No shit? Finally, A post about Cannes! I know, I know, it’s only… what… 3 months late? Well screw you, man. Some things come first. Like, I was busy working on my zombie apocalypse shelter. Those chainsaws won’t pre-fuel themselves y’know! (and possibly slaving for hours over a hot oven trying to make a good souflé)

Now, I guess the best place to begin the tale is to say that there is no way on this pale blue dot, can I pack all of the awesomeness of this trip in to one blog post. I mean, I damn well COULD, but no one would read it… so I’m going to break it down in to a couple posts over the span of a couple weeks.

The first thing I want to state is that the Cannes Film Festival is NOTHING like I thought it would be. I somehow expected throngs of famous people with armed guards, secret parties, limos everywhere, and movies playing non-stop. Now, most of that, I got. What was even better was the camaraderie, the inclusiveness, and the sheer fun that came along with it all. The short version of what I was there for is this:I was part of a program called Real Ideas Studio. I had heard about them when I was in VFS, and when the opportunity called, I had to answer.

So, having never even left the west coast of North America before, it took a bit of work to get ready to leave. I had 3 weeks to get my passport together, and get luggage, and a tux, and all kinds of crap.  I flew from YVR to Nice, France via Chicago, Zurich, and Munich (on the return). From Nice, I took a bus in to Cannes for about a half an hour, and Holy-Marge-mother-of-Bart, was the trip worth it!

I think I’ve chatted your ear off enough for now, so I’ll end with a video. I’ll tell more of the story, and share some pictures in the next post.

[ but first, a bit of back-story ]

The purpose of the Real Ideas Studio program is to let people who have a passion for film, and telling stories well, make a short-film in the Documentary style. I worked solely on 2 of them, and the other 2 were a group effort between myself, Jakob Konrad (EU), and Mike Rigly(USA). Here is “Ludo”, which won for Distinguished Documentary.

Ludo – Credits
• Director – Sofia Mostafa
• Director of Photography – Brian Ernst
• Editor – Nicholas Ramirez
• Producer – Louis Hamwey
• Motion Graphics – Jai Field

Now, this is CLOSE to the interface that one would need to accurately play a touch-screen gig. There is just one problem remaining. If you are doing this, on a stage, at a venue… you are going to run in to QUITE a few logistical problems. How do you set this up in advance so you KNOW it will work as soon as you need it, and also, for as long as you need to play… and can the next DJ mix out of it smoothly? (Not to mention the small, but significant problems with lag I noticed in the vid.)

Just setting up the stage is a nightmare. Special considerations would need to be made to not only get it all set up right, but that also nothing would mess it up from when it was set up, to when you play. Also, given the size of the set-up, it would need to occupy a large section of stage, and have enough depth on said stage, to accommodate the projector set-up, computers, and stand. WHEW. Until this can be more portable, I don’t think it will be easily making the club circuit because of the sheer space needed aoutside of a club’s house DJ booth to get this things running.
STILL… to be able to play this ALL night at a swingin’ house party / art gallery opening (and then get to own it and play with it)?

i would give up all the hair on the left side of my body for a year. I swear. As bald as the day I was born FOR A WHOLE YEAR. Anyone? no? bah! Pansies.

J.

PS: work is rad, posts about that and France starting this Wednesday. Now, time for some more freelance work, and another beer.

Work has been awesome, and in the name of science (SCIENCE!) I found a new app that lets me track my work. It’s called IOGraphica and it’s a great little tool. Basically, you set it to record, and then it tracks your house movements, rest points, and clicks. Then it turns it all in to a really great data map that you can do whatever with. I see a lot of long-term potential for this app, not just for professional purposes (see: tracking user behavior when launching new sites), but also for art.

Here, I made one over a day of work, coding a new site at the office (notice the dual monitor):

…and one I made at home while working in Photoshop for a client:

I think it’s interesting that on the first one, it’s all over the map where I click to access the code I need to edit in both windows, and the major clicks are where my browser windows overlap so I can select them. In the second one, since I was only using Photoshop, and Firefox, you can really see where the layers palate is, and where on the canvas I do most of my work. I can also notice where I color with my tablet, just like a real pen, diagonally.

Have an awesome weekend & be excellent to each other!

J

This mix is called “Leisure Rules” and I chose the name because 1) Leisure totally rules, and 2) All the tracks are kind of a list of rules for enjoying your leisure time this summer. The coolest part of this mix is that it’s already been featured on a podcast by Farmboy Fine Arts. You can get it on iTunes (it has 8/3/10 as the release date), or you can visit the Farmboy Podcast’s website to read my bio and a diatribe on the mix itself. Do it. You know you want to.

Leisure Rules by JaiField

Here is the track list:

1. INTRO
2. Dee Edwards – “Why can’t there be love” (Pilooski remix)
3. Krafty Skillz – “It’s a Booty”
4. Brittney Spears – “Toxic”(Mark Ronson Re-Edit)
5. O.D.B. – “Lift ya skirt” // ACAPELLA
6. Stickybuds – “Bounce Ya Booty”
7. Nick Thayer – “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop”
8. Stickybuds – “Funk Stash”
9. RunDMC/Led Zepplin/JamesBrown – “Whole lotta sex machine”(Fissunix mash)
10. Prins Thomas – “Atter En Trall”
11. Alex Gopher – “With U”
12. Stickybuds – “Long Doob Running”
13. Krafty Skillz – “Eat my shorts”
14. Kid Rock – “Pimp of the nation” // ACAPELLA VOICE SAMPLE
15. DJ DLG – “Paramount” (Rogerseventytwo Remix)
16. edIT – “Pound 4 Pound”
17. Afrikka Bambatta – “Funky Heroes” // ACAPELLA
18. Ghostface Killa – “Charlie Brown”(DJ Mehdi Remix feat. Mapei)

Enjoy!
Also, if you get a sec, I would love to hear some feedback!

J

There are some changes going on in the site. It’s a work in progress, so don’t stress out if things seem out of place for a day at a time. That’s just me tinkering.

Man, work has really kicked in to high gear, and it really begs that I put my game face on and get all the work done and done well. I made this delicious batch of shepherds’ pie the other night, but I think it is made of pure evil. I had it for left overs last night, and was up all night begging for sweet release from what can only be described as distilled anguish. This makes day 2 with less than an hour of sleep. Ugh. I thought it was something else on the first night, but now there is no mistake. The Pie is to blame… and so the pie shall be placed in to exile.

J