Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
WDYDWYD?
It;s such a simple question. But such a difficult answer to give.
Why do you do what you do?
It's not just about knowing what you, it's also knowing about your reasons.
I tried to use it in conversations with total strangers. I asked them why they're doing what they do. Most of the times, the answer is 'because it's my job', of 'just because'. But that's not the point. One can be apart from the other. Mostly, the answer has to do with income, a job. But that can be something different from what it really is that you're doing, and why you're doing that.
You can clean toilets every day, but still just be focussed on giving people some comfort, no matter how. Or you can be an important lawyer but actually, you just want to have fun. Everything is possible.
Just asking this question can get you some terrific answers. And even better conversations.
Online, there are innumarable photo's, collages and cards on which people try to answer this question as honest as possible. I recently heard about it when my friend J edited the video you can find below. At Burning Man, the same artist was asking the same question. It took me days to come up with a good answer. And I'm not sure if I would answer the same thing if you'd ask me know.
I can only ask you: why do YOU do what you do?
Js stop-motion video:
Find more videos like this on wdydwyd?
Why do you do what you do?
It's not just about knowing what you, it's also knowing about your reasons.
I tried to use it in conversations with total strangers. I asked them why they're doing what they do. Most of the times, the answer is 'because it's my job', of 'just because'. But that's not the point. One can be apart from the other. Mostly, the answer has to do with income, a job. But that can be something different from what it really is that you're doing, and why you're doing that.
You can clean toilets every day, but still just be focussed on giving people some comfort, no matter how. Or you can be an important lawyer but actually, you just want to have fun. Everything is possible.
Just asking this question can get you some terrific answers. And even better conversations.
Online, there are innumarable photo's, collages and cards on which people try to answer this question as honest as possible. I recently heard about it when my friend J edited the video you can find below. At Burning Man, the same artist was asking the same question. It took me days to come up with a good answer. And I'm not sure if I would answer the same thing if you'd ask me know.
I can only ask you: why do YOU do what you do?
Js stop-motion video:
Find more videos like this on wdydwyd?
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Fear
Aren't we all looking for safety and security? Isn't that why we get married, become parents and cycle to the same desk every day for years to do our job? Isn't that why we always go on holiday to the same French village, where the backery at the corner has fresh croissants on Sundays? Why would you go into unknown areas on adventures that have unsure endings, without knowing if it will be fun? Why would you put yourself in scary situations?
Because you never know hoe it will enrich your life.
Because you can amaze yourself.
Because afterwards, you can often conclude that those were the moments you remember.
For me, it was leaving Limburg years ago to study in Amsterdam, years ago and fall in love with a city for the first time. It was pacing my backpack and traveling to the other side of the world, to find out I could have fun and make new friends everywhere. It's traveling to other continents and realizing that all those prejudices are only prejudices. It's putting my blog on Facebook and finding out that people actually read it. It's saying 'yes' to weird proposals and ending up in surprising situations. It's doing a stand-up comedy course and tell jokes to an audience for eight minutes.
Not everything has to be successful though. Sometimes, the situations that follow from weird proposals are just weird or boring and joking for eight minutes doesn't mean you will become a famous comedian. Not everything I write is great. But that's not the point. The point is that if something scares you, you shouldn't walk away from it. you should walk up to it instead. Towards new adventures, new discoveries.
So, what scares you? When are you going to walk, and which way?
Because you never know hoe it will enrich your life.
Because you can amaze yourself.
Because afterwards, you can often conclude that those were the moments you remember.
For me, it was leaving Limburg years ago to study in Amsterdam, years ago and fall in love with a city for the first time. It was pacing my backpack and traveling to the other side of the world, to find out I could have fun and make new friends everywhere. It's traveling to other continents and realizing that all those prejudices are only prejudices. It's putting my blog on Facebook and finding out that people actually read it. It's saying 'yes' to weird proposals and ending up in surprising situations. It's doing a stand-up comedy course and tell jokes to an audience for eight minutes.
Not everything has to be successful though. Sometimes, the situations that follow from weird proposals are just weird or boring and joking for eight minutes doesn't mean you will become a famous comedian. Not everything I write is great. But that's not the point. The point is that if something scares you, you shouldn't walk away from it. you should walk up to it instead. Towards new adventures, new discoveries.
So, what scares you? When are you going to walk, and which way?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Stories
I just want to talk again about one of the best things of November: the IDFA. One of my favorite programs is the DocLab, the new media program. On one hand, DocLab shows the new technologies in the world of digital storytelling (like mobile phones, cameras that capture 360 degrees etc) and on the other hand, DocLab brings to bring digital media to the big screen.
