The Blog of David Burns

Those who know me know at least one thing about me. That one thing is that it is near impossible for me to grow facial hair.

Well, the last day I have shaved was October 12 and here I am 10 days later with something that is sort of looking like a a spotty beard.

I have a few reasons for doing this, but most of all, I am busy at work trying to finish our web site redesign and I’m not shaving until it is done. The idea is that because facial hair looks so gross on me and because it grows in so spotty, I will work overtime to get this web site going.

So far, this motivation has worked a little. I went into work on Sunday from about 12:30 till about 9:30 in the evening. Today, I did a few extra hours at home.

I’m pretty close so I may loose the beard shortly.

However, now that I’m this far, I’m thinking about extending it. Should I keep it through Halloween? Should I keep it till Thanksgiving? Should I keep it till my next trip to California?

It’s pretty hideous, but the fact that there’s something there (for once) is a sight to be surprised by.

So, about a month ago, one of my best friends, Christy decided it was time for her to move back to California. Being absolutely devastated by the news, I tried to deal with it by putting together something to say goodbye… in this case, a music video. She would always host these music video parties where we’d use her family’s old camcorder and record cheesy movies. I figured we could do something similar.

I emailed a good sized group of her friends, hoping that maybe half of them would sign up to do this… turns out almost every single one would respond! I was thrilled.

Usually, when Christy would make music videos at her apartment, they would be straight shoots; no editing. I couldn’t afford to do this if I was going to coordinate the schedules of about 10 individuals along with multiple shooting locations. This meant I had to do some serious editing, which I ended up doing.

Shooting started about 3 weeks ago in front of the White House and continued all the way till Wednesday before her birthday, which was Saturday, August 1st. All in all, I had about 80 minutes of footage amassed over about 15 hours of filming sessions. Past that, it took about 10 hours to edit it to where it ended.

Watch the video:

Needless to say, the video was a success and she was surprised and amazed. I gave her an iPod Touch with the video installed on it, which worked out perfectly. She even may have cried a little. Go ahead and watch the reaction yourself:

While this didn’t happen in the most ideal of circumstances, right now, I’m flying on Virgin America on my way to San Francisco and I must admit, the Main Cabin Select experience is phenomenal.

It turns out that on this flight, which I purchased a ticket for only 10 hours ago, the Main Cabin Select seats were the same price as main cabin. Main Cabin Select for those unaware offers free food and drinks (including ones alcoholic in nature) and free movies and on demand tv shows. And on this particular day, Wifi was free too (for their ‘Day in the Cloud’ game).

Either way, between those perks and the extra leg room, i’m super sold on upgrading to this option whenever possible. So comfortable, so nice.

So far, with my 2 hours in the sky, I’ve updated Facebook, played the “Day in the Cloud” game, watched an episode of Entourage, have a beer and some Chex Mix and chatted it up with friends on Google Talk. I don’t live this well at home!

Yesterday, I arrived in Providence, Rhode Island for the 77th Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors. Im working up here through Tuesday morning.

Ive never been to Providence before. It is a nice looking town, sort of like a fun size version of Boston. It has a distinct New England feel, if nothing else.

Between my iPhone and my new camera, I should have plenty of pictures to post on Flickr and Facebook.

With that, I must get back to work. Ill continue to post updates throughout the meeting, on Twitter and on this blog.

Those who know me well know how much I love animation and more specifically, Pixar.

Pixar Animation Studios is to me, the absolute finest studio out there right now. With the release of their 10th feature length film “Up” this past Friday and now an estimated $68.2 million opening weekend and lots of critical praise (including this author), Pixar is now 10 for 10 in making great films.

Since I’m such a fan, a lot of my friends humor me and ask me how I would rank the films. I am going to attempt to do just that, but you’ll need to humor me first as to what I think makes Pixar so different (which gets into why this whole ranking thing is so difficult).

Pixar, I feel is a special place for a few reasons. Sure, they benefit from exceptional talent, but I feel a lot of their success comes from their process; a process that Disney has preserved since purchasing Pixar and frankly, has led to a lot of their newer films into being their best.

See, the studio does things differently. The directors all collaborate and share ideas with each other, but each movie still maintains it’s director’s heart and vision. Slate has a good piece about just this. As other studios tend to focus on having a screenplay done and getting it made, Pixar’s concepts are in-house and start out as just that, concepts. The concepts then come into focus and plot comes together from that.

