Everything is Everything

After editing a film in Dadaab, I spent two and a half weeks teaching film as part of FilmAid’s Participatory Video Project. Ordinarily the PVP curriculum consists of individual units focused on different aspects of filmmaking, to form about a year’s curriculum. Our class was a general one, though, where I tried to teach a…

No New Years’ compares to 2009. A party at my house in Los Angeles with some of my closest friends, right after we had spent two nights camping. It was such an exciting thought that we were all going to stay in touch after college. Of course we haven’t continued to stay in touch as…

The awful war in Somalia is no laughing matter, but wikitravel’s attempt to describe Mogadishu, the capital city, is comical. It’s an earnest attempt to function as a travel guide and at the same time inform readers that they would have to be clinically insane to want to go to Mogadishu. Almost everything they recommend…

Merry Christmas to all! I had my own Christmas miracle yesterday. I normally use the same taxi company to get around Nairobi, for safety, but occasionally I hop into a random one or use one that a friend recommends. This was one of those times, and I was carrying a bag. I bounded out of…

Tomorrow morning I leave for a little break to Tanzania, where I will visit Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, and hopefully see the big five animals (which is not a list of the coolest animals because it doesn’t include giraffes.) After I get back, two short weeks until a return to the USA. During that…

Many a scientist has hypothesized that we are living in a computer simulation (especially Nick Bostrom who says it’s almost definite.) If a computer were simulating the rules of physics, our molecules would be virtualized bits of data. There’d be no way to tell. It’s hard to wrap our minds around what this reality would…

A few weeks ago I DJ’d at the Pumzika club – it was an epic failure of international music that I blogged about here. I thought it was pretty hilarious, if a bit frustrating at the time. I was pretty sure that the clientele would not appreciate my non-reggae&pop mix. But hilariously, someone who read…

I had a fascinating conversation with a Somali refugee – let’s call him Mohamed. I suggest you first watch the video below, which was blurred for his security: Mohamed first discusses his issues with the Somali and Kenyan governments, both of which are indifferent to the plight of the refugee. While it is true that…

I put snow on my blog. It’s really festive and pretty. Well no, it’s really garish and annoying. I love it. Watch out – I might bring back the blink tag! Do it on your site..