Labels: eye self-portrait

it's amazing how quick time passes...

in the last couple weeks, the more interesting things have been happening on my musical side. i've been jamming with a large variety of musicians, justin robson, scott tipple, jeremy pilon, steph mclellan, sam fraser...it feels like i'm averaging 2-3 jams a week, i don't think i've been that busy since the linger days...

speaking of which, linger sat down the other night to reminisce and discuss the unfinished business that has been haunting us all for years, what to do with the songs we wrote. well, consensus is that they should be recorded. another project to create over the next few months...practice first, then recording...it's good to feel that we are all in the spirits to do so, all a little older, a little wiser, i hope this project sees through to the end, to pen the remaining words in a chapter left unfinished...

as well, scott tipple performed a show last night, supported by yours truly and Nate of memorial fame, great fun, a great lineup of songs, ranging from a perfect circle to alice in chains...my personal favourites were H by Tool, Raw Flesh by Hereafter, and Shine Through by Linger...

filmically, i am wrapping up a project i shot with Hugh Patterson over the last week or so called "Grey Era". Though these guys are just starting out their filmmaking career, they are delivering a project which will put them to the top of their class...

the Super8 event went well, my film was a little dark, but still viewable...personally my favourite part being when the entire theatre groaned and laughed at the sight of fake blood bleeding from Mark's wounded head... ("*Gasp*, Rob, that's obscene!")...good lineup, Jonathan Bauche had an entry, as did Shawn Fulton, upcoming filmmaker who i have paired up with for a 35mm project also through the filmpool, i'll keep you posted , below are a couple story boards inked by Fulton to tide you over...





oh yeah, and check out this, you may remember this picture, i just got word that it's going to be published in some brochure! i've hit the big time! Saskatchewan Environment something or other! right on...

until next time...

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to all the photographers, i thus challenge thee to 5-10 separate self-portraits, no two with the same backdrop, none holding the camera a foot away from your face (unless everything's in focus). self-portraits don't mean that you have to be the one who physically takes the picture, but, you must frame and set the shot up yourself.

places you go, things that you see, frame yourself in with them...

this is the challenge. we'll put them into a folder on shutterfly or flickr when it's finished...one month's time!

there will be a prize.

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well, i've been working on rp.com now for about three weeks, and it's been a very frustrating time. not so much the work, the work is easy, dramatic lighting is way more fun than comedic lighting, but moreso the content of what we are shooting.

i read a book when i was in university called The Republic, written by Plato, and spoken as Socrates, a brilliant man whose ideas were both proposed and discovered through reason and questioning. an analogy written 3000 years ago still keeps coming back to me as being significant in our present culture, ruled by callous governments and dictated through mass media. that analogy is of the cave. as we exist, we interpret our world around us by examining what lies in front of you. if one were a prisoner in a cave, restrained, forced to watch merely shadows on the wall, that is where one would interpret the world around him. but who creates those shadows? if we could turn around and see, we'd see the fire, the creator of the shadows. if only we could find our way out of the cave, then we'd be able to see the universal truth, but we're not, we're in a cave, watching tv, not paying attention to who creates these shadows, when knowing that could change the context of what we are interpreting, perhaps causing us to question further... who makes these tv shows? were they responsible enough when dealing with political or moral issues to not portray it with bias, so that what we are watching has some form of legitimacy other than strictly mindless entertainment?

a message to all teenagers, children, and adults alike...TURN OFF YOUR TV!

in the last episode we just finished shooting are intertwining story lines. the portrayal of homosexuality as being more of a means to the soap opera style of "who's fucking who", polarization of gender expectations with a government commercial style propaganda piece suggesting that if you smoke marijuana, you will either get arrested or be shunned by society. everyone who treats it casually gets punished severely (public arrest with the csi guys showing up for possession of a small amount of marijuana). they are outright lies that have no basis in fact, more simply that they are things that haven't been researched and are ideas that are out of the head of one 30 year old man. not that the ideas couldn't still be portrayed in a relatively unbiased manner, but they get even more exaggerated by the time they reach the finished products. for the sake of dramatic purposes, they cast judgement on all the issues, creating a half-hour tv show enunciating why it's bad teenagers have sex, enunciating an unrealisitic cross section of a teenager's social life and how it's hard to not have sex when you're a young female teenager. just remember it's written by a middle aged man, directed by another middle aged man...how can they offer anything with substance with any legitimacy? but this is what they try to pound into the minds of impressionable children 8-18 years old. yet the portrayal is hypocritical! they still have 23-year old's acting as 16 year-olds, there's sex, drugs, and lots of violence. all to be redeemed by the final moral lesson...

well, here's a moral lesson for you:
kids, shut off the tv and go outside.