Hot Summer Nights

Sorry I’ve been lazy about posting!  I’ve been super busy the last few weeks, and it’s all been super fun!  Hi Grandpa!  Heard you got  a new computer!  Yeah!

I’ve been putting my camera to good use these days, and I’m having a blast filming and editing some different projects.

First I was asked to put together a little short promotional piece for Stoked Mentoring, a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged kids from Los Angeles and New York participate in action sports workshops, such as surfing and snowboarding.  It’s a cool way to keep the kids out of trouble, and gives them a chance to do something that they might not have had the chance to do.  So that is one project I’m working on.  I filmed in Venice beach a week and a half ago, and I’m slated to film again on Sunday in Huntington Beach.  Hopefully we get some sun this time as the Venice Beach day was totally overcast, making for dreary looking video.

I also got a chance to help teach a photography workshop through Stoked Mentoring last Wednesday.  Special thanks to Kim from Mahfia.com for inviting me to help.  It was a super fun day, and the kids are really cool.

teaching the stoked crew photography basics with mahfia.com

I’ve also been filming some professional female surfers thanks to Chris Grant of JettyGirl.com, and I’m in the process of putting together a short summertime surf video.  It’s such a cool opportunity to get to shoot with these talented surfers.  I remember years ago watching surf videos – including the few all-girl ones – and thinking about how cool it would be to actually make a surf film.  Now I get a chance to film some of the same people I was watching in those videos.  Life is so funny sometimes.  I have some good footage so far and I’m hoping to get some more.  I could seriously sit for a few hours playing with the footage, editing it in different ways.  It’s truly something I love to do, where I won’t even notice that it’s suddenly 2:00 am and I should probably go to bed.

I was thinking back to how long I’ve loved doing videos, and I think it definitely started when I was like 10 or 11, playing with Chris and Molly from across the street, and the short movies we used to make with his dad’s camcorder. “Belle To The Rescue” was a great series featuring my dog as a canine Indiana Jones, saving people from falling off cliffs, and averting criminals from taking over the world. I really wish we still had those, but unfortunately I think they have been lost. Then my dad got me set up with an awesome editing computer running Windows 98 and a prehistoric version of Adobe Premiere (hey, it was state of the art back then!). The rest was history.

Here’s a short video I put together a few weeks ago.  I was calling it a rough draft, but I’m probably done with it since I’m working on other things and I’ll probably just leave it as is.  Maybe I’ll revisit it in a while, but for now I’ll call it in the can.

So this entire past WEEK I was sick with the flu.  I think it was the swine flu.  It started out last Friday – I felt fine that morning except for a bit of a scratchy throat when I woke up.  I got a call from my friend Val to go to the mall around lunchtime.  We went to lunch and after lunch I really started to feel bad.  I could tell I was getting sick but I didn’t realize it was going to be that serious!

By the time I got home 4 hours later I had a 102.3 fever!!  I could barely stand up.  I had no food in the house so I had to make a mad dash run to the supermarket.  I’m sure everyone in the store knew what was up with me – as if the 10 cans of chicken soup, 2 boxes of theraflu, box of asprin, gallon of orange juice, bananas, and loaf of bread didn’t give it away.  I bet the guy at the register washed his hands and got the flu shot directly after I came through the checkout line.

Well, it was horrible, and a week later I can say I finally got through the day feeling pretty good.  I still get bouts of dizziness/lightheadedness but I’m not nearly as worn out as I was all week.  Still got a cough, but that will probably go away soon I hope.

Last night I was feeling well enough to go check out the Raveonettes at the Belly Up.  Val did a promotion with them with her company, so she got us in for free.  Stoked!  Anyway, they put on an amazing show.  The only thing was it was so stinkin loud!  It was literally painful to stand near the stage, so I had to retreat to the back of the venue to watch the rest of the show.  That was unnecessary – I mean you can have it loud, but you don’t have to cause ear trauma.  I don’t know how other people were dealing with the volume level.  I know I have sensitive ears and I have to be careful, but still!  Anyway, the lighting effects were great and they had a ton of energy.  What a great show!

The Raveonettes

A few days ago was the first night I could go out of the apartment, although I was still not feeling myself.  I went to go see the Encinitas premiere of Modern Collective, another surf movie.  This was fun – lots of progressive surfing.

I had really wanted to go see a surf movie premiere at the La Paloma (almost every surf movie worth its salt comes to this theater) and hadn’t gone at all last year when I was in San Diego.  Now I’ve seen 2 within one week.  Weird how life works.