ZANK will not die...

ZANK is a short animated film that I made a few years ago and features music by my pal Neil Bruce. You can watch it in it's entirety on youtube, or if you want to catch it on the big screen you're in luck if you happen to find yourself near Roanoke, Va tomorrow night (August 26th) as ZANK will be shown at The Grandin Theatre as part of their "Open Projector" night.

Long live ZANK!

OK HW

A Taste of Fall and the July hiking report

I love this time of year. The sunsets are often so amazing they stop me in my tracks and I make sure to carry the camera with me so I don't miss capturing images like this. Reminds me of a Maxfield Parrish painting. It's been a coolish summer here on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and that's good, facilitates the hiking. Extracted 55 miles out of July giving me 344 miles for the year, just 6 miles behind the average.

So, has this blog become merely a hiking report? Where's the film and art and travel stuff? It's in my life, just need to roll it down here to the glowing screen. For example; I've submitted "ZANK" to be screened at the Open Projector Night at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, VA. Not yet a done deal, so I'll keep you posted as things develop.

In art news, my wife's art opening went well in NYC. Good attendence and it was a blast to be in the City for a weekend. Our friend Lori whom lives there, was a great hostess and took us for a stroll over the Brooklyn Bridge and fireworks Friday night down at Coney Island. You can check out a few photos here.

Finally, I've noticed I've been getting a bunch of hits from different parts of Spain, so Hello SPAIN!

OK HW

Art Exhibition in the Big City

This piece of art was created by my wife, Janet Shaughnessy and will be one of two pieces of work included in The Bowery Gallery's 16th annual juried competition for 2008. The opening is this Thursday (July 31st) from 5-8, so if you find yourself in NYC in the Chelsea neighborhood that night, pop in and check out the show. Here's some more info from the gallery's web site:

The Bowery's 16th annual juried competition for 2008 will be juried by Jed Perl who has written on contemporary art for a variety of publications including Salmagundi, The New Criterion, The Partisan Review, The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, Elle, and Modern Painters. Among his books are New Art City: Manhattan at Mid-Century, Gallery Going: Four Seasons in the Art World, and Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis. The juried exhibition will be held from July 29 - August 16, 2008 at the Bowery Gallery. The opening will be held on Thursday, July 31st, 5 - 8 pm.

We'll be making the drive up and look forward to the event and catching up with our friends in those parts.

Janet's been doing some really wonderful work this year (yeah, I am biased) and you can check some it out on her blog Daily Drawing.

OK HW

June Hiking Report

Looks like this blog has become the once-a-month-hiking-report-blog. Yawn. Well for now it's what I got. I know, I started regaling you with tales from "The Box" set and then left you hanging big time, that will be corrected in due time. For now, I toss you this shot of my knee and hip you to my June numbers before July disappears.

Ah hmm, June was not a bad month for me hiking-wise. Slapped out 46 miles in the hottest weather we've had this year and brought my total up to 289 miles year to date. 11 miles shy of 300 and where I needed to be to maintain the average. Here's a sneak preview of July; I'm catching up. Eating up those 11 extra miles, but will I get them all? Stay tuned.

OK HW

April's Hiking Report

Seeing that it's nearly the end of May, I thought it was high time that I made the hiking report for April. Forty-Seven miles added and that brought me to two hundred and two for the year. One of my 2008 goals is to do more hiking out among the trees and in the mountains and I managed to do just that last month with a trek to the top Mt. Rogers, the highest point in Virginia. The photo shows the marker surrounded by the boots of me and my comrades, Jeff and Mike. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, but not too hot. It felt good to get some righteous trail dust on my boots for a change instead of pounding the all to familiar sand and streets of my regular neighborhood routes. The views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and fresh air really charged the soul. To get to the top of Mt. Rogers, we had to follow the Appalachian Trail for a few miles and encountered lots of other hikers. Some just day hikers like our group, some sectional hikers and a couple of honest-to-goodness through (or is that thru?) hikers who had set foot on the trail a couple of months back down in Georgia. We also came across wild ponies, some with foals so new they were wobbly-kneed and wide-eyed at the world and unafraid of humans. On the hike back down to the car, we took a slight detour and did the mad scramble that is the Wilburn Trail, which was more interesting and fun then the gentle slope and tree-covered summit of Rogers. Weary from the hills and thirsty from the trail, we headed into town for a a couple of well-earned beers before retiring to our mountaintop cabin where we watched a storm move in. Yes, yes, an adventure it was.

