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Lorem Ipsum

2010-01-14T02:19:59Z

laying it out; let’s just see if this can be done remotely; found a pretty cool printer (it’s a weird format)

Photo Shoot

2009-12-17T04:19:41Z

i had to get some professional photography done for some art/promotional work, and again, houston is so cool for digging up artists (and deals); we had some impromptu backgrounds and lighting (which was cool because the photographer was a very loose and creative person who could go with the flow); i was veeeery sleepy though as i couldnt sleep at all the night before so by the end i was hot, annoyed, and just wanted it all to be over; it’s funny, when i helped with the filming shoot, i remember the brother showed us the preview screen and mentioned that the final would be higher quality; well, it was a similar situation - the previews were like ok but it was hard to tell much; however, she assured me that the camera was very high resolution and they would be good; she was right - they were much better when i got them on disc and as she said, a resolution is only as good as the screen you are viewing it though; some of these cameras nowadays are amazing - they don’t look that big (the one we had for the filming was so small we kind of laughed when we saw it) but they have mad amounts of space; she had like 15 gigs ready and we shot a couple of hundred times! she was a really cool person to work with too and quite professional (although much of her background was experience-based); we hashed it out in about an hour (i looooove working with professional people - i dont care about certificates, i just mean professional in results and in attitude - they get to the point and focus on work, not frivolities); anyway, you can check her out (it’s funny how many photographers have to do weddings, like how bands have to play weddings and bar mitzvahs, etc. but at least she had some art going too - so many of the photographers i had to comb through were like totally commercial or all wedding): http://www.chelseaaldrich.com/photography.html (you can also check out another photographer i liked and we almost worked together but she was in the process of revamping her studio and i needed this done fast - http://www.susiechu.com - lol i also love the way the site name sounds like the mandatory song in every blues player’s repertoire)

Audio

2009-12-01T04:15:30Z

one thing i really love about houston is that there is a very large art community, and you can get pretty decent art stuff done at a fair price; i did the recording today - it was done by my former tabla instructor, david courtney - this guy is really cool; i mean, he’s this white guy that is so in love with desi culture, he became a master in tabla, married a wonderful indian lady (she sings by the way) - and they tour together - they’re a really beautiful couple and i always enjoy visiting them and working with them; the first time i saw him he was like salamu alaikum, and i was in shock (hah, same way i must shock people who have preconceptions of myself) - but he’s pretty much adopted the culture and knows a bit of urdu too

it went pretty quickly - the worst part of any art endeavor is to actually look at it or hear it, see it, etc. after you’re done lol; you just sit there cringing, hearing your every flaw and hating yourself - but you have to push yourself past that as long as you gave it your all; and sometimes it goes back and forth - you’ll write something, hate it, come back and go, that wasn’t so bad! and on and on

it was pretty minimalistic (not like my previous stints with artistic recording) - just plain spoken poetry, with no embellishments, just some mild reverb and the standard vocal compression; i was cracking up when he played around with the equipment and changed my voice into a man’s (that is cool! i might save that for later lol) - in general his studio is in a separate garage (oh, the software he uses is called “garageband” - i’d never heard of it; it’s a mac only app), and i really love that place and all its equipment; but at the same time it’s very cozy

they’re really hospitable too with their chai and paratha, etc. - they’re just really great people you can check them out at http://www.chandrakantha.com

A Life of Its Own

2009-11-24T09:08:18Z

well, one piece of bad news is that this painting of mine from a long time ago was damaged in the hurricane that hit my parents’ house; it wasn’t great or anything, just an oil painting of a bangladeshi landscape, but still, it set a mood for me in my old house

but anyway, i must say that anyone who works in art will tell you - the best art creates itself; you just don’t know where it comes from; the best poems wrote themselves - i just held the pen and let it flow out of my brain; the best lines come out fully formed; and a long time ago, i had this one drawing - i am so stupid, for some reason i get it into my head every couple of years to throw out everything i own, so i actually got rid of this! but i miss him so much

