Wow. Aintitcool.

AICN ran some dudes review of the movie. The review is quite generous. As is AICN for thinking a review of This Divided State is cool.

Word.

Things just keep looking up.

Curiouser and curiouser...

Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser...

Box Office Mojo now has a page for This Divided State.

It's like it's a real movie now...

Letter to the Editor

The Salt Lake Tribune printed this letter to the editor about their review of "This Divided State."

It's quite entertaining.

Fandango

This is just weird. This Divided State is listed on Fandango.


P.S. you should boycott Fandango for those STUPID movie commericials.

Recess Appointment

According to White House insider, W. is planning on appointing John Bolton next week during the congressional recess.

Is it just me or does that seem like George is playing divider, not uniter? I mean, there's something fishy about Bolton. No doubts about it. I was watching C-Span when Voinivich(sp?) was literally crying, pleading with his fellow republicans to help him block Bolton. And every single democrat is standing behind him, all of them saying that John Bolton is sketchy and the wrong man for the job.

So there has been this long, drawn out fight to place him inside the UN. And there's been no winner. The Republicans still don't have enough votes for cloture (they've tried more than once) and they can't get a vote on it.

As a reasonable person, what does that say to you? It says to me this, "There are enough people in the Senate who don't want this to happen for Bush to drop it."

Apparently, it says this to Bush, "Why can't he have an up or down vote? It's like they don't like him or somethin', think he's wrong for the job. Oh well. They don't know what they're talkin' 'bout. I'll just appoint 'im while they ain't lookin'."

What a sketchy president. I think once elected president it's your job to stop playing partisan politics and realize that even though half the country voted for you, the other half didn't and you have to represent them, too. I think that's why Clinton, and even H.W. and Reagan were way more succesful and well-liked presidents. They played toward the middle. They did things that I don't agree with, hell, they all have done things that downright piss me off. But they did try to represent the entire country, not a small, dogmatic splinter group inside of one part of a party. And that's the key. When you're in office, you represent everyone, not just those who voted for you.

Flip-Flop?

Bill Frist flip-flopped on an issue. He's going to back the bill that would expand stem cell research.

Good for him.

("Flip-flopping" isn't a bad thing. Especially when you change your decision after you learn the facts.)

Quick update

I wanted to give a quick update as to the reason we haven't updated the blog in a couple of days.

Steve is putting together the DVD, so he's busy with that. Yesterday was Elias' birthday, so that put him out of commision for the day. I was in bed sick all day yesterday (really nasty sinus infection) but I went to the doctor and am back in the game.

So... word up... We should be back later with some more updates.

And feel free to comment on my posts that don't have to do with This Divided State. I enjoy the little debates that have been ensuing.

Costco the anti-Wal-Mart?

I found this article interesting and on some level encouraging. I might just start shopping at Costco.

Tickets for San Francisco on Sale!

You can purchase advance tickets for the San Francisco engagement here.

So... please do so...

Audio Commentary for DVD

Steve, Elias, Michelle, and Bryan recording the audio commentary for the DVD in Andy Patterson's studio.

Pictures From Salt Lake City Premiere

The Tower Theater

Elias, Michelle, Steve, Bryan

Steve and the poster.

Steve answers questions.

God Bless Barbara Boxer

Crooks and Liars posted this.

It amazes me the bombast of people like Bill Frist and it makes me glad that there are people like Barbara Boxer on the senate floor to point out their absurdity. I don't think any American could honestly argue with the absurdity of what Frist said. Basically this: "The Gun Liability Bill is more important than the Defense Authorization Bill during a time of war." Who are these people?

The Gun Liability Bill is absurd in and of itself, but Frist takes it a step further. I mean, of course the Gun Lobby doesn't want to be liable for all the ridiculous things people do with guns. But shouldn't they be? Really. Isn't McDonalds liable when their food kills someone (say it's poisoned or something)? Why shouldn't a gun manufacturer be responisble for a death when one of their guns is involved? I guarantee that they would be a whole lot more careful about who they sold them to. It might turn around the entire gun-crazy culture of America to make them liable.

