howdy fellow intertubians,

hope the New Year has been good to you so far. so far, the majority of my creative output this year has been writing. and the lion’s share of that has been on a ZOMBIE feature screenplay. stay tuned for more details on that.

in the meantime, here’s one of my non-film creative projects from last year. for my birthday, my good friend Troy got me a vintage Nikishi frame and fork set. over the next several months I built a custom bike…see if you can guess the “theme” I was going for.

first up was spoking the rims (you can see the silver frame behind Johnny)

next I got the frame and forks powered coated, then many trips to Echo Park Cycles for parts.

because I was using a vintage frame, I had to find a vintage stem. at Coco’s Variety Shop I found an old Schwinn stem.

but I didn’t want any chrome parts…so I took the stem and seat post back to the powder coaters.

and that was pretty much it. some hammering was required to get the handlebars to fit in the stem…and later I changed my grips. but the bike was finally rideable!

here’s the finished, fully assembled bike on its maiden voyage.

looking forward to warm summer days where I can get some good rides in!

-Luke

Howdy,

Happy 2010 y’all. for the last several years I’ve been doing a “Top 10″ list for the year…I don’t limit it to movies or events or projects. It’s an across the board collection of what was most memorable for me.

Here’s the list for 2009. enjoy.

10.) Chris’ “Grapevine Fires” video

My friend Chris, 1/2 of the directing team “Walter Robot” made an amazing video this year. I’m not sure if a music video has ever touched me so emotionally. And it was something that came out of our writer’s group. Pretty awesome to see the process work with such wonderful results.

Watch it here.

9.) Star Trek, District 9, Moon, The Road, and Avatar

What an amazing year for Sci-Fi. From low budget indy to INSANELY high budget blockbusters, each film brought its own unique take and technique to science fiction. And each one of these films I could watch multiple times.

8.) Movie Ink

One Star Wars reference…one Spinal Tap reference. Tattoos are fun.

7.) XBOX 360

It’s been a good 10 years since I played video games…and I gotta say they are pretty awesome. Many fun nights playing with my director friends Lex, Mark, Josh, and Rylan.

Hollar if you want to pwn n00bs on xbox live sometime.

6.) Parents’ Architecture Visit

My Mom and Dad visited in the Spring and we took a multiday tour of Los Angeles architecture, including a impromptu and private tour of the Ennis House and the Eames House, pictured below.

5.) Sing It Loud Music Video

Getting to make a video with a budget was pretty awesome. There were production trucks there, MY production trucks…and I didn’t have to unload them. Having a full crew allowed me to focus on JUST directing…I’ve tasted blood. And I want more.

Read about the production here and watch the video here.

4.) Grindin’

Like many people, this year had its slow periods…but I filled those by writing and working on my own projects. I wrote 2 shorts, 1 feature, and numerous blogs about the filmmaking and creative process. I finished the 3rd season of ‘The Real Luke’ which included a fashion shoot. I directed a Coca-Cola commercial featuring The Real Luke, finished a short I started in college, and made a Super 8 travelogue for my trip to Chile. In December I directed an experimental short…expect that in early 2009.

Additionally I ran the LA chapter of SFSU Alumni and supervised development for a production company, going through over 170 scripts.

This was all done outside of the music videos I directed AND while working 40+ hours a week as an editor. Grindin’.

3.) Working With Teal

Earlier in the year I took stock of what I found most helpful in having an assistant. A big part of it was simply having someone who knew everything I was working on and would check in, encourage, and if need be harass me about the projects.

The person who understands me the best…and knows how to push my buttons the best is definitely my sister. Luckily she was willing to take the job.

2.) Thanksgiving & Christmas Dinners

This year I was fortunate enough to travel back to the Northwest for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. For each holiday, Teal and I did the cooking. It’s a real joy to work in the kitchen with Teal. Her creativity and skill in the culinary arts is something to behold. And feeding my family with delicious food? It doesn’t get much better than that.

1.) Chile Trip aka Chingón Aguilas: 2009

I turned 30 in 2009 and when thinking about my approaching birthday I knew I wanted to do something special. And for me, the best thing I could think of was to go snowboarding..and with a birthday in the middle of summer my options were slightly limited. In the Northern Hemisphere at least. So my friend Will and I traveled to the Andes for a snowboarding and travel adventure. The trip and snowboarding were both amazing. But one thing that really stands out was becoming closer friends with Will. A good trip can do wonders for a friendship and this was no exception.

