Minnesota dreamin'

This photo comes courtesy of my mother-in-law. She took it during our recent visit to Minnesota. I think she really captured the essence of the trip : )

We were on the go again last weekend. We drove down to Virginia for a reunion with R's extended family and spent Saturday night in a hotel there. It was a good time.

It turns out I'm not feeling particularly wordy tonight. I might see about going downstairs and falling asleep on the couch.

Minnesota eating tour 2007

Two weeks ago I had my busiest, most stressful week of the year. Last week I had my most laid-back and relaxing one. Together, they balanced out to an average two-week period that I need to get you caught up on. Time is a factor as I write this, so forgive me if it gets a little sloppy.

The cause of my stress was, of course, my job. I was expecting a busy week, but I never saw the extent of the overtime hours and flat out mental exertion coming. At 5:30 on Monday evening, my boss gave me a week's worth of work to do... and he needed it done that night. Well, getting it done that night was impossible, but I did finish by Wednesday evening after working on it for pretty much two days straight, taking breaks only for dinner, commuting, and a few hours of sleep. I was telling myself I would take it easy for the rest of the week, but Thursday and Friday were frantic, full days of work as well.

Needless to say I needed a vacation. It started out strong with a four-course dinner at the grand opening of a Wilmington restaurant called The Exchange. We met some friends from Out & About magazine there and had a great meal of gazpacho, salad, steak (salmon for R), and a French toast dessert. I had a beer with the first course and a glass of wine specially paired with each of the others. What a way to end a tough week. I recommend the place.

We got home late that night, packed for our trip, and slept for three hours before catching a flight out of Philly. We were in Duluth by early afternoon. My parents picked us up and took us to their place on the Range. That night we attended my 10-year high school reunion. I enjoyed seeing my old classmates again, some of whom I hadn't seen in the full 10 years. It was as interesting as expected, but I was more than happy to leave at the end of the night. We went back to my parents' and crashed into bed like a train off the tracks.

The next day we ate a turkey dinner with my grandparents and also stopped by my cousin's house to see his and his wife's new baby. That night and the next day we hung out with my parents and ate some more -- my parents' famous South Americans, dinner at the Wandering Pines, fresh walleye prepared by my talented mom, and various other snacks and desserts. The weather was poor, but we still managed to play some ladder ball, go for a pontoon boat ride, and soak in the hot tub. The relaxing had begun.

On Monday night we headed west for my father-in-law's house, where we woke up on all three mornings to massive breakfasts. There was also a wild rice meatloaf dinner comsumed at Itasca State Park's Douglas Lodge that was quite memorable. It was a good visit. I was able to relive my youth with my cool 11-year-old brother-in-law by taking the Super Mario World by storm. The two of us also took a spin on a carnival ride called The Orbiter on the night of the 4th that had me hanging on tighter than I like to admit. The rides were set up in Bemidji, the town we visited to see some fireworks. Our time with R's pop, bro, and sis also included a mosquito-y hike to a fire tower, an afternoon at the beach, and many fierce games of croquet.

The third leg of our trip was spent at R's mom and step dad's house. By this time in the week, the weather was perfect, and we made use of it on the lake, swimming and sailing. The eating continued as well -- think shrimp, grilled steaks, good beer, and tons of summery finger food. We made a trip down to Sartell to visit R's grandparents (and eat a pizza) and also spent an afternoon back on the lake with R's extended family. Good times and good people.

We spent our last night in Duluth catching up with my older brother and his wife. He was nice enough to wake up at 3:30 on Sunday morning to drive us to the airport. The return trip was pleasantly uneventful. It felt really good to get back here early enough on Sunday to do the laundry, buy groceries, and even take an afternoon nap before beginning another busy week.

Recurring themes of the vacation: food, relaxation, and family (like, but not quite like, the loons above). Thanks to all of our accomodating hosts!

Bud Light Film Crew #7

Sorry I'm a little late with posting this month's video. I've been vacationing in Minnesota for the last week. We'll be back on Sunday. I'll try to report about the trip some time after that.

The lighting in the video looks better this time. However, there are still some problems with the overall flow... I also had to stretch my cover shots rather thin... and I was a bit rushed when I made the graphics... but I'm not going to write about those things because R wants me to remain positive on here. Let's just say the video is a fine addition to my catalogue. At least this time I can take credit for all of the mistakes since I was able to do the shooting and editing myself. I must say, I continue to get quite a kick out of working on these things.

