CDMX What's Your Address?

What I love about traveling is getting from point A to point B. Not particularly the flights, connections, or Uber rides, but getting out on-foot and walking around a new city and enjoying the smells, sounds and scenes of the neighborhood and surrounding parts once you’ve arrived.

One of the last trips my wife and I took pre-covid was to Mexico City, and what I remember most about our walks through the neighborhoods were the addresses on the building and homes along the way, and how uniquely different each one was from the other. I started to document them to remind myself of the variety of details because each address almost felt like it had its own story.

The more destinations (tacos, mezcal, museums, music, dog walkers in the park), the more walking and discovering other parts of the neighborhood along the way, and thus more photos. I began to not only notice the differences among the numbered fonts, but also in the wall textures, colors, patterns and even surrounding foliage adding another layer of natural design whether it was organic or cast in the shadows. 

All these elements complemented and highlighted each other in their own unique ways,  all while serving the simple need of an address. As much as I enjoyed finding more to document on our walks, it helped remind me to stop and appreciate the fresh perspectives that traveling to a new city can bring you.

Whether you are discovering great design hidden in every corner of every street, or tasting the best carne asada tacos you’ve ever had just a block away, or discovering local music at La Roma Record Store, remember to enjoy the process of getting from Point A to Point B because you’ll never know what you might be missing.

The Easter Egg Hunt

“@maddenmeiners: As reigning Easter egg hunt champion in Sea Island, Ga (‘86-’87)) I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Easter!”

The other day I tweeted this and although it sounds like a joke, I really did win that Easter egg hunt two years in a row. The first year was actually 1985. When looking through old photos and confirming the details with my Mom, she mentioned I was not yet 3 at the time and could barely complete full sentences let alone thoughts. My memories of that Easter are still faint, but the stories and photos make what happened that vacation even more believable. If you don’t think Easter egg hunts are anything worth talking about, then let me tell you how I won my first championship.

Pictured: Me & the Easter Bunny

Pictured: Me & the Easter Bunny

Back in the day before my brother and I started playing organized sports our family would travel south for spring/Easter break. One destination we frequented over the years was Sea Island, GA.  I remember being excited for this particular trip not only because our entire family was vacationing there at the same time, but because that year I was finally old enough to participate in the island’s Easter egg hunt.  

It was something I Iooked forward to ever since being handed-down my brother’s old "hunting suit” (as I called it then).  Although he found the elusive golden egg at my age, he never actually won the event.  In order to win the hunt you had to find the most amount of eggs before the allotted time was up.  Refusing to live in my brother’s shadow, the early competitiveness within me wanted to find that golden egg and also win the hunt.

I wasn’t quite the youngest of our family then, but I was old enough that my teenage cousins enjoyed taking care of me without having to do much babysitting.  They were familiar with the egg hunt from their own experiences and understood how excited I was to finally take part in it.  In fact, my oldest cousin Woody- who was 14 at the time, wanted me to win the hunt so much that he and his friend, Conrad, decided to train me.

The training involved mentally and physically preparing me for what I was about to face Easter Sunday.  Woody and Conrad hid cassette tapes throughout the halls and living room of our place and timed how long it took me to find them.  They even incorporated a “golden cassette” in the mock-hunt to help me stay focussed and driven.  

From what I remember, Woody spent much of my training explaining that even though I found a few tapes, the hunt wasn’t over.  He must have thought I had a hard time grasping this because the morning of the hunt he went out and did some reconnaissance to find out where the golden egg was hidden.  This way, regardless of whether or not I was ready we had this advantage.  With my hunting suit on and team cheering from the sidelines nothing was going to stop me from finding that golden egg and winning the thing.

Pictured: Pre-Race Huddle: Woody, myself, and Conrad.

Pictured: Pre-Race Huddle: Woody, myself, and Conrad.

What we didn’t take into consideration was the possibility of another parent finding the golden egg before us and directing their kid to it.  This was exactly what happened and just as the race started the golden egg was gone.  With eggs and time running out, I was now faced with the reality that I wasn’t the only one in a hunting suit still trying to win.  As Woody cheered me on from the sideline I tapped into my training and continued moving.

That’s when I saw it.  Inside a hollowed tree trunk where none of the other hunters bothered to check was a silver egg.  Nowhere in my training was there any mention of a silver egg, but what happened next no training could have prepared me for anyways.  I put the silver egg into my empty bucket but noticed something rattling inside. 

