Responsibly Wild Blog

My Mother and her six sisters have been posting Christmas memories each day this month, leading up December 25, and while I want to join in, I don’t want to over do it, so i will share just one. My most vivid and painful xmas memory.  When I was nine years old I got the coolest gift in the world, a multitrack audio recorder designed for kids, complete with headphone and instrument inputs and built-in noises (think laser and animal sounds). I've received cool gifts since, but that recorder hit at the perfect age to be historically amazing. I don’t remember how much attention it got on the day of Christmas, but had I known it’s fate, I would not have put it down. The day after Christmas I went out to run errands with my mom and siblings. I’m sure the days events were the trivial post-Christmas errands everyone does who doesn’t have to go to work- the things that quickly fade from memory. Kind of ironic actually, because what was awaiting us at home I will never forget.  O...

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on my film blog - Filmcast Without a Cause for those who aren't in the know- about three trendy films that came out this year that used time travel in interesting ways ; Looper , Sound of my Voice and Safety Not Guaranteed . As the year is coming to a close, top 10 lists are trickling out and each of these films is getting some love. While I'm not here to rehash my thoughts on these films, I would like to go super nerdy on you and talk about my preferred time travel logic, which can be best described through parallel universes. I could use my wikipedia knowledge of the Novikov self-consistency principle to explain it, but instead I'll go with the poetic words of Jurassic Park's Dr. Ian Malcolm when he said "Life finds a way." Before I go to deeply into this thought, allow me to present one of my favorite illustrations of how traveling back in time to change the past would impact the future. Where do I turn for my ex...

Add caption Meet Merv. a snowman ornament who now is warming the heart of one kind, elderly resident of the Green Hills Retirement Community in Ames, Iowa. The story of Merv's journey to Green Hills is short, but very heartwarming.  Merv was born at 10:50 a.m. on Monday, December 3, 2012 with a solitary purpose; to bring unexpected joy to someone endowed with the Christmas spirit. His inception came from a company retreat where embracing change, cultivating a positive mind-set and "Positive Intelligence" were the topic du jour. Before Merv came to be, attendees of the retreat were tasked with finding a partner they don't normally work with, and partaking in an act of kindness exercise; making ornaments. Here is a silly little poem to commemorate Merv. As partnerships were formed and teams descended on the crafting supplies, one duo waited patiently for the ruckus to die. After a 10 minute delay, the partners approached the craft table and set about ma...

It's funny to me how mysterious gift giving is to some people. What's should I get my Husband? What should I get my son? What should I get my dog? There appears to be a very large contingent of people out there who are lost in the woods when it comes to what the important people in their life are interested in and what would make a suitable gift for them. For instance , for about as long as I can remember my mom has asked me for birthday and christmas lists, knowing full well I love films, I'm a musician, I dig the outdoors and travel, and I am kind of a looney tune so anything fun or goofy will go over pretty well. Still, I make the list because I don't want her to agonize over getting me "the right" gift. This year I'm doing things a little differently. BEHOLD! Pinterest is the perfect venue to house any kind of list. Why should I (or any guy for that matter) go through the trouble of coming up with a list of things I want, just to do it all ...

The "big bang" of my connection to local music dates April 22, 1999. Why do I know that specific date? Because the first local band I specifically sought out to see live (outside of my circle of friends playing music) was Grubby Ernie, opening for the Toasters at Val Air Ballroom. Thankfully the  website for Grubby Ernie -who called it quits over a decade- is still up and running with ALL their past shows , photos and links to their recordings. Grubby hit at the perfect time in my musical world; I was huge into Ska and pop punk and they put on a crazy fun show. I dragged about 10-12 of my friends to that show and we spent the night bouncing around and skanking like morons their entire set. A little moment in time that I have no pictures or video of (a rarity in my life). In a semi-related bit of trivia, a couple years later my old band High Jinx experienced one of its most fun shows opening for Grubby Ernie who had sold out the Maintenance Shop in Ames. Fast forwar...

