We Mine Deeper

Steven Hamilton, sequence taken from his Ride UK interview

Cory Beal recently sounded off his frustration on facebook and twitter saying: “Is pegless street even a style of riding? Sometimes I feel like it’s just less tricks.”

A blogger for thecomeup, I can only imagine how many bmx videos he must go through a day. The repetition is understandably grinding at his nerves as he continues in the FB comments with “[c]an’t even count how many web videos are just barspins, whips, and tuck no handers.”

No one can blame him for this as there’s been rash of videos with desperately imitative riding lately. The limitations to these three tricks is pretty disappointing given that this form of riding has produced a wealth of innovative and important video parts. Here’s a compilation of videos that hopefully inject a breathe of fresh air into the pegless atmosphere.

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Toothpicks, 2008 by Chris Jordan – Depicts one hundred million toothpicks, equal to the number of trees cut in the U.S. yearly to make the paper for junk mail.

Lately I’ve been especially conscious on the build and quality of the things I buy. This article nicely summarizes why we need to go back to making good, strong products that will last. Have been having a lot of fun visiting MEC and army surplus stores lately just to check out the design of things.

As for the article’s philosophies. Even if you take away their ‘it’s for the environment’ argument, the benefits still outweigh this cluttered, non-nonsensical form of disposable consumer culture we’ve created.

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How you have failed me, invisible lines that pull image onto my screen. Those lines that trawl information from afar. Friends had to scoop them up and mail them before you find the nugget bytes first. Like links to whorecraft real-life porn via a girl in korea (nsfw). or a dope music blog via a giffer in Vancouver (#gifgang). yes, whorecraft to music blogs. the world is a perilous place.

here’s another that took a year for the lines to find. History of Our World – one of the most compelling image and text blogs I have come across in a while. Most blogs consist of image and text, but this one’s really really good at image and text. Particularly the jpgs.

Also, Anour Brahem was born on October 20th 1957. Happy birthday yesterday fifty two years ago Brahem! It’s crazy it took that long before his music graced my headphones. I recommend hitting up this dope post on the greatest conversation to hear and read for yourself.

I made hainanese chicken rice today for the first time. the end result was average due to my not so very good skills but the experience was amazing (nothing tastes like food from home). My hands still smell of garlic and ginger. Mmmmmm.

School is going interestingly. Taking a film studies 100 class which has been blowing my mind a bit. In an art history / archeology of China class, our prof told us about an emperor who had a pool built where the reflection (or illusion) of the moon could be seen during the day. I think it’s supposed to be in or near a cave and there are seven holes around the pool and if any of them were blocked, the reflection would not work.

It’s a mystery to everyone how the reflection works. Apparently when the Japanese occupied the area they built an exact replica of the set-up but were still unable to replicate the illusion. Our prof explained that it was created with an entirely different philosophy and technology to ours, which is why it baffles us so much. I find this incredible fascinating, but cannot find any more information on this reflection pool. It’s supposed to be located at Bishu Shanzhuang in Chengde. If you do know anything more about this and would like to share the knowledge, I’ll hug you for an email!

Travel-wise, I’m a bit shocked at how many air miles I’ve put in. For work I’ve visited toronto six times this year, montreal four times, and a host of other Canadian cities a bunch (I should be in the ‘air canada top tier’ section soon. It means free scotch in the airport lounge, looking forward to this). Considering I hadn’t really been out of BC before this year, I feely very grateful to have seen this much of canada (even halifax!) and learnt more about this incredible country. Overall, photographing the flying lotus tour is still one of my favourite gigs ever. thank you kenny mac for that.

Am shooting a job in toronto next month, and will be flying from there to new york for a job later that week. Never been to new york, really excited for it.

On the internet front, I’m not entirely sure what to do with We Mine Deeper anymore. I’ve got quite a few blogs going right now and as has been said, ‘dude you’re spreading your blogging thin.’ WMD has always been a nice place for me to spew out whatever I wanted though. Imagine if I posted all the random nsfw stuff on my ‘proper’ photo blog…. Or maybe I should.