And it amazes me even further that the gun lobby had the senator that was sponsoring the bill, their puppet as it were, pull the bill the last time it went to the floor because someone with a spine managed to attach a renewal of the assault gun ban on it.

I think guns are bad things in general. We don't need guns. We need words. Words are more powerful than guns anyway.

Screw Guns and the gun lobby.

Los Angeles Engagement!

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, we've booked a theatre in
the Laemmle chain.

We'll be screening at theL

Fairfax Theatre, Los Angeles, CA 9/9/5

So, word up.

Held Over!

Because of high demand, we've been held over for another week at the Tower in Salt Lake City. We're splitting the bill with another movie (Heights) for the week, but we'll still get the 2:30 and 7:00 showings.

That's great news.

Illinois!

Illinois has been booked for a VERY limited engagement. Two nights
only at the Chicago Filmmakers on September 24th and 25th.

I'm also working something out with another area theatre to see if we
can do another 2 days elswhere in the city.

San Diego Comic Con pics

I saw that Steve took the time to post those photos so I decided I should get off my ass and post the Comic Con photos I took while in San Diego.

Here they are on Flickr

Post Premiere Pictures

Steve with Scott Willis and Eric Stephens of The Swillers. Scott is drunk.

Elias, Michelle, and Steve at Burt's Tiki Lounge, post premiere.

Read This Article

White House Aims to Block Legislation on Detainees

Oh. My. God. I didn't think that we could sink any lower. Dick Cheney met with Republican Senators in an effort to protect the Bush Administration's "right" to torture detainees with cruel, unusual and inhumane interogation. Aren't these detainees still men?

Read this excerpt of the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Nowhere in this founding document of our country does it mention that these unalienable Rights are based solely on your country of origin or combatant status. If we as Americans wish to espouse the ideals of our founding fathers, shouldn't we treat all men with the same respect and dignity that we reserve for ourselves? And wouldn't it stand to reason that if the Bush Administration and this government can't stand by the moral and ethical values outlined by the founding fathers that it is our right--nee, duty--to remove them? Shouldn't we hold ourselves and our government up to a higher standard?

I don't want people who believe that torturing someone is all right as long as they are enemy combatants to be in office. No one. Be they enemy combatants, or terrorists, or even Saddam or Hitler. No one, NO ONE, deserves to be tortured, treated cruelly, inhumanely, etc.

Didn't George Bush "win" because of people interested in moral and family values? Doesn't that mean he should get up and say that it isn't moral to torture people and his administration will punish anyone caught guilty of it will be punished to the fullest extent of the law? That would be the moral thing to do. Unfortunately, Bush has proved himself to be morally bankrupt at every turn. Social Security, Iraq, Downing Street Abu Ghraib, the Plame leak, Guantanamo, No Child Left Behind, Cafta, FTAA, the coup in Venezuela, the budget, the list goes on and on and on and on. The man is a loose cannon who needs to be stopped.

It is our duty to do it.

I read this article and it just got my blood boiling so much. I can not stand the idea of people thinking that in the name of Democracy we should sell out all of the ideals that this Democracratic Republic is founded on. It's just wrong. All men, regardless of race, creed, colour, sexual orientation, country of origin, etc., deserve the unalienable Rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence. And I think the Bush Administration has proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is destructive of these ends and they hold the very ideals of this country in contempt.

I love my country but I'm ashamed of the path we're on.

A Seattle Gathering of the Movie

Check out this post from Jesus' General. I guess a large contigent of them are planning to hit the screening there. Sweet.

Audio Commentary

We (Steve, Elias, Michelle and I) just got back from recording the
Audio Commentary for the DVD release. It was one of the few times in
making a film that is actually fun. Film is generally torture. It's
a torture that you love, but a torture nonetheless.

Anyhow, I'm hoping Steve puts some photgraphs of us recording it up
here on the blog.

I've been coaxing him to but he doesn't have a lot of available time
to do much other than finish the bonus features for the DVD.

