Welcome to 13.1 ... next stop, 26.2

You've gotta have a hobby...and you're probably going to make art about it too. Nine of the folks in my LA LEGGERS pace group ran the Long Beach Half Marathon last weekend & I made this little video in tribute to them and our amazing mentor Rosa.

Bravo to all the Leggers there last Sunday: you're an inspiration. I had a rough time at the end due to a pair of cramping legs (no pain quite like that), but I crossed that line and I'll be back for the City of Angels Half, and then (of course) the main event in March.

For now, in the immortal words of Pheiddipedes, "Nenikekamen!"

"We are Victorious!"

Pick of the Week! Critic's Choice!

The reviews on Ken's play are out, and they're excellent...so it's time to do a new version of the trailer! Check it out!

Darlene Miyakawa, our stage manager, mentioned that a couple of people had asked about the creation of the video. Much of the imagery came from either a collection of home videos shot by internees, clips from Lane Nishikawa's film ONLY THE BRAVE, or stills from the Library of Congress. I also shot some footage of Sharon in costume in her backyard and used some video effects to step all over it and make it look like the old camp footage. The sound I grabbed from a couple of different PD sources (like blowing on the mic to make wind-blown desert).

The whole magilla was edited on the home version of Sony's Vegas Studio, a $79 piece of software which (installed on my Dell dual core XPS) does everything my old $100,000 AVID used to do and more. Sony's DVD Architect stinks, so I authored the DVD with Nero.

So what are you waiting for? Get your tickets now!

INNOCENT Opening...and an online trailer!

I've done a bunch of little videos for the world premiere of Ken Narasaki's new play INNOCENT WHEN YOU DREAM now playing at the ultra-cool Electric Lodge in Venice. What a great cast! I've always loved Sab Shimono (the lead), but the rest of the cast is also first rate. The first cue is very interesting: about two minutes in, Sab's character has a stroke which we're trying to show with the video...flashbacks to past trauma that prefigures the action in the play.

After doing the second or third revision I started to think that it's too bad I can't share this more widely...out of context it makes little sense. But then it occurred to me that I had more than 50% of a theatrical trailer on my hands...add some titles and voila. And so I did. The company was thrilled...I have the feeling I'll be doing more of these....