Contest Round up AGAIN! Update

Major updates to the last contest round up post. Scroll down to the post or click this link: http://onespartan.blogspot.com/2007/04/contest-round-up-again.html

A Small Delay

Ok so there is a small delay on the DVD release, gotta fix a few glitches, but the good news is that it shouldn't be too long. So hold your horses if you're looking to buy a DVD. We'll be posting it everywhere as soon as it is available.

- P

Batter up

My first inclination is to write the following words to start off this post: "This has been the hardest couple of days."

But that would be incorrect. It has been indeed, but really the collective difficulty is that of more than just a couple of days. I posted once on this roller coaster of emotion and drama. The pain of being a no-budget indie moviemaker combined with the pain that accompanies dealing with death and the responsibility of consoling the ones you love. This is fucking hard.

The ups and downs are in such separation that it fools you into thinking everything is ok. Then the emotions hit you. The memories hit you. You fight to get to a point where you are positive about everything, and as a husband I hope to God that the laughter me and my wife share is an indication that things are better. Then it hits. You go from trying to celebrate a life, to going back to wondering what it is you could have done differently. How could I have saved Brenda? How can I be better suppporting my wife?

And then the movie making pursuit, which is something that was set into motion before all this, hits you with it's realities and responsibilities. The DVD release is supposed to be tomorrow. The marketing must continue. And new pressures have arisen. And once again because of the Birthday Wish Syndrome I will not reveal right away what those pressures are. But it's something that needs to be done. Needs to be tried for.

All this happened yesterday. Yesterday was one of the hardest days in this journey through grieving and trying to be an artist/entrepeneur. My heart breaks in two when Juli gets hit hard with the grief. Yesterday was no exception. It's a horrible thing to hear your wife in pain. It's a horrible feeling not knowing if what you are doing is enough for your wife. I hate hearing her in such pain. But it's only been 6 months since her mother died, and there is no manual on how to grieve. There is no manual on when to expect the grief to hit and leave and hit again. I know there is much strength being gained by both of us. But like a muscle being pushed to it's limits, our resolve is being tested in much the same way. When the relief comes it comes with laughter and positivity because we are at heart people who return to love and positivity. But somedays that's just a set up for the fall.

We hit the ground pretty hard yesterday. But of course we bounce back. We fought our way back to the positive. Much hugging ensued, much leaning on one another, as a couple should and as we so often do. Juli is better for now. But it's left me drained. And as I find myself in the recovery period of this emotional workout, that's when the weight of a new challenge arises. It's something exciting. It's something I feel I need to embark on, but at the same time it puts me right back into the heart of being a no-budget, DIY moviemaker. It may very well be something I need, but right now there is alot to figure out and in a short period of time.

This is a chance for me to really get to say what it is I was trying to say with The Midnight Special. But how do I do that with even less than what I had in Texas?

I need to hit this one out of the park. DIY again. Solo. One guy tryin to play all positions in a ball game. I don't know what made me think before that this was over. Like somehow, the DVD was gong to come out and I would proceed with the business plan and the next project would be with a budget and a professional crew instead of just me running around doing everything.

But it looks like I'm going to have to do this a couple more times. But this time around I have to do it better that I ever had. It's going to take a little money (from lord knows where) but it's mainly going to take a whole lot of creativity and sweat. This is all about pressure and time, and the latter I don't have too much of.

Gotta sell some DVD's. Gotta find out what my assets are here. I need sleep.

Time to find out what exactly one spartan can do.

Holy Shit!

Cloudburst!

All of a sudden I have a TON of work to do!

brb

Monster Research Videos

The idea behind the Monster Cops movies is simple. Take a mockumentary look into the lives of monster killers. So basically Cops vs. Monsters. Of course it would have that comedy twist, so really it's more like Reno 911 vs. Monsters. With THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL I feel we accomplished the mockumentary type comedy. As far as the monster portion, I feel we did ok. We didn't reach the full potential of what I had in mind. This is something I fully plan on remedying for the next feature for sure.

The monsters I have in mind are the usual, Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves. But my stipulation is that they look scary and real. I mean something that would actually scare you or gross you out if you saw it live. A motto I plan on sticking closely too is, if it looks fake live then it'll look fake on camera. Since much of what we are going to shoot is going to stick closely to reality TV/cinema verite, then I want what the camera sees to look as realistic as possible. I don't want you for one second to look at a zombie and think some guy in stage make up. I don't want you for one second to to look at a Vampire and think that the plastic fangs are about to fall out, (unfortunately some of our scenes look that way to me in TMS). And when you see the Werewolf footage, I want you think that we may actually have gotten a large beast like creature of some kind.

