Telling Stories of Beauty and Joy

kids will be kids | india

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:20:01 +0000

One of the things i love about the “digital world” is the ability we have to communicate with each other all around the world. Shortly after finishing the short video from India, a London based blog “The 189″ posted it on their site. I always love to hear what people see in what I’m able to make.

Here’s a little bit from the post:

“Each of these children in this visual work is either HIV positive or has developed AIDS, something that seems quite irrelevant to them as they just enjoy the presence of the camera and the company of their friends. Perhaps this is a reminder of all the innocence that gets caught up in this terrible disease…”

Amen.

the 189: kids will be kids | india

The Mysteries of LOST…

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:19:44 +0000

For the last six-years millions of people, including myself, have been captivated by a single TV show, which has brought us both moments of deep sadness and moments of great joy. I am of course talking about the hit ABC show “LOST” which just last night came to an end with a two and a half hour finale. Waking up this morning, I was curious as to what people thought about the way the last six-years came to a close. After reading through numerous blogs, Twitter updates, and Facebook posts, one thing was clear, not everybody enjoyed it. In fact, a majority of the “bad” reviews had very little to do with “how” it ended (people were not concerned necessarily with how the story was “wrapped-up”) and more to do with “what was left out.”

LOST has been a show over the last six-years that has continually asked the viewers to be “engaged” and to try and answer for themselves the “mysteries” presented within the show. The final episode did end with a “resolution” but not in the way the human mind is “trained” to expect. The final episode still left us with questions about everything from “the black smoke” to the “mystical properties” of the island. But I realized as I read the “reviews” that we, as humans, crave finite answers. We are like the character Jack in the show, always asking more questions of why? how? who? and so on. As humans, we like having “all the answers” and when the “mysteries” of LOST are still left after the final episode, we think it was sub-par.

Maybe this is why when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, we “secretly” wish he had just taken the Devil up on his “challenges” and shown the whole world His power. Maybe this is why the Israelites could not trust Moses while he stood on Mount Sinai and instead “built” a “god” they could see, a “god” without mystery. And maybe this is why throughout time we have tried to “force” God’s mysteries into “Christian” music, “Christian” movies, or other legalistic acts meant to help one “experience” God.

When it comes to appreciating art these days, nothing has changed. This is why people are complaining about LOST. We have no respect for ambiguity, mystery, or anything that we cannot “digest” immediately. We reduce art to nothing more than eye-candy. Let’s go pop Avatar in on the 1080p…

For more, check out JJ Abrams’ TED talk from 2007, The Mystery Box

I’m blogging?

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:24:03 +0000

Ok so it is official…I’m blogging. Weird I know. I’m the kid who always felt that blogging was…well…unnecessary?

Regardless, here I am.

The last thing I want to do is make this a “look at the awesome stuff JJ has to say” blog. But my goal with this is to update anyone who cares, which may only be my mom and both my grandmas, on my recent projects and my experiences overseas.

If you know me at all and happen to see one of my ten thousand tweets per day, you know that I, along with Alec Eagon, have begun “production” on our first feature-length documentary.

As of right now the project is simple titled, “RETHINK AFRICA//”

Simply put, the goal of RETHINK AFRICA// project is to provoke people to rethink the ideas that they have about the role of non-profits and social justice organizations in developing countries.

On July 6, we leave for Africa, where we will spend an entire month exploring this idea.

Visit our website to learn more: RETHINK AFRICA//