Yet Another Reason I Love My Job...

The first day back to work from Christmas break you'd normally expect things to be a little slow. Not everyone is back in the office yet, things are still slow from the attitude of Holiday lethargy that pretty much permeates the U.S. ...

So I was pretty amazed when at 10:30 yesterday I broached the subject of shooting some video for an upcoming (rush) video project. The project is about how eco-friendly my company is. The script is quite extensive and involves lots of video clips of nature, trees, beach, etc... Rather than spend a FORTUNE buying stock footage for everything we needed (if it was even available), I suggested we drive out to the coast and get shots of hikers, of trees, coastline... Imagine my surprise when my "supervisor" (it's in quotes because he's technically the supervisor, but he's really just one of the gang here at work, we're all really laid back) said "sounds good, what are you doing for the rest of the day?"

I jumped on BART (the commuter train), pedaled my new pink bike home, jumped in my Jeep and headed out to the Coast with Kelly (work let me bring her as my Camera Assistant, she ended up being the still photographer, tripod assistant, location scout, navigator and other half of the laugh-squad).

We had an amazing adventure!!

The only bit of background info you need to know is this: We had a ton of things to shoot and were in a race against sunset, which was at 5pm yesterday.

We stopped off in Martinez for some quick shots: of an old barn/windmill we happened on and of an oil refinery and then proceeded to plan our route to the beach: HWY 4 to 580 to 101 to good 'ol HWY 1 - the coastal route.

An old metal piece of farm equipment near the barn. Photos by me.

Before crossing the Richmond bridge, we drove down a hill and this scene unfolded before us:

(pre-bridge PIC HERE)

We were both in a panic trying to find a place to turn off and get the shot! Finally we found a side-road and got distracted by some horses...












One of the horses. Photo by Kelly.


...before deciding the best way to get the shot was to hike across a field, into a marsh and onto a convenient little wooden foot-path that had been constructed in the marsh. The whole time we both felt like someone was going to come after us and tell us we shouldn't be there. It made it even more fun! :)













The mountain view after hiking across the field and some of the Marsh. Photo by Kelly.


















Someone had dumped some old mattresses in the field, topped with this janky old trunk. Pretty cool to take pix of. Photo by Kel.

Next we headed down to Muir woods to get some shots of the Giant Sequoia Redwoods. It was the fastest sightseeing trip ever! I'm going to have to go back there, because until yesterday, I didn't even know there was a bunch of Redwoods there to see! LOL.

At 4pm, we paid our ten dollars to get in ($5 each), hiked a bit, shot the video and were out within in 20 minutes.













Some of the Giant Sequoia Redwoods. Photo by Kel.

Some quick driving on HWY 1 (if you've ever driven HWY 1, you know that quick driving is nearly impossible, considering the crazy, winding, cliff-perched roads) and we had an act of serendipity happen to us: A happy accident: we saw a sign for "Muir Beach Overlook" and decided to check it out. I don't think we could have had a more fortuitous moment in photography/videography.

The fog and clouds hung right below the tops of the cliffs, making it impossible to see the ocean. What we did see was a sea of clouds and fog, with the setting sun nestled into them, beaming it's rays of orange, yellow and red right into them. It was STUNNING, BREATHTAKING, AMAZING. When we got out of the car we were practically giddy, stumbling over each other and the car keys to open the back of the Jeep and grab the tripod!

Here's what we got:

Photo by Kel.


















Photo by Kel.

Next, we jumped back into the car and decided to try and make the run to Stinson beach before Sunset (5pm). It was 4:43. The drive took us about ten minutes. A frequent phrase between Kelly and I yesterday was: "We're burning daylight here, people!" said in a british accent (name that movie for bonus points!!) We practically leaped from the Jeep, grabbed the gear and ran out to the beach. Set up the tripod in the sand (only to have it sink over and over again) and realised that we were going to have to take our sandals off to get the shot we needed (of feet making prints in the sand and then waves washing them away). The ocean in Northern California is FREAKING COLD. All year. It's bearable in the summer. But HOLY COW the water was cold yesterday. We spent a few minutes jumping in and out of the water, trying to acclimate. Finally, when we couldn't feel our feet anymore, we got the shots! Yeah!! It was one gorgeous sunset.













Photo by Me. (My fave of the day)













Photo by Me.

We wrapped, stowed the equipment and put socks on our freezing feet. Cranked the heat in the Jeep and started the long drive home in the dark up the winding roads around 5:30. Home by 7:30! Let's do it again tomorrow!! :)

Point Reyes

Now that the politcs are out of the way for a while (unless you live in LA), I thought it high time to get outside and back to nature. I was dying to go to the beach, luckily, my ward had a hike planned for yesterday. It was fantastic!

