I was interviewed recently by Laura Hartman of the World Music and Independent Film Festival where this past year, the music video I made for World Collision was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Alternative Rock Video. The interview can be found by clicking here.
I have something exciting to announce, too, that does tie in to my interview in a round about way. Hallowscreen was an amazing experience and I met some truly fantastic people because of it. Among those I met are Sage Hall and Jesse Kozel who made the short film Candy. They're making another short film next week and I've volunteered my services for pretty much whatever they need. It's been a long time since I was on someone else's set so I'm really looking forward to, well, everything! I volunteered to do whatever they need. I have no problem with going from the captain of the ship to being a deckhand. All positions are necessary and if I can help in anyway to make their dreams come true, then I'll be happy!
I believe in supporting the community, of helping each other when and if possible. I know that film is a business and that it's very competitive, but like they say in Second City: if the other guy looks good then everyone looks good. I heard that twice this week (once on the Ghostbusters commentary from Harold Ramis and once on a random interview with Bill Murray that was on TCM) and I really like that philosophy.
In other news, I finished the second draft of a new feature script the other day. This one is one I've been trying to write for years, but it just didn't want to come out. I'm very happy with it and want to start on the third draft, but I need to do this short film first since I plan on shooting it early next year. On that front, I re-started the storyboards last night. I was using a computer program to hand draw them (don't ask) and it was okay at first, but the program locked up on the fourth page and wouldn't let me erase or edit so I had to restart it. It's all good, I'm a terrible artist, but I think I prefer to be terrible on physical media anyway.
I may have more to announce soon, but I'll wait until I have confirmation. For now, keep screaming!
Showing posts with label wmiff 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wmiff 2010. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
In the seat of my country's government.
I got back from Washington, D.C., yesterday where my brother and I had gone to attend the first annual World Music and Independent Film Festival's awards gala on Saturday. What I didn't know was that the actual film festival part had been running all week, including the day we got in, because they didn't have anything on their website about it until Saturday. Oops! Yeah, they were a bit disorganized and disheveled, but now that I know it was their first event, I can understand all of the glitches much better. The event has a lot of potential and I would absolutely submit films to them again. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself.
After departing Sarasota at 7 on Friday morning (after I got home from work around two am and woke up at 4:15), my brother and I land at the Ronald ReaganMemorial Bowl International Airport and get into the cab to go to our hotel, the Capitol Hilton, which served as the event's venue. The room was heavily discounted, by the way. I think the regular price is a heart-stopping $250 a night. Something outrageous like that. And the wi-fi isn't even free! I know the money is going toward a good cause, like Paris' latest drug issue or something, but even Nando's Peri-Peri in Chinatown has free wi-fi.
I planned on us being there so early so we could take in some sights. At that time, I still thought nothing was happening on the festival front until Saturday night so we had a nice chunk of time to see D.C. and we went to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut, but my asthma and allergies made that dream pretty much impossible (this was the early 80s, folks.) We didn't have a whole heck of a lot of time, but they didn't close until 7:30 that day so we got to see a lot more than we thought we would. We walked through every exhibit, though we didn't have time to read everything, and we got to see Journey to the Stars which was narrated by Whoopi Goldberg! That was awesome!
It was so awe inspiring to be in the presence of these machines, like the Spirit of St. Louis and the Wright flyers. It's amazing what human beings can accomplish when we bend our minds to the task. It's just too bad we can't seem to put that kind of dedication into other worthwhile pursuits like being kind to each other or helping each other out.
After our tour of the museum, we decided to get something to eat and cut the sightseeing a little short. On the way back to the hotel, we found a fancy Italian place called Portenza where we had good, but slightly overpriced, food. They're trying to build D.C. up as a foodie Mecca, especially after Top Chef had their most recent season there, and the food was delicious, but I would've expected a little more for a $13 plate of moon shaped cheesy goodness.
After that, and a quick stop at the CVS just down the street from our hotel, we went to our rooms where I turned on the teevee for some background noise. When I flipped past the Hilton events channel, I saw that there were films playing for the festival that day. By the time I saw it, it was a little too late; there was only an hour left in the last movie of the day. My phone, thankfully, has Internet so I was able to check out their website, even though I did check it just before leaving for D.C., and lo and behold, there was a link to a film schedule...sort of. That was upsetting. Then I tried emailing the festival founders, but the emails bounced.
Oh boy...
Since there was nothing to do about it, I started watching Repossessed on my iPad (I love that movie...and I love the iPad. It's turned my productivity up to eleven) and fell asleep around 9, only to wake up around 7:30 the next morning, which turned out to be a good thing since the networking party and awards and everything actually started really early. Like 10 am early.
I'm not a fancy dresser and am extremely low maintenance, but I got dolled up as well as I do (no make-up to conceal my rosacea, hair in my usual ponytail) and a severely low cut black shirt and black pants, grabbed my compilation DVDs (I only took four, I need to make a huge cache of these things, seriously) and met up with my bro to go downstairs and start networking. We met Gary Ugarek, the man behind the Deadlands movies, and Chris Kiros, a producer / cameraman on Deadlands who brought his own film Zombthology to the festival, and had a great time talking to them (indie horror at a film festival! I like WMIFF just for that!) and got copies of their films as well as permission to play them at Hallowscreen!
