Nicholas DiBiase and I perform an acoustic cover of REM’s “Fall on Me”.

Also check out Scott Korb’s NY Times article “The Right Moves,” about Michael Stipe’s signature moves.

Video of me giving a Pecha Kucha-style talk at a Purpose.com event in March 2011. I weave together a story that combines design philosophy and movement building with anecdotes and metaphors from capoeira, pop culture, and literary history.

There was a camera glitch halfway through the talk, so please pardon the jump cut. Music by Hepnova.

Getting all folky on the Fourth of July. Here is my acoustic cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The banjo-like instrument is a Taiwanese instrument called a “yueqin” in Mandarin or “gueh-khim” in Taiwanese. It’s sometimes called a “moon guitar” in English.

New cord, new nickname, new moves, and new tunes. All in all an awesome Capoeira Angola Quintal festival week.

The video above is of me playing for my dark green cord. Thanks to Mei Yen for the video!

Subway flash mob dance party music video by Xelle. Can you spot me?
What are some other cool flash mob videos?

Update: Party Girl featured on PerezHilton.com

A. Banks asks, “is this a high point or a low point for our democracy?”

A high point I say. Colbert is an artist, whose fictional character addresses fundamental real-life truths, whereas most politicians are fictional characters who tell lies masquerading as truths. Yet, we know Colbert is in character, while most political spectacle is still taken at face value. Colbert’s testimony/performance, reveals the true nature of the masquerade that is America’s political media spectacle by revealing the tattered edges of the trompe l’oeil, just as Toto revealed the man behind the curtain, unmasking the Wizard of Oz.

Joey G. asks, “Did this really happen?”

Yes, it did happen. And it didn’t happen. Just like how the Gulf War didn’t happen. Baudrillard would have a field day (or perhaps more apropos, an intellectual fête champêtre) with this, whereas I am just high on cold medicine, watching YouTube clips and ranting away one of the last summery days of the year.

Mumbo Jumbo Maracas vs. T.I.

Mumbo Jumbo Maracas vs. Art Kleiner

Mumbo Jumbo Maracas vs. The Plastic Ono Band

Thanks to Yasser Ansari, Paul Paradiso, and Jorge Just for these brilliant mashups!

Ubiqui.tv is a prototype online video travel guide for the Boxee platform.  Ubiqui.tv was created by Joel Leimer, Oskar Von Hauske, Timothy Haynes, and myself as our group project for the ITP class Designing The Future of Television with Richard Ting.

cshirky: The New Yorker still runs cartoons of crazy people carrying placards. What do 25 y.o’s make of that? In their world, crazy people have blogs
8:07 AM Nov 15th

leesean: @cshirky 25ish y.o.’s like me make mashup/remixes of crazy people with placards and put them on YouTube http://bit.ly/x0BQV
10:28 AM Nov 15th

cshirky: RT @leesean: @cshirky 25ish y.o.’s like me make mashup/remixes of crazy people with placards and put them on YouTube http://bit.ly/x0BQV
1:14 PM Nov 15th

I created Jump (The Bailout Bash) with Elizabeth Fuller for a class at ITP last year (Communications Lab with Marianne Petit).

“Inspirational Actions”: Think about a performance you have witnessed that made a indelible mark in your life, a performance you would aspire to give, a tool/system you would aspire to perform – and bring a short audio and/or video clip of it to share with the class. This can be something you have already done, but we encourage you to look to the work of other artists/musicians/performers for inspiration.

The name of my NIME instrument, Mumbo Jumbo Maracas, just came to me one day. I wanted an instrument that would allow me to make wild flailing gestures and a thick texture of noise. For my performance, I want to combine elements of primitive shamanistic ritual with good silly fun, sort of post-colonial re-appropriation of mid-century exotica.  I find maracas fun and festive (as this Señor Coconut track demonstrates), and as user interfaces, the simplicity of how they work is intuitive and they become in a way instant noise-making appendages in the hands of their player.

I created a 1 minute audio sketch in Logic that approximates what I want my final project to sound like.