First of all, I have to say that I’m not a fan of Northern California beaches. I don’t like seaweed, I don’t like cold, I don’t like rocky beaches. That said, I WILL TAKE ANY BEACH (oceanic, no lake beaches!), ANY DAY over no beach at all. Have I mentioned this before? Lol.

We started out around 8am from Walnut Creek and reached Pt Reyes by 9:15. We made really good time. If anyone is familiar with the whole highway 24/580/101/1 interchange system, you’ll know that if we had left a couple hours later, the trip would have taken around twice as long. Yes, on a Saturday. Bumper to bumper traffic. It’s heinous... The point is, we made good time. Great time, actually.

We took the Laguna trail from the Youth Hostel (yes, we actually have at least one Youth Hostel in America!) down to Coast Camp and hit “Sculpture” beach. It was fantastic! The rocks are like living sculptures carved out by eons of wind, sand and water. The rocks themselves range from creamy whites to grays.

Tons of sea-life, mussels, anemones, sand dollars & starfish. Beautiful!

We hoofed it about a mile down the beach to where the rocks cut off the beach, hopped down and kept going, exploring caves and poking anemones as we went. (Watch out, they'll squirt ya!)

We finally reached an arch that we had to maneuver through as the waves receded to make it around the point.






I didn’t do so well, I’m not gonna lie. I'm not the most graceful/balanced person in the world. Not even close. I slipped right in, drenching myself through all of my layers and dunking my lovely new(ish) digital SLR. Great.
The biggest concern at this point was not the camera (it’s under warranty still) but the cold. We were a good three miles of sand and hills away from the car, we weren’t done with the hike, it was drizzling rain (from the fog) up to that point, but had just started to actually rain. Thank goodness for the priesthood. Between them and my backpack, we had everything we needed (to make sure Kamikazee Christy survived, lol). I had the first aid kid (for my bleeding cuts and scrapes) and they had towels and a spare fleece. Couldn’t do anything about my soaking shorts but ring them out. Did a quick change and then joined the group in the mouth of a cave for lunch watching the waves and the rain. We explored a bit more and then headed back. Luckily I had some dry socks, shoes and pants in the car (a must when going to the beach in NorCal), so I changed and got all warm and toasty for the ride home… No cold, no pneumonia, just a really fun day!

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Ballet...

My sister Kelly and I went to (surprise!) the Ballet on Saturday. It was such a great experience. Is it just me, or does it really feel like with all our digital, on-demand lives, things like craftsmanship and art are things of the past? Going to the Ballet was like stepping into a bygone era. The Paramount theatre (the venue) in Oakland (of all places!!) had much to do with that, I think, but also the fact that here, in California, people don’t take the time very often anymore to go outside, or appreciate art because it takes time – something we have very little of. Most families out here have two working parents (if there are two parents at all), multiple jobs, nannies, daycare, massive mortgage payments… life is complicated and quickly-paced. Going to the Ballet felt like stepping into a simpler life. We dressed up. (Which, I am glad we did, it was sad to see most people show up in street clothes).

More about the Paramount: Completed in 1931 in the style known as Art Deco.

After a very brief success as a “Movie Palace” in the ‘30s, the theatre went through three decades of neglect and decline. In 1972, it was purchased and painstakingly renovated in complete authenticity. After the renovation was completed in 1973, the theatre was entered into the National Register of Historic places.

It is particularly curious to me that one such theatre exists in Oakland, an extremely rough city (I work in Downtown Oakland, seven blocks from the Paramount theatre, this month we’ve already had two violent crimes directly across the street from my office). But there are actually more theatres and landmarks like the Paramount in Oakland. There is another theatre I love to visit called the Grand Lakes theatre – it has also been restored authentically, and you can go to the movies on weekends and listen to the giant pipe organ being played live before the show. There are TIFFANY stained glass windows in the Grand Lakes Theatre.

Yet another 30’s era theatre (The Fox Theatre, which has been closed down for over 25 years) is being remodeled two blocks up from the Paramount.
http://www.oaklandfox.com/ (very cool website with cool historical photos, etc)

I for one am really glad to see these bits of history preserved. It is the coolest thing to walk back through time when you pass through the doors and imagine yourself wearing an intricately hand-beaded flapper gown and feather headdress, decked out “to the nines,” topped off in a fur-coat and hanging on the arm of a millionaire that adores you… sigh. (lol) Lots of fun.

