Ah, there is so little time to post these days. My vacation has been as busy as my average school week. I have a long list of things I want to write about, but also a long list of things I need to get done first. Ah well. I'll get around to it one of these days.

~Tommy

DSLR Filmmaking

There isn't really much of a debate anymore that the DSLR video cameras are some of the best video cameras available, especially when you consider the price point. To any who still hold reservations, how about we let the cameras speak for themselves.

Reverie was the first 1080p video made with the Canon 5d MkII, before it had even shipped out to testers. It made the filmmaker, Vincent Laforet, an overnight sensation. But it also thrust DSLR cameras into the limelight. This is what is possible with a DSLR.

Reverie from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

More to come.

~Tommy

The Hobbit: Stuff of Dreams

Of all the Behind the Scenes vids I've seen, the ones for Lord of the Rings were phenomenal. I actually wanted to have been there, despite not yet having discovered my love for filmmaking. The update vlogs coming from Peter Jackson are no different.

I love fantasy film, I love Lord of the Rings, and I love epic adventures. From what it sounds like, the Hobbit is all of them. Filmmaking, even on the scale I have done, is pretty adventurous. Toss in 254 days of shooting, some helicopter rides around New Zealand just to scout locations, and 14 principal characters and you've got some pretty promising adventure in store:



I would love to be there in some capacity. As a third year film student, this is the stuff of dreams. I mean come on; they've got 48 RED Epics!



Peter Jackson is one of the guys that makes me dream. I dream of one day working on a project like this. I dream of one day directing a project like this. The only tarnish to those dreams is that there will never be another Lord of the Rings project. Unless Jackson decides to one day shoot segments of the Silmarillion, or some of The Book of Lost Tales. One can dream.

~Tommy

Advice: Always

Always write down your ideas and do your best to keep track of them. You will one day regret it if you do not.

~Tommy

Brief Update

Wow...it's amazing how time gets away from you. No blog posts in ages. Unfortunately, I have a research paper and a programming assignment to work on. But I'll share with you some cool gear I picked up this past week:

This shoulder support is a nifty device that allows hands free camera support, and can also be used as a semi-steady cam rig when the situation requires. I use it with my Canon 7D, which is probably a little too big for this rig, but the price can't be beat for what you get.

This is a 5 in 1 reflector/flag/diffusion device for photography/movie making. It's 32 inches in diameter, has silver and gold reflector surfaces, white and black surfaces, and at its core a translucent surface for diffusion. And it all folds down to 15 inches for easy transport. A very useful piece of equipment.

Well, I will hopefully see you all soon.

~Tommy

The Medium of Film

When I started out as a film student, I didn't look forward to working with actual film. I'd think, "Give me a video camera and a DV tape or flash card and I'm golden." But as I learned to love movies for more than the entertainment they provided, I began to see things differently.

I've always loved history. Learning about past events and figures, the mistakes that were made and the lessons that were learned. You might even say that everything we learn is history of one kind or another. Someone had to discover everything that we learn, from science, to math, to languages. And for me, the inventiveness of the human mind and the products of invention and their impact on the future, are the highlight of most history lessons.

Enter my film production class. Where we are working with actual 16mm black and white reversal film. The cameras we are working with, Bolex H16s, are each around fifty to sixty years old. When I hold one, it's like holding a piece of history. And to work with film, with these cameras, makes me feel connected to the visionaries of the past.

I used to think nothing could be learned from the authors of cinema, those who were around when concepts such as cutting, the close-up, and the moving camera were being invented. I have learned otherwise. Even within the oldest films, little more than forty seconds long a piece, there is much to be learned.

My first shoot with real film was stressful to say the least. There are so many variables to worry about that are not make-or-break factors with video. Is the camera wound? Is the aperture set right? How's the focus? Did I use the light meter correctly? Does the framerate need adjusting? Is the shutter open? And without the instant replay video provides, you have no way of knowing if you did a good job or a bad job.

