Monster Road

Big news for documentary fans.
Bright Eye Pictures is releasing their film Monster Road on DVD.
This is an amazing film about the animator Bruce Bickford, with a fantastic soundtrack
by Sharkquest.

Disclaimer of bias... Brett Ingram was one of my professors, but I was a fanboy even before taking his class. Watching this movie encouraged me to take his class, and to think about documentary filmmaking in a whole new way. Great teacher, great filmmaker.
Go out and buy a copy for yourself and a friend.
I can't wait to see his new film Renaldo.

what's the deal?

Okay.
Fridays were going to be video haiku day, but flash wasn't playing nice with my other programs, so I leave you with this gem from the mullet haiku archive.

Sphinx standing guard
A double-wide sarcophagus
Get off my property

( mullet by mulletjunky.com )

Old school Thursday

You know the time.

It's like Sun Ra, George Clinton, and Kraftwerk had a love child.

(image via wikipedia.org)

Don't worry be happy was a number one jam

Damn if I can say it you can slap me right here!
or
Why I hate acapella...
Well, not these guys.
You have to give them credit for being able to rock those old school chops and wear those straw hats.

But everyone else is on notice.
I'm declaring a 10 year moratorium on this scourge.
I'm not banning it completely.
We just need to give it a rest.
I don't want to hear any more versions of the Super Mario theme mashed up with Jesus Christ Superstar mashed up with Hey Jude.
It's cute for about 5 minutes, then it makes me want to smash things.
Wow.
It feels good to finally get that off my chest.
Carry on.

What the hell is a vidku?

I've decided to make Fridays my video theme day.
This Friday is going to be video haiku day.
Video because... because it's on video.
Haiku because it's a short... kinda poetic...
Just trust me.
It's a video haiku.
17 seconds = 17 syllables
That's about as close as I could come this week.
I'll be a bit more strict about the rules in the future.
Feel free to submit your own vidkus.
I'll post the best.
Enjoy.
j

fire pretty!

(via boingboing)

It's like a jungle sometimes...

...it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.
It's time for old school hip hop video Thursday.

Let's get in the time machine.
Set the dial to 1983.
I'm sitting in my mom's car listening to a best of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five tape I just bought at Jamesway.
Playing The Message and Survival over and over and over...
Like Biggie said-
I let my tape rock '’til my tape popped.

For a 13 year old white kid from rural PA, this was like a bomb going off in my brain.
Wannabe? Sure, I'll own up to that title.
And I so wanted to be.
Anything.
Anything but what I was.
What kid doesn't want to be someone else for a bit?
A trip on the wheels of steel helped me see the world in a different way.
Thanks Flash.
j

The job market is a sucking abyss...

Oh man.
How many job applications for how many McJobs did I want to answer the questions like this?

The Nihilist Job Resume

Work Experience

Lead Sales Representative, Howard Brothers Trucking Co. (June 2003 to present) As the leading sales representative at Howard Brothers, I implemented a new invoicing database lauded by my maudlin, foolhardy management team as "wonderfully efficient and surprisingly self-explanatory." Why any of this mattered, I don't know or care. As far as being a "leader" goes, I wasn't leading anyone or anything. Death is the great leveler, leading us all. Or not. Again, who cares, really? Sales Clerk, Hot Topic (January 2001 to June 2003) Employee of the month 29 consecutive times.

(via Boingboing)

Copyright comic book

The Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain released this comic book on fair use and copyright.
(via detritus.net)

(image used under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license)

copy cut paste

Here are some ways to educate yourself and get involved in the copyfight.

If you're looking for a much more flexible alternative to the current copyright model-
http://creativecommons.org/

A model based on the open source movement-
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/

A Stanford Law School professor who has done a great deal to help shape the arguments against the current model-
http://www.lessig.org/

Music activism
http://www.downhillbattle.org/

Helping to fight for citizen's rights in a digital age-
http://www.eff.org/about/

Exhibition of art that pushes the boundaries of sample culture-
http://www.illegal-art.org/

This is just a small sample of interesting links to get you started.
Go on.
Educate yourself.
Create something and share it.
Support those artists who do the same.
Encourage those who don't.
Lather, rinse, and repeat.

(image licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5)

Notorious

Tofuhut has a great piece about the Sinatra/Biggie mashup and the recent court case that stopped sales of Biggie's '94 album Ready to Die.
This kind of stuff makes me ill. Who benefits from these suits? Let me see... record companies/lawyers?!? The line between protecting the artist and stifling the creative process has been erased a long time ago. This goes way beyond hip hop and music sampling. Can anyone point to one art form that doesn't borrow from something else? Art is cannibalistic.
I'm all for protecting the artist, but we have to figure out a new way to deal with the issues of intellectual property. The techno-genie is out of the bottle. We better focus on our three wishes. And no, we can't wish for unlimited wishes.

My philosophy

It's not about a salary
It's all about reality

Blastmaster and BDP are kicking off old school hip hop video Thursday.
Check it.

Cue Vangelis

hdr_9783-9731b
Originally uploaded by tomarus.

Fiery the angels fell. Deep thunder rode around their shores... burning with the fires of Orc.

American Motor Over Smoldered Field

American Motor Over Smoldered Field
Originally uploaded by Aleksandra Radonić.

Okay.
I'm in a flickr mood today.
But just look at this photo.
My lungs are burning just looking at it.
Gorgeous colors.
Pretty carcinogens.

fish scale

fishyoto
Originally uploaded by jasylv.

Get it?
Fish have scales, and this is a fish in extreme close up.
So I've messed with it's "scale"...
-ahem-
Okay, the joke sucks but I thought the picture was neat.
Anybody?
?

Баба-Ружина кућа / Grandma-Rose's house II

Баба-Ружина кућа / Grandma-Rose's house II
Originally uploaded by Aleksandra Radonić.

Just meditating on these great photos of walls of abandoned houses in Belgrade.
Strangely haunting and peaceful at the same time.

Stevie on the talk box

When I was a kid Stevie Wonder was like a god to me.
His sound was this incredible mixture of soul and electronic wizardry.
Even today, I get chills when I hear a song like "Superstition".
Dig Stevie covering The Carpenters' "Close to You" using a talk box.

I KNOW EVERYTHING!!!

I would love to have a whole TV station devoted to nothing but failed pilots.
So much more entertaining than real TV.
I think I've found my true purpose in life.

Under the bridge

color photo project 015
Originally uploaded by jasylv.

I drive on her streets
'Cause she's my companion
I walk through her hills
'Cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds
And she kisses me windy
I never worry
Now that is a lie

Rock Block

Sticking with the rock theme...
Dig this amazing post about a battle of the bands in Jakarta.
Rock knows no borders and obeys no international treaties.