Friday, February 29, 2008

I Hate Cars!

WOW, don't you love it when you are getting ready for a trip, work related or not, and something ALWAYS goes wrong with your damn car. Of course, if you haven't heard yet, I am heading to Chicago to work on a feature for a few weeks. And wouldn't you know it, but I had to do $450 worth of repairs to my van. YEAH! Let me tell you how thrilled I am. I had to get my driver side front tire replaced (DAMN POT HOLES!), my passenger side front wheel bearing replaced, and both sets of front brakes replaced. Well, at least I know I'll be safe going to Chicago and back, but DAMN I have been SO good about NOT spending money... It NEVER fails.
Also, I know it is late, but I should have my week in review for last week up later today. It has been a BUSY week. Talk to you all soon.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Chicago, Here I Come!

Yep, I just got the confirmation that I will be leaving for the Windy City on March 1 for three weeks. I was personally requested to come work on a feature film up there by the Assistant Director. The AD, Matt, worked on 'Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia' as the Production Supervisor. I guess I made a good impression. So I'm in scramble mode to get everything in order and in line for not only the trip and film, but other projects and work that need to be put on hold until I get back to the STL. I'm humbled and honored to get requested like this and look forward to the challenge that lies ahead. So Chicago, here I come...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Week in Review – 2008 Week 7

This has been quite a week. It started out emotional, got a little slow and ended on a busy note.

Sunday: I got to meet the family of the fallen Marine who is the subject of my primary documentary. They were so warm and receptive, and I’m so thankful for that. Without them supporting me and the project it would have to be scrapped. I know you are all itching to know more about my documentary, but you’ll have to wait just a little longer. But I promise, I’ll be posting all the news about it VERY soon.

Monday: Why don’t I remember much about Monday? I know I review some material for the Doc(umentary), but don’t think it was as productive a day as I would have liked. Got a lot of E-mail set off and some paperwork started though. Oh, and I officially started a Google AdSense Account. It allows me to put Google ad on my webpage and try and make a little extra money that way. I also started this Blog today.

Tuesday: I got a little more done today. I bought a few domain names. This is for a few websites I will be building and loading over the next few weeks. I also did Lesson 1 of the Video Professor training for Microsoft Frontpage 2003. My current version of http://www.acefilms.com/ is built in Frontpage 2002, which is also on the same training CDs. The problem was I didn’t have the Theme they use in the training course on my computer and never found the disk to upload it. So the two times I tried the course I always got stopped early in Lesson 2. This time though I plan to get through the whole course and build a new site for ACE Films.

Wednesday: Today, I was added to the Glidecam Operator’s Network. My photos went up on the Glidecam site, and I posted the new on my Blog. Also, I attended the Media Communication’s Association (MCA) meeting tonight. This month’s topic was “How to find work and stay working in Film and Video Production in St. Louis.” It was a very informative panel which had Gary Hansen, IATSE 493; Rob Hahn, Film Professor STLCC-Meremac; Ellen Legow, AE/Executive Producer for Technosonic Studios; Steve DeShetler, artistic director for Joyce Meyer Ministries; and Moderated by Lou Stemler, Bluestreak. They discuss a lot of topics including Demo Reels, Interviewing, Who to go to and apply, and several other topics. I wish there would have been a little more to it though. It seemed like it was missing something. I’m just not sure what.

After the MCA meeting, of course I raced to North County for the PrimeTime with Mark and Tone, my weekly radio show. They knew I was going to be late, so it was OK. We stretched the show until Midnight so that we could get as much as we could into the show. It was a pretty good discussion once I got there. I missed the cub scouts though.

Thursday: Today was Valentine’s Day. I had meeting at 2 PM about a documentary, however the meeting was cancelled. The gentleman I was meeting with had to take his wife to the hospital, she might have been having her baby. But my drive to St. Peters was not a complete bust. I had already planned to surprise my girlfriend with some flowers for Valentine’s Day. So, it all worked out. With my meeting cancelled, I head back downtown, got my haircut and went grocery shopping. I was now going to cook dinner for my girlfriend, before I had to head to the nightclub for work. I made a very nice beef roast with mashed potatoes and green beans. It was quite nice. For dessert I picked up some doughnuts from this little shop we recently discovered near my house. They are quite awesome! It was a GREAT Valentine’s Day. It just sucked that I had to end all this nice together time by and go to work at the nightclub. Which wasn’t too bad tonight.

Friday: Today was, I think, kind of boring. I did have to work tonight. But I actually got all of Lesson 2 about Frontpage 2003 done today. I’m on my way. One more lesson left and I’m going to start on my new sites.

Saturday: Today, I got up a lot earlier than I wanted. I had a few meeting with a production friend about a documentary she wants me to help her with. Yep, that’s THREE Docs, and I usually don’t work on Docs. Well, I’m here now… Why not, right? The meetings were with some Storyboard artists she was talking to, in order to help her put a grant proposal together. Very smart. I like her idea and in the coming weeks, I’ll divulge the subject matter of that film to world as well.

Well, enough rambling about my week. Thanks everyone who came by to see how my week was. Check back often, things are always popping up.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Glidecam Operators Network

I am so happy. I now have pics up on the Glidecam Operators Network page. Please jump over and take a look. The link is:

http://www.glidecam.com/glidecam-operators-network.php

Just scroll down. The Operators are listed alphabetically, so I am the second one on the list. It is just that little bit more that pushes me forward. Thanks to David at Glidecam for making the process so easy.

Operating a Glidecam, or any steadi-camera system, is always hard work. It takes lots of practice and practical use to get more proficient at it. I enjoy it and hope I can continue to get more work with my Glidecam. I have also been made aware of a new Glidecam system that will be a perfect upgrade to what I already use. I'm looking forward to that later this year. Thank again to Glidecam and please drop by and check out the pictures.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Starting out at Blogger

Well, as I have made it a point to have a BIG year in 2008, this is just another step in that direction. This will eventually be my OFFICIAL blog page online. I will still use my MySpace blog for a while longer and to note updates here, but this will soon be THE place to find out about what is going on in both my world personally and with ACE Films.

This is going to be a new challenge and adventure for me, so I hope you all come back as often as you can and help me big something great. Thank you all for joining me here and I look forward to a GREAT year.