Also, after consulting the hard numbers, we had way more people show
up to Saturdays screenings than Fridays, so let's hope it snowballs
even further. I'm not sure many more people could fit in the Tower
though. The lobby is a tiny video store. It is, however, arguably
the coolest theatre in Utah.

Howl's Moving Castle

I went to go see Howl's Moving Castle after the Q & A at the Tower for
This Divided State. I have to say the animation looked amazing. I'm
still not sure how I felt about the film on the whole though. I'm not
sure if I missed something or not.

Oh well...

I'll think about it some more and maybe see it again to see what I
think. At this point, I think I like it, but it's not Miyazaki's best.

Hmmm.

Oh, the screenings went great today. Even more people came today than yesterday.

Salt Lake Premiere!

Yesterday's screening went great. Tons of people showed up and the Q & A was amazing. It was so good to see our movie up on the marquee and below that a poster with our names on it. And people we didn't know were coming up and buying tickets. It was a great feeling.

Afterwards we went to The Bayou on State Street to hang out with the guys from the Swillers.

Steve should have some pictures up from the premiere and yesterday in general today or tomorrow.

University of Utah

Hello Dear Readers at the U,

I've noticed that we've been getting a ton of hits from the University
of Utah domain and a lot more from the Law Library there. And I want
you guys that are at the U of U who are clearly interested in "This
Divided State" to spread the word about the Salt Lake City screening.
If you need any material or flyers let me know, but we're counting on
you to spread the word about the engagement at the Tower.

Shoot me an email at info(at)thisdividedstate.com

We hope to see you at the theatre this weekend.

(P.S. We need EVERYONE to spread the word, but we've been getting a
lot of interest from the U)

The Salt Lake Tribune Review

'This Divided State' is a Winner, Moore or Less

The Deseret News Review

'Divided' Surprisingly Coherent

Sunday Showings at the Tower

We will be running shows on Sunday. Also, the 2:30 tomorrow has been cancelled due to a press screening of MurderBall.

Good News From the Civil Liberties Front

Here's some good news for people who beleive that we all have the same rights.

Flyering SLC

Today Steve, Michelle and I drove up to the Tower theatre so Steve
could test out the projection for the theatrical premiere tomorrow and
so Michelle and I could go flyer Salt Lake City.

We've done almost all we can to spread the word about the film
ourselves. You can help too. Just email all of your friends about
the movie. We're in Salt Lake City for one weekend only. If you or
your friends want to see it before the DVD comes out, now is the time.

Arizona engagement and another review!

The good news seems to be pouring in today.

The Daily Herald ran a review of the film, we got a B+.

We also got another theatre booked!

Valley Art Theatre, Tempe, AZ 9/9/05

So, keep checking back!

New Theatre Added

Good news! We've added another theatre to our growing list.

The Ryder Theatre in Bloomington, Indiana will be playing This Divided
State sometime between now and the release date.

We should have solid dates tomorrow!

The Next George Lucas

28 Screenings, 12 Reviews, and 100's of supportive emails finally to get our first bad review. Fuck.

And by Utah's own independent newspaper, The City Weekly. And for some reason, they have never really liked us. When everyone else in the nation was writing about THIS DIVIDED STATE back at its birth, the Weekly snubbed its nose, reviewed the Squeaky Clean Mormon flick "SONS OF PROVO" and gave it 3 stars. Scott Renshaw called it "genuienly funny!"

Then, when THIS DIVIDED STATE went on a national tour back in March, the "hip" and "independent" Weekly, didn't write a thing about it, instead reviewing the latest Ashton Kutcher film "GUESS WHO", and giving it 2 1/2 stars. Scott Renshaw called it "amusing!"

And ever since ever, The City Weekly, has failed to recognize one of the most influential pieces of alternative media to come out of the state of Utah.

Now that a theater in Salt Lake City has basically forced The Weekly to write a review. Scott Renshaw writes a "blurb" and gives THIS DIVIDED STATE 2 1/2 stars. He calls it "lacking" and claims that I was "unwilling to shape [my] compelling material into a narrative".

