Girls: Discussion of the Totem of Chat

I was just watching episode 1 of Girls the other day where they discussed the different levels of communication in the totem of chat, whilst walking down the lower west side. It went a little something like this.

The Levels of Communication in the Totem of Chat ala Lena Dunham, Girls S01E01

1. Phone call as the highest form of communicato. So true. Nothing like a voice to remind us we’re human and not just some bot in the background.
2. Second in running: Email.
3. Text message.
4. Then G-Chat.
5. Facebook as the lowest form of communication.

True, whine-fests with BFF’s aside, almost all of my talk time goes towards work-related calls. It is such a rarity nowadays, to get a call from anyone outside of the BFF zone. So rare in fact that the first thing that crosses my mind is:

1. Is the caller drunk?
2. Is the caller an insurance agent now?

< cue granny voice > Has the advent of digital messaging made us so disconnecting that whatsapp messages at 11.12pm going “Wru?” is more acceptable than an actual phone call?! < / end granny voice >

It makes me wonder of we’ve lost something. I miss the days when I would answer the phone to a new voice and awkward conversation that turns into 5 hours of magical late night chatting ensues. You know the kind that you both suddenly go, “oh my god, the sun is rising” in a haze of an exhausted high and mindlessly say that you should sleep but never do. What happened to us people!?

Oh right. We got jobs.

Any how. Back to the Communication totem. As with all other American standards, don’t quite apply to the rest of the world.

How does one navigate the Singaporean Totem of Communication?

The Levels of Communication in the Totem of Chat ala Singapura

1. Phonecall – still applies.
2. Whatsapp – the closest thing to a call, with the exception of it’s frumpy cousin, the SMS.
• Here you harp on a single tick or a double tick. Yo, you read it, reply it already, what is more important than replyin’ me hobag!? I need to make reservations or I won’t be able to book our table at Table at 7, I need my pseudo pretentious french indonesian food woman! Last seen: 7:41pm. Ugh! Why were you still last seen then? YOU SHOULD BE DRIVING OVER TO OUR OVERPRICED FEAST NOW! You are either texting while driving or lying! You liar. Last seen: 5:45am. Argh!
3. Facebook chat.
• Classified as the lowest form according to Girls but I disagree. FB chat has replaced AIM, MSN, ICQ (if you know what that is you’re too old) as if by sheer Zuckerburg willpower. 3 hour FB chats have replaced the 5 hour phone calls till dawn.
4. Twitter @s.
• Oh our time and the woes of straddling public & private digital spaces! Everyone in your follow vicinity gets to hear you ramble to your best bud about trying to sober up near a pineapple. It’s completely quasi natural in its own way, like quasi yelling in a crowd. But at crowd of people you quasi know.
5. Instagram comments.
• Aiyoeh. It’s odd that this is even here but it is. It usually involves random cooing about random nothings. “Omg that looks DELICIOUS.” or “Omg your cat is soooo cute.” or something along the lines of “omg so awesome, jealous.”
6. G-Chat/Google Docs Chat.
• Where colleagues ask you if you’ve read their email about something dreadful, like a quotation due on Sunday night at 10pm, D:

At the end of the day, all communication totems boil back down medium. Each medium warps the message to it’s own unique degree, leaving it’s own signature room for interpretation. Who are we really communicating with?

Communication today definitely involves a strange dissonance between genuine interest and the mixed messages a medium implies.

At the end of the day, I have to believe that all this technology brings us closer together rather than further apart. Yeah, I guess we won’t be receiving calls like we did in the past, or immediate F2F meet requests for the lack of any other outlet, but we do have 500 people on our friends list at our disposal. A way to communicate with a mass at any time. I suppose in that way, it’s easier than knocking on doors.

Loving this app at the moment. A mustmustmust for productivity junkies.

And in case you’re not familiar with the pomodoro technique:

Ok, ttyl, busy conquering my wunderlist.

What exactly is education prepping kids for then?

Credit: The Avocado of Doom by Sean Fallon

Avocado. It’s good fat for the body. With a little bit of sea salt or sugar, it is a tasty treat for a nagging hangover. Trust me on this, next time you’re about to puke in a well, have an avocado! And think about Miscellaneous Shit Bits while you’re at it. But not literally, I suspect that might be even more nauseating.

