Santa Monica Pier Blue Linescape

... mmm...

Fingers Trailer

a short film i worked on in Nashville, Tennessee, during spring break 08.

also, i met the King of Rock & Roll's studio piano.
we got lost in each other's eyes.



... --- it's all about the guitar placement. look for it. --- ...

How come musicians get to have all the fun?

The People in This Neighborhood

I ride the bus home from work. I also ride the bus to work, but that's another story.

Yesterday as I stood waiting at the Arborland Mall bus stop to catch my second bus, A few people came and gathered there with me. One of these people was an pepper-haired older woman in a purple ski coat and baseball cap. She sat on the bench near me, laid her bags on the ground, and took a sip of her steaming beverage. "How are you?" she asked me.

So I replied, "I'm alright, thanks.... A little cold though."

"Get yourself a free sample coffee at Starbuck's. There a good company. I've been dealing with them for years. There's another one down there by, uh, Golfside."

"Yes, they're everywhere."

(brief pause... ever so brief)

"Yep, you never lose with them, good company." She continues, "I came down here today, to the mall here to check out these shops. I told myself I'd go to all of them, but I only made it to three. I should've told myself I'd come down here and get to as many as I could, then I wouldn't have to be disappointed, miss out."

(ever so brief)

"I stopped over at Michael's to see what they have. They have some good deals there. Some things for 69 cents - I like to buy objects to pose with because I'm a model. Sometimes I'll glue small animals to my body," - she stamps her fingertips on her knee, "or tie things to myself... or I can get things to drape over my chest. Michael's, they usually have some good bargains."

"Sometimes they can be over-priced," I counter.

"Yeah, but I can usually find something there. I try to - I stop by thrift stores to find knick-knacks and props to use with me. But you can find good things a lot of places." At this point, the number 4 bus, my bus, pulls around the corner.

She continues, "I have to be ready for my bus... when it comes here. It co- - -"

I couldn't hear what she continued to say because I walked away to get on the bus.

It's not that I don't like to meet new people; I do, but I had this uncomfortable feeling that I had to draw her in class at some point during the last four years. Uncomfortable.

French Radio

I found this new radio station on iTunes, RADIO NEO 95.2fm, in the Alternative tab.

It is French.

I can't keep up with hardly anything they say or sing.
But I really like to listen to it.

The music is phenomenal, and other big words that mean "I like it."

It's slogan is "Liberateur de talents." ...hm...


EDIT, later that day:
and this one too, LA GROSSE RADIO, Rock & Alternative French Radio | www.lagrosseradio.com

EDIT, even later: OK, so some of the music was really great, but maybe these stations are just that good only sometimes. Now I don't want to listen anymore today.

Did I tell you that I biked 17 miles from Westland to Ann Arbor last Wednesday?

I did.
Seventeen (17) miles.
Half of it down a dirt road.
(Often the gears would lock up. I walked the bike up five hills.)
The ride was a difficult, up-(and sporadically down)-hill, two hour fight.
But I made it.

I stopped for ten minutes on the dirt roadside to eat an apple and stretch.
I took a short nap on the grass when I made it.
I stretched again.
I took a cowboy shower.
Then I worked for seven more hours... on my feet.

Needless to say, I did not bike home.
I was tired, but surprisingly not sore.
I felt good,,, healthy,,, and accomplished.

Stranger > Familiar > Neighbor

I went to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens on Saturday.
(Keep in mind: it is Autumn. So, the colors? Grand.)
U-M A&D professor Nick Tobier was hosting a performance
in their perennial garden.
I was the video documenteer.

While the performance was warm, musical, and comedic,
it was not the gesture that lightened my heart the most.
Rather
as I spent the few hours
beforehand and afterhand
roaming the grounds, the gardens, and the Flora & Fauna art fair,
I passed a myriad of patrons,
each of which (young, old, native, migrant, short, shorter...)
greeted me with a smile, a hello, or both.

It was this contact,
even the simple gesture of acknowledgment in eye contact,
that made my day.
It made my day. It made my week.
It renewed my appreciation
in the value of living in a community
where people are happy and they care,
"where everybody knows your name,"
or where
regardless of whether you are a stranger, someone familiar, or a neighbor,
you are always welcome.

This is the most welcome amongst strangers I've ever felt.
And now,
even though I still don't know their names,
they do not seem so strange any more.

If I Had a Jet

If I had a jet, I could live in it.
I could sleep in a jet bed. (Maybe a round one on a rotating frame.)
I could shower 30,000 feet in the air.
I could host jet parties miles up.
I could fly anywhere in the world,
  and wake up in a different city every morning
    ...if I wanted to, that is.
Because I could also wake up in one spot every morning,
  and then take off after breakfast.
I could go to the beach on any coast.
I could go to a photo shoot in Iceland and in Aruba in the same day.
I could stop for lunch in Tokyo on my way to Hong Kong.
I could pick up a date in my jet. That could be impressive.
I could take many friends on vacation,
or just get away, fly away, by myself when I need a break from the world.
I could go up in the sky just to find a moment of peace
  and think for a while about...
    whatever I felt like.
I could do a lot of things if I had a jet.
But I do not. Yet.
So until I do I will have to use my imagination.







(also if i had a jet i might want a space ship...)