I’m in San Diego for Comic-Con through Sunday capturing video for sci-fi blog io9.com. I’ve never been before, but some say it’s the “Burning Man of comics” with some 100,000 attendees expected. Being a n00b, should I expect to be spanked on the way in? Is there anything that is a can’t miss experience? I’ll update with links to video on io9 as the weekend progresses.
Todd Blair, whom I’ve known since 1999 through Survival Research Labs, suffered a traumatic head injury last year at the Robodock SRL show in Amsterdam. I posted previously about it here. He’s back home in the US slowly and arduously recovering. Traumatic brain injuries are probably the worst kind of injury a human being could suffer, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. To help offset Todd’s massive medical and physical therapy bills, a fundraiser event is being held this Sunday, July 20th. It’s not just an event, but a culmination of lots of work and dedication from Todd’s friends and family with some unique creative twists.
The event on Sunday will be the unveiling of the “gear wall”. The 7′ x 8′ wall consists of 25 interlocking aluminum gears built by 25 friends and artists who have committed to raising a minimum of $500 each. I have taken on one of the gears and am currently fund raising to reach my $500 goal. If you’d like to support me and in supporting Todd, that would be super awesome. You can make a donation for as little or as much as you like through the PayPal link below. Or if you prefer to write a check, this page has details on where to send it. Be sure to mention my name when making the donation so I get credit for it. $5, $10 or $20 would be really spectacular, every little bit helps. Whether you donate or not, be sure to come out on Sunday to Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda for the grand unveiling of the gear wall. Thanks!! Hope to see you there.
I’m in Milwaukee for a couple days on Nokia’s dime attending Summerfest. They sent me out here to help guide people attending the festival to participate in the Spike Lee film project. Since the project theme is HUMANITY as it revolves around music, it makes sense to go where people are taking in the tunes. Nokia has a booth here and I think they’re going to have something set up where you can just walk up and contribute a moment, a video clip or photo to the project. I’ll also be roaming the grounds in search of stuff to capture on a Nokia 5310 they’re bribing me with.
Today is the last day for submitting content for Act II “Life”, so be sure to get some stuff up there and maybe Spike will be so impressed he’ll drop it into the film and fly your ass out to the premiere. Wouldn’t that be swell? I think so.
George Carlin, you were one of the greats and will always be. You did so much to wake people the fuck up. Rest well, brother.
I’ve been asked by Nokia to help with a pretty cool collaborative promotional project they’re doing with filmmaker Spike Lee. They’re encouraging people like you to use your cell phones and send in snapshots of moments from your life that fits the overall theme of HUMANITY. Spike also wants you to think of how music helps to tell the story of HUMANITY. These snapshots will be edited together into a coherent film, directed by Spike Lee himself. Well, not just himself. I’m one of five “assistant directors” who are here to help guide people in sending stuff in. As part of that, Nokia has setup a group blog for us assistants where we’ll post examples of what to submit, answer questions and help identify the pearls in the sea of submissions that are sure to flood in.
The project is broken into three Acts. The first Act BIRTH, has already come and gone. Act II is LIFE and it just opened today for submissions. Act III has yet to be announced, though it may not be too hard guess what it is. Now through July 2nd, you can submit text, pictures, music or video via the Jumpcut platform that Nokia Productions is using to build this thing. It has its limitations and the main Nokia Productions site isn’t very well integrated into the Jumpcut platform but don’t let that discourage you. As the kids say, there’s plenty of win here!
What’s really encouraged is using your crappy old cell phone to send stuff in. Take a photo or a low-res pixelated video. Do a lot with a little. This won’t be Cloverfield, but if you were being attacked by a big space monster, how would you capture it? This doesn’t mean you can’t use more pro gear. Content from any device is totally acceptable, it just needs to fit the theme of humanity in the context of music telling a story. They’ve even sent us assistants older Nokia 3555 phones to challenge us to submit stuff with low end cheap technology. No streaming N95s here! Once I figure out how to get stuff off the 3555 on to Jumpcut, I’ll post some examples to the group blog.
This NY Times article from April digs into the project a bit deeper, addressing how it fits into the greater world of social networking and “user generated content” (I really hate that term). Check the Nokia Productions site for more details and point me to anything you’ve submitted. I’d love to check out your stuff. Oh yeah, you can also win stuff.
The past few weeks have been a treasure chest of amazing freelance video production work. Xeni at Boing Boing brought me into to shoot a few episodes of Boing Boing TV at the recent Maker Faire. Here’s some of the results.
I was also tasked with riding along in the back of kidnapper van, destination Google, to capture this collaboration between the BLF and monochrom of Vienna, Austria. This just happened to be the day of Google’s shareholder meeting and there was a bit of controversy around Google’s censorship with China. Behold the “Great Firewall!”
I was asked by my fine friends at digg to shoot this wee little project for them. It’s in response to a lip dub that Revision3 had brought. Yeah, the lip dub meme is a bit old in Internet time, but it’s a great team building exercise and shows what you can do when you get a bunch of silly people in room together. Mark Trammell masterminded and organized the thing, and most all of the digg staff participated. This was easily one of the more fun video projects I’ve done in awhile.
I’m in Panama, you know the country, checking out a friend’s property that he may turn into a coworking getaway. It’s pretty dope, situated amongst the tropical lazy islands of Bocas del Toro in the northwestern part of the country close to the Costa Rican border. It’s as beautiful a spot as you’d expect in the tropics and very peaceful, not overrun with tourists. Here’s a quick video I threw together of getting there:
And I’ve been taking tons of photos. Feel free to peruse the set on Flickr.
San Francisco’s annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel event took place yesterday in my neck of the urban woods. Here’s a quick video I shot of the action before straddling a pink Barbie Extreme Cycle for a couple heats (thanks Ali!). Scott has the usual assortment of awesome pix and links over at his blog.