House of Hugs Productions

Arlington High Class of 1986 25 Year Reunion

2011-11-30T15:48:00.005-05:00

Latin class -- Spring 1986

There's very little information out in this big web world on Arlington High School's (Arlington, Massachusetts) class of 1986' 25th year reunion. (Though really it's the 26th, isn't it?) So I'm trying to help spread the word, hoping to find a few of you who might be searching via internet.

Here's the info:

Saturday, January 7, 2012
7:30 to 11:30pm

at
Sons of Italy
19 Prentiss Road
Arlington, MA 02476

Hope we reached some of you.

Come on, who doesn't want to do a table reading for my play?

2011-06-14T16:25:00.003-04:00

So I'm planning a table reading for Jimmy's House of Hugs: The Play and am trying to find 11 actors to read the 28 roles -- and stage directions. It is so not the same thing as casting a film. Because actors want to do films. They like getting copy for their reel, they like having the credit for their resume, they like that they'll have an audience, and an IMDB credit.

But there isn't even a "Table Readings" category on actors' resumes. And if there were, who would care?

On top of everything, I'm planning the reading for two days on a weekend (June 25th & 26th) because the play is about 200 pages. Who wants to hand their weekend over to a table reading? I wish I could pay people well, but all I can offer at this time is $10 for each day, basically to cover transportation expenses, because I think that no actor should have to have money come out of his/her pocket to do a favor for me.

I also don't want to be in the position to beg people. Because I want people who want to be there. I'm just hoping I'll find actors who find value in reading a new play by a (gulp) first-time playwright.

All I can say, in my very humble opinion, is that the play is fun. So I hope that I'll get some good actors who will take a chance and hand themselves over to me for a few hours on each day. I'll be gentle, I promise. Hugs and brownies (or something of that sort) included.

Working on the Website

2011-03-01T16:37:00.002-05:00

I've finally added a bunch of pages to the website. Still needs a re-design as I haven't even put any menus up (just links to other pages). I just felt the need to create new pages before perfecting (or attempt to perfect) the site. So please visit www.houseofhugsprod.com!

Eddie's Sitings

2011-02-03T15:03:00.011-05:00

Or should it be “Websightings”? OK, neither is really an impressive pun, but I had to try.

So, it's that time of year again – Super Bowl time. The Patriots aren't in it but I've gotten just a wee bit of consolation in that my Patriot-themed film, “Eddie's Winning Date”, has popped up in another online article about Super Bowl movies, “Movies about the Super Bowl”. It's a short article that only briefly describes a few films, but it tickles me to know that it was on some writer's radar to garner a mention.

Oh, FYI, search engines, that's, “New England Patriots”. Not that this post will come anywhere near page one million for those searching just those words. But for any searches including an “Eddie's”, “Super Bowl film”, or a “Radochia” (sure), then this post might pop up closer to a fewer figured number.

Yes, I think about making my posts, as well as my films, easy to find on the internet. If someone searches “Eddie's Winning Date” or “Jimmy's House of Hugs”, the search results will be only those about my films. “I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich” and “Sally's Dream House” will bring up other results, but most of them, including the top ones, will be about the films. I have Google alerts for all of these films (and also one for my name), so that I will find out if they, or I have appeared on another website. Sometimes I just wonder if I've been up to anything lately...

So, I got a Google alert about the article and went to check it out, assuming this article, by Bob Bong, that was re-emerging online:

It wasn't. It turned out to be a new one by Toby Welch. Yay, Eddie's made it to another Super Bowl film list.

The next day, I wanted to find the article again, so instead of bringing up the email, I did a web search on “Eddie's Winning Date” and “Super Bowl”.

I was scrolling through the pages of results when “the favorite was Eddie's Winning Date” caught my eye. Wait a second. Favorite? Eddie's had won a few awards (okay, four), but they were all juried awards. It had not won an audience award.

I clicked on the link and found it was a page for the Twinsburg Library in Ohio and on it was a report of the Twini Mini Festival in March, 2007. I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich screened at the same festival in 2008 and was voted the crowd favorite. They had gotten Sandwich from the Ohio Independent Film Festival where it screened in 2008 and Eddie's Winning Date had screened in 2006. (See old post on my weekend in Cleveland.)

I don't know how I never knew about this before but I was quite pleased to discover that this was a good sized crowd, and that they voted for Eddie's, making it two years in a row my films won at this event. (Thank you, Twinsburg, Ohio!) Plus, I wasn't even there to charm them into voting for me.

I'm not delusional. I know this is no Oscar or Golden Globe. And I know that the online article probably won't get a ton of traffic. (Though it did get more “Like”s than I would have expected.) What I enjoy is that years after I've stopped submitting Eddie's to festivals, and years after spending much energy further promoting it (other than uploading it online) that I'm finding new things about it, whether it's winning an audience vote or that it's listed among big Hollywood films. I put so much time, sweat and my hard-earned money into this film. To see that it still has even the slightest momentum right now is just kind of fun.

I love how the internet can connect things so easily. I love helping those connections. And now, to connect to other things about Eddie's Winning Date, here are some links:

Watch Eddie's Winning Date:

Eddie's Winning Date on IMDB

Blog post about making Eddie's

And don't forget these links below and in the left column, too:

Why "House of Hugs"?

2011-01-31T15:47:00.001-05:00

I realize that the name “House of Hugs Productions” sounds amateurish and clunky at best, and somewhat porn-ish at worst. If you're familiar with my films, or at least their names, then you know I got “House of Hugs Productions” from my film, Jimmy's House of Hugs. (And you also know that there's nothing porn-like about any of my work.) When putting together credits for the film that I did for a class back in 2003, I wanted to put down some kind of production company name. So I just took “House of Hugs”, put it in front of “Productions” and there it was. I always meant it to be a temporary name.

Several films, and years, later, I found myself still slapping on “House of Hugs Productions” in the credits. It's the name I had , and I thought it reflected what I wanted my films to be – feel good stories that made the audience feel hugged. I felt also that it kind of unique. (Well, I knew it was. I did a web search to make sure it was before I used it. I do that on my titles, too.) So, until something better entered into my thoughts, “House of Hugs” was good enough.

Actually, I have thought of a better name. I came up with it a few years ago. It's slicker, more professional sounding, and still captures a bit of what I'm about. But I can't get myself to use it yet. The only reason is that my gut has been telling me to stay with “House of Hugs Productions” for now.

Maybe I just can't get myself to use the new name because it is a cooler name, and I feel like I'm anything but cool or slick. My films aren't slick and my website isn't slick. (Speaking of my website, it needs a lot of work.) I'm kind of an old fashioned geek in that even my latest films were in TV aspect ratio. (Does everything have to be widescreen? There's a nice intimacy in 1.33 to 1.) I was also never able to afford the best camera package, the best lighting equipment, etc., so my films don't look very professional. And I think all that makes some people not take me seriously.

I'm quite used to being underestimated, so I don't get too caught up in that. I don't think I'm at all the most talented film maker, or at all brilliant. Jeremy's the brilliant one. ("Brilliant" is an over-applied word, I think, so I don't use it lightly.) I just have a mind that is so on analytical overdrive that it ends up tapping into some good ideas once in a while. It's like I don't really write my own stories. I'm kind of a lackey. I listen to what the higher powers tell me to write down and I write it.

And that higher power is still telling me to stick with “House of Hugs Productions”. So I do.

It's actually starting to make sense to me why I'm supposed to. But I'll wait on telling that.

Making of "Sandwich", Part 2

2010-07-18T11:49:00.009-04:00

Find more videos like this on OurFilmSpace.com

I wrote out a long post on part 2 of making I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich in my composition book, planning to copy it on here, but now I'm not sure how much of it is really that interesting. To catch a glimpse of making the film, check out the above video, made by our leading lady, Rachael Lillis. Rachael is entirely behind the camera in this video; you can see she has photography and editing talents as well as acting ones. The "stars" in this are Bill McNally, Patrick McNally, Jeremy Ward and myself. That was our crew -- yup a small one. Believe me, while I don't like to overwork anyone, it's always better to need one more person than to have an extra one laying around. Except, you don't really need that other person then.

There was one more person and that was my father, Bob Radochia. Dad took care of most of the craft services and lunch. That was such a treat for me as I've never wanted to ask anyone to do that for free so out in LA, I always did all the food. It takes up a lot of energy and it's so much better to save that for directing. We really appreciated Dad doing this. He also stayed around if we needed help in any other way. He took some photos, kept some people entertained and gave those who needed them, directions on a better way to get home.

We got off to a slow start because the sound mixing board was broken. Jeremy, who was going to do sound, became our DP. Yes, we didn't know for sure who would do camera until that very morning. We just figured that either Bill or I or Jeremy could do it. I would never have not had a set DP before filming except we had all worked together before so we knew we would figure a way. Also a problem was that the lights we had were giving us problems. We decided on using no lights at all since we had plenty of ambient light coming in through a big window next to the cube, as well as sky lights. Breath-taking cinematography simply wasn't a requirement for this little film taking place in an office. It was the acting and directing that really mattered. Not to say that Jeremy didn't do a great job -- he did. We had some challenging angles and he made them work.

Also at work, was one of Jeremy's co-workers who not only decided to show up unexpected, but use the phone as well. There were a few times where I had called "action" and the guy just then picked up the phone to talk. Nice. We were going to bribe him with food but he didn't stay too long -- thank goodness.

Saturday was the tougher of the two days as we had almost everyone coming that day. It was very much like Jimmy's House of Hugs that way. Actors came throughout the day and most were not there longer than two hours (and if so, it was only by choice that they were there longer). I think they were pleasantly surprised to find that even though we started late, that we finished on time, and that meant not only finishing on time for the whole day but for each person. I always write in the schedule what time I expect each actor to wrap.

We did have to push off some of Rachael's (Susan) shots until Sunday, but I had planned for this, anyway. After we finished filming all the cubicle stuff on Sunday, we really had fun, because all we had to do was the scene with Susan and Dave (Bill McNally) on the stairs. We all found out then, how much Bill McNally loves sandwiches. Well, all, except for Patrick, since he already knew his brother well. He warned us that "the kid loves sandwiches". When Bill looked longingly at his sandwich, whispering it sweet nothings, it so provocative that I could not allow those clips in this family-friendly film.

I really wish I had the energy to write about everyone in this film. I love my cast and crew. Everyone was so professional, talented and fun. Each brought something special to this film. I know that sounds so generic but I mean it. I do want to name a few people specifically, though. First, I must credit Bill one directing one shot. When Gary, the boss (played by Jonathan J. Donahue) pops up to give Andrea his $5, something was missing from the bit. It wasn't a crucial element of the film but if it didn't click, then it would feel like a waste of screen time. Bill suggested that Jonathan snap the bill in front of the camera before handing it over. It worked quite nicely. It would have been such a blah shot if not for that snap!

Second, and it may sound silly to some that I mention this, but Michael Sullivan (credited as Michael Patrick Sullivan due to the dozens of Michael Sullivans on IMDB, but I tell you, he should be THE Michael Sullivan) arrived early. This is noteworthy because the location, despite google directions and explanation from me, was really difficult to find. So a few people were a little late because of this, but Michael was not only on time but early. He said he hates being late. That quality, along with the fact he's a darn good actor and very intriguing to watch, and just a very likable guy should get him a lot more work in films.

Also, Michael and Jonathan were so supportive that when I realized I needed a little ambient background noise a couple of weeks later, both were very happy to come back and provide their voices for the background. I'm sure the pizza I offered helped but I know they both would have come anyway.

I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich was the most successful of all my films to date. I finished it in two and a half months, just in time to submit it to the Plimouth Independent Film Festival where it premiered in July. It screened in 30 festivals between July, 2007 and December, 2008 and won 4 awards (Best Comedy, 5th Place overall, and two audience awards). Note I was present for only one of these awards. (Just saying because attending a festival can influence the audience or judges a wee bit, so I feel good knowing that Sandwich still won 3 awards I wasn't there for!)

I had originally planned to put the film in only a few festivals, just so I could have it listed on IMDB. I made it to put up on YouTube, but when I found it was getting in to festivals at a higher rate than my other films, I put off putting it online, and enjoyed the festival success.

Again, I feel there are so many other people I should mention but I just don't have the time. I have written other posts about the film, so please click the I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich link to find more!

Thank you again, to my cast and crew.

Back Lot Films, Inc: Work-in-progress excerpt from 'A Look Back at Old M...

2010-07-08T09:53:00.000-04:00

This is a sneak peek of a new documentary on Old Man Dogs, a film by Bill Millios that starred Bill McNally (Dave in I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich) and myself. The 16mm feature was filmed in 1996 and released in 1997.

And now, the story behind "I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich" - Part 1

2010-04-13T10:54:00.009-04:00

A few years ago I wrote posts on the stories behind the making of my films. I just realized that I never did this for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich. I really just plain forgot but part of it may have been due to my having to confess a few things.

THE ITCH AND THE IDEA

It was either late January or early February of 2007. Jeremy and I had been in Arlington for about six months, both working full time jobs. It had been a little more than a year since I filmed anything, and getting close to three years since we filmed our biggest project, Eddie's Winning Date. Due to time and money constraints, it had taken us 14 or 15 months to complete Eddie's. I was then spending time shopping it around to festivals and attending them. At this same time Jeremy and I had decided to move from Los Angeles back to Boston so we had to put our efforts into saving money for our move. We both had a lot of OT opportunities at our jobs so we took them.

So that winter a few years ago I had a creative itch I needed to scratch. I really hadn't been thinking of doing another short, at least not another short that cost any money to make. I wanted to save the efforts for a feature. But we weren't anywhere close to doing a feature and the need to create took over. I figured if we were to do another short, it would be a simple, near no-budget film -- and really, that's all we could afford anyway.

I wasn't sure what to do until one day I was eating lunch at my desk and a co-worker of mine came by and said, "Oh, you like carrots?" I was a little annoyed, feeling the animal instinct to hide with my meal. I realized that that was my film. The story started forming in my head.

Now, I had decided that if I were to do a film that I wanted to get it done in time for the Plymouth Independent Film Festival. They had screened two of my films in their first two festivals so I knew I had a good chance of getting something in again. So I figured that we needed to film by the end of March and that meant that I should start looking for a cast soon. I wanted to get the word out as soon as possible as scheduling auditions and finding the right people would take some time.

Here's my first confession: I put a classified ad in newenglandfilm.com before I wrote the script. Now that goes against just about everything I'm about and I, as an actor, would never send my headshot in to a production that didn't have a script. I just knew I would get the script done, and I already knew what to look for in my main character, and for everyone else, I wanted a variety of types of people, so I just needed to state that.

I actually can't remember when I finished the script. I probably spend a week on it. When I sent sides to the actors I don't think they were from the final version of the script, but often that isn't the case any way.

CASTING

Here's my second confession, and any Sandwich actors reading this, please stay tuned, because it does get complimentary: I didn't get a lot of headshots. At the time, Newenglandfilm.com wasn't great at updating their classifieds in a timely manner (I believe they've gotten much better at it now, though) and I think a lot of actors just didn't always look there. I deliberately decided not to put an ad on Craigs List because I knew I would sifting through resumes of several people who wouldn't be right and then possibly auditioning too many people. I guess I don't enjoy long audition sessions. I told myself, though, that I was going to get the right people for the film, and that the actors reading the classified on NE Film were more likely to be serious actors, so that one ad was the only one I placed.

I neglected to mention earlier, that another reason I wanted to film again was to prove I could start and complete a film that was not a school project. This would be our first entirely non-student film. The great thing about school, though, is that it provides you with audition spaces. Now we were on our own. We didn't have the money to rent a space and nor would we audition people at our home. I then thought to ask the people at ACMI, our community cable station, of which we were members, to see if we could use one of their rooms. They agreed as long as they could show our films. Fine with us.

The evening of the audition, Jeremy wasn't feeling well, so my father came to help me with the audition. He did the camera as I read with the actors. My father also asked everyone how they got there and did they know how to get back. If they didn't know the best way, well, Dad made sure he gave them the best route. To my national readers, if there are any, it's a New England thing.

Well, anyway, every actor who came in did a very good read. The women all read for Susan, the main character, as well as one of the other female characters. Each actor fit into one of the characters so well that I felt I was already choosing the cast as the auditions went on. I found that while the women all read well for Susan, that I loved them in the character roles better.

I believe the first woman to audition was Zele Avradopoulos. Good Susan read but when she read Claudia, I knew I wouldn't find anyone better. I was so sure I would cast her that I started talking to her as if she knew she had the part. I had to catch myself.

With Penny Benson it was the same thing. When she read for Alexandrianna she claimed the part. With the part of Andrea, the young administrative assistant, I was a little torn between Nicole Levitre and Carolyne Gallo. I thought they both seemed a little young for Susan, even though they may have been a little older than they came off as. So they were both up for Andrea, but I went with Nicole because she had more of a contrast in type and energy to that of Susan's than Carolyne had. It had nothing to do with who was a better actor. I felt bad that all I had left to offer Carolyne was a one line part, but I hope she knows that I offered it to her only because I still thought highly of her talent. I do not throw just anyone into a role.

When I write scripts, I often already know the type of person I want for each role and how I generally expect them to deliver their lines. So I then look for the person to meet my vision. But, there's always the person that changes my mind. In Eddie's Winning Date it was Ryan O'Quinn, the guy from Virginia who played what was supposed to be a Boston guy's role. This time it was Michael Sullivan. I don't mean that he didn't come in meeting some of my vision. He had the laid back quality that I was looking for. The difference was that I had thought of the lines as just being thrown out kind of quickly and haphazardly, whereas Michael was much more deliberate and involved with the sandwich. His fixation on it was not just funny but had a certain vulnerability to it that you can't just force out of any actor. I love when humor has that kind of sweetness and vulnerability to it. I thought Michael was a true gem.

I also had him read for Dave, the guy at the end of the film who is also trying to eat his sandwich. At that point I wasn't sure what would happen with that role. I had asked my brother, Stephen, if he would do the part but he was still living and working in New York City and he wasn't sure if he could get off of work that weekend. I loved Michael's reading of Dave, too. I knew I would cast him, but just wasn't positive what in role. I was leaning toward having him as Jeff, even if Stephen wouldn't be able to play Dave.

Jonathan J. Donahue read for the role of Gary, the boss. With the boss, I was more open to the kind of person who would play him. My only real requirement for the role was that he come off as a bit inept, overwhelmed and trying to keep it together. Jonathan was a little nervous for his audition but it actually worked well for the role. I had more guys to see after Jonathan, but I felt happy after his read, because I thought he would be great in the role.

I was supposed to have more auditions another day but there was a snowstorm, and the few actors I had scheduled that day all had to cancel. One of them was Dan Bolton, who played Michael. I could tell from his headshot that he was a good actor and that I could cast him without even seeing him. There's a story to the character, Michael - he was originally a female named Lakshmi and Claudia, the HR person, couldn't pronounce his name. I didn't get any Indian actresses, though, so I needed to rethink the role. I then thought it would be funnier to have a guy with an easy name that Claudia thinks is more exotic than it is. Add to the fact that Dan is a very anglo-saxon looking guy, I thought it worked much better than the Lakshmi idea. I'll probably write a little bit more on Dan in part 2 when I talk about production.

Back to the role of Dave -- it turned out that Stephen wasn't able to come up the weekend we were filming. So I asked good ol' Bill McNally to do the part. I've know Bill since 1996, when we acted in Bill Millios' film Old Man Dogs. Bill McNally has also spent time behind the camera as a director and assistant director and so Bill also helped us out as an AD and our sound guy.

I didn't have anyone for Sam so I asked Sonny McCarthy to play the part. I met Sonny when we both acted in a Fitchburg State College film that fall. He was a nice guy and good to work with and even though the film we did was totally different from Sandwich, I thought he'd fit the role well.

Another person I asked to do a role is my friend, Ken Toomey, whom I've known since high school. I gave him the line, "Susan, do you really eat baloney?" Ken has performed in many shows in the past and he also performs every day as a fifth grade teacher. It turns out it's a good thing to put a teacher in your film. Because his students have provided many of the hits that Sandwich has received on YouTube.

This is the part I really didn't want to admit because I thought the actors would feel insulted. Just about everyone who auditioned for me got a part. But, actors, please read on. If I did not feel that they were the best people for the roles I cast them in, I would have kept looking. I am very picky about whom I cast from the main role to the smallest part (except for the tiny voice over part I cast myself for in Eddie's Winning Date which was two words -- "Eddie who?"). While I do not enjoy having lots of auditions, I will not settle on anyone who does not meet the needs of the role. I felt very fortunate to happen upon actors who were perfect for my vision. If I auditioned ten people for every role, I would have still picked this same cast. And just look at Richard Propes review. He loved the cast.

After auditions, the only role I still needed to cast was Susan. I deliberated over how to go about it. I then thought of my friend, Rachael Lillis, who lived in New York. Rachael has made a name for herself in the voice over world doing voices on Pokemon. But the woman really should be on camera. She's very natural and can tell the audience what she's thinking with the most subtle expressions. So I called and asked her, thinking she would probably not be able to do it. To my surprise she was available and totally gung ho for it.

I was afraid that the other actresses would think that I always intended to cast Rachael, and that I lured them in to audition for me under the guise of auditioning for the lead but never meaning to give them the part. As an actor, myself, I would be ticked if I were auditioning with false pretenses. I can tell you that there absolutely were none. I really meant to find Susan through auditions, but it just worked out the way it did.

Casting is a huge part of making a film. I really believe that a huge chunk of directing is taken care of in casting. If you cast the right people, you usually don't need to give them much direction, and when you do it's just little adjustments here and there.

OK, I had intended to write everything in one post but this part of it has already taken up some time. So I'm going to write about production and post production in another post.

Wanted (and appreciated): Fans

2010-04-07T15:52:00.002-04:00

I just created a page on Facebook and hope that you will become a fan!

"Jimmy's House of Hugs" and other films on Vimeo

2010-03-02T10:58:00.002-05:00

Jimmy's House of Hugs from Julia Radochia on Vimeo.

I just made a Vimeo account and put some of my films up there, like Jimmy's House of Hugs. I also just put Jimmy's on YouTube yesterday.

