I'm On It

The idea that I am qualified to define love may be ridiculous, considering that every human, ever, has tried at least once to take a stab at it. What, then, is the point? It would be redundant and obtrusive to even attempt to categorize something so universally felt, and undeniably personal. Thanks. I think I will. Love is the straight jacket worn by Fear. Oh, relax your eyebrows! Stay with me. There are only two basic emotions inherent in the human experience. The first is Joy. Pure Joy. Not the “For me? It’s just what I wanted!” brand of momentary pleasure that wells up when an expectation or desire is fulfilled. Pure joy is the default state we all start out with, before life pummels the human cylinder-shaped peg into gender-based, behavioral and societal square holes. Joy is how we enter this world, and leaving the State of Joy, as we all do, shapes our continuing desire to return, at all costs. We may have lost the map, or have designated someone or something e...

Every blog author wants to be read. The problem I see when I read them, (and I read a lot of them), is that I have to try and figure out who is doing the writing based on what they say. Any good comedian will tell you that people like jokes, but people won't love you unless you share the "real you" with them. Otherwise, they think, "Who's this guy think he is?" and "Why do I care what he has to say?" So, read this, and decide for yourself. Ever since I was a kid, people asked me if I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. I have always loved to draw, and later, paint, so I guess this was the natural thing for people to say. I never really wanted to be an "artist" per se. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a forest ranger, (I guess so I could be away from people telling me to be an artist). As I grew up, I gravitated toward artistic work. I studied commercial art in school, played drums in a rock band, (badly), and tried to infuse...

As a video editor/writer/producer/ all-around do everything myself guy, I read lots of stuff about how to create good video, great lighting, working with actors, etc. Along with all of the great information out there, I come across lots and lots of lists; checklists, to-do lists, don't forget lists... you get the idea. Being knee-deep in a project right now, I've discovered a few things. Most, I'm sure are on other lists. Obviously, I didn't pay enough attention to them. So, for all of you, (like me), who think you know it all already, here is a real life short list that might help you stave off what I like to call the "Oh crap" moments. (Full Disclosure - I actually used some more colorful words - a lot - when I discovered these things). 1.) Nobody Cares Like You Do Nobody cares about your project the way you do. Stop shaking your head... you know its true. Clients care about budgets and deadlines. Actors care about how they look and perform, and...

For many, social media is a way to connect, stay informed and follow the comings and goings of those people whose lives are more interesting than yours. But, who are those people? They are the humans among us who are more important, more together, more hipster than you. Etiquette and accepted social mores? Nonsense. There are no words or feelings out of bounds. Grammar and punctuation? For amateurs. Spelling? Bah! Who needs it when we have numbers and symbols to guide the less enlightened to the proper path? But, you cry, they are so cool! I want to be one of them! Well, if you must... here's what you need to do, you sad, sad little gnome. 1.) Be Snarky First and foremost among the rules for imposing your world view is to set up the basis of the conversation. Don't ask if Kim Kardashian is dumb. Say it! And then follow up with your assessment of her level of dumbness. Comparisons are good here, too. Bag of rocks, dumb as a stump, etc. It doesn't matter...

While I find it hard to say "no" to my wife for anything, it would have been unthinkable this weekend. After all the help she has provided with my latest production, (scheduler, costumer, mom-wrangler, puppeteer, seamstress... the list goes on), I would have really felt like an ungrateful slob had I refused to help out with the event she had arranged. Our local Applebee's provides non-profit groups with a great way to raise funds by allowing us to arrange a Pancake Breakfast. My wife Gina scheduled one for our church, and today was the day. That meant being up, showered, dressed and in the car by 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. I know for some of you, that doesn't sound like a big deal, but for someone who rarely falls into bed before 2 a.m., there is really only one word for it... $@#@^%&@*@! Still, having worked in the restaurant business for over a dozen years served me well. It didn't take long before I felt right at home plating food, washing dish...

Last minute script changes, shuffling the characters around and one really cool camera angle later, today's scenes shot for "A Caterpillar's Tale" are destined for the editing deck. While the actors looked at me with blank stares, I explained how we would be shooting things out of sequence, in order to adhere to our hard-stop time. Being stage actors, they are used to starting a scene and plowing through to the end. This is, no doubt, a strange and disconnected way to perform. Being kids, they have parents who expect to pick them up at the time that I said we would be done. So, in order to make that happen, I needed to shoot in groups of segments, guaranteeing that no one but me knew what was going on. And, as a side note... I shot everything I needed and was still finished ten minutes before the hard-stop time! Yay me! But as a director, I know what I want in the way of shots, and as an editor, I know that more is always better. So, to the all-t...

We’re getting there! After today’s shoot, I’m even more psyched than ever about putting this project together. Today we shot two scenes. One with the bats, and one with the owl. The bats were so cute and wicked, they are sure to be stand out characters in our project. Our bats performed in the perfect blend of scary/cute/fun. My head was full of ideas about sound and light effects I’m going to use for this scene. I’m looking forward to editing it! The owl was great, too. Our actress was spot on in her delivery, attitude and motherly-ness. It was a real treat to capture. I have a few days until our next scenes, so I’m going to try and catch up on some other work. But, after today, it’ll be hard to focus on anything other than this project! Just as a recap, this project is part of an anti-bullying effort for a local school district. Its intended audience is the students of the district in grades K-4, so it has to be fun, funny and still get the message across...

