Witness The Rebirth!

Yesterday, I went through a series of logic and introspection... because, you see, I haven't been marketing Witness The Rebirth and Lil Biggz as well as I think I could. Not really sure what's holding me back, but a fear of falling is probably in there somewhere. But I know if I hesitate and don't express it as much as possible, I'm already failing. It's a much disservice I'm providing by make it more difficult to find. So, from this point forward, this blog will see more posts about the other projects I'm doing. [Do you think that's diverging from the essence?] I'd hate to make it anything goes here... but wouldn't be nice to have one place for the breadth of my work? I need to get my own domain!

I found Captain America's shield!

You know I love all things Captain America, I'm thinking about a tattoo.

Retrospect

I decided to video blog today, although I think I write (rather type) better, I need to work on not being so fearful of the camera.

Especially, when we'll have paparazzi around I think it's terribly more difficult to run. It'll be all good when they're friends, easier to market stuff too. "Clear the air", dispel rumors, clarify quotes or comments, that sorta case is where the paparazzi does better with you than against.

I could've just uploaded it directly, but YouTube is suppose to be about "Broadcast Yourself" right? Well, let's take this for spin.

The American President

I've kept mostly quiet about this year's presidential election, and it's been mostly out of my character to do so. I haven't personally endorsed any candidate, yet. This is especially odd because two of the prominent candidates being who they are, one an African-American and one a woman. The question was brought up yesterday, "who has more of a disadvantage, the woman or the black man?" and the general census was the woman. Although it thrills me to see that ethnicity places a smaller part under gender, it saddens me because this question should not exist. Not here in America, land of the free. Whose eastern border is marked with a women, holding a lamp at the "golden door"; no, not here in America, not in the land of opportunity. This presidential race should not be about color or gender. It should be about the presidency and this country.

The election itself has never really sat well with me, the whole process of it. The parading, the mudslinging, it all seems unnecessary, but in America this is how its done. I feel like it always comes down to "which is the lesser of two evils", a terrible way to choose a leader. The only president I've ever wanted to be a citizen under was never a candidate. Unanimously, the first president was never elected, he was asked to be president, given the job because he understood what America was--better than anyone else. Perhaps this is the criteria by which we should decide who should be our leader--their understanding of what America is, in 2008.

I would rather avoid anyone that wants to be president and choose the one that has to be president. No, I have not endorsed any presidential candidate and I'm not going to. I'm going to wait and see who resembles the American President most.

I'm really big on public speaking, how anyone can elect a president that can't put a sentence together is beyond me. Obama's speech after the Iowa Caucus was incredible.

And there's something special about Hillary's choked-up response.

"It’s not easy, and I couldn’t do it if I didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country just don’t want to see us fall backwards."

"You know, this is very personal for me. It’s not just political it’s not just public. I see what’s happening, and we have to reverse it."

"Some people think elections are a game, lot’s of who’s up or who’s down, it’s about our country , it’s about our kids’ futures, and it’s really about all of us together."

"You know, some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds, and we do it, each one of us because we care about our country but some of us are right and some of us are wrong, some of us are ready and some of us are not, some of us know what we will do on day one and some of us haven’t thought that through enough."

Does your candidate know what to do on Day 1?

Anticipation::Anxiety

I stand at the edge... looking into the oblivion of the next year--what is to come. I'm doing everything I can to prepare, but I am unsure of what lies ahead. How am I suppose to prepare for something I am so unsure of? I mean, I think I know what's coming. "It's like I can predict the future now." I've planned for this, and I've nearly completed everything that I need to prepare. Are we ready? Am I ready?

***
Checklist (as of 2007.12.27):
ProTools... check
FruityLoops... check
Camera... check
Mohawk... check
Moleskines... check

YouTube... waiting

MMVM... processing
Template... processing
Final Cut... processing
Publishing... processing

Copyright...
Powerbook and G5...
***
Sometimes life throws curve balls, learn to hit them and you'll get paid.

Blog Action Day - 2007

As I mentioned in the last post... once again, I am a part of another whole. Blog Action Day asks the question "what would happen if every blog published post discussing the same issue, on the same day?" [I'm not even going to explore the possibilities of this, you can do that on your own.] Its intent is to raise awareness on a number of issues, the first being the environment. And it couldn't come at a better time.


One issue. One day. Thousands of voices.

