Yet I am here. I've been thinking for quite some time about making some entries. There are so many things that draw my interest on the internet, active exploits, passive pursuits, and while I am online so much of the time while I am home (i.e., not shooting something, film, not deer, dear), I don't end up here. I think about ending up here, but I don't.
And then I think its been too long. Like a friend you haven't called for so long, it becomes a question mark. Maybe its been so long that they wouldn't even want to hear from you at this point. Maybe i haven't blogged in so long (months and months) that my audience (er, both of you) wouldn't even return to read what I'd newly written. Wouldn't even think to return to look to see if I had written anything.
And yet here I am writing, because...because because because, because I write more for me than for anyone else, and I felt like writing.
Whats going on...
I am once again in NY for the summer. I may not spend the whole summer in NY. There is some film work to be finished in LALA, on a film we shot over the winter. Pickups, mostly. Supposed to happen in July, but might be August. That would send me back to LA earlier than past years.
The film festival is this weekend. In many ways its been tougher than past years. My assistant bailed to LA during the festival, and Dave has the swine flu. Yeah, seriously. So he may be out of pocket. But the new venue is great and Sawyer is on board as always, so it will work out. We had less films submitted than expected, given the once per year nature of the festival now, which I attribute to the economic malaise. I only programmed 13 new films. Well, I programmed more, but one filmmaker withdrew and another got into the TIFF (Toronto) and had to hold for his premiere there, which I understand. I didnt find anything terrific to replace them so I stayed at the shorter schedule, and decided to show one of my own films for the first time, out of competition. Should be fun, anyway.
The film business is very difficult right now for independent producers. Banks are not loaning money and many of the companies that distributed indie movies have folded over the last few years. Budgets have been squeezed. It is what it is. Probably for the best on some level, as there were too many movies being made, I think.
I remain single, for the longest stretch of singledom of my adult life.
What else, what else. I don't really have to spill everything now, if my attention is to be back sooner rather than later. That is my intention.
And I am out of practice blogging, so forgive my lack of flow. I promise not to let it be so long next time, and I'll be in better form. I think.
Grumps
Showing posts with label bloggin on bloggin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloggin on bloggin. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
That Personal Connection
OK. So I am so over Tony Parker.
I realized over the weekend that over the past six months of agony or so, agony which I cannot really write about directly, professional agony which has crept into most every aspect of my life, personal, financial (especially financial), that I’d become boring. A boring blogger. (More boring?)
A blogger friend, Rachel, who likely always has been more entertaining than me in print (is online print?, I digress), because she is a better writer, had posted recently about dating someone who read her blog. When I’d read this, it sent me back to look at my blog, to a period of blogging in Sept-Oct. 2006 when I was dating, briefly, someone who was reading my blog. (You can search "Curly" in this blog and find the string of posts if you're curious - they go from hilarious to awful, especially the comments). I was also reading hers, and it got messy.
But when I was sending Rachel specific details about the perils of this situation, and went back into my own blog to determine the dates of the posts relating to these dangers, I discovered specifically something that I knew unconsciously. I used to be funnier. I used to be more entertaining (Again, online, I won’t say that this fits my in-person persona).
I did some reading, going through past posts. From a year ago, from longer ago. It was more interesting back in the day. I think part of the reason is that I took a little more care with the posts. I also think that to some degree, the posts had a continuity, a storyline that flowed through posts over time. Not every post, but touchstone ideas to which to return as a reader. It was more a story of my life, and less a collection of unconnected crap.
But in that last thought, though, is perhaps the biggest difference, I think. I post movie reviews and obits and other entertainment related tidbits and oddities, but I’d lost more of the personal side of my blogging. It wasn’t about me (not that I am so wonderful and everyone wants to know about me). And I imagine a decent portion of the folks who wander by here wander by because of the contents’ relationship to the movies and the business of which they are a part. That’s fine.
But perhaps why people read blogs like mine, the biggest reason, is it’s a connection. Its not the closest connection, to be sure, but it is one, to people who you can learn something about at a distance. And it’s the personal stuff that draws us. Proof? I’ve always had more regular readers when I blogged about my personal life. Actually, I’ve gotten the very most readers when I’ve blogged about bad things happening in my personal life (I think misery definitely attracts attention).
So, with my previous entry as proof of my intent, I am going to do my best to include more of myself in my blog. And maybe, if I can, to blog a little bit more. We shall see how it works out.
I realized over the weekend that over the past six months of agony or so, agony which I cannot really write about directly, professional agony which has crept into most every aspect of my life, personal, financial (especially financial), that I’d become boring. A boring blogger. (More boring?)
A blogger friend, Rachel, who likely always has been more entertaining than me in print (is online print?, I digress), because she is a better writer, had posted recently about dating someone who read her blog. When I’d read this, it sent me back to look at my blog, to a period of blogging in Sept-Oct. 2006 when I was dating, briefly, someone who was reading my blog. (You can search "Curly" in this blog and find the string of posts if you're curious - they go from hilarious to awful, especially the comments). I was also reading hers, and it got messy.
But when I was sending Rachel specific details about the perils of this situation, and went back into my own blog to determine the dates of the posts relating to these dangers, I discovered specifically something that I knew unconsciously. I used to be funnier. I used to be more entertaining (Again, online, I won’t say that this fits my in-person persona).