Even when you are not shooting, the handling of film can be stressful. You need to load and unload in a dim room so you don't expose the film and ruin it, you have to keep it cool because latent heat can expose the film further, you have to let it come to room temperature before filming. In the height of frustration, it can be easy to ask why anyone would choose film over video. And for some, the answer is hard to come by.

After film school, I probably won't ever work with film again, and certainly not on a regular basis. It's just not practical for an indie filmmaker no great means in this day and age. But for all the perceived disadvantages of film, I shall thoroughly enjoy working with it while in school.

~Tommy

Hopes for the Dark Knight Rises

[SPOILERS FOR THE DARK KNIGHT BELOW]

I love Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise. That man has worked cinematic gold with those films. And with the third one coming out next year, I am feeling mixed emotions about it. I am excited for the latest Nolan offering. No doubt it will be spectacular, even with the hard to top Dark Knight of three years ago. But it will also be a spectacular finish. The last of Nolan's run of the Batman films before he moves on and the series is rebooted (which I am not particularly pleased about).

That being said, I am hoping Nolan does something earth-shattering in this next film. Something that no one will ever expect or see coming.

Hardest Class of My Life

Today I was told that I am now taking the hardest class of my college career. No, it's not a physics class, an engineering class, or even a math class! It's a FILM class.

Reflections of a Filmmaker: Two Days

Sometimes when I consider the viability of a future career, I ask myself whether or not I could do it all day, every day. For years. And there really is no way to answer that question. Unless I DO do it all day, for multiple days in a row. That's how the past two days have been for me.

Yesterday I spent a long time researching, brainstorming, editing, and acquiring resources for a video project. Almost nine hours. Nine hours in front of two computers, on my feet for at least half of it. Just going, going, going. And I enjoyed myself. I did not get sidetracked by facebook or comics or YouTube. Any breaks I had were short and infrequent. I clocked almost nine hours of well-spent time. Then after dinner, I jumped into preparing for the second of two video projects for this past afternoon. I compiled a packing list, made phone calls, secured permission to borrow things, assembled props, costumes, and various BTS resources, and constructed a very ad hoc piece of equipment to help capture a tricky shot. Feeling I had things well in hand, I lay me down to sleep.

More after the jump.

My Film: Test The Spirits

Greetings, dear friends,

Last Wednesday, my brother and I threw together a little illustration video for my dad's sermon this past Sunday. The source Bible passage for the sermon is found in 1 John 4. I selected the first three verses as the material for our video.

For more information about our church, you can visit kirtlandchristian.org.

Enjoy!

~Tommy

Bolivia In Review

Well, here is my long overdue update about our trip to Bolivia! Written more or less like a letter.

We arrived late on a Friday, so our first day there was Kids Club day. My goodness, how much has changed! The first year we braved the journey, regular attendance on a Saturday barely topped 300. Now the Vargas’s have almost 600 children come weekly. They play all kinds of games in groups, and they still love to play on the playground that our team built in 2003. For those of us who have gone year after year, many of the kids recognize us. They are so precious.

In terms of work, we had two big goals to achieve this year. We sanded and revarnished all of the tables and benches, the gazebo, the playground, and the climbing wall. This is important because it protects the wood from wear and tear, prevents termites from eating it, and removes and protects against splinters.

Our second task was to prepare the uncultivated parts of their land for future use. We cut down trees and thick thorn bushes, cleared away rocks and logs and grass, and filled giant sinkholes. There were a pair of trees on their new property that were so intertwined that it took several hours, many hands, and some precision machete work to extricate the unwanted one from the other. And one of the sinkholes was so large a young teenager would have had little trouble being swallowed up in it, legs, torso and head! It took over 30 wheelbarrows full of dirt to fill that monster hole. That and several other sink holes riddled a stretch of land where kids approach for Kids Club on Saturdays. The going was treacherous, but now all the sinkholes have been filled and the thorn bushes cleared away.