"Like His Father" on Ourfilmspace

2010-02-21T10:32:00.002-05:00

Find more videos like this on OurFilmSpace.com

I've had Like His Father up on my website for a long time now, but the screen is small and the file is very compressed. So I uploaded a new file to my page this week.

Sandwich on Myspace

2010-02-17T09:27:00.001-05:00

I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich

House of Hugs Productions | MySpace Video

I always give the You Tube link for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich, but if you want to watch a better quality version, check it out on Myspace.

Sally's Dream House

2010-02-08T21:22:00.001-05:00

Find more videos like this on OurFilmSpace.com

And now I finally put Sally's Dream House online. Note that this, as well as Eddie's, is a large file, so you may want to let it buffer for a bit before starting to play it.

Watch "Eddie's Winning Date"

2010-02-05T11:26:00.001-05:00

Find more videos like this on OurFilmSpace.com

Since it's Super Bowl weekend, I thought I'd post my 15 minute Super Bowl themed date movie.

"Against the Wind" Short Film by Dan Masucci

2010-01-12T14:04:00.001-05:00

This is a film by a friend, Dan Masucci. It's been in countless film festivals. While it's about growing old I've found that people of all ages have really taken to it. Now I'm one who usually refuses to cry during sentimental films but this one really got me.

Both Alike in Dignity

2009-11-04T13:25:00.001-05:00

OK, finally I make another post here. I thought I'd share a film that I acted in a year and a half ago (March, 2008). It's a Boston University graduate film (on 16mm) by Russ Anderson. I'm not particularly proud of my acting in it. Some of it I like, some of it I don't. I'm posting it mostly because I want to support other filmmakers. I feel that if a filmmaker was nice enough to offer me a role that I should at least try to help him or her get an audience for it. I guess, also, being a filmmaker myself, I don't like it when actors do a film for you and then act as if it were beneath them. OK, I won't go down that road any further...

The rest of the cast includes Eamon Brooks, with Louis Pascuale, Ross Neuenfeldt, Sarah Purdum and Eric Joslin.

My Website

2009-03-31T15:00:00.002-04:00

For over four years I've been using my Mac Home Page for my website. I've been meaning to build my own website, but it wasn't until recently that I took a couple of online html/creating web pages courses so I could learn to do it myself.

I still have a lot of work to do, but I did finally create a new -- and temporary -- home page. You will see this new very basic page when you go to www.houseofhugsprod.com. (Before this URL would direct you to my Mac home page. ) Now, I will re-do this page as I used the most basic html to create it and would rather use style sheets to build my whole site. I just wanted to put up something for now.

You will also see that since we're getting free hosting, that it has that banner stuff on top of the page. Of course this is not very pretty, but, well, that's what it has to be at this moment.

Note that this page does have a link to bring you to my old/current website at http://homepage.mac.com/joycehepburnsdaugh/Personal5.html

Happy at Home now online

2009-02-22T17:25:00.002-05:00

Today I decided to put Happy at Home up on YouTube. Starring Sean Vincent Biggins as Steve and his dog Neo as, well, Neo.

My husband, Jeremy Ward, did the music (among other things).

I had previously written two posts about Happy at Home. You can find them the first one here and the second one here.

Sandwich's Zele a Hit in Mall Cop & more...

2009-01-29T11:45:00.004-05:00

I'm always happy when anyone who acted in one of my films moves on and up to bigger and better things.

Zele Avradopolous, who played Claudia, the pushy HR woman in I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich is getting quite a name for herself as the feisty Victoria's Secret shopper in Paul Blart: Mall Cop who beats up Kevin James' character.

As we know, there have been a lot more Hollywood films done in the Boston area and that often provides local actors opportunities to get supporting and day player roles. So while, Zele may not be the first local actor to get an opportunity in a major feature film, she seems to be making more of a stir than the other have, after all, I haven't known of any other local actors having a Boston Globe article written only about them! I was quite excited to this article on Zele in last Saturday's paper. Be sure to check it out!

Note that the article also mentions Zele's organizing business, ZOrganize. Ahh, if I ever make more money I may need to hire her. I'm sure she's great at this, after all, she had a very professional and organized approach to working on Sandwich. When I worked with Zele I found her to be very honest and communicative -- and also a lot of fun!

And for the "more" part of this post, I was tickled today to receive a Google alert linking to an article in a Cook County (Illlinois) paper that mentioned Eddie's Winning Date among six football themed films to watch to gear up for the big game on Sunday. Bob Bong mentioned Eddie's in today's Southtown Star alongside major films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Eddie's has played in a two film festivals in Illinois -- Lake County Film Festival and Route 66 Film Festival, so I assume that's how Mr. Bong knows about it.

So, please check it out! The article does say that I also starred in the film as well as write and direct it. I sent an email to correct the part about my starring in it. The only acting I did in Eddie's was a one line voice over. Actually, it was only two words.

Anyway, it was just nice to have this mention in a newspaper article. After all Eddie's Winning Date was making it's major festival run about three years ago, although it did have screenings going up until last April. So when someone else brings it up somewhere, you feel like you breathed enough life into it to give it its own.

So thanks to Bob Bong and congratulations to Zele for her success in Mall Cop!

A Little "Jimmy's" on a Snowy Day

2008-12-19T12:54:00.003-05:00

Here is Jimmy's House of Hugs. This one goes back several years now. I thought I'd finally post it and share it with you.

Click here to see the post I wrote about the film.

With the Angels

2008-11-09T15:50:00.005-05:00

I wanted to take a moment to help promote a new web series, With the Angels, that my friend and star of Happy at Home, Sean Vincent Biggins, is in.

Here's the description of the show (taken from its youtube page):

Former Lonelygirl15 writer Mary Feuer tells the fish-out-of-water story of Taffy Simpson, a small-town Arkansas girl swimming in the freak-infested waters of Venice, California.

The series stars Jamie Tisdale as Taffy, whom I find absolutely adorable. Usually I find that actors portraying southern characters come off as fake and one dimensional but I find Tisdale's performance very honest and real. Sean plays Trey, a Hollywood writer who is a neighbor of Taffy's. Sean, well, he's always a pro.

If you don't have much of an attention span, well, these episodes are anywhere from under a minute to seven and a half minutes. I hope you'll check them out!

The 80s

2008-11-02T17:45:00.005-05:00

The Pointer Sisters - New Music - More Music Videos

Jeremy and I finally saw "American Psycho" last night. We loved the movie, but after watching some of the DVD special features, we were annoyed by the message that the 80s were run by selfish, shallow people who made money doing nothing. It represented more how East Village artists viewed the 80s than how it really was. I think people who were clubbing in New York in the 80s don't necessarily have (and actually, most likely don't) a more objective point of view than the rest of America.

I'm just tired of people thinking that money is bad and that anyone who has it didn't earn it. Sure, some people are born rich, were handed down money and can be downright spoiled, but most people who have money actually worked for it. And if they didn't earn it themselves, as long as it wasn't obtained legally or unethically, well, then, it's none of my business. Look, I don't have much money, myself, but I can't be bothered being jealous of rich people. Spending energy hating them doesn't make my own bank account any bigger. Instead, my husband and I are just plugging away trying to fulfill our own dreams, doing what we can to earn our own money, and not looking for other people to be forced to give it to us.

I think this mentality is actually what has helped me make all my films. I never thought that anyone owed me anything in getting my films done. Now, I've looked at other people who have been handed money to get their films made and I think, well, if they can get the money from someone else, good for them. (The only thing that bothers me is if someone pretends that they funded it all on their own.) It's not their problem that I've had to fund my films on my own and have yet to afford a high end production. But I've been fortunate to have a husband who has helped me in many ways as well as have many other people who have stepped up to contribute their talents as well. Not to mention that Dad bought lunch for the cast and crew when we filmed I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich. Whatever people want to help me with, I just make sure that I do my best to make them happy in return, so that they feel good in helping me out!

My point is, I took on my films as my complete responsibility, and that whatever other people did to help me out was a gift, which drove me to do the right thing by everyone and make sure that they saw a return in the work they put in for me.

But back to the 80s -- in this decade of "greed", charitable contributions including corporate giving, were way up. So with more money, more donations to charity are made -- hmmmm. Oh, maybe I've giving away some of my political beliefs, but this is just a little food for thought, folks... (Keep in mind, I didn't always think this way.)

Now, at the time, I really didn't have much awareness of anything outside my world, because, for most of it I was a teenager, spending most of my thoughts on boys, theater, school, and dancing to the latest songs by Madonna, Kool and the Gang and the Pointer Sisters.

I was a total dancing fool. And "Dare Me" was one of my favorite songs. So when I came across the video on the MTV website, I just had to post it.

Hey, the 80s were fun. Really. OK, whatever your views are, I just hope that you'll play the video and do a little dance for me -- or for you.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T20:40:00.003-04:00

Here are a few pictures from Halloween in 1977.

Mom and youngest bro, Stephen.

My middle brother, Michael.

Bill and me.

Happy Halloween. All I can think of is this upcoming election. Dare I risk revealing a political belief and say what scares me most this year? Because I tell you, the potential results of this upcoming election frighten me.

Eh, I'm too scared to reveal myself. Maybe someday.

Happy 40th to My Twin

2008-09-13T16:40:00.002-04:00

Above are my brothers Michael, Stephen and Bill (my twin).
This picture was taken on our birthday in 1988 and sent to me
(I was spending my junior year of college in Florence). It's kind
of scary to think that was exactly half our lives ago.

OK, this is just a quickie post. I want to find some more pictures to put up of Bill but many of the pictures I want are at our parents'. Anyway, for now, Happy Birthday, Bill.

I can't believe we're really 40.

"Sandwich" on You Tube

2008-09-04T20:02:00.003-04:00

The main purpose I had for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich was to put it up on You Tube. It's what I put in the audition ad I placed. I thought I would put the film in only a few festivals, just to make it IMDB worthy.

But I got hooked on the initial festival acceptances (and awards) and decided to go for more. I decided to submit it to festivals for at least a year. So I thought it would be better to hold off on putting it up on You Tube while it was in its festival run.

Well, I am still waiting to hear back from a few festivals, but at this point I see it's not worth waiting for just a few more before putting the film online. Also, many festivals don't care if it's already on You Tube. Anyway, the film was meant for You Tube and now it's there.

I hope you enjoy it!

Check out Mario in Everybody Wants to Be Italian

2008-08-09T08:44:00.002-04:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

I first met my friend , P.J. Marino, 12 years ago when we were both acting in a local feature film, Bender. Well, actually we met sometime before that on an audition, but we didn't really know each other until the film. Soon after we worked together, I moved to New York and P.J. moved to Los Angeles. Of course I was in New York for only a couple of years and soon joined P.J. and other Bender alumna in LA. Actually some of my best times in LA involved hanging out with the Bender crew.

You probably recognize P.J.'s face. He's guest starred on countless TV shows and has been in several independent films and commericals. Remember the Coors ad a few years ago with Kid Rock, where his sound engineer, before partying with him, tells him he has to be home early? Kid Rock takes him out all night getting him home early in the morning where the guy finds his angry wife on the doorstep. That guy was P.J.

Now P.J. has a decent role in an upcoming feature film, Everybody Wants to Be Italian, coming to local theaters on September 5th. The movie is set in Boston and P.J. has a supporting role in it. Check out the movie's website for more information. And check out the clip above, too. These are 5 mock commercials by P.J.'s character in the movie, Mario. Funny stuff -- I particularly love the one where he's a life coach.

I'm happy to see P.J. do so well. He's always been a good friend. When I had surgery on my deviated septum 9 years ago, P.J. was the one who took me to and from surgery, dragging my anesthetized a** home. He picked up my prescription for me, too. Aww, I'm getting some fuzzies just remembering it. :)

And on top of being a good guy, he's pretty darn funny. Please check out his videos, his myspace page, and check out the film!

Little to Say

2008-07-29T12:17:00.002-04:00

This is my husband, Jeremy's, music video for his song "Little to Say". He took all this footage in the fall of 2002 when he was in the Los Angeles City College Cinema program. (After helping me out with my films the first year I was in the program, Jeremy thought he'd take some of the classes himself!)

Jeremy has done a lot of work on all of my films and I helped him with his films, too, but this particular video is ALL him. He shot all the footage, wrote and performed the song, and edited it together himself. I tried to help him workaround a bug in Final Cut Pro (with not the best results) but I have no artistic credit in this one.

Jeremy will write a blog post about the video on his myspace page -- myspace.com/wardjeremy so I'll let him explain it for you.

Jimmy called

2008-07-13T22:10:00.005-04:00

This photo of Gianfranco Russo was taken by Kevin M. King,
a guy I used to work with at LRN when I was living in LA. This
was taken after shooting Jimmy's House of Hugs. (I remember
it was July, 2003.) I wanted to have a good photo of Gianfranco
to possibly use for a poster for the film. I never did anything
with this photo. This is the first time I'm posting it anywhere.

I was reminded this week of how important it is to work with the right people. This past week, I received a message on my LA voice mail from Gianfranco Russo, Jimmy in Jimmy's House of Hugs. Soon after filming, Gianfranco disappeared from the United States and found success in Italy acting in an Italian soap opera. I've written in a past blog how I've always wanted to find him again. After all, I would like to do a feature version of Jimmy's, and to me, only Gianfranco is Jimmy.

Gianfranco called me wanting to touch base again. I was absolutely thrilled hearing from him. I was happy not just because he's a talented actor and the perfect Jimmy, but also because he was such a joy to work with. He was so professional, patient, kind and genuine. While finding people who are both talented and reliable is difficult, it is even more difficult to find the talented, reliable people whom you feel you can have a good working relationship with. I do meet other nice, capable people in this field, but it doesn't mean I necessarily want to work with them.

Both Jeremy and I have always wanted to work with Gianfranco again. We'll see if that happens. Even if it doesn't I hope we stay in touch. But whatever happens I just feel he's still on my team (and we're on his).

Bill Millios is another one of the few people on my team. Jeremy and I visited Bill at his new studio in Manchester this past weekend. Bill was interviewing me for a short documentary on Old Man Dogs. He's coming out with a new DVD of the film in the fall. Now we filmed Old Man Dogs twelve years ago -- before my adventures in New York and Los Angeles. I went into the interview feeling like I didn't remember much, but, of course, as we talked, more memories came back. The main thing I easily remembered was how much I loved doing the film and enjoyed working with Bill, Bill McNally (the lead) and the other cast and crew. McNally was as easy-going as actors come, and Millios, well, he knew what he wanted as a director, but he trusted his actors to get it. If we got a little off track, he'd nudge us back on, but never in any overbearing way.

I realize I have to give Bill credit for another thing -- and that is being so supportive of my own filmmaking. After all, he knew me as actor first, and some filmmakers get a little weird when you go from being "their" actress to a filmmaker yourself. I had a friend who had done some indie films with some fairly big actors in them. We had kept in touch for several years as friends (we were on opposite coasts for most of that time) and he had always spoke of casting me in one of his films.

Long story short, a few years ago I gave him, in person, a tape of three of my films that I wrote, directed and edited. I never heard from him since. Yes, I did try to contact him, myself. He never responded .

Well, he was a Mets -- and an Eagles fan. So, maybe he never was on my team...

New Babies

2008-06-14T10:44:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, my second nephew, Samuel Chamberlain Radochia, came into this world, joining his brother, Brian. For any of you who think, eek, Friday the 13th, well, my twin brother, Bill (Sam's father), and I were born on a Friday the 13th so we think it's a mighty fine day.

Welcome, Sam. I'm happy to be your Auntie. :)

Not quite on the same level, I had a new baby of my own this week, that is, a new short film. This film was really more an exercise. It's something I did for the Broad Humor Film Festival. Sally's Dream House is screening there this year (actually tomorrow), but they also have what they call the "Legacy Project". It's for alumnae of Broad Humor, and since I had films in the festival for the first two years, I'm an alumna. The project is kind like a 48 hour film project (except you could have been working on it for months) in that you make a film under 5 minutes with the criteria that they give you. This year the criteria was that you had to have the French language and Pez in the film.

I wasn't going to do this project. I felt I had way too much on my plate. And I was already a part of the festival since Sally's was screening in it.

But about 10 or 11 days ago, I called Susan to work out a little confusion I had over something (which turned out not to be a big deal). Susan said, "Hey, are you going to do a Pez film?" I said that I thought it was too late. She replied, "No, as long as you get it in before the festival. You can shoot something this weekend!"

And I went, "OKAY!"

Then I thought, oh gosh, what did I get myself into. I didn't have the freest schedule the rest of the week. And on Sunday night I was going to be attending the Baker Street Film Maker's Showcase at Quincy Market where I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich was playing.

Friday evening I sat down and wrote the script. It took me a little over an hour. Since there was no time I decided I would be acting in it, along with my brother, Stephen. We, meaning Jeremy and I, didn't have time to borrow a better camera so we were going to shoot it on my 1 chip.

I wrote the script about a brother and sister having a political disagreement over the phone. It ends with them making peace. So Jeremy filmed some of my stuff in Maine on Saturday and then Stephen's (and the rest of mine) in Arlington on Sunday. I then squeezed in editing on nights during the week. My deadline ended up being 11pm on Thursday when I would upload the film on my .mac account and have Susan download it from there.

I got her the film around midnight. I didn't even get to adjust the sound levels nor did I add any music (and there's a place where music would REALLY come in handy). I just had to send her what I had. And since this film was not good enough quality to send to other festivals and was good only for this year's Broad Humor fest, I was determined to at least get it in to her, whatever state it was in.

I normally would think, ugh, why do another film if it's not going to go anywhere? But I started and finished it within a week. I found it great just to get a kick on the butt and create something. There is value that. So I thank Susan for kind of making me do it.

And it was cool to finally work with Stephen on a film.

Alright, enough on this. I want to go see my new nephew.

While Maggie sleeps..

2008-05-22T19:38:00.007-04:00

..I thought I'd write up some news and some plugs. (Pictured above is Maggie, my parents' golden. If you've read my posts before, then you may know that I just always like to have a picture, and as I've said before, when you don't know what picture to post, a photo of a golden retriever will ALWAYS do!)

Now for the news:

First, today I found out that one of my fellow bridesmaids from My Best Friend's Girl, Seba Johnson, was in a ski accident two months ago, breaking her pelvis in 3 places. I first met Seba a little over a year ago when doing extra work on a Foxwoods Casino commercial. We then worked together on other films, most recently on The Box last December. I've always been happy to see Seba, because I know that I'm with a friend.

Seba is a ray of light on any set. I was shocked to discover she was so badly hurt. But she has a strong spirit and is doing well. It will take her months before she can walk on her own again but is making progress and holding up with such determination and grace.

You may be interested to hear that Seba is not only an up and coming actress, but she also is an Olympic skier and an animal rights activist. Here is an excerpt from her bio:

Now and again, to this day, Seba is recognized by celebrities and fans who followed her ski racing career when she made history as the "Youngest Alpine Ski Racer in Olympic History" - a title she holds to this day (along with "The First and Only Black Female Ski Racer in Olympic History.")

But I feel my post can't do her enough justice. Please check out her site, if not for her, for you. I was really touched and inspired by the update she posted just a few days ago. There is also an address to donate money for Seba's medical bills. And I know Seba truly appreciates being in people's thoughts and prayers. She is a woman always counting her blessings. She'd love to have you sign her guestbook.

P.S. She has no idea I'm writing this. I just felt shaken when I found out about her accident today. I emailed her and she quickly emailed me back. I just wanted to do a little something for her.

More news -- Dan Masucci's film, Letting Go, is now up the Mini Movie Channel. It's a four minute film about a boy deciding he's old enough to give up his "blanky". There is so much packed in this short film. My parents and I saw it at the Plymouth Independent Film Festival last year and my mother cried. We saw it again at the Marblehead Winter Film Festival and my mother cried again. (Thanks, Dan -- making my mother cry twice!) Dan and his brother, Joe, make beautifully shot and wonderfully told stories on film. Please check out their site, www.fountainheadpictures.com and check out Letting Go!

Also, it's not just on the web, but Letting Go will be released on DVD through Spiritual Cinema Circle. Spiritual Cinema Circle provides audiences with inspiring films for your heart and soul. If you join, they'll send you a DVD every month with four films, usually some combination of shorts and features, both narrative and documentaries. Congratulations to Dad on his success with Letting Go and look out for his most recent short, Against the Wind!

Lastly, I just got news today that I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich and Happy at Home were accepted to the Washougal International Film Festival in Washougal, WA. I don't usually post all my festival news here -- I do that on my website and myspace. I wanted to mention this because it is Happy at Home's first festival acceptance. I haven't sent it to many festivals -- I've been saving my money and energy for Sandwich, but I have sent to a few and have been eagerly awaiting for a premiere for Happy. It's just really nice that it not only got accepted but it got an EARLY acceptance, as the festival is still taking submissions for a couple of more months. So that means they really like these films. :)

OK, I'm a little tired from all this typing. Maybe I'll join Maggie..

Mamma's Day Meditation

2008-05-11T22:29:00.004-04:00

This is a still from the last film I was in a couple of months ago,
"Both Alike in Dignity" by BU grad student, Ross Anderson.
(Ross, I hope you don't mind my using this!)

This is another one of those posts in which I have no idea what to say. I'm writing for kind of meditative purposes right now.

I did a BU grad film a couple of months ago and this past Thursday evening I went to the screening. I decided that however I looked, however bad I thought my acting was, that I was going to be okay with it. When I act in a film I want to do a great job, but I'm very aware that I'm better playing some roles than others, and my persona has only a certain range even if I can say lines with the appropriate feeling. I suppose casting and directing films has made me extra aware of that. It has allowed me to step outside of myself (somewhat) when I watch myself on film.

I thought I definitely could have been better in the film but that overall I was okay. And I'm okay with thinking that. It's kind of a relief to be like that now, but I think that my sensitivities by have just simply transferred themselves to the other side of the camera.