Whatever it is, a new david lang photo is in the works by andy chung who just started a new blog. I might be keeping with my usual URestlessL behaviour on this revamp. Other stuff in photography… Am procrastinating on a print requested by Day 19 which is dumb of me because they are incredible photographers and this is an honour. Speaking of day 19, harrison boyce went to visit them recently and came back with this fantastic photo.

Bloggingly, there is an interview that needs to be transcribed for some blogging news happening soon. On the work front, I sort of agreed to take a job that happens over my birthday, as I had a momentary lapse of memory on which day I was born on. For whatever reason, I’ve always wanted this to happen.

Really liked Where the Wild Things Are. It’s fucking good, but I must admit it’s a film that is sometimes more groundbreaking than it is pure fun to watch. There is a lot of love and certainly a lot of hate for this movie. I want to watch it in cinemas again, and this time round with a note pad to jot some writing down and maybe try to defend these waves of hatred. A salute to spike jonze for sticking to his path and somehow managing to put this film on our screens.

“He has developed an extraordinary sense of meaningful whimsy as in such music videos as [etc. etc.] where psychological tension is conveyed through original, iconoclastic scenography. Jonze’s sensibility is an authentic development of the music-video era’s generational split—which is also an aesthetic split. He doesn’t exploit pop rebellion but has a counter-intuitive slant on what’s funny, sad, universal.” – armond white in a review of the film.

I think jonze is doing something incredible with wild things, but how people take influence from it remains to be seen – which is a bit scary. This direction has so much potential but will look particularly stupid if used in the wrong hands. I think we’re in for a lot of face-value meandering filmmaking and photography soon; you can imagine how interpretations of the aesthetics and narrational style can be utterly dreadful (yes I know some of you already think this is bad). Whatever it is, the new kanye X jonze video We Were Once a Fairytale Where the Kanye’s Are -a.c. is dope, and you know it.

To finish – am actually falling for that Glee tv show, I have no reservations about playing with a sony psp on the bus and the vancouver locals can continue to look at me strange all they want, chicken rice is the best, and yup.

the above image wasn’t part of the exhibit, but it’s lovely and important so it’s here

Yesterday and today I visited the Vancouver Art Gallery to pay homage to the Andreas Gursky exhibition that was on. It’s really fucked me up quite a bit. I relate to his work more strongly than anything I’ve seen in years… the vantage points, the magnitude, the details within that magnitude, his attitude (and lack of)… and looking at the progression in his style and philosophy really makes me question my own and where I’m going with things.

One of the biggest topics in my head concerned the perception of photography and its moral boundaries both in the industry and to a general audience. Gursky’s disregard for ‘normal’ photographic conventions (especially on the ethics of manipulation) give his work such a powerful voice that I find so lacking in much work out there now, and this includes my own. But I’m still not entirely sure if this is a good thing. Should I continue to strive for the honest depiction as so-valued in the reportage world, or can I manipulate it in order to represent it? And even then, do I represent it with visual accuracy or focus on the feeling? I feel like this is an issue that I should be over by now, but it seems to be a huge roadblock in my path. Gursky just brought the issue up and instead of being sympathetic, fired it back in my face.

Then there is his play on visual tricks. They’re fascinating and make so much of the current work we produce look dated. Gursky has broken down the communication that occurs between the eye and the brain and reconstructed this exercise in his work in ways that I’ve never even thought possible.

There is also the attractiveness of Gursky’s work. It definitely pushes boundaries from a photographic and art-world sense, but is also something that joe-public can understand. I respect an artists’ ability to achieve this immensely.

If there is at least one thing that I do know for sure after seeing that exhibition, it’s that I am for the first time convinced by the following paragraph, and that really changes how things move on from here.

This is also true of Rhein. I wasn’t interested in an unusual, possibly picturesque view of the Rhine, but in the most contemporary possible view of it. Paradoxically, this view of the Rhine cannot be obtained in situ, a fictitious construction was required to provide an accurate image of a modern river. The same thing happened when I visited over 70 world-famous industrial companies. Most of them had a socio-romantic air I hadn’t expected. I was looking for visual proof of what I thought would be antiseptic industrial zones. If these companies had been systematically documented one would have had the feeling one was back in the days of the Industrial Revolution. After this experience I realized that photography is no longer credible, and therefore found it that much easier to legitimize digital picture processing.

