Moving on...

So I realized I never fully wrapped up my SXSW trip so here goes.

That bad photo you see was taken at HOOTERS after I barely beat Film Threat's own Mark Bell at a mini-hoops free throw shooting contest. Yeah baby! I won 10 free wings, a shirt (which I gave to Pete to give to his wife) as well as that polaroid and supposedly my name on the HOOTERS marquee for a week. I walked by it later that week and it wasn't up there. BOOoooo. Anyway...

After the FT guys left, I got my own room at the Doubletree. It was sort of off the beaten path and was WAY too expensive, but it was a ncie hotel. The very first night I was flying solo I went and saw Peter Case (of the Plimsouls), 2 Cow Garage, The Drams, Tommy Womack and Mic Harrison (of the V-Roys) ALL together in one showcase. It was awesome!!! I had a bunch of beer and proceeded to stumble on up the street. Well, I wasn't 2 blocks into my 10 block walk when I got pulled over by some bully asshole cop who said he "got a call I was urinating in the street."

I wasn't peeing in the street. It's something I would do and have done, but on this night, I didn't do it. I was really tired and drunk and just wanted to go to my room and go to bed but this ass was like...pushing me. At first he got in my face trying to get a reaction and I just stood there and said, "I didn't pee in the street." Then he got all investigative and asked how many drinks I'd had, where I was coming from, going to...etc. I calmly explained my evening and of course lied by about 10 beers when I said I'd had 5-6. He kept like...prodding me verbally...trying to get me to spazz out but I didn't. it took about 15 minutes for him to run my ID and make me stand there lile a common criminal. I didn't make a peep and when asked (repeatedly) about peeing I said, "I swear, I didn't pee in the street."

He eventually let me go to my hotel with a stern finger point in the direction i was to walk. F-ing dick. The irony is that about 3 blocks over from me was 4 blocks of wall to wall partying and he chooses to harrass me. Ugh. It really pissed me off once I got over been scared to death. I was already kind of in a funk from missing my flight and this experience really upset me. So much so I "took the next day off" from treating myself poorly. Then Friday, my last night there, I decided that when I got home I would go on the ole wagon for a month. It's been a week today and I feel exactly the same as usual...except with no beer. In the end it'll save me money and save me inches around the waist, but I'm spoiled and I want what I want. Blah. Oh, friday, my last big night I had an awesome time. I had a chicken fried steak at Threadgills, hitched an illicit ride from a hotel van and saw Steve Poltz then Is aw Carrie Rodriguez and grabbed a cab outside the show to save me a walk. Truth be told, I was scared of getting pulled over so it was a lifesaver.

To cap off my trip I went to the Texas Chili parlor and had a last beer which I savored, then I walked to 7-11 and got nachos and went to bed. Neat!

So, I'm home now and getting I'm adjusted. OH! STRINGERS got into the Sonoma Valley Film Festival so John and I are stoked!! Should be an great time and it's just in time for my month of wagon riding to be over. Look out Sonoma!

Tomorrow John and I are doing this documentary challenge where you get one day to shoot and edit a 4 minute documentary. That should be fun...especially since I won't have a hangover.

Home again, home again jiggedy jig.

Sorry for not posting, but I have some good excuses. While in the end I had another amazing time at SXSW, the trip was kind of plagued with boneheaded moves courtesy of yours truly.

When I last posted, I said I was leaving in the morning for SXSW. Friday morning I got up like it was Christmas morn I was so excited. It was like Christmas morn when I was a kid though, not Christmas morn now. Now when I wake up I groan at how much money I spent or feel bad for not spending enough because I'm broke. Anyway, I was really excited. My wife drove me to the airport and I went to check in. Only, there was no reservation for me. Huh? I was plenty early so I know I didn't miss it and I then became baffled. I had my mom book my flight because she's too sweet to me and has a bunch of sky miles (and, I'm broke) so I called her and got the confirmation number. I told the airline lady and still, nothing. I kept thinking of that Wilco song "Reservations" and the line "Iiii've got res-er-vations..." But I didn't. It was then airline lady, myself and my mom realized...my flight was THURSDAY. DAMN IT!!! I missed my flight by a DAY! What a total moron I am!

I don't take kindly to being told "no" when I really want something so I scrambled to find another flight. All of them were booked solid. There was a flight leaving in an hour for Houston and I thought maybe I could get that one and have my buddy Pete pick me up. But, that flight couldn't be transferred via the Skymiles and it cost $625.00. Crap! Crap crap crap. I called my wife and had her come pick me up. I pouted all the way home and when we got back, I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over my head. Even Igby couldn't cheer me up.

After some late night harrassing text messages from Pete and Mark, I woke up and did it all over again. My sister Kiff drove me to the airport (Thanks, Kiff!) and away I went. Finally. But this flight was a long one and I didn't get into Austin until like, 8:30. Basically, I missed two days of the fest and the opening night parties. Grrrrrrr. My buddy Zack picked me up at the airport and WTF-fest continued as the airline had lost my bags. Grrrrr. I like to clean up after a long flight, especially if I'm going out so that was frustrating. Real frustrating. But, we all met up at the hotel and went and saw the crappy zombie sheep movie BLACK SHEEP.

The next day I had some screenings plus I was tired from the long flight and late night. When I woke up, Pete and Mark were gone so I hopped in the shower (my luggage was at the hotel when we got back). I have stayed at the Courtyard Marriott before and I really like it. The rooms are big, free breakfast, free internet. it's great. I was just about to get out of the shower when I started to slip. I caught myself and thought, "damn, this shower is slippery!" Then I turned back around to turn off the water and totally ate shit. In the shower. Like some old man in a rest home. Needless to say, 6"4/275 pounds of wet, naked DLew ain't too pretty. I have a big pruple bruise on my ass cheek to prove it. And it hurt. And thus, WTF-fest ambled on.

Things picked up from there and I saw some great films and saw some old friends. I brought my camera but as always, forgot to use it. Then Wednesday rolled around and Mark and Pete took off. I was all alone to brave the music part of the festival. More on that later...

SXSW..again

Tomorrow morn I leave for South by Southwest in Austin, TX and I simply cannot wait. I need to just get away, have fun, see great films, hear great music, see old friends, drink free beer, eat good food. It's my vacation and I cannot wait. Seriously. like, remember when you were a kid and you'd chew on paper on your back teeth and it would feel weird and good? That's how I feel right now. Ugh...wish I was there now.

Rather than go item by item of my insane schedule, I will instead post a list of the bands I saw that are playing and have the best band names. Keep checking here, www.filmthreat.com and http://cine.petaluma360.com/ for updates...there will be lots.

Here's my list of favorite band names. These are real bands playing SXSW...no clue if the band is worth a shit:

my! gay! husband!
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Holy Fuck
Fucked Up
Nervous Hospital
Les Breastfeeders
Smoking Popes (five a.m. considered this name....briefly)
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
Holy Shit!
Bubonic Plague
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House
Windom Earle (it's a major geek factor)
Medicine Fuck Dream
Green Milk From the Planet Orange (they're from Tokyo no less)
Yuppie Pricks
Two Hoots and a Holler
Lesbians on Ecstacy
Cat Scientist
River City Rapists
Big Balls
Patty Hurst Shifter
The Faceless Werewolves

My SWAG

I just did a post over on my Petaluma 360 Blog so I won't do it twice. Plus, I could use some hits o'er there. Read all about my SWAG bag HERE. There's photos too!

Also, the radio interview was alot of fun. I mostly just tried to keep up as the host had seen the movie the guy I was with did, but hadn't seen STRINGERS. It was a good time and a good experience to have so early on in my career as a filmmaker.

It was funny though because the guy I was with, John McDonald really did it "right" with his doc "The Ghost Mountain Experiment." He had interns and nice equipment and he even had a helicopter to get some shots! He told a story about landing at some remote cafe to have breakfast to which I replied, "Jeez, all we did was sit in the back of a 1986 police car and grab In and Out Burgers at 3:00 a.m."

Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh...on the radio...

So my short film STRINGERS is playing the Cinequest Film festival this week. I'll be there Wednesday March 7 for the 4:00 screening BUT...if any of you loyal blog readers can go to another screening (there's one Saturday AND Sunday) and VOTE for us to win the audience award, that would be swell. Real swell.

Also, tonight (Monday March 5) I'll be live on San Jose's own KFJC discussing STRINGERS (I think) at 5:30 p.m. You can figure out how to listen live on the internets by going to:

http://www.kfjc.org/netcast/index.php

You can even call in and ask me questions...I think. Hope you'll check it out. Once again, ehre are the showtimes for STRINGERS at Cinequest:
Stringers is in Shorts Competition Program 5: Docu-Nation
March 7, 4:00 p.m.
at the Camera 12 Cinema
288 S 2nd St
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 998-3300

3/10/2007
9:30 PM
Camera 12 Cinema

and
3/11/2007
4:15 PM
Camera 12 Cinema yet again.

Cinequest info can be found at: http://www.cinequest.org/

Thanks for your support!

Hooray for the Hollywood Reporter!

And their excellent taste in quoting people! Notice the blurb on Jackie Earle Haley...right hand side...

Update on my short film

So I went and saw Todd Snider last Wednesday night in Petaluma. In case you missed it somehow, I made a short film based on his song "Just Like Old Times." I got permission from Todd as well as his management and record company and off I went.

So, after completion I showed the movie to Todd's management company and asked them to forward the link
to Todd so he could watch it. About an hour later I got an email from
his manager saying Todd couldn't get it to work on his computer so he
wanted to know if I would bring a DVD down to the show and give it to
Todd's tour manager so he could check it out. Sure, no problem.

So I brought it down and gave it to the tour manager and thanked him
for putting me on the guest list. We went our seperate ways and I hung
out and watched the opener then I ran up to the lobby for a beer.
While I was up there, I see the tour manager looking around. He spots
me and comes over and says "Todd watched the movie and really, really
liked it. He'd like you to come backstage so he can meet you."

WOW!

I've met the guy a few times but I probably came off as some dorky
fan. Now I would re-meet him as "an artists." Heh heh heh.

So I go backstage and Todd's sitting there and he says "Thanks for
making that movie, I'm very touched. My wife loved it too." I said
"thanks for writing such a great song!" Then Todd asked
"So where did you find those actors?? They were really GREAT!" I told
him that they were all local and that Stephen (the lead) was in a big
production right now in SF and that Betsy does some local stuff in
Santa Rosa and at SRJC. I had forgotten, but Todd then reminded me, he
WENT to SRJC (for 3 days...as he likes to say in one of his stories).
I told him Milo (the cop) was a good friend of mine as well.

I didn't want to bug him or turn into insta-fanboy so I shook his hand and split. He put on a GREAT show and it felt really good to once again start something, finish it and show it off. Yay me!!

Also-my short doc STRINGERS is playing CINEQUEST film festival in San Jose next Wednesday. I'll only be there that day (SXSW starts the following Friday...WOO HOOOoooo!) so if you're around SJ at 4:00 Wednesday, March 7, come see my film!

My new short!!

Check it out...I'll write more about it later!

Someone will die, someone will fly

Just saw the character who flies fly on HEROES...and I started clapping. That's awesome!!!!! I'm torn on who will die. All week I thought it would be Ando...then I figured it would be Claire's mom. Now....I'm thinking it's Ando and that's cold man. Frigging cold.

Update....10:03 p.m......wow.

A very Matscentric VD to you...

Well you wish upon a star that turns into a plane
And I guess that's right on par
Who's left to blame?

If you were a pill
I'd take a handful at my will
And I'd knock you back with something sweet and strong
Plenty of times you wake up in February make-up
Like the moon and the morning star you're gone

Tonight makes love to all your kind
Tomorrow's makin' Valentines

Hey you pop up in this old place
So sick and so refined
Are you strung out on some face?
Well I know it ain't mine

If you were a pill, I'd take a handful at my will,
And I'd knock you back with something sweet and strong
Trouble keeping your head up when you're hungry and you're fed up
Like a moon and a lone star you're gone

Tonight makes love to all your kind
Tomorrow's makin' Valentines

If you were a pill, I'd take a handful at my will,
And I'd knock you back with something sweet as wine
Yesterday was theirs to say, this is their world and their time
Well if tonight belongs to you, tomorrow's mine

Tonight makes love to all your kind
Tomorrow's makin' Valentines

Another incredible DVD cover..

WOW!! Loving this one!! Again, not sure why....the design? I do like red...and I do love me some Rosario Dawson. Hmm...that's not it though. Hmmm...why is this so brilliant...?

Pupdate

Sorry for not blogging here...I've been super super super busy. Santa Barbara Film Fest was FUN!! Luckily my buddies Mitch and Phil (aka The Butcher Bros) were there so we tore it up. Those guys own that festival. They won the award for "Director to Watch" last year and everyone loves them there. They made the trip much more fun. I wrote all about it at my other blog "Petaluma Movie Reel" which can be found here: http://cine.petaluma360.com/

So since I've been movie blogging too much lately, I thought I'd give you an Igby update. He's great!! He's so cute and loves sticks, as you can see in the photo above. Erica also discovered he can fetch! He totally chases balls and sticks and brings em back. He's so smart. He loves to snuggle Erica...way too much. He likes to sleep either on her shoulder or on her head...pretty funny. I sometimes think he doesn't even like me, but he's kinda mean to Erica and he and I get along good. If he was a human, I'd buy him a beer and we'd make fun of Erica behind her back.

There's also a dark side to puppies...
They're really "bitey." We're both nursing little wounds all over our hands. They also like to chew on everything and that's only going to get worse. Plus, he's still a pup so he pees and shits all over. Sometimes he's good about waiting to go outside or hitting his mat, but usually when we come home from work he's done some redecorating. He also doesn't sleep all the way through the night. I'm lucky to have Erica because she gets up with him and takes him to pee. If I have to get up, I can't go back to sleep so her doing that is really great.

One thing I noticed is, I'm not grossed out by Igby's gross stuff. I noticed it last week when we were playing in the yard. He had some serious eye goop and if that was someone elses dog or kid, I'd be grossed out. But without even thinking I wiped it with my finger and then wiped that on my pants. Plus, I just pick up his poop whenever I see it. I mean, I use a tissue, but still. Not something I'd have pictured myself doing without thought or hesitation. I did get a little queasy when he had worms, but other than that I'm a pooper scooper.

Anyway, that's the Igby update. Here's a picture of him at the vet! He was getting his shots but this photo was right before they took his temperature...and not through his mouth. Look at this photo and tell me if he knew what was coming...

San-tee Barb-ra HERE I COME!

So last year around this time I got an email from a very nice PR lady asking if I'd like to go to the Bermuda Film Festival. Whaaaaat!?!? I said. Yeah, she said they wanted to bring some press people to cover the event and my name came up. I didn't get into how/why/what and so on. Unfortunately, that festival was like, 4 days after I was to get back from South by Southwest and, as much as I would have loved to, missing that much work and my wife would simply not do. I referred my Film Threat buddy "Little" Mike Ferarro and he went...and had a blast. Bastard. However the nice lady said she'd keep me in mind for other fests and about a month ago, I got an email inviting me to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Sweet! I jumped at the chance and once again was happy I didn't go to Sundance. I was soon hooked up and dialed in for the fest and have spent the last week trying to figure out what films I want to see. SBIFF is kind of an odd fest. There's alot of amazing docs and they do a superb job showcasing local talent. But what makes the fest odd (in my eyes) is that they always PACK the thing with celebrities. I think last year they honored Peter Jackson and there's always star studded galas going on.

I think it's great that they program *real* films and still attract so many heavy hitters. However I also discovered that they showcase the years best films and I realized this when I got an email saying there were 32!! Oscar nominees and/or films at the fest! Holy crap!! Read this list and as you do, note that whatever filmmaker is there with his or her film, their movie is also playing and a Q&A with them follows.



· Sacha Baron Cohen, and co-writers Ant Hines and Peter Baynham, who will participate in a “Conversation With…”
· Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children, who will participate in a “Conversation With…”
· Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond, who will participate in a “Conversation With…”
· Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls (presenting to Bill Condon, who was sorely overlooked!)
· Peter Morgan, Screenwriter, The Queen
· Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Director, Babel
· Todd Field, Director, Little Children
· Michael Arndt, Writer, Little Miss Sunshine
· Guillermo Arriaga, Writer, Babel
· Ron Yerxa, Producer, Little Children/Little Miss Sunshine
· Albert Berger, Producer, Little Children/Little Miss Sunshine
· Steve Golin, Producer, Babel
· Graham King, Producer, The Departed
· Adriana Barazza, actress, Babel
· Gustavo Santaolalla, Composer, Babel
· The Danish Poet (Short Film, animated)
· Recycled Life (short doc)
· Rehearsing A Dream (short doc)
· Blood of Yingzhou (short doc)
· An Inconvenient Truth (doc)
· The Lives of Others (foreign film)
· Days of Glory (foreign film)
· Little Miss Sunshine (followed by a Conversation with the directors)
· The Queen
· Cars
· Happy Feet
· Monster House

Plus their honoring Will Smith and Helen Miren!

So, needless to say, I'm incredibly flattered and honored and stoked to be asked to attend! Watch the blog for updates and OH!! PLEASE read my new blog at Petaluma 360. Yeah, I'm a total blog whore. But I want to use that blog to launch some cool local stuff so hit it up and add some comments!