While we are on the topic of maraca-related inspiration, here are a few YouTube clips I like.

As for the mumbo jumbo ritualistic performance part of my NIME project, I admit, I am totally ripping off Terence Koh.

I am taking a pledge suggested by the film and now refraining from visiting aquariums and aquatic mammal shows.  I will also be sure to buy dolphin-safe seafood.  Here are some main points of the film:

• Over 23,000 dolphins are slaughtered in Taiji every year
• When the dolphins are caught, some are sold to aquariums and wildlife shows, while the rest are killed for meat
• Dolphin meat, as well as the meat of other whales, contains dangerous levels of mercury, but the mayor of Taiji has tried to give away the contaminated meat for school lunches
• Sometimes dolphin meat is deliberately mislabeled and sold as “cleaner” whale meat
• Mercury poisoning from eating contaminated seafood could result in symptoms similar to those of Minamata Disease

Towards the end of The Cove, former Flipper-trainer-turned-activist Ric O’Barry walks into an International Whaling Commission conference with a video monitor strapped to his chest playing graphic footage of the Taiji dolphin slaughter, exposing the international delegates to the horrors of whaling.  In another scene, O’Barry stands with the video monitor playing the same slaughter footage in the middle of Shibuya crossing, taking the message directly to the Japanese people.   But how can the filmmakers increase their impact among the Japanese public?

O’Barry’s SafeJapanDolphins.org is accepting donations to help with targeted media campaigns and screenings of the film in Japan, but I don’t think the movie is available in Japan yet.   I would suggest that the filmmakers release footage of the dolphin slaughter (or ideally, the entire film) under a Creative Commons or similar open license, that would allow the film to be freely shared on the internet, allowing people to see it even if it is not playing in their local cinema.  Certainly this would be a way to get around powerful government and business interests in Japan who do not want the film to be seen by the Japanese people.  Imagine of video of the slaugter “went viral” on the internet.  Imagine concerned Japanese people being able to view the footage on their cellphones and sharing the video with their family and friends.  That is when real change will begin.

I realize that documentary filmmaking is not cheap.  Indeed, I do believe that the heroic people who made the film possible should be financially supported for their work.  But we cannot let the complications of copyright stand in the way of promoting an important story and saving the dolphins.  Perhaps the film can be freely released online under a Creative Commons license after the theatrical run is completed, or when a donation threshold is reached.

Some have criticized The Cove’s filmmakers and the dolphin freedom activists for being racist or neo-colonialist against the Japanese.  Indeed, Japan is not the only country that hunts whales.  “White” countries like Iceland and Norway hunt whales too.  I think all countries should be held responsible.  I lived in Japan for three years, I love the country, but I disagree with the dolphin hunt, that hardly makes me a racist (in any case, I’m Asian too).  It is unfortunate though that the film did not give more of a voice to Japanese people opposed to the dolphin hunts.  They do interview a few Japanese people opposed to the slaughter, but these Japanese people are not the main protagonists in the film.

It is interesting to note that while whale hunting has been part of Japanese culture for hundreds of years, it was the Americans who occupied Japan after WWII who encouraged the resumption of whale hunting as a cheap source of protein to feed the war-torn country.  But today, Japan is a rich country and they don’t need to eat whale meat for protein any more.  In fact, most Japanese people do not eat whale meat, and do not consider dolphin to be food.  When filmmakers showed people on the streets of Tokyo and Osaka footage of the dolphin slaughter, they were surprised and horrified.  Hopefully, the film will be available in Japan soon to raise greater awareness.

Go see the movie and take action!

