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For those of you who might be interested, here is a quick video of the first dance from Shane & Leilani's wedding. This is the couple that was just married on Saturday. They are my very dear (not dead) friends, and I was honored to shoot their wedding video for them. Here is their first dance (two version available depending on bandwidth).
Winged Migration, however, is a documentary that I would call a great film. If I told you that it was a film about migratory patterns of bird that has barely more than no narration and not a single human character with a speaking role, you would probably think that it would be about as boring a movie as you could imagine. That's where you would be wrong. This movie has some of the most amaing cinematography that I have ever seen. You have never seen birds in this way. The camera isn't just sitting on the group shooting the sky - it is flying directly along with the birds! The effect this creates is that you, the viewer, are flying directly alongside these birds. It feels almost as if you could reach right out and touch them.
Documentary fan or not, this is a movie that you really need to see. It is more than simply a look at the migratory patterns of these birds; it is a look into the interactions of birds with members of their own and other species. You will be amazed at what some of these birds do. From walking on water to playing peek-a-boo to avoiding sidling crabs, the birds in this film are amazing, as are their journies. In the final analysis, this is perhaps one of the finest documentaries I have ever seen - at the very least, it is the most beautiful. See this movie!
To say that I'm exhausted right now wouldn't really quite capture how I feel. In addition to tiredness, I'm also feeling pain and extreme itchiness. Despite being about read to pass out from the combination of these three issues, my dedication to the LancesWorld.com readers is keeping me away from the bed that beckons so clearly 2 feet to my left. Today marked the first of five weddings that I plan on attending before the end of October. My very dear friends Shane Ahern and Leilani Amalu were wed today at St. Dominic's. It was a wonderful ceremony. I was their wedding videographer. Assuming there were no disasters that I'm not yet aware of, I think things should turn out pretty well. I'm sure there will be at least a few small issues, but hopefully nothing that can't be worked around in some way.
Alright, my devotion to all of you can't keep me away from bed forever. And the exhaustion overtakes me...
Pictured here was my first foray into vegetarian cooking. On tonight's menu, my own personal ceration: Spicy Soy Sausage and Spinach Farfalle Bake with corn and a side of iPod. Quite tasty, even if this picture from my camera phone doesn't look terribly amazing.
For no other reason than to improve the quality of the foods that I eat, I am going to give something a try this week from Monday - Friday. This week, I'm going vegetarian! Now, this has nothing at all to do with tortured animals or the evils of the meat industry; rather, it is solely an attempt on my part to increase the portion of my diet made up of fruits and vegetables. I'm certainly not giving up meat entirely, just for five days this week to see how it goes. I may have to exclude Friday night from this plan as I have a rehearsal dinner for a wedding that night, but we'll see.
I don't think it should actually be that hard to give up meat. Today, for example, I had a remarkably delicious Szechuan Beef dish with meatless beef! Yes, that's right, it was beef without the meat. A Vegi-Beef, if you will. Sounds disgusting, right? Well, it wasn't. My experience with soy meats in the past has been pretty good. In fact, the first time I had soy beef was in a taco. I was at a vegetarian's house, and when the tacos came out I was surprised to see that they contained meat. Even tasting it, I thought it was meat. It wasn't until I made an inquiry that I learned it was not, in fact, ground beef, but was instead a soy product.
This experiment should be interesting.
Well, folks, by this time tomorrow I could be a millionaire. Yes, today I made my first-ever lottery ticket purchase. I don't really know why, I just felt called to make the purchase. I hope this was the call of the Holy Spirit, and not the subliminal call of a radio ad campaign, but who knows. Assuming I win, the prize is $31 million paid in 26 annual installments. In all likelihood, I would take a lump sum payment, though, and invest. The odds of winning are ridiculously low, but I figure that even if I don't win, at least my $1 is going, in part, to support CA schools. I'll let you know when I don't win.