OK HW

March Hiking Report

March was a good month for hiking. 57 miles fell under my boot, bringing me up to 155 for the year, just a touch ahead of the curve and I'll need it as I just picked up a sculpting gig with the Scene Shop. I'll be hard pressed to find time and energy to get the miles in on top of my day job and the extra stuff, but I do have something up my sleeve. A trip, a hiking adventure to the west of Virginia to hike to the top of Mt. Rogers, the highest point in this state. That will lay a couple of hard miles in this month and keep me on track.

OK HW

Background for "The Box"

Last month a big time Hollywood production was using NASA Langley as a location. The film, "The Box", is Richard Kelly of "Donnie Darko" fame's latest and is based on a Richard Matheson story about a couple that receive a mysterious box. There is one button on the box and instructions explaining that they will be gifted with one million dollars if they push the button, but someone they do not know will die. The film expands on that theme in ways that, for the moment, are under wraps , but what we do know is the story takes place in the 1970s and the lead character, played by James Marsden, is a NASA scientist. Richard Kelly choose NASA Langley for a location because his father worked there in the 70s as a researcher.

A call went out for extras, especially men with long hair and sideburns, so I threw my application in and landed one day of work playing a member of the press. Instantly I envisioned getting a tiny, but nevertheless, critical speaking bit and hobnobbing with the stars. I was ready for my close up.

The first taste of Hollywood was the costume fitting. On the application we had to fill-in all of our measurements, many of which I had no clue (hat size?) and had to have my wife break out the tape measure. The day of the fitting, I arrived, filled out more paperwork and was handed a suit matched to my size (sort of). It was a fine polyester relic from a simpler time and fit me like a glove, a small, rubber glove that only allowed for some breathing and movement. I joked with the costume person that I hoped my character didn't have to do any action scenes or even bend over quickly, as the suit was likely to explode at the seams. She failed to see the humor in that idea and assured me that I would probably be standing still.

For shoot day, we were warned that it could go as long as fourteen hours and with an 11 am start time that would mean up until 1 am. I arrived a little early and was glad I did as there was quite a large throng of folks there all ready for their fifteen seconds of fame. The extras were herded into a gym that was the holding area. First order of business was to check in, fill out more paperwork, get your costume, then get into the very long hair and make up line. While making my way through this obstacle course, I ran into an old friend, Tom Nuckols, who had caught the extras bug while working on the HBO series "John Adams" and jumped at the chance to further his craft when he heard about "The Box". Here's a shot of Tom and I, a picture that always makes me think, "would you buy a car from these men?". Tom said that he modeled his 70s look after Tony Orlando and I think he nailed it.

Tom had worked on "John Adams" for weeks and had played a variety of background characters. He knew the ins and outs of the extras scene and helped me navigate my way through the maze. He was through hair and make-up and sitting down eating a doughnut, while I was still trying to shimmy into my threads. I waited for a couple of hours in the hair and make-up line only to get to the end and receive no make-up and just a comb pulled through my hair. After seeing lots of other extras, especially the women, getting really cool hair-do's, I was a tad disappointed, but that's show biz.

We waited for a couple of hours before anything happened , snacking from the craft table and meeting other extras. I was surprised at the number of NASA people there, lots of closet actors on center. The first scene requiring extras, or "background" as we were referred to, was an outdoor scene showing scientist arriving at a building. Tom and loads of 'scientist' extras were herded away and not soon after it began to rain. HARD. After a couple of hours, they all came back soaking wet.

