November 1st is always pretty depressing for me. That's when there's the most amount of time before more Halloween. May as well post some swell pictures of this past holiday season (even though it's now November 2nd).
This might be interesting. We did a few storyboards for the Zombie movie. So here are some of the concepts and how they turned out. For some of these I actually took some preliminary pictures before I did the storyboards.
Here are some production photos that a few of us took while we were filming:
(I think this was my first day of being a zombie. Many more to follow)
Here are images from normal Halloween parties. Starting with the ones the weekend before Halloween:
Lucia and I didn't have our proper costumes ready so we both had to fall back on old ones. Joe and Camille knocked it out of the park with their Labyrinth theme.
This is the view from the mansion party the week before Halloween. This is looking west from a few blocks north of the capitol.
Here's a gang of us at Dee's a week before Halloween.
So the day before Halloween I went and helped out at the Nielsen Family Haunted Forest. My job was to hide in the trees and scare people who came down the path. Pretty standard haunted forest stuff. My main strategy was to jump out and take a picture with my camera while screaming. In my old age my creepiness knows no bounds. Hopefully these young girls don't mind me posting their screams.
Here is some of the gang gathered for the premier of The Last Zombie Movie EVER!
And finally, here's me posing in my costume, which I finished at about 6:30 on Halloween afternoon. In case you're wondering, I'm Jack Torrance from The Shining. I adjusted the t-shirt words to something I could personally wear and not worry about it being a Halloween costume.
Well, here it is. It's done and that makes us all a little bit sad in a way. Maybe we'll tinker with it a little. Before we showed it I apologized for it not being funny, but everyone laughed anyway. So, good fun to be had no matter what?
So if you want, you can download the Halloween cd on J.R.'s blog. You may need to own up to some kind of 14-day trial. Hey, everything's free though!
Maybe now would be a good time to mention that J.R. is the co-conspirator of the Halloween cd. Probably should have acknowledged that sooner. Good job, boy.
So this year's Halloween cd is finished and ready to go! Actually we still need to print out the lyrics and the artwork, BUT if you want your copy of the cd, NOW'S THE TIME TO TELL ME. I'll give you the cd, but because of demand and because I can't trust my printer to save my life, you may need to get your own jewel case and print off your own liner notes.
This year's track listing:
1. "Heads Will Roll" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2. "Mr. Smiley" by Mustard Plug
3. "Eaten by the Monster of Love" by Sparks
4. "Thirteen" by Johnny Cash
5. "Of Wolf and Man" by Metallica
6. "Werewolf vs. Zombie" by Oingo Boingo and Nellie McKay featuring Jon Madsen
7. "Monsters in the Parasol" by Queens of the Stone Age
8. "Shanty For Arethusa" by The Decemberists
9. "Burying the Bunny" by Shriekback
10. "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring
11. "Storm Coming" by Gnarls Barkley
12. "Satin in a Coffin" by Modest Mouse
13. "Rocking Horse" by Dead Weather
14. "Sickness Taking Over" by Pankow
15. "Shadows on Your Side" by Duran Duran
16. "Every Last Breath You Take" by The Police featuring NosferRoytu
17. "Les Velos Pour Deux" by The Brobecks
18. "Re: Your Brains" by Jonathan Coulton
19. "Complainted d'VN Mate" by The Avett Brothers
You totally know that I would provide download links to all these songs, but a little while back I got in trouble with my server space people. It had to do with copyrighted material or whatever. Here are some (legal (maybe)) YouTube clips for some of these songs:
Okay, so I haven't been blogging lately. I'm sorry (or maybe you're welcome). Now's as good time as any to check out Twitter.
Anyway, things have been plenty busy because it's the holiday season for me. By that I mean it's Halloweentime. As part of the festivities (not limited to horror commentaries and Halloween cds) we've been extra busy producing this year's big Halloween movie.
