Day Two (08.24.09) As we hit the Vegas city limits I was both excited and stressed out. Half of the interstate seemed to be under construction and the traffic was fairly chaotic. I was still driving, and I have to say that even after being to Las Vegas twice before this, the experience of driving myself around was still nerve-racking. However, it also broadened my view of the place as I hoped it would.
Dave was actually shooting footage as we drove down the strip while I was busy trying to navigate our way to the entrance of Harrah's. I had both my HDV and mini cam with me on this trip, which is why throughout many of the videos you'll notice a transition between widescreen and a smaller fullscreen image - I emphasized the difference for effect and because the quality isn't nearly as high. You'll also notice that the footage for each location is often a mixture of what I captured both coming and going, the Indio sign on the dash is often a giveaway. Anyway . . .
There was nothing about Las Vegas that was really surprising after having fully explored it before, but that's not to say it wasn't awesome to be there again. That night we had some drinks, went to Beatles Love (purchasing the tickets was the first thing I did to confirm with Dave that we were actually going to Indio) and then had some more drinks as we tried our luck.
Our stop was brief, but memorable, and my night ended with me laying drunk in the bathtub of our room just to use the little TV in the bathroom.
"Do we have our map?", "Yup". "Do we have our money?", "Yup". "Do we have a Chihuahua dog with a party hat coming out a birthday cake sculpture that cost $20?" (groan) "Yup".
Before leaving the next day we explored the Forum Shops, toured our hotel once more, and walked around Caesar's and the Bellagio to get in a bit of last minute gambling. It was fun, it was quick, and then it was on to California.
To skip ahead and VOTE click here.
With the number of times I've submitted, uploaded, and promoted my projects you'd think I'd be comfortable with the film contest/festival process - at least on the independent/DIY level. In truth, I think I've just learned how to reason with myself to appreciate that the challenge has the potential to be a great reward in and of itself.
So here we go again with me asking you to vote for one of my short films.
Last year I uploaded my film school short, The Geology Student to Season 2 of Yobi.tv and in Week 3 of the contest I was voted into the semi-finals. With 40 weeks having gone by there's now 40 weekly winners, including myself, and voting has just begun for the week.
There are 4 rounds of the contest and each week 8 people are eliminated. All you need to do is click this link (or the giant banner above) and use your email address to vote for my short. You only need to cast one for each week.
They've actually simplified the process from last year, improving the page layout to keep you in the right place while trying to vote, so it's easier than ever.
The winner this year, besides getting a portion of the prize money collected, will get a trip and 2 tickets to the Toronto International Film Festival, which would be sweet. It's a pretty amazing prize!
That's about it, I'll keep things simple myself. If you have a couple minutes to spare it's easy to click over to watch my short and vote for me. There's no thumbs up or rating system, a vote cast is simply a vote to win.
Thanks for all of your help and support folks! As always, it means a lot.
Visit my profile page to vote here.
Day Two (08.24.09) On route to Las Vegas from Salt Lake, I-15 briefly cuts through the northwest corner of Arizona before leading into Nevada. While I didn't think much about this when reviewing the map before going, I was amazed at just how significant this stretch of road really was.
This brief section of interstate through Arizona was only about 30 miles long, an unexpected surprise between Utah and Nevada, but pretty much as soon as we hit it, the canyons and cliffs appeared. On the way down, this was actually a brief section of the road trip that I drove. It was incredible.
Dave and I rolled the windows down, the heat radiated through the car immediately, and I cranked up Vega4 on my iPod as we weaved through the towering rocks. It was exactly what you'd expect Arizona to look like, hinting at how spellbinding the Grand Canyon must be, and ultimately lasting no time at all.
I shot this video on our way back through (with Dave driving obviously) and it proved to be one of the most scenic stretches of interstate that we saw on the entire trip. Leaving Arizona and entering Nevada the terrain shifted immediately once again. The canyons stopped and a vast desert appeared before us.
