Labor Day weekend is in full-effect in the United States, which means hordes of people will be making their way to their favorite park or beach for their annual holiday picnic.
In honor of our continuing and expanded 7 Days without Plastic project, I thought it would be interesting to figure out a way to have a plastic-free picnic or barbecue. Now, I'm not saying that this is the easiest of tasks -- but let's see if it can be done.
Here are some more folks we met up with at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Irene and Lee talk about what the highlights of the convention have been for them and what issues they would like Obama to focus on.
While in Denver, we met up with some pretty interesting people at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Here's Jonathan, who is a young delegate from Colorado.
I can't stop watching this -- so much fun it makes me want to dance! Brought to you by the Bui Brothers.
Here's a sneak peek at test footage I shot of Sarah for an upcoming EPIC FU promo. We don't do a lot of chroma key, so it was a fun change of pace. Keep in mind I only spent a few minutes keying out the background so it's pretty rough. Everyone here got a kick out of it, so I thought I'd post it for everyone else to enjoy!
Also note this is shot in HD (you can download the original file). Hmm.
Looks like Josh is about a mile from Invesco, where Obama will be giving his speech. Dedication. He has it.
Josh was filming some of the atmosphere outside the convention when he caught a bit of Code Pink, singing for peace. It's about 20 seconds in to this video. After the jump is another video from Josh of what appears to be a yelling, protesting toilet (?!). Interesting...
On this week's EPIC FU we sat down and talked to Hayden Black, who's best known on the web for creating the comedy series Goodnight Burbank and Abigail's Teen Diary. We've known Hayden for a few years now, and it's been great to watch the hard work he has put into his production elevate his profile and gain new audiences.
Sickboy, a 3-piece punk band from Dublin, Ireland, brings us today's Epic Spotlight, "Silence in Conversation". When was the last time we had some good Irish punk on the show? Um, never?! I'm so glad we can finally add this track to our Epic Spotlight playlist.
It's almost September, time for me to finish up my EPIC summer and head back to school. Unfortunately, that means it's back to the dreary world of research papers, blech. Today on the show we featured DarkCopy and Think, two apps to help you stay distraction free while working on your computer. Check below for even more student resources that help you with more than just writing papers.
A few months ago, I posted an interview Zadi did with two of the people behind the chiptunes documentary Reformat the Planet. This week Pitchfork.tv is streaming the full length version of the film. Definitely check it out!
Reformat the Planet is a documentary about the "chiptunes" music scene and its premiere event -- the annual Blip Festival in New York. Chiptunes music is inspired by video game and computer soundtracks of the 80's and 90's -- when music was synthesized in real-time by a sound chip capable of only a limited number of sounds.
The illustrious Chuck Olsen from The Uptake got into Invesco Field at the DNC a little early and got some footage of Michael McDonald, also known as Rick Rey's all-time super-fave Yacht Rocker, rehearsing for his gig tonight singing America the Beautiful. In fact, he even got his ass onstage! Behind the scenes ftw!
Zadi and Josh head back to their hotels after a looooooong day. They shot tons more interviews for us to post, which we'll do as quickly as possible. Sorry about the dark video, such are the perils of live streaming. :)
Zadi talked to Mai Sakai, the Art Director of the DNC. The look of this year's event has been widely praised, and it has to be an enormous undertaking to design and oversee the creation of the look of such a massive event. Zadi and Josh are getting some great behind-the-scenes viewpoints on the people who make things actually happen.
Josh shot a video as the process of roll call started among the delegates from each state. This is where the delegates give their nomination decisions.
UPDATE: Added a second video of the proceedings directly from the event floor! After the jump!
Zadi and Josh talked to Michelle Robinson, the production supervisor for the DNC. Let's just say that she runs shit.
MIX member Jordan shared a video with us from the DNC of a female protester getting hit by a cop that ends with an odd twist. He asked if she posed a threat and deserved the attack.
Some members on the thread agree that it was unnecessary, excessive force while others would like more footage to see if the victim provoked the officer. Add your input on the thread.
Looks like Zadi and Josh got themselves a nice view of the events!
One more quick (Qik) video after the jump.
We're rocking out at the DNC with our friends at Remix America, an awesome site for political mashups. They supply the videos and the web-based editor, you supply the ideas, the creativity, and the funny. How 'bout a promo for the convention in the style of a hot, new TV drama?
Zadi has landed in Denver and is ready to take on the Democratic National Convention. The DNC is four days full of every high profile democrat in America. Zadi is so excited to be there and she's gonna keep us updated with the political goings on.
Roots Manuva, otherwise known as Rodney Smith, from London is our EPIC Spotlight for today's episode. In this video for "Buff Nuff", Roots plays an ice cream man with the power to throw girls into a frenzy for... ice cream. Maybe it's just my mind in the gutter, but I think the ice cream licking might be a euphemism for something else.
The amazing sculptures of Jeremy Mayer are all made from old typewriter parts. Talk about an endless supply of material! In our new media world, this is a beautiful way to re-use material and create fascinating art.
