Joshua helped put these photos together for my second anniversary gift to Molly.
2007-10-26
2007-10-22
The Winner Is ...
... SmartBox. They have the honor of moving our (hopefully) diminished junk to Louisiana.
2007-10-17
Cementing
One of the conditions of selling the house was fixing the front walkway. It was raised up about an inch and it was a tripping hazard. Ray came over and we banged this out in about 2 hours.
121 Sale Pending
Yep. We signed the purchase and sale last Friday. Looks like everything is going forward. We close on the 16th of November.
Feist - 1234
It's that song on the iPod Nano commercial. For about 3 seconds I thought it might be Cat Power. It wasn't, but that's OK. The song is still awesome.
I'm also using this post as a way to mention Amazon.com's MP3 download service. I've enjoyed it so far. All the songs are DRM-free MP3s, so they'll play anywhere. They also come in cheaper than iTunes. How can you beat that? Enjoy!2007-10-10
Disaster! Disaster!
It's hard to know where to start in documenting last weekend's filmmaking activities. I guess I should go back to the A3F 48-hour challenge in February. We made a decent film that no one, not even on our own team, cared about, and with nary a humurous moment to redeem it. Then, late last month in Boston, we aborted another attempt to make a film had promise of being both very funy and very different.
So it was that we rode this raging tide of failure into last weekend's A3F All-Star 72-hour challene. Quite an honor to be hand-selected as a Top 10 team among the 120 or so teams that have participated in A3F events over the past three years. No entry fees, more time than previous challenges, big prizes at stake.
For me, anyway, the first 24 hours of the challenge were perhaps the least stressful of all challenges thusfar. Brock and Gabe took up the story/writing reigns this time, so as the challenge started I found myself at home, relaxing, and going to bed early for a nice night's sleep. The screenplay arrived the next morning. The story of an embittered married couple facing off in a bar over sports memorabilia didn't catch me at first, but all made good sense by the end of the first read. "This could be really funny," I thought. In fact, it's funniness, I reasoned, would be limited only by the actor's desire to take the material squarely into over-the-top absuridty. I was excited, and my focus would be purely to get some nice pictures to edit.
Sadly, when the high point of the weekend has come and gone before you arrive at the location, you know you're not in for anything good. When we did arrive, we discovered that there was a poker tournament schedule at the bar late in the afternoon, giving us scant hours to shoot the entire six-or-seven page screenplay. We dug in, and a few shortcuts and compromises later, we believed we had the film in the can, just in the nick of time.
It was only as we sat to feast on Fish 'n' Chips that our peril began to set in. As we mused about each of the hilarious moments that would make it into the final film, we came to a grim realization, moment by moment. The lines were indeed funny, and rather would have been, had we actually shot them. "Did we even shoot that scene?" No, no we had not. In our rush, pages of the script, perhaps as much as 50% of it, had been neglected. How could we have made such an oversight? What did we have in the can? What would we do?
The initial viewing at home confirmed it. There was only drama where our comedy was supposed to be. Well acted, well shot, well directed drama, yes. Even at that, it made no sense without the missing scenes.
Then came out-and-out creative block on everyone's part. We sat around Saturday night, then regrouped at sat around some more Sunday morning and early afternoon. We parted ways to get ready for the meeting without much ado and so much as a gameplan to take this film (or any film) forward. I finally broke through with some new ideas Sunday night, but, hey, it was Sunday night already.
What we did agree to do was tie the existing segments of film together with some quickly assembled shots of us sitting around the living room, watching this nonsensical film for the first time, with Brock conducting this fictional MOC pow-wow as resident neurotic director. We shot these scenes, then scenes of us each parting ways, dealing with the abject failure in our own melodramatic ways. Filming this type of conclusion to a failed film was in and of itself quite theraputic.
I would have felt much better, except I had to immediately hunker down and edit, not one, but essentially two interwoven films, to the level of precision and quality generally expected of our productions. Therefore, I didn't get to feel better until late the next evening, when once again, we pressed against the deadline to complete and deliver the film. Proving once again that it doesn't matter how much time you give us, we'll probably not finish until the last possible moment.