Oh and the ballet was great, too.












Three short Ballets: Romeo and Juliet, How'd they Catch Me? and "Bamboo" (Pictured)


Pictures of the Paramount Theatre (Which truthfully don't do the detail work justice!):


















This is the view you see when you walk in... Astonishing. The Ceiling and center panels are actually 3-D slats made into those patterns. The side paneling has gilded reliefs of art-deco style women.














View of the Grand lobby entrance - the tiny white things at the bottom are the front doors.


















The Women's lounge - outside of the Women's "powder room," which is outside of the Women's Restroom, near the Women's Smoking room. Seriously.

And the actual theatre:

2005 to Today!

In 2005 I somehow ended up on a documentary-filming expedition in the South of France. And when I say ended up – I mean ended up. Seriously. It was quite a turn of events. At the time I was working for a hideously dishonest British man who happens to have a lovely father. (I was actively looking for a different job and eventually wound up in Mississippi… and then back in Utah, but that’s another story) Anyway, Horrible boss' Father (Bill) is a bit of a history buff and is very interested in the mystery at Rennes-le-Chateau (More later on that).

My boss had the idea to send me over to England to film a series of interviews for his lovely business partner. He must have mentioned this to his father, who became very excited because he was in the process of planning his next expedition to France for research and a bit of mischeif. So I ended up spending a week in England for the interviews (got to pop up to London town and tour a bit and see Les Miserables!) and then headed down to Carcassone and the Rennes-le-Chateau area with Bill and two other lovely people – Sandy, an archaeologist, and Ben, another lover of the Rennes mystery. (Ben Hammott – thetombman.com)

We stayed at a gorgeous new (for France, 1923) Gite (a house you can rent) in Esperaza, Aude Languedoc region of France, called La Maison du Chapelier. It is owned by a great English guy and his French wife. They run a hotel out of half of it, and rent out the other half of the house as a residence. It was lovely!



















Our Gite - "La Maison du Chapelier." There is a lovely boulangerie around the corner that has fresh bread (french bread, of course!) and pain au choclat every day! Yum!


Let me tell you, the South of France is everything everyone makes it out to be. Seriously.
I grew up near Napa, and Napa, while pretty, ain’t got nothin’ on Southern France’s rolling green hills and valleys covered in perfectly planted vineyards. Medieval Castles still dot the hillside – you can stand in one “tour” (tower) and see three others on the facing hills.




























The soft sunlight caresses the region (really, there’s no other way to describe the delicate interplay between light and land there) and you can just feel the history of the place all around you, whispering its long-hidden secrets quickly through your hair, barely inaudible, yet always there. (Obviously, I needed a minute to wax poetic just then... okay, I'm over it.)















Me on the Tour Magdala (Magdalene Tower) at Rennes le Chateau.



















Bill & Ben

Aude Languedoc was once a Roman region, and you can still find (and bathe) in the ruins of Roman baths built on hot springs. It is also the region where the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail and Priory of Sion come heavily into play in medieval times, and where Christ’s body is rumored to have been buried (and still lay, for whatever that’s worth - which is, in a roundabout way, what brought me and my companions to the area).

I have to say, I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. All I heard was: “Trip to England and France?” Right. Sign me up. “What? I’m going to film an archaeological expedition? Sweet! Lets go!”

I really wish I'd had more background info on the project before I went. Normally I would have researched the heck out of the subject before jumping on a plane, but I was finishing up my last semester at the Y and working 3/4 time as well. I had zero time. In fact, I skipped out on “walking” at graduation to go on the trip. Pomp and Circumstance or crawling around in caves and visiting castles in Southern France? Yeah, just try and tell me I made the wrong decision. I’ll laugh really, really hard.















So, long story short, while we were there, a small group making a documentary film on a subject similar to Dan Brown’s DaVinci code (the Film was set to release a few months after I returned from France) collaborated with us to film our group’s expedition (and use my footage) as Ben Hammott, one of our party, had actually made some amazing headway with solving the mystery of the Priest Sauniere. He’d actually found one of the artifacts Sauniere had hidden as a part in a series of clues left to solve his mystery. Part of my expedition was to find the second clue, which we did.














Near the site of our "Finds" (The guy in the BYU sweatshirt is actually wearing my BYU sweatshirt. It was chillier there than he'd anticipated so he borrowed it. It was quite humorous as he is in no way, shape or form connected to BYU... ya know?)