The bold creativity displayed in Pixar’s films is also what makes them stand out. WALL-E’s dystopian future and a first act nearly dialog free was supposed to be a disaster for a film marketed to kids. Ratatouille was all about a rat in a kitchen, the absolute last place you would ever want to find one. Even Up starts out with a sobering 15 minutes where we fall in love with Carl’s wife only to have her die. It’s a gut check and strong way to start out a film, once again, perceived to be for kids.

Much of the success of Pixar though comes from the fact that they don’t target kids. They create films that everyone enjoys. The way a kid watches WALL-E and loves it is probably entirely different than my take away from the movie. The way parents watch Finding Nemo or Monsters, Inc. are probably very different from their kids’.

Which brings me to this list.

This list is quite dificult to put together, mostly because a low ranking implies that I don’t care for it. The problem, I guess, is that Pixar’s just too good right now… especially compared to the rest of cinema over the last 15 years. But without further ado, here’s my shot at ranking Pixar’s first ten films:

10. Cars (2006) dir. John Lasseter, co-director Joe Ranft
Pixar’s weakest film, but still a very fun movie nonetheless. Cars, to me, just doesn’t pull the same emotional weight as the other films do nor does it have as compelling of a story. It’s a fun movie, but it just doesn’t do it for me like some of Pixar’s finest.

9. Finding Nemo (2003) dir. Andrew Stanton, co-director Lee Unkrich
This one will probably be blasphemy to a lot of folks. Nemo has a great story, but it just doesn’t grab me like the other’s. Nemo’s strength is the emotional roller coaster that the father-son story puts you on, but compared to the emotional roller coaster of Up or even Toy Story 2, it’s not as thrilling of a ride.

8. A Bug’s Life (1997) dir. John Lasseter, co-director Andrew Stanton
I often talk about how underrated A Bug’s Life is and here I am putting it at 8. Either way, it’s a great film that not a whole lot of people have seen. Still remains the weakest performer in terms of dollars earned.

7. Toy Story (1995) dir. John Lasseter
Pixar’s first feature was an instant classic and still is. What can I say though, they were just warming up and they’d only outdo themselves later on… multiple times over.

6. Monsters, Inc. (2001) dir. Pete Doctor, co-directors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich
Monsters, Inc. gave us a preview of how bold Pixar would become. One of my favorite things about Pixar is how they don’t shy away from adult themes or ideas that may typical cautious studios would suppress. The idea of making a movie about monsters scaring little kids was very creative and it turned out to be heartwarming. Pete Doctor was just warming up.

5. Up (2009) dir. Pete Doctor, co-director Bob Peterson
Up is absolutely amazing for its range. To pull at the heartstrings with the death of Ellie in the first 10 minutes and then to pull harder and harder throughout the movie, all while being Pixar’s funniest film yet is a bold task. This showcases Pixar being Pixar.

4. The Incredibles (2004) dir. Brad Bird
The Incredibles finds an amazing way to pull off the humor of a silly comic book movie and still maintain a seriousness in the family dynamic which still impresses me each time I see it. Sort of like Mr. Bird’s other Pixar flim, Ratatouille, he takes an unconventional look at a conventional story, and is rewarded for the choice. In the case of The Incredibles, it’s the idea of super heroes going into hiding due to the overly litigious society the story takes place in. Tie that with the typical family problems that still plague the super hero family and together, we have a dynamic story.

3. Toy Story 2 (1998) dir. John Lasseter, co-directors Ash Brannon and Lee Unkrich
One of those rare instances where a sequel turns out better than the first, but in the case of Toy Story 2, this film not only outdoes the impressive Toy Story but elevates the Pixar standard. Toy Story 2 builds on the themes of it’s predecessor (jealousy, companionship) and does it all over again with a stronger story. This movie, for me, solidified John Lasseter’s genius.

2. WALL-E (2008) dir. Andrew Stanton
I remember reading about WALL-E in 2005 and getting very excited about this strange idea. All that was revealed was that this film took place in outer space and involved Earth being deserted due to it’s over pollution.

WALL-E, to me, is what making movies is all about. The risks it took, be it the lack of dialogue for the first 30 minutes, the anti-consumerism message (coming from Disney, no less), tackling global warming, obesity, the ‘cult of Wal-Mart’, all with a touching love story. WALL-E was bold like nothing else and probably like nothing we’ll see for a very long time.

1. Ratatouille (2007) dir. Brad Bird, co-director Jan Pinkava
I still remember going into Ratatouille not knowing what to expect. The movie was supposed to be the first one made without Disney. The original director, Jan Pinkava had a falling out with Pixar and Brad Bird took control of the ship at the last minute… and similar to Toy Story, a near complete re-write took place with little time left.

