So the wedding invitations went out this weekend. I did most of the designing and Rachel did much of the photography. As you can see we went a little bit untraditional. We wanted to make the whole thing allot more personal and at the same time show a bit of cultural nostalgia. I think we managed to get exactly what we wanted. Considering what we we’re expecting to pay, $40 at OfficeMax was very very affordable. (more…)

Went to a midnight screening of the (hopefully) final Indiana Jones film last night & came out very pleased. If you can manage to view it simply expecting another chapter in the life of Indiana Jones, you will not be disappointed. All the tension, drama and comedy are all there as if the last 20 year lag never happened.

The beginning of the story takes on a nice darker tone, alluding to the new moral ambiguities of the Atomic age where the good guys & bad guys are not so clear cut. You get the feeling that the world is sort of leaving Indy behind. Also, the usual imagery of crucifixes & religious idols is replaced by mushroom clouds & space ships. We also see a clearly older Indy. Unlike Rambo, Spielberg tries to realistically portray Indy as a fairly fit older adventurer. While he does swing and fight like you would expect Indy to do, the more Keatonesque action is left to the new kid Shia LaBeouf. Unfortunately most of these musings on aging and a changing world get lost in the action of the second half of the film.

About the only major qualm with the movie would be the ridiculous amounts of CG. I feel that Spielberg has always shown an excellent sense of balance between real special effects & computer generated ones. Take Jurassic Park for example. Unfortunately this Indy seems a bit more visually Lucas than Spielberg. Much of the action seems muddled, blurry or clearly green-screened. It all has that Star Wars luster to it. Which, while still enjoyable, adds an indoor “studio” atmosphere to the entire film. All in all, if you go in expecting Indy, Indy is what you’ll get. Keep an eye out for the subtle E.T. reference in the beginning.

Originally, this was going to be a couple of updates to my substitute Twitter, but it seemed to merit a bit more attention than that. Yesterday (Friday) I covered a small sized Spanish class for a period. As the high school has a considerable portion of Samoan and other Polynesian students, every year they have a Polynesian dance assembly. My kids wanted to go, so we went. I sat the kids down, and we waited quietly for the show to start. All except the two Cholas who sat next to me and loudly opined about anything and everything during the show. Here are the jewels I plucked from my ethnographic adventure. I apologize for my likely horrible Spanish spelling and the lack of translation. I really think all the humor is lost when translated. (more…)

This past April, much to my joy and excitement, Direction was screened at the PFA in Berkeley. After the showing and Q&A, I was approached by Michael Guillen to answer a couple questions and talk a bit about the process of making the film. Apparently this qualifies as an Interview. Definitely a first. You can read my arrogance at his film blog, The Evening Class.

That’s right, I’m fighting through a horrible vicious cold. I can barely muster the energy to plop this post onto the interweb. Yet, there’s something peculiar about being sick this time around. No it’s not the new colors my body can generate, or the fact that I keep seeing people come in that aren’t here. For some bizarre reason, I’m having the time of my life. (more…)