I have been traveling since I was born since my parents were in the Air Force. Even as I got older riding with other friends during my travels and riding Amtrack trains around the country it drove me nuts that I could not stop when I wanted to stop to take photos of the many things I have seen in my travels. Finally I was given the chance to be free and take photos anywhere and at anytime I want. I pulled over every time I had seen a train with graffiti and I'm always amazed how this traveling art is sitting in the middle of the desert. When I use to ride the Amtrack train I would see box car trains covered with graffiti art sitting in the middle of a forest with snow hundreds of miles away from towns and cities. Graffiti trains are a true traveling art gallery.
Driving a 2011 Ford Fiesta is a perfect vehicle to travel for filmmakers and photographers. 40mpg you can't beat that. I drove from the west coast to the east coast and back and the car still drives as smooth as the the first day I got it.
Sorry I been busy doing so much so going to continue from the last blog from my Seattle trip.
OK on the way back from Seattle to Oakland, CA I had my dance crew with me. I haven't put gas in the car yet since the night before and we were now on empty passing through Eugene Oregon. It said that I have another 25 miles until I am on 0 in fuel so I skipped the Eugene exit and took the chance anyways to see how far I can make it before it is completely empty. There was sign that said 16 miles until the next gas stop and my gas meter said I have 18 miles left. I said perfect lets see what happens. My dance crew "Termites" started freaking out because it is all country and no stores or anything. Farm land everywhere so they were getting nervous. Now once we came to the exit when I had only 5 miles left of fuel there was no gas station. I went from a smile to being nervous that made the crew freak out.
They were like "Beto what are we going to do I'm not pushing this car!" They were yelling and freaking out. I didn't see anymore gas signs and we are already 25 miles south of Eugene that last gas exit. I knew I would not make it back. So I tried anyways as i went to the left over the over past. Then from the top of the over past I see just past it a freeway sign saying gas next exit 2 miles away. We cheered in excitement until I then saw that my meter said 5 miles left of fuel. "OH NO!" We we all started freaking out and it was to hot out side to push the car. I quickly got back on the freeway and as we were speeding up onto the free way I was trying my best to be light on the pedal but by the time I got onto the free way it went to 2 miles left of fuel and the exit looks to be exactly that. But by the time I was able to get some speed as diesel trucks zooming by us it wen to zero fuel. I came up to the exit and we are all yelling "You can make it! Come on! and yelling at the traffic lights ahead and the cars at the red light "Turn Green! Turn Green! and I was just cruising it on 100% on empty and there was the gas station and it goes green when I'm only going about 5 miles per hour across the intersection and cruised into the Cheveron gas station. We were in the car with the biggest rush cheering and celebrating as if we just watched the 49ers win the Super Bowl.
In Oregon they have a gas station guy fuel our tanks for us so he was smiling wondering what we were cheering about and once we told him he was all happy and cheering celebrating with us. It was funny. Sad thing is I didn't have my camera rolling. The whole time I wanted to pull over to get the camera out of the trunk but I knew I needed to save the fuel. It would of been the best reality video. Now my camera never leaves my side. We also noticed that it happened to be the same gas station we stopped at on the way to Seattle so it was even more strange that we came to the same place twice and didn't even know where we were.
On May 15th I had decided to take off that day to Seattle for a bboy dance contest. I left Oakland, CA and picked up my dance crew “Termites Cru” from Stockton, CA. Imax in the passenger seat and Steven and Berna the 2 turbo twins in the back. They were very comfortable in the back but they are also only 5’2. It was a very boring ride on high way 5 passing through Redding, CA. We saw Mt. Shasta that made the trip more interesting but it seem to never get closer. 2 hours later we finally get closer to it and the tiptop of California finally got greener. Every time we had the opportunity to get a photo with the Mountain. The twins never travel and this is the 4th time they have traveled with me on my wild adventures. Once we were in Oregon it was nice fresh air. The roads became more crooked and then the car became more fun to drive. We stopped at a rest stop and we saw a roadway that was shaped like a racetrack. Imax and I took turns driving around it like driving a racecar. That was my 2nd test since the day we first received the car. I hit the sharp turn in 3rd gear and I was shocked how well the tires hugged the turns. Imax then wanted to drive it so I can film the car from the out side. I said you can’t drive stick since he drives a Honda Element. So I let him try it by me riding with him and he freaked me out. He drove faster than I did on the turns as if he thinks he is driving a drift car. He had the cheesiest smile on his face like a kids first time driving a Go-kart.
