2/27/07
2/26/07
Thanks for the Good Times
Jan Ullrich announced his retirement from cycling today.
Bummer. He was my favorite rider and one of the reasons why I got into cycling. Just like my wish for Brett Favre, I hoped Jan would go out on top. In yellow. I think he was due.
My first experience with procycling was watching his epic battle against Lance in the 2003 Tour de France. Matter of fact, my first memory of that race is watching him time trial. Prior to that, I had no interest in bike racing. Zero. But, for some reason one day I decided to stop flipping channels and watch some guys racing bikes on OLN. (There's a good chance I was high and thought that cycling might be cool when high)
I didn't know it at the time, but that Tour was going to be known as one of the best ever. It had it all. Crashes, controversy, time trial bonks, spectator interference, equipment malfunction and a photo finish. Jan finished one minute behind Lance. The closest margin of victory for Lance in his Tour career.
It must have been heartbreaking for Jan. To give it everything you've got and still come up short...yet again. Jan finished the Tour in 2nd place five times in his career. In a world without Lance, Jan would be the celebrated multi-Tour winning star of the show. Instead, he sat in a distant second. Completely unknown to most Americans. Lance owes Jan. Lance trained to beat Jan. It wasn't his only motivation, but Lance knew that he had to stay in top form to stay ahead. Unfortunately for Jan, Lance was usually in top form.
Don't get me wrong, Lance deserved all of his accolades and wins. He earned the Mellow Johnny every single year.
But...
Jan was my boy. I understood him. He was the gifted athlete with questionable work ethic and ambition. He had a hard time restricting his diet. He liked to party and he liked his recreational drugs. Unlike Lance, he was human.
Just now, as I'm typing all this, I realize I have a deeper connection with Jan. It was his struggle to better Lance. I grew up with a Lance. My brother has always been faster, more coordinated and more agile. I could not beat him. He simply was the superior athlete. Eventually I accepted this fact and began to celebrate his talent. I'm proud of my brother. The memories of him beating me in foot races, thoughts that once troubled me, make me smile. I'm proud of the guy.
I wonder how Jan dealt with all those 2nd place finishes behind Lance? I know he remained respectful. Did he ever accept that he couldn't beat Lance and that Lance was the better athlete? If so, was he at peace with this realization?
I hope so.
I like to think that one day Jan and Lance will fondly recall their battles and consider them the good ol' days. Hopefully one day they'll share a table in the back of a pub and trade stories over a pint. Maybe 30 years from now their 2003 showdown will seem like a foot race in their grandparents front yard.
Bummer. He was my favorite rider and one of the reasons why I got into cycling. Just like my wish for Brett Favre, I hoped Jan would go out on top. In yellow. I think he was due.
My first experience with procycling was watching his epic battle against Lance in the 2003 Tour de France. Matter of fact, my first memory of that race is watching him time trial. Prior to that, I had no interest in bike racing. Zero. But, for some reason one day I decided to stop flipping channels and watch some guys racing bikes on OLN. (There's a good chance I was high and thought that cycling might be cool when high)
I didn't know it at the time, but that Tour was going to be known as one of the best ever. It had it all. Crashes, controversy, time trial bonks, spectator interference, equipment malfunction and a photo finish. Jan finished one minute behind Lance. The closest margin of victory for Lance in his Tour career.
It must have been heartbreaking for Jan. To give it everything you've got and still come up short...yet again. Jan finished the Tour in 2nd place five times in his career. In a world without Lance, Jan would be the celebrated multi-Tour winning star of the show. Instead, he sat in a distant second. Completely unknown to most Americans. Lance owes Jan. Lance trained to beat Jan. It wasn't his only motivation, but Lance knew that he had to stay in top form to stay ahead. Unfortunately for Jan, Lance was usually in top form.
Don't get me wrong, Lance deserved all of his accolades and wins. He earned the Mellow Johnny every single year.
But...
Jan was my boy. I understood him. He was the gifted athlete with questionable work ethic and ambition. He had a hard time restricting his diet. He liked to party and he liked his recreational drugs. Unlike Lance, he was human.
Just now, as I'm typing all this, I realize I have a deeper connection with Jan. It was his struggle to better Lance. I grew up with a Lance. My brother has always been faster, more coordinated and more agile. I could not beat him. He simply was the superior athlete. Eventually I accepted this fact and began to celebrate his talent. I'm proud of my brother. The memories of him beating me in foot races, thoughts that once troubled me, make me smile. I'm proud of the guy.
I wonder how Jan dealt with all those 2nd place finishes behind Lance? I know he remained respectful. Did he ever accept that he couldn't beat Lance and that Lance was the better athlete? If so, was he at peace with this realization?
I hope so.