30 mins!

I totally, totally love the NBC show "Heroes." It's been off the air for like, a month and tonight starts a big run of new episodes. I'll admit that I love to be a geek and jump on-board with really nerdy shows. I had a "Twin Peaks" phase, a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" phase, "X-Files," "Lost" and now "Heroes" big time! The show just has so much potential. I mean, the viewer and the characters are still finding out the limitations of the super powers...and we haven't even got to their superhero outfits yet! All the characters are well defined and Sylar, the villain, is great too. Even Sylar is still in his embryonic character stage as is everyone on the show. It's a cool feeling of discovery (like when Nathan just up and flew in that one episode!) and it really feels like you're along for the ride. "Heroes" and "The Office" are my two favorite shows with "Lost" a semi-close third.

Happy Birthday, Dave!!

Today David Lynch is 60 years old! I celebreated early by attending a screening of his new film INLAND EMPIRE last night at the Rafael Theater in San Rafael. Dave was THERE!! The MC of the night introduced him and there he was...the genius...the kook...the artist. 20 yards ahead of me and accepting a five minute ovation with class and grace. He said some words and then introduced Special Agent Chet Desmond himself, Chris Isaak! Chris and his drummer Kenny did 2 songs, including Wicked Game and then off we went into dream land. Or, nightmare land.

I'm still letting the film sink in as I need to review it for Film Threat. Yet I will say...it's weird. Duh. I loved it, but it's really long (3 hours) and incredibly fragmented. However Laura Dern turns in what I think might be one of the best pure acting jobs of all time. She has such range and such...bravery. It's pretty incredible. Another thing I'll say is that if anyone else had tried to pull off what INLAND EMPIRE does in terms of visual imagery, tone, "story" and all that...it wouldn't fly. When you see a David Lynch film, you give yourself over to David Lynch and trust him to take you on a journey. It's pretty neat. After the film there was a terrific Q & A and Chris Isaak did two more songs. The highlight was David Lynch playing a tiny maraca.

If you want to have a truly great cinematic experience, go see INLAND EMPIRE when it hits a theater near you!

Simply gorgeous DVD art!

I don't know what it is about this DVD cover that grabbed my attention. It's so simple, yet brilliant. That's what it is! An underlying sense of brilliance to the whole thing. But still...what is it that makes it stick out to me. Hmm.....I can't put my finger on it. Well, I'll post it and maybe you can tell me...



You can also order this hillarious DVD HERE.

Poetry 'n art...

About a week or 2 ago, we took a field trip at work to see "Eragon." I get to drive the van. It only holds 10 kids and we were only going like, 15 miles but man were they chock-full of noise. Ever since that trip, I've had the song they were singing stuck in my head. So, I slapped a jazz beat and riff to it and I give you...

Joy 2 tha World
by ten screaming kids

Joy
to the world
Barney's dead.
We barbequed
his head.
What happened to his body?
We flushed it
Down the potty
and round and round it goes
and round and round it goes
and round and round it goes
and raound and round it goes
and round and round it goes
and roun.
..well, you get it

Ah, youth.

What a long, strange trip...

I'm applying to San Francisco State to get a Masters in Cinema Studies. But, I misread the site. I thought I had until January 26 to send my application in and in fact, I had until today (The MFA is the 26th). Or, yesterday...January 12. I discovered my blunder on Tuesday and set about totally, totally freaking out all week. See, SF State only lets you apply NOW for the fall semester. I blow it now, it's one more year of fart jokes and pee-pee pants at my job. I need to motivate and fast. While the application process isn't all that tough, I still had a hillarious time gathering my shit.

Long story short...I got all my stuff together. Scholarly paper (NIGHT OF THE HUNTER beeotches!), personal statement (to learn more, teach others) thesis (Mexican new wave...it's sooo on right now!), letters of recommendation ( thank you Frank and Sandy, resume (yeah, I been around) and...unofficial transcripts. That's where the plot thickens.

I need to send "Official Transcripts" from the 3 colleges I attended to the main office and UNofficial ones to the cinema department: Santa Rosa JC, College of Marin, and Cal State Northridge. SRJC is the original bitch school. I honestly believe they think they should be a university. They simply "cannot" give me official transcripts. Too busy. College of Marin, sure. Northridge..well. We'll get to that. But fuck SRJC. I'm sick of them. 10-15 days until they can "send" my transcripts. Ohh...SRJC...you're so, so busy. Anywho, I get all my stuff together...except for my Northridge stuff. I figured I could log into the system like the old days (like, when I was a student) and get my unofficial stuff which is all I needed to complete my packet. No go.

It seems after 2 years, they bump you out. I called and found this out and I also discovered the only way I could get my UNofficial transcripts was to
1. Show up there (it's 6+ hours away)
or
2. Give a friend a handwritten note that says they can get them.

I called my friend (I have "1" friend) there and he's out of town so...yeah. I have to drive to Northridge, get my unoffical transcripts, put together my packet (and like, make it look presentable) and mail that shit with a postmark that says I got it in the mail today. Here's how today went:

3:30 a.m. Earthquake. You guys feel that shit? It was funny, really. I heard it before I felt it (like...someone really big groaning) and then when it started. I rolled over to Erica and gave a phony "Ahhhh...earthquake." We were both awake and she said, "yeah, that was an earthquake." We went to sleep.

5:30 a.m. Alarm (I have the theme to THE EXORCIST as my alarm tone...it works) I get up. Erica and I had an arrangement that I would take Igby (the dog for you late comers) outside. But, he didn't wake up. So, I got in the shower.

5:40 a.m. The reason things are so expensive here is because the weather is nice. It's been 20 degrees in the morning all week and this morning was no different. By the time water fell out of my fro, it was icy. Ugh.

6 a.m. I head out to L.A....Northridge. I stop for coffee and gas...away I go.

12:45 I get to Northridge. I walk around. Man, I sorely, sorely miss living in L.A. It was the one time I felt free and like I was truly pursuing what *I* wanted. Yet, I digress. That school...meh. Great cinema department in terms of trying to be a contender. Overall....blah. I did buy a new CSUN hat, I get my transcripts and go settle in the lounge area to quadruple check the stuff I quadruple checked twice before. I have it all. Yet, I still check it over OCD style 4-5 times.

1:00 I go to this real sketchy printing place that I always went to as a student. It's like... the same. How dare life go on as usualy without me there! I get my packets together and again, check them page by page three times.

1:15 Post office. After some confusion, I look over them and count them page by page, checklist number by checklist number...three times...then I send them "certified mail." I put my hands on the applications, wish them the best and off they go.

1:30-2:30 I want to go eat at my favorite places in my old 'hood, but I know L.A. traffic. I need to be outta there by 3:00. I get hammered by traffic and finally drive by my old apartment (I miss it so much, it hurts. Like, my gums hurt like I was chewing on paper) when I went by but, things are good here too. I miss Igby. Oh, and Erica. I go home.

9:15 Six diet cokes and a diet rockstar later, I'm amped as I roll into Petaluma. I still have 20 mins to go to Santa Rosa, so I stop by Dempseys. I see some friends, have 2 beers...head home.

Ugh...long day and I'm still all wired out. I had so many great ideas for films and docs today and I really realized just how many times I've gone from Petaluma to L.A. So many weird, funny stories...really. Anyways...good NIGHT!

a truly valuable lesson...

How to beat claw machine games! Sweeet...I'm totally going to do this...

My favorite movies of 2006!

O.K…here’s the much awaited list of my favorite films of 2006. I think I saw some films that were “better” (BABEL comes to mind) but these are the ones I enjoyed the most. I’m going to count backwards so it looks right this time…

10. HALF NELSON
I saw this at Sundance last year and just loved it so much. Considering I only saw 3 movies I genuinely loved (out of 30 plus…ugh) my cynicism level was super high. But Ryan Gosline is a badass in “Half Nelson” as a crackheaded teacher in the inner-city won me over. This movie never goes where you think it will and it’s still edgy, funny, grimy and great. I’m betting Gosling gets a much deserved Oscar nod.

9. INSIDE MAN
Spike Lee is one of my favorite directors, period. But even as a Spike fan, I’ve been rather confused with the purpose of his most recent, half-baked films “Bamboozled” and “She Hate Me.” While “Bamboozled” showed Spike at his angry best, it was still lacking a certain cohesiveness. But “Inside Man” is a frigging awesome movie! It’s not just a heist/caper film. There’s also some incredible visual imagery that gives the whole flick a certain political tinge. I’m not going to get into it now because I need to see the film again, but it’s on DVD so go rent it and enjoy a fun flick with a lot of intricacy. And, a lot of straight forward movie fun.