i was 16 or so, i remember i had on this black sweatshirt, my long hair in my face, and sitting on my bed in my room - it was in the middle of the night (ever notice how all the greatest ideas you have are in the middle of the night) - and was sitting there with my sketch pad; now i am no “real” visual artist - i definitely have more idea than skill; what i lack in ability i make up for in style or concept; i dabble in everything, though, and i definitely enjoy it; well that one magical night it so happened that while doodling, i started sketching this man - he was so perfect, i can’t tell you; basically, he was at the side of the page, and he was staring straight at you; he was insane, and he had a lot of hair - a full moustache/beard, and his hair was fairly long and unkempt; he was middle-aged and basically came off as some crazy homeless guy (i remember seeing a guy sort of like that at a clinic once lol) - anyway, it was a cool picture, not only because of the reality of this guy but stylistically the idea was cool because his hair sort of represented his insanity and so i starting scribbling it in and it was like a cloud that meandered into the background - it actually took up more space than his face (this part i consciously did) - but the man himself - i really don’t know how he came about, because you see, i was really bad at drawing men (in those days i mostly drew people) - if i ever drew a man, he would just look like a woman with facial hair or something - but he was definitely a man, and quite real; he looked right at you and you felt you could actually see through his eyes into his world; it was so cool

anyway, i was for the millionth time lamenting his loss and wondering if i could re-create that for one of my drawings, but as anyone can tell you, if you ever try to re-create a drawing, it is a miserable sham and is never quite what the original was and it’s hopeless (unless, i guess you are a real artist and have enough ability to painstakingly recreate an original in a scientific fashion, but i’m not); so i basically decided to keep that as a memory and not attempt to do something i couldn’t do anyway, when i stumbled upon a very cool idea - and it was so awesome, but my concepts are usually way out there and very hard to pull off (i tend towards surrealism, because i find realism plain and purely abstract stuff absurd or pointless) - and of course nothing ever comes out exactly the way you want it, but i exerted myself enough and went with the flow enough (the life of the art itself) and was VERY HAPPY with the results! and it didn’t even take long, which is a marvel - i don’t know what anyone else will make of it, if they would find it competent or even interesting, because it is a very personal, symbolic piece for me, but i love it and i’m so happy and grateful!!!

7 Years

2009-10-31T00:03:40Z

well, i’ve had to deal with a lot of monumental changes/disasters in my life and it put off the work for a while, but i’m going back to it - it was grudging at first, to be honest, just dragging my feet - but i’m excited again (although just for the work itself; i don’t think i’ll be promoting it really cuz lol i hate people now) to be back to doing what i’ve been working on for over 7 years…

Road to Jerusalem

2009-07-12T07:38:04Z

now let’s see if i can get cheaply to jerusalem with a camera - i dunno if i can get a good camera in the time i have left and with the money i dont have lol - also i tried emailing about permits but most people never get back, ever, on like anything, the incompetent fools, so we’ll see - and i heard the border closes early, like 2, so i might have to stay on the streets overnight, but i am hoping to just do a day trip - man, if i get deported i will be TICKED…

I X Technology!

2009-07-06T10:26:44Z

ahhhhh! i had the most hectic weekend ever - so some of the best shots i had were taped over after the police incident; maybe they rewound it after viewing or something lol; then i found out through experience (it doesnt exactly click until you do it) that man, you need a very fast computer with tons of memory to edit video; as difficult as the audio was (and even that is not mixed well), the video was worse since it rendered so slowly and was so choppy (on top of the filming after being called in by the police wasn’t so steady either lol since i was a bit nervous at all times at being taken in again - i really don’t care, but i had no time or money for that!); i couldnt get a WYSIWYG for the edits, so i had to estimate; it was “shooting in the dark” for a lot of it lol; also, the free programs, well, i’m not saying they’re not good in a pinch, but on top of a slow or corrupted computer, they have bugs (SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN LOL - i lost so much raw, recorded, and edited data this weekend, it’s not even funny) - some of the bugs may include the program totally closing in the wink of an eye for no apparent reason lol - but i guess the craziest thing is dealing with all the different formats - multimedia is difficult enough, but multiformatting, which programs deal with which formats and which ones take this audio but not that one and which video extensions and importing and exporting, etc.!!! well, the upshot of all this is i have got some good, hard-won experience on my hands and can ask more precise questions to professionals on this; here’s the film - it’s not as good as i wanted it to be (nothing ever comes out the way you expect in art anyway) but on top of it it sucked that i had to replace some of my shot images with still images; oh well, live and learn, trial by fire and all that; but for little money, amateur equipment, sparse experience, and a very short time to do it in, i can’t complain too much…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ONp-lh8Uqg

