When Tall Meets Small

The tallest man recently met the smallest man. Click HERE to read the story. Thanks to Jor-El from Planet Chicago for the story.

Ruidoso Part I

The 720 Dunk Returns!

The Air Up There (aka Taurian Fontenette) did a sweet 720 dunk recently. Check it.

We Lost on Jeopardy...

We were handed our ass at the casino last night. End of story. This photo was obviously taken before the crash.

Happy Friday the 13th!

In honor of Friday the 13th today I have decided to give a quick set of thoughts to every Friday the 13th movie ever made.

Friday the 13th (1980)


A decent take at trying to replicate Halloween. In this movie Jason's mom kills Kevin Bacon in the throat with a fishing harpoon. Or was it Jason? You see Jason really is not in this film until the very end. His Mommy does all the hard labor.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)



Not one of my favorites in the series, but at least it kind of continues the story from the first movie. Jason grows up into the killer we all love today. No hockey mask in this one yet, instead Jason opts for the Elephant man pull over hoodie. He also dons the awesome denim overalls. Best part is any scene involving Jason's moms head. In the fridge, around the candle light. This one is very romantic.

Friday the 13th Part 3-D (1982)



This one gets the ball rolling for the next few to come out. Finally Jason finds his hockey mask worn by one of his early victims. I remember seeing this in the parking lot of Toys R Us. You see you could see the drive in from there, and I think it may be the first time I saw breasts at the cinema. Also scenes of note are the punched out eyeball that comes at ya in 3-D. And for some reason I remember the TV antenna being adjusted as being a cool 3-D deal.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)



I believed at the time that if you put The Final Chapter in a title, then they meant it. I've grown so much since then. In this one things get kinda crazy. Jason kills Crispin Glover from Back to the Future. Why he didn't just say "You get your damn hands off her" I'll never know. The effects in this one are the big story. Corey Feldman plays the title character of Tommy. And in the end he throws Jason's machete into his head and as Jason falls to the floor with the knife still in head he actually slides down on it further as he falls. Tom Savini's FX work in this is outstanding. And I really thought that Jason was dead. This one I liked a lot.

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)



This is the worst one of the lot. The only thing this one had going for it was nudity. And I can't really remember if that was any good anyway. So in this one they get Corey Feldman back for a cameo in the beginning. I saw a funny interview with Corey about this one. He said at the time he was filming Goonies, and he was working 6 days a week. But the Friday peeps really wanted him to come back, so his mom said to come shoot him on his day off on Sunday. They actually came to his house and found some bushes out in the backyard and used a garden house for a rain machine and filmed his scene. Oh and the main reason this movie sucks is that Tommy is all grown up say 17 or 18 or something, which would put the movie in the year 2000, but for some reason its still 1985? And to add insult to injury Jason really is dead and the guy going around stalking the time shifting Tommy really isn't Jason put a copycat dude from a mental hospital. This one sucks it hard.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives! (1986)



Ah now rebounding nicely from a crap sequel we have this gem. My personal favorite of all the Fridays. It has a great cast and sense of humor. It turns out that Tommy (now played by a less boring actor than in 5) is still having Jason nightmares. So with the help of Horshack from Welcome Back, Kotter they dig up Jason's grave and find him dead as doornail with worms crawling out of his skull. So he goes to pour gas on Jason to get rid of any remains when all of a sudden a lightning bolt from the skies comes down and hits the iron pole that Tommy stabbed Jason with. Horshack gets it bad, as Jason rises up and into Zombie Jason. Tommy escapes and enlists the help of the hottest sheriff's daughter known to mankind. Together they fall in love while battling Jason. Best kill is easily Jason taking the sheriff and folding him in half like a lawn chair. See Jason is no longer just deformed human Jason. This bitch has supernatural style Kung-Fu. The film is very funny and never takes itself too seriously except to keep the legend and mythos of Jason moving right along. Latter films will try to replicate this and screw it up big time. Film also feature a Alice Cooper song, "I'm a Teenage Frankenstein" However there is no nudity in this one. Sorry. Jason is left tied to the bottom of the lake to rot.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)



