One and not done....

Well with the Dallas Mavericks season now over for another year, it must be noted that this was a hard pill to swallow sports fans. I did not write on my blog about the Mavs in the playoffs cause I did not feel the need to jinx them, but after all the changing jerseys at halftime to help, flip flops instead of shoes, etc, etc. it didn't seem to help much at the end. Here are my thoughts on each series in the playoffs:

Grizzlies: The Grizz are a good team. I think defensively they are tremendous. And I was really nervous playing them in the first round. How the Mavs swept them is hard to see, but I think it just came down to one thing, not enough weapons offense wise to stop the Mavs. There were some close games, and I think without this series as prep the mavs would not have defeated...

The Spurs: Amazing team the Spurs are. Tim Duncan was incredible. However, he is now without doubt the honest bitch in the NBA when he does not get a foul, and it hurts his team a lot. With all the complaining he did as we were fast breaking he may have been able to get back and stop a bucket or two. And this series really was that, a bucket here and you win. What a series, easily the best of the playoffs. And to dethrone the World Champions was a big step up for the little Mavs. I felt horrible for my Fin as he walked off the court with his head down. But hey Fin look up, you can go wherever you want, just don't go here...

The Suns: I now officially hate this team. I like the way they play at times, but that's why they will never win a championship. The coach of this team is really nuts. I mean I know he only has 5 players on his team, but Raja Bell can't defend every person on the court. He tries and does a good job, but give him some help if you ever want to go deeper. You can shoot all day long, but at some point your gonna have a bad night, and when the Suns have an off night, they have nothing else to bring to the table really. And that's why they lost this series. Love the Steve, but gotta keep moving. And Raja you need to get over yourself...

The Heat: I watched this team all year, and saw nothing I was afraid of. The only thing I worried about was Dwayne Wade. But Josh said before the series started that he could cover him, he did it in college, yada yada, yada. Well that didn't happen Josh. But you can't blame on just Joshua. The first two games were easy, and the third looked like a lock, then something happened. Someone on the sidelines put on a pair of slippers and we turned into the old Mavs from 2003. The next few games we settled for 3's instead of drives. Dirk decided to take jumpers instead of going into the lane. The refs decided to help out the NBA commissioners dream of never giving Mark Cuban a trophy. (For the record the calls in this years playoffs were at an all time low) And as we dropped 3 straight in Miami, we came home hopeful. I felt great about game 6, then with a double digit lead, the Heat chipped away at the lead by going to the hole. And what did we do shoot 4 three pointers in a row to get back in the game, including the final one at the end of the game to clang off the rim to become the death call and ultimate choke in Dallas sports history. A season wasted perhaps, only next year will tell.

A few things I learned from this season: Defense is a great thing. Avery rules. 3 pointers are good when they are going down, but stay in dating stage, don't ever get married to it. TNT is officially the biggest piece of shit biased network covering the NBA. ESPN is a close second. I lost most of my respect for Charles Barkley. Kenny Smith is beginning to ware on me. But Ernie Johnson still has some class thank God. Tim Thomas is pinhead from the movie freaks. Dwayne Wade is the second coming of Christ apparently. Shaq is the Heats new Mascot, cause he can't play much anymore. Pat Riley is playing Skeletor in the new He-Man movie. Stackhouse is a tank. Dirk went from God back to Dirk. Randy Galloway proves he is an absolute moron. Laura Miller needs to plan parades in her head only. The Ticket still rules. Dan Patrick wears more makeup than Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Cuban needs to relax and take a back seat during the games. All said, Mavs rule.

REVIEW: X-Men III:The Last Stand

I must say I never read Marvel Comics as a kid, so my back knowledge of the X-Peeps is limited. (I was heavy into DC Comics) Having said that my enjoyment of this series lies solely on what I know from the movies and a few episodes of the cartoon series I've seen here and there as a kid. I did have a yellow Wolverine action figure when I was a kid. I don't think he had claws though.... Onto the the review... I really liked the first X-Men movie. When I first saw it, it really didn't do much for me, but the second and third times I viewed it, it kind grew on me as a character piece instead of a blowhard superhero flick. Then I saw the 2nd one, X2: X-Men United and I was floored with what director Bryan Singer did. I consider X2 to be almost a perfect Superhero movie, and he did it by having restraint with the he first film and letting the characters breath and develop beyond a 30 second scene. Thus leads us to the main problem inherit within X-Men 3. In this adventure the good mutants are up against a cure made by humans from a special mutant that will turn them back to normal. Some are for it and some are against. Magneto and Captain Picard discover that the thought dead Dr. Jean Grey has come back but this time as Dark Phoenix, a hidden personality hidden within Grey's brain. Anyway she joins the dark side and whacks a few good mutants including two key characters. The mutants all fight each other at the end on Ellis Island and fun times ensue. I have heard from X-Men fans that the Dark Pheonix saga is a huge deal in the comics, and that it as handled wrong here in more ways than one. But not knowing Adam from Eve in the Marvel universe, it didn't bother me so much.

X3 is by all means a cool summer action movie with flying peeps and shit, but the characters are weak and the character scenes are so quick that you never get the chance to live with these mutants for too long before you are rushed away to the next scene. The action is great and I'm not dissing the movie by any means but the character development and the respect Singer had for the characters is pretty much gone. I missed that touch very much. There are new mutants introduced but never discovered and explored. The new characters just show up, blow some shit up and leave. So what director Ratner held over from Singers previous two still proves entertaining it just lacks the heart and soul of the first two movies.

Here Comes the Boom...One to go!

2 Teams Down, 2 to Go....

Assorted thoughts on things...

Summer is heating up. Just collecting my thoughts here on the blog before we get into the thick of the summer. The NBA Playoffs have rendered me useless for the most part during the evening hours. The Mavs have swept the Grizz with no problem. They await the winner of the Spurs/Kings series. Personally I don't really care who we play as long as we make it to the Finals. It would be nice to get that 100 pound monkey called the Spurs off the back, but the Kings are kinda crazy this year. They are scrappy bastards that have flat out played the world champions. That could prove good or bad for the Mavs. I probably won't go to the playoff games this year to save some money, but if they make the Finals consider me there! I can't miss that.

Speaking of the round ball, I really have not talked much about Fort Worth's minor league NBA team here much. The Fort Worth Flyers had an awesome season. I had the great pleasure of working with them in doing player interviews and other video work for them that plays on the jumbotron during the game. I got to meet, work, and hang out with some incredible NBA players, and hopefully next season I will get to do it again. Thanks to Erin, Tommy, and Courtney over at the Flyers office for all the help and opportunities they gave this year, and the great seats too! The Flyers finished in 1st place but fell in the playoffs to the Thunderbirds. I did discover that every time Amy goes to a Flyers game they lose. She may not be going next year...

Here are a few mini reviews of some movies I've seen recently...

AEON FLUX: Not a bad movie. I had no expectations, and it kinda surprised me that it's not a totally dumb movie, but actually had something to say. A decent sci-fi movie with some really interesting action sequences. It ultimately falls short at the end, but I would love to see a sequel to see where the story goes. Not happening I bet. Great sets though and beautiful to watch.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 4: The Return of the Living Dead flicks have always been cool little tribute sequels to George Romero's Dead quadrillogy. This one is a step back I'm afraid. It has some good zombie action, but the rules of the dead are seriously redefined here and not in a good way. For instance I do not want a zombie fist fight in a movie. Period. The second thing that bothered me more than anything else was Peter Coyote. A really great actor who apparently had some bad work at the plastic peeps in 90210. He has a permanent smile on his face for the entire film. He can't change expressions. It's so distracting that I can't even tell you if this movie is as bad as I thought. I guess Part 5 comes out soon. Ishtar.

KING KONG: Re-watched this to see if I missed something. I didn't. It's still a big bloated idol worship tribute to the original with nothing new to offer. Beautiful to watch, but you can skip the entire middle of the film on the boat and not miss a thing. The ending scene is amazing to watch on the Empire State building though.

If you have not seen the new Superman Returns trailer, head over to bluetights.net and check it out. I have mixed feelings about it now. The acting looks WAY over the top. But the flying scenes look amazing.

DVD REVIEW: Izo

Wow. Where to begin. I don't know how to say anything about this movie. But I'll give it a shot. First off let me say something about the director Takashi Miike. I love this sick mother f'er. If you have never seen a Miike film, then you are missing out on the most insane imaginative director working since Fellini. He was cranking out 5 to 6 films a year. I still can't keep up with the guy, and I'm only watching them. Check out Audition or the Dead or Alive trilogy for starters. And that's the normal stuff. I finally got around to watching his '04 film Izo. Oh my God.

I have never seen anything like this in my life, and I've seen a lot film. I don't even know if I understood it. In fact I'm pretty sure I didn't, but I couldn't stop watching this thing. The story is as much as I can tell is about Izo Okada (1832-1865), the historical samurai and assassin in 19th century Japan who met a tragic end: he was tortured and crucified. Miike's portrayal of the character (or rather his spirit) transcends reality (and time and space) and is more of a surrealist expose of Izo's exceedingly bloody yet philosophical encounters in an afterlife heavy on symbolism, occasionally interrupted by stock footage of World War II accompanied by acid-folk singer Kazuki Tomokawa on guitar. Kazuya Nakayama plays Izo, and the countless characters he encounters on his journey include for instance Takeshi Kitano and Bob Sapp.

My interpretation of it was this, Izo is trapped in this infinite hell loop of time and space for all his crimes. He is a killing machine that would make Jason or Freddy Kruger run for cover man. He cannot be stopped. I don't think I'm kidding here, but he must kill at least 300 people in this movie one by one. His punishment in hell is to just keep killing and killing to the point where he can't think of anything but killing to where he's mad at himself for not being able to stop. Along the way he starts wearing a batman type mask, has sex with his mom, and chops off a chicks head who shot an arrow in his eye, and as her decapitateded head lies on the ground butterflys fly out of her head and through a door up to the moon. Oh it's that kind of special folks. This is a very surreal movie that I defy anyone to explain to me. These types of movies are not always a good thing mind you, but Miike is so far out there and unafraid to do anything, that it's almost like jumping off cliffs. I found this film strangely invigorating.

Miike did a short film for Showtime Channel's Master of Horror series called, Imprint. They screen all the episodes to the Showtime execs before they air them. Apparently the execs freaked out to the point where they said that this cannot air even on pay cable. So it's supposed to come out on DVD sometime this year. I watched this in two parts over two nights, and Towards the end I thought i might be smart and make a huge leap of faith in my opinion of the film. Maybe Miike is trying to say, look I am capable of making other types of film, but all anyone pays me to make are these violent films, that I am so sick of making but for some compulsive reason I can't stop. Maybe Izo represents him in some way. I don't know but it bears further investigation. So go check this one out. It kicks from another planet.

My Own Personal Film Festival

Good Friday was indeed good for me. I had the day off from work and a chance to get caught up on some movies in "the stack". Here are some quick hits on some flicks I watched:

THE WEATHERMAN:

This film surprised me. I was not expecting such an honest depressing movie about life from Hollywood. It was not over the top, and not very sugar coated. I guess that's why it never came out for so long and why ultimately no one saw it. I think that over time this will become a nice little cult flick that people will discover and latch onto. The film is about Nic Cage who is a successful weatherman in wintry Chicago who while dealing with his divorce finds his kids in all sorts of deviant trouble. His father played by Michael Caine is hilarious as a man who is even more successful than he is, and although he doesn't shove it in his son's face, you can feel the tension when they are together. Nothing ever goes right for Cage's character, and it's primarily because nothing in his life is real. He is not really a "weatherman" per se. He just reads what the teleprompter says from the meterologist. And that is pretty much the way he spends his life and people take advantage of that making his life less than bearable. But by listening and interacting with his kids he finds himself and his confidence again. For a a Hollywood movie this is a rare kind of film. Check it out if you get a chance.