Links

• The Cove Official Site
• SaveJapanDolphins.org – Take Action
• TakePart.com/TheCove
• CNN – Dolphin slaughter brings charges from both sides
• YouTube – Dolphin Swim Programs & SLAUGHTER Linked!!!!
• YouTube – Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
• Petition – Help Save Japan’s Dolphins
• NY Magazine – The Cove’s Richard O’Barry on Secret Dolphin Slaughter — and Flipper’s Suicide
• NY Times – The Cove: From Flipper’s Trainer to Dolphin Defender
• CS Monitor – Review: ‘The Cove’
• Roger Ebert’s review of ‘The Cove’
• 日本でのイルカ保護にご協力ください
• Whale Love (日本語)

The cast and crew of Timberbrit recently shot a music video of “Worst Fantasy,” a song from the opera based on Britney’s “Toxic”

While we are on the subject of Britney, check out Hepnova’s “Hit Me Britney,” a recombinant cover of “…Baby One More Time,” and “Oops!…I Did It Again.”

Whoa!…What’s with the ellipsis abuse?

The ad was made by Americans Against Food Taxes, an interest group that includes some big agro-businesses and industrial fast food producers who are opposed to a proposed tax on soft drinks and juice drinks, in other words, beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Pardon the pun, but this ad, like HFCS found in soft drinks and juice drinks, is pretty corny stuff.  Let’s cut through the saccharine images of an All-American family and the folksy populist spin.  First, “juice drinks,” as defined by the USDA is different from “100% juice.”  Juice drinks only constitute a small percentage of actual fruit juice, and can contain added water, sugar/HFCS, coloring, and vitamins.  In these USDA health guidelines (PDF), the example juice drink only contains 5% juice.  The proposed tax is on soda and juice drinks, NOT on 100% juice or fresh fruit.  Last time I checked, soda and juice drinks were not essential foundations in the food pyramid.

I’m no fan of big agro-business lobbies or a Federal nanny state, but guaranteeing all Americans basic access to health care is an important issue that needs funding.  So where do we go from here? Well, if we follow the money (and the trail of corn kernels), we find that soft drinks and juice drinks are able to be sold relatively cheaply because of existing government intervention in the form of subsidies.  These government subsides—our taxpayer money— artificially lower the price of corn and corn derivatives like high fructose corn syrup.  When we buy a soda, we aren’t paying the REAL market price because the cost of producing corn syrup, a major ingredient, is subsidized by our tax dollars.  Hey, isn’t that soda socialism or something?

Now here’s the part where I might even get mistaken for a conservative:  Instead of levying taxes on soda and juice drinks to fund health care, why not just cut costs by reducing or even eliminating the corn subsidies, and use the savings to fund health care reform?  These subsidies are taxes that we have already paid that are a standing government bailout that props up an essentially non-market-based business model.

Insert folksy Fox News-worthy soundbite:  “Calm down about socialized medicine ’cause corn subsidies ain’t so capitalist either!”

The Environmental Working Group’s Farm Subsidy Database shows that there were $21.6 billion in corn subsidies in the four-year period from 2003-2006 (inclusive).  The Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University found that HFCS producers received an implicit $234 million dollar a year subsidy derived from overall corn subsidies.  Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that “adding a tax of three cents per 12-ounce serving to these types of sweetened drinks would generate $24 billion over the next four years.”  If the amount of money spent on four years of corn subsidies were redirected towards health care, we would already be 90% of the way to the potential $24 billion that could be raised by new taxes on soda and juice drinks.

Why bother with new taxes on struggling American families when the government can just stop using our taxpayer money to subsidize artificially-cheap corn, the staple of the industrial agro-businesses, and use it as a down payment on health care reform?

Nicholas DiBiase (@Hepnova) from Hepnova and Noah Dyer (@WealthNetTeam) from WealthNet Partners give a brisk talk about the basics of branding and how it can affect relationships with potential investors. Geared toward the entrepreneur, this video introduces the essential concepts of branding and why they matter to the startup seeking funding.

Stories, examples, and counterexamples along with an amusing skit keep this first salvo in the struggle against bad marketing fresh and entertaining.

This piece was produced for the online educational resource/expertise marketplace Advisor Garage.

This is the fifth in a series of “This is real DIY” experimental documentary videos. Music by Hepnova.

