"The ride on the way over"

En route to a shoot I was almost involved in a serious car accident. Click to listen to my audio post from the cell phone afterward.

Fuelman

I was almost stuck in Brownsville today having to pay for gas for the cargo van. I hate driving the cargo van. I had never used a Fuelman card before and it sucked righteous monkey balls because the card itself had been cancelled and my pin wouldn't work with it, of course. I'm an hour and a half away from Home and it sucks to be alive with a seventy-four dollar gas bill for a truck I don't even own.

Whatever. There was an extremely hot chick getting gas for her Jeep Grand Cherokee. A Jeep Grand Cherokee that was for sale and had her FRIGGIN' PHONE NUMBER on it! :) I wrote it down. I didn't call it. She's probably very, very married.

Free Food

Working on a bevy of car dealership spots this week, the client decided to thank me for all my hard work by taking me out to lunch today. I decided that the best thing in the world would be a double-meat, double-cheese Whataburger with bacon and sliced jalapeños. Yeah, it tastes as good as it sounds.

Just before we took off, an old fat dude with a big white beard and a red shirt with green suspenders came in. I couldn't believe it: I was eating next to freaking Santa Claus. I wanted to take his picture for blogging purposes, but I felt like a jackass about it so I refrained.

Later this evening, Nancy from the church took me to dinner over at Ciro's Mexican and Seafood Restaurant and Bar in Edinburg. There were not one but two mariachi bands duking it out at the various tables. One was all girl, the other was all guy. It was fun listening to them play against each other. Plus the girls were mostly hot.

Anyway, if there's anything better than eating well it's eating well for free.

Burning the Midnight DVD

I couldn't do the LifeHouse thing tonight because I have to stay here at the church and make a DVD for the pastor of a recent funeral. Cecilia visited me afterward, however and I took this picture of her with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel. I then played the piano for her in the parlor as she rested from the long day on a nearby couch.

Now I'm sitting here waiting for the computer to finish doing what it's doing so I can go home and sleep so I can get out of bed tomorrow morning. I'm considering watching the DVD of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Five I brought with me.

Big Ol' Thingie

Today was a giant, free concert that the television station I work for was covering. This company also owns the radio station which was sponsoring the event. Our television production department, including myself, was there to cover the event in Weslaco, Texas. We worked all day long in shifts so that we wouldn't become exhausted. There was free food, live music and lots of beverage choices.

The way we covered the event was very involved. We shot footage of the hosts of the television morning show walking around talking to the various bands that performed there, plugging the sponsors. We then walked the tape over to our "remote" truck which fed the footage to our station via an over-the-air uplink feed. The footage was shot as-live and shown on the air at regular intervals to television viewers, inviting them to the free live event. It effectively gave the illusion that the hosts were being televised live from the event.

When I wasn't shooting, I was walking around with my camera phone, soaking up the sun and enjoying the free barbeque. Oh happy day. I even got to talk to Gabby about religion and stuff; setting the record straight on what the Bible tells us God thinks about sin. At the end of the impromptu counseling session, she felt a lot better about herself, spiritually.

Driving The Cargo Van

We have a great big ugly GMC cargo van at work that I sometimes have to drive when going to a shoot. It's big and bulky and hard to operate. I hate driving that cargo van.



Sometimes I'm driving it as carefully as I can and then I realize that the brakes don't stop the thing as quickly as I think they should. This has the affect of scaring me half to death when coming up to a newly changed red light.



At times, especially when driving along the highway, I've noticed that the swaying motion of the beastly cargo van and it's slow maneuverability have caused me pause in my otherwise sharp sensibilities. This has rendered my driving performance to be somewhat less than astute at times.



I hate that friggin' cargo van.

Folklorico

Gaby went all folklorico on us today for the morning show. It was cute. She wore jeans under the garment because, as she said, "you can see everything" without them.

I get to work all day Sunday with her over at the big free concert we're sponsoring in Donna. I'll be shooting a bunch of as-lives with her, Sam, Cesar and Apol. All of the sales people from both TV and radio will be present, as well. I look forward to seeing how naughty the Fox Force Four dress when they ain't at work.

September 11, 2001

I'm sitting at church writing in my blog. I've just installed velcro strips to the bottom of the front pews to lift some video cables from the floor. I am reminded that today is the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on my home soil. I wonder if Ellis, our preacher, will say something about it. I'll need to be back here in four hours to prepare for Sunday morning services.

I invited Cecilia to join me during the 11 o'clock service. Afterward we may go somewhere for lunch. I'm voting for Khan's grill, a local mongolian do-it-yourself stir fry place that I haven't been to in months. I wonder if I'll see Melissa, the friendly asian waitress there again.

Enter Arma Enim Silent Legges

"In time of war the law falls silent."

... I'm really sick of being single.

Labor Day

Nothing going on. Made the template for this blog.

Sunday
Third date with Cecilia. Went to Shakes and she got a strawberry shake and I got a chocolate malt. We then walked in the park and went to Denny's. We then went back to the park and held hands for the first time. She gave me a hug in the car when I took her home.

Saturday
... is my day off.

Friday
We were supposed to get out at 3pm today because Monday is a holiday. I got out after 6pm. I walked through the office while no one else was around and protested that I wasn't even going to bother coming in on Monday. I thought it was funny.

Thursday
Slow day at work. I mostly read the Avid manual all afternoon. Miriam laid down on my couch and took a 2 minute nap.

Rainbow Blackout

The open to the morning show sucks monkey balls. Larry and Miriam wanted me to fix what we had before we go shoot something brand new. Once I finished the project, Larry asked me what I thought of it and I said it's "polished crap". Hey, you give me crap to work with and I can make it nice and shiny but it's still just a piece of crap.

Larry thought my work was pretty swell and called it "a good salvage job". Miriam, meanwhile, thinks I'm the coolest guy ever.

Athena, one of the new sales reps saw me today and said, "I like your belt and your shoes."

I stopped and said thanks.

"I like a man who's color-coordinated," she said.

I don't trust sales people, especially pretty ones who only want to butter me up so I don't make them bad product. Still, I took it in stride.

"Considering all the graphics I make, I kinda have to be color-coordinated," I replied. I probably could have thought of something more suave to say, but I didn't feel like thinking at that moment for some silly reason.

It rained ferociously over McAllen today. The wind had eventually managed to push over some power lines somewhere and shut down an entire section of the city including the television station where I work. The emergency lighting that illuminated the hallways did a DOOM job throughout the office. Made me want to grab a shotgun and go hunt some hellspawn. But anyway...

The rain had brought a pretty rainbow over Calvary. Too bad everyone else was inside and couldn't enjoy it. At least I took a picture of it.

I met Mirna, the woman who runs the bible study class my FAITH partner, Ana, invited me to. She kept looking at me with fondness. It must be love. She gave me some books and videotapes to watch and get caught up with. Just what I need: more homework. Didn't I graduate from school so I wouldn't have to do homework anymore? Oh well. At least I'm surrounded by girls.

