a drive to bethells beach not far from Auckland, NZ on 10/07/2009. another video from the archive. this is my favourite beach in Auckland - the sand is brown and in winter the wind blows and you're surrounded by a sandy mist.
I've started another MLA (maybelogic.net) class called Global Village - I'm a little behind as I joined a week late, so tonight I watched the week1 videos and read through the forum posts. I'm behind on another too - Douglas Rushkoff's "Program or be Programmed" which hopefully I can catch up on during my holiday weekend (though I think this might be the last week). for Global Village, run by talented artist Bobby Campbell, we watched videos by Robert Anton Wilson, Marshall McLuhan, William Gibson, Ray Kurzweil, Timothy Leary and more. I liked the quote from Soren Kierkegaard "life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlSOzj3BsR8 - I think this is partially what we're (?) / I'm doing with the video diaries each November for #vlomo10 (videoblogging month). I watched another of McLuhan's videos where he spoke about technology/gadgets vs the book & the return to tribalism (technology/communication gadgets/tribes) from individualism (renaissance man/books/singular experiences) : Marshall McLuhan - The World is a Global Village (CBC TV) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeDnPP6ntic - this was interesting too - his predictions of the future were very apt.
on 08/08/2004 I went on a helicopter ride over Wiltshire and surrounding areas and saw some of the crop circles. my cousin's husband worked for the flight company (pilot though he wasn't flying this helicopter) and they were taking people on crop circle tours and there was a spare seat so I jumped at the chance to see them. there was also a crop circle conference running that weekend further down the hill but I recall it was quite expensive so we didn't go in to it. the end of the video is some footage from the same day driving through the UK countryside - England is beautiful in the summer - the colours of the wheat fields against the sky is one of my favourite memories of UK summer. so, for day 15, this is another one from the archive.
I don't think the video is online as I didn't think the quality was that good and I didn't like how shaky the camera was, but again. but I really like the colours in the footage & I even like the shakiness now too - with the frames of the helicopter windows and different shadows. am glad I didn't delete these clips now! amazing how time can change your views on things (& the world) I took many photos on this day and some of these have been included on a UK crop circle tracking website.
it was a hot hot hot day at the Newtown Festival today. a few clips from my wanderings. I liked the band that was playing near the King St entrance - I've heard a couple of those songs on fbi radio but I can't remember the name of the band. hula hoops seem to be this year's craze. might have to try one - good for the waistline!
surprise fireworks in the city on saturday night - I can see the edge of them. music is "Easy to Love" by The Jezabels http://www.thejezabels.com - I love this song and all of the jezabels cds. I was going to do a top 10 cd list for 2010 (cds I've bought this year - maybe not all were released this year) but I'm saving it for another vlomo10 day. the jezabels "she's so hard" cd is definitely on this list!!
I went to Saint Mary Mackillop place today at lunch - it's near my work office. I didn't get to see all the museum as I had to return to work, but I bought a few postcards, bookmarks and prayer cards. I like the screen printed cards - they remind me of Warhol. I sent some up to my friend's Mum who lives in a nursing home - hopefully she can give some to her friends. I sent some to my Mum too. the museum is very good, I'll have to go back and do the full tour (~45mins). the tour guide was quite interesting - she spoke about some of the historical period and what things were like in Mary's day - they had video exhibits, a film with Ernie Dingo speaking of Mary's work with the Aboriginal people and how they have stories with her in it now. and many artefacts such as the kits the traveling priests used to carry on horseback as they went from town to town in places where there wasn't a local town priest. apparently this is happening these days too - though they travel in cars / 4wd now instead of on horseback :) - the guide said wasn't it interesting that we seem to have reverted to the old days / ways in some ways. I had to leave before the tour was finished so I could return to work. it looked like an interesting historical museum so I'm going to go back and see the full tour another day when I have time (I think it takes ~45 mins). and who sells postcards for 50cents these days! amazing
in 2003 I went flying with a friend D and his pilot friend. I took some video and this is one of the clips. we flew over the beaches then into the harbour area so we saw the city and the harbour. I left the audio in this file so you might want to drop it to 0 as it's noisy (it was a small plane). I remember feeling a little sick part of the way through - maybe because I was looking at / concentrating on the camera at the same time and also because I could smell the fuel fumes more than in a passenger plane. it was a great flight though!
so it's a video from the archives for today. I'm pretty sure I've never uploaded this before - it was the first camera I could take videos with (an old kodak if I recall correctly) - I always thought the quality wasn't that good, but now i like the colours - it's almost like a lomo camera video?(!???)
some of the Aus hip hop MCs are taking part in #rappertag - it's like an online cypher / circle, where one rapper takes their turn then tags the next person in. then that person uploads their video & this repeats. it's getting/is (?) quite popular, so for today's #vlomo10, I'm mixing the twitter memes a bit and made a quick video showing you some of the #rappertag clips & details. check it out if you're interested. today's #rappertag #14 by Suffa from Hilltop Hoods got a great reaction, so we're waiting for the next installment now. (anyone else thinking a little along the lines of William Gibson's (@greatdismal) pattern recognition video-on-the-net-footage? not exactly the same, but along similar lines?)
this afternoon I discovered a magic garden down the other end of the property. I'd driven past this but never seen the walking paths. the paths criss-cross through the back streets. they seem quite busy - I came across a few people whilst exploring. it's been raining for the past few days but had stopped about an hour earlier. the birds seemed overly happy - chirping and singing to the sky above. they seemed fresh and clean, like the cool fresh air after the rain. I recorded the soundwalk - this is one block back from the road, so I was surprised at how little traffic noise could be heard, except for the occasional car driving past.
a few david sylvian songs were the soundtrack for day11's #vlomo09 video. they make the train ride home from work a bit more interesting... these are video paintings - I made the isadora patch file - see attached. it's based on one I made for vlomo08 day 1's video : train ride home. most of my videos seem to end up with a similar theme - drive/ride to work, travel, hotels, some isadora files, some music/arts gigs or festival videos. such is my life I suppose. david sylvian's "secrets of the beehive" album is one of my favourites - it's perfect for when I'm feeling down (as is depeche mode) as I always feel better afterwards. I think it's the male vocal. and piano in sylvian's case.
promise (part 1)
David Sylvian's Promise (the cult of Eurydise) with isadorian footage of the western line express - part 1
one from the archives for today. this is Garry Bradbury's session at TINA2003 where he gaffer taped Lucas Abela to the chair and then played his cut-up creation.
I didn't have a good camera in 2003, so the footage is a bit dark. but gives you an idea..
after a while listening to Jeff Burch's set, I became transfixed on the shadows on the screen - it seemed as if there were multiple versions of him playing. the digital noise video background projected onto the 'real' Burch, so at times he seemed like a projection also - which was the real person playing?? :)
Jeff Burch #7 : Unpopular Music @ Red Rattler
07/11/2009
