Weezer

i just watched a video/autobiography from Weezer' lead singer, rivers cuomo, and i thought it showed how elastic the boundaries of documentary can be. personally, i feel this video is documentary, and i especially love how primitive it is. the video might seem a bit playful/given what we know about the band's sensibilities, but the story he is telling is real and true.

...i dont think it's any great work of art, but i do think it tells a story.

watch the video here

Ethics, anyone?

We went to see a movie last night to forget about all the work that needs to be done for our show next week. I don't know if it was a subconscious thing, but we ended up watching a movie that summed up our struggle as documentarians pretty well. Instead of escaping, we ended up addressing our issues head-on. This is a must-see for anyone who's interested in attending Salt. We couldn't stop talking about it the whole walk home.

James Nachtwey's Wish.

For those of you who loved the documentary War Photographer about James Nachtwey that we watched in Prof. Grady's class, you might find his recent acceptance speech at the 2007 TED Conference super interesting. You get to hear more on Nachtwey's philosophy about his role as a documentarian, and you see a great slide show of his work. In TED speeches many speakers make a wish of some kind, an idea that they hope other innovative thinkers will find a way to put into practice. Nacthwey's wish: "...help gaining access to a story that needs to be told, and developing a new, digital way to show these photos to the world." As documentarians coming to age during a new kind of technologic saavy, we might be in the best position to fulfill his wish.

Just something to think about.

A little bit of inspiration...

I know most of you will still be chasing your stories on Monday, but what do you say to a little bit of The UP Series in the student lounge?

WHO: Anyone who chooses to attend
WHAT: A viewing of the first disc of The Up Series: Seven Up/ Seven Plus Seven. (92 minutes)
WHEN: Monday, October 1st. 7:00.
WHERE: The Salt Student Lounge, 2nd Floor
WHY: Because it's a good documentary, and you'll be smarter for having watched it. So I hear.

We could even grab a little food if you want. Just a thought. Be there, or be somewhere else entirely.