We walked around and talked to people and handed out CDs and DVDs and we were interviewed a couple of times and photographed quite a bit and finally it was time to go to the luncheon before the ceremony. We were seated with the band Flying Machines who were there to perform and also ended up taking home Best Rock Video and Best Director for a Music Video. They're not my kind of music, but they were really nice guys so it works out.
They had a lot of categories and even more nominees so the awards thing took about three hours, but at least they had musical performances to break everything up. Our video lost in both categories (Best Alternative Rock and Best Cinematography) to OK Go's amazing Rube Goldberg inspired video "This Too Shall Pass" and...uh...I forget who won Cinematography, to be honest, and the winners aren't posted on the WMIFF website as of this writing. I would've been happy to win, don't get me wrong, but OK Go's video is pretty damn amazing and I would've been surprised if they hadn't won!
The funny thing about the awards thing, to me, other than the fact that 1/3 of the presenters and maybe 3/4 of the winners didn't show, is how many people left after their categories were called and they didn't win. How rude is that? Okay, so you didn't win. You were nominated, for crying out loud! That's amazing! Don't act like a baby and pout when your name isn't called. Stick around to support your fellow artists! But maybe that's just me...whatever.
After the awards ceremony, which wrapped up 15 minutes early, Shawn and I got into some comfy clothes and did a tour of the monuments. We saw Albert Einstein's statue first, which is off the beaten path, but pretty close to all of the major monuments. The statue is huge, but Einy, as I like to call him, is adorable.
Then we went to the Lincoln memorial, which is a lot bigger than I thought it would be even after seeing it from the back when I took the boat tour from Alexandria back in July. So many people were at the memorial, hanging out on the steps or reading the words inside, but I do have to wonder how many people are going to go home and carry on with their bigotry after reading his speeches in slack-jawed awe. Then again, our government's in that town and they seem to have forgotten everything these statues and monuments are supposed to stand for and to remind us of.
One thing you don't really get from photos of Lincoln's statue is the immediacy of his posture and expression. It looks like he's about to stand up and go kick some tail, to be honest. And his stony gaze is focused on the Capitol Building (and the Washington Memorial since that's between then, but I prefer to think he's looking angrily down upon the travesty our government has become.) Don't get me wrong, my country was founded on some amazing principles, but those principles have become corrupted and distorted as our elected officials grapple after power and money, completely forgetting that it was we, the people, who gave them their jobs and it is we, the people, for whom they work, not Wall Street, not the corporations, not foreign interests. Us. And I don't know what it would take to remind them of that short of a complete dissolution of authority, which never works out well anyway.
Anyway, after the Lincoln memorial, we headed over to the Vietnam Memorial. It's something I've wanted to see for a long time. In my childhood, I knew a lot of Vietnam vets and my mother's passion for supporting them kind of infected me, but I'm young and fairly removed from that era. It was hard to put that into a perspective for myself, but I can see it mirrored in a way with the Iraq wars. All of those names...they all belong to a person, someone who means a great deal to the people they left behind. It's yet another thing we forget, or just ignore, but it's hard to ignore the ache still in a parent's or sibling's heart as they lay a wreath by the name of their relative and press their hand against the wall to support themselves as they break down.
Hidden off the path of the Vietnam Memorial is a statue that compliments the statue of the three soldiers near the Wall. This is the Vietnam Women's Memorial. It's a beautiful and equally haunting tribute to the women who served in the war, but are so often forgotten though they gave their lives and hearts as well.
Nearby is the World War II memorial. It's very beautiful and very grandiose, but I'm struck by something my former neighbor, a WWII veteran, reportedly said (I'm paraphrasing, by the way): "I went there so people here could do what they wanted. If I knew then what I know now, I would've stayed home." Whatever his political leanings, that's a pretty strong statement, one I think a lot of veterans feel. From there, we went to the Washington Monument, but we didn't go up the stairs or anything. It's impressive and really tall. Can't really say too much more about it after being gobsmacked by Lincoln's statue and the Vietnam war memorials.
After our tour of the nation's monuments, we headed over to Chinatown were we ate at a restaurant that served American food with a Portugese / African / Middle Eastern twist called Nando's Peri-Peri. Not cheap, and it's essentially a self-service restaurant, but once their computer problems were worked out, the food was delicious. Seriously, the best ear of corn I've ever had. Very spicy, though, so if you're like me and you don't dig the kick in the mouth, be careful how you order.
From there, we headed back to the hotel because the after party was due to start at Lotus at 10 pm and that gave us an hour or so to get ready. Our flight was at 8:45 the next morning, but I was afraid that security might be crazy so I didn't want to leave the hotel any later than 6. The club didn't even open until 11 and when we went back, we were turned away because they had a dress code and Shawn's shorts weren't Lotus material. Whatevsies! We didn't get to go to the after party, I really hate elitist clubs anyway, so we went back to the hotel and got some sleep.