Us men also had to mix a batch of concrete to pour a porch for the small library in the Vargas’s compound. It’s tough, demanding work, and the pace is frenetic. There are never enough hands for all the different individual tasks. Filling buckets of dirt, rocks, concrete mix, and water, standing by to dump the contents of the buckets in the mixer, filling the buckets once they are emptied, not to mention transporting the unset concrete itself. But it is a lot of fun.

As you can imagine, the addition of our team to the Vargas household adds some strain to the laundry and dish washing routines. We would have a hard time of it except for the dedicated individuals who wash the clothes, do the dishes, and cook all the food. I’ve never cooked for twenty-five people. But it must be rough work.

Our trip wasn’t all work and no play, though. For the first time ever, the mission team went paintballing with some of the Vargas family. Many stories of chivalry and deception were told at the table that evening.

Soccer and volleyball games were almost daily occurrences. It is hard work for us Americans in the thinner atmosphere, but fun nonetheless. On one of the Sundays during our trip, everyone in the Vargas’s small house church stayed for lunch and fellowship. And soccer! It started as a single match between two teams. By the time it ended, we had played the best of three.

The food in Bolivia is absolutely delicious! Not many processed foods like we often eat in the States. For breakfast, the Vargas’s buy fresh bread. I like to have mine with butter, but many opt for the home made peanut butter the Vargas’s make. Would you believe it’s as simple as tossing a bunch of peanuts into a food processor and chopping them until they turn into a thick, creamy paste? I didn’t think so. Lunch is the big meal of the day, and always involves some kind of potato. Did you know that Bolivia has over 300 different kinds of potatoes? I could only think of four that I know of in the States.

As during most years, we had the opportunity to hike up to the Cristo de la Concordia, the tallest statue of Jesus in the world. At over 2000 steps, and with thinner atmosphere on top of it, it is quite the endeavor. But it is fun, and worth it in the end. The statue sits on top of a mountain smack in the middle of Cochabamba and the surrounding suburbs, and the view is spectacular. God’s earth is so beautiful!

The second Kids Club of our trip was very special for us. As part of our trip, our team tries to practice and perform a skit for the kids at least one Saturday when we are there. The skit we prepared was one our team had performed two years ago, performed to the song “Everything” by the group Lifehouse. We performed in the smaller, inner courtyard of the Vargas compound, the Vargas’s only letting maybe 100 kids in at a time. The skit is very physically taxing, and we performed it five times. But it was all worth it. At the end of every performance, Carolina Vargas would ask the kids questions and make sure they understood the message we were trying to communicate, the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. After our last performance, one little boy ran up to me and recounted the whole thing to me with a “Dude, that was awesome!” demeanor. I believe many seeds were planted on our trip. May God grow them in the years to come.

I'm going to be adding more pictures to my Flickr set over the coming days. Be sure to check back there for more!

~Tommy

Lantern Corps

Did you know that besides the famous Green Lantern Corps, there are several other intergalactic, ring-bearing, color-coded organizations as well? Each corps' color is drawn from the different colors of the rainbow and has a respective emotion/feeling/choice associated with it.

The seeming most famous besides the Green Lantern Corps is the Yellow Lantern Corps, more frequently called the Sinestro Corps after their leader.

There's also the Star Sapphire Corps (Purple Lantern Corps), who seems to be headed by earth's most famous green lantern's ex-girlfriend. Talk about weird connections.

There are also Red, Orange, Blue, Indigo, Black and White Lantern Corps.

I suppose in comics you can have your cake and eat it too. Now all there needs to be is a Rainbow Lantern Corps. Should make a certain segment of our population happy.

Back From Bolivia!

Hello, dear readers!

Our team returned safely from our mission trip this past Tuesday. I have yet to post anything about it because one of our team is amalgamating all the photos from the trip together using my SD cards, so until he is finished, I have no photos of the trip. Rest assured, I will post a rather lengthy update as soon as I am able.

Stay tuned!

~Tommy

Literary Lists

Since I was on the topic not too long ago, here's a (still admittedly short) list of fantasy books and series that I have started and want to finish, or want to start to see if they are any good.