There are 2 teams in the 20 something landscape. Team; “YES! I BUY IT!” and team; “FUCKOFFDON’TCONTROLMYLIFE”. This is a post-relationship post, mthrfckrs. AKA serious life is srs, srsly.

Team; “YES! I BUY IT! Look at the mock up of my unbuilt flat and a picture of me on an irrelevant swing in my wedding gown”

Maybe it’s because I’m now strangely frolicking on the other side of the fence, I fear the constant myriad of weddings and find myself immediately allergic to the murderously delicious red velvet cupcakes at your wedding. Do I really need a bookmark of a picture of you and your SO at the Singapore drain making googly eyes at one another? Yes, sadly, maybe I do. And how is it I still find myself insanely happy for you and tearing at your creepy wedding pictures? Deep inside this hard shell somewhere must be a cupcake. But hay! I’m happy for you, I really am. From the bottom of my cupcake.

Team; “FUCKOFFDON’TCONTROLMYLIFE. I’m gonna wake up sans pants and eat an avocado!”

Certainly my team of choice at the moment. Team; “SorryDearNotNowOk?”.  Team; “Puberty2.0″. Team; “NoI’mNotGoingToPretendIhaveMyShitTogether”. Team; “NoI’mNotGoingToMakeThatDownPayment”.

In other words, Team; “ROK NEVER DIE!”. One never arrives at this party, one can only re-arrive. Enter the fun house of the late 20′s party and helllllooooo freedom (that you’ve somehow always had), helllllooooo people (who were somehow always here), helllllooooo mega disconnect between age and desires (eg. for tequila), helllllooooo ghosts of personas past, helllllooooo quarter-life fun house. The late 20′s party is the ante-upped party that is somehow hidden in plain view.

When did I realize that I was rippin’ the fabric of the time-space continumm to traverse between the Parallel Universes of the 20′s (PU20s)? When did I realise that half my friends’ were residing in Universe YesMorePls and rest in Universe Avocado?

When I first got here, I smelled it. I smelled the avocado. It’s the stench of quarter-life crisis and confusion. And the constant question is, “Do you smell the avocado?”, and the answer is either “Yes, I smell the avocado.” or “What are you even saying, I don’t even”. Funny thing, I’ve met people who are obviously in the midst of munching the avocado and who still respond with “What are you even saying, I don’t even”. I think this calls for a level of self awareness.

I find myself smelling the avocado most when a bunch of miscellany is placed in front of me. They may or may not be limited to the following things:

• When my 24 year old friend’s baby puked into camera on a film shoot. I smelled the avocado.
• When I realized I went out with someone the same age as my 17 year old cousin’s boyfriend. I smelled the avocado.
• When I felt extremely downtrodden about the prospect of my 2 friends moving their meditation chairs and themselves to Detroit and Beijing respectively. I smelled the avocado.
• When I found myself missing the activity of buying kale and organic juice with the ex-boyfriend, while instead buying a hangover avocado and a 6 pack. I smelled the avocado.
• When I water my herbs with a gin martini hangover. I definitely smell the avocado.

On the other side of the fence, Team “YES! I BUY IT!” is probably wondering:

• Why on earth champagne shorties exist.
• Why The Weeknd is relevant. And why the lead singer constantly has to sing about working you like a pro baby.
• Why their single friends are constantly staring at their Sunday brunch with complete nausea and uncertainty.
• Why their dry cleaning is taking so long.

I’m definitely feeling late 20s writing about this. Watching Lena Dunham’s Girls the other day, to re-quote haphazardly and most likely inaccurately: 20 somethings feel like we’re constantly pretending to be adults. And in our heads we’re still kids. But at some point, we gotta know, we’re not pretending. We’re… it. We’re… there. Right now! There’s no way about it. And it’s easier when you buy it and when you don’t smell the avocado.

But I smell the avocado. And I smell it all the time.

Today I will be doing a banal post about things I want but can not have. From lawn furniture to accessories, I’ve been struggling to decide what to buy and in the end purchasing nothing. Since our last few posts have been on the serious side; Election posts, Geohot’s Trial, etc. It’s time for some girly frivolity.

And let me be selfish as to use this time to weigh the options of my future purchases and let the bimbo shitbit out of the bag.

More spending urges after the jump.

