my brilliant career

on monday night i saw the u.t.a trax commercial that we shot a few weeks ago. it looks good, and it's always nice to see something i have worked on make it to the finish line [granted, i loaded the film and changed the lenses, but i take pride in my work, and they gave me a free hoodie].

jared hess mentioned to me that '[my] mug pops up a few times' on the new 'napoleon dynamite' dvd. now i'm really tempted to buy it, because i don't know what would get me on there....

that picture up there was printed in usa today; see that guy on the left way in the background, looking down to write on the slate?

that's me.

dead man's party

do you ever wonder what your funeral will be like?
who will be there? what will they say?
will they get the facts about your life correct?

death has never really been a big deal for me. perhaps that is easier to say because i have never lost anyone especially close to me, but in the big picture, it really isn't that bad. the afterlife is really a pretty good place, and, although it is quite sad and hard that we most likely won't see those we love for the rest our mortal sojourn, we will see them again, and that will be pretty awesome.

for those reasons and more, i really don't want my funeral to be a sad event. i'm sure it will, as is natural, but i would really like it to be more of a hawaiian themed gathering. maybe that's not the best choice, since a scandinavian-minnesotan is roughly the antithesis of polynesia, but i really like the idea of people wearing hawaiian shirts to my funeral.

i would like there to be a dance, karaoke, and people sharing stories about the funny or dumb things that i did. laughter is a much better way to say goodbye, rather than somber pyre with heads bowed as if my life were some sort of tragedy. i would much rather everyone getting excited about the whole thing:

'are you going to jeff's funeral?'

'yeah, everybody's coming; it's going to be awesome!'

who could ask for more?

a cat named frankenstein

i've been to the osaka restaurant on center street in provo a handful of times over the years. the food is generally authentic and i have been there past closing on a few occasions. but they continued to serve us and it's generally a very cool place.
i did have a really not good piece of mackerel sushi, though.
that was really, really not very good.

one of the detractions of having internet availability restricted to moments of being the library is that, often, those 'moments of clarity' that produce worthwhile reading happen outside of the hbll.
i suppose i could jot them down on a notepad.

it is interesting to me how, some days, the passion and creativity seem to be bursting from my mind like athena from the skull of zeus [whether or not that is a legitimate thought is really up to you], and other days there is little pressure behind any legitimate idea. yet i have noticed that, regardless of the force at which the raw material eminates, without sculpting and editing, the quality suffers.

in less than a week, i will be in japan. wow. i never really thought that would come, but now that it is in the immediate horizon, i'm starting to realize that it's happening.
my japanese has atrophied severely, and while it is a lovely country where you can get by in english without much difficulty, knowing the language is always useful.
i don't know how readily available internet access is, but i hope it will be prevailent enough that i can keep this updated, as i'm sure there will be plenty to write about.

it is a warm and beautfiul day outside, i got my new camera lens this morning, and there are few things on the green earth that make me smile like seeing ducks.

happy 21 in st. g--may you enjoy your apple beer.

funny: ha ha

i don't watch a lot of tv.
i really don't have a lot of respect for it. i have 4-5 shows that i watch regularly, but that's about it.
last night we watched the season finale of 'the office' and we were laughing so hard it hurt. that the character development was also fantastic was great, but 'funny' is really the bottom line.

why do we like to laugh? in my high school psychology class, one of my friends wrote a paper about the subject, but i obviously never read it.
yet cosmo was right: you can make the masses weep and have nothing to eat, but slip on a banana peel and the world's at your feet.

for some reason, we are drawn to funny. jared hess is the funniest person i have ever known personally, and whenever he would start telling a story, work would slow down and people would congregate around him, because we knew we would be laughing. and not just a courtesy laugh or even a sincere laugh, but a deep down laughing-until-it-hurts that you try not think about during the take, because you will just laugh again.

it's really fun to laugh, and it feels really good.
why, though?
if you can make someone laugh, they like you.
i think tv is generally dumb, but shows that make me laugh will have me there every time.

post #77

i don't think i will have any other time to write today, and because i haven't anything particularly profound or clever to say, watch this:

jeff is cool because he drives a honda

work love dance

in my car i am enjoying 'fear of music' by the talking heads and still debating whether i should just spend the $4+s/h to buy a new 'clean' copy of 'palookaville' or keep waiting to see if the dude e-mails me back.

