This is particularly relevant today, July 13, 2010, now that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has passed away.
A compelling narrative by Yankees President Randy Levin on his path from Hofstra Law School to NYC’s Labor Commissioner, to Major League Baseball, and the lessons he’s learned about working with people in all walks of life.
Client: Hofstra University School of Law
It’s easy to get great interview material when you have great interview subjects. This is Diplomat Sarah Peck, who went to law school after a few years working in different fields — and is now showing the world how the American justice system can make a difference far outside the US.
Client: Northeastern University School of Law
Now THIS is what an alumni interview should be: candid, honest, funny, smart. It helps to have a great interview subject: William “Mo” Cowan, chief legal counsel to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Client: Northeastern University School of Law
What I think is a great video clip on studying abroad and how that can change the student and their life — optimized for social media.
Client: Northfield Mount Hermon School
Actually, re-editing existing footage; repurposing for YouTube and other social-media needs and aesthetics.
Client: Northfield Mount Hermon School
Hats off to Randy Bickford and Wyley Pamplin of The Strugglers, may your musical careers be anything but a struggle from here on.
And nice work, Team Creato-Destructo! Jerry Stifelman, director, Trace Oliveto, producer. Ian Ostrowski as the actor, lots of folks in and around Carrboro in other roles (including Wyley again). Production support, Becky Davis and Shay Stifelman (also nice editing!).
Oh, and I was 1st A.D., but enough of my yakkin’. Here’s the video:
Hard to believe this film came out in 2006, but “Fido” is definitely worth checking out: an alleged zombie flick, this is far more a black social comedy than it is a horror spoof. I caught the first 8 minutes of it at a certain famous film festival that takes place in mid-Jan in Utah, but had to head to another film that was getting more buzz. I told myself I’d circle back and watch the whole thing…. and it took me until last night to get that done.
What the film’s creator’s got right:
I was pleasantly surprised. It was funny, bizarre, unique, smart, well-acted, well-shot and entertaining, so 3 stars out of 4. Billy Connolly is unrecognizable as the title character (that’s fine; he’s playing a zombie, for christ’s sake, so it’s not like he’s up there in Elephant Man territory…), and Carrie-Anne Moss was stunning as the mom — gorgeous, smart, flirtatious, multi-dimensional — and for the first time, I really wanted to take her home, take off that apron, and get into a long-term, intelllectually significant and socially committed relationship with her, if you know what I mean.
But good acting all around. It would be easy to go way over the top with this kind of material, but there’s a lot of control here, which works for the overall effect.
The tone is generally upbeat, even tongue-in-cheek, and they carefully balance the fact the protagonist is a young (and vulnerable) little boy against the needs of the larger narrative, without doing extremely horrible things to said kid.
Also, it’s a great-looking film, from the too-perfect 50s suburban neighborhood, the cars, the clothes and other details, to the framing and composition.
What the distributors got wrong:
Nearly everything? I mean, do YOU remember this film opening in your town? I don’t, and I was looking for it.
Also, this is the worst poster imaginable for this film. The Fido character turns out to be a decent guy, but the public is going to look at the art and say “Another zombie film. Meh.” And they’d be right — nothing says this is a comedy, nothing says this has a happy ending, nothing says C-A Moss is in this, smoking it up with hotness. All it says is you’ll have your face eaten off by an overly made-up actor from the UK — and that you can see in “28 Days Later” or “Shaun of the Dead”.
But this screw-up shouldn’t stop you, the savvy DVD renter or video-file downloader, right?
Heck, I’d even recommend this as a date movie. Not a first-date movie unless you know the other person REALLY, REALLY well, but trust your uncle Jimi on this one.
I’ve been lax here after one decent inaugral bit. Shame on me; my excuse is travel and work. But that’s not even an excuse given the fact I’ve been connected most all the time. Maybe I should blame social-media fatigue and take 2010 off…
Anyway, I just finished an interesting trip from Chicago to Asheville, NC, my hometown.
Interesting in the sense that it was punctuated by bad weather, heartbreaking football results (at least for my fantasy league standings), a detour to Oak Ridge, TN, where my Dad worked during and after WWII and then dealing with the aftermath of this, maybe one of the best “Hey turn on the camera and let’s see what happens” moments in recent history. And yes, they’re still digging out and no, there aren’t great detour options.
But at the risk of sounding like a Chamber of Commerce geek, it’s worth it to be in Asheville. Why?
Because it’s a beautiful town set in a beautiful mountain location, with a downtown that’s kept many great old buildings, and a progressive feel that translates into more cool things to do, see, eat and drink than a town this size would deserve, normally. But Asheville isn’t a normal town by any stretch.
I also feel like a whore for giving this place even more publicity, because as some stoned millionaire rock star once pointed out, “you call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.”
Still, this one posting hopefully won’t bring on the next tsunami of moneyed hipster-wannabees, or drop a Starbucks on every alternate corner, or force the kids out of the drum circle. But maybe it will.
It’s a bit like announcing to your barroom friends: “I have the most awesome girlfriend in the world!” and waiting to see what happens 3 months down the road….
Anyway, more later. I have video to shoot and a road trip to Athens, GA. I hear things about that place…
James Hyatt 