Through the Looking Glass (MIH 25)

How's it going y'all? Are you as overwhelmed as we are? We've been in NYC for over a week, and we still haven't posted the Philly Blog. Trust us, we've got a lot to tell you, but NYC has been a blur of schleping our gear across the city with some Guitar Hero action spliced in there for good measure. We cannot get that Kansas song out of our heads. But anyway...

We've been on the road for 2 months (you can see everywhere we've been here). We know, we can't believe it either. It's also hard to believe we've gone this far with so little cash. We absolutely couldn't have done this without the help of our friends and contributors. If you'd like to contribute cash to our cause click below:



It's paypal, it's easy... and we'd be very appreciative!

We've seen so much, done so much, we're not even sure how to digest it all. But we know we'll have sometime to figure it all out over the holidays. That's right, it's Friday, November 16th, and next Thursday is Thanksgiving. We've noticed that our hits drop significantly on the weekends, (I guess we're a good distraction for y'all at work and school) and we're betting that our hits are gonna slow down just a tad over the Thanksgiving week. So instead of busting out with a new vlog and more juicy travel updates, we thought we'd hit y'all with a little video retrospective of our trip so far. Vlogs 1 thru 5. Make It Happen 1 to Austin Craft Mafia.

Enjoy... we'll be back in a week or so.

Make It Happen

Vlog 1 San Francisco, CA


Vlog 2 California Coast


Vlog 3 Southwest, USA P.1


Vlog 4 Southwest, USA P.2


Vlog 5 Austin, TX Vol. 1


Stay Tuned...

Wedding Season… Over (MIH 20)

It’s been a minute since we last updated; and the hope was that we’d have a video for you today. But this last week in Lake Charles was a whirlwind of stressful (yet fun) chaos. We thought it was going to be a nice relaxing break from the road. We were wrong. Here are some highlights:

A trip to Washington Mutual…in Houston (which is over two hours from Lake Charles). Turns out there are zero Wamu’s in Louisiana. So 5 hours later we had finally deposited a check (that was over 6 weeks late to us… thanks Current TV).

Turns out Jeremey has enough family and extended family to fill every single day with traveling, eating tons of food, and LOTS of explaining exactly what it is that we’re doing. We guess there are worse problems to have. The food was amazing and everybody was pretty supportive. We just wish we could have seen all the people we wanted to.


Weddings, weddings, weddings. The week started with Dan and Jordan...


...and ended with Adam and Rachael.


Both weddings were a blast, especially since so many people came to town for them.



Adam and Rachael live in Austin, and it seemed like the entire population of Austin came down for their wedding. We have to say that it was probably the best wedding ever. The ceremony was in a field on the Collins Compound, which is a piece of property south of Lake Charles, were the O.G. skate family, the Collins’ have their residence.


Bryant Collins presided over the wedding and he got ordained on the internet to make it happen.


Adam, you couldn’t have picked a better guy to perform the ceremony. The reception was in a big Gazebo/ Barn area that the Collins use to entertain people who venture out to their property for trail rides. It’s equipped with a kitchen, bathroom, and more importantly a stage. We’ve never been to a wedding with such a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, and where everyone was so genuinely excited for the couple.



Congrats Adam and Rachael. Good job Collins’. Oh and the gumbo was rocking.


The night before the wedding, Brenda and Clayton of Ripperz Skatepark hosted a late night jam for all the guys in town for the wedding. A pretty epic session went down, and Jeremey even skated the mini upstairs with his homie Cronan.
Since Lake Chuck is now the happening town that it is, the Ripperz Jam, which at one time would have been the only thing going off in town… was not. Simultaneous to the skate jam was the Poor Pony event that we shouted out a couple blogs ago. Poor Pony is a non-profit in Lake Charles dedicated to making it happen, entertainment wise, in the Lake Area. That night they shut down the downtown area for a pre-Halloween pub crawl… with choreographed Thriller Dancing in the street.

(Thriller practice from Poor Pony dot com)

We didn’t snap any photos, but we did shoot footage. So stay tuned for that… and hopefully a full-fledged Make It Happen with the Poor Pony kids when we come back through for the holidays.

So as you can see, Lake Charles was pretty busy, but lots of fun… Now we’re in Washington D.C. We’ll tell you how we got here in the next round. We’ve just got to space out the blog info ha ha.


Oh yeah and we gotta shout out Mike Morimoto for hooking us up with some gas cards. Thanks mang. You're awesome.


Stay tuned...

Smiley Triangle (MIH 18)

We’re still in Texas!

