Last weekend
Last weekend of faire... *happy dance*
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Last weekend of faire... *happy dance*
I think threatening the press is more serious then a joke made by the writer of a TV show. The joke was based on a statement made by Tom DeLay that threatens retribution on judges that made a ruling he did not agree with. Mr DeLay is back making threats again, this time to NBC for making fun of him.
(CBS/AP) House Majority leader Tom Delay fired off a letter to NBC Universal Television Group President Jeffrey Zucker Thursday calling "a failure of stewardship of our public airwaves," and a "brazen lack of judgment" a shot taken at him during NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" season finale May 25.According to a transcript excerpt supplied to the magazine Broadcasting & Cable by Delay's office, the show's finale features a white supremacist who kills a judge's family, and the killing of an appellate judge. As the detectives hunt for the judge killer, Detective Alex Eames, played by Kathryn Erbe, said "Maybe we should put out an APB for somebody in a Tom DeLay T-Shirt."
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay accused NBC of "a failure of stewardship of our public airwaves." (Photo: AP)
This is how freedom of the press will die. With the over whelming attack on Newsweek for being critical of the administration, ABC reporting on Bushes flight status and a handful of other cases. The press is worried about the political environment. Over and over the press has come under attack for political purposes.
In this case Tom DeLay may want to focus attention away from the fact that more of his associates may be going to jail for breaking the law.
A judge rules that a political action committee formed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay did violate Texas law. The ruling found that the group illegally funneled $500,000 in corporate campaign contributions to GOP candidates in the 2002 election.
An independent and free press is one of the things we point to as a mark of freedom. We are giving up freedom one threat at a time.
Shooting for the short is still on going. Yes, this is a 4 minute epic. Thus far we have spent 14 hours working on this project. With an average of 8 people working on it, you are looking at almost 3 man-hour weeks. All for what will be 4 minutes of two people standing and talking.
Why so much time for something so short, you might ask. Well that is simple. One reason is that much of this is a learning experience for those involved. I discovered this week that I could have gotten much of what we were looking for by using a master shot. A master shot is a wide camera angle that frames both characters in the same shot. Using this as a main shot and cutting away to close-ups would have lowered the number of shots needed.
The second reason is art. We are working very hard to get something specific on the screen. We know what we want. Last night, we re-shot a couple of set ups. After looking at them we thought we could do better and went ahead and set up these shots again. Every shot is set up with care. We are always looking for ways to make them better.
A couple of years ago I read Robert Rodriguez’s book “Rebel without a Crew.” It inspired me to make movies. He was a lone film maker with some actors, a barrowed camera and stack of 3x5 cards for a script. He stressed getting lots of shots really fast. I see now, I am not going to be Robert Rodriguez. We have different styles. No offence Mr. Rodriguez, I got some ideas I want to try on my own. I hope that some day you will enjoy my work as much as I have enjoyed yours.
p.s. Kelly you were right...
I have not given much in the way of Dan updates of late. Therefore here is some small bits of Dan news:
Last week I received Character of the Day. For those of you who are not faire folk, the Character of the Day mug is an award given for Scarborough Faire cast members. The award is a big deal. There are more then 150 cast and only a handful mugs are given out a year. Therefore, the mug is a big deal.
I try very hard to be humble about awards. For a moment I would like to forgo. Receiving the Mug was great. It means a great deal that people enjoy what I do. It is very nice to have the director says publicly that I have talent. How did I win such an award, I have no idea.
We finish shooting tonight. Everyone is excited and really having fun with it. I got to show some of the dailies to K’s parents over the weekend. It was a great feeling to show someone else. I still felt weird…
One week of Faire left. I will be glad to have weekends again. The last time K and I both got to sleep in and enjoy a day together was February. I have really enjoyed this year. So much so that I am not in my normal “I am never doing this again” mode. Next year I am going back to playing an idiot. It really is what I love.
Married life is great. We are getting better at it. There will always be things that need work, but it is worth it. As I have told a couple of people it is normal days that matter. On any day there are a hundred things that are better due to K being part of my life.
