Montagnard Cooking

This project was an interesting one for me. It took a couple of turns that I didn't expect. First off, I wasn't going to do this project to begin with. I wanted to go all out and do a cooking show with the owners of a restaurant in the next city over, but I didn't even know if that was an actual possibility. So when we were told that these helpful people were going to come to our school and do a cooking demonstration for us, I of course chose to go to that; the subject of which, being my primary focus for the project. The women were lovely, entertaining, and light hearted. The beginning of the interview was fairly standard. We watched and asked questions while they cooked. Then the woman who spoke better english began elaborating on her time spent in the jungle. Her story was incredible. I wanted to structure my little documentary in a way that gave the viewer the basic information and then delved a bit deeper into her personal story. I am very pleased with the end result.

Depth and Perception

RULES

(US COPYRIGHT LAWS)

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes

The nature of the copyrighted work

The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

REASONS

We like to reproduce, share, build off of, and remix works of art. Wikipedia gives some broken down examples of why we do this musically.

▪ to give a formerly popular song a second chance at radio and club play

▪ to create a stereo or surround sound version of a song where none was previously available

▪ to improve the fidelity of an older song for which the original master recording has been lost or degraded

▪ to alter a song to suit a specific music genre or radio format

· to alter a song for artistic purposes

So, all of these reasons seem fair, and make sense, right? Well if there is such controversy over copyright laws there is obviously still an issue. Artists and regular people are being prosecuted for sharing or appropriating music, movies, and images.

"If you make a mix CD for a friend or play DVDs at a house party. Each will lead you into a facial violation of the Copyright law, and in today's world, it's almost unavoidable." - Tim Wu

So if it's unavoidable how do we deal with it?

In this quote the Disney remix artist Pogo talks about his choice to continue to make art despite a nearly inevitable lawsuit.

"The sad reality is, Swashbuckle was contracted work. I’d literally have to start saving the money that Disney would sue me before making the decision to upload it. But who knows? It might just come to that. My music is my mark in this world. If I have to pay to watch it entertain millions of people, then so be it. What's really odd is that the blog post indicates that he had to take down his "classic" Disney movie remixes while he was working at Disney, but now that his contract is up, he's free to put them back up."

This is an example of his work

This is just one more example of electronic musical creation. Like a much further form of the band Atomic Tom who used their iphones as instruments after they were stolen.

A very interesting and innovative way of going around corporate regulation is to personally monitor your art. Issa, a musician, left Warner Brothers to control her own music. Her website is donation based. Her fans pay whatever they want for her music, and it averages to be more than what companies like itunes and Amazon charge, though nothing is technically required. Also in exchange for a download the user can do a good deed. Fans can also donate money to pay for a day in a recording studio, which is normally what record labels do. Through Issa's goodwill approach she actually makes a fair amount of money, and fans say they feel more connected to her. They trust her, and she trusts them. She has managed to breech the cold impersonal electronic distance made farther with its heavy capitalistic inclination, and touches her fans all over the world.

Another way of dealing with copyright laws is crusading for change like renowned lawyer, and anti copyright activist Larry Lessig. (From Tim's Wu's article "Tolerated Use: The Copyright Problem")

"Why should we tolerate tolerated use?" His point: If you care about free expression and the core reasons for our copyright law—i.e., protecting the artists—why would you put up with a system that makes something like fan art illegal and then tries to ignore the problem? Surely the right answer is to fight for reform of the copyright law: Have the law declare clearly that most noncommercial activities, like fan sites and remixes, are simply beyond the reach of the law."

There is also a way that the little man gets around it. In this blog you have seen the terms “fair use” and “tolerated use”. This means that if the copyrighted material is being used in a non-commercial way to educate the public, while fitting a number of other criteria, then you might get away with using it. This kind of material is like the material in; “The Story of Cosmetics” (though that is original material) Another

example is the video segment, “Right Wing Radio Duck.” A video segment that uses a Donald Duck cartoon and pairs it with the rantings of Glenn Beck. His response is infuriation at the fact t

hat free use allows this to happen, and that the copyright association considers this an informative piece. The fact of the matter is that they do, and because of that people can get their art access to the public.

