Remember the Shorts

1 comment (closed), posted on october 18, 2005, tags: filmmaking, me, vacation

Maybe you haven't seen them, maybe you want to see them again. Either way, check out the short films we've made. We're working on lots of stuff, including a new short film to be shot in December.

I'll be on vacation for two weeks starting in the middle of November—we're going to Japan! It's going to be a ton of fun and I can't wait. We have so much planning to do before we leave, but I'm already giddy with excitement about the trip. On the way there, we're stopping in Seattle for a few days so Katia can see where I grew up and so I can see some friends I haven't seen in about 6 years.

Alternate Reality

1 comment (closed), posted on october 24, 2004, tags: vacation

Okay... I left for Italy with the Red Sox three games down to the Yankees in the ALCS and I came back to them one game up in the World Series? What the fuck? It's as if we ventured into an alternate reality. I'm really upset I wasn't here to witness it, especially since I'm sure Shawn was in the highest spirits of his entire life (NB: The Glory). I probably could have punched him in the fact the night of game seven and he would have thanked me. I regret missing that opportunity.

Italy was wonderful. I have a tan, which is nice (even though it is only on my arms and face—thank god they require me to wear a shirt at work). It was warm, it was beautiful, it was too short. I have about 450 great pictures, nearly all of which will be posted online in a day or two (unlike my London/Dublin photos, I am not lying this time). I have more to say, but I have a lot of work to do at work this week so I am going to make it short for now. More later.

Italy, Here We Come

4 comments (closed), posted on october 15, 2004, tags: vacation

Later tonight we head to Italy. A last-minute vacation opportunity presented itself and we jumped at the chance. We're going to meet Katia's parents in Sicily. They've been in Italy for a week already and we're going to meet up and drive around Sicily and enjoy the warm Italian breeze for a week before coming back to a cold NYC winter. The plan is to arrive (after several layovers) in Catania, meet up with Katia's parents and then drive in a clockwise motion around the island, eventually ending up in Palermo. We'll be back on October 23.

Between planning the vacation and working on upcoming film scripts, there hasn't been much time for this site. Such is life. The time I have had has been spent getting the Codebase ready for its first release (which will happen a short while after I get back). I've finalized pricing details and I am looking forward to getting it out there and seeing what happens.

I also finally bought a new digital camera after 8 months of going back and forth and saving money: The Nikon D70. There were a lot of considerations involved and I think I made the right choice. The camera is amazing, and I can't wait to run it through its paces on this trip. It's really great to be back on an SLR system and to feel like I'm actually using a camera. With luck, I'll be able to print some of the photos I take in Italy, which is something I could not have done with my last camera but have been yearning to do for a long time.

I'll see you in 7 days.

A Dublin Story

3 comments (closed), posted on may 14, 2004, tags: vacation

On the last day of our vacation, we had to fly from Dublin back to London, then from London back to the US. The flight from Dublin was at 7AM, and we arrived at the airport at 6AM for check-in. We left the hotel at 5AM. We woke up at 4AM. We went to sleep the night before at 12AM. Needless to say, even though I just did—we were tired and it was early. Coffee and tea were a must.

Shortly after checking in, we ignored the voice on the PA system telling us—every two minutes—to proceed immediately to the gate after check-in and strolled upstairs to the cafe area. Katia went to find a table and I queued at Brewster's, a Starbucks-esque coffee & muffins kiosk.

The airport was teeming with people, even at this early hour, and the queue was long. Behind me stood a tired-looking man in his early 20s, headphones on and eyes nearly closed. In front of me, two women were chatting loudly. One of the two women was a midget. I say midget rather than dwarf because she didn't have disproportionate features. She was just very, very small. I'm about six feet tall. She, I would say, was about three and a half. Maybe less. The woman she was with was not a midget. They spoke with Irish accents and about some client of their company who did somethingorother.

When the first woman ordered, she requested a large coffee and a small mocha. She also ordered two muffins. The women then continued to talk. A few moments later, the waitress finished tapping the order into her computer and, while another waitress fulfilled the order, she if she could help the next customer. I took a half-step forward and said, "Can I have an English breakfast tea and—"

"Um, hello? I was next, you jerk!" the midget woman yelled from below me, cutting me off. "What, you ignoring me because I'm small?" It took a moment to register that she was talking to me. I thought she was yelling at someone else. The waitress didn't understand what was going on, because she couldn't see the midget woman due to the fact that the counter at the kiosk was four feet tall. I felt my face turn red.