So he says our film has no narrative, just compelling material. I'm sure he thought the same thing of the Ashton Kutcher picture. Compelling material, indeed. How the fuck do people like this get jobs with "independent newspapers"?

So, there you have it. Our first bad review. Fucking Christ. Well, we got the same "Star Rating" as "STAR WARS Episode III". I guess that means we're on par with George Lucas. Thanks, City Weekly.

-Your Brother in the Cause

(email me for definition of "the Cause")

As Good as Star Wars

(NOTE: This Post was re-timed to appear below Steve's article that's right above it.)

If he gave Revenge of the Sith 2 1/2 stars and that movie is one of the 6 greatest films of all time, then him giving us 2 1/2 stars is something like a compliment. I think as a reviewer his credibility has been shot repeatedly. To be honest, I love everything about the City Weekly except the movie reviews. Scott Renshaw has always been as bad, if not worse, of a reviewer than Eric Snider who used to write for the Herald. They both have this snide (no pun intended), immature take on films. I don't feel like he was obligated to give us a good review, but he's certainly out of step with every other film-reviewer in the world who has seen this film.

Well as they say, those who can't do teach. And one step further than that, in my mind, if you're too stupid to teach, you criticize. That's where film critics like that go.

And, like Steve said, he's found some really shitty movies amusing. I think, deep down Scott Renshaw is a conservative, but for the sake of his job at an alt-weekly, he's keeping that to himself.

Theatre Show Times for the Victoria

The Victoria in San Francisco got me some cinema showtimes:

Starting 8/4
Thursday and Friday - 7 PM and 9 PM
Saturday and Sunday - 5 PM, 7PM and 9PM

No Shows Monday through Thursday

This is an open ended engagement. It will stay at the theatre as long
as people see it there, so tell all of your friends. You can check
the theatres website at: http://www.victoriatheatre.org/

UPDATE: Ticket prices for the Victoria are as follows: $10 General Admission, Students and Seniors are $8.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & More Movie Business

I took Anakin to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight before
a meeting I had with Steve, Elias and Michelle. (Michelle being the
production manager and Elias' wife, Anakin being my son). I have to
say, it is the first movie he has sat through for more than 85% of the
film, which says something about it.

As for me, I really don't feel strongly one way or the other about it.
It wasn't great, it wasn't terrible. It was just, there. Like a Ron
Howard movie, it was just "good." There were no real surprises in it
if you've seen the original. It looked pretty however.

I don't know. There isn't much to say about it. It would almost be a
waste of time to say too much about it at all.

Then we all got together to meet. We talked about marketing and this
and that, but we sat down and watched the final cuts of the end of the
picture. (Remember how we had to get rid of some music for rights
reasons?) I have to say that things worked out for the better, and
Steve's editing never ceases to amaze me.

And the Swillers. Those guys are king. If anyone has a chance to go
to a show where Sweatin' Willy and the Utah County Swillers are
playing, go. They will rock your goddamn socks off.

Theatre Show Times for the Tower

"This Divided State" will show at Tower Theatre:

Friday, July 22 and Saturday July 23 at
2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

July 25 through July 28 it
at 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

We're not sure about the 24th yet though, so check back for that.

Spread the Word

I know I don't have to tell you guys this, but consider it a helpful
reminder. Tell everyone you know about the film. Take your friends
to go and see it. Make sure your family knows when it's going to be
around.

Email everyone in your address book about it.

I don't have to tell you guys that we're guerilla filmmakers with no
advertising beyond word of mouth. We don't have an advertising
budget. We have the strength of the film and the strength of your
support. This is truly a grassroots marketing effort.

Theatres

I just wanted to post another theatre we've booked:

The Grand Illusion in Seattle, Washington. 8/19/05

Word up.

Back from California

Well, I'm back from California and the trip was great. We met lots of
cool people and are steps closer to announcing our next project,
whatever that may be.

Also, like Steve said, even in California I've been working my ass off
to book theatres to play This Divided State.

