#gf.r

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old editing rooms

A century prior to this, the film editing process, was much, much simpler than this.

The editor projected the uncut film, kept detailed notes, then returned to a cutting room, equipped with only a bench, scissors, magnifying glass and rule of measure— the length from the tip of your nose, to the fingertips of your arm outstretched equated to about three seconds of film. Silent. Sixteen frames per second. The cutting room was a tailor shop where the fabric cut was time.

Fast-forward, nearer the end of the century— a Moviola was clattering, scratched film strewn across the floor, splicers, tape, trim bins, grease pencils. The editing room had a well-worn hierarchy, long apprenticeships, coding, reconstituting— crafts soon to become obsolete.

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carnival boys

A guy with a mouth brace, was the tenacious scorekeeper, while they all rotated being the card dealer at the table was a Scot, an Englishman and another whose accent was quite difficult to decipher

A mouth brace prevented him from having anything, but liquids through a straw a milkshake… or maybe a margarita? prolific were accidents, moreso amongst foreigners, he’d been in a motorcycle accident just a few days prior

Their low-key presence indicated they weren’t garden-variety tourists their mutually abusive sarcasm suggested the long history between them working for a traveling carnival, they said they were here on vacation

When she eluded to lion tamers, being catapulted from canons, they’d said “wasn’t a circus,” no animals nor crazy stunts— only games, amusement park rides, food that was fun

The guy with a mouth brace   revealed to be the treasurer of the carnival became evident in everyone’s steep losses when he became the card dealer the Scot, a ride operator, wasn't quite as sharp as the others, making him the butt, for the jokers at the table the Englishman had an aloof demeanour tinged with sarcasm, dry humour they argued vehemently, berating whomever

They insisted on paying their losses when she was ready to cut and run; an awkwardness settling bets, money usually didn’t change hands between them covering the tab, she put her winnings towards the drinks bill, satisfied by a long afternoon spent well

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red chilis

Dried diced sliced chopped or added whole to almost anything. Thai curry paste is made combining chill peppers by taste with garlic vinegar salt sometimes turmeric cardamom pods coriander seeds and cumin. Soaked. Seeds float to the surface, then removed. Dried, toasted in a hot pan, with other ingredients they’re pounded into powder with a mortar and pestle.

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still here

[RAP / HIP-HOP LYRICS]

intro it all disappears… why is she still here?   … still here

1 spectacular light shows during the monsoons  when clouds disperse after the rains late afternoons  pools of water along the shallow beach  become mirrors as far as the sky could reach  self-isolating preferring familiar places practicing the language with more remote faces backpackers in awe of their latest discoveries  recounting stories with an unearned authority 

chorus gravitational pull kinda’ like the moon  reservoirs refresh the soul renews it all disappears why is she still here? … still here 

2 a votive lit the surface her handwritten pages a trendy coffee bar her favourite for ages  she says “familiar places hold some familiarity of me” should she plant her flag and cease tailing curiosity? a magical vibe drew her back to this place yet a mood of inertia swept over her face wrestling with the question why is she still here? where to go what to do next hasn’t become very clear

3 her usual haunts became parasitically touristy the local community had more and more difficulty ascertaining which of the stereotypes she fit she could now easily read their internal conflict anything charming now became an annoyance but new life directions remain in absence wrestling with the question why is she still here? where to go who to trust hasn’t become very clear

outro it all disappears… why is she still here? … still here

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khao niaow ma muang [ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง]

cook sweet rice with steam to make it sticky soft not mushy flawlessly cooked is the key sweeten with coconut milk sugar in perfect ratio serve it topped with a ripe freshly cut mango

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wss vs. jane e.

This essay explores interpretations of Bertha as the nightmare of a distinguished Victorian era gentlemen by juxtaposing Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre with Jean Rhys’ novel Wide Sargasso Sea amidst the backdrop of the early-mid 19th century British Caribbean colonies.

In Jane Eyre, Bertha is the caricature of a wild beast; an animal that Rochester felt needed to be contained and hidden. Rhys’ novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, presents a plausible prequel to Jane Eyre, reinterpreting the character of Bertha with multiple voices (Bertha, Rochester and Grace Poole), while intertwining its plot with Bronte’s novel. Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of a white Creole heiress, from the time of her youth in the Caribbean to her unhappy marriage with Rochester; who renames her, declares her mad and relocates her to England. Raised in an oppressive patriarchal society, where she belonged to neither White Europeans nor Black Jamaicans, the novel describes Antoinette’s (Bertha) childhood, her mother’s mental instability and her mentally disabled brother’s tragic death. It depicts the burning of Rochester’s house as Antoinette’s (Bertha) conscious decision to commit suicide. Rhys’ novel deals with issues of racial inequality, displacement and assimilation and creates a post-colonial argument by linking Rochester’s rejection of Bertha to her Creole heritage– a large factor in Antoinette’s (Bertha) descent into madness (wikipedia/Wide Sargasso Sea).

