Silver Bells

Last night gave New York it's first snowfall of the season. Coincident-I-think-not-aly, this meditation appeared in the bulletin at church this morning:

I saw God wash the world last night.
Ah, would he had washed me
As clean of all my dust and dirt
As that old white birch tree.
-William Leroy Stidger


Well, I didn't see any old white birch trees today, but I did see a lot of snow, and a lot of happy kids ducking behind parked cars for cover before taking aim again. I also saw a something in the subway...

I was waiting on the platform for the F train, as usual. I looked up when I heard the train coming, but it looked different. My heart sank for a moment, because I assumed it was a maintenance train, which would mean the whole line could be slowed down. But as it got closer, I noticed red lights, red bows, and a wreath! And the train it-self was unlike any I had seen before: dark green glossy metal, with rivets and old exposed lightbulbs. I thought it was the Polar Express or something! I half-expected to hear steam venting as it stopped.

Apparently, the MTA decided to spruce-up one of their old subway trains, and spread some holiday cheer. It was great. Everyone on board was smirking a little, like they were afraid to show everyone how enchanted they really were. It had all the old advertisements inside, and PADDED seats!!! (They don't make 'em like they used to). Here's a picture. It looks crappy because I took it with my phone, but it's something to prove I didn't dream it.

I couldn't seem to find any info about the train, but I did find out that they have a big model train setup in Grand Central Terminal for the holidays. It runs through a miniature NY. If anyone is going to be in New York over the next month or so, you should check it out. This guy took a couple pictures of it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2063383264/in/set-72157594193116951/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanks day, guys! Are either of ya'll up for the weekend?

Green Screens, Mean Teens, & Lean Means

Howdy,

Thanks Dave. I'm glad you liked it. It was quite possibly the most fun I've had making something since high-school. When we were getting ready to shoot, I started thinking, "why do I do this? Isn't this supposed to be fun? Why am I willingly going to edit like a crazy-man for something that probably will not benefit me or Renée in any way." But once we started shooting, it was so refreshingly creative (without being bogged down with needing to be "good" or "meaningful").

It was written and storyboarded a couple days before Halloween, shot on the Thursday and Monday after, and it was done by Friday. We shot almost entirely on green-screen, or in and just outside our apartment. I started editing in-between shoot days which helped make it more manageable, but there were definitely some all-nighter's pulled. The last day was mostly spent making the music, which was probably my favorite part. Here's some random screen-shots which show how we did a scene with all three actors even though we never had them all together at the same time.

The main point of all of this is not really the movie, but how awesome and patient Renée is. Not only was she patient with all of my crazy hours on this project, but she was really encouraging about it.

Actually, I don't devote enough space in these blogs to Renée, which leads me to "mean teens." Renée teaches music to 6-8th graders at a school here in Brooklyn. It's a relatively good school for these parts, but there's a lot of pressure, and it's resulting in anxiety. We thought that a lot of the problems would get better once the kids got used to her, but it's now November and while many classes have improved, a few seem to have actually gotten worse. We're hoping that a few report cards, and the holiday concert can still help. The older students give her an especially hard time, because she's not the teacher they had last year, whom they apparently loved. That teacher had to leave to go to grad-school, because you have to get a masters in order to keep your teaching certificate; which leads me to "lean means."

It's not really the best title, but it rhymed. Renée has started looking at grad-school, and we think she's found a good option. It would allow her to do most of the course work from home, and it offers the degree she wants. Unfortunately at this point, she's going to have to take courses while teaching, which isn't helping the whole anxiety thing we were talking about earlier. And paying for it will be a strain, but I think with God's help, we can make our lean means mean green.

okay... I really need to stop.

Hey Adam

Nice work on that movie! Did you say you only shot it last week? So all that post-production only took you a few days? Crazy. Anyway, I'm showing it to all my friends. When do you expect to hear from Sundance again?

BTW, I will be working full time with Soldier Design starting January. I'm pretty excited about that. If you want to see my latest website, its at maveriklacrosse.com.

Ian, hope you are doing well. maybe we can skype sometime soon.

