Hostel: Torture Porn

I decided to watch Hostel today. I have heard a lot about it but from the get go I had a strong hunch it wasn't a scary movie.

Hostel is a feeble attempt to substitute gore for tension. A common trend for today's indie horror filmmakers. There is no substitute for genuine tension filled horror.

Sadly it just doesn't exist anymore. This is an era of shoddy remakes and half baked ideas and it is a waste of film.

Hostel is a sad fantasy about what it would be like to torture a person to death. I admit that the premise is indeed tension packed if you were the victim however this just didn't hit the mark for me. It just turned into essentially a torture porn movie.

I know that Eli Roth can probably do better. With his talent and resources I just feel that it wouldn't be hard to write a little bit of tension into his scripts. I don't see any reason why Roth couldn't direct the next Psycho. No not ANOTHER remake, another movie that has the tension and long lasting value of Hitchcock's original.

Well unless Mr. Roth would like to step aside and let me do it....

A Perfect Show

Lately I have been watching The Bob Newhart Show on DVD. I have seen this show when I was a kid as well as many others such as Gilligan's Island, Leave it to Beaver, Dick Van Dyke, of course Andy Griffith, Mary Tyler Moore, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Ozzie and Harriet, well you get the idea.

It really strikes me that these shows could probably run today and be a moderate success. In the age where insults trump jokes on TV or harsh language is found to be funny to a point, these shows are a testament to good writing and acting.

They are frequently criticised for being to unrealistic now. Never dealing with actual problems such as "Ward, Beaver blew up the Dairy Queen again!", "I'll have a talk with him Honey."

Those are really unfair criticisms since they forget that these shows are NOT REAL LIFE. They are TV and while at one time they may have reflected some people's lives, any maybe still do to a small degree, they are fantasy. They are very enjoyable though and to me show a life I think most people would like to live.

I'm having twenty more copies of Locker made right now to send to distributors and friends.

I know that it has a lot of problems but that if they are interested in it then they can buy the rights and remake it if they wish.

It was written to be made quickly and cheaply and in my very humble and worthless opinion is a better movie than Open Water. With a better writer to add about twenty pages to it it could have potential to be a nice small indie film people would want to see.

Now keep in mind this is coming from the person who has seen this movie and all of its clips about a thousand times and knows every technical problem it has.

Fault me all you wish but please don't fault my actors. They had a very difficult time dealing with the cold while delivering their lines.

So NoTORIous So Funny!!!!

I confess to have never seen 90210 so I honestly had no idea who Tori Spelling was other than being the daughter of Aaron Spelling who got her the job on 90210.

So there I am watching VH1 after the Sopranos was over since there was little else on and I was trying to put off my writing responsibility.

This show is a brilliant, witty self parody. It is simply amazing in its brand of comedy.

I understand that my brand of comedy isn't usually what everyone enjoys so this show may not be for everyone. It isn't exactly slapstick but it isn't high brow uber comedy either. Comedy is pretty tough to write and rquires a outstanding sense of timing. I can honestly say that editors would probably make the best comedians....or at least make a unfunny comedian funny through the magic of film.

It is smart, self depreciating, and really skewers her presumed lifestyle.

Not only that but she looks kind of hot after all of the work.

NoTORIous fits right in with the celeb-reality block on VH1 since my fascination with has been celebs shows no signs of ebbing and the new season of The Surreal Life is humming right along with its dip into the has been pool.


What can you say about The Surreal Life? Wow, who is the sane one here? I'd probably have to go with Sherman Hemsley or Steve Harwell who was....is....the lead singer for Smashmouth. Remember them? Yeah me neither.

Woke Up This Morning And Got Shocked!!!!

Now anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy Coast to Coast AM.

The late night conspiracy radio show that Art Bell used to host and now only does so on the weekends after a series of retirements from radio.

I have gigs of shows in the archive and have been a fan of Art since the Hale-Bopp days, that was years ago my friends.

So recently Ramona Bell, Art's wife of about fifteen years died recently from a asthma attack while they were vacationing about four months ago I believe.

The past few weeks Art has been off the air on the weekends and last night he explained why. He married a 24 year old girl from the Philippines and is now moving there. Well for at least a year he says. He plans on doing his show from Manilla now on the weekends and is selling his house if the right offer comes his way.

Now you might have a knee jerk reaction of a 60 year old man hooks up with a 24 year old girl after the very recent death of his wife is just creepy.

Upon further review I would say "Good for you Art!" I read one time that when a great marriage is broken by death it is not uncommon for the surviving partner to remarry quickly. That partner has come to depend on the good feelings that they are now missing and had for so long.

I can understand how overwhelming lonliness can drive a person to rash decisions and this might be exactly what has happened but it might not be that at all. He might be genuinely happy now with his new wife.

I hope he is.

A Rough Week

Yes my friends I am beat.

Things started to go bad when we got the new flagship in the paint hanger to topcoat. Which means to put a brand new paint job on it to make it look all nice and shiny.

After management decided it was in a huge rush....YESTERDAY things started to go wrong of course.

Everything was going smoothly until that point, everything was on schedule and running fine but NO, we can't have that.

We have to have Mr. Hyde running things and micro managing everything so it goes right, since we don't know how to do anything unless he tells us what to do.

Amazing how we go though all these years without him.

So what happens?

Mr. Hyde runs this flagship topcoat, very hands on, and the controls don't balance which means they are too heavy to work on the aircraft. Well DUH!!!! When we don't have the proper amount of time to sand all of the old paint off that is what happens!!!!

Imagine that!!!!

That is just one of the few things that has gone wrong with this job.

So yes, there I am with all of the monkeys with their laser pointers aimed at me while I am trying to be serious.

So this evening at 3:45 I am informed that this control that will not work no matter what has to be repainted!!!! I clock out at 4:15.

I am very upset since I had plans to have a drink with a couple of people after work and now I am going to be working instead of drinking.

What is a guy to do? Well I bite the bullet and do what needs to be done as efficiently as I can since I have to get a certain amount done before leaving. I manage to do a four hour job in just over a hour and a half because I am the best aircraft painter in the world.

So I finish up and clock out. Head to the local watering hole and find that my friends are there waiting on me!!!!

It is nice to have friends after a rough week:)

If Cats Could Drool

My cat would have been. I took her to the vet yesterday because she was having a flare up of a bladder inflamation.

The vet gave me two weeks worth of pills to give her but he said for the first couple of days she would be drowsy after each pill.

He wasn't kidding! She looked like a stoner. She wasn't asleep but her eyes were half open as she was sprawled out on the back of the couch. She would look at things around her and stare. I had to check her breathing a couple of times and then she would just kind of look at me....and stare. Her eyes never really changed, it was really funny.

I kept anticipating having to take a napkin to her mouth to take care of the drool.

This morning she is herself again but tonight she is going on another drug induced trip.

Oh yeah, Mr. Hyde is worse than ever....still! We have heard from his former immediate supervisor that he believes his actions will get him a faster promotion, we believe his actions will get him unemployed:)

Soprano's: Getting Better

Yes it is another Soprano's post so I know some of you will tune out until you are able to see the show. Catch you all next post:)

The gay mobster....hum....well....I don't know exactly how to post about something so silly. The show is getting much better. You could tell that they had a Godfather theme going on this past episode with the huge wedding used as the stage for all of the background plotlines.

We knew that the guy liked guys but seeing Vito all dressed up and in a hardcore gay biker's bar was just hilarious and really took me out of the storyline. By the season's end he will probably be no more. My prediction is that Chris will probably be gone too. He seems to have a knack for pushing T's buttons a bit too much because of his relation to Carm. Paulie is just flat out crazy now while Sil seems to be taking a backseat to T's return to the big seat. It doesn't seem to bother him too much but he was enjoying his brief taste of power quite a bit. I'm sure he will soon be missing it.

