Next

Is probably the most nauseating show I've seen today.

That is saying quite a bit since there is a wasteland of swill to wade through.

I should have consulted a doctor before beginning this experiment.

I'm out of Excedrin.

Friday Night!!!!

Pirates has opened up today and it is the must see movie this weekend!

I'll post my spoiler free generic review as soon as I've seen it. In other news I am shopping around for some custom made T-shirts for the project that I built the set for the other day.

I want the actors to have matching shirts for the series and they are down for that too! Everyone I have ran my show idea by has thought it was going to be hilarious!

The best part is that it is very easy to produce, the cost per episode will be minimal and even that multiple episodes can be filmed per week if the actor's stamina holds out!!!!

That part will be completely up to them and their schedules. The more they are up for then the more we will film. I have a feeling that once we get started we will enjoy it so much that we probably will film more than one episode per week.

Production will start after July 20th so stay tuned my friends!!!!

The Magic Of Rope

I took the time to watch one of my favorite Hitchcock movies tonight, Rope.

Rope is famous for being shot in sequence and in real time on one set with a single camera.

After two friends kill another friend for no other reason than to pull off the perfect murder they host a party with the body hidden in the room, in fact dinner is served from his grave. What unfolds is a cat and mouse drama with James Stewart who comes to find the real meanings behind the words he teaches in college.

Loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murder of Robert Franks in the 1920's, Rope serves as a reminder of how great a master filmmaker that Hitch really was.

Yeah I did try to pattern Locker after Rope in a very humble and failing fashion. The general idea anyway, the execution was mixed at best.

For a filmmaking school in a DVD box, pick up and enjoy Rope.

So There I Was....

After work and I was sitting in the drive thru for Taco Mayo when I shut off my engine to order.
I drive a diesel so I usually do that so they can hear me and I can hear them.

I go to start the engine back up and what happens?

Yep you guessed it, NOTHING!

With two cars behind me I am stuck. The manager comes out and asks if I need a jump and I reply in the affirmative.

He pulls his truck around so that my jumper cables reach, I pop the hood and see lots of corrosion on the cables. Well I decide that is probably the problem but I don't have my tool kit I usually travel with for some reason.

So we hook the cables up to one of the batteries and let it charge for a while and still nothing. So now I am sure that since I have had no prior problems with starting that the corrosion is the problem but I am powerless to do anything about it since I and the manager are both without hand tools.

So I call my trusty brother and he brings his tool kit to me and once I remove the cables and clean them it fires right up a good half an hour later.

While I was sitting there counting all of the people who drove by I kept thinking that I was glad that I usually stop to see if someone needs help on the side of the road. Which has lead to a frequent thought that someday I will be murdered in an act of samaritanship.

All in all a brief but overcomeable problem and the topper to a mediocre day at my soulcrushing job.

Set Assembled!!!!

I built the entire set yesterday for the You Tube series.

I am thinking about using three people for it instead of the original two.
What still has to be done is to get matching tee shirts and set the date for the first episode which will be difficult until the theater's musical production is over with. Two of the actors are in the production and the other isn't an actor at all.

After the production is over with I believe that we'll just be working around the work schedules of all three which won't be very difficult.

The hardest part about this project is finished though! Everything should be fairly fun from here on out with the bulk of the work being the editing process and schedules!

Starting Production

In a flash of inspiration I had an idea for a You Tube series, sort of based on The Monkey Chow Diaries. Just search for it, it is funny!

I have to go shopping today for a few things for the set.

I have my cast lined up and they are excited about the project.

I am going to need to make a backdrop today after I acquire the paint and probably an off-white sheet.

So it is off to Wal-Mart I go as soon as I wake up a little bit!

Super Superman!!!!

Superman was a GREAT MOVIE!!!!

I had a blast with this movie, well except for the little kid who kept kicking me for the entire length of the movie. Well not the entire length, I think she fell asleep for about 20 minutes at one point but then had her second wind when she woke up and put her kicking into high gear.

She also decided to talk every 2 minutes to ask about what was going on. I probably should have stood up and walked around to the row behind them and started kicking. Please people, keep a leash on your kids in public huh? Notice what in the world they are doing and if they are annoying someone, stop them!!!!

Now back to the movie, Superman was great!

I could easily see that it will be one of the top three grossing movies of 06. I think that Pirates will probably be the top earning movie of the year if it is half as good as the first one.

I am still stumped when it comes to the marketing strategy of Superman. With a movie that was this good to have such a stunning lack of promotion is unheard of.

I don't understand it.

The visual effects were sensational. Yeah there was a ton of CGI but you really don't mind in this movie. Honestly the only slight problem I had with it was Lex Luthor's plot. If there was a weak link and it isn't that weak since the movie was more about Supes than anything else.

A great holiday weekend movie!

Horror Is Dead

I was listening to Fangoria Radio tonight on Sirius when Dee Snider interviewed Eli Roth.

Horror is dead my friends.

Hostel 2 is being made.

Eli Roth was in Prague doing location scouting recently which pretty much seals the deal that someone has given him enough money to ruin more film.

I don't get it. You probably remember my rant on Hostel being not much more than torture porn but to do it again? What in the world is wrong with these people?!?!?!

He is going to make Stephen King's Cell. Now Stephen King books have a horrible track record when adapted to film.

Horrible. They just don't translate well when it comes to making a movie. So what happens? The writers try to rewrite it and then the Director makes his vision out of King's vision. The result?
Exactly what you have seen. Lackluster movies with the exception of The Shawshank Redemption which was stellar.

I can hear some people now yelling at their monitors in unison, "The Shining!" Kubrick was as overrated a Director as it comes. I think Tim Burton took lessons from Kubrick on how to be overrated. Stanley Kubrick had his moments, even a broken clock is right twice a day but The Shining, Barry Lyndon, and that dreck Eyes Wide Shut, well they suck.

Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket, Clockwork Orange, and Spartacus were excellent but not enough to call Kubrick a master filmmaker.

2001? PLEASE! What happened with that movie is that a ton of critics saw it, they couldn't figure it out but they didn't want to look like idiots in front of their other critic buddies so they found deep profound meaning in it just to save face and show others how smart they really were.

Well back on topic. Horror is a dead genre if it is left to the likes of Eli Roth. I can repeat it until my last day on Earth.

Gore does not make a horror movie.
Gore does not make a horror movie.
Gore does not make a horror movie.

Until that breakthrough idea from a breakthrough filmmaker happens then I declare that horror movies are dead.

Swashbuckling Goodness!!!!

With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean a couple of weeks away I decided to indulge with Errol Flynn and The Sea Hawk!

The first adventure star was at his best in these swashbucking pirate movies such as Captain Blood and Against All Flags. Yeah I know there were a lot of years between those two movies but still it didn't matter.

Flynn was at his best as a pirate.

Flynn was a great actor. He defined action and adventure in his time. His Robin Hood was incredible. Kevin Costner? Please, brother should have known better than to trample upon the sacred ground of Flynn.

Flynn played the part. More than that he made you believe that he lived as a pirate in his spare time. That being a swashbuckler came as natural to him as breathing does, well and drinking to him.

He lived a very fast life and moderation was a rarely used word around him.

Yeah Johnny Depp makes for a very entertaining pirate he really does. But he'll never be Errol Flynn.

I hope that if the Pirates of the Caribbean accomplishes just one thing, other than showing us Keira Knightly again, it will bring about more interest in the classic films of pirates and tall ships!

Britney Spears: America's New Tabloid Whore

Is there anything this former star won't do to get into a publication?

After no one was interested in buying her babies pics for her asking price she settled on selling them for, I believe, a paltry five thousand dollars?!?!

That doesn't even cover K Fed's weekly pot bill.

There has been so much media attention paid to her falling star status that one has to wonder exactly how much one can take. If she should ever not be pregnant again in the next few years and put out another album odds are it will tank.

I swear I thought she was hot at one time but now she is just picking up one road kill for supper away from being that anonymous hillbilly in the trailer park no one likes.

Britney, you star has been so tarnished that I think I'm starting to feel sorry for you. In the same way I feel for Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Gary Coleman or Philip Michael Thomas.

I mean who wouldn't want to have a movie project with those four in it?!?!?!

Deadwood Is Rocking!!!!

What a great show!

The third episode has gone by and the characters are just as profane and evil as ever!

Gerald McRaney's George Hearst is a perfect match for Ian McShane's Al Swearengen. It would seem that the race is on to see who is more evil. The plots turn and twist and take time to digest.

Powers Boothe's Cy Tolliver is devious and has flittered around the edges and his motivations are unclear at this point and yet he seems a cat ready to pounce into his storyline with wild abandon.

Brad Dourif's Doc Cochran steals near every scene with his compassionate yet rough bedside manner. His character provides the soul and depth in a bloody camp that lacks such.

So far the main characters from the previous two seasons, Seth Bullock and Sol Star have taken a bit of a backseat to the drama and tension between Swearengen and Hearst.

This has been rumored to be the last season of Deadwood and if it should leave cable then there will be a huge niche to be filled for those of us who enjoy an adult themed western.

To Burn Or Not To Burn

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a great lover of our beloved flag, Old Glory, I take with a personal interest the proposed Constitutional Amendment to ban flag burning.

I dearly love both and they are not mutually exclusive but should one protect the other?

For the uninformed The Constitution does not grant us rights, it boldly declares that we are born with these rights and endowed with them from our Creator. The Constitution places restrictions on the government and restricts Congress from infringing on these rights, it does not give us rights nor does the government.

The American Flag.

