represents people and places through artistic media?

I find myself asking these questions after spending quite a bit of time over the last two days in the seminars and exhibitions of Cornerhouse's Central Asia Project. For those of you interested in Central Asia, this is a must-see/do/experience. In short, Cornerhouse, amongst others, organised for 3 British artists to spend time in Kazakhstan--live with families, travel, hold seminars about art, etc.--and now they have a handful of Central Asian artists visiting England, exhibiting their work and creating new pieces for exhibition in Central Asia.

At a talk today, I found myself identifying so strongly with what the UK artists were saying about their experiences of going with still cameras, video cameras or sound recorders and trying to process the sights, sounds and emotions and mediate/interpret them into pieces for this exhibition. Shona Illingworth's video installation 'Karlag' is particularly moving. It has inspired me to re-cut some of my footage and explore the relationships of art, the senses, emotions, memories and ethnographic representation through visual media.

The Central Asian artists' pieces are fascinating and enchanting--an artistic version of 'indigenous media', perhaps? I especially connected with Natalya Dyu's philosophy and her work. She's the youngest of the artists and seems the most motivated to tell the world that 'Kazakhstan is not a wild country'--something I also try to do through film. Her video and interactive digital media pieces on computers make me think of possibilities for us as visual anthropologists to deal with fantasies and dreams or other issues for our subjects.

So that's my abbreviated review of the exhibition. I know I'll be going back several times until the exhibition closes (1 April), so let me know if you'd like to go and fancy some company!

http://www.cornerhouse.org/art/info.aspx?ID=356&page=0

worth waiting for...

drums



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yes please!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1077910372

Friday 9 February 2007

The Mighty Boosh - Nannageddon



Hope you like it!

Blackpool
















Editorial Note: Photos can't be rotated once they are uploaded through blogger. Also, there is a limit to the total amount of space blogger allows for photos, so it would be good to keep the files under 2mb, or even less. (Uploading to flickr first is a good option if you don't have photo editing software) Thanks. -Kelly

Prehistoric love



Archaeologists find remains of neolithic embrace. Click on the image for more information.

Creative archive

Following on from Kelly's post here is the website for the Creative Archive that I mentioned in ED2 http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk/archives/creative_archive_licence_group/

But sadly the bbc aren't offering up their footage anymore as it was a trial period :(
Still a few BFI clips which are quite fun...And hopefully it is a sign of things to come.

The Machine is Us/ing Us



:) thank you kelly!

Internet Archives

Hello. In response to ED2's discussion of Archives, here are a few places that list useful resources.

And edited list from a political news website.

A longer list from wikipedia

Monday 5 February 2007

For Kat...


Have a wonderful day!

Tenori-on



The tenori-on is a musical instrument that incorporates light into sound to make a more aesthetically integrated digital instrument.

Saturday 3 February 2007

Mooninites

As some of you may know, Boston has recently been all aflutter because of a guerrilla marketing campaign that was mistaken for terrorism. Authorities were called when citizens spotted circuit boards with LED lights hanging from overpasses and in subways. The LED lights were formed in the shape of Mooninites, secondary characters from Aqua Teen Hungerforce, an American cartoon with a cult following. The ensuing panic over these devices effectively shut the city down and cost police hundreds of thousands of dollars.





The artists who were hired to make the ads were arrested for orchestrating a bomb hoax. They respond:

We're gonna need a montage!

What every observational documentary needs to make it a bit snappier...

'Show a lot of things happing at once,
Remind everyone of what’s going on
And with every shot you show a little improvement
To show it all would take to long
That’s called a montage'

Friday 2 February 2007

Thursday 1 February 2007

Monday 29 January 2007

Ahhh, Disney romance--what a load of crap



No wonder our expectations of love and relationships are so skewed. Think of the subtle brainwashing these films did to us as kids, teaching us the feminine and masculine ideals, which we later found out was a pile of crap. Life and love don't quite work that way; women aren't all damsels in distress and men don't always come to the rescue on white steeds.

One of my closest female friends from school was reading a self-help book last year. It was all about getting over the disappointment many girls feel when they realise the 'princess' ideal is unrealistic. She got married this past September. They're now in marriage counselling.

Some people (myself included) want this image of Disney romance so badly that they push relationships somewhat to fit this model of love. I spend so much energy trying to be Prince Charming that I'm really disappointed in myself when I realise I'm not (yeah, big shocker there). So my kids are not getting this crap, at least not until they're older and after they've been exposed to other, less-damaging media.

Saturday 27 January 2007

Tuesday 23 January 2007

Food Network Subliminal Advertising?



Scandal or dropped frame? You decide.

Sunday 14 January 2007

looking forward to better times...

...when we can party again!!!

(there is a very long bit of black at the beginning, sorry!)

Saturday 13 January 2007

I want in that way

Since we are all busy with essays, I thought I'd start things off light. Feel free to discuss the impact of globalization and new media on corporate business models. Or just enjoy.

Friday 12 January 2007

mavas are hottt

Hey everyone. I set up a blog for us to use if people are into it. Email me for posting access, and hopefully this can be a group effort of picture posting, discussion and interesting links. Videos could even be added so we can keep in touch while we're away this summer. Anyway, I hope this works out cause I think you all would make for an interesting group blog.

<3