Planet Asia. No disrespect but for my money, the best emcee to come out of Fresno. And tomorrow brings you an opportunity to see him along with DJ Muggs, the world famous producer of Cypress Hill, performing at The Starline in Tower District at 9pm to promote their new album, Pain Language (good stuff, BTW. Pick it up today). Tickets are $10 presale & $15 at the door. Where can you get presale tickets? Funny you should ask cause you can pick them up over at Sugarhill where the artists themselves will be doing a signing around 5pm tomorrow before the show. So bust out those Asia EP's and head on over there before the show to get up close and personal with dude.

As we mentioned in our podcast earlier this week (you listened, right?) September is going to be an all out assault on the local film lovers as we have three film festivals occurring here locally. F.I.L.M.M. (Festival Featuring Independent Lyricist and Movie Makers) is the first one and it's happening this Saturday, September 6th here in Fresno at the Tower Theater and doors open at 6:30 p.m. The festival features short films, junior short films, and poetry, mixed with a little live entertainment as well. I haven't had a chance to attend in the past so I'm not exactly sure what to expect this weekend but you can bet your ass I'll be there and if you have the time, come on out, say waddup and help support local film & the filmmakers making them. Here's a quote from the press release:

The event was designed to give people in and around the Central Valley an opportunity to show their work publicly to a national audience. All of the showcased participants involved have been chosen by a set of professional judges who have established themselves within the film or poetry industry. It’s a true independent festival that wants to give an outlet or resource to those who are serious about their craft and exemplify the potential to be successful in it, but don’t have the resources in order to fulfill those dreams and aspirations. It is "FFILMM's" hope to give these artists those resources, and if nothing else just give them the opportunity to express themselves and show their creative ability.

Nyup! Tickets are $10 in advance & $15 at the door so pick up tix beforehand if you need some money for one of those new iPods next week. Hope to see some of you out there this weekend!

Well this week marks the beginning of Edwards' Flashback Features theatrical series of screening some classic films and it begins this Thursday evening with Sean Connery's James Bond film Goldfinger. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to make it out there for the screening but I hope to go to a lot of these this year. You can't go wrong with this people: Classic films, $5 movie ticket, 10pm showtime....awesome! Maybe down the road we can arrange a pre-movie meeting up at an area watering hole to get a few drinks with some fellow movie fans. If you guys head out there, let us know how it went and give us a report!

I still have yet to throw on my copy of Paris, Je T'amie but the concept of a love letter-film is something that has been running around my head for the last couple of years. Of course, it's kinda hard for people to compare Fresno to New York but the stories exist. Anyways, the second installment (can you consider is a sequel?) of the "...I Love You" series is getting ready for it big unveiling and here is the first trailer for New York, I Love You. The cast is ridiculous. The directors...well, it's kinda cool. I would of liked to involve Woody Allen, maybe DeNiro some more of the New York peeps. But still, looks interesting (I'm always down for Qi Shu). I think I'll throw Paris... on right after this. So what do you guys think? Can we collaborate and do a Fresno, I Love You?

Long story short: So I informed my mom that Hillary Clinton was going to be speaking in downtown Fresno at the UFW. She, being a über-Hillary supporter really wanted to go so I did what any good son would do and took her. We listened to her command the crowd like Fidel as people chanted "Si Se Puede!". As we were leaving, KSEE 24 asked for an interview and I obliged, asking only my name (made sure they spelled it right), some questions and that was that. The end result? I'm a UFW Member, according to the graphic below my face. Awesome. Good thing they didn't ask me what I thought of Cesar Chavez. I hope I get something in the mail soon confirming my membership...maybe a bottle of wine like the one they gave Hillary. That would do! Check out the video of my ugly mug over here, if you must.

So as to make it easy on my pocketbook, I've decided to take the easy way out and instead of creating a whole new site here to consolidate all local film projects I've gone and created a dedicated group over at Vimeo in order for people to upload their projects for the world to see what people here in the Central Valley can create. Hence the name of the group: They Came From The Valley. Head on over to the group page here to join the group and as soon as you become a member of the group you can immediately start uploading your vids! Hopefully we can start a group where anyone wondering "What the hell are local filmmakers creating nowadays?" can go and find out the answer to that very question instead of having to scour You Tube or the infinite internet for the same result. Full length features, short films, music videos, swedes, WHATEVER (Okay, not whatever. Please don't upload your nephews birthday party video or that commercial you shot for you friends car dealership....unless it's got something of artistic merit in it) So bookmark the site, spread the word and hopefully we can start building the library of films from our locals! Can't wait to see some of the local work!