Here's where you guys have a chance to help. You guys can all email
me the city you're from and your favorite art house theatre and I can
let you know how close we are to booking a theatre in your city and
what you can do to help. (email me at info@thisdividedstate.com)

I got to catch Bryan Singer at his Superman panel, and Superman
Returns looks AMAZING. I think alot of people might be pissed off
about the movie, but screw those people. It looks great.

I also got to watch the first 10 minutes of The Fountain. Darren
Aronofsky is a genius. Elias got to ask him about Cat's Cradle (a
kick-ass Kurt Vonnegut novel I would highly recomend) which he was
rumoured to be directing. It's not happening unless he can figure out
a way to do it.

They showed 3 minutes of King Kong as well. I hate to just sound like
a cheerleader, but this looks kickass too. Also, the Tenacious D
concert was great. They did a cover of Queen's Flash theme and a
whole medly from Tommy (pinball wizard, etc...)

Anyhow, back to work. I look forward to hearing about theatres you
guys want to see the movie in.

Nothing Funny About Vomit

The Quad Theater in New York City has signed on to show THIS DIVIDED STATE starting in August. That's 6 signed theaters with 10 or 15 more in the check out line. Thanks to Bryan for working his ass off to get things done.

Well, our financial "investor" pulled out like a chicken shit last week and left us close to $12,000 in license fees. This is the guy who just a month ago shook my hand, looked me square in the face and said "you'll get your money" and "this won't be a problem at all". Well, after denying that that meeting ever happened, he disappeared into the a cellular wind, never to be heard from again. At that point, we were so fucked. Luckily, my wife had a perfect credit record and we were able to acquire $12,000 within 24 hours. Look for my wife's name on the poster and DVD cover. It's right next to the word "PRODUCER".

Honestly, I think Elias, Bryan, Michelle and I are going to write a book about how to be poor, 20-something kids and make an independent film in this day and age. It would be a kind of "how to" memoir with stories such as stealing your neighbor's wireless internet connection on your daughter's bed in order to send press releases across the nation (we got one bar of internet signal only from her bed for some reason). And who can forget the classic adventures of dressing up like Mormon missionaries and walking around Santa Cruz passing out invitations to come see our movie. Or being sued by angry rich Republicans. Or having your power shut off at your apartment because you're spending all your dough on a film festival. Also included: tales of stealing and shop lifting a lot of stuff because you're poor. Fuck you if you think that's wrong.

I need to deliver THIS DIVIDED STATE to New York by the 27th. I'm getting all the deleted scenes and extras edited together and ready to go. It's quite an endeavor. In fact, it never ends. I serously need a vacation from what I love to do. I need time to begin work on our next little project (hopefully to be off the ground soon).

I sometimes turn to alcohol to ease the pain. Lesson: Liquor before beer, nothing to fear. Beer before liquor, never been sicker. God, I learned this the other night watching The Swillers at APG's. 3 beers, then a shot of Jim Beam, then a Hurricane, then vomit. Nothing funny about vomit.

California and Theatres

Well, I've found a few minutes and a primitive method of checking and
sending emails long enough to send in an update for the blog.

California is great. We saw Bruce Campbell at the Comic-Con and he is
very funny in person. He went on a tirade about the MPAA and how bad
remakes suck and it was hilarious.

As far as theatres, we're booked solid at the Victoria Theatre in San
Francisco so much that we have showtimes. It will play nightly,
Thurday-Sunday at 7 and 9. It will have a 5:00 show on Saturdays and Sundays.

We may be getting dangerously close to a New York venue as well.
Let's keep our fingers crossed. Keep checking back.