Item No #01

Isosceles Necklace by Stone & Honey. Hand cut brass and oxidized silver triangles hang on a delicate oxidized sterling chain from Stone and Honey.

Well because it’s so pretty and because it oxidizes so each and every piece is personalized, cheap thrills like that buy me in. Besides, buying triangular jewelry helps me fights the strong urges I have to tattoo triangles all over random parts of my body.

Item No #02

Ikea Lawn Furniture from the AMMERÖ series.

Why? Because truly, my balcony tanning has gotten out of hand. I lay on a towel on the floor beside Mr Bonsai. All this would be much more glamorous if I was on an AMMERÖ. Plus, my Malibu Orange would stop spilling all over the floor.

Item No #03

NIKICIO’s mixté / vol.06 / Unisex Multiway Apron & mixté / vol.06 / Unisex Bomber Jacket.

Now that’s an apron I would adorn and bake food babies in. I’m basically loving all of NIKICIO’s stuff and I only personally own 1 item, that’s imbalance right there.

Item No #04

An iPad so I can use the iPad Flipboard Ap. Browsing lookbook.nu and reading feeds has never been prettier than on Flipboard. Flipboard is my favourite Apple Store Ap and I don’t even own the platform that utilizes it.

Item No #05

Doc Martens’ Cosmic Boots. I’ve wanted them for so damn long now. If not only for the fact that they’re awesome but that Han; loves the cosmics and would literally kinda be intrigued by the space I walk on. Hur hur, pun? No?

Item No #06

LUXIRARE’s Fox Fur Tails.

I had this crazy dream once I was riding a white horse down a beach, and I had a LUXIRARE Fox Fur Tail hanging off my outfit. Materialism has crept into my dream states. A higher power compels me to shop and waste my money.

Item No #07

KeepCups! Ever since Charine bought me one of these in blue for Christmas, I’ve been craving various colours for the portability of caffeinating my friendships. My blue one has treated me well, transporting my home made expresso, cracking me out regularly, faithfully and surely. And I know for a fact, Pat’s been lusting after them too. Must have moar!

Item No #08

A Canon 60D. Because no matter how much I borrow Han‘s 7D, it’ll never be like having one of my own. It also means not being shrieked at in case you accidentally leave the camera bag open or something. It’s just that after years of buying an average of 2 cameras a year, I am much more cautious about my gear purchases. Maybe it’s time and well this one’s a beau, isn’t it?

There’s also that urge for a new iMac and a new Miumiu bag but I’m going to avoid putting those in this list as buying any one of them would make purchasing anything else impossible.

So there you have it, the list. Is it making you have hot flashes and urges too?

50 seconds into Esquire’s Feature Video you’ll catch Glee’s Heather Morris dancing to Deadmau5′s Sofi Needs a Ladder. Not a big fan of Glee but I am a fan of Heather Morris.

Sexy. If food turns you on more than females then there’s Epic Meal Time making a Cheesy Grilled Cheese Tower to the music of Deadmau5 to fire your buns up. Deadmau5, soundtracking cheese towers everywhere.

EPIC! For more Deadmau5: Visit their MySpace.

To those living in my home of Sunny Singapore, you’d be aware of the recent elections. For two days, nobody tweeted about anything else. And if you happened to randomly tweet about sunbathing in your own balcony, your tweet would get lost at sea, a sea of political rants, thoughts and statements.

I think the most significant thing this election is that everyone finally saw each other. Not for the apathetic folk that we presumed each other(and ourselves) to be. But for an actual nation of people. People who argue, people who debate, people who actually give a shit. A few months ago, everyone thought Singapore was like the Singapore some dumb American thinks it is. But we know better now.

I think the general consensus amongst the Gen Y-ers is a general disappointment with the lack of opposition seats. I share that opinion. How does a party with only 60% of the vote get 93% of the seats? Simple my friends, by manipulating the GRC system.

This is why some of the people I know vote opposition whether or not they have any merits. The need to overthrow this system, for some, is the vital deciding factor in voting opposition. And when I think about it, what good is it to vote on faith and merit in a system that lacks fairness.

