While I Wait

While in L.A., I didn't take a single photo, other photos were taken of me, but you know how these things go, you ask to be emailed the photos, but sometimes, it just doesn't happen. To make up for the lack of photos, here are a few photos that were taken of me and uploaded to Facebook, photos for which I don't have the high-res masters:

On Sunset, Working Like a Dog

Sitting in this nice, polished, white-walled, clean-lined office on Sunset boulevard, Los Angeles seems like a pretty good place to live. But then I think about the nice little houses in Hollywood and around west L.A. that go for five hundred thousand to a million dollars, that look just like the two-hundred thousand dollar houses in Fort Worth and then things start to come into perspective. It makes me wonder what the guy I work for, who doesn't even know I'm here (another story), is paying to rent this space. If you're familiar with L.A., the office is on Sunset, just West of Doheny st. in West Hollywood, right in between The Key Club and Hustler. I've been bludgeoned by materialism lately. I know why, and I'm fighting it hard, but L.A. has a way of corrupting even the most high-minded of individuals.

The people I know here are rock-solid, really unbelievable friends, the most talented, the most ambitious and completely unselfish and unlike the culture that this city breeds. They make me seriously consider moving out here.

More to come soon, I just wanted to say "hi" while I have a little break in my editing duties.

If You Are Reading My Blog

Then you most certainly should be reading The Foggiest. Hop to it!
Kyle is a music critic and writer living in Austin, Texas and has impeccable taste in music. Music Mondays are a little downloadable bundle of free mp3's presented on a theme. An aural experiment in mood music. Subscribe and get your weekly dose, you'll be glad you did.

Going To L.A.!

There is no grand purpose for this trip. Some of my closest friends live in L.A., and it will be great to see them, but the real reason I'm going to L.A. is because I want Gold status and I want it bad. I only have to take 30 flights this year and it is mine. Why do I want Gold status? Because it is something I can have and I will wear it like a badge of courage. I took 30 flights last year, but because I flew on weird and wonderful airlines outside of the One World Alliance, I didn't get mileage credit for them. On this flight I am flying on American Airlines and I booked my flight with my Citi Credit card so not only do I get mileage for the flight, but I also get the mileage for the money I spent. Soon I will have enough miles to circle the globe repeatedly on an epic quest for truth and life.

And by the way farechase.com may well be the best site for finding deals on domestic flights. And to think this whole time I've had no respect for Yahoo. My flight was only two hundred bucks.

Let's Drill Some More Wells!!!

This is a little nugget of anti-encouragement for my Fort Worth loving friends.

I just got on Facebook to post a status update to say "Happy Earth Day" when what did I find as a status update from one of my well-drilling fraternity brothers? But this:

It follows that this is a usual photo also published by said "brother":

Happy Earth Day Everyone!!!

So Long Benjamin Franklin

Without going into research detail, I'll let you know that from February of last year until now, the dollar fell 60% verses the Euro. Please imagine for a moment that you had money, invested it in the Euro a year or two ago and then pulled it out in dollars now. You'd have made quite a bit of money on your investment. I don't trust what our government is doing with our currency and I am moving the meager savings that I have out of dollars and into a strong foreign currency. It is very easy to do, perhaps you should consider doing it too.

Anyone care to weigh in on this? I'm debating between Swiss Francs and British Sterling.

After Losing 7 Pounds

Over the last 3 weeks I didn't get much sleep, didn't get enough to eat, ran a lot, and thus lost 7 pounds. When you are skinny like me, have a crazy high metabolism and love endurance running, you can't afford to lose any weight. I'm combating the lost poundage with some good old fashion binge eating.

Salmon - about 200 calories
3 Tamales - about 600 calories
Chocolate pie - about 200 calories
Guiness - about 230 calories
Broccoli drenched in cheese - about 200 calories

Total calories for dinner tonight - 1,430 - not bad.

Please feel free to correct my caloric calculations if I was way off.

Blogging by Phone

IDIOT must be reading my blog because he wasn't at his store today. That's ok though because our PI provided his home address. You can run but you can't hide, from wronged filmmaker.

Tomorrow begins business as usual in the world of Double A Pictures. Austin and I landed editing priveleges for two episodes of the cooking show I've been shooting, so we're bringing the footage to Fort Worth and starting next week. If those go well, we could edit up to 6 of the episodes; that'd sure be nice, before we both embark on our respective summer journeys, Austin's down the aisle and mine to the Arctic Circle.

I'm composing this post on my Blackberry because I don't have wifi where I'm staying tonight. There is a simple device that goes from your phone to your laptop that gives you internet through your cell and I am going to ATT in the next few days and getting it. Soon there will be links and pics and vids and formatting like the good old days.

Thanks for sticking around while things have been in a lull, I appreciate you more than you know.

