Beatbox Giant Productions

ASK A NINJA: Question 13 "Ninjas Hate Clooney"

2006-03-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

Kyle asks the Ninja about the movie, "The Perfect Storm," and finds out about a ninja named Perfect Storm.
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ASK A NINJA: Special Delivery 1 "What is Podcasting?"

2006-02-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

The Ninja explains podcasting to people over the age of 12.
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ASK A NINJA: Question 12 "Ninja Colds"

2006-02-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

Marty asks the Ninja if ninjas can catch colds.
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MEDIA: Business Week Interviews Douglas And Kent

2006-02-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/podcasts/podcasting/podcastbiz_02_22_06.htm

Douglas Sarine and Kent Nichols, the co-creators of the Ask a Ninja video blog, talk about why they see an opportunity for video bloggers to break out. Veterans of the TV and animated world, they discuss their plans to help other video bloggers commercialize their works by creating a network. And they share some of the lessons they've learned about blogging, including the all-important need for consistency

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ASK A NINJA: Question 11 "Ninja Dogs"

2006-02-14T22:18:00.000-08:00

John asks the Ninja if he can train his dog to be a ninja.

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Ask A Ninja: Question 10 "Ninja Metal"

2006-02-09T03:12:00.000-08:00

Matt asks the Ninja if ninjas are metal.
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Ask A Ninja: Question 9 "Ninja Love"

2006-02-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Jason's "wife" asks the Ninja if ninjas can love.

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Ask A Ninja: Question 8 "Roger"

2006-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Mark asks the Ninja if ninjas are following him.

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Ask A Ninja: Question 7 "Ninja Grub"

2006-01-18T00:28:00.000-08:00

Sandeep asks the Ninja about what kind of food Ninjas eat.

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Flash version will be up as soon as YouTube gets it ready.

Ask A Ninja: Question 6 "Master of Disguise"

2006-01-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

Nina asks a Ninja about how one can become a master of disguise.

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Askaninja.com

2006-01-09T02:04:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been asking us to get better organized on the site.

One of the limitations of Blogger is that there's no neat little categories -- but they do allow you to have multiple blogs.

So AskANinja.com is live and points to AskANinja.blogspot.com. It has it's own Podcast feed, so if you're only interested in Ninja-type stuff, go there and subscribe.

This site will continue to feature Ask A Ninja, as well as our video journals and our other projects.

Ask A Ninja: Question 5 "Ninja Skills"

2006-01-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

Andy asks a Ninja about the different types of Ninja skills.

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Ask A Ninja: Question 4 "Hiring A Ninja"

2006-01-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered how you can hire a ninja if you want someone killed? The ninja tells you how.

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To the huffy man at the post office

2006-01-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

When you go to the post office a certain amount of abuse and neglect is
expected. The lines are long, the employees few.

You cussing loudly on your cell phone was a particular delight. Your
inability to call 411 was charming, the failure of your 1999-era cell
phone and wired-in earpiece was inspired.

Thank you for making our shared time in line just fly right by.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Small Gift From LA

2005-12-29T19:29:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in my car listening to Gene Wilder talking about Richard
Pryor and Mel Brooks.

Looking at the view of LA from the top of the Arclight's parking lot is
a small treasure. The structure is busier than I thought it would be,
and I found myself guided to the top level.

When I got here I saw the quiet, mist-shrouded city. This week LA gets
abandoned by its temporary lovers, the summer sun residents who return
to the hinterlands to visit their spawning grounds.

For those of us native to this sunny shangrila(sp?) we enjoy the empty
freeways and uncrowded malls. But it feels empty, less than whole. A
university town on summer break.

This view is the perfect small gift from the city I've grew up next to
and that I now call home.

Thanks LA, thanks Arclight.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Ask A Ninja: Question 3 "Ninja Training"

2005-12-29T02:57:00.000-08:00

A ninja answers Jeff's question about how to become a ninja.

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Ask A Ninja: Question 2 "Ninja Santa"

2005-12-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

A ninja answers Simone's question: Do Ninjas celebrate Christmas?

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The New World

2005-12-19T22:02:00.000-08:00

This is Terrence Malick's new film starring Colin Ferrell.

The opening sequence is amazing. No words are spoken and there's this
great music and it just builds a feeling like everything is going to
change. Two huge forces are about to collide and nothing in the world
will ever be the same.

So those first few moments are transcendant. Then the whole thing bogs
down into a swamp of boredom and malaise.

Slooooow.

We left after two hours.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

GROSS-OUT FLICK TOPS IFILM VIRAL VIDEOS

2005-12-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles—“Four Years Running” has raced to the top of the iFilm.com Viral Comedy Videos with over 12,000 views in just four days. This is a testament to the skill of emerging filmmakers who are showing Hollywood what works in this dynamic new medium. The film has stormed up the iFilm charts and boasts more views than many mainstream movie trailers.

“Our budget was less than $500,” said writer/director Kent Nichols. “It’s cool that we can compete with the big boys and win on sites like iFilm.”

The success of “Four Years Running” proves that in the world of Internet films it pays to be outrageous. The film is about a woman who grew up on a semen farm.

“The topic may be a little gross, but it’s also very touching and sweet,” said Nichols, “I think that’s why it works, when you are creating content for the net you have to play by a different set of rules.”

Nichols is leveraging his expertise in Internet content creation to produce an original animated series called, “Kinzai Ninjas.” He feels independent producers have finally found a place where they have an advantage over more established players because they are only beholden to their audience.

“On the Internet there are no gatekeepers,” he said. “If people like your stuff they watch it, if the don’t, they won’t”.

Kent Nichols is the winner of the 2003 International 48 Film Project. In 2005 he co-founded Beatbox Giant Productions, LLC to produce “Kinzai Ninjas” an original animated series that will be distributed by a major Internet portal in 2006.

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 10 "Santee Alley"

2005-12-17T03:24:00.000-08:00

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King Kong

2005-12-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

I went to go see King Kong at the midnight show at the Arc Light. Great
festive mood. A couple Xboxen 360 playing the Kong game, a Lexus 350 (a
car I've lusted after, but after sitting in it I'm way too tall to own
one) and a ton of people. Sorta shocking to see on a Tuesday night.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

The Indie TV Movement is Here

2005-12-12T02:39:00.000-08:00

We have crossed a milestone with this weekend's announcement that TiVo has entered into an agreement with the popular web show Rocketboom. Finally a model for independent television is upon us.

Right now the television shows are developed by a handful of trusted writer/producers in Hollywood who have become trusted enough to pitch there show ideas to the Networks. They've gained this trust by working on other television shows or by being incredibly success in another medium such as film, or books, or porn. If you're not one of these trusted people, the networks will not talk to you about your ideas.

These pitches are then considered by the network suits and a few are chosen to be turned into full fledged pilot scripts. These scripts are then read and fewer still are made into actual pilots and then the best pilots make it to air where most of them fail to generate the 8-15 million viewers required to stay on the air.

In the last year with maturity of mRSS and the wide dispersal of high-quality digital video production tools, video podcasting has exploded. For the new kids on the block, video podcasting allows programs like iTunes and FireAnt to automatically download video content. It's like signing up for a season pass on TiVo. Once you find a podcast you like, you can tell these programs to always download the newest content when it appears on the net.

That's the groundwork, and now with this TiVo deal you can add that same sort of functionality to your television set through TiVo.

Great. But how does that change anything? Well, it changes things because it gives TiVo an incentive to make other deals with indie producers so that they can distinguish themselves from the generic PVR boxes more and more cable and satellite providers are giving to their customers.

It also will allow for a model where indie producers will have incentive to create longer DVD-length pilots for their shows on the cheap. Why go to a big network that's just going to shit all over your idea when you can produce your own content the way you want it and then take it to the network when you have built a following through TiVo and iTunes. If you can prove your show is being watched by a million people, you're getting close to what the average viewership is on basic cable.

How will the producers make money? Subscribers, DVD sales, and small interactive ads for the people who don't subscribe. The subscribers is a simple extension of how people pay for cable today. ESPN gets around $2.50 out of your monthly cable bill to support it's programming. That works out to $30 a year and about eight cents for each day's Sports Center.

If you charge people $5 or $10 a year to subscribe to your entire archive and get extra content and early access to your new shows you should see a fairly sizable subscriber base (10%-ish). It's important to not that you still give away your content freely on the net and TiVo, but you just charge a reasonable fee for subscription and you treat your free customers with respect.

The market for DVDs is impressive. Sales of TV show DVD is very strong, and it costs under $2 to physically produce a DVD. Add the usual bevvy of special features and DVD only content and you should be able to sell enough discs to recoup your costs with a healthy profit.

Advertising. Again this should not be intrusive. But a simple ad at the end of your content will bring in enough money to fund the project and not be annoying to the viewers. And this ad would not appear on the subscriber's content, this would only be for your free viewers.

So that's where the money comes from, but where does the content come from?

On the indie film front, one of the most innovative companies in film is InDigEnt. They produce films for $150,000 where everyone on the crew gets paid $100 a day and then receives profit participation when the film sells. This is the model for how indie television should be made.

A typical network pilots costs in the millions of dollars, cable a little less. 15 indie pilots could be made for each network pilot. And the indie pilot would be a lot longer than a network pilot.

If you look at shows like the original BBC series The Office, the first season consists of six episodes, with a running time of around 170 minutes. The show did a second season and a few specials in Great Britain and was developed into a full fledged American sitcom too.

Indie Television would do the same thing. We'd create 90-120 minutes of original content that would be divided into weekly episodes. Episodes would be from 5-15 minutes, released weekly for 10-20 weeks and then sold as a DVD. Successful shows would have multiple seasons and have the possibility of moving up to a bigger network if the audience is there.

Projects would have budgets no larger than $150,000 for an entire season with everyone paid the same and have a share of the profits (the more involved you are the bigger the percentage). And the copyrights and intellectual property would be shared with the people putting up the money and the show creators (with the majority going to the creators).

The seasons themselves would serve as pilots for the networks. It would be instantly clear through downloads and DVD sales which shows were popular and striking a chord with audiences. Those shows would either move wholesale to the networks, or be redeveloped for the network. But the network would go in knowing that was an existing, interested audience.

