After stroke = manic artist

This man had a stroke. During his surgeries his brain stopped twice, loosing oxygen. This event dramatically changed his brain, changing who he was. After all this, his brain has the intense need to create art! Very interesting! Art and psychology! AWSOME. heres the article.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/18/135509114/jon-sarkin-when-brain-injuries-transform-into-art

Burnet Art Gallery in Chambers Hotel

The Minneapolis Chambers Hotel’s, Burnet Art Gallery is showing Strassheims self portrait, which has never been shown in a gallery with exception to this gallery! It was great to have a tour by the director herself and learn all about the hotel and its collection! I have always admired this piece and it was great to see it in person! <3

American Pyscho

American Psycho … Classic! perfect to watch on this stormy night! I’ve been falling in love with Christian Bale and his amazing ability to be so many different characters! From American Psycho to being Batman and then of coarse his recent performance in The Fighter! 

Triggers

 Stills from my film in progress Triggers.

Were Killing Ourselves Off Slowly but Surely

This just in! Humans are so intelligent that we have now succeeded in leaking Radioactive Isotopes that have a half life of 50,000 years, into the ocean! We're going to kill ourselves off faster than evolution had planned. Awesome!


Read Article here: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134971681/tepco-president-hospitalized-in-tokyo?sc=tw

Seven Pounds.

Seven Pounds. Directed by Gabriele Muccino. This film has been on of the most heartbreakingly, bittersweet stories I have encountered since the movie released in 2008. His passion and obsession to right his wrong, a mistake that he will never, really be able to take back, gives me goose bumps every time. What a story line and plot. The character Will Smith becomes is one of his best moments next to his character in, The Pursuit of Happiness. The cinematography is breath- taking as well and matches up flawlessly with the theme. love it!

Our Society is Fucked. The End.

Our society is so fucked that 11 year olds are getting gang raped. and our media (New York TImes) includes comments in their article like," well she dressed older and wore makeup like a 20 year old woman." Which is obviously so irrelevant to an 11 year old being raped. 
-What does this say about our society?
-What does this say about our Media.. in not only the reporting aspects but what of the violent images pushed into everything? and child pornography on the rise, MN being one of the tops states for sex trafficking...
What are we going to do to in attempt to halt sexual violence towards woman and children... probably nothing. Go Humans!

my answer to a person who commented," these parents need to be more aware of these types of situations and teach their kids about avoiding sketchy situations. The girl went willingly into a car with one of the suspects alone."


there are so many people in this world who shouldn't have children but still do.. there fore it is not any child's fault for having shitty parents , shitty parents will always be there. This child obviously is 11 and does not have the cognitive skills to understand or make decisions concerning her own safety. The child is not at fault for the failure of her parents.. And there is never a fucking reason for anyone to get RAPED!!! Regardless of how they became into the situation! The fact that an 11 year old who obviously has no guidance got into a car with someone is not a fucking reason for these fucks to GANG RAPE her repeatedly and video tape it. It disgusts me that anyone would ever even think that it is relevant that she got into the car... yes this must make it her fault, same with all the other children who are tricked, and "willingly" get into a situation with strangers or even people they have know previously, who end up abducted or raped. It is so ignorant to even bring up that fact that she chose to get in the car.... she is 11 for christ sake!!! The fact that, that has been apart of how people are perceiving the story is exactly proving the point further that our society is fucked and doesn't look at the human ethics that is happening. WOW.

Requiem for a Dream. Sequence Analysis. Phone Scene

The scene opens with a close frame of Marion’s face as she applies dark heavy makeup. The lighting in her bathroom is a clinical, dark, cold blue as she looks into the frame the viewers almost become the mirror in the shot, but slightly to the right of her body, a head shot. This is the first time we see her put on any makeup through out the entire film, which is dark, black liner symbolizing the emotional weight of what is about to happen and what decision she has to make because of her addiction. This also shows the viewer the weight and hopelessness of her or Harry getting out of this and back to each other. We know that she is alone and has been waiting for him for weeks. Her blank facial expression almost zombie like, tells us that she has hit the bottom and she knows it. The non-diegetic ambient music, keyed in, signals the quite lonely isolation and the slow anticipation that she feels for whats to come. Then the phone ringing comes in and echos throughout the bathroom. The first ring of the phone queues the frame to a strange birds eye view from the upper corner of the bathroom looking diagonally down at Marion. We see how dark and cold the space is and how small she seems, and how small she feels of herself. She lets it ring three times before she picks up and answers, hello, in a nervous, shaky voice not knowing who to expect on the other line. Right as she is cold and lonely and awaiting her horrid event ahead, her lover harry is on the other line, the only person the viewer knows, has ever taken care of her or loved her. As she says hello, the frame cuts back to the same frame as the opening cut. The viewer gets to hear the other end of the line while still in her space, letting us be inside the conversation and feel her emotions. What we hear is hear name in a sad, breathy voice, and right away she knows that it is Harry. The second she realizes that it is Harry we see her facial expression change to a mix between relief,compassion, fear and we can see the disappointment in her eyes, that he has no idea what she is about to do. The heart wrenching, additional ambient music queued in makes the viewers emotions as slow and intense as hers. She now knows he has been thinking and missing her and hasn’t been able to get a hold of her on his desperate drug run to florida. She asks him when is he coming home, and then we have a reaction cut to the floor of a dirty florida hospital. Harry is sitting on a floor in a dark corridor that has public phones, the cord stretched to his level. The frame is as if we are sitting on the floor with him, pushing even further, the emotion that everything has gone awry and is hopelessly lost forever. The yellowish lighting in his space is flickering, furthering the anxiety and fear that he feels about what he has done. He knows he has left her to her desperations and isolation. In the middle of his answer, soon, it cuts from his to her space as we continue to hear him from her line. The color difference of the spaces they are in gives the viewer the feeling of how far away they really are from each other, although the atmospheres are equally un-nerving and weighted heavily with emotions and fear. We can hear him breathing heavily is this depressing state as he know that he has failed her. In trying to escape the inevitable event in her near future she asks him if he could come home today, although she knows that is not possible. This is really when the viewers hearts sink because now we are assured of the hopelessness of the situation and now everything has officially fallen apart. We know without him she will continue into this night, he cant save her now. He tells her yes, and begins to cry as we get reaction cuts, back and forth, to both their spaces, he tells her to wait for him. As we hear him tell her this from her space, we can see in her eyes that she cant, she has already waited and now has hit bottom, she knows how painful it would be for him to know what is about to happen. Her face turns back to the cold expression like that of the light she is cast in as he apologizes with sorry, and that ends the conversation. The scene ends with a head shot of him in his space as he drops the cord phone and it swings away as he continues to cry. The continual similar head shots back and forth between these very distant but similar atmospheres establishes the viewers emotions, because here we are forced to look directly into their emotions and fears, we don’t have a choice to look away and neither do they. The dialogue plays a huge part in this scene, as simple as it is, the sounds of their voices is the emotional pull in the dialogue. The events the viewers have experienced with them before this end, is important to the coding and emotion behind the simple lines in the dialogue between them.