FAITH, 3 of 16

Made a promo for our new FOX affiliate today regarding a football-themed show that we will be airing soon. The interesting thing about the promo is that there is a part that says something along the lines of "be sure to watch this show on the local FOX affiliate" and I edited a shot of a woman holding a sign and swinging it back and forth. The shot comes from the raw footage of football plays, fans and cheerleaders I used to build the spot with.

The sign is an unfriendly epitaph to the opposing football team. I decided to use the shot as an advertisement for the FOX station. I took our station logo from our graphics department and inserted it onto the sign using Photoshop to creat the new sign and After Effects to marry the two images together along with a motion track.

I then stuck the new composition into the spot and voila! Instant self-promotion using the existing raw footage.

When Larry saw the spot, he was into it. Then he saw the comp.

"That-!" he started to say.

The shot continued on, then the shot of the coach giving his ten second "tune in" speech and then the tag and then the fade to black.

"That is terrific! Great job, young man," Larry continued. He was sincerely excited about my work. I knew the shot would give the localizing kick the spot really needed.

And Larry smiled. I think Larry's a Jason Fan now. At 5:40 he walked into my office with Miriam, the morning show host, saying "here he is, here's the kid" -- meant with affection, I'm sure. :) He had a videotape in his hand.

"This is the new opening to our morning show. The video is badly shot. The sound is awful, it's too long..."

"So it sucks," I interjected.

"Yeah. It sucks."

We watch the open and it does, indeed, suck. Miriam had many ideas. I told her to write them down and that I would take care of it. I had to leave for FAITH by 5:50 so I bid a semi-fond farewell and took my leave. We will meet again at 10am tomorrow morning to discuss what can be done about the morning show open.

At FAITH training tonight we visited a Chinese woman who had previously accepted Christ as her personal Lord and savior. We made that visit a ministerial visitation and explained some things about the baptist faith that seperated us from her catholic upbringing.

All I know is no matter what your "religion" is, so long as you "faith" is centered on the fact that if you believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins and then rose again, you are a Christian and can have an eternity in Heaven with God Almighty to look forward to after your worldly death.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Cecilia

This is a picture of my friend Cecilia, the girl I met at Thursday night LifeHouse and have been seeing these past couple of weeks. This was taken with my camera phone at the end of our first date last Sunday.

She's very sweet, very smart and has some funny stories to tell. And she has a nice singing voice, I just found out. She likes the color blue, but enjoys wearing bright colors like pink and white and light green.

When I was describing Cecilia to my parents, my father reminded me of the song performed by Simon and Garfunkel. The song itself bears zero resemblance to our actual "just friends" relationship, but for a goof, here are the lyrics:

Cecilia
by Paul Simon

Cecilia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please to come home

Cecilia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please to come home
Come on home

Making love in the afternoon with Cecilia
Up in my bedroom (making love)
I got up to wash my face
When I come back to bed
Someone's taken my place

Cecilia, you're breaking my heart
You're shaking my confidence daily
Oh, Cecilia, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please to come home
Come on home

Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I'm laughing,
Jubilation, she loves me again,
I fall on the floor and I'm laughing

Dinner At Cortina's

Second date with Cecilia.

She had told me yesterday about her pink Hello Kitty shirt and I asked to see her wear it. She did tonight. Very good: She passed THAT test. Mua-haha!

... anyway, we went to a little hole-in-the-wall italian food place called Cortina's east of Weslaco. It's a good drive away, but the food is certainly worth it. A fairly romantic setting, less the old couple in the corner that kept staring at us (at one point I heard the woman say "I think he said she's Korean" -- What? You got a problem?), Cortina's had the sort of earthy ambiance you'd expect from an italian food joint.

I ordered the mannicoti and she had the chicken fettuchini. Though we were pretty much full after the breadsticks and salad, we dove into our dinner plates with reckless abandon.

Molto squisito!

Yeah, that's Italian. So says Google, anyway.

Afterward we drove around in my car and sang to each other. I performed "Tonight" from West Side Story and Cecilia sand a love song in Korean. Pretty sweet date, I think.

Now we need to work on our harmony...

Avril Lavigne

At LifeHouse, we got into three groups and walked around the university grounds putting up posters for a new campus club that members of their church are heading up. I was with Cecilia, Barbie, Javier and his wife. We later met up with Zeek and his wife, as well.

During the later half of the evening, Barbie's live-in boyfriend, Eric, began harrassing her over the phone. I decided at that point that I hated Eric and Eric's ringtone on Barbie's cell phone.

Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated...

Afterwards, we went back to our little clubhouse across the street and fellowshipped for a bit. Cecilia practically asked me out tonight. Wanted to see me again and stuff.

"What am I doing tomorrow? Oh, nothin'... yet." :)

Hole In The Ground

Today went pretty well. Mayra, the FOX sales manager stopped by my office door and said "good morning, Jason" and smiled. I thought that was odd and all my brain could think to say was "hi." It's not that I was blinded by her looks or anything like that -- it's the simple fact that I don't believe Mayra's the kind of person that just stops what she's doing to say hi to someone; especially a lowly grunt like myself.

Still, I appreciated the gesture of common coworker courtesy. Hmm. That sounds like the title to a government pamphlet.

Some company was brought in to install a dish on the roof of the building, possible for the new FOX affiliate under construction within. They used one of those giant mobile crane things and sat it in the south-side parking lot and asked all of us there to park elsewhere for the time being. After lunch, they were finished and I returned my car to its usual south-side space.

Unfortunately, when they were moving the giant crane out of the lot, it's wheels jacked up the parking lot pretty bad.

THAT must have been fun to watch!

I was at the office too late tonight and couldn't go to Wednesday night youth worship to check out how T-Ray's sound system was doing after the revisions I made to it last night. But, no matter: there's always next week.

Wednesday night practice at Calvary went well. Tim's training another drummer because he'll be leaving for college this week. I'm going to need to re-arrange the stage a bit to accomodate the drummer needing to be nearer our band leader, Nancy, on piano.

The band and I moved the equipment around, but I'm going to want to go in later on this week to make everything pretty for Sunday. That reminds me: I also need to submit that itemized purchase list for more audio equipment.

I'm also going to need to make Taylor's CD for her -- she'll be expecting that on Sunday. She actually expected it today but I've been too busy to take care of that. Also, when am I going to get those DVD's Ana promised me?

FAITH, 2 of 16

First night of FAITH visitations. Pretty emotional. We made one visit this evening to an apartment occupied by college-age Hindiis. One was sortuv receptive to our testimony, the other -- his cousin -- was not. Both were polite, though. I came out of it with mixed emotions. I think I was sad neither of them made a profession. I was mad that the cousin was not receptive. I was happy to be serving God. Most of the time I'm a big, big sinner and it's only when I'm working for Him that I'm truly happy. I was exhausted afterward.