More soon....

My Monthly Posting

Actually, I hope that won't be true, but lately it has been. I will not bore you with excuses, instead how about the hiking report? February was a better month for me and I even managed to make up a bit for my slow start in January by coming in with 52 miles, bringing my year-t0-date total to a whooping 98 miles. Still a couple miles shy of what I need to average, but I'll make those up this month. Been on a weekly routine now of hiking with my friends Mike Wingfield and Jeff Maisey. We are in-training for a trip next month to hike Mt. Rogers in the western part of Virginia. Down here on the coast, we don't have many or any hills to climb, so in preparation for the mountain, have been hitting the stairs and once a week paying a visit to Mt. Trashmore to march some laps up and down that hill. My legs and lungs felt solid today and I know I'll be ready for Rogers.

OK HW

Good Morning Sunshine

This was breakfast the other morning. I was half asleep when I laid the plate out and didn't see face until I sat down, but when I did register it I had to laugh out loud. Good beginning to the day.

OK HW

The Hiking Report - 2007 Wrap Up and into the New Year

Yes, I am still hiking. If my blog were your only indication of what is going on in my life, then you'd think I was in a coma. Not true, not true, loads of stuff happening on this end of the glowing screen, I just have fallen out of the practice of relaying out into the many tubes that make up our fine internets system, what those events are.

2007 is shrinking fast in the rear view and all I can see are the road signs of the future up ahead with the present a purring blur moving too fast to get a proper bead on. Some of you, ok, maybe one or two might be wondering, "Did he do it? Did he actually reach the ambitious goal of 600 miles in 2007?". Yes, well, I'll tell'ya, it was close literally down to the wire with the final six miles falling beneath my boots on December 31st. I entered that month with 534 miles, leaving 66 miles between me and the goal and despite the short days and holiday distractions, I pulled it out.

So what of 2008? How many miles shall I try for? 600. Yep, not going to increase it for now, but not backing down either. 50 miles a month average works with my life and work style for now and in January I managed to clock in with 46 miles, so already a little behind, but the days are growing longer and I am in training for an April trip to hike Mt. Rogers, the highest point in Virginia (5729) feet, so it won't take long to make that up.

Happy Trails,

OK HW

Happy New Year

...so, what can I say? Been a long time and I see from my stats that some folks are still carrying a torch, still hoping that I might find my way back to the keyboard and here I am. Much has happened in the last few months and part of why I haven't posted is I've felt overwhelmed by how much stuff I had to write about. Well, one step at a time. I don't know if I'll "catch-up", but I will try to pick back up on posting something. Here's the latest African Mask drawing I'm working on. It's nearly completed and I hope to finish it off before the ball drops tomorrow night and we roll into 2008.

This is from the Kra in Liberia, a small (4 inches) brass lost-wax casting.

Happy New Year!

OK HW

Happy Walter Gets Cred and More

Happy Walter has gone legit with an official IMDB listing. That gives me my second acting credit, may have to get a head shot and pay the money to post it there. IMDB is the standard and the first place people go to research films and filmmakers. Folks know you're "for real" if they find your work listed there, so this will only help Zoje in her efforts to get HW screened else where.

Speaking of which, the other big HW news is the film has also been accepted into the The Directors Chair Film Festival (Oct. 4-7) at Staten Island, NY. Apparently they screen the festival selections on Staten Island Community Television, so for those in that part of the world you wouldn't even have to venture out of your house to attend the festival. Not sure if I'll be able to attend, but I will try and hit it if possible.

OK HW

July hiking report

Thought I should get the July hiking report in before August was over. Summer is a miserable time for hiking. At least I think so. I'd much rather hike in 28 degrees F (and have) then 88 and above. Nonetheless, the goal taunts me, so heat and humidity be damned. Through the sweat and the bugs I stomped down 50 miles in July bringing my year-to-date total is know 332. I'm still 18 miles under 350 miles, or the average of 50 miles per month. So far August has been much better, I've managed to get off my butt and lay more miles down, so I'll eat some of that deficient up and get back on track. Will I make the goal of 600 miles for 2007? Stay tuned.

