There is just something about seeing your name in the New York Times. The article is surprisingly long. I think the journalist likes the video but I'm not sure. I do wish he had chosen a better adjective to describe my boyfriend than "doughy-looking". Was that really called for? I'd replace it with "ruggedly handsome".
Article here.
We started in Amsterdam in April 2007...
and ended in Seattle in June 2008.
thanks for the pic gapey!
40 countries and a cast of 1000's
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
The last two pieces that needed to be done were the music and the Seattle Dance. We are now officially done!
Well, technically there is more editing to be done but for all celebratory purposes this year-and-a-half long project is finished. No more emails, no more lists, no more invites or events. We are done.
It's been an amazing ride and I can't wait to see what happens when this video hits the internet. It could explode, it could flop. Who knows. No matter what, I love it and am so proud of what we've done.
The recording in LA was really fun. I flew down for the day and it was so worth it. Met up with Matt at the Burbank Travelodge (a surpsingly productive place) at 2am on Weds night. Woke up at 8am for a 10am start in Alhambra.
Matt got an SUV rental. When in Rome.
2 goals for the day -
1. Record Palbasha
2. Record 27 violins and 6 cellos.
Palbasha is a 17 year old Bengali singer from Minnesota. I found her on YouTube. Her voice is incredible and it is perfect for the video.
Matt, Palbasha and Garry going over the game plan.
She sang her heart out and we got some amazing stuff.
Garry is the composer. He also composed the music for the last video and the outtakes. He also composed the music for Bioshock!
Also attending the recording were Palbasha's mother, family friend, Garry's assitant Peter, 2 guys who run the studio, Dan the engineer (worked on the other videos too) and 2 friends of Garry's who are documentary film makers and fans of Matt.
It was great to finally meet Garry and Dan after hearing so much about them over the years.
When we were done with Palbasha she sang while Matt danced.
After lunch it was time for the violins!
Matt and I felt like we had the best seats at the symphony. The we realized we'd hired the symphony.
When we were done I was planning on just heading to the airport when we got an interesting invite. One of the film makers - Sherry - invited us to a cook-out at her house. Why not? We have a couple hours.
Turns out her house is a 14,000 sq foot mansion on 2 acres in North LA that was built in the 20's. We're talking gargoyls, a library, a studio, a full bar and a living room/movie theater. It was the perfect place to sit in the sun, drink wine, chat with interesting people and wind down after an exciting day.
I didn't want to leave. I probably shouldn't have. I actually tried to miss my flight. No luck.
Delays in San Francisco caused a 3 hour trip to double to 6 hours. I was already exhausted but after getting home at 4am I crawled into bed and could barely wake up to go get Matt from the airport at 9:30am.
The next day was all about hanging out with my sister who came to town for the Seattle Dance.
The dance was fantastic. We had almost 200 people! Largest one yet! All our friends and family to dance with! I could not have asked for more for the last event.
Check out Mark's and Paula's flickr pix of the event here and here (respectively).
And now it's done. And Matt is home. Hooray!
They...
made this...
Welcome to the world Genevieve!
From CuteOverload! today: Says Sender-Inner Jon V., "I'm always skeptical of pictures that look "set-up", but I promise that this happened without my assistance. My wife had some "strapless bra pads" sitting "adhesive-side-up" on a chair. My dog sat down on the chair with perfect alignment to her natural 'tocks. When she stood up, they were adhered and we got her to move around for the picture..."
I clicked on CNN today to get news about the election...boy was that stupid. First of all, what kind of ridiculous headline is this?
"More make-or-break-do-or-die primaries"
You have got to be kidding me. Are there any literate people still working for CNN?
Answer: NO.
Here are the rest of the headlines. It's not even news. It should be called "This is why humans suck."
My favorite is "Brett Favre: 'I'm just tired'... me too.
