Filming finished! Editing begun!
November 22, 2011 – 6:44 pm | No Comments(this is also cross-posted on our Kickstarter.)
Well, thanks to your support, we filmed last weekend over Saturday and Sunday. The shoot went fantastically and I hope to put up some video from it soon, but for now I am steadily editing, editing. I’ve got a rough cut of the first few scenes done and hope to get the whole film broadly edited by the end of the week.
Don’t let that make you think this thing is almost done! After the rough cut, the real work begins. We’ll speak to musicians about scoring the film and refine the edit in conjunction with them. Then comes an advanced, detailed process of sound editing and color work. Especially on a quick and dirty production like the one we’ve done, it benefits a lot from meticulous work done in editing.
We’ll probably be having some test screenings to get feedback on the film – watch this space for an invitation!
Still hoping to have the film done by end of January, at which point we’ll have a premiere party and begin releasing it to festivals. More important than getting it done on time, though, is getting it done right, which we aim to do!
Much love and a happy Thanksgiving. I know what I’m thankful for…
SOPA is coming and it’s terrible
November 18, 2011 – 5:15 pm | 2 CommentsRead about SOPA – it will build censorship into the core of the US internet. Write your congresperson.
I did, and Kirsten Gillibrand’s mailerbot responded:
Dear Michael,
Thank you for writing to me regarding S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act of 2011. I understand your concerns.
I am a cosponsor of this legislation because I believe that we must protect American intellectual property against foreign websites that infringe upon our rights. By empowering the Attorney General of the United States to go after foreign infringing websites, this legislation becomes a necessary tool to ensure that U.S. companies remain competitive in the world marketplace. I recognize that there are technical concerns with the enforcement of this bill that need to be addressed. I am committed to working with my colleagues in the United States Senate to ensure that this legislation protects the Constitutional rights of Americans and does not stifle lawful free speech or innovation on the internet.
My response to her:
I don’t think that this will really reach any decision makers, but please understand that the concerns are not technical. Censorship in any form is unacceptable, but the attempts of the US government to censor the internet are beyond appalling and on the wrong side of history. Granting broad and unregulated powers of censorship on the basis of a dubious intellectual property argument is terrible because it opens the floodgates for censorship of all sorts. You will not win out in your quest to control information.
I will vote for anyone who opposes you and actively encourage others, over facebook and twitter if they have not yet been censored, to do the same.
I think that perhaps this email came across as emotional…I assure you that I am a calm, levelheaded person with strong opinions on the subject, and you will find that many others in your consituency feel the same.
Best,
Michael Morgenstern
And I meant it. This is really, really bad and the fact that it might pass very scary. Do something, and for the love of god don’t vote Gillibrand back in if she supports this.
Shabbat Dinner: Funded and Raring to Go!
November 9, 2011 – 11:17 am | No CommentsWow! It was three weeks ago that Aidan and I were discussing our film’s budget and how much we thought we would be able to raise. We picked a number that we thought was acheivable, but we really had our doubts–and we were blown away. With every new backer we were touched, and would like to say again: thank you, thank you. We’re fairly in awe of the power of your collective support (Including additional money raised offline, we raised $3398 from 92 backers, 134% of our Kickstarter goal.) We don’t plan to let you down!
As much as our busy production schedule lets us, we’ll be keeping you up to date on the progress of the film, which will happen fairly rapidly from here. You can follow Michael’s facebook and twitter for quick updates, the kickstarter for production-related updates, or Michael’s blog for detailed updates along with a whole bunch of other junk.
Here’s our timeline:
November 6 - We completed a read-through of the script. We rehearsed with the actors, worked on character and delivery, and did a costume fitting. It was the first time all the actors had a chance to meet each other and it went great.
November 7 – Final draft of the script was completed and circulated to actors.
November 8 - Makeup test with Dan and costume fitting with Eva, who just got back to New York from Chicago
November 9-11 – equipment search and set decoration.