Indy Media Rage

I finally have 5 minutes to sit down and write a post. Our little company, Minority Films, consists of 4 brave souls. Me, Elias, Bryan and Michelle. In the past 7 months, the 4 of us have single handedly taken THIS DIVIDED STATE on a national college tour, been featured in over 200 national press publications, been on NPR 4 times, sent out over 500 press kits, got the film picked up for DVD distribution in September, and are currently booking theatrical screenings across the nation. Fucking A. Seriously, all this has been a torturous crash course in independent documentary filmmaking. It's not about just picking up a camera and hitting "record". We've learned so much. And so goes on the rise of INDY MEDIA. People are now turning to alternative media for daily info rather than the nightly propaganda entertainment machine called network and cable news. Alternative media is the new wave of my generation and I embrace that. And THIS DIVIDED STATE is happy to be part of that.

PS. Music licenses are a bitch. And fuck EMI.

Leaving

We're leaving for California today. Hopefully, we'll have some sort of announcement to make when we get back.

Iraqi Torture

Is this what we're training the Iraqi security services to do?

Maybe we started training them at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

Tentative Theatre List!

Go to the website.

We have a tentative list of theatres. It will be growing day by day as we book more. If there's a theatre you want to see the movie at, drop us a line and we'll do our best.

Experts fear 'endless' terror war

Read This.

This is article is dynamite. This is exactly how I've felt for a long time. Iraq was a giant step backwards. Apparently there are some experts that agree.

I hope I'm not giving anyone the impression that I'm just this bleak, naysaying, liberal asshole. I just really don't like the idea that people kill each other for the reasons it seems they're killing each other. I'm just frustrated by the situation and this article sort of encapsulates the way I've felt things have been going for a long time.

Ok, maybe I'm a little bit of a bleak, naysaying, liberal asshole. But I don't like the label "liberal." Liberal implies that I see things in black and white, only in absolutes. Conservative implies the same thing.

And we all know that only Sith deal in absolutes.

Theatres

Well, we'll be making an announcement of tentative theatre dates for This Divided State in the next couple of days. It'll be in the next day or two, before Elias and I head out to California to meet with some men about our next feature film. We'll be leaving Tuesday.

And I have to agree with Elias about the Swillers' version of "This Land is Your Land." It kicks a lot of ass. And Clear Channel sucks.

This Land is Your Land

On a lighter note, earlier today I had the pleasure of listening to the "Utah County Swillers" rendition of the Woody Guthrie classic "This Land is Your Land", which will play over the epilogue of TDS. Gritty, furious, brutally honest and a bit ironic, The Swillers do their forefathers proud. Woody, Hank, and Jonny roll in their graves as modern "Counrty" music acts have their Poison meets Whitney Huston power ballads blasted over clear channel radio and monster truck commercials during prime time. It's sad to see the working class roots of such a great American art form wither and die at the hands of (insert any Country artist you may have heard on the radio today), but hey, what doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger?... Right? Can I get an Amen from any lover of good old fashioned Country music? ...And just so we're reminded of all of those who are held back, up front there ought to be a man in black. Rest in peace Johnny.

P.S. Boycott Clear Channel...

War and Killing

We've been having a discussion down lower in the blog about war and
killing and the causes of war. And I sort of want to talk about that
at more length.

The way I feel is that violence begets violence. This was the
prohpesy Chronos was given when he slayed his father. That story, one
of the oldest moral tales, tells us that when we call violence on one,
we call violence on ourselves. Chronos was in turn slayed by Zeus.

I feel that us going into Iraq was one of those moments where we could
have taken the high road. The cycle of violence stops when someone
refuses to participate in the violence. I think that we live in the
greatest country in the world and should be held to a higher standard.
We should be taking the moral high ground, not the immoral low.

The anonymous poster is right, sometimes killing is ineveitable.
World War II was ineveitable. Violence begets violence because
sometimes the only thing that will stop violence is more violence.
World War II was one of those situations. Hitler was power-mad and
made a grab for all of his surrounding neighbors. I don't want to
compare George Bush to Hitler. A lot of people have, I don't think
that's fair. Hitler was crazy and brilliant, I think George Bush is
genuine and ignorant. The similarities come in the fact they both
feel they are doing the right thing deep down inside, when in fact,
attacking a foreign soveriegn nation that poses no immediate threat to
you is barbaric.

