Blackwood Premieres

Tonight was the on-line premiere of "Blackwood," a movie I helped make 2 years ago.  My "beauty shot" was cut to meet the needs of the movie, so here's my pretty face for your enjoyment.  There are deleted scenes on the DVD (soon to be available) as well as behind-the-scenes footage shot by yours truly.

Top Shot Audition

Based on a true story? Naaaw. Well, it is a true story in that it's a parody and Jon doesn't harbor any resentment over his rejected real-life audition. We'll see how it plays at the November First Friday Shorts.

Shot on a Flip HD camera with no off-camera mics involved, it's chintzy on purpose. Two of the older shots were actually taken on an old Canon PowerShot.

Before anybody sh*ts their pants over any perceived firearms safety violations, I advise the viewer that Jon and I confirmed the unloaded state of each firearm every time it was handled (Jon practices perfect trigger discipline even with AirSoft guns).

Cool Commercial

...even though the product doesn't rank among my favorites. Yes, heresy, I know....

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday

Got a better caption or photoshop for this AFAIK unaltered pic? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! If you're lucky, I'll be too busy to blog and you'll keep your ad up for weeks!

You need not be a blogger to win; however, if you post anonymously, it will be very difficult to recognize you again to design a Blog Ad.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday Night. Or not.

WINNER!

Anonymous reader wins with:

THIS IS MY PILSNER!
THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT,
BUT THIS ONE IS MINE...!

--- Suds McKenzy

Thanks for playing, y'all!

Other Contests

Support your Local Gunfighter
Family Security Matters
Outside the Beltway
RT’s Ponderings
Wizbang

Gratuitous Post

Just to get that ghoul Luffner's face off the top of the blog.

Cowboys & Aliens

h/t to JTM

Yeehaw!

Actor/musician Joe Barr lightens up some downtime during the shooting of Gerry Gilbert's "Incident at Blackwood." He's accompanied on bass broom handle by Jay Gammon, proprietor of Gammon's Gulch.

The Martini Shot

Weeks after the bulk of my movie was "in the can," I recruited my visiting buddy Jon to help me arrange the Martini Shot of Always. Lots of folks don't realize how little light actually makes it into a movie camera. For this shot, I'd placed a 750 watt Tota floodlight in the back of the garage and aimed a 500 watt Omni floodlight at the bedroom window (composed out of the picture). While Jon hosed down the sidewalk and driveway, I'd set up the camera across the street behind a wet pane of picture frame glass gaffer-taped to a light stand.

Time to set up? About an hour. Time on screen: about half a second. If I was really artistic and ambitious, I would have lit the exterior of the house with two more lights and hit the dining room window with another Omni, but, hey, it was Saturday night after a long day on the range, and we had those martinis rums and coke waiting. There's only so much I'm willing to do for half a second of screen time, at least at the amateur level.

Apple of my Eye

It's home-made Apple-Cinnamon Schnapps! Or should that be Apfel-Zimt? I bottled this batch inspired by my blowing a grand on Final Cut Studio at Apple.Com. Between doing post-production on our two Advanced Cinematography features and having to produce my own feature for Advanced Video this semester, I figured I might as well jump into the Big Leagues. I'll chalk up my purchase of Adobe Premiere last year as a learning experience; Premiere doesn't like my camera, for some reason. I've been relegated to using iMovie (shown), though most of my editing has been on my MacTop since I can download my lesser cameras to that. This weekend, I should get out of the house and fill a DVCAM tape with some of the in-camera effects I'd like to try.

At the Saloon

Busted my Booze Budget this month and I hardly got a buzz... except for the homemade anisette I tried last week -- you don't have to age that. On the bright side, it seems I won't have to wait months for the final product. Five weeks seems to be the max for most of the recipes I've browsed. Now to find some decanters suitable for my bar. Left to right: blackberry, raspberry, cherry (X2), apple/cinnamon.

I Cordially Invite Y'all

...to delay your gratification and try a yummy and oh-so alcoholic treat -- a berry cordial made with distilled spirits, your favorite berries, a cup of sugar, and some common spices.