Is this all sounding a little vague and confusing luckily there are many sources in circulation that are created to help the independent artist from getting slapped with a law suit that may cost as much as they make in years. This is one in a comprehensive comic book form.

Actually copyright laws are so confusing, especially in the increasingly common extenuating circumstances of film and television media in

correlation to websites like YouTube, that it isn’t always even enforced. Tim Wu describes it like this. “The paradox is that the current law is so expansive and extreme that the very firms that first sought it cannot even make use of it.”

What he is talking about is the battle for control within the corporations that control film and television. There is a constant struggle with the legal and marketing divisions. Legal is fighting for control while marketing has realized that fansites and millions of people reposting and watching clips from their shows all over the internet is amazing advertisement.

When this first started happening corporations would immediately serve copyright infringers with a cease and desist letter, but once they realized that the work is promoting theirs, then they usually allow it. This has been the case with NBC and YouTube, Warner Bros. and Harry Potter fansites, and countless other cases. Now we actually have

sites like Hulu which allow for free unlimited streaming. As long as the use of their product is considered to be harmless, among other criteria, then it will most likely be left alone. Tim Wu summarizes the dangerous game that artists and corporations are playing with each other, "Remember, copyright is important, and you're breaking the law and you may face massive fines. But on the otherhand, your site is totally great, so keep going!"As you can see there is no black or white answer, and there are many constantly changing, innovative, or stringent, ways to deal with copyright laws. It is not always a noose around the throat of an artist.

Best Played Loud

This is my traditional vs. contemporary video project, and in order to get the full effect of the music, it's best heard on headphones.

I took a band that I find powerful and versatile. The Black Keys have a strong driving force in their music. I knew that music like this had to have deep roots, and I wanted to find out where.

I took an interview from the NPR program "Fresh Air", cut it, and used it as narration over videos clips, their music, and the music that influenced The Black Keys and give them their distinctive sound.

I was also interested in how The Black Keys have a very

marketable sound. They have upwards to 20 commercial credits, inclu

ding movies, and television theme songs. I wanted to see how they felt about this as serious musicians and disprove the idea that many people hold. These people don't consider themselves musical snobs, but they are, which is why The Black Keys had such trepidation about becoming commercialized. I wanted to show how this has benefited the band, and how they maintain

their musicianship. I also simply wanted to tell their story.

I had a very clear outline of what I wanted to do, and though it took a lot of footwork, I am happy with the video that was produced.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube

MINE!

Copyright once started as a means to keep artists and engineers inventive and protective. It's roots go far past the industrial revolution all the way to the Writ of Anna, but it seems to have found its rebirth in the American music industry in the early 1990's. In an era in the midst of a capitalist swing that only got higher it is no wonder that Copyright has left its roots as a protective creative tool, and become an industrial capitalist safehold.

Art undoubtedly pulls from its surroundings. Anyone who has ever written anything has surely received the advice, "Write what you know." And in writing, it's alright to do that. As lo

ng as you cite the source. Sadly in any other medium citing the source can cost you thousands of dollars, if you do it legally or illegally. Disney, for example, remade stories like Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, the list is extensive. But if you were to remake one of those films, Disney would sue you for all you've got. And they'll keep suing you years from now. More like 95 years from now. When Walt Disney died the executives from Disney asked if they could extend the time on their Copyright. You can see how this can creatively stunt artists who want to use these ideas because they are such an ingrained part of our culture. These examples don't show the idea of Copyrighting in a good light. Think about this, when Copyright laws were first instituted in America they only lasted for 14 years.

So it sounds like the companies who hold the rights and the lawyers associated with this material have all of the power?