Germany was invading it's neighbors. It needed to be stopped.
America, in my opinion, should have stepped in sooner, but popular
support for the war wasn't there. Pearl Harbor, like September 11th,
2001, galvanized support in the country for a cause.

In World War II, the cause was to stop the aggresion of evil
countries. For 9/11, the cause was to stop the aggression of evil
men. The problem is that these men had no political ties to a nation.
Yet what we invaded a nation. Afghanistan. Saddam Hussein was evil,
but he was no threat. Saddam Hussein was evil, but he had nothing to
do with 9/11. Saddam Hussein was evil, but he did not have Weapons of
Mass Destruction. Saddam was evil, but not so evil that Reagan wasn't
his friend during the '80s. Saddam Hussein was evil, but that's no
reason to invade a sovereign nation, no matter how much we disagree
with their politics or not. It is reason to work with him and try
educating him politically to the error of his ways, and to educate the
people to change their government.

There is such a thing as a bloodless revolution. These revolutions
are a good thing. The Ukraine. Bolivia. Venezuela. There are
others, but if the people were educated enough to know exactly what
they need to make a better country, they will rise up. The revolution
in America wasn't bloodless. But we could have another revolution and
it could be bloodless. We could fight this revolution with our minds
and with our deeds. Our country was built on the idea that if the
government became to corrupt we could always start over. We could
always change our government. Maybe we're reaching that point. In
order to become a more perfect country, we need to move more towards
taking care of ourselves and others than fighting with them.

I guess I've rambled on long enough. My original point was this:
Violence causes more violence. It's common sense proven since the
dawn of time. Occupying Iraq is causing more violence. Not less.

Let's just treat each other better, be they Iraqi's, Muslims, Sunni's,
Shiites, Mormons, Catholics, Protestants, Russians, Communists, Black,
White, Pro-Choice, Christian Conservative or whatever.

We're all just people. Human beings that can live, and love, and just
be. If we're given the chance. Let's try not to kill each other with
what little time we have on this Earth.

Not So Fantastic Four

It's too easy to beat up on the movie. So I'm going to say two things:

1) On a scale of 1 to 10 this movie was by far and away a 2. (I have
to say, the only thing I've rated a 1 I can think of is the Matrix)

and

2) They should have read a few more comics before they made it.

It was just bad and they bastardized everything that could have been cool.

My brother and I brainstormed a better plot in fifteen minutes on the
ride home. That's all it would have taken the screenwriters of this
disaster. 15 minutes of brainstorming. That could have saved
everything.

I'm still nodding my head in awe. This movie was so bad I am in awe.

Film

Fantastic Four

Well, I'm going to take a break tonight and see Fantastic Four. Will
it suck? I will reveal all tonight.

UPDATE ON THE FILM: Steve is heading out tonight to record some music
for the final cut of the film with Sweatin' Willy and the Utah County
Swillers and we'll be recording the DVD commentary on Monday night.

UPDATE ON THEATRICAL: I booked 2 more theatres today and more are on
the way, keep looking for a formal announcement.

A Safer Place?

Well, I suppose the London Bombing flies in the face of all the
arguments people bandy about that invading Iraq is going to cause
peace in the world. If the motives of the terrorists on this attack
are the same as 9/11 (which was US aggression and interference in
Mid-east politics and conflicts) then hasn't invading Iraq actually
made the world a LESS safe place?

UPDATE IN RESPONSE TO 'ANONYMOUS' COMMENT: I didn't want to make it sound as though the invasion of Iraq was the ONLY reason London was bombed, but I do think it contributed greatly to the unrest that sparked it.

Personally, I think it's abhorent to kill anyone in the name of anything. Live and let live, I always say.

Theatrical Screenings

Steve, Elias and I have been working hard on the Theatrical release of This Divided State. We've got some theatres booked and others in negotiations... So, look for an announcement soon!

Media Links

Well, I got the link to the short film we shot on Saturday. It's called, The Batman. Also on that page is the trailer to the movie Elias and I directed right out of High School. It's called "Missy".