Here's the trailer for it below. Notice that it's not SUPER funny. Only SORTA funny. I think we tried to make it funny, but since I haven't been feeling very funny at all in the last few months, it's kinda turning out to not be funny in the slightest. Well, we'll see how it turns out. Please enjoy! Hard!
So Tuesday I found myself at a softball game. I was planning on simply watching, which I hardly ever do, but it was my big excuse to go out and I gladly took it. Not thinking, I wore my awesome velvet Chuck Taylors and some non-holy thick jeans Joe gave me because they're "too tight in his thighs."
Anyway, If I was thinking, I not only would have worn shorts or something, but I would have also brought my mitt. Turns out the team playing was short a player, because Rhett had double-booked his sporting events and was playing soccer at the exact same time. Joe was there to sub-in for someone else and suggested I play. I was glad to play, I was just slightly uncomfortable. I don't know how basketball players ever played basketball in Chuck Taylors in the 50s or whenever, because Chucks are more designed for... I dunno... sitting really.
Also, I didn't have a glove. One of the guys on the team ran up to the officiator's box and managed to borrow one for me, which was awesome.
All the other guys took the time to learn my name and cheer me on. Real cool. Thing is, I was taking Rhett's place, so I was put on the roster as "Rhett." I couldn't just "join the team." I had to be someone already on the team or there would be a potential forfeit. Strangely, Joe was the only one who yelled "Good job Rhett!" when I'd hit the ball or do some other awesome monumental play. So obviously when everyone else yelled "Good job Jon!" things were quite suspicious.
After the game, I thought I'd run the glove up to the box myself. Silly idea. I hoped to just throw it in there, but I sort of had to ask who to give it to and the commotion made the officiator-lady (it seems like officiator-ladies are way more anal about stuff like this) take the glove back and ask, "What's your name?"
Me: *big pause* "... Rhett." (Of course I figured she COULD have been specifically asking my name on the team, but I totally knew what was up)
Her: "Okay good, because there was some confusion as to who you were out there and if you really belonged here."
I didn't correct her.
I suppose that's lying right? Usually I don't actually lie unless I lie to myself first so I actually believe what I'm saying.
To be fair, it's not like we pulled some huge scam. Our team lost by about 15 runs. I'm no ringer. Surely, if this city league game were to be called off because of a last-minute substitution the other team would be plenty angry that their hitting stats would be erased.
To further the silly matter, this kind of thing happens all the time in leagues such as these. We're busy sometimes and other times we got time to fill in for people who are. When I suddenly found myself in the position, all I wanted to do was lend a hand to the team -- not piss them all off by not being more Rhetty and announcing it.
Anyway, I'm sorry. Maybe this helps. More than likely not.
I only wish I lived in a world or a way or whatever where being dishonest isn't the obvious choice. I sort of want to believe in a world where everyone's at an advantage through honesty. Weird -- I know.
I keep meaning to write stuff in here. Lots of stuff to say. I still say a bunch of stuff in Twitter, so you should check me out there -- or stay here (on this actual blog -- not Google Reader) and look at the column to the right. It should be updating my awesome Twitter posts (although it only goes back like four tweets or something).
ANYWAY, the point is, I've got a lot to say, but I'm leaving for California in a couple of hours. Yeah, Joe and I have another film festival to go to on behalf of Dunkball. This time it's the SoCal Film Fest.
We made a trailer for Dunkball. Love it a lot, but we totally should have made it long before we showed the movie to anybody. Seems sensible. Anyway, here it is (and it's awesome):
Alright I made this announcement on Facebook and Twitter, but it needs more coverage so I'm going all archaic and actually posting this.
I am having a yard sale Saturday morning. I want it to be pretty huge, so I want YOU to bring stuff to sell at this thing. We'll mark your stuff with colored stickers and when it sells I'll put the money in an envelope with your name on it. This will be a great chance to get rid of some of your stuff and perhaps make a little dinero. Plus, you'll be doing me a service by making it awesome and big and therefore more people will be drawn to it.
