Wrangling Tarantulas!

Well, we shot most of the infomercial for Baron Hats over the last two days. The most cool part of the whole thing was getting to handle the tarantula. There's a scene where I bring the ruined, crushed fedora to Baron's for repair, and after I set the hat on the glass counter, a tarantula crawls out from underneath the hat and over my hand!

We rented a big, soft, furry brown tarantula from Peggy Woods Pet Emporium in Burbank. This spider was calm, easy to work with, docile, and even seemed to show some personality. She also became tired after numerous takes, and would tend to hunker down rather than walk after a while. But, all in all, she responded well, and became accustomed to me picking her up repeatedly. Mark was afraid to touch her, but Ed, Ray, and I had no problem with her.

Now the greenscreen shooting, and editing begins.

Brokeback Mountain

Well, I finally went to see Brokeback Mountain. To be honest, it wasn't nearly as emotionally powerful as I expected.
I honestly felt very little sympathy for the charcters. Of course it was well-made. Some folks have complained that the pacing was too slow, but I thought it was appropriate for that type and style of film.
To me, it just seemed that the story was, even for an American audience, 35 years out-of-date.
Maybe it's that I also have little sympathy for those who would indulge their homosexuality while refusing to stand up and be honest about it.
These guys had a thing when they first met. Then they get married to women, but they keep seeing each other every few years. Jack's character is open about it; Ennis can't handle it. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.
Honestly, even VICTOR/VICTORIA was more relaxed about being Gay than this film. We've had popular Gay-themed shows, or Gay characters on TV for years now. It's about time we saw them in decent relationships. Brokeback Mountian showed that, even if you're sure no one knows, someone always knows, and you'll have a tragic, homophobic end to your life. So, you might as well stand up, fight back, and have the balls to live your life the way you want. The Gay Liberation Movement; Gay Pride Month; National Coming Out Day; all of these things that we fought (and still fight) so hard for have, nonetheless, been a part of this society for over 35 years. It's about time we started reaping what we've sown.

It's about time THE FRONT RUNNER got made. That's the kind of Gay love story that broke down many of the barriers we had to face in the last century. Brokeback Mountain is timid by comparison.

Operating at only 70%

Well, I had to go to the hospital twice in the last week. The first time was to be given an antibiotic for a possible infection. The antibiotic they gave me is called Cipro.
I had to go back to the hospital day before yesterday because of the toxic side effects. The doctor, a pleasant Orthodox Jew, was very nice and easy to talk to. The only problem I had with him (and of course I never voiced this) was that, at about 5' 5" tall, this guy weighs at least 400 lbs! I mean, he was MORBIDLY obese.

Sorry for being an "ist" (ageist, racist, weight-ist, whatever) but I have a hard time taking seriously any advice on healthful living from a guy who looks like he'd need to be buried in a piano case.
When it came time for him to ask why I wasn't on AIDS meds yet, I explained my hesitancy, owing to the fact that many of the drug companies are still using us as guinea pigs, and honestly have no clue as to how to deal with this disease. The whole reason you're given a two-, three-, or four-drug "cocktail" is that the main drug you take is HIGHLY POISONOUS. The other drugs are to deal with the debilitating side effects.
So, of course this guy takes the standard AMA partyline bullshit, about how "Yeah, I suppose alternative medicine has it's place, but not in treating AIDS. Now is not the time for you to experiment."
He tells me that my nausea is because this antibiotic has stripped all the beneficial flora from my system, so pretty-much anything I eat is going to act like untreated well-water from The Congo. He suggests that i try some Acidophylous milk. I do, and it seems OK the first night, but the second night I take one swig, and ten minutes later I'm barfing my guts out.
Turns out, I check on the Web about side effects from this drug, and it says nausea and vomiting are the most popular, and to go to the hospital IMMEDIATELY should you have these symptoms.

Isn't Western medicine wonderful?

Baron's FINALLY comes through!

Well, after planning this for about 2 years, Mark (the owner and master hatmaker of Baron Hats in Burbank) has finally coughed-up a small amount of cash to make a short infomercial to be put on DVD and CD-ROM for inclusion in his proposal packet for Baron's expansion. He wants to put stores in a few key locations worldwide, like Vegas, Rome, Tokyo, etc.
So, I finally get to make a video for him.
Since Baron's built the famous fedora used in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, we are going with an Indy theme. Now, before you get going on copyright infringement, this will ONLY be seen as a free handout in the proposal packet for investors, and on a monitor in the shop in Burbank. It will not be sold, broadcast, netcast, etc.
Of course, I will be temporarily taking my cornrows down, donning the fedora, khakis, jacket, gas mask bag (no gun or holster, though) and, the best part... a Joe Strain Replica Indiana Jones bullwhip!
Joe is sending me a 6-footer, only because he had it in stock. He would've built me an 8-or-10-footer, but that would've taken too long. The 6-footer is a good idea anyway, in that the scene where I use the whip against a human skeleton come to life takes place in a cave, and the shorter whip will be easier to manuever in the close confines, as well as being faster.
"I' coul' go FASS! Real FASS, y'know I'm sayin?"

