The World According To Chris Brewer

Here’s the first Monochromatica video project. Thanks to the folks at my workplace for allowing me to do this video — it actually came in pretty handy as a training tool to show what can be done with two cameras or more in a shoot.

Enjoy it, and Happy Monday!

SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM.

…when I told her there is such a fruit known as the Marula, that comes from Africa.

She has no reason to, in her opinion, because she remembers the time a few years ago when I returned from a deep-sea fishing trip in Portugal (I was stationed there) and I had fabricated a hilarious story to our good friend Paul Symonds about a supposed indigenous species of fish found only in Portugal — known as plotkyfish. The guy bought it hook, line and sinker (sorry, Paully) and my mom doesn’t want to be in the same boat.

Well Mom, relax. The marula fruit is REAL.

Photo evidence:

Hilarious video evidence times deux (taken from Jamie Uys’ film Animals are Beautiful People) exists here and here.

Love you, Mom.

This week’s edition of my semi-regular music feature we call the 54321 (because it has five of my most listened-to tracks through the week) features a blend of styles, starting off with some nu-jazz and moving on to some filtered 80s-style funk courtesy of Chromeo. Check it out!

Are you tired of the two party system like I am? If so, then you’ll love this.

Thank you to whomever made the original Obama campaign poster, and to my fledgling Photoshop skills.

Just remember, stay true to your convictions this November.

This Ozarks weather is maddening. I’m sure it’s doing a thorough job of thoroughly frustrating the organizers of both Firefall AND I Love America. (EDIT 11:03 PM)

In fact Firefall should be taking place right now, but since part of the field is flooded, all events have been cancelled until 4 PM. Event organizers will issue another update at 3 — presumably to call the whole thing off. I don’t want to be a pessimist, but look at this radar image as of 1:46 PM and you tell me if this is good firework weather.

Not only are Firefall folks praying for a little divine intervention, but I’m sure the folks of James River Assembly are praying as well for this liquid to vaporize and turn into Holy Ghost rain for I Love America. Even though their events are a few days off, I’m sure the Springfield Underground site that ILA is held on is turning into marshland.

I feel bad for folks heading up both events…hopefully they’ll be able to at least do the fireworks for Firefall tonight, and hopefully ILA won’t get washed out and it can dry up somewhat in time.

Thanks Lord, we’ve been praying and fasting for good weather and this isn’t what we meant. We really appreciate it, NOT REALLY.

After a full week of work, the fun never ends.

Saturday - early morning shoot in Aurora, three videos due
Sunday - “day off,” sing in three services at James River Assembly
Monday - back to work (traded for Thursday)
Tuesday & Wednesday - work some more
Thursday - MOVE IN TO MY APARTMENT!
Friday - I Love America (you better be there)
Saturday - Work again.

No rest for the weary, and no end in sight! At least I’m staying busy and out of trouble.

Bear with me here guys, this might be a long read but it’s some valuable insight into my complicated mind and way of thinking.

If you have known me for any length of time, you know good and well that I miss Oregon. I miss my hometown Rainier, I miss Portland being only an hour away, and I miss the great people I grew up with and formed relationships with.

Keep that in the back of your mind for a few, and let me segue to tonight, where I shot some video of the Southwest Missouri All-Stars soccer games at Cooper Sports Complex.

In between getting shots, I had prime opportunities to meet some folks and have some cordial conversations. One of the good people I met was a gentleman who worked for Cox Health (I apologize for not remembering his name), presumably the sports medicine clinic, and I related how one of my first forays into videography was filming a couple friends run onto the field during a girls’ playoff soccer game back in Rainier.

He then said that believe it or not, he actually knew where Rainier was and had been there a couple times, on the Columbia River to go salmon fishing. Incredible. At that moment, for some reason, I imagined myself watching one of the many soccer games I watched up on the upper fields behind Old Rainier Road. Thoughts of back home came flooding into my mind, and for a second I had a hard time concentrating on the job at hand.

Home. Rainier. The scenery. The people. It all came back to me right there, and my
mind was 1,400 miles west of Cooper Sports Complex at the time.

It then occurred to me that lately I’ve been thinking a lot about home — NO, I am not moving back anytime soon, that is for sure — and what all it offered.

