noahhussin

Hey everyone,

We're two filmmakers who've decided to give up the luxuries of cars and apartments for a year, crossing the country on recycled road bikes with a portable production studio in-tow.

We're producing a documentary about our travels in episodes, along with photography and writing. We've finished the first leg of the journey and have a short film online: https://www.americarecycled.org/?p=618

We'd love to hear feedback from other like-minded individuals about how we're presenting the lifestyle to the world. If you have 5 or 10 minutes to spare, let us know what you think!

Thanks a lot everyone,
Noah and Tim

Ciufalon

So far so good. I enjoyed it and look forward to seeing more. Hope you are having a great time and continue to.

alicestrong

Very cool! Thanks!

n3vqh

Nice start... I'm not so sure about the poor fox? O wait there is more of that... O well its different for me...but I'm enjoying it...

Mike

Long Shot

looking forward to seeing more. thanks

Lamabb

That was some of the most beautiful touring videos I have ever seen on the web. You captured the essence of touring and made it feel so welcoming. I don't know how you even did some of those timelapse shots, but they were just perfect for the video - they showed everything that is often not shown becuase it would take too long. I wouldn't eat out of a dumpster though..... I did, however, like how you made use of the road kill; that was a beautiful fox pelt you had.

I loved how you showed all the difficulties you had in the beginning - becuase it's those difficulties that can sometimes shape the experience you take from the trip and make it all the more rewarding. Also, the music and narration really did complement the easy-going mood you had flowing through the scenes.

I have a new bookmark now . Be sure to post any other videos you make here.

I'm curious about the Growing Movement you talk about under the "ABOUT" section of your site. Sounds like you are talking about how many people are trying to change the world to make it more locally focused and less commercialized.

elduderino12

Bravo boys! Very enjoyable, great soundtrack too.

KDC1956

Very nice video.Makes me want to go on my trip early.But I wont

CB HI

Good video, but I am not sure I want my friends and family thinking that I go dumpster diving on tour.

positron

its great, Im right with you guys on this... will forward to my friends. thanks for sharing, and please update us here too...

Caretaker

I'm far too individual to be like-minded with anyone.

Having said that I think the idea of spending a year cycling around your country on a small budget is a great one and sharing the insights gained will be educational for many.

The commentary and much of the text I found irritating because of its style with the overuse of word imagary such as Murano glass for ice. The word 'reckless' was used twice in quick succession on the video.

When you say "presenting the lifestyle to the world" do you mean homelessness or cycle touring? Homelessness as a lifestyle is a concept I have difficulty getting my head around.

Sorry to be so negative Noah about something with such potential.

I'll check back over the coming months and maybe will change my mind. It has been known to happen.

noahhussin

Hey Caretaker,

Thanks for your feedback. We agree with some of the stuff you said... some people seem to love the narration and some people seem to hate it. It gets a bit flowery at times, and we're still trying to find that balance to be inspiring without overdoing it.

As for 'the lifestyle'... I guess that's up to interpretation. A lot of people have related to this video some way or another, whether because they have a history touring, traveling, scavenging, camping... I don't think it's one lifestyle in particular that's romanticized. Some people (you included I suppose) don't identify too much with it and are considering it overly sentimental and offensively hyperbolic.

We welcome both sides though. We know we can't please everybody or tickle every viewer's brain the same way. Not all of our videos are in this style, so hopefully we'll be able to bridge some of the gaps between different viewers as we go. Check out the video about the bicycle cooperative where we built our bikes if you'd like. It feels quite different. https://www.americarecycled.org/?p=293

Thanks for your criticism,
Noah

James1:17

yeah buddy i think it's a little overly romanticized but the camera work and production quality is nice.

Niles H.

Hi Noah, Hi Tim,

Thanks for posting those videos. I watched all of them, and enjoyed them quite a bit. Since you seem to be interested in feedback here, I'll try to give honest feedback that might be of interest to you.

Some of my pre-reflective, spontaneous responses to the film (or the videos):

The first one I watched, of you guys heading out -- one of my first responses was Thank God for something more philosophically and poetically and artistically oriented.

Seriously, that was my first strong reaction or take. I really, really, really appreciate this orientation.

I see the potential there for independent film festival material. I'm sure you will learn as you go, and evolve; but I see it as already being on an unusually good level, and see potential for a lot to come. I hope you keep with it, and keep sharing it.

There were some moments when it verged on being a little too thick (the poetic prose), but it wasn't too far over the line, and I only had that reaction I think once, and only briefly.

