I highly recommend watching this many, many times. I can't get enough.

Originally posted at Project Pedal - feel to leave me a comment here...

share this   |   'save as'   |  

The large majority of questions "slash" concerns (from people after watching Episode One) dealt with Pedal's exact process, and in relation to this; the exact results. 1) Who are we following? 2) Who are we interviewing? 3) Are we driving, or also riding bicycles? 4) How long will this take?

Which brings us to "episode two" - where I do my best to answer these questions as clearly as possible, while walking through what's to be expected during filming. As always I love to hear your feedback!

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, drawing, episode

Boston Herald - Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio's most populous county.

Special prosecutor Kevin Baxter did not claim the workers' actions affected the outcome of the election - Kerry gained 17 votes and Bush lost six in the county's recount.

Maiden and Dreamer, who still work for the elections board, face a possible sentence of six to 18 months for the felony conviction. Sentencing is on Feb. 26.

I love how they so casually claim this had little or even no effect on the vote in Ohio. As if this was an isolated event in avoiding the recount.

My favorite comment on the artical was this: "They got 6 to 18 months for this crime and we got 4 more years of Bush? They should at least suffer for as long as we suffer."

This... just makes me angry. Anyone else out there reading have any thoughts on our vote being taking away from us?

I realize this story has been out for about a week now - but it still makes my jaw drop every time I think of it. Looks like Bush forgot to mention something in his recent speech about Iraqi oil revenue and who's getting what. From Market Watch:

Iraq's massive oil reserves may be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies - which could end up grabbing up to 75% of the [beleaguered] nation's oil profits - under a law seen coming before the Iraqi parliament within days, the Independent reported on its Web site Monday. A draft of this controversial law, which the U.S. government has been helping to craft and has been seen by the Independent, would give oil giants such as BP PLC (BP), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and ExxonMobil Corp.

"U.S. has been *helping* to craft...", key word here being "helping".

Supporters counter that the 75%-profit provision will last only until they have recouped their initial drilling costs. After that, they would collect about 20% of profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. This is still twice the industry average for such deals.

This is such a blatant "fuck you" to Iraq (and the shrinking number of Americans who are still holding onto the idea that we are over there for a just cause), that you almost have to tip your hat to them. It's somewhat impressive, in its own sad and greedy way - they really just don't care anymore. If someone would have been screaming, pre-occupation, that it was all about the oil and that western oil giants would be reaping as much as 75% of the profits - they would have been laughed at. They were laughed at.

This law will cost us greatly - there's no way that the western world can take so much from a country that now has so little and not expect there to be severe consequences.

Our friend Eric, from EricRey.net, made an appearance on the MTV "dating" show 'Next' - I managed to accidently delete half the damn episode when messing around in EyeTV. But I did keep a highlight version. Hilarious.


Pay close attention to Eric's reaction to "Ryan Seacrest" and his confessed obsession with women's feet.

Originally posted at Project Pedal

I've been working on Pedal for 3 years - and in those 3 years I've been sporadically reminded how grateful I am of this blog. This blog, which, to give credit where it's due, was very much inspired by Girl with a Movie Camera's blog, has brought me the amazingly talented Black Sheep, which I hope I will someday soon get to work with. It has brought me, if only a short time, a producer... loads of encouragement - it has kept me focused and committed.

But on Dec 30th, a person I've never met, short of possibly passing each-other in the street, watched Episode One and had this reaction:

Read the whole post here...

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding, ChipIn!, thanks, inspiration

The other morning I drove my sister, Mandy, to the LAX airport - we stood in the unusually long lines together and I made sure she was checked in right... I got clearance to walk with her past security. I was assuming the two of us would have a bit of time to hang out at the gate, maybe get a smoothy, relax, say our goodbyes. But - the airport was so packed (probably with other people heading home after the holidays) that before we even made it to the gate they were paging her for an assigned seat.

I gave her her bags, her magazines, a big hug, said "I love you" and she hurried into the loading-ramp. I stood there a while, watching through the giant windows overlooking her plane - waiting to see if I could catch a glimpse of her through the small opening where the tunnel meets the jet, but I couldn't. I got a little teary eyed - I wish she could have stayed longer.



Amanda always talks about the first trip that she took to LA, when she was 16, (Mandy is 15) as being extremely influential for her. I guess I just hoped I could make Mandy's 1st trip to LA the same - special. I hope I pulled it off.

Flash Version   |   'Save As'   |     |   5'24