A model like this will unclog the creative arteries of Hollywood. It would allow many flowers to bloom and let the shows with true potential find their audiences. It would also allow writers to take greater risks with experimenting with new forms of storytelling that are outside of the traditional four camera sitcom and single camera drama.

It could turn Television in the new millennium into what cinema was in the late 1960s and 1970s was -- a place for young and talented storytellers to flex their muscles and tell stories like they've never been told before.

Will a system like this produce high production value shows like Lost? Probably not, audiences will always love a big spectacles that only millions of dollars can produce. But sitcoms? Reality shows? This model will set those genres on their ears. If I see another fat husband/hot wife sitcom I'm going to fuck a goat.

Okay bad example, I'd fuck the goat anyway (that's just how I roll).

But the talent is out there and the tools are in there hands. All it takes now is someone with a little money and vision to really start doing it.

--

Kent Nichols
http://beatboxgiant.blogspot.com

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 9 "HVX200"

2005-12-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

Quicktime Version Here

iPod Version Here

Kent visits the DV Expo West and checks out a revolutionary new camera, the Panasonic HVX200 that runs on Linux.

Read the discussions about the camera here.

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Ask A Ninja: Question #1: The Ninja-Mart Store

2005-11-24T02:58:00.000-08:00

A ninja answers Matt's questions about when and where ninjas get their uniforms.

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Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 8 "Japan Expo"

2005-11-21T03:18:00.000-08:00

Kent talks about editing the Kinzai Ninjas trailer and visits the Japan Expo.

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NSFW Short Film: Four Years Running NSFW

2005-11-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

*NSFW*

A woman fondly recalls growing up on a Semen Farm. Hilarious.

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Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 7 "Finishing The Script"

2005-11-14T18:57:00.000-08:00

Doug and Kent work on the Kinzai Ninjas script.

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Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 6 "Tamale Festival"

2005-11-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

Kent visits the Los Angeles Tamale Festival and scares the ponies.

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Rhympinion V

2005-11-13T23:34:00.000-08:00

Strap in and on and be gone to anon but wrong leaves the song playing along with the breath without death the mess that is left when we have not left not bereft but cleft from the livers somehow not delivered from light or darkness or remaining starkness the mark which will not in sun fade or hide in the shade but stay as you staid with no price paid or treasures laid there the where bare of your fair but here something clear somewhere near still with still fear one of the mere for which the dead shed no tear

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 5 "Portable Media Con Day 1"

2005-11-11T22:25:00.000-08:00

I visit the Portable Media Convention and muse on networking and podcasting.

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Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 4 "Drinking The Lawn"

2005-11-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

I drink a wheatgrass shot on camera and almost puke. Hilarious.

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Kent's Video Journal: Episode 3 "The Grove"

2005-11-06T02:45:00.000-08:00

I visit the Grove, a trendy, yet bland, shopping center in LA.

Available in classic quicktime and iPod video.

As always this available on our podcast and the most recent quicktime is required.

Rhympinion IV

2005-11-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

Superstars far from super are fabrications of incantations the incarnations mere representations of greed and deception failing collections of selfish ideals recognition ahead of cause persistence ahead of pause for revelation or revealing fascination or feeling the dealing being dealt with but not felt with passion for humanity the man in me losing the can it be for sanity in numbness ahh dumbness to judgments that comes thus from celebration of the worthless worth less than what’s best for what’s known as the rest but get none put the gun to the heart part of the chest and use the brain to ascertain that certain strain that removes the banes pain and pangs on which we all hang

Rock Show

2005-11-04T02:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was invited to a rock show by my friend.

Now you should know that I never go see rock shows. I live next to Viper Room, The Roxy, the Whiskey A-Go-Go and the Rainbow Room.

A couple of reasons. Right now I'm broke. Being a prefamous filmmaking god makes it hard to pay the bills. But the bigger reason is that I don't like music shows.

There I said it.

It's my biggest secret. I don't buy music, I don't file share. I just sorta absorb what's on the radio (alternative or indie rock mostly), and most live shows put me to sleep.

Tonight, Videostar -- an 80's tribute band, was playing the basement of the Key Club. My friend got us on the list.

Usually when I get an invitation like this I simply refuse, but I hadn't seen this guy in a while and we needed to chat about a few things. So I accepted. It was cool to hang out.

We actually got to sit down for a while and chill --- something that usually costs big bucks in LA, but here in the basement listening to 80's pop it was free.

The show starts, and I like the music and the pleasant ringing in my ears. I watch the women dancing, and the drunks guys hitting on them.

We get up and I assume my typical rock show posture. Standing up straight, stoic face, and lame and constrained gyrations.

But then Rebel Yell started and I genuinely lost myself in the music. I was throwing horns and head banging. It was fun.

The biggest thing I noticed was sitting down people looked fairly tall, but when I got up I realized how short everyone there was. I was a good 6 to 8 taller than everyone there.

Baggage

2005-11-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

This is the short film that Doug and I (along with 20 of our friends) made for the 48 Hour Film Project in 2003.

It's the original form that we turned in on the day, no additional edits or changes have been made.

Here's the IMDB page on it that has the full credits.

Availble in Classic Quicktime or iPod MP4
formats. (Hint: Save the link to your harddrive and then play it.)

Enjoy!

Rhympinion III

2005-11-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

Let’s apply FOIL to the oil turmoil and spoil those loyal to boiling the coiling toil

FIRST who was first to take terse action to initiate this weakness whackness no back infraction of ancestor, sister, brother, father, mother just the now and the who and the how

OUTER who outside the situation cause initiation for infiltration of nation not owned but prone to manipulation by corporations, independent states and conglomerations of political persuasion

INNER who in the bin of the actual condition of factual submission to cause or causes of pain and of gain for the pure endurers of furious fervor and fuehrers and cures in motion and notions for internal resolving solutions

LAST who has no past and attached fast last to the mismatch cast of the clashing masks of drivers and driven to deliver the grim givers for gifts of the future with the too sure demeanor of one who’s not one but plans to be ends for others to spend

Distribute the factors and rearrange actors and sit back to a truth that will never have proof

Kent's Video Journal: Episode 2 "Halloween"

2005-11-01T01:49:00.000-08:00

I go down to the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval on the Bouvelvard.

Click Here To View It.

Rhympinion II

2005-10-31T11:10:00.000-08:00

Shakira is a mirror for my desire and the fire in me that loves her agility and ability to move each part of her body separately I desperately analyze that as talent or trait the balance of fate of that that is innate and that which we create through practice repetition enhance our condition natural or trained pleasured or pained we complain at what's lacking in us that's in others attacking biotic embracing exotic snacking on culture like vultures of purchase perchance the dance of recompense was not made make sense in our existence but defined by the royals who spoil once we've become oil.

Pope Joan

2005-10-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hanging with a friend today and the topic of the pope's balls came up.

Not exactly clear on how they came up -- something about the priest
costume with the boy strappes around the waist.

That's when he drops the bomb. He says that because there was a woman
pope back in the day, now every pope has to put his balls through a hole
and the cardinals fondle the prospective pontiff's wrinkly sack.

I called bullshit. I know there are still some weid practices that
surround the papacy, but come on, the cardinals getting to third base
with the future leader of the church?

Turns out it's sorta true. I'm moblogging right now, but google this:
'Pope Joan'.

Learn something new every day.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Rhympinion

2005-10-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

A masking is an asking to see alternatively eternally a lively striving for a new point of view for you not a me that conceived the mentality the principality of the outer the doubter the looker that took what was given before and so more and more mistook of the what's more in store to repeat in fast hits the facets of masked bits of taciturns of the faces that seem to represent but just re-present the present tense with tension and concern for the well well well being of self stored on a shelf in bottles of demons dreamin' to throttle the very life from duplicative multiplicity in the simplest form truth which can only be acknowledged from the knowledge that something some thing is believed to be perceived in a reality of me see me.

Milestone

2005-10-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

I've been going to the Sunset In-N-Out burger every day for the past couple of weeks. You could say I'm in a food rut.

4x4 (four beef patties, four slices of cheese), Animal style (extra special sauce, grilled onions, mustard grilled patties), no lettuce, no tomato.

No fries.

Large diet coke with a little Root Beer.

$6.32

At the In-N-Out on Sunset the fastest way to get your burger is to do the drive through. That's because the parking lot is tiny and if they don't give priority to the Drive Through then there would be a major traffic problem. They even send out an employee into the parking lot to take your order before you get even close to the little speaker.

Like I said I've been going to In-N-Out a lot recently. I've started to recognize the employees, and tonight they officially recognized me.

The order takers in the parking lot hate me since the little remote control computer makes it really hard to enter the diet with a little rootbeer.

When I pulled up tonight, they guy says to me right off "The Rootbeer and diet right?"

I felt sorta proud and sorta like I'm an alcoholic who's hit rock bottom.

The strange this is for all of this horrible fast food, I'm losing weight. Who knew.

Watching Veronica Mars right now. Decided to see what the hype is about.

Eh. It's okay, not my cup of tea. Lost is still more enticing.

And about Lost, great DVD extras. The way every TV and movie should do it. You could tell they had a camera guy there all the time. Much more honest and interesting than the typically kiss, kiss, everyone is beautiful sort of thing.

The other thing about Lost is look at all of the Flashback locations. It's sort of funny to look at these places that are supposed to be boring and average and typically American but you can totally tell they were shot in Hawaii. Usually it's the other way around, you make a crappy and boring place look exotic. Here they tried to de-paradise it, but it still creeps out around the edges.

Cleaning Out My Voice Memos

2005-10-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

Since I'm Sending my old phone back to whence it came, I'm going through and deleting the old voice memos I've recorded as inspirations and brainstorms.

A few highlights:

Kudamono Dragons, instead of komodo dragons
1-800-pilots I heard an ad saying there's a huge shortage of helicopter pilots, I think it would be funny for River to see the ad and then try and become a pilot.
"A guy was arrested after living a month in Cindy Crawford's house -- that's a fucking movie!"
The woman who reads the news headlines at Savon's is wayh to happy about the death and destruction going on about her.

