Quotes
Posted by Dave | Dec 26, 2008
“The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Samson’s time.” - Richard Nixon
Samson used the jawbone of an ass to slay one thousand of his enemies because of his great strength. Nixon implied that a politician today can kill millions with words because of his great ignorance. I appreciate that he recognized the huge power of words. Not in some abstract terms, but in absolute practicality.
“Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage…” - Richard Lovelace
This reminded me of Tim Robbins’ speech to Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption. No prison of men can stop the activity between your ears.
“Was the hope drunk, wherein you dress’d yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time such I account thy love.
Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’” - Lady MacBeth to her husband
This is awesome. There’s so much going on here. Granted, Lady MacBeth is manipulating Lord MacBeth here to provoke him to murder. But everyone remembers times when we have in our “own esteem” lived a coward relative to the hope we have known before. At the core, I think Shakespeare is appealing to the very real need for men to be men to feel right with themselves. He’s also appealing to what I think is an innate sense of hypocrisy in living life - people act in ways contrary to what they claim to be true. Even what they know to be true. This reminds me that the best stories appeal to the core of what is in man, those universal truths that make up existence regardless of one’s cultural background.
Filmage
Posted by Dave | Nov 2, 2008
I felt like sharing briefly about three great films I saw over the summer.
The Dark Knight - Everyone and their brother has seen this flick. I love it because it’s a classical story in the most overt sense: “A HERO who WANTS something and takes ACTION, but meets CONFLICT, which leads to a CLIMAX and ultimately a RESOLUTION.” Batman/Bruce Wayne is a great hero precisely because he’s not exactly a superhero. He’s a guy made out of flesh and blood, like you and I. Because of this he’s vulnerable, and not just because he’s always near the edge of physical death. Primarily, he’s emotionally vulnerable, and that hits much closer to home for the average viewer that doesn’t actually fight crime and risk life and limb. He’s conflicted, but wants to do what’s right. When he does do what seems right, things don’t always magically work out okay still. This makes Christian Bale/Chris Nolan’s portrayal of Batman far more appealing in many ways than the Batman of George Clooney’s days.
Malcom X - From what I hear this is a divisive film, and so is it’s director. Denzel Washington acted superbly, to be sure. But what I appreciate about this film is partly just the fact that it was made. These sorts of historical events in general seem to be glossed over and forgotten, either intentionally or otherwise. I remember vaguely talking about “civil rights” once in junior high and that’s about it. I like that the film paints an intimate portrait of a lifestyle(s) and worldview entirely different from that of the majority of the American movie-going audience. It connects the viewer to a real struggle among real people, one that is probably entirely outside of the viewer’s day-to-day life otherwise. And this brings me to the next film…
The Color of Paradise - This is a story about a blind boy living in an impoverished situation in a village outside of Tehran, son to a single father. From that summary you already know it probably won’t be the typical happy-go-lucky American film. The majority of foreign films I dislike for similar reasons - they’re either weird for weirdness’ sake, or depressing for the sake of being depressing. But this one is different. This film is about a blind boy and his beautiful naivete growing up in a hostile environment. His father is partly insecure from his singlehood, partly depressed about his deceased wife, and partly frustrated with his place in life trying to make ends meet for himself and his small family. As the movie goes on, the viewer sees the destructive ways these issues work out in the relationship between him and his son, as well as the development of the father as he wrestles with his life. The son’s youthful naivete contrasts beautifully with the gritty reality of his father’s life, and Majid Majidi plays off this throughout the film to tug at the viewer’s heartstrings in many differing ways. I love the simplistic storytelling as these two primary characters move through circumstances and situations, and I love the real character development you see in them both as they come to grips with their unique, but intertwined struggles. Mostly though, I love that the film humanizes a foreign culture (to an American audience) in an undeniably effective manner. You could watch this film without the subtitles on and still know exactly what’s going on, and still relate to everything the characters go through. The human condition transcends language and cultural barriers.