Med is still a hottie.

Chris and I are supposed to meet tonight to kick around his script a bit and talk things over and start the planning stages.

Work was work....I just have to keep telling myself, "36 more years to retirement!"

Yeah, 36 more years......sigh......

Some Writing Accomplished!

However the story just doesn't have a direction yet.

Well it has a direction but not one I really like.

I am writing and writing and writing so hopefully something will break lose creatively and then it will become clear to me. But until then I am going to keep muddling through and something is bound to happen.

It isn't like I'm not trying afterall. I am reading a ton of books which really helps if you want to write. Well it helps me anyway.

I do feel that I have to write around my filmmaking limitations though. If it is a huge special effect I have to write around it. If it has a massive cast, well I have to whittle it down to a size that I feel that can be realistically cast.

If I were in an area of the country where the actors were as plentiful as telemarketers then it wouldn't be a problem. I feel that I might be focusing on my limitations too much though. I know I can shoot green screen and have seen some amazing things done with no money and just hard work. My stories just aren't that spectacular right now though.

I feel I could do something as complex as Primer with a quarter of the budget they had. I just don't have the words in me right now to do something I feel would be good enough to shoot.

Does that make sense?

I am too hard on myself when I write and criticize my writing so much it barely gets written.

But I'm trying to get my horrible writing to the world! I'm trying real hard!

Requiem For A Synchronicity!

I had recently mentioned Requiem for a Dream in a post a few days ago as being the most brutal movie I have ever seen.

Well it so happens that tonight on IFC.

After being asked via email a couple of times why this movie is the most brutal I have ever seen I thought I would explain it.

Requiem for a Dream is a movie about broken dreams set in a very stark Coney Island. It details how addictions come to rule your life and ultimately destroy you. Not just physically but mentally and emotionally as happens to every character in this film. The haunting soundtrack sets the mood and is perfect for how they keep expecting things to turn around at any time while going deeper and deeper into despair and wreckage.

This is an amazing movie but you have to be prepared to watch it. You will feel sick by the time it is over. The acting is incredible and you will feel for the characters. You want to help them. You want to take Marion and hold her and tell her it is going to be alright and you feel powerless as she descends into her final destination as an emotional derelict.

You want to take Tyrone and Harry and tell them that the future is going to be fine and feel hurt as they continue to abuse themselves and spin out of control.

You feel for Sara as she starts by wanting to lose a few pounds to be a guest on her favorite TV show and drifts from sanity.

Be careful if you watch Requiem for a Dream, it will shatter you.

Twist To My Robbery!

You all know about how the robber broke out my sliding glass door and how I had to replace it right?

Well it cost $171.00 total, installed. Below my $250.00 deductable so it was out of my pocket. Well here is what has happened the past week. As I wrote in a earlier post I took second place in the March Madness bracket at work which paid me $85.00.

Now a friend at work comes up to me with a printed piece of paper that had my name on it for a unclaimed property refund. The paper only has less than $100.00 or more than $100.00 on it and does not give exact amounts.

Mine was in excess of $100.00! So I contacted the state office and they sent me the form to fill out and send back to claim my unclaimed property refund!

Between the two my door should be paid for! What a great little twist to this story!

Slade And Filmmaking

One of my favorite authors is Michael Slade. Slade is the pen name for what used to be several writers and now is Jay and Rebecca Clarke.

They write horror police procedurals with a twist. Their main characters are the RCMP. Yeppers!

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Slade's books are packed with history and information that offer the backstory for the modern crime. They have a very horror style about them as they deal with serial killers and a branch of the RCMP called Special X. When there is a strange killing Special X are called in to hunt them down.

What is very cool about Slade is his site which has a message board where you can post and where Slade himself and herself (Pink Slade) are very active and engaging or often driving the conversations.

There should be more interactivity like this between the people and those who drive the medium. Kevin Smith is active on his board and site for example.

What you will probably never see is Tom Cruise for example doing this. Why? Other than he has gone all psychotic lately, he realistically probably just doesn't care to be engaged with his fans.

I mention Tom Cruise but you could replace his name with practically anyone else at this point. There just isn't many people out there who want to stay interactive with their fans.

I don't understand why though. Someone has to buy whatever product you are selling so it really should not be a big deal to keep in touch with their fans through such an incredible technology.

Someday if I ever am fortunate enough to have a fan or two believe me that I will be grateful for them and would do my best to keep in touch with them on something simple like a message board.

Friday Night After A Difficult Week

Well not difficult just frustrating.

What do you do after you have visited the police station three times and given them everything they need to pick up the guy who has robbed you and the guy is still down the street from you?

Well if you are me you want to take the law into your own hands. But I haven't.

I'm really surprised that I haven't. Maybe it is a sign of growing up or maturation?

I don't know. I know I'm still as mad as I was then but so far it hasn't served me in a helpful manner.

When I was younger and more confrontational there is little doubt where I would have been that evening that I found out who it was.

What I do know is that I have my equipment back and am in the middle of reading Chris's script and getting a feel for how he wants it shot. It will be the longest film yet and easily the most challenging.

I have sent out most of the copies of Locker and still have a few reserved for other friends.

At work Mr. Hyde is back and as insane as ever. Mr. Hyde is my nickname for my supervisor. He is the subject of several posts and a few months ago he seemed to have been less hyper, listened more, and tried to let people who have done the exact same boring, life grinding jobs for more years than they care to remember do their jobs.

Keep in mind we are union and don't really do much more than we have to. Over the years we have figured out the easiest and fastest way to do our jobs to maximize the amount of free time while on the clock.

It is safe to say we know how to do what we have done for years. Mr. Hyde believes he can improve upon what has been time tested and deemed a classic way of "working". He does this by irritating everyone around him and by micromanaging and then threatening disciplinary action when other things aren't finished, the very tasks that were originally being worked upon and he pulled said workers off of those tasks to do some task of less importance.

Well for a while Dr. Jeckyll was at work. He seemed to be fairly easy going and trusting that whatever needed to get done was done in a efficient amount of time.

Then Mr. Hyde decided to come back and has wrought havoc this past week. A full blown yelling and insane Mr. Hyde at that! Captain Insaneo has nothing on Mr. Hyde when it comes to being a nut.

Mr. Hyde has been divorced three times and seems to be working on his fourth ex wife already. Keep in mind he is barely thirty if not maybe a year over.

How long he plans on staying Mr. Hyde is anyone's guess but he better get out of Dodge or he will probably be looking for a new job if he continues to rub everyone the wrong way.

One Of Those Days

I have been kicking around an idea for my next script.

I was in a very weird mood this morning, like nothing was right. I really felt like nothing was right. It was bad. I did, I felt really bad.

So what do you do when you feel bad and you are kicking around ideas and you feel like I felt?

You try to incorporate it into your ideas. You write it down, especially when your direction seems to have stopped.

I have a hero but he just doesn't have a destination yet. Been working on giving him one.

Saw a movie called Mysterious Skin tonight. A very hard movie to watch. Not as hard to watch as Requiem For A Dream but hard. This movie deals with a very tough subject and how two kids dealt with what happened to them at a young age.

One chose to embrace it and let it define him.
The other one chose to repress it and create an elaborate UFO abduction scenario.

The acting was great. The emotional effect was devastating.

Second Place!!!!

Yes you read correctly!

I took second place in the overall points earning me eighty five dollars!!!!

After Florida won second and third place came down to a tie breaker which was the total amount of points scored in the championship game. I was the closest!

I thought I was out of the money for sure and probably finished fourth at best.

What a great surprise that was!
In other news I went back to the police station and reported the return of my camera as well as the description of my neighbor (who amazingly hasn't been home for a few days) that the junk shop had given me.