This one is kinda fun to me. Now that we have zombie Jason, you can do whatever wild ass gag tickles your fancy. So they hired FX artist John Buechler to direct this one. There really is only one way to describe it: Carrie vs. Jason. Imagine if at the end of Carrie she went walking and found Crystal Lake accidentally untied Jason from the lake and here we go a war to end all wars. With her telekinesis at full steam she tr hows everything at Jason, couches, TVs, doors, nails, you name it. But Zombie Jason just keeps coming. For the first time we get to see Jason wreak havoc sans his hockey mask towards the end. This Jason design is the best ever done. the makeup job on Jason is one of my favorites. He looks like a pro wrestler turned Zombie. This is the first time stunt man Kane Hodder played Jason and he is by far and away the best to ever play him. His movements, his walking, and breathing really show a sense of danger and urgency to Jason. I enjoyed this one until the end when out of nowhere, the Carrie chick somehow is able to resurrect her dead father from the lake to pull Jason down and keep him there. Its an odd moment and kind of spoils the film.

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
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Unfortunately the great title does not live up to the movie. This time becomes dislodged from the lake by a passing ship that somehow is able to get to the ocean. Jason hitches a ride to NYC for some R and R. But the damn ship has teenagers on it. What's a teenage hating zombie to do? the boat ride goes on for almost the whole damn movie and its horrible. There are some attempts at story here as in Jason is really just a scared kid encased in a zombie outfit. Once in NYC there are some great scenes, but not nearly enough. The film was made in Toronto so you only see Jason in Times Square for a second. Then at the end Jason is in the NYC sewer with some toxic waste flowing over him. After the spew we find a naked little deformed child Jason. To be honest with you I was so disappointed in this one I really don't remember what happened next...

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)



Here we go with that Final BS they tried on us years earlier. So already your going in crying bullshit. But it gets worse. Jason is now somehow a part of a FBI sting. They lure him in with a naked hot redhead then a swat team surrounds him with guns and bombs and blow him into tiny pieces. Good start I thought. Next at the hospital, we see a dude attracted to Jason's oozing black tar heart. For some reason he decides to take a bit of it and he becomes Jason. Then Jason starts body hoping from one person to the next. Rarely do we get to see the hockey mask Jason until the end. And at that point you don't care. Then it goes totally over the top by introducing black magic, some demons that control Jason from Hell. And eventually some character figures out that to send Jason back to hell he has to get these bad CG demons to come up through the earth and take him down. And as that happens Freddy's glove appears and pulls Jason's mask down to hell. (which later sets up Jason vs. Freddy) Bad entry.

Jason X (Friday the 13th Part X) (2001)



I really enjoyed this one like I did with Jason Lives. It never takes itself too seriously. I mean its Jason in Space for Christ sakes. Sometime int he future some people are looking at fossils on Old Earth and find Jason buried in ice or something. They thaw him out and Jason finds a whole new space playground of cool ways to kill people. the best by far is in a science lab where he takes a person's face and shoves in a freezing cold solution then pulls it back out and slams the head on the counter smashing it into little pieces. Classic Jason. Then by "accident" Jason gets locked in a chamber where he is given a cyber makeover and is turned into a jason robot with a new shiny metallic mask for space travel.

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)





Do I need to explain this? Do I really? I'm tired. This is a fun entry but they screwed up in replacing Kane Hodder as Jason with some basketball player size guy. But the movie itself is entertaining to see these two duke it out on screen. I had fun watching it.

To all Don Nelson lovers, I give you this...

Some people still have love for the Don Nelson. As a couch he is great. But in a previous post i described how I feel about who the true Nellie is. Now I have proof. Click HERE to join the San Fran area's newest cry baby. It's all about the $ for Don.

REVIEW: Transformers

OK, I will not totally go into full geek detail about why I liked or disliked this movie because i am in jury duty today.

The Positives:

1. Giant fighting robots that transform into cars and planes. Very friggin cool.

2. The explanations of where they came from is done decently. (I honestly figured they would skip over that, but they were pretty true to the cartoon from the 80's with a few modifications.)

3. Optimus Prime is still the man. (or the machine)

4. Shia is funny.

5. Megan Fox = slutty hot.

6. and again Giant fighting robots that transform into cars and planes. Still cool.

The Negatives:

1. Michael Bay.

2. The transforming boombox is annoying at all times.

3. Megan Fox = bad actress (but slutty hot...)

4. They changed the kid from the cartoons name to Sam instead of Spike. Why? (Geek alert!)

5. Robots were difficult to distinguish once transformed.

6. Michael Bay.

7. Too long a movie.

8. The Barton Fink subplot was not needed.(and Barton phoned it in BTW)

9. and finally did I mention Michael Bay.

