Archive for the ‘Canada’ tag

Can’t sleep so I’ll think

It’s not too hard for my own thoughts to get the best of me. Lately I’ve been thinking more about the upcoming changes in my life and in some ways it’s getting a little silly.
I’m back into nocturnal mode, I had that 9 to 5 thing going for a while but I’ve been doing some other work recently and that means I can stay up as late as I want. I can work on projects at night, I can stay up and watch movies or read. When I lay down to sleep there is no rush to get rest and wake up… and that just leaves me alone with my own thoughts. You can only analyze a situation so many times, you can only weight your options for so long, until you just start twisting things to bits in your mind.
I get to finally be free of college in February and then the world is my oyster. Where I go and what I do is completely up to me… and therein lies the problem.
A good friend gave me some worthy advice, that the decision on where I go and what I do when I graduate should be completely about what is best for me. It is good advice because there is truth to it, but I’m not sure it’s the whole story. It’s great to think that a decision like that should be made for one’s self. It obviously effects me the most, but at a certain point the mature way of making a decision like this is to consider those around you.
I’d love to be closer to Boise, my family and friends are closer to there and I’d be great to be able to drop in on Boise for a weekend whenever I wanted. Portland has some good opportunities, it’s a more favorable climate and the drive between there and B Town is no big deal, I also happen to adore Portland. A city like Austin would be fun, there is a lot of good work and it’s a very unique and hip city. Vancouver looks better every time McCain moves up in the polls… plus I’ve always thought that expatriate has a nice ring to it (Yes Dad I’m mostly kidding). LA provides an almost certainty of work, and I do know some people there now. Working on features in LA also does your resume a lot of good, even if you swept the studio floor for a big budget movie people elsewhere go nuts when they see it on your resume. PHX is the easiest and most complicated option. I’ve done the whole, move a city where you know no one thing and honestly I’m not cut out for it. I’m lucky to have the friends and roommates I have here, going to a completely new city again doesn’t sound so great. There is some work here, but it’s not great and especially the way the economy is going, it’s not steady. There are some great people here though, and one special one in particular. It’s not smart to make a decision based completely on those around you, but it’s silly to think that you can make it based solely on yourself. No man is an island.
At the moment it looks like I’ll be staying here for a while after I graduate. My VFX Reel could use more work then I currently have time for, and I guess if I can’t make it here I can’t make it anywhere. I’m not living in LA for the rest of my life so I’d better get use to corporate videos and local spots before I get too ahead of myself.

Today’s soundtrack is obviously not Colin Hay, but it is his song (If you’re reading this on Facebook try the “view original post” button). Evidently a few tours ago Dashboard Confessional put out an EP of covers and it’s simply amazing. Feel free to download it here, it’s basically out of print so I’m calling it fair use… though it’s not like I’ve ever really respected copyright laws anyway.

Take it easy and wish me luck on sleeping :)
David Hildreth

I’m about ready to leave the country

I got ahold of a screener copy of Michael Moore’s latest film SiCKO today. It’s is almost undeniably his best. Most who have heard something about it might say that it is about America’s 50 million uninsured citizens. It isn’t, no it’s much worse than that. The movie is in fact the story of the other 250 million people who have health insurance. From the nightmares of denied policies to 9/11 rescue workers and the free healthcare systems of the rest of the 1st world. Sicko paints a bleak and disheartening picture of the American healthcare system, I highly recommend seeing it.
Although Michael Moore’s style of documentary is becoming more and more popular, i’m not so sure that is a good thing. Moore wants people to trust him, and when they see his movies they expect the truth and a certain amount of fairness. You hear all the time about how conservative fox news is or how liberal the washington post is but in the end most journalists at least try to stick to the basic rules of journalism. Give both sides of the argument and don’t give an opinion unless the page heading reads op-ed. Michael Moore doesn’t even have to pretend to stick to any rules.
I like most of his movies but i definitely take them with a grain of salt. For example in the beginning of the movie Moore makes a big point of a ranking of the world’s healthcare systems. America is like 37th or something awful. Later in the movie he takes some people to Cuba where they receive free healthcare, no questions asked. Moore shows cuba to be these people’s savior, yet on that same list that he touted earlier Cuba is listed behind the US in quality of care.

My little foray into vinyl is going well. I now own half a dozen albums and am having a lot of fun searching record stores for more. The simple act of shopping for records is a lot more enjoyable that i thought. There are a few good stores around Tempe but there are many more awful ones. My current little collection includes albums by the beatles, led zeppelin, radiohead, u2, elton john, and dolorean. Pretty eclectic selections but i’ll fill in the holes along the way. The A side of the magical mystery tour is lame, but other then that i like em all, it really is amazing how different they sound on vinyl.

In other news i get to head home here in two weeks, I am so excited. I am weary of the plane ride, this little fear of flying is really starting to becoming a problem. I’ve never had a bad experience on a plane and use to like flying. Who knows what is wrong with me.

My first entry to the Heinz contest has been posted. Check it out
http://www.youtube.com/contests_layout?name=TopThisTVChallenge&v=nbmPPJcg8vE&goto=588

I’d write more but it took me a week to just write that much.
David Hildreth