The beacon of hope and freedom for billions throughout our brief history. Our banner has been carried into war torn countries to bring peace and it has cleaned out rat hole countries of corruption and moral decay. When the two super powers met face to face our flag prevailed to spread freedom to countries that had never experienced freedom.

It brought The Wall down and encouraged people to govern themselves instead of tyrants.

Our flag never bows to another.

It boils my blood to see our flag displayed in a manner that does not befit it. When the blue field of stars is not in the correct corner, when a flag is out at night without a light to grace it, when it is ripped and torn but the owners refuse to replace it out of neglect. Them's fightin' words to me.

I honestly don't feel that there should be an amendment to ban the desecration of our flag.

I shall defend your right to burn our flag.

Don't do it around me and if I catch you I'm going to put a hurting on you for such a disgraceful action.

Sadly though there are places in this very country where such an act would be encouraged if not praised. Freedom of political speech is what sets up apart from many nations, we can protest, we can assemble a group of people to tell our side without the fear of being imprisoned for decades like what routinely happens just a short distance from Florida.

We can speak out against our leaders if the need arise without fear of being executed for our views.

As distasteful as the burning of our flag is to me I believe that the people of our country would do all the protecting of our flag should it fall into the hands of some unwashed hippy communist for burning.

Simply put, if we ban the physical desecration of our flag what other freedoms, no matter how horrible, should we restrict next if our leadership shifts to such a radical point of view that our flag and freedom becomes meaningless?

Filmmaking Meeting Tonight

Chris laid out exactly what he plans on doing with the next feature that is in the works.

With the auditions coming up on July 15th, they are really nearly around the corner!

It is a very exciting time for me. There are a lot of projects on the horizon and the possibility of one more from one of the actors I have worked with before. He plans on directing his own project and has requested help in a round about way.

The more I have thought about this I would be excited to do it and help him out. He plans on doing all of the actual ground work and just needs the camera and operator.

That should keep me free to work with the other two projects as well, depending on his shooting schedule. It is a four page script so I don't believe it would take that much to actually shoot.

I am excited my friends!

Peckinpah's Violent Ballet

Sam Peckinpah.

The name alone screams westerns. A hard living, hard drinking man who wrote, produced, and directed some of the most violent movies of his time.

He worked with some of the biggest stars of their time, well of all time. McQueen, MacGraw, Holden, Johnson, Heston, Borgnine, Hoffman, Kristofferson, Robards, Coburn, Hauer, even Bob Dylan and a hundred more.

Take his signature film for example, The Wild Bunch. The story of a group of men who had outlived their time and as the story unfolded they knew it. The blending of the old west with the turn of the 20th century in Mexico.

Yeah the story is simple on the surface but you can see how each man starts to come to grip with the idea that their time is now over with. They deal with that realization by being who they are, hard and violent men.

What is ironic is that Peckinpah stuck with the western genre while Hollywood was forgetting about it more and more. The same as many of the characters in his masterpiece. Men who had no place anymore in the world around them.

Sam Peckinpah knew how to film hard and violent men. He didn't care to make them sympathetic. He didn't care to treat his women with kid gloves either. What he did care about was the story and his art, well that is about all he cared about if you read many of the stories about him.

He is probably more responsible for modern violence in films than nearly any other director of that time. He influence can be seen in a thousand movies today.

Last Hurrah At Winner's

The club that we usually go to after work will soon close within a couple of days.

Since last night was payday Friday a group of us got together for our last hurrah before they move to a new and very out of the way location.

I arrived after work at about 4:30 and left for some supper at around 10ish.

We all had a great time but I just had to get something to eat! So Taco Mayo fit the bill on the way home.

It turns out that my friend who was in Hard Drive Cafe, Chris Scheffe, has developed a small following around town because of his line! He has been having a good time with people knowing who he is on site!

Go Chris Go!!!!

Vista Headache

I'm sitting at the library where I work and now posting this.

I've has a huge Vista headache the past two days and finally last night after 11 p.m. finished re-installing XP64 back onto my home system. I was able to install Vista on my home system and had it running for about twenty minutes before I decided to install the Nvidia drivers which didn't install for some reason.

My brief impression was that Vista is very pretty to look at and that was with the default non-optimized drivers.

I do believe that I'm going to wait until a more stable beta is released before jumping on the Vista install bandwagon again.

You have no idea how frustrating it was to install, reformat, reinstall, rereformat, and then finally give up after it wouldn't install only to have it install and work for.....twenty minutes.

So, the first of the year and the official release date just isn't that far away to go through all of that again.

That was two days of headache my friends that I just don't feel like doing again....well sober anyway.

The USA was eliminated from the World Cup today. Ya know something? I don't blame anyone for not noticing.

If they had a decent chance at something like winning then it might be different. People would have set up and noticed that we did something other than two losses and a tie. It is like the Cincinnati Bungles out there representing the country.

There is still a party though and that is what the World Cup is for us now, the guest that no one really wanted to show up but did anyway, well now that guest is going home early.

The Anti-Che

Are you sick of seeing all of those kids with Che shirts on?

If you don't know who Ernesto "Che" Guevara is, look it up. He was Castro's mass murdering lapdog thug. He ran Castro's prison full of dissidents and labor camps. He presided over the execution squads with ruthless efficiency and dedication.

Che has now become the t-shirt of choice for the young and uninformed who probably don't even know who or what he was.

Who are the ignorance infested kids wearing Che shirts?
I'd venture to guess they are mostly teens, that has been my experience anyway, and if they were challenged they probably couldn't even find Cuba on a map. They should also sue the government for their lack of education.

If they should actually do a modicum of research they would find out that Che was a real person. He was instrumental in the success of the Cuban revolution and that he despised capitalism.

So it strikes me as an ultimate irony that his image sells millions of shirts and that probably 98% of the people who wear them don't realize that he would probably hate them for being American.

He was a pure communist and the greatest poster child for why communism fails every single time. He hated personal freedoms and was dedicated to the state. There was no concept of the individual in his world and no mercy for anyone who viewed the world differently than he did.

He and his policies were also failures on a massive scale.

As loved as he is by the delusional youth of today he was equally despised by the people he lorded over, starved, and killed.

It probably won't be long before Mao, Pol Pot, Abu Musab al-Zarqawai, Ayatollah Khomeini , or even Osama become the next huge shirt seller.

They are the same person my friends.

No Go With FX

I guess we didn't make the final 20 in the FX Network Contest.
They were supposed to notify you over the weekend and well they didn't.

Their loss for sure! Hard Drive Cafe has more potential to connect with this generation of internet users than any pilot they decide to produce.

It could still be done but it would be difficult to assemble the cast and use the place frequently. The shorts would have to be a bit longer to make sense, approaching the 10 minute mark at most.

This could go down into the "let's revisit this idea a little later" file. I'd have to test the willingness of the cast and location owner to accomplish a steady diet of Hard Drive Cafe shorts.

I'm up for the filming and editing though!!!!

Superman?

The new Superman movie could very well be the biggest of the year and probably the most expensive.

So here we are just a couple of weeks away from the release and I've only seen a handful of trailers on TV.

I have seen very little promotion of the movie.

It is weird for such what could possibly be a huge movie to see so little hype behind it.

Maybe it is because the producers think that the movie will speak for itself or maybe, and I hope not, it is a huge bomb.

You heard about King Kong, Spiderman, X-Men, the Matrix sequels, even MI:III for months in advance but not this movie? I just don't understand the logic behind this lack of promotion.

I've Tried To Watch The World Cup

But it is very hard to get into.

I understand that it is a huge worldwide party and that soccer is the world's most popular sport.
Well supposedly, I think it is just because the rest of the world can't build a fast car or play football.

Yeah I have given the World Cup a fair shot. Yawned a bit but I'm trying to understand it. I figure that if I "got it" then I wouldn't yawn as much.

So far it seems that the US Team has been a bust. We got destroyed by the Czech Republic and tied Italy....sigh....

I kept thinking we would have an easier time scoring goals if we sent Ronnie Lott to take out their goalie and I am having a hard time rooting for a tie.

There should be a sudden death in soccer. No one wants to see a tie. You play ninety minutes , work your hearts out, get all rough and tumble with the other team and for what? Each team gets a point?

What kind of victory is that?

I want a winner!!!!

America didn't tolerate ties in the NCAA and we don't tolerate them in the pros. NHL?
Please, I mean sports that people watch.

You don't see a tie in NASCAR! We invented drag racing, two cars and one wins!!!!

I am 100% positive America didn't invent soccer.

With all of my problems with the MLB, you'll NEVER see a tie. One team has to win and there is no time limit!!!!

I like a big party though and as far as I can tell that is the best thing about the World Cup. It is like the world's tail gate party.

Other countries live soccer, apparently because they just don't have much else to root for like we do. No I'm not insulting the other countries at all. I'm just stating that the NFL is complex. There is probably no other sport in the world that is as complex as the NFL. You can have baseball purists argue about the complexity of baseball but I don't buy it.

You have to be a near genius to be an NFL coach now. Playbooks are thousands of pages and each play has different audibles for every position!

A tie in the NFL is unforgivable and it is also unforgivable in the USA!

Dazed Nostalgia

Yesterday I picked up the Criterion Collection's package of Dazed and Confused. Richard Linklater's breakthrough 1993 effort created American Graffiti for the 70's generation.

Linklater was one of the pioneers of the 90's Indie Film Movement along with my favorites workaholic Robert Rodriguez, dialogue master Kevin Smith, and motormouth Quentin Tarrantino.

