Panels & the B Movie

Yesterday I made the trek to Indiana for the "B" Movie Celebration. First up, a Director's Panel with Tom Savini, Lloyd Kaufman, Jim Wynorski, Dan Hall, & Jim O'Rear. It was moderated by ___ and I had a blast. I have met Lloyd Kaufman several times, although every time I introduce myself, I never mention it because this guy meets several thousand filmmakers, nonetheless people, every year, so I don't expect myself to make that much of an impression on him. I finally met Tom Savini face to face, which after meeting and working with so many people who worked with him, that was nice.



During the panel, the moderator, Steve "Papaw" Pyatte, aimed questions at us and make sure that HORRORS OF WAR got mentioned prominently, to which I am shocked given the resume of the other people on the panel. Jim Wynorski just directed another feature for the Sci Fi Channel, Tom Savini directed Dawn of the Dead + starred in From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse, and then there's me. I'm not in the same league with these guys. I was supposed to be representing the "B" Movie Director of Tomorrow, with the "B" movie directors of yesterday and today. One thing that cannot be denied is that Lloyd Kaufman is not only a marketing whore (like myself), but his passion is unparalleled. Tom Savini spoke much the artistry and his sincerity came through clearly.



After the panel, the first and most important comment made to me was from Tom Savini who asked a lot about HORRORS OF WAR. He really wanted to see it, and I felt flattery. I then talked to Lloyd and thanked him for his honesty to many a filmmaker to whom he will not lie and say, "I'll distribute your first movie, but you're not going to make any money on it. No one makes any money on their first feature." I've heard that from several first time directors and read this in interviews, etc. and for many people it's true, but unlike shyster companies, he's upfront and clear.


The screening went well. I still can't sit in on HORRORS OF WAR anymore. I can't watch the movie again yet. Still not distant enough. I did an intro, and of course the customary Q&A. I love Q&A. It's like trying out material as a stand up, only it's a niche audience and with this movie, I've been trying out my routine for 2 years now. I have an idea what stories amuse and interest people about the movie, but truthfully I love talking about making movies. This part never bores me. What WE accomplished on this film does not fall short of amazing. I feel like our story should be told which is where the WebDocs & the documentary come from. People seem interested in these stories MAKING the film more than the movie itself.



Afterwards, one of the things you do at a festival is hang out & talk to people. Normally, I don't do this. Contrary to how open I appear on a blog, I'm actually not that into personal appearances. They make me uncomfortable. So my faux confidence results from compensating for my short comings in social settings. So, after a screening and a Q&A, my instinct is to go home or hide in a dark corner by myself and over analyze how people felt about the movie and my talk. Last night was a rare exception where I went to a bar and talked with some of the festival organizers and other filmmakers. We chatted for hours. As I expected, the film scene in Indianapolis is the same as Columbus and Cleveland and Cincinnati, and everywhere. There are always these egos and misunderstandings from the Internet. I think it's the new web-culture more than anything that causes all this nonsense.



I did finally get Windows Vista -- off of my new main editor. Thank god. It was using 700-800 MEG of RAM just sitting there. Now it hovers more around 200-300, and the rest can blissfully be used in my actual video editing endeavors. Damn Microsoft --. I love the new speed of the dual core processing from Intel -- and how it rips through my basic processing like butter. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to really do much with it though. I've been juggling 800 gigs of files from the basement to the upstairs computer and vice versa. Everything is wacky in terms of my file management. My OCD has tweaked out and I'm in denial, so I basically shut down my thought process.

I vacuumed Friday. This is momentous since our vacuum cleaner died. "V" freaked out. If you don't know anything about cats, they are all about their environment. They rub their oils on furniture (and people) to mark their territory. So when you vacuum or clean, you're nuking their markings and basically offending them. Combine that with the oppressive sounds and you're torturing your feline family members. Of course, I derive much amusement from this. Cousette and "V" look at me like I just killed their friend.



I was happy that my most recent debate online never delved into the realm of name calling. It was frustrating for several people to try to fight our own pig-headedness, but it never got misunderstood as a fight. Although, truth be told in a private email, personal statements, assumptions, and I even got a single name calling on me – but by addressing it by saying, "let's not go there, it's not personal." We got through it unscathed, albeit no one changed their minds about anything, but ironically, I'll bet we all think that the peanut gallery believes we "won" the debate. No one changed their minds. I fought hard for no other reason than the fact that I believe in all aspects of life that there is no such thing as "better" except for our own personal beliefs. It's no different than debating which religion is right. It can only be "better" for yourself.

I detest competition because of this belief. For all that people might assume or believe that I am arrogant, I think it's important to notate that my belief structure does not allow me to think I am "better" than anyone. There is no such thing for me. It's like comparing apples and a Cadillac, it's so different. I hate sports because I don't really like the idea of trying to "beat" other people as that seems futile to me. Can you really compare two athletes and say one is truly "better" than another one? Some people can, and I think they are entitled to their opinion. I myself cannot. I don't see the comparison between two people and their own separate physicality's, experiences, and skill sets and making a valid reconciliation.



I guess that's why so many filmmakers view filmmaking as a form of sport, as if there are winners and losers. Too many people spend time trying to be "better" than another filmmaker as opposed to just trying to be "better" than their last film. It's hard (impossible) for me to relate since I am singularly concerned with making myself better and I don't rate myself against other filmmakers per se. I can think someone like John Whitney is "better" than me, but that draws no inspiration for me. It never occurs to me to think about what someone else is doing or has done and then try to top it or even factor it in to what I am doing. At best, I can draw inspiration in someone's success, wish them well in their endeavors and apply maybe a technique, like using more dolly/crane shots that were effectively used or even start uploading videos to a website.

This idea of filmmaking as a competition even goes into the realm of keeping film festivals, websites, or other resources to themselves. Either because they don't want to share or just to play the odds of having less people to compete with, regardless for me, I generally share my resources. What have I got to be afraid of? If someone else gets "picked" or discovered, I'd find a way to use that to my advantage. If John Whitney had made it on ON THE LOT and I didn't, all I could think was how cool it would have been. I'd have even sat through the entire first episode if someone I knew got that chance. I'm not saying it wouldn't have been hard (really really really really hard), but I'd have stomached it. I'd have been his biggest cheerleader no less. Luckily, fate likes me enough that I did not have to test my ability to avert blood pouring out of my eyes and my soul sucked into the void of reality TV.



I need more hours in a day. I can do so much more if somehow more hours were added to a day. My list of THINGS TO DO slowly compiles into a heap of Tomorrow's. Not for long. Things will slow down and all shall be well. I did some jogging. That was hard for me. I haven't done much of that since junior high, but lord knows I needed it. I won't be Kevin Smith. I cannot allow myself to procrastinate, plus my luck isn't as good as his. I don't mean the hot wife, or even the film career – I mean in the realm of health. He's luckier than me. As for hot wife, I've got my Sexy Fiancé Veronica sleeping next to me all nuded up as I type, so I feel that a fat bastard like me does in fact have some luck (a lot actually).

Like a dream long forgotten, Maverick Entertainment handed me an official release date of the HORRORS OF WAR DVD. November 6th, 2007 will be a day long remembered. First the death of Obi Wan Kenobi, and soon the end of the rebellion… wrong movie. Now maybe I can get excited about the movie again, even for a short while. Maybe then I can stomach editing on the documentary too. It's hard to work on it myself. It's yesterday to me and I'm trying to get into tomorrow.

Monday starts another work week. I have a stockpile of movies unwatched, so I'd like to see something. HOT FUZZ remains the top movies I'm struggling to find time for. I still dig SPACED far more from the same writer/star (Simon Pegg) and writer/director (Edgar Wright). That UK TV series was top notch writing/directing/acting and thank god Bret & Linda got me into that. What an effect that had on my eyes. More people should look into SPACED.

This was a big one, so enough of my yakking. Let's boogie.

Peter John Ross,
Undeserving of the Panel I was on

Hot Love on the Hot Love Highway

I survived the Indie Gathering yet again this year. I was on 5 panels for indie filmmaking with some of the usual suspects and some new filmmakers. It seems this year had the widest reach in terms of the number of people from all over the country. I met some filmmakers from Houston Texas with dirt on Robert Rodriguez and a guy from Florida whose movie looked fantastic via the trailer, so I'm hoping to get a copy in the mail.

I was actually asked to watch a movie so that they can use my quote. He said, "Everybody knows Sonnyboo" and that was a staggering moment for me. I wore my "Sonnyboo" hat more out of a need to use hair gel and less about promotion, so this brought me recognition unexpected. Even as My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- and I were leaving, someone asked me if I was that guy from the Sonnyboo website and said thank you for all the forms on the site. That felt great. I enjoy giving out the free stuff. Sure, it's a promotion to get people on the site, recognize the name, but then again I don't really ask for anything in return, so I feel just fine. I just remember needing things like location agreements, actor contracts, storyboard templates, and stuff like that when I first started and there wasn't anything like that, so I am providing for other filmmakers what I always wished for myself.



In terms of sales, I sold a few books, including a couple of the Horrors of War Illustrated Screenplay. I think it's really groovy. It's not only a promotional item, it has some educational elements to it, dealing with screenplay development and pre-production, as well as post production and editing effects on the screenplay. It will sell better once the movie comes out on DVD… whenever that might be. I got a few compliments on innovative marketing techniques for my films.

I don't really enjoy the panels too much. They tend to be about the filmmakers themselves and not filmmaking/general topics. I always try to maintain a difference between facts and my personal opinion. I put out a disclaimer that "this is my personal preference, not a law". The editing panel was interesting because everyone seemed to want to know about editing in general, so I showed clips from my editing class DVD instead of things from my movies. I had more offers to buy my Editing Class DVD than the Sonnyboo short film DVD.



