As I sit and watch the surreal press conference between Trump and Putin after their so-called historic summit, where, after recently treating our allies like dog shit, Trump behaves like a sycophantic lapdog to a murderous dictator who wants nothing more than to destroy and subjugate the U.S. of America in retribution for how the U.S. of America destroyed and subjugated his beloved U.S.S.R., I am reminded of how I felt, or better yet, how my fuzzy, nightmarish memories leave me feeling from the surreal and tumultuous times in the U.S. of America during the late-Sixties through the mid-Seventies, you know, the era of national madness beginning with the Tet Offensive through the Watergate break-ins and subsequent hearings to Nixon’s humiliating yet palliative resignation and ending with America’s humiliating yet palliative retreat from South Vietnam.
Leave Is In The Can!
It’s been over a three-year process but Leave is finally completed and I can’t tell you how happy and proud I am of it. I especially can’t wait until you can see it.
But first it has to go to the film festivals and we have already begun the submittal process. I will send out updates of the (many (hopefully)) festivals that pick it up.
8328
Happily happened upon this diminutive but hugely powerful short film by Marc-André Girard while surfing Vimeo this morning and can’t help but share it with you.
#serendipitybaby
Chemical Warfare
Speaking from my privileged First World perspective, our, meaning the United States’, response to the Syrian war has always been a very conflicting and troubling issue for me.
Poor me, right, when there’s somewhere around 500,000 Syrians dead and over 10,000,000 displaced.
Poor me, indeed.
But since all pain is relative, all I can do is acknowledge/empathize with/pray for the atrocities external from me while focusing on finding some way to mitigate or at least reconcile with the conflicts and turmoil internal to me.
So far I’ve been unsuccessful…
The Draught of Naught Troubling
More good stuff from my sons Willis’ and Bobi’s band Aelios* in the form of a music video of their latest release.
You should be able to tell who my sons are because you should be able to tell who the blood brothers are in the video. The third member, Colin Bates, while not a blood brother, he’s a brother nonetheless.
Incidentally, Colin, an all around artistic talent and graduate of Juilliard, collaborated with me on my movie Leave. You can learn more about him and other cast and crew members here.
Incidentally again, my son Bobi’s other band Saving Apollo, just returned from a tour that culminated in them playing SXSW. It was a very successful tour and set them up to now tour with this summer’s Warped Tour. Pretty huge, no?
BTW, if you have enjoyed the video, please take the time to “like” it on youtube and subscribe to their channel and then tell everyone you know, and I do mean everyone, about it.
Is that asking too much?
Probably, but hey, what’s a dad to do?
#happysaturday
#rockon
*Aelios are Willis Brindley (blue-hooded wizard), Vaughan (Bobi) Brindley (yellow-hooded wizard), and Colin Bates (black-hooded wizard)
Love is the answer?
There’s a rather talkative pigheaded brute of a character in my WIP whose name is Rick, Happy, Henderson. Happy loves to philosophize and pontificate to…at?… his work partner about whatever the latest topic is he’s studying during night school as if he’s now a subject matter expert. He’s not of course and he always manages to maneuver whatever it is he’s rambling on about toward a general diatribe of how the weak with their Rule of Law and “societal norms” have managed to upend the universal natural order of might makes right, which, in the end, as he sees it, limits his ability to pick up chicks.
Wake Up
This gif best when served with the following kickass music video:
#stuckinthematrix
#amnotwriting
A Web Security PSA Because I Love You
Okay, I’ve never used Cloudflare before and I don’t own any stocks in it that I know so I’m passing this info along simply because I’m a dude* who hates having my cookies tracked and Facebook selling me out to the Russians and all the other creepy Dark Web stuff (or is it Deep Web stuff?) that I always feel threatened by and I assume you’re of the same mind, may god bless your poor soul if you are.
If you’re not familiar with Cloudflare, here is what pops up when asking Bing, what is Cloudflare: