Coolest. Website. Ever.

Marketing and branding gurus One Trick Pony created this website for TCM: 31 Days of the Oscars. It's a visual tv program guide, dividing the Oscar winning flicks by decade and day of airplay. The 31 Days have passed, but this dandy of a website lives on. It's even got a mini video jukebox that plays famous themes and clips from each movie. Oscar movie night anyone?

It's a Lensbaby, baby!...too many babies...

My friend and fellow photog, Betsey Walton, (sometimes known as Big Betsy, not because of her girth, but to differentiate from me, Little Betsy, her junior by a couple years), loaned me her Lensbaby, one of the sweetest lenses around. Fast glass? Wide angle? Super zoom? Nope. Just plain ol' distortion. And who wouldn't love a lens that bends and curves like the trunk of an elephant?

I took it downtown to try it out in the quasi-blazing heat (just wait until August...ugh). Click on the Stardust Motel to check it out.

Wedding Fun

Last weekend, the fam drove the windy roads south to Sonoma County to attend my cousin Rachel's wedding. The wine country was picture perfect -- row upon row of vineyards dotted with tiny cottages and farms, with the occasional quaint town to stop in for some cute shops and good eats. I'd say almost the most beautiful spot in beautiful Cali (of course we all know the redwood coast tops them all...hehe, I'm biased). The rehearsal dinner and wedding were at two different, but equally stunning, wineries. The food was phenomenal, the company jovial, the wine was...well, wine (I'm sure delicious to a more trained palate...I'll get there some day), and an all around good time was had by all. Congrats Dan and Rachel! Check out the pics here.

Don't get any ideas, Dad.

Best blog post title ever: "A Father's Day Reminder: Shoot Your Kids"

Also happens to be a great blog entry on a great blog...check out this guy's pics of his kids. Best family photo album ever?

The Future Glenn Goulds

I have the coolest nephews EVER!!! Miles and Damion both played perfectly at their recital and looked so dapper in their new suits. I'm sooo proud of you both!

(For those of you who don't know, Glen Gould is the greatest pianist ever....or at least the greatest player of Bach. Check it out. He's the man.)

Kits of Convenience

I was at the store the other day and I saw a S'mores Making Kit, a plastic tube with packaged marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate and roasting sticks that looked sort of like real tree stems, if it weren't for the mass-produced uniformity of them all. Handy, yes. But something about it rubbed me the wrong way.

Kind of like BAF's Fort Kit with ropes and camo blanket. Isn't the fun of a fort in using the random things that are lying around your house and creating your own wonderful sanctuary with them? Are we so paranoid about germs that kids can no longer go hunting for the perfect marshmallow roasting stick around the campsite? Am I freaking out over nothing, or are we squelching our kids' creativity in our efforts to simplify things?

I think the inside of my mind is something like this...

Honestly, if you haven't seen this vid for Sigur Rós "Glósóli" you must watch it. Heck, even if you have seen it, watch it. Actually...go to YouTube and watch it full screen. Yeah.....Absolutely beautiful.

Papyrus? Futura? Baskerville?

Hey, everyone should take "The Rather Difficult Font Game". It's fun for all levels of nerdiness. I got 26 out of 32. Huzzah!

And speaking of great typography (which I'm obsessed with these days) check this site out.

This is what I want to do.

Hanging at Starbucks

No, literally. I've got framed prints hanging at the Eureka Way Starbucks in Redding. So, if you're in town, grab a tall no-water, 2 pump, soy chai (I know, one of those ridiculously long orders, but trust me, it's the best!) and check it out. If you're not in Redding, I hear tickets are cheap...

Courtesy of Andrew the eldest (brother, that is)

This is how I feel sometimes.....stupid clumsy mitten-hands.....

Messing with the space-time continuum

Google does it again! They've come up with another genius way to make life easier. It even involves flux capacitors. Check it out here.

The Ubiquitous Self-Titled Website

After much slaving and several strong desires to throw my computer out the window, I finally created a website. Props to you, all you html, flash, website design gurus out there. I don't know how you do it. Anyways, it's at the absurdly creative address of betsylance.com (it took me DAYS to think of the name). If nothing else, there's a cute picture in the "about me" section of me and my bros when we were just tiny babes hunting for pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.....back when we still had that infantile ability to make a picture that was "cute".

By the way, I think the blog is back. I think I have stuff to write about again. We can hope.....

Carnegie Hall, anyone?

It was incredible. Pierre-Laurent Aimard on piano playing pieces from three different centuries:

Bach: Contrapunctus I-XI from “The Art of the Fugue”
Schoenberg: Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23
Beethoven: Sonata No. 31 in A flat Major, Opus 110

followed by encores of Elliott Carter's Caténaires and another selection from "The Art of the Fugue".

Carnegie Hall itself is vast and simple, not the ornate visual overload of some theaters. Beneath the tall dome sits the piano, alone in the spotlight. We had the nosebleed seats, that left me weak-kneed when looking straight over the edge. But I soon settled cozily into my 10 inches of leg room, reminding myself that I'm trying to improve my posture.

The Bach fugues started simply, with your basic fugue, then progressing with each piece building in complexity until you have a double, and then a triple fugue. It was 45 minutes of fugue heaven.

After the intermission, we moved into the 20th Century, with some of Schoenberg's first atonal pieces. Aside from the encore, this was definitely the highlight for me. I love the sound of atonal piano pieces, absolutely riveting.

Next was the Beethoven, which ended with the final movement going in and out of fugues, bringing us back full circle.

The absolute best, though, was the Carter encore. The audience was completely spellbound by this piece, which was written specifically for Aimard, and the second it was finished everyone was cheering wildly. Carter himself says this of the piece, "When Pierre – Laurent Aimard, who performs so eloquently, asked me to write a piece for him, I became obsessed with the idea of a fast one line piece with no chords. It became a continuous chain of notes using different spacings, accents, and colorings, to produce a wide variety of expression." As soon as this comes out on record, you can bet I'll be there to buy.

Afterwards, my brother, Andrew, his wife, Kristal, my dad, and I discussed the show over Chilean sea bass and braised chicken, and left the city contended and reminded that beauty can still surprise us in new music.

What? I was gone?

Okay, so I'm back in the homeland. And it's great to be back. In fact, it feels like I never even left, which is both weird and somewhat disturbing. There are a few changes in my town, though:

1. Starbucks is the new mafia. We went from about 4 to 10 in a year...and there's more on the way.

2. Chipotle. Phenomenal.

3. GoCarts are hip? Other towns bring in art galleries, coffee shops, breweries, and funky little stores to revitalize their downtowns. We bring in go-carts. Wow.

4. Diversity. Ethnic diversity hits Redding? Impossible! I once thought, but it seems that in as little as a year, there's a noticeable change from the sea of white faces. Good for Redding.

5. New Library! Hooray! Our library has emerged from the 70's! Finally, I can start reading again.

6. Red Robin is super greasy. Actually, this is the same, I just notice it more. I gotta lay off those french fries.

Thoughts on mediocrity, poverty, and micro-loans.

I just started reading this book called "Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard". It's a compilation of segments of his writings, ordered by topic; slightly more accessible than reading his complete works. Kierkegaard's got some strong words for the 19th century church that are just as applicable today. Case is point:

"The greatest danger to Christianity is, I contend, not heresies, heterodoxies, not atheists, not profane secularism - no, but the kind of orthodoxy which is cordial drivel, mediocrity served up sweet."

He talks about faith being trampled "amid smiling, Christian politeness." I read this, and all I can do is cringe, not so much because I see it all around me (which I do), but because I see it in myself. Brutal.

On a more positive note, my pastor here has been doing sermons about financial responsibility. How can that possibly be positive, you ask? Well, he's recommended a couple great websites to check out. My excuses for not giving usually boil down to either "I don't want to just give a handout." or "How do I know what their doing with my money is really worth while?" But each of these organizations seem to be using the money wisely, in ways that will really make some long term changes.

