Happy with Loneliness
by Shubha Bala, associate producer
I’m one of those people that has not yet learned how to enjoy doing things alone. This video seemed sweet and light for a Friday break — while providing instruction on how to work your way up to embracing being alone. Enjoy, and share your stories of breaking your own solo-boundaries.
Time-Lapse, Take Me Away!
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
(view mobile version of video)
These last few weeks have been action-packed, pressure cookers around the SOF shop. I had to step back from Final Cut Pro, ProTools, HTML/CSS, and too many meetings looking at charts — just for a few minutes — and breathe.
There’s nothing like time-lapse video from Mount Fuji and prefectures of Japan to slow me down, even as the images are sped up. Take a break and join me.
Psssst…I couldn’t resist the Calgon reference. Sorry.
K’naan Waves His Flag
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Some of the best story lines coming out of this year’s World Cup aren’t about sport at all. They’re about people rising above their circumstances, creating something new, defying their genre, being recognized for their talents.
Such is the case with K’naan. The poet and hip-hot artist’s song “Wavin’ Flag” is now the official theme song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
A Somali-born Canadian who grew up in Mogadishu before immigrating to North America at the age of 13, he takes an unexpected tact tack when writing lyrics. K’naan doesn’t see much sense, he says, in glorifying the violence and strife that surrounded him in his childhood like many American rappers:
“There wasn’t a voice that understood the, ya know, the gratitude that comes from survival. There wasn’t a voice in music that was doing that.”
There’s much more to K’naan’s story, his art, and his approach to life. Here are three strong pieces I found helpful in learning more about him. Over at Sound Opinions, he demonstrates some Somali poetry styles to Greg and Jim and talks more about his responsibility in addressing the violence and reality he witnessed.
Also, this 2005 profile piece by Sue Carter Flinn in The Coast covers a lot of ground. And it’s fair and thoughtful in the language chosen and scenes described. It has just a little bit more. For example, read Eliott McLaughlin’s description of a story K’naan often tells:
“At age 11, he accidentally blew up his school with a hand grenade he mistook for an old, dirty potato.”
Now read Carter Flinn’s account:
“One day after school, at age 10, during the daily ritual of washing the Qur’an lessons off an ancient wooden slate, he uncovered a live grenade that exploded and destroyed half of his school.”
And, giving CNN its props, check out the video to the right. I enjoyed watching K’naan just actually sit and talk about his work and how he’s processing his recent success, especially his song being honored at such a big event.
I hope you enjoy this week’s Friday video snack.
Jónsi’s “Grow Till Tall”
Trent Gilliss, online editor
This Friday afternoon’s video snack was inspired by a number of you who were watching the live video stream of Krista’s conversation with Michel Martin on Monday night in Washington D.C. In the lead-up to the conversation, I opted to pass on playing all classical music while the crowd filed in to the Sydney Harman Hall.
Instead, I chose a variety of tracks from artists Juan Molina, Joe Henry, Björk (one of my favorite lullabyes, which Mitch included in “Pagans Ancient and Modern”), The Avett Brothers, cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir, k.d. lang, Johnny Cash, Ryuichi Sakamoto, She & Him, and Jónsi. I chose this video because it’s a little less aurally sculpted than other videos and for a delightful surprise at the end — an entrancing a capella at the end of just his voice in a lonely room.
I was somewhat surprised when I was inundated with requests to know what songs were being played while waiting. If you’d like, I’d be glad to create an SOF Playlist so that you could stream the mix. Leave a comment here or tweet me; if there are enough requests, I’d be glad to post them for you.
Lady Gaga Spreading Like the Words of Torah
Trent Gilliss, online editor
The title of this week’s Friday afternoon video snack was taken directly from sichonstage’s comment on this YouTube video celebrating the Hasidic wedding of Shaya and Perry Weinberger (mazel tov!). If you’re not familiar with the song “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga, I highly recommend you listen to the original first and then watch this cover. You’ll appreciate it so much more.
Dig the horns, harmonizing, and word substitution. It’s simply fabulous and complete fun!
(via Jewcy, with a jaunty h/t to Molly Bloom)
Music You Can’t Hear But Know Exists
Trent Gilliss, online editor
Being part of such a large outfit at Minnesota Public Radio, we encounter an awfully eclectic group of talented musicians, writers, artists, actors, performers, politicians… And, oftentimes, these brief introductions with greatness occur in the most mundane ways.
