Freedom! And other things.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

That's a project from my friend Eric Thomas - sometimes the simple things are the most inspiring.


In my universe (because I'm a self centered creature, and this is my blog, so there):


Finished working on a season finale of a reality t.v. show.

Beta reading this AMAZING steampunk flavored mystery from a friend across the pond.

Planning and plotting some directions for a super secret project that I can't talk about just yet.

Rearranging some scenery in the novella.

Debating the purchase of some new toys for my shooting kit.

I have to finish up and send off some one sheets this week.  For those who don't know, a one-sheet is a 250 word (approximately) outline of a feature length film.  I tend toward being long winded (if it weren't obvious) and struggle at making one-sheets read like anything more interesting than stereo instructions.

Granted, they don't have to be.  This isn't a logline, pitch, etc.  After a pitch, a producer will often ask to see a one sheet, just to make sure the storyline elements are in place.  That way, they don't read 100 pages of screenplay only to find out you've fumbled toward the end, or don't have an ending at all.

But it doesn't hurt to make the damn thing less painful to read.  Ugh.

Celtic Thunder and crazy naked man

Finished that Celtic Thunder tech through and DVD shoot, and developed a dead-on Dublin brogue while doing it.  For whatever reason, if I'm working 12+ hours a day with people who have an accent different than mine, I end up talking like someone (someplace?) else.

I am now slowly working the word 'mine' back into my vocabulary, and filing away useful bits of slang in case I ever have need of them again.

The hours were bollocks (bad), but the crew to a man was the dog's bollocks (completely fantastic).  I guess this equates to the US difference between 'shit' and 'the shit'.  Interesting, how the entire connotation of a word can go from such a negative to a positive with just a little modifier!

I have some scene rearranging and thinking to do about the novella, and glad to have a little time to get back to it. I would like to publish again before I'm 80...


So the other interesting part of my week...the crazy naked man.

Originally, this fellow contacted me to do a charcoal drawing for a poster - a poster for some avant guarde theater performance where he's naked and tied up.  That bit doesn't really bother me - I have performer friends who stick fish hooks in their eye sockets, or get branded and suspended from piercings on stage.  (Not everyone's cup of tea, but I've seen some interesting things.)

This dude, however, managed to creep the hell out of me.  How?

He FaceBook requested me, supposedly to talk about poses.  The conversation quickly degenerated into things like 'will you enjoy tying me up' (no, it will be part of the job and you wouldn't actually be tied up - this is a drawing) to 'bring your friends and they can eat sushi off of my naked body' (ewwww - can we say sanitary issues, much?).   Around the time that he offered to 'let me make more money' by 'having my friends take him to clean their homes naked while his clothes stay at my place'  I told him that I'm an artist, not a dominatrix, and he really needs to find a professional to fulfill his needs.

Yeah.  Creeped.  I can't even make this stuff up.  There's a huge difference between commissioning a drawing and getting your jollies off, and I draw.  Gack.  Hack. Spew.

I hope you are as befuddled as I am, and at least twice as amused.  I need some mental floss.

Bad Blogger, no biscuit!

Hello, patient friends and readers!

I've been a bad, bad blogger this summer - two posts in three months? For shame!

I do have reasons, the gossip of which I'll share with you now.

I was working on movies and Rock n Roll.

Two movies, in fact.

One of them was called Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding, shot in upstate New York, and starring Katherine Kaneer and Jane Fonda.  Mz. Kaneer is marvelous, I look forward to both working with her again, and seeing her performances.

Another is called Summer Child, starring no one in particular, and also shot in upstate NY.

I also worked the Bethel Woods summer concert season - always a great time with fabulous crew and some great acts.  (Special kudos to the country group who came in with a longhorn - skull shaped mirror ball bigger than my car!)

Of my remaining few hours, I greedily slept them away rather than keeping you folks updated - I apologize for the brevity, and can't guarantee it won't happen again at some point.

By the end of the coming week, I will have worked ever Celtic tour currently sweeping the countryside.  Somewhere in there, I will post my project for filmmakeriq.com's NOIR contest.

It'll be awesome, and you should totally enter:

http://filmmakeriq.com/2010/07/filmmakeriq-com-film-noir-video-contest/

I can almost guarantee your project will be better than mine!