New work!

 These images are from a shoot about a week ago with an amazing dancer that I have known for some time. Having been a gymnast my whole life I am very interested in the movement of the human figure and what it is capable of doing. We can get our bodies to do many tasks but for this dancer she is able to create stunning esthetics through her expressions and body kinesthetics that also create stunning works on my camera sensor! Turning her organic movements and somewhat of a performance into a still image,  she is caught in time, suspended in her extended moments, which to me is timelessly elegant.

Dancer: Samantha Frost

THIS GENERATION WANTS CHANGE! What do you think?

Around the world this generation of people have had something the older generations had not: access to information around the world... the internet. No wonder why there is so much push for political change in countries where political leaders still treat their people like useless pawns in their game. Once people have been able to access information and understand that life doesn't have to be a certain way or that countries like Europe and America do not tolerate the absents of human rights, they are ready to push for change. Blogs, facebook, twitter all have been huge advantages for the people of countries who need political change. A huge network of followings across the world, all of a sudden people can see that they are not alone and that change is possible. With support from around the world and the brave mass amounts of protesters that have even pushed out its leaders. Tunisia is the perfect poster child for the movement around the world, where people of dictatorships realize all together they are stronger than one. Also the perseverance and persistence of the younger generations making it known that they know life does not have to be dictated like it is. The people of Tunisia held huge protests telling there leader to give up his reign and push for electoral options. With a following around the world, the world watched as the Tunisian people protested and pushed. Most believed that the movements would end up like in the past, the government will crack down and arrest some people and then things will go back to normal. Everyone was shocked when their leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali unexpectedly fled the country, leaving the people in shock and incredible joy. This shows that political change is possible, even for a country that had been dictated by one man for 23 years. Lets hope that this story can inspire the rest of the world and give hope to Egypt who has also been pushing and protesting for change. After the brutal government crack down of peaceful protestors the world including the United States scorned the leader for not respecting basic human rights that are universal to all humans. The difference in Egypt is that the access to internet has been turned off to keep the protestors information and gatherings at a minimum. The president of Egypt, Mubarak came out today saying that he will not run again. Protestors packed into the streets screaming leave now! Hopefully Egypt will also be granted the political change they deserve and fight for and hopefully will continues the hopes and fights elsewhere, change is possible! 

Read these articles! also more on NPR.org

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8001862-tunisian-leader-flees-in-the-middle-of-protest-pm-takes-over

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/01/133394674/thousands-converge-in-cairo-to-demand-mubarak-go?sc=fb&cc=fp

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/02/01/133395369/live-blog-tuesdays-historic-day-in-egypt

Second Amendment and NRA Under Fire: WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ?

After the horrific shooting in Tucson, the country has to reflect on our laws about personal weapons and license to carry. Whether or not you agree with bearing arms for personal protection or not, it is the Second Amendment of out countries Constitution. Of coarse in a perfect world weapons would not exist but this is not a Utopia. At this point, even if the government created a law against owning personal arms all together, there will always be a black market for fire arms. A lot of crimes committed with fire arms are with illegal fire arms, not always by those who do it the right way, with a license to carry. Fire arms and right to bear arms is not going to go away. The question is not how to make guns go away but how can we regulate and keep them out of the hands of the criminals and lessen the black market of illegal weapons. There are a million ways and opinions to think about.... WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHAT IS YOUR OPINION? I love to hear what everyone thinks!

Photography Essay by Marie Pasch

A Spoon Full Of Sugar: Arianna Tatum: "A few new photos to add to the Arianna Tatum Project. loserface @ flickr.com Check it out."

This series is touching and brings attention to the topic of suicide. Photographer Marie Pasch created this series after the death of young woman named Arianna Tatum. She worked with the family and friends to create a photography essay about what happens when a loved one leaves this world unexpectedly. She also provides a look at our human nature to remember and memorialize places for a person once their gone. This series is very successful and Marie plans to continue working in this genre.