Hi, Wednesday. Remind me again why I did hardcore ashtanga yoga two days in
a row? Oof and ouch.
production for Youtube called "Life in a Day". He's asking would be
directors from around the world to shoot some video this Saturday and send
it in to Youtube- video should feel slice of life- as in he's looking for
folks doing their every day do. The hope would be to create a video time
capsule so generations to come can see what life was like on this fair
planet in July of 2010. Scott is an interesting choice as he doesn't seem
like much of a documentarian, though I did love "Gladiator" and he has
produced gobs of other stuff too. (Love me some 'Black Hawk Down' too). I think this is super cool, though I probably won't participate. I'm not
much of a picture taker or video documenter of my life- though there are
many moments I wish I had photos of, especially in the height of my New York
nightlife days (some of those outfits should have been visually documented).
I think I prefer to remember things in my mind instead- I have a hefty
imagination and visual recall of the Spidey sense variety- and that's where
I like my memories to stay, before dementia sets in. That and I have a rabid
fear of being photographed. It's not a good look for me. I may have to
rethink this for the Paris trip... Even if I don't make a video, I do enjoy watching other people's lives-
whether through videos or photos. Remember those "Day in the Life" books
some time back? I really enjoyed them and seeing how America lives- and how
variable living in this country can be. Now in 2010, we have simply become
beyond fascinated with gazing (more like ogling) at people's every day
existence. We update our statuses on Facebook to talk about what we're
eating (complete with photos of said tuna tartare) or what we're thinking.
Twitter captures our real time moments in 140 characters or less. And then
Four Square lets us all know where you are at all times. I can't help but
wonder what an old professor of mine from college would think of all of
this- he penned a book on what he referred to as "Kodak Culture" and our
nation's obsession with documenting each moment of our lives. It was an
interesting read now and surely could be rewritten to now examine how we
can't seem to stop posting, blogging, Twittering about all that we do- and
how we are all so fascinated by each other's lives. Funny how voyeurism used
to imply something illicit but now it seems ingrained in our daily patterns
of online consumption. What's most interesting to me is wondering if these
vignettes into our lives are "real"- they are certainly edited to provide us
with a view that the owner of said thought or photo or video wants us to
see. Nobody talks about how fat they feel on Facebook or how much they hate
their mother. Are we losing track of what "real life" is as we carefully
curate and document our comings and goings? Is life meant to be edited? All of that in mind, here is a link about the project. I think it's super
cool and speaks to the era of hyper voyeurism we live in, and illustrates
our ability to show our lives in any way we choose to. Perhaps you should
take part...and then I can watch. http://mashable.com/2010/07/07/ridley-scott-youtube-life-day/ And that's what's up this day in my life in the 305. XO