mine

24-26 Aug – Another pushpin goes on the map for places I’ve visited this year.  We’re in Oklahoma City visiting, get this… Brass Balls Bobber & Choppers (is that a company name or what!?).  It’s a relatively new company, but with a long and successful pedigree.  The co-owner and builder is Sam Wills – world champion racer and builder.  His business partner and company creative designer and marketer is Dar Holdsworth – a successful businessman and avid bike enthusiast.  Together, they’re positioning themselves on what might very well be the next big craze in the two-wheel market.

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Ever wonder what happens when a motorcycle tire gets too close to a bumper.  Opps.  For what it’s worth, the shots were great.

Nothing a little spray paint can’t fix.

A motley crew if ever there was.  From L to R.  Dar (co-owner, Brass Balls) / DK (our sound mixer) / John (Segment Producer) / Sam (co-owner, Brass Balls) / the rouge himself (me)

The featured bike – Dar’s baby.  That’s one hell of a nice bike!

Our producer can best be described as “inventive”.  He found what I think is the best use of the “Hoodman”.  We have two for our DVX100 cameras but they don’t usually see much use until now.  He attached one to his PDA to reduce glare and thereby making his movie watching more enjoyable.  The method is that he rips movies to reasonably small movie files and uploads them to removable media that he can watch from his PDA.  I wonder if you’ll be seeing their product now marketed to travelers?

A very happy man.

15-16 Aug – Blogs, at their best, are informative, educational, and even enlightening.  At worst, they’re nothing more than scrawling about things no one really cares about.  This entry is more of the latter.

I just got back from a two day shoot in the high desert.  We shot the frame manufacturer Daytec in Hesperia, CA for V-Twin TV.  It was a very straightforwards shoot so no production related tips to share.

So the only bits I found worth mentioning are the following…

One of the more endearing characterists of my former apartment in North Hollywood was a phone jack in the bathroom.  So when I walked into my hotel room’s bathroom and saw the phone on the wall next to the “john”, I thought to myself, “I like this hotel.”

One last tidbit, I had to get some ice last night and while passing the front desk, I noticed the free newspapers – one in particular caught my eye and my “ulnar nerve”.  Who could have possibly thought this was a cute or cleaver title for a magazine about old people?!  It may not be cute or cleaver, but it sure is funny.

I couldn’t miss this opportunity to share the “senior moment” joke…

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang.  Answering, he heard his wife’s voice urgently warning him, “Herman, I just heard on the news that there’s a car going the wrong way on 280. Please be careful!”
“Hell,” said Herman, “It’s not just one car. It’s hundreds of them!

Sat. – Ah, the big day is upon us.  Wish us luck!  I’m all groomed up and ready to go.  Not just shaved – all out. Shave, moisturized, trimmed, snipped, plucked, conditioned, and polished!  The car’s detailed, the shoes shined.  In mere moments it’s red carpets, champagne and caviar… oh, who am I kidding.  Still I’m sure it’ll be loads of fun.  Good friends and a fun event.  Really all I’m waiting for are those four little words, “and the winner is…”  (Dissolve to..)

…not us.  What the deuce!  Instead it’s some janky teen show.  Now, I know that by writing “janky” I sound like a poor sport and you’d be right.  You can tell me all day long, until you’re blue in the face that “the important thing is being nominated and recognized by your peers for your work or maybe, look who you lost to.”  To me that’s a load of crap.  If it was only about being nominated, there shouldn’t be a winner and just leave it as the best three.  As I’m so fond of saying, “if competition isn’t about winning, then why keep score?”

It’s too bad truly.  The video is a good looking project, whose content was well presented and well served and for an organization whose efforts deserved to be in the spotlight.  Is this organization any more deserving than the other two nominees.  No.  But from a production standpoint – yes.  This isn’t a case of a parent defending an ugly child.  Quite the opposite.  Since attending university, I have had little trust in awards (quality of the production rarely rates high in choosing winners).  But I’m still trying to keep the faith.

It was, I suppose, nice nevertheless to spend an evening with friends dressed up like adults, drinking free vodka cocktail drinks and enjoying an endless supply of desserts.  But victory would have made the evening so much sweeter.  Notwithstanding the loss, congratulation to Tony, Toby, and John and all the folks who supported this project.  Till next time – victory shall be mine!

My lover and me.  Take a good, long look ’cause you’ll almost never see me in a tie.

Toby found his own trophies by way of several free vodka drinks.

Here’s what we didn’t win.

…almost forgot!  Your moment of Zen.
On the same stage ladies and gentlemen, Danny Bonaduce, Sha Na Na, and Alan Thicke!  Jealous much?!

(more…)

I’m about $28.00 closer to having my union initiation pay for itself (that’s .233% closer to be exact).

I got a newsletter from the union today letting me know that I was invited to a pre-screening of the new Oliver Stone movie, “World Trade Center” at the DGA.  After an early dinner, my girl and I headed out about an hour early to catch the screening.

Since this was a pre-screening (the movie opens on 9 Aug.), they were very serious about the possibility of having any of the footage get out.  We were constantly reminded that if we brought in a phone with a camera, we would be escorted out.  They also had four security personnel with night vision goggles at each corner of the theatre to keep an eye on the audience.  Serious stuff.

I’ll wait to write about the movie after it’s out.  Till then, it was great going to an industry event.  I met some good folks and had a good time to boot.

Next month, two movies!  (That’ll put me .7% closer.)