DOMINO:

Well this is maybe the opposite of the above mentioned film. A good attempt, but considering the subject matter a failed one I think. Domino is a Tony Scott film that tries for over the top greatness, but just never quite makes it. This is a violent almost comic book style film about actor Lawrence Harvey's model turned bounty hunter daughter named Domino Harvey. The focus here is about her times with the bounty hunters, and their adventures. But where this movie lost me was its attempt to bring reality into the mix with making it a reality TV show and bringing in people from 90210 playing themselves. I was really into Mickey Rourke's character and that just got shelved for a Lifetime movie subplot to be honest. I fast forwarded through the Jerry Springer part. It added nothing. And for all the cool shots and quick editing I was all but pretty much disappointed. I think the Domino character was fascinating as well but she gets lost in the subplots. What a shame. I have heard that she was quite upset about the movie before she died last year. I think that reason may have made the better flick.

CRY_WOLF

Hommie Jon recommended this to me, so I gave a spin. I think I saw the Unrated version, but I'm not entirely sure. And I must concur with Jon that although I don't know if I liked it as much, it was not half bad. As far as low-budget Scream-esque teen stalker flicks go, this was pretty decent. I'm not going to spend too much time on it, just check out Jon's review here.

RUNNING TIME

A friend at work gave me this to check out a few months ago. It's a film shot in real time about a guy Bruce Campbell who gets out jail and immediately goes to rob a bank. Then of course things go bad and Bruce has to sort things out. I liked the concept and the Black and White photography. It reminded me of a Sam Fuller movie with the dialog. It's short running time at about 63 minutes I think is what ultimately hurts it. I wish they had tried to go all in one take like Figgis did in Timeode and Hotel. They give you the illusion it is, but there are cuts to be found as you would expect in film. Overall its a nice little flick and kudos to Ash Campbell for doing it. At times it has the charm of a student film, and its nice to see Bruce helping out the little guys again. So I would recommend this only if you are looking to watch some good experimental old school heist flicks. And who isn't!

THE WARRIORS: DIRECTOR'S CUT

Never seen this before in my life. And I am a major fan of director Walter Hill's work. I dug this movie, and I am kicking myself for not seeing it earlier. This is about a bunch of gangs that all band together in New York to take over the city. However the main leader is assassinated during the gang rally as it were, and in all the hoopla following the gang known as The Warriors are blamed. So now with not only the cops after them they have 60,000 gang members on their tail as they make there way home to Coney Island. Considering when this was made, its a pretty bold film. Hill chose to do it in a slightly futuristic over the top style. It feels like a graphic novel, and in the new directors cut he ups that feel substantially by transistioning the scenes with comic book panels. Fluid move that felt like Death Wish apocalypse. I really feel in love with this classic, and I can see why it has stood the test of time.

THE BROTHERS GRIMM

Ah new Terry Gilliam! Rejoice. I think like The Weatherman above that this film over time will indeed find it's audience. It's not true Gilliam I guess, but it's a nice little film. Gilliam feels a little restrained here as he tackles all the Grimm fairy tales and tries to tie them all together. Maybe not the best idea, but a good attempt at best. Matt Damon and Heath "Bar" Ledger play the Grimm brothers who run the country scheming local villagers as real life Ghostbusters if you will that will writes down in his story book as a potential book of tales. One day they come across a real life haunting and have to utilize all there skills that have to this point been only for show. The effects here are a mix of traditional and CG. Some of the CG effects leave a lot to be desired. Monica Belucci plays the evil witch they do battle with at the end. And in the Gilliam world it's hard to see where this one fits in. At times I would say Damon is horribly miscast. Ledger is fine, but they both seem out of place in the usual ugly world of Gilliam. Jonathan Pryce is great a French general in occupied Germany. And look for Garreth from the BBC version of The Office as the Grimm's assistant. There are some classic Gilliam visuals here, but it feels like half a Gilliam movie. There is a commentary track on the disc, that I flipped on here and there. It might be more interesting to watch this movie again with his commentary to get his take on it. Overall if you are Gilliam fan or Grimm fan go for it!

INITIAL-D

This is a Hong Kong flick I've had laying around for a while. It's based on the popular manga from Japan of the same name. For all of you that don't know what Initial D is, the D stands for drifting. Drifting is a popular form of street racing in Asia, and will probably be here too after Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift comes out. In the meantime we have the greatness of Initial D to keep us company. You see Drifting is when you take a sharp turn at say 100mph and slide successfully through the turn. Brilliant. But hey the kids are all doing it, why can't we? So Inital D is about a kid who works at a gas station and delivers Soy at night down this long twisty mountain favored by kids in street cars into drifting. His dad a former racer hooks him up with this great car for drifting and he begins to race pro drifters. I think you know the rest. Although the Adrian of the "Rocky" formula here turns out to be a prostitute for reasons beyond my comprehension. So if you are into "drfting" get this movie now. Seriously though themovie does have some incredible race sequences. Cars were not meant for this, but somehow they are. McQueen would be a fan.

Post Novus Ortus

Sometimes in life you take a chance, like getting out of bed in the morning. I took a chance in leaving MMI and signing with VNR1. However things did not work the way I would have liked. So as luck would have it, I am back with MMI. It's a long long story. One too long even for this blog! Ask me next time you see me...

amyanderikwedding.com

I created a website for the big wedding day. It's www.amyanderikwedding.com.
I'm still working on it, so it's not all done. But you can preview it here:

Click here for the site

How to Lose Money in 30 Days....