- Harry Potter: now that all the books have been published and all the movies made, I might actually read/see them now. I told you I wasn't cutting edge!

- Discworld: read the first two and liked what I saw. Looking forward to more

- Inheritance Cycle: I need to read the last book...for old times sake if nothing else

- Wheel of Time: still haven't read the most recent book. I did notice that my local library has the audiobook on a whopping 30 cds. Maybe I'll borrow it and listen to it while I landscape?

- Redwall: I just heard today that Brian Jacques, the beloved author of the beloved Redwall series, passed away this past February. I loved his books when I was younger, and I want to read those I have not yet read. I shall mourn his passing.
- And as I said previously, A Song of Ice and Fire

Hmm...and while I'm at it, how about some other series I have read?

Forgotten Realms - A lot of R.A. Salvatore's stuff. Not really a fan any more. Felt rather uninspired after a while.

The Binding of the Blade - not all allegorical fiction is good. This series is. I recommend.
Stephen Lawhead's The Song of Albion and King Raven trilogies - the first is definitely fantasy. The second is more historical fiction, but it is epic, and it is a good read. I want to read more of his stuff.
Dune - only the first one...not particularly interested in the others. As much as I admire creativity when Worldbuilding, some places and universes are just too weird for me.
The Founding - this is an omnibus of three novels written by Dan Abnett about Gaunt's Ghosts, a fictitious military unit set in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. It's interesting. Different. It is somewhat reminiscent of Forgotten Realms books in that it follows the general bents and patterns of an established game system, but not quite as constrained.
The Chronicles of Narnia - 'nuff said
Lord of the Rings - ditto...well, not really, since there are books outside the main trilogy. For my part, I have also read the Book of Unfinished Tales, the Children of Hurin, the Hobbit, the Silmarillion, and the first third of the The Book of Lost Tales. I suppose there's another series I need to finish.

I'm sure there are more I haven't thought of. Maybe I should make a permanent page for this list and continue to expand it as I go on? Something to think on...

Still in Bolivia. But I still wrote this before I left. I am a Phantom. Fear me.

~ Tommy

Game of Thrones TV Crawl

It truly is amazing what we can do with computers these days. This has to be the most epic credits sequence for any show or film I have ever seen.



I only heard about Game of Thrones by chance. I was probably watching Hulu or something. I had never heard of George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire, or any of his other works until then. Now, I don't live with my head under a rock, but neither am I on the cutting edge of the literary community. I read Eragon in 2004, and excepting Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, was pretty much the only fantasy I had read up to that point. I have been trying to make up for that ever since. So when I heard about "America's Tolkien", I grew curious. Research into the show increased my excitement, but I only actually bought the first novel in the series a couple days ago. I read the Prologue, and it seems par for the fantasy course. Black Guards and Undead with glowing blue eyes. I'm saving the rest for my loooooong plane flight(s) tomorrow. Here's hoping it will be a good book.

~ Tommy

(It's kind of funny, writing a post that will be published automatically later. Yeah, when this goes live, I will be in Cochabamba, Bolivia, South America, visiting my good friends. So excited!)

I'm pretty pumped about the Avengers movie coming to Cleveland in August. With the par set by recent super hero movies, it might prove to be one of the more ambitious movies ever made. With not one, not two, but - prima donnas whose characters need to be catered to, I'm curious to see how well the makers will be able to pull it off. They definitely needed the solo movies to set up the characters. And I'm curious to see who the villains will be. The ending of Thor would seem to indicate Loki, and I imagine the Red Skull will be in there somewhere. But that's really not enough villains for a single Avengers' movie.

Speaking of the solo movies, did anyone who actually saw Thor like it? Honestly, I felt they could have done a better job. The only part I really liked was Hawkeye's cameo. Hawkeye is my second favorite avenger. (Captain America first. Since three is a nice, traditional number, Black Panther is my third)

I actually have my reservations about the Captain America movie. It could be totally awesome, or it could be akin to G.I. Joe. That's what I draw from the trailers, anyway.