The finished film is something to behold. In form, it's quite accidentaly the most bizarre and challenging film we've made. It looks and sounds nice, and the acting is solid throughout, including the improved reactions. If any of this had been intentional, we could be lauded as mavericks, geniuses. They probably won't have a chance, however, since we can't seem to stop talking about screwed up we have been lately, and relating the depths of our great disasters, as I am now.
The whole affair was a lot more fun a couple years ago when we did not know so much or have as high expectations as we do today. Ignorance was bliss. There was no pressure. Back then, it seemed that we got all the breaks. Nowadays, everything seems broken. It'll be nice to leave calendar year 2007 behind us. 2008 may well bring with it a slew of Widlifeless film festival acceptance letters, prizes, and acclaim. 2007 brought only misery.
A year from now, we could well be watching this film nostalgically, a comical record of one of our grandest failures.
My final step in editing was to add a title. I didn't have the pride to put our name or logo up front, as has been the custom. Rather, it was the last thing I added. A simple ALL CAPS Arial Black string respresenting ourselves. It immediately follows another title: GOODBYE, CRUEL WORLD.
http://www.matterofchance.com/media/goodbyecruelworld.wmv
So it was that we rode this raging tide of failure into last weekend's A3F All-Star 72-hour challene. Quite an honor to be hand-selected as a Top 10 team among the 120 or so teams that have participated in A3F events over the past three years. No entry fees, more time than previous challenges, big prizes at stake.
For me, anyway, the first 24 hours of the challenge were perhaps the least stressful of all challenges thusfar. Brock and Gabe took up the story/writing reigns this time, so as the challenge started I found myself at home, relaxing, and going to bed early for a nice night's sleep. The screenplay arrived the next morning. The story of an embittered married couple facing off in a bar over sports memorabilia didn't catch me at first, but all made good sense by the end of the first read. "This could be really funny," I thought. In fact, it's funniness, I reasoned, would be limited only by the actor's desire to take the material squarely into over-the-top absuridty. I was excited, and my focus would be purely to get some nice pictures to edit.
Sadly, when the high point of the weekend has come and gone before you arrive at the location, you know you're not in for anything good. When we did arrive, we discovered that there was a poker tournament schedule at the bar late in the afternoon, giving us scant hours to shoot the entire six-or-seven page screenplay. We dug in, and a few shortcuts and compromises later, we believed we had the film in the can, just in the nick of time.
It was only as we sat to feast on Fish 'n' Chips that our peril began to set in. As we mused about each of the hilarious moments that would make it into the final film, we came to a grim realization, moment by moment. The lines were indeed funny, and rather would have been, had we actually shot them. "Did we even shoot that scene?" No, no we had not. In our rush, pages of the script, perhaps as much as 50% of it, had been neglected. How could we have made such an oversight? What did we have in the can? What would we do?
The initial viewing at home confirmed it. There was only drama where our comedy was supposed to be. Well acted, well shot, well directed drama, yes. Even at that, it made no sense without the missing scenes.
Then came out-and-out creative block on everyone's part. We sat around Saturday night, then regrouped at sat around some more Sunday morning and early afternoon. We parted ways to get ready for the meeting without much ado and so much as a gameplan to take this film (or any film) forward. I finally broke through with some new ideas Sunday night, but, hey, it was Sunday night already.
What we did agree to do was tie the existing segments of film together with some quickly assembled shots of us sitting around the living room, watching this nonsensical film for the first time, with Brock conducting this fictional MOC pow-wow as resident neurotic director. We shot these scenes, then scenes of us each parting ways, dealing with the abject failure in our own melodramatic ways. Filming this type of conclusion to a failed film was in and of itself quite theraputic.
I would have felt much better, except I had to immediately hunker down and edit, not one, but essentially two interwoven films, to the level of precision and quality generally expected of our productions. Therefore, I didn't get to feel better until late the next evening, when once again, we pressed against the deadline to complete and deliver the film. Proving once again that it doesn't matter how much time you give us, we'll probably not finish until the last possible moment.
