08.28.08
Posted in Film at 9:46 am by Fletcher
Straight from The Director himself:
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We are very proud to announce that “Sovereignty” will be awarded the honor of Best Narrative Short Film at the Peace on Earth Film Festival in Chicago this weekend! And then you’ve got 4 big chances to see “Sovereignty” in NY, LA, Chicago and Canada in the coming 5 weeks!
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This weekend “Sovereignty” keeps on churnin’ along as we head to the Peace on Earth Film Festival this Sunday 8/31 at 6pm in beautiful Chicago, IL. Click here for directions.
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Two weeks later, we go international at the Non-Violence International Film Festival in Onterio, Canada on September 14th, 19th and 20th. Click here for showtimes and directions.
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Then… we swing back to New York for for the exciting Coney Island Film Festival September 26-28. Check back for showtimes and directions.
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And finally, (for now) if you happen to be one of those rare film buffs in the tiny hamlet of Hollywood, CA we will be in the prestigious Artivist Film Festival which takes place October 2-5. Check back for showtimes and directions. We sure hope you can make it to one of these screening and support our little film that could!
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Come see why Greg Robson from ResidentMediaPundit.com raves “…equal parts comedic, sardonic and moving…gripping…a veritable call to arms. If only all films could do such things.”
If you have the opportunity - go see it. If only for my contribution of gallons upon gallons of fake blood!
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08.26.08
Posted in Art at 1:06 pm by Fletcher
Another painting I had done to potentially sell as a commission. This one I happened upon whilst walking home one cold January night. I had gotten off of work at the Archive and was rushing home to hug my radiator, when I was struck by the light surrounding a pizza joint on 33rd St. The scene looked like it was straight out of a Hopper painting - and despite my shivering, I was able to pull off a shot of it…
And you know - I never had a slice from that place either…
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08.21.08
Posted in Art at 1:58 pm by Fletcher
Since the second of my commissions is rapidly coming to a finish - I feel it is now safe to show off what I have been working on - but unable to show for fear that the recipient might see.
I came across this place on one of my epic walks with my bride to be - we would hit the streets of NYC on her visits and just go… No direction, no agenda. Walking for the sheer pleasure of it. She got to see parts of the city she would never have come across on her own, and I would use it as a reason to trek thru parts of town I normally would not see.
I love it for its beat up failure. The dreams of some hardworking immigrant gone by the wayside. Was it health violations? Did the family move? Were they beaten by the chino-latino joint down the block? I could only see paper cartons filled with noodles being eaten by busy office workers, who were one day forced to go somewhere else because their fave lunch place had closed.
Man, I embrace my dark nature.
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08.18.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:45 pm by Fletcher
I get a regular delivery of a design magazine; since they offered it to me for free. I don’t really read it as much as check out some of the interesting snippets of what advertisers are doing. Since I consider most of them to be the most vile of creatures - playing on our weaknesses, fears and image issues - I gotta keep an eye on them.
I was taken aback when I was looking at their latest self-congratulatory article (and it seems like EVERY issue has some sort of ‘awards’ fluff piece: 9 outta 10 sycophants agree; the Advertising that appealed to Most Internet Pervs is….) when I turned the page and saw this ad for an advertising technique:
For those who are too busy to click on the thumbnail: its a ‘Peel & Lick’ form of advertising. This one in particular is a ‘taste’ of Welch’s Grape juice.
Are these guys #^@%(^! kidding me? I’d just as soon take a syringe from a bum in Junkie Alley and jab it into my neck. This is a throwback to John Waters ‘Polyester’ which used Smello-vision:
Odors, especially Francine’s particularly keen sense of smell, play an important role in the film. To highlight this, Waters designed Odorama, a “scratch-and-sniff” gimmick inspired by the work of William Castle and the 1960 film Scent of Mystery, which featured a device called Smell-O-Vision. Special cards with spots numbered 1 through 10 were distributed to audience members before the show, in the manner of 3D glasses. When a number flashed on the screen, viewers were to scratch and sniff the appropriate spot. Smells included the scent of flowers, pizza, glue, gas, grass, and feces.