Johnny Wu is the greatest, there's no 2 ways about it. He is the godfather of cinema in Cleveland, regardless of any film czars or friends of executive producers of the Lord of the Rings. Johnny Wu knows everyone and most people love him. Even though he may or may not be my illegitimate father, I think he's got it going on.

I am incredibly sentimental about my youth in a small town called Wadsworth, Ohio, home of the blue tip matches. It seems every small town has some claim to fame, theirs is being the original home of the blue tip matches, and they continue to have a blue tip parade every summer even though the factory moved to some other city nearly 30 years ago. I lived there from age 5 to 12 and my time there remains the best in my life.

I make a trek to Wadsworth about once a year. Usually en route to or from Cleveland, I make the side step over to Wadsworth off of I-76. After the Indie Gathering, I made it a point to go to Marie's Pizza with My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- so we scheduled our return home with dinner. When I was a kid we had Marie's Pizza in Wadsworth all the time.

Marie's Pizza is a small mom & pop restaurant in downtown Wadsworth, off the beaten path. It had maybe 12 tables and one of the reasons I adore this place, aside from great pizza, is that it seemed untouched by the hand of time. Their menu had only changed once in 30 years and that was directly due to my friend Maurice. They had chocolate pudding listed as a dessert and every time he ordered it, they would tell them they don't have it anymore and his response was that, "it's on the menu!" so at some point right after that, they removed the pudding from the menu, but everything else remained the same. If you read my blogs, I have mentioned this place at least 5-6 times. I ate there en route to Manhattan to meet with investors; I ate there after numerous trips to Cleveland.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- and I head out from Cleveland and arrive in Wadsworth at about 3:45PM. I drive through the downtown area of Wadsworth, passing the Lutheran church I attended as a boy with it's large spires puncturing the sky. The old downtown remains very similar to how it always has, and we drive up to the little restaurant and there is a giant sign on the door reading "Business For Sale". The place was dark inside and there was no sign of anything in there. My heart was crushed. I had a flurry of emotions from anger, to disappointment, to hunger, and near depression. The anger was at how it seemed that the giant mega-corporations took down a small business, and I was depressed because a part of my youth just died before my eyes. We pulled out of the parking lot and decided to look for alternate food, but in my mind all I could think was no matter what I eat at that moment, it wasn't going to satisfy me.

We drove back north towards I-76 where the newer section of town was in search of alternate dining. There was an Applebee's on the left… God that sounded awful, but what else was there? As I get in the turn lane, My Sexy Fiancé Veronica -- says, "Isn't that a Marie's right there?" and I thought it was just some kind of coincidence. Then my eyes spot the same logo of a woman from the 1970's holding a pizza over her head. It was like a mirage, so I pull out of the turn lane and go to this strange site. It was the same logo. The stand alone building looked brand new and it was huge, I mean bigger than most places.

We go in and it is the exact same layout as the old place, but greatly increased in size. There's still a pickup window in front of the kitchen for carry out, and they even have a pinball machine and 2 arcade games. Then the actual restaurant has a bar now and probably 100 tables now. At 4:00PM on a Sunday, they were packed to the hilt. Our server was a 7 year veteran, unusual since everyone else looked like they were 16 years old, and she said they moved to this location in January, and the menu (which was brand new and 6 pages long now) was very different, but the pizza was the same. We ordered a large pep, and tried it out. It was the same, meaning it was excellent.



I was floored by everything. Normally, I would hate change, but this was a nice place. It was still a small business, but they were contending with the big corporations and kicking their asses. Not only that, but at its core, it's still the same food and that's more important than the geographical location. I had a broad range of strange emotions in a 10 minute period in that I felt my childhood got killed in some small way, only to see that it grew up & moved away.

I ate my leftover pizza this morning right before typing this up. I am already full again, and they say that your sense of taste and smell are the ones most tied to memory because sight and sound are used more often, so when you taste something you remember, it's more powerful to the memories, and never is that more true for me than with Marie's Pizza and my years as a rambunctious youth in Wadsworth Ohio. I think the reason I make a trek there and eat this cholesterol grenade of grease and tomato is because it reminds me of happy times and a more naïve mindset I once had.

Well, I'm off to edit some TV spots of the Family Channel. Yeeeee hhaaaaaawwww!

- Peter John Ross

Fantastic Plastic Machine!

Fantastic Plastic Machine!
Aug 1st, 2007

Ahhhhhh, I am beginning to feel some serenity. Scott has returned and I am no longer minding the store. The hours were mad crazy, but the pay was decent, so the Ross is content. I still have trouble wrapping my mind around the idea of having semi-steady income again. Being a freelancer, money comes, and money goes, and money sometimes comes in big and other times small. Regular money in regular intervals makes for a more reliable schedule.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica started not one but two jobs. We see each other sporadically, but our time is Quality Time when we do. I'm glad she's back at work because now I can save up for a newer car. I'll save for about 6 months, and then shop around a bit.




Since Saturday's are more likely for My Sexy Fiancé Veronica to be off work, we've been catching the CAPA SUMMER MOVIES to see some classics on the big screen at the Ohio Theater, a kick ass 1920's theatre that's been refurbed and preserved. We dig it lots. I took her to see NORTH BY NORTHWEST, the great Hitchcock film from 1959. The 35mm film print was in great shape considering its age. I hate old movies, but seeing CITIZEN KANE for the first time on a pristine 35mm print at the Ohio 8-9 years ago got me into a bunch of films I normally would never have seen. My old roommate Shannon dragged me to that screening and I've been going every year since. This past weekend we saw DR. NO, the first ever James Bond film and Sean Connery's first performance as Bond. I've seen this flick about 40 times in my life since my father is a huge Bond fan, and I still saw more detail and image than ever before. This week is another Hitchcock, this one being ROPE, the movie that takes place in one single take. Unfortunately, My Sexy Fiancé Veronica is working, so I'll be taking my mistress, another hottie and an even younger one. Sadly, my commitment to the INDIE GATHERING this weekend will prevent me from seeing CADDYSHACK on Friday night. It's a one time screening so I'll miss it this year.

I am being pulled hard to do some more shorts. Since it's for a studio, I'm wavering on my lack of desire to do anything. I might choose to produce and not direct. I've got too much editing work to do. There is The Derek's feature, a commercial, some actor's reels, and my own feature documentary, and that's just THIS Month's extracurricular editing outside of the full time job editing for a production company. I've been tagging spots for MTV2 and the FOOD NETWORK en masse. It's not thrilling, but there are far worse ways to make a living. I rather enjoy the process and thank god (wherever she is) that I don't have to work a day job or live with my parents which turns out psychopaths like Cho from Virginia Tech.



ZO WESSON, the host & producer of Cincinnati's VIEWFINDER show on PBS, on which I have made 2 appearances, has been selected as a contestant on the reality-game show PRODUCER for TV GUIDE's channel. I wish Zo a ton of luck. He deserves it. He was at the regional Emmy's recently on the gig I had to cancel on for camera op several weeks ago. If I had known, I might have left the E.R. and gone to see him on stage because he's hilarious. When I had first met him, he knew all about DIRECTOR's COMMENTARY and director Peter DeLane, my own personal inspiration as a director. Peter DeLane represents everything I aspire to as a director, more than Spielberg, Lucas, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, Kubrick, etc.

I have a few copies of my book printed up for this weekend to see if anyone's interested. Should be fun. My Sexy Fiancé Veronica has arranged to be with me, so I'm sure with some provocative outfits, and when I'm hosting panels, the boys (and possibly girls) will flock to the Sonnyboo both to purchase items and hit on the pretty girl. I have to remember to order a Sonnyboo Thong for My Sexy Fiancé Veronica before we leave.



My health appears to be on the rise. I have to learn to stop wavering on my habits and create a routine. So far, so good, but it's not really that far. Sleep schedules getting mucked up wreak the most havoc on the energy levels. I wish I were more like my pal "V".

"V" is a demon. No two ways about it. We spoilt him. That's not in question. After Spaz died, we lavished "V" with attention and love. Now that we're trying to work more and not be at home as much, he's acting out. "V" already broke my red neon "open" sign that My Sexy Fiancé Veronica gave me for Xmas a few years ago. He chews on My Sexy Fiancé Veronica's clothes and whines and cries at the door when he wants to go out on a leash, but that's pretty much 24-7. I don't really know how to satiate him whilst also trying to discipline the guy. It's like mini-parenting with an unreasonable and wicked smart creature. Cousette just sleeps a lot. No change there.

Two guys from the Ohio State University's REEL BUCKEYE have been editing a few nights a week here at Rossdonia. I only met them once before, and they asked if they could use my AVID to cut their documentary and I said sure. They are editing a documentary on the Columbus Film scene. It's history, its current climate, the things going for it and against it; these are all subject to examination. I got interviewed for it almost a year ago, and since then they contacted several other relevant/important figures in the community to round it out. It started out solely as a "behind the scenes" of the Reel Buckeye feature film THREE EASY PAYMENTS. Ohio State University used to have a film school, but it was disbanded in 1991. Local fixtures like Scott Spears, John Whitney, Tom Bauman, and more all attended the OSU film school. In the last 2-3 years, the OSU students took it upon themselves to do more than just make a little hobby club, they made a "design your own Film Major", and then created a group that produces feature length movies. They started out as "Buckeye Searchlight" and mimicked the process of Project Greenlight to chose their script, and after that, it became the more palatable Reel Buckeye group. Officially, OSU now has a Film Major due to their collective efforts, but there still is no graduate program or true film production classes. Maybe they will continue to chip away at the bureaucratic bricks until that wall comes down too.