All in all, it was a great trip and I would absolutely submit to WMIFF again, like I said before. Washington, D.C. itself is a beautiful city with just as much homelessness as anywhere else (and quite a bit more police action), but I started to feel like I was walking through a huge cemetery. Nearly all of the architecture is sepulchral and what little isn't doesn't feel very alive, but the people were friendly. Maybe that's because most of them are tourists...
After departing Sarasota at 7 on Friday morning (after I got home from work around two am and woke up at 4:15), my brother and I land at the Ronald Reagan
I planned on us being there so early so we could take in some sights. At that time, I still thought nothing was happening on the festival front until Saturday night so we had a nice chunk of time to see D.C. and we went to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut, but my asthma and allergies made that dream pretty much impossible (this was the early 80s, folks.) We didn't have a whole heck of a lot of time, but they didn't close until 7:30 that day so we got to see a lot more than we thought we would. We walked through every exhibit, though we didn't have time to read everything, and we got to see Journey to the Stars which was narrated by Whoopi Goldberg! That was awesome!
It was so awe inspiring to be in the presence of these machines, like the Spirit of St. Louis and the Wright flyers. It's amazing what human beings can accomplish when we bend our minds to the task. It's just too bad we can't seem to put that kind of dedication into other worthwhile pursuits like being kind to each other or helping each other out.
After our tour of the museum, we decided to get something to eat and cut the sightseeing a little short. On the way back to the hotel, we found a fancy Italian place called Portenza where we had good, but slightly overpriced, food. They're trying to build D.C. up as a foodie Mecca, especially after Top Chef had their most recent season there, and the food was delicious, but I would've expected a little more for a $13 plate of moon shaped cheesy goodness.
After that, and a quick stop at the CVS just down the street from our hotel, we went to our rooms where I turned on the teevee for some background noise. When I flipped past the Hilton events channel, I saw that there were films playing for the festival that day. By the time I saw it, it was a little too late; there was only an hour left in the last movie of the day. My phone, thankfully, has Internet so I was able to check out their website, even though I did check it just before leaving for D.C., and lo and behold, there was a link to a film schedule...sort of. That was upsetting. Then I tried emailing the festival founders, but the emails bounced.
Oh boy...
Since there was nothing to do about it, I started watching Repossessed on my iPad (I love that movie...and I love the iPad. It's turned my productivity up to eleven) and fell asleep around 9, only to wake up around 7:30 the next morning, which turned out to be a good thing since the networking party and awards and everything actually started really early. Like 10 am early.
I'm not a fancy dresser and am extremely low maintenance, but I got dolled up as well as I do (no make-up to conceal my rosacea, hair in my usual ponytail) and a severely low cut black shirt and black pants, grabbed my compilation DVDs (I only took four, I need to make a huge cache of these things, seriously) and met up with my bro to go downstairs and start networking. We met Gary Ugarek, the man behind the Deadlands movies, and Chris Kiros, a producer / cameraman on Deadlands who brought his own film Zombthology to the festival, and had a great time talking to them (indie horror at a film festival! I like WMIFF just for that!) and got copies of their films as well as permission to play them at Hallowscreen!
We walked around and talked to people and handed out CDs and DVDs and we were interviewed a couple of times and photographed quite a bit and finally it was time to go to the luncheon before the ceremony. We were seated with the band Flying Machines who were there to perform and also ended up taking home Best Rock Video and Best Director for a Music Video. They're not my kind of music, but they were really nice guys so it works out.
They had a lot of categories and even more nominees so the awards thing took about three hours, but at least they had musical performances to break everything up. Our video lost in both categories (Best Alternative Rock and Best Cinematography) to OK Go's amazing Rube Goldberg inspired video "This Too Shall Pass" and...uh...I forget who won Cinematography, to be honest, and the winners aren't posted on the WMIFF website as of this writing. I would've been happy to win, don't get me wrong, but OK Go's video is pretty damn amazing and I would've been surprised if they hadn't won!
The funny thing about the awards thing, to me, other than the fact that 1/3 of the presenters and maybe 3/4 of the winners didn't show, is how many people left after their categories were called and they didn't win. How rude is that? Okay, so you didn't win. You were nominated, for crying out loud! That's amazing! Don't act like a baby and pout when your name isn't called. Stick around to support your fellow artists! But maybe that's just me...whatever.
After the awards ceremony, which wrapped up 15 minutes early, Shawn and I got into some comfy clothes and did a tour of the monuments. We saw Albert Einstein's statue first, which is off the beaten path, but pretty close to all of the major monuments. The statue is huge, but Einy, as I like to call him, is adorable.
Then we went to the Lincoln memorial, which is a lot bigger than I thought it would be even after seeing it from the back when I took the boat tour from Alexandria back in July. So many people were at the memorial, hanging out on the steps or reading the words inside, but I do have to wonder how many people are going to go home and carry on with their bigotry after reading his speeches in slack-jawed awe. Then again, our government's in that town and they seem to have forgotten everything these statues and monuments are supposed to stand for and to remind us of.
