"Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost." - Pina Bausch

PINA is a 3D modern dance film directed by Wim Wenders for his good friend, Pina Bausch, a legendary German dancer/choreographer most known for her expressive and highly unusual Tanztheater pieces. "Tanztheater" refers to a performance form that integrates dance, speaking, singing and chanting, conventional theater and the use of props, set, and costumes. 

It was the end of the project. Period. I pulled the plug an hour after we got the call that Pina had died. I called the co-production partners, the financing partners, the crew, everybody, and said, “No more movie. It’s over.” Pina and I really had wanted to make this together. We had dreamed of this for more than twenty years, and to do it without her was completely out of the question. I canceled it without the intention of ever working on it again. But her dancers didn’t stop: Even on the night Pina died, they performed. They were crying, but they did it. They decided to continue as a company and fulfill all of the obligations that Pina had going on for the next two years, tours and performances. Then it dawned on me that maybe there was a reason to continue. If I couldn’t make the movie with Pina anymore, perhaps the dancers and I could make a film for Pina — and in a strange way, for ourselves, too. None of the dancers had been able to say good-bye or thank-you to Pina. Her death was so sudden, and had just pulled the carpet from under all of them. I figured that in preserving these pieces and making this film together, there was a way to come to terms with the loss and sorrow.

*Excerpt from NY MAG interview w/ Wim Wenders

PINA in 3D is currently showing in select theatres, including the IFC Center in the West Village in NYC. Definitely worth checking out.

With that said, as part of my journey to "The land of me, me, me", I have decided to make a concerted effort to update this blog much more often and flood the internet with my words, my thoughts, my work, and my photos. 

Below is the first photo I took this year featuring my good friend and photographer, Anthony Rudick, during a hike in the Catskills on New Years morning. Cheers to my first photo and post of the year. Enjoy!

First photo of 2012 // Catskills, NY

Nicely done data visualization of "The State of The Internet" by JESS3. Enjoy!

Pranav Mistry is the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data. He is by far one of the most innovative inventors of our time. The above TED Talk video speaks for itself. Enjoy!

More on the SixthSense technology here: Sixth Sense

Click here for more iPhone photos!

Photo of my mother's Christmas decorations after the first snow storm of December 2009.

The above video - Unchopping a Tree - is the latest iteration from artist and designer, Maya Lin's last memorial, What is Missing? The video links deforestation prevention and sustainable reforestation with reducing carbon emissions and protecting endangered species and habitats. Maya Lin debuted this new media piece at the recent Support REDD+ Gala in Copenhagen at COP15. Deforestation was one of the leading issues at the COP15 negotiations in Copenhagen.

I stumbled upon the Old Phlippines Facebook page a couple weeks ago and was impressed with how this page capitalized on user-generated content to create a truly informative social hub. Fans of the page have contributed amazing photos of the Philippines that date as far back as the late 1800's. Many of the photos were taken by photographers who went to there to cover the Spanish-Amerian War and the Philippines-Ameican war but also photographed the local culture and fashion, people and their ways of life.

If you only know the Philippines as it it stands today, I encourage you to visit this Facebook page and browse through the photo galleries. You'll see why the Philippines was once considered The Pearl of The Orient.