Monster Cops is a comedy with realistic scares. At least that's what it should be. The comedy comes from us, the cops. The monsters will remain scary. In other words, you will never see a wise cracking zombie or tap dancing Werewolf. Part of my vision for the franchise is to feature amazing monster footage with decent thrills. Suffice it to say we've got alot of work to do for the next movie, and much money to raise. But I am confident. Until then I'll keep looking for sources of inspiration. Many of these sources come in the form of Online Video.

I am blown away by the videos I've seen of the WALKING WITH DINOSAURS LIVE EXPERIENCE. This is definitely a show I want to see desperately. The following videos give you a glimpse inside this amazing show. My jaw dropped when I saw the brilliant work these people have put into these live action dinosaurs. I'm personally in awe because these are excellent examples of the kind of "monster fx" I'm looking to inspire the next Monster Cops feature. Especially the Velociraptors. The way they move is the way I would love to see a Werewolf or Demon move in the next movie, especially when we shoot it the way we're going to shoot it.

EDIT: What I thought were Velociraptors are actually the Baby T-Rex and the LILIENSTERNUS. Still amazing though.

Walking With Dinosaurs Workshop


Walking with Dinosaurs, The live experience '07 in Brisbane


Walking With Dinosaurs Live Experience. Check out the official site. Lord knows I'll be checking up on those US Tour Dates.


The next video is an example of animatronic dinos sans inside operator. I think.

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan



Disney animatronics, as seen on the Travel Channel. I actually have the full program recorded. I watch it often.




And more videos on more Horror/Halloween based fx/animatronics. The Pumpkin and Rock monsters are creatures I'd consider using in Monster Cops plotlines. If we could make it work realistically.

Pumpkin Monster Animatronics at Transworld Halloween Trade Show



Rock Monster Animatronics at Transworld


The following costume by Gore Galore is amazing. I'm definitely considering contacting them to help with costuming.

Freakenstein by Gore Galore



This costume was made for a LARP gig. Amazing work.

Stone Golem

FUCK! I love writing!

Contest Round Up. AGAIN!

EDITED 4/29/07

Bust out that video camera and get crackin!
(Deadlines in parenthesis)

Ratatouille Comedy Contest
http://www.myspace.com/ratatouille

Acceptable TV
(Rolling Deadlines)
http://acceptable.tv/

Filmaka Film Competition
(Rolling Deadlines, Currently "The Secret" April 30th)
http://www.filmaka.com/index.asp

Briobox $50,000 Contest
(Rolling Deadlines)
http://www.briobox.com/index.php

OurStage Video Contest
(April 26th)
http://www.ourstage.com/go/vidopp

Lonely Planet TV's Travel Video Contest
(May 15th 2007)
http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/competition.aspx

MTV Movie Awards Movie Spoof Contest
(May 21st, 2007)
http://mtvmovieawards.yahoo.com/spoofs/

Love My Library Video Contest
(May 25th 2007)
http://www.gale.com/librareo/

Bytecaster Video Presentation Contest
(May 30th, 2007)
http://www.bytecaster.com/contests/presentation/index.aspx

"Chub City® In Action" Film Contest
(May 31st)
http://www.iplayaz.com/

John Woo's Stranglehold
(June 25th, 2007)
http://www.myspace.com/strangleholdgame

Mr Clean Scenes
(June 30th, 2007)
http://www.mrcleanscenes.com/mrclean/en_US/mclanding.do

Heinz Top This TV Challenge
(August 6th)
http://www.topthistv.com/

One Minute Film Festival
(September 1st, 2007)
http://www.minutefilmfest.com/2007/home.htm

My heart is with you

New Review!

Yet another amazing review, this time from Chad Connolly over
at

THE MOVIES MADE ME DO IT.

He gave us a great blurb that I will surely be putting on posters.

"The Midnight Special is truly one of the freshest and most hilarious films to come out of the (horror/comedy) genre."

Wow! Thanks Chad!

CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW

DVD RELEASE APRIL 27th

Monster Cops: The Midnight Special was initially supposed to be on DVD by the end of this week, Friday The 13th (woulda been cool) but due to a few set backs (as always) we'll be pushing back the official release to April 27th.

Basic Paper Engineering

Here we go again. I do play with paper alot. It's what I turn to help me think. it also helps that people like to watch them on Metacafe. This one has inspired a short movie idea. Enjoy.