We woke up early to drive to the next town on our list: Punakha. There are lots of festivals throughout the year and we were lucky enough to be there during the Punakha festival. It’s a huge gathering where people come from all over the district to see family and friends, watch dancers, tell stories and just enjoy their community. Everyone puts on their finest clothes, packs a picnic and comes together for the whole day.
We spent the whole afternoon and the next morning people watching.
Punakha happens to be Chimi’s home town. We met his brother.
Dancers!
After the afternoon at the festival we went to one last fortress in Wangdue.
When we were done with Wangdue (pronounced Ongdy) we retired to the best of all the hotels we stayed in so far: Dragon’s Nest. It was a beautiful room and it was actually warm. It was so cold there that I had to basically curl up in bed to stay warm in all the other places we stayed in. It also had a great view of the river.
The food wasn’t as good as the hotel in Thimphu but we met a older American named Doug who had dinner with us. Bhutan is definitely the type of place where you meet interesting travelers.
We spent the next morning at the festival. After a while we had seen enough of the dancers so we went for a walk around the fortress, across a bridge and into the little market on the other side of the river.
Matt went to explore the market while I sat by the river in the sun and listened to the chanting at the festival.
There’s all this talk of “how to be happy” out in the media right now. I highly recommend sitting by a river in the sun listening to Buddhist chanting.
As if the moment wasn’t perfect enough, this kid and these puppies came to hang out.
After the festival we drove back to Paro (4 hrs on a very bumpy road). We stopped at a small village along the way to see Lama Dupa Keela's monastery. We saw some film makers while we were there. Can you tell which one is the Director?
Up over the pass. Saw the Himalayas...finally.
Back in Paro we wandered around town and watch some guys doing archery. Archery is like Sunday Night Bowling here. They would sing a song and do a dance when they got a bullseye.
We had a delicious dinner with Chimi.
The next day we hopped a plane for Bangkok. 43 hours later I was home.
I have a confession. I realized recently that I have never given credit where credit is due for the pictures I put up. I didn’t mean to hide it or anything, I swear.
Truth is, Matt’s an amazing photographer. Almost all of the pictures that I post here are taken by him. The ones in my flickr too. We usually take pictures of the same stuff but his are ALWAYS better. It kinda drives me crazy a little bit. But then I’m grateful that we have these amazing pictures of these incredible places and people.
For example: this is a nun feeding dogs in the nunnery.
We awoke in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. During breakfast we were watching this little guy and his brothers playing across the street. Actually we watched them during every meal that we ate at the hotel.
Thimphu is where the 4th King, his 4 wives and the 5th King all live. At first I thought the whole “4 wives, all sisters” was odd. But then Chimi told me a bit about them and I realized that they all actually have very important roles in the government. I was surprised to learn polygamy is totally accepted in Bhutan (husbands OR wives).
The queens are each responsible for very important social programs. One handles health initiatives like clean water and vaccines, etc. One started “RENEW”: Repect, Education, Nurture, Education for Women. One is working on AIDS education. The last handles Finance and Economic issues. Also, their big brother is up for election as the first president.
It’s a very interesting family.
This is where the king works.
The 4th King instituted the Ministry of Happiness and they gauge GNH - Gross National Happiness. It encompasses all social programs that make peoples' lives better.
There is no advertising in Bhutan. In most 3rd world countries, Coke and Doritos have huge signs plastered all over every little general store or building that will take their money. Not in Bhutan. These are the only billboards I saw...
We spent the day seeing the Thimphu sites. We went to a monastery and were blessed. Apparently it was a good day for prayer flag hanging so we bought some from a monastery and went to the top of the highest hill to hang them.
We also saw some Takin – Bhutan’s national animal.
We played around in gift shops.
Saw a giant stupa and the first 5 star hotel in Bhutan. It’s being built for all the dignitaries coming to visit for the coronation of the 5th King this year.
We ate more.
We finished the day in a playground with a bunch of kids who wanted to show us their gymnastics skills.
And, of course, we danced.
