I have to leave for work in about 20 minutes, so I'll have to keep this short: The three of us [Amanda, Billy and I] were hanging out last night watching tv - the Daily Show had just started and John Stewart opened with a clip of Bush talking about "our energy situation", Bush stated America needed a new [non-fossil fuel] energy plan, which sounded good, yes, we do desperately need a new energy plan, this is great news, right?

Then he went on to announce his new 10 billion plan over the next ten years... still sounds pretty decent, right? So, can anyone guess what "non-fossil fuel" energy source Bush is pursuing? Maybe wind? That's a pretty untapped energy source, and sure back in the 80's it was over 80 cents a kilowatt hour, but today it's side by side with any other energy source at 2 or 3 cents a kilowatt hour. But, no, it's not wind. So... hmm... hydrogen? No. What else, oh, there is the sun? Solar power has all kinds of potential... or maybe his initiative is just zero-energy homes, homes that produce as much, most times more, energy than they use. But no, it's none of the above.

Bush wants to spent the next 10 years and whopping 10 billions dollars on 'coal'. Coal... since when is coal not a fossil fuel? Did I miss a day in science class? When I heard the words "coal" come out of that man's mouth... my head almost exploded from confusion. Seriously, coal... the same coal which already accounts for over 60% of our energy... wow. Our energy problems are as good as solved.

But that's not all, oh no, it gets better. Then Bush said something along of lines of "we haven't built a nuclear power plant since the 70's", as if he was actually reporting shocking news. Yes... nuclear power... hmm... a 'three mile island' in everyone's back yard. But aside from nuclear power being a terrible, terrible idea - I'm still stuck on the non-fossil fuel alternative being coal. And people actually clapped at this - is it just me or should everyone's jaw have just dropped wide open when he said that? Sigh. I have to go to work now, I'd like to hear what people think of this "new cutting edge" plan.

So, today was my day off, but I had to go into work twice. Once for an inventory class and later tonight for the actual inventory (Yeah!). When I got into my car this afternoon to head to work there was an open parking space in front of me. I put my car into gear and started to pull out, but paused to let a car get by. Instead of going by, she instead stopped just in front of me on the street and preceded to parallel park in the space in front of me (which, by the way, was almost too small for her car). Now, keep in mind that I had already started to leave the space as she approached. For close to two minutes I waited for this girl to wiggle her car into the spot, while I kept my car in gear and even moved a bit to let her know I was trying to leave, all to no avail. When she finished, I then had to wiggle MY car out because she had moved into the space so tight to my front bumper I was virtually lodged in and she just sat in her car until I finally pulled off. I spent the entire drive to work stunned by what had just transpired.

On a totally unrelated subject, I have a question. I have been reading the Sin City graphic novels as of late, which I've previously mentioned . I'm getting to some of the books that have not been touched on in the film and with talk of a sequel based out of the remaining material, I'm a little hesitant about reading them right now. I know a lot of people prefer to read the books before seeing the movie. Some people insist on it. I personally prefer to NOT read the book until I've seen the film because I don't want to ruin anything. I know some people thinks that just crazy thinkin'. More times than not, people who are proficient in a particular body of literature are, in one way or another, left wanting at the end of a movie based on that same work. In the pro-'book before film' defense many people attest that the book is "so much better than the film" and therefore should be enjoyed without the taintings of another mediums interpretations. I understand where they're coming from, I guess I just don't see it that way. Maybe it's because I love movies so much (though I do love literature quite a bit). I look at the book as my own "Special Edition", if you will. You take from the book so much more than a movie could possibly give you: Internal monologues, deeper character development, stories that are more flushed out, cause-and-effects that may better explain certain plot developments, omitted characters. The list goes on. I want to react to a movie as if it were happening to me and if I know what's going to happen (if someone's going to die, if a character is secretly evil) it takes away from what the movie is trying to build up to and the events leading up to it seem unnecessary and overplayed. Even if you see a movie beforehand, you can't take away from what the book has to offer. Always save the best for last. I suppose that's the best way to explain it. I just want to know how other people feel on the subject out of curiosity. Which do you prefer and why? Get back to me on that...

"Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths? Why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" - the President's mother.

Originally posted at project pedal:

I feel exhausted. For the last two nights I've been helping with a short film from 5 in the afternoon until 5 the next morning. The problem though is I can't seem to get myself to really sleep in. The first night, I crashed around 5:30 and drifted awake at 11'ish, then I just laid there with my eyes closed for another hour and a half - which was frustrating. I'm sure tomorrow morning I'll be fully adjusted - and not to mention, done with the short - so then it will be a week of getting myself back on a decent schedule.

Unfortunately, nothing has actually been shot over the last 24 hrs of set-time, there is probably 15-20 people helping with this short at any given time, and basically everyone has been knee-deep in set construction, lighting, sound-prepping, etc... Hopefully we'll walk onto the set tonight, flip a switch, and be good-to-go. But with the way things have been going, a few minor bumps in the road could delay us half way into the night. On the plus-side [since they've lost two days of scheduled shooting] the short is one continuous 25 minute long steadicam shot, so there is hope. There's always hope.