As someone from the outside looking in, and by the outside, I mean the uncontested Tanjong Pagar GRC, I feel I’ve gotten a bird’s eye view of everyone’s passion, furor and well, what’s the opposite of apathy? One thing we can’t argue is that Singapore had a political awakening this year. Or at least for me, I’ve never seen my peers as invested in the shaping this country as during this General Election. Prior to this, the most common question was, “Who actually cares?”

Well, this year, we found out, we actually care. Weird. I didn’t think I did either. The antidote to apathy? Well, it’s being able to have a voice, and using it. This time, we had help from Zuckerberg, Jobs and the Tweetbird. For me, this talk on TED, felt incredibly relevant to me during this election time.

Dave Meslin, The Antidote to Apathy:

Reason being, yes this year, we had a really super mini revolution, a GRC was finally won by the Worker’s Party. And it had been the most contested election since independence. And many of us feel it’s still just not enough and I agree. But what I find has been really healthy, is apathy being slapped in the face this year. And people paying some damn attention.

So while my twitter feed is littered with rage against Chiam See Tong’s loss, Tin Pei Ling’s Kate Spade Bag, and PAP’s general lack of ability to say anything but “We will work very hard”, let’s remember, this rage is actually stemmed from pride. Pride in our nation.

Sounds horribly cheesy? Well, let’s just not take it for granted next time.

I leave this post with this final video. And yes, Egyptian issues are a totally different ballgame than Singaporean ones, but I like what Wael Ghonim says, “The power of the people is stronger than the people in power.”

Wael Ghonim, Inside the Egyptian revolution:

Don’t Wait is after the jump!

Want more? Check out more tracks on their MySpace or at the Official Website.

But as Sony’s GeoHot / Fail0verflow fiasco unfolds, I can’t help feeling betrayed… Turns out Ol’ Uncle Sony is not only senile, he’s simply quite a dick.

Trying to master the art of making enemies and alienating friends? Uncle Sony shows us how with exceptional finesse! Let’s observe as GeoHot fends his harasser off with a sling.

Update: GeoHot continues to sink Battleship Sony from South America (23 Mar)>>

This post has 2 updates (23 Mar)>>

Preoccupied with developing, protecting and stealing technological IP, Sony has not only neglected to pick the minds of arguably the most valuable outliers in its’ PS3 following, they have come to believe that it’s necessary to haul their cerebral asses to court.

Um. Hello if you’re looking to “borrow” clever ideas, don’t you think these PS3 brainiacs are a great place to start?!

Also, if you’re going to sue, don’t pick a dude with more than 1,000,000 friends.

This whole FAIL extravaganza has been going on for some time now, and really doesn’t count as news. Nonetheless, when there’s buffoonery of such monumental proportions going down, there’s no way MiscShitBits can sidestep our responsibility to admire this epic quagmire.

Oh no they didn’t #1:

Sony fails to recognize that people like Fail0verflow & GeoHot are FOC crystal balls because:

• Users in the long tail are typically gold mines for ethnographic insights,
• i.e, they are the ones who will explore new frontiers for Sony,
• hence, their community is the best place to source for and test out new ideas.
• Also, they are probably the ones who can articulate feature wishlists the rest of the bell curve can’t.
• Better yet, they have the know-how to prototype and show you potential permutations to your products.

It really doesn’t take an expert to see that if Sony isn’t genuinely researching this group of prosumers, or recruiting them like crazy, they’re really shortchanging themselves.

Oh no they didn’t #2:

Sony pretends to seek out the kind of people they are concurrently suing. Hear that rumbling? It’s the rolling of a thousand eyes…

Oh no they didn’t #3:

Sony blunders on,  actually attempting to recruit the kind of people they are suing. The noble Koushik Dutta gives them a beating with the most cordial stick we ever did see.

(More via. Makezine.)

Ok, Intermission:

Just because I feel bad that Sony is experiencing such torrential FAIL, let’s just say… that Sony’s ham-handed rage against these PS3 wunderkinds as an isolated case of poor judgement on the part of Sony’s SCEA arm…

Why isn’t their PR crew already busting their asses remedying the situation!? Especially when people are literally pieing Sony with the solutions! Here’s our faves:

• Hire GeoHot
• Muzzle them lawyers
• Give GeoHot a t-shirt

Easy enough right? What’s stopping them?! “Naaaahh… that would be too simple…”

Problem is that regardless of the legal outcome, Sony’s actions are currently incongruent with most of their consumer’s values. While the SCEA legal team is fighting zealously to preserve the perceived profitability of their PS3 consumer base, the whole Sony brand is now pissing off a larger population that includes people foreign to planet PS3.