Today we shot the final scene of “A Caterpillar’s Tale”. Not the last scene I have to shoot, just the last scene in the program. It was, by far, the most complicated, involving actors interacting with a puppet that has most of the lines, a dozen ensemble actors, a dance number and character make-up. The thing that kept me awake at night leading up to this shoot was the amount of actors in the scene, and how I was going to manage making sure they hit their marks, delivered their lines and kept the energy up through multiple takes. It turns out that it was the actors themselves that made it such a great experience. The ability to stand and deliver a line, and their willingness to do it well, made all the difference. Many of the actors in this production learned their craft under the tutelage of Bonnie and John Ryerson of the Pied Piper Youth Theater, www.pipertheater.org , and Bonnie and John have taught them well. Some even came from rehearsals of a PPYT production, to le...

Three things that I never thought I would ever say to my children: 1: Don't play with the rats 2: Now, I want all of the sweetness and light gone from you 3: Become one with the caterpillar Well, I said all of that and more today as my daughter joined two other fine young actors to play the Three Witches in "A Caterpillar's Tale". After transforming my living room into a cross between a hidden corner of Wes Craven's mind and Liberace's breakfast nook, we waited for our actors to arrive. The wonderful Geri Hamilton, who also provides the voice of the Crabapple in another scene, arrived with our actors in tow. She set to work immediately, handling hair and make-up chores, transforming three lovely young ladies into three gorgeous gypsies. Add to that the costumes Gina Davis and I collaborated on choosing for each, along with her work on our daughter's styling, and we were ready to film a pivotal scene. Cue the caterpillar! Gina and I were ...

It was 93 degrees f today, and I had a half dozen kids marching up and down my driveway, screaming their heads off. Why? Because they were the "villagers" storming the castle of the Evil Scientist in our production. Good sports all, they dutifully hit their marks and created a scene that, most likely, lead to a few head-scratching moments among my neighbors. Aside from a sad face or two when it was discovered that I only had one pitchfork among the rakes and shovels they carried, these kids took a small scene in the script and gave it life... as only kids can. While their moms looked on from the top of the hill, they performed well, even as I sent them back to their starting places with a cry of "Great! That was terrific! Let's do it again!" Production Manager Gina Davis brought it all together, as she and Margo Mueller put the finishing touches to the costumes, walking a fine line between poor, angry villagers and flat out hobos. A special shout o...

After five months of pitching, cajoling, lining up resources and generally annoying many people around me, I finally secured funding for a video project. Having done an anti-bullying video aimed at mid/high school aged kids last year, I wanted to do one for the younger students. After all, habits and beliefs about what is and is not socially acceptable begin early. They are usually learned by absorbing attitudes toward bullying, ("Boys will be boys", "Girls are just mean," or "When I was a kid, you just..."), and those ideas begin to form a child's core beliefs about the world in which they are expected to fit in and get along. So, I wanted to help. Having created a few video programs centered around the winter holidays, my first thought was to go back to that well. As I began to explore options, I realized that my mindset was simply to rehash all of those things I had seen and watched many, many times over the years. Yawn. Then, I decided to...

a few examples Age is a funny thing. My youthful idealism is still intact. My belief that people should help others when they can is sound. Live and let live, don’t judge a book by its cover, everyone deserves a second chance… these and many other ideals continue to help guide my daily life. But, one virtue that I have never had an over-abundance of has been on the wane for a few years now. I have lost patience with language abusers. The normal annoyances afflict me, as they do many others. Like people who don’t know the difference, or don’t care about the difference between “your” and “you’re”. I realize we’re all busy, but, when did it become so hard to understand where and when an apostrophe is to be used? Or, those who use words like “irregardless”, or people who use the term “at the end of the day” more than once in a conversation when describing a time when all dialogue has been exhausted. Things like this make me yell at my TV or computer screen. But, what really mak...

BMI article In the district where my children go to school, a new rule was instituted a few years ago. They were to be weighed and their BMI, (Body Mass Index) was to be recorded. I was told by the school nurse, (a really nice woman with a long history of doing her job and doing it well), that the rule was required by the state, and it was little more than a formality. Which got me thinking. Could it be that, at the state level, someone was really, genuinely concerned about childhood obesity, and instituted this rule so as to gather data, and then do something about it? As much as I would like to believe that… uh, no. Sorry. Can’t. I know first-hand that the folks in charge of food service in our school district do care, and have instituted policies to help make the transition to healthier choices available to my kids. I know they are working hard to exceed the guidelines set forth for them by the state and federal government. There is still a long way to go, but they are wo...