Linklater is more subdued in his efforts, choosing to stay closer to the real indie feel. He really hasn't had a huge blockbuster Pulp Fiction style hit (besides School of Rock and Bad News Bears but it was a remake so therefore disqualified in my opinion) as his peers have.

His films are more likely to place you in an olympic sized pool of nostalgia. Whether it is a lost ill fated love, the high school experience, hanging out with your best friends, or just ranting about the world's ills and beauty, Linklater is your boy.

Dazed and Confused is a great romp through what it was like to be in high school in the 70's. A little backstory on myself. I was in elementary school in the 70's but my parents had taken into our home two high school aged brothers. They taught me about football, chess, and the Doobie Brothers. I would frequently go to the drive in with one of them and while he wanted to make out with his girlfriend he would have a couple of high school girls watch me in their car. That happened a few times and was great fun!

We would then go out afterwards and usually cruise and chase his friends around town or wind up at the arcade or a local food drive in to hang out. That was my high school 70's experience which is very close to Linklater's vision.

Just a bunch of kids hanging out with a soundtrack of the best bands that the 70's had to offer. So with Aerosmith and a orange GTO pulling into a parking lot, Dazed and Confused kicks off this trip into nostalgia.

There have been so many films that immortalize nearly every generation but there is something perfect about the portrayal of Linklater's 70's in Dazed and Confused for me. Something subtle but feels totally tangible.

Included with the Criterion Collection's set area great number of extras. You get your money's worth. Pick it up, enjoy it, experience it.

Back Online!!!!

The past day or so I was offline with my main high end PC.

I decided to test my RAM because it appeared that one stick might be bad due to funky behavior on the PC's part, turns out that I installed a program that didn't play well with XPx64.

I wound up reformatting. That is when I had problems configuring my SATARaid array. I have no experience with setting those up so I read about it and it still is not 100% but it is close!

I am in the process of putting back all of my settings and a few drivers that are essential to daily usage.

There is one Storm game tonight and the last one is tomorrow. Well except for the post season tournament which is next weekend I believe.

Next week I plan on building a green screen floor on pallets and plywood. That will give us some more room for filming since we will be able to shoot from further away. We would be able to key out the floor then instead of just the actual green screen. That allows for crane shots which are also in the works!!!!

Yeah a real professional studio my friends!!!! I wasn't kidding!!!!

Champs!!!!

The Storm are the Midwestern Division Champs after tonight's win!!!!

Not only that but we secured the top seed in the post season tournament and tied for the team's best record with three games to go!!!!

Little pleasures like this are what make the world go 'round!!!!

Wrestling On Scifi?!?!?!

I was very angry last night.

The Scifi Channel has decided to put ECW wrestling on their network!

Now this isn't a rant against wrestling. I was a huge wrestling fan until WWF bought out WCW and the quality of the product disappeared faster than a dozen donuts around Rosie O'Donnell.

The point of cable tv is having niche networks that appeal to everyone. Everyone has a few channels to watch that bring them that kind of entertainment.

Scifi HAS gone way downhill with showing the same movies every weekend now. They rarely invest anything into anykind of series outside of Ghost Hunters or similar shows. Ghost Hunters is pretty good and I enjoy it but one series does not a network make.

Their movies, well I'd jump all over the opportunity to direct one, but they aren't very good. I'd love to direct a low budget movie for the Scifi Channel. But this isn't about that. It is about taking a kind of show and putting it onto a network that has no business showing that kind of show!

You wouldn't expect to see Monster Trucks on Lifetime would you? NO! So keep wrestling off of the Scifi Network!!!!

Sheesh....

The Anti- Mr. Hyde

Our new supervisor is a gem of a guy.

He rarely comes around, asks what we have going on, and leaves us alone.

He knows every process, knows the routing of our parts, knows the people and gets along with everyone.

He is someone I respect and who I would go above and beyond for. Our jobs have become easier since Mr Hyde has gone to another position and he has started to wreak havoc there!

So if you have read my posts for any length of time you know how I complain about my job, well now I am also going to say something nice about one of the good guys who is now our supervisor just so you shall know that I can say something positive about my place of work as well.

Our new supervisor is sharp, nice, and talkative.
He isn't hyper, pushy, arrogant, or stupid.
He isn't someone who nearly provokes me to do violence unto his body.

He is one of the good guys and he has made our job better by actually leaving the people who do their jobs to do their jobs.

FINALLY!!!!

I received a "Thank You For Your Submission!" message after repeatedly submitting Hard Drive Cafe over and over again for the past two days!!!!

I thought for sure that it had gone through at least twice before but there was never a confirmation of submission. So I decided to side with caution and keep uploading it until I got the message.

I didn't want to let down everyone who worked on this little project so at all hours of the past two nights when I thought there would be little traffic I tried over and over again. Still no message.

So instead of giving up this afternoon I decided I was just going to do it over and over again until the deadline and it finally went and was verified!!!!

I'm thrilled my friends!!!!

The Demythification Of A Rockstar

I'll just state my point and then get into why.

Sebastian Bach is like the male Jessica Simpson.

He has an IQ of nearly any household cat and the energy level of a tsunami. In fact Jessica Simpson might have more going for her than Bach does. Sebastian Bach is so stuck in the eighties, not like I am but like someone who has no clue that it is actually 2006.

VH1's new celebreality show Supergroup is an exercise in taking people who you looked up to as ROCKSTARS and has showed them as normal everyday people who just have people around them tell them YES all the time.

Being a rockstar is something that should be shrouded in myth and mystery. I don't want to know what happens in their real lives. I want the rockstar on stage playing the music I love.

Sebastian Bach is a moron and this show shows him as he is. If he couldn't sing he would be homeless somewhere or quite possibly dead as someone would put him out of his misery of stupidness and helping the DNA pool by thinning the herd.

As much as I love Ted Nugent and what he usually stands for, I don't know how much Ted I could take in real life. He is the veteran of the group and probably the most solid. He knows music and he knows what sounds good.


Scott Ian is probably the most stable and normal guy. He is understated and just wants to get in there and rock. He knows what he can do and what he can't and plays to his strengths.

Evan Seinfeld is the bassist/pornstar/manager of his porn star wife Tera Patrick. He is a rock star to the extreme. He is full speed all the time and wants things loud and heavy. He is sort of the bully with the hot temper of the group and seems like he can handle Bach better than anyone else.

Jason Bonham is the son of the legendary John Bonham. The drummer of the group. Quite possibly the highest IQ of the group or at least he has the best British accent of the group so he sounds like the smartest.

Did I mention that Sebastian Bach is an idiot? Whatever happens to pop into his pea brain just comes right out of his mouth.

Yes Ozzy is a moron too. His show just really showed the dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse. It is amazing Ozzy hasn't killed himself in a freak microwave accident. But somehow he is still fairly lovable. Like a stupid dog who just wants to be petted and has to have attention.

Rockstars should be rockstars and not people.

Lock Obtained!!!!

Yeah it is a small step and pretty insignificant but it was important to me.

I loaded up John and Chris and we put our lock on our new studio at the airport!!!!
We all have the combination and we all have the same goals in mind!!!!

I can't tell you how cool it is to have two people who share the same passion for something and are on the same page as you are.

It is actually a huge step. I take back my first sentence. This means something to me and it means we are on our way to having something that is very special.

We have our own studio to create in.

We have our own studio to bring our dreams to life in.

We have our own studio to bring other people's visions to life.

We have our own studio!

Uploading Problems?

Well I thought I had uploaded the Hard Drive Cafe successfully but I never got a confirmation screen saying it was finished even though the uploading bar was full.

I dug a little deeper and a lot of people were complaining about the same thing. I am thinking it is a 99% chance that it is there but just in case I have uploaded it about twenty more times. In each case I received an error that says their disk space wasn't enough.

I know it isn't my disk space, I have nearly two hundred gigs free and it was only a six meg file.

We get to move into our hanger now!

My brother informed me that yesterday he had everything moved out with the exception of a stove and something else that I can't recall at the moment. Today we have to get a lock and get it out there on the hanger.

I should stop calling it a hanger, it is now a studio and a step into our future!

The Hard Drive Cafe Is Finished!!!!

I got up at a little after 6 a.m. this morning but I confess that I wanted to sleep longer.

My cats had different plans though and felt hungry then.

Anyway after my normal morning ritual I broke out the camera and plugged it into my PC for my very first editing project that didn't involve the training DVDs!

I finished it up just a little after 11 a.m.

It went very smooth and I feel I got the best out of the footage I shot!!!!
I do wish I had given the actors a little bit better material to match their performances after seeing it a few times this morning but for something that was shot in about an hour with less than three days of prep time, I am happy with it!

I have uploaded it to the contest but there wasn't any kind of confirmation at the end but I am sure it is there!

I have also uploaded it to You Tube, you can see it here

The Storm OWN the USBL now. We knocked off the Kansas Cagerz last night in a back and forth game. We were up by 9, down by 11, and wound up winning and it wasn't close!!!!

TODAY ROCKED!!!!

I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to have helped out on this project!

First of all, very short notice and little time to prepare.

Second of all, everyone pitched in 100% and were willing to do what I asked and go above and beyond!

Third, everyone had their lines cold and owned them!

Fourth, we pulled it off in record time!

Fifth, I wish I was able to have given them better material to work with but someday I'll be at a level of writing that I will be able to match the actors performance.

We started at just after 6 and were wrapped up by 7:10!!!!
The actors learned their lines in about 10 minutes and hit every mark without a flaw!!!!
It was a great experience and I'll begin editing tomorrow after work to get the 3-5 minutes!!!!

Not only that but I made the Storm game tonight as well! Since I haven't missed a game in nearly five years, it was just frosting on the cake that I could make it. I was only able to make it because of the actors and the great job they did!!!!