I like to think that one day Jan and Lance will fondly recall their battles and consider them the good ol' days. Hopefully one day they'll share a table in the back of a pub and trade stories over a pint. Maybe 30 years from now their 2003 showdown will seem like a foot race in their grandparents front yard.
25 Reasons to Smoke Marijauna
it may not be 100% valid, but this article deserves a "right on, brotha!". Goooooo Pot!
2/23/07
I visually effected the hell out of that movie
I should win Best Actor this year. I don't know who is nominated, but I feel confident that my portrayal of a competent visual effects supervisor was the performance of the year.
At the very least, being asked to act as VFX sup on The Ultimate Gift kept the streak alive. The streak of professional situations where I'm terribly under-qualified and must pretend I actually know what I'm doing.
It's not easy, but I'm getting pretty good at it. My technique is to act like I'm too busy being smart to stop and explain the nonsense that just came out of my mouth. Also, when on set, I carry measuring tape and measure every damn thing I can find. Lens to X, X to Y, Y to lens. I perfected this technique while in Spain shooting an Exxon commercial. I knew even less back then, so that's a pretty good story. When I run out of things to measure, I walk up to the DP and ask him to verify his light setup, lens and focal distance and then pretend to understand his response.
Bam. Visual effects supervisor. Played by a designer.
I'm sure I'd have to dig a little deeper to get away with this tomfoolery on the set of Star Wars, but it was enough for our little film.
At the very least, being asked to act as VFX sup on The Ultimate Gift kept the streak alive. The streak of professional situations where I'm terribly under-qualified and must pretend I actually know what I'm doing.
It's not easy, but I'm getting pretty good at it. My technique is to act like I'm too busy being smart to stop and explain the nonsense that just came out of my mouth. Also, when on set, I carry measuring tape and measure every damn thing I can find. Lens to X, X to Y, Y to lens. I perfected this technique while in Spain shooting an Exxon commercial. I knew even less back then, so that's a pretty good story. When I run out of things to measure, I walk up to the DP and ask him to verify his light setup, lens and focal distance and then pretend to understand his response.
Bam. Visual effects supervisor. Played by a designer.
I'm sure I'd have to dig a little deeper to get away with this tomfoolery on the set of Star Wars, but it was enough for our little film.
2/22/07
The Abigail Breslin Gift
Due to the Best Supporting Actress Oscar attention Abigail Breslin has been receiving, we've decided to change the name of our film to The Abigail Breslin Gift.
The old working title, The Ultimate Gift, just didn't have that "Abby Punch".
We also considered:
-The Ultimate Abigail
-Abigail Breslin Dances
-Little Miss Sunshine 2: The Ultimate Gift
It will be in theaters March 9th with the new and improved Abigail Cut. Not only did we extend every single scene in which she appears and add a dance scene at the end, but we actually let her sit down in Final Cut Pro and re-edit the film herself. It took me weeks to understand FCP, but Abby sits down with the manual and a cup of coffee and within 2 hours she's blazing through the film slipping this and splicing that.
The idea to bring everyone back and reshoot the ending came pretty easy. Obviously it works. People like to watch that kid dance. The tricky part was the rewrite. Her character dies at the end of our film, so the first thing we needed to do was cut that shit out. She can't dance if she's dead. I know what you're thinking.
Weekend at Bernie's.
Way ahead of you. We thought of that, but we weren't convinced it would work. We flew Abigail back to Charlotte the next day to shoot some tests. Two huge issues came up:
1) James Garner and Brian Dennehy refused to participate.
2) It's not funny when dead children dance.
Moral was pretty low at this point. We needed an idea fast. Soon Abigail was going to be unavailable for the reshoot considering every director wants to work with her now. We knew we needed her in a dance scene and we knew we needed her alive in that dance scene.
Eventually the idea came to us and things flowed pretty smoothly after that. Within 2 weeks we had assembled the primary actors for one day of reshoots. Everyone ended up really happy. Abby gave final approval on the edit and we sent the film up to Canada for processing with DELUXE.
You may be curious to know more about the new ending. I don't want to give it away, you'll have to buy a ticket and see for yourself.
I will say this...you've never seen "Ice, Ice Baby" like this before!
The old working title, The Ultimate Gift, just didn't have that "Abby Punch".
We also considered:
-The Ultimate Abigail
-Abigail Breslin Dances
-Little Miss Sunshine 2: The Ultimate Gift
It will be in theaters March 9th with the new and improved Abigail Cut. Not only did we extend every single scene in which she appears and add a dance scene at the end, but we actually let her sit down in Final Cut Pro and re-edit the film herself. It took me weeks to understand FCP, but Abby sits down with the manual and a cup of coffee and within 2 hours she's blazing through the film slipping this and splicing that.