Seeing that their feature switched over to the controversial Columbus Film scene, a recurring topic is about how it sucks to be a filmmaker in Columbus, Ohio. Some people are "glass is half full" and others are "glass is a cynical object that is somehow preventing me from succeeding in the film industry". I do have to say that it's not the city that's a problem, it's you. All opportunities in life are what YOU make of them, not the geography and not someone else's fault. YOU can make anything happen, and no city or other imaginary obstacles can stop you from achieving all of your dreams. Blaming the city you live in is just some pussy cop out because you don't want to accept responsibility for your own failings. If you oppose this point of view, then all I can offer is one amazingly simple answer to the query – If you do think that Columbus sucks, then LEAVE. Move somewhere else. If you aren't willing to work hard enough, save the dough, and go to some other city where supposedly your filmmaking talents will miraculously be recognized, then stop complaining, losers. I still firmly believe that you can't blame a map for your lack of recognition. Maybe filmmaking isn't for these whiners.

I'm just sitting upstairs while they edit away in the basement. I have a new main editing computer, but it came with Windows Vista which is hardly a usable OS for video editing. It's like a MAC OS for PC users. It's a resource hog from hell and none of my video editing programs work well in it. It's like trying to fly a jet engine with a kite string. I can't even get rid of the partition and install Windows XP again. It's frustrating, but at some point soon when I work out the bugs. I just want to edit, and I want this fast machine to keep up with me, not slow me down. Argh.


Peace and love + good happiness stuff for my acolytes,
The Ross of Rossdonia

Gather All Ye Indies

Ahoy their acolytes of Boo. This is your captain speaking and I'm here to rock your world. Not really, I'm quoting the Artist Formerly Known as and currently known as Prince from a 1995 track. Your faithful narrator has been a busy worker bee. Many things happen and work has been accomplished. I have been covering for my sometimes boss as he teaches in one of the Carolina's, I don't think I'll ever be able to tell them apart since I don't do any work there in those states yet. Instead of being a free-from-responsibility freelancer, I've been trying to take care of business.

It's very odd to have a semi-regular income again. It's been so long that a week ago I over-paid on my utilities. I found a "past due" notice and paid it up, not knowing that it was a bill from April. It seems utility companies tend to keep the extra money and apply it to your next bill, since you know… you'll owe them more money anyway. I'm okay with that, it just means I have less money owed next month. I won't be writing any new checks for many weeks. That feels good in it's own way.

Next up, a new car methinks. Something classier and definitely more reliable. I'm sick of the sporty, sleek, penis cars. No more mustangs, unless it's a 2006 model with blue racing stripes. Even then, I might have to pass on it because I'm sick of the unreliable vehicles that look good.

We're coming up on the 2007 INDIE GATHERING in Cleveland where I have been going for the last 2 years. I'm already set to be on at least 3 filmmaking panels and have a booth. This year, I have my book to sell, as well as a new publication, the HORRORS OF WAR ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY in book form. It's a test bed of maybe 4-5 copies to see if anyone's interested. The storyboards by Mike Bruinsma (as well as Dan Kiely and Shawn Collins) are pretty good. We'll see what people respond to. I plan on having a blast, as I will be hanging with the Great & Powerful Johnny Wu for a weekend and that has yet to be non-fun.




Somewhere in the last week I have found a reservoir of energy. I've been cleaning at home a bit more, doing more things, and still finding time to start watching movies again, albeit slowly. I watched LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE again last night. Great flick and one I saw 90% of at the theatre, but then had to go to the movie I actually paid for. It pays off in the end in a big way. Loved it, I did.

I found a Japanese company that is selling copies of my short film, or at least I think so. It's hard to read.



I continue to sell more copies of the BEST OF SONNYBOO DVD. I chalked up 4 more sales this week alone. I don't really advertise this or anything. It's just there. People buy it. Go figure. I won't try to analyze it; I'll just keep making my PayPal deposits.

Because of the INDIE GATHERING, I have a nice deadline to get more done on the HORRORS OF WAR feature length documentary. I'd like to have something to show in some way. It's got it's points, but editing full time, then coming home to edit doesn't make for a well-rested Rossman. It makes a cranky, burned out, eyes bleeding Ross-person. Combine that with the editing on Derek's ETERNAL, and the Ross needs sleep, and the Ross needs more time to his-self.

I just finished digitizing 25 tapes of HD footage on ETERNAL. It was a pain in the ass, but it's done and it all fit on my internal drives (dutifully backed up to 2 portable drives as well). There are now 6 Standard Definition (SD, regular mini DV) tapes to digitize, but I can get those ingested into my edit system later. There's less of a rush on those. FYI – Today is THE DEREK's BIRTHDAY.


I am receiving script pages 1-2 times a week for what may very well be my next feature film. I have not decided which one of 2 projects will go next. I want the scripts to be perfect first. We shall see. Neither will begin shooting before 2008. I will continue to make some income, deal with my health issues (need to keep trying to get in better shape), and all other things that come from being me.

In the HORRORS OF WAR category, not much new to report. We got another check in to disperse to investors. That's always great news. I like giving back to the hands that helped me. When it is possible, writing checks out feels better than anything else. Scott Spears showed some of the WEBDOCS to students, who then demanded to see the film itself. I think there is a definite market for the film… if it actually gets released in the U.S. It's not a film for everyone; it's not even a masterpiece by any stretch, but it's a fun movie with something abnormal to it. I think the bending of the genres worked for our story. I can live with the opposing points of view, as I am content with the movie.

"V" sleeps in the window, staring into the universe. Brandy sleeps on the couch behind me. Cousette whines and cries for attention. All is well in Rossdonia on this peaceful Sunday. Peace out my homies.

- Ross

The Girl from a Pawnshop, She Talks to Angels

Well, I'm now working more than I have in years. Not since my first year at Tavares Teleproductions have I worked this many hours. Luckily, my skill-set has improved and I can be more efficient with my time. Editing TV spots for the Food Network & MTV2 aren't all bad. There are far worse ways to make a living.






This past Tuesday, I taught an abridged version of my edit class for several hours to inner-city kids. During the lunch break, one of the students commented on the HORRORS OF WAR Poster on the wall, asking if I knew anything about the movie. I said, "Sure", and then proceeded to play the trailer. Even the 3 girls were blown away. When it became clear in the class, via the Webdocs with me in them, that I was one of the makers of the film, they seemed to take on a different attitude. I was given a compliment of the highest order; they said the movie was going to be "Off the Hook". I think I can safely say there are at least 7-8 new copies for rent from that class. Now if only the movie would get released in North America. Maybe this November. Maybe not. Who knows?

We just got another award for HORRORS OF WAR. In August, we'll receive the "B-Movie top emerging B Filmmaking talent" by a B-movie convention. I'm also going to be on a panel with Lloyd Kaufman & Jim Wynorski. I can't wait, so I'll be attending this one. I'm there to represent the "unknown" filmmaker. I still can't watch the movie again, as I have seen it far too many times.

Progress on the feature length documentary has continued in due course. I'm setting a kind of deadline for late September. I doubt this will get any kind of public release, but this is what we are going to give to cast & crew as a free thank you for working on the movie. Timing this out to coincide with a DVD release would be great, but there are no guarantees with a "tentative" release date.

One last HORRORS OF WAR update, on the German Amazon.com (Amazon.de) the reviews are sharply in contrast of those who love it and those that hate it. That seems to really sum up people's feelings about the film. They either love it or hate it. I think that really is the secret of all movies. Some people love your movie, some people hate it. Get used to it kids. That's normal and that's life. There are some movies I hate that other people love. Go figure. Only amateurs & hobbyists don't understand that.

I have been dealing with technical issues on Eternal for the Derek. I have been capturing, then re-capturing the footage trying to tweak everything just right to edit in HD with the AspectHD codec. It seems to work much smoother with the JVC HD110 than the Sony line of HDV. The solution was to use a cheaper Sony HDV Handicam so that the capturing goes smoother, and Jesus Marimba that works so much better. After this weekend, we'll be all caught up on everything that's been shot so far, plus we'll be finishing off the rest of what they are shooting this weekend. Once it's all digitized, I am making 2 backups on the 2 portable 500 Gig drives Derek bought. Redundancy can never be bad. Always protect the data, and protect it often. I'm down to 1 intern helping on this project and I need at least 2-3 more. Assistant Editors have become the lifeblood of my editorial process. I like the team aspect, especially when it's not my own project, although I will probably institute this process into my own movies from here on out. Collaboration seems to increase the quality in the edit.

All of my feature work is on hold for a little bit. I want to develop the screenplays more fully and be 100% sure they are ready to roll. I value the script above all else these days. I want to choose my material very carefully and make the best possible movie based on what will be the blueprint.

Lately, I've been listening to my old CD's. The Black Crowes had so much more passion in their style than I remember. I had a bunch of CD's, but only listened to a few tracks. Now I'm devouring the entire catalog. Chris and Rich Robinson conveyed a depth and soul rarely heard in popular music, especially from ones as young as they were.

As for the world of Rossdonia the controversy is abound. "V" was convicted of turning over the names of the kitties that spilled the water dish on Brandy's computer. I commuted his sentence and this caused uproar in Rossdonia. I know he broke the law, but he's my friend, so I let him off the hook. The scorn & ridicule he and his family have been through was enough. I know that Paris Hilton spent a few weeks in jail, but this is different. I know this guy, so I'm letting him off. Besides, it's old news. Let's move on because I have better things to do than answer for my own questionable actions.