That's it for now.

Kent's Video Journal: Episode One -- Bad Public Art

2005-10-27T04:39:00.000-07:00

I goof on a bad sculpture in the OC with my buddy Ryan.

Click Here To Download

TV Survey

2005-10-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

How many of you guys still watch TV in the standard way from the 90s?

Namely you watch a show as it's broadcast on whatever channel you
choose.

The big story in Hollywood the last few years is that young guys just
aren't watching TV anymore. And then this summer came the decline in
movie theatre attendance.

Where are we going?

I can only speak for me. Most Television doesn't appeal to me. There is an occasional show that gets me curious enough to want to tune in, but I'm not a cable subscriber and I only kinda get the broadcast channels. I remember in college sitting there bemoaning the fact that we had to pay for 70 channels of crap, when there were only 3 or 4 channels I wanted to watch.

The last few years I would rent or buy DVDs of the shows I'd hear about. The Sopranos, Strangers with Candy, The Ben Stiller Show, etc.

These last few weeks I'd been hearing more and more about torrents and downloading TV shows. And what a revelation. Now I can watch the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, Family Guy, Extras, Lost in crystal clear XVID and MP4.

But the thing is that watching it there doesn't count. If there was an RVB-style of sponsorship for the Daily Show where I could pay $20/year to get a high quality download of the show every day I'd be all over it. But there isn't, the networks would rather rely on the meager fees that they receive from your local cable provider.

The way it works is that the fees you pay to your local provider get divvied up to the various cable channels. The more popular the channel the bigger percentage they can demand from the locals. But you're not paying more than a dollar or two per basic channel.

I'd much rather pay the buck to Comedy Central and just get their programming than pay the $20-50 and get the wall of crap.

And my movie going is comparable. I mostly watch DVDs that I rent. If there's a movie I need to right away I'll go to the theatre, but so many of the movies are just pure crap why even bother?

So I'm asking how many people still watch TV without the aid of TiVo or the net, and how many still go to the theater on a regular basis.

Mobile Phoning

2005-10-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Why does the US cell phone industrial complex suck so hard?

I read about Israel and Finland and Asia and how enlightened they are and how bleeding edge their cell-fu is compared to our barely adequate networks here.

And the customer support is a joke.

My cell phone, which was supposed to be the sexiest new phone from Verizon when I bought it last August, soon looked anemic next to the RAZR. But the RAZR wasn't available on Verzion which is CDMA.

Also my phoen had Bluetooth. Which mena I could use my laptop to connect and sync up numbers wirelessly. Except of course Verizon disabled that feature because it wants you to pony up for what ever lame service they can charge you to move pix and mp3s, etc.

So I was sitting with a phone that I had to have because it had an external memory slot, a megapixel camera, could play MP3s, and had bluetooth. But of course being a power user, I used none of those features.

Well I tried. But the camera takes pictures like it has it's lens cap on, dark, graininess is the only picture it will take. I never bought an external memory card because the camera sucked so hard and I spent so much money on buying the phone I didn't have much of an accessory budget. Bluetooth has been discussed (I coulda bought one of those creepy headsets, but again no money and did I really want to become one of those people).

But it worked rather well as a phone. Until Thursday. When it just died. I took it into Verizon. They hooked it to a charger and put a new battery in, but they agreed that it was dead. Wonderbar. I was expecting a new phone on the spot, but they said to call the insurance and they'll ship a new phone the next day.

Okay.

So I called them. And they said that since the phone didn't actually get broken or stolen it wasn't their deal. What!?! Why was I paying them $5/month?

I called Verizon and a very helpful operator called back the insurance company and got the local tech to call and corroborate my story. Great. Wonderful. Gimme my new phone.

They said it was in the mail, and would be here by Monday, today.

So I get the phone, and I buy a $40 cable to get the numbers off my old phone (which rose from the dead) and sync them to my computer and my new phone. A cable that should have been unnecessary if Bluetooth wasn't crippleware.

Then the new phone won't activate. And the phone help can't help and the web interface doesn't work and I have to mkae my third trip to the store. They uncermoniously activate it and I grab a burrito at Baja Fresh.

I guess the best thing about the whole situation was a vacay from my phone. I watched all of Lost and got some writing done. It was good.

Total money spent: $90 -- $50 deductible, $40 for the data cable
Total time spent on phone: 2 hours
Total days without a phone: 5

Lost

2005-10-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

Okay. I get it.

JJ is a genius.

But the reason why I haven't gotten into it until now is that I felt abused by last Season of Alias. When it was such a letdown I decided not to watch Lost.

But now there's such momentum behind it, and JJ does so well in the first few seasons I swallowed the pill and am watching the first season on DVD.

But I'm watching it with the spoilers intact -- I've got all the fansites and wikipedia open and I research all the twists and turns as they happen.

I haven't dug into Season two yet, and I don't know if I'll be able to handle the suspense of not knowing during the new episodes.

And I also dread the third and fourth seasons. Will it just be another JJ fumble?

I guess that's not fair -- a season of 42 minute shows is like 1000 minutes or about 11 feature length movies. How many films can hold your interest for the whole thing?

So I'm enjoying the ride that is Lost right now, and I hope it stays fun for a while.

New Kitty

2005-10-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

The weird thing about pets is that they are replaceable. Interchangable cogs of the family. I guess people will have another child if they lose one, but it's never like getting a new guiney pig or dog.

My parents got a new kitten -- which I named Jinx (because I believe despite its cuteness it caused the Angels to lose the ALCS).

I didn't think they'd get a new cat to replace Roxy. The usual pattern of cat acquisition is my sister would get a kitten and then it would grow into a cat and she would move away leaving it in the care of my parents.

She doesn't live there anymore, so there wasn't any obvious pathway for a new cat to enter their house.

But somehow my dad found out about free kittens and the deal was done. They got her on Friday.

When I came into their family room I was confronted with what I thought was a crib bought from Petco or something, but in fact it was an upsidedown card table with Gladwrap wrapped around the legs. My sister improvised it while cat sitting over the weekend.

It's a good cat that sleeps a lot in your lap, is potty trained, and likes exploring the innerworkings of easy chairs.

It's a cool new addition.

RIP Roxy

2005-10-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Roxy was a great cat, everything I look for in a feline companion. She liked to be petted, she was a brutal and effective hunter. She drooled. Not some polite little spittle, this was a copious and unceasing flow of drool coming from her core.

I'm sitting at my parents computer, the place where she would approach me -- especially when I was wearing a black outfit. She's come over and sit while I'd web surf or blog, begging to be petted and loved. My parents other pet, an unstoppable Maltese named Daisy had long since usurped Roxy as the pet of choice.

Daisy got walks and table scraps and toys and attention. Roxy got food and a warm place to sleep. What attention Roxy did receive Daisy would jealously work to regain the spotlight.

The end has been near for a while. She was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia a year or two ago. You could see she was wasting away, even though she'd scarf down this expensive wet food known only to me as Packet. "She loves the Packet." my mom would say.

When I got back from San Jose last night, Mom braced me for the endgame. She said that Roxy was very tired and thought that the end was near.

This morning Dad put Roxy into a cardboard PetCo carrier along with an old green towel that has been in the family for years.

By the time he got to the vet she was gone.

Dad was choked up when he told me. And I'm a little weepy now as I write this. I guess it was seeing that towel, her final shedding in the box. And writing this here in the chair where she used to visit me.

Good bye Roxy, where ever you are. You were a good kitty.

Durnk Podcast

2005-10-08T20:33:00.001-07:00

I call from sushi in San Jose.

Walnutting

2005-10-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

There's an old joke about visiting my cousin.

The first question my mom will ask is, "Are they putting you to work?"

You can't stay here without pitching in. There's the story of a foreign
exchange student who on his first night was awoken at 2am to go the
orchard to cover the trees to protect them from the frost.

His parents called the next day and he told them that his host family
was making him work the fields.

This morning we husked walnuts and then went out to collect more. Each
walnut has a green fruit around it that has to be cut away or husked.
You use a curved knife and husk away.

To get the nuts off the tree I used a long pole with a hook and pulled
and shook the limbs and nuts until they fell off.

We worked for a few hours. Slow, methodical. Nice conversation.
Relaxing.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Farm Living

2005-10-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

I'm at my cousin's house 15 minutes south of San Jose for the RVB
screening.

She lives on a few acres in a very agricultural part of the county.
They grow wine grapes, and apricots, and have a patch of bamboo.

I've been coming here for almost 20 years. The thing that struck me
last night was the complete and total darkness that enveloped me when I
went to bed.

I could've been in a cave somewhere in a navy sleep experiment and it
wouldn't have been any darker.

And then this morning I was struck by how quiet it is out here. A small
plane just flew over and its quiet buzz was the only sound. Now that
it's gone, there is nothing.

This is a great palate cleanser. A recalibration. Like visiting a
monastary and taking the vow of silence or working a week for habitat
for humanity.

(I'm a little mad at myself for claiming such easy absolution -- I mean
I just spent one night at a relatives house. There was no serious
spiritual work done, no homes built. But maybe I judge myself to
harshly. When I came in last night I had a two hour conversation with
my cousin, my confessor, my high priestess of the farm.)

I missed Gus and Kath last night, they pooped out early. We'll see how
tonight goes.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Screening

2005-10-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

We're at the height of screening season here in LA. This is the time
when 'Award Winning Films' hold free screenings for people in the
entertainment industry.

But thing is that there are so many of them you can lose track. I asked
my friend who invited me what film was showing. He didn't know. I
asked again when he called to confirm, and got the same reply.

I got here before he did, and he called to ask if I went to the place
where we went to a screening last month because there was a big crowd
there too.

And it's not like I can ask someone. 'Excuse me, what movie are we in
line to see?' That's so unLA.

This should be a decent show -- there are two tall director's chairs at
the front of the auditorium. That means significant people will speak.
The cinematographer, the director, or the star will deign to talk to us
little people after the show.

And we'll eat it up. This town loves movies and we love our asses
kissed. This is part of the tradition of trying to win votes for their
Oscar.

