A Baby Bird In The Pool Is As Good As...

Well not exactly the old saying but it did happen! For those of you who don't know, I have an inground pool in my back yard that has been empty (or nearly empty) for about three seasons.

Occasionally I have to help out a small animal who has jumped or fallen into mostly dry pool out. Last time it was a possum who had fallen in and couldn't get out. So I stepped down into the pool which only had a few inches of watery mud in the deep end but the dry, shallow end had a hissing and very upset creature in it....WITH ME!!!

So how do I get this possum three feet up and onto the ground? I put a long board that he can crawl up and prodded him along it so he was able to crawl out! Well other than a stray kitten who gets in there every once in a while it is no big deal but today I found a bird! Yeah...a bird who got caught up in the rain I guess and couldn't fly.

So I get down into the pool and get a skimmer net....well the bird takes off into the watery end....Sheesh.

I head him off with the net and coax him back to the end I'm on so that I can help him out. (I assume it is a "him" since he was stupid enough to get lost...in a pool...with a big open top) So I heard him back with the net and scoot the net under him and he hops up onto the net! So now the mission is 99% done! I'm happy! I help the onto dry land! Mission Accomplished! Well the bird sits there on the ground now...well there are a lot of stray cats around my neighborhood so the bird is now a sitting duck. So I prod him over under a tree near my fence and then all of a sudden I start to get dive bombed by the bird's family I guess?!?!?!

Well they apparently didn't see my gesture to the animal kingdom as helpful as I thought it was. So now that the bird is semi safe under the tree I leave to the delight of this bird's fine feathered friends.

Bunch of ingrateful birds....

One More Big Day Of Filming!

We left around 9:30 in the morning and started out for Fairview. It began a very large day of shooting. All in all we finished up and got back home around midnight.
I don't feel as bad as I did when I shot Locker.

A two camera set up would cut our shooting time way down. I believe this should probably be the next upgrade to our little group. Another XL1s. I thought about getting a XL2 however the footage would look a lot different and we would essentially be in the same boat. Just with two different nice cameras instead of two identical cameras that would mesh the footage together.

That felt like I had gone 12 rounds with Holyfield and then 12 rounds with Tyson. We used more tripod shots and handheld instead of the steadicam vest. I was horribly beat up after that shoot. Now I feel better and was able to sleep in till about 9:30!!! That was so amazing to me!!! I haven't been able to sleep in that late for a very long time! It felt good! I wish I was able to do it again!!!

There wasn't a lot of drama and things really relatively stayed on schedule. Had some very nice people host us for lunch and took our picture which the prevailing thought was we would wind up in someone's family album. "Who are those maniacs? I don't remember being related to them!" Yeah...

We got all of the shots we needed and I wish I had the room in the meat locker to have gotten the variety of shots we were able to get with this project. It would have made the editing so much easier for Locker. I know it is weak on shot variety and that is the weakness. I can live with it though, I know that I'm getting better and better at this and the next project will be better still!!!

I keep thinking I have to write more to get another project going. I have written a total of about 2 pages...at most. I have to get in gear!! Again...

Life Is Sweet!!!

What a contrast from the time I started this blog in November.

Today I'm meeting my partner for lunch to get the logistics down for tomorrow's all day shoot.

Locker is still in the editing stage and moving along.

Yes! It is sweet right now!

Sometimes Perfection!

Yessir!

Sometimes things fall just right and everything seems complete! Those are the times when you can actually sit back and smile a bit!

Tomorrow is payday!
My tax return is due early next week!
This is a three day weekend and I extended it by one day by taking off tomorrow!
Today I used my Coffee Card so it was a free coffee day!!!

Yep! Simple pleasures are the best!!!

OH....and the duck thinks he is a goat;)

Star Wars And You

Yes its a double post day here in Blogland!
I just returned from seeing Star Wars. What can I say? It was the best of the second trilogy. However it is not without flaws. IMHO that is. Afterall I only have a couple of films to my credit while Lucas owns the world.

That doesn't mean I don't know what makes a good movie though. As in most of George's films the dialogue is the weak part...well and the way they are plotted out. If you want a deep scifi movie with lots of metaphysical deep meaning see...The Matrix. If you want an over abundance of cgi action going on in every single square inch of the screen followed by mundane writing in scenes where you really don't care what is happening followed by more over blown action and then drift back to the mundane scenes again see Star Wars.

Allow me to expand upon this.

You start off with a action scene in space that has so much going on that you really don't know who to root for and then when you might catch a glimpse of what you are supposed to be seeing it is all gone in a blinding flash of...more action. Yes there is ships, lasers, motion...all of this and more with frenetic movement and exciting music which will almost make you yawn. It is like sensory overload and there is just too much happening too fast to make any kind of connection with what is happening.

However there is a ton happening! There is so much happening in the backgrounds that really nothing is happening! The cities are on what seem a planetary scale with amazing night scapes of the city lights with ships and people moving every single direction you can move. However keep in mind there is an intergalactic war going on and it seems that no one cares, not even when the massive Jedi Temple is attacked you might think with all of that technology there might be some kind of response of emergency workers or at least a brief moment of silence.

The rooms that people exist in are beautiful and massive but with all of this luxury to look at there is honestly very little there to look at. There is a huge illusion of activity with nothing behind it and no purpose for it. That can also be said for the intergalactic war, you don't know who to root for and it really makes no difference. The war is just a McGuffin to propel the story of Anakin's fall to the dark side.

There is a lot of good about this movie, the final duel is chilling and very well done. The extermination of the Jedi is very well done and Obi Wan riding the giant iguana is very cool!

For The Goats, A Duck...

For anyone who knows me and where I live they also have seen the house on my block with the pets in the yard. All of the pets.

It is very nice and unique.

