9 - Teaser Trailer

cool...

Popcorn Friday

Two movies that Meredith worked on years ago doing special FX makeup that we thought for sure would never see the light of day...have finally come to light.

First up is Hallettsville, an almost typical boy haunted by his ancestor's secrets kind of film. Grandmother dies leaving the family lake front property to who doesn't want it because it brings back bad memories. The son decides that the best thing to do with a freaky old house on haunted property is to pack up all his co-eds and run out for a night of drinking and debauchery.
The scariest thing in this was Gary Busey, who wasn't even in a scary role...he's just scary 'cause he's Gary Busey. This was Meredith's first exposure to Gary but would not be her last.
Anyway, rent it if you can find it. It was shot in Austin and Johnson City and crewed by a lot of locals (including Meredith). If you really want to have fun, see if you can get drunker than Gary by the time the credits role.


Next up, the film that almost gave Meredith an ulcer, Exit Speed. Story of an eclectic group travelers on Christmas Eve trying to minimize their carbon footprint and take the bus to BFE, Texas, when their travel is interrupted by a murderous crystaled-out gang of stunt motorcycle riders (they're rampant these days). Deciding that the bus is not running on eco-friendly natural gas and they harass the bus for kicks, fun, women, money and showmanship. Fighting back with cosplay, Mexican ingenuity, and kick ass soccer moms a war ensues.
Meredith did the makeup special effects (and there are a lot of effects). She tackled a lot of last minute director "what if we..." effects.
In any event, she learned a lot on this film:

• She learned that shooting a film in the Texas rainy season is a bad idea.
• Discovered that they manufacturer bug zappers in tennis racket form.
• She experienced first hand how to tell if a lawyer is lying...they opened their mouth.

She did meet a lot of fine people and learn some cool tricks to boot. Not sure if she would do it again, but I doubt she regretted doing it at all.
Overall, not a bad film. If you can find it in the bargain bin at the Super Wal*Mart pick it up. She did a great job on a pretty makeup effects laden film...worth a watch just to go "ewwwww...."

To wet your appetite here's a trailer:

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I'm not Irish, but I certainly enjoy a pint of Guinness when I can. Probably more English, Finish, and German with a little French thrown in for taste. But I really enjoy Irish culture, music, drink and food. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland a few years back for work. I decided that it wasn't often I get to Ireland and extended my trip to cover the weekend to tool around Dublin and see some sites. First stop was the Guinness brewery. The Mecca for Guinness lovers.


I got some culture in by visiting Trinity College and the Book of Kells. I was fascinated by the library there, more than the famous book.
Also stopped by the Oscar Wilde statue Merrion Square.


















Well, we're off to Fiddler's Hearth to have some pints.
Happy St. Patty's Day!

Oldies but Goodies

I decided to dig up a couple of old 48hr film project films I'd edited years ago. Brought back memories of when I had more free time and could do this kind of thing for fun. These were a lot of work, but I met a lot of good people, who I remain good friends with today.
If you are not familiar with these kind of 48 hour film contests, they are a challenge in which you are given 48 hours to write, film and edit a movie. To keep everyone in check, you are required to include several key common elements that each team has to include in the finished film: A character, a line of dialog and a prop. Each team is also assigned a genre. Catch is that you aren't given those key elements until the start of the 48 hours. You are allowed to do some pre-production, such as finding cast and crew, securing locations, and rounding up equipment. But all the creative aspects of the film have to take place in those 48 hours.
I got stuck with editing part or all of these films. Since the editing is the final stop in the process, all eyes are on you to finish on time and the stress piles up. Both of these films were very close calls and just finished with seconds to spare.

Here is "What a Man's Gotta Do" which was our team's entry in the 2004 National Film Challenge.





Here is "The Fantastic Escape" which was done with a lot of the same crew and a large cast. This was the team's entry in the 2005 48 Hour Film Project.

