visual madness

We all have our little guilty pleasures in life, be it Tater Tots, MTV Cribs, or watching Nicholas Cage in The Wicker Man. For me, there is no pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater… than the fine art of White Rap.

Now, when most people hear the words “White Rap”, images of Eminem, The Beastie Boys and perhaps even the venerable Mark Wahlberg usually come to mind. To me, these people aren’t white rappers – just rappers that happen to be white.

True White Rap is what you get when you take an art form and have it performed by people whom it was never, ever intended for. The resulting product is something so awesome it’ll make you want to rip the face off of a 5th-grader.

So without further ado, here are 10 of the most outrageously badass White Rap songs… EVER.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Even though my first viewing of 12 Monkeys at age 12 was what opened the door for me as far as film-making went, it was only when I started making little flourish videos in ’04 that I finally walked through it. In making my flourish montages, I always had one simple rule – I had to know what song I was using before I put the video together.

When I did HFFH four years ago, even before shooting it I knew I was going to use that particular track off of the WWE Anthology. Likewise, Void Deck was destined to have Emily Haine’s haunting voice in the background. And one of the reasons Portable Playground took so long to come out was because I had to find that one song that fit – eventually I did, and now I can’t imagine anything other than Sam Roberts’ track playing in its stead.

So I guess when it comes down to it, one could say I’m a music video maker with a very specific subject. And while I don’t consider myself as much of a music-video nut as I do a film geek (more on that next time), it’s a format that I’ve come to be very fascinated with. » Read the rest of this entry «

So, here we are again – that time of the year where we celebrate the centuries-old tradition of having people over for dinner and then stealing their land (I kid). And while this will be the first year I won’t be enjoying a helping or two (or four) of delicious turkey and mashed potatoes, I figured I’d still join in on at least half the deal and express gratitude for the things I feel especially appreciative of this year:

• My family. Without my Mom and Dad, well… I probably wouldn’t be here to type this right now. Kudos also for taking care of me for the past 20 years, it’s definitely not an easy job. Thanks also to Jennifer for being one of my favorite people on the planet, and to David for making sure that everyone gets along.
• My friends. Life is a crazy, mysterious thing, but it’s always better when you know that you aren’t alone in this journey. Special shout-out to Huron, Daren, Justin, Bone, Dan and Dave Buck, and the entire ‘OC crew’.
• Technology. Just a few days ago I left my room at 5pm with a camera and tripod, and by 8pm what I filmed was up on the internet for the whole world to see. Years ago that would have involved loans, transportation, a crew, professional lighting and gear, film development, a Moviola and a distributor. What used to take months can now be done in less than a day – simply amazing. Thanks especially to the Internet for its infinite collection of information and randomness, Apple for constantly coming out with beautiful, efficient, increasingly-compact products, and all the developers and scientists for constantly pushing the bar as to how fast and streamlined the technology we use can be.
• The teachers. Now, I’m not talking about the ones that just assign you loads of homework and then merit you by how much you memorize and churn out in return. I’m talking about the true, passionate, teachers – the ones that value knowledge and enlightenment, and consider it their duty to properly share and impart that knowledge to those of us without as much experience in our veins. If not for these people I probably wouldn’t know how to walk, let alone run a website.
• The artists. These are the people who’ve come to realize that life is so much more than just an endless cycle of eating, sleeping, shitting, and finding some way or other to make enough money to wake up again and repeat the process. Out of their minds they bring us films, books, music, theater, poetry, painting and design that causes us to think, question, laugh, admire, feel, reflect, and in some cases, become inspired to do the same.

And last, but not least, I’d like to give a big Thank-You to you, the reader. Without you, this site would be nothing but an empty cave with me making echoes in it. Thank you for taking the time and reading all these strange, irreverent thoughts that come to my head. It helps to keep the voices away.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Post it in the comments section below!

Roo!