I need to get back to my vacation. Check out the video here:
http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

Shiver me timbers

Once in a while it's fun to go against one's better judgement and make a trip to the movie theater to see a summer blockbuster the way it's meant to be seen. Despite hearing the mixed reviews and not being all that crazy about the other films in the series, we found ourselves at the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie on Saturday night. It was R's pick, but I was fine with the choice. I figured I owed it to myself to see one of these movies on the big screen after having seen the second one on 13-inch television in the woods over our Christmas vacation last year. When it comes down to it, I'm a sucker for a good action movie. This one delivered in that respect, although the action seemed highly condensed into the last 40 minutes or so. Until that point I was shaken by the difficultly I had in following what was going on. I even caught myself nodding off a few times, which, I will say, rarely happens to me in a theater that I spent $10 getting into. I consider it more an indication of me not getting enough sleep last week, and my plot-following problems were probably related to me nodding off a few times during the second installment, which I can justify because, again, I saw it on that 13-inch screen! In case I need to further justify my light slumber, I could also place some blame on the wine that had been consumed at a BYOB restaurant before the movie on Saturday and before/during the one we saw over Christmas. My joke to R was that seeing a trippy Pirates movie in 2007 with a wine buzz is akin to seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey while high in the late 1960s, at least from what I hear. Anyway, I digress. When the movie ended, I didn't think I liked it much. Yet, for some reason, I woke up this morning wanting more. Many of the visuals from the movie were stuck in my head. I started to appreciate the wealth of ideas, the spilling over of story, the ragged wardrobe contrasting with the colorful settings, the coarse pirates of kids' daydreams seeking out adventure for adventure's sake. Maybe it just takes time for an adult to give in to the fun and to stop thinking so much. I went out for a roller-blade ride this afternoon during which my head was filled with thoughts of my childhood: of how we used to assume the Gilbert cemetery was haunted, of how one time I tried to ride my skateboard down the steep road to "the pit" and got going so fast the deck shook until I was thrown into a water-filled ditch half way down, of how we used to camp out in our back yards so we could explore the neighborhood in the middle of the night. If I have a point, it is that the Pirates movies are movies I would have loved as a kid. And it upsets me now to think I could fall asleep during them.

Nerdy and numb

As if I'm not nerdy enough already, I began writing some pulp science fiction the other day. It's one of those projects I'm starting that I'll probably never finish. I just like planting a plot idea once in a while and seeing where it goes without getting hung up on the details. If I were really brave, I'd post chapters on this blog as I write them. But, yeah, no.

Helping fuel this nerd complex of mine, R and I went to a barbeque at one of her coworkers' home on Saturday night, and I realized that I'm really out of touch with drinking games (or, more likely, was never in touch with them in the first place). Apparently beer pong can be played without paddles. And how about this game called Thumper? What do the neighbors think of the rowdy group sitting out on the deck pounding on a table and yelling obscenities? I think it's pretty well accepted here on the east coast. It just sounds like a day at the office. The neighbors probably aren't home anyway -- they're probably all at the office.

You know what? They aren't kidding when they say soda can rot your teeth. A few years ago my dentist told me as long as I don't drastically change my diet I should never have a cavity in my life. I used to drink maybe one soda a month. Since beginning work with my new company, where the soda flows freely, I switched to about one can per week. Apparently that slight change in diet was enough to give me my first two cavities. Strangely enough, I started flossing regularly in the last six months as well as using the, supposedly, best electric toothbrush on the market (the Oral-B Triumph). Maybe it was too little too late, but those precautions were taken to work on my gums -- I wasn't even concerned about cavities. Anyway, good-bye, perfect teeth. I'm done with soda, by the way.

Two weeks ago we went to the Greek festival, last week it was the Italian festival, and this week we'll likely drop by the jazz festival. It's that time of year in Wilmington, I guess.

I hope this day finds you well. Farewell for now.

Taking the show on the road

We spent the weekend a couple of hours south of Wilmington in Dewey Beach, DE, a small town notorious for its wild summer bar scene. You may have witnessed a bit of the madness in the April Bud Light video, which took place at the most popular bar there, the Starboard. We did a double shoot in Dewey this weekend, capturing more drunken craziness that you will have the opportunity to see in July and August.

On Saturday night we followed a team of professional surfers around to a series of bars where they greeted their fans and signed surf boards (although, to be honest, hardly anybody knew who the surfers were). During mid-day Sunday we revisited the Starboard for what they appropriately call "Suicide Sunday." I've never seen so many people intoxicated at 1:00 in the afternoon (but the 4th of July in my hometown has come close). It was difficult to get any intelligible interviews, but I still think the August video is going to look great. It was our first day-lit shoot so that should at least distinguish it from anything else we've done.

It was a good weekend. R and I got some beach time, went out for some excellent Japanese food, and had a free place to spend the night only a few blocks from the water. Now we're home -- work is off to a busy start, and I need to set aside some time to edit.