I did some reading, going through past posts. From a year ago, from longer ago. It was more interesting back in the day. I think part of the reason is that I took a little more care with the posts. I also think that to some degree, the posts had a continuity, a storyline that flowed through posts over time. Not every post, but touchstone ideas to which to return as a reader. It was more a story of my life, and less a collection of unconnected crap.
But in that last thought, though, is perhaps the biggest difference, I think. I post movie reviews and obits and other entertainment related tidbits and oddities, but I’d lost more of the personal side of my blogging. It wasn’t about me (not that I am so wonderful and everyone wants to know about me). And I imagine a decent portion of the folks who wander by here wander by because of the contents’ relationship to the movies and the business of which they are a part. That’s fine.
But perhaps why people read blogs like mine, the biggest reason, is it’s a connection. Its not the closest connection, to be sure, but it is one, to people who you can learn something about at a distance. And it’s the personal stuff that draws us. Proof? I’ve always had more regular readers when I blogged about my personal life. Actually, I’ve gotten the very most readers when I’ve blogged about bad things happening in my personal life (I think misery definitely attracts attention).
So, with my previous entry as proof of my intent, I am going to do my best to include more of myself in my blog. And maybe, if I can, to blog a little bit more. We shall see how it works out.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Back in NY
I cannot believe I forgot to airplane blog. Despite the fact that i've been away in California for three months, it occurs to me that this is the longest period of time in several years that i've stayed in one place, that I haven't been on an airplane (at least I think it is). Anyway, no airplane bloggin'. It didnt even occur to me.
I did do a lot less bloggin', at least true blogging rather than simple reposting, while I was out there. Not sure why, because I have less to conflict with my blogging time in LA than in NY (at least I think that is true).
Where is my head at?
I did do a lot less bloggin', at least true blogging rather than simple reposting, while I was out there. Not sure why, because I have less to conflict with my blogging time in LA than in NY (at least I think that is true).
Where is my head at?
Friday, October 05, 2007
Second Verse, Same as The First (but shorter)
So I went back to NYC, early July. You may remember that I had this period of wirelessness while I was out here in CA before I left. Stir crazy, restless, wireless nights.
Well, they are back. Or they were.
I woke up this morning to a familiar phenomenon. I had no wireless connection. Not only that, but the wireless router was not even showing on Airport. Ugh. I thought that maybe the router had been unplugged or something.
I was right. But when I went to the main house this AM to check it out, all the doors were locked, a first. I don’t have keys to the main house, so I couldn’t get in to see what the story was.
Story was….
Someone broke into the main house and stole a laptop and the router itself at around 5AM. They also took a cable box. It was someone who knows the ppl in the main house, I think, because whoever it was seems to have been very specific in their theft and also, they weren’t afraid of any of the three dogs that live in the house.
Anyway, so when I finally got in this afternoon, the router was missing. I thought maybe someone had returned it? No clue. But when I found out what happened, I bounced down to Best Buy and had to drop another hundred to get a new one. Im a little incredulous that I am actually back up and online. It took about an hour to reconfigure, and here I am, poorer but still connected.
Bastardos.
Well, they are back. Or they were.
I woke up this morning to a familiar phenomenon. I had no wireless connection. Not only that, but the wireless router was not even showing on Airport. Ugh. I thought that maybe the router had been unplugged or something.
I was right. But when I went to the main house this AM to check it out, all the doors were locked, a first. I don’t have keys to the main house, so I couldn’t get in to see what the story was.
Story was….
Someone broke into the main house and stole a laptop and the router itself at around 5AM. They also took a cable box. It was someone who knows the ppl in the main house, I think, because whoever it was seems to have been very specific in their theft and also, they weren’t afraid of any of the three dogs that live in the house.
Anyway, so when I finally got in this afternoon, the router was missing. I thought maybe someone had returned it? No clue. But when I found out what happened, I bounced down to Best Buy and had to drop another hundred to get a new one. Im a little incredulous that I am actually back up and online. It took about an hour to reconfigure, and here I am, poorer but still connected.
Bastardos.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Tagged
SOOOOO. Even though I’ve been described as anti-social, even as a blogger, I’ve been tagged. The very funny/cute/married Julie O. tagged me. I am supposed to disclose ten things about myself that, well, here’s dem rules.
Once you’ve been tagged, as I have, you must write a blog with ten weird, random things, little-known facts or habits about yourself. At the end, choose at least 5 people to be tagged, list their names and why you picked them. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “you’ve been tagged” and tell them to read your latest blog.
And away we goooooo….
1. Though I am a producer now, I wanted to be a writer growing up. I do a bit of writing now, but I did quite a bit of short story writing in my teens. Some of it was good, and some of it was porn.
2. I have thought at least three times that I was going to be married to the woman/girl I was dating at the time. The first time was with my first serious girlfriend, Kristen. The second time was with my law school live-in girlfriend (also a law student), Krystallo. The last time was with another live-in girlfriend, Jeanne, and the only time that I really feel a loss over, in that I think it might have worked but circumstances prevented it.
