August was spent in research and travelling to collect b-roll for the Dakota project. I met with some wonderful folks at the Minnesota Historical Society and talked to several people who will be key interviews down the road.
Kerry Sandler joined the road trip for the first week. We went from the white rock of Saint Paul to Acton to Lac qui Parle to Upper Sioux Agency site to Wood Lake and Birch Coulee Battlefield to Lower Sioux Agency site. We were blessed with good weather and even a beautiful full moon.
I then travelled down to St Peter for a couple of interviews. Final footage for this burst of photography was at Fort Snelling with Timya Owen and Jennie Reedquist assisting on production. We went to the State Park area as well to visit the site of the internment camp. It's difficult to stand on that small piece of land, surrounded by the beauty of the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers and realize 1600 people somehow were crammed behind a fence on this spot.
The rest of the vacation was spent trying to organize the story a bit more in my head. It was a truly productive time! There's a lot of work to do. It'll take years to get the project to completion but we're feeling good about the progress so far!
In other news: Head on over to Colin Devlin's "Democracy of One" site. In the video section you'll find some of the footage we shot in Montreal amidst the epk (making of) but more than that you'll find some fantastic music!
There hasn't been a lot of down time lately but I have enjoyed Anton Corbijn's directorial feature narrative debut "Control" which brought back a love of Joy Division and is making me want to dive back into the Intellectual Beauty story. As the weather shifts to fall I have hope that I will be able to make some time for that!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Production continues
Congratulations to Ben & Neha who welcomed daughter Aasia into the world last January! From the pictures they've shared she's a healthy happy baby who I'm sure surprise and inspire her wonderful parents every day! And yes that's how bad I am at staying current, I'm posting this and she's 8 months old!
The day job at the tv station has been keeping me very full of late. I have spent every spare moment pulling together an outline and shooting plan for the Dakota project though and we continue shooting over the next couple of weeks. We're also making connections for future interviews with key people who will help share this story with a wider audience. We're making some great progress. On a topic this complex and with so little information available, the research takes a serious amount of time. It will likely take a couple of years to get this into a viewable format but I will try to be better about updating folks through the blog.
More soon
The day job at the tv station has been keeping me very full of late. I have spent every spare moment pulling together an outline and shooting plan for the Dakota project though and we continue shooting over the next couple of weeks. We're also making connections for future interviews with key people who will help share this story with a wider audience. We're making some great progress. On a topic this complex and with so little information available, the research takes a serious amount of time. It will likely take a couple of years to get this into a viewable format but I will try to be better about updating folks through the blog.
More soon
Thursday, May 29, 2008
quick update
I apologize for being so offline lately! Life's been busy.
I spent early May capturing a moment for my Father on video. He was placing a gravestone on his great grandfather's grave, he'd gone markerless for 119 years. So I dropped everything to document this gift for my Dad. We'll see what he thinks on Father's Day of the finished piece.
Dakota 38 project. We hope to be in principle photography this summer/fall. I want to thank everyone who has been contacting me with information to help the research. All of you are helping bring this project to reality!
Writing for Intellectual Beauty continues as well...that of course is a much longer process. I'm hoping to take it from outline format to first draft in the next couple of months! Enjoying the muse!
Movies recently seen in the theater: Body of War, a documentary on a wounded Iraq War veteran with some music provided by Eddie Veddar. Very powerful! Also Iron Man, for fun. Enjoyed that as well.
Rentals: Bella, which was absolutely wonderful. All the behind the scenes footage is worth a watch as well! Inspiring!
More soon (hopefully more than every couple of months!!!!)
Sherece
I spent early May capturing a moment for my Father on video. He was placing a gravestone on his great grandfather's grave, he'd gone markerless for 119 years. So I dropped everything to document this gift for my Dad. We'll see what he thinks on Father's Day of the finished piece.
Dakota 38 project. We hope to be in principle photography this summer/fall. I want to thank everyone who has been contacting me with information to help the research. All of you are helping bring this project to reality!
Writing for Intellectual Beauty continues as well...that of course is a much longer process. I'm hoping to take it from outline format to first draft in the next couple of months! Enjoying the muse!
Movies recently seen in the theater: Body of War, a documentary on a wounded Iraq War veteran with some music provided by Eddie Veddar. Very powerful! Also Iron Man, for fun. Enjoyed that as well.
Rentals: Bella, which was absolutely wonderful. All the behind the scenes footage is worth a watch as well! Inspiring!
More soon (hopefully more than every couple of months!!!!)
Sherece
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Project Updates
Dakota 38: Still submitting funding proposals and talking to organizations and individuals about the project. We will be shooting more this late summer and fall. So things are progressing nicely!