Iron Man I and II? Meh. I never really liked bad guys that are essential clones of the good guy. Heck, that means that Hulk movie too. Which one are they going off of? The first one or the reboot? I didn't see the first one. The reboot was pretty good in parts. But again, Abomination was a pretty lame villain.

That's really what I don't understand. If you want to have a recurring series of super hero movies, DON'T cast the lame villain in the first one! They didn't do that in Batman! But that's hard to live up to. Maybe that's not fair. Oh well. Life isn't fair. Take a lesson from Mr. Nolan, Marvel hero movie makers!

Since we're on the topic of heroes in general, I recently saw Green Lantern and was also disappointed. That one I compared heavily to Batman Begins and found it wanting. Hal Jordan wasn't a very compelling flawed hero. They tried to make him a cross between Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne. Childhood tragedy and playboy status combined. Eh, it flopped. And, like Thor, it felt like there was no real passage of time. How much time elapsed in that movie? Like, a week? That's what it felt like. But you know what? Enough ranting.

Oh, did I mention the Avengers is filming in Cleveland in August? A while ago, a call went out for local crew to work the film. Being a film student, I applied. Having no experience, I'm not surprised I did not make the cut. I'm not even going to bother applying to be an extra at this point. But honestly? If I could just stand somewhere, out of the way yet near the set and watch and listen and learn? I would be more than happy to spend many long days in Cleveland for that. Heck, it's going to be a Joss Whedon movie! Best learning experience evah!

~ Tommy

Bolivia!

Hello my friends,

For almost every year since 2004, I have undertaken a summer mission trip with my family to the great nation of Bolivia. My church supports a missionary family there, and over the course of so many trips, I have become great friends with all of them.

Tomorrow I am getting on a plane with some friends and we are all flying down to Bolivia for 2011's trip. We shall be gone a couple of weeks and will be painting, pouring concrete, building tables and benches, and other miscellaneous projects to help support the missionary family. We will also be assisting them in their ministry to the children of Cochabamba. God is going to do great things this year. Every year so far, it has been a life-changing trip. I'm looking forward to this!

Since I am going to be out of country for the next couple weeks, I will not be posting any live updates. Some automatic "filler" updates will post periodically, so if any of you are regular readers, you won't be disappointed!

God bless, my friends!

~ Tommy

Chief Reason I Despise Anime

Okay, so it's really more a tendency than a hard and fast rule. Nevertheless, I feel that a theme in most anime I have ever seen is the girlification of men. Normally, I would say that it doesn't particularly bother me. Everyone is entitled to his or her own creative tendencies. But this is going too far...



Anime + Wolverine = Very, very bad idea...

~ Tommy

Genius or Madness?

Premise: A police drama with song and dance numbers.

Result?



~ Tommy

Aesop: The Original Machiavelli?

Seriously. Everything I needed to learn about deception I learned from Aesop.

~Tommy

A World Without Wood

By Vlad and Marina Butsky on Flickr

I love Worldbuilding. It is what drew me to the fantasy genre in the first place. If you are unfamiliar with the term, Worldbuilding is the action of constructing the reality in which your fictional characters live in. In no genre is this more exciting than fantasy (and occasionally sci-fi). You can take elements of any time period, mix and match, create whole new races, resources, climates, and forces, change key elements in the reality that might lead to totally alternate time lines.

So I have been building this fantasy world of mine for a long time now. I hope it will become the setting for many books, comics, and even films down the road. But for now, it is beginning to take its first steps on the road to being complete (i.e. it has a history of more than 25 years and has a roughly sketched map at this point).

One of the themes I have been considering is the extreme scarcity of wood. Without giving a terrible lot away, in the not so distant past of this world, much of the known land mass was covered in dense forest. A great cataclysm occurred, and fire all but destroyed the forests of the world. Fast forward to the present, and wood is scarce and extremely expensive, though careful management is seeing the number of trees on the rise.

