Movie

WALKING AWAY WINS TOP TEN FILM HONORS AT THE AUSTIN 48-HOUR FILM PROJECT - NAMED BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AT SHOW

(Austin) - Walking Away, a silent film produced in Austin, has been named one of the Top Ten films by the Austin 48-Hour Film Project.  The film will be screened Monday, July 21, at 6 P.M. during the Wrap Party for the 48-Hour Film Project.

"This is a nice honor for our little film," said Greg Davidson, executive producer of Walking Away.  " It was amazing to see our story evolve over a 48-hour period into a thoughtful reflection on Life."

The 48-Hour Film Project is a competition for filmmakers held in over 70 cities around the world.  Twenty-eight (28) teams and over 300 filmmakers in Austin were given just 48 hours to produce a film up to eight minutes in length.  All creative work must be done during those 48 hours.

"The whole idea of creating something out of nothing in 48 hours is a real rush - especially when you create a film with purpose and meaning that causes people to think about where they are in life," Davidson said.  "Its rewarding to create something that means something to others."

Teams gathered in Austin on Friday night June 20 at 7 P.M. and were assigned a character, prop, a line of dialogue and a random genre for their movie.  Each team of participants then had 48 hours to create, write, shoot, edit, score, and produce their film.

"As a first-time filmmaker, the 48-Hour Film Project gave me a meaningful introduction to the art form of story telling through film," Davidson said.

Walking Away was produced in 48 hours on the weekend of June 21-23 in the Austin area.  The film was produced by Quatrefoil Films, executive producer Greg Davidson, and stars his 80-year old father, Don Davidson of Brenham, Texas.

The film also features Tom, Lia and Christan Mote, David Tillman and Mary Grace Davidson of Austin, and Katie Sauceda of Phoenix.  Writing, creative work and scoring were done by Gilbert and Mary Sauceda of Round Rock.  Greg Davidson was the producer and director.  He and David Tillman were the cinematographers.  The 6 minute film was edited (in three hours) by David Tillman.  Donna Davidson and Eleni Mote contributed to the film's success.  This was the first film produced by Quatrefoil Films.

Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson finally said something on which he and I can agree.

THE VIEW - Words & Drinking Fountains

Since Whopee Goldberg and the rest of the black community (including Jesse Jackson) have the right to use certain words that we in the white community can not use; then we have the right to use drinking fountains they can't use. 

Movie Star

Good friends, I have to let you know I have appeared on the "silver screen" in a movie.  It was a little strange to sit in a theater full of people and watch myself bigger than life on the screen.

How can this be?  Let me explain.  Our son called one day and said he needed a "grumpy old man" to play a role in a movie.  He obviously thought of me first.  So, my wife and I went to Austin and spent a Saturday shooting this movie.

They have something called "The 48-Hour Movie" which is a national competition for film makers.  They travel to various cities holding these competitions.  The way it works is on a Friday at 6:30 p.m. each film producer draws a theme, i.e. a drama, comedy, mystery, silent, etc., for a movie.   They have 48 hours to make a 7 minute movie.  They have to have the movie on a DVD to the office no later than 6:30 p.m. Sunday. There were 27 film makers that participated in the competition in Austin.

A week later they have a screening of all 27 entries at a major theater.  A few weeks later they select the top 10 movies.  Ours was selected in the top 10 films.  A few weeks later they select the first, second, and third place movies.  This is yet to be determined.

There were two other men, a woman, a little boy, two young girls, a cat, and a dog in the movie. There were five or six others involved in the filming, editing, musical scoring, titles, etc. making.  Our theme was silent with titles.

The story line was a little boy about 4 years old wanted a cat.  His mother told him if God wanted him to have a cat then God would give him a cat.  The little boy went into the yard, got on his knees and prayed to God for a cat.  Suddenly, a cat flew through  the air and landed at his feet.  For a while he believed in prayer because God had answered his prayer for a cat.  But, he later learned that the man next door was trying to get a cat out of a tree and he threw a rope into the tree and caught the branch with the cat.  As he pulled the branch down to reach the cat the rope slipped from his hands and the branch flew back propelling the cat over the wooden fence into the other yard at the boy's feet.  He lost his belief in God and the power of prayer.  As he grew old he became a grouchy old man (me) and walked away from his belief, thus the title of the movie, "Walking Away".  But as time passed the  grouchy old man began to come around to renewing his belief through his associations with a man that delivered meals-on-wheels to him and two young girls and his old hound dog.

It was fun.  I had never done anything like it.  I was pleasantly surprised that the production team put it all together in the professional fashion it was when it was projected onto the big silver screen.

So, now I'm a movie star.  Anyone want my autograph? 

  

Tony Snow

A sad day.  Tony Snow died yesterday morning at age 53 from colon cancer.  A terrible loss for us all.  He was a rare person of great and gifted talents for kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion and a big heart for living with an infectious and disarming smile.  He will be greatly missed.  

Who is Tony Snow you might ask?  You would probably not know him unless you followed White House politics and the FoxNews Channel.  He was President Bush's press secretary for almost two years, a former journalist, an anchor on FoxNews, and a conservative talk-show personality.  Tony came from a modest background.  His father was a school teacher in Cincinnati and his mother a nurse.  She died from colon cancer when Tony was seventeen.

Tony has a wife, Jill, and three fine kids that he adored.  He was fun-loving with a sense of humor and an optimal outlook on life in general.  He had a reverence for his belief in God and Christianity. 

What is it that made Tony such a great and wonderful guy, and so many others jerks, especially in the news media?  I would like to know.  We need more like him. 

The Hawks have Flown

Its been some time since I posted anything about the red-tail hawks that nested in a tall tree in the back of our backyard.  I'm happy to report that at least two of the little hawks grew to adulthood and flew from the nest on their own.   One time I saw all three at the same time flying through the trees in the backyard and out into the pasture south of the house.  I assume one was mother hawk.  One day one flew within ten feet of me while I was working in the backyard.  Kind of startled me.  I see them from time to time flying in and around the trees around our place and our neighbors. 

Financial Bailout. . .or Responsibility

I find it ironic that my wife and I faithfully made our mortgage payments on the several homes we owned over the years and was able to pay cash for our latest home because we saved and gained equity, and now our tax money is used by our government to bailout persons who made bad judgments to buy homes above their means and their ability to make the mortgage payments.

We have a few equity investments in the stock market.  In recent months the values have gone south.  Some by as much as half of their original value.  We simply made some bad judgments.  So, shouldn't the government now come to our aid and bail us out?

We hardly think so.  We are of the mind set that everyone should be fully responsible for their actions and live with the consequences, good or bad.

During the height of the Great Depression of the 1930's my dad had a fairly good job, a wife and five kids, and a fairly nice house with a mortgage.  Due to government implementation of Roosevelt's National Recovery Act (NRA) in the name of fairness his salary was cut almost half making it impossible to care for the family and make the mortgage payments.  My parents bit the bullet and down scaled our quality of life to the bare essentials, and I do mean bare.  Two years later the NRA was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but the damage had already been done to my folks and many like them.  That's our government at work.

This is what we get when government meddles in private affairs.  It is no different today.  The liberal nanny state in its attempt to help some hurts others.  Where is the fairness?  The only fairness is for each individual to accept full responsibility for their actions, and for government to stay out of it.  Don't hold your breath.