Legacy: I just need to find more photos...and edit time.
Intellectual Beauty: Still writing and shaping. The basic outline is nearing completion. Then the real fun begins!
Sorry for such delays between updates. The other job is keeping me very busy of late. And speaking of that...check out a musical act called NOUR. A program I just finished producing with them (and the University of Minnesota) will air in the Twin Cities in April. Wonderful artists!
Legacy: I just need to find more photos...and edit time.
Intellectual Beauty: Still writing and shaping. The basic outline is nearing completion. Then the real fun begins!
Sorry for such delays between updates. The other job is keeping me very busy of late. And speaking of that...check out a musical act called NOUR. A program I just finished producing with them (and the University of Minnesota) will air in the Twin Cities in April. Wonderful artists!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Projects update
It's been a bit hectic trying to catch up from being gone for 3 weeks...slowly but surely though!
Croatia: I hope to merge some of Patti's gorgeous photos with the video shot and post some video on the website eventually. It may take me a little while though.
Dakota 38: We're in full fundraising mode now. Having meetings, giving presentations and hoping people see the value of the program as much as Duffy, Timya and I do. We should be in production this summer!
NEW PROJECT: and part of the reason it's been so long between blogs! I've been re-inspired by a friend (thank you Jennie!) to work on the Lake Geneva Summer of 1816 "Intellectual Beauty" script. So I've been deep in reading Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont...journals, letters, books, poetry...everything I could get my hands on. And outlining a story. It's been awhile since I was muse's bitch, it's been fun!
Off topic...the Oscars! I of course had to see as many of the films as possible before the ceremony, that's been inspiring as well. I loved Atonement, Juno and No Country for Old Men...found There Will Be Blood a bit disconcerting. I can't find fault with any of the Oscar choices. Very happy for "Once" being acknowledged for song! Best moment of the evening in my opinion.
Stay tuned...I'll get back in the habit of updating more regularly now!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
perhaps the final post on Croatia...
Home safe & sound and amazed at how wonderful it is to sleep in your own bed! I was greeted exuberantly by one of my cats while the other gave me the cold shoulder for that first night back...but crawled up on my suitcase so I couldn't leave again.
The exploration of Diocletian's Palace was like the rest of Croatia, amazing. We read somewhere that the pair of black sphinxes were from 12,000 years ago...that Diocletian took them from Egypt. Not sure if that's true but there you go. It's beyond belief as an American to be inside a structure built 1700 years ago.
The drive back down the Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik was bittersweet. The views are impossible to comprehend without seeing them. The white rock mountains, green skinny pine trees (among other trees) and the white stone beaches. Not sand, stone. Leading into water that is in some areas blue and others green, and so clear you can see rocks 20 feet down. I've never seen such clear water.
I have to find an American distributor for some of the Croatian wines. Can't carry them on and don't trust packing them in checked luggage. None of the stores could ship back to America either. So hopefully some smart American distributor is all over the wine of Vis...or I think Patti & I may start our own distribution company!
The last night in Dubrovnik we finished the 3-13 tournament, Ralph won overall, surpassing Patti's lead with the 25th game. We also decided to come up with headlines for each place based on interactions or our own silliness. I don't have the time to reorganize the blog just now under the headlines...but sharing anyway (I need to get back to grant writing and editing of the various projects).
Dubrovnik:
-"No Worry Lady" said by our driver Milly to Patti after a few questions about how we connect with the lady who owns the house we're staying at.
-And "why" the comment made by Dan our waiter at Sesame to Ralph many many times...when he didn't want to order fish, when he didn't want any alcohol, when he didn't want desert.
Mljet:
-"Why didn't you call?" said by Ivan to Patti after we got lost trusting a locals directions instead of calling Ivan as instructed.
-And "Ahhh crazy Americans" said by Anka our host while Patti played charades to explain our fear of the giant moth occupation of our rooms. She went on to tell us she grew up on the island and isn't afraid of birds and butterflies like us silly city Americans.
Trogir:
-"When I see Americans...I...how you say...HAPPY." Said by a young woman to Patti while I blogged on the rainy day. She may be the only one in Trogir! She wants to come study in America but it's really hard to get Visa's to come in now. Hopefully she makes it.
-Another quote from Trogir is Ralph to Patti as he crowned her 3:13 queen of the day "heavy is the head that wears the basket".
Vis:
-At Pol Moru, a lovely restaurant in the middle of the island in a home that's been in the family for 500 years...sung a few times with immense feeling by Janosh and Vida (and everyone) "oopy doopy dee...oopy doopy dah".