So I left the screening with my DVD in hand, anxiety free from watching me-self, enjoying the warm night as I headed back to my car amidst all the students. It felt good to make the trip to Comm Ave. Though, it didn't seem long ago when all these people were my age. Now I'm a whole generation older... and the Taco Bell, which had been there for at least a generation itself, and that I frequented the evening I was acting in this film, had just disappeared. Damn. They had Wild Cherry Pepsi, too.

Eh, I probably outgrew the Taco Bell. It seemed a bit run down when I was in it two months before.

I was at my aunt and uncle's this evening for a Mother's Day celebration. I was talking with my cousin and her fiance about how you can drive yourself crazy comparing yourself to others but it's still a very natural thing for us to do. We're all trying to figure out where we're supposed to be and we look to see what others are doing for some kind of guidance, but it often ends up making us concentrating on what we're lacking.

I can't help but to think on Mother's Day after seeing so many young mothers and their kids that I'm like a 12 year old in a car seat. I had thought that at this age I would be getting my own Mother's Days cards.

There are really good things happening this year. I'm getting married to Jeremy very soon. I'm a 39 year old first time bride. (I was always a late bloomer.)

Yeah, I do compare myself. I remember doing it since kindergarten when I noticed other kids had social skills that I didn't. I remember in the first grade looking at other girls and think, "If only I were her." Then I continued the thought and realized that if I actually could become this other girl then I wouldn't have the family and relatives that I had. And I thought, oh no, that won't do. I'm not trading my parents/brothers/cousins/aunts/uncles." And so I thought, okay, I'll be myself.

I'll continue with that thought.

Belfast & Comic Arts Laugh Festival

2008-04-30T21:06:00.012-04:00

I've been meaning to post some pictures from our weekend in Belfast, ME 2 1/2 weeks ago. Below is the Colonial Theater where the Comic Arts Laugh Festival held most of its screenings. And yes, there was a red carpet, a camera, and a guy in a tux.

I mentioned before that the festival played all of my comedy shorts, many of them quite old now, but it also screened some new films such as He's My Dad by the Mensher Brothers, a touching tale of a young girl discovering her misunderstood serial-killer Dad (you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll call Social Services) and The Perfect Mark, a film by none other than Route 66 Film Festival director, Linda McElroy. In this film Linda plays an elderly woman who has her own way of dealing with two men who scam her. This was the world premiere for Linda's film and I hope she finds more screenings for it.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks and a couple of post ago, Jeremy and I had a great time at this festival and loved visiting Belfast for the first time. So here are some more pictures to give you an idea of what our weekend was like.

This is pretty much the center intersection of town. Take a right
here and walk down the block and you'd soon find the Colonial Theater.
If you follow the intersecting street downhill, you'd be walking towards
the water.

Looking uphill as we were walking back from the dock.

Jeremy, a lamp post and a view downhill.

This man in the tux is Tim from the Mark and Tim Show, a TV
show broadcast on Maine cable TV stations. He interviewed me for
the show. Here he's telling me to wave at the camera. I realize that
missing are an entourage, fans, film attendees (well, it was in the middle
of a screening), but hey, I was still enjoying the moment -- and was
having a decent hair day.

I have more photos posted on my myspace page.

A Post to Pacify Me

2008-04-20T22:23:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure what I'm here to write. I'm supposed to become officially full time at my job tomorrow (even though I'm working full time hours anyway) and while I'm thankful for the opportunity, there's a big part of me that feels choked. Every hour I'm at work I feel away from myself and away from creating and being creative. Now it's not my employer's responsibility to provide me my happiness and my dreams. I just wish I didn't need the benefits of being fully employed.

Thanks to all sorts of regulations, I do need them. Trying to refrain from any political-speak here, I can't help but to think that if there were fewer regulations we would all be freer.

Oh, and I love my freedom.

I've been feeling depressed over not having time to do my thing, so I'm trying to insert a wee bit of creativity here. The above photo is actually from a slide that Jeremy took of me for a cinematography class five years ago at LA City College. We both have many slides from our classes. One day last month I started experimented with scanning them wondering how they would come out. Just a straight scan caused them to appear dark so I played with bringing up the light. What you see above is the result of that. I think it's kind of neat. It looks almost like a painting instead of a photo.

Alright, I had my fun for this evening.

I also want to give a little shout-out to Nicole Ouellette who attended the Comic Arts Laugh Festival last week and left a comment on my last post. Nicole works for the internet newspaper, Ellsworth American in Ellsworth, ME and has her very own blog on personal finance. This past week she has featured some posts on saving energy and even ties in being green with last week's festival. And, oh, she kindly mentions my films and me in it. I'm grateful for her sending traffic my way and I hope to return the favor here!

OK, I think I feel a little bit better having written something, so I'm turning in now. Here's wishing you all a wonderful week. And tying back to the idea of freedom, have a Happy Patriots Day!

The Londonderry Inn

2008-04-13T21:55:00.003-04:00

Jeremy and I have just gotten back from Belfast, ME where the Comic Arts Laugh Festival was held these past five days. I'm too tired to be able to do any justice in describing the town and our weekend right now, but I do want to mention the Londonderry Inn, which is just two miles down the road from downtown Belfast. We stayed there just one night and boy, do we want to go back! The people running the inn were just so warm and friendly. They made Jeremy and me feel so comfortable from the second we walked in the door. Even the cats got up to say "hello" to us. (OK, that's an exaggeration, but they did get up.) The room was beautiful, homey and even had a little refrigerator in it -- and yes, it's own bathroom, too.

I like B&Bs but I always worry a little before staying at one. Since the setting is much more intimate than a hotel, I want to make sure I feel at ease with the people running it. So if you're like me, then no worries -- you'll be happy with the folks here.

Jeremy & Sandwich Updates

2008-04-05T16:21:00.006-04:00

OK, so that last post has me on this photos-from-the-80s theme. So here's a picture of Jeremy from high school. (I'm not sure of the exact year.)

And here's Jeremy graduating from USMC boot camp in 1985. He's here with his grandmother and younger brother, Jamie.

You guys were never cooler.

I feel like some updates are long overdue and I wanted to start off with what Jeremy has been up to. Jeremy Ward, my fiance, has done a lot of work on my films, helping me produce, do sound, sometimes camera, and, for most of my projects he's also done my music. If you've checked out my trailer, you may have read that he did the music for 4 of the 6 films on there.

Jeremy also has his own music myspace page. This is separate from his work with his Suitcase Poets partner, John McNeeley. I urge you to check out all their pages but I wanted to draw attention to Jeremy's page in particular right now, since in the last few weeks he put up four newly recorded songs, Mr. Not Quite Right, Going Home, Little to Say and Nothing. These are all rough demos but he felt good enough about them to share with the world. I've know Jeremy for nine years now but his voice has never sounded better to me. I find myself listening to these songs not just because I love the man but simply because they're just so compelling. They're all great songs, but Little to Say is my favorite.

Jeremy has written posts on his page about each page, so if you want to know how he came about writing these songs, well, he can tell you better than I can.

Now onto I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich. It has been accepted to a few more festivals -- the Comic Arts Laugh Festival in Belfast, ME (next weekend), the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Boulder, CO (in 3 weeks) and the Ohio Independent Film Festival in Cleveland (screening on May 10th).

I also found out through some Google searching, that I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich was reviewed by The Peaceful Critic, Richard Propes, at the Lake County Film Festival a month ago, and... he liked it! If you'd like to see his review, click here and scroll down and look for the review on the right of the page.

In addition to Sandwich, all my other comedy films will be playing at the Comic Arts Laugh Festival on Sunday, April 13th at noon, as well. I will also be giving a brief intro and Q&A after the screening.

Lastly, one of my Sandwich cast members, Zele Avradopoulos, has just filmed a day role in the new Kevin James movie. Check out this article on it in the Boston Herald. Way to go, Zele!

Thanks for tuning in.

Do you know Jack?

2008-04-02T22:17:00.006-04:00

I got a comment in my previous post from an old Arlington High School class of 1986 classmate of mine, Jack Paradis.

I like when people leave comments. It makes me feel like, well, somebody reads what I write.

And I like Jack Paradis. I haven't seen him in a loooooong time. Apparently, we are not able to live on the same coast at the same time. Jack is now in LA. And while I was in LA, Jack was in Arlington.

I've decided I should thank people who leave comments for me. And the best way to thank anyone who writes a comment is to post a picture or two of them taken in the '80s. I'm going to try to do that from now on. And, if you didn't exist in the 80s, well, you're too young too read, aren't you?

Eek, we're turning 40 this year. Jack just has.

Jack, the entertainer, with Marianne DiMascio -- December 1985
This was right after our performance of Story Theatre.

Jack the meat cutter -- May 1986

So that's my thank you to Jack. Anyone else want to see what photos I can drudge up of them?

Bertolli: Battle Romance

2008-03-27T21:54:00.007-04:00

My brother, Stephen Radochia, is in this ad made for a Bertolli contest. Written and directed by Tasha Huo, it also stars Alexandra McDougall.

It seems my posts lately have all been about food...

6 Frame Film

2008-03-23T22:34:00.010-04:00

It was a year ago today that we were filming I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich.

My filmmaker bug is scratching. I'm bothered I haven't done another film since.

Well, I did kind of do another film last summer -- a six frame film of my nephew, Brian, eating his ice cream. I'll play it for you right here. I'll call it I Just Want to Eat My Ice Cream.

To shut up and eat... I mean, write

2008-03-08T10:53:00.013-05:00

Rachael Lillis and Bill McNally "toasting" their sandwiches
on the set of I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich.

It's been a good week. It was off to a rough start when crazy ex-landlord (I'll call him "K") called Jeremy (my hero) and complained that there was still a Google search result linking his name to my former blog post about him. The post no longer appeared but he was upset it even still existed in the search results. So, Jeremy, politely stuffed K's face with a sandwich, well, figuratively, and then figured out how to remove it so he'd leave us alone. (Oooh, like the theme song from Sandwich, "Leave Me Alone".)

Then, on Wednesday I got an early festival acceptance to the Ohio Independent Film Festival (in Cleveland) in May for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich. It was also accepted as one of ten short films for an early promotional screening at the Twinsburg Library that very evening. I actually got the notice just a couple of hours before the screening began.

After a string of festival rejections lately, that brightened my day. But, even better, I heard from my screenwriting professor from LA City College. I had sent him Sandwich along with a compilation DVD of my other shorts (most of which he had seen). It made me a little nervous because he is nothing but honest (and I learned a ton from him). Here's some of what he said:

"Stempel, Thomas R" @lacitycollege.edu> wrote:

Julia,

You may not believe this, but I finally got around to looking at the films on your DVD. Some I did not watch, because I know them very well, such as Eddie’s Winning Date, but I did look at some of the classics.

I have to say that in spite of your quibbles about I Just Want to Eat my Sandwich, I think it is the best film you have done. It is sharp and funny and while you are right that the pacing could be quicker, it works the way it is.

He then went on and gave high marks to the acting, which made me happy since people doubt you can get great actors outside of New York and Los Angeles. He said that this film should be my calling card and when would I do my feature?

Oh, and my quibbles about Sandwich had all to do with the pacing (all my fault) and our lack of equipment to make it look and sound as we wish we could have. (Just in case you cast and crew are reading this -- my quibbles are all me. You guys were all wonderful.)

So I then responded with a long email talking about how I got my cast and all. I shared some interesting tidbits on that. Then I said that I really needed to get settled and find more time to write, blah, blah, blah.

The reply to my long rambling email was this:

"Stempel, Thomas R" @lacitycollege.edu> wrote:

Julia,

Shut up and write your script.

trs

Trailer for House of Hugs Productions pre 2008 Films

2008-02-23T21:49:00.003-05:00

Find more videos like this on OurFilmSpace.com

Finally, I completed a trailer for my first "official" films. This has clips from LIKE HIS FATHER, JIMMY'S HOUSE OF HUGS, SALLY'S DREAM HOUSE, EDDIE'S WINNING DATE, HAPPY AT HOME and I JUST WANT TO EAT MY SANDWICH. There are even a few brief clips from EDDIE'S and SANDWICH that were not in the original films.

Since there's only so much you can show in a trailer for a short film without giving the whole film away, I made this more of a musical trailer.
I hope you enjoy it.

Marblehead & More

2008-02-17T17:42:00.004-05:00

I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich went the whole month of January without a screening. This was the first month since its release in July that it did not have a festival.

Now is catch up time. This past Wednesday, Sandwich screened at the Marblehead Winter Film Festival. On Friday night, it played right before the feature presentation at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival in Starkville, MS. Sandwich also has several more screenings coming up in the next 3 weekends, at the Macon Film & Video Festival in Macon, GA next week, the Lake County Film Festival in Graysville, IL on the weekend of March 1st, and then, a week later, at the All American Film Festival in Durham, NC.

I attended the Marblehead Winter Film Festival last Wednesday night, as it is in driving distance. (Though I didn't drive -- Dad did.) It was nice to see Mike Evers again, as well as the other festival folk. The audience was just as warm and supportive as they were last year, though, due to the weather, the number of people attending were significantly fewer.

Let me pause before continuing on to thank the people at the Marblehead Festival of the Arts for selecting I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich to be screened at your event. It's always a pleasure, and thank you, also, to those of you who attended!

I could not make it down to Mississippi this year for Magnolia and I can't attend any of the other festivals. I'm quite disappointed by this. I really wanted to check out Macon and get to see my cousins in North Carolina. But, the choice is attending the festivals or paying March and April's rent.

I'm so freakin' responsible...

OK, I'm in quite a funk this year so far as money has been very tight, that last Super Bowl, and my unreasonable (to say the least) former landlord threatened to sue me for "slender and defamation" (yup, that's right, "slender") for a truthful post I made on this blog 16 months ago. (I took it down since I didn't have the money or time to fight a suit that I would have won but it took a while for Google to get rid of the cached page, so he didn't leave us alone quickly enough.) And if that landlord is reading this -- your name isn't here -- you can't sue me for this! (Just get on with your life and be a better person, please.)

Also, this present Mercury in Retrograde has been tough. My mind has been more overwhelmed and frazzled than usual. Plus, I'm quite sick of my undiagnosed vision problem remaining undiagnosed.

This is the last day of Mercury retrograde -- which is the toughest. It will probably take a week for things to really pick up pace again. I'm just looking forward to some better times. And it at least is already starting with this crop of festivals screening Sandwich. To those festivals, I thank whole-heartedly for considering my film to be of entertainment value to your community.

:-)

Happy 40th, Rose!!!

2008-02-09T16:31:00.001-05:00

Rose (aka Rosie & Rosemarie) and I have been close friends for over 30-frickin' years... We first met in the first grade but we didn't really play together until fourth grade. I remember first inviting her to my (or "our" I should say, being a twin) birthday party in the second grade. Gee, how do you find Rose in this picture? She's the blonde one -- I mean the REALLY blonde one. To the right you can see my messy head and then my bro, Bill.

September 13, 1975

Rose and I are twins. Yup, we are. Actually I have a twin brother and she has a twin brother. Joe was at our 8th birthday in the 3rd grade. See if you can spot him below.

September 13, 1976

If you guessed the other REALLY blonde child there, what keen observational skills you have.

So Rose and I started hanging out in the fourth grade. If you wonder what us children in Arlington did growing up, well, we might go the library on Saturdays, visit the gift shop across the street and then go to Center Subs for an American or Italian sub or Papa Gino's for pizza.

My parents have many more photos of us and but I'd need some search dogs to find them all. My parents have thousands of photos and most of them are in boxes or drawers. I went over to my 'rents today to find some and I did manage to dig up this one of Rose and our beloved first dog, Caesar. Rose was always into cats more than dogs but she had quite a fondness for Caesar, and, as you can see, he for her.

Sometime in early '80s. Rose, do you think it was '82?

Rose and I had gone to separate junior highs but stayed friends throughout and then reunited in high school. Rose is partly responsible for adding Ken to my life as most of my friends from high school went to Rose's junior high. Sophomore year was the big year for innocent basement parties and after I threw Ken his sweet 16 party, our friend Christine held a joint Valentine's Day and Rose's sweet 16 party.

Ahh, Sweet Rosie in 1984. :)

Rose and I didn't have too many classes together in high school. We were in the same English class sophomore year (with KEN) and art for a couple of years. We were travel buddies as we both went on the school trip to Italy in the spring of '85 (and yes, the Italian guys loved her) and to Walt Disney World in February, 1986 (with KEN). I really thought I would put up some of those photos (and who doesn't want to see more '80s high school photos?), but I thought I'd have this be the photo to represent our high school bond...
This was at our art teacher, Mrs. Banner's house sometime in the spring of '86. I haven't mentioned yet that Rose is quite an amazing artist -- extremely talented. I was always decent at art and had a little more talent than most people, but that's it -- I was and am just better than average, whereas Rose is truly gifted.

Rose went off to Cornell and I to Skidmore. After graduation in 1990, Rose moved to New York City and I moved back to Arlington. Yup, back home. But I would go visit and Rose always came back on Christmas.

Christmas Eve, 1990 at my parents -- In this photo we have Rose, KEN
(making a special guest appearance in this post), me and Ken, Sr.

Visiting Rose at her Greenwich Village apartment in the winter
of 1994. A typical weekend NYC breakfast -- bagels with tons of cream
cheese and Tropicana. It had to be Tropicana.

In September of 1996, I decided to finally upgrade my efforts in pursuing an acting career and move to New York. (And no, I didn't live with my parents the entire time -- just a mere 4 years after graduating college... hey, believe me, that's not bad considering where I come from.) Rose was not so happy with her roommate situation and her roommate was contemplating a move anyway, so it all turned out to be rather excellent timing and I moved in with Rose. I left a bigger apartment that I had by myself to live almost dorm-like style with Rose. But that's what you do to live in Manhattan. It was an awesome location and Rose and I had the most fun times we ever had together. We had not been rebellious teenagers. I did not have any wild stories to tell you about us growing up because we were such good girls.

But in NY we had FUN. As much fun as feeding a cat pizza.

OK, I had to find some way to segue into the next photo. Yeah, I know, it didn't work very well...

Rose letting her now dearly departed cat, Techno, sniff some pizza. This was
most likely in 1997 though it could have been '96 or '98. Oh, Techno!!!!

In New York we could hop across the street for a few drinks on the weekend. We rarely had to pay for all our drinks because usually the bartender or other guys would buy them for us. Rose already had her bartender buddies, so I didn't have to do much work (thanks, Rose!). We also could find some of the best meals in such cozy little restaurants all within a few blocks of where we lived. There's really nothing like going out in New York.

When I turned 30 in 1998, I decided that I had to make the big move to Los Angeles. I had a weird relationship with New York. I couldn't quite forgive it for being so big and overwhelming, much less forgive it for having New York sports teams -- and fans! But New York brought Rose and me closer together than we had ever been before. And our little apartment felt like home, our safe refuge from big bad New York.

I missed my Rose. But there was always Christmas Eve at my parents.

Christmas Eve, 1999, with another special appearance by KEN!

Christmas Eve, 2003, I believe

What kind of person is Rose? She's very intelligent, talented, opinionated, loving, devoted, artistic and unique. I love that she's not afraid to speak her mind. She doesn't care if her opinion is popular or not and that's so refreshing. If she loves you, then she LOVES you. She is there for you. To those who have not met her, watch out -- she's much sharper than she lets on sometimes. And no, Rose, I don't mean that you act dumb!!! It's just that when you meet fun-loving Rose, the girl who came out of her shell in her 20s, she doesn't feel the need to tell you how bright she is.

The girl has a quick mind. She's a mean Tetris player. And in 6th grade, I played Spit with her at lunch. It was exhausting to keep up with her and I felt lucky the times I could beat her. (She beat me much more than I did her.) She's fast. But I have to say that while she seemed competitive I never remember her making me feel bad for losing.

She also loves her some Red Sox!!!

My dear Rosie, I know things have not been the easiest for you in the last few years but you've shined through the tough times. Life has so many wonderful things in store for you. You can do whatever you want. You deserve so much love, happiness and success. Just have faith in yourself, Girl. Amazing new beginnings are ahead for you! I hope you see them the way I can.

Thank you so much for being my friend. I love you so much. Enjoy your 40th birthday and enjoy this new year and new decade.

Love,
Julie

P.S. And Happy 40th Birthday to Joe, too!!!

Patriots & Retrograde

2008-02-03T22:47:00.000-05:00

OK, I'm heartbroken tonight. Before any of you NY fans start gloating, I want to say that when my teams have won I have never, ever, felt the need to put down the other team or their fans.

Congratulations to the Giants for a job well done. I want to say I'm not trying to that away from them. But I do believe it is a little easier when you are the underdog. In my view, the Patriots are still the greatest team. No other team, including the Giants, was under the insane amount of pressure the Patriots have been in this season leading up to today. First you have the whole camera-gate thing which was blown WAY out of proportion by salivating Patriots haters. Then when you on a roll to perfection everyone wants to stop you and the pressure to stay perfect is overwhelming.

I think what the Patriots did this season was gutsy and braver than any other team. They could have made it easier for themselves to win the Super Bowl. They could have rested players and allowed themselves to lose a game. If they had lost a game during the regular season I think they would have had much less pressure on them in this Super Bowl. There's no team that could have handled it better. I'm actually proud of them for going for it all. It was incredibly courageous.

I can't tell you how much I can't stand when I hear comments about how it's not fair the Patriots have won the Super Bowl so many times -- that it's time to let someone else win it. I think is that what football is supposed to be about? To stop trying? To let someone else win? I mean, how is that respectful of the game or of the other team? I think the Patriots have made other teams better because they always gave the best of themselves. You're supposed to play to win. And if you keep winning, well, it's up to the other teams to try to stop you.

For the past few I've gotten gut feelings before each Patriots game and I kind of hate that my gut has always been right. (I even had a gut feeling in 2004 that the Red Sox would come back from 0-3 to beat the Yankees and felt like the Patriots were going to win those other 3 Super Bowls.) These past two weeks I've felt completely off and unnerved. Last night I dreamed how the game went -- low scoring game with the Patriots ahead at the half. I didn't get to the ending but the Giants got ahead and I didn't feel good waking up.