Chapel Sound

After work I help T-Ray over at the chapel set up for the youth stuff they do there. Actually, it was more like I re-organized the youth chapel and T-Ray helped. I told him I'd come in on Wednesday night worship to oversee the new setup's maiden voyage.

First Date

The date with Cecilia actually happened. I am cheerfully surprised. In fact, Cecilia called me 45 minutes before she was supposed to and enquired if we were still on for the evening. How nice.

We had dinner at Denny's as planned. Took seperate cars to Barnes & Noble where she looked at books about London and I looked at books about Photoshop CS2 (they didn't have anything on the Avid Adrenaline). We later sat on the floor together in the religion section. Cecilia was going through a little pile of London books and Christian dating books.

I was reading The Idiot's Guide to The Bible.

Afterward, we took my car to Calvary where we sat in the church sanctuary and discussed long term relationship type stuff. At the moment, we're just friends but our long-term intents with this date have been made clear. Cecilia showed me the one song she admits she can play on the piano. I showed her the wide range of songs I've personally written for piano.

Afterward, Scott Hollinger and his son Tim showed up. After taking Cecilia back to her car at the B&N parking lot, I came back to the church to surf the [broadband] web and chat with the Hollingers. I told them of my date this evening and how well it seemed to have gone. I admitted to bringing my dates who were not from the church to Calvary to 1) show them where I'm coming from spiritually and 2) to show off on the piano. Scott very thoughtfully said "I could go for a guy who played the piano for me." Pfft, so would I. I mean, c'mon, right? I even briefly did the Ray Charles version of You Are So Beautiful and got applauded.

C'mon! I'd date me! :)

Jason's Screenplays

As of today, I have a new blog that will serve as my archive of short film scripts I have written or am currently writing called, of course, Jason's Screenplays.

The site is similar to my Fiction & Non-fiction blog where I post my short stories.

TGI Friday

That's right; it's Friday. And the only good that came of it was that Larry stopped me in the hall to ask me how I was doing and showed actual interest in my opinion.

"How are you doing today, young man?" he said.

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm a lot, lot, lot busy though," I replied.

"But are you enjoying it?"

"Oh yes, of course." And I was. I thouroughly enjoyed being kept busy because it made me feel important. And everyone needs to feel needed sometimes.

This time last week, I was wondering if I was going to enjoy working here. I do.

Asians And Indies

That title could be really racist if it wanted to.

I did my first shoot today in Mission at a local tile place with Raul, the sales rep. I was quizzing myself on the intricacies of the camera and when I went back to the office I found that the footage I captured turned out just fine.

Noellia, Larry's secretary, had funny sunglasses on her desk and wanted one of the girls in traffic to wear them. When she declined, I wore them in her stead.

Toward the end of the day, Eduardo and I began discussing independent filmmaking and said he was looking for a director to helm short films he and his buddies are wanting to create. I said I was interested. He wants to do some Sin City shorts to gear up for a great big Star Wars fanfilm love story thing. I've always wanted to do one of those.

At LifeHouse this evening I got to see Eliza again. She's a nice girl. While she was talking to another guy and exchanging phone numbers -- numbers she didn't give me -- I sat down with Cecilia, the asian girl, and chatted about stuff. Her favorite color, like mine, is blue but she enjoys wearing bright, cheerful colors. I, however, gravitate toward earthy tones for myself.

Cecilia thinks I'm funny and a joy to be around. The conversation was [skillfully] shifted [by me] to relationships [ah-haha] and I was able to ask her out. She seemed interested and agreed that we could have dinner this weekend. So I'm calling Cecilia Kong at 6:30 Sunday evening for dinner at Denny's. That's right: she's into Denny's. And that's cool 'cuz I dig their hashbrowns.

Of course I'm testing her mettle. I hope she doesn't wind up like all the other girls -- since forever -- and actually is expecting me to call her and is anxiously awaiting out little get-together. But she's Korean so I have high hopes that means she's not a, ya know, mindless American chick that forgets about your dates and doesn't call you back when she says she will...

Oh, and yesterday, Emily Drefke called me "spiffy" and Elizabeth Etter stole, er, borrowed some of my breath mints from the sound booth at church. No matter, though: I don't know where those breath mints came from. I did think it was funny that she shared one with me from her pocket. It had lent on it but I didn't care.

Nothing To Do

Nothing To Do
Words & Music by Jason R. Johnston
© 2005, Jason R. Johnston. All rights reserved.

Inspired by Psalm 101

I will sing of your love, O Lord.
I will sing you praise.
I will lead a blameless life. O Lord,
when will you come to me?

Faithless men will never cling.
Perverse hearts will be far from me.
I will look on no vile thing.
I will have nothing to do with an evil thing.

I will dwell with the faithful,
silence all the wicked.
O Blameless One,
minister to me.

I will sing of your love, O Lord.
I will sing you praise.
I will lead a blameless life. O Lord,
when will you come to me?

Come to me.

Wednesday

We finished the long form music video for the local car dealership. The director of marketing for the dealership, Martha, came in to view the spot.

Nick, the agency rep, took me to Golden Corral for lunch. We ate well and I kept the conversations humorous. On our way out, I opened the door for Larry as he was coming in. We didn't shake hands, but he didn't shake Nick's hand, either.

Martha wanted to make one or two changes to the spot so I'll be doing those tomorrow. I played the piano at church tonight after band practice for about an hour and a half. My hands are tired.

Mike Diaz, church custodian, saw Eliza at this evening's worship service at her church and tells me that she talked about me; asked about me. Eliza says that she'll be at LifeHouse tomorrow night. Again, I look forward to seeing her.

Taylor, an 8 or 9 or 10 year old girl I befriended at church, gave me a two for the price of one gift card for Fantasyland, a local skate park, out of friendship. I thought that was cool. Maybe I'll ask Eliza out.

Erata:

This particular episode of Deep Space Nine season six I'm watching is called "Waltz" and it's pretty damn good. I always liked Gul Dukat; hated him; pittied him. Mark Alaimo is a fine actor and I appreciated recognizing him in Total Recall. I also like Casey Biggs as Damar and, of course, Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun. Great episode, Waltz.

Faith and The Great Commission

They started me off fast on the Avid. Here I am on an editing suite I've never touched before in my life and I'm having to do a five minute music video for a local car dealership. Nick, the agency rep, is a good guy and I've always enjoyed working with him. We had fun putting together the first few minutes of this thing. It's hard figuring out how to make the Avid work, however.

Tonight was the first night of FAITH which I have commited to from 6-9pm Tuesday nights, for the next 16 weeks. There's a lot of reading and memorizing of Bible verses involved, but it's nothing I can't handle, I think. Joe, one of the instructors, asked us to keep some sort of journal. I thought of this blog and smiled.

