"Coming to a computer near you!"

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A discussion yesterday with John Ecay (Sound View technical director) led to some potentially great news. They're in the process of installing a video storage, archival, and streaming video server with MPEG-4 compression. That means in the near future it'll be possible to get on-demand streaming video of ALL of Sound View's programming.

This may include "Table For Two", "Grandma's Kitchen", "Air Line Rail Trail", and anything else I come up with for broadcast. Coupled with my in-progress website, I'll be able to post links that will stream my shows to your computer.

How cool is that?

There's no firm date for when it'll be fully implemented, but I'd imagine in the next several weeks/months. As soon as I can get my shows up on the server, I'll post links.

FutureDV.Com is open for business!

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Well, in a manner of speaking...

You see, yesterday I registered the domain name "futuredv.com" with Godaddy.com for a measly eleven bucks. What that got me was the domain name for a year, plus privacy (so when the NSA comes looking for me, they'll have to work an extra one-millionth of a second to track me down), and "domain redirection".

Redirection is when you just have a "parked" domain, which is a non-existant web page, and if someone goes to it, they are magically transported to a web site of your choice. Which, in this case, is right here.

Go ahead, try it. Type in "www.futuredv.com" and see where it'll get ya! Right Here, that's where! LOL!!! ROFL!!! WFT?!??!!!!!11!!!on3

Um, please ignore that silliness...

Oh, and today's my birthday. I know, BFD... Sorry there's no graphic in this post...apparently Blogger is having some trouble with the photo loading function. Nothin' but boring text for you today!

My favorite movies of 2005

Here's my countdown list of my five favorite movies of last year...read it and weep:

5. "A History of Violence" - Interesting flick. Aragorn seems to be just as good at killing here as he was in "Lord of the Rings"...although automatic weapons DO make it easier. Ed Harris and Maria Bello (who's a good actor and yet again had trouble with her clothes staying on) co-star, but William Hurt had an awful turn as a mob boss. The movie was good enough to survive it.

4. "Good Night and Good Luck" - I doubt that George Clooney chose to do this political history right now by coincidence. David Strathairn was the perfect choice for Edward R. Murrow, and the stellar supporting cast rounded out this movie. Some of the actual footage of McCarthy's witch hunt could have been cut down a bit, but overall it worked to good effect. Patricia Clarkson is good in anything she does, even small supporting roles.

3. "Walk The Line" - Wah-keen Feenicks (my spelling) and Reese('s a cute piece) Witherspoon both turned in Golden Globe-winning performances. Mr. Phoenix (my spelling again) only whispered a couple times in the movie, so I was actually able to understand him. And who knew he could sing? Then again, Johnny Cash is probably the easiest singer to imitate.

2. "The Constant Gardener" - Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz starred in this wonderful movie. Troubling and sad, yes, but ultimately hopeful. It contained perhaps the best movei line of the year, when Fiennes objected to taking Weisz to Africa on the grounds that they don't know each other very well, and she replies "You can learn me." That was a nice bit of dialogue there.

And my favorite of the year:

1. "Junebug" - Possibly the most underrated movie of the year. Amy Adams, Embeth Davidtz and Alessandro Nivola have a wonderful chemistry in this study of Southern manners and mannerisms. Even through the sad parts, I didn't want this one to end.

(Hoo boy, after reading the above paragraph, I feel just like Robert De Niro did when he said in "Analyze This", "...slap a pair of tits on me and I'm a woman!")

And here's a guilty pleasure:

"Just Friends" - Ryan Reynolds ("Van Wilder" himself...don't worry, the "fat" makeup is gone 10 minutes in) and Amy Smart in a wacky Roger Kumble ("Cruel Intentions", "The Sweetest Thing") directed comedy. Anna Faris KILLED as the ditzy, clueless pop star. Any time she was on the screen, I was laughing.

And little things were funny, like a huge bouncer throwing Reynolds out of a bar in a heap and yelling, "...and STAY out", and then muttering "I always wanted to say that" had me guffawing.

OK, maybe it's not that funny in print. Go watch it.

That's my list. Any comments?

Projects in development

Next week, Ant and I are going to meet with Harry the glassworker and discuss the documentary. We'll talk about how to approach the subject; how best to tape it; and if it's going to be feasible to produce an instructional video for potential sale.

Last week I showed my "Rail Trail" doc to some friends. They all seemed to enjoy it, especially the pacing and the music. After that, we watched a commercially produced video that was given to a friend as a gift.

