Category: This month…

Championship Season

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February, for whatever reason is blessed with several big events when it comes to trophies and red carpet events.  It’s the end of the film and tv award season, ending with the Oscars.  It’s also the end of football season, ending with the Superbowl.  The Superbowl is one of those events were sports fans and non-sports fans alike, gather, eat copious amounts of junk food and watch the TV for two reasons.  1) To watch the championship football game and 2) to watch the commercials.

This sounds silly, I know – especially to those who have never witnessed such an event.  The commercials. Once a year companies pay an obscene amount of money to show 30 seconds of advertising during peak commercial breaks throughout the game and then the public review and scrutinize them for months afterwards.  Get ready for a lot of puppies, scantily clad men and women, cars and lots and lots of beer.

Usually, I’m more of a college football fan, but when your local professional team makes to the Superbowl for the second straight year after winning the year before (for the first time ever), it’s a pretty big deal.  In fact, it’s a huge deal and one can’t help but jump on the bandwagon.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the professional football but until I started playing Fantasy Football two season ago, I’d never been this devout a fan.  And when I say devout, I mean that I pay attention to scores and best players each week, but I still don’t watch very many games.

So for those who have no idea what this game is about, here you are.  The basics of American football:

Cub Studio

Yes, the pace is a little fast, but I love the graphics and it explains the whole thing so well in such a brief amount of time that you really have to admire this little short.  I could have used this back in high school when I was moving back to the US and really didn’t have much of an idea of what happens in a football game.

I am going to miss football season when it’s over tomorrow, but then I can move on to other things. Like hockey!  And hopefully, with my fingers and toes crossed, winter will finally come and we’ll finally get our usual snowfall in the mountains so that I can hit the slopes.  This is the first time in a long time that I’m able to head to the mountains for ski season and we’re having a severe shortage of snow during this very mild Pacific Northwest winter.  Humph.

Come back next week for the first of the “Championship” series.  Until then… GO HAWKS!

Cheers! to a New Year

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New-year-2015-snow

I hope everyone has survived the holidays and for some of us, we still have a ways to go before we end our holiday season.  It’s almost all over though and once again it’s time to put the nose the grindstone.

I can’t believe that my little hiatus from work is already over, but I’m actually feeling rejuvenated from the time away from my desk and ready for action.  Well, at least as ready as I’ll ever feel.  Getting started again is always the hardest part but lots will be starting up in the next few days, so I better prepare myself before the starting gun fires and it’s time to start up the race. Again.  I already have several meetings on my calendar for next week and that is only the beginning.

The specifics are not quite ready for announcing yet, but in the next few weeks I hope to share a little more about what is coming down the pike.  For now, I leave you with this month’s theme – Rejuvenation.  You probably figured that out already with the new year and all, but just in case you hadn’t.

Here’s to the year ahead!  Cheers!

It’s what month?

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Somehow, and I’m not quite sure how, it’s already December.  I’m pretty sure I’ve been in a fog the last few months, I’m finally coming too and I can’t quite figure out how it’s time to start wrapping up the year.  Now that I’ve survived making Thanksgiving dinner for 15 people and I’m working ridiculously long hours – for which I am very grateful for even if I am feeling very sleep deprived, I’m very excited that it’s finally December.

I’m usually not a big fan of the holidays season because of the holidays themselves (sorry, not trying to sound like the Grinch, but the holidays usually include a lot of stress).  In fact I could probably skip them all together except for the fact that it signifies a time when I feel like no matter what, I can take some time off.  This year, that means seeing my family for several weeks and believe it or not, I am elated.  So many avoid their parents like the plague.  I on the other hand can’t wait to see mine.  No work and having mom and dad pamper me for a few weeks sounds heavenly right now.

Plus, this is the first year in a long time that I’m excited about the idea of decorating the Christmas tree, baking cookies and wrapping presents.  It must be that holiday air… and that I’m pretty excited about the gifts that I’m slowly collecting to give to my favorite people.

Like last year, I’m dedicating this month to:

Family-14

I know it’s cliche but to me, this is the best part of the holidays.  So wherever you are and whatever your beliefs, I hope you can take some time now that we are wrapping up yet another year, and appreciate the relationships that we have with those we call family.

