Tis the Season

My Week #34

My Week #34 (December 7-13) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Snow.

Three Links and a Dot

Gizmodo was entertaining this afternoon. Here are three links worth sharing.

Awesome White Elephants including Burrito Glasses:



Custom stuffed toys made from your child's sketches:




And sculptures made from dust.

I should clean my house.

When I got home, Dottie had been on my computer. This is what she managed to get up on the screen:

Michael Bikels

My Week #33

My Week #33 (November 30-December 6) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Finally getting better at riding and shooting with the new camera, First Friday, Melt Banana & snow, among other things.

It's Winter in Nebraska, and I Commute By Bike

Thick be the boots!

Fierce be the facial expression!

Destruction Myth

I ordered this today. You should too, whether you care about anything or nothing.

This is exciting

Ben Russell is on Vimeo.

Daumë from Ben Russell on Vimeo.

(7:00, 16mm, color/B/W, sound, 2000)

“One of the strangest films I have ever seen; its characters come and go as if they’re ‘primitives’ posing for the camera, either obeying or fighting an ethnographer’s controlling eye.” - Fred Camper, Chicago Reader

That's the first film of his I ever saw, back in 2003 in my first 16mm film class with Leslie Thornton.

The Red and the Blue Gods from Ben Russell on Vimeo.

(8:00, 16mm, live sound, 2005)

An ethnographic field report in which the Anthropologist describes the mythic creation of an unnamed ‘sun-scraping structure’ through the ritualized actions of the Red and the Blue Gods.

Performed with live narration and sound effects over a pre-recorded soundscape.

This one, he had in the Movies with Live Soundtracks that played in the very very crowded upstairs of some building at RISD that I forget the name of. That was a great show.

I could embed all of his work here, but that would be annoying. Just go over to his Vimeo page and enjoy.

Bike-mas

In Copenhagen, the tree will only light up if the cyclists keep it going.

Tactility

Best Web Conference

Tugboat Represent!

Bundling

NPR just announced that Weezer and the Snuggie have teamed up to offer a bundled Weezer-branded Snuggie along with their new album. TOO MUCH!

My Week #28

My Week 28 (October 26 - November 1) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Fall activities, including raking, pumpkin carving, Jon trying out my camera, a Mercy Rule show, haircutting, the GBN Halloween mixer, and a Halloween weekend with Stef and friends in D.C.

My Week #26 (October 12-18)

My Week #26 (October 12-18) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

One day lost in the camera shuffle, learning the new camera, the last official GBN of 2009, und die Abreise nach Deutschland. Frankfurt, Kelsterbach, Heidelberg, Freiburg, und Stetten am kalten Markt.

Noch nicht...

Can't edit "My Week #26" until I return from Germany...I don't have all the footage I need. Tschau!

Adventures in Word Verification #5

Posting to Adam's blog about Nebraska food.

My Week #24 (September 28 - October 4)

My Week #24 (September 28 - October 4) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

In which the beloved SD750 meets its death

My Week #23 (September 21-27)

My Week #23 (September 21-27) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

This has been a prolific internet day...

Oxymoron?

Weekend in Chicago

Last weekend, I went to Chicago. This is the view from Nate's rooftop. Pretty great, especially after nine hours of driving.


After a late-night party in Pilsen, Nate & I rode to breakfast at Lula in Logan Square. It was incredible.


Having my own bike along made the long drive well worth it. On Saturday afternoon, Nate & I spent some time in Millennium Park, reading & watching the clouds.


We met up with Dave and rode up the Lakeshore. Dave has a pretty sweet looking ride with a tension disc.

Nate did live visuals for the CAVE show Saturday night. Totally beautiful. Not pictured: my lovely dinner with Rob Sand in Iowa City on the way home.

Inlight Richmond

Fantastic poet and wonderful person Joshua Poteat invited me to add video projection to an art installation he was putting together in Richmond, Virginia, this weekend. Honored to be asked, I submitted a piece that is of sunshine through trees that ends up looking like stars, one that lends itself well to projection. Well, the collaboration ended up taking best in show! I wish I could've been there to see it, but photos will have to suffice.

Stolen Bike

Melissa's Peugeot got stolen Friday night. Let me know if you see it.

