heathervescent

North American Road Trip

Lady Vescent and I have driven over 3000 miles in just under two weeks. It has been one big wild ride - and I am only half-way through. 

The idea came to me on day 2 of my master cleanse back in January. I hadn't done any major traveling for several years and found myself with time on my hands, so I planned to be in LA for less than three weeks for the next three months. You've already experienced my San Francisco, Sedona and Peru adventures.

Now, I'm on my North American Adventure: the great roadtrip. The plan was to drive from LA to Austin, Texas; attend SXSW film and interactive until the 21st and then pop on up to Iowa to spend a week seeing my grandparents (who are getting really old) and my Dad. My ulterior motive was, that I wanted to experience going back to the town where I graduated and see it as an adult. The Hollywood/Silicon Valley success story returning to the place I left screaming. The place that taught me my strong values. The place I learned to love the land.

My goal is to return to LA on April 1st via a meandering route through Colorado, Utah and Nevada. 

SX was an interesting experience. Just getting to Austin was an adventure. Ask me about my 1000 miles (Phoenix to Austin) in one day. One long 15 hour day drive where I averaged 70+ miles per hour. But what is really interesting is the events on the day that lead up to driving 1000 miles in one day. Unfortunately dear readers, you will have to wait for the movie. Because that series of true events is going to be my first film. 

And that is the first realization I had at SX. It's time to drink the Kool-Aid. Specifically, the Hollywood Kool-Aid. I'm surrendering to become a filmmaker.

I know. I know. Stop laughing.

At Sx I saw two amazing films. The first is one that everyone who is on the Internet and uses new media should see. It is called WE LIVE IN PUBLIC. The second one is for anyone who is interested in the next evolution of media creation, called RIP: A REMIX MANIFESTO. 

Both of these films blew my mind and helped me get back in tune with the buring passion I have for certain topics. Over and over I kept hearing stories people would tell about how they knew they had to do something. It was a long hard road of course, but that's what they were going to do it and by damn, they did it.

And by damn I will too. I mean, the story practically wrote itself!

Remixed Colbert

These were some of my fav remixes from RIP: A Remix Manifesto.

Heather at Southby LA-OJerk

Heather Schlegel
Originally uploaded by jdlasica

JD snapped this photo of me at SXSW and my newly acquired pin "haven't I done enough already?" I am loling.

SXSW 2009 in review

SXSW interactive was a disappointing clique fest this year, but luckily I opted for the Gold pass which gave me access to the film side of the festival. Instead of focusing on the same old social media stories and speakers - let's talk movies.

My SXSW adventure started before I reached Austin.  I was done with air travel and packed up my convertable for a multi-day roadtrip to Texas. I made it to Phoenix, and then my story became one challenge and plot twist after another. The best Hollywood writers couldn't come close to what I experienced and surmounted. But your humble narrator did surmount each and every challenge culimnating in her arrival in Austin. The universe had gave me the best gift I didn't ask for - the inspiration for my first film.

Cleaned up from several days without sleep and covered in road grime, I picked up my badge to hit the panels. Fresh with the inspiration of my adventure, I hit up the Script to Screen Panel - which delivered on it's promise: explain what a script goes through from inception through writing, getting actors, producers, directors involved, shooting, production and finally the premier. I was impressed with Catherine Hardwicke, director of Twilight, who I knew from her independent film Thirteen. The top five things I learned from here are

1. You have to have a passion for the issue. The script was written as a project between Catherine and Nikki as a way to focus Nikki's teenage energy in a positive way (instead of becoming like the character in the movie).
2. "It wasn't something we _wanted_ to do, we _had_ to do this. You have to feel this about your movie. You have to be willing to to do anything to make your movie."
3. Catherine created a mood book, that had pictures and colors to express the mood of the movie. She had a 5 minute teaser that included music. She said you have to make your project as solid as possible. You don't want it to be just a screenplay.
4. She practiced giving her pitch until it was perfect. "You only get one shot. Don't take it out before you are ready."
5. Hardwicke said it's important to listen to your actors and as a writer be willing to rewrite or add scenes for the character. She told about her experiences working and listening to Holly Hunter who suggested some modifications that gave depth to her characters.

Suzanne Weinert, producer of ExTerminators (which I later caught at the festival) had the best story about finding financers. She originally planned to have her film set in NYC, but when her funding came from Texas, changed the location to the Lone Star State. "Texas businessmen are some of the most comfortable people about risk. Their attitude is, if you drill a dry hole - just drill another one."

I indulged my inner scifi geek by joining Robert Rodriguez and Henry Selick's conversation from the Third Dimension. When I think of 3D neither of those names come to mind, but the one I do think of was mentioned - Ray Harryhausen. I was fascinated to learn that Rodriguez wanted to do several of his films in 3D - but it was prohibitively expensive. With new 3D technology, a film shot in 2D can be converted to 3D in post-production, so there may be some Rodriguez 3D versions eventually made. Henry Selick, director of Coraline, talked about his challenges shooting it in 3D. "Since we are shooting puppets, they can stay in one position for as long as we need them. So we used one camera, did a shot for the left eye, moved the camera over to the right and then took the shot for the right eye."

I was primed for some SciFi, so I popped over to the Alamo Lamar for some lunch and to catch SXSWs Official Selection Winner, Monsters from the Id, a documentary about SciFi Films and the architype of the College Professor in the 50s. Science Fiction usually tells us more about the writer's time, than the time in which the story is set. Monsters from the Id, tells just this story: the American romance with science. These movies inspired an entire generation of young scientists who discovered the answers to hard questions which advanced math, physics, biology and chemisty. This same inspiration is needed today. Beautifully told with color interviews and black and white movie clips, Monsters from the Id is a call to arms as well as homage to the future of the 50s.

Stay tuned for more SXSW coverage about Mushrooms, Remixing and Living in Public.

The Money Shot

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Originally uploaded by heathervescent

You've seen it before. It's the typical MP photograph taken.

The Holy Mountain

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Originally uploaded by heathervescent

I agree with the Incan's Anthropomorphization.

All Along the Watchtower

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Originally uploaded by heathervescent

Wind and clouds dance around the most majestic mountains I have witnessed.

Dreams Come True

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Originally uploaded by heathervescent

On top of the world, a bit more worn for the wear.

Adventures in Peru

My friend Anna, who I am staying with in Peru, has recently started updating her blog (I´ve been rubbing off on her) describing life in Pisac and thanks to her, I have jumped right into regular life as a long term gringo. I was just cracking up reading about the balloon fights (and the chicken skin incident), mama chicken´s and the various adventures sneaking into the pisac ruins.

The last few days have been fairly relaxed. It´s been raining and although I have limited time left here, I´m not feeling the pressing desire to do more ceremonies than I have already. I worked through my superbigissue - the one I came to Peru to deal with - pratically at the beginning. I´ve felt like a local, bought an awesome baby alpaca blanket (which Anna has the other half) from an amazing woman and I have generally fallen in love with this country.

The other night I gave Anna and Maria a class on Getting your Heart´s Desire - the book Im working on and we are basically swapping healing/learning techniques. It´s been great to be around such awesome people.