Needs for Succor, for the Sake of Demulcent Inklings

Needs for Succor, for the Sake of Demulcent Inklings

July 1^st 2007

A lot can happen in a few short weeks these days. Some good, some bad, but things do happen. The universe tends to keep a somewhat balance over events, but for me, some things are more relevant than others. My priorities don’t resemble more other peoples. I’ll make somewhat eccentric choices.

To start, I had a few minor emergencies that sent me back to the Hospital. That was fun, especially being uninsured. What sucked most was that it cost me $450, and I was due to make $450 that night on a camera op job. So in essence, I am down $900 all in one day.

My health is a concern to me. I lost weight, changed my diet substantially, and yet I still have certain things crop op. I guess I really am getting older. I always believed if you never grew up on the inside, then the outside would remain the inner 11 year old I am in my head. I guess not. Have no fear Acolytes, your faithful narrator is not in that bad a shape; I am merely experiencing a set back. I have to take a little time off for myself and slow down my pace of late.

I did experience extreme burnout already. Going from freelance job to freelance job, on set and production house to production house, then coming home only to stare at a computer monitor again for hours on end started to really get to me. Combine that with other health issues and your faithful narrator was in a bad way. There were several consecutive 20 hour days, and no full days off for over a month.



The freelance work has remained steady. Since My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ is no longer a sexy stewardess, guess who is taking up all the slack? That’s right, I am the breadwinner. I am returning the favor for a fallow time when my income was less than stellar not so many years ago. As I already stated previously, I love that I can provide the cushion for her as she did for me. Not only is she sexy, but we rely on each other in times of need on every level. I dig that, and I really dig My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™. It’s because we have each other we don’t have to live with our mommy or daddy like total slack-ass losers.

We have, what I believe to be, a picture lock on Goodnight Cleveland. We have sent a DVD to the director, Miguel, in San Jose for his approval. I moved pretty quickly from an assembly edit to rough cut to fine cut, to picture lock on it. George Caleodis was in town, so much was discussed and much thought went into the structure of the film. The movie is split between the drug deal drama story, and the sad story of a failing comedy group that no one thinks is funny. I personally loved the sad story, and found it sardonically funny. I wanted to shift the focus more on that and minimalize the Lethal Weapon-esque drug story. I was able to do that while maintaining the integrity, but we need final approval from the director. Now the soundtrack is in the hands of Micah to be cleaned up and made pretty… as pretty as it can be. I will work on the mix when we have a cleaned up dialogue track and help lay in music from the Caleodis archives.

As soon as that was done, I got hired, officially, to edit an HDV feature from the Derek. Derek’s feature film debut ETERNAL has begun digitizing here in HD. I have added a new intern to help on this and the others will shift focus to ETERNAL from GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND. Not much has been done due to a technical glitch with the HD codec. It made digitizing a less than fun experience. I am blown away by the look of this Sony Z1 camera in 60i. Alex Esber has done some amazing work here. This will take my assistant editors some time to get it all ingested into my system, then I will split everyone into assignments of scenes to edit for an assembly, but unlike GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND, I’ll be in the mix right away with edits for the assembly so we can have as much finished as possible within a week or two of principal photography wrapping.

Sonnyboo Productions really is starting to become an indie film post production house. I hadn’t thought about it, but there really are a lot of short films and now features being posted here in my home studio. Because I wanted to be less reliant on any outside studios for anything, I did splurge on a mixer and microphone for the home studio. I have had to go to other studios to record simple voiceovers. Now I can do this entirely at home. If My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ gets a request, I can just record her here and email or FTP it. I am pleased with the signal-to-noise ratio and can clean up any extra sounds in my audio software.

For those looking for dish on my thoughts or feelings about being parodied, I have little to offer. I have taken on an attorney to deal with any copyright infringements, civil action, and even into the actual criminal activity relating to it. Aside from my meetings with the prosecutor’s office and the police this week, I have nothing more to say.

17+ million views on GROUPER.COM and climbing. Some movies only have tens of views, others a few thousand, then the magic three have over five million views each. I guess I know which ones people like more than others… Can’t argue with the stats. What is even more fascinating is that I never even knew that site existed until they solicited me to add some of the Sonnyboo movies. I’m at a stage now where I don’t have to do much as they come to me. I did discover a cool, high quality video site called REVVER.COM. It’s yet another in the long line of YouTube wannabe’s, but the quality is exceptional. There’s also FUNNY OR DIE from Will Ferrell, but they solicited me.



I got interviewed for a story with VIDEOMAKER MAGAZINE, which was cool. I have never had anything in that mag yet, so it was a score for me. What came as an even bigger surprise was that they loved my instructional videos and have asked that I become a freelance writer for their magazine and website too. I accepted the offer and got my first assignment which I am working on today. It’s paid work too. Looks good on a resume, as well as something I enjoy doing. That seems like low-stress work to me, and rewarding.



My health concerns, as well as legal ones, will keep me away from my feature film projects for a few months. I need to make money, and then even more money. That income will make life a bit healthier, pay for insurance, and cover the costs of attorney’s fees as I pursue justice.

As per my doctor’s orders, I made some “me” time and relaxed. I went to a double feature one night by myself of FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER and LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD. Yet again, the FF movie surpassed my expectations, but then again they were really, really low. Oh Jessica Alba… so pretty, so… not diverse as an actress, and yet my eyes are drawn to your shape like the way a starving man looks at a buffet table. My only question concerning the 4th DIE HARD movie is this… why call it DIE HARD? Why not just make this a new movie without tying it to a series? The entire “John McLane” character was missing in this film. There was no story arc or character or emotion whatsoever. It’s as if they were hinging all that on people remembering some kind of character development from previous movies to anchor your emotion on… and for me it didn’t work at all. The action is good, but without motivation, who cares?

Well, this is for a relaxing day here in Rossdonia, home of the political kitties. My man “V” is a vicious little guy. He hates Micah, no one knows why. He goes from loving the petting to biting in seconds flat. No one knows why. Cousette is still attacked often and without cause. “V” has taken on the personality of the terrorist “V” from the movie/graphic novel.

All else shall be as it was meant to be.

Peace,
PJR
Award Winning Filmmaker

Accomplishments in Spite of Insurmountable Obstacles

June 11th, 2007

So we got an assembly of Goodnight Cleveland together. Friday night was significant because Micah & I watched the assembly for the first time. I wanted to stay away from the basic scene edits until the assembly was together, and then start getting into the rough cut and fine cuts. Micah and Jeff did all of the editing, except 2 scenes that I edited because of time constraints. Goodnight Cleveland is a 16mm feature from Miguel Baldoni-Olivencia and produced by my good friend George Caleodis. It was shot in 1996-1997. It has remained dormant until the cost of telecine dropped to the point where I personally paid for the telecine transfers to MiniDV so we could edit on a computer instead of the archaic & time consuming flatbed editing.

The film stars and is about an Improv troupe. That means there was no script. In this case, the entire plotline got improvised when, as happens in indie films, lead actors drop out or don't show up, so they had to make do with a storyline and characters that weren't intended to do one thing or another. Since the producer and director are both living in California, we've been flying blind in terms of putting all the scenes in "order". Some scenes could stand alone & go anywhere, then other ones have continuity for one character, but not another.

We had some technical disasters and we're pushing Adobe Premiere Pro to its limits, and we're finding what those are. For some reason, not all of our edits and changes are sticking. I'll make a cut, and then during playback, it will not be the new edit. Of course, because of originating audio on DAT and synching it to picture, we're doing probably 5-6 layers of SEQUENCE timelines within SEQUENCE timelines before we get to the final timeline master. I think the solution is to make a master timeline that has fewer nestable timelines.

George was set to screen the assembly on Sunday (Yesterday), so we spent Friday night and all day Saturday experimenting. We decided to screen it at Tavares on the digital projector in surround sound (even though it's currently in a MONO mix). This was a new experience for us since we've been editing on a little 6"x7.5" window. We could see details (like a tattoo on an actress' shoulder). Also, the synch was off a little because we could see mouths much closer up on a 6' screen.

The order of editing a feature length movie is simply – an ASSEMBLY, which is taking every single scene shot and putting a rough edit together by placing all scenes in order. From there, you start editing down to the ROUGH CUT, which is where you start to omit scenes and chopping scenes down further. Next comes the FINE CUT, which is where you take all the input from directors, producers, yourself, anyone who sees the movie, and try to make the most sense out of the movie as it is. They say that editing is the "final re-write" or "the last draft of the script" because things that filmmakers INTEND often times don't come across in the actual film. As an example, if two characters are related, but there is no dialogue stating that they are brother & sister, you have to find creative ways to get that information to the audience. It could be ADR, adding a new line from one actor, replacing other dialogue, or it could be shooting a newly made family photo, or a voice over, or any one of a number of ways that was NOT done during the shoot.

We are faced with a first feature film with a lot of good things and a few bad elements. Our goal is to make the best movie possible with the materials at hand. Some scenes are superfluous; others seem like that but have a nugget of plot point in the middle of a lengthy monologue. After talking with George, we have some new ideas, but a DVD of the ASSEMBLY is already being mailed to Miguel, the director, to get his notes too.

I can already start a rough cut because of my own notes after seeing this cut all weekend. Each scene needs some tightening, so going scene by scene won't be a bad thing. We've got about 2 months left on it, as the audio work will take some real time… it's not a small mountain of work.



Just because I had George booked for a whole day, we did a table read of my Dark Comedy script (which George co-wrote with me) at Tavares right after the screening of the assembly. I asked ACTING IN COLUMBUS' Richard Mason to round up a few additional actors to read for me too.

