I’ve recently become aware of the fact that I’ve let “things” go. Now, really I think I could say that truthfully about a lot of areas of my life. Sure, I’ve not been the best at helping my wife out with the dishes, doing laundry, or sorting through junk mail. Some might say that I’ve even “let myself go” a bit lately (that’s another post for another time.) But I think that the reality of my situation is that even professionally, it’s been a while since I’ve really taken inventory, got rid of some junk, and really focused on what it is that I want to be “when I grow up.”

It hit me the other day, when I was updating my LinkedIn profile after a recent job change, that I couldn’t decide what to put for profile headline, and don’t get me started on my bio. I’ve always prided myself on being good or at least proficient at many different and often unrelated things, but as I’m learning it’s pretty exhausting. To be frank, I think my days as a “Professional Interactive Designer and Amateur, musicologist, illustrator, sound engineer, camera operator, video editor, director, baseball historian, and all-around know-it-all” are likely numbered.

Too many extracurricular activities, Max. Not enough studying.

Sometimes I feel like Dr. Guggenheim would have those words for me as he did for young Max Fischer. I suppose the good thing in all of this is that I’ve decided what I’m going to do, at least until it’s made obvious that I suck at it or it’s no longer fulfilling, which ever comes first. But I’m no quitter, so I feel pretty good about my path down the UX road. And I’m alright becoming merely an enthusiast in my other interests, an avid enthusiast. I don’t do anything half-way.

So, I decided to take advantage of the early upgrade that AT&T so graciously offered me. I was an early adopter of the iPhone, and have been relatively pleased with the device. My biggest complaint being issues with AT&T’s service. This became evident as soon as we moved into our curent rental and discovered that we now lived in an AT&T dead spot. Amid rumors of a possible Verizion iPhone this winter, I considered waiting for that and jumping ship. Then I realized that I still had another year on my current AT&T contract, so to move I would have to pay an early termination fee. Lose, lose…sort of.

Call me impatient, and I was a bit unsure about making this upgrade; “Antennagate” and all, but I was intrigued by the new features. Today I purchased a 16GB iPhone 4, my third iPhone (6th if you count the Apple Care claims that I’ve had). I have to admit I’m pretty pleased. HD video is great, the Retina Display is as advertised Spectacular. Any concerns I had about antenna issues were eased by the reassuring words of the sales person I overheard while I “dropping eaves” in line at the Apple Store:

“It’s just media hype! I can prove it!”

Eight hours in I can say I’m pretty pleased. I still haven’t gotten a chance to FaceTime with anyone, so please fellow iPhone 4 users give me a call, I want to make sure it’s not just “media hype”.

As long as I can remember I have loved movies and film. Really, all aspects of cinema from making it, to experiencing it. Recently I’ve found myself leaning heavily on the later. I’ve become purely a consumer of this media, and wondering how I’ve lost my way. I’ve alluded to this problem before, that I can easily excuse myself from these types of projects because of my lack of pro-grade video equipment. Boo.

The dream: is to have a couple prosumer HD cameras, portable audio recorders, MacPro with 8 gigs for ram, and a crew of at least 3 other people. The reality: is I have a Flip Mino HD, an audio recorder , an almost 4 year-old MacBook Pro, and the occasional help from my wife. Clearly, not the same thing, but I see hope out there. I’ve discovered as-of-late just how many people are doing amazing things using a pretty minimal equipment set-up. (I know, I know, “it’s not the equipment that makes the film maker but the talent”), but it’s easy to forget sometimes.

I seem to have fallen in to an all-to-common trap of giving up or making excuses because it’s the path of least resistance. “But my Flip Mino only shoots 720 x 480!” (I say, while adjusting my imaginary glasses that have just slipped down my nose). I think it was me that once said, “I want to live my life as a reality show.” Maybe it’s not quite on mark with all this, but there’s something to that. I mean I turned my marriage proposal to my wife into a film, and I think that may have been the last really film project that I did. This whole post feels a bit like a Catholic confession.

“It’s been almost a year since my last production.”

Okay, well here’s to belated New Year’s resolutions. This year, I’m going to become a producer of media not just a consumer. Someone want to hold me accountable on this one?

Thinking about it; in this economy and really any other economy the constant problem of most creatives is finding enough money to do what it is that we really love to do. I have for a long time now had a passion for making films, and do so when ever I can mooch one off of a friend for a day or two. For quite some time now I’ve been meaning to get to a point where I could drop a few thousand on a new HD camera , putting off creative hopes and dreams until the day I have one. But in this economy…

Anyway, I stumbled on this video by director and film maker Matt Wolf, who’s work I really love and respect. It’s called ‘Boca’ and features a great song by Mr. Owen Pallet Final Fantasy and The Arcade Fire. He shot the entire thing on a camera phone! The Nokia N95 (insert Flight of the Concords joke here). I found it quite amazing, inspiring and as a really kick in the ass. Something that I used to to do a lot but have gotten away from that I’m a bona fide “creative professional” is to find new and creative ways to find solutions for the projects that I want to do. I rember gurry-rigging a small, live PA mixer with a couple of cheap pre-amps and recording the first Streets of Simon Lee EP, and being really proud of ourselves for figuring it out. Or the time that in the early days of Kite Flying Society (Now El Salvador Pictures/ Benberry Media) Shooting our first production “The Run“(circa 2001) on my dad’s old VHS camcorder and somehow figuring out how to get it into the computer to edit it.

Well, the point is, that “In This Economy” I’ve decided that I’m going to come up with more new ways to do the projects that I want to do. “Creativity is born out nothing” or something like that I think I just misquoted someone important.

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