My Week #22 (September 14-20)

My Week #22 (September 14-20) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Lots of food & a great weekend in Chicago.

Wednesday Ride

Beautiful, beautiful weather had me hitting the highways after work. I wanted to get out of town fast, so I hopped on Hwy 77 at Pioneers...


...even though I'd looked at the weather, and that meant a tailwind on the way out. After sailing south on 77, I turned up and rolled through Roca.


I didn't have enough light to hit the rollers, though, so I turned back on 56th & enjoyed the little rolls on Saltillo. It was a great evening for a ride.

Adam Wins

Stock Photography Review

My Week #21 (September 7-13)

My Week #21 (September 7-13) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Auto-tuning, Obama-speeching, Nacho-riding, vacuum-selling, workshop-teaching, alleycat-racing, farm-touring, Rumbletime-hanging, bike-swapping, party-hosting, and as usual, Sunday-riding.

I'm really into this song right now

"Hands" by The Dutchess and the Duke.

My Week #20 (August 31 - September 6)

My Week #20 (August 31 - September 6) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Heading to Crete to start the documentary project with Brent, a day with some bloviators cut by yummy bruschetta, a bat in my office, omaha & then a nice camping & bike trip with Melissa, all rounded out by a week of great moon viewing.

Tri-State Century

Melissa & I headed to the northeast corner of the state to do some camping and biking over the weekend. We staked out a really nice camping spot at Ponca State Park Saturday night. Setting up tents together and leaning our bikes up near them felt like BRAN -- but with far superior camping.

At 9:30 Sunday morning, after a lovely campfire breakfast, we headed west and then north.

First state line crossing of the day, on a bridge over the Missouri River.

No sir, we are not whimps (wimps?), though the headwind at this point was quite strong.

This massive cat clearly owned the city park in Elk Point, SD. He was prowling after small children.

Second state line crossing, from South Dakota into Iowa. There were loads of casinos at this border.

Back to the good life, quickly, due to heavy traffic.

Delicious Thai-Lao food in South Sioux City, NE.

Fueled by dinner and powered by a tailwind for the first time all day, I finally hopped into the big ring for a bit.

Our shadows were getting long as we returned to Ponca at around 7 PM.

Century completed. Thanks, Melissa!

This'll Keep You Busy

Museum of Animal Perspectives.

Cameras mounted on animals. Just wow.

h/t to The Daily Dish

My Week #19 (August 24-30)

My Week #19 (August 24-30) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Denver & Roosevelt National Forest, back home to Nebraska, hanging out with UUVVWWZ, seeing Food, Inc., alleycat round two, delicious bread & cup followed by dancing at Brent's, Hall & Oates at the Nebraska State Fair, and a ride to the farm to loosen up the muscles after a runner cut me off and made me crash.

PRAIRIE HILL Elementary Documentary

I've spent the last year and a half gathering footage and assembling this documentary/promo for Prairie Hill. Another project in the can!

PRAIRIE HILL Elementary from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

PRAIRIE HILL Learning Center is a Montessori school located in a unique farm setting 7 miles south of Lincoln just off Highway 77, with a tradition of bringing children and nature together since 1981. Each weekday, PRAIRIE HILL serves nearly 80 children age 18 months through eighth grade, and during the summer offers three sessions of NATUREWORKS, a popular summer camp. PRAIRIE HILL is Nebraska’s first wind and solar powered energy education center. For more information, call 402-438-6668 or visit www.prairiehill.com.

BFF Bikes

Really?

Really?

Reporter Todd Meany. Yeah.

Sexy

This week's cover of The New Yorker is really sexy. "No Trespassing," by Istvan Banyai.

My Week #18 (August 17-23)

My Week #18 (August 17-23) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

I spend lots of time finishing the Prairie Hill documentary; Anders & Sally book their tickets; Alex and I have a sibling sushi dinner; Walgreen's builds a Billy Mays Memorial Endcap; Becca celebrates leaving with friends, then we drive to Ft. Collins and settle in; I meet D'Count and see Jules & Mathias in Denver.

Poets in Denver

After helping Becca move to Ft. Collins, I headed down to Denver to visit Jules & Mathias and D'Count in their new home. This is their dog park.


