First off, I'm sorry for not being around as much as I should. I've been bogged down with shoots and events at work. I know, I know, that's a pretty shitty excuse but that's the card I'm playing. Forgive me.

Secondly, as proof that I have been working and at the request of jollyrogerwilco, I'm posting a link to a recent short piece that I directed. Now before you get all excited about the possibility of The Traveler: Part 2, You must know that this video is not that. 

I had the privilege to work with a Non-profit organization who helps people with HIV/AIDS get back on their feet and rebuild their lives. I met a man named Thomas who is an inspiration to me and to many other people. He was willing to share his personal story with me and allow me to tell his journey though my lens. This video is designed to raise money for Samaritan House so they can in turn help more people like Thomas. Basically, they asked us to create one of those "ESPN Sad Stories" that you see every Sunday afternoon. In the industry, this is known as a "heartstrings" video.

http://www.vimeo.com/2205829

Every year the Dallas Cowboys have a kickoff luncheon. For the past 3 years my company has edited a video that plays during their annual luncheon. We were able to show this to the entire team and in front of a live audience. This video also plays before every home game right before kickoff. If any of you go to any Cowboy games this year, keep an eye out for it. Here you go...

Intro to luncheon video

Kick off video

Hey guys, my apologies for not stopping by as much as I should. Between work, fantasy football and a new woman, I've been really busy. But I did want to share this. Every year the Dallas Cowboys have a kickoff luncheon. For the past 3 years we've edited a video that plays during the luncheon. This video also plays before every home game right before kickoff. If any of you go to any Cowboy games this year, keep an eye out for it. Here you go...

Intro to luncheon video

Kick off video

Hey since these are the dog days of summer, I figured I'd share something with you guys that has nothing to do with Spurs basketball. I figured after Stampler gave us play by play of the Euro cup and Scrappy posting his life story, this is fair game. This past weekend our film team participated in the 48 hour Film Festival. This is a national traveling festival and this past weekend it was in Dallas. Every team is required to write, shoot and edit a 4 to 7 minute film in 48 hours. Our team competed with teams from all over the DFW area. Each team drew a different genre and every team had to incorporate a given prop, dialogue line, character and a profession. This year's prop was a book, the line was "What was I supposed to say?", character was Dale Taylor and the profession was an auto mechanic.  We drew Sci Fi so we had to somehow incorporate these into a script. I was the cinematographer on this short film. My responsibility is to make the writer/director's vision come to fruition. You can see my work by paying attention to the lighting, shot composition, mood and camera movement. We screened this for a live audience on Tuesday night. I'd like to know your thoughts. 

Click here to watch the video

So I wandered over to Mavs Moneyball to see what they were talking about and I found this. We're not even close to locking up Maggette, and they're starting to freak out. I had a good laugh after reading this...

Baron Davis signs with the Clippers...

WOW…

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3470016

One plus is that it all but guarantees Corey Maggette will not get more than the MLE… They’ve got to renounce his sign and trade rights to make this deal work, so he’s out there for 5.5 million or whatever…

So, what this means is that we can no longer do a S&T for Maggette... no one can.  So with everyone out there targeting Corey with their MLE, do the Mavs have what it takes to seperate themselves from the likes of Boston, Orlando, or even Phoenix? 

I believe so, and it's because of one of the most outspoken and player-friendly owners in the league.  Time to step up Mark... the money is even out there for him, but what are the Mavericks organization going to offer him that other teams wont?

[Note by Toddy, 07/01/08 9:55 PM MDT ] Dont worry, it just got worse... Spurs are reported as being the front runners for Maggette...

@#$%@$%@^$@!#$!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn

Spurs are the Front runners....

by Toddy on Jul 1, 2008 10:44 PM CDT  reply  actions   0 recs

"Mr. Hicks, you watch, I'm going to be a leader on this team." Kinsler

by sprite on Jul 1, 2008 11:05 PM CDT  up  reply  actions   0 recs

Thats Typical

The Spurs get Maggette….They didnt win the finals last year which means their due for one this year…..This always happens to the Mavs Always….I remember a few years ago the mavs could have made a deal for Rasheed…..This was in the Nellie and Big 3 days and one of the big 3 wasnt even involved ….its inevitable….Mavs have the curse of the bambino….They cant ever get the coveted FA or work the right deal….Its always the deal they should have made….The Spurs get Maggette we might get Finley ….dont like that scenario at all!!!!!!!!!!

kiddisaster

by aaronp on Jul 1, 2008 10:58 PM CDT  reply  actions   0 recs

Corey would be bored in SA

he just can’t go there.

"Chase Irwin: You pissed me off, I just can't remember why." - Miles.

by Longhorn on Jul 1, 2008 11:20 PM CDT  reply  actions   0 recs

if the spurs

sign maggette… just kill me

by zkmavz on Jul 2, 2008 12:11 AM CDT  reply  actions   0 recs

No more complaining, whining, or bitching about "the no-call". We're moving on and we have more important things to worry about. But do know, that we were right. The debate is no longer a debate.  You can read about it here . But that's all right. We understand the refs reasoning for swallowing their whistles at the end of the game. Hopefully this will be the spark that we need to ignite this team. We win tomorrow and there will be a game 7. Let's. Do. This.

God we need a great 2nd half!!!

