I started writing this a couple days ago while digitizing for an unnamed horror-thriller. And you know what, it was ALL in his head. weee.



digitizing is a snooooze fest if you don’t have something to do. Thank goodness for laptops. Otherwise I’d be forced to, I dunno…read of something.



A year and a half ago my Grandma Guidici passed away. Over the last year, my family has been fixing up the house that she lived in – the house that my Dad grew up in, so we could sell it. We had to so we could keep the house that our family first lived in when they came to America in the early 20th century.



The house had been sold, so now the task was to finish emptying out all the stuff in it…and deciding what to keep.



The plan was to leave for Angel’s Camp at 5am…I was pretty close. On the road by 5:30am…coffee in hand, DJ Shadow on the radio…LA freeways moved with quickness in the predawn friday.





Enjoy this pic…I almost crashed taking it.




I have no idea…suggestions?




Outside of Merced.




Downtown Angeles.


On the way to Sheep Ranch, Stevenos’ Winery




I love these warnings, because that’s what people HAVE run into.




My view in the morning



Mom, Dad, and a friendly dog



The barn



The photog


The house…population in the town…32.




I think these dogs have an art director.





I stopped to air up a tire and get a bite to eat at a gas station outside of Angeles. I opted for the bagel chips.


New Melones Reservoir.




About 20 miles about…that familiar flap, flap, flap sounded.



Great.



A flat tire.



I’ve had something break on a car on 3 separate trips to Northern California.
 and this time I rented a car to AVOID that happening.



So I called, and they said that AAA would come…but what would they do? Just put the spare on.



What I really needed was a tire shop – the thought of driving 300 miles at 60 mph on a donut just didn’t seem like fun. This was Sunday evening. The first 3 places I called were closed…or the number was no good.



The light was fading fast.



So I stopped trying to find a place and quickly went to work.



Car zipped by.



A cow moo’ed. 



Seriously, it came up to the fence and moo’ed at me. 




I got in the car again and called Enterprise again. This time I got a total jackass. He contradicted everything the other people had told me. His suggestions were



1.) Wait until tomorrow and get a new car

2.) Get the tire replaced and HOPE Enterprise reimbursed me.



I tried to tell him this wasn’t what I had just heard…he wasn’t listening. By the time I hung up on him, I was just about seeing red. If it wasn’t dangerous I would have driven that car back to LA on the rims, just to spite him.



Man, that got me steamed.



So I headed towards the nearest big town, where I hoped I could find an open tire shop. The longer I spent on the phone w/ jackasses like him, the less likely it would get fixed. And really if I paid for a tire, it was still cheaper than a hotel and missing work the next day.



Thank God for my Mom thinking clearly – she suggested I stop at an airport and swap cars. 



The only city I new of on the way was Fresno…and I didn’t think they had an airport. But they did. 3 phone calls later I had a car. I set the Kia on cruise at 60 mph, and let the traffic zip by me on the 99.



I felt about this delirious…the airport had 3 of the most bored Starbucks employees I’ve ever seen.




Rental Car ..2


At the bottom of the Grapevine, I stopped, took a nap and then got some fast food. By the time I returned to my car…I no longer had my keys. I was exhausted, barely coherent, and now possible going to be spending the night in a Wendy’s…retracing my steps I found nothing, as I walked into the Wendy’s, the young girl that had been cleaning was walking out – with my keys. whew.



I got home late…went to work early and output a promo for Afro Samurai for the Video Game Awards, the first thing I’ve cut that will air on TV. And a dam cool cartoon. Lucky Bruce gets to cut all the English language episodes.

-Luke



p.s. Can people tell me their favorites of these? I’m having a hard time narrowing it down…



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Barrow, AK

Ukpiagvik. “The place where we hunt snowy owls.”

71 degrees North.

The most further Northern city in the United States.

70% Native Alaskan

Above the Arctic Circle and on the Arctic Ocean.



There are no roads in, and in the winter there is no daylight. No starbucks, no movie theater, no gym, 
no sidewalks, no pavement, and no booze…



The plane ride in was smooth…as we approached we could see pieces of pack ice floating on the water
I knew I was in the right place..


Right way, from the tour bus I could tell that this wasn’t a normal place, there was something different about it.



Can you get further from LA and still be in the US?




We took a bus all around Barrow – our guide, Joe, was a Native Alaskan. He was friendly, a good speaker,
a nd had a good sense of humor. He’d talk about his people and say things like “the old ways,”
 and “in the old times.”



whaling boats are all around barrow – each captain of a boat has his boat out front of his house
and often the skull of any whales that his team has killed. Furs, pelts, antlers, birds…it’s all outside.



Barrow is a hunting community. They don’t grow vegetables there. They eat meat. 
Anything that can be killed and eaten is. And then bones, fur, feathers, everything is used
again. The Inupait are the ultimate conservationists.

And they hunt all year…




Jaw bones from a whale…


My Mom is pretty.



My Sister – more American than apple pie and at least 2x as cute.



My Grandparents.



My Dad is a good photographer…





Never pass up an opportunity for silliness. that’s my M.O.



This cuts something…



Barrow puts the “Narl” in “gnaaaaaarly.”





the photo



the photog





The next day the pack ice blew in. In under two months the Arctic Ocean will freeze over all the way 
to the shores of Barrow.




One of the things that makes Barrow so fascinating to me is that it is a frontier community.
 Seriously it’s on the edge of civilization. You can’t get more far away from the things 
we take for granted in the US and still be in the US than here.

It’s the sort of place that if you leave your house unprepared at the wrong time of year
 you will die. Or you will be eaten. Polar bears routinely come into town when the ice is in.



The edge of civilization is where society shows itself. This is where human interactions 
aren’t based on social niceties – they are based upon survival and the tribe survives 
better than the individual. It reminds me of a space colony…but then again, I’m a nerd.


My Dad and I wandered along the beach and talked about life, women, birds…



While we there some locals based and we said hello. We talked about Barrow
 and what we had done. They told us the best time to come was in May – that is when
 they had their hunting celebration and make all the delicacies out of the whales they got that season.



the things they make I can’t even begin to describe in full. 

One “muktuk” is fermented whale blubber.

It was describe to me a “lutefisk flavored bubble gum.”



Some of you are familiar with my eating habits while traveling…so you won’t be 
surprised to hear that I can’t wait to try it=)



It’s an ocean…with no waves…



Father & Son


The last day it was foggy…erie and beautiful.





I’m pretty competitive, so if you challenge me to jump in 35 degree water…
well when was I going to have another chance to join the Polar Bear Club?




Really it wasn’t that bad…I mean, I couldn’t feel my feet afterwards – but I could still walk.






Alaska is an amazing tremendous place. The landscapes, the people, and the way of
life all inspired me. It makes living in Los Angeles seem like a piece of cake. Everything 
we want is right at our finger tips, a phone call, a google search, or a quick drive away.



It makes me really appreciate what we have here…and it made me hunger to go back. Even
 as we were flying back to Seattle I was already planning how I could go back.



Maybe I’ll go for the summer in Barrow – write and hunt under the Midnight Sun…Maybe I’ll
 go in the winter and follow hunting crews around…maybe the kids of Barrow need to learn
 about film making and how to make their digital movies…I happen to know an fcp ninja…






After all that, I think I learned the valuable lesson at the grocery store in Barrow that sold milk for $7.89 A GALLON…that lesson is,





You can sell ice to an Eskimo.





thanks for reliving the journey with me…



Via Con Dios,



Luke