Another thing I do know for sure after seeing this exhibit? I haven’t lost hope in contemporary art, which is nice because I’ve been quite the cynical fucker so far.

Anonymous, on Sep 18, 2009 wrote: could those photos be any worse? sweet red eye and shitty focus terry
	poozer, on Sep 17, 2009 wrote: all for not eating his dinner. i feel ya, max.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: This is a very nice interview on the vice magazine. I enjoy!
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: spike jonze and vice is a marriage made in my penis.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: VICE is the best and Spike is GOD.Thank you Shane!
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: godammit, spike. you look ready for a lead role in a romantic comedy in the second photo. i thought you were aaron eckhart at first. thank you for not being a jackass.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: Hey dickweeds, shut it. Or better yet, watch this -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=co3qMdkucM0
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: you don’t see enough RED EYEZ these days. good photos. good interview.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: hmmmmm ok. there’s like, what, a dozen interviews with a cross section of the greatest directors of all time and you’re complaining? jeez i’d had to be your spouse/parents and think of what a failure i am for being associated with a useless turd such as yourself.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: God, this site sucks. Get better material please.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: whats the phrase about arguing on the internet? thinks about retardation which these comments clearly indicate. best to just take comments off.
	rufiomania, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: i think benecio del toro is one of the wild things. how fucking perfect is that match? i can’t wait to see this!
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: wait dont they make cameras that take the red out
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: who wants to eat mushrooms and see this with me opening night?
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: anyone see the girl epicly laterd with spike in it? man shit looked fun.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: boner-rific
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: i wish they had gotten harry benson to shoot the photos…
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: Right on about the Coen Bros. I love most of their stuff too but you can tell strictly by the dialogue (which is what makes their films great, IMO) that they vary little from the script.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: I read an article somewhere years ago about Sendak maybe thinking about making it into a film but I thought he was hesitant. I guess he wanted it and was pitching to people he liked for a while now. I guess that’s cool, and the money certainly wouldn’t be bad, but I had a totally different concept of how this all went down.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: i love how he managed to transition from skate vids > music vids > big time movies.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: shit guys, i know i’m not the only one that’s stoked about dave eggers co-writing the screenplay! fucking eggers!
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: Too often people overlook one of Spike’s best weapons — the people he surrounds himself with. Art directors, writers, etc. He builds teams that make his movies what they are. And what they are is amazing.
	Fuck Russia, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: Two things…1 – This movie is going to blow minds. Period. 2 – The interview is between friends and no matter how jokey or buddy buddy they are it’s still better than normal pre-release shit you see out. Can’t wait for this flick. Just hope I can see it before I hear all about it from friends.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: I don’t know if I can trust or take seriously anyone that hates Wild Things. First of all, it’s probably the best children’s book of all time. Secondly, if you happen to not like it (a completely different rant) then why the disgust with people that do? I wasn’t crazy about the Neverending Story but you don’t see me namecalling on its message boards.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: less we forget spike also was the man behind jackass and so so many great music videos. the man has changed the way people think of music videos and has now done the same for feature length films.
Anonymous, on Sep 15, 2009 wrote: I like this site! I would never know about it if it weren’t for Spike Jonze. Thanks Spike.
Anonymous, on Sep 15, 2009 wrote: I found this article via Defamer. Nice read and funny, biting comentary by Defamer. Man I love the internet.
Anonymous, on Sep 15, 2009 wrote: Shane Smith: The original WILD THING
Anonymous, on Sep 15, 2009 wrote: Can’t wait for the movie now. I didn’t even know about it. Is this a publicity trick? If so, nice one!
Anonymous, on Sep 15, 2009 wrote: they refer to shane not asking “gotcha” questions. um he isn’t interviewing a big tobacco exec or something. it’s fucking spike jonze talking about A KIDS MOVIE.
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So I stole this from Brian Park’s awesome new blog The Greatest Conversation which is probably titled after the conversations he has with himself, which seem to be really damn good. He is like my super smart academic friend with refined taste who can’t handle stupid average people in the city so he moved to an island just off the city so he can study and think (and blog) in less diluted peace.

