Some great photos from the XS Club event in York, PA this past weekend, where ghouls and goblins in glitter danced till the wee hours.  Check out more below! (more…)

I finished the design and blog setup for URBnews.tv, a new urban reporting site I am running with Vince Lee. We will strive to entertain, uplift and educate.

Check out the site here!

Peace,
Melissa

I modeled some Dickies wear for the Workstylz.com site I’m working on currently. (I mostly shot though - being in front of the camera gives me a frustrating lack of control and I don’t like it as much as taking the images). Surprisingly comfortable, I now live in my Dickies jacket and pants.

The site will include the other two models as well - Seth and Adja. It was a great shoot, and the resulting images are strong product work. I will upload the best of the best to the photography section soon!

Peace,
Melissa

This is a piece I did a few years ago - Tabla Animated - for an installation at the Chelsea Market Gallery.

Enjoy,
Melissa

 

 Miixxy - Table Animated [6:24m]: Play Now | Download (440)

Its official - I have signed on to do the sequel to “Death Before Dishonor”, as editor and writer. These days, the editor role in my case usually means heavy story direction. I am truly excited to be doing this project, as a rebuttal to our first film on the topic. I am working with Rich Murray again, of Invincible Pictures, and we are baggage free this time around.

If you are interested in being interviewed for this documentary, please do contact me at multo@multo.com.

Exciting things ahead! Stay tuned!

Peace,
Melissa

Screen shot from Nielsen CGM Summit Video

Today, I completed a video for the opening of the CGM Summit, to be shown later this week in NYC.  Check out the “Filmmaker” section of my site to see the completed cut.  It’s hot and flashy.

Peace,
Melissa

So I took a test on Facebook today. Yah, I know…online tests are bunk. But I found it pretty interesting, and um, well…rather accurate…hahaha…read on, intrepid visitor…

The Playstation
Random Gentle Sex Master (RGSM)

Easy to turn on. Hard to beat. You are The Playstation.

You’re a nice girl, and you have lots of sex. It’s therefore highly likely that you’re attractive, and you’re certainly outgoing & friendly. Plus, this healthy physical attitude of yours indicates deeper emotional well-being and stability. Unheard of. When guys dare to dream, they dream of you.

You don’t get attached too easily, and, to wit, you’re not necessarily looking for something long-term right now. That’s a bigger asset than you know. Though, physically speaking, you’re open to anything, you’re keeping your emotional side well-protected. This means there won’t be a lot of wreckage to clean up whenever you decide to settle down.

In the meantime, the men you share yourself with actually respect you. Like them, you enjoy sex for its own sake and don’t need any other validation for pleasure than pleasure itself. Hopefully, you have the good sense to blow off anyone who thinks less of you for that. Usually, this is the part of the description where we offer some life-correcting advice, but honestly, we can’t think of anything about you we’d change. Keep on fucking, partner.

*****

Well put. You dudes on are notice - I like the physical, but you gotta earn access to the emotional. In the meantime, let’s have lots of fun.

Game on,
Melissa

This has been a very busy week, juggling an installation at the Armory and design clients.  Above is my design for Workstylz.com, so I am excited to build it out!

Other news - a couple of documentaries coming my way - more details soon!

Peace,
Melissa

A man asks his rabbi, “Why does God write the law on our hearts? Why not in our hearts? It’s the inside of my heart that needs God.”

The rabbi answered, “God never forces anything into a human heart. He writes the word on our hearts so that when our hearts break, God falls in.”

- Jewish allegory

AND

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to the people who don’t understand.”

- Margery Williams

Skin horse or broken heart, the spirit of love is what most matters, not the possession of it.  Embrace it today, in small ways, as gentle as a long slow breath.

Peace,
Melissa

Anthony, Wendell and some buddies hugging it out

There is not a single true work of art that has not in the end added to the inner freedom of each person who has known and loved it.
-Albert Camus 

This weekend, the Church of Smile descended on Union Square and gave free hugs and candy.  The Church is not a religious organization, but a collection of good friends who believe in social change, one person at a time.  Started by Anthony D’Onofrio in Arkansas, the Church gathers in public and literally just gives out hugs and candy to ANYONE who wants them.  Often, Anthony gets people to take a hug when they have been hesitant.

Saturday in Union Square was a experiment in social research, to say the least.  The younger a person was, the more open to getting a hug they were.  Gender at times could have been an issue, but Anthony and Wendell are such naturally warm, welcoming people, and they radiated a nice, safe charm.

Being the only woman for a while, I got approached by some men looking for my number.  That definitely was not the point of the day.  Hahaha…  But a hug, a big smile and some candy sent them off happily.

Touching in a non-invasive, no strings attached way is something we need more of.  I could feel the longing for touch and the way it moved some people.  One girl definitely was happy we hugged her, as she seemed like she wasn’t having a good day.  Haven’t you ever just wanted someone to hug you, for no reason, just because you are you and that’s wonderful enough?

The Church of Smile headed back to Arkansas…but I’m sure it will be back very soon.

Peace,
Melissa

Art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm… an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.
-Saul Bellow

I had an interesting weekend.  Lots of art, lots of struggle, lots of seeking that silence to create, despite the noise of struggle. Art is prayer and play, meditation and mess, distraction and definition.

Downtown, on Kenmare, near a friend’s house, is an installation of plexi circles linked together over a dome.  Above is the view from underneath - a lovely fractured image.

Here’s the view from outside - like foam invading the city.

Later in the day, I saw bubble guns on Broadway, smaller versions of the sculpture in Petrosino Park.