They said they are going to follow up.
I hope they do.

Opening Day And UCLA Loses But I Don't Care!

Florida won the national championship last night which pretty much means I won't win any money but I don't care!

I have my camera back and have a meeting with the police tonight after work to tell them what has happened! Baseball is back but eh, who cares?

Balco Barry got booed. Good for the fans! I hope no one shows up in San Francisco anymore to see a game while Balco Barry still dons his spikes. I hope the fans demand that his name be stricken from the record books as well as Mark McGuire's. Everyone who has been found guilty of juicing should be banned from baseball....retroactively. Want to know why I'm not much of a baseball fan anymore, there ya go.

The thing is though that there will be no deep investigation. It would appear that this steroid investigation is nothing but window dressing. The fact is that steroids were good for the game and the owners and commissioner turned a blind eye to the homerun chase of Sosa and McGuire. They knew why all of a sudden there were a ton of homeruns being hit but fans were showing up again after the strike year.

I hope that when this report is finished and keep in mind nothing will be resovled here, that the fans won't take it anymore and revolt. The fans will strike and stop showing up to the games. The fans who have been taken for granted in baseball for as long as it became a huge industry will finally let their voices be known and tell MLB once and for all that they want real reforms in the game. They want Bonds out of the record book and keep Hank Arron's record safe.

Safe from a cheater like Bonds.

Probably Out Of The Money

With LSU losing I am now sure that I probably won't win anything as there were at least two other people who had a championship team playing.

My neighbor has not been home all weekend. I did see his car briefly but he was in and out of his house very quickly.

We shall see what happens tomorrow after the shop owner makes his statement to the police.
Hopefully he will be arrested quickly after the warrant is issued for him.

Safe And Sound

My neighbor remains unharmed by me and I remain untainted by the stench of violence in this regard.
Monday there will be a statement made to the police. Upon the identification of the suspect a warrant will be issued for his arrest.

Instead of imposing a beat down of epic size upon my intruder I busied myself with Chris, my partner in filmmaking. We decided to go to a movie, eat, and get some coffee.

We saw Stay Alive.

Don't see it, you'll save yourself a headache.

The alcohol before the movie did indeed help with the consumption of that "movie".

How did the filmmakers get this garbage greenlighted and why did I let Chris talk me into seeing it?

Anyway I shall be rooting for LSU and George Mason tonight and hoping that George Mason wins the championship Monday evening.
I had some interesting news Friday at work, other than the recovery of my camera that is.

I am the overall leader in the office pool. If LSU wins I win outright UNLESS Florida wins the championship in which case I tie for second place. This is what the pool official could remember off of the top of his head. There is a possibility of three people in a tie where the championship game points will determine the tiebreaker.

Go LSU!

Camera Recovered!!!!

It is a great day at my house my friends!!!!

Now anyone who knows me knows I'm a pretty emotional guy and right now it is taking a large amount of restraint on my part to keep from walking one block North and kicking in someone's door like what was done to me.

Here is the story.
I have a friend who is also a ISP owner and part time bounty hunter. He also happens to be my Co-Producer for Locker. His office is also where the office scenes for Locker were shot.

He knows all of the owners of the pawn and junk shops in town and did some leg work for me and put out the description of my camera to them. Well it turns out that the son of one of the junk shops had purchased my camera two days ago for one hundred dollars!!!!

My friend recovered the camera and I went by the shop and reimbursed them for their loss plus an extra twenty five dollars for the recovery of my camera!!!!

They can identify the guy and his car.

Now the smart thing to do is to wait until Monday when the owner's son can go to the police station and make a statement in which case they will be able to go through the mug shots and be able to identify the guy by that and his address.

Now the stupid thing to do is what I want to do right now and that is to walk one block, I kid you not, it is exactly one block to his front door and make my prescence known in his world.

How do I know it is this guy?

He has been borrowing my phone. He tried to sell me groceries a few weeks ago, I had some extra cash so I gave that to him and told him to keep his groceries to eat. He tried to sell me a digital cable box a week before I was robbed the first time of the DVDs.

He described this guy to me in person. It is him.

I want to hurt him.

I haven't been this mad in over a decade my friends and honestly it feels horrible. If this person happens to come to my house tonight, I would not be able to restrain myself and would wind up in some big trouble.

I was 99% sure it was him after his girlfriend drove them by my house last week. I looked at him in the passenger seat and he never once glanced at me. I was getting groceries out of my Suburban and was standing right by the side of the road. That kicked on the alarm in my head and in poker terms would be a "tell". I knew he knew something.

Now I know 100% for sure it was him.

I want him in jail but I want to spend a few minutes with him first.

Not Covered!

That is right my friends. My insurance company adjuster has decided to NOT cover the loss of my camera.

I now have to call the adjuster to try and appeal to them and hopefully that will work. If not I will have to go to the supervisor and appeal to them. Hopefully that will work.

If not then maybe it will be lawyer'n time, I hope it doesn't come to that.

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach by Ali, Holyfield, and Tyson.

COVERED!!!!

My insurance company called me today and they are going to cover my loss!!!!

They couldn't figure out what had gone wrong but they allowed me to renew my insurance adding personal property to it now and covering my loss!!!!

What a GREAT DAY!!!!

My door is going to be fixed this afternoon and my agent is calling the adjuster to tell her about covering my Canon XL1s!!!!

I'm so relieved now!!!!

Sopranos!!!!

This is a Sopranos post so for at least one of my friends you'll have to tune into the next post.

Yes! I was so hoping for a show like last night! That was a great show! They were going all mob and it was a good thing! There was a ton of tension along with Tony waking up finally after the stupid dream/coma storyline.

There was a lot going on and they might be on the leading edge of fulfilling that potential I wrote about in one of my earlier posts.

I can see Sil being on the way to fighting with Paulie which would rock!
Chris is still as hairbrained as ever.
Janice is still the most easy to despise character. Everytime I see her I just want to slap her!
Carm really is starting to confront her life and how she justifies being a part of Tony's life of crime.
AJ is still a waste of space.
Med is still a hottie!

All is well in Sopranoland!

Busted Bracket!

Yes my friends, 'Nova fell to Florida. As I type this Florida is up 74-62 with 28 seconds left in the second half.

No number 1 seeds have made it to the Final Four which looks like this:
LSU
vs.
UCLA
and
George Mason
vs.
Florida

For me it is over with. The most I can make is 71 points now which won't be enough I'm sure to win the top spot. To do that I need LSU to beat UCLA which is very possible. LSU has more than enough team to do that but my points end there and surely someone has picked the champ out of the 58 people who entered the office pool.

So Cinderella still has the glass slipper in George Mason who I will be rooting for against Florida.

Cinderella Lives One More Round!

My problem is that I didn't pick George Mason into the Final Four.

I had UConn, Villanova, Memphis, and LSU!

Yes my friends I did pick LSU into the Final Four! I need Villanova to beat Florida now and I'll have two out of four.

The good thing is that I bet no one else had LSU in the pool. The bad thing is that some people probably had UCLA. Now if LSU beats UCLA and Villanova beats Florida AND George Mason I'm probably golden especially if 'Nova beats LSU for the Championship!

Wow, who would have thought George Mason would go from an 11 seed and make the Final Four!?!?

What a great accomplishment! I'll be rooting for them IF 'Nova looses today against Florida, my bracket would be blown at that point.

In other news my Photographer friend called me today to cheer me up. She is taking the loss of my camera as hard as I am.

My insurance agent is supposed to call me tomorrow about resolving the coverage problem. If it isn't resolved well then it's lawyer'n time my friends. I hate to go that route but I feel it is necessary if it isn't fixed.

You Would Think

That after losing your camera from a break in that it probably couldn't get worse, you'd be wrong.