Does anyone else see the potential for evil here? ‘Hey, lets get people to try what they think is grape juice, but then switch it with 2 month old gym sock juice!’ Has anyone even tried these? What kind of weird cancer causing chemicals do they make these things out of? ‘Hey, lets add isoamyl acetate with potassium hydroxide and see if people will lick that!’
I’ll give away a free copy of Half Life 2: Episode One to anyone who will try it.
UPDATE: It seems I am not the only person who feels this way. Read page 2 to get the icky feelings…
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08.13.08
Posted in Art, Life at 10:24 am by Fletcher
The greatest joy there is is when something you create with your own hands is given as a gift.
Sara, a longtime friend and fan of my work, got married last year - and as a wedding present, I gave her a painting that she had always liked. She was so taken with it that she had it framed and proudly displayed in her home, prompting an email (with photos) saying how everyone really likes it, from guests to the mailman - even the guy who had framed it.
So it was a real pleasure when I got a phone call from her new husband, earlier in the year, asking if I could be commissioned for a piece for their One Year Anniversary. And since tradition dictated that first anniversaries gift is paper - a watercolor painting would fit the bill.
The toughest part was figuring out what to paint. Since this was a sign of her life as it is, and of the coming years, I wanted something to tie in with her past - and since we met when I was living with her brother - it seemed fitting that I paint a landmark that she would identify with and have a connection to. Obviously, some tourist spot or historical landmark was out of the question. What could I do in my style? After much deliberation - it hit me. During her visits - where was the one place we’d always end up? Where would we get supplies when the gang went out on the town? Where would we go after the night out for late night snacks? Our local deli.
Anyone that has lived in the city will instantly recognize the importance of the local deli and a good one will not only have coffee and the paper, but bandaids, phonecards, candles to put on birthday cakes and WD40. Stuff people need. Ran by people with the barest grasp of the English language, but still greet you with a smile because in their hearts they know: you buying their overpriced stuff is paying for their kids education.
So it was a real delight when I got this missive in my mailbox:
I just received my anniversary painting and I am blown away!
You couldn’t have chosen a more fitting subject, I LOVE IT!!!!
they always did have the best chicken parms at 4 in the morning!
And now I can breathe a sigh of relief - because I also had 2 or 3 other paintings that I had in reserve (in case this one was a bust) that I couldn’t post, in fear that she’d see them. Look for these in the coming days…
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08.11.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:26 am by Fletcher
Close off sections of Manhattan to vehicular traffic; let people roam at will and cut down on the emissions.
Why, oh why must they do this AFTER I move out?? Sigh.
If anyone happened to be there for this; drop me a note and tell me what it was like!
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08.07.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Life at 11:14 am by Fletcher
I’ve been watching the story about Bruce Ivins with great interest. The fact that he committed suicide and then the authorities have pretty much indicted him has kept my attention lately. For more than one reason, it had my attention and I found myself checking for updates more and more often than I usually do - my disdain for the media put in check by my unerring need to see how this story panned out.
Let’s say that I have more than a ‘passing curiosity’ about it.
I was there when it happened.
If you look back in the articles I’ve posted over the years here, you’ll see that I’ve made mention of the ‘Major Metropolitan Newspaper’ that I used to work for. It was the New York Post - I usually avoided calling it by name, partly to avoid grousing about a former employer (because, hey - you never know) and because I did like the cache’ that came with it; the way people’s eyes would light up when they asked where I worked - I got many a free drink because of it, and I made more than a few friends because of the discussions it generated.
There was something about being in the middle of a newsroom, of having people shouting out what was happening all over the globe at that exact moment, monitors blaring newscasts 24/7, copy-editors composing witty headlines to sum it all up… We were still reeling from 9/11; nightly jaunts to Langan’s to dull the overload from so many hours of non-stop chaos, seeing our co-workers and comrades come back from being buried in rubble, the sirens, the endless waiting for the next shoe to drop. Between the work, the stress, the lack of sleep and the booze - nerves were stretched taut.
