Trailer #1

Blog Bragging #2

So there's a member of the crew I haven't bragged on yet. This superstar is far and away the one most responsible for this grueling process going so well. Right now, Joe is thinking this post is going to be about him. It is not. It's about Leah. I've told her all this stuff so I'm not trying to win points with her. I'm just bragging on her.

Weeks like the last one where I'm gone until well after midnight every night effect her as much as they do me. Miss Jackson alerts her when I come home so there's no real sleeping until then. Miss also doesn't listen very well to Leah talking about work, school and Perez Hilton. She mostly just whines until Leah lets her up on the couch. I've been home with just the dog when Leah is traveling and things are just better when Leah and I are both in the same room.

So it would've been very easy for Leah to be less than thrilled with me last week. Instead, she was amazing. She made me delicious lunches for me to take to work every night because I wasn't able to eat dinner with her. She took care of all the stuff that goes into keeping our house clean, paid for, etc. She stayed up and had a glass of wine with me when I finally did get home and listened to me go on and on. She sent me txt messages telling me she loves me. She supported me. And that is essential to my functionality. I cannot feel good about things unless I have her support. I had it this week and it's the main reason it was so rewarding.

Last few words and I'm done...


All week I asked Leah to come on set. I wanted her to see everything. Friday night she came down after her staff Christmas party (that I was unable to attend with her). We were shooting outside and there were huge lights everywhere. The house glowed. We were getting ready to roll when I turned around and saw Leah. She was in her white coat and knee high boots. She was more radiant than the glowing house. A few people came up to me later on (and this always happens) and said, "Your wife is so beautiful." I always respond, "I know. I'm a lucky guy." She is stunning. Both inside and out.

Too Live Crew

Here's a few members of the crew. We are two shoots away from being done. Our average end time this week has been shortly past midnight. I've been shocked and humbled that even at the end of the night everyone is still joking, laughing and having a blast. I've never seen anything like it. I've never worked on anything so rewarding. Meet a few folks I've spent quite a bit of time with lately....

This is Mark, the Director of Photography. When you see our footage you're going to want to french kiss him. He's the hardest working man on set. He never breaks. From the time we get there to when we leave he is on his feet working. Last night I decided a personal mission of mine is to make him famous. He has talent the world needs to see. He makes my scribbled down ideas into reality. A far better looking reality than I imagined.

Matt is on the far right. He's a stand up comedian who makes jokes about Batman and Swedish Fish. He's quiet but dangerously funny. When we're not rolling he's playing iPod games or writing new jokes. To the left of him is Hannah. She's a receptionist for a home health care agency. She also serves at the Cracker Barrel once a month. It's brutal, she says. Every night she drives down from Middletown. Her smile and attitude are contagious on set.

Steve (on right) is the roughest, toughest artist you'll ever meet. He and his wife opened up the doors of their iron shop last night and let us shoot there until the wee small hours of the morning. Not only that, they fed us. There was a dessert table that looked like it straight from Paula Dean. Five kinds of lasagna, salad, like eight focaccia pizzas, drinks, coffee and cappuccino from their tenant Chuck Roast. It was out of this world. Steve is also the master artist for the surprise element of the show. Prepare for your mind to be blown when you see what he's got cooking.

John, master editor for tv during day and at night on set he's a grip, photographer, jib operator, movie quoter and generator of good vibes. He and Isaac can recite every bit of Coming To America.

The other Brad on set. He's home from Chicago for a couple months working on starting a business. He's like having Andy Samberg on set. Crazy hard worker and hilarious. The ultimate win win.

Bekka. My 1st Assistant Director. She has probably put more work into this project than anyone. And that's saying a lot. I would buy her a Rolls Royce if I could. She's the real Boss on set. She can scream at everyone to be quiet on set one second and then the next talk to the kid actors and get exactly what we need from them. It's fun to watch.

The Virgin Mary. Very sweet, very quiet, and extremely plastic.

Alec, another member of the camera team. And another hard worker. He's young but has a ton of experience. Last night at 1am he was still smiling and telling me how much fun he's having. "It's what I do," he said when I thanked him.

On the right is Kyle. When you come to the show and see the shots where the focus changes from the item in the foreground to the item in the background- that's Kyle's doing. It's complicated, skilled work that he's picked up extremely fast. He is the right hand man to Mark (Director of Photography). Great dude.

Isaac, my 2nd Assistant Director. He'll also edit all the footage into movie magic. He does the best impression of an awkward teenager you'll ever see. He's the producer of this venture. Meaning he makes all the gears, wheels, whistles and bells turn and function.

Mark Mills. Call him Millsy. He's an iron worker who luckily (for us) is laid off for a couple more weeks. He's maybe one of the harder workers I've seen. And he has a photographic memory. He always knows where stuff is. I bet he kills at Memory. He's the glue of the entire crew.

The Haymaker. Ed Hatke. He's my boss at VCC. On set he's our sound wizard. The biggest compliment to him is that our stuff sounds as good as it looks. I think he's a shareholder at COSCO. Most nights, the only thing not from the superstore on his person are his tennis shoes.

This is Jenny. She's doing make-up and continuity (making sure things are in the same place in each shot). She's quick with the compliment and willing to help out however she can. At the end of each night we commiserate at our uselessness while the grips and gaffers (know-it-alls) run around packing everything up.

Caption This...

Caption these photos.




My first attempt:
Police said Jonah's Vespa was found unscathed.

My second:
Green-conscious Chinese are asking Eskimos how they typically use spilled whale mess.