OK HW

My Natural State

Recently got a call to do some carving on a theatrical stage set production for a show called "The Gypsy". It's been two years since I've done any work for the scene shop. Two years since I've done any sculpting of any kind. Two years too long. I got lucky in that the job was fairly small and simple, something good to warm up on and get the blood flowing. The job was to carve in styrofoam (the medium of choice in the stage production trade) a column of stylized leaves held together by ties of fabric. The column is eighteen inches wide and ran around a large portal about 18 feet high by 30 wide. The first day of work I was a little nervous that I'd forgotten how to shape the foam, but in no time I knew that the hands didn't forget and the foam started to fly. I had not realized how much I've been missing sculpting and working hard and physically with my hands until I was doing it again. My day job is mostly sitting at a computer, so to crouch and sweat and make art in the muggy heat was a joy.


By the end of the first night, I was working two-handed, a blade in each hand, blurry samurai dreams in the back of my mind and a deep sense of satisfaction rolling through neglected parts of my soul. Sculpting and art-making is a natural state for me. Too often I forget this as my life is consumed by job and house duties. Having said that though, I don't feel the urge to try and make a living from my art as I once did. I found it is a tricky balance between commerce and art; the demands to sell my creative efforts often smothered the good feeling of just making stuff. For now, I'm glad to have an outlet for my creative urges. In the future, when life is soft and grey and slow, I need to remember my natural state and pick-up the pen or knife and get down and create.

zahdah,

OK HW

Happy Does NYC

Happy Walter had it's second public screening at the Two Boots Pioneer in Greenwich Village in the fair city of New York. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but Zoje Stage, the fearless writer/director of HW was on hand and recounts the experience on her own blog. It sounds like it was a fine time and congrats to Zoje for the getting some attention from a production company. I am still working on getting a screening here in Virginia and will post with the news ASAP.

OK HW

On the Rot

Just added a link in my film stuff section for Karma Critic a web site started by disgruntled former On the Lot contestants. One of them wrote an open letter to AICN detailing the problems that contestants had with the corporate powers-that-be and decided to create something real, hence Karma Critic. The only thing that surprises me about this whole drama is the fact that Spielberg allowed himself to be associated with such a disingenuous and artificial "competition" served up as entertainment. Apparently, as the season rolled on and the ratings plummeted FOX decided to slash the budget, so the filmmaker's presented films made before the show was ever produced. Now I have no problem with that, as long as they were honest about what was going on and not imply that the filmmakers were still being given tasks that they were supposedly responding to. Frankly, one of the few positive things that could come from this mess is the producer getting booted Off the Lot.

Thanks' to Scott Eggleston's blog Film Flap for the great post that brought his thing to my attention.

OK HW

June hiking report

June was a good month for hiking, offering up some wonderfully cooler, spring-like days that made it easy to get a few miles down. I tacked on another 52 miles to my total, bringing my year-to-date up to 282, just 18 shy of the 300 mark where I should have been for the end of June. We are halfway through the year already. It'll be fall before you know it.

Get out and hike.

OK HW

Look what I found...

That's right, it's return of "Dead Thing on the Beach". Check it out:



Does anyone know what kind of fish this is? I think he has a cool profile:



He/she was around one foot long. Oddly, the seagulls stayed away from it.

OK HW

PS-- Hello Lucy!

May Hiking Report

I'm little embarrassed to be posting my May Hiking Report on June 17th, but sometimes that's just the way it goes. May was a good hiking month for me, reaching the 64 mile mark, my best single month total so far in 2007. That helped dig me out of the hole a far bit, but I'm still 20 miles off the average (230 ytd and I should have been at 250 by the end of May). June's looking very good and I should eat up more of that deficit.