Now watch this is going to be a sneak peak at Waiting or Dumb and Dumber
Four.

I'll let you know what the film is and if its any good.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

UPDATE

The film was Capote. It tells the story of Truman Capote writing his final book, In Cold Blood.

Really well made. I liked it a lot, but I couldn't get past seeing Phillip Seymour Hoffman as anything other than himself doing a funny voice.

And I came away often feeling much more sympathy for the people who did despicable and brutal violence than I did for Capote. But I think that was by design. Capote was a true sociopath where the world was only there for his amusement.

After the film the director of Photography Andy Kimmel spoke. He's the guy who shot all of those HP picture frame commercials. It was really cool listening to him dissect the imagery and visual style. It inspired me to really go back and reread the Kinzai scripts several times and just make furious visual notes.

It also made me want to rent the movie based on In Cold Blood with the same title and read the book.

Sleepless Nights

2005-10-05T04:19:00.000-07:00

In LA there have been a lot of wildfires and what they call Santa Ana winds.

I've been on Vampire mode again, which means up until dawn and sleep until noonish.

We're at a critical junction in Kinzai Ninjas on the business side. Keeping the momentum moving forward and going into places that are out of my comfort zone.

Fishbone has been great. I'm really happy with what they're doing. We should be able to start working with their songs soon. Which will be very cool.

I'm making a lot of calls and sending a lot of emails, keeping old friends enthusiastic about the project and enlisting new people to come on board.

That's a huge part of what filmmaking actually is -- selling your vision and your enthusiasm for that vision to other people.

You guys have been great. Really helping me refocus my efforts and work on getting this stuff out there. I look at Jeskid and Burnie and the guys and I can't help but be inspired.

Fishbone Part Two

2005-10-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

Went back to Dre's to work with Fishbone.

Tonight's vibe was totally different. All business, er well, that sounds so staid. But they were recording vocals. I came in at their lunch -- Popeye's chicken. Fist bumped the lot of them.

I settled into a chair and then Norwood and Angelo went off to the mic booth to talk about the lyrics.

Very cool. Abstract and fun. I tried to just stay out of the way -- I didn't want to step on their toes. After a while I was comfortable enough to throw out an idea or two. They were gracious and enthusiastic.

I showed them a episode 1 and 2 of RvB. They really dug it.

The thing that was most interesting to me was watching Angelo and Norwood work together. Here are two guys that have been making music together for almost 30 years. It was great to watch such a collaboration. The give and take and respect and short hand.

I wonder who I'll still be working with in 30 years.

I tried to take a pic, but it was too dark for my sidekick.

Also talking about music is taking me a little out of my comfort zone. I mean I was in Jr. High Jazz band (Go Tuffree Falcons), but I'm more of the visual, big picture guy. Talking to bonofide musical geniuses is a little daunting. I end up using my hands a lot and grunting. A lot of grunting.

We talked about the show a lot and our goals for what the song and trailer should accomplish and I think that was very productive.

We head back in tomorrow to finish off the two songs.

Fishbone
Kinzai Ninja

Fishbone Part One

2005-10-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Drove over to Dre's house to listen to what the guys have been working on.

I heard two really cool tracks, one of which will be our theme song.

Norwood showed me some ideas for lyrics and said that Angelo was working on some too.

Norwood and I bonded over our Sidekicks. Very techie dude. We geekd out a bit, I told him about the blog and how I moblog all the time. I didn't want to take his picture and push it. Maybe tomorrow.

We had some fun conversation about cars and women. Dre's neighborhood has a lot of really old Palm trees. They look like they've been there since the 20's.

Tomorrow they'll be laying down the vocals and fixing up the final tracks.

Fishbone
Kinzai Ninjas

Changes

2005-10-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.

I've been futzing around with the settings here.

I added a live feed of my Del.icio.us links. I'll use that area as a sort of microblog of things I find interesting and then continue to use the main blog as a production journal.

Also I modified the main RSS feed so it isn't the full story. Now you have to click on the link to read more. Is that better or worse. Gimme feedback.

Grand Challenge

2005-10-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

I got my geek on today and went to check out the Grand Challenge
National Qualifying Event.

You can check it out at http://grandchallenge.org.

Basically it's a huge competition sponsored by DARPA, the people who
invented and funded the internet back in the day.

I don't know what else you can say about an organization after that.
It's like the Orson Welles of government agencies -- doing their best
work early and never quite able to escape the achievement of their
youth.

The Grand Challenge has $2 million up for grabs for any team that can
design a vehicle that can navigate a 150 mile desert off road course
autonmously without any driver or human assistance.

We get to the California Speedway in Fontana, the crown jewel of the
inland empire, around 4 pm. If you've never been to a Nascar track,
it's huge. The competition is being held in the infield of the 2.5 mile
track.

The parking lot is pretty empty. We park and just start walking. We a
few people and figure out where we're supposed to go. A beat up old
1970s suburban driving through cones slowly.

We head up the bleachers and watch the slow progress. It drives through
all the cones and goes through the fake tunnel and around the hay bales
and then is out of sight for like 10 minutes.
It finishes successfully.

The next up is a little six wheel golf cart. It looks like this little
thing won't have a chance. It comes out of the gate and goes twice as
fast as the suburban. And just as accurate. Kick ass.

Next is a grand cherokee. It missed every set of cones and practically
runs into the stands.

We left after that. It wasn't very spectator friendly. We were one of
the few people that weren't on a team or related to someone who was.

It was worth it. I felt like I was watching the future, or at least
glimpsing it.

I want a six wheel golf cart that can drive me around. That would be
hott.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Grand Challenge

Press

2005-10-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

About Kent and Douglas's Film Baggage
Panasonic's Press Release

Millimeter Article

IMDB Entry

About Douglas's sketch comedy show Lloyd Dobbler's Boombox
Review in the Citizine

IOWest Homepage

James Dean

2005-09-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

It's good to die young and beautiful.

James Dean made four films before he died on this day 50 years ago.

Last night I rented East of Eden one of the two roles he was
posthumously nominated for the Academy Awards.

Earlier this year I saw trailer for this movie and I thought his
performance was way over the top. But watching the film it fits and is
in context.

It's still an odd film. There's an overture at the top of the movie,
it's literally about bean farming and borrows heavily from the bible.

Four movies. And now he's an icon. Before last night I hadn't seen
anything of him other than in Hopper Paintings and Tarantino movies.

Goodbye James. Your candle burned out long before your legend ever
did.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Open Water, Point Break, and Saved!

2005-09-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Open Water
First and foremost, god bless them. When you can achieve the fame and noteriety off of a film that was shot by two people, about two people, in which the obvious happens, more power to you.

Made for $130,000, Sold to Lion's Gate for $2.5 Million and grossed over $30 million in the US. I salute you.

It looked pretty good for being shot on DV. The acting by the two principals was pretty good, the local acting was horrible, and the plot was non-existant.

I'm a sucker for story, and there really wasn't one. The first 15 minutes do a pretty good job of showing how bad this relationship is -- no sex on a caribbean vacay when you're both naked is a bad thing.

15 minutes in they jump in the water. We know there are sharks. And then every 7 minutes we see one.

That's pretty much the whole movie. But you could figure that out from the ad campaign.

Point Break
Fresh off of watching Riding Giants, I decided to revisit Point Break. I vaguely remembered something about Swayze surfing a 50 year swell and I thought it would be fun.

The bigggest thing going back into this movie was "100% Pure Adreniline". I loved that quote when the film first came out.

This film has got everything Swayze towards the end of his popularity, Keanu just finding his, and a post motor cycle crash Gary Busey. Oh and John C. McGinley before he landed Scrubs.

There are several times in the film where Busey and Keanu just scream incoherently at each other and that passes off as dialogue.

Cool.

There's surfing, there's weird plot inconsistencies (Keanu is supposed to be undercover, but he's an All American QB that get's recognized immediately by the bad guys), there's early 90s thong bikinis.

This is really a 70s movie in disguise. Because this is before CSI and DNA and Cell Phones. The walkie talkies they use are bigger than bricks.

A fun romp that was Xtreme Sports before it existed.

Saved!
I've heard a lot of good things about this flick going into it.

Uhm.

It just hit too close to home. I wasn't a pregnant girl going to a Christian High School, but I did go to this all-white very protestant Church where I was viewed as a dork.

So this was familiar territory for me. And I guess that's why I couldn't get into it. I kept thinking about Alicia and Jalaine and the other girls who ruled the youth group and their football playing boyfriends.

I thought the story needed a little more help. Eva Amurri, Susan Saradon's daughter, was the best of the kid actors.

It was okay, but just not for me.

Kent Audio Blog 9-28-05

2005-09-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

I talk about meeting with Doug and give a titillating review of Riding Giants.

Watts Towers

2005-09-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

So I got it in my head to visit the Watts Towers.

I had heard about these things when growing up and I think I saw Huell Howser visit them on one of his creepy, but infectious shows.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_towers:

The sculptures' armatures are constructed from steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh, coated with mortar. The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile and glass. They are decorated with found objects: bed frames, bottles, ceramic tile, scrap metal and sea shells. Rodia called the towers "Nuestro Pueblo," meaning "our town." Rodia built them with no special equipment or a design, working alone with hand tools and window-washer's equipment. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken glass and pottery to Rodia in hopes they would be added to the project, but the majority of Rodia's material consisted of damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery, where he worked for many years. Green glass includes recognizable soft drink bottles, some still bearing the logos of 7 Up, Squirt, Bubble-Up, and Canada Dry; blue glass appears to be from milk of magnesia bottles.

Watts is in what is known now as South LA, and formerly called South Central. I actually had to drive on S. Central to get the towers.

It's a rough neighborhood. A lot of beat up cars and ramshackle A-Team vans for sale on the side of the road. The train tracks are a stone's throw and there are no automatic gates to warn cars. Just an almost constant train horn.

In the distance I heard an Ice Cream truck.

The towers themselves are pretty funky. Reaching skyward, caged for their protection against the city that houses it. It's odd to walk around one of the few folk art projects listed on the National Register of Historic Places and not be allowed to interact with it.

