Brave New Film

{There are basically 3 topics in this post, so I'll try not to be too verbose.}

It all starts with Brave New World (2002), which I still am unclear as to why it has never been mentioned before in this News Blog. I have always been rather fond of Aldus Huxley's book, and when I first was told to read it back in high school, my class group got to turn it into a movie. We had to be appropriate and all, of course, and we had some portions be live theater, but for the most part, it worked.

But then, as I've mentioned at least once before in these posts, the rolling blackouts of 2003 destroyed my digital masters of anything prior. For Brave New World, though, my only VHS had already been handed off to the teacher, who apparently destroys student work after 6 months. Sad day, for sure.

HOWEVER, in the past two weeks, I have magically come upon a set of old Hi8 mm tapes, at least one of which is labeled as footage for Brave New World! I might review it soon, and give it the go ahead to reedit what I can of the film so that SOMETHING of the project can be posted on YouTube.

I bother to mention this at all because of a news story I read yesterday that just happened to be about an upcoming film of this book! It would star Leonardo DiCaprio, and be directed by Ridley Scott. There may have been prior TV Movie kinda versions before, but never a film. Exciting!

We filmed most of it in San Carlos, which is a stretch for the remaining topic: Kathryn Bigelow. Her latest brave new film, The Hurt Locker, continues to earn critical raves, and I simply had to put her interview from The Colbert Report for all to see.

Did the Trick

Just as the June 23rd News Blog entry suggested, giving Composer Michael Neverisky a Special Thanks credit for At the Core on IMDb.com was successful, as he now has his own individual page to represent himself there. Yay!

Now, I'm trying to link that page to his name on the movie's soundtrack listing, but as with this Special Thanks project, if I give it some patience, I will hopefully get my wish.

3rd Site, Part I

As you may have noticed by now, if you're capable of reading this very text, our site has transferred both its Home Page and News Blog to a new site: directorG.uuuq.com. While the address is slightly longer, it was necessary for several reasons: 1) This News Blog takes up more space than you'd think -- at least 11 MB, 2) I needed a 3rd site that actually permitted FTPing files, which the 2nd site (jimthzz.bingodisk.com/public) simply wasn't capable of, 3) It was free, and 4) No Ads!

So, call it a celebration of sorts, as anything that's free (and means it) is a worthy cause. We'll see how well it works; it took nearly 2 weeks before it would let me register. Also, I'm having to put this main index page on there, too, so that I don't use an iFrame to insert the News Blog to another site's page (since it gets iFramed to the bottom of the main page regardless of where it's located...!).

The original links of directorG.com and directorG.com/news (for now, at least) will stay the same, and you'll get redirected to the new Zymic ones.

100th New News Blog Post!

One year, three months and five days: that's how long it took to reach this blog! That's actually not that bad, considering how often new News Blog blog entries are posted...

To commemorate this achievement, we're doing something special. As a movie production company, we obviously love movies when they're well-made! Embedded below's a good group of well-made films from across the board that were personally selected by yours truly for this special occasion. Many ended up being animation; go figure!

From YouTube: Google Maps

From Vimeo: Dried Up

From Hulu: Clip from Up

From Google Video: Trailer to American Beauty

From FunnyOrDie: Prop 8 - The Musical

From MySpaceVids: Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'

The First Fest

It's official: At the Core (2006) is soon to be entered into the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival! Early entry deadline is May 15, and the festival itself is in mid October.

No clips of it are online yet, as I want to make sure doing this wouldn't prevent any sort of festival "world premiere" attributes. Nonetheless, there are several stills and production photos that hold up just fine for now.

BTW, I simply couldn't believe that The Last Kiss (2000) had never been embedded in a News Blog entry before this one! Tada!

BTW#2, The Dog of Pompeii (1999) has now reached 2,000 views on YouTube!

They Liked It!

This past Saturday, I presented my fine cut of the latest Gizdich Ranch Television Commercial at an appointment scheduled at the very ranch in Watsonville. Vince Gizdich himself was a fellow viewer of the commercial. All viewers were unanimously pleased!

Vince Gizdich and Staci Caccioppi in At the Core (2006).

Now, the TV station KSBW is going to be contacted, and we'll see where this takes us in a few weeks!

BTW, the Demo Reel is shown again here because more than 4 News Blog entries exist since the last time it appeared, and I still want it on the front page.

Blogiversary

Today, it has officially been one year of successfully utilizing the concept of a blog to convey news articles on this site. It seems like time to celebrate! What could be worthy of displaying? Hrm... How 'bout a YouTube clip from one of the best shows ever on television?

Oh yeah, and of course:

BTW, Blogiversary and Blagojevich are not the same thing, in case you baffled folks were wondering! NOT related topics! :-)

Year of the YouTube

What an exciting year it has been for Thomas Productions. Though the tail end of it had a few downers that included a dead hard drive, there were still many great things, particularly an overwhelming quantity of YouTube uploads!

Currently, both The Dog of Pompeii and Scenes from Being John Malkovich have more than 1000 viewings, with The Last Kiss, Lipstick on a Pig? Actually..., Photagrizzly Man and My Teachers Are Aliens each surpassing 300.

Oh yeah, this site got a new look this year, too, this News Blog included. Can't forget that!

50th New News Posting

In the midst of announcing the latest GPicturama publication, it just so happens that this is the 50th New News Blog Post! Took just over 1/2 a year to reach, which really is quite amazing in retrospect.

Anyhoo, the latest GPicturama addition regards Edgewood Park Nature Preserve, and an attempt to find an anticipated bench a few miles inward. It's worth checking out.

As an unrelated added bonus, watch this Katie Couric interview clip with Sarah Palin, and then you should understand that there's ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why the McCain / Palin duo should EVER reach the White House.

3 Shorts Finally Posted

Finally, Three Shorts: Commentary on Society (2003) has been posted at YouTube! It's in three parts due to time constraints, and there are now new credits that implement more unused clips captured for the film in a "secret" fourth short. Watch 'em below!

Also, in the hectic site melodrama currently going on, I've put the News Blog back at directorG.com, and have decided to start moving images instead. It shouldn't redirect any actual page URLs, but I'll keep you posted, as is the purpose of a News Blog!