life in pictures... welcome back interactive narratives, you've been missed.

_posted in interactive narratives | photography | 12 December 2007

there has been a shortage of interactive media postings at cali stars, so i thought these new works could be the comeback post. sunday morning news catch up has been hiding out as well. let's be honest, i've not read one substantial thing in some months. but since the christmas break is slowing approaching, its time to catchup.

there are some amazingly beautiful images here. powerful and strong... anyway, on to the interactive goodies.

antero put me on to the boy in the moon. heartbreaking stuff...very well produced piece by a strong writer... it's very dense, it will take a few sittings to go through it all, but its absolutely worth it... there are at least 5 chapters for each part.

The Boy in the Moon

photographer: peter power/the globe and mail

part 1: full article and supplemental (01.dec.07)

part 2: full article and supplemental (08.dec.07)

part 3: full article and supplemental (15.dec.07)

_quote

Tonight is a lucky night: I can feel him slip off after 10 minutes. He stops grunting, strokes his bottle, turns his back and jams his bony little ass into my hip, a sure sign. He falls asleep.

I hurry after him. For all this nightly nightmare - eight years of desperate worry and illness and chronic sleep deprivation, the havoc he has caused in our lives, threatening our marriage and our finances and our sanity - I long for the moment when he lets his crazy formless body fall asleep against me. For a short while, I feel like a regular little boy's father. Sometimes I think this is his gift to me - but parcelled out, to show me how rare and valuable the gift is. Walker, my teacher, my sweet, sweet, lost and broken boy.

The Marlboro Marine

photographer: luis sinco

interactive video

l.a. times article (19.may.06)

_quote 1

It's an insane connection that you make with that person at that point. To see somebody in your sights and to pull that trigger, it's almost like you're there with them, seeing their life flash before their eyes.

_quote 2

DC was a slap in the face. I even had a congressman miss a meeting, and when I showed up at the office the assistant said he didn't have time to meet with a veteran. I didn't understand why a man with that type of job couldn't take five ten minutes out of his day to speak to someone who had fought for everything this country stands for.

_quote 3

To look back at it now and just think about holding a rifle, and firing at another human being, it's gut wrenching as well as, you know, brain wrecking. How do you justify it regardless of what your causes are or what their causes are?

The Ninth Floor

photographer: jessica dimmock

interactive video

_soundcheck: bob marley: kaya

"you got more ideas than time"

_posted in africa | dayedayerocks | interactive narratives | photography | 09 April 2007

and... scene...

yea, it's been four months, i know. and in the last four months; lots of new projects, old projects revived, new ideas, etc.

a few things have stood out in the last few months; one being the time i spent teaching a workshop on documentary filmmaking with antero's kids from manual arts high school. it was only for two days, but i have to say it was the highlight for what has started out as a dreary year. the day after the workshop ended i realized i was getting up to go to work, not to hang out with these amazing kids. man, that was depressing. just those two days solidified my ultimate goal of film, media and teaching.

a few gems that i've come across.... enjoy.

MediaStorm always has great work. one piece thats stuck with me is "Kingsley's Crossing." Olivier Jobard created a great narrative from Kingsley's six month journey to get to Europe. there are times i need to be reminded that life requires courage and self-sacrifice, even when trying to make a name or a place for yourselve in the world.

Washington Post's On Being.
and
Peep Show.

_soundcheck: bob marley, legend

finding my rhythm

_posted in interactive narratives | 21 February 2006

talk about busy... i spent all day sunday sleeping and writing... sleeping and writing... and more sleeping and writing... the last week ate me up and spit me out... but i handled it like the champion i am... and sunday i took some rest... got lots to post but it may nee to wait until friday... but here are a few things ive been meaning to put up...

cheers monkeys... have a rocking week... cause i will... its a short week, yay for three day weekends...

terraincognita has some new exhibits up i havent seen (and a redesign im not sure i heart deeply and madly)...

jewish women and the feminist revolution... lots of information to digest here, but really a great piece content wise...

they also have a new piece on ben franklin that frankly doesnt do it for me... the design of course is nice and clean but theres nothing about this that i havent seen before... of course content is the most important but i like shiny pretty things too... the one thing i do like a lot, the franklinana database is nice... i always like to see flash and databases working together... makes me happy inside...

i will drive blocks, even miles to get to a coffeeshop that is NOT starbucks... that being said, second story did an awesome job on what makes coffee good

_soundcheck: neko case, fox confessor brings the flood

something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

_posted in dayedayerocks | interactive narratives | 20 January 2006

let's face it, ive been NOTHING but lazy these first twenty days of 2006 and if there are two types of people i hate thats people who are lazy and lazy motherfuckers... so instead of going to photo l.a. as planned im spending this weekend organizing my overly unorganized life, begin preparing for classes next month and tying up lose ends...

and as i wrote the above i got an email confirming my sitting in on a documentary film class at ucla this quarter... with a fucking awesome FEMALE documentary filmmaker. needless to say, im beyond excited and just plain ready to start this damn journey of filmmaking... no more excuses or sidestepping... get it done or move beyond the dream...

