videos from Mexico

we hiked to the top of the mountain to the lighthouse (El Faro) on our second day. these were a few of the butterflies we found at the top.

the atm we used in Mazatlan was awesome. every time you finish a transaction, it plays a little song to celebrate! Unfortunately I recorded it sideways, and I can't figure out how to rotate it. oops. (nope, you won't find Mike's pin number on the video - i started recording after he put it in).

we had dinner at one of the restaurants on the ocean, and watched the surfers at sunset. you can see them in the waves in this video.

i loved how the waves hit the rocks

live music in Plaza Machado after dinner

it started raining after breakfast on our last morning in Mazatlan. it just suddenly started pouring rain - right about the time we wanted to catch a taxi. i tried to get video of it, but i didn't feel like the video was quite capturing it.... which is why there are so many of them.

we had a couple of hours at the airport, which was enough time to watch a plane come in... here are a few videos of it. it isn't the plane we took back to the states (in fact it isn't even the airline we took), but it was fun to watch.

The 4th

Mike and I walked Morpheus over to Lake Meridian to watch the fireworks. I took a few short videos of the fireworks. Enjoy!

Nosework Class

Morpheus is nearing the end of his Nosework III class, and is currently working on more difficult searches with a Q-tip saturated with birch scent. The challenges he worked with in class today included putting the Q-tip inside a closed box without holes, and hiding the Q-tip in tight areas where he might need to ask his person for help. He has done a number of box searches before, but until today the boxes had holes in them to let the scent out a little better - and so today we added the challenge of no holes. He's also done searches before where he needed to request help to get at the scent, and that is one that he really needs to practice, because he's more of an independent searcher who likes to do it all on his own.

I took video today while Mike handled Morpheus. He was a little goofy and off task during his first search, but after that he did better. He rests between each search while other dogs in the class take their turns searching.

Oscars

2010 was a year of movies for me - so i thought i'd finish it off by watching as many of the 2010 films nominated for Oscars as possible. Not all of them were available to see after the nominees were announced, but a good number of them were either still in the theaters or already out on dvd. Of the many that were nominated for awards, these are the ones I've seen:

127 Hours
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
Biutiful
The Fighter
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
How to Train Your Dragon
I Am Love
The Illusionist
Inception
Iron Man 2
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
The Wolfman


For the categories where I've seen all or most of the films, my picks are below! (for those where I couldn't decide, I just chose more than one) :)

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best Picture
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

storytelling

i have noticed a recurring theme in my life. this isn't a new observation, really, but one that i have been made aware of again recently. it has to do with my superb listening skills, which seem to inspire people to tell me all sorts of things. The first time I really remember this happening was in high school. I had a couple of friends who would routinely sit and tell me just about everything that was on their mind. (and I never betrayed their secrets).

Then, when I was in community college, I used to sit in a particular little alcove with several other regulars - and a couple of them would routinely tell me loads of personal stories too. (i never betrayed their secrets either - although come to think of it, it's probably in large part because i can't actually remember anybody's secrets. i have a terrible memory).

At the UW I had a student job at Suzzallo Library all 4 years, and a few people would come and chat with me, including my boss. If I was having a particularly tired day, I could just go sit in her office, and if she was in a storytelling mood, it would take up so much time that I wouldn't have any time left to actually do much work. There were another couple of student workers who would come and sit in my work area just to chat too. One of them told me I should charge like they were therapy sessions, since they did all of the talking and I did all of the listening.

I've had a number of friends since that will just sit and chat when we're together. And now, I'm spending a bunch of time in the library at work, and the librarian has been chatting up a storm too. She's asked me several times why she tells me so much - and i've confessed to her that it isn't her - it's me. I inspire people to tell their secrets. i'd probably make a great spy.

I've told my librarian friend that I never repeat other people's stories - except to my husband. (so if you've ever found yourself telling me far more about yourself than you ever intended, you can probably rest assured that I'm not going to repeat it anytime soon, except potentially to Mike, who has a bad memory anyway). I do rather enjoy listening to other people's stories though. I find it highly interesting to learn about the people I know. it's probably what makes me such a great listener - i'm paying good attention when you're talking, because i'm interested in what you're telling me. so chat away, and feel free to blame it on my strange ability to inspire you to do so!

Morpheus's Nosework Homework

I went ahead and caught some video of Morpheus practicing his nosework homework tonight. We did the searches in the front room, where Morpheus usually only goes when we're on the way out for a walk, or going out to the car when he goes on a car ride. The rest of the time he doesn't have access to this area. Normally if he got to come in here, he'd run around and sniff the whole room to explore the space - but notice how focused he is on the search.