Sandra called me this evening during the meeting so I called her back afterward. We talked until 1am. I asked her to be my prayer partner to keep me in her thoughts Tuesday nights whilst I'm doing the FAITH thing. "I'm looking forward to completing your training," said Darth Vader.

Analisa

Eduardo hadn't come back from vacation today so I continued to work on his editing machine. I'm not completely looking forward to wrestling with the Avid this week, but whatever; they'll probably start me off slow.

I found out that Analisa, the temp who worked with me over at my last job, has been hired at my [now] current job in a sales position. It's what she's always wanted and I wish her all the best. She gave me a big hug and called me by name. She owes me lunch one day. Now that I think about it; so do Jennifer, Marianna and Andi.

"I have a photographic memory; I see words!" Name that movie.

Home Alone

After church services I edited the sermon together for air on a local television station as I do every week. I started doing this on Sunday afternoon at the request of Tony Worley who wanted to give the station as much time as possible to troubleshoot in case of any tape-related problems. The parents are out of town until tomorrow so I'll have the evening to myself to watch Deep Space Nine in their bedroom as loud as I want it.

Saturday

Friday and Satuday morning blended together pretty well, I think.

After I awoke at 17:00 to the sound of a lawnmower outside my window, I got up, showered, made pizza, washed the dishes, did the laundry and watched a few episodes of Deep Space Nine season three on DVD. I wish I had been able to hang out with the other singles this morning, but I needed the rest.

I'll probably be working at Calvary all day tomorrow, doing my normal Sunday morning duties combined with editing and DVD making. I hope Ana, the music ministry secretary, bought more DVDs so I can clear out enough hard drive space to edit tomorrow's sermon for television.

I'm going to go put up the rest of the pizza.

Compliments

Larry walked into my office today and said, "You do good work, kid." I barely had the chance to say thank you before he briskly walked away. Still, I was honored.

Tonight I went to the get-together the folks from LifeHouse and Baptist Temple were putting together. I had to work until about 21:45 hours today so by the time I got home, changed, and found the place in Alamo, the group was pretty much already done for the evening. They had just started watching Napolean Dynamite. The only other time I had seen this movie was a DVD rip while serving with Chi-Rho. It kept skipping and I missed much of the story. This time, I got to take it all in. What's great is that I had been sitting all day so I stood in place throughout the movie. It felt good to use my glutes for such a long period of time. Basically, my ass hurt.

A fellow named Trevor and his wife were our guest speakers and talked to the mostly college-age group about college life, single life and just life in general. Some people had questions. I usually just sit and listen in these situations because I have a tendency to preach and almost did about "simplicity of life yet choosing to make it difficult".

Afterward, we sat down in little groups and talked amongst ourselves while most everyone else went to bed. I met an interesting girl named Sarah from Bolivia who used to be in R.O.T.C. and a ohmygodihaveanervoustick chick named Christina. At first I thought Christina was nervous but she just... she's just twitchy. She used to be a cheerleader. Go figure.

So the cute but twitchy ex-cheerleader Christina told us her life story without really telling us much of anything. She got bored listening to others but loved to talk, herself.

She told us about her pets and how she has the uncanny ability to "accidentally" murder them. Blacky was a mouse (one of those little fat rodents you feed to snakes) who was poisoned when Christina sprayed him with deoderant to make him not stinky. Blacky II was a gerbil who liked to ride in wheelbarrows, until he fell over the front and was run over. There was an entire gerbil family who was roasted when Christina left them out in the sun too long. And lets not forget all the overfed fish.

By about 07:30 hours Saturday morning, I was ready to collapse. I decided to go home, shower, and come back for 08:30 breakfast. When I got home, I laid down and closed my eyes. When I opened them, it was two in the afternoon.

Later, Samantha gave me a call to check up on me. I told her what happened and she had figured that I had gotten home and simply fallen asleep. I had such a long Friday that I wanted nothing more than to rest some more and that is precisely what I did.

LifeHouse

I didn't get to see Eliza at LifeHouse tonight, however I did get to meet Cecilia Kong and Samantha. We were asked by Kenny, the den leader of this particular Lifehouse, to go door-to-door in the neighborhood and "represent" -- sort of a preview of what F.A.I.T.H. will be for me starting next Tuesday.

During the F.A.I.T.H. Lite excursion we ran into a couple of potheads, an East Indian family and a grandmother who each wanted nothing to do with us. Cecilia had never done this sort of thing before and was nervous as hell. Samantha has too much experience yet is so mousy was unable to really get anyone's attention.

We met a guy named Mike and his family. He's going through some stressful times, his wife is going back to school and they have three kids. They were doing the barbeque thing when we happened upon them. They were apparently cutting back from their eating out ways by staying in because of a recent car wreck which sort of bled them dry.

They were nice and let us pray over them. Samantha got my phone number and I got Cecilia's. Overall, it was a productive evening.

Larry

I wound up reshooting the footage for Larry's commercial today. This time, I had engineers manning their stations so it got done the way it was supposed to -- with clean audio. Cesar passed me to Veronica, the television controller, who passed me directly to Larry. Every one was afraid to be in the same room with him. I politely waited for him to get off the phone and calmly showed him the commercial. He was fine with it except for the footage of the DJ's doing the on camera. He also wanted me to add the time of their morning show to the beginning as it is in the ending. I said "sounds good. Will do." and promptly left. After meeting with some sales people, he then came into my office and elaborated on an idea to reshoot them in their studio.

Larry said something about these DJs having a face for radio. To which I replied, "when we reshoot them, maybe we can put masks over their heads." Larry laughed. Now we both know we can joke with each other. I think he has a good idea of how I'm getting along within the ranks and is content with my work. He had made it clear that my work was fine, but it was the on-screen talent themselves whom he did not care for.

Today was also my first edit with a client. There was no voiceover. Cesar showed me how to use the scanner then I took over. The client, an agenct for Breedan McCumber, a local ad agency, will be back around 9:30 tomorrow morning to hand over the voiceover and to complete the spot. I'll also continue work on Crazy Buffet, an english spot being translated to spanish with in-house footage I started on today. I didn't have a script so I went to altavista.com to figure out the english to spanish translations. When I told him this, Cesar was pleased at my ingenuity. I wound enjoy it if he were just as pleased with the final spot once it's finished tomorrow.

I also sat down at the Avid Adrenaline to figure it out. I'm going through the online tutorials momentarily. It's a brand new program I've never, ever seen before in my life. I should have it mastered in a few days.

This evening at Calvary, the choir was impressed at my new wardrobe. They now expect to see me as dashing every day now. We'll see. The chorus was busy calling on church members to join the choir as there is a very short attendence this summer. Apparently, they should be getting five more people this coming Sunday.

