chase the light

Hit an oceanarium thing today called Ocean Park. The weather outside was a total fright. It was dumping rain like a dam had burst. So I thought an outside park might be in order, ya know, to show how stupid I am. Dur.

Did my morning ritual of getting the funny little sandwich in the funny terminal on the not so funny ferry and hopped the bus to Aberdeen. Still pouring out and I don’t have an umbrella. A lot of the exhibits were enclosed so that was good. Spent the day looking at all the fish and being amused by a huge California sea lion and seal exhibit called “Pacific Pier”. A recreation of California coast with rocky out croppings and wooden piers. The sea lions didn’t seem to notice it was fake. So I hung out with my fellow flippered Californians for a little while and we talked about the good old times. Then it was feeding time and they bailed. Hey! I was talking to you!

Anyway, it rained all day and I was damp, cold and tired so I quit. Back on the ferry home and watched strange chinese TV shows all night until I fell asleep.

OK, first day, I just spent the day getting my bearings. I got up and looked into the ferry from Mui Wo to Hong Kong. Not bad, about 1/2 an hour and $3 dollars. Grabbed a funny little sandwich in the funny little terminal and hopped aboard the not all that funny ferry. Made our way across the bay and holy smokes as we came around the corner… look and that brown cloud just covering Hong Kong and Kowloon. That looks nasty! I now understand the whole wearing a surgical mask thing.

Got off the ferry admist massive skyscrapers and walked across the road to catch the 15C bus to the funicular. It’s the tram you take to go up to the peak to overlook all of Hong Kong. I thought it might give me a better look at the layout of the city and also just check out the view. Turns out it’s basically a mall with a lookout tower on top of it. It even has the Wax Museum and a Bubba Gump restaurant, so it’s pretty touristy.

I took the funicular back down and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. Just walked around the city, up and down the hills. Oh my God my feet hurt. Then it got dark and I took the ferry back to Lantau. Good exploratory first day.

What have I noticed? Hong Kong’s only pretty at night. There are also a million 7-11’s, KFC’s, McDonald’s, Krispy Kreme, an IKEA, malls, fashions shops, banks, a few Burger Kings, and lots of hills. Lots and lots of hills.

I arrived tonight in Hong Kong at about 6pm after a grueling 15 1/2 hour flight. Longest flight I’ve ever been on. Besting Melbourne by a few hours. I checked on Cathay Pacific’s safety rating and it ranks right up there with Qantas. No fatalities since 1979. That still didn’t stop me from having a plane crash dream when I fell asleep somewhere over the Pacific. For some reason I was able to look out the front of the cockpit like it was a giant glass window and see us crashing through the trees. Not a great way to wake up.

After we landed, and I got through customs, all the illegal cab drivers were asking to take me wherever I needed to go. I walked around for seriously an hour trying to find the legit taxis. I did find the bus to Silvermine Beach on Lantau, and the bus was there ready to go, but all I had were large bills and they’ll ONLY take the exact fare or give no change. So I went back up and finally found a place to change to lower denominations. Of course the bus had left and the next bus was in an hour and a half. Ugh.

I finally got to the hotel about 11pm but while on the hour+ bus ride there I started worrying about them not having my reservation. That’s what happened in London last time when Jill and I booked through Yahoo. Great, I’m going to be stuck on some island with one hotel, completely exhausted, and they don’t have my reservation and no rooms left. It was fine though and I went up stairs and fell right asleep. Ha! No worries.

Doing the math on this trip I realized from the time I start getting ready, taking the cab, flying 15 1/2 hours each way, to the hotel, back to airport, and home… total travel time will be in excess 40 hours. Um, that’s a whole week of work! That’s if you work 8 hour days of course. Kill me now.

And hey a photo of Hong Kong out of the window of a really clean plane!

Hong Kong? Yeah, why not? I need a short break. After the Europe trip in June spiraled out of control due to the purchase of a painting, I decided I had to keep this trip as low cost as possible. I like the painting a lot but man was that stupid. The flight and hotel for the week were $1500 U.S.. I thought that was a bargain, so I bit. Granted I’m not staying within the city of Hong Kong at some top flight hotel with turn down service. I’ll be on the rather quaint outer island called Lantau and the ferry to the city picks up 5 minutes from the hotel. So no biggie, just a little ride each morning.

Alright, on to more important stuff. The gear! I mean, what’s a trip without dragging tons of equipment with you and not using half of it? Right? So I’m leaving behind the telephoto. Too big. Taking the 10-22, 50mm and the 24-70. Also the timer, a small tripod and for fun the XPAN. That’s still a lot to carry… hmmmm…

I’ve also noticed that since I’ve traveled so much this year I’ve started to get relaxed on the preparations at home. Which is not a good thing. I was up until 3am and had to get up at 7am. I hadn’t even packed yet. But, I’m at the airport and still ahead of schedule. Dropped the car off at work and took a cab from there. I’m not a big fan of having a cab driver come to my home address and then telling them to take me to LAX and Cathay Pacific Airlines. I’m sure 99% of drivers are quite trustworthy I just don’t want that 1 percenter.