reading emily's blog, i learned that her husband has been requested to collect a quart jar full of teeth as part of his admission to dental school.
i can't begin to ponder the who, what, when, why, and how's of all that that connotes....

what do i want to be when i grow up? well, a seminary teacher or anything.
teaching seminary is my dream, but if that doesn't work out, i think i can enjoy most anything that will allow me to support a family and spend time with said family.
and while i have passed the first seminary teacher training class and am looking to enroll in the second this fall, i am also pursuing goal number two, and interviewed for another job today [the glorified furniture salesman doesn't really draw me all that much].

i wore my pink bowtie to a wonderfully non-descript office building for a company called NACT. never heard of them? they make software and hardware for telephone switchers. almost as exciting as a paper company, isn't it?
they are looking for a technical writer, and while they asked for a major in english or communications, i know that i can write as well as the next guy and better than most, and so sent them a few samples yesterday at their request [if you want to hire me, i only apply to jobs that require a bachelor's degree]. to my credit, i would like to say that as i was proof-reading my commentary on the communist manifesto before i sent it off, i was quite impressed myself. i used to be good.

walking through a brief tour of the first floor and all the computer rooms, i was reminded of my dad's office at american crystal sugar where he worked for so many years when i was wee.
am i turning into my father?
in some oedipean twist of life, have i become that which i swore against in my high school thespian romaticism, that i would never have a boring 8-5 job like my dad?

such thoughts faded as i toured the second floor and met with the friendly lady who was the vp of something.
it really seems like a cool company [although it would be cooler if they made fireworks or laser guns]. small enough that it feels like a family, everyone seems to know everyone and, while everyone has a title and a job, they will often pull you to do something else if you are the best person for the job.

this sounds like the kind of thing i am looking for, in the sense that it's 180 degrees from what i'm doing right now [what i'm really looking for is the 8-hour day as a director of photography with benefits, so keep an eye out]--it's a job in an office with cubicles, with benefits and salary, and usually 8-5 days.
why is this appealing? because it means i can make friends at work and still be working with them in two months; because i can put in a good day of work and come home when a) i still have energy and b) normal people are still awake; because i won't have to find my own health insurance; because i will belong to someone [interesting, but i think that really means something, which may be why i treasure my cosmic pictures hoodie so much--it gives me a feeling that i have a home].

i'm their first interview, and they will be conducting more searches throughout the next week and half, but i liked them and i think they liked me [the vp lady told me the first guy must have liked me or i wouldn't have made it to her--that made me feel cool].
so about the time i leave for japan, i should know something.

i'm nervous about such a big change, but i get nervous about moving apartments, too.

i heard laughter coming from the cubicles during the interviews.
i liked that.

of course, while i was shooting american fork's little league tonight, i got a call from the Church's studio to work on their new old testament movies, may 22-june 16.
some days, you just can't win.

driving home today, i saw a bumper sticker on the car in front of me that said:

work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no one's watching.

i really liked that.

things

good thing: i got a new magic trick in the mail yesterday

bad thing: i haven't been able to figure it out yet

good thing: i also got a cd i ordered yesterday [because i think fatboy slim's 'wonderful night' a pretty awesome despite me not being able to dance to it]

bad thing: i ordered the 'clean' version. i most certainly did not get the said version

good thing: i got my homsar t-shirt today

good thing: i look good in my homsar t-shirt; it's going to be in japan in a week and a half

bad thing: i have some sort of cold or flu and don't really care for that ; i ran out of kleenex last night and can't taste anything

good thing: last night's fhe was planned to just be a casual evening of sidewalk chalk art; i love how a group of college kids can take something so simple and make it so darn fun

good thing: i watched 'jerry mcguire' this morning as i lay on the couch being sick; em, that's one more movie that has a realistic but positive view of marriage after the ceremony. a complicated story, and/but/therefore a good one

good thing: i'm feeling good enough to go shoot two baseball games this afternoon

dopplegangers

"the sun-bonneted woman...who smiles on every box of sun-maid raisins was a real person,' writes victoria woeste in audacity magazine. 'her name was lorraine collett and in 1915 she was sitting in her front yard letting her hair dry before participating in fresno's first raisin day parade. a sun-maid executive was passing by and was struck by the sight. he had a photographer come take her picture, then had artist fanny scafford paint the picture from it.' all collett made from it was a $15 modeling fee and a bit part in a 1963 film called trail of the lonesome pine. the original bonnet is now in the smithsonian."

