Suggested Reading
  • Africa: A Biography of the Continent
    Africa: A Biography of the Continent
    by John Reader

    A fascinating introduction to the context of Africa.

  • Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
    Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
    by Dambisa Moyo

    What I'm reading right now...

  • Omnivore's Dilemma
    Omnivore's Dilemma
    by Michael Pollan

    What I'm listening to right now...

  • Zen and Japanese Culture
    Zen and Japanese Culture
    by Daisetz T. Suzuki

    What got me hooked on Eastern Philosophy.

  • Secrets of Heaven (Swedenborg, Emanuel, Works.) (v. 1)
    Secrets of Heaven (Swedenborg, Emanuel, Works.) (v. 1)
    by Emanuel Swedenborg

    A novel and alternative view of reality.

  • Tao Te Ching
    Tao Te Ching
    by Stephen Mitchell

    The best translation, in my opinion.

  • A New Kind of Science
    A New Kind of Science
    by Stephen Wolfram

    One of the most formative books, for me, in a decade.

  • The Art and Science of Digital Compositing, Second Edition: Techniques for Visual Effects, Animation and Motion Graphics (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)
    The Art and Science of Digital Compositing, Second Edition: Techniques for Visual Effects, Animation and Motion Graphics (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)
    by Ron Brinkmann

    In the Pixel Corps, we call this "The Good Book of Brinkmann"

  • The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap (Peachpit)
    The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap (Peachpit)
    by Stu Maschwitz

    If you are going to make your own film with your own money, read this first.

  • Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Second Edition (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)
    Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Second Edition (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)
    by Steve Wright

    In the Pixel Corps, we call this the "Good Book of Wright".

Or Here...
Twitter Updates
Stuff to Listen To...
  • Tuku Music
    Tuku Music
    by Oliver Mtukudzi

    One of the best CDs from one of the best artists in Africa (or anywhere).

  • I Want You Back
    I Want You Back
    Hoodoo Gurus Pty

    Classic Hoodoo Gurus...you gotta love it.

  • Nhemamusasa: Instrumental Excerpt I
    Nhemamusasa: Instrumental Excerpt I
    Nonesuch

    What I work to 90% of the time...

  • Penny Is Poison
    Penny Is Poison
    RCA Records Label

    The best song you never heard from the Verve Pipe.

  • Mental Jewelry
    Mental Jewelry
    Radioactive

    One of my top 10 albums ever...

  • The Marching Song Of The Covert Battalions (LP Version)
    The Marching Song Of The Covert Battalions (LP Version)
    Rhino/Elektra

    I got into a political debate with Billy Bragg in 1991. I lost. And it changed me forever.

  • The Glutton Of Sympathy
    The Glutton Of Sympathy
    Charisma

    You've probably never heard this song before... more's the pity.

  • Vanorapa
    Vanorapa
    Cumbancha

    One of my good, and painfully talented, friends...

  • Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship
    Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship
    by India.Arie

    Great music, Great lyrics, Great Singer.

  • Maria
    Maria
    Four Quarters Records

    I saw Blick at HIFA in 2007. Incredible. From Cameroon, in French, mixes well with Brazilian BBQ. This song is a good start.

Saturday
May282011

Fresh Chickens!

Yup... He's deliverying chickens... very very fresh chickens.

Saturday
May282011

Mwenge Woodcarvers Market (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania)

I took a day out to see the woodcarver's market... these markets, and the artists that work there, always amaze me. It's a group of markets with a 50-60 artists right behind it working away.

 Lathe - Old School

Wall o' Sculpture (not all the sculptures are PG)

Sculptor "Mr. Africa"

He's been working on this for 3 years (on the side)...

Wednesday
May192010

Mikumi National Park

Mikumi National Park is about 4 hours out of Dar Es Salaam... It's my third visit here. It's smaller than something like Ruaha but easy to get to and it has many of the animals you want to see... Zebras (here), Giraffes, Elephants, Wilderbeasts, and Lions (though we didn't see any Lions). On one half of the park, you need to be careful of Tse Tse flies (partially because of sleeping sickness but mostly because the bite is painful and sharing blood with Zebras is, well, gross).But in the majority of the park, you just need to pay attention to having enough memory on your cards!

Tuesday
May182010

Buying Cashews on the Road

In the city, it's DVDs. In the country, it's fruit, doo dads, and... cashews. It's really part of the culture and it sinks in... you start saying no but it's convenient and fun! By the end of the trip, I wasn't sure I needed to ever go to the market again!

Tuesday
May182010

Sunset in Tanzania

5DMkII

Tuesday
May182010

Bus Stops

Every 10-20 miles you get these bus/truck stops and tons of little shops peddling everything from food to jeans to furniture.

Tuesday
May182010

The Better Way to Carry

Of course, you see this all over the place... women (and a few men) carry crazy things on their heads. I'm told you need to really learn this young to every really be able to do it well. But once you know it... you're hooked, evidently. It's a lot less effort than what we in the west do.

Canon 5DMKII - Shot at 60mph

Tuesday
May182010

Movies Anyone?

So, as you are waiting... almost anywhere in Dar... guys come up selling you DVDs... not exactly legal DVDs but, not exactly illegal (here in Tanzania). These aren't in crude boxes, they are shiny slips with chinese branding. Iron Man 2 was available 2 days after it was released in the theater. New movies are usually camera recordings from some odd again while older movies tend to be DVD rips.

The price for the fine facsimile? $3.00 each.

What's interesting is that in some African countries, pirating foreign films is completely fine but local films are verboten. It's often hard to even find a place to buy legal DVDs.

The answer is probably not trying enforce copyright laws in Africa. The most effective way to solve this would probably be to sell DVDs in Africa for $3.00... Not much margin but probably more income than the alternative.

iPhone

Saturday
May152010

Goatee

So, when I'm not recording videos... I usually am playing with various designs of facial hair... which don't get very far because I record every week. Of course, in Africa, I have more time...

PhotoBooth

Friday
May142010

Peanuts!

Along the road, there are lots of opportunites to buy food... especially nuts. These are boiled Peanuts... and they are addicting! But easier to eat than roasted but I imagine they don't last very long (which is why we don't see them in the US very often).

foggy humid iphone