A Nice Finish!

I won a satellite tournament for entry into a 500,000 guaranteed tournament that took place today.
The battle began at 3:30 Sunday afternoon and I busted out at 7:30 in 199th place!

199???? That can't be good?!?!

Well it had over 3300 entrants in it and it paid me nearly 500 dollars, not good? If you divide it as an hourly wage, it is outstanding for four hours of work!

I was pretty happy with that finish! It was by far the largest tournament I was involved in.

Things are going well!!!! In a lot of different areas right now.
I can't help but think that this is the leading edge of a lot of good things yet to happen in the next few months:) I really honestly think a lot of good is going to come from Locker! Poker? Its a diversion:) A fun diversion but more or less a hobby:)

I just feel that I'm really honestly on my way to somewhere good right now. I don't know where or when but I do feel good about it:)

I Needed That!

I feel pretty good today!

Yesterday's draft went well, I think I have a very competetive team this year!
Dominick Davis
Deshaun Foster
Chris Brown are my RBs

Marvin Harrison
Javon Walker
Jerry Porter
Donte Stallworth are my very lethal WRs

Carson Palmer
Aaron Brooks fill out my QBs

The Pittsburgh and Cinncy D/STs
and Nate Kaeding and Rian Lindell my Kickers

We have a league member who lives in Lousiana which happens to be under the gun of Hurricane Katrina. It is headed towards New Orleans as a Category 5 Hurricane, possibly the strongest hurricane to hit Lousiana (winds are now sustained 175 mph). I doubt that any of it will reach here, but who knows, it might not turn to the North East.

I plan on relaxing today and staying in the house. I went to get groceries Friday so all I have to do is some laundry.

I've been reading Kevin Smith's blog lately. It is interesting. I would like to get to the point where I could pick and choose my projects for a living or if I had a great idea (and I do!) then I would have people jumping through hoops to get it going:)

Actually his blog is about his normal everyday life. He writes about normal things instead of a celebrity lifestyle. Yeah, even down to his bathroom breaks. Say what you wish about him, he does have a way of communicating, he is a natural storyteller.

I guess it is time to get my laundry started so I can get it done, its been a good weekend but I hope your weekends have been better than mine!

Draft Day!!!!

Yes my friends today is Draft Day, something that is familiar with every fantasy football player in the country!

The day that will create your team for an entire season! A day in which you will take players from teams you really don't care about just because they are the best player on the board! A day in which you put aside your NFL loyalties and are all about Team You!

Terrell Owens....never would touch him with a 10 foot pole but here it is, he is the best receiver on the board and you have your RBs....do you take TO? Do you take the baggage and balance that with the 14 TDs and 1500 yards? Yes my friends that is the kind of pulse pounding decision many will be faced with today and in the past few weeks up until this coming Thursday!!!!

Today is the day that you have been preparing for, you will either be king of the league or a donater.

My friends today is exactly what I need right now as well. For some reason I have been really....drained for the lack of a better word. Since I have sent out my screener copies of Locker I have had trouble sleeping, I've been extremely excited about the prospects!!!!

I'm going to have a hard time concentrating on the draft while I know that the past couple of days my screeners have been arriving at their destinations!!!!

My friends I am going to have some fun today, I need that right now. I had no idea that Locker would wear me down like this, not so much physically other than the restless sleep, but emotionally.

This is going to be a wild ride!

And He Rested

Yes my friends, tonight I decided to call it good for the evening and did something I dread instead.

I mowed my yard...after nearly two weeks....of rain.

It was like a 1000% humidity after work and I had just enough gas left to get 95% of my yard done, the rest will have to wait until the next time I mow or until I get some more gas.

I can't even get gas out of my vehicle since I drive a diesel. Yeah that would really gum up my mower fast!

I have been reading about different film festivals and looking at what their entry fees are. I'm going to let it rest for a few days, there isn't a fest I'm interested in right now however I am going to look at some Plan B fests. Yes and I have to review my copy of From Reel To Deal and find out the next step to this blueprint!

Believe me I'm not delusional at all. I know I have a movie but not a indication of my talent or ideas, just my budget! I am anxious to see what the first reactions are to Locker by unbiased people when I get it copied to DVD.

Criticize me all you wish but no one had better criticize the acting, these people spent almost nine hours in street clothes in 9 degree temperatures and trying to remember their lines! Believe me I was dressed for it but I wasn't on camera either!

Also keep in mind that I am not a great writer right now and I could have given them some better material to work with but with what I gave them and with what they accomplished in that environment in that time frame....I'm pretty happy with that part!

So if you watch Locker, keep in mind the context of what was happening behind the camera:)

This Is A Cool Update.....Read On

Yesterday afternoon I decided, for good or bad, to forego the music and add the end credits myself, without the rolling part.

I did not contact the local production company for the film look treatment and just go with it as is. We'll see how it is received as is, barebones and unplugged so to speak.