And then the Anthrax Attacks began.
At first it was just another ‘what now??!!’ moment; another ball of angst and shite to throw on the compost heap. It was a far-away thing, down in Florida, on the radar, just another sign of how the world was crumbling - a bit here; a bit there. But it was still far away. We had our drama to deal with and if some publisher in the deep south got hit with a whack-job mailing poison to his op-ed column then it got promptly filed under “Not My Problem.”
Until we got it.
There was a huge flurry of activity and a lot of cops floating around the office that day. I thought that Dunleavey had gotten into another fight and some pissed off copykid was pressing charges. I had asked my buddy Delmo what had happened. He told me that Op-ed was shut down because Johanna had opened an envelope with white powder in it. Not Johanna, the poor girl who ripped a tendon in her leg dancing at the Christmas Party; not Johanna who I went to the Steely Dan concert with and used her injury to get us front row seats while I assumed the identity of the head features editor… She was out. Taking Cipro. It was being passed around like a bowl of candy. People were afraid. The FBI was there and asking questions. People were assuming it was Bin Laden. No one wanted to touch anything, to eat in the office. Weirdly though, the smoking room was packed with people who touched all sorts of things and then brought their hands close to their mouths and noses… We were the walking infected. Op-ed was walled off in plastic, like the quarantine setup they used in E.T. People came down with all sorts of mysterious maladies. I had walked off the job when the guys in the moon-suits came in to spray the whole place down and they didn’t tell me it was happening, as in - right next door. If they didn’t blow stray anthrax spores on me, I’m sure the toxic chemicals would have been a blast to inhale. So I walked off the job and got drunk. Pissed that we couldn’t do anything to get back at the bastards who did this.
We did strike back. Medications were given, and we didn’t lose anyone. We mourned those who had fallen to this new disaster. Hadn’t we suffered enough? We struck back with words - those who had caught this virulent disease and live to tell had written impassioned responses - telling how they would not be cowed. That in this dark hour, we would not be defeated.
And we did it in NY Post style.
Like I said; I’ve been watching this story with great interest. As soon as it started creeping back into the headlines, it brought me back to where I was at that time. Living in a money pit loft that I had absorbed from a heroin junkie who fled the state. Living with bunch of money sucking roommates that seemed intent on destroying said loft with all abandon. Dealing with being abysmally single in a city doomed to be a crater in the near future. My nightly forays to the pub taking a toll on my wallet and waistline. I made a few enemies in those days, I pray for forgiveness as much as I pray for the strength to forgive. And when people I worked with, friends and comrades, had died, mercifully from things other than terrorism - I found that I could no longer bear working there. I had left - probably prematurely, and ended up doing one of those weird lateral moves that seems to take a lot of energy and make no sense in the long run…
But, hey - I ended up here: In the Midwest. I’ve got a job and a girl who loves me enough to make it permanent. And all told - things could have turned out a lot worse. I just look back on the person I was and wonder how I managed to keep it all together, to not sink or fall, to somehow keep pushing forward - no matter what was thrown in my path…
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08.04.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Life at 11:24 pm by Fletcher
Ladies and Gents - it has now been ONE FULL YEAR since I gave up smoking.
Not one cig, drag, dip or chaw.
Mind you, I see no immediate running of marathons and I do miss the beer & cigarette, or coffee & cigarette or lighting up after a good meal.
I do not miss the smell on the clothes and I do feel like my olfactory senses have rebounded. And I certainly do not miss the disgusted looks the former girlfriend / current fiancee would give me for flicking lit butts into the street. And I will admit that I do thank Mayor Bloomberg for the free patches that got me to quit - without them I probably would have strangled the majority of the tri-state area.
I am thankful for the money I’ve saved - it truly was being wasted. Especially when I would chainsmoke at the pub (and greatly contributing to my hangover) and I am profoundly grateful for the adoration that fiancee heaps upon me for having quit. When she squeezes my bicep (cause I’ve been exercising to boot!) and she squals with delight - well, hell - who wouldn’t quit??
Info for NY’rs to help quit smoking can be found here.
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