WonderCon: We're Here!!!

Bill B., Rebecca, and I are here in San Francisco for WonderCon!

Day 1 was great, with a crowd about one quarter the size of Comic-Con (27,000 attended last year). Luckily this trip had been paid for in advance some time ago; membership, flight, and hotel. So the current tightness of my belt did not hinder our making it to this much anticipated event.

Perusing the exhibit hall, collecting "Watchmen" movie freebees, and taking in an advance screening of the forthcoming animated DVD, "Wonder Woman", was on the schedule today. Tomorrow morning (really, really early around 6am!) we'll be heading down to get in line for the 11:30am preview of "Watchmen" hosted by Director Zack Snyder and the entire cast! I missed the presentation at last year's Comic-Con and have vowed to not miss this one! Especially with the movie premiering a week from today. Then, tomorrow afternoon is Director McG with a preview of "Terminator: Slavation".

Another update tomorrow night, plus a full report after we get home on Monday.

Welcome to Academy Awards Weekend!

So here we are just one day away from the 81st Academy Awards. We all know that "Slumdog Millionaire" will win Best Picture (blah, blah, blah) and that Heath Ledger will most certainly be awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "The Dark Knight" (without a doubt the highlight of the entire event). But before it all happens, I made my annual pilgrimage to The Kodak Theatre this past Wednesday to walk the red carpet...covered in protective plastic!

As mentioned in my previous post, every year I manage to find a hole in the plastic where I can reach down and touch a part of Hollywood. This year was no exception. Click on the pic of me for a larger image. This was taken about 25 feet inside the curtain draped entrance to The Kodak you see in the top photo. Coming here once again has helped me reconnect with the industry in a way that I'll always search out when I get a little too bogged down in some of the everyday mundane tasks of life.

This is Hollywood! This is the film industry! This is The Academy Awards! I really am a part of it!.....is how I feel when I arrive here each year. I'm ready once again to go out and grab the brass ring...all 28 of them! The number of post houses I'm striving to get into.

Struggling to get work

I was really, really hoping to be working by now. Unfortunately the work horizon has pretty much been a desert.

This has caused some great concern when it comes to my financial situation. Money is running out and I've been trying everything I can to get work, even a couple of days here and there, to keep me going until things pick up the way they usually do around this time of year. Happy Hour is still a bit lean, and I've been in contact with Chris at least once a week to check in. I'm sure I'll find myself back there soon, but in the meantime I have to keep going.

I'm in the process of doing a major overhaul of my reel both in design as well as content. It's time to reach out once again to the 28 post houses I'm trying to get into. Contacting them while they're sitting on their hands making the deals to bring projects in themselves is one of the best times to gain attention.

I have to admit that over the past two months, being concerned about finances and everyday life, I've actually had a bit of a disconnect from the industry and Hollywood...even though I'm right here! Tomorrow afternoon I'll be making my usual pilgrimage to The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood just a few days out from The Academy Awards to reconnect; envision once again walking the red carpet, reaching down through one of the usual tears or holes in the protective plastic cover to touch the fibers like I've been doing for the last four years.

I just need a jump-start!

WonderCon 2009

Yes, True Believers! We are now exactly two weeks out from Wondercon in San Francisco! Rebecca and I will be flying up on Wednesday, February 25 where we'll meet Bill (HI, BILL!!!), spend Thursday taking in some favorite movie locations ("The Towering Inferno", "Time After Time", "What's Up Doc?"), then head to the Moscone Center (where the event will be taking place) for three days of bliss!

"Jack Into The Matrix" music video

After "The Matrix" was released on video, and while I had some time on my hands at Edgewood Studios in 2000, I cut together a music video of the movie. This is played against my three favorite tracks from the artist's soundtrack:

'Clubbed To Death (Kurayamino Mix)' by Furious Angels
'Prime Audio Soup' by Meat Beat Manifesto
'Spybreak (Short One)' by Propellerheads

I've had this kicking around for ten years now and finally wanted to post it on YouTube for the world to enjoy...SO ENJOY! As always, check out my YouTube link in the left column to see what other whacked-out videos I've bookmarked recently.

"Watchmen" read...ready for the movie!

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, flying back and forth between Albany and Burbank, I finished reading "Watchmen". All 12 issues (bound together in it's current publication form) are incredibly multi-layered, wildly detailed, and in a lot of ways very down to earth in it's portrayal of what would happen if costumed heros really existed during the 20th Century. I'm looking forward to how they'll encompass and dissect so much into one movie. Although I've heard that Zack Snyder is planning an almost three hour special edition for the DVD release. So if for any reason some parts of the graphic novel seem too condensed, just wait. Frankly, I'm not too worried.