I'm frightened by the amount of inspiring projects that can be found online. Even by knowing just a small amount of everything that is offered, I'm overwhelmed. This year, just like last year, DocLab showed several special websites that are worth visiting.
For instance, Zach Wise, who works on the multi media department of the NYT, talked about his bookmarks. Like Everynone, where you can find beautiful films, The Archive, a film about dedication and music and a little film about stoopsitting, a typical American habit that I would love to introduce in Amsterdam. Or the film about the The Lost Tribes of New York. Things that make a person happy.
One of the most beautiful projects in my opinion, is Highrise, Out of my Window. A project that shows different high rise buildings on the inside and outside, in different cities in the world. It has beautiful collages of the surroundings, where you can scroll through and click on films and stories.
Telling stories can be done in a thousand different ways, as is shown by DocLab. Why would one restrict themselves to just words or images? All stories ask for their own form, it's up to the stoy tellers to find the right form and use it as good as possible to give the story its true value. That's why it was, in my opinion, so inspiring to be treated to a real story telling evening, on one of the DocLab nights.
I must shamefully confess that I never heard of it before, but I immediately fell in love with the concept: brought to Amsterdam from - of course - the US, once a month in comedy club Toomler, and for one time in Tuschinski: Echt Gebeurde Verhalen told stories. Real stories. Of all the stories and all the different possibilities to tell them, that DocLab offers, this is the most honest and simple one: one person, one microphone, one light. And then, just tell the story.
I'm frightened by the amount of inspiring projects that can be found online. Even by knowing just a small amount of everything that is offered, I'm overwhelmed. This year, just like last year, DocLab showed several special websites that are worth visiting.
For instance, Zach Wise, who works on the multi media department of the NYT, talked about his bookmarks. Like Everynone, where you can find beautiful films, The Archive, a film about dedication and music and a little film about stoopsitting, a typical American habit that I would love to introduce in Amsterdam. Or the film about the The Lost Tribes of New York. Things that make a person happy.
One of the most beautiful projects in my opinion, is Highrise, Out of my Window. A project that shows different high rise buildings on the inside and outside, in different cities in the world. It has beautiful collages of the surroundings, where you can scroll through and click on films and stories.
Telling stories can be done in a thousand different ways, as is shown by DocLab. Why would one restrict themselves to just words or images? All stories ask for their own form, it's up to the stoy tellers to find the right form and use it as good as possible to give the story its true value. That's why it was, in my opinion, so inspiring to be treated to a real story telling evening, on one of the DocLab nights.
I must shamefully confess that I never heard of it before, but I immediately fell in love with the concept: brought to Amsterdam from - of course - the US, once a month in comedy club Toomler, and for one time in Tuschinski: Echt Gebeurde Verhalen told stories. Real stories. Of all the stories and all the different possibilities to tell them, that DocLab offers, this is the most honest and simple one: one person, one microphone, one light. And then, just tell the story.
The Lost Tribes of New York City from Carolyn London on Vimeo.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Supermarket
Tuesday night, six thirty in the queue at the register:
- Are you planning to put all those oranges on the counter, miss?
- Yes, actually I was.
- But miss, you cannot do that! You have to put them in a plastic bag!
- Well sir, I'm actually trying to use as less plastic as possible.
- But that will bother other people, if you refuse to use plastic bags.
- I think it will work out fine and it won't bother other people that much. We'll see when I put them on the counter, I guess.
- To be honest, I don't get why you don't want to use a plastic bag. This won't work!
- Well, sir, I have my reasons.
- But it won't work! This will cost too much time!
- Sir, if it bothers you that much, I'm happy to let you go first. So you don't have to be afraid of waiting longer than needed.
- Well, yes, please. But I understand you refuse to discuss this with me?
- Sir, I'm tired and indeed, not really up for this discussion.
- So you're tired and now other people will be bothered by that as well.
- As far as I can see sir, you're the only one who is really bothered by it.
- So if I understand well, you're about to put all those oranges on the counter without putting them in a bag, and you don't want to discuss that with me.
- I think you nailed it there sir.
Short siilence
- I don't understand why you don't want to discuss this.
- Sir, I would never even think of talking to people the way you do. I think you're extremely negative and I don't want to behave in the same way. If I could be bothered, I would have enough arguments for an interesting discussion, but unfortunately, I'm just to tired today.