November 12-13 - THE SHOOT! A whirlwind journey through the world of Shabbat Dinner
That’s only half the magic. Then post production begins: editing, sound design, and color correction. By December 1 we will have a rough cut, and a full finished film should be complete by mid-January.
Stay tuned for more updates, and we’re looking forward to sharing the experience with you!
Portrait
November 4, 2011 – 1:09 am | No Comments
Portrait of Ale and Dina – there’s a lot of things in here.
Tools for the Google Reader diaspora
November 3, 2011 – 1:57 pm | No CommentsWell Google did a dumb thing just a few days ago. A few dumb things, actually..and I can’t help but wonder if it’s the new management or just old structural problems that are leading them down this terrible direction. They got rid of the sharing features of Google Reader and moved them to Google+. Here’s a good explanation for why that was a terrible idea, and I can corroborate that using Reader with G+ is an awful experience. The interface is designed to get you to post about yourself and spy on your friends, not to have meaningful discussions about deep content. Many other people agree strongly. Plus, they bulldozed the old Gmail look in favor of this ugly spartan look (a look which I suspect was actually one reason for Google+’s current failure.)
And since we’ve been kicked out, my friends and I have been pathetically wandering, trying to have a coherent conversation across multiple platforms, email, IM – a conversation that would have been so easy on Reader. We’re holding out for Hivemined, a replacement that is being built (Another one to look into is ridllr,) and for now we are slogging through with Google+.
For those doing the same, I made some tools to make your reading easier. I’ll go through my Firefox toolbar to show you what I made and what I use. From left to right:
- Subscribe in Reader plugin (download from me) – Now that your friends’ shares are no longer shown in the Reader interface, it’s harder to subscribe to new content. This button loads the first RSS feed of whatever blog or news site you are on and displays it in Reader, allowing you to subscribe. Perfect to build up your subscription lists.
To use, download the xpi file and then drag it into the Firefox window. If you don’t have Firefox, then drag this link to your bookmark bar: Subscribe in Reader - Video Downloadhelper (download from Mozilla) – When you are watching video on a site like YouTube, Vimeo, or listening to music on a site like SoundCloud, etc., this icon lights up and lets you download the source file directly. Best way I know to grab YouTube videos or SoundCloud MP3s.
- Share on Facebook plugin (download from me) – Click this to share something directly to Facebook.
Same usage instructions as Subscribe in Reader plugin above. If you don’t have Firefox, drag this link to your bookmark bar: Share on Facebook - Share on Google+ plugin (download from me) – Share to Google+. Once you click it, click inside the little box on the page that pops up and you’ll be able to select which circles you want to share it in. I created a “Readers” circle for my old Reader buddies. It seems like it remembers the circles and uses them as defaults for the next time you click the button, but I haven’t tested it enough to be sure.
Same instructions as above. Here’s the bookmarklet for those without Firefox: Share on Google+ - Send as email (download from Mozilla) – Sometimes I want to share on Facebook or Reader, sometimes I want to email a post. I like having everything together.
- Read It Later (download from ReadItLater) – I love this app, and it’s better than instapaper. Click the yellow arrow in the address bar to add a page to your list of things to read later, which automatically makes it available offline on your computer (by clicking the button at far right) and Android/iPhone. Works flawlessly and is very helpful in queuing articles and closing browser windows.
Credit for the plugins I made goes to the codefisher plugin generator (I had to open the xpi files to tweak the compatibility versions.) Here’s where I got the Reader, Facebook, and Google+ bookmarklets.
Whew! Who knew it was so complicated to read and share things on the internet! God do I miss Reader.
A week after coming back from Kenya
October 25, 2011 – 1:35 pm | No CommentsJanuary 29. I think I was sitting in a coffee shop listening to complaint after complaint.
I’ve forgotten that sweet soft sadness that comes when nothings wrong
That plaintive complaint wrapped in a bow
Everything I see and touch was crafted to satiate my raving mad stuffed-with-nothing ego.
Fuck you for taking me on this ride.
Support our short film, Shabbat Dinner!