Not satisfied to be so close to the mountains without venturing up a bit, Jules & I headed up into Rocky Mountain National Park this morning before I came back to the flatlands. This stream had wonderfully cold water to walk in.


Even D'Count tried it out, albeit puppy-hesitantly. Smart puppy! Water is fun! It was his first trip out of the city.

US Mail on the SF-NJ haul. Oh, Nebraskus.

Joke

Mom took me to lunch at Maggie's yesterday before she headed to the Community Blood Bank. Ah, the retired life. Above, a delicious seasonal/local roasted veggie wrap. Below, gazpacho, also deliciously local.


When she dropped me off back at my office, I wished her luck with the vampires.

Elisabeth: Have fun with the vampires.
Jane: You know, it's something good I can do that doesn't require brains.
Elisabeth: Yeah, that's the zombies.
Jane: (pausing for a moment) (laughter) Good one!

My Week #17 (August 10-16)

My Week #17 (August 10-16) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Lots of music being listened to, drawings from Jake, Ribfest happens outside my office, I race my first alleycat, Felice and I spend a whole Saturday together, and I ride with a 5-strong Rumbletime crew.

One of the better ones

The trope of photographing oneself every day for a year (or two, or more) and turning it into a stop-motion video is pretty well worn at this point, but the effect is doubtless still cool. This video, however, is by far the most visually interesting of them that I've seen.

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

Most of these self-documentarians choose the same plain background, focussing the viewer's attention solely on changes in the facial characteristics of the subject. In this video, however, it is the background that is dynamic -- in addition to the subject's facial hair transformation. Titles in the lower third heighten the piece's storytelling power as well, meriting multiple views to piece things together. Well done.

Death Panel

Aside from being a funny name for a prescient agit-punk band, what amazes me about this whole death panel nonsense going around is that they are already in place! They're called YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY (if you're lucky enough to have one). I mean, at least a government-run death panel would have to have some semblance of fairness and regulation...

Social Media

Powerful bit of short-form documentary work from the NYT on suicide among returning Iraq veterans, including self-documentation from the victim, showing just how saturated we all are in recording technology.

This Recording

Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with this list.

Photography

I took a walk with the work 40D to test out various settings and experiment with a cracked filter.



A few shots viewable here.

My Week #16 (August 3-9)

My Week #16 (August 3-9) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Finishing out my week with Baxter, Brent returns from Cuba, I keep up with Conrad on a ride, Becca makes me an amazing breakfast, Dottie explores the new trellis on my back deck, GBN gets superheroine'd, Ande and I go to the zoo, and I'm in love with the Snowblink album.

Summertime

It's HOT! Time to bump Darin's '90's hip hop mix on the 'box.

1. Going Back to Cali -- LL Cool J
2. Poison -- Bel Biv DeVoe
3. Humpin' Around -- Bobby Brown
4. Push It -- Salt N Pepa
5. Bust A Move -- Young MC
6. I Got A Man -- Positive K
7. I Wish (1995) -- Skee-Lo
8. Summertime -- Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
9. Hip Hop Hooray -- Naughty By Nature
10. Lucas With The Lid Off -- Lucas
11. Knockin' Boots -- Candy Man
12. Wild Thang -- Tone Loc
13. Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) -- Digable Planets
14. Scenario -- A Tribe Called Quest
15. Method Man -- Wu-Tang Clan
16. Don't Believe the Hype -- Public Enemy
17. Fuck Tha Police -- NWA
18. Lil' Ghetto Boy -- Dr. Dre

Why Not?

Let's put it on YouTube, too...

TMI

TMI Commercial from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

Brent and I decided it needed to be done.

Two different sessions with Big C

This evening, Conrad and I headed out for some roadie miles. We surveyed the windstorm damage in Denton, where lots of trees were down. We also saw lots of hailed-on and wind-damaged cornfields. Bummer.


After we capped the ride with a margarita, we caught the moonrise at the 27th & Hwy 2 bridge. A little perspectival fun with that...


Sunday, however, we had a different sort of session. I've been riding the fixie for 4 months now, and need to improve upon my trackstanding skills. We palped our ironic urban under the overpasses for that one.

We checked this scrapyard while we were at it, too.