One year

So it has been exactly one year since my last post. Exciting!!!

Actually, not so much. This past year was full of bumps in the road, but the test of life is not how far you can go in this world, but how you manage to deal with the obstacles in your path. I had a rough summer due to some heartbreak, and it took a little while to get back into my groove (but really, not so long actually) and I'm doing very well now. Sometimes you just gotta remind yourself that it's a beautiful world out there, and there is a lot to explore and experience. It's cliche of course to say that, but there is a lot of truth in it. Also, I discovered one of the best ways to get over sadness is to listen to a shitload of music and read books (cheesy mid 90's emo = perfection). Also, socializing and hooking up with other girls will REALLY take the load off hahaha.

Personally, here's what is new: I moved out of my parents house and into Queens with a good friend of mine, and our place is great. I love getting to come home from work and going back to MY place, I feel like a real boy now! Went to Lebowskifest in Philly and drank some white russians and rolled on shabbos (literally). Dressed up as Roman Polanski in jail for Halloween and had a helluva time out in manhattan going about town. Worked on lots of new and interesting projects with Hiccup, including but not limited to clients such as Alicia Keys, Adam Lambert, Febreeze, Purolator, etc. Also, Hiccup is moving our offices to manhattan. Big things to come in the future. I still need to finish editing both the March Fourth!'s music video and my short film from LA, which in the words of Paul McCartney, will probably happen when I'm 64.

I've been writing too, although very secretly (and yes, I'm aware I just blew the lid off that story right now). Lots and lots of notes and ideas and character descriptions have been pouring out of my skull and onto the digital paper that is my laptop. Alas, nothing has been completed though. Stories ranging from a violent horror story involving a gothic couple vs. a group of yuppies, a drama about an aging and washed up TV star doing the college circuit, and a TV pilot about a suicidal cult are a few of the stories I've been working on. Sadly, like any normal American, when I come home from work sometimes I'm just too tired to sit down and write script or prose. That or I'm just in the mood to not be at home and get out of the house and go drinking with the rest of the young'uns. Take a guess which one usually wins out...

Anyhoo, I'm still at the office and out of the blue remembered that I even had this damn page, and when I noticed the date of the last post it seemed very fitting to write something new. Afterall, it really has been a year!

(as always, there is a picture at the top...seemed fitting)

Stories and Worries

Ahoy hoy,

So it's been a long time since I've actually used this thing. Shoulda woulda coulda...

I digress, but it definitely has been too long. I created the blog at first to have something in which to openly discuss and post stories about, among other things, my life in production and my screenwriting.

Well, as of late, my production work has gone up immensely. We've had a lot of work here at Hiccup, and a lot of that means more responsibility on my end. Becoming more of a producer, as opposed to an assistant, has been tremendously rewarding, yet also incredibly stressful. That's how it goes when you're "green" as they say, but hey, I'm never going to learn how to swim until I dive in the deep end, right? It's been fun, and for the most part was really great. A few of the clients we worked with are: E-Trade (instructional videos on trading, in a green-screen studio), the AdCouncil (a series of PSA's on Mental Health Awareness for SAMHSA), and SonyRCA (cutting behind-the-scenes footage of new videos for Christina Aguilera, Jamie Foxx, Kelly Clarkson, etc.) As well as personally producing and shooting a music video directed by my friend Marc Cantone for the band Baby Teardrops (greenscreen again, animation is being done as we speak)

Also, my friend, colleague (as well as boss), Ramon Veras, created an animated show for MTV Tr3s called "Soy Mono", which bought a series of 30 second promos which were broadcast through the month of october. They were really cool, and all the work was done right here at Hiccup. The MTV link may be down (i'm not sure of it at the moment), but he's created a youtube channel: www.youtube.com/s0ym0n0 (the O's are Zero's btw). They tested really well and MTV was really happy, so we've all been working on a full pilot as well as a stop-motion short using the characters for Christmas-time. More on that soon.