Yesterday after talking to my insurance adjuster I was informed I had no personal property insurance.

I lost my calm and cool composure that I had been maintaining thus far.
I drove to my insurance agent and declared I was pretty upset because I was sure I had personal property insurance. She went to my file and found my original policy. It states I had personal property insurance. Not much but enough to cover the loss of my camera anyway.

Every renewal after the original policy did not have personal property insurance. There was nothing in my file that instructed the company to cancel the personal property part and I never canceled it. So therefore it has to be an error on their part and as far as I'm concerned they owe me.

My agent was very nice and happy to help. She said that it looks like I should have it but has to call the home office to straighten it out.

Talk about a punch in the stomach.

I also instructed my agent that once this is resolved I am going to MAKE SURE that I have more than enough coverage.

It won't happen again.

Now for some good news!

I have been dreaming of finally being able to get the copies of Locker to the people who helped me! Yesterday morning while browsing the pawn shops and getting an oil change I was able to give Big Country Meat Market their copies! It made them very happy and made me very happy in a bad time!

I was smiling all day long....well until I found out about the insurance thing.

Did I Ever Tell You....

That I had a camera once?
It was a beautiful camera that represented a new future for me. It was all shiny and smelled good too!

It had been used for two features and a couple of shorts.

It was glorious and worked very well and made me feel good.

Now my camera isn't mine anymore. I am sure that one way or another my former camera will be replaced. I have money in savings for the second camera I was going to purchase and between that and the eventual insurance money for the camera will help.

I also went to a couple of pawn shops this morning and did find my former DVDs that were taken last time I was robbed. How do I know they were mine? No one else in this town would have Hitchcock's Lifeboat let alone would you be able to find it in a pawn shop.

So now I am waiting for the police officer handling my case to call me so that I can tell him where my former DVDs now reside.

Remember that one time when I had a camera? Seems like yesterday!

My Camera Was Stolen Today And Good News!!!!

That is right my friends. My Canon XL1s was taken and my back sliding glass door was busted to a billion pieces.

I called the police and my insurance company to file a claim. I plan on going to the pawn shops in the morning to describe it to them in case someone tries to pawn it.

I was upset about it for about a half hour but I'm pretty much over it now. I mean my cats or dog weren't hurt or missing. I have a lot of glass to clean up but thankfully I have a shop vac for that.

Hopefully I'll recover the camera at one of the pawn shops or if someone tries to pawn it they will have a description of it. I still have the lens cap and the microphone for it. They don't have the batteries so it won't be much help to them if they actually tried to use it.

Now GOOD NEWS!

Locker is ready to send out!!!!
That is right my friends!!!! I have the newly made DVDs and printed cases and have given three away to my actors so far!!!!

I have twenty seven copies left that I have to give out to three other actors and the fine people at Big Country Meat Market and then some that I have to give to family and friends.

I am going to send what remains to distribution companies which should be about ten!

Entertain Me Now!

I have had a sudden moment of clarity.

It came while watching a mobile phone commercial. Mobile phones are now allowing you to see exclusive entertainment content. So you can now be entertained anywhere and at anytime.

So why do you feel the need to have to be entertained all the time?

I am really at a loss to explain this. When boredom starts in under a minute in this society and kids are constantly jumping from activity to activity without any kind of retention and quickly becoming bored with the given activity....how is this trend going to continue?

How can it continue to feed itself? How long will it be before you can be entertained while sleeping? More importantly how long will it be before people demand to be entertained while sleeping?

That is more of the crux of this issue. Is there something wrong with feeling the need to be entertained every second of every day? While you are at work, on your way to work, at lunch, on your way home from work, at home.

Is there something that has to capture your attention every second of every day?

What if there isn't?

What if all of a sudden you find that you have been entertained by every resource possible and there is nothing left to entertain you anymore???? You are no long amused.

You can't turn on your TV, turn on your PC, can't read a book, or look at a piece of fine artwork without experiencing the dread of boredom. Is that worse than death itself?

I'm sorry my friends that this isn't a more reader friendly and upbeat post but when I have a moment of clarity I'd like to share it with you.

When you have an Ipod that you can download your favorite music, TV shows, and music videos how long will it be before you are sick of that and ready for more? Have we created a endless furnace that offers up bite sized portions of entertainment that are quickly digested and produce a need that craves more?

Is that why Hollywood has been investing so much in remakes? No one will notice the difference and buy tickets anyway to fulfill their longing to be entertained no matter how poor the product is?

There used to be and still are geniune artists who have a genuine gift for creation. This is fulfilling to them and if someone sees their work and is also fulfilled then it can't help but effect the artist. Does that add or take away the value of the work?

If the artist if fulfilled by the mere creation and no one ever sees it is the artist less fulfilled? I'd say no. If I created something and put it in a closet and no one ever reads, sees, or is effected by my creation I am no less fulfilled.

Now this is a odd position to take since I am a filmmaker and want my work to be seen. I want my stories to have an audience. I want people to actually enjoy my creations.

I guess this is because a long time ago I have felt less and less entertained and just recently realized it in my moment of clarity.

Soprano Rant

Yes there will be spoilers in this post so if you are reading this and hate spoilers, and I know of one of you who should stop reading this now. So see ya next post buddy!

Now onto the Sopranos.

What has happened to this show? It has turned into a disjointed mess. What happened to all of the mob stuff? So far the first two episodes suck. Tony is in a coma, this is probably going to go on for several episodes instead of all of the interesting stuff that used to happen in this show!

All of a sudden The Sopranos has turned into ER. There is no "family business" going on right now and it has made this show hard to watch, in fact with Tony in a coma they are setting the stage for him to develop a conscious about his life's choices. Now this would be a great way to turn the story IF they follow through. I could see the whole family turning on him since he just went soft in their eyes and making his life hell.

There will be some predictable power struggle stuff soon so that will help pick things up.
There also looks like there will be a terrorism storyline shortly but I am not getting my hopes up. Potentially great storylines have been started and dropped before without even a second thought.

I'm not saying that this show won't be good again but after the first two episodes, I'm not holding my breath. There is potential but since this is the last season of the show, where are all of the fireworks?

The show is starting a nosedive and I hope it pulls up in a episode or two but maybe the ending will be well worth it.

Meadow is still hot though and that is good!

Bad Poker Night

I finished 9th out of 21 tonight. Out of the money by a long ways.

It was just a garage tournament where the blinds went up every 15 minutes. The problem was that we had a guy who liked to talk more than deal. It wouldn't have been much of a factor at all if the blinds were slower. But everyone played by the same rules so it was fair. Just not my game.

I need to play more aggressively during those fast blinds.

My crippling hand was when I missed my flush draw and couldn't put my opponent out of the hand with any raise.

That hurt me and I couldn't recover from his winning hand of one pair of 4's. That's poker!

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!!!!

The remake trend of old TV shows continues.

Welcome Back Kotter will now enjoy a second life as a feature movie. You can now measure TV shows by how many haven't been remade yet.

This is insane people. Where has all of the creativity gone to? Has it just vanished into thin air? Are there no more writers in Hollywood who have an original thought bouncing around anymore?

Want to know why theater receipts are down?

HERE IS THE REASON WHY!!!!

You can't expect to keep putting out junk and have people just blindly go to it week after week!!!!

First of all it is in a theater! Second you get bombarded by COMMERCIALS in the theater where you just rented a seat for two hours! You don't feel like seeing a commercial! You don't feel like dealing with the people around you that talk all through the movie! You have a better set up at home that you can pause, head to the bathroom, pop some popcorn for a fraction of the price, grab a Coke, and head back to your seat on a very comfortable couch before unpausing the movie!

Despite all of that I will still go to the theater and see a movie or two because I don't want to wait the six month DVD turn around time.

