Midnight Toast

Marty

2012-02-09T12:10:00.001-05:00

I saw Martin Scorsese on the red carpet at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year. More accurately, I saw a ton of people flock around Martin Scorsese and conceal him from my view. It was really tricky to get a clear shot, but I enjoyed the challenge. Honestly, I think my pictures of James Franco from last year turned out much better (a few were posted here), mostly because the dude was taller.

So Called Myth

2011-07-14T23:55:00.002-04:00

I finally had the opportunity to see my younger brother play in one of his two bands, So Called Myth, on July 1st in our hometown of Eveleth, MN. The lighting was dim, but I managed to grab a few gritty shots. Here's a sample from the set:

That's my bro featured in the last one. Nice playing, Trev-man.

Back to work tomorrow

2011-06-19T22:36:00.002-04:00

Between this entry and a bunch of recent posts on the Three Peas blog, I've probably been overusing the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I can't tell if it's aiding my creativity or stealing it from me, but either way it's pretty addicting to use and I always have my phone with me, so a lot of photos are being generated.

I haven't been writing much of anything lately. Actually I've been starting and re-starting this entry for six weeks. Uninterrupted stretches of time are rare and usually filled with more pressing things to do. Plus, my thoughts have been widely scattered. Maybe the problem is there's too much to say. I'm horrible at decisions. I don't know what to mention and what to leave out. As a result, you can expect this entry to be a jumbled mess... if it gets finished at all.

I've been on leave from work since early May, which has been great. I will never forget this time I've shared with Veronica. She is everything I could possibly want in daughter. No, that doesn't capture it. The thousands of photos I've taken of her don't capture it either. She's this perfect, innocent little being with a personality that is completely her own. I love the way her face lights up when she sees her favorite book ("Farm Peekaboo"). I love listening to her murmur to herself as she plays with a box. I love that she laughs at my lame jokes. I love that she is so curious that she'll try to grab the next thing before letting go of the last. There is so much more. She just melts my heart.

There used to be more to this blog entry, but it was too revealing and I ran out of time to properly edit myself. So I'm scrapping it. I will leave you with the photos I intended to include. They tell a better story than I can with words anyway.

Minneapolis:

Santa Barbara:

Good night.

Brian and Jenny's engagement photos

2011-03-07T20:42:00.010-05:00

A couple of friends are getting married soon and they asked me to shoot their engagement photos. I told them I'm not a professional, which means two things: 1) I couldn't offer a guarantee on quality and 2) I wouldn't accept any compensation. In the end, they walked away with about 90 shots to choose from (cut down from the 250 I snapped), and I got some experience in the business without the pressure of having to satisfy a paying customer.

Plus, it was fun. I would do something like this again way before I agree to, say, videotape a wedding, which (at least for me) ends up being a lot more work with less polished results. I'm not saying I want to dedicate my nights and weekends to volunteer photography jobs, but once in a while I enjoy a creative challenge and I do like the idea of developing my skill set. If you are interested in setting up a free shoot with me, send me an email.

The fine print: I don't have any formal training, I use an entry-level SLR, and Veronica still receives priority booking :-).

2010 recap

2010-12-31T21:17:00.005-05:00

2010 was the year little Veronica joined our family. Caring for a baby was a huge change for us and we're still defining the new "normal," but the time since her birth on October 24th has been filled with more joy than I could have possibly imagined. Our first few days with her, in particular, were the best of my life. I will always remember sitting in our sunny living room for hours and hours just watching our Vera-bean sleep. We shut out the rest of the world, listened to a lot of gentle music, and became familiar with this new person. It was absolutely love at first sight, if not earlier.

Most of the rest of the year was spent preparing mentally and physically for Veronica's arrival, but we did manage to travel a bit during the pregnancy with trips to Sonoma county, Washington state, France, and of course Minnesota. But you know what, my favorite place in the world remains here in Santa Barbara.

In addition to the birth, other notable milestones included celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary and R's 30th birthday. There has been so much reason to celebrate this year.

Hobby-wise, writing and video work have been on the decline, but my fun with photography has been on the rise. Veronica has been a huge inspiration and my new favorite subject for photos. I started a new web site in 2010 to showcase some of the pictures I've been taking of her. Free time has been short, but editing photos is so much quicker than editing video for me, so I've been fitting it in. And I just love having a record of our little girl growing up.

It has truly been an awesome year. Very few days go by when I don't think about how blessed I've been. What more could I want? Happy New Year, everybody!

Change of scenery

2010-12-08T12:59:00.000-05:00

Here are a few non-baby related photos I've taken around town recently, just to freshen up the look around here. I'm not quite ready to begin writing much yet, but I'll probably post a brief summary of the year-in-Jeff at some point this month. Keep checking over at Three Peas for the photo story in progress.

Right number

2010-11-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

Here's some proof that our daughter's name was on my mind well before we gave it to her. This little clip from "A Series of Wrong Numbers" was shot in 2006:

But my love of the name actually dates back much further than that. Let's just say the whole thing is destiny.

40 weeks

2010-10-27T08:04:00.001-04:00

Nobody told me we were going to get the absolute sweetest girl in the world when this whole thing started! I am such a happy, blessed, and proud papa to our little Veronica.

There's some action happening over at Three Peas, if you haven't checked it out already.

39 and a half weeks

2010-10-22T12:43:00.000-04:00

It is happening. I'll let you know after it happened. Until then, enjoy these final pregnancy shots.

39 weeks

2010-10-19T17:03:00.004-04:00

It really felt like something was going to happen last weekend, and then, just today, the feeling backed off. I wasn't sure I'd have the opportunity to post a 39-week photo, but now I'm thinking there may be a 40-week one as well. (Don't count on it, however. Labor will probably start as soon as we stop expecting it.)

This photo is more low-key than the previous few. Perhaps it's fitting that it was taken at home since we are "hunkering down" now... finishing our preparations... beginning to wait. Last week at this time, I didn't feel ready for a baby and I was stressing out over it. I'm sure everything would have worked out fine, but I'm glad we had the weekend to wash some baby clothes, make some exchanges at the store, and sort of say good-bye to our non-parenting lives.

There was also a dramatic change in the weather. An unusual stretch of gray days made life in general seem out of the ordinary, like the setting of a story we'd be telling for years to come, a birth story. This afternoon Santa Barbara is back to its usual sunny self and I feel more at ease. But it could change again... I haven't looked at the forecast. I never do out here.

300

2010-10-15T20:08:00.008-04:00

No, not 300 weeks pregnant (I can't even imagine that). Rather, 300 blog entries. Sorry to switch counts on you.

How's this for a nice bit of symmetry? My 300th post comes exactly two years after my 200th post. In that entry, I discussed the future of Midnight Toast (called Jeblog at the time) and listed some goals for the site. Being on the brink of a big life change right now -- and at another multiple of 100 -- makes me think tonight is the perfect opportunity to do something similar.

My big announcement is that I started a new blog called Three Peas in a Blog. There's a permanent link in the menu bar at the top of this page. The design of the new site is still under construction, but I'm happy to report I found a way to post larger photos on it since the primary purpose is for sharing pictures (and video) of our sweet pea with family and friends who may be interested. The writing will probably be minimal on the new site because I don't want it to slow down my photo output, but we'll see how things play out. Maybe I'll even open up the gates and let R post some thoughts on it if she ever gets the urge.

Midnight Toast will continue to exist in its current incarnation. It will be reserved mainly for my creative projects and musings, similar to what you have seen in the last 300 entries. My free time will be limited in the coming months and years, so I can't promise there will be a lot of activity in this department, but there will be some, and I like the idea of keeping it separate from the flood of baby photos that is imminent. There may be some gray areas in my categorization of material, but I'll try to keep the overlap to a minimum.

In summary...

Midnight Toast
Creative doings, random thoughts, and an occasional recap of events. Example of content: a scripted "Cottage Cheese 2" sketch starring the wee one.

Three Peas in a Blog
Family photos and videos, with very brief descriptions. Example of content: footage of the wee one taking her first steps.

And of course there's always Twitter. That will continue to be a more immediate and less calculated look at day-to-day life.

My time has run short. I wanted to tease some info about my "Introspection" film trilogy that I'm planning to cover on Midnight Toast in the future, but it will have to wait. Unless you consider that right there to be a tease.

37 weeks

2010-10-07T16:12:00.004-04:00

The count up continues. For those of you not well-versed in pregnancy (I sure wasn't eight months ago), a baby's due date falls at 40 weeks, although only around 5% of them actually arrive on that day. Generally, you can give or take about two weeks... which means it wouldn't be that unusual for labor to begin as early as next week. We're hoping to have a little more time before our girl makes her appearance, but you never know.

I'm trying to take a calmer approach to the whole situation. R has informed me that nervousness is not sexy. She needs me to be calm and collected through this. One thing that has been helping is Zen. I've been meaning to dedicate a blog entry to the topic, and I still may, but the short of it is a friend introduced us to the value of meditation last winter and we've been practicing it semi-regularly since. My interest has waxed and waned a bit, but I recently reinstated my daily sitting in the mornings before work. It's a chance for me to be still for a little while and observe my inner-self. I go into it without any expectations, and I find that it relaxes me. There's nothing else quite like it in my day.

In other news, some local friends threw us a baby shower brunch last weekend. (Yes, men were invited too -- deal with it.) They did such an amazing job with the decorations, food, games, etc. You have got to see the invitations that one of the hosts, Leslie, created. (She also gave us some wall art for the baby's nursery that is so awesome I won't feel that bad replacing my David Lynch movie posters with it :-) It feels great to have such sweet, talented friends. Many thanks to our hosts, as well as our other generous friends who attended the party and brought gifts for the baby.

I had my camera at the shower but didn't take it out of the case. I'm upset with myself for passing up the chance to photograph people other than ourselves for once, but I was distracted and some other folks had cameras too, so I let them handle it. If any shots from the event surface, I'll be sure to share them on here.

R and I did have our own little shoot by the Mission afterward. I even brought the tripod along, allowing for a few shots of the two of us, including the one below. Can you tell how excited we are?

35 weeks

2010-09-23T16:21:00.004-04:00

Hey everybody. Just checking in with an updated belly photo and status. It would be an understatement to say my entries have been infrequent and focused on the pregnancy lately. This blog has always been indicative of what's been going on in my life, so it's clear to see where my mind has been and how all-consuming the transition to fatherhood is. To put this further into perspective, here's the stack of books we have been reading...

We are in the final stretch now. Sleep is already starting to get away from us -- away from R because she has somebody kicking her from the inside and away from me because of nerves. The remaining items on our to-do list are elusive and have a way of falling victim to a relentless clock. When I do find myself with time available to work on them, I feel frozen, unsure of how to proceed. Perhaps I'm stalling and not quite willing to accept that the big day is almost here. At the same time, I'm so excited to finally meet our daughter that I can hardly contain it. I'm sure it's relatively normal to be nervous and hesitant while on the cusp of a change like this, so don't worry about me.

I feel guilty for whining because I have it easy compared to R. She definitely has more responsibility in growing this child and more discomfort too. Her body is handling the pregnancy quite well, but it's not without difficulty. Things will get even harder before they are done... before this all culminates into what will probably be the biggest physical challenge of R's life (and also, hopefully, one of the most rewarding). Then there's the little detail about caring for a child after all of that; Giving birth is, obviously, just the beginning of the adventure.

This week's belly shot was taken aboard the Condor Express during a cruise around the harbor at sunset. The photo of the derelict boat below was taken during the same occasion. I've been playing around with it in Photoshop, tweaking the colors and exposure to add some interest. I'm sort of loving the beauty behind the murkiness of it right now.

Our little music enthusiast

2010-09-11T14:12:00.004-04:00

Here's a list of concerts our baby has attended while in the womb:

Beach House, 4/16/2010, SOhO

Atoms For Peace (Thom Yorke's side project), 4/17/2010, Santa Barbara Bowl

The Avett Brothers, 4/28/2010, Arlington Theater

ThreadSpinner (w/ Dawes), 5/12/2010, SOhO

Jónsi (front man of Sigur Rós), 6/7/2010, La Bataclan (Paris)

ThreadSpinner, 6/25/2010, Velvet Jones

ThreadSpinner (w/ Au Revoir Simone), 7/10/2010, Velvet Jones

Toad the Wet Sprocket (w/ Jeff Bridges), 7/16/2010, Lobero Theatre

Crooked Still, 8/21/2010, Lobero Theatre

Last weekend I attended a quite awesome Smashing Pumpkins show, but you will be relieved to hear that I did not bring the family along. I was (accurately) anticipating some high volume levels and wasn't sure what is acceptable for a developing baby's ears, so I went with a high school friend who drove up from LA instead. (Quick digression: That was an all-around weird, nostalgic 90s weekend topped off by a sighting of Jennie Garth from 90210 in a coffee shop that probably deserves a blog entry unto itself, but I'm not going to do it).

The Pumpkins do actually have some great lullabies in their catalog (see the last four or five songs on Mellon Collie or the Adore acoustic demos or some b-sides like "Medellia of the Gray Skies"). I look forward to introducing our baby to my favorite bands through their softer works. A family friend also got us this collection as a shower gift. There are definitely worse songs for a baby to fall asleep to. I bet I could even sing along to these!

Eventually our baby will grow up and think our tastes are lame, but I'm going to exert some influence over her while I can :-). I know R would like to bring her to the Winnipeg Folk Festival as many years as possible since that was kind of a tradition in her family and we always appreciate the music up there. R has also stopped listening to the news during her commute to work and replaced it with some good music, usually involving strong female singers. Maybe it's all just underwater noise to her at this point, but I like to think our little girl is enjoying the entertainment while riding to work with her mom.

32 weeks

2010-08-31T16:10:00.001-04:00

I have never felt
anticipation building
as strongly as now.

I am witnessing,
through a thin wall of belly,
our baby growing.

Already I feel
I belong to a new pack,
one I will defend.

No expectations
but to expect to love her,
whoever she is.

Three lakes

2010-08-19T21:34:00.003-04:00

We usually try to make it home to Minnesota for the Fourth of July, but that date fell between France and a big work deadline this year, so we put our visit off until the last week of July instead. It actually worked out really well. This way we were able to attend a birthday/going-away party for R's sister at Pleasant Lake and a baby shower held for us at Ely Lake. We also spent some time at Lost Lake in between... So out of 10,000 lakes, we managed to spend quality time at three of them over the course of a week, which I'd say is pretty darned good. More important than lakes, however, we saw our families and some friends. It's always a pleasure.

Our niece and nephew are becoming even more adorable than before, if that is even possible. I went a little crazy with the picture taking. I can't help it. There's something in me that wants to preserve images of these kids. Maybe it has to do with living so far away and only seeing them a few times a year. My photos of them are the ones I find myself going back to and viewing more than any others I've taken. I can't truly capture their wacky personalities, their playfulness, or their spirit of discovery with a still photo, but I can sure try.

It's funny how our perception of Minnesota, the northern part of the state especially, changes the longer we are away: the blues and greens become more vibrant; the weather, more dynamic; the mosquitoes, worse. But other things don't change, like difficult good-byes and this feeling I get when I pass through my parents' neighborhood at dusk: I'm reminded of biking around aimlessly as a kid... of playing Nerf tennis with my mom on the driveway... of launching ants into space with bottle rockets... of living in the same house as my brothers... I'm not saying one time in my life was better than another; I'm just saying the nostalgia hits me hard sometimes if I let it.

If you haven't already seen the photos from our trip, check them out here.

30 weeks

2010-08-17T22:40:00.001-04:00

Dang, she looks good, doesn't she? You might even say she's glowing...

In this impromptu photo shoot, R is modeling a new maternity top her mom sent. There are a few additional outtakes at the bottom of this gallery if you want to see more.

R is in Wilmington for work from Tuesday through Saturday of this week, leaving me here to grill a bunch red meat, post some blog entries, and stay up way too late listening to loud music and watching DVDs I've been meaning to get to for years. Well, that's the hope anyway. I actually have a lot I need to get done around here in her absence. Our spare room is still a mess. Part of living near downtown means sacrificing space. Having a child, means sacrificing some more. My goal is to further clear out the closet and then de-clutter every horizontal space in this room before R returns. It's a lofty ambition. Good thing this appears to be true.

R's trip comes on the heals of my own business trip, which covered five nights last week plus a surprise one due to a missed connection on the way home. All of this travel is messing with our now-kicking-in nesting instincts. Fortunately, we had a sun-kissed weekend together here in Santa Barbara to split up the two weeks apart. Yeah, I enjoy my time with the place to myself, but my time alone with R is starting to feel precious and scarce. Our baby is three-quarters of the way here. And I love that.

Emily & Brian's wedding video

2010-08-06T11:36:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to finishing up the wedding video I've been editing off and on since last September (thanks for your patience, Em). Actually I'm still working on the full-length version, but I'm calling this shorter, web-friendly version complete. The idea is that this preview can be passed around to the newlyweds' family and friends and also function as a demo of some of my work. It has to be quick if it's going to hold a casual viewer's attention.

