Bubble Gun

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Length: 0:42

A pantsless summer moment in MN.

Run VII

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Length: 1:22

Two reasons I post so infrequently are, I'm realizing, just one reason. First, the single unedited shots that make up the majority of my posts (about the boy, anyhow) are tough to capture. They require patience, and a lot of wasted footage waiting to see if something is going to happen. Second, I am acutely aware that these kinds of videos ask for a certain level of patience from the viewer, to wait and continue watching to see if this is the kind of single-take video that ends with a narrative payoff, or one of those that's all about the journey. My concern for the viewer makes editing take longer than one might imagine, as I nudge the starting and ending points by a few frames to get the feel of the transitions just right.

As time has gone on, however, and I browse back through the history of Matchbook Films on my iPhone, I realize that the videos I return to again and again are the ones that are less about storytelling and more about momentshowing. And I remain convinced that within these videos there is something revealed that is about more than how much I adore my own kid.

Perhaps I'm deluding myself. But until my audience drops down to one, I intend to keep sharing these favorite moments, like this one I'd forgotten about from August 2006. Lake Calhoun, Minnesota. The boy has gotten out of the water and into a dry diaper, when he suddenly decides to run off down the path.

Just Plain Big: Minnesota State Fair 1988

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Length: 12:51

Nineteen years ago, Christa Dahlstrom--a college sophomore and Minnesota native--rented a VHS camcorder and brought it and two friends (Ted Johnson and Brian Glenn) to the Minnesota State Fair. Back at school she spent weeks learning the dorm's linear video editing system, with the help of her film-major boyfriend (i.e. me), and cutting together this irreverent and loving overview.

Food-on-a-stick, Ye Old Mill, beauty queen butter sculptures, tractors, and bull semen.

We're now married, Christa and I, and we're about to head back to MN to visit the family. This year with luck I'll get to attend a day of the fair (after all this time I've still never been). In anticipation I finally digitized this classic from our younger days. The tape has degraded quite a bit, so I have done a tiny bit of cleanup, and removed a couple of minutes entirely (not that would be missed).

But looking back at this now, I am reminded that she has always been funnier than me, and a better filmmaker. Secretly I'm hoping this will encourage her to make movies again.

Oh, and this one's © all rights reserved.

Bock Church Photo, Part IV

Memories of Bock, MN from back when it was a "going" town.

Complete series:

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Length: 1:21

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Bock Church Photo, Part III

How a small town like Bock adapts when there are too many Johnsons and Larsons to keep track of.

Complete series:

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Length: 1:45

Flashless? (Click to view.)

Bock Church Photo, Part II

More memories from Christa's mom about a 1954 group photo taken in front of Emanuel Lutheran Church in Bock, Minnesota.

Complete series:

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Length: 2:24

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Bock Church Photo, Part I

In my first foray into videoblogging family history, Christa's mom reminisces over a group photo taken in October 1954 at an anniversary celebration of Emanuel Lutheran Church in Bock, Minnesota.

Complete series:

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Length: 2:24

Flashless? (Click to view.)

Lake Calhoun

From The Boy's first encounter with a lake. He's "tinned out" quite a bit since his first encounter with a wading pool. That was ten months ago.

The 32nd Street beach at Lake Calhoun, just a few blocks walk from the main drag of Uptown in Minneapolis, features a swimmable beach and a most excellent tot park. The July heat wave had just broken a few days earlier, so there were no crowds in sight.

Length: 1:22

Flashless? (Click here.)