But I REFUSE to see a remake of a TV show!

First of all, I'VE PROBABLY SEEN IT ON TV FOR FREE!!!!

Second of all, it was ALREADY DONE ONCE AND FOR TV!!!!

Third it is a horrible trend that is encouraging absolute laziness and killing creativity!!!!

If it isn't a TV show being remade it is a classic movie! Where is it going to end? When theaters start closing because people won't go to them anymore?

Hollywood can be so clueless sometimes.

GO INDIE FILMMAKERS!!!!
GO DIRECT TO DVD MOVIES!!!!

Planet Of Ape Entertainment!!!!

Yes!
The ulitmate Planet of the Apes collection is coming out in a week I believe and it puts me into a dilemma.

This set contains every movie, every episode of the tv live action show as well as the animated series!

When I was a kid I had the Mego Planet of the Apes playset. I got it for Christmas when I was a very young kid. I was upset because my cousin received the Star Trek Mego set and I wanted that one! I watched the cartoon and I had the trading cards from the TV show. Planet of the Apes ruled!

However it has one drawback. Now anyone who knows me knows that I have no love for anything Tim Burton. I believe he is a hack who does weird for the sake of being weird. His movies are nothing more than flash with no substance and have little value to me and he ruined Batman!

Well this set also contains his horrible hack version of the original Planet of the Apes. He ruined a classic film. A film that not only was a definition of Scifi but a movie that stood out among movies! It practically introduced the twist ending to cinema with a outstanding script by the master writer, Rod Serling!

And then along came Tim Burton who was looking for a classic movie to ruin. That idiot found it and unfortunately convinced a studio it was a good idea to finance it.

You know the rest.

Well I am probably going to spend on this set because I do love the series. I own NO Tim Burton movies and I planned on NEVER owning any but now I might have to bite the bullet and purchase one....just because it is included in this incredible set.

I know I'll probably hate myself for putting one dime in Burton's pocket but maybe two dimes will go into Rod Serling's widow's pocket as well.

Now onto futher news, MARCH MADNESS STARTED TODAY!!!!

One of my favorite sporting events has tipped off and me with my two brackets so far am about 50/50 on my picks. Being able to listen to the games at work on Sirius is just incredible! Everyone has been coming by our shop to catch up on scores and listen to the play by play. No one has to take off to report scores from home this year!

This is a great time of year my friends!

More Software Coming!

Yes!

Now anyone who knows me knows I love new software!
I have purchased the latest in software to help me achieve the goals I have laid before me.

I have identified my weaknesses. I believe that my weakness is writing. So how do you improve that weakness?

Practice of course! Not only practice but advice from the pros. The people who could write a script before noon and make it in time for their three martini lunch before heading off to the power lunch scheduled with the hottest new starlett that wants to use your material as a vessel for her talents.

Yes I want THAT person to teach me how to write.

I feel that I have a good handle on the rest of indie filmmaking. I can frame a shot that Hitchcock would find little wrong with. I can light it and I can edit it. I know I need practice which I'm sure I'll get plenty of this Summer.

But that isn't the complete package that I'm happy with. I would be happier if I could write my own stuff and be confident about it. If I could write something and pour my soul into it and be proud to have someone read it instead of offering a script as a last resort because I can't improve it and want to get to the parts of the project I'm good at.

I have ordered a couple of seminars of screen writers. They are the pros who are brilliant teachers. They are technical writers and I could use some structure to my writing as you have probably noticed if you have read my Blog for this long!

A good filmmaker has to know that the script is where everything starts. A indie filmmaker a GREAT script is essential since there will be little else to attract someone to your project.

If you are Jerry Bruckheimer then you don't need a script. It isn't necessary since you will have a budget for effects that will wow the audience enough that they don't realize there is no story. It is misdirection in the tradition of Penn and Teller!

"What? You can't follow the story? Well here is an explosion to take your mind off of that!"

Fantasy Football Offseason

Yes my friends when you are a fantasy footballer there really isn't a off season anymore. If you want to be competitive you have to stay on top of free agents, the draft, and cuts....and now retirements.

My friends Edgerrin James has retired from the NFL. He will be the fastest player dropped from any keeper leagues. He will be one of the last RBs drafted in most fantasy drafts.

Edge has signed with Arizona. Where players go to quit the NFL.

He probably would have gotten a ring in Indy in a season or two but NO, he was tired of playing football. He took the money which was cleverly disguised as a pension package in a warm nay HOT climate instead of a Super Bowl ring. He decided that being a champ wasn't in his future.

Edge go talk to Dan Marino. He would probably give up every single record he owns to get one more chance to play for what you just sold.

John Elway would probably have told you what it means to think that you would never have the opportunity to win a championship after being soundly defeated in the big game. He would probably tell you Edge what a moron you are after leaving one of the best offenses in the NFL to go to a team that has no clue what a offense is. A team that defines ineptness. A team that had only one peer in the Bengals until they got their act together and became a contender.

Barry Sanders would have committed any crime he could have thought of to have played for the Indy O. Barry would have personally brought at least two rings to Indy if he had the same opportunity you just sold to Arizona Edge.

You might as well have just sold your soul since you exchanged a full bank account for a empty finger.

My New PC Is Running At 100% Now!

After a small bios flash of the motherboard so it would recognize all 4 gigs of RAM, a problem that Asus has had for a while, everything runs perfect!

I am now a editing, no problem having, DVD burning, green screen filming filmmaker!!!!

I have barely slept from my excitement the past few days and when I did sleep I had visions of video cards and sticks of RAM dancing in my head!!!!

As for the Sopranos debut last night, I will try to give my thoughts without any spoilers. I think that it was a decent debut episode for the final season. I think they probably played a storyline card too fast but I'm willing to see where it takes the story from here. It was kind of a catch up episode where they introduced the characters again after nearly two years. It seemed kind of rushed and some scenes just didn't advance any story at all....for now.

My personal notes, Sil put on a ton of weight, Paulie and Melfi barely had any screen time, Carm was too June Cleaver after the previous two seasons problems, Janice is still easily dislikeable, and Meadow is still hot.

In Locker news I will be learning my new Adobe DVD burning software this week!!!! I will finally be able to get my LONG over due copies out to the Actors, family, friends, and location where I shot Locker!!!!

I also received this from the Tribeca Film Festival:

Thanks for allowing us to consider your film for this year's Tribeca Film Festival. We were grateful to receive so many outstanding shorts and features this year, and enjoyed the chance to see your film.

We regret to inform you that we are unable to include Locker in this year's program. Due to many high quality works sent to us this year, we simply did not have room for everything.

Please continue to check our website, www.tribecafilmfestival.org, for news about this year's event as well as for new information relating to the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

Again, thank you for your interest. We wish you continued success with your film and in all your future endeavors.


Best wishes,

Tribeca Film Festival

The Return Of The Sopranos Tonight!!!!

I am a Sopranos fan. It has been almost what? Two years since the end of the last season? A year and a half? Something like that and now it returns.

Now here is the problem, with all of the legions of fans that watch this show with a massive amount of anticipation it can't live up to expectations. Even if they whack Paulie in the first episode people will be expecting more.

The last season with Steve Buschemi was probably one of the best! The two seasons before that, well lets just say they weren't that whippy. I can't tell you how frustrated I was with all of the forgotten storylines that would be built up one week only to be left alone later and lost forever.

Come on writers! There are only 13 episodes per season, there isn't that much continuity to keep in mind.

We will see how this final season goes, who lives, who dies, and how justice is meted out!

New Pc Is Here!!!!

I received it yesterday at about 3:30.

Set up took most of the evening as I have no experience with a Raid array or SLI. However my friends did and they basically took over the installation of Windows XP 64 and we had everything up and running fairly well in a few hours.