Do it! Bring your stuff to me Friday night (which is tonight I suppose). I'm thinking 9ish. Then we'll start sellin' stuff the next day (probably about 8ish in the morning).
Forgot to mention that John Hughes actually only directed eight movies. Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful are not on the list. Hughes was kind of like yesterday's Judd Apatow -- with his name everywhere, but actually directing very few movies.
Also, my John Hughes thing is the blog's 400th post! At least it is according to my Blogger dashboard. There may have been a few abortions, so if you go back and count everything, it may be a couple short of 400.
How old do I feel now? Real old. The guy who made me love being young... died yesterday.
I distinctly remember a childhood of lingering around my teenage brothers and their friends, hoping to catch a few glimpses of the "adult" John Hughes movies they watched. Maybe it was the John Hughes movies that made me idealize teen years as much as I did. Maybe, despite the fact that high school was kind of lame, I never really complained about it because I seemed to suffer in similar ways to the John Hughes characters I grew up with. Maybe, because of all those movies, I never, not even today, figured I'd ever get older than 17.
Anyway, I pretty much want to thank Hughes for the work he did during 1984-1987. He's been silent lately, but he freakin' OWNED '84-'87.
It all started with Sixteen Candles. According to my cinematic trivia genius brother, Hughes wrote and directed this one in order to impress the studio enough to deliver his real baby -- The Breakfast Club. For a buttering-up project, there is no film perfecter. EVERY teen party sequence since has owed itself to the party in Sixteen Candles. Strangely, I've seen few teen comedies to show the humiliation of riding the school bus. Maybe because it couldn't be topped in this one. Of course, this weirdly-rated PG movie was also quite a coming-of-ager for me. I still remember right after the pull-up scene my brother suddenly being like, "Oh, crap. Jon, close your eyes!"
Anyway, Breakfast Club is pretty weird. It was his script that he had to fight the studio to produce, but then you check the imdb trivia and it says that a huge chunk of the emotional parts of the movie was improvised. It makes me wonder what parts he was so anxious to film in advance. It also explains the weirdness of Claire going after Bender at the end after he humiliated her so bad. Of course it wasn't Bender who made Claire cry, it was Judd Nelson who made Molly Ringwald cry.
Pretty in Pink was such an important story to Hughes that he wrote it twice. The second time, was as one of my very favorite movies -- Some Kind of Wonderful. The love triangle sexes were merely switched. The stories were about Andie & Blaine and Keith & Amanda, but all of us viewers were completely and hopelessly attached to Duckie and Watts. Watch 'em. You'll know what I mean. John Hughes' third wheels were very three-dimensional.
Oh, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off! Sheesh! Love. It. Brilliant. I need to watch that again.
I'm sure you've seen this already (it's all over the net right now), but check out this blogger's story about him.
Anyway, bye John. Make some awesome movies for God!
Morbat? Wasn't that one of the Decepticons that hung out in Soundwave's chest?
Anyway, many people don't know but I grew my big beard in order to be an extra in the Mormon Battalion movie that's supposed to play in the San Diego Mormon Battalion Visitors' Center. October, I think? We'll road trip it.
Anyway, we were filming the past couple of weeks. For the most part it wasn't very fun... but in hindsight it pretty much was.
Before you read the latest Living in the Geekdom, be aware of a few things. First, I've decided to take the comic into a much broader territory. No longer is it necessarily about RPGing. Also, I'm trying out each panel as an individual image. Should be easier to read. Finally, please vote in the poll.
Alright, so as I've said, please vote in the poll. I know most of my friends don't care one way or another, but that's really not the point at all. So you're not a geek, just humor me. If you have a real funny zinger, go ahead and let me have it. If not -- if you have the same old tired groan-inducing snide comment geekery -- go ahead and save it this time. Maybe charge up your wit factory and really say something good next time.