I then shot from the out side and had him do it again. The twins in the back seat felt like they were on a rollercoaster ride. After that we took more photos and continued our road trip. The twins started now getting bored of all the same trees and by the time we got to Washington they all got excited when they saw Crispy Cream Donuts. We missed the exit so we made sure we stop by the on the way back and we did. All the Crispy Donuts are all shut down in California.
Once we made it to downtown Seattle, WA it was 16 hours of driving for me. It was about 8:30PM and they wanted to see downtown and the Space Needle. We had the hardest time trying to get back onto the freeway to find a hotel, as the city was confusing. By the time we found a hotel it was about 11:30PM.
My dad use to take us down this secret back road on our way to our Grandparents when we were kids. He would tell us stories how he use to race down these crooked roads in his 1968 GTO that was olive green.
When I got older I would take the same route to the bay area in my 1992 Ford Thunderbird 5.0 with low profile tires as it hugged the turns speeding through here. It was a lot of fun as I imagined how my father felt racing his GTO here.
I then later got a 2001 Chevy Cavalier in 2005 and I was not happy with it here. It felt weak going down this road. That car failed me in every way as I went back to riding my bike everywhere.
So now I'm back to my secret road and I had a blast racing through here in the Ford Fiesta. I felt like i was free as the tires hugged each left and right turn.
I'll be taking these back road more often now. Maybe I'll let my dad role with me here and try it out as well.
Check it out I'm currently featured on Fords website. Wow!!!
Thanks Ford Fiesta Movement www.fiestamovement.com
Here are photos from after our Ford Fiesta big day.
After we received the keys I drove out to Las Vegas where I am currently at now. As soon as I drove away from the Willow Speedway meadows I notices allot of people looking and pointing. Even one guy tail gated me and popped his head out the window smiling and asking "What kind of Ford Focus is that? Is it out yet?" I responded yelling out the window "No it is a 2011 Ford Fiesta and I came from the future! I came on a time machine and you wont see this car out until 2010 summer!"
The best part on the road I grabbed my Sony Webbie to film a guy driving an awesome yellow custom Mustang. It was bad! real bad looking and were driving side by side like Fast And the Furious as I had the camera on him. He was looking at me and trying to figure out what I was driving. I continued to pass him by.
I let the sun follow me to let me know when is the right to to pull over on the long stretch of road on HWY 15 in the Mojave dessert to Las Vegas and finally an exit comes up as the sun was about to drop behind the mountain. I quickly set up my cameras and started doing video and taking photos. I will have the videos up sometime this week. I had to ignore the group of young people (Early 20s) who were asking about what I was doing and what kind of car was it. They were not close enough to see it was a Ford. Then a truck driver from Ohio asked the same questions. After I had taken my last photo and video shots of the car as the sun drops behind the desert mountains I finally answered their questions as they had realized I was trying to beat the sun.
Filming on HD for youtube and broadcasting live for the hundreds of viewers on http:www.justin.tv/mooncricket I explained to them how I got the car with the Fiesta Movement and I gave them all my business cards that has the fiesta movements website on it. I told them they can get allot of info on the car there as well. I told them they can follow me on twitter and youtube to see new videos about he car. It is interesting to see other people who are complete strangers get so excited as well. It is like they are already showing they want to be apart of this movement. So I told them that they can go to the Fiesta website and look up what city they will be doing test drives so they can get a chance to experience this movement. The truck driver travels a lot so he said he will for sure find a test driving location.
After the sun dropped and 500 plus viewers watching me broadcast the entire trip to Las Vegas I glanced in the chat room and saw they were loving the lighting in the car as it was getting dark. Some said it look like a space craft as I responded saying the dash looks like an alien. UFO driving through the Mojave right? lol. Well What caught my eye while it was getting darker was the nice ambient light. Tiny little orange lights above point down to add light where your ipod is located. Under the radio more of this ambient orange redish light where your cell phone or business cards go. It changed my mood from the classic hip-hop songs I was playing to switch my ipod playlist to "Hackers" movie soundtrack. The soundtrack has allot of ambient feeling lounge feeling to it with a little bit of dance beat for that Fiesta feeling. I just went in deep thought the entire way to Las Vegas feeling relaxed after all the excitement from the entire Fiesta Movement trip.
I finally made it to Las Vegas and I still had plenty of gas as it beeped with the gas light on and it says I still can drive another 50 miles before going empty. I like the 50 mile heads up on the gas, especially when driving through the mojave desert it was useful. I am currently preparing the youtube video and more photos for flckr.