Now this is a great story. I haven't updated the blog lately, because I've been busy with adjusting to the new gig and everything. But this story is pure greatness. Now I love my Amy, but this is so her luck, I can't help but laugh. OK, so every other week Amy and I go to the library to get some new books, music and movies, because they are FOC, and that's OK with me. So Amy is looking through the books and finds this book she had heard about by Suze Orman called "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke". She checked it out with hopes of finding some tips on how to save a little money here and there. Good intentions right? I though so. So Amy has a history of having horrible luck with cars. Trust me she is cursed. So we go to Houston in my truck over the weekend. This particular weekend was the weekend it rained for 3 days straight. (We missed all of it) So now Amy's car, has a leak somehow where if it rains, there will be standing water in the back seat floorboard. Guess where she left the book, "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke". That's right, in the only floorboard that leaves standing water after it rains... So now we get home and find the book floating in a lovely puddle. The book is ruined.

We go to the library and they tell her that not only must she buy a new book called, "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke", but also the late fees as it was late, and return the soaked version of "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke". So we went to Barnes and Nobles and got the book, and she returned it the next day but this library didn't make her pay the fine or return the "enhanced" version thank goodness. So now we have a mildew enhanced version of "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke" by Suze Orman if anyone would like to check it out from our library. Its a reasonable rate and will go to the Amy's Bad Luck Fund that in turn goes to #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Suze Orman of The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke fame.

MINI REVIEW: The Island

Watched this on my first day off from work. Wow. I didn't know you could make a 2 and half hour Noxema commercial into an action movie, but by golly they did. What a literal piece of shit this pile of dung is. This movie confirmed everything about Michael Bay I was afraid of. He can't tell a story. He can make it look smooth and polished all he wants, but its still a turd floating in the bowl. There are a few decent action sequences, but the story is done dude. Seen it. I was going to mention Gattaca, but that would be doing that film a disservice. Oh you know what this is my blog, and I can say what I want. THIS MOVIE EATS ASS!!!! I did get through it after stopping a few times to measure the grass in my yard, and on a moronic level it's entertaining on some level. But after the credits rolled, I felt so empty. Director Bay made The Rock which I walked out on, and Asteroids: The Movie, which I never saw, and the one movie he made I actually liked was Bad Boys 2 because it was so over the top, I couldn't help but like it. This is steaming folks. I stood in line with Scarlet Johansen once in LA and she said more dialog there than in this entire film. She is beautiful, but give her something to do besides say "Run" and my favorite, "Come on we gotta get out of here". (Ok I admit I think that line is in my film, "Seventy-8." ) Avoid "The Island" at all costs.

Novus Ortus

The blogging lately has been tough to keep up with. After my last posting I came down with the Flu. Luckily I was already on the antibiotics from a sinus infection, so the fix was quick. During that sick period I was given an opportunity to advance my career forward as an editor. I never really saw myself as an editor to be honest. I am somewhat self taught in non-linear editing. When I graduated school the old way of editing from machine to machine was pretty much gone. So as I entered the workforce I had to learn this new thing called The Avid. Now what is the Avid you ask? It's an editing system, but a non-linear one. In school we used one of these things in my last semester, after the previous semesters of learning the old linear way with both film and video. Now, I have been editing ever since I was 13 and figured out how to do it with two VCR's tied together. But it was always so time consuming and frustrating once you finished something that you couldn't go back and re-edit a new idea you had. So I stuck with writing, cause you could always use the word processor to change your ideas quickly. Then I answered a job in the paper for a position as a graphic designer for a company called Marketing Management Inc. (MMI) Graphic design was part of my major, and they liked my portfolio. They took me on a tour of the building and told me they were beginning a video/multimedia department. Bingo. They had even bought an Avid and had a commercial produced on it that in all honesty was lame. I told them I would take the position but that I wanted that Avid. I wrote a whole new script and shot a bunch of new footage and learned the Avid inside and out. And it was on that commercial that for the first time I actually enjoyed the process of editing. In fact I loved it. It was a new way for me to communicate a story without words. I was hooked. Sure I went upstairs and designed when there was nothing to cut, but I couldn't wait to get back down there and slice something up into a story.

MMI is where I met pretty much everything that's in my life today. I met my beautiful fiance, Amy there. I met all these amazing artists including Kevin Flach, a guy who taught me things I use every day in my job. I brought my college buddy, Shawn Kelly in to start the internet division of MMI. I even designed the logo and came up with the name Immotion Studios for our multimedia department. We were young and determined to make a splash in the DFW area. We had all the talent and all the resources of MMI. But more than anything we had the support of The Pease family who owned MMI and Herb Pease Sr. was a guy who built the business from the trunk of his car door to door. I admired that to no end. I could only hope to be as successful as he was. As time wore on in the late 90's to 2000, things were pretty good. We had new bosses, and we even separated into two groups. One Internet and one Multimedia. Then we got a new boss, then another, and another. It was getting ridiculous. And after a while I was starting to realize that maybe I was in a rut creatively and so I decided to turn back to art. I finished a short film that Shawn and I had never finished in college. Then this awesome thing happened. Final Cut Pro. Changed my life. Now I could edit at home and cheaply. I started making short films again and editing them at home after hours. I premiered them at work and on the internet. I was in a zone cranking these little comedies out. Then the bottom fell out.

