Chippies, Boarding and Happy Days!

My chippie pictures are in the paper! And I got a fancy credit and everything!? Happy happy joy joy! It is like Christmas morning over here! Thanks Little Girl (above) for sharing the glory!

This week I got to make two cool videos that accompanied Seven Days articles. One about chippies (funny article by Pamela Polston) and one about skateboarding (cover story by Ken Picard).

Filming Thrashing Thursday, a rapid and illegal board ride down Burlington streets was significantly more dangerous than talking quietly so as not to scare the chippies. Still, Little Girl could have grown tired of having a camera stuck in her face and given me a nasty disease-ridden bite! YOW!

I almost died about 5 times while riding my bike down Pearl St one-handed with the camera in my good hand - every BIG bump almost knocked my rickety ol' Schwinn over and with only one hand available, I was powerless to keep it in line.

My brilliant plan was, "If you wipe out, leap off the bike to save the camera. You'll jump off before you hit the ground! You'll just sooooar through the air and land on your feet!"

I was just silly enough to think it might work and some hitherto hidden wings might unveil themselves in my hour of need.

But the chipmunk bite and head trauma dangers were worth it in the end cause I got to tag alongside real journalists and see what they do! Gosh, I love where I work and who I work with. I know, I am barf-inducing. YIPS!





PS And check out the uber cool 7 Days logo a la Don! Loves it!

4th of July Rocked!

I apologize holiday, I thought you would suck. I thoroughly and completely expected to spend you miserable and out of sorts but alas, you rocked! Fireworks from a rooftop, purty views, meaty conversations, funky people, tasty eats, a balmy evening and to wrap it all up, CREPES!

Yum, thanks 4th of July. You are a dear. Even if I was operating on about 2 hours of sleep and those beers nearly put me into a coma and I got nutella all over my face - who cares!?

KABLOOM!

The Mighty Kingdom

I drove out to Greensboro Sunday for the opening day of Circus Smirkus. Although I grew up in Johnson, I never spent much time in the kingdom. Never too late to make up for that now!

After shooting the vlog for 4 hours, I was exhausted. Even though I don't actually do much physically, shooting and interviewing leaves me spent and dried out, not much more than a husk.

The 1.5 hour drive home was stunning. Storm clouds threatened and I stopped for a chocolate shake and fries. It mixed well with the cotton candy, hotdog and popcorn consumed earlier.

Vermont, you take my breath away...forget those things I said about San Francisco last month, you are mon petite chou!

Circus Smirkus are Stuck in VT

Circus Smirkus [34]

Love the Ladies

Ultimately, "Evening" achieves a kind of wisdom, though it's a strange and bitter wisdom.

Written by Minot and Michael Cunningham, the film arrives at a pessimistic and almost nihilistic view of life as something not very important -- and then invites us to take strength and comfort in the notion.

It's not what you'd expect, and it's certainly not the typical message. It might be most interesting thing about the picture. - Mick La Salle, SF Gate

What can I say, I loved Evening. And I might be the only one - the critics are panning it coast to coast. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what or why at this moment because I am still a little bit weepy (that's right, I cry at movies and spent most of this one sniffling) but suffice to say that Vanessa Redgrave is beautiful. Startlingly, heartbreakingly, amazingly, stunningly, wow.

And seeing all these intense, intelligent, older women with bags under their eyes (except for young and tasty Clare Danes) talking about love, loss, choices and death - well, that is my cup of tea and platter of hot buttered scones. Mmmm.

I walked to the movie chatting with my complex and fascinating sister who did not completely hate the film. Phew.

I come from a long line of strong, complicated ladies and I am so grateful for the presence of these people in my life. I hope they cuddle up with me on my deathbed like they did with Vanessa in Evening and talk me out of the mess of this world to the next.

Like Meryl Streep said after climbing into bed with Vanessa, "We're all such mysterious creatures. But in the end, what we do doesn't matter so much."

Because if life really is NOT about the mistakes you make, the doors that shut or the crappy choices you made, then it is ALL about the people that love you and the people that bring joy to your mundane moments.

People like your sister who used to babysit you even when you tried to steal the food money to spend it on candy, who built you a dollhouse from scratch and read aloud to you for most of your young life. Or your sister who used to do cheesy Weight Watcher ads but you love her all the same - check out Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave at the premiere of Evening below.

Chipmunks in Charge!

As part of my full-time 7Days job, I am making all sorts of cool new web content such as editorial vids that accompany an article, sort of like a photo used to. Below is a chipmunk video that goes with a story that you can read this week in Seven Days! Consider it a sneak peek!

THE SPICE GIRLS ARE COMING!

HOLY SHIT! It has finally come, the day is finally here! I knew if I waited long enough my life would have meaning! The Spice Girls are reuniting to make a pot of money and I am gonna go see them in concert! YES YES YES!