Jelly beans!  As if there wasn’t enough candy back home waiting for me, my chubby instincts kicked in and I sat down to eat them.  Woody and Conrad noticed this, and because they were more prepared for the hunt than I was, stepped into the ring and began to pick up eggs.  With each egg they placed in my bucket I began to realize that it wasn’t just the silver egg that had jelly beans- they all did.  Had this been known sooner I may have hustled more, but since my older cousin and his friend were doing all the work I casually followed along eating jelly beans.

Pictured: Woody and Conrad leading the way- notice the streamers dividing the gallery from the contestants.

Pictured: Woody and Conrad leading the way- notice the streamers dividing the gallery from the contestants.

To my surprise and anyone else watching, I won my age group with the most eggs. Granted it was probably unfair that I had the help of two young-adults, but as it turns out many other parents did the same thing. Even if they stripped the title from my chubby little arms it wouldn’t have mattered because if jelly beans were that much of a game-changer in my performance, winning must not have been that important to me after all.

Pictured: Post-race huddle, me thanking Woody.

Pictured: Post-race huddle, me thanking Woody.

The event organizers gathered all the winners to have their picture taken with the Easter Bunny. After a few photo-ops I thanked Woody for his efforts and with my entire family watching, went up to accept my award. It was a plush robotic duck that ran on batteries and waddled around, bobbing his head up and down when it was on. This was the first time I had won anything in my life so you can understand why this was so memorable.

Pictured: Winner’s Circle, psyched.

Pictured: Winner’s Circle, psyched.

We took some more pictures, this time with the duck. I must have still felt the sting of losing out on the golden egg, however, because what happened next my Mom says, “absolutely mortified her.”  Just as one of the other mothers was telling her what a nice and expensive French toy that duck was, I took it out of the box and stomped on its neck.  My mom described it as if I was trying to kill a bee.  

Whether or not I cared about winning, I must have been making a statement by breaking my award because this really wasn’t in my personality to do something like that.  I had always been a happy kid and if you look at my face in these pictures you can see that.  We even returned the next year and I won again, but that time on my own terms, and there were no extreme acts of expression following that hunt.  

Pictured: My brother, the Easter Bunny, and the prized Duck.

Pictured: My brother, the Easter Bunny, and the prized Duck.

This was just a moment in my life where I’ll never fully understand why I reacted the way I did. Maybe I had developed a unique sense of humor early on, or was still coming into myself. Either way I couldn’t talk, and who knows what I was thinking because that same vacation I wandered away from my family on the beach, and even broke into an impromptu break-dance in front an entire country club dinner with people clapping and cheering me on. Those are stories I’ll have to save for another other day, but the next time you see an Easter egg hunt bring a camera. You’ll never know what you see.

Pictured: Champion

Pictured: Champion

"Alcatraz" production journal

Pitching Alcatraz

Alcatraz prison's eerie presence in the San Francisco Bay is a constant reminder that it once housed some of our nation's worst criminals. A few years ago I toured the prison and brought my camera along to shoot some video and photos.

If you've ever taken the Alcatraz tour you know how crowded it gets- and it's like that every day. The one chance I had to visit, it was sold-out up until the last ferry over to the island. Although there wasn't much time to finish the audio-guided tour, I was one of the last to leave which allowed me to get some nice empty wide-shots. Most of the time I was framing-out crowds of people because I wanted to capture the prison's desolate condition to give the viewer a sense of what it felt like inside those walls.

At the time I had just read Jim Quillen's memoir, "Alcatraz From Inside," and was so fascinated with his accounts as an inmate that I wanted to create my own video-adaptation to his book. Nothing had been produced to tell Quillen's life-story, so I edited together some of the footage I shot with sound-bites featured from the audio-tour.

I've always thought Quillen's book- along with Whitey Thompson's "Last Train To Alcatraz" and Jim Albright's "Last Guard Out" would make interesting dramas, perhaps even an entertaining miniseries altogether. Much like HBO's Band of Brothers and The Pacific were based on historical and personal accounts of those fighting within Easy Company during World War II, this series would focus on Alcatraz's history as a prison told through the perspectives of the inmates (Quillen, Thompson) and guards (Albright).

Even the way a series like Tremé captures the people and culture of New Orleans through certain characters, Alcatraz could tell the story of the the prison through the lives of those who inhabited the island- whether they were prisoners or family of the guards working there.

