The Poverty Jet Set

NewTeeVee just linked to a new web video project about a dude, Alex Boylan, traveling around the world with nothing but the shirt on his back. No money. No plan. Just a video crew and (presumably) a laptop to blog with. I can dig that. You as his audience can interract and tell dude where to go, what to do, who to hang with. Around the World for Free could be pretty awesome. We’ll see once he starts off on his journey next Tuesday from New York.

Something smells a little fishy about this effort, though. Maybe it’s the uber-Flash FanRocket site with no permalinks, auto browser resizing and crazy strobing ads. Maybe it’s the oddly corporate Press Release. Or the non-embedable videos. I dunno. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. They might have a great production team on board, following guy around to make some super entertaining vids.

I just wish companies like this would have a better understanding of social media. I wish it was more grassrootsy. More authentic. Like the kids over at In a Van By the River. Or all the other adventure travel series I’ve posted about before. Or, for that matter, as humble and wonderful as the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler. Who can compete with Matt Gross? The man’s a master. Lucky for him he’s got a great video editor and a media giant in his corner. That helps.

I just made this fun lil’ video at Dylan’s new compilation album promo site (via Adverblog). Yeah, I’m just shillin’ for the man, but it sure was fun and who doesn’t like ol’ Bobby D?

It must be noted that the original bit was part of a masterwork by one of my all-time heros, D.A. Pennebaker. The film, Don’t Look Back, recently got remastered for DVD, you might want to pick up a copy!

(They didn’t allow me to embed the flash video, so I captured it and uploaded it to YouTube. Their loss.)

I am a huge fan of thrift shopping. The beauty of the search. The elation of a mighty find. The mystery of the evolution of one’s wardrobe. You can’t go wrong. Since high school I have made my regular pilgramages to the wild and exciting lands of mothball smells and 99-cent supermagik t-shirts. My sister Rebecca and I have gone thrift shopping together for as long as we can remember, and now, she’s an amazing fashion designer with her own line (check it out y’all, I’m very proud of her!).

Today, I found one of the best shows I have ever seen on my beloved sport of thrifting. I’m now a huge fan of the awesome, amazing and fabulous ThreadBangers Show! See for yourself how these kids are doing it oh-so-right:

Spent a good portion of the weekend hanging with a whole bunch of excellent web geeks who gathered for the PodCamp Philly unconference. In this photo, I’m goofing off a bit while in Steve Garfield’s session “The Book of Enemy: A Blog Novel” where we collaboratively recorded, edited and uploaded a two-minute short film (video below). Next to me, that’s Jackson West of NewTeeVee.com and Bre Pettis of the MAKE Weekend Projects video podcast.

Fun!

Click To Play

Neu! is one of my favorite bands of all time. Their sound is so raw, so inventive. I have their albums 1 and 2 on constant rotation on my playlists. This new live video surfaced recently on YouTube, I caught it on the Arthur Magazine blog, Magpie. Thanks to those guys for pointing it out. It’s a bit short, but it does the trick. If I could go back in time with a video camera, these guys would definitely be on my Live Music Journal!

I haven’t been going out to many shows over the last month, but I’ve seen 10 bands this week! It’s good to be back in in the thick of the action! Come check out all the new vids I have up on Live Music Journal including this awesome rendition of George Harrison’s “Wah Wah” by my buddies The Capitol Years and a bunch of their friends playing at Johnny Brenda’s last night. Love those free-for-all-let’s-all-get-on-stage-together moments. So fun!

The Capital Years and friends cover George Harrison from (( magdalenus )) and Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: philadelphiazoo, video, johnnybrendas, music, podcast, live, performance, livemusicjournal

This weekend, a bunch of my friends and I drove up to the mountains outside of State College, PA (home to my alma mater, Penn State) and had a music festival freak out hosted by dear folk Nathaniel, Catie and Kevin. Good times! I’m uploading some video to my Live Music Journal as I get time to do so, but do watch these to get the summation.

One of my favorite performances (see video above) of the day was Enumclaw who played as the hot summer sun started dipping down onto the horizon. It was truly magical. Also, the projector art (see video below) these fellas were throwing was inspired. This clip during the Evening Fires set. Also, one might say, magical.

Technorati Tags: art, projections, parties, psychedelic, catalpa music festival, avant garde, folk, travel, video, adventure, festival, artists, music

(UPDATE: quit emailing this video to me, people. Don’t you see I was hip enough to blog it weeks ago?? Hardy, har har.)

Technorati Tags: funny, humor, pitchfork, hipsters, video

Yes, this is the second Lord Whimsy post in a week, but it just happens that we spent the day on Saturday cruising around the pastoral landscapes of central New Jersey with him, checking out roadside attractions, antiques joints and other rural ephemera. Here’s the video of when we got back to his house and unloaded the loot.

Whimsy’s Garage Sale Bounty from (( magdalenus )) and Vimeo.

And by the way, if you still don’t know what Whimsy’s all about, you really ought to check out his amazing book. I’m not just plugging it because we’re friends, either. It is truly a work of genius. Please, do yourself a favor and buy a copy.

Technorati Tags: newjersey, travel, weirdness, lordwhimsy, adventure, video, videoblog, art, vimeo

Last night, Audrey and I went to see Rescue Dawn, the new film by one of my favorite directors of all time, Werner Herzog. It was super intense, but we loved it.