I just want to say that I don't want to hear anyone say that they choked. Yes, the Patriots lost the most important game. But no team accomplished what they did this year. No team has ever won 18 games in a single season. And while the Patriots won't say this, I will -- it took for Tom Brady and his offensive line to be injured for another team to beat them.

I'm not happy that this game happened with Mercury being in retrograde. Of course both teams are living with the same alignment of the stars. But Mercury rules Virgo and Gemini and I think that the Patriots are a Virgo team. I know it sounds silly, but they're hard-working, humble, self-critical and into action more than talk. The whole character of the team is very Virgo. I even wonder if Tom Brady, a Leo, has Virgo for his ascendant sign because he seems like such a Leo/Virgo combination.

My point is that Mercury in retrograde is harder on Virgos and Geminis that it is for other signs. (And thus, hard for me right now as I'm a Virgo with Gemini rising.) And it just felt like it wasn't right for my Virgo team.

I know a lot of this post may seem silly and irrational to some. I'm not completely rational right now. I'm just feeling very protective of my Patriots and really don't want anyone bashing them. I've never seen any team get such undeserved negative attention.

I know I shouldn't let a game bother me so much. I'm too attached.

All I can think is of how motivated they'll be next year. I'm not sorry to tell you frothing Pats haters, that the Patriots may be down at the moment but they're so far from out.

I'm always so careful of what I say. But being careful didn't help with this Super Bowl.

They're going to win another Super Bowl. And SOON...

Ken & Rose's '86 Prom Pic

2008-01-23T17:37:00.000-05:00

Following up on my post on Ken's big birthday, I just had to add another picture from the prom. Here's Ken with his date, my beloved friend Rose, whose 30-10 B-Day is coming up very soon...

Ken, Happy 30-10

2008-01-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Ken (with Carolyne Gallo) in March of 2006 while filming my last short.

I met Ken nearly 25 years ago at the end of our freshman year at Arlington High School. We were both in the chorus for Annie Get Your Gun. (Ken can sing. I can't. I was in it only because I was called back for one of the little kid roles -- I was actually quite short back then -- and everyone who was called back got automatically placed in the chorus. Needless to say, it was the last musical I was ever in. I really can't sing.)

We didn't really become friends, though until sophomore year when he sat behind me in English class. This is my point of view when I turned around:

I sat in the front row and Ken would push my desk up towards our teacher and I would feel quite horrified. Though, she didn't seem to notice anyway. She also didn't notice the kid who climbed out of the window to go to Stop and Shop to get some candy, either. (I believe he came back in through the window, too.)

I basically joined Ken's blonde harum of friends (which actually included one brunette).

I became such a fan of Ken that I even threw him a wild 16th birthday party.

See -- party hats and everything. Not just party hats but GARFIELD party hats.

I think there were maybe 9 of us at that party. It was held in my basement and we had all the Doritoes and M&Ms any teenager could want. Oh, yes, and mini-hot dogs.

There are so many other high school pictures of I have of Ken, but I'm treading on thin ice here posting any of them. But let's at least include a classic one of Ken and me at the senior prom in May, 1986.

After high school, I was awarded custody of Ken. We worked together at Stop & Shop.
Ken would visit me at college. Below is a picture of Ken and me in my dorm room at Skidmore in the fall of 1986. (Skidmore dorms have awesome window seats -- it was one of the major selling points for me.)
Notice Ken's suspenders. He looks like someone out of a John Hughes film...

Ken became part of my whole family. It was in the summer of '86 when he was officially bestowed the title of "Uncle Kenny" to my younger brothers who were 14 and 11.

He was welcomed into my family's home. He was invited to all our family parties. Ken gave us so many good time and fun memories. In return --

We gave him love.

We gave him gifts.
We gave him Gouda.

(That picture above was taken in late '92 or early '93.)

In 1996 I moved to New York City. Two years later I moved to Los Angeles. I'd come home twice a year and he'd come out to visit me.

This is Ken and me in 1998, I believe. We were recreating our Skidmore picture. The reason it's so spotty is that it was one of pictures I had on my kitchen wall in LA and it picked up some dust and grease over it's 8 years there. I don't even like the way I look in it and I'm not sure if Ken like it of him, ether, but I like it because it's of the both of us.

I know Ken probably doesn't like a few of these pictures here. Some certainly aren't flattering. (But I've posted some bad ones of me, too, in this blog, so I'm equal opportunity on that.) And, Ken has gotten better with age.

That's Ken with my younger brothers, Stephen and Michael. (Stephen was in his JC period there.)

As mentioned in previous posts, I moved back to Massachusetts in August, 2006. Last winter, when I wanted to do another short, I just had to have Ken in it. He had just one line, but he sold it. Perhaps there are more roles ahead for Ken? I hope the future has many wonderful things in store for Ken.

But back to the present ---

Ken, I wish I could give you this for your birthday.

Ken is the one special person with whom I've been to Walt Disney World AND Disneyland (twice). We've had dreams of going back together. I was actually hoping I'd have the money to do a special birthday trip with him, but, well, things have been quite tight.

Ken, Happy, Happy Birthday. I didn't have the money to get you anything. So I made you this post. I just hope that you're still friends with me after this...

I'm so happy to have you as my friend, Ken. After all, you're my back-up husband. So if circumstances lead us there, I'll see you at the altar when we're 70...

Much love,

"Julikins" (or should it be, "Juli-KENs?)

A 2007 Reflection

2007-12-31T17:24:00.000-05:00

I took this picture of Keith to finish up a roll of film that I had started using in September, 2006. When I got the roll developed I discovered that there had already been a whole set of pictures taken on that roll of film before I took mine. I was actually taking my pictures over some old ones that Jeremy and his brother, Jamie, had shot in Reseda, CA probably around 1998. So while the picture you see of Keith was in Arlington in 2007, the window you see was in California about 9 years earlier. So I chose this picture because it has both past and present represented in it. Plus, Keith looks quite sweet.

One of my pet peeves is when TV shows or newspapers reflect on the year before it changes to the new year. I mean, today is just as much 2007 as January 1st was 12 months ago. If you do some kind of "Best of 2007" show or article before Christmas, what happens if something tops it before 2008 rings in?

So while there are only about six hours left of 2007, I still feel premature in reflecting back on it. But, I'll go ahead and do it anyway. :)

2007 is the first year since 1996 that I hadn't set foot in Los Angeles. That was kind of weird for me to take in.

I felt good about writing, filming and completing post-production on I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich in just a few months. It was my first non-student film, the first film done entirely back in Mass, and the fastest that I ever got a film out to festivals.

I finally finished Happy at Home. My 2008 goal is to get it in at least one or two festivals.

Oddly, I made more money as an actor this year than I had in my 8 years in LA. (Though it was background work and in LA I did focus the last 5 years on being behind the camera.) And I did have a lead role in another short film.

I had 5 of my films screen in festivals this year from February to December. And I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich has already gotten 14 1/2 festival acceptances. (That 1/2 is an unofficial acceptance -- I'll wait to hear the final word before I announce it.) It has the best acceptance ratio of all my films to date. (It does help that it's only 7 1/2 minutes, though.) And it has already won three awards.

I've gotten as many hits on my website this year as I had gotten in the first two years.

I've discovered joy in finding new people to work with, re-connecting with people I've worked with in the past, and discovering whom I know not to work with again (which is really a blessing despite the disappointment I felt).

As far as my world outside entertainment:

I've started to become an okay swimmer. Just okay. It's the breathing that is taking me some time to get used to.

I'm very close to a dead hang pull up. (I can do a few pull ups starting with my feet on the ground.)

Somebody proposed to me. (Jeremy)

I've gotten to see my family and friends much more.

I've met so many new people.

My youngest brother (Stephen) has moved back to the area. (First time since the early '90s I believe that all four of my siblings have lived within a 5 mile radius of my parents.)

I've gotten to see Jeremy accomplish more with his music. (Thanks to his collaboration with John McNeeley.)

I'm leaving stuff out. Some of it on purpose. I just wanted to make note of what I'm thankful for having happen and getting done this year. I have so much more ahead. I'm currently working on a combined trailer for my short films. I feel the need to showcase that work online, put a cap on it and move on.

I'm excited about 2008 even though I'll turn 40 this year. But for most of it I'll still be 39, so I'll enjoy my 30s as they're still here. I have over 8 months to figure out how to deal with the next decade.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! I'm wishing you all much love, good health, happiness and success.

My First Loves

2007-12-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

I just thought I'd have a little fun here and pay tribute to some of my very first major crushes. Now, one of my very first infatuations was with Speed Racer, but I won't include him here, well, as he's not an actual person. I also was in love with my Uncle Roland when I was 3 (uncle by marriage, mind you) but you probably don't want to know much more about that. And later on, I loved Fred Grandy on The Love Boat, Dirk Benedict on Battlestar Gallactica and Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees. But I was older when I liked those guys. I'm going back to single digit years here:

My mother plunked me in front of the TV to watch a repeat viewing of Elvis' Aloha Hawaii concert sometime in the mid 70s (when I was seven, I think) and my mouth was hanging open all night. What else can you say but everything? Since I don't have room for everything, I'll leave you with this: I don't get not loving Elvis.

OK, I know Johnny Gage (Randolph Mantooth) was better looking guy on Emergency but my heart was with Kevin Tighe. I don't know what it was but I remember feeling my heart thumping on Saturday nights when we sat down with our orange juice and popcorn to watch the show. I was in love with this man. Funny thing is that people used to tell Jeremy that he looked like Kevin Tighe. Maybe that's why I'm engaged to him.

Oh, Carlton Fisk. I wrote in a post over a year ago that I was broken-hearted when my beloved Carlton went to the White Sox. I was already a huge Red Sox fan by the time I was about eight. I loved all those guys, but Carlton Fisk was the one I wanted to marry. I didn't get why he was called Pudge. I thought he was just perfect.

The Sick Sense

2007-11-24T10:03:00.001-05:00

My friend, Bill McNally, has posted his award winning short film, THE SICK SENSE, on You Tube. (Or rather his brother, Patrick, put it up there. The two bros are under the name "Bonanza Films".

I think it was 2000 when Bill made THE SICK SENSE out in LA. It's a spoof of "The Sixth Sense", "Patch Adams" and "Die Hard". It's quite a clever and funny film and I'm so glad that everyone can watch it on You Tube.

Also check the many other short videos that Bonanza Films has put up on You Tube. They're shorts that the guys made for their yearly Christmas parties. There's lots of stuff to keep you entertained!

Hartford International Film Festival

2007-11-10T19:08:00.000-05:00

Just this week I got word that I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich would be screening in the Hartford International Film Festival this weekend. It was to be screening today at 11 am at the Art Cinema and at 12 noon at the Pope Park Recreational Center. Since I had an appointment later in the afternoon in Cambridge, Jeremy and I decided to go to the 11 am screening.

The building is deceiving. As you can see from the picture above it looks like there must be a small screening room, but instead it is a a well-sized theatre, and it's one of Hartford's oldest -- 86 years old.

On the website it said that the Art Cinema was an "alternative" movie theater. I thought, oh, like the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline... well, not exactly. The Art Cinema is primarily an X-rated movie theater. The reason why the screening was at 11 am was so that it could be over in time for it's 1 pm porno flick. Of course upon finding out this information, I wondered how many people would show up to this screening. I've never seen a morning screening with much of an audience in general. Never mind a morning screening at this place. I thought that locals would know about this theater and probably decided against attending, unless, of course they were also porn movie goers. Actually, come to think of it, having a festival there might be a good excuse for some people to go to this festival. They could tell their honeys that they were supporting the arts by going to this screening and then stay for the afternoon delight. Hmm...

OK, well, that might be a good idea in theory but it certainly wasn't put to use as there were only about 10 of us in the audience, counting Jeremy and myself. There was also another filmmaker and probably a couple of friends/family members of his. I did note that attendance grew towards the end. It appeared that some of the 1 pm matinee audience was arriving early. Fine, given that my film was second to last. More eyes on my film are more eyes on my film.

Ten may be a low attendance number but actually not all that bad considering the time and place! It actually gave me hope that if there were ten of us there that there would be more people attending the screening in Pope Park. That one would be a more family oriented screening in a more family-friendly place. And heck, it wasn't in the AM! Too bad I couldn't find out. The 11 am and 12 noon screenings overlapped and Jeremy and I couldn't stay too long in Hartford, anyway.

Yes, having ten people there today really did give me some hope. Look, I know that festivals have a hard time bringing in audiences. So I do give credit to these guys for bringing in any audience at the Art Cinema. On top of that, they ran it with respect, still announcing the films before the screenings and the attending film makers as well as making concluding remarks and offering up a Q & A.

They guys I met who were running the festival were Kevin O' Toole and Helder Mira, both very approachable and considerate. I hope that if they read this, they know I'm not dissing them for using the porno palace. It's so challenging to run a festival and get venues. You have to be creative and resourceful. And, I think they completely appreciate the humor and irony in using this theater. Never mind they seemed to care about the history of this theater. Part of what they were trying to do with this theater was to get something else going other than adult movies. I got the sense that they screened adult movies there because it was the only way to keep this theater going at all.

All and all it was a fun way to spend the midday. We had a nice ride there and back. And, on the way back, Jeremy and I stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch. I had never been to one before. So it was Jeremy's first time in Hartford and my first Cracker Barrel experience.

Hmm.. porn and crackers. That has a kind of ring to it.

Back to Happy at Home

2007-11-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

In my first post about Happy at Home nine months ago, I wrote that this project remained on my To Do list. I didn't believe in overexerting myself on this film when I needed my energy for other films that would probably do more for me in advancing my career. (After I wrote the post I started writing, casting and planning for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich.) But, Happy at Home had a special meaning for me and I knew that I could still do something with it without having it take over my life.

Well, I finally did, and I can now say that the film is completed.

I had to wait until September to make any progress with it. I really wanted my star, Sean Vincent Biggins, to do his own voice over, and since Sean lives in Los Angeles, I had to wait for a time when he came back here to visit his family in Waltham.

So when Sean came home for his 20th high school reunion over Labor Day weekend (which I find funny since, as you can see in the photo above, there is a scene in the film where he is paging through his high school yearbook) I asked if he would come over and record the voice for us. When I say "us" I mean Jeremy and me. Jeremy's the sound guy, after all.

Sean was more than happy to do it. I wrote a new script and he executed it with ease.

OK, so it still took me another two months to finish it. In October I did a few re-edits and laid in Sean's voice. I still was needing something else, though -- a voice for Neo, Sean's dog in the film (and in real life). Just last Sunday, before the Patriots game and before the Red Sox won the World Series (WOO-HOO) I had Jeremy record Neo's voice. I thought that giving more life to Neo would give the film a boost and insert more ideas in the audience's mind over what the film was about.

It's actually quite fitting that Happy at Home was a film I did for my last class at LA City College and that I finished here in my metro Boston town, because the film itself has Los Angeles and Boston elements. The setting is clearly LA (at least to those of us who know LA), in the neighborhood of Silver Lake. You can see from the style of the building and the steps leading up to the apartment that this is California.

Then there's Sean, as "Steve", wearing his Cape Ann T-shirt. Also, if you look, you can find Boston items in his apartment such as a photograph of Fenway Park and some Red Sox knick-knacks. Not to mention that Sean does his Irish jig in a couple of bits in the film, and hey, after watching the ALCS and the World Series, a certain Red Sox pitcher named Jonathan Papelbon comes to mind.

The time was right for me to complete this film. Thank you Jeremy and Sean for all your work on it. And Neo, too. It was nice to have just a three person and one dog film.

Played

2007-10-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

August, 2006 -- you know where...

Always looking for some kind of photo to represent my post, this was the best one I could find. It looks like I'm lost among the Las Vegas crowd.

I picked it, because, you see, I just got the biggest hosing I've ever gotten by anyone in the entertainment industry. What make this hosing on the larger side is that it was by someone with whom I worked before, who, I thought would never lie to me or leave me hanging in anyway.

Usually when I have similar stories, there's a long explanation to fully describe why it's so bad. This one is actually very simple. Almost three weeks ago, this person, a producer, offered me a role in his film (a paid role, too) that I accepted and thanked him for. He told me it would be filming one of three days last week and that he would get back to me with the exact schedule.

He never did. I wondered if something horrible happened in his life because I couldn't believe that he would have me hold my schedule, prepare for a role and then leave me hanging unless he had some really good excuse. Whatever happened, I assumed that filming must have been postponed.

It wasn't. I saw on his myspace pages that filming went on last week and that a certain horror star did the part that he had offered me.

Now, I still thought that this producer wasn't a bad guy -- but he did just do something crappy to me. So, on Monday, I sent him an email telling him I was hurt and angry that he never told me he didn't need me and that he went ahead and filmed with someone else without letting me know. (This was a short and contained email - not something scary emotional that would make someone afraid of me.) To be honest, I could have forgiven him for replacing me with a star -- if he told me about it right away. (It would have been a wee bit sh*tty to offer me a part and then take it away but I would have understood the reasons for it if this was someone who could sell the film.) What hurt was the blatant disrespect for me that he didn't feel like he had to tell me.

On top of everything, I truly believed that after sending him this email that he would call or email me to profusely apologize. I still believed that he was good and responsible enough to do that. It would have been a little too late, BUT, it would have been some saving grace for him.

OK, it's now been four full days since I sent the email. Even giving the benefit of the doubt that maybe he didn't get the email, you'd think that he would call and apologize to me anyway. After all, he must have noticed that, well, um, he didn't get back to me.

This was never an misunderstanding on my part. This producer sent me an email offering me the part and I called him to verify the information and accept the role. During the following week I sent him two follow up emails thanking him again for the role in this film. Finally, a week later, I left him a phone message because I had heard nothing from him and the filming dates were very close. He sent me one short email the following morning:

"My apologies. I will contact you soon."

But he didn't. If something had changed you would have thought he would say it right there and not keep me guessing. So, knowing him, and knowing that he simply would not screw me over, I kept my faith that I would hear from him and that I should keep preparing for the shoot.

What a dope I was. I now even think that he was trying to get the horror star for "my "role all along. He even told me when I called him that he had a few horror stars in this film and that he was trying to get this other woman for a part that would be written in for her. I actually thought to myself, hmmm, since my part was written for a woman in her 40s, that she would probably be better for it. Duh. She was. I was just the back up.

The stupid thing about it is how people make things worse for themselves by either lying or just simply failing to communicate. If he had asked me to be the back up I would have said yes (unless another paying job came through for sure, which was unlikely). Even if my suspicion isn't true, and things really did change in ways he hadn't expected, he could have made it all better by simply giving me a call.

I'm actually quite forgiving of people messing up. What I have a very hard time with, is people not taking responsibility, for disrespecting my time and effort, and for not being up front with me. What he did was cause me to not pursue other opportunities while also making me think I would have another $350 coming in this month. The money is the least of it, but still, he made me believe that I would be earning this check, which I really, really, really could have used. And heck, I was excited that I could tell my brother that I would be acting in a few scenes with an actor who was in the original Halloween.

That is why, as both an actor and a filmmaker, I am always up front with people about what my schedule is and what my intentions are. If I don't know something, I'm clear about it. If I can't promise something, I don't. And, if something changes along the way, my first priority is to let them know. I suppose I'm like this to a fault, because I probably have lost a few opportunities to people who promised everything. And often the manipulators (like I suppose this producer was, even though I admit I still have a hard time thinking of him that way) are the ones who cash in on the opportunities I have lost.

So, I'm not sure how my honesty is working for me so far. But I'll stick with it.

Old Man Dogs trailer

2007-10-16T18:49:00.001-04:00

"Old Man Dogs", a film I acted in 11 years ago (released in 1997 by Back Lot Films) will be released on a 10th anniversary DVD very soon.

Working on this film was a very special experience for me and I've always meant to write a post on it, but I've been waiting for the DVD to come out.

I'll write more on it at another time. For now, check out the trailer!

Distracted and Overwhelmed

2007-10-05T16:05:00.001-04:00

My fried head
(I took this of myself in Springfield, IL with my manual
35mm camera. Eh, it was the best I could do.)

Today is my first day off in a while. I brought the car in for some work, went swimming and then have been doing laundry and such. I keep meaning to use these days to work on my films. I'm writing a script and working on a trailer that features clips of all my shorts. Plus I'm finally going to be laying a new voice over in for Happy at Home.

So my days off are meant for me to work on all those things. But here it is after 4, and I'm writing another post instead of writing my script. It doesn't help that I spent some time on Facebook. I hadn't heard of Facebook until very recently and now I find it's yet another thing to distract me. Don't get me wrong, though, I've already connected with a few people I haven't seen in years, which is great. It's just that I have my regular website to update (never mind that I still need to create a new one altogether), two myspace pages, a Linked In profile, Beanywood (though I'm avoiding that one right now -- it causes my computer to freeze), acting profiles, my You Tube page, my film pages and accounts on Withoutabox, my IMDB pages, this here blog, and now I find out that Facebook is the latest and greatest networking trend.

I spend time on these certainly to keep up with friends but most of it is for networking. I'm building my film making career and in order to do well I must make people interested in my films, and that requires letting people know what I'm up to. Of course there must be some balance because I do need to actually work on my films.

The internet is a necessity in networking but I wonder if it's so over saturated now that while you're a fool not to use it, it's not as effective as it once was. They say Dane Cook got popular over effectively using Myspace but that was at a time when not everyone was doing it. Now everyone is marketing themselves on it that I wonder how much time people spend paying attention to what others are doing when they're trying to get the word out over what they're doing. I can't pay attention to every bulletin in there. So I wonder how many people are really checking out mine.

There's got to be some new way to market. You still need to use the internet because if people hear about you they want to be able to find you on the web. I'm just not so sure it's now the best way to get people to hear about you -- other than when it's through actual word of mouth. We'll pay more attention to what our close friends tell us than all our myspace friends.

I'm just thinking out loud here.

Anyway, I'm starting to sense the futility in all this effort I put into networking online. The thought of keeping up with it all just overwhelms me. And it does distract me.

The wonderful thing about the internet is that it brings mass marketing to the regular people like me. But I wonder if I was really meant for these times. The internet makes everything move so fast. It keeps you in touch with people you might not have kept in touch with otherwise but then it gets to a point where you can't keep up. I find myself behind in emailing people back. Which brings up feelings of guilt and all that.