Yes the Storm did win tonight and put another full game on the Dodge City Legend!!!! Sun played about 3:30 again and seemed to be better. He didn't look like he was out of place but you can tell that he is really learning organized basketball.

He didn't look like he was in pain or gimpy like he did the previous game.

Yes today was a great day my friends!!!! Well it wasn't good for everyone, it seems that Iraq's most wanted terrorist ran afoul with two of our F-16's.

Today IS The Day

I plan on taking off of work at noon today to do final prep on the set. If my producer comes through with the girl he was contacting then I'll shoot her scenes and she can leave.

I need to make a lightsaber and arrange the office of a ISP into a Internet Cafe.
Then go over the cam set ups.

Not bad but the alternative is.....36 years until retirement.......

It Is Coming Together

The short notice short project is coming together.

I believe I have the required actors now!

I have the place and the time reserved!

Everything is actually moving along smoothly, well in a relative sense that is.

I am excited!

It Could Happen

Or it could fall apart just as quickly.

I have no actors yet that are committed to being in the short however I do have a location and a ton of monitors to use!

If I had just known about it a week earlier I am positive that I could have pulled this off and even had time for a rehearsal.

Seven days, well now six just isn't enough for what I have in mind even though it isn't that complex.

Keep sending me good thoughts and it could wind up happening!!!!

The Omen: Another Stupid Unnecessary Remake

I won't see this movie.

I will not see a remake based upon a previously made movie from a horror franchise or a TV show!

Those of you who are regular readers know my position on this. If you see a remake it will just encourage them to make more.

No it isn't because of the 06/06/06 date thing either. I do not discuss politics or religion on this blog although I do love discussing both in person if the situation is right. However I will make this one exception on the number 666 because of the marketing strategy that is being employed for the opening of what is likely a horrible remake.

I lean towards preterism with regards to eschatology. I believe that most of Revelations was discussing the current events of that time and culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. Who was the 666 Beast? A good candidate would be Nero but there were likely a couple more that could have fit the description. A little research will give you a ton of information on it.

I don't think that there will soon be a end time. The actual end times were the end of the Jewish sacrifical system and the destruction of the temple. Dispensationalism is a relatively new concept, created in the 1800's. It includes Amillennialism, Premillennialism, and Postmillennialism.

Now these are very seductive doctrines since they deal with all kinds of destruction, the Four Horsemen, and general mayhem but I just don't think that is in our future. I'm not dogmatic about it and wouldn't argue much against it but I really don't think it will happen, I really think it already did.

There are ministries based completely around the end of the world and they make a fortune from interpreting today's headlines and putting it in the context of Revelations, with a causal twist from Nostradamus.

I think there is probably war, peace, hard times, and incredible times ahead for the Earth and us as a whole.

Sorry for this slight diversion from the usual conversation on Filmmaking, Poker, Fantasy Football, and other assorted thoughts that go through my little head but since it is my blog it is my rules:)

I also wish I had known about the FX Network's contest about a five minute pilot a week earlier. There are only seven days left at this point and I found out about it yesterday. I have been thinking in overdrive to try to put together a five minute scene from the Hard Drive Cafe script.

I am now not sure that I can even though yesterday I thought I could pull it off. The problem is the location and finding enough monitors to look like an internet cafe. I think I could cobble together four actors to do four minutes of loose dialogue but to put it in a setting that looks believeable? Not likely but I am going to Intercorp today to see what I can work out as far as location and monitors.

I am going to give it a shot. To get it in on time we would probably have to shoot tomorrow night and I haven't even talked to any actors yet.

Yeah I know, I can say longshot too.

Gas Vs. Charcoal

It is an age old debate in America. Do you use a gas grill or a charcoal grill for cooking?

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

With charcoal you have better smokey flavor and more of an All American grilling experience....well and you haven't lived until you have charcoaled corn on the cob!!!!
What you also have is unpredictable temperatures, in the wind you can have lighting problems, a longer time until you can cook while waiting on the coals, and the clean up process.

With gas you have easy lighting, precise temperature control, and little clean up.
The downside is that it is extremely difficult to smoke anything, flavor, and you really don't get the thrill of playing with fire.

If you have the fundage I'd say get one of each for whatever mood you are in. If you are teaching your friends or children to grill, get a charcoal grill. Once they master that a gas grill is a snap.

Personally I use gas now but every once in a while I get a urge to use charcoal!!!!
There really isn't a wrong choice here. A grill is something that you just have to measure to your own personal situation. If you are in a small apartment and have no yard then you need a small gas grill. If you are in a house then you can go as large as you want and use either.

If you love the taste of smoke then you will probably want a smoker grill which has an offset firebox. You can then use wood for the perfect flavor. Yeah I know that you can smoke on a gas grill but believe me, it really isn't the same. When you use wood to cook, well it really doesn't get much more outdoorsy and primal than that unless your meal was just walking somewhere and you killed and prepared itl!!!!

If you are just thinking about which one to use then you are missing out on the real purpose of grilling which is to do it for others and share in the thrill of good food with friends!!!!

Best Record In The USBL And Stuff!!!!

The Storm now own the best record in the USBL after last nights win over the Cagerz!

It was a good game for about three quarters and then we cracked the game open and it turned into an easy victory!

It is now Sunday morning and my cats woke me up. Crying for food at my bedroom door does that.
They wake me up and then they sleep most of the day. I can't even sleep in until 7....sheesh....

Now in Soprano's News, No Spoilers so you can keep reading.

Anyway I believe the Soprano's ends tonight. Now that the gay mobster storyline is over with maybe the show will pick back up? I doubt it. There have been maybe four good shows out of this season, the rest weren't up to snuff. This show is just over with.

Yeah there is a part 2 of this season in January but is it going to help? We won't know until it happens. I am not holding my breath.

Deadwood season 3 starts next week I believe! Now that show is still one of the best on TV!!!!
Never seen it? Well Deadwood really isn't for the faint of heart. It is profane, graphic, and bloody. Was it what the real old west was like?

Who knows. Maybe so, maybe not but the show is good!

What are the other best shows on TV? Wow, what a question. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't name a favorite movie. There are too many that are great to name just one as my favorite.

TV shows are like that for me as well. So best TV shows on the air now?

Let's see, The Shield, Veronica Mars, Deadwood, Lost, My Name Is Earl, Rescue Me, Desperate Housewives, 24, and some of the Adult Swim shows. That about sums it up for fictional shows. No, the Soprano's just don't make the list anymore.

However we live in the age of cable TV so there is more!!!!

Surreal Life, MYTHBUSTERS (especially with Kari Byron, hope she never does Playboy, it'd just ruin it for me) Ghost Hunters, and a lot of the History Channel's documentaries. Love 'em!
I'm sure I am forgetting a couple of shows but if I remember one or two I'll post them.

Southland Tales And Weird Movies

Southland Tales is the sophomore effort from Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame. It seems a hybrid of genres and since Kelly wrote it there will be many many storylines to keep track of.

After reading about this project for a while I have to say that I'm excited to see it, if only to see Sarah Michelle Gellar play an adult film star! Southland is hard to describe what it is about and if it is like Donnie Darko it might take a few viewings to figure out your version of what it is about, so I really can't tell you what it is about....yet. You'll have to read that for yourself.

Southland is supposed to have three graphic novels as the first three chapters of the story with the movie being the final three chapters. Now when this is going to be released is anyone's guess.

What I want to talk about are movies like this in which are very out of the box. Primer, Northfork, or Memento for instance. Movies that are open to interpretation of the viewer. These movies are just flat out fun to watch! I do like movies that I ask myself, "What did I just see?!" Which I found myself asking um....myself....I guess, after watching Donnie Darko and Primer. I had a better grasp on Memento after a couple of viewings.

Movies like this inspire me as a filmmaker because they seem to expand what is possible in my own little confined world.

I really struggle between stories in my head that are simple like "The Straight Story" which in my very humble opinion is an example of the perfect modern movie and movies like Eraserhead which is so far out there that you really don't know what happened.

I don't think there is a balance point there. I don't think you can combine a storyline that is straight forward with a narrative that is odd or bizarre and do it in a way that is filmmable. Yes you can do it in a comic where pencil, ink, and text are your mediums. Film? Maybe but to be able to tell a story within a couple of hours???? You would have your work cut out for you for sure!

I'm not saying that it hasn't been done or even done well, just that it is a difficult task and it isn't done often. There are plenty of modern Asian films out now that combine these elements such as Oldboy, Ringu, and a few dozen others. American filmmakers just don't go out of their way to make a movie that leaves the viewers guessing at what they saw. We generally like our movies in a narrative package that wraps everything up in the end.

Nothing wrong with that at all. It is just that sometimes a mood comes over me and I want something I haven't seen before in a way that I haven't seen it done before!

We Knocked Off Dodge City!!!!

Yeppers!

We whipped Dodge tonight in a very close game but we won by 2 in the closing seconds!!!!

We also got to see Sun Ming Ming play nearly four minutes. He had one point off of a free throw. I swear Dodge just don't use the guy right. When he was on the court they didn't even look his way, even when he was right under the basket and couldn't miss.

If he ever develops he will be unstoppable.

So there I was parking. I see Bub's jeep in the parking lot, cockeyed in a parking space. I knew right then Bub had been tipping a few before game time. Well I did too but at supper at Callahan's. I knew that Bub had probably been at it since he clocked out. So he is slurring and staggering a little and I elbow Picky Eater who sits next to me and tell him loud enough for Bub to hear me about how Bub had parked his jeep.

