Half and Half

Today marks the midway point of my time in San Francisco. The event is somewhat real in that very recently I began plans for my departure. There's a show I'm committed to in August that I had planed for, and also a new show that has appeared on the radar. A great director and one of my favorite people may be moving on from her current position, and she is directing King Lear, as many directors do in their outgoing season. So there's a very good chance I'll be working on that (the fact that she choose to do the show at my suggestion, before she knew she was retiring, is in interesting fate-induced twist).

So it came time to firm up those summer plans a bit. Additionally, this past week I finally talked to my advisor to talk about what I wanted to do in my final year and registered for classes.

I've come to feel at home in this city much faster than in Pittsburgh, or even Syracuse. There's a vibe here that I find really exciting. Last weekend I discovered that I could get around downtown without the aide of my iPhone anymore. This felt pretty cool. I also went to wine country with my buddy Josh, Sonoma to be exact, literally by getting on the 101 North and finding it via road signs. Going from vineyard to vineyard and just talking about both the wines and life made for what can only be described as a perfect day.

Not all the days are perfect though. There are days here and there when I get kind of bored and lonely. This normally happens on days when things are quiet at work, and I can't find anything to do with myself when I get home, or sometimes when I really want to do something specific like see a particular movie or go to a theme park for the day and can't find anyone to go with. The other night I saw this amazing Butoh-inspired (a form of Japanese dance) work downtown and it was disapointing to not debate and analyze it with a close friend.

The feeling always passes and its doesn't ruin being out here, far from it. I've come to think of them as my "Splash Mountain" days-- when I wonder if whether striving so hard to advance at what I do is worth continually being farther from home. But I know that if I were still in Pittsburgh sitting in certain classes right now I would be miserable. So I do my best to appreciate how far I've come and the experience life has granted me being here. It really is amazingly beautiful country.

I don't know how many was there is to say it, but work is great. I really do enjoy doing this type of lighting. Almost every week brings with it some new experience, some small advancement in my abilities. I did my first architectural lighting focus this week, in a building in downtown SF-- its a product showroom for expensive medial devices that has a very theatricalized feel.

I may not be the designer, but I'm making real contributions to some really cool and pretty major projects all over the globe.

There's much to look forward to, and I think the next half of the adventure will go by very quickly. I'm going to Vegas for several days for a wedding where I get to hang out with some really, really fun friends. About a month after that my parents are visiting for a week-- the hotel rooms in Napa have already been booked (those of you on my drunk dial list be warned). I also have a few visits from friends penciled in there too, and I really look forward to showing off my new city.

So though I won't say that the last 3 months flew by, unlike CMU, its not that feeling of things seeming like they happened ages ago without the satisfaction of having accomplished something.

So here's to 3 more months sitting 5 minutes away from the Golden Gate Bridge. After that its only another month until my last year of school ever. And maybe on one of those days in there I'll finally figure out how to completely relax and enjoy the present without stressing about the future... it gets a little closer all the time.

PETA going Postal

Ok, I normally don't go in for the whole PETA-bashing thing. I understand their beliefs and all that, and the less violent members occassionally make a good point.

A lot of the malice toward them, I'd felt, came parallel to (or as backlass because of) such urban myths as the "KFC"-renaming BS that so many people believe.

(Side note: For those of you lucky enough to have missed this, its one of my favorite litmus tests for how well people will research their facts. In the 90's Kentucky Fried Chicken changed all its marketing to "KFC". The conspiracists created this online furvor that it was because they used genetically engineered headless, featherless animals and the government forced them to stop calling it "Chicken". Ummmmmmmmm. Right. Really what happend is that during the health conscious craze they didn't want Fried to literally be their middle name-- not that explaining this to the theorists will get you anywhere. And if any are you are still out there, please feel free to use the Comment feature to cite your sources... any two major American newspapers or government oversight report will do. Thanks.)

Anyway, the point is, I'm over PETA. They are now offering (obligatory Dr. Evil voice) $1 MILL-ION DOLLARS to anyone who can use stem cells to grow beef in a test tube. Solent green anyone? Sounds like a great plan, until 10 years later everyone starts dying of cancer. Listen, I understand vegeanism if thats what you choose. But I for one believe part of this whole "Green Renaissance" we're in at its core has to do with reconnecting with nature. And in nature, animals eat other animals... I haven't seen many test tubes in the forest.

Source, Yahoo:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Steaks out of a test-tube? The animal rights group PETA is putting up a million dollar reward for anyone who by 2012 can grow in-vitro meat that looks and tastes like the real thing.