About 20 mins. or so before after making a run to the downtown Smart And final to pick up some ice and random stuff, Bryan Harley brought a good point up as we headed back to the gallery: we were living the community screening at the end of the film Be Kind Rewind. It was true. The windows in the gallery were covered up by a patchwork of sheets, the projector made the images on the walls dance as all the other pieces on the gallery walls remained frozen and the most important part, the community, showed up. We didn't have a final number of exactly how many people showed up but the rough estimates that I received ranged anywhere from 30 to 50 people. Yup, Fresno came through and nothing could stop me from smiling this past Saturday. Ear to friggan ear. The entries were entertaining, people were laughing, conversations were being had...it was good times. I started to think that this is one of the few film festivals that occur here in town that actually made up mostly of local entries. I think that's what my original plan in creating this event was: to showcase what Fresnans can create. And I do have to say it was pretty tight! Hopefully we can continue this tradition with our 2nd Fresno Swede Festival. What's this I hear about a horror themed festival around Halloween?

A special thanks to everyone who attended and those of you that helped support the thing. Without everyones participation, there's no way it would of come out the way it did. If you guys have any comments, questions or suggestions for the next one, leave us some comments here or email us at thedumbdrum@gmail.com. And since I posted almost all the other entries here (at least the ones I had permission to post) here is Bryan Harley's instant classic, Robocop:



Thanks to Jay for the pics!

The Usual Swede-spects from Roque Rodriguez on Vimeo.
A collaboration of The Dumb Drum, Late Update & Dead Days, this was our entry into the Fresno Film Festival which went down earlier today and turned out to be a success. It was awesome meeting a lot of you guys out there and It truly showed how much community is interested in this kind of stuff. Thanks again for everyone's support and we're already planning our next festival...what can it be? Stay tuned! I will post some of the other swedes that were shown at the festival later on. Thanks again for all the support and I really believe that this was the first step towards thrusting Fresno into the filmmaking spotlight! Let us know what you think of the swede! Just for shit's & giggles, I've posted the original trailer right here:

This was the email sent out by Ray Arthur earlier today (I apologize for it's lateness): 

Dear Friends,

It's been a long journey but the City of Fresno Film Ordinance will be brought to the Fresno City Council on Tuesday, July 29th. It is scheduled as a timed item for 9:30 AM. That means it will be heard at or after 9:30 AM.

The Film Ordinance and Staff Report can be viewed on the City of Fresno website here.

Following is a portion from the Staff Report that notes the changes in the Film Ordinance from its previous version presented in February:

On February 26, 2008, the Fresno Film & Entertainment Commission (FFEC) presented the Fresno City Council with a previous version of this Film Ordinance. Council, at that time, expressed concerns in the areas of required insurance for student and small independent film productions.

With the assistance of the City Attorneys Office, this revised version of the Film Ordinance responds to Council's concerns by incorporating the following changes:

Student Filmmaking will be exempt from both the film permitting process and insurance requirements.

The "Rule of Three" has been expanded to the "Rule of 15." This revision greatly broadens the previous "Rule of Three" to include all productions of 15 people or fewer, providing they use handheld equipment and do not interfere with the general flow of the citizenry.

Two additional definitions, for "hand held devices" and "obstruction," have been added to the definition section of the ordinance to clarify elements of the "Rule of 15."

With the inclusion of these additional revisions the FFEC feels these steps meet the interests expressed by all parties.

Sincerely,

Ray

So how can I write a review that won't sound like all the others? Because I agree with most of them: this film is very, very good. The fanboy in me loved it. The filmmaker, too. So instead of me sitting here and regurgitating what every other reviewer has, I'm going to point out the one thing that didn't make it the most perfect film I've ever seen.