Today I went out to the thrift store, and bought the appropriate clothes for about $5 total. It was the belt and the bag that cost a bunch... $25 total!!!
The whip is only about... well, I won't say how much, but it's less than usual, because I'll be also giving Joe Strain an authentic Indy fedora made for him by Mark from the same pattern and blocks used in Temple Of Doom. Always great when you can barter a bit.
This will be my 5th whip from Joe. They are the best!

The story finds Indy in a cave with a snake, a skeleton, and The Maltese Falcon. The fedora is the prize he seeks (he's not wearing one at first). As he approaches the hat, which is on an altar, he accidentally steps on a booby-trap tile, and the roof collapses onto the altar, destroying the hat! He takes the tattered remains to Baron's, where they fix it like new, and he's able to return to his adventure, only now he looks the part! But, at this point, the skeleton comes to life and starts to menace him! He uses his trusty bullwhip to smash the skeleton to pieces, only to be attacked and chased out of the cave by an evil, posessed dog (my mutt Clancy). He emerges from the wrong exit to find himself on the edge of a chasm hundreds of feet deep with an alligator-filled river at the bottom.
And then the ledge he's on breaks away, and he falls to...

At that point the Baron Hats logo fades up.
The end.

Billy Jack keeps on kickin'

In case you didn't know, I am one of those refugees from the '60's and '70's who wholeheartedly embraced the BILLY JACK films. I wish I could have gone to the Freedom School. Those four films, especially THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK, helped put me on a road of spiritual enlightenment, pointing out the path of my own Native American lifeway (my grandfather, whom I never knew, was Cherokee or at least part Cherokee) and helping me attain my own manhood.
As a teenager, my heroes were Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Walt Disney, and Billy Jack.
In fact, during most of my high school years, I dressed in Levis, cowboy boots, a denim jacket, and black T-shirt. I could even do a halfway decent spinning heel kick. Those were the days before arthritis.
Well, Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor are still putting out the message of Billy Jack through their website www.billyjack.com, and now they've FINALLY put out the four films on DVD in the original screen format. Now, we can see these films in 1:85 ratio for BORN LOSERS & BILLY JACK, and in beautiful Cinemascope for TRIAL OF BILLY JACK & BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON.

In fact, it was thanks to TRIAL that I became interested in, and finally friends with, the great actor Victor Izay, who is not only a dear personal friend, but also plays William Mulholland in my (still being produced) film A TEST OF INTEGRITY. (see more about this film at www.geocities.com/zeebya)









The image at the top is Vic and me as Mulholland and Van Norman at the old aqueduct intake in Owens Valley. The image below is Vic as Doc in TRIAL OF BILLY JACK (taken from the novelization).

Tom has a blog site that is well worth visiting. If he were to run for president again, he'd get my vote!

What's cool about the new DVD release is that there's a bonus disc with original camera footage, as QT files, of the fight scene in the park outside the ice cream shop. They have a contest going to see who can edit the best fight scene from that footage, and man, am I gonna kick some ass with that fight scene. I just hope the contest is still on.

"There were probably no two people on this Earth more opposite from each other than myself and Billy Jack. And, now that I look back on it, it's hard to believe that the chain of events that could first bring us so close together, and then end up in so much tragedy and bloodshed, could begin with an early Saturday morning drive by Sheriff Cole over to his deputy's house."

Why all the school violence?

