What Can I Say? This Is Me.

Howdy, y'all... yup, I said "howdy".... why does that surprise you? Didn't you see me wearing the boots and cowboy hat? And that I'm chewing tobacco? Sorry about your shoes, by the way... don't normally chew this stuff...

It was a dreary day in San Diego today... yucky and rainy and miserable... do you pity me/us? The one day of the year that the weather isn't perfect! Come on, send some pity my way! Don't be so stingy! Or stringy, for that matter. How about springy? Ay, springes to catch woodcocks! I do know! When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul lends the tongue vows!

A little Shakespeare for you there. Just to keep things fresh. Nothin' fresher than Shakespeare, eh!? EH!!?!??!

So the BTI train rolls forward! Many people in my acquaintance have seen the whole thing (all 3 episodes), and many more have seen the 2 episodes that have been officially released. And many people haven't seen any of it yet, in spite of my sending them a link directly! I'm trying to analyze it, and the best I can come up with is that when a person discovers something (to watch or read, etc) on his or her own, they will make immediate time to consume it. But if someone says, "Hey, would you watch/read this and tell me what you think, please?" then it becomes like homework or some such, and thus easy to put off indefinitely.

Several folks told me they'd gladly watch it and share their thoughts with me, and still haven't, after a couple weeks now! Part of me is bummed, and part of me understands.

The part of me that has labored over this thing for 18+ months and knows all that went into getting it up on the screen to share with the world, that part of me loves the series. All of it, warts and all. I'm so proud of what we've done, I could burst. I want everyone that means something to me to see it and see what we've done...

But the part of me that watches it fresh, as though I knew nothing about it ahead of time? That part of me can see the "flaws." But the flaws don't bum me out -- they are few and minimal, in my estimation. There is far more positive about the product so far than negative. Yet there are a few folks I know who seem to enjoy pointing out all of the flaws and niggling little aspects of the acting, the story telling, the craft... there are nits that need to be picked, apparently! Everyone's a critic, right? That's ok, I'm good with it. It's just another lesson I'm learning, about life and storytelling and friendships.

I don't fault anyone for either not watching it, or for picking it apart.

That having been said, my excitement level for the future of this project (and beyond) is sky high. We're working on more scripts as we speak.

I survived Tax Day. In case you were wondering.

Let's see, what else?

Let's face it... if you're familiar with this blog at all, you already know what else... Still reading books (currently Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson), still watching movies and comedy (November Man (meh), Daredevil (meh), and Jim Gaffigan and Brian Regan (Yay to both!)), still listening to music (80's music, plus contemporary rock), and still going to acting class up in Hollywood twice a week (currently working a cool scene from Nightcrawler). Still playing Minecraft. Still drinking Caramel Macchiatos.

The days are sliding by. My hair is growing out. My beard itches. The carpets need cleaning. I need new tires on my car. Gas prices are climbing. I bought Interstellar weeks ago and still haven't watched it. I'm sore from my last workout. I have more lemons than I know what to do with. I want GTAV but don't want to pay $60 for it.

You know... same old thing.

Here's my latest favorite song... Failure, by Breaking Benjamin...



One more thing about Beyond the Impact... the main website is not up yet, and I'm not sure when it will be live... so in the interim, I've made a page here on this blog, and this is where I'm going to post embeds of the episodes, as well as photos and notes on the story lines and characters, as long as Jeff approves. The link is up there below the banner.

Here's the latest trailer for the series. It's awesome. You should watch it.

BTi Season Finale Teaser from ETCHED MOTION PRO on Vimeo.

What can I say? This is me. This is my world at the moment.

I hope you're doing well, whomever and wherever you are.

Adios for now,

Dave the Small

There Was This One Time When...

...after a long day of feeling a bit yucky, Dave decides it has been quite long enough since his last blog post. So he lopes over to his blog, unlocks the front doors, flinging them open, and ambles in.

It seems musty and stuffy in his blog. The air is still. There's a mild, lingering odor; a strange mix of cheese puffs, BBQ corn nuts and unfulfilled dreams. Plus, methane. Or maybe he brought that particular scent along with him, I dunno...

Glancing up toward the vaulted ceilings in the blog foyer, Dave notices cobwebs. Plus... wait, what is that, way up there, stuck to the wall near the ceiling line? Good grief, is that a booger? Dave marvels at the dedication involved in that placement. Was it a 16-foot ladder, or a world-class fling, he wonders?