9/11. I walked into work after just finishing a new short film, and saw the crowd around the TV near my edit suite. That one morning really changed the course of everyone's lives in my department. Management panicked and begin laying off people. But then there was a ray of hope. My shorts began to generate some heat around the office as I started selling a compilation of them to raise some money for 9/11. This all got back to Herb Pease Sr. and he asked me how can you make money on these things and I said well you really can't unless you make a feature film. And from that a little script called Seventy-8 was born. I think maybe Herb saw some of himself in me as I did of myself in him. As Seventy-8 grew closer I began to get more and more involved with Amy and my life was taking a turn both emotionally and creatively. It was a rollercoster of emotions. Then just before Seventy-8 was about to roll, MMI layed off even more people. And Kevin was among them. I was fucking pissed. I was told by my now 8th boss that I was seen as the future and that Kevin was not. How nice. Now I was very conflicted at this point. I mean I was so enamored with Sr. for trusting me with this film, but I was also angry that they would let Kevin go. If they only knew what he could do and accomplish. Sure I was the 'golden boy' at the moment, but I wasn't the glue guy. When I helped Kevin take his things out to his car I felt as if my heart was ripped out of my chest. I was clearly divided but dedicated to making this movie. Kevin even told me to forget about it and go make my dream. It hurt but I marched on.

After the movie was shot I moved back to my day job and juggled editing a feature film and commercials quite nicely. Now that Kevin was gone I worked with this amazing lady named Lesha. We bonded quickly and established a great one-two punch. We did great for over a year, then Lesha left for greener pastures. When she left I felt totally alone. Who would sell my services now? As the move kept rolling along, we finished. Did the festival thing and all that. And again I settled back into my job as a video producer/editor. Then Marija came into the fold and at first I was skeptical of her I must say. I was real fond of Lesh and I didn't know if she could pick up where she left off. I was wrong. She fit in great and after a few shaky first projects we worked great together. Then Shawn left for a new place and then Amy left. And the way she was treated by boss number whatever was evil and uncalled for. I took it very personally and it felt even worse than Kevin leaving. But I was happy for Amy, and we soon got engaged over the holidays.

Then at the beginning of this year we got another new boss and were dislocated from Creative Services to be a team of two. Which was fine really. But I have to say I was skeptical of where we were headed for the future and really tired of re-explaining what we do again. We had a great year for just two people, but I don't think anyone really sat down and saw that. I could be wrong, but we made money. I am and always will be 100 percent dedicated to where I work. But the halls of MMI were getting lonely. Herb Sr. was rarely around anymore and it just seemed cold to me. The energy was gone, and it was starting to affect my spirits. Then I got a call and opportunity knocked for me at a new place called VNR1 Communications in Arlington. It is a chance for me to find myself again and to again work with others like Kevin that do and think like I do. For the past 2 years its been me in a room talking to myself. Sure I discovered new things and all that but I was missing the communication with others in my field. My learning was beginning to become stunted. VNR has asked me to come in and teach them new things and also learn from them. I'm excited and looking forward to working with new people and sharing new ideas. Something I've lacked for several years now.

I am now no longer with MMI, but the parting was good, and the hope is I can continue to work with them on a contract basis with several clients. I will continue my business with Herb on the film "Seventy-8" to its completion. I have no hard feelings toward MMI, and I left with a sense of sadness and a sense of wonder of where my future lies. I owe much of my life to MMI, and will always be greatful and sad that things could not have turned out better than they did.

RIP: Uncle Owen

In the obscure yet important deaths this week, I saw that Phil Brown who played Uncle Owen from the original Star Wars died. Here is his bio: In all Phil Brown did more than 65 films and Television shows, but for me and for all of you, he'll always be UNCLE OWEN, who died a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, today the actor died far closer to home. Rest In Peace Phil Brown.

The Mavs get shoplifted by K-Mart...Streak over at 13...

Well we were both way too sick last night to watch the game. I think between us we coughed up a midget. K-Mart was too much to handle, and the Mavs looked like a totally different team. They looked tired and lazy and had no energy. As a result the streak ends at 13. Thanks Norm for jinxing it. The Spurs won again with Tim Duncan even though he has the Flu. So now the Mavs have dropped below the Spurs. I think New York will lay over for us on Monday. So hopefully we can get back up there. Amy wants to go eat pancakes, I feel like a semi-truck just hit me after all the coughing. I'll have to do something nice for Amy on valentines Day, cause I'm a real asshole when I'm sick. I haven't slept more than 4 hours for the past 4 nights. Very edgy indeed.

Mavs Rolling...

Block Party
Originally uploaded by genzod.

How good is this team now? Some say the best in the NBA. Charles Barkley and other NBA so-called experts are changing their tune about them. At the beginning of the season I was confused. I mean I knew they were a good team, but I had no idea Coach Avery could get this kind of performance out them. Wow. Last night Amy and I went to the game and watched the Mavs crush Shaq and his Heatlets by 36. One point shy of the blow out of the top team record wise Pistons a few months ago. Last nights performance was a thing of sheer beauty. It was like ballet for Hoops fans. This team is deeper than any other team and is a game and a half behind The Pistons. They have left the Spurs behind, and now it may be early, but this team is hungry for a title, and it looks as though Avery will stop at nothing to get there. Barring any late season injuries, I'd take this team over any team in the NBA right now. Tonight they try for 14 straight over the Nuggets. Norm on the Ticket radio show predicts 20. I don't know about that, but if they do, WOW.

Mongoloid of the Month

Mongoloidism (the story went) is a defect in which the child of caucasoid parents atavistically expresses the traits of a previous, less advanced stage of human evolution—the mongoloid stage. The mongoloid child, as a throwback to a more primitive type of human, is mentally deficient.

