Gelli Baff

Maya was pining for this tonight... Gelli Baff. Unfortunately, it's only sold in the UK and costs 19 pounds (about forty bucks), and according to my calculations this adds up to Maya not getting it - but it is cool!

Maya as Coloring Book

Here is a new movie (kinda) called Maya as Coloring Book. I know we say this site is supposed to be all artsy and no fartsy... Well, this is a little fartsy.

Grandma's Crazy

Classic Grandma's crazy clip.

Great Grandma Lucht says

Contest of Wills

Cold Sunday

Maya's grandparents are gone today. Yesterday we went to the American Swedish Institute and Maya was impressed with amount of stuff they could fit in such a small castle.

Maya and her Grandpa

AT&T - Rasing the bar

Just in case you needed one more reason to hate AT&T/Cingular...

Dreaming

Our Readers

Family Guy Clip

Maya is of the opinion that you can never have too much gratuitous cartoon violence.

Watching the President

Maya's plan for tonight is to watch Bush's speech - not because she has much of an interest in politics, but if she can mention something about it to her social studies teacher she'll get a prize. I would bet that without even watching it she could just tell her teacher that he said, "We are going to stay in Iraq until the job is done... and we will supply the whatever number of troops it takes to get the job done." That's a prize right there without even watching....

String Fest Video

Here is a video of String Fest this weekend. Seating was hard to come by and good camera angles even tougher. I managed to get a spot in the front where I could see Maya but not very well. Also you really can't see many of the other kids, but... enjoy.

Maya & Lydia

Here is a picture from Saturday's String Fest of Maya and her violin teacher.

Lazy Sunday

Today we sat around the house and did nothing. Maya played outside in the snow for a little and helped her mom bake some cupcakes.

Violin Recital

Maya's performance went well, she played very nicely. We have a video and will put it up in the next couple days.

Maya footage

Here is some interview footage of Maya that we are going to scrap because of technical difficulties (audio only comes out one speaker) but I thought you might enjoy listening to Maya recount some of her thoughts and memories.

Maya Footage

Recital tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big violin recital - well, not that big because the recital hall is pretty small. Maya has her pieces down pretty well and has said she is not nervous at all and is actually looking forward to it. Our main concern is to keep her lotioned up so she can focus on her playing and not on her itching.

Lisa is having a GIRL!!!!

Here is a picture from the ultra-sound!

Trouble with movie making

Yesterday we got a new lav mic to use for shooting a new video but after accumulating about a half hour of stimulating interview footage with Maya I discovered that the mic only records mono to the left speaker, and well.... this just wont do. So basically we wasted a whole night for nothing. Whoever thinks the movie business is all glitz and glamor is sorely mistaken.

Stephen Colbert on AT&T

Brrr....

Very cold today - with the extreme cold and the dry air Maya's been kind of scratchy lately but other than lotion there isn't much we can do. This week she is going to be doing a lot of practicing since she has her violin recital on Sat. She's pretty excited and has her songs down pretty much pat at this point.

Last night we were going through some of the old video tape footage and Maya spent half the night watching her kindergarten spring singing concert. Even though it was only a couple years ago she and all her friends look a lot different.

Snow again

Got some snow last night. We might go sledding this afternoon but that is dependent upon whether or not she practices violin and doesn't have any behavior issues... So we'll see.

This is just cool

Bird Formations

If Charles Kuralt were still alive he'd like to show this video on Sunday morning. Bird formations, San Rafael California. 12/23/06 4:30pm

Giant Bunnies

Here is a lovely story about giant bunnies and the North Koreans who would like to eat them.

Ralph says...

Getting the word out

Sick

Sore throat and cough yet she still insisted on going to school today... After today she has a long weekend with MLK day on Monday so she'll have to get some rest then.

Ringing endorsement

This is funny

Funniest apology note for denting someone's car ever!