['uncle john's giant 10th anniversary bathroom reader', p.23]

yesterday someone told me that i look like ben folds.

only a lad

we lived in iowa until i was 6 [almost 7]. across the street lived my best friend, ben. one day we created a game where we were fighting the bad guys, unknowingly played by the cars in the street. we called the game 'red and blue' because 6-year olds are pretty dumb and can't think of better names than that.

the basic objective was to shoot the bad guys [average normal people in their cars] with our guns [to be honest, i don't know if we even had toy guns or if we just used our hands] while keeping ourselves out of danger by hiding behind the bushes in front of the house. it is even harder for me to seperate reality from fantasy at that age: in my memory i see us dramatically diving behind the shrubbery as bullets and lasers fly around us, so who knows what it was really like. i do know that it was about the funnest game we had at the time and that one day ben reasoned there sould be more cars if we got up early in the morning when everyone was going to work. we were up around sunrise and saw only a few cars. it was somewhat of a disappointment.
*

if your age was in the single digits in the mid-1980's, there was one thing that united all males together: transformers.

they were made of plastic that somehow shrinks over time, as i swear they were much bigger when i was 6. they also must have been made for 7-years olds by 7-year olds [true, i was 6, but i was bright for my age], because i could pull a brand new 'astrotrain' out of the box and instantly know how to transform him into either a train or a space shuttle [the genius of the three-way changing robot was countered by the mediocre name], while my hard-working college educated dad looked on in bafflement.

the transformers were a prototype of mythology that would make joseph campbell proud [not to mention henry ford]. the deceptacons were the villains, led by megatron, the most diabolic fictional character since t.s. elliot's macavity the mystery cat, for megatron defied laws of physics and common sense: he stood at a towering 9', yet when transformed could fit into the hands of another deceptacon. why he would ever want to change is beyond my comprehension even 20 years later, as the pistol barrel was normally a 6' canon attached to his arm. yes, megatron was the diabolic evil mastermind [usually trying to hijack an oil rig, it seemed], but he was the archtypal level-headed villain.

appropriately, he was surrounded with a variety of henchmen: his right-hand man was, as most are, an incompetant and selfish airplane called starscream. nobody liked starscream; you'd buy him as a present if a kid you didn't really like invited you to his birthday party. his voice litterally sounded like nails on a chalkboard [maybe the real reason we don't like that sound], was loyal to no one but himself, and continually tried to betray megatron whenever the occasion arose.
on the other side was soundwave. soundwave was the honor among thieves. able to transform into an 80's style tapeplayer, he could send out little cassette tapes that would transform into a panther, a pteradactyl, or a couple of little humanoid robots. he was of a calm demeanor and was loyal to megatron to the death. as the perfect antithesis to starscream, he had about the coolest voice of anyone, good or evil. [the autobots had their own boombox, a surfer-dude named blaster; we always hoped soundwave would someday join the autobots, but he was too loyal]

there were several other deceptacons, including the radical constructacons: seven or eight construction-related vehicles who could transform together into one giant robot called devastor. he was really cool, albeit somewhat fragile, and i think was a commentary on the corruption of the labor unions.

the transformers are one place where the good guys really are cooler than the evil [perhaps a much-needed theme after the immense awesomeness of darth vader captivated all our impressionable young minds only a year or two before].
the autobots were generally ground based, i think as a tribute to the industrious transportation business of the expansive american continent [afterburn was a very cool jet who later provided some much needed air force]. ironhide was a strong and loyal soldier and some sort of a truck; though a noble robot, he wasn't very interesting. bumblebee was a vw bug, and jazz the porche had sunglasses and attempted to sound cool [he sounded like 'bubs' on h*r].

as time went on and the series needed a shot in the arm, which brought us the dinobots. [remember when the carebears started adding other animals? same sort of thing.] discovered in a closet aboard the ship the transformers came to earth in [on-line articles state otherwise, but that's how i remember it], they were led by grimlock the tyranosaurus. dumb as rocks and twice as strong, they provided comic relief and a whole new series of toys for the marketing department.

