Sweet, Sweet...Super 8

There is something incredibly wonderful about receiving a gift that demonstrates how well a person knows you. It's not the market value of the item or the money spent that makes it valuable, but the meaning we give to things, especially when they indicate the nature of a relationship. There's nothing special or unique in viewing gifts and belongings this way. Most of the people in my life feel the same way about material goods and I appreciate them for that. (I also appreciate the fact that Chris is great at picking out gifts, since I stress so much about 'what gifts say.')

For my birthday last month, Chris bought me a perfect gift--an old but mint-condition Super 8 video camera. I would have never bought it for myself, but he thought I'd like it for its creative potential. He was right and I can't wait to play. I don't know how to use it yet, or what I'll use it for (I'm trying to convince Chris to do Food Network clips, but he's resisting), but I know the film will look amazing. The camera takes Super 8 film cartridges that are fairly easy to find, but developing the film is trickier. Once developed the film can be played on a projector, or filmed and digitized. I'll keep y'all posted on my cinematic debut. All I can say is - watch out, Kaminski.