Wrong. We live in an enormously large, connected, and aware world. The problem for these companies is that we as individuals are now aware of others as individuals, not just groups of others. With the use of datavisualization, like this picture

"Britain from Above" we can see how other people come, go, and interact. They are more than just numbers. With tools like Social Bookmarking, we can see things that other people consider important enough to save. We can see their notes on the items; even how they choose to categorize them.

At this point we are using the electronic world to do the most base of animal skills. Communicate. It should not surprise anyone that we use it for EVERYTHING else. technology heats up our food for us, bombs countries, drives us from a to b. In a sense, it saves us from our inadequacies. Technology is also revolutionizing every art form.

As an actor you hear that the theatre is dead. A lot. But artists have found a way to save, a

"dying" art. Performances involving multimedia are increasingly popular. We are ready to be stimulated in this way, and theatre artists know that. The options with new technology are also endless, and the results are exciting. Manovich states the point concisely when he says, "Complete with setting and actors. In a historical loop, the computer has returned to its origins. No longer just and Analytical Engine, suitable only for crunching numbers, it has become Jacquard's loom - a media synthesizer and manipulator." Without this philosophy for technology we would never have such creations as the character of Gollum in

the Lord of the Ring series.

The same can also be said for music.

Remixes and mashups are now a dime a dozen, and with the electronic person to person connectivity network file sharing and illegal downloading is nearly uncontrollable despite corporate efforts. But make no mistake, there are very strong efforts put into preventing ALL of this.

The future is not completely bleak though. there are crusaders against the domineering copyright laws over media. Lawrence Lessig is a lawyer crusading for more lenient laws on the subject of copyright. He says, "This war too has an important objective. Copyright is, in my view at least, critically important to a healthy culture. Properly balancer, it is essential to inspiring certain forms of creativity. Without it, we would have a much poorer culture. With it, at least properly balanced, we create the incentives to produce great new works that otherwise would not be produced." Lessig is totally right. In Jonathan Lethem's article on plagiarism, he talks about the question of appropriation and if Nabokov stole von Lichberg's "Lolita" written 40 years earlier. This is certainly a pertinent questions but please watch this video, and consider the arguments presented in conjuncture to the material in this video. Did these 13 artists shamelessly steal from Pachelbel or is it just creative evolution through technology?

Food feeds culture. Culture feeds food.

I love food. Not really just food but the cultural stories behind them. I would love to meet with The owners of Dran Restaurant in Greensboro NC to interview them in the style of a cooking show.

The owners of Dran are Montagnards but their menu consists of Vietnamese and Japanese food. I would love to ask them

Why they don't make Montagnard food?

Why they chose traditional Vietnamese and where the idea of encorporating a Japanese menu came from?

What kind of flavors/ingredients are in Montagnard food?

Do they encorporate any of these in their menu?

Where do they get their ingredients?

What are the significant differences between Vietnamese and Montagnard dishes?

Does the owner know how to cook Vietnamese and Japanese food? If so, how did they learn?

When did they come to America, and what inspired them to open this restaurant?

These are just a few samples of the questions that I have. I have recently started getting into cooking. I'm not really one for recipes, I usually just toss what I think will be good in a pot, and it keeps coming out delicious. I wonder how this could be coming from a person who couldn't stand to be in a kitchen growing up. I've finally come to the conclusion that it must be because of the culture I was raised in. My family values food. All of the women in my family and my brother are absolutely incredible cooks. Though we don't have much money, if the occasion calls for it, my parents have no problem with dropping a few hundred dollars on a meal. It was my exposure to food as such a valued part of life that made me love it so much now. True to my nature I am curious about the part that food plays in Montagnard culture. About how it came to be such an important part of the lives of the owners of Dran, and how their cultures play into. I have worked in two restaurants before and understand the enormous commitment that it takes to own one. These people must have passion and a strong story behind their food as all restaurants. I intend to find these stories. Also, I would really love to film a cooking segment if they would be that obliging.