One thing you don't really get from photos of Lincoln's statue is the immediacy of his posture and expression. It looks like he's about to stand up and go kick some tail, to be honest. And his stony gaze is focused on the Capitol Building (and the Washington Memorial since that's between then, but I prefer to think he's looking angrily down upon the travesty our government has become.) Don't get me wrong, my country was founded on some amazing principles, but those principles have become corrupted and distorted as our elected officials grapple after power and money, completely forgetting that it was we, the people, who gave them their jobs and it is we, the people, for whom they work, not Wall Street, not the corporations, not foreign interests. Us. And I don't know what it would take to remind them of that short of a complete dissolution of authority, which never works out well anyway.
Anyway, after the Lincoln memorial, we headed over to the Vietnam Memorial. It's something I've wanted to see for a long time. In my childhood, I knew a lot of Vietnam vets and my mother's passion for supporting them kind of infected me, but I'm young and fairly removed from that era. It was hard to put that into a perspective for myself, but I can see it mirrored in a way with the Iraq wars. All of those names...they all belong to a person, someone who means a great deal to the people they left behind. It's yet another thing we forget, or just ignore, but it's hard to ignore the ache still in a parent's or sibling's heart as they lay a wreath by the name of their relative and press their hand against the wall to support themselves as they break down.
Hidden off the path of the Vietnam Memorial is a statue that compliments the statue of the three soldiers near the Wall. This is the Vietnam Women's Memorial. It's a beautiful and equally haunting tribute to the women who served in the war, but are so often forgotten though they gave their lives and hearts as well.
Nearby is the World War II memorial. It's very beautiful and very grandiose, but I'm struck by something my former neighbor, a WWII veteran, reportedly said (I'm paraphrasing, by the way): "I went there so people here could do what they wanted. If I knew then what I know now, I would've stayed home." Whatever his political leanings, that's a pretty strong statement, one I think a lot of veterans feel. From there, we went to the Washington Monument, but we didn't go up the stairs or anything. It's impressive and really tall. Can't really say too much more about it after being gobsmacked by Lincoln's statue and the Vietnam war memorials.
After our tour of the nation's monuments, we headed over to Chinatown were we ate at a restaurant that served American food with a Portugese / African / Middle Eastern twist called Nando's Peri-Peri. Not cheap, and it's essentially a self-service restaurant, but once their computer problems were worked out, the food was delicious. Seriously, the best ear of corn I've ever had. Very spicy, though, so if you're like me and you don't dig the kick in the mouth, be careful how you order.
From there, we headed back to the hotel because the after party was due to start at Lotus at 10 pm and that gave us an hour or so to get ready. Our flight was at 8:45 the next morning, but I was afraid that security might be crazy so I didn't want to leave the hotel any later than 6. The club didn't even open until 11 and when we went back, we were turned away because they had a dress code and Shawn's shorts weren't Lotus material. Whatevsies! We didn't get to go to the after party, I really hate elitist clubs anyway, so we went back to the hotel and got some sleep.
All in all, it was a great trip and I would absolutely submit to WMIFF again, like I said before. Washington, D.C. itself is a beautiful city with just as much homelessness as anywhere else (and quite a bit more police action), but I started to feel like I was walking through a huge cemetery. Nearly all of the architecture is sepulchral and what little isn't doesn't feel very alive, but the people were friendly. Maybe that's because most of them are tourists...
Sunday, July 11, 2010
I'm back!
Whew! I've been away for a couple of weeks. Part of it was vacation fun times in Orlando with some of my best friends and part of it was working fun times as my brother and I went to New York City to attend the screening of the music video at New Filmmakers at the Anthology Film Archives!
There are TONNES of photos in these slideshows...and I'm not sure why most of the daylight New York pics are out of focus...kind of annoying, actually. Guess I'll just have to go back. Oh darn. ;D
Orlando:
The Harry Potter area of Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure opened up maybe a month ago and that happened to co-incide with my sister-from-another-mister's vacation here in FL (which also co-incided with New Filmmakers in New York) so I arranged for some time off and ran away to Orlando with her, her sisters, and some of her friends for happy fun times! Harry Potter is insane, J.K. Rowling really pushed the reality of the area as the most important thing even at the expense of common sense (as in the main souvenir shop which is WAY too small), but the details are incredible and the area as a whole is well worth the oppressive press of humanity in the hothotheat of a typical Florida day.
The main food attraction is the butterbeer. Yes, they have pumpkin juice, but I couldn't even drink a whole bottle of that stuff. The butterbeer, however, is utterly amazing, refreshing, and delicious. It's like butterscotch cream soda. Thankfully, it's not distributed outside of the park, or even outside of that area of the park. That would diminish the specialness of the drink, I think, to be able to go to Walgreens or 7-11 and buy it.
The main attraction for the park, however, outside of the loads of Potter merchandise, is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a Haunted Mansion-type ride that's anything but Haunted Mansion. I don't want to give the whole thing away because you really need to go and experience it, but suffice it to say that it's utterly amazing and is absolutely worth the hour and a half wait for it. It's housed in the forced perspective wonderland that is Hogwarts castle. Seriously. It's pretty amazing.