Anyway this track is off Flying Lotus’ most recent EP, which is a nice cue for me to say I am really fucking excited for FlyLo’s new album.

Also, ‘Auntie’s Lock’ is such a nice title. And I should really go find some breakfast. ta.

If you haven’t already set up one of these accounts, you should really get to know her.(mine iz here)

Justin Ouellette made it, he’s a fucking genius. And his path on the come up has been a good look:

I am a designer & photographer from Portland, Oregon.
I created Muxtape. Before that I worked at Vimeo.
I am JSTN on Tumblr and chromogenic on Flickr.
I live in Chinatown, New York City.

via (screen shot above)

In the last two years of my high school days, I was whisked from the throws of Singapore’s public education system to the prepindepity of a posh private school in Victoria which is located at the bottom left corner of Canada. St. Michaels University School it was called. Steve Nash attended that school, something the school’s marketers never ever let us forget.

It was here we were forced into a sport. And not wanting to join the rugby jocks, as I am really quite far from the jockism, I instead chose… Cricket.

I sucked at all aspects of the sport, but enjoyed it immensely. Our time involved standing around a lot and watching our eccentric genius of a British Chemistry teacher – Mr. Fisher – scream things at us, and sometimes, at thin air. “DIVE!” and “CCCAAATTCCCHHHH IIIITTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!” were two of his favourite lines.

There were two students on our team who were exceptionally clever, endearingly naive to their nerdiness, and absolutely serious about cricket. One was Indan and the other Pakistani. You can only imagine how entertaining their antics were.

So I guess it can be said that I have very fond memories of the sport of cricket, made only better because one night (or more?) I had sex with a girl on the bowling lawn in the middle of the cricket pitch. Much to my roomate’s chagrin (since he knew this fact and also played cricket on that field weekly).

The Duckworth Lewis Method is, according to Wikipedia, “a mathematical way to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a one-day cricket or Twenty20 cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstance.” Yeah I don’t know either.

More importantly, it is also the name of an Irish pop group who have released an album revolving entirely around cricket. Needless to say, I’m in love. The song above – Jiggery Pokery – is my fav. Hit the jump for Mr. Miandad which is their first single.

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Well I was going to post this on my davidlangphoto.com blog but I can’t figure out how to embed vimeo videos on it because I can’t figure out how to update its wordpress in the first place. So here it is on the deeper channel.

This was filmed on my little Canon SD780 point and shoot after I started playing around (and being totally astounded) by its macro movie function. Considering it can be had for >$270 at Futureshop, I’m still not quite sure how they fit so much technology into a camera the size of a credit card (actually) that is 0.7 inches thick and this affordable.

How did technology come this far? What’s next – cameras that make your breakfast and clean your house? Maybe they’ll call the nearest swinging website and invite an orgy over for you, then vibrate their way to satisfaction. Man, I don’t know.

Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy the video. This was filmed in the Welsh countryside starring, among other things, bees and ladybugs and me chasing sheep in a field. It’s short and shamelessly warm and fuzzy. =P

Nike SB – Debacle

After their first attempt at a skate video flopped harder than a summer sandle, Nike went back to the drawing board and bred new offspring – a rebellious second child that kicks the shit out of its elder brother.

Debacle features great skating from the hungry AM team, mockingly short ’scenery’ clips, and so little pretentious epicness it’s hard to image it came from the same family as Nothing but the Truth.

Debacle is undeniably solid and definitely worth watching. And to top it all off, the whole video is free for download. in HD.

If even more kids at the skatepark replace that [whatever 'core' action sport brand] logo with bold, sleek, ticks, who can blame them for the switch in loyalty? Nike is putting their marketing dollar in the right places, and in the video realm, doing a damned fine job of giving back to their audience.

Get debacled here.