Question and Answer Time

Q: What the heck?
A: I know. . .
Q: [silence]
A: I know! Ok, I know. I haven't written in like, forever. There's no excuse.
Q: [silence]
A: Well, fine. Since you're being like that, I might as well list my excuses. I was busy, painfully busy; website to develop, school work to attend to, kids kids kids.
Q: Oh, and everyone else was sitting on their hands?
A: No. Like I said, I have no excuse.
Q: But you just gave me excuses. Three of them.
A: No, I was just filling an awkward space.
Q: Is that your form of thinking?
A: No. Are you always this rude?
Q: I'm the one asking questions here.
A: That doesn't sound like a question to me.
Q: On a scale to one to ten, how annoying are you?
A: Can we move on?
Q: Fine. Let's move on (the answer, by the way, was seven). Besides those boring activities you so painfully listed earlier, what else have you been up to in the last two months?
A: I went out to Michigan, to Grand Rapids to attend Sarah's family reunion.
Q: By airplane or boat or train?
A: We drove.
Q: You drove? With two kids? That must have taken forever.
A: We left at 11 pm and arrived around 5:30 the next day.
Q: Why was Sarah's family having a family reunion in MI?
A: Because it was a reunion of her great-grandfather's family. The great grandfather is no longer alive, nor are most of the next generation, but there are a few hundred Vogelzangs from there on down.
Q: Quite a productive lot, et?
A: Indeed.
Q: What sorts of activities did this reunion include? Any square dances?
A: Eating, presentations of various kinds, a pig roast, outdoor games, a church service.
Q: Did you ever see that Simpsons where Lisa becomes a vegetarian, and Homer asks...
A: ...yes; I know, "some kind of magical animal..." Yes. That was funny.
Q: You just cut off my question.
A: Yep.
Q: So, then you drove right back?
A: No, we stopped in new Detroit to visit some old college friends, then we stopped in Niagara Falls for a day, then we drove the rest of the way back.
Q: Did you see anyone jump into the falls.
A: Yes.
Q: Really?
A: No.
Q: Did you stay at the Embassy Suites on a great deal, at room 1003?
A: How did you know that?
Q: I was in the next hotel over.
A: That's a little spooky right there.
Q: What are you up to now?
A: Trying not to drown in school work; oh, and waiting to find out if we're going to be home owners by means of a lottery.
Q: What?
A: Yeah, there's a low-income housing lottery going on that we've applied for, and if we get drawn, we'll be able to take steps toward owning a new townhouse just down the way!
Q: But how will you get financing for such a venture, you don't even have a real job.
A: Details, details. . .
Q: You're kind of a la-la land kind of guy.
A: I'm one who is patiently optimistic about a number of things. If this doesn't work out, we will find some means of having a roof over our heads. If that doesn't work out, there's always the parents. If that doesn't work out, I will still be in the uncomfortable reality that this world is not my home, just in a more profoundly obvious way. But I do have an eternal home.
Q: What?
A: Thought so.
Q: What?
A: Just didn't think you'd understand.
Q: Who says I don't?
A: Well, just the nature of your questions, your tone...
Q: What if I don't like my tone?
A: That's not the point, is it?
Q: We'll we're the same person, you know.
A: I know.
Q: So who does that make you?
A: I don't like answering that when I'm talking to you.
Q: When do you like answering it?
A: When I'm looking at the one in whom I have hope
Q: Oh, him
A: Yes; and that is why you must go.
Q: But I'm not done talking! Or asking questions!
A: You never are. Sorry.
Q: You can't just turn me off!
A: No, but I can try and kill you
Q: You are a crazy man
A: I know
Q: You would be killing yourself
A: I know, who knows where you end and I begin. That's the problem isn't it?
Q: Yes. And where I end you you begin...
Random Guy: Or where I end and you both begin.
A: No, that's a little easier to distinguish.
Q: So where does that leave us?
A: Someone has to die, I think. . .
Q: And you've decided that someone is me?
A: Well, as we've just noted, it's a bit more complicated than that.
Q: I don't want to die
A: I think that inasmuch as that is the case, you have to.
Q: Ok, I want to die.
A: Nice try.
Q: I think we're being read, you know.
A: I know, I've been thinking about that too.
Q: I wonder what they're thinking about this--
A: You would be.
Q: And you're not.
A: Your right, I am. I just don't want to be ...
Q: Right, right, you just assign it all to me.
A: This is wierd, kinda awkward
Q: When, how will it end?
A: Death.
Q: No, I mean this conversation, this strange entry, this attempt to say how things are going through a literary device that has gone off the tracks of normalcy
A: Oh, well I could just press the publish post button
Q: But what about resolution, what about the formula! We have to come to some sort of a resolution, you can't just... no ... you wouldn't! It wouldn't be fitting, it wouldn't be beautiful, it

Just saying hi....

Hi!

Adam, I'm glad you didn't all die on the roads, or freeze. Hope it was fun, any new movie ideas this year?