Adding old videos

As you may have noticed we've started an archive video section on the right menu where we will be adding old videos. They are labeled by year as to give some context as to their creation. We have a lot more to add, but most of the remaining videos are on Mini DV tapes and we here at mayamac studio are waiting until we get a faster computer before we start the project of removing them. Unfortunately we are having troubles with our accountant allowing us the necessary funds to upgrade. Obviously this person doesn't understand the creative process and its need for the necessary tools in creation. As we continue our lobbying efforts (it's tough working with immigrants) please enjoy the small sampling posted thus far.

High Praise for mayamacstudio.com

Conversation with Maya 2002

July_4th_2002.mov

Countries and Capitols

Over the first part of the school year Maya has worked on memorizing the states and capitols. As the second part of the year begins she has started learning about countries and their capitols. This is a good thing for a couple reasons - she is learning something new, and secondly it gives her and her grandma a new game to play on the phone. Hopefully grandma wont cheat on the countries like she has admitted to on the states and capitols game...

Macworld Today

This has nothing to do with Maya but it still deserves mention. Check out the new iPhone!

Gangsta Maya

Back to School

Finally (and I do mean finally), Maya is back to school. This morning she had a bit of a bounce in her step as she was all dressed up in some of the new clothes she got for Christmas. Tomorrow she will start back up with the violin lessons and life should pick up right where it left off before the Holidays.

Last day of vacation

Tomorrow it is back to school and we are all excited. Looks like we are getting a little more snow again which is good since the sledding hill is bare.

Nothing planned for today other than cleaning and relaxing.

Interesting video

Dog at zero gravity

Another Lost Toof

Maya lost another tooth and is now down to just two in the front...

In other news, we have come up with a new way to cut down the tree in the backyard.

Darts

We got a dart board today and discovered something.... Maya really sucks at darts. We've had darts in the ceiling, floor, door - fortunately, no injuries thus far. I've been trying to pinpoint the exact flaw in her throwing and I think it is something in her wind up.

Airbrushing

Maya finally got batteries for her airbrush paint machine that she got for Christmas. If she keeps working at it maybe one day she'll be good enough to get a job doing it at the Mall.

Late Nights - Short Days

Last night Maya was up past midnight watching season 9 of The Simpsons and today is sleeping the day away - at least you can say she knows how to enjoy her vacation.

This weekend we have nothing planned other than taking Zaheeda to Coastal Seafood so she can take advantage of her 20% off coupon. She was also pointing out that she could have her mother-in-law go shopping there with her since they have 20% off every Tuesday for senior citizens, and unlike those jerks at Pamida they consider 55 to be senior enough.

Sneak Look

Sneak look at an unfinished clip from the movie event of 2007.

Sleeping late

Maya is sleeping late today after a late night of doing math problems and watching Over the Hedge on her computer. Today she is going to do some more practice on the violin so she is ready for the String Fest concert on January 20th. Her group will be performing Andantino and Etude which she pretty much has down all she needs to work on are the subtleties of the pieces.

Savoring the snow

By all predictions our snow is only slated to last a couple more days but Maya has been enjoying it while she can. Yesterday she spent playing in the backyard and enjoying the remaining inch she had available, hopefully more will be coming soon.

Let the boredom begin

Maya has a whole week to kill before getting back to school - this will not be easy. She is going to play outside this morning and maybe this afternoon we'll go to the library and the bookstore.

Sledding

Tonight we went sledding on the hill by the library. The snow was slick and Maya rode her little saucer sled down the hill and off into the night. I would have taken some pictures but I was too cold and didn't want to take my gloves off.

Snow shoveling

Maya was all gung ho to get out and shovel this morning, unfortunately she has very bad snow management skills. She doesn't get down to the pavement nor does she move the snow back far enough to accommodate future snowfalls. After pointing this out to her she tried throwing a snowball at me. Some people just don't know how to take constructive criticism....

Real life Simpsons Intro

The Simpsons in real life

Happy New Year

Now that we have some snow it finally feels like winter. Maya was bemoaning the fact that all shoveling she did last night was for naught since the driveway is now covered again - this is why people usually wait until it is done snowing before they start shoveling.

We have no plans for today (other than shoveling the driveway). Zaheeda is worn out after all her Christmas/New Years party planning and is looking forward to getting back to business as usual. The tree is down, the decorations are put away and now the new year can begin.