Incoming AK
Sharon has two sons, and Jesse deserves equal time here... Here's his band's website - they're getting big in Alaska.

  posted by John : 11:21 AM

 
"Family" Distribution!
Happy news from Josh:

Hello everyone! This is my widespread official announcement to everyone I know that my directorial debut and Titan Motion Picture Group’s first feature film, “Family”, has been picked up for worldwide rights by Curb Entertainment. It’s been an interesting road since I completed the film in January, but in the end Curb gave us a very fair deal, and this movie is right up their alley – so I think this is going to be a great relationship. The film will premiere at the Cannes Market in May, screening in HD on the Friday and following Monday of the market. Attached is the official movie poster, and below are a few links if anyone wants to check out the movie. Thanks so much to all of you who made this possible through your hard work and support and please forward this to anyone you see that I might have missed. I’m immensely proud of our work on this film, and with luck it will lead to bigger and better things for all of us!

Thanks!

Josh

Websites: www.chooseyourfamily.com, IMDB

Curb Entertainment Filmography

A three-part article on the making of the movie

From my old friends at Fangoria

  posted by John : 6:02 AM

 
Smug Alert! - download the latest episode of South Park, mkay?
  posted by John : 7:33 PM

 
Piccadilly
This song been playing in my head since the show last night. I had to get a couple of lines straight, but I don't think there's an official set of lyrics out there on the web, just some close guesses (eg, it should be "the play was so dreadful"). The line I couldn't get which was mumbling in my head all day was "The invite of eyes made it tense but relaxed me". But I think its more likely "made her tense". And I always thought the ending went "I get on my knees take a bite of the apple". But I guess not - Adam and Eve sounds good. I feel so much better now, clearing all of this up.

  posted by John : 4:53 PM

 
The Long Goodbye
Some time ago while thinking about what to put in her Netflix queue, Sharon decided to add several Robert Altman films. She watched a few while I was away - McCabe & Mrs Miller was one. And she really enjoyed The Long Goodbye. So I brought this one with me on this trip and watched it in stages on flights. Just finished watching the extras - very good pieces about Altman and the cinematographer. The story is an update of Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe character, played by Elliot Gould. So much interesting stuff to watch. The improvisation, the look of the film, the ever moving camera peering through windows and over balconies while Marlowe's female neighbours get high and do yoga. Sterling Hayden was excellent too. I'm always happy to find a great movie that I missed. It was a great idea to update this character then, and now that its been another 30 years, it would be cool if someone did another take on him.

  posted by John : 4:22 PM

 
Went to the Glenn Tilbrook show tonight at Jammin' Java - a strip-mall venue not far from where I'm staying in suburban Washington. Glenn was in fine form, though the two Austin shows where I've seen him perform had much better energy in the venue. He's a great guitarist with a fine voice and loads of foot tapping tunes. Pulling muscles for Michelle.

  posted by John : 9:49 PM

 
life experience
Working on my third of a four week stint in the very plain burb of Herndon, Virginia. A tech-center area near the Dulles airport, next to Reston. Its sit in a conference room by day, live in a hotel by night and eat tasty rich meals in restaurants for entertainment. So far this week I've had three meals that have ended in a fortune cookie, which contained the following:

It's a nice day.

Write about your life experience in a daily journal.

You are loyal to your family.

Like many such cookies, none of these could be called a fortune. More like a statement-cookie, or possibly an advice-cookie. And while its not often that I ask advice of another person, aside from Sharon, I am happy to listen to what a cookie has to say. Yes, it was a nice day. And I should blog more. And its nice to hear that I'm loyal to my family. Regarding that realm, I had a good four days in Toronto this past weekend, visiting with all but two of the people in my family of ten. Everyone's having their struggles. My oldest sister had a ten day love affair that ended tragically when her new beau died of a heart attack Friday night. They were going to come down together to meet everyone on Sunday. Instead, Bodil came down alone seeking comfort for her grief. While at the same time, my father's lack of health is going further downhill. He's bedridden now. A few weeks ago he was still scootering around the Beaches, but we think those days are over. This is very hard on my mom as their tiny home has turned into a hospital, and she's been forced to become a nurse. She does have help now. Starting last week both a helper and a nurse comes every day for two hours to help. But she gets no sleep as he needs something or other every half hour or so in the night. I believe the feeling is unanamous that more than anything we all want what is best for my mom in this situation. She has worked so tirelessly and selflessly her whole life and deserves a break more than anyone. Trouble is my dad is adamant about not going back to the hospital, despite the fact that that is where he belongs right now.

My life doesn't seem to have any problems of significance compared to others. I'll keep plowing on, saving money by living on the expense acct. Though I miss being with Sharon and going for walks with Victor. Sharon is coming out here this weekend -- we'll bike under the cherry blossoms in D.C. on what is supposed to be a spring-like weekend.

  posted by John : 4:41 PM

 
And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. Expressed through 3-ball juggling.

  posted by John : 4:39 PM

 
Family
Sharon's son Josh has been profiled in depth in Digital Producer 'zine, on the making of his directoral debut film, Family. It will be a three part article, the first two are online now. Also, true to his roots in the horror genre, Fangoria has also written him up. Way to go Josh!

  posted by John : 9:37 AM

 
SXSW/film day 3 - started out a full butt-numbing day of movie watching with a redeeming shorts program. The best I thought was a very simple doc examing how a west-point grad father is raising his son to be no less than a champion wrestler and later, he plans, an elite forces soldier. So simply shot, with the two of them interviewed separately standing in front of a gym mat on the wall. Dad thought son should go away for his education one year - so he sent him to Belarus. The kid hated it, as he hated most everything he was being put through. Yet he acheives a 3.98GPA and is now training for the 2008 Olympics (trailer).