The finished film is something to behold. In form, it's quite accidentaly the most bizarre and challenging film we've made. It looks and sounds nice, and the acting is solid throughout, including the improved reactions. If any of this had been intentional, we could be lauded as mavericks, geniuses. They probably won't have a chance, however, since we can't seem to stop talking about screwed up we have been lately, and relating the depths of our great disasters, as I am now.
The whole affair was a lot more fun a couple years ago when we did not know so much or have as high expectations as we do today. Ignorance was bliss. There was no pressure. Back then, it seemed that we got all the breaks. Nowadays, everything seems broken. It'll be nice to leave calendar year 2007 behind us. 2008 may well bring with it a slew of Widlifeless film festival acceptance letters, prizes, and acclaim. 2007 brought only misery.
A year from now, we could well be watching this film nostalgically, a comical record of one of our grandest failures.
My final step in editing was to add a title. I didn't have the pride to put our name or logo up front, as has been the custom. Rather, it was the last thing I added. A simple ALL CAPS Arial Black string respresenting ourselves. It immediately follows another title: GOODBYE, CRUEL WORLD.
http://www.matterofchance.com/media/goodbyecruelworld.wmv
Remember the Blogs
Wow! Can you believe it's been over three years since the first Try Avoidance post went online? There was some really interesting stuff being written back then. This was followed by a slew of other blogs coming on the scene. Let's give 'em the rundown.
The things the world is ill equipped to know...
JohnAnthony gives blogging a shot. He had some original stuff out there. He was known for his either excessively long or excessively short blog posts. It was a good run while it lasted (there were only five months that contained entries). The final stand was on Friday, July 22, 2005. Apparently, Johnny became too busy writing his short story to write any more blog posts. Shame.
For the Goodness of Sakes!
Auntie Lori's blog. This blog was a trip. Some of these posts were really out there (pay special attention to the comments this solicited). You can definitely say that it got you inside the mind of this interesting woman. Auntie Lori's tenure was even shorter than JohnnyA's. Her entire blogging life is contained on the home page. She never even made it to page 2. Sad.
The Doctor Is IN
A fascinating look inside the mind of a child who lists their interests as "Running Talking Crying Whining Opining Sleeping." Seeing things from his perspective was quite enlightening (or is it endarkening?). I can't even begin to describe how excited I was to hit this site this morning and see that there was a new post (if February, eight months ago, counts as new). Good effort. My only issue here was that I always assumed that Lori was perhaps a little too hands-on with The Doctor Is IN. That last post, in the third person, just confirmed it for me. Disappointing.
anything abstract
This is a blog that lived up to its name. The author, dubbed TK, took us on a wild ride of abstraction and poetry, with a short detour to try to convince us to buy tamales. I quickly made this blog my marketing showcase. I would litter the comments (really a must read) of each and every post with relevant lyrics from obscure The Moon Is No More songs. Evidently an acorns fall caused TK to fall off the map, never to be heard from again. So the question remains unanswered, "did the acorn fall before or after you got married?" Farewell.
THEREFORE HOWEVER...
Perhaps my favorite of them all. I would link to a specific post ... but there’s simply no destination ... but ... Dallas.
The things the world is ill equipped to know...
JohnAnthony gives blogging a shot. He had some original stuff out there. He was known for his either excessively long or excessively short blog posts. It was a good run while it lasted (there were only five months that contained entries). The final stand was on Friday, July 22, 2005. Apparently, Johnny became too busy writing his short story to write any more blog posts. Shame.
For the Goodness of Sakes!
Auntie Lori's blog. This blog was a trip. Some of these posts were really out there (pay special attention to the comments this solicited). You can definitely say that it got you inside the mind of this interesting woman. Auntie Lori's tenure was even shorter than JohnnyA's. Her entire blogging life is contained on the home page. She never even made it to page 2. Sad.