3. This is hard. Yikes. Maybe I am not that open a person. I’ll come back to 3.
4. I am somewhat fascinated by the concept of people moving through your life and spending time with them and then not seeing them anymore. That friendships are fleeting sometimes. I’ve been fascinated by this for years. It took me a long time to come to terms with lost friendships.
5. I always wanted to be in the movie business. I thought that I would wait until I was 40-45 to give it a shot, because I knew it was a hard road. Only the events of 9/11 and my proximity to them made me switch careers earlier.
6. I found working on Wall Street the most boring thing I’ve ever done. Any job I spent time in – every morning I’d have to coax myself out of bed just to go to work most of the time.
7. The worst year of my adult life, personally, was the year I made the most money (almost 400K).
8. I spent two years seeing a therapist. It was one of the best things I’ve done for myself. I stopped when she told me she thought I had achieved my goals in seeing her.
3. Back to 3. Um. Still tough. I am blocked on 3. Here is goes. My second toe is longer than my first. That’s a cop out. When I was young, I used to be on a swimteam. I hated getting up in the morning and getting into the freezing cold pool (even though it was summer, in the mornings, that pool felt very cold). I also hated getting up at 6AM for practice. I can’t imagine it was that much fun for my parents to be driving us there at that ungodly hour. Anyway, I used to sneak away and hide in the showers (hot showers) during practice, until the coach would notice I was gone and send someone to come and get me.
9. My first three girlfriends were Korean. The second, after I broke up with her, attacked the third and beat her up in front of a crowd of friends. I felt a small bit of pride about these two attractive women coming to blows over me. I couldn’t help it, and it was only ended when Number Two girlfriend (hehe, couldn’t resist) jumped in my car and took off at high speed. My car!
Once you’ve been tagged, as I have, you must write a blog with ten weird, random things, little-known facts or habits about yourself. At the end, choose at least 5 people to be tagged, list their names and why you picked them. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “you’ve been tagged” and tell them to read your latest blog.
And away we goooooo….
1. Though I am a producer now, I wanted to be a writer growing up. I do a bit of writing now, but I did quite a bit of short story writing in my teens. Some of it was good, and some of it was porn.
2. I have thought at least three times that I was going to be married to the woman/girl I was dating at the time. The first time was with my first serious girlfriend, Kristen. The second time was with my law school live-in girlfriend (also a law student), Krystallo. The last time was with another live-in girlfriend, Jeanne, and the only time that I really feel a loss over, in that I think it might have worked but circumstances prevented it.
3. This is hard. Yikes. Maybe I am not that open a person. I’ll come back to 3.
4. I am somewhat fascinated by the concept of people moving through your life and spending time with them and then not seeing them anymore. That friendships are fleeting sometimes. I’ve been fascinated by this for years. It took me a long time to come to terms with lost friendships.
5. I always wanted to be in the movie business. I thought that I would wait until I was 40-45 to give it a shot, because I knew it was a hard road. Only the events of 9/11 and my proximity to them made me switch careers earlier.
6. I found working on Wall Street the most boring thing I’ve ever done. Any job I spent time in – every morning I’d have to coax myself out of bed just to go to work most of the time.
7. The worst year of my adult life, personally, was the year I made the most money (almost 400K).
8. I spent two years seeing a therapist. It was one of the best things I’ve done for myself. I stopped when she told me she thought I had achieved my goals in seeing her.
3. Back to 3. Um. Still tough. I am blocked on 3. Here is goes. My second toe is longer than my first. That’s a cop out. When I was young, I used to be on a swimteam. I hated getting up in the morning and getting into the freezing cold pool (even though it was summer, in the mornings, that pool felt very cold). I also hated getting up at 6AM for practice. I can’t imagine it was that much fun for my parents to be driving us there at that ungodly hour. Anyway, I used to sneak away and hide in the showers (hot showers) during practice, until the coach would notice I was gone and send someone to come and get me.
9. My first three girlfriends were Korean. The second, after I broke up with her, attacked the third and beat her up in front of a crowd of friends. I felt a small bit of pride about these two attractive women coming to blows over me. I couldn’t help it, and it was only ended when Number Two girlfriend (hehe, couldn’t resist) jumped in my car and took off at high speed. My car!
I am over the asian thing.
10. I’ve had pretty successful long distance relationships, or relationships where we only spent a few days a week together. E.g., Jeanne lived part of the time with me, and part of the time in Long Island. My best times with Krystallo were the summer we saw each other only on weekends. I broke up with my first girlfriend shortly after she started at University of Albany, where I was going to school, our first unimpeded time in our relationship (she had a very restrictive home life).
God. That’s is. I am done. What a learning experience. I’ll tag five people who I am sure will be very surprised to be tagged by a near stranger.
Tagging
annie
julie
rachel heather
patrick
dixon
Monday, July 16, 2007
Historic/What I am Watching/Reading
I cannot believe it. My internet wireless connection went down for no reason yesterday. Absolutely, worked one moment, dead the next. And with my busy social life out here (NOT), it sucked pretty bad. I tried everything, including endless searching on the net while physically plugged into the router in the main house.
After almost a full day of on and off searching, I found a Mac helpsite that gave some suggestions for fixing this problem (with the particular error message I was getting- it seems that macs, while they dont get viruses, have other sorts of problems that people often randomly experience and post about online - thats been the case whenever I've had a Mac problem).