October 24, 2011 – 9:52 am | No CommentsThis is the official announcement of a project I’ve been working on for the past several months: I am writer/director of a short film called Shabbat Dinner. Making a film is a labor of love, and I am happy to be able to share this process with you.
Shabbat Dinner introduces two high-school characters, William and Virgo, who are in the process of coming out, and the tensions that surround them and their families. It’s a film about coming to terms with truth universally, in all its forms. We hope that it will make an impression on as many people as possible through film festivals and online, and I am developing a TV show based around similar ideas.
Backing the project also makes you a part of it, and you can get everything from a copy of the DVD to a chance to put a part of yourself in the film! Making a movie is expensive, but it’s also really fun and we want you to join in.
Watch our video on the kickstarter page and if you can, I’d really appreciate you being a part of it. No amount is too small — really. Also, spreading the word is key to whether or not this project succeed. If you want to help us acheive our goal, can you also click the buttons below to share this on Facebook or Twitter?
Thank you, and I hope this email finds you at a happy and healthy time in your life. You can watch us make the film by following updates at http://mjmfilms.com/
#occupyoccupywallstreet
October 16, 2011 – 4:28 am | 12 CommentsBefore I go into this rant let me reiterate that I am with these protests in mind and spirit. Things are bad in America and our world on all fronts, and drastic, coordinated action is necessary. But let’s delve into process…
I’ve been had before.
It was the Summer of 2008 and Obama fever was running high. The young intellectual, measured in his thinking and radical in his hopes for what we as a country could achieve, was storming across the country, and I sped five hours to Las Vegas with a few friends to canvas for him. I felt my life changed when I got to stand twenty feet from him at a surprise rally. This was a man who was going to Fix Things™.
I don’t blame Obama for what happened next; I blame my high expectations. Initial cynicism at his campaign was countered at each turn by friends’ assurances that he was really going to make change. Not only was he going to fix our economic woes, he was also going to help America transcend itself above politics and into a new realm of caring about each other. My view changed when I allowed myself to believe that we could change everything, not just one at a time and half a step back – that we no longer had to slog through the endless layers of red tape designed to protect the status quo; that a charasmatic leader who was not afraid to stand up and simply be right, who could stand on his own and live by the peoples’ agreement with his ideas, could conquer what we had previously feared.
I turned out to be wrong, of course. Heroes live in our minds, but if they are real people they must slog through the world with at least some of the limits that the rest of us face: change is hard, there is always resistance, sometimes you must choose between goals or even choose the lesser of two awfuls, and even when some things seem universally clear, in execution they shatter into a million points of disagreement.
So here I stand again, contemplating another (much less enthusiastic) vote for Obama, who has shown himself to be, as most choices one picks, the lesser of two doubtfuls. And then this movement.
I see the arguments for being goalless and leaderless
There are facts that we can agree on: income inequality and unemployment scrape the top of the charts while corporate profits do the same; education is failing us and so is our social safety net. That the problems are so vast and varied, scattered all over the map, seems to justify a broad and unfocused movement: how could one group possibly make a list of demands when there are so many ills? Where would anybody start? Fracking, global warming, police brutality, net neutrality. It’s no wonder people want to get rid of the system and start anew. And if the movement becomes simply a list of demands, stealthy corporations could too easily co-opt, infiltrate, and advertise. The only way to really make a movement resistant to experts in advertising and corporate branding may be to make it completely anticorporate and anarchistic.
And I recognize some arguments for a leaderless movement. It belongs to the people, not to any one specific person or agenda. Having leadership is dangerous – it means special interests, self-motivation. Our YouTube generation does not believe in privileged information or a privileged point of view. We believe that people can be shut down, discredited, hacked—that only ideas can live in purity. We believe in the hegemony of the everyone.
Today, in the throngs outside Times Square, realizing that a sea of protesters had taken the sacred bastion of all things corporate, I allowed myself for a moment to dare to believe that generalized frustration over everything was going to promote generalized action on every level. That caring enough was really all that we needed to do.