Think about it! How much do we own that is made of wood? And imagine a world where metals like aluminum have yet to be discovered! How much would change! There would be no wheels, unless they were made of metal, but you can't very well have carts without wood! Or ships! Or barrels! Or paper, or timber houses, or bows and arrows, or fences, or cabinets, or crates, or desks, or any of a practically infinite number of things! How do you transport cargo? How do you record history? How do you heat your house during the winter months? How do you even build houses? Better yet, without wood, no fire. Without fire, no metal smelting! Or pottery kilns! Or cooking raw meat! Unless there is some kind of alternative fuel source!

The possibilities are practically endless! And so alien as well. I didn't think of all these things off the top of my head. It took me a good while to compile that list. And I'm sure there are things I haven't even thought of that are just as important (in fact, the last item I had just thought of as I was typing this). And it would all be so alien! Beyond our realm of experience!

This is what I love about Worldbuilding, about writing. If you let your imagination lead you, you will find yourself encountering worlds you never even dreamed of! (Mine is apparently filled with vegetarians who use bone or rock weapons and tools and carry everything they own on their backs or on pack animals!)

What do you guys think? What are some things you use every day, and imagine if one of the key components suddenly disappeared from the earth entirely? What do you come up with?

~ Tommy

Sweet Elixir of Life

Photo by Robert Couse-Baker

Coffee = Sweet Elixir of Life

Honestly, I don't know how I get by without it. I'm not addicted to it (by your standard definition of addiction), but I enjoy it so very, very much. It doesn't even really help me stay awake/wake up in the mornings. It just tastes so darn good!

~ Tommy

Short Fiction: One Hundred Minus One,

The following is a writing assignment I had for school way back in 2008. It's a means of showing the nature of one of the creatures of my fantasy novel that I've been working on off and on for the past...wow, almost seven years. I think these little things are important in fantasy world-building. I love all the poems and songs and little tidbits of culture that permeate Tolkien's work. Half the reason I have been working on the novel for so long is because I am really shooting for that depth of creation that Tolkien had. I want my world, the peoples and places and creatures, to feel real to the reader.

One Hundred Minus One

The full moon shone brightly over the earth, filling the sky with its ethereal light. The stars glinted in the sky, little pinpricks of light, forming the constellations of the heavens. All was peace and tranquility under that heavenly beacon. Below the moon, a hundred throats lifted their voices in song, weaving a melody of beauty and wonder. The Elorí watched the moon as they sang their song, wondering at its light and majesty; reveling in the touch of its glow.

Thoughts on Star Wars

I grew up on Star Wars. I reveled in the epic thrills of laser shootouts, lightsaber combat, space dogfights, and the struggle of a small rebellion against one of the most awesome villains brought to cinema. I emulated them in my playtime. LEGO, "House" (which was really a catch all for any sort of improv acting we kids partook in), books, and the occasional video game at a friend's house; all were permeated by the incredible variety of adventures offered by the limitless galaxy far far away...

...Then I got older...

...And the prequels happened...

Episode I: Phantom Menace, came out when I was 8 years old. By then I was old enough to recognize bad acting and poorly-written dialogue when I saw it. But the incredible finale between Jedi and Sith warriors made up for it. But then the second one happened, and I knew Lucas was overreaching. (Episode III wasn't that bad...compared to the previous one at least. Don't even get me started on that lame excuse for a TV show they have going)

So I turned to books for my Star Wars fix. Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, Kevin J. Anderson, and others I have by now forgotten; they were what kept me up late into the night, reading. I read almost every novel our library contained that was stamped with the iconic logo before I got tired of them. The plots became generic. Every novel with a Jedi character became a slugfest of trying to one-up any previous author on creative and bizarre ways to use the Force. When Jacen Solo survived falling from the top of a spacescraper (like a skyscraper, but much taller), my eyes were opened to just how lame the novels had become.

I moved on. I was still a great Star Wars fan, but it did not occupy much of my time as it used to. I had hopes for the Clone Wars show (oh great, I got started), but the writing and acting is even worse than Attack of the Clones. I think I'll leave it at that.