Rhys’ reinterpretation of Bertha raises questions about oppression, assimilation, cultural division and their interaction with mental illness and it’s triggers. Burdened by her family legacies and her Caribbean socialization, Antoinette (Bertha) struggles to rise to the level of English conformity Rochester imposes, causing her to emotionally crumble. While Rochester attempts to delve into Antoinette’s issues and family legacy, he is completely oblivious the ways he may be contributing to her demise. By contrast, in Jane Eyre, Bronte paints Bertha as the devil in the attic, who Rochester was manipulated into marrying and powerless to change (Bronte); leaving the impression you never know who you could be marrying, especially if from outside your own culture.

At the time Jane Eyre was published, the British Caribbean sugar colonies had been increasingly lucrative for several centuries, with many eligible bachelors likely returning to England with newly acquired riches. It begs the question what impact Charlotte Bronte’s novel had on the mainstream imagination around intermarriage in the formerly globalized era in which Charlotte Bronte lived. It seems to send clear messages about the potential horrors of intermarriage; where the plain, feisty Jane Eyre character is depicted as a better marriage choice than she may have initially seemed.

WORKS CITED

Bronte, Charlotte. “Jane Eyre.” Project Gutenberg. Web. Sept 15. 2014.

Wide Sargasso Sea (wikipedia page). Wikipedia. Web. October 5, 2014.

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translucent lenses

[SONG LYRICS] verse 1 are my eyes failing me? living my own detective story devising theory questionable accuracy chorus is the picture clearer or more blurry? images convey with such vibrancy our fences camera expenses a view through translucent lenses verse 2 tones mannerisms facial expressions plausible narratives answer the questions in my profession a driving obsession bridge impossibilities now eliminated whatever remains, however improbable must be entertained verse 3 behavioural insight irrelevant detail sitting there— just on the periphery what holds the key to solving the mystery

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navigational strategy

Joining an intergalactic organization meant the first few weeks were spent deciphering sparring subcultures disciplines and geographic divisions   Each a constellation of manners legacies and values. Actions gestures and speech patterns were open to a much wider interpretation   Interplanetary space was characterized by multiplicity not only geographically but also religiously linguistically politically economic and culturally   Hindsight would reveal, interestingly a variable social experiment   Here, cultural insight drove the business direction, understanding the various business cultures enabled navigation.   Multiple hierarchies, discerning motivation. Reactions were anticipated when - and only when recognizable behavioural patterns had emerged   This usually meant, for me getting to know individuals individually

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the flow of a river

[RAP / HIP-HOP SONG LYRICS]

intro deciphering a rhythm in the flow of a river

1 fighting cocks and chickens under over-turned baskets buckets of fish sloshing, caged birds making a racket basins of turtles, crayfish, river eels, some sliced much more of the same were available on ice umbrellas made shade beyond awnings, narrow alleys motorcycle side-car pushes down the market valley forcing vendors to shift their buckets and tables sights, sounds and smells made the energies palpable

chorus as the year progresses mae khlong changes colour suggesting the onset of the rainy season upriver residents continue down the steps to the river’s edge releasing eels fish turtles enticing good things back to them deciphering the rhythm in the flow of a river

2 while mango trees in the yard would bring her good luck she was told to go early, the Sunday morning market good health was ensured releasing turtles into the river but only 5am Sunday’s when it’d be beneficial familiarity made language easier to decipher sitting with Peung on the bottom steps by the river linguistic abilities quickly gaining in worth passing a thai language phrase book back forth

bridge a small railway town where rice fields meet manufacturing auto-parts petrochemicals bus coaches paper-making

3 a girl crossing train tracks in the middle of town distracted by a holler, causes her to get run down fight over a girl ends abruptly in a shooting the gun stolen from the boy’s father a policeman cars lose control along the canals, teenagers racing diplomacy deflates along border a school bus shooting prime minister’s war on drugs leads to shooting rampages reported like scorecards, the national newspaper pages

outro deciphering a rhythm in the flow of a river

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fleeting curiosity

[SONG LYRICS]

1 is this really you being you? or just a phase you’re going through  adirondack chairs, debates in disrepair  could we have made up what isn’t there? 

chorus our spontaneity brings out the humanity in me  what do you really want this to be?  am I just a fleeting curiosity? 