Top 5 in music

They say the music you listen to between the ages 17-20 is the music that you compare everything else to for the rest of your life, and nothing else ever quite stacks up against it. This must be true because my lists appear rather out-dated. It's not that I think everything was so much better in the past. There's been a lot of new music released in the last few years that I absolutely love (e.g. Spoon, M. Ward). I just haven't had the chance to connect with it on the same level as the albums/songs listed below. When I was in high school, buying/receiving a new album was a big event, and I played the heck out of each one. These days I feel over exposed to a flood of new music and probably don't give one album/song a chance to develop so many associated memories. But who knows -- maybe 10 years from now bands like The Decemberists or Sufjan Stevens will become my nostalgic favorites.

I could write an essay about each of these. I'm limiting myself to about one sentence for each just to keep this under control.

Favorite albums:

1) Achtung Baby by U2 - Simply put, a perfect album then and now; a complete reinvention for the band and for what music could mean to me.

2) Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins - The inspiration for almost everything creative I did during high school.

3) The Joshua Tree by U2 - Reminds me of driving up the north shore with my dad, driving home from the last day of school, driving down to Mobile to be with R, driving...

4) OK Computer by Radiohead - I started with an obsession over The Bends, but this is the one complex enough to keep me returning to it regularly after all these years.

5) Funeral by The Arcade Fire - A relative newcomer that brings the nostalgia with it.

Honorable mention: Disintegration by The Cure - This album is probably the most representative of my favorite style of music: downbeat, atmospheric, electronically tinged.

Favorite songs:

1) "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak - Too self-serious and dated? Or an atmospheric masterpiece? You know where I stand.

2) "One" by U2 - I love a lot of obscure U2 songs too, but just because this one is well known doesn't make it any less powerful.

3) "1979" by The Smashing Pumpkins - Ah, the freedom of youth -- my favorite topic.

4) "Falling" by Julee Cruise - Memories of Twin Peaks blend into my own.

5) "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones - This may surprise some people because I'm no more than a casual Stones fan, but this song just blows me away every time (I feel similar about Aerosmith's "Dream On").

Honorable mention: "Human Wheels" by John Mellencamp - Dark and poetic; an underrated gem.

Favorite concerts:

1) Mason Jennings, 2001 @ UST. This was practically a private concert for us and maybe 20 other people in the basement of a building at St. Thomas. The next year we were sardines.

2) Neko Case, 2006 @ Winnipeg Folk Festival. The perfect soundtrack to the storm that rose and then fell during the show, revealing a full moon.

3) U2, 1997 @ Metrodome. Eventually, I had this entire concert memorized, including the onstage banter and every electronic touch added to the songs.

4) The Smashing Pumpkins, 1998 @ The Hennipen Ave Block Party. The music was better when I saw them two years earlier in the Target Center, but making a day a trip out of this one with two good buddies in pursuit of adventure makes it a favorite of mine.

5) Damien Rice, 2004 @ Historic State Theatre, MN - This one is on the list for the music.

Honorable mention: Andy Stochanksy, 2002 @ UST. An opening act that, in my opinion, stole the show (from the headlining Matt Nathanson).

Mini folk fest

Pictured above is Hoots & Hellmouth, my favorite of the bands we saw/heard perform on Saturday at the Appel Farms Arts & Music Festival in southern New Jersey. These guys know how to make you want to stomp your feet. Another band we saw, although they were probably more interesting in concept and novelty than they were entertaining, was Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra. This was an 18-piece big band ensemble that performed only--you guessed it--songs from Bjork's catalogue. Even though I was waiting to hear it, I didn't even recognize the reinterpreted version of "Army of Me" until about 2 minutes into the song. Anyway, it was a fun day of laying out in the sun and listening to some music, even if it wasn't quite a substitute for the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which we will be missing this year : (

Bud Light Film Crew #6 - editing only

Remember last month when I was upset with the opening shot in BLFC #5 and I promised softer lighting in the next video? You can forget all about that. This month's video looks like it's on fire, and not in a good way.

I didn't shoot this one. I had other plans that night and was not at the shoot. I just attempted to edit the footage I was given, some of which was too dark, most of which was too bright, and about a third of which had no audio.

No offense to the guy who did shoot it. He accidentally had the exposure on the camera opened all the way up. I should have verified that the auto setting was turned on before lending him the camera.

We had originally tried to reschedule the shoot so I could be there. We got together the night before (a Tuesday) and shot 10 minutes of footage at a nearly empty bar in Trolley Square before realizing it wasn't going to work. Our idea was to profile a bartender on his last night of work, but everything we tried fell flat. The lesson learned: If we're going to shoot during the week, it needs to be done in the college town of Newark. That's the only place in Delaware with life after 9pm.

I'm not posting a link this month. If you do want to check it out despite my warning, you probably know how to find it on your own (hint: the link is the same every month).

Next month the film crew returns to the beach. We're going to shoot the July and August videos on back-to-back days over one weekend. Expect good things.