One day you’re accidentally brushing shoulders with former vice president Walter Mondale in the hallway, and another day you’re reading a mass e-mail instructing star-struck employees not to linger while Harry Connick Jr. is being interviewed.
Yesterday, while sitting in the control room of Studio P listening to the final edit of next week’s show with two Vatican astronomers, I look up and peer through the slanted glass only to witness part of the Johannes String Quartet warming up for “a couple of movements from Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 59 No. 1.”
Not a whisper from that cello can I hear. But, right then, I pinch myself knowing great aural waves exist in that vacuum across the glass. Sometimes knowing and imagining is enough. But, those mystical, mulled upon wanderings can be made real. The unheard serendipitously takes root in YouTube reality. And, if you look up, you might just realize that Moby and Leela James performed “Walk with Me” in that very same space across the way.
I’ll be “looking up” — and hopefully seeing — the Performance Today recording of the quartet in action, much like this video from artists-in-residence The Parker Quartet (whom I first incorrectly attributed to being in the photo above).
White Mountain Milky Way
Trent Gilliss, online editor
This one-minute time lapse film taken in Mauna Kea, Hawai’i made me ache for the magic dome of my home state of North Dakota — the thickness of the galaxy in plain site. The canvas overhead will surely spark your sense of wonder for the weekend. Enjoy heartily.
Moving Stills
Trent Gilliss, online editor
For those of you still stuck in the office or waiting at home for the night’s activities. The Friday video snack is back.
The Qatar-born photographer Khalid Mohtaseb has received quite a bit of attention for his striking footage (below) of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake using a still camera (Canon 5d Mark2, if you must know) and a pocket dolly. The technical specs are fun to discuss, but it is his choice of shots and the person behind the eyes that connect me with his subjects. Even the collapsed buildings are put into context by the people moving through them, and not the buildings being the main character. I like that about Mohtaseb. People matter. They’re art forms in and of themselves.
But, I decided to lead off this post with his montage of Lebanon and Egypt. There’s so much happiness and carrying on in the grittiness of circumstances. Children swinging and twirling and playing; young men squatting and smoking and laughing. Even the silent places have a sense of peace about them; the parched, cracked earth teems with life and optimism. If you clicked on one thing, I didn’t want you to deny yourself this slice of singing beauty.
For a few minutes, I’m transported and know somebody else, some other world — and then remember my wife and children and find my silent smile. Time to find home.
A Triumphant Survival
Kate Moos, managing producer
Arresting. From the Mail & Guardian, this difficult and disturbing set of images accompanied by an interview with Leon Botha, an artist and Progeria survivor. He is 24 years old. A Friday afternoon video *pause* in a day that leaves me reflective.
(Thanks to Boing Boing for their post leading me to this slideshow.)
“A Minor American Miracle”: Orrin Hatch’s Rockin’ Hanukkah Song
Trent Gilliss, online editor
A quick scan of this morning’s edition of the Tablet Daily Digest e-mail prompted me to read the lead article, “Hanukkah: A Guide for the Perplexed,” which was fun and quite helpful. And then I moved on.
It wasn’t until I was checking my inbox this afternoon that I saw what should have been at the top of the page: a video by songwriter and senior senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch. How the song came into being is actually a rather heart-warming story, as Jeffrey Goldberg tells it. I had no idea the Sen. Hatch liked to write spirituals.
But, it is a wonderful testament to the spirit of the season that such things can happen so freely and spread a little joy during an afternoon at work. Also, the idea that an Arab singer backed by the vocals of a the Jewish magazine staff sings a song written by a Mormon politician who “possesses a heartfelt desire to reach out to Jews” gives one hope that year-end holidays can bring out the best in people — and a will to understand one’s own traditions and the rituals of others:
“I know a lot of Jewish people that don’t know what Hanukkah means,” he [Hatch] said. Jewish people, he said, should “take a look at it and realize the miracle that’s being commemorated here. It’s more than a miracle; it’s the solidification of the Jewish people.”
And, yes, I do consider this another one of my Friday “video snacks.” *grin*
