Back from the Dead

After almost a year I'm posting again.

Looking forward to another exciting and productive summer!

Self Portrait

So I just kicked ass on an assignment that had me really stumped and worried. It's not perfect but not bad for last-minute work I think. The assignment was a graphical self-portrait in the style of a randomly chosen graphic designer. The name I drew was Vicky Newman, who's work is really beautiful, a bit more flowery than my style but I ran with it.

Working on this last night made me acutely aware of the limitations of drawing with a mouse. I've had a quality tablet for years, got it the same time as this PC actually, from a family friend who passed sadly of cancer. Anyways I have the tablet but the stylus was never located; I'm going to order a replacement right now!

Indian Summer

-Is the term 'Indian Summer' still PC?-

Anyways enjoying the warm weather while it lasts, new classes are going to be challenging but fun I think.

Yesterday I photographed a function at the 1844 House, my first time being paid to shoot pictures. I'm still pretty limited indoors, my flash sux and my flash skills are worse. But it's good XP and was fun. One of the ladies there recognized me from WAY back, she said she babysat me when I was like 2 lol:)

Stay tuned I'll be less boring next post.

Geocaching Rocks

I've become completely addicted to geocaching.

I'm preparing a geocache box to hide in a very cool location.

Any suggestions for things to put in the cache? What's your favorite outdoor location?

Back To It

Hi all, I'm back from an eventful few weeks. First my computer broke and had to be reformatted, then various distractions kept me off the net and mostly out of town.

Luckily all my photos and important things are backed up online and/or in my external HD, but the process of getting this machine back the way I want it is still an annoying pain. It's like moving in the hassle, but in the same way somewhat refreshing- Had alot of misc bricrack on my comp:)

Classes began this week, all stuff I'm into. The workload will be a challenge, but I'm ready for it.

Thanks to Jay and anyone else still reading this blog, and as always comments/questions/criticism is welcome!

Geocaching NNY

One of my favorite possessions is my Garmin Etrex HC portable GPS which was given to me for my birthday last month. Since then it's gotten alot of use, driving hiking, kayaking. I love discovering new places and keeping the digital record of exactly where I was and when.

So last weekend driving back from Vt. my brother told me about Geocaching and couldn't believe I'd never heard of it. It's popular hobby/game where peeps hide a cache of items or something somewhere and post the coordinates online. Then others can go find it, usually signing a log and taking something and giving something of their own.

Anyways it sounded really fun, combining my love of exploring and the outdoors and a childhood love of buried treasure. When I looked into it I was amazed to see how many geocaches there were in the area-they are everywhere!

The one I found yesterday was a cool book exchange located in the SLU Forest property outside canton. It was a short hike, but more perilous than expected: Bees attacked Me and Reggie stinging my legs and neck and reggie's tummy, prompting a mad dash through the woods to escape. Just like Indy:)

I know a million unique places around the region, maybe I'll place my own geocache...

Any suggestions about this are welcome!

Bernie Sanders & The Dog Days of Summer

So the courses are both completed, think I did well especially in regular Journalism which I really enjoyed and found challenging. Proud of myself for fighting through my lifelong aversion to formal writing, and for breaking out of my creative comfort zone in general.

I plan to keep posting, this is surprisingly fun. If you're reading this, thanks- I'll do my best to keep my posts interesting and avoid the self-indulgent type of blogging that annoys royally.

So no self-indulgence, that's a promise. Now let me tell you all about my weekend and my opinions and random thoughts...:)

I had an awesome time in Burlington (again)with both family and friends, one friend in particular who's supercool and fun.

Drove down with my Dad friday, and get this: We ate at an Indian restaurant on Pearl St, and sitting at the table next to us was none other than Senator Bernie Sanders! I recognized his face and voice (from tv) but couldn't place the name until dad pulled up a news picture of him on his blackberry. Vermont is kickass.

The family thing we went to the next day in Albany turned out to be fun too (didn't expect it to be). I even met a couple Gardams I didn't know existed.

The drive back with Nick was fun, we went through Crown Point and discovered this historical site that is the ruins of an old British fort. Got many good pics, I'll post some to the right.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment(did I mention I love comments?)
-Peace

New Media Journalism Summary

One of the assignments for the course that is the origin of this blog was to follow four online news sites. The sites I chose are The NCPR news blog The In Box, the Huffington Post, The Onion, and the New York Times Online. Here is my analysis of these sites:

The In Box(formerly called All In), the news blog published on North Country Public Radio's website is an excellent companion to NCPR's regional coverage. NCPR is the only radio station with in-depth coverage of regional news, and The In Box gives a sort of behind-the-scenes journal written by the reporters and staff of NCPR.

