Gardens and Villa

Gardens and Villa was the opening act at ThreadSpinner's EP release show earlier this month. Since I had my camera with me, I taped a few of their songs and edited this little piece for them. It's a passionate, entertaining performance by the band that is worth checking out. I hope to work with these guys again sometime.

ThreadSpinner videos are coming soon... But first we're going camping.

Last day

Today is my last day of work for Oracle. I've decided to take a position with a company based in Minneapolis, although they are going to allow me to work from Santa Barbara as well, so the change should be mostly transparent to you.

It's not a dramatic shift in careers or anything, but coming to the decision still took some soul searching and a fair amount of lying awake in bed. I already have a great situation going here, so changing anything makes me nervous and puts it all at risk. But I think this is the right move, one that could even better satisfy both my short-term and long-term goals. As usual, I don't want to discuss all of the details of the arrangement on here, so send me an email if you would like additional info.

One of the benefits of this new job is an occasional paid trip to good ol' Minnesota. In fact I'll be spending three weeks there beginning October 19th. Yes, that is a dreadfully long time to be away from R, and she is considering a weekend trip there herself to visit me, but the opportunity to be on-site for an extended period of time seems totally necessary in order for me to get a good start with my new company before I make the shift to "virtual employee." It will also be a good chance to catch up with some old friends and family during my off-hours. I'm especially looking forward to seeing my new niece again!

The pic at the top of this entry is from a movie I made with some friends back in 2003 based on a short script I wrote about a guy who quits his job and later receives a mysterious phone call. I may have played it for some of you before. It runs about sixteen minutes, which is simply too long for anybody to watch on the web, so all you're getting now is the above poster and this foreshadowing quote from the movie: "Two weeks. It’s all over in two weeks."

Maybe the quote would have been a more relevant two weeks ago.

Release

The title of my previous entry, Unveiling, may have been deceiving because, while I did announce the project, I didn't show you what it looks like. Unfortunately, unless you joined us in the theater last Friday night, you won't get to experience the full effect of ThreadSpinner's one-of-a-kind album release concert. It's as simple as that.

If my video backdrop is never viewed by anybody ever again, I'd still be happy with the way things played out for the 130 people in attendance. There's something to be said about a one time only event that sticks in your head and is shaped by the gaps in your memory. My contribution helped heighten the excitement and drew a distinction around this particular concert by a band that is already plenty awesome without any kind of "video enhancement." It was an amazing night that I won't forget any time soon. I'm so happy to have been involved in an outright art project such as this.

But of course the preservationist in me couldn't leave it at that... So I taped the concert. Now my plan is to edit together my footage of the band playing in front of the backdrop with footage from the backdrop itself to create (1) a full-length DVD for me and the band and (2) some clips for the web. For now, you can check out a few still frames I grabbed from the video right here.

Keep checking back as I continue wth the multi-part unveiling.