Today, I’ve been talking about it over ye olde proverbial watercooler when someone asked me, “Have you seen Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe”. Admitedly, I had not. Thank God for YouTube. Here is a great highlight reel from the film (via Media Funhouse):

My good friend David Kessler has a really great video series going called “Shadow World“. I love this show because it’s so different than other things you see online. It’s quiet. It’s edgy. It’s fresh. And it’s a great form of citizen journalism in a way that other mediums can’t possibly match.

Also, I love that David is making the best out of a bad situation. Shadow World all started because he got a super-low rent starving artist’s apartment on one of the poorest, hard scrabble corners in Philly and decided instead of sulking about it, he’d turn it into an art project. Inspired by his friend Zoe Strauss the famous South Philly photographer and his collaboration with her on the documentary film If You Break the Skin, he shows delicate and compassionate portraits of his neighbors.

He’s getting some good attention for the project, having been recently written up in the Philly Metro and he’s just telling me now that the Philadelphia Inquirer is working on (update: it’s up!) a longer story about the him and the project. wOOt!

Audrey and I went to see Panda Bear at the First Unitarian Church the other night and were blown away!

Here’s one of the videos I took of the performance for my Live Music Journal. Head over there to see other live performances I’ve been recording. Be patient with this vid, it gets AMAZING!

Technorati Tags: projections, Philly, panda bear, livemusicjournal, music, psychedelic, video, videoblog, r5 productions

Click To Play

Technorati Tags: Philly, videoblog, videoblogging, travel, philadelphiazoo, prison, uwishunu, cheapdates, easternstatepenitentiary, video

I am absolutely LOVING the Frugal Traveler’s video series. It’s taken a new step toward subverting the dominant paradigm by checking out some of the the coolest, most forward thinking people in America. He’s all about the fringe! Yeah!

In the latest episode, Matt goes and stays with an anarchist collective/intentional community in rural Wisconsin. How freakin’ cool is that!? Not something you’d expect from a major media outlet. Or perhaps this is his own small way of dissenting? I don’t know, but I’m hooked.

Also, be sure to watch the previous episode where he goes CouchSurfing in Indiana!

Technorati Tags: nytimes, frugal traveler, video, intentionalcommunities

Technorati Tags: NYTimes, frugaltraveler, video, intentionalcommunities, community, couchsurfing, ontheroad, povertyjetset, travel, videoblogging

Click To Play

Technorati Tags: cheapdates, city life, coffee, people, Philly, restaurants, travel, uwishunu, video, videoblog

(not embeded, click through to watch)

The Frugal Traveler is off looking for ‘old school’ Nashville. I have to say, I’m pretty glad that he’s sticking to the under-discovered highlights of the town. Thank God he’s slummin’ it with the old timers and shoe shiners. I’d quit watching if he didn’t. Have a look for yourself!

On an aside, want to give a shout out to my new acquaintance, Ted Fisher who edits the show! He’s got a blog on documentary production called Actualities.

Technorati Tags: ontheroad, videoblog, NYTimes, americana, blogging, travel, tedfisher, frugaltraveler, tenessee, video

I thought you’d all enjoy this little nugget from the great performer, Daniel Higgs.

I’ve got more video of Daniel singing some far-out songs on my Live Music Journal. Check it out.

Technorati Tags: dreams, Philly, poetry, art, philosophy, danielhiggs, video, psychedelic, people

So I’m hanging out in Telluride, Colorado this past weekend at MountainFilm Festival. It’s the last day of my time there, and my buddy Luigi and I are just minding our own business, hanging out enjoying a little mountain sunshine and springtime creek sounds when this fella comes up to us and says,

“Hey brothers, I hate to ask, but could you perhaps, if the Gods divine it, spare a small nugget for a travelin’ man?” We don’t have any, but he continues to entertain us with his interesting pressense. Apparently, he’s just in town doin’ a little fly fishing.

Oh, and speaking of fly fishing, if you’re a fan or even vaguely curious about the sport, you should really have a look at the trailer of my friend Ben Knight’s film “Running Down the Man” that debuted this year at MountainFilm. He and his buddies head down to Baja California to fish for the “uncatchable” roosterfish and tool around on a pretty wicked dune buggy. You can pick up a copy of his film on DVD from his website. You won’t regret it.

Drunken Fly Fishing Master from (( magdalenus )) on Vimeo

Technorati Tags: telluride, fishing, flyfishing, mountainfilm, colorado, film, filmfestival, adventure, documentary, hoboes, povertyjetset

In Episode 4 of Cheap Dates, we finally got our chance to check out the Edgar Allen Poe House which is only a couple blocks from out house! Pretty crazy that he lived here in the neighborhood for a time.

Play Me.

Technorati Tags: philebrity, dating, uwishunu, Philly, travel, edgarallenpoe, video, videoblog, people, cheapdates, philadelphiazoo, philebrity

Audrey and I have been out of town for a week, and amazingly, I didn’t check my email or blog once! Whoa. But I did want you all to have a quick look at our video podcast that is alive and well, with two new episodes we made before we left.

The first is Episode 3 where we go check out the “Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor” on the border of Fishtown and Kensington. They were having a big arts festival to kick off the summer up there, including an awesome kinetic sculpture derby where people built crazy-ass bikes and rode them on a challenge course around the neighborhood. Check it out!

Technorati Tags: city life, philadelphiazoo, travel, philebrity, video, videoblog, povertyjetset, cheapdates, podcast, Philly, uwishunu