interesting nytimes article on the role of programs like photoshop in re-envisioning history and what it says about ‘american’ notions of truth and photography.  link to the article here.

I Was There. Just Ask Photoshop.

REMOVING her ex-husband from more than a decade of memories may take a lifetime for Laura Horn, a police emergency dispatcher in Rochester. But removing him from a dozen years of vacation photographs took only hours, with some deft mouse work from a willing friend who was proficient in Photoshop, the popular digital-image editing program.

Like a Stalin-era technician in the Kremlin removing all traces of an out-of-favor official from state photos, the friend erased the husband from numerous cherished pictures taken on cruises and at Caribbean cottages, where he had been standing alongside Ms. Horn, now 50, and other traveling companions.

“In my own reality, I know that these things did happen,” Ms. Horn said. But “without him in them, I can display them. I can look at those pictures and think of the laughter we were sharing, the places we went to.”

“This new reality,” she added, “is a lot more pleasant.”

(more…)

We are psyched to announce that this weekend UnionDocs is heading down to North Carolina for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Recognized as the premier doc fest in the United States, Full Frame showcases amazing new films. This year, directors, filmmakers, and film lovers from all over the world will descend on Durham to watch over 100 screenings, attend panel discussions and seminars, and of course, pah-ar-tay, southern hospitality style!

And this year, UnionDocs “Takes On Full Frame” to bring the experience straight to you through our video podcast: news on fascinating films, thought-provoking interviews with directors, behind the scene hijinks, mechanical bulls, the glamorous awards barbecue and the wacky misadventures of the UnionDocs crew as we ask the question, “What’s Your Take on Full Frame?” in a series that we will post on our blog and podcast.

We are also very happy that IndiePix Films has come on as a partner in crime in this little project. They are super cool people and we look forward to what this collaboration might bring in the future.

We will be back next week with some great events, but for now subscribe to the podcast and ride along to North Cack-a-lacka with us for Full Frame!!!

Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV) is having an Open House event this evening from 6-11pm.

Jem Cohen, who was at UnionDocs in December, will be speaking!

Sample workshops on Final Cut Pro 6 and the HVX200, HD Camera demos, food and drink will all be offered.

For more info go to DCTV

There are two openings in the UnionDocs Residency Program starting March 1st. Review the details here and apply now!

Thanks to everyone who came out to last night’s screening and talk by JEM COHEN. In case you didn’t get the flyer at the door, here’s the info Jem wanted to share about following up on the street photography and film-making regulations:

Comment On The Revised Regs By Dec 13, 2007

A public hearing will be held on Thursday December 13, 2007, at 10:00 AM
at the offices of the Economic Development Corporation,
110 William Street, 4th floor (between Fulton and John Streets)

MOFTB prefers you notify them by December 8th if you want to testify, although it is not required.

Written comment regarding this proposed amendment may be sent to Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB)

Communications Department,
1697 Broadway, New York NY 10019,
on or before December 13, 2007.

Comments may be submitted by email to message@film.nyc.gov
on or before December 13, 2007.

Hello All,
Come check out our project in front of Union Docs on Saturday, Nov. 3rd.

The Urban Homesteading Project
www.urbanhomesteadingproject.org

The Urban Homesteading Project explores the act of making temporary public living areas as a means for creating positive interactions within a community.

Through the creative utilization of discarded, donated and traded living resources, the UHP seeks to promote non-exclusive spaces for public discourse and leisure, while maximizing the potential of our city’s vital street economy.

The Urban Homesteading Project will create a temporary residence on the sidewalk near Union Docs for twenty-four hours, starting at dawn on Saturday November 3rd, 2007.

Please join us for a day and night of collective relaxation, discussion, games, storytelling, cooking, crafts, aerobics, napping and celebration of our vibrant community. We will be arranging a temporary living room, dining room, kitchen and sleeping area and we need your help to fully furnish our public living space. We urge you to bring furniture and household items that you want to discard or trade, as well as food, beverages and artwork that you want to share.

