On the edge of Brooklyn aging monoliths of a bygone era of aviation rest their crumbling bones on empty runways. 

Once upon a time Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart blasted off of this tarmac and flew around the world…

A man named Wrong Way took off from here and landed in Ireland triggering a ticker tape parade in Manhattan once he got back…

Today kids come here to play soccer in the sports complex, people drive their cars in circles, park rangers keep the curious ones from exploring too much and kids with spray paint cans update the more out of sight ruins…

I went away and came back and then left all over again and when I finally returned from my sad little sojourn I thought I might be missing a few pieces but I actually ended up with more than I started with…

A couple weeks ago I flew out to Eugene Oregon to watch and document my first ever roller derby tournament. I was there shooting as part of a new film project called Talk Derby to Me. This is the resulting trailer for what will be an ongoing documentary project on roller derby, microbes and what it means to be human. 

If you’re interested you can read a bit more about the idea here:
Talk Derby to Me  

“there’s a bluebird in my heart that

wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.”

Latest video by  Zack Canepari and Drea Cooper of California is a Place. Their stuff is so so good. 

I’ve always been a fan of Bukowski. It’s hard not love that gritty alcoholic view from the underbelly that he gives. It pairs so well with the visuals in this. I can’t stop watching it. 

Be sure to check out their other videos as well if you haven’t seen them already (even if you have). Their short Aquadettes was recently shown at Sundance. They describe it as a story on “life, death and synchronized swimming.”

This is just… beautiful. I love TED talks, butI’ve sort of fallen back in love with them lately as I’ve been working on a documentary project with three TED fellows. This piece really highlights the importance of being grateful for the small things hidden in plain sight in the everyday.  

This is a great list of ideas for staying creative and also a really well done video. Check it! I need to start listening to the one about getting away from the computer more… 

Steve McQueen’s Sunday funday.

For a few minutes everything got strange, quiet and lonely…

“

And courage to me meant ploughing through that dull gray mist that comes down on life— not only overriding people and circumstances but overriding the bleakness of living. A sort of insistence on the value of life and the worth of transient things.

-F Scott Fitzgerald

”

V-Town, the project I’ve been working on with my friend Dave, got featured on Six and 5. More V-Town style goodness is in the works. Stay tuned. 

Via Flavorwire:

“YouTube inadvertently did singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, a great favor when it denied him the right to run the video for “Hood” (above) as an ad on the site. The clip, which shows gay porn star Arpad Miklos chastely embracing Hadreas, brushing his hair, and applying makeup to him, was judged “non family safe,” despite its lack of nudity or sex. When Perfume Genius went public about YouTube’s censorship, he sparked the outrage of the indie blogosphere and earned a defender in Michael Stipe. Of course, this says little about the music onPut Your Back N 2 It. From what we’ve heard so far, Hadreas’ second album is a delicate, soul-baring epic that demands ample attention on its own merits; fans of Antony and the Johnsons especially should keep an eye out for this one.”

If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”
- Gerald Seymour 

I watched this documentary last night and it started an interesting conversation between my friends and I. For me it was really inspiring to see a group of people so passionate about something that they were willing to go to such extremes for it. I don’t know if their methods are right but after seeing the police action taken against them in the film it’s hard not to sympathize with the E.L.F. 

That being said activism is a confusing and challenging subject for me and I don’t really know how to properly articulate my thoughts on it so I think I’ll leave it alone. But I think this documentary is worth watching. It’s up for an Oscar this year. It’s streaming on Netflix. Check it out. It’s worth an hour and a half of your time. 

Someone in my hometown owns and presumably drives this thing…

Un Nombre de Mujer - Los Zafiros

I wish I could curl up and live inside of this song… Listening to it makes me want to find a time machine and travel back in time to Cuba in the 60s.

Linen guayabera shirts and hot sweaty nights rum drunk and electric gyrations in the low light and this wild sound mixing with the humidity. In my dreams…

Also, the little bit of story I could glean from the Wikipedia entry on Los Zafiros makes their story seem more interesting than anything Hollywood has vomited out in the last year.

“The group was highly successful from the start, with high record sales and popular tours at home and abroad. However, some members of the group were self-destructive and undisciplined, with heavy drinking and other activities. Two died young: Ignacio died in 1981 at the age of 37 from a brain hemorrhage. Kike died in 1983 from cirrhosis of the liver. El Chino, beset by vision, speech and drinking problems, lived alone in Cayo Hueso until his death on 8 August 1995 at age 56. Today only two members are alive, Manuel Galban and Miguel Cancio. Cancio lives in Miami.”

Cloudy evening in Greenpoint.