Throughout these accounts, the series would feature other major characters- some of the more infamous prisoners like Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert "Birdman" Stroud, and Alvin "Creepy" Karpis; place them within the backdrop of one of the toughest prisons of all-time, which was eventually shut down because of exceeding costs and amidst rumors of inhumane prisoner treatment (ironically, an issue that still exists in some prisons today).

Even more fascinating are the detailed accounts of Alcatraz's most notorious prison breaks.

The bloody Battle for Alcatraz which ended in military intervention after three inmates took over the prison; and the suspenseful escape where another three inmates left paper maché dummies in their beds to distract the guards while they climbed out from holes dug through their cell-walls and into the air-duct system, eventually out onto the roof.

The history-nerd side of me finds these memoirs and stories interesting, but the film-geek part of me also sees the entertainment value within them. None of this is to imply that past shows or movies based on the prison haven't been entertaining, but I just think Alcatraz could use an updated fresh-take, based more on the history and lives of those who inhabited the island.

Of course, a project like this would help to be produced by likes of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, or David Simon and Eric Overmyer, and released as a miniseries on HBO...but for now let's start with this video and get a feeling for how I think it could look.

"Glory Of Love" by Otis Redding

One of my favorite artists is Otis Redding, and part of the gift to my girlfriend for our two-year anniversary was my animated rendition of the late-great singing his song, "Glory Of Love".  

After watching many of his live performances and studying his movements, I did my best to re-create them within Illustrator and animate the layers through After Effects. Of course, it would have amazing to hear and see Otis Redding live in-person during his time, but his music and lyrics still live-on almost everyday in our house on vinyl and on Spotify. So, here's to 2 years with the one I love, and the memory of someone who knew love best.

The Flower Guy

City Center District bloom on historic Parrish Street facade, downtown Durham

A few weeks back on the way to dinner, my girlfriend and I discovered a large graffiti flower on the side of a worn-down facade in the City Center District of downtown Durham. The street-art looked so familiar that I stopped to take a photo, and after some research on social media we discovered that Michael De Feo, aka 'The Flower Guy', was in Durham planting his iconic blooms.

Red bloom greeting drivers entering the downtown Loop near the Carolina Theater

Deteriorating facades on Parrish and Main Street will be removed in upcoming year renovations

The bloom looked so familiar because I remember seeing The Flower Guy's work featured in Banksy's "Exit Through The Gift Shop" . Living on Wrightsville Beach for a number of years, the only graffiti I ever noticed was ignorant vandalism but living in downtown Durham I've become more aware of the buildings and historic structures- especially the ones tagged by a well-known street artist. 

Warehouse District bloom outside the old Liggett & Myers Tobacco building

Living in a smaller city, it's not often I have the chance to see- or stumble upon in the process, works of art by such household names as Michael De Feo's The Flower Guy and Shepard Fairey's OBEY. Being a curious filmmaker, I reached out to Michael De Feo to see if I could film him at-work during his time here since I noticed he was hitting parts of Raleigh as well. Unfortunately, I just just missed him as he already left and was back in New York. 

Bloom on Durham Bookcases building // Warehouse District

Bloom behind 9th street renovations // Old West Durham

Even though Michael De Feo was busy planting blooms back home, I grabbed my camera and took photos of what I could find around the neighborhood. I wanted to capture his work before the weather/construction/greedy art-horders started to deteriorate the pieces- as it was, someone has already tried to remove the flower on the Durham Bookcase building.

Sidewalk sprout near Monuts Donuts 

As excited as I was on social media to post photos of The Flower Guy's blooms, I was equally pumped to know that he chose Durham as his canvas- a city I've grown to love and appreciate and in such a short period of time for its sense community, character and history.

Vines of Blooms:

For more on The Flower Guy: 

Dog Days at Beer Durham

My local beer shop, Beer Durham, is doing a monthly event called "Dog Days" where they help drive awareness for pet adoptions and support for Durham's Animal Protection Services (APS).

As regulars at Beer Durham and having just adopted a puppy of our own, I was asked to create a video capturing the event- and what's better than drinking good beer and hanging out with dogs all afternoon?

APS feeds, shelters, provides medical care for and matches families with animals of all shapes and sizes. Each month Beer Durham donates a portion of their draft sales proceeds from the event to APS, and collects different items of need that are vital to keeping the shelter operating and running.

Dogs + Beer = Dog Days.