It makes a great Christmas gift and keeps your host too hammered to wake you up too early the day after Christmas! It's simple to make: in a clean storage jar, dump some chopped berries, sugar, spices (the recipes I've seen call for cloves, stick cinnamon, or coriander seeds) and seal it up for 2 to 6 months (the recipes differ). As for spirits, its a great way to convert a great big plastic bottle of value vodka, rum, or gin into a fine sippin' liquor perfect for after-dinner chats around the fireplace... just remember to transfer it from the Mason jar in which you steeped it to a fancier decanter before serving it to friends.

You can even pour the berries over ice cream afterwards... but do not serve to minors! As much as the berry flavors leech out into the liquor, the alcohol soaks into the fruit. Earlier his year, I mixed a batch of strawberries and raspberries; and strawberries and blackberries for the Holidays in Phoenix; I also just started a batch of raspberry only, since strawberry is kind of a boring flavor. I won't give you my recipes, because I haven't followed any particular one. Give G00gl3 a try, then experiment! Blog your results!

Back to School BATF

If you thought my rifle stage brain fart was something, get this: yesterday was the First Day of School, NOT next week, as somehow my brain was thinking 29th and my schedule was saying 26th! No, I wasn't tippling at the bar mid-week! Even now, the glass of podo-ju is sitting in the fridge waiting for 5 o'clock and dinner to roll around.

As for the other accoutrement, it's time to remind myself that I'm a poor college student again and no longer on summer vacation. Thankfully, a fellow film studnut tipped me off to the reading assignment, so I won't be too far behind. Thanks, Lauren!

Lookit the Grouse! Lookit the Grouse!

The local Walgreen's had some Honduran "Blender's Gold" singles I thought I'd try over the next week.

I'll probably shoot the P229 in Sunday's match (haven't shot it since my very first USPSA match at Cactus). It shoots like a laser but there's that long first DA trigger pull. There isn't a lot of pistol in the multi-gun format I designed, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna reload if I don't need to!

I wonder how many readers of W.E.B. Griffin's Brotherhood of War series tried The Famous Grouse after its prominent product placement therein?

BATF

Bar, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms.

[hums]
"These are a few of my Favorite Things...."
[/hums]













Update: Since Jon wants me to shoot the P-239 in Sunday's match (I have only two 8-round mags for it), maybe I should bring the Mini-14 for his amusement also. I've got one 20-rounder and a five-round magazine.

Rum, Please

I just need to rest my eyes on something pleasant while they're still dilated. The rum helps me focus.

Good Times

Couldn't Find a Better Place

NRA Convention: Schmoozin' with the Industry

On the night of Day 2 (my last day there), the GunBloggers met at Majerle's Sports Bar to rub elbows with reps from Tactical Solutions, In-Sight Gear, and Smith & Wesson.

Arrggh!

Tried all night and today to get Adobe Premiere and my iMac to recognize my camcorder and capture all that video from the NRA Convention. I'll talk to Jesus about it tonight.

Meanwhile, that's The Anarchangel, Chris Byrne (left), joining a discussion with heavy-thinker David Koppel and Michael Bane (center).




"Sebastian" (standing) of Snowflakes in Hell, hangs out with (from left) Mike (Another Gun Blog), TD from The Unforgiving Minute, and Alan of Snarkybytes.













Alan (lower left) schmoozes with Breda (The Breda Fallacy) and one of several Pennsylvanians in attendance, the author of the NUGUN Blog. In the background, folks from the event's sponsors, Tactical Solutions and In-Sight Tech Gear.









Melody Byrne (left) chats with JohnOC (http://www.theguncounter.com) and his fiancée Myrhiana. All the folks in the snazzy Gunblogger Conspiracy T-Shirts frequent a so-named IRC chat group of gunbloggers and readers.










More of our sponsors, I think.

Beer o'Clock

Jon never fails to offer me yummy beer when I visit, but on this past long weekend, I played the good guest and brought some tasty brewskis, albeit ones that Jon provided via a Christmas Microbrewed Beer of the Month trial subscription (do I have great friends, or what?).  There were four varieties, three of each, so Jon, the Missus, and I got to sample each of these fine beers.  Later visitors would just have to muddle through with Jon and Kirsten's Pilsner Urquell and Longhammer IPA.

I can't pick a favorite, but this was the best batch IMHO!  Nothing too heavy, just good stuff!