We viewed it, and only a minute into it everybody started making comments about how boring it was. The subject (a boat tour of some local islands) should have been interesting, but there wasn't any audio whatsoever other than sparse narration. Apparently they used the exact script they recite on the boat while touring the islands, but when devoid of the simplist natural sounds or music it sounded completely dry and clinical.

I don't think "clinical" is a word that should pop into your head when viewing a movie about scenic islands and boating. Everyone commented upon the major difference between the two videos. Even though it's kind of sad to see someone pawning off such poorly executed work, it does encourage me to think that if they can sell something like that, all I need to do is work hard enough and I'll be able to successfully market my own work.

Anyway, besides the glass working doc, I'm going to shoot another "greenway" type doc when the weather warms up a bit. There's some interesting trails located nearby, only 20 minutes away. That'll make it easier to shoot additional footage as needed, as opposed to the "Rail Trail" shoot, which was a three-hour round trip from our home.

Yeah, although I'm reasonably committed to my art, I'm not going to waste a half-day driving and $30 of gas to shoot some filler video for my 13-minute documentary short.

After all, there's plenty of good subjects a lot closer to home.

A movie that would be fun to make

Boy, did they have fun in the 50's or what? Ed Wood is a favorite of mine...how can't you enjoy "Plan 9 from Outer Space"? Some movies look great just from the poster; check it out:


I haven't seen this movie, but the poster is awesome. It tells a story in itself; a story of mutant spiders, desolate mountains, and gals with really large bosoms.

Gotta keep this in mind if I ever need to make a movie poster.

Things that suck

It's been a while since I posted a crazed rant, so here goes. Strap in, kiddies!

I drive a lot for work. It's usually no problem, and I drive all over Connecticut, SE New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Traffic usually moves well, except for one little road that goes through Fairfield County. And I'd like to know just one thing...


What the FUCK is the problem with the Merritt Parkway? Everbody hits Bridgeport and suddenly SLOWS DOWN TO 15MPH. Then they stop. Forever, it seems.

Yes, it sucks.

And it's January. That's usually enough reason to piss me off, but I made a New Year's resolution to try to not complain about the weather. Besides, it's been unusually mild this winter, so I'll shut up about that.

But in a couple weeks I have a birthday. Forty-fucking-SEVEN! Jeesus...who'da thunk I'd even LIVE this long? I went back and looked at my birthday blog post from last year, and I have to admit I'm somewhat grumpier this year...I think I'd better work on that.

Finally, I received the digital camera I ordered. From Walmart Online. Yeah, it came the same week that news of their rampant institutional racism hit the media. They decided it was a good idea to offer suggestions for "similar products" if you wanted to buy the DVD of the TV series "Planet of the Apes".

While a reasonable person might think it's good to associate movies like "King Kong", "Might Joe Young", even "Gorillas In The Mist" with "Planet..." But apparently they thought it was appropriate to associate it with a show about Martin Luther King, along with biographies of Dorothy Dandridge and Jack Johnson. For fuck's sake, what is WRONG with these idiots?

In the interest of fairness, Walmart executives insist the associations were completely accidental, and they apologized profusely for the "mistake". Yeah, sure.

I guess Walmart has seen the last of my bidness. That'll learn 'em!



Thank you. Good luck and good night.

Happy "Oh Six"! And more stuff...

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Yay! It's 2006!


I'm thrilled to announce that for two years in a row, I've managed to not get the year wrong any time I've had to write the date. You know, like when you write a check later this month, and you'll put "05" on the date instead of "06"...well, I made it through a second consecutive year without fucking it up.

Go ahead and laugh...I guarantee you'll think of me the first time you screw up the date. THEN we'll see who laughs...Ah-ha-ha-ha!

Other news...I decided that my next project is going to be a documentary about glass art, specifically marble making. My friend Harry Kravet (Harry's Web Site) is the artist, and we're talking about maybe making an instructional DVD about marbles.

That we can sell. And make money. Hopefully.


This is one of Harry's creations. Cool, huh?

Anyway, I'm sure it'll be fun, and Anthony is interested in the project too. We'll start pre-production sometime later this month. Although technically speaking, we're already IN pre-, since we're discussing the project, and I've already been researching the subject. But for the sake of argument, I'll consider it officially pre- when we all sit down and hash out an outline and detail our objectives.

Not that any of that really matters. I'm just killing some time before we go to a New Year's Day party...yes, that's New Year's DAY. We did the big thing in downtown Milford last night, capped by fireworks at midnight and another 2 hours partying with friends at their downtown apartment. Today is a yearly New Year's DAY party...it's always fun to see who's got the hangovers.

Hope you all have a great 2006!