I want my Home Theater back, you bastards!

I'll bring you up to speed. For Christmas I recieved a Toshiba DVD/VHS Combo Home Theater Surround Sound System. I know, pretty fancy. It cost my girlfriend quite a bit of dough from what I understand. I loved it. It was the best present I had recieved since she gave me a Satellite Radio on my birthday (which by the way I suggest you go right out to your local electronics store and pick up XM Radio). I was able to finally watch A Cowboy's Silver Lining in 5.1 Dolby Surround. Yeah, we mixed the movie in Surround Sound. So, I loved it. Even stereo television sounded amazing. I heard things on films and DVDs that I didn't even know existed. It was magic. It was like falling in love with Cinema all over again.
Well, that lasted two weeks. All of a sudden the DVD player just stopped reading DVDs. Oh, it read CDs just fine... it just wouldn't play movies. So, I called up Toshiba. They said to take it into one of their certified service locations, Jim's TV Repair. Yeah, I know, that should have been the first sign. The second sign was bringing it into the repair shop. The place looked like one of those car repair establishments that always have cars stacked end to end with no sign of getting anything fixed.
Long story short, Three weeks later I called Toshiba and complained. They offered to send me a brand new Home Theater. That was two weeks ago. In that time Raging Bull 25th Anniversary Edition has come out. The 30th Anniversary Edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is out. There are so many damn movies I want to watch and I'm stuck with the crap that cable has to offer. Hell, the only reason I have cable is for Adult Swim on Sunday night.
So, FedEx... get your shit together and ship my motherf#cking Home Theater back before I go all Taxi Driver on you, eh? Ship it!

damn damn damn damn...

I got the official e-mail today. A Cowboy's Silver Lining didn't get into the Big Muddy Film Festival in Carbondale, IL. It's a student run festival... that would have been the plus. The downfall is that the schedule they printed reflects that it is a student run festival. I was under the impression that film festivals try very diligently to show a vast array of films over a span of days. They're showing Taxi Driver twice (or more). They're showing some of the films more than once over the time they've got for the festival. Sure, okay... it's their perogative to do so. I'm just miffed that we won't be able to share our film with a bunch of college kids that might actually like to see something different. They can rent Taxi Driver and watch it in their leisure. I don't know what to say really, except that I'm disappointed. Do note that I tried to keep this as cordial and clean as possible. Ask me what I really think some other time.
-B

fear and loathing...

There's always a fantastically frightening end to an amazingly screwly life. Hunter S. Thompson let himself out with two barrels of steel yesterday. For all of his drunk and drugged adventures covering politics, sports, and any other "on the job" journalism... he gave us a series of amazingly f-ed up insights that are unparalleled and whimsically loveable. There was the same kind of sad wonder captured in his writing as those that had traveled before him... Jack Kerouac, Hemingway, Bukowski...
Hemingway plugged himself too. Kerouac drank himself to death. All of these prolific writers of times and places that we were never bold enough to travel alone, treked where we could not... and brought back all of these fireside stories to soak in. Lifetimes of misadventures... Hunter will be missed. Without amazingly crazed minds like Thompson we would never know what we were missing. Pass the Lucy and hand me the bowl...

-B

dreaming of the dream job...

