The Inspiration

The Inspiration

The inspiration you give to others is amazing.  You really don't know how much you have influenced others in your life.  Many times you never will.

Life has been great to me.  I am both lucky and blessed.  There is the gift of music that I have.  Also all of the creative endeavors that I am able to work on.  My family loves me, my friends love me, and there are those that I have never met on the internet love me.  There is so much love for the creative material that I make, I am humbled.  It makes me smile and work harder.

My life is so amazing that it is hard to hear others that have had a hard life.  Many times one kind or inspirational word will make a difference in their lives.  Inspiration can go a long way, being inspirational to others at the right time can help them through rough parts of their lives.  Sometimes it is life, or career, or relationships, or a billion other things.  Leading by example will inspire others. 

I hope you have had a wonderful life as I have had!  If you did, share some of it with those that have not.  Listen, give advice if you can, and inspire them with your actions and words.  What a wonderful place in the world this will be if we all did this!

Computed!

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One Man Movie Making Machine

One Man Movie Making Machine 

Poster from On The Brick Streets Of Nacogdoches - Short Film of Herbert Midgley

I have been making films since I got a VCR camcorder in the mid 1990's. Then iMovie, firewire and DV camcorders came out in the late 1990's and this changed my very limited videos to something that could look professional.   The idea of making films has been intriguing to me my whole life, however it wasn't until the 1990's that I could afford to get a camera to film.

Today if I was in elementary or middle school, I could just use my smart phone and I have a production studio that fits into my hands.  However for me I had to wait until technology got economical for me use.  Today with all of the content on YouTube, anyone with a little technical skill can make a movie or TV show.

In the early 2000's I became a one man movie making machine.  Once Google Video and YouTube came out, I now had a platform to share my films, educational material and avant-garde art films with the world.  I could wake up, make a film, edit it, compose music for it, bounce it down then post it to the web for the everyone to see.  The idea of having the ability to make and create something and instantaneously share it with anyone online was and still is amazing to me.  I knew that I could use this new medium to make art that no one else could do.  The Internet Legend was born.

This week I passed eight million views on my YouTube Channel.  I know today that some of the large channels can do this with one video, however this still amazes me.  People watch thousands of hours of my work a year.  Wow!  Not bad for a small town country boy.

Over the years I have worked others to make films and of course the classic sci-fi film, THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS.  We had a large crew and it was an amazing experience.  I have worked as crew and other positions on my friends' feature and short films.  Having a crew is great!

However I do love when I wake up and decide I am going to make a film today, and go out there with a camera, sticks, lights and sound kit and make it happen myself.  Over the Christmas holiday I wanted to see what would happen if I starred, wrote, shot, edited, color corrected, made the SFX and composed the music for a short film.  No crew, only me doing all of the crew positions.  How good would it look?  Can I make a cinematic film with only myself as crew?

On The Brick Streets Of Nacogdoches - Short Film is the result.  Watch the film yourself and decide.  Let me know what you think.  I am so thankful to the wonderful actors that gave their time to this project!  Thank you!

Myself, I thought it looked great, moved fast, was fun to watch and the feedback so far has been great.  If I would compare it to other short films I have seen in the last few years, I would say it looks as good and at times, better then many of them.  It could be that technology is making it easier for a solo filmmaking, or that with over 4000 videos that I have posted on YouTube, that I have a ton of experience making films.   Perhaps a bit of both.

To all of my filmmaking friends out there on the internet, I would like to challenge you to make a short film yourself without a crew.  Crew all of the positions.  If you do this, let me know, I would love to see the result! 

Computed!

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Life With A Mustache And Without A Mustache

Life With A Mustache And Without A Mustache

Growing a mustache took me a while.  I had a bad one in high school, trying to look older, I didn't look any older, only looked like a sixteen-year-old with a half grown mustache.  At the time, I thought I looked cool.  No one said anything, we all knew it was a bad mustache and the world would be a better place if I just took a new razor to the hair under my nose.  I wised up and did that one day.  And the world at my high school was a better place.  No one thanked me, we all just knew it.

As time went on, I could finally grow an epic mustache.  A mustache that others would love to have.  One that others could never grow in ten lifetimes!  And I could grow one in a few weeks.  Others would pale in the greatness of my mustache and could only dream of having a mustache so amazing.

However, when I wear a mustache, I am treated differently.  The clean shaved and neat tight hair self is treated better.  A lot better.  The mustached self, not so much.  

For some reason, mustaches are not as popular as they used to be.  Today, there are tons of goatees, half beard, half something else.  Beards are everywhere.  But not too many mustaches.  They are a few holdouts from the past, a few hipsters, some that are oblivious to what others think, a few rebellious ones, and few people that just don't care.  They wear their mustaches with pride.

It is a shame not more mustaches are out there.  In the past, a mustache was a sign of dignity.  One could only grow a mustache after a lifetime of living.  If you had a mustache, people knew that you have put a lot of work into growing and maintaining your mustache.  You were a somebody!

I love having a mustache, today I mainly grow one out for an acting part.  Sometimes I grow one to be different.  To stand out in the crowd in the sea of beards and goatees.  To be an individual!  

Compute that!

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Looking Back On The Year

Looking Back On The Year

History.  His story.  When you look back at your life and think about it, what do you remember?  Facts, events, emotions?  I would say the strong emotional events are what stays with you.  A strong emotional event is a bit of blur at the time, when you think back on it, in many ways you're not sure what happened.

That's how the mind and memory works.  Whenever I read history books or see documentaries on history, I know that what I'm reading or seeing could have never happened.  Or it happened in a completely different manner.   Perhaps the people lived a completely different life and place.  Who knows for sure? Time. We sure don't!

As 2017 closes and I look back, there will be a lot of memories.  Happy ones, sad ones, and ones that I don't remember.  In thirty years when I talk about 2017, what will I remember for sure and for real?  The emotional memories.   Strong memories.  Memories that you connect you with yourself.

All of the loved ones that I have lost, I miss you and you are with me forever.   All of the times I that have spent on creativity, one day I'll get it.  All of the times that I went out to seek out new adventures and new lands, know that there are many more to find in my future. 

2017 will be with me for the rest of my days.  It is a year that needed me the most.  A year, a month, a day, an hour, and a second that will be a part of me forever.  Moments of more.  I love and miss you 2017. Amen.

Computed