_new interactive piece
celia cruz! holy shit... when did this happen... cause im in love with this woman... for those of you in d.c make your asses over to the national museum of american history for the exhibit: ¡azúcar! the life and music of celia cruz. it has been declared! this weekend is celia cruz day in casa de daye!

anywho, im listing some olds favorites in interactive narratives that i've been in love with since forever...

becoming human: this one was the first interactive narrative i can remember experiencing. i fell in love with it and the idea of it... this will always be the mark that all others are measured against

ali vs bingham

churchill and the great republic

lewis and clark

moticello explorer

yin yu tang, a chinese house

price of freedom: americans at war

_soundcheck: stars, set yourself on fire

change me

_posted in interactive narratives | photography | web | 27 December 2005

change me: the power of imagery to create a change, is a very nice interactive piece (designed by asterik) ... and's its also a good way for getty images to put there catalog to good use...

they've partnered up with ONE to...

_quote

fight the global emergency of AIDS and extreme poverty, Getty Images is launching an online community to further those efforts as well as raise awareness on the state of the world by leveraging the power of imagery. Whether it¡¦s a call to end poverty or generate greater collective regard for the environment, this is a chance to express your ideas, challenge assumptions or simply make someone smile. In addition to creating this community, Getty Images will donate $10 to ONE for each submission made.

_soundcheck: meshell ndegeocello, comfort woman

"little by little fills the cup"

_posted in africa | interactive narratives | photography | web | 11 December 2005

another lovely interactive piece, little by little outside of being lovely its content is awesome and well worth your time...

produced by 49th parallel productions and the oakland tribune... the accompanying article is rather short, but you get all the info from the interactive piece...

_quote

He saw them walk miles to learn in dirt-floor school houses, sharing books with other students crammed onto wood benches.

They had so little and yet were so determined to learn and so quick to laugh.

_soundcheck: richard pryor, is it something i said

photography tuesdays

_posted in africa | interactive narratives | photography | 06 December 2005

gideon mendel has a nice interactive piece over at the guardian, an answer in africa... i first came in contact with mendel a year ago when i saw his book, a broken landscape. he primarily shoots in various countries in africa and the hiv/aids pandemic...

_other interactive pieces from mendel for the guardian...

eight women one voice
Salvation is Cheap
Gideon Mendel in Mozambique: The children left behind

_soundcheck: me first and the gimme gimmes, are a drag

"everyone always wants to go to the other side"

_posted in interactive narratives | photography | web | 01 December 2005

i've been trying to figure out how documentary filmmakers and photographers have the staying power needed to work on a project for years... it's obvious that it's all small steps that make for giant strides... but it still baffles me...

simon wheatly does an amazing job at photographing inner-city youth in london, a four year effort. it's amazing... magnum in motion is an awesome idea, but the audio aspect of their projects are for shite at times... there are a number of slides, where the audio seems to prematuraly stop, pissing me off, cause everything wheatly says is so interesting and the images are so strong you want to hear the details... listen to what he has to say in slide number 23... ive rarely heard the bastardization of culture stated more eloquently...

alex webb shares photos from a 26-year period at the mexican-u.s. border...

_soundcheck: sufjan stevens, live @ kcrw 2005

world aids day

_posted in africa | interactive narratives | photography | the world | 01 December 2005

today is world aids day... get tested... learn a new fact about hiv/aids... better yet, teach a new fact about hiv/aids... be informed... be safe... be smart... be caring... be...

_links

global business coalition on hiv/aids
keep a child alive
stop aids campaign
unaids: i love the fact that the united nations programme on hiv/aids reads as unaids; as in to release, free, or remove from aids... smart...
we all have aids: kenneth cole's public service campaign... definitely worth checking out...
world aids campaign
world aids day
world health organization

_important things to watch

pandemic: facing aids is a five-part series that shows the effects of aids around the globe... it doesnt shy away from the pandemic and how it effects us all...

yesterday is amazing! i'll talk more about this movie later... you have to watch it! the fact that leleti khumalo is the main character was enough for me... because i can't get enough of the music in sarafina!...

kristen ashburn's photo essay on aids in africa

_soundcheck: damian marley, welcome to jamrock

"it's worth getting on a plane"

_posted in film | interactive narratives | photography | web | 27 November 2005

been extremely busy and then took some time to enjoy the turkey holiday... hope it rocked hardcore for everyone... tons of links from the digital storytelling side of the web...

came across this organization called bridges...

_quote

Bridges to Understanding gives voice directly to youth around the world. Our interactive online program connects middle school students in the developed world with their contemporaries in indigenous communities. Central to the program is digital storytelling mentored by professionals and created by students. We provide the tools and training that enable them to tell stories from their own lives and communities.

check out two pieces that really made me smile, maji: water shapes culture in takaungu and dwight's adventure, away from the "res"


from brooklyn to pristina was a p.o.v docu that aired in july... and the from brooklyn to pristina interactive piece about how a gun can be purchased legally in the us and then end up in kosovo, in a guerilla war.

the pineros: men of the pines is a wonderful piece about the "ghost workforce" of latinos doing some serious hard, manual labor.

