DESTINATION: Baja, Mexico
PURPOSE: adventure
CREW: Sven, Brian, Ryan, Nick
Staying at my Dad's place in La Paz Mexico while he is out traveling the other side of the planet made for quite an adventure on my own terms. Isn't it great visiting your parent's place, especially when they aren't around... party time...

DESTINATION: Europe
PURPOSE: exploration
CREW: Zac Rubino (Pokemon Rubino), Noah Rubeling-Kain (pompous compass), Geoffrey Raynor (eyes box)
Pack your bags we’re going to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and somewhere in Germany. Hostels booked, rail passes purchased and an organized itinerary turned into sleeping in train stations and airports, and ending up in places we couldn’t find on a map.

It’s not my fault I swear, it’s deciding to go to a different country, where they speak a different language and have a different lifestyle. I kept telling my three companions that everything would be fine as I led them deeper down the dark streets of Paris and over the windy bridges of Amsterdam. Honestly I’ve never really been there before, but the further away from safety and sanity our group traveled the better.

It wasn’t about being a tourist; it was about opening our minds by opening our passports.

DESTINATION: Cuba
PURPOSE: exploration
CREW: Michael Seyfert
The trade embargo between the United States and Cuba prevents the threat of America on the Cuban people and their culture (minus Coca Cola, of course). The Cubans were up to speed with capitalism and driving around their built for tough automobiles until they got cut off, and everything just stopped.

It’s frozen in time, but the ice is slowly melting just like the buildings slowly falling apart. The only paint is used to erect propaganda along the roadside, most meat is illegal, and the line goes down the block for your meagerly ration of bread and eggs, but there is plenty of liquor.

My father ventured a few years earlier and filmed Bye Bye Havana.

Nothing is wrong and everything is wrong. There are super rich in Cuba and the healthcare is just as free as the people are on this prison island.

DESTINATION: Jamaica
PURPOSE: documentary
CREW: Michael Seyfert
This was the second trip with my father on a filming adventure. This time it was to the island of Jamaica, the land of Christianity, and some Rastafari. With the island being raped by British imperialism and nothing left for the people to have their economy revolve around, they turn to tourism.

The cruise ships pull into all the major ports and party towns on the west coast and the cheap souvenirs start from the dock and go anywhere you can spot the white man. Sadly even this isn’t good enough because tourists aren’t safe in most places in Jamaica so they built forts, also called resorts, where most of the money is spent and sent back to the wealthy countries where the cruise ships came from.

How do the people of Jamaica make a living? They don’t, welcome to poverty all over again. Sex tourism and murder, the types of tings that are fun to watch on the screen. Welcome to Jamaica, have a spliff, Rent A Rasta and get shot in Kingston where they celebrated having the murder rate drop to double digits for that month. But don’t worry there are still some pure black supremacists hidden away on mountain tops waiting for their reparations and a free ride back to Africa.

DESTINATION: Amazon Jungle
PURPOSE: documentary
CREW: Michael Seyfert
This was the first trip with my father where filming was involved, before I got into the whole, lets make videos for a college education. We were in Ecuador for two weeks. In Quito when arriving and leaving and for the bulk of the adventure a days worth of traveling downriver to film a native Woarani tribe.

It was nice to be able to experience first hand how American oil companies invades the 3rd world for their resources and take advantage of the weak government and people. The flames from the drills can be seen for miles by what little life is left in the area. Pipelines mark the territory now claimed and guarded by the oil companies. There have been protests and attacks on them, but if we don’t hear about it, it doesn’t exist.

The Waorani have the potential of what Hollywood labels as the wild jungle tribe, minus the unnecessary savageness. All of this except for the little details that all the children are wearing Nike and are loosing their teeth due to Coca Cola superseding fresh water. The nativity of this tribe and what they stand for is soon to become pipelines and ash.