Linkages
Posted by Dave | Oct 18, 2008
Made some updates to the dcwerx.com site earlier this week. Firstly, I uploaded a remastered version of the K-Town Project video. This one is at full resolution and easier on the eyes than the Youtube flavor:
http://dcwerx.com/video/
I also kicked out a quick Flash photography gallery. The formatting is good, but the thumbnails are too small. Anyway, not important. Most all of the photos were shot with Nikon’s ubiquitous ( - my Big Word of the Day) 18-135 f3.5 which sucks for indoor shooting, but is gorgeous outdoors. I am by no means a professional photographer so any critical feedback from folks that are is very appreciated. I’ve only jumped into amateur photography in the past year or so, but even what I’ve shot so far has presented many reconciliatory opportunities. More on that later. For now, peep the link:
http://dcwerx.com/photography/
Also, I came across a new term to me the other day: citizen journalism. Seems like a catch-all term coined to describe independent journalism through means accessible to any middle-class American now, via everything from on-location cell phone camera grabs to online editorial blogs. The point of it being, I think, that through accessible technology now everyone has a voice and the means to communicate it to broad audiences. The barrier of entry to mass media communication is much, much lower than in times passed. This concept probably isn’t new to anyone since broadband internet access is so prevalent around the world. The Wikipedia article linked above brings up some interesting criticisms and counter-criticisms by traditional mass media players (large television networks, dailies, etc). One criticism that was made is that independent journalists reporting with their laptop and handycam cannot accurately, objectively report any story without the necessary ethical and philosophical training received “in the industry” and at “respected educational institutions”. Of course, large media conglomerates like CNN and Fox Corp, having received such training, are so well-known for their integrity in reporting and completely unbiased representation… right. So the point remains that the criticism can be directed at anyone and - shockingly - people have an agenda regardless of where they’re coming from. I don’t see the problem with acknowledging this. If anyone else does please tell me.
Video geekery
Posted by Dave | Oct 4, 2008
Thought I would share some fun media from the world of video geekery. First, a lolpic:
What you’re looking at appears to be a Canon HV20 with a videomic mounted in the hotshoe and a feathered windscreen. Mounted to the bottom is a mounting plate attached to a set of rails with a 35mm lens adapter/image flipper. The lens mounted is some sort of high power zoom for D-SLRs (note the IS, AF and ND switches on the side) with a lens support underneath and on top (for a SLR), along with the hood. On the bottom is adjustable locking grips, I guess for ENG work if it’s used on the shoulder. I wouldn’t mind shooting with it, but when you drop this kind of cash on accessories for functionality… it’s kind of like dropping the supercharged V8 in a Civic. It’s there, it’s powerful, but it ain’t gonna work right and you’re better off buying something decent from a single manufacturer.
Also, a helicopter-mounted camera:
Apparently the dude custom-built a radio-controlled helicopter with a built-in professional (big) video camera that transmits to a receiver for monitoring. Pretty awesome. I’m pretty sure something like this would be way too excessive for anything I would ever work on - but it would be fun. Check the vid.
Multimedia extravaganza
Posted by Dave | Sep 14, 2008
A couple other photos from the Grand Canyon trip:
Also fun, an ABC local news interview with some friends in our group: http://www.kpho.com/video/17280174/index.html
And a well-written article from the first-person: http://mariomanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/09/havasupai-flood-august-2008.html
I feel as though I’ve learned quite a bit from the whole experience, about myself and others. I saw courage in my friends as they looked out for one another, and in fact may well have saved lives. In myself, in a moment’s time, I remember thinking very quickly about the reality of life and death. However close I was, who can say, but it felt close enough trapped in a shaking tent caught in a storming river. In a split second, while frantically scraping at the tent zipper under a foot of water, I remember thinking death wasn’t bad - heaven’s a party. Although I simultaneously had an overwhelming desire to escape my watery death cage and live.