You might also wonder why Mike has him on leash. We're doing this for two reasons - first so he doesn't rush up the stairs and scare the cats to death (which he'd normally try to do the second he gets the chance) - but notice his lack of interest in looking for the stairs. Second, and really more relevant, I want to do trials in tracking with him, and he will need to be used to being on leash for them. Some dogs get distracted during searches when they're on leash (particularly when they're first starting) - but it doesn't affect Morpheus a bit. A lot of dogs will look to their person when on leash for some indication of what to do - but Morpheus is more than happy to drag Mike around when he's on a search.

I want to note here that we've got his leash attached to his regular buckle collar, not the prong collar we use to walk him. We've done this for two reasons as well. first, so we don't accidentally hinder him from going where he wants to go by using the prong collar, and second so he can make a distinction between the two very different behaviors we're expecting from him, depending on the collar he's wearing on leash. prong collar = behave and quit pulling, while buckle collar = dog leads the person wherever he wants to go and searches for goodies. (before we got started he was whining and trying to pull Mike into the front room too. he's quick about figuring out which collar means what, and he was dying to go play his favorite game).

You'll notice several boxes and quite a few other objects scattered around the room in the videos. We used chunks of hotdogs for his treats (at home that works - outside of the house he was more interested in doing other things than in finding or eating hotdogs, so we use a higher value treat when we leave the house). The hotdog is always in the smaller white box. This makes it easier for Mike to know where the treat is - but more importantly, the small white box is the only one that smells like the prize, which is a big deal for the dog. spreading the scent around to multiple boxes would confuse the issue, and change the nature of the game. we want him to use his nose to find the scent, not confuse him by making everything smell like the prize.

This week we were asked to make a bit of a puzzle out of it for him, so in addition to the boxes, I threw in a number of other things that were handy. The other objects (as well as the extra boxes) do a couple of things. they provide extra places for him to search, they can be obstacles for him to work out how to navigate around to get to the scent, and they can actually trap, channel, and concentrate the scent to help him track it. so yes, that is why the vacuum is sometimes knocked over in the middle of the room in the videos. ;)

In a lot of these, he saunters straight over to the box like he knew just where it was, even though I put it in a different place each time, and used totally different areas of the room. In a couple he does a little more sniffing around the room before he gets to it. He's really good at this, which is why he sometimes goes straight to it. He's using his nose and ignoring a lot of other things in the room that would normally be very fun for him to explore. In the last one I put the box on the stairs - and normally he gets in some big trouble for getting near the stairs, but that didn't stop him from following his nose over there (nor did it encourage him to go sauntering up the stairs) - he stayed on task and found the treat, even though it was in a rather unusual spot - we had never put it on the stairs before. I put it there to try to make it more of a challenge for him. it's getting tough to make it a challenge because he's so good at this!

--Enjoy!

movies galore (& more)

the oscar nominees were announced on tuesday - and given my recent obsession with movie watching, it should come as no real shocker that i was anxiously waiting for them to be announced. i'm really excited to watch them this year, and i want to be prepared for them. in the past i've watched them and not really known what half of the movies were about. this time i'm planning a movie night for the friday before oscar night to watch some of the nominated movies. a number of the nominees are still out in the theater, so i've spent some time this weekend going to see those. in fact, i've seen a number of movies this weekend. I saw Baarìa with Mike on Friday night. It's an Italian movie, by the same director (Giuseppe Tornatore) who did Cinema Paradiso, which is one of my favorite movies (in the uncut version anyway). I found that while I did enjoy Baarìa, it wasn't nearly as good as Cinema Paradiso was.

Mike is working on his comprehensive exams, so I didn't bug him to come with me for the rest of my weekend adventures, and to be quite honest, it was kind of nice to go out and spend some time alone checking out things I love. I went to the Bellevue Art Museum to see the Ginny Ruffner exhibit. She's a sculptor who works with glass and metal. I found her use of glass totally refreshing. I feel the same way I do about glass as I do about ceramics. I think they both have this time honored stigma of being used for vessels and practical purposes. Go in your kitchen, I'm willing to bet you have both glass and ceramic dishes in your cupboard. Though both (of course) are used for other types of artwork, you also tend to see a lot of glass bowls and ceramic pots even in museums. I always love it when I see something that totally breaks out of those traditional uses for those materials, and Ginny Ruffner certainly does that. Her work explores a theme of genetic engineering, and hybrid forms that incorporate aspects of the animal kingdom as well as the plant kingdom. Though her work is relatively abstract, you do get the feeling of animalistic as well as plant based elements. More than anything else, I enjoyed her use of color. She used it in really surprising ways, especially contrasted with the metal. In one piece in particular she used glass that was similar in hue to the metal that was used, and relied on the differences in surface quality to differentiate between the two, the glass being somewhat transparent and luminescent, while the metal was not buffed and left somewhat dull, and did not radiate light, but instead had something of a dull mirror-like quality to it. In other pieces she did just the opposite, where the metal was almost a neutral backdrop for incredibly bright spots of luminescent color. I really enjoyed her work, and I'm especially looking forward to seeing a documentary on her next weekend at the Tacoma Art Museum. (the exhibit at BAM goes through next weekend, and if you're in town and have the time - I definitely recommend it).