You may watch it and wonder why it took so long to make... Well, first of all I by no means dedicated 100% of my free time to it. Secondly, getting the tone and the rhythm of the cuts right was quite challenging. Maybe they are still not "right," but at least I've watched it enough times now to brainwash myself into thinking they are. To be honest, I could probably tweak and re-tweak a video like this forever, but I have to cut myself off at some point. There are too many other things coming up on my schedule.

I'm not sure what I think about wedding videography yet. No, it wasn't my top choice of projects to spend so much time on, but I am glad to now have a wedding under my belt. I feel like the quality of my work could only improve from here on out (you get what you pay for when it comes to this kind of thing, and this one was on the house). I can't see myself shooting one of these every weekend and editing 40 hours a week. It would have to get repetitive. I'm all about taking on a variety of projects right now and, thankfully, by not being a professional, I get that choice.

26 weeks

2010-07-20T20:58:00.003-04:00

Here's an up-to-date photo of R and her baby bump. Now we are getting somewhere! The reality of the situation is starting to sink in. We have enrolled in a seven-session child birth/care class beginning in August and still have some more baby-related items to acquire before the big day comes near the end of October. The problem is we're so bad at making decisions. We don't know what crib/diapers/rocking chair we want... We don't know how we want to organize the nursery/office/spare bedroom... At least clothes shouldn't be a problem. I get the impression R really likes shopping for little outfits for our baby. You have got to see the pear-print dress! I'll show you when we have somebody around here to model it.

Official "Liar's Chair" video

2010-07-11T20:21:00.000-04:00

I helped with another ThreadSpinner video shoot a few weeks (months?) ago. This one was directed by the band's bassist, Warren, while I functioned as the director of photography. It was a little unnerving for me because we shot on a Canon 5D Mark II, which is a magnificent camera, but one I had not touched for the first time until the night before we rolled. Let's just say there was a last-minute cram session with the instruction manual involved...

When it comes down to it, however, this whole thing was Warren's vision. He called the shots and did all the editing. And I think he did a fantastic job.

It wasn't meant to be as overly ambitious as the band's epic "Night Chorus" video. The goal this time was to capture the raw energy of the band performing their hearts out from a few simple angles. We had a really narrow lens and a really wide one, so that's what we used. The "stuttery" look you may notice was achieved by shining some extra light on the set and then cranking up the shutter speed, with the hope being that would further accentuate the band's energy... To be honest they probably had enough on their own.

Don't they look like they're having fun? You can't fake that.

Recent trips, part 2: France

2010-07-06T22:01:00.012-04:00

Where do you begin a blog entry about a week-long trip to a beautiful country during which each day was filled with notable sights and experiences? It seems to me a person needs to either write a whole bunch or else not even attempt to describe it. Well, I already filled quite a few pages in my handwritten travel journal and I prefer not to repeat myself, so this entry will probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.

Let me start with some negativity. About two hours into our voyage to France, right about the time we arrived at LAX, I realized I forgot the fourth and fifth most crucial things I needed. Here's a list of the top five:

1) Passport
2) Wallet
3) Camera
4) Camera battery
5) Camera battery charger

At the last minute of packing I had swapped camera bags and forgotten to move my battery and charger to the new one. Of course an SLR isn't powered by something as widely available as, say, AA batteries; I needed a specialized item that they don't sell in an airport. And since we arrived in Paris on a Sunday morning, there wouldn't be any stores open to sell me anything for at least 24 hours. Factoring in charging time, this ordeal amounted to about two days without my SLR and about $150 in replacement costs. Luckily, I had brought a back-up, point-and-shoot camera to cover those two days, but it's an older one and was really hard to revert to after using a more sophisticated piece of equipment for a few years. I'm still kicking myself over missed opportunities at the Louvre, the Seine, and Notre Dame... Grrrrr.

Okay, enough about that. I had to get it off my chest. The truth is we ended up with some great shots anyway and, more importantly, we had a wonderful time on our vacation.

We spent the first half of the week staying a few blocks away from the river in the Saint Germain district of Paris. It was great being within walking distance of some major attractions. Plus, we were also absolutely surrounded on all sides by wonderful cafes. We stopped in many of them for some petit dejeuner (a typical breakfast consisting of coffee, juice, and a ton of delicious bread in various forms) or an occasional espresso/tea in the afternoon. The waiters over there do not rush you out, so it was nice to sit as long as we wanted, do some people watching, and talk about baby stuff :-). Paris in general seems set up for and very conducive to long discussions, deep thinking, and even romantic moments (couples tend to sit side-by-side rather than across the table from each other over there). I like it.

One event I'd like to mention (mainly because we don't have any photo coverage from it) is the Jónsi concert we attended while in town. He is the lead singer of the band Sigur Rós but is currently doing a solo tour. We missed him when he came through California, but it worked out to catch him on our second night in Paris. He put on an amazing show that made use of a backdrop video not totally unlike the project I put together last year, at least in concept. Of course Jónsi's stuff reached a higher level of professionalism and included a more elaborate set with multiple display screens, but I really enjoyed seeing -- objectively this time -- what effect some high quality visuals can have on live music. It was a memorable concert, one that inspired me to consider working on another backdrop video one day, although not any time soon. Those puppies are a lot of work.

The second half of our trip was spent traveling around the Normandy countryside. This included stays in Honfleur, Saint Germain des Vaux, and Mont St. Michel. The first two are sleepy little towns along the coast where we got to relax away from the bustle of the city, soak up some of the local culture, and eat some more excellent food. There were some adventurous seafood outings where we didn't quite know what was being served to us (anybody up for some pentacles?). There was also some hot chocolate that could only be compared to the hand-made stuff we had at a chocolate plantation in Costa Rica. Yum. Oh, and one morning we had what I've been referring to as "the absolute best French toast I've ever had without any doubt." I had no idea French toast could be that gooey and flat-out delicious. It's fitting I'd have to go to France to find it.

If there was an absolute highlight from the trip, it had to be Mont St. Michel. This place just blew me away. I felt like we were staying in a castle from The Lord of the Rings. It's actually an abbey built on a rock island that juts out of what is otherwise very flat land. We could see it in the distance as we approached by car, and then it kept getting bigger and bigger. During the day the place is overrun by tourists, but we were lucky enough to spend the night within the walls of the commune. After the sun set we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We walked around the maze of elevated passages and tunnels, over drawbridges, through cemeteries... this was my kind of visit.

R did such a great job of planning this trip. We saw some city, some country; some old, some new; some rain, some sun. We dove in and experienced another culture and another language. I was able to detach from the rest of the world for a while (and it's not an easy task to get me to forget about work). We celebrated my lovely wife's 30th birthday and also got away one last time, just the two of us, before we hunker down and wait for our baby girl to join the party. I hope she enjoys the story one day of how her mom noticed some of her first kicks while riding on a boat down the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in view.

Be sure to check out the pics in our gallery. They are my only souvenir from the trip and were worth the trouble of tracking down a battery.

Recent trips, part 1: Washington state

2010-06-24T22:07:00.002-04:00

We recently took two trips, and I've been wanting to write about each individually, even though at this point they are both starting to feel like old news. In fact, I've got a back log of about five blog entries and counting that I'd still like to write, so bear with me if I end up a month or two behind real time.

If our second trip this season took me out of my comfort zone, then the first trip was squarely in it. We traveled to an area of our country that has appealed to me for a long time: the Pacific Northwest. My interest in this region has sort of manifested itself over the years in the form of Twin Peaks, but it didn't start there. It began during a trip to Washington I took with my parents while I was in junior high. The place was inspiring to me then; it's inspiring now; and when I discovered Twin Peaks sometime in between, the mystery and the mood that inspired me were directly tied to the location.

R was attending a conference in Seattle at the end of May, so we decided to extend her stay and fly me up for Memorial Day weekend. We spent our first full day exploring the city (Space Needle, Pike Place Market, underground tour) and the two days after that in and around Snoqualmie, a small town where "a yellow light still means slow down, not speed up". This is where they filmed much of the pilot episode of Twin Peaks and quite a few exteriors that were used throughout the series. Keep in mind the show was made over 20 years ago, so things have changed a bit. It's also a little deceiving when you recognize the outside of a building and then you walk in and realize an entirely different set was used for the interior scenes.

I am proud to say we spent two nights at the Salish Lodge, pictured at he top of the waterfall above, which is a key spot in the show. And, as cheesy as it sounds, having a cup of coffee and a piece of cherry pie in the Double R Diner (called Twede's Cafe in reality) was an absolute highlight of the trip for me, despite the changed decor (Tweety Birds hanging from the ceiling?). You could say being there was the realization of a dream for me.

It's hard to complain about the weather in Santa Barbara, but maybe I needed a change because I found myself welcoming the rain we experienced in Washington. It was more of a steady drizzle that bounced off you than any sort of downpour. It enlivened the greens and provided the tree tops with some haunting mists. We saw a lot of this during a hike to Rattlesnake Ledge on our last afternoon up there. R once again impressed me by handling the four mile round trip and 1200 feet elevation gain quite well at about 19 weeks into her pregnancy.

As usual, our photos go into much more detail than I could ever describe. Check them out here to see more about our weekend getaway.

We're having a girl!

2010-06-23T11:56:00.004-04:00

Here's the first of what will likely be very many photos of our daughter. We have some 3D images as well, but I'm not sure I'm ready to share those with the world yet. I kind of like the classic ultrasound look of this one. I have it on my bulletin board above my desk, and I'm enjoying thinking about who this new person might be and what her life will hold.

We're trying to keep the ultrasounds to a minimum, so this was our first of R's pregnancy at 21 weeks in. It was such a relief to hear from the doctor that our baby appeared perfectly healthy. We saw her in heart in action, measured her brain, witnessed her flexing legs... At one point she even reached up and rubbed her eye with her hand. There's a real, live human being in there!

We watched the whole ultrasound, but there was one thing the doctor noticed that we did not: the baby's sex. He wrote it down for us and sealed it up. This all happened first thing in the morning, so it was a long day of wondering what was in that envelope. Our day finally settled down around 8pm. R wanted me to look first and let her know, so that's how it went down. It was an absolutely magical moment.

R to the thirtieth

2010-05-16T18:06:00.015-04:00

The other big milestone this spring is R's 30th birthday. As a matter of fact it's today (Sunday)! The clip below, from 2003, is my attempt at embarrassing her. One of the things I love about R is that she is always willing to help me out with one crazy shenanigan or another. It's difficult to find people willing to act goofy in front of a camera, but I can always count on her :-).

This weekend was probably lower-key than a 30th birthday weekend should be. I wish I would have planned more. Our original idea was to celebrate with a vacation in Paris, but the scheduling didn't work out, so we're going to be there a few weeks too late. We did go out to dinner at a French restaurant, Julienne, on Saturday night as preview of the trip to come. And today we took some good friends (pictured below) out to brunch at a place on the beach. Afterward we made a stop at the luxurious Bacara Resort, where R was treated to a pre-natal massage. It was a good weekend, but, seriously, the celebration has just begun. We are really looking forward to our trip!

"Miami" blip

2010-05-12T17:28:00.002-04:00

I feel like posting something that has nothing to do with my personal life tonight. Previously, I mentioned (warned?) that there would be some remnants of my recent backdrop video work continuing to appear on the blog, and this is an example of that. It's a remix of the food coloring experiment I originally wrote about in this entry. Since I didn't have a clip to show at that time, I'm posting one now.

The video is a little sloppy. You can see reflections in the glass and the editing isn't as transparent as it could be. The original, set to an unreleased ThreadSpinner song, was slower and the imperfections weren't as perceptible when it was played on the lesser-contrast theater screen. In the clip above, I swapped the music with a song by U2 ("Miami" from their Pop album), condensed the run-time, and re-organized things a bit.

This isn't going to forever change the face of Internet video or anything. Treat it as a doodle similar to the Silence blip from a few months back.

An exclusive first look at...

2010-05-03T20:41:00.004-04:00

... my pregnant wife! There have been some requests to see how things are progressing, so here you go. She's definitely showing, whether she wants to admit it or not. We have another photo where she's purposely sticking her stomach out as far as she can, and let's just say I don't have permission to post that one. It's a preview of what is to come.

Changes are underway. Maternity clothes shopping has begun. Time speeds on.

Five Years

2010-04-30T12:16:00.007-04:00

Five years ago I watched the most beautiful woman walk down the aisle of a church in Alabama. We locked teary eyes and stood together in front of our closest family while we exchanged vows. I'll never forget the fiery love I felt on that day and in the time since. Today we celebrate an anniversary, but one day is not enough to express what this relationship means to me. I've been chipping away at it, at least a little bit, each day... and I fully intend to continue.

Yikes! Sorry if my posts have been on the sappy side and not terribly modest lately. Life is good right now, and I'm proud to report it. I realize something like the announcement of R's pregnancy isn't "the biggest news" in everybody else's life, but it is the biggest, most life-changing news in ours and this blog is about our lives after all. Moving to California was big news; Having a child required a grander statement. That's all I meant with the title last time.

We're hitting a bunch of milestones this spring. Come back in about two weeks for another one...

The biggest news

2010-04-25T20:20:00.002-04:00

I would like to announce, with so much joy and excitement, that my lovely wife and I are expecting our first child in October! Yes, I really typed that. The last few months have already been an emotional thrill ride, and it looks like there will be much of that to come.

R is doing well. She had what seemed to be a pretty typical case of morning sickness, but is feeling better, if still more tired than usual, these days. We've been trying to eat better and get enough exercise. We're both reading books about pregnancy and how to care for a child. It all sounds rather intimidating at this point, but we're going to take it one step at a time. I'm very anxious to meet this new person, but I desperately need this time to prepare and also want to make the most of life without the weight of fatherhood while I can, so I'm not exactly wishing these nine months away. The stork will arrive soon enough.

We learned the news ourselves on Valentine's Day morning while we were in Sonoma County. No, it wasn't the best timing for a weekend getaway in wine country. R had to skip the tasting part of our weekend, and I... had to cut back a bit :-). It also explains the conspicuous absence of a wine glass in the photo in this entry about the weekend. You may have also noticed my write-up was rather spare on details. I feel like the secret we've been carrying (pun somewhat intended) has put a bit of a wall between me and you, so it feels good to finally make the information public. This opens up so much more to tweet about too :-)

Among other decisions, I have to make one about the future of Midnight Toast (the blog), regarding how much detail to include about the pregnancy and our child's life. Safety and privacy are suddenly a higher priority. Maybe I'll start a limited-access family blog and reserve this one for my creative projects. Maybe not. One way or another I'll be taking a ton of photos and video, and some of them will be available in one place or another. I've already started recording a series of video interviews with R about her pregnancy and will continue with those about once a month until this baby is born. Something like that probably won't make in online, but I have a feeling our little family will enjoy watching them in the future.

Being a dad will be a huge adjustment and full of challenges, but I'm looking forward to it. Life has a way of telling you when it's time for the next phase. And following those signs has worked out pretty well for me so far, so I don't see any reason to stop. R and I are happy... scared, too, but mostly just happy.

Video backdrop series, part 10: Closing thoughts

2010-04-19T20:24:00.001-04:00

I put together a total of nine videos for the concert backdrop. For the tenth one, the band used the exceptional "Night Chorus" music video directed by Matt Walla. You may have read some praise from me about it right here. How fun was it to see the band playing in front of images of themselves from the music video? Very fun. The video was perfect. The energy in the room was perfect. The night as a whole was perfect. And I'm not just glorifying the past. I knew this would be a night to remember while it was happening.

Since the tenth video wasn't my own, I was originally going to use this final installment of my blog series to show some clips from my footage that didn't "make the cut" for one reason or another, as there is a substantial amount of it. However, I find myself wanting to wrap up the series sooner rather than later, so pardon me if I take some short cuts here. Instead of clips, I'm going to give you some stills.

One idea that didn't find a home was a series of nature shots I took at various locations over the course of the shoot. Each contained some subtle movement (e.g. a leaf dangling from a cobweb, ripples in a stream, bugs swarming around branches, a fading sun), but it may have been too subtle to work as a backdrop. We needed exaggerated motion and contrast in order for it to be picked up by the projector and remain recognizable behind layers of stage lights. Not only were these images a little dull, they were also too literal. It felt more like stock nature footage you see between segments on PBS than an accompaniment to a rock show. See for yourself:

Then there were some alternate shots -- for backdrops that did get made -- that just weren't needed in the final edits (or were, again, too literal). These probably don't mean a lot to you because you haven't seen every shot that I did use, but here's a little sampling of my B-roll below anyway. (A little trivia: the hand in the first one belongs to R and was meant to be her cameo as she "pulls back the curtain" between the sidewalk and the trail in "Waking World," but, alas, it was too cheesy to include.)

I also have a few unused time-lapses that I'm not going to post yet. These are just some experiments that will likely make an appearance in some future, unrelated entry on this blog. They need a little more distance from this project and the right choice of music before they will be ready for viewing.

That about wraps things up then. It was a lot of work to document all of this, let alone create the backdrop videos themselves, but now that it's done I'm really glad I have a written and visual record of the project. Maybe "work" is the wrong word because I had so much fun stretching myself creatively (and technically, for that matter) to stitch together this quilt of abstract images for the concert. (Hmmmm... Why didn't I call this "The Quilt Project" instead of the "The Sweater Project"? That makes much more sense.)