Why has a plan to salvage the situation has not already kicked into action?! Perhaps because of this?At the rate Sony’s FAILing, these guys are going to have to change their names to W1N0verflow by the time this is through.

If something doesn’t change, this is a losing PR battle for Sony. In the event that GeoHot is successfully sued, Sony will only reinforce its’ Corporate Bully label for victimizing a kid who happened to pwn their system. Otherwise, Sony loses and becomes the Goliath to GeoHot’s David.

Not to mention, all this press coverage will catapult PS3 jailbreaking into the mainstream either ways.

If just to add icing on this cumulo stercore George Hotz happens to be an anomaly – this is hardly the stereotypically reclusive hacker. As the first kid to Jailbreak the iPhone, this boy has had his fair share of experience in dealing the the media. Despite attempting to be a rapping caucasian (alamak why?!), he pretty much hits all the right notes in his public appearances on shows like The Alyona Show and  Attack of the Show.

Attention Sony: That GeoHot kid is also pwning your ass on the PR front.

Alright, let’s get back to Sony’s ridiculously well-rounded incompetence…

Oh no they didn’t #4:

How does one offer their condolences when one is confronted a survey this pitifully clueless? Who knew the peephole to the hacker’s soul was a fourteen-question survey?!

Oh no they didn’t #5:

Kevin Butler, VP at Playstation… retweets the encryption code. Arguably the first time in Battleship history someone sinks their own battleship. Poor bugger.

Oh no they didn’t #6:

Sony mows on despite being faced rather openly by fellow giant Microsoft.

The only thing we can be certain of is that, as this unfolds, more FAIL will overfloweth. Shitbits will be watching closely as Sony continues to harass their targets. I do suspect I shall have the expression of an incredulous lemur etched permanently into my face by the time Sony’s through.

Dear Sony…

Throwing a legal tantrum because not everything is going according to your plan = lame.

Having a 21 year old kid be the target of your wrath = extra lame.

Letting a 21 year old kid out-maneuver you in PR = your brand is eroding right before our eyes.

So please, Sony, #include <chillpill.h>, nyquil your legal team and re-think your priorities. Might I suggest searching for the brave soul who dares to be your next senior VP of marketing & PSN as a starting point?

Sincerely,

The Miscellaneous ShitBits

More? Here:

• George Hotz’ blog
• Fail0verflow’s twitter
• Make: Online’s Phillip Torrone
• Wikileak’s mirror of the ps3 keys
• Boycott Sony

Here’s to wishing a good fight to George Hotz, Fail0verflow and their legal teams.

*Much credit & sympathies to Ottavio Vannini, whose fine piece of work seems to attract the oddest sort of appreciation.

THIS JUST IN (mar 23): Latest buzz has it that GeoHot is now George of the Jungle. And some misc shit bits have surfaced, and unfortunately, not in GeoHot’s favor.

First off, the stuff Sony’s managed to prove really isn’t all that shocking. Sure, he did have a PSN account… sure, some folks in Cali dug him and was generous with the dollarz. Urh. Duh. Didn’t need Sherlock right there. Maybe he did nuke some evidence asap cause he wasn’t all that clean of piracy (just my guess). So what?!

Big picture doesn’t change – Sony is still harassing one 21-year-old hacker. Still exploiting the cheapest way to champion a zero-tolerance system they prefer. And still taking the worst PR route possible while at it.

Sony is clearly on a mission to make an example out of someone by suing his ass off. Sadly, their choice of target really makes them appear outstandingly tasteless and despicable.

Is it that difficult to cut the suing, fix the security issues and focus on actually putting out better products?

What a mess. We’ll be staying tuned.

THIS JUST IN (pt2) : “Hey Sony hey hey, it’s spring break & you’re not invited ROFL!”

http://geohotgotsued.blogspot.com/2011/03/fearmongering.html

Nuanced but definitely tangible PR win for Team GeoHot (again). Hell we’re just observers and even we could use a holiday from this mummery of a lawsuit. Enjoy them trees George o’ the Jungle.