Advertisers know who buys stuff. I don’t know the exact percentage, but I’m pretty sure that women handle most of the purchasing in our culture. What makes me say that? Just look at the ads. Whenever you see an ad on TV that features a family element, (food and travel are real stand-outs here), it’s always the Dad who is the knucklehead, the clown or the hapless loser. Mom sweeps in to put right whatever he has destroyed or messed up, usually with that look of knowing wisdom that I saw on my mother’s face more often than I care to remember while growing up. Men are just big children, the ad seems to say, and women are the sensible ones. Right. Because men will buy six shirts, four pairs of pants and three pairs of shoes with the absolute certainty that most of this stuff is to be returned to the store. Men know that when you buy something on sale, even if you didn’t really want it, it’s still a bargain and you’ve saved money on it. And, men always flick through every piece ...

As someone who has stood in boardrooms and conferences and spoken on topics where my expertise ranged from extensive to non-existent, I can sympathize with those who fear public speaking. I've often thought that it takes a certain level of distain for the audience in order to calm those fears. How wrong I was in that notion. While that attitude may work for some, I've discovered what really makes for a good public presentation. Bravery... where you acknowledge your fear and do your job anyway... is what it takes. Preparation, confidence, being able to read an audience, all of these things are important and necessary, but bravery will get you through like nothing else. I had the opportunity to videotape an elementary school talent show recently, and as with all events of this caliber, one can see them in a variety of ways. You can view it as a "celebration of mediocrity", or you can find the beauty in the simplicity of it. I’ve run a few of these shows when my...

This is just a small part of the debate about teachers, administrations and school districts budgets. More to come as the season rolls on. - JD Quite a bit of debate in these days of belt-tightening and budget slashing is focused on teachers' salaries.  The conservative view would be that teachers are highly paid, without tangible, measurable results. After all, how can one measure how much a teacher cares about their students' achievement? The Bush administration tried to combat that view with No Child Left Behind, which, while there are many intricacies and trade-offs, roughly amounted to using student test scores to judge teacher effectiveness.  This method of evaluation lacks common sense in so many ways that it just makes me shake my head, but, at the very least... somebody tried something! You can find many arguments, both pro and con, on NCLB... so go do some homework. The question remains... do teachers make too much money? As I have stated before, this question...

This is just a small part of the debate about teachers, administrations and school districts budgets. More to come as the season rolls on. - JD I live in what is termed a "bedroom" community, which means a community where people leave each day to go to work elsewhere. There are plenty of dry cleaners, pizza places and nail salons, but no real industry or retail base to speak of. No factories or industries. It's beautiful here, surrounded by woodlands and waterways, old stone walls and neighbors who wave as you go by. The problem is... dun, dun, duhhhhhn... taxes. Our taxes are high. Higher than this mix of blue collar and white collar working families can stomach. People often feel powerless when state-level politicians give lip service to addressing their concerns by attacking the whipping post du jure. The only real effect people have is at the ballot, which, no matter how much vitriol is expressed, still remains woefully under used. So, when school budget t...

http://nyti.ms/enZrBB In my mind's eye, I'm still 25 years old.  Comfortable in the fact that I am at my physical and intellectual, (or so I thought at the time), best.  While I was never truly happy, I didn't miss out on much back then.  I was a bartender, so nightlife was my life.  If I wasn't greasing the wheels for others in pursuit of a good night, I was imbibing myself, enjoying the dark side at my leisure. Age and maturity descended upon me at my own bidding, as I chose to remove myself from that lifestyle, get a "real" job and find my way in the world of adults, leaving the head-pounding days and giddy, selfish nights behind. The beast within rears it's egotistical head from time to time, but this is easily put down as I am reminded that those days and nights belong to the next generation of party-goers and social malcontents. I'm okay with that.  Really. Social media seems like a great way to bring the world into the bubble that I live...

It's Springtime in the Northeast, and that means clean, clean, clean.  As my wife set about cleaning out the refrigerator, trying to find the culprit behind that smell attacking the senses every time the door was opened, I set out upon the unenviable task of cleaning out the garage.  No mean feat, considering our two-car garage hasn't had a car in it in quite a while, and has become home to everything we absolutely need, just not right now. Spring also means taking the plow off and storing it in the garage until next year, which is the main reason why today was garage cleaning day. Everything has to come out of the garage in order to put the plow in, and then everything has to be put back. Fun! Our house sits up on a hill, and at 2100 square feet, my driveway affords me the thrill of blasting out onto the street like Batman, (if Batman drove a minivan). All well and good, until it snows.  It once took me eight hours to shovel my driveway,(on my birthday, no less), in ...

http://huff.to/hixQdT I read this. And so I then I read this. http://ti.me/nP2LZ And then, because I couldn't believe that I was getting the full story, I went here: http://bit.ly/3f9KbM Growing up and living in the Northeast, U.S., I have never been hit by a teacher in school. I'm quite sure that my mother, even as I pushed her toward the brink of her sanity time and time again during my educational years, would never have allowed it.  Raising my children now in the Northeast means that, while I have certainly heard of the practice of corporal punishment, I was under the assumption that it was a thing of the past, buried away with those times of air raid drills, segregated schools and doctors doing cigarette commercials on TV. So, you can imagine my shame-faced surprise when I discovered that 19 states in our nation still allow, condone and in some places encourage corporal punishment in schools. And, as if that isn't enough to get the blood boiling, perhaps the fac...