rebuilding year
I was in camera limbo for the Thanksgiving weekend. Not so good.
I had a sweet little Fuji camera about the size of a pack of smokes that filled in the gaps between doing SLR work shoots. Moving had me cramming my office into boxes and the boxes are crammed into a bedroom called my temporary office. For the life of me I couldn't find my little point and shoot so I went to 3 stores finding one that had this little Olympus FE-280 in stock for the advertised $129 price. Apparently they only allotted a certain number at that price and then would tell me they're "out of stock" which by the third store I found out meant they're out of stock for that price. When I found one in a display cabinet and it rang up at $189 I suggested it was the same camera as the advertised price and they eventually adjusted the price.
Now four days too late I've got a nice little 8meg bite size camera.
I ended up selling my sweet little Nikon Digital SLR outfit a while back because FujiFilm USA lent me a wonderful S3 for over a year because of the whole Scrapped thing. I haven't spent the cash to pick up something new ( I've got a movie to pay off ) but have rented some D200's for freelance work and the main thing I'm missing for my daily dink around shots is better control of depth of field and my super wide angle lenses that I can't seem to cram onto my point and shoot micro machines.
So this morning I'm trying to get a shot at submitting an audition tape out to host a tattoo travel show, the deadline was the day before Thanksgiving but I didn't get the email until it was too late. I emailed the casting agent and pleading for mercy. I'm also editing a reel of shooting / directing / editing work together for a job I'm dying to get an interview for downtown in a company that's looking specifically for an associate online video producer. It's a marketing / ad company that's got some heavyweight national clients so it would be a great chance to get back into the mainstream and have a steady 9-5 job ( or 8-7 job like the rest of the ad world ) for awhile.
As soon as these things get wrapped this morning I've got a contractor friend of mine coming over because I'm starting to turn an unfinished space in the basement of the new house into a 20'x 20' studio with sound booth and sweet sweet HD editing bay. I want to try and take advantage of not having a full time job at the moment to do the framing, drywalling and soundproofing before I'm busy all day making money and paying it all off. Thank goodness for home equity loans.
Pics to come.
new traditions
I spent many years cutting down dead trees in the fall. It's an amazing time to be out in the woods. You can get engulfed in a 40 foot wall of orange and red with rustling leaves in hyper-stereo all around you as it always seems to be windy. The last few houses I've owned had fireplaces ( the last one had two ) and the first proper house Connie and I moved into when we got married had an over sized garage with a workshop and wood stove. Dropping and splitting wood was something to look forward to, knowing you were going to be snowed in soon and should appreciate being able to run around outside in a sweatshirt.
Our new house has a gas fireplace and I welcome the change. No more bark loose in the house and babysitting the fire after it's gone down but not out. No more cutting wood this fall.
I ended up spending a little quality outside time hunting with my friend Todd, his dog Norman and Connies brother Ken and it ended being a fine trade off. Still loud and life threatening, still outside and you bring home meat instead of wood. Good times.
I've noticed more visitors from the UK lately to the blog. You guys have a long heritage of bird hunting. Does anyone actually wear tweeds, use double barrel shotguns and have a glass of port and a pipe afterward? Do you or your loved ones hunt grouse, pheasant or something else this time of year? How about in Deutschland? How about you Dutch diplomats?
Tally Scrapped
Today is the big day that I have a layout challenge on for the Tally Scrappers! Visit their home page
here or go directly to the challenge
here.
I've gotten a lot of love from the Tally Scrapping group so check them out. There's online communities, shopping, techniques, news, challenges and lots and lots of layouts!
I'm part of the Survivor Challenge that happens Thursdays in preparation for the show. Get the scoop
here on what's happening on Survivor and submit a layout in the next six days for prizes like Tim H's sweet new Grunge Board. Virtually indestructible. Virtually... I'll see what I can do.
My challenge was based on dementing famous quotes into something less edifying and more realistic. I did a layout that was text heavy and visually light. ( Maybe artistic? ) Instead of a photo I put a little mirror that's big enough to see something but small enough to not know exactly what's in it on the first go around.
Visit www.Tallyscrapper.com to check out my layout and mis-quote!
OK, OK... Tag Time
I've been resisting the blog tag thing because it reminds me too much of a chain letter but reading other people's tidbits has just been too much fun. Thanks Minda, Emily and the other people who have bagged and tagged me. I'm finally getting off my butt and doing it:
Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged:
1.Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs
Here's my seven random facts:
1) I was born left handed but broke the two bones in my left forearm when I was 9 in a horse riding accident. The cast stayed on long enough that I just became right handed for writing and other major functions.
2) I was the first person at my High School ( that I or anyone knows of in a graduating class of about 600 students ) to have a full on mohawk. It was 1985 - 17 years ago. It didn't look very good because I had kinky hair.
3) I like romantic comedies and ocasionally cry during them.
4) I totaled 3 cars and 2 motorcycles within a four year span.
5) I was a liscenced minister in the State of Minnesota for two years. During that time I performed a marriage ceremony.
6) I played the violin for six years in school and take perverse delight in singing off key for fun.
7) I have successfully evaded pursuit from the authorities in Tijuana.
Here are the seven people I'm sticking this with:
Melissa,
Scott,
Jennifer,
Nathalie ( knowing German will help ),
The whole scrapworks team from Manila,
Drew , and of course
Chan! The trick is that most of the celebrity scrappers I know have already done this so I'll take a shot on these people see if they ever return my emails again...
:0)
trailer
The trailer for the movie I helped my friends out with is finally up!
http://www.coldplaythemovie.com/trailer.htmlYou can also see production stills
here. I made it into about a half dozen of them. I was officially the data acquisitions guy ( the new version of the person in charge of loading, sorting and protecting with their life the big reels of film on a movie shoot ) for all the HD footage, we used my camera, drives and computer, I was also the 1rst AC, headed up the camera dept. stuff like dolly's, jibs, etc. and was clacker boy quite a bit so I'm in alot of shots next to actors and actresses shoving the slate in their face.
Here's a shot of me picking some kind of fuzz or something off Carlo Rota's jacket. Pretty glamorous huh? Another highlight would be getting smooched on the cheek ( twice! ) by
Vanessa Branch who's worked in a bunch of movies but you may know her best as the Orbit gum girl ( fabulous! ) was able to work with
Carlo Rota like I mentioned whose been on the TV show 24 quite a bit,
Ignacio Serrichio, and
D.David Morin my friend who I mention off and on that I stay with in Santa Monica. He co wrote and co directed the movie and it was therapeutic to stay with him while we were shooting Cold Play because it gave us both a chance to unwind from the day, deconstruct what was happening, yell and laugh about the drama on set and things blowing up, etc. I've learned a ton from him.
Scrapped was great because it brought me from armchair critic to bush leagues, pretty much gaining me entry into the next level of play where you start all over again being a small fish in a big pond. It's a never ending process if you're trying to grow and learn. I'm enjoying the journey.