The urban homestead series: I really enjoyed this too -- almost an alternative lifestyle documentary (I could see doing a series -- if you ever end up in California, you might check out the alternative lifestyle experiments up on San Juan Ridge in Nevada County). I'd like to see more of these, and I think they present alternatives to those whose minds are stuck in what they know (which is often something like the air-conditioned nightmare that Miller wrote about). Well done, a very good view, honest (at least up to a point), revealing, good at bringing it to life and communicating the spirit.

That said, I do have some thoughts that came later. One is that it seemed a little non-critical. A small pet peeve of mine is the one-sided presentation of someone's idealistic version of something (their own lives or lifestyles or experiments, for example). I've heard the Xtracycle people singing about leaving the middle class nonsense behind and welcoming people to paradise, where they belong.

Sorry, I know people in that group, and it wasn't all they presented it as being.

I guess one thing that bugs me is a certain sort of dishonesty here. Some artists I've known finally come down, come off it, and admit that their lives aren't so great either, art isn't so great (at least what they know of it) -- they seem to missing something, and they open up to something else once they admit the truth (which is freeing). As long as they stay enclosed in their own lies (or whatever word you want to use -- bs, rosy ideals, whatever) and continue living in that, it seems to me they are in a self-made trap or prison. They can repeat some lines about how great it is, but...-- it's something like a mediocre marriage. You can spend a lifetime painting it perfect, and pretending, but the mind-blowingly, instantly revolutionary and overwhelming quality of a radically unusual love affair just isn't there.

In other words, it seems to me that a lot of these alternative lifestyles -- even though they make some real departures and experiments -- are not getting at the root of things, and haven't found anything truly radical and revolutionary, on an inner level.

I would even more like to see documentaries and interviews with people who are exploring more truly and radically different inner (rather than just outer) states and experiments, and to see that communicated.

AdamDZ

“There’s so much of everything out there already. Until that’s used up, why is there a need to make more of anything?”

It's so un-American! It's our patriotic duty to spend our money to support the American way!!! How else will the corporations grow and grow and grow... if we don't buy new stuff every year?!?

Caretaker

That's a lot better.

AdamDZ

The video stopped streaming for me after few minutes

A.

Caretaker

Buy a new modem.

It's your patriotic duty.

erichkopp

I found both videos incredibly inspiring. In the first one, I really liked the poetic narration. The only thing that I think could make it better is to mix in some more energetic shots/narration so it isn't completely introspective throughout. Really awesome work, though.

erichkopp

I've read and watched everything on your website - you have a lot to say that resonates with my own ideals, and you know how to say it in a way that is really engaging. Following you guys on Facebook, too. If you're back in Gainesville anytime soon, give me a shout. I'd love to meet and have a beer with you guys.

SBRDude

Love much of the imagery and photography and video. Not overly poetic IMO, but I think it's important to be honest that not everything left behind is bad or somehow not worthwhile. Put another way, there are lots of valid criticisms of American culture, but showing only the closed businesses and deteriorating buildings is heavy-handed and unrealistic. I would like to see people you meet along the way who seem to have found meaning in their lives in an unusual or alternative way - people who demonstrate that alternative lifestyles can actually be rewarding and healthy, which would also complement the healthy and positive aspect of bicycle touring. IMO, such a tactic would be a much more positive image than dumpster diving and fooling around with roadkill.

AdamDZ

Yeah, the roadkill "experiment" wasn't something I'd be looking forward to doing. I also understand that there is a lots of stuff in the trash that can be recycled, but not food. I wouldn't do that for hygienic and health reasons. I don't want to reject the civilization entirely: fresh food has better appeal to me. That was a bit extreme.

The other video about the bike co-op and the folks living off-the grid is indeed inspiring and thought provoking but to do something like that with almost no money it requires an unusually wide set of manual skills, incredible determination and persistence and the cojones the size of a watermelon. I could dream about that but I would most likely never be able to do that. Those are not your average people. They remind me more of the original settlers. I mean how many of us could build and repair everything with our own hands?

Luckily, it was just a net congestion, it got better later

Bicycle Funk

Very nice.

i wish

I enjoyed watching. I think it is a good idea.

Gotte

Really admire what you're doing. In some ways it reminds me of being on the road, but in other ways not. The images and writing about the sense of travel, of movement, hits it dead on for me, but it looks a hard place. It looks the kind of road that could wear you to nothing. Maybe it's the season. Stark and bitter. And the economy. Man's things being taken back by an indifferent universe. I guess it will only get worse. It's great you're out there, and it's refreshing that it isn't another travelogue. Keep it up, and, for me, keep the narration. I like to hear your impressions as well as read them. gives it heart.