"The Dark Knight" trailer was released this weekend attached to some movie named "I Am Legend" or something like that. Anyways, back to the trailer.....very nice! Check it out here for yourself! Next summer it's gonna be on with Batman fighting for box office bucks against Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk. Good time to be a comic book fanboy nerd like myself right now!

Yes, "w00t" is a word, officially. Just look at that word for a moment. w00t. Now you must be wondering "That shit ain't a word, man. It's got two numbers smack dab in between a dubya and a tee!" If that is indeed you saying that statement, congratulations.....your wrong and your old. According to this, the good people at Merriam-Webster Inc. have named "w00t" the new word of the year and are going to add it to the dictionary. L33t speak (pronounced "Leet Speak," "leet" being a degenerate form of the word "elite") has been around the net forever, but it wasn't until a good friend of mine introduced the proper name for the language a couple of months ago. The term "Pwn" has been in my vocab for a while now and I use it in my everyday speak. Sometimes I get people who get it while others just look at me like I just said I like to smash bottles into my face for fun. But I'm still old compared to the kiddies whose entire vocab is proliferated with the terms. Every time I go to Riverpark or the mall, I can't pass a group of teens with hearing a "WTF" or a "BFF" as they walk by, increasing my urge to SMASH and wondering "What the fuck am I doing here?" follwed by a "Fuck I'm old" (notice I didn't abbreviate of those). The world is truly turning into that damn AT&T commercial and if that's the stuff I'm going to have to deal with with my kids, someone's gonna end up getting choked! But for now, the intro of l33t speak words to our "normal" speak dictionary can only mean the end is near. Or those uncreative bastards over at Merriam-Webster are just a bunch of saps looking to gather some attention the the fledgling dictionary industry.

Well, the much publicized battle between Apple & NBC has gave way to HULU, to which I received my beta key this morning to test the site. And that's when I saw that Natalie Port....actually, she'll always be Mathilda to me so let me amend that....Mathilda stars in from an old SNL, it brought smiles to my face. For those of you aware, NBC (as are most other networks) was always been scary about other sites such as You Tube & Google Video posting clips from their lineup. For a while, iTunes was the answer for that, selling episodes there. But that came to an end earlier in the year and NBC promised to start up their own digital distribution center. Hence, HULU. So far so good. The site loads pretty speedy, the clips are high quality and they have some old, good stuff. I don't personally watch any NBC shows (don't watch that much TV, period) but it cool to have all these clips available to embed and email to friends. What was weird was that there are also other network shows such as "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons" from FOX and some Bravo shows available there, too. What does that mean? I'm not sure, but I think NBC is ready to go to war with Apple & ABC, there gonna need all the help they can muster and FOX could be a good ally. If you get a chance, check out HULU and sign up for the beta to check out a hefty library of clips from all the NBC library. Oh, Mathilda.....all grown up and looking good in high quality streaming video. This could only mean good things for the future, right?

So a while back I noticed that an official Hellboy 2 web site had opened up and on that site, there were some forums where people could ask director Guillermo Del Toro questions. I asked, he answered. Check out the thread right here. Pretty cool, huh? I've met Del Toro when he was doing the press for the first Hellboy movie and he was a great guy and he even threw down a sketch of himself in my sketchbook. It's awesome that a director of his caliber is always cool with mingling with the fanboys like myself. And for those of you who don't know what the RED camera is, check it out here. Basically, it's a digital camera that shoots very close to film quality. How close? Nearly indistinguishable. The first feature that will be shot entirely using this camera is a little movie named "Wanted" based on the mind blowing graphic novel by Mark Millar. Check out the trailer or the samples you can find on the RED site (along with a short that Peter Jackson shot as a test for the camera). Very good stuff. And all for the low, low price of around $20,000. Truly a baragin, no joke. Soon enough, all video quality will be looking like Hollywood and not like someone ran it through a meat waffler. The future is here and with classy directors like Del Toro always willing to do fan service, cinema, as a whole, has a bright future ahead! VIVA MEXICO, CABRONES!