I think this affects everyone in such a way to a certain degree. I think it affects me more so. My process comes so much from within and when I have so many external sources signaling it takes me away from myself. I was thinking how I have to give myself some credit for getting anything done. When I was a kid, being alone in my room was never a punishment. It was where I would go into my fantasy world and create my stories. As I got older I found it harder and harder to complete anything, and I think this was due to my not being able to retreat as much as I really needed to.

I want to make people happy. But I find that in order to really create I have to shut the door to my room. Even after I do that it can take me hours, days even, for my mind to settle down after being in the world, being more social than I'm able to be. (I tell people that I really trained myself to be social when I was growing up. I very shy and was not a natural at making friends. But I noticed that I was different and saw that I had to improve myself.) Not that I don't love being with friends and family -- I really do. But if I'm to succeed at doing what I love, I have to find more time to myself.

I got better grades in college than I did in high school. I just realized last night that it was due to being away at college, in my own dorm room. (I did better the years I had my own room.) I didn't have many friends at all and I couldn't get into the whole drinking scene. The one thing I did that was social was go to the on campus chapel every Sunday for Mass. (The students there were more down to earth.) But other than that I locked myself in my room and studied.

I have a lot I want to get done this year before I turn forty. I'm putting myself on lock down.

If I'm ever slow to get back to you, please understand. My friends and family are on my mind very much, more than you may ever know. Even if you don't hear from me as much as you'd like, I'm sending you much happiness and will be in touch soon enough. I love my peeps very much.

OK, I have to go to my room now.

Go Faux

2007-09-26T07:45:00.001-04:00

Hey, everyone, check out GO FAUX on You Tube. (You can click above to go to You Tube, or heck, you can watch it right here.)

GO FAUX is the 90 second faux commercial I made for the 2006 Faux Film Festival. It's my very first You Tube upload.

Route 66 Film Festival, Springfield, IL & the Flyover Zone

2007-09-22T11:58:00.001-04:00

Linda McElroy giving me the Audience Favorite

Comedy Award for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich
last week at the Route 66 Film Festival

Last weekend I attended the 6th Annual Route 66 Film Festival in Springfield, IL. This was my fourth year at the festival. Route 66 was the first festival to accept any film of mine. They screened Sally's Dream House in 2004. Sally's won the Audience Award that year and played at just 3 more festivals. I then had Eddie's Winning Date and Like His Father play in 2005, and Jimmy's House of Hugs in 2006. I was okay that none of these films won an award at those festivals, and certainly wasn't expecting to win anything this year, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I did.

It was great to see my festival friends, Linda McElroy (the director), Meredith Dumyahn, Andy Davis & Doug Berry, and to meet Raechel Kessler, the new host of 747 Productions TV show, Watch My Shorts. Also in attendance was fellow filmmaker, Dan Masucci and his so very adorable son, Nicholas, who starred in Dan's film, Letting Go, which won the Audience Favorite Drama award. Both Dan and I had our films screen together at Plymouth so he was already a festival bud of mine and I was very happy to see him win. Both our films screened last Saturday afternoon and it was the best turnout for a Saturday afternoon that I had ever seen (at least double previous years' numbers), so it was an honor to have that many people vote for our films.

Now I took my camera to Springfield with every intention of taking pictures of my festival and filmmaker friends, but duh, I loaded 200 speed film in my camera first and found I didn't have enough light inside to take pictures. If I can use the somewhat pretentious term "organic" -- well I'm kind of am in that I like to use an old fashioned 35mm manual camera and I don't like to use flash.

But I do have pictures of Springfield and I'll share some with y'all.

In a bit.

There's one more thing that I want to mention. I just haven't had a fluid way of doing so. This whole post has no flow to it so I'll just abruptly insert this here and now:

Every year I see Hugh, Lana and Sam from the Flyover Zone radio show. I like them because they were fans of Sally's Dream House, the film of mine with the least success, though there are things about it that I personally like the best out of all my films. Of course that's not really why I like them. Well, it helps. :) Anyway, every year they've mentioned that I should be a guest on their Saturday morning radio show. Every year I've said that I would love to do it, but I never did do it. Well, today I finally did. I enjoyed nearly an hour of just gabbing with them on air. I have no idea if I said anything that might interest or entertain anyone but they're all quite entertaining enough they were able to carry me. The hour went by pretty quickly. And, hey, if you happened to listen, thanks for tuning in!

OK, some pictures of Springfield now...

The Hilton is on the left and Lincoln's house is on the right.
I just find it kind of funny.

I'm sorry, girl in Del's Popcorn but I actually like having
people in my photos! (She left the window after seeing me.)

Back at home with my award.

For more photos you can go to my myspace page -- www.myspace.com/houseofhugsprod.

Sea Lion Irish Dance Contest

2007-09-20T20:32:00.001-04:00

I knew this video had existed but didn't know until today that it was on You Tube. This is my cousin, Çameron Greene, doing Irish dancing with a Sea Lion.

Check it out. Heck, you don't see people dancing with sea lions every day.

39

2007-09-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

Eek, I'm 39 today!

Kind of hard to deal with when you feel that you are where the average 25 year old is in life....

There's much to do this year.

Extra Thoughts

2007-09-07T17:18:00.000-04:00

York's Wild Kingdom Amusement Park, October, 1996

Again, I just wanted to have a photo for my blog. I picked this for no particular reason, at least in any conscious sense.

I spent the last three days doing extra work for a feature film in Boston (Bachelor No. 2 starring Dane Cook and Kate Hudson). We had very long days. I actually worked 45 hours in 3 days. They didn't need us today but we are scheduled to work again on Monday.

I was one of the bridesmaids in this film. Most of the wedding party ended up bonding quite well. Well, I mean, the wedding party extras bonded. (Kate Hudson was in the wedding party as well.) Not to be too cliquey, our group included non-wedding party extras as well. Now, perhaps, subconsciously, I chose this picture because one of our group members lives in York and another was talking about York's animal and amusement park. Ah, there's always a connection even when you think you're doing something for no reason at all.

This was actually a wonderful group of people. The kind that gives you energy, not drain it.

A few of us gals were talking yesterday about putting out positive energy. We wanted to go to Monday without uttering a single negative word. I was thinking how I can go without saying something negative about other people but it's harder with my own self. And I suppose particularly after hanging out with some dang beautiful people, it's even harder not to feel bad about who and what I am. They were wonderful folks, but I couldn't help but to be reminded of all my flaws and how much I don't forgive myself for the way I look, even though I can't help most of it.

Films are quite classist. You have the stars, the director, the crew, the day players and then the union peasants non-union peasants. Some extras are there solely for the paycheck, others are there hoping to get a moment on screen. And who does and who doesn't can be a matter of pure luck or pure looks.

I was thinking how much of our inner struggles are with things that we were born with, things that we can't help. And so many of us aren't happy with the unfair and random distribution of looks, intelligence and talent. I think of how much energy we waste on thinking about things we absolutely cannot help. While most of us know that we are better off accepting what we were given and working hard to make the most of it, it's still so hard not to have any negative feelings over the uneven gift rationing. I think this is due to having a built in instinct to survive, and surviving involves our gifts as well as hard work. It involves how we are perceived by others. I certainly don't mean this in a sense that we should always care what other people think of us, but when you think of what we do to make livings, it is always based on a certain market in some way, and with that comes pleasing that market. And we have no control over the fact that the market is attracted to attractiveness, or other qualities that we may or may not have been given.

How do you accept it? I know that the happiest people aren't necessarily the most beautiful, intelligent and talented. I believe that some people, regardless of other gifts or lack of any gifts, are simply born more happy than others. Happiness is a gift, although I think that you can attain it if you put your mind to it. But we all know that one person who is just a walking, breathing depiction of pure joy and it doesn't seem to take such effort for them.

I hope I don't seem too contradictory here. I do believe in working to make yourself better and happier and such. But it is simply easier for some people that others. And I hope this doesn't come off as something I'm spewing in anger. I'm not. I'm just contemplating. I'm constantly gaging what it is I must simply accept as a part of life and what I can actually fight and/or work on.

I should note that I've also received a few festival rejections this week and that hasn't helped my mood, although I do think I'm shaking it off decently enough. Maybe I do feel that if I had budget and could make a better looking and sounding film that it would be getting into more festivals. But I have to sit back and think about the success I've had with it so far, and that it has gotten into festivals, sometimes beating out some more technically advanced films. I have to stop comparing and think about where I am and where I want to go from here. I have recently gotten a lot of flattering comments on my writing, for both I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich as well as other films. So I'm okay. I supposed I have something in this hugely flawed self of mine to work with. I have to keep focusing on what I'm good at and improve myself where needed.

Oh, Extra Gals, I'm sorry, I did say something negative about myself here.

I'm working on it.

Maybe I'll go back to the amusement park. Lots of happy vibes there. :)

Moving On

2007-08-29T22:22:00.001-04:00

OK, I've been pining away for LA quite a bit here, so I want to say that, yes, I'm moving on.

Why the picture of a golden retriever above? Why not? You can't go wrong with a golden. This golden is my parents' dog, Maggie, who just turned 6 on the 23rd. (So she's on the Leo/Virgo cusp.) I know she looks upset but, really, she's OK. I took this picture last Sunday when the weather didn't know what it wanted to do. Maggie was worried because the barometric pressure was dropping, meaning possible rain and thunder.

I mainly put it up because I like to have photos with my posts. I like to have a picture to draw people in. I guess it makes sense since I do make movies, which is what this whole blog is supposed to be about.

Speaking of movies, things have been going well with I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich. It screened at an event in Durham, NC a couple of weeks ago and then just this past weekend at the Broad Humor Film Festival in Venice, CA. You know, LA. Ahhh, LA.

Yes, moving on! Well, I couldn't attend either screening but my spies told me that they went very well, promoting chuckles, giggles and guffaws from the audiences. Hey, really I just want to entertain folks.

I do have more to talk about, regarding my films and festivals, music from Suitcase Poets, and updates regarding my filmmaker friend, Bill Millios, who is always so awesome to mention what's going on with both Jeremy's music and my films on his blog. I've been meaning for about a month to post a bunch more plugs and I'm sorry to my peers for being so sluggish in this area.

Well, here's a quick one. Jim McCrackin posted a couple of his shorts on his blog. Check it out!

Really this post is for me to just check in and put something new on this page. Plus I suppose I didn't want to let August go by without writing something.

I'll write more later. In the meantime, thanks for checking in.

A Year Ago

2007-07-31T21:53:00.000-04:00

We packed up our car and left our Los Angeles apartment a year ago to this day.

(Okay, I'm feeling weird about this year mark. So, to cope, I thought I'd post a few photos of LA.)

July, 2006, Wilshire Blvd., facing east. This was the view
from where I worked. We lived about a little over 3 miles
east and less than a mile north from here.

Messy living room, June or July 2006. I always think
of Bill and Laura McNally when I see this picture.We
bought the couch and chair from them when they were
moving back to Massachusetts a few years earlier.

More mess, what can I say? I just like how the sunlight
is coming in through the window.

Another view from the same window at work but facing
more northeast in this one.

My brother, Stephen, and me at the top of Griffith Park in
June, 2006. Downtown is right behind us.

Plymouth makes me think of LA

2007-07-22T16:59:00.000-04:00

The view from the living room window in our LA

apartment. I took this in either June or July of last
year. We were close to moving, and I wanted to capture
what I could because it was soon to be in my past.

Jeremy and I went to the Plymouth Independent Film Festival this weekend where I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich was premiering. This was my third film in this festival but first time attending. Jimmy's House of Hugs screened there in 2005, but by the time I found out that Jimmy's was in the festival, I had already booked my summer trip home and was to be leaving over a week before the festival would begin. Last year, Eddie's Winning Date was in the line up and I made plans to attend. I hadn't thought I would, being that it was too close to our moving date, but it turned out that a trip back actually would solve a problem of ours.

The problem was with our cat, Keith. We needed to fly Keith back to my parents before we drove across the country. Having Keith ride in the car with us was not an option. Driving 3700 miles listening to a cat wail and moan I don't think would be anyone's idea of a super-duper fun cross country trip. Plus, we couldn't leave him in the car if we wanted to stop and sight-see.

Keith is a very sensitive cat and we didn't want to just put him on a plane by himself and have strange people (well, to him) pick him up and bring him to a new place. So I thought that I would fly with him and help him get acclimated to my parents' house. Then I would fly back to LA, pack up with Jeremy and we'd see Keith again a few weeks later. I thought that bringing him home the same weekend of the Plymouth film festival would work wonderfully. Not only could I deal with the Keith issue, but I could attend the festival that so graciously accepted my films two years in a row.

Well, I'll keep this saga short because the long version involves the story of a flood at my parents house the week prior to my trip, and really, we don't need to go into that one. The gist of it is, we flew in Thursday night, and Friday morning Keith got out of the kitty house my father had made for him (to separate him from my parents' cats) and seemed to have run out of the house (a door was left open).

My parents and I looked everywhere in and around the house. We scoured the neighborhood, and even rode around half of Arlington in case Keith was on his way back to California. I can't tell you how many times I searched every nook and cranny of my parents house and came up with no cat. I was a wreck. I just couldn't get myself to drive down to Plymouth. It was probably for the better anyway, as we were having thunderstorms all day.

Well, Keith just showed up the next day. We guess he probably never left the house. But my screening had already passed. I didn't care at that point. I wanted Keith back more than I wanted to see my film play.

As the festival arrived this year, what really hit me was to realize that our dang cat has now been a Massachusetts resident for a year now. For Jeremy and me, it won't be a year until August 11th, but it scares me how soon that date is, to realize how close it is to a year for us. And it's even closer to being out of California for a year.

I'm a bit of a weirdo. I spend a bit of time thinking about what I was doing last year at this time. I guess there's always a small part of me that is living in a year ago from today. Most of me is here, in the present, but then there's little obsessed me who doesn't easily accept the passing of time.

Well, maybe that's not so weird, but how about this... I see the year as a track. I mean I actually visualize the year in the shape of a track, kind of like a running track, but not exactly. January is on the top slightly right of center. The following months go counter clockwise until December meets up with January. So whatever day it is, I get a visual sense of where I am in the year. And I see the rest of the year behind me, circularly. As I greet a new day it's like it's wiping out the very same date from last year. When one of those dates is something significant, then it's almost like a little mourning process for me.

With it still being the first year that I'm back here, I still have a connection to my California time, as a year ago to this date I was still living in California. (OK, actually I was physically in Massachusetts a year ago from this date, but I was still living in LA.)

But that time is running thin. Jeremy and I left our LA apartment on July 31st and left the state of California on August 2nd. My grasp on California is loosening and soon, this first year of our living in Arlington will be in the past.

I'm happy to be back here. I really am. But living in California was a special time of my life. It wasn't necessarily easier. But it allowed me to discover things about myself that I might not have found here. Going to film school is an obvious thing. But I felt like I had more freedom to play around there. For instance, two years ago I worked at a restaurant chain called Islands. It's like an Hawaiian themed Chili's. I was frustrated with this vision problem I had (and still have -- after seeing several ophthalmologists, neurologists and neuro-ophthalmolosts it's still undiagnosed) and didn't want to work staring at a computer all day. I also wanted to spend more time on writing and filmmaking and wanted to work a job that would allow me a flexible schedule. I thought that waiting tables would fit my needs but I had never worked in a restaurant. So I had to find a restaurant that would take me without experience. Islands took me, but I had to start as a host and then graduate to kitchen expediter and take out before being trained as a server. So for six months, at the ages of 36-37, I worked with 16-20 year olds, making minimum wage (plus some tips), wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, seating people, bussing tables, doing bathroom checks and putting together take out orders. I felt a little like Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty.

It was really so liberating for me. And let me tell you, between this job and the gym, I could eat just about anything because I was always moving around. I miss that. I miss my thinness from that time period.

I left the job because it got to the point that I couldn't go on making that little money anymore. They were about to train me to serve, but it would still have taken some time to get the money making shifts. I had to take a QA job. It was a good thing I did because the money I made from that QA job (along with what Jeremy saved as well), paid for the cross country move.

But I miss doing that job. You may ask why don't I just do something like that here? I'll tell you why. Because if I went to work at a Chili's or some place similar that would take me with my limited experience, I would see people I know, and they'd be wondering what the heck was wrong with me to be working there at my age. Of course it shouldn't matter what people think. But even worse, the idea of seeing an ex-boyfriend come in while I'm working with kids half my age... I don't need to explain it any further. You get it.

In California, I didn't have to worry about that. I also learned to swim there, and last year, for the first time in twenty years, I took ice skating lessons. I had classes once a week for six months, right up until a year and nine days ago (still on my track radar :).

I know, I can still do those things there. But, believe me, skating was easier there -- here you have to join a snooty club if you want to skate year round. I haven't put my ice skates on since my last class last July.

I'm not sure if I actually said what prompted me to want to move back to Massachusetts, even in my very first post. Well, Jeremy had always wanted to move back here. I did, too, but I never really felt quite ready. It was after a trip I made home in October, 2005, to see my 2-3 week old nephew, Brian, I realized I wanted to be his auntie, and not just his long distant aunt. Now that he's just about 22 months and starting to talk more, calling me "Jewie", I am reminded, that despite my yearnings for California, for my past, that I traded it all in for something better. You can't get a greater gain if you don't go through some losses.

A Couple of Plugs

2007-06-08T13:34:00.000-04:00

Jeremy Ward and John McNeeley recorded the song, "Leave Me Alone", for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich last week. Jeremy mixed the song and has put it up on his and John's Myspace page for Suitcase Poets. Check it out!

Also, my friend and fellow filmmaker, Bill Millios, has put up an older short of his, Bottled Words (1995) on YouTube. It's about a bungling bunch of criminals who rob a nursing home. I first saw it maybe 10 years ago and thought it was very clever. Watching it again now, I just appreciate watching something silent on real black and white film. Bill's known for his dialogue in his features, but he still knows how to tell a story without it.

He had to separate the film into two parts -- click on the links to watch:

Bottled Words: Part 1 Part 2

You can also watch the film on his blog.

Independent

2007-05-20T16:33:00.000-04:00

Me on a trip to Bologna, Italy in October, 1988, while I was
spending my junior year in Florence. Jeremy, today, was teasing
me for my 80s nostalgia (when I got excited to hear a cheesy 80s song
on the radio that I liked), but I think it gets to me because it reminds
me of when I first felt that whiff of independence. While I spent much
of college in my dorm room studying, I made sure I got out overseas
for a year. I still haven't made it back.

If you've been to my website, you're probably wondering why I'm still using Mac homepage and haven't gotten a more professional looking site. Just to let you know, I'm not satisfied with this, as I realize that people may not taking me seriously because of it.

The reason for it is that I've been meaning to build a new website, myself, but I haven't gotten around to learning how. I haven't had someone else do it because I haven't had the money to pay someone and I also haven't wanted to ask anyone to do it for free. So when I don't have the money and I don't have the gumption to ask for help, it goes on my list of things to do myself.

I have a hard time asking for help. (This trait runs on my father's side of the family.) I would attempt to move a 2 ton boulder on my own until Jeremy would say, "Do you want some HELP?" Jeremy has learned that he has to step in and help me and not ever wait for me to ask. I mean, I might as well do my best to do everything on my own, right? So I won't ask until I'm 200% convinced that the physics involved to accomplish any task actually do require more people than myself. (Supplying the equation to prove the point does help.)

Plus, someone else may not know how I want it done or do it the way I want. This is why I've written, directed and edited all my films. I write because I like writing and creating stories. I direct because I might as well be the one to direct what I write, because someone else may screw it up. I edit because I find that the directing process still occurs in the editing room, and well, I'm the one who knows how I want it done. Now this doesn't mean that I think I'm brilliant and that I know more than other filmmakers -- not at all. (I always feel like the dumb kid in class when comparing myself to others.) It's just that I know more about my films, my stories, than anyone else. Also, I just work better alone. Whenever I've been asked in a job interview if I preferred working alone or with a team I knew I'd be giving the wrong response by saying, "alone", but I can't stand lying. I'd refrain from saying, "oh, ick, teamwork", but I would say that I did my best stuff alone. I just think better by myself. (I should note that I'm fine working on a team on someone else's project, because I accept it's their project and will do whatever to help them achieve the results that they want. I actually am a very decent line worker. It's just that if it's MY project, it's a whole other story.)

Now, I do recognize both the positive and negative aspects of this quality of mine. It's great to be independent, but there are many tasks that can't be done alone, and making a movie (with rare exceptions) is one of them. I feel very lucky to actually be able to work with my boyfriend, because Jeremy gets what I want. He can read my mind. (Really, he can, it's a little scary at times... women want men to be able to read their minds, but maybe not quite as much as Jeremy can.) But it's still hard to do a film with just two people. So of course we'd end up with more people on our crew, but not too many more. We both found it would be easier to have a smaller crew with people who were on the same page with us, than to have a big crew with people who were energy suckers or who just didn't care about our project.

I am attempting to get past doing everything myself. I want to do a feature and I realize that I may need to step back and let someone else edit for an objective approach to my film. I also do appreciate that so many times the sums ARE greater than all the parts, and that while maybe I can make a good movie doing the key parts on my own, that it can be a better movie with a couple of more people involved, whom I trust.

I have found the blessing in coming home is that I do have a few other people around here whom I do feel extremely comfortable working with. These people I can actually work with on one of my projects as a team. So maybe I am capable of teamwork on my own project, it's just that I need to work with the right people.

While I think it's important to work to stretch a little past your character traits, you also need to embrace them, because these will guide you on how you need to work and what your true path is. Recently I worried that I may have burned a bridge because I canceled a job to do extra work on a TV show because I was sick. Since people often lie about being sick I never feel like being sick is a good excuse, even though it was true in my case. So I worried that I may have alienated that casting director. Then I sat back and thought, well, what if I did burn a bridge. So what? Do I really want to make a career out of extra work? No. And is acting even that important to me anymore? Well, I enjoy it, but I want to make my own films more. (Although, I would always love to act in another film for Bill Millios -- one of people on my "team".) So why am I worried about putting an obstruction in a path that isn't even close to my main road?