Lakers

			Field Goals				Rebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
L. Odom	F	21:01	1-7	0-0	2-6	-7	1	5	6	3	0	1	4	0	1	4
V. Radmanovic	F	09:51	0-2	0-1	1-2	0	0	4	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
P. Gasol	C	18:54	3-9	0-0	1-2	-3	1	2	3	0	1	0	1	0	1	7
D. Fisher	G	14:55	0-2	0-0	0-0	-4	0	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
K. Bryant	G	19:44	7-11	0-2	0-0	-6	0	3	3	0	1	1	2	0	0	14
S. Vujacic		14:09	1-1	0-0	0-0	-10	0	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
J. Farmar		09:05	3-4	1-1	0-0	-6	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	7
L. Walton		07:15	1-1	0-0	0-0	-7	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
R. Turiaf		05:06	1-1	0-0	0-0	-7	0	1	1	0	3	0	1	0	0	2
I. Newble		00:00	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
T. Ariza		00:00	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D. Ilunga-Mbenga		00:00	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		120	17-38	1-4	4-10		3	20	23	3	9	2	8	0		39
			44.7%	25.0%	40.0%		Team Rebs: 5				Total TO: 9

			Field Goals				Rebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
T. Duncan	F	19:44	3-10	0-0	3-4	+6	2	10	12	4	2	0	1	1	0	9
B. Bowen	F	15:38	1-4	0-1	0-0	+8	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
F. Oberto	C	05:22	0-0	0-0	0-0	-1	0	1	1	0	1	1	2	0	0	0
T. Parker	G	20:47	6-8	0-0	0-0	+9	0	2	2	1	0	1	2	0	0	12
M. Finley	G	06:38	0-2	0-1	0-0	-1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
M. Ginobili		17:32	7-11	5-6	3-3	+11	0	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	22
R. Horry		15:39	0-2	0-1	0-0	+8	0	2	2	0	2	0	0	1	0	0
B. Barry		09:05	0-1	0-0	0-0	+5	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0
I. Udoka		04:59	1-1	0-0	0-0	+1	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	2
K. Thomas		04:16	1-2	0-0	0-0	+4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
J. Vaughn		00:20	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
M. Bonner		00:00	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		120	19-41	5-9	6-7		2	18	20	9	9	2	6	3		49
			46.3%	55.6%	85.7%		Team Rebs: 2				Total TO: 6

Jason Friedman has come out of the closet. I think we should all applaud his courage. This moment must not be taken lightly. When a person finally decides to come out, it's a moment of enormous uncertainty. "What will my friends think? What will my family say? How will my coworkers treat me? Will I be able to face the public with my secrete now revealed?" Well my friends, Jason has stepped out to face these questions head on. You can read about his courageous act here. We love you too Jason.

A few months ago I was having a conversation with my roommate, who is a firefighter, about fear. I was asking him a multitude of questions in which his answers revealed more about myself than I cared to know. For the life of me, I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of running into a burning building. How do you temper the fear? When Hell and all its demons are staring you right in the face, how on God’s green earth do you not become paralyzed? His answer was simple yet profound. “You find the calm.” He continued to explain that when everything around you is in absolute chaos, the one constant you can depend on is staying calm. Fear is a natural self-preservation response hardwired into our brains. Why run from something so important to our survival? Instead, channel the fear. Allow it to awaken your senses and hone in on what your body is telling you. Relish the epinephrine dump and rely on your animalistic instincts that have evolved for thousands of years.  For the past few months I have been replaying those four words in my head. “You… find… the… calm.”

These words came back to me the first time I watched the Kobe and Shaq, There Can Only Be One, commercial. This is the one where they both talk about the fear of losing in the playoffs and how they like the fear. It was in this moment that I realized that my roommate was spot on. Fear is an emotion felt by everyone regardless of creed, status or profession. In a moment of clarity, I saw the elusive obvious… The reason the San Antonio Spurs are so successful is because they know how to find the calm. In Hollywood style fashion, I replayed in my mind all of the nail-biting moments over the Spurs’ ten year run. I thought back to that warm summer night in 2005 when my father and I attended Game 7, only to be rewarded with watching my team of champions lift the Larry O’Brien trophy. I was reminded once again a few weeks ago in Game 1 vs. Phoenix, when we just wouldn’t be denied. And even in bitter defeat, I’ve seen a calmness only extruded by champions. How else can you explain coming back from a three games to one deficit, against Dallas in 06, to force Game 7? Only then, to be down by 20 points late in the 2nd quarter and again comeback to force overtime…

For those of you who have seen the film The Departed, I’m reminded of the scene where Leonardo DiCaprio is talking to his psychiatrist, trying to get her to comprehend what I’m telling you now. “You sit there with a mass murderer. A mass murderer.... Your heart rate is jacked. And your hand…. steady. That's one thing I figured out about myself in prison. My hand does not shake. Ever.” You see, no matter what happens to this team, our hand does not shake. Not a quiver. Not a tick. Nothing. We have a sense of calm that instills fear in the hearts of our opponents. A fear that stems from a lack of understanding… How can a team be so poised, so unflappable, so stoic? Well my friends, we now know the answer. 

I just checked www.spurs.com  and they have now posted a 9pm start time for this Saturday's game in NO. This seems like an unusual time to tip-off but I'd advise everyone to keep their Saturday night plans free. I'm canceling a date as I type this....via text message.... God I'm terrible. She'll understand.... it's playoffs!

I've got to get in nine more words for this post to publish....