Trying not to be a hater, but he needs to watch Hot Fuzz. He does make pretty images don't get me wrong, but that is really all he's got. He was born to remake Top Gun.

Bottom line: A little long, but giant robots fighting other giant robots is good any day of the week. Childhood geekfantasy somewhat fullfilled.

Montgomery Flea market

Whatever Happened to Eric Red?

One of my favorite horror films of all time was this little 80's movie called Near Dark. I must have seen it 15 times at the movies over at the old Western Hills dollar theater. The writer of that film was this guy Eric Red. He also wrote the original Hitcher film and Blue Steel with Jamie Lee Curtis. He even moved into directing a few films. He's got a new film coming out in October and I was wondering why I haven't heard his name in the past 10 years or so. Today I found out and it's a fascinating story that appeared in LA Weekly last year. You have to kind of read through the story to get all the details, but in a nutshell he ran over and killed 2 people in his car then exited the car and tried to kill himself with some broken glass on the floor of the bar he crashed into. It is a bit long of an article, but really interesting nonetheless. You can read it HERE.

Disturbing Item in the Video Snack Bar...

My thought of the day over in the Video Snack Bar was Transformers. The third video over on the bar is somewhat disturbing to me. I mean I'm a fan of the Transformers, but that is taking it to a new level. Not only in fan costuming, but in spare time spent on worthless endeavors. Hasbro is proud. Look over to your right on the video snack bar and click on video number 3 to see what I'm talking about. Remember the thoughts change daily, so if its not Monday July 2, you are SOL. Just kidding, here is the embedded video.

Two Films that should be on my top 15 list!

There are two films that I recently forgot to put on my top 15 list. Maybe I should of just done a top 20! Anyway I don't know where these guys rank, but i think it a crime not to include George Pal's film adaptation of H.G. Wells The Time Machine and David Lean's epic Lawrence of Arabia. I feel horrible that these two are not on my list. How in the world I forgot them is bad on my part. Especially The Time Machine!!! Lawrence is somewhere in the top 15 or 20, but Time Machine is no doubt in my top 10. My bad.



The Time Machine (1960)
Directed by George Pal.

My name is Weena. I first had the kids record story album of this tale. The B side had War of the Worlds. I was fascinated with the concept of time travel as a kid. Then one day I saw the greatness of the 1960 movie version. I love this movie. I feel like a kid again when I see it. It's my Wizard of Oz I guess. To top it off it's a smart film, and a warning about the dangers of technology and the misuse of it. It's not as faithful to the novel as I remember but it is its own entity. As I write this it is playing on HDNET Movies channel. And it looks better than ever. Sure the Morlock are a bit cheesy looking, but its the mood and the journey of the main character that lingers with me.




Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Directed by David Lean

Only one word describes this movie: EPIC. I'm not a big fan of Epic movies at all. They are usually all spectacle and no heart, but I do admire this one. David Lean's visuals are insane. The photography is nothing short of breathtaking. The story is also epic in its nature and melds wonderfully with the visuals. Its a match in every respect. At time sit feels like a big budget art film, and maybe that's why it sorta draws me to it. The characters are indeed flawed in this huge desert landscape. I can imagine that to make this film today would cost 300 million and all the great shots would be CG ass. This is 100% celluloid love. I cannot wait till this shows on HDNET or comes out on Blu-Ray.

The Dangers of Hot Dog Eating

This is an illustration of what can happen when you engage in serious hot dog eating competitions.

Video Snack Bar

Adding some new elements to the blog courtesy of Blogger being the best ever. Anyway if you look over to your right on the bar, you will see four little video screens. I will try every day to type in a random thought in my video bar. When I do this, Google goes out and finds four videos like a search engine would and display those on the page. Now when you click on one of the screens it will open in a bigger display over in the posts section. I have no control over what it finds. Whatever thought I type in is what it finds... Hope people enjoy this!

UPDATE: Amy came up with a better name than Random Thought of the Day. Instead it shall be known as The Video Snack Bar Nice one. Check out Amy's blog HERE.