but the leader of the autobots was a figure who stands talls in our minds even today: optimus prime. a combination of atticus finch, albus dumbledore and josh devard, he was the model of what a hero should be. he was a semi truck of red, white, and blue, and stood for everything that makes us proud of america. prime always chose the right, even when it was a hard decision. his mantle of leadership was heavy, but his shoulders were strong. his voice was deep and sure, leading like a shepherd. his hands were big and strong, yet gentle enough to rescue a kitten from a tree. i suspect he was modeled from captain moroni, for he was the greatest warrior in battle but fought only when he had to. he offered mercy when he beat megatron, treated each autobot as a friend and an equal, and stood tall at all times and in all places.

when asked what my favorite scene in cinema is, i have a few responses, but one will always be in 'transformers: the movie', where optimus prime reaches the edge of the cliff and sees the deceptacons severely beating autobot city. 'megatron must be stopped,' he declares, transforms [in slow motion, mind you], and proceeds to run down several deceptacons, hit a jump, fly into the air, transform, and pick off several more with his gun as he tumbles through the air.
i can't help but cheering everytime i see it.

old norfair

the clouds look forboding outside, but there's no rain yet, so i will head up to american fork to photograph two little league games.

i interviewed for a job as a 'design consultant' at bassett furniture today. not sure if i'll get it, but i'm not sure if i want it. 'design consultant' is a fancy way of saying 'glorified furniture salesman'. but at least it's glorified.

i recently started using windows media player [instead of musicmatch] so that my playlist would appear on my instant messenger, and i am amazed at how much better the sound quality is. songs sound so much cleared on wmp.
who knew?

latin: for a change

'everybody knows
it hurts to grow up'

i'm tasting more of the responsibilities of grown-up life- yesterday i transferred the lease on our townhouse to my name, meaning i now have to come up with the hefty sum for the pool key and the cleaning deposit. i also applied for health insurance on tuesday and need to be looking into getting off my dad's car insurance and onto my own [can geico really save me 15% or more? we'll find out].
but the cruelest rub comes from the demon of the cable situation [i call him 'cablor']: in an effort to save costs, our homeowners association has opted to move from comcast to mstar. they have worked out some nice rates, except for those of us who have come to love our dvr--currently mstar doesn't offer dvr or hd, but when they do in a few months, for me to get the equivilent of what i get now for $20/month, i will have to pay roughly $80/month. the company skimmed over this at the town meeting last night, but rest assured, my voice will be raised now.
and i need to start looking for a new roommate, and my rent costs will go up anyway.

on the up side, i may actually get a decent deal on getting internet in my house.
dang....that sounds like a fantasy after not having it here for the last few weeks.

so much for those pumas i was going to get.

last night i was thinking about how an electron is attracted to a proton though an electromagnetic charge. yet when a proton overcomes the electromagnetic repulsion to another proton, the strong nuclear forces take control and the two are held together by a bond much strong than that between the opposing particles.
interesting.

'i rarely understand what you're talking about' -strong sad

the last great movie

i'm somewhat selective about what movies i watch, and as a result don't see many really dumb movies. occassionally, i'll see a 'great' movie, one that rises above the throng.

last night i watched 'big trouble'. not a great movie, but a good movie that i thoroughly enjoyed. i think i saw one preview for it once but never really knew when it was in theaters. it's a great ensamble movie, with a lot of fun actors and four or five groups of characters consistantly intercrossing; as my roommate described it, 'like a softer version of 'snatch'.'
the movie falls short of a greatness, althought it is difficult to pinpoint why. but it maintained its kinetic pace for the entire story, keeping it's pandemonium rhythm consistantly entertaining, which is entirely noteworthy in itself. and it made me laugh, which doesn't happen as much when i'm alone for some reason. not surprisingly, it was directed by the same guy who shot 'raising arizona.'
in short, i recommend it.

the last great movie i saw was 'all about eve'.
before that, it was 'saving private ryan.'

the trouble with dreams

i decided to put up a new bio, but liked the original and have preserved it here for generations to come.

