Monday was
Posted by jOe
World Water Day. Christine Amanpour interviewed Ben Affleck who just returned form eastern DRC, which remains one of the darkest places in our World in terms of murders and rapes per capita. He was there raising awareness for a place that's seen far more civil war and violence than neighboring Darfur but has received disproportionately less media attention.
As I was thinking about this, I was struck with the thought: how does a celebrity 'raise awareness'? Aren't they really only raising awareness for them self? And does any of that awareness linger around and make a difference for the people who need it?
What do you think? Where do you stand on this?
On a slight shift, here's a video from photographer James Nachtwey. Really, all three and a half minutes are worth a watch (minus the melodramatic narration), but the best part is 1:17 - 2:08. I thought about writing more on this, but I think the video speaks enough for itself.
MUSIC is
Posted by jOe
This is super cool!
HEY YA: I saw this on Chase Jarvis' blog the other day, and since I'm sure almost no one who reads my blog also reads his (which is immensely popular, by the way, only a bit more photo-centric), I wanted to post it here so you could see it, as well:
I GOTTA FEELING: In the two and a half months it's been on YouTube it's amassed almost three million views. It's the more polished, college version that inspired the above High School "Hey Ya." If you haven't already seen it, you can watch it below.
If you have already seen it then you know it's good enough to watch again. So, you know, watch it below:
If you're like me and love the behind the scenes stuff, here's the making of it.
In French.
And with subtitles for the Americans. Smiles.
It was filmed at the University of Québec in Montréal. And if I've learned about music, it's that an unprecedented amount of the good stuff comes from Canada. I don't know what it is, but they get it.
Music: POS, Nina Simone, VAMPIRE WEEKEND, and Cat Power!
Posted by jOe
If you look at my iTunes, you'll see I've listened to Low Light Low Life about a thousand times! Such a good song. Has a little bit of an early-90's hip hop vibe to it. I don't think there's an official video, but a while back a WONDERFUL photographer, Dave Jackson, used the song for a video he made. His video is really cool because it shows the behind the scenes on a commercial shoot (if you're into that kind of thing). So, here's the song to his video:
I usually reserve my Tuesday music reviews for new, but not top-40, stuff. Not that I don't like Top 40 (I mean, if it's good, it's good, right?). But invariably, everyone has already talked about that. So, I tend to stick to more indie centered, minor releases. But this song doesn't really fit in either categories. It's Sinnerman by Nina Simone. Mmm, don't you just love Nina Simone? Yeah, me too. You've probably heard Felix Da Housecat's Mix in about 70 movies over the last decade. It's good, too. But Nina's is a little more... Nina.
This is what I'm really excited about! Vampire Weekend's new album Contra is coming out soon. I have their first one and absolutely love it! If it was a record I would have worn it out. But it's not, it's a CD, so it's still in really good condition.
Two things.
First:
Second:
You can download Horchata, also from Contra, here for free at 320kbps!
The Last one's Cat Power. Just another favorite I wanted to include.
Cool Things that are Square
Posted by jOe
I'm starting an new on-again-off-again series called Cool Things that are Square. I introduce it so because there's no rhythm or reason behind it, just whenever I find stuff that looks good in square!
And voilà:
AND, here's something that's just for Photographers. If you're not a photographer or interested in photography stuff, be warned, you might find this highly boring. It's about a camera. For real.
Cool Music & John Mayer
Posted by jOe
First, for those who don't know, I saw Where The Wild Things Are, and it was really, really good. Not even playin'. So, I'm a little partial to the soundtrack. It has the same raw, childish energy from the movie. Although some tracks are duds, others like All is Love and Capsize make me laugh with all that spelling. What's that about?
And Hideaway, personal favorite.
Built to Spill as a band has been around for quite a while. This is the first track off their latest album. They're kind of like Modest Mouse crossed with... Modest Mouse. That's all I got. If you really love this song, check out their CD, if you only really like this song, buy it alone from iTunes and save your money on the rest. There's nothing wrong with the album; it just peaks with this song. Cool artwork, though.
Here's a free download for Atlas Sound's Walkabout. Sweet song!
Need a little Brit [non]Pop in your diet? I thought you might. The Big Pink!
With his James Dean-esque hair cut and mild departure from his normal, uh, stuff, John Mayer's latest single Who Says is actually kind of okay. But when I listen to it, I can't help but feel there's still this nagging something holding on to me. Something that won't just let me say, 'yeah, that was a good song.' Maybe it's those little moments in the video where he looks at the camera. Or the way they do the Garden State swimming pool scene. I'm not sure. Give it a watch, and let me know what you.
Aim Lower
Posted by jOe
I just finished the process of updating my old Macbook (Got the Macbook Pro 13". not really an upgrade, more of a newgrade), and while I was cleaning off all my old stuff, I found this video. I thought it was funny. In my mind I'm associating it with Samaritan's Purse OCC, so I think I got it from my trip to their rally last year in Atlanta. Anyway. Enjoy!
Shot on RED
Posted by jOe
Know the RED cameras? They're dSLRs that do video...or the video cameras that do still frame...or, I don't really know because they're that far out of my reach. As a matter of fact, they don't even sell them on Amazon. I'm not making this up. I know, the Apocalypse, right?
So naturally I was perusing their website in the same way I'll sometimes find myself on Bently's site building my own Azure or weighing the options because I might really like the Continental better. You never know.
Back-to-the-camera.
Interesting to note, it was used to shoot some recent movies like The Informant, District 9, Gamer, and My Bloody Valentine 3D. Not that you can tell by watching the movies themselves (RED's website spilled the beans).
It's always cool to me to see the converging of these kinds of technologies. In fact, Alexx Henry, whom I greatly admire as a money-making artist, in his latest blog post talks about the nearness of a video-print-fused format. Like a video on the cover of a magazine, etc. It's paper thin and flexible. I guess the last hurtle is making it affordable enough to be disposable. But it shouldn't be too much longer until you'll see it around.
More on RED; click here to see some of their outlandish prices! You can order your own straight from their site. Isn't it fun?
Here's a picture of one. It would cause some problems if I took this on vacation.
My Video from Cozumel + Some Out-takes
Posted by jOe
I took my new 5D mk II on the trip, and it has astoundingly good low-light performance which really comes in handy since I can rarely justify using on-camera flash. However, more significantly, it was the first dSLR to include high-def video capability. What really makes this cool is being able to use lenses with razor-thin depth of field to get that cinema-quality feel. Aaaand it's manual focus (notice about half of everything is out of focus. Cool, huh? Riiight.) It's actually not bad once you get used to it. ...which happened after I made this movie.
What did I learn? Movies are fun to make but a whole lot more work than still photography. Seriously. It's crazy. I don't know what they're thinking.
Without further adieu (or digression), here it is!
Whenever I do a shoot or go on a trip, I inevitably have out-takes--pictures that are funny or noteworthy but otherwise not a part of the top-5 percent that makes the post. Here are a few out-takes that still make me smile.
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