I was fired from my job of four years on a Monday, was interviewed on a Wednesday and found myself operating motion picture cameras for two independent films being shot here in south Texas by a Hollywood production company. A month later, I’m operating a RED One on an indie family film directed by Valente Rodriguez and gearing up to move to Los Angeles before the end of the year. That’s what I’ve been up to. Cheers!

Inception is a near-perfect movie and I would dare say is better than director Christopher Nolan’s previous outing The Dark Knight. I can’t recommend “kids” watch it as Inception is no Twilight or Last Airbender: the film requires a certain level of audience participation and awareness to enjoy despite it’s blessed attempts to keep viewers engaged and aware through typically-Nolan exposition which neither interferes with the story or talks down to the audience.

I can’t call Inception a rollercoaster ride as the momentum never seems to die down. The film, though noticeably long, is never dull and always thoughtful and appreciative of it’s audience. There are several “oh wow” moments and many laugh-out-loud moments, each of which serving the story’s tension and drama.

A thriller all the way, Inception did not dissapoint and I’m only sorry I can’t see it in an IMAX theater. And like other films such as Fight Club and Irreversible, the most rewarding aspect of Inception is the hours of watercooler time spent debating the film’s (literal) mind-fucks.

It seems no sooner than I was let go from my previous job that I suddenly am given the opportunity to bust into feature film-making with two independent films being shot over the summer very near where I live.

I found out about the productions just a few hours before their pre-production crew hiring meeting and I rushed over from a photo gig an hour away. I made it on time and met all the above-the-liners except for the DP who’s arriving this weekend. It seems like we’ll have a good crew (lots of able-bodied college kids) and the work is paid so we’ll see what happens if the producers give me a call back.

One month shy of five years on the job and I’m “let go” to the shock of everyone. But, that’s what corporate regime changes do. I suppose it didn’t help that I was a tad bit outspoken of my resentment toward the corporation and how it treated it’s employees and the awful decisions it made. I lashed out and proclaimed the worst they could do was fire me. Thusly fired, (along with several others since The Change) I am excited about the future. It’s about time I had a vacation, anyhow.

At midnight on Saturday came the celebration of my 31st birthday. At Chaps on Friday nights for karaoke, a few of the bartenders (Aly, Jorge and Janet) were sharing the same week of respective birthdays so the bar bought two strawberry cakes while my friends (Gibby, Hernan, George, Edie, Eric and his parents) bought me shots, beer and shared in the cake and glorious karaokage.

Afterward, I followed Aly and Janet back to their place for an afterparty celebration as Ally’s boyfriend shares the same birthdate as mine). I finally got home after 6am and slept like a 31-year-old baby.

After resting through much of the day I joined Gibby, Hernan and Gibby’s brother Joe at Applebee’s where I had two Landsharks and a shot of something that Hernan claimed “tastes like Christmas” that the bartender didn’t know how to make at first.

After closing I decided to take a drive into the country, jamming on my music and enjoying the smoothness of my ride. I revved the car up to about 120mph on a stretch of deserted country road (it was paved). Later, I got a flat and had to deal with it in real country-dark, my droogies; using only my iPhone’s broken screen for intermittent illumination.

It was near 4am when I returned home — exhausted, but content.

Cheers, life!

Happy 234th birthday, U.S.A.! Founded on slavery, eliticism and fast food, may we continue to average a war every seven years into the next bicentennial…if Man is still alive.

Local Severe Weather Alert for Edinburg, TX (78539)

…TROPICAL STORM WIND WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THURSDAY… …NEW INFORMATION… A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FOR HIDALGO COUNTY && …WINDS… TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS WILL LIKELY ARRIVE IN GUSTS AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON…WITH STEADIER WINDS OF 35 TO 45 MPH REACHING AT LEAST AN AREA FROM MCALLEN THROUGH EDINBURG TO POINTS EAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY. HURRICANE FORCE GUSTS ARE A POSSIBILITY WITH STRONGER SQUALLS…BUT THE EXPECTED SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE STORM SHOULD HELP REDUCE OVERALL WINDS AND DAMAGE POTENTIAL FOR HIDALGO COUNTY WITH ALEX. …INLAND FLOODING… SCATTERED SHOWERS TUESDAY WILL BECOME NUMEROUS WEDNESDAY…WITH SQUALLS LIKELY ARRIVING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUING INTO THURSDAY. CONFIDENCE REMAINS HIGH THAT ALEX WILL BE A SLOW MOVING CYCLONE WHILE MOVING ALONG OR INTO THE NORTHEAST MEXICO OR SOUTH TEXAS COAST…WHICH WOULD BRING FLOODING RAINS INTO THE LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. STORM TOTALS COULD RANGE FROM 7 TO 12 INCHES…BUT THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER TOTALS IN EXCESS OF 12 INCHES BEFORE THE SITUATION STARTS TO IMPROVE BY THE END OF THE WEEK.

So they’re saying there’s a tropical storm called Alex and it’s going to become a category one, two or three hurricane and beat the living crap out of my sleepy little south Texas town Thursday morning. And I was all set for the fireworks this weekend, too. Wait, no I wasn’t.

UPDATE: 7/1

Alex became a hurricane late Wednesday and hit northeast Mexico pretty hard but where I live it was nothing more than scattered showers. I wound up going to a bar for karaoke and the power stayed on the whole night. The clouds were fun to watch, though. I went to work the next day like nothing happened.

This is how you take an otherwise affable spot for the 2011 Kia Sorento and twist it into something…a little darker. Somehow, my version seems more appropriate. Just call me Captain Buzzkill.

“Far Away” by José González, Red Dead Redemption Original Soundtrack

Completed for Playboy.

Cinematography / Editing : Jason R. Johnston
Music licensed through Firstcom Music

I definitely am, and it’s all thanks to this amazing video. It’s the best damn tourism advertisement I’ve ever seen and it actually is fairly inspiring. After some research, I’m now seriously looking into moving to Iceland. Check out the video below!