Dave sighs. Three paragraphs in, and already he's sunk to Jr. High School levels. Farts and boogers? Really? Good thing he's alone in here. No one to be embarrassed in front of. Unless, of course, the live web stream is still active. Dave walks over to the statue of Bill Murray by the entrance to the main ballroom and checks the hidden camera for the blinking red light. Nope. The webcam is dead.

Near the statue is a half-empty bowl of peanuts. Yikes. Probably long-since stale. He tries one. Yup, stale. He grabs a handful and munches on them as he moves into the ballroom.

Silence. He powers up the phonograph, and kneels down to grab an LP out of the nearby milk crate. He wonders what he should play to break the silence. Sabotage, by the Beastie Boys? Failure, by Breaking Benjamin? In the Air Tonight, by Phil Collins? He decides on something mellow... Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem, by the enigmatic Peter Murphy.



Dave shuffles over to the middle of the ballroom floor, lays down on his back and looks at the mural on the ceiling, as the haunting music plays...

Dave is amazed by the photography of Tim Flach. Then again, Dave is amazed by many things. He's childlike like that. Yes, childlike and childish, all in the same blog post. Dave spreads his arms and legs apart, like that famous drawing by Michelangelo, or DaVinci, or whomever it was, and lets his mind begin to wander.

He's letting his hair grow out. It's at that awkward stage that is best endured by employing a hat. He had a video-taped audition for an SDGE commercial today. He filmed it with his iPhone as he sat in his car during his lunch break. He hopes his awkward hair wasn't a minus. He loves his time in his car during lunch. Alone, windows open, a salad in his lap, an iced caramel macchiato in the cup holder, his iPad draped over the steering wheel, the Kindle app opened to whatever novel he is currently reading. Ah, a golden time. The only part of the day he enjoys more is climbing into bed each night at 2am to go to sleep. In the dark, exhausted, drifting off to sleep. Wonderful.

The Peter Murphy music stops. Dave tries to decide if he should put on another song, or just lay there in silence.

The silence wins.

Dave's mind continues to wander. His acting career is moving forward. He's going up to LA twice a week now for classes. He's slowly understanding the importance of "play" when it comes to acting. For someone who likes (needs?) to be in control as much as possible, it's been very difficult for him to learn to just cut loose and play with abandon, without fear of making mistakes or "doing it wrong". John Cleese spoke brilliantly about just that, in a video clip of a speech Dave watched recently...



Being re-wired on a foundational level has been a fascinating, occasionally-painful journey for Dave, but the results are tangible. He's working on the next script for the Beyond the Impact web series. The first 15-minute episode has been released to the public...

BTi EP 1. from ETCHED MOTION PRO on Vimeo.

The second 15-minute episode will be released on the 13th of this month, and the final 20-minutes will be released on the 26th. Dave is learning patience the hard way. It's hard to wait, but it's the right thing to do. Dave is learning.

[EDIT] Here is Episode 2:

BTi EP 2. from ETCHED MOTION PRO on Vimeo.

He sits up, sighs and glances about the ballroom. He remembers the last time people were dancing in here. It was fun to watch from a detached distance, but up-close mingling always unnerves Dave, no matter how hard he tries to blend in, and so that night Dave fled his own party and played Minecraft instead. He felt badly about it, but, hey, you are what you are, yes? Dave holds out some bizarre hope that somehow, some day, he'll magically transform into a Man, capital M. A heroic type. Someone people can rely on in a pinch, when things get rough, instead of crumbling and fleeing.

Dave pictures himself like this, humorously enough...

Is there a more manly picture in existence than that one, Dave wonders? That beard alone could rule a small country.

Dave hops up to his feet, stopping his mind before it wanders down that philosophical rabbit hole -- What is man? He strides across the ballroom, pushes the nose on the portrait of Matthew McConaughey, activating the door to the secret passageway, and enters his Snack Storage Room, grabbing a 1-pound bag of teriyaki beef jerkey and a bottle of water (he'd given up Red Bulls long ago), and continues through the greenhouse, up the spiral staircase and out onto the balcony, overlooking the city.

The sounds of the city soothe him tonight, reminding Dave that he isn't alone. For though he enjoys being by himself, he doesn't like being alone...

Well, it makes sense to Dave....

He sits on his director's chair, opening the bag of jerkey, and calls out to the night.

"Adios for now!"