Bret Van Horn Dot Org

I’m not entirely sure how long it took me to accept the facts that I’m now a parent and that my life has significantly changed in many ways as a result. But when it did sink in, it hit me hard. I realized that much of my freedom was not, in fact, going to return any time soon. I also realized that my days of hanging out in smoky rock clubs, going deaf to the soundtrack of indie rock bands turned up to eleven and drinking with my friends had been replaced by arranged dinners and play dates with parents of kids that my kids liked. And my evenings, once spent staying up late writing, goofing off, making music—all gone in favor of the elusive and rarely consistent sleep.

The Waiting List, a completely indie film produced in Portland, OR, is the Catcher in the Rye for Generation X parents. Written by director/producer, Mike Vogel while he was a stay-at-home dad, the film takes the perspective of parenting that many parents would never express out loud. The idea that it’s okay to love our kids and do things for them we wouldn’t even do for ourselves, but also okay to feel or express regret over our losses of freedom is a sentiment that is not often communicated in modern media. Using humor that ranges from raunchy to subtle, the film is a witty and sometimes edgy take on parenting in the 21st century.

The film itself  takes place in a fictitious preschool where parents are required to spend the night at the school to maintain their childrens’ spot on the waiting list. When this particular group of parents is united, we discover that they all have regrets, issues, anxieties and complaints about being parents, which ends up being the common bond that joins them all together. I’ve seen this film compared to The Breakfast Club—and rightfully so—because it locks a group of varied personalities into a room together and forces them to communicate, commiserate and to understand one another. I can totally see that comparison. But it also has elements of a great Woody Allen film or even a Kevin Smith film, with pointed monologues and witty, complex dialog, respectively.

However, more than just a bunch of comparisons, this film is the launching pad for Mike Vogel, who demonstrates that he is a filmmaker with his own unique voice and style. Woven throughout the humor, one can also find some sincere sentiments, betrayal, emotional conflict and young parents making amends with what their lives have become.

The cast is great, with impressive performances by Audrey Walker as the reluctant mother, Jayme S Hall as the comedic stay-at-home dad, Bryce Flint-Somerville as Ben the workaholic troubled husband, Amada Englund as the scheming Kathryn and Teresa Decher as the potentially pregnant teen, Ella. Mercedes Rose also puts in a great performance as the modern day schoolmarm who debriefs the parents on their upcoming night’s mission. Never overstated or melodramatic, the acting is incredibly well-done for an indie film. Each member of the cast is great in his or her own way, putting out natural performances that are convincing and never forced.

The cinematography and editing, for a low budget film, were also well done. There were some genuinely beautiful shots of Portland and some excellent stylized transitions to cut between scenes. I’d also be remiss to leave out the soundtrack, which had a unique and fitting style to it. This film is clearly a labor of love, with no details left to spare.

Is The Waiting List right for you? In short, any parent who’s been forced to sit through Dora the Explorer, watch endless princess movies, strike up awkward conversations at play dates or just generally wonder why they do the things they do for their kids will be able to relate to this film. On an entirely different level, the film has also reminded me that as parents, we can (and need to) carve out time to do things for ourselves or we can’t be good parents. We need to get out with our friends once in awhile, work on our hobbies, do the things that make us ourselves or we become someone we’re not familiar with, someone we may not want raising our children.

If you’re a parent, or hell, if you simply love indie films, keep an eye on the film’s web site for upcoming showings. Next one up is at the Eugene Film Festival and Mike Vogel says he’s trying to get a Portland screening going soon. Did I mention it won for best local feature film at the Washougal International Film Festival this year? Yep. Do check this out if you get the opportunity. And if you don’t, make it happen some other way.

The Green Room @ The Washougal International Film Festival

I had promised myself I’d get back to the Washougal International Film Festival before it left, and the morning after attending my wife’s surreal high school reunion (more on that another day), I decided I needed a quick break. My mission was to catch Clones Gone Wild!, which I was politely asked to check out on Twitter by none other than its star/writer/producer, Chad Mathews. More on Clones Gone Wild! later.