So I’m outta here… Happy Advance Thanksgiving.

1874 frame loop around Hollywood. Shot on my 20D. 1/4 sec. exposures every second. My camera got loose on a turn at one point. Life is full of flaws. A little Sadies tune for the ride. Really, I’m just biding time before I leave…

Designers as Rock Stars! Finally! I mean come on artists deserve real live applause! The former Art Director in me was all twitchy with excitement about this competition. The way it works is two artists go head to head and have 15 minutes to complete their piece. They’re first given a theme, like “Time Travel”, then they have to conceptualize an idea, gather any support work that they need, such as a photo, then execute the final product. Needless to say some fell flat on their face, others rose to the challenge. All this while a few hundred people are watching every move. Each Wacom Cintiq was hooked up to a projector so everybody could watch. The dynamic range of those projectors was terrible so I tried to get shots of the Wacoms when I could. The funny thing is the the final round was the weakest. The designer Dennis I thought was the best and was even a bit of a showman. Of course he lost. The video’s about 15 minutes. The same time they had to create their pieces.

What did I learn? I learned I really want a Wacom Cintiq. My oh my those are beautiful. If you cross the beams of a Cintiq and Illustrator you could quite possibly create world peace. I’m serious, ok I’m not. But still.

Adobe also world premiered their new online color matching software called “Kuler”. Looked pretty cool and I shot a pic of the screen. You can make up color themes and pull out different shades and complementary colors and then rotate the wheel around to see it in a new part of the spectrum. It seems to be behind closed doors right now. [Kuler] Please unlock it Adobe, I want to play. Released… [Kuler]

Ran into Heather, Keiko, and Meredith from work and I didn’t know they were going to be there. Also saw a girl from high school. One of the six Chris’s that made up a Biology class of 24 students. After the digital design smack down, Keiko, Heather, Meredith and I met up at Damiano’s and chatted until some wee hour. Tired, oh so very tired.

It only took about 3 weeks but I’m finally getting regular visits to the hummingbird feeder. They’re fearless and I can be sitting 4 or 5 feet away from them as they buzz about. I can even move around and bring the camera up and they just keep an eye on me. 1/640 of a second still can’t stop their wings.

ALL THE REST OF THE MOVIE RATINGS!!! ?Ǭª

There ya go Keiko… you got your movie ratings back.

I kid you not. Good morning. Yeah, didn’t get the helicopter memo. I think the video gives a good idea of what it seemed like in my head.

So, I’m laying there, ya know, sleeping in a bit. Helicopter man shows up and really won’t disappear even though I’m trying to ignore it. But it sounds like it’s in my bedroom. I finally peer out the window and I see a bunch of people staring up and Oh Lordy look at that! A helicopter is landing on that building! First thing I think of is a hostage situation! Ha! I mean, why else would a helicopter be landing on a building roof on Saturday morning at 8:00am? And five feet from my head. And carrying things that look like gurneys to my sleepy eyes??

Hmmm… lets go investigate. The whole neighborhood is blocked off and they’re moving equipment to and from the roof with a giant Sikorsky helicopter that was made in 1960 with parts from the lowest bidder. In a bit of self preservation I decided being in the windy path of a helicopter is bad news.

Fortunately it only went on for about an hour… he said sarcastically. SERENITY NOW YOU GIANT FLYING LAWNMOWER!!

In a remarkable bit of kindness I was given the day off work on Friday. Which coincided nicely with the parents arrival in Los Angeles with their boat! They’ve been cruising up the coast the last few days and pulled into the marina yesterday. I went down and hung out a bit, lazed around and went for a cruise around the harbor with them. Then we headed out to sea for a quick look around. It was pretty choppy and the weather was a little grey at times but it was nice to be doing nothing. Better than the alternative of sitting in the office. Beware, potentially boring video of pelicans, seagulls and random atmosphere.

It’s always good to know someone with a boat or horses.

Halloween Party at Carlos and Renee’s. I didn’t even know who half the people were until I started talking to them for a few minutes. Get out! That’s you Steve?! I also have to point out right now that I did an awesome face plant at the party! Ha ha ha! We’re talking straight down face meets ground! No catching yourself with your hands on this one! It was awesome! No wait, …I was awesome! Ha ha ha… Good thing I had a couple Margarita’s in me. I couldn’t see anything with all that hair. Sheryl, my crow, survived and cawed the remainder of the night.