8. LADY IN THE WATER
I’m not a “huge” M. Night fan, but I’m also mature enough to stay off the M. Night bashing bandwagon. I still dig the guys flicks. I mean, people get on Spielberg because every movie he does ends up in some familial group hug but…helllooo…that’s what he does. M. Night does twists. Deal with it. I also felt like “Lady in the Water” is a throwback to a time when we were all young and enjoyed going to the movies to enjoy going to the movies. There was no internet gossip and message boards to ruin the fun. We went, we saw, we liked. Or hated. I genuinely enjoyed “Lady in the Water” and I think there’s some great allegory going on in regards to creative people and being creative in general. I need to buy this one too so I can be more nerdy in blogs.

7. SCIENCE OF SLEEP
Ah, Michel Gondry…you joyous madman! I missed “Science of Sleep” at Sundance and had to wait and wait to see it. When I finally did, I’m glad I did because it was in theaters for about a week. What I saw was a funny, sad and incredibly creative film about a guy who’s cripplingly creative and also fairly socially retarded. I mean, it’s not that simple, but it kind of is. There’s also some amazing special effects here….but they are special because they aren’t done with a green screen. Nothing goes “boom.” Instead Gondry indulges the eye with paper cut outs and string sculpture and…like…gels. This movie was so good and so soon forgotten you won’t believe it when you see it on DVD.

6. CHILDREN OF MEN
I just saw this today…like, 2 hours ago. It totally blew me away. But, there’s so many killer camera moves and shots and such incredible long takes in the film, I kind of found myself gawking at the landscape and losing track of the story. In short, I need to see it again and really take it all in. But what I managed to take in was simply, amazing. Director Alfonso Cuaron creates a future that looks a whole heck of a lot like the present, only much more grim. The story is confusing, but in a good way. This is also my second Clive Owen film on the list (“Inside Man” has Clive as well) which is weird because I think he’s so-so. But here, he’s a perfect anti-hero and “Children of Men” needs to be seen by as many people as possible so more movies like this can get made.

5. WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS
And…we have another Spike Lee movie in my top ten. And that’s a good thing! I shall step further up on my soapbox to say...what has happened in New Orleans is the most disgusting thing to ever happen to Americans…ever. Worse than 9-11. There, I said it. While 9-11 was God awful, our Government not only set New Orleans up to fail, they let them fail, did nothing to help and have STILL not done anything to help. It’s totally and utterly disgusting and unforgivable.

Spike Lee gets that and of all people, he lays it out in the most fair way possible. He blames everyone a little bit for what happened but also discredits some theories about why this happened. In fact, he never really says what he thinks was the main cause and I think that’s the point. It was a number of things. I loved this movie because it’s motivational and educational. It’s incredibly sad yet still hopeful. It’s the best documentary I’ve ever seen. Go rent it now. I mean it…like go out your door and rent it now. Go.

4. THE DEPARTED
This one was probably the most fun I had at the movies all year. It was just a balls out funny, violent, interesting fun movie. I’ve grown to really dislike Jack Nicholson and his phoning in of every role. But here, he actually acts and he’s great! Everyone is great in this film (Matt Damon, Leo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg..everyone!) and that’s what makes it so enjoyable. Plus…blood. And guts. I’m not a big gore guy, but Scorsese does it right. I hope Scorsese doesn’t win best director for this one because he’s directed better films. But “The Departed” is a blast. I was smiling from start to finish.

3. CLERKS 2
This was my favorite film of the year until I saw my top two…but “Clerks 2” is still pretty damned awesome! Those of you who know me know I love Kevin Smith. However, I felt like he was pussing out by going back to the “Clerks” well. I love “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” because I get all the inside jokes and they supplement the real jokes perfectly. But that was all I wanted to see of “that world.” Still, like a good Kevin Smith fan, I went to “Clerks 2” expecting the same ole same ole (which isn’t necessarily bad) but what I got was much funnier and much more poignant that I ever expected. I don’t want to give too much away because I can honestly recommend this to anyone who wants to laugh and isn’t too easily offended. But I will say, the humor is wicked and the story is very heartfelt and true.

2. PAN’S LABYRINTH
This movie kicks so much ass, I can’t even really write about it. In short, it’s a horror-fantasy film that takes place in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Yet the horror takes place in the “real” world while the fantasy tries to provide an escape for the young girl who plays Ofelia, a dreamer who might be the true Queen of the underworld. I hope anyone reading this who hasn’t seen this film goes because it deserves to be seen. It’s brilliant and creative…and in Spanish with subtitles. There’s no celebrities in it. It needs people to see it and trust me, you won’t be disappointed. I’m picking it to win best foreign film at the Oscars and wish every day that the brilliant Guillermo del Toro would get a much deserved best director nomination. Please please please please…

1. LITTLE CHILDREN
This movie blew me away. Totally and completely. It’s quietly in your face. It’s the darkest of dark comedies. It’s just about the most perfect movie I’ve seen. Yes, there is a fairly involved storyline involving a pedophile. But I assure you, that’s not just what “Little Children” is about. It’s about people who see a last chance to hold onto some childish dream. It’s about the cost of selfishness. It’s about the doldrums of parenthood…and the joys. I laughed, I cried…I cringed. I can’ t wait to see it again either. Read my review here, it might make more sense. Oh, and I’m also totally in love with Kate Winslet. I mean, I was before and I still am not seeing that Rom-Com she did with Cameron Diaz and Jack Black…but gosh I heart her.

Top Ten Music Pt. Two

Continuing on...

5. HEAD AUTOMATICA Propaganda
Someone had this modern pop band up on their myspace and I just fell in love with their songs. They sound like old Elvis Costello mixed with Nick Lowe…with synth. They’re also a lil “Phantom Planet-y.” I like this band so much, I keep waiting to go see them play live when they aren’t on a bill with shitterriffic bands like “30 Seconds to Mars” or (worst.band.ever.) “My Chemical Romance.” I don’t think it’s gonna happen though. “Head Automatica” just isn’t “that” big and they have a horrible band name. Still, if you like peppy pop ala Costello…get this album.



4. JENNY LEWIS AND THE WATSON TWINS Rabbit Fur Coat
I really, really like “Rilo Kiley” and I especially really like Jenny Lewis…the singer for “Rilo Kiley.” This album is her at her vocal best doing slightly country/folky sounding songs with a pair of beauties who call themselves “The Watson Twins.” I wouldn’t call this a country album…it sounds like “The Travelling Wilburies” or something. There’s a cover of “Handle Me With Care” on the album. It’s hard to explain but it’s really great. Lots of great harmonies and good lyrics…great stuff!




3. Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

Wow. My hero Bruce Springsteen puts together a 12 person plus band to reinterpret folk songs by Pete Seeger. Of course I don’t think The Boss can do any wrong, but this album is just so honest and heartfelt and fun it’s just…contagious. I had the good fortune of seeing this band live and it was incredible! Over 3 hours of music and I just didn’t want it to end. There’s something that just fills your heart and soul with joy in this music and also in Bruce Springsteen’s music. Put the two together and it’s magic. Plus I get a heavy feeling that Bruce did this album as a sort of salve for the people of New Orleans.



2. Will Kimbrough Americanitis

Will Kimbrough is an Alien. Or just a plain ole badass. But he’s also incredibly insightful, kindhearted, sensible, intelligent and damn irritated about the war in Iraq and the bullying going on in America. Hell, and in the way we bully other countries. He has a right to be. Yet he never gets preachy on “Americanitis.” He just puts thoughts and honest feelings out there and lets them lie where they may. They usually end up plopping down in the common sense area of your brain. Plus, he totally, totally rocks! “Americanitis” blends protest songs with songs about peace love and understanding. What’s so funny about that anyway? Get this album. It’s little but mighty!



1. Todd Snider The Devil You Know
I’m an unabashed Todd Snider fan but that doesn’t mean I like everything he does. I’ve been a vocal critic of a few albums from a few years ago. They just didn’t do much for me. But with this latest album and the last (“East Nashville Skyline”) Todd is sooo back. There’s only one song on this album that I’m not that crazy about. One song. I don’t even know where to begin telling you what a terrific album this is. The song “A Tale of Two Frat Brothers” has the greatest songwriting twist since “The Kinks” song “Lola.” I’ve seen Todd perform it live 2-3 times and the collective looks on uninitiated peoples faces when they get what the song is about gives me goose bumps. That’s what brilliant songwriting is all about.

“Thin Wild Mercury” is probably my favorite on the album. It tells the apparently true story about Bob Dylan throwing Phil Ochs out of his limo. I also like the easy going “Carla” and the looking-for-a-hit type song “Lookin’ for a Job.” I can honestly say I love this album more than any album this year and not a week has gone by where it hasn’t found it’s way into my CD player. It’s country, it’s rock, it’s folk…it’s amazing.