When work-shopping a script, it's crucial to hear the dialogue out loud. Words always sound better in your head than when someone is faced with speaking them. Alliteration, tongue twisters, mistakes, plot holes, and all kinds of things come out at a table read. I want to make this script perfect before I shoot it.

I met some new talented actors, plus we had some fun as the script was read. I recorded it digitally to the hard drive using the really nice mic we normally use for voiceovers. As is usually the case, it took about 20 pages in before people got a little more into their parts, except for a few actors who came out of the gate swinging.

There are some minor problems that need tweaked in the storyline I discovered. There was also some remnants of the "cutting and pasting" from the various drafts that were causing logic-errors that need to be fixed. Obviously some of the dialogue needs tweaked here & there. That will always be the case, even as you shoot (and even in the editing) as dialogue is malleable in my movies. I don't ever let myself fall too in love with specific words that I can't let actors contribute or that someone may come up with something better than I did. I did find a character that was under-developed and then in discussions with George after the read, we found a way to not only re-think the character, we tied her to the plot more.

Overall, the script needed work and that's why I did the table read. Now I know what it needs specifically. That just means I have to make more time to make the changes and do the new draft.

I'm also starting to develop another script with Tony Goins. This is another feature (I don't really make shorts anymore) that will also be comedic, but this one is for later. I have decided I don't want to be a writer, but a producer-director. I like working on the material, but it's better to work with someone else who can add to the project and bounce ideas off of. Collaboration is underrated in many people's view of filmmaking.

Here comes another booked work week. I'm leaving in moments to start another edit job and then when I get home, I'll have another edit waiting for me in the form of an actor's reel. "V" is not a happy kitty. He is really displeased at Brandy working and me working away from home. I think we spoiled him and "V" acts out a lot, and then lies around depressed because he's not the center of our entire day. We have discovered a new joy in a tinfoil ball. I toss it to the top of the stairs and he chases it up and down the stairs as if it's mocking him in some way.

I also signed on to edit another feature, one in HD for the Derek. So I can now say goodbye to all free time I thought I might get this summer. That's okay. I prefer the work. It's better than pretending to be a filmmaker or wasting time doing nothing.

13.5 million views on GROUPER.COM and climbing. This makes me pleased. YouTube is also doing the Boo some good. 74 subscribers, and I've uploaded 41 videos. YouTube still reigns as the giant of online video. It's changed the game single handedly. There are now so many ripoff sites, it's ridiculous.

Anyways, I've got to get going to worky-work.

Have a blessed day, and stay positive.
PJR

An Endowment of Riches for the Impoverished

An Endowment of Riches for the Impoverished

June 3rd, 2007

So that last 2 days have been 13-14 shoot days at the Ohio state finals for track & field. Last year when I did this, I ruined a brand new pair of VANS. This year I wore the ruined shoes and again this year, rain poured on us both days. Sadly, this did not stop my skin from burning to the point of having blisters. I wore my faithful Sonnyboo hat, but that didn't stop the nose, my most susceptible part of my body to sunburn, from frying red. Your faithful narrator sits in pain at the keyboard, slathered in Aloe. I found that keeping the aloe in the refrigerator does make it incredibly wonderful when you slap that stuff all over.



I've been so busy; I have had no time for blogs, or much of anything. Going from edits to shoots, and graphics work has kept me afloat, which is timing out well since Brandy is sans income since she severely sprained her foot at a softball game. She can barely walk and it's been over 2 weeks. I have been the sole breadwinner and luckily there has been work for me so I can provide for us. This is an occasional role reversal in our relationship, but that's where the strength in numbers comes from. Our little fling has lasted 5+ years and I still fall in love with her sometimes. There are days when getting a call and talking to her on the phone make me giddy like I'm in the 8th grade again.



So the great and powerful TV series ON THE LOT has come to air on television. I attempted to watch the first episode, even sans commercials, and I was so bored by minute 16, I started to skip forward. It didn't get any better. I hate reality shows. The manufactured drama and overly melodramatic music just makes for a queasy, disingenuous show. Some of the moments were so contrived and fake that I just decided this is not a show I can get into. At least on PROJECT GREENLIGHT, the situations, even when manufactured, resemble real life situations that happen on sets everyday. There was something to learn there. ON THE LOT is just a game show in the guise of being a reality show. I'd rather watch the PRICE IS RIGHT; it's more honest in its approach, nonetheless entertaining.

Sadly, I then got the BLOG OF THE DAY on the ON THE LOT site. What timing! I am grateful to the site for that opportunity, and even for the other goings on that happen on the site itself. It says something about me working on a war documentary, which is untrue, I am working on a documentary about the making of the film HORRORS OF WAR. Jesus, they didn't even really read my blog.

It's the show that isn't very entertaining or good. I don't feel that not being on the show has any effect on my opinion. I entered PROJECT GREENLIGHT (the first season), and watched all subsequent seasons because it was a good show. OTL ain't cutting it. Strangely, I am in tune with most American TV audiences because their ratings are plummeting. It's just another generic reality show, and the filmmaking aspects just seemed like "insert random genre here", and so all the things that make film a unique art form, and the creation of these pieces of art so entertaining – all of that is lost and not focused on with the show. That's why it's failing in my opinion. All the fun AND the drama. That would be entertaining.




So the aforementioned edits I have been working on were for a cable/satellite TV series. They aren't the sexiest things to be working on, but I'm making a decent living doing exactly what I love to do, so I shan't complain. Edits here at the house continue on Goodnight Cleveland. The movie is past the 1 hour 43 minute mark. That's good. Our goal is to eventually get it down to about 90 minutes, so that means we will be able to trim some fat. I prefer to have more to work with and be able to trim it down to the most efficient movie possible. My work on the film hasn't really started yet.

In the past 7 years, I have diligently worked on making shows for public access TV, even in cities where I don't live. I love the exposure of public access. It's always the channel no one watches, but everyone sees. As I have said many times, people are channel surfers and they get glimpses of everything, and if something on that obscure channel catches the eye, they stop & check it out. Most cable access channels still use the archaic ¾" U-matic tape decks. Back in 2000 when I started working at Tavares Teleproductions, Mike Tavares had a few extra ¾" decks lying around and gave 2 of them to me as a gift. They weren't being used in his business, plus he had kept 2 working decks for himself.

I produced a lot of cable access shows, but I still only needed one deck, so I sold one off. Sadly, the people I sold this to would become one of the many banes of my world for years to come, and that is how I met them. Equally sad, after I sold them 1 of my 2 decks, my deck died. Shortly after that, Columbus Public Access went off the air, so it was less important to own a deck. The Derek acquired a ¾" deck, a nice one, from Ohio State as they were throwing them out, which happens a lot to ancient video and electronics. He brought it over to see if it worked. It did…for about 10 minutes, and then it ate my tape and died. I threw out my non-working deck in favor of getting this nicer one repaired if I ever needed to.

Last week I was given a working ¾" deck that was smaller, nicer, and best yet, it worked. I tested it out and I brought it home and hooked it into my non-linear edit system so I could go straight from my computer's timeline to the ¾" deck for my current crop of shows. Cincinnati cable access is still up and running, plus they use ¾" decks so I have a need for the deck. I laid out two 30-minute shows to tape and it was great. On the 3rd show, it ate my tape and would not eject it. That means I've killed 5 ¾" machines in 7 years. Scott Spears, who imparted the ¾" deck to me graciously, gave me another one since he has approx 14 of them lying around his new studio. Let's hope it survives more than a few minutes.



So I started work on another educational webdoc for HORRORS OF WAR on M&E tracks. I even got so far as to record a voice over I wrote for it (I don't want appear on camera as much anymore). I haven't done squat with it since because of my workload, but hopefully this coming week I can shoot the screenshots and b-roll I need one day & get 'er done, then put it online.


Friday night after the shoot, I needed to de-compress and I have had 3 features on DVD from Netflix sitting on my desk unwatched. It's actually been a while since I watched a movie, aside from Spider-man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 at the theatre. I fired up Arronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN. I tried and tried to make time to see this at the theatre, but never could find it. I loved it. It's not a standard narrative and not everything and it's meaning are spelled out and spoon fed to the audience. Much like PI, you have to do some work as the audience. Next up is CHILDREN OF MEN, which took 7 weeks in my cue to get here from Netflix. After that is PAN'S LABYRINTH, then I'll start looking to watch more movies again. I do have THE SHIELD season 5, but I may put it off in favor of some more features.

12 million views on GROUPER.COM and climbing. That's astounding and beautiful. I hope they keep going up because it's nice to know there are some people digging on the movies still.

That's it for now. More info and updates after I get some other personal items checked off. This week looks lighter, but then again, each week started off light and got busy busy busy.

Peace and love and good happiness stuff,
Rossifer

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED!

May 17th, 2007

I’m going to talk a lot about television again, but this time it’s about some of my personal likes & dislikes, as well as the current news. Let’s face it, what we grew up on and even loved as kids in the genre of situation comedy has died, but some shows just didn’t realize it. There were remnants of the vanilla, stale sitcom format that were little more than poorly made clones of the COSBY show, recycling the same plots and family friendly nonsense with no sense of risk, subsequently no sense of freshness either. The two most blatant ripoffs that also lacked any kind of humor (to me anyways) were THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JIM with Jim Belushi and Damon Wayans’ MY WIFE AND KIDS. Thankfully both have been cancelled as of this week. Sometimes God does smile on me, even though she throws me an occasional left turn.