Dave, what's hap'nin'? you still alive?

As for me.......my life's pretty boring right now. It's plodding on as normal. The two most exciting things that happened recently are as follows:

1: I was able to capture in a single photo my two daughters both smiling, both looking in the general direction of the camera, in focus, not over/under exposed, and doing something very 'cute'. Yes, this picture is completely untouched! These are the the things that excite these days. Just before this was shot both girls were licking the metal bars they are holding.

2: I was able to get out for an afternoon to go disc golfing at the local course and I beat my personal best by one point! Woo-hoo! A 77 on a 14 hole course. . . it's a hard course. It was fun because I didn't loose any discs.

Oh yeah, one more thing... April and I (and kids?) are going to Africa sometime next year. At least that's the plan. Our friend Jeremy Lang and his fam (http://nowjdrl.blogspot.com/) are over in Nairobi, Kenya working with Wycliffe Bible Translators and we (us and some friends) are hoping to visit him late next year.

Opinion time: Should we...

a) Both go and take both the girls with us for 10 days

b) Both go and leave the girls with some gracious soul for 10 days

c) Just me and Allison go and leave April and Sammie home

d) Take a nice family photo, all sign it on the back "watch where you step around the Elephant herd", and send it to them.

Seriously, we don't know what to do because there are pros and cons to all options. One thing that is nice is that airfare will probably not be a deciding factor due to an anonymous financial offer.

So that's us for now, Peace, g'nite.

SABBIKICAL 2K7

If you read my first post "Lost Blog," you'll know what a Sabbikical is. If not, here's the gist - bicycles, escaping the city, camping, tilting at windmills. For some reason, on the first Sabbikical we started saying "Sabbikical Abides" in hopes that it would force us to create some sort of annual tradition out of it. Well, we did it again in 2006, and we just got back from SABBIKICAL 2K7!

We've grown in numbers; Brendan joined Dan and I this year. Last year's Sabbikical was flat and boring, so this time I decided to use Google Earth to plan a route. The problem is, what looks like "interesting terrain" turns out to actually be "misery on wheels". At one point, I appologized for the route being a little hilly, and Brendan said, "Hilly?! This is a mountain! This is not a Hill!!" He then pointed to the ski-resort sign. In fact, we almost could have gone skiing, the overnight low where we set up camp Saturday night was 33 degrees.

Needless to say, between the hills, the cold, the lack of sleep, and one muscle injury we did not make it to our destination. We were rescued by a friend on Sunday afternoon. But it was not a loss. We still had many adventures, spent some time with America, and learned once again how blessed and easy our day-to-day lives are. Sabbikical abides!

?

Hey........














Howsgoing?

Family Web Site

Hello Everyone!

This is just inform you that I've begun work on a very limited Family Website, basically an on-line photo album. You can see it at http://mysite.verizon.net/vzevt8xi/thebrownefamilywebsite/index.html

The web space came with our Verizon DSL connection so I though I'd see what I could do with it. It uses a very limited WYSIWYG program, but it get's the job done. Take a look, but remember it's still under construction, we hope to post a lot more photos later.

Here's (hopefully) a preview of the fun you'll find on the new webpage! ...

Dangeresque

Howdy,
So I promised a picture at the end of my last blog, but it took me a few days to locate my camera. Here's some pictures from when the Brownes visited the Other Brownes. It was a short-but-sweet visit. On Labor Day we went to Prospect Park and had a picnic (after a 40 minute search for a parking spot-- ah, Jolly Ol' Brooklyn!). I did actually take pictures of Samantha too, but they look exactly like the one Ian took, so they're not worth posting.

To Allie, we are "Unk Abin" and "Aunh Nay". I can't always understand what she's saying, but just before I took these pictures I think she said something about being Tom Cruise's stunt double for Mission: Impossible 2. She just scaled up this 8 ft wall (20, in little person feet) like it was nothing. No help. No ropes. No fear. Then she posed near the top for a picture. She knew not to smile too much... it breaks the dangeresque mystique.

Lost Blog...

While this isn't technically my first blogging experience, if I post here one more time, I will beat my personal best. My old roommates, Daniel Nayeri, Brendan Choisnet, and I started a blog about two years ago. We each submitted one really great entry. And then we never touched it again. The whole idea was to start an internet presence for a film we were developing called "SUBWAY". It was going to be our first feature film. Dan and I took a week-long bike trip through Vermont, where we developed a lot of the ideas for the movie. The blog was basically just funny stories from that trip: SABBIKICAL 2K5.