Jonathan Levine has written and directed a coming-of-age film and 90's nostalgia piece The Wackness. The center of the story is Luke Shapiro, played by Josh Peck, who is trying to survive the summer after graduating from high school as a cool loser...cool because he's accepted by his peers as a pot dealer, loser because he has no actual friends. He builds an odd bond with his therapist, Dr. Squires, played by Ben Kingsley, who he is paying with weed. Although, generations in age difference, these two have similar struggles in life.
My expectations of Josh Peck's performance going into this movie were low. I've seen him on Nickelodeon with typical over-the-top kiddie acting. But, I was pleasantly surprised. Peck effortlessly shows the awkwardness of trying to be accepted and the frustrations of living in an unhappy home.
This week we're gearing up for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. We're counting down to our arrival on Wednesday when we'll be hooking up with our friends at Remix America and The Uptake. Remix America will be remixing and mashing up video footage to tell their own unique and creative take on the even and The Uptake will be providing live reports through Qik, Mogulus and their web site.
Ryanne Hodson from ryanishungry.com supplied me with some basic important tips to keep in mind during my plastic-free week. I wanted to share her pointers with all of you.
The main point, and one that I found to be especially true is that my main plastic in-take came from food that was packaged in plastic containers. Avoiding these were difficult but surprisingly doable, especially if you're buying fresh food, which is ultimately better for your body.
So, my seven day adventure officially ended yesterday... and I'm only now catching up on the entire experience. I say "officially" because I'm actually going to continue this. I think seven days is a great start, but in order to get a real assessment of the scope of the project it has to last a bit longer so that you can see how you'll react when you come across certain situations that you may not encounter in those first seven days.
It's Rambo 3 Live! A no-holds barred public live commentary of my experience watching Rambo 3 in bite-sized Twitter nuggets. Attending is easy, just watch my Twitter stream during the event. Participation is optional.
WHEN: Tuesday, August 26th @ 9PM PST
WHERE: http://twitter.com/rickrey
From my Facebook Event page:
While watching Rambo 2 (First Blood: Part II) the other night I thought to myself - wow, there is so much great Twitter material here. Unfortunately I was too involved with the gripping plot to turn away and grab my laptop.
So on Tuesday night, August 26th I'm going to live Twitter my experience watching Rambo 3 for what I believe is the first time. This is a landmark Twitter experiment and I may lose many followers - a risk I'm willing to take.If following the action isn't enough, you can simultaneously Twitter your own Rambo 3 experience at exactly 9:00PM PST. I'm pretty sure it's in stock at every Blockbuster worldwide.
Sign up to "attend" this live Twittervent on Facebook or Upcoming.org. If you want to participate, give me a heads up.
This week's FU is given out by none other than Doug Bresler, independent animator and creator of Doogtoons. One of his most well-known works is his animated music video for Weird Al Yankovic, Trapped in the Drive-Thru, which has gotten almost five million views on YouTube alone.
Remember that old Disney movie where the kids flew into a semi-animated world of adventure? That's how the awesome video for Thursday's Epic Spotlight kind of begins... but way more fun! The Black Kids take off from a roller coaster to an odyssey that totally beats what those kids on the flying bed had. We're talking hover boards, laser-emitting goggles, and transforming vehicles here. The song itself? Even cooler! The video for "Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)" throws back to Speed Racer and a bunch of other 80's Saturday morning cartoons that I can't name because I fail at that whole decade.
A few years ago, The Anti-Advertising Agency created the Bus Stop Bench Ad project, featuring one particular bench that plainly stated "you don't need it".
The bench ad project gave rise to the sticker project. Steve Lambert created stickers that proclaim "you don't need it" with a bold red arrow. Users are encouraged to put the free stickers on all kinds of advertising media in an effort to curb the crazy consumerism that's being marketed these days.
Besides being our intrepid host, Zadi also used to be the sole editor for the show. Now we have Daniel and Mike, aka sanity savers. Now Zadi does the final polish of the episodes. Speaking of editing, check out what it does to the office below...
Take one letter out of a movie poster...can you guess which movie its from? This actually sounded pretty easy to me. Then I stared at the letters and stared and stared. None of the movies are obscure and the font's are pretty specific but unfortunately for me, when the letter was put next to another letter that is from a different movie, my brain went all jumbly.
I was only able to get 3 correct. Boo! What's your score? The Empire Poster Quiz
Natalie Portman's Shaved Head is Luke Smith, Shaun Libman, Claire England, David Price, Liam Downey Jr., all hailing from Seattle, where they met in high school. The video for "Sophisticated Side Ponytail" is out of this world. This is what I imagine Lisa Frank's older, hotter, cooler sister would be like, but with way better music. The producers of their video, Noel and Stefan of That Go, gave us some behind the scenes info on the video and how they all hooked up.
Beijing artist Li Wei has gained quite a following on the web with his seemingly impossible photographs. Many of them depict the artist in a precarious or life-threatening situation, and they are accomplished by an unsettling combination of performance art and photography. Sometimes the artist is indeed in a very dangerous situation, suspended by wires from great heights.
On today's show we mentioned FaceYourManga.com, which is sweeping the internets by storm. Half my Twitter friends are discernible only by their new cartoon mug. As sickeningly cute as they might be, it IS fun to build your own manga avatar. The process is just like building your Mii on the Wii.