After that I got right back in line to see a whole bunch of Animated Shorts. All were very good. The first, a Dreamworks piece called First Flight was my favourite. Then I sped over to the convention center where I watched a star-studded and very sold-out but, IMO, lousy film called Fired! (trailer).

The day was capped off very pleasantly with the world premiere of a production of Charles Nelson Rielly's stage show / monologue -- his life story, called Life of Reilly (trailer). Slightly flawed technically, but the sound was great and really that's all that mattered, to hear Charles' compelling story. Like many people, I had a moment a year or two ago where I was wondering about him -- is he still alive? Well his health isn't too great now we were told, but you couldn't see it in his performance. And I had no idea of the depth of his career. Match Game and the Squares were just fluff that paid for his Beverely Hills home, he's really a theatre guy from way back. We even got free CNR t-shirts - woo hoo!

  posted by John : 8:34 PM

 
Day two of SXSW film for me started out with a series of short films, which I thought were quite bad. The quality of submissions has to be better than this. Did better with the next two films - Cruel and Unusual, on the subject of transgendered people in prison - and Darkon, medeival role playing in Maryland. Nice to see some films that take me places I know I won't be going. The Darkon trailer is worth a look.

  posted by John : 8:06 PM

 
On screen tonight at the Paramount, we watched the stage of another grand vaudeville-era theatre - the Fitzgerald theatre in St Paul, Minnesota - and the many characters who romped across it in Robert Altman's latest movie, A Prarie Home Companion. John C. Riley was at the screening along with the co-writer and some other dudes, but it was Riley who got the huge applause. He's big here, I guess. This was the opening night of the SXSW film festival. APHC was pretty good. I most enjoyed whenver Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin were onscreen together. Their appearance together at the Academy Awards was a prelude to this film. Meryl does a great country singer. Now I'm wanting to see Nashville again.

Amazingly, every year the price for passes actually stays the same, $65 for unlimited films. So even though I'll be away during the week, and Sharon's busy most of this weekend, we each bought one. Even if we don't go to all that many, having a pass gets you in the middle of three lines for a film which is a huge advantage over being in the single ticket holders line. Now we'll try to make the most of it, though I haven't read up on any of the films yet. We'll focus on documentaries as usual. The only one I really want to see at this point is Summer Camp, which has been in the works for several years now. Its a colloboration between the creators of two of my favorite docs, Okie Noodling (Bradley Beesley) and American Movie (Sarah Price).

  posted by John : 11:55 PM

 
ultramobile


New book-sized tablet PCs from Samsung and Asus. Small, but not too small, and runs Windows XP, with an interesting soft-keyboard in there. Samsung's is called the Q1, but it will be at least Q2 before its on sale. It won't replace a person's phone or laptop, and probably not their PDA/Blackberry either. But Samsung may lead the way to gadget convergence with their tiny high definition screens.

Now how long will it take for Apple to meet the expectation that they'll come out with one of these ? (Newton II?). They may be waiting on significant improvements in battery life.

  posted by John : 4:47 AM

 
Birdy
Yesterday I was outside with John the A/C repair guy. He had just fixed the system by removing a bug from the switchbox on the outside unit. You get him talking and he'll go on forever - a true Texan in that regard. After his tenth story, as he was heading to his truck, we saw this little bird hopping along the ground. The bird jumped up on the edge of Victor's outside water dish. I reached over to turn on the hose a trickle to fill it up higher for him, and was surprised when he didn't move away. He drank some water, then hopped down. He was so beautiful to watch - his feathers so fine it was like his grey color was painted on. I went and got a cat carrier and it wasn't hard to pick the bird up and put him inside. He wasn't moving one of his wings. I made a few calls and found he was a Cedar Waxwing. Brought him inside, gave him some water and put a few branches in there for him to perch on. I didn't take his picture then because I figured the light would be better in the morning. He seemed to be using his wings now, jumping at the front of the carrier trying to get out. A bird-lady I'd called said he might just be bruised and that I should cover the cage to let him relax and he may be better in the morning. I did that, and we peeked in as he slept with his head nuzzled in his feathers, choosing to remain perched on the little water bowl instead of the branch. In the morning, sadly, we found him lying on the bottom of the cage dead. He'd passed some blood, so we assumed he'd had internal injuries. A sad sight indeed. I've never been a bird-recognizer much beyond the ones everyone knows. But now I'll always know a Cedar Waxwing when I see one.

  posted by John : 10:38 PM

 
Heather Woodbury, Tom Cole, and PS 122 invite you to ....
If you're in NYC - I'm jealous - check this upcoming Heather Woodbury performance.  She's is incredible and unforgettable.


  posted by John : 7:59 AM