Design vs Sleep: the Plot Thickens...

Okay guys, i found this yesterday, and have been positively itching to post this ever since. At some point (theoretically) i'll have time to write a little bit more in depth about it (i've got a great post brewing about my adoption of technology and design as a gendered action) but for now you've got to
c h e c k // t h i s // o u t !

It's "Smashing Magazine" - while it reports itself to be a blog that "smashes you with the information that will make your life easier." it's a blog that's really more of a design nirvana for those who already know a little some some and want to play the classy way. It has some amazingly hip and entirely usable fonts that you can download and - get this - every month they release a new set! They also have a great collection of free downloadable wordpress themes. Time-consuming highlights also include great youtube/vimeo collections of the best movie intros, music videos, and short animations.

Go play!
You'll be up till 3, but you'll thank me next time you need to author a PDF to get asses in seats.

Also also also!

Also! 

Check it out: Anna Brady Nuse has been kind enough to invite me to become a contributor to her film/dance/dancefilm/screendance blog Move The Frame. I'm already on to my second post (but the first one was the basic intro to me and my work and, let's face it, you already know all that) - check it out here. I'll be writing every week, following the production of our first section of the film - Julia's solo "Glass Tree in Harlem" - so add it to your RSS if it's not there already!

New Blog to Watch: Sarah Dahnke's Pen Pal Project

Good news!
Danceblogger Sarah Dahnke (who, i think it's fair at this point to consider a dance blog mogul) is at it again with a new project! It's called "the Pen Pal Project" (check it out here) and it utilizes video and blog space to network a few different lines of (visceral/visual/filmic) communication between dancers. It's an idea that has certainly been considered before: what is a way that artists who are far apart can utilize new technologies/options to interact and collaborate? However, this project stands out to me (aside from the fact that i'm participating in it) in intention and origin - i think Sarah's coming at it from a really interesting perspective.

Sarah writes:

This project was born out of questions about race and identity, wondering why we as a culture must judge people immediately based on physical appearance and skin color, despite the fact many do not identify with those who look similar to them.

I began to remember my elementary school days, when I had a pen pal in another country who never had any idea what I looked like, and it didn’t matter. We began to learn things about each other, about our families, our traditions and our lives without judging each other exclusively on looks.

I’ve collaborated with strangers around the country to trade dance videos and have a movement “conversation.” As this exchange evolves, I hope to learn about these women based on their movement choices and their choreographic topics. The regular back-and-forth between myself and three other collaborators will be documented on this blog. The final product will be edited into a video installation in 2009..

One thing that occurs to me in reading this description is the lovely paradox of trying to interface questions of race/identity and visual culture with the medium of film. Is it possible to use a visual medium to somehow resist the use of vision as a defining/binding/restricting action? Certainly film and dance share the power to utilize and subvert the viewer's gaze (yum! don't even get me started on gaze theory!) but i'm excited to try and access these ideas in the more casual and intimate pen pal format.

So check it out and get in on the action, and check out myfirst letter/winterbreakplaidkitchen dance here.