The Doctor Is IN
A fascinating look inside the mind of a child who lists their interests as "Running Talking Crying Whining Opining Sleeping." Seeing things from his perspective was quite enlightening (or is it endarkening?). I can't even begin to describe how excited I was to hit this site this morning and see that there was a new post (if February, eight months ago, counts as new). Good effort. My only issue here was that I always assumed that Lori was perhaps a little too hands-on with The Doctor Is IN. That last post, in the third person, just confirmed it for me. Disappointing.
anything abstract
This is a blog that lived up to its name. The author, dubbed TK, took us on a wild ride of abstraction and poetry, with a short detour to try to convince us to buy tamales. I quickly made this blog my marketing showcase. I would litter the comments (really a must read) of each and every post with relevant lyrics from obscure The Moon Is No More songs. Evidently an acorns fall caused TK to fall off the map, never to be heard from again. So the question remains unanswered, "did the acorn fall before or after you got married?" Farewell.
THEREFORE HOWEVER...
Perhaps my favorite of them all. I would link to a specific post ... but there’s simply no destination ... but ... Dallas.
2007-09-05
The Fat Lady Has Sung
Have I mentioned how much I love Opera? Hands down, Opera is the best Web browser out there. Here are the highlights for me:
- The Speed Dial rocks.
- I can't get enough of gestures. It doesn't seem like much until you end up in IE and can't use them.
- Search in the address bar: just type "g" for Google, and then the term you want to search for
- Rendering speed - this thing is just plain fast.
2007-09-04
PlotBot
I have no experience in screenwriting software but I thought this looked cool so I'm passing it along.
PlotBot is a new, free online screenwriting site that allows you to collaborate with others on a screenplay. There's a great demo of how the software works right on the front page so it's at least worth a look. While writing you can quickly toggle between dialogue, sluglines, and action. Collaborate with others, track changes, comment on any piece of the script, star your favorite bits (or perhaps bits that need reworking). Enjoy!
PlotBot is a new, free online screenwriting site that allows you to collaborate with others on a screenplay. There's a great demo of how the software works right on the front page so it's at least worth a look. While writing you can quickly toggle between dialogue, sluglines, and action. Collaborate with others, track changes, comment on any piece of the script, star your favorite bits (or perhaps bits that need reworking). Enjoy!
Bocce Champion!
What a tournament! There were thrilling finishes, crushing defeats, major upsets, a new finalist, and the same old champion in the 4th Annual Gastaldo Bocce Championship. Here's how it went down:
First Round
Game 1 - Big Momma insisted all weekend that she would not forfeit this year. Guess what? Two days later and we had a forfeit. Jeremy advances.
Game 2 - Caleb beat Matthew
Game 3 - John showed no mercy on his own daughter. He methodically took Sophia apart, 11-0.
Game 4 - I was really hoping Molly would break her losing streak against Mary Beth but it wasn't to be this year. 11-7, Mary Beth advances.
Game 5 - Again, no mercy. Carl takes out Gloria 11-0.
Game 6 - This was one of the better games. Newcomer Brooke taking on Gregg. It was a back and forth match and ultimately Ola's comeback fell short as he lost 11-10.
Game 7 - Here was one of the biggest turns of this tournament, and a game that had a huge impact. Dominic's friend Izak was visiting this weekend so we added him in to replace Cindy. Sure enough, Izak takes Dom out in the first round. Dominic's bocce rating suffered greatly because of this.
Game 8 - Vincenzo beat Olivia in the first round for the second straight year.
Conference Semi-Finals
Game 9 – Jeremy defeats Caleb. Later, Caleb reveals that his father promised to double his allowance if he beat me in the tournament. Terrible.
Game 10 – Huge, huge upset! I can’t say this enough. This was probably the tournament highlight. Mary Beth takes out John in the second round, usurping him as bocce champion of Oliver St. It was a good game, too. John controlled the game for the most part, but Mary Beth just kept sticking with him. John takes a 9-7 lead and he’s poised to advance. Mary Beth quickly rattles off 4 straight and takes the win in dramatic fashion.
Game 11 – Brooke gave Carl a run for his money but couldn’t complete the deal. To her credit, she’s never played bocce before and at least she made it to the second round and made a good push.