I showed up at the festival around noon and went straight to the Green Room, which was a smallish room, normally used as the Drama classroom at the highschool. While waiting for the noon block to start, one of the festival volunteers came in and we had a brief chat. Turns out their attendance doubled this year, which is great. Shortly after we started talking, the lights went out and the films started. Here’s what I saw:

Thanksgiving

I really liked this short film, full of a deep, dark tension where you feel like something is about to go horribly wrong, but don’t know exactly what or when. It’s the story of a man dealing with life after war and is very timely and real as we learn how to help our soldiers cope with the things they’ve seen and/or done in the name of war. Very well done, with natural acting and a great sense of brooding. Made me want to see more of these characters and witness them develop further.

Diamond

Diamond is a short film that illustrates the effects of drug and alcohol abuse on children. It’s a sad story about a boy who loses his mother to an overdose and his father to jail. When his grandmother comes to take care of him, a battle of wills ensues to keep him from maintaining contact with his father. While it felt a little melodramatic at times, I felt that the film came from a sincere place and was shot very well.

Reflection

Reflection was a dark, almost graphic novel-style short film that felt as though it should have been a full-length film. The acting was well done and, really, for a low-budget short film, the action and special effects were exemplary. Much of the cinematography and editing reminded me of John Woo films, with poetic, graceful and dramatic action sequences. Overall, I wanted to see more character and story development, but I also understand that the story can only be told so much with a short time frame to work with. Hope to see more from this team in the future.

Clones Gone Wild!

This was it, the one I had been waiting for, and I tell you, it did not disappoint. The premise of this short comedy is something along the lines of: what if we lived in a world with clones, and those clones went crazy (wild!) and were eradicated due to their uprising? And: what if a few clones still existed? And: oh, what if you found out you have a clone who is way more successful at, well, everything, than you are? This premise opens up the doors for a short film packed with ironic humor, satire and some great supporting characters. I don’t like to make comparisons, because each film maker has their own slant on things, but I really felt like I was watching a lost Mike Judge film, which is a good thing. The characters were adorably quirky and the plot kept me engaged, never growing tired or looking at my watch. Plus, there were lots of great mustache jokes (always a selling point) and my new favorite punchline, “TONY DANZA!” Seriously, catch a showing of this if the opportunity arises.

The Twenty

Unfortunately I had to leave to make it to an appointment, so I wasn’t able to watch The Twenty. By all accounts, it looks like a well-done film with a great cast, so I hope I get the chance to see it some day.

Thanks again to the folks at the WIFF, the film makers and to everyone I met along the way. Can’t wait for next year’s festival.

When I decided to take on the restoration of this vintage Bianchi, I quickly realized I was grossly under-equipped for the task at hand. Not only am I lacking experience in the ways of bike repair fu, but I don’t have a decent set of bike-specific tools. Nevermind the fact that I have nowhere to perch my bike while I work on it. For the tools, I realized that if I ordered a decent basic toolkit, that would get me started and that I would probably need some specialized tools to work on this old bike anyhow (which I can pick up as needed).

Which left me with the repair stand issue. I don’t have a lot of extra money laying around these days, and after researching commercial bike repair stands, quickly realized I needed to find an alternative. So I put Google to work and found an article that answered my call. I decided on a conglomeration of the various designs I came across. Tonight, I worked on the clamping mechanism, which is built using a 1 1/4″ PVC tee, a couple hinges and a hasp latch. As you can see from the photos below, the whole thing will be attached to a 1 1/4″ steel pipe that’s threaded on both ends, which will be screwed into a pipe base (also note that I have an extension for it, in the event I need more clearance). That’s as far as I got tonight. The hinges got on a little crooked and the hasp latch could use a little adjusting, but this should hold the Bianchi (and a our other bikes) in place quite well.