The Huffington Post exemplifies new media journalism: brash, hip, user driven, and slanted. The slant in this case is to the left(or extreme left depending on your definition). The website's pages are colorful and sometimes chaotic, with links to blogs, videos, straight news articles, editorial articles, and ads. A notable and fun new media aspect is the ability to comment on the content (or comment on a comment) or if you don't have anything specific to add, you can click one of the reaction buttons to describe how an article made you feel. Of course you can also facebook like it or post it to your facebook or twitter.

I continue to be a huge fan of The Onion, which can be described as funny fake news. The jokes only work if you already follow the news and are familiar with the format of newspaper or TV news programs, so don't go to The Onion to learn what's going on, go there to laugh about it. The Website is set up well, similar to a 'real' news site with clickable headlines and ledes. Like the Huffington Post, NY Times and many others, all the pages have clickable tabs at the top which lead you to the different sections of coverage.

To get 'serious' news info The New York Times has long held the reputation as 'the paper of record' in the U.S. Much of the content in the print edition is availiable for free online, I suppose in an effort to stay relevant if not profitable. I find the print edition more organized and attractive than the website's homepage, but the coverage is still good. One advantage online news sites have is the search bar, which makes finding the articles you want much easier.

End of the Line

Yesterday I had a fun interview with a railroad enthusiast named Kenny Friedel for my regular Journalism class. I had noticed this guy's miniature railroad in his yard, like an amusement park ride. and after stopping by a couple times when he wasn't home I left a note on the door. After a few days (was about to give up) he called me back.

It was too rainy for him to run the train when I first arrived, but as we talked the weather cleared and he eventually took me for a fun ride. So I have some pics and the interview on tape, so I should be able to write-up a decent soft-news profile piece.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a family event over the weekend. Both these courses are ending soon, so I'm rushing to get everything I need in and posted.

With Apologies to Fox News Fans

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Another Informative Video

Nick Finger left me a link to this in one of his comments (did I mention I love comments?) and it is funny and true, take notes!

Daniel Shorr R.I.P.

Just home from work at the 1844 House, love the feel of evening breeze after 8 sweaty hours in the kitchen. If you've never worked a commercial kitchen, you don't know the heat.

So today is the YouTube 'global filming day' they've been promoting. It's a cool idea, eventually a documentary film is going to be made as sort of a day in the world recorded on film and put on YouTube. I've never posted to YouTube but I have a digital camcorder that's been gathering dust for a few months so it was a good reason to break it out. So I filmed myself walking Reggie, talking to my dad, doing laundry, driving to work, and then just now driving home from work. Exciting stuff, right?

So I submitted the 'Case Study' assignment to Sweeney earlier. Those in the class know that it's an analysis of the journalistic qualities of a particular blog. The blog is from 2005, kind of strange choice for a new media class. (hey anybody know where that anonymous guy is now or any current info? If he's still blogging I'll avoid that blog.)

Anyways thinking back on what I wrote, I was pretty brutal, not really giving the blogosphere in general a fair shake in terms of journalism.

Two recent news events may have put me in a not so generous mood to fellow bloggers. The Shirley Sherrod story this week really pissed me off; A blogger with an agenda(conservative) started a faux furor over quotes of Sherrod taken out of context. That's not suprising, although it does speak to the danger of considering blogging journalism. So you know the story, Obama fired her, and then apparently the next day got the whole story, and apologised.

And the other thing that may have tainted my mood when I wrote the assignment(should I post it here?) was the death of Daniel Shorr, a great and true journalist who I grew up hearing regularly on NPR. He worked almost to the end (I heard him just the other week) at the age of 93, and his life story is inspiring and worth checking out if your interested:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128730967

The difference between Shorr and many of the news bloggers I've read is that (one of the things I keep hearing from those who knew and worked with him) Dan Shorr never made the story about himself.

Humility and objectivity are qualities hard to find in the blogosphere.

Perfect Parody!

This video teaches a textbook's worth of info about the 24 Hr TV News Cycle. Watch and learn, fellow students!

It's also hella funny!


Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

Better than Beck

Semi-Literate Former Gold Prospector Given Own Cable News Show

an idea yet to clarify

Was in Lake Placid again today, this time doing some grunt work for a film project to be shot in the Adirondacks this fall.

