Showing posts with label nyc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nyc. Show all posts
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Influencers

INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment.

The film attempts to understand the essence of influence, what makes a person influential without taking a statistical or metric approach.

Written and Directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, the film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today's pop culture.

"Influencers" belongs to the new generation of short films, webdocs, which combine the documentary style and the online experience.

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SVA: LOT-EK

Once upon a time I dreamed of being an architect. I was seventeen, wide-eyed and ready to take on the world. But alas, that was not the career path for me. However, I still maintain a great appreciation for the profession and a loving devotion to beautiful and innovative buildings.

We had the pleasure of visiting an architectural company today called LOT-EK in the meatpacking district that blurs the boundaries between art, architecture, entertainment, and information. They incorporate not only recycling, but upcyling, by displacing, transforming, and manipulating existing objects into materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.

And they just make really cool stuff.

LOT-EK







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MoMA PS1

Dance party slash art exhibit?  Best combination ever.  Mix in some sand, beach balls, hammocks, a cool breeze and you've got one awesome Saturday.







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Concert: Janelle Monáe & Guests

Friday July 23, 2010 Slightly Raining

1:37pm: Depart New York via Greyhound bus.
5:57pm: Arrive Hartford, CT (1 hour and 50 min. late).
6:10pm: Concert starts at Bushnell Park - Hartford's 375th: Still Wavy After All These Years.
6:15pm: Anna Mae and Brian consider missing the prepaid bus back to New York scheduled for 10:00pm in case Janelle Monáe starts late and opt for the 12:00am bus instead. The new plan includes Anna Mae crying on command just in case.
7:42pm: Host announces that a thunderstorm is coming in 15 minutes.
7:57pm: Thunderstorm arrives, Anna Mae and Brian take out umbrellas and are not happy campers.
8:01pm: It is pissing rain!!!
9:22pm: Rain stops, show goes on, we are still wet but our cameras are safe.
10:14pm: Janelle Monáe makes her entrance. Anna Mae's heart starts to pound and Brian starts screaming like a girl (on the inside).
11:37pm: Show ends, we're happy, and start the short walk to the bus depot.
11:48pm: Sit inside bus terminal, however confused that the sign says the bus is coming at 12:30am. But we figure that someone will make an announcement that the bus has arrived.

Saturday July 24, 2010

12:20am: No announcement is made, no bus waiting, the terminal is almost empty, so we decide to wait outside for the 12:30am bus instead.
12:30am: A bus does not arrive.
12:31am: We really start questioning if a bus is ever going to come.
12:35am: A woman going to NYC approaches us about the bus situation. She has it even worse off than us because she has a plane to catch at 6:00am which she is definitely not going to make. We become a trio waiting for the bus.
1:10am: No bus and the hunger pains are really starting to kick in. As well as delirium.
2:22am: Slipping in and out of consciousness.
3:13am: Are we really still here???
4:00am: The bus finally arrives and we are on our way back to NYC.
6:22am: Arrive at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. NYC is wide awake with the city bustling.
6:30am: Anna Mae and Brian sleepwalk into the subway.
7:12am: Arrive at home and finally get to sleep.
12:36pm: Wake up. Did all of that really just happen?

Thank goodness I wasn't alone during all of this.  Brian, new concert buddy for life.

For more photos, click here.

© Anna Mae Abia Photography






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SVA Impact!: Week 2

As the initial wonder and excitement of my first days in New York slowly escapes me (but I still walk around starry-eyed), this past week has managed to knock the stars out of my eyes.  I am here to work.

The term "intensive program" has really come to fruition.  We've identified our two projects (personal and team), continue to pursue client meetings, attend field trips, sit in multiple lectures, and somehow find time for the "suggested" reading (3 recommended books a week!).  I find myself at school nearly 10 hours of my day (not including the 1 hour commute each way) and by the time I get home I'm ready to collapse.  Not to mention that I try to make it out to the Bronx every chance I get to research our project and to generally hang out since I really love the group of people out there doing good things.

But this is why I came here.  I applied to be filled with information, listen to amazing guest lecturers, meet worldly like-minded individuals, and to be challenged in my own capabilities as a human being to make a difference in the world.  I asked for it and I got it.

I did however manage to find time to watch Inception at Times Square.  Amazing, but it made me think even more instead of help relax my mind!  But I guess that's what weekends are for!  Time to set aside "School Anna Mae" and bring out "Weekend Anna Mae!"
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Concert: Raphael Saadiq & Aloe Blacc

Finally had some free time on the weekend so what's the first thing I do, go to a free concert in Central Park. Raphael Saadiq was performing so I HAD to go! He is always so good live! It was soooooo hot out but I was surrounded by fantastic music and made some new friends!

For more photos, click here.

© Anna Mae Abia Photography










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SVA Impact!: Class of 2010

Meet the motley crew of worldwide do-gooders.

All photography and post-processing done by me!  Such a fun and creative photoshoot!

Impact! Design for Social Change

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SVA Impact!: Milton Glaser

The legendary Milton Glaser enlightened us with his extensive personal and professional experience with design and his view on what is a citizen's responsibility to culture.  His work has spanned decades; reflecting the social reforms and issues of their time.

Milton Glaser was awarded the National Medal of Arts on February 25, 2010. The award was presented by President Obama in the East Room of The White House.  Milton was the first designer to receive this honour.

Milton Glaser
Impact! Design for Social Change


 

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SVA Impact!: Democracy Now!

We had the great privilege of watching a live broadcast of Democracy Now! and a tour of their beautiful space. So we met at 7:45am (this is 4:45am Vancouver time and I haven't adjusted yet so that's early!) and start our day with news about an anti-immigrant list targeting Latinos in Utah, how Arizona has become a laboratory not just for immigration policy, but a broad range of issues, global warming, and the melting Himalayan glaciers.

Democracy Now believes that for true democracy to work, people need easy access to independent, diverse sources of news and information.  But the last two decades have seen unprecedented corporate media consolidation. The U.S. media was already fairly homogeneous in the early 1980s: some fifty media conglomerates dominated all media outlets, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, music, publishing and film. In the year 2000, just six corporations dominated the U.S. media.

In addition, corporate media outlets in the U.S. are legally responsible to their shareholders to maximize profits.

And U.S. "public" media outlets accept funding from major corporations, as well as from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has attempted in the past to exert political and editorial influence on public news producers.

Democracy Now! is funded entirely through contributions from listeners, viewers, and foundations. They do not accept advertisers, corporate underwriting, or government funding. This allows them to maintain our independence.

We had the honour of having award-winning journalist Anne Goodman speak to us at length about Democracy Now and their future goals and endeavors for their organization including the constant need for increased awareness to independent news media and viewership.

Democracy Now!

Impact! Design for Social Change