I ran some of my YouTube videos through Yooouuutuuube and here’s what I got:

Herbivores by Elizabeth Fuller and Lee-Sean Huang played through Yooouuutuuube.
Original version of Herbivores

ODI et AMO played through Yooouuutuuube
Original version of ODI et AMO

Can’t Stop (HEPNOVA Remix) Music Video by JC Cassis and Lee-Sean Huang played through Yooouuutuuube
Original version of Can’t Stop

Check out Yooouuutuuube before Google shuts it down. See the Rhizome interview with David Kraftsow for more.

Here is the new music video for ODI et AMO, a piece I am presenting as my Visual Music and Animals, et. al. final project.  The piece is based on a poem by Catullus, and features vocals by JC Cassis.

Apologies for the crappy online video quality.  The finely-tuned sync of the music and visual elements got knocked a little bit out of wack during conversion to online-friendly formats.  The versions on Vimeo and YouTube look even worse, so I don’t recommend viewing them there.  Luckily, I’ll get to present the uncompressed version in my Animals class on Tuesday, and JC and I will perform a live version at the Visual Music class concert at Issue Project Room on April 28, at 8 pm.  You can also download the M4V version (for iTunes) here, which looks a lot better than the streaming version.  Or if you want to listen to the track on the go, download the MP3.

UPDATE (21 April 2009):
I presented the ODI et AMO music video in my Animals class today.  I got some good feedback from everybody.  On my to-do list for the next version:

• Sort out the audio/video sync issues in Final Cut to make the cuts frame-accurate.  I’m meeting with Marina on Thursday to work on this.
• Re-record JC’s vocals.  Right now, I am using one take for all 3 repetitions of her part.  It needs to build up more and have more of an arc.  I guess this won’t be a problem for the live version on Thursday, since JC will be singing her diva parts live.
• Do something to add some more variation into the “karaoke” text sections – perhaps bring back ODI and AMO characters in some way.  I think I’ll need to do some more work in AfterEffects.

UPDATE (24 April 2009):
After talking with Marina today, I discovered that I needed to move my ODI et AMO project from Final Cut Express to Final Cut Pro in order to have total control over the frame rate.  I spent this afternoon and evening tweaking the video in Final Cut Pro in order to make the cuts sync more accurately to the music.  I also added some extra effects to make the experience a bit richer.  The new version is now on Blip.tv and embedded above.

Here are a couple screenshots taken from my upcoming piece, ODI et AMO, a music video/karaoke performance piece I am working on as the final project for my Visual Music and Animals class.  JC Cassis will be doing some vocals for the piece, and she’ll be coming over later today to rehearse and record her parts.

I will be presenting the piece for my Animals class next Tuesday, and then to the general public at Issue Project Room on April 28, at 8 pm.

Also check out the ODI and AMO T-shirt I designed, and my original project proposal.

More videos from our gig on kathryncchiu’s YouTube channel.

You can see me rocking out on the keys in the video. I designed the £€€~$€AN T-shirt that I am wearing. Get one from the HEPNOVA Zazzle store, because you know you want to wear my B£ING€D-OUT name on your ¢H€$T.

LEE-SEAN Bling by Hepnova
Create Custom Tee Shirts With zazzle
Browse other People Health Cultures T-Shirts

[Blip.tv] [YouTube] [Vimeo]

I presented my final project for Intro to Computational Media today.  Building on the work I did with the Musical Typewriter, I ended up making some last minute tweaks to my “musical typeface,” which consists of audio samples corresponding to each letter of the alphabet.  Originally I had used all single-hit percussion sounds, but I reworked the alphabet to include short musical phrases or gestures, and brought in wind and string instrument samples for greater musicality and richness.  The final version of my Processing program reads a text file and “translates” the text into music by playing back the samples corresponding to the letters of the words as musical phrase “cluster.”

While playing back a text as a song, the Processing sketch also simultaneously displays the word corresponding to the musical sample cluster being played and visualizes the frequency waves of the music on the screen.  Refer to the screenshot above.

For my in-class performance, I used the lyrics to the HEPNOVA track Post-Modern Poster Child and reinterpreted words through the Musical Typewriter.  [MP3] [AIFF]

During my presentation, I also Rick Rolled the class with Rick Astley’s immortal lyrics played through my program.