My single most favorite show, 24 with Kiefer Sutherland has been renewed for 2 more seasons. As I explained to this cool German guy who works for Wikipedia I met in Europe in March, I don’t take the show seriously. It’s practically a farce in that the concept of 24 hours of “real time” (where mystically, no action scenes can take place during the commercial breaks, and yet the counter still goes on), and that so much happens to this one single guy that it borders on being its own situation comedy. Originally, the show was conceived as a single season, 24 episode mini series. It was so popular and so well made that they are on their 6th season, only minus the original director who brought so much style to the look and feel of the show (Stephen Hopkins), and Jon Cassar as taken over the director/executive producer reigns and does an amazing job. Now, strangely, this season has been uneven. The first 4 hours were some of the best TV viewing I’ve ever seen, but then it has staggered on the rest of the year. Since I don’t take the show that seriously, two more seasons won’t be bad. What was most odd was hearing how the German Wikipedia guy viewed the show ever so seriously and thought it was indicative of the American “cowboy” mentalities and that the violence on screen had a palpable effect on viewers. Then that bastard almost spoiled that week’s episode that I had TiVo’d to watch at home and I almost went Jack Bauer on his ass!



Lost has redeemed itself this season. Although in the minority, I thought the 6 episode season start, then long break until a February return for consecutive episodes was a GOOD idea, and it worked for me. After getting back in the groove, the stories and episodes were starting to feel like maybe the writers/producers MAY have a plan (jury is still out for me). These last few episodes have been revitalizing to me. They come on the heels of the formal announcement last week that they have absolutely set an end date for the series. Three more seasons, each one (following 24’s plan) start in January and run consecutive to May sweeps. They are also abridged seasons of only 16 episodes each year (as opposed to the usual 20-24 eps of other series). In January the Exec Producers were publicly stating they wanted to end the series at a specific date to pay off the larger storylines. When ABC announced the official end date agreement, they were more surprised than anyone… Most writer/producers want a successful series to run until it falters and dies a horrible death, but everyone made as much money as possible before that point. Here are some people who wanted to tell a story and not be embarrassed when it “jumped the shark”. As long as they keep finding excuses each season to show Kate in a bra & panties, their ratings will never slip too far, although they are down as much as 10 million views less this year.

Those are my thoughts on TV so far, although my love of the American version of THE OFFICE is not mentioned, all I can say is that next year they will be cranking out 30 episodes, some of them being 1 hour specials. The quality has maintained in every single episode over 3 seasons so far, and that is encouraging. THIS is how a sitcom gets re-invented.

11 million views so far on GROUPER.COM and that is A LOT. GROUPER.COM is owned by Sony Pictures and the people running the site like Sonnyboo movies , so that helps a lot in that I do no promotion for it, really. Some movies only have 20 views, and then there are the 3 big hitters with over 3 million views each.

My intern Rachel is widdling away at making some new HORRORS OF WAR web docs, that may get totaled up with the other docs and make an entire feature length documentary. We have over 17 hours of footage behind the scenes of the shoot, and then close to 20 hours of interviews shot over the course of a year after the movie was made. I am still fed up with anything HORRORS OF WAR, but a feature length documentary on the movie and how it was made may be a nice gift to the people who worked on it and invested in us and the movie. A 75-90 minute documentary, especially getting the educational, basics of filmmaking angles I like might make this a worthwhile venture overall. When we made the 39 minute documentary for the DVD release (which may or may not even be included on the DVD), John Whitney and I were a bit rushed and hurried. It also had the connotation as being a “DVD extra” so the music, titles, etc. were all made more for that. Plus, a lot of people who were taped in interviews never even got a line in the documentary. A total re-edit of all the interviews and clips so far would be in order and this is a tall order. In many ways, I think the journey to make the movie sums a bigger whole than the movie itself.

Goodnight Cleveland continues to be edited here too. This feature is odd. It was a bunch of comedians improvising and as happens, they tend to go more dramatic than to the funny. We (the subjective “we” since I am not involved directly in the edit yet) are also editing it scene by scene because there was no script, so no definite order of scenes, plus the director and producer both now live in California. I edited a scene last night myself to help get the amount of footage edited sped up. I didn’t want to get too involved and see a rough cut before diving in on a fine cut.

More news soon. I’m gearing up to go to Wheeling to see THE COURIER from Greg Sabo and Mark Burson. I liked everything I’ve seen so far.

Peace to the world, especially the Acolytes of Boo.
- PJR

Whirlwind Evangelical Monstrosities

May 3rd, 2007

My dear acolytes, your faithful narrator has remained as busy as ever. I’m so busy and also quite tired that I shan’t go see the midnight show of Spider-man 3 tonight. I’m going to wait until tomorrow like so many others. I prefer to see the midnight screenings of the big “event movies” that are to my liking because the anticipation and audience reactions are quite fun. I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but a midnight screening with dorks dressed in school boy (and school girl) outfits always make for an entertaining event. Experiencing a movie with all the fandom separates the movie-going from just seeing it plainly at home on a DVD.

Maybe the Friday late afternoon crowd will be still pumped….

I re-watched SPIDERMAN 1 and the new SIPDERMAN 2.1 DVD. I like these flicks. The comic book lived as a staple in my childhood. I recall the exact issues when the new black suit came out and when it eventually morphed into VENOM, and even my first issues ever were the first ever appearance of the HOBGOBLIN. I have long since sold my collection, but I kept some graphic novels and trade paperbacks because the storylines heavily influenced my writing and stories. Chris Claremont and John Byrne in particular greatly affected my interest in long form storytelling.

I got a book on the making of GRINDHOUSE, the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez ode to drive in-style movies. By the time the announcement of the fake trailer came about including the “S.S. Werewolves” one by Rob Zombie, I was numb to any potential similarities to HORRORS OF WAR. One element that I had completely not gotten was that in January 2006 when we premiered HORRORS OF WAR, I had made a DVD of old grind house style trailer and drive in movie theatre interstitials to play in the theatre leading up to the screening to set up the “mood” for our “B” movie. I had hit the trend before it was trendy, but then again I was equally influenced by the same movies and styles by watching “Super host” on WUAB on Saturday afternoons and “Big Chuck and Little John” midnight movies before anyone had cable TV. Sonny Chiba, Bruce lee, and King Kong were staples of my youth. Reading this book reminded me of all the things I had in mind with HORRORS OF WAR, except now that their movie GRINDHOUSE has bombed entirely, none of it is a useful marketing tool. Oh well.

I’m still doing a lot of film and video work for other people. My freelance is at an all time high, which is good, but the waiting for pay really sucks. It’s hard to plan your finances when you have no clue if a check is due in 3 days or 3 weeks. This lifestyle is NOT for everyone. I need to make the money, so all I can do is keep astute records of money owed and wait until the cash cow starts mooing.
Luckily, there’s nothing new to report in the realm of stalkers, freaks, geeks, or drama. Everything seems to have faded away on those fronts. Maybe it’s because I don’t have the time to give a rat’s ass, or maybe they have found someone/something better to fixate on. Either way, my life has less weirdness.

Well my new car, a 2005 Ford Mustang GT is not all it’s cracked up to be. I mean, I knew I was getting a used car, but I was hoping something this new would have less trouble. Thank god I’ve been making butt-loads of cash money to cover all the repairs that have already come up. I think I’ll sell it off early next year once I’ve gotten some miles on it, but the new jobs are paying it off quick. I might give it to My Sexy Fiancé Veronica, if she’s a good girl.

The cats have complained that the media is not portraying their country fairly. All these blogs ever do is focus on the strife and trouble, but never anything positive. The army has built bridges, and some of the younger cats love the soldiers. It doesn’t matter that several hundred innocent civilians die a week. It’s all about balance. Our congress has put forth a bill that would basically pull troops out of Rossdonia this fall, but let’s face it, that would let the terrorists win. Then again, I think that if I don’t give them milk every morning that this would let the terrorists win. They also said that if I didn’t play with a string with them, then that would let the terrorists win too. Politics are a strange and ignorant game to play.

Last week a new $75 hard cover book about the making of the original STAR WARS was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of the film, May 25th 1977. STAR WARS was the first film I ever saw in the theatre and it changed everything about my life. The first 45” record I ever owned was the STAR WARS Main Title and B-side Cantina Band. The first album I ever owned was the 2 LP soundtrack. John Williams’ score made me want to be a musician and I was for over 20 years. The movie itself opened my mind and imagination into believing that ANYTHING is possible. If that crazy geek named George Lucas could get those visions from his imagination onto a movie screen where anyone can see it, then that kicked ass. In the years since, my mind has been avidly interested in HOW he got his vision on screen and that later translated into becoming a filmmaker myself. I know the prequels were a disappointment and I don’t care. It doesn’t unring the bell for me. I want the book and I ordered it today. I thumbed through it at Barnes and Noble and it rocks. The hardback edition has 30+ more pages of storyboards and other interesting bits the soft cover edition does not. I’ll save over $30 ordering it online.

Speaking of books, I did read & finish THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, the last JRR TOLKEIN book to be published posthumously and also, the most completed work since THE SILMARILLION. It’s actually a story told in summary form in the SILMARILLION, but this is a pretty full and clear account of this story. It’s my 2nd favorite SILMARILLION tale and it is a good story. This book rocks my socks and even though it lacks the depth of emotion that reading the SILMARILLION carries in terms of impact, then again neither does THE LORD OF THE RINGS, to be quite honest. There are some characters that are affected and changed (or killed) in this story that without the spine of history the SILMARILLION gives it, the level of tragedy somehow gets lessened, but not enough that the casual reader won’t get it or get something out of this story on its own. Hopefully some people will get this, and then go back into THE SILMARILLION to get the back story in full.