One -- The main goal here is to end extreme poverty by raising awareness and by pressuring world governments to follow through on the 1% gdp pledge they have already allocated but have resisted actually giving toward ending poverty. Check out the declaration and sign on to join the movement.

Opportunity International -- This group gives small loans and training to people around the world to help them start their own businesses and become financially independent. You can't argue with that. It's a good thing.

Compassionate Ministries -- Okay, so, I've heard many a guilt trip from places like these complete with pictures of big eyed children with flies on their faces. But, despite my general discomfort with these advertising tactics, I think they are doing good. Every kid deserves a decent education and, of course basic health needs and care. And, as a little perk to the giver, we get little notes and pictures from our kid.

Lastly, a little plug for my cool friend Jackie's "$100 a Month" blog. Giving just $100 a month can make a big difference. Join up.

Everland Adventure!

God bless Korean holidays. And non-retail jobs that assure you will get off on every red numbered holiday on the calendar. It's almost as good as working for the U.S. government.

Last Wednesday was a holiday. For what, no one seems to know, but we took advantage of it and whisked ourselves away to Everland, Korea's answer to Disneyland (click here for more pics). And, indeed, they seemed to take their cue from everything Disneyland-ish, from the quaint shops of main street to the electric light parade, which, I swear, had little musical quotes from the Disney one. The main difference was that instead of crab cakes at the Blue Bayou restaurant, we were stuck with peanut butter octopus (no joke!) and bulgogi burgers.

Although the food left something to be desired, the company didn't. We marveled at the foreign performers (none of them Korean) and laughed at classic misspellings, like the "Pizza Rool" ("Pizza Roll" on another nearby menu) and the succulent "Soft Baked Crap". The rollercoasters were decent and the theme rides at least mildly entertaining. But the best part was hanging out with super cool people who will ride subways wearing animal hats. You guys rock.

Bauer or Bourne?

While watching Jack Bauer single-handedly wipe out 7 terrorists with only a handgun, stealth, and a chain, this formidable question arose: in a battle between Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne, who would win? They both have to be the biggest bad-asses ever to grace the screen. Man, I just can't decide....a tie maybe?

Fan-Bible-old-school-80's-tastic!

Recognize this? That's right, you guessed it. Bible Adventures for Nintendo! I just downloaded a NES emulator and let me tell you, it RULES! I have every game imaginable: Mario, RC Pro-am, Contra, Zelda....sheesh! I've never had it so good. So, goodbye work, social life, and church. I'll be helping Noah find two of every animal to fill the ark. This is important stuff, people.

The holidays are here! It's Chuseok, which is like Korean Thanksgiving. The whole of Korea migrates to their families houses, everything except McDonald's shuts, and I get three days off work. Five including the weekend. So, what do I do with this precious time off?

1. Get gifts. In the store there are a plethora of gift set options to give to your fam or co-workers. Our school gave us a kiwi set of about 15 huge kiwis in a fancy box and a soap set, complete with 6 tubes of toothpaste and 8 bars of soap. I'm going to have to step up the hygiene and start brushing my teeth about 5 times a day so I can use it before I leave.
2. Have Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey's a little hard to come by, so we opted for a big chili dinner. About 13 of us set up camp in the hall and had two kinds of regular chili, one with no beans, and a veggie only chili. To top it off we made a couple apple pies and a cheesecake. We do dinners up right!
3. Play scrabble. What holiday would be complete without it? Afterwards, we proceeded to the speed scrabble. Now everyone's addicted. Excellent.
4. Frolick at the park. We packed up a deluxe picnic and headed to the big sports stadium to throw around the pigskin and play an exciting game of ultimate frisbee. My team, the Canadian/U.S. alliance, won, probably because of our intimidating group cheer of "eh!".

I would also like to add that tomorrow is the day after Thanksgiving (in Korea). And, since everyone tells me I have to wait until then to listen to Christmas music, I think I'm perfectly okay to start listening tomorrow. Charlie Brown Christmas here I come.