Sirius vs. XM In My World Part 3

This is the third update in my quest to explore and find the best satellite radio service. I have again force myself to listen to the Boneyard for who know's what reason and then I had an inspiration!

I decided to head over to XM411 to explore the message boards there to see what long term subscribers have been raving or complaining about! Turns out most of them have the same complaints. Lots of channel flipping. Too obscure. Too eclectic. No classic rock at all.

I'm sorry that my comparison has devolved into a rant against XM music selection however it isn't just me. There are plenty of people on XM 411 who feel the same way, along with two co-workers who won't be renewing their XM subscriptions in their new vehicles and would rather listen to FM.

Now there are lots of good things about XM! I really am enjoying the Opie and Anthony show!
They have been exciting and funny. They aren't as funny as Dan and Scott or Karen Kay were in their peak of interactive uncensored internet comedy shows but they are good and worth listening to! XM is superior in this regard. Without a doubt I would listen to Opie and Anthony as I believe their show is much better than Howard Stern's.

I have read where XM fanboys use excuses like widest possible playlists and to use an Ipod if you are just wanting your favorite songs. What kind of excuses are those?

Personally I believe that both services will survive and evolve over time. There is plenty of room for improvement and I would bet that there will also be talent swaps over the years that will lead to lots of fanboy arguments over who rules.

What is also assured is that both services need to survive. Without competetion satellite radio might as well fold up shop and rent out their satellites to other companies with some use for them.

We as music, talk, comedy, and sports fans are better off with both services thriving and giving us the best possible options for our listening dollars.

With that said, I won't be renewing my XM subscription after this month is up. I am happy with the music selection that Sirius offers and I am more than satisfied with the amount of sports that Sirius has.

Sirius vs. XM In My World Part 2

Well after another day of listening to XM I can say that I enjoyed the parts of the Opie and Anthony show that I heard and I enjoyed the Ron and Fez show that I heard as well. Both shows seem fresher than the Stern show. Since I have never really heard the Stern show before I can just again assume that it is an acquired taste and I don't have it.

This is my opinion as of this day and I will post my thoughts at the end of the paid month as well.

Talk radio, I have to give the edge to Sirius, there were lots of ho hum moments while listening to XM talk shows.

The sports content is no contest at all. Sirius with the NFL exclusively clearly wins this in my world. I have given the MLB channel called "Home Plate" a good shot, however it is still MLB and I have little use for it. Give me football anyday since it is the real national past time!!!!

Music wise, XM SUCKS!!!! Despite the two extra channels that XM has in the Country category, XM content just can't stack up to the Sirius brand.

I feel ripped off like I have bought a CD and there is only one song on there that is worth listening to while the rest is nothing but CD filler. Bland, boring, and just something that is there to justify the price of the service.

If Sirius would add a "Obscure Metal" channel then Sirius would have every musical base covered and still be far superior to XM music wise. You have to keep turning the channel to find something you want to hear. With Sirius it generally stays on one channel all day long with everyone being happy with the content. If XM were in the shop instead of Sirius we would constantly be flipping channels trying to find something good to listen to.

XM is very lacking in this regard so if you want to get XM don't expect to be entertained by the music, they have quality shows with Opie and Anthony that would almost justify the price of the service. I'm not saying that Stern isn't a good entertainer, he just doesn't entertain me.

Give me uncensored, interactive, internet shows anyday!

Sirius vs. XM In My World

My friends anyone who knows me knows that I have a Sirius radio. Recently I have decided to give XM a try and stick with the best one. I try to be fair minded and open to change to something better, I think I can objectively pull off a fair compairison of both services now that I am equally invested in both.

I have read enough about XM to wonder if I am missing out on anything with their much deeper playlists and cheaper equipment. Well I bought a small XM receiver car kit for about fifty dollars at Wal-Mart Friday so the experiement begins.

So far I have had a hard time finding a channel that caters to my 80's metal taste. Sirius has Hair Nation which is 80's metal and they have Buzzsaw which is classic rock with the metal edge like AC/DC, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, and Led Zepplin.

I have been listening to the Boneyard which is as close to either of these channels I can come and have heard Leatherwolf, Accept, and Four Horsemen. While not bad bands they have never really achieved the status of metal gods. I have heard Tesla which is a band I love only to find they played Making Magic which is practically a filler song. Out of all of the hits Tesla has had they chose a more obscure song to play. I can say that so far listening to the Boneyard is like gold mining, you are sifting through a lot of mud to get to a nugget of gold that you enjoy.

I am watching the XM player which lists the channels and what is on them and I'm watching the Sirius Backstage site that lists what is playing on Sirius as well. So I am swapping back and forth between the two players when there is something I want to listen to however I am mainly on the XM player since that is the one I'm evaluating and getting a feel for.

Sports wise, well XM has an exclusive on MLB while Sirius has the exclusive on the NFL and NBA. No need to compare here for me since I am neutral at best on the MLB. Both carry plenty of college basketball however Sirius has March Madness. Sirius has the clear victory in this category.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am also a Country music fan. I really can't complain about the selection that XM has had as I am familiar with some of the more forgotten Country music stars of the 60's and 70's. My Dad was a truck driver during that time and with 8 tracks of the Statler Brothers, Freddy Fender, Johnny Cash, and Conway Twitty I can enjoy these very much. However I have found the same selections on Sirius. So the Country stations are pretty much even. I am more than satisfied with both services in this regard. Actually I might give a slight edge to XM since they have seven country channels to Sirius's five.

Talk Radio is what I love to listen to quite a bit. Now I can tell you that being in a market that has never had Howard Stern I am unfamiliar with his show and the show's dynamics. His move to Sirius wasn't much of a factor to me. I can tell you that after listening to a few shows I'm not that impressed. You can revisit my post about Internet Talk Shows to get a better opinion on this matter. His show is just an acquired taste I haven't acquired. I am looking forward to hearing the Opie and Anthony show so no edge is given here yet. XM has the exclusives on Air America and Fox while Sirius has ABC, NPR, Patriot, Talk Right, and Talk Left. So now matter your political leanings you have plenty to choose from with a slight edge to Sirius for the amount of channels available over XM like my Country music decision.

Both carry Christian talk channels, Women's channels, advice channels, and news channels from American and around the world. So this is basically a draw.

So after a couple of days of listening and unbiased comparision this is how they stack up right now but stay tuned to further updates.

Poker Night

I decided earlier this week to take Friday off and have myself two 3-day weekends in a row! So since I didn't have to show up to work Friday I decided to head down to the Indian Casino Thursday night!

Well this time I wasn't going to play the 3-6 limit game and went to the No Limit 2-5 game. I was a bit nervous this time around though but quickly got rid of my shaking hands when in the first half hour I was up about 30 dollars. The seat to my right bought in at the same time I did and with the same amount, $200, which is the maximum buy in.

He was broke and bought in again at the hour mark for another $200. The person opposite the table from me went broke three times before I was moved from the table to balance both No Limit tables with players.

I had decided to leave at 11P.M. so to set a limit on my playing time, Up, Down, or Even. That gave me about three and a half hours of playing time. Within the first hour and a half I yo-yo'd my stack from about 230-145 dollars but could not sustain any kind of streak. I had some aggressive players who seemed pretty tight however a couple of hands I won really surprised me. Such as the pocket 6's I played and won with Q's on the board and my 6's. There wasn't much betting on that hand so it really wasn't a big pot at all but I was still surprised when I took down the pot.

I was at 212 dollars when I was moved to the other table with about 45 minutes left in my playing time. I was in early position when I was dealt A5 suited, which is a hand I just don't play but I wanted to break the ice on the new table and it was a 5 dollar call so it was cheap. I flopped 3,9 of my suit so I had four to the flush and about a 20% chance of making my hand. A caller at the end of the table bet out with a 15 dollar bet and I raised to 30, he called. The Turn brought another diamond to make my flush, he checked to me and I bet another 30 to take down the pot after his fold.

This brought the attention of a older gent two seats to my right who didn't take kindly to a new guy to the game being this aggressive. Which didn't seem very aggressive to me since I had a A5 suited in my hand and normally fold hands like this. Well a few hands later and I might say a couple of wins later I get a A10 suited on the button. I have position now on a mediocre hand.

My stack is sitting about 275 now and I feel a little gamble in me. With my A10 suited it comes around to me with 5 callers and I raise to 10 bucks to stay in. I flop two of my suit so now I have the nut flush draw. The gent two seats to my right gets checked to and bets out 25, I raise to 50 everyone else folds to him who calls my raise.

The Turn is junk and the gent checks to me and I immediately put out a stack of 50 and he stares at me. He shakes his head and folds giving me a much bigger stack now! I heard him telling the gentleman sitting to his left that he thought I was on a flush draw, which I was. But I wasn't going to make it cheap for him to play his pair or at most two pair against my draw. I felt he would fold with the right amount of pressure and I again had about a 18% chance of making my hand so I had a ton of outs and position on him. This wouldn't have happened on the limit table as I would have been called down and possibly beaten on the River.

I was well over 300 now and was working on a nice profit with about 10 minutes left in my playing time. The next hand I have a pocket pair but there is little action and I take down a small pot. I have 361 dollars now, a 161 dollar profit from three hours ago. I thank the gentlemen at the table and take my leave.

A good night of poker!

Monkey's And Filmmaking

Have you ever seen the commercials for Careerbuilder.com ?

