Monday, July 10, 2006

I'm So Excited!

Check out this trailer for "The Last Kiss" which I was lucky enough to work on last summer as unit 2 art department for the location stuff in Madison. It was a lot of fun and should be a great movie.




You can also see pictures from "Sixty Six" which I did some studio, prop/art department stuff on in London by going to this website.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Birthday America (and notesfromaslightlylargercontinent)

It was one year ago today that I wrote my first entry in this blog. You can review it HERE. A year ago, I had just gotten to London. Reading what I wrote then, I can feel again the excitement I was feeling and the optimism that I had. Now, 365 days later, I'm back in Madison; sitting, waiting...not really pessimistic but also not with the optimism and bright-eyed outlook of a year ago.

All day I've been trying to think of what to say on this our most important of holidays. Where are we now? It was 230 years ago that the Declaration was signed and what has become of the grand experiment it set in motion? We find ourselves daily with news of our government's failings (flailings). This administration, in the name of security, has been slowly pulling away at our rights. We've learned that the NSA could be listening to our calls or reading our emails, the treasury might be reviewing our bank records. Our country may pretend to be independent but, faced daily with reminders of big brother and with the proof of our leaders' incompetence, can we, as individuals claim to be independent any more? Our nation was founded, famously, on the ideals of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Let's take stock and see how we're holding up.

I know I sound very pessimistic and accusatory but I don't mean to be. I really am patriotic and I do love this country but I love it for the ideals on which it was founded. I'm saddened by the course it has taken. Take a look around you today. I did and I noticed a distinct lack of bunting. A distinct lack of waving flags. In the capital of this state, a distinct lack of parade. Have we been shamed, by the extreme failures of late into such cynicism about patriotism that even on the 4th, we can't show any indication that we're proud of where we live? I was thinking of the festivities of River City, Ioway and how they compare with today. For that matter, how would Mayberry's 4th compare with ours? We do have a lot to celebrate and a lot to be proud of . As I think back, a year after arriving in London, I recall my feelings while there. I remember missing America and the things (sure, mostly material) that I took (take) for granted here...

This is meandering and I have to go...Hopefully, sometime soon, I will regain some lucidity and will be able to write my thoughts in an understandable manner.

In summary tho: it's the 4th, we're 230 years old, this blog is 1!, our country has been on a bad path for a while but it's still something to be proud of. Look back at what our founders had planned and feel the excitement that they must have felt when they put pen to paper to sign Jefferson's declaration.

Happy 4th - have a beer for me!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

A Haiku...

Swimming in the nude
Frolicking in the moonlight
Rocks my world hardcore.