Bub responds that he had a rough day and laughs, then drinks his dollar beer. It is Thirsty Thursday so beer and hot dogs are a buck a piece.

By the fourth quarter Bub is snoozing. Yep, he is sleeping away and nearly slides out of his seat. I elbow Picky Eater again so he can get a good laugh, he does and Bub wakes up.

A good time was had by all!

I Left At Halftime

Last night at the Storm game I left at halftime. I developed a headache about midway through warmups and it just didn't want to go away.

Kind of a bad night for me. I just came home about 8:30 took two Excedrin and headed off to bed.

Wow, the excitement of it all.

I feel great this morning though! Dodge City is tonight which means another game with Sun Ming Ming.

It is raining a little bit outside right now, I just checked the radar and it might rain for most of this morning. Fine by me, it cools things off and it feels pretty nice out.

I can't believe today is June. Sheesh.
When I was a kid it took forever for a day to be over with and for a month to end. Now it flies by. I am more positive now than ever that as you age time accelerates. I was told when I was a teen that I would wake up one day and be 30.

I really understand that now.

Green Screen Testing

I'm working on shooting some chromakey footage to test a wide variety of lighting setups.

Yes it would be nice to have enough light so there just wouldn't be any shadows but with no budget that just isn't possible. But it is possible to hide them where the camera won't pick up any shadows!

I do believe that we can accomplish this fairly easily with a little planning. In August there is going to be a networking party that Chris is putting on. It is to promote your projects and to try to get other people involved with them.

I think it might benefit me/us in a way of promoting the studio which should be in full working capacity by then.

Back To Work

Yepper, it is back to work today.

It was a good weekend though. I have made plans with Chris to use his living room for some test footage. I need at least a nine foot ceiling for the green screen rack and mine are eight feet tall.

Once there is some test footage shot the real world learning begins. I believe that it won't take long now to get a firm grasp on After Effects. I've gone through most of the training DVDs and have a good idea on the basics.

Everything after that is encountering problems and solving them.

The studio/hanger is still about two weeks away from moving into, so we have time.

Life is good except I have to go back to work.

Grilling And Filmmaking

This has been a pretty decent weekend!

Planning a cookout today, I've got the meats and a new grill, a bag of charcoal, and some grilling tools, which I intend to leave at John's house.

I don't think he has a grill and I have two. Everyone should have a grill and learn how to use it. I'm more of a grill cook than a gourmet cook but by golly, I CAN GRILL!!!!

Grilling is one of the great American past times. I frequently use my small personal gas grill to cook supper. Hot dogs, steak, burgers, pork. All sorts of stuff!

When you want something that tastes good and is fast to prepare so you can get onto your movie viewing or TV viewing, grilling is the way to go!

The real cool thing is that grilling is simple to learn and master. There are any number of fine grilling books out there that take you step by step on what to do. Fortunately I had plenty of experience growing up as we had a small restaurant through most of middle and high school, so grilling came fairly easily.

I often have a fantasy that I'm on a huge shooting set with some high profile stars and after wrapping for the day I go to my trailer and start cooking for everyone. There is something very satisfying about cooking for someone and have them enjoy it.

It is like building something like a movie. You get gratification fairly quickly and pride for a job well done. Filmmaking is very similar to cooking. Well except it takes a lot longer to get the project completed.

You build the scenes, compose them. Place them into an order that relays the story you have in mind in a visual sense. Then you show others your work and hope they enjoy it.

Grilling is just a bit faster.

X-Men: The Last Stand

I loved this movie.

However what they tried to tackle was the Dark Phoenix storyline and that just failed completely.
By the end Jean Grey turned into more of an afterthought than a character.

Now for comic fans EVERYONE knows the story of the Dark Phoenix! It is a story of loss, sacrifice, and genocide on a galactic scale. If you aren't familiar with it, just search for Dark Phoenix Saga, I'm sure that someone out there has summarized it or buy the trade paperback. You won't regret it.

Yes there is lots of controversy concerning the true ending of the Dark Phoenix but the point is that the movie failed in that regard and threw her into a different storyline all together.

It could have been done, it would have been about a three hour movie but it would have been epic and quite possibly the best comic based movie of all time. The Ben Hur of comic based movies, if only someone in Hollywood would have read a few comics.

It is frustrating at times when you have this grand idea of how it should be made but can't because of a variety of reasons, like not having the funds to make your vision of the story.

Now at 4:00 P.M. today the Coca Cola 600 will begin! Woohoooo!!!!

Well My Four Day Weekend Is Off To A Good Start!!!!

I bought the final season of Home Movies yesterday, went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries, had a couple of drinks at Winner's, and pretty much stayed out of the heat.

Home Movies is a great show. It is the story of a elementary school filmmaker named Brenden. His friends Melissa and Jason help him and act in all of his movies. Each episode usually has the kids filming one movie and the misadventures they encounter during that episode.

Coach McGuirk is probably the funniest character in the show. A soccer coach who hates soccer, kids, coaching, his life, well pretty much everything but beer.

The Coach usually has the smartest lines of dialogue even though he is an idiot. He is always funny and acts as Brenden's friend and sometimes mentor/father figure.

The best part and worst part about this season is that it was the last season. Sadly the show was cancelled after four years and 52 episodes. They are quality animation goodness friends. I recommend watching an episode or two on the Adult Swim Fix site. There is usually an episode or two there for full streaming capabilities right from their site!

Watch one, its free and funny. Go ahead, you've earned it! Treat yourself!

Four Day Weekend!!!!

Yes my friends it has turned into a four day weekend for me!

Memorial Day weekend is a good weekend.

The Indy 500, which used to be an actual race is on but the better race is the Coca Cola 600!!!!
600 miles of NASCAR at its finest. The longest race of the year is also one of the most exciting on mid sized tracks.

Daytona is Daytona, large and fast like Talledega. Pack racing. Bristol is every man for himself and lots of busted cars by the end. Charlotte is between those two. The length of the race takes its toll on the cars and drivers. The speeds aren't as fast as Daytona's but they are plenty fast enough to provide a great race.

Watch it, grill something, get some friends, and enjoy a good time and reflect on the real reason why you can do all of those things in peace.

Kingdom Of Heaven: Director's Cut

I just finished watching the Director's Cut of Kingdom Of Heaven.

I might be in the minority and judging by the box office on the theatrical release I probably am but this is a great movie. The Director's Cut fills out a lot of story that was cut from the theatrical version. Just over 40 minutes have been added.

Much of the missing footage deals with backstory and details that probably would have left Summer Blockbuster audiences yawning.

This version, if it had been released probably would not have done better at the box office but in my book it is far superior and shows exactly why Ridley Scott is a legendary director.

Kingdom Of Heaven has more heart than Gladiator but lacks the emotional effect of Blackhawk Down. Yes there are some Hollywoodisms used for dramatic effect but in the context of the story intended to be told work well.

Orlando Bloom is good as a Blacksmith turned Knight who lets principles guide his life, even to his detriment.

Jeremy Irons proves that he is one of the best actors working today. The man is simply outstanding and every word he growls commands respect.

Edward Norton in an uncredited but important role as the afflicted King of Jerusalem is powerful and moving.

Liam Neeson is good but his role along with his companions just doesn't last long enough. It would have been nice to have seen more of their backstory as they seemed to have had many tales to be told.

All in all very enjoyable with a booming DTS track that rumbled my walls.

The Biggest Human I've Ever Seen!!!!

Sun Ming Ming, a 7'9 Chinese basketball player. He isn't skin and bones either, he tips the scales at about 370.

He is slow and isn't much of a basketball factor but with more experience I think he could be a force.

We lost to the Legend tonight but it was a close game and we are still the league leaders!

Did I mention 7'9!?!?!?!

He has to duck under nearly every doorway. There are few chairs that are big enough for him. The poor guy looked like he was in pain when he ran. Apparently he comes from a very poor part of China and his parents couldn't afford shoes big enough for him so he had to wear shoes two sizes too small and it has hurt the growth of his feet.

7'9.....

Well now for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say.

He had a tumor on his pituitary gland that caused a over production of the growth hormone. At only 22 he would have died from the tumor. He took out a loan and that wasn't enough but a kindly doctor worked out a payment plan with him that he is still paying on.

How does a 22 year old deal with the constant barrage of stares he receives on a daily basis?
I would say from seeing him for myself, with grace, class, and a smile.

You can find more information at this Link

And if you happen to have a extra buck you can throw it his way.

Another Storm Win!!!!

It was a good Storm game tonight!

Except that there was a local area high school band to play at half time and time outs. They were good but some teachers at their school who sat directly behind Bub and myself were more than annoying and flat out rude.

There were four of them and two of them were extremly arrogant know-it-alls. They had snide comments about nearly everyone around them, for example: The Storm use reserve county deputies for security. It is mainly a volunteer position. Well one of them was standing on the floor directly across from us and the more arrogant of the two asked the lesser arrogant of the two if that police officer would prevent anyone from committing a crime. Then he went on to say he was a disgrace because he was so heavy.

Well be that as it may, it is a volunteer gig. Admission was probably his only pay. He enjoys the games and we see him at most of them. He is a decent guy who sold Bub his Jeep.

Now for the hypocritical part, the teacher who made the remarks had to have been at least 150 lbs. overweight. This made me pay attention to his comments during the game for the rest of the evening. It seemed he had nothing good to say about anyone or anything as he was obviously smarter, funnier, better looking than anyone in the audience and more of a athlete than anyone on the floor.