Saturday, the Iowa State University Foundation held its family picnic at Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge, Iowa. How cool was it? I think these pics speak for themselves. Marieta and I have been to a handful of pumpkin patch/activity farms since moving back to Iowa in 2009, but this place takes the cake. Center Grove has all kinds of farm animals, a basketball court size corn pool, a giant jumping pillow, a 4 acre corn maze, tractor pedal carts, a huge slide, a apple sling shot range and tons more. You need to take your kids here!  And if you're wondering, Marieta did not spend the whole time behind the camera. So, yes I am 30 years old, and yes, I still love to be a big goofball in public. Talking with a few coworkers at the event I am pretty sure I was the only childless employee to bounce around on the pillow and cannonball jump into the corn pool. I wont let my age keep me from having fun. If there is one downside to Center Grove it is the prize you get fr...

Allow me two paragraphs you tell you the tale of a clumsy 30 year old guy. Monday afternoon while flying home from a 10-day vacation out west, Marieta and I found ourselves with a 40 minute layover at Denver Int'l Airport. In that short window I decided to stop by the bathroom and take care of some business. While I was washing my hands my cellphone -which I was precariously holding against my chest with my jaw- slipped into the sink, half full of water. As my phone fell to its death I yelled a rather nasty expletive quite loudly, upset that I had sent a rather young, and not cheap, cell phone to certain death.  See I've been in this situation before, 13 years ago I dropped my cell phone in to a bucket of water and ZAP! It was toast.  That's how this story should have ended but the design mavens at LG must have sprinkle some fairy dust on this pocket sized computer as it survived a 6 second dip. That's right, my LG Viper looked the angel...

In roughly 30 hours Des Moines will never be the same. Why? Because it will have experienced the demented short film "Trigger Words" produced by team Tiny Explosions.  Care for a taste? Good gravy was this weekend fun. Here's a few pictures I snapped to take you behind the curtain: First off, Tiny Explosions lucked out and didn't pull one of the harder genres; i.e. Drama or Film De Femme (don't ask), we pulled Vacation or Holiday Film. The guy standing next to me when I pulled the card laughed very loudly and said "Good luck!" Apparently his team hated it a few years back, luckily we didn't have the same experience. After every team found out the genre they'd be working in we got the standard elements: Character: Chris or Christina Samuels, a Musician Prop: a Coloring Book Line: "Let's Do It" We wasted no time the elements were announced, Brian and I packed up and headed for my basement. ...

This past Saturday night my good friends Handlebar played a show in at House of Bricks in Des Moines. Doors were at 9pm and I thought they'd hit the stage around 11:30pm or so... not the case, they ended up playing last, aka 1am. Once I heard the line-up had changed I grabbed Handlebar's lead songwriter, and my filmmaking compatriot, Brian Hogan to make an impromptu digital short film with our time. Here's the finished product: Ridiculous, but aren't they all? 

What now seems like a million years ago, three classmates and I made what can only be described as the second best visual aid ever produced ( the best being that dinosaur extinction video I shared ). A little context: In this class there were roughly 25 students and we were split into groups and tasked with giving a presentation to the class about a nonverbal subcode such as touch, physical appearance, body movements, gestures, vocal inflection and finally, space or proxemics. These presentations needed to fill the entire class time, 50 minutes. My group, Corey Orehek, Adam Bosman, and Kyle Gragert and myself had no intention of filling 50 minutes with us blathering on, so we made this video.  About a week before our presentation date, on a rainy afternoon, we ran around campus with a camera getting uncomfortably close to anyone within our line of sight. Ridiculousness and discomfort was had by both the unknowing subjects and group members in front of the camera. Still...

I used to have the well earned reputation as the kid who was always carrying a camera. Starting in about 8th grade or so I fell in love with videotaping all of the shenanigans my friends and I got into. Then in 11th grade I was introduced to the world of "non-linear editing" with programs like Avid, Final Cut Pro and Media 100 and my fate was pretty much sealed. This "Got Pat?" promo, along with its sister video , were the product of my video production education during my short stay in Grand Rapids and helping produce "Central Sights," the morning news announcements at Grand Rapids Central High School. My friend Chris Ostertag is the guy manning the camera here. After getting a well rounded feel for Final Cut I never put my camera down and ridiculousness ensued. Music: Homegrown's "Grow Up" One of my favorite memories of my Grandpa Joe was him telling me I could drive with as many girls in the car as i wanted, it was when you ge...

No it's not a look at Hannah's wedding, it's way better. Enjoy Hannah serenading her new husband, Joel, with Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Women." I've seen Hannah sing more times than i can remember, and in my opinion, this performance is one of her best. Joel's a lucky guy.

