The winter storms. Warehouses open their doors and close them again. The treehouse must move. Out of Treasure Island and into the badlands of East Oakland… NIMBY takes us in for a while as we make a list of that which needs fixing; Wiring, windows, holes in walls, a new roof.

In June the Treehouse moves to Delaware to be installed at the Dogfish Head Brewery… we’ve got our work cut out for us

Railwheel Hijinks 2
Video Originally uploaded by nck wntrhltr

Yes we’re building a railcar – hand powered rail car. Actually ts more of a rail wheel – You can see pictures of in progress here

We’ve had another epic couple of days. We have been so blessed.

Here’s some news:

1) Yesterday we interviewed Mr. Urgen Tenzin, the Executive Director
of the Tibetan Center for Human Rights And Democracy http://www.tchrd.org/

2) Today we filmed students singing and playing music at TIPA – the Tibetan Institute for Performing
Arts…

3) AND the big news is that we had an exclusive interview with Sondhum Rinpoche, the head of the Tibetan Governement in Exile! http://www.tibet.com/

The breaking news is that the Chinese Govt. as agreed to meet with the
Tibetan Parliament!

I’ve posted a bunch of photos on my flickr page:

On a more personal note – I shaved my head in solidarity:

Tom Sepe

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Things are going incredibly well. We are getting some great interviews! We just interviewed Dr. John Powers – checkout his book “History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People’s Republic of China”

We also interviewed Mary Gendler, who has been doing non-violent training here in India with the Tibetans for over 15 years! She was also close with the King family and involved with the March on Selma.

A few nights ago we did an audio-only interview with 6 ex-political prisoners – Tibetan Monks that had all been tortured and imprisoned by the Chinese Government. They did not want their faces to be shown for fear that the Chinese Governement will persecute their families back in occupied Tibet.

In addition we have been befriended by a wonderful couple here – Ronny and Rebecca Novick. Rebecca works for KPFK radio in Los Angeles, and Ronny does video documentary work. They have a fantastic website: http://thetibetconnection.org

Together with Ronny and Rebecca we are going to create a website “tibetin49seconds.org” where we will have a youtube video contest for people to submit their 49 second videos on the subject of Tibet. Stay tuned on that one…

I’m excited to start the editing process. We are starting to review some of our tapes while here…. its been such a whirlwind!

We are planning a couple of screenings here this week to share some of the footage from San Francisco – I think the Tibetans will get a kick out of seeing the thousands of protesters in SF as well as hearing the inspirational words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (see video below)

Anyhow that’s the update… We are still planning more interviews and some trips to some monasteries… stay tuned!

Tom

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

2 minute:

By Dugan, Arrowone and Krew

Bassnectar LABS

DieselMoto – Creativity Driven & Bio-Fueled

Introducing Die Moto, a custom-built performance diesel motorcycle capable of running on diesel, biodiesel, or straight vegetable oil (SVO) fuels. Designed and fabricated at The Crucible by a team of environmentally conscious vehicle enthusiasts, engineers and artisans, the Die Moto is out to prove the viability of alternative fuel technology in performance vehicles. As fuel efficiency and low emissions become increasingly important, diesel technology has responded with improved mileage and easy adaptation to biodiesel and SVO.

The team constructed Die Moto from a BMW motorcycle, replacing the motor with a high performance BMW automotive diesel engine only available in Europe.

Team leader Michael Sturtz, the Founder and Executive Director of The Crucible, has garnered considerable notoriety throughout the country for his wildly original synthesis of art and functionality in everything from vehicles to fire operas. The resulting motorcycle will be a motorized work of art—an automotive engine on a motorcycle chassis encased in a hand-crafted 3/4 aluminum fairing reminiscent of the GP racers, paying homage to the early pioneers of motorcycle daring.

Stay tuned as The Crucible team heads to the world famous Bonneville Salt Flats in 2007 to shatter the existing diesel motorcycle world record and establish new land speed classes for both bio-diesel and straight veggie oil.

Find out more and support the team by clicking here!

Video filming and editing by Tom Sepe. Music by Mark Growden and Random Rab.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite