friends, twins

I texted Annie to tell her she and Appleby dressed the same.



She had a good come back.

Space Shuttle Woody to the Patch

Took the buddies, Adam, Sara, David and Mike, out to the Hillsboro hills for some much needed fall frolicking. The sunny was shinning, the caramel corn aplenty and the city kids ready for some field wandering. Great day overal. Big, big props to Space Shuttle Woody for getting all six of us out there safely and well entertained by your luscious rumble seats.

See more pumpkin wonder on the Flickr tubes.

In the States of America - Friends and Stripes

We all found each other dressed the same on 4th of July. We never really hang out. Just hang out. So this seemed like 100% magic.

productive, creative friends are the best - FRASERHEAD!

I have many friends that are productive and creative*. It's really amazing and one of the reasons I love my friends so darn much. (* see Sirocco Research Labs, Canary Sing, Samstag... the list goes on and on)


Welcome to the line-up of cool, creative kids pretending to be adult-like and getting mucho legit: Fraserhead! The lovely Lara Schmidt is doing her thing -- crafts, inspiration, art, design, making things and even a Fraserhead Etsy account! I mean, really!? When did you get so cool, Lara? I'm beaming with pride.

Need more proof of Lara's swagger? Take a look at her recent Etsy post -- gorgeous handmade bag, made from vintage fabric. Lovely design and she makes a great model.

The crafty power is strong in this one.

a cause worth fighting for

On the set of Red Moon many emotions surfaced, but none quite as potent as Doug Sacrison's (Red Moon's writer and comrade Federov) deep love of McDonald's McRib.

Doug wishing he had a McRib.

To our excitement, we awoke last Saturday to find that Doug had taken his McRib love to a whole new level of brilliance. Published in the Bellingham Herald, Doug's conquests at the Bellingham Tea Party Protest:

While others took a more serious tone with their signs, Doug Sacrison, 26, used the protest to take up his cause against McDonald's restaurants. "It's a cause I believe in," he said, during the Bellingham Tea Party's second annual Tax Day protest event Thursday April 15, 2010 along Meridian Street in Bellingham.–ANDY BRONSON|THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Doug, you are the best.

Canary Sing Music Video - Freak Show

Spread the word, mark it down, take note: Canary Sing is one of the hottest female hip hop groups you well ever know in your life. Ever.

Perhaps I'm bias because I adore the ladies of Canary Sing, good buddies Maddy and Hollis, but seriously they are fantastic. New tracks up on their MySpace. AND a fabulous new music video out for their song Freak Show. Directed by Wes Goodlife of the Kiss Kiss Goodnight production studio. Take a look:




I'm thinking my different groups of awesomely creative friends need to merge in the near future. Sirocco Research Labs / Canary Sing mashup?! The next CS music video featuring some handcrafted, dreamy aesthetic? !! Just sayin' ...

LA in review

 

 

Let me just say, I was skeptical. Not so sure how I felt about our dear, lovable, creative Jimmy moving to such a smoggy, mall-tastic city. But let me tell YOU. LA WAS MAGICAL!

My god. Our one week in LA was by far one of the best trips I have ever been on. Maybe it had nothing to do with LA? Maybe it had everything to do with matching pink tank tops, productivity, adventures, producer necklaces and movie making madness?

Nested away in the wonders of the Warehouse District was the Hang Zone, Jimmy's killer loft that is now home to all the Sirocco Research Lab film productions. It smelled like movie magic (and tuna, sometimes). There was not a night the whole entire week that was not spent making sets/costumes/sketches/laughter or all of the above. And to boot, we stayed up late most nights sipping wine and watching YouTube episodes of Are You Afraid of The Dark. And to double boot, we made the most wonderful new friends, Adie and Martin, who we've deviously pulled into our circle of movie making love. Really, it was one long week of taking full advantage of our young adulthood -- no bed time, access to power tools and Funfetti cake for dinner. BOOM!

We are going back. Not indefinitely, but certainly wholeheartedly. New movie in the works. Cleo in the Universe will soon be fin and then it's on to the next. Which is great, because Jimmy has ingrained in us such a heightened level of creativity these days I think I need another movie to work or I. Just. Might. Burst.



*Photos courtesy of Mr. SellonB / more here      

space and love

I took a break from internship happenings for a project of a different sort.

This past weekend I spent nearly three days 'round the clock producing Jimmy Marble's latest short film, Cleo in the Universe.The experience (my first on a working set) was surreal, rewarding, exhausting, intensely filled with good friends and, did I mention, exhausting?

The film, I am sure, is going to be gorgeous. We filmed the whole piece in Super 8. Mind you, the film is set in space. Cleo in the Universe will be the most dreamy, soft rendition of space exploration you've ever seen. This I can guarantee.

I played Cleo, the captain of the SS Sweatheart who toils with the juxtaposition of finite love in an infinite universe. I wore a blue spacesuit, took advice from Karl, the onboard computer system, co-stared with the muppet known as Lt. Baby Baby and dreamt about a girl named Duke Jupiter.