THIS JUST IN (pt3) : More verificación on the vacaciones via GeoHot’s lawyers:

http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1157239p1.html

http://www.examiner.com/console-gaming-in-national/geohot-says-he-didn-t-flee-and-that-he-didn-t-sabotage-hard-drives

Ok done is done. No more updates after this. All this testosterone is getting to me. Next post shall be smothered in the glittery eyeshadow of a thousand Hello Kitty clad ponies.

Fig 1. DSLR Rig

But everyone knows what a 5d rig roughly looks like. More interestingly, is the contemporary take on scenes of tension in the lets call this, the age of fuckolution. Beyond the surface of what DSLR video has brought, beyond the abilities of crazy low-light, slow motion and new nifty lenses, beyond the boring technicals that geek tech websites is the new look that these capabilities have brought. Things that when I watch, I go, YEP, that’s 2000 and now.

And since I’ve been really into lists recently, alas a list! And how certain films have applied these trends to creating an undoubtedly look of the now.

Read my list of video trends of this day and age after the jump.

Tilt shift is Hollywood’s new surrogate for the wide angle lens. A means to make characters, situations or places seem distorted or trivial. I remember watching it applied for the first time in The Social Network and I was like, right on.

Vimeo/Indiewood example: The Sandpit by Sam O’Hare is a Vimeo tilt shift classic. 15, 873 likes and counting. That’s a lot of likes. If you’re a tilt shift fan, then it’s likely you’ve watched this.

Hollywood example: If you don’t know this, then wake up; the Henley Sequence in The Social Network.

For a look at Tilt Shift closer to home for all you asians, here’s Toy Thailand by joerg daiber.

Extreme Time lapse

Time lapse is by no means a new thing. It has however been taken to the extreme in the recent years. It’s become more than just the shift of the sky from night to day. Or the buzz of city people moving quickly like streams of little ants. Time lapse has gone ape shit on us, the sky now shifts with a million stars. Volcanos erupt in seconds, and all while the camera tracks this movement, almost like a smooth sailing ferry boat in the middle of the desert. Basically what’s happening now is… time lapse on crack.

Vimeo/Indiewood example: TimeScapes: Rapture by Tom Lowe @ Timescapes. Tom Lowe is the 2009 Astronomy Photographer of the year. So you can imagine that his version of a time lapse would leave you starry eyed, and it really does.

Hollywood example: BBC Life’s Plants. Video’s recent affair with extreme timelapse allowed nature documentaries the ability to take advantage of this trend and make for some incredible wildlife study. We now see nature like we never did before, moving, growing through a scape. Stuff like this makes me feel video has got more going for it than filming kittens barfing.

Love this? You might also like Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull by Sean Stiegemeier. Another Vimeo famous video with a whopping 19, 000 likes. Shot on a 5D, harnessing the power of DSLR video. Or California/Arizona Time Lapse by Dan Eckert. The combination of his camera movement with time lapse is insane. At the 1:09 mark, he gets a little trashy techno on us too. Can we say time lapse trippy?

Extreme Slow Motion

Similarly to time lapse, slow motion isn’t a new thing either. But filming it for more than just a floaty atmospheric feel, filming slow motion for the sole purpose of seeing something in slow motion has become, well, a thing.

Vimeo/Indiewood example: Floating by Floating on Vimeo. The new breed of highspeed cameras has brought forth an entire generation of people who love filming floating liquid, shattered glass, slow-motion slaps across the faces and all that lovely mundane stuff we love seeing in slow motion. Trivial things become exciting. When’s the slow motion dog poop gonna arrive?

Hollywood example: There are countless examples of this. Slow motion is not a new thing in filmmaking by any means. I mean there was an TV Show dedicated to just filming things move at this extreme snail pace. For the hollywood example, I’m going to site the Inception kick. Yes it’s just a man falling into a bathtub. But slow-mo made it, well, a man falling into a bath-tub omg.

Note that he is Caucasian. Why is it always the white guy? For more footage of mundane items moving in warp speed, check out what happened when Tom Guilmette got locked in a Vegas hotel room with a Phantom Flex.

