On Set With Alasdair Mclellan

Hello Bloggers,
It has been a while since I have wrote but I would like to say I am back and sorry about the hiatus. I have been in the spectrum of a lot of big projects and with my Summer class coming to a wrap I would like to announce that I am officially back.

One of my most recent efforts have taken me on set with one of my favorite photographers Alasdair Mclellan as a Jr. Producer. This was one hell of an experience that put me in contact with some great people and friends like Anthony Turner and Aaron De May. I also got to chat on set with some of the greatest models in the industry right now such as Lindsey Wixon, Simon Nessman, and Cohl and Yuri. (My pic of Cohl and Yuri below)

This upcoming month will be great for me, working on thesis (ALL MODELS PLEASE MESSAGE ME AT ALEXINGRAMMEDIA@GMAIL.COM )getting a new apt, going to Cali for a couple of weeks, and starting the last year of my school career.

Would love to hear everyones comments.

-Alex

RICHARDSON

"When you fall down... you get back up though... you always do." from Terry Richardson on Vimeo.

BRB

BIRTHDAY WEEEKEND. UPDATES COMING MONDAY.

Art Partner

I recently received the internship I have been waiting to announce and now that its official I finally can!
I will be working for Art Partner in Soho. This is the internship I have wanted most and exactly where I want to be, so amazing for things to unfold the way that you envisioned, proving that with hard work, determination, and persistence dreams can come true. I will be working amongst some of my favorite photographers, videographers of all time such as Terry Richardson and Mario Testino working with agents, producers, and the film department. 


Check out their work and clients here... www.artpartner.com

LOS ANGELES

I wanted to start this New Year off with a bang so I took my nephew to his first Laker game. I was able to take him all throughout my old stomping grounds and workspace of Hollywood Blvd and ventured up for a tour of Griffith Park, perfect ending for a perfect trip back home. : )
His face was so priceless when we got to the Staples Center and ventured inside.
And of course, the Lakers won! Now I'm ready for my Knicks game on January 30th.

What are your favorite spots in L.A? Drop a comment in the comment

MORE TO COME.

Tomorrow I will start r-eblogging and I have a feeling this year is gonna be amazing. I have a few suprises that is gonna make this year perfect. I wanted to use this post as a self reflection, just to recall what made this year so special for me. Graduating CSUSM and walking across that stage. Drake at Radio City. Vimeo Awards. Hard NYC. Moving to NYC. Acceptance into Pratt. Working at TrailerPark in Hollywood. Meeting Levi Maestro and 13th Witness. FNO. Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson. NERD concert at Kimmel. And of course going to every parade, museum, and fine arts show in NYC.


So thankful to have such a blessed year.

Now to see how I can top it : )

A new years eve jam to groove to.

Dopeness For Christmas

Jimmy Fallon in my opinion is the new King of Late Night. Sure his monologue is terrible and Conan is still the man, I always find myself staying up way to late to watch Fallon and his hilarious sketches and show. It is just more fun than any other late night show out there. And to add to that he has The Roots as his band... THE ROOTS. Peep this clip and if I dont post in the next few days HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!


ALEX

Blame Game.

So Kanye made his way out to the Thanksgiving Day Parade here in NYC. I encourage everyone to check out Ye's album, I'm not gonna say its better than College Dropout, but definitely one of my favorites of the year. Right now I'm feeling just about every track, but my favorite by far is "Blame Game." This song is so gritty, honest, and heartbreaking. And the Chris Rock skit at the end is pure comedy.
And I know that you was somewhere doing your thang, and when the phone called it just rang and rang, you aint pickup but your phone accidentally called me back and I heard the whole thing." 
Dam. Heartless.

Maestro Knows!

Photo courtesy of Maestros intern, Devlin whose posts you can view here Devlin


Yesterday I took off work early and jetted down to Reed Space in Manhattan to see the homie Levi of Maestro Knows. This is the nicest person you will ever meet and is loaded with intelligence on how to market yourself as a brand name and always inspiring others to work hard and do what they believe in. He was just over in Vegas the night before filming for Usher hopped on a plane and edited his video on the way to NY, helped out the community by lecturing to students, all to later hop back on a plane and continue shooting in Vegas. I will try to post some of the lecture if I get a chance to chop some of the footage which I shot on my point and shoot Nikon S8100. With my conversation with Maestro he definitely gave me some good points on how to promote yourself in a new and big city and how I should approach pricing.

Check his work here at MAESTROKNOWS   nothing out there quite like it

There was also the head of the head of the Jordan Apparel line who I was able to get in touch with about a payed internship for Jordan! :)

Great way to start the week for sure!
Find out more about Reed Space here REEDSPACE

Heres a clip from his website showing an intro to his work with Usher

Brooklyn Museum

If your in the area I definitely urge you to check out the Brooklyn Museum. I went today with class and it has many great contemporary works dealing with all sorts of topics such as feminism and race. We had to go for a variety of artists but most specifically to see the intricate work of Fred Tomaselli.

Great Week.

I always want to allow my readers to connect with me so I wanted to share a few updates.
We recently moved into our new building at Pratt which is absolutely amazing and my office is dope now. We will also be getting our own studios next week. Take a look at the space!

Also this past weekend I was able to check out the NYC Marathon from my balcony.

NYC is such a great city to live in, but I love to travel and see more. I'd love to know where are you from and what makes your city special.

STRING DANCE

CONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCONANCON

IS BACK!