We did ride other rides there, like The Simpsons, the Mummy, and Rip Ride Rockit, but Potter's where it's at right now, especially with the disrepair that some of the once-pristine rides have fallen into, like Spider-Man.
Even if you're not a Potter fan, I think you'll enjoy the Potter area at Universal: Orlando.
New York:
A couple of days after I got home from Orlando, it was time for me to take off for New York. My sister-from-another-mister asked me to use FourSquare so she could stalk me from Florida so those of you who are on my Twitter, I apologize for the inundation of notifications of where I was, but once I started, it was kind of addictive... I'll only use it for vacations, special occasions, and film festival trips, though...y'all don't need to know my work schedule or my address!
The first thing my brother and I did in New York was get to our hotel which was in Chinatown, between Bowery and Mott on Grand, then we had the most delicious pizza at Lombardi's (the first pizza place in the US) and then we went to Times Square to see Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuworth as Gomez and Morticia Addams in the new Addams Family musical. I've been a big fan of the Addams Family for as long as I can remember and while I was excited to see this, I was dubious because it could've been terribly bad. It wasn't. It was WONDERFUL! It reminded me of why I adore the Addams family. While there is no other Gomez for me than Raul Julia (sorry, John Astin, but Raul was amazing), Nathan Lane did a fantastic job! To me, Bebe Neuworth isn't Morticia, but she was good in the role. I really don't know who I would've cast. Everyone else was brilliant and the show is so funny and the songs are great, but they're pretty show specific so I can't say you should run out and get the soundtrack if you haven't seen the show.
The screening was fantastic. There was a good, receptive crowd and a lot of people took some of Shawn's CDs and a couple of my compilation DVDs. Most of the filmmakers left after their films showed or weren't there. I can understand not showing up, but I don't really understand not watching the other films you're screened with. That's one of my favourite parts about going to these festivals: checking out what else is playing. I did get to meet the director and one of the stars of Modern Love is Automatic, a feature film out of D.C. that was produced by the juror of the Female Shorts film festival in VA where Anathema had just played. They were super-sweet, even though we were the only ones who stuck around to watch it, and the film was great. The actresses in particular were spectacular!
My brother and I walked around New York City...quite literally. The day of our screening, we walked from Chinatown to Times Square (took about and hour and a half or so) and went to the Empire State Building (the best photo keepsake picture EVER!) and Madam Tussaud's and just all over the place!
I moved to New York after I graduated high school in '97 to go to the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. While various events conspired against this and I had to come back to Sarasota, I've always loved the City. It's dirty and stinky and dangerous, but vibrant and real. The mentality there is if you don't keep moving forward, you might as well have stayed home. Seems like a pretty good analogy for life if you ask me. And jaywalking isn't just against the law, it's a way of life.
Now, I'm returned to a pile of work, both at the theatre and for the Circus documentary I was working on and the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival's Halloween Mini-Fest for which I'm the program director, not to mention my own films. Speaking of which...I have to make the arrangements to go to D.C. at the end of August for the World Music and Independent Film Festival where "Essenger" has been nominated for Best Alternative Rock video and Best Cinematography!
Also, voting is still open for the People's Choice Award, where we're in 4th place! C'mon y'all! If you haven't voted yet, you can do so by clicking on THESE WORDS, finding our video (World Collision's "Essenger"), clicking ADD then scrolling to the bottom and clicking on vote!
There are TONNES of photos in these slideshows...and I'm not sure why most of the daylight New York pics are out of focus...kind of annoying, actually. Guess I'll just have to go back. Oh darn. ;D
Orlando:
The Harry Potter area of Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure opened up maybe a month ago and that happened to co-incide with my sister-from-another-mister's vacation here in FL (which also co-incided with New Filmmakers in New York) so I arranged for some time off and ran away to Orlando with her, her sisters, and some of her friends for happy fun times! Harry Potter is insane, J.K. Rowling really pushed the reality of the area as the most important thing even at the expense of common sense (as in the main souvenir shop which is WAY too small), but the details are incredible and the area as a whole is well worth the oppressive press of humanity in the hothotheat of a typical Florida day.
The main food attraction is the butterbeer. Yes, they have pumpkin juice, but I couldn't even drink a whole bottle of that stuff. The butterbeer, however, is utterly amazing, refreshing, and delicious. It's like butterscotch cream soda. Thankfully, it's not distributed outside of the park, or even outside of that area of the park. That would diminish the specialness of the drink, I think, to be able to go to Walgreens or 7-11 and buy it.
The main attraction for the park, however, outside of the loads of Potter merchandise, is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a Haunted Mansion-type ride that's anything but Haunted Mansion. I don't want to give the whole thing away because you really need to go and experience it, but suffice it to say that it's utterly amazing and is absolutely worth the hour and a half wait for it. It's housed in the forced perspective wonderland that is Hogwarts castle. Seriously. It's pretty amazing.
We did ride other rides there, like The Simpsons, the Mummy, and Rip Ride Rockit, but Potter's where it's at right now, especially with the disrepair that some of the once-pristine rides have fallen into, like Spider-Man.