I've mentioned to people that I felt okay moving from LA as a filmmaker because it's not like I want to work for a studio. Now I think it could be really exciting to work for a studio, but it's just not me. I'm really just starting to get that about myself.

I put this picture above of myself in Italy because it reminds me of what a weird loner I can be. Now, it was a friend of mine who took this picture of me in Italy. It was the first day of our October break. But we spent just that day in Bologna together. I then went off and did my own thing for the rest of the week. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy spending time with friends and being social, but I need a lot of alone time to figure myself out. And I knew that if I traveled with other people that I wouldn't do what I wanted to do, so I often wandered off by myself. But through my being alone I made connections with people, including distant relatives in Pescara, some cute and not so cute Italian boys, and my US Army buddies. (I became a regular visitor at Camp Darby. They sneaked me into the barracks, took me bowling, and supplied me with Oreos and Suzi Qs.)

I don't know when I write these posts if they make sense, but I need to do them. Oh... I just realized that I am dependent on something. Should I rename this post?

I should probably just stop writing and re-connect with the world again. I think Jeremy needs some attention...

Editing

2007-05-06T16:05:00.000-04:00

I have completed the rough cut for I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich. In this situation, the rough cut is a fine rough cut, meaning I feel the picture edit is 95-99.9% complete. I really don't know of any part I need to change right now as far as picture is concerned, but after taking a break and getting a little feedback I will make adjustments as needed. We do need to change and update the music in some parts as well as do color correction and more sound work. And I need to add the credits, too, but I'll wait until the end, as I could end up having more credits and more "thank yous" to add.

This film, including credits, will be about 7 minutes. I originally wanted to do a film that was about 5 minutes, but I worried that was out of reach when I wrote a 10 page script. OK, it was 9 1/2 pages, to be precise. I was happy to discover that the pacing was faster than a page a minute. I wanted this film to be closer to 5 minutes than to 10, since I felt that this was a story that needed to be told in 5-7 minutes.

The thing that I worried about most in editing was continuity. Though I strive for simplicity when making shorts, I couldn't help but to add some complications. The good thing about my shoot was that it was all in one location (in the office where Jeremy works) and that I didn't need complicated lighting set ups. However, I was challenged myself by making a film that is almost all in real time. The bulk of the film happens while the lead character, Susan, is at her desk, which is all one scene. In that one scene I have 9 characters other than Susan coming and going. Because I needed to schedule people at different times during the day, I could not shoot the scene in its entirety. I also didn't have time to get all of Susan's shots in on one day. So what we ended up with was one of those scramble puzzles. I broke the shots down by each character or group of characters as they came to talk to Susan, did long shots of each of those scene parts and got the medium shots and close ups of the other actors, while often filming Susan's medium shots and close ups the next day. On top of everything, we couldn't help but to break the 180 degree rule. Because the space was so small and because we couldn't move the cubicle wall without, most likely, shutting down the company's servers, (which would have had a serious impact on their business), we were seriously limited on the angles we could film from.

So when I started editing I could see right away that continuity in screen direction would be an issue. I clearly break the 180 degree rule when editing this film but I tried to do it when I had something else happening in the shot that would help maintain some continuity in the next. Plus, since Susan's cubicle is established pretty clearly in the beginning, with Susan staying seated in the same place the entire time, and only one way for anyone to walk into it, breaking the 180 degree rule is not as threatening as it would be if this were a scene in a bigger place with a lot of movement.

When I think about the imperfections I question myself on what I should have done differently. And I ask how much work I should to to correct those imperfections. I really feel that I should make every film the best that it can be. But sometimes to make your film obtain 100% of it's potential comes at a much higher cost that achieving 95-99% potential. Plus, I'm doing a 7 minute short, not a long short or feature. At some point I need to just say, hey, this is good, now time to focus on the next and bigger project.

But wait, I'm not onto the next project yet. My mind and heart is very much in Sandwich and I committed to making this into something that will entertain people. It's just that after doing a couple of shorts that took me a year to finish, I finally want to exercise a faster turnaround, and start investing more into the bigger projects that will pay off exponentially more.

I just want to make my movies.

Keith Found

2007-04-27T10:46:00.001-04:00

We found Keith Wednesday night deep into a corner of the basement. Jeremy coaxed him out with a can of tuna. Only tuna can help him overcome fear.

OK, the picture above is not from our current apartment but from the one in LA. We recently bought a scanner and I'm still very much infatuated with it so when I found this picture I thought I'd scan it in. I like this photo except for all the plastic bags in it. I just loved the view from the kitchen window when that tree was still there. (The landlord had it chopped down one day and boy we were upset.) That tree also had given us a lot of bedroom privacy. The air conditioner you see is in our bedroom window. The apartment was shaped like a backwards L. I liked that the bedroom was down the hall around the corner. (I love nooks and crannies.) Did I ever mention in previous posts how they had used our apartment complex for Six Feet Under? They had filmed mostly in one of the bungalows out front. They ended up building a set that looked like our Spanish style complex so they wouldn't have to keep coming back all the time. That had also shot a pilot for LA Confidential with Kiefer Sutherland (before 24, of course) but that never aired.

OK, I am missing California these days. It was 8 years of my life after all. Though we're doing better here. Keith, too, is doing better. He was always flea infested there. Now he's clean and flea and worm free. As for me, I breathe much better here. I had my deviated septum fixed while living in LA (it was laser surgery -- I kind of wish it was the old fashioned method so I could have an excuse to have my nose fixed) but it didn't make much different because my nose was usually clogged up with stuff anyway. It wasn't until living back here for a few months (and getting all that LA junk out of my system) that I noticed that I could take several deep breaths through my nose.

Anyway, it's a nice day. I have my putty.

Keith

2007-04-25T12:53:00.000-04:00

I was an idiot. I left the door to the cellar unlatched. (I thought I had bolted it, but I guess not or it wasn't tight enough.) Jeremy and I came home from swimming this morning and found it open and could not find Keith anywhere in the apartment. We looked in the cellar but there's only so many places you can get to to look. Plus more than half of the basement is our landlord's territory, so we don't want to poke around there too much.

It's frustrating because cats don't answer you when you call. I know Keith is just scared right now. When he's scared he hides and he doesn't respond to anything. Unless we can find him and pull him out from wherever he is, we just have to wait for him to come out.

I just feel sad not having him on my lap as I'm typing this. Even though I know he really has to be somewhere in this house, I can't stand the uncertainty.

I feel sad without my putty.

Random Thoughts

2007-04-22T17:55:00.000-04:00

I find that I need a day off from editing to build up some more objectivity for when I work on it again. I still need some kind of outlet, so I'm just going to write something and see where I go.

Thought #1 -- After spending several days with SAG actors, I have concluded that SAG actors in Boston are more pro-SAG than their Los Angeles counterparts. My theory for this is that if you are SAG in Boston, and there is SAG work, you are more likely to get it than if you are a SAG actor in LA looking for work, thus you have a better feeling about the union.

Thought #2 -- I won't editorialize any deeper, as I fear SAG.

Thought #3 -- Which makes think of how I don't want to discuss anything too political in my blog. I really don't want to offend anyone. And I don't want to, at least not now, make political films. I want to make films that make people happy. I do, though, have friends of many different political persuasions. I still love them all. Even if they're wrong.

Thought #4 -- I know that you can't help but to show a little bit of your political philosophies in your films anyway. I note that I tend to make films about people moving on and bettering themselves.

Thought #5 -- If I am to reveal anything political, it is that I believe in freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. (Your own.) Which makes me think of Spiderman. "With power comes responsibility."

Thought #6 -- I really thought that Spiderman 2 should have been nominated for an academy award. It was a great story that balanced action with human emotion. The characters were well developed and I actually cared for them. It was one of my favorite films in a long time.

Thought #7 -- I guess I don't love that many films. I like a lot but it takes a lot for me to love something. I don't really have a lot of favorite films and I often don't share what my favorites are. You don't get much respect for saying that Bridget Jones' Diary is one of your all time favorites. Wait a second, I don't really care if I get respect for my taste in film anyway. It's not like I like to even try to be something I'm not.

Thought #8 -- I loved Pursuit of Happyness.

Thought #9 -- My favorite classic film is Roman Holiday.

Thought #10 -- Virgin Suicides affects me the most stylistically. That movie haunts me. I was always afraid that people would think I ripped my opening shot of Wendy in Like His Father from the one of Kirsten Dunst lying in the field in VS. I really didn't. I actually had that shot in my head before I even saw the movie. Which was before I even wrote my script. I just always had that shot in mind, if that makes sense.

Thought #10 -- Best line in Bridget Jones' Diary: When Mark Darcy responds to Bridget's "Nice boys don't kiss like that" with "Oh yes they f---ing do."

Thought #11 -- I liked that line because I love watching men act like men who like women, which is one of the reasons I love Roman Holiday as well. When Gregory Peck holds Audrey Hepburn at the end of that movie, you can tell this man really loved women. I haven't seen enough moments like that in film.

Thought #12 -- I've never had HBO but over a year ago Jeremy and I rented all the Sex and the City dvds from Netflix. He loved them as much as I did.

Thought #13 -- Most stupid, unrealistic episode of Sex & the City: Just because we loved the show didn't mean we didn't find problems with it. The most bizarre episode to us was the one where Carrie was making Aidan accept that she was going to stay friends with Big. We thought it was so ridiculous that there had to be some kind of punchline at the end to make it all make sense. I mean, not only was Big her handsome ex who was calling her for all sorts of intimate advice (we're not talking about just a lunch once in a while), which in itself is a lot to ask your present boyfriend to put up with, but Big was the guy that she had cheated on Aidan with when they were going out the first time, not just once but repeatedly. I mean, that was the ultimate female fantasy with no actual basis in reality whatsoever. Carrie didn't even look at it from Aidan's perspective, and say, "Oh, gee Honey, I can understand how you might feel a little hurt that I'm rubbing your face in the fact that I'm good friends with the guy I saw behind your back, who I did it with just hours before and after I was doing it with you while you were working on my apartment." I mean, come on, let your guy have at least half a ball.

I thought John Corbett must have felt like he was in The Twilight Zone doing that episode. If the show acknowledged that Carrie was crazy to expect this, that would have been one thing, but it was played off as if she wasn't doing anything so unreasonable. I always wanted to know what Corbett thought about that one. And Chris Noth. He, too, had to think it was nuts. He seemed to play Big like a joke in that episode. He had to have been protesting it in his own way.

I'm rereading my post here and not at all impressed with my writing. Sometimes I don't want to write to just to impress people with whatever writing ability I may have. Sometimes I just want to get a thought out in the most honest way as it comes out, and it isn't always the best way to express it artistically. I don't think that I'm even that great a writer when I'm at my best, but I think I usually write better than this. Anyway, I hope some of my thoughts were entertaining enough. If not, well, it was just a way to cleanse my mind before I get back to editing. All part of the process of whatever I'm doing to keep pursuing happiness in this life.

Ahh, happiness, and the pursuit of..

A few "I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich" photos

2007-04-06T18:37:00.001-04:00

Patrick McNally, our Sunday sound guy.

Dan Bolton, wishing he were in a real office?

Ken Toomey and Carolyne Gallo look like they're
about to sing a hymn.

Nicole Levitre is the office tax collector...

Michael Sullivan takes a break from his character
study to have his picture taken.

Jeremy Ward at camera, Bill McNally with sound,
and me -- directing

Rachael Lillis loves her sandwich.

Digital Filmmaking Workshop

2007-04-03T15:59:00.000-04:00

This weekend Jeremy and I attended and helped out at Bill Millios' and Marc Vadeboncoeur's Digital Filmmaking Workshop in Manchester, NH. Bill had asked me to come as a guest lecturer and to act in the scene that the class would be filming for the workshop. Jeremy helped out during the workshop shoots.

I was honored that Bill thought highly enough of my filmmaking background to ask me to speak. I first met Bill in 1996 when he cast me as the female lead in his first feature film, Old Man Dogs. It was only a couple of months after filming was complete for Old Man Dogs that I moved to New York, but we always stayed in touch.

When people in Los Angeles questioned me over moving back to Boston when I wanted to make films for a living, Bill would always pop up in my head. Bill is a true pioneer. Not only has he completed two narrative feature films (not to mention numerous shorts and documentaries) in his home state of New Hampshire, he has foregone the festival route in favor of renting out movie theaters on his own and getting a paying audience. Through this means and self-distribution, he actually made money off his second feature, Dangerous Crosswinds. He'll admit he didn't get rich off of it but, it's rare for a (real) independent filmmaker to make back the cost of the movie, never mind come out in the black. And hey, there's still more dvd sales to be made, anyway...

Jeremy and I attended both days of the workshop this weekend. While it's always tempting to speak well of one's friends, I feel I'm entirely objective in saying that it was a well planned and well executed workshop. It wasn't just a workshop that covered all the basics of filmmaking -- and it did, teaching the class via a hands-on approach production, but also it presented the unique do-it-yourself angle of getting a whole film made from concept to distribution. Even though I was at the workshop to speak and help out, I still learned a few new things myself.

Bill and Marc are offering two advanced workshops on May 19th & 20th, one on production, the other on post production. I'm highly recommending this to anyone who is either a complete novice to filmmaking or who has had some experience but wants a refresher course or something to fill in the gaps of their knowledge.

Thank You

2007-03-26T17:51:00.000-04:00

We filmed I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich this weekend. I'm amazed that we did it.

We didn't have a lot of money so we have lots of thanks yous. The following people generously offered their time, talent, equipment and/or other resources to make this happen and I offered them many, many thanks:

Jeremy Ward
Bill Millios
Bill McNally
Patrick McNally
Robert Radochia (Dad)
Rachael Lillis
Peter Dublin (Maestro Learning)
Erica Davidson (Maestro Learning)
Jim McCrackin
Norman McCleod (Arlington Studio)
Walter Locke (Arlington Studio)
Jeff Munro (Arlington Studio)
Michael Sullivan
Penny Benson
Jonathan Donahue
Zele Avradopoulos
Nicole Levitre
Dan Bolton
Ken Toomey
Carolyne Gallo
Sonny McCarthy

I'm extremely grateful.

Marblehead Winter Film Festival

2007-03-04T13:38:00.000-05:00

Last summer, during July 4th weekend, the Marblehead Festival of Arts selected Like His Father and Jimmy's House of Hugs to screen at their arts festival. The festival ran 4-5 days and featured concerts, art exhibits, staged readings and films. Mike Evers ran the film festival.

I couldn't attend that but Marblehead did a winter version of their film festival this past Wednesday evening, and that I was able to make along with Jeremy and my parents.

A few films were added to the winter festival so that meant a few from the summer had to go, with Like His Father being one of those. I'm not complaining -- it's their festival and they're the ones paying for it. I didn't expect a second screening of either film, so having Jimmy's House of Hugs play for another audience was a bonus for me.

This was a free festival that included free popcorn. The films run time totaled to fewer than 90 minutes. I think these elements helped get butts in seats on a winter Wednesday night. It wasn't a large theater but most of the seats were filled. I've seen much smaller audiences at bigger festivals.

What thrilled me was that at least half of this audience was there just to see the films. Many did not have connections to the filmmakers or festival staff. I'm always thankful to have anyone attend (any new person seeing my film is still one more person seeing it who hadn't before), but I think it says something about a festival when they draw an audience that includes enough "outside" people. (I do not mean that to sound anti-inclusive at all!)

Of course I don't know really how many people were connected or not, but judging from the way I saw people talking to each other, or not talking to each other, it seemed that many came out of pure interest. Plus, a couple of people told me they didn't know anyone, including a young woman, Kathryn (okay, it could be Katherine or Catherine, and is more likely one of those two, but for some reason that spelling stuck in my head when she introduced herself to me so I'm going with it), who came up to another filmmaker and myself after the screening to say how much she liked our films. I asked if she was a filmmaker or if she knew anyone. "No", she said. "I just like to come and watch short films."

OK, Marblehead isn't the only festival I've been to that was able to draw a crowd from the community, but with small festivals and also with small theaters (particularly those smaller theatres that do original plays), it's more often the exception than the rule. I've been to many small plays/theaters in Boston, New York and LA where the audiences were mostly people who knew the actors or crew. And hey, as I basically said before, an audience is an audience. Having people come to support you and/or support the arts is a lovely thing, too. I'm always very grateful for that. But sometimes it's nice to know that there are people who aren't there for support, but for nothing but their own self-interest. Really, are you going to see Spiderman 3 because you want to support Tobey Maguire or because you... eek... selfishly, want ONLY to indulge yourself in your own enjoyment? All those selfish movie goers will bring that film a lot of money.

OK, I haven't made Spiderman 3 yet. At my level of filmmaking I depend on a certain amount of support. It's just nice to have a taste of an audience who came merely out of believing that they would find entertainment. I strive for more of that.

I hope anyone reading this considers checking out the Marblehead summer arts festival. The staff has proven to run a very entertaining event, so much that you can forget you're supporting the artists and just have a fun time.

Thanks, Mike Evers, for this film festival. I was thoroughly entertained, too!

To any of you who came, thanks for your support, and thanks especially for enjoying yourselves.

(And thank to all of you who voted Jimmy's House of Hugs their favorite film -- it came in first of all the films made by us locals.)

All American Film Festival

2007-03-03T10:37:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I attended the All American Film Festival in Durham, NC. My friend and fellow filmmaker, Todd Tinkham, started this festival and asked if he could put Eddie's Winning Date in it.

I met Todd and his girlfriend, actress Mary Cates at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival last year. Eddie's played there as did Todd's film Attache. I've since seen most of Todd's films and am impressed with his talent in directing films of several different genres, so I have been very pleased that both he and Mary are fans of Eddie's.

I went to this festival mainly to see them, but I also enjoyed meeting new people and visiting Durham for the first time. And I always enjoy a getaway, even to sleepier cities like Durham. I think I'm an American travel "ho". I'm really happy to go anywhere in this country at least once. (And I'd like to go outside the U.S., too, but I have crossed a few countries off the list... I like a certain degree of safety...)

OK, getting off topic. I also quite enjoyed many of the films at the festival. I have to say that I wasn't bored.

Thanks, Todd, for a great weekend and a great festival.

Missing 1:33

2007-02-08T17:42:00.002-05:00

Stacy Marr in my 8mm film, Another Day. If this were widescreen
there would be a lot more empty space on the left side here.

I actually like the 1:33 to 1 aspect ratio. I'm sad to see its decline.

It took film school for me to appreciate the TV screen proportions. I didn't know until I took my film history class that widescreen movies didn't come out until the 50s. The movie studios were afraid that television would keep people at home, so they felt compelled to find new ways to bring in movie audiences. So they introduced widescreen. Sure, you could stay home and watch your little square/circular box, OR you could go out to the movies and see MORE!

The thing is, "more" was really less. The screen was wider, but the actual film that it was shot on, wasn't. The academy aperture on film is and was 1:33 to 1. To make the wider aspect ratios, 2:35 to 1 and 1:88 to, the very same film is used but cut off on the top and bottom and then blown up in size. So you don't actually see everything that was captured on film, and what you do see is a grainier, lower resolution film.

When we watched old pre-widescreen 35mm films up on a big screen in film class, the difference was obvious. The picture had more clarity and more vibrance to it. It was like I finally discovered a missing piece of something.

It wasn't just the picture quality that grabbed me. I found that I really liked the narrower ratio itself, and preferred it, in many cases.

OK, I like Star Wars, Indiana Jones films and anything showing great landscapes to be widescreen.

When it comes to more "human" films, I want 1:33.

Robert McCullar in my 16mm film, That Guy.

I like people. I like close ups. 1:33 works much better for a person's face because it brings you in closer. The 1:33 close up fills up more of the screen than does 2:35 or 1:85. (I mean, usually -- I'm always open to exceptions.) Not only does the camera have to be further out to get the whole face, but you end up with half the screen empty, or with something else that you don't really need.

So, we have widescreen televisions because people now want the movie experience at home. (Funny how movies changed because of TV and now TV has changed because of movies. ) But it parallels the course of technology's taking away the human touch. The way computers and cell phones, make things less personal, so does widescreen. There's more opportunity for something else to distract you from the person on screen.

I know widescreen has been around for half a century, but, we still had the 1:33 to 1 aspect ratio on TV. Now as more TV shows shoot widescreen I realize that my beloved screen proportion is dying everywhere. And shouldn't TV be more intimate?

Maybe I'm a sucker for lost causes. I've actually emailed Dunkin Donuts asking them to bring back fountain soda. I don't enjoy having my chocolate chip muffin with soda from a bottle. I want that fountain freshness in a cup with ice.

I understand why my desire goes unanswered. Since people go to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and donuts, not soda, I know it doesn't help their bottom line to listen to one weirdo like me.

And I may be one of a mere few weirdos who want to save 1:33.

RIP, you sweet little ratio.

Happy at Home

2007-01-31T17:44:00.000-05:00

In the fall of 2005, after completing my advanced projects, I took my last class at Los Angeles City College. I was afraid I was becoming one of those students who never left school, but after having someone else do camera for my last 3 projects, I felt that I wanted to re-connect with cinematography. I also yearned for a class where I could focus on one aspect of the art, and not have to worry about such a complicated production.

I also wanted to work with FILM again. Yay, 16mm! So I signed up for the advanced cinematography course.

I worried at the beginning of the semester that I might not have the funds to do my film project. I was working at a restaurant making very little money. But I ended up leaving the restaurant in October to take another QA position. OK, now I had the money. I then worried that I wouldn't have the time.

Given my time limitations, I decided that I wanted to do something very simple, with a small cast and crew. I asked my friend, Sean Vincent Biggins, to act in it. Sean is a very talented actor and I always wanted to have him in one of my films. Well, he actually was in my very first 8mm film, Green, but that was a chase scene exercise -- it hardly counted. I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, but I did know that I wanted to film at his place. I figured I had enough of my apartment featured in my other films. It was time to branch out to another location. My branching out was going a lengthy 2 miles down the road to Sean's place.

Jeremy Ward, as usual, was my right hand man. He was my gaffer, AD and all that stuff the second crew person does when the number of people in the crew is two.

