July 17, 2010
Where some of the music is hiding
And where inspiration is sometimes found.
Okay, I admit it: I had a lot of open time this week to accomplish a gazillion things on my apparently-never-ending-until-I’m-pushing-up-daisies to-do list.
And far too few of them have been accomplished thus far. Except, perhaps, something rather important: sanity. Calm. Peace. Exhaling.
I think I need those things, in order to do any of the others halfway decently.
If you use slightly less than three minutes of your life to watch this very amateur video I spontaneously shot this evening from the deck of my studio when I sat outside to stop working and just exist aimlessly for a moment, you, too, may find a little inspiration for whatever’s on your to-do list.
Or at least you’ll exhale, even if you get absolutely nothing done.
Don’t get excited: absolutely nothing astonishing happens in this clip.
Unless you are constantly astonished that you stand on a rock that is constantly moving. I am.
One person’s slow, dull footage is another’s action-adventure movie. Mine!
Lane Savant said,
July 17, 2010 @ 7:06 pm
Nice
Alex Shapiro said,
July 17, 2010 @ 7:08 pm
Yup.
Matt Piper said,
July 19, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
Thank you, Alex. 🙂
julie said,
July 19, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
watching the sunset from san juan county park’s bluff is the primary objective of my vacation each year. alas, it has come and gone but i indulged in two weeks of watching sunsets … oh, and orcas too. i am back in the world of busy, but i appreciate this clip, which i will save and view from time to time when i crave my sji sanity. …like every day…
thanks
carey said,
July 20, 2010 @ 10:41 am
Hey! I’ve been here!! This is great…definitely a post to visit again and again. Thank you Alex!
xoxoxo
Glenn Buttkus said,
July 21, 2010 @ 10:51 am
Tranquil, significant, meditative–loved the landscape of your foot. This might be the first time you shared your deck with us, showing that your home is at water’s edge; just the sound of the sea lapping gently as Saul dipped behind other islands was like a mantra, a sunset dream. So you are somewhere on the west side of the SJI? Before leaving your You Tube extra, I got a peek at Marco Mazzini playing his Contra Bass clarinet, doing your composition of DEEP, all 8:17 of it! A great video, though it lacked some water shots interspersed with clouds, bricks, building murals, stone paths, and beach, enit?
Bill said,
July 21, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
Alex – how wonderful is this! Such magnificent beauty and gentle water sounds, I am thrilled for you. I know that amazing music will manifest in this studio. BTW – cute toes!
Being on a wet rock hurtling through space is a most incredible experience. How great to be reminded by your lovely video.
Barry said,
July 21, 2010 @ 5:10 pm
Hey Alex,
Great to see the sun setting over your toes! That is a beautiful respite from the hurried city day I had, thank you. What a great place to live and work, terrific. Will we get the winter version, perhaps ice cracking, sunset over mukluks?
Barry
Lane Savant said,
July 22, 2010 @ 8:03 am
There is no winter on SJI, Barry.
Alex Shapiro said,
July 22, 2010 @ 8:42 am
Shhhhh, Mr. Savant! You’ll give away our secret!!
Barry said,
July 22, 2010 @ 11:16 am
@ Lane & Alex – I saw the snow pics! Appearantly no ice?
Lane Savant said,
July 24, 2010 @ 6:53 pm
I was totally wrong, wrong, wrong about the winter thing. It gets soo cold up here. With 100 mile an hour winds that knock down trees and force us to stay indoors for weeks at a time. Nothing but ice and snow and stinging sleet storms.
Really miserable, really, really miserable. Did I mention the sub zero temperatures? Well there’s also sub zero temperatures.
Alex Shapiro said,
July 25, 2010 @ 9:28 am
Don’t forget the locusts, and that nasty bout of recurring plague we get up here. Oh yeah, and acid rain in the spring. Yessiree, stay away!
Glenn Buttkus said,
July 25, 2010 @ 5:42 pm
Boy is my face red…..your tranquil video was shot from the deck of your “studio”, not your cabin/home, as you clearly stated, but somehow I did not process. Although for over a week
I had a wonderful fantasy that your was “on the water”, and that the deck was just something you had kept hidden from the divers kelphistos. Yes as to the perils of the San Juans, and/or visiting there, San Juan Island beaches are alive with sand fleas, and most of the shallow waters near shore are rife with mud sharks who are ravenous from lack of feed. The Orca one might encounter there are violent and vicious creatures that will give children nightmares. Harbor seals are one of their staples for killing in front of crowds and devouring them slowly. I have heard of mysterious black llamas who are let out at night, and who wander about looking for tourists to spit on. Your one camel is the worst of the spitters, and the gas it expels when approached can curdle nose hair completely.
Glenn Buttkus said,
July 29, 2010 @ 10:25 am
Gee Lady of the Kelp, I was just glancing at your archives, and
what I found was surprising. When you started this site back in
2006, while still in residence in Malibu, you attacked the postings
voraciously. Now you are SO busy that your communication of
your net-girl adventures are somewhat sparse. All I can say
is we kelphistos are loyal to the vows of Sharpiro, that we
care more about music and our planet just by visiting your
blog–still, look at the stats:
2006 (131 postings)
2007 (95 postings)
2008 (85 postings)
2009 (50 postings)
2010 (22 postings….so far)
Just giving you the old elbow in the ticklish spot under your right arm.
We come daily to visit, even when you are not home, still you are
receiving and transmitting. And hey, we have your hundreds of mp3’s
to get us by during the fallow periods, enit?
Paul Muller said,
July 30, 2010 @ 1:17 pm
Gotta say Alex, for someone who has a real eye for the still photographs – your cinematic technique could use some work.
You could have set the camera down and just caught the sun as it slides below the horizon. That would have been enough!
It’s nice to finally find something I’m better at than you… 🙂
Alex Shapiro said,
July 30, 2010 @ 3:44 pm
Hey, just remember what you paid to watch that movie, Paul! Ha!
Yeah, I’m a dreadful cinematographer. But practice will make me better (maybe) and so everyone will just have to endure my offerings in the meantime.
Glenn’s guilt-inducing “tickle” certainly worked: ever since I got this place, I’ve been wanting to do an introductory post but haven’t had the time, between work and– you guessed it– island visitors! I think I can start to post more frequently now– the wildlife on the other end of my lens ensures it!