Finally, I'd like to thank ThreadSpinner one more time for giving me this opportunity and so much freedom to build my own artistic endeavor on top of theirs. They took a huge risk by asking me to help shape their image at one of their most important concerts to date. There were times when I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off, but I've come to the other side with more confidence in my vision and a huge sense of satisfaction. The band makes for an imagination-spinning muse, one I'd like to work with again in the future.

Minneapolis is my flash-sideways

2010-04-07T23:24:00.000-04:00

Great photo by R, eh? It was taken on Figueroa Mountain on my 31st birthday. It's sort of a companion piece to the one in this post.

I'm in Minneapolis for work this week and have a few minutes for a quick entry from my hotel room, so let's do this. And let's do it without over thinking it.

I've been feeling a little out-of-touch with you lately, and there's a complicated answer for that. Life in general has been feeling more complicated than usual lately. It's complicated. It's a Meryl Streep movie. Yawn.

It feels like my brain is degrading.

It's more difficult to connect with people than ever before. For some reason I thought it would get easier.

I recently reopened my private, written journal, but after one marathon session it has been largely neglected as well.

I'm still thinking in terms of 140 max characters. I blame Twitter. So much for writing that novel.

I want to be here and there and nowhere.

This is what I get for starting a blog entry without much of a point. I'm all over the place tonight. Let's forget this ever happened.

But first, view this beautiful woman, partially shrouded by wildflowers:

Two-year-old in town

2010-03-28T21:47:00.001-04:00

Because the wee one is not smiling in that photo, let me post one more...

...that's better.

The folks pictured above were our guests during the last week. That would be R's mom, sister, and our little nephew.

The boy is a handful! He requires constant attention and brings a ruckus with him wherever he goes, but as far as I understand, that's pretty normal for a two-year-old, so I'll let it pass :-) He's a sweet kid. We don't get to see him terribly often, and each time we do, he appears to have taken a leap forward in development. Now he's forming sentences and running so fast we can hardly keep up with him. Check out the footage below from a walk around the block to see him in action. He's a ball of energy.

Having guests is a good excuse to carry a camera when we go out and about, so I took a bunch of photos. A few of my favorites have been added to the second half of this gallery. Check them out because I'm counting on them showing you some of what we did and where we went. (This is my way of getting out of writing a full recap.)

It was good to see the in-laws. We're not used to being on the hosting side of a visit, so I hope we did okay. I was probably too distracted by work, as usual, and probably didn't make the most out of our time together, but I'm really glad they came and were able to enjoy Santa Barbara. I know R appreciated having some of her closest peeps around too.

I'll leave you with one more shot of little Ezra. What do you think... is the SoCal lifestyle going to his head?

Video backdrop series, part 9: "Darkness"

2010-03-13T16:21:00.003-05:00

I have to admit this 10-part series is going on a little too long even for me. I'm looking forward to finishing it up so I can return to your regularly scheduled programming. But I can't quit this close to the end. We have two entries left. Bear with me.

The circumstances for this particular video were a little bit different from the rest. ThreadSpinner played "Darkness" during their encore, and that's a distinction right there because, at least in my opinion, an encore is a chance to experiment -- or play something unexpected and less rehearsed -- without necessarily reflecting poorly on the main set or the show as a whole if it's not perfectly executed. The band pulled out all the stops by playing a song that nobody in the audience had heard before. Not only was the song unreleased and unrecorded, but it was still being developed. I don't think the lyrics were even finalized at that point.

Yet the song and its performance ended up being one of the highlights of an already exceptional concert. It was epic and complex and came off a little bit looser than the other tunes, allowing for the band to really get into the music and feel their way through it. From my perspective, the music appeared to be driving them, rather than the other way around. I enjoy witnessing a band become bigger than a sum of its parts like that.

So how do you create a video backdrop for a song you haven't heard? Well, I was given a description of it as well as a backing track with drums and some effects added on. I didn't get the full picture of the song until I heard it performed at the sound check the day of the show, but I had heard enough to get the right pace, tone, and running time. There were some guesses involved too, and I was sure curious to see my results would fit with the music as well as I hoped.

One of the concepts I had been throwing around (for another song actually) was to shoot food coloring being dropped into water. It's a neat effect, but it's not a completely original idea. If you go to Vimeo.com you can probably find all kinds of examples of camera experiments like this. Shooting food coloring is sort of a rite of passage for videographers. I wanted to give it a shot too, but I wasn't sure if I wanted the results presented along side the rest of my backdrop videos, which were, at least to my knowledge, more original creations.

It was the weekend before the CD release party -- the band was finalizing the order of their set and rehearsing with the videos I had already delivered -- when I decided to go ahead and make this one last backdrop. The show just would have felt incomplete if the encore didn't have a visual to go along with it. This was a simple concept that I could shoot in my own home. And really, the look of the food coloring seemed a perfect fit for this psychedelic song.

My set-up was a glass pitcher filled with water, a white sheet of paper behind it, every directional light I had pointed at it, and my camera zoomed in just enough to cut out all of the "glare spots" caused by the lights and edges of the pitcher. I ended up setting up the shoot four or five times over the course of the weekend because little imperfections (reflections in the glass, out-of-focus food coloring) kept appearing after I imported the footage on my computer.

I probably ended up with an hour's worth of me dropping coloring into the pitcher and about five minutes of it that I could actually use. But those five minutes were pretty cool. I was able to alter the colors in my editing software and reverse the direction of the fluid movement to make it look like the coloring was being removed at times. I ended up being really happy with the results. And it's funny because I don't think any of those imperfections I was worried about would have been noticeable on the screen during the show anyway. The projector didn't show that much detail. Oh well.

I'm not going to post a clip from the concert this time. First, I really messed up the audio on this one. It wouldn't do the performance justice (hear it for youself at one of the band's live shows instead). Plus, my second camera ran out of tape by this point in the show. Lastly, since this is an unreleased song I'm not sure if the band wants clips of it online yet. So you're only getting the two stills below. Eventually, I'd like to use the footage for another short experimental video à la the Moonrise or Silence blips I already posted. It's on my list.

Video backdrop series, part 8: "Waking World"

2010-02-27T18:34:00.000-05:00

While this is not necessarily my favorite video from the backdrop series, "Waking World" is probably my favorite song from ThreadSpinner's new EP. My head was flooded with images the first time I heard it, and that is essentially how I define a good song. It takes more effort to NOT create a video for something like this.

If you haven't done so yet, go and download ThreadSpinner's EP (details at the band's website). It's inexpensive, well-produced, and full of gripping, inspiring tunes. This video project would have been a lot more difficult if I hadn't liked the music so much.

Because there wasn't much struggle in the idea phase for this one, and because the motif I had in mind seemed to match up okay with Sarah's suggested themes, this was the very first backdrop video I shot. Here's an excerpt from an email I sent the band describing the concept:

"I want to walk down State Street at night and then speed up the footage, maybe add some motion blur. I'll also walk on a trail in the woods under sunlight and give it the same sped-up treatment... and sort of blend them together, dissolving back and forth. It might look a little repetitive, but the frantic forward movement will suggest the kind of searching you describe, without distracting the audience from the music too much. When I'm on State, maybe I keep going all the way to the end of the wharf and end with a shot of the vast ocean. In other words, what we find at the end of the 'search' is a dark, blank canvas of possibility..."

I burned quite a few calories hoofing about six miles total with my camera pointed in front of me. Some of the walking footage was sped up to 1500% in post-production, so I needed a lot of it to cover a four and a half minute song.

The original cut was relentlessly fast-paced, but I ended up making some changes after hearing a live recording of the song and discussing it with the guitarist, Jon. The energy and tempo were slightly different in the live version; there was more "build." That was one thing I had to watch out for -- the songs would not be performed exactly as they were recorded. Jon eventually gave me some bootlegs from a practice session, and I worked on timing everything to them instead of the ones from the EP.

The revised video starts with an almost drunken, blurry-eyed stumble through a riverbed and gradually speeds up into a tear through town. In post-production I added the black, feathered border, giving the video a kind of tunnel vision, which was meant to tie into the lyrics about "tunneling through earthen promises." Near the end, the video turns into a big, chaotic blur before finding some peace in the darkness off a pier. It was another case where I had to loosen up on the editing and just let it flow.

Here's a quick look at the concert performance. This clip is from before things get really out-of-control. I was working on another clip from later in song, but the pieces weren't quite fitting together, so this will have to do.

Valentine wine

2010-02-17T20:15:00.006-05:00

R and I drove north to Sonoma Valley last weekend to spend a few days away from our regular lives; to see some more of this beautiful state; to indulge on some excellent food and wine; and to celebrate Valentine's Day, just the two of us. Maybe it was foolish to drive seven hours to get to a wine region when there's a fantastic one right here in Santa Barbara County, but on the other hand it was time to pay our respects to the birthplace of the California wine industry and see what all the fuss is about. Needless to say, this trip helped deepen our immersion into oenological snobbery. It was also great fun.

"Silence" blip

2010-02-09T20:35:00.006-05:00

I mentioned a few entries ago that one of my backdrop videos didn't feel right for the project and had to be heavily blurred into abstraction before it was usable in the concert. Well, last night in a fit of inspiration, I took the original video, chopped it up, played two minutes of an industrial sounding Portishead tune over it, and severed its ties to the backdrop project. I think it works better this way. There's a lovely sense of dread looming over the otherwise festive dancing event. Perhaps ThreadSpinner's song was too hopeful and happy; I needed one with more emotional contrast to the images, as counterintuitive as that may seem.

This is really just a scribble. It was fun to take a break between bigger projects -- namely the backdrop collection (which was so huge I'm still blogging about it) and E&B's wedding video (which has been impeded with one false start after another so far) -- to put something together quickly with no real purpose. I like working on videos the most when there is no outside pressure, when I'm just doing it for myself. I hope to add a few more of these to the mix in the coming months.

Video backdrop series, part 7: "Running Away"

2010-02-05T17:23:00.001-05:00

Sorry if that last post was a little long for the Twitter era. I'll try to keep this one under control.

The concept for this backdrop is similar to the one for "Liar's Chair" in that it is an abstract visual design made up of four or five distinct pieces, none of which are really related to each other. For some reason this one had a way of collecting the ideas I had that just didn't seem to fit anywhere else.

I floated a flashlight in the kitchen sink, hopped a fence to shoot in a park after hours, and manipulated various sources of light (e.g. Christmas lights, the sun) to get some pretty random results that sort of inappropriately suggest "running away" considering the lyric used is actually "I'm NOT running away." Whoops.

The version we ended up using was essentially a first cut. I had intended to circle back to it and try to fuse the separate pieces together better, but the band seemed satisfied by what I already showed them and I was up against a deadline, so the revision never happened.

What's really surprising, especially after me telling you how this one should have failed, is that it worked really well. This was the penultimate song in the main set -- near the climax of the concert, if not the climax itself -- so it had to work. When it did, it was one of the best moments in a night full of great moments.

This may be the only entry in the series in which I post a complete song. My recording of it is not solid all the way through, but I liked one section near the beginning and one near the end, so I figured this is easier than posting two separate videos. Plus, posting stills doesn't really work for this one; you need to see it in motion.

I cheated a little bit in my editing: two shots from the video are actually from the sound check, rather than the actual concert. How else was I going to get a close up of fingers on a keyboard?

Final thought: The guitar part in this song rules!

Video backdrop series, part 6: "The Unmaking"

2010-02-03T17:02:00.015-05:00

When I first started discussing this project with the band, Sarah (the lead singer/songwriter) listed some images and feelings she associates with a few of the songs. Most of what she told me was open to interpretation, and I probably didn't come anywhere near close to recreating what she envisioned, but it was still helpful to get inside her head a little.

One song that she did not give me any thoughts on is "The Unmaking." I was kind of relieved because this is one of their older tunes that I had listened to a bunch, and I already had something in mind for it. For some reason this song screamed science fiction at me. Maybe the backing synths sound kind of like a UFO landing or something -- I didn't over-analyze it. I just knew that was the direction I wanted to take this particular backdrop.

Okay, now jump back ten years. I was in college, taking a summer course in Barcelona. A few classmates and I went out with some locals to a hole-in-the-wall club down some dark alley. The entrance was unmarked and the place was about as big as our kitchen. It was stuffed with people dancing to techno music and it had episodes of the original Star Trek series projected on the wall.

I liked how the old television show was being used for a purpose for other than what was originally intended. I'm sure the episodes had a story line, but of course nobody was trying to follow it. That wasn't the point. There was a pulpiness to it -- a sense that it could go on for a really long time without attracting too much attention, just adding to the club's ambience with trippy special effects and cheesy acting. I've been in other bars since then where they play film noir on plasma screens usually reserved for sports games. They are like moving, old-time photographs on the wall. I like that kind of stuff. My backdrop video project as whole was meant to be a decoration like that... and the segment for "The Unmaking" had to be sci-fi because of Barcelona.

So what better opportunity would I have to pull out the Star Trek influenced Super 8 film that my uncle made with some of his friends in the late 1970s? Growing up, my brothers and I referred to this piece of work as "Uncle Jimmy's Space Movie." My dad would set up the old screen and projector once in a while and treat us to a showing of it and a few others my uncle made. They were a huge inspiration at the time and planted a desire for filmmaking in me.

When my dad eventually bought a video camera, two things happened: (1) I started making my own movies, and (2) we transferred our collection of 8mm films to tape. Then, sometime post-college, I went through the VHS tapes and digitized some of the contents in order to further preserve them. This included the space movie as well as the "Mud Brothers" clip I showed you last year. I really didn't have any other plans for these old films at the time, but I was happy I had them handy last August.

Part of the charm of the space movie lies in its roughness -- in the loose editing, in the decay of the original film, in the jittery projection. I didn't mind all of that, but I did make a quick pass through and edit it down a bit for the backdrop. Some of the talking scenes went on too long for a crowd who wasn't meant to follow the story. The problem with this shorter cut, however, is that I ended up with three and a half minutes of a space movie for a backdrop that needed to be five minutes long. So I had to supplement it with some of my own original footage.

After my additions were made, the backdrop was no longer about the space movie. It was now about what was happening in a room where the space movie was playing. It plays on a TV screen in the shadows, and there is a mysterious figure who crosses back and forth in front of it. Eventually we follow that figure out of the room and see where he goes. It all comes together in what I think is a satisfying conclusion, tying together the inspiration and the inspired, bridging 30+ years of a genetic bond over artistic creation... I'll shut up now.

This backdrop includes a cameo from a much younger version of my dad, seen on the "video conferencing monitor" in the movie within a movie below:

It also includes a cameo by me, in a brief sequence that attempts to match the space movie shot-by-shot:

Are you starting to see why I was nervous about showing this one to the band (not to mention a crowd of 150 concert attendees)? In the end I think it worked fine as a set decoration, yet I like that there were a few extra rewards in there for anybody who might care (i.e. me).

Finally, here's a clip. Keep in mind you're only viewing about a third of it. I might try to get a full-length version online eventually, but this better suits my needs right now. Enjoy!

P.S. A big thank you to my uncle Jim for allowing me to use his work-of-art!

A few quick things

2010-01-28T16:14:00.001-05:00

I love how colorful the main page of my blog has been lately with all the stills from my backdrop project. I'm afraid to post anything that doesn't contribute to it. The sunset above should do. There are a few more shots from that incredibly scenic evening as well as some other recent events in my Santa Barbara 2010 gallery. I'll be adding to that album as the year goes on, so check back once in a while.

You may have noticed a new link labeled "Questions?" in the menu bar above. It will take you to my page on a social networking site called Formspring. I think it's a cool idea. Everybody likes to be interviewed, right? It makes us feel important (sometimes invalidly so :-). If you've ever wondered something about me but were too afraid to ask, now's your chance. You can do it completely anonymously. Just keep in mind, if I don't like your question, I don't have to answer it.

I was off to such a good start with blogging in January, and then I let it slide when our schedule filled up. Plus, I started editing a wedding video in my free time. Those sons of guns are a lot of work; it's still going to be a while before I have anything to show you. But I did take a break from it to put together some additional ThreadSpinner clips, so you can expect the backdrop series to continue again soon. The next two should be pretty epic.

That's about all I'm going to do for today. We've got a lot of fun stuff coming up soon: the SB film festival, wine class, a few trips. I'm also feeling inspired to start on a fresh video project. Up next I want to make some kind of narrative short film. It'll probably be a while before I get to it, but I will enjoy dreaming it up.

Video backdrop series, part 5: "Liar's Chair"

2010-01-14T15:23:00.003-05:00

We're halfway there. Are you still with me? Ah, that's okay -- I'm mostly doing this for myself anyhow.

The backdrop for "Liar's Chair" attempted to with ceiling fans what "Summer Storm" did with sprinklers (it didn't quite work, however... more on that below). There are also some flashes of purplish light (sped up horizon tilts through trees at a slow shutter speed), bursts of almost unrecognizable freeway traffic rushing by, and an electrical current running through the second half (one of the few effects I used that was not captured in-camera but rather taken off the Adobe Premiere effects shelf and tweaked to look more explosive). The still frames you see here don't do the actual results justice because this backdrop is all about patterns of unrelenting motion and timing to the breakneck pace of the music.

