ok, so i've made the standards new year's resolutions already (losing weight, getting in shape, putting my life together, etc..), but i'm also putting together a few projects that require some
technological expertise, which i am slowly attempting to gain.
first off, is the whole book-writing project... and i've got my laptop, so that's good to go (though the reading list i've been accumulating for research is really rather odd... i'll post a bit of it sometimes), though i've got to do something this week about the problems i'm having with it since my friend placed a drink next to my keyboard when i wasn't looking and helped me figure out how to spill rootbeer across my shiny new high-powered computer.
additionally, i'm attempting to get some more work in video production... also have the software in place for that (sony vegas 6.0 with dvd architect... sweet). in fact, i've already done a project for a friend through work, where i took about 800 some photographs, scanned them (with my a lovely canon mp500 scanner/printer) and made a video collage with music and transitions and such out of them. turned out a bit better than i had expected, especially considering the fact that the entire project had to be churned out in a little under a week, from receiving the photos to having the finished dvd. zoiks.
the other real project that i'm working on is a cd of my poetry. i recently ordered a sony mz-rh10 minidisc recorder. portable, clean sound (from the online reviews i've read) and both line level and mic level inputs. that, combined with the audio-technica electret condenser microphone that i've ordered will make me a mobile recording studio (oh, those and the shure in-ear headphones that i also picked up), and considering i'm planning on using a small catalog of found sounds, should make things move along fairly quickly once i get started.
i've also decided not to put any time frames on these projects, but to just begin with a clearly defined plan on how to get the work done. one thing i've noticed about myself... timelines aren't an impetus for artistic work, but actuallly beginning the work sort of makes it feed upon itself... the actual act of creating and editing is really where the joy in the art lives.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
the social progressives
ok, so anybody read about this?
first, off, yay for judges in south africa.
second... um... this makes south africa the socially progressive couple down the block, right? so, uh... south africa... south africa... you remember that place... apartheid... south africa... yeah... that place... is more socially progressive than oh... almost every state in the union? they were able to get this through their high courts, and we couldn't??
South Africa's high court approves gay marriage
Decision paves way for homosexual unions, a first for the continent
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - South Africa's highest court ruled Thursday it is unconstitutional to bar gay marriage, paving the way for this country to become the first in Africa to legalize homosexual unions.
Gay rights activists welcomed the ruling on a continent where homosexuality remains largely taboo.
In its ruling, the court gave the country's parliament a year to change the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
"We were thinking we would be calling our friends today and inviting them to our wedding," said Fikile Vilakazi, of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, who proposed to her partner more than six months ago. "Now they are asking us to wait another year."
South Africa recognized the rights of gay people in the constitution adopted after apartheid ended in 1994, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But married couples have numerous rights still denied gay couples, including the ability to make decisions on each other's behalf in medical emergencies, and inheritance rights if a partner dies without a will.
Marriage is defined in South Africa's common law and Marriage Act as a union between a man and a woman. The Constitutional Court has instructed Parliament to add the words "or spouse" to the definition within a year, or else the change will automatically be effected by the courts.
first, off, yay for judges in south africa.
second... um... this makes south africa the socially progressive couple down the block, right? so, uh... south africa... south africa... you remember that place... apartheid... south africa... yeah... that place... is more socially progressive than oh... almost every state in the union? they were able to get this through their high courts, and we couldn't??
South Africa's high court approves gay marriage
Decision paves way for homosexual unions, a first for the continent
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - South Africa's highest court ruled Thursday it is unconstitutional to bar gay marriage, paving the way for this country to become the first in Africa to legalize homosexual unions.
Gay rights activists welcomed the ruling on a continent where homosexuality remains largely taboo.
In its ruling, the court gave the country's parliament a year to change the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
"We were thinking we would be calling our friends today and inviting them to our wedding," said Fikile Vilakazi, of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, who proposed to her partner more than six months ago. "Now they are asking us to wait another year."
South Africa recognized the rights of gay people in the constitution adopted after apartheid ended in 1994, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But married couples have numerous rights still denied gay couples, including the ability to make decisions on each other's behalf in medical emergencies, and inheritance rights if a partner dies without a will.
Marriage is defined in South Africa's common law and Marriage Act as a union between a man and a woman. The Constitutional Court has instructed Parliament to add the words "or spouse" to the definition within a year, or else the change will automatically be effected by the courts.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
don't die... or go to jail?
okay, so reading through the news today... and have you seen this? i mean, have you seen this?? read on, dear reader (or not so dear and anonymous browser... you know who you are):
BIRITIBA MIRIM, Brazil (AP) -- There's no more room to bury the dead, they can't be cremated and laws forbid a new cemetery. So the mayor of this Brazilian farm town has proposed a solution: outlaw death.