OK HW

Vimeo

I recently found this cool site to upload video clips called "VIMEO". It's slightly different from YouTube in that the posted clips have to be original, no old TV shows or clips from Hollywood films. VIMEO clips lean more towards the "Artsy-fartsy" end of the scale which is fine by me. So far I have posted "ZANK" and the trailer for "Happy Walter" and "ZANK" has really taken off with 427 "viewings" (the quotes are because I don't know what constitutes a viewing, clicking on the page? clicking the play button? does the video have to run until the end?) in the first two weeks. Compared to YouTube, where "ZANK" was uploaded four months ago and has only been "viewed" 127 times. I'm afraid the HW trailer hasn't caught on much yet with the either site with only 3 viewings on VIMEO and 9 on YouTube so far. Check out the clips:





ZANK from Weaverwerx on Vimeo







"Happy Walter" trailer from Weaverwerx on Vimeo


OK HW

Off the Lot

Just watched the first episode of "On the Lot", the new "reality TV show" for filmmakers from Spielberg and Burnett and I give it a thumbs down. Too frantic, too many contestants and too closely modeled after The Apprentice for my taste. They never stay on any one person long enough to allow the audience to get to know them, so when the ax starts swinging who cares? There may be an assumption that the audience has done their homework by reading up on all the contestants on the web site before hand, something I did not do. The three judges, Gary Marshall, Carrie Fisher and Brett Radner are charmless and forgettable and I got the feeling that their most honest and entertaining comments were cut. Comparisons to "Project Greenlight" are inevitable, and from my perspective PGL at least felt sincere and authenicate, where Lot just seems like the typical hyped-up Hollywood horseshit. I watched this hoping to feel inspired or maybe learn something and actually I guess did learn something. I need to turn off the TV and work on my own films.

zahdah

OK HW

Happy Walter to screen in the city that never sleeps...

Recently got word from Zoje that "Happy Walter" will be screening NYC in June. For those who haven't been reading along up till now, "Happy Walter" is Zoje Stage's feature length mocumentary about a famous, fictional artist named Happy Walter. I played the lead. Here's more information on the screening from the last Masterbuilder Films newsletter.

=========================================================

My feature film HAPPY WALTER will be screening at the
Two Boots Pioneer Theater in New York City - Monday,
June 25 @ 7pm!!!

This is my first ever theatrical booking (as opposed
to a fest or screening series) and as such I need to
grow my own audience. PLEASE COME OUT and see the
film - it promises to be a fun time!

Please forward this email to everyone you know, and
please ask them to forward it to everyone they know -
especially if they are in NYC and/or love independent
film! If you have a website or blog - or know anyone
who has a website or blog - please post there as well.

The Pioneer Theater strongly prefers that people buy
their tickets ahead of time:
http://www.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=98786
In fact, if 94 people buy tickets within the next week
I will be guaranteed a second showing of the film!

ABOUT THE FILM:

HAPPY WALTER (79 minutes): The daughter of an
eccentric Andy Warhol-meets-Homer Simpson artist tries
to reconnect with her wayward father in this
mockumentary about art, fame, and dysfunctional
families.

For more info:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/#HappyWalter

============================================================

She has also cut a trailer for the film that I have posted over on Vimeo and, of course, on YouTube, check it out:

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:193992

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imzv2IUmVtw

Spread word and let's try and fill all those seats.

OK HW

April Hiking Report

Found this fish last week on the beach and had to make a photo of it because it looked so much like a cartoon to me at the time. I see lots of dead things on the beach throughout the year, lately more birds then fish. This fish was picked clean by the seagulls and crabs. The eyes always go first.

April was a decent month for hiking. First time this year that I managed to hit my monthly quota of 50 miles to bring my YTD up to 166, still 34 miles shy of where I should be. High point of the hiking month was getting some time with my old hiking buddy Dave C. on the shady trails of First Landing (or as we locals refer to it as "Sea Shore") State Park. Dave lives in N.C. now, so our out tings are much less frequent then in the "old days' when we were neighbors. He's a good man to have on the trail as he usually packs lots of snacks.