Does that sound like some of the people that work at Wal-Mart to you? Let me tell you a little story that I am not too proud of myself to disclose, but I feel like I need a place to rant about these "things" that work at my local Wal-Marts. First off, I had a very important meeting to get to on Tuesday morning. I got in my truck and it was dead. Poor Amy had to come pick me up and let me use her car. So we get home, that evening and take the battery out of my truck and head to the great land known as White Settlement. My reasoning for going there was we had two stops to make and that one was the closet. Yes there are hillbillies there, and other assortments of the living dead, but having had luck there before, I was sure it would be fine. I mean Amy was born in White Settlement. ( I may need to do some more investigating there...) Keep in mind that we are both dog sick. I am hacking up all sorts of goodness and my temper is short. Also I am attempting to get back home by 7:30 for the Mavs ass whipping of the LA Laker. I mean Lakers. (Another story.)

So we go in, and as usual there is no one to help you in automotive. Then this scraggly Flo-esque chick with no teeth to speak of emerges from the depths of Wal-Marts corridors. Amy had already looked up the number and it had an F next to the number. There were several next to it with he correct number but not an F in the number. So we ask Wal Mart mongoloid employee number one. Frustrated that she actually has to help us she shifts her toothless carcass over to us and we ask her about the F being in the number. And she replies, "It don't make no difference, it's the same battery." We say, are you sure, cause it says in this book here that it is the F270, not the 270. She says again, "it don't make no difference." So we decide to trust the Mongoloid, and we get the battery. Now, I have been told that with the proliferation of computers that many Mongoloids actually own them now. You would think after about a dozen times or two the grammar checker would tell the Mongoloid that "It don't make no difference" is incorrect. But again we trust the Mongoloid. So we get home, eat our Wendys that was right next to the Wal-Mart and the game has just begun. How perfect I had thought. We got our errands run and are now eating right before tip-off. Perfect. Amy, having serious doubts of the Mongoloid's advice goes in the garage and puts the new battery in. I follow her and she tells me that the contacts will not reach. Never trust the Mongoloid. So we put the Tivo on pause and proceed to go to the Hulen Wal-Mart.

Now mind you this Wal-Mart is less Mongoloidish, and was Amy's first suggestion to begin with. Since Amy is usually right, I felt good that we could resolve the earlier issue. We walk into automotive with the battery and there is a line with two people in it. We are the 3rd. We check the racks and notice again they do not have this battery. I tell Amy, well maybe we should ask this Wal-Mart guy in automotive to see if they have any in the back. So we wait, And we wait. As we are waiting, I start looking at the Wal Mart employee and begin to notice some Mongoloid-esqe features, Large forehead, popping eyes, etc. but I keep my hopes up that he is just a normal run of the mill fat-ass. The first in line leave and then this European couple all dressed in PINK jumpsuits cut in front of us and make the newly anoited Mongoloid leave his post to go open a car stereo case on the next aisle. he then proceeds to take them in front of us and takes out a car stereo book and slowly turns page after page at a pace so slow that only a Mongoloid would need. Now normally I would blow this off if the Mongoloid had turned to me and said excuse me I'll be with you in just a moment. But there was nothing. Not even eye contact or anything whatsoever.

Amy turns to me and asks me if I want to go. Having not slept much the night before due to illness and coughing strongly I agreed. However something in me at that moment took over. I grabbed the battery and bumped into the Euro-trash pink duo on the way out and turned to the Mongoloid and said, "I'm sick of dealing with Mongoloids and Hillbillies like you." We then proceeded to walk out and get in the car. At this point we were pissed. I pondered the thought if Wal-Mart still sold guns. But that passed. The game was way past half-time. It then dawned on us that there was only one other alternative. Wal-Mart on McCart. The Ultimate Mongoloid Megaplex. It was time for war.

We arrive at the Wal-Mart #3 and go to automotive. Already the mood is dark as a huge truck sits with lightslooming in the parking lot as if they were waiting for a drop off of some type. We go in and there is no one there. Automotive has closed. We go to the battery rack, and we find that mine is not there. Amy panics and goes afoot in the jungle to find help. I do find a more expensive version of my battery. I have had enough. I decide to go for it and get this one. We double check it and it looks good. We go to check out and there is no one there to check us out in Auto. So Amy goes back into the jungle of incompetence and is told that we need to speak with Jamal and quickly leaves Amy. Are we to take some cardboard and yarn and make a big foghorn and say "JAMAL to AUTO"? Amy goes out to the Garage and finds Jamal cleaning up. He tells us that Auto is closed and he can't help us today. But that if we like we can go all the WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to the front of the store to Customer service and that they can exchange the battery. Dodging other Mongs, we get up there and AGAIN someone cuts in line in front of us. I was livid and ready to slap some bitches silly at this point. We get up there and the lady says this: "you have to ring that up in Automotive and they closed right now" We stared at her and didn't say a word. We told her Jamal told us to come here, and for some reason she rang it up without a problem. Amazing. In actuality, we could have gone in the back and taken the battery off the shelf and drove away without apying a dime. I don't think Jamal would have cared really as when we left he was having a little domestic dispute with the Mrs Jamal. So we got home, game is in the forth, and yes the battery worked and yes the Laker was defeated. So that was a silver lining to the Horror of the Mongoloids.

If the Mongoloid could read this, I am sorry for calling you that. That was not a cool thing to do. However in retrospect, do not trust The Mongoloid...

RIP: Akira Ifukube

The voice of Godzilla, and the heralded Japanese composer Akira Ifukube, passed on at age 91. He was the man who gave strength and darkness to one of the greatest cinema icons in history, and his death signals the end to an era of incredible men; Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ishiro Honda, Tsurubaya, and now Ifukube.
Rest in piece sir, you deserve it.

Blogging is still cool

Went with Marija today to a really cool presentatin about blogging for business. The guy that gave the presentation is named Brian Oberkirch with weblogswork.com. We learned a bunch of new shit that I hope we can utilze for some clients and for ourself. Learned a bunch of new tools for blogging. Check out Brian's blog HERE

Vote for my Poster!!!