The guild is up and running. If other faire folk, friends or heydan readers are playing or planning to start playing we have a good server.
I myself have been playing more then I have time to. Rerolling alt’s at a great pace. I now have a half dozen toons I am playing. Hey, in the grand scheme of things to be addicted too…
Much to K’s amusement, which is of course my purpose in life now, one of the cats have adopted me. Shadow now sleeps with one paw on me. When I lay down at night, she hops up on the bed for Dan and shadow time. Once K comes to bed they play hunt the bed mice until shadow is ready to sleep and I turn off the light for her. It is really cute. I am glade our cats are not spoiled.
The Republican Party has been saying something that scares me. They have said that using the filibusters defies the will of the majority and that thus the will of the American people. What scares me about this statement is the implication that Democracy is majority rule.
The Romans had a republic. In a republic, citizens elect representatives who vote upon their behalf. All rules determined by majority vote of these elected representatives. This system repeatedly gave control of the government to the military or dictatorship. Only by revolution did the citizens regain control.
Unlike a Republic, a (liberal) Democracy has rules are in place to protect the individual from the danger of majority rule. The bill of rights is an example of these protections. As is the rules of the Senate.
This week the congress will likely change the rules they work under. By majority vote they will end the filibuster for judicial nominees. In doing so, they will break a number of Senate rules (paragraph 1 of rule V, paragraph 2 of rule V, and paragraph 2 of rule XXII) and ignoring the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian. By majority vote they will change the way our Democracy works.
The justification they are using is that of the will of America. In the last election the majority of American voted republican, therefore that is the only voice that should be herd in Congress. Polls show a majority of American do not agree with this rules change or the nomination of right wing judges. They are not protecting the majority. The Republican Party is giving your government to a minority of right wing Christians.
It is very telling that a party that won the 2000 presidential election without a majority rule would now be using majority rule as justification.
Update 5/24
A group of centrist senators put together a bipartisan deal that would allow 3 of the 5 nominees to go forward. This deal was forged without help form either the extreme right or extreme left. The administration still refuses to work with the minority or the centrists and will continue to push for an up or down vote on the remaining nominees.
"The Senate will continue to function and there won't be a meltdown, so I think that's where the real victory is" - Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska
Peace in our time...
Last night I used just about everything I know about making a movie plus one or two. Here are some of the things that worked.
Prepare:
The time we spent doing storyboards and rehearsing paid off last night. I must have looked at the storyboards a couple of dozen times as the director of photography. Storyboards are quick sketches of how each scene is going to play out visually. Every time I went to set up a shot, I looked back at those poorly drawn pictures. The actors spent a couple of weeks learning lines and rehearsing dialog. By the time we got to set not only did the know their lines, but the crew spent no time waiting for an actor to figure out what they were doing. This is impressive since most of the actors and crew have never shot a film before.
Be Technical:
Most real problems on a set are technical. For example a mic that is picking up the movement of cloth as an actor walks, lighting conditions change during the shoot, or the camera is picking up colors that are way too orange. All of these have nothing to do with story telling. Knowing how to fix them quickly is good. Knowing how to get the look, sound and visuals that you want, under any these conditions, is better.
Have an Army:
No one can do this alone. Jason showed up last night just to help. I do not think he has ever been on a set before. He is a former Air Force fire fighter. If a 747 crash landed on the set he would know exactly what to do. Movies, not so much. His job was lighting grip. Grips are in charge of getting things where they need to be for each shot. Last night, I must have said ‘hey Jason can you move…’ about a thousand times. This is just one of a handful of people who just showed up to help.
Keep Useful Things Handy
I spent a couple of bucks on things that in other shoots I have found handy. One of them is called a ‘C-47.’ Everyone else knows them as cloths pins. Having some of these help attach gels to light, cables to tripods, and papers to clipboards. Blackwrap (black tin foil), C-47’s (clothes pins), gaffe tape (cloth duct tape), some color gels and a couple of extra cables made a big difference to what we see on screen. Something that will be in my bag of tricks next time is sand bags.
