I love wine, I love roadtrips, and I love not having to drive on said roadtrips to wine country. With the company of friends, new and old, we ventured north to Santa Barbara County in search of the best bottle of wine.  4+ wineries later, I found a fantastic bottle from Davy Crockette’s winery, Fess Parker, called “The Big Easy”.  Can’t wait to pop the cork and drink hard earned dollars and cents!

Enjoy the video above.  I always take video on these short trips I do, but rarely put them together. This was more a challenge for myself to FINISH editing together vacation footage. But I also let it be a test of my skills within Final Cut Pro in hopes of achieving a vintage 8mm film look without the use of plugins (other than color correction).  I like the result!  The music is “All To All” by Broken Social Scene – a song we played along the journey and struck a chord with me.  Enjoy.  Now go get drunk.

I Watched every episode of LOST. Got caught up in all the mysteries of earlier seasons. Did a ridiculous amount of internet searching for lil clues, participated in forums, fell for the marketing ploys and ABC.com tomfoolery over the last few years.  I didn’t thuroughly leave the series satisfied – like many of you.

These last 2 seasons only ended up answering questions with more questions.  While I agree with everyone that the show was a character piece with well arced characters that all find peace in the end, there was this amazing aspect of the show in earlier seasons that really got lost (haha, see what I did there?) in the latter seasons.  The physical universe these characters were struggling to survive in played just as big a role – if not a bigger – in my attraction to the show. Dharma, the Island, plane crashes, boat crashes, ghosts, monsters, bears, hatches, bunkers, stations, electromagnetism, time travel, and so on.

I didn’t like that the finale focused on the ethereal answers, and not the direct ones.  An example: “The Island is like a cork stopping The Bad from escaping”.  While answering the question, IT DOESN’T FUCKING ANSWER THE QUESTION.  Does the island move through time or space? How? How’d the bomb influence it? What is “The Bad” and how would it seap into our reality? Is our reality REAL? GAH!

There are so many unanswered questions about events that occurred on the show, that I think this video sums up my feelings nicely.  My problem is that you can’t throw a plot device into a show only to get people to ask questions then never answer them.  That’s just irresponsible writing.  If you want to try and enlighten me, feel free to do so. My comment section is open to every and all!

Samsung Mobile Explorers Victory!

Well, it’s been almost 3 weeks since I have returned from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the Samsung Mobile Explorers Competition.  I miss it.  I miss the people, the city of Vancouver, and the excitement of the competition.  The question I have been getting the most from friends and family is, “So, how was it?”.  My responses have varied between, “Awesome”, “Unbelievable”, “Exhausting” and “How was what?”.

There really is no way to describe the feeling of witnessing history.  I would say that I experienced two sides to the Olympic Games, both very different and memorable for different reasons.  First of all, being in the center of all the action was an intense experience – one that I will remember always.  Every night seemed to be a bigger and better party than the night previous.  Whether it was stumbling in line for the Zip Line across Robson St., devouring massive amounts of food and drink at Korean BBQ and The Kobe House, weaving in and out of the crazy crowds on Granville Street during the nightly street parties, or slipping through the VIP access to the Olympics LIVE venue to see Deadmau5 tear up the turntables.  Vancouver managed to exceed my expectations on all levels and left me dying to get back in the near future.

The other side of the Olympic Games was one that I didn’t anticipate experiencing.  The side of the city that bonded together not only as a community but as a country.  We talked to hundreds of native Canadian residents from around the nation on the street over the course of our stay and every single one of them was enjoying “the spirit” of the games.  I’ve heard talk of “the spirit” and even thought I had seen it on TV during Olympics past.  But nothing prepared me for getting caught up in “the spirit” of an Olympic Games during my stay.  I thought I would be an outsider, looking in on a big party I couldn’t join.  The reality was, I was embraced as an outsider and by the end of my trip felt as much a part of the Canadian pride as Canadians themselves.

Hosting the Olympic Games in Vancouver, winning their first gold medal during a games hosted on home-turf, and the elite honor of winning the most gold medals in any winter olympic games in history bonded Canadians together.  I was a part of history just by being there.  It was quite an experience.  I have been telling people it was like watching a country bond together in the same respects the US bonded together post 9-11.  Everyone wanted to show you how much pride they had in any way they could.  It was humbling.  So now when people ask me, “So, how was it?” I can confidently say “The most amazing experience I’ve been a part of in a very long time”.  And with that, I’m off to enjoy spending my $24,000.  See you at the 2012 games in London!

Here are some examples of some recent pieces I made for family members for the holidays. The first piece is titled “Sweet Dreams” and was for my brother and sister-in-law.  It features their brand new baby, Clinton Andrew Newberry, born July 9th, 2009.

"Sweet Dreams" by Ethan Newberry

There are 2 more after the jump…  (continue reading…)

Lil Oscar - The Newest Newberry

So my parents got a new puppy. I’m guessing it’s to replace the happiness in their lives that only a youngest son can give.  But from reading some of my mom’s “puppy diary” comments, lil Oscar (Unfortunately, they decided not to go with any names the rest of the family came up with!  I wanted VOLDEMORT or GAIUS BALTER!) is giving them a run for their money! But like all good little puppies, he’s also breaking their hearts with cuteness.  He totally reminds me of my first dog, Pepper Salt Newberry.  Here’s what my mom has been saying…  (continue reading…)