Coming tomorrow…Top Ten Films of 2006…

Top Ten Music of 2006

I gotta say, I didn’t buy a lot of new music for the second year in a row. I have close to 1200 CD’s and this year, I really tried to enjoy what I have before going apeshit and buying new stuff. I also discovered the wonderful world of Bit-Torrent files and have been downloading oodles of concerts, bootlegs and new releases. I’m a bad person…but I attend a lot of concerts and buy CD’s from smaller artists so…neener. I support artists in other ways. That being said…away we go!

10. CALEXICO Garden Ruin
I really like Calexico, but they can be a wee bit droney…such is the case with "Garden Ruin." Yet every once in a while lead singer Joey Burns will come off with a nice vocalization or the band will put together a song that is so rich and diverse and cool it just sucks you right in. I think "Garden Ruin"is a nice way to get into the band but I still prefer the collaboration they did with “Iron and Wine” as well as last years (or 2004’s?) “Convict Pool.”

9. RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers
Yeah, yeah…hipter alt douche bag music by White Striper Jack White. Only, the thing is, it’s not. This is a good ole rock album that has hints of the 70’s mixed perfectly with modern noise. I’m a marginal fan of “The White Stripes,” but am becoming a big fan of Jack White. If you like rock music, you’ll like this album.

8. JACKIE GREENE American Myth
I dig Jackie Greene. My wife and I saw him summer before last and he was like he sounded on his albums: a young Bob Dylan knockoff…with more pizzazz and less introspection. Yet this new album is Greene really spreading his wings and I think a lot of it has to do with producer Steve Berlin adding horns, organ, percussion and groove to Greene’s folky/roots based songwriting. “So Hard to Find My Way” is one of my favorite songs of the year and it’s going to be fun seeing Jackie Greene continue to grow as an artist.

7. Old Crow Medicine Show Big Iron World
Take some bluegrass, mix it with folk, rock, jazz. Add doses of realism, humor and heartbreak and you’d be getting close to what “Old Crow Medicine Show” sounds like. This might just be one of the best driving records ever made (as in, you put it in while you’re driving) and there’s a lot of fun sing-along moments to be had. I really want to see these guys badly and had I got the album earlier in the year, it would probably rank higher.

6. Drive by Truckers A Blessing and a Curse
Man, I feel bad putting these guys at 6…I thought they’d be higher. I guess I feel stronger than I thought about my top 5 because the DBT’s are badass. This album gets away from their whole Southern roots thang, sorta. Their other albums are like college courses in Southern culture and history…which is cool. To an extent. The thing is, I’m not much of a history buff and could really care very little about a place I’ve never been (sorry, but it’s true. Would the DBT’s want to hear my tales of Petaluma? Doubtful.) but this album is more open. And more cock-rock guitar heavy. It’s the kind of album that makes you play your steering wheel like a guitar. Yet, come to think of it, it really slows down after the ass-kicking song “Aftermath U.S.A.” Still worth a listen and a good intro to a great band.



Top 5 coming later today...

Happy New Year, indeed!

2006 was a trip. Personally and creatively, I saw some HUGE growth and that felt really good. But we also had some deaths here towards the end that were just...sad. My wifes grandmother died last week after a long illness and then I found out my old roomate Marc died. That really made me sad. He was a terrific guy. Damn. But...

New Years Eve was really great! Having had a shitty last 2 years I felt like I could finally really "toast" to a year being over and "toast" the new one coming in. And toast I did. Alot. The band I manage FIVE A.M. hosted a PIRATE BALL at the best brewery in the world Russian River Brewing Company. It was well attended and very swarthy. I drank alot of beer and still felt O.K. yesterday. Oh! I also got to see the NY Jets beat the hapless Raiders to get into the plaoffs!! GO JETS!

However I got some REALLY great news today when I received an email informing John and I that STRINGERS had been accepted to the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose!! It's a big festival and it's growing every year. It's going to be a total blast and I can't wait to go and have fun close to home. Yet what really makes me happy about being accepted there is, I don't know a soul at the fest. Although I'm extremely proud of STRINGERS and I think it's really, really good and stands on it's own...I did know a person or two at the Austin fest. I will say, there are alot of people who know people and still didn't get in. But in the back of my self-depricating mind, I always wondered...

But we did win the audience award and we did field a ton of questions at the Q&A...it's just me beating myself up again. It's my favorite hobby! But anyway, we got into a festival that we didn't know anybody at and that's a great way to start the year!

Check out Cinequest HERE!

Happy New Year everyone!! Top 10 lists coming this week!

Igby.

As promised...get your oooh's and ahhhh's out now...cutest puppy ever...IGBY!!

Finally!

I had to open at work yesterday and while there, I kept checking the fed ex website every 2 minutes for my package. It was really kind of sad...and scary. But I wanted my damn game! I went home around noon and took a nap. When I woke up it was like, 1:30 and STILL no game. I checked the fed ex website and it said the package was delivered. Huh? I looked outside and there it was! Woo hoo! The game is aweosme! But, I went to see Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven last night and while I was out, my wife got really, really good at the game. Way better than me. It kind of ruined it for me.

Last night was fun. I went to Dempseys and had the once in a lifetime opportunity to say to Scott, the bartender, "Hey...I know this is a bowl game, but can you switch to CNN so we can watch the hanging?" He complied but they didn't really show much. It also seemed very off color to have a hanging on TV in a restaurant.

Today we're getting a PUPPY! Adorable photos to follow...

DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still don't have my Guitar Hero 2!! Ugh...sooooo annoying! I keep checking the Fed Ex tracker like an obsessive stalker, waiting for it to enter Sonoma County, but no luck. The last time it was scanned was last night at 8:49 in Sacramento. Impatience is not a virtue.

Update at 5:19 p.m.
So I just called Fed Ex to figure out what the hell was going on and it appears the douchbag I bought my Guitar Hero 2 set from sent the package to SAN JOSE! Whatta frigging idiot. I'm emailing Ebay now...

Post Holiday Wrap

Before I launch into my usual musings, I just wanted to say that Nates memorial was really, really nice and very special. Almost all of the "Phoenix Family" was there including people I haven't seen in close to 15 years. It was a really nice way to give love and respect to our fallen friend and celebrate his life at the place where most of us grew to know him. We miss ya Nate!

That was Saturday and then Sunday we did our annual Christmas at my parents. We open presents on Christmas Eve at my parents house. I used to think it's because we'd drive to my Grandparents house on Christmas Day so we got the big stuff out of the way on Christmas Eve. Now I think it's got something to do with me pestering my parents into letting us open gifts. Since we're getting a puppy Saturday (oh, I forgot to tell you all...we're getting a puppy Saturday...a Puggle!) most of our gifts were gift cards to Petco/Petsmart. I also scored some cash and my mom got me some new Wilco gear that hasn't arrived...still. More on that later.

That night my wife and I exchanged stockings (the Christmas ones you pervs!) and I got some candy, a DOUBLE INDEMNITY Special Edition DVD and a years subsciption to Paste magazine...which kicks ass. The next day we had Christmas with my dads side of the family, and it was nice. However what I really want to blog about took place last Monday, December 19.

On that day, I bought myself GUITAR HERO 2 off some dude on ebay. Look at that playlist! My goal for the four day weekend was to drink beer and play GH2. The guy assured me I'd have the game by Friday but when Friday rolled around, no game. I searched everywhere...maybe they came and the note blew off the door. I went to our old house in case there was confusion in shipping. No game. Anywhere. I eamiled the guy and he said Fed Ex had "lost the shipment" and they would call Tuesday. Dammitt! Around 1:00 Tuesday I hadn't heard anything so I called Fed Ex and gave them the shipping number. They said a tag had been created, but nothing ever shipped! What an asshole this guy is! He obviously didn't have the product he was selling and planned on getting it later. I mean, had this been my kids "big" Christmas gift, this jerk just ruined Christmas.



So after hearing this, I sent him 4 emails saying "I want it now" in varying degrees of anger. Now I see it's apparently on it's way as is a boatload of bad feedback for this dick. I just want my game dammit!! Grrr! I hope everyone else had a great holiday and oh! GO SEE "LITTLE CHILDREN!" It's the best movie of the year. Speaking of that, look for my top 10's this week!

Grief.

I'm sure I'm not stating anything shocking or uncommon here but man do I hate funerals. My family has been really lucky so far in that we ahven't had all that much death. For me, grieving has always been a personal, quiet kind of thing. But everyone reacts differently. Today's Nate's memorial and there's going to be upwards of 300 people there I'm guessing. I just don't want to deal with all these different feelings and personalities and peronality disorders. Like...

