Scenes From an Apartment

More clips from the apartment. My little Nikon is having trouble so I am using the big Canon which has much better quality, but is so less convenient.

Young at Heart

I am sorry I didn't have a better camera. I am sorry that lady got in the way.

There is a tale of love, and of longing, and of loss here. It's kind of beautiful if you think about it.

Music by Tom Waits.

Most Likely to Succeed

I wanted to put something together with video clips from archive.org. Originally I wanted to set it to music and write my own copy, but I ended up liking the flow with the original sound, so I left it all in place, even enhanced some of it.

Running Down the Battery

I felt like taking the camera out for a spin, but because the battery was only half-charged I had to take some shots to kill it so I could recharge it fully. I ended up liking the clips enough to edit them into this clip. Music here is Yo La Tengo.

A Trip to the 'Burbs

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We took a trip to the suburbs for a party on the 4th of July. We were glad to come home.

1968

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Here's my entry for the Birth Year Project over at Vimeo. It was fun to make, hard to find good clips to use. Some here come from other years, but stand in for the same figures that I wanted to highlight. I want to make others for my year.

The Porn Stars

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This clip is intended to illustrate a story I wrote a couple of years ago. I think of it as a sketch for a more formal, better organized and better shot project. These clips were shot entirely with my Nikon L6. The next one will be shot with a far better camera.

Music in this clip is 'Phil and Jerry' by Mylab.

A Chicken Story

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Can I tell a story of a chicken who couldn't cross the road without any pictures of said chicken? I don't know. Maybe somebody can tell me if this works. It's some quick writing to go with a montage of self-portrait shots. The music here is "Zurle" by Balkan Tribes.

Moments of Hesitation

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I cut together a few moments from the last few months, set it to John Coltrane's genius take on "My Favorite Things."

Consumer Digest

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Down near Manhattan's Union Square I happened by a shoestore that had this shoe in the window. It took me surprise.

When I was a youngster, punk rock stuff was hard to find, you had to go to strange stores in far-away places in order to get it. When I finally could drive I would go all the way to Zed Records in Long Beach, California...an almost hour long drive from Buena Park. But it was worth it. It was worth it.

Zed's had the best punk rock records around, the only store where you could get esoteric 7" records and demos from bands that played around, but didn't have a label yet. It was awesome. So, it's pretty strange to see a Circle Jerks shoe in a Manhattan store window. Even stranger when I think that the record cover it's based on is over 25 years old.

Et Tu?

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Subtitle for this one: "City Symphony in Three Movements."

Scored for 7 Train, Subway Conductor, Bells, 32,000 Cyclists, Wind, Jeff, Elaine, NPR Newsreader, Creaky Floorboards, & Silk Tie.

Underground

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This video is composed of a few clips I shot while walking around the city, paired with music by The Grassy Knoll and a bit of writing that represents some of my thoughts while going to work.

Soft Focus With Ian Svenonius

Wow, this is pretty good. Ian Svenonius, formerly of The Nation of Ulysses and currently of The Weird War, does a sort-of talk show with punk, hardcore and avant-pop musicians. His interview style is a performance to behold in itself, coming off as a sort of pretentious punk intelectual, a Dick Cavett for the hipster/hardcore set. But as the interview with Ian MacKaye (The Evens, Fugazi, Embrace, Minor Threat) shows he knows how to get a good conversation going, despite the schtick. The clip above is only one part of four, so go here to watch the rest of them. More interviews with Henry Rollins, Chan Marshall, and Genesis P. Orridge. Both MacKaye and Rollins are heroes of mine, so I love this kind of thing.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

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I walk around with this camera everyday and shoot a little video. If you live in the New York area, or have visited the city in the last few months, you could be digitally recorded on one of my hard drives.

Portrait

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In this clip, I get all arty on you. It's a handful of clips I've distorted, cropped and juxtaposed. Is there any underlying meaning? Profound insight? Beauty? Truth? Is it a deliberate attempt to be vague? I don't know the answers to these questions myself, which is why I'm calling it art. Enjoy.

The soundtrack for this clip is a collage of sounds that I similarly distorted, slowed down, reversed and slapped together.

tHINK

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Here's an experimental video piece using about 30 pictures that I've taken of the course of the past few months. This is just the first piece of a longer projecy. The soundtrack here is a piece of "Rondo Allegro Rondo" from Ensemble Ordinature, downloaded from ubu.com.

Are You Ready?

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This is my second installment in the 'Stories from a Fundamentalist Christian Childhood.' The first being last week's 'Hell Awaits.'

The soundtrack for this episode uses excepts from Metallica's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.'

