A timid toe dipped into the murky waters of commerce...

Might wanna double-click over to youtube to get the full image.

Nastasha is one. Bubbles were clearly expected.

Boy what a week.
Art Opening was AWESOME! They made a video and you can see bubbles at the very beginning...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfUz01-kAlg
..Sterling's hands at 2:07 and my daughter in the middle of the pic at 2:32. So proud to be a part of this!!!! So much lovely celebration of such a lovely city in such unlovely times....

THEN


Somebody very friendly on SBF sent some bubble work my way...and I found myself briefly a startled member of the jet set, flying out directly from the reception in that video to shoot a commercial in Malibu.
I took enough concentrate (Thanks Bryce for telling me often enough that concentrates were the way to go that I finally listened...) in a dawn jug to make 8 gallons of juice. The concentrates are amazing and instant--I just mix my stuff up with a cup of warm water per cup of dawn and then bottle it. Two cups of this into a gallon of distilled water makes almost instant, excellent solution.
I almost hate to say this, but I've completely backed off of the glycerin. I now have three ingredients plus water and I can't seem to improve it.
I admit, the solution's super gooey...but that gooey self-healing saved my life in that shoot! It was TOTALLY pack-up-your-bubble-stuff-and-go-home weather--not worth a minute's time. I was stuck on the beach in high wind with money almost palpably pouring down the drain every second of this production they had going on...and I kept managing to launch these big floofy bubble-amoeba into the frame, and they would close...even though it took tremendous concentration. I suspect that (wonderful, friendly and ultra-professional) crew has no idea that it was only many, many hours of practice with the big poles that allowed them to get anything at all. They almost decided to have actors trained by bubblers to make the bubbles...that would have been disastrous in this weather!

TSA TOTALLY searched my bag in both directions, opened the J-Lube...but I had everything marked clearly and repeatedly, so all they really had to do was believe that I really do make giant bubbles...and things got through. The four foot duffle was not charged for oversize in either direction (United) though it came out the oversize baggage chute when I got home.

I felt a little funny having asserted that I would not do bubbles for pay and then taking this gig. But, really, I don't want to do parties--especially kids parties--for pay, because the unpredictability is to stressful and the I'm also very careful about doing-what-I-love for work. My brother's a professional musician and he has seen people's most beloved activity become drudgery once commodified. So...I fumbled around for a way to avoid the decision--looked up the client company's human rights record and they are pretty awesome on that score, actually. And I did the gig. And, I'd probably do it again. But bubbling for kids...as yet...I'll just do that for fun, when I feel like it. So, I changed the website to say that I don't do parties, but not that I don't perform for pay. Because that just became a lie. :) And I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity!

Watch for some new equipment designs coming soon...
And that pro-shoot shoot made me realize that I REALLY want to make my next video! So, coming soon....!

Celebrate San Francisco with me!

In this photo, Natasha is almost in her very last week of being zero years old!!!And I, of course am wearing my "Island of Hors d'oeuvres" t-shirt while we wile away the hours in Ventura, CA...

I just dropped off the Bubble Project Loop DVD and player at the Mission Cultural Center! You should come see the show!

http://www.missionculturalcenter.org/MCCLA_New/gallery.html#celebrate_sf
Thanks to Jeremiah for the great picture they used on the website!
And thanks to Sterling for being so understanding when I called him with my best Barry-White-swallowing-gravel imitation and said I was too ill to do our long-awaited video shoot in Sutro Heights Park.
Ack!
I'm hoping for...mid-September to try again...?

The bubbles WILL descend from the Sutro Heights to the Ocean Beach. They will; I swear!

Revving Up the Bubble Doin's

Natasha is in her 12th month!!!


Finalllllly back in action here. Shooting starts for our next chapter SATURDAY! In the meantime, for those who've assumed I was musically challenged because of the videos' quietness, I made a teaser reel for which I whipped out a quick tune on the computer ('whipped out' meaning 'pulled my hair out learning garage band for 5 hours starting around 10pm').
http://vimeo.com/14139333
And the youtube homepage has been gussied up a bit...
http://www.youtube.com/user/milfus
Had a wonderful time bubbling with fambly a few Sundays ago. Look at 'em go!
As far as me in this picture, well, white pants=laundry day, 'nuff said. ;)
More soon!

Video of GBP III and NMM I

Giant Bubble Party III from Mike L Miller on Vimeo.

Home movies from Lakeside Park on Fathers Day. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Fathers Day GBP III

Natasha is in her tenth month! She is now affectionately referred to as Hurricane Natasha...


Thanks so much to everyone who participated in our third Giant Bubble Party--we filled the sky with all sizes of bubbles on a scale that I could only have dreamed of a year ago...
Video and pictures coming soon...

7 Down, 2 to Go!

Natasha is in her 9th month still....

And the Tank Hill Video is DONE!
(Gotta click the arrows to enlarge, hit play and then pause to let it pre-load...then after it's fully loaded, hit play and enjoy!)