The idea to bring everyone back and reshoot the ending came pretty easy. Obviously it works. People like to watch that kid dance. The tricky part was the rewrite. Her character dies at the end of our film, so the first thing we needed to do was cut that shit out. She can't dance if she's dead. I know what you're thinking.
Weekend at Bernie's.
Way ahead of you. We thought of that, but we weren't convinced it would work. We flew Abigail back to Charlotte the next day to shoot some tests. Two huge issues came up:
1) James Garner and Brian Dennehy refused to participate.
2) It's not funny when dead children dance.
Moral was pretty low at this point. We needed an idea fast. Soon Abigail was going to be unavailable for the reshoot considering every director wants to work with her now. We knew we needed her in a dance scene and we knew we needed her alive in that dance scene.
Eventually the idea came to us and things flowed pretty smoothly after that. Within 2 weeks we had assembled the primary actors for one day of reshoots. Everyone ended up really happy. Abby gave final approval on the edit and we sent the film up to Canada for processing with DELUXE.
You may be curious to know more about the new ending. I don't want to give it away, you'll have to buy a ticket and see for yourself.
I will say this...you've never seen "Ice, Ice Baby" like this before!
2/21/07
Cake for Matt Damon
I was a little surprised this morning when I saw Yahoo's main page featured a story on one of our current projects.
Running the Sahara is a documentary we're producing along with Matt Damon's Live Planet. It follows 3 ultra-marathon runners as they attempt to run coast-to-coast across the entire Sahara Desert.
The reality of such a superhuman effort is hard to absorb. Kinda like hearing the amount of money that goes into the Iraq War. It wasn't until someone told me it breaks down to something like $140,000 a minute that I was able to stop and think about it.
So if you want to stop and think about what these guys set out to do, look at one week. That's 14 marathons a week.
-2 marathons a day.
-Everyday.
-100 days straight.
-In the friggin desert.
-Matt Damon is doing the VO.
Hopefully that last line feels out of place. Sadly, it was the only thing I saw. "Sweet, I can't wait to tell Christy that I'm working with Matt Damon"...then I imagined my family having his family over for dinner and cake.
These guys are running across the fucking sahara desert and I'm thinking about Matt Damon reading lines in a VO booth. (To be fair, Matt is doing more than reading lines. He cares about the issues in Africa and hopes this documentary raises awareness.)
Even more pathetic was my recent reaction to hearing they actually succeeded. I was in a meeting discussing schedule and upcoming projects. My executive producer told me that I'm on project X for the end of Jan. Then in early Feb it's on to this and that, etc.
"Oh, also, you've got Running the Sahara coming up. That should have an extensive amount of graphics, so go ahead and start thinking about how you'd like to approach things."
My response was "is that going to overlap the other project? I hope not because it will probably require an unhealthy amount of client feedback and approval. I won't have the time to divide resources between Sahara and project X."
And that was it. Nothing remotely close to "That's amazing. I can't believe they fucking did that!" I walked out of the meeting and went on with my day.
It wasn't until I read the Yahoo article this morning that the reality of their adventure hit me. Why didn't I connect with the story before? Is my company going to stop for 5 seconds to give props to these guys?
Now if they died while attempting this run, things would be much different. Plenty of attention. A somber meeting and announcement, moments of silence...and then a meeting the following morning to discuss how we'd revamp the tone of the documentary.
Running the Sahara is a documentary we're producing along with Matt Damon's Live Planet. It follows 3 ultra-marathon runners as they attempt to run coast-to-coast across the entire Sahara Desert.
The reality of such a superhuman effort is hard to absorb. Kinda like hearing the amount of money that goes into the Iraq War. It wasn't until someone told me it breaks down to something like $140,000 a minute that I was able to stop and think about it.
So if you want to stop and think about what these guys set out to do, look at one week. That's 14 marathons a week.
-2 marathons a day.
-Everyday.
-100 days straight.
-In the friggin desert.
-Matt Damon is doing the VO.
Hopefully that last line feels out of place. Sadly, it was the only thing I saw. "Sweet, I can't wait to tell Christy that I'm working with Matt Damon"...then I imagined my family having his family over for dinner and cake.
These guys are running across the fucking sahara desert and I'm thinking about Matt Damon reading lines in a VO booth. (To be fair, Matt is doing more than reading lines. He cares about the issues in Africa and hopes this documentary raises awareness.)
Even more pathetic was my recent reaction to hearing they actually succeeded. I was in a meeting discussing schedule and upcoming projects. My executive producer told me that I'm on project X for the end of Jan. Then in early Feb it's on to this and that, etc.
"Oh, also, you've got Running the Sahara coming up. That should have an extensive amount of graphics, so go ahead and start thinking about how you'd like to approach things."
