Tag Archives: video

Video

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I have been saving up my thoughts on quite a few videos so why not do a bit of a video round up? Especially since I have had MAKE A VIDEO on my to do list for quite a while now. I did that as well! I made a video for my upcoming chapbook An Amateur Marriage.

But first, I watched a very powerful movie recently called SKIN about a girl in apartheid South Africa who is born with dark skin to white parents.

For fun I’ve linked to a short YouTube video which explains curse words without actually letting you hear them . . .

You know I also can not go long without my documentaries so I have to give a shout out to Senna even though I’m not a race car fan, but the documentary is so well put together and Best Worst Movie which means I really need to watch Troll 2 now. What movies do you know that are just “terrible” yet you have to watch them. I also watched Vanishing of the Bees which explained some of the theories I’d heard about the disappearing bees over the last decade, but still not as sure about this one. We also watched an older one about the Bikini Atoll recently. So much to know in the world. How can we even get close to being Renaissance people!

On the fiction front, I watched Let Me In last night which is a re-make of the Swedish film “Let the Right One In” which I loved (which is in turn based on a very popular book that I think my Kindle wants me to order . . . ) I think the original version is still better than the American one, but the American version doesn’t have to have subtitles (for those who do not like those) and was very well cast. My only real quibble with the American version is that the special effects are not as subtle (artistic) as those used in the original film.

Last on the “what I recently watched but didn’t make myself” list is a documentary series for PBS called Carrier. This was a very interesting set of 10 episodes to watch. I grew up in a military family, but somehow I never really felt that connected to the military. Several things I have read and watched lately have me thinking about that. It may be that I need to write myself any essay or something about that . . .

And – finally – I made a video for my upcoming chapbook. I read (and add images) for a poem titled “To the Boy in the Lobster Sweater.” Let me know what you think!

Tuesday Shout Outs

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Video style!

First up, I am SUPER excited to have received a message from Heleen whom I know through YouTube. She made a video of herself reading one of my poems from Paper House!

Next up is a documentary I watched recently called To Die in Jerusalem. This isn’t always an easy documentary to watch most of all, for me, because I feel so sad that both mother seem to be so inflexible and ultimately can’t understand the other viewpoint in the debate. I hate that compromise has become such a dirty word!

This Friday is the monthly Green Rice Art Gallery Reading in Charlotte and here is a video I did a while back (iPhone so a bit low-quality!) of Pat Riviere-Seel reading there

And that’ll be a short edition of our shout outs for the week :)

 

MFA Monday

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Back for some more MFA Monday? Yep, you are!

Those of you who asked are already in the google group where we will be holding private workshopping of poems. The first workshop is now open for those of you who already signed up. I’ll be waiting for poems to pop in to discuss.

While that is going on, if you had been to an onsite event at a low-res or full res MFA program, you’d be offered the chance to attend faculty and graduate student readings (as well as visiting readers) so I want to provide you some links to get you thinking about the act of not just writing, but also reading your work.

This first one include me and several other writers (consider them your visiting writers) reading poems at the last NCWN Writer’s Night out in Concord, NC that I help host:

This next one is the introduction to the reading I had to give as part of my MFA graduation:

And the next is a portion of my reading (it was 15 minutes, but I edited it down:

So: do you get out there and read? Do you listen to or watch authors online?

I encourage you to provide links to yourself reading or to poets you like. Not even just them reading, but what about a version of what they’ve written such as Poetry Foundation has provide on YouTube? Or work I used to do at Shape of a Box? Google us :)

Preparing to Submit

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I’ve been wanting to make a post about this for a while (and further prompting by Andy and other readers here, made me really want to get it done!) but I decided instead of typing up a bunch of items: I’d show you what I’m up to when I submit. So I made a video. Granted, it isn’t edited and there is at least one cat trying to cause me problems but I think you’ll get the idea!

Have a great holiday weekend!

Linkage Wednesday

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I have a back up of links I wanted to share with you!

First up are a set of two videos. If I presented these to my students, I’d ask, “Who is the audience for these? What is the topic? Point?” Do you recognize the song they are singing?”

and

Did you recognize the song yet? As the lyrics came to me (in English) I did a google and found it! I think I am right. Here is the link to the lyrics.

Here is a post about MFA’ers vs PhD’ers and since I have an MFA and toy with the idea of the PhD, I couldn’t help but read it!

And everyone needs a story to read. Even if it isn’t necessarily happy . . .

