Well, some time has passed since the last post here and I figure it’s high time for an update. I’ve been quite busy lately.

I’m back to working out regularly nowadays. I completed a 6 week stint with a trainer in Locust working out of Intrafiitt’s facility out there. She was pretty knowledgeable and their diet plan, though extremely expensive is a decent one. They have nice online meal planning software which I have access to for about a year.  I think, however that I’m going to switch back to something more calorie restrictive like my meal plans from Boyd a few years ago for a few weeks, just to drop some more pounds a little faster. I really wanted to start Cross-Fit the first week of January and feel like I need to drop about 20 lbs more first to avoid injury in doing that program. The really good news it that at least now, I’m about it. My head is on the mission and I’m getting at least 3 workouts in most weeks including weights and cardio.

I’ve decided to shift my workouts back to my main gym (Gold’s) in Albemarle, at least until I get in shape enough to do the Crossfit program, which hopefully won’t be longer than one month more.

I’ve actually been really busy with my film making since the last update. I shot my first post-Mutantville project, “Take That,” with Robert Filion. I also worked on Brad Hord and Chris Feree’s project, “Mosaic 33” as co-director, stunt co-ordinator first Assistant Director, Dolly Grip, Gaffer and all around Filion’s Monkey boy! There have been times where it’s been hard to maintain humility, I won’t lie. When you bust your ass moving gear two hours in advance of someone else arriving, then get bitched at for leaving 20 minutes early after 2 twelve hour days in a row, it can be hard to not put somebody on blast. However, I have been keeping my goals in sight with film making at all times. It’s important to recognize your cinematic betters and to open yourself up to learning skills you don’t have. The kind of work I’m doing right now with Robert is really my own personal film school. At MVP a few of us read a few books and hit the ground running.  Such as it was, our uber quick and on the fly film making education left holes. I’m trying to fill those holes now.

Robert let me assemble his dolly/jib/crane on the Mosaic 33 set, Saturday morning. It took me a whopping 45 minutes to do what he can do in 15 minutes. There you go. What am I gonna do, tell him I like to do it my way? It takes practice to build skills. I’m honing my craft. M33 was a great opportunity to do just that and it would have never happened via the Mutantville machine. We just didn’t operate under anyone else’s auspices apart from our own. Who doesn’t like to call the shots? There are pros and cons to both approaches, but at the end of the day, to grow, you have to get out there.

My work on Mosaic 33 was provided, at least in part to repay some significant favors producer Brad Hord did for me in the production of my album. He made several trips to Snug Records studios to play drums on,” Pop Package,” and really put some significant time into the prep and did an amazing job. I’m glad to have the opportunity to provide some help to him.

The shooting schedule was broken apart over 4 days, 2 full weekends separated by a week off in between. Todd and I headed up each Friday night before the shoot weekends and would come back late Sunday night. I had to sacrifice some time away from the family, but, absence makes the heart grow fonder, or so they say.  Not sure that works at my house but who’s to say. Perhaps my expectations are not in line with the reality of my life. Ultimately, I think Mosaic 33 will be something I’ll be really proud to have played some part in. Stay tuned for information on the screening date and location.

In still other news, my return to actually doing exercise seems to have sparked something in me creatively. I’ve been writing new music once more and that is always exciting in my little world.

My wife has complained that I’ve never written her a love song (completely untrue of course.) some people don’t understand layering and characters in songs, how the parables can create a deeper picture than straight forward lyrics etc. In any case, I m attempted to write a straight forward love song with a catchy tune and recorded several quick demos with my phone. I actually ended up with something I thought was pretty good, not that it impressed Nancee much. Such is my life, an artist in a nest where art is not appreciated at all. When I have a proper demo with backing vocals and some assort of percussion, I’ll share it here for anyone who’s interested in hearing it.

I’ve been recording film making podcast entrees since the start of the filming of “Take That” back in October.  Honestly the inspiration came from Streebo’s MVP Mutant Radio. I wanted to do a smaller show, to sort of share my personal insights into smaller film making endeavors.  I got a sweet theme song and have been enjoying making these. The plan is to stockpile a few of these before setting up my lib-syn subscription and getting them up to iTunes. I’ve also purchased a new mic and a copy of Pro tools to get the quality up a little higher than what my iPhone can do. Look for that coming by years end and of course it will be available here.

Thanks for stopping by.