Next step will be to build a stand for it, as I realized I don’t have any open wall space in our garage on which to mount this. Luckily, I have a pristine 4×4 in the garage that I’ve been saving for several years “just in case.” Yay for packrat behavior rewarding. I plan to build a base for the 4×4, which I will cut down to about head height. Then I’ll lag screw the steel pipe base onto the post.

Kind of excited about this, and hope it works well. The clamp works well enough, but will be a little cumbersome to put on, I think. At any rate, more pics to follow once I get Phase II completed.

When I heard that there’s an actual International film festival just down the street from my house I promised myself I’d make it at least once to check things out. I have to say, I’m really excited that Breven Angaelica Warren has put this whole thing together and is attempting to bring some culture to Washougal. I was sad to see that the attendance wasn’t great, because there were some really great films this evening. I don’t blame the Film Festival folks for the low attendance, I just think it’s going to take a few more years for this event to catch on, and for the local residents to catch on, as well.

At any rate, I caught several films, of which I’ll do some quick write-ups below. I want to thank Breven and her people for putting this on and keeping it free. It really is a cool thing and I’m going to try to make it back before it’s done this year.

The Waiting List

I came in during the last five minutes or so of The Waiting List, but it looked like a really well-done film. There was a great element of humor that felt to me, similar to a Judd Apatow flick, which is a plus in my book. I really want to see the whole thing now.  The  Director was on-hand and gave a q&a afterward. Oh, and it was all produced in Portland!

Bathtub to Happiness

This was a really cute German-made short film. The story is quirky, romantic and humorous in a very European way. The director for this was also present.

Surprise!

One of my favorites. Really well-paced and written, funny and entertaining (sorry, could not find an embeddable version).

http://www.vodmania.com/bande_annonce_aWQ9MjEyJmJhbmRlYW5ub25jZT03MDg=

Clown’s Lament

One of the creepiest things I’ve seen in a long time. What this short film lacks in stamina, it more than makes up for in chills.

Zufallbringen

This is the most ambitious film I saw this evening. Very beautifully shot and edited. One of the Swiss directors was also on hand and he stated that the entire cast was made up of novice actors, which really surprised me, as they put in some epic performances. It had a very Darin Aronofsky feel to it. The story felt a little muddled towards the middle, but don’t let that distract from the overall achievement these two guys have made, who started making this film at the ripe age of 19.

UPDATE: It was very politely pointed out to me that I had incorrectly attributed Sweden as the country of origin for this film, when in fact, it was Swiss made. My sincere apologies for the error. I imagine that would be like saying a Canadian-made movie was made in the USA, so I’ve updated the article to reflect the correct country. That’ll teach me to write blog posts late at night…

There were a couple other shorts, two animations and one comedy. I’m not going into detail on these, but they were also entertaining in their own ways. Thanks again to the Washougal Film Festival team!

So I’m looking at my tools and realizing I don’t have much in the way of bike tools. Looking online, there are a lot of options, from smaller “essentials” type kits, to full on retirement-fund-cashing-out master mechanic kits. What I need to know is, well, what do I need? In the short term, I need to disassemble this Bianchi. Over the long term, I’ll be doing maintenance and repairs on my own bikes (and the rest of the family bikes).

So, does anyone have recommendations for repair stands and essential tools that also won’t put me into debt?

Dylan's new bike

A few weeks ago, my son was scheduled to ride his new bike in the Camas Bike and Sport portion of the parade. When I showed up, slyly thinking I’d be dropping my son off, I was quickly asked if I wanted to ride in the parade, too. Me being the shy artsy type who doesn’t usually like being the center of attention in any form, asked my son if he wanted me to ride with him, which of course he did. Ed, from Camas Bikes loaned me a bike—a nice little cruiser—and a helmet, and we were on our way.