I have sent screener tapes to:
Sundance
Slamdance
The Documentary and Fiction International Film Festival in West Hollywood

At that point I ran out of screener tapes and now have to make two more to send to
The Big Apple Film Festival (I filled out the paperwork on this one already, just didn't have the extra tape to send as I had seen Locker five times already yesterday)

and possibly Script to Screen in Tulsa, undecided on this one.


There is a list of upcoming film fests that I need to take a close look at.

Final Bugs Ironed Out!!!!

Finally!

Yes, I can now honestly say that Locker is 99% complete!

I am going to contact the production studio tomorrow and see what it will take to put the film look filters on a completed project and the end rolling credits!!!!

I'm on the fence about music right now.

We'll see what the musician comes up with and go from there. If it is very gripping then I'll find a place for it.

Well Now.....

I have added the opening credit sequence myself. I haven't made the montage splices that I was thinking of doing yet.

I'm going to show it to a couple of people and see how that goes. If it is alright without them then I probably won't waste the tape to do them.

I am nearly finished with it though. Will have to get it transfered to tape for the musician to watch and add some music and will have to figure out how to do the rolling credits in the end...other than that it is just a matter of getting it into the proper festival format!

A Red Bull Later And....

I finished editing Locker tonight!

Why?

Well it has been a rough week in a few different areas. I'm going to have to start facing some truths now instead of deluding myself, most notably in my job area.

Do I want to spend another 40 years (yes FORTY) in the same job so that I can retire or do I want to take my shot?

Locker is what it is, a first effort with no money and one day of shooting. It isn't horrible but it isn't a masterpiece either. It has some solid performances and I hope a story that will make people overlook the shortcomings, well at least distract them long enough to enjoy it a little bit.

So now the next step is simple, get it watched by Chris to make sure I haven't doubled any scenes or left anything important out. Get a tape to the musician and get it on tape. Get it to a production company for the titles and then get it on DVD to start sending to film festivals!

Yeah, I think this is going to be a good shot at a start at something nice:)

This Weekend

I am going to dedicate myself to finishing my part of Locker.

Yeah.

I'm going to put those scenes back in, not sure how yet since I have to find some extra space on my laptop first and it is nearly all full of clips but I am confident that I will make it work.

After that it is a small matter of putting the music in when it is finished and the credits. I think I'm going to film four seperate segments about five seconds apiece to fore shadow the opening robbery scene.

I really need to move this project forward and get onto the next one. Even if this isn't a perfect movie by any means it is a first effort and something that be sort of a calling card in terms of potential.

I think that when people see the performances of the cast, it will open up some eyes!

So mark it down right now, I'm saying that barring any sort of technical glitch that I won't be able to overcome, I'm going to finish the editing less the score and credits this weekend!

National Geographic Channel And Filmmaking

Well this post really doesn't have anything to do with gilmmaking but it does have to do with the National Geographic channel and body modifications.

Specifcally tattoos. I have nothing against tattoos, piercings, brandings, scarification, or any of that. I don't want any of them though.

In my short time on this planet it has occurred to me that we change, in fact probably one of the one constant that you can depend on is that things change, now, today, tomorrow, next week. It is likely that something will be different by the time I post my next entry. Something big, small, or in between, something will be different.

Who I am today is not who I was ten years ago. And who I am today is not who I will become in another ten years.

To me a tattoo is a reminder of what you are right now at that point. In a few years you will be reminded of who you were at that point.

If that time was good then you run the risk of limiting yourself and living in the past.

If that time was bad you run the risk of being dragged back into a low point and might promote self pity instead of moving forward in a healing direction.

There is nothing I can think of that defines who I am today that I will probably feel that strongly about in twenty years or sitting around the nursing home and having to explain why I did what I did then.

There isn't a tattoo that I really think sums me up to the point that I want to have it put on my skin...forever.

Locker Update

I have allowed a local musician to view Locker...minus the missing scenes of course. He went really wild over it and was guessing who was going to live all the way through it. It was kind of funny!

He seems like a good guy and had some ideas that he really wanted to play with. So, that is where Locker is at right up to the minute!

In other project news, I seem to have developed creative ADD. I have a burning interest in a project for a little while and it burns out only to be replaced by another burning interest!

I'm writing a film noir script.
I still love the concept behind my super secret blog project.
I would love to have something to shoot right now, today but that is unlikely since no one in the group is really in the position with a project to shoot.
Chris and I briefly had a short film project about the psychosis of Tom Cruise called Saving Katie.

So ADD is an understatement.

It has been so bad that I haven't even updated my blog like I want to. I had a really cool entry worked out in my head the other day and forgot the whole thing shortly afterwards!

I'll get over it, don't worry friends.

Training Camps Are Open!

Yes friends it is that time of year! The NFL opens up their training camps to start another glorious season of football goodness!

This is the time of year where fantasy players scour training camp reports and hang on every last word printed and rumor to find that one pick in the late rounds that will win a season for their team and make the owner look like a genius.

Yes it is that time of year and life is good!