This marks the beginning of a comic story thread. Trust me on this one. It'll get pretty good.
Anyways, this one was a fun one to do. Notice the addition of a new character. If you're wondering how long it takes me to do these, just take a guess and then add 10 hours to that. This one's been in the works for a week and a half or so -- off and on.
Once again, July 14th was a smashing success. The slip n' slide had a sort of car wash building with a flappy door on it. Here's Scott Hanna taking the dive right at the beginning of the night before he had to go to work.
Added this year was the freedom water drinking competition as well as the little red wagon float competition.
Brandon Smith handily won the freedom water competition by drinking, I think, nine cups of tonic water/Perrier. That was a full five cups ahead of the next person. I probably should have told him that he only needed to beat the next guy by one cup, and that he probably drank five cups of the stuff in vain. He also tied for first place in the milk drinking competition.
It was Scott's idea to do the wagon float competition which probably explains his win by default. Here's the manatee/barbie/zombie float he brought to the table.
I forgot to get a count this year. My guess is about 35 over the course of the evening. If you attended, please comment. Let's get an accurate count here.
Oh look, here are the people who threw up last year. No such luck this time around. I think since we extended the drinking contests through the whole night, people were a little more conservative.
After winning the red wagon float competition, Scott wowed us with his freestyle slip n' slide skills.
The wagon, slip 'n sliding and also the bringing of the July 14th photo opportunity cut-out solidified Scott Steele's position as reigning July 14th monarch.
The question came up last weekend: east coast or west coast? Despite often not having a left-turn lane, I would definitely say east coast. I don't like the sun and I don't like volleyball. I certainly don't like the vastness of concrete that is Los Angeles.
Surprising then that I enjoyed myself so much this past weekend. In a nutshell, Joe and I needed to make a presence at our first film festival -- The All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival. We decided to have Jen, Margie and Zo drive us there.
I'm not going to elaborate on a ton of photos like I did with my last California trip. I stuck everything you need to see on Facebook, right here (I hope that link works). Nevertheless, here's something you won't find on Facebook (yet). It's our iPod karaoke that we did as we thought Jen's car may be overheating.
Turns out the car wasn't overheating, it was simply breaking entirely. Or so we thought. The mechanic at Barstow said the repairs would be extensive and time-consuming. Joe then rented a car and we were off again.
Totally arrived in the climate-controlled environs of Los Angeles safely. Here is my meal from Pink's Hot Dogs:
Later that night we hit Santa Monica Pier. I should NOT have done headstands in the water fully clothed. Hmmm. Actually, I have no regrets.
One thing I've forgotten to mention is that we did this whole thing on Joe's birthday. As his birthday present he beat the tar out of this poor kid at Guitar Hero Arcade.
Here's a more beautiful picture of Santa Monica Pier than real life.
Take a look at this picture. When you're on the Santa Monica Pier of life are you the one yearning for what's in the distance, or are you the one taking a bite out of what's in front of you?
Saturday was the day of the festival. Here's my meal at Pann's Diner. Pann's was the restaurant prominently featured in Pulp Fiction.
Here we are in front of the press runway for the film festival. Notice the awesome uniforms Joe had made for us.
It's weird. I thought I was going to be really uncomfortable at the festival scene and hate everybody. I was only half right. The people there were really stellar. Everyone we talked to was super friendly to us and there was a wonderful spirit of camaraderie. I tensed up quite a bit when our movie was shown, but it seemed to roll quite well.
The wonderful news of the evening, but not quite news to Joe and me was that we actually received a reward. Our film was the only film that made it into the festival's "Micro Documentary" category. Who knows how many entered that didn't get in (I supposed there's a POSSIBILITY that nobody else entered)?
Due to camera issues, we didn't get our entire acceptance speech, but here's what we got:
Here's our gang at the awards ceremony:
Here's a meal (not mine) from Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles:
Stunning view of L.A. from Mulholland Drive. Note the power lines. Man! Los Angeles is sure missing a sort of organic appeal.
