CleanFlix Documentary Update!

This week a documentary film that was co-directed by one of my best friends, Andrew James, will have its US premier at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. Andrew will be at the festival to field questions from the audience, media, and will also be speaking at a forum at a nearby high school.
Many of you who are fans of the film on facebook have asked when a trailer will be available. Well that day has arrived. Here is the teaser trailer for CleanFlix:The Movie! Enjoy!

Metallica 11/03/08 Salt Lake City,Utah!

I cannot believe I forgot about this post!

In October of 2008, one of my coworkers at Blockbuster told me she had won two tickets to see Metallica in November at the Energy Solutions Center in Salt Lake City. I thought that was cool. She also told me that she was taking her mother to the concert since her mother is an avid fan of Metallica as well.

The first Metallica song I ever heard was on a campout back in 1993 or '94 we were at Benson National Park in South Texas and one of the guys had brought a discman and the self entitled Metallica album also known as the "Black" album. When "Enter Sandman" began I was instantly hooked to the song and had a feeling that the rest of the album was going to be amazing and it was! All the rumors and things I had been told about heavy metal music growing up was a lie. There was and still is nothing satanic about Metallica's music. I remember in 1st grade there was a rumor going around that Metallica was coming to town to kidnap all the kids in school and the school even thought about canceling classes for a day. I laugh about that incident now and even at that age I thought what would a rock band do with a bunch of kids?

In high school my music taste went from pure country and oldies which I still love, to classic rock and heavy metal. I bought every Metallica album that was released during my high school years. In the early Summer of 1998 I had just graduated from high school and the local rock station was giving away tickets to see Metallica perform in Dallas. I did not win the contest but am pretty sure I came pretty close. After my two year LDS mission in Las Vegas, I returned home and much to my parents dismay, the first music cd I wanted to listen to was my Metallica albums. My mom said, "Oh darn I was hoping you would throw away those cds when you got back." It was funny, but how could I toss away the albums of one of the greatest rock bands ever.

In late October of 2008 Alex, the coworker who won the tickets called me up randomly. At first I thought she was calling to see if i could cover one of her shifts but to my surprise, the conversation went something like this,

Alex: Hey Xavier, what's up?

Me: Not much just here at home chillin'. What's up with you?

Alex: I have a favor to ask that will benefit both of us.

Me: Ok, what is it?

Alex: So remember how I won two tickets to see Metallica in November?

Me: Yes?

Alex: Well my mother can't go because she has work the next morning, my husband does not want to go and I don't want to invite Micah (another coworker) because he is always mean to me so, would you---

Xavier: Yes, I would love to go to see Metallica!

Alex: Awesome!

The concert was on November 3rd and man what a concert. I have always been told that Metallica puts on a great show but actually seeing it was amazing! Camera's were not allowed in the venue but I found some videos from the concert from people who managed to sneak their cameras in. Needless to say, my ears were ringing for the next 2 and a half days! It was well worth it!

Then to top it all off, Activision announced that same Fall that Guitar Hero: Metallica would be hitting video game stores nationwide in March so I pre-ordered my copy and in March came the game and it was a amazing! Shortly after it's release, I left for a new Summer job in Texas. If the count down timer and my recent Facebook status post don't give it away I am excited to return to Utah. I need to find a job in when I get back, I have a couple places in mind, Best Buy, PetSmart and Gunnies are all places I plan on applying at.

Here are a couple of videos from the Metallica concert in Salt Lake City.

Enjoy!

Creeping Death


One

Summers End

I cannot believe how fast time has flown. These past three months have flown by for the most part. The season is over, and I have spent the past week deep cleaning the house here in Austin so the realty company can lease it. There were many days when the seconds, minutes and hours seemed to drag on and on and on and the many days where Annoying Guy was there only made the days longer. However, each passing day was also one day closer to returning back to Utah to my family and friends there. The highlight of my Summer was last week when my brother in law, sister, nephew, and mother came to visit. The best news however, was when I found out that Clean Flix, a documentary film I have been working on the past 3 years, will be premiering at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival this September. I will be in Toronto to support the film and its directors, my best friend Andrew James and another good friend of mine Josh Ligairi and photograph the events there.

This last week in Austin I will spend with one of my other best friends who I have known since I was 5 or 6. I touch down in Salt Lake City in a week and half and I look forward to catching up with my family and friends there.

Independence Day Weekend 2008

This year I took a break from what I have done almost every year on Independence Day since living here in Utah. Usually the way I spend Independence Day is hanging out with one of my best friends and his family and watch the Parade then get some good Barbecue and then head out to the Stadium of Fire which, if you have not been, is pretty much one of the best firework shows and concerts you will see. I abstained this year due to the fact that I was invited to spend the day with my sister, my brother-in-law and his family and also because this years main performer was none other than Hanna Montana. Come on Provo, the majority of the city is not made up of 13 year old girls. Last years show was amazing, I mean really when it comes to country music, there's no one better than Brooks & Dunn who were last years main performers at the above mentioned event.



Even though I know I would have had fun with the Halladays, I wanted to try something new so here is what went down.I got a phone call yesterday (Thursdays) from my brother -in-law and my sister asking if I would like to spend Independence Day with them. It was something new so I said sure. We ended up going to Kaysville which is about an hour and 15 minutes north of Orem/Provo. There, they have their annual parade and then a huge community water fight between the parade floats and the parade spectators. This was by far the biggest water fight I have ever seen. Even the fire department and other city water trucks were in on it. They would spray the spectators with their water hose and the citizens would run up to the trucks and dump huge buckets of water into the firetrucks drenching the driver and anyone else inside. I took a few pictures and missed getting drenched by a huge bucket of water by inches. I stepped forward to take a picture just as someone flung the water in their 5 gallon bucket at me and it barley missed me and mainly got splashed on the legs from the water hitting the street. This water fight went on for two continuous miles. However the water fight was broken up due to some minor injuries. A couple of boys got their legs and feet slightly run over by a float. Everyone thought that one of the boys had been run over the torso so life flight was brought in as a precautionary. Thankfully they were just very minor injuries and the boys were released later in the day.



After the water fight, we headed to a park and played volleyball and Frisbee. Then we all went back to my brother-in-laws parents house and played badminton and barbecued. The badminton was fun. We played till one team reached ten points. One game lasted till the final score was 15-14. The following games final score was 10-0...I was on the losing side but it was fun. Following that we watched the firework show and then caught the tail end of the movie Independence Day. My brother would have joined us but he spent the day at Bear Lake wake boarding. Following the fireworks we pretty much called it a day, and my sister and brother-in-law dropped me off at my place before heading home. When I got home I reflected on the Founding Fathers and the great sacrifices they made and the sacrifices that our armed forces make as they serve and put their lives on the line so that we may continue to enjoy the freedoms that we have and more than often take for granted.



I think next year I will be more prepared for the post parade water fight. There were people who had lined the beds of their pickups with tarps and filled them with water. Others had rented trailers with high walls , lined them with tarps and filled them with water as well. It was pretty insane. I am looking forward to next years water fight.


On Saturday, I mainly chilled at home and got caught up on much needed sleep. Around noon I got a phone call from one of my best friends and was invited to hang out with him and his family at his uncle's house. His uncle lives about a mile from me so I headed down there around 8pm and got to visit and see Jake, his wife Lynn, and their new baby Annabelle, who by the way is the cutest, coolest, most awesome and chill baby I have ever met. I also got to visit with his parents. I really am grateful for Jake, his family, and my friendship with them. They have done so much for me.

Sunday I went to church and then spent the evening playing Risk with my brother and my brother-in-law. My brother and I formed an alliance against Brady ( my brother-in-law) because every time I attacked him, he kept on rolling pairs of 6 which meant that I lost the battles. So in order to even things out, my brother nuked Asia which is where a lot of Brady's men were stationed and then he attacked and wiped out most of his men in Africa. I caused minimal damage to Brady and ended up coming in last in the game. Over all it was a pretty fun weekend. I think one thing I learned from this weekend is that I need to be more social. Last Saturday was pretty fun too. I went to dinner with Andrew and his wife, Jolyn and then my brother, my sister, and her husband Brady, met up with us at a park in Provo and we played baseball for a couple of hours. It was pretty sweet.