The bummer part of this particular backdrop is that the first minute or so could barely be seen on the theater's screen. There just wasn't enough contrast in my ceiling fan footage. Add to that bright stage lights and a projector that wasn't great with subtle shading/color, and you're limited to subtle background movement when you wanted something audacious. Luckily, by the time the lightning bolt showed up, the visuals were complementing the band's energetic performance nicely. That's the section captured below.

Video backdrop series, part 4: "Summer Storm"

2010-01-09T15:06:00.004-05:00

The backdrop for "Summer Storm" was one of my favorites. It's one of the few ideas from my initial brainstorm session that made it from concept to completion relatively unchanged. What I did was take about 20 shots of the lawn sprinklers in our courtyard up close and at a really high shutter speed so that the individual droplets of water were visible and appeared to hang in the air. The video starts off in slow motion, so that the frames change to the beat of the music, and as the music picks up tempo and builds, the droplets become a flurry of color and motion. It was quite a sight when scaled up to the large theater screen (in my own humble opinion).

I like that there is some ambiguity as to what you are looking at in this video. It does look kind of like a rain storm, which fits with the song's title and lyrics, but there's an awful lot of sunlight where you would expect gray and there are flowers and other objects in some shots that are clearly not getting wet. What is it then, confetti? There are a few hints along the way, like in the shot below were you can vaguely make out a key shape in the background.

But we decided to cut the more obviously revealing shot (below). Seeing the sprinkler at the end felt like a twist that cheapened the abstractness of everything seen before it. So maybe the audience was left wondering... or maybe they didn't care... I don't know.

As usual, I'm also posting a clip from the concert. You actually don't get to see much of the backdrop in action here, but I really like these shots of the band members, so this is what you're going to get.

Feliz Navidad

2010-01-06T22:40:00.006-05:00

Our Christmas vacation was pretty incredible this year. It started with six days of visiting family in Minnesota followed by seven days of touring Costa Rica with our friends S&Q. We went from freezing cold to sticky hot; from flat, barren land to lush volcanic jungle; from feeling native to we-don't-even-speak-the-language alien... Yes, the two places are quite a contrast from each other. Our home in California falls somewhere in between, and I think it's safe to say we were ready to return to it by trip end.

I'm really glad we were able to see our families. (Photos here.) It just wouldn't feel like Christmas without them. We're lucky everything worked out travel-wise considering the massive snowstorm that hit the day we left. The drive to the airport was a slow one and we doubted the timeliness of our itinerary every step of the way, but we made it, flying away just before the weather worsened even more.

I could probably write about Costa Rica all day, but perhaps it's best left in our travel journal. In short, the trip was fun and adventurous. We went canyoning, ziplining, and rafting; saw a bunch of animals in the wild; toured a chocolate plantation (sampling the product at every stage of making it); relaxed in hot springs and in hammocks... Maybe you should just check out the photos. All of this talk about vacation is making me lazy.

2009 holiday letter

2010-01-03T15:20:00.001-05:00

We didn't send out a holiday letter this year, but if we had, it would have looked something like this...

Happy holidays, everybody! It's been another memorable year and once again we're so thankful to be healthy, employed, and blessed to have all of you as family and friends.

This year has had its share of professional developments for the two of us. Jeff recently took a position as a Technical Analyst for Ameriprise Financial. He continues to work from home but makes occasional trips to the office in Minneapolis. He's grateful for the additional opportunities to visit family and friends while he's there.

Raia remains with DuPont and is excited to see the display technology she is helping develop move closer to fruition. She recently submitted some of her work for possible publish and presentation at a national conference. One day you might be watching an OLED TV with a good chance that Raia helped make it possible.

Work keep us pretty busy, but we still try to get out and see the world when we can. This year we camped in Joshua Tree, Yosemite, and Sequoia national parks; skied at Mammoth Mountain; attended weddings in Massachusetts and Minnesota; and wrapped it up with an adventurous vacation in Costa Rica (blog entry still pending).

Other than that Jeff has been working on some music videos, Raia has been taking some pottery and cooking classes, and both of us have been enjoying life on the sunny coast of California.

Have a great 2010!

Video backdrop series, part 3: "Follow"

2009-12-18T00:20:00.009-05:00

Part of what made this project so much fun was the open-endedness of it. The band had the final say on what stayed and what went, but otherwise I had all the freedom I could want, allowing for my own artistic expression to be layered on top of their music. The vision for "Follow" was one I set out to construct deliberately. There was a feeling I wanted to convey and, while I did struggle with getting the flow of it right, I'd say the results were more or less successful.

This one can be filed in the literal category -- not literal in the sense that the lyrics are directly translated to the screen but rather in the sense that most of the images are identifiable as what they really are. The band said they wanted abstract, but in this case I took a risk and gave them figures on a moon-drenched beach, rolling (then crashing) waves, and even a lifeguard stand. These images were meant to create a sense of place... and it was a place I like to be. In fact, I was at this same location enjoying a bonfire under a full moon a few nights before the shoot. That was the inspiration.

This shoot involved some low-light photography, which is always tricky. You don't realize how dark the world can be until you take a camera outside after the sun sets. Some of my images turned out grainy and/or blurry. For consistency, I degraded the good shots to match the bad ones in post-production. This gave the video a kind of vintage film look that appears like a stylistic choice rather than a shortcoming. Maybe.

The snippet below is my favorite single shot from this backdrop. It's 45 minutes of a rising moon condensed into 20 seconds. It was a tricky shot because I didn't know exactly where or when the moon was going to come up, what arc it would be following, and what exposure I needed on the camera. And I only had one chance to get it right. I learned that shooting time lapses of sunsets are much easier than moonrises.

And here's a clip from the show. This recording turned out only so-so, but you can see a few shots from the backdrop in it and hear some of this wonderful, emotionally complex song.

Video backdrop series, part 2: "Six Keys to Walking Safely"

2009-12-01T20:50:00.009-05:00

Some of the backdrop videos began with a clearly defined vision that I then attempted to materialize the best I could. Others were born from experiments with the camera where I simply captured what looked cool and later decided how the footage would be used. "Six Keys" falls into this second category.

R and I were heading out to a show that was part of the city's Old Spanish Days Fiesta, and I decided at the last minute to bring my camera along because at that point in the project everything was a possibility for use. The clock was ticking and I only had concrete ideas for about half of the songs. So I taped some traditional Mexican dancing at this Fiesta show because the color was too vibrant and the motion too constant to pass up.

I spent quite a bit of time editing the footage into a big, multi-layered swirl to go along with "Six Keys," one of the band's faster paced songs, and was pretty happy with the results... but somewhere in the process I lost sight of the original goal for these videos. Sometimes when doing this type of work I become obsessed with the details and forget about the bigger picture. I didn't really think about whether it any sense whatsoever to associate Spanish/Mexican dancers with the music; I was too busy choosing the right dissolve transition between flamenco and hat dancing.

I showed the resulting video to R; she didn't like it. I showed it to the band; they weren't crazy about it either. I loved the original video (I still do), but it wasn't right for this purpose. The images needed to be more abstract. Nobody wanted to see faces or colorful skirts or sombreros. Once I took a step back from the editing, I agreed.

But I wasn't ready to throw away the work I'd done altogether. My solution was to blur the images beyond recognition. The color and motion would remain mostly intact, but the detail would be obscured to the point that it looked like you were watching a reflection in a puddle.

A shot like this:

... became this:

At first it felt like a shame to cover up all of the detail -- for one thing I could have edited quicker if I had started with the blur -- but I liked the idea that there were hidden images in the backdrop, vaguely calling to mind some of the local heritage and perhaps subliminally telling the crowd to get up and dance :-). The revised backdrop works for me. What it's missing in dimension and clarity, it makes up for in fluidity and mystery.

Here's a short clip from the concert to give you an idea of how the backdrop looked in action:

Video backdrop series, part 1: "Where the Game Begins"

2009-11-29T20:38:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try something new (and possibly even more self-indulgent than usual) on this blog over the new few weeks/months. I'm going to post an entry for each of the backdrop videos I created for ThreadSpinner's album release concert in which I describe -- and show clips and/or stills from -- the videos and discuss some of the thought and work that went into making them during August and September of this year. There will be 10 parts to this series in all, so this could take me a while, but some of the descriptions will be less detailed than others and most will probably read like a stream of consciousness. Let's see how it goes. And don't worry, I'll still be mixing in some regular blog entries as well.

If you have no idea what video project I'm talking about, you can read more about it here and here. Let's get on with it then...

What better place to begin the series than with "Where the Game Begins." This is not the first video I made for the project, but it was the easiest. Some of them I struggled with for hours and hours, trying to get the look and feel right, but not this one. I literally spent 15 minutes shooting it, 15 minutes editing it, and then put it away until it was time to synchronize it to the click track. I didn't second guess myself because this one just felt right, and I needed to rely on intuition if I was going to have time to finish ten of these puppies.

The reason this one was so simple is because the whole thing was caught in a single shot. All it is is a blurry close up of a candle flame flickering roughly to the beat of the music. It starts off as an unrecognizable little spark in inverted black and white. As the song builds, the image gradually grows more flame-like, and then in a key moment, it switches to color and the audience should finally realize what they are looking at: a fire that complements the burning passion in the heart of the song. Well, that was the idea. I'm not the most subjective critic.

I really loved the moment of that switch to color. This song was played pretty early in the show, before the audience really knew what to expect, so this was the point when they were shown that the video was indeed timed to the music. I'm a little surprised we managed to pull that off actually. If the images had been half a second ahead or behind the music, the moment would have been missed altogether. Timing-wise the entire show went off without a hitch.

The clip from the performance below contains only the second half of the song -- it starts right before the "switch" -- so you miss a lot of the build up, but check it out to get an idea of how the backdrop video was used in the show. I can't stop watching it myself.

Stranger in a strange land

2009-11-20T11:18:00.003-05:00

Sorry that blogging has been kind of low on my priority list lately. The last few months have been a mix of being really busy and being really lazy -- I'm pretty sure one causes the other -- and neither is conducive to stopping for reflection.

I started my new job on October 19th and kicked it off with the aforementioned three-week stint in Minnesota. The office is in downtown Minneapolis, but because this trip was only partially corporate-funded I slept at my younger brother's place in the very surburban Maple Grove. It was nice having an extended visit with my bro. We played some pool, drank some Irish whiskey, listened to AC/DC, etc. Can you tell he's a bachelor? Anyway, I really appreciate his and his roommate's hospitality, as three weeks is a long time to put somebody up.

I drove north to see my parents for my first weekend out there. The rain let up enough for my dad, older brother, and I to get to the hunting shack to cut the grass in preparation for the hunting season. My mom cooked some meals for me that helped break up three long weeks of eating unhealthy restaurant food. On Sunday my grandparents had me over for lunch and later I got to see my little niece in Duluth. She had no idea who I was, but she was all smiles anyway. These moments, along with some additional reconnecting with friends, were what made the three weeks away worth it on a personal level... but just barely because, man, did I miss my life -- and my wife -- in Santa Barbara.

Luckily, R flew out to see me for my second weekend away. We rented a hotel room downtown and shut the rest of the world out for a good chunk of our time together. We did get out for a walking tour (during which R took the cool, surreal photo of me above in the new Guthrie Theater), comimos unas tapas, and saw Paranormal Activity, which didn't quite live up to the hype (I recommend seeing Where the Wild Things Are instead). It was a low-key Halloween, and I'm still kicking myself because we didn't take our annual "mimic the pumpkin" photo. But I guess we were too enamored with each other at the time to care.

I could ruminate some more on the new job, but this blog once again feels too public for that. In short, it's going pretty well. Being at the office to meet the people and begin to learn the systems was absolutely necessary. There were moments, however, particularly while driving in traffic through the gray or navigating the skyway like a rat in a maze, when I started to doubt the decision. It felt like such a different world out there. There were shades of the past and possibly hints of the future in that trip, but more than anything it reminded me of how much I love my situation out here and how I'm not ready to let it go. Fortunately nobody is asking me to give that up yet, so I think taking the job was the right move. It's a career boost and has some definite long-term potential.

See some more pics from the business trip here.

Sequoia

2009-11-11T20:33:00.001-05:00

R and I spent two nights in Sequoia National Park about a month(!) ago. I would have posted this entry sooner, but I've been business traveling since then (more on that in a future entry) and didn't have access to photo editing software while I was away. And an entry like this absolutely requires photos posted along with it.

The camping trip was great. I'm surprised it worked out as well as it did, considering how spontaneously we planned it. We went in the middle of the week -- pretty late in the fall -- which made for some serious solitude. We passed only two other people during the five-mile hike to Emerald Lake, where we spent our second night. The campsite was at 9200 feet, making for some brisk weather and great views.

I've been trying to expound on the trip, but I find myself restarting again and again. Maybe too much time has passed and my thoughts have lost focus. The bottom line is I enjoyed being out in the woods again. The mammoth features of the rugged terrain, the unpredictable weather, the howling of wild animals... it makes a person feel powerless to nature, yet rewarded for surviving a few days among it. The experience was quite a contrast from my urban weeks that followed. I think maybe that was the point.

More photos from the adventure are posted here.

P.S. We saw the largest tree in the world (not to be confused with the tallest tree in the world). Apparently Sequoia trees are the larger ones in terms of mass, but Redwood trees actually grow taller. Those are at another park.

Gardens and Villa

2009-10-13T22:47:00.004-04:00

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

2009-10-12T11:10:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-07T10:18:00.004-04:00

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.

Unveiling

2009-09-29T18:54:00.006-04:00

I think it's okay to report on my latest project now...

Here's the deal: I've been working with the local band ThreadSpinner to create 40+ minutes of video that will be projected on a screen behind them during their theater concert / album release party happening this Friday, October 2nd. (I was originally going to plug the concert to help sell tickets, but I just received word that it is now sold out!)

This project is much different from the music video I assisted with earlier. The video here is not meant to hold the audience's attention all by itself. Rather, it will (hopefully) enhance the complete live experience. The music is still the #1 priority. Seeing the band playing on stage is #2. My contribution, along with the lighting setup, is meant to add to all of that without distracting the audience.

It has been a challenge to NOT draw too much attention to the video. The goal has been to keep it abstract, showing colors and motion rather than objects or people. How do you capture an image without really capturing an image? And how do you make it interesting enough? I've put a lot of thought into it. My strategy was to begin with real objects, preferably ones that involve some kind of motion (sprinklers, ceiling fans, Mexican dancers, etc) and distort them so they just beyond recognition. I'd love to show you some examples... but not until after the show... and even then, only with permission from the band.

In some regards, I failed at keeping things abstract. During my recent infatuation with photography, where the goal is usually to capture the world as vividly as possible, I trained myself to find proper lighting and make sure the focus is set appropriately, so this project was counter-intuitive. It helps to know the rules if you are going to break them properly, but I'm still learning those rules... So some of the results are more literal than others. I'm telling myself variety is good.

My working title, The Sweater Project, originates from the band's name. I was trying to think of something that is spun with thread similar to the way my video was "spun" by the music. Yeah, I know sweaters are probably made with yarn or wool or something, so this may have been a stretch. Work with me here :-)

Despite some of my humble negativity above, I am very proud of this work. Its debut will be a big night for me. Some members of the press will be included in the 130 attendees at the event. I think I'd prefer if they made no comment about the video over a negative one in their reviews. We'll see. I'm rather nervous about putting my work out there. I've never had the chance to do something quite like this before, but I'm glad I have it now. This is the kind of thing that makes life interesting.

I'm hoping to eventually get some of this video online and viewable by the public in one form or another. It's something I need to talk to the band about after this all blows over. They are understandably conscious about their image and don't want some crazy guy going and posting clips of their music all over the place.

I gotta go make some dinner. I'll let you know how everything goes sometime next week (regarding the show, not dinner).

Sea lions, sunset, and moonrise

2009-09-25T11:26:00.001-04:00

Hey there. I just had these photos lying around and wanted to post something today... so there you go.

LOTS on my mind right now regarding my career and the usual array of life decisions, but I'm not ready to discuss it in this forum quite yet.

As if you need another tease, I will be sharing some details about The Sweater Project soon. Stay tuned!

Vows by the lake

2009-09-18T15:46:00.004-04:00

R and I flew back to the Twin Cities last weekend to attend the wedding of some good friends, Emily and Brian. I didn't take a single photo, but I did shoot 2.5 hours of video (you're looking at a still from the footage above). So I guess I have my next editing project cut out for me.

We slept in some cabins at the wedding site in an effort to save money and to stay close to the bridal party. R was the bride's personal attendant, and I wanted to be available to record as much of the weekend's on-goings as possible. We didn't get a lot of sleep, but otherwise everything worked out really well. The weather was beautiful, and so was the wedding.

In addition to all that, we found time to hang out in our old neighborhood in St. Paul and also sit down for lunch with some family members. It was a treat to see them on an occasion other than Christmas or the 4th of July for once, even if it was a little rushed. I'm glad they made the effort to meet up with us.