My first impressions are this system is blistering fast!!!! Being a dual core system I can play World of Warcraft and edit with Adobe at the same time with no problems, well that is if I could do that with only two hands!!!!

I have quite a bit of work of tweaking to do and getting my favorite programs set right but overall color me impressed!!!!

It's Friday!!!!

Yes my friends, it is Friday and I have just checked my UPS tracking numbers and the PC arrived in town at 1:37 AM this morning!!!!

It is a beautiful day in my world!

Twilight Zone is on Scifi right now. The eipsode called The Shelter. Where a man who has worked preparing a bomb shelter for the worst case while his neighbors who didn't prepare are left out in the impending cold war doom. It is a retelling of the Lazy Grasshopper tale with a TZ twist!

A great episode:)

Wednesday And The Longest Week Continues!!!!

Nothing bad happened at all today but, WOW, this has been one long week.

That happens when you are anticipating something. I don't know how I made it as a kid and I had to send away for something from a comic book.

My first Sea Monkey's....ah, memories!

I had a flash of brilliance last night. I set up my XL1s at the backdoor of my home. Since it is a sliding glass door the camera could see if anyone showed up to thieve more Duke DVDs.

Anyway I know that the XL1s has a interval setting that lets you do time lapse on tape, so in the middle of the night when I am getting over my violation feelings this idea comes into my violated mind.

With a burst of energy I get up and around and try to find my XL1s manual. I can't find it so I go online and get the .PDF and read it. I find the interval settings, get a tape, and set up the tripod with camera facing the back door!

My trap is set! All I have to do is turn it on in the morning before going to work!

So in the morning after a giddy night's sleep, I've been giddy a lot this week, I shower and rush to the camera to activate my trap. I turn it on, set it to 1.5 seconds of filming every 30 seconds and head to work!

So I work today and keep having these fantasies about someone cupping his eyes to peer into my back porch and seeing a camera staring back at him! Then it dawns on me that I should have left a sign, something for the perp (I learned that from TV I think) to read while the XL1s takes their picture! Something that makes him shake in righteous fear of me and my mighty Canon!!!!

So with regret I work the rest of the day that I didn't think of the sign in the throes of my brilliant epiphany. I clock out and head to Sonic to get some supper then rush home to see the startled face of my victim!!!!

I rush to the camera only to find it didn't work for some reason....sigh.

I am positive I had it set correctly but I will read the manual again to see what I overlooked. I am sure that today would have been the day of the return since they now know that my door is blocked and locked tight with no hope of entry.

Well perhaps they did show up and see my camera staring menacingly back at them and got the message and think that I have them on tape now. It is possible. I only have to replace my John Wayne movies now:)

Robbed And They Took My John Wayne DVDs?!?!?!

That is right my friends, I returned home this afternoon from work to find my cats outside, my back door open, and 7-8 DVDs missing!

Now get this, I had my Canon XL1s along with about 2,000 other DVDs right there. They took a few from a center stack on the floor....that were older movies! John Wayne movies to be exact!

Now don't get me wrong friends, John Wayne had some amazing movies but to either side or to the top of the stack were much more valuable DVDs. It would have been nothing to have gotten a trash bag and filled it up!

My new Adobe software was right beside my PC chair, my two monitors blazed brightly, my two tequila bottles and vase FULL of change were left untouched!

It made NO SENSE which leads me to believe it was someone who just didn't know their movies very well!!!!

I mean I have Citizen Kane close by, Captains Courageous was in the neighboring stack along with Crash. The stack was setting on my Adult Swim DVD collection that contains three volumes of Home Movies and Aqua Teen Hunger Force along with Star Trek: The Next Generation (the whole series!) while Twilight Zone (again the whole series) rested just above on a shelf!!!!

Among the titles taken: Island in the Sky, McClintok!, Donovan's Reef, Hondo, and In Harm's Way.

Honestly I don't get it but I'm happy that is all that was taken. In fact I'm overjoyed and blessed that just a handful of DVDs was all that is missing!!!!

My cats are safe but the dog is sleeping on the back porch for a while!!!!

So There I Was

When all of a sudden a email popped up that had tracking numbers for my PC!!!!

It has been shipped!!!!

I'm so excited about this that I know I'll be sleep deprived the next few days until arrival!!!!

There are so many things that this high end PC will allow me to do with the right software, which I have already purchased and have sitting right next to my chair, just begging to be installed on a system worthy of such amazing software!

My new liquid cooled, AMD dual core 4800 running two video cards in SLI mode with 4 gigs of RAM and half a terrabyte of storage will be here this week!!!!

Now in other related news I have been invited to an Oscar party tonight. I wasn't really planning on watching the Oscars and honestly I rarely do watch any award show except for the Indie Spirit Awards that is. But I'm going tonight because it seems like it will be a fun time!

Speaking of fun times, I've had a blast the past few days watching all of the small conference tournaments! They are always fun to watch. You get to see teams that you just don't see all that often and you get to see them playing for a guaranteed seed in the Big Dance, so you see them playing their hearts out!

If you like basketball you have got to feel that you are on the top of the world right now!

Don't Forget The Guys Or Why I Love Movies

When I was a kid I lived a few blocks, walking distance, from a theater. I used to take whatever money I had and walk there and get a ticket to whatever was playing that week.

There was usually a release schedule sheet that they had that told what was going to be playing there for weeks at a time which was nice. I saw probably three 007 movies there, Star Wars, Going in Style, The Devil and Max Devlin, and countless other movies there at the Esquire....And many others at the Lucky Seven drive in when we went there for a drive in movie. There I saw such classics as Battle Beyond The Stars, Stir Crazy, and Airport 77.

Well, so there I was at a local grocery store today when I saw Guy's Original Tasty Mix!!!!

What is Guy's Original Tasty Mix? Well think Chex Mix but a little bit better and more....um, Indie.

Guy's is a brand of potato chips but much much smaller than Lay's or Ruffle's. When you are walking down the chip aisle you can sometimes find Guy's there. In a world where Doritos has so much shelf space that they practically OWN the chip aisle along with Cheetos, Guy's would be usually at the end by the generic brands or maybe a local brand that is just getting its start and personally requested some shelf space from the store manager who used to coach their kids in little league.

They usually have the usual flavors there like Original or BBQ and maybe some cheeseys but rarely and I mean RARELY you will find Guy's Original Snack Mix in a store. Guy's Original Snack Mix has a unique flavor that is addictive and tasty. Everytime I am in the snack aisle I look to see if there is a bag there on the shelf....and sometimes there is one:)

Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to try and support the smaller things in life. The smaller brands, the Indie films, the people who are hungry and struggling and creative. The people who had their own unique vision and are trying to fulfill it. I like the Independent Spirit Awards over the Oscars. They are just fun and mean more!

To me Guy's is that.

Sometimes I get the Michael Bay or Steven Spielberg brand of chips like Lay's and Cheetos but I try to watch the Jim Jarmusch or Richard Linklater brands like Guy's, Andy Capp's, or Cape Cod chips. MMMmmmm, Andy Capp's Hot Fries!!!! Talk about a Lance Henrickson kind of movie and you have Hot Fries right there!

Well in the theater where I used to go to when I was a kid and developed my real love for movies there was a clock over the exit. It was a clock that had a intentionly dim blue neon look to it, well since it was in the theater and all it had to be pretty dim but it was bright enough that it could be read. The clock was a Guy's clock and it said, "Don't Forget The Guy's".

Software And Second Monitor Arrives!!!!

I'm practically giddy. The past few days I have been living with the anticipation of setting up my new second monitor. Now I just have to await my new PC to install the new software that also arrived!!!!

This presents another anticipation problem....er opportunity for me that is. I am awaiting the arrival actually the shipment of my new PC that is being assembled as I type this.

