Once every three weeks, I have to work on the weekends. Today was my day again. Back on March 3rd, I made March of Joko #3. Since that time, my friends list has doubled, so I thought I would re-share my own personal favorite of the vids I've made this month. Tonight, I re-uploaded in a better format (MPEG-4 vs MPEG-1) because the scenery in this short deserves a better resolution.
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Sunday, March 25, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
A March through The City, Part One.
One of the favortie things about my job is that it brings me into The City once a week. For those outside the Bay Area, we call San Francisco "The City" here. It is a truly special place on this earth, and although its has its downsides and hassles, I will always look fondly on the days I lived there, which were probably the most creative, and fucked up, days of my life (so far).
I work in another office there. I like the people I deal with, and they like me. Even met a new one today and we got along well. But what's best about The City from my current point of view is that when I left work, its a great place to observe people, architecture, culture and the triumphs and tragedies of our capitalist society. I walked out of restaurant (after shooting some foottage) because I couldn't afford a $12 beer. I saw at least 30 homeless people in a couple hours...
I wandered around downtown and the Embacedero, recording video, until the battery died. The City makes you think. About yourself and the world...
I have to post this blog in written form for now because the most interesting things happened after the battery had died. On a very crowded BART train on the way home, I had a moment. Lately, my mood had been this odd mix of euphoria, desperation and incredible optimism. The desperate part took hold as I stood there in the overcrowded train, deep within myself and my own thoughts. The I looked up.
And saw a train full of people. I looked at each person in turn, trying to understand, empathize and feel waht they were feeling. It took me out of my own head for that moment, and that is what I was looking for. I saw different dreams, ages, genders, colors and social classes, but what I realized as I tried to feel each person individually, is that we all were going through the exact same thing. We were stuck somewhere, returning to our homes and lives, trying not to think, feel or be in that moment the best we could. That we all had in common. But even more so, what we had in common was that we were all human beings. We were all souls. We were all the same person, really.
How important were my traumas, dilemmas or problems when put in context of 50 other people going through the same thing? It wouldn't be accurate to say it made me feel insignificant, more like just part of a greater whole.
As we zipped under the Bay itself at 70 mph. I turned around and saw a man whose face was completely deformed. Some sort of birth defect. Elephant Man or the kid from Mask. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think to myself, "well, at least I don't have his problems." He was rapidly working a Rubik's Cube. It seemed hopelessly jumbled from my point of view, but he moved it with a dexterity and purpose that was indescribable.
The TransBay tube did something else to the train full of people, almost half of whom were checking e-mails on their Blackberries, talking or texting on their cel phones or had a laptop out. There is no wireless reception 300 feet underwater surrounded by several feet of concrete. People were cut off. The Rubik's cubes gears spun and spun faster and faster, and as seasoned commuters can tell just by the number of minutes that have passed, the train shifted into a gentle upslope as we approached the other end of the tunnel.
Rubik's Cube guy slowed the pace of his twisting. Each movement seemed to have more purpose, and there were even a couple of pauses as he analyzed his next move. One side complete.. then two then four, and with a couple last twists, the Rubik's Cube was solved just as we emerged into the twilight of West Oakland.
A dozen cel phones, including deformed Rubiks Cube guy's, announced new voice mails simultaneously.
I wasn't the only one on the train who was able to disconnect from our disconnected connectivity for just long enough to see this small, but amazingly huge human triumph of solving a Rubik's Cube in the time it takes to pass under the San Francisco Bay.
We are all one. We all triumphed in that moment.
-JL
Now, off to make a video.
I work in another office there. I like the people I deal with, and they like me. Even met a new one today and we got along well. But what's best about The City from my current point of view is that when I left work, its a great place to observe people, architecture, culture and the triumphs and tragedies of our capitalist society. I walked out of restaurant (after shooting some foottage) because I couldn't afford a $12 beer. I saw at least 30 homeless people in a couple hours...
