I feel like I’ve sinned against the gods of Mount Olympus for not updating this for so long. But now, I have an decent excuse to do it.
Over the last few months, I’ve been bar-backing. I turned 28 in July. I’ve been playing with Coma. I’ve been hanging out with Julia quite-a-bit.
Weeks are going by, and instead of landing an extra job-or-two like I “should,” I have only ended up doing things I really like.
It turns out Josh’s dad got himself a 1975 Ford RV and didn’t really have any place to put it or have any immediate use for it. So he’s going to let Josh drive it all over North America for as long as he wants to.
I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to go along, but Josh has very effective ways of convincing people of doing above-average things. Sort of like how he made a teaser/trailer for the trip, probably to get me to stop being fickle about leaving on a whim.
We’re taking his Canon 7D along to document everything in photo/video form, along with accompanying homemade dolly and jib.
I really don’t have any idea how far we’re going to get, for 3 reasons:
1. Money
2. The RV is from 1975
3. We’ve already started the roadtrip, sans RV because the engine is currently in pieces.
We’re hoping to meet the mechanic and the RV in Phoenix, AZ this coming week. If all goes as planned, we’re heading to Pacific Coast Highway to make our way up to Canada, maybe Alaska. The true length of the trip is still unclear to both of us, but the efficient RV average of 7-miles-per-gallon will require some creative thinking and oddjobs to successfully travel the 3,000+ miles required to make it to Alaska or wherever else.
It makes no sense for me to be doing something of this magnitude right now. But it also makes all the sense in the world.
Björk koma fyrir í hylki allur þessi er listrænn frelsi. Hún er einn af minn fágun hetja. ÉG von þú njóta this vídeó. Það minn heili springa og minn sál glóa. Með ást.
This project has been in the works since the middle of April. This is the first time I didn’t work on a video non-stop, from beginning to end. It was a lot of hours, but I have no idea why it’s here a whole 2 months later. After we shot it, I predicted it would only take a week to finish.
I took 1,844 images and almost used all of them for the video. To make the photos look better than what they came out to be, I began to individually photoshop the pictures halfway through. That sucked so much that eventually I was forced to learn how to use After Effects just enough to mask out some background stuff (like sheets, and wall shadows). I watched 2-and-a-half youtube tutorials that gave me enough info on how to clean up everything. By the end I wondered how I ever did any semi-complicated video stuff without After Effects, but I was also about to throw my laptop out the window because it could hardly process so many photos and effects.
Last night at 3 a.m., I thought I reached a victorious end, but my version of After Effects wouldn’t let me export the video in a decent format. So this video was close to not even making it out of my computer. Eventually I figured it out, but we’ll save the details for a video-nerd forum.
Now I only need to know how to get this video in non-internet quality onto DVD…
Tonight the moon is nearly burning my skin as its full moon-beams shine through my bedroom window.
My dreams have been wild lately. Not completely insane, just super real. I’m settling unresolved issues with people who I haven’t talked to for years. I’m facing imprisonment and capital punishment in foreign countries. I’m experiencing nuclear attacks. I’m living entire lifetimes in minutes.
I guess it works out, because I’m working on a music video for Will’s project, Riley Guy, and need a semi-schizo, moon-inspired neurosis to make this happen and finish already.
I’m running through thousands of photos. It’s not the most fun.
In other news, my production assistant job fell through. The movie isn’t going to be made. Somebody who had money chickened-out on the deal I guess.
“How can I help you finish your own movies,” you ask? Simply go buy stuff!
Over the last five days, I’ve been using Dustin’s house to shoot a music video for Will’s solo electro project called Riley Guy.
Day 1 was simple because I only needed to take photos of a series of eyes and mouth positions at the park with Will and Allison.
Day 2 was by far the biggest headache. I hadn’t planned so much of what kind of props and set we would be using, only the visual tricks I wanted to pull off.
Day 3, we began to hit a little more of a stride.
Day 4, we got nothing done as Will’s body gave up while his liver was trying to process half a fifth of rum.
Day 5… I hope to St. Pete that we got enough footage.
So now editing begins. I haven’t looked yet, but I think it will involve going through 1,500-2,000 photographs (it’s a stop motion video), which actually isn’t too bad, considering that normally every video is between 24-30 frames per second; 1,800 frames/minute.
I’m also thinking I need to go to Coachella. Tickets are sold out, and they’re selling circa $700 on ebay right now. Where do these kids get the money? I hope to get mine for $150. Crossing proverbial fingers…
Tonight I jammed with Joel and his new/temporary side project, Holy Shit! Alien Baby.
It consists of musicians who practice, and who don’t, who decide to rehearse, or who decide to just plain ol’ hop onstage on impulse during shows.
Joel told me about it, as they are playing during Flood The Sun’s last two shows before he moves to Los Angeles with his lady, Ashley.
I came up with the brilliant idea to bring my saxophone to practice and play through this harmonizer called a voice box to see if I’d be down to play a show with them, reverting to my unfledged high-school roots as a jazz saxophonist.
Joel is rather more fledged than I, and it was the first time I got to see him put the sexy vibes through my not-so-sexy student alto horn. We missed each other by one year from being in the same jazz band class. Too bad, so sad.
They play two shows. I didn’t know there was one so soon, so I’m bailing on tomorrow night. Maybe I’ll play the next show, just maybe… that is, if my 10-years-out-of-practice mouth, and ego, can handle it.
Tommy and I met up to rock some bass and keys ideas I’ve had rolling around in my skull, including the same tune I was messing with two days ago.
Later, a location scout for the T.V. show In Plain Sight stopped by my (parent’s) house and arranged taking pictures of the house as a possible set location. My parents approved, then let her take panoramic shots of the inside and outside. Eventually I asked her how to get a job on her show. She didn’t say that it’s an easy task, but she was friendly and didn’t seem to judge me for my underlying fragrance of desperation.
Shortly after, I went to go play drums at Brian’s house, watch Battle Royale again, and eat all of his Sweet-tarts that have been in the same place since Halloween.