So that made for a long game listening to those two behind us, well and dodging the frisbees that the cheerleaders were chucking into the audience. Two of them hit a 90 year old man in the row in front of us, one of them smack in the head, the other a ricochette shot off the balcony.

No one in attendence was safe from the cheerleaders. I really mean that.

So anyway there we are, deep into the game trailing by one point! There is less than a minute and a half left! We had the ball and Q White drives around a Long Island defender and gets the bucket! Up by one!

The PA Announcer hits Queen's We Will Rock You in which case a thousand people in unison stand up and stomp their feet and clap their hands....all of them but Bub who is right beside me.

He immediately started off with three stomps and two claps. I elbow him to get him to watch me as I stomp and clap in unison with the other thousand people and in the next two minutes he nearly gets it right. I tell him he has no rhythm and he agrees and takes another swig off of his fourth Bud Light.

All in all it was a great night! Tomorrow should be a better game but it would be hard to top this one!

Dodge City is coming to town, our hated rivals.

They are bringing 7'9 Sun Ming Ming with them....yeah 7'9.

Back To Work

However it won't be as bad.

I got some things I needed to get done DONE!

Like getting a place for the studio! Check!

Some much needed time away from work! Check!

Today is Mr. Hyde's last day as our supervisor, always a good thing. I missed all of his insanity last week. Yeah I wasn't even there but I know I will get stories of how insane he was....and there will be stories.

Tonight there is a Storm game and tomorrow night as well. When there are days at work when there is a Storm game at night, well they just fly by! I think there might even be a game Thursday night!

In Sopranos news, no this isn't a spoiler so you can keep reading, there is only episode remaining this half season. The last eight episodes are supposed to start airing in January to end the seriesj.

I think the show had a good and bad run. There are people who say that it was a character drama and that all of the forgotten storylines are not necessary to the overall story.

The other side is that there needs to be resolution and that it is lazy not to wrap up the dozens and dozens of storylines that were just left out there in space.

I'm more in the second camp. Simply because a lot of those storylines affected the characters and their motivations for doing what they were doing and could have altered the entire arc of any or many characters.

The show is basically over. With a total of nine episodes left they are going to have to do a lot of good to overcome the mediocre and poor episodes that they have given us. I mean they had two years to work all of this out and they give us THIS?!

It boggles the mind.

My Name Is Pretty Darn Good!!!!

Once again through the magic of Torrents.To I have fallen in love with a show that might make me rethink my No Network Shows policy.

My Name Is Earl.

A lifelong loser played by Jason Lee (Mostly of Kevin Smith movies fame) that leads a crime ridden life hits a lottery followed by a car. During his stint in the hospital he sees Carson Daly talking about karma and how he leads a good life and good things happen to him. This clicks with Earl and he makes a list of all the bad things he has done and sets out to fix them so he can better his life.

His brother Randy helps him since he is incapable of doing anything without much help. He is usually the cause of much laughter during the show since he usually unintentionally makes Earl's life harder.

He has a crazy ex-wife who is brilliantly played by Jaime Pressly is Earl's main foil. She does trailer trash so well you grow to like her antics to make everyone's life around her miserable. She is vile and self centered and has a motive for everything but you just love her screen time!!!!

Her husband Darnell the Crabman is the father of her second illegitimate child. You would probably remember him from the Office Max Rubberband Man commercials. Yep, same guy! He is good, funny, and Earl and Randy's friend.

The other main character is Catalina a very hot illegal immigrant who works at the motel that Earl and Randy live in. She is their friend and helps out while being the source of a few one liners.

The stories are usually wrapped up in each episode but there is enough of a thread running through each to provide continuity from show to show.

My Name Is Earl is very good comedy. It has some great laugh out loud moments, especially when you are familiar with the characters and their motivations.

Since I really don't like following a show from week to week with the exception of the Sopranos and I'm regretting that one, Earl is a good way to kill a few hours.

Get it, you won't regret it!!!!

Location Scouting!!!!

Today was spent location scouting for the Fanfilm Project. The script currently calls for a cafe location so John and I went to a couple of small towns to see what there is to offer.

There were some good things to be found and some that were a little sparse.

Overall it was a good day and there were some accomplishments made.

A Good Week!!!!

I have had a good week off.

I needed it. I was getting snippy at work, imagine that.

I have spent this week trying to get me back. I have done pretty much what I want when I wanted to do it. I have started the foundation of a green screen studio as you have all read. Posted about it on a Yahoo group I belong to and had a couple of replies that there are no other studios in the state!

Ours might be simple to start but it is adequate as a first step. Yeah, a beginning.

It is what you would expect in a small aircraft hanger. Think of those temporary storage places and make it a bit bigger and that is what you have. There is electricity and plenty of space to film.

I am bidding on another tutorial for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, it is a used copy that new retails for about $250.00. My bid is at $78.00 right now and I really feel it won't go much higher.

I have gone over the Sin City special edition again and again to see how the chromakeying was done. I am sure that we can do similar and I am sure that once I have some test footage I can operate After Effects well enough to key out the green screen backgrounds and add any footage we need.

I needed this week. Once our studio is fully operational I really feel that my job won't effect me much anymore:)

Studio Location Secured!

Yes!

It is a very exciting time for us as filmmakers. We now have a location to start a real life working honest to goodness green screen studio!

We are going to start small at a T hanger as I posted about earlier. I am going to take over the monthly rent from my brother's hanger and start things.

Words are hard for me to come by to describe exactly how excited I am about this. It is a major step in our careers.

I watched March Of The Penguins AGAIN last night with my photographer friend. It is still an amazing documentary, even after every viewing! What the Emperor Penguin goes through every season is just incredible let alone being in the harshest climate in the world.

I also received my Video Copilot DVD yesterday with the chromakey tutorials on it!

It just so happens that I received my Sin City special edition the day before to replace the stolen one. This edition is a masterwork on green screen filmmaking! What you see, what is filmed, and what is eventually on the screen. It's all in there and more!

It has been a while since I've been this happy....it seems like forever.

Munich

I had the pleasure of watching Munich two days ago. It has taken me about that long to mentally digest this movie. It might not take some people as long as it took me to talk about it but sometimes you see something and want to put it out of your mind. But it stays there anyway.
Kind of like a splinter where the skin has grown over it so you have to dig it out....or post on a blog about it to exorcise it.

When I was a kid I remember things like Jim McKay talking about his coverage of the Munich Olympics years after it happened. It literally was one of the things that made me take an interest in politics, like the Bobby Sands hunger strike. After I had a better grasp on what actually happened and learned the motivations behind such a horrible event it made me ask the same questions people asked at the time only years later.

Munich was an extremely powerful and moving film. Yeah a film, not a movie. If you saw it you would be able to tell the difference.

Now everyone is familiar with the premise and since the actual files are top secret no one really knows the real story of what happened. So this is a fact based fictional account of what likely happened after the 1972 Olympic Massacre.

Munich puts a human face on the assassins. It examines the nature of revenge, it gives them feelings and eventually plunges them into paranoia as they question if they are doing the right thing or not. It is not a political film even though it is a subject that could come off as preachy or condescending if not handled correctly. That is about as close to a spoiler as I'm going to get in this post, which also lends itself to shorter posts as I don't write as much.

Eric Bana does an outstanding job. It just so happens that he is also the biggest name attached to the acting core of Munich. And this is a film that is directed by Steven Spielberg and a score by John Williams! Daniel Craig probably will be big after he debuts as the new James Bond but that is a ways away and he really isn't a household name yet.

If you watch Munich prepare yourself. I doubt if anyone could watch this movie and not be moved in some fashion.

Munich is as violent as it is powerful. Munich is beautiful and it is sickening.

Watch it, you won't regret it.

Surreal Life Wrap Up

Well the latest season of The Surreal Life wrapped up this past weekend and I have to say it had some good moments but mostly was a disappointment.

Tawny Kitaen was the Janice Dickinson psycho this season. There really wasn't a overpowering personality like Omarosa this time around and the main drama was Carol Brady being a mom to everyone. Everything was about her and just wasn't about anyone else. She was an attention whore and wasn't shy about anything. But when things got rough she immediately blamed childhood trauma blah blah blah. Yeah she wasn't as psychotic as Janice, Chyna, or Brigette Neilson but she was someone I wouldn't want to meet.

Sherman Hemsley was a peach of a guy. Shy and reserved. Someone you could see yourself hanging out with at a quiet drink.

C.C. DeVille fresh out of rehab, did really well with all of the temptations surrounding him. He onscreen struggles to do everything sober was enlightening. You felt for him as he triumphed and found that he does have a sober future.

Andrea Lowell was the slutty model who loved to be shocking but insisted there is more depth to her than being naked. Really?

Steve Harwell was the almost has been lead singer for Smashmouth. Who? Yeah you remember them. The one hit wonders who did All Star and that was about it.

Alexis Arquette was the firecracker who had the hair trigger temper. He/She was constantly struggling with identity. A man trying to look like a woman but having the temper and somewhat the strength of a man but insisting that he is a she all at the same time. Alexis provided most of the drama along with Tawny.

Yeah....hhhmmmmm.....

Maven the B-list wrestler and all around jobber. He was there but eh, who cared, kind of like his wrestling career.

There have been more entertaining Surreal Lifes, I just couldn't get into this one as much. No one was as over the top this year. There was some self centeredness but not as much. Andrea was hot but not as hot as previous models. There were no midgets which was disappointing except for one brief Bridget the Midget segment.

This season was probably one of the weakest efforts.

Now I believe that I am going to call John and Chris to take a look at a T-Hanger at the local airport to set up our green screen studio!