Hello everyone,

You may or may not remember that last year I entered a poster design contest thru Sony Pictures for the movie "Resident Evil 2". I made the top 5 last year but lost in the voting, and this year the Sony movie "Silent Hill" had another contest, so I entered that, and have made it again to the semi-finals. So I need EVERYONE's vote to help me win! If I win I promise we'll have a big party with the prize loot! So go down below and vote for my poster!!! You can vote again the next day too!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR ME

DVD Mini Reviews

Watched a few DVD's over the holidays. Here are some Quickie reviews of a few:

GRIZZLY MAN: Genius. I loved this movie. If I had a top ten list of 2005, this would be right up there. Great documentary by a master filmaker that is getting better with age. Its not Fitzcarldo, but same themes. Only this time its fact not fiction. A Truly wonderful documentary.

2046: Wong Kar-wei. What more I there to say. I reviewed this back in the summer. My thoughts have not changed at all. Remarkable. My favorite film of 05. Kar-wei will you marry me?

DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST: I saw Renny Harlin's Exorcist: The beginning and gagged. This film is a redemption of sorts. Totally different film, and a vastly improved one at that. This is a character piece that has pyschological horror. Not blood and guts. The special effects are laughable, but if you can get beyond that and look at the story and characters, you will have a good time and as always writer/director Paul Schrader gives you something to think about after you watch the movie. I wish I had his resume!

SKY HIGH: A lot of people told me how good and fun this was. Maybe I was in a bad mood. It just kind of sat there. Liked the concept, but I've seen it before when it was called Volcano High. Cool scenes and a good kid movie, just didn't entertain the comic geek in me enough.

PALINDROMES: Good old Todd Solendz tells the story of a runaway girl played by several different actresses. Not only that but they are all different ages and races as well. This movie kind of won me over after a while for some reason. Its got its usual Soledz awkwardness, but enough good moments to recommend it to the other freaks out there.

MYSTERIOUS SKIN: Greg Akari tries to creep you out again with another wonderful tale of homo-erotic teenage fun. This movie gave me the creeps, and not in a good way. I think I've moved past this kind of film in my life. I understand what he wanted to say, but it didn't mean much to me. It was better than Fantastic 4 if you have to choose...

UNDEAD: Great Zombie flick form Australia. Check out the documentary on the DVD of the making. The directors really put everything they had into this thing.

DEMON SEED: Wonderful Julie Christie exploitation. Guy builds a super computer in his basement that ends up raping his girlfriend and impregnating her. They must destroy the evil computer before he is able to birth the Demon Seed!!!! Classic. By he way the computer looks like one of the labyryth puzzle boxes in Hellraiser. Gives new meaning to cybersex. But this was made way before that term was even a reality. Check it for fun.

INSIDE DEEP THROAT: disappointing documentary that misses the mark about the impact on government policy that the little classic XXX ditty Deep Throat had. Didn't go deep enough for me. But that's my hangup.

REVIEW: Firefly/Serenity

Well I didn't know much about Firefly when the movie Serenity came out. But I was intrigued that a show that never really made it one season could get a feature film made about it. There must be something good about it right? So I wanted to see the series before I watched the movie, Serenity. So I did. I watched the entire DVD box set of Firefly, then went right into Serenity. So how is Firelfy you ask. Not bad is the answer, and at times it was downright fucking cool. This is the show that Star Trek used to be. Its a show Star Trek should be. This is the Magnificent Seven in space. (They even haul cattle on board!)It's about the lower class in the future. The people who bust there ass and have to break a few laws to survive in a so-called perfect world. The cast is pretty good, you have the captain kirk/han solo lead captain. He's not perfect, and he kills people occasionally. The other crew people are all castaways from one place or another. They all have opinions and most of them don't give a shit about the others. That was the kind of refreshing part of the tv show. The plots are not mindblowing but they are fun and it's really the characters that make this show fly above the other trite. The one thing that bothered me most (and this may be attributed to the fact i watched them all in a row) was that in almost every episode a crew person almost dies, then pulls through at the end. That was kinda cool a few times, but it got really repetitve after a while. As the series moved on, the crew formed a really good bond and working relationship. I was sad to see things end rather abruptly, thankfully creator Joss Wheaton was given a second chance and a budget to continue the crew of Firefly with Serenity a feature film version of the show that picks right up where the show left off sort off.

In Serenity the stakes are of course a bit higher, and they have to actually pull a Star Trek and kill off a few key crew people. I liked the movie's fast pace and pretty interesting plot. A race of people called Reavers are killing every human in space and their creators may be the government themselves. As the government tries to cover up their secret they discover that long hunted crew member River who has special abilities knows the secret and hire a bounty hunter to kill her and the ship, Serenity. Lots of action, and a good solid sci-fi plot make this a welcome sci-fi film. Although I can't see really getting the most from it without knowing the tv series pretty well. Recomended if you like good sci-fi.

Happy New Year!

Going to grab a bite to eat with Amy. Got sick last night after a junk food infusion. Hope 06 is better! Hopefully later I can blog about the aborted proposal incident, wacky family moments over the holidays, and our front row seats at the Flyers game. Peace out, and happy new year!

Howard's last "free" Show

Sad day. Today is the last time you can hear Howard Stern on free radio. I've been a loyal listener for about 15 years now. To me Howard's show is not about T & A like most people think its all about. Its the early moments in the show, the real parts, and the people on the show. Most other shows are all clones are too fake to me. This is the show that picked me up during long commutes to college. And no matter how bad my life or day was going, Howard was always there to give me a pick me up of offbeat, obscure, and bad taste humor. (The best kind) I have even contributed to the show by sending him early George Takei tapes to the show that they use daily. I will be ready for the Sirius move on Jan. 9th, but paying for the new TV show is a bit too much for my bank account right now.

