Hands on With the Sony NEX 6

I stood there looking at 10 pounds of camera gear, contemplating what I should take with me on a trail run that I’d never attempted in Joshua Tree National Park. I almost turned and started up the trail with nothing, but at the last second remembered the Sony NEX-6 that …

Girls Just Want to Have School A Review: “Girl Rising”

“Girl Rising” is less like a movie than an extended commercial for girls’ education around the globe. Through a hybrid style combining dramatization and documentary, girls act out stories adapted from their life by acclaimed writers from their country, while famous actresses like Meryl Streep and Selma Hayek serve as …

A Little Nudity Durring to Illustrate Lens Comparison

An epic comparison of the Canon Cinema Primes and the L Series. Like my friend Greg Watermann said when he sent this to me; why can’t all gear tests be this creative.

Why Don’t You Go to the Cinema? Reflections on Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel

Diana Vreeland’s living room is red. Red sofa, red walls, red flowers. Red patterned wallpaper mimics the red flowered upholstery. Fondly, Diana refers to the room as a “garden in hell.” In a photo in the film, Diana, also wearing red, doesn’t just recline, but floats on the sofa evoking …

The Articles

My 2012 End-of-Year List of One

January 7, 2013 by Feature Film, Movie Reviews, Screening Room

Maybe you, like me, have a tendency to get stressed by all the top-ten lists that emerge at the end of the year. The lists are usually filled with books you must read, dishes you must try, restaurants you must visit, movies you must see. Rather than inciting enthusiasm for the possibility of adventure or entertainment, the lists often impart feelings of regret for all that that you could have experienced, but didn’t. Soon anxiety replaces your sense of loss because somewhere between number seven and three you decided you must pack it all in before the list writer deems you unworthy. If you’ve read all the way to number two you eventually toss the whole thing aside. “Fuck the list.” … Continue Reading

Writing a Room Full of Men

January 3, 2013 by Screenwriting

Since Sarah started the day with a writing piece, I thought I’d keep the pen rolling.

Chris Terrio, the writer of one of my top three favorite movies of the year, talks about the toughest scene to write in Argo. Surprisingly it wasn’t one of the action sequences. It was a scene with a room full of men. … Continue Reading

How Blind People Use Instagram

January 3, 2013 by Photography

Tommy Edison is blind. His is an avid Instagram user. Below is a video that shows how he does it. His feed is blindfilmcritic.

… Continue Reading

Adaptations, Alterations, Revisions

January 3, 2013 by News

A recent article in The New York Times by Melena Ryzik focuses on the revision processes of a few writers, all nominated for the best adapted screenplay. Most of the time and especially in Oscar season, reviewers and audiences tend to narrow in on the finished product. Occasionally, we are given glimpses of the film in production or pre-production, but mainstream media usually casts the spotlight on the completed work or its actors. Ryzik illuminates the realm without glamour that every artist is familiar with: revision. Ryzik adds some charming anecdotes along the way. Well worth a read.

Martinis, Bond and an Obsessive Grammarian

January 2, 2013 by Off Topic Yet Fascinating

Two of my favorite obsessions; James Bond and the English language. Geoffrey Pullum tells us why it’s shaken, not stirred rather than shaken but not stirred.

My favorite quote of the piece: “To anyone who finds that linguistic study is a worthless finicking with trifles, I would reply that life consists of little things; the important matter is to see them largely.”

No. Really. New Years Eve Was Great.

January 2, 2013 by Off Topic Yet Fascinating, Photography

At the stroke of midnight on New Years eve I was high atop a San Francisco rooftop drinking champaign and freezing my tits off. The next day my friends asked me if I enjoyed the fireworks display in the south-eastern sky.

Fireworks display?

Over my second cup of coffee and second round of Advil these same friends were kind enough to help me remember that I indeed had a good time the previous night. For those of you who, like me, may be a little fuzzy about your New Years Eve details – In Focus has a spectacular collection of photography of New Years Celebrations Around the World.

The Folks That Pay The Bills

The Screening Room

  • Sellebrity: A Fantastic Doc About the Paparazzi

    $ellebrity is a documentary about paparazzi culture and its origins. The movie was produced and directed Kevin Mazur who is himself a celebrity photographer.

  • More Mesmerizing Instagram Work: Instantáneas

    This video came to me with the following note:

    Hola les dejo este video que hice con imágenes de instagram que viendo el contenido de su página seguro les puede interesar para publicar.

    I stuck it into Google Translate but I think there’s probably a better translation out there. If …

  • F***IN Cruise Ship Tour

    This video is not to be f***in missed.

  • A Great Short: Eric Goes West

    Ryan Nelson is a designer who works for screenwriter John August. Ryan and his wife Amy produced a short that I just found on the John August blog that, according to August, played at Slamdance last year. It is the epitome of working with you’ve got available to you like …

  • My 2012 End-of-Year List of One

    Maybe you, like me, have a tendency to get stressed by all the top-ten lists that emerge at the end of the year. The lists are usually filled with books you must read, dishes you must try, restaurants you must visit, movies you must see. Rather than inciting enthusiasm for …

  • “Crash” My Victim

    Local San Francisco heavy metal band, My Victim just released a new music video. The visuals are saturated with dark hues as the subject matter cuts between out-of-focus shots of the band and its story line, which references the title of the song, “Crash.” We are quickly informed as to …

  • David Byrne & St. Vincent ‘Who’

    The director of the music video, Martin de Thurah, knows how to draw a viewer in. What I find immediately fascinating about his music video is how he chooses to match the visuals to the music. The video begins with a wide angle shot of a person biking down a …

  • Skyfall

    For as long as I can remember my older brother influenced my film education. He taught me which actors and directors to watch, which to avoid, how to appreciate a clean, simple shot. My brother also taught me to love Bond. Under his tutelage, I watched the films and like …

  • Invasión – A Music Video Made With Instagram

    Instagram’s taking over. It’s now commonplace to see every moment of our lives documented by its photographs, including one that made Time’s cover, but now Perez, Faust and team have put Instagram in motion. I know this is the first of many similar films.

  • Plurality Review

    Set in New York City in 2023, Plurality raises surveillance and privacy issues. We are offered a city without soul, overrun with data and information. In an effort to fight crime, authorities can track a citizen’s every move using the Grid, a city-wide system that links one’s social security number, …

  • Argo

    Argo is on my Oscar list for 2012.

    The Iran Hostage Crisis took place in during my freshman year of high school. I was just coming into a vague awareness of news events as I started crossing that bridge from snot nosed kid to snot nosed teenager. The whole affair …

  • Frankenanswers

    If you haven’t had a chance to see Frankenweenie yet, please do. It encompasses all the wonderful things, good writing, good directing, black and white, and stop motion. It’s fabulous.

    And if my praise isn’t enough, you can have an opportunity to peer into the mind of the writer.

  • Arbitrage

    Arbitrage is one of those astounding, just under the radar films that you should not miss. The acting by all the players is exceptional and the writing and directing are a knock out. I’ve always been a fan of Richard Gere’s acting, but he really brings it home in this …

  • Sleep Walk With Me

    If you’re wondering which movie is going to be the sleeper hit this year, run out and see Mike Birbiglia’s Sleep Walk With Me. It is one of the most original, funny, sweet movies I have ever seen.

    I predict that this is going to have a slow consistent rise …