Wham (Re-Bop-Boom-Bam)

You might ask yourself, "What am I talking about?" I'm talking about jazz. About two weeks ago I decided that I would listen only to jazz while driving to work and also when I was designing at home. The original reason was born from the urge to spend a good deal of time 'taking in' my various jazz cds. I certainly don't listen to them as much as I do my pop music cds. As I've spent the last week listening to Albert Ayler and Mildred Bailey (it's as far as I've got - my trip to work isn’t that long. Plus I have 10 Mildred Bailey cds) I found that I arrive to work and at home very relaxed. This is good in the morning because I’m in the right mood for taking on the hectic 8 hour days I am currently experiencing at work. And during the ride home it helps decompress from the day, at least helps more than some angst-ridden indie rock.

I don't mean to imply the jazz is inherently relaxing music. Albert Alyer is quite a fiery jazz man, as are the Tim Bern cds that are next in line. Rather, for me, jazz requires a different kind of listening. With rock/pop the guitars are usually cranked up or fuzzed out that it's hard to discern - say - the bass lines - from the rest of the rhythm. However, with jazz it seems easier to pick out the rhythm of the different instruments. For instance, in this one Mildred Bailey song, everything just peeled away to a xylophone and some brass. Very pretty, IMO.

I'm sure everyone approaches music differently. This is just me. Boring you.
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I was going to post about how excited I am of some upcoming or recent cd releases however I got distracted and did a little research. If you search for 'Jason Hunter Blog' you get the following results:

The Programmer versions of me.
The message board version of me (complete with moose head).
Literati me.

Ha. Good for a larf.

Congrats to Adam who was the first person to send me his measurements for the tuxedoes. I was surprised that both he and Sam beat my sister's boyfriend. When I put the request out three weeks ago I thought that my sister would hound her boyfriend until he got himself measured (since they live together) while Sam would still be laying out on the beach and Adam would be pounding the pavement looking for start-up capital (or something like that). But lo and beyond! Adam comes in first with Sam a close second. And Mr. Daniel Fish.....well we've not heard from him. It just goes to show that you can be surprised everyday!

END POST!

Max'n & Relax'n

Ah......doing nothing. Since I had to work all through last weekend I celebrated this weekend by doing.....nothing. Well, not nothing. I did pick up the living room and do some laundry. I tried to work on the wedding invitations but got interrupted by the telephone and lost my good intentions. Oh, well I guess that can wait for Monday - which I have off thanks to the magic of comp. time.

After a stagnant couple of weeks at work I was finally given the chance to get some video shooting experience in which made very pleased. Also on Friday I successfully light two different scenarios. I've light stuff for production before but it's always needed some insight from more experience people. So TH & F I felt like I had made some serious strides at work which, in turn, made me feel great. I just hope to continue getting chances to improve my skills and in turn get more video production experience.

We watched "Final Destination" on the Sci-Fi channel tonight. While some of the foreshadowing was a bit obvious the plot proposed a seriously disturbing notion about cheating death and the consequences. There were many moments that had me freaked out. Overall I give it a "B".

Peace out!

Home Alone

Since I had to work over the past weekend I was allowed to use some comp. time today. So I had the day off. I still got up at the same time (7:15am) but that's okay. I got to finish reading the chapter I'd started last night in this book, eat a leisurely breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon and wash it down with coffee and plan this weekend's Valentine's Day event(s). The last activity is the most important aspect of my day since I noticed - today - that my original Valentine's Day plan (which I thought was a damn sweet lock) is on a Saturday and not Sunday like I first thought. And that is bad because my fiancé will be at work on Saturday. So nuts to that. But I've got a new plan hooked up and it's all good.

Thanks to everyone that weighed in on my previous post. I guess I should have just chilled out about the whole situation and remembered that just because I make one choice doesn't mean everyone else should make the same one. Looking back I think my frustration came from the fact that we were a production team and that everyone on that team should have done what's best for the production as a whole (i.e. not getting drunk the night before). And while we were off the clock such actions could have a direct effect on the production. However since there was 'no harm/no foul' then I really shouldn't worry about it. After all, even if it had seriously compromised the production what could I have done about it? I'm not a manager.

Lessons learned. Hu-zah. Time to go cook the chicken's that have been marinating all day.

Everybody's Working on the Weekend

Well, not everybody. Just 5 people from work and two freelancers the company hired. We went up to the sleepy state of Delaware to film some instructional videos. Our first night there I witnessed some - in my opinion - disturbing behavior by my colleagues. It was our first night in town and the whole crew plus the client went out to dinner - where many a drink was had - then off to a bar where the client, 3 different managers, and the rest of the production crew drank themselves stupid. So stupid that the client and our business manager passed out on the bar. Two other company managers were trashed and the rest of the production crew was either drunk or well on their way to being so. I hope I'm the pot calling the kettle black - I drink both at dinner and at the bar however I was at no point drunk.

All this made me really, really mad at how unprofessional this was. We'd just arrived into town, had yet to shoot a single frame of footage, and everyone is toasted at 11:00 pm with a 7:00 am "call" (production-speak for a predetermined time when we leave for our destination - i.e. the location). Typically this level of intoxication is reserved for the last night in town - not the first. Several times I mentioned to different managers that everyone is drunk and we should go before it gets too late. All of them simply brushed me off and told me not to worry about it. Well maybe someone should have listened to me since we were over two hours late arriving at our location the next day. Half of the crew was still drunk and everyone had a hang over. But maybe it didn't matter, since everyone that I worked with gave a 100% effort through out the day.

What made me so mad is that the same managers mentioned above are so strict about certain company policies yet lack any sense of proper and professional judgment when they are out of town and on the clock. I've seen this type of behavior before at other shoots and in other locations. And I despise them for it. They've been made managers and yet they act like 18 year olds at a keg party when they should be setting the example.

Anyone who is interested in responding please do because I'm curious about what others think of this situation. Has anyone found themselves in a similar situation? By similar, I mean that you were both frustrated and embarrassed by a manager's unprofessional behavior? Does professionalism really matter when the client has passed out on the bar? Is it okay to sweep any and all proprieties under the rung by simply declaring 'what happened out of town stays out of the office' (i.e. don't talk about it to anyone at the office)? Is my outrage unjustified since everyone was able to work through their hangovers and get the job done - therefore since there was no harm to the work was there no foul?

Massive Neglect.

Whoa! Yes, I know I'm guilty of not updating this thing in forever. Therefore, today's blog will be an update on the wedding progress.

Below is list of recent wedding accomplishments:

We have completed our tasting with the caterer. The food was bountiful and excellent. We also selected the tablecloths, settings, chairs et al.
We have located a DJ service, but have not found the right DJ. We dismissed the 1st one selected for us, but, on the positive side we have 34 more to chose from.
We have located when, where, through which government office we get our marriage license from.
Apparently, bridesmaid's dresses have been purchased. Although I was awoken at 1 am and told this so I could have misunderstood what was being said.
The hard-copy versions of the Save-The-Date cards have been addressed and will be mailed tomorrow.
We are currently interviewing rabbis.

There are probably other things that I've not mentioned but "Law & Order" is about to come on. And that means it's time for the fiancé to fall asleep on the couch with her feet in my lap. Ah, engagement bliss!