NANORAMAS

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Some old garbage, some new garbage, all spotted on the path that runs alongside Highway 6 in Iowa City.

While on my walk to PATV today, I got stuck behind a slow moving train at an intersection. Then the train stopped completely. Eventually I had to climb up and jump between two cars to get by. It was a good little thrill.

A short list of items of garbage spotted along my walk down Highway 6 in Iowa City. About 2 min.

Part experiment in Audioblogging, part sonic history of the Iowa City bus riding experience. Recorded by Cingular cell phone. Experiment conclusion: audio quality not so good. Reason: poor quality cell phone reception. Solution: To be determined...

Cat on couch. Flickering afternoon sun. It's cool in the basement. Click here to view video.

At least someone's getting some use out of this chair. By the way, if you're in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro, NC area, my film "Alternative Forms of Energy" (excerpt here) will be playing at the Hi Mom! Film Festival, June 17th at 4pm at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. Lots of other great stuff playing too. Check it out!

Recovery efforts are underway, and Iowa City is doing its best to return to business as usual.

It's Videoblogging Week Day Seven! Last day! Technorati Tag: videobloggingweek2006 A sample of a treatment of a snippet of a film I'm working on. Includes hand-processed 16mm film slowed down using an Analyst projector and transferred by shooting off the wall. Yeah, it's a work-in-progress. Features the great Ava Su Ganwei. Here's another video featuring Ava Su (by Aaron Valdez).

It's Videblogging Week Day Six! Technorati Tag: videobloggingweek2006 BRAINS. 'Nuff said.

It's Videoblogging Week Day Five! Technorati Tag: videobloggingweek2006 Today, Aaron and I went spinning. No, not like at the gym. I mean the real thing!

Videoblogging Week Day Four! I'm still in the game! Technorati Tag: videobloggingweek2006 It was a long day. I was tired.

Videoblogging Week Day Three! Technorati Tag: videobloggingweek2006 A short lesson in unconventional film techniques (actually, I screwed my film up the first time around, so now I'm redoing it). Yeah!

Videoblogging Week Day Two! Technorati Tag: videobloggingweek2006 Bad news about the new film I'm working on. Good news about my most recent film. By the way, if you're in one of these areas, check out "Alternative Forms of Energy" (Super 8/video, 2005) at: Iowa City Documentary Film Festival Wednesday, April 12th at 6pm (Iowa City, IA) Englert Theater Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts (DIVA) Tuesday, April 18th (Eugene, OR) Details TBA Portland Documentary and Experimental Film Festival Sunday, April 30th at 8pm NW Film Center's Guild Theater (Portland, OR) (playing with Bill Brown's "The Other Side"!)

Day One of Videoblogging Week 2006. My new (almost literally) Super 8 camera arrived today. It was $20, including shipping. Thank you, eBay.

Walking along the path that borders the Iowa River earlier this winter, I came across a couple geese who were making their way across the half-thawed water on foot. Soon, they were joined by a flock of their avian compadres, who chose a spot within feet of me to gather. It was a quiet, beautiful moment. These videos are silent.

Groundless (2004, 5 min) It's no Snakes on a Plane, but it is the worst plane disaster I could summon by collaging various scenes from feature films. It was actually designed to help me get through my own fear of flying; I figured if I could intimately create and experience my worst fears through sound and image, I could get over them. It actually helped. Others, however, have not found it so calming.

Once again, Houseworks does me right. For fifty cents, I became the proud owner of this unlabelled 80s mixtape, which features Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" about five times. Here, I offer a couple samples of some of my favorite segues on the tape.

Hickory Hill (2004, 2 min.). A meditation on spring, in its beauty and harshness, at Hickory Hill in Iowa City.

Chai (3 min., 2005) A meditation on the making of homemade Chai tea. Made for Iowa City Microcinema's Video Race 2005, which required the inclusion of a plastic toy flute somewhere in the movie. I'll let you figure out where it is.

"Kids Do Cartwheels," an original composition by Anna Proctor, age 7. A song that was the bane of my existence at age 10, but is now one of my very favorite sounds. I'll spare you the unbearable family rendition of "Jingle Bells," however. Audio only, 1:30.

meditations on corn (maze) (3 min., 2005) Shot in-camera on Super 8 Kodachrome in the Field of Fun corn maze just outside of Iowa City. You can't be a filmmaker in Iowa without making at least one film about corn. My personal favorite corn maze is the portrait of Willie Nelson at Bloomsbury Family Farm ("Eastern Iowa's largest agritainment facility"). Want a corn maze of your own? You can hire "the world's #1 maze company" to create a spectacular one for you.

The trailer for Stephen Soderbergh's new movie Bubble reminded me of my own filmed homage to doll-heads. Babies to Go (2 min. excerpt, 1989) This montage comes from the opening of "Babies to Go," the video opus I made at age 15. Unlike the plot of Soderbergh's flick, this movie serves as a cautionary tale against the ethical perils of genetic engineering. It's a comedy. Shot on VHS, dubbed a couple generations, transferred to DVD, captured from DVD, then compressed for the web. The video quality is... interesting. The opening slate for Marin Community Programming (the public access station on which the video aired) is absolutely precious. Ah, analog. How I miss thee. Wanna see some really creepy dolls?

Margo (2003, 1 min.)--Part portrait, part self-portrait. Image by Jennifer Proctor, Sound by Margo Greenlaw. Screened at FLEX and Aurora Picture Show's Extremely Shorts (curated by Craig Baldwin).

Just accepted to Resolutions '06 at Hallwalls in Buffalo, NY (dis)placement (2005, 5 min, 8mm) A meditation on lost memories through the tail end discards of old 8mm home movies. Image by Aaron Valdez, Sound Design by Jennifer Proctor. See the movie: http://aaronvaldez.blogspot.com/2005/08/displacement.html And a partial inspiration for the sound: Virtual bubble wrap

Surfacing (2003, 16mm and mini-DV, 2:30). W ith sound. Created with original 16mm slow motion footage partially bleached with Clorox, clear leader hand-painted with India ink, and a little Final Cut Pro to mix it all up. Screened at Aurora Picture Show's Extremely Shorts (curated by Craig Baldwin), Dallas Video Festival, Ms. Films, Flicker Austin, and Flicker Chapel Hill.

Fifteen cat butts. For people who love. Cat butts.