i like being from minnesota, hope men will again wear hats like they did in the forties, and wish i went snowboarding more; i think leaving notes for people is fun, believe that bill murray should have won 'best actor' in 2003, and am very happy with my senior yearbook picture; i like plays and movies that make my eyes water simply because they are cool and beautiful, talking with people about things they love, and watching conan o'brien because he has fun with dumb things and is always respectful of his guests; i am amazed at how frustrations disappear when we are honest, marvel at watching a techno dj spin yet have no interest in the rest of the club culture, and like to wear nice clothes but rarely buy them for myself; i get nervous about getting in and out of cars on dates, not knowing when awkward placement overrides getting the door for the girl; i love playing 'the great dalmuti' with my family with hats, have worn generally the same style of shoe since my sophomore year in high school, and like girls who desire righteousness; i enjoy subtlty and unspoken understandings, am a sucker for anything on the criterion collection, and wish that flowers were given more often;

regular people

many many years ago on may 1st we called it 'may day.' me and my little sister would make little may baskets with my mom and would leave them on the doorsteps of my friends. the baskets were paper cups filled with candy and a little note. i think one of our friends gave us a little certificate for a free ice cream cone from their mom.
or did we give that?


'twas a fun weekend.
becky moved out of her place on thursday night, so we were up late that night getting all of her boxes out of centennial and tossed them into the living room of her new place. she proudly has a washer and dryer there, which means she has no reason at all to come and visit her brother anymore.

our vegas-troop consisted of me and her and one of her mission companions. our other member decided to move to alaska two days before we left.
the six hour, three state journey was peppered with abba and neil diamond songs, and 'viva las vegas' came on just as we were pulling on the strip at around 3:00 that afternoon.
the sushi place didn't open for dinner until 5:30 and the rollercoaster at the sahara was calling our names. sure it cost $10 and lasted probably a minute, but in the town where we cheerfully pay $5 for a brownie, who cares?
the ride was short. it was also fast and intense and made us scream and laugh.

we also stopped at the 'fashion show mall', that place that kind of looks like a world's fair exhibit from the fifties halfway down the strip. many more laughs were offered up at 'sacks fifth avenue' as we looked at sweaters that cost $400 and jackets that were four times that.
the ripped jeans i was wearing looked pretty much the same as the one on the manequin, and while i couldn't find the price, i think mine came in at about 5% of his.

is $25 too much for all you can eat sushi?
maybe.
but it was very, very good.
there are few feelings in the world like being full on sushi. unlike our lovely western food, you don't feel sick or bleh; just nice and full. our friend carolyn had no problem eating the raw fish, and after several reassurances that yes, this really was raw fish, and no, it would not kill her in the slightest, my world-traveling sister did try it herself. even the eel [it's really pretty good--not fishy at all].

now the sun was down, and driving back to the strip was like a whole other world, seperate from reality--everything is lit up and glittery. a lot of the casinos look better at night than they do in the day.
we cruised up and down the strip to see all the sights with the sunroof open and held our hands out in the warm night air.

my first visit to a casino was a few years ago, when i was on a location scout for a short that never happened. we stopped in wendover and it was a little disappointing: the place just looked dingy and false, with tacky orange carpet and the perpetual smell of smoke.
much of las vegas is really like that-- with the exception of the bellagio, caesar's palace, the venetian, and a maybe one or two others, most of the places down there are little more than a tacky attempt to pile as many lights as possible onto a casino that looks like it is still 1985.
kind of disappointing.

the bellagio feels like our home and our friend.
and we saw plenty of fountain shows. 'luck be a lady' was the best.

we stopped in 'the forum shops' section of caesar's, because it looks very cultured in there and has circular escalators.
we looked all of the extremely high priced specialty stores and mused at how they stay in business--the ultra-modern chocolate store sold pieces for $2.50 each and gave us a sample that had ginger and wasabi in it. great...?
[i will be raving about the 'morinaga' chocolate bars in japan in three weeks]

we also stopped at the magic shoppe on the top floor since i used to do a little myself. the guy at the counter was one of those people who actually seem to have a story for anything. he asked me where i was from and i told him northern minnesota, next to fargo. he thought, and said, 'so, you've got moorhead, and then...' and i stopped him and said i was from moorhead, although i'm curious to know how many other towns he could have named up there.
his next question was if i was lds.
generally you don't think of that as a follow-up question after hearing that someone is from northern minnesota.
i really wondered how he guessed that one.
we talked and he said he was jewish, and the lds people and the jewish people kind of stick together in las vegas.
i asked him how he knew i was; he said he noticed my ring.
dang, this guy is really good.
i told him i worked in film and he told me a story about how one of his good friends was orson welles's right hand man and that he was lds, as was most of welles's crew. he worked with all lds people because howard hughes did, because they were dependable and reliable.
[does anyone else know this?]
i wanted to bring back a random sampling of people and see how many other connections and stories this guy has.
he gave me his card and told me to google his name.
i almost bought a trick there, and decided to start practicing the tricks i do have again.

