Thursday, August 12, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
Saturday, January 02, 2010
REFLECTIONS
2008 - 2009 were eye-opening years for me. Despite the disappointments and family tragedy, I feel that I am stronger for the experience. I discovered that I have a strong network of friends and family who have helped me through the most difficult times of my life.
Exactly two months ago, we lost Yolanda. You don't realize how much of a vital part of the family that person is until there is a threat of them leaving or they are actually gone. It is always a good thing to remind yourself how important your loved ones are in your life and to personally tell them such, no matter how corny it makes you feel. Fortunately, I had that opportunity, that Saturday night before she passed. Maybe that is the reason why I am not having a difficult time dealing with it, and would say the same for my mom. As we both sat in my mom's kitchen, we both got her to smile and laugh. When the doctor officially told us, I thought her asking me to put some of my R&B songs from the 80s on a CD because she had just bought a brand new iPod.
I was emotionally numb, and sort of angry that morning after we returned home from the hospital, I promptly posted my emotions on my personal facebook page in a brief one sentence outburst that ended with "pray for us!" The outpouring of well wishers and supporters brought me to tears each time I read each response. "THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO RESPONDED!!!" I did not feel alone dealing with the pain.
The silliness of First Choice Productions… Those differences that we had in the past seem so petty…..
That same weekend, Friday, Yolanda walked into the office and said that she had been browsing all of the CactusPix websites, and that she was impressed with all of the work that I put into them. That made me feel really good about what we were doing. I am hoping that I wasn't short with her in my response and showed appreciation. I hadn't heard her give me such a complement since we were business partners in First Choice Productions in L.A. back in the late 80s – early 90s. Despite her beliefs, she never lost my love and support. Yes, there was a rift between us and some friends felt that they were in the middle; it was not our intention to put you there. That rift was slowly closing and we both were beginning to open up a dialog and talk about our projects.
Recently, I told my mom about a recent life decision that I had made and she told me how very concerned Yolanda was about my life and all of the recent problems that I am having. "Rodney usually has his stuff together. I bet he'll be up and running and better very shortly and back on track with his goals." That was another emotional moment for me and now I have a newly strengthened resolve, and a continued reach for success.
2010 and Beyond…
First of all, I must apologize for RCW MediaWorks, the fact that I let the distractions of life interfere with the success of a business. But, thanks to a patient and understanding business partner, we were able to shut that business down and start over, like the proverbial Phoenix. Our current projects and clients are allowing us to produce more powerful and meaningful videos.
Right now, I am in Vegas, and I am able to reflect on life without much distraction, believe it or not (I am here during one of the busiest time of the year). I realized that I haven't written a literary short story since 2004, nearly six years ago. I am now vigorously determined not to let anything or anyone distract me from reaching my goals. I need to get out from under this cloud and continue down that road.
I relish in the conversations with friends and family and cherish all of the advice and complements. Thanks for the support and words on encouragement from all of you.
I will keep you updated on the progress of CactusPix and my other endeavors….
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Monday, October 05, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
SAMUEL L. JACKSON AS A HOCKEY COACH F***ING HILARIOUS!!!
What if Samuel L. Jackson's character from Pulp Fiction was your hockey coach?
Saturday, September 26, 2009
UFOs sighted by Marines in Iraq
On the night of January 2nd 2008 a group of Marines on patrol in Iraq have a close encounter of the first kind with...?
2-6 Tetris From Russia With Love
This is the story behind the fiendishly addictive game, a tale of high stakes, intimidation and legal feuds set against the backdrop of Cold War tensions between East and West.
Director Interview
BBC Four: What was the attraction of this project to you?
Magnus Temple: I love stories where you look at something very specific but it says something about the general. You could make a programme about that time in Russian history but this reveals much more because it's about something surprising.
BBC Four: I'm not sure that many people will know that Tetris was invented in Russia...
MT: Exactly. Most people remember Tetris from the Game Boy but few know the context in which that came about and quite what a chance thing it was. I suspect that had Game Boy not been in development at the same time as Tetris was first getting popular then it would be just another obscure 1980s computer game.
BBC Four: This programme places it as a really interesting footnote to the Cold War...