I did most of my miles in April on the beach by the house here along the Chesapeake Bay and I've noticed lately that balconies of the million dollar water front homes are generally empty. Many of these places are second or third "homes", so are probably unoccupied 99% of the time, but a lot of them are year round homes. Does TV and the Net win that competition for attention? Do these people have to work hours so long that they never get to appreciate their cool house with the marvelous view? Summer is nearly on us and those balconies will be used for a couple of months, but come September, the deck chairs will be stacked again and the sliding glass door locked until next season.

OK HW

I am the Hulk

Found the link to this Superhero Personality Quiz on my buddy Craig Adam's MySpace page and could not resist. Ironically enough, The Hulk was my favorite superhero when I was a kid. Still have a huge pile of Hulk comics in a box in my office that I keep threatening to post on ebay, but never seem to be able to pull the trigger on that. Ah nostalgia. The Hulk actually has a blog, check it out:

http://incrediblehulk.blogspot.com/

OK HW

Your results:
You are Hulk

Hulk 70% Iron Man 65% Green Lantern 55% Supergirl 50% Spider-Man 45% Catwoman 45% The Flash 45% Batman 45% Superman 45% Wonder Woman 40% Robin 32%

You are a wanderer with amazing strength.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Wrestling the slug also known as the March Hiking Report

Alas poor Urick. Yes, we found a large, dead bird on the beach. At first we thought it was an Osprey, since there is a population of them nearby in First Landing State Park, but checking the bird book revealed that it is indeed a Marsh Hawk. Or so I think, my wife believes it's a Red Tailed Hawk. Either way, it was a sad and fascinating find. Also strange in that there was no obvious evidence of foul play. Looks like the old boy (or girl) just cacked in mid-flight.

So, what does all that have to do with slugs or the Hiking Report? Nothing or then he was found on a beach hike. The numbers stack up like this 37/116. I hiked 37 miles in March, which means I have a grand total for the year of 116 miles, so I am now 34 miles behind the average. I got some work to do. That's where the wrestling the slug part comes in. See, I haven't felt much like hiking lately. Been more prone to sit on my ever expanding ass and catch up on Battlestar Galactica (the geek confession). The further in the hole I get, the harder it is to think I'll be able to dig out. But it is far too early to throw in the towel. And April is the perfect month to do some catching up before the brutal heat and humidity of summer. Next month, big numbers! No really, I promise.

OK HW

Happy Walter Premiere

Here's where it went down, the first public screening of "Happy Walter" anywhere on planet Earth. Whee-Haw! The Melwood Screening Room is located in a suitably funky and urban part of town, down a street that is more pothole than asphalt. Guess they put all the money into the football stadium. The theater itself has a laidback, academic feeling to it and when we arrived the spacious lobby was packed with folks woofing down the free eats and drinks (as in beer and wine). Zoje and her sister Dev were already there with a group of friends and Pittsburgh-based cast members from HW. A woman I have never seen before walked up to me and said, "Hi, I believe I'm your ex-wife.". This was Vivienne Shaffer, who portrays "Laura Kimball", Happy Walter's first wife and mother of Jr. (Zoje's part). Viv's real husband Frank Carr was there too, also a cast member, he got the plum role of Dave Wisniewski, Happy's childhood friend. I say plum as that character got some of the biggests laughs. Viv and Frank's son, Woody, was there too and when he say me he threw up his hands and yelled, "Happy"! Fun stuff. It was wonderful to finally get to meet some of the other cast members and talk about the film. More and more people poured into the lobby and I was glad to know that the first showing of HW would be for a good size audience of mostly strangers, so for good or for ill we would be able to honestly gauge how it would play. The time finally came to get in the theater, which was a decent size room with good seats and an overall homey feel. It reminded me of some of the boutique style movie theaters I've seen in Europe. The lights went down and the opening short film, "The Loves of S.D. Hawkingson." (director Marc Roman Czornij), lit up the screen. It was a good appetizer before the main course as it featured some quirky humor and art was a major plot element, a good compliment to HW. There was a brief Q&A with the director after the short, then on to the main course, "Happy Walter".