Even if you're not a Potter fan, I think you'll enjoy the Potter area at Universal: Orlando.
New York:
A couple of days after I got home from Orlando, it was time for me to take off for New York. My sister-from-another-mister asked me to use FourSquare so she could stalk me from Florida so those of you who are on my Twitter, I apologize for the inundation of notifications of where I was, but once I started, it was kind of addictive... I'll only use it for vacations, special occasions, and film festival trips, though...y'all don't need to know my work schedule or my address!
The first thing my brother and I did in New York was get to our hotel which was in Chinatown, between Bowery and Mott on Grand, then we had the most delicious pizza at Lombardi's (the first pizza place in the US) and then we went to Times Square to see Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuworth as Gomez and Morticia Addams in the new Addams Family musical. I've been a big fan of the Addams Family for as long as I can remember and while I was excited to see this, I was dubious because it could've been terribly bad. It wasn't. It was WONDERFUL! It reminded me of why I adore the Addams family. While there is no other Gomez for me than Raul Julia (sorry, John Astin, but Raul was amazing), Nathan Lane did a fantastic job! To me, Bebe Neuworth isn't Morticia, but she was good in the role. I really don't know who I would've cast. Everyone else was brilliant and the show is so funny and the songs are great, but they're pretty show specific so I can't say you should run out and get the soundtrack if you haven't seen the show.
The screening was fantastic. There was a good, receptive crowd and a lot of people took some of Shawn's CDs and a couple of my compilation DVDs. Most of the filmmakers left after their films showed or weren't there. I can understand not showing up, but I don't really understand not watching the other films you're screened with. That's one of my favourite parts about going to these festivals: checking out what else is playing. I did get to meet the director and one of the stars of Modern Love is Automatic, a feature film out of D.C. that was produced by the juror of the Female Shorts film festival in VA where Anathema had just played. They were super-sweet, even though we were the only ones who stuck around to watch it, and the film was great. The actresses in particular were spectacular!
My brother and I walked around New York City...quite literally. The day of our screening, we walked from Chinatown to Times Square (took about and hour and a half or so) and went to the Empire State Building (the best photo keepsake picture EVER!) and Madam Tussaud's and just all over the place!
I moved to New York after I graduated high school in '97 to go to the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. While various events conspired against this and I had to come back to Sarasota, I've always loved the City. It's dirty and stinky and dangerous, but vibrant and real. The mentality there is if you don't keep moving forward, you might as well have stayed home. Seems like a pretty good analogy for life if you ask me. And jaywalking isn't just against the law, it's a way of life.
Now, I'm returned to a pile of work, both at the theatre and for the Circus documentary I was working on and the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival's Halloween Mini-Fest for which I'm the program director, not to mention my own films. Speaking of which...I have to make the arrangements to go to D.C. at the end of August for the World Music and Independent Film Festival where "Essenger" has been nominated for Best Alternative Rock video and Best Cinematography!
Also, voting is still open for the People's Choice Award, where we're in 4th place! C'mon y'all! If you haven't voted yet, you can do so by clicking on THESE WORDS, finding our video (World Collision's "Essenger"), clicking ADD then scrolling to the bottom and clicking on vote!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
So much to tell, so little time to blog!
Hi guys!
I am a terrible blogger. I have all of this stuff going on and I've neglected my blog. I love this blog and I love all of you. I'm going to try and rectify some of that now with some of the news I have to share!
In a little less than a week, I'll be heading up to Virginia for the Female Shorts Film Festival which is being held at the Torpedo Gallery in Alexandria. A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema is one of only 22 shorts to be shown over the four day event.
The music video I made for my brother's band, World Collision, is up for a People's Choice Award at the World Music and Independent Film Festival. If you haven't seen the video yet, it's at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWloc1uajZI and if you'd like to vote (which is really a veiled plea for you to vote, haha!), go to: http://www.wmiff.com/?q=music/vote-peoples-choice-music . This festival is in Washington, D.C. in August and I go plan on going to that one, I just haven't firmed up travel arrangements yet. I was just notified that voting will end at the end of July so get crackin'!! ;D
I'm in the middle of a reedit of my Colson Award winning documentary Circus Sarasota. I received some interviews with the co-founders of the organization, Mr. Pedro Reis and Ms. Dolly Jacobs, and I'm working on fitting them into what I've currently got and rearranging a few things, tightening it up a bit. Thankfully, it's all on my laptop so I can work on it during my "downtime" in the airports and in Virginia!
World Collision have asked me to make another music video for them! I may be the sister of the band's originator, but it's still an honour to be asked back! I have no idea when this is going to be shot, to be honest, but I've got some ideas and maybe this can be shot when I was originally hoping to shoot my next short since that one might take a bit longer in the pre-production process. Sounds like a plan to me! And, that said, yes, I'm doing at least one more short film! A talkie this time (I get asked that a lot since Anathema is a silent film...) The biggest thing I've learned from Anathema as I watch it with people in theatres is that I am not a writer suited to silent film, though I love the form.