I wandered around downtown and the Embacedero, recording video, until the battery died. The City makes you think. About yourself and the world...
I have to post this blog in written form for now because the most interesting things happened after the battery had died. On a very crowded BART train on the way home, I had a moment. Lately, my mood had been this odd mix of euphoria, desperation and incredible optimism. The desperate part took hold as I stood there in the overcrowded train, deep within myself and my own thoughts. The I looked up.
And saw a train full of people. I looked at each person in turn, trying to understand, empathize and feel waht they were feeling. It took me out of my own head for that moment, and that is what I was looking for. I saw different dreams, ages, genders, colors and social classes, but what I realized as I tried to feel each person individually, is that we all were going through the exact same thing. We were stuck somewhere, returning to our homes and lives, trying not to think, feel or be in that moment the best we could. That we all had in common. But even more so, what we had in common was that we were all human beings. We were all souls. We were all the same person, really.
How important were my traumas, dilemmas or problems when put in context of 50 other people going through the same thing? It wouldn't be accurate to say it made me feel insignificant, more like just part of a greater whole.
As we zipped under the Bay itself at 70 mph. I turned around and saw a man whose face was completely deformed. Some sort of birth defect. Elephant Man or the kid from Mask. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think to myself, "well, at least I don't have his problems." He was rapidly working a Rubik's Cube. It seemed hopelessly jumbled from my point of view, but he moved it with a dexterity and purpose that was indescribable.
The TransBay tube did something else to the train full of people, almost half of whom were checking e-mails on their Blackberries, talking or texting on their cel phones or had a laptop out. There is no wireless reception 300 feet underwater surrounded by several feet of concrete. People were cut off. The Rubik's cubes gears spun and spun faster and faster, and as seasoned commuters can tell just by the number of minutes that have passed, the train shifted into a gentle upslope as we approached the other end of the tunnel.
Rubik's Cube guy slowed the pace of his twisting. Each movement seemed to have more purpose, and there were even a couple of pauses as he analyzed his next move. One side complete.. then two then four, and with a couple last twists, the Rubik's Cube was solved just as we emerged into the twilight of West Oakland.
A dozen cel phones, including deformed Rubiks Cube guy's, announced new voice mails simultaneously.
I wasn't the only one on the train who was able to disconnect from our disconnected connectivity for just long enough to see this small, but amazingly huge human triumph of solving a Rubik's Cube in the time it takes to pass under the San Francisco Bay.
We are all one. We all triumphed in that moment.
-JL
Now, off to make a video.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
How to Get a Head Without Hunting
I make this in tribute and in repayment to Mom.
How to Get a Head Without Hunting: The March of Joko 13
Add to My Profile | More Videos
How to Get a Head Without Hunting: The March of Joko 13
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
March of Joko 12
The video bwlow this one is so bad, I had to at least prove I could play guitar if not sing that night...
March Of Joko 12. The Not So Bad Open Mic Guy - For more of the funniest videos, click here
March Of Joko 12. The Not So Bad Open Mic Guy - For more of the funniest videos, click here
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Really Bad Open Mic Guy
All day today, after spending like 30 of the previous 60 hours producing videos, I had a content, worn out feeling. Y'know that one where you feel at peace and exhausted, usually brought on by a mind-blowing orgasm?
It's like I had sex all weekend with my computer.
Tonight, the creativity scrotum was drained. Not tonight, camcorder, I have a headache. Okay fine, let's make it a quickie!
Although part of me thinks I'm phoning it in, this self-depracating and dumb little short will probably get tons of views on Metacafe tonight. Quick and brainless, that's what the masses like.
Really Bad Open Mic Guy - Watch a funny movie here
It's like I had sex all weekend with my computer.
Tonight, the creativity scrotum was drained. Not tonight, camcorder, I have a headache. Okay fine, let's make it a quickie!