Goodbye Hipster

Aw! I have been away from the blog because of an insane amount of homework. Grad school is infinetly more work than an undergraduate program which makes me all the more happy that I went to school after finishing my B.A. so that I am still in the swing of things.
That Being said I am sorry that I haven't been very consistent with my writings both for myself and people who read this blog. I will try my hardest to write more frequently
I encourage everyone to pick up the recent issue of New York Magazine and check out the article "What Was the Hipster." It is an utterly hilarious look at hipster culture and hipsters in general. Its funny when I first moved to New York this term was completely new to me as was Williamsburg or East Village culutre and initially I thought wow, this is pretty cool, a community of young "artist" type people. In a short time this curiosity was dimmed as the hipster is a complete contradictory in itself. They feel as though they are rebellious while dresssing all the same, anti establishment while building up massive companies that they inevitably work for, Urban Outfitters, American Apparrel etc., and want to appear poor(drinking cheap beer, etc etc) while living in apartments paid in full by their parents.
This article points out some of the funniest aspects of a culture they assume is dying in NYC.
Like I always say you can't judge everyone based on a term, and there are some really cool hipster-ish folks I have met that are nothing like the above. Check out the article in stores or the link below, Let me know what you think!
What Was The Hipster

"The hipster moment did not produce artists, but tattoo artists. It did not yield a great literature, but it made good use of fonts." - This is my favorite line from the article

Google is Everything.

I got the opportunity to head over to the Google Headquarters for my Digital Art in Context class where we got to meet Digital Artists who have combined Science with Art for their work. It featured the work of Eduardo Kac(the most controversial, but also the most interesting in my opinion), Marina Zurkow, and Andrew Senior/Sandra Cordero. Eduardo spoke about his work with Alba the rabbit, something I have learned about in both Science and Art during my undergrad. I think it is very cool that a huge company like Google is doing this event and I hope to attend more.

Photo taken by me with my Verizon Blackberry Tour.

Gone Mad.

I very rarely get the chance to sit down and watch TV. But I always make time for Mad Men the show I connect to in so many levels and is continuously more and more intriguing. I'm so suprised I havent blogged much about it so I thought with the finale of Season 4 that I share why I like this show and why it is so important to me. I relate very much to the character of Don Draper. He is a self made man who worked incredibly hard to make it to where he is, and did this all on his own, by finding what he was good at, constantly marketing himself, and mastering his skills. Don has faced rough patches in relationships and with his business and always finds a way to come out on top and become a better businessman and person. The show helped lead me to interning for TrailerPark in Hollywood one of the biggest agencies around, and going to Pratt in NY for my Masters in Digital Arts. During my 2nd and last year here I hope to intern for BBDO or Ogilvy through my college.

The characters have grown so much it is amazing to see their transformation. Peter Campbell who I originally hated has really grown from a spoiled brat to a man, and someone who would clearly replace Don or start his own agency one day and Don see's this in Peter. Peggy has grown more assertive and also a character that could run the company one day. She outworks nearly everyone and carries that Rocky mentality of the underdog rising to the top.

So what can I hope for in Season 5? Less Betty. January Jones is gorgeous, but her character is so childish it makes me not like her. More Roger Sterling, Roger is the only comedy relief of the show and he pulls it in brilliantly. And hopefully for SCDP a rise back to the top!

Vimeo Award Festival

Morgan Spurlock

This past weekend I won tickets to the Vimeo Festival for Friday and Saturday. I wasn't able to make it on Friday because of work and class, but I went all day on Saturday with a friend from Pratt and it was an amazing experience. My day started off with a lecture from Morgan Spurlock, director of Supersize me who I got to meet after te show and discuss the future of filmmaking. I attended several more guest lectures and later took a class with Philip Bloom a world class director who uses DSLR for video. The night ended with a party at the IAC building full of directors, festival attendees and a fully stocked open bar. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget and I made plenty of great contacts here in the city.


Video footage broadcasted in synchronicity across the IAC building.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

This was ultimately one of the best films I have seen for a long time. The actors, script, and film production was perfect. I rarely this but this film was done exactly as it should have been made! I recommend to anyone who grew up as facebook as an imperative part to their lives or those curious as to how this site became what it is today to check out The Social Network.

Tuxandtie Meets 13th Witness

 

On 9/13 I got an invite to attend a show by a major inspiration of mine 13th Witness. I first heard about this photographer through Maestro Knows and have been following his work ever since. He is constantly shooting, learning to get better, and is completely self taught. He shows me that through dedication you can attain your dreams which has lead him to work with many great artists including one of my all time favorites John Mayer. I met 13th at his first show at Reed Space in Manhattan and was impressed with the great work and the turnout. Check out his website at www.13thwitness.com and a short documentary piece below.

1-2-1 w/jeffstaple feat. 13th Witness from jeffstaple on Vimeo.

Burchfield. Marclay. Ikeda.

So while at school at Pratt I have got the opportunity to see many great shows and exhibits. It is a great feeling to be so connected to the city and I love going with my fellow students to see the exhibits and here what everyones take on the work is. Just this past week I have went to 2 events. The first was at the Whitney where I examined the work of painter Charles Burchfield. My favorite exhibit however was by Christian Marclay who exhibited his music with pop art artifacts.
Last night I went to the French Inistitute to see a video art piece by Ikeda. This piece was amazing which in my opinion was showing the vastness of the universe and mans relationship to it. The sound was mind blowing in the theatre and at times got so loud that it made alot of the people uncomfortable.

I love that New York has so much culture in the arts and that I get an opportunity to experience it. I can feel my mind evolving and growing and that I am growing as an artist. I am now so eager to create and work on my projects! I will be sure to post some of the work here.