I was going to post a link that that blog here, but after 10 minutes of searching, I can even find my own blog. No idea what my old username was, or password, and it doesn't appear on any search engines.

But no worries, we sort of gave up on the whole "SUBWAY" thing when we figured out it would cost 5-10 million dollars to produce. That's where SABBIKICAL 2K6 came in. The following year, we repeated the biking extravaganza with a trip across long island. Only this time we were developing a screenplay called "The Cult of Sincerity."

As you might imagine, it's not easy to brainstorm and bike all day. Well, it's easy to brainstorm, it's just difficult to get the storm out of your mouth while you're gasping for air! But thanks to a flat-tire, we had a very long walk to the nearest bike shop, and a lot of time to dream about making a movie. Only this time, we actually did!

I'm not making this up. The Browne's can attest to it. They've seen it! It really exists! It's all about one hipster's quixotic quest to come up with something not-ironic to put on a T-shirt (hence it not costing 5-10 million, T-shirts are cheaper than subway cars).

But for lack of a better way to end this post. Here's a picture of... oh crud. [sigh]. I was going to upload a picture here, but I can't seem to find my camera. Lost blogs! Lost cameras! I'm a mess!

Film at 11 . . .

"Film at 11" as far as I know basically means "there's more to the story that will come later" or in the case of my most recent comment it means "my brain too feels like meatloaf but i have to write something but can't spend the time to do it now".

Still interested? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_at_eleven

Okay, in my last post i was not looking forward to the first air trip we were going to take with our girls. As usual my expectations were completely dashed to bits, which in this case was a good thing. The girls were little angels as usual. Samantha cried for about fifteen minutes in the plane then promptly went to sleep for most of the trip. Allison had fun looking out the window and then falling asleep fifteen minutes before we landed. A few minor (and usual) headaches, but overall very good. Thanks for your prayers.

We were flying to Chicago to visit April's sister and her family. We had a good time while there. It was good for Allison to see her four cousins for another time and on their own turf. They have a nice house with a yard and a swingset. Friday night we went to a local park that had a nice play ground. To the left, you can see Sammie enjoying herself in a swing at that park. I think this might have been her first "big" swing. She apparently loved it.


Saturday morning seemed like the only time we were going to get to go into the city. So we took the chance and the train and the sidewalk to go to Millennium Park which is by the Art Institute of Chicago. At the entrance to the park they have this very large, strange art fountain thing (see right). This fountain was a very large area of what looked like black granite with these two towers on either end comprised of glass blocks. Water flowed over the top of these towers on all four sides until, at an unannounced time, the water on the sides facing each other would stop and the video image of a face would appear filling up the entire side of this 50' tower. These faces just sat there with these creepy grins on their lips. It looked like while they were videoing these faces someone was behind the camera telling jokes but the model knew they couldn't laugh, so they ended up with these tight-lipped smiles. They'd smile at each other for about 5 minutes then close their eyes, pucker their lips and proceed to "spit" on any pour soul who, by mistake or on purpose, is standing under them. Very weird, kinda creepy, but neat to see.

Another thing at the park was what the kids called "the bean". This was really cool. It was as if the artist had been a fan of "Flight of the Navigator" as a kid and wanted to try and reconstruct the space ship from the movie but ended up with a legume instead of an intergalactic transportation device. Oh well, better luck next time. This thing was perfectly smooth with no visible seams. Besides the hand print of many a tourist touching it and the poop prints of many a sea gull pooping on it, it was beautifully reflective. When you walked underneath and looked up it was like looking into a reflective whirlpool, very neat.

So Saturday afternoon it started raining and didn't stop really until we left on Tuesday. I helped my brother in law keep his house from falling apart with a few handyman skills, and April had a good time helping her sister with a quilt. All in all it was a good trip. At ERW in NJ it was pouring when we deplaned and our gate-checked stroller and car seat were soaked, and we had a 2-hour drive ahead of us. We complained, but why bother, people either blame shift, say there was nothing they could do, or ignore you all together. Oh well, we're alive.

That's about the end of my book, where are The Other Brownes? Too busy filming I guess, hope you get your movie done on time!