Pop up Talking Puppet


Pop Up Talking Puppet - Funny bloopers are a click away

Eli Roth's Grindhouse Trailer

Thanksgiving from ELI ROTH

Warning. Explicit content.




He really nailed that late 70's early 80's slasher feel. And they actually used music from Creepshow. LOL.

Bob Clark

He probably won't be remembered as the greatest director ever. And most may not even know who he is. But to me, he was someone that influenced my love for the movies. His movies definitely influenced the way I look at movies. For sure he contributed to most of our enjoyment of Christmas.

Bob Clark, director of such bombs as Rhinestone, such mediocre fare as Baby Geniuses, and such classics (classics to me anyways) as Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, the original Black Christmas, Porky's, Turk 182, and A Christmas Story, He died this past Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Times reports that director Bob Clark and his 22-year-old son Ariel were killed Wednesday in an early morning collision along a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades.

Mr. Clark I'm so sorry for you and your son. I'm sorry for your family. I'm sorry I never got to tell you what an inspiration Turk 182 was to me. Thank you for your work dear sir. I really appreciated it.

DIE HARD 4.0 Live Free Or Die Hard

Trailers below. I'll post later about my obsession with Die Hard. But I will say that even as a die hard DIE HARD fan, I was only merely interested seeing as how it may not be as great as the others minus direction by John McTiernan (or even Renny Harlin) and minus an amazing score from the late great Michael Kamen. Now after watching the trailers (posted below), I'm VERY excited.

The Die Hard movies always had 5 things that I looked forward to. Bruce Willis Wise Cracks, Kamen's Score, Great Action, Smart Action, and that over the top vibe. Hey 4 outta 5 ain't bad.







I'm sorry, but did they just blow up the Capitol building?
Holy crap.



I love that they used Beethoven's 9th in this trailer. Granted it's a rock version, but hey, it sounds cool, and it's always a pleasure to hear Beethoven while watching Bruce shoot stuff.

http://www.diehard4movie.com/

Monster Cops:TMS Denver Screening

MONSTER COPS: THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL will be screening in Denver, Colorado on Saturday April 21st, 2007 at 12:30pm. At STARFEST/HORRORFEST.



If you're in the Denver area feel free to swing by the con/fest and checkout all the events including our movie.


Check up on the full schedule here.

April Fools Day

A day I don't like very much. But here's something I do like:



Features Tom F. Wilson and my fav, Debbie Foreman. (sigh)

DC First Look at Grindhouse

I am beyond excited about this movie. Here's a review from those lucky bastards over at Dread Central. Pretty much what I was expecting. So very excited! Mainly because of Planet Terror, but I gotta tell ya, I'm truely excited about the trailers. Click the DC banner for the review.

Still Rollin

I don't like to post negative and I always try to post positive. Sometimes I'll give in to the ways of self empathizing, I mean that is a part of life and what a blog is so often used for. But I hate posting when I'm down. Too many posts like that and I sound like I'm constantly feeling sorry for myself. It just comes off as whiney, which is always a big turn off for me when it comes to blogging or reading other's blogs.

So I'll go a week without posting much of anything. It's still a rough road we're on since Brenda passed away. And I'll say this much, Juli is definitely on the road to healing, and I'm still grappling with much I didn't deal with early on. Issues and feelings that do have to do with Brenda's passing, but also to do with my own family. I'm worried about my father's health, my mother's sanity in dealing with it, as well as my own perspective on the entire matter. She says my father is fine, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to worry. It one big jumble of concern, Mom and Dad, Brenda's passing, Juli and her family, as well as my own day to day stress, and let's not forget this whole indie movie making thing.

But it's all going to be ok. I've got my head up, and it's not like it's something I can't handle. Still rollin.

Thankfully I have great distractions. Juli and I still have a great sense of humor and this whole indie thing, as stressful as it can be, is still very much a great thing.

My movie, Monster Cops: The Midnight Special, will be headed out to DVD soon. Also we've got 3 screenings coming up in 3 different citys. At the end of April in Washington, D.C. as well as at Starfest/Horrorfest convention in Boulder, Colorado. Also a Dallas screening at the scifi con known as FENCON IV, in September. Exact dates and times coming soon. I'm working on more screenings as well as maintaining the course with the marketing agenda. So far so good, we'll see how it all goes.

More to post later.

Get a Spartan Body

The only workout that seems like it would get you into that Spartan Soldier 300 shape.

www.p90x.com

Get ready for some major intensity, actually, you may want to find another workout to get you into decent shape before embarking on p90x.