Click here for more info on Dran Restaurant

This is my relationship to food in the Montagnard community.

Crafty People Crafted People

So the scenario goes like this: Fifteen people sitting around a long table with a pile of scripts in front of them. A person raises their hand and confronts the writer on one single word he has used in the final line of description for his film. The line reads,

"The sunlight screams over the mountain top."

Her quandary with this description is over the word screams. It seems too aggressive in comparison to the rest of the script. Did the writer mean it like that? What is going to be the design of his film? Does it compliment the choice of that word? These are not persnickety questions. In fact, they are so important that the professor opens it up to a group discussion. What do the rest of the writers think an appropriate choice would be? Other words are thrown out after the writer expresses his vision. One word is deemed too round; another too sharp. A series of words are worked through until it is decided that the writer has chosen the appropriate word.
To some, the time and thought behind this choice of a single word would seem banal and anal, but to others the feelings a single word can evoke are of the utmost importance. Frank Luntz is a master of this and his career is based off of framing. He took the term "Estate Tax" and changed it to "Death Tax". This tax had been around for ages, and no one had noticed, but with the striking image of a "Death Tax" people rallied against it for the first time. So too do we as writers feel this triumphant, vehement sunset, that is screaming over the mountain top, as opposed to (slowly) crawling or (gently) peeking. We read that it is screaming, and we see and feel it in a different way.

Also in screenwriting we learn about demographics. Our teacher told us a story of when he used to work in LA. If a story was pitched to one boss he had, he'd get all of the executives in the room and see who liked it. If everyone liked it he would trash it had no demographic. We are pitched to in the same way by advertisers. We love to think that we are different but we all fit into a category. We are pitched to in the framing of our demographic, and though the pitches are different, we are manipulated in the same exact ways.

I remember smoking Camel Number 9 Cigarettes when I was 18 because I liked the casing. Though they are basically Camel Lights, they come in a black and hot pink box, with a zipper on the front, and pink foil on the side. The camels on the cigarettes were actually pink too. The zipper framed me up for, bad, wild, mystery, while the pink was feminine and sexy... and we bought them. That packaging framed me up for perfect consumer mindset, all I needed to do was look at that pack and I had convinced myself that I wanted them. As it turns out, the special edition with the zipper was designed by an edgy clothing designer who had just won Project Runway.

So it seems that this is what consumerism has come to. No human needs cigarettes, but a need has been created by non human construct. From this example and countless others we could deduce that 99.9% of the people around me, and I are Donna Haraway's definition of a Cyborg.

"A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction... creatures… who populate worlds ambiguously natural and crafted...”

BUT To frame concepts is human. To create tools to make our life easier is human. So is embracing/playing into the palms of consumerism just evolving humanity, or killing it? Are we mutating into a species of addicted zombie label whores. Are zombie films actually a framed metaphor for what we have become? I know these are questions that take it, quite far. I know that whoever is reading this might be nodding in agreement by saying, "Oh sure, I know some people like that, but not me." I thought that too. I don't own a TV. I only go to the mall because it has the Post Office closest to my house. But take a look at this and see if you don't understand a little bit more just what ALL of us have become, simply by living in this time and place. Mark Crispin Miller from NYU said that "Once a culture becomes entirely advertising friendly, it cease to be a culture at all." Watch this and if you can relate to this world for one moment, ask if this is your culture. Then ask if you see any shred of culture in the world you've just recognized as your own.

Neither here, nor there, but EVERYWHERE!

Oi! That is how you say hello in Portuguese. I am American Brazilian living and going to school for film in Winston Salem, North Carolina, a small city surrounded by flora and fauna that looks like this.









Though I live in small town America now, that was not always the case. I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. I have also lived in Miami, Florida, Greensboro, North Carolina. New York, New York, and Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.



This is the view that I see when I walk out onto my front porch every day.