Paraphrasing Tom Leher, "The problem with folk art is that it's for the people."

There was another group looking at the towers when I arrived. They looked German and disappointed. I want to talk to them, but they seemed scared of being shook down and I didn't know quite what to say to them.

There were some cool murals around there, especially the anti-smoking one (it's where the skulls are from).

Rock, Paper, Scissors

2005-09-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_paper_scissors

I was sitting in a cafe today trying to get some work done.

When this lady -- maybe a mother, but perhaps a grandmother (in LA it's hard to tell because women have children later here) was sitting with a very small child.

They were discussing the finer points of Rochambeau.

First she reminded him of what tools were available to him, rock, paper, and scissors. And then she told him to choose one.

He told her what he chose.

She said that wasn't how it worked.

They counted to three and tried again, this time he waited for her to show what she chose and then picked the tool that beat her.

Again, not how it works.

They played a few rounds, or not -- I started to refocus on the task at hand.

It made me think about the time when I didn't know the rules -- when I would tell what I was going to choose, or wait for an advantage.

My mother is a kindergarten teacher. She is really society's first line of defense. She teaches the kids that how to get along in society. Be quiet. Sit still. Don't eat the paste.

Before she gets to them, they are all individuals. Without the touch of a central authority figure.

Sure they have their family and their parents. And some go to church. But my mother introduces them to standardized testing, and lunch lines, and coloring between the lines.

She lays the groundwork. Without her we would drive on every side of the road, and steal, and not raise our hands in class.

This kid seemed pretty sharp. Maybe we'll see him at the Rock, Paper, Scissors World Championships.

Rudy (1993) & Babe (1995)

2005-09-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

http://imdb.com/title/tt0108002/

http://imdb.com/title/tt0112431/

Fucking Rudy.

Made me cry like a little bitch. Seriously.

And last night and this morning I ended up watching Babe. I misted up there to.

Now I'm not some weepy douche that gets worked up over most films, but something about these two -- and they are basically the same film. Runts who get no respect, the establishment laughs at them and says there's no way in hell.

But they do it. They over come, they triumph, they herd the sheep and run through the tunnel.

I would say Babe is a better film overall. The cinematography, the story mechanics, the performances all top notch.

I cried bigger tears at the end of Rudy, but I feel it's more of a contrived film. Too slick and engineered for the man tears.

Saturday 9-24-05 Update

2005-09-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Kinzai Ninjas Update

2005-09-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Doug just dropped off all of the scripts.

Now I'm going to dig in and work on them with a red pen for the next few
days.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

anime

ninja

cartoon

web-series

Road House

2005-09-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

http://imdb.com/title/tt0098206/fullcredits

Continuing on my tour of influential movies of my childhood.

Road House. Thank god for Road House.

Patrick Swayze and his glamour mullet invade small town America in this 1989 classic.

This was made when R movies were industrial strength -- tits everywhere, fighting, and lines like, "I fucked guys like you in prison." (Which I had to rewind to make sure Swayze didn't say himself).

Basically, a solid story about a man cleaning up a bar with his inhuman ability to rip out a dude's larynx. This is referenced early in the film as sort of a tall tale about his character Dalton, but later in the film -- after the guy with the frizzy mullet and vest utters the classy prison line, Dalton does in fact kill him by ripping out his throat.

Kick Ass.

This film is also special for me in the fact it defined standing up against a wall copulation as "Road Housing". As in, "Dude, at the party we started making out and I totally Road Housed her."

That scene did not disappoint.

Going into this revisit, I had vague recollections about a struggle outside the bar with another bar owner something.

This turned out to be what the whole film is really about. Jackie Treehorn basically plays the same role in this film, but meaner and much more ruthless. He has his own mulleted army and doesn't like that someone is in town to clean things up. He struggles with Dalton through out, but eventually meets a very, very bloody and graphic end that almost makes you not like Dalton at all anymore.

Dalton basically murders the entire mulleted army and then reaches back to pull out Treehorn's throat, but stops. The rest of the town, tired of being oppressed by Jackie, has a round robin shoot out aimed at Jackie's chest.

The bar goes on to thrive and Dalton goes skinny dipping at the crick with his tall blond doctor friend.

Check it out, if only for Sam Elliot, who calls everyone Mijo, Bigfoot the truck, and the requisite car stomping, and the Testarosa cameo in the first shot.

Oh and of course, the mullets.

Karate Kid

2005-09-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

http://imdb.com/title/tt0087538/combined

This was a huge movie of my childhood.

I wanted to do the crane technique. I wanted to wax on, wax off. I wanted to balance on a row boat.

Watching it now all I see is a movie about class.

The scrappy LaRussos moving to California from New Jersey.

The wealthy WASP Cobra Kais dressed in their homoerotic skeleton costumes.

Miniture golf as the common ground.

The movie touches on the Japanese internment, the insensitivity of the rich, and the painstaking work of killing flies using only chopsticks.

It's nice when a childhood gem holds up to adult scrutiny. I still want to learn karate after watching it. I still want a girl like Elizabeth Shue. I want a master like Mr. Miyagi.

And let me just say that Pat Morita had great comic chops. So many well delivered lines.

Live Blogging The JetBlue Crisis

2005-09-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/5004411/detail.html

Read on fark.com about this JutBLue Flight circling.

5:24 PM
So Colleen Williams and Paul Moyers are the old pros at this sort of vamping. Veterans of Earthquakes, car chases, and the Olympic bombing (NBC National switched to them because of their improvisational prowess).

They turn no information to their advantage.

Right now they've got Colleen's husband on the phone -- he's an airline pilot and is providing great conjecture and analysis.

5:31 PM
Paul Moyers has made the first overt reference comparing this situation to a movie.

5:33 PM
They don't foam the runways anymore! I was totally counting on that. WTF. It doesn't seem fair.

5:35 PM
NBC4 confirms that LAX will be handling the crash landing. There's a bit of disappointment from Paul and Colleen, they were pulling for Edwards AFB. I guess they said LAX has better fire crew.

5:38 PM
Ted Chen at Long Beach Airport. He's smiling but you can tell he's going to scream at his field producer for sending him to the wrong fucking airport. There's no way he's going to get bumped up to the big show when shit like this happens. He's talking to a fireguy from LBC. He's got his helmet on. And he's ready. For an airplane that won't land in his city.

5:42 PM
Blah, blah, blah. Ted and johnny fireplug throw it back to Paul and Coll. Paul asks about the buildings aroung the LBC airport. He wants to know if there will be any awesome things to crash into.

5:44 PM
Colleen announces that the plane will be down at 6PM. You can hear Paul's sphincter tingle. Paul used the term "Negative" when dismissing Ted "Wrong Airport" Chen.

5:46 PM
They are debating whether the pilot should turn off the satellite tv so they could watch the coverage of the crash or not. Colleen argues it's the opiate of the masses and will calm the sheep, whereas everyone else says it's insanity and will panick everyone.

5:49 PM
Fritz Coleman, the prince of weather chimes in -- the wind is from the west in going 13 MPH.

5:50 PM
Paul just asked if the pilot would be the one to be in control during the landing.

5:51 PM
I think Paul is a pilot. He's loving throwing out lingo and acronyms with little or no definitions. You can tell the expert pilots or sorta humoring him.

5:53 PM
The News Chopper 4 Pilot reassures the viewers (and his boss) that he'll be in position to get a great shot.

5:54 PM
I was right. Paul just admitted he's an instrument rated pilot and made an attempt to explain an instrument.

5:56 PM
Paul get's a little flustered when he hears children playing in the background of one their phone experts.

6:00 PM
Colleen Williams kids are still uppidity in the background. Paul is peeved that the plane isn't down yet. They said 6! 6!

6:02 PM
They brought in Dr. Bruce -- the smarmy TV doctor that reports on health issues. He's talking about the local hospitals, and about stress. He just said the biggest danger is a fiery death. Thanks doc.

6:05 PM
Okay, this is just sad. The 6 o'clock anchors are trying to squeeze into the broadcast. Chuck Henry and his cohort were reduced to holding up a xeroxed map and then the woman -- who wasn't supposed to talk at all began flying a huge not to scale model of an airbus in front of the map. Paul shut them up and moved onto Patrick Heally on the phone at LAX.

6:08 PM
Patrick doesn't have a camera, but you can hear a certain smugness in his voice -- take that Ted Chen.

6:09 PM
Cut to Laurel Erikson. She's describing the anxiety and nerves of the neighbor of LAX. The camera pans and show happy kids and moms smiling and waving at the camera.

6:11 PM
Chopper pilot says the plane is on approach and ten minutes out. Paul says LA Mayor Villaragosa has been at the airport since 5:30 PM.

6:15 PM
The Chopper pilot said that he didn't know if he'd be in place. Paul yelled at him. Paul is checking in with the other crews to see if they have shots. The seem to.

6:22 PM
It's down and safe.

JetBlue
292

First Audio Blog

2005-09-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.audioblogger.com/media/75107/245147.mp3

I review Corpse Bride, Ice Princess, and talk about smuggling fast food into a movie theater.

The Cycle

2005-09-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Over at Roosterteeth.com two of my friends, Dark Fae and Pixie Squared had serious accidents. Dark a fatal car accident, she died this morning. And Pixie got injured during the recovery effort in NOLA. She's an EMT and the just placed her in a medically induced coma.

Both young, talented and beautiful.

In this modern age of medicine where we can cure things that were beyond hope 50 years ago, it seems unfair for anyone to die so young.

I came back from a pleasant weekend to that sad news.

But on that weekend my baby cousin was born.

I held this 7lbs. of new life in my gigantic man paws and I just stared at it.

I looked at his eye boogers, and odd pattern of pores on his nose. I wondered if they made Bioré nose strips that small.

He smiled at me as he slept with his head engulfed in my palm.

It was the first time I had held a newborn. His grandmother says he's a ringer for Winston Churchill, I agree.

There is always new life coming into this world. It doesn't replace what was lost, but it's enough to give us hope.

Wavecrest

2005-09-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Went to Wavecrest in Encinitas.