When nate died this guy we all know called my wife's friend and left a message that went something like, "Hi _____ this is _____...Nate got stabbed and killed. Merry Christmas." Click. I mean, some people are insensitive and I get that, but when you're calling your phone list in a snide way to be first guy on the block to shit in someones stocking, it just seems wrong. But that's what I'm getting at.

When Nate died, I called our friend Dave. He lives in New Mexico and he and Nate shared a close bond. I sure as shit didn't want to call him...but I did because that's what friends do. But I also have respect and class and I'm not a self absorbed asshole who needs to like...gossip about tragedy. The other thing that brings this blogging on is the internet.

The local paper, the Press Democrat has been covering the story and if you read it online, there's a place where you can comment on the story. The thing is, it's all anonymous internet posting and some of it is just plain creepy and sick. One person decided to say that maybe Nate had it coming because he was at the Phoenix and what kind of adult goes there. Another person alluded to the fact that people shouldn't be hanging out at bars. Even more sad and disturbing are the people advocating some kind of lynch mob for Nate's murderer. Erica and I know who some of the people posting are...even behind their pseudonym. And again, I understand everyone grives differently and deals with tragedy differently. But I frigging hate the way some people simply must be suffering more than everyone.

It's like that person you tell, "Hey...my wife has cancer" and they go, "oh yeah...well, my mom had cancer and so did my aunt." It's like a cancer pissing contest. I don't get people's need to try and outdo one another in the tragedy/grieving process. And it's going to be in full swing today. Lots of sad, screwy people vying for attention. Ugh...funerals suck.

losing one of your own...

From the time I was in about....11th grade until...sheesh...now...I've hung out at the Amazing Phoenix Theater. Basically the Phoenix is an old movie theater that became a hang out/concert hall once the single screen movie theater bizz dried up. I think the first Timothy Dalton Bond movie was about the last big movie they had. And the Yahoo Serious movie. Then it was second run...then it was no run...then it was us. Our ring leaders were Tom Gaffey and Dave Marquez and the rest was a collection of basically...societal orphans like...me, matt and marc, jeremy, danny mckenna, scotty, mikey, big mike, jodell, robert and Nate. There were others too but those come to mind.

Later in life, all of our paths always crossed as we were forever part of "The Phoenix Family." If a big show (Faith no More, Greenday, Primus, metallica. d.o.e.) came around, we all came to the show, helped out, got loaded (later) and had fun. It was like...our playground. Hell, when I was 17 I was booking half the shows there. We slept in there, looked for ghosts....made out with chicks. Well, not me...but people did. But as we got older, we all still kept in touch and Tom has an annual Christmas Eve party every year where us oldies can socialize with the new breed. Nate Reifers was always around. When I finally decided to really give in to my teenaage insecurities and officially "hang out" at the Phoenix, Nate was one of the first to welcome me.

My first real memory of Nate was...we were going to go inner tubing like we had a hundred times before, but we "had to go get Nate." "Going to get Nate" I soon found out is like a catch phrase for, "be ready to be delayed an hour due to fire, maiming, arguing, stumbling, sleeping, writing a paper, on the phone, listening to music, general stonerness" or just plain "Nate said he'd be here..." This time we went to Nates house and he was knee deep in making pot brownies. I frigging hate pot and he was all of 15 years old but immediately launched into a long explanation of how you have to put the buds IN the butter and let them rest. His excitement and apparent knowledge was both interesting and annoying. Luckily that only took an hour and we went tubing. Nate was a fucking blast. We did the river round TWICE.

As life rolled on, I got married to my wife Erica. Erica, as it turns out, was best friends with one of my old Phoenix Family friends, the aforementioned Nate Reifers. Ironically, I remember about a hundred conversations with Nate when he and Erica hung out, but I never met her to my knowledge. But that's another blog. Life went on and Nate wandered in and out of my life. He was at our wedding and actually got in a scuffle with his best friend at the wedding after party. His mom lives like, 50 yards away from my in-laws. Trhough all the incarnations of knowing him, Nate was...Nate. You all have a friend like that. Flakey, annoying, honest, funny and always there. In his heart, Nate was the best but sometimes he was prone to being a pain. But dammit...all the best people you know are all over the map and you wouldn't want them any other way.

Unfortunately this blog has a sad ending as Nate was somehow stabbed and killed Saturday in Petaluma. You can read about it HERE. I don't know at this point where the sadness ends or starts and where the anger/frustration/apathy towards society begins with the same jumbled confusion. I think I speak for everyone when I say, "what the fuck?"

I went down to the Phoenix Sunday after I heard the news and a good bunch of us family were all there. We hugged Gaffey and kind of stood around dumbfounded, just like when Danny McKenna died. But when Danny died, it felt like he had succumbed to his demons and kind of gradually drifted away. At least, that's the way I felt. With Nate....it's just surprising. We're talking about a guy who two years ago nearly blew himself up trying to see why his gas generator had went out by using a lighter to see. He shouldn't have died at all let alone a year after his daughter was born...let alone by not doing something really boneheaded....let alone at the frigging bars in Petaluma. It's just not the way Nate Reifers was supposed to go. But he's gone now so all we can do is let the magic and memories of the Phoenix try and make it O.K. this Saturday. Godspeed Nate!! We miss ya man!

Funniest thing I've seen in a while...

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Garbage Sa...err...GARAGE Sale

We had a garage sale last Sunday and boy, did it ever suck. I hate getting up at 6:00 a.m. and getting up that early on a Sunday especially blows. But, we have a bunch of junk to get rid of and earning some extra Christmas money sounded cool. I rolled into Petaluma at 7:15 and sure enough, there was an early bird parked in front of our house. I snuck right past her and darted into the house. We took an ad out on Craigslist and it clearly stated the sale started at 8:00 so she should have paid attention.

I went out and set up the garage and sat down to wait. At about 7:30 the early bird came down the driveway looking pissed. She was Asian and her English was so-so but I gathered she was mad to have been kept waiting. I said we started at 8:00 so...there. She then proceeds to ask me if I have any "electronics...cell phone....computers...cell phones...printers....calculators...cell phones." I told her nope, sorry but she kept asking if I had any cell phones. Finally after idly rifling through some stuff she stormed off.

About 30 seconds later this Asian guy came down the driveway and said "What did that lady just buy from you!?!" I told him nothing and then he started in with the "you got any cell phones....electronics...computers." Ugh. It was destined to be a long ass day. Fortunately he bought an old vacuum cleaner and some speakers. About that time my wife arrived and proceeded to try and boss me around which didn't go over well. Her parting words were in regards to this slightly broken partition we had...kind of like portable french doors. She said, "why is that even out here? No one's going to buy that..."

About half an hour later the only normal customer of the day came down the driveway. He bought some old records (three Faith No More imports to boot) and then he bought...you guessed it....the slightly broken partition. In your face Miss Bossy Pants! A while later two hardcore garage salers swung by and bought a box of crap apiece and then I saw a big ass truck out front with George Bush bumper stickers on it. Oh, great. Some old lady comes down the driveway and I say hello. She goes, "You got any old shotguns or pistols?" As I told her no I notice this Hispanic guy coming and talking loudly, in Spanish, on his cell phone. He brushes past the gun lady while blabbing on his phone, picks up a car stereo...looks at it....puts it down and walks off all the while talking on his cell phone. I could tell the lady desperately wanted me to make some racist comment to like, support the look of contempt in her eyes, but I didn't oblige.

When all was said and done we made about $40.00. Total. Waste. Of. Time.

Update central

Ugh. I'm tired, stressed, confused and am generally going nuts. Here's a quick and dirty update.

Last weekend I:

1. Shot my first short
2. Moved
3. Worried about my grandpa who was sick in the hospital

It was not fun. Last Wednesday the stress of moving and shooting my film got to me and I went downtown and blew off some steam at Dempseys. Five hours later and a tour of the downtown bars in Petaluma to the tune of $75, I arrived home. Although I needed to spazz out and be free for a few hours, I felt crappy all day Thursday and was even farther behind than I had been.

But, I got caught up and the shoot really couldn't have gone any better. My actors were simply awesome and it was fun and fast. However, when I get stressed I tend to cut corners and just push towards the finish line. As a result, I neglected to check over the equipment I borrowed from school when I checked it out. I was in a hurry as the shoot was the next day and our house was in disarray. I just grabbed the stuff and went.

I also neglected to spot-check the camera and whatnot during the shoot. Those two antsy moves were just plain stupid. I mean, it's frigging filmmaking 101 to check your stuff before and during the shoot. I just didn't do it. As it turns out, the camera I was using was slightly broken and the first 1/4 of my footage is virtually unusable. Grr. Now I really have to buckle down and edit to try and piece something great together. I refuse to try and make something "good," I want to make something great. All in all, I'm making progress but have a shit ton of work still to do.