On a grander scale, I cannot help but wonder if me missing home so much is a huge test from the Lord. I mean, look at my life — I have a great job, just joined a great church and am getting plugged in like no other, I’m getting my own apartment soon — these are all things I didn’t have in my most recent stint back home in Portland. Well, I had them for awhile, but they disappeared. If I have all this here in Missouri, and God is blessing me, then why do I miss home so much?

There is a direct correlation between my life over the past year and the children of Israel being led out of Egypt by the hand of the Lord. In both situations, God made a way where man said there was no way; both have been delivered from the hands of their enemies, both physical and spiritual; God Himself leads by day and by night with a very tangible presence.

Yet me missing home is like the Israelites complaining. Remember the story? After days and weeks of the same crappy manna, they asked to actually go back to Egypt. “We were in slavery but we had a wide variety of food to choose from, at least.” As if food is everything…psssshhhttt.

I think my biggest spiritual problem is focusing on the past. Yes, my past was good, but there are greater things in store for the future. I daily acknowledge and thank the Lord for providing me with the great things in my life, and even the trials that brought the great things about…but for some reason I can’t stop thinking about the past and how good it was. I know there’s something greater but I can’t keep my focus on that.

Thanks for bearing with me through this, but it’s just kinda interesting to see how small reminders of a place I love and hold dear brings such a powerful spiritual message, something I need to take to heart and just simply live my life, expect great things to come and live in the daily blessings of Jesus.

Come to think of it now, the past was great, but I never had steady female companionship.

Yeah, the best is definitely to come.

The Southwest Missouri All-Stars soccer games are tonight (it’s plural because the girls’ game is at 6 and the guys’ game is at over at Lake Country Soccer field #1.

More info here at SGFsoccer.com.

It’ll be a good chance to see the up-and-coming talent that will be headed to many different area colleges to continue their soccer careers.

A couple of us from the News-Leader will be there. I am one of them. Stop by and say hey if you see me.

I am proud to be from the state of Oregon — a state that despite its wacky political leanings, is very environmentally conscious. In fact, Oregonians recycle more than 50% of their waste. If that’s not tops in the country, it’s gotta be close.

So how is Oregon about to be rewarded for their environmental efforts?

By Hawaii planning to send its trash to Oregon to be recycled!!! Think about it, Oregon could become the land of beautiful forests, stunning mountains, awesome coastlines and 100% more trash from an island that isn’t putting its own resources to good use.

The Portland Tribune has a good editorial about this on their site, and they bring up some good points. I encourage you to read it — of particular interest is this part below.

The city of Honolulu, which is fast running out of space at its main landfill, has hatched a plan to send container ships full of garbage across the Pacific to the U.S. mainland. One option is to send garbage up the Columbia River to Rainer, where the contents would be transferred onto trucks or trains bound for the Columbia Ridge Landfill near Arlington in Eastern Oregon.

First off, it’s spelled Rainier, and secondly, I don’t want my hometown being polluted with pineapple rinds and rotten leis. On a grander scale, I don’t want my home state to deal with the trash of a people who don’t have the wherewithal to upgrade their own recycling system.

The good ending statement from the Trib sums up my feelings on the matter:

Hawaiians should not fall into a sense of complacency toward sustainability simply because they found a place far, far away to ship mountains of Hawaiian garbage. That’s just a quick fix. Oregonians likewise should offer no encouragement to any program that delays or sidetracks the evolution of a better environmental ethic — whether at home or 3,000 miles across the ocean.

So Hawaii, thanks but no thanks, screw you, have a nice day, keep your trash and fix your own problem.

So let’s recap today, shall we?

- This morning, I hit every red light possible (except for Chestnut Expwy at Broadway) and I was two minutes shy of being late to work. I had to hustle to make it.

- This afternoon, Avid Xpress (the video editing program we use at the N-L) crapped out on me while I was editing a 14-minute video. Joy!

- Later this afternoon, I finished the video but for some reason the file wouldn’t transfer onto our server. I would have had to stay at work another hour or so to get it figured out, but it was already 6 PM and I was over by 30 minutes.

- Right after that, I got onto Highway 65 and was jamming to some R&B when all of a sudden a ton of brake lights appeared around the Sunshine Street interchange. For the next four miles, traffic was slower than molasses thanks to a prior accident as well as a van that caught fire on the side of the road. I was late to choir by 20 minutes, at least.

- Now my stomach hurts.

It was an awesome day!