They feature a hard working guy in a office full of monkeys who aren't all that responsible.

They are very funny commercials where it seems that no matter how hard the poor guy works he is always trumped by the monkeys who run the place.

That is how I generally feel when I'm at work. Which leads me to the filmmaking part of my title!

I would think it would be almost a dream job to be able to come up with the comic commercials that make a impression and effect people. It is like telling a thirty second joke where the punchline is something people will talk about later on.

There isn't a lot of difference between a commercial and a feature film other than the obvious differences like length, context, and script. The basics are the basics which are saying what you want to say in a given amount of time.

I mean who wouldn't want to come up with the next "Wassup!" concept or the next "Where's the beef?"

I Laughed Very Hard

At what happened today. Let me set the context so you may enjoy as well my friends!

A few months ago we decided to create a new table top for our decal room, a room where we create decals in. Just want to be clear. It is a wood top now that has been sanded and finished to a very fine and glossy shine. It looks nice!

Well today our leadman noticed a spot on the table top. He looks at me and my other co-worker and we both shrug. He rubs it with his finger and it really doesn't come off so he rubs much harder. I notice my co-worker starting to snicker. I look kind of puzzled with my "What is the joke" look at him.

The lead is still rubbing very hard at the spot that just doesn't want to go away.

My other co-worker says, "Smell your finger, maybe that will tell you what it is!"

My lead immediately declares he will NOT smell his finger and not even ten seconds later is sniffing away....

He nearly throws up.

My co-worker bursts out laughing, he can barely contain his glee.

I look at him again and then he says two words....."Kipper Snacks!"

Last Friday he ate kipper snacks in the decal room and it was the rotted juice left on the table that left the spot!!!!

I laughed.

Super Bowl Bonus!!!!

My friends, after reading my last post of my poker losses I am happy to report that after the Super Bowl I was up fifty dollars!

Yes I played Pick The Square, where you buy a square and if the last digit in the score corresponds to your square then you win some money every quarter! I won the jackpot on that! I was very happy!!!!

I did pick Seattle to win the game and I lost but I won so I don't feel badly at all. I didn't have a real emotional attachment to any team, I was just hoping for a good game. The party was a blast thanks to the homecoming of another filmmaking partner in crime.

If Oakland would ever get their act together and stick with a coach for longer than a season or two then I think they could be a contender....someday. I'm not holding my breath though.

Now for some filmmaking news. I am going to have some funds shortly to expand my filmmaking empire, such as it is. I am going to go over some equipment and software to see how best to use said funds very soon.

Homework will be involved as well as salivating over equipment I know I won't be able to afford however it is going to be a good time and I hope I will expend the fundage wisely....but I'm not holding my breath on that either.

Locker Update And Good B Movie

The master DVD is in my producer's hands. He is going to make a ISO copy of it and from that you duplicate your DVDs. It is a great day and a great time for me right now.

I'm so excited about the possibilites that this little movie can bring!

Even more than that though is that I can finally fulfill my obligations to my actors who worked very hard in difficult situations to create this movie with me.

I'm very happy about all of this finally coming together after all of the setbacks we have had. Even though I felt like giving up so many times I didn't. This has been a huge learning experience and the next movie, whenever that may be, will go much faster and smoother.

Now my friends yesterday morning I put in a DVD of a movie that was fun, very funny (although not intentionally) and a blast to watch. Godzilla: Final Wars!!!! The last movie to feature Godzilla for supposedly at least a decade.

This movie had the biggest budget of any Godzilla movie and they send him off in a huge battle with just about every monster he has fought in his career.....although I did not see Mecha Godzilla in the mix. There is horrible acting, staggering inconsistencies, and voice overs that are worthy of the best MST3K episode.

All in all a very enjoyable cheesey movie....as long as you remember that it is a cheesey guilty pleasure movie.

A Poker Day

Yes my friends, I drove about a hour to a Indian Casino to play some poker today. Just a ring game, 3-6 limit to be exact.

I started with 100 dollars and was up to about 130 in about a half hour. Then I won the occasional hand after that. The hand that broke my stack and crippled me was a huge pot. I had KQ suited. I preflop raised and the flop came A,10,10 with a ten in my suit. So now I had a gut shot straight and three to the flush. There were six people in the hand and I raised the pot again and two people folded. The turn came a 4 of clubs (my suit) so now I had a flush draw and a straight draw. I had a ton of outs to make my hand with one card to come.

I raise, everyone folds but one guy who has been regaling us with his tales of all of the casinos he has played in and how much money he has earned. A basic loudmouth who feels he is the best player on the table but isn't thinking about what I could have for some reason. I feel that he doesn't have much or he wouldn't be checking first and letting the guy between us bet it up. He hasn't raised and only called. So now he and I are heads up and I am over half my stack in the pot. I bet six, he raises so I cap it with 12 bucks and now I am down to about 40 bucks in my stack. The pot is huge, well over 130 dollars.

The river comes and I miss my straight and flush, however he checks since he is acting before me. I bet six dollars and he calls. No raise. I turn over my KQ suited and everyone looks at the board sure I had a straight and I say I was on a draw that fell short but had 10's with a King kicker. He turns over pocket 4's. He stayed in all that time with only two pair and the board had the high pair. He won that pot and crippled me and then started in on the stories again.

Everyone was wondering what he was doing calling an aggressive raiser in position with only a small pocket pair.

If it had been a no limit game I would have pushed him out of the hand and made it painful to call me down.

Overall I feel I played well today. I did survive two all-ins to build my short stack to around 40 bucks before committing it all again on a suited Ace Junk.

I kept track of the hands that I folded to see if I made the correct call and after that many hours of playing I would have won only three hands if I had stayed in. I never had trips or a flush and only a small straight all day. I won mostly by forcing others to fold and having a high pair with no straight or flush combinations on the board.

I feel that I am for sure a tournament player though. If I can't pressure people more as in a no limit game then my game just isn't up for low limit poker. I only played most hands while in the big blind, folded a couple of those when raised and I had junk and folded a couple of small blinds as well.

My next trip I feel that I will play the 2-5 no limit game. Yeah it isn't as high stakes but there is a 200 dollar maximum buy in so I will be fine. At least I could put more pressure on someone and force them to consider what I am holding in my hand before they call me with a small pocket pair.

My DVD Master Copy!!!!

I have it in my hands now!!!!

My producer is sick however. I paid him a visit after obtaining it to find him under the weather. It looks good and I am happy with it. Tomorrow duplication will begin!!!!

I can't wait to mail out the copies!!!!

Wonderful Phone Call!!!!

Yes! The call I was waiting on finally happened!

The production house called me today, just so happens I was at home today instead of work so I was home to get the call!!!!

My DVD is ready to pick up!!!!

There were no problems at all with my camera in the transfer and they said that everything went smoothly and it looks good!!!!

I'm doing the happy dance!!!!

Nightly Live Poker Game Webcast

Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy poker. I love seven card stud and hold'em.

My game is more of a tournament style. I play very few hands and generally expect to win about a pot per hour. I'm a patient player with a slight aggressive streak. This leads me to what I would like to talk about. My style works in a ring or cash game but not as well. I have to keep very alert and pick my battles.

A excellent site.

This is Live At The Bike. The Bicycle Casino in LA that has a nightly live poker game per webcast that is unedited and interactive in that you can contact the hosts with questions about strategy or what have ya.

The webcast starts at 9pm Central time and goes about three to four hours. This is a very educational game since it is unedited instead of the edited games on tv. You see every hand played and how they are played.

This is generally a ring game with some high limits. One evening I was watching a 400-800 limit hold'em game with a three bump limit. Meaning if someone raised the maximum it would cost you $2,400 to see a flop. I witnessed some pots just under $20,000!!!! Now there are lower limit games as well, games I would be comfortable in playing.

You get to see the junk hands that some people play instead of the action hands that make it on Bravo, Travel Channel, and ESPN. This teaches you a lot about patience in a game and will improve your playing as you develop your own playing style.

There is a registration but it is free and you can opt out of any email which I always opt out of. I get enough spam as it is.

I am fascinated by this webcast and it really verifies that narrowcasting interactive web shows have a huge and bright future in this broadband age. People want to be part of the show, to have an effect on it. You really don't have much of an effect on this show however I have sent in a couple of email questions about plays that were made and why and they always get answered on the air. If they added an interactive chat room instead of relying on 2+2 poker forums for chat they would be golden!

Enjoy it my friends!

Train Wreck....And That Ain't Bad

Flavor of love.

This is the first time I have actually been able to catch a episode of this show. It is horrible. It is petty. It is a absolute train wreck of a show and I can't stop watching it.

Just like the Surreal Life spinoff that had Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielson and their further adventures in (cough) love.

Amazingly Flav is single so VH1 has decided to help a brother out and hook him up with some amazingly single women who seem to have low standards and dollar signs in their eyes.

There are such intellectual games like the five senses challenge where Flav gets to fondle, taste, hear, see, and smell, yes SMELL these poor women. When Flav exclaimed that one of them smelled like steak, I nearly lost it. It was a good thing I wasn't drinking something. I would have sprayed it all over whatever was in front of me.

Now why can't I turn this off?

Am I that shallow that I get enjoyment, the same kind of enjoyment that one would get from seeing the remains of a forrest fire. A horrible thing to be sure but that is feeling I get (and nausea) when I see Flav make out with these poor women and them actually throw themselves at him I see burning trees in my head.

