The Alchemist

"People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want."

--The Alchemist, by Paul Coelho


I just read The Alchemist, which is an allegorical tale about a shepherd boy from the Andalusian fields of Spain who journeys to Egypt's pyramid in search of his life's treasure and finds enlightenment along the way. It's a great read -- short but one of the more impactful books I've read in a long while. Reminds me a lot of The Little Prince, actually.

Paul Coelho's also an incredibly visionary man as well. He actually encourages online distribution (aka piracy) of his books via BitTorrent. Regarding Pirate Bay, he recently said, "I am openly supporting their site. I even volunteered to travel to Sweden to discuss the case of open contents... I do think that when a reader has the possibility to read some chapters, he or she can always decide to buy the book later."

Anyway, it's a remarkable book and I heartily recommend it.

A Night at the Coliseum (My first Flip Mino HD footage)

I've been quite impressed with this tiny little device. It works great with outdoor footage, and is best when anchored via mini-tripod to a fixed object. This 2 minute clip is pretty dry, straight out of the camera, unedited.

I find it almost unusable when not anchored down -- the 720p HD signal really shows every last miniscule twitch of my hand.

Aside from that issue, this really does have potential for use on some cool low budget video projects. It is cheaper than ever to tell a story.

Now on to learn and refine what it takes to create those stories...

Muji kicks ass


Just wanted to write a quick note about how in love I am with my Muji carry-on bag. It's extremely lightweight, durable, and pretty huge. I upgraded to this in London from an American Tourister Walmart special... and it's remarkable because it's carries as much but weighs 50% less and looks svelte as heck.

Oh Muji, I love you!