I spent the weekend in Nashville shooting a Manchester Orchestra video and getting acquainted with the south. Like every trip to a location with it's own dialect, I ended up subconsciously assimilating myself and by sunday afternoon I had a lazy drawl that made me sound folksier than a will call at the Grand Ole Opry. I caught myself telling a key grip to "move that there C-stand" and was so embarrassed that I spent the next hour reciting Wu-Tang lyrics in my head to cleanse my palette.

Dear Kanye,

Today I found a box of costumes from the "Best I Ever Had" video under my desk. Do your video girls still need these? I was thinking about giving them to my girlfriend's nephews for Christmas. They sure love sports.

Good luck on your VMA nominations!
Isaac

ps - If you win, my producer and I are storming the stage looking like this:

The video I directed for Cage The Elephant premieres on the MTVs this Thursday. A super huge thanks to Max, Marc, and everyone else who pushed it so hard. We still don't know if they're airing the director's cut or the "broadcast safe" version, but either way, it gets pretty grizzly.

I don't even have cable, so if someone wants to tivo that, that'd be great. In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to celebrate a job well done in a more unorthodox style:

A huge thanks to everyone who helped out on last week's shoot. We spent all day filming off of moving golf carts in downtown LA, and then finished the night by bashing some life-sized pinatas. Sometimes it was hard to tell if we were filming a music video or putting together the ultimate quinceanera.

If I'm ever on Jeopardy, I hope one of the categories is "garden gnomes", because I learned enough about them last week to completely dominate. I directed a video for Cage The Elephant on Monday that will feature little people, psychedelic forest sets, and a vague metaphor about the perils of hiding secrets. The guys put on a great Letterman performance last night, which was a relief since I was sure that their throats were coated with fake snow and spray paint fumes from the set. We're in post now and already in pre-production for the next video- it's shaping up to be a busy summer.

Personally, it's been one of those weeks (months? seasons? it's hard to tell sometimes), and I'm extremely grateful to be surrounded by good people. The kind that genuinely care about me and will remind me to do the right thing when I'm feeling unsure. The kind that will kick my butt a little when I'm not being myself and the kind that will put an arm around me when I'm up to my neck in stuff that's out of my control. I still believe that truth, and love, and goodness always triumph in the end, and you're all a constant reminder of that. Thanks guys.

This Maira Kalman piece for the New York Times is worth reading ten time in a row. (Via Steve)