2 all the things we talk about  somehow manifests within my art  shades of chartreuse, a galaxy in brighter hues  will I ever find another muse?

bridge if your feelings are untrue don’t worry, I’ll make excuses for you 

3 roles we play as if on a stage how the scene ends, we can’t seem to gauge so it remains a theatre of the mind games tell me, will things ever be the same?

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CYOA Rhythms @ The Carnival Project (hosted by BatalaNYC) / Littlefield Eco-Club, Brooklyn (Gowanus) New York / May 5, 2014

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murky unknowns

tugging upwards with one hand cuffs, the legs of my linen suit pants flooding raining wading reaching the Skytrain damp disheveled in disarray wouldn’t have bothered weren’t for the job interview today

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S-21

S-21 is a former Cambodian high school turned prison camp, part of the mass genocide by the Khmer Rouge between 1976-79. Of the estimated 15,000 to 30,000 S-21 prisoners, only seven are known to have survived. The Khmer Rouge documented the vast majority of the inmates, leaving a photographic archive of the prisoners.

Implementing radical social reforms aimed at creating an agrarian-based communist society, the Khmer Rouge closed schools, hospitals and factories, abolished banking, outlawed all religions, confiscated property and relocated people from urban areas to collective farms where forced labour was widespread. Money was abolished, books were burned; teachers, merchants and almost the entire intellectual elite were murdered. During their four years in power, the Khmer Rouge overworked and starved the population, executed certain groups or individuals who they perceived could potentially undermine them— intellectuals or even those with stereotypical signs of learning (ie. those wearing glasses) would also be killed. Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader, separated children from their parents, indoctrinated them into their ideology, taught them to torture, and then used these children as dictatorial tools to lead and oversee the torture and executions.

When the Khmer Rouge war tribunals began, I was living in SE Asia. There was much speculation about how/where the line would be drawn between the victims and victimizers. This line also becomes blurred when considering the international endorsement of the Khmer Rouge, even after they lost power. The Khmer Rouge retained its UN seat well into the 80s after western governments knowingly backed the Khmer Rouge.

In the context of S-21, a pair of glasses is a compelling object— evoking brutal images and multiple meanings. The pair of glasses become of symbol of one’s identity or social group; a marker, a witness, a broken object; a lens to colour, camouflage, distill or distort reality; what we can see, choose to see, want to see, or turn a blind eye to. This archive of images… portraits of the prisoners of S-21 embody the horrors and the anonymities of not only the prisoners, but the Khmer Rouge and the intersecting political lines that either failed to recognize it or chose to turn a blind eye to it. The interactions of King Sihanouk – who was deposed, exiled, and who united with the Khmer Rouge to overthrow his cousin who became Deputy Prime Minister in his place – creates a political backdrop that intersects with shifting western alliances. It’s an historic epic begging to be written.

S-21 site / photographic database

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reticent introduction

In a boardroom. In Tokyo. With 20 members of the global planning and account management teams, all silent, expressionless and unnervingly, wearing matching dark suits and white shirts. They were listening to me present all the strategy work I had done in the region, thus far. I had been fighting with Susan, the regional creative director— an American woman, 20 years my senior. There were no cultural or linguistic barriers between Susan and I, but our counterparts in Tokyo seemed to assume otherwise. I was unsure where this was all going. Presumably, I had been sent to Tokyo to be put in my place. 

On the flight from Bangkok my mind oscillated between thoughts of impending career doom to a complete dismissal of the situation. I told myself it wasn’t all that bad, recalling a conversation with the recruiter.

Westerners, so far, have usually been reluctant to work for a Japanese agency… why is this so intriguing?

she had asked, knowing I had a standing offer with the organization I had worked for in New York. At the very least, the job was turning out to be far from dull. Amidst two days of presenting my work in complete silence, someone began to ask questions. Somewhat difficult to follow their logic, only later did I realize my linear thought-process seemed to them, similarly random. At the end of the three days, the global team had agreed with my approach. A path was cleared to work uninhibited within the region, leading to two campaigns over the course of the year, which exceeded the global team ambitions and a subsequent invitation to transfer to the Tokyo office… which I declined.