Anyway, finally, i followed these steps, trial and error style, and I am wirelessly connected to the internet again. I am a little incredulous, because I am not particularly technical. And I am having some problems with the safari browser, which wont let me connect to certain sites because of security concerns. Blogspot, included, I am posting using Camino.
But Im back, in any case, and pretty damn excited about it . Can you tell?
Anyway, here I am.
What I am Watching: Lords of Dogtown, Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Office Season 1, Search and Destroy (someone should have destroyed the DVD before I watched it).
What I am Reading: Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes by famed sales agent John Pierson. A fun read but probably only for those in the biz.
After almost a full day of on and off searching, I found a Mac helpsite that gave some suggestions for fixing this problem (with the particular error message I was getting- it seems that macs, while they dont get viruses, have other sorts of problems that people often randomly experience and post about online - thats been the case whenever I've had a Mac problem).
Anyway, finally, i followed these steps, trial and error style, and I am wirelessly connected to the internet again. I am a little incredulous, because I am not particularly technical. And I am having some problems with the safari browser, which wont let me connect to certain sites because of security concerns. Blogspot, included, I am posting using Camino.
But Im back, in any case, and pretty damn excited about it . Can you tell?
Anyway, here I am.
What I am Watching: Lords of Dogtown, Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Office Season 1, Search and Destroy (someone should have destroyed the DVD before I watched it).
What I am Reading: Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes by famed sales agent John Pierson. A fun read but probably only for those in the biz.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Masses Speak
Well, maybe not the masses, but those with websites.
Both of my last two posts, on top horror movies, and on the last Sopranos, have been covered again and again on the internet. Its interesting, almost all of our horror picks are uniformly present on these other lists at various places.
The Sopranos thing (of ours?) is mostly very negative, from my perusing. I seem to be one of very few, other than Kevin Smith, who seems to have given David Chase a pass.
Btw, I watched Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead yesterday, and while I really liked it, I thought, in a recurring theme on this blog, that the ending kinda sucked. Lots of action with no resolution. The opposite of the last Sopranos episode?
Both of my last two posts, on top horror movies, and on the last Sopranos, have been covered again and again on the internet. Its interesting, almost all of our horror picks are uniformly present on these other lists at various places.
The Sopranos thing (of ours?) is mostly very negative, from my perusing. I seem to be one of very few, other than Kevin Smith, who seems to have given David Chase a pass.
Btw, I watched Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead yesterday, and while I really liked it, I thought, in a recurring theme on this blog, that the ending kinda sucked. Lots of action with no resolution. The opposite of the last Sopranos episode?
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Vote for a movie goddammit :)
Come on people. Weigh in. We're only at 19. Can't just be John and Bobby and Scott and Bitter and a few others. I know you're out there. Silent. Stalkers. Leave a comment. It wont hurt. Im sure there is some movie that sends chills up your spine, or second someone else's vote.
Now, go.
Now, go.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Saturday miscellany
Saturday nite. Big pasta dinner. Sitting at home. Watching movies, good and bad.
Did anyone see the Hitcher. My friend Phil Hardage worked as the first AD on it. I just a music video by that director. Incredible. Really incredible work. I went to see what else the guy had done (besides the video) and there was the Hitcher (the remake that is, Sean Bean Hitcher, not Rutger Hauer Hitcher). Anyway, lemme know what you thought of the movie – Im pretty curious. Just in an academic sense, because I am kinda biased about music video directors doing movies, generally. But this Pink Video was so incredible looking, now I am curious.
I am headed back to LA on Tuesday. Been just a few days since I got back, it feels like, and I am already headed back to LA. Which is OK. Its for a good reason. We are about to lock someone very key to Slaughter. Can’t say more than that, but its exciting and very big news.
The apt in LA is coming in very handy, it seems. Would have been spending a lot of money with all the time out there. If I can only make it a bit nicer. Any readers in LA or thereabouts who wanna help out with that, would be great.
When I get out there, I have a meeting on the Warner Studios lot. First time for me to go to a studio lot. Ive been to offices for a major (New Line on Robertson), but this will be a first for me. I may have a meeting at Universal as well, but one thing at a time.
I hate flying. Have I mentioned that. Uggh.
Oh, so by the way, everyone who reads this know that Heidi, the frequent commenter (especially when stuff concerns her or misogynist horror movies) . She’s an actress. She was in Hot Baby. And now, with Digger coming up, well, to me, Heidi being from Connecticut and all, you know.
But apparently, Heidi doesn’t know I am working on the movie, does she? I spoke to someone we both know, and Heidi told em all about the movie, Digger, which I’ve been working on for a year. I thought she knew I was working on it. But this person in common was like, hey, you’re working on that, that’s cool. I guess that while Heidi is kind enough to weign in on the blog here and there, well, I don’t rate top billing on the producer’s list. Probably because I am so abusive. Maybe I should try to be nicer.
Nah.
Did anyone see the Hitcher. My friend Phil Hardage worked as the first AD on it. I just a music video by that director. Incredible. Really incredible work. I went to see what else the guy had done (besides the video) and there was the Hitcher (the remake that is, Sean Bean Hitcher, not Rutger Hauer Hitcher). Anyway, lemme know what you thought of the movie – Im pretty curious. Just in an academic sense, because I am kinda biased about music video directors doing movies, generally. But this Pink Video was so incredible looking, now I am curious.