I read with interest Ruben Rosario's piece on the statistics behind school shooters. One thing that was not addressed, however, was one of the underlying causes of such 'over-the-top' violence in young people. And that's the continuing portrayal of, and purveying of, violence on TV and, especially, in video games. When I attended high school, in the '70's, we had violence and bullying also. But, if it ever got physical, there were rarely weapons involved. I myself once brought an antique handgun to school, a Sears Baby Hammerless .22 caliber revolver, made in the 1890's. This gun was in working condition, though not loaded, and I proudly showed it to my teachers as a kind of "show and tell." One of my teachers even suggested I go to the library and do research on it, which I did. At NO POINT was there ever a concern that I was trying to cause an incident, and nothing ever came of it. I brought it because it was a fascinating antique, nothing more. I, too, was one of the students who was often bullied (for being a Hippie and Gay, both of which I am) but I learned that the only way to stop those threats was to stand up to the bullies, using only my wits, humor, and where needed, a fist or two.
That stopped the problem.
Today, most kids have XBox or PS2 video game systems, and the EXTREME majority of these games use some form of gun-type interface, where the whole point of the game is to shoot as many opponents as possible. Same with American television programs. We freak out about anything sexual (except when we're trying to sell a product) and yet seem to have no problem with allowing our kids to see, and vicariously practice, violence on screen. What do you expect the kids to then do when confronted with a real-life situation that appears untenable? Just what they've been taught: pick up that gun, just like at home, and blast 'em.
This type of thing is not the fault of guns.
It's the fault of every film and game maker who pushes these kinds of violent programs, and the fault of the parents who allow such a mindset to be instilled into their kids in the first place. Additionally, a major part of the problem lies in the fact that our young people are rarely taught any form of leadership skills, or inculcated with the concepts of taking responsibility for themselves, their circumstances, and those around them.
Lastly, it's also the fault of the well-meaning but misguided groups who have consistently eroded the teachers' and principals' rights to enact corporal punishment. With youngsters, life is black and white. They don't learn respect because it's the right way to behave, they learn to respect because they fear the consequences of acting otherwise. When I was a kid, I knew perfectly well that if I got out of line, my teacher or principal could give me a swat with a paddle. I received a total of 9 swats in my school career, most of which I deserved. Only when I grew into adulthood, and had to deal with others on an adult level and in business, did I learn the true "give-and-take" of being respectful to others in order to gain respect. Today, kids know they can disrespect their teachers and parents if they want, and there's almost nothing the teacher or parent can do about it without fear of a lawsuit or termination, or having some overbearing "child welfare" agency come down and remove the kid from the home and arrest the parent.
I am a Liberal. But even liberalism can be taken too far.

10th anniversary of Mom's death

Well, it's January 11, 2006. Ten years ago today, my mother, Jean Elson, died of a prescription drug overdose. She was 70 years old, and if our genes are any indicator, could have made another 12-15 years.
Oh, well.
I had her cremated, and divided her remains up into two containers. One is the "urn" (a simple copper tooled box) and the other is the original cardboard and poly container they came from the crematorium in. Also, her ID tag from the crematorium is now one of my most cherished posessions. It says "Heritage Crematory," and is a round metal dog license-type of tag. It hangs on my Freedom Ring necklace.
After her death I started taking small amounts of her "ashes" and scattering them at the places we used to love visiting when I was a kid. Vasquez' Rocks, the rose garden at the L.A. County Natural History Museum, Hansen Dam, etc., all have a bit of Mom there now.
I wish everyone couldv'e had as great a mom as I did.
So, with that in mind, to my siblings, Elisabeth, Bobby, Steve, I know in my heart that Mom would have been very happy to know the adults you've become. I know I'm thrilled to know you.

Aloha

Editing, editing, editing...

Here I sit, broken hearted. Tried to edit but only farted.

Okay, okay, so it's juvenile. What's your point?

As I write this, my PC is rendering (for the second time) a segment from the latest DirecSource spot, this one about 4 minutes or so, for a trade show booth. It's in the form of a newscast with the anchorman wearing a globe on his head. We tried Ray first, but he got claustrophobic in that globe, so we went with me, which was fine except I noticed on the shot later that I seem to slouch a good deal in the chair. Never really noticed that before. I always thought I had good posture. Huh. Anyway, we shot the entire thing against a little green screen, and the company gave me a copy of their virtual set program, that seems to have a really good keyer. Anyway, I'm cuttin' away in this program, building my shots and roll-ins, and come time to save the scene as an AVI or MOV file, it wouldn't do it. I finally realized that the version I'm using needs to be activated (so the software company can verify ownership) in order to save films. Knowing I couldn't do that, as I don't own the program, I thought for a few minutes, then found I could bring their sets into After Effects and Photoshop as PNG files, so Viola' I was able to build the sets in AE, and even do 3D moves on them. So the edit is proceeding along. I'm currently re-doing a shot that took forever to render last night, because of one small but distracting flaw in the reflections on the top of the anchor desk. I had accidentally superimposed a reflection from another scene onto the reflection for this scene, and it looked weird, so I wanted to clean that up and render it again. The scene is 530 frames long.
So, in this video, the globe-headed anchorman, "D.S.," is getting live reports from around the world about how great DirecSource is for businesses that outsource to Asia. I named the reporters Justin Case, John W. Burns (after Kirk Douglas' character in LONELY ARE THE BRAVE), and Carol Shevis (after the late, great journalist and writer Carol Shevis, who mentored me as I was getting my start in journalism) as a personal homage to Carol.
We were all shot against a green screen, and I'm using Ultimatte to key it. The backgrounds for Carol and Burns are live video plates with 3D matte elements, like cargo containers and signage, added in. The background for Justin is a still from the virtual set program.

The images below are, respectively: me being helped by Ray, the greenscreen clearly visible; Carol's report composited; Wayne's report composited.










This is Burns' report.












Here's how the set looks when the computer finishes it's work.









Pretty cool, huh?

Well, it's back to work for now.

Aloha!