There had to be 400 wooden cars, and one wooden fire truck.

My mission was to understand the mind of the woodie enthusiast, so that
I might understand my father's fascination with these behemouths of
metal and wood.

The whole mythos is powerful. These were the disused workhorses of the
forties and fifties, co-opted by the surf bums and romanticised by the
mainstream.

But now the woodie is the symbol of baby boomer opulence, a talisman to
ward off aging and death.

The average nice woodie is worth $60k. A crappy one that needs major
work is $10-$20k. And the high end is well over $100k.

So I asked if by buying a woodie it would become a rolling black hole of
money and wood. Sucking my father irrevocably into its dark nostalgic
depths.

Peggy and her son (pictured), owners of a fixer upper agreed. Said once
you go woodie you can never get it out of your blood.

Rick who had a sweet 26 Model T (the devil air filter screw), was
divorced but said the woodie had nothing to do with it.

I didn't believe him.

He drove down 1500 miles from Vancouver in the car. No trailer.
Hardcore.

Overall Wavecrest was very cool. But at some point I was woodied out.
They all started to blend together. My favorite was the Buick Eight's
grill. That and the sweet irony of a wooden firetruck.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

UPDATE

Here are a few funky panaramas I took.

And a Photoshop from my friend Sanagy at Roosterteeth.com.

Sleepless in San Diego

2005-09-17T02:47:00.000-07:00

Drove down to the family's apartment in San Diego tonight.

Good to get away from family and work and stress.

I've fallen into the sweet embrace of digital cable and the loving arms
of Family Guy and Celebrity Poker Showdown.

On the drive down someone wanted to fight me. I was pulling out of the
local burger chain's parking lot and someone was pulling in. It was a
narrow driveway, but big enough for two cars.

The silver korean econo coupe had to slow down and as we passed he
stopped, and gave me the eye and the let's start this shit right now
look.

I kept driving, because why fight about going in opposite directions.
About an accident that never happened. About imagined slights.

Tomorrow I'm going to Wavefront, or something. It's supposed to be the
largest gathering of Woodies -- you know the big surfer station wagons
-- in the world. Pix and moblogging.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Jealous

2005-09-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Okay.

So I just woke up. Reading the usual blogs to get my mind going and I come across this article.

A dude from my high school is dating Paula Abdul. She likes em young.

And I guess I'm jealous. Jealous because I'm not the sort of beautiful man that gets celebrity tail like Dante. Jealous because I'm not a model for International Male.

Sure, I'm smart and deep and terminally hip. Great.
My first encounter with post-HS Dante was when I bought the discount htree pack of Playboy's Wet and Wild DVDs. Pretty crappy overall, lots of bad implants and unenthusiastic women faking how they're enjoying disrobing and trying on lingerie while a fire hose blasts them.

One of the scenes featured Dante.

There is no better erection killer than watching semi-porn featuring a dude that you know. I've never seen a chick that I know strip or do porn (other than a private showing of course), and that might be creepy and it might be hott. But when I recognized Dante, I had to skip ahead and take a moment.

The most ironic part of this, is Dante doesn't sing. Or at least he didn't in HS. I guess he didn't star in softcore either.

You never can tell.

UPDATE:
The point of this is that I'm officially declaring I want to sleep with a celebrity. Anne Hathaway (NSFW) are you listening?

The Untouchables

2005-09-15T01:13:00.000-07:00

http://imdb.com/title/tt0094226/fullcredits

Well worth the revisit.

A couple of impressions. This is Sean Connery's world and we just live in it. Holy Shit does that guy know how to be charming and deliver some pithy lines. And when it's Mamet writing those lines, all the better. It's great to just see his performance (for which he won the Academy Award).

DePalma is at his long tracking shot best. He just loves those big crane shots and hott steadycam action. Cool beans.

The movie did feel like it had a few false endings. Eh, whatev. The stolen Odessa Steps sequence is fun -- having a gun fight in slow motion while a baby carriage falls down a staircase is always good cinema.

Shoot Them

2005-09-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

I hate people who their cellphones in public places. I don't give a
flip about your life and your erectile disfunction problems.

The most vile sub genre of cell phone user is the nextel dick. Shouting
into little cb radio with the drunken swagger of a 70s movie refugee.
Stop it. You're not cool.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Brigadoon (1954)

2005-09-11T00:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046807/

Okay. Hanging with old people isn't any fun.

But I did watch Field of Dreams, Stand By Me, and now Brigadoon.

Now Brigadoon is a musical about a mythical scottish town that
disappears for 100 years at a stretch. Gene Kelly stars.

Let me just say this -- movies from the 50s are weird. Everything is
shot on a sound stage. Everything. Its crazy. Today there'd be a
whole production in Scotland, or at least somewhere that looked like
Scotland. But back then cameras were much less portable, and it was
just how they did things.

They built huge hillsides and had a heard of sheep standing on a fake
looking heather. And this is supposed to be reality.

You look at Field of Dreams. Both films have magical themes, but FoD is
so throughly modern in its approach to cinematography and location
production methodology. They built the goddamn field in the cornfield.
In the 50s they just create it on a stage.

On FoD they waited to shoot at magic hour, in the 50s they'd just flip a
switch.

That's why those old movies look so much more theatrical.

Blah, blah, blah.

The other thing I'm interested in is the way the dance numbers are
shot. Practically all medium wide to capture the performance. I heard
Gene Kelly's last widow speak. She said that was the secret to shooting
dancers. Medium wide.

Today we get really caught up with tight shots and inserts. Dunno if
it's better, but the wide really shows it off if someone is a great
dancer (which Kelly certainly was).

Movie I need to Revisit: The Untouchables. I remember watching
this when I was a kid. There were ads for it on AMC, and it got me into
mood to see it again with fresh eyes.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Father/Son Bonding

2005-09-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

A big part of my life experience has been going to my dad and doing
projects with him.

Pinewood derbies, model catapults, solar-powered electric cars, Mission
Santa Barbara. All built by my dad and me.

Dad is has a touch of ADD (like father like son) and is great for
calling in things that need to be done right away.

A few years ago I needed to build a fake love seat so a penis puppet
could pop up through it (I'll post the short sometime).

Well today was a bit nostalgic. My little box's back bumper's ground
effects got sheared off due to my poor parking skillz. I hacked a fixit
job a few weeks ago.

On the drive down to San Diego it came loose. So Dad and I go to fixing
it. These are the pix.

What do you do with your dad?

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Gus Is In A Pickle

2005-09-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Looks Like Gus Has Been Working Out.

An Unfinished Life

2005-09-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Went to a screening of this movie last night. It's not out yet, JLo is a beaten wife, Redford is a gruff but loveable rancher, and Morgan Freeman wrestles bears. Literally. It's one of those movies where everyone has a secret. And that secret has to come out.

Whatever, it was somewhat likeable, but heavey handed at times.

Yesterday I also got a call from an old friend, I picked up after seeing the caller id, and she didn't want to talk to me. She wanted to leave a message. Does that ever happen to you? I know I didn't let her off the hook, I forced her to talk to me for a bit and then there was the awkward goobdbye.

Getting a new refridgerator this morning. My old one couldn't keep ice cream frozen and the fridge section was barely cold. Hopefully the new one will be better. But the Brita Filter I had been keeping in the freezer to keep it chilly, I just pulled it out and it was frozen solid. lol. but there was another thing of water elsewhere in there and it wasn't frozen. I also feel guilty because there is this maple syrup that has crusted on the door, and I went to try and clean it up, but it has crystalized in place. So I gave up.

bah! The Fridge is dead! Long live the Fridge!

The old, crappy fridge.

The Maple Stain up close and personal.

Goodbye Aunt Jemima. Goodbye Store Brand Teryaki. Goodbye Skunked Coronas. I loved you all.

UPDATE:

New Fridge is in!

The problem with being tall

2005-09-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

At the Coffee Bean on Sunset and Fairfax, I saw this gross dust piled on
the top on this display. I'm probably the only person that could see
this, but still, gross.

Also as I was pulling into the lot, this woman was walking in the same
direction as I was driving. She looks back, knows I'm there. She keeps
walking slowly on the diagonal, effectively blocking me completely.

Then she slows down even more when she picks up her cell phone.

Grrrrr.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

Labor Day

2005-09-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

The End of Summer is here. These days, the arbitrary days of demarcation -- today is summer, tomorrow is not -- always seem a bit awkward and western to me.

It true that one day things do change, but to have it set it up years in advance with some alegbraic equation dating back to Julius Caeser, just seems arbitrary.

This week things obviously changed for the people on the Gulf Coast. Homes and the personal history we invest in building and artifacts have been wiped away. Almost proving the ancient philosophers right that nothing is worth writing down, you only truly posses your mind and your memory.

On a smaller scale, yesterday also marked the beginning of the end of my grandparent's lives. They moved into a retirement home/assisted living facility. It's a good place with three square meals a day, and people are treated with dignity. But it's a place no one really wants to go.

My grandfather, Charlie, whom I've only known as Papa, is a brilliant man. He worked on Radar instillations in WWII. Went on to work with the first computers after the war. I've always had great respect for him. And his wife Dorothy, Nana to me. SO funny such a delight. She's the source of the entire family's sense of humor.

But you don't move into one of "those" places unless you can't get around much anymore. Driving's hard, walking's harder. And recently Papa's been existential.

"How you doing Papa?" I'd ask when it was just he and I after a family gathering.

"I'm not doing well at all, the pain is always there."

(Okay this isn't what he actually said. I don't have a transcript, so please just insert a heartbreaking and terse line of dialogue for the one I just wrote. Trust me at the time when he said it I was very moved and I swore that the line would be burned into my memory forever. Forever to me apparently means less than two years.)

On an even smaller scale Kinzai Ninjas got the tenative nod to move into the "next phase" of production. Still a little cryptic, but it's a good thing. We should have a theme song soon, and we've practically written the entire Season. It's a good thing. More announcements to come.

Let's wrap this up. Summer ending this weekend is kinda arbitrary, and hurricane changed lives concretely. Nana and Papa are moving into the sunset of their lives, and Kinzai Ninjas heading into a bright new phase.

