Aug
11

A Perfect Short

Posted in media at 11:58 am with tags: • • • •

Short films, like short stories or poems, don’t have the luxury of length and exposition. The necessity of brevity often creates the purest, simplest, and often the best stories. Witness, The Lunch Date, Oscar winner in 1990 for best short film.

Saw this sometime during my film school days and it always stuck with me. Thanks to YouTube and the net, gems like this no longer get lost in time.

Popularity: 58% [?]

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Jul
26

The Stuart Davis Show

Posted in life at 8:49 pm with tags: • • •

Here’s the pilot we shot back in February…what a fun weekend it was….

Popularity: 31% [?]

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May
23

Henson part deux

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:43 am with tags: • •

Popularity: 14% [?]

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May
22

Experimental Henson

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:49 am with tags: •

As many may know, Jim Henson is definitely one of my artistic role models. I’ve always been a big fan of the Muppets and their many incarnations, but I also totally dig some of his more experimental stuff….

one of which can be viewed here; killer

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Feb
19

The good kind of tired

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:41 pm with tags: • • • •

I’m exhausted, sore, totally sleep deprived and I couldn’t be happier. Between a freelance shoot last tuesday, winning the Huffington Post Contagious Festival Jury Prize, and pretty much starting a new job today I also helped crew a shoot for a pilot TV show starring stuart davis. Consisting of three very intense 12 hour days, it was exhausting but incredibly fun. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than that, and it felt very good to be doing it. I was only the boom mic operator, but got to assist with setting up lights, directing, taking care of a baby, set design and the rest of the whole shebang. And best of all, it was fucking hilarious. I have no doubt some network is going to pick it up, Stu’s an absolute natural.

Energetically it really feels like something shifted a week or two ago, there’s suddenly a lot of momentum in all kinds of directions for lots of people I know right not. It’s pretty kick ass.

I also had a kick ass lifting session with Casey this morning. I’m totally addicted to the Sauna.

It’s now time to read, wee a bit, and then nap.*

*revised per the request of Lady Jolene.

Popularity: 14% [?]

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Feb
12

Space Sketch

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:24 pm with tags: • • • •

same as before, starring BCB and DB with me on the camera assist.

Popularity: 26% [?]

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Feb
8

Groundhog Day

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:52 pm with tags: • •

Created by and Starring Dave Burdick and Ballard C. Boyd

Shot by yours truly

Popularity: 23% [?]

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Dec
5

Junebug and the Office

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:34 pm with tags: •

As I’m not jobless, and about to go on 4 days of vacation, I resolved to myself to not do shit this week other than close up loose ends at I-I…

Consequently, yesterday I watched the movie Junebug, and last night and today I watched the entirety of the BBC version of The Office. Having seen all 12 episodes plus the special, it strikes me how similar the show’s tone actually was to that of Junebug.

While Junebug and The Office both take place in radically different settings, and radically different cultures for that matter; what’s strikes me is how similar they really are thematically. Both are about people stuck in life, people so identified with their script and ego that they just can’t break free and act any differently. Characters in each often find themselves in situations that they know are wrong, but just don’t know how to stop themselves from pursuing any further. They know they need to act differently, but they literally don’t know how.

Both have that truly fascinating mix of humor and pain. Much of the humor comes from the absurd way people act in each, as does much of the pain. Both have moments that are truly painful to watch, painful because as viewers we can see the trainwrecks that are about to occur, and the inability of the people to get hit the breaks or move in a different direction.

The most powerful scene in Junebug I think for most is when Ashley talks to George in the hospital; when she finally allows herself to say the things she’s clearly known all along but was unable to before because it wasn’t part of her role, her script, the self she had to follow.
My favorite line that Ashely utters during another part of the movie, which should be a tender moment but breaks down because of her husbands inability to break free of his script:
“God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.”

A similarly powerful moment occurs during The Office Xmas special, which wrapped up the show. In what has to be one of the finest moments in television, David Brent finally stops performing and punches through his script and ego.

Anyway, cool stuff, check them both out.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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