Filming on the Cheap

2009-07-03T04:23:53Z

so there’s this media-related internship i’m applying for, and they ask for a small film or podcast about amman; well, although i was working on my first short film, i figured, why not use this as an opportunity to make a smaller film lol (the deadline is in a few days, so the push is good for me to get it done by a specific time and be done with it); obviously my goal is to make this for myself, so i twisted their assigned subject slightly to something i would want to make anyway; that way, if i get it, khair, and if not, cool, i still have a video for my own purposes out of it, no time wasted; therefore, it goes without saying i wanted to do this as cheaply as possible (that’s usually my goal in LIFE lol, i get that from my dad, i think; i dunno why, there’s this satisfaction that comes from exerting yourself and saying - i got it down to x amount; a penny saved is truly a penny earned lol); so for all you amateur filmmakers out there (i include myself in this category), here’s a look at some useful ways of making an amateur film for practically nothing:

1. camera - i’ve borrowed a friend’s home video cam - can you believe i’ve never owned one or even used one?! i’ve had more experience with professional cameras lol; so you either have this or you can easily borrow it (FREE)
2. tape - some cameras use digital memory and can be uploaded directly, but the one i got uses mini dv (5 JD ~ 7.5 USD; i believe they sell them cheaper, but i was pretty exhausted by then and took this guy’s price; you can probably get it down to 2-3 JD)
3. tripod - if possible, just place the camera on a surface and stack up sturdy books until you can angle it properly for the shot you want - i used my balcony and some computer and literature books (all very thick); for shots on the go, they have the little hand strap which isn’t as good of course but with some practice you can still get it fairly steady (FREE)
4. dolly - again, not as good, but you can get a makeshift dolly by using a car; i was in a cab, so it went pretty fast, but you can get some good seconds and another few seconds of a cool “effect”, the blurred bustle of the city going by (FREE)
5. content - a city like amman is pretty diverse and you can get very nice stuff for free; only thing is, if you look like an irhaabi like i do, be careful of filming without a permit, but especially governmental buildings and such (lol i dunno how i get myself into these situations, but i got taken in for questioning when i took a shot of a kids’ school! but there was no way i was gonna apply for a permit just to take local, random shots from a home video cam! i also made the policemen give me a ride to the station lol; i think they were actually trying to save me from the embarrassment of “taking me in” - it was already annoying cuz all the teenage guys were right there, watching us - but i certainly wasn’t going to pay for it! this totally cracked up the jordanian friend i borrowed the camera from - she couldn’t get over this lol); anyway, i’m a strong believer in creativity and believe the blessing of being broke is it forces you to think outside the box for interesting shots and effects, ways you can “class” up your cheap little amateur production lol; i believe i’ll use b/w as that is usually better if you don’t have a great camera or controlled lighting, and would be suitable to this particular project; but i’ll decide after i see what it looks like in the editing process; you can obviously interview people for free, but my project isn’t individually centered so didn’t apply to me (5 JD for cab rides across town and back; i did walk around a lot too for the more local stuff)
6. microphone - most home video cams do not have an external mic, although you can probably put one in; since most of them are not at all focused on sound as much as picture, it’s best to do the soundtrack separately (the style i have usually requires this anyway) and i heard from the filmmaking guy that even many big, commercial productions are starting to put ALL of their audio on another track that is recorded separately (this includes dramatic screams, dialogue, etc.!); again, for this project, i just borrowed a basic mic from someone (the kind you skype with lol) and will just input it directly into my computer; obviously, you want your setting to be quiet when you record and preferably be insulated - i’ve sat in closets; audacity is a free audio editing software (decent name, lol, decent prodcut) (FREE)
7. conversion - i haven’t done this yet, but i have HEARD it is for 3-4 JD; i’m planning on 5 in case to get the raw footage onto a dvd; i’ll then upload it to my computer and edit it and burn it onto another dvd; the first blank dvd was free from the internship place, but the second one will probably be included in the price for the conversion; blank dvd’s are like 5-10 qirsh each (5 JD)
8. editing - i have had pretty good luck with free software for audio, so i did a search for good video editing software; i found a top 5 list which seemed reputable, and found wax (which i think is an AWESOME name for a video editor; i put a lot of stock in names lol - i figure if you can be creative and clever in naming your product, you usually have something good - think of all the best bands for example, they usually have good names, no?); it looks really promising since it started as a college product, but we’ll see tonight/tomorrow when i begin; of course most of you probably have a laptop and internet connection; i usually only have internet at work, but our neighbor let us borrow this portable internet thingy which is very cool, and so if need be, i can dig up some images or sounds if need be for last-minute inserts; i’m focusing on cost here, but it goes without saying before you do ANYTHING, you should storyboard out your ENTIRE film, dividing your paper in half and putting your audio track on one side and your video shots on the other, down to the minute and second; this film is only 2 minutes long, tops (FREE)