Nearly all of my high school friends have tied the knot and this weekend my good friend Hannah joined the crowd. On the 913th day of their courtship Joel Dorn and Hannah Bretz made it official at the Izaak Walton League in Des Moines.  Joel -even though he's a Minnesotan- is a really cool guy; an outdoorsman, an adventurer and funny as heck. In her toast, Hailey, Hannah's sister and matron of honor, spilled the beans on their first date wherein Joel only had a knife, and even after getting a full set of silverware, ate his meal with the knife alone on principle. THAT IS AWESOME. Beyond being a cool couple, I enjoyed their wedding for selfish reasons as they hired me to film it. That's right I'm only person who can relive the wedding two days later because I have it all on tape. I have the whole day on tape, in HD. Over the next couple days I'll cut it up and if you're really nice to me I'll cut a teaser trailer together for those who couldn...

This past winter I once again leant my scoring talents to a friend's documentary project, " Iowa's Firefighting Family. " Produced in 2011 the film tells the story of volunteer firefighters in Iowa (which makes up 90% of Iowa's firefighters), with the detailed story of one family of firefighters from Harlan, IA. My friend Jacob Rosdail produced the film along with mutual friends Aaron Riggs and Amy Langdon. The film airs June 5th at 7pm on IPTV... but if you can't wait, it is also streaming on IPTV 's website. If you'd like to taste a slice before you buy the whole pie, here's a excerpt: Recently Aaron screened the documentary to a packed house of firefighters in Ames, Iowa and Jacob posted this awesome letter on his film production blog " Cat Basket Films ":  Iowa Firefighters Association President Jack Runge wrote the following e-mail after the screening: Aaron and Jacob I wanted to send you a note to thank and c...

It's official, Team Tiny Explosions is registered for the 2012 48 Hour Film Project Des Moines . I've discussed this traveling film festival before but let me say it again, I love this thing. It's a mass gathering of filmmaking loons, hilarious short films, and it's a chance to share one of my favorite things (short films) with my friends and coworkers. Click the 48 banner for more details on  #DM48HFP  otherwise enjoy the piece I helped produced last year for the festival as a member of Team Mystery Box (I scored the film and produced some graphic elements). And because they were produced in the #DM48HFP model, here are two recent shorts that I produced with Team Tiny Explosions compatriots. See you in July!

Early this month my coworker Ryan Peterson, co-host of the dormant music podcast " We Hate Music ," introduced me to the local act Holy White Hounds and since that moment, I've been thirsting to see them live. Saturday that thirst was quenched. Watch on Youtube Watch on Youtube Watch on Youtube Watch on Youtube Watch on Youtube Watch On Youtube I might have gone a little over board with the filming. What can I say I really dig these guys sound and their live performance lived up to their recordings. Three pieces are a tricky business but luckily these guys have the chops and stage presence to pull it off. After you watch these videos I suggest you download their EP on Amazon and check them out live. An added bonus to the evening was checking out local rock-country group Bright Giant . Watch on Youtube Watch on Youtube Watch on Youtube All songs available for down...

Lately I've been going through a little bit of a musical renaissance. I've been going to local shows, post videos online, writing songs (not scoring videos) for the first time in years, I've even stopped listening to talk radio as much in favor of tunes. How far have I fallen down the rabbit hole? I spent some time at old local haunts Iowahardcore.com, 515crew.com, and Strangetalk.net. While those sites have fallen into some serious disarray, it's been fun taking a trip down musical memory lane. I got so nostalgic I actually purchased Ten Grand's "This is the Way to Rule" on Amazon (So glad I got to see those guys right before Matt passed). While tip-toeing through my musical past I came across a little tape (yes, an audio cassette) of basement recordings one Chris Saldanha and I made in June of the year 2000. We had just started a band and the summer prior we went to the Warped Tour for the first time. We saw a lot of cool bands but probably the c...

For the third time since I launched this baby back in 2003 I've changed the old blog name, you're now reading  P@ Rants . Why? Well basically everything on here is in one way or another, a rant; however to keep outside links from breaking we will soldier on with http://stuntbunny.blogspot.com . Along with the rebranding I've decided to build some blog pages. So if you're looking for one of my short films, a music video I shot, my video film reviews, PB & AJ videos, or one of my "slice of life" videos, they're all nicely kept at the top of this page. It was kind of fun looking through some of my older videos, like my "Scotty B Pool Tournament" mockumentary "Ball in Hand," click over to the Short Films page to watch that re-watch that puppy. Not a very in-depth post but I figured I'd keep you informed on the what and why. Enjoy your weekend.

