GEOGRAPHY ACCORDING TO BLACK

I put this video up yesterday on my channel, hoping to profit from the misfortunes of the ditz from Carolina who thinks South Africa and The Iraq are locate somewhere near Alaska. No death threats yet.

With Love from Iraq

Children often seem like old souls. This small movie from Iraq and Iran directed by Bahman Ghobadi taught me never to grow up in a War Zone;

Turtles Can Fly

This movie blew away the Berlin Film Festival. It will change the way you look at American war movies. Suddenly, "Saving Private Ryan" seems like nothing more than a grotesque study in rampant violence.

Singularity

I like what Blue told me the other day on an impromptu trip to Lake Eerie, "There is an importance of recording and cataloging a sense of awe and singularity of an experience, isolated from habitual schedule and routine. Experience should be like a rainbow -- you are never quite prepared for its beauty. Always a surprise. " Blue of course, was talking about cataloging experience in your mind's eye, not about videotaping or photographing all of your experiences. This leads me to the question, does shooting an event diminish your personal experience of it? I believe it can and often does. But I do it in order to share and say something.
foto by Blue

Impulse

On the way to Broomes Island I asks Blue, "Why am I so impulsive?"
Blue tells me, "Boredom and intelligence.. a very bad combination."
I don't know about the intelligence part, but boredom is my navigator.

foto by Blue

If the rain brought me to your door, would you open it?

Quantumly Engaged With Love at a Distance

My pal Beto gets married today to a babe he conjured up from cyberspace who turns out to be more beautiful in the flesh than onscreen, and they make these gorgeous rings for today's wedding. His ring is on top, but usually hers is ;-) Designed by the couple with Linda Hesh and Eric Margry, the rings were actually engraved by hand by Eric Margry, who is one of the top hand engravers left in America. But here's the really cool part: Alberto gets a mathematical formula called "Quantum entanglement," cut into the inside of the ring, designed by mathematical photographer, Justin Mullins. This is Mr. Mullin's picture of the formula:

. . . and the formula is explained for geniuses at this link to the photographer Justin Mullins.

But what do I think? It's my blog.

Quantum entanglement, like action at a distance in physics, is the process through which two bodies influence each other with no known conduit. It is love at a distance, and Beto's love was more than 3,000 miles away. How can two people be so intimately connected in spirit without being able to touch or see the object of their affections? The formula itself cannot explain one of the deepest mysteries of the universe, love.

Is it possible to love at a distance- even before the first meeting? I know so. ..

---------------------------------------------------
ring designed by the betrothed duo, Eric Margry and Linda Hesh
engraving performed by Eric Margry
formula created by Justin Mullins

Meeting Edward C. Smith

The gentleman knows the world before him. In an hour, you see American life differently. Edward C. Smith is a treasure, one of those rare human beings who alter your orbit and destiny in only a few minutes of an encounter. I filmed him with history teacher Mike Corey, with whom i am creating a show called "The Future of History" for the MemeChannel.

Exer- I mean- Exorcising Addictions

Addiction- everyone has them. The question is, should they be exercised, or exorcized. We are always running toward or away from addictions when not immersed in them. My pilot crashes.

I never met heroin, but the video on addiction I am working on will be dedicated to Peter who overcame it, K1tten who is fighting it, and Jenne who died from it.

What the fuck does this duck want?

Imprinting is a way of being defined by nature, or is it nurture? Mother, Nature, brands us all -- Anew. But in this bird's case, nature could be simply a really hungry belly . . .

My Life in somebody else's Universe

If I ever get a million dollars, I will give part of it to Chris Doyle, who shot the mesmerizing "Last Life in the Universe." Director Pen-ek Ratanaruang says in the accompanying interview, that a location is every bit as important as the players and the script, and Doyle's camera brings you into the place, which then stays inside you for days after. I will be thinking about being in this hiding place of Pen-ek's and Doyle's for a long time, at least until next Wednesday, by which time my routine and route will have made me numb enough to consider watching something like Tom Cruise.

Last Life in the Universe