Finally, everything at the theatre is up in the air again. Das Wunderkind that corporate brought in to replace our first booth manager decided to return to his old theatre a month after starting at ours. They offered me the job and I said no. Once they rejected me for it the first time around, I refocused and now have some really great things happening in my true profession. It's not my fault that Das Wunderkind couldn't hack it (to be fair, he lives an hour / hour and a half away...a terrible commute, but he knew that when he said yes.) That said, things are a bit chaotic at a twenty screen theatre with no booth manager. Hopefully, they'll pick one soon...I've got a lot to do!!
I am a terrible blogger. I have all of this stuff going on and I've neglected my blog. I love this blog and I love all of you. I'm going to try and rectify some of that now with some of the news I have to share!
In a little less than a week, I'll be heading up to Virginia for the Female Shorts Film Festival which is being held at the Torpedo Gallery in Alexandria. A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema is one of only 22 shorts to be shown over the four day event.
The music video I made for my brother's band, World Collision, is up for a People's Choice Award at the World Music and Independent Film Festival. If you haven't seen the video yet, it's at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWloc1uajZI and if you'd like to vote (which is really a veiled plea for you to vote, haha!), go to: http://www.wmiff.com/?q=music/vote-peoples-choice-music . This festival is in Washington, D.C. in August and I go plan on going to that one, I just haven't firmed up travel arrangements yet. I was just notified that voting will end at the end of July so get crackin'!! ;D
I'm in the middle of a reedit of my Colson Award winning documentary Circus Sarasota. I received some interviews with the co-founders of the organization, Mr. Pedro Reis and Ms. Dolly Jacobs, and I'm working on fitting them into what I've currently got and rearranging a few things, tightening it up a bit. Thankfully, it's all on my laptop so I can work on it during my "downtime" in the airports and in Virginia!
World Collision have asked me to make another music video for them! I may be the sister of the band's originator, but it's still an honour to be asked back! I have no idea when this is going to be shot, to be honest, but I've got some ideas and maybe this can be shot when I was originally hoping to shoot my next short since that one might take a bit longer in the pre-production process. Sounds like a plan to me! And, that said, yes, I'm doing at least one more short film! A talkie this time (I get asked that a lot since Anathema is a silent film...) The biggest thing I've learned from Anathema as I watch it with people in theatres is that I am not a writer suited to silent film, though I love the form.
Finally, everything at the theatre is up in the air again. Das Wunderkind that corporate brought in to replace our first booth manager decided to return to his old theatre a month after starting at ours. They offered me the job and I said no. Once they rejected me for it the first time around, I refocused and now have some really great things happening in my true profession. It's not my fault that Das Wunderkind couldn't hack it (to be fair, he lives an hour / hour and a half away...a terrible commute, but he knew that when he said yes.) That said, things are a bit chaotic at a twenty screen theatre with no booth manager. Hopefully, they'll pick one soon...I've got a lot to do!!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Things Fall Apart and Things Fall Together
Things work out the way they're supposed to. About a month ago, maybe just over, my work life kind of blew up when the booth manager, who had been booth manager almost since the place opened (that'd be about 13 years), had to suddenly transfer to another theatre. We're a bit understaffed as it is so this sudden and completely unexpected move knocked all of us projectionists for a loop. And by all of us, I really just mean the two of us who are, for all intents and purposes, full time upstairs.
Wanting to keep the booth in the family, I applied for the booth manager position as was "strongly recommended" to me by the former booth manager and several higher up employees. I was told, though, that they'd probably go with someone who had some experience with the digital projector that was installed a week or two after the booth manager's transfer and, though I'd practically been running the booth for the past few years, I'm inexperienced according to the corporation's standards. Everyone at the theatre thought I'd get it and I wouldn't be lying to you if I were to say that I was disappointed when I didn't, but I was also relieved. I'm a filmmaker, not a career projectionist, and to be the booth manager, I would have to sacrifice the relative freedom of being able to shoot pretty much whenever I want. Just the month or so I spend as the interim booth manager was mentally upsetting.
During that time, I found out that one of my really good friends, whom I don't see very often as it is, is moving away (she actually pushed the date of her moving to today and we still haven't been able to get together), and I got several rejections for Anathema, and if you've read the last blogpost I made, you know about the particular sting that accompanies a hometown rejection.
In that same post, I mentioned that I was sending the film to the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival which occurs around the same time as the Sarasota Film Festival (to differentiate between the two, I'll just call the other one "the Fringe") and that I also donated money to help get the festival off the ground this year (via Kickstarter: click here if you have a desire to donate a little green to the scene and if not, that's okay, too. :D )
I received an email from the director of the Fringe requesting a meeting based on the cover letter I sent with my film. Yes, it did mention that I'm a projectionist for the mainstream festival, but really...I don't know any trade secrets or anything that isn't already in the papers. It's not like I can tell them anything and I'm certainly not about to start off my career as a saboteur by making other filmmakers miserable when the selection process is political and subjective all at the same time. Like the director of the Fringe, I'm a local filmmaker who was rejected (twice now) by the hometown festival and yet both films have played other festivals and won awards.