There is a lady who loves animals. For the most part she will have a yard full of dogs, usually small dogs but sometimes a larger dog will be in her fence. At one time she had about 8 goats and a couple of dogs. That was a long time ago but now she has goats again!

Well as I was driving home the other day I slowed down a bit to watch what mischief the neighborhood goats were up do when I saw...A BABY DUCK!


The cutest little fuzzy duck waddling behind one of the goats!!!

It was a "AAaaa" moment.

Yes it is those little bits of happiness that make life much better and warmer for me:) Want another one? Sure!

Tuesday I had gone to get some groceries on the West side of town and was on one of the main streets called Owen K. Garriott well I hit Van Buren and the light was green, then I proceeded to hit every single intersection with a GREEN LIGHT!!!! It was GREAT!!! I was almost tap dancing in my seat!!! Well you know what I mean!!!

I'm Learning Things!

Yes I am, I have learned that my rough cut needs a new perspective right now. I'm still about 25 minutes into Locker and then I hit a wall.

I was stuck for some reason!

So a friend who loves working on stuff like this volunteered to give me a hand and digitize the footage and give it a shot to see if they enjoy editing or not.

Really not a lot too post today but that is the latest news on Locker!

Good Friday!

Hello all of you out there in blog land!!

Well I'm about ready to head over to Chris's to film some makeup tests and watch the rehearsals. It has been raining all day...which I love! Fast moving clouds that are low in the sky, huge rain drops, and nice cool weather!!!

To top that off I got new tires (which I really REALLY needed!!!), news that my day job will be secure for years to come, and it's payday Friday!!!

There are only a couple of things I could think of to make it a better day!!!

I have to get going now, I'm supposed to be there in about five minutes!!!

I hope you all out there have had a better day than I have and mine has been pretty good!!!

My Monday

Well I took off today to get my power steering fixed however for those of you who are familiar with me you have to know there is more to the story than a simple fix so here goes.

I scheduled this last Friday to get a bracket welded and have my Suburban serviced. It is a diesel so you have to be good about making sure the oil is changed and it will run forever.

So I'm at home and about ready to get going when I hear a VERY loud bang and my electricity goes out. A transformer has blown up close by and so now I was without power. So I decide to mow the lawn. A good way to pass the time and get things all cleaned up around the outside. I'm not that big on lawn care so it goes about two weeks between mowings. Well I also had some saplings around my foundation that needed to be cut down so I borrowed a chainsaw and got to cutting! Well I'm sure my arm will grow back soon, the blood wasn't that bad.

Just kidding. No injury at all. I did well, got things cut down and my lawn cut! I bought some Roundup and sprayed around the foundation and fence lines. So the lawn is going to look decent before long when the weeds die out.

Anyway I get to the repair shop to find out the guy who welds wasn't there today which is why I brought it in to begin with but no big deal. I get it serviced anyway and will just bring it back to get the bracket welded and the belt changed. So with an hour to kill I decide to go get some food and hope that my electricity is back on when I get back home. So I walk downtown and have plenty of places to choose from so I go to Callahan's, it is close by and they have good food. I get there about 11:30 and order a Chicken Ceasar Salad....with Thousand Island dressing (you should have seen the look from the waitress when I said that instead of the standard Ceasar dressing that comes on a Ceasar salad) but I got Thousand Island anyway and an ice tea.

My food comes and all is right with the world. I finish up and decide I still have plenty of time to go so I order a Tequila Sunrise. I get it and take the first drink and then unconsciously look at the clock and it is still before noon and I think, "This is the first time I have ever had a drink before noon!" And it was true, I've never had a drink before noon!!! Ever!!! So now that I have that out of the way I finished up and walked the few blocks back to the shop. It was just a couple of minutes from being finished! Great timing!

So since the owner isn't there my friend can't make a ticket so he tells me all is good and I can pay when I get the bracket welded up. So I drive away with the power steering still squealing but I can live with that until I get it welded this week. So I get home and to my surprise my electricity is BACK ON!!! Incredible!!!

So it has been a pretty nice morning so far and very productive!!!

I like days like this!!!!

I'd Like To Think

That I'm a minimalist. I'd like to be able to think that all I need is a small house, a fire to read by, and some running water.

I know that I'm not though. I know I need electricity, I know I need the net, I know I need so many of the modern conviences such as a refrigerator, soap, and a microwave.

Yes I would like to think that I could just be thrown into the wilderness with a tent, rifle, and a knife and be able to live just fine but I'm lying to myself.

I would like to think I'm a very simple person and in a few ways I am but the truth is I'm not. The truth is that I'd like to have a nice house and a reliable vehicle to transport my film equipment from shoot to shoot that I'm directing.

My fantasy is that I would like to be able to deal with any situation at any time in a fair way that makes everyone happy. The truth is that it isn't possible and when such a situation arrises more than likely I'm going to make someone pretty upset.

My fantasy is that I could live the rest of my life dependent upon only myself. The truth is that even I need human contact and to be surrounded by friends, even though I'm very comfortable in my own skin I accept the need and desire to have brilliant conversations and stimulating friendships. No it isn't a weakness at all, it is just the way I'm built as are most people. I freely admit to crying while watching Frank Capra films. Feel like laughing at me about it? That's fine, I'm who I am.

My fantasy is that Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man sums me up pretty well. The truth is that it simply doesn't.

My fantasy is that I'm as physicaly tough as I used to be. The truth is that I'm not. My hands aren't as quick, I don't hit as hard, and I get winded much faster than I used to.

My fantasy is that I could invent a time machine to travel back and correct my life's mistakes. The truth is that even if I could I don't know if I'd like who I am now without all of those bad decisions to give me the pain that defines my character and integrity.

My fantasy life and my reality life have vast differences. So the next time you see me you can just imagine what I'm thinking;)