But tonight I remembered…
We went to Zucotti Park, looking forward to getting involved in some interesting conversations. The park felt immediately like home: thousands of people in a small square, camping in sleeping bags and giving out free food, smiling and talking and drumming. We spoke to a policewoman and policeman who seemed cheery and asked where we got our chicken wings. We took photos of some signs.
I walked to a large group of people, blocked by a makeshift wall with a table covered in laptops. They were blogging away, editing with Final Cut Pro, and browsing Twitter. A sign had the words scrawled on it: “Media section. Do not enter. Occupiers only, not corporate media.” I was a bit confused – was the sign trying to keep me out, make a point, or what? I walked in anyways, getting into a conversation with a filmmaker who was documenting the event and wanted my help. I was then approached by a man who asked me if I was media. “What do you mean, media?” I asked…a reasonable question in a movement that declares it is for and by everyone, that everyone has equal say and no claim to leadership over anyone else. I was told that having a blog did not qualify me as media; that if I wanted to count as media, I would have to attend a media leadership training the next day, and until then I would have to leave.
Not wanting to start a fight, I walked out of the media section. I regret not standing my ground, because the bitter taste of the interaction brought me to leave the park. Did this mean that I could start my own corner of the park for “Class B organizers,” entry contingent on attending one of my trainings? I went online and found this on the internet:
“As I tried walking into the media area, which is portioned off with a three foot wall of suitcases, tarps, and containers, a man with “security” printed across his shirt stopped me. After I gave my details, I stepped through the narrow opening. Most of the members of Occupy Wall Street’s media team were in a meeting, I was told, one that I would not be allowed to sit in on.”
It wasn’t the personal offense of being kicked out; it was the sting that once again, I had been had by a movement.
Only a month into a movement that considers itself leaderless, egalitarian, and anarchistic, having a section of the “people’s park” cordoned off and restricted is not a good thing. It points to deep flaws in the idealism that made such a concept seem feasible. I am sure there are practical reasons for this security team (laptops are liable to get stolen,) but what disturbs me is that this and every other haphazard concession to practicality will chip away at the above-mentioned ideals. This egalitarianism will be lost long before its intellectual bankruptcy (forgive the pun) is laid bare and acknowledged.
A movement cannot be transparent, just like a person cannot be self-aware, if it does not acknowledge blatant truths. Anarchy doesn’t work. Income disparity will always exist to some extent. Destroying a system rather than working with it (at least to some extent) is extremely dangerous, and very few people in history has shown themselves to be good at that. Change is difficult, and it requires a vision of an alternate future. If the vision is yet to be formed, we need a roadmap to the vision. And the greatest truth: not everybody can be represented in every element of this movement. Like a clever politician, the movement has allowed each member to see him or herself in it; but like any politician, its true test will come when it is asked to actually make a decision.
This leaderlessness and goallessness seem to be ultimately destructive, which saddens me because I really, really want to see something done about everything ailing our country. Anarchy is not a viable means of government, because people need rules to survive. The challenges to organizing and collating and involving millions of voices are tremendous, but they can’t be sidestepped if all our power is to truly be harnessed.
I predict that the colder the weather gets, the more sharply the movement will gain focus. Leaders will emerge, and “nobody’s in charge” will turn into “nobody’s in charge, but this guy knows a lot about what’s going on” and then to “talk to this guy,” if indeed the movement continues. A blanket distrust of all institution will give way to more specific demands. I just hope that this process is not haphazard – that it is directed cognizantly, that great minds are utilized to concoct a master plan, that is also crowdsourced for a further brilliance that revolutions have never had before.
And for right now.. well, maybe it’s time to attend a media training so I can learn how to blog.
You know what would be cool?
October 14, 2011 – 1:56 pm | No CommentsA program that captures what you type and what you are reading (whatever is in the active web browser, chat window, etc) and does a continual Google Image search for these things. It would make a computer have synesthesia!
Like this?
Just Like Gaga
October 11, 2011 – 1:55 pm | No CommentsIn honor of National Coming Out Day…