Source code after the jump.

My source code for my ICM final project, a self-playing version of the Musical Typewriter [2] [3].

import ddf.minim.signals.*;
import ddf.minim.*;
import ddf.minim.analysis.*;
import ddf.minim.effects.*;
import processing.video.*;

// Declare MovieMaker object
//MovieMaker mm;
Minim minim;
WaveformRenderer waveform;
//AudioSample objects for each letter of the alphabet
AudioSample play_a;
AudioSample play_b;
AudioSample play_c;
AudioSample play_d;
AudioSample play_e;
AudioSample play_f;
AudioSample play_g;
AudioSample play_h;
AudioSample play_i;
AudioSample play_j;
AudioSample play_k;
AudioSample play_l;
AudioSample play_m;
AudioSample play_n;
AudioSample play_o;
AudioSample play_p;
AudioSample play_q;
AudioSample play_r;
AudioSample play_s;
AudioSample play_t;
AudioSample play_u;
AudioSample play_v;
AudioSample play_w;
AudioSample play_x;
AudioSample play_y;
AudioSample play_z;

// Variable to store text currently being typed
//String typing = “”;
String[] lyrics;
// Variable to store saved text when return is hit
String saved = “”;
int i;
int counter = 0;  //frame counter for vibration
int play = 0;

void setup()
{
minim = new Minim(this);
size(1440,800);
//mm = new MovieMaker(this, width, height, “pomo.mov” , 30, MovieMaker.H263,
//MovieMaker.HIGH);
background(0);
textFont(createFont(“Courier”, 60));
textAlign(CENTER);

play_a = minim.loadSample(“A.mp3″, 1440);
play_b = minim.loadSample(“B.mp3″, 1440);
play_c = minim.loadSample(“C.mp3″, 1440);
play_d = minim.loadSample(“D.mp3″, 1440);
play_e = minim.loadSample(“E.mp3″, 1440);
play_f = minim.loadSample(“F.mp3″, 1440);
play_g = minim.loadSample(“G.mp3″, 1440);
play_h = minim.loadSample(“H.mp3″, 1440);
play_i = minim.loadSample(“I.mp3″, 1440);

play_j = minim.loadSample(“J.mp3″, 1440);
play_k = minim.loadSample(“K.mp3″, 1440);
play_l = minim.loadSample(“L.mp3″, 1440);
play_m = minim.loadSample(“M.mp3″, 1440);
play_n = minim.loadSample(“N.mp3″, 1440);
play_o = minim.loadSample(“O.mp3″, 1440);
play_p = minim.loadSample(“P.mp3″, 1440);
play_q = minim.loadSample(“Q.mp3″, 1440);
play_r = minim.loadSample(“R.mp3″, 1440);
play_s = minim.loadSample(“S.mp3″, 1440);
play_t = minim.loadSample(“T.mp3″, 1440);
play_u = minim.loadSample(“U.mp3″, 1440);
play_v = minim.loadSample(“V.mp3″, 1440);
play_w = minim.loadSample(“W.mp3″, 1440);
play_x = minim.loadSample(“X.mp3″, 1440);
play_y = minim.loadSample(“Y.mp3″, 1440);
play_z = minim.loadSample(“Z.mp3″, 1440);

waveform = new WaveformRenderer();
play_a.addListener(waveform);
play_b.addListener(waveform);
play_c.addListener(waveform);
play_d.addListener(waveform);
play_e.addListener(waveform);
play_f.addListener(waveform);
play_g.addListener(waveform);
play_h.addListener(waveform);
play_i.addListener(waveform);
play_j.addListener(waveform);
play_k.addListener(waveform);
play_l.addListener(waveform);
play_m.addListener(waveform);
play_n.addListener(waveform);
play_o.addListener(waveform);
play_p.addListener(waveform);
play_q.addListener(waveform);
play_r.addListener(waveform);
play_s.addListener(waveform);
play_t.addListener(waveform);
play_u.addListener(waveform);
play_v.addListener(waveform);
play_w.addListener(waveform);
play_x.addListener(waveform);
play_y.addListener(waveform);
play_z.addListener(waveform);

