Dance Party Time...

So it is the end of the year, and my brother is driving out from CT to come visit and then we are taking a road trip back to the east coast. I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I used to DJ at a lot of clubs and raves back east. My brother is bringing some of our DJ equipment out so we can do a show here in Butte! Come and celebrate the end of the school year, here are the details :)

Here is a link to the Facebook event page!

Local Art

Thanks to Chad Okrusch and our Visual Communications class, I was able to find out about an awesome local artist, Shawn Crowe. He gave a very interesting presentation to our class about his artistic process and showed us several examples of his work. I was very impressed by his work, much of it abstract with vibrant colors. His latest series "Modern Myth", deals with retelling some classic Greek mythology. We were shown Athena, The Graces, Persephone and other classic Greek gods in some interesting poses and surrounded by beautiful colors. I personally enjoyed almost every painting that he showed us, each one rich with detail and symbolism. Even though I immediately felt the aesthetic beauty of the pieces, as he explained the motivation and the process, my appreciation for the pieces expanded tremendously. They are are very well thought out and unique. I was particularly impressed by the abstract nature of the work. I thought it was a refreshing take on classic Greek culture, a new twist on the "ideal form" that Plato popularized. The abstract nature of the work is an interesting juxtaposition of that Platonic ideal, giving the classic forms a modern colorful twist. One of my favorite pieces that he showed us dealt with Achilles, although I couldn't post that one here because it is due to be posted in a gallery soon.

If you would like to see more of Shawn's work, the Main Stope gallery on Park St. is showing a few pieces, and a few other pieces are at Jailhouse Coffee on Park St, and at the Blue Luna.

Here a few examples of his work -

  "The Graces"

"Charging Ox"

"TheStormLord"- not full title, I had it and lost it!

Bassnectar was great

So here is the short little video I made of the Bassnectar show in Bozeman, hopefully you can get a good idea of what it was all about. The crowd was really into it, I have to admit I was pretty surprised at the turnout and the intensity of the crowd.

Rail Jam this Sat

This Fri/Sat there is a Rail Jam at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds in Bozeman. It seems I have finally found something going on in Montana that caters to my specific taste, as one of my favorite dubstep producers, Bassnectar, is going to be Dj'ing at the event. I am planning to bring my camera so maybe I will have some pictures/video for my next post.

In other news....

The Clark Fork Watershed Education Project (CFWEP) has published my review of Milltown, Montana on their blog, " The Waterblogger "

Milltown, Montana: Film Creates a Cultural Portrait of Western Montana - by Aaron Briggs

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a moving picture must be worth considerably more. Judging by his latest work, I believe Rainer Komers must have taken that old adage to heart. His film Milltown, Montana takes the motion picture genre on a journey of “poetic minimalism”.

Fear the Boom and Bust

Click to visit my other blog!

***NERD ALERT***
May contain obscure knowledge of social sciences

I just have to share this video with you all, as I am very interested in the topic being discussed. It involves the controversy surrounding the two opposing philosophies of economic thought, the Austrian School vs the Keynesian. This video is great because it presents the material in a fun way, as a rap song by two historical figures. You may not have heard much about this debate, but it has shaped the fabric of American life since John Maynard Keynes influential "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money " was published in 1936. This was countered by the Austrian school when Friedrich von Hayek received a Nobel Prize in 1974 for his work on Austrian Business Cycle Theory, which generally opposes most of the ideas set forth by Keynes. Our elected officials usually do not acknowledge this debate, as the Keynesian philosophy allows for plenty of government spending. As Milton Friedman once said, "we are all Keynesians now"

"Fear the Boom and Bust"

Digger Digital

Digger Digital is another web project I have been working on in my spare time. I have always been interested in news and how it is delivered. I am currently taking a Journalism class where I am hoping to refine my reporting skills a bit, and I am hoping my new blog Digger Digital can make some waves here in Butte! The concept behind the blog is "Hyper-local" meaning it is made by residents of Butte, for residents of Butte. I got inspired to create this blog after reading the local newspapers and feeling as though the stories were boring. The beauty of a blog is that you can utilize many different news sources to have a good variety of content up there, as well as get feedback from your readers through the use of comments. Another great aspect of blogging is that you don't have to kill any trees to share the news, which is a change of pace from all the newspaper and magazines that go right in the trash after they are done being read. I am hoping with this blog to make some interesting news videos and to write some good articles. Right now I am looking for contributors so if you are interested in becoming a blogger, get in contact with me! Or even if you have a story you think other people should hear about, my contact information is on the staff page.

Scholarly Pursuits

I received some interesting news yesterday, regarding my submission to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. I submitted my abstract for my Undergraduate Research project and it looks like they are interested in my research, and have accepted my abstract and I will be a presenter at the conference. I am pretty surprised by this, I didn't really expect much when I had submitted it. The conference is in April in Missoula, so I am looking forward to spending the weekend there and doing a little sight seeing, and visiting my cousin who goes to school at U of M.

If anyone is wondering, my project is a short documentary film, centered on explaining some key events in American history, from the perspective of Austrian Economics. The main focus will be around the events leading up to the Great Depression, as well as the often overlooked Depression of 1920-1921. I have been interested in Austrian Econ since I learned about it from the speeches of Ron Paul in 2008. Last summer I was able to attend something called Mises University, which gave me a solid educational foundation on the subject. It was also one of the funnest educational experiences I've ever had, met a lot of smart, and interesting people from all over the globe while I was there. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Economics, but isn't satisfied with the mainstream "Keynesian" approach. My major is in Communications, but I think it is important to be aware of other disciplines, to really help you see the "big picture". One of the great things about our Technical Communications degree program is that you can use your Communication skills to learn about and work with other subjects that interest you. I consider myself infinitely curious, so this works out for me pretty well.