Well, the big big big news is that over at GROUPER.COM, old Sonnyboo shorts have exceeded the 10 million views mark. Three of the movies have over 3 million views each, and that rocks. I’m a little bit blown away by the exceptionally high numbers. I haven’t been promoting the movies. I just upload them and see what happens. With so many sites like YOUTUBE, METACAFE, IFILM, UNDERGROUNDFILM, MOTIONBOX, and a slew of other clone sites, I’ve tried to keep up, but then again I have a life outside of the Internet (and that is a shocking revelation to most Acolytes of Boo). Regardless, 10 million is a big number no matter how you cut it. Sony Pictures owns GROUPER.COM and some of the people behind the scenes there have taken note of the numbers and have contacted me.

Another Total Computer Geek Report

April 23rd, 2007

Another blog so soon? Why yes, Acolytes of Boo, another. Since my previous entry a great tech discovery occurred that I wished to share with the masses and anyone looking for this type of help since it was miraculous for me. This is aimed primarily for the video editors and graphics/animators out there, but the principals can be applied elsewhere. I also have an epic for lovers and haters of Microsoft ™ alike.



As I already described, I have had a lot of work lately, a large portion of it being post production work. My tasks have ranged from the most rudimentary editing to 3D animated titles to emulating fire to creating whole animations. During all of this, I also had multiple computer crashes and other miscellaneous hardware/software problems.

First off, one day at the Tavares Teleproduction studio, I allowed the Microsoft “Windows Automatic Update” run. When it finished it asked me if I wanted to restart. I clicked on the Yes, and off it went. And then it never came back… This lead to a lengthy reformat/reinstall of not only Windows XP, but all the programs and hardware installations, all of which was during one of my busiest weeks in years.



The next day at my home studio, I let the basement computer install the automatic updates and when it asked me to restart, I cautiously clicked yes. On yet another computer within 24 hours, it failed to start back up into Windows XP. This lead to a 3.5 hour phone conversation with Microsoft…. In India where a gentleman with decent English (asking me where I was located at in the United States so he could use the appropriate American accent I am told). We get a fascinating error message telling me that the new “Windows Genuine Advantage Tool” says my copy of Windows XP is a bootleg copy… even though I’m using the real disc with the real packaging to recite the serial #. Even more interesting is that they are claiming it’s a stolen copy from me at my current home address and phone number. Funny… except that the most recent update that caused this ruckus was in fact the Windows Genuine Advantage Tool. Nice one Microsoft. Anyone else think this is a coincidence that I’m getting told to potentially “up sell” to the new Windows Vista?

After multiple attempts to boot in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and ever other basic option I had tried before calling, we finally went booted with the original disc (which I own a legal, legit copy) and used the REPAIR CONSOLE to try to copy over the initial boot files. Once that failed, we used the REPAIR installation and then I was able to boot into Windows XP. Elated, seeing my desktop as I left it, I thanked my new Hindu friend and said good night. I should have checked more.




None of the desktop items were linked to anything. My registry was wiped clean. In the CONTROL PANEL, it showed all of 2 items. So I could salvage files from the C: drive, but I’m still looking at a reformat, reinstall. Another one. This prospect made me as sick as I would soon become. My setup on the basement, “B” editing machine, is simply a 2.5 Gighertz Intel Pentium iV with 768 meg of RAM and a 60 gig C: drive, a 250 gig video storage drive, and a 160 gig video/audio storage drive, that currently are all IDE and quite full with a feature and many other projects being edited in Rossdonia.

Given the way Adobe Premiere Pro currently handles TEMP files and conformed audio files, it places them wherever you want, but I have them going to the C:. 60 gigs used to be a lot, but when you are dealing with a feature film with 13 DAT’s worth of audio without even taking into consideration the music and sound design, then it quickly dissipates. Now on my main editing machine upstairs, I have a motherboard that has SATA drives, which are faster than IDE, but I have a single 160 gig IDE drive up there along with the 160 gig SATA C: drive and a 300 gig SATA video storage drive. My idea was to buy a cheap new SATA drive and pull out the IDE 160 and make it the new C: drive in the basement, thus retiring the 60 gig.



I go to Microcenter intent on spending $79 on a SATA 250 gig drive, but they have a 200 gig for $59. I weighed out the $20 for 50 gig and though to myself, this wasn’t about a big upgrade and that I need that $20 for taking My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ on a fancy dinner at some point. I get home and am too tired to consider the hardware switcharoo I have in mind. The box sits next to the machine upstairs for days.




An interesting sidebar was that one night I was sitting in the living room with a client working on a title sequence when the dastardly mister “V”, my oh so spoiled kitty, got mad he was not the center of attention and demonstrated the extent of his brain power. He got behind the desk of my main editing computer, used his teeth and pulled out the power strip from the wall. Lesson learned? Buy a UPS power supply as soon as possible to save your work. And also, lock up “V” whenever you have a client over.



Once Micah and Jeff, my intern from OSU, come over to work on Goodnight Cleveland, the 16mm feature being edited downstairs, I quickly re-install Adobe Premiere Pro so they can work because I have not yet reformatted and reinstalled, nonetheless put in a new C: drive. They can work, but the computer limps along with so little space on the C: and also with what seems to be a scant 768 meg of RAM. COMPUSA is going out of business, so I attempt to buy a single 512 RAM chip so I can get this machine up to 1 gig of RAM for a modest $50. I know I need PC2100 chips and the salesman (a cute term for a 19 year old with an attitude in an Izod) that the PC3200 chip will work on this board with my current RAM.



Of course, all sales are final as they shut down all of their Ohio stores. Upon putting this RAM in, the motherboard will only recognize 1 of the 512 chips in every configuration I try. With frustration, I try to put the 256 back in with my original 512 chip and then the board STILL only recognizes 1 of the 2 chips. The next day, I have to go and buy ANOTHER 512 Meg of RAM in the PC3200 so that I can have a full gig and the 2 chips match. Frustrating it is.

I get the new RAM, I put it in and I get it to work with a certain amount of giggle. I know have 768 Meg of PC2100 RAM with no place to put it. I also spent more $$$ than I ever intended. I thought I knew what frustration was. Then I tried to reconnect my DVI to VGA adapter to hook up the monitor on this (basement) machine. Most of the pins are bent, some are even broken off. I need to get a new AGP graphics card. Great, MORE money spent that I can’t afford.

I walk across the street to STAPLES to get the only AGP model card they still carry as they are phased out in favor of the current PCI Express cards which none of my motherboards have. I get all the way home on foot when I realize I need to check the card since the box says nothing. It’s VGA only with 2 ports, but no DVI output, which means, I have a video card that still does me no good since my big monitor only takes DVI and my adapter is busted. I have about 3 minutes of freak out until I make a realization.



In my main editing computer upstairs I have 2 monitors running from 1 nVidia graphics card that has 1 DVI port and 1 VGA port, but both of these monitors are VGA only, and one of them has a DVI to VGA adapter. I can put this brand new AGP card into that computer and take the one in it with DVI to the basement machine. All the monitors will be running native with no adapters, and they both will have 256 Meg of RAM on each card.

I decide that since I’m cracking open my main editing machine, I might as well get the new drive in at the same time. God doesn’t hate me that much does she? My luck has to change, doesn’t it? I pop in the new video card, connect the new drive (leaving the IDE drive in to copy everything off of it before making it a C: drive downstairs). It all works, and works well. Sometimes you get lucky. I take the DVI card downstairs and plug it in, and that not only works, but that big ass monitor looks better than it has in months. DVI has a substantially better, brighter look to it than VGA, which is essentially an analog signal whereas DVI is purely digital.



Instead of putting in the 160 gig drive to replace the 60 gig and start the whole format/install process, I put it off. I tempted fate too much and I’ve got until Wednesday when work resumes on the feature downstairs. So far, this is as much as my little brain can take.

One interesting side note to all of this and the new AGP card I bought, thus sending my expenditure far far beyond my intent and budget would allow, came about just last night. I was working on a unique project where I was creating an animation for a company that bought product placement in an animated feature film. They wanted their logo animated for a billboard in the animated film, but I had to create it in full 2K resolution (that’s 2048x1524 pixels for the uneducated).



Recently I have been working more and more in HD (High Definition) at resolutions of 1280x720 and 1920x1080 so I’ve been seeing the limitation of my current edit systems on these projects. It’s not impossible, but it takes time to get these done.

It reminds me of when I worked on my short NEW WORLD, an atrocity to filmmaking with its crude 3D animations (except the ones done by Don THE DRAGON Drennan). Doing the animations in Caligari TrueSpace and the compositing on machines in 2000-2002 took many many hours to render. To render is the process of letting the computer actually calculate between the key frames. You can set certain points so you don’t have to animate every single frame yourself and the computer does the hard work of working out the difference in perspective, shape, lighting, etc. in between each key frame.




Working in standard definition (aka SD or 720x480 for NTSC peeps) on my current machines goes pretty fast. I don’t even have any dual core processors in the house and I can still rip through most SD projects pretty quickly. Now with HD and especially with this 2K animation, I was experiencing 11-16 hour render times for a 22 second piece with only 4 layers. Previewing a single frame of my key frame animation could take up to 29 minutes to render by itself because of the complex lighting and effects.



Once we had the animation set in SD and approved by the client, the producer who hired me said we were a go to create the 2K version. This entailed just making the Photoshop source files at 11,000x7,000 so we could get the sun ray effects to appear to shine outside the area. Well, making files that size seemed to make the producer’s graphics computers beg for mercy at every attempt to render. Finally, I asked that we try to render here since my main editor was a faster machine with more RAM (1.5 gig to be exact). Upon the first try, 6 frames in on a 568 frame animation, it crapped out. I tried resizing the canvas of each Photoshop file down to something more manageable and found that 3,000x1,500 was too small and the light rays didn’t extend off the edges, and that 6,000x3,000 was still too much for the CPU and RAM to handle. The compromise of 5,500x2,800 worked like a champ, but the render time was still going to be 11 hours.

