Positive dreams….yes! What we all want to manifest….. to transcend the nightmares ….and….understand them as a greater test……Wishing for the best….for better health….spread the wealth…..and discover truth for the self….
This is in my aunt Esther’s house in Bulacan – just outside Metro Manila. As soon as we got there – my aunt Gloria and my mother changed into aunt Esther’s house dresses. It was pretty funny to see all 3 of them sitting around with the dresses on. My aunt Gloria was aware of my video taping and was trying to get me to stop because she was not properly dressed for the camera.
3 Sisters from teknevision on Vimeo.
On my way to a manicure shop in Manila, I couldn’t help but notice a moving swirl on the ground. Upon closer inspection, this is what I saw.
In the Philippines After 12 years, Part 3 from teknevision on Vimeo.
I went back to the Philippines after 12 years. A lot has changed, mainly the population growth in Manila. However, some things seem to remain largely the same and are very much a staple in Filipino culture, like the jitneys and tricycles.
I wanted to convey a variation in perspective. The following examples convey 3 different types of experiences:
1) A general perspective as a traveler in a land that is both strangely familiar, yet entirely foreign to me in many ways.
2) A rather microscopic perspective that comes when you (literally) bend down to notice the details.
3) An intimate perspective – the one with family, behind closed doors.
How much of any of these are similar or different? And to what degree is their familiarity or foreign-ness altered had I experienced them somewhere else in the world?
In the Philippines After 12 years, Part 1 from teknevision on Vimeo.
In the Philippines After 12 years, Part 4 from teknevision on Vimeo.
Surma: The Ukranian Shop from vision tekne on Vimeo.
This is a mini documentary Xue Hou, Tom Rossini & I created for our Video for New Media class. Our original idea was to interview someone and get him/her to tell us how the East Village has changed over the years. I thought of this guy that owns an ice cream/newspaper storefront on Avenue A. I think he’s been around at least 20-25 years, probably a lot more.
We decided to go with a Ukrianian American family that owns a building on Tom’s block on E. 7th St. Coincidentally, I actually lived in that very building some 10 years ago, but my stay there was brief and I didn’t get to know the owner and family at all.
We shot about 2.5 hours of footage and the idea was to mesh the generational perspectives into a creative and possibly abstract descriptive piece. One of them had mentioned how the church down the street had changed over the decades and when we went over to shoot it, unwittingly discovered The Ukrianian Shop across the street. I’ve been down that block so many times over many years – and I never once really noticed it.
After realizing our idea would take way too much time to go through and edit, more time than we had before it was due – we decided to document the shop. We figured it’d be like a little news piece. We got most everything in 35 minutes + photos we took and some others online.
The shop is pretty awesome inside. It’s been around since 1918 and in it’s current location at 11 E. 7th st since the 1940s or 1950s.
I thought I’d try a twist to my usual randomness.
If you’ve read any of my other writing, you may notice a recurring theme throughout: transcendence & self-transformation (yeah yeah – I’ve got a little new-age hippie hiding somewhere inside me). Anyway – I once recorded myself reading aloud. A particular piece I wrote – (and the only one ever) was created with music in mind that a friend had put together. I used to write a lot more rhyming things and he thought it would be fun to lace a track of his with one of them. But since I never endeavored to be a rapper, nor a spoken word artist, I used the instrumental as inspiration, let him fiddle diddle with the beats some other way, and kept my words on paper. I later recorded my naked vocal for fun. It was more of an experiment to see how well I could pace myself reading as I tend to be super quick when I do.
I’ve kept it hidden away from anyone else’s ears until now.
It’s a straight read, there’s some hiss – and the pacing needs work (or maybe a good edit).
But, ah well…funk it….if you press play, you get to read along with me.
Er…or don’t press play and just read. 🙂
Who knows how long I’ll leave this up before I chicken out and take it down.
On the other side of silence
I unmanifest my violence
Holding license to nonsense
I slip out, throw down my defense
to make sense of this existence
how intense
the effect of the affix
I fix to sustain a sentence structure called rhyme
rather sublime
the prime essence called first matter
the latter of fact
the status of overwhelming opinion
the dominion of incision
to create divided or united vision
Wax the double-edged sword
as swift words cut through shields of ultramagnetic fields
and reveal the landscapes inside
Remember the other side?
Are you ready for the ride?
Once I start to flow
I can feel the glow of rising vibration
schizmatic elation
a different elevation
a wondrous vacation
Asphyxia, deliria, nearin’ ya
unconsciousness unfolds
wiping the molds to make the path clearer
I hear her
Ms. Divine Wonder
no longer asunder
Stronger than Ajax, Mr. Clean, or Arm & Hammer
she slams ya, circles around you
then penetrates – infiltrating the floodgate
revealing a feeling that makes you want more
Tranquil transmigration, trance-ending and blending
and here we are again – and again – and a-gain
to maintain clarity within this reality
’cause congeniality can lose itself
So hold fast, for darkness can follow
as some wallow in the sorrow of their shadow
Though, in the corner of their narrow confines
is always a light that shines, however bright or dim
a whimsical feature lets loose a mystical creature
that eats ya up alive so you can survive
and create a clean slate
Feed on this plate of nourishment
secret agent to reassure you
allure you into what many people forget
those that seem to regret what surrounds them
things that can confound them
Watch as I astound them
to remember the other side
I believe in self-empowerment
and inspiration, dedication
mental re-location…
cooperation and communication.
I also acknowledge the
existence and insistence
of tense, cold, and removed…
no conclusions and illusions,
delusions and intrusions,
contusions and no-where
solutions….
Through…..evolution and revolution,
resolution after all. Answer the call
that’s calling you.
©
(Back in 2001. The usual random and spontaneous.)
CORRECTIVE VISION
THE DISTORTION WE CREATE
BEHIND THE LENS WE HIDE
SEE NOT INTO MY SOUL
FOR I HAVE DRAWN
THE RENDITION BLIND
NOW READY FOR THERAPY
SEEKING CLARITY
I RESUME MY DISPARITY
UNCLOGGING PORES
AND UNLOCKING DOORS
SCORES OF LORE
COME THROUGH POURIN’
THE PIMP STARTS WHORIN’
BOOTY REAL ON THE DOLLAR DEAL
ILL MANIFEST
CAUSE MY ALTER-EGO
WANTS TO CONFESS
AND PROFESS – NO LESS
REACHING OUT TO TRANSGRESS
THE STRESS AND
BLESS THE MESS
AS MERE LESSON
AIN’T NO HALF STEPPIN’
©
Exponential and disavowed – wonder if I am allowed – hic – to unfold – cup to hold, withdrawn and untold, afraid to unfold….longing for bold – only wanting to hold – embrace. find the trace. understand the human race….