Some friends of mine had read it during the time of it's publication in the 80's, but it never seemed like something I'd enjoy or connect with. Certainly now, with the release of the movie almost upon us, I knew I wanted to finally take it in close enough to the premiere to really appreciate how the story and imagery was transposed to the big screen.

There is so much to digest in the graphic novel, and I found myself re-reading several sections I had just passed through to really absord this world Alan Moore had created. And there's definitely a cinematic look to Dave Gibbons artwork in a number of places.

Three weeks to go until the premiere. I am SO primed and ready!

"Fanboys" At Last!!!...sneaking into a theater near you

After a long road of almost three years, "Fanboys" has finally been released in theaters! Although it did seem to skulk in under everyone's radar. I just happened to see a video interview on MovieWeb.com that spoke about the release, but that was a day after the film had come to a select number of multiplexes across the US. Just a little over 60 screens in fact. The movie is awesome (read my review on the right)!!! However the tug and pull that went on between Director Kyle Newman (read rebel leader) and The Weinstein Company (read The Evil Galactic Empire) has been pretty gratuatis.

Keeping or editing out that fact that the character of Linus (Chris Marquette) has cancer has kept the film on the shelf until now. Although it might better have been suited to premiere during the 30th Anniversary of "Star Wars", which was the original release window, it's still welcome with open arms in theaters and not straight to DVD as it was feared would happen for over a year now.

Bill, I have one thing to say.....YOU GOTTA SEE FANBOYS!!!!!!!!

"The Dark Knight": Joker interrogation scene parody!

O.K. this had me squirting milk out my nose!!! For all those people out there who felt The Batman's voice was very guttural (and even if you didn't) this is just TOO FUNNY!!!

Christian Bale's "Terminator: Salvation" on-set tirade

The audio from Christian Bale's tirade against Director Of Photography Shane Hurlbut on the set of "Terminator: Salvation" last summer has been posted online. I found it at MovieWeb.com and it's not for the listening when kids are in the room. I'm not making a judgement call on his behavior because I certainly wasn't there. But I do understand that he's a very passionate actor and I definitely respect that. I can be insanely passionate about my work as well. Creativity stands at the top of the list, period!
However I don't go around threatening to trash someone's lights.

Check out the full three minute plus tirade here. And after you've done that, right below it listen to LA based DJ RevoLucian's hilarious remix! I laughed my ass off, and then turned around and downloaded the track (for free) from his website!

Let's talk Oscars 2009

The nominations have been announced for this year's Academy Awards, so here's what's good and bad in brief.

Heath Ledger's Best Supporting Actor nod for "The Dark Knight" - YAY!!!!!!! We all knew this was probably going to happen, and there doesn't seem to be anyone strong enough up against him to win anyhow. Let's call this a lock.

"Slumdog Millionaire" - It's gonna win the Best Picture award, so do yourself a favor and go to bed early. If you're waiting for "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" to take home the gold, you'll probably be sorry.

"The Reader" nominated for Best Picture....AH WAAAAAAHHH?! Not to say it probably isn't a good film (have not seen it yet), but the nod certainly surprised a lot of people.

Kate Winslet nominated for Best Actress in "The Reader" - HEY! What about "Revolutionary Road"?! That was seemingly a lock.

"The Dark Knight" NOT nominated for Best Original Score - Even after all the HOO-HA over how many people were actually involved in the writing, one of the best scores of 2008 was snubbed! After The Academy decided at first to disqualify this due to five composers having a hand in crafting the music, it was finally decided that only Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard were directly responsible. The other musical contributors gave signed statements that they only had a minor hand in the overall score, and this actually was before The Academy said 'no'. Then they changed their minds with further proof.

Christopher Nolan NOT nominated for Best Director - HUGE oversight!!!

Best Animated Film - "Bolt", Kung Fu Panda", or "WALL-E". OH MY GOD, WHO WILL WIN???!!!

And finally, here's how I think the top 5 will go down:

Best Picture - "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Actor - Mickey Rourke / "The Wrestler"
Best Actress - Anne Hathaway / "Rachel Getting Married"
Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger / "The Dark Knight"
Best Supporting Actress - I'm split between Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" and Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button"

Batman: The Dark Gamer

Check out how The Dark Knight stays sharp late at night in the Bat Cave. LOL!!!