dig

big dig, originally uploaded by ridavio.

Following the big snow - the big dig out. It's wet and heavy and tiring.

game on

A friend's birthday celebration, the Jets game on the big screen, being caught up in the moment.

Chinese New Year Promotion

From ridavio. This video is an excerpt from an in-house project documenting on-site marketing activities related to a Chinese New Year promotional campaign. The goal was to demonstrate the effectiveness and reach of the street marketing efforts. I shot on location in Flushing, Queens and Chinatown, Manhattan and had 1.5 days to turn around the final 6-minute video.

tupapau

tupapau, originally uploaded by ridavio.

Still from The Tupapau Within, Closing Performance at Newman Popiashvili Gallery in New York City.

it begins

I walk home slowly as the second big snow storm of the season gets underway, a pile of discarded trees on 105th Street, Kate Bush singing a Sea of Honey in my ear.

regifted

An evening of short films, live music and creative Brooklyn film types at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.  The 2010 fall season of The Filmshop closed with a jammin' party on the theme of 'regifted.'  Our short mockumentary, 'My First Time,' gets some laughs - the effort was worth it.  Looking forward to another season.  Many thanks to all the dear friends who came out to support!

snow

snow, originally uploaded by ridavio.

The first post-blizzard dusting of 2011 - a few inches that melted by afternoon. This is on the far end of my block - the church at West 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.  I'm on the way to meet an old colleague for lunch at Hunter College. 

hide/seek

In the Life asked me to story produce a segment on the Hide/Seek exhibition that opened in Washington, DC last year. The original producers left the project and I had two weeks to take their material and create the segment by deadline. I wrote the script over the weekend, supervised a week of editing and then sought clearances for the numerous images that appear in the segment. Being able to work with these incredible images and hear the stories behind them was the funnest part of the assignment.
As the first major exhibition at the Smithsonian to feature prominent American artists with a lesbian and gay perspective the piece broke many barriers. As the co-curators explain in the segment, despite the fact that several important American artists are or were gay - Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly - most major institutions remove any mention of this from large retrospectives of their work. Why this is the case became clear soon after the edit was finished.
At the time this segment had to be delivered the controversy over the David Wojnarowicz video excerpt, "A Fire in my Belly" had not yet broken out. The original piece with it's powerful and disturbing images was created as the artist faced death from AIDS, yet religious political conservatives attacked the Smithsonian and the institution caved in, removing it from the exhibition. Clearly the culture wars are far from over. In the Life ran a follow up video on the controversy.
The original segment can be seen at their site online, or check your local PBS listings for airtimes this month. I took a trip to DC to see the exhibition last month and I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area - it is up until February 13.

dispatch

Very disappointed to say there will be no Year in Review video slide show this year. Just too much going on at the moment to do it justice. I had intentions to create it and had even lined up a lot of material, but just couldn't find the right music to make it happen. It's a shame because I had such a good time reviewing so many memories from 2010 that I want to share with you.
There was a lot of family time with Aunt Betty's memorial and the trip with cousins to the wine country, my Dad's retirement, a nice weekend in Colorado with the parents and the annual Thanksgiving gathering in Gig Harbor.
The only trip out of the country this year was to Bermuda as part of the Pride of the Ocean filmmaker cruise that was an incredible experience - thanks to Chris and John. Prior to that trip I had the pleasure of recording Courtney's wedding in North Carolina - thanks to the McEwans. There was a beautiful week in Keystone - thanks to Barbara and Kay. And a road trip to DC this month rounded out the travel this year, beyond the usual jaunts upstate.
I was happy to welcome visitors from California, Peru, Canada and Switzerland and share a few of my favorite New York things with them: PS1, Summer Streets, and Governor's Island.
If I didn't see you in 2010 I hope to catch you in 2011. Best wishes for all the New Year may bring you!