Before I get to it, or post a single picture,  let me give you ample warning ; this post deals with, and shows, the blood and guts of cleaning/butchering a chicken . I'm talking chickens one minute, dead the next. So if you don't want to see or read about that, click away. May I suggest you check out one of my other blogs ? Okay, you've been sufficiently warned. On with the show... If you don't know from my Sustaining Iowa venture, Marieta and I are big into local food and we are proud to espouse its virtues wherever we go. A few weeks ago one of our favorite local farms, Coyote Run , was holding a chicken butchering party (basically a bunch of farm patrons helping kill and clean a bunch of birds), and due to my Master degree homework I couldn't make it. So Saturday at the first farmers' market of the 2012 season , I told Matt and Patrick from Coyote Run my dismay at missing the event. Pat said we should come down on Sunday and help them clean 10 roo...

Most Wednesday evenings I can be found chilling at home, either working on my Masters degree or hanging with the wife. Last night was a completely different story. Thanks to a school night gig from my good friends in Handlebar I spent my Wednesday evening in one of Des Moines' newer local venues, the Gas Lamp , getting to know a couple hard-as- rusty -nails local rock acts; Viva Montesa and Superchief , and you know I brought my camera along to share with you good people. These guys flat out rock. I've seen a lot of local acts in my day. More often than not you are subjected to new acts because they're riding the bill of groups you dig, well Viva Montesa is the gut-punching except to that norm. There are obvious comparisons to be drawn with their sound but I'll leave that for someone else. I've seen few local acts in my day that kept me engaged from the top of their set to the bottom. I only wish I had decided to film their entire performance. When I see...

Saturday was supposed to be so relaxing, eat some pancakes, run a few errands, watch a movie, hang with friends... Man I wish it had ended up that way, instead just when I was about eat my pancakes I looked under the kitchen sink only to discover... the garbage disposal had leaked all over the place. Son of a biznitch. Saturday and Sunday turned into something entirely different than initially planned, I was now in for a very handyman-ish weekend. Thirty hours later this was the scene, the garbage disposal replaced. Turns out Hubbell Homes used one of the worst reviewed disposals on Amazon for our sink. Thanks a lot guys. Not only was the disposal terrible but it was virtually locked in place. I was almost standing on my head trying to pull this thing off the sink flange. But in the end I won. Behold, Victory! On top of this I decided to attack a couple other projects as well; build a kitchen organizer and spread limestone on the lawn. In the zone I guess. So if anyone o...

My film making compatriot Brian Hogan and I have graduated from puppets to people.  In February we released the short film " Master of Puppets ." Today, we release our sophomore effort " The Chase Begins ," enjoy. Besides having fun, why are we making these ridiculous films? Last year I did the 48 Hour Film Project for the first time and I fell in love; the challenge, the deadline, working with a group of people who just want to have fun making a film, following the #DM48HFP hashtag.... the only problem was the majority of the people in my group were either complete strangers or colleagues that I didn't feel comfortable battling over ideas with (and when it came down to the end, choices were made I didn't agree with). Our final product was good but the overall process could have been much more enjoyable. So I decided if I was going to do it again, I wanted to work with a group of people I was comfortable with and confident in, cue Hogan. Now tha...

What's the best thing to come of Marieta's masters degree so far? She's knitting. Okay, so the two have very little to do with each other but she did start knitting after she regained all her spare time taken up by studying. Care to see her handy work? EXHIBIT A! Her first knitting project was this scarf, FOR ME! ...Not sure why that needed to be in caps but I'd like to think everyone reads my blog with the voice of Ms. Piggy providing the narration. Actually that sounds like the worst thing ever. Anywho, this scarf is pretty awesome and learning how to knit it was kind of a bonding moment with her Grandma. Observe: While this scarf may have been the first project she started, it wasn't the first she finished. During the creation of my scarf she took a knitting interlude to make a baby blanket for her best friend. Take a looksy. Marieta's bud, Autumn, had her third child last month, a beautiful little girl named Charlotte ( click here t...