Speaking of hope; I had a dream this morning that the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' were chasing me in a giant pirate ship, but they were the turtles from the first movie, not the cartoony' turtles from the second one ... actually that has nothing to do with 'hope'. I just felt like sharing.

To be perfectly honest, the reason it's been a few days since my last post is 20% laziness & 80% spite. Which, I know, it's a very flattering confession - I'm only human. See, I put in a good deal of thought to my last post, I wanted to get those thoughts off my chest, and I did, but I didn't want to do it in a way that toed any lines, and I believe I did that too [except for the Reagan-posterboy remark]. And, yes, I got three - very appreciated - comments. But, the 'spite' comes from knowing that I can 'cut & paste' a movie quote from imdb and get a whole truck load of comments/ interaction - or I can sit down and really try to write something thoughtful and listen to 'crickets chirping' for days on end. Anyways, these things happen, moving on:

Parallel Lines - thanks to Jeff for mentioning this film, I emailed Nina Davenpost, the director the other night in hopes of getting a copy of the film - as well as her first film, 'Hello Photo', now I've just got to scrounge up some extra cash. It looks very, very interesting though.

I guess above when I mentioned the 20% laziness thing - that wasn't all that accurate, I've actually been keeping fairly busy with proj: pedal, and on-top of that: tomorrow, saturday & sunday I'll be helping with a short film - and I'm going to be whipped; each day of shooting starts at 5'pm and runs until 5'am... and no, that's not a typo. And on-top of those two things, I've been working on a short film of my own, something to get me back behind the camera after all these past months of planning, planning, planning and then, a little more planning. And then, not so much "on-top", more "on-the-side" I'm helping a friend get ready for a music video he's been wanting to shoot. But I'm very excited about it - I think his idea holds a lot more possibility than he even gives himself credit for. More on all this later...

The other afternoon, I was driving down Magnolia on my way to work - traffic was somewhat thick and I spent most of the 3-mile drive behind a truck with a large 'Remember Sept 11th' sticker on the back window.

After about a mile, I stopped singing along to the Smiths I was listening to, and began thinking about that sticker – what it really meant… what ‘specifically’ it was suggesting we remember. Perhaps I just had too much time on my hands during all the red lights, but all the same:

Should we remember the lives that were lost? Should we remember those who were directly responsible for the deaths of 3,000-some people? Or should we remember something deeper – should we remind ourselves of their (hijackers) motivation? And, no, I’m not referring to the black & white Saturday-morning-cartoon antics of “freedom-hating” terrorist. I’m referring to the ‘cause & effect’ chain reaction that traces back some 30 years.

Because when I see a “remember” sticker – I (more often than not) don’t think about the day, as much as I wonder, “what’s it going to take”? If the terrifying reality of two enormous jets exploding against the tops of two world-famous skyscrapers isn’t enough to get people really digging… than what the hell is? When will come the point when people ask, “What is our oil consumption really costing… and not just ‘me’, but everyone”?

All politics aside – which might be asking too much – for the last 30 years, our country has been directly involved in ensuring a large number of countries remain under a dictatorship… why? I think it’s an obvious enough answer.

If Carter had his way – or even better, Reagan wasn’t such a poster-boy asshole – our country’s oil consumption wouldn’t have increased (over 30 years) by 12%, it would have dropped by that much. Almost completely eliminating our need to do business with dictatorships that cut us a fine-deal at the expense of their people. If we didn’t do business with dictatorships the whole “Shah/ Mossadeq” thing wouldn’t have happen (which Osama Bin Laden cites as his main reason for anger). There would be no involvement with Saudi Arabia. And if there were no Saudi Arabia deals, we wouldn’t have gotten cocky and moved onto Iraq – which means no “Gulf War”… no “Operation Freedom” years later. So on and so forth…


I guess I got to thinking about all this because the night we had the party, a girl was telling us how her older brother had signed up to be a firefighter – but apparently there is some fine print that forced her brother to be trained as a “firefighter” by the military… then after his training was complete, they up and shipped him off to Iraq, and guess what he spent several months doing there. Fighting fires? No, not really, not at all actually – he guarded the oil pipelines and got shot at day-in, day-out. Luckily he is now back home, but they want him to go back – she said he refuses to go back; he’d rather go to jail than stand guard outside an oil reserve.


So, again, I’m wondering, “what’s it going to take”? Will we wake up before or after another 3,000-some people are murdered out of revenge? Maybe this post is a bit preachy, but what the hell, it feels good to get that off my chest.

First off - thanks to everyone for the compliments on the new look of the blog. Secondly, I've been meaning to post a few polariods we snapped during an "I heart Huckabees" party... yes, yes I know what you're thinking... we're obsesed with that movie. But in our defense, we didn't plan the party, we just had it at our apartment.


It took me three tries to get this chalkboard to look like the one in the movie... and then fifteen minutes into the party some punk I'd never met before drew a cracked-out guitar over it! No I'm just kidding, I'm over it. But seriously, no I'm not. three times.


I'm not quite sure what Billy is doing here, but here he is.


Here is our friend Zack - I was the only one who knew ahead of time he was coming to the party. He would only come on the grounds that no knew he was coming... very sneaky.