The Batman - Never during the entire 2.5 hour run of the film did I fear the flying rodent. His fighting style is comparable to how I would imagine the Kool-Aid man would look like if he knew kung fu. Maybe it's the suit's bulky design, but I think Nolan's decision to humanize Batman and show that he is a man in a suit by choosing some lengthy shots still detracted from the Batman experience for me. When Batman is around, he's god. Or at least he's supposed to make his opponents think so. Oh yeah, and the return of the gravely voice from the first one returns....NOW WITH MORE GRAVEL! Ugh....

Sure, one might see this as my fanboyism manifesting itself and I would probably more than agree with you. I can't change that, sorry. I loves me my comics! But to counter my one claim (before people get all pissy) about the film, I would still say that this is the best film I've seen this year, without a doubt. The script and film, as a whole, can only be described as dynamic & visceral and it's always awesome to see the universe building as sequels come out. They give you the fodder for one to imagine what else is out there in the Gotham universe. If you can spare the extra $5 or so, go see it in IMAX. It's totally worth it. This was my first full length feature film I've seen in the format and I'm in love. And I'm sure you will be, too. So.....anyone gonna swede this bad boy for the festival?

Update: This comment was left on our original post regarding this FFC matter and give some more deatiled insight on what went down today. Thanks to Andy Hansen-Smith for the update and insight.

The Fresno City Council will vote on this budget motion on Thursday as well as 24 other motions to Mayor Autry's budget. Around 8-10 people voiced their concern over the de-funding of the Film Commissioner's position at today's council meeting. Hopefully this will help persuade the council to fund the position.

So after today, I have a new found respect for the members of the Fresno City Council. Man, they have to sit through some drawn out meetings filled with mindless banter, pay some meticulous attention and at the end of the day, make it all work. But I'm sure the high they get from serving the public need is what gets them through. But for Joe Public like myself, I could never make it through those meetings without catching a few Z's as other talk numbers and nonsense. Anyways, the meeting started around 2pm. Eventually, Chief Dyer and Bubba himself made cameos (Would anyone else besides me pay to see those two have a cage match for charity? Those two walk around with an stench of bad ass-ness). When 4:45pm came around, I had to leave and they had not yet reached the motion concerning the Fresno Film Commission. But before that, the council had asked for the public to voice there concerns with the upcoming budget and I was ecstatic to see how many people came out to support the Fresno Film Commission. Now I'm not a public speaker-type of guy or else I would have gone up and made my voice heard, plus when I did gather up the cajones to go up there, the guy that was up there made such an inspiring speech about public safety, the need for more police and referred to the whole Officer Nieto situation that me going up there and saying "Please keep Fresno making movies" seemed like a moot point. It was a cool experience to see the inside of the Puppet Masters spaceship for once and I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it back this Thursday at 8am when they resume for voting on the matter, but we'll try to keep you updated here. Once again, thanks to everyone who came out and if you were there and have pictures or video, please send us some links! We'd love to post them here.

I decided to head on over to Fandango this morning to see which theaters here in town would be doing midnight screenings for Indiana Jones this week and on the front page I saw this story teased on their home page called On Location with the subhead of "See where Indy 4 filmed, from Brazil to Hawaii to.....Fresno?" Yeah, I wouldn't had believed it either if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Also, they've posted some cool pics from the local shoot that I had never seen and they dropped some fun facts in that Harrison Ford flew his own plane to Eagle Field (which is playing a Peruvian airfield, apparently) to do his shots there and they mention Savannah’s Café over at Chandler. That's pretty effin' cool! Anyways, check em' all out over here. So anyways, who wants to go to a midnight screening at Edwards this Wednesday night? Let's do this!

Yes, you read that right. FREE! Head down to your local participating comic book store, in our case Heroes, "The Central Valley's Favorite Comic Book Store", and pick em' up. Check out the freecomicbook.com website and get a head's up on what's going to be out there for you. You can even preview the comics at the same website. I'm definitely going for that X-Men with art by Greg Land. Nyup, that's this Saturday, May 3rd. We'll see you out there.

You'd think no one outside of the Ferderline family and those who get paid by the man himself will care much about today being Kevin Federline's birthday but you'd be wrong! Fresnan's know how to take care of each other and Mike Oz over at The Beehive has put together a birthday card video of sorts from Fresno to K-Fed. Hope you continue to bless us with some of your goodness, sir! Can't get much "realer" than getting birthday wishes from Lil' Klack Klack! Now you know your street, sun! Check out the full post here.