Here's a drink from that taco place near Manhattan Beach we went to. Does the guy on this cup look like me? Is he a guy from Eagles of Death Metal?
Anyhoo. Film festival: success! Los Angeles: success! Lots went wrong, but it seemed mostly right, which was more than I thought it would be.
In the meantime, it behooves me to say that I'm strangely heading to the Los Angeles area for the second time in a month. I'd rather hit Diego or Francisco, but duty calls. I'll be in Hollywood schmoozing with production types at The All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival with Joe. Our dunkball movie will be highlit.
Please let me know if you need anything in California. I'm already shuttling some fruit into Cali for a couple of shady friends. You'll have to give me a call.
While you're waiting for me to get back, here's a delightful Jon Demand from a couple of months ago. Yeah, goofing off. Glorious.
If you're wondering why we're blindfolded, it's so that we'll keep singing despite the spectator laughter.
Okay, so a few days ago I had an intense yearning to start doing these again. It's actually been a year if you can possibly believe it. This one's been in my head for some time. If nobody minds, I'm going to take the comic in a new direction after this. Well, maybe not so much a new direction, but a big expansion. If I keep the comic going it won't JUST be about gaming.
You may need to click on it to see it properly. Here it is:
Note Joey on the computer screen. When we used to play we used to Skype Joey in.
While playing these games sometimes you have to roll the dice to see if your character notices subtle events. I always kind of thought that was weird because if you don't roll well enough, you're kind of just supposed to pretend that nothing's up, but the fact that you have to roll in the first place obviously means something is up, but your character doesn't know that, but YOU are your character, blah blah, etc. It's sort of like if you heard a car running through the living room of your house, but you don't actually SEE the car, so you assume it was nothing. Actually the point of this comic is that oftentimes geeks are unaware of the life around them. At least that's the way I am. ALL THE TIME.
Do you ever get sick of checking my blog for interesting information? Is Google Reader not "automatic" enough for you? You may be in luck, because I've just finished partnering with the robots who are about to enslave us.
Meet Robot Rex!
Robot Rex is a well-behaved automaton who is in the process of recording my blog posts to audio form! It's actually quite fun, zen and hypnotic!
If you subscribe to the Robot Rex Podcast, my blog posts will download directly to your computer and your iPod or iPhone will sync them up as soon as the chance is there! Then you listen to Robot Rex in his lovable monotone and practical voice say my words! You will never have to READ my words ever again!
But Robot Rex is more than just a means toward illiteracy. Robot Rex will undoubtedly help us connect to all those cute little A.I.s struggling toward self-awareness. Just listen! Robot Rex is like the Joshua computer from Wargames with an iron lung! Listen to my dry humor as it comes amplified through a cold, heartless computerized sound amplifier! So very zen indeed. Zen indeed.
Click here to listen to this post as read by Robot Rex!
(I think this was my first day of being a zombie. Many more to follow)
Lucia and I didn't have our proper costumes ready so we both had to fall back on old ones. Joe and Camille knocked it out of the park with their Labyrinth theme.
This is the view from the mansion party the week before Halloween. This is looking west from a few blocks north of the capitol.
Here's a gang of us at Dee's a week before Halloween.
So the day before Halloween I went and helped out at the Nielsen Family Haunted Forest. My job was to hide in the trees and scare people who came down the path. Pretty standard haunted forest stuff. My main strategy was to jump out and take a picture with my camera while screaming. In my old age my creepiness knows no bounds. Hopefully these young girls don't mind me posting their screams.
Here is some of the gang gathered for the premier of The Last Zombie Movie EVER!
And finally, here's me posing in my costume, which I finished at about 6:30 on Halloween afternoon. In case you're wondering, I'm Jack Torrance from The Shining. I adjusted the t-shirt words to something I could personally wear and not worry about it being a Halloween costume.