Hell Awaits

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This is my first scripted video blog. So I don't give anything away, let's just say it's about religion and doubt. Please leave a comment if you want to share your own experiences.

Music in this episode uses excerpts from "Reign In Blood" and "Angel of Death" by Slayer.

Take Our Test

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Here's a handful of clips and photos that I've shot over the past few weeks. It's strange how editing and a little music can make life seem more poignant that it does when you're living it.

Music here is 'Take Our Test' by the Minutemen,

The Pool Effect

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We try to swim together as often as we can. Even though we live in Brooklyn, we go to a YMCA in Manhattan. Although sometimes I don't really feel like going, I always love it once we're done. This video will serve to remind me of this fact.

In Our Midst

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For a long time now I have wanted to play around with archival footage from the Internet Archive, but couldn't find ideal source material. As I was poking around today, I stumbled across a slightly strange clip that uses kids in clown make-up to convey messages about self-esteem and playground responsibility. That was it. I sliced it up and set it to Marc Ribot's "Alita Suite II".

The Item that Adds to Your Personal Comfort

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This is a quick mix of two advertisements I found on the Internet Archive. It is the begining of a larger project, but I just wanted to play around with archive footage and its corresponding sound to see what would result.

Christmas in Southern California

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Went back to visit the family and the nephews (who star in this clip) for Christmas. After many seasons on the East Coast, a California Christmas seems much different.

Music is 'Corona' by the Minutemen.

Solitary Walk

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I edited this together from leftover clips while listening to the tune incorporated herein. If there's a mood or a message, blame it on Ute Lemper and Elvis Costello.

Music is Ute Lemper singing Costello's "Couldn't You Keep It to Yourself."

30 Seconds of Hopper

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This is exactly what it says it is, a 30 second shot of an Edward Hopper painting.

Hopper is one of my favorite artists. We saw this painting at Sotheby's auction house. This painting is likely now in the hands of a private collector, so I may never get to see it in person again. That's something of a shame.

No music for this clip, only the music of chance.

Please forgive the indulgence.

Cecil Taylor

Here's a clip of Cecil Taylor playing an amazing piece of improvised music. There is something so intense, yet cohesive about the way he welds together fierce clusters of notes with more spiderweb-like bits. I love this.

Everybody Dance

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I have taken to carrying my little Nikon with me everywhere I go and do my best to shoot interesting video. Sometimes the clips have no particular theme. Here is a compilation synched to the music.

Music is Domingo Cura, Percusion Part I.

New York Night

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Ah, New York, you are beautiful at night. I only wish this little Nikon had a faster lens. That's the price you pay for portability I guess.

Music in this edition is 'Mantra' by The Year Of.

Through a Glass

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Waiting for my wife to come back, I shot this clip through one of the vases in the window of the W hotel in NYC's Union Square.

Music by Six Synaptics (Kyle Bruckman, Scott Rosenberg, and Michael Zerang).

A Clown and a Foot Massage

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I can't explain this. So I won't.

Music is 'Blues Dream' by Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones.

Alex is Not a Champagne Man

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On Friday night we went to our friend Marla's house for a birthday celebration. Alex, seated to my immediate right kept insisting that normally he wasn't a champagne man, but the one we were drinking that evening was exceptionally good. I asked him to say "Welcome to Brooklyn Kitchen" into the camera (again, the little Nikon) and that reminded him of a story.

Monday Hike with Dad

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Last week I was in California to visit my parents. On Monday I took a hike with my dad. It was one of his pre-planned hikes that he organized for his church's hiking group. This one consisted of a bunch of photographs of the trail that guided your way along the paths. In order to follow the route you had to examine the photographs for visual clues. Even though he was with me, my dad gave me no clues. I was able to navigate us along the correct path, even though the original photos were taken 2 years previous.

Here's a video. Shot it with my Nikon still camera on movie mode. I love this camera's portability. Music by Howlin' Wolf.

What Happened When It All Went Wrong

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This week at work I had to administer a webcast and everything that could go wrong with the event did go wrong. In short, it was a disaster. While running around trying to get everything in order, I recorded this clip to gauge my stress level.

Daily Commuter

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For a few days last week I walked around shooting videos of myself with my little Nikon. I had a vague idea about what I wanted to do with the clips, edit them together and create a video about my commute to work. I had originally intended to give it a voice-over, but I backed off.

As I was making this, I thought about Steve Garfield and how he is always optimistic in his videos, and I wondered how he can always remain so upbeat and pleasant. He reminds me of a lot of people I've known in life, people that can remain positive in the face of so much misery in the world. Needless to say, I am not one of those people.

Music is "Macbeth" by Ciccone Youth.