-At Komiza, "I know what cheese is" said by a young waitress to us after we asked for a small cheese pizza and she gave us a look of confusion. Patti asked me how to say cheese in Croatian...I shrugged my shoulders & she replied "I know what cheese is...but we only have one size pizza".
-At Vis Town, "really dreamy" said by our impromptu tour guide Nikola many many times as he walked us around the town and pointed out all the sites and gushed about living on the island.
-one other comment on Vis...Princess Caroline loved the place (or loves it) and everyone seems to have clippings from her visit there, and they love to share.
Split-when we asked if a place was open for breakfast (very few places are in Croatia) we were told "no...only drinks." Several folks sat at a bar...it was 8am.
Patti took a ton of gorgeous photos...I shot video while in Croatia...so I'll try to reorganize with photos and maybe a special highlight reel from our visit posted as well.
Thanks for playing along folks. Back to work now!
The exploration of Diocletian's Palace was like the rest of Croatia, amazing. We read somewhere that the pair of black sphinxes were from 12,000 years ago...that Diocletian took them from Egypt. Not sure if that's true but there you go. It's beyond belief as an American to be inside a structure built 1700 years ago.
The drive back down the Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik was bittersweet. The views are impossible to comprehend without seeing them. The white rock mountains, green skinny pine trees (among other trees) and the white stone beaches. Not sand, stone. Leading into water that is in some areas blue and others green, and so clear you can see rocks 20 feet down. I've never seen such clear water.
I have to find an American distributor for some of the Croatian wines. Can't carry them on and don't trust packing them in checked luggage. None of the stores could ship back to America either. So hopefully some smart American distributor is all over the wine of Vis...or I think Patti & I may start our own distribution company!
The last night in Dubrovnik we finished the 3-13 tournament, Ralph won overall, surpassing Patti's lead with the 25th game. We also decided to come up with headlines for each place based on interactions or our own silliness. I don't have the time to reorganize the blog just now under the headlines...but sharing anyway (I need to get back to grant writing and editing of the various projects).
Dubrovnik:
-"No Worry Lady" said by our driver Milly to Patti after a few questions about how we connect with the lady who owns the house we're staying at.
-And "why" the comment made by Dan our waiter at Sesame to Ralph many many times...when he didn't want to order fish, when he didn't want any alcohol, when he didn't want desert.
Mljet:
-"Why didn't you call?" said by Ivan to Patti after we got lost trusting a locals directions instead of calling Ivan as instructed.
-And "Ahhh crazy Americans" said by Anka our host while Patti played charades to explain our fear of the giant moth occupation of our rooms. She went on to tell us she grew up on the island and isn't afraid of birds and butterflies like us silly city Americans.
Trogir:
-"When I see Americans...I...how you say...HAPPY." Said by a young woman to Patti while I blogged on the rainy day. She may be the only one in Trogir! She wants to come study in America but it's really hard to get Visa's to come in now. Hopefully she makes it.
-Another quote from Trogir is Ralph to Patti as he crowned her 3:13 queen of the day "heavy is the head that wears the basket".
Vis:
-At Pol Moru, a lovely restaurant in the middle of the island in a home that's been in the family for 500 years...sung a few times with immense feeling by Janosh and Vida (and everyone) "oopy doopy dee...oopy doopy dah".
-At Komiza, "I know what cheese is" said by a young waitress to us after we asked for a small cheese pizza and she gave us a look of confusion. Patti asked me how to say cheese in Croatian...I shrugged my shoulders & she replied "I know what cheese is...but we only have one size pizza".
-At Vis Town, "really dreamy" said by our impromptu tour guide Nikola many many times as he walked us around the town and pointed out all the sites and gushed about living on the island.
-one other comment on Vis...Princess Caroline loved the place (or loves it) and everyone seems to have clippings from her visit there, and they love to share.
Split-when we asked if a place was open for breakfast (very few places are in Croatia) we were told "no...only drinks." Several folks sat at a bar...it was 8am.
Patti took a ton of gorgeous photos...I shot video while in Croatia...so I'll try to reorganize with photos and maybe a special highlight reel from our visit posted as well.
Thanks for playing along folks. Back to work now!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
from Split part two
After a very rainy day in Trogir/Split where we had a nice meal (at Nostromus, a multi layered restaurant, we ate on level 3) and the movie in a theater built during the silent era, 1908. It's within the walls of Diocletian's Palace. We took an early ferry from Split to Vis where Sanje and Vlado met us. Sanje is an Austrian diplomat (Croatian diplomat to Austria) and they greeted us with champaigne! The house is gorgeous. Only 3 years old and built exactly as Sanje wanted. The old dark oak wood is from 150 year old house. It's absolutely spectacular!!! They had to bring all the materials over by ferry from Split. After they finished they found out Croatia is allowing no further building on the coast of Vis, so I'm sure it's quite an investment on their part, property will undoubtedly skyrocket!!!! Only 150 euro a night to borrow their summer home. It's definately a highlight (the highlight) of the trip.