So much good work to do, so much art to create.  But sometimes in wandering around, art happens upon you and you are forced to pause, breathe deep and enjoy the tiny moments of peace.

Peace,
Melissa

We are reconfiguring our view of modern life, and that means re-framing how we look at ourselves and our impact on our environment - both the physical and metaphysical. Part of that re-framing is looking at the underlying conflicts in our lifestyles and how we are triggered on them, to the point of mass distraction. From food to porn, drugs to debt management, email to cell phones, we are distracted by a myriad of modern encumbrances that serve to keep us unfocused, our lives fractured by our minor obsessions.

As a country, we have been developing exponentially, and have been adding new elements to the process of industry building without consideration. Now, due to a combination of global warming, the internet and mass confirmation of the middle and lower classes worldwide that those running the show have made many inhumane mistakes, we are starting to understand how we can thrive collectively. Perhaps it took the horrors of war and poverty, of melting ice caps and dying bees, to wake us all the fuck up and slow us down finally.

The polarity of any cycle is the tension of the opposing poles - when one is too dominant, they flip, or snap back, or implode, to form again, in balance. Much industry has been created haphazardly, making it up as the industrialists went along. The way we eat, the way we work, the way we dress and the way we relax have all been dictated by industry, without anyone really sitting down and taking a longterm view of methods and practices. Now we are feeling the impact of that lack of mindfulness, the rush to compete and conquer, to be first and best and wealthiest. To have power.

The methods of progress have been to maintain an aggressive stance in order to control and use nature, man and ideas, without forethought or consideration of the potential impact. That stance can no longer hold back the tide of consequences from our collective choices. Nor can it hold back the multiplicity of voices that now make up the conversation - where race, class and gender no longer bar a more complex view of our world. And technology has helped us question, test, measure, discuss, and confirm the results of an aggressive stance, all which now have collectively allowed us to reconsider modern life as it currently exists.

So here we are, 2007, and we are finally waking up. One person at a time, then groups, then nations. Much good work is already in progress - Worldchanging.com, GOOD Magazine, NYC’s commitment to going greener, ethical fashion and embracing veganism. We are evolving, but finally, and foremost, we must mindfully chart our course and make a plan.

Plan2Evolve.tv is shooting content and developing a broadcast site for continued conversations on the reconfiguration of modern life. More great stuff coming, so keep waking up, keep paying attention and trust that polarity always requires re-balancing.

Peace,
Melissa

Warner Brothers Boycott

According to Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily, Warner Brothers president Jeff Robinov is no longer interested in seeing any scripts with a female in the lead. Nikki’s sources are several insider producers, who relayed to her “the official policy as expressly articulated by Robinov is that a male has to be the lead of every pic made. I’m told he doesn’t even want to see a script with a woman in the primary position (which now is apparently missionary at WB).”

This supposedly is a knee jerk reaction by Robinov to the weak box office showing of The Brave One and The Invasion. But in review of the films with female leads put out by Warner Brothers in the last few years, there few to none. Lots of damsels in distress - Lady In The Water, Gothika, The Fountain. From 2000 to 2006, the list of films that have solely strong female leads are 2 - Catwoman, Charlotte Gray. That’s literally shameful.

It is clearly time for a female headed production studio. Our stories are not being considered, or being told mindfully and with respect. Studios focus on the biggest bang for their buck, going for the lowest common traits in us all. Instead, studios should be looking at the multiplicity of voices across the globe, male and female, and allow for artists to make smaller films that celebrate the diversity of talent and content available. Smaller productions, with better quality and mindful of its impact on our collective voice, will in the long run, be much more profitable than these huge gambles on massive features that do not uplift or engage the viewer in a meaningful way. Mass media’s goal should not be the homogenization of thought or art, and in pursuing this vigorously, they have succeeded in putting their own heads fully up their own asses, otherwise known as box office disasters.

Gloria Alred, when reached by Nikki for comment, released this statement:

“If that’s what he said, when movies with men as the lead fail, no one says we’ll stop making movies with men in the lead. This is an insult to all moviegoers and particularly women. It is truly unfortunate that women get blamed for decisions which are made by men. Instead of taking responsibility for their own lack of judgment about which scripts to make, directors to hire and budgets to OK, some men in the movie industry find it easier to place blame for their lack of success on women leads and to exclude talented female actors from the top employment opportunities in Hollywood in favor of macho males. If that studio confirms that their policy is to now exclude women as leads, then my policy would be to boycott films made by Warner Bros.”

Keep watch on SheStory.tv to monitor the boycott of Warner Brothers and any production company that works with them. Thanks to IMDB, keeping up-to-date on who is working with WB won’t be too hard.

Peace,
Melissa

Check another great piece from the DVD of videos I shot and edited for the fabulous Andrea Grant. Her spoken word hits you and flattens you, in a very efficient fashion. Check out more of her work at Copious Amounts Press.

Peace,
Melissa

I edited this piece when my niece was born two years today!  Happy birthday, Jackie!

Love,
Auntie M

 

 Welcome Jackie! [1:50m]: Play Now | Download (310)

Check out this swell video I shot and edited for the fabulous Andrea Grant, a couple of years back. Check her out at Copious Amounts Press.

Peace,
Melissa

Click to view the whole image

More digital design - actually, this was on my hard drive for a few months and I just happened across it.  Its rather good.

Peace,
Melissa

I shot this a few years ago at the Ramones Beat on Cancer Benefit. Just listen to the scream!

Rock and Roll,
Melissa

 

 Alan Vega - I Remember You [0:24m]: Play Now | Download (304)