Jeez Jon

Northwestward Ho!

In mere minutes, Tom and I are off to Portland, OR for the premiere of Fellowship of the Dice at Game Storm 9.  Very exciting and rather nervewracking.  Let me quickly sum up what else I've been up to:

• Ended on Urban Basic Cable Competition Show, and then with a paid day off (!), started up on Basic Cable Documentary Pilot for the same company.  Less pay but possible promotion if this were to get picked up. Keep your fingers crossed.
• Went out with Katie and others on Saturday where Katie had a full-on fangirl meltdown over a clock.  Very funny to watch.
• The recurrence of cancer made me feel sympathy for both Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow.
• Watched both Borat and This Film Is Not Yet Rated.  Both were entertaining and neither were what they were cracked up to be.  Borat made me laugh a good deal but it also felt a bit long and rather padded.  Rated is one of the rare films were I thought the deleted scenes on the DVD should have replaced actual scenes in the film.  With Rated, I was far more interested in seeing how the filmmakers fought the MPAA on getting NC-17 ratings for their films and less on director Kirby Dick's hiring a private detective in getting dirt on the ratings board.

Okay, gotta run.  If I have time, I'll check in whilst in Portland. Wish us luck!

Give It Up For Duckie

It takes a lot of chutzpah to take a risk and follow a dream. It's very easy to sit back and stay in a place of safety and judgement and watch and comment on others than it is to actually put yourself out there and be ballsy and go for what you want. Well, my good friend Krystyn is doing just this. After many years of kicking ass in not only being one of the coolest people I know, she is putting aside her formerly-cushy office job and moving to North Carolina to work in the video game industry. She has participated and created ARG's for a long time, so her sense of how to put a game together and how to play games are pretty advanced. It's an entry position, but we all gotta start somewhere. And the fact that she's willing to take a pay cut and move to a new city to follow her dreams shows she is truly made of strong stuff.

Krystyn and I will hit our 20 year anniversary of knowing each other this year. 20 years. It seems like yesterday we were in the chorus together in Oliver! at OPRFHS. We've had our ups and our downs, but mostly, Krystyn, it's been awesome. You introduced me to Erasure. You were there on those lazy summer nights during high school and college as we'd drive around town, listening to Depeche Mode, talking about Saturday Night Live and group dynamics (THEM and The Girls). You flew out to Los Angeles to spend my birthday with me when you totally didn't have to. You have been a constant support for me when I was low and when I was a total ass. You have been and you continue to be a fantastic friend and an awesome person. Congratulations, dear. I am so proud of you.

Hurry Up and Wait

Hello one and all.  So... yeah.  Life right now is, well, kinda exciting and kinda dull all at the same time.  On one hand, the movie is progressing well.  Fellowship of the Dice is going to be debuting in Portland, Oregon at Game Storm 9 in less than two weeks.  Very exciting.  We're doing two screenings plus a Q&A, and hey, we're going to Portland.  I've never been there, and neither have Tom.  This will be our test run -- seeing if people like the film and see how we can help sell our cute and lovely film.  Every day, there is a new problem to solve and every day Tom and I learn something new about doing this film.  So, we have so much to do before we bring the film up to Portland and we have done a lot up to this point.  But now, we have to wait.  Wait to go up to Portland.  Wait for our distributor to get the film out.  Wait for our banners and display materials for our sales booth.  And wait for everyone to see it.  Soon... soon...

In the meantime, the trailer is here at YouTube.

I Am An Uncle Again!

AT 10:34 pm EST today, I came an uncle again.  My brother Owen and sister-in-law welcomed a 7 pound, 7 ounce baby boy into the world.  The baby is healthy, everyone is fine, and I'm thrilled.  No name as of yet. 

World Premiere of "Fellowship of the Dice"

Fellowship of the Dice is making its world premiere at the GameStorm 9 convention in Portland, Oregon at the end of this month.  Tom and I are bringing up our star, the lovely and talented Ms. Aimee Graham with us to help debut the film.  Cross your fingers, people.  Let's hope this little film gets a good reception. 

Drop Kick, Push

So far six newspapers have dropped Ann Coulter's column due to her hateful comments at CPAC. Well, good.  To me, the actions people are making to put pressure on newspapers for dropping the column are not censorship.  Censorship is an act of government to prevent free speech.  These actions are using the marketplace to help make changes.  No government involvement and the private sector helping to shape how people be treated?  Wow, sounds like a Republican dream.  Oh, sorry, old school Republican dream. 

Strange Bedfellows Indeed

The Conservative Political Action Conference is underway right now in Washington, DC, where conservatives gather to talk about the future, blah blah blah.  One of the many numerous speakers there was Ann Coulter. You'd think with all of the big minds in conservative politics there they would come up with some intriguing policies... or a good witty rejoinder.  But instead, we get this from Ann about Sen. John Edwards:

“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards , but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards.”

As you know, I have a huge problem with the aforementioned f-word Ann used.  Apparently the top three Republican presidential hopefuls have a problem with it too.  Oh, Ann.  You're making me agree with Mitt Romney?!  For that reason alone you must be stopped.

On another note, don't you think this... third-grade level of name calling just smacks of desperation?  You can't come up with something legitmate to say about John Edwards, so you just call him a name?  That's just kinda sad.  And finally, this quote from one of my favorite films, Blazing Saddles:

Sherriff Bart:  Can't you see this is the last act of a desperate man?
Howard Johnson: I don't care if it's the first act of "Henry V."  We're leavin'!