Oh my, I do love pop culture but WOW this really pushes me to the edge of taste. I am the first to admit that my taste is eclectic. I love entertainment from Conway Twitty to Buck Rogers but I'm speechless after this show....but I can't stop watching it.

Food Network And Filmmaking

I have to confess this to you my friends, I love the Food Network and watch it a lot!

I know I should be living on IFC or TCM or something like that and sometimes I watch those as well but they are a different kind of network. What the Food Network does for my taste buds is something that I have a hard time explaining.

Let me try though. I know that 50% of everything they cook probably doesn't taste as good as it looks which brings in the romanticizing of food. You can't smell it or taste it so it is really up to you to make a trip to the store with a list of ingredients to see if it really tastes and smells as good as it looks.

Here is something else, it really isn't as easy as Emeril and Bobby Flay make it look. Their kitchen is always spill free, when I prepare some of these dishes there are messy dishes everywhere and the cabinets need serious scrubbing afterwards.

These guys as well as being good cooks are also entertainers. Emeril is a master at holding my attention and making a four course meal look as easy to cook as buying oreo cookies. I know that editing plays a huge part in making these shows good and making the food simple.

But when all is said and done I have a sense of empowerment that "yeah, I could cook that!" which is a large part of why I do watch. It makes me feel good that I have the knowledge to head into my kitchen and create what I have just seen and then enjoy the fruits of my cooking!

Now what this has to do with filmmaking is that I think that the world is ripe for a DIY filmmaking show. Not the Project: Greenlight kind (That show just irks me to no end!) more along the lines of "Here is my camera, script, and actor. Watch the magic happen!" kind.

A show that would take you from the beginnings of making a no budget film through every stage. Focusing on how to improvise over the common problems you will encounter along the way when you have sunk every dime into equipment and have nothing left to spend.

Nuts and bolts filmmaking at a one paycheck price. Yeah, that is the kind of show I'd love to see developed!

A Chance To Be Struck By Lightning

At work I am in two seperate Powerball pools. I have been in one for a couple of years and the other one is new since Oklahoma joined the Powerball network.

I costs me about 21 dollars per payday.

Now here is why I am writing this. There are several people at work who don't really understand this. Why someone would even pay a dollar into something where you are about a 147 million to 1 chance of winning.

My response is simple. I have a chance to have lightning strike. It is worth the 21 bucks to be able to have the kind of fantasies that I feel I am buying for that money.

It certainly is a lot of fun to be able to have that chance. That huge one chance to be able to live your dreams. I don't mean your everyday dreams that I also have and work towards, I mean the incredible dreams that 20+ million can allow.

Yes my friends, it is worth it to be able to dream that big.

Almost 100% Fixed

My PC that is. I have lost some information though. My email files are gone but I do have my address book.

All of my email including my email from Kevin Smith is history. Well that particular email does live on in my blog as a copy but you get the point.

I am happy to have my desktop PC back up and running though!

In Locker news, my camera is now sitting at the production house so they can use it to run a master DVD. As I earlier explained they believe that they don't have a tape head that will get a better transfer than my camera.

So here is keeping my fingers crossed that I will be holding a master DVD copy in the next few days!

Ever Been Bored Before????

I mean the kind of bored where you figure out that you have 36 years until you retire from your job?

When you figure out something like that it really hits you....hard. You really start to think about if you can actually make it for another 36 YEARS. It starts to feel like a prison sentence.

You are hearby sentenced to 36 years of hard, boring, tedious labor without the possibility of parole. For those of you who are joining this blog in progress I feel the need to tell you that my job is a trap. Every year you get a little bit more in benefits and money so therefore it is harder to quit since you need to find a way to replace the income you would be losing and the pay is pretty decent so therein lies the trap.

That is also why I am trying so hard to express myself in a way that could lead into a new career such as filmmaking and the misadventure Locker has been so far. Not that I haven't had a good time with it. Some parts have been great but this last part. The getting the finished movie on DVD part seems to be the hardest and most stubborn yet.

The local production house has had a hard time with the tape conversion. So tomorrow I have to take the camera Locker was shot on to them to see if the original tape head will fix the problem and the conversion can continue.

If not then I don't know what will happen. I really don't, I am afraid to even think about the possibilities of it not working.

Time Travel And Filmmaking

Time traveling has been on my mind since I was a wee little kiddo watching Star Trek on TV when I was first exposed to the concept when the Enterprise goes to Earth and trap a fighter jet in their tractor beam. My interest was further increased in the legendary episode "The City On The Edge Of Forever" where a rudimentary Stargate is used in a library to jump from time to time.

I have often thought of the dynamics and applications of being a time traveler. I've enjoyed such shows as Quantum Leap, Sliders, and even Voyagers. I am consumed with the concept. I have pondered what I would do if I could travel backward or forward in time and for lengths such as a hour, a minute, a day, any length of time you could imagine.

Heck I'm even reading a great book called "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. It has been incredible so far and I'm engrossed with the possibilities!!!!

A few seconds could make a world of difference for me in a few cases. I've done some stupid things that I wish I had a instant rewind/erase button....or a time machine. I've thought about what it would be like to be a master of time without machinery. To will yourself to travel to anytime you wish without mechanical means could be a great way to pass a afternoon or a rainy day!

"What are you doing tonight?"
"Oh, I thought I'd see how the pyramids were built, what are you up to?"
"Not much, bring me back some sand."

This brings me to the story of John Titor. Time Traveler from 2036. You can even buy a t-shirt with his official military time traveling unit insignia on it. I first became aware of John's story in late 2003, well after John disappeared.

John's story although most certainly is a hoax, it is a elaborate and well constructed hoax. Probably one of the most detailed hoaxes in all of internet history!

Yes I do, somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind wonder just for a second if it were real what it would mean for mankind and of course myself in trying to sign up in 2036 to travel in time!

If John Titor exists (He is supposed to have been born a few years ago now) and if he accomplished his mission of obtaining a special IBM computer from the 1970's and if he safely made it back to 2036 then who knows if he could have come back and might be here in this time right now.

Elaborate to say the least. I won't give you a link. There are tons of sites out there if you just type in John Titor and all of them have a plethora of information on John and his mission.

What this has to do with filmmaking should come as no surprise. I have always had a couple of different time travel ideas in my head but have never even began to write them down. Time travel movies are sometimes complex....see Primer or DonnieDarko for prime examples. They can be picked apart in a heartbeat if you don't have every thread woven correctly.

They can be very intimidating if you start to figure out the physics of your story and the universe that your story takes place in.

I do feel I have a story in me but getting it on paper will be a different matter.

Speaking of which, I contacted the production company who currently has Locker and are converting it to DVD for duplication. They have had a few setbacks with it and I might have to bring the camera it was filmed on in to them to prevent the problems. I have to call them in the morning and see what they discovered.

Huh, What About That?!

I picked the two teams in the Super Bowl!

Now it is time to jinx one team and pick them to win. After some thought there is no clear cut favorite.

They both have equal strengths and few weaknesses. Strong D's, strong running games, and strong passing games.

Both teams have been on a roll lately. Pittsburgh has had the rougher path defeating every team in their path and the toughest teams in the AFC. Seattle has been struggling for respect all year long and feel they have been overlooked as a legitimate force. So who will win this game?

Seattle will.

They have a little less wear and tear and might have just a little bit more legs beneath them by playing one less game. I predict a very good game, hopefully with several lead changes and a spectacular finish!

Championship Day And Lunch

Yes my friends today is the day when the AFC and NFC determine their champions.

The NFL playoffs are some of the best football you can ask for. Personally I enjoy the week before the Championship games the best. There are four very good games on in two days. There is usually a very close game and a surprise game that make the pundits talk their heads off for a week with tons of predictions and guesses.

Don't get me wrong, the Super Bowl is great but it is just one game and it is really more of an event instead of a game in today's world. There are lots of commercials that are aimed at entertaining with humor and wit. There are always huge gatherings with food and drink. But the games before that are what a real football fan are waiting for.

These games are right up there with March Madness and the races at Bristol for me (and the NBA playoffs in the Jordan era). I'll write about those when they roll around:)

I had lunch today with my filmmaking partner in crime, Chris. We discussed a few ideas and kicked around a few others. Walked around Hastings and critiqued other movies which is a good thing for a filmmaker to do.

When you can figure out what you enjoy about a movie and duplicate the best parts you are well on your way to making a movie you enjoy!

Yeah I know that sounds simple bordering on stupid but that is a lot of filmmaking in a nutshell. If you can't make the kind of movie you want to watch then what is the point of being a filmmaker? That doesn't mean that you enjoy watching it after spending a couple of hundred hours working on it, it just means that it is the style of movie that you wished other filmmakers would make and would watch if it wasn't yours.

Bacon And Eggs: One Of Life's Simple Pleasures

Few things in life are more satisfying than a breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Now for me I enjoy scrambled eggs. I don't mind fried as long as they are hard fried and not runny. Well and bacon....just the mere mention of the word "Bacon" leaves my mouth watering.

So this morning around 6:30 while in the state of between dreaming and being awake I developed a craving for breakfast. Probably a lot of that was due to my cats meowing and scratching at my door which in my state of slumber prompted me to think about how they were hungry and how I was hungry and needed breakfast.

I know it is a long way to get from point A to point B but when I'm almost sleeping/dreaming it seemed logical at the time.

So I decide to get up and feed the cats so they would stop screaming at me to feed them and explore the idea of one of life's simple pleasures....cooking bacon and eggs.

So after the cats had eaten it was time for me to shower up and make out a check for my water bill. So I went to the Suburban, let it warm up and turned on the Sirius receiver....while my mouth was already watering about the thought of breakfast.

Yes I was feeling like my cats were twenty minutes before I got up while they were howling at my door.

So I head out to the city hall to take care of the water bill and then head to the grocery store! I can almost taste them now by this point!

So I get to the store and find my bacon. With that done I went to find the eggs....I found them and decided to spice them up a little bit by getting some pepper jack cheese to add while they are getting cooked.

So with that and a few other odds and ends groceries I head back home all happy and ready to start cooking! I find the skillet and get everything heated up and put the egg mixture in to cook, I put the bacon in the microwave. It is microwaveable bacon and is very tasty and nearly free of grease when done.

While the bacon is cooking away and the eggs are bubbling away I start to ponder how nice this really is and how so many other people can't really enjoy something as simple as bacon and eggs for breakfast. Wether their lives are paced too fast or wether they just won't take a couple of minutes to cook such a small feast.

So do yourself a favor and scramble up some eggs, throw in some pepper jack cheese, cook some bacon, and enjoy one of life's simple pleasures my friends!

Locker News And Reality Rant

Yes my friends as of yesterday Locker is in the hands of a local production house and they are making me a DVD master copy to duplicate the many promised copies that were due out many moons ago!

Excitement doesn't cover my emotion accurately!

I haven't seen the show but I have seen thousands of commercials for Skating With The Stars....ho hum.

Since Dancing with the Stars was such a big ratings hit another network had to raise the pot and put untrained celebs on ice skates to see who watches to see who gets hurt. Which if everyone was honest with themselves that is why they would watch the show. To see Todd Bridges take a header into the boards or Debbie Gibson face plant.

That is why I enjoy the Surreal Life. Take a handful of washed up celebs with personality disorders and put them into one confined location with tasks to accomplish that will provoke them....Now that is entertainment!

And it is my biggest guilty pleasure. I hate that I like such a horrible show. It just don't make sense my friends!

It also makes me ponder where this trend is heading.

You have seen the Stars dance and ice skate but can they crash a car????

Yes! See Gary Coleman crash this 2006 RX-7 into not only a brick wall but with 50,000 volts of electricity running through it and a shark tank balanced on top!!!! Will Gary make it? Tune in to find out!

Molly Ringwald can drive this brand new Cadillac Escalade off of a three story parking garage at 80 miles per hour....but can she also diffuse the bomb in the backseat while on fire????

Corey Feldman and Corey Haim will drive these twin Corvettes in a game of chicken....from hell!!!! Which Corey will survive when they discover how to use the mounted .50 caliber machine guns....while wearing night vision goggles????

Now who wouldn't want to see that????

I know I know. Anyone who knows me knows that I would love to see Gary Coleman do almost anything. The guy fascinates me....as most has beens do.

I don't know why they are has beens. I don't know why they don't take some cash or use a connection or two and hire a writer and make a project happen!

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they don't since it leaves more of a door for me to open.

I mean if every Scott Baio out there decided to make his own movie then there wouldn't be much of a chance that I could compete with the likes of Madonna....film director.

The Colts Flop

Well the powerhouse team of the NFL bowed out of the playoffs yesterday. They were practically dominated for three and a half quarters by the Steelers. It would seem that they had the perfect opportunity with the playoffs going through Indy and the Patriots eliminated.

They went out with barely a whisper. The Colts had been taken out by the Patriots during their amazing run and you can just say that Tom Brady owned the Colts. The biggest Colt killer was gone.

Manning and Crew had a free run, you'd think. You would be tempted to call the Colts the New Bills except the Bills made it to four straight Super Bowls, the Colts have yet to make it in the modern era.

This reminds me of the Eagles and how everyone had anointed them pre-season as the champs except for those pesky games you have to play in between. It isn't that the Colts have talent, they just expected to have the Steelers lay down and lose to them.

Well Pittsburgh came to play and they dominated. With two bad calls going against Pittsburgh and the reliable Bettis coughing up the ball very late, they still won. Yes one of the most reliable kickers shanked a game tying field goal that was well within his range.

The kicker didn't lose the game for them. Yes he had a chance to tie the game but the most powerful offense in the NFL should have never been in the position to have to rely on Vanderjagt.

Yes Indy had lots of late season drama with the death of Tony Dungy's son which was tragedy but it simply wasn't the Colt's post season and they can't blame anyone but themselves.

Indy choked.

I think that Seattle will probably make the Super Bowl now. I really thought that Carolina would make it but with DeShaun Foster breaking his ankle it is looking less likely. I wouldn't be surprised to see Carolina in the Super Bowl, Steve Smith alone could carry them if he has to.

Denver vs. Pittsburgh. Now there is going to be a very good AFC title game! I hope to see a amazing struggle! However I think that the Pittsburgh D will contain Denver's offense and in very good game that will probably come down to some late minute heroics Pittsburgh will win.

Seattle vs. Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL.

A Poker Win

Yes my friends. Saturday night I had a third place finish and twenty three dollars profit.
There were ten entries and I played a disciplined game and played maybe twenty hands total last night.

Patience is valued in no limit hold'em.

I also learned of a tournament at Lucky Star Casino. So I called them up and obtained the details. I decided to head down before the 2p.m. deadline, or so I thought.

Turns out to get entered you have to be playing on a table before registration. So I put my name on the low limit game to get on a table. The higher limit games filled up and they opened up new table as high limit games as well.

I didn't want to play three hours of high limit BEFORE a tournament! So I came back home and I think I'll probably play high limit next weekend and play the tournament. I am going to get there early next weekend. I'll play 3-6 no problem. I wasn't prepared for that this weekend though (low on poker funds) so next weekend I'm going.

So now I'm watching playoff football.

Tomorrow is the day that we get a LOcker master! I'm going to use my poker winnings on that.

Buying the master DVD to duplicate Locker.

Still Broken

Yes my friends my main pc is still sitting there all broken and looking lonely. That is the main reason I haven't been posting as often.

It kind of makes me feel out of sorts when something is broken. I've got to wait until payday to get the hard drive and a few other accessories that I need to do a minor upgrade and back to my regular online adventures.

I have a poker tourny tonight and the NFL playoffs are going on which is always exciting! I'll post my results tomorrow. I'm hoping for a better finish then second to last this time!

Crash

Well my hard drive shut down on my desktop last night.

Fortunately there is no damage to Locker. However the one thing I wanted to keep which is my email archives might be history.

I had a ton of information archived. I'm using my laptop for blog updates right now. Hopefully it won't be long before I get my hard drive information recovered and revive my system from the depths of crashdom.

Broken Flowers

Don't you love it when you can see a movie and it helps you evaluate where you are in your life?

Broken Flowers is a terrific movie in what it leaves to your imagination. This is hard to write, it really is. Usually I like to say nearly nothing about plot points or much about a movie itself and just write about how it effects me as a moviegoer. I think I can do a nutshell telling and not ruin anything.

A man at the tail end of another broken relationship gets a mysterious letter that says he is the father of a 19 year old son who is asking about him. This leads to a oddessey of self discovery as he visits four candidates for the mother.

Bill Murray is amazing. His career has really turned into a string of introspective characters who explore what life is like when you know the golden years are coming but you aren't ready for them yet.

When you start to look back at your life and try to make sense of where you have been and what's next. What have you accomplished and do you think you were happy?

The familiar dynamic between Murray's character Don Johnston and his neighbor Winston is lively and entertaining and carries the first part of the movie until the trip begins. Broken Flowers features some clever dialogue and some witty performances coaxed to the surface by Jim Jarmusch, veteran indie filmmaker and all around film rebel.

Be careful watching this movie, you might find yourself smack dab in the middle of re-evaluating where you are....like me.

LOCKER SOLUTION!!!!

Yes!!!!

After a phone call and a discussion with my Producer and friend who has worked very hard on the technical aspects of Locker the past couple of months we arrived at a solution!!!!

A local production company can easily transfer a master tape to DVD for duplication!!!!

It is fast, painless, and inexpensive!!!!

This is a lesson learned and will no longer be a obstacle in any future production.
This has been a huge weight lifted off of my Producer's shoulders as well as mine. I can't tell you how happy and relieved I am about this! I feel that I can now move on since this will be resolved in a matter of days now!!!!

I only wish that we had thought of this solution a couple of months ago however I do believe that the tweaks we put into Locker made it a better production. Not great but much better.

I am still kicking myself for the decision to film it all in one day. But I made that decision and I'll live with it and learn from it and make the next production much better with the lessons learned!

I feel a lot of promise for this bright, shiny new year my friends!

Alarm Day

Yes my friends today I got up with a alarm for the first time in eleven days. It wasn't pleasant at all but it was necessary.

After a week of doing what I wanted when I wanted and having Locker encoded again in MPEG4, it is getting closer to done but it has a pulse in it now. Other than that it looked pretty good. I can't help but think it is close now. Of course everyone who reads this is probably tired of me saying that but I'm positively sick of saying it. Things look up for a couple of days and then something else happens.

Overall here is the status, the DVD jackets are made, there are lots of blank printable DVDs ready to be duplicated, lots of ink to print with, and a edited film....the only problem is the encoding which is very close.

I apologize to my actors who have put up with my obstacles and have been more patient than I have a right to ask for.