Ode to those behind the scenes

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As cliche as it is to designate November the theme of

thanksgiving14I can’t help it.  It just seems to come with the territory as we are thrown into a string of family holidays which, for the most part, make us feel thankful for various aspects of the holiday season.  I’m not sure if I’m all that thankful for the extra stress that it brings with menu planning, new work projects and upcoming travel BUT I am thankful for the opportunities that it brings. I’m still trying to figure out how to make this time of year less stressful as it all seems to culminate into one large stress fest, but so far I am at a loss.  Anyone have any ideas here?  I suppose I could just say “screw it all” and forget about a lot of it but that wouldn’t be in my nature.  Darn myself and my over commitment!

To prevent myself from digging myself into a rant, I’m going to list a few things that I’m grateful for, which in many ways can reconsidered a work update:

  1. Since leaving film school almost two years ago, I’ve worked on four major projects, each with their own international distribution/broadcast deals.  (The Human Face of Big Data, The Breach, Wall of Fire: A ChefSteps Story and Out of Print)  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
  2. In the last three months, I’ve picked up two new projects and there are several others pending.  One being a film called Crazywise (click here for more info) and another that I will share more about in the near future.
  3. And last of all… there are more announcements to come but I’m going to wait a little bit longer before I share them.

Despite their warnings, seasoned filmmakers can never really prepare you for the slog that is getting your foot in door to this industry.  I have been extremely fortunate to have met some incredible mentors along the way and I am extremely grateful for their guidance and jobs in the last few years.  Their lessons and support have been invaluable.  I have a long way to go before I’m going to feel more comfortable with where I am in my career, but for now I’m grateful for all that has come my way.

My theme of giving thanks though is not just giving thanks for the various aspects in my own life, but I want to focus on others who are doing amazing things out there but with hardly any recognition.  There are so many of us that work in the stage wings and are hardly ever seen – even if we like this covert role it is nice to have the occasional moment in the limelight. So here you are – just a few remarkable people who are doing their part to make the world a better place.

Getting out of the house

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I’ve been working a lot lately, or at least I feel like I’ve been working a lot.  It’s been a lot of sitting and staring at my computer screen and frankly, I’m sick of it.  I didn’t get outside nearly as much as I would have liked to this summer, but c’est la vie.  Fall is here and it’s time to start thinking about the end of the year.  Already!

I’m actually looking forward to Fall even if the weather is colder and the days shorter.  I know that seems contradictory to the fact that I’m sick of sitting inside, but I’m also hoping that it means that I will take more advantage of the daylight hours and get out more instead of sitting at my desk with the mentality that “there’s still plenty of daylight left,” when actually I should have been outside all along.  When you have less time to devote out of doors (or to other things), it changes your perspective on things, don’t you think?

So for October, I’m dedicating the month to celebrating adventure, to doing something new and out of the ordinary (for myself).  I’m hoping to feel that spark of life again, because if I’m completely honest, I don’t feel like I have much of a life when I’m staring at a screen for several hours of the day.  It makes me feel rather like a zombie.  And this is why I’m sharing this video with you:

Albin Holmqvist

 

Education First (EP) teaches languages and therefore, opens the door to exploring new places. So take a gander and go do something new, even with the shorter days.  The end of the year is rapidly approaching and wouldn’t it be a shame to realize that all you had done is worked all year?

It’s that time of year again….

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It’s that time of year again.  It’s time for kids to head back to school, the weather is cooling off and it’s time to bring in the food harvest.  How did that happen?  I’m not sure where this summer has gone, but it’s practically gone.  Yikes!

A year ago, I went with a food theme for the month of September, and once again, I’m returning to that theme- I suppose my last post should have been a heads up.  I mean, who can resist food?  It’s beautiful, something that we all need to survive and it’s something that everyone enjoys on some level.  For me, it’s one of my favorite ways to explore new culture. Food speaks volumes about a culture. It’s also a way that I like to unwind after a long day in front of my computer because it uses all of my senses and challenges my creative muscles that I don’t always get to exercise depending on what part of a project I’m working on.

Now several months ago I mentioned that I had been working with a company called ChefSteps.  I loved working with them because not only are the people amazing, but they combine my two passions- film and food:

chefsteps

This isn’t the piece that I worked on while working there, but I hope that I will be able to share that with you soon.

