Right now, I'm enrolled in Film School. Sure, I'm in the Interactive Media division, but it's a division of the film school.

To prepare myself for my film production classes, I gave myself an assignment this summer: make a short video. Actually, I gave myself a pile of assignments. Few of them were completed, but this one was:

For Howard's birthday this year, I brought my camera, and recorded what was, in many ways, a typical Howard-at-home day: in the garden, painting, cavorting with graven images, fondling fruit, relaxing with family and friends, full throated taunting through song.

I took 40 minutes of DV footage, compressed it into 5 minutes using Apple's iMovie. I added a soundtrack by Matmos: their songs "Zealous Order of Candied Knights" and "Yeild to Total Elation" from their album The Civil War. You should pick it up - it's fantastic music.

HLR57 - 33 Megabytes Quicktime, Five Minutes.

Having worked on a few more videos since then, I can see where it's a wee bit sloppy, dark and muffled. But it stands as I originally intended - a record of a place and time, and a guy who inhabited that fully.

[a partial dialog transcript follows - ]

- visiting Mama

Howard: Saturday we paint together, okay?
Mama: Alright, yes, yes, I'm looking forward to it.

Mama: You're a doll - bless your heart.

Howard: "Just remember - keep doing art and the rest will fall into place."

Howard: Ripe cherries.

- preparing to paint

Phyllis: [gesturing at the canvas] - Wow, it looks like spider webs!
Howard: It is spider webs.
Phyllis: Is it really? [shudders]

Howard: This is my spot. What is life compared to this?

- preparing dinner: vegetables from the garden

Mamie: What are you, are you sixty?
All: [laughter]