So......this brings me on to the next topic. My writing... My oh my it's been forever since I've gotten down to that. Not to say that I haven't been brainstorming a lot, and I've got tons and tons of notes on different story ideas and plotlines to develop, but that's been it. Lots of notes, but no actual pages of script yet. I've had a few stories that I'm really interested in creating, and am starting to flesh out, but there's just been so much outside influence that has blocked it from coming to fruition. Although I have been really excited about one idea, and I think I've settled that this will be the next story...though I'll get into that another time.

Now now, I know what you can say..."You're the only one blocking it!" "How about, instead of taking bong rips, you get to writing?" "Quit staring at me like that, perv..." All valid points, yes. And I'm not going to deny that sometimes the biggest obstacle in life is yourself, but it's very tough to do so. Easy to tell people to break through, not so easy to do it oneself.

Anyway, this is the most writing I've done in a LONG time, and it's only a blog post. Perhaps it will spark a creative leap?

Oh yeah, can't have a post without an image, can we?

Ho Hum

I should probably use this more often.

Desktop Darts

Here we go again...back to the daily grind. But it's cool, I like it! Yes, I actually enjoy going back to work. Hiccup is doing extremely well at the moment, we have an assortment of jobs that we are currently working on and even more lined up for the future. It feels really good to come back here and to see the office full of life again. Things were slow when I left, but now it's picked up and everyone is busy and happy to be working on a lot of interesting stuff. Some highlights:
1. "Soy Mono", the brainchild of Ramon Veras, has just been picked up by MTV Tres for a series of promos, as well as a few full episodes. It's an animated show and it looks great, and it feels good for everyone on board because I know they've all worked so hard, for so long, to get it on the air.
2. We have a series of online "how-to" videos we are going to shooting on greenscreen for E-Trade in a few weeks. Rob and I were working on the bids for that job around March, and it's going to be made this month.
3. Another group of PSA's about mental health awareness are currently being developed and will be shot in early september.
4. Pringles! We've got a photomatic to shoot/edit for them coming up, apparently while I was away Hiccup did a job for Pringles, which they loved, and now are asking us for more work. We're getting paid in Pringles chips btw.

Other than "on-the-clock" work, I've finally gotten around to editting the March Fourth!'s music video I directed in June. It's hard work, and I've got to do it around my own schedule, but it's pretty funny and I'm excited for it. I've also started editing my short from out in Cali, but thats longer and more complicated, so it's been put on the back burner until the music video is complete. But that shouldn't take too much longer, at least not until I have a final cut (minus animation, titles, etc.) A rough cut should be posted soon when I have it completed.

Until then, adios.

New York, New York

Ahoy hoy.

Finally back home from Cali, got back in a few days ago. Haven't had much time to post on here, so here's a catchup:

My lovely girlfriend Beth came out to visit me on the last week of living in LA, she's never been out here before so she was excited to come out to the west coast and see it for herself. Class ended a few days after, unfortunately my short was not completed in due time, it turns out that my computer in addition to the older version of Final Cut I am running is unable to use HD footage (I shot mine in HDV, 1080i format). If I downgrade the footage and recapture, then I should probably get it to work, but there's really no point in doing so. I'll probably just get to cutting it on my own time at Hiccup Media.

Other than that, we spent the last week doing some fun shit. The very first night she got here, I, being the wonderful boyfriend I am, took her out to Sardo's in Burbank for Porn Star Karaoke! Not only that, it was also the 5 year anniversary. 5 years of watching people who have sex for money use their mouths for singing Billy Joel songs instead...certainly something to celebrate. I got pictures of course, most notably with Nikki Hunter. Stephanie Swift, Monica Mayhem, Marc Davis were there too (No Ron or Jenna! I was pissed...) Also got pictures with a male and female star who I recognize only when naked, but couldn't tell you their names. A bunch of friends from class we made came out with us too, overall it was a lot of fun and just really silly.