Ratatouille though, reflects a lot of the best of Pixar and a lot of the best of story telling. It’s a traditional fish-out-of-water story; a rat who cooks. Ratatouille’s story though, isn’t the strongest, but it is made up for in amazing filmmaking.

Ratatouille combines that story though with near-perfect dialogue epitomized by Anton Ego’s review of Gusteau’s restaurant to make it the stand out that it is. In fact, the last 15 minutes of that film are probably my favorite 15 minutes of any film. The curve ball situation and then the shock ending just tie a perfect bow on top of a treasure of a gift.

It’s a tough list to put together, and my reasons may be different from other’s. Feel free to post yours in the comments section, or tear my opinion apart, even.

This past Memorial Day weekend, I found myself at Ikea with Alex and one of the great deals that I found were picture frames. My walls in my apartment are terribly bare and my desk at work remains very non-personal, despite Lego sets and other toys that sit upon it.

Picture frames though, were cheap. Really, really cheap. I ended up with a lot of frames that I can use to finally do something with my bare walls.

There’s only one little problem. I need pictures.

The thing I’ve noticed over the last few years is that I haven’t taken the same number of pictures that I used to. It’s a disappointing realization and something I hope to correct, but in the mean time, I’ve been scouring Facebook and Flickr to try to find my favorite photos that friends have taken.

My goal now is to get a camera in the next 4 months that is small, compact, and good quality… especially if I could do this before all my friends leave DC permanently. I think that would help solve my “lack of recent pictures” problem.

With that said, if you have a recommendation for a picture I should hang on my wall, send it my way!

Those who know me and my fascination with movies know my appreciation for Charlie Kaufman. As a writer of some of my favorite movies of all time, including my all time favorite, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he has an ability to create movies with compelling stories that are often hard to get your mind around.

Synecdoche, New York came out last fall and I was pretty sad that I missed it once it came (and quickly left) Washington, DC. Last night however, that was all in the past as it arrived from Netflix and I sat down and watched it last night.

While it’s not a perfect movie, I’d still go on record saying that I did think it was a pretty darn good one. As it struggles with theme of mortality and self awareness, there is a particular scene in which a Minister is giving a speech at a funeral. His monologue was one of my favorite parts. I’m sharing it now in hopes that if you haven’t seen this movie, you maybe give it a shot:

“Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won’t know for twenty years. And you’ll never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it’s what you create. Even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but doesn’t really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope for something good to come along. Something to make you feel connected, to make you feel whole, to make you feel loved. And the truth is I’m so angry and the truth is I’m so fucking sad, and the truth is I’ve been so fucking hurt for so fucking long and for just as long have been pretending I’m OK, just to get along, just for, I don’t know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own, and their own is too overwhelming to allow them to listen to or care about mine. Well, fuck everybody. Amen.”

When I was in California more than a week ago, I found this little iPhone game on the app store on Tuesday morning when I woke up early courtesy the time difference. That little game has gone on to monopolize way too much of my spare time since then.

Flight Control is its name and my high score currently sits at 93. Sadly, I got that a week ago and mustve peaked.

Major kudos to the developers, Firemint for an amazingly addictive game.

This morning, shortly before noon, I went to my car and found a screw nailed inside the rear-left tire. When driving last night, I thought I felt something weird, but nothing looked bad… not until half the tire was deflated this morning.

A trip to the repair shop to plug a hole quickly turned into a $300 unexpected expenditure. The hole couldn’t be plugged and I had to buy two tires.

Prior to all of this, I was already in a down mood and this has clearly made things worse.

I took all of last week off work (and had missed Thursday of the week before for a trip to Philadelphia) so now I’m going to have to catch up.

This week, we do another web cast, the first one since the catastrophic failure. I want absolutely nothing to do with it.

In a couple weeks, my new web site for work is due. I feel really behind on this project with all the stuff I have on my plate and it’s now becoming a burden.

I’m late on a handful of side projects, including a redesign of this blog. Not as important as my work, but still.

The general thoughts of “what’s next” are creeping back. I should get on it, but I keep pushing it further and further away.

It’s all on my mind. And it’s killing me.

It’s just not my day.

The one upside of UCLAs six seed is that they were unprotected (meaning, they were not guaranteed a spot close to home). The Bruins traveled to Philadelphia, the longest distance traveled by any single team in the tournament.

I made it up to Philadelphia for the first round versus Virginia Commonwealth. Tomorrow, UCLA plays Villanova.

Heres to a great game and a victory!

Go Bruins!