Since forever, I’ve been hooked on flight. In planes big or small, balloons, anything that flies, goes fast and is otherwise in direct opposition to the side of me that believes strongly in being safe by observing best practices at all times.

I once lived in Juneau, Alaska and used to watch paragliders from my deck, wondering how it must feel to soar unaided by anything but the wind and a little technology, simple in its complexity. I wondered how I’d ever get a chance to find out. Enter my new pal, Gever, who took me up in his paraglider yesterday over Mussel Park just south of San Francisco.

We had so much fun, we’re going out again today. Gever told me it’s just the thing and, after all, some meetings at the Exploratorium and a trip to the airport will take us right by Mussel Park, again, where I shot the footage in the short edit from yesterday’s flight – “Twist my arm,” I said:

From a selection of 29 individual storyboards, we drew two scenes randomly and made a short screenplay from them. Then, using resources immediately available to us, we made this short film in one day on location @ Tinkering School in Montara, California:

Go cart design, assembly and testing by the inimitable Team Tinker with snippets of boat model design and other moments of singular, whimsical tinkering mastery. Thanks to Moby for his song, Porcelain.

Think, Make, Tinker: Theo, Isaac, Leo, Max, Hannah, Nik, Sam, Jacob, Julie and Gever set off to test their inventions on Day 6 of Tinkering School. Nods to King of Hawaii for the groovy surf vibe.

A few clips from the 5th day of Tinkering School:

Filming the Charlie Parr video last weekend

As I mentioned earlier, last weekend I went down to the river with a bunch of gear to help Dan Huiting shoot a music video featuring Charlie Parr for City of Music and the video is premiering this coming Monday on the site.

See more stills from the shoot and read the article in City Pages

It’s 20 seconds, actually, but it goes by fast as my new pal, Charlie Parr, plays his National while sitting along the mighty Mississippi River:

Charlie Parr in Minneapolis this morning

Amidst such a perfect backdrop for his sound, the morning flew by listening to him sing and play his National down there along the river while we did our three-camera shoot. He has a new album out soon, too, so keep an eye peeled for it.

I’ll be sure to post the final edit here but, meanwhile, please enjoy this clip taken in ‘09 while Charlie played Cheap Wine at the Victoria Pub in Birmingham, UK:

James Brooks and Josh Clancy are Elite Gymnastics

Elite Gymnastics is James Brooks and Josh Clancy. The duo have been receiving quite a bit of national attention for their brand of chillwave tunage. From the New York Post to Pitchfork, these two are getting positive reviews. Minneapolis’ own City Pages had this to say:

…a trance-inducing quality to them, akin to sitting in a darkened opium den listening to ’80s dance hits stream out of a telephone receiver, off in the distance, softly yet persistently.

Check them out for yourself below and if you likey you can listen to more via their MySpace page and/or download their Real Friends EP for free here:

More than 3000 enjoyed the 10 Second Film Festival

Thanks to the Soap Factory and MPLS.tv!

Watch ‘Sticks’ in its entirety below (14-seconds):

MPLS.tv created the credits for the Soap Factory’s 10 Second Film Festival and did it so well this opening credit won the award in the ARTHOUSE category, and features the Mayor of Minneapolis, Chris Cloud: