I remember when we finished shooting the pilot for The Biker Chef the very talented cameraman John Britt asked me if I could somehow keep the work coming. In other words, he didn't want me to forget my New Mexico friends. A lot of producers and directors do chew up crew, even the great ones, then move on. It's sometimes unavoidable. Therefore, I was very pleased I could recommend John Britt for Stephen Gyllenhall's HD film "#1". Stephen is one of my DGA Independent Film Committee colleagues.


The great Michael Chapman, Stephen Gyllenhall, John Britt, Laurence Zankowski.

Both Stephen and Michael spoke very highly of John's camera operating and his hard working assistant Laurence. So thank you John and Laurence. That makes me look good as well. Now, the boys at PlasterCITY Digital Post are working on the project and Stephen is thrilled with their abilities and knowledge. I'm proud of all of you. A company is only as good as its team.

The Eternal Now

The Now in which God created the first man and the Now in which the last man will disappear and the Now in which I am speaking--all are the same in God, and there is only one Now.

Meister Eckhart (1260-1327) German priest and Christian mystic
Grace Notes from Philip Novak's The World's Wisdom

I felt the need to find the lone Bloodhead Joshua tree out in the Mojave desert and decorate it for the holidays.

photo by ASC

A still from The Biker Chef pilot. I'm trying to make sense out of a riddle the ancient Biker Chef tome cookbook has given me. The left side of my face is cooking from the extremely hot fire, and the right side of my face is freezing from the extreme chill of the Tijeras mountain air. I like the balance of opposites. It helps me find inner harmony.

This is were I left the audblog. The future Ars Nova XXI sound stage. I owe this to Bloodhead and my very talented team. But, most of all, to Elyse my business partner. I look forward to building this company together. So, Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

"We've got to gather our cards, man. Get to the bus on time. Do a little trading. Maybe join forces. What's it going to be? My Mewtoo for your Snorox? His Veedral for his Koffing? I'm sure some sort of big shakeup's gonna go down. Don't you think so?"

And I thought Pokemon was dead. Silly me.

The solution of mankind's most vexing problem will not be found in renouncing technical civilization, but in attaining some degree of independence of it.

a Judaism grace note from Peter Novak's The World's Wisdom.

My cousin Robert Carmine singing his new song "One Armed Man" at the famous Sunset Studios. He also whipped me at ping-pong 20 to 8, but I was a bit rusty since I hadn't played for years.

CRC and the boys taking Rooney all in. We really enjoyed it. We think you will enjoy their new album as well.

"In light of knowledge attained, the happy achievement seems almost a matter of course, and any intelligent student can grasp it without too much trouble. But the years of anxious searching in the dark, with their intense longing, their alterations of confidence and exhaustion and the final emergence into the light -- only those who have experienced it can understand it."

THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE THAT I KNOW PERSONALLY WHO ARE ABOUT TO HAVE OPEN HEART SURGERY EITHER TODAY OR OVER THE WEEKEND. I WISH THEM GREAT STRENGTH AND ALL OF OUR LOVE TO HELP THEM OVERCOME.

What a dog!

8. Contentment

Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness; which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.

When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.


c. The Quiet Mind

Do you imagine the universe is agitated?
Go into the desert at night and look out at the stars.
This practice should answer the question.


from Peter Novak's The World's Wisdom.

Fifteen years ago I wrote a script about Ms. Pastrana for my aunt Talia Shire. Both Tally and I are very in tune with the circus and the sideshow. The project was to be a woman's version of The Elephant Man. Tally wanted to play the role. After doing research on Ms. Juliana Pastrana and her manager, the handsome Theodore Lent, I felt it was more of a bi-polar love story than just a tale of a "hideous" woman; all set during the time of the great P.T. Barnum. Juliana was desperate to have a normal looking child and Theodore was desperate for fame and fortune. One hideous on the outside but beautiful in the inside; the other beautiful on the outside, but hideous on the inside. They both used each other to try to make a whole. And though it does end in tragedy, they both managed to experience real love. I'm writing about this now, because I noticed that there are others currently trying to make a movie about Ms. Pastrana with different writers attached. Apparently, Ashley Judd is also attached to play Ms. Pastrana. Curtis Burch's name came up. Curtis Burch was a producer that used to keep a picture of Ms. Juliana Pastrana in his wallet. He read my script many years ago and apparently loved it. Is it a coincidence that this new Juliana Pastrana story is also a love story? Or is there some Hollywood shenanigans going on? I don't know...