Rocky finds a home

It wasn't long after Rocky's profile went up on the Weim Rescue site that people started asking about him.
The first was an artist from Marfa, TX looking for a companion. He was also looking at three other dogs. He ended up adopting the first dog he looked at. Meredith was actually happy, since Marfa is a long way away and would be less likely that we'd see Rocky at any local Weim events.
The second inquiry was only a few days later. A family from nearby Dripping Springs was interested in meeting him.
The rescue had arranged to have a Meet & Greet event this past Saturday, with the gracious support of Dogadillo, a really cool local pet store. This Meet & Greet allowed interested adopters to see some of the dogs, make donations to support, or to pick up dogs they had arranged to adopt. We had arranged to meet Rocky's adoptive family at the event. The family immediately fell in love with Rocky and he seemed to get along well with their other Weim. After a visit to their home and filling out the paperwork and briefing them on care, Rocky went for a walk with his new family and we left with mixed emotions. Happy he found a new permanent home that will love and care for him and sad because we'll miss having this happy lovable dog around to brighten our lives.
Lucky for us the adopters are close and have promised to bring Rocky to Weim events and meet ups, so we'll get to see him again.
I'd like to give a special thanks to Hip Hounds Doggy Daycare, who understands the importance of fostering rescued dogs and were gracious enough to give us a large discount for Rocky's daycare on the couple of days he was there. They are incredibly cool people and really care for the welfare of our companions. The are located very close to the Round Rock Dell campus and even offer a discount for Dell employees.

On another but similar note. The Weim rescue is in desperate need of donations and foster families. They are close to capacity to the number of dogs they can accept from shelters and other rescue efforts, some of which are "kill" shelters. The recent destruction of hurricane Ike has also increased the need for foster homes in the Houston area. So it is important that they receive donations for the care and shelter of these incredible animals and foster families that can host dogs until they can find their permanent homes. And of course, finding adoptive families for the dogs in the rescue and foster homes.

Rocky!

Meredith got a call a few weeks ago from Weim Rescue Texas, which is the rescue we adopted troy from. They had a recent crisis with a sudden influx of dogs and two litters of surprise puppies from two of the dogs in the rescue. They had a dog in San Antonio that was in need of a foster home and they asked if we could help out. We've been thinking about getting Troy a playmate and this seemed to be a good opportunity to try it out. So after a little discussion we agreed to help out.
So in comes Rocky. Rocky was a stray that was picked up in San Antonio and the the people who found him contacted the rescue. Poor guy had been beat up in a dog fight with a bloody ear that looked like raw hamburger, had a bunch of spots of ringworm on various parts of his body and pretty underweight. He has callouses on his elbows and back legs evidence perhaps that he was kept in a confined space for long time...maybe his whole life.
He had a trip to the vet for a once over and treatment for all the ailments and a little snip-snip of the testicles.
Meredith went and picked him up and she just about had her heart broken. Poor little guy really loves people. Nuzzled right up to her with this pathetic "save me" look. He was a little tipsy from the anesthesia and a bit damp from the bath to kill the ringworm fungus.
For the first week Rocky wasn't eating. We thought at first that it was because of the recent operation or perhaps he was used to eating garbage or hand-outs from strangers.
After a liberal helping of canned wet dog food mixed with the regular dry food (which we soak in water) he's been eating well and putting on a little weight.
Troy seems to get along with him pretty well. Lot's of wrestling and roughhousing with the occasional growl from Troy over Rocky getting to close to his bone (which we promptly take away from him).
We took a trip to the large public dog park. Rocky absolutely loved it. Might possibly have been his first trip ever to a dog park. The next day was his first visit to doggy day care. He was a big hit there with all the staff. The socialization with other dogs has really been good for him.
Everywhere we take him people are interested and think he's a great little lovable dog. A tech at the vet was very interested. Some of the staff at doggy day care really liked him. Even the little kid down the block has practically fallen in love with the little guy.
People always ask if we're going to keep him. We've learned that one dog is plenty for us. Rocky needs a good home with lots of loving.
We have no doubt that he'll get adopted pretty quick. We'll miss him of course, but know that someone out there will really appreciate this loving and adorable companion.