Despite loving California so much, we do miss Minnesota quite a bit. I'm reminded of the positive points each time we go back. I’ve been thinking a lot about the future this week and there are no clear answers on where I would like us to be in a few years (or if it will even be our choice), so let me get back to you on that.

Night Chorus video

2009-09-15T12:06:00.002-04:00

If you're a friend or family, you've probably already seen a plug from me on one social network or another, but I wanted to post ThreadSpinner's first music video here as well.

I'm just blown away every time I watch it. I don't understand what's happening in the video any more than you do, but what's important is the atmosphere it generates. You feel the joy, the heartache, the freedom... and then leave it all behind to discover a collective energy and beauty somewhere deep in the night woods. If it's possible to capture on a recorded medium the rare moment during a live show when the pieces come together and hit you square in the heart (a moment mentioned by me just a couple of entries ago), it happens in this video at the climatic point when the crowd rushes to the stage to find Sarah Ziebarth belting it out and the band ripping it up.

This video opens the door to a place I very much like to return to.

I wish I could claim the video work as my own, but the credit goes to director/mastermind, Matt Walla, who had the vision, tools, and talent to pull this off beyond my expectations... and my expectations were high. I was Matt's assistant for much of the production and wrote about it briefly here. Also, FYI: If you look closely near the end of the video you might catch a glimpse of R dancing/cheering in the crowd.

ThreadSpinner's exceptional new single deserves mention as well, but I'm going to wait until after their upcoming album release party (which I highly recommend attending, by the way) to share my thoughts about the music. The band's buzz should be at a fever pitch around that time. And rightfully so.

Recent concerts, part 2: The National

2009-09-09T17:03:00.000-04:00

Following Billy Corgan at Muddy Waters, any other show would have been a let down, even one in a smallish club such as The Wiltern in LA. That's where we saw one of my favorite bands, The National, the following Saturday night. By normal standards, the show would have been quite good – and I did enjoy it – but in some ways it left me wanting more, mainly because it was just a normal show and now I’m slightly spoiled.

I like The National because they seem like regular guys… maybe a little more bruised and definitely more talented than regular guys... but guys coming from a 30-year-old, white collared world similar to mine. From what I’ve read, the music doesn't come easy to them. Recording their albums is a difficult process, reliant on incredible work ethic and patience. The band members also apparently get nervous before performances in a way I doubt somebody like Bono or Mr. Corgan could relate. The National is pretty popular in indie circles, but they’re not a huge otherwise, so playing in LA had to be a big night for them. I expected them to give it their all… and they delivered.

I can't tell how much of it is an act, but the lead singer carries a persona of a man who really messed things up… maybe failed as a spouse or a dad, turned to booze, and exorcises his demons through the songs. They are not clean subjects to sing about, but the imagery is vivid and relatable and the production on their albums is outstanding. I fell in love with their latest, Boxer, the first time I heard it. Working backwards and exploring their prior albums was a treat every step of the way as well. The first time I heard the song "Slipping Husband" I practically had to pull over the car because it required all of my attention. It’s a song that builds to an explosion of anger – anger that feels perfectly placed and earned.

The concert included most of the songs that I expected. They were passionately performed, but sometimes too passionately in the sense they lacked some of the subtlety and restrained tension of the album versions. It seemed like at least half of the songs broke into those violent outbursts that only occasionally, fittingly punctuate the albums. They were all performed well and demanded the audience's attention, but at times the harshness was draining. Although I typically like my music dark, I still appreciate a certain amount of levity during a live show. (That said, too much comedic banter is a greater offense; I've seen shows ruined because the performer wasn't taking the show seriously enough.) Anyway, I'd see them play again, but at this point I'm more anxiously awaiting a new album.

As long as we were going down to LA, we decided to leave a little early and visit the Getty Center first. We had never been, and it’s one of those places you have to check out, especially if you live close enough. The setting is quite modern and scenic with great views of the city. We toured a few of the galleries (containing mostly classical art) and took some photos on the grounds (see a cute one of m'lady below). Our friend Paul came along with us as well. Afterward the museum, the three of us met up with a few other friends for dinner near the concert venue before heading over to the show together. It was a good day that reminded me how awesome it is to be close to a city like LA.

Recent concerts, part 1: Billy Corgan

2009-09-04T05:55:00.002-04:00

We attended a couple of concerts during the last week. The first was quite an amazing, unique experience. It was put on by Billy Corgan (front man of The Smashing Pumpkins and hero from my teenage-plus years) and a few of his friends (Dave Navarro from Jane's Addiction included) at a coffee shop named Muddy Waters here in Santa Barbara. Yeah, a coffee shop. I couldn't believe it at first either.

Tickets sales were limited to 100, making for an intimate show with an artist I once saw headline in front of crowd of 100,000 on the streets of Minneapolis in the late 90s. I've seen him play a few other times as well and waited all day to "meet" him once at an autograph signing, but last Thursday sort of makes all of that irrelevant.

R and I arrived 20 minutes before the show and ran into actor Paul Walker on the street talking to somebody about how he wanted a ticket. That's right -- we were going to a show that Paul Walker couldn't get into. I had bought our tickets online a week earlier after seeing an announcement about them on Twitter. Strangely they were on sale two hours before they were supposed to be, giving me an advantage over anyone who didn't bother to check early.

The venue for this concert was not much bigger the living room of our condo. Billy and the band suddenly appeared at one end of the room, warmed up for a few minutes, and started playing. There were no stage lights (practically no stage at all) and little amplification. The sound quality wasn't perfect, but it was better than I expected for the space.

The first set of songs was on the quieter/folksier side. Maybe I'm getting old, but that's the way I prefer it these days. Billy was trying out new tunes and playing some covers rather than relying on Pumpkins hits or even his previous solo material. He is known for moving forward rather than repeating himself, even if it displeases the crowd. He didn't have to worry about that in front of this group of mega-fans. At one point somebody shouted "Play whatever you want Billy!" rather than requesting a tune. That was refreshing. I'm more than willing to put my faith in an artist to pick out the right tunes.

The second set was electric and pretty much set the place on fire (we had the sweat to show for it). One thing I always I liked about the Pumpkins is that even their harder rocking songs have strong melodies behind them. That's what sets them apart from a metal band. They also have such dynamic range – slow to fast, soft to loud; sometimes within the same song – that makes for an incredibly compelling listen, even the first time through.

The entire show is available for listening here, if you're interested. There are a few places where I can actually identify R chatting between songs in the recording. We were only three rows back after all.

The complete performance was outstanding, but if you’re going to pick only a few songs to check out, I really recommend "Widow Wake My Mind" and "Freak." Those were two specific instances when I became totally lost in the music, eyes welled up and heart full. Finding moments like that is the goal of every concert-going experience for me. It's unfortunate they occur as rarely as they do.

On top of all that, we got to meet Billy afterwards. He was standing around outside, chatting it up with people, posing for photos... no security, no lines, just a gathering of people cooling off after a warm show. What a night it was! A week later I still can't get the experience out of my head.

See a few more of my photos from the show here.

And read a review from the local paper, as well as some additional audience comments, right here.

Radio silence

2009-08-27T17:04:00.010-04:00

I've been distracted lately. During the last month or so my mind has not strayed far from the video project I'm putting together. The blessing and the curse of the project is that it's not your typical scheduled film shoot. Most of it requires little preparation -- which, don't get me wrong, is nice -- but having so much creative freedom makes everything and anything a possibility for capture. The act of narrowing it down is a big part of the challenge.

The other part of the challenge is making it look cool. There's a trick to avoiding cheesiness in video production, and I haven't fully learned it yet. Above all, the results of this project need to be visually appealing. I'm taking a photography-centric approach, shooting in broad strokes, and trying to follow my gut on the editing rather than getting too wrapped up in perfectionism. It's kind of like the opposite of the eighteen Bud Light videos I made; those didn't have to look like much, but I edited the heck out of them, stressing over every cut. This time I don't have the luxury of editing frame by frame because the final product is going to simply be too long (and my free time too short). If this all gets done (and I'm going try my hardest), I should have about 40 - 50 minutes of finished video. I still have a ways to go, so don't expect a lot of blogging for the next month.

I'm enjoying myself. In some ways I feel like I'm returning my roots, as this is most similar to the kind of meandering, moods-focused, music-inspired work I attempted to do way back in my early days with my dad's camera and two VCRs. (Hopefully my current work is an improvement, but we'll see.)

My deadline is near the end of September. After that I will have some stills to share with you. Eventually I'd like to rework some of the footage into a shorter, web-friendlier product, but that's pretty far off right now.

I'm not sure if all of the secrecy is needed, but I'm going to keep it up just in case. Plus, building anticipation is fun, even if I'm just setting everybody's expectations too high (and by everybody, I mean the three people who read this blog). Maybe it's too late to come up with a code name, but I'll give you one anyway. For now, I'm calling it The Sweater Project.

Marblehead

2009-08-13T12:35:00.001-04:00

We flew to the other side of the country last weekend to attend the wedding celebration of S&Q, whom we became good friends with during our time in Delaware. When you move away from friends you sometimes wonder if it's worth the effort to keep in touch. With S&Q, it is. They are a fun couple who appreciate art and adventure in a way similar to us. It was great seeing them, along with some other old friends and some new ones too.

Our red-eye landed in Boston at 8:30 Friday morning and then we drove north to the little coastal town of Marblehead, Massachusetts for an eventful weekend. The ceremony itself was exclusive to immediate family and the wedding party, but there was no shortage of activities to keep us occupied. We took a ride on a lobster boat, participated in a scavenger hunt (we won!), competed in a newlywed game (we won again!), lounged by a pool, ate some good meals, danced to live Irish music, and even had the chance to explore some neighboring towns (e.g. Salem and Gloucester). It was well-planned and well-executed weekend thanks to Q and my lovely R.

Here are a couple other notable occurrences from the trip:

1) We ran into a girl who lived on R's floor during their freshmen year of college. I knew her too. She just happens to be married to one of the groom's best friends from high school. So let's get this straight... We went to school with this girl in Minnesota. She now lives in San Francisco, CA, but she was attending a Massachusetts wedding for a couple her husband knows from Delaware. Not sure if you followed all that... the bottom line is that we couldn't believe it was her. This was definitely a situation that called for the overused "small world" statement.

2) Maya Rudolph (from SNL and Away We Go) showed up poolside at the bed & breakfast we stayed at. R and I were the only ones out there when she and some guy -- possibly her director husband, Paul Thomas Anderson, who was disguised in shades and a hat -- walked out to take a photo of the courtyard. Maybe he was scouting locations or something. According to the IMDB, Maya is in Marblehead shooting a new Adam Sandler movie. Anyway R said to her something along the lines of "Do you want me to get out of the way [of the photo]?" And Maya, standing right over R's shoulder, replied by saying she was trying to get out of the way too. It's funny how our brushes with celebrity typically happen when we're away from southern California.

I didn't go crazy taking photos during this trip, but you can see what I have here.

Untitled

2009-07-31T19:57:00.007-04:00

Good evening. Nice of you to join me for the continuation of this one-sided conversation. Not too much is new, but I figured I'd drop you a line just because this blog needs one last entry before the month ends (I'm cutting it pretty close).

Last weekend was busy. We attended three BBQs, a happy hour, and a dinner party. It's good for me to get out and socialize considering I spend so much of my time during the weeks alone. Not that I mind working on my own... I just need to cultivate relationships with others once in a while lest I forget how. And there are some amazing people to meet around here. Take this dinner party we attended in Summerland for instance -- everybody there was so interesting, successful, and friendly. The food was great too. We sat out on the porch after the meal and soaked up the dimming glow of the sky with a view of the ocean. It was my kind of scene.

I've been practicing with my video camera during a couple of the evenings this week. The still above is from some test footage that I managed to transfer to my computer in high definition (click on it to see all of its detailed glory, shadows and empty space and all). I've been shooting in HD since I got the new camera, but every time I transferred footage to the computer, I had to down-convert it to standard definition. So painful! This week I got a new, spacious hard drive and found a plug-in for my editing software, finally allowing me to edit in HD. It's yet to be determined if my PC can handle processing it for sure, but I'm going to give it a shot on my next project.

Speaking of my next project... it's beginning. I met with some people -- who's own art I really admire -- last night to discuss it. I'm sworn to secrecy for now, but I'll share some details in the coming months. This is an exciting one. It will feel good to dive into something I'm passionate about after exercising with a series of smaller projects recently. I'm hoping my practice with still photography will pay off now as well, as aesthetics will play an important role.

The project does not yet have a title. I'll try to think of some kind of code word for it soon.

Clash at Lost Lake

2009-07-21T11:37:00.005-04:00

Here's another in my series of stop motion experiments. They don't get much more off-the-cuff than this. We spent about 15 minutes planning and shooting it. R snapped the shots while my little bro-in-law and I did our best gravity-defying kung fu maneurvers. I strung the photos together in Monkey Jam and then imported the resulting file into Adobe Premiere for some tuning. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out... all 22 jittery seconds of it.

Lakes and prairies and people

2009-07-17T05:48:00.002-04:00

There's something about Minnesota in the summer... the long-lit days under big skies, the fresh air, the sounds of loons while we sleep... It's hard to believe this is the same place we visit each Christmas, when the world looks so gray. Our vacation this July was dipped in equal parts blue, green, and gold. If the weather doesn't worsen one of these years, our perception of Minnesota might become rather inaccurate, shaped by a streak of lucky weeks.

I really enjoyed seeing our families. As much stress, money, and travel time it takes to plan and execute these trips, they always end up being worth it. Thank you very much to our hosts for taking such good care of us! The rides, the food, the comfort, and the catching-up are much appreciated.

Many a photo was taken (801 to be exact). See some of them here. I would normally be more discerning and keep the gallery smaller/stronger, but I couldn't bring myself to exclude many shots of our niece and nephew. The little darlings are so dang cute. They remind me of why I like to take photos in the first place and make me want to have kids of my own (one day).

The Winnipeg Folk Festival -- our trip within the trip -- was awesome this year as well. It had the best line-up of musicians I've seen in my five years of attendance. My absolute favorite performance was by a band called Okkervil River (you've probably already heard me yakking or tweeting about them). I had been listening to a few of their albums off and on for the last couple of years, but their concert on Saturday night still took me by surprise. I've never seen a band win over an initially uninterested crowd they way they did. The front man's "this moment, right now" speech during the final stretch of tunes captured the energy of the night and cranked the volume. It brought people to their feet, rushing to the stage with hands in the air. My list of top 5 concerts needs to make room for this one.

One last note: My little bro-in-law and I shot a quick animation test during our time on Lost Lake. Sorry, Nate-dog, it's not ready yet. I plan to work on it this weekend and will post it shortly thereafter. I'm anxious to see it too.

My niece Elise

2009-07-07T09:25:00.001-04:00

It was such a pleasure to finally meet my beautiful new niece, Ellie, this past weekend. While she was around, taking pictures of anyone/anything else seemed irrelevant. I have a bunch more and will be posting them in a gallery next week, after we return from our trip.

We spent the holiday weekend on the Iron Range, and I'm working from our parents' houses Monday through Wednesday of this week before we head up to the Winnipeg Folk Festival with R's family. We'll be back in California next Tuesday. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage.

Mud Brothers

2009-06-29T16:52:00.007-04:00

How's this for a fun old film? It was recorded by my dad way back in the day, and I think it's a brilliant little piece of storytelling. The idea of capturing real moments like this (and attempting to manufacture them once in a while as well) is one of the reasons I wanted to get into video production. You are looking at some of my inspiration.

I always thought this clip would make a good character developing flashback in a larger work, possibly to demonstrate the start of a character's corruption or something. I'm not saying that's what happened to me in real life, but in some ways this does respresent my relationship with my older brother and our separate personalities. I think this piece speaks for itself.

I added the Smashing Pumpkins soundtrack and the feathered edge to increase the dreaminess of it. That's what it feels like to me when I watch it: a dream or a faded memory. I'm so glad I have this one preserved.

Solstice weekend

2009-06-25T12:31:00.000-04:00

Well, the weekend was as full as predicted. The Solstice festival on Saturday was sort of overshadowed (at least in my mind) by the music video shoots on Friday and Sunday. We did attend the parade, but to be honest, I thought it was a little dull. Last year's parade, being that it took place two days after we moved into town, seemed more eye-opening and odd. It was quite a first impression; this year felt more like a rerun. I'm glad we didn't invest too much time into waiting on the curb for it to start. We were actually a little late because we were busy "getting our wine on" with some Newcomer friends. I enjoyed socializing with them and continuing to make use of our porch. It sure beat facing the crowds at the beer garden in the park.

After the events in town we attended two BBQs. One was with R's coworkers, which made for a good opportunity to put some faces with names, not to mention eat some excellent food. The other party was at our friend Paul's house. We were worn out by this time and didn't stay long, but it was worth the stop. Paul and company are hip people and it's always a pleasure to hang out with them.