Since I had Sean and Sean's apartment in the film, I thought I would just make a film about a guy who was happy being at home. He felt no need to go out anywhere because there were so many things to occupy himself at home like baking, reading, exercising, searching the internet, and, of course, watching TV.

I suppose the film really reflects my love of being at home, which kind of shows in my films because if I can shoot something at my place, then heck, I'm shooting at my place. I see no need to rent trucks and haul equipment everywhere if I can do the darn thing at home (hence the restaurant scene in my apartment lobby in Eddie's Winning Date). The ironic thing here, is that for kind of the first time, it actually wasn't my home.

But at least Sean lived pretty close and Jeremy and I had only a camera and light kit to lug over there.

I can't tell you how relaxing it was to do a film with just two other people, and Sean's dog, Neo, too. I loved not having to worry about sound, too. We were able to film it in one evening and one short day. We didn't have to rush much either -- see below, I'm relaxed as we wait for Sean to get off the phone...

Now, it wasn't required to turn in an edited film, but I edited it anyway, using a piece of music that Jeremy had composed on Garage Band. Since the film wasn't much of a story and more a music/experimental piece, I wanted to put a voice over to give it a little more meaning. Jeremy did the voice over only for time sake. We would have liked to have Sean do it, but we were crunched for time. We just wanted to have it somewhat complete for my screening in class.

Even though Jeremy has a great voice for voice work, his voice doesn't fit Sean, and we do want to take it out and have Sean do the voice at some point. I would love to have this film feel completed. It isn't for the reason that I think this film is going to be in a lot of festivals, but because it won't take that much to do, and I would like to see if I can have it screened somewhere.

Happy at Home got put on the back burner in 2006 because, after the semester was over, I was working a lot of overtime at my job, which I took in stride. Somewhat. (I like money but I miss having time to work on my things.) We were preparing for our move back to Boston, so stashing away money took priority.

And while I'm again a worker drone to catch up on money, although this time at a much slower rate, this project remains somewhere on my TO DO list.

My Love Letter to the Patriots

2007-01-22T16:57:00.000-05:00

Dear New England Patriots,

I know you must be feeling horrible right now. I don't want you to. You should be proud that you gave Indianapolis such a battle on their home field, when so many of you were sick and injured, with no Patriots fans in sight (if there were any, the TV cameras never picked them up).

You did so much with what you had this season. I won't say that you overachieved because I don't think it's possible for anyone to overachieve. I think it's a crap word. Maybe you achieved more than was expected, but overachieve, to me, means that you did more than were supposed to. If you achieved it, you were good enough to -- it was in you. It still is.

I don't blame anyone and I hope so much to see you all back next year. Sure, I felt so hurt when you lost last night. I want my Patriots to win. But I also felt a big bunch of love for you guys. I wish I could give you all hugs.

I believe in this team and I believe in next year.

I couldn't stand the talk all week about Brady or Manning. But now that the game is over, let me say that I'd take Tom Brady any day as my quarterback (I trust him), my date (he's hotter), my friend (ok I have a long term boyfriend already), my brother (I'd take a 4th brother if he'd like a 4th sister). I mean no disrespect towards Peyton at all. I'm just happy that Brady's our quarterback.

Tom and crew, thanks for being genuine, classy and honest. No team has more of that over you.

Oh, and Tedy Bruschi, hang around for another one, OK?

I love you, Patriots.

Forever yours,

Julia

Watch My Shorts

2007-01-18T18:16:00.000-05:00

Gianfranco Russo as Jimmy welcomes you to Jimmy's House of Hugs.

Stacy Marr walks toward her dream home in Sally's Dream House.

The Route 66 Film Festival is the one festival that has screened all 4 of my major short films, from 2004-6. This year I sent them Jimmy's House of Hugs. I had stopped sending Jimmy's to festivals, for the most part, but I thought festival director, Linda McElroy, would enjoy this one. She did (she's hoping a similiar business will open up in real life), and so did her committee. So, while things were crazy this past September after just completing a cross country move, I still managed to make the trip to the festival for my 3rd year in a row. Hey, I like Linda, and I like Springfield, IL.

This year I met brothers Greg and Doug Berry, and Vito Lapiccola, Springfield natives who were at the festival for their short thriller Under My Skin. Vito directed it and the Berry bros were two of the producers. I ended up spending a lot of the weekend talking with these three fellows.

While they were happy with the success of Under My Skin, these guys were hungry to do more. They had filmed Under My Skin in Los Angeles, but they wanted to get more films and TV programs made in Illinois. Well, anyone can talk, and Greg, in particular is a big talker. But something told me there was something behind his gabbiness. And, yes, folks, there was. It's been only a few months since the festival but he and Doug, along with Linda McElroy and other Route 66 Film Festival crew, under their production company, 747 Productions (Greg and Doug are pilots) have put together a TV program on a local Springfield cable channel (channel 4) called Watch My Shorts, hosted by Rachael Atchison. On the show they feature one or two shorts by a filmmaker and then Rachael interviews the filmmaker over the phone.

I was one of these filmmakers interviewed. For my show, which will be aired tomorrow night (Jan. 19th), they chose Jimmy's House of Hugs and Sally's Dream House. Rachael then interviewed me. I expected her to sound somewhat professional, but I didn't expect her to be as professional as she was. I'm now expecting to see a clip of her from Watch My Shorts on one of those before-they-were-stars TV show someday.

My point here is that this is not some shoddily assembled show. 747 Productions is striving for professionalism here. I appreciate and admire that.

I look forward to seeing what happens next.

Go Faux

2007-01-13T08:44:00.000-05:00

Go Faux is one film I don't have a whole web page for on my site, because it was purely a post-production film, using clips from my films, Greener, That Guy, Happy at Home, and Jeremy's film, Making the Best of It. They were all 16mm film exercises for cinematography classes at LA City College.

I put this film together specifically for the Faux Film Festival in Portland, OR. Jimmy's House of Hugs was in the 2005 festival and I enjoyed the festival so much that I wanted to send them something for 2006. Mike Shkolnik, the festival director told me that they needed more faux commercials and trailers. So what I decided to do was to make a faux commercial advertising the Faux Film Festival. I thought how could they turn that down?

I went through Jeremy's and my 16mm footage and thought I could put together something showing people not happy with their day to day life. Life was too real and they needed something fake for a change. So what better way to get out of reality but to go to the Faux Film Festival? After assembling the clips, I wrote voiceover text which Jeremy performed and recorded. I then edited a little more to make the clips and sound match well, and there it was... Go Faux.

The final film ended up being about a minute. It was a fun project for me to do because I love editing. I enjoyed making something out of previously shot footage. I love how you can take clips from completely different films and edit them together to make them relate. I also liked that I could use a clip or two from the Happy at Home footage that weren't in Happy at Home. It's nice to find a home for abandoned clips.

Go Faux starred Robert McCullar, who was in both Greener and That Guy, Robert Baker Shaw (That Guy), Sean Vincent Biggins (Happy at Home), Gina Markwarth (Greener) and myself (Making the Best of It). The thing with Go Faux is that I knew it's festival life would be extremely short, after all it was made FOR this one festival and no other festival would be interested in it. I couldn't attend the 2006 Faux fest but I was still happy to be a part of it.

Now the 2007 Faux Film Festival is coming near and this time I don't have anything for it. I wish Mike and the festival crew the very best. Maybe I'll have something for 2008!

Entropy

2007-01-06T17:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm not afraid to put an unflattering picture of myself on here. I'll do it for the sake of ENTROPY, one of the short films I acted in this past November. It was written and directed by Nathan Ehrlich and produced by Woody Bavota. I knew when taking this role that I was biting off more than I could chew. I not only had a film festival that weekend but I was already acting in another film that weekend. I actually ended up working on a third film that same weekend but on the crew. Those Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights I had accumulated a total of maybe 12 hours sleep. I'm 38, not 22, so well, that was rough, but I asked for it!

My part in ENTROPY was a small one, but the script was just so smart and unexpectedly funny, I couldn't NOT do it. I play a dying mother, leaving my son to his crazy father. Here I am with Jimmy Flynn, whom I mentioned in my blog on PB & J because I played mother to his sister in that film. Jimmy is such a sweet, patient and talented boy. It was so easy to work with him.

Woody and Nathan are currently editing the film. I think this is going to be a gem.

Eddie's Winning Date

2006-12-21T18:33:00.002-05:00

"A guy loses a Super Bowl bet and has to call back every woman he ever dated and dumped."

My screenwriting professor, Tom Stempel, wanted five one-line ideas for a film. I had four. I was stumped for a fifth. I thought of what my father, the wise Bob Radochia, would tell me, "Just give them an answer. That's all they want. It doesn't have to be right". I thought I could apply this wisdom here, telling myself, "Just write a line, any line that comes to you. You don't have to have a story behind it."

So I wrote the above quote. Of course, Mr. Stempel, good ol' Tom, gave an A to only that idea and wanted me to write a treatment for it. Darn, he called my bluff.

Sometimes it's better when you start with nothing, because you're completely open and can just let things come to you. Being that it was 2002 and the New England Patriots had just won their first Super Bowl, I started with my lead character, Eddie, as being a New England fan who always expected his teams to choke. He scoffs at the idea that the Patriots can beat the Rams, so when his friend's wife gets on his case about being a commitment-phobe who dumps women without reason, and without actually informing them, he says he'll call all his exes if the Patriots beat the Rams.

Eddie almost forgets the bet because he does get sucked into the game. While he lives with a glass is half-empty attitude, deep down he is looking for a happy ending, with a hope that anyone can be a champ if they want it enough and work for it. I was really taking the drive of Tom Brady to be the best he can be and applying it to Eddie's attempt to better himself as a man.

The idea came so quickly to me because I was incredibly moved by the Patriots' Super Bowl win. I felt lucky that on top of being one dang happy New England fan (who was a fan since the days of Steve Grogan), I had something inspirational around which to weave a plot thread. The story wrote itself, as I applied the idea of being a champion to one's personal life. Then, I imagined some of my friends playing the characters I was developing. Just putting people in as those characters let me watch the movie in my head. I felt that I was just copying down the script as I was watching.

While I wrote the script in 2002, because of my other 3 projects, I didn't film EDDIE'S until 2004. At that point I updated the script, not only cutting out a little dialogue but changing the ending to include the Patriots' second Super Bowl win. I had originally cast a friend of mine to play Eddie and I had someone in mind to play Jennifer. So I really auditioned actors only for the parts of Mike and Maureen. I really wanted two very Boston people for this couple. I saw a lot of people from Boston, but casting was tougher than I had anticipated. I needed not only two people who had the right energy for these parts but who would have the right chemistry together. They didn't have to have the thickest Boston accents, but I wanted a certain Boston feel to them.

Christine Fazzino brought both a subtlety and spiciness to the role of Maureen. She had an understated charm that was compelling. While I wasn't sure, after the first auditions, whom I was leaning towards to play Maureen, after the callbacks, I was sold on her. There was something really special that shined through. She had the right quirkiness for Maureen but kept it real, dimensional and intelligent.

When I got Ryan O'Quinn's headshot, I saw nothing on his resume that indicated he was from Boston or could do a Boston accent. It looked like he was from the south, and I thought right away, well, you can't have a Southern guy play a Bostonian. But, something told me to call him anyway. When he came to read for me, I was still attached to having a Bostonian, but Ryan read Mike with the energy I was looking for. While I had seen a bunch of guys who had Boston accents, and who could act, Ryan just *was* Mike more than anyone else. He also came off as very respectful and hard working, which, of course, is always a big plus for me. I thought that he and Christine would be a very believable couple as well. I decided that the qualities that Ryan had were so much more important to the character and the film than being a New Englander. Now Ryan is a really funny actor who can do a range of accents, but, rather than have him do a Boston accent, I just decided, that hey, Mike is a guy from the south who married a Bostonian and became a die-hard Pats fan. Or he had been a fan anyway. I mean, I know the south has some Patriots fans down there!

After I held auditions, I found that my original Eddie and Jennifer couldn't do the film. I went back through my headshot file and looked for guys who would make a good Eddie. The first person who came to mind was Michael Contrastano. When he submitted his picture for the role of Mike, I thought that he probably would not be a good Mike, that he looked too similiar to Eddie (I wanted a strong contrast between Mike and Eddie), but I had him come in to read for Mike anyway. His read showed he could act, but I didn't have him come to callbacks because, as I had thought, he just wasn't a Mike. I was having a feeling in the back of my mind that maybe he would end up being Eddie, even though I thought my friend was still in at this point.

So I called Michael and asked him to read for Eddie. I also had another actor or two to read for Eddie as well. I know I sound like a broken record regarding actors I saw but didn't cast, but I saw this one actor who was just fantastic and he was so close, but when I had Michael read, well, he just *was* Eddie. And what I loved about Michael is that as we read the sides a few times, he always evolved and found something new with each read. I love seeing actors uncover things as they go along rather than force something immediately.

Jennifer was the last main part I cast. It was important that Jennifer play really well off of Eddie. It wasn't that I didn't want to consider any of the women who tried out for Maureen, but that my gut told me to call someone else -- Megan Molloy. Megan, who played Christine in Jimmy's House of Hugs, just seemed like the perfect gal to play opposite of Michael. She has the quick wit I wanted for Jennifer. Megan is the kind of actress I could see in a 40s screwball comedy, because she has a classic elegance AND goofiness.

I then needed a babe or two to be in the Fear Factor type half-time show that the guys watched on TV. I ended up with one babe, not two, and she was Kristina Hughes, a former Miss Connecticut who had a resume that showed she didn't need this part, but she was happy to do it anyway. (I love this gal -- she's very dedicated to her work and sees the value of doing even a smaller part.) She was also one of Eddie's exes on the phone. ("I know, Eddie, you were just afraid I was too good for you.") So she got to be both seen and heard in the film but not at the same time. I really appreciate her contribution to the film. I really needed something that looked something like half-time show Fear Factor did with models a few years back. I didn't have the production for it, but having Kristina, who looked like she could have been on that show, at least got the point across on what the show was supposed to be.

I also cast other actors I had worked with before, Wenzel Jones (Sally's Dream House), as the waiter and Matias Coo (Like His Father) as the wine steward. Both of their parts got cut down a bit. There was originally a short scene after the dinner montage when Wenzel brought in the doggie bags. But as I was editing I realized it was unnecessary, even though I loved watching Wenzel in it.

Also, Matias first had a little bit more of flirtation going on with Megan's character. The whole scene with him originally had only a couple of lines, and was mostly visual, with Eddie's apologies to Jennifer taking place after the wine steward leaves. But this flirtation, while entertaining in itself, just dragged the scene and did nothing to propel the story forward. It's interesting how you can have fun little scenes that still need to be cut out because they detract from the overall purpose of the film. But taking the flirtation bit out was a real challenge to do because I was facing serious continuity problems. But I found a way to cut the film having Eddie start apologizing while the wine steward is pouring the wine. I could use only close ups of the conversation because the long shots would not have Matias in them, so it took some precision in the editing and some sound tricks to make it work. Of course it's not perfect, but I think it was the best solution available.

My crew was Thomas H. Davis as DP, Jeremy as fellow producer, sound, etc., Danielle Davis as production designer, and Matt Henderson and Catherine C. Pirotta gaffing and gripping. Thomas and Danielle's daughter, Carlin, helped out, too. Huge props go to Matt who, at last minute notice, saved us when we were behind setting up on the Friday night before the shoot. Having a crew that are not only students but who also have full time jobs makes scheduling very tight!

I should note that this film was shot entirely on our apartment's premises. Mike and Maureen's home was our home. The restaurant was in the lobby downstairs. Thanks to Danielle, I think it was pretty convincing! I had been looking for a restaurant to film the scene, but we then figured that making a little restaurant was easier and cheaper than using a real one.

The scene outside was filmed right outside our good friend, Robert Shaw's bungalow. Where we lived were 10 bungalows with an apartment building in the back. The complex has been used in Six Feet Under. Actually they needed to come back enough that they ended up building a set that looked just like it.

Jeremy did all of the sound for this film, production and post. I have said this before but I am so lucky to have a great sound man as my boyfriend. It was so noisy when we filmed outside Robert's. We had to film around helicopters, people rummaging through the trash cans on the street, a party, and more cars than usual driving by. But if you pay attention to the sound in that scene, or ANY scene, you'd think I hired a professional.

Jeremy also composed and performed all the music in the film, including the jazz piece played in the background at the restaurant. I edited the film with placeholder music, mostly with songs from ELO's album, Zoom. I also used a bit of one Matthew Sweet song. Poor Jeremy -- I was growing attached to these songs. Jeremy had to come up with songs that were different, of course, but that had the same kind of feeling. Another challenge was that I edited the restaurant montage scene to match the flow of music from one ELO song. There was a nice camera move that Thomas did that I had edited to match the music so precisely and Jeremy had to find a way to compose music to my edit. He found the way and did it. All the music he did using Garage Band, which is a great way to score a movie on a low budget!

Oh, and Jeremy also did the voice for the announcer on TV. That we added in last. I first cut it to the DVD of the actual Super Bowls, but I didn't want to leave any copyrighted material in there at all.

This is the best production film we've done. It was nice to work with Thomas and Jeremy on all these films and evolve together. Both Thomas and Jeremy are very talented but there were things we just didn't know when doing our earlier films. This one shows that we learned!

At the same time, when it come to my work, I'm probably most critical of Eddie's. I'm pleased with it on many levels but I see where I could have made it better, in script, direction and editing. Well, I think I did the best editing with what I had. I just think if I did a couple of things differently, I would have liked what I could edit together in the final product. I'm a little harsh on myself with this film. I forgive myself more with my earlier films. Of course, I need to take this all as a learning experience and move on. And I can' t complain -- Eddie's has been in/accepted to 16 festivals, including the Plymouth Independent Film Festival and Ohio Independent Film Festival and has won a few awards.

As always, I was lucky to have a talented and dedicated cast and crew. Eddie's Winning Date was a great experience and, personally very fulfilling.

Sally's Dream House

2006-12-17T16:07:00.000-05:00

SALLY'S DREAM HOUSE was the third sync sound film that I shot, but it was the first script I finished and the first film to get in a festival.

Sally is an old house lover who walks around LA neighborhoods with her fiance, Raymond, judging homeowner's remodeling jobs. She writes postcards to people whose homes she particularly likes or dislikes. She has one house that is her dream house, and while it is not for sale, she fantasizes that she and Raymond may live in it one day. She writes the owner, Jeff, and he invites Sally and Raymond to his home. There, Sally's world starts to unravel.

The character of Sally evolved from my love of old houses. Jeremy and I would take walks in LA discovering that the city did have some older homes (not old like around Boston, but still old to LA). We would wrench in pain when we'd see a home that looked like it was once beautiful that was destroyed by the owner's remodeling choices. We'd also wonder if houses that we approved of on the outside, were treated well inside. My big pet peeve, is when people take an old home and then make it look uncharacteristically modern inside. I'm not against making a home modern in efficiency -- I'm against destroying the character of a house.

I asked my good friend Stacy Marr to play Sally. Now I don't cast my friends, just because they're my friends. I cast Stacy because I thought she was a very talented actress who would bring a great quirkiness to the part. I had known Stacy in Boston and New York before we both moved to LA and had seen her in many plays and films.

I held auditions for the three males, Raymond, Jeff, and the Man in Flannel. I can't explain fully what I was looking for in Raymond without giving away the ending, but I wanted a very good looking man, who could say some strange things in mostly a straight but ever so slightly off way. I cast someone who I thought fit the part great, but because of scheduling conflicts I had to re-cast. I had some other very good actors audition for me, but none of them really fit what I was looking for.

Now, I had just recently seen Stacy in her theatre company's (Ronin Ensemble) production of "The Dining Room". One of the actors in it was Grant Reynolds. I thought he did a great job of playing a versatile group of characters. When I saw him I actually thought he would be a good Raymond, but I didn't think to ask him. I really wanted to audition actors and choose from people who submitted for my film. But when the first Raymond dropped out I asked Stacy if I could get in contact with Grant and offer him the part. I was happy when he accepted.

For Jeff, I wanted someone who could play gay, but not outrageously so. I wanted someone with a dry humor, someone who seemed just a little older than Sally and Raymond. When I got Wenzel Jones' picture, I felt like I was already looking at Jeff. He was the first person to audition for this role and he gave me exactly what I wanted in his first read. I saw several other actors, and many of them were excellent, but Wenzel was the closest to how I envisioned the role.

For the man in flannel, I wanted a guy's guy. I wanted someone who was not as classicly handsome as Raymond, but who gave off a masculine vibe. When Tracy Howe came in, I thought, yup, that's him. Now. I feel very lucky to have gotten Tracy. Tracy did not need to do my film. I mean, not that my other actors *needed* to do it either... but Tracy was getting plenty of parts on TV -- he's been on all Law and Orders and he's done a lot more film and TV since. He was playing the smallest role in my film. It was nothing I could imagine he would use for a demo reel. But he enjoyed doing student films, and I'm grateful that he took the part.

I also want to emphasize that I cast Tracy because he was best for the part, not because of his experience. I don't cast people based on their credits. The funny thing is that I've acted for years, so you would think that the resume would matter to me. But I found myself looking at pictures and getting a feel for people that way. I mean, I liked to see that they had at least acted before, but I really didn't care how many tv shows, films or plays they had been in. What mattered was whether they fit my vision for the film.

The hardest "part" to cast was Sally's dream house. I needed a house that looked old on the outside but looked different on the inside. I thought that I might need to use two separate houses entirely. But my friend and DP, Thomas Davis, said that his house might be a good fit. He lived in an old house in Angeleno Heights that had wall to wall carpet and popcorn ceilings. Awesome. There was still a little too much character in certain places but we tried to find ways to bring that down.