What can I say? From the title shot of Happy rolling some toilet paper into the camera accompanied by Joanthan Young's bouncy, hobo guitar soundtrack to the end credits, "Happy Walter" delivered the goods. The audience laughed in the right places and genuinely seemed to be engaged by the story. Overall, I was pleased at how well acted the piece was, Viv and Frank both did a wonderful job, particularly Viv as her character displays a wide range of emotions, which Viv convincingly pulled off. Besides being my first time on the big screen, actually that's not true as I had a very small part in "Cold Readings", a film that played at the Virginia Film Festival, so to be accurate, the first time with a speaking role on the big screen, it was also my wife Janet's. She plays, "Tatiana Chichikova", an art collector and dealer and she made fine work of the cerebral and spacey dialogue, threatening my role as the "family ham". And what of my performance? I'll leave it to others to judge, but I will say that I am proud of the work I did and it makes me want to do more acting. Look out world! I did find it difficult to watch myself at times and it makes me understand now when I've heard actors say that they don't watch their own films. What winds up on the screen is quite different from the experience of creating that moment on set. The illusion on the screen is both a reminder of that moment, but also, for me seems to lessen the purity of my own memory. The two illusions collide in a weird way , and I felt caught between the two. I got to say that I feel real damn lucky that Zoje gave me this shot, trusted me with such a big role and gave me such useful direction. Where I see other folks try, she has succeed and my hat is off to her. Well done my friend.

So what's next? I hear that HW is being submitted to film festivals and Zoje is working on getting it screened in Rochester, where most of the cast lives. Somewhere down the line, I hope the DVD is available for folks to buy and I'll certainly be posting that news if/when it happens.

And for me, well I've recently found an acting school in my town and I think it's time to get more serious about this acting thing. I would love to do a Sci-Fi or Horror flick, so you never know.

Stay tuned.

OK HW

I'm Big in Pittsburgh...

In anticipation of the premiere screening of "Happy Walter" this coming Tuesday (March 13, 8pm), there is a friendly article in The Pittsburgh City Paper. Read Article. Is this the beginning of fame and fortune? Shall I quit my day job? Nahhhh, but it's a real hoot to be part of the buzz and it should help with turning more folks out that night. One minor correction to the story, Bill O'Driscoll refers to Zoje's character as "Happy Walter IV", actually she portrays "Happy Walter Jr.".

OK HW

February Hiking Report

30 miles last month, so the year-to-date total is now 79 miles. Some of those miles where gathered in while I was back in Ireland for a visit. Here's a photo of my friend Alan and I on the rocky hill above the Cahir Valley. It was a blustery Sunday afternoon and we were hunting for an ancient Celtic tomb that we had found before and wanted to show to our friends. Heavy grey rain clouds moved in from the west and we thought for sure that we'd get rained on, but time-after-time the sheets of rain moved off down the valley and headed out into Galway Bay leaving happy and dry-ish. It's hard work moving over that broken ground. Gaps between the Burren limestone hunger for your booted foot and I could not help but imagine the drama of snapping my ankle if I miscalculated a step. Thankfully, none of us fell to such a fate and we located the tomb and made our way back off the hilltop and headed back to Ballyvaughan to warm up and have a hot whiskey.

OK HW

January Hiking Report

Yes, you read that correctly, this is my report of my JANUARY 2007 hiking activities. Figured I better get it in before February is gone. My mileage goal for the year is 600 miles, the same as last year. I've added the additional goal to get out in the woods more, however as I find that too many of my miles come from the old, easy routes, primarily the beach outside my front door. Last month I managed to pound out 49 miles, just one mile shy of the fifty mile average I need to stay on track, so not a bad start. February is shaping up to be a slack month, though I did get a few soggy miles down in Ireland, more soon on that.