Back to the video shoots... It felt great to be on a set again, to witness somebody's artistic vision materialize, to help where I could... mainly in the form of crowd wrangling, set design, grip work... anything I could to make the director's job easier and allow him to focus on the creative stuff. It was a role I will gladly accept, especially when I stand behind the project as much as this one. Friday night -- with its fog machine'd trees and extra large crescent moon -- was the perfect setting for a party, and I'm pretty sure that translated onto the footage. I can't wait to see the results.

I was busy during the filming and didn't take too many of my own shots, but check out what I have in this gallery. Note: the people playing instruments in the photos are NOT the band. They were just some extras goofing around during a break. You'll have to wait a few weeks to see the real stars.

Time rides a bullet train

2009-06-19T06:00:00.003-04:00

After tweeting so much lately, writing a blog entry feels like a lot of typing. I'm forgetting how to form a paragraph. Twitter is definitely easier to keep up-to-date when you are short on time -- a situation that applies to this week -- but I'm not ready to give up long form blogging altogether.

This weekend looks packed to the brim. I’m excited to be helping with the previously mentioned music video tonight and most of Sunday. I met with the director and gaffer on Wednesday to go over the shots and help set up. They have a giant, self-lit, fake moon that we hung from a tree. It is going to look so awesome on camera, floating over the heads of the band. I can't wait to see this come together.

Tomorrow, we have multiple BBQs to attend in the afternoon/evening, plus some people are stopping by our place for a drink before we head down to the Solstice parade and festival earlier in the day. I’d still like to get the house cleaned (or at least organized) before then. That will be my job tomorrow morning while R prepares some food for the BBQs. It’s all about teamwork.

The last few weekends have been a little quieter. We've been attending more Newcomer events, most notably a luau and another trip up to wine country. Otherwise, we’ve just been enjoying the start of summer: potting plants (pictured above), going out for coffee or dinner, biking to the beach, hanging out on our porch, etc. Can you believe that R and I moved here one year ago from today?

R had her wisdom teeth removed a few weeks ago. The recovery period was as unpleasant as a person, especially one with his or her own extraction experience, might expect. But she handled it well and followed the doctor’s orders to a T. Plus, she looked really cute with those puffy cheeks. Unfortunately, the camera was off limits during this time :-(

I do hope to take a few photos this weekend. The parade is sure to provide an interesting subject.

Campus Scope ad

2009-06-12T15:38:00.006-04:00

Check out this clip that aired on my college campus' TV station circa 1999... and has been rarely seen by anybody since. A guy named Stephen did most of the work for this one. I helped mainly with the concept and by sharing my wondrous acting ability with the world. As long as we're laying down some sarcasm, I should also mention how great the buzzed sides of my self-given haircut look. See for yourself.

I digitized this video, along with some old news packages I made for Campus Scope (our monthly college news program), from a VHS tape a few years ago. And I just recently unearthed the files on my hard drive. It was fun to pull them out, see some of the old sights around campus (like my dorm room in the video above), and fondly remember the early days of my hobby.

When you watch this you have to keep in mind it was made before digital video cameras and nonlinear editing software were available to students like us. Today you can probably shoot a better looking clip on a cell-phone. The editing here was done on a reel-to-reel tape machine. I remember spending many hours in that editing suite, usually late at night because that was the only time it was available. Sometimes I would sneak in and work on my personal projects as well. I don't think that was allowed on the school's equipment, but I made a point of never asking because I didn't want to know for sure. One of my favorite old shorts, "Marco Polo," was created during these times (that one has yet to make its internet debut).

I was so thrilled by the process back then. It seemed like anything could be made interesting if you put it in front of a camera. Distorting time and mixing images via editing was like a magic trick. It's kind of a shame now that I have a decent camera and my own personal editing system, and here I am NOT constantly using it. Maybe I'm running out of ideas. Maybe the pressure of my day job is sucking the life out of me. Maybe I'm worried that I don't have the resources (e.g. people, lights, a smooth tripod) to make anything that will look good enough. But rising standards or a lack of time should not be an excuse; I need to get out there and shoot something new.

There was one interesting development this week... I was asked to assist with a music video shoot happening during an upcoming weekend. It's for the local band Threadspinner who, as you probably know, I'm a big fan of. Once again, it's not my own project, but the group of people involved with the video and the music are incredibly creative and it is an honor to get the chance to work with them. Also, from what I've heard of the shoot so far, it sounds right up my late-night-atmosphere-loving alley. I'll let you know how it goes.

Not desperate enough…

2009-06-05T12:10:00.004-04:00

...but airing on a nationally televised program anyway!?!

Remember the "YARD" video I posted a few entries ago? It didn’t win the contest, but we received an email from the promoters saying our submission was “one of [their] favorites” and they want to play it in an episode of Desperate Landscapes on June 25th! They asked me to send a copy of the video with the LOST music/sounds removed, due to copyright concerns.

Unfortunately we don’t get the DIY Network, but I noticed that Hulu airs the show. I’m extremely excited to know that something I shot may be appearing on national cable. (This will top my Restaurant Week ad which only aired locally.) I’m trying not to get too pumped until I see it actually happen, but let’s hope this does indeed come to fruition.

I'll be watching.

Rose Overload

2009-06-01T21:11:00.004-04:00

One of the things I've been wanting to use this blog for is to share some videos that aren't necessarily my finest work. Some might be home movies (like the recent kite and skiing videos); some might be clips from short films I made years ago; and some might be new, experimental pieces that are stepping stones between more major projects (see the example below). I don't want to post all of these "B movies" on Vimeo or YouTube because if somebody Googles me, I'd prefer they come across the pieces that I am most proud of rather than these lesser works. By posting them on my blog instead, along with a brief explanation, I feel like I can retain more control of my image and keep my better output from becoming diluted. Yeah, I'm narcissistic like that.

The clip below is my first experiment with some free animation software called Monkey Jam. It's an easy-to-use program that basically takes whatever images you give it and plays them one after another, allowing you to put together some simple stop-motion.

For this one, I imported 200 photos of flowers snapped in our condo's rose garden, added a few titles, picked out a Depeche Mode song, and voila...

Fun stuff. I already have a second animation test in the planning phase. The new one will be more true to the concept of stop motion and, if all goes according to plan, will feature our good friend R. I'm excited!

Web address

2009-05-31T14:14:00.004-04:00

Just a quick note... If anybody out there is still using www.jeff-finc.com to access this blog, please update your bookmark to be www.jeff-finc.blogspot.com instead. I decided not to renew the domain name since my old website no longer exists. The auto-forwarding will stop soon and you might not find your way here. This blog is my website now (and has been for the last year or so).

Sorry for the boring entry. The next time I post I will have a new video for you to make up for it :-)

Memorial weekend in photos

2009-05-27T19:10:00.009-04:00

The long weekend was wonderful. We spent it around home, which is by no means a let down when home is Santa Barbara. We more than managed to keep busy. Rather than try to describe everything we saw and did, I'm going to let the photos do (most of) the talking.

We attended the Flight of the Conchords concert. It sold out a while ago, but more tickets became available the day of. We bought them an hour before the show and actually ended up with decent seats (my cell phone's camera, used for this shot, makes everything appear farther away than it actually is, I swear). An ex-James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, was also in attendance, sitting with his family only a few rows ahead of us.

The next morning we marveled in the amazing plants at Lotusland. I snapped a bunch of photos, the best of which can be seen here.

R got to try out her new bike (color still subject to change) when we went for a long ride in the afternoon.

We walked up to the Mission and saw some talented chalk artists at work during the I Madonnari festival.

The first of our two boat rides over the weekend was set up through our Newcomers group and featured a tour of the harbor in a fishing boat built in 1917. According to the Maritime Museum, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn once fished from this same boat. We were the only Newcomers to show up for the event, so it became our own private tour.

Our second boat ride was the next day. A friend from church took us sailing along the coast. R woman-ed the helm for part of the trip, as pictured above.

We wrapped up the weekend with a picnic near the Mission, allowing us to check on the progress of the street art as well. We drank Chardonnay with strawberries and some specialty cheese that really knocked our socks off.

I love this town.

The birthday princess

2009-05-16T15:26:00.002-04:00

R turns 29 years old today. The little lady is away in Minnesota this weekend. Her 10-year high school reunion was last night and today/tonight she will be hanging out with one of her best friends. She'll return in the early afternoon tomorrow, and then I'll get my own chance to celebrate with her. I'm devoting some free time this weekend to finding the perfect gift and baking a cake.

Obviously I didn't take this photo. Credit probably goes to R's mom or dad. I found the scan in my files for our wedding video. What a cutie.

A kite blowin' out of control on the breeze

2009-05-11T23:51:00.002-04:00

My parents gave me a power kite for my birthday last month. These are the kites that people use to pull them across the snow or water on skis or boards or whatever they can find. Mine is a slightly smaller version that is used in the more traditional sense, although I still want to try it in some really high winds and see if it can get me airborne :-) It's a really high quality kite with two strings tied to it, allowing for some stunt maneuvers if you know what you're doing (I don't yet). R and I gave it a shot the other weekend and took these photos in addition to the video below. Check it out.

Mist trail

2009-05-08T16:13:00.002-04:00

This weekend we’re dealing with the weather being too dry (see my previous post). Last weekend it was too wet. I guess that’s the difference six hours in a car can make.

We were looking for adventure last weekend, and that’s exactly what we found. We also fulfilled one of our goals for 2009 by succeeding at an overnight backpacking trip. In retrospect it was a modest goal, but the idea of sleeping in the woods -- far enough away from our car to make the situation slightly dangerous – requires a certain set of equipment and knowledge (not to mention an open weekend) that we simply didn’t possess until recently. It didn’t hurt that we camped with some friends, at least one of whom really knew what he was doing.

We drove up to Yosemite National Park after work last Thursday night and got there pretty late. We set up camp near the car and hit the sack. It started raining shortly after, but we stayed dry that night thanks to a sea-worthy tent.

It took us a while to get going the next morning because we wanted to cook a big breakfast and had to pick up camping permits, rent bear canisters, etc. We were on the Mist Trail by late morning. The first few miles were strenuous and included passing by two huge waterfalls that gave the trail its name. The spray of the falls soaked us first… and then it started raining.

Our plan was to hike 13 miles to Merced Lake on that first day and then spend the next two days hiking back, with a few detours, at a more leisurely pace. Well, about 10 miles in we realized we weren’t going to make it to make the lake. The rain was really coming down. Setting up camp and making some dinner before nightfall was becoming increasingly important, so we found a place next to an absolutely roaring river and pitched our tents in an all-out rainstorm.

Each of us was shivering that night (maybe SoCal is softening us up). We cooked dinner in our tents’ vestibules, which is not advisable because of the bear situation but necessary because we had already skipped lunch and we needed to put some calories back in via a hot meal. Afterwards, the dishes were done in a mad dash to the river in an attempt to keep the last of our warm clothes dry. What a night it was! I felt so miniscule in the dark, surrounded by the enormous rock structures and the constant power of white water. Nature could have just wiped us off the face of the earth.

Sleep was sporadic. Our self-inflating mats seemed a little low on air. I had to flip my body over every half hour or so because that's about how long I had before the ground made me sore. R ventured out of the tent at one point to use the ladies room and found there was fresh snow on the ground. I'm surprised I didn't notice a sound softer than rain drops hitting the tent during that time. It was a long night, but I sort of enjoyed it -- it gave me time to think. And how often do we get time to think anymore?

We would have kept going on the track to Merced Lake if the weather had been sunny the next morning. All of our clothes were quick-drying and would have been fine by that night, but the rain was still coming down as hard as ever. We packed our wet tent into our wet backpacks along with our wet clothes. One of my shoes was half-filled (half-empty?) with water. I put it on anyway. It’s easy enough to stay warm as long as you’re moving, so we moved the 10 miles back to the cars.

Facing defeat wasn’t easy, but that’s what we did. It was a rewarding trip in its own right, but I would feel more satisfied if he had made it to the lake. That’s still hanging over us, and I think it will be worth making another attempt one day.

I did still have an awesome time. Yosemite is an amazing park, on par with New Zealand in sheer breathtaking-ness. As usual my photos don’t do it justice -- partially because it’s hard to be an agile photographer with a backpack on, partially because the moisture kept me from pulling out the camera as often as I would have liked, and partially because there is no way to truly capture a place like that with anything other than your own eyes.

You can see the fragments I did capture here.

Jesusita Fire

2009-05-07T10:55:00.000-04:00

Santa Barbara is on fire again. This one is hitting even closer to home than last fall’s Tea Fire. While we were making dinner last night, a cop knocked on our door and told us we had to evacuate. R managed to find us a hotel room down in Carpenteria, so we finished dinner, packed up the car, and put the growing plume of smoke behind us. When we woke up this morning our area of town was no longer under mandatory evacuation (a warning is still in effect), so we came home. Now we’re both at work, monitoring the news, hoping this thing gets under control soon.

Rather than attempt to capture images of the fire myself, I’m going to point you here for the most impressive photos of it I’ve seen.

Peace out

2009-04-30T12:14:00.007-04:00

We found this rock design on a hike up the Hot Spring Trail the other weekend and I just had to share it. Well done, unseen hikers.

This week has been a bit of a rush again as we prepare for an upcoming weekend getaway. I'm going to keep quiet about the details of the trip until we return in order to avoid repeating myself later. But if things go according to plan, you can expect to see some spectacular scenery in an upcoming entry.

R and I are also celebrating our fourth wedding anniversay this week. Today is the actual day... and we're spending it working and then taking a six-hour car ride. Preparing for our trip has been our top priority this week, but we did go out to dinner at Bouchon, one of the best restaurants in town, on Saturday. Additionally, last night we opened a bottle of sparkling wine to drink with some strawberries, Thin Mints, and an awesome episode of LOST. I love a woman who is willing to indulge me with a little sci-fi, even on an important occasion. It's just another reason R still melts my heart after all these years.

Let's plan on catching up again when life quiets down a bit. Right now I have a bit of an outdoor adventure to attend to.

YARD

2009-04-23T05:55:00.002-04:00

Some friends of ours recently purchased a house in Santa Barbara and it has a jungle for a yard. They asked me--their local, budding videographer--to help them enter the "America's Most Desperate Landscape" video contest currently being held by the DIY Network. Since I've been itching to start a new project (and to try out my recently acquired microphone), I immediately agreed to do it. We brainstormed for ideas over email and got together one night to choose one and shoot it.

We went with a LOST parody. Because this is one of my favorite shows, spoofing it was a bit of a dream project of mine. The downside was that we didn't have much time for preparation and had to pretty much make it up on the spot. A blank slate, a setting sun, and a one-man production crew can make for an intimidating combination. The trick was to keep it simple. It also helped to treat this like a reality show versus a full-blown art project, allowing for a fair amount of imperfection.

It came together extremely quickly in the editing too. I put in an hour or two each day for less than a week. Compare that to "Fake Empire", which took me months to edit on that schedule. Even my Bud Light Film Crew videos absorbed more time than this one.

The version of the video we submitted to the contest is slightly different than the one you see above. After we had shot it, we went back to the contest website and realized we were only supposed to include the front yard. I had to remove any verbal references specific to the back yard along with any shots that were obviously from there. The above version is my preferred cut with some of those references and cuts put back in.

The judging for the contest is based on creativity, originality, and the personality of the homeowners. I think we have all of those aspects covered... but the winners of the $20,000 worth of landscaping work are yet to be determined. Good luck to Mike and Aimee!

Working on it

2009-04-16T20:19:00.003-04:00

This isn't going to be much of an entry, but I feel the need to post at least something each week so you don't abandon me (I worked too hard to pick up my three regular readers; I'm not going to lose them now). Plus I wanted to move the previous entry down the page because of it's lack of a photo. That was bothering me.

I'm having a busy week at work and attempting to focus on some editing during my free time. Thus I'm holding back on the social networking and blogging that usually seems to take up more time than it should. It was either that or give up my nightly hour of television, and we all know that can't happen.

Last weekend was nice. I shot a new video on Friday (details coming soon). We went shopping and out to dinner on Saturday. On Sunday (Easter) we did the church thing and flew a kite on the beach during the afternoon. We took pictures and video of the kite, but I haven't had the chance to prepare those yet, so expect a special entry sometime after I finish my more urgent video project.

R is out of town on business Wednesday through Friday of this week, making things slightly more lonesome around here. Also of note, starting next week she's going to begin working normal hours again, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM or so. In some ways I will miss having the evenings to myself as I felt very productive during them and enjoyed following my own, uncompromised schedule, but it will be great to have her around too. We're both excited that she'll be able to attend happy hours, take evening hikes, and help me cook again :-)

Okay, I wrote more than I planned, but this entry still doesn't feel like much more than a tease. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Par-T

2009-04-09T19:45:00.003-04:00

My birthday celebration sort of stretched through the weekend and into Monday, giving the week an enjoyable, yet exhausting start. I'm happy with the way the events played out, but--whew--I'm glad they're done.