At the moment all I can offer is that I am requesting help from some experts in this realm that can possibly solve this problem and get the promised DVDs out to my actors, producers, and distributors who have requested a copy.

I am working on it, I really am.

Completely Recovered!!!!

From the weekend's festivities! I really needed that sleep last night too. I still am not sure what I had but it left me feeling good yesterday but I had almost no energy so I faked it with my host so they would not feel badly for my condition. We went out driving for a while and it was all I could do to keep up with their energy. I should have let them drive but that might have tipped it off that I wasn't 100% and had almost no energy left.

The Predators fell exactly 22 points shy of winning third place overall in the points race of the league championship. Our league is unique in that we have a overall points race along with the traditional playoff structure. This allows for more places being paid and a continued interest in the league.

So I won fourth overall which isn't bad but it doesn't pay anything. I lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs which isn't bad but again it doesn't pay anything. I believe I did recoupe my league expenses though which makes for a satisfactory season but not as satisfactory as winning more money and bragging rights.

I believe that this new year will bring much happiness for everyone I know. Yes hardships are bound to happen but I, will all my being, believe that everyone will be much better off when 2007 rolls around!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

My friends I wish nothing but the best for all of you. While I wish I had a funny story to relate to you from New Year's Eve, I simply don't.

I was out of town and had a mixed bag of a New Year's Eve. I drank some bad wine and I felt queasy all the next day. It came and went and started on my drive.

I felt horrible at times and then it would ease off and I would feel good for a while and then back again. Needless to say it was a sober party for me.

I felt much better this morning. I thought I was having another bout of nausea after breakfast but it went away after a few minutes and I felt good again and it has lasted.

All in all it was a interesting couple of days!

It All Began After We Got There

Yes, I knew it would happen though I really did.

We left town around 2p.m. for a OKC Hornets game. Well when we arrived in OKC my friend and co-worker wanted to stop by a Sam's Club to get a infared trash can, I kid you not.

No I'm not worried that he might read this. He doesn't own a home pc nor would he know what a blog was, even if he read it. I also don't believe that anyone I work with knows that I write this blog or that I even exist for that matter.....

Anyway after TWO Sam's Club visits failed to produce the desired and now elusive infared trash can/gonna be post Christmas present my friend Bub suggested that we get a drink now that we had three hours to kill before tip off.

Did I mention that we didn't have tickets yet?

Anyway we stop off at a place that he claims to frequent when he is in OKC, however he had never been there this early in the day. It was about 4 p.m. by this point.

We entered The Playhouse, yes it was a titty bar. Now I have nothing against a good titty bar however I know the game after having plenty of long conversations with former strippers and I know going in that they are working. I am nothing more than a mark to them to get them free drinks, food, drugs, or money. I have no illusions that they like me or their job for that matter which puts us with something in common ironically.

So we walk in and I have to use the restroom since I have had a full bottle of water on the trip down and couldn't find one in either of the two Sam's Clubs that we visited previously. So Bub pays my cover charge and I ask where the men's room is. The music is pretty loud and I see him saying something, possibly drink related, I hold up my finger in a "I'll be right back" fashion and by the time I'm finished he has purchased me a yellowish drink.

Now anyone who knows me knows what I drink when I drink is a Tequila Sunrise, unless it is a occasion that I drink wine with my photographer friend or it is unbearably cold out and I fix a hot chocolate with Irish Cream which I have found to be quite warming:) Anyway, we sit down and I notice that the DJ is dressed like Penn Jillette. So I pick up my drink and nearly spit it out, I am not sure what Bub ordered for me at this point but I am sure that it is very sour and has practically no alcohol in it.

I am starting to rethink my decision to use my "I'll be right back" finger.

So I content myself with watching the game on TV between Boise State and Boston College....much to my dismay a stripper comes and sits down at our table. She asks my friend's name, he replies "Bub" to which she replies "Bug"?

I again nearly spit out the mystery drink.

"Bub" he replies again closer to her head and much louder this time....he then tells her my name which reminds me to take a baseball bat to Bub's knees at sometime in the future. So she then looks at me and I turn on my "Don't even think about touching me" vibe and she latches onto Bub's arm and starts to stroke his thigh.

I hated to do that to him however better him than me in this case. She chats him up while I continue to watch the bowl game while another stripper on stage has climbed to the top of the stripper pole and is trying to get my attention. I glance in that direction just in time to see her slip and bang her head with a audible thunk on the stage.

I again nearly spit out the mystery drink.

I don't think that is exactly what she was going for but I was amused....probably not as amused as the other four or five patrons in the club but I smiled to myself anyway while the stripper at our table had now started to sing the lyrics to whatever song it was that was playing....and now was even more involved with Bub's lap. I decided that it was time to get myself and Bub another drink. A Bud Light for him and a Tequila Sunrise for me. So I get up and head over to the bar and order said drinks. He pops the cap off of the beer and gets a glass for my drink. He puts the ice in, the Tequila, and then the orange juice....and then some other kind of juice that might have been cranberry juice....which is wrong and not very tasty....and then the grenadine on top of that.
At this point I was sure of one other thing....these drinks were expensive.

Nine dollars later I return to the table to see that the stripper has conned Bub out of a shot. So I sit back down and try to enjoy my butchered drink when the crackhead stripper at our table starts to yell at a guy who is trying to tip a dancer....the poor guy looks around to see the crackhead at our table yelling that she is going to divorce him.....seven or eight times.

I don't think the stripper on stage was amused but it did look like she had recovered from the rough landing on the stage.

The crackhead finished her shot and said she was going to dance next and was probably going to have some heavy metal played by Penn Jillette because it was time to get this party started. She asked Bub several times if he was going to watch her dance next....did I mention several times she asked this? So she says she will be back in a minute and goes and talks to Penn.

She walks back by the table and again mentions that she is up next and if Bub is going to watch her dance....I kid you not.

Well she gets on stage to the tune of Journey......yeah, time to get this party started.

So I again go back to my second mystery drink while Bub watches his new crackhead stripper friend dance.....while I again try to watch the bowl game.

So a few strippers later and the crackhead didn't show back up....which was nice. Bub tells me that after I finish my drink we'll leave and go find tickets to the game. Two big gulps and a very nasty drink disappeared.

So we head downtown and I get out in front of the Ford Center while Bub finds a parking place. I go in to the box office find out that they are sold out and catch up with Bub at the end of the block. I tell him the bad news and we decide to park and find something to eat and try to find a scalper before the game starts. So we head to Bricktown and eat while nothing very interesting happens. It was a good meal. We locate a scalper and purchase two tickets thirteen rows off of the floor for fifty dollars apiece. They were good seats behind the home goal. Which resulted in something cool!

We got to have the balloons that the fans wave while the opposing team is shooting free throws, which tonight was the Houston Rockets. We win with 1.9 seconds left on the clock 92-90.

All in all a very interesting and fun day even though the crackhead was the highlight of the day.

My Season Is Over

Yes my friends. It is true. The Predators scored a paltry 13 points this past weekend thus ending my run at the semi-final level.

There isn't much more to say about it really....it has been a season of good games and horrible games. I had a good winning streak for a while but had a dismal start.

Now my friends I hope that the Christmas Holidays have been very good for you. I hope you found that you enjoyed both giving and receiving gracefully. My days off have been fairly productive! I have given lots of thought to my friend's project. She has been working many hours over the past couple of weeks so there hasn't been much time devoted to collaborating as of yet. However she says that that will change within a couple of weeks.

I am excited about this development. As for Locker I plan on working with my producer friend to get the DVD problem worked out. I know he has been super busy with his business and has been working on the project on the side. I really can't ask for more as he has even spent an entire night and worked at his business the entire next day. How can you ask more from a person than that?

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

My Fantasy Season Is Quickly Ending Today And Nothing

I'm getting beat 34-8 right now while most of the games are rolling around to the third quarter. Yes my friends it looks like my season is going to end in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

It isn't what I wanted to happen but it looks like no one is wanting to score today. I had to play Jerry Porter over Marvin Harrison since Harrison is being rested today and didn't make the trip to Seattle.

Yeah, it is over.

I did my Christmas shopping this morning. I'm working on one gift still and might be for another day or so.

There isn't much to report in filmmaking news. I am off next week as I have said earlier so I am hoping that I can get Locker on DVD finished and shipped out. That is my goal....well has been my goal but you all know the problems that have cropped up.

I have seen a very good or funny movie but you are probably familiar with how I write my reviews by now. I try to keep away from any plot points if at all possible and try not to discuss anything related to the movie except how I felt about it. I hate spoilers so that really makes for some strange reading sometimes.

Believe me it would be easier to write a regular review and go through the whole story other than the essentials that I try to post....and I really want to get into the plot and the meaning of this movie. This movie really made me want to discuss it after watching it.

Well the movie is called Nothing and essentially it is about a couple of life long friends who live with one another and when their world starts to encroach on their peaceful existence, people start to disappear. Not like that, in a more creative and hilarious way that had me laughing in its cleverness and wit. They discover that hate is a powerful emotion and it can lead to things that you may not anticipate.

Nothing is a brilliant indie feature from the director of Cube. Watch it, you won't be upset about it and you will probably hate things a little bit less.

Last Night's Christmas Party

Allow me to set the context for last night's party. This is a very slow time of year where I work and we are encouraged to take the week off between Christmas and New Year's Day.