"I'm not ignoring you, I thought—"
"You thought wrong. I'm next in line," she barked at me. I could feel everyone staring at me. Suddenly, I was the jerk who ignores midgets. Really, though, it was pretty obvious what happened. I assumed the woman in front of the midget had ordered for both of them (why else would she order for two?), and I responded to the waitress because she looked right at me. I obviously didn't ignore the midget. But in that moment, I felt like there was no way for me to get that across, so I didn't even try.

The midget ordered and I waited.

Vacation Complete

6 comments (closed), posted on may 10, 2004, tags: vacation

There's a lot to mention about the vacation, but it will require several posts and some time to decompress and think about the whole trip. Short version of it is that we had a really great time and we're glad to be home now. A few notes worth mentioning right off the bat since they're fresh in my mind:

• Contrary to what I've heard, the Underground (Tube) was great. It's like the NYC subway but cleaner and prettier.
• There were Cadbury Creme Egg vending machines in the Underground stations. 3 eggs for £1. Fantastic!
• Westminster Abbey was far more impressive than I thought it would be.
• Every person begging for money on the street in Dublin was under 25 (most seemed to be in their teens).
• The Guinness Storehouse was surprising. Glass, steel, waterfall—very modern and pretty inside. Plus the beer's good too (even though I think I officially like Murphy's better).
• Both the Pound and the Euro have prettier bills and coins than US Dollars. Significantly.
• The English love the word "mind." It's "mind the gap," and "mind the doors." I love it too now.
• The ham in Dublin is fantastic.

The weather in Dublin was jokingly bad. The first day we were there, it rained so hard we almost cried. It would rain very hard for about 45 minutes and then clear up completely for 20. Then, just when you started to enjoy a clear, blue sky, it would start pouring again. We got used to carrying our umbrellas wherever we went, no matter how nice it looked outside. Dubliners, however, could care less about the rain. Almost no one had an umbrella, and most just walked through the rain carefree. Those who didn't want to get drenched would simply step into a doorway or cafe or under an overhang until the rain calmed down. Then they'd go back to walking.

London, on the other hand, ended up having better weather than we were expecting. London was actually a lot like Seattle in the way that it would rain in the morning but clear up around lunch time. The rest of the day would be great. It didn't rain at all one of the four days we were there.

I took 915 pictures. 915. I remember having the camera in my hand all the time, but it seems strange to me that I shot that many. Even more interesting is the breakdown of photos by location: 458 photos taken in London, 457 taken in Dublin. I inadvertently took nearly the exact same number of photos in each location. Very weird.

The Belkin iPod Media Reader worked wonderfully. I have a single 256MB compactflash card and I took nearly 3 gigabytes of photos. Every 100 or so pictures I would take a moment and dump them to the iPod, then wipe the card. It was an extra step, and sometimes slow, but it worked perfectly and only cost me $99 (instead of approximately $430 for 3GB worth of compactflash cards—see these).

Let me also say that Xanax is overrated. It didn't really do anything, and I found that I like flying even less than I did the last time I flew (1998). On the long journey home from Dublin—which involved waking up at 4AM and taking a 7AM flight to Heathrow, wherefrom taking a flight three hours later back to JFK—I took two 0.25mg pills and still felt like shit every time we hit turbulence. The next time I fly, I will be asking my doctor for a prescription of unconsciousness with a side of 200mg kick-to-the-face pills for good measure.

I also need to thank everyone for their suggestions as to what we should see. We tried to do everything suggested, and I think we pretty much did. I want to especially thank Buzz Anderson for his recommendation to take the Jack the Ripper walk. We wouldn't have done it if he hadn't suggested it, and it was completely worth it. Rumbelow was great and we really enjoyed the tour. Oh, and on a side note—it's a coincidence that on our first night in Dublin, we walked a few blocks from our hotel and chose to eat at Gallagher's Boxty House, without even realizing that it had been on the recommendations list from everyone. It was excellent! Thanks again for all your suggestions.

More to come, including crap-loads of pictures once I get a chance to go through all of them.