But then come trailers for this new MMORPG that Lucas has coming out. The Old Republic? For those of you who have seen, you know what I'm talking about. For those who haven't...well...I've got one thing to say:

This is how Star Wars should have been...





Enjoy?

~Tommy

P.S. It's about time someone dropped me a comment...kthanx :)

Larger Than Life Figures (con't from Master Puppeteer)

So I think I figured it out. What is it about the Muppets that inspired my childhood? Two words: Personality and Diversity.

PERSONALITY


Let's face it. The Muppets have wild personalities. From Kermit to Gonzo to Beaker to Bert to Oscar to Animal to the Fraggles, such incredibly wild personalities exist inside each one of them. They're not cookie cutter characters like we get in most fiction these days. I could name any number of rather flat, unimaginative character archetypes that have been used and are still being used in most fiction these days. Especially in Disney movies, with their never-ending catering to children with the same stories told again and again and again. Seriously, how many variations on a princess theme can you have? A wizard theme? Seriously. No, the Muppets certainly weren't flat characters. And I think that more than anything has influenced my creative enterprises.


DIVERSITY


A second point about the Muppets is the incredible variation amongst them. They are an incredibly eclectic group. Not one of them is like any other. We have talking animals, aliens, "people" with impossible skin tones, monsters, random furry creatures with bugles on their heads that can make noise by squeezing their noses (?), et cetera. How many movies are there where the protagonists are all of a kind, except for the token minority or alien--if even that? No, there is beauty in diversity. I appreciate this about the Muppets, and the shows they are featured on.

So that is my final analysis, which I had not even planned on making really. I hope you have enjoyed this random walk through the mind of a rather odd college student.


By the way, which title would make you more likely to read: "Master Puppeteer"? Or "Puppet Master"?


~ Tommy

Master Puppeteer

What is it about the Muppets that make them so darn endearing? To this day, I am still enamored with Jim Henson's creations, marveling at the incredible life they bring to the screen, despite being so obviously not real.

I mean, come on. Even when I was very young, I knew the Muppets weren't real. Big Bird was no more real than Santa Clause (no, my parents did not attempt to perpetuate that myth with me). But I loved watching. Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock; I loved 'em all. Still do, in fact. But why?

I've always felt a strong affinity for the fantastical. If children's books introduced me to magical and fantastical worlds, it was film that cemented it as the highest idea of fiction in my mind. I spent endless hours reading books by the faint light that seeped into my room from the hall at night, hoping my dad wouldn't suddenly appear and chastise me for not sleeping as I should have been. When I was grounded, I would still risk everything to sneak into our family room, hiding under the coffee table when I heard my sisters ask if they could watch a movie. I don't recommend disobeying one's parents or other authorities in pursuit of entertainment, but it amazes me now how far I was willing to go because of my intense fascination. Nowadays, I treasure the little sleep I get each night. And I watch too many movies and videos for my own good. Funny, how some things change.

And yet others don't. Locked inside this head of mine is such a wild imagination it's amazing I manage to contain it! Whole worlds populate my mind! Peoples and cultures and characters! So full of life! A much more interesting place to hang out than the humdrum of usual life. And yet we must live humdrum lives...because we have to leave, therefore we must eat, therefore we need money, therefore we must work, therefore we must drive, therefore we need a car, therefore...et cetera.

And wow this post deviated far from where it started...I salute you, Jim Henson! Thanks for sparking my imagination and encouraging it to run wild. Thanks for doing so to countless others.

Hmm...I still have more to say...hmm...aha!

TO BE CONTINUED...

~ Tommy

Excitement, Depression, Impatience, Hope

The more I think about being a filmmaker, I feel both excitement and depression rising in sufficient amounts to all but cancel each other out. Excitement because of the stories I'll tell, the power of the moving image, the breathtaking visuals I will compose. Depression because of the high expense associated with the telling.