Mayor Roberto Pereira da Silva's proposal to the Town Council asks residents to "take good care of your health in order not to die" and warns that "infractors will be held responsible for their acts."
The bill, which sets no penalty for passing away, is meant to protest a federal law that has barred a new or expanded cemetery in Biritiba Mirim, a town of 28,000 people 45 miles east of Sao Paulo.
"Of course the bill is laughable, unconstitutional, and will never be approved," said Gilson Soares de Campos, an aide to the mayor. "But can you think of a better marketing strategy?"
A 2003 decree by Brazil's National Environment Council bars new or expanded cemeteries in so-called permanent preservation areas or in areas with high water tables. Environmental protection measures rule out cremation.
That left no option for Biritiba Mirim, a town on the so-called "green belt" of rich farmland that supplies fruits and vegetables for Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. The town produces 90 percent of the watercress consumed in Brazil.
Most of Biritiba Mirim sits above the underground water source for about 2 million people in Sao Paulo, de Campos said. The rest is covered by protected forest.
More than 50,000 people already are buried in the 3,500 crypts and tombs in Biritiba Mirim's municipal cemetery, which was inaugurated in 1910.
The cemetery ran out of space last month, and 20 residents who have died since November were forced to share a crypt. But even that solution has limits.
"We have even buried people under the walkways," de Campos said, predicting that crypts will reach capacity in six months. "Look, people are going to die. A solution has to be found, or we'll have to break the law."
At least 20 towns within 60 miles of Biritiba Mirim have a similar dilemma, de Campos said, though none has ordered its citizens not to die.
Biritiba Marim isn't the first Brazilian town to draw attention with an unusual law. A few years ago, a mayor in Parana state banned the sale of condoms, arguing that his town needed to increase its population to keep qualifying for federal aid. Drugstores ignored the ban.
De Campos said his town wants the Environment Council to change the wording of the cemetery decree to allow exceptions approved by environmentalists.
Biritiba Mirim has set aside public land -- five times the size of the current graveyard -- for a cemetery that environmental experts from the University of Sao Paulo say "will not affect the region's water tables or surrounding environment," de Campos said.
The Environment Council declined to comment before a meeting to discuss the matter with local officials Thursday.
Meanwhile, town officials say they are hoping no one else dies.
BIRITIBA MIRIM, Brazil (AP) -- There's no more room to bury the dead, they can't be cremated and laws forbid a new cemetery. So the mayor of this Brazilian farm town has proposed a solution: outlaw death.
Mayor Roberto Pereira da Silva's proposal to the Town Council asks residents to "take good care of your health in order not to die" and warns that "infractors will be held responsible for their acts."
The bill, which sets no penalty for passing away, is meant to protest a federal law that has barred a new or expanded cemetery in Biritiba Mirim, a town of 28,000 people 45 miles east of Sao Paulo.
"Of course the bill is laughable, unconstitutional, and will never be approved," said Gilson Soares de Campos, an aide to the mayor. "But can you think of a better marketing strategy?"
A 2003 decree by Brazil's National Environment Council bars new or expanded cemeteries in so-called permanent preservation areas or in areas with high water tables. Environmental protection measures rule out cremation.
That left no option for Biritiba Mirim, a town on the so-called "green belt" of rich farmland that supplies fruits and vegetables for Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. The town produces 90 percent of the watercress consumed in Brazil.
Most of Biritiba Mirim sits above the underground water source for about 2 million people in Sao Paulo, de Campos said. The rest is covered by protected forest.
More than 50,000 people already are buried in the 3,500 crypts and tombs in Biritiba Mirim's municipal cemetery, which was inaugurated in 1910.
The cemetery ran out of space last month, and 20 residents who have died since November were forced to share a crypt. But even that solution has limits.
"We have even buried people under the walkways," de Campos said, predicting that crypts will reach capacity in six months. "Look, people are going to die. A solution has to be found, or we'll have to break the law."
At least 20 towns within 60 miles of Biritiba Mirim have a similar dilemma, de Campos said, though none has ordered its citizens not to die.
Biritiba Marim isn't the first Brazilian town to draw attention with an unusual law. A few years ago, a mayor in Parana state banned the sale of condoms, arguing that his town needed to increase its population to keep qualifying for federal aid. Drugstores ignored the ban.
De Campos said his town wants the Environment Council to change the wording of the cemetery decree to allow exceptions approved by environmentalists.
Biritiba Mirim has set aside public land -- five times the size of the current graveyard -- for a cemetery that environmental experts from the University of Sao Paulo say "will not affect the region's water tables or surrounding environment," de Campos said.
The Environment Council declined to comment before a meeting to discuss the matter with local officials Thursday.
Meanwhile, town officials say they are hoping no one else dies.
hi de hi de ho ho ho
...or something to that effect. serves me right for listening to cab calloway and christmas music in the same weekend. though, truthfully, the christmas music wasn't my fault... well, okay, it was kinda, as i was the one actually playing it... but it was a holiday event, so i was forced to play music. i cannot emphasize enough, though, the number of people who thanked me very heartily for mixing it up and not force feeding them a steady diet of holiday cheer. how many versions can you play of winter wonderland in one night anyways?
two.
then people start to notice.
i have to mention two very nice surprises... er, make that three, but two are in the same category.
first, i'm doing this job where i'm attempting to create an 8 to 12 minute video in under a week, involving many pictures that need to be scanned in, plus music and transitions... the whole shebang. that's not the surprising part.
the surprising part is that i went out and purchased a brand spankin' new canon mp500 multifunction printer/scanner... and the durn thing actually works better than advertised! it's the first time i've had a machine suggest one way of doing something (scanning multiple documents) and i've said, 'no, don't worry, mr. machine, i already know how i want to handle this' (making contact sheets of multiple photos so i can go back and crop out the areas that i need) and then sat back after doing three pages and realized that hey... mr machine knows whereof it speaks... in it's silent machine-like way. and it didn't even gloat when i realized the error of my ways.
on the plus side of this kinda embarassing submission to technology is the fact that i talked the salesperson at compusa out of trying to recommend an hp (i've had them before and while decent machines, their print quality never impresses me for the price you're paying), and even his trusty back up recommendation of epson (excellent quality printing and features, but too many stories abounding about the printheads that are designed to fail after two years). he came back with specs (a nice touch that the sales people at compusa do... they do research for you, even if you've already done it beforehand...) for the model that i wanted and kept remarking about how it surprised him the number of features and quality of print you get for the price. go cnet.com and amazon reviewers united... plus a couple of other sites that i browsed before purchasing.
the other two combined surprises? music. madeleine peyroux and maria muldaur. both keepers of the flame of old timey music. madeleine is more jazzy, maria more bluesy, but they both have excellent bands behind them, and understand the heart of old time music, and more importantly, really seem to love what they're doing.
and maria got her start in a jug band! a jug band, i say! and madeleine has marc ribot playing his ever excellent strings (see tom waits... mule variations among others... the man can play, out and out)! did i mention that madeleine also covers edith piaf... en francais?
hi de hi de ho ho ho
two.
then people start to notice.
i have to mention two very nice surprises... er, make that three, but two are in the same category.
first, i'm doing this job where i'm attempting to create an 8 to 12 minute video in under a week, involving many pictures that need to be scanned in, plus music and transitions... the whole shebang. that's not the surprising part.
the surprising part is that i went out and purchased a brand spankin' new canon mp500 multifunction printer/scanner... and the durn thing actually works better than advertised! it's the first time i've had a machine suggest one way of doing something (scanning multiple documents) and i've said, 'no, don't worry, mr. machine, i already know how i want to handle this' (making contact sheets of multiple photos so i can go back and crop out the areas that i need) and then sat back after doing three pages and realized that hey... mr machine knows whereof it speaks... in it's silent machine-like way. and it didn't even gloat when i realized the error of my ways.
on the plus side of this kinda embarassing submission to technology is the fact that i talked the salesperson at compusa out of trying to recommend an hp (i've had them before and while decent machines, their print quality never impresses me for the price you're paying), and even his trusty back up recommendation of epson (excellent quality printing and features, but too many stories abounding about the printheads that are designed to fail after two years). he came back with specs (a nice touch that the sales people at compusa do... they do research for you, even if you've already done it beforehand...) for the model that i wanted and kept remarking about how it surprised him the number of features and quality of print you get for the price. go cnet.com and amazon reviewers united... plus a couple of other sites that i browsed before purchasing.
the other two combined surprises? music. madeleine peyroux and maria muldaur. both keepers of the flame of old timey music. madeleine is more jazzy, maria more bluesy, but they both have excellent bands behind them, and understand the heart of old time music, and more importantly, really seem to love what they're doing.