Happened out of nowhere, glad it did. Tim Brearton, the guy I worked for at the LPFF called me up to tell me bout it, I called the Production Coordinator in charge, and was there this morning at 9.

Should I blog my day to day stuff like this? Or should I focus on unique thoughts or observations?

Or something else entirely, an idea yet to clarify.

Dreams/Nightmares

Continuing the subject of dreams, I have a good one.

My earliest memory is of a dream, I kid you not. I know because it takes place in a room of a house that I have no other memories of, that my family moved out of when I was like 2. I revisited the house when I was older and recognized the room from the dream.

Anyways, it's night-time and I'm sitting up in my crib (I clearly see the bars). There was this big rug in the shape of a teddy bear, or a panda bear, black and white. The rug hung on the wall. In my dream it got down from the wall, walked over, glancing at me, then passed to my left, maybe out the window that was there. That's all it was, but the memory is burned into my mind really clearly.

To this day I am creeped out by giant teddy bears, seriously.

Chelsea told me a crazy dream, anyone else got one?

Inception

Hi all, I'm back from three days in Burlington. In addition to hanging with my brother which is always fun, I made some cool new friends including a fire dancer (see photo)and a photo-shy girl with an awesome pug (see photo).

I also hopped on over to Saranac Lake to visit Matt Burnett and see the completed installation at the 74/44 Gallery. It looks great and occupies the space really successfully. It turns out that the work I had made for the art machine was a tad too large to fit in the boxes they use for it. I was bummed but Matt gave me a bunch of the boxes so I can get them included in the machine for the next scheduled gallery walk.

I've been told that my blog posts are not long or deep enough; Well, while in Burlington I had a chance to see the film Inception, which itself is very long and very deep. It's Ocean's 11 of the mind! If you've seen it, how much (if any) do you think took place in the "real world"? Why didn't a certain character with a dead father recognize those who had manipulated his dreams once he awoke? Have you ever had a "waking dream" where you were aware you were dreaming and could do what you wanted? Tell me a some crazy dreams you've had and what(if anything) you think they meant.

Article Assignment

Hi, here's one I wrote during the LPFF a few weeks ago.

6/11/10 Lake Placid, NY

A small but enthusiastic croud turned out for the late night screening of an independant documentary at the Palace Theatre in Lake Placid. The film was Skatopia:48 Acres of Anarchy, and it chronicled a year in the life of a self-proclaimed cult-leader and his quest to build the ultimate no-rules skateboarding utopia on his property in rural Ohio. The film was part of the Lake Placid Film Forum and was advertised in skate parks and hipster hang-outs throughout the region. Based on the audience's appearance and enthusiasm the target audience was definitely reached. Applause erupted at the title and end credits, and spontanious laughter, cheers and jeers accomponied every scene. The bone crunching skateboard wipe-outs were especially well recieved, eliciting sympathetic and loud cries of fau-pain from the croud.

It was almost 2AM when the end-credits rolled, but remarkably almost all of the the audience stayed for the after-show question and answer session with the film's directors, Colin Powers and Laurie House. The audience questions ranged from "What's next for you?"(Answer: "A year of sleep") to "How do I get to Skatopia?". To that question, which elicited much laughter, the filmakers proceeded to give very precise directions and a web address, and several audience members promptly got out their cell phones or PDAs to jot down the info. On this rainy summer evening in Lake Placid, a small film appeared to have made a large impression on this group.

The Onion is Awesome

Hey journalism students, watch this and LOL.


Girl Raised From Birth By Wolf Blitzer Taken Into Protective Custody

If that doesn't heres the link, one of my favorite sites.

http://www.theonion.com/video/girl-raised-from-birth-by-wolf-blitzer-taken-into,17714/

Art Machine

So the other week when I helped Burnett&Fuller with their installation Matt showed me this really cool invention of his: An old-fashioned cigarette machine they've filled with little boxes of art from regional artists! So you put in a dollar, and then choose your brand (they all look the same), and see what's in the little box you get.

Anyway I want in, so I'm going through my photos and designs to pick out what pieces would look best really small and severely cropped. A pack of cigarettes is exactly 3.25 X 2.25 inches. Should I make my pieces a little smaller like 3.24 2.24 to allow for the I dunno width of the paper of the box? Seriously I have no manufacturing XP:(

Diana said It should be new art created for that size... I'll see what I can do.