For a wannabe indie filmmaker, money is a big thing. Anything I do will be either self-financed or financed by a small number of contributors giving very modest sums. That's hard for me, because the stories I want to tell tend to be epic. Like, the original meaning of the word epic. But whatever I do not already have, I have to buy. Which right now, is just about everything. And it can be hard to work creatively when it's one guy and a camera. Heck, I'm blessed to even have a consumer camcorder with which to work.

But I know that God has promised to work all things for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV). God has set me on this path, and I will walk it, for better or for worse. It may take me years before I can begin to tell the stories I want. It may take me many more years before I can effectively tell the stories I want. Rome wasn't built in a day. And God's times are not my times.

Lord, help me to be patient, to wait on Your provision, and to seek Your will every day of my life.

~ Tommy

Those Who Came Before

Minas Tirith - Screen Capture from the Film

As a creator of artistic works, I owe a huge debt to those who have gone before me and paved the road as far as it has led me to this day.

In the realm of writing, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Robert Jordan, L.B. Graham, Orson Scott Card, Asimov, among others.

In comics/graphic novels, Bill Watterson, Jeff Smith, Stan Sakai, Travis Hanson, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, among others.

In film and cinema, Nolan, Spielberg, Lucas, Peter Jackson, Ryan Connolly, and many, many others.

In LEGO even, Nnenn, Jordan Schwartz, Michael Jasper, DNL, also among many others.

I admire these people even as I grow frustrated over them, for my works in any field will constantly be--even if unconsciously-- compared against theirs. Theirs is the talent, theirs is the past, theirs is the foundation or the continuation, each a Citadel or a Tower, either anchoring the rest or passing all others to reach the heavens. Theirs is the shadow that threatens to starve the budding artist for want of light.

I don't expect to become famous in my lifetime. I don't expect to become well known in my life time. I fully expect to die penniless if not homeless, a starving artist to the bitter end. Well, maybe not THAT bad.

But it is a strange place to be in. To create something that will stand on its own is nigh impossible these days. And it certainly will receive its share of assaults and sieges. So to look at those who have carved their niche and receive adulation for it...sometimes makes my blood boil. Not anger. But frustration.

Where the future leads? I do not know...where my future begins? Heh...a depressing oxymoron, that.

What even to classify this post? Not really Scholar, not really Dreamer...perhaps I need another voice? The Ranter? The Knave? I shall think on that...

~ Tommy

Dreams: Parkour

Photo by James Davidson from AmericanParkour.com

Anyone who knows me could tell you I am a fan of Parkour. I fan with aspirations of being a practitioner. I started on that road some years back, but knee, hip, and back problems kept me from doing things as simple as jogging or doing repeated squats, let alone the acrobatics exhibited by the likes of David Belle, Sébastien Foucan, or Danny Ilabaca. But God has given me some small victories of late. I have been visiting a Chiropractor who has been adjusting my back and giving me physical therapy to improve my overall strength. I asked him if he thought I was ready to start jogging. He said I was, though I need to take it little by little at first. And largely (I suspect) thanks to Kendo, my knee, leg, and body strength has dramatically improved.

Praise God for small victories! I may be a long way from the stunts like you see exhibited in the photo, but each step forward brings me that much closer.

~ Tommy

Peter Jackson Talks "The Hobbit"

I got a tip from a friend yesterday that there was a vlog by Peter Jackson circling the 'net made on the set of The Hobbit. As an avid fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece and Peter Jackson's filmic homages to them, I immediately set sail in search of this first glimpse at the new movie in production.

And here it is, for you all to see:

As you can see, Ian McKellen is back as Gandalf, and those are some tough-looking dwarf characters in there.

I don't know about you, but I am EXCITED! Thanks, Peter! Let's see some more real soon!

~ Tommy

Dreams...

Here I am, Dreaming away the lonely hours...
A forked path looms, decisions multiply.
Things to be done, ideas to pursue,
New places in life to explore...
Oh what a Great Adventure!

~ Tommy