tapioca world tour » art-film-music

Your sneakers must come from somewhere

audubon — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:05:19 +0000

Foundation for Education and Development, previously Grassroots HRE in Phang Nga, Thailand, is a Burmese-run human rights org I’ve volunteered for and visited twice. They primarily serve migrant workers on construction sites and rubber plantations by providing schools for migrants’ children and offering legal, educational and health services for adults.

If you’ve never seen a rubber plantation, it’s pretty amazing and beautiful. Thousands of rows of skinny trees all in a line. Little cups on all the trees. Crazy bugs. A stillness throughout the jungle. But the Burmese workers there are often attacked, murdered and raped as they tap the trees overnight, and are not usually paid well. This Irrawaddy report on life on the rubber plantation noticeably lacks mention of the extremely repressive and genocidal dictatorship in Burma which is the REAL reason people flee to work in Thailand, but nevertheless, it gives you a good sense of life there (story starts around 00:42). I was on this particular plantation twice:

Living room monologues: Claim to fame

audubon — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:47:18 +0000

This one’s my new favorite. Starring my childhood friend, B.

Living room monologues: Law school was a mistake

audubon — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:08:39 +0000

Living room monologues: Motherhood

audubon — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:06:30 +0000

How we met

audubon — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:03:32 +0000

This is a cartoon my friend G. made about some friends of his who are getting married soon. It uses their own narration. I thought it was pretty cute. Also because it involves ice cream.

Initiation of novice monks in Phang Nga

audubon — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:58:32 +0000

When I last traveled to Southern Thailand, I set up some multimedia accounts for the Burmese human rights org I volunteered for, Foundation for Education and Development (FED) — formerly named GHRE. Now they’ve got some American volunteers who are working with staff to create videos. Woohoo! Here’s the latest one about some of the Burmese migrant children going through the traditional process of becoming monks (all the Buddhist boys do this at some point as a rite of passage):

Use your skills to help others

audubon — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:49:54 +0000

Discovered on Flowing Data. The kid made it as a competition for a scholarship to film school (and won). Bonus points for pointing out the situation of stateless Burmese refugees.

Academy Award-Winning Movie Trailer

audubon — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:00:02 +0000

Great spoof.

Blast from the Lima past

audubon — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:47:23 +0000

My friend P. just sent me this super weird art video made recently by a German film student at the Uni of Lima. I was wondering why he sent it to me until about 4:45, when suddenly his wife appears! The esteemed N., my host in Lima last summer, apparently lent her artistic abilities to the screen. Watch and be confused.

Today’s moment of zen

audubon — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:11:02 +0000

While you were shoveling snow today, someone in Taiwan was filming the cherry blossoms with their mobile phone. This is courtesy of my thesis case study on Qik.com content. If you’re at all familiar with the Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda, you’ll appreciate the style. It’s like a visual haiku, isn’t it?