During band practice I sat in as drummer and Scott, our interim music minister, motioned for me to make a drum flurish. When I did -- and surprisingly well, too -- he smiled. Scott later said "Let's all welcome our new drummer." Leorah, a guitarist, said "you rock." Scott later asked increduously, "and you haven't had much experience with the drums before?!" I said, "not since I was, like, three." I then asked we play the song He Reigns again and we had fun doing that.

I have comitted to buying a lunch plate for $5 at work tomorrow. Then I loaned a single to a fellow employee. He said he'll pay me back tomorrow. In the meantime, I have about $30 in my bank account so I'm pretty much broke. I wonder when I'm going to get my first paycheck from the new job.

Tomorrow evening is the Christian singles group from Baptist Temple's weekly get-together. I hope Eliza will be there.

First Day

My first day of work. A thin woman named Gabrielle took my hand as she introduced herself. She then listened intently as I told her my name. She smiled. Most of the women at this office are stunningly attractive. Many, I hear, are touchy-feely. Even better, the majority of those types are also single. Gabrielle's one of those girls who has a warm and friendly face. I'll probably enjoy working here.

I had to shoot three radio personalities on camera. Master Control wasn't monitoring the audio levels so it wound up being distorted. I wanted to reshoot today but the studio was being refitted for the newscast later that evening. I used the footage I had and completed the spot, regardless. Everyone agrees the footage sucks, but the post I applied to the spot really stands out. I'll have to reshoot tomorrow. This spot is for Larry, though, and he'll come looking for it soon. I won't back down. I will tell him what happened and show him what I had done, explaining that the new footage will simply be placed over the old footage and voila! Finished commercial.

I worked so hard on the spot that I didn't take my lunch break. It didn't really matter -- I wasn't hungry, anyway.

In the afternoon I created a commercial for a home healthcare business. It had to be done by 4:30 and I managed to do so. Cesar later admitted that he knew he was starting me off kind of hard. I told him I didn't mind -- I love a challenge.

It's bedtime now and I look forward to my second day of work tomorrow.

I'm Hired

Cesar called me in this morning to see Larry, the General Manager, for an interview. Apparently, when you're asked to see the GM it means that the other managers have decided to hire you and then only need his final approval. I arrived five minutes early wearing beige slacks and the olive dress shirt I bought with my one expensive black suit a few years ago. Cesar sat with me in the GM's office.

Larry looked over my resume and asked a few simple questions. "Where are you from?" "How did you get in this business?" "Do you speak Spanish?" "You know Maya?" I responded with simple answers. "I'm from here." "I started editing right out of high school after taking Cesar's television class." "Not really, but I've made tons of spanish spots over at FOX/Televisa." "I've toyed with Maya Complete a little bit."

Larry glared at me like I had just called him an asshole.

"If I call Kellie Wright over at Televisa, is she going to give me a good review about you because you go to the same church as she does?" he asked. He must have read the part about me currently being the chief sound engineer over at Calvary. I wondered why he had called Kellie by her maiden name.

"No, sir. I've known her a long while before I started working at Calvary. We're actually good friends," I said. Larry turned to Cesar.

"Let's get him on one of the machines and we'll see what he can do while I check his references." It's like I wasn't even in the room. I stood up, not saying anything and reached out my hand. Larry responded lazily, not even looking at me. Must be the don't-mess-with-me facade corporate managers often have. At least he meant business.

After a while, Cesar took me aside and told me I got the job. I told him my last job paid two grand a month. I wonder what these guys are planning to spend on me. Personally, any amount will be just fine with me.

As the day was ending I saw Sherry and she began to walk with me down the hall. She was asking me how everything went when we happened upon Larry.

"You know this guy?"

"Oh yes; from Calvary. Jason's very dependable," Sherry said. She has my back, I thought.

"I'm dependable on Sundays, anyway," I joked.

Sherry agreed and Larry finally smiled at both of us.

"Well why didn't you say so," he said.

I think he was showing that he felt he had made the right decision in hiring me. I'm not about to make him regret it.

That evening, I was editing at Calvary when Sherry and her husband Mike called to congratulate me. When I told her about the interview, Sherry told me that Larry used to be married to Kellie Wright. It made sudden sense why he didn't call her McDaniel, her new married name. Sherry told me they were still friends, though. I was relieved.

Sherry then said that had she known I was coming in to interview today, she would have just used her influence at the office to persuade Larry to hire me on the spot. She wouldn't have done that for just anyone, she said. I appreciated the offer, but I silently enjoyed the idea of proving myself today. See, world? I can do this!

Tomorrow will be a good day.

The Silence of The Lambs

One of my favorite films is Jonathan Demme's The Silence of The Lambs and its not because of the [little amount of] gore or the disturbingly profound ideas of human cannibalism and mutilation. The writing is clever, the acting is spot-on, there was clear direction and the violence/gore was tasteful in a Hitchcock-in-the-90's kind of way.

Hannibal (2001), in contrast, was apphaling and shabbily directed and I only say that because it was Ridley Scott and he should have known better. The only scene that's worth a damn in the entire movie is the final five minutes at the dinner table. Hannibal de-evolved into a slasher -- that wasn't scary -- where the gore is merely there for shock value and provides nothing for the context of the movie, especially considering how well the violence, or rather, the absence of it in Silence, plays to audiences today.

Red Dragon (2002), however, reminds us that violence doesn't have to be overdone to still be effective. People like to criticize Brent Ratner for fashioning a film that so clearly evokes Jonathan Demme's direction of The Silence of The Lambs in 1991 but really, it was exactly what the film needed.

You don't need gore to be scary. I've posthulated that untalented directors will use an overabundance of gore to make up for their inadequacies as a director. This is not true most of the time, however. Keep in mind the adequately scary Evil Dead and the delightfuly screwed-up Dead Alive. In that respect, I offer a different view on movie violence.

There is "gore", and there is "necessary violence". Gore is having a guy's face get ripped off by zombies. Necessary violence is a disemboweled soldier in Saving Private Ryan.

Remember to watch movies with an eye for intent. What was the director's intention of showing us the mutilated soldier? War is hell. What was the director's intent of showing the fountain of blood spewing horizontally out of the wall? To make us laugh. What was the intent of showing a guy's head get blown off with a shotgun? To make us gag.

The point to all of this, as Mystery Science Theater 3000 so rightly reminded us, is that a movie, no matter how poorly made, as long as it is entertaining, can still be a lot of fun to watch. The Silence of The Lambs entertains us because it's raw and disturbing and fun all at the same time. You are entranced by Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill; completely engaged by them.

And in the back of your mind you want Clarice and Hannibal to have a romantic relationship. She's terrified yet completely attracted to the good doctor. Meanwhile, Lecter is... well, it's pretty clear how he feels. Remember how he caresses her finger moments before she is torn away from his holding pen in Memphis? Ah, the notion of a never-can-happen relationship. Reminds you of real life, doesn't it? Oh how I'd love to be in Nicole Kidman's arms right now.