MT: Very much so. To me, more than anything else I've ever looked at, it's really a game for its time. Everything about its development links so closely into that era's political and economic context. If it hadn't been for that moment in history Tetris would have been nothing. For a start it needed a certain level of technology to have ever been developed but it also needed that moment of political opening up to creep across the Iron Curtain and become a success in the West.
BBC Four: Despite those changes the documentary shows just how vast the gap was between the East and West...
MT: They were still very much stuck in the culture of the old ways. The institutions in the Soviet Union were only just being set up to deal with commercial enterprises. It actually took a few smart individuals such as our Mr Belikov. What struck me was how quickly they took up the game of capitalism and managed to play the different Western companies off each other in quite an audacious way. They were very open about the fact that basically, they were being complete sharks.
BBC Four: How did you approach structuring the film?
MT: It became very much the story of these four or five characters and that's very much the way we tried to play it - almost making them larger than life. You've got Robert Stein who almost became the fall-guy character; then there's Henk Rogers, who's the very smart, quick-moving American; you've got Belikov whose appearance is almost akin to a James Bond villain but ends up driving around San Francisco with his mate Henk Rogers. Finally there's Alexey Pajitnov, the guy who invented the game.
BBC Four: Considering the slightly shady business shenanigans that went on, was it at all difficult to get these people to talk?
MT: Alexey is a very unassuming guy. He likes the fact that the game is so well known but he's not really all that bothered by personal gain or fame. He had to be persuaded to get involved. You can imagine what it's like. He invents a game almost 20 years ago and it's the only thing people want to talk to him about even though he's still a professional games designer. He's had a lot of attention over the years but this was almost too much for him. Once he got into it I think he was very pleased.
Obviously someone like Henk Rogers was only too happy to talk to us because he becomes the kind of cowboy hero of the piece. Interestingly the same was true of Robert Stein. He doesn't come off that well from the wheeling and dealing that went on but was very open about his role. He has a very philosophical you win some, you lose some attitude.
Belikov was a much harder nut to crack. We didn't know we were filming with him until we got on the plane to Moscow and I'd had a lot of negotiations with his lawyer. The fear was that the government in Russia still has a lot of the same figures who were around at that time and for him to speak out about his role was a big deal - he was putting his head slightly above the parapet even now. He was tricky but once he said yes he was very open and friendly and told us the whole story. I'd imagined he'd be very guarded. Obviously his interview was in Russian so I hadn't a clue what was going but I could see from the translator's face that it was going very well!
Monday, September 07, 2009
Model Train Layout DVD preview "The Black Diamond Railway"
Visit www.toytrainsontracks.com to see more photos and video clips. This video is loaded with exciting model train action and construction techniques! See beautifully detailed scale engines, freight trains, and passenger trains from various manufacturers including MTH, Lionel, 3rd Rail and Atlas, operating on this magnificent 32' x 12' O-gauge hi-rail layout, The Black Diamond Railway. Learn about its design and how it was built so you can build and have a layout like this of your own! This video is in high quality widescreen format and is 73 minutes long. (more)
Saturday, September 05, 2009
CUPICtv Unexplained Phenomenon in the Air 3
Okay, I posted a series of videos that were test of CG FX for our upcoming CUPICtv series. Clearly in the description and the opening titles it states this. But there are idiots who don't read. I never said that these were real UFOs... If I had real videos of UFOs, I wouldn't post them in a stupid montage with production music.
Well here is video number three from way back February.
From the main description: More images of CG UFOs created for the upcoming CUPICtv web episodes.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Karl Rove Trashes Ted Kennedy on Day of Funeral?
Fox News made some effort to be respectful in its coverage of the death and funeral of iconic Democratic Senator Edward M Kennedy, but inviting Republican Karl Rove, the ultra-partisan advisor from George W Bush's Administration, to participate in the coverage was a mistake Fox News should have avoided as I show in this video.
The two short clips from Fox News in this video come from the Fox News program "Fox and Friends Saturday" which aired August 29, 2009, and which I could not find available online.
The photo of Sen. Ted Kennedy in this video as well as the text of Sen Kennedy's September 27, 2002, speech at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies titled "Eliminating the Threat: The Right Course of Action for Disarming Iraq, Combating Terrorism, Protecting the Homeland and Stabilizing the Middle East" is available at http://www.sais-jhu.edu/pressroom/mul...
And, finally, as always, you can find DOZENS and DOZENS more examples of Fox News bias on my Fox News bias playlist on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list...