Spring Cleaning

I accomplished a lot this past weekend. The 2nd Saturday of each month, my neighborhood MUD makes these huge industrial rubbish bins available to toss out bulky items. Meredith and I took Troy to the neighborhood Dog Fair in the morning where he saw a few of his dog park buddies. I ditched out early to get started on my cleanup and be able to get clean up for Meredith's mom's birthday dinner later in the evening.
This 2nd Saturday clean up day is one of those things I always forget about. I either think about it too late and miss it, or think about it too early and then forget about it when it comes around. This time I made a conscience effort to remember. I think the recent break-in kind of made me a little more aware of the disastrous shape my yard and garage were in.
I think one of the factors that made my house a target was that I hadn't yet mowed the lawn. The unkempt grass might have been a signal to the crooks that perhaps the occupants of the house were on vacation, making it a good candidate for thievery. Also, I had accumulated a bunch of wooden pallets, a brush pile and some other junk in the back yard that the thieves built a little step ladder to get back over the fence with my loot. My garage is also in shambles. I don't think the thieves even bothered to look in there, but the Brink's guys were in there to work on the installation of the system, so I felt a little embarrassed that it was such a mess. Most of it is just junk, magazines meant for recycling, lots of empty cardboard boxes (also meant for recycling), pieces of scrap wood and lots and lots of sawdust from past projects.
First order of business was to get the big bulky stuff collected and hauled off to the rubbish bins. It took about 4 trips back and forth but finally got rid of:

• busted back door
• bunch of pallets
• busted chairs
• decayed old patio chairs
• 40 year old grill that was a heap of rust
• old vintage '92 vcr
• decrepit end table
  

Feels very gratifying and cleansing to toss out a bunch of old junk.
I spent the rest of the afternoon up until 4pm mowing the lawn, edging, clearing an old brush pile and sweeping the rust off the patio.
Sunday, I tackled the garage. First order of business was a trip to Home Depot to get a box cutter, some twine and contractor garbage bags. Troy got to come along, he's always a big hit at home depot. Since we've been leaving the porch light on for most of the time I picked up a couple of CFL low energy bulbs as well. Meredith did the make up and some prosthetic appliances for a few magazine ads for a campaign promoting replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with low energy/low carbon CFL bulbs. So I felt a little obligated to do my part to save the planet.
Once I got back to the house, I started to tackle the garage. I started weeding through piles of junk sorting stuff out I wanted to keep by moving it to the other side of the garage, where I normally park the car. The rest was either stuffed in a garbage bag or stacked and bundled for recycling. Lots of cardboard boxes from all kinds of things were broken down and stacked flat. I had quite a collection of Amazon.com boxes, computer component boxes and other packaging. The whole thing was a bit like an archaeological dig. I found a lot of things I forgot I even had. Somethings I thought we lost forever that I 'd already bought a replacement for.
After several hours and a few beers, things started to look pretty good. I could actually see the cement on the garage floor. I swept that area out and started to move back the items I was keeping so that I could sweep out the other side.
I ended up with a full giant garbage bin, three stacks of cardboard, half a dozen stacks of magazines and 4 giant garbage bags. My garage looks so much bigger and brighter than it did a few hours before.
Wednesday is trash pick up day. The recycling and garbage guys are somewhat sporadic and unpredictable. Sometimes the recycling guys with come at the crack of dawn while the garbage guys might not wander through before 6pm. To combat this you pretty much have to get stuff to the curb the night before and hope it doesn't rain or blow away. Last night I dragged everything to the curb, basically lining the whole curb with recyclables and garbage bags. Then said a quick silent prayer that they would take everything.
Now that my garage has had a bit of a colon cleansing I hope to keep it that way for a little while I've already caught myself putting a box in there from a new LCD TV I bought. I planned to put it up in the attic, but didn't drag the ladder out to do it.
We'll see how long it lasts. I have a few other rooms that need a good enema as well.