And now, a special treat – the Super 8 travelogue from the trip. Premiering for the first time right here. Enjoy!

-Luke

So a while back I got an email from an account executive at dbdchile.com. Someone at their Japanese office had sent them the street mag that my Real Luke pics were in (check them out here). They wanted to chat with me about making a vintage inspired Coke ad. I was into the idea, and even better the job was going to shoot in Winter… i.e. July.

A chance to escape the SoCal heat, go snowboarding, and film a Real Luke ad in July??? Yes please!!!

On the flight to Santiago I ended up sitting next to a wild haired, tattooed German guy. His name was Wilhelm Von Schmakënbrau. We talked a lot about art, music, and incidentally snowboarding. Wilhelm is quite the artist. He has exhibited or performed all over the world, from Berlin to Johannesburg, from Mumbai to Tokyo. It’s hard to classify his work, the best I can come up with is Metal Infused Post Deconstructionist Performance Art. But it’s not to hard to describe it, basically he “blows shit up with sound.” It’s pretty badass. He’s pretty vigilant about keeping it strictly PERFORMANCE based and spends hours everyday searching youtube to eliminate any clips of his work that may have popped up. If you could say anything about the Germans, it’s that they are thorough.

After 14 hours in the air and 3 hours going through customs, we’d become pretty good friends. I needed a camera person, so I asked if he’d like to help me with the production. He was a little resistant, it being “commercial” and all, but when I explained the character of The Real Luke – a Post Industrialist Waldenian on a Vision Quest – and that we would be shooting on Super 8, he was hooked.

The shoot went smoothly, and the client notes were surprisingly simple. The only problem was getting a dang copy of the piece. My best guess is that Alessandro, my account rep, left the agency. He’d been mumbling something about a kayak trip in Patagonia. I’ve been scouring the web looking for the video and it finally popped up online. Some dude (well, it’s the internet, so who really knows) posted a bunch of weird beverage ads from South America… and mine is in the mix!

Hopefully I’ll have a pretty quicktime online soon, but until then – click here for the youtube video or watch below!

really, calling this an ad hardly does it justice. it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of media I’ve seen in a while.

it probably helps that I’ve been editing my snowboarding film from Chile for the past few weeks…and subsequently winter has been on my mind.

this ad is an excellent representation of the feeling that we snowboarders (and skiers) have in the fall. the cold air and changing colors brings anticipation to our days. we visualize the lines that we’ll be riding. we are filled with the expectations of the excitement and fun that the winter will soon bring.

in this spot, those daydreams are visualized in a wonderful and mesmerizing fashion.

well done.

Zimtstern “Leaves” from Zimtstern Snowboarding on Vimeo.

-Luke

p.s. the “making of” is worth watching as well.

Zimtstern “Leaves” – Making-of from Zimtstern Snowboarding on Vimeo.

My Mom and have birthday’s right next to each other…I’m the 10th and she’s the 11th. So we always try
and do something together to celebrate. This year, she had the idea to take a trip.



All she would tell me was


• We were going to a museum

• It was in the continental US

• Not somewhere you’d normally think of going



I didn’t get any clues and I even didn’t look at my boarding pass as I walked thru the security
at LAX.



It wasn’t until our gate that I saw “Minneapolis-St. Paul”…which it turned out was only where we 
were transferring. Mom wanted to talk about the trip on the flight, so she told me where we were
going.



Des Moines, Iowa.



The moment of surprise at LAX.




wow. talked about surprised. I’ve never been to the Midwest – besides taking the train thru it,
but I’ve wanted to go…now I was on the way.



At the Minneapolis airport I decided to get some Mexican food. It seemed like a good idea at the 
time. However, I got a pretty nasty case of food poisoning. Not only was I sick for the entire trip -
but basically since then, over a month ago, my stomach has been messed up. Interestingly enough,
I think Japan helped because it was so each to eat simple rice, noodle, and fish dishes.



Whatever it was must have been pretty nasty. I’ve eaten at Taco trucks in LA for 4 years without ever
getting sick…then I go to a “real” restaurant in the Midwest…sheesh.