Note worthy details from the weekend:

CLEO LEAK from Benjamin Bearclaw on Vimeo.

The warehouse we commandeered.




A picture from one of the many Twitter reports from production.

Big thank you to Jimmy for letting us all be a part of his amazing art. I am very inspired by your unbridled, absurd creative expectations and want to make shit with you for a long, long time. Good luck with post-production!

More to come on the Cleo in the Universe premier. Until then, think really hard about space and love. It'll be good for your imagination.

a secret place that i know

Today is a good day. A really good day.

My parents and Ben dropped me off at Annie's house on Capitol Hill after our weekend in Bothell. I'll just be in town for a few days to take care of some things on campus and, you know what they say, 'kick it.'

My return to Seattle is barely at the 3 hour mark and I'm already elated and on the verge of stupid-giddy. I've been to Stumptown, I've gotten hugs from Chris, Borges and Laurie Om and now I'm sitting at Vita with Annie and Mike having a laptop party. Two coffee shops and a handful of really good friends feels like the opposite of a slap in the face. Whatever that is.

And, just in case you were wondering, the fog is so thick on the Hill right now I can't even see across the street. It's magic.

BIG project

For those of you who don't know, I'm going to India in 39 days.

Yes, I'm counting.

I like to think of myself as a project-addict. This trip, however, is slightly bigger than my average project and is most certainly consuming my thoughts, time and emotional energy these days. The major purpose of my trip is to go and volunteer in Calcutta with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. Seattle University has been supporting students who wish to go volunteer with the MC's for over 23 years through their Calcutta Club. Many of my fellow Sullivan Scholars have made the trip. Volunteers work in one of the MC homes in Calcutta and have the option to choose a site preference. I haven't decided yet what type of work I want to do with the MC's. It'll likely be hospice type care in the elderly women's home, Perm Dan, or childcare center work in Shishu Bhavan, home to children with mental disabilities. I doubt I'll decide which volunteer site I want to be at until I'm actually there for orientation. It's not really a hard decision. I know any choice would be equally rewarding and overwhelming. Right now I'm leaning towards Shishu Bhavan primarily because I know how happy I am when I work with children. And in a place as exceedingly challenging as Calcutta I'm going to need laughing little kiddos to get me through the day. If my volunteer work a few months ago in Belize at the Dorthy Menzie Childcare Center is any indication, I'll be in love with the children within days of arriving and angry at myself when I leave them.

I will be leaving the states on September 21st to fly to Bangkok, Thailand. From there I will be meeting up with two other Calcutta Club members, Joe and Traci (frequent characters in my upcoming blog stories, for sure). We hope to spend a week or so exploring and acclimating in Bangkok. From there we will fly together to Calcutta. I hope to make time to make short trips to Darjeeling and Agra (at least). The last month of my trip will be spent (hopefully...this is all tentative) heading north to Nepal to do a two week trek in Nepal to Base Camp at Mt. Everest. Whoa. From there I will part ways with my traveling buddies to head over to Dehra Dun to visit the Ashram that my boyfriend, Ben spent time in with our good friend Chad who was volunteering there for a year. And then it's homeward bound... But, not before an awesomely long layover in South Korea. I'll be in Seoul for 12 hours. Just enough time to see a few markets or temples and eat some fish head soup, according to this dude's blog.

If my itinerary sounds ambitious, blame my damn worldly friends.

It's funny how many of my friends have traveled to India. Perhaps there's a bit of romanticism fueling this whole shebang... I've been hearing stories of backpacking in India since I was in 5th grade in Marcelle's class at Mooberry Elementary School. So, Mom and Dad, if you still feel some anxiety about me going abroad, blame Marcelle. She planted the travel seed. Living in Seattle and going to travel-happy-SU only further perpetuated my craving for India-ness. A whole slew of my friends have made the trek. Let me show you:

Sarah in Calcutta working at Perm Dan.

Zach in Calcutta, being a dork.

Brig with the Sisters in Calcutta.

John and Sophie at the Guest House I'll be living in. FYI: Sophie is a bad ass and shaved her head in Calcutta. Big inspiration for my chopping-off-of-hair incident.

Megan (middle) in Darjeeling. She's not normally purple. This photo was taken during Holi festival.

Maddy, Maddy, Maddy looking adorable with her henna on a train in India.

Last, and hairest, Ben and Chad singing with the kids in the Ashram.

Thank you, numerous friends who have traveled to India, thank you for making me excited to leave and thank you for not laughing at my stupid questions about travel underwear and thank you for giving me tips on where to eat and what to see and how to avoid the double dragon. Thank you.

p is for perfect

and pancake.

one of my favorite people in the whole world, miss annie murphy, is best described as a perfect pancake. precisely constructed when you least expect it. (please refer to diagram for further detail)