Dylan, with me right next to him

We had a nice time, despite the ridiculous heat and an hour or so of waiting in the glaring sun. The route was really simple and Dylan did an amazing job of navigating within the throng of cyclists who had to stop and start regularly to avoid becoming one with the fire truck that was in front of us. While I was skeptical of riding through the gauntlet of parade goers, I had a nice time, but mostly, I remembered how much I miss cycling on somewhat of a regular basis. I used to do that a lot and now I intend to make time to do it more, especially before the dreary and wet winter days come rumbling through town again.

I’m a sucker for a great adventure story and with my recent re-stoked interest in cycling, I’ve been glued to the blog of Jason Mauer, a Portland-based tech guy who decided he’d cycle from Portland to San Diego for his vacation. I find it completely inspiring and romantic to just get out on the open road and explore the Oregon and Washington coast lines on a bike, camping along the way. Never mind that I’d be petrified of becoming road pizza or suffering an aneurysm on an uphill climb, Mauer shows that one doesn’t have to be Lance Armstrong to embark on such a journey.

I figure I’ve got a year to train and then, maybe I could start out with the Seattle to Portland ride next Summer. But until I set a goal, I need to, a) get a road bike, and b) get into some kind of shape that doesn’t resemble a pear.

Dropped by Camas Bikes today to pick up a Presta-Schrader adapter so I could pump up the tires and take the Bianchi for a spin. While I was there, I asked Ed, the owner, if they can order Surly bikes and to my delight, he said they could! He also said I should check out the Co-Motion Nor’Wester, which sounds like a nice ride — hand built in Eugene, OR. However, I’ve had so many people give me such high ratings for the Cross Check that I kind of feel I’d be cursing myself to get any other bike. Of course, there is that small issue of where to find the money to buy a bike (as well as fixing up the Bianchi), but I’m sure it will all sort itself out… right?

Anyhow, back to the first test ride. After pumping up the tires (and somehow snapping the tip off one of the Presta valves—D’oh!), I took a quick ride down the street and back, as I didn’t want to do too much with only one working brake. The bike fits better than I thought, but the ride felt a little clunky. The bike definitely needs a mechanical overhaul. Can’t wait to get it stripped down and start the process though.

I’m also constantly amazed at how fast the Internets work. I posted some photos of the bike to my Facebook account last night and already have been connected with a guy who is a vintage Bianchi expert and who owns a 1971 Bianchi Team bike of his own, which has been beautifully restored. He was able to confirm that this bike is most likely a Team bike and also point me towards a guy who does great frame restoration work. I was also shown this link, which shows a 1952 team bike that looks incredibly similar to mine.

I can clearly see that this is going to be a long term project, so make yourself some popcorn, grab a beer and get comfy. This could take awhile.

Here we go, the first batch of photos. This is the condition in which I received the bike. As one can see, it needs some serious rust rescue. My first order of business is to begin stocking up on the necessary tools to strip this baby down. I need a bike repair stand and a decent toolkit to get started. Once I have those items in place, I can begin the removal of all the parts, then start in on cleaning them all up. I’m going to see how far I can get with that and if the rust damage is too extensive, I’ll have to look into a full restoration.

So I decided to expand this site some more. Mostly, I want to start blogging about the restoration of the 1964 Bianchi I just was handed down. But I also missed having my own site where I could chronicle all the stuff I love. Social networking is fun, but the art of the personal site has suffered as a result. I mean, I’m a web developer for crying out loud. I should be able to have my own site and maintain it, so I’m trying it again. I have some content roughed in, but will be adding as I have time and energy (for example, right now as I type this, my kids are whining and crying and actually asking me to get them to bed, so I’ve got to keep the rest of this brief). Anyhow, enjoy, come back frequently and participate in the mayhem if you feel so inclined.

By the way I did not do my own design for this site. I honestly don’t have the time, and I’d rather spend time on content than design at this point. A big thanks to the folks at Dirty Blue for providing this free theme for lazy people like me to use.