Anyhoo…in addition to being the swinging-est airport in the US, Minneapolis should also be known
for it’s high standard of food cleanliness.



Our first day we went and toured the Iowa state Capitol.



What a gorgeous building. Built around 1900 with all hand carved marble, local wood, and hand 
painted stenciling. In fact, 2 men had been working on restoring the original stencil designs.
Someone had decided to paint over them…oops. These guys have been working on this same project
for over 20 years.





They were in the midst of restoring the dome for a big World Hunger Conference. It was costing several
million dollars. My Mom wondered why they didn’t just use that money to feed the starving people…




Our next excursion was to a real prairie. As you may know, prairies used to cover most of the midwest.
Now they cover about .01% of the midwest. They’ve been plowed under, paved over, and 
replaced by stripmalls and corn fields.



It’d be like going to Washington, cutting down all the trees and then pushing the mountains into Puget
Sound. Ok, I exaggerate a little. But still. Prairies are the treasure of the midwest – and were
mostly destroyed.



There is a 5000+ acre prairie restoration project near Des Moines…we drove out there and visited it.



The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge. (http://www.fws.gov/midwest/nealsmith/)



Mom and some Big Bluestem. I saw this grass over 6′ high.




The Bison fur is really soft…mmm bison.




We took a walk thru part of the prairie. It was really windy and as the wind went thru the grass
it made this sound…it was beautiful, like a symphony almost. Music of the prairie.




We didn’t actually see any…d’oh.



The following day we went to Madison County.



Yes. “The” Madison County.



I’ve never been somewhere in the US with so many unpaved roads…




Mom took this one. I really like it.




A covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa.



Apparently, graffiti isn’t just for “punk” kids anymore.


Heading back to Des Moines…drinking Malted Milkshakes…mmmm.




Kind of America-centric…but heck, it is Middle America.


The Museum we went to was The Art Center (
http://www.desmoinesartcenter.org/ It was a really nice, well rounded modern art museum.



The didn’t really have anything older than 1920…and they had a bit from basically everyone you’ve heard
of since then. Maybe not their best piece…but a piece by them non-the-less.



John Singer-Sargent is a favorite of Mom and I’s.




This one was about 6′ tall. A photograph reproduced in actual size of Pantone Color squares.



Vic Muniz. Chuck




There’s something wonderful about a sculpture that is hermitically sealed to preserve the freshness…
of the vacuum cleaners.

John Koons. New Shelton Wet/Dry Triple Decker


We also saw an exhibit at their downtown branch which was all about signage. Kind of a graffiti inspired
sort of thing. (http://www.desmoinesartcenter.org/exhibitions/ex_downtown.html)

Ironically it was made up mostly of SF and LA based artists.



The day before we left we can across the biggest farmer’s market I’d ever seen. It was like 
a 37 county farmer’s market.



This place has: goats meat, foam swords, and marshmellow guns.




Downtown Des Moines.




On Sunday we visited this Methodist Church. It looked like it would be a rather large group,
but it turned out we were in the basement…the main sancturary was under repairs. The service we
attended probably only had 20 people in it.



The Pastor was a younger guy, but silver haired. He had a “soul patch” and wore a headset as
he did the duties of lead singer, keyboardist, worship leader, and preacher all at once. It was a 
nice service about financial responsibility. All though the flat screen TV’s with images of dollar
bills on them the whole time was a little distracting.





A innocuously racist poster print in downtown Des Moines.




3 things about Iowa that stand out to me:


Fried Cheese Balls.

White people.

Flat.



This last pic kind of sums up my thoughts on Iowa.




-Luke

so, some of you have seen this & some of you haven’t yet.

but hardly any of you know the story behind it…. over break, I was talking w/ this special lady who I’d met in LA several days previous. I teased her about being “Suuthern” and she teased me about going home and hanging out in the woods with my big blue ox. this might have stemmed from the fact that I talked about eating venison, climbing mountains, and on our first meeting proudly showed her this picture of myself…

I decided to make the site to show her “the real Luke” as a Christmas present…buuut I didn’t want her finding out from me – so I used a friend of a friend of a friend to get it to her…her reaction was priceless. a small excerpt…

I convinced her it was with my meta tags…which included “paul bunyon” and “big blue oxe”

a success I’d say =)

-Luke “sweet & weird” Judy-chee