The birds are chirping happily, the waves lap the rocky cost below us and the rain seems to be lettin up. The island was used by the Yugoslav army until 1989, so no foreigners were allowed, now it's a paradise. Lots of vineyards on the interior and 2 little towns on either side Vis town and Komiza (under Hum mountain, and Tito's caves). The island holds about 4,000 people. November 1st is all saints day so everything is closed. TV at the house has channels for every country of the world (1500 channels) but only 4 in English...all UK type news. Lots of Arab porn channels funny enough (not that our hosts subscribed to them...but just noticed as we scrolled through). Bruce Springsteen's "57 channels and nothing on" takes on a whole new meaning!
November 2nd, gorgeous sunrise and Vis is going to treat us very well indeed! A praying mantis joins us on the deck, intrigued by us crazy Americans. He changes colors as he crosses the deck avoiding the birds. He wiggles before he walks...odd. And he moves his head around to watch us when we move.
Tonight we dined at a place Sanje recommended & called ahead for us. A 500 year old home where they've decided to make a small restaurant. We met our Milna Bay neighbors. Janosh (sp?) and his wife Vida. They (along with our hosts Demir and Gordana Svilicic and their daughter Katarina) sing and played traditional Croatian, Serbian, Russian, Hungarian (Janosh is Hungarian) and Gypsy music. It's impossible to capture this...Patti took pictures, I wish I'd had my camera!!!!
Day 3 Vis: An absolutely stunning day. Not a cloud in the sky and mid 60's again. A Rigotta is sailing ships thru. We stopped in Vis town to ask where the Greek cemetery is and end up with guided afternoon tour of Vis town by a man named Nikola. He's sailed around the world and speaks English, Italian, German and of course Croatian. He introduced us to 3 lovely Croatians who sang a song to us of the history of Vis (an 83 year old man and a man & woman in thir 70's I think). I did get that on tape! We found out from Nikola that the Torcida 1950 graffiti we saw all over Split is in relation to what fans of a soccor team call themselves (no politics, sports!). We run into Janosh & Vida on our way home after stopping for a huge flock of sheep and donkeys in the road. Some of the strangest sounding "baa's" though. Can't wait to share that video with friends. :)
We did find out this is the worst winter in years. 10 degrees below normal. But on Vis it's sunny and in the 60's. Can't ask for more! There's an ancient Greek port of Issa (Vis town) and we visited the BC Greek Cemetery and ruins of the walls. Mostly destroyed by tennis courts. Argh. But they've preserved the markers/headstones at the archeological museum. An archeologist who was catalogueing things let us hold a piece of pork spine...dated to BC. The museum also has a bronze head of Artemis (or Aphrodite) very well preserved.
I'm currently sharing the deck with an adventurous little bird singing his heart out to me. Vis has been the absolute highlight of the trip. Again I sit here listening to the sea lapping off the rocky shore like a lullaby, literally caught sunrise on tape this morning. The sea is so soothing. The sunlight now dancing on the water, sparkling like diamonds and the birds that pop up on the deck to check you out for invading their paradise seem to have no fear. Also the scent of lavendar from the island comes with the breeze.
What day is today? I'm losing track, Nov 4th...Split. We arrive on the Ferry to give he keys back to Sanje and Vlado, we closed up their house for them and they greet us with wine and take us to our sobe (rooms) within Diocletian's Palace. I look out my window at a sphinx the Roman Emperor brought from Eqypt. We share a wall I think with what used to be the temple of Jupitor. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (243-312) Diocletian. The name of an ordinary Greek soldier Diocles was renamed into Latin. He was born in the surrounding area of the main city of the roman province Dalmatia (Salona). He was proclaimed an Emperor on the 20th of November 284. In 303 he forbids confessions of Christians and demolishes churches, confisgating Christian property and begins executing them. He abdicates on the 1st of May 305 and retires into his Palace where he dies on the 3rd of December 312. And now a city bustles around the ruins (some very well preserved). We'll explore more tomorrow. I won't be able to blog again until I'm back in my own bed (Wednesday).
Everyone smokes here! We joke that even the pets seem to smoke. There's no real "no smoking" sections. Wow. Also lost of stray animals, more cats than dogs, but many of them as well. Yesterday a starving cat shared my lunch and today a starving Irish Setter. Breaks my heart. Wish I could take them all home.