What I do know is that I look a lot more like Juliana Pastrana than Ashley Judd. Maybe I should play the role.

ARS NOVA XXI

It's been a hard, bizarre, circus life these last twenty years. You've stuck by me through it all and have always been a great source of strength and perseverance. I'm truly a lucky man.

I love you.

Your whacky husband.

CRC with the MAN.

Yesterday, I went looking for Bloodhead to see if he was coming to the screening tonight.


I found him at his private steam bath. He informed me that he's through with the film business. And, he's personally sick of me. I told him I was sort of tired of him too. And, I was personally looking forward to working with my talking matzo ball friend early next year. I left him to his bath.

THE PARABLE OF ME AND MINE

Some children were playing beside a river. They made castles of sand, and each child defended his castle and said, "This one is mine." They kept their castles separate and would not allow any mistakes about which was whose. When the castles were all finished, one child kicked over someone's else's castle and completely destroyed it. The owner of the castle flew into a rage, pulled the other child's hair, struck him with his fist and bawled out, "He has spoilt my castle! Come along all of you and help me to punish him as he deserves." The others all came to his help. They beat the child with a stick and then stamped on him as he lay on the ground....Then they went on playing in their sandcastles, each saying, "This is mine; no one else may have it. Keep away! Don't touch my castle!" But evening came; it was getting dark and they all thought they ought to be going home. No one now cared what became of his castle. One child stamped on his, and another pushed his over with both of his hands. Then they turned away and went back, each to his home.

from Philip Novak's The World's Wisdom: sacred texts of the world's religions.

The PlasterCITY team has come on board to help artist Charles Fine create a 3 minute HD art piece out of his beautiful table scupltures.

Otto Arsenault, Charles Fine, Jody Leggio.


Mr. Fine's table sculptures are like urban landscapes made up of hundreds of objects: some from nature like seed pods, handmade objects like pottery and manufactured objects like metal spikes.


The piece will show at the Magna Festival of electronic and visual arts on the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Atlantic. It's the largest gathering of electronic composers, dee jays and visual artists. We will also show the piece during the S.F.A.I. Ars Nova XXI lab inauguration.

Biker Cat (Otto), my confidant.

I HAD ALMOST COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN THIS EVENING. I REMEMBER BACARDI SPONSORED THE SCREENING OF "THE CREATURE OF THE SUNNYSIDE UP TRAILER PARK" AT THE JACKSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL. EVERYONE HAD QUITE A FEW ZOMBIES WHICH MADE THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE FOR THE AUDIENCE EVEN MORE ENJOYABLE. I REMEMBER DOING A FEW SIDEWALK INTERVIEWS WITH A STRONG VIDEO LIGHT ON MY FACE. NEXT THING I REMEMBER I'M HAVING DRINKS WITH A GROUP OF UNDERGROUND, PUNK, GOTH ARTISTS IN THEIR EARLY 20's COMPLETE WITH TATTOOS, PIERCINGS, CRAZY HAIR, ETC. THEY WERE A VERY NICE GROUP OF SOUTHERN KIDS. THEY WANTED TO INTRODUCE ME TO JACKSONVILLE'S MOST IMPORTANT BARS. THEY TOLD ME ABOUT THE STRONG ARTIST COMMUNITY IN THEIR TOWN. HOW THEY NETWORK AND HELP EACH OTHER OUT. I LIKED THEIR ENERGY. I ASKED IF I COULD SEE SOME OF THEIR ART. THEY OPENED UP A DOWNTOWN GALLERY AND WE CONTINUED TO PARTY ON AS WE TALKED ABOUT ART, THE POLITICS OF THE SOUTH, AND SURVIVAL. I LIKED THESE KIDS. ONE OF THEM GAVE ME A SMALL PAINTING: A FACELESS GREEN HUMANOID FIGURE IN A CHAIR, HEAD DOWN DEPRESSED; A HEART CRACKING INSIDE FROM SOME LOST LOVE. IT'S A STRANGE, BUT ODDLY MOVING PAINTING. THEY TOLD ME THEY WERE HUNGRY. NOTHING WAS OPEN. I TOLD THEM I WOULD BE VERY HAPPY TO MAKE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY WERE SHARING THEIR ART AND UNIQUE VOICES WITH ME.

I JUST FOUND THE BELOW COMMENTS ON A PERSONAL BLOG. IT BROUGHT IT ALL BACK TO ME. IT'S A NICE MEMORY. I WISH ALL THESE KIDS WELL WITH ALL OF THEIR ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS.

luckylettie said on

May 19, 2004 03:45 PM

5/19/2004
I had a blast at the Jacksonville Film festival! My friend joE gave me a free pass to the movies and parties! Thursday night we watched Bloodhead by Christopher Coppola and then went out drinking with him till 5am! I invited him to have a drink with us at London Bridge across the street from the Florida Theatre. Jeff Larson and about five others joined us for a beer. Then I informed him that if he wanted to continue to party we had to purchase something to drink before 2am. He handed me 100 bucks and asked me to get drinks for us. I picked up ruby and Q and a ton of rum and headed to the Brooklyn Art Center. We stayed there for a while and then moved the party to a house in Riverside where Christopher could cook for us. He grilled sausage and peppers for us (about 8 people) at 4am! Christopher is a large biker dude that walks with a cane and is very outspoken. He said he dug my art.

Bloodhead is a funny creature feature spoof staring Linda Carter and the doc form the love boat. The movie is about two very different brothers who discover they have the same mother who has been willed them same trailer park community in the middle of the desert. Their mom was an archeologist who dug on sacred ground and unleashed an evil creature that is slowly killing off the people living in the trailer park. I liked it, thought it was funny.

Getting hit by a sandstorm and loving every minute of it. This was around the time I was first bequeathed with the name "The Mean One". I guess they meant the mean Coppola.

I bulldogged a steer once to keep the peace, then some "burnt out granola" labeled me an animal abuser. I just laughed and loved every minute of it.

I always wished I had a sister. I would've wanted her to be just like one of these gals.

Stunning Find Deep in the Pacific Ocean

Ancient star dust found deep beneath the Pacific Ocean has led German scientists to make an astounding conclusion. They think it points to our human origins.

Researchers from the Technical University of Munich in Germany surmise that the star dust is likely debris from a supernova explosion that occurred some 3 million years ago, reports Reuters. The explosion rocked the Earth so much that it changed our planet's climate--drastically heating it up--and helped bring about human evolution just as our ancestors started to walk.

Study leader Gunther Korschinek speculates that the supernova may have caused an increase in cosmic rays for about 300,000 years, which would have warmed up the Earth's temperatures. Korschinek can tell that the star explosion occurred at the same time there was a significant climate change in Africa when drier conditions caused the forests to retreat and the savannah to emerge, reports Reuters. It's this major climate change that likely caused the hominids to emerge from the trees and begin to walk upright.

Five years ago, Korschinek and his team found star dust in Pacific sediments. This time they looked at a site much deeper in the Pacific Ocean near the equator but away from land. At 15,750 feet below the surface, they found a layer of iron-60, which was stable and easy to date. The age? About 2.8 million years old.

Reuters explains that iron-60 is an isotope or chemical variant of iron that is rare on Earth--so rare that scientists are in general agreement that it is unlikely to have come from anything other than a supernova. Iron-60 has a decay rate or half-life of about 1.5 million years, so it's easy to nail down when the star exploded. A bombardment of cosmic rays caused by a supernova explosion could affect the ozone layer, which would have let in more of the Sun's ultraviolet rays. And that would make it hotter and drier on some places on Earth.

Here's the catch: "It has not yet been established that such an increase of the cosmic ray intensity could have had a significant influence on the Earth's climate," the research team wrote in the journal Physical Review Letters. But there is a coincidence. "The African climate shifted toward more arid conditions about 2.8 million years ago," they wrote, adding, "some of the major events in early hominid evolution appear to be coeval with the African climate changes."

We may walk upright today because of a supernova explosion almost 3 million years ago.

photo by Colin Hickson

Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy.
He who has given up both victory and defeat, he, the contented,
is happy.

"These sons belong to me, and this wealth belongs to me"; with such
thoughts a fool is tormented. He himself does not belong to himself;
how much less sons and wealth?

from Phillip Novak's The World's Wisdom.