noStroke();
lyrics = loadStrings(“lyrics.txt”);
i = 0;
background(0);
}

void draw()
{
if (play == 1){
counter = (counter+1)%25;
noStroke();
fill(255);
//text (lyrics[i],width/2, height/2);
//mm.addFrame();
if (counter == 0) {
if (i < lyrics.length)
{
background(0);
text (lyrics[i],width/2, height/2);
int wordLength = lyrics[i].length();
for (int j=0; j < wordLength; j++)
{
for(int k=0; k < wordLength; k++)
{
char letter = lyrics[i].charAt(k);
playLetter(letter);
waveform.draw();
}
}
waveform.draw();
i++;
}
else {
background(0);
//mm.finish();
//noLoop();
}
}
}
}

void playLetter (char letter_)
{
if ((letter_ == ‘a’) || (letter_ == ‘A’))
{
play_a.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘b’) || (letter_ == ‘B’))
{
play_b.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘c’) || (letter_ == ‘C’))
{
play_c.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘d’) || (letter_ == ‘D’))
{
play_d.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘e’) || (letter_ == ‘E’))
{
play_e.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘f’) || (letter_ == ‘F’))
{
play_f.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘g’) || (letter_ == ‘G’))
{
play_g.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘h’) || (letter_ == ‘H’))
{
play_h.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘i’) || (letter_ == ‘I’))
{
play_i.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘j’) || (letter_ == ‘J’))
{
play_j.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘k’) || (letter_ == ‘K’))
{
play_k.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘l’) || (letter_ == ‘L’))
{
play_l.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘m’) || (letter_ == ‘M’))
{
play_m.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘n’) || (letter_ == ‘N’))
{
play_n.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘o’) || (letter_ == ‘O’))
{
play_o.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘p’) || (letter_ == ‘P’))
{
play_p.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘q’) || (letter_ == ‘Q’))
{
play_q.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘r’) || (letter_ == ‘R’))
{
play_r.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘s’) || (letter_ == ‘S’))
{
play_s.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘t’) || (letter_ == ‘T’))
{
play_t.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘u’) || (letter_ == ‘U’))
{
play_u.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘v’) || (letter_ == ‘V’))
{
play_v.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘w’) || (letter_ == ‘W’))
{
play_w.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘x’) || (letter_ == ‘X’))
{
play_x.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘y’) || (letter_ == ‘Y’))
{
play_y.trigger();
}

if ((letter_ == ‘z’) || (letter_ == ‘Z’))
{
play_z.trigger();
}
}

void stop()
{
play_a.close();
minim.stop();
super.stop();
}

class WaveformRenderer implements AudioListener
{
private float[] left;
private float[] right;

WaveformRenderer()
{
left = null;
right = null;
}

synchronized void samples(float[] samp)
{
left = samp;
}

synchronized void samples(float[] sampL, float[] sampR)
{
left = sampL;
right = sampR;
}

synchronized void draw()
{
// we’ve got a stereo signal if right or left are not null
if ( left != null && right != null )
{
noFill();
stroke(255);
beginShape();
for ( int i = 0; i < left.length; i++ )
{
vertex(i, height/4 + left[i]*120);
}
endShape();
beginShape();
for ( int i = 0; i < right.length; i++ )
{
vertex(i, 3*(height/4) + right[i]*120);
}
endShape();
}
else if ( left != null )
{
noFill();
stroke(255);
beginShape();
for ( int i = 0; i < left.length; i++ )
{
vertex(i, height/2 + left[i]*120);
}
endShape();
}
}
}

void keyPressed(){
play = 1;
}

Here is my first attempt at animation with Adobe After Effects, inspired by Surrealism, Dada, and early MTV animations.

All the source images were taken by me or Kris and can be found in my Flickr account.

Music: Netmaster 2 (Safety is Dangerous Glitch Mix) by HEPNOVA.

[YouTube] [Vimeo] [Blip.tv]