How’d a cemetery become the cool place to hang out in L.A. They’re reinventing the cemetery experience over there at Hollywood Forever. Movies, festivals, actual burials. It’s crazy! Anyway, the Day of the Dead Festival the weekend before the actual event is totally amazing! And really beautiful when the sun goes down. Alters, skeletons, arts and crafts, food, dancers… it’s total Mexican mayhem. It wasn’t overly crowded where it would be a pain to see everything. I did look at the map later and realized I missed a whole section of alters. I’m all about it next year and Hollywood Forever has only been hosting it for 7 years. They always do a good job hosting events there. Kudos to them for using the cemetery in new ways!

Go next year you stay at home on a Saturday night kinda kids. A little background…

“The historical roots of this celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America of the indigenous people, Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecas, Tlaxcaltec, Chichimec, Tecpanec, and others native to Mexico more than 3,000 years. When the Spaniards conquered the country, this indigenous custom was rooted so deeply that, after five centuries of colonization, it has continued to survive and remain as celebrated as in its first days.

Indigenous people believed that souls did not die, that they continued living in Mictl?ɬ°n (Place of Death) a special place for them to finally rest. On Dia De Los Muertos, tradition holds that the dead return to earth to visit their living relatives. It is believed that although these relatives can’t see them, they can surely feel them.”

West Los Angeles, Brentwood, Westwood, & Sunset Blvd.

One of the most amazing sights is flying into Los Angeles on a crystal clear night. So many times I’ve been coming into land and as soon as they turn the lights off inside the plane it gets dead silent. Everybody that has a window seat has their head stuck into the little alcove gazing out looking at the sparkling show slowly going by below them. It’s really weird but it happens almost everytime. That is if you’re lucky enough to have that window seat that lines up to a window. The airport is located within the city so you fly quite low over the main portion which sometimes includes a bank turn around the downtown area. It’s amazing how absolutely massive Los Angeles is and how it’s accentuated by the the giant grid of lights. My favorite are the street lamps that you can only see the glow on the ground. Little soft pools of light on the asphalt. There are lots of beautiful places to fly into during the day, such as Hawaii, or Bora Bora, but on a clear night L.A. is a spectatcular landing.

Of course then you land, wait in traffic, stay at that crappy hotel, the sun comes up, it’s dull and brown, and all the shopping centers look the same. But at least for that 30 minutes you’re above the vast expanse of L.A. it’s a million diamonds.

And on a side note… friends Len & Sue have taken up residence in Fes, Morocco. He for leisurely bohemian activites and she for studying arabic. All the fun is just beginning here… [Runaway Squid]

I’ve been so stinking busy at work that all things personal have come to a halt. Even hygeine (Hi Gene!) took a turn towards homelessness this past week. I wore shorts to work one day and everybody asked why, and I said it’s the only clean thing lying on the floor. The clue being that even those were lying on the floor. I should have just told all my clothes we’re going to the laundromat because they could have just up and walked themseleves. Anyway, everything’s washed and daily showers are back on the schedule. I smell like french soap at the moment so get your sniffs in now.

Parental Units came to the city today and we went down to Marina Del Rey for lunch. Afterwards we took a stroll down the breakwater in Venice and looked around. Later in the day I hopped in the car, put the top down and raced up the Angeles Crest Highway because I thought the views of the city might be nice, and they were, just different than I expected. I took up my 70-200mm with the 2x extender. With the 1.6 crop of my camera I have a 640mm lens which was way cool to be able to look at downtown from probably 20-30 miles away. After the sunset I came home and grabbed a little bite to eat and here I sit. Hmmm… now what? Maybe I’ll go to the movies.

By the way… it’s not smog. It was a beautiful clear day out. Sometimes the white balance on the camera will decide it’s smoggy for you.

Somehow I found myself in Woodland Hills at a Sport’s Bar at 10:00am on Sunday morning watching the Rams play football. That couldn’t have been me? The pod people must have come over and stole my brain or something and forced me over the hill to meet up with my college roommate Julyan. I got a call at 8:50am Sunday morning. Who knew phones even ring Sunday mornings at 8:50am? But there it was sitting by my bed dinging, dinging, and dinging. Wow, that’s amazing. Look at it! 8:50 on a Sunday morning and it’s ringing. Don’t get me wrong, I was awake and staring at the ceiling, but the phone was also ringing. At 8:50 Sunday morning! The strangest thing? I thought it was cool. Because it would mean I actually get up and have a full day. Unlike Saturday where I slept in until 3:30pm. Yes, 3:30 PM. Work was late Friday night.