OK HW

"Happy Walter" Coming Soon to a Theater Probably No Where Near You

"Happy Walter" is headed for a big screen premiere in Pittsburgh, Pa. of all places. Zoje Stage, the writer/director/actor/producer/editor/etc of "Happy Walter" has a strong connection to the town and has shown work before through the Film Kitchen organization. I lifted this from the Master Builder newsletter:

"The main news I have to report is that my
feature-length mockumentary HAPPY WALTER will be
screening at Film Kitchen (Pittsburgh, PA) on March
13. Reception with free food & beer at 7pm, followed
by the movie at 8pm -- all at the Melwood Screening
Room in Oakland. "

My wife, who also has a small acting role in the film, and myself will be making the drive up that day to attend the world premiere. I'm really excited to see the final cut, I've only seen a few bits and pieces and I'm also looking forward to visiting Pittsburgh for the first time. We'll only be staying the one night unfortunately, but I have my sight-seeing priorities and plan on paying a visit to the Monroeville Mall. Now I'm not a mall guy, in fact go out of my way to avoid those places, but Monroeville Mall has history as it was the shooting location for the original "Dawn of the Dead". As a teenager, my friends and I would catch DotD whenever it played at the midnight movies on the weekend. You see this was back in the pre-video days where if you wanted to see a particular film, you had to either catch in the theaters or on TV were it was heavily edited and if Dawn of the Dead ever was shown on TV back then, it would have been about 12 minutes long. I'm sure there's lots of great stuff to see in Pittsburgh, but I'll be checking it out after I go to the mall.

OK HW

Drawn Into It

This drawing was inspired by a small, wooden carving I saw recently at a show of Mexican art at the Peninsula Fine Art Center in Newport News. The piece looked like it had been assembled from found pieces of wood; a bust of Jesus, a fragment from some smashed alter piece (who knows, maybe damaged in an earthquake?), framed by golden wooden boards decorated with rough-hew stone inlay. The piece is small, just a foot high, an intimate scale that lures the viewer close so they can smell the dust and see the brush hairs frozen in the thick oil paint. I wish I had made that piece. If a particular work of art strikes that chord in me, energizes the urge to create, then it succeeds for me on a soul level, it is nourishment. I drew this little sketch from memory, so the details aren't exact, in fact I gave myself permission to interpret, to allow the thick lens of my mind warp the image and accept this new thing, a melange of the real and the imagined. I have been trying to get back into the habit of drawing again, of making art of any kind, and the sketch fits the time and space I have now. My wife draws constantly, and I admire her fearlessness to experiment and step out of her comfort zone. She recently started a blog called "Daily Drawing" where she actually is posting a drawing a day. Since the first time I saw her art, I have always felt a connection to the images that she makes. There is a deepness and a mystery there like looking at cave paintings by candlelight while listening to a distant, storm cloud opera crashing and booming on the edge of the night. It too is nourishment...

OK HW

2006 Hiking Report

Alright, so I couldn't wait to share the news that I hit my goal, so this entry is a tad anti-climatic. But nonetheless here are some year end stats for 2006:

Goal: 600 miles

Final total miles: 605 miles

Month with fewest miles: August (19 miles)

Month with the most miles: Tie between November and December (77 miles each) The Big Push!

Longest individual hike: February 24, in Rochester, NY hiked down the Genesee River past R.I.T. and back to our apartment downtown, 15 miles.

So there you are.

My 2007 goal will remain at 600 miles with the only twist being that I'm going to get into the woods and mountains more often and take some weekend trips out of the city. Virginia has lots of great hiking, unfortunately it's all three hours or more away from where I live on the coast.

It's a beautiful, unusually warm and sunny day today, so if you'll excuse me, time to lace up the boots.

OK HW