in Mumbai they have black and yellow cabs and powder blue cabs. I love the seats and the old steering wheels & gear shift control on the steering wheel, single front bench seat, door handles & windown winders. they remind me of a cross between the old Holden cars (Mum had one whilst growing up - I've seen the photo) and the old Hilman Hunter car Mum had when we were growing up. though it had split seats in the front. these cars have new motors - they're just built in the old shape - ambassador car style as the tourists and locals like them this way.
in other cities the cabs are similar but different colours - eg they're white in delhi, and there's a 'cool cab' variation which means it's got air conditioning, and costs slightly more.
this ride cost Rs50 but I gave him 100 since he didn't try to rip me off like the other driver. the meter is on the outside of the cab but it didn't work. it's probably been broken whilst driving at some stage. I think it'd be safer to put it inside like in the rickshaws.
if I was a writer I think India would the perfect place to come to be inspired for creating stories and characters. whenever I drive past the little stores and street stalls and people walking around I imagine their lives and stories. I wish I could capture it with the camera, though I don't like zooming in on people much and it's impossible to capture the essence properly whilst driving past anyway. plus the roads are so bad, that it's hard to even hold the camera stable. I like reading books by local authors, especially if they talk about street / urban stories. Rohinton Mistry is a great author for these things. the books & stories I've bought recently have been great too but they seem to be more middle class stories. I'd like to hear more from the poorer people to see what they're thinking.
lunch time rickshaw ride to the restaurant. there wasn't too much traffic, so there's not crazy driving like you can see sometimes. the fumes from the rickshaws are pretty strong so they're best for short rides / distances only - they use CNG / compressed natural gas. it cost Rs1.40 - so cheap!!
GPS Film is new media artwork from filmmaker Scott Hessels that invents a new way of watching movies based on the viewer's location and movement. Using a GPS-enabled PDA or mobile phone, the audience creates a new type of film experience that reveals the story through their journey. Released as a free, open-source application, the project will premiere on 4 September 2008 along with the first film made specifically for the system, Singaporean filmmaker Kenny Tan's chase comedy "Nine Lives".
The GPS Film application, source code, and "Nine Lives" are available for free download on the project website www.gpsfilm.com. The application allows for a developer to create story spaces of any size. The movies are also interchangeable and easily matched to any place. The software default is currently "Nine Lives"—a prototype film comedy that can unfold in nine directions depending on the viewer's journey around downtown Singapore.
Scott Hessels is an internationally recognised media artist and filmmaker who merges cinema with new technologies to create innovative media experiences. For GPS Film, he collaborated with film and engineering students at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
I'm testing recording audio along with the photos - the files are smaller than recording video as well, and sometimes a picture and sound is all you need to trigger a memory. plus you can still use some of your imagination to fill in the missing pictures that movies provide. plus I want to sample some of the audio for general soundscapes from different places.
this is after the jazz performance at yemin moshe 11/08/2007 in jerusalem.
photos and audio recordings from my drive to the Dead Sea at Zohar today. this is a public beach, but it's so much quieter than the Tel Aviv beaches - both in numbers of people and sounds!
another drive to the Dead Sea today. this time I had a dip! or rather a float! it is a strange sensation. you float then try to push down but you're popped back up. it's like bobbing in the sea. I went to the public beach at Zohar which is where most of the photos are from
this is the view of the Dead Sea where highway 1 & 90 meet, East of Jerusalem. I stopped for a drink and to take a photo. then I drove down as far as Meseda - will have to go back another day to see more as I only stayed on the highway this trip. the desert is amazing - layers of beige. I was expecting lots of sand, but the countryside seems to be quite rocky. perhaps further inland there's sand.
GPS Film is new media artwork from filmmaker Scott Hessels that invents a new way of watching movies based on the viewer's location and movement. Using a GPS-enabled PDA or mobile phone, the audience creates a new type of film experience that reveals the story through their journey. Released as a free, open-source application, the project will premiere on 4 September 2008 along with the first film made specifically for the system, Singaporean filmmaker Kenny Tan's chase comedy "Nine Lives".