at one of the confectionary cafes in 'paris' they sell a wonderful chocolate treat called a 'millennium.' we were going to enjoy one before we left, but the store closes at 11, we sadly discovered.
so two more fountain shows and we were on our way back to st. george to stay with grandma.

i've done it before, but that is the one part of a vegas trip i don't much care for: leaving vegas already tired and then driving for two hours through a dark desert, trying my darnedest to stay awake.

if i didn't know better, i would swear that the car behind us was purposefully trying to blind me--maybe they had their brights on or maybe the angle was just right for it to brilliantly hit me from both the side and rear view mirrors, but they seemed determine to stay the same distance behind me and pass any car that i passed. i was close to acting out a scene from 'lost highway', but opted to slow down to 60 and force them to pass me.
who would have thought that a family suv could be so viscious.

becky stayed up with me and we listened to the 'wicked' soundtrack.

now, i've really been out of the theatre loop since high school ['jekyl and hyde' was the rage last i knew], but in the past two weeks i have had four people tell me that 'wicked' is the cat's meow.
i didn't quite catch the story, but got the general idea and enjoyed it.
the next day carolyn explained it to us as best she understood it.

with the time zone change, we got in a 3:something and slept until about 1 the next afternoon, when we were awakened by grandma calling and yelling at us through the answering machine to wake up.
fine.
we dressed and i realized i forgot a necktie and really didn't coordinate the few church clothes that i did bring, but we went to the st. george temple all the same--and got to learn a bit more of the history of the temple.

i was up late that night trying to fix the internet security on grandma's computer. this was confusing, being as she only uses her internet about once a month. i didn't get it fixed, but did five hours of sleep.

we made in back just in time for church and i was really out of it for the rest of the day and felt like that cat up there.

the end

my grey matter

sigh..... i've had essays and thoughts and commentaries all that i wanted to write, and i smiled as i got to the fifth floor and saw it completely empty. after all, who in their right mind would come to the library on a day like today?

but i have gotten caught up in instant messaging and can't think much beyond a few lines. just talking with someone was enough of an emotional release that now i haven't the pressure to write well [i wasn't angry before, but i have lost the artistry to say what i was going to say].

so today is a post of shorts:

our 'scortday' party last night was of adequate success. we had four of the original ten members there last night. the first apple beer party was three years ago

i can't get enough oingo boingo. i'm fighting the temptation to unplug my headphones and just dance up here

my sister has been getting comments that she looks like 'kate' off 'lost'

i think the real reason for the honor code rule of not going back into girls' rooms is that it destroys the image we have that they are always clean and pretty. helping my sister clean and move out today, my ideals were shattered

our vegas trip will be fun tomorrw; i wish we could have found one more person to come

i shot baseball portraits for an hour or so last night; i don't know if i was out of the groove or if it was because the kids had been waiting too long, but i had a hard, hard time getting many good smiles

i just found out that paul reubens did do the voice for 'max' in 'flight of the navigator' and that he's a member of the church of the subgenius

we're going to japan in three weeks

why does 1+1=11?
why not 1+1=2

i want to buy a homsar t-shirt

looking over my posting titles, i think they suggest a more interesting essay than they usually deliver. there are some exception, though

i'm also thinking of buying a new pair of pumas with my next paycheck--what's happened to me?? what about that collection of samurai movies i wanted to buy??

there were two rare books on ebay that i've wanted to get for a long time, but with internet down at my place, i missed them entirely. life is hard, people

my favorite elvis song is 'burning love'

i hope this post shows a lack of quality from the rest. if it doesn't, i'm going to be a little disappointed.

final word: the first person to identify that 3-d image gets righteous pride and bragging rights for the rest of the weekend. i think it's one of the cooler ones i've seen.