I was off four hours yesterday afternoon to be here for the monitor that I missed the day before. Fedex decided against leaving it on my porch, which was a good thing as it was a bit rainy out. It arrived and it took a couple of hours of tweaking to get them to match. Now I believe that this is because I have to use a digital output for one monitor and a analog output for the other monitor.

However the new PC will have two digital outputs per card and there are two cards so I could actually have quad monitors!!!!

But I won't....not yet anyway.

Why do I require two monitors?

Well the thing is that the new Adobe package has resizeable windows inside the software that you can break away and resize to what you wish. Simply put I have double the workspace now and for detailed work this will be extremely helpful!!!!

Oh, and I'm off today as well. At work there are days called "Goal Days" in which nothing much is going on and you are encouraged to take off:)

March Madness!!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE March Madness!!!!
A pure tournament with the best teams in the country going head to head like it should be ( take a hint BCS) to determine the best team in the country!

Here we are on the leading edge of Championship Week where every conference has their conference tournaments to determine the champion and a automatic bid into the Big Dance. Cinderellas are made here and then they get a chance to try on the slipper to see if it truly fits!

A good Big Dance showing has lead to a powerhouse team called Gonzaga, this showing was a few tournaments ago but the slipper did fit. They have been able to build a contender year after year because of the consistently good showing year after year....in the Dance.

With the addition of Sirius in our shop we will be able to listen to every game during the tournament. Usually we had to rely on someone staying at home and calling in scores since we could get maybe one game at a time and that was rare since the reception was so bad.

So we are all set my friends and I hope you will do yourselves a favor and watch March Madness this year. You will see basketball at its best and hopefully you will see a team that no one will give a second glance open up a few eyes and advance further than day one!

Computer Is Delayed And More Remake Blues

Yes my friends my super duper high end pc has been delayed at least two weeks due to a malfunctioning power supply.

The good news is that they are going to upgrade the motherboard to the upgraded version of the one that I originally purchased....on their dime! How can you say no to that?

However my second monitor and software will arrive on Friday!!!!

So I'm going to have to wait for at least two more weeks to play with my new and shiny toy.

It is going to be a LONG two weeks!!!!

Now I have to bring out my torch and wave it in the direction of Hollywood. I have read where the rights to Friday The 13th have been bought in order to be REMADE!!!! WHY!?!?!?!

Now I have to rant some. I was a fan of the film series. It was groundbreaking and in its day defined a generation of films and film fans. Friday The 13th has been so parodied and has forever linked the hockey mask with psychotic killer with a machete in the realms of pop culture.

Yes Halloween was good but for my money Friday defined horror for me as a kid. Nightmare on Elm Street was too campy and I really didn't like the one liners with any death scene. I mean come on, Arnold did that in every movie why does a real supernatural killer have to do that? The killer is doing what he is supposed to do but what really torques me is that they have all copied that gag from James Bond!!!!

AARRGGHHHH!!!!

When Bond caps someone he CAN one line all he wants because he is the king of cool. License to kill while drinking a vodka martini! Yeah! That deserves a one liner because anything less would be paltry!!!!

When Freddy slashes his way through helpless teens that is what he was designed to do! Knock it off with the one liner. Now you have to be asking yourself WHAT does this have to do with Friday?

Jason Vorhees NEVER one lined it. A machete between the eyes and you are done. He walks on to the next teen who is have a morality crisis in need of a painful chastisement. The kids could run a marathon at sprinting speeds and Jason would walk and still meet them with a lawn tool of some sort and deliver justice to some kid you didn't like and YOU ROOTED FOR JASON TO DO IT!!!!

Now all of this applies to the good Friday's. The first one is classic and Jason wasn't even the killer, it was actually a very good mystery thriller. The second had hillbilly psycho Jason after the mom bought it in the first one. Then Friday in 3D and the amazing Final Chapter!!!! All extremely good!!!! The fifth one gave the viewing audience a nice dodge and then they started to fall off in quality.

I didn't care for the rest. They were all self parodies after that. Freddy vs. Jason though had its moments and I did enjoy parts of it even though it wasn't a real part of the series.

Now all of this is going to be ruined with a REMAKE!!!! A stupid REMAKE!!!!

Can no one out there come up with a better idea....I mean can no one who is financing movies come up with a better idea?!?!?!

Networking Party

Yesterday was my partner Chris's networking party for getting together and trying to explore similar interests for people who just didn't have a place to turn.

Well what happened wasn't what wasn't quite intended after Chris and I talked afterwards. The intent was for more along the filmmaking lines and the result was more musical.

There were lots of people who wanted to play their instruments and sing but practically no one was there for filmmaking. So the result left me wanting while it was very good for the musicians in the area.

In other news I have ordered a twin monitor to the one I just purchased. I have read where two monitors would be very helpful for the new Adobe suite I purchased! More workspace means more productivity which means the next project will benefit from it! That means I'm happy with it!

Hopefully I will be receiving the new PC late this week!

Software Purchase Overview!!!!

Here is the purchase that has got me so excited that I can barely sleep lately!!!!

Adobe Production Stuido Premium which includes After Effects 7.0, Premiere Pro 2.0, Photoshop CS2, Encore DVD 2.0, Audition 2.0, and Illustrator CS2!!!!

With this suite of products coupled with the new PC that will be shipped soon there will be so much that a struggling indie such as myself will be able to do. That is why this is such an important addition to this fight.

With practice I'll be able to take an idea, film what I need and develop the rest with the right tools!!!!

Yes I am stretching my geek muscles since I have been looking at lightsaber formulas!!!!

Who wouldn't want to be involved in a lightsaber duel to the cinematic death?

Software Purchased!!!!

Last night I won the auction for the Adobe software suite!!!!

This will enable me to do EVERYTHING required in post production to put together the next project in a timely fashion!!!!

I'm very excited about this and wasn't able to sleep much last night because of the excitement!!!!

New Monitor Has Arrived!!!!

My new monitor has arrived today which means that I am now only waiting on my PC and whatever software package I plan on buying.

I am leaning towards the Adobe Suite right now.

Chris and I are meeting to night to discuss our camera needs so things are moving ahead right now!

Locker, well here is the latest on Locker!

The DVDs are printed up, I have thirty of them, the problem is that they are blank right now. Soon they will have the low budget Hitchcockian goodness that is Locker on them and FINALLY I will be able to ship them out!!!!

Lightning Strikes Nebraska!

Yes my friends you can't escape the news that a group of meat packers in Nebraska has won the largest multi-state lottery in history. It wasn't one of my groups but it was a group like mine.

They had played for a long time. They worked in a job similar to my job. Most of all they believed that it could happen, like me and my two groups.

I'm sure that Saturday night was amazing for this group of people and every day until they came forward. Now that they have been introduced publicly you can bet that everyone who has EVER known one of these people will soon contact them. Complete strangers will give the most heart rending stories, some are probably even true, to get a piece of what these people have won.

I honestly to this day, after playing nearly five years, do not know what I would do if this happened to me and one of my powerball pools.

Anyone who knows me knows how gullible I can be and how I would fall for nearly every hard luck story that came across my path.

Yeah, I'd be broke quickly I'm sure.....but I would probably feel good about it.

Captain Insaneo Kept Me From Buying Bacon!!!!

That is Captain Insane with a pronounced O at the end. I'm sure that every one of you know a Captain Insaneo. He also works at my place. And he is insane!

He has worked where I work nearly as long as I have minus a year or so. This man has a sound effect for every single action he has. Every possession he owns has a sound effect and he knows them all....and shares them in abundance with us at work.

Fortunately for me he works nights and I only have a half hour with him. His co-worker on nights however isn't so lucky. She is on high blood pressure medicine and anti depressants....and I'm sure she needs them!