Check out what the EPIC FU crew looks like in manga form, above. Top row, from left to right: Steve, Zadi, and Rick. Second row: Annie and Sarah, Third row: Daniel, MIX members, and Mike.
Find more videos like this on MIX
There are some people who are doing this project along with me. Paco is one of them. He even made an entire blog documenting his experience.
day one recap: seven days w/o plastic from Zadi Diaz on Vimeo.
So yesterday went fairly well, didn't take in much new plastic into my life except for the two unsuspecting condiment containers that came with my lunch. I have to remember to make sure to ask for no straws, etc. Those kinds of things just pop up without warning. Made me aware that there are many small plastic items that add up in the end.
The most embarrassing moment? Buying a dress and having to ask the attendant if they had paper bags -- otherwise I wouldn't be able to buy the dress. I of course said it was for a project... what can I say? I was afraid she would think I was completely nuts. Surprisingly, she completely dug what I was doing. Whew.
There are a lot of stories coming out of China recently which aren't hitting the main stream press.
Recently, we had a webcam interview with citizen journalist Noel Hidalgo and Students for a Free Tibet Founder John Hocevar. They were deported from China during the Olympics for flying the Tibetan flag while speaking up for Tibetan rights.
And so it begins -- my foray into the land of the plastic-free. I have to admit that I really have no idea what to expect other than to expect to encounter plastic everywhere. For instance just this morning I thought, what happens if I cut myself? I can't use a band-aid? That's insane! What am I thinking?
But that's really not the point of this project. There is good plastic -- like bike helmets and band-aids, and there's bad plastic, the disposable kind -- like cups, utensils, and containers.
Saul Williams is no stranger to EPIC FU. Last year we covered the release of his once-freely downloadable album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, co-produced by Trent Reznor. A few weeks ago we explored the controversy around his commercial collaboration with Nike, and today we're spotlighting his latest music video -- Convict Colony off NiggyTardust.
For me one of the standout qualities of Saul's music is the rawness and intensity he achieves while not sounding too experimental or heading into the unlistenable/unenjoyable territory. He's walks a fine line there, and the result is a stand-out experience that tends to stick with you.
NiggyTardust is no longer available as a free download, so you'll have to pick it up on iTunes. It's definitely worth exploring.
Frank Warren is the soft spoken man behind one of the most popular blogs on the Internet: PostSecret. Most people already know about the intimate project where people anonymously send in their secrets on beautifully crafted postcards. Frank created the project as an art installation before taking it to the web. As founder and curator, Frank receives hundreds of postcards from all over the world.
Today on the show Zadi talked about how a Google employee named Michael asked for his future wife's hand in marriage: by holding a giant sign during a drive-by of the Google Street View van. The real story is that the Street View team told all the employees that the van was coming by that day, so Michael was able to get his proposal in.
From the vault of music videos we never get a chance to spotlight on the show, here's the latest from French electropop singer/songwriter Yelle. It's off her debut album POP-UP. I like the sexy retro-euro feel of the video and the song itself is fun, catchy, and a nice hump day pick-me-up. A definite win from France.
Check out her Myspace page and website.
I walked into the EPIC FU headquarters this morning and Mike Ambs was sitting at the editor's desk. Many people know Mike from Project Pedal, an incredible web documentary about a cross country bike trip and the relationships it effects. I first met him when he was preparing for the epic bike ride.
Its fun that Steve and Zadi are hiring local podcasters to be a part of their team! You can follow him on Twitter and friend him on MIX.
La Catterdrale Vegetale (The Cathedral Grove) by Guiliano Mauri
Arborsculpture is pretty fascinating stuff. Wikipedia defines it as follows:
Arborsculpture is the art and technique of growing and shaping trunks of trees and other woody plants. By grafting, bending and pruning the woody trunks and or branches are grown into shapes either ornamental or useful.
Kevin Swaby's smooth, jazzy voice brings us Tuesday's Epic Spotlight, The Heavy. The band's unique blend mix of rock guitar, soulful vocals, plus a funky beat make "That Kind of Man" an office favorite at EPIC FU HQ.
On Tuesday's episode we covered the weekinreview group in Los Angeles. What exactly is the weekinreview? Well, the founders describe it as an alternative to your regular news source: "Documenting and reporting hearsay recounts of the news, a forum is created in which people who care and are interested in the world around them can have a voice." I first heard about the weekinreview when it was conceived in 2004. They've stayed strong since then, expanding to other cities and countries even. Think of it as the DIY news.
Here's my favorite joke contributed so far, posted by MIX member Pete:
Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want.""The second engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."
Can I go a week without using any new plastic?
Our interview with Sustainable Dave made us start thinking about how much plastic we use and throw away each day. We wanted to know exactly how hard it would be to change our habits. So starting Thursday, August 14th, I'm attempting to go seven full days without using any new plastic at all.
This week our flash game challenge is Dolphin Olympics 2! Yes, Dolphins are supposed to be cute and calming forces of nature, but this game will have you spinning in your seat trying to jump through rings, tail-sliding and going for jump combos -- all in under two minutes.