Each one offers a huge area, an electrical outlet and a light. All for the bargain price of $139.90 per month. Once I get After Effects 7.0 down and play with it to build my confidence I believe that we will be able to attract musicians for music videos, other indies who want some special effects, and be able to accomplish all of our own goals!

These are exciting times my friends!!!!

Kansas International Film Festival

I entered Locker into this film festival this morning....oh....by the way I'm taking off this week to try to find a place to build my green screen studio.

Besides with only 36 more years to retirement I just need time off.

The KIFF will probably be my last festival I enter Locker into. Gary is hopefully printing off more DVDs so I can duplicate them for friends I have unintentionally left out of the first limited batch. Yes I know I haven't sent you one and am going to correct that. I feel horrible about it but my copies were very limited the first time around.

Yes I'm talking to you up North.

My Total Training After Effects DVD set will be arriving today and my green screen tomorrow.

Chris, John, and I will be meeting at 6 to discuss renting a studio for the purpose of filmming and hopefully doing some side projects to pay the rent.

So this will be a busy week and a lazy week.

Sopranos Rant....Again

Yes this is a Sopranos spoiler laden rant so beware with what you read.

First the gay gangster. This character just isn't working anymore and the storyline is dead. It has become melodramatic and is beating the fans over the head with its preachiness. It contains twin motorcycles for contryside....ahem....rides by a pond. A diner owner volunteer fireman who embodies Vito's fantasies. It has practically everything a gay mobster could want. It is also one of the worst storylines they could think of.

The promise of a few weeks ago seems to have faded into the old Sopranos habit of up and down episodes. Good and bad. The good is the tension that is growing between Paulie and Bobby. Chris is still a moron and my pick to get knocked off by the end of the series.

Tony is still having a ton of problems but that is about the only thing going on that is good. Johnny Sack is probably headed for a prison death.

Janice is still evil and Meadow is still hot!

Tutorials Ordered

I have ordered two tutorials on DVD specifically for chromakey compositing and After Effects 7.0.

Link

They should arrive Monday! My green screen shall arrive Tuesday so I can have test footage accomplished and edited by this coming weekend!

This shall open up a lot of doors for our small production company! Tomorrow I shall be attending a meeting to talk about the value of adding a green screen and to try to find a place to shoot!

We will be able to shoot music videos and hopefully special effects for other indie productions!

This is very exciting for everyone involved!

Barry Bonds Is A Disgrace

He needs to quit baseball now but he won't. He needs to go to jail but he probably won't.

Just this very past week up until last night's debacle Bonds has made it extremely difficult for even the most die hard Bonds supporter to support him.

After catching the 713th homerun of his career, a reported serviceman in Philladelphia and probably the only Bonds fan in that city, Barry Bonds refused to sign the ball. He did give a picture though and then asked for him to sign a release to be used for Bonds On Bonds, his reality tv show which he has complete creative control over....don't want those less than flattering moments to come to light.

Then just last night in the 8th inning Bonds hit a fly pop up with one man on first. Jeff Kent dropped the ball but Bonds didn't know that since he was already walking to the dugout. When his teammates yelled at him that he should run he did and barely beat the double play. He refused to talk about it in the post game press conference.

Simple mistake right?

Not if you are a 21 year veteran and Barry Bonds. Supposedly this generations best hitter.

No those aren't the only events surrounding Bonds, just the most recent.

Bonds is so insulated in his own universe that he probably does believe that the baseball world is on pins and needles waiting for him to tie The Babe and pass Hammerin Hank.

Bonds is not a sympathetic character. He doesn't care if you like him or hate him. He doesn't care for his teammates. He reportedly only cares about winning but his actions would seem to dispute that. It isn't like the Giants are contenders, they sit in last place in the West.

I really believe that if Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr., or A-Rod would be chasing the record now there would be a celebration for every homerun hit. The Commissioner would be in attendence at every game.

714 is a milestone, a big one. 755 is a milestone, a huge one.

Bonds is a great player. There is no one who can dispute his numbers. Yes they would be much lower without the steroids, he just needs a steroid to make him more fan friendly and that ain't likely.

OJ Is Back

I am not really sure how to feel about this. First of all here is the story.

OJ Simpson is starring in a Candid Camera style PPV. He is playing jokes on unsuspecting people while their reactions are captured for....well who knows what for.

It is a bit sick I guess.

Who will buy this? Probably the same people who are serial killer groupies. The ones who wanted to buy Jeffery Dahmer's fridge.

I don't get it. I know that OJ was acquitted and essentially he is free to do this type of thing. He can't make any money on it though because he owes millions to the families of the people he killed.

Yeah right. Everyone knows that he is getting some kind of money from this. I'm sure that there are several different layers involved to really hide it well but OJ is getting paid somehow.

It just seems to me that OJ is being spiteful. He is flipping the finger to his victims.

He is a glutton for attention. He hasn't had any at all for over a decade now and feels the need to put himself back into the spotlight.

It is a sad commentary that something like this is even getting made.

The Storm Are Rolling!

My beloved USBL team the Storm are rolling! They racked up another win tonight bringing them to 6-1!

We have a great team this year! Our D is good but not great, we can score without a true Center. We have outside shooters who have the three point range down cold. All in all we have a very balanced team.

While I do miss Lamont Turner who was easily one of the best players we ever had outside of Ira Newble who is now with the Cleveland Cavaliers backing up LeBron James. Lamont Turner was a true baller. You could build a whole team around him! He was a prescence! Large, fast, and tough. He was a boxer in his spare time.

Mike Mackell is that kind of player now. He anchors our team and gives the shooters, Joe Adkins and Terrance Johnson time to get their shots off.

I believe we will be one of the final teams standing by the end of the post season tournament if not THE final team standing! We are that good!

There is a game Friday night and then another Monday night!

These games are one of the pleasures of life I genuinely enjoy and 15 home games just isn't enough!

The Poseidon Inferno!!!!

With the impending national release of Poseidon I decided to revisit two Irwin Allen classics new this week on special edition DVD sets.

I remember seeing both as a kid and you can still occasionally catch The Poseidon Adventure on tv once in a great while.

First is The Towering Inferno featuring two titans of acting on screen at the same time! Paul Newman and Steve McQueen! To me this has to have been one of the best pairings of legends of all time in one movie.

Yes Heat had Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro but their actual screen time was very limited. Yeah they were in The Godfather II but in different eras and never shared the same frame.

The Towering Inferno was different. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman shared the best roles of this outstanding ensemble cast which also featured the likes of Fred Astair, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and pre-trial of the century OJ Simpson among many others.

Come on though, if you are going to watch this movie it is because of McQueen and Newman! Now it is a GREAT movie! Everyone knows the story so I won't go into it but to tell you that on this new DVD set it looks amazing!

Now as great as The Towering Inferno is, The Poseidon Adventure is better! I mean has Gene Hackman ever given a bad performance? Another Irwin Allen adventure movie that involves a capsized ocean liner and the fight for survival. After seeing this masterpiece of diaster films, I am going to stick to my remake policy and not see Poseidon. I admit I do falter from time to time *Cough* King Kong *Cough* but I am happy I made the Kong exception. Come on its Peter Jackson!

The Poseidon Adventure also has never looked better! Who could ever forget Shelly Winter's role or Red Button's fine performance? Ernest Borgnine or Roddy McDowall's great characters?

I admit that Poseidon looks like it could be a very good movie but I know if I go and see it Hollywood would just be that more encouraged to make more REMAKES!!!!

AAARRRGGHHH!!!!

So the past couple of days have been very good!!!!

With Mr. Hyde's new job and revisiting two classics nothing could harsh my happy!!!!

I was smiling all day long!!!!

Green Screen Purchased!!!!

This is the opening of a brand new chapter for this group of filmmakers!

With the purchase of a 9x30 foot green screen we will be able to shoot anything we need to be able to shoot now!!!!

In fact I was thinking about renting a body shop near where I live to open a green screen studio.

At Chris's networking party there were a lot of muscians. A couple of them were pretty talented and could probably benefit from a music video as promotion.

I'm sure that there are other people who would pay to have family videos made and pay for the DVD master. I do believe that this could be turned into a full fledged production studio and we would then be able to have our customers pay the rent and finance our own projects and equipment.

With the skills and equipment that we have as a group, we could be quite formidable. There is only one other production studio in town and in this section of the state and he shoots mainly commercials. We would be no competetion for him at all.

I have no desire at all to shoot wedding videos, NONE. However I do have a desire to do something creative and I do know that there are plenty of musicians with egos who would love to be treated like a star and have their own video made.

I know I know, starving musicians have no money. That is just something we will have to deal with when it happens.

Bye Bye Mr. Hyde!!!!

Yes it is indeed true! Mr. Hyde is leaving our section of shops and going to work for another branch!!!!

Yes he has been very Mr. Hyde lately as well, hyper is not the word for it! He has been pinging off the walls and irritating EVERYONE he has come into contact with.

He has about nine days left. Hopefully he will be gone sooner than that!

When the problems go WAY up in that area they will finally figure out how insane he is. I hope that they just don't send him back to our area when he fails in a spectacular fashion!

Every shop was elated with the news of his departure! It was incredible! Everyone was united in glee and surprise at what an amazing turn of events had transpired! It was like everything was right with the world all of a sudden!

The birds started singing, the grass was greener, and the sky was a deeper blue!

The Myth That Is Kari Byron

I was watching Mythbusters recently and I have to say I'm a big fan of this show!
I have seen nearly every episode since the first season and the show gets better and better...specifically Kari Byron.

This show is smart, has some funny moments, will actually teach you something, and they blow things up! It appears that Mythbusters has inspired many people to replicate their own myths to bust or confirm. So that means the show has a huge pop culture following!