So, please don't hate me when it all sucks hard.

Saturday Short Film

A bunch of friends and I try to get together every Saturday and make a short film. We shot one Saturday that my little brother wrote and starred in with Elias and Derek from the Pirate Club. Derek cut it yesterday and today.

I think it turned out all right, i'll post the direct link as soon as the website they get hosted on (Saturday Shorts)gets updated.

I think half of film is practice and young filmmakers rarely get enough of it. So I try to go out every once in a while and just try something new.

Hot Karl

I found out about this and it seems so much like the things the
administration has been doing, but I have such a hard time believing
it at this point.

It's Karl Rove's style to out a CIA agent to get back at their
significant other for unfavorable press. But to think that we'd
actually get the proof?

I'm waiting until more is confirmed before I put a lot of stock in
this. And if it's true, it should be proof positive for all the Bush
administration cheerleaders that things are not going in the right
direction.

Fourth of July?

Steve and I went up the mountain this evening to film the fireworks at
the patriotic love fest "Stadium of Fire." I was amazed by how many
people would drive a half an hour up a mountain to watch a fireworks
show. On the second of July.

We filmed it in Super 8 as a test for one and for two for another
documentary that Steve has been working on for the last couple of
years. Last year we actually got press credentials to the Sean
Hannity/Ollie North hosted "Stadium of Fire." Sean actually told a
stadium full of 65,000 people that we found weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq.

We have it on tape. Maybe if you ask Steve nicely he'll find a way to
post it for the fourth. Maybe not though.

Review of the film

Jesus' General has posted a really great review of This Divided State
on their blog.

Check it out here.

Trouble ahead

This country is almost as divided as it can be as it is. Now, with
the resignation of a Supreme Court Judge... Things are about to get a
whole lot worse.

I would expect the "nuclear option" to come right back into the
limelight. And a whole lot of nastiness in every other way too.

War of the Worlds

I have very little to say about War of the Worlds, I have much more to say about the cinema experience. What I will say about War of the Worlds is this: the first minute and the last four minutes are five of the worst minutes of film in film history. The intervening 100 minutes are absolutely breathtaking. After Spielberg is done with his first minute of pandering the movie has all the wonder and excitement of a classic spielberg film and it barrels like a freight train toward
the most nonsensical ending Spielberg has ever devised. I would highly recomend this picture to anyone who likes Spielberg pictures.

But be forewarned about the horrible five minutes of movie it contains.

As far as the cinema experience, I think movie going has lost it's class. It's turned into: go in, watch really ugly, boring slides set to overly loud bad music, watch some commercials, watch a few trailers hoping one is at least for a good movie, watch some tags to remind what theatre your at and what sound system they've let fall into disrepair and then you watch your movie. Then as soon as the credits begin to roll, you are quickly assaulted by 3 teenagers with brooms
trying to get you out as fast as possible.

This is not a quality movie experience.

I've paid $7.50 for a movie ($3 or $4 too much if you ask me, but that's a different post) I don't
want to see commercials. I don't want to see trailers that are bad. Put the trailers at the end of the movie (see, they "trail" the feature). Let those willing to sit through the credits watch them.
Before the movie starts you need to go back to the old days, make it an event: Play a part of a serial, put some cartoon shorts, a news reel. Entertain people. Movies are for people to be entertained. ENTERTAIN THEM! Don't bore them to death before the feature, it'll drain the life out of the audience and they become ambivelent to the movie. I've seen it happen to me. I've seen Revenge of the Sith 13 times. It's so goddamned draining to have to watch a trailer for that nut-filled-turd "Stealth." And that annoying Fandango commercial and those "filmmaker
coke kids" commercial. It's all the worst. Put on a serial that has a like audience interest similar to the feature, a couple of cartoons and you'll rally people back around the movie going experience. Why go to the theatre as opposed to watching tv (aside from the quality differences) when you get the same packaging of commercial filled crap anyway? I know my kids would sit through movies alot better without the commercials. And a Bugs Bunny cartoon would keep their ass planted in the seat before the picture.