HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY, RED RIVER THEATRES!!!

I LOVE the gang at Red River Theatres.  Seven years ago (!!!) they let this bearded fat dude show a mini-film with muppets to propose to his wife. And it went a little crazy afterwards, and every step of the way everyone up there has been close to my heart. I can never thank them enough for everything they did.

This year marks their 10th Birthday! I couldn't make it up to their birthday festivities, but Muppet Sid wanted to let them know that there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't think about them.

Happy Birthday, RRT.  We love you all. I hope you are around for a long, long, long time, exposing people to quality independent cinema.

<3

Stacked

While digging through some scanned negative files, I came across this one, which I had forgotten about.

This image was made in the old, empty studio that used to be WarmStone Studio in the Picker Building, which was the studio directly next door to my old photography studio.  I spent a few hours one afternoon seeing if the chairs would stack.

Shot on medium format film with my Hasselblad 500CM

Kodak

On our way back home from visiting Atlanta a few years ago, I found this Kodak glass at a flea market.

It sits on my desk at the new studio with some rolls of film inside it.

#KnowYourRoots

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001). Region 1 Korean blu-ray release. Mine all mine.

I can't explain the love or obsession I have with the movie "Brotherhood of the Wolf".  I've argued with Dave about it many times on our podcast.  He hates it.  I LOVE it.  I've been hoping for a blu-ray release of Brotherhood for a long, long time, and it just looks like it's never going to happen in the US.  I started sleuthing around in the interwebz, and discovered that their is a Region 1 blu-ray release from China, so I ordered that sucker up, and it is now living with me and I'm so happy to have a HD version of the film.

Brotherhood of the Wolf came out in 2001, and luckily a local independent movie theater was showing it.  I think I went back with different friends at least three times during it's run at that theater so show people how amazing it was.  It's like someone threw every genre of movie at the wall, and whatever stuck was what was put into the film.  It's a French historical-monster film. But its more than that; it' a monster-kung fu-period-who dunnit-philosophical-action flick.  It's got monsters.  It's got a bone sword.  It's got magic potions and a guy that looks like David Lee Roth and it's bat-shit insane.  Totally.  It's absolutely bananas.  Which is why I love it so much.  It's even got a giant puppet in it courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

And the coats.  Did I mention the coats yet?

COATS.  Seriously.  I've never wanted a coat so much in my entire life.  This is how our main characters are introduced.  Pouring in rain, and in these coats.  Oh, and also with an in-the-rain-Kung fu-fighting scene, too.

Brotherhood was directed by Christophe Gans.  After this movie, he went on to direct the first Silent Hill film.  Before this movie, he did a live-action adaption of the anime Crying Freeman.

Oh, and it's got Mark Dacascos in it.  He later went on to be the host of the US version of Iron Chef.

He doesn't cook, but he kicks major ass in this movie.

If you have never seen it, give it a shot.  Especially if you are into just about any genre, ever.

More of that coat:

I'm not posting any other images that might give anything away.  If you dig crazy shit, check this out.

If you already have checked it out, leave a comment below so we can pontificate on how amazing the movie is.

And we can talk about those coats.

Flashback: Sara, Blimps & Pinhole Photography

While going through some really old cd's of images, I came across some shots of Sara photographing a blimp outside of a blimp factory in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.  I think this must have been around 2005-ish.  We were visiting my parents, who lived down there for a few years.

Here is her image of the blimp that she was taking at this exact moment:

This albumen print taken with a pinhole camera, hangs at her parents house.  I love watching Sara photograph.

That blimp factory was dismantled years later.  It used to be right down the road from where my folks lived.  It was really impressive.  I'm sad that it's gone.

Sara’s website: saraceaser.com

Interlude: Fuji Instax Printer

A few weeks ago I picked up a Fuji Instax printer.  It allows me to print mini-polaroids of images off my cell phone, or images I've uploaded/downloaded to my cell phone.  I picked one up because Fuji recently discontinued all of their instant pack-film, which I love.  I stocked my fridge up a few years ago of FP-3000B, the black and white instant film, when they ceased production of it.  The final nail in the fuji pack-film coffin was when they announced earlier this year that FP-100C, their color instant film, will stop being made.

So the Instax came the other day, and with my Fuji X100S I took a photo of my Fuji FP-3000B and through a Eyefi SD card sent the image to my Android phone which I then sent wirelessly to the Instax printer which made an instant print and I then took a picture of the print with my Android to upload to Instagram.

Which is interesting from a technology standpoint.  But it's kinda dumb as well.  ;-)

Film Facts

Sara and I were in an antique store, an I came across this little 3 1/2 x 6 inch flyer for old Kodak film.  It was only $1, so I jumped all over it and I brought it home with me and scanned the front into the computer.  At some point, I'll make a large print of it and hang it on my wall.

Film is not dead.  Believe in film.

#BeliveInFilm