A lot of people have been wanting new video/ clips to watch - and really we don't have anything interesting. But I did dig up these two short clips that I never did anything with: The first is amanda stretching on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and the second is where we slept the night of our coastal-ride... post getting kicked off the beach by the police. Enjoy.

Well, as most of you could probably tell - the site has been under construction for the last two days. This was a bit of an accident [not the ‘working on a new blog thing’, but the whole ‘people seeing it’ thing] to explain: I had been working on the template, but stopped to watch the director's commentary for "I heart Huckabees", just before going to bed I noticed that 'Thomas' has commented, so I thought I would respond.

What I did not realize is that when I post a comment on my own blog, it actually saves & published my whole site... so I uploaded the template prematurely. But it was three-something in the morning when this happened and I was just too tired/ lazy to care.

Anyways, this is a new season, a new look, and hopefully a new desire to get caliblog up and running again. All of us here [“here” being our apartment] are fully aware that we aren’t quite the blog we used to be... but these things happen from time to time.

Well, sorry so short, but this laptop I’m typing on is burning the tops of my legs and on top of it, my contacts are dry as… something really, really dry. So, let us know what you think of the new, very yellowish, style and we’ll try to catch up on some blogging we’ve been meaning to do. Goodnight, world.

Motherfucking cocksucker motherfucking shit fucker what am I doing? What am I doing? I don't know what I'm doing. I'm doing the best that I can. I know that's all I can ask of myself. Is that good enough? Is my work doing any good? Is anybody paying attention? Is it hopeless to try and change things? The African guy is a sign, right? Because if he isn't, than nothing in this world makes any sense to me. I'm fucked! Maybe I should quit. Don't quit! Maybe I should just fucking quit. Don't fucking quit! I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to fucking do anymore! Fucker! Fuck shit!

[Originally posted at project pedal...]

Amanda and I made it back in one piece from our two day adventure up and down the Pacific, we left out of Santa Monica and headed up to Leo Carrillo state park - for those of you who are familiar with the coast, yes, I know it's not the longest ride, but in our defense we had a late start on Saturday. Anyways, not considering the 'mad-house' traffic in-between Santa Monica and Malibu, the ride was great; a very relaxing get-away, I only wish it was longer.

I managed to squeeze the GL2 in my front bike pannier […I don't know why they don't just call them bags either], and Amanda packed up her camera, but for whatever reason neither one of us seemed to use them quite as much as we would have liked to. For me I think it was because I'm paranoid: I packed the Canon with giant bubble wrap and a fleece zip-up, so it wasn't the most convenient item to get to. Not to mention when I imported all the footage I found that my 'heads' desperately need to be cleaned, so the little footage I did take has digital 'junk' all over it.

Here’s a short list of things I didn't get on tape:

"No sleeping on the beach" – As the sun was setting Amanda and I went over to buy a pass for the Leo Carrillo campgrounds [this was after we snuck around and found a great place to lay down for the night], but the guy in the booth said all the empty spots were all reserved for the night. By this time, it was pitch black out; we hurried back into the campgrounds to buy a $3 can of spaghetti & meatballs and a $4 can of clam chowder… we still weren’t sure how we were going to heat it up.

We carried our bikes over our shoulders down the steps to the beach and decided to make a small fire under a small roof of rock - luckily we found a massive pile of deadwood, so I didn’t have to scrounge the beach for kindling. Long story short; we ate by the fire and then fell asleep on the beach by 8 pm.

Two hours later we are awoken by a flashlight in the face – a cop gave us two options: [one] you can leave the beach or [two], I can arrest you. So, it’s late, the wind coming off the beach is freezing, our bikes have no lights on them, the campground is booked for the night… and the only suggestion the cop has is to ride in the pitch black up the coast ten more miles to another campground that might/ might not also be booked for the night. Ten minutes later we are dressed again and all packed up, wondering what the hell to do, we decide to go use the campground bathrooms and then decide, on our way back we run into the cop again who this time is somewhat realistic to our situation, he gives us the go ahead to camp anywhere we like in the park. But a combination of the rocky ground and the fact that we only had one sleeping bag to share made for one of the most uncomfortable, sleepless nights of our lives…

"Taking a spill" – Due to some construction on the PCH, Amanda and I had two lanes of highway all to ourselves for a few miles, but I still managed to somehow find the only spot with a streak of mud and since my tires are on the bald side, my bike [loaded up with 60-some pounds of gear] slowly began to slip from beneath me. I managed to catch myself but only after two construction workers on their lunch break started to laugh at my clumsiness…

"Environment guy" – With less than two miles left of our ride back into Santa Monica; a guy pushing a baby-stroller enthusiastically asked where we were from, we laughed and said, “just North Hollywood, we’re just practicing…”. But then we got to talking about what we were practicing for, I gave him a ‘project pedal’ sticker, he told us how he worked for the Santa Monica environmental agency and about a friend of his that rode a beach-cruiser [if I remember correctly] coast to coast, unfortunately he blew his knee out in Tennessee, but rather than give up he took off that pedal and continued, all the way to D.C., with one leg… the whole event was made into a documentary.