well, it’s a lot to do for a part-time internship (with pay) and due to certain reasons i doubt i’ll even get it, but the cool thing is for 15 JD i can have something i would actually like and can use; if i do get it, it would be good for some seed money for the other “real” short film i wanted to make!

Apprenticeship

2009-06-17T07:43:22Z

i had the fortune of meeting a brother who is a filmmaker and working with him a bit - i figured the best way to gain some experience is to sign on as somebody’s appretice, so i went in for about 14 hours the other day to help film - it’s a lot more boring than it seems on the outside lol and it was sooo hot since we had to keep all windows closed due to audio concerns - but it was cool watching him work - mapping out his shots, setting the scenes, and most importantly getting the lighting balanced for the effect he wanted to achieve; i hope to watch him edit, lay the sound, and produce the final product as it would be beneficial; someone asked me the other day, if you are interested in making films, why didnt you study that - story of my life lol - i am simply too interested in too many things so what i end up doing is go “i feel like i wanna do this right now” and then taking the steps in that direction (mostly practical rather than theoretical) so you could say im a jack of all trades, master of none; but i also think that fragmentation only adds more flavor to what it is i happen to be doing at the time; (also i am MARVELING at qadr - how i keep meeting certain people and in what ways, it’s astounding really, subhanallah; maybe i’ll go into that story some other time) anyhow, you can check this bro’s website here: http://www.ramzinabulsi.com

Ah, Arberry!

2009-05-26T12:58:36Z

i met this very cool lady the other day - she’s also bengali, and she’s a linguist (she knows like 6 languages, mashallah) and into literature and stuff - and i had heard from a guy at school (a non-muslim guy who’s studying arabic because he’s a classics major - latin, greek, and maybe even yiddish now) that some fellow named “arberry”‘s translation was quite good; well, this sister had a copy and i finally got to look at it and i must say - subaanallaah! i am blown away, really - what he did was like 85% what i had in mind for this project! it is BEAUTIFULLY laid out, the author (who surprisingly was not muslim, but an authority on arabic linguistics, and died fairly recently in 1969) took pains to keep much of the rhythmic style of the quran, which is often QUITE neglected when translated, and the volume is simply designed, with little added, in order to keep the focus on capturing the beauty, power, and resonance of the original; it is truly a work that can reach out and strike at the heart of the reader; i also had an idea to lay out a quranic translation with the numbering often found in literature - not to dismiss the referential value of it, but to keep it at a minimum, to “dim the lights” so to speak, in setting a mood for the reader of the book, and so does arberry; he uses a minimum of parenthetical interjections and other academic distractions (which of course can be found in other works) which i also felt would be a point most in keeping with the objective at hand; at any rate, contrary to how many people (and honestly, this comes also from a good place - the protectiveness of god’s word) view translational work - i think each work has its own unique objectives, and think as many good translations and styles (obviously as long as it is kept within the technical possibilities demanded by the arabic language as well as orthodox extrapolation), the better; and also something which many people do not understand - i, like many other artists and workers for the religion, do not necessarily do what i feel like doing - rather, if a great idea comes along and it hasn’t been done, i often feel positively COMPELLED to do it (ie i will not feel rest until it is done); and this feeling has little actually to do with how widely i want to see it circulated (often i want very little, if any, since that is most comfortable actually) but is a drive simply to put it out into the universe, to see it exist, if allah wills, to bear the responsibility of seeing it “done” (no matter by who); and so it was a pleasure to see this particular project done, and done so well; the only disappointment i feel is “o brothers and sisters, where art thou?” - why is it we as a nation are still stuck with the mental residue of colonialism, still the followers when we were once the experts and the innovators; why is it some of the best work done in the modern era regarding islam (heck, even arabic and hadith with hans and other orientalists) comes from OTHER THAN its own adherents?! perhaps we are too busy fighting each other in religious matters and following everyone else in worldly matters; it surprised me a little to hear that shaikh nuh highly praised this work, and i admire his honesty and integrity in giving credit where credit is due, since it truly is a great achievement; for some time i have felt that scholarship is one thing and artistry another - the prevailing “wisdom” in the current regime of muslims is that academic study is the only way and the arts merely a sinful waste of time; but no, art has always had the power to shape the way people saw things and the prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam himself would listen to it or commission it if it served a purpose; it is about time we saw someone who had not only the academic capacity but the utter love of words and sounds put down a translation for a book which in its day was a miracle to non-believers simply by virtue of the way it SOUNDED; my only sorrow is that our magnificent holy book has been “reduced” to an “oxford world classic”, on par with other temporal, albeit masterly, works! and seeing it with the “oxford university press” stamp on the back does distress me somewhat; anyway, i did breathe a sigh of relief and feel that for now, i can put the driving compulsion to do this particular project (a very daunting one actually), away, at least for now; obviously, the work is not perfect, nor can any work ever be, and many people (a common objection is also that we already have translations, so why more?) do not understand that WORDS, that LANGUAGE and meaning change over time, that each generation needs to be brought not only the “message” of islam, but needs to be able to catch even a glimpse of what used to cause the most hard-hearted to sway; i may very well come back to this later (the work does have a few outdated/strange usages for anyone not in the ivy league, some of the connotations could be rendered less like a biblical passage and more in a universal construct, and of course there are some stylistic improvements that could still be made regarding design, etc.), but at least it doesn’t have to be NOW…