This image of the 2011 Ford Fiesta is the car I will be getting on April 19th. We were able to choose our color and custom graphics. My Mooncricket Films logo is not included, lol.
Well I'm excited to tell you that I was chosen to be part of the Ford Fiesta Movement. I will keep you updated on the progress through out the missions they will be giving us starting this Sunday after training in Los Angeles. As some of you know I will be broadcasting the entire 6 months with the 2011 Ford Fiesta on http://www.justin.t/mooncricket
Here is some more information below.
Lets start off with the video I had entered to be chosen for the Ford Fiesta contest.
Watch this amazing video of the same color and car I will be driving that Top Gear made. I can watch this over and over again.
Here is the article written on the home page of justin.tv by Gal_in_the_City. http://www.justin.tv/story/5fe4289b8ccedf08
My plan is to target more than just the hip-hop culture. So far I'm already creating story ideas as i can't wait to start making video on youtube for the Fiesta Movement and so far 8 that I have already written are not even hip-hop related. You will have to subscribe to my youtube account to stay updated on my videos. http://www.youtube.com/mooncricket
Press Release: FORD FIESTA RIDES WITH BETO LOPEZ B-BOY STYLE
Northern California– Ford is launching the 2011 Ford Fiesta B-Boy style within the U.S. Ford chose filmmaker, Beto “Mooncricket” Lopez to become one of their 100 agents to help hype the car’s new features, such as iPod ports, driver’s knee air bag, and voice activated commands. As an agent, Beto Lopez gets the car, insurance, gas and cameras to chronicle his travels for six months. 4,000 applicants and 100 agents were chosen after entering a youtube video contest.
The Ford Fiesta Movement has given Americans an opportunity to not only see how economical this car is, but also experience it’s fuel efficiency. “It’s huge around the globe and its latest incarnation is taking Europe by storm. Now, the new Fiesta has its sight set on the rest of the world: Asia, South Africa, Australia, and the U.S. It’s the first of Ford’s new global family of small cars designed to meet the expectations of drivers internationally”, says Ford Motor Company.
Beto “Mooncricket” Lopez, also a B-Boy dancer who lives in Northern California, has spent his entire adult life traveling the country to film the lives of B-Boys (break dancers). His current film, “The B-Boy Connection, Volume I” is about B-Boys and the history of how the urban dance genre began back in the 1970's in New York as a timeline then & now.
“The B-Boy Connection” is promising to be a well-made and meaningful film. As a Ford Fiesta Agent, “Mooncricket” will take Americans on a behind the scenes tour of his documentary film. On his journey, Americans will experience some B-Boy “Breakdance” battles and learn how to dance from some of the B-Boy legends.
“Mooncricket” is excited about this opportunity because he is satisfying a life-long passion he has with his art by broadcasting his life as a life caster on www.justin.tv/mooncricket. “As I always said as a kid, I wished that people can see what I see, and now they can.” People from around the world can watch him live as he has multi cameras attached on the Ford Fiesta for the next 6 months. He'll be broadcasting with 3 to 4 different logitech webcams, using a 10-inch Sony VIO and a wireless Sprint card. He will also sometimes broadcast with a HV20 Canon HD camera. Beto “Mooncricket” Lopez will be making a Ford Fiesta youtube missions videos using some archive footage saved from live broadcast. Mostly, Beto will be shooting the youtube videos with a Sony HVR-Z1U HD camcorder & the Canon HV20. Ford has provided a new HD Sony Webbie to all of its Agents and Beto plans to utilize it to provide additional footage. “Mooncricket” is possibly the only agent representing original classic hip-hop and B-Boy dance culture that will be targeting the urban market.
Take a ride B-Boy style through the eyes of aspiring filmmaker, Beto “Mooncricket” Lopez through urban America in a Ford Fiesta; watching a culture that has been evolving for the past 3 decades and is internationally acclaimed. Ford and Beto “Mooncricket” Lopez want to take you on a ride into a part of the Hip Hop culture of B-Boy history.
For more information on the Ford Fiesta Movement, please go to www.fiestamovement.com For more information on the Film, B-Boy Connection, please go to www.thebboyconnection.com
This image is from the Ford Fiesta website. My profile on the Ford Fiesta website along with the other Fiesta agents. www.fiestamovenment.com
The Painting of the Ford Fiesta in graffiti design as seen in the video entry.
Beto Painted this using a sheet of cardboard using acrylics and then cut out his prop to be used in the entry video to use as an example of the Ford Fiesta in bay area locations.