Kinzai Ninjas

2005-09-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Okay I told my friends about the series, but here's a detailed the detailed scoop on the show:

ONE LINE
Four ninjas have left the dark path of the Japanese warrior to pursue their dreams and ambitions in Orange County, California.

PREMISE
Two years ago three disillusioned ninjas, Bob Smith, River Deep and Mason Madison, escaped from the International Order of Ninjas in Japan. They have set-up up new lives in Applewater Landing, a gated community in Orange County, California and are attempting to shed their deadly ways while pursuing their ambitions and dreams.

Their departure was of course frowned on by I.O.N. who have been trying to track them down and kill them ever since.

Just as Bob, Mason and River are beginning to relax into America, their new lives are disrupted by Kagi, the rambunctious daughter of the I.O.N. master. Kagi simultaneously saves their lives and throws them into chaos. Her arrival reminds the rogue assassins that no matter how far they run and how dramatically they change, deep down they are now and will always be… ninjas.

Each episode deals with the ninjas pursuing their dreams while fighting their deadly nature and dark past. The vanilla mundane of the suburbia is juxtaposed against intense, high-stakes world of Japanese assassins.

CAST
BOB SMITH: A mid-thirties ninja who simply wants the American dream (good job, good wife, good home, good etc.) He idealizes America and sees life through rose-colored glasses. Clark Griswald meets Steven Segal.

RIVER DEEP: A ninja/folk singer with something to say. He really believes that he could start a revolution if people would just listen. He gets laid a lot. Eddie Veder meets Steven Segal.

MASON MADISON: A young ninja with aspirations of being a clothing designer. Very hip, very derivative, always in search of the new black. Carson (queer eye) meets Steven Segal.

KAGI: A 13-year-old ninja with attitude. Ready to take on the world but totally ignorant of modern America. She is steeped in ancient wisdom. Wants the opposite American dream of Bob (Fame, fortune and power). Lindsey Lohan fucks Steven Segal.

OHKII KUDAMONO: The master and CEO of the International Order of Ninjas (I.O.N.) and Kagi’s father. Angry, controlling and full of hate toward anything non-Japanese. General Tojo meets Steven Segal.

TABAKO: The dedicated right hand of Ohkii Kudamono. Passionately pursues the rogue ninjas but mostly to find Mason. Humphry Bogart meets Steven Segal.

JENNIEFER: Bob’s enthusiastic fiancée. Super-duper nice and energetic. Loving, committed and really into making her relationship with Bob work. June Clever meets Katie Segal.

MANDY: Bob’s 8-year-old soon to be adopted daugther. Thinks Bob is a total dork, She is a good person at heart but is trying to be rebellious. Her catch phrase is, “You’re not my real dad.” Dakota Fanning (Cat in the Hat) meets Dakota Fanning (Hide ‘N Seek)…meets Steven Segal.

Kinzai means suburban in Japanese.

The show should be out for your consumption this Fall.

anime

ninja

cartoon

web-series

Sickness

2005-08-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling crappy since yesterday. It started with a sore throat, and I cancelled a hike, and even (gasp!) stopped blogging.

I came home and tried to rest. I took some Sudafed, and some Aleve, and drank a lot of fluids. I keep feeling worse.

When I woke up this morning I googled clinic and my zip code. I got alot of free HIV testing places. I keep Googling, until I stumbled upon the phrase, "Urgent Care".

Bingo. Less than a mile from my place. I drive over and get in at 10:43am. I fill out the paperwork and I prepare to wait. But as I turn in the drug company sponsored clipboard, an African national waves me through.

Great I figure this guy was the nurse, he'd weigh me and take my blood pressure and then send me back to the waiting room for the Doctor.

Turns out he was the doctor. We go back to his actual office, he cleared the deodorant from his desk and we chatted. I said I thought I had strep throat, he said follow me.

In the examination room he listened to my breathing, and heart and then looked down my throat.

It seemed to actually gross him out a bit. "Oh my, yes you got an infection."

Took my temp, 100.5 (this is with two Aleves in my system).

We walked back to his office and he wrote me the prescription. His Apricot iBook sitting there, Doc talked me into using a small indie pharmacy instead of a chain. Cool, whatev, he must get a kick back.

I leave the parking structure at 11 AM.

The prescription is filled by 11:15.

This left me sort of confused. I'm still not sure if I received the sort of care I needed. Sure I got the drugs, but I missed some of the formality.

I just woke up from a nap, and boy let me tell you, I've never felt an antibotic work like this one. I could literally feel the tingling of the battle going on in my throat. Very cool.

Fishbone Concert

2005-08-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Went to see Fishbone at the Ford Ampitheater. Cool show. They are a
great live act.

The problem was that it's too hot and sunny. The concessions stand ran
out of water and ice.

I hung with Norwood from the band for a bit, really cool guy.

When I went to leave, I found I was parked in completely. I couldn't
leave.

So now I'm sitting in my car, writing this.

--
Kent Nichols
Kinzai Ninjas

FAQ

2005-07-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

I've heard of Ninjas, but what the heck does Kinzai mean?

Good question. It means Suburban. Or at least I think it does.

Why Ninjas, why now?

Ninjas are cool. See Real Ultimate Power. And every movie ever made.

When can I see it?

Late 2005/early 2006. The trailer sometime before that.

Who are you guys?

Why do you care?

Come on, d00d!

Okay, we’re just a couple guys in LA who dig comedy. We cut our teeth doing improv here. We make shit up and people laugh. Sometimes.

How'd you come up with the name Beatbox Giant?

Doug can lay down a phat beatbox beat. And giant is my nickname because I'm 6'6".

Are you really that tall?

Yes, I am taller than you.

Why haven’t you let Doug talk?

Because Doug is quiet and cranky. I’ll literally ask him a question and get a response forty minutes later. Do not mess with the Doug.

I hear Doug has a show, where can I see it?

Yeah, Dougie does a two man show with Mike O'Hara (the guy who's on Punk'd). If you’re over 21 and are in Hollywood, send an email to boomboxshow@yahoo.com to get on the mailing list.

But seriously, avoid eye contact with him and buy me a beer.

Welcome.

2005-07-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a space dedicated to news and stuff relating to Beatbox Giant Productions projects outside the scope of Kinzai Ninjas.

Recording

2005-06-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

We had a good recording session last night with one of our actors.

He came in and sang a song that will drive an action sequence. Very funny, very fun.

It's good to bring back an actor. It's been a while since we've recorded anything and having fresh blood and a new perspective is invigorating.

All of the other pieces are falling into to place and I'm switching hats between producer and writer a lot recently.

The announcement will be soon.

Nothing is easy

2005-05-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Don't get complacent, don't get full of yourself, and never, ever jinx yourself.

I'm a firm believer in knocking on wood. Whenever I say something that can be remotely construed as hubris, I compulsively reach for a scrap of knotty pine or burl mahogany.

Knock, knock.

Doug believe's he's gonna die before he hits 40. (Knock, knock)

Conan's on and its a repeat. And of course its showing the only frikken episode I've seen in the last few months. But at least he's show walker clips.

Raiders on the Big Screen

2005-04-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Got the call last night and we had to answer. I was hanging with Doug and his brother Bill.

"Raiders tonight at the NuArt -- midnight screening."

We were in.

Got there an hour early, met some friends who were first in line. Doug dressed like Indy.

What a great movie. I never saw it on the big screen. When it was out when I was a kid, I was forced to go see Cinderella with my Mom and Sister. I was deemed not big boy enough to see Indy with dada and bro.

I caught so many more jokes -- there's a gay student in the classroom scene in the beginning. I never caught that before. And having a great audience made it even more fun.

When we left at 2am, we all felt like kids again.

This is why I live here

2005-04-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

7AM -- Wake up. Make a couple calls back East. Look at the schedule of classes for a Yoga place near me. Decide to go to my first Yoga class ever.

8:30AM -- Find the Yoga studio. I see an androgenous tall black person talking n a cell phone carrying a yoga mat into the studio, this must be where I'm going. I take off my shoes and head into the class and find a mat. A chick with an amazing ass sits in front of me. Maybe this isn't going to be so queer. The first thing the teacher says to the whole class is, "SO KENT, THIS IS YOUR FIRST CLASS EVER?" Why yes it is. We chant, we stretch, we do funky poses.

I learned two things, one I'm not as flexible as I imagined. And two, I have poor balance. I stare at the amazing ass and console myself.

10:30AM -- In N Out Drive Thru. I need to wash the health of yoga off of me, so I make a beeline to my favorite burger joint to be first in line at the drive thru. It opens at 10:30 and there are already four cars ahead of me. I order my double double and enjoy.

2PM -- Douglas's home. I puttered around for most of the day writing some things, and making some calls. I stop by Dougie's pad to check my email and to check in about the project. We chat briefly, but he's in full show prep mode for his performance that night. I leave quickly.

4PM -- Rudy's Barbershop. I'm getting a maintenance cut on trim around the edges. My stylist is a punk chick that looks like she could be a suicide girl. I try to make her laugh.

6PM -- My apartment. I get a call from my friend who I’ve been a wee bit flaky with lately. He reinvites me to this Guiness event somewhere in Hollywood. I’m not doing anything, so I throw on a mock turtleneck and head out.

6:30PM – Hollywood and Highland. This is the new center of Hollywood. Where they hold the Oscars and where the Chinese Theater is located. Which means it’s where they are lining up for Star Wars Episode III. The only problem is that they aren’t showing it at the Chinese Theater, but at the Arclight Theater. Read all abut it here. I don’t talk to them right then, because I’ve got to go drink some beer.

It’s practically impossible to get street parking around here after 6PM. So you usually need to pay some exorbinant amount to just park. Well, the gods were smiling and I got an amazing spot on the street.

Dan and I get to the Guiness thing and it’s actually being held on the actual set of Cheers, which has been completely rebuilt in this museum. A little surreal actually. It was some sort of charity event for Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong foundation. But for $5 bucks you got unlimited Guiness and some decent food.