Quick Dave Update #2

Sarah and I are up in Vermont for a few weeks, here. Back in Steeplebush for the first time in two years or so. Feels like old times: traveling up and down the route between our house and the Vogelzang's house about fifteen times a day. It's funny how places can mess with your mind; at times I feel 27, the father of two children (not too hard to forget these days!), etc. Then, I'll be standing in my old bedroom, opening the closet or something, and bam--I might as well be twelve or seventeen in that moment. Also makes you think of all the changes that have come (or come and gone) since I was last living in this place. The jobs I've had, the schools I've attended, the marriage, the kids, the dog. No, wait, scratch the dog. Just got carried away with the momentum of it all, you know?

I see from the "contributers" section that this is (theoretically) being read by "The Other Brownes". Hi Adam! Hi Renee! Hope you two are doing well!

I have more to say, but my brain feels miles away from my eyes, and its seeming to move in an erraticly sized and paced counter-clockwise orbit back there in la la land. Or is it my eyes, moving in a clockwise orbit up here in al al land? Have I gone completely nuts? Most likely. It's just what seems to be happening. Seriously though; that's how it feels. And it feels like my brain is a piece of meatloaf to boot. I'm really tired, and I should go to bed (manifestly so, yes?).

Preparing to travel....with kids.

At the end of this week April and I are going to be ripping our two young daughters out of their cozy beds at about 3:30 AM and shuffling them off to Buffalo. Actually to Newark, NJ where we will wait in a line that shouldn't be moving so slowly to get a ticket to wait in another line before the nice young men with the wands make you strip down to your gutchies and laugh at you because they can stay fully clothed. Then we do some more waiting until it's our turn to board a plane where - you guessed it - we wait some more! This is the best waiting time because you never know how long it's REALLY going to be. You could wait there for minutes, or maybe hours...who knows. This is a great time to get to know your seat neighbor before he clubs you with his complimentary pillow (which the stewardess was so kind to give him to sleep while we waited).

Kids aren't great at waiting. Anyone who knows kids knows this. My kids are probably some of the more blessed with patience, but they too have their breaking points. You know it's hit Allison when every little thing makes her cry. She'll bump her elbow on a pillow, "Ahhh... AHhhhh.... WAHHHHHHHHH!"

"What's wrong?" April or I will ask.
"I (sob) bonked (sob) my elbow! (SOBBBB)", she'll reply.
"Oh! let me see!" we'll comfort, "All better!"

At this point we get a look from her that says, "I'm not really hurt, but I'm still grumpy and I'm gonna let you know it". Then her cry will change to a sound I can only relate to the engine a 1988 Volvo station wagon trying to start on a -25 degree Vermont morning, "ahug . . .augh. . .augh. . . "etc.

"Allie, stop crying. you're fine." this, along with some sort of distraction will usually do the trick.

So all this is to say . . . please pray for me and my family as we fly from NJ to Chicago and Back again in five days. Pray for Patience all around, and for protection to boot. thanks.

Quick Dave Update #1

Things have really picked up here the last few days. Yesterday, I was thinking about my old employer in Wheaton, J. David Schmidt and Associates. They are a go-to small company that helps big Christian non-profits do plan for big projects/changes as well as for getting heavy lifting things done. Anyway, I was thinking to myself, "I wonder if I'll ever hear from or get more work from them again". See, half a year ago, they called me out of the blue, and had a bunch of writing for me to do. Which was cool. Well, crazy thing is, they did call me yesterday, after I had that thought, and had a bunch of editing and writing for me to do. So that's that. An interesting story about thinking about things that are about to happen. I'm never sure what to make of it, since it happens on a somewhat regular but random basis. I think it's one way the Lord accents for me that everything I have is a pure gift from him. When he alerts me to something like this (a job opportunity, an old friendship brought to life, etc.) before it happens, it is as if he's reminding me that I have nothing to do with the orchestrations that bring me provision and joy. He is God, I am not. He gives, I serve and share. He is life, I am living. These are good things to remember.

Hey, so have you done anything about that idea of bringing worship to the home-bound members of your congregation? Don't give up on that; it's a good idea.

Anyway, mostly just wanted to say hi and give this blog more momentum!

Hey, this is the first time I've published a Blog, it's a new experience. I'm trying to get my picture here.....



....Sweet! You were right Dave, this HTML Code stuff is pretty interesting... much like that roundabout you posted... very confusing to an out-of-town'er, but if you drive it every day, it's at least navigable. (is that evn a word?)

i'm gonna go hit the AC, i'm dripping on my keyboard.

The beautiful bisected round-about

Thought I'd find that beautiful illustration of MA DOT insanity for ya. Oh, and the business at about 10:30 isn't just any business; it's a small car dealership. You can find this by starting at Lynn, MA and following 1A down until it comes quite close to 60.