Ted Leo’s prank: Yea or nay?
Posted: August 23, 2010 Filed under: Just for fun, Music | Tags: indie rock, musicals, Pitchfork, pranks, Ted Leo, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Comments OffI say yea. I’ve been a fan of Ted Leo & the Pharmacists for years. I caught them in Portland on the Hearts of Oak tour and in Spokane on the Brutalist Bricks tour. Then I discovered he was on Twitter, baring his soul about the rigors of touring and retirement rumors. Which led to the prank in question. Good on him, I say.
Leo posted this screed on Monday, covered by Pitchfork, among others. And then today, the reveal.
If nothing else, it’s a reminder of why fans of (indie) rock and the media need to keep a sense of humor. And another reason why John Hodgman is great.
Remembering the fires of 1910
Posted: August 16, 2010 Filed under: Great multimedia, Photos, Video, Work | Tags: 1910 fires, Big Blowup, Big Burn, Ed Pulaski, forest fires, history, Inland Northwest, U.S. Forest Service Comments OffWe’ve been hard at work these past few months on an ambitious series about the 1910 forest fires that consumed huge swaths of the Inland Northwest. The series, titled Flame and Ruin: The fires of 1910, launched Sunday, and I encourage you to explore it. It’s a treat for history buffs and lovers of the outdoors.
My favorite parts of the online package are the above video scripted by Jim Kershner and produced by Colin Mulvany and a then-and-now presentation inspired by the New York Times featuring photographs by Christopher Anderson and a Django+jQuery app by Ryan Pitts and Mike Tigas.
But I certainly don’t want to overlook the reporting and writing that went into this package. I especially recommend Jim Kershner’s opening narrative and Becky Kramer’s story about Ed Pulaski, the tunnel in which he saved his fire crew, and that tunnel’s discovery in 1979. It runs Tuesday and will be found on the main page of the special series.
A new start
Posted: August 11, 2010 Filed under: Blogging | Tags: CSS, wordpress Comments OffIf you’ve been checking this page or its RSS feed in the past few days, you’ve noticed a resurgence in posts and possibly the new appearance. An explanation of each follows, in that order.
I pay for this server space, and I’ve spent the time to populate this site with thoughts about my profession. It seems silly to let that all go to waste. I hope to continue spreading pearls of wisdom about online journalism. But I also reserve the right to post the occasional Tumblr-like post about whatever I’m thinking, reading, watching or doing. It could be completely unrelated to journalism. Consider yourself warned.
I hope you like the new layout. I’m no CSS pro like Ryan Pitts, but the Atahualpa theme in WordPress does let me pretend. I welcome suggestions about improvements to the appearance. Seriously. Font, line space, padding. Just post it in the comments.
A dog’s life
Posted: August 11, 2010 Filed under: Self-promotion, Video, Work | Tags: Belgian Malinois, dogs, Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, U.S. Air Force Comments OffIt’s not my best video work, but it’s serviceable, and the talent was top-notch.
What moved me about this story was the barely spoken relationship between Lucky the Belgian Malinois and his handlers. Just listen to the way Staff Sgt. Gerald Martinez talks to Lucky as he’s running him through the obstacle course. The way Tech. Sgt. Levi Wilson wishes he could adopt Lucky. This dog has seen far scarier situations than I ever will, but he’s had good people taking care of him.
Shooting in the forest
Posted: August 9, 2010 Filed under: Self-promotion, Video | Tags: collaboration, Colville National Forest, fire lookout, hiking, U.S. Forest Service Comments OffMy latest video was a collaboration with our summer intern, Asia Hege. She was interested in learning some multimedia, and when I asked her whether she had any story ideas, she pulled out a gem passed along by our environment and natural resources reporter. The video tells the story well, I think, but you can read the version that ran in the paper too.
It was a real treat of an assignment because it involved hiking in the Colville National Forest. It was a good three miles with about 1,200 feet of elevation gain.
This was a hard story to tackle for a first video, and Asia didn’t get to attend one of Colin Mulvany‘s training seminars. So after the briefest of introductions to shooting, I used this as a chance for her to practice with the camera. I incorporated a lot of her B roll in the final edit (you can tell which parts are hers because the colors are, puzzingly, richer). I also asked her help on the script, which she read well for the voiceover. And we did some of the editing together; it’s helpful to have feedback from another person, and she saw things I didn’t.
“Men Who Stare At Goats”
Posted: August 8, 2010 Filed under: Just for fun, Movies Comments OffThis film had a great cast and promise, but it just didn’t hold me. My favorite moment was George Clooney, as Lyn Cassady, telling Ewan McGregor’s Bob Wilton about the existence of Jedi warriors. Makes you wonder if they added those lines after casting the man who played a young Obi Wan Kenobi.