A long time ago, a couple of friends and I decided to make stencils to paster our images around town, a sort of competition to see who could get there art around the city without getting caught (I guess that's every graf artists M.O. but I'm far from one). Well, at that time, I was very much enamored of a certain Michelle Rodriguez (laugh all you want but back then, she was an up and comer with potential and I was rooting for her). Hence, the stencil I created as you can see above. Well, as far as our friendly competition, it never happened. The only thing I ever used the stencil was on a white box I bought at the Uhaul store when I moved from my old apartment and that box has been chilling next to my desk at home. Recently, I've been wanting to get into my roots but I wasn't very sure about how. Should I bone up my drawing skills? Naw, I suck. How about painting? I mean, Bob Ross could do it, why not me? And then one night I was looking for something around my pile of shit and there was Michelle staring right back at me. She's fallen off my radar these days but I remember making that stencil and the fun I had doing it. And so that image up there was born: a 14x18 canvas board with a little accent added, just to test. Easy and fun! Here are some sites if your interested and this art form and be scared to try it yourself....just remember that tagging stuff that isn't yours is illegal and shouldn't be done....EVER! Now that that's out of the way....anyone up for a friendly competition?

Street Art - What Wikipedia has to say about the art form.

Banksy - Further proof that if we were to get the worlds graphic artists into a battle royale, the UK would undoubtedly defeat everyone else.

Stencil Revolution - A good source for ideas and examples of existing stencils and awesome tutorials.

Stencil Tutorial - Pretty much says it all. A beginners guide to create your own stencils in Photoshop

Stencil Street Art - Another good gallery

Stencil Archive - Yet another archive

Stencil Nation's Fickr Account - Swear this is the last one! Check it out!

Wow, that's kinda cool to see "Director" follow my name. Anyway, here is my interview that I did for the friendly folks over at Zona Azteca, a local show that airs every Friday at 6pm on TV Azteca Ch 39 here in Fresno. Visit their web site here for up to date info. I tried to wear a solid green shirt as to have just my massive head floating in front of the green screen and have some cool graphics behind me but I couldn't find anything in my size in time (wow, the camera really does add 125 lbs.) and I wasn't about to go all Charlie's Green Man for this. Anyways, check it out, enjoy my pillaging of the spanish language and my 2 Best Buy name drops....I should really stop promoting those devil bastards. Also, watch out for my stupid little laugh at the end. Reminds me of this guy's laugh at the end.......damn, is my head really that big? Cast your vote in the "Head" poll over to the right! NYUP!

So I was interviewed for the show "Zona Azteca" for local station TV Azteca. The thing is, it was all in spanish. Now, my spanish is normally pretty good (just don't tell Diana that) but being that this was my first TV interview (the Laidlaw bus crash doesn't count) AND my first interview in spanish, well, that didn't help much. Wanna see the train wreck? Tune in to channel 77 tonight at 6pm to find out. Oh, and that's channel 77 if you have comcast cable. The regular, over the air channel is 39. I'll be talking about the film, the film community here in Fresno and you can see some clips from our short "An Inch Or A Mile." What a way to start off your weekend, right?

While I'm here, I'm also going to reward you for making it all the way to the end of this post. Go to BFAds.net to get a jump start on how your going to empty your bank account the day after Thanksgiving (commonly known as "Black Friday" in the industry) by checking out the ads for some major retailers. Have fun in the mosh pit of people but try not to lose your wig!

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....

Well, the short film competition at the 1st Annual Latino Film Festival ended with a winner: A full length documentary film. "WTF?!" you might say (I said worse), after all, the film entry requirements for the competition called for films under 30 minutes (the winner was 50 mins. in length). Fair or unfair, I guess but we have to start somewhere, right? I feel sorry for 15-year old Antonio Garcia, whose film "You Owe Me One" also played there (and both met the requirements AND was extremely entertaining). How would you feel if you showed up to your first pick-up basketball game thinking your facing off against a peer only to find out that you'll be facing a player from the NBA. Not cool, especially when your that age and your craft is still developing. Hopefully, next year, the festival will make sure that these kind of mismatches don't happen again and it'll make the competition fair for all that enter. But most launches are a little rocky so we'll chalk it up to the shiny, brand-newness of it all. Hopefully, next year will bring in more entries, more attendees & a better over all experience for all who enter and attend. Thanks to the Fresno Art Museum for putting on the show!

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)

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.