Silence was fun. Hannibal was not. If Hannibal had been fun, then the gore wouldn't have mattered. Instead they tried to make the movie fun by making it gory. In retrospect, Silence wouldn't have been as much fun if it were as gory as Hannibal.

I have no ending for this, so I take a small bow. :)

"Ready when you are, Sargent Pembry."

Empire At War

Someone said something about balance issues in the upcoming Star Wars game Empire At War being developed by the guys who used to make Command & Conquer. Just because it's them I know the game will kick ass and chew bubblegum.

Still, the pantywaistes in the LucasArts forums keep making much ado over the topic hoping that no matter which faction you play as, the game will be super duper balanced and equal so every one has the chance to win and have fun, fun, fun. Note the blatant sarcasm. I had this to say:

Honestly, I don't care about balance. The entire point of Star Wars is that the war IS unbalanced. It's not fair being the Rebel Alliance. It took their entire fleet to win at Endor and the battle was only a diversion to get the small ships in there to blow up the Death Star. And that was AFTER the clandestine maneuver to destroy the shield generator was a success. And they never would have gotten that done if it hadn't been for those damn cuddly teddy bears!

The Empire is better funded, has better capital ships, has a more ruthless policy on expendable assets such as pilots and troops (just clone more) and unlimited funds. They hold more territory and are general badasses that control through fear and intimidation.

The mere sight of a single Star Destroyer spells "I just wet myself" for most anyone, let alone a fleet surrounding a Super Star Destroyer. Unless you're an unstoppable asteroid the size of a Nebulon-B Frigate, a Star Destroyer isn't particularly scared of you.

Therefore, RTS theory suggests that tactics in Empire At War will differ between factions.

For example, if you're the Rebellion, you do like rebels do and make surgical strikes, picking at your enemy from several different strategic angles until he bleeds himself to death. And you risk your own life doing it.

Battle of Endor; "Get as close as you can and attack those Star Destroyers at point blank range... We might just take a few of them with us." The rebels were outgunned, outmanned and out of luck. But they won 'cuz, damn it, it was the last movie. And they used hard-core, near kamikaze tactics to hurt the Empire. Yeah, homeboy didn't mean to fly his beat up A-Wing into the bridge of the Executor, but gosh it sure was effective wasn't it?

Meanwhile, if you're playing as the Empire, all you have to do is show up and people surrender.

So, I'd start off playing as the Empire. Stronger units, more resources, easier wins. The REAL challenge is playing as the Rebels against a monstrous, unstoppable enemy.

Ahh, the hopeless battle of a faithful few against insurmountable odds. God, I love Star Wars!

THANKS, GEORGE!

Heather

I like girls named Heather. One of the first girls I ever had a crush on had that name. She was tiny and blonde, and so was her intelligence. But she had a wicked smile that made my stomach flutter on cue. She was 10 and I was 12. She's married now. I hear he's wealthy.

I am also wealthy, but not from material riches like money or jewels or those gold nickels that you pay thirty bucks for off the television. Yeah, those.

I'm on the phone with Heather -- another Heather -- and we're talking about the shots people with diabetes must take. She's making noises as she injects herself. They are moans stemmed from the pain of the needle, but over the phone they sound like they could be moans about anything. Anything. It's pretty hot.

She knows I'm writing all this down as it happens which makes it funny. I shouldn't write about a friend in a sexual matter but because it's done to be humorous, it is acceptable. At least, that is my rationale. I don't know if I spelled that correctly but I don't feel like spell checking. It's nearly three in the morning and I'm lazy.

The cat, meanwhile, is beneath my right foot. With every noise Heather makes, the cat looks around like there's someone else in the room ... I just creeped myself out and looked around the room.

We've already discussed how wimpy hurricane Emily became. At first she was a scary category III badass storm, then she piddled down to tropical storm status the second she touched land and just generally made things very wet. I suddenly giggle to the thought of "making Emily wet".

Anyway, Heather is removing herself from the phone to go to bed. It is, afterall, nearlly three in the morning. She just used the word "interim" in a sentence. Heather is also blonde, but unlike the married Heather, this one uses big words. I hear she reads alot.

Me likey.

Hurricane Emily

I once knew a girl named Emily. She was a wealthy, 17 year old California daddy's girl who broke my heart and was later romantically linked to Owen Wilson whom she met in Hawaii during the filming of The Big Bounce, who then called her periodically. Yes, the Owen Wilson. I wouldn't make that up.

But Emily wasn't a hurricane. Hell, she wasn't even a tropical depression. (She may have been depressing, but that's another story.)

Another Emily is at my doorstep this evening. She has introduced herself to the Texas coast as a Type III hurricane, whatever that means. I'll admit it sounds more important than a Type I but less flamboyant as a Type X. I like the letter "x". It has a cool sound.

"X".

If I lived on the west coast it'd be a typhoon. "Typhoon" is cooler than "hurricane". It sounds like a badass storm. "Hurricane" gives me an image of a sugar-coated, British candy that melts in your mouth and just kind of makes your hand sticky when you hold it too long.

Regardless, I wanted to photograph Emily's approach to the mainland but there isn't much more than a few dark clouds overhead. Looks like a regular overcast day and not very exciting. Maybe the winds will rage and throw some cattle around.

The lenses of my camera were dirty so I went to Best Buy to purchase a cleaning kit. The corpulant blonde chick who works in the camera department has a chest that keeps her uniform shirt from buttoning all the way. She wore a black bra today and the way she bent over the counter I could see enough cleavage to sandbag my house with.

When she pulled the plastic sack out, the sides were stuck together so instead of shaking the bag to open it, she gently blew into it the way a woman-who's-sexy-and-not-even-trying would. She placed the kit into the sack and handed it to me with a great big, busty blonde smile and with a tiny, nasal, busty blonde voice said, "thank you!" I've never been more turned on.

Therefore, this is the sexiest lens cleaning kit I have ever owned!

As you can see, I'm not concerned about Emily. I feel so strongly that the "hurricane" will be so anti-climactic that I have refused to board up my bedroom window. Tonight I'm having lasagna. I will enjoy it thoroughly.

"Metallic Bliss"

Driving through a Friday evening drizzle, I was late for a wedding rehearsal when I phoned in this audioblog. Keep in mind I'm half-asleep, driving and talking on the phone. And to myself, no less.

Early Morning Gibberish

I'm going insane. Thankfully, with free nighttime minutes, my insanity doesn't cost me anything.

Part I:

Part II:

Part III:

Whitley Streiber Is Full of Crap

Early one Wednesday morning I was reading a famous series of books about an author's repeated abductions by extraterrestrials. I was both sleepy and terrified.

Part I:

Part II:

Part III:

Belated Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I am now twenty-six years old. Today I made my first audioblog ... you can tell.

