October 26, 2009

October, November, December…

Filed under: Narrative — brillwill @ 12:00 am

The morning air has begun to turn crisp, and in a few more weeks I’m certain I will see my breath in the air. Winter has always been a time of reflection, and for me this winter marks the second year that I have moved to San Antonio. Sometimes, it feels like I’ve moved from place to place without ever taking the time to stop and breathe. Of course, for all of my friends that are currently jobless, it seems like stopping and breathing is a pretty overrated thing.

This weekend I went to Austin to visit some of my best friends. It was a completely rejuvenating experience, given that I’ve been in San Antonio for nearly a month and a half without stepping away, and the change in scenery was exactly what the doctor ordered. I woke up early Saturday morning to grab breakfast, and then ended up wandering around South Congress until I found myself at a Friend’s of Sound Records

Now, I happen to love collecting vinyl. I know, it seems an incredibly hipster thing to do in this age of iTunes and mp3s, but for some reason I just love records. I feel that the size of a 12″ vinyl is an absolutely perfect size to truly appreciate album art, and the actual act of listening to vinyl is highly ritualistic.

Take the vinyl out
Place it on the turntable
Find the groove, put the needle down
Press play

It’s a form of commitment to music that just feels right. At least, a lot less fleeting than clicking on an mp3 and then changing the song 2 minutes in to another mp3, over and over again.

So, the entire reason for this post is that I found two of my absolute favorite albums available in fantastic condition.

The first, Small Change by Tom Waits, was an absolute gem and I immediately snatched it up the second I saw it. Tom Waits is one of those artists who  managed to authoritatively define and redefine his sound several times throughout his career, moving from a bluesy, piano playing beat poet to a completely uncategorizable artist. Small Change is one of his earlier albums, an incredible bluesy piano driven album with brilliant storytelling lyrics that paint vivid images of childhood friendship, romance, alcoholism, love and regret of a blue collar gentleman of the early 70s. Highly recommended, and you will get used to the voice :)

I’ll share the other album on another night. Cheers!

October 9, 2009

The Jimmy Tran

Filed under: Narrative, Photography — brillwill @ 8:15 am

Here’s the brilliant creator of this website. A tremendous thanks to his generosity and visionary web design. Visit his blog at www.thejimmytran.com !

Me and Jimmy go way back. I first met him in good ol Clear Lake High School, back when we were pure of spirit and heart. We both started an independent film club called…. Independent Film Community(IFC), and have been collaborating ever since.

IFC was an interesting experiment. The premise of the club was to create an independent feature length film, completely financed, produced, written, and starred by high school students. Every year we’d whip up an 80 page script, hold casting calls for actors, and attempt to film our movie over the course of the year. What we should have realized though, is that it is nearly impossible to get high school students to do anything that requires constant commitment. We would deal with setback after setback, ending the year with a couple of half assed filmed scenes, a bunch of vignettes, and a bunch of unfulfilled vision. Yet, I would have to say it was still the time of our lives. Is it too soon to look back at the footage and scripts I wrote? Probably.

October 8, 2009

defocus

Filed under: Narrative, Photography — brillwill @ 7:23 pm

So I’ve been asked what is the focus of the blog. There is no focus. This is just an extension of my thoughts, there is no rhyme or reason to what I post. Sometimes it could be images… sometimes it could be prose, or a rant. The only criteria is that it has to be important enough to me at some point to warrant a post. You have been warned!

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