This past Sat. was not only the day to get drunk while dressed up like your favorite fictional character, but it was also a day of reckoning for the film community here in Fresno. The Fresno Filmmaker Forum took place in downtown Fresno early in the morning as although it started off a bit much like a city council meeting with people yelling out ideas as the speaker tried to keep up with all the spewage, it suddenly turned into a good meeting of people and ideas. Ray Arthur, the Fresno Film Commissioner was present and that lent a aire of authenticity and that was important. To see that the city is going to actually take an active role in not only courting Hollywood but maybe, just maybe, we can nurture and cultivate our own productions & filmmakers. Although my name was misspelled on my name tag that I paid $12 for (weird...that was the first time ever that has happened), overall it was a good experience. "So what else happened?" you might ask. Well, I had to take off to get my Thor costume ready for the night's festivities. But something tells me that this won't be the last forum held simply due to the sheer amount of people that showed up and really showed an interest in creating something from nothing. Keep an eye on the Fresno Filmmaker Forum website and this very blog for future events!

Step 1: Even if you've already heard it, just press play.



Step 2: So you like? I'm sure some of you won't, but listen to RZA spit about how the song came to.



Did that 2nd video change your perspective of the original song? Good back and really listen to it again, I'll wait.............cool? Aight, now ask yourself this question (hope you like asking yourself questions): At what point does something become art? I mean Roger Ebert refuses to acknowledge video games as an art form all while the hundreds of graphic designers, animators, illustrators and art directors that the industry supports are making a good living doing what they do best: being artistic. I guess that poses another question: What defines a piece of art? Is it some guys Virgin Mary painting made out of shit? Is that any less art than the poster promoting an upcoming concert at the Fillmore? I don't know, just seeing that just a little bit of thought was put behind making the music speaks volumes to me, especially when we live in these "pimpin" days where everything is pushed along by the bottom line. I guess the Clan was right on target with C.R.E.A.M.: Cash really does rule everything around us. Almost. Fortunately, RZA wasn't listening to his own message.

So here it is. Our first "complete" short and the end result of what felt like a 2 week long face grinding. Shot entirely here in Fresno, this is just a little preview of what's to come (hopefully). If you like what you see or you don't like, let us know. We will continue making films and try to improve our skills so for being our first, I'd have to say it didn't come out too bad. Just training for "Blur" So if you wish to see this in it's non-web compressed format and projected onto a screen, come by the Fresno Art Museum's 1st Annual Latino Film Festival Nov. 2-4 where it will be screened. No for sure date yet, but I'm thinking it's going to be on Sun. between 12pm & 5pm but check the website for further updates. Come on out and help support local filmmaking! Also, for you of those around here in Fresno that are into filmmaking, you should attend Fresno Filmmakers Forum taking place Saturday, Oct. 27 in downtown Fresno. The cost is $15 and it seems to be a day long conference filled with some good film related talks. If interested, definately check it out.

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!

• Nissan was forced to spill the beans on the new 2009 GT-R when Motor Trend accidentally let their Dec. cover image slip out a week or so before the car official unveiling over a the Tokyo Auto Show. Sucks for them, good for everyone else. The car looks AMAZING! Disagree? Suck it, that car kicks ass! Just ask this lady:


http://view.break.com/381553 - Watch more free videos

I love my Subie but this car is simply breath taking. Specs to come soon, hopefully!

• Apple announced Oct. 26th as the release date for the latest OSX update, playfully named Leopard. Can't wait to give Steve jobs even more of my money.....asshole. Yes I caved in and bought the iPhone after the price drop last month and I love it, but Apple always finds to extract more & more money from me. Even though it pains me to spend, every product I've ever bought from them has been good to me (except that Apple II GS....I still want my money back for that bullshit-ass computer, Steve).

•Anyone else pick up Stephen Colbert's "I Am America (And So Can You!)?" Haven't had a chance to dive into it very much but the guy's been all over the boob tube last week. GMA, Larry King Live....and, of course, The Colbert Report where he was interviewed by....Stephen Colbert?!



While we're here, check out this story on Mexico's 1st EVAR Taco Bell:



•For those of you who care, the Lucas/ Ford video should be up later this week, maybe even as early as tomorrow. So for now, I gotta get back to work on my Halloween costume. Anyone know how to sew?