The Most Terrifying Video I've Ever Seen

I came across something on digg today that needed to share with all of you. You've probably figured out what side of the environmental argument that I'm on; if not, I'm riding with the "global warming is very real, and we need to do something about it" crew. I have an attachment to the environmental problem, the emotions that it conjures up are unspeakable. [Right now, while I'm typing, my hands are shaking.] I promise we'll get into this after, onto the video!

The video is an argument for action, on the global climate crisis (if you believe it to be a problem or not). It's intent is to look at the problem objectively, without emotion, and through logic. Think "Risk Management." It is oversimplified but with good reason; it makes it easier for everyone to understand, and the conclusion very clear. Here's the video.



What did you everyone think? I hope it invoked something... for the love of god, anything... please! I'll be weighing in the the global warming issue soon. I'm with "Blog Action Day" and we'll be posting about the environment come October 15, 2007. [Please join us as you see fit.] I've got 8 days left to wrap mine up.

As promised, here we go...
I'd liked to believe that I've gained a reputation as a problem-solver. "Got a problem, tell me about it, and we'll take care of it," that's how I am with almost everything. Some problems I do not and/or cannot have a solution for, but I have suggestions. In the slightest sense, this is how I feel about Global Climate Change. The difference is, the result of my inability to provide a solution results in catastrophic events. I'll never deal with a problem with this much riding on the it. Our world is a stake, and I have no comment. For this, I am a failure and there is no apology that will be good enough.

I want to conclude with a few extra notes. Ahhh... there is something to be said about needing a leader... and stuff about lost potential. And it all can be summed up with one little story:
At the height of the Second World War, we (as a human race) were industrializing so much we had the ability to feed every living being. Every nation horded their greatest scientists and conducted experiments to test our limits. But. We chose to send nuclear warheads, and keep up with the production schedule.
I think it's safe to say, we made a mistake. But, we have a chance to redeem ourselves, Global Climate Change has given us that chance to make up for all of our wrongs as a race. But, we're choosing to not do anything about it.

This is a problem I cannot solve on my own, and I need your help. Please, will you help me?

Do Good

It’s been a while since I've written and I apologize for that, I've been staying pretty busy. I put down couple of concepts for movies and kicked off a few things. The start of school is just around the corner and I see that train coming when I close my eyes, the only thing I can do is knuckle up and prepare. So, consider this the calm before the storm, a little ode to education.

I read a quote today… well I read quotes everyday, but I’d like to share this one. “The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time.” [Terry Tempest Williams] Take a moment to digest that… I should repeat it for good measure, but that’s not necessary. I kinda handicapped myself, because the point of a quote is to state your claim in one shot and not have to say anything else. But I vow never to be speechless so…

In whatever you choose to do in life, think about the future of this world. I was having a discussion with one of my friends… about something materialistic, commenting of the value of a product and the company it represents—it was about clothing, anti-sweatshops and buying genuine. And my other friend, not the one I was directly speaking to, says “Carl, you complain too much.” I’m aware of this, I know… but it’s because I see so much room for improvement, so much potential never actualized. It’s really quite depressing when I think about it, so maybe my defense mechanism is to complain. I ended up responding with “The world isn’t perfect.” And he quickly said “exactly!” I looked at him and said “how can you expect to change anything when you don’t know what’s wrong?” My choice of words may have been a bit off, perhaps “wrong” was not the right word to use. But that’s what I said and there was no conversation after that. And I chose not to follow through.

That choice… well let’s just say it’s lost potential. I wanted to look at him, like I was burning a hole past the innocently guilty, and beg for him to believe he can change the world. I’d never ask anyone to be on a mission alone, and this “change the world” is no exception.

At the Chicago Architecture Foundation, my 9-to-5, we took the internship high school students to the Apple Computer store on Michigan Ave [they intern at Architecture Firms, some pretty big names too]. They gave us a great lecture of business and design, how to integrate both. It was good for the students, to finally realize when a client approaches them with a design problem and how they convert that into Architecture. The presenter left us with a commercial and I’d like to share it with all of you. [Thanks for the great network of www.youtube.com for this one]



I’d like to highlight that last bit… “Because the people, who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Many wishfully look to the heavens and say “Save Me” [to the tune of Cartel’s song of the same name], but instead of waiting to be saved why can’t you be a saviour to the future, and the rest of this world.