Captain Insaneo rattles non stop about NOTHING, EVER! He can go for literally HOURS and say nothing. He will follow you if you try to get away. He will trap you in a room by yourself and leave you to ponder the afterlife after about thirty seconds.

Captain Insaneo once stuck his hand under a running lawn mower to see if the blade was turning.

Captain Insaneo once had surgery on his elbow and kept moving it while saying, "Man, it hurts when I do that!" and KEPT MOVING IT and kept repeating it for HOURS!!!!

Captain Insaneo usually trades off his vehicles after repairing them, he trades them for junk and takes a loss. Rinse, repeat. He traded off every vehicle he owns for a daily driver for his wife and himself, a travel trailer, a boat, and a motorcycle he has had for a week for a 1999 Harley Sportster. He has insurance on it however he doesn't have the title....its owner is in jail.

Captain Insaneo was once on some pain medication that didn't agree with him and he would call the shop at 8:30 in the morning and try to talk to whatever poor sucker was unlucky enough to answer the phone at that time. So we would pawn the phone off to whoever was present at the time and LEAVE. He would then proceed to call the big boss and give him advice....for at least a half hour per day. He was nearly fired after this episode because he would fight with the supervisors and everyone around him. His wife surprised him by taking him to the doctor for a drug test!!!! He promptly responded by making an appointment for his wife to have a drug test!!!!

He was soon after taken off of the medication and returned to his normal insane self.

Captain Insaneo bounces off of the walls with his hyper activity and hyper talk, along with his sound effects. He always comes up with a saying such as the classics:
"Hot Dog, Hamburger!"
"Far Out, Solid, and Groovy!"
"Uden Uden!" (one of the sounds of a engine makes in his world, it now represents an answer in the affrimitive or slang for Captain Insaneo himself)
and a cackling laugh that if you see me and say do the laugh, I'll oblige you along with a couple of imitations.

My co-workers and I have all become very good at our Captain Insaneo imitations, he represents a source of entertainment in a warped way.

So there I was in the grocery store buying some food. I had the eggs and started to head over to the section where the bacon was when I spied Captain Insaneo!!!! He was there with his wife in the bacon section! I got out of that part of the store without him seeing me and thought that if I ran around the other part of the store for ten minutes he would be gone and I could then bet my bacon.

Nope. I did that. He was still at that section! It is a small section but ten minutes later he WAS STILL THERE WITH HIS WIFE!!!!

I said forget it and checked out, it just wasn't worth it.

Daytona Day!!!!

As far as the big epic sporting events go in today's world I would rank them like this:
Super Bowl
March Madness
Daytona/Bristol
NBA Playoffs
and the remaing two are the other sports of the World Series and the NHL Playoffs.

The Daytona 500 has some of the most white knuckle non stop action that you could ask for in an event. Since the advent of restrictor plate racing which promotes more of a pack driving style on the super speedways, the racing has been closer and more dangerous. Now this isn't a good thing.

In a restrictor plate race there is a bigger chance that "the big one" will happen which is usually a crash that involves five or more cars. It is usually big and loud and wouldn't have happened in a non-restrictor plate race. The restrictor plate is a plate that goes between the carburetor and the intake to restrict the amount of fuel and air that the engine runs on. This cuts back on the horsepower and makes every car basically run the same....and together.

The reason they did this was because the speeds were getting well over 200 miles per hour and there were calls for safer racing at those speeds, this was the fix. To make everyone drive at nearly 200 miles per hour in one pack.

No one really likes it in the NASCAR world but for the fans it does produce a race that is great to watch and is similar to a dangerous chess match with drivers shuffling positions in very tight quarters.

The Daytona 500 is one of the pinnacle sporting events as well as a pinnacle race. It isn't to be missed.

No other sport has their best on display every week in one event. Every week you are going to see every single star that NASCAR has in one race. If you go to a NFL game are you going to see every star? Nope. Can you name any sport where every star competes against each other in every event? Nope.

NASCAR is unique because when you start to watch you just naturally bond with a driver and you tend to be very loyal to that driver and really pull for him.

Sometimes people wonder why NASCAR has become the second most popular sport, why there will be 250,000 people at Daytona today and why millions more will watch it from the comfort of their own homes.

Well watch Daytona today, you'll see for yourself!

Filmmaking News

I am going to be talking with my filmmaking partner in crime, Chris soon. I proposed the idea of buying a camera jointly so that we will have two matched cameras for the next project.

Two Canon XL1s cameras will allow for a shorter shooting time and two angles that can then be edited together in a faster fashion. Shooting that way will be easier on the actors since we will need less takes to get coverage.

The editing will be easier since the way we have been shoooting is to set up one angle....shoot it.....set up the other angle.....shoot the scene again. No matter how hard you try there are too many differences between the two and are usually unuseable when you try to edit them together.

Now for you out there who are playing along, yes a three camera set up would be better still however one step at a time right now. With three cameras you would be able to get a master shot and two over the shoulder shots at the same time. Now with that set up you could shoot a scene one time which would be much easier on the actors and the shooting schedule would be a breeze.

So yes a three camera set up is best but for now a two camera set up will be what we can get and use.

I also just purchased a new AMD 4800X2 pc with 4 gigs of RAM and a ton of storage space for editing. I have a new monitor coming that will be here early next week and the pc itself will be here by Thursday of next week.

I'm very excited about all of this since it represents the next level of my filmmaking career!!!!

Both of these new upgrades will enable us to create better looking projects in a faster amount of time. Which is another lesson I have learned from Locker.

My Showercats

Allow me to let you in on some of my morning routine and what happens at my house.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have two cats and one black lab. My lab is a outside dog who inhabits the garage with a nice fleece pillow that my mom made and a heat lamp for those cold evenings. He's a pretty happy doggie who enjoys the occasional treat of smoked ribs and packages of hot dogs.

Yes I spoil him.

Now my cats are the opposite. They are inside cats and brother and sister from the same litter. They are both fixed and if you will recall my post about one of my cats about his teeth they are also well taken care of with the occasional tuna treat.

Now when I get up in the morning they are at my bedroom door, usually scratching at the door and meowing very loudly. I generally see paws slip under the door to get my attention. I keep my door closed because I have plants in my bedroom and a waterbed which isn't very cat proof.

So upon waking up and opening the door the first thing I see is two cats running to their food dish. I feed them and turn on the dryer. I keep my work clothes in the dryer. I then head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and shower. Usually before I can get the toothpaste on the toothbrush, Patch, my female cat is with me. I know she hasn't taken more than a couple of bites of food but there she is. (She is also the loudest at the bedroom door) I turn on the water and by this time Rocket, my male cat is there with me.

They both stay put on the shower mat while I wash and wake up. Occasionally Rocket will jump up on the side of the tub and poke his head around the curtain and meow.

It is at this point that I don't know if they understand that I don't actually need to be present near their food dish for them to eat or if they just love me that much but they stay right there with me. When I turn the shower off, push back the curtain, and grab a towel they will usually jump into the tub with me. I kid you not my friends.

When Rocket was more of a kitten he would jump into the tub with me while the shower was on but he stopped that after a few times.

So by the time I have dried off and head to the dryer to get my warm and fluffy clothes my cats follow me and remember their food dish. Now cats are smarter than most people think.

At one time Patch would look at both sides of the food dish and eat from the fullest one. When Rocket was eating and she would walk in she would move Rocket out of the way and eat from the side he was eating from, I guess assuming that his side was fuller.

Well not long ago I saw this and it has happened quite a few times. When Patch isn't around and I'm getting dressed, Rocket will pick the dish that has the least amount of food in it. Patch will usually come in soon after and move him out of his side and Rocket then gladly move to the fuller dish.

It was amazing to see and that is how my mornings usually go at my place!

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!!!!