A quick funny story about Howard before I go. One time I was driving to class for a test and I was seriously stressed out about it. He was doing a bit about something and at that point traffic had come to a halt on I-30. I think it was when Billy West was a semi-regular on the show and I was laughing so hard that I forgot I was in traffic or even going to take a test. I looked over to my left and there were angry traffic people everywhere all pissed and upset. Then a guy pulled up next to me and was laughing as hard as I was. Looking back on that, I think that's what Howard is all about. When times are tough it's great to laugh, and Howard does that better than anyone on the air. "Shu, Shu Retarded Flu." "Oh my"

REVIEW: Gus Van Sant's Last Days

I watched director Gus Van Sant's latest film Last Days about Kurt Cobain's final hours. And I was warned by Jason not to watch it, but I did anyway cause I like Van Sant's stuff. Recently Van Sant has started making art films again and although I hated "Gerry" I loved "Elephant". "Last Days" is another matter. I had seen it on a few peoples best of the year lists as a misunderstood masterpiece. So I gave in and checked it out. Jason was right. It just sits there. It does nothing. For me at least. Whatever Cobain's genius was, it's not found here that's for sure. The movie sucks. Whoever thinks this is a masterpiece is smoking too much of whatever Van Sant is smoking in downtown Portland, Oregon. Now don't get me wrong I love Van Sant. I even kinda like his shot for shot remake of Pyscho, but its time to reel it in Gus. For real. Your style is cool, but your storytelling is tedious and a "beating" to get through at the moment. I know what he's trying to do, but he can do it better.

Amy at age 3...

Amy was making fun of me last night for vlogging and being self important. Here is some footage of Amy as a little girl in 1978. I put some of her favorite music behind it. Play the Quicktime movie down below.

Farah White in Femme Fatales Magazine

Farah White from my movie, "Seventy-8" is in the latest issue of Femme Fatales on newstands now. She talks about her new TV Pilot with Sly Stallone and "Seventy-8". Go Farah!

REVIEW: King Kong '05

The first movie my folks ever took me to see was King Kong with Jeff "The Dude" Bridges. So in 2005 I took my parents to see King Kong 2005. It was a real special night with my folks and Amy in tow. I was preparred to be wowed like the kid I was in 1976.
Peter Jackson hit a home run with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Can he do it again. Not really. I'm not comparing the two movies by any means. But its hard to live up to that last feat. Hopefully that won't haunt his career. I really wish he had made Lovely Bones first. A more Heavenly Creatures movie first before getting back into Lucasville antics.
The movie is really more of a loving tribute to the original 30's Kong. And I liked that, but I think it was too thick in places for me. I never felt like I was watching a solid movie about a monster. And anyone who knows me, knows I love a good monster movie. I had the same problem with this movie that I had with Godzilla:Final Wars this year. These are tribute films, not straight forward films. They don't take the subject matter seriously. Which shocked me considering how much love Jackson puts into his films. Sure Kong is great and is fully realized, but I always felt Jackson winking to me from behind the green screen. It was a fun ride like Jurassic Park, but nothing more for me. I'm about to re-watch Godzilla Final Wars this week, so maybe my reaction will change on a 2nd viewing. I will say this, the ending on top of the Empire State building is one of the most beautifully shot and put together pieces of film in a long while. Worth the price just for that scene alone.

Welcome to Vlogging... (click here to play)

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A Tale of Two Teams...

Man when i first wrote about the Mavs being out of control and the Rockets improving into a championship team I could not have been more wrong. The Mavs are impressive on any given evening and the Rockets are downright awful this year. Here is what happened: The Mavericks are winning games in the he fourth quarter. They used to build huge leads then lose them in the 4th, that's all different. Dirk is a MVP this year no doubt. Forget those two Lakers games. Those were odd flukes. Devin Harris is coming of age as an NBA star before our eyes. He is averaging double digits every night and dishing some serious assists to Jason Terry, Dirk, and Damp. And then there is that questionable off season pickup of Diop. No more questions. For whatever reason he sat on the bench in Cleveland for the last three seasons is beyond me. He is almost the leading shot blocker in the league this year! And Josh and Marquis are improving daily. This team is scary good folks. I guess I was so upset at the loss of Finley, I neglected to really take a hard look at this team. Stack has only played two games this year, but it didn't even matter. They are tied with the Spurs for first place in the West and 2 overall in the NBA. We beat #1 Detroit by 30 and have beat the Spurs one out of two times as well. Damp is even starting to play well as of late. Did I say this team is on its way? Congrats to Avery Johnson for making me a Mavs fan with out my beloved Fin. This is a team by every definition.



Now on to my Rockets... Oh God what a friggin mess. They got off to a decent start, then McGrady went down with a back injury. (Shades of the Orlando Magic anyone?) The Rockets could not win a game with McGrady. Then he comes back and wins 6 straight. Alston goes down, then Jon berry, then Mutumbo, then the final blow, Yao. This team probably won't make the playoffs this year. I saw Jeff Van Gundy pull a Marky mark from Boogie Nights the other night and just stare at the floor for a good 3 minutes. That Mike James trade was a big mistake. Maybe Skip to ma Lou will prove me wrong, but this team has no chemistry unless McGrady and Yao are out there together. Props to Moochie Norris and my favorite new Rocket, Luther Head for trying to keep hope alive. Stromile Swift had a good night tonight against the Hornets but missed a buzzer beater for the win. Otherwise he has been distant and too relaxed for a Van Gundy team. It';s a mess. I still think once Yao gets back and Jon Barry and a few others that they can do what they did last season and turn that ship around before the playoffs. However watching them tonight and last night, they have no confidence. McGrady looks like he's in Orlando again, and the bench of injuries looks like a Men's Warehouse ad for the NBA. Sad, but I will keep the hope alive for my Rockets.

We Got Bling!

Amy and I are officially engaged!!!!!!!