Movie Time with Pikahsso and Tahiti

My college hommie, Tahiti has a new movie review web show over at the Quick DFW paper website called "Movie Time with Pikahasso and Tahiti" I watched all the reviews in a row and they were all hysterical. Tahiti and Pikahasso are two thirds of the Hip Hop group called PPT that is sweaping the nation. Tahiti is in the zone. G-Nolly would be proud. (wherever he may be, we miss you G-Nolly) Check it HERE

REVIEW: The Police Concert

Amy and I went to see The Police tonight at the AAC in Big D. Pretty good show. Refreshing to see 3 guys jamming with nothing but talent and real instruments. Andy Summers was really good as was Stuart Copeland. Sting was also very good. The set list was not so bad, I wished they had played some more of their early faster punkish stuff. The hits were all good, but it was all quite predictable and sing-a-longish. they did change up some of the hits here and there, but not enough to get upset about. I actually kind of enjoy the new takes on the older songs. I was really wanting to hear Canary in a Coal Mine, but alas they did not...



The crowd was mostly 30's to 50's and ready to retire at 10:30pm. Friend Lykins from Chicago informed earlier in the week that Andy Summers is 64! Man, time flies.... I tried to record a bit of video of the show on the old cell video camera. It didn't turn out so good of course, but it's something of a memory. Also got Sting's autograph!!! More on that later. That's all I have to say to you.

Waiting For George A. Romero...

I did something today, that I would not do for many people. I went to the Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas, and met one of my filmmaking idols. I waited three and a half hours in a line to meet the master of modern film horror and the Godfather of Zombie movies, George A. Romero. George directed "Night of the Living Dead", and my one of my favorite films of all time, its sequel "Dawn of the Dead" He also did Day , Land, and the upcoming Diary of the Dead.




It was a long line and my dogs were barking way before I got there. Several times I considered bailing early on but after I got past the hotel lobby in line there was no going back. I made friends from Dallas and Oklahoma while in line. Once there I found George to be a very nice person indeed. I asked several questions and he always stopped what he was doing and looked you in the eye and gave you his full attention. He was quite impressed with my selection of things to have signed. My vinyl Dawn of the Dead soundtrack and Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead posters and laser discs. He told me has about two weeks left in post tweaking the cut for ""Diary of the Dead", and that it will prem in Toronto first and then will be released theatrically overseas before it opens in the States. By the way he was telling me it seemed that it had yet to find a distributor in the US, but was all sold overseas.It was the capper to a long day.





I also ran into Tom Savini and got him to sign a few items as well. He seemed less than thrilled to be there and was not all that personal. Also got Gaylen Ross from Dawn of the Dead to sign over a few items as well. She was awesome and very friendly to speak with. The very cool Jeffery Combs of Re-Animator fame signed my laserdisc of Re-Animator, to which he recalled a story to me that was funny. He said that Peter Jackson gave him that very disc for him to sign when they made The Frighteners back in the day from his huge horror laser disc collection. I was thankful to have the opportunity to geek out horror style this weekend and meet some real legends of the horror genre.

My Top 15 Favorite Flicks...

Last night I watched some of AFI's top 100 films of all time special on CBS and enjoyed it quite a bit. That got me thinking that I never really like to make lists per se, but if I had to choose a handful of films on a deserted island, what would I take with me? I went through my existing DVD collection and picked out some. My criteria was not just technical or artistic, but more or less if I am channel surfing and one of these 15 movies pop up the surfing comes to an end. They may not be perfect movies, or be technically my favs, but they entertain me over and over again like no other. So here we go...



15. Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

This is not so much a film as it is an experience. A visual nightmare of what human nature must endure to survive. I've never been or claim to know what combat is like, but this is what I imagine it would be. The story here is simple, but its the journey into madness that makes this a classic. I got the opportunity to see this on the big screen and after it is over you are literally spent emotionally. You feel like just sitting there watching the tide roll in for a while. Its one of the greatest big screen experiences I have ever had.

(NOTE: I prefer the theatrical cut to the director's cut which is way too long and the extra scenes add nothing to the experience of the film.)




14. Network (1976) Directed by Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet is one of the greatest directors still working today. Network is a very prophetic film of what has happened to TV networks in current times. It predicts big mergers and most of all reality television being the end of us all! Having put in some time at a network, I can appreciate the film more than ever. I've seen some of these things with my own eyes. Peter Finch is amazing here as is Faye Dunaway. This is a great example of how power corrupts all the way down the line.