while I'm on the topic of glass art, i might as well share that I have been invited to apply for a scholarship for a summer class at Pilchuck. I've never used glass as a medium before (unless you count an awful stained glass piece that I did in middle school, and have since lost), but this class is focused on painting with glass, and past experience with glass is not a requirement. After my very thought provoking experience with using clay like paint - I would very much be interested in experimenting with glass from a painter's perspective. My problem is that the class would be a fairly expensive couple of weeks. I had just decided not to apply at this time, when I got an e-mail from them inviting me to apply for the scholarship. So I'm going to go ahead and apply for the program and the scholarship later this week and see what happens. It would be an amazing experience - so cross your fingers for me!

I spent the rest of my saturday down in Tacoma at the Grand. I saw back-to-back oscar nominees: True Grit, and The King's Speech. I enjoyed them both, but I liked The King's Speech somewhat better. Seeing True Grit jogged my memory, and I am almost certain that I've seen the 1969 original. I vaguely recall that I was unable to sleep one night when I was living in Pittsburgh, and caught it on tv, and the original was quite good if my memory is accurate. I find myself somewhat confused, though, that Jeff Bridges is nominated for Best Actor, while Hailee Steinfeld is only being nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting role. I would argue that Hailee was the leading character in that movie, while Jeff Bridges held the supporting role - considering that the movie is about Mattie's (Hailee's character) determination to catch her father's killer. (though I should note that I did really love Jeff Bridges performance in the movie). I'd personally like to see Helena Bonham Carter get the oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work on The King's Speech. Considering her past movies (Alice in Wonderland, Fight Club, Harry Potter, etc), it seemed like an unusual role for her - but she really stepped up and did an amazing job in the role.

I got up this morning and went straight to the theater downtown Kent to see The Fighter. I hadn't actually heard much about this one, but thought I might as well take advantage of the fact that it was still in my local theater to see it while I can. And I'm glad I did - it was a great movie. Of the nominees I've seen this weekend, I'd choose this one for Best Picture over True Grit and King's Speech. (though personally I prefer Black Swan over all of them).

Then I went straight down to Tacoma to see Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. It was playing at a theater downtown - and I always think it's great to be able to see the great old ones when they're in the theater. Mike couldn't go with me (because of those exams), and I had bought tickets in advance. I asked around to see if anyone else would like to go, but in the end I went to this one by myself too. Which again was kind of nice. I've enjoyed having some time to myself this weekend. I donated my extra ticket at the door and asked them if they thought anybody could use it. The lady taking tickets told me she thought she knew just the guy who could use it. She said something about he was off looking for his wife. I didn't quite catch the story - but I do hope that someone was able to use it. It was a fun one - and of course, I do usually like James Stewart.

My favorite cousin is moving back to WA, and is flying in next Saturday. I learned yesterday that he's really been wanting to go and see Black Swan. I also learned he's a big Aronofsky fan. (to which I told him that he was a seriously cool relative, since I didn't think anyone else I'm related to would know who Aronofsky is, nevermind be a fan of his work). We agreed that The Fountain was fantastic, and "criminally underrated" to quote my cousin. I told him I think Black Swan is even better. Since he'll be in town so soon, I invited him to go and see it with me next weekend. I'd absolutely love to see it again!


I have an update about my dog for you too. You may recall that I took him to his first nosework class last weekend - and he was uninterested in the treats (which I had been worried about), and then he pee'd on the floor. Not the great start I hoped we'd get off to.... but this weekend I took him to his second class. I came prepared with a different variety of treats - and so did the instructor. she gave me some freeze dried liver treats to try - which Morpheus LOVED. I also delayed his breakfast and made him go hungry to see if that would make a difference. (don't worry he got breakfast when he got home) ;) ...I'm not sure which one made the difference, but he was a changed dog. With the first search he didn't quite know what we were supposed to be up to, but as soon as he discovered the liver treat in the box, he knew exactly what game we were playing. From then on he was exactly like he is at home with the nosework game. It's tough to stump him, and he can find his prize pretty quickly. in fact, he routinely found the treat faster than any of the other dogs, and he was sure running around the room sniffing quicker than the other dogs. He's also not shy about shoving his head right into the boxes and knocking things over when they're in his way. (one of the other dogs in his class is exactly the opposite. she gets nervous if she even gets close enough to barely touch one of the boxes. if she knocked them around like Morpheus does, she'd probably have a doggie heart attack. she reminds me of a dog version of Masaaki). Morpheus also did not pee on anything this week. i guess the correction he got last week for it was enough to make him think twice about where the toilet is.

I'm going to try to get a video of him doing his nosework homework this week, so you can see him "at work" - it's really pretty awesome to see him do it.