The nine to five is not for me. Ever since I was eight years of age, I knew that I wanted to make movies. I knew that I wanted to act. I knew that I wanted to continue this little fabricated world of make-believe on into the majestic sunset of HBO supported daydreams. I'm still working on making that boyhood dream a reality (if it ever may come to pass).
Unfortunately, like most of the rest of the "real people" on this Earth, I have to brunt and bash through a Monday to Friday monotonous wreck. I struggle with my bills. I have to tell my friends that I can't go out because I'm broke. I have holes in my clothes because I have to pay my light bill instead of going to the gap for the newest fad. If I wear a nice button up shirt every once and a while, odds are I bought it at a thrift store.
As Cheech and Chong would say, "It's tough all over." It is. The other cohorts on this little film making adventure work in a factory and work as a repair-all/carry-all for an apartment complex. I might have the most glamorous job of the bunch... The people that I act with work as construction supervisors, carpet cleaners, desk-jockeys, bar tenders, flight attendants. We all work the day jobs and at the end of the day the real world is still just as real as when we woke up in the morning.
The dream, however, is waking up to make movies. I would love to have the time, money, and freedom to schedule and create films for a living. I want to know that someone has made sure that all of the gear and actors are going to be on location... and that's their job. I want to know that even though there may be problems with lighting or sound, that there's going to be one or more people on the set or on the way to take care of the problem. And I'll be waiting comfortably for the solution...
I don't mind the stress of deadlines. I can deal with one or two deadlines a year. Right now, I have make it or break it deadlines every day... sometimes twice a day. I'm pretty sure that I could pull a few "all-nighters" to make sure we get the film to print on time. Yeah, I'm okay with that.
I had a lot of fun making my first feature film. I'm having a small bit of fun writing the next script. I'm even having fun reading and helping people tweak other scripts. The real fun happens when you get to create the movie... then show the finished product... then win someone's heart and mind with this grand mess you've created. Instead, for the time being I've got Television News. Hopefully someday the light at the end of the tunnel will be enough to catch a sunburn. Can't that be Monday? Dream... dream, dream, dream....

The first two of many...

The news is out. A Cowboy's Silver Lining has been accepted to two up and coming film festivals this year. The Bare Bones International Film Festival and The Hearts and Minds Independent Film Festivalhave both invited us to participate in their festival festivities. I'm pretty sure that some of us will make the treck out to Muskogee, Oklahoma for the Bare Bones fest. You see, Oklahoma is a lot closer than Wilmington, Delaware... but hey, I've never been to Delaware... So, we might just have to make a trip.
I've heard that film festivals are quite fun, especially if you get to go out of town to visit them. I'm looking forward to the adventures. I hope that we'll win some titles or something. All of the festivals have great things to offer. Would I be selfish in saying that the most important part is to win something? That is the point of sending out to festivals... to win... well, and the possibility of getting distribution. Showing your films to people is great, too but nothing beats winning some notoriety.
That's where we stand. Hopefully we'll be invited to a few more festivals before the end of the year. I'm still planning on sending out to more festivals but for the possibility of those from festivals reading this, I would like to be invited to participate in your festival. I'm not trying to break any records or anything. I am trying to get this movie shown to people. I am trying to win. I'm trying to get all of the people that worked their ass off in getting this movie made some kudos. So, can we come and visit? Good, we'll see you soon. I'll bring some beer.
-B

a good Monday?

Who would have thought that a rainy, blustery, drab return to the work week would have made me feel a slight bit better. Usually a nice hangover would have accompanied me to work, however, in my growing experience and waning tolerance of alcohol has driven this poor boy to domestication. Yeah, I might still hold on to a bit of my old Rock-Star lifestyle... but the bills have to get actually get paid (took me a while to figure that one out) and you can't constantly destroy yourself without some kind of ramification. That's the gray hair talking.
The Superbowl wasn't so super. The ads were lame. The country has been taken over by some kind of Neo-Macarthyism. However, there is a new head of the Motion Picture Association of America... and he seems to have a sense of humor... unless your pirating movies. Then you're dead to him, understand? Dead.
I did get a little writing done last night. I need to really get cracking on the script. I said something about the end of February to a couple of people. I do intend to stick to it. That's what rough drafts are for, right? Well, I'll write more when I actually get something done. Right now I have to play chopper photographer for work. Wheeee... I can fly.

sick again?

Yes, I'm sick... again. How in the hell can you get well for one day and sick again the next? I've had 2 massive colds within the last 2 and a half weeks. Most of the time has been a blurred cold remedy haze. However, I do have to say that Theraflu is some wild stuff. Who needs illegal drugs when you can buy Theraflu for 7 bucks a pop? It hasn't made for many successful script writing nights... but the dreams were crazy enough to be a David Lynch film. Reality becomes a strange place... and people are strange, when you're a stranger. Maybe I'll get something done this weekend... provided I've got the energy and mindflow. For now: Goodnight, sweetheart, well... it's time to go.. baddum bada bum...