There just isn't a lot happening and therefore no reason to be there. So this year we get a Friday and two consecutive Monday's off paid and then we take vacation the other four days which gives you a total of eleven days off for the cost of four days. Yeah, it is a bargain! Eleven days that I don't have to be at work, woohoooo!!!

Well today is the first day off so last night we got together at a local club to celebrate not having to go to work because of the holidays! I love this time of year!

So there I am last night surrounded by some very fine people I have known for quite a few years now. I confess that I did tip maybe a couple too many in my celebratory glee. However it was a blast and a fine way to start the vacation!

I did do a couple of drunk emails and a drunk call....so not too bad.

I have finished my Christmas shopping and I am ready for the holidays:)

The next couple of weeks with my friend's project should prove to be interesting as we have started the pre-production research stage to determine the symbolism of her subject. I'll post more once I have obtained her permission to write about it:)

.....Well Second Place

Which is worth 20 dollars.

The team that got first had 35 going into last night and had two players. His players did the job and captured first overall which is good. He is a friend of mine and his team hasn't had a good year.

I'll have to call him today and tell him that he won some money this week! He'll be happy about that!

In the new project, I will be calling my friend today. She has been working many hours lately and apologized for not being in touch with me recently about her project.

A Win Plus First Place!

I won my heads up playoff match up this week 48-45 and captured first place this week which is worth 40 dollars!

Not bad for a team that started out being lucky to score in double digits!

Things seem to be rolling so far, next up is the division championship and then the Super Bowl!

Week 15

My fantasy team is now in second place in my division.
They have really picked it up lately and are riding a three game winning streak.

After yesterdays games I have zero points and five tie breaker points. No big deal, I didn't have anyone playing except for my tie breaker!

My opponent, the Eagles have zero points and also had a WR playing. So going into today he is a player down!

I have a good shot at advancing today!

King Kong

Yeah that's right. King Kong.

It was everything I thought it would be and just a bit more.

My friends you have probably noticed that when I write about something I've seen I try very hard not to mention a whole lot about the story itself and just mention the look or the feel of a movie rather than the actual contents if at all possible.

I try to mention what I get out of it without spoiling it for anyone else.

So now I have made a hot chocolate on this sub 30 degree evening and added a bit of Irish cream to add a bit of....flavor;) I've given some thought about what I experienced while watching King Kong and what I wanted to write about it.

So here it is. It is a good movie. Lots of cgi. Had some touching moments and some tedious scenes but overall I thought is was a love story.

There were some great fight scenes and Skull Island looked incredible and menacing. There was a very touching scene between Naomi Watts and Kong towards the end that to me really cemented the love story. The tragic part is of course seen from a mile away but since this is a remake it isn't a surprise to anyone.

I do believe that the holiday season was the wrong time of the year to release such a epic movie though....and make no mistake about it. Kong is a epic movie. This is truly Lord of the Rings/Gladiator modern epic caliber.

While I didn't experience the emotional pain that I did while watching the 1933 original climax, it was still moving and a emotional experience. What was odd though was that what was done in 1933 was a smallish stop motion model and the modern Kong was a CGI enhanced multi-million dollar creation and I still felt more for the original Kong when he fell than I did for the modern one despite the very touching and happy scene I mentioned above.

I enjoyed it.

I didn't enjoy the previews. Miami Vice and the Poseidon Adventure are going to be out next year in remake form. Now I can appreciate the irony of my comments since Kong has been remade twice however I covered that in a earlier post.

Miami Vice and The Poseidon Adventure are unforgivable.

Haunted With Color

Imagine for a minute a film that blurs the line between living and dying. Of color and grayscale. That takes the beauty of a immense, beautiful landscape and washes the color from it. That dances with ghosts and living beings of tragic circumstance.

This is the movie Northfork.

Taking place in 1955, it witnesses the death of the town of Northfork by the construction of a hydroelectric dam that will flood the area within days.

A child too sick to travel, a kindly priest, four imaginary friends, and six men in black populate the barren lands of Montana. The film reminded me of a dried rose. Color is still there however it is pale, seemingly fragile to the touch and would crumble into dust. No longer vibrant and supple.

The almost grayscale look brings you closer to the death of the town of Northfork in its last days. It is cold but not uninviting, in fact it is almost friendly, it is haunted. Every minute of this movie is a beautiful metaphor for life and death. The place in between where dreams and breath meet in swirl into the misty comfortable air around you.

It isn't for everyone and everyone who sees it will see something different, but I enjoyed it.

Capote And The Death Of PC On TV!

Monday a friend and I went to see Capote. It is a very powerful movie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman seemed to channel the late Capote for this role.

There is no justice at the Oscars if Hoffman doesn't get a nomination. It was a stirring and portrayal of the six years he spent writing In Cold Blood and his relationship with Perry Smith. Smith might have very well been Capote just in another body. They shared so much in common but from what I got they were extremely lonely people.

I'm not commenting on Smith as a innocent or person who invoked sympathy from me. He was a bad guy, a very bad guy. Capote could be a arrogant, condescending, and self centered pain but he wasn't a killer. He was a writer. He took his loneliness and channeled it into one of the most famous novels of its time.

He was stunned with what he found in the persona of Smith. He really did see himself and talked to him for days on end as if trying to get to the bottom of his own soul. He wanted to know what made Smith tick so maybe he could glean a clue as to what made himself tick.

Capote was all of this and more. If you aren't familiar with the crimes of November 1959, don't be too concerned about it. It isn't' necessary to understand what is going on and is covered in great detail. It covers from the morning of the discovery of the Clutter's bodies to the final snap of the rope as Smith is hanged.

That is the serious part of this post.....the other part is a show called The Boondocks. Based on the comic strip, this cartoon inhabits Adult Swim on Sunday evenings. It is the story of a Grandfather who moves his two urban Grandsons to the suburbs. This is a very racy and amazing show that has a lot of humor as it pokes fun at the urban culture. So far it has covered topics such as the R. Kelly trial to a straight laced prosecutor and his prison anal rape phobia.

I really hope this ushers in the death of all things PC on TV. I really do. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate the very idea of political correctness. It is something that could undermine the fabric of this country. It is destructive and corrosive. Shows like The Boondocks show the absurdity of the concept of PC and work diligently to destroy it. I for one am whole heartedly behind it.

I Think I Get To Eat Now!!!!

I have a friend I have talked about on here before. My photographer friend. She is insanely creative and has approaced me with a film idea.

A children's film. I have a few minor details so far but she is going to get me a outline tomorrow and let me work on it and start to flesh it out.

I think this is something I need right now, I know it is. I want to work on something that will come to fruitation and with her help I think that it will gel. She is more creative than I am, I am more practical.

I think more nuts and bolts on something, like how can this be filmed with what we have. She thinks more creatively and can put together situations and scenes in a way I can't.

I'm very excited about this!

I'm Hungry

Here I am....very very hungry.

I ate the last of my left overs yesterday, including some two day old pizza:) So now I've got to get out this morning, when it is all cold and get something to eat.

Now my friends the title is also a metaphor for me as well. I am starving! I'm creatively starving, I need a project that will come together. I need a project, I need a project.

I'm going to be out of town tomorrow so maybe a slight change of scenery will be instrumental to helping me during this time of drought.

No, its nothing like that. Its just hanging out with a friend.

I have a metaphorical morality tale in my mind right now that could evolve into something. I think I just put too many limitations on myself when writing.

I am writing to my budget. I'm writing down to things that I can film around.

Maybe I shouldn't care about that part. Maybe I should just write a 10 million dollar script that has a ton of extras and CGI. Maybe if I did that it might break loose some ideas and get things rolling in a smaller realm?

I'm thinking about a McGriddle this morning, maybe a Egg McMuffin? I always get my dog something like a regular sausage biscuit. He likes that. 6:30 this morning I hear one of my cats howling at my bedroom door. I see a little white paw slipping under the door as if that is going to get my attention and shake the sleepy slumber from my sleepy mind faster than her horrific meow that tells me she is hungry and wants fed NOW!

After my embarrassing early exit last night (honestly my earliest exit in a live tournament since I started playing) I feel I need to get to another tournament and get back into practice. Maybe put some money back into a online account and get back into the swing of things and shake the rust off.

Fantasy Football wise, my team is taking on a team that is about two games behind me. If I lose it will be devastating to my season. I believe the playoffs start next week. I'll have to talk to the Commish and see, the wild cards could possibly start today in fact....

I'll just have to check on that and update tonight or tomorrow.

Well since I am starving and my tummy is growling like my cat wanting fed, I'm heading out now into the cold to satisfy my hunger.....my physical hunger.

Bad Poker Evening

Well it wasn't that bad casue it was worth it to hang out and have a good time. However I was out fairly quickly.

Ten people showed up which is a good sized game for this area. A lot of loose players and a couple rarely folded but they did catch the cards. Meaning that you really couldn't push anyone out of a hand if they had a small piece of it and were drawing to a hand.

I got caught in a bad hand that I should have folded and my aces were cracked by two pair. I went all in and the calling station wouldn't fold his hand and beat me with two pair. It wasn't a bluff but it wasn't a great hand either.

So I came back home after a 30 minute drive....which was nice. I added the portable dock for my Sirius radio pod to my vehicle. So now I can take it from work where the boombox is to my vehicle!

Well today Richard Pryor died. Sirius had a tribute and played his best material so it was a good time out there and back!