I am headed back to LA on Tuesday. Been just a few days since I got back, it feels like, and I am already headed back to LA. Which is OK. Its for a good reason. We are about to lock someone very key to Slaughter. Can’t say more than that, but its exciting and very big news.
The apt in LA is coming in very handy, it seems. Would have been spending a lot of money with all the time out there. If I can only make it a bit nicer. Any readers in LA or thereabouts who wanna help out with that, would be great.
When I get out there, I have a meeting on the Warner Studios lot. First time for me to go to a studio lot. Ive been to offices for a major (New Line on Robertson), but this will be a first for me. I may have a meeting at Universal as well, but one thing at a time.
I hate flying. Have I mentioned that. Uggh.
Oh, so by the way, everyone who reads this know that Heidi, the frequent commenter (especially when stuff concerns her or misogynist horror movies) . She’s an actress. She was in Hot Baby. And now, with Digger coming up, well, to me, Heidi being from Connecticut and all, you know.
But apparently, Heidi doesn’t know I am working on the movie, does she? I spoke to someone we both know, and Heidi told em all about the movie, Digger, which I’ve been working on for a year. I thought she knew I was working on it. But this person in common was like, hey, you’re working on that, that’s cool. I guess that while Heidi is kind enough to weign in on the blog here and there, well, I don’t rate top billing on the producer’s list. Probably because I am so abusive. Maybe I should try to be nicer.
Nah.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Sofa Bloggin’: The Great In-Between
Holy Canoli, Batman. Its an entry not written at 35,000 feet.
Yes folks, sorry for the interlude. Im back. Been a few weeks of decompression since the first round of My Brother releases, which weren’t overly successful from a box office standpoint, but weren’t expensive either. And the preorders on the DVD seem to be very strong. Which is good. Though not really for me, cause I am not particularly a profit participant on the movie, not for a while.
Its like I lost my job. I really haven’t and I’ve continued to work on some My Brother stuff, but most of the work I spent on the movie I’ve been reallocating to other tasks. Like the PictureStart Film Festival, for which I don’t yet have a venue. Working on it, though.
Anyway, things have been quite a bit slower. I’ve been working, but its not as frantic. However, its gearing up to get busy again. We’re selling the Insurgents, likely this week. I also rented a place in LA so that I stop spending so much money on hotels when I am out there. Its in Hollywood, and is a bungalow on a large piece of property around Sunset and Highland. I’m told, despite the loud neighborhood, that its fairly quiet because of the size of the property. We shall see.
Otherwise, things are fairly normal. Slaughter continues to move forward. We’re set a preliminary schedule for preproduction, production, etc. And hopefully everything can speed up with the extra time I will be spending in LA LA land.
That’s all I really got right now.
But I am flying on Tuesday, so I am sure there will be more.
Yes folks, sorry for the interlude. Im back. Been a few weeks of decompression since the first round of My Brother releases, which weren’t overly successful from a box office standpoint, but weren’t expensive either. And the preorders on the DVD seem to be very strong. Which is good. Though not really for me, cause I am not particularly a profit participant on the movie, not for a while.
Its like I lost my job. I really haven’t and I’ve continued to work on some My Brother stuff, but most of the work I spent on the movie I’ve been reallocating to other tasks. Like the PictureStart Film Festival, for which I don’t yet have a venue. Working on it, though.
Anyway, things have been quite a bit slower. I’ve been working, but its not as frantic. However, its gearing up to get busy again. We’re selling the Insurgents, likely this week. I also rented a place in LA so that I stop spending so much money on hotels when I am out there. Its in Hollywood, and is a bungalow on a large piece of property around Sunset and Highland. I’m told, despite the loud neighborhood, that its fairly quiet because of the size of the property. We shall see.
Otherwise, things are fairly normal. Slaughter continues to move forward. We’re set a preliminary schedule for preproduction, production, etc. And hopefully everything can speed up with the extra time I will be spending in LA LA land.
That’s all I really got right now.
But I am flying on Tuesday, so I am sure there will be more.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Airplane Bloggin’: The Midnight Special
Sitting in the Phoenix Airport, waiting for a flight home. It’s a midnighter, Jet Blue, red-eye and the airport is mostly empty. Most of the gates are unoccupied, and unfortunately, I got here a bit early but all of the restaurants are closed. Had I know everything would be closed, I would have grabbed something before returning the car to the rental place. So now, hungry, already having passed through security, I am long-boning it for the next hour and change until I can get on the airplane, swallow the Xanax that’s in my pocket, and say hi to the Sandman.
As least this airport has wireless, and I managed to snag a seat next to an outlet so that I can blog for y’all without losing battery.
This just in. Sedona is gorgeous. You can drive through the town, make a turn, and see something that will totally take your breath away. These mountains of red clay, striated by hundreds of thousands of years of rivers that carved beautiful, cactus-speckled canyons, are breathtaking (as I just said, duh). Really a beautiful place, and I’d like to go there when life is a little less chaotic, and I can enjoy the environment a little more. To boot, things are pretty cheap, drinks, hotels, etc., and its nice and cool at nite, good sleeping weather.