New Traditions

Thanksgiving was full of death-defying treats and tricks. We put off cooking food in burning hot oil until the day after Thanksgiving. In doing so, we started a new tradition we dubbed Fryday. It was more than I could've hoped for. The "bacon"-wrapped "hotdogs" dazzled the naysayers and the salami pockets surprised even me with their deliciousness. We built a giant bonfire that burned while we fried stuff. Eventually, we got bored with just watching the flames and started with the tomfoolery. We struck Heisman poses, saved miniature daschounds from peril, air surfed on broken satellite dishes, and soared thru the air Robin Hood style with a mini marshmallow bow and arrow. Much fun had by all. (click the pics to see the fried stuffs in all their glory. thanks to my cousin Nat for the Fryday photos.)

Who's Your Fry Daddy?

Tonight, I will join my extended family for our annual turkey binge. For various reasons, I was put in charge of frying the turkey this year. If you know me even a little then you know that I like change. I am aroused (in a non-sexual way) by change. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. I was crushing on change even before Barack came around and brought the sexy back (to change). So, chances are, if you put me in charge of something I'm going to change whatever it is. Or at least try. Sometimes for good, sometimes for the opposite of good.

So this year instead of frying a turkey I'm frying random things. Like, cheese-filled turkey dogs wrapped in turkey bacon dipped in beer batter. How amazing does that artery bomb sound? Weapon of mass deliciousness. I'll also be tossing in pickle chips, jalepeno bottlecaps, salami pockets stuffed with cream cheese, shrimp and who knows what else. Cans of Coors Light if they get too close.

Every year we smoke a turkey, roast a turkey and fry a turkey. That's too much turkey. That's just more of the same. So this year, that fried turkey will come in dog form. Complete with a bacon scarf and warm crispy shell. That's change we can believe in, my friends. Let the words cry out from the crackle and pop of fried oil....Yes We Can.

Stompin'

I want to do a music video with this star. Picturing the rabid night-demon dancing to Nelly's Nike anthem really cracks me up. Try it. Imagine him bouncing ever so slightly. Lifting his footpaw up one by one marching/stompin' in place- slow motion style. Doing his patented dance- the handwashin' cabbage patch. (it is raccoons who "wash" their hands right?) Cut away to him knocking over trashcans eating banana peels and what not. Can you see it? Can you feel it?

Production Stills

Russ Beckner has posted 57 photos on his facebook page. They're from days two and three of this past week's shoots. Check em out right here. I think I'm in love with directing. I got the fever. And the only prescription might be more projects like this. Bollyworld here we come.

Working with all these volunteers is one of the most rewarding things I've ever been a part of. It's very humbling. I find it hard not to walk around constantly thanking all these people who stay late into the night after they worked all day. It's also a bit overwhelming to watch a random idea (in this case a Saturday morning brainstorm) become a reality carried out by so many people. Everyone brings different aspects to the project and helps make it better than I ever imagined. Truly thrilling.

2 down, 6 to go

We've completed two of our eight shoots. Both lasted about nine hours each. It's going extremely well. We have volunteer crews of about 25-30 working hard each night. There's a team of roughly 35 people who are consistently asking God to help us out. We're making moving pictures, baby. It's unbelievable. Here's a first draft of a a poster for the show (work in progress) along with a few shots (thanks Russ Beckner) from the shoot last night. I'll share more as he and other volunteers send them to me.

Divine Intervention

For the past week I have been stressing out. Lots of nights waking up around 4am thinking about all the different things to do for the REgifter. The after-show sculpture aspect of the show has been weighing heavy on me. Lots of worry over not getting enough skilled people to volunteer. On Saturday I talked to the leader of this team about how I was considering scaling way back and shifting focus. We have eight million amazing ideas but lack the manpower to execute. I woke up today before the meeting with the after-show core team and told God that I wasn't doing a good job with recruiting effort and that I was done. I told him that if he wanted us to do something that he would have to bring us the right people and direction. I gave up control.

So I told the team my concerns. They shared that they felt the same way. These guys are top notch so they we're working 80 hour weeks and feeling a little overwhelmed. The only one not leaning towards scaling back was Harmony Hensley. She's an unstoppable dreamer. It's why I asked her on the team. Anyways, after a few moments of scale-back talk the team went back to brainstorming new ideas. One in particular required legitimate metal workers to come on board. So I'm sitting there loving the new stuff (it's like crack for me) but thinking the last thing we need is more ideas.

Around 11am the team wanted to see the piles of junk I've acquired. We walked over and ran into a guy (Jeff) who said, "Are you Brad? This your junk?" I laughed and said yeah thinking he heard about it from the complaining student ministry guys. He said, "If you need anyone who can work with metal I have access to all kinds of stuff working for JTM, I can weld, etc. etc." I explained our new idea and asked if he thought he could do it. We showed him a sketch. He said, "Yep. No problem" and that he'd bring an example back in a week to see if like it. I slapped him on his shoulder and told him that he makes me believe in God. Seriously. What are the chances? Jeff the JTM metal worker was flat out a God send.

Meanwhile, Korey (roller coaster designer) was running around all excited about the junk and talking about creating teams that could make robots. Caleb (our 10 year old team member) was helping him gather robot parts and folding newspapers into origami cranes while Abe and I strategized about new, focused team-building efforts. All of us blown away by our encounter with Jeff.

Moral of the story- I gave up control and asked God to step in. The results: Jeff just happened to show up and basically said, "Hey, you know that idea that would be cool but you need someone who can do it... that's me. What's up?" And Korey went from wanting to scale back to creating robot families made of lamp shades, washing machine parts and computer monitors. 10 year old Caleb was in the whole time. But now he's really excited that he and his dad (Paul) are going to make a giant crane using chain link fence. What a day.