Food is actually how I got into reading blogs in the first place.  I was looking for a cupcake recipe for my friend’s birthday and came across Hummingbird on High.  It was a complete fluke that I found it and now I look forward to Michelle’s posts each week, not to mention updates on several other blogs.

If you have any interest in food blogs, I would recommend the following:

  • Hummingbird on High:  I always find great dessert ideas here.
  • Food52: I use this as an online reference for basic recipes that I would like to find original twists on and just good ole’ trusty favorites that I don’t already have in my collection.
  • Two Red Bowls: I love this blog for the original twists on recipes.
  • The First Mess: I love the photography on this blog- even if I’m not vegan.
  • Adventures in Cooking: I can always find recipes that I would never have thought of trying myself.

So now that I’ve shared my fairly new love for food blogs, I’m signing off for today.  Stay tuned for a slew of food related films.

Meditations on Paper

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As much as I’m loving this unusually warm summer for the Pacific Northwest, I have one complaint: The heat makes me lethargic.  It makes it kind of hard to get things done when I just want to lay on the beach somewhere or glide around on a paddle board. However, that isn’t something that I can do all the time right now.

The high temperatures also make my thoughts wonder- it probably has something to do with the fact that the sun is shining and it always grabs my attention when I’m near a window.  I find it kind of meditative, something that drawing also does for me.  I don’t do it all that often but it makes me relax – something I associate with summer and warm weather.  I would never say that I’m any good at drawing or that what I produce is even worth keeping but I like how it makes me forget whatever is going on in my life.

I’m always in awe of those who produce art for a living- I’ve only featured artists multiple times on this blog, but for this month I’m just talking about artists that draw for a living.  I’m always fascinated by their way of conveying their ideas and thoughts or even their

Art-meditations

Until next week though, I leave you with a short video that makes me relax and imagine that I’m somewhere else.  It makes me feel like its summer no matter what the weather outside. And as my summer travels are very limited this year, this gives me just a couple minutes of escape.  Enjoy!

Poppy de Villeneuve

 

Put your feet up

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How is it possible that time seems to slow in the summer?  Is it because the days are longer? Is it because the sun makes us forget about our busy schedules?  Is it because we somehow have less to do?  I’m pretty sure it’s not because we have less to do but it’s the perfect time of year to spend more time “hanging out” and a little less nose-to-the-grindstone like we do the rest of the year.

As we are at this lazy time of year…

July--feet

Take some extra time to relax with friends and maybe leave the office half an hour earlier than usual.  And, in case you can’t make either of those things happen, take a quick break with what I have in store in the next few weeks.  Short and simple and hopefully a quick break from the every day slog – something to make you want to say “Cheers”!.

 

Another month gone…

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May was one of the busiest months I’ve had in a long time and to be honest I loved every moment of it.  It was one of those good types of busy where I was exhausted by the end of the day (in a good way) and I looked forward to the next day.  I hope June can bring something like that because I’m feeling very fulfilled at the moment.

What was keeping me so busy?  I don’t know if I’m quite ready to share that yet as there is a lot in post-production to be done, but to give you an idea, it involved:

  1. Spending time up in the mountains.
  2. Food.  Lots of food. Really good food.
  3. Visiting with friends.
  4. Camping.
  5. Puppies.
  6. Watching films at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF).

I know.  Not a lot to go by, but like I said, post-production is going to take a while.

I don’t have much of a theme for this month but after reflecting on this last month, I’m using themes from the last few weeks to inspire my next few posts.

Food,-Friends,-Nature

A broad topic I know… stay tuned.

Anywhere but here

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In the last couple of months I can’t help but wish that I were

anywhere-but-here

Its probably a combination of the winter grey, being in the city for the last few months and the fact that I really haven’t travelled in a while that is getting me down.  I have this feeling of wanting to go anywhere as long as its not along the northern part of the I-5 corridor.  Then again I wouldn’t mind going to Canada for a long weekend…

Admittedly I just got back from a quick jaunt to Mexico for a wedding, but I think that only made things worse… I want to go somewhere completely different that puts me out of my element.  That, unfortunately, is not going to happen any time soon, so instead of I’ve been watching videos that help me feel like I’m somewhere else.  Even if its only a couple of minutes.  Stay tuned for a few that I’ve loved!