Ever wondered how to check your car's oil level but were too embarrassed to ask someone in fear of catching a well deserved verbal beat down? Well now you can get the answer to this plus all types of questions in the form of DIY videos to help you reach enlightenment. Watchdoit is a local site created to become "the premier place for “how-to” videos – with an entertainment edge" according to the web site. Swing by the site and check out the vast amount of user generated content including basic juggling to replacing your car's air filter to how to get rid of a pimple overnight. Nyup! So if you got a talent to share with the world, shoot some video and post over at the site! Anyone know how to get rid of blood stains from my car seat? Yeah, that would be helpful....

Dear Roque,

Thank you for contacting our office regarding drag street racing. Our office is un aware of any proposition in Fresno. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact our office.

Sincerely,

District 7

That is the email I got back when I decided to contact District 7 Councilman Henry T. Perea (he was supposedly seen at the Film Festival last weekend where my street racing inspired short played and a fellow SJMer, and might I add) about the city council possibly supporting the opening of a local drag strip here in Fresno. I guess the district he represents has become self aware and is now doing it's own PR by fielding questions (hey, at least it spelled my name right). Well, at least I got a response (that's more than I got from Autry's camp), but not exactly the one I was hoping for. And the entropy continues....

It's finally here and I'm actually pretty excited. I mean, even if nobody shows up, just being able to see our film projected....that should be cool. And seeing your name in print is always cool, right? Check out this article from the today's Fresno Bee for more specific info on the festival as far as times and dates are concerned. We'll be playing Sunday at noon so if you can make, come on out! Spread the word, post it on a bulliten over on Myspace, tell a cousin, a friend, a co-worker, WHATEVER! Lets just try to get some people to realize that there's a lot going down right here in our very own backyard. Enough yammering from me, now you can enjoy the trailer for "Matando Cabos" the opening film playing tonight. It's highly recommended!

Matando Cabos - Theatrical Trailer (Spanish)

Posted Aug 23, 2005

Mexican teens are just as quirky as Americans ... as demonstrated in this dark comedy about teens who kidnap a retired wrestling legend and a parrot.

And just for kicks, here's a clip from the film. Enjoy!

Yeah, it took me a couple days (what can I say, I'm lazy) but here's the video for you guys. Nothing mind blowing but nonetheless interesting to see these legends walking around all the while those bastard PAs trying to get in the way of your shots so I cut out some of the fat and this is what you get: A couple of minutes of the Star Wars creator (see that fat head? That's where it all came from....shit's deep) & Indiana Jones himself walking around in Fresno. Hmmmm.... mano a mano, who would win in a fist fight, I wonder? Comment away!

It's fucken done & turned in. My first film is in the can and now in the hands of the kind folk over at the Fresno Art Museum for their 1st Annual Latino Film Festival. For those of you who don't know, we've been working on this short for the past 2 weeks, pretty much non-stop. Now, I'm sure you've heard this term "non-stop" many times before. Probably even used it yourself a couple of times. But this production truly was the definition of that cliche. Thanks for everyone who helped out and gave up free time to get this off the ground. "So where can I see it?" you might ask. Well, I can show it to you in person but I rather not place it on the web for now. If it does get accepted into the festival (Oct 19-21, 2007), you can see it there and I'll probably post it up soon ofter that here. Thanks again to everyone who helped out and keep checking here and the museum's site for more info. Spread the word, people!

Welcome to my corner of the room. For those of you who know me, I apologize: You got jacked when God was handing out friends. I'm a gregarious, sarcastic asshole who will, no doubt, get on your nerves every once in a while but I hope not enough to stop listening. "So why should I even start listening to you?" you might ask. Well, maybe your friends with me already, maybe I saved your life one time or another, maybe I owe you money and your waiting for me to give out my exact location so you can come and rape me, I don't know. So what's the reasoning for this blog? Well, not one thing in particular, just another way to get my projects out there and release pent up anger and what not. Hopefully I can provide you with a laugh from time to time, maybe begin a discussion and hopefully not ignite a malestorm of hate towards myself or my crew. NYUP!