Paralleled Peace

The rain is falling.
The sun is rising.
The guitar plays serenely a song for us all to live by.
We share in the peace that is new every morning.
We have no reason to be peaceful, but we are.
We are gonna make it.
Clouds form a beautiful backdrop to our serenity.
The matte painting to our morning peace.
We enjoy the sight of the calm clouds.
Thick grey clouds and fog approach in the distance.
However, even as the clouds grow nearer and the rain falls harder, the son shines through.
The commons illuminate with a warm golden light, and yet the rain still falls.
In the sky there appears two vivid rainbows.
Two promises.
We are gonna make it.


The energy of the city at night fuels us all.
The smooth live jazz engulfs us.
We sit in silence.
We don't say a thing but we share it all.
Around us, couples and friends talk and laugh.
We are content to share.
Every note speaks.
Every chord sings.
We made it.
Every bob of the head and tap of the foot reassures us of that.
We made it.


This plane isn't going down.

Fear the Crash or Enjoy the Flight

We all booked our tickets in advance.
Each ticket individual.
Separate.
We boarded the plane with apprehension.
It scared us, but we got on.
Each of us individual.
Alone.
The luggage stowed. The seatbelts buckled.
Take off.
We braced ourselves for the rush of what was coming. It was scary, but exhilarating.
Each of us took the event individually, unknowingly the members of a larger body.
We remained separate.
Cruising altitude reached.
We talk together. We bond.
Always awkward at first, but then becoming comfortable.
Then enjoyable.
Each of us finally began to recognize that we are on this ride together.
One body.
The seatbelt sign turns off.
We were free to move about the cabin.
Each of us got closer and closer to one another.
Unified.
We enjoyed the perfect white fluffy clouds and the grey storm clouds as well.
We weathered it all.

Now problems arise in the cockpit.
We are going down.
Each of us took the news differently, but it is real and we all are affected it.
Together.
We have to make a decision.
Fear the crash or enjoy the flight.
We choose to enjoy.
Chaos goes on around us, but we don't care.
We'll play dice and Wii until the impact.
Each of us has a different fear, but we support each other.
Love.
We are all going down together and that is OK.
The plane is going down and we ignore the pain.
This is living.

But it is not over yet.
We will hijack this plane.
We are not going down without a fight.

So Many Good Parts

However, the insane ness of the last few weeks has not been all about filmmaking. We've been living with reckless abandon.

Its been life. More abundantly.

I've learned much and loved much. When you are with someone for more hours than you're apart, you learn a lot about that person. Or those people.

These are some of the good parts:

A film crew in search of their location in a library.
Opening doors with alarms in said library then running away.
Rolling squeaky light kits past angry people in carrels in the same library.
Bono.
High falsetto voices.
Jesus.
Zooming in a bit too much on the worship leader's cleavage.
Accidently saying very bad things then collapsing in laughter.
Painting Nerf guns and exploring the woods.
Hairdrying said Nerf guns.
An amazing new friend.
Acoustic jams with said friend.
Sharing pop tarts with the homeless man.
Talking about heaven at sunrise.
Taco Bell and Arrested Development.
IBC Cream Soda and Stranger Than Fiction.
Adam's Nook.
A ridiculous blue mat.
Aquapods.
Cheers Darlin'.
Dual stairstepping.
The number of times "What time is it?" then "Are you serious??" was said.
Lonnie Johnson.
Commons backyard pickups.
IHOP.
Freakin Brazilians.
Spewing coffee.
Dripping honey.
Burning heat.
Freezing in a graveyard.
IHOP again.
Our little movie factory.
Oatmeal cream pies to the crotch.
Screaming and Foley.
Wii dance parties.
Lean On Me.
Beautiful television.
Temporary goodbyes.



I'm especially fond of each of you.

Destinationless

Despite what the title might suggest, this shouldn't be a depressing, whiny college kid kind of post. I called it destinationless because I don't really have a plan for it yet, but I feel a need to write the things in my head. Maybe it will end up being a mangled trainwreck or an unexpected bit of wisdom. I expect the former, but we'll see.

These last few weeks have been kind of insane. Stone Lions Productions has produced six films in about two weeks. One set was rain in the daytime, one set was cold in the morning, one was cold at night, one was hot in a restaurant at an ungodly hour of the morn. I produced one, directed one, DPed one, production designed one, and gripped the other two.

I produced the rain in the daytime one. The night before, everything seemed to be in order. We had everything ready from the permit to the steadicam camera tests. Then we look at the weather forecast and it predicts rain. Not a lot, but a fairly consistant rain throughout the day. Lovely. I found this out around 10P that night and call time was 8:30A the next day. So, needless to say, from 10P to 8:30A I was fuhreeking out about it.

But we got through it.

We bought umbrellas.

Shooting went surprisingly well. By the end of it, my director was drenched, I was soaked, and everyone else was really really wet. We also learned from a lovely homeless man that when churches collect an offering, it is panhandling. Yeah. Also, the always empty and sketchy Waterside food court was packed with emergency workers who were there for a conference when we broke for lunch. God is pretty funny.

But we got through it.

It was all made worth it when we got back and captured the footage. Leonard P. Walsh II, under the direction of Adam Sypolt and the hard work of everyone else involved, took a random idea I had and brought it into beautiful, tangible fruition. I am literally left speechless.

This is why we do this.