Bubbling Tank Hill from Mike L Miller on Vimeo.

The whole Project was virtually complete--one last installment: "Bubbling San Francisco," involving multiple scenic vignettes, to go--when I trotted up Tank Hill last March and found a site quietly insistent upon its own segment. A singular City view and startling breeze patterns made it a must. Enjoy! Please comment!

^that text^ comes with the video...There are in fact two more videos to go.

I'm counting on my friend Django, who shot the telephoto bits in the Tank Hill episode, to help me focus on the bubbling by running all three cameras in Sutro Heights Park, where I plan to go full circle by making it all about GIANT bubbles, as much as I can, which may mean many trips back for good weather, good solution, good shots...

It's weird, I'm becoming disenchanted with the glycerine and retreating to the simple Dawn, Water, J-Lube and Baking Powder mix I used a year ago. My big bubbles just seem weighed down and quick-drying with the glycerine...which is totally counter-intuitive...but that's where I am now. I was watching the Spreckels Lake/ GBP II Warm-Up video--which was with that old, simple mix--- and thinking, heck, I haven't gotten consistency like that since I started adding ingredients....Harumph!... Also going to start experimenting from square one with some radically different mixes that have caught my eye over the past year. Stay tuned...

June Morley, purple-bucketed bubbler extraordinaire from the U.K. asked for some close-ups of the bubble equipment so, here's a picture and a video:


Also, I'm collecting location-scouting video with which I am going to make a very special video proposal to the SBF crew, see if I can get bubblers passing through my area in the coming months (years?) to contribute a moment at a site of their choosing for the final Bubble Project episode... Stay tuned!

Giant Bubble Party III June 20th. Don't miss it!

slow as a Tank Hill

Natasha is in her 9th month!


The Tank Hill Project has involved multiple trips up the mountain, a whole ton of reject footage, some WONDERFUL help from friends (thanks Dad, Django and Ted!!!!) and now I must edit it viciously while living a very full life. So, maybe you'll see it in...June?

The Oakland Museum of California Re-opening event was LOVELY. Brian and Sterling brought lots of toys and solution which made the sheer variety of size, shape and quantity of bubbles unlike any event I've yet attended. They also helped me carry my stuff around, took some video, fielded questions...it was a really great time. Thanks Brian and Sterling!!!


I think the videos can all be seen bigger by clicking on the Vimeo link...

Ode to the Turntable Crew from Michael L Miller on Vimeo.

More bubble backstory. There's some nifty reject bubble footage at the end...

And its short...

And I really want to thank Ted and Dad for getting so lovingly caught up in my near-miss vision. I learned a TON and got to spend some lovely quality time...

In fact, I can further thank Ted--and hopefully you'll thank me for it too--by sending folks to peruse with joy and wonder his alternately lovely and hilarious (often both) photography and captions (seriously, the captions are a big part of the joy for me...) over here:



Oh and Doy, there's video from the Oakland Museum...

OMCA Clips from Michael L Miller on Vimeo.

Home movies of the OMCA bubble shenanigans.

Teaser: Bubbling Tank Hill from Michael L Miller on Vimeo.

Someday I will edit again...someday....

Soooo Much coming soon!

Sutro Heights Park!
Tank Hill!
New Bubble Makers!
Technological Innovations via Joyous Collaborations!!
Bubbling by invitation at the Oakland Museum!!
A Baby that says "Buh! Buh!"
Blogs with Complete Sentences!!

All in progress or coming soon!!!

Look, the Baby!


And just so you know that I've actually been working on this stuff, here's the first test video for the process I intend to use on Tank Hill...hopefully to much better effect and without some of the first-try glitches you'll see here...but you'll get the idea...

Carousel Cam Test 1 from Michael L Miller on Vimeo.

The view at Tank Hill really puts the PAN in Panorama, so I became obsessed with making a turntable for the cameras...After countless planning e-mails, trips to Fry's, Home Depot and OSH and several delightful hours in the workshop with Dad and Ted...I stumbled upon a model display turntable that seems to work and have begun the video test phase. I have much to learn but there appears to be hope that the thing just may be do-able! Woohooo! Stay Tuned!

Cheers!

Lazy Blog with just pics and video

Oy vey so much to say
So much to do
and no time today

I'll post the pictures and the video then
tell you more later when I'm back again :)

Natasha is in the first week of her 7th Month:

The Bubble Project has descended upon Buena Vista Park for the last time.


For Video: FULL SCREEN and HD Highly recommended! (You may need to click 'HD on,' then the full screen arrows and then click pause to load, for smooth playback)

Bubbling Buena Vista Park from Michael L Miller on Vimeo.

Mike and a very special guest join the bubbles converging on Buena Vista Park and see what they can add to the mix. Episode 6 of Mike Miller's Bubble Project.

The was fog and there were dogs and there was a special guest and I have to sleep now... Please comment or let me know you were here in some special way...