New Company

After our Wednesday night meeting, it became clear that Rick, Jorge and Julian had decided to dissolve Jōb Omnimedia. I had to think fast. Thursday morning, I was at the county clerk's office getting paperwork filled out and procuring my new, sole proprietorship: J. R. Johnston Photography.

That day, around 4 in the afternoon, Jorge and Julian were on their way to a meeting when they were hit head-on by an F-250 on Nolana in McAllen. They survived with nary a few lacerations. Jorge has opted to start calling Julian "Scarface".

"Are joo kid-eeng me, mang?"

Songs

These are lyrics to some cute little songs I've written over the years. It's mostly really emotional piano stuff with some equally emotionally driven singing. I don't think I'm particularly good at the lyrics, but the delivery I think is pretty swell.

Too bad all I have to show for it is my crappy lyrics, eh? :)

I'm Lost
Words & Music by Jason R. Johnston
© 2005, Jason R. Johnston. All rights reserved.

I found myself inside a place
where my mind gets high on material things
my body is weak from the stress I take
and the emptiness of my heart aches.

And I find that all I want is more
I'm lost and I can't even find the door.

Someone show me a different face
where love is real and friends aren't fake
a place where I find my life is real,
oh yeah.

'cuz I find that all I want is more
God, I'm lost and I can't even find the door.


Twai
Words & Music by Jason R. Johnston
© 2004, Jason R. Johnston. All rights reserved.

Here at home
called you on the phone
"how ya doing?"
"things are finally right with me"

Wondered when I could see you again
but the light inside me died
then I cried
when you told me we're done

On the day that you left me
Don't understand how with a man like me you could lose
On the day that you left me

You said we were fine
but then I find that you lied
why did you lie?
why did you lie to me, why did you, Twai?

Batman Begins

A review, presented in haiku.

Batman's a good flick
A movie to watch again
Have not seen it yet.

Corpus Christi Trip

Went to Corpus Christi today after church and met up with Jorge and Julian to help them shoot a two-day women's conference going on there. We stayed at a great big hotel called the Omni that made me woozy because I'm afraid of heights.

Julian's wife and kids stayed with family they have in town. The plan later is to go visit Whataburger By The Bay and have me a cheeseburger before I leave for back home.

Injury To Insult

The cat fell on my face this morning.

He likes to sleep perched on the windowsill above my bed and sometimes his gerth pulls him over the side as he scratches his way down my wall and onto my bed. This time, however, he landed on my face.

I awoke suddenly feeling a warm, squishy feeling coming from the crown of my nose. As you can see, Cat scratched me up pretty bad. He sat next to me on my desk probably waiting to see if I would punish him. I didn't. I was more concerned with blood getting into my eye.

I washed up and went back to bed. Now I'm telling the world.

Order 66

I have just returned from watching Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of The Sith at the 12:15 am showing at Tinseltown in Mission. I have but one thing to say . . .

It's all about the Vader.

My Personality

Yeah, that's right. Mountain Dew says I'm Darth Freaking Vader over here.

Maybe it's my long black cape, helmet and artificial breathing aperatus that keeps me alive due to my excessive lightsaber lacerations and lava burns. Also the fact that I was born a whiny Canadian and then suddenly aged to become a sixty-year-old British man in the span of forty years.

And let's not forget my inate ability to harness the Dark Side and strangle people ... WITH MY MIND!

Star Wars TV Series

I just realized that I'll never be given the chance to direct a feature Star Wars movie. This saddens me. However, I'll have enumberable opportunities to create my own fan film and who knows? With the new Star Wars TV series in the works, maybe I'll be able to helm an episode or ten?

Musings, ramblings, fantasies. All in a day's work.

Top Ten

Jorge, Julian and myself came up with a Star Wars-related Top Ten list for the youth this past Chi-Rho. Can you smell the cheese?

Top 10 reasons to bring a date to Star Wars - Episode III:

10. It's a chick flick, really.
09. Hayden Christensen appears without a shirt.
08. So does Chewbacca.
07. Natalie Portman gives birth to Luke and Leia in a Wal*Mart.
06. The Emperor woos Anakin to the dark side with flowers and chocolate.
05. You can sneak in cinammon buns by placing them in her hair.
04. When you go to the bathroom, she can hold the camcorder.
03. She can translate for you if she speaks wookie.
02. You like it when she calls you "nerf herder".
01. When she tells you she loves you, you can reply with "I know."

Mother's Day

I hope everyone enjoyed a decent Mother's Day (or Mothering Day as its known in other parts of the world). After church I came home, ate a hamburger, drank apple juice and watched Outland. I then slept. When I awoke it was time for dinner and I ate spaghetti.

I'm actually in a bad mood because I've been sick for the past two weeks and am just now getting over it but my throat feels like its been cut from the inside. It hurts to swallow and the persistent coughing doesn't help either. Yet, for some reason I decided to go to the beach yesterday and clear my head. I walked in the sand in my jeans and as green as our water is I wished I had brought swim trunks. Instead, I took pictures with my camera phone, checked out the girls and enjoyed the cool, unobstructed breeze wafting in from the Gulf.

I also managed to get some work done as I mused over the design of P&P Season One. I can't tell you much, but I do know it's going to be big. Real big. To keep our fingers busy in the meantime we'll be releasing our first two PSA's (Public Service Announcements) this month. The first will be called Graduation and the second will be The Rules and Ethics of Formally Calling "Shotgun". We'd do more, but it's hard work being funny.

This month will also see the staggered release of bloopers and outtakes from the "iGod" videos at the P&P website as well as some finely written essays on the subject of producing machinima. Right now, you can check out the just-added introduction to our Behind The Scenes section which gives some insight into what P&P is and how it really is a Christian outreach.

Two Firsts

1. I preached my first sermon Thursday, April 28, 2005. It's called Overcoming Temptation and you can read it here. The presentation of the ten minute sermon was made in front of about thirty youth during our Chi-Rho youth ministry and overall, I believe it went well. Normally the kids sit and talk amongst themselves but they kept relatively quiet as if they were genuinely interested in what I had to say. I guess it helps that I was using Star Wars - Episode VI: The Return of The Jedi as a visual aid.

2. Sunday, May 1, 2005, Patrick Hamilton allowed me to play entre acte and incidental piano music during the quarterly F.A.I.T.H. Banquet held at Calvary Baptist Church. Several people walked up to me afterward exclaiming they had no idea I could play, let alone write my own music and perform it.

Special Effects

Here is an essay I wrote in the War of The Worlds (2005) forum at IMDB.com concerning a thread titled "Best Effects scene in history?"

You ALL have to remember that the best visual effects are the ones that you, the audience, don't realize are a visual effect. For that, a special mention MUST be made to the work Industrial Light and Magic did in Forrest Gump. Everything from the ping pong ball to the rain in Vietnam and of course the digital integration of archival footage. The work ILM did made Forest Gump a verb. (ex. "They'll need to Forest Gump that actor into the scene.")