We ended up with a small crew. Thomas was the DP, Jeremy was AD and did half the sound recording, Catherine C. Pirotta was my gaffer, Ayesha Black was the production designer, Kenneth Kil did sound for one weekend, and Thomas' wife, Danielle, helped out in the art department. We didn't get the lighting we had hoped for when filming inside of the "dream house" because it was raining the day we shot the interiors so we were not able to put a light outside to make it look like we had real sunlight coming in. We really did not have a good workaround because there was nowhere to put a light to fake it and get the shots I needed to get. But I thought, hey, at least you can SEE the people! Even though we had just shot LIKE HIS FATHER and JIMMY'S HOUSE OF HUGS, SALLY'S DREAM HOUSE was the first real kind of production film I was doing. While all films have *limits*, we had a very limited schedule and budget so we did what we could with what we had. And we were ALL students, just learning. While LA City College encourages students to hire professional DPs and some professional crew for the advanced cinema class, I opted not to. First, I didn't have the money for it and second, I wanted to try it with just us students. While there is great value in hiring professionals, I think there is also a lot of value in all of us, as students, having gotten this film made.

SALLY'S was accepted into the 2004 Route 66 Film Festival, in Springfield, IL. There it won the audience choice award, beating out some local films. It has since played in a couple of more festivals, but never got into more than that. That's OK. I do feel that if it were sleeker looking it would have had more acceptances, so I'm just happy that it tasted a small amount of validation.

See Like His Father

2006-12-14T18:09:00.000-05:00

I put LIKE HIS FATHER on my film site 2 years ago, but because I didn't know how to compress video files, the file that went up was so large that it would take at least 30 minutes to load.

Jeremy learned how to do it and put up a new file this morning. So now it feels like it's available online for the first time -- at least to those without a huge amount of patience. Click the link above to go directly to the page. It starts playing right away. Yay!

PB & J

2006-12-10T16:29:00.000-05:00

When I moved back to Boston I thought I'd send out my headshot and resume to see if I could get some acting work again. The first film I got cast in was PB & J by Harvard University junior, Natalie Evans. So I here I am with castmates Tracie Jules, Shelby Flynn and Josh (I don't remember his last name but he was a real good kid!). The film centers around Josh's character and his overbearing mother, played by Tracie. I was the mother of Shelby's character. Shelby's real mother, Brenda, took this picture and gave me permission to put it up on my site.

Small film world that Boston is, Tracie and I both then got parts in an Emerson College film, HARRISON BERGERON, and I saw Brenda again when I played the mother of Shelby's brother, Jimmy, in ENTROPY. I was happy to play a mother to both Shelby and Jimmy because they were both such sweet and easy kids to work with.

PB & J was the quickest film I've worked on in a long time. Natalie was great to work with. She had only one weekend to shoot the film, so she kept things moving. We did this film less than two months ago, in October, but it already feels like a long time ago, because I've been keeping busy working during the week and doing films on weekends.

I just wrapped filming on a fourth short film, FREED RESTRAINT. I've been having fun acting again and hope to get more film work, but I'm now also more driven to get back to work on my own films.

Jimmy's House of Hugs

2006-12-07T17:39:00.001-05:00

JIMMY'S HOUSE OF HUGS was my second sync sound film, again, with no real equipment but a 3 chip dv camera. So the sound is bad in this, too, although you can still understand the dialogue.

This film I put together quickly in a week and shot in one day. During this semester I had to do three shorts films, the third being, SALLY'S DREAM HOUSE which was for my advanced cinema production course. Most of my energy needed to go to that film. JIMMY'S was the second project for Joni Varner's dv class. Originally, Jeremy and I were going to do a short documentary on Marine boot camp in San Diego, but the war in Iraq just broke out, and a week before we were going to shoot, they called us and said they couldn't let us do the project at that time. Now, I still needed to film my second project very quickly, otherwise I wouldn't have enough time to work on SALLY'S. So, on a Sunday, I shut myself in my bedroom until I came up with an idea. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Then, an idea I had previously considered about a hugging business came to mind but I didn't know what to do with it. I kept looking around my room, thinking about how there was a rumor that this 1929 Spanish style apartment complex using to be a bordello. Hugging.... bordello.... a-HA -- a hugging bordello!

I thought I could do a mockumentary on a hugging bordello for women. I thought how women can always go into a bar and get sex if they really wanted to (not recommended by me, of course) but how men didn't have that same certainty, therefore, the business of prostitution helps them out with that (not recommended by me, either) . However, women could not always be guaranteed HUGS accompanied with genuine understanding.

I still was trying to form the structure of it. Then, an actor, Gianfranco Russo, who had auditioned for a role in SALLY'S DREAM HOUSE, came to mind. I didn't cast Gianfranco in Sally's because I went with an all-American kind of guy for the part. But he had a great presence and a sexy Italian accent to boot. I started writing the role of Jimmy for Gianfranco, hoping, of course, that he could play the part. I saw Jimmy as a reformed player, who started a hugging business as a way to show his newfound respect for women... and so he could be around women.

I called Gianfranco and asked if he'd like to do the film. He accepted and I emailed him the script. When we met, he said to me, "This is me -- I am this guy!" He said that he, too, had been somewhat of a playboy when he was younger but had since changed his ways. He still retained a large dose of smoothness, but was actually very (and surprisingly) genuine.

When I started writing the script on that Sunday, I had just one week to put the whole film together. Everyone I cast was a friend/co-worker or was someone who had auditioned for me before. Megan Molloy, who played Christine, had auditioned for me for a part in the scene in my directing class, and was my second choice, but I went with Emily Brooke Hands, instead. I thought she was great though, so I called her and offered her the part.

Alfred DiMaio, was the only non-actor in the film. We worked together in QA. He's a musician (now a full time musician). I didn't care if he could act well or not. I thought he just had a great thing for the role of Tim, and I think it worked.

The rest of the cast was to be PJ Marino, Stacy Marr, Eric Casaccio, Dwight R. Williams and Sherry Mattson. But on Sunday morning, Sherry called me up extremely apologetic and extremely sick. I decided that it was too late to get anyone else so I did her part (Rachel). I ended up cutting the part down on the spot. I cut a brief intro scene with Jimmy because now it didn't seem necessary. It was easier to cut with me playing it. I would have felt bad if I were cutting Sherry's screen time down. (FYI - "bad" is correct English here -- ask my mother, the former English teacher -- one may do badly but one feels bad.)

My crew was Jeremy, as always, Thomas H. Davis as DP and Stacy McDonald who could help out half the day as a grip and second AD.

Because we had to accommodate actors' schedules on such short notice, we had to schedule most people in 2 hour blocks of time. Gianfranco was the only actor who stayed all day. We spend the whole day running up and down the stairs between the apartment lobby and my apartment. The last scene we filmed was with Eric and Stacy and at that point our pace slowed down. They're both good friends of mine so we just had fun with that scene. They did a lot more improv than I showed in the film. It was funny but as I edited the film I realized that I needed to keep the pace quick.

I went over the 5 minute time limit, accepting points taken off my grade for every second I went over. The class voted it as one of the three films to be screened in LACC's end of semester screening.

Later I did a very slight re-edit in one scene and Jeremy did the best he could to fix up the sound. There was very little that we could do to make the sound better, but Jeremy's work did result in it being a little better. I decided to try to send it to a few festivals. It got into the 2004 S.N.O.B. Film Festival, the 2005 Faux Film Festival where it won an audience award, the 2005 Plymouth Independent Film Festival, 2005 Fiery Film Festival, 2006 Marblehead Festival of the Arts, 2006 Hovey Summer Arts Festival and last month it played at the START Moving Image Festival in the UK as part of an exchange program with the Plymouth Independent Film Festival. So, not bad for a little film with bad sound, shot in one day!

To this day I feel blessed to have had such a talented and energetic cast and crew who came through for me on such short notice. (I wish I could talk more about each and every one of them but I don't want to make this post too long!) This is a film I'm looking into develop further. I just need to find a way to get Gianfranco Russo back to the States for it. He's currently in an Italian soap, "Vivere". I guess he's wanted all over the globe!

Like His Father

2006-11-21T22:33:00.000-05:00

OK, I think I'll spend a little time and talk about each of my films. Because my website has limits to what I can do with it, I think that this blog is a better place for this kind of thing.

I was taking a DV class from Joni Varner at Los Angeles City College in the spring of 2003. We had two film projects to do, one no longer than 3 minutes and the second no longer than 5 minutes. Even though the only equipment we got was a 1 chip mini dv camera, I wanted to do a film with dialogue. I thought that it would be good practice.

I wrote a short script based loosely on my leaving a boyfriend who was verbally and emotionally abusive. But the film wasn't so much about a relationship with an abusive partner as it was about the relationship with the mother. I liked the mother of this guy I left, but I felt it wasn't my place to say anything about her son, no matter how twisted his behavior was towards me. So I didn't feel able to really say "goodbye" to her because I couldn't tell her why I left her son so suddenly.

I always wondered if the mother of my ex really knew why I left. That's what inspired me to come up with the story for this film. The first part of the film, where Wendy, girlfriend, gathers up the guts to move out as soon as her boyfriend is based on a real event. The second part, with Marion, the mother showing up at the door with a plate of brownies is the fantasy. What would Wendy say to Marion as she catches her leaving with her suitcase?

I cast Emily Brooke Hands to play Wendy, Matias Coo to play the boyfriend, Luke, and Roxanne Barker as the mother. The previous semester I had cast Emily and Matias to be in a scene for my directing class. Most of the class really liked them and thought they worked well together. Now I don't cast people just because I worked with them before, but as I wrote the script, I thought that Emily would be perfect for Wendy and that Matias could play against her as the bad guy. Now, Matias is actually a really nice guy. He is really one of the most easy going actors I've worked with. But I thought he might have it in him to be a little bad as well as display the characteristics that made Luke likable to begin with. I think you can't portray an abusive person all one note, even in a short film. You have to see that there was something about the character that gave him the ability to draw people in.

I auditioned several women for Marion. I auditioned a lot of talented women for the part but Roxanne Barker had the quality I was looking for. The funny thing is, I don't remember if I had even auditioned her. She was in my classmate's, Catherine C. Pirotta's film and when I watched her in it, I realized that was what I wanted for Marion. Catherine gave me her number and well, that's how I got my third cast member.

Thomas Davis and Jeremy helped me film this movie. We filmed it in one day, although we did call Roxanne back to re-shoot her scenes the next weekend because we wanted to get better light on her face. I edited the film down to 3 minutes so I wouldn't get points taken off. But it was a little too choppy in some parts.

The class really liked the film, more than I had expected. Many gave high praise to Emily's performance. My teacher, Joni, gave me an A but suggested that I might do a little re-editing if I wanted to do anything with the film. Well, I hadn't thought that I could do anything with it (as far as festivals were concerned), but several months later, after I bought my own G5 and Final Cut Pro software, I did re-edit. I made the beginning flow better and allowed a little more time for the whole thing to breathe. Now that I wasn't under the 3 minute constraint, I also slowed down the end credits so that people could read them. This brought the film to 4 minutes, exactly.

The film also needed music. I had Jeremy do the score. I said I wanted something that indicated a hard time but that also had hope in it. I didn't want "oh poor me" music. He came up with exactly what I was looking for. He then recorded himself playing it on guitar and then gave it to our friend, Robert Baker Shaw to play on piano. Robert added a lot of his own thing to piano part. The song actually goes on much longer -- I wish you could hear it all! But of course I couldn't take more than 4 minutes of it. I'm really happy with how the music and film came together so well.

Now, I knew that LIKE HIS FATHER would not make it into any big festivals. It didn't look or sound professional. The sound, in particular was just bad. That's what you get for using the microphone in camera. Jeremy did his best to clean it up and adjust the levels, but there's only so much you can do.

But, it still made it into a few: 2005 Route 66 Film Festival, 2005 Fiery Film Festival and the 2006 Marblehead Festival of Arts film festival. The funny thing is, I had submitted four films to Marblehead, and they accepted two. I really didn't expect them to take LIKE HIS FATHER, but they said that it really grabbed them.

I have no future plans for this film. I think it's done as much as it's going to do. It did more than I thought it would do. Thank you, little film. And thank you Emily, Matias, Roxanne, Jeremy, Thomas and Robert!

Midwest Deja vu

2006-11-16T21:46:00.000-05:00

OK, I suppose it's time to write something new. As I said in my last post, don't rent from those Zaghis in LA...

I found it a bit interesting that since we moved back to Boston I have been back to two of the cities we visited on our cross country trip, Chicago and Cleveland. Chicago I was in for only a fraction of two separate days. On September 15th, I was on my way to the Route 66 Film Festival in Springfield, IL, where this year JIMMY'S HOUSE OF HUGS was playing. This was my third time at the festival, and though the first two times I flew to Springfield, this year my funds were very limited, so I flew to Chicago and then took the train to Springfield. It saved me more than $200. Excellent. Plus, staring out a train window is one of my favorite past times.

I was able to spend 2-3 hours in Chicago in between plane and train trip each way, which gave me the opportunity to take in the city's energy, but not to get to do any real sightseeing. I was just happy to be back there. Chicago, did I tell you I loved you? Or is it too soon in our relationship to say that yet?

Now, this past weekend I was in Cleveland for the Ohio Independent Film Festival. EDDIE'S WINNING DATE was screening there. It's funny because when Jeremy and I were there last time I was thinking to myself that I might be there again soon. I don't know why because I was coming off a string of festival rejections, and although I had already submitted to Ohio, I just didn't think I would get in. OIFF had rejected my other films in 2004 and 2005 so I thought it was a long shot. With 400 submissions this year, it was a long shot. But this time, in 2006, I was on the winning side.

Now, before the Ohio Independent film festival, my associations with Cleveland were my friend, Anthony, and Drew Carey, whom I don't know, so I can't claim as a friend, but well, his show was set in Cleveland, so I associated it with him. Make sense? Good. :) I also think of the Cleveland Browns and how they now have Romeo Crennel as a head coach. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Browns, and I did take in some joy in that they beat Atlanta this weekend. It didn't make up for the pain of the Patriots losing a second week in a row, and this time, to the Jets.

OK, so I had some pain while in Cleveland. (And I'm still feeling it.) But I had a nice time attending the festival and seeing EDDIE'S look and sound great. When EDDIE'S sounds good, people like it. When there are sound problems, the film is lost. This screening had the best sound out of any screening I've attended and I heard people laughing at spots that never received laughter before.

The festival was a couple of miles from downtown Cleveland, but that's far enough to be out of the city. It was in the Lakewood section of Cleveland I believe, which is close to Ohio City where Jeremy and I stayed before. I got there in the afternoon and watched a couple of features, then went out looking for something to eat. There wasn't a lot to choose from. I could have gone to a sandwich shop (but I already ate at Subway for lunch) or to Snickers, which was a little too nice and just not cheap enough for me, so I ended up have a burger and onion rings at the bar across the street. It was a real bar, complete with the resident drinkers and the requisite older Gretchen Wilson looking bartender asking me, "What can I get ya, Hon?" I could have sworn I knew her. Really, I've met this woman before. Pretty woman, showing some age. Big eyes with a slight slant to the upper lids, turned up nose, slighter lips... OK, I've become obsessed with face reading. While watching the 2004 World series I noticed that pitchers often had slanty eyes, a nose with a hook and a narrower mouth...

And football players have square jaws.

Yes, football. It's not entirely off subject since the Patriots are almost a character in my film. This guy, Ken, who was in a film in the festival, RAVEN GETS A LIFE, by Devi Snively, asked me if I was a Tom Brady fan. Oh yes. I am. He said he liked Brady since he was at Michigan. (Ken is a big Wolverines fan.) He always appreciated what Brady did. Ken, who was from Indiana, was a Chicago Bears fan first, though, and did hope that the Bears would kick Patriot butt at the end of this month.

Chicago, Cleveland, I love ya... I'm feeling some patterns here, but my mind is now back to one involving the Patriots. It's been a tough few weeks, but I'm yearning for something involving the Pats, some big wins, THE big win.

I think I've felt that before...

REDACTED

2006-10-19T18:36:00.000-04:00

January 10, 2008

February 1, 2008

EVERYTHING REDACTED, OK?

Crossing over to Canada -- Niagara Falls

2006-09-25T17:34:00.000-04:00

What cross country trip would be complete without a stop in Canada? We thought we'd stop in Niagara Falls, but since the Canadian side has a better view, we crossed the border.

I don't know if I should blame Canada, but the film I bought got jammed in my camera so we ended up with only a few pictures. The above photo of the falls is only a piece of one of the photos (but was all that was worth seeing). Below is a photo of Jeremy with the Niagara Falls tackiness in the back. It provides some extra color, at least.

Looking forward to Cleveland again

2006-09-22T18:03:00.000-04:00

Jeremy was rather sick when we arrived in Cleveland. So we did not make it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We stayed a beautiful bed & breakfast, Stone Gables, in Ohio City (check out the link above) and received the best hospitality of the trip -- attentive but not overbearing. Coming home to warm chocolate chip cookies in the evening was a big treat for me.

Despite Jeremy's not feeling well, he wanted to see something. So we walked around the neigborhood in the late afternoon/early evening. With so many beautiful, renovated old houses, this neighborhood would have been perfect for my film, SALLY'S DREAM HOUSE. Of course I'm not even showing the pictures of the really nice ones (by the general population's standards), but a couple that touch my heart.

If I were to film SALLY'S DREAM HOUSE again, I could see this house above as Sally's house. I love old little houses like this. I love the color and the little picket fence.

This one does look like it needs some work, but it still grabs me. I'm wondering what was original here and what was done later. I like the closed, broken shutters on the top window and the pink brick on the bottom.

I took the above picture the next morning when we did a brief walk in downtown Cleveland. I thought I'd put it in here since it at least says "Cleveland" on the poster.

This is the pizza place we had supper at, the Ohio City Pizzeria. We were feeling like grabbing some subs and retreating to our lovely room, but while we were waiting for our food, we were liking the atmosphere -- and the quiet (we were the only ones in the place) so we decided to sit down and eat. We had meatball subs and salads. The subs were excellent -- great meatballs, great bread. (And I'm a snob about subs.) The young woman working there was very sweet, too.

This is Stone Gables. We highly recommend it!

More Chicago photos

2006-09-20T23:07:00.000-04:00

Chicago -- my other love

2006-09-13T22:38:00.000-04:00

I'm a Boston girl. A New Englander. I love where I come from. I love my Patriots, my Red Sox... I always route for Boston. I'm forever loyal.

But I'm tempted to start seeing Chicago behind Boston's back. I think I'm in love. Maybe I'm getting over the pain Chicago caused me in my childhood, after she ripped away my one of my early crushes, Carlton Fisk, from the Red Sox. Boy, did Carlton break my heart. (I forgive him now.) I didn't understand why he would leave Boston. But I know why he'd go to Chicago.

Chicago is the only city on the trip that I've visited before -- back in the spring of 1996 on a 3 days business trip. I didn't get to see that much of it since we stayed and conducted business near the airport. But I did get to go downtown on a few occasions (it was perfect spring weather, absolutely beautiful). Jeremy had been to Chicago, too. Although we were already fans, we wondered how before we missed to realize how truly awesome the city is. I get why Oprah has her show there and why Vince Vaughn moved back. The architecture is just breath-taking. Following advice given by Cousin Nancy, we went on the architecture cruise at sunset. Wow.

(More photos to come...)

Des Moines

2006-09-09T12:18:00.000-04:00

After Omaha we drove a couple or so hours more to Des Moines. After two long days in the car we wanted this to be a short driving day. We got to downtown Des Moines as the city was closing down for the evening (it did not seem to be a night city), but we did get to walk around for a bit. We noticed all over downtown as well as at our motel that this city was set up to get around on foot in the winter. Everywhere were covered walkways between buildings (as you can see above). I admire the element of practicality.

We were most in awe of the capitol building. Not only was it gorgeous but it was set high above, overlooking the city. It had almost as much presence as Elvis Presley. (That's saying a lot!)

Two hours in Omaha

2006-09-06T20:41:00.000-04:00

After Denver, Jeremy and I drove another 8 hours to Lincoln, Nebraska. It was raining as we drove through so we didn't stop for any photo opps. But the next day, on our way to Des Moines, we stopped in Omaha for 2 hours. We wanted to check out Warren Buffett's home town. I wish we could have stayed there longer. Omaha had a quiet energy and I was curious to see if it rolled up at night or had anything going on after the work crowd left. Jeremy and I did see an old building being restored and renovated for condos. So maybe that's a sign there is life in downtown Omaha after dark?

Our time in Omaha is when the cinema geeks in us came out. The old buildings fueled our picture taking obsession.

Above is one of the only two photos of us together during the entire trip. Having an old-fashioned, completely manual 35mm camera makes one less inclined to hand it over to a stranger to take a photo.

Jeremy was getting artsy with his water photos. This was taken in the park in the middle of town.

Till we meet again, Denver

2006-09-04T22:14:00.000-04:00

We have no photos of Denver. It was raining and after 9 hours of driving we thought we would just rest in the motel room (which was 5 miles from downtown). We figured that Denver was a city that we would make a trip to some other time anyway.

But we found ourselves in the car later to do an errand. It stopped raining. So we went downtown. Without our camera.

The biggest surprise about Denver to me, was that it, out of all cities I've been to, was the one that most reminded me of Boston... minus all that revolutionary stuff, of course. We walked around the 16th Street mall, which reminded me of Fanueil Hall, minus the hall. There was a Copley Square element to it to, minus the square. Wow this is making a lot of sense, isn't it? We really needed the camera for this one, didn't we?

It felt nice to be in a more "normal" city again, but this time Jeremy thought that a few people glared at my T-shirt. I didn't think much about having my New England Patriots shirt on. It was what I put on in the morning (needing to wear some kind of sleeves while still in Utah). It wasn't like I was wearing a Red Sox shirt in New York after the Sox came back from an 0-3 deficit to beat the Yankees in the '04 playoffs. Plus, the last meeting of the Broncos and Patriots, was in last year's playoffs which the Patriots lost. Of course I don't think the majority of people cared about my T-shirt. And for what it's worth, while Tom Brady is my #1 quarterback, I like Jake Plummer, too.

We wish we had more time in Denver. We wish we didn't have headaches from the high altitude. We got some take-out salads at Chili's to take back to our room. We got lost on the way back to the motel, though. I think we were driving for about an hour. Wow, Denver really is like Boston -- it's easy to get lost.