NSR and I have teamed up as Memory Laine. Below, check out our remix of Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks". Lynas on the production//Sam French on the cuts. For a free download click here.
Showing posts with label Mr. Aesthetic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mr. Aesthetic. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Aesthetic: Why I Don't Do Film
A long time ago, before I became Mr. Aesthetic, I had a passion for film making. I was the cliche wannabe future director in high school. I knew my film history, I knew how to edit on final cut pro, and I had my own Mini DV camera. Aside from making films with my buddies, Beauregard P. Grimes and I even filmed a pilot for a public access TV called "Random Tandem" which we planned to submit to MNN (that is until we discovered the ounce in his dad's freezer).
When I got to college and majored in Digital Media (a clusterfuck of tech training), I was already a better editor than my teacher (who used to work for WWF and bang Rick Flair or some shit). There was nothing more to learn. Editing is editing. The next step is to apply what you've learned in the industry. Unfortunately, I was well aware that a career in film is not defined by brilliant editing, but rather, working your way up the ranks. Applying my skills in the real world was going to be a long and trifling struggle. Thus, I ended my childhood hopes and dreams of being the next Kubrick.
Trying to pay my rent, I worked as production assistant with John Struggles on a 16 hour commercial shoot for Progresso soup. The call time was at 5AM and the outdoor set was on the Long Island Sound. The rain was coming down like rats and hogs and the temperature was barely above freezing. As I tread through 6 inch puddles in my dunks, I watched 100 other people scramble around a drenched set just to get one scene of a lame soup commercial.
Out of these 100 people, one or two have any say at all in the creativity of the videography. Otherwise, it's 98% grunt work. Many of these people make great money. $600 a day ( a union rate for grips, etc.) is serious cake. There's nothing wrong with being a worker bee...if that's your MO. However, for the kids who want to be creative, you're better off sitting at home and writing scripts (as long as Daddy pays for your Village loft after you graduate from NYU). If not, I wouldn't depend on an industry like that to honor the paid dues of a production assistant who wants to make movies. You have to be able to bring something else to the table.
In no other creative industry is working your way up the ladder as important. It's an industry for workers, not for artists. John Struggles: workhorse. Mr Aesthetic: fragile artist. If you are a hopeful future film maker, I highly suggest learning your way around other digital fields. Otherwise, that chance to show your editing skills may not come until you're 35 with back problems.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Aesthetic: Halloween at Anthill Farm
On Halloween I ventured to Anthill Farm in Honesdale, Pennsylania to party, wild out, and photograph performances by Emily Warren and Gordon Voidwell. The annual halloween extravaganza has developed over the years very nicely and I was excited to see what all the hype was about. The main festivities took place in the barn, a 1,500 sq. ft. structure with 40 foot ceilings, minimal lighting, and a floor covered in wood chips. The people who work on the farm had decorated the barn beautifully. A stage in the corner, with red and yellow lights shining down on the performers, haystacks stacked 30 feet high and a pinata the size of a smart car hanging from the rafters set the scene for a pretty interesting night.
The super talented Emily Warren and her band of gentlemen took the stage at around 10:00. Dressed as Amy Winehouse, Super Mario, a skunk, a phoenix and Hubert Grey (a made up actor who had a part in The Man in the Iron Mask), the tribe of musicians set the mood for a night of smiling, dancing and fun. Gordon Voidwell followed. It was my first time seeing Will Johnson perform with his full band. They really tore the motherfucker down. Some of the weirdest and coolest sounds I have ever heard.
Ecstasy is a hell of a drug. Everyone kept telling me, "You probably think you're taking great pictures but then tomorrow you're going to realize they aren't as cool as you thought they were". Those people obviously don't know the extent of my aesthetic prowess. I held it together.
The most challenging part of the night (aside from not melting into the hay) was shooting in such low lighting conditions. Taking everything I've learned from TCG, I set my ISO to 1600, and stayed in situations with either interesting or decent lighting. A lot of people were using a flash. It kills the ambiance! Let those lights do their job and adapt to your surroundings. For more pictures from the night, check out my photoblog here.
Friday, October 30, 2009
I Gotta Feeling (Love Life Remix)
A little shameless self-promotion never hurt anyone. Check out The Name Johnson's "I Gotta Feeling (Love Life Remix)" featuring Emily Warren! Download here.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Best of Kilenm
Harlem-based rapper Kilenm is a beast. This is a YouTube compilation of some of the top moments from his past freestyle battles. I've heard stuff like this before, but only from a skinny white Detroit rapper in 1996. If you ever had a love for battle rapping, give this a listen. Check out his MySpace here.
The Aesthetic: Creativity in the Bedroom
I am incredibly dissatisfied with the aesthetic appeal of my bedroom. If I'm going to be alone it in 364 out of 365 days a year, I should probably have some cool stuff on the walls to look at and play with. But, for that one day a year that I'm not alone, I should most definitely have some ill aesthetic shit up in there.
Sure, framed photographs and art are the obvious direction to go in, but I'm pretty sure that was played out a long time ago. In college I had a hippie friend come and paint a tree on my wall in exchange for pot. Since I don't buy pot anymore and she lives in Texas (what an idiot!), I had to find another way to have a cool wall. That's when ThatDude sent me a link for Blik, a company that sells affordable and easily installable decals for your wall. There's nothing that screams playful in the sack like airplanes above your bed. Do it.
Don't be a masturbator, be a rasterbator! If you can't afford the $50 Blik graphics, kill yourself, and then can go the bootleg route of Rasterbater.com, a free online service that divides any image you want into single sheets of printer paper, allowing you to create a mural by piecing the sheets together. Just look at Joey from Brighton Beach who put up a 5' x 7' image of David Bowie in the corner of his bedroom. Do you see anything else on those walls? Nope. He doesn't need anything else. He gets all the girls.
If mural art isn't your thing, maybe you'd enjoy any number of things from the MoMA store. My favorite being the Muji wall-mounted CD player. It has no track skip, rewind or fast forward ability. It just has a chord that stops and starts the CD. Queue the CD to Kind of Blue and pull the chord as soon as you walk in the room with your one night stand. Then point at them and pull an imaginary trigger. You win.
Lastly, I found this really cool site on what to with old computers. In hipster culture, techy things from the 90's are really popular. Turn your old monitor into an ash tray and you'll bag the girl or boy of your (skinny) jreams.
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