Touch My Soul

http://devour.com/video/touch-my-soul/

Because we see all celebrities on television we sometimes tend to view them as objects and not human beings. And because we have all this technology, its so easy for us to rip all of these celebrities apart for every little thing that they do. But at the end of the day, these people are the ones that have touched our lives in some way shape or form. Whether we like them or not, we will always remember them for the art they have created, and the impact they made on us. For example, in 2005 the king of pop Michael Jackson was accused of sleeping with a 13 year old boy. And I guarantee that year, most people would immediately relate Michael Jackson to the horrible thing he may or may not have done, instead of his lasting impressions as an artist. On July 25th 2009, the day he died, we only remembered Jackson as the musician he was, as the king and creator of pop music. Overall what Im trying to say, as we all venture into our careers in media, we need to remember we are the sole impact for human connection and thought. If we like it or not, technology will exist for ever. Its inevitable. But because we are everyones news source, we need to keep in mind, whatever we make, post, or even just do, we are always touching somebody's soul.

Cross-media learning

Though we deal mostly in the medium of video as filmmakers, it is important not to forget how important other media forms can be, not only as we create, but as we learn. I don't know about you, but I have a 4-hour drive to make during academic breaks. I've looked for ways to pass the time constructively, and I recently came back to a great answer: filmmaking podcasts. Instead of surfing through constantly changing channels for something I don't mind listening too, I've loaded my phone with hours of talk radio targeted just to me.

After searching iTunes for the best filmmaking podcasts, I've settled on the Down and Dirty DV Film Show. You can check it out here. Spearheaded by Anthony Q. Artis, this weekly show is a great resource for filmmakers with the time to listen. It packs in current film news, tips and tricks, and interviews with industry professionals into a 1-hour show. What's even better, if you can listen in with the show live, you can call in to ask questions of the professionals themselves!

The hosts have a no-nonsense, guerrilla attitude about them, but they definitely know what they are talking about. In fact, they have so much knowledge, they have been able to fill two books with it. Anthony Q. Artis authored both the Shut up and Shoot: Documentary Guide and Shut up and Shoot: Freelance Video. The engaging book is filled with practical information, with an immediacy that would thrill any student looking to just, well, shut up and shoot. I found the book myself last weekend, and would agree with the favorable reviews it's gotten on Amazon.

If you're looking for anything more, make sure to check out their website, http://downanddirtydv.com. There are lots of options out there for filmmaking learning on the go as well. In fact, the site FilmmakerIQ lists over 40 different podcasts here! If only there was enough time in the day! Hit up the comments if there are any other valuable podcasts out there that you subscribe to.

ART && CODE

The 2009 Art&&Code Symposium gathered together some of the pioneers of the open source tools intended to democratize "computer programming for artists, young people, and the rest of us."

The Art&&Code symposium series as well as the social network around it was created by Golan Levin, who is a Professor of Electronic Art at Carnegie Mellon and the director of the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. You can see some fascinating work of his and his collaborators here.

This video is the presentation of Processing, the program developed by Ben Fry and Casey Reas, which is one of the important open source visualization tools that we have at our disposal.

The presentation is a little long but make sure you get to the demos by the various artists they feature and whose work you will surely enjoy and might trigger some ideas of your own.

ART && CODE SYMPOSIUM: Processing, Ben Fry and Casey Reas from STUDIO for Creative Inquiry on Vimeo.