Short Film

2009-05-21T13:27:01Z

so im in the process of finishing up the artwork for the poetry album - what i really need now is access to video equipment! i want to include a short film (about 5 minutes long) and i would LOVE to take the footage myself - only issue is money lol (that and access to what i want to film) - we’ll see, i might have to use stock footage (ugh) - also i sent out some demo “solicitations” for the demo i made a LONG time ago (before i got married lol) but that’s always a backup (not the other way around, as with most people who submit stuff) - in the mean time, i’d be happy if i finished the film and did a small tour of readings before i left amman…

Back to Work

2009-01-17T17:05:05Z

Well, the initial NM campaign is over and it’s time to focus on the next project - a multimedia poetry album, which was started years ago (subhanallah, so much time has passed and so much has changed, and yet it’s funny how you always go back to your roots).

The writing is 99% done - there are about 20 poems and writing ranging from my single years until now - once in a while I still have an errant idea or so for a new one, but my method is to write as it strikes me and if it can last for a few weeks, it’s “in” (as opposed to those throw-away passing thoughts you have).

The artwork is about 75% done, and the audio was recorded years ago (I might add a few spoken word pieces without any beats or enhancements, just plain voice). I might throw in a wild card or 2, though, which would be in film format, so we’ll see.

Anyway, it’s very soothing to go back to work on this - at this particular point in my life, I pretty much abhor human contact (more than normal lol)...

3 Copies Left!

2008-12-13T17:21:56Z

Well, Eid ul Adha just passed, the end of the semester is upon us, and we’re smack in the middle of finals. I have 3 copies of NM left in Jordan - if you get them here then obviously it’s MUCH cheaper in terms of shipping but also, no waiting.

Website Artistry

2008-12-10T20:46:43Z

We are smack in the middle of the initial NM campaign. One of the first things we had to do was create a site worthy of NM and this in itself was a fun project. Like the comics, although seemingly “simple” at first glance, the site is by no means simplistic, but was art-directed the entire way through. I decided that obviously a pop art feel would best suit the motif of the site, so Sas and I looked up the fonts and designs related to smarmy pop culture. Even though honestly pop art was probably one of my least favorite (in terms of like what I’d put up in my living room or something) genres, me being pretty classically or surrealistically inclined, I was absolutely thrilled with the NM website results. A particular favorite for me is the Warhol style “self-portrait” of the Man himself. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did - to us the website itself was a work of art.

First Official Entry

2008-11-12T22:02:35Z

Today is the first day of the official IN Production website. I am lol actually too pooped from working on the sites and stuff to say much but welcome.
Stay tuned because alhamdulillaah after ALL THIS TIME things seem to be converging and gaining some momentum…gotta go sleep lol.