I'm a Real Pioneer

At least that's what Columbia Sportswear says. I entered their video contest a few months back, and they chose my entry as the winner. So thanks Columbia! Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what this new title means. I guess I can put "Pioneer" on my business card now. And maybe on the back of my hoody. And speaking of clothes, they're giving me $500 worth of Columbia Gear. They have these fancy videos on the site about their other pioneers- maybe I'll get one of those? For now you can see a small photo of me on a hydrobike on their site here. I'll let you know if I learn anything else about my new position...

Happy Hannukah/Channuka/Xanuka

In honor of the holiday I'm taking a trip down memory lane to the time I taught Sarah Silverman to play dreidel. It was the winter of 2006 and her film, Jesus is Magic, was just about to hit theatres...



It's pretty surprising that she never knew how to play the game, and I just hope she's put those skills to use since.

And what do I want for Channukah? A glockenspiel. Really. But don't go rushing to your neighborhood music store because my mom already ordered me one. Stay tuned for some elaborate glockenspiel/kazoo tunes coming your way...

Un-Road Trip: December Update

Even though the physical trip may have ended the journey is far from finished. I'm still plugging away on editing the Un-Road Trip documentary. I'm currently sorting out how I'll string it all together. It will be in chronological order, but I want to do something interesting with the narration. Maybe I could film narration sequences as I ride modes of transportation that I didn't get to last spring, (dog sled? innertube? ostrich?). Or maybe I should film narration as though it's a presentation I'm delivering- like Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth- except I'd be delivering it to a class of kindergartners or something. Or maybe you have a better idea?

I've been talking to some cool folks in DC about working together as well. I met with Planet Green a few weeks back and this morning I had a great chat with some people at the Earth Day Network. Hopefully I'll be able to segue this trip into some more fun content.

And I'm still talking a lot with the people who made the trip possible- my corporate partners. Keen Footwear recently had me put together a short recap of the trip to show at their global sales meeting. It was a lot of fun to edit together, and it forced me to play with the footage in new ways that I think will help make the final documentary even better. And I've been chatting with Columbia Sportswear too, though that stuff is still top secret. It won't be for long though.

And in Un-Road Trip style I'll be taking the train home to Portland in two weeks. This will be my fifth time riding Amtrak cross-country, but my first time doing it in winter. I'm really looking forward to seeing Glacier National Park in the snow. I'll make sure to take a lot of photos and videos.