On the phone was Julyan who I had made plans to have brunch with this morning. Her husband Lance wanted to watch the Rams game and sister Leah was also in tow so we all hopped in the truck and headed over to BJ’s Restaurant/Brewery/Brewhouse or whatever it is. Anyway, Rams won, I watched a Roomba clean their house for awhile, and hit a Halloween store on the way out. I also drove by a ghost town of a minimall on Ventura Blvd. Including a ghost car.

Woodland Hills is a funny name. Wood. Land. Hills. It’s all the same really. Oh yeah, and Tarzana. It’s named after Tarzan. I kid you not. Lake Forest also has that funny name. Oh and the cities Claremont and Montclair being next to each other. That’s an oldie but a goodie. City of Industry is good too. You don’t call it Industry, it’s called The City of Industry. How funny.

Santa Monica Blvd – 11:21pm

I headed over to the Nuart Theater after being down at the beach and caught the 8:30 screening of [49 Up]. It was so great and fun to see where the people were currently in their lives. It’s weird to think the next one won’t be done until 2012. It’s also weird how personalities settle in at such an early age. The most interesting thing is how the more privileged kids seem to make the greatest change. Mainly because they had the most growing to do. Of course they left the heartbreaking Neil for the last segment. It was amazing to see someone who was near mental and homeless is now a local politician and doing quite well and living modestly on a small stipend. I’m not sure just going out and watching “49 Up” on it’s own would be all that interesting but when you’ve seen the whole series it’s a fascinating episode.

The downside? I totally picked the wonkiest chair in the theater to sit in. Hello?! It was like sitting on one of those horses at the playground that has that spring under it and you bounce and rock all over the place! How does a theatre seat even do that?

After I got out a line was forming for the midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. Now that’s just a terrible movie. Yet it’s still going after all these years. Everybody was between 16 to 22. The music’s pretty good and all, but really…

Santa Monica Pier – 6:30pm

One of my favorite songs is by Lucinda Williams and it’s called Ventura. She’s captured a moment in lyrics of driving up the coast from L.A. that I think is brilliant. Now anytime the sun splashes down into the water and does that little bend I think of that wistful song. Love it.

Take the long way home, so I can ride around. Put Neil Young on and turn up the sound.
Drive up the coastline, maybe to Ventura. Watch the waves make signs out on the water.
I wanna watch the ocean bend the edges of the sun. Then I wanna get swallowed up in an ocean of love.

The weather right now is beautiful and the remnants of one the largest California brush fires in history is still reddening the sky. A month long blaze, 162,702 acres, 250 sq miles, and 73 million dollars later it’s contained. Bloody hell. All because someone set their trash on fire. Smokey the Bear has got to be pissed.

Local animals. Nicky the neighbor cat recently moved but I used to have fun with her when she’d come around. She didn’t move that far so she actually comes by occasionally and hangs out. I haven’t seen her in few weeks. All that’s left is old black cat Eddie and annoying Boubou who after about three pets on the head will bite you. Cutie the long hair moved awhile ago and Grey Cat, that seemed like it was forever in heat, either moved or a neighbor made her disappear. Yellow cat doesn’t come out of the house anymore but I see him in the window across the way. Girl neighbor has a dog that is smaller than all the cats. The rest of the wildlife is either squirrels, opossums, and the once every two or three years sighting of raccoons. Oh, and the crows that go nuts about sundown. But the worst is that damn nightingale that perches itself outside my window and sings all night long. Ugh. SHUT. UP!!!

MUSIC: The Oct. 10th DVD release of Neko Case’s peformance on Austin City Limits from 2003. I’m going to play it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And over and over and over and over and over and over. Then play it over and over and over and over…

Then play it over and over and over and over and over and over and over. It might be the last DVD I ever buy because I’ll be stuck watching it over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

PEOPLE: Annie Leibovitz doing an instore at the Borders book store in Westwood. Do photographers get more famous than her?

FILM: 49 Up! The next installment of the “Up” series. It’s a year old but “49 Up” finally comes out here Friday and only plays for one week at the NuArt theater. I HAVE to make the time to see it. I don’t capitalize many words, but I HAVE to go. I’m dying to see what Neil, Tony & Bruce have been up to since 1998. It’s sort of the original reality TV. It’s just the episodes are 7 years apart. Speaking of which, if you have Netflix throw the whole series in your queue. And while you’re at it add me to your list. email @ chasethelight . com Ya know, because I really need the love that social networking websites provide me.

EVENTS: Dia de los Muertos! Color, lights, dancing, skeletons, graveyards, alters, music, food, etc. What more can you want? Photo ops galore.

WEATHER: The clouds have been rolling in. Mornings and evenings have started to feel like Fall. Loving the change over.

NEKO CASE: Did I mention the DVD thing…?

ONE MORE THING…: Austin City Limits is releasing the Neko Case show on DVD Oct. 10th. Just making sure. Don’t you dare call me Tuesday evening.