Lowlight/Shallow DOF

Fig 2. Atomic Love, Gregory Crewdson

You know how Gregory Crewdson‘s photography (Fig 2.) tends to have this look about it. A look of brilliant mixed lighting and long exposure. The footage of the new breed of digital cameras, with their lowlight capabilities, always made mixed lighting look starker, more contrasted and brilliant to me. Somehow now, that Crewdson look is captured mildly in video form. And yes, while we all realise there isn’t any actual real long exposure going on, that glow seems more vivid, the eyelight more sparkly. Like someone opened some strange alternate floodgate.

Pair this glow of soft light and atmospheric illumination with the common man’s f2.0 and tada, we’ve got the distinctive look of the DSLR/Red/Etc. generation. Now, let me remind you shallow depth of field isn’t really a film trend, people have been making movies with it for years. It’s just the abundance of it nowadays in stark contrast to the days of handycams and low budget digital productions is quite apparent. And everyone uses and abuses it. Some scenes do need it’s deep focus, so for you shallow junkies out there, take a queue from the f/64 people. But for now, let’s enjoy this libation!

Vimeo/Indiewood example: APRICOT, A Short Film by Ben Briand. No mixed color temperatures here. But there is that glow. And of course that shallowness that has infiltrated any contemporary Student/Indie/Whatever film out there. APRICOT was one of the first few shorts I ever watched on Vimeo. And from that day forth, Vimeo stole my heart.

Hollywood example: The Canon 5D House Episode, an interesting turn for network TV. You’ll see the 5DmkII footage kick in at the 0:40 second mark.

For those of you shallow DOF, macro enthusiasts, here’s as low as it goes; the awe inspiring Macro Kingdom.

Strangely Shaped Bokeh/Extreme Bokeh

Find a quick explanation on Bokeh here. Bokeh, in the recent years, has taken various forms, most commonly; heart or star shapes. Because of this, Bokeh, has many romantic notions attached to it. Maybe it’s time to make Pang Sai Bokeh…

Vimeo/Indiewood example: Light Works by Supernormals. By far, one of the most awesome Bokeh videos I’ve encountered. Combining two of my great loves, beautiful Graphic Design/Typography and nifty video work.

Hollywood example: Heart shaped bokeh in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Watch as the Bokeh becomes sentimental at 0:20.

Love this trend? Then you may also like Danny Cooke’s Bokeh.

Skateboard Camerawork/Footage of Extreme Sports in Slow Motion

Video on wheels! This is pretty much self-explanatory.

Vimeo/Indiewood example: Pre-Bitter Cold 2010 by Imperial Productions. Shot by the same Vinny Minton that the producers of House eventually got to shoot their skateboarding scene.

Hollywood example: The skateboard scene on House. They actually flew down the above forementioned Indie Skateboard Videographer down to film this scene. Yay for indie filmmakers. You can see here how Hollywood Lighting and Art D make this scene pop though.

Watch a behind the scenes look on how they did it here.

For slow motion of extreme sports, a link I just have to share is BMX tricks in 7D 1000 fps by Oton Bačar. Combining two trends, slow-motion and biking/skating/extreme sporting scenes makes for trippy shit.

Cameras in weird places/POV shots

Fig 3. Head Cheese

POV shots have become so easy to achieve with the smaller, more compact cameras of today. Cameras are put into the weirdest places. You’ll see in Fig. 3, a man who decided to install one into his skull. Yes, Wafaa Bilal had minor surgery to have perma-head cam. All so he could see if anyone stabs him in the back.

Small cameras like that one, the iPhone 4, and the GF2, mean that cameras now fit into the tiniest places. Stories are told in a new way. Cooking shows now do shots from the point of view of your steak!

Vimeo/Indiewood Example: Po Chan’s The Last 3 Minutes. One of, if not my fave short of all time. The majority of the thing point of view. Helmet cams galore.

Hollywood Example: Guy Ritchie’s Nike Spot, Take it to the Next Level. This is the awesome director’s cut for those of you who’ve already seen the original.

For a very Hollywood example of placing cameras into tight nooks and spaces, go rent Iron Man 2 and watch the F1 car race crash sequence. It’s said that they destroyed a couple of Rolls Royce Phantoms and 5Ds filming that scene. Here’s a link to more info.

We come to the end of my contemporary Film post. Film today like always will always be story first. But it’s lovely to know that certain visual consistencies define our generation. Awaiting what all of it will be called in the history books. From yesteryear’s Ozu Low Angles to today’s Social Network Tilt Shift extravaganza.