We spent Saturday frantically preparing for a get-together to be held at our condo on Sunday. The cleaning, shopping, and cooking took up most of the day. During the evening we found some time to relax, going out for a steak dinner out and then coming home to watch Milk. This is a good time of year for DVD viewings because most of the Oscar nominees are showing up on Netflix. Say what you will about award campaigning and mainstream pedigrees, but Oscar nominated movies are usually worth watching. Milk was no exception.

Our housewarming/return-of-spring/my-birthday-celebration BBQ started at 3:00 on Sunday. Despite living here only 9 months, this ended up being one of the largest gatherings R and I have ever thrown. We pretty much invited everybody we know out here (coworkers, Newcomers, a few others) and about 25-30 people showed up. Sorry to report I didn’t take any photos. You know how much I like to document things, but having a camera around sometimes makes people uneasy or self-conscious and plus I was simply too preoccupied with co-managing the event. As you probably know, there’s a lot of work that goes into keeping a house presentable, making sure people are introduced to each other, monitoring food levels, etc. But the party was a success, and I’m happy we threw it. It definitely made my 30th birthday more memorable. R, you were right about that.

The next day, Monday, we had some guests arrive around the time my workday was ending. They included a couple of family friends (known as the H brothers) from Minnesota and a friend of theirs who lives in Vegas. The trio is spending the week visiting SoCal, so they made the drive up from LA to see what Santa Barbara is all about. I took them on the signature hike to Inspiration Point in the afternoon. Later on, R dropped us off downtown and we spent the evening eating dinner and doing some bar-hopping. It’s not very often I engage in a guys’ night out, so I took advantage of the situation and had a good time. Yes, I drank too much and stayed out way too late for a weeknight, but really, is there a better time to act immature than the point in life when you begin to feel old?

I’m getting too old for this

2009-04-03T21:57:00.004-04:00

This clip is nothing new if you caught it on Facebook last week or if you are a lucky owner of the limited edition Cottage Cheese DVD from a few years ago. It's not exactly brilliant filmmaking (nor singing for that matter), but I wanted to include it here because of its connection to the title of my blog. I had completely forgotten about the video when I wrote about the origins of "Midnight Toast," but it would have fit into that entry quite well.

What any of this has to do with my 30th birthday, I don't know. The big day was yesterday, and it got me thinking about things. Two years ago, I questioned whether or not hitting 30 would bother me. To be honest, I feel better about it now than I did then. I think a person reaches their full potential in their 30s, and there will be a lot of things to look forward to in my next decade, like having kids and seeing how Lost ends :-)

29 was one of my favorite ages, right up there with 4, 17, and 21. I won't bore you again with a list of everything that happened in the last year, but I've been very fortunate to have things work out the way they have. I really like my life right now. It scares me a bit to have things going so well because it seems like they can only change for the worse. But let's not talk like that. I'm just going to knock on wood and keep thinking positive thoughts.

Positive thoughts... like how wonderful yesterday was. Work wasn't too stressful. Afterwards, I took a bike ride along the beach. R arrived home early, and we went out to a happy hour at The Melting Pot. Then we returned home and uncorked a bottle of good pinot noir to drink while I opened my gifts. I was once again reminded why I love this woman so much: she got me a chess set (I'll explain this in a future entry) and a shotgun microphone for my video camera! Now I have no excuse for not shooting more video. I can't wait to start some new projects.

I also received a few cards in the mail with some kind words in them (as well as some moola :-). My parents also went so far as to record a video and email it to me. Between the acting, the editing, and the U2 soundtrack, they did an awesome job. I'd love to share it with you, but I'm not so sure my parents want it online. Let's just say I can see where I get some of my toast-singing lunacy from.

That's all I'm going to do for tonight. Thanks for reading, everybody.

Desert excursion

2009-03-31T18:58:00.001-04:00

The specific Joshua tree that inspired U2’s album by that name is actually located in Death Valley, but that didn’t stop R and me from playing the album a few times while driving to and around Joshua Tree National Park over the weekend. The park is located southeast of LA, making for about a 4 hour drive for us if you include a stop for lunch along the way.

We arrived in the early afternoon on Saturday, set up our camp, and hiked to 49 Palms Oasis. This was pretty cool… a group of towering palm trees growing in the middle of the desert thanks to a fault-created spring. Following that expedition we got back in the car and drove around the park, stopping at a few sights along the road and eventually at a star-gazing party. I wish we could have stayed there longer, but we gave into our hunger and went back to the campsite for some chicken sausage, couscous, and a bottle of red wine that disappeared way too quickly. We’re still trying to decide if the bottle tipped and we didn’t realize it or if we were just really thirsty from the dry air. My money is on the latter.

We didn’t quite have the courage to try an overnight hike yet, especially in an arid climate we knew very little about, so instead we slept next to the car in a campground. The idea of carrying everything we need for a night or two on our backs and finding some solitude appeals to us; being attacked by a coyote/snake/scorpion does not. Thus backcountry camping will have remain a goal for 2009 a while longer. We’ll get there.

On Sunday, we broke down the camp and drove to Key's View, from which we could see as far as the Salton Sea. Then, before beginning the drive home, we got out for one more hike, this one up Ryan Mountain. The scenery really was amazing and very distinct from any land we’ve seen before. There were huge flats littered with the namesake trees and other little bushes. Wildflowers are in bloom this time of year, making for colorful little highlights over the otherwise dry land. There are number of outcroppings of what R so perceptively called “cartoon rocks” because they look like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon. The rounded, cracked boulders were easy to climb, and I had some fun clambering on them, as you’ll notice in our photos found right here.

The weekend went way too fast, but it was great to get away. This was a brief, initial visit that we made without any advance preparation. Heading back to the park for a more in-depth exploration sometime in the future is a must.

Love (for wine) is blind

2009-03-26T15:19:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday R and I drove up to Lompoc, CA for a wine tasting event with the younger subset of the Newcomers group. What made this tasting unique was that we didn't know what was being poured into our glass. We sampled seven chardonnays and rated each of them without knowing how much each bottle cost, what the label looked like, or what flavors we were expected to taste. It was an interesting experiment, and for the most part, the better bottles rose to the top of the results.

I'm still learning how to distinguish good wine, but it was easy, even for me, to identify the one that was spoiled due to a defective cork. And Trader Joe's "Three Buck Chuck" didn't rate much higher. After that there was some variation in the group's rankings due to personal opinion, except for the top wine, which won by a long shot. It just so happened to be the one R and I contributed. It was a $22 bottle of 2006 Lafond Chardonnay purchased and given to us by R's mom during her recent visit to Santa Barbara. I guess Linda has some good taste!

We have another bottle of the same wine in our rack at home; it came in the latest shipment from the club we belong to. I'm looking forward to taking a closer examination of it sometime soon. Does anybody else get the impression that living out here is going to turn us into a couple of wine snobs?

Green

2009-03-17T18:51:00.002-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody. No, I'm not Irish. I just listen to a lot of U2... and visit an occasional Irish pub. On Saturday afternoon we hit 5 of them during a crawl with the younger members of the local Newcomers group. I took a few pictures but lost focus (literally -- quite a few turned out blurry) and dedication after the first two beers, so the gallery isn't anything too impressive. The outing was a good time with a group of people who are still relatively new in town, like us. We probably drank too much, but that's one way to get to know each other better.

The 'rents

2009-03-13T21:53:00.004-04:00

My parents were here for five nights, and I must say I really enjoyed their visit. We hit the usual Santa Barbara attractions -- wine tasting, whale watching, people watching (on the always entertaining State Street), a sunset hike up to Inspiration Point, a couple of good dinners out -- but I think the best part was simply having them around... to sit on our porch and eat oranges off the tree, to take a morning jog with my dad, to see my mom's face as she tells me about their new granddaughter. My dad kept joking about how they were going to move out here or come and visit every month, as if he expected a negative reaction out of me, but I would actually like that. I do miss them quite a bit, and since family and friends are our only real tie to Minnesota, if they all came out here we wouldn't feel compelled to move back :-)

Photos from the visit have been added to this gallery, if you want to take a look.

Okay, I'll admit it does feel good to have the place to ourselves again. That was quite the series of visitors. Now we can let the place get slightly more messy, I can have my office back full-time (since it doubles as the guest bedroom), and we can plan some new activities for our weekends. We do have some fun events coming up with new friends, so we're excited about that.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the video shoot I helped with earlier this week. Back before Christmas I met this guy with some Hollywood filmmaking experience, and he recently invited me to assist with a small-scale documentary he's working on around here. On Tuesday we met at the Museum of Natural History where we followed some kids on a nature walk. I carried the equipment along the trail for him at first, but after a while he let me take the camera and capture the kids collecting frogs and insects near a little creek. Lucky for me, he uses the same camera I own (the Canon XH-A1), so that helped with my confidence. It was a fun shoot in a gorgeous setting that inspired me to do two things (1) get outdoors more and (2) shoot more video!

Gaffe

2009-03-05T16:04:00.006-05:00

I probably watched my "Fake Empire" video a hundred times during the process of editing it, and somehow, over the course of all of those viewings, I managed to miss a clearly visible piece of production equipment (as well as R's hand holding it) in one particular shot. Now it's all I can see. I'd post a still from the video to point it out, but I want to make you watch the video again instead. So if you want to see what I'm talking about (and there's a good chance you don't), the gaffe is just past the two-minute mark.

This is all you're going to get for a blog entry this week. We had a good weekend last weekend--with bowling, biking, and hiking--but I'm going to skip the detailed recap. I haven't even had the chance to look at the photos I took during the hike yet. Time is just speeding along. I'm heading down to LAX in a few hours to pick up our next set of guests. Expect a full report on their visit sometime next week.

All that you can't leave behind, part 2

2009-02-25T23:50:00.002-05:00

This is the season of the guest. Last weekend we had R's dad and little brother (pictured with the pirate) staying with us. My time with them was cut short, but we did hang out Friday night and all day Saturday. Activities included grilling some kebobs, hoofing it all around Santa Barbara, and hearing Threadspinner (pictured below) play at Cold Spring Tavern, a favorite venue on the side of a hill. After I jetted away, R took our guests on a whale watching tour. Word is they saw some dolphins but no whales, and as the result of a "you WILL see a whale" guarantee they received some vouchers for another chance on another day. I think we'll use them with our next set of guests (arriving in another week), so this time I'll get to come along. Expect photos. Anyway, last weekend's guests have departed. Now they are heading toward the Grand Canyon before curving back home to Minnesota. Safe travels, guys. It was good to see you.

Our Santa Barbara 2009 gallery continues to grow. You can keep up here.

I'm still in the midst of my hotel stay near the Philly airport. This business trip is different from the others I've taken. I'm not ordering scotch or eating indulgent steak dinners this time. Part of it is because I'm traveling alone. Another part of it is the fact I've been working for a more conservative company since the acquisition last summer, and to be honest I'm not sure all of their travel policies, so I'm playing it safe. Plus, in these harsh economic times, there's no need for frivolous spending, even if I feel the company owes it to me (for reasons not commented on here). Maybe I should be thankful I have a job, one that allows me to work out of my home 98% of the time.

Being back among my coworkers for the first time in eight months has been an unexpected pleasure. I had almost forgotten about some of the folks I don't work directly with anymore, and I'm sure they had begun to forget about me. I think it's important to maintain those connections. For a good stretch there I was spending more time with these people than I would with my wife. There's a camaraderie that grows out of that shared history, and it doesn't always translate over the phone or instant messenger very well. It's also the kind of thing that you don't appreciate until you've left and returned to it, if only for a few days.

You may have noticed, the title of this two-part blog entry is the name of a U2 album from a few years ago. They've been on my mind again as the release date of their new album, No Line on the Horizon, nears. It's been available for illegal download for over a week, but I'm holding out for the ritual of purchasing a hard copy on the release date and placing my full attention on it during the initial spin. I did cheat slightly, however, by previewing the album a few times (it's streaming legally on MySpace) because I frankly couldn't stop myself after hearing it could be their best work since Achtung Baby. I'll try to write some sort of analysis/reflection when the timing is right, but for now let me say there are some real gems on it. I think I'm going to be playing it A LOT.

All that you can't leave behind, part 1

2009-02-23T23:31:00.001-05:00

Q was here! R's good friend from our time out east (and actress in my latest video) paid us a short visit last week. R gave her the whirlwind tour of SB on Wednesday. When my work day ended we drove up to Solvang where we did a wine tasting and later went out for sushi at Arigato. She left after lunch the next day. It was a quick visit, but I'm glad she made it. She was able to see SB at its sunny best, and R was able to catch up with a close friend, one of the people she misses most from Delaware.

Speaking of the east coast, I am in Philadelphia for business Sunday through Thursday of this week. I knew it was coming: Sooner or later somebody was going to ask me to return to the office, ripping me away from my own personal paradise of working from home, a home in my favorite town in the world no less. But I can deal with four days of commuting and freezing. I don't expect anybody to feel sorry for me, especially you Minnesotans.

That's my office building, snapped on the way in this morning.

The reason for my Pennsylvanian visit is to kick off a new project for a client that once employed me in St. Paul. I'm renewed and excited by the prospect of working with them again. I wouldn't be put off by a future business trip to Minnesota to see some old friends still working there (Terry, this includes you). Plus, if I could extend such a trip over a weekend, giving myself time to drive up to Duluth and meet my new niece, that would be even better. Her baptism was on Sunday, and I'm bummed I missed it.

There's more to write, including news of more visitors, but I will save it for next time. Right now I'm beat from a long day and an odd mix of the familiar and the new.

"Fake Empire" (finally)

2009-02-19T13:15:00.006-05:00

There's something immensely satisfying in seeing something that only existed in my head become a physical reality that can be shared with others. Usually, it starts with just a few specific visualizations. In the case of "Fake Empire" it was an image of a couple meeting under a street light and of them dancing together in a living room in the middle of the night. Then there's a point when imagination and the reality of the situation start feeding off of each other. You pick out the faces and places and some of the imaginary details are lost but the details of reality are gained. Then the actual shoot happens. This is the shortest stage in the process and when it's over, you have the footage you have and you need to make it work. Sometimes the throw-away shot becomes a happy accident while the pre-planned, calculated shot gets tossed away (or used reluctantly) because it's too stiff or not properly lit. Editing is like a giant jigsaw puzzle with one major difference: there's more than one way the pieces can fit together. There are so many choices that need to be made. For a guy who has the same thing for lunch every day only to avoid having to make a decision at the fridge, this can be a difficult process.

The video has been done for a while now. I've been sitting on it, wondering how I can perfect it as to avoid regret each time I watch it. But I'm realizing that's not possible. Reality is not perfect. My skills with video are far from perfect. I'm still learning and this is just another step along the way. Rather than continuing to make little tweaks (and later reversing half of them anyway), my time would be better spent starting the next project.

Without any further ado, here's the best I could do at materializing what I see in head when I hear the wonderful song "Fake Empire" by The National:

Thanks a bunch to S & Q for their outstanding acting. I'm so happy I was able to convince them to star in this thing. The couple is remaining anonymous because Q is a school teacher and didn't want her students stumbling across the video online. Understandable, considering some of the plot "hints" within.

New Zealand: one year later

2009-02-15T18:54:00.004-05:00

[Photo by Christine]

[Photo by Don]

[Photo by Karen]

[Photo by Karen]

I've been thinking a lot about our trip to New Zealand lately, probably because this month marks our first anniversary of being there (here's the post from then). Among other things, it was an adventure that inspired us to do more exploring of the outdoors. As a result, we camped more in 2008 than any other year in our lives (if you exclude R's summer as a camp counselor), and we are planning to get out even more in 2009. Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and Big Sur are on the list... and that is just this spring. The goal is to try more overnight hikes as well. We're gearing up so that we can carry everything we need for a couple of days on our backs, leaving the car and associated crowded campgrounds behind. California is a good place to attempt it.

Speaking of CA, the trip to NZ was what first seeded the idea of living here in our heads. I remember talking to my dad afterwards and telling him how we were "California dreamin'." This was even before transfering here for R's job was a known possibility. A number of the people in our travel group were from CA and spoke highly of the place. One of them, from Pasadena, was in charge of hiring some engineers for his company. R checked into it at the time. That opportunity didn't work out, but when we she was up for re-assignment in the spring and luck placed Santa Barbara on the list of potential locations, we pushed for it. It meant leaving some great friends, giving up my membership in the Delaware Independent Filmmakers club, and having to spend a lot more money to buy a smaller house... but I, for one, have not regret the decision, as you I'm sure you can tell. In fact you're probably tired of reading how much I love it here.

The photos above were not included in our original gallery from the NZ trip. They were taken by other people in our group and were sent to us after our own photos were organized. So I'm posting a few of them now for an alternate perspective of an amazing country. If you ever have the chance to see the place for yourself, I highly recommend going for it.

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all

2009-02-14T16:55:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to drop a note to say I hope you're enjoying the day whether you're with a loved one, with a friend, or on your own. R (pictured here in her "Love an Engineer" shirt) and I hiked up to a waterfall earlier this afternoon and are now getting ready for a dinner out. After that, we're going to drink some special Valentine wine that R's mom bought for us and watch Vicky Cristina Barcelona on DVD. It should be a low-key evening, but a good one nevertheless. I sure do love an engineer!