I've Had No Energy!

You're tired of me apologizing, I know.

"Just blog already!"

And I will, the last 3 weeks just drained me. I really had my world flipped upside-down a few weeks ago and it's been a little difficult to get my feet back on the ground, but it's coming. I'm starting to feel really good, just refusing to be stressed out.

Did I mention that I'm writing this while riding on the TRE train from Dallas to Fort Worth? It has flipping Wifi. I can't get over this. Free internet is just so amazing and beautiful. I hope it's not true that it hurts bees. We've really got to figure out this sustainability thing.

You probably never read this little short story that I wrote a few years ago about an old man's hidden treasure. I'm bringing the micro-short stories back to this blog as well.

Also, do you remember that jerk who owes my company money? Well, tomorrow we are going to collect. I ended up hiring a private investigator to clean his closet and my guy got the dirt. I can't go into detail about what we are going to do, but he deserves every bit of it.

Haven't the days been beautiful lately?

Weird How These Things Go

Today I miss my grandfather who died about two years ago. I was just heating up my coffee in the microwave and had a memory of heating up his a few years back. I wish I could spend some time with him today. He was a great man.

The world is such a funny place. Everywhere you go in the third world, you are mobbed by happy children (links to an article at wherethehellismatt.com). I guess we don't realize how many children there are in the U.S. because they spend so much of their time in school and playing sports and hanging out with the family after everyone is done working.

I'm finishing up my taxes for 2007 today. It looks like I'm going to owe $2,500. I'd probably not owe anything, but there is a rule that you can only deduct $2,500 in student loan interest in a given year - last year I paid close to $5,000 in interest. So it goes I guess.

Non-sequitur...but is anything really?

The Future of Our Planet, What Our Kid's Kids Will Think About Us

In the future, if humans still exist on this planet, the children of our children, to whom we will be their grandparents, will look back in history to our present time and they will say "what the hell were our grandparents thinking?" It will be unfathomable to them that we drank water out of plastic bottles, or took our food to-go in styrofoam containers. They will not be able to comprehend the atrocities that we carried out in killing the planet and the rich diversity of life that once thrived on it's surface.

Have you ever heard of Garbage Island? You should watch the VBS.tv report on it and see for yourself.

How I Made Yesterday's Picture

This is what I call ghetto HDR:

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I've gotta get a new point and shoot. The Photo Booth camera on my Macbook is just not cutting it.

On Set Today

This is the set of the cooking show I'm working on. I'd post other pictures, but I haven't had a digital camera for months now.

On The Floor Again

Here I am on the floor again. My bed consists of 2 couch cushions, split in the middle, about a foot shorter than my lanky 6'1 frame. AFI sure was motivating last week. Had I not gone to the festival I might be tempted to think myself crazy for this production life I'm leading. But every once in a while I get a new surge of creative energy and I'm thankful to be working in this business of video storytelling.

I'll be done with this job on Friday, thank the Lord, then it's my blasted taxes, then it's my wildest dreams. I can't wait to get back to work.

My New Blackberry

To not go with an Iphone is a direct slap in the face from me to Apple, but it's not because I don't think the Iphone is an amazing device. It's just that it could be so much more.

I'll buy an Iphone as soon as it has a video camera with Imovie-like editing capabilities in the phone. I know this is possible because my sister's Sony phone has an editing program and it's just a regular cell phone.

So c'mon Apple, you're better than this.

*This post sent from my Blackberry, which I love. And I'm probably going to start blogging from it, a lot.

AFI Is Over And I'm Back

My head is still spinning from the last week of festival attending and couch surfing. AFI is an impressive film festival. The tri-fecta of James Faust, Sarah Harris and AFI Dallas CEO Michael Cain have created a world-class film festival. Last year was the inaugural year, and even then it was amazing. Supposedly attendance increased by 50% this year as well. With every movie filled to 80% capacity, that's pretty amazing.

I'm going to one more screening tonight and then I'm done, back to work on our own film, The Liberation Commission. Next year, WE'LL be in AFI. - Pics to come as soon as Emily emails me the evidence of our post Polyphonic Spree dance party.

Did I Tell You

I was on a TV show last week? Yep, that's right, that show that I've been working on lately, I went on it as a guest. It's a cooking show and I got a high-protein vegetarian diet prepared for me. It was quite fun to film it. I'll let you know when it's going to air.

AFI Festival and Sleeping on the Floor

The AFI film festival in Dallas has been going on since last weekend. My friend Sam and I pre-bought a bunch of tickets and have been able to see all the films we can stand for about a quarter of the price of a badge. It's been pretty good so far.

Also, since I've been going to the festival and working in Dallas, I've had a bag packed with some t-shirts, socks and underwear, and I've been sleeping on various floors like a vagabond hippie. Welcome to my mid-twenties.