I talk often about reading your work out loud, and look here is someone else who agrees! (I even mention how much I love to read work out loud in an interview I did with Robert Lee Brewer over at Poetics Aside)

And another video? Sure! This is Pat Rivere-Seel reading at the Green Rice Art Gallery in September. I assigned the book she talks about in the video:

Next up is an essay I might use for a future class from a writer whom may have been the first “writer” I actually met back when I was a freshman in high school. And, even better, I also am working on an essay titled “When Did Math Begin to Suck” so here is a take on the trouble with math by Michael Parker, fiction writer.

I could have called this Video Wednesday but have to share this, which may be the final video for Shape of a Box under my direct stewardship. Still looking forward, in the near future, to announcing the new home for Shape. Warning! PG-13

For text of the poem in this video click here

Goodness what else do I have? Too many more, so since I added so many videos in here, we’ll just leave this as is and maybe I’ll put some more links up tomorrow with poem share and others on submitting on Friday as they would be theme appropriate.

Have some links to share? Do so in comments!

Video Wednesday-Sort Of

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I say this is sort of a Video Wednesday because I have a video that was just cracking me up that I want to share (watch it till the end, total pay off) but also because I have watched quite a few movies lately and I wanted to talk about a few of them.

First up. The video I mentioned:

K and I used to watch a lot of movies in the theater but the last few years it has become a tedious thing. There is always someone who comes in at the last minute, who sits next to you and talks or complains or texts throughout the movie. I’m just tired of dealing with that. We have a really great HD set up at home so why not watch more movies at home?

We’d been picking up a few blu-ray disks but they are still pretty pricey but we weren’t able to rent much anymore because we never use Blockbuster (it is far away anyway) and Hollywood Video closed. *sigh* Which meant pay per view or pay for movie channels? We instead opted to get Netflix again. I am enjoying it so much I really want to get rid of DirecTV cause for the amount of non movie TV we watch why are we paying that much? But I already mentioned that yesterday.

The movie that made me decide to write this post was that I recently watched “The Happening”. We had picked it up at Best Buy for like $5 or something (non blu-ray) and I wanted to see it since I have seen all of M. Night Shymalan’s except for this one (well and the two smaller movies he made before the “Sixth Sense.”) My favorite M movie is still “Unbreakable” for its terrific story and filming but I even liked “Lady in Water” (except for an anti movie critic rant he put into it). I wanted to see why everyone hated “The Happening” so much.

Here is a bit of a spoiler.

The movie is a complete joke! I don’t mean this is the worst movie I have ever seen or anything like that. I mean this movie is obviously making fun of low budget Horror/Suspense movies. It wasn’t advertised this way, which I think was a failing especially given how little clout M was having anymore in the industry but some of the acting is so intentionally bad that the movie is just funny. No this isn’t a great movie or even a particularly good satire but it did make me laugh and I thought of it as a middle finger from M to the entire movie industry.

I’m looking forward to “The Last Airbender.” We are going to see it in theaters and we are watching the cartoon right now, in the second season as we speak. I think this was the right move for him to move towards something completely unlike anything else he had ever written or directed before. Too many people wouldn’t let him break out of the mold of the “Sixth Sense” which is one of the dangers of success, isn’t it?

This went on a bit longer than I thought but just a few other notes. Recently watched “Food, Inc” which was good but not as enlightening if you have already seen “Super Size Me” and read “Fast Food Nation” and anything by Michael Pollan.

Also finished “Son of Rambow” which was a cute little movie. The very first scene really set the tone for the movie. I loved the way that scene said so much without any significant dialog. Definitely worth a watch.

I slipped into movie reviewer mode. But, hey, what is a movie without a good story?

also recently watched “Food Inc” “Son of Rambow”

Video Tuesday

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Are you, dear reader, thinking Video Tuesday? I thought that was gone? We’ll it is essentially gone except when I look at my list of links I want to share and realize I have three video links so here they come!

First up is one that many of you may have already seen: Bronte Action figures.

Next up is one in a series that band/booky kind of geek Matt puts up on YouTube. This one is looking at books vs movie – a discussion of Freaky Friday:

My final video of the day I have been holding for a while. It is a great video and voiced by the wonderful Bryan Borland but I post this now in sadness because the author of the poems, Rane Arroyo, passed away recently. Rane was terrific to work with during my time at “Shape of a Box” and the only reason his voice isn’t on the poems is because he wasn’t feeling well enough to meet with me to record during AWP 2009. Rest in Peace Rane. Your brillance will be missed :(