post script:: i find it interesting that mle also posted today mostly in sentances [vs. paragraphing]. yet i cannot use the hormonal pregnant lady excuse.

i fought the law and the law won

Now I'm gonna ask you a bunch of
quick questions I've come up with
that more of less tell me what kind
of person I'm having dinner with.
My theory is that when it comes to
important subjects, there's only
two ways a person can answer. For
instance, there's two kinds of
people in this world, Elvis people
and Beatles people. Now Beatles
people can like Elvis. And Elvis
people can like the Beatles. But
nobody likes them both equally.
Somewhere you have to make a
choice. And that choice tells me
who you are.

i'm a beatles person.

--------
last night at 1:11 a.m. i saw an infomercial that i worked on last winter. with all that i've worked on, i rarely see the finished product, so it was fun to see this.
that shoot was rather insignificant except for one comment that changed a lot about how i work.
one of the electricians was a big guy named fritz, whom i haven't seen since.
he was carrying a light when i asked him for a 'stinger' for my monitor [that's what we call extension cords]. he set his light down and went to get me a stinger and i explained to him that i didn't need it right that instant.
he smiled and said, 'we're all working on the same movie.'

that has sculpted my view on working with people more than any other single phrase that i can think of, and i have tried to pass it along.
i don't think fritz even thought twice about what he said.

don't breathe too deep, dive in to work

i'm not sure what a 'normal' day is for a camera assistant, but it would be nice if today were such.

if days like this were average and i worked so 3-4 days a week, man, i'd be the pride of the peaches.

i was up late last night cleaning the bathroom [success] and rebuilding a new diddy bag [partial success], and so spent longer in my comfy bed listening to the 101.9 morning show and so left later than planned and so got to cosmic later than planned.
no worries, whenever.

i spent the morning getting acquainted with the equipment, learning what all they have, how it al fits together, and where it all goes, as well as how the camera works. once you learn one camera, you can pick another without too much work, but each one has its nuances.

when i knew the basic ins and outs of the operation, i set to work on prepping for the shots this afternoon. rich loaned me his ipod to keep me happy-- i have gotten to the point where i can now do all the dark work on an aaton-III mag in roughly the same time as the final chorus on 'sheep go to heaven'; doing an entire mag, from air canning it out to taping and labeling takes roughly one 'like a prayer'.

i was given some petty cash for lunch and left to find a cool place in salt lake-- normally it seems there is an abundance of character-filled establishments, but i spent 20 minutes seeing nothing but wendy's and taco bell. then i found 'curry in a hurry' and an open parking meter out front. stellar, until i noticed that all but 17 cents of the change in my car had been used to buy a sundae a month ago. they promise curry in a hurry, so maybe i could get it done in 17 cents' time. i shoved my dime and nickel into the slot and saw that there was 30 minutes already there by some lovely grace.
the lamb curry combo was absolutely wonderful; more of a middle east variety, rather than a southeast asian style--like baba's used to make.

for the record, i think my 15 cents bought me 7 minutes.

i went over in my head several times all that i thought i would need for the shoot.
and i noticed a bit of a paradox in the general situation: i was brought on as a green 1st a.c. because this was a small shoot--just a few shots. yet we had roughly the same amount of equipment as we did last week and i didn't have an official assistant. so i was doing all the work of a 1st a.c. plus whatever jeff the talented 2nd a.c. usually does; and since we didn't have a gaffer, i was carrying the light meter and keeping track of how the sun changed over the afternoon.
light-ish work, yes. but two and a half jobs of light-ish work.

to be fair, our grip really hadn't much to do at all, and so helped out at a 2nd when needed, which was much appreciated. he pointed out that a grip's job really is 'camera support.'

so how did i do?

well, i think i did fine.
and i thinkt they think i did a good job.
[they don't know how many times i was thinking, 'i didn't bring a backup of ______, so if these don't last, that's gonna rot']

but we really won't know until we see if the footage is in focus.

and that's somewhat of a wild card.

we get out there for our first shot, in front of the wellsfargo building, and eager greenie jeff is laying out all of the cases, ready for anything.