The good news is, our new house is cavernous. I love the space but still hate Santa Rosa. The other great news is, my grandpa is A-O.K.! More soon, I promise...

Pre-Production peaks and valleys

So as I mentioned a week ago (Yikes! Has it been that long!?!) I'm shooting a short film for my directing class called OLD TIMES. It's based on a song Todd Snider did on his new album "The Devil You Know" only the song is called "Just Like Old Times." Brevity my friends, it's the way I need to go. Anyway, I've been really focusing hard on working everything out ahead of time for the shoot. When I first decided to do this for my project, I got alot of good luck.

First, I emailed Todd Sniders rep at Universal in order to get some kind of permission for the project. Long story short, they loved the idea. The short is basically a fictionalized or live version of the song. Kind of like what Sean Penn did with INDIAN RUNNER which is an adaptation of Bruce Springsteens "Highway Patrolman." Not only did Universal give me the thumbs up, Todd himself (via email to his manager) said "sure they can use it. can i be in it?" I responded with, "umm, that's flattering, but I already have it cast." Apparently he was joking. A few days later I got this from Todd via Todd's manager: "this is cool. tell them thanks for me." Nice!

Next stroke of luck...sorta...
my friend Dan who I hadn't spoke to since moving back to Nor Cal agreed to shoot the film. Dan's a great guy and has a keen eye, as they say. He also recently got a business partner and together they own and utilize $10,000 worth of high end equipment! I did not know this and was like "whoa dude, this might kick some ass!" He said he'd shoot the thing for me with the good stuff! Sweeeeet. But then he got a paying gig and had to bail on me. I totally understand but still...dang!

This was when things went funky. Namely, my run of luck that started with Austin hit a snag. I can't find a location to shoot the thing in. I just need a hotel room dammit! Every place I've asked has said, quite succinctly, "No way." I tell them it's not horror or porn but they just aren't budging. I have some leads that I need to follow up on tomorrow and if they don't work, I'm just gonna do it somewhere and hope it works.

One last thing...
I signed up for "The Lot" which is a website in which you can submit films in the hopes of being selected to be on the FOX show "The Lot." The show is like project greenlight only more reality TV like. The guy who created Survivor teamed up with Steven Spielberg to do it and I'm hoping to land a spot on the show. Check out their site at: http://www.thelot.com/ and sign up so you can vote me onto the show later!

I'm off to class....

Newswire...

Sorry I haven't been blogging...I've been either really busy or really lazy. Here's what's new...

We're still submitting STRINGERS to a few film festivals. It's expensive submitting to fests! Like, $30-$40 a pop and that's just to apply. We submitted to SF Indiefest and Cinequest and have some more deadlines coming up.

I'm shooting a short film for my directing class! I'm nervous as hell! It's an adaptation of the song "Old Times" by Todd Snider. Directing takes alot of work...if you want to do it right, and I'm trying to do it right. I've done a ton of pre-production and am starting to breakdown the shots in my mind. I also have 2 incredible actors involved so that's going to be a ton of fun.

Oh, we're moving. Boo! To Santa Rosa. Ugh. I hate Santa Rosa. But, it's a bigger house for the same money, a bigger yard, we can get a dog, it's closer to work and I get the garage as an office. Plus, I'll save money because I won't be able to walk over to Dempseys and spend all my cash. But still...Petaluma is home. Ah well.

So that's the scoop, alot's going on. Oh, go see FAST FOOD NATION and if you can, check out THE HAMILTONS tomorrow in a city near you. It's part of this weekend long horror film festival called Horrorfest. Clever. The guys who made it live in Petaluma and filmed it here and Lionsgate is releasing it soon.

Here's the website for The Hamiltons
and here's an interview I did with The Butcher Brothers.

Have a good weekend!

Wanna laugh really hard at a big ole phony?

Since I really have nothing to blog about, I'll continue to steal funny shit from other sites via youtube.

Watch this clip and watch Faith Hill's reaction when they announce the winner of the Country Music Awards Female vocalist of the year. She's like, the second person down on the left. Frigging classic !

When Tweedy attacks...

Dude, Jeff Tweedy smacked the crap outta some guy who jumped onstage at a Wilco show last week. I didn't know the demure Tweedy had it in him! It happens about a minute and ten seconds into the song...

I'm an AWARD WINNING filmmaker!

STRINGERS won the audience award at the Austin Film Festival!! Absolutely amazing!!! I didn't think we even stood a chance to get in and now we won the damned audience award! John from the AFF called me last night and told me the news. I was driving home when he called and I seriously don't remember driving after that. My mind was racing. It feels so good to know people liked our film. Now maybe we can pitch it as a TV show again...

CLICK HERE>>> to see it in writing if you don't believe me. I've clicked it at least 50 times since last night.

Happy Halloween

Erica and I made these Jack-O-Laterns the other night. I'm serious. They're on our porch as I type this. We're just that talented. See if you can guess which one's I made and which ones Erica made...

Texas recap

In case you missed it, I was blogging part of my trip over on Film Threat...go check it out over there if you care to. Lets see...

I had a GREAT time. Austin is easily my favorite town and it was my birthday, my wife, my mom, my sister and my aunt were there....Pete came....it couldn't have been more fun. Also, the screenings went really well! People I didn't even know asked insightful questions which was nice. The short docs program on the whole was really good and diverse. Made it alot easier to sit through twice. I will say, I was super, super nervous for my first screening.

I took the red eye and had to sit in the hotel lobby for almost 2 hours until I could get a room. Then, I crashed out and was in and out of deep sleep for about 6 hours. Then I woke up and hit the town. Not wise. I had a mini-meltdown when I got back to the hotel...that no one was going to come to the screening and those who did would hate my film. I also had some freaky dreams that I wrote about on Film Threat.

Anyway...I drank lots of beer, ate LOTS of great food and enjoyed myself. Now, it's back to reality...

We interrupt this endless flagellation...

to bring you Jeff Tweedy singing "The Thanks I Get" from his new solo DVD due out October 24.

Watch it here. When I heard him play this live, it just hit me so right. It's a song he wrote for a Soloman Burke tribute album but he got it in too late. Now, we all get to dig it.

Cheating on my blog...

Greeting Petaluma Films Blog readers...

In order to help promote STRINGERS at the Austin Film Festival, I've been posting my pre-festival activities on the Film Threat blogs. While it may be hard to believe, my blog isn't as popular as Film Threat. Shocking, I know. Anyway...

Here's a link to an RSS feed for my Film Threat blogs. While I won't pretend to know "exactly" what an RSS feed is, I'm pretty sure it's like setting up a subscription to blogs and websites. You can join my Film Threat RSS feed here:
feed://www.filmthreat.com/blog/feeds/lewis_rss.php?feed=rss&author=5

In other news...

We got our screening times:
STRINGERS is playing the Austin Film Festival on Friday October 19 at 9:45 at the Hideout and then again on Sunday October 22 at 3:00 at the Dobie. If you are for some reason reading this and planning on attending the festival, please come check it out. The fest is looking like a GREAT one with lots of celebs and inside people running around. Kevin Smith is going to be there!! Check out the Austin Film Festival website HERE.

I've been working really hard on getting a poster going and trying my best to get people to see the film. I can't wait to get to Austin!

Sweet Subversion

Anyone with kids or furthermore, anyone who works with kids, has their fair share or horror stories regarding kid movie sountracks. Currently we're all suffering through the brain aching and redundant "I Like to Move it" song from the film "Madagascar." The song is just the words, "I like to move it, move it" over and over and over and over again. Those clever lyrics are finally punctuated by "I like to move it...MOVE IT!" Ugh, die song...DIE!!

Yet last week the kids movie "Open Season" opened and there was something especially sweet about it's soundtrack. Paul Westerberg did it! The Paul Westerberg from The Replacements. When my buddy told me about it, I explained that I already knew about it and would be skipping it. I told him I worked with kids and went on to explain the "Move it" phenomenon to him and that I didn't need to hear Westy shilling cuddly bears and like...their wacky pie stealing antics. However he insisted the album was not only good, it sounded like the Replacements. Hmmm. Intriguing. But not intriguing enough. Then he said not only did it sound like the Replacements but that the Replacements bass player Tommy Stinson did some songs on it with Paul! O.K..that was it...SOLD!

See, for us die-hard Replacements fans, the thought of any or all of the remaining Mats teaming up for anything makes us all gooey inside. Even if it's for a kids album. So, I got the soundtrack and it's AWESOME! If you like the Replacements or Paul Westerberg solo, you gotta get it. But here's the rub.

I've only seen Paul Westerberg twice in my life. The first time was at a Virgin Megastore in San Francisco where he was performing solo and acoustic. It was an incredible show because he was sounding amazing, even as this drunk douche bag behind me kept heckling him. About 5 songs in, Paul got sick of the heckler, ran into the crowd, slapped him upside the face and took off. Seriously. That was my first live Westerberg show. It's great that I saw it now, in hindsight. But at the time, I was beyond pissed.