Also, have you realized that the majority of the movies mentioned in this thread were the work of Industrial Light and Magic and that they weren't even around until Star Wars. Nor did they do anything other than Star Wars until Dragonslayer, which boasts some of the greatest Star Wars-era VFX of all time.

This is why I must give credit to Stanley Kubrick who was directly responsible for the visual effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which redefined what invisible visual effects were all about without motion control technology. 2001 sold the idea that VFX don't have to look fake. John Dykstra and the newly formed ILM took that idea a step further by making VFX dynamic with computer-controlled movement for Star Wars.

Also, the outstanding work displayed in Alien by director Ridley Scott who was apphaled at the shots that came back from the London effects shop and personally supervised and shot the visual effects from scratch to ensure his vision of realism was not tarnished. Much of that work did not use motion control or compositing in any way.

Looking at The Empire Strikes Back as not only my favorite Star Wars movie but also one of my favorite movies, period, the context of the visual effects enhancing Irvin Kirshner's storytelling as well as acknowledging that the effects don't scream "look at me! I'm a visual effect!" as does LOTR and The Matrix. The majority of the work on Empire was stop motion photography. That serves to remind me of the fantastic mine cart chase in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom where EVERY SHOT except for close-ups of the actors, was stop motion photography of tiny little puppets on a tiny little stage. The tiny model train that careens over the cliff in Back To The Future Part III that looked so real.

And though I agree that the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London is hands-down the best human turning into a werewolf scene of all time, I disagree that it is a visual effect and it is, rather, a mechanical effect. This qualifies it as a "special effect" but it removes it from the category of "visual effect". To clarify, in Jurassic Park, the shot of the velociraptor jumping up on the kitchen counter is a visual effect because it was composited into the shot. The shot of the raptor snarling was a puppet that was shot on location in camera and required no compositing and is therefore a mechanical effect.

All are special effects as acknowledged by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences when it had to come to that ruling when deciding who should get the Academy Award, ILM or Stan Winston? Both did.

But to place the transformation scene in AAWIL as an argument for great special effects when also mentioning "effects films" like Titanic and T2 would probably be the reason no one here has seen it. A COMPLETE fascination of special effects ranging from the visual (a Star Destroyer), the mechanical (the donut hole in the T-1000's head), and the make-up (Chewbacca) effects.

Keeping that in mind, I can have a list that includes AAWIL and John Carpenter's The Thing right beside Star Wars. I also really love that shot in Jaws when the shark eats the boyscout leader. That still freaks me out.

The Greatest Movie Ever Made

I was fishing around Albino Blacksheep today and found The Demented Cartoon Movie by Brian Kendall. If you're a fan of dry Monty Pythonesque humor you won't mind this movie sucking away thirty minutes of your life that you'll never, ever get back.

See it here.

X-Box Killer

"What if Apple created it's own gaming console?" asked one member of the P&P Forum. The following was my answer.

It would be the most stable console gaming system ever and would never need to be maintained. It would also have immediate plug-n-play capabilities and built-in support for iLife. It would also be extremely user-friendly and talk to you if it needed your attention. It would also be contained within its own high-definition LCD screen (with optional stand).

It would be called iBox.

The Apple iBox would be backward compatible with all known console gaming systems; playing everything from X-Box and Playstation 2 titles to Dreamcast and that nasty Atari system everyone's forgotten about. An optional universal plug-n-play device would enable the iBox to read cartridges ranging from 8 to 64bit.

However, everyone except the gaming elite would use the system but they'd swear by it. Then Apple would buy back Bungie and the company would make all of it's games exclusively for iBox. Then just before the genre-breaking Halo 7 is released for iBox, Microsoft buys Bungie back so that it can spend the next three years porting it's once iBox-exclusive game to be playable only on the X-Box 4 as its flagship title.

Then Halo 7 for PC is released eight years later by Gearbox Software, needing the money from poor sales of its fledgling Brothers In Arms 9: The Road To V.F.W. game.

It is 2015 and Bill Gates announces officially that Longhorn will finally be released and George Broussard comes clean and states Duke Nukem Forever was just a joke all along.

impossibleFX.com

I've made Blogspot the official roost for my website today. Why? It's free and easier to maintain.

Sure, I'll still do some coding by hand but now it's because I want to, not because I have to. And with Hello from Picasa, I can use my blog to do what the website was originally created to be; an online gallery of my collected artwork.

To the right you will see links to my art galleries: Photography, Digital and Traditional, as well as links to my company, Jōb Omnimedia and the modern Christian church my business partners and I lead, Fuzion.

Also, be sure to check out the machinima web series we've created called Purple & Pink, a clever parody of Red vs. Blue and a tribute to our favorite game, Halo.

Well have fun, enjoy the galleries and write a comment or two to let me know how you feel. You can also reach me by e-mail. Take care.

Purple & Pink

I've teamed up with Jorge Martinez, Julian Garcia and Rick Hinojosa along with the kids from our Chi-Rho youth ministry in association with our company Jōb Omnimedia to produce a weekly internet series poking fun at Red vs Blue.

I had sent a single news article about our work to HaloPlanet.com and the day after the news posted, Halo.Bungie.org picked up the article and ran it. That day our servers logged 3, 435 hits and about 34 gigabytes of transfer as visitors began to download and soak-in our homemade P&P goodness.

Click here and see what all the hubub is about.

New Ride

I have a new ride. I traded in my busted up (or should that be "busted in"?) 2003 Toyota Rav4 for a 2005 Hyundai Accent 3-door. This actually happened about a month ago, but I'm only talking about it now, you know, because I can.

Oh yeah. And I told Time Warner to "take this job and shove it. Duhn-duh duh I ain't workin' a'here no more." This happened last month, as well.

Now, it's all about the Jōb thing.

Fender Bender

I was in a car accident today.

Rick was riding with Jorge in his Civic in front of me and Julian and his family was one car behind me, travelling north on McColl for lunch at Bennigan's after church. We moved into the left turn lane at the Nolana intersection to head west into McAllen when the light changed from a protected left to a solid green.

The suburban ahead of Jorge was going to go for it when he decided to stop suddenly and yield for the oncoming which made Jorge slam his brakes. I then hit my brakes and, my tires as they are, skidded forward, stopping just a few feet short of Jorge's Civic. The lady behind me was not so quick to respond and wound up hydroplaning her Mercury Grand Marquis right to the back of me, screwing up the back of my Toyota RAV4.

I was on the phone immdiately with the police and the insurance company. Julian, behind us, saw everything and hung back to play witness when the police arrived. Luckily, she had insurance and since I'm not at fault, hers will pay for everything.

While my car is being fixed, I'm going to be hooked up with a rental car. I'll ask for a 2005 Ford Mustang GT. Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen.