"Write now is good."

Used-book dominoes

The used-book-loving folks at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange in Arizona created this literary domino effect video. It captures my sentiment about bookstores: fun places full of information and wonder.

Anyone have an idea about how many books were used?

Via Galleycat

Friday needs a video

I heard "Ready to start" by Arcade Fire on the radio yesterday for the first time.

Enjoy!

"How to be alone" in a hyper-connected world

"How to be alone" by filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis is beautiful and perceptive in word, image and tune.

After viewing the video many times, I realized that the benefits of being alone are visually implied in the film by Tanya's being in nature, outside or away from screens which constantly and digitally connect us to others.

One of my favorite lines is "Start simple: things you may have previously avoided based on your 'Avoid Being Alone Principles.'" What's yours?

Seen many places, like here, here and here.

Update, September 2, 2010: The Next Web's article "How Andrea Dorfman learned to be alone and earned herself a million views on YouTube" provides some interesting details about how the video came together and how social media contributed to its wide online viewing.

Mesmerizing: "Stop motion with wolf and pig." and questions about web culture

I found "Stop motion with wolf and pig." (see above) in a round-about way, one which has brought up some interesting considerations about Web culture.

While visiting swissmiss, I saw The PEN Story, a stop-motion video with a very distinctive style. I tweeted about it, I was so impressed by it. Then I read the comments associated with the post, and two commenters said that The PEN Story was a copy of "Stop motion with wolf and pig." I went to YouTube to see if that could be true.

I looked at the YouTube upload dates:

°Wolf and pig. — April 9, 2009
°PEN story — July 2, 2009 (almost 2 months later)

Countless animators use stop-motion techniques, and PEN clearly isn't a copy of Wolf. However, the visual narrative of PEN so completely mirrors Wolf that I'm surprised the follower didn't credit or reference the originator in some way.

Am I missing something? Is there a video created in this style with the same visual anchor points (i.e., envelope, table, room, water, path) even before Wolf? Are so many photographers/animators making videos in this style that its hard to find the precise starting point?

This raised many questions for me about inspiration, remixing and Web ethics in this closely connected and highly fluid digital environment. Anybody have details or thoughts which could help clarify this?

When mashing creates a new experience

Mashups are, according to a Wikipedia entry which needs some editing and discussion around its content, almost a decade old. (Music sampling has existed for decades.) The genre continues to evolve, with stand-outs going viral and their creators/DJs gaining worldwide recognition.

"Carpenter's Wonderwall" is one such example: a song/video blend created by DJ Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions. It starts with Oasis's "Wonderwall" and is joined by The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun," bridging hits from different musical eras. It's brilliant on so many levels — enjoy.

Related posts:

° Crackles
° Mashups are, indeed, NOT a crime
° If my blog had a 45 record

What did it feel like to go to the moon?

As I follow astronauts like Mike Massimino on Twitter as they tweet from space, it's easy to learn bits of what life is like beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Before Internet access and the development of Web 2.0 and social media, there were few widely available, multimedia records of the astronaut experience. Below is a compelling video clip from the documentary For All Mankind, directed by Al Reinert with a musical score by Brian Eno and originally released in 1989. (Its re-release on DVD is now available.) In a 2009 article, Reinert explained his focus behind the movie:

What I wanted to do was make a film that communicated what it felt like to go to the moon. Really put you in the shoes of the astronauts. That's still the kind of movie that I would want to watch.

The powerHouse Arena has just released Spacesuits: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection, featuring below image. (So interesting — I would definitely buy a print of this.)

 

Sometimes (actually, pretty regularly) I marvel at amount of quality information available through Web 2.0. I wonder what's next.

Video clip found on YouTube; "Astronaut Style" found at PUBLIC SCHOOL by BMD Love Blog via Gizmodo

Links:

° "Shot on location—'For All Mankind' filmmaker Al Reinert goes walking on the moon one more time" by Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle, 13 March 2009

° NASA Astronauts / "NASA_Astronauts" on Twitter

A photographic saga of uncertainty, determination and rebirth

Photo: 拿着宝丽莱的女孩 Girl with Polaroid by Randomix

For the last couple of years, I have been following the original Polaroid film's (and camera's) demise. In 2008, its parent company announced that it would stop making the film, though it would license the technology to others who still wished to make it.

The Polaroid's immediacy was its magic, and when digital photography became affordable and popular, it seemed to decisively prompt its extinction, moving some to hold memorial exhibitions and funerals. While I never used a Polaroid on a regular basis, I have albums peppered with these special photos from over the years. I felt sad that this technology so symbolic of my childhood was about to disappear.

Others began to mourn a potential Polaroid loss, too. A dedicated group called The Impossible Project, which closely monitored the classic Polaroid denouement, set up a web site and rallied artists, photographers, creatives and Polaroid fans worldwide to figure out a way to preserve this photographic form. The attention it created may have influenced Polaroid's initial decision on its namesake camera's fate.

This past January, at the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Polaroid company announced its next-generation camera, a 21st-century child of classic Polaroid — the Pic 1000. This new camera uses the same Polaroid film as did the first-model camera, the SX-70 (released in 1972), and its successors.

The classic Polaroid camera's lifespan has been extended. In honor of this, I'm featuring an 11-minute film by Charles and Ray Eames that explains how the camera works. Like the images the Polaroid produces, this ad/video is a snapshot of another time and place; there's something sweetly nostalgic about it, yet it also explains the photographic process taking place within the camera in clear, fascinating detail. (At about 4:20, the Eames perspective and illustrated narrative shows distinctly.)

Read more about inventor Edwin Land, who discovered how to polarize light and is one of Polaroid's co-founders, here.

Sendak's "Wild Things" classic: A successful book-turned-film?

UPDATE: If the above video clip doesn't work, you can check out a beautiful hi-res version of it at the Apple site.

This trailer piqued my curiosity. How does a film, which will run (most likely) approximately 90 minutes, stay true to the narrative of a 37-page children's book?

I've just looked through my copy of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and I've estimated that twenty-seven of the pages are illustrated. (Some are image only, and on others, the image takes up most of the page with a bit of accompanying text.)

The best films-based-on-books capture the essence of the book. While most novels' plots are too extensive to show completely within an acceptable movie time limit, a film's story—sincerely told and authentically rendered—can do the original work justice.

The trailer shows so much not even hinted at in the original. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the film stands on its own—I'd really like to see this!

Introducing "Matinée Muse", a creativity boost

Matinée Muse, now in its third week, is a blog that presents two weekly creativity prompts based on movie themes. You can participate in this online community by following three steps:

1. Use the Matinée Muse prompts to inspire your creativity. (You don't have to write about the movie, though you may.)
2. Write a poem or a short story, or create some artwork or take a photograph—related to one of the prompts.
3. After you have created your work, post it to your site, and add that post's link to the comments of the Matinée Muse post.

Other MM members will visit your post and comment on your work. If you haven't participated in an online-prompt community before, introduce yourself by commenting on other's posts; many (if not all) of the bloggers you visit will click through to see your work in return.

Participating in online-prompt communities can have many benefits:

-- If you create every week consistently, you get regular practice in your art form and, thus, get better at it.

-- You build a body of work over time. (A year of doing the weekly prompts = 52 new works! What a vibrant, current portfolio that would be.)

-- Seeing other takes on the same prompt expands and challenges your interpretation of the prompt. I consider this healthy artistic and intellectual brain exercise.

-- If you're suffering from a writing or art-making block, switching creative gears for a moment and approaching a prompt with lightness and fun can keep you creating. Keeping creative energy flowing builds your momentum and staves off long creative dry spells which can deplete artistic energy.

-- Regularly commenting on other bloggers' works creates an online creative community and network.

One extra bonus for movie lovers: MM features movie poster images and links to more information about all films mentioned. One of this week's prompts is based on the classic whose poster is shown above.

Dance! It may improve your writing.

If you're reading this post, you spend some time online. And if you've spent any time online over the past week, you have probably seen the following massively played video.

While I've enjoyed Dancing Matt Harding's joyful, international dance-travel just because it's magical, I've discovered another compelling reason why he is a revolutionary of inspiration. One of today's posts on the Well blog from the New York Times mentions studies which tie dancing to increased brain functioning and healing. An excerpt:

...A telling 2003 New England Journal of Medicine report showed a lower risk for dementia among people over 75 who regularly danced during leisure time. But what was so surprising about the report is that other types of physical exercise didn’t affect dementia risk — dancing was the only physical activity that made a difference.

Other studies have shown music plays an important role in depression. Dance therapy has been used to relieve anxiety about taking tests, and researchers are studying the tango to help patients with Parkinson’s. Dance therapy has been shown to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients as well...

I've joked in past posts that I use my writing music mixes for "my pre-writing dance session". Now I see a connection between these fun, solitary dance sessions giving my brain power a boost and, possibly, improving my writing.

So, in honor of inspiring dancer Matt and dancers/writers worldwide, stand up, clear yourself a private dance floor, and improve your writing skills — by dancing. Enjoy.