LancesWorld.com Journal

What a great day it has been so far. Tonight is a night shoot on the movie, so I don't have to be to work until 3 this afternoon. That means that I got to sleep in until about 8:30. After I got up, I went for a jog at the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park and read some of "Angels & Demons" by a pleasant little lake in the park. I find this particular lake area to have a fairly wide variety of visible wildlife. Sunbathing on the shore, on logs, or on branches of semi-aquatic trees were a multitude of turtles. I think I saw at least 15 turtles at the lake. As I was observing the turtles, I noticed a small brown head poke out of the dirt not far from where I was standing. I stood still and focused on the hole and was rewarded when a little gopher popped his head out of the hole and began moving dirt around. He would come in and out of his hole ever so slightly, moving a little dirt each time, until he had managed to conceal the hole with himself inside it with a loose pack of dirt. I couldn't help but marvel at the amazing, yet simple, work he was doing. I also noticed how closely his own coloration matched that of the dirt he was moving - almost certianly an evolutionary advantage. Farther along the path around the lake, near a group of three sunbathing turtles, I noticed another animal hidden under a bush - again, blending in almost invisibly. This time, it was a frog, almost the exact same shade of green as the surrounding vegetation. I can't remember having ever seen a real frog in the wild before - sure I've seen them in zoos or in animal sanctuaries, but never just hanging out by some lake in a park. It was a great day for wildlife spotting, not to mention it was nearly 70 degrees and sunny, making it one of God's most wonderful days.

I left the park at 11:30 and headed home where I took a leisurly shower and then got ready to head out to lunch, where I am actually sitting now as I type this. I was trying to decide what to have for lunch when I walked past this nice looking sandwich shop where I could get a turkey sandwich for only $3.50. So I stopped in and was pleased to discover that they also offered free wireless internet, so I decided to take advantage of that and update LancesWorld.com. And the sandwich is pretty good, too.

Once I finish eating here, I will go and feed the meter at my car and then maybe hit up Starbucks for a quick drink and some leisure time with "Angels & Demons" before I make a very special pickup from a local shop and then head to work. I can't say quite yet what the pickup is because you never know who might be reading this journal entry... maybe someday I can reveal the secret.

Posted by Lance at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello everybody, and Happy Easter!

I've been having a lovely Easter weekend as I made the trip back home to Salt Lake City to spend the holiday with my family and friends. Despite the fact that the trip is extremely short (only Friday-Sunday), it's always nice just to get home for a little while. On Friday night I went out to a bar called The Bayou with my sister, her boyfriend, and a very good friend of mine from Notre Dame, Divish. It's been quite a long time since I last saw Divish (probably before Sep. 20... wow) so it was good to have a chance to see him again. He is from India, and was actually in India over the Christmas holiday, so naturally when I heard about the tsunami disaster I was concerned about him. It turns out he was actually at the coast the morning of the tsunami, but happened to leave 30 minutes before the tsunami hit, so he's just fine.

Saturday I went out shopping with my mom and sister for a little while. I was very disappointed with the selection at Meier & Frank, and ended up leaving with only one new Nautica shirt. I also purchased a new pair of blue cargo-style pants at Old Navy, but that's it for the day.

And now, here I sit, at about 1:30 a.m. in Utah Easter sunday morning importing CD tracks onto my laptop white writing this journal entry on my desktop. Actually, I am trying to figure out how I can get my desktop computer out in San Francisco with me. As much as I love my iBook, I would really like to have my PC with it's dual-monitor setup at my disposal in San Francisco. I'll figure something out, I'm sure.

For those of you who don't already know it, my mom and sister both came out to visit me in San Fran. My mom came out in early February for my birthday and my sister came out over her spring break in early March. I enjoyed the company. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have much time to entertain additional guests now that we have started shooting. With shooting going on, I am so busy and work such long hours, that I don't think I would make a very good host.

I hope you all have an excellent Easter!

Posted by Lance at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, so South Park taught me a lesson today: Even crappy chinese singers can make money on the internet. Check out the website for this woman named Wing.

http://wingmusic.co.nz/

She moved to New Zealand from Hong Kong and has been working in a career as a recording artist. Somehow, and I don't know how, she has managed to release 9 CDs and has had her music licensed by the likes of South Park. Granted, South Park pretty much made fun of her music through the entire episode it was featured in, but still she probably didn't walk away from that deal empty handed. You should check out the website and listen to some of the samples she provides on the website. Dancing Queen is one of my personal favorites.

Posted by Lance at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spiderman 2. Blah. What a waste of the Oscar for Visual Effects. That's why I don't watch the Oscars, they're pretty much lame. I mean, the ceremony is boring, the winners are all political, people talk more about how the stars were dressed than the merits of the films, and there are about 85 commercial breaks. I am not against a commercial Hollywood, afterall I want to work in Hollywood on big-budget features, but I am against commercial awards. The Academy Awards have turned into nothing more than a huge popularity contest and a forum for gossip mongers.

"Did you see how terrible Rene Zellweger looked?"
"Oh yah, I hear she's become anorexic."
"No, even worse - she's getting ready to have an operation to become a flamingo!"
* gasp *

OK, so maybe that exchange didn't really occur, but it may as well have. It would be about as valid as 98% of the other things we read about the stars in magazines or hear from Joan Rivers.

So yesterday I spent some time at my favorite place in the world - the beach. For those of you who know anything about me, you'll know that I actually despise the beach. There are three things I hate: 1) sand, 2) the sun, 3) getting wet. Add these three things together and what do you get? The beach. Now, I don't hate the sun altogether, I just hate the sun when it gives me a sunburn or when it gives me cancer. (Which reminds me of a commercial... "You know, I'm giving you cancer right now." hilarious). And I don't hate getting wet altogether, just basically anytime that it's not in a shower. But I do hate sand altogether. Can't stand it. It gets everywhere, no matter how careful you are. You could barely put your shoe on the sand and it fills up. It's almost as if the sand just passes right through the sole of the shoe, laughing all the way. And the sand is ever worse if you're wet. It sticks to everything, gets in your hair, gets muddy between your toes... if you dry off before you wash the sand away, you would probably be unable to move, encrusted in stone, almost.

So why then would I voluntarily go to the beach? Well, it was such a nice day that I decided I wanted to go outside and read. I first headed towards the park, but then decided that it might be nice to go down to the beach and read with a beautiful ocean view. So I drove the 15 blocks to the beach, parked my car and then sat on the tidal barrier and read a screenplay. So, I wasn't really on the sand at all, but I was as close the the water as I could be without being on the sand... It was a beautiful day, though. Mid 60s, sunny, but not cancer sunny, with a pleasant ocean breeze and a view that went on forever.

So I guess I've wasted enough of your time with this entry, but I figured since I haven't posted anything new since, what, January, it's OK to be a little long winded. But February is a retarded month anyway. 28 days? What's up with that? Bonus points if you have the answer.

Posted by Lance at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)