'let's throw on the 200mm.'

trial by fire, i guess.

so we're shooting a guy coming out of the building coming at us from roughly 25' down to 12' with an f4.
now, for those of you who weren't in my 285 lectures, the skinny is that this means i have roughly a 1' plane in space that is in focus, and the rest is not. and it's my job to turn the focus on the lens as this dude is briskly walking toward me and keep him in that focused plane all the while.

one of my 1st a.c. skills that i need to practice is getting focus marks of where the talent is during the take while everone is rehearsing and planning without getting in the way.
that greg rehearses minimally and likes to shoot and go leaves me hoping there is enough of a moment of focus that he can use it in the commercial.

i'm nervous, but i think we've got something usable.

the rest of the shots weren't that bad--100mm and 50mm aren't so bad after that.
and later on, when we had a 16mm on at an f8/11, well, that meant everwhere from 1'9" to infinity was in focus.

we had an adventure with our actor getting on the train as it pulled up so that we could get shots of him getting off, only to have the door close finally on him and watch him get whisked off to the next stop.
this happened about five times.

at the end of the day, greg shook my hand and said it was great working with me.
by the end, i kind of knew what he wanted and how he worked, and it was kind of fun.
i wish i hadn't forgotten all the little things that i did [our last shot was a stop underexposed because i forgot to check the light even as we had waited there for 10 minutes...] and i'm praying that the focus will not be unacceptably horrendous, but all in all it was the best 12-hour day i've had in a while.

it's fun to try something new anyway.

final word: oingo boingo's 'not my slave' is my favorite song of the moment. i wish i could share it with all of you.

what's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?

i keep a notepad of blog ideas, thoughts that i would like to write up here as essays on days when i haven't anything else to say.

tonight as i sit in the crowded library amidst all the students working hard for the final days of the semester, i haven't anything to say, yet there is something anxious inside of me and i don't know what.

i'm working on a half day of pick-up shots for the trax commercial tomorrow, bumped up to 1st a.c., and am going in in the morning to familiarize myself with the equipment. both me and cosmic are happy to have me available as a 1st, should they need me again.
i don't think i'm nervous too much about that.

a friend's dad is coming to stay in beej's room for a week starting tomorrow. i need to finish cleaning the bathroom sometime tonight, but i don't think that's bothering me much, either.

maybe it's just that i had a list of things to do today [see above] and it all fell into this evening--currently it's 11:01 and i'm in the library because internet at my place is still defunct.

i feel off balance right now.
i feel like i had my balance but i've lost it.
i haven't fallen, but i'm working to keep from it.

did '24' stress me out tonight? maybe i just got caught up in it.
we are losing a few of our founding members, but we also gained another watcher or two tonight.

i recently thought of a proverb, 'you can't eat an unbaked cake', and i think it to be wise counsel, except that i was offered a partially baked cake last night from my former service co-chair who has an odd sort of luck with baking oddities, and this was pretty good.
but i still think the proverb holds.
proverbally speaking, that is.

i recently got oingo boingo's 'boi-ngo' cd and it is my current cd of the week.
it will probably be the last cd of theirs i buy, as those that i don't have are 'weird.'
for the record, i think 'dead man's party' is the quintessential oingo boingo cd.

and that's all i have to say.
so i will now probably head back to my place, finish cleaning the bathroom [i did the shower on saturday, and i will do a testimonial commercial stating my love for 'scrubbing bubbles.' they work miracles], and rebuild a diddy back to make sure i am prepared for tomorrow. it's only a few shots [i've been told 3-4 shots, i'm expecting 6-8] but i want to be prepared for anything--this is my first impression as a first.

our vegas trip this weekend is falling short on attendance, which is a little disheartening.

maybe it's because i had dinner at the malt shoppe tonight.
i'm glad i had a very healthy lunch.

i could use a hug from a girl other than my sister.

thank you for listening.

does jack bauer ever lose his scriptures?

today felt like a sabbath version of '24'. i did much more than i am capable of, and at the end of this day, i feel very tired and very good. it was jam packed with so many adventures, answers, miracles, and moments.

been thinking a lot today...

driving out to thanksgiving point, i attained a bit of personal nirvana:

maybe i'm not doing so bad.
i'm working and getting calls for more work, and that feels good.

and maybe it's alright that i don't have everything in my life ordered how i want right now.
i could do better, and there are some things i need to take care of, but i think i'm doing alright.

i enjoyed the tulip festival.
and left with a lot to think about.