This is the house that I was literally born in, in New Orleans. It looked a bit different 21 years ago.

I have traveled to Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, England, and all over the US.

Brazil



London, England



Paris, France

Columbus Circle, a block from my dorm at Fordham University in NY, NY.

Left: A statue of the Apostle Peter as the fisherman, on the Fordham campus.

Right: A group of people doing capoeira at the entrance from Central Park, a couple of blocks from my apartment.


I enjoy surrounding my everyday life with the art I enjoy and the art I create. This even extends to my living space. These are some rooms I have lived in.



I love the Beatles, polaroids, red, and living in rooms painted sky blue. I actually painted this room.



This was a dorm room that I lived in.



This was the room that I occupied growing up in my parent's house.



I love to do yoga.



I studied theatre and spent most of my life studying for the stage before I went to film school.



Among working in restaurants, on a horse ranch, nannying, and other jobs, I had my most rewarding job as a theatre teacher. For a year I taught Kindergarten through 2nd Grade and 3rd through 5th Grade. This is a picture of a few of my kids in one of my classes.



I have a large, close, and loving family. In my family I have a dog named Hazel.



I have a Mom, Dad, and Brother. We are a little silly.



When we have enough resources I get to visit my family in Brazil. These three pictures are from New Year's. In Brazil on New Year's Eve people wear white and drink champagne on the beach while watching fireworks.



This is a picture of my grandmother, a couple of my aunts, cousins, and parents on Christmas. I have been blessed with a large family, consisting of many aunts and cousins, and a large extended family that spans multiple continents and cultures.



This is a photo of myself, my little cousin, and my late grandparents. Around the turn of the 20th century, my grandparents' grandparents came through Ellis Island in New York from Italy.



This is Alberi Italy, a mountainous coastal town.



They settled in Brooklyn, New York, enjoying the company of a large family and living in the larger community and Italian community. They made a living from themselves by owning a running a small gourmet grocery store.






My Dad came to America when he was 30. This is a picture of the airport in his hometown of Porto Alegre RS, Brazil. He came to America to continue his job in the lumber industry, and make a life in a safer, thriving country.



My experiences living in America and Brazil, and growing up with both a Brazilian and American family, as well as having many cousins in Germany, (My father's family immigrated from Germany to Brazil at the turn of the 20th century) have shown me interesting dynamics that a culture specifies for its youth, families, citizens, and workers.

I understand how hard it is to move to a foreign culture, learn its language, and unspoken rules. The two pictures above, if you look closely, demonstrate the high security measures that are required of a person living in Brazil. The picture on the left is of my grandmother's house. It has a tall fence, with an electric fence on top, steel shutters, and bars on the windows. The right picture is of a security guard stationed outside of my cousins house.

In America, these precautions aren't necessary, but when you are the child of a person who has grown up in an impoverished country run by a military democracy and under going a revolution, there can be a strong disconnect. My father can come off as over protective of us. When I was younger it was hard for me to understand, and frustrating, but now I see that it is love, and he has relaxed. It is a bit of a struggle being a child of someone who was raised under these circumstances, but life will be easier when parent and child work to understand the circumstances under which they are coming from.

I have six Brazilian cousins. All of them are above the age of 25. One of them is married. Two are successful business men, one with a Masters degree. One is an architect. One is an army Colonel. Of these six people, four of them still live with their parents. This is the way of the Brazilian culture. The same with my Italian family, up until my mother's generation. In that culture when a woman married a man, she would move in with him and his parents. In America in the present the culture is very different. I have been living on my own since I was 18.

Life between cultures is very different. My life is a hybrid of so many different things. I hope that you can make sense of it. For people who need to mesh multiple cultures the advice that I can give is try to understand. Keep your own culture, but don't be so indignant of others that you outright reject it. Let your children choose what they want to embrace, but make sure that they understand they strong roots from which they came. They will be proud. I couldn't love my heritage more.