Here's the video I shot of Michael Moore during his appearance on Talk of the Nation yesterday. It's basically a five-minute highlight real taken from the 22 minutes of footage I shot of him. The raw clips are also being posted on YouTube. You can also find a higher-resolution version on the NPR Blog of the Nation site. -andy

Michael Moore and the Ladies of TOTN, originally uploaded by andycarvin.

Documentary maker and all-around provocateur Michael Moore came by NPR's DC studios today for an interview on Talk of the Nation. The show invited me to shoot some video of him and take some pictures, too. This pic shows Moore posing with executive producer Sue Goodwin (top left) and other members of the TOTN crew. (I just love the grin on Barrie Hardymon's face in the center of the photo.)

Moore was at the studio with two of his assistants for about 30 minutes. I got to hang out with them and Sue Goodwin in the green room prior to the on-air interview. While I'd hoped to shoot some casual footage of everyone hanging out, Moore requested I didn't. "Look at me," he said, slouching on the couch. "Seven weeks straight of this - exhausted." He was very nice about it, though, and I didn't want to start things on the wrong foot. So I put the cameras down until Barrie and the others came in to introduce themselves and pose for few quick pictures with him, which he was happy to do at that point.

In between, we all talked about all sorts of things, including the upcoming 40th anniversary of Who drummer Keith Moon crashing his car into the Flint, Michigan Holiday Inn swimming pool. Moore asked me if I'd seen Sicko yet, and I convinced I hadn't, explaining I was waiting for it to play at our local theatre as a matinee for those of us who have to bring screaming infants along with us. "I know what that's all about," he said, telling a story of all the evil eyes he and his wife would get when they'd bring their baby girl to DC's Uptown Theatre in Cleveland Park, when they couldn't afford to pay a baby sitter for the night.

When the time came for him to go on-air, I took off my shoes and followed him into the studio. Since I'd be moving around while shooting video of him, I didn't want my shoes to make any noise while I walked around the studio. Thankfully, the 20-minute interview passed without any major incidents. No one mention Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and I didn't accidentally collide into any furniture. Once it was over, Moore said his goodbyes to the production team, signed an autograph for an intern, then headed out to another studio for an interview with News & Notes.

Right now I'm still exporting the footage I shot. I'll let you know when it's ready for viewing. -andy

The Bhaktapur Kumari, Prior to Getting Fired, originally uploaded by andycarvin.

In case you haven't heard the news, Sajani Shakya, the Kumari of Bhaktapur, Nepal is being reinstated as a living goddess. Sajani received enormous attention in the press after losing her status as a living goddess because of her recent goodwill tour of the United States. Kumaris are young Buddhist girls who are selected to serve as living goddesses until they reach puberty. In Sajani's case, she was effectively "fired" for defiling herself by coming to the United States.

Negotiations with Nepali religious authorities to restore her status had been going on for over a week, according to Marc Hawker, co-producer of the documentary Living Goddess. Marc and his colleagues had brought Sajani to the US for the premiere of their documentary, so they felt compelled to assist her when religious authorities said they would remove her. When I spoke with Marc last weekend, film director Ishbel Whitaker has already been in Nepal for a week trying to work out the details, while Sajani awaited the results in India. Marc said he was flying out to join them for her return to Nepal, at which point she would fly back "as a bona fida goddess." They didn't want news of the deal to leak out until she returned home, in order for her family to avoid a media circus.

I can only imagine that Sajani and her family must be quite relieved. Marc says he'll try to get me some pictures from her homecoming. I'll be sure to post them if he does. -andy

Tomorrow morning I'll be heading to the airport at the crack of dawn for a quick daytrip to Boston. I'll be giving a speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on the impact of Web 2.0 and social media on journalism, particularly coverage of election 2008. Here's a draft of the powerpoint presentation I plan to share with the audience. I wish I could stay longer, particularly because the Open Society Institute is convening a forum on youth media in Cambridge, with some of my favorite people and thinkers, including Ethan Zuckerman, Dina Mehta, Jennifer Corriero and Danah Boyd. Unfortunately, as soon as my speech is done, I need to bury my head in proposal writing and related meetings. Such is life.... -andy