"In-vitro meat production would use animal stem cells that would be placed in a medium to grow and reproduce. The result would mimic flesh and could be cooked and eaten," People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said in a statement.

The million-dollar reward will go to the participant who manages by 2012 to put test-tube chicken into commercial production and successful sell it in at least 10 US states at a competitive price.

Teams of researchers around the world are already working on producing meat in a laboratory, but it will be several years yet before in-vitro meat makes it onto the dinner table.

A team of 10 PETA jurors will taste the entries to make sure they match the texture and flavor of chicken, and they must score at least 80 out of 100 points to win the prize.

The New York Times revealed Monday that the scheme almost triggered a civil war within the headquarters of the organization dedicated to fighting for animal rights. But PETA argued the move would help avoid unnecessary suffering.

"More than 40 billion chickens, fish, pigs, and cows are killed every year for food in the United States in horrific ways," it said in its statement.

"In-vitro meat would spare animals from this suffering. In addition, in vitro meat would dramatically reduce the devastating effects the meat industry has on the environment."

And it added that while "humans don't need to eat meat at all" since many people continued "to refuse to kick their meat addictions, PETA is willing to help them gain access to flesh that doesn't cause suffering and death."

Oops

Moral-- when going to New Orleans for a week, water your plant first.

I don't use the word Scathing lightly

The following is the editorial from the Los Angeles Times on April 5th, concerning Disney's California Adventure... guess Mr. Potato Head (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETQTKMyqw7s ) better get to work quick:


California Adventure has fizzled,
proving that consumers don't like to be taken for a ride.

April 5, 2008

The first question about Disney’s California Adventure was so obvious that it seemed downright stupid: Why would anyone pay Disneyland prices to go there? When the park opened seven years ago, its deficits were clear even to the children who visited. One fabulous ride -- "Soarin' Over California" -- was buttressed by a small array of standard county-fair attractions, albeit given a Disney gloss: the ubiquitous flume ride, a Wild Mouse coaster, centrifugal-force swings, a giant Ferris wheel. Compared with Disneyland, where delights are tucked into every corner, California Adventure seemed barren, low on rides and big on restaurants and souvenir shops. Mainly, it seemed as if the Imagineers had taken the day off to go to Knott’s Berry Farm.

Somehow, Disney's marketing gurus and sales mavens failed to notice what so many others did: California Adventure didn't give the customer his money's worth. Maybe they missed the value issue because they didn't have to pay the admission price -- which has reached $66 per person, even for kids as young as 10. Maybe they figured working stiffs were too dumb to know when they'd been had.

Over the years, though, the park gave off periodic distress signals. Two restaurant operators pulled out because of low attendance. California Adventure installed a "Twilight Zone"-themed ride to draw thrill-seekers. It opened kiddie rides to draw families. It yanked Disneyland's old Electrical Parade back from retirement, and it lowered prices temporarily.

Finally, late last year, Disney announced a $1.1-billion overhaul -- more than it had invested in California Adventure in the first place.Even on a recent sunny Sunday, though Disneyland was so crammed that the regular parking lot was full, California Adventure was relatively empty. The only line -- a mere 15 minutes -- was, predictably, for "Soarin' Over California." Visitors wandered back and forth among the attractions, riding each several times. Many said they were annual pass holders for the two parks and would come to California Adventure when they got tired of the lines at Disneyland. Sad commentary, when an amusement park's best attribute is that it's something of a dud.

But the fizzle of California Adventure is encouraging in its way. Too often, consumers have been snookered into killer mortgages or expensive cholesterol medicines that are no more effective than dirt-cheap generics. It's nice to know there are times when the law of giving people their money's worth prevails, and when the stupid question is, in fact, the right one.

Sour Apple

Does this remind you of anything?

Nope, me neither. But master of the universe Steve Jobs thinks it looks like this:

and has filed a copyright infringement claim. Ummm, right. This is a surprisingly Microsoft-like move for Apple. Even more ironic is that Apple is constantly settling with the Beatle's Apple Corp (from which it gets its name) for the very same thing-- turns out the original agreement let Apple Computer use the name for, well, computers, but insisted they steer clear of music for fear of confusion... in 1984 the plans for the iPod weren't quite hatched yet.

Let's hope Apple comes to its senses and renegs. Part of the countersuit would revoke Apple's Apple's trademark (that was not a stutter) alleging that it is too generic to achieve trademark status.

In a related story, coming soon to Life 2.0 "How Dare NYC Call Itself the Big Apple!" :-P

Gak

Working on previsualizing a show with 22 universes of DMX...

I love me some gak!