Just a quick update.

I’ve updated the books I read last year as well as some new ones from 2006. I still have plans to move this blog to another name, my domain name, but I’m having trouble with setting up wordpress. Once all is said and done, the books from 2005 will get their own link/page and only the 2006 book will be on the front page.

Where I hope to be in 2007.

The benchmake for every independent film is the Sundance film festival. Why? I have no idea. There are other film festivals that will do the same thing for an filmmakers or and actors career, but for some reason this is the first and only place that really count in peoples minds. Chalk it up to good company branding as well as marketing. Everyone wants the “Official Sundance selection or winner” placed on their film.

I plan on shooting a short this year and having it edited in time for, you guessed it, Sundance. This week the festival kicks off in Park City with a more films then any one person can see. The part of this film festival that I like the best is the Online Film Festival that they do for shorts. One reason is, you get to see what kind of films get into Sundance and find out if you may be able to come close to any one of them. This doesn’t seem hard with the quality of the films online, but being that I haven’t shoot a film yet, in my life, I’m sure its much harder then it looks. The second reason I like the online film festival is, I can’t get to Park City and see the films play at the theater and this may be the closest I ever get to see a Sundance.

Early today I watched the film DIVORCE LEMONADE which is only 7 minutes long but was very well done. You can check it out here
As well as some of the other short films. Next year keep an eye out for my short coming to a browser near you!
Divorce Lemonade

Golden Globes

I don’t watch many award shows but I try and catch a few of the major ones. The Golden Globes happens to be one of the few I actually like. That being said I didn’t know about them being on until about an hour before they started. As I already had a date with a little show called 24, I figures I could just catch the after show or find out who won on the net the next day.

First the good. I was happy for Philip Seymour Hoffman who has been my one of my favorite actor for a long time. Very underrated. Boogie Nights, Almost Famous, Red Dragon, 25th Hour. The list goes on and on. If you don’t believe, just watch Along Came Polly and see how he took a small part in a movie and made it the only thing good about that movie. Also underrated, Mrs. Rachel Weisz’s win was well deserved.

It’s nice to see some of the older actor making a come back. Last year it was Teri Hatcher, this year it was Geena Davis. That was cool. I wish it could have been a three way tie between Zach Braff, Steve Carell and Jason Lee. I hope Steve Carell’s win will draw a bigger audience to The Office. Being in the new Thursday night line up, which is pretty good, should help. Sandra Oh’s win was also well deserved. Terrence Howard’s nom was cool too. Great actor!

The Bad. I know this was Hollywood’s year to come out of the closet with Brokeback Mountain and Transamerica’s Felicity Huffman winning big. But for Crash to go home globeless is really a shame. Crash was by far one of the best movie of last year as well as one of the best films to come along in awhile. When was the last time a movie came out, a fiction movie, and sparked people to have discussions about what they just saw on an intellectual level? Here in Philly, where I live, there were group discussions held after screenings of Crash. I haven’t heard or read from anyone who didn’t like this movie. I know they exist, because they have to. Not everyone likes everything. I find it hard to fathom that the screenplay didn’t at less win. And to not even get nominated for Best Picture – Drama is just blasphemy. Maybe it was the subject but I doubt it. Anyway, I hope that it wins an Oscar for something, anything!

Its been a while…

I haven’t posted in awhile. Just chalk it up to plan old laziness. With the New Year, here is a new post.

Last year I did a lot of things I set out to accomplish. Most feel short. I had planed on reading 15 – 20 books. I got to 11 as you can see on the side of this blog. The highlights of those were Improbable by Adam Fawer. Making Memories by a co-worker of mine was an also a favorite. I’ve never read an unpublished book and doing so was a wonderful experience. I wish I had the means to keep focused on one thing that long. The broker was the worst book I read this year. Another thing set out to do was take more classes in subjects that interest me. Last year I took the beginning television writing class at the writer’s university. This class was way too hard for me. I wouldn’t say this was a beginner’s class. Maybe it was but not for me. I did learn a lot from this class, one being that I have a lot of work to do.

The other class I took was an acting class. This was my second acting class. I’m not sure if I took the class the first one in 2005 or 2004. This class was with Mike Lemon of Mike Lemon casting here in Philly. I had fun in this class and met a lot of cool people I hope to keep in touch with.

Here is a list of all the movies I’ve seen this year. The ones I saw in the theater will have a (T) next to them. All others where on DVD.

Assault on Precinct 13

Hitch (T)

Diary of a Mad Black Women

Hostage

Sin City (T)

A Lot Like Love (T)

Crash (T)

Mindhunters

Layer Cake

Star Wars: Episode III (T)

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

High Tension

Batman Begins (T)

Wedding Crashers (T)

Hustle & Flow

The 40 Year-Old Virgin (T)

The Exorcism of... (T)

In Her Shoes (T)

Elizabethtown (T)

Saw 2 (T)

Jarhead (T)

Rent (T)

The Family Stone (T)

Of all those, I enjoyed Rent, Crash, Hitch and Sin City the most.

The one that I wanted to like the most but turned out hating; Elizabethtown.

The one that I wanted to hate the most but turned out loving; The Family Stone.


Enough with last year. Let’s look forward. I plan to continue taking more classes this year. I plan to read 20 – 25 books this year as I read better and faster then I did at this time last year. This year will be the year where I shoot the short script I wrote. I have two feature scripts I plan on having done by the end of the year.

I want to post more on my blog, so the subject matter will be a little broader. There will also be a new website where I will host this blog under a different name. So check for that soon.

I’m pretty sure I could list more stuff but I’m to tired and have a New Years Cold so I don’t feel like doing anymore. 2006 will have more post, I promise! May you have as much success in 2006 as you allow yourself.