He was a very funny and very troubled person. He seemed to have been suffering a lot in the past two decades. I hope he is in a better place.

Poker Night

Well tonight there is a poker tournament I have been invited to. I am familiar with a few of the people I will be playing with and if everyone shows up that is supposed to show up there should be a nice pot to play for.

I haven't played online poker in months now. I am not sure why other than I just felt burned out on online poker. I just took the cash in the accounts out and just never put any back in.

However live poker is something different. I would play this every week if there were a good game around. Now if you are a regular reader of my blog then you know that I have more of a tournament style and don't really enjoy the ring games as much.

I fold 99% of my hands. I win usually 1-3 pots per hour and play maybe 4-6, I'm rarely a chip leader until towards the end. I'm just a tournament style of player.

Anyway there are supposed to be about twenty people attending at $20 bucks per.

Its worth that just for the evening's entertainment....winning will be frosting:)

My Remake Quandry

My friends, anyone who knows me knows that I hate the trend of TV shows being turned into movies. It is a horrible idea and a horrible trend.

The movies are usually done in a way that doesn't respect the original source material. The originals are usually classics that have a large fan following and therefore a large base that theoritically should attract a large box office.

The results are usually mediocre at best.

I refuse to even see any movie based on a TV show. I know that my action won't detract from Hollywood making more of them, it is more principle for me than anything else.

The other nasty trend is the remake fever that seems to be going on as well.

I was deeply saddened today when I saw the amount of planned movies that are going to be remade. I'm not going to list them, the list is huge and with a little searching you can find them too. They make me weep when they try to take some amazing movies on their own right and add a ton of CGI effects and updated dialogue.

They are then under the delusion that it is better. Maybe sometimes it is better, I wouldn't know. I don't see them either if it is at all possible. Usually the movie is worse than the original and ruins it like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Remakes aren't anything new. Frankenstein has been remade more than a few times over. The Hammer version is on the same level as the classic Universal version, I can say that with no problems what so ever. Dracula is the same way. There are countless other remakes that are also too numerous to mention but you understand where I'm coming from.

My quandry is this.

King Kong.

How do you see a movie remake when you are usually opposed to remakes?

You trust such a classic to Peter Jackson who is probably one of the hardest working filmmakers in the world today. He is a obsessive fan of the movie and takes the handling of the film in the most serious of ways.

I have seen and read nearly everything I can find on King Kong and I'm so excited to see this movie I can't describe it! So there you go. I'm such a fanboy of coming movie that I can't help but show it.

It looks like one of the greatest spectacles of all time! I mean this looks like it can be as big as Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, or as epic as Lord of the Rings. Well as epic as a single movie can be as opposed to the grand Holy Grail of epic movies. Which used to belong to Star Wars in my book.

Watch out Titanic.....here comes Kong.

Another Victory!

I am now tied for second place in my division. After a 39-25 victory the Predators crawled into this tie and now are poised for the playoffs within the coming weeks.

It is freezing cold out, going to be about 3 tonight. I decided it was a good evening for hot chocolate and Bailey's Irish Cream.

I also picked up the fouth season of 24 this afternoon so my evening is set!

Locker is nearly ready for DVD now, finally! I'm so excited about that and all of the people I've promised copies to should also be happy about it!

I can't be more thankful for their patience.

So now I am going to indulge myself in Jack Bauer's life while sipping some piping hot chocolate with Irish cream in it!

Life is good!

Week 13

If things go well today there will be a three way tie at first in my division. The Predators need to win, beating the second place team and one of my best friends who owns the Mandingos. The River Rats need to lose to fourth place team the Eagles who I beat last week.

That would create the tie. A few weeks ago and after some lackluster performances by my "ace" players I never thought I would be in this position.

Palmer is still my home run hitter and is putting up points every week for the Predators.

We'll see what happens but I feel good about it!

Sundance Rejection

RE: 9637-Locker

Dear XXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for submitting your film to the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Regretfully, I must inform you that it was not selected by our committee. We appreciate having had the opportunity to view your work, and want you to know the decision was a difficult one, as we saw many more worthy films than we had space for.

I would like to wish you the best of luck with this project and your forthcoming work. I hope you will give the festival the same consideration in the future.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey Gilmore
Director, Sundance Film Festival


Yes my friends this was the biggie.

Let me tell you that it isn't everyone who gets a rejection email from Sundance.

It means something to me.

It means that I have completed a film and sent it to Sundance! It means that I completed something (and paid someone to watch Locker) in the biggest film festival in the US.

So what if it was rejected. Better films than Locker will also be rejected. I'm not upset. I knew this was the likely outcome. What it means is something more than all of that.

It means I had a movie that I made. With my two hands and my fine actors and friends, we put together something that was seen by the people who put together Sundance.

We took a shot my friends. How many people go through life and then say I wish I had....

I've done this before.

Deja vu.

Slamdance Rejection

I received my Slamdance rejection email today.

There's no good to tell you. I could rehash the most volatile moments of the final programming meetings, recounting the gallant attempts to get your film in. I could remind you of the incredibly high number of submissions for the very few amount of slots. Finally, I could offer solidarity, revealing that I got a rejection myself yesterday and another on Friday. But I can assume none of this really matters.

This year Slamdance received more narrative features than we ever have before. We saw such an eclectic mix of films. Thank you so much for submitting to Slamdance. I sincerely hope you will continue to send us any future projects. I wish you the best with your ongoing festival applications.

Congratulations on making a film!

Warm Regards,
Sarah Diamond

--
Sarah Diamond
Director of Programming
Slamdance Film Festival



This simply means that at least one other person has seen it since my last rejection!

I'm very happy about that. Honestly I really am.

It is no secret that I have been creatively dry lately but today I think I might have hit upon a idea that would develop very quickly into a script. A full length script.

Deja vu.

I've done this before.

A Win!

And second place overall to go with it!
With Marvin Harrison scoring on a 80 yard play from scrimage he got me 12 points! He had over 125 yards total receiving so that added points as well for a grand total of 70 for the Predators!

That gave me a payday this week as first overall had 73.

Not bad for a team who could barely score double digits in the beginning of the season.

I almost feel like I'm on auto pilot this morning. I know that I'll drive the same route to go to the quick shop to get my coffee and get my coffee card stamped.

It's Tuesday.

DVD Tuesday. I'll probably look over a couple of new releases at lunch and then head back to work again.

I've done this before.

Deja vu.

Week 12 Update

I'm a TD down. I lead nearly all of yesterday by a sizeable amount until my weekly matchup went off with a outstanding Seattle performance.

Donte Stallworth came through to put me at 5 points down to winning my weekly matchup. I have Marvin Harrison tonight. I trail 55 to 60.

The other team is done. If Marvin scores one TD I win 61-60 and collect a weekly payday at probably second place overall for the week.

Overall I feel that Marvin will come through for me. Things are working well right now, even with Locker. I have a plan B if plan A doesn't happen this week.

Hopefully plan A happens though!

Week 12

I have a good start on week 12 so far. I started Keyshawn Thanksgiving Day and he got a score!

I think I'm in good shape overall. I started the Bengals D over the Steelers D purely on a matchup.
I believe that Cinncy will have a better time against a poor Baltimore Offense rather than the Pittsburgh D vs. the explosive Indy Offense on Monday night.

We'll see!

Pretty Good Weekend So Far!

Thanksgiving was good.

I didn't even think about getting out on Black Friday.

Picked up some DVDs today and some lunch since I finished off the last of the leftovers today.

King Kong finally came out on DVD this past week. Yes the original. The glorious 1933 original! If you watch this movie today you will see some amazing technical achievements that to this day are fun to watch. I can't get enough of this movie! Son of Kong was great and really expanded upon the potential of Kong and Mighty Joe Young was an improvement on that story wise.

All of them had one thing in common though they inspired Ray Harryhausen: Genius.

I have spent hours upon hours watching in amazement as his creations lumbered, crawled, flew, and danced across the screen. Battling everything from Elephants to San Francisco. Mr. Harryhausen's contribution to filmmaking can never be overstated.

Now to Locker news. My new opening is going to work, however the .AVI file of the credits is showing up blank for some reason now. I can't tell you how frustrating this is for me.

I was supposed to have copies done and sent out two weeks ago but these tiny technical glitches keep holding up production.

It will get done.

One Of The Best Ever!

Last night I watched Gonzaga beat Michigan State in triple overtime! That was one of the best college games I have ever had the had the privlege to watch!

It makes me hope that this will be an amazing season for college hoops and that the next game the Zags play, is better! They play the third ranked Conneticut Huskies in the Maui Invitational tonight in the final!

The semi-final had everything you could ask for in a game. Heart, determination, a will to win, and plenty of toughness! Honestly you could not ask for more!

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a big fan of the USBL and particually the Storm. I have seen some amazing games because it is minor league. These guys don't know what it is like to play for millions of dollars and know that if they are going to play for a NBA team they need to prove that they have the game it takes.

The USBL is the league of opportunity. Players who aren't drafted come to this league to develop their style and game to a higher level. If you want to see basketball in its purest pro form catch a game. You won't be sorry you did.

You will know that every player out there is making what you make a week or less but are playing for the future. They aren't rich and they aren't famous. They play for you, the fan, and they give all that they have.

How could you ask for more?

A Win!

Yes my friends, The Predators rolled to a victory yesterday and have a shot at third place overall this week!

That puts me in the money for the week!

