Good Vibrations, Cake and Updates

Warning: If you find yourself here via a google search for such things as TV shows or films, recipes or cities, this blog has some facts. However, this blog is one author’s very twisted musing on many weird things. It is sometimes graphic in content. If you read on, don’t write to yell at me.

I feel much better this weekend (thank you for all who asked), I'm behind schedule today. Friday and Saturday involved some necessary meetings that pushed us way out of our routine. Thus, I'm just starting this blog at a point in the day when I should be posting it. I have a lot of news though, so I must press forward though this one will be a short one.

Power of the Positive

We've teamed up with our partner to help a friend of Dragoncor Productions strike out in her own entertainment related business. She's been a staunch friend of the company , and she's just gosh darned nice. So it was worth giving up most of my Saturday to attend a Small Business Expo to help her canvass for financing and other resources. Unlike the many meetings we've had for financing over the years, this was very straight forward. The business is a vendor to film makers and thus it was easier for the money sources to understand what she does and how the money is made. Meanwhile, the City of Los Angeles had pulled out all the stops to make sure business owners knew the vast range of assistance available to them from the city. They want small businesses to open in LA. It was amazing to be in a room that was vying for attention to help out. Beyond that, there was such a positive vibe from the business owners. Despite these precarious financial times, they were hopeful and optimistic about seizing an opportunity and succeeding. And there was a lovely slice of fudgey chocolate cake at the end of a nice ravioli lunch. We left the building feeling we could take on the world.

Finally, Updates

Perhaps it was the positive vibes and chocolate cake fueled euphoria permeating the ether. Perhaps, all sorts of money has decided it's time to stop hesitating. I don't know. All I know is that during the commute to the meeting, we got a call from a long silent investor. It was happy news. It looks like we will be in pre-production in mid- to late August for 'The Gunslinger' with the other two films lining up after that. It would mean shooting the Western in late September. So we're keeping our thoughts upbeat, our fingers crossed and making plans for swamp coolers and mosquito nets and vats of sunscreen.

On the Blood Oath front (again, thanks to those who've asked), Jon is almost at a picture lock. That means, that the editing sequence and timing is largely finished. He'll send it back to the composer to make sure the music cues are long or short enough. We'll soon know how many manga panels will be needed and what will be on them. I'm hoping to put up some of the final character drawings up this week. We'll preview a few of the manga panels as the short nears its release date. I'm refining the pilot script and first episode and writing treatments for five other episodes. And I'm working on the cookbook with more diligence. We're a little busy.

Summer Fun

We had a fortunate turn of events that helps us with the pressed schedule. The Archive is going to a four day schedule through the summer. We'll be working slightly longer shifts for a three day weekend. Sweet! This will help with our projects and with the severe sleep debt we've amassed. Maybe we'll even get to see a movie! So exciting.

Needless to say, the meetings this weekend kept me from the Seafood Feast yet again. It was not meant to be this weekend. However, I discovered the seafood market that I like to use for special feasts moved to a much more convenient location that we pass fairly frequently. Thus at some point this week or maybe next week on our first free Friday (that's hard to say), I'll finally get those danged oysters and the other seafood treats I've been craving. The Fridays off may mean more grilling in my future. We'd have the courtyard to ourselves during the day on Fridays. Even when school is out, the kids here are in activities that keep them from home until late afternoon. I want to try grilling vegetables and summer fruits.

Conversations with Craig
Warning! Spoilers and extreme derision for Terminator: Salvation

The following is from a Post-it note Craig left on my workstation and a lengthy conversation that followed:

A Stone-aged tribe, unfamiliar with modern ways and technology of any kind, could have a camcorder dropped in their midst and come up with a more satisfying and comprehensible 'Terminator' movie.Not since the heyday of Tijuana donkey shows have audiences witnessed such acting prowess. Many scenes appear to have been filmed in christian Bale's backyard shed. Bale seems to be drunk and unaware that he's being filmed.'Terminator: Salvation raises so many howling questions in my mind that weren't closed to being answered by the end of the film. Questions like, 'How can a human man get hit in the chest with a steel girder and continue spewing dialogue?' Or 'How does the rag tag band of rebels know how to put a robot heart into a human?' But the most vexing question left unanswered was 'why do the robots in the robot factory need workstations with chairs???'