if you’re around for some of the flicks there’s a mix of short films + a few new longer inclusions this year as well. there will also be a filmmakers panel after two of the showings. i’ll be spewing on one of those after the sat 5pm showing so if you’re up for an earful drop by. actually, stoked to be on a panel with producer kevin sullivan.

Our Filmmaker Q+A sessions are powerful nights in the theater, an opportunity to get to know the creative minds behind some of Filmed by Bike’s favorite movies.

When the LCD Soundsystem remade the video for their song Drunk Girls, they chose to film it with a cadre of Portland bikers. The result is a gritty party video. Producer Kevin Sullivan will be on stage to discuss this piece, why they chose Portland, how they found the actors and how they developed the rough-and-tumble concept of an underground tall bike jousting bout.

from the mind of hugh macleod,

I worked in advertising for many years. My opinion of Madison Avenue is the same as the famous one held by the screenwriter, William Goldman, to describe Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything”.
No matter how clever you are or how much money you spend, every ad campaign is a risk. It may be a hit, or it may flop.
You just don’t know till you’ve already spent your money and the campaign is already out there, filling up the cultural ether.

really? or is there a system in place?

this isn’t bad either.

does it work for you?

carry you away?

still looking for it?

don’t leave home without it.

need to want less

pin-up calendar like never before via butter, a studio from germany

circus: the photographs of frederick w glasier

should have thought of this

vampire electronics defense

10 movies every photographer should watch via fashion photography blog

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

whatever it is, i’ve always found something in even the grey days, even the most mundane reading, even the slow times. this last weekend i had the privledge of shooting the 39th annual portland marathon for runner’s world. it started in the dark + the rain + only the dark part of that equation changed for the better. needless to say, we were after a very specific look + the conditions weren’t helping.

along comes this fine gent merrily making the most of his day…. + his bicep. had to laugh at the time but looking back i think it was the break i needed to snap me back to attention. bring the focus out of the grey + into what i was really doing. which is what i’m passionate about. you can’t have the good days, the great shots, the peak moments without the grey ones. even if you don’t live in the great pacific nw.

I used to play the guitar when I was ten, you know. So I figured maybe my thing is playing the guitar, maybe that’s my little gift. Like somebody can make a cake, or somebody else can saw a tree down, and other people write… Maybe I got a better gift. But as of right now, I haven’t found out what it is.” ~ Bob Dylan, in a 1963

the first is steve jobs back in the day. really much more vocal then i expect but obviously excited about his work + motivated. the second is artist raghava KK on his life + it’s evolution along an inspiring + unique path. i like what both are saying. not just via their stories but through their lives, their actions. it’s readily apparent that they love what they do. + as a result have been stuck on it for a long, long time. the 10,000 hours of malcolm gladwell. the stick-to-it-ness that has to be in place to really succeed.

reading courtesy of ibooks on my flight home i was then caught by this piece off change this titled The Power of Passionate Creatives. the one thing among many that stood out for me was this,

Passion puts you ahead of the competition.

An interesting thing happens when we pursue our passions as our profession: We actually seek out more challenges. Rather than viewing them as sources of stress, we see them as opportunities to get better faster.
We want to push ourselves to the next level, and we get restless if we remain in the same place too long.
No matter what the area of work, some people are quite passionate about what they do. They can’t wait to get to work and test themselves. They love to drive their performance to new levels.
Increasingly, these are the people you will be competing with in the future.
We’ll say this a different way:
If you are not equally passionate about the work you do, you will undoubtedly get marginalized. The pressures will just be too overwhelming.

brilliant. kind of thing you intrinsically develop as a creative business owner but never put into place as an advantage. my better is better… in crazy synchronicity the piece even touches on my current book Matt Crawford’s Shop Class as Soulcraft where he argues that working with one’s hands can have deeply philosophical, even spiritual, meaning. if you haven’t, you should.

so here’s to creativity coming out your ears. this mind blowing trailer from life cycles, might help. it’s the best thing i’ve seen lately. pure inspiration. an ex pro rider friend relayed to me,

Holy ?!@#, I believe the standards for bike movies just went up a notch. Looks like a National Geo documentary merged with The Collective. Super rad.

back east recently + damn good time. sweet when the humidity is down. and thanks to everyone there. can’t wait to head out on the sailboat asap myste + beck. came across a trove of cool stuff so here’s a few images + lo down on the the adventure.

lomography gallery store 41st w 8th st nyc – great little space with examples + cameras from across this style spectrum. fun neighborhood if you have the time.

cooper-hewitt natl design museum nyc – brilliant design in all it’s form. really like the moma store as well as muji myself for the take home pieces.

institute of contemporary art boston – shepard fairey – this just ended but was great to see the street promos done in his style that randomly popped of neigherhoods while out walking city streets. acting out by five artists might be sounds like a very worthwhile alternative + is still showing.

museum of bad art boston – in their own words, “is the world’s only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms.”

then more recently in the ny times another look at what has become known as ‘photoshopping’ in certain circles though was around far longer then the mammoth program we know today.

art + copy is a new film delving into the history of what many of us either can’t get enough of or find ourselves getting far too much exposure to. already starting the machine talking it’s sure to ring a few bells + make some waves on it’s current tour.

director Doug Pray (Surfwise, Scratch, Hype!) says on creativepro.com,

“This movie… isn’t about bad advertising. I didn

]]> http://heathkorvola.com/blog/2009/08/18/advertising-is/feed/ 1 http://heathkorvola.com/blog/2009/07/06/81-chances-are-you-have-synthesthesia/ http://heathkorvola.com/blog/2009/07/06/81-chances-are-you-have-synthesthesia/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:03:04 +0000 heath http://heathkorvola.com/blog/?p=409

“as an artist, nabokov was, according to ramachandran’s research, eight times more likely to have synesthesia than someone who is not an artist..”

more via John Colapinto in The New Yorker. it’s all about perception.