The second time was last year when he went on tour. His first tour in a long time. I won't bore you with the details, but it was everything I hoped it would be. Beautiful, fun, disastrous and legendary. Paul got pissed at one point and cracked his guitar on his amp. Yet when he did so, he accidentally whacked himself in the head and played the rest of the show while bleeding profusely. Fucking. Awesome.

This brings me back to the topic at hand. Paul Westerberg, the man who can't remember the Replacements days due to major drug and alcohol consumption, the guy who, at 50 years old hits himself in the noggin with his guitar in the midst of a tizzy fit, just made a great album. For a kids movie. What the hell? I highly doubt he's going to tour on the "Open Season" soundtrack. But since the movie is #1 and probably will be next week too, he's raking in some phat cash. While I couldn't be more happy for my favorite songwriter finally getting paid, this all means it'll be that much longer before he "has" to go on tour.

Buuut...
I find it simply wonderful that millions of kids are demanding this soundtrack because it's available and that both them and their parents are listening to Paul Westerberg and digging it. If only those parents knew...

Ohhh shiiiiiit...

Our G5 crashed the other day. My wife ran a software update on iTunes and the computer totally, totally wigged out. It was incredibly bad timing as I'm trying to get together a birthday party/film festival party on October 15 and I wanted to get cracking on it. Plus, all my stuff with STRINGERS. I'm trying to get people to come to the screening (which is October 19 at 9:45!) as well as get some press for the lil fella. But all that came crashing to a halt as my computer came crashing down.

Saturday morning I called the Mac hotline and had to pay $49 to have a guy try and help me. We did a bunch of tests and whatnot and the end result was "take it to the nearest Mac dealer and have them fix it." Shit. I know taking your computer in for a fix can take weeks and I frankly don't have weeks so I wiped the hard drive and here we are.

It's like having a bad hangover and slowly remembering what was on the other hard drive. We must've lost about 300 songs and some photos as well as just knick-knack things that have accumulated on my desktop. It's incredibly frustrating, annoying and sad. The most annoying thing I've thought of so far is that the iMovie version of the STRINGERS trailer was on there. I think I have it on DVD, but I'm not sure I can pull it off there. Grrr.....

Our trailer

Here's the trailer for STRINGERS. In the actual movie, I make a camera "move" that embarrasses me EVERY time I see it. So, I included it in the trailer because I like feeling lame. See if you can spot it!!

Bad sandwich turns great

This story has a Shyamalan ending....stay tuned....

When I'm feeling stressed out or on the run, there's a deli right by the freeway here that has the BEST tuna sandwich. Not too much mayo, no celery and lots of fun little chunks in there like green and black olives and maybe pickles. It's like someone who really likes chewing antipasto barfed in your tuna...but in a good way. So today I was running late to work after my directing class and I was starved so I went to the deli. Unbeknownst to me, they sold it and now there's an apparently very nice Middle Eastern Family running the joint.

It was pretty funny in hindsight because usually there's a bevvy of slacker punks making sandwhiches, looking hungover and trying to act like they give a shit. When I rolled in I was like, "Oh, they hired a hispanic lady for the deli. Oh...wait...Middle Eastern...oh wait, they never come in ones...wait...Oh man, I think someone sold the deli." Then I saw an older guy stocking stuff, a middle aged guy moving a shelf...sure enough, they sold the deli. While I harbor no ill will towards immigrants owning a deli, I feared the worst for my tuna sandwich. But the lady took my order and I was kindly and promptly rang up.

I got in my car and laid out the chips, napkins, diet coke and packaged sandwich on the passenger seat so I could eat and drive "safely." I opened the sammy. The tuna looked O.K. BUT...she made my sandwich with the heel of the bread! THE HEEL!! Ugh!!! I hate the heel. Ugh. But, I was late and hungry and truth me told, it was O.K. Just O.K. A little bready though. Not enough martini olives. Safe to say, I won't be back.



So I roll on to work listening to Wilco Live at the Ryman Autotorium and when I get to the point where I have to go over a mountain to get to work (I shit you not), I turn off my phone. I cruise while eating, get to the downside and turn my phone on. There's a message from John at the Austin Film Festival. Austin, Texas that is. Land I love. Cheap beer, BBQ....music. I think I forgot to mention I entered the short documentary I made into the fest.

Normally, I think, they don't call to tell you that you didn't get in. Such was the case here. The movie I made with my buddy John GOT INTO THE AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL!!!!! I'm so freeking PSYCHED! I'll write more later but just wanted to share with the 4 of you that I got my film into the documentary shorts competition at the Austin Film Festival!!!!

Get 'em Keith!

I always loved Keith Olbermann when he was on ESPN. When he made the switch to MSNBC, I lost track of him. Lately I tuned in here and there because Randi Rhodes on Air-America speaks so highly of him and I noticed the guy is like....a better John Stewart.

Don't get me wrong, I love John Stewart and "The Daily Show." But a 30 minute show really doesn't give you mush time to delve into topics in a deep way. Yet Olbermann steadfastly refuses to let the right slap him around (much like Stewart) and he's got an hour to do it with. "Countdown" is a better news show than "The Daily Show" as well. Olbermann is every bit as funny, smug, assured and liberal as Stewart, but he also can get serious. For instance, this here.

That is some Edward R. Murrow type stuff right there. Last night, Olbermann took umbrage with G.W. Bush for saying something to the effect of how Americans should "never even think our morals are aligned with those of terrorists." While it would be nice if Americans were not terrorists, Olbermann's point and I agree is that...as Americans we are totally allowed to "think" whatever we want. Bush disagrees. It's an excellent point.

I just wanted to encourage people to start watching Olbermann because he's going to start getting backlash really, really soon. And if what he's done so far is any indication, he won't take it sitting down. You don't want to miss it!

In remembrance of 9/11

As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin for light in the darkness of insanity.

I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
Theres one thing I wanna know:
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

cause each time I feel it slippin away, just makes me wanna cry.
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?

So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

cause each time I feel it slippin away, just makes me wanna cry.
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?

I'm not hungover, I'm exhausted from drinking all night...

I went to my inlaws Friday/Saturday and Sunday...I borrowed some money from them and in order to pay them back, I needed to paint their shed. I really dislike painting so it wasn't much fun. They live in a beautiful house in the mountains, but I get like...island fever when I'm there. When we got home last night, I needed to go out and blow off some steam.

I went to Dempsey's and saw some friends. My buddy Thom and I made up a new song, it's called "Chuck D's in Love." Look for it in stores this Christmas season. After spending a few hours at Dempsey's, my buddy Marc and I went to the local dive bar to see our friends band play. They were actually really good! My friend Dimitri is a great drummer, but you never know how your buddies band will be. You can check out their site HERE. I took these photos at the bar and really don't remember it. Also, I did NOT drink those shots....the people next to me did.

Random

My August has been star-studded and it ended with a bang yesterday, in Calistoga of all places. I rolled into work around Noon and noticed a film crew at the corner store. It felt kind of good to recognize a film crew and say little jargony things to myself. "Oh look, they have some huge C-Stands and a bunch of stingers all in that one outlet...that can't be good." Then I remembered David Fincher (dude who directed SE7EN and other great stuff) has been in and around Napa shooting his new flick on the Zodiac killer. I immediately thought that he could be there and debated on going in to look around. Alas, I had to pee really, really bad and I was starving. So, I decided to push forth into work.

Later, on my way home, I noticed they were still there. I wanted a big ole Coke anyway, so I went in. They were holding people at the door and I'm talking 10-15 people who just got off work. The store is also a cheap gas station so there were some pissed people who just wanted to go home. I felt kinda bad for the PA who was holding people from going in, I've been there. Plus, it seemed bad form to keep filming at the busiest time of the day. I hung out and discovered the film was just some indie job, no David Fincher.

I went in and got my soda and there was the star du jour! John Ratzenberger! Cliff Clavin! Hamm the Piggy Bank! Here he was in Calistoga. I also spotted the director and it brought my Clavin sighting to a dead stop. Here was this typical L.A. hipster douchebag yelling out crap like, "lets strike the lamps over there and take ten. I'm hitting the honey wagon." He had on aviator glasses, a long sleeved cowboy shirt (it was easily 95 degrees yesterday) and mussed up hair. And faded jeans. I mean, come on. Do you really need to look that way in order to be a director? Can't you bring it down a notch when you're in rural wine country?

As I paid for my soda, I remembered every wannabe douchbag I've met at festivals over the years. They all came flooding back. It really annoyed me and I don't know why. I guess I'd just prefer to let the work speak rather than try to look cool.