_quote

They are pineros, the men who work in the pines. They are the major source of manual labor in America's forest industry, the muscle behind the Healthy Forest Initiative - often paid in tax dollars to work on public lands. And they are being misused and abused under the noses of government officials.

_magnum in motion

found this awesome little treat... magnum in motion is exactly that... digital storytelling from the horses mouth, as they say... magnum photographers giving you some insight into their process, their politics and their experiences.

i found the two larry towell pieces very interesting.

backstage with larry towell is filled with little nuggets of wisdom. I love the fact that he takes a DAT with him when he photographs, to record ambient noise... viewing photography is sometimes a very isolated event, to have the sound that was at one time attached to an image, takes me a lot closer to these people with no names and somber expressions.

looking at towell's pictures of el salvador in his land and identity interactive essay, reminded me of a movie i saw some months ago, innocent voices. i can't even get into how that movie affected me. i can't recall ever seeing another movie that had me weeping and gnashing my teeth in fear and disgust... thinking about it almost brings me to tears... it was honest and brutal, about war's affect on children. if you get a chance to see innocent voices you should...

paul fusco's the bitter fruit annoyed me a great deal, in terms of how the design and the audio just didnt work well together...it made the short comments seem rather choppy and caused things to seem non-cohesive. this picture above is one of my favorite from this essay, this woman is angry and you can see it... you can check out the the bitter fruit website to see more pictures, sans audio... if you get a chance make sure you read the comments... some touching and pointed messages...

thomas dworzak's piece on new orleans and hurricane katrina, ghost town, was definitely on point... it's really interesting to see how a foreign photographer views an american tragedy...

magnum in motion's 42 seconds on 42nd street

_quote

From New Year�s Day 2005 to the end of February, Magnum Photos altered the behavior of Times Square pedestrians. Using a digital billboard on the corner of 42nd and 8th, Magnum presented a series of photo essays that caused New York�s frantic crowds to slow down and look up.

style is the easy part of culture... jesse kornbluth offers up a personal view of the sixties, with lots of quotables... take 3: the '60s kids

_soundcheck: john lee hooker, serves you right to suffer

i'm back home in los angeles

_posted in art | dayedayerocks | film | interactive narratives | music | news | photography | the temple | web | 15 November 2005

well, on a bed of california stars is back, since ive been told several times i need to start it back up and i am tired of sending out emails, so here it goes...

two week vacations are freakin' long! i feel like i was in georgia for a whole month. re:birth, my first exhibit, was a blast! pictures are up… hoping to add more once i can track them down.

finally finished reading, on photography by susan sontag, while sitting in airports on saturday (as in the whole day saturday). previous to sontag's passing in 2004, i had only read one of her writings, notes on "camp," which i found to be very entertaining.

there are tons of passages from on photography that do it for me, but i think these are the most interesting...

_first quote

Nobody ever discovered ugliness through photographs. But many, through photographs, have discovered beauty. Except for those situations in which the camera is used to document, or to mark social rites, what moves people to take photographs is finding something beautiful. (The name under which Fox Talbot patented the photograph in 1841 was the calotype: from kalos, beautiful.) Nobody exclaims, "Isn't that ugly! I must take a photograph of it." Even if someone did say that, all it would mean is: "I found that ugly thing. . . beautiful."

if any photographer made the ugly beautiful, it was diane arbus.

_second quote

A photograph that brings news of some unsuspected zone of misery cannot make a dent in public opinion unless there is an appropriate context of feeling and attitude. The photographs of Mathew Brady and his colleagues took on the horrors of the battlefields did not make people any less keen to go on with the Civil War. The photographs of ill-clad, skeletal prisoners held at Andersonville inflamed Northern public opinion-against the South. (The effect of the Andersonville photographs must have been partly due to the very novelty, at the time, of seeing photographs.) ... Photographs cannot create a moral position, but they cnn reinforce one -- and can help build a nascent one.

regardless of one's views on the war in iraq, final salute is a very touching piece, and most definitely an "unsuspected zone of misery." there is a great deal of "appropriate context of feelings and attitude" on both sides of the debate on iraq.

_another quote

Photographs may be more memorable than moving images, because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow. Television is a stream of underselected images, each of which cancels its predecessor. Each still photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again. Photographs like the one that made the front page of most newspapers in the world in 1972 -- a naked South Vietnamese child just sprayed by American napalm, running down a highway toward the camera, her opens open, screaming with pain--probably did more to increase the public revulsion against the war than a hundred hours of televised barbarities.

(nick) ut cong huynh's image of a "a naked South Vietnamese child just sprayed by American napalm, running down a highway toward the camera, her opens open, screaming with pain." Winner of the World Press Photo, 1972. a portion of the "hundred hours of televised barbarities."

_in other news

the uc system's investment committee voted to divest from sudan! the recommendation goes to the board of regents in january for an up or down vote.

well it's started... i have no idea where this damn thing is suppose to go or exactly what it's suppose to be... but hey... who doesn’t want lay their “heavy head tonight on a bed of california stars”

_soundcheck: cat power, the covers record