Monday, September 29, 2008

... AND THE WINNER WAS...

"Dear Colton, Love Niko..."

(a short film)

OK, so we didn't win. But hey, I've said all along, and mean it wholeheartedly, that it's not so much about the winning as about the participating in a worthy cause, and Charter Communications offered us that opportunity. Go Charter!!!

Because Childhood Cancer is so very close to our hearts and has been for so long, we were thrilled to have that opportunity, so we pulled our limited resources together and worked our butts off to create a project that would properly convey the message requested by the contest rules, as well as tell the story of a brave little boy and his best friend. And we did it!!

Our movie/short film, "Dear Colton, Love Niko", was a success, and held it's own VERY nicely with the other entries. The others were very good and they brought home the fact that there are few people who have not been touched directly or indirectly by cancer at some point in their lives. The stories ranged from heartbreaking to hopeful, and it was obvious that the film makers had put their hearts into each and every one. The sad thing is that many of them were telling the story of the loss of a loved one, in this case a child, which made the stories even more poignant and difficult to tell. There was one in particular that was so powerfully done that it was like a punch in the gut to me. It was called "Blowing Bubbles" and with any luck, we may be able to eventually find it on youtube. Had I been the judge, THAT one would have won, however, since judging is a subjective art, another great film, "Out Touching Cancer" was chosen.

Bottom line, the whole point was to raise awareness of the need to find cures for all the different types of childhood Cancers and I feel certain that if used properly by Charter Communications, these few stories will go a long way in connecting with the people in their viewing audience.

We're going to try to put our's on you tube when I figure out how, so ya'll stay tuned and I'll let you know how to find it!

Monday, September 22, 2008

from 20 to INFINITY and BEYOND...

Folks say “take me back to when I was young.
Please bring back yesterday,
back to my youth and childhood,
and then let it stay that way.
I can understand their longing, but for me, I don’t agree,
because my yesterdays and childhood
were before there was you and me.

Those folks remember the days of high school,
of sports teams and dating and prom,
the days before gray hair and wrinkles,
are the memories of which they’re most fond.
And though my childhood and teen years were good,
the time MY best memories start
is the very first day that I met you
and you promptly walked off with my heart.

So bring on tomorrow, let yesterday go, I can’t wait to see what’s in store,
& knowing I’ll share my tomorrow’s with you,
please bring at least one million more.

For 20 years now, I’ve awakened each morn
knowing that God has blessed me again,
to spend one more day, in this marvelous world
with you as my lover and friend.
Each night I’ve lain down with such hope in my soul
and a peaceful smile on my face
and as I lay there beside you reliving the day,
I could simply be no better place.

No I don’t want to go back to the old days
and I don’t want time to stop or stand still,
I want the days to keep coming my way,
because every moment with you is a thrill.
Yes, you may think I’m wishing my life away,
but really, how bad can that be?
In the end, by God’s grace, is a heavenly place.
In between, it’s just you and me.

So bring on tomorrow, let yesterday go, I can’t wait to see what’s in store,

& knowing I’ll share my tomorrow’s with you,
please bring at least one million more.


EYC 9/23/08

Friday, September 12, 2008

I'm a Sheeple, He's a Sheeple...

... wouldn'tcha like to be a sheeple too?...

According to Wikipedia:
"The implication of the word "sheeple" is that as a collective, people believe whatever they are told, especially if told so by authority figures, without processing it to be sure that it is an accurate representation of the real world around them."

my next vocabulary phrase is:

Impotent Rage: (in my words) the all consuming, seething, red-eyed, vein popping anger towards something that one is completely unable to change or affect in any way.

... so in the spirit of national panic, and corporate greed, and in a high state of impotent rage, I stopped to fill up my gas tank this morning just like all the other hard working, financially strapped people out there who have heard on the news, (therefore it WILL happen, whether or not it's actually justifyable), that due to IKE, our refineries in TX will be shut down for a couple of days. Which WILL result in immediate gas shortages, (translate into PRICE HIKES) that will affect us for probably MONTHS AND MONTHS, (a temporary shortage I would understand. Price hikes, I DON'T) in spite of the fact that those refineries will probably be up and running agian by the first of the week. After all, they were intentionally built ON THE COAST so they HAD to know that there would be at least a SLIGHT chance of maybe a little hurricane or so affecting their operations, so my simple minded guess would be that they were BUILT to withstand such things to a point. (evacuating employees to save human lives, is another thing entirely, and completely understandable. again, a temporary shortage due to plant shut down is understandable) I just hope the million, billion, Katrillion dollars PROFIT that these companies have made in the last few years will pull them through.

Don't exactly know how I'm going to pull through, I don't even know for sure that this particular storm will even actually affect gas prices, but I can't take the chance because .20, .50 or even 1.00 a gallon increase will HURT ME HORRIBLY!! I'm seriously considering quitting my job until oil prices come down, because I can't freaking afford to drive to work anymore. WAIT, oil prices HAVE COME DOWN!!! WAAAYYYY down, and yet, the prices at the pump haven't seemed to reflect that fact NEARLY as quickly as they do the ANTICIPATED storms, and stock market changes, and who might have sneezed sideways in the middle east. (funny how when it's reported, in the morning, that there might be a price increase on gas for whatever stupid reason, WE see it at the pumps by the afternoon in 10 cent increments, but we've been hearing about the price per barrel going down to the lowest it's been in over a year and we've seen maybe a 2 cent decrease over a 3 week stretch. yeah, real funny, sniff sniff)

I'm just hoping that McCain will become president, not because he's my favorite, but right now, he's the best of the worst, and at least he'll have SARAH PALIN behind him to hopefully whisper some common sense stuff in his ear that at least LEANS towards helping the common man out.

Now I guess I'll just plan my weekend and the next few weeks or months around giving up a few MORE of the things that I like to do and keeping my ASS AT HOME so that I can afford to actually drive to work next week so that I can afford to buy some more gas.

(yep, this one's going to get me in trouble)

Thursday, September 11, 2008

'nuff said.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

oh Yeah...

... Sarah Palin reminds me of my friend Lara.

Graceful, poised, great sense of humor, well spoken, ethical, tough, beautiful, an amazing mom, and boy can she wear lipstick!!!

SPARKY FOR PRESIDENT!!!!

Think about it...

I figured out why so many "artists", (painters, writers, musicians, etc) become famous after they're dead.

Posthumous is MUCH easier.

Here's why...

Most "artists" that I know, or know of, seem to walk a fine line between absolute genius and complete lunacy. Sometimes that line is crossed and one never knows whether they'll make it back.

Soooo...

If you wait 'til they're dead, you can:

* lavishly praise, and sell for disgusting amounts of money, the stuff they did well,
*chalk the "not so good" attempts up to their "discovery period" (which also sells) and the
*BAAD stuff up to angst... (which may sell the best of all)

And best of all, you don't have to worry about...

what the heck...

they might do next!!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

a riddle...

If I came up with the idea, wrote the script, provided the information, scheduled the shoots, coordinated the people and places, and did the driving to the shoots, and paid to have the project overnighted to the contest…

He filmed the stuff and did the editing (with my help) on his computer. He burned the DVD’s.

What would my title in the credits be? What about his?

Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely NO WAY the project could have been done without what he did. I don’t have the equipment, nor the technical knowledge. I AM NOT TRYING TO BE-LITTLE HIS PART IN THIS!! No way, no how!! I just wanted to know how it should be listed on the project!