Starting at dawn on Sunday, November 4th, every single item brought to the temporary living space will be available to all for the taking.

Below is a list of suggested items to bring:
- blankets, pillows and sleeping bags
- tables and chairs
- lamps, extension cords and power strips
- rugs
- forks, knives, plates and cups
- pots and pans
- books
- games
- musical instruments
- personal artwork
- food and beverages
- working televisions, stereos and DVD players

Laura Chipley, Francisca Caporali and Pilar Ortiz created the UHP in 2007.

Hillevi Loven and Union Docs curated this event.

When:
Saturday, November 3rd, starting at 7am, until
Sunday, November 4th, 7am

Where:
On the sidewalk in front of Union Docs (http://uniondocs.org)
322 Union Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11211

Directions: L train to Lorimer Street / G to Metropolitan Aver Exit
subway and walk south on Union Ave (away from the BQE)

Image from The Commons, 2nd Rotation

Last year UnionDocs was awarded the Macktez Summer Stipend for The Commons, 2nd Rotation, which was part of the Public Pay Telephone project. It made a big difference in our ability exhibit the project as part of Conflux 2006. See details below for this year’s application:

The Macktez Summer Stipend is a grant for creative development. Each year we try to reach out to the many junior designers, interns, and other creative individuals we come across every day for whom a little extra cash could be the difference between a great idea and a great, finished project.

We have a simple set of criteria: originality, relevance, and conviction. And we’d prefer a project already underway that $500 would push across the finish line. This year we’ll also be relying on our great panelists’ guts and good sense: Harry Allen, Doug Jaeger, Michael Maharam, Richard Poulin, Lucy Sisman, Robert Valentine, and David Weeks.

If you can wow them with your great idea, you’ll get $500 from Macktez to make it happen. It’s that simple. Apply online at www.macktez.com/stipend by July 20.

UnionDocs has been invited by the RISD Office for Public Engagement to present at the [Re] viewing:City exhibition and discussion series. Members of the collaborative will be speaking tomorrow, April 12th, from 9-12 am. [Re] viewing: City is located in downtown Providence at 235 Westminster St on the corner of Union.

Check out this story on NPR’s All Things Considered, featuring our former co-conspirator Paul Kiel, now a reporter/blogger for the political blog Talking Points Memo. The blog - and specifically the investigative reporting sub-blog TPM Muckraker (which Paul edits) - is credited with breaking the recent Alberto Gonzales/US attorney firings story. As the All Things Considered piece points out, a pretty concrete indicator of the mainstream sea change blogging and participatory media are effecting. Cheers.

From Black’s Law Dictionary (Abridged Eighth Edition) (I think strictly defined legal langauge is described ‘terms of art’ - please correct me if I’m wrong):

ACT 1. Something done or performed, esp. voluntarily … 2. The process of doing or performing; an occurrence that results from a person’s will being exerted on the external world.

INTENT The state of mind accompanying an act.

MALICE The intent, without justification or excuse, to commit a wrongful act.

NEGLIGENT Characterized by a person’s failure to exercise the degree of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised in the same circumstance.

RECKLESS Characterized by the creation of a substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm to others and by a conscious (and sometimes deliberate) disregard for or indifference to that risk; heedless, rash. Reckless conduct is much more than mere negligence: it is gross deviation from what a reasonable person would do.

The above has a strange emotional resonance - partly the distancing effect of familiar terms technically defined, partly the spin-cycle from too much thinking about the (potentially fictional - thanks CA) ‘reasonable person.’ Mostly, though, it’s the practicality. Or rather, it’s the practicality next to the awfulness. Thinking about malice as “the intent, without justification or excuse, to commit a wrongful act” both heightens and dulls the term. That tension’s compelling.

Less abstractly, here’s some more on the Sean Bell case indictments. There was a lot of coverage today, which indirectly prompted this post.