These are the things that I have learned. This is just a 4 minute short, but everything that I can do to make it better I am doing. Next time, I will take more risks and it will be better. I can see that now.
Ok, I not sure if you follow politics. Tom Delay is the house majority leader. He is currently in an ethics battle over taking gifts from a lobbyist. Apparently some members of his family and staff took a trip if warm sandy beaches on the lobbyist’s dime. Shortly after that the Indian casino the lobbyist represented got some very favorable legislation.
Last night conservatives hosted a dinner to support this unjustly accused clearly upstanding man. Some 900 supporters paid very large sums of money to eat bad chicken. Who was in attendance? Well according to the New York Times, few republican leaders, no one from the white house and only a hand full of members from congress. Even one republican congressman who was scheduled to speak was a no show. The majority in attendance was lobbyists.
I glad to hear that is all cleared up…
Blocking is done, equipment is gathered, crew is set, actors a ready… the idea that next Monday night I will be shooting a shot film I wrote is still very strange!
I will try to explain why. This script is something out of my head. The words were written in my voice. To hear other people not only read them but also say them and tell this story as theirs is weird.
That is the strange thing about writing. When you put it down on paper, you are sitting alone in your office. It is just you a computer and the voices in your head talking to each other. Now that conversation is happening in real life in fount of you.
The other problem is that you never really think a story is interesting. When you are writing it is not like being in person. No one but you laughs at your jokes. I can not tell you where anyone would laugh in this movie. I do not know if people will cry, laugh or fall asleep. I am way too close to the words to have any idea of how they will affect an audience.
So, Monday I will watch though a camera lens as two people pretend to be the voices from my head. They never talk about this in film school. To me it is the strangest part of all of this.
“Stop aspiring, start doing.” -Robert Rodriguez
Let me start by saying, I am not a doctor, psychologist or councilor. If what ever you are going though was a cold, would get you to go to the doctor? If the answer is yes, go to a doctor.
Now, I want to talk about anger. Anger is not my emotion(al drug) of choice . I am much more of a depression guy myself. For years, I struggled with getting into a funk and staying there. What I learn was this:
What you do is more important then how you feel about it.
This is to say, my current feelings are a state I am in not who I am. Take the example of depression. I may feel like hiding from the world. That is a valid feeling that I should talk about and understand. It is not a reason to avoid leaving the house. Getting out of the house and seeing friends is important. Despite how I feel currently, I still need to get our and talk to people.
So what do you do?
1. Identify why you are angry. Most often for me it is a function of frustration. Think about it and talk about it.
2. People do not make you angry. You are in charge and you are responsible.
3. Anger is natural. Everyone feels it and it is useful. Always ask the question “is this anger useful?”
4. Think about and practice the way you want to respond to anger. Make it your choice.
5. Find an outlet. Anger is useful. It gives you the energy to fight back. Find physical outlets. Exercise, clean house, or punch a stuffed animal. Do not let it build up.
Above all talk about it. It really is not that scary once you drag it out into the light.
While standing around the water cooler this afternoon, I mentioned a old party game I played once. The game is a simple question:
What is the most trivial piece of information that you can pull off the top of your head?
Trivial in that it has not value in your day to day life. You are never going to have a mugger in a dark ally say to you “…you money or tell me the atomic weight of cobalt…” This is has to be really trivial.
Here are some of the answers:
I believe that God created the universe. What I do not believe is that it had to be magic. Most of the scientists I have talked to say the same thing about God. At the heart of every theory that stands up is an elegant solution that is where I see God. Darwin himself believed in God. He never said this was not part of his plans. He looked at the universe and saw an elegant solution.
In comparison Intelligent Design is using the name of God for your own purposes. There is a commandment about that. Evolution is does not explain how life started or how the universe was created. People who support the theory can still believe in any God of their choosing. Bit I am guessing that is the problem that Intelligent Design is intended to fix…
Read more:
The Pseudoscience of Intelligent Design