My blog...

needs work. I never talk about myself or my life, really. I think I'm going to stop for a little while and come back when I'm willing to be less guarded. Be back soon?

Miles Davis and John Coltrane - So What

The Future?

Una Vida Mejor Accepted Into Cinequest Film Festival

We found out earlier this week that Una Vida Mejor (A Better Life) was accepted into Cinequest film festival, which according to Variety magazine is one of the top ten film festivals in North America. Also, according to The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide, its considered one of the top ten festivals in the world. We are all extremely excited and plan on making the trip to San Jose to market the film. I couldn't be happier. The project has been wonderful to be involved in. The director, Andrew James, has become a close friend of mine. Here is a synopsis of the film from the Beachfire Pictures website:

The U.S. government has mandated the construction of a 2,000- mile long wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and many Americans sport bumper stickers on their vehicles with slogans like, “Welcome to America, now go home.”

Una Vida Mejor (A Better Life) follows three families, each participating in the American experience, and each searching for their own version of the American dream. Two of the families have crossed the Mexican border illegally, and entered the United States in the midst of this social and political unrest.

The story opens with Javier and Maria crossing the border illegally with their young daughter. The crossing is a frightful and uncertain experience. After crossing, Javier finds work at a farm and things slowly improve for him and his family.

Omar and Sofia are a young couple with two children who have also immigrated illegally to the United States. Omar struggles to provide for his family. His inability to find a job leads to tension in his marriage and he reluctantly agrees to participate in a robbery in an attempt to relieve his financial burdens.

The target of the robbery is a young married couple, Sam and Nancy. Sam is a social worker and Nancy works the graveyard shift as a nurse.

Two worlds collide when the simple robbery planned by Omar and his accomplice goes awry. What ensues is a dynamic series of life-altering events, fueled by cultural misunderstanding and prejudice. As the drama unfolds, the individual humanity behind the stark statistics and political rhetoric of the immigration issue is revealed and we find that the border between “right” and “wrong” is hopelessly blurred.

Finals are almost over. Life is Good.
I just want to WRITE.

99MB Revolving Door: jazz performance: Art Pepper

My friend Don LaVange told me about this video. Cool stuff. I'm going to play with text a bit more on this blog. Thanks Ashley.

Una Vida Mejor

Here is the first trailer for the film that Marissa and I worked on as editing supervisors, associate producers, and boom operators. The film has been submitted to thirteen film festivals so far. Check it out!

Kurt Vonnegut: Rules for Writing Fiction

From: http://www.troubling.info/vonnegut.html

Kurt Vonnegut

Eight rules for writing fiction:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

-- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.

Pecha Kucha Method

The Shock Doctrine

This video is interesting to me on a few different levels: One, I'm interested in the ideas contained in the video and, more specifically, in the book. Two, I'm fascinated by the idea of short documentaries to introduce books (this has amazing implications). Is this the way to reach people who need motivation to read? Three, it's amazing to me that Alfonso Cuaron put together this video (the director of Children of Men, Harry Potter 3, Solo Con Tu Pareja, etc). What an interesting way to communicate such important ideas!