[andyinabox]

8th February 2010

Video reblogged from SOF Observed with 3 notes

Seriously guys, you gotta check this out. From SOF Observed:

Vodou Brooklyn
Trent Gilliss, online editor

Finding a lead image to complement our show delving into Haitian Vodou was a moment of diligent serendipity. I struggled to present images that capture the spirit and tone of a tradition — one that has been caricatured in so many ways for such a long time — and still remain surprising, respectful, and true to its practitioners and its rituals.

Stephanie Keith’s photographs deliver and endure because they do just that — respect the tradition. They also take us into a neighborhood (in the United States), into a life that most of us probably would never encounter. We see how a tradition survives, evolves, and flourishes through immigrant life.

And, here was a photographer who was personally invested in her subjects — at least my intuition said so — and not just documenting them. When I contacted Stephanie Keith for permission to use a few photographs, I asked her why she got started on this project — a Vodou priest at a Buddhist peace rally invited her to learn more about his religion at a “party.”

That was enough for me. The result: “Vodou Brooklyn,” a narrated slideshow of her images and story fused with the vibrant, percussive rhythms from Angels in the Mirror: Vodou Music of Haiti.

Several years later, Keith’s words and images endure. And I’m glad to have played a part in spreading her work and sharing a bit of these Haitian-Americans’ lives with those of us who may have been clueless, but remain curious.

Tagged: sofvodoubrooklynnyc

30th September 2009

Video reblogged from SOF Observed with 2 notes

speakingoffaith:

Live Interview with Professor Adele Diamond
Time: 2:00 pm CST
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)

On the heels of Krista’s morning interview with Matthieu Ricard, we’re going to live stream video of her conversation with cognitive researcher Adele Diamond. The live video will only appear real-time and then we will substitute it with higher-resolution produced video at a later date.

Tagged: sof

13th August 2009

Video reblogged from SOF Observed with 2 notes

speakingoffaith:

Between Order and Mystery
Andy Dayton, associate web producer

The title of this slideshow, “The Myth of Order,” is in reference to a statement made by James Prosek, our guest for last week’s program:

Nature really is chaotic. The real myth is the one that the Natural History Museum promotes in its collections and in its family trees and genealogies. The real myth is the myth of order.

Interestingly enough, earlier this week one of our podcast listeners alerted us to a New York Times article by Carol Kaesuk Yoon that adds another perspective to the naming and ordering of nature. While Prosek’s words lament a loss of nature’s magic to the rigid confines of Linnaean classification (named after the “father of taxonomy” Carl Linnaeus), Yoon’s essay mourns the loss of popular interest in taxonomy:

In Linnaeus’s day, it was a matter of aristocratic pride to have a wonderful and wonderfully curated collection of wild organisms, both dead and alive. Darwin (who gained fame first as the world’s foremost barnacle taxonomist) might have expected any dinner-party conversation to turn taxonomic, after an afternoon of beetle-hunting or wildflower study. Most of us claim and enjoy no such expertise.

And, she relates this loss to a divestment from the natural world:

We are so disconnected from the living world that we can live in the midst of a mass extinction, of the rapid invasion everywhere of new and noxious species, entirely unaware that anything is happening.

I find it interesting that these two perspectives on taxonomy can seem completely at odds, while at the same time come from the same sense of wonder in the face of the nature. Perhaps these two viewpoints evoke a need for balance: without some system of naming we’re limited in our ability to understand the natural world, but pin everything down too neatly and we lose the life that makes nature so attractive and — as Prosek might say — mystical.

(image: A plate depicting the characters used in Linnaeus’ classification system, from Order from Chaos: Linnaeus Disposes.)

Tagged: soffish

31st July 2009

Video reblogged from SOF Observed with 5 notes

Seriously, don’t let the “Bobby McFerrin” part scare you off — this video is awesome.

SOF Observed:

“Playing” The Audience
Andy Dayton, Associate Web Producer

Nancy just sent around a link to this video of Bobby McFerrin presenting at the 2009 World Science Festival (we’re hoping they’ll also release video of Xavier Le Pichon’s presentation soon). I don’t really know much about McFerrin, but admittedly my impression of him in the past has been cynical — his late-80’s chart-topper “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” was always a little too earnest for my ears. But I was pleasantly surprised to see McFerrin give this simple, fun, and extremely effective demonstration of the universality of the pentatonic scale.

(read more & comment)

Tagged: musicsofscienceperformance

8th June 2009

Video reblogged from SOF Observed with 1 note

Check out those moves! My colleague shared this video over the weekend, didn’t get around to watching it until today but I’m really enjoying it. 

Some of the Sidi dancers’ movements are inspired by animals — notably birds. You’ll notice how they use their eyes as much as their limbs. It actually reminded me of the popping and locking break dancers are known for.

Read the rest of Nancy’s post “Dancing with Sidi Goma: The Black Sufis of Gujarat” on the SOF Blog.

Tagged: dancesofafricanafricasufi

7th May 2009

Video reblogged from SOF Observed with 3 notes

Dr. Feynman’s Father
Andy Dayton, Associate Web Producer

Right now I’m reading (or listening to, rather — in audio book form) The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, a collection of physicist Richard P. Feynman’s short works. Feynman was a unique and fascinating figure — not only was he a genius (he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965), but he was also a skilled explainer, storyteller, prankster, and bongo player (among other things).

The video above is from a 1981 BBC interview with Feynman, and includes some of his thoughts on religion, doubt, and uncertainty. Watching this, I couldn’t help thinking of our program “A History of Doubt.” His enthusiasm lies in the act of questioning rather than in belief: “I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.”

This same interview is also excerpted in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, and one thing that stood out to me was how much Feynman referenced his father’s teaching. I’m excited by Feynman’s ideas, but in some ways I’m even more fascinated to hear him trace those ideas back to his father. With “The Spirituality of Parenting” broadcasting this week, it seemed fitting to share a few of these stories — to catch a glimpse of how Feynman acquired his faith in doubting, as he tells it in the following video:

(written for SOF Observed)

Tagged: feynmansofsciencereligiondoubt