Although part of me thinks I'm phoning it in, this self-depracating and dumb little short will probably get tons of views on Metacafe tonight. Quick and brainless, that's what the masses like.
Really Bad Open Mic Guy - Watch a funny movie here
Sunday, March 11, 2007
March of Joko 9
REVISED VERSION!
This time with music and without misspelling "continued"!
MySpace Prayers: MoJoko9 - The funniest videos clips are here
This time with music and without misspelling "continued"!
MySpace Prayers: MoJoko9 - The funniest videos clips are here
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
March of Joko #5
Maybe the horoscope I referred to in #4 below was a day early.
March Of Joko 5: Vagina Is The Meaning Of Life - Watch more amazing videos here
March Of Joko 5: Vagina Is The Meaning Of Life - Watch more amazing videos here
March of Joko #4
I tell the world why I'm working on a Sunday. Plus practice Nirvana/Ledbetter's "Where Did You Sleep, Last Night?"
March Of Joko, Part IV: Workhearsal - The most popular videos are a click away
March Of Joko, Part IV: Workhearsal - The most popular videos are a click away
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Friday, March 02, 2007
The March of Joko
This evening, I committed myself to a challenge for this month. Something I'm gonna do that will spark creativity, artistic vision and maybe a little contraversy. If not for you, then at least in myself.
Video Blogging. Its a form of personal narrative new to the 21st century. When I've written personal narrative works in the past, I've been influenced by people like Herb Caen, Bukowksi and all of my old friends, The Graphites. In that tradition, I make this commitment.
If you want to wake you inner artist, it is important that you do something creative each and every day. Being fortunate to have somehow connected with a group of internet friends which include a lot of very creative people, I feel I'm not pissing in the wind here. Your thoughts or replies as I begin this endeavor will be appreciated and archived. I want to find my voice in a new medium: video. I want to chronicle my existence and hopefully share some of my thoughts. experiences and humor with a few friends and family.
One, and only one, video from me will be appearing from me each and every day for the entire month of March. If I don't do this, please delete me from your friends. By making this commitment publicly here and now, I am obligated to do it.
Won't be easy. It takes just as much to think up, record, edit, produce, upoad and then publish ideas on video as it would take to write them down. Surely many of you have made similar resolutions to cultivate your inner artist in a regular manner and seen those resolutions fall apart. I know I have. Thank the Creator of the Universe, Squishy Bear, for this great thing called MySpace where a creativite expression can be so easily shared, and a pronouncement made to hundreds...err, about 100 people at the same time!
Join me in making March the most creative month in your life so far....
The March Of Joko, March 1st - Watch more funny videos here
Video Blogging. Its a form of personal narrative new to the 21st century. When I've written personal narrative works in the past, I've been influenced by people like Herb Caen, Bukowksi and all of my old friends, The Graphites. In that tradition, I make this commitment.
If you want to wake you inner artist, it is important that you do something creative each and every day. Being fortunate to have somehow connected with a group of internet friends which include a lot of very creative people, I feel I'm not pissing in the wind here. Your thoughts or replies as I begin this endeavor will be appreciated and archived. I want to find my voice in a new medium: video. I want to chronicle my existence and hopefully share some of my thoughts. experiences and humor with a few friends and family.
One, and only one, video from me will be appearing from me each and every day for the entire month of March. If I don't do this, please delete me from your friends. By making this commitment publicly here and now, I am obligated to do it.
Won't be easy. It takes just as much to think up, record, edit, produce, upoad and then publish ideas on video as it would take to write them down. Surely many of you have made similar resolutions to cultivate your inner artist in a regular manner and seen those resolutions fall apart. I know I have. Thank the Creator of the Universe, Squishy Bear, for this great thing called MySpace where a creativite expression can be so easily shared, and a pronouncement made to hundreds...err, about 100 people at the same time!
Join me in making March the most creative month in your life so far....
The March Of Joko, March 1st - Watch more funny videos here
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