Tonight I hear English voices on tv and have free internet (we're inside the palace after all) ha.
I'll see you all soon!
The birds are chirping happily, the waves lap the rocky cost below us and the rain seems to be lettin up. The island was used by the Yugoslav army until 1989, so no foreigners were allowed, now it's a paradise. Lots of vineyards on the interior and 2 little towns on either side Vis town and Komiza (under Hum mountain, and Tito's caves). The island holds about 4,000 people. November 1st is all saints day so everything is closed. TV at the house has channels for every country of the world (1500 channels) but only 4 in English...all UK type news. Lots of Arab porn channels funny enough (not that our hosts subscribed to them...but just noticed as we scrolled through). Bruce Springsteen's "57 channels and nothing on" takes on a whole new meaning!
November 2nd, gorgeous sunrise and Vis is going to treat us very well indeed! A praying mantis joins us on the deck, intrigued by us crazy Americans. He changes colors as he crosses the deck avoiding the birds. He wiggles before he walks...odd. And he moves his head around to watch us when we move.
Tonight we dined at a place Sanje recommended & called ahead for us. A 500 year old home where they've decided to make a small restaurant. We met our Milna Bay neighbors. Janosh (sp?) and his wife Vida. They (along with our hosts Demir and Gordana Svilicic and their daughter Katarina) sing and played traditional Croatian, Serbian, Russian, Hungarian (Janosh is Hungarian) and Gypsy music. It's impossible to capture this...Patti took pictures, I wish I'd had my camera!!!!
Day 3 Vis: An absolutely stunning day. Not a cloud in the sky and mid 60's again. A Rigotta is sailing ships thru. We stopped in Vis town to ask where the Greek cemetery is and end up with guided afternoon tour of Vis town by a man named Nikola. He's sailed around the world and speaks English, Italian, German and of course Croatian. He introduced us to 3 lovely Croatians who sang a song to us of the history of Vis (an 83 year old man and a man & woman in thir 70's I think). I did get that on tape! We found out from Nikola that the Torcida 1950 graffiti we saw all over Split is in relation to what fans of a soccor team call themselves (no politics, sports!). We run into Janosh & Vida on our way home after stopping for a huge flock of sheep and donkeys in the road. Some of the strangest sounding "baa's" though. Can't wait to share that video with friends. :)
We did find out this is the worst winter in years. 10 degrees below normal. But on Vis it's sunny and in the 60's. Can't ask for more! There's an ancient Greek port of Issa (Vis town) and we visited the BC Greek Cemetery and ruins of the walls. Mostly destroyed by tennis courts. Argh. But they've preserved the markers/headstones at the archeological museum. An archeologist who was catalogueing things let us hold a piece of pork spine...dated to BC. The museum also has a bronze head of Artemis (or Aphrodite) very well preserved.
I'm currently sharing the deck with an adventurous little bird singing his heart out to me. Vis has been the absolute highlight of the trip. Again I sit here listening to the sea lapping off the rocky shore like a lullaby, literally caught sunrise on tape this morning. The sea is so soothing. The sunlight now dancing on the water, sparkling like diamonds and the birds that pop up on the deck to check you out for invading their paradise seem to have no fear. Also the scent of lavendar from the island comes with the breeze.
What day is today? I'm losing track, Nov 4th...Split. We arrive on the Ferry to give he keys back to Sanje and Vlado, we closed up their house for them and they greet us with wine and take us to our sobe (rooms) within Diocletian's Palace. I look out my window at a sphinx the Roman Emperor brought from Eqypt. We share a wall I think with what used to be the temple of Jupitor. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (243-312) Diocletian. The name of an ordinary Greek soldier Diocles was renamed into Latin. He was born in the surrounding area of the main city of the roman province Dalmatia (Salona). He was proclaimed an Emperor on the 20th of November 284. In 303 he forbids confessions of Christians and demolishes churches, confisgating Christian property and begins executing them. He abdicates on the 1st of May 305 and retires into his Palace where he dies on the 3rd of December 312. And now a city bustles around the ruins (some very well preserved). We'll explore more tomorrow. I won't be able to blog again until I'm back in my own bed (Wednesday).
Everyone smokes here! We joke that even the pets seem to smoke. There's no real "no smoking" sections. Wow. Also lost of stray animals, more cats than dogs, but many of them as well. Yesterday a starving cat shared my lunch and today a starving Irish Setter. Breaks my heart. Wish I could take them all home.
Tonight I hear English voices on tv and have free internet (we're inside the palace after all) ha.
I'll see you all soon!
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