On a side note, it is hellah hot (heat brings out my inner Californian DUDE) and I rode down Main St one-handed on a bike filming skateboarders and didn't drop my video camera - not even when I hit that bump and almost lost control of my bike. OH YEAH!

Geeks are Stuck in VT

Geek Week [33]

Sunset at the Sunset Drive In

The month of July is going to be one hell of a ride for me so I snuck in one quick moment of summer fun at the Sunset Drive-In before going underwater.

Fresh Flatbread pizza was delectable, cold beer, good company, balmy weather, heavenly cola, sweet-n-sour candy, screens for the car windows and Johnny Depp seeing visions in the land of the dead.

It was a swell night, even if the pirate battles seemed neverending and the mosquitos never stopped swarming. Ok July, bring it...

Geeks, Berries and Chippies

What a weekend. Geeks, strawberries and chipmunks. Wow.

Above is a pic from Geek Week at the Langdon St Cafe in Montpelier. Liz Drake took the ab0ve pic and you can see more of Friday night's Sputnik show as well as a ton of other awesome local bands and events at her Flickr account.

Be on the look out for a Geek Week Stuck in Vermont vlog this week.

Above is Zena stuffing her face. I now know more about chipmunks than I ever thought possible. Did you know they eat insects, fight with each other, are solitary creatures, live in burrows under the ground and store their food in pantries!? Plus, now that a chipmunk has eaten out of my hand, I can die happily.

Sunday was a meeting of the blogs. In the old days there were ladies who did tea and now there are ladies who do blogs - and eat berries. Molly, Suzanne and I hit up the Intervale for some yummy strawberry picking/eating. Heavenly.

Below is the lovely Undead Molly (whose birthday is almost here) holding up a mutated "Bunny Berry."

Above is the matriarch of the Chipmunk Clan. Her name is Little Girl but do not step foot in her territory if you are a chipmunk because she will rip your leg off! Just ask Scardey who is a 3-footed chippie as a result - and he is her own son!

It's Official!

“The still must tease with the promise of a story
the viewer of it itches to be told.”

Cindy Sherman

As of this week I am officially working full-time - drum roll please - at Seven Days as a videographer/fresh-n-hot content provider. Yowzer!

This means I will continue to make the weekly arts & culture vlog Stuck in Vermont (and am shooting a particularly fun one tonight in Montpelier) as well as doing ads and editorial vids.

And after a week of 7Ds meetings and a Friday staff meeting that involved a feathery strawberry shortcake, I am brimming over with sugar, excitement and ideas for the weeks to come. YIPS!

There is this funny thing that happens when things finally converge onto the right track in your life (ever suspicious, I am furiously knocking on wood as I say this). It is almost a little frightening to get your dream job and dream house (more knocking) in the same week. Eerie even, and ever so suspicious. You start to look for holes in the paperwork, there must be a catch here, right?!

If I knew what the picture was going to be like I wouldn’t make it. It was almost like it was made already.. the challenge is more about trying to make what you can’t think of.
- Cindy Sherman

The first artist that really captured the essence of what I wanted to do when I grew up was Cindy Sherman. Her series of grainy black and white photographs of herself playing different working women on average moments in average days in their average lives each told a story far beyond the 2 dimensional image.

That is the sort of art I always longed to make. Something that told a story in a way you hadn't heard it before.

I've tried different story-telling mediums like zines, comics, paintings, and the written word. But digital video and the internet became my favorite tool as soon as I could access it.

I am still learning how to tell stories better and in a more cohesive way, trying to hone my deep, rich, resonant grandpa story-telling voice. But all that I really care about is that I am on my way. And the journey will be a wild one.

Oh, and I get to work with the coolest group of people at the best damn media conglomerate newsource in existence. Life is good. Thanks Cindy Sherman for pointing me in the right direction. One foot in front of the other...

Alcatraz Art Attack!

My new pal Matt made this awesome video about a wild event at Alcatraz that happened 2 days after I left SF (sniffle).

Hip hop artists, painters, sculptors, cabaret performers - all invading the desolate and beautiful island of Alcatraz in the middle of the night!

Wish I coulda been there. Too bad we don't have an Alcatraz to visit in the middle of Lake Champlain! ZOWIE!

My New Internet Friend

Matt Petty is my new internet friend. He is the art director at the SF Chronicle and he makes these super cool videos on the side. They are the closest thing I have found to Stuck in Vermont out there in the alt weekly online media scene. Matt's vids are called Art Adventures and they are about these uber cool obsessed Bay Area artists AND they have MONTAGES!!!! YIP!!

Below, Mr T dolls, I PITY THE FOOL WHO DON'T WATCH THIS VIDEO (this exhibit is SO San Francisco, we loves it):

Spectrum is Stuck in VT

The Identity Project [32]