The festival was pretty cool too. Not that it was overflowing with the type of contacts I enjoy making at festivals- wasn’t very industry heavy though I did pick up a few biz cards and maybe made one contact that will be worth the trip. What I like about the festival really had to do with the audiences. Sedona is 70 percent occupied by retirees. Which means they don’t work. Which means they have free time. And during this festival, they go to the movies. A lot.
I didn’t see any screening less than half full except for the first day. We were a little light with My Brother day one, but by the Friday screening, with very minimal promotion (I did invite a few ppl), we were easily 2/3 full, over a hundred people, lotsa grey hair. And they really seemed to love it, asking questions until the moderator told us we had to wrap it up. And then asking more in the hallway.
They have already announced the Festival Director’s picks, and though he was very gracious and described us as a top breakout pick in press for the festival, we weren’t included as the feature (one I missed, Canvas, with Joey Pants, was his selection for feature narrative). Audience awards are to be announced tomorrow, AM, at the brunch. He told me that there were a bunch of films in contention, including My Brother, so David Basch is sticking around to see whats what, which he wanted to do anyway, because he fell in love with Sedona. He’ll attend the brunch. If we win, he’ll be accepting on my behalf for the second weekend in a row, having accepted by Best Producer Award at the Santa Barbara African Heritage Film Series. Haha, talk about carving out a niche.
Anyway, Val is coming to town for a week, and things are gonna get busy. Got the NY premiere at the Magic Johnson theater on 124th St. Tuesday nite, with the incredible moving afterparty to follow (we’ve gone through three venues, and my fingers are crossed). On Sunday, I have to fly to Houston, for the Houston premiere, and then back to NY on Tuesday. On Thursday, we may or may not have a Chicago premiere, pending finding a place to show the friggin thing, and then on Friday, we’ll be opening in our 19 or so cities (I recently found out that it could be a few less, or a few more, depending on AMC holdovers and spots available, we’re only confirmed on 25 screens as of this past week, of the 35 for which we were aiming).
But we’ve gained momentum, as least in parts of the country, and there are a whole lot of people who are just looking to stomp for the movie because they think it’s the right thing to do, all over the country. They just admire the messages of the movie, whether its about family in the black community, or opportunities for people with Intellectual disabilities, or whatever. We’ll take all the help we can get.
I’m nervous, not because I expect to make a bunch of money if we do well, but because so many people have put so much into this movie, getting it out, getting it into theaters, spreading the word. Its been guts and no glory for months, and hopefully, it will have been worth it. This is totally a word of mouth movie, and if we get good reviews (we have critics screenings in LA (2) and NY (1) this week), maybe we can even cross over to a broader audience. I think Santa Barbara and Sedona have proven to me that white audiences like this movie almost as much as black audiences, even if they have no particular experience with people with intellectual disabilities. In a best case scenario, if we can get those folks to come out to see the movie that only come out for a rare thing, to see something special and different, well, then, I wont be talking to any of you little people any more. Except Dawn, my most ardent supporter. ☺.
But seriously, Im fucking tired, and I don’t have a whole lot left in the tank, or in the bank, for that matter. I’ve spent a lot of my own money doing these roadtrips to promote the movie, to try to make things happen. And now, thirteen days and diminishing from the release of the movie, the final push is on.
I don’t have any predictions, anymore. I don’t know how we’ll do, whether we’ll go out with a whisper. Every time I google the movie, I find new stuff, more stuff. Good stuff. But Im not sure it ever seems like enough stuff. Like too little jelly over too many markets, I mean, bread.
Talk to you soon. If I don’t blog this week, forgive me, its hard to find the time unless Im waiting for, or am on, a plane. I should have the blog sponsored by Jet Blue.
Later.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Tricky Bitch
I am a somewhat tricky bitch, ya know. When I need to be.
I have this blog, but because its public, I cannot be totally candid about topics close to my industry. I work with people, they work with other people, yada yada and I can’t insult the wrong person. So while I would like to write things about what I do, I can’t always do that, and further, I cannot necessarily write reviews of movies. Tv shows, etc. Except if they are going to be positive. So, no dirt.
But even within those limitations, I wanted to point something out that I think is a huge discrepancy. Huge.
I always used to say that I don’t watch much television, and while that used to be accurate, its less and less so. There are a bunch of shows I tevo and watch.
They include, in less than random order, The Shield, The Wire, Rome, Deadwood, Studio 60, Ugly Betty (don’t laugh), Entourage, Nip Tuck, Dexter, Weeds, and maybe even a few more (I’ve only seem one season of Lost, which I liked a bunch, and in fairness, I have never seen CSI, or 24, Greys, Heroes, or that thing with the firemen).
Now, the Golden Globes, from the esteemed Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has come out with its nominations for this year.
Any two people can disagree on whats good and what is not. But some things cannot be refuted, I think. Even in entertainment, there are some verifiable absolutes.
So how the hell do The Shield and The Wire get totally shut out. These shows, with some of the best acting (not to mention incredible writing) don’t even get a mentioned from the HFPA. How can that be? I don’t get it.
So yeah, while I cant review a movie or television show (at least a contemporary one), I can at least complain about the omissions of the Golden Globes.
