ELI WALLACH + DARREN HANLON

I'm still not sure how it happened, but I spent most of yesterday with two of my idols: Hollywood legend Eli Wallach and Australian Singer/Songwriter Darren Hanlon.



It was a very good day.

Thanks, Buddy

For Christmas, my friend John "Buddy" Martin gave me the new Rolling Stone "Cover to Cover" CD-Rom database. It's exactly what it sounds like: 40 years of the magazine, digitized, complete with ads.

Watching the Kids Grow Up

Feeling pressured by our parents, Brenda and I recently decided to bring a little bundle of joy into this dismal existance. His name is Little Rocker Jr., and he's our miracle.


He was born, extremely premature, on Christmas Day. Weighing only 1.2 ounces upon arrival, he has now grown a staggering 600%, just as the packaging promised. As you can see, he has his parents' ghastly white complexion. He is musically gifted, though we make him practice his guitar in the confines of a 2-liter soda bottle, so as not to upset the neighbors. He's got his mother's eyebrows, but his father gave him those striking baby blues. We love our Little Rocker Jr.

New York City, January 2009

We've been back in the city since January 1st. Since then, as I alluded to in my last post, I've been applying for a lot of jobs. Other than that, Bren and I have been trying to watch all the movies we gave each other for Christmas. Probably the coolest thing we've done since then, though, was find a sweet pink plastic Christmas tree for $5 at the local Duane Reade. It helps give our apartment some much-needed kitsch.

 

Provo, Utah, December 2008

On December 1st I returned to my old haunts in the Beehive State. Brenda and I had plans, of course, to come home for the holidays, but I figured I'd return a couple weeks early to 'make some sweet moolah.' 

A little introduction...

Every December since I returned from my mission, I've worked with my good friends Nate and Clay at Nate's dad's yearly Christmas tree lot. It's really not a bad gig: there is a bit of heavy lifting and cold weather involved, but there is also a lot of time to sip hot cocoa in the comforts of a heated booth. Being the seasoned tree salesman that I am, I decided to give it one more go this year, seeing as how my CV has yet to swell since our move to NYC. And to be honest, I had a blast doing it. I was working outside in the fresh, Christmas-tree-scented air, listening to Yuletide ditties, and getting into the holiday spirit. 

But it wasn't without a little trepidation that I once again took up peddling Tannenbaums. I am, after all, living in Manhattan with my wife, trying to nudge my way into the realm of professional photography. Going back to Provo for a month was a sidestep in whatever career I'm trying to form, but I'm grateful for it because of: 

a) the money, and

b) the distance it gave me between me and my goals. 

In the midst of my new pine friends, I became motivated to get things done in NY. I want to work more with Seth, even if it's on a volunteer basis. I want to work with Hadleigh to develop our ideas, to write screenplays, and to shoot them. I've been applying for jobs like mad, both in and outside of New York. In short, I just want to leave the house more.