When it rains it pours

2009-02-11T06:31:00.002-05:00

Cold and rain in Santa Barbara? Are you kidding me? Believe it or not we had a bad streak of weather... and it unfortunately coincided with my in-laws' five-day visit. Being from Minnesota, these are folks who really appreciate the sun, so I feel bad that it rained continuously for their first two days here and sporadically thereafter until they left. A sunny vacation was just not in their cards this time.

But there's more to life than weather and we still enjoyed the company! Over the weekend we managed to go for a hike, tour wine country, get out on a sailboat, and share some good meals together. Take a look at my photos from the happenings posted in this gallery.

There was one other thing that added complication to the weekend: my job. Everything I mentioned above seemed to collide with what ended up being my busiest weekend of work in probably a year. Throw in a laptop issue and some angry clients, and you've got yourself a perfect storm -- a regular clash of my personal and professional lives. I just hope my work didn't interfere with our guests' stay too much. It definitely put me on edge, but I'm hoping I didn't transmit too many bad vibes.

Things are falling back into a more serene routine now. We've got three more sets of visitors lined up during the next month, so let's see if the weather can work with us a little better from now on. It's been such a good pal in the past.

The red carpet

2009-02-02T19:09:00.007-05:00

Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn, Penelope Cruz, Josh Brolin, Mickey Rourke – these are some of the celebrities we saw on the red carpet (and on stage) during this year's Santa Barbara International Film Festival. R and I have been volunteering at and around the entrance to the biggest theater in town during the last couple of weeks. As a guy who is enthralled by Hollywood filmmaking and the entertainment industry in general, I really enjoyed having this glimpse into the realm of fame and experiencing first-hand the charisma of stars who are followed by a near-constant glow of flashbulbs.

As R put it, it was like watching TV without the editing. Stripped of that editing, you really get the chance to see the stars for who they really are. Eastwood was incredibly sharp during his on-stage interview/retrospective and shared some fascinating tidbits about acting and directing... and both at the same time. Cruz's interview was slightly less insightful, but she came across as very down-to-earth yet, of course, amazingly attractive. For some reason I liked the Rourke tribute best. The guy proves that you can become famous on talent alone. He was the least star-like of anybody: he misspoke a few times, disappeared from the stage whenever clips of his work were played (and didn't always make it back in time), and generally didn't appear comfortable with his fame. But the film clips they showed demonstrated an enormous talent for acting. See him in The Pledge or Sin City for an example, not the mention The Wrestler, for which I guarantee he wins the Oscar.

The volunteer work involved a lot of standing around but was pretty low stress and served to give us an up-close look at the ongoings. One night we tore tickets at the main entrance to the theater. Another night I functioned as a security guard (yeah, intimidating me), stopping patrons and people wanting a look from coming through a side entrance. It was funny to hear some of the reasons why people thought they should be let in, e.g. “I just had knee surgery; you can’t make me walk all the way around to the front.” The occasional VIP would laugh at me when I tried to stop him and say something like “Haha -- I’m in charge of this festival,” as he kept on walking. As an unpaid volunteer without proper training, I tended to give folks like that the benefit of the doubt and let them pass.

The unfortunate part of being a volunteer is that we were not allowed to carry a camera, so my photos from the events are limited. The picture above was taken on a night off as we were passing by the theater on our way to the bar. The guy there was about half way done replacing David Fincher (whose interview I missed) with Mickey Rourke on the marquee. On my last night of volunteering I did some pre-production set up, which meant I had time to go home and change out of my volunteer shirt and grab a camera before the tribute to Mr. Rourke started. There are a few pics from that event in this gallery, but I'll bring the one below to your attention. Do you recognize this childhood hero of mine?

Mammoth weekend

2009-01-23T11:27:00.001-05:00

Where do the days go? This week seemed particularly short because last weekend stretched through Monday. We spent three nights about six car-driven hours northeast of here in the ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes, CA. This was my first time skiing outside of Minnesota, and I must say the difference is significant. The weather was warmer, the runs were longer, and the views of mountains were astounding. I brought our old point-and-shoot camera on the hills with me and grabbed a few shots. Check them out here.

One advantage to the point-and-shoot over our DSLR is it takes video, and since one of my goals is to post more "informal video" (as opposed to more polished ones like the music video I've been working on), here's a rough little "moving picture" of R tearing it up on the slopes:

It was a nice weekend away. We stayed in an old lodge next to a frozen lake. In addition to the two days of skiing, we went out for one really tasty dinner and one mediocre one, watched a DVD (Charlie Wilson's War), and drank some wine by the fireplace in the lobby. Ah, life is good.

There's lots of stuff going on these days, possibly too much. Stay tuned.

There's no place like home

2009-01-14T21:25:00.004-05:00

We made a day trip down to Hollywood last weekend to have some lunch on Sunset Blvd and see the Broadway musical Wicked. I will go so far as saying that this was probably the best play I’ve ever seen, but to be fair, I haven’t seen too many other plays of this caliber. I’m usually not a big fan of plays. I don’t like the over-acting and voice projection. Dramas are too dramatic; comedies, too annoying. But Wicked was enthralling. I liked the music, the visuals, the clever plot... it was an impressive show.

The weather has been amazing around here this week. Our friends in the Midwest are suffering at 40 degrees below zero while we are enjoying temperatures in the mid 70s. To top it off, the oranges on the trees in our courtyard have been ripening over the past few weeks and we have been indulging in them. This is the time of the year when SoCal really shines.

My post-work project this week has been to construct a star field generator, as seen below. Shooting an actual starry sky doesn't work because it's too dim (or my camera isn't sensitive enough), so I poked holes in a cardboard box, stuck the camera in it, and shone a light at the holes. The results looked great. I even had the ability to control the twinkling.

All of this was for a one second shot in my music video. The closer I get to finishing the video, the more excited I get about it. I also get more and more worried that my hard drive will crash or I'll fall and break my wrist before it's finished. I really need to wrap it up soon, but there is so much going on during the next few months that I have a feeling it's still going to be a while.

Next week Lost returns and the first single from U2's upcoming album hits the airwaves. It's an exciting time to be alive! I'm actually re-watching last year's finale of Lost as I write this. It just so happens the episode shares its name with the title of this blog entry.

Welcome to the world, Elise

2009-01-09T21:02:00.002-05:00

I'm full of baby pictures these days. This is my niece, Elise (Ellie), who was born on Thursday. Congrats to Ryan and Katie!

We're thinking she's going to be a musician because she shares a birthday with Elvis. And not only that, Ellie could be short for Elvis. Even if she doesn't decide to make music of her own, I'll bet she'll inspire it. There's already Beethoven's "Für Elise" and a great song by The Cure called "A Letter to Elise." I've been listening to that one all afternoon, thinking of the new baby, wishing I could be there to say hello.

An oldie

2009-01-07T19:27:00.002-05:00

I'll keep this short, as I still want to get back to some editing tonight. The new year has re-ignited my passion for my latest video project; I should act on that as much as possible. I just wanted to share the above photo of yours truly in his youth. My dad has been going through boxes of old slides, scanning them into his computer (he and I share an interest in preserving the past), and emailing a few of the notable ones to me. I don't think I had ever seen these photos before he sent them, at least not any time recent enough for them to remain in my memory, so they have been fun to see. When R and I have a child of our own (nothing currently scheduled), you can bet he or she is going to get the full coverage treatment: photos with fancy lenses, HD video... the whole works. Did you expect anything less?

A week of winter

2009-01-04T21:04:00.007-05:00

Well, that was a nice break from blogging, among other things. We returned from Minnesota on New Year’s Day. Our pace definitely slowed for the week that we were there. The majority of our time was split among three families with some travel in between, but it was relaxing. I'm happy to report all of our flights and drives went off without a hitch. You never know what card the weather will play in Minnesota. It was great to see everybody, eat a bunch of excellent food, and to experience some real winter without the opportunity to get tired of it.

Check out our photo gallery from the holidays. It's sort of dominated by our photogenic nephew. R gave me a new lens as a gift, and I got a lot of practice with it taking shots of that little guy. (We even caught him crawling for the very first time!) The lens has a wide aperture, so it's great for shooting in low light and for playing with a shallow depth of field. I regret not owning a lens like this sooner. The results we've been getting so far have made the price way more than worth it.

We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button during our stay in Eveleth. The movie struck a chord with me. I think it had something to do with the emotions that seem to pervade the time I spend with my family during these bi-annual visits. As much as I enjoy my time with them, there's this underlying sadness in the way it feels like I show up only to say good-bye. The movie was about saying good-bye and how the chance to connect can be fleeting even when a relationship exists our whole lives. All of this makes me glad to have R in my life. It's nice to have somebody I don't have to say good-bye to as I don't think I could do this on my own. We returned to California together last week, and I think we have been appreciating each other's company more than ever since then.

On Friday I got a head start on the upcoming work week. Tomorrow everybody will be back in the office, so the pressure will be on to finish some things I left hanging before the holiday. I'm starting to feel like my responsibility at this job is outweighing the benefits. I love being able to work from home, but there are some things related to the recent acquisition that I'm not happy about... and it can't all be blamed on the poor economy. I probably shouldn't be writing about it here, but then again maybe it's okay if a coworker reads that I've been getting my résumé back into shape.

This weekend wasn't as productive as it could have been. I guess we're still in vacation mode. The next three or four months are going to be busy ones, so I wish I would have taken the opportunity to get more done around the house. We did have some fun though. Yesterday afternoon, for instance, we visited a winery down the street for a tasting session. 8 samplings later we found ourselves heading out the door for some tipsy furniture shopping and then a long afternoon nap. We also joined the winery's club, which means we agreed to buy so many bottles a year but also get free tastings (guests included) for as long as we're members. Now you have even more reason to visit us. Speaking of which, we have four separate groups of visitors arriving in the next few months, so that is definitely exciting!

A real wise guy

2008-12-24T06:13:00.002-05:00

Here's a shot of the "living nativity scene" in which we participated the other night. I'm one of the wise men (the one who looks like he's holding a crockpot in his sleep) and R is, fittingly, the beautiful angel. Not pictured are the shepherds and some living animals. (The camel is a strange beast, clumsy and flatulent.) All in all it was a one of a kind experience.

Merry Christmas, everybody! I'll catch up with you again in 2009.

2008 holiday letter

2008-12-20T18:24:00.002-05:00

Here's a copy of the holiday letter we recently sent out. If you've been following Midnight Toast / Jeblog for a while it won't be anything too exciting for you, but it makes for an easy post and maybe some of my newer readers can use this to get up to speed on my situation.

Jeff and R here, wishing all you dudes and dudettes a happy holiday. Please note our new address on the envelope if you haven't already recycled it. In June we left Delaware to make a new home in Santa Barbara, California!

And so we've begun to explore the west. Since the move we have visited LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Montaña De Oro State Park, and Zion National Park. There's still plenty more to see, and we plan to see it, but it can be hard to leave Santa Barbara. Our condo is located two miles from the beach and about the same from the mountains, making it very easy to get outside under the sunny skies for a hike, bike, or swim. Y’all should stop by for a visit. We have a guest room ready for you.

R was transferred here by DuPont to research and develop the future of display technology: Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). It's an exciting business and technology to be involved in, and R enjoys the challenges it brings. She also finds time for yoga, kickboxing, ceramics, and sampling new restaurants. One of her goals for 2009 is to try surfing!

Jeff was able to keep his job after the move and work out of the new house, making for an easy commute and the freedom to stay in his bathrobe all day. The software company he worked for was purchased by the massive Oracle Corporation this year and the transition has kept him on his toes… but he still manages to have at least one video project underway at all times too. Oh, and Jeff started skateboarding this year.

We will also remember 2008 for the two weeks in February we spent in New Zealand. This trip had us climbing on glaciers, hiking in rain forests, jumping off cliffs, kayaking through fjords, swimming with eels... it was an adventurous tour through an extraordinarily beautiful country. We feel so lucky to have had these opportunities to explore the world. You betcha.

The best gift of Christmas is sharing our lives with friends and family, in spirit if not always in person. We hope this holiday brings you peace, love, and joy into 2009.

Shooting the moon

2008-12-14T21:56:00.005-05:00

I dusted off the video camera to take some footage of the full moon last week. It will be used in the music video I'm cobbling together, although not the shot you see above because the video is supposed to take place in Wilmington and you won't find any palm trees there.

So it turns out I'm finding time to work on my video this month after all. I'm feeling better about my "to do" list now that I've had the chance to dive into it. My Christmas shopping is out of the way for the most part. Our holiday letter is written and just waiting to be printed, enveloped, and dropped in the mail. I do have a big project to finish up this week at work, but it will get done one way or another. There has been much to do, but perhaps I underestimated the amount of free time I would have in which to do it. Having the nights and weekends open has certainly helped.

We weren't planning to get a Christmas tree this year because the season was speeding along so fast and, as usual, we'll be out of town for the actual holiday, but we broke down and got a tree anyway. It is now fully decorated too, furthering our immersion in the Christmas spirit. We also attended Handel's Messiah in concert at the Granada last weekend to help us get there. This is the musical piece that contains the famous "Hallelujah" chorus that has been spoofed so often in pop culture. It was great to hear it in it's original context for a change.

Also on the entertainment scene, we saw/heard our favorite local band, Threadspinner, perform at a little place down the street. We went out to the movie Slumdog Millionaire and watched Tropic Thunder from our couch. Slumdog was good but not everything I had hoped for. I fell asleep during Thunder. I haven't seen too many movies this year, so I'm glad we're making a last minute effort to catch up. The Dark Knight is probably still my favorite from 2008, but I have high hopes that something else will blow me away before the Oscars arrive. Nobody wants to say the most popular movie of the year was also their favorite.

Dream beneath a desert sky

2008-12-06T17:55:00.007-05:00

Whew. December is off to a busy start. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with work and with life in general right now. Don't expect much blogging from me this month because there are so many other things to finish up before the holidays. I wouldn't be surprised if I don't even touch my video project this month, which is a bummer since I'm getting so dang excited to share it with you.

At least the next few weekends are looking relatively uneventful. Last weekend was sort of our final hurrah before we buckle down and face the weeks before our Christmas vacation in Minnesota. We drove out to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with my grandparents and then up to Zion National Park in Utah for some hiking and camping. If you've been following me on Twitter, Facebook, or email, then this is probably not news to you, but I feel the need to document it here anyway simply because it was such a wonderful extended weekend.

It was pouring rain when we left last Wednesday morning. We cruised across the desert in an unexpected fog, arriving on my grandparents’ place mid afternoon. That evening the four of us hit a buffet, where I showed great restraint and managed to avoid getting the hiccups! It occurred to me while I was there that the first time I ever got what I call the "Killer Hiccups" was after eating at a buffet during my last visit to Vegas (I was thirteen or fourteen at the time). At the wise old age of 29 I finally overcame them by simply not eating so much. I wanted to stay at the top of my game when it came to playing computerized BINGO. That's right -- they have machines that do all of the work for you now. The numbers are still read aloud, but there’s no need to daub cards with ink anymore. Your only responsibility as a player is to yell the word when the machine tells you that you won. So in our case, we had no responsibility at all. Oh well, it was fun to get an inside perspective of my grandparents' night life. They appear to be some sort of BINGO royalty at Boulder Station.

The next day was Thanksgiving. My grandma made a turkey and all of the fixings, and it was very tasty. I was glad to be with family after spending the holiday alone last year. After dinner and some good old-fashioned relaxing, R and I went off to explore the city. This was her first time seeing The Strip and it had been 15 years for me. The place has changed a lot and so has my perspective. We walked a long way, in and out of casinos, stopping in a few shops and for a drink in the Eiffel Tower. Of course we had a good time, but after seeing this town that is all surface we couldn’t help but appreciate the real Eiffel Tower or the real New York City or the real Michelangelo’s paintings more. Maybe that’s the point of Vegas. The façade itself is impressive, but it leaves me with a sleazy, empty feeling. It's a good place for wild night life, but as you all must know, that's not really what I'm looking for.

We got up on Friday and drove northeast to Zion National Park in Utah. Ideally we would have had enough time to see Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon as well, but Zion was plenty for two days. It’s quite a spectacular place, a deep canyon carved out of sandstone. Camping was cold, but we had a couple of fires and bundled ourselves up pretty well inside our sleeping bags. We took three separate hikes, the highlight of which involved following a narrow spine with 1500 foot cliffs on both sides to Angels Landing. It was a little daring and quite outstanding. We really fell in love with the park. The only disappointing aspect was high volume of people present over the long weekend. It’s hard to revel in the glory of a landscape when there are screaming kids on the trail ahead of you or a big group of people rushing you out of the way so they can get a photo in front of the vista on which you are gazing.

Check out our photo gallery from the trip. We took 350 shots, kept 150, and posted 80. Many of the shots were scrapped because the light had either too harsh a contrast or was too dim. An improperly exposed sky or a little unwanted blur is sometimes (but not always) enough for me to hit the delete button. But I guess it works out because if I posted a gallery of more than 80 photos, it would be too overwhelming for anyone to view entirely anyway. If I made you wade through a bunch of garbage, you'd surely miss the few decent shots. That's the value of editing.