Aside from PSK, we also went out to Hollywood and walked around the blvd, admiring the walk of shamefame. I think I saw former teen idol/crack-smoker Leif Garret there as well, but he wasn't worth the time to go up to. That friday, we went out to Venice Beach during the day and hung out, then met up with my brother and his girlfriend to go see "Point Break Live!", which if you've ever seen the movie Point Break, you can guess what it's about. If anyone is in LA reading this, I highly suggest going to it, it was a lot of fun. The play is totally making fun of Point Break, they shoot squirtguns out at the audience, along with other liquids...but luckily for you, they provide ponchos when you enter. But the best part about Point Break Live! is that they pick out an audience member for each performance to go up and play the Keanu Reeves role of Johnny Utah. An actor, playing the part of a PA, stands by them and hands them cue-cards to read off of...completely hillarious, even the actors look like they all have a great time performing each time. Lots of homo-erotic jokes, actual pot-smoking on stage, and audience goating makes it a good time.

Flight back was easy but plans were changed last minute, United Airlines is a wonderful (yea right) service and cancelled my flight at 5 in the morning. Thankfully though, they rebooked me and the new flight was better than my original. Got back to NY safe and sound and I was really glad to be back. Everyone asked me if I would miss California, to which my response was yes, but I missed NY more. Allinall, it was a good trip out, I learned a lot, shot a short, got my script into some hands, learned about the LA scene and got to meet some pornstars. Goodtimes, goodtimes.

Civilization at last

Attention Civilians:

The terrible trio (known individually as Luke, Eric and Zach) have finally discovered actual nightlife nearby.

In the quiet mountain town known as Pasadena, the three stumbled upon a section called "Colorado Blvd" that actually had people walking (walking!) on the streets at night past 10 pm. This, so far to them, has been unheard of in California since they've been out here.

In relation to this sudden news, the trio decided they should take advantage of this opportunity. Afterall, the first day of shooting Zach's sci-fi epic was complete, and they had the day free tomorrow to do what they pleased. The night began at a sushi bar, where much Eel and Avocado rolls and Sapporo was consumed. Onwards, the three amigos discovered more places that served alcohol at night, and discovered that people in California are afraid to jaywalk...which later the reason why became apparant after they all jaywalked and then promptly got pulled over by an officer on a motorcycle. The cop gave them the stern lecture they've been getting from all of the cops out here, and sent them on their merry way.

After more alcohol was consumed at another establishment (this one had a magic bus inside) they decided to call it a night. At first, they couldn't find their parking lot...everything out here looks the same damnit. Drunkenly asking another police officer, a BRITISH police officer at that, they received more information as to this "Raymond St" they were looking for. When the group found their car, it was an event onto itself...

Whoever was driving (lets say, oh, Eric) had left the lights on the car when they parked, which in turn led to the car not turning on. After spreading out on foot, they found a drunk mexican who for some reason had jumper cables but no car (let's not ask questions) who agreed to help them out. This being a parking lot, other people are driving as well and they got someone to help them out in the jam. The misadventure of the night had come to an end, and it was off to dreamland for the trio.

WRAP!!!

Today, around 4:30 PM (little before it, maybe a little after, who knows...) I wrapped production of "Dusty Roads", my short film.

It's fucking awesome to be done shooting it, we had a good time doing it and things more or less went pretty smoothly. No late nights shooting, everything was pretty much on schedule as I had planned it out, the actors were amazing, so was the crew, and we had a good time making it.

Today we shot out in the Azusa Canyons nearby, which is astounding beauty in California and the landscape which completely inspired me to write the script for Dusty Roads. I just took one look at these mountains and immediately thought, "I have to shoot this". Since I'm in California to shoot, why not shoot something that could only be done here? There's no landscape like this in NY anywhere.

Thank you all to everyone involved, now it's on to post...the cut should be finished, oh I don't know...2010? Haha.

Check out the pictures above, these are a few shots from the shoot today, the actress is Lauren Baldwin and the actor is Andrew Pangle...future Hollywood stars who will one day get so huge and I can ride their coattails, heh heh.