13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Directed Tobe Hooper

I must have seen this film 100 times since high school. At first I found the film scary and repulsive. Then I saw it as a comedy of epic proportions. I could quote every line and use them in everyday conversation. But really this movie is scary because I have encountered these odd types in the Texas country side. This could happen to you then and can happen to you now. It is raw and feels very real. Not too many films have felt this real to me. It smells bad too.



12. Cinema Paradiso (1988) Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore

This film is not just purely for film geeks. It will make you cry at the end. If you really love film and all it provides for you in an escapist way, then this film will really touch you. The film reminds me of my relationship with my Dad and how he introduced me to film and photography and how that passion carries over from generation to generation. And a truly remarkable score by the great Ennio Morricone.



11. Manhunter (1986) Directed by Michael Mann

This film haunts me. I can recall images from it like a Kubrick film. It's not so much the story that is bad ass, but the way its told with Mann's cold empty white photographic images that burn into your brain. It does have a Miami Vice-esque feel to it at times, but it never relishes in bad TV dialog or plot. A prequel to Silence of the Lambs, but to me a far superior film. Later remade as the horrendous Red Dragon to cash in on Silence $. And as with Vice the 80's music and score is a perfect fit.



10. The Wild Bunch (1969) Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Again one of those great big screen experiences. This film is about what happens in life when you are outdated in your occupation. In this case its about what do cowboys do when there is no need for cowboys anymore? Robbery, Drinking, and fight for whatever cause pays for the next drink or hooker. It is a film that looks like a western and bloody action film yet at the same time asks a lot of interesting questions if you read between the lines. Great shootouts under a master craftsman in prime form. (even if he was drunk most of the time...)



9. Boogie Nights (1997) Directed by P.T. Anderson

I've probably seen this film more than any other film in recent memory. It really resonates to me for some reason. And it really has nothing to do with the porn element, rather the characters I love more than anything. It is in essence not so much a loose version of porn superstar John Holmes life, but a fascinating character study of all these broken people thrown together in this porn universe when porn was very mainstream in the 70's and 80's. Not only are the characters fascinating to me they seem like people you know, and for all there faults you can't help but adore every single one of them to the end. In the end the film is about family, no matter how crazy it is, it's important. Marky Mark will never top this performance. If you would have told me back in the early 90's that a film with Marky Mark would be in my top 10 movies I would have told you to F off. That's the greatness of PT Anderson. If you came up to me at any point in the day and said hey you wanna watch Boogie Nights. I'm there 24/7. This film also contains some nudity...



8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Directed by Stanley Kubrick

I saw this on a little 13 inch black and white TV I had in my room in Middle School. The next day in class, it was all I could think or talk about. Most of the kids could care less. My Dad even talked about it constantly, and I ignored it for a while. Then it found me. It is captivating in a dream like state. It demands you watch it and absorb it into your conscience. Kubrick working from the novel by Arthur Clark is thinking really big here about concepts that none of us really understand, but have a need inside to know. This film is not so much sci-fi at all but it questions who we are, where we come from and are we alone. This goes beyond film.



7. Goodfellas (1990) Directed by Martin Scorsese

"You really are a funny guy" "Go home and get your fucking shine box" "a little bit" "I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers" "This guy's saying, what you want from me" "No, I thought you said I'm OK Spider" "You little prick ya" "I did my time, I want what I gotta get" "We're not animali" "Salute Tommy"

Need I say more?



6. Blade Runner (1982) Directed by Ridley Scott

The first and only good sci-fi noir in my opinion. Philip K. Dick is difficult literary stuff to translate at times, and this may not be totally faithful to its source story, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" but it takes you into this world that we all fear might one day happen. A bleak future of pollution and robots taking over. Will humans be relevant in a world of cloning and robots. What is our worth? The movie to me is also about memories. For humans our memories are what separates us from machines. They are what keep us together. And to one day discover that all your memories are only a computer program can only lead to madness and rage. Beyond that the movie is breathtaking in its design and visual wickedness. The model work and special effects look as good as modern day CGI. It's a film that has eternal themes and concerns. And each year into the future makes its predictions more and more real.