What else could you want? Kari Byron!

She is not only hot but smart and appears to have a sense of humor on the show. So what is it about this scientific goddess that keeps Mythgeeks enthralled? I'm not real sure but she has it!

I do miss Scotti Chapman though. She was the blond with the longish hair and tattoos. I am not sure what happened to her but she isn't on the show anymore. With Kari and Scotti there was a lot more playful chemistry but Tori and Grant are good as well and seem to treat Kari as a little sister.

So to boil it all down, Kari is hot. Mythbusters is cool.

There Is No Super Bowl For Us

That is the problem with being n the blue collar working class. There is no one event we can equate to the Super Bowl. No one event we can champion all year long to work towards to top off our year.

Nothing but a grueling practice eight hours a day, every day with nothing to work towards. Nothing to work for other than your pay.

Well here is what these innovative people have done here.

They know that deep down everyone wants to be a hero and make a difference somehow. And I admit that after I first saw this site I laughed, heck I'm still laughing but I salute their brilliance and what they are trying to accomplish.

They develop alter egos, who they want to be instead of who they really are, and take these new people out and battle with them against kindred souls in modern day Baltimore. They imagine themselves in a medieval world named Darkon and battle for ground on the weekends.

They strive for that one things we all miss sometimes in our own existences. They want to make a difference they are in a make believe world. So is it any less real than the Super Bowl?

No. It is as real as that event, just without the coverage, hype, fame, and money.

A Great Day!!!!

I had heard rumors on message boards, fan forums, and internet articles. I can tell you after reading it in a few official places that it will be officially done in September!

The original theatrical cuts of Star Wars will FINALLY BE RELEASED ON DVD!!!!

This is amazing news! I did the happy dance when I found out it was official. Finally the non CGI'd movies I grew up with and saw over and over again in the theaters, the Han shooting first and non enhanced exploding Death Star are back! The Jabba scene is now absent again, thank goodness!!!!

Up until now the only way you could view the best versions, IMHO of course, was to buy the Definitive Laser Disc set and a player on Ebay. There were plenty of changes and all you have to do is run an internet search to find the differences between the Originals and the Lucas'd Revisionist Versions. There are many.

Now here is the weird part. The Revisionist Versions aren't that bad but they were unnecessary. The Originals could have been released at the same time perhaps in the same set. Everyone would have been satisfied. The people who never saw the Originals and only had the CGI'd versions in the theater and the ones who had the privilege to have experienced Star Wars the first time around.

Then there are those who are growing up with Star Wars now....well the CGI fests now called on to carry on the Star Wars name. Blech.

Star Wars was Star Wars when I saw it, I was seven. I saw Empire only once in the theater. I mowed lawns and saw Jedi five times within a couple of weeks.

George Lucas has built an empire and while only a fraction of a percentage of that was my dollars, I still love the Original Trilogy and will again be in line to buy it as quickly as possible!

Hey, its Star Wars and this time its MY Star Wars!!!!

A Great Time!

Last night was a great night.

Lots of people showed up and had a blast!

Drinking and feasting was had by all and some brilliant conversation to boot! Now due to the magic of bittorrents I have now been introduced to Boston Legal.

I guess that I have to say that I am not much of a network TV fan. With that said I don't invest weeks watching one show unless it is on HBO or something similar. But with the capability of watching a show's entire season in one day on my PC or DVD then I am more open to the possibility of such a show since there isn't a lot of time invested.

No my watching the show at my leisure doesn't give a boost to the Neilsen ratings but if the intent is to get the show watched, well I'm all over that part of it!

Boston Legal is a great show! I am not one to enjoy legal dramas unless it is Perry Mason. Boston Legal has smart writing, smart characters, and clever plot lines. Well and then there is Rhona Mitra! Very hot!

James Spader is brilliant. He has always been a great underrated actor however the character of Alan Shore seems to have been written for him. The real gem of the show though is William Shatner's Denny Crane.

Now this isn't Captain James T. Kirk's William Shatner, the confident, swaggering Captain of the USS Enterprise. This is a character who's job is to be a character. He is seemingly bumbling and out of touch with reality but rises to any challenge when he has to.

I was simply amazed at Boston Legal. It isn't a favorite show but for a day's entertainment it works, like House does. It isn't Lost or better yet Veronica Mars but it simply works and I look forward to seeing the second season.

I will also say that I will be giving my money to purchase the DVD set. It is worth a place on your shelf.

Welcome Home John Party Tonight!

The Official Welcome Home John Party is tonight even though he has been home since last Thursday. It will be a great get together! I bet twenty plus people show up as John is a great guy and well liked.

After reading a big article in this month's Filmmaker Magazine about the big power talent agencies who have indie divisions I have decided to send Locker to three of them. I figured that Locker is essentially a pitch on DVD for what could be a great movie. Well if it were rewritten and shot on film.

I know I am biased but I feel that it could be better than Open Water. Probably not as good as Saw, which I hated but good. Why Locker is gold and full of potential is that it is a single location shoot which can be done very quickly which equals lots of profit potential to which ever studio sees that kind of potential. Rope was shot in one day and while I could NEVER compare Locker to Rope, it is the same style of movie.

Now anyone who knows me knows what kind of Hitchcock fan I am so please don't think I would ever compare myself to that master filmmaker, I'm not.

But I am influenced by his work and the Twilight Zone and so was Locker.

Sending Locker to those agencies probably doomed those copies to a trash can but it is worth the buck eleven postage to try.

Operation: Baby Bunny

Yeppers, you read correctly so as not to be confused with Brown Bunny which is one of the worst movies ever to spin in my DVD player!

In our shop we found a little baby bunny. We had seen him/her around the grassy areas, hopping around and looking like it was pretty happy. The problem is that he was hopping around in a very busy area where lots of vehicles and aircraft are moved around so it was in danger. It could have been hit by a lawn mower, weed eater, Mr. Hyde, or a animal that happens to like baby rabbits. So I had to do something!

Well after our shop door to the outside was left open he decided to hop in and hide and do its imitation of a paint filter. I quietly cornered it and had it just where I wanted it before he made his escape behind a large metal cabinet.

Then I knew I had it! Well sort of, even though they are small they are still fairly fast and elusive!

Who'd a thunk it?

Well finally after about ten minutes I finally got it to go into a bucket which looked like a big blue den I guess. So he was happy!

Then I found a box to put it in and took it to another guy who's daughter raises baby animals who were in danger and released them back into the wild after they were able to care for themselves.

So this story ended better than the bird in my pool story.

Mission Impossible 3 Or Is Tom Cruise Still A Star?

This will be an interesting weekend. We will all be able to see if Tom Cruise is still the box office heavyweight he has been for the past decade or if his star if going to start to fade.

MI:3 is the first movie since War of the Worlds in which Tom Cruise went nutsy on Oprah and started to rail against the psychiatric industry. Yes, MI:3 is the first movie in which we will know if the world is fed up with Cruise's antics and apparent insanity.

Personally I'll never see another Tom Cruise movie. He comes off as fake, plastic, arrogant, condescending, and well a nut. I'm done Tom, thanks for the memories.

If he comes back to Earth then we'll see.

I would bet that MI:3 will open bigger than average but won't be around long. It will probably capture the top spot come Monday. I would imagine that the American Public will forgive his behavior and will be in the theaters this weekend. That is fine, to each their own, just count me out.

Ever had one of those moments where you were instantly mad and it lasted all day? Yeah, me too.

Our lead, Picky Eater, took it upon himself to throw away years worth of stencils that we use in the operation of our jobs.

I was furious but after a while I decided to throw away something that he will probably need someday just to make his job harder like he has ours.

I felt better after coming to that conclusion:)

He just did it to make me mad. I know him well enough to know that was what he was up to. It was unnecessary to do that but he did it anyway. So once again there I am like in the commercial. I'm the human in the room full of monkeys, each of them equipped with a laser pointer which is squarely aimed at my crotch.

Lost Season 2

I spent three days downloading the first 19 episodes of Lost's second season last week and I have to say that Lost has gotten better!

I watched them the weekend before last and have just failed to post about it yet but I am going to remedy that now!

Lost has gone from an amazing show to an outstanding show! Everything that made the first season great has made the second season better. It's all there friends. The mystery. The scifi element. The humor. The adventure, all of it is back in spades.

The odd thing about Lost though is that you really can't put your finger on what makes it a great show. It is a large cast with a ton of stories behind the characters so it stands to reason that a lot of different ingredients make this a great show.

I can point out some specifics but you know how I hate spoilers so I won't.

I was afraid that Lost would have sequelitis and try to over produce the show and just throw more money into special effects and no money into the story but that hasn't happened.

I can't wait until the DVD release to experience this show in all of its glory!

I Got Chills

When I saw the preview trailer for Deadwood in June I got chills. Every major character has a line from the Sermon on the Mount.

The delivery of those words from those characters was more than moving.

Very powerful and it made me understand what a trailer should be about, how it should make you want to see the show/movie.

I remember when I was younger I taped the trailer for Firefox. It was the most amazing preview I had ever seen! I watched it over and over again and got excited every time I saw it!

I couldn't wait until it came to town!

When I saw it, it was a big disappointment. It taught me how powerful a trailer could be. I've seen trailers where those scenes weren't even in the movie! It never made sense to me why they would do something like that.

If the movie was that good why not just use the scenes from the movie?

I know that when they have a dud of a movie they have to hire a real good editor to save it by cutting the trailer with the best scenes. So why don't they just make a good movie to start with?

Good question.