Freyburg Main

Jim Munroe's "Infest Wisely" interview at the Vancity Theatre

Author and filmmaker Jim Munroe was in Vancouver on September 23rd for Vidfest, a digital/new media conference. He was here to show Infest Wisely, a "lo fi sci fi" movie that replaces expensive special effects with ideas, and yelling crew members with collaboration between seven teams to create one feature film. On a personal note, I tried to cut this with Final Cut Pro at first, but then I realized I was unnecessarily adding B-Roll and other holdovers from my TV editing days, when all anyone really wants is to hear what Jim has to say. So I dipped into iMovie and got this video done in about an hour. While I'm going to stick with FCP for documentaries and shorts, iMovie would seem to be the way to go for fast videoblogging.

Click To Play

]]> In fact, TV snobbery has kept me from iMovie and other simple tools for a long time. After working in television, you tend to look down upon those using "non-broadcast" equipment and just putting stuff out on the Web for all to consume. But really, while you're tut-tutting and trying to maintain a sheen of "pro," everyone else is just getting things done. And the internet as a video medium seems to discourage overly-fancy graphics and cutting. If you're watching a short or documentary online, that's it's own thing, but video podcasts are often at their best if they present a simple idea, minimally executed. So I'm going to ditch the iMovie snobbery and hopefully start cranking out video at a fairly steady clip, possibly with an eye to finally making use of my freyburg.tv domain.

Artists live in clandestine loft apartment built in mall

I love it when people get away with sneaky living arrangements that don't really hurt anyone but get tighter-sphinctered folk bent out of shape because rules aren't being followed. So I was quite pleased to read about a bunch of artists who built a loft apartment on the sly inside a Providence, RI mall and lived there for years. Of course, calling the squat "art" is kind of a dodge, but it's still pretty impressive that they were able to pull it off in the first place. They also documented their shenanigans on a website.

Radio Free Skaro #53 - Truly this is Utopia

A high watermark for both the classic and new series, Utopia is an hour of top-rate Who, and the Three comment on it mightily, including some off-color joking about by Warren (Mr. Jacobi, the remark was meant as a joke, so please call off those lawyers, there's a good fellow.) Listen to us gush over Utopia...and oh yeah, a bit or two of news might get covered as well. (feed, web, direct download)

Update: Chris caught a glitch at the end of the original recording, so I've fixed that now.

Bush changes his Iran strategy

According to Seymour Hersh, the Bush Administration has gotten it through their heads that the American people aren't buying the "OMG they has the nukes" argument a second time around, and have shifted their strategy to surgical strikes on Revolutionary Guard facilities in Tehran and elsewhere. I guess that beats tactical nukes being lobbed all over the country, but it's still going to unleash a torrent of terror throughout the Middle East and elsewhere. Way to go, Cheney!

Death of a Burmese adventure traveller

Rolf Potts is an excellent travel writer and a advocate of vagabonding. On a recent trip back to Tahiland, he heard tell that an old Burmese friend of his may have died, which launched him into this article about how adventure travel that's sponsored by some Western company is more about fancy gear than actually understanding a place or culture. Living somewhere remote and exotic takes a whole lot more gumption, but barely ever gets covered by the media.

Bin Laden, almost, but not quite, caught...maybe

American forces might have had Osama Bin Laden pinned down in Tora Bora, again, and lost him, again. This could all be speculation and conjecture on the part of intelligence analysts, but...c'mon, America! You have the same guy cornered in the same place, and you lose him twice?

Radio Free Skaro #52 - The Art of Blinksmanship

With a surfeit of news, the premiere of the Sarah Jane Adventures and Blink, one of the seasons best episodes, as the subject of our commentary, the Three Who Rule had plenty to shoot their mouths off about. And shoot they did, though not always on topic. Enjoy! (feed, web, direct download)

Israel planning to use nukes on Iran?

Ok, tactical nukes, which apparently have one-fifteenth the strength of the bombs at Hiroshima, and they'd be going deep underground and penetrating a bunker, not wiping out a civilian population. But JESUS H. CHRIST, NUKES?

What kind of world are we living in where this is even an option? If Iran is close to getting nuclear weapons, then clearly it is a threat to Israel. But....you better be absolutely sure of that before you start throwing nuclear weapons around, tactical or not. Setting the precedent of using a nuclear weapon is a slippery slope that'll make global warming look like a tea party.

Monday morning Iraq atrocities

Turns out the Pentagon either proposed or implemented a program of "baiting" where insurgent-friendly items like detonator cords, explosives and the like are left lying around and snipers shoot random Iraqis who pick the objects up. Sporting!

And in an article in the Guardian, the point is made that while America got rid of Saddam, they ended up with 50 more Saddams in his place. Oops.

But as long as Bush 41's pool remains clean and well maintained, everything will be just fine.

Douglas Rushkoff blasts 9/11 conspiracy theories

Noted intellectual Douglas Rushkoff comes down squarely on the side of reason with a piece that explains that not only are 9/11 conspiracy theorists really reaching, they're also sapping vital dissent away from issues that matter. I have to agree with him...aren't obscenities like the war on Iraq, the aftermath of Katrina and the subprime meltdown good enough reasons to go after Bush and his neocon cronies? Why rely on conjecture and make believe to prove a conspiracy, when there's ample documented evidence right in front of our faces of how useless, evil and self-motivated this administration is? More to the point, instead of arguing about WTC7 and controlled demolitions, why not protest the next big show in the War on Terror, the eventual bombing of Iran?

Bush is the new Saddam

Macleans knocks one out of the park with a story on how Bush has in effect, become Saddam by turning to his old henchmen now that America has run out of options. This week's issue also has a great cover, which I'm willing to bet no American publication wold have gone with. See how cocky we get when our dollar matches the American greenback?

Russia is run by ex-spies

Well, that's certainly very reassuring.

Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine"

Naomi Klein, the author of "No Logo", has a new book out called "The Shock Doctrine" about how corporations take advantage of disasters for profit. In an interview with Salon she ties together Iraq, New Orleans post-Katrina, Sri Lanka after the tsunami and the current subprime mortgage meltdown. Interesting.

Stephen Fry has a blog

Stephen Fry, one of the funniest men on the planet, now has a blog. Drop what you're doing immediately and read it.

Couch surfing around the world

The New York Times has a rather extensive article on the art of couch surfing as a form of international travel. With the advent of social networking, people are hopping cheaply from place to place and getting to know new friends and cultures in the bargain. Neat.