Unfortunately, I saw many disturbing things post-flood. There was a near-riot at the makeshift helipad (photographed above) when on Sunday night about sundown the helicopters ceased to arrive. As it turns out, dehydrated evacuees do not respond well to this, in spite of promise from the officials of housing and blankets, and the arrival of food and water. There were few congratulations for airvac-ing hundreds of people from the side of cliffs, in the sun and without water. Instead of being thankful for their lives and food and shelter, there were harsh words and condemnation toward the government folks and volunteers, that we could not be home with friends, family and air-conditioning. Reflecting on it now, I’m reminded of the story of Israel being rescued from Egyptian captivity, chased through a freaking river by an army, only to curse God days later because the food they had wasn’t quite tasty enough at the moment. I can imagine how Charlton Heston must have felt.
I also heard many harsh words about the tribe members in the village we were airvac-ed to, where they hosted us, handed out blankets, Red Cross food and checked in on us all night. As though, somehow, the tribe members were responsible for a thunderstorm, a dam breaking and the river flooding the canyon. Gatorades received from friendly tribe members were quickly consumed and thrown into the street, peoples’ backyards, or two feet away from a capacious dumpster. Because surely we evacuees had undergone so much trauma we had the right to destroy the neighborhood of those folks looking out for us. This was deliberate frustration unleashed not only on innocent bystanders, but on a genuinely concerned and selfless community. I won’t say that every single tribe member received us warmly, but the majority did. They were not repaid in kind.
For what it’s worth, thank you from myself and our party to the Havasupai tribe.
Grand Canyon flood, on the edge of death!!!
Posted by Dave | Sep 8, 2008
Provocative titles like that can be fun. Thought I would throw some photos from the journey up here. I believe the Grand Canyon is a pretty freaking amazing testimony of God’s power and the beautiful way He makes things, regardless of your life experience. Some people are likely to disagree with that statement.
God and the Visible Spectrum of Electromagnetic Radiation
Posted by Dave | Jun 22, 2008
So I was at a gathering tonight worshipping God with folks, and a question was posed during a discussion about how “glory” might be defined. Specifically, the glory of God. Some great answers were thrown out about the visible manifestation of God’s glory in nature, His glory in written revelation and the purpose of it, and the overwhelming weightiness of who God must be. Saying “God” includes an awe-inspiring array of characteristics and qualities that probably can’t really be wholly understood by us - omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, who could imagine the scope these entail?
With this in mind, I understood the question existentially and the first representation that popped in my head was the pillar of fire in Israel in which God manifested Himself. Fire and light are manifestations/illustrations that appear throughout the Bible to represent God’s glory. See, for example, the account of Moses’ face shining after chillin’ on Mount Sinai with God. Being an art geek, I was stunned when dwelling on the implications of all this.
In color theory there is a concept called color range, or color depth in digital terms, that describes the way in which humans interpret electromagnetic radiation (light, color). The gist of it is that humans can only perceive a specific range of colors out of perhaps an infinite range of colors that actually exist in the universe. For example, we can see reds, greens and blues. Outside of those basic colors we can see purples, browns and pinks. However, outside of all these, there are many degrees of light we cannot perceive. There’s a bit of variation from one individual to the next, but for the most part humans are limited to this range. But light shines outside of that range in a brilliant, nearly infinite manner that we just cannot quite grasp with our eyes biologically. Stars pour out an incomprehensible amount and force of radiation/light that far exceeds our narrow biological capabilities.
God can be very well illustrated by light! He is so huge and awe-inspiring that we lack the faculty to wholly understand all of His goodness and strength. But what we do see is beautiful and overwhelming. We were designed in such a way that we would be overwhelmed by who He is, and yet incapable of taking all of Him in - how could anything infinite be contained? No, knowing all of who God is implies omniscience, a quality possessed by God alone. But God has shown us a whole, whole lot, definitively. This is worth taking time to reflect on! Scripture speaks also of the undeniable beauty God has revealed in His creation. God possesses such enormous love, goodness and intelligence that we are left without a single reason we could possibly have to not trust Him. And we certainly do see a lot of it in the world, in nature, in the faces of diverse people. God has shown it in His demonstration of conquering the small boxes of science we would try to place Him in, including conquering death and illness.
God is glorious, He is awesome!