That is nice but I have to be honest right now and tell you all that I just don't have a shootable idea right now and I'm very frustrated about it.

I have written down a few ideas but there just isn't much that is coming together for me right now.

I am not the kind that just waits for inspiration to hit me and try to write something anyway but the ideas I am writing just aren't working right now.

Week 11

I have a good shot at starting my winning streak again this week. The Predators will be full strength and I have some favorable matchups.

Of course we'll see how things wind up tonight since I don't have any players going tomorrow night but I feel good!

I have some laundry to do heading into this short holiday week. This is a good thing, I can use a four day weekend right about now. Hopefully the duplication problems will be solved tomorrow or Tuesday and I can use those extra days to roll out as many copies as I need to send out!

I have promised a lot of people copies and have yet to be able to fulfill those promises. I will fulfill them though.

December is nearly here and so is 2006. I have a great feeling about December and the upcoming year! I feel a lot of changes around the corner and heading my way.

Locker News

There has been a huge problem in making the ISO file in which we duplicate the DVD copies I am going to send out to the cast and distributors.

Well my producer is working on the problem and has ordered a new firewire card which should solve things and get them rolling!

He has worked very hard on this project and even pulled a all nighter for it. I can't thank him enough.

This has been a long week for me, lots of emotional ups and downs, I do believe the next couple of months will hold what I've been working towards for a long time now! Everything looks bright and I can't wait to get there!

Just As I Thought

My first loss was at hand, breaking a nice winning streak.

Unless Keyshawn can score about 30 points by himself tonight I will be at .500.

I cut Mewelde Moore and picked up Duce Staley. I hate the RB by committee situation but I needed a RB that was going to carry a larger part of the load than Moore.

In other news, this is the final day of my first four day weekend in the next couple of weeks!

Yes I get another four day weekend over Thanksgiving!
I love this time of year but Novembers tend to be hard on me. One of my good friends has gone back to Korea after a very nice visit but he'll be back in February! I'm looking forward to working on his fan film project! He really has some good ideas on the potential of a fan film and especially this fan film.

The best is yet to come my friends!

Locker News

After a lot of work, Locker is now able to be duplicated!

Yeah I was planning on last week for that to happen but I'm happy that it took a little bit longer to look better.

I am hoping to be able to start sending out the copies to the distributors and my cast within days now!

Yeah I know I've said that before but this time is different, there is something to ship!

Fantasy news is this, I'm predicting my winning streak to end this weekend, I have two questionable RBs and both of my QBs are on bye weeks. I might make a pick up if someone is there I can use for a week while Carson Palmer is off but we'll see.

Saw II.....Same Movie Higher Body Count

Yes it has more of a budget and it even had more cast members minus the expendable and stupid plot device of Danny Glover.

Saw II was essentially the same movie. It had lots of quick cuts to disguise the lack of action on screen. They really tired me out after awhile and I was yawning about half way though the devious devices that the writers conjured up for the new group of victims.

The best aspect of this was seeing a New Kid get what was coming to him:)

Anytime that happens I'm a happy camper! First Jordan Knight makes a idiot of himself on Surreal Life and next Donny gets a lackluster film career:) Life is good!

5-4 The Predators Are Rolling!

Yes!

My team took second place in the league this week. For the first time this season they scored over 50 points and are riding a nice winning streak. I'm probably going to have to replace Dom Davis though, I believe he could be injured for the duration. We'll see.

Anyway second place is in the money and they are starting to earn their keep....just a little bit.

blugill: year one

Yes my friends it has been one year since I started writing my blog. I started writing in one of the worst months in my life and didn't put a lot of what was really going on in my original Crossroads post.

However it is time to take stock of my surroundings and to see where I've come and where I'm going. I've shared a lot of things that I couldn't or wouldn't share without the anonymous nature of the net with a lot of strangers who will either never meet me or could care less about meeting me and quit reading after only a post or two.

For those of you who have stuck with reading my trite ramblings, a sincere heartfelt thank you. For those of you who are new, welcome! I hope you enjoy reading about my personal and public life such as it is.

Alright, anyone who knows me knows that my nick is blugill, no "e". I made that up myself and here is the story behind it for my one year anniversary story.

Way back in the mid 90's when the net was expensive and 33.6 was brand new along with the new Intel 200 mhz processor I got my first pc. I had a friend who had a pc for a little while and he was telling what to do and stuff to do online. So he was telling me about this chat software called Pirch and then he spelled it for me so that I would know what to look for. Me being a newly minted newb had no idea what he was talking about and misunderstood. I thought he was telling me his name in some obscure chat room and that his nick was Pirch.

So I thought long and hard and came up with my own fish name and modified it without the "e" so that he would recognize me in this obscure chatroom that never existed since I misunderstood the whole thing from the get go.

So I made it up while my newly customized pc, complete with 16 megs of ram and my 2 gig hard drive was being built.

blugill or blu, the trendy way to pronounce it has become my nick and my alternate online personality.

Not quite as glamourous as it sounds I know and sort of a let down, I'm sorry to say.

I have it on ICQ and if you doubt me, my blugill number is lower than any imposter blugill out there....yeah I've actually run across a few people out there who have used the name or registered it on some app or some game. No big deal, afterall I'm the originator and I know who thought of what:)

Now here is some surprise good news!

I have a DVD copy of Locker sitting right beside me!

Saturday was a big day! My producer and I finished the cover and made a ISO copy of the finished version!

What does that mean?

Well it means that now I will have the much promised DVD copies to send out this week! A couple of tweaks on the cover and we can start duplicating them and the DVD itself!

And then my very hardworking cast will get their real copies that they have been so very patiently awaiting! I can't thank them enough for their patience and I hope they will be very happy with their performances cause it is going out to a few distributors who showed interest in the movie as well as the film festivals that it has been sent to!

So after this past year am I better off now than when I started writing my blog?

I'm a work in progress and it isn't as relative a question or as simple as I would like it to be....I don't know when I could answer that question and I don't know if I should. I can tell you that this past year had some very hard things to go through and some things I accomplished that I never thought I could.

I think that if this past year was any indication, anyone who is around me and can bear to be around me for long is in for a wild ride in year two!

Am I writing a new project? Nothing I have worked on so far on paper is really working yet but something will....and that will be my new project which will be better than Locker, I promise....and I hope you will be with me during every step like you were for Locker and all of the other musings I have posted:)

So....let's get started!

The Second Best Internet Only Show

The Dan and Scott show. Who?

Dan Schulz and Scott Wirkus, the comedy show duo who pioneered uncensored comedy radio. They started with Radiofun.com, moved to Talkspot.com, which also hosted the best internet only show, the Karen Kay show, I just don't have any archives from her show to post but I am on her yahoo group email list:) Then the boys moved to Hitthebeach.com which was a diaster before landing finally at eyada.com.

Eyada and Talkspot were tragic and before their time. When 56K was standard and ISDN was broadband but very expensive.

Today when broadband is commonplace and very inexpensive interactive web shows would do very well.

First of all allow me to explain what these shows were. Uncensored and unleashed, they are the First Amendment in all of its glory. Freedom of speech never had it so good!

The government could do nothing to fine or censor these networks, much like Sirius or XM. The only difference was that this was interactive!

You had a web cam on the host while there was a chat room that the fans and the hosts were in as well. You as a fan had some bearing on the direction of the show.

So the context of this would be that years before Sirius hired Howard Stern and made a huge deal about uncensored radio, these shows ruled the net! Unfortunately only though dialup which lead to lagging bandwidth problems and connectivity.

Podcasts are good but not interactive. Chat rooms are cool but after a while they can bore you a bit. Webcams are fun but they are like chat rooms after a while. Add all three together and you had magic!

I have over a hundred Dan and Scott shows which I have uploaded to a third party site called Rapidupload.com and I feel that it is a good time to post these links to share the magic that was....and maybe inspire another company to take a chance and take interactive radio to the next step!

I personally feel that the dialup timing was bad and coupled with a lack of marketing, these networks just never found the audience and never fulfilled the potential that is still there!

I hope you enjoy the shows, some of the files are large, around 300 megs but they are worth it!

D&S1
D&S2
D&S3
D&S4
D&S 5
D&S 6
D&S 7
D&S 8
D&S Final

Wow....I'm Tired!

Today started off like any other normal day around my shop. Well everything except one bizarre thing that has been happening lately....my supervisor who I've written about before has turned over a Dr. Jeckyll leaf lately.

He has gone out of his way to be nice to everyone. Don't know what is up but the last time he was this way he was in the middle of a divorce. Don't know what is up this time but we'll see. He is still as hyper as ever and really has problems keeping a train of thought longer than three seconds.

Anyway, there I am at work. I brought my PSP and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 game to work because I knew it was going to be slow.

Well it seemed like it until I got home and it hit me.

I had done a ton of shop work and did some outside work. I did all of that and played multiple games of Star Wars and really got the hang of it after getting it only yesterday:)

I'm tired! I was in a good mood all day long and the day went quickly:)

Then the power went out! Yeppers my friends, the power went out at work! Which gave me about another half hour of on the clock PSP time!

Not a bad day at all!

Well I Won!!!!

Yes the Predators came through last night!

I won my heads up match 52-51 and took third place this week in the league! That means I won my weekly fee back!

This moves me to .500 this season and moving up the ranks.

Locker news? Yeah a little bit!

I have contacted some distribution companies and have heard back from a few of them requesting screeners!

I am feverishly working to get a screener ready to start sending!