The girl at the counter weighs the oranges without any problem and takes another item to check out.
- Thank you miss for that. And you sir, have a good night. And good luck with packing your groceries.
- Are you planning to put all those oranges on the counter, miss?
- Yes, actually I was.
- But miss, you cannot do that! You have to put them in a plastic bag!
- Well sir, I'm actually trying to use as less plastic as possible.
- But that will bother other people, if you refuse to use plastic bags.
- I think it will work out fine and it won't bother other people that much. We'll see when I put them on the counter, I guess.
- To be honest, I don't get why you don't want to use a plastic bag. This won't work!
- Well, sir, I have my reasons.
- But it won't work! This will cost too much time!
- Sir, if it bothers you that much, I'm happy to let you go first. So you don't have to be afraid of waiting longer than needed.
- Well, yes, please. But I understand you refuse to discuss this with me?
- Sir, I'm tired and indeed, not really up for this discussion.
- So you're tired and now other people will be bothered by that as well.
- As far as I can see sir, you're the only one who is really bothered by it.
- So if I understand well, you're about to put all those oranges on the counter without putting them in a bag, and you don't want to discuss that with me.
- I think you nailed it there sir.
Short siilence
- I don't understand why you don't want to discuss this.
- Sir, I would never even think of talking to people the way you do. I think you're extremely negative and I don't want to behave in the same way. If I could be bothered, I would have enough arguments for an interesting discussion, but unfortunately, I'm just to tired today.
The girl at the counter weighs the oranges without any problem and takes another item to check out.
- Thank you miss for that. And you sir, have a good night. And good luck with packing your groceries.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
IDFA: Music
Every year, it's the same story. Or song in this case.
There are shocking, moving, unbelievable and inspiring documentaries, but the best are still the music documentaries. I remember To Tulsa and Back, a road movie about J.J. Cale in 2005, The Power of Song about folk singer Peete Seeger in 2007, The Audition of last year about young singers that participate in an opera contest and of course, I'm your Man, the film about Leonard Cohen that literary changed my life.
This year too, IDFA presented some music surprises that made me forget about all the bad things in this world.
Staring with Kinshasa Symphony, a film about an amateur orchestra in Congos capital city, a country that is torn by wars and crimes. This film doesn't show all of that. This film shows how music brings people together. The Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste started fifteen years ago and now exists of two hundred musicians and singers. We meet a few of them, who talk about their instrument, about rehearsing seperatly (by listening to a cd) and about the role of classical music in an African society. The film ends with a performance of the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, and when the singers sing, in German, All people will be brothers, you realise that it's the post colonial mind of the Europeans that is surprised by the combination of people, location and music. The performers are performing their music. That's it.
Music brings people together, as Socalled in The Socalled Movie also proofs. Socalled is a Canadian artist whose versatility can only be showed in eighteen short films. This musician invented klezmerhop and klezmerfunk, the magician shows several tricks that he learned by endless rehearsals, and the film maker takes over a part of the documentary himself.
Socalled made me happy. He's someone who seems to be afraid of nothing and who can bring people together who otherwise never would have met. A lot of inspiration!
There are shocking, moving, unbelievable and inspiring documentaries, but the best are still the music documentaries. I remember To Tulsa and Back, a road movie about J.J. Cale in 2005, The Power of Song about folk singer Peete Seeger in 2007, The Audition of last year about young singers that participate in an opera contest and of course, I'm your Man, the film about Leonard Cohen that literary changed my life.
This year too, IDFA presented some music surprises that made me forget about all the bad things in this world.
Staring with Kinshasa Symphony, a film about an amateur orchestra in Congos capital city, a country that is torn by wars and crimes. This film doesn't show all of that. This film shows how music brings people together. The Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste started fifteen years ago and now exists of two hundred musicians and singers. We meet a few of them, who talk about their instrument, about rehearsing seperatly (by listening to a cd) and about the role of classical music in an African society. The film ends with a performance of the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, and when the singers sing, in German, All people will be brothers, you realise that it's the post colonial mind of the Europeans that is surprised by the combination of people, location and music. The performers are performing their music. That's it.
Music brings people together, as Socalled in The Socalled Movie also proofs. Socalled is a Canadian artist whose versatility can only be showed in eighteen short films. This musician invented klezmerhop and klezmerfunk, the magician shows several tricks that he learned by endless rehearsals, and the film maker takes over a part of the documentary himself.
Socalled made me happy. He's someone who seems to be afraid of nothing and who can bring people together who otherwise never would have met. A lot of inspiration!
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