My response was "is that going to overlap the other project? I hope not because it will probably require an unhealthy amount of client feedback and approval. I won't have the time to divide resources between Sahara and project X."
And that was it. Nothing remotely close to "That's amazing. I can't believe they fucking did that!" I walked out of the meeting and went on with my day.
It wasn't until I read the Yahoo article this morning that the reality of their adventure hit me. Why didn't I connect with the story before? Is my company going to stop for 5 seconds to give props to these guys?
Now if they died while attempting this run, things would be much different. Plenty of attention. A somber meeting and announcement, moments of silence...and then a meeting the following morning to discuss how we'd revamp the tone of the documentary.
2/18/07
skillz
here's an excerpt from her bio:
In her free time, Stephanie enjoys skydiving, go-karting, and playing with her dog Batman. She also serves as a tutor for homeless children with the School on Wheels program in Indianapolis.
don't blame Hot Rod
what the hell was their problem? I was ten years old for christ's sake. just a boy. i BELIEVED in him. he was real. we played together everyday. when he wasn't flying around my house or helping me wrangle ants in my driveway, he was the guardian posed on my dresser. the kind of badass pose that only a robot disguised as an 18-wheeler can pull off. more badass than any Joe, furry-underpants-wearing-Greyskull-guy, cat or shelled reptile. and certainly more badass than any of the characters on other deception based shows. check out the other guys in action:
wow. anyway.
fundamentally, Optimus Prime anchored the show. He was the leader of the good guys. His character was obviously the father figure, watching over his troops and his fans. to this day, his image is the most widely used Transformer image.
so, the question remains. what the hell was their problem? you make a movie of a really popular kids TV show and then kill the main character during the first act. 10-year old fanboys were not prepared for this:
are you kidding me? you don't make a My Little Pony movie and kill the fucking pony. and i'm pretty sure Kermit survived The Muppets take Manhattan.
I was devastated. after the movie my friends and I took advantage of the arcade games in the lobby of the theater. under normal circumstances, the arcade gave me great joy. but this was PPD, Post-Prime-Death. i tried to play Tron, but it was no use. i had lost my will to live...in the virtual world. LightCycles went in straight lines, tanks refused to fire and i could only sit and watch my character inch up towards the multicolored MCP blocks.
it's funny now, but I went home and cried while I held my Optimus Prime toy. my buddy was dead, man. it was sad. through tears i spoke to him like it was the last time we were going to talk. i'm not being dramatic here, this was genuine mourning.
things just weren't the same after that. he was the only Transformers toy I owed. i no longer felt connected to the show. innocence was lost. the magic was exposed. without Prime, they were just a bunch of delusional appliances with personality disorders and violent tendencies.
now i know his death was motivated by greed. consumerism killed the O.P. gotta make way for new toys. I'm not going to get into all that. but I kid you not, if I ever meet the guy who wrote that movie, or the toy executives that thought it would be a good idea to kill Optimus Prime, I'll speak for that ten year old kid. then again, i hope such a confrontation doesn't occur. there's a good chance i'd start crying again and that would only make things awkward.
wow. anyway.
fundamentally, Optimus Prime anchored the show. He was the leader of the good guys. His character was obviously the father figure, watching over his troops and his fans. to this day, his image is the most widely used Transformer image.
so, the question remains. what the hell was their problem? you make a movie of a really popular kids TV show and then kill the main character during the first act. 10-year old fanboys were not prepared for this:
are you kidding me? you don't make a My Little Pony movie and kill the fucking pony. and i'm pretty sure Kermit survived The Muppets take Manhattan.
I was devastated. after the movie my friends and I took advantage of the arcade games in the lobby of the theater. under normal circumstances, the arcade gave me great joy. but this was PPD, Post-Prime-Death. i tried to play Tron, but it was no use. i had lost my will to live...in the virtual world. LightCycles went in straight lines, tanks refused to fire and i could only sit and watch my character inch up towards the multicolored MCP blocks.
it's funny now, but I went home and cried while I held my Optimus Prime toy. my buddy was dead, man. it was sad. through tears i spoke to him like it was the last time we were going to talk. i'm not being dramatic here, this was genuine mourning.
things just weren't the same after that. he was the only Transformers toy I owed. i no longer felt connected to the show. innocence was lost. the magic was exposed. without Prime, they were just a bunch of delusional appliances with personality disorders and violent tendencies.
now i know his death was motivated by greed. consumerism killed the O.P. gotta make way for new toys. I'm not going to get into all that. but I kid you not, if I ever meet the guy who wrote that movie, or the toy executives that thought it would be a good idea to kill Optimus Prime, I'll speak for that ten year old kid. then again, i hope such a confrontation doesn't occur. there's a good chance i'd start crying again and that would only make things awkward.
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