Based on the Golden Gregs here are the awards for the main television categories…of course only based upon the television shows I watch. I can’t do alot about the shows I don’t watch.
Best Show, Drama:
The Shield – Come on, if you have to ask why, you haven’t seen it.
The Wire – Same deal, some of the best acting and most authentic writing on television.
Rome – Great filmmaking in television show.
Studio 60 – I am literally angry when there isn’t a new episode.
Best Show, Comedy
Entourage – The number one guilty pleasure on television. The OC for adult males.
Ugly Betty – And I am straight.
Weeds – If my sister was a drug dealer, this would be her.
Huff- Based on last season, I need to catch up, and there aren’t that many good comedies.
Best Actor
Michael Chiklis, The Shield
Forest Whitaker – The Shield
Jeremy Piven – Entourage
Kevin McKidd – Rome
Matthew Perry – Studio 60
Best Actress
America Ferrara – Ugly Betty
Mary Louise Parker – Weeds
Polly Walker – Rome
Sarah Paulson – Studio 60
OK, lemme have it.
Grumpy.
I have this blog, but because its public, I cannot be totally candid about topics close to my industry. I work with people, they work with other people, yada yada and I can’t insult the wrong person. So while I would like to write things about what I do, I can’t always do that, and further, I cannot necessarily write reviews of movies. Tv shows, etc. Except if they are going to be positive. So, no dirt.
But even within those limitations, I wanted to point something out that I think is a huge discrepancy. Huge.
I always used to say that I don’t watch much television, and while that used to be accurate, its less and less so. There are a bunch of shows I tevo and watch.
They include, in less than random order, The Shield, The Wire, Rome, Deadwood, Studio 60, Ugly Betty (don’t laugh), Entourage, Nip Tuck, Dexter, Weeds, and maybe even a few more (I’ve only seem one season of Lost, which I liked a bunch, and in fairness, I have never seen CSI, or 24, Greys, Heroes, or that thing with the firemen).
Now, the Golden Globes, from the esteemed Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has come out with its nominations for this year.
Any two people can disagree on whats good and what is not. But some things cannot be refuted, I think. Even in entertainment, there are some verifiable absolutes.
So how the hell do The Shield and The Wire get totally shut out. These shows, with some of the best acting (not to mention incredible writing) don’t even get a mentioned from the HFPA. How can that be? I don’t get it.
So yeah, while I cant review a movie or television show (at least a contemporary one), I can at least complain about the omissions of the Golden Globes.
Based on the Golden Gregs here are the awards for the main television categories…of course only based upon the television shows I watch. I can’t do alot about the shows I don’t watch.
Best Show, Drama:
The Shield – Come on, if you have to ask why, you haven’t seen it.
The Wire – Same deal, some of the best acting and most authentic writing on television.
Rome – Great filmmaking in television show.
Studio 60 – I am literally angry when there isn’t a new episode.
Best Show, Comedy
Entourage – The number one guilty pleasure on television. The OC for adult males.
Ugly Betty – And I am straight.
Weeds – If my sister was a drug dealer, this would be her.
Huff- Based on last season, I need to catch up, and there aren’t that many good comedies.
Best Actor
Michael Chiklis, The Shield
Forest Whitaker – The Shield
Jeremy Piven – Entourage
Kevin McKidd – Rome
Matthew Perry – Studio 60
Best Actress
America Ferrara – Ugly Betty
Mary Louise Parker – Weeds
Polly Walker – Rome
Sarah Paulson – Studio 60
OK, lemme have it.
Grumpy.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Whats with all the quitters in the blogging world?
Seems like in the blogging world, every week, someone is quitting something. They might be quitting dating. They might be quitting blogging? They might be quitting blogging about dating, or dating bloggers.
But what it all really seems to amount to, more than anything else, is an announcement of something that is bound to change in like two days. Or three.
I don’t think its any terrific big deal, and I am writing about it probably because it popped into my head after reading two blogs in a rom that I frequent, one announcing that someone was going to stop dating (or looking to date) and the other (BITTER) an updated blog from someone that I am quite glad has decided to continue blogging, after saying that perhaps they wouldn’t be so bloggy for a bit (DAVE).
Now, I believe in changing your mind when it makes sense. Im not stuck with a decision forever, if it doesn’t work for me. But it just seems that people get pretty capricious with what they say and do on their blogs.
(Aside: I think there are a number of women I have met who have this behavior in real life, and so maybe its not so miraculous that I see women online with the same characteristics. Dave, however, well, we can write it off to an emotional moment, and rightfully so. You’re a little bit chick I guess.)
But what about commitment. Honesty. Don’t falsely lead me on to think A, when its gonna be B twenty four to seventy two hours later. I’m invested and then I have to rethink your whole psychological dilemna.
And is it something particular about blogging that makes people try to draw these lines in the sand, very demonstrably, about life changes that they are making. Changes they are making in the way they live, they love, they leave.
But really, you just cant believe everything you read.
And Dave, Bloggers do it while watching The Empire Strikes Back, which really stands up to todays crappy sci-fi wanna-be tentpole summer popcorners.
But what it all really seems to amount to, more than anything else, is an announcement of something that is bound to change in like two days. Or three.
