A Day in Sacramento
Let me give you a background on why this video exists. I was dying to work with Final Cut Pro X and use a SLR to shoot a video of my city, Sacramento, CA. At this point, I had never used a SLR for video and wasn’t sure what it would be like. I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I grabbed a few friends and went shooting for 6+ hours.
November in the City is beautiful. Sacramento is considered the city of trees. With that many trees and fall in full force it added some major production value. My original idea was to capture various parts of Sacramento and try to convey how cool it really was. Well, it didn’t happen that way (not to say Sacramento isn’t cool).
After spending quite a bit of time trying to force my clips into the original idea, I got frustrated and stopped. Over and over, I kept using the excuse, “I need more shots.” In my head I was ready to give up and leave the video in the “nice try” pile. Despite attempt after attempt of getting more shots, it wasn’t working.
I went back to the proverbial drawing board and started fresh. After looking at all my clips sitting in Final Cut and having many conversations with friends, I figured out what I could really do with what I had and went for it. I scrapped my previous work and the result is the video you see above. My video of Sacramento turned into a video about my friends and I experiencing Sacramento.
Overall this video represents the ability to conquer the mental blocks and discouragement that comes while traveling through the creative process.
Enjoy!
Fear of the Unknown
Fear of the unknown.
Something I find absolutely terrifying.
It’s this crippling feeling that I have yet to really master. It’s the unknown that makes me not commit
Not committing means no challenges.
No challenges means there is no growth.
No growth means being stagnant and getting bored.
Getting bored can get you in trouble, it feeds the monsters of laziness and slothfulness in your life.
Being lazy means your skills get rusty and when those skills are rusty it’s harder for them to be used.
Don’t be afraid of the unknown. It’s risky, but with that risk comes the chance of reward, which is something you won’t get if you back down from that dark place called the unknown.
Old School: Myself
Myself
I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able, as the days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don’t want to stand, with the setting sun,
And hate myself for the things I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself, as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of a man I really am;
I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don’t want to look at myself and know
That I’m a bluster and bluff and empty show.
I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself, and so
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.
-Edgar A Guest
29 Ways to Stay Creative
Love, love, love this video by TO-FU via Fast Co. Design. As I endeavor this year to be more creative than in years past, this is a simple yet straight forward video on how to maintain that creative stoke within you. My favorite tip of all is #7 “Sing in the shower” I do this with no shame, I sing Christmas songs in July to my shower curtain because I can.
Anyway enough rambling on my part. Watch the video and feel free to leave a comment on what keeps you in that creative mood.
Old School: Don’t Quit
I felt that this was appropriate for the new year. So many times have I started something and never finish it out. So many times am I left wondering what would have happened if I followed through with what I started. This poem is simple but direct, see what you started through. I love that these timeless poems hit home even today. Enjoy.
Don’t Quit
“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sign,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must – but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow -
You might succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Oftern the struggler has give up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup
And he learned to late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out-
The sliver tint of the clouds of doubt-
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit-
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.”
-Author unknown.
My Top 10 Movies from 2011
I enjoy movies not only for entertainment value but also for the appreciation of the film making process. My list this year is inclusive of only films I have seen. Also, some of these titles you may have never heard of and thats ok, I encourage you to go and check them out. Another Earth hits #1 for me this year and was by far the most intriguing movie I have seen in many years. Like Crazy and Midnight in Paris were movies I wasn’t even expecting to make the top 10 at all. Drive was artistically fascinating and the acting blew away my expectations. 50/50 was a bit crude for me but Joseph Gordon-Levitt was superb. The last 4 movies were mostly the films I was completely entertained with. Super 8 was a really well done Spielberg film, done by J.J Abrams. I love Harry Potter Films so it has to make my list. Battle: LA and Rise of the Planet of the Apes both just made it.
What films made your top 10? What did I miss?
Old School: How To Be Happy
How To Be Happy
Are you almost disgusted with life, little man?
I’ll tell you a wonderful trick
That will bring you contentment, if anything you can,
Do something for somebody, quick!
Are you awfully tired with play, little girl?
Wearied, discouraged, and sick-
I’ll tell you the loveliest game in the world,
Do something for somebody, quick!
Though it rains, like the rain of the flood, little man,
And the clouds are forbidding and thick,
You can make the sun shine in your soul, little man,
Do something for somebody, quick!
Though the star are like brass overhead, little girl
And the walks like a well-heated brick,
And our earthly affairs in a terrible whirl,
Do something for somebody, quick!
- Author Unknown
Over The Bay Bridge
Over the last few weeks I have been challenging myself to do something creative every single week. It doesn’t have to be big or flashy but needs to come straight from my noggin. I have found myself drawing more, taking photo’s and making videos. This has been a blast and a challenge for me. I was a pretty creative kid loved to draw make forts out of card board and was a really good and imagining and playing make believe.
Anyway, I was on a small trip with my room mate Steven and we found ourselves exploring (which is pretty common when we travel together) and we found some amazing shots of the Bay Bridge from Yerba Buena Island. I spent all of 10 mins editing this so I hope you enjoy it.
Old School: I Know Something Good About You
I Know Something Good About You
Wouldn’t this old world be better
If the folks we meet would say-
“I know something good about you!”
And treat us just that way?
Wouldn’t it be find and dandy
If each handclasp, fond and true,
Carried with it this assurance-
“I know something good about you!”
Wouldn’t life be lots more happy
If the good thats in us all
Were the only thing about us
That folks bothered to recall?
Wouldn’t life be lots more happy
If we praised the good we see?
For theres such a lot of goodness
In the worst of you and me!
WOuldnt it be nice to practice
That fine way of thinking, too?
You know something good about me,
I know something good about you?
-Louis C. Shimon

