On the morning of October 5, 2009, as he was crossing the road to kick some hippies, Jim Groom was fatally injured by a rogue New York pizza truck.

He is survived by his loving wife, children, and the hippies.

Well, I’m back from UMW’s Faculty Academy. This was my second year participating/helping out/laughing at Jim Groom, and the best yet. After two inspiring days with some of my favorite people in the world, I’m not quite sure what to do with myself. Highlights included one of the most incredible keynotes I’ve ever seen, courtesy of James Boyle, great discussions on the twitter backchannel, and Jim getting his ass kicked by John St. Clair in a mock debate.

I could go on for days about the fantastic presentations, creative faculty, and stimulating atmosphere at Faculty Academy, but instead I’m going to give a little love to my DTLT family, who put in an enormous amount of work and effort to make this event as spectacular as it was.

In case you haven’t heard, a new law (Section 92 of the Copyright Amendment Act) is about to be passed in New Zealand that will force the removal of websites and internet service if there is a suspected (not proven) copyright violation. It won’t require evidence, a trial, or even any consequences for false accusations. The primary campaign against this law can be found at http://creativefreedom.org.nz/.

Brady Earnhart, brilliant musician and professor, has a new song. And I got to make the music video! In beautiful HD glory…

UMW students are–in general–pretty apathetic, except when they get riled up about silly things like this.

Finally done with the most recent assignment for Anand Rao’s visual rhetoric class. We were asked to create a 30-second political ad focusing on a specific issue, and my group chose Sarah Palin’s stance on polar bears. (She wants to keep polar bears off the endangered species list–and remove them from the threatened species list–to facilitate oil drilling in Alaska. In addition to the more formal legislation she’s tried to pass, you can see her very own opinion piece in the New York Times here.)
So we made a fake Sarah …

A ‘whose fault is it’ mashup for Anand Rao‘s visual rhetoric class.

This week has been a landmark one for former flower child-hater Jim Groom. After incessant railing against wailing, constant use of “hippie” as a derogatory term, and the occasional misspelled bumper sticker, Jim is, as of this week, a new man. What changed? Under my supervision, Jim underwent a rigorous “Hippie Sensitivity Training” program. In only three days, the results have been dramatic.
DAY 1:   Word-image association

As you can see, there was quite a lot of work to be done. However, through persistence and good luck, the final results were spectacular.
DAY …

Back to my old habits of trading sleep for video editing. Mashup of “Risky Business” and “The Little Mermaid”.

[Written for Creative Nonfiction class this week.]
There are many awe-inspiring things in this world. The icy slopes of Mount Everest, sunset over the Grand Canyon, a whole school of humpback whales leaping out of the water, the Great Wall of China, Quentin Tarantino’s ego. The sight of Jim Groom reclining in his office chair, feet on desk and glasses askew, eclipses these by far. The leaning tower of Pisa doesn’t hold a candle to Jim’s one-armed leaning glasses, the kind of glasses that only come into being after one too …