8:20PM -- Dan and I leave the Guiness event, I had about 5 or 6 of em. And we walk right by the Star Wars line. I couldn’t resist myself so I chatted with them for about 20 minutes. A good group, and very devoted. Huge geeks of course, but we all have our own geeky sides.

We get in his car and get another great street parking spot.

8:50PM – Dan and I arrive at the Improv Olympic for Douglas’s 9PM show. He’s done over 200 performances with his partner Mikey O, and this one was great.

10:30PM – We leave the theater and walk over to the Arclight to watch the midnight show of Kung Fu Hustle. We have a little time to kill so we go to the bar. We see the guy who was the bass player in Ray and Dan sees Forrest Whittaker. I see the guy he’s talking about, but he doesn’t look like Forrest Whitaker. It comes down to the Lazy Eye. Dan saw and the waitress confirmed it. Then Drew Carrey comes in and sits at the bar.

We go and see the flick, it’s amazing.

2AM – My apartment. I go to sleep

The First Notch

2005-04-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well we did it. Our first set of scripts have passed inspection and we're off to the races.

It feels really good too. Just to get the scripts done in the first place was a large accomplishment of Doug and I writing and brainstorming on our own. When we finally showed them to other people, we got a lot of great notes, but it forced us to think deeper and harder about the scripts we had already written. Each draft got better and better.

When we turned in the last round I was exhausted. I almost couldn't think about those stories anymore. We went back and polished everything again, and did some major structural reworking. We we hit send on the email, I really felt like we left it all on the field. We had done the work and hopefully it showed.

It did. We got the feedback today and they were really impressed. We took their notes and ran with them and then pushed even harder to exceed them. When we got the notes today, it was just a few minor fixes.

I was relieved they liked it and proud of our efforts.

That feeling passed quickly because there is still a ton of work to be done. Finalizing casting and designs, and creating the first soundtrack.

There is a lot of work to be done, but today was a good day and a new phase has begun.

Balance

2005-04-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've recently been think about balance and the lack of perspective I have. For the last three years I have been completely blind and on a journey to become the filmmaker that is hidden within me.

What does that mean? I've sworn off relationships, I don't go out drinking with the boys, and I spend all of my time and energy trying to figure out how to be the best that I can be.

Well, now I'm sitting here. I've achieved some level of success, but now is when the men and the boys are decided. Now is the time to stop being weepy about the decisions I've made and get down to the business at hand, of doing the things I love to do and showing off to you guys what I can do.

I'm really excited about the project right now. Things are hitting on all cylinders. The stories are clicking and the production is up and running.

The writing process has been grueling, but satisfying. There is a ton of stuff out there on how gut wrenching it is to rewrite your material. Especially when you put so much into each draft. But, I gotta say that after each round the scripts are remarkably better. They are leaner, stronger, and funnier. All vital things to a new project.

Stress

2005-03-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough week. Stress is compounding. I came home, blew off some steam, went out and bought a $5 bottle of shiraz. And I've been watching the Apprentice. I'm zoning and letting reality tv wash over me.

Mundane Details

2005-03-23T20:33:00.000-08:00

For the last few weeks Douglas and I have been doing the mundane details of laying the proper foundation for our project. Getting deal memos in place with the distributor and the subcontractors. Deciding where we'll locate our business for tax purposes. Deciding on a name. All important things, but we can only get so much done at a time.

In the middle of all this, we got our first round of notes. We were nervous before we got them, because we haven't shown the scripts to anyone. So when we got the feedback, it was generally positive, but there were some major changes requested.

Now you'll see on Project Greenlight, or see some fictionalized accounts of what happens when a writer is asked to change his work. Great huffing and puffing -- how dare those philistines question my work.

But this was different. There were some minor issues about the tone of the piece, which we generally agreed with, and there were requests to have mroe fun with the idea within the environment. Which we thought were cool.

But the best note we got, was to eliminate a whole character. I could tell that when they gave us the note, they were a little skeptical about how we'd react, but when they said it, it made so much sense. This character was a problem to write for in every single situation. She didn't really serve any purpose except as a setup in the beginning of the story.

It was such a weight lifted from the narrative, and I don't think Doug and I would have seen it because we were too close to the material.

That's not to say there aren't asshats out there that don't know what they are talking about, but if you do get a good note, screw your own ego and run with it.

Wizard Con

2005-03-19T20:29:00.000-08:00

I went to Wizard Con at the Long Beach Convention center. First sort of comic book convention I've been too. It was funny all the different type of people and the stuff you can buy.

Seth Green was wandering around the floor with the big guy from ER. He's Christina Ricci tiny.

Other impressions. There are two distinct sections at the back, signings, and autographs. The signings are for Comic celebrities, like Stan Lee, and the autographs area is for the celebrities that time forgot. Kate Jackson timidly eating a salad while her kids play in the booth. The guy who wore a hockey mask in Road Warrior. Daisy Duke.

Every few minutes there is a public address announcement directing the attendees to new signings and events. It was like Star Tours.

There were a lot of lines waiting for things and people I didn't know about.

There was a hot chick dressed as an Empire Admiral from Star Wars. I don't know if I was attracted to her, or the costume, or both.

Christina Ricci is tiny

2005-03-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

I was getting an espresso today and I saw Christina Ricci. She is microscopic. I think she was with some other twenty-something famous chick, but I couldn't place her.

Magnificent Seven

2005-03-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

Watching this movie right now. It's a classic and all, but it's a little ruined because it's so based on Seven Samurai that I can't help but see the similarities. And also because Three Amigos is too close a parody. Also Elmer Bernstein who wrote the score also wrote the Three Amigos score, and I like the Amigos score better.

So right now, the movie is playing and I'm visiting my folks. All of us are napping and zoning in and out of the flick. Oh the exciting life of a indie filmmaker.

I did some great research today and last night. My sister through a birthday party for her BF and there was a lot of great people and conversation. We played a lot of Marry, Fuck, Kill. Where your friend names three people and you decide who to marry, fuck, and kill. Good times.

Went to the mall and it was really crowded. became clued into the Brand Hollister. Also Volcom. Actually the Volcom thing happended at the party. A guy had a Volcom t-Shirt. And I asked him in front of everyone, "what's Volcom?"

Everyone just stopped and stared at me. I never heard or saw that brand before, but everyone in the room was intimately familiar. It was shocking, and cool, and embarrassing, and great.

I also kicked around my high school and poked around this arts and craft fair they were having.

Cheerleading Competition

2005-03-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

My friend's sister is involved in a Cheerleading competition this weekend and I'm bravely going to attend in the name of research.

What I do for my craft.

Rebel Without A Crew

2005-03-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

I've been rereading this great book recently. Well not actually rereading the whole thing -- I pick it up for five minutes at a time and read a few pages in a random spot in the book.

A few impressions -- yes he's right. Film school will be the creativity out of you and will stick you with a huge bill. The film industry does not reward education. They don't care if you have a Masters in Screenwriting from USC. They only care if you have a script, or if you can direct. That's it.

And he's also wrong. I mean Robert Rodriguez is one talented and lucky bastard. The chances that you are aas talented and lucky as he is are small -- very small. He was a guy that was making movies for 15 years before he got 'discovered'. You should do that too, and don't expect to make it big when you're 24 unless you have already done your homework.

But still the book works as a fantasy fulfillment for me. Here is a guy who gets all of the good shit his first time out. And he sort of stumbled into it. It's a great read and inspiring. He never come across as being a smarty pants or undeserving.

And secretly I hope that I'm as talented and lucky.

Beatbox Giant Productions

ASK A NINJA: Question 13 "Ninjas Hate Clooney"

ASK A NINJA: Special Delivery 1 "What is Podcasting?"

ASK A NINJA: Question 12 "Ninja Colds"

MEDIA: Business Week Interviews Douglas And Kent

ASK A NINJA: Question 11 "Ninja Dogs"

Ask A Ninja: Question 10 "Ninja Metal"

Ask A Ninja: Question 9 "Ninja Love"

Ask A Ninja: Question 8 "Roger"

Ask A Ninja: Question 7 "Ninja Grub"

Ask A Ninja: Question 6 "Master of Disguise"

Askaninja.com

Ask A Ninja: Question 5 "Ninja Skills"

Ask A Ninja: Question 4 "Hiring A Ninja"

To the huffy man at the post office

Small Gift From LA

Ask A Ninja: Question 3 "Ninja Training"

Ask A Ninja: Question 2 "Ninja Santa"

The New World

GROSS-OUT FLICK TOPS IFILM VIRAL VIDEOS

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 10 "Santee Alley"

King Kong

The Indie TV Movement is Here

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 9 "HVX200"

Ask A Ninja: Question #1: The Ninja-Mart Store

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 8 "Japan Expo"

*NSFW* Short Film: Four Years Running *NSFW*

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 7 "Finishing The Script"

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 6 "Tamale Festival"

Rhympinion V

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 5 "Portable Media Con Day 1"

Kent's Video Journal: Ep. 4 "Drinking The Lawn"

Kent's Video Journal: Episode 3 "The Grove"

Rhympinion IV

Rock Show

Baggage

Rhympinion III

Kent's Video Journal: Episode 2 "Halloween"

Rhympinion II

Pope Joan

Rhympinion

Milestone

Cleaning Out My Voice Memos

Kent's Video Journal: Episode One -- Bad Public Art

TV Survey

Mobile Phoning

Lost

New Kitty

RIP Roxy

Durnk Podcast

Walnutting

Farm Living

Screening

Sleepless Nights

Fishbone Part Two

Fishbone Part One

Changes

Grand Challenge

Press

James Dean

Open Water, Point Break, and Saved!

Kent Audio Blog 9-28-05

Watts Towers

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Rudy (1993) & Babe (1995)

Saturday 9-24-05 Update

Kinzai Ninjas Update

Road House

Karate Kid

Live Blogging The JetBlue Crisis

First Audio Blog

The Cycle

Wavecrest

Sleepless in San Diego

Jealous

The Untouchables

Shoot Them

Brigadoon (1954)

Father/Son Bonding

Gus Is In A Pickle

NSFW Short Film: Four Years Running NSFW