5. Chungking Express (1994) Directed by Wong Kar-wei

In college I was obsessed with director Wong Kar-wei. I still am in fact. This film is like fast food art film to me. It was made during a break in production on a bigger film, Ashes of Time. The crew was getting paid to do nothing, so they knocked off this little romantic comedy on the fly. It's raw and full of rough edges and visual energy that at the time I had never experienced much like it except for maybe some French New Wave. Like Boogie Nights the characters here seem real and honest. It has this odd graphic novel colored with scratch colored pencils. It's loose, crazy, exciting, romantic, and just made me want to make films. It's a blast. I would also recommend it's sequel of sorts, Fallen Angel made a few years later.



4. Fletch (1985) Directed by Michael Ritchie

I'm sure I may get some flack for this one, but this movie is something I am obsessed with. You see after seeing Fletch for the first time in 85, I wanted to be Fletch. I wanted to go around writing newspaper articles and insulting people all day. The later would probably get your ass kicked daily, but its fun to dream. I have this movie memorized. I think it succeeds as not just a decent mystery but a great comedy. True hardcore Fletch novel fans have good reason to criticize it, and I guess if I had read the novels before the movie I may not be writing this, but Chevy Chase is Fletch to me. He never topped this performance. The comedy was oddly believable in the real world that director Richie kept Fletch grounded in. It was at times oddly uncomfortable, which made it all the more funny. Cracking one liners, solving mysteries and making love to the hottest women. Fletch Rules. Charge it to the Underhills... This is the lone comedy on this list by the way. Raising Arizona is right there too and Office Space.



3. Dawn of the Dead (1978) Directed by George A. Romero

To quote number 15 on this list, "the horror, the horror". This is the greatest horror movie ever made. It has it all. Horror, comedy, social commentary to spare, zombies, gore of the highest order, and most of all it's thoughtful. A sequel to "Night of the Living Dead" where the Zombies have now taken over most cities, four people hold up in a shopping mall. They fend off all other post human shoppers trying to get into the mall. Social statement? You betcha. Did I get that at 15? Nope. Did I care? Nope. It just goes to show you how the great movies have layers upon layers that unveil themselves throughout each viewing. This is why this film is so high up on da list here. And like Goodfellas and Boogie Nights, I love these characters. I want to go zombie hunting with Peter, Roger, Flyboy, and Francine. As a kid I loved the aspect that you could have an entire shopping mall to yourself and do whatever whenever you wanted. That was a dream come true. But as I got older and my credit card statements got scarier and scarier, I started to feel like the Zombies trying to get into the doors from the outside. Such a great analogy there. And how true it is today. The recent remake failed to get that at all. Thats why it was fun but empty. Not the case with this one. Sure its silly at times, but it wins you over somehow. Whenver I see it, I automatically transport myself back to my room watching it over and over again on the 13 inch color tv this time. Plus the movie has the best tagline too.... "When there is no more room in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth"

"They must be destroyed on sight!"



2. Seconds (1966) Directed by John Frankenheimer

This movie has control of my mind. I think about it every day. I'm not kidding. The ideas in it consume me. I outline and write ideas for films and almost all of them come back to this freaking film. It owns me. It's about a middle aged banker who has a sexless marriage, a boring job and life overall. He is essentially over. He gets a call from an old friend he assumes is dead, and tells him that he can help him start a new life and end his current one. After much debate he decides to do it. He gets a new face, a new lady, and new friends, and a new life doing what he likes to do. Then one day at a party he breaks down and realizes he made the choices he did for a reason and that the person he is now is not really him at all. However the company that changed him will not allow him to return to his normal life. He tries to but is eventually caught and recycled for spare parts. This film is not without some problems. It really has no second act. But I don't really care. It's themes and imagery are what I am drawn to. Its really a morality tale I suppose. I'm still fascinated by it for some reason. John Frankenheimer is one of my all time favorite directors, and this is not one of his most well know films like Manchurian Candidate, but I feel it is his best by far. Jimmy Howe's black and white photography is amazing. The framing of his shots are in your face and intimate as hell. I could go on about this movie all day. If I start watching it I go nuts. I get all sorts of ideas and shit running around in my head. It's almost too much for me. Can we say Stendhal Syndrome?