I don’t think its any terrific big deal, and I am writing about it probably because it popped into my head after reading two blogs in a rom that I frequent, one announcing that someone was going to stop dating (or looking to date) and the other (BITTER) an updated blog from someone that I am quite glad has decided to continue blogging, after saying that perhaps they wouldn’t be so bloggy for a bit (DAVE).
Now, I believe in changing your mind when it makes sense. Im not stuck with a decision forever, if it doesn’t work for me. But it just seems that people get pretty capricious with what they say and do on their blogs.
(Aside: I think there are a number of women I have met who have this behavior in real life, and so maybe its not so miraculous that I see women online with the same characteristics. Dave, however, well, we can write it off to an emotional moment, and rightfully so. You’re a little bit chick I guess.)
But what about commitment. Honesty. Don’t falsely lead me on to think A, when its gonna be B twenty four to seventy two hours later. I’m invested and then I have to rethink your whole psychological dilemna.
And is it something particular about blogging that makes people try to draw these lines in the sand, very demonstrably, about life changes that they are making. Changes they are making in the way they live, they love, they leave.
But really, you just cant believe everything you read.
And Dave, Bloggers do it while watching The Empire Strikes Back, which really stands up to todays crappy sci-fi wanna-be tentpole summer popcorners.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
I always feel like somebody's watching me
So I went out last nite. Went to Michael Mosley’s birthday party at Bar Nine. He starred in the film I did, The Insurgents, in the lead role. He also has a TV show on right now, Kidnapped (which I haven’t seen yet but want to catch up on – already missed the first one).
Anyway, Michael and I were talking about my blog and I mentioned that I was getting hits from people finding me from within the industry. Now, my blog is completely public. In fact, if you look me up on Myspace you can find it. Its right there. So anyone who looks for me on MySpace has access. Also, because I mention movies I produce on the blog, by name, and some actors as well (I misspell occasionally but not all the time) anyone involved with the films googling the film to see where it pops up may pop onto this blog.
In fact, this did just happen recently in a way that came back to me. An actor called me for some personal advice on something he’s dealing with and in doing so, mentioned to me that he saw that I mentioned a film on the blog. And he didn’t like the way that I listed him. His BLOG Billing. And he wasn’t all hot an bothered about it, in fact he may have been half kidding. But the other half was serious, I think, and I guess in some way, he’s not completely wrong. I don’t think the way I described his participation was particularly different than the way the film will be marketed, and I don’t want him to be upset about it. But he does raise a question.
So I am at this party with Michael Mosley for his birthday, and we’re talking about the blog. And he mentions that he thinks its kinda tricky the way I write, because I have to flirt with self-censorship and there is always a question about how much I should give away when I am writing about specific people or projects.
It is tricky, but I guess its no more tricky than trying to communicate in the entertainment business, which is not a very straight-forward type of communication in a not very straight-forward business. So I am used to communicating, as necessary (I don’t try to be sly), in this way, and now, because the blog is public, I am doing the same thing with anyone who reads this. Its aimed at a common denominator, the most influential common denominator, and contains only that level of information that wouldn’t be a disclosure problem with the people at that level. Those who wouldn’t look at it as transgression. Which is why I declined ultimately the idea of doing weekly Entourage reviews and probably wont do reviews on this blog of anything contemporary here.
To all the rest of you? Who has a public blog and who doesn’t? And what do you disclose? Is someone reading your blog with whom you aren’t able to be completely candid?
Anyway, Michael and I were talking about my blog and I mentioned that I was getting hits from people finding me from within the industry. Now, my blog is completely public. In fact, if you look me up on Myspace you can find it. Its right there. So anyone who looks for me on MySpace has access. Also, because I mention movies I produce on the blog, by name, and some actors as well (I misspell occasionally but not all the time) anyone involved with the films googling the film to see where it pops up may pop onto this blog.
In fact, this did just happen recently in a way that came back to me. An actor called me for some personal advice on something he’s dealing with and in doing so, mentioned to me that he saw that I mentioned a film on the blog. And he didn’t like the way that I listed him. His BLOG Billing. And he wasn’t all hot an bothered about it, in fact he may have been half kidding. But the other half was serious, I think, and I guess in some way, he’s not completely wrong. I don’t think the way I described his participation was particularly different than the way the film will be marketed, and I don’t want him to be upset about it. But he does raise a question.
So I am at this party with Michael Mosley for his birthday, and we’re talking about the blog. And he mentions that he thinks its kinda tricky the way I write, because I have to flirt with self-censorship and there is always a question about how much I should give away when I am writing about specific people or projects.
It is tricky, but I guess its no more tricky than trying to communicate in the entertainment business, which is not a very straight-forward type of communication in a not very straight-forward business. So I am used to communicating, as necessary (I don’t try to be sly), in this way, and now, because the blog is public, I am doing the same thing with anyone who reads this. Its aimed at a common denominator, the most influential common denominator, and contains only that level of information that wouldn’t be a disclosure problem with the people at that level. Those who wouldn’t look at it as transgression. Which is why I declined ultimately the idea of doing weekly Entourage reviews and probably wont do reviews on this blog of anything contemporary here.
To all the rest of you? Who has a public blog and who doesn’t? And what do you disclose? Is someone reading your blog with whom you aren’t able to be completely candid?
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