(Shannon LeBoeuf Frontside Air at Kevin's Ramp: Photo by Dan Barnett)

We’ve been in Austin shooting the wonderful people at OK Mountain. On Monday night we met up with everyone (yet again) to shoot individual interviews about their personal artwork and their connection with OK Mtn.


It was awesome getting to meet so many talented and dedicated artists here in Austin. Thanks to Justin Goldwater, Nathan Green, Ryan Hennessee, Michael Sieben, Sterling Allen, and Corkey Sinks for hanging out and talking with us about OK Mountain.

Yesterday we met up with Sieben and followed him to Seguin, TX to put up an OK Mountain instillation on the campus of Texas Lutheran University.





Until early December, work from the artists involved in OK Mtn will be on display at TLU.

After Sieben set up the beginnings of the instillation, he took us to a local Mexican restaurant for a gut busting lunch.


The food was amazing. No rats were actually involved. However, Jeremey got violently ill that night. Afterward Sieben took off to finish hanging the art in the gallery.

Last night, we met up with Corkey for one last OK Mtn shoot.


She was kind enough to show us around the OK Mtn studios and give us a look into her work.



That’s about it for our Austin adventures. We might go shoot some footage around town before we head out.

We also want to give another shout out to Amy Mullins and Shannon LeBoeuf (and Dizzy!) for letting us crash at their place.


Another big donation came in last night! A ginormous thanks to Sara Henry for placing a chunk of $$ into our Chip In Pay Pal account! Sara said she’s really excited about our stories and can’t wait to see what we do. Hopefully we can make her proud. Thank you Sara!

And last but not least, this one goes out to our friend and web designer, Erik Jessen who is responsible for the look of our blog and of our portfolio site, Jaded Multimedia. Erik’s wife Kaela just gave birth to their first child, Graham Jessen.

Congrats E.J. you’re a dad now, crazy…

On to the next city…

Money Train (MIH 17)

Our homie Angelo Hjelm, who we thought was “riding the rails” through Europe is back in the Bay and donating to TeamJaded, thanks for the cash ‘Lo.


Paloma Ramirez also matched Angelo’s donation to the cent. Unintentionally of course… as the two have never met. We are oh so thankful for her donation as well- coming in all the way from NYC. Thanks Paloma, you’re awesome!


And one last, but not least, huge thanks goes to David DeLuca who donated some mad scrilla… or we could just call it a big chunk o’ dough. Also from NYC, Dave’s donation helped us reach 1% of our final goal!! We bow down and thank you Dave.


And in case you've ever wondered what happened with Maggie (Abby's cat), well... Angelo and his family graciously took her in for the duration of the trip. If you never met Maggie, here you go:




We are so grateful to each of you (Angelo, Paloma, & Dave). Thank you!

We're Still Here (MIH 14)

We got another donation! Thanks to Jim Horsfield over at Myogenic.net for donating us some scrilla. Jim is over in London, which means that we are not just big, we are huge in the U.K. So, if any other brits want to donate some pounds feel free, cause your money is worth twice as much as ours. $20 bucks to you is $40 bucks to us… Think about it.

And check out Jim’s work, he’s an independent filmmaker in London and he produces some real quality material. Thanks so much Jim!

So last time we checked in we had just survived Jeremey’s high school reunion in Lake Charles, LA. After the reunion we chilled in L.C. for a couple days, ate po boy’s at all the fine Lake Chuck establishments...


... and then headed to New Orleans.

New Orleans was a blur. We stayed with Jeremey’s sister Miranda who lives uptown near Tulane.


The first night we headed to Bourbon for Abby’s mandatory New Orleans tourist debauchery experience. We had the most amazing jambalaya at Coop’s on Decatur, drank Hand Grenades on Bourbon St., and watched Big Al Carson get busy at the Funky Pirate. Big Al called Miranda to the stage and invited her to get acquainted with his armless, legless friend Phil...


...the tip jar and then he sent her around the bar collecting cash with the instructions, “we don’t make change.”



The next day we took in the sights, ate Muffaletta’s at Central Grocery, Beignets at Café DuMonde, and we’re pretty sure we drank some more; it’s New Orleans after all. We also checked out the local art scene at Art for Art's Sake, and then headed to the Republic for the Fleur de Tease Burlesque show.

On Sunday we caught up with New Orleans Poet Chuck Perkins for our second shoot on the road.


Chuck performs spoken word and jazz poetry with his group Voices of the Big Easy. His work spans from poems about growing up in New Orleans to the political fall-out of post Katrina, and it’s all totally enthralling.

We met Chuck through a mutual friend by the name of Andy Shocken. Andy worked with and befriended Chuck during the Katrina aftermath while he was in New Orleans working on a documentary project of his own. When we told Chuck about our project a couple of months ago he was totally down for the cause... and generous enough to set up a special Voices of the Big Easy performance at Café Rose Nicaud in the Marigny just for us.


So on Sunday, we forced Jeremey’s sister into intern servitude (she’s in film school at UNO) and headed for Chuck’s house to shoot his interview. Then it was off to Café Nicaud for the performance… which was completely amazing.

Voices of the Big Easy puts on a full jazz poetry experience complete with drums, trumpet, sax, bongo’s, tambourines, a stand up bass, a Mardi Gras Indian, and of course... Chuck and his brilliant poetry.


The cafe was an intimate venue, and the audience seemed to be both familiar with, and in love with Chuck’s work. His performance was so full of energy and the life of New Orleans that you couldn’t help but loose yourself in it. It felt like being in somebody’s living room.



People in the Café were talking to Chuck in between songs and poems, people from the neighborhood were stopping in and getting involved with the show, and towards the end Chuck was inviting friends to join in with the performance. There was a couple playing German drinking songs, a Ukrainian guitarist singing in Russian, and a young member of the Neville family doing the best Louis Armstrong impression we’ve ever heard. Oh, and Chuck took the cue from us and Big Al, and put Miranda to work at the door collecting donations.

Thanks for setting it up Chuck Perkins. Thanks for your generosity. And good luck on the road. Voices of the Big Easy is headed to Chicago soon for their first performances outside of Nola. When we find out the dates for those shows we’ll post them for everybody in the Chicago area.


In the meantime we’ll have a vlog about our shoot with Chuck, that should be coming down the line in a few weeks.

On Monday we planned to get pick up shots of the city but Mother Nature had other plans and rained us right out of New Orleans. We’ll have to get those shots on the way back through.

Next stop, Austin. Yep we’re head back to Texas. Our friend Michael Sieben came through and hooked us up with a few more Austin stories, we just hope we have enough time to get them all.

As a thanks to Michael and a mutual plug, here's the profile Jeremey, Allison Muir, and Aaron Hull did of Mr. Sieben last summer:



Until the next round...

What Scrilla Really Means (MIH9)

You may have noticed the “Chip In” button over to the right. You may have asked yourself, “Why in the world do they need $50,000?!” We were pretty shocked too. When we set out to partake in this grand adventure we knew it would be expensive… What we didn’t know was how much we’d have to go into debt. Since getting a business loan was a bust, we were forced to pull out the ol’ credit cards, high interest and all. We’ve basically reached the limit on our current ones purchasing equipment, and have utilized our parents’ generosity to their fullest extent. Before the trip started we saved up as much as possible at our Current TV jobs all while taking on extra Freelance work… but it was impossible to reach our goal. So that’s why we decided to put up the donate button. Help us get rid of our debt! We’re not expecting to actually get all $50,000 we need- but anything… one dollar, 20 dollars or 5000 dollars (ha)… anything will help. This is truly an independent endeavor… so we are completely and utterly grateful to those helping us along the way.

If you’re curious to see how it all breaks down… see below.



Further Breakdown:

Cameras:
The Canon Camera Packages include a Canon XH-A1, Wide Angle Lens, Shotgun, Camera Backpack, Lavaliere Mics, .3 Ultra Fisheye Lens, Extra Batteries, Camera Light, and Accessories.

Computers & Hard Drives:
The Computers are used consistently on the road for blog updates, email, story correspondence, research, and editing vlogs. The Hard Drives will be used for all the stories, projects, raw materials, footage, etc. (Video takes up LOTS of space).

Storage:
We decided to get rid of our apartments so we could save a ton of money. Now we pay only $200 a month to store all of our belongings!

Gas:
As we all know, gas is super expensive. Since being on the road we've seen prices from $2.55 to $3.80! We’ve factored in bit more money in this area on the chance that prices continue to rise.

Food:
Grocery stores are the way to go! We’re mastering the art of Supermarket Road Food. It’s cheaper and healthier than going out and … well, as much as everyone loves Taco Bell… Safeway and Trader Joe’s will always win in our book.

Motels:
We’ve planned to shoot in cities where we can crash at friend’s houses. However, there are places where we don’t know peeps (Georgia, Philly), plus the random stops we must take between long distance destinations. We’re limiting the motel staying as much as possible.

Combined Bills:
This includes our monthly minimum credit card payments, cell phone bills, health insurance, student loan payments, and car insurance.