1. Taxi Driver (1976) Directed by Martin Scorsese

Kind of hard to write about this one. I'm finding that with Seconds, Dawn and now Taxi, my mind is just flashing through images right and left. I watched this one day in high school when I was home sick. It came on and I had heard the name but never seen it. I was transfixed through the whole thing. I related to DeNiro's Travis. He may have been nuts, but at times you felt like he was simply misinformed. He got some wires crossed, but had good intentions like everyone does. He is not a hero, but by the oddness of life he becomes one. For me the film is about the madness of being alone. The fear that you have no control over life outside. Some people deal with it, and some snap. Travis snaps in a bad way. But more interesting to me is that Scorsese and writer genius Paul Shrader don't give you much if any backstory on Travis. He just is, and just needs. Life rejects him. So he decides to make a big statement to be heard. He has something to say but no outlet for it. This sets up a bloody end, only to have it flipped on its ear and makes you question the validity of someone like Travis. Maybe not for long, but it does make you pause for a second. And I love the ending of not knowing where old Travis is off to. What will he do next. Is he done? Where is he now? I still think about where and what Travis might be doing right now. I have a secret fantasy that someday Scorsese will do a sequel and show what the older Travis is up to. It may suck and be a totally bad idea and ruin the original film, but it still interests me. Scorsese is in raw form here. Everything clicks into place. You watch his Departed movie and think this is too slick, where is the cab, where is Travis, lets put the camera on the hood and get back to real biznazz. The score by the Bernard Herrman was his last. He died before the film came out, and is one of the most haunting scores ever. I sill love Scorsese as one of the most talented directors making movies today. I just want the old 1:85 street Marty back. DeNiro made mohawks cool.

Other films to mention that I watch a lot in no particular order:

Citizen Kane
Buffalo 66
Manchurian Candidate
Raising Arizona
The Killer (John Woo)
Oldboy
Highlander
Videodrome
Superman:The Movie
Suspiria
Evil Dead 2
Ju Dou
Office Space
Naked Lunch
Lost Highway
King of Comedy
Near Dark
Jackie Chan's Police Story

Back to Work...

I have been in a filmmaking funk for about three years now. After "Seventy-8" did not set things off for me as I would of liked, I Focused more on my day job of making commercials and whatnot and worked on a lot friends films projects, trailers, etc. I've been busier since "Seventy-8" than before but not creatively challenged so much. I have watched how digital distribution especially for short films has really exploded via the web. That got me thinking again. Since "Seventy-8" I experimented with putting some of my older shorts from several years back on You Tube and older shorts like "When Beatles Attack" and "Morning Wood" had over 25,000 views. That's really quite cool, and very immediate and satisfying knowing that your work will be consumed that quickly, and that they show up on other peoples blogs and just have this life that goes on and on and on. So I started thinking about comedy again and shorts and distributing them on the web. I had so much fun doing them before and showing them to friends and co-workers, why not expand that to the entire world. All the frustrations of distribution and dvd duplication and all that are gone. You make it, you cut it, you send it out. Simple.

Some people say well that's true, but you can't make any money that way. Well true to an extent. But you see I'm at a point in my life where I'm married to an incredible person, I make decent money doing what I love to do day in and day out. I don't always have creative control of those projects, but I don't need to, because its the process that I am in love with more than anything. And now with things like ifilm and youtube and other sites that push shorts, all i have to do is make something I like or that I think other people might find amusing or dramatic in some manner. The rest will take care of itself. I WANT to make another feature film. I have several ideas in the pipeline. But until that opportunity presents itself again, I am back to being a short filmmaker for the time being. And I'm not totally sure if comedy will be the driving force, but i t will be a large element. I will make announcement soon on where you can see all the new shorts that we will be producing.



The first I am proud to say is already in the can and cut together. "Death by Powerpoint" was shot on Saturday June 9th. I am posting a few screencaps from the film here on the blog. It is a comedy and I guess you could say its a dark comedy, but its also pretty goofy too. This short is very simple: It's about a guy who has too many things going on in his life and gets stuck in a Powerpoint presentation from hell. It stars Tom Zembrod from "Seventy-8" and this dude I found on the streets named Matt Tyndall. They both turned in some great performances and I can't wait for people to see them. Also my Grandfather at 92 came in for a cameo appearance. The usual crew of Big O, K-Flach, and the Goods came out and sacrificed their Saturday to help out. I am eternally grateful to all. So look for "Death by Powerpoint" coming very soon on this blog and a new site that will house all the new work.

Congrats to Fin

Way to go Fin! You deserve it. Just wish you could have done it on another team...but that's not your fault. It's really great to see that look on Finley's face. Long one of my favorite players, and the sole reason I became a Mavs fan to begin with.