I noticed a button on the current release of Adobe After Effects that said, “use OpenGL render”. I knew little about OpenGL, but knew enough to know that it was an aspect to video cards that enhanced 3D gaming. Now my rudimentary knowledge of product boxes of graphics cards recalled something about how you tap into the memory and processing of your card rather than the computers CPU, or somehow share these resources when you use OpenGL. I checked the box and let a new render fly. My 11 hour render of the nights before got cut down to 44 minutes on the exact same computer, at full resolution and full color. That’s a pretty significant time difference and I don’t technically know exactly why beyond my aforementioned theory, but who really cares? I can get my work done significantly faster now, even at HD and 2K film resolution.



I wish I had known or even experimented with that button 2 weeks ago because it could have saved me many hours work and render times. Like all things that speed up the process in this type of work, it doesn’t really buy you “time” back, but allows you more time to be CREATIVE, which is the most fun part of this.

There. I got my geek on. I hope the techies and computer nerds enjoyed this little stroll down loser alley. Thank god My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ already said yes. After a blog like this, my only hope would have been MySpace Porn Profiles for any kind of inter-gender correlation.

Peace out, and may the farce be with you, Spock.
- PJR

SOMETIMES I QUESTION YOUR COMMITMENT TO SPARKLE MOTION!

APRIL 21st, 2007

Well, what can I say? I have been so freakin' busy lately, I don't know where to begin, or what might be monotonous or interesting. One thing's for sure. I have been incredibly ill that last few days. It's called "Hay Fever" because the pollination of plants in the spring time have greatly agitated my sinuses via the allergies. I have had a high fever for the last 2-3 days, but it seems to finally be passing. I even did 2 commercial shoots during this time, so I have been making some headway into the world of monetary stability, albeit temporarily. Freelance work is never truly "steady".




In the past few weeks, I have done post production work on 2 features, no less than 4 commercials, and a cable TV series. I have also been on 7 shoots ranging from sports to plays to guest speakers describing the histories of cultural phenomena in the work place. I did a 10 day stretch of no time off, including some pretty hard core double & triple days.

I am due to have a new car this week. The hard work pays off in that I will be mobile again thanks to my pops. He's got a line on a reliable vehicle that I've waited months to get. I don't care about make & models; it's just not my thing. It gets like dick measuring with guys or comparing minivans with house wives. I have no use for it.

Life as an engaged man has not changed anything, except that my Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and I are getting along fantastic. She just dropped her 2 weeks notice at the restaurant and will soon become a sexy stewardess. I hope to join the mile high club and live out my airline fantasies in the very near future.



I still have not gotten caught up on my spindle (yes a 50+ DVD spindle) of movies to watch. For some reason I can't get into a movie right now. A 4 episode disc of a TV series like THE SHIELD season 4, sure, but a 90 minute movie seems like a hefty commitment. I can't explain the lack of logic, but I am enjoying well made TV series more than films at the moment. My attention span is in a different realm.

The single movie I made the time for was to show someone DONNIE DARKO : THE DIRECTOR's CUT. I have only seen this movie one time before (never saw the theatrical cut) and God, this movie rocks. It's the most cleverly concealed super hero movie ever made. Isn't is ironic that this came out the same year as UNBREAKABLE (also a great film)? Now I have been told that I need to check out HEROS on NBC, which I have not seen a single Ep of… come on DVD's!

The world has gone topsy turvey. With the videos of that weird kid in Virginia plaguing American television and even the Internet, all I can say is the disappoint I have in our own President's first words, "While I respect our citizens rights to bear arms, they do have to follow the rules…." Followed by the head of the NRA saying, "If more student had firearms, the could have stopped this tragedy before it went as far as it did…" all of which makes me both nauseous and sad. Combine that with the medias non-stop coverage out of pure desperation to justify 6-7 24 hour news channels and we've got ourselves the most shallow and pathetic popular culture to have existed in human history. This makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like the Vatican.

I have many plans for my film projects this summer. I no longer wish to share details until after things occur at this point. As I enter more formal phases of pre-production, I may write about it, or I might not. I have a big mouth, both figuratively and literally. It's high time I focused more on the work.

Sorry, no real dramas to report on. Nothing significant is happening in those arenas.



The cats are locked into a mortal combat of "V" of the front claws versus the mutant kitty named "Cousette" of the 6 Toed Feline Clan. They fight for affection, the fight for love, they fight over their territory. Cousette recently withdrew her entire set of elected officials from the newly formed government. This was a blow to the government and the Prime Minister of Rossdonia. Will our country fall into despair and civil war? Haven't we been in a perpetual state of civil war this entire time? What complete morons think this ISN'T civil war already?

Stay tuned for more after these important messages. The WAR IN ROSSDONIA, brought to you by: HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS! Buy this or your kids will becomes psychopathic delusionals!

- PJR

Sonnyboo & the Spooner Weasel do Europe 2007 Part II

Sonnyboo & the Spooner Weasel do Europe 2007 Part II

Okay where I left off at was en route to Poland, stopping in Berlin for a few hours to wait for the train to Warsaw. After a night of very little sleep, it was painful… and freezing. Once I got on the train and we got our seats, I was out for the majority of the 6 hour train ride. Once we got in, a driver picked us up and took us to the hotel. Unlike the hotel that I booked in Paris, Brandy picked this one and it was high class with wireless Internet and nice showers, etc. We ate a nice meal and passed out.





The next morning we did our tour of Warsaw, Poland. Brandy's interest was in the World War II Jewish aspects. We saw what was left of the Warsaw Ghetto and several buildings and areas that were left from the war. Very little is left since the city was nearly demolished and raised almost to the ground in rubble by the Nazi's and then the communists. On a funny note, we wandered right into a film shoot and a grip truck.



From Warsaw we went to Krakow, and from there we went to several smaller towns around southern Poland, including Krosno. Mostly we went to sites where the Nazi's committed atrocities. In Krakow, we went to all the real locations of Oskar Schindler and the set locations of Schindler's List. Krakow strikes me as the tourist & vagabond location of Europe that Prague used to be 10 years ago. It's incredibly inexpensive, there are over 100,000 students there and most young people speak English very well.



Later we went to Auschwitz and the concentration camps. Now this was a humbling and eye opening experience. I barely spoke for over 6 hours. The tour begins in Auschwitz II Birkenau, the larger part of the camp. It was huge. The entire process of debarking of people and their systematic elimination or torture into slave labor, plus the "living" conditions in which they were forced to live – it all boggled my mind. One oddity was that the tour guide seemed to be saying things as if to convince us that this all actually took place. I wound up doing research on the whole "Holocaust deniers" movement, which is baseless since there is plenty of verified documentation that these death camps were in fact death camps.

Next was the original camp, of the three, where they had exhibitions of really bizarre and yet compelling evidence from the concentration camp. There were shoes, human hair, luggage, teeth, photos, records, and many other things left over from the camp when it ran full tilt. In the end, the Nazi's had tried to erase any proof of the camps, but Auschwitz was just too large to completely destroy. All they managed to get done was mostly the gas chambers and some of the wooden buildings. Only one of the gas chambers survived, but they had to re-create the ovens, which is of some controversy because it was not original.

What permeated in my mind the whole day was that the systematic eradication of millions of people took place. That someone in the 20th century could devalue any human life, regardless of creed and belief system, to the point of genocide. I don't understand the motive, or even worse, the will to make this a horrible reality. How and why could human beings tolerate this injustice? What motivated these atrocities? I have no real answers. Nothing I could ever read will make enough sense to me to make any of this feel comprehensible. I'm not a very spiritual person, but the weight of the ghosts and what happened there could be heavy on the shoulders. We chose to take very few photos out of respect.

After that, we went through a few smaller towns and made our way to Gliwiz, an important part of Brandy's research. The hotel has a Pizza Hut in the lobby. We checked it out for fun, and much to our dismay it was really classy. I mean high brow with candelabras and crown molding. The pizza was even classy and well made.



From here it was basically a 3 day trek back to home. We did a train to Warsaw that arrived at Noon, and then we had a day to kill before a night train to Berlin. We put everything in a locker and wandered the city. There was a brand new HARD ROCK CAFÉ in Warsaw and we ate near the Prince Cloud Guitar. That night we actually got a bed on the train, my first ever on a Eurorail. I slept well, but Brandy was annoyed with the snoring.

The next day was a 14 hour layover in Berlin before another night train. Berlin was boring for us because we had a limited time and everything was more modern and metropolitan, less historical or fun. We found out later we needed to go to the former East Berlin to see what we wanted. Oh well, we were dragging by this point in the trip from lack of sleep and a lot of walking around.



Another night train, all night, this time in a regular 6 person room along with a German who worked for Wikipedia and a Greek guy who is convinced the secret service of every country is after him. We discussed politics (again) and eventually I had to sleep. We arrived in Paris and pretty much went straight to the airport to come home. That means we were 3 days without a shower by the time we got home.



It's good to be home again, but good god, I have learned to hate our President and how America is viewed in Europe. I missed the cats. A few people checked in on them while we were gone, but I was curious how "V" was going to react. Cousette has been through this a few times. She understands. "V" is too young and has never had his humans leave for an extended period. He's so spoiled, I thought he might freak out.

He did. Upon our return, it took almost an hour before he'd let me pet him or tough him. By the time I went to sleep, he was on my shoulder & purring. I was happy. We're back, and we're engaged, and it's all good.

Time to get to work….

- Ross