Aids Awareness Campaign Ad

I know I have disappeared. It has been such a busy and stressful time, I have no excuses for you, like rescuing people from burning buildings, or creating such incredible large art pieces.. I am terrible, I know! Work has taken up so much of my time during the week, then I go to a village on the weekend to teach art, that I have such little amount of time to work on art. It doesnt mean I haven’t, because I have. I will write about that later. For now I want to share with you an ad I worked on as a makeup artist, as well as got stuck being an extra in it (if you look closely you will see me with a child), which was such incredible fun. A 12 hour day and standing on my feet  a lot of it, but it made me realize how much I miss working in the film making industry. Anyone out there listening to me, hook a girl up!

This video is in Arabic, but the gist of it is this guy (in the red shirt) has aids, and goes to a government office where the line is almost out the door and sneezes. A guy turns around, spots him, and tells the guy behind him how he saw him at the hospital and had aids. Causing a domino effect, where people are uneducated on how aids can spread, freaked out and ran off (I grabbed my child in horror!). When he gets to the counter, the government worker asks him what happened to the line and the guy says how they heard he had aids. The government worker shakes his hand and wishes him good health. The ad proceeds to explain how aids is not transmitted by sneezing and so on.

I hope you guys enjoy!

 

Where the Hell is Matt?

I have a thing for projects that embrace a community, or the world. I feel like art can do so much for different countries by bringing them together to make people realize how all of us truly are the same. We all seek happiness, we all seek truth, and we all seek a purpose in this life. Why we don’t get along seems so simple to be honest. We are scared of change and we are terrified of what we dont understand.

Matt Harding is an 35 year old from Connecticut  who travelled the world vido taping himself dancing (it started when his friend suggested he do his “bad” dance when he was touring Asia). The video went viral and Stride gum asked him if he was interested in taking another trip around the world and recording it again. This all happened in 2006. In 2007, Matt went back to Stride gum suggesting letting people around the world dance (people had sent him videos of themselves dancing), and thus this video was produced.

Where The Hell is Matt stirs so many emotions in me that seem unexplainable. It is such a happy video, but makes me feel sad, and happy at the same time. Here we see people from all paths of life dancing for the joy of it. Here we see everyone come together for the joy of dance and it makes me wonder why we don’t see more of these projects traveling the world. Why isn’t there funding and support from people to try to bring different cultures together? We need more projects like this that have so many different layers to it. We need more people like Matt.

Are there other projects out there that do this kind of thing? I know of a few, but not many. I really do hope my project, Traveling Thoughts, can create such a stir in people and bring them all together.

To All Fellow Artists

A friend of mine, who is an incredible creative artist, sent me this video and I had to share with everyone on here and whoever else accidentally finds my blog. An incredible speech by Neil Gaiman where he addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012. If you are having a hard time finding inspiration, or simply feeling down about you work, this speech will inspire you beyond words.

To all my creative friends and fellow artists, keep on making good art!

Non Tiq – Quiet

I’ve been Youtubing a lot lately, looking for music I haven’t heard before and what not. I came across this music video for Non Tiq that was incredible. The music is good, the video is good, the entire thing is simply good! It doesn’t help that I adore paint, and paint being splashed everywhere with it being glow in the dark makes it even better! Check it out people!

Talent In The Middle East

I have had the privilege of getting to know an incredibly talented guy who grabbed my attention when he created the video Fifty People One Question – United Arab Emirates in spirit of the videos being done for the project Fifty People One Question, videos exploring human connections through people and place. He grabbed my attention because for a long time I had wanted to create such a video in Amman, Jordan and I found someone in the Middle East who had the same passion as mine and loved the unconventional.

Ahmad Samara was born on June 15th, 1986 in Tulkarem, Palestine. He actually graduated with a Bachelors degree in Accounting but has always been  in love with the Arts. He was interested in photography and so began taking photographs as a hobby. He wanted something that would challenge him further, so with the encouragement and help of his family and friends he started to make films through digital media.

Through his hard work and talent, Ahmad was chosen from a few talented people to attend the digital filmmaking workshop at the Royal Film Commission Jordan in 2008, in collaboration with the University of Southern California. Having been given this incredible opportunity, Samara was able to learn the different aspects of filmmaking including Directing, Writing, and Cinematography, including the technical aspects of advanced filmmaking.

With his love for filmmaking in his heart, and his new knowledge, Ahmad Samara wrote, directed, and produced his short film “Relief” in 2009, followed  by “Desire” in late September.

What really drew me to Ahmad was his passion for filmmaking. Speaking with him, you can see his eyes wild with excitement and how eager he is to learn more about the creative world. He has this dream of making films that he wants to be able to not only show to his country, but the world. He believes and is excited to one day open Samara Pictures where he will continue doing artistic and professional films for the world to see.

Check out his Youtube Channel!

The Power of Music

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”  - Friedrich Nietzsche

An incredible video about an elderly man reacting to hearing music from his era. The life that the music brings back in him will move you beyond words. Music can truly heal a person in many ways. The most abstract forms of art there is.

PostSecret on TED

Many of you know how I love PostSecret. How I can talk about it for hours on end, and how every Sunday I rush to my laptop and get on its website to check out the new posted secrets. Many of you know how this simple project has made me fall in love with interactive art, and has inspired me to create my own project, Traveling Thoughts.

I came across the TED talk by Frank Warren, the founder of PostSecret, and watching it reassured me why I love this project so much that I needed to share it. A project that allows people across the globe to not only share their secrets, free their souls, reach out to humanity, but to also create something unique on something as small as a postcard.

Simple. Empowering. Creative. Changes lives. My kind of project!

Stop Motions by PES

Stop Motions by PES. Extremely creative and the concepts are incredible! Here’s a few of my favorites! A must watch!

 

Challenges Update!

In a previous post I had written about how I was going to start 3 different challenges on March 4th. The no Social Media (excluding my blog), so no Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for 2 weeks. My friend I extended the meditation challenge from 21 days to a month, and a fruit and veggie only diet ( some beans for protein though) for a month. I am proud to say today was the end of Week 1 and I haven’t cheated once! Not to say I was planning on it, it’s just nice to know! =) I feel great, and I’m getting a lot done. So kudos to me!

A friend of mine sent me this TEDx talk by Louie Schwartzberg titled “Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.”. An award-winning cinematographer, director, and producer, Louie Schwartzberg provides imagery for feature films, television shows, documentaries and commercials.

The video is stunning and the words so true. One day, I hope to be able to think that way. Enjoy.

Changing the World with Art

I’ve always said art can change the world, and I believe it to be true, 100%. I saw this video today and it really got to me. I know a lot of people believe they can’t change the world, but I don’t believe that to be true. Educating the world is the most important way of changing anything from negative to positive. It doesn’t have to be where you stand out side screaming with signs, or trying to get people to sign petitions. I’m not saying those things aren’t good and effective ways, they are, but some people get so discouraged when they believe thats all they can do.

Art can create a conversation. It can start a dialog and it can bring peoples attention to the cause. There are people in the world who are visual. Its the way they learn, and its the way you grasp their attention. If we are trying to change the world for the better, why not use every form of communication we can? Why aren’t we using the arts, music and even videos? Below is the video I watched. If you don’t believe in visual communication, this should prove you wrong.

You may not believe that you, one in a billion, can change the world, but you are wrong. One person seeing your work, seeing your videos, listening to your music, can create an audience, that can create a movement, that can change the world. If you can’t afford to help with money, try with your artistic ability. Create something. Share it. Involve others.

I hope this moves you as much as it moved me.