and maria got her start in a jug band! a jug band, i say! and madeleine has marc ribot playing his ever excellent strings (see tom waits... mule variations among others... the man can play, out and out)! did i mention that madeleine also covers edith piaf... en francais?
hi de hi de ho ho ho
Monday, December 12, 2005
sleep: over-rated?
i wouldn't know lately, as i haven't been doing too much of it lately.
at work, we've been busy building an outdoor ice rink. in southern california. where we don't have weather, just minor variations on summer.
also, not sure if you've heard about this... but there's this little holiday thing that takes place every year around this time. it's pretty freaky. people buy over-priced gifts for other people and give them away. sometimes those other people even give the giver over-priced gifts also.
just out of curiosity: how many gifts do you remember off the top of your head from christmases past?
i remember the fire truck that i got when i was six. the freakin' thing was better than the batmobile, except that i didn't get to wear a cape while driving it. believe me... i asked.
more later. time to research some printers and scanners for the side-job that i've got lined up, which is going to pay for a lot of over-priced gifts that i hope will make people smile for at least 2.5 seconds. i'll be counting.
at work, we've been busy building an outdoor ice rink. in southern california. where we don't have weather, just minor variations on summer.
also, not sure if you've heard about this... but there's this little holiday thing that takes place every year around this time. it's pretty freaky. people buy over-priced gifts for other people and give them away. sometimes those other people even give the giver over-priced gifts also.
just out of curiosity: how many gifts do you remember off the top of your head from christmases past?
i remember the fire truck that i got when i was six. the freakin' thing was better than the batmobile, except that i didn't get to wear a cape while driving it. believe me... i asked.
more later. time to research some printers and scanners for the side-job that i've got lined up, which is going to pay for a lot of over-priced gifts that i hope will make people smile for at least 2.5 seconds. i'll be counting.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
revision: moments
ok, so i'm working on this piece... yet again. i finished a draft and was thinking.. yeah... all right.
then i realized that was the cold talking, telling me to go to bed and forget about this writing thing.
i don't like the cold telling me what to do, and i'm not too crazy about settling for something less than what i'm capable of creating. however, the orange juice has run out and so has the nyquil.
so, here's another draft. more work will be done. suggestions, as always are welcome.
We leave these moments unfinished,
like sketches: deep tongue kisses
of graphite stranded like a dead ocean,
sand and heat on bare white paper.
Notice the use of space,
how the contour of a line might suggest
the pink curve of lips caught mid-smile,
breath being drawn into lungs the moment
before a kiss, or a shy bend of linen sheets
half-exposing a tangle of limbs;
how the page begs for color,
the way a grey September morning welcomes
the slow invasion of light, adding color
by degrees, layers of gold and brown and autumn
gathered like leaves ready to burn;
how the small gouges taken from the skin of the page
might remind you of Jackson Pollock, cigarette trembling
in his mouth, paint mixed with shards of glass
tumbling from the open vein of the bucket in his hands,
in the moments before the scrape and the scratch,
the terrible gentleness of the trowel and the knife,
the desperate precision of a derailed train
jumping back on its track—
were you so inclined to think that way,
on a sunday afternoon, in a city named for a state
where the page of the book you were reading
just turned in the breeze, your thumb slipping
into the margin a second too late.
then i realized that was the cold talking, telling me to go to bed and forget about this writing thing.
i don't like the cold telling me what to do, and i'm not too crazy about settling for something less than what i'm capable of creating. however, the orange juice has run out and so has the nyquil.
so, here's another draft. more work will be done. suggestions, as always are welcome.
We leave these moments unfinished,
like sketches: deep tongue kisses
of graphite stranded like a dead ocean,
sand and heat on bare white paper.
Notice the use of space,
how the contour of a line might suggest
the pink curve of lips caught mid-smile,
breath being drawn into lungs the moment
before a kiss, or a shy bend of linen sheets
half-exposing a tangle of limbs;
how the page begs for color,
the way a grey September morning welcomes
the slow invasion of light, adding color
by degrees, layers of gold and brown and autumn
gathered like leaves ready to burn;
how the small gouges taken from the skin of the page
might remind you of Jackson Pollock, cigarette trembling
in his mouth, paint mixed with shards of glass
tumbling from the open vein of the bucket in his hands,
in the moments before the scrape and the scratch,
the terrible gentleness of the trowel and the knife,
the desperate precision of a derailed train
jumping back on its track—
were you so inclined to think that way,
on a sunday afternoon, in a city named for a state
where the page of the book you were reading
just turned in the breeze, your thumb slipping
into the margin a second too late.
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