Game 12 – Izak’s cinderella story ends here. Vincenzo takes him out in an easy 11-7 game.
Conference Finals
Game 13 – Maybe Mary Beth was due for disappoint after the emotional high of defeating her husband. It just seemed like it was no contest against Jeremy. 15-5. Moving on.
Game 14 – Probably my second favorite game of the weekend. Carl seemed ready to take out both of his grandparents and advance to his third straight Finals appearance. Vincenzo had other ideas. Gus got off to a quick 4-0 lead and never really looked back, winning 15-8. It was no discredit to Carl because he didn’t play poorly. You had to see it to believe it, but Gramps was on fire throughout the whole tournament. He was like a man possessed. It was like he was making up for all that lost time, after disappointing the first three years of the tournament. It was a nice human interest story and it was good to have a new Finals participant.
Gastaldo Bocce Classic Championship Game
Game 15 – It started out back and forth. Vincenzo took a quick 3-0 lead. Jeremy got 9 straight to make it 9-3. Vincenzo started working his way back to 10-6. Jeremy took off again and pushed it to 17-11, but then seemed to stall out. He seemed to reach the classic JPP choke point. That’s when Gus really started breathing down his neck and brought it all the way back to within one point, 18-17. Jeremy counters with a score, 19-17. Jeremy tosses the pallino about medium distance close to the right side board and makes a decent first shot, but it goes around the pallino and ends up too far away to be a serious contender. Vincenzo counters with a decent shot but ends up too short, leaving an opening. Jeremy makes a great shot, fronting the pallino and protecting against fastballs. Vincenzo does his best to mix things up, but both of his next three shots end up just a bit short and without enough power to knock anything loose. So Jeremy is sitting on a win of one point, still one shy of taking the tournament. Does he go conservative or does he go big and take a risk? He goes big, with a wild spin shot that hits in the middle of the court and spins right, somehow filling in the tiny gap between Jeremy’s point ball and Vincenzo’s next closest ball. Jeremy tastes tournament victory yet again!
Thanks to everybody for playing. We’ll see you again next year.
Take a look at the updated Bocce Ratings. Take note of new ratings compared to last year and you’ll see the tournament’s biggest winners (Vincenzo, Marty Beth) and losers (Dominic).
2007-08-31
Rarer Than I Thought
Wow! I didn't realize how rare some of these 7" records were. It's very bittersweet to part with some of these rare Pedro the Lion/David Bazan singles. The one pictured above, and featured in this listing, is hand-numbered 207 out of a limited presssing of 500. How cool is that? But I've never even played the vast majority of these things.
2007-08-28
2007-08-24
A Sad Day
All of my rare Sparklehorse 7" records went on sale today on eBay. You can see the list here. And there are more bands to come soon. I knew this day had to come eventually. In reality, I have never even listened to most of these records I have. What's the point?
With the move coming up soon we can use all the money we can get to help ease the transition. We had a yard sale last weekend and I'll be having an eBay style yard sale over the next few weeks. Happy bidding!
With the move coming up soon we can use all the money we can get to help ease the transition. We had a yard sale last weekend and I'll be having an eBay style yard sale over the next few weeks. Happy bidding!
A Challenge
And here's a challenge with a few friends. I'm going to get my butt whooped at some point.
Two Running Goals
I know these seem pretty weak, but I just thought I'd share. I blew out my knee about a month ago so I'm trying to work my way up slowly.
2007-08-01
2007-06-15
2007-05-17
New WKW
Check out this article on My Blueberry Nights:
My Blueberry Nights: Nicely Told
The similarities to Chungking Express are amazing. Notice that he's using a pop star making her film debut (a la Faye Wong). A key left with a diner owner. Romance. A desire to travel. I'm sure there's more, that's just from reading the review.
My Blueberry Nights: Nicely Told
The similarities to Chungking Express are amazing. Notice that he's using a pop star making her film debut (a la Faye Wong). A key left with a diner owner. Romance. A desire to travel. I'm sure there's more, that's just from reading the review.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)