So, I went to the meeting, not entirely sure of what it was that we were meeting about. After some small talk, he offered me a job as an editor on a short documentary that had been shot locally - so Sarasota Film Festival people, if you're reading this and starting to get worried or something, don't. I'm not working for the Fringe as staff, I'm working for a film sponsored by the Fringe to be played at the Fringe and this freelance editing job will not interfere with my duties as the film projectionist for the Sarasota Film Festival. I just won't be getting a whole lot of sleep over the next couple of months!
This news came down the pike on Wednesday before I had to go to work at the theatre and I thought, "Hey, this is pretty cool! I'm building my professional CV, I'm going to be making more contacts, and I'm going to be making a little dough in the process!" It felt good to be happy while working, which I really haven't been in a while, even with the mixed feelings of not getting the booth manager position and all those rejections. And, yes, I am prepared for it to go tits up because that's the nature of the business I'm in, but we did shake on it and that still holds water with some people like myself.
Last night at work, which is the busiest night for a projectionist because new films open on Friday, I received two emails. One, I can't really go into right now, but I may have some exciting news here toward the end of the year, but the other one was a notification that the music video I made for my brother's band was accepted to the World Music and Independent Film Festival in Washington, D.C.! Once I know more, I'll post more - like usual. Woohoo!
I'm expecting an email from their director closer to when the festival is supposed to take place (which is in August). If I can go, it would be my first trip to the nation's capital and while it's a terribly dangerous place (morally, ethically, and physically), I'd really like to check it out.
In the minus column, I appear to have sprained my middle finger which would be funny had I been giving this last month The Bird; however, I was only threading.
Wanting to keep the booth in the family, I applied for the booth manager position as was "strongly recommended" to me by the former booth manager and several higher up employees. I was told, though, that they'd probably go with someone who had some experience with the digital projector that was installed a week or two after the booth manager's transfer and, though I'd practically been running the booth for the past few years, I'm inexperienced according to the corporation's standards. Everyone at the theatre thought I'd get it and I wouldn't be lying to you if I were to say that I was disappointed when I didn't, but I was also relieved. I'm a filmmaker, not a career projectionist, and to be the booth manager, I would have to sacrifice the relative freedom of being able to shoot pretty much whenever I want. Just the month or so I spend as the interim booth manager was mentally upsetting.
During that time, I found out that one of my really good friends, whom I don't see very often as it is, is moving away (she actually pushed the date of her moving to today and we still haven't been able to get together), and I got several rejections for Anathema, and if you've read the last blogpost I made, you know about the particular sting that accompanies a hometown rejection.
In that same post, I mentioned that I was sending the film to the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival which occurs around the same time as the Sarasota Film Festival (to differentiate between the two, I'll just call the other one "the Fringe") and that I also donated money to help get the festival off the ground this year (via Kickstarter: click here if you have a desire to donate a little green to the scene and if not, that's okay, too. :D )
I received an email from the director of the Fringe requesting a meeting based on the cover letter I sent with my film. Yes, it did mention that I'm a projectionist for the mainstream festival, but really...I don't know any trade secrets or anything that isn't already in the papers. It's not like I can tell them anything and I'm certainly not about to start off my career as a saboteur by making other filmmakers miserable when the selection process is political and subjective all at the same time. Like the director of the Fringe, I'm a local filmmaker who was rejected (twice now) by the hometown festival and yet both films have played other festivals and won awards.
So, I went to the meeting, not entirely sure of what it was that we were meeting about. After some small talk, he offered me a job as an editor on a short documentary that had been shot locally - so Sarasota Film Festival people, if you're reading this and starting to get worried or something, don't. I'm not working for the Fringe as staff, I'm working for a film sponsored by the Fringe to be played at the Fringe and this freelance editing job will not interfere with my duties as the film projectionist for the Sarasota Film Festival. I just won't be getting a whole lot of sleep over the next couple of months!
This news came down the pike on Wednesday before I had to go to work at the theatre and I thought, "Hey, this is pretty cool! I'm building my professional CV, I'm going to be making more contacts, and I'm going to be making a little dough in the process!" It felt good to be happy while working, which I really haven't been in a while, even with the mixed feelings of not getting the booth manager position and all those rejections. And, yes, I am prepared for it to go tits up because that's the nature of the business I'm in, but we did shake on it and that still holds water with some people like myself.
Last night at work, which is the busiest night for a projectionist because new films open on Friday, I received two emails. One, I can't really go into right now, but I may have some exciting news here toward the end of the year, but the other one was a notification that the music video I made for my brother's band was accepted to the World Music and Independent Film Festival in Washington, D.C.! Once I know more, I'll post more - like usual. Woohoo!
I'm expecting an email from their director closer to when the festival is supposed to take place (which is in August). If I can go, it would be my first trip to the nation's capital and while it's a terribly dangerous place (morally, ethically, and physically), I'd really like to check it out.
In the minus column, I appear to have sprained my middle finger which would be funny had I been giving this last month The Bird; however, I was only threading.
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