Extra Living Expenses:
This equals about $200 dollars a month for unforeseen expenses. Not completely necessary, but saying we needed $49,000 seems a little weird. Adding the thousand made it a nice round number. Plus, who knows what could happen on the road.



We’ve had 11 contributors so far and we can’t thank each of you enough.
Updated 10/15/07
Thank You:
Paloma Ramirez
David DeLuca
Nancy & Mark Joslin
Angelo Hjelm
Randy Lavoi
Tim and Hollis Berendt
Conor Knighton
Dan Stoneberg
Heather Berendt
Neil Cocker
James Horsfield

Roadkill, Roswell, Rain, and the Road. (MIH8)

It’s been a long three days since Las Vegas. We haven’t had the best of luck arriving at tourist destinations at a reasonable hour. For example: We managed to pull up to the Grand Canyon Park Entrance at dark, we arrived in Roswell less than one hour after everything (even restaurants) closed, and we missed traveling anywhere near the Marfa Lights because of a severe storm. The good news is we didn’t die in a flash flood. And we have some pictures from our adventures.

To our surprise (somehow we didn't realize until we were basically there) we drove over the Hoover Dam.



We stopped in Seligman, AZ, home of the Route 66 tourist capital.



The couple stores that line the main street are filled with memorabilia and cheap tourist trinkets. Don’t worry, we avoided purchasing any license plates or key chains with our names plastered on them. Jeremey however, bought a vanilla milkshake from Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive In. It was amazing. Oh, and we also drove past the Roadkill Café.



Roswell was, well, dead. Apparently there are no signs of life (alien or human) after 5:00pm.





The storm hit us between Roswell and (what we hoped to drive to) Fort Stockton. There was lightening on every side of us, thunder always getting closer. The rain was pouring buckets that seemed to splash in lakes on the increasingly invisible road. Luckily we found a small picnic area, and parked it behind a semi truck.



I was certain we were facing death by flash flood. No civilization for over 48 miles. Jeremey’s phone had no service- mine was spotty at best. Thankfully, we got through to Jeremey’s mom who informed us that we were about to hit a break in the storm. If we pressed on for 40 minutes, we might criss-cross through the calm, and make it out. Well, since you’re reading this blog, you know the ending. It was scary… but we made it to Pecos, TX, and gave up driving until the morning.

Yesterday was a thrilling and exciting day of driving across Texas. The good news is you can drive pretty fast.



We arrived in Lake Charles, LA late last night to pick up… a CAMERA! Jeremey’s Dad, who is an entrepreneur himself, came to our aid and gave us the funds we needed to get our second camera. We are incredibly thankful for his generosity.



…This is Jeremey’s dad standing over his Christmas feast.
Thanks so much Dad (Randy).


Tomorrow, we head to Austin...

No Sur! (MIH6)

At approximately 9pm on Saturday, September 15th, we, TeamJaded officially left San Francisco. After three days of packing, hauling, moving, storing, cleaning, and again packing (the car), we embarked on the official “Make It Happen” road trip.

At approximately 10pm on Saturday, September 15th, we, TeamJaded arrived in San Jose, CA. We were tired. We needed sleep. We needed to say goodbye to a good friend… and return a vacuum. Our friend Marika was kind enough to let us crash at her place and this morning we awoke ready to hit the road.

And by this morning we mean about noon, and then some time after Safeway Sushi, looking for a Sprint store (Jeremey’s cell phone broke) getting lost in the means streets of San Ho, and repacking the back seat of the car, (believe us, it’s gnar), we left San Jose headed for Big Sur.

Big Sur was going to be a night of rest in a beautiful place, then perhaps a morning run on the beach before we really set off across America… But it turns out Big Sur is for bourgeoisie rich people and the cheapest “cabin” was a hundred and fifty bucks, the most expensive that we found was fourteen eighty-five… “that’s in hundreds” the booth boy sneered at us, and then asked us to drive around the booth rather than turning around in the parking lot and disturbing the rich people.

So we back tracked to Monterey and landed our selves in the less than fifty bucks a night Economy Inn. That’s right, Hotel Coupons. Find ‘em at a gas station near you.





Oh yeah, and we ate Chop Suey… It tastes exactly like Chinese food.

That’s it for the first day of Make It Happen. Stay tuned for blog and vlog updates. We’ll be shooting our first on-the-road story next week, we can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Thanks for the people who’ve been donating money (you know who you are, big Dan Stoneberg) we wouldn’t be living large at the Economy Inn without you.



And also thanks to Neil Cocker for the blog shout out and the donation.