observations

Videos from Madagascar

stephengreenwood — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:32:12 +0000

In the past two weeks I’ve uploaded 2 videos (and one audio post) that I cut together from my time in Madagascar. Both are meant to bring the sights and sounds of the location together through the use of ambient music and quick cuts. Enjoy!

East of Africa Videos

Sapphire of Ilakaka

stephengreenwood — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:57:41 +0000

In-depth look at Madagascar’s largest source of Sapphire, the town of Ilakaka.

Road to Tulear

stephengreenwood — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:46:28 +0000

The newest post in the East of Africa series went up today. I’m pretty happy with these photos from our 2-day road trip through Madagascar…check them out below.

Article @ Gadling

Entire East of Africa Series so far.

East of Africa

stephengreenwood — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:59:52 +0000

My latest feature series on Gadling started today…I’ll be covering my travels in and around Madagascar – from Antananarivo to Tulear. I’ll be hitting politics & poverty, sapphire & solar panels…culture and language…with a mix of photos, video and audio clips.

Enjoy. “East of Africa” @ Gadling

Stay Golden

stephengreenwood — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:20:08 +0000

This week I was invited by Virgin America to cover the launch of two new lines from California to Florida (SFO – FLL & LAX – FLL), where we had the chance to interview CEO David Cush and Richard Branson himself. Check out the full write-up and video below on Gadling.

Article + Photos @ Gadling
Exclusive Video @ Gadling

Voyager

stephengreenwood — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:17:31 +0000

I’ve been getting into reading a little bit about Carl Sagan recently, just out of coincidence (and reading alot of digg.com). He died in 1996, but today would have been his 75th birthday – and so there’s been a ripple of news stories with his quotes floating around in the last few days.

One of them that I came across touches on musings about what the Voyager satellites were loaded with before they were sent out on their long and perhaps never-ending mission, and it’s quite an amazing thought really… what should we send out to sum up humanity – to sum up Planet Earth…what would you send out if you could launch a time capsule into space?

Check out what we sent:
 ”Accordingly, as each Voyager left Earth for the planets and the stars, it carried with it a golden phonograph record encased in a golden, mirrored jacket containing, among other things; greetings in 59 human languages and one whale language; a 12-minute sound essay including a kiss, a baby’s cry, and an EEG record of the meditations of a young woman in love; 116 encoded pictures, on our science, our civilization, and ourselves; and 90 minutes of the Earth’s greatest hits-Eastern and Western, classical and folk, including a Navajo night chant, a Japanese shakuhachi piece, a Pygmy girl’s initiation song, a Peruvian wedding song, a 3,000-year-old composition for the ch’in called “Flowing Streams,” Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Stravinsky, Louis Armstrong, Blind Willie Johnson, and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”"

Pretty cool, no? And funny that music is such a big influence in representing who we are…

Kowloon Walled City

stephengreenwood — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:16:01 +0000

Forgot to post this when it went up last week! It’s been a busy few weeks, but lots more content will be coming soon.

Kowloon Walled City @ Gadling

End of Thailand Series

stephengreenwood — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:52:59 +0000

Two more posts to finish the series on Thailand:

Ko Samui @ Gadling

Sounds of Siam @ Gadling

Coupla Posts

stephengreenwood — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:53:09 +0000

Oh yeah, forgot to update that there have been a coupla’ posts on Gadling since I’ve been back too… check ‘em out.

The road (+rail +ferry) to Ko Pha Ngan @ Gadling

Ko Phan Ngan @ Gadling

Full Moon Party @ Gadling

Typhoon Nangka

stephengreenwood — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:27:06 +0000

A week ago, I was on a plane from Beijing to Hong Kong, after having taken the train from Hong Kong to Beijing for the weekend. As I was on that flight, I was making a mental list of all the things I had to do during my last 36 hours in Hong Kong, and then roughly 36 hours later, I was on a plane back to California.

And that is where I write this to you now – after a day at the beach, and a weekend spent with family & friends. It’s hard to think that six months passed while I was in Hong Kong, but I think I’ll always look back on it as a fantastic period of personal growth and introspection. And I owe alot of that to Joe, who not only made it possible, but challenged me and pushed me to become a better person.

– Video after the break –

This week, Hong Kong was in the news because Sarah Palin made a speech the day that I returned. As CNN showed clips of Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, and the skyline – it was nice to know that I really knew those places – I know their context, I know what happens there. And I think that’s what traveling is all about…knowing the context of a place.

Seeing pictures after the fact and understanding them, connecting with them, rather than just registering them in your brain.

Someone asked me why I decided to take the train (for 24 hours) to Beijing instead of a 2 hour flight…and it’s partially because I really like train rides, but partially because it helps me understand the context of the destination so much more. To see the countryside, the construction, the farms, the mist, the trees, blah blah blah.

So? I have two videos to share, one of Beijing – one of Hong Kong – that I hope you’ll enjoy with or without their given contexts.