Our "Finds"

Bill, Ben and Sandy agreed to let the producers of the documentary use our footage in exchange for letting us use their footage for our own documentary once theirs had been released. That film was FINALLY released this year in limited release. It did the festival circuit, some colleges and indie venues across the states. It is releasing on DVD today. I’ve ordered it and am expecting to receive it today. It should be interesting.

Disclaimer: I have no idea whatsoever how this film looks, what its ultimate message is, etc (sadly)… so, I have to say cautiously – check it out, but beware! I think the message is trying to discredit the resurrection of Christ, ultimately, but I’m not sure… All in all, watch it carefully, be a responsible viewer, if you do choose to watch it, and take things at face value. For my part in the film, I was privileged to be part of an amazing archaeological discovery and loved every minute. Nothing we discovered lead to the conclusion I mentioned above and none of my companions on the shoot believe the two subjects (of Christ’s resurrection and Sauniere’s mystery) to be interconnected in that manner – it is believed that Sauniere’s mystery may have more to do with discrediting the Catholic Church than with discrediting Christ’s resurrection…)

That’s it. I hope I haven’t confused you too badly. The short of it:
Theres a film I helped film. It releases on DVD today. I think you should check it out (carefully).

Oh, it’s called Bloodline. And Netflix is carrying it.

Cheers.

Angel Island

Woo! Boredom is still an issue on the back burner, and I'm seriously trying to re-shelf and reorganize all the little bubbles in my life so I can decide what to change... its a big project though.

Anyhow, on to the actual subject of this post! Yesterday I went to Angel Island with my sister Kelly and my friend from Southern Virginia College, Erin. (Erin now lives in San Francisco.) Angel island is a small island off the San Francisco coast. It is only accessible by boat or ferry. The Miwok Indians lived on the island for "thousands" of years before the Spaniards arrived. In the 19th century it served as an Ellis Island of sorts for San Francisco. Ships would stop there to be checked for small pox and other epidemics, if sickness was found onboard, the inhabitants would be quarantined in barracks on the island and the ship would be disinfected with steam. Eventually this became unnecessary and the island was used as a military base and later turned into a state park. There are still a handful of the original buildings on the island, but mostly its a great hiking spot!

Kelly and I met Erin on the Island. We left around 9am from Oakland and took the ferry over to SF, hopped on another ferrry and ended up on the island.

We hiked to the interior of the island and up to the to the top of Mt. Livermore, carefully avoiding the crazy annoying troop of pre-adolescent boy scouts. We hiked from 10:30 to about 1:45, and I think it was around 4-5 miles. Not bad.

I have to admit, as much fun as the island was (not to mention an astounding collection of tiny ecosystems!) I think I liked the ferry ride almost more than the island. Being back on a boat gave my soul a momentary sigh of relief. Being on the ocean feels like home, and its not until I'm back on it that I realize how stressful being landlocked is to me! (I live a tiny bit inland and a good hour and a half from a usable beach) Ugh. Anyhoo, yay for the ferry! Seriously! Nothing like the salt breeze and the feel of the boat swaying.

Funny thing - I have really bad balance. Seriously, I walk into walls. I constantly have a new bruise. My Mom always thought it was just one of those akward phases... yah, 16 years later... still going. On ships I'm practically (dare I say?) graceful. Weird huh? I have a theory that my body actually thinks I'm at sea all of the time. So when I'm actually at sea, I move the right way, and when I'm on land - kabam, splat!

Okay, thats it for now.
Pictures:












In the Oakland Harbor. I somehow forgot to take a picture of our boat. (You're really not missing anything. It was pretty much a rust-bucket.)












Me & Kels. Kelly woke up with a mohawk and decided to just go with it.
(Somehow I just turned on "Underline"... no clue how, and I really don't care about turning it off, so you get to deal with it! Woo!













This is one of my favorite spots on ships... the wake is completely relaxing and slightly hypnotic.














Sailing under the Bay Bridge, at the Treasure Island connector.














One of the remaining historic buildings overlooking Ayala cove. This one used to be a barrack for quarrantined ship passengers and crew.














One of the many, many picture pauses on the trail. Erin, Me & Kels. (The fog finally burnt off!)














Part of the incredible panoramic view from the side of the island (near the top).














Naptime after the hike... the empty pier called our names! (I was sleeping in the middle, but obviously had to get up to snap the pix!)














Lookout! The jellies were out in full force! It made for some fun poking action:














Yes, that is Kelly acting like the 8-year-old kids running up and down the beach, poking the dead jellyfish. Yup. Lol.














The Ferry Ride back was perfect! Sailboats all over the bay and the sunshine was in full swing. (Golden Gate in the far, far distance)