I was just browsing the Apple website, and I find myself wanting to buy a who load of new Apple products, including the new Quad Xeon 64-Bit Mac Pro computer. Do I need another new computer? Of course not, but it just looks so awesome. Up to 4 hard drives, 2 optical drives, 16GB of RAM and dual 3GHz dual-core processors - who wouldn't want one? According to Apple, there are up to 4.9 million customization options for the Mac Pro. (For information on how the number of combinations in any situation is calculated, see the brilliant theory posted at ryangreenberg.com.)
In addition, Apple recently released a whole new line of MacBooks (replacing the iBook). I saw the new MacBooks first at an event here at UC Berkeley, actually. An Apple rep came to the Cal Summerfest and brought along the new MacBook. I was immediately drawn to it because Apple wisened up and released a model in black. Now, Dell and other PC manufacturers have released black laptops for years, but none as sleek and stylish looking as the new MacBooks.
Apple has also recently released a Sneak Peek at their new Operating System, Leopard, set to be released in 2007. It is designed to take full advantage of the new Intel processors and adds many new features. I usually don't get excited about Operating System upgrades, but some of the new features in Leopard are pretty cool, like Time Machine for backups. Windows hasn't released a new Operating System in how long? Too long. Some might say that Apple releases new Operating Systems too often, but they almost always have significant improvements, not just minor changes. Apple is innovative beyond belief.
Why must Apple be so awesome? They make me want to spend all of my money. Oh yah, that's why they're in business.
There is a chance that I am suffering from a mild depression. I can't say for sure, but it is probably a combination of lots of different things that are all creating a very high level of stress in my life as of late. This stress-induced depression shall pass, but it is manifesting itself in rather strange ways for the time being. For example, yesterday I went to Stonestown Mall here in San Francisco. The primary reason for going there was to occupy time. I had just seen the movie "The Night Listener" at the Century Theaters in Daly City and was on my way home when I passed the mall. Having nothing else to do (the first weekend this has been the case in a LONG time), I decided to stop by and just have a look around. I headed into the Apple Store and was immediately greeted by an wild-haired employee who asked, "how's the world of geocaching?" Turns out this was a fellow geocacher that I met at a recent geocaching picnic in Felton, but I would probably never have recognized him had he not talked to me. Crazy.
Now, my main reason for going into the Apple Store was to look at their iPod to Car Stereo adapters. Earlier in the day, I had looked at an "integrated" system at BestBuy, but the cost was too high. I ended up settling on an FM Transmitter version made by Monster. I've heard bad things about FM Transmitter adapters in big cities (like San Francisco), but I decided to give it a go. I've been wanting to get my iPod in the car for a while, and not having a tape player, this just seems the easiest option. Having selected this device, I took a look at all the other Apple goodness that was on display in the store. I spotted a device that I hadn't seen before, iHome. Now, I have seen MANY devices like iHome in the past, but this one caught my eye because it had a built-in radio and alarm clock. It wasn't just a set of iPod speakers. I've been having trouble with my alarm clock since my sister's car accident. I think the speakers were damaged in the accident, possibly due to moisture. So, I ended up picking up a nice black iHome.
From there I walked around to several other stores. I was very tempted by the new Nikon digital cameras in Ritz Camera, but I left before I could act on the temptation. A good move, I think. Then I hit up a furniture store, and almost bough a new bedroom set that I don't need. But I didn't. Then I hit up Pottery Barn to look for a butter dish. Well, instead of getting just a butter dish, I ended up buying four brand new place settings to match the butter dish. The place settings actually came from Macy's, but the butter dish came from Pottery Barn. While at Macy's I also almost picked up a Crock Pot, Slow Cooker and new wardrobe, but the dishes were too heavy and I didn't want to carry anything else.
By the way, congratulations to my mom who successfully decoded the previous blog entry.
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It's been a few days since I've posted here, but for good reason. My insane calendar is beginning to catch up with me. I just noticed today that, starting August 26, my social calendar is all but booked solid until November 3! Isn't that absolutely insane? This past weekend was the "kick-off" event for the three month journey of insanity with the National Young Adult Conference. While the conference was poorly attended, I think that it still went very well. Those who attended really enjoyed themselves. I met some awesome folks from different places. I hope to post a few stories from the weekend here soon, but if my "Australia Series" is any indication, this will probably be the only post to reference the NYAC at all.