"No, Dr. Jones....You do!" Sorry, that's my favorite line from "The Last Crusade" Yeah, kinda odd, but for some reason, that's the one that sticks out. So as some of you locals might have heard, the movies were in town last week to film a portion of the latest Spielberg film, "Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull." Shooting in Fresno and at Eagle Field in Firebaugh (Damn you Spielberg! That was my location!) I went over there to see what I saw and I saw some cool stuff. Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf & Señor Estar Gwars himself, George Lucas were on the set and captured by my lens. No Spielberg for me but some uber-dork (who was running around with DVDs asking people how much they thought he could sell a beat to shit copy of Jurassic Park 2 signed by Spielberg) said he heard him over a loudspeaker giving direction. The airport was used as the airport for Mexico City circa 1950 or so as you can see the Mexican flag flying over it in the pic. Here's the local news report on it. Check out the pics and enjoy. Also, check out Late Update here for more pics & videos. I'll post the video of Ford & Lucas sitting down for tea time later.

As the debates rage all over the air waves about Hillary's laugh & Obama's lapel pin, I've started thinking: Imagine if the internet was around when these candidates were in their youngin' days. Imagine all the dirt the media would be uncovering about the contenders. Now, fast forward 35 or so years ahead and think all the dirt that will uncovered when someone over at the New York Post finds Susan Hopeful's Myspace blog from her high school days calling Bush a imperialistic fuck face for the war in Iraq right next to the blog calling Jessica Sanchez a "beaner bitch" cause she stole her boyfriend. As you know, all the stuff you post on the internets is archived and can (and will) be accessed for decades to come. That pic of you wearing next to nothing? Archived. That blog where you described your acid trip while you drove to your buddy's house? That's there, too. So you say you never, ever plan to get into public office? That's cool, but never say never. And remember, when that lawsuit comes up and your comment on someone's thread from 15 years ago contradicts your testimony, there's only one person to blame. Shit's crazy and by even venturing out into the nether regions of the net, you risk opening yourself up. But then again, every time you drive anywhere, you opening yourself up to a gruesome death, as well. Just be careful about shit (haven't you seen those wonderful PSA's on the telly?). I already have the claim that Cesar Chavez is a communist on my blog and I'm sticking by it (for now). Maybe one of these days, that comment will lose my the hispanic vote and cause me to lose my 2040 Presidential bid......more like Firebaugh city mayoral bid, actually. Either way, it's gonna be very interesting to see how all this is gonna come into play in the near future. You think it's bad now? Just wait. I'm positive it's only going to get nastier. But the question is should they be held accountable for the ideas and thoughts they had as teens or young adults? In my opinion, no. But the media doesn't care and news is news. Headlines sell and always will and they will. It's just crazy to step back and realize that the arena of the presidential campaign is ever so dynamic. A lot changes in 4 years. I mean the You Tube debates? Who would of ever though that kind of stuff would be happening 4 years ago? Now, the candidates are taking questions from a SNOWMAN! A FUCKEN SNOWMAN!! Next election, I'll be asking Stephen Colbert what he thinks was the best video game system of all time and why, all while we blast each other away during an online game of Halo 5.

After the marathon that was "An Inch Or A Mile" (AIOAM) I've been taking it a bit easy. Between Halo 3 (yeah, I'm still not online) and general "resting" I've recently started plotting my next screenplay. No, it's not "Blur" but rather just a side project that I don't plan to tackle for a while, just an idea that's been brewing. But I got an email this morning announcing that the 1st Annual Latino Film Festival was pushed back to Nov. 2nd-4th so make sure to mark the dates, because with the email about the date change came word that our little project was accepted and will be shown at the festival (hence the exploding head up there)!!
So that's great news! Don't know the exact date and time but as soon as I hear anything, I will update here. So while you wait for that, please mosey on over to One Picture's Worth, a new site set up by my close friend and co-writer of AIOAM Robert Anaforian. Quick overview: Submit a picture and he writes a short about it. "Impossible," you say? Shit, try it out! I mean, to take something a picture that you'd soon pass right over in your pile of pics and have an story fleshed from it......yeah, that sounds cool to me. My man's got the skills so start submitting and see what you can extrapolate from your mundane pics!

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!

Fast and furious. No not the production of Blur, rather these last couple of weeks. We're working to get a short shot (huh?) in about a week or two of total production (from concept to final) for the local Latino Film Festival held at The Fresno Art Museum next month. In the mean time, I had some free time this weekend and wanted to mess around with this trailer. Sounds horrible but just to get a